#at least I’m assuming this is what you’re referencing

[thorkyriebabes]

*me trying to think of something normal to say to you*: um um um dragons make me think of you

😭😭❤️❤️😁😁😚🤪😜😎🙏🏻🐉🦖🗻🏔️⛰️

[kkami-writes]

waiting for us ― chapter twenty five. opening up cw. implied/referenced self-harm, homophobia, neglectful parents, kinda getting outted (tl;dr at the end) wc. 1.9k

Jisung is already sitting at one of the tables near the back, two drinks in front of him. When you slide into the seat in front of him, he slides one of the coffees to you with a smile. 

“I asked Ryujin what your usual was, hope it’s ok,” You move to take a sip through the straw before nodding happily. “You’re just like lixie, you know? He has to have his coffee incredibly sweet,” “At least I’m better than Hyunjin, who downs three americanos in one sitting,” 

“Touche” 

It’s silent for a few seconds and you squirm a little in your seat, anxious energy rolling off of you in waves. Jisung can tell, he knows the signs of anxiety like the back of his hand. 

“Yn” He calls out softly and your head flies up at the sound of your name. Your real name. It makes you flush involuntarily, it’s something you’re not used to, not having heard it in quite awhile. Minghao had refused to call you Mio, but he always called you by a nickname instead. He knew you didn’t want to be referred to as yn. 

“...Jisung,” It happens again. That all encompassing shudder running through every inch of your body. You shiver on reflex. Jisung has a similar stupid grin on his face like Jeongin had when you had confirmed your soulmate connection. 

“So um. You wanted to talk about something?” You try to get straight to the point, your anxiety hitting a boiling point. 

“Right! Um, so! We, as in the guys, talked a bit about how we were going to go about this and I just wanted to let you know what we came up with. If you don’t like anything please let me know and we’ll figure out another solution,” You nod your head, showing Jisung that you were listening. “We all would like to take you on a date, each of us individually first before anyone gets a second date or even group dates. I assume group dates would be too overwhelming for you right now,” Again your head nods. You do not even want to THINK about a group date with all eight of them. The amount of chaos that would bring is unimaginable.  

“If you’re free today and only if you want to, I was wondering if um. You’d like to do our date today? Nothing fancy or crazy, just maybe ordering takeout and watching some movies? I know it’s kinda simple but I wanted to keep it casual because I know some of the others might go all out because that’s just who they are and they wanna impress you. Something to kind of? Ease you in, nothing too overwhelming,” 

You can tell Jisung is as nervous as you are with how he fiddles with his hands as he asks you out. It’s endearing and you feel a lot more reassured that you’re not the only one feeling like this. 

“Yeah, that sounds great sung, I’d love to,” The nickname makes him flush but it doesn’t stop him from smiling. You found yourself definitely falling in love with that cute heart shaped grin of his.

“Um, was that all?” You ask because it seems like there was something else on his mind. You tilt your head slightly. “Yeah,” He swallowed thickly. “Um, so Jeongin let everyone know about your…issue,” You blink, nodding your head slowly, unsure where Jisung was going with this. “But I wanted to tell you that I have known since we started texting,” At this your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. You’re not mad, but you’re curious as to why. 

“He let me know because I’ve struggled with anxiety for awhile, and he was hoping that maybe we would get close and I could help you with different coping strategies. But that was not the only reason why,” He hesitates for a second, as if contemplating what to say next. Instead of words, he slides the sleeves of his hoodie up and places his arms on the table, forearms up. You can’t help the gasp that falls from your lips. Staring back up at your are all too familiar scars. Though these ones have healed, they are still very much visible. 

When you look back up at Jisung his smile has morphed into a sad one. He pulls his arms back, letting his sleeves fall back down over his hands. You frown. How is it that this sunshine boy, someone you don’t think you’ve even seen sad or upset since you met him, struggled with something like this? He seemed so happy. It’s then you realize your blatant naivety. You should know better, that you really can never know what someone is going through. The fact that you had just assumed they all had perfect lives pissed you off for a second. 

“When we said it wasn’t easy in the beginning we really weren’t kidding. I was…rather difficult to deal with at the start. I had been friends with Chan and Changbin hyung since middle school. We were practically inseparable even though we were different ages. Even before I got my soulmark I knew I was starting to have feelings for my friends. I struggled a lot with my sexuality, my parents having instilled the idea that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. So that left me really confused and scared. When I did turn 16, imagine my shock when I had 8 whole soulmates, 7 of them being men. My soulmark basically outed me to my parents,” 

“They were…not pleased to say the least. They had even tried to get me to sever the soulmate bond, only wanting me to keep yours but I had refused. Before this my parents were rarely around, both of them workaholics and now with a ‘gay’ son they stayed away more often. I often slept over at Chan’s house, his parents becoming more like my own. Due to being neglected by my parents, I didn’t really know how to ask for affection and I lashed out a lot. I even threw my wallet at Seungmin once,” He chuckles at his, but it’s rather devoid of any real feelings. “I didn’t know how to cope with my feelings and so I turned to hurting myself, because I  thought I was to blame for all my problems and therefore should punish myself. But the worst was when we met Hyunjin. We did not get along, and I admit a lot of it was my fault. If I’m honest I was incredibly jealous of him. He was gorgeous, rich and had a pair of parents who supported him,” 

“I really thought he hated me too, we’d get into arguments over the smallest things. We often had lots of sleepovers together. But during one of the first ones we had with all of us, minus you of course, I had felt out of place, like I didn’t belong there. That I didn’t deserve to be there with them, that I was the one who was ruining things and making it hard on everyone. I had excused myself to the bathroom but I had gone to cut. I guess I had been in there too long because it was Hyunjin who came to find me. He walked in while I was washing off the blood and I thought that he was gonna laugh at me, or worse, use it against me in one of our arguments. But he didn’t. He practically tackled me to the ground. He was crying and holding me close, begging me to not hurt myself anymore. It was then I realized that by hurting myself, I was also hurting my soulmates even more. You know how loud Hyunjin is so it didn’t take long for everyone else to come upstairs,” 

“We had a pretty serious talk that day but it was for the best. I had promised to stop and that I’d reach out if I needed help, that I’d learn to ask for affection that I was so desperately craving. Of course, it wasn’t easy. It’s hard to unlearn habits and just because I didn’t cut didn’t mean I didn’t stop feeling bad. But we managed and the guys never let me stew in my feelings for too long. I relapsed once during senior year but besides that, I am proud to say that I am two years sober,” 

You’ve been silent during his whole story, tears stinging at your eyes. Your fingers dig into your thighs, trying to find the right words to say but nothing feels enough. 

“Hey. It’s ok. I didn’t tell you my story to get you to tell me yours. I wanted to tell you so you know that you’re not alone in how you feel. That I would never judge you and neither would the others. But we do want to help you, if you’ll let us. I won’t lie to you and tell you it’ll be easy. Even now I still get the urge, the itch to just feel that sting. But I'm really lucky to have the others,”

You have your bottom lip between your teeth, biting hard that you’re sure you can taste the coppery tang of blood. Still, you nod your head, it’s barely visible but Jisung still notices. 

“Yeah? You’ll let us help you?” You nod more firmly this time, still unable to find your voice yet. “I’m glad,” And even though you’re not looking at him, you can practically hear the smile on his face. “Then there is one last thing. It’s a rather big step and you can tell me to fuck off if you want. Do you happen to have what you use to cut on you?” Again you nod. “Would you be comfortable giving it to me? I can keep it safe for you, yeah?” 

Hesitation is written all over your face so Jisung waits, and he’s nothing but patient as you all but struggle with a couple of inner demons. You’re not sure how long you two have been sitting there but you finally move to dig through your bag, pulling out the small pocket knife. Jisung holds out this hand for you and with shaky fingers you place it in his palm, pulling away quickly before you can take it back. The smile on his face is soft as he pockets it. 

“Hey. This is a big step. I’m so proud of you. Thank you so much for trusting me,” It's these words that finally break you, tears falling down your face. How sad is it that you can’t even remember the last time someone had told you that, if ever? 

Jisung can feel his heart break and there’s nothing more he wants to do then slide next to you and hold you close. He doesn’t know how you’d react to that so he just sits, letting you take the moment for yourself. 

Thankfully it’s just a few tears, wiping them away and sniffling softly. “ ‘m sorry,” You murmur under your breath andJisung almost doesn’t hear it. 

“Hey, it’s ok. You’re fine, I don’t mind. Are you ok now?” You nod, trying to pull yourself together and Jisung gives you a soft reassuring smile. “Ok, enough sad talk. Are you still down for watching some movies? I’d understand if you weren’t,” 

“No, I’d still like that a lot,” Jisung’s smile gets even bigger if possible. 

“Ok, lets go. Oh uh- sorry in advance, the apartment might be a little messy. It’s hard living with two gym bros and a painter who thinks any white surface is the perfect canvas,” 

“Am I going to your apartment, or a mancave? Be honest,”

“Yes,” TL;DR !!! jisung opens up about his own struggle with self-harm. Having come from a very conservative family, he was outted as bisexual from his soulmark and his parents were not happy. They neglected him and jisung didn't know how to ask for affection from his soulmates and lashed out a lot. He turned to self-harm because he couldn't deal with his feelings. he is currently two years sober and asks yn if she'll agree to let them help her. in the end, yn hands over her pocket knife to jisung for safe keeping and then they go back to sung's appartment for their movie date. previous | masterlist | next waiting for us taglist (50/50) send an ask or sign up here!: @abbiestearsricochet @boo-ven9eance @adorawritesalot @melleus @inlovewithallmusic @alnex05 @borahae-reads @zonked-times @yoonrimin @slay-and-gay @loverlixie @katsukis1wife @realrintaro @0325tiny @adestayskz @minhwa @littleaprilcherryblossom @soobery @lillithathecat @ilychee08 @everglowdaisies @boi-bi-ahaha @yandere-stories @orchid-mantis-petals @minhoie @popcatx0 @tara-drabbles @super-btstrash-posts @gemi-moon @skz-streamer @jaiuneamesolitaiire @bozotwt @enchantedgrunge @corrodedthorn @143lix @ashitshowforalot @xrvrqs @lynlyndoll @txtandroll @kawennote09 @liknws @ritzy-dream-boy @hannieslove @hello-2-u-from-me @vampcharxter @jisuperboard @surefornext @puppy-minnie @freckleboilix @imwithurmother

[kentosbabes]

Nepo baby Gojo

Smutty af (mdi)

You’ve been working with Gojo’s father for about a year and a half without meeting the infamous son. He goes through women and money faster than the companies stock rises. But his father has pushed him into a role at the company to learn the ropes before he passes to keep the business in the family.

The annual gala is announced and his father mentions that you both should go together since you don’t have dates yet. You awkwardly nod, trying desperately not to make eye contact with him. The meeting ends relatively quickly and start to make your way out of the room only to be stoped by the infamous man himself.

“So I’ll pick you up at 6 sharp? Do you know what you’re wearing yet?” You feel affronted, he hasn’t even asked if you were saying yes to him, he just assumed you would go with him.

You sigh and roll your eyes, “I’ll text you my address and I’m going to wear black.”

He nods his head and nonchalantly says, “well that’s hot.” You feel mortified. You warm up with a little embarrassment as everyone is looking at you and him and quickly speed walk make your way to your office.

You don’t really get dressed up, it’s not that you dress frumpy, but you wear suits and blouses instead of pretty dresses. You don’t really get the chance to wear makeup and go out as much because the job is time consuming. You just felt a little nervous about getting all dolled up for this event because massive shareholders are going to be there and you need to put you best foot forward if you want a job the following day.

The day finishes and you leave a little early to pick up your dress, you say goodbye to the rest of the staff and head out. Gojo making a quip about needing extra time to get prettier. Gojo was a dick. There’s no sugarcoating it. He’s just a dick, but what can you do about any of that? You’re just an employee of his father.

You pick up the dress and dinner on the way to your house which was a short distance, swiping through Pinterest to think of a makeup look to match the dramatic dress and heels you bought. Too late to be a pussy!

You get ready to Megan and Bey, humming to the beat and moving your hips around while applying lipliner. You finally are done and wait for him, music still playing while you respond to emails, no rest for the wicked.

The music only getting more explicit the further down you go on your Spotify playlist. Finally, you hear a knock on the door and you open up the door. “Wow.” Gojo says, and nothing else. You look him up and down, god if he wasn’t your bosses bratty man-child you would’ve fucked him already. To be fair you probably look like you are, what with your eyes undressing him and all.

He snaps out of it earlier than you, “like what you see?” He says leeringly. Yes lord, “ugh, no.” You look him over, and nod.

Going over to pause your music and turning off the light, “So,” the man had a permanent smirk on his face, “imma be your freak anytime or place?” Referencing the music playing, you shut it off.

“It’s Megan. Problem?”

He sighed, “nope, ready when you are.”

You roll your eyes and step out, locking the door behind him. He opened the door up for you, ignoring the cautionary butterflies in in your stomach. “Do that often for your girlfriends?”

“Why jealous?”

You tut, an unfamiliar angry or something else started coil in your lower stomach.

He opened the door for you and his car was expensive to say the least. A black Benz that smells like Dior and money. Art deco by Lana was playing at a low volume. He smiled, “impressed?”

Your upper lip quirked a little, “just get on with it.” He drives off and you get there on time. It was beautiful, the lights decorating the ballroom were opulent.

Immediately getting called over by your colleagues to look over a contract that’s being signed tonight. You look up at him somewhat apoplectically, “sorry!”

As you mingled with the crowd, you found yourself talking to a charming man, he tells you that he’s a shareholder. Your conversation flowed effortlessly, and you couldn’t tell if he was flirting with you or you were delusional or horny.

Gojo, the man you had gone to the gala with, couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. He didn’t feel upset at you leaving him to talk shop with your colleagues but something about this was different. He felt sidelined.

He came up with a drink in his hand for you, “So, Eric huh?” He paused to look at you, “him of all people? You could stand to do better.”

You could stand to do better? How dare he, he had no place in your life. The atmosphere between you guys became tense as Gojo struggled to hide his unease.

"What, are you jealous?" You tilts your head and gaze at him with wide innocent eyes as you echoes his words from the car. "Do you wish it had been you?"

Gojo takes a very slow, purposeful inhale through his nose, before mirroring your head tilt with a challenging grin. "At least I could make you come, princess. You think he would even be able to find your little clit? He'd probably last two pumps and then cry into your shoulder about how much he loves you."

“Oh yeah, like you can do better.” you don’t know where this confidence is coming from and you know he’ll do anything to prove a point. You roll your eyes and look out the window, knees facing the door.

“I’ll show you.” He grits, manhandling your thighs to face him, “my house or yours?”

You look up at him through your furrowed brows and whisper, “this is a bad idea.”

“Did I ask if it was a bad idea or whose house I’m fucking you at?”

You roll your eyes. “Yours.”

“Roll your eyes again I’ll fuck you so hard they’ll be permanently up there.”

He leads you into his lavish apartment kissing you and whispering promises of what he’ll do you. The familiar coil is back in your lower tummy. He tells you to take off your clothes, biting your lower lip as he mutters sweet nothings about how delicious you’ll look on his cock.

Kissing his way down your neck, you felt his hand fiddling with the zip of your black dress and before you knew it, he was tugging it down your thighs, pulling your black seamless thong down with them as he went. He brings you over to the end of his bed and worked a finger in. Pumping in and out rhythmically, you start lifting your hips to thrust with his movements but he pulls you back down.

You tilted your head back and moaned, clamping your eyes shut. If you opened them, you would face his infuriating smirk.

“Good?” Gojo teased, dragging his finger against your walls as he moved in and out.

You gasp into his mouth, unconsciously raising your leg up to wrap around his waist as he supports you with his arm, your fingernails clawing at his shoulders as you feel yourself reach your high.

“Fuck. Fuck. I’m so close. Don’t—Don’t stop.” You felt dizzy; the pleasure seemingly unreal, but the solid feel of his hair in your hands grounded you.

He shuts you up as you watch him lick your release, not sparing a single drop. Once he licks his fingers dry, his hand pressing you back down onto his bed, but he did not stop.

His voice was ragged, “what do you need from me?”

“Please. I-“

He stopped moving, “use your words darling.”

“I need you,” you plead, “now.”

He pulled her down onto his hard cock until she was filled up. He slammed into you from behind, holding your hips with his large hands hard enough to promise bruising in the morning.

The slightly change in the angle he was entering you made your toes curl in pleasure, and a desperate cry left your lips when he hit a different spot inside of you, making your whole body tremble in complete bliss.

Instead of kissing you again, though, he shoved two large fingers into your mouth. You sucked on them like you would his cock. “Who do you think is better?” He gritted.

“Youyouyouyouyouyou- please, just you. God only you.” Incoherently babbling with tears streaming down your face.

“You know I like hearing you,” Gojo murmured, and you shakily nodded. You rose up again and sank back down, the muscles of his stomach clenching, another moan escaping through your slack lips.

His dick twitched. You could feel the mounting pressure building inside of you.  Throwing your hips against his and felt his dick pressing against your cervix.

He bit into your shoulder as he came inside of you, drawing just enough blood to make him moan into your back as his hands swept up your stomach towards your tits. Another circle of his thumb, and your back arches with a deep moan, squeezing him so tight his own climax closely follows.

[tacharie]

Thoughts for The Montkraken Episode

so, I just finished the chapter and… wow I have a lot to say. I took screen shots for every part I wanted to talk about and I think this rant will be SUPERRRR long so bear with me. Tumblr won’t let me add screenshots so when I have better service I’ll edit the post to add them. These paragraphs are theories and side notes that I wrote after reading a certain section so you’re gonna see my thought process throughout the story. As always, spoilers ahead so I recommend skipping this if you haven’t read it already.

Alright so I was once a hater of this ship BUT… the Shobaru shippers may have a point in this guys 😭. LIKE.. I HAVE THE SCREENSHOT OF SUBARU BLUSHING UHHH. That is not a heterosexual stare feller 🤨…

AHHHHHHH THE FROSTHEIM DUO ARE BACKKKKK!!! I missed them so so much they’re so silly and deserve the best. Honestly the only two I trust in this school cause I CANT. I literally suspect anyone but them, but Imma be so disappointed if either of them are hiding something. I’ll be sad, but like I’ll help 🙄. I was actually so sad when the MC mentioned being the reason they could be in danger like GIRLLLLL DONT SAY THAT PLEASEEEEE. ITS LIKE THE ANGST WITH ADEUCE AND YUU LIKE STAWPOPP. Also when the Vagastorm kids were like “aw yeah Mido wouldn’t lie like that” it makes me happy that people can at least trust him enough to be honest and idk I found that kinda sweet :3. We’re also getting a bit of a timeline, like the One-Eyed Sleeping Beauty Murder being BEFORE the clash (sorry if this was already mentioned I don’t really remember stuff from the past chapters) which could’ve been a trigger.

Also, I feel like they’re trying to tell us that Jiro is Zenji’s brother because when he had that little laugh about the MC being scared of bodies, he said too. When you click the “too?” option, he just says that he isn’t the one afraid. It’s not Yuri as well cause he’s literally a doctor that is in the same room when autopsies are in session. Whatever the case, I assume he was referencing to Zenji, though it being a blurry memory. Little theory tho.

OK SO THIS IS JUST SO FUNNY TO ME. In Chapter 9’s title it says, “Girl Learns Shocking Truth About Monster”. I like to think the shocking truth was the fact he didn’t shower for 3 days 😭. CAUSE THATS THE PART SHE SOUNDS MOST SHOCKED. Idk that part was silly to me. THEY’RE OUTFITS FOR THEIR DORM IS SOOOOOO PRETTY. They ate I fear, a bit more than the other dorms. Also side note, they dropped A LOT of info with just how they word things. For example, Yuri saying “Jiro, you are well aware that I will not be associated with those germs AGAIN.” Soooo Yuri was in Frostheim? I don’t doubt it bc there’s another line that says “I’d rather not recall how bitterly cold that place is” which can MEAN TWO THINGS. I’m super sure that they’re implying that yeah, he was, but then something happened blah blah blah.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH HYDE AND DANTE??? Like ok bitches, spill your shot to us too don’t be shy. So, confirmed by them, Dante and Hyde used to go to school in Darkwick (which I assume the rest of the teachers are too). That explains their back and forth. WHAT REALLY CAUGHT MY EYE WERE THESE LINES.

Hyde: “…You really are a softie, Dan-Dan.” (Haha Dan- Dan)

Dante: “It would seem that way to someone as cold as you.” (???) “…There are lines that shouldn’t be crossed, Hyde.”

Hyde: “…I’ll keep that in mind.”

WHATTTTT. WHAT ARE THE LINES. GO IN DETAIL ARGHHHHH. This gives us more info on the character individually too. Dante describes Hyde as cold… DANTE. So, it was obvious that this whole happy go lucky attitude was fake, but I expected to be more like Haru’s kind of attitude not like that yk?? now I know how much of a cash grab this game is, but I really hope they aren’t going to stretch the story out too long to the point where you have to P2W cause I haven’t paid a cent and I don’t plan to. I still want to learn more about them and stuff so :(. On the topic of Dante, there was a small flashback where I missed a word in the sentence that Dante said while talking with Alan. “I’m the man you supposedly killed.” Supposedly?? Now, I didn’t my catch this in my first run, but now it’s like wdym supposedly?? Shouldn’t you know? This is giving hella Jiro vibes and honestly, I’m getting sick and tired of these characters having a bad memory.

SPEAKING OF JIRO- he seems to have problems remembering things and they come back to him in the very weird moments (honestly a kin moment). I would like the think that he’s just suffering from the damages he had to go through from the clash. His relationship with Yuri is so… sad to me. Yuri seems to doubt him a little bit and I feel like he sees him as just a specimen, not much of a friend. Meanwhile, Jiro smiles a lot to Yuri and listens to him like a master, like that’s what he’s supposed to do. NOT AGAINST HIS OWN WILL DONT GET ME WRONG. He’s just so neutral about it it makes me a bit like awwww :(. They’re cute tho idrc.

Ok moving on to Haku and Tohma. (Ok at this point I’m getting nervous cause why are we seeing so many characters now. That’s probably just a coincidence). OK THESE TWO HAVE GOT IT GOING. Like there’s tension when you get their chat in the campus but this is like woahhhh… Also I don’t like how Tohma says “our wheelhouse? I see..” it makes me think he’s like implying “so you think you’re a part of them now?” IDK THATS JUST MY LITTLE STRETCH. Also poor Zenji, he’s like “aw yeah I died in vain lol” LIKE OUCH.

Nicholas. I DO NOT LIKE HIM. I REPEAT. I DO NOT LIKE HIM FOR A MINUTE OF A SECOND. The only staff I like are the cats, the grocer guy, and MAYBE Dante. LIKE HES SO… NORMAL?? LIKE THERE’S SOMETHING WEIRD GOING ON IK THERE IS. When MC says “I can’t believe Professor Nicolas would do something like that” I DO 😡🙋‍♀️. I am in full support of Yuri finding crimes against this guy.

Also, little other side note, I just realized that Yuri and Jiro have matching earring in opposite ears. It’s so cute.

Ok I might have to go back to the beginning and see what the “goat like anomaly” Jiro is talking about when he mentions the prophecy, cause I said “… the chancellor is a goat??” BUT ANYWAYS. Speaking of the prophecy, I’ll jot it down.

“The whisper of the new moon shall lead the champion to the academy on the solitary island. So long as the champion resides there, the world shall be sheltered from profound tragedy.”

Stating the obvious here, but this is most likely referencing to the last cutscenes we get when we choose our characters. I’ve checked the cutscenes again and there’s no visible moon, meaning it could correlate to the “new moon” portion. (Search up new moon to see what I mean). Assuming Solitary island means death, that would also help with the theory. So, whoever we chose in the beginning might just be the person who won the Laurel Crown.Honestly, this is just a silly little Drabble for a theory and VERY vague. Maybe the champion resides in the events of the past that we still don’t know about but this kinda helps?? Idk I’m just putting what I think at the moment. I’ll probably reread the game so I can get a better timeline. Also, Yuri’s rant about demon particles… doesn’t exactly sit right with me. Were they chosen to be resilient or was it just a birth thing?? Idk but I feel like a lot is missing from his theory. I mean, we’re using human logic to a supernatural cause so I don’t think pacts acting as allergies would work. If they’re not chosen, could it be that the ghouls can make pacts with more than one demon? I wanna see what happens if that was the case. Please comment if I missed something 😭.

Ok Towa appeared. (Why are we seeing so many characters I don’t like this) and we went back to that tree… WHAT IS THAT TREE?? And what the hell do you mean the fruit grew? What is that fruit supposed to be? An anomaly going to birth?? Is it supposed to represent the houses?? Motivation?? It seems so weird to me cause we just got introduced to that tree last episode. Sighs.

OK REN AND RITSU. WHAT IS GOING ON. I GUESS SINCE THIS IS THE LADT CHAPTER FOR INTRODUCING CHARACTERS BUT LIKE … STOP. I feel like something is going to happen with the MC pls 😭. Anyway, those two talking about ramen is so cute please don’t ever change you virgin and lizard looking freak 🫶( with love of course). GROCER GUYYYYYYY. YIPPEE :3!! I love that the cat is the owner and not the human lmao.

Also I will always be a MC defender cause she is so relatable. “Why are hospitals so creepy at night?” GIRL IKKKKKK. Idc what y’all say, the fact that she’s normal is keeping me sane from these freaky deaky events. ILOVE NORMAL CHARACTERS! LIKE MATSUDA FROM DEATH NOTE OR THAT ONE GUY FROM MASHELE. Anyways, I love her little comments and everything she’s so silly. Idrc if she doesn’t have much of a backbone cause honestly, she’s surrounded by danger so the best she should do is listen to the people that are constantly surrounded by it.

ALSO NEW THING. (Well idk if it’s new but yeah).

mention of a Dionysia Breakout. <—— Idk what that is, but it sounds like a little more. I love little details and slip ups thanks characters <3!!

HA! HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA! I WIN NICOLAS 😈!!! YOU DO HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE. AND I WILL FIND IT TRUST YOU WILL BE DELT WITH. I WILL KNOW THE PRIOR PAST >:(!! Also, Moby is being soooo annoying tbh. More character descriptions to add: competitive as a teacher. NO ONE WILL MAKE YOU HATE YOU JIRO ‼️‼️‼️ HES SO SWEET He literally asks if we’re scared and says we can hang back awwww. Though he doesn’t understand much, he can use logic and he can at least understand how we feel. It’s a nice sentiment :)!

I can’t take the transformation seriously I’m sorry. I’m still impressed by Yuri’s deductive skills and the transformation just sounded like he was constipated.

THE WHOLE BATTLE SCENE WAS EPIC!! MC HESITATING BECAUSE OF LEOS WORDS BUT STILL PUSHING FORWARD. YURI GETTING FLUSTERED. JIRO SMILING AND TRUSTING YURI’S ORDERS. THE FUNNY EXCHANGE ABOUT MUSCLE WHEN THEY WERE CARRYING THE POD. Those annoying ass pussy sticks we call Darkwick students 😡. JIRO LOOKING BADASS AFTER THE SHOT. URGHHHH I LOVE THIS CHAPTER.

HARU AND PEEKABOOOOO!! AHHHHH IM SO HAPPY I SEE THEM AGAIN!! I’m so glad he’s going to Hyde too cause I’m not ready. Also… the mermaid thing is so weird. For the Montkraken Mermaid, they seem to refer to it as “it” or “that mermaid”, but when they speak of the second mermaid, they use personal pronouns like “he /him”. Haru’s expression as well when he heard someone was abusing mermaid flesh… it’s a new one with a little crease under his eye. It’s such a sad face like, did he know this mermaid personally or was this fear?? Either way, I wanna meet him cause the other one was so pretty.

…You guys know the “I see who you are… you are my enemy” sound that’s on TikTok or reels or wtv? YEAH THATS SONG WAS PLAYING IN MY HEAD WHEN HYDE SAID WE HAD TO DO A SPEECH. HYDE IM IN YOUR WALLS. URGHHHH I HATE HIMMMMM. Call to action my ass IK either Taiga or Leo are gonna get their asses out of the door after the speech. OR BOTH. I’m starting to tweak.

NOOOOO THE SPEECH IS THE NEXT CHAPTER?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

I feel so bad for Zenji… like I’m so deadass. Dude he sounds so sad about how he’s dead it’s so.. URGHHHH. ALSO I CALLED IT. THEY ARE BROTHERS. AHAHHAHA!! Well it was kinda obvious cause everyone thought it too but WOMP WOMP. Also I love his real name, Taro Kirisaki. It’s pretty :)!! But these lines killed me

“and though I have taken my final blow, my brotherly heart can’t help but worry for my kin. … Not that he has any idea I’m still around.” YEOUCH?? I DIDNT COME TO CRY BRO…

I’m tweaking out because of this speech bro. I’m gonna choose the corniest stuff and hope for the best. “I feel bad please stop for me 🥺” headass.

Taiga is officially my enemy as well. I called that shit about him leaving URGH. WHAT A FLIBBERTYJIBBET!! His outfit eats tho so it balances out. LIKE DAMNNNN. HE LOOKS SO GOOD.

DOUBLE?? TRIPLE??? QUINTUPLE???? HELL I MIGHT BECOME A GHOUL TO GET THAT MONEY GOLLY 😍😍😍!! CAUSE IN THIS ECONOMY??Also thanks Jin you a real one twin. Bouta split this cash with my wife and I’ll send you a wedding invite.

EDWARD. ED PLEASE. STOP PUTTING ME IN THE SPOTLIGHT… well it’s out now so woopy!! I really wonder what the others have to say about that cause they just gave really vague surprised reactions. Well, Ritsu documented it. I love that little guy please don’t ever change you silly.

NUMBER ONE CORNELIUS HATER IDC. Unless I know your intentions I DONT CAREEEEE. YOU ARE AN OPP IT IS ON SIGHT WITH YOU. SAME WITH YOU NICOLAS!! “I didn’t know whether to tell you or not I’m sowwy 🥺” CHUPA MI PITO HOE 😡.

… you’re telling me I didn’t have to do that awful speech because DANTE AGREED?? IM DONE. IM WHOOPING EVERYONE IN THE ROOM AND AURING THE PLACE OUT. FIRST ONES OUT ARE HYDE FOR NOT TELLING ME, NICOLAS, AND CORNELIUS. ARGHHHHHHH. Also, dude, who is that Janitor guy like seriously.

ROMEO??? AND HYDE???? WHAT IS THIS ABOUT BUTTERCUP?? Wdym worked for him?? What is going on… SPECIAL MISSION??? SHO??? OH NAW. I CANT TRUST NOBODY ANYMORE 😭

Towa crying :(. What does the fruit shrinking have to do with it now?? I’m so confused.

ALRIGHT IF YOU MADE IT TO THE END WOW YOU HAVE DEDICATION. Yeah this is my personal yap session to this chapter and it’s so URGH. I’m so excited to see the next chapter and I hope we get to see more and more. Now with the Gala in place, we can finally start WORKING. Based on the timeline, we have about … 8 months left?? So hopefully, for MC’s sake, she gets cured. BYE BYE UNTIL NEXT EPISODE!!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Bigger egg project mayhem: Floyd and Riddle as partners or Malleus and Leona as partners (whichever is more fun to write about)

[Referencing this post!]

Ehhh, may as well do both 😂 I don’t intend for these egg asks (assuming I get more) to get too lengthy. I’m just talking off the cuff here~

Riddle and Floyd:

Riddle takes the project SUPER seriously. He borrows books on how to raise eggs from the library, researches online, baby proofs Heartslabyul, asks Trey (and the flamingos) for advice, etc. He’s intent on acing this assignment!!

Floyd’s interest in the egg is on-and-off. Sometimes he’s keen but is only intent on chucking the egg at buildings or people for the laughs (which Riddle quickly halts; Floyd complains, “Whaaat? I was just takin’ Junior here on a joyride!”). Other times Floyd rolls his eyes and slinks off to do his own thing, completely ignoring the egg (which is honestly what Riddle prefers). What irks Riddle the most is when Floyd holds the egg high up over his head and dares him to “take it back” in spite of his “short” temper.

Riddle assumes his Karen form (he takes after his mother) and aggressively nags Floyd for his lack of action. “At least stay out of my way if you’re not going to contribute!!” If he was wearing a bathrobe, fuzzy slippers, and hair curlers, it would be easy to mistake Riddle for a disgruntled spouse telling off his husband for staying out late drinking or gambling instead of being present for their family.

Leona and Malleus:

Leona gives zero fucks about spending quality time with egg. He wants to do the bare minimum. Since he knows it’ll inevitably get crushed when he rolls over in bed, Leona tells Malleus to stick it in the fridge and then fuck off to let him nap. Malleus then proceeds to somehow break the fridge with his fae strength (whether physical or magical). Leona has to get off his ass to show him how it’s done, and he isn’t happy about it.

Maybe it’s his dragonic instincts kicking in, but Malleus is extremely fond and protective of the egg. He forms a little bubble for it and tends to it as though it were his own offspring, even introducing it to Diasomnia (Sebek wept actual tears of joy) and to Gao-Gao Dragon-kun (whom Malleus dubs the egg’s “big brother”.

Leona’s relieved that Malleus is assuming the responsibilities while he reaps the benefits of a good grade. As the old adage goes, work smarter, not harder. He thought it would be smooth sailing for the weekend, but he’s annoyed whenever Malleus magically pops up for help operating some piece of technology he needs to “appease the child”. “Dammit, lizard!! I’m not your handyman!!”

… As expected, they end up bickering and getting on each other’s nerves like crazy.

[storm-angel989]

Outside The Office Part Thirty Two

I woke up the next morning still tied firmly to the bed frame. My wrists were sore, and every part of me ached. 

“Val?” I whimpered. “Val?” I pulled on the restraints and I kicked my leg towards the figure laying next to me. “Val, untie me right now!!”

“Good morning, love.” He sat up and leaned over, pressing his lips to my forehead. “How are you feeling?”

“Valentino, let me out of these things,” I demanded. 

“In a moment, my love,” his finger ran up my stomach. “How do you feel?”

“Angry that I’ve told you twice now I want out. Will it take the safe word to release me?”

His lips twitched in a smile and he carefully untied the restraints, massaging my wrists as he did. 

“I’m sorry love, I needed to be sure you weren’t going to jump me like a bunny in heat,” he said lightly. 

“What was that? Did you drug me?” I asked as sat down next to me. 

“Inadvertently,” he said softly. “I meant it when I said I’ve never had sex in my full demon form. The most I’ve done is kiss, let the drugs slip into someone. But apparently, if I bite and allow my saliva to sink into your bloodstream, it turns you into a raging, feral creature who wants nothing more than to carry my babies. So I’m going to assume that that’s the secret to my procreation.” 

He paused. “I don’t know if it affects your fertility. It could. But I’m not currently eager to find out. I’m sorry, I’m amore. I didn’t know.” 

“Val, I believe you. At least we know. Thanks for not…taking advantage.” I let myself sink against him.

He kissed the tip of my head. “Never. I love you.” He paused. “Do you…want kids, someday?” 

I hesitated. “I need to be engaged, married, and have a life with the person I love before kids. I don’t want to make the mistakes my dad made. You?”

He leaned in and kissed me. “Someday, Princessa. They’re not off the table, but I’m not ready for them yet. I need the same level of commitment from the love of my life.” He took my hand in his. “Why don’t we get some breakfast and then if you’d like, we can hit the gym.” 

“Don’t you have to work?” I asked.

He grinned. “Later today, mi amore. This morning is just about you. And not just because I want to keep an eye on you after last night.” 

I yawned and kicked my feet out from under the blanket. “Then I’m going to get dressed and we can go to the gym, then eat. I like to workout before I eat.” I looked at him and waited to see if he objected. 

“Alright, Princess. If that’s what you want.” He replied as I rifled through my chest of clothes I kept in his room. When I came out of the bathroom, he was waiting for me- dressed in shorts, sneakers and a form fitting black shirt.

“Wait, why are you dressed like you’re going to work out? I thought you were just going to do paperwork.”  I asked.

He raised an eyebrow. “Princesa. Do you think I keep this body shape by sitting in a chair all day? I work out. Maybe not as regimented as you are, but I fit it in my day to day. So do Vox and Vel- it’s just rare we make it at the same time.” 

I shrugged as we walked towards the elevator and stepped out into Velvette’s studio. “I just thought your hotness was a perk of being a demon.”

He laughed. “No, Princessa. I wish. Do you have your plan from Vox for reference?”

“He sent it to my phone, so I’m all set.” I replied as I jumped on the treadmill. I opened the email and scanned through day one. Cardio, distance goal, ideal time, and I was supposed to fill in my actual time. Followed by weights- each day broken down into specific targeted areas. And a note. 

Sweetheart,

Don’t fuck around, or you won’t like the consequence. I promise. My eyes are on you. 

-Vox

Reading the warning, I wondered if Vox was tracking the data from the treadmill as well- honestly besides the cameras, I wouldn’t put it past him. Nor was I particularly eager to find out the consequences he referenced. 

To my surprise, Valentino got onto the treadmill next to me.  He seemed un-bothered and completely focused on himself as he put his ear buds in. I put my own in and settled into the rhythm of the run. Eventually, Valentino left his place on the treadmill and switched to the weight rack directly across from me. 

I stumbled as I watched him set the weights. Gone was the uncomfortable feeling of being watched- now I was the one doing the watching. Damp with sweat, his black shirt clung to every curve of his body and my gaze concentrated on the movement of his muscles. Wrapped up in my observation, I stopped paying attention to the miles under my feet. 

The machine slowed suddenly and I looked down at the numbers. Ah, fuck. I was over. My phone buzzed and saw a text from Vox.

Stop staring at Valentino’s abs and pay attention. 

I jerked my attention towards the wall, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out where his camera was hidden. I resigned myself to joining him on the weight floor- at least then, Vox couldn’t bitch too badly. 

“Ah, princessa. Done with your run?” Valentino asked as he sat on the weight bench. He took a drink from his water bottle. “Do you want me to spot you?” 

I felt myself flush at the sight of him. God, could he be any sexier? 

“Princessa?” He prompted, amusement in his voice. “Hello?” 

I snapped myself back to attention. “Hm? What? Sorry, Val I…”

“See something you like?” he teased as he stood up. “Come, princessa. Vox shared with me your plan- allow me to…walk through each step with you.”

Oh, fuck yes.

His hands fell to my waist as I went through the motions. Vox had written out today as a core day, which gave Valentino plenty of reasons to put his hands on me. 

“Core tight, princessa,” he purred in my ear. “Come on now, you can do it. Just a few more reps and you’re done. I promise there will be a nice reward for you in the end.”

I bit my lip as I struggled to maintain my focus . Did he not understand how hard he made it to concentrate? I couldn’t break myself into the military mindset with his hands on my body.

“The…reward is the pain,” I replied through gritted teeth as I pushed for what should be the final rep. “Every muscle should, should ache.”

The weights were on the floor in a matter of seconds. Valentino pushed me down against the floor. 

“Try again, princessa,” he growled as the weight of his body held mine in place, his hands wrapped around my wrists. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I panted. God, this man could do anything he wanted to me in this position. 

“Princessa. We don’t punish ourselves with exercise, or push ourselves to the breaking point,” he scolded. His lips hovered above mine. 

“Alright, alright, God, Val, it isn’t a big deal,” I squirmed under him. “Unless you’re going to fuck me right here and now, get off.”

His expression twisted into a smile. “Well princessa, I did promise to reward you, did I not?”

“A literal moment ago, now are you going to make good on that promise or what?” I demanded as his fingers hooked the elastic of my shorts. “Come on, let's take this upstairs.”

“Oh, princessa, haven’t you learned yet? I always keep my promises.” 

I felt a shiver run down my back as my shorts were cast to the side. His hands held my arms above my head as his cock pushed deep inside of me.

“V-Valentino,” I hissed. “Valentino, someone will see us.”

“Not if you’re quiet. So shut that pretty mouth of yours or I’ll give it something to quiet it,” he growled lowly. “Shussh princessa, not a sound if you don’t want to get caught.”

I bit my lip to hold back the moans that threatened to escape as his hips pumped faster against me. I felt his cock twitch inside of me and I let out a soft moan as I came around him.

“Oh princessa, I told you to be quiet,” Valentino scolded.

His cock slid out of me and he pulled me upright on my knees as he sat on the weight bench. His hands twisted in my hair as he yanked me forward, my lips pressing against his cock.

“Open, princessa,” he cooed. “Show me what a good girl you are.”

God fucking damn it, Valentino, I thought with an internal groan. 

I opened my mouth and swallowed as much of him as I could. He kept his hand tight against the roots of my hair as I sucked, moving my head faster as his cock grew harder. I worked my lips around the base, and looked up at him as I sucked. 

His eyes met mine and his cock exploded in my throat. I swallowed around his cock, his grip tighter in my hair as he slowly let me release. 

“You’re getting better, princessa,” he breathed quietly as he tried to catch his breath. He tugged his sweatpants back on as I found my shorts. “How about breakfast, my love? I think you exceeded…expectations, don’t you?” He offered his hand to me and helped me to my feet.

I leaned into him and buried my face into his chest. He looked surprised but wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. 

“I love you, princessa,” he cooed softly. 

“I love you too,” I mumbled, closing my eyes against him. “Just…just hold me for a moment, please?”

His arms tightened around me, and his hand ran down the side of my face, pressing my head against his chest. I closed my eyes and listened to the beating of his heart, trying to settle the nerves that started to resurface. 

“Did I do a good job, Val?” I asked quietly. “Are you…are you pleased?”

“Princessa, why wouldn’t I be?” He asked. 

I pressed my head tighter into him. “Cause I’m not hurting, I just…”

“Babygirl. Listen to me. You did exactly what you were told to do. You pushed your body no further than your plan allowed. This isn’t punishment- working your body and moving it should not be penance.” Valentino’s fingers found my chin and he tilted my head up to meet his gaze. “I am proud of you- proud that you didn’t force yourself to the point of sickness. And I’m even more pleased that you let me be by your side.” He leaned down and kissed me.

I let my lips sink against his. The feeling of love, of being protected washed over me. In his arms, in his presence, I was safe- even from myself. He pulled away after a few seconds and gave me another kiss. 

“Com’on. I’ll make breakfast and then…I think we both need a shower, hm?” He reached down and his hand squeezed my ass. “I have another reward planned.”

Two rewards in one day? Fuck yes.

[riant-draws]

You're so big brain yes yes yes moon and younger pebbles thoughts yes I'm eating up your art

First, thank you!! Sorry I took so long to respond ;-; been pretty tired lately and had to give this a lot of thought… perhaps too much… eheheh buckle up, anon, you’re in for an essay~ (also, I know you asked about Moon and younger Pebbles but this is like, 90% an analysis about Pebbles, oops-)

^ excuse me what happened here

also please in mind that these are just my headcanons (although some of them are very closely tied to canon, which is why I’ll be referencing some pearls) sooo uhh yeah! rambles under the cut!

To talk about Pebbles as a “kid” (in quotes because I don’t believe iterators have a childhood or developmental period that can effectively be compared to humans), I first have to talk about his construction—mostly because it was so unique.

When reading the pale green pearl (exterior) to Artificer, Pebbles mentions that his construction was very controversial among the council. And, when given to Moon, one of the white pearls reads:

“‘We, of the Five-hundred-and-ninety-second High Convocation of the True Anointed Citadel, do hereby demand, with full force of Law and Religious doctrine, an Immediate end to construction of the Apostate Superstructure Abomination. To place shadow upon the Divine Body of the True Anointed Citadel is outrageous blasphemy and cannot be tolerated, no matter the circumstances...’ Clearly this was ignored.”

As we can see in the game, Pebbles was built mostly on top of what’s now Shaded Citadel—which really pissed off the monks and religious leaders of the True Anointed Citadel, a very holy site. While talking to Artificer, he speaks casually and plainly, so you can assume that he didn’t mind their disdain for him. Granted, by the time of Arti’s campaign, all his citizens are long gone, so perhaps he just doesn’t care about their opinions anymore (if he ever did to begin with). But. When he was still brand new, he would have had to listen to so much hate directed at him, all for simply existing. While I did say earlier that I don’t think iterators have developmental stages like humans do, they definitely still mature and develop. Just because you’re created with an adult brain doesn’t mean that you’re automatically mature and experienced. Even Pebbles reflects on how he’s changed while reading the viridian pearl (garbage wastes):

“[…] much of my early work was encrypted before storage. Though my younger self has done a very poor job. […] now I can just see all of the holes in it. Created from a youthful and reticent mentality.”

So, clearly, iterators do learn and grow. But getting back on topic, I imagine that especially since Pebbles was very young when all that hate was piled on him, it would’ve been traumatic. Additionally, it’s implied (again, mainly in the pale green pearl) that he’s not exclusively hated. The pearl’s author clearly doesn’t want to piss Pebbles off, and they also state that one problematic House “[has] less than forty members on the Council, but still Tilt the spiritual Discourse with Our Iterator in a direction that most obviously Displeases him, and is hardly High Held by anyone in the Community either! We can not Risk this!”

(Of course, the pearl’s author is probably biased so who knows if they’re a reliable source of info or not, but there’s no way to verify that and hey it’s in the game after all so I’m just gonna roll with it.) This means that there are citizens (possibly even the majority) who actually like him, or at least want to remain in his good graces. With him. Y’know. Being responsible for their livelihoods and all. And you might think: great! Pebbles isn’t being universally hated! Well. The outpourings of both love and hate from his creators would create such a toxic environment and cause a lot of cognitive dissonance in him: he’s adored, even worshiped, a proud iterator revered as a godlike figure. But on the other hand, he’s despised, called horrible things like “Apostate Superstructure Abomination,” generally told he has no right to exist, etc etc. And this probably went on for years and years (or whatever the in-universe equivalent is). That would wear down anybody’s self-esteem. Which, in canon, you can see echoes of those thought patterns when the storyline takes place, who knows how long later. This stuff has affected him deeply.

All of this to say, I think his arrogance and god complex (that he displays in canon) are coping mechanisms—whether he’s aware of it or not. He tells himself that he’s “godlike in comparison” to everything that walks this forsaken world, that he’s so much better. In doing so, he runs from his mistakes and doesn’t process his emotions and traumas, generally making a bigger mess of himself. Because to admit the truth would be to admit that he’s broken, that he’s lonely, that he hates himself, I could go on but this isn’t getting any shorter aha…

Moooooving on, not to state the obvious, but it’s heavily implied throughout various pearls and bits of dialogue that Pebbles was one of the last iterators ever built. Given that he was constructed far closer (relatively speaking) to the time of public mass ascension and the fact that Moon was struggling to care for them, his creators would’ve likely been desperate (and perhaps a bit sloppy) while building him. As a result, the parts of him responsible for regulating his emotions and decision-making (his equivalent of a prefrontal cortex) are stunted, as that would’ve been one of the last things to develop. All of this just contributes to his, well, susceptibility to mental health issues/instability. Yaaaay.

side note: I also headcanon that iterator cans are more grown than built. When reading the light pink pearl (outskirts), Moon mentions that structures are infused with microbes that initiate healing cycles that gradually heal and waterproof broken structures. While she’s likely referring to structures on the ground, it would make sense that at least all parts of an iterator below the rain layer would be made in the same fashion. And if you take the bronze pearl (Metropolis), for instance, Moon tells the player that “It’s a blueprint for a type of large immobile purposed organism. This one seems to be specifically for the cities built on top of our structures. […] newer designs began to use a mass-produced cellular build called living blocks,” she’s basically saying that the buildings on top of Pebbles and other newer iterators are primarily organic. So why not grow large parts of their superstructures as well? We already know that iterators are partly biological, and also, growing them certainly would make a lot of the construction process at least semi-autonomous. And this way, the ancients wouldn’t have to risk their lives to go below the rain layer and work on his legs, underhang, etc.

Time for one of my favorite headcanons! And one that’s much more headcanon-y than the others lol, that is, Pebbles’ puppet being child-sized. Big head, big eyes, sorta stubby limbs, rounder features (except his antennae, those are triangles for some reason ffs lol idk what I’m doing) etc. First (and more boring) reason is that if Moore’s law applies in some form in-universe (not an all-important Law of Science or anything, just an observed trend meaning that as time goes on and developments improve, tech gets both smaller/more space-efficient and better), that means Pebbles shouldbe both one of the most powerful iterators and one of the smallest. But if the whole reason e was built was to provide a home to Moon’s citizens because she couldn’t care for them very well anymore (deep green pearl, Metropolis—this is Moon’s reading, but Pebbles’ is interesting, too), why would they make his can smaller? Simple: they didn’t. Instead, his can has more empty space inside it as components are smaller, and his puppet is tiny. Like. Waist-high on an ancient.

Another reason he was designed to look childlike was to try to make him look as appealing & likeable to the public as possible. With how controversial his construction was, his creators and whatever equivalent of a marketing team they employed would’ve hoped to sway the monks and everybody who strongly opposed his construction, like, “look! he’s just a little guy! look at those pink cheeks! you wouldn’t hate a ‘kid’, would you?!?” (spoiler alert: they would)

But as consequence, his image was very marketable soooooooo

yeah idk man pebbles plushie canon

On the more angsty side of things, unfortunately for Pebbles, many ancients and even other iterators (looking at you, Sig and Suns) didn’t take him very seriously since he permanently looks like a kid. This just added fuel to the fire, making him even more frustrated and feeling unheard. Just. All of it is such a bad situation.

Moon, of course, sees how he’s being treated by his citizens (who used to be hers, and she wasn’t fond of them anyway) and her own peers, she knows it’s so harmful to him, but what can she do? She may be the local group senior and his administrator, but he strikes me as having such an independent personality (yay more stuff caused by trauma) that he feels like he’s caught in her shadow, perhaps. “Looks to the Moon’s little brother.” So he probably isn’t… very receptive to her attempts to build him up, but man, she still tries. And it’s worth mentioning that he’s also a workaholic, so he always thinks that he has “better things to do” than, say, spending time with his sister.

I bet she’d still try to play games with Pebbles (and he’d probably indulge her on occasion), show him cool things, engage him in conversation, try to get him to talk about his interests, etc., all to bond with him and get to know him better. And he’s a stubborn little piece of work, sure, but he genuinely does care for her (it’s in canon and shows up in several places).

I could say more but this has gone on long enough, but I do wanna clarify that while I don’t support his decisions or actions, his motivations are understandable. my guy is a dude who was put into a horrible situation and screwed over from the beginning. sure, all the stuff he’s been through doesn’t excuse his garbage, sometimes immature behavior in canon, but it certainly explains it. (good lord, I could write an essay on how he’s changed by the time of Rivulet’s campaign alone) uh anyway he’s a fascinating character who I spend too much time thinking about thank you for reading if you made it this far lol

(also, gotta say that a lot of these apply to my fic, too, shameless plug and some of them have already been mentioned or alluded to in it—it’s a time-travel fix-it that starts waaay back in the past so if that’s your thing, hey XD)

[nyxlaufeyson]

Gift from the Sky

Loki Oneshot Masterlist - Main Masterlist

POV: Third

Ship: Loki x Darcy Lewis

Type: Fluff... maybe a little crack as well? But that's just bc it's literally impossible to write this ship without just a bit of fun.

Warning: Lil bit of suggestive referencing but that's it

Wordcount: 1,769

Synopsis: It's not every day an angel ends up bleeding in your yard. But it did happen to Darcy Lewis.

A/N: This was originally part of my AU-gust shit last year, and well, yeah it just got finished. Slowly trying to crack my writers block. Tasertricks is so fun tho!!!

“What the shitballs?” Darcy said, hearing a loud crash outside. Having some sort of self-survival skills, she grabbed her taser and headed outside, where she found a man laying on the ground. 

Darcy stared at the man for a second, who made no move to get up. “Uh, sir?” She called, but the man didn’t answer.

She contemplated calling the cops, as the man looked pretty beat up. He had several cuts and bruises adorning his face, and seemed to have taken a pretty big fall. Where he had fallen from, however, was not something Darcy knew.

“Are you ok?” She asked, and this time the man groaned in response. Baby steps, baby steps. “Do you want me to call the police?” She asked, and that seemed to get the man's attention. 

“No.” He responded, slowly sitting up. “No need for police. I apologize for the intrusion. I’m assuming I’m on Midg- Earth?” He asked, and Darcy stared at him. 

Maybe he she would need her taser after all. It was becoming increasingly clear that this man was either on drugs, or just batshit crazy. Darcy wasn’t taking any chances on either. “Yes, you are on Earth. New Mexico, to be exact.”

The man stood up, wiping some dirt off of his outfit. He was rather tall, and his black hair was loose around his face. He was dressed in some sort of white robe that faded to black at the bottom. 

Then it hit Darcy. There was a mental facility not too far from where she lived, and there was a chance that this man had somehow escaped.

“Look dude.” She said, still gripping her taser in the pocket of her jacket. “I don’t know where you’re from, or how you ended up here, but I don’t care. As long as you get off my property, I won’t snitch. There’s a gas station down the road you can go to if you want.”

He seemed to nod, and then he tried to rub his back with his hands. Darcy had no clue what he was doing, so she just stood there. “Got an itch or something?” 

He shook his head, frowning, before turning around so Darcy could see his back. “Is there anything there? Any pair of, perhaps, big objects on my back?” 

Darcy opened her mouth a little bit, confused as frick, before shaking her head. “Nope, just your back.” She said, before squinting a bit further. “Wait. You're bleeding.”

Darcy walked up closer to the man, still well aware of the heavy weight of her taser in her pocket, to get a closer look. “Holy guacamole, dude! What did you do to your back?” 

Blood was quickly seeping through the fabric of the man’s robes, and Darcy became increasingly concerned. “Ah.” He said, seemingly coming to a realization. “So that’s where the pain was coming from.”

Darcy contemplated her choices of actions before making a decision. Chances were, this guy wasn’t going to want to call an ambulance, for whatever reasons that might be. But, because Darcy was a decent human being, she didn’t want to send the man off to bleed out either. 

“Look, I’ve got some stuff I can bandage you up with inside, but you’ve gotta at least tell me who you are.” She finally said, and the man nodded. 

“I am Loki, angel of Alfheim.” He introduced, before tilting his head. “Well, was an angel of Alfheim. I suppose now I’d be considered fallen.”

“Right.” Darcy said, sighing. So this man was from the mental ward. Fantastic, really, since she had just offered to patch him up. 

She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, not letting her guard down, and helped him inside. She had him sit on a chair while she grabbed some antiseptics and bandages. “I’m going to need you to take the robe off your back, but please leave the bottom half on.” She said, and she heard the man laugh from the other room.

“So, how’d you get your black to bleed like that?” Darcy asked, taking in the two oddly shaped wounds. It was almost like… She chuckled to herself. “Let me guess, your wings fell off or something?”

Loki grimaced as Darcy began to wipe away some of the blood. “Something like that.” He replied, and Darcy silently shook her head as she applied some of the antiseptic to his skin. He hissed, but she continued her movements.

“I appreciate your hospitality…” Loki trailed off, and Darcy smiled. 

“Darcy.” She said, cutting off some of her bandage wrap to use. She had to walk around Loki, wrapping him up like a present. Luckily, the bandages managed to stop most of the bleeding, so that was good.

He grunted as the bandage rubbed up on his wound, but managed to pull off a tight smile. “Nice to meet you, Darcy.”

Darcy finished with the bandages and zipped them up in a first aid kit and put it up in the closet before tossing Loki a water bottle. “Drink this.”

Loki did as he was told, gulping down the water as Darcy checked the pantry. “You hungry?” She asked, digging around to find something she could offer him.

“Yes, actually.” Loki said, and Darcy pulled out a can of chicken noodle soup. 

“I have this.” She said, holding the can up. “I probably need to go grocery shopping, because I don’t have a whole lot.” 

Loki nodded, waving his hand in the air. “Yes, that will suffice, thank you.” He said, and Darcy threw the soup in the microwave, because she didn’t feel like waiting to heat it up in a pot.

Once it was done, she poured it into a bowl and grabbed a spoon, handing it to Loki. “Thank you.” He said, and Darcy grabbed a bag of chips for herself.

Once they were both done eating, they wallowed in silence for a few minutes before either of them said anything. Finally, Darcy broke the silence. “So who are you really?” She asked, catching Loki a bit off guard. 

“I am who I said I am. Loki, angel-fallen-of Alfheim.” He replied, but Darcy just raised her eyebrows.

“Right, so I’ve heard, but why have you fallen, or whatever you call it, to Earth?” She inquired, still convinced that this was probably an escaped patient. He didn’t seem to mean her any harm, though, so she figured it would be alright. She didn’t completely relax, since she wasn’t that stupid.

The man/angel shrugged. “I grew bored of such familiar scenes. After so long, there was nothing left for me there. Unfortunately, I could not leave without some,” he glanced at his bandages, “retaliation.”

Darcy nodded. She wasn’t believing his story one bit, but to humor herself, she popped a question to see what his response would be. “If you are who you say you are, can’t you prove it?”

Loki didn’t seem off put by her question. “How would you like me to prove it to you?”

This caused Darcy to stop and think about it. If he was really a fallen angel, what would she have him do? Then, she had it. “Summon me a chocolate milkshake with whipped cream and a cherry on top.”

This caused him to raise an eyebrow. “That’s how you ask me to prove my angelicness to you? A milkshake?” 

Darcy frowned. “Something wrong with that?”

Loki shook his head and held out his hand. Truth be told, he wasn’t entirely sure that his magic would work now that he was on Earth and his wings were gone. If he couldn’t summon anything, he would look like a major fool. Which, granted, wouldn’t be the worst problem he’d encountered, but still.

Low and behold, a chocolate milkshake appeared in his right hand, and he handed it to Darcy, who was dumbstruck.

“What the hell?!” She yelled, eyes wide. Maybe this guy wasn’t from the crackhouse. “How the hell?”

Loki chuckled. “From my realm, if you said that, they’d banish you.” 

Darcy, who had now grabbed the milkshake, rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, this is the United States. First amendment, buddy.” 

That did nothing but confuse Loki, but Darcy didn’t even notice that he was confused. She was still focused on the fact that she had a frickin’ angel in her house. An angel! Her friend Jane would be all over this right now.

Loki shrugged. “I did try to tell you, in all fairness.” 

“Yeah, well, forgive me for not believing you! It’s not everyday that a bleeding fallen angel appears on your doorstep.” Darcy said with a roll of her eyes. “What are you even planning on doing here on Earth? It’s not a great place, I’ll tell you straight up. Especially America. We’ve got a lot of shit going on right now.” 

He scratched his neck. “I didn’t formulate much of a plan past getting out of there.” 

Darcy took a long sip of the milkshake. “Yeah, I get that.” She realized that the poor angel/guy was still halfway dressed in a weird, blood-stained gown. “Hey, do you want some clothes? I probably have something that will fit.”

Loki nodded. “That would be excellent, thank you, Darcy.” 

Okay, she could not have been getting butterflies from someone who literally fell from the sky. But she definitely was. Since when had her body ever listened to her?

She looked through her drawers and found one of her super-oversized shirts and a pair of sweatpants that one of her exes had left at some point. 

She went back into the living room and handed him the clothes. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome. Uhm, look, do you need a place to spend the night? I mean, it’s getting kinda late and I don’t want you to be wandering the streets. Especially if you’re not from… around here.” Darcy said. Great, go and offer him your home. That won’t be weird at all. Cohabitation with an angel.

He smiled. “I appreciate your hospitality, but I do not wish to be a burden on you. Surely such a beautiful woman has perhaps a… housemate? I do not wish to disrupt anyone else's realities more than I have here today.”

Housemate? And, hold on, did he just call her beautiful? “Ha! Nope, just me here.”

Loki tilted his head. “Well then, we must find a way for me to repay your hospitality…” 

She smirked. “Well, there is one thing I can think of, if you’re up for it.”

And that was the story of how Darcy Lewis fucked a fallen angel.

TAGS: (Comment or inbox me to be added/removed; along with what to be tagged for): @michief-dream @iceeericeee

[lightandheatao3]

The Bunker - Criminal Minds

Chapter 9: The Emptiness

Summary: Spencer Reid wakes up in a locked bunker to find half the current BAU and two of its departed members unconscious on the floor. The old team is back together but the reunion is not what any of them would have wished for. An Unsub from their past has decided it's time they all stop keeping secrets, even if it means exposing them by force.

Hotch and Derek have been pulled back into a world they tried to escape. Emily, Rossi, and JJ are doing their best to keep it together. Spencer is falling apart.

AKA a found family is reunited and forced to go through the most nightmarish version of family therapy imaginable.

Set months after the end of Criminal Minds: Evolution. Evolution referenced, but not necessary to understand the story.

Chapter Summary: Rossi has a secret, but even he's not sure what it is.

Read chapter 9 on AO3 or under the cut. All comments and reblogs are extremely appreciated <3 I would love to know what you like about the story :)

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

"She hasn’t got anything! She’s fishing to see what she can get us to admit to. I don’t know how you can’t see that,” said Rossi in exasperation.

“This is the same person who managed to track me down in wit-sec, Dave, I don’t think we should underestimate her,” pointed out Hotch. "Even if you're right, which I agree is a possibility, what's our alternative?"

“She isn’t going to let us starve,” countered Rossi. “If we start giving her personal information that she may not already have, all we’re doing is weakening our position.”

“Dammit, Rossi, how much weaker can our position get?” snapped Derek. “If I die of starvation because you’re too proud to tell us what you’re hiding I am going to track you down in the afterlife and kill you again. I don't care about your pride more than I care about getting home to my kids.”

“I’m an old man, alright? I’ve got at least a dozen things that fall into the ‘I’m never talking about this with anyone’ category. I don’t even know how to narrow it down,” said Rossi, throwing up his hands dramatically.

“So tell us all of it,” insisted Derek.

Rossi scoffed and said something in Italian that Spencer didn't understand, but could only assume was cursing of some kind.

Spencer sighed, standing in the corner, watching them bicker.

He had been halfway through The Shipman’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales when the door had clunked. The others had shot up like lightning, gathering around the portal like pathetic mewling kittens waiting for feeding time; thin, weak, desperate.

He had hovered at the back of the group, watching. It's not that he wasn't as hungry as the rest of them. Perhaps he just lacked the capacity to hope like they did, because he had known, somehow, that it wasn't going to be food coming through that chamber.

All that had passed through was a note.

JJ had read it out. “You have all been bad and broken the rules, but I know how to forgive. Are you hungry yet? If you want to prove to me that you are well behaved, Agent Rossi will tell you what he is hiding.”

Things had quickly devolved from there.

“Come on, Rossi,” said Emily. “It will be something recent. Something big. Likely something you have been actively trying to conceal. I know you know what she wants you to say. I could see it on your face as soon as you heard the note.”

“Look at what Emily and Spence had to go through,” said JJ. “You’re not the only one this is happening to. We have to eat. It’s the first rule of survival when held captive. You have to eat whenever you can."

“What if I spill every detail of my personal life to you and then she doesn’t feed us anyway, because I don’t know what the fuck she wants me to say?”

“Then I guess we’re taking your secrets to the grave, so what the fuck does it matter?” countered Derek.

“Dave, we don’t want to hear this anymore than you want to say it,” said Hotch. “Can we please just get this over with?”

Rossi glanced at Spencer from across the room. “Nothing to say?” he asked, maybe hoping he would defend him, maybe needing him to confirm that they were all against him.

Everyone looked at him.

He shrugged. “I…” he’d opened his mouth without knowing what he wanted to say, “… don’t care.”

There was a drawn out pause as the others all tilted heads and raised eyebrows. He folded his arms across his chest and offered nothing else.

“Very helpful, thank you,” deadpanned Rossi.

They all turned back to their bickering, ignoring him.

He tuned it out.

They had made it through War and Peace, Slaughterhouse 5, Gravity’s Rainbow, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy before finally getting onto The Canterbury Tales. The hungrier they all got, the less they talked. The less they moved.

They listened to Spencer recite stories for them for as long as he could until his voice broke or they all fell into a fitful, uncomfortable facsimile of sleep.

He didn’t mind. It was a nice little break from reality. Before he had narcotics, he had books. One certainly wasn't a replacement for the other, but it was an opportunity to be anywhere but in his own head, so he wasn't complaining.

As their bickering turned into a wordless blur of aggression in the background, he wondered if the empty feeling in his bones was hunger, or something else. He really meant what he said. He didn’t care. He didn’t care if Rossi every talked. He didn’t care if they ever ate again.

Since detox, his emotions had swung wildly between anger, grief, and anxiety, crushing sadness, and the constant burning need to scratch an impossible itch.

Slowly, all the rest of it had been slipping away until the only thing left was emptiness and the itch.

It was just as likely the malnutrition and inevitable vitamin D deficiency as anything else.

He wasn't the only one who was being a little stranger than usual. JJ had half an eyebrow almost missing from where she kept pulling at it, and scabs on her knees where she was picking at her skin.

Derek had been crying in his sleep. Not crying instead of sleeping, but literally crying while in REM sleep. A constant stream of silent tears. Spencer had never seen him cry like that, ever. They all silently agreed not to tell him he was doing it.

Spencer was broken from his reverie by a loud and exasperated “Alright! Just shut the fuck up! I’ll talk,” from Rossi. “I still think this is a stupid fucking idea. If we wait, she’ll at least give us another note with something more specific-” he held up a hand to stop the others from interrupting, “If you want me to freely give her information she may not already have so that she can use it against us, then so be it.”

“I just want to eat, Dave,” said JJ sadly. “Derek's not the only one who wants to stay alive to see their kids again.”

His eyes softened. “I know.” He looked at the group. “Okay, gather round kids, time for ol’ Dave to self-flagellate in the town square.”

Rossi sat on the floor, not too far from Spencer. The others all formed something of a circle, arranging themselves in such a way as to include him, whether he wanted to be or not.

He sat down and crossed his legs, just like he used to do when his mom would read to him as a kid.

Rossi sighed. “Fine, alright. If I had to guess, which I do, then I would say our Unsub is most likely referencing some financial issues,” he said cagily. They all stared at him, waiting for him to continue. He sighed again. “Keep in mind, my wife had just died. As you are all aware- well, most of you,” he said with a glance at Hotch, “I was not in a particularly good headspace.”

“To put it mildly,” said Emily.

“Exactly. So, I may have been a little irresponsible when looking for emotional outlets. Now, I enjoy a bit of poker-”

Hotch scoffed. “How much money did you lose, Dave?"

“Who’s telling the story here?” sniped Rossi. “Anyway, it’s not like that. I’m still rich,” he said dismissively. “Unfortunately, the people who are trying to extort me know that I have money to spare and it’s proving to be a motivating factor.”

“What?” shouted Emily, as Hotch put his face in his hands exhaustedly and Derek and JJ boggled.

“Calm down,” said Rossi. “It is not that big a deal. I was- and again I want to point out that I had just lost Krystall- a bit careless. I got involved in an underground poker game that a friend of a friend put me onto and,” he cleared his throat awkwardly, “one particularly tense night, one of them wanted to up the ante. I’d had a few drinks and was feeling particularly depressed and sorry for myself. And I will remind you, this all happened before the Voit case. I am, well, was, in a better place. Prior to being stuck in this bunker, obviously.”

“Oh my god, Rossi, what did you do?” asked JJ, cutting off the rant, bracing herself for the response.

“I’m getting there. Just… Emily, promise me you won’t freak out.”

Emily blanched. “You saying that to me, specifically, is making me feel like I’m definitely going to freak out.”

“Spit it out, Rossi,” said Derek.

“Somebody, not me, suggested... Russian Roulette.”

Rossi scrunched up his face to brace against the reactions before he even finished the sentence. When no reactions came, he cracked an eye open and looked around the room.

Spencer also looked at all of them, not quite able to understand what they were feeling, and not quite able to understand why he wasn’t feeling anything at all. He should be devastated, worried, furious.

Hotch laughed. It was bright, bubbling, and incongruous with the past version of the man that Spencer had known.

“Sorry,” Hotch said, stifling it.

Emily laughed too, which started him up again.

Pretty soon all of them, including Rossi, were doubled over. Red faces, tears streaming from their eyes. It was almost enough to soften the gaunt angles of all of their faces. To make them look fully alive again.

Spencer forced out a laugh.

Emily recovered herself just enough to wheeze out the words; “What are you? A grizzled detective from a Raymond Chandler novel? How is this your life?” before losing composure again completely.

Eventually, with a few fits and starts, the laughter died down.

He'd never seen Hotch laugh like that. Was that because he had changed somehow in his absence, or was that just what starving a bunker does to a person?

“Okay,” panted Derek. “Okay, okay. So how does blackmail factor into this?”

Rossi wiped the tears of laughter from under his eyes. “Oh, turns out some piece of shit knew who I was and was secretly recording the whole thing. It came to my turn, and I couldn’t do it. I came to my senses and just left my money on the table and got the fuck out of there. But the footage doesn’t look good. Enough for a media scandal to make the Bureau shaft me off into forced retirement. Never mind scaring the shit out of my daughter. I didn’t need the drama.”

“The drama…” said a bewildered JJ. “Yeah, that’s the biggest worry here.”

Rossi raised his hands defensively. “I know, alright? Like I said, this was before Voit and before grief counseling and the rest of it. I’m aware that I was not coping very well at the time.” He paused for a moment. “Unlike now, of course, where my life is going great.”

JJ rolled her eyes.

“So, what did you do about the blackmail?”

“Hired an intermediary to deal with it. Someone discreet who knows how to negotiate with people such as that,” he said nonchalantly.

Spencer got the impression that he didn’t intend to elaborate any further.

They all stared at Rossi for a while.

“If that is not the story the Unsub was trying to pry out of you, I am fascinated to know what the fuck else it could be,” said Derek.

“Just wait until it’s your turn,” said Rossi.

“Me? Man, I have nothing to hide. Whatever secrets I had you all learned a long time ago,” said Derek confidently. “This bitch can bring it on.”

“Hopefully we’re all out of here before it becomes an issue,” said Hotch, not so confidently.

“So we’ve got you shooting up heroin,” said Derek, pointing at Spencer, who would usually be irritated or ashamed at the comment, but instead could barely muster a shrug. Derek continued, “and we’ve got you putting guns to your head,” pointing at Rossi, who very carefully didn’t react, “and you interfering with coroner's reports,” pointing at Emily, “and not one of you thinking to just talk to your damn friends when you need help.” A beat. “What the fuck is wrong with you all?”

“Don’t lump me in with them,” said Rossi. “I discussed it at length with my grief councilor. I don’t have to tell you people everything.”

Emily and Spencer exchanged looks.

“Oh great, we’re the problem children,” deadpanned Emily.

He cracked a small smile, almost able to summon a genuine flicker of warmth for his friend.

“Me more so than you, I think,” he said.

“You’ve got that right,” said Derek dryly, but with a small smirk so that Spencer knew he was teasing. “But hey, look where all my good behavior got me. Stuck down here with the rest of you dysfunctional weirdos. Except you JJ,” he added.

She batted her eyes in mock innocence. Hotch raised an eyebrow at being apparently lumped in with the dysfunctional weirdos but offered no argument.

“So, do you think that was it?” asked JJ. “Food is on the way?”

Nobody wanted to be the one to answer, so Spencer did. “I’m sure it is.” He wasn’t sure. She knew it. They all knew it.

They all nodded in agreement.

“Are you feeling up to playing narrator again?” asked Emily.

He let out a breath in relief. That, he could do. He couldn’t think of anything he would rather do more, in fact, than go and live in someone else’s world for a while.

He nodded.

“No more Canterbury Tales, please,” said Rossi. “Something a bit more contemporary.”

“I know just the thing,” said Spencer.

They all found their spots where they could lay on the floor and listen. He closed his eyes, seeing the words of the book as clearly as he had when he read it. He took a breath, then spoke the first line of The Hobbit. They could all use a bit of fantasy, he figured.

[duskspring]

A Hobby and Late Night - Rain/Aurora

Domestic December - Day 17

Summary: Rain and Aurora share a gaming hobby and accidentally stay up til 3 at which point a nice convo happens

Content (do let me know if I forgot anything!): Talks of self discovery, introspection, cuddling

Word count: ~900

“Yes! Get fucked!” Aurora cheered, her arms flying into the air.

For a moment she got to ignore the cramp in her hands, while Rain’s defeat was only worsened by his awareness of his aching back. The two had been fully immersed in the video game they played together all night. Rain had spent most of that time leaning over his own lap, arms resting on his knees, while Aurora hadn’t stopped aggressively clutching her controller in excitement for even a minute.

The water ghoul was happy she enjoyed video games as much as he did. Copia had introduced them to him when he was first summoned and now he got to pass that proverbial torch to her.

He smiled when he saw Aurora yawn, “Tired already? It’s only…” He grabbed his phone to check the time, eye widening in realization. He turned the screen around so she could see, “3am.”

“What?!” Aurora sat up in a hurry, suddenly not as tired. Rain quickly motioned for her to keep it down, causing her to cover her mouth with her hands, “Did we really play that long?”

“Did it really take you that long to beat me?” He teased, referencing how she had wanted to keep playing until she beat him in a match. Unfortunately for her, Rain had much more experience with the levels, hence why it had indeed taken forever.

“You’re rude.” She jokingly pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

“But you did it eventually. Congratulations.” He held out his hand for a friendly shake, but she harshly high fived him instead before yawning again, “Do you want to go to bed?”

“No, I wanna stay with you a little longer.” Aurora crawled over, snuggling into Rain’s side with her arm around his waist.

“That’s alright,” One of his arms came around her shoulders, “I assume you liked that game?”

She nodded excitedly, “I think this one’s my favorite. No offence to Copia, but a lot of the games he plays aren’t nearly as thrilling.”

Rain nodded, “I get that. But relaxing games can be fun. I think you’d like some cozy games with a lot of customization.”

“Oh, that sounds fun.” She sounded overjoyed, regardless of how sleepy she was, “I love character customization. Making yourself look cool in a game is so much easier than changing stuff in real life.”

“Is there anything you would want to change?”

She shrugged, burying her face a little farther into Rain’s side, “Sometimes I see people in outfits or with styles that look so pretty, but I don’t know if they would be fit for me.”

“That makes sense. I feel the same way sometimes when I see Dew or you. You guys look so cool all the time, but I know if I dressed up like that I wouldn’t be true to myself.”

“But how do you know? Have you ever tried?”

“In the case of Dew, yes. I’ve let him make me over before. It didn’t really work,” Rain smiled at the memory, “But for the most part, I don’t know. Well, I know, but I don’t know how I know. That’s just a matter of knowing yourself.”

Aurora took a second to process the words, “That must be nice. Knowing who you are.”

Rain’s smile softened further, brushing a hand through her colored locks, “You’ll get there. You’re still young, still adjusting to topside culture. One of them, at least. It will come.”

“How long will that take?”

“I don’t know,” Rain laughed lightheartedly, “That’s different for everyone.”

The ghoulette stayed quiet for just long enough that Rain thought she may have fallen asleep, “I like who you are.” She suddenly admitted.

“And who am I to you?” He inquired curiously.

“You’re… Rain. You’re considerate and true to your feelings. You love anything waterrelated, it so obviously makes you super happy. You can be shy, but never hide any part of yourself. I never feel like you’re putting up a front to me. Like, I’m always talking to the real you, if that makes sense.”

Rain nodded along, “Thank you. That’s really kind and you are actually making sense to me. If I had to describe you in return, I’d say joyous. You get so excited about even the smallest things and it brings everyone else’s mood up as well. You don’t try to subvert people’s expectations of you, but you still manage to do so. You’re…” Finding the words proved more difficult than expected, “very unique. Even if I don’t always understand, it's clear that you look at the world and other people in such a way that even if it only makes sense to you, it's still something new. That’s a compliment, by the way.” He looked down at his subject of analysis, not getting any reaction. Looking a little closer, he soon realized she had, at last, fallen asleep.

His smile was loving. He carefully peeled her arm from around him so he could stand up. She whined softly at the loss and before she managed to wake herself again, he picked her up to carry her off to bed.

Looking back down at her one more time, Rain saw someone familiar. It was like he understood everything about her even if he really didn’t. It didn’t matter if Aurora didn’t know exactly who she was yet, he knew she’d get there soon. And he could only hope she’d love herself as much as he did.

[My Main Masterlist | Domestic December Masterlist]

[quinloki]

"I think that's a great fic idea" good news, it is, or something very similar. Inspiration is very clearly taken from @/turtletaubwrites series Numbers Game. The reader is a financial advisor who worked for Buggy, who then ends up under Croc and Mihawk because Buggy gets in trouble for ignoring her advice and fucking up the financials. Not trying to start anything, I don't think it's stealing to riff on smth but people should maybe be a bit more up front abt where they take inspiration from. At least give the OG a shout out lol

This is one of those things where there’s not an easy cut and dry answer I can give you or agree with, and I’m going to do my best to lay out why that is.

Is it possible the idea came from the person you’re referencing, but looking at the interactions for the first chapter I don’t see Alexa anywhere, not in the likes or comments.

I don’t even see anyone I follow in there either - which is to say that fandoms are HUGE and we don’t actually all know one another. (And that’s not to say there isn’t overlap in moots, just not with that particular story.)

Now, it’s possible there’s proof somewhere, but my point is that it is statistically just as possible that it’s just a similar idea. I wrote Quicksand’s reader as being a good office worker and coordinator - they weren’t specifically the accountant, but that could also be where the idea came from.

Reader being a competent and useful person makes sense when you’re talking about the Cross Guild. Neither Crocodile nor Mihawk are particularly patient people, and Buggy is enough frustration/comedic relief on his own.

If I shouted out to everyone who had inspired every part of what I write I’d hit tumblr’s post character limit before I got to the story itself. There’s a balance in there somewhere but it can honestly be case by case.

Despite your claim of not trying to start something it very much feels like you are, and while I appreciate you wanting to see credit given where it’s due, inspiration is so interwoven and complex, it’s hard to say exactly where an idea comes from for someone. So I’m going to assume that the vibes are unintentional - I’m sure you very much mean well. (If clarification is needed I’m not experiencing any negative emotions as I say this. I’m worried the vibes are there, but I will believe they were not meant.)

Heck, I had a story idea for a Eustass kid story I was (still am) excited about and when I shared it with my friends someone mentioned it was similar to something Mombat on Wattpad had wrote. And they’re right! The setup of the reader was similar - but I didn’t scrap the story idea because the story itself is going to be different.

And I know it is gonna be different, cause I had read that story by Mombat with my own eyes! And honestly it’s very likely where the inspiration sparked, even though I didn’t consciously make the connection until someone said something.

But there’s bound to be a lot of similar ideas in a singular fandom, because we’re all working with the same source material.

Now, I appreciate the intent, cause we all wanna look out for one another and such, but calling out possible sources of inspiration is maybe a bit much. Though I will say if there’s a dozen points of commonality, then it’s probably worth the mention.

here’s a bit of food for thought - Eustass Kid calling the reader Mouse is something I’m fairly well known for, and it wasn’t even my idea - and the friend I picked it up from had picked it up from someone else. Kaku calls reader Filly in most my one-shots but that’s from another friend. Penguin and Shachi calling reader lil’ Shoal was all my idea, but also I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else thought it up too.

Now, my long and exhausting reply aside, I do want to thank you for putting turtleaub on my radar. Her writing looks wonderful and I love how organized the blog and posts are. I am delighted to have something new to read even if my to read list is painfully long already. And there’s a possibility of making a new friend somewhere in there too \o/

[the-insomniac-emporium]

hello, me again, & I’m sorry if I missed any of your guidelines for requests—but I see that yours are open & I really like your writing! 👀👀 may I request anything fluffy/angsty with Vi/reader? (Or if you’re not writing for her anymore, literally anyone 😂) maybe reader feeling insecure & Vi reassuring them? (But if not that’s okay sjdjdkd)

First off, lemme just say asdfghjkll I meant to have this done months ago, very sorry about the wait! I got most of it done before the holidays hit and I kinda just flailed around for a bit. Also, technically I said I wouldn't be taking Arcane requests yet (because I had a bunch of ideas for Arcane fics I wanted to finish first), but I'm allowed to break my own rules, so~

To Exist Is Enough

Genre: Fluff, comfort Rating: T, maybe? There's a few mildly suggestive lines, but only in the sense that it implies/references past activities Summary: You're feeling a bit insecure today, and Vi does her best to help. Even if she can't make you love yourself right away, she can try to ease your pain. // Alternatively: Somewhat inspired by some posts I've seen talking about unlearning self hatred by starting with self tolerance- you do not have to love your body to tolerate it, to understand that it is useful, that it is a container for your mind. I am not wording this well, oop Notes: Gender neutral reader (for my fellow enbies), referenced + established issues with body image and anxiety, I'm not 100% confident on some of the dialogue, Vi calls the reader "sweets" as a pet name, Caitlyn is mentioned once but only in a friendship context

She knows- always, without fail, more often a blessing than a curse. Whenever your heart trembles, whenever doubts creep up like vines weaving themselves through the cracks of your mind, she knows. It is a sixth sense. A work of magic, almost, the way she knows your patterns as thoroughly as she knows her own. Today proves to be no different than any other, at least in this regard.

“Hey,” Vi says, her smile evident by the way it curves her tone, even within this single syllable. From where you lay, in the dark, you cannot see anything but her silhouette. She’s resting against the doorframe, peering into the bedroom with what you can only assume is gentle concern. “Mind if I turn the light on?” Murmuring your assent, you untuck yourself from your blankets, raising a tired hand to wipe the sleep from your eyes. Soon enough there’s a familiar weight next to you, and through your squinting you can make out Vi’s warm smile. As always, your heart flutters at the sight.

“G’morning,” you mumble, before shifting to rest your head on your girlfriend’s shoulder. It wouldn’t be hard to fall back asleep. There’s a comfort that comes with Vi’s presence, a sense of safety and warmth; a scent too, come to think of it. It grows stronger as you lean into her, face pressed against her neck, breathing in a heavenly mix of undercity spices and Piltovan floral soap (a moving-in gift from Caitlyn). Something about the combination suits her, and you’ve grown to love the sharp contrast. Nowhere felt as much like home as her embrace, and you are quick to lose yourself in the feeling.

“No morning kiss, sweets?” Vi eventually teases. A blush overtakes your cheeks as you sheepishly pull back just far enough to give her what she wanted. Although the kiss is brief, it is more than enough to make your heart skip a beat; and when you catch sight of Vi’s loving gaze in the aftermath? Oh, the entirety of the world was a million miles away, in that moment, nothing existed but the two of you. “Mmm,” she whispers, only daring to break the silence so that she may showcase her affection, “there’s the pretty face I missed so much. You’ve been hiding it from me all morning.”

It’s not her fault that the words make you wince, of course, but she falters all the same. Anxiety had been gnawing at your heart all morning, painfully repeating an age old worry. Your thoughts had followed this path so often, for so long, that they might as well have worn-down the very flesh of your mind, carving in deeper and deeper grooves. Escaping this cycle was something Vi endeavored to help you accomplish. Somedays you even believed her when she complimented your appearance- sometimes it just felt like she was going through the motions, consoling you because that was simply her nature.

“Hey, sweets, please look at me,” Vi says, the words knocking you out of your own head. Honestly, you hadn’t even realized that your eyes were closed. Taking a deep breath, you look back up at her, forcing yourself to give a weak smile. “There we go, that’s better. Can you unclench your jaw for me?” Her fingers gently trace along the edge of your face, and she can feel the exact moment you do as she asks, her eyes gaining a self-satisfied twinkle. Then she speaks again, the words slow, not quite hesitant, more so cautious. “Do you want to talk about it?”

You almost scoff in response. Do you want to talk about it? It. It. The elephant in the room. The big, bad, thing Better Left Unnamed. Vi was just being gentle (and you know this), but you’ve still got anger in your chest. Just not at her, not really, and you take another deep breath before allowing yourself to respond.

“What, are you going to spend another hour trying to convince me that I’m beautiful?... I’m not sure that’s what I need right now,” you answer, at last, doing your best to keep your tone as light as possible. Maybe even with a twinge of mirth. Admittedly your success is mixed, but Vi doesn’t seem to mind. If anything, she seems more sympathetic, and she starts rubbing gentle circles into your back as she holds you.

“I have an idea for something different,” she starts to say, leaning in close until her breath tickles your ear, “if you’re up for it.” A moment passes, then two, as a blush creeps up your face, your mind reeling with predictions for what was to come. Except Vi isn’t wearing her trademark smirk, nor are her fingers already seeking out certain sensitive spots. Whatever she has in mind… you get the feeling that it’s more than just a fun distraction.

So you nod; after all, what do you have to lose?

“Alright, sweets, lay back for me, okay? Get nice and comfortable,” Vi instructs, in a voice she normally reserves for certain activities. A mix of curiosity and excitement builds up in your chest, and you’re more than eager to do what she says. Once you start getting settled, your girlfriend explains what exactly she had in mind. “I want you to love every inch of your body the same way I do, and I know how hard it can be to get out of your own head when it comes to shit like this. You can’t force love, not even for yourself, right?

“That’s why we are going to start smaller. You are so much more than just beautiful, sweets, and I want you to be able to hold back your hate, at least a little bit. Tolerance is still better than hatred,” she says, slowly trailing her fingers along your side as she does. Then her hands wander back up, stopping to rest on your biceps. “Mmm, these? These are the arms that hold me close, night after night,” her hands slide down to your own, “and these are the hands that have touched me, caressed me. Pressed against all the right spots, soothed my aches and wrapped my wounds, working next to mine all the time.

“Now,” she continues, grinning, taking on a hint of mischief as her hands move ever downwards, “these are the legs that carried you to me, through everything that life threw at us. These are the thighs that give me a place to rest… and wrap around my-”

“Vi!” You interject, blushing heavily, knowing exactly what she was getting at. Both of you are smiling, and your objection devolves into quiet laughter. Something in your chest feels lighter than it did just a few minutes ago. “Maybe save that part for tonight, alright?” Still smiling as bright as ever, she gives a quiet hum of agreement, nodding before moving upwards. It may simply be your imagination, but you’re fairly certain that there’s a light dusting of pink on her cheeks as she speaks.

“Where were we… ah, right,” Vi chirps, tucking a finger under your chin and letting her gaze linger on your lips. Then her eyes meet yours, her thumb pressing against the corner of your mouth. For a moment you are rendered breathless. The way she was looking at you, the love and tender appreciation, the loveliest brand of desire. “These are the lips that give me good morning kisses, the mouth that tells me how you love me, that whispers all the comfort in the world when I need it.” Pausing, she places a tiny kiss on the tip of your nose before giving you a cheesy grin. “That nose? Perfect. Adorable.”

By now her energy is downright infectious. A smile dances on your lips, and you almost want to interrupt her with a kiss, but something tells you to wait a little longer.

“I could stare at those gorgeous eyes all day, sweets, but I think you already knew that,” Vi teases, taking a moment to brush her thumb across the top of your cheek, right under your eye. A lovely glint flashes in her eyes, and you just know that she’s as tempted to kiss you as you are to kiss her. But she resists, trailing her fingers down to your stomach. Instinctively you take a sharp breath at the touch. She knows your heart, however, and makes this even more gentle than before. When she speaks, it is with the whisper of devotion. A prayer dedicated to only you. “This is the stomach I wrap my arms around, the place I tie myself to at night, where I hold myself to you.”

Slowly, she shifts back upwards a small degree, finalizing her ritual with something a tad less intense.

“And this is the chest I get to lay my head on, listening to the way your heart races when we’re together. The reminder that we’re alive, and you aren’t leaving any time soon.” As she speaks, one hand rests directly over your heart, the other seeks out your own and holds tight. Pain dares to rear its ugly head for a brief, unholy second, flickering in her eyes. You know she is remembering those she has lost- and you know that she is silently promising not to lose you. The fear vanishes as quickly as it came. In its place, you find nothing but love.

“Thank you, Vi,” you say, after what feels like a couple minutes of easy quiet. Before your girlfriend can shrug off your praise, you continue, giving her hand a squeeze as you do. “I mean it, seriously. Sometimes I get stuck inside my own head… but you always seem to know how to get me back home. I’ll always love you for that. For everything you do, and everything you are.” In response, Vi gets even closer, peppering your face with kisses, then resting her face against your neck, hiding her blush from you.

“I love you too, sweets,” she mumbles, her breath tickling your throat. Her arms are right where they belong, curled around you, just as she had described. Maybe she hadn’t magically cured your ills, but she had certainly convinced you of her love, and made your self-doubt grow quieter for today. “Now c’mon,” she says after a minute or two, raising her head to look into your eyes with a lovestruck expression. “We should grab something for breakfast before it’s time for lunch.” 

And just like she had lifted the fog from over your eyes, she takes your hand and helps you up, ready to face the day by your side.

[xarrixii]

Chapter_51 : "The Visible Part"

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CW: referenced abuse archive masterlist | masterlist

TL;DR: While Alph is getting patched up in a van driving back to a Storm base, the same TV broadcast as in last chapter plays. Alph then calls their dad to ask him to dispose of the gun at the wreckage of Cinder's latest destroyed tower. The chapter ends with Alph's own injuries reminding them of a time they showed up at Harlow's front door.

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Alph grimaces as the medic touches a washcloth to their face, patting away the grime. Or whatever was on their face.

“What did you mean by third instance?”

“Well, I’m sure we all remember the building that was slashed straight through before being set alight in the rain. And then there was the one we’re responding to at the moment. But before both of these events, a bank named Hayton Deposits was robbed roughly nine months ago. The robbers escaped in an armored truck, and at least two pyrokinetics were involved in the robbery.”

“Do you have a description of your primary suspect? The one that saved you this afternoon?”

“The only time I caught sight of their face, it was half-covered. But I can say a few vague details. They appeared blonde, fair in complexion. That’s about it.”

Alph had a few words for the Chief of Police in Longport. And by a few, they meant something more along the lines of ranting about saying vague statements about pyrokinetic terrorism and the implications that has on all pyrokinetics. Some more to say about giving the public an excuse to go on a wild goose chase for pyrokinetic blondes through the radio.

“Send someone back there,” Alph says with hope Nacht is still sitting across from them in the van.

“Why?” Nacht was downloading the files they’d collected onto the hard drives into his laptop to find where Raijin was being kept. At least, that’s what Alph’s uncle said they were doing a bit earlier. Alph didn’t hear much besides the van driving down a busy highway.

“To find and destroy the gun.” Alph mentioned a previous statement from the interview a little more than a minute or so earlier.

Nacht hummed disapprovingly.

“It was Urban, I know it. It’s bad for us too if law enforcement finds it and sends it to forensics.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Nacht relates calmly. “But they’re currently swarming the the entire couple of blocks around it. I can’t send someone back in there yet. We’ll just have to intercept its course before it reaches their lab.”

Alph mumbled something to themselves before sighing. “Then let me call my dad.”

“What would he have to do with it?”

“He could… deal with it instead. He knows some people.”

“You don’t trust Cinder to take care of it? Urban is their operative as of this moment.” Sounds of Nacht shifting drift to Alph’s ears as the medic pats at them again.

“Bold of you to assume I trust them to do anything concerning him,” Alph seethes.

Nacht’s scrolling pauses, and Alph can almost feel the smile that must’ve started stretching across their uncle’s face. “Alright. Contact your father, but stay vague about it.”

Alph lifts their watch near their head. “Hey, Jerry,” they open and wait for the beep. “Call Fun Police.”

“Calling Fun Police,” Jerry replied as Nacht chuckled.

It only rang three times.

“Al, where the fuck have you been?” Garry immediately said.

“That’s not important. I found something I have to do, Dad. I just, I need something from you.”

Garry was silent.

“Dad?”

Garry’s heavy sigh was picked up, “What do you need me to do?”

“The gun,”

“Shit, Al. That violates—I can’t even begin to describe how much that violates the very point of my job.”

“Dad, it’s important.”

“Like Urban level of important or your mother level of important?” Alph stayed silent. Garry sighed again. “Alright. Yeah, okay. Just—come home safe. You need to stay missing?”

Alph stayed silent for a little while longer before responding, “It’d be appreciated.”

“Get out of whatever mess you’re in before it’s too late, Al.” With that, Garry hung up and left Alph to sit in the van, presumably with Nacht staring up at them. Alph was one of those people who could sort of tell when people looked at them.

“I like him,” Nacht said before his clicking through files resumed.

Alph raised an eyebrow, the medic dabbing near their chin again. “Jesus, what the hell happened right there?”

“Bruise.”

Alph didn’t like bruises. They tore themselves away from the rag and fell back against the van as it lurched along the highway.

It’d been—Alph didn’t like thinking about Urban’s mother much. That seemed like a much better way to put it. It had been some time after Alph had learned Urban was pyrokinetic before they saw the first physical marks appear. No matter how much Alph begged Urban to tell them who hurt him, he wouldn’t budge. He just wouldn’t, and eventually slipped up that he couldn’t leave Gabriel alone in the world.

It’d been Alph’s first hint. And also the reason Alph hadn’t said anything.

The second hint and dealbreaker had been when Alph showed up at Urban’s doorstep one day to take him out to the trail like he’d talked about for a while on his birthday, present in hand. Thinking about how Alph could hear the glass shattering from outside and none of the neighbors had cared still made their blood boil. Alph had been too horrified to call the police, to even ring the doorbell for several minutes. Just something hitting something else, over and over.

That’d been the day they decided they couldn’t keep hesitating about things they thought were wrong, when Alph finally got the guts to ring the doorbell and Urban’s mother had answered. Vague hints of blood along her knuckles. Urban had instead celebrated that birthday the next day, covered in enough patches to make Alph want to hurl.

It was also the last time Urban ever had a physical sign of abuse written on him. Alph never got another chance, even after getting the idea of getting their dad to adopt Gabriel.

Alph took a deep breath. They really hated bruises.

next chapter

━━━━━━━━━━━━ ▲ missing a content warning? let me know

another classic instance of police officers committing crimes

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taglist: @lychhiker-writes, @madeoforgansandtissues, @fins0up

[mallowstep]

Hello, its me, the ship discourse anon and i Do Not have the brainpower to continue the discussion rn (i was up at 3 a.m. undergoing character devolpment regarding fandom lol) so like. Have any wc fic/author recs?

Gives you a big fucking handshake. I’m sorry if what I said was insane last night. I haven’t reviewed it but I’m assuming it was at least a little bit insane because I was negotiating a personal matter on the same subject.

Anyway…yes! Sorry, I’m not in the mood to fish out ao3 links, so I’m just going to bring up the Tumblrs

@kudossi — my beloved, author of humorous fics that make me laugh no matter what, and serious fics that make me feel deep deep things

@creed-of-cats — ohhhh how I adore. There was a time when I just. Regularly reminded everyone how much I love “that sinless aeaea” and “prayers to Medea.” Work amazing on so many levels. Huge fan.

@solacefruit — I mean honestly what can I say? Amazing work. Hopefully doesn’t mind being mentioned. But truly deeply amazing work. Sublime.

@secondyearpigeon — rolls around on my back like a cat. Amazing fluff, amazing serious work. Alderheart fics that make my heart beat faster.

@acaciapines — amazing warrior cats, and also, amazing daemon fics? All round amazing author

Naturally not everything. I do recommend checking out my bookmarks on AO3! You can filter for just warriors fics and my recs. As always, when referencing my bookmarks, I’m an Adult who bookmarks Adult Fics. I’m pretty sure my most recent bookmarks are explicit?

Anyway. You’re going to need to go to my main ao3, there’s a link on @fencesandfrogs.

Love y’all have fun.

[solarwynd]

I partially agree that hybe is a cult. I've always noticed it, but I've never known how to put it in one word. I mean, the company does everything to make fans addicted to idols. They literally tell us that the idols belong to us, because that's how the company can sell its products better.

Army practically worship BTS, but have you ever noticed that BTS members also worship fans?

Personally, it was very uncomfortable for me to be in such a relationship with bts

I don’t agree.

Speaking from my own experience, I was very emotionally attached to BTS. Not to the point where someone or I would consider it unhealthy, but they meant a lot to me. It was through them as people (personality, their openness how “real” they came across) and their music that made me happy. Bighit had no effect in influencing those feelings I felt for BTS. The only thing they did was encourage and foster the OT7 bit that BTS put forth themselves. And yea they did capitalize on it for financial gain because they knew BTS sticking together meant armys would stick around and well they’re a company. Companies are always gonna be led by money first and foremost.

There’s a mutual love that’s between armys and BTS. The extent I believe varies. The relationship BTS have with armys is what I’d expect any artist who appreciates how far their fans have taken them would be. Now Individually, that’s another story. (I’ve already said my piece on how JK and TH operate) Armys are definitely ride or die. Very protective, but again that’s all of their own free will. In my memory, I’ve never seen BH say that BTS belongs to armys. However I do believe that Joon said something similar at a concert but he also said armys belong to BTS. But as a group, to me they’ve never overplayed that angle for their own gain.

So Hybe nor the relationship BTS has with armys is cultish. That’s not the word you’re looking for. I think for most people on the outside especially other kpop stans, this type of dynamic is unprecedented on the scale that BTS has been able to amass dedicated stans. Kpop stans don’t care about the idols like that and the idols don’t really show that kind of love back to the fans in a way that seems genuine. That “addiction” you’re referencing was probably your own emotional attachment towards BTS and those are spurred at your own volition. It’s not like they use mind tricks to force fans to like them. But if it did get to point where it felt uncomfortable for you, at least you weaned off of them. (I’m assuming) Parasocial relationships can definitely be a negative thing especially if there are a lack of boundaries, but I think the majority of the members set them fairly well on their end. With armys, it’ll be entirely on them how they handle and act on their own feelings.

[creativia10]

Looking out for Hunter

Eda pulls Camila and Darius to the side after Belos' defeat to figure out where Hunter should stay. Since they are his unofficial family now.

Warnings: referenced child abuse (that occurred before the story)

Let me know if I missed anything

Word count: 1454

Notes: Inspired by how I've seen different mentions of who is Hunter's family now.

There was a lot going on after the defeat of Belos. The collector had a lot to fix after his games. But Eda pulled Darius and Luz’s mom to the side for something they needed to discuss.

“Hey, I’m sure we’re all tired from everything that has happened with Belos and the collector. Before we all disperse though, There’s something important we need to figure out.”

Luz’s Mom and Darius glanced at each other and then at Eda in confusion. Which made sense considering they didn’t really know each other. Probably wondering what they could possibly have in common that Eda would need to talk with both of them.

“So, one thing that needs to be taken care of before the end of the day, is that a boy needs a place to stay. Seeing as he no longer has an official guardian now that his evil uncle has been defeated.”

Their eyes widen in realization.

“I don’t know where Hunter went after he fled my house, but I’m going to assume it wasn’t back to the castle. Given his reaction to learning the truth about Belos. Somehow I get the feeling it was not the best living arrangement. Now, from what I’ve heard, you two could both be potential guardians, along with myself. So, what were we thinking?”

They thought for a moment.

“Well,” Luz’s mom said, “He is always welcome at my home, of course.”

Darius huffed, “If I’m being honest, I had already assumed he would be staying with me.”

“Oh really?” Eda asked. “Why’s that?”

Darius shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe because I was the closest to a safe adult he had in the castle. I’m fairly certain I’ve known him longer.”

Eda hmmed.

“I did try to offer him a place to stay before when he first said he couldn’t go back to Belos. But he was still freaking out about what he learned in the emperor’s mind at that point. So I don’t really blame him for not understanding the offer at first, even if I was worried.”

“What he learned in the emperor’s mind?” Luz’s mom asked.

“I also know,” Eda continued, not really acknowledging the question,

“That Hunter stayed with Luz’s mom here when they were stuck in the human realm for a while. It’s also pretty easy to tell all those kids are fond of you.”

“You can call me Camila, and I’m glad to hear that. They’re good kids, even if I don’t always understand some of their eccentricities from this world. They remind me of Luz a lot in some ways.”

Eda nodded, not too surprised by that.

“So,” Eda continued, “Given we all may hold some sort of parental role for this kid, should we like share custody or something? And like, who is best for him to stay with? Not saying you’re not a good fit Darius, I just thought we should discuss this since we all want to look out for him.”

Darius hmmed.

“I hadn’t thought about it in an official sense if I’m being honest. More so just being there for him and making sure he has somewhere safe he can go to.”

Eda nodded. “That’s fair enough. The only reason I even brought it up is because I could tell it was a thought we all considered.”

Camila cleared her throat.

“It’s probably best to ask Hunter where he wants to go,” She said.

Eda paused and nodded.

“You’re right. He gets a say in where he goes. It’s the least he deserves after the way the poor kid grew up.”

She looked to the side, “Hey Hunter!”

Hunter froze, having been talking to some of his friends. Then he turned to face her.

“Can you come over here for a sec? We wanna talk about something with you.”

Hunter’s eyes widen.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad,” Eda said, voice a bit gentler.

Hunter still looked concerned, but he cautiously made his way over to them. Camila and Darius both shoot him encouraging smiles to help reassure him.

“We were just wondering where you would want to stay,” Eda said, “Since your old residence is probably not an option anymore.” She then winced, realizing that may not have been the most sensitive way to put it.

“All three of us are willing to have you stay with us, so it’s up to you where you want to go.”

Hunter pursed his lips and looked between the three of them still seeming nervous.

“Hey,” Eda began, bending down to be more at his level.

“Whatever you chose, none of us are going to be mad at you.” She didn’t actually know that, but she knew they all cared about him, so hopefully it was true.

“Your wants about this are important,” Eda continued.

Hunter didn’t seem entirely sure about that. Which Eda had expected at this point, unfortunately.

“We will also still be there for you no matter what, in any way you need,” Camila added.

Hunter shuffled a bit and bent his head down.

“I uh,” He continued, glancing at each of them often even with his head bowed.

“I want to live in the world I grew up in.”

Camila nodded and also knelt down.

“Oh, that’s alright mijo. That is perfectly understandable. Just know you can always visit as much as you want. You are always welcome.”

Hunter nodded and smiled a little.

“Thank you,” he said a bit quietly.

“Of course. May I hug you?”

Hunter blinked and then nodded slowly.

Camila smiled and then opened her arms. She waited a moment to make sure he was ready before she came forward and wrapped her arms around him

Hunter gasped, seeming just as surprised as the first time he was hugged. He then moved his arms with a slow robotic clumsiness to hug her back. After a moment some tension melted and he leaned into her embrace.

Hunter was probably going to get a lot more hugs now. Good.

Hunter sniffed and wiped his face some when they separated.

“So, who do you want to stay with then?” Eda asked again. Hunter still seemed distraught about answering that, looking between Darius and Eda.

“I-I don’t know.” Hunter fidgeted some.

“I just, I grew up being told and constantly reminded of how Belos saved me and I owed pretty much everything to him. Like it was more of an obligation.”

Sometimes Eda forgot that her rage against that monster Belos could come back. Even when she had curb-stomped him into the ground.

“And now not only one but three of you are offering this and seems like you actually want me there to take care of. Not just to use as a future guard or servant. I don’t want to chance this offer going away at all. And I’m not saying you guys would lie about this or anything. I’m just not used to this care for me as myself. I’m so afraid I’m going to mess this up.”

Camilla cooed at that.

“We’re not going to take away our offers to take care of you,” Eda said.

“And even if we did, for housing, it wouldn’t be because anyone suddenly decided you weren’t worth caring for anymore.”

Darius gave her a look at that.

“Yeah, I could have said that better,” Eda admitted, “but I wanted to make sure he knew that.”

“It’s okay if you don’t know what you want,” Camila said, “I’m sure this can seem like a big decision.”

How was Camila so good at this? That’s what Eda was wondering.

“How about we start with where you’d want to go tonight?” Camila asked. Hunter nodded, relaxing slightly.

“I’m not sure if this is going to make sense, but part of me wants to have as close to normalcy as I can, but without the awful stuff. The Owl house seems cool, and I definitely want to come back sometime, but it’s also wild. Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course! I’m just uh, not used to it? So,” He turned to Darius,

“If you really are offering, I think I’d like to stay with you tonight. You’re the only one I really knew in the castle who eventually treated me better, and not like you had to obey me.”

Darius smiled at him.

“Of course, you can stay with me, Hunter,” He reached over and ruffled Hunter’s hair.

Hunter squawked and half-heartedly pushed at Darius’ hands to get off of his hair. They both ended up laughing though.

It wasn’t a normal unofficial family dynamic by any means. But as long as this great kid got shown the love they all knew he needed, it didn’t really matter.