#basically she sneaks into his room after having a nightmare

[clawedironarmour]

Yes sir

[ladylokianna]

My father's daughter

Pairing: no one, basically Aemond being a dad (and a husband).

Warning: nothing serious i guess. A bit of swearing, an obviously ooc Aemond being a protective dad, Vhagar being a protective great–grand mother, fluff.

AU oneshot in which the brotherly Aegond bond is based on the book and in which Aemond killed Daemon.

Introducing some of my Ocs, of which i'm very proud: Aerenys, his wife, and four of their seven children.

(Aemond here is around 36 years old, his daughters, two ocs of mine, are 16 and 11. Aegon, Daeron and Granny V involved.)

Words count: 3,6 k

A/N: i've checked it countless times, but if there were any mistake, i'm sorry in advance.

Translation from HV:

Kirimvose : thank you

Iksā gevie, kepa: you are beautiful, dad

"Can't we do without it?"

"Shhh!!! Can you please be quiet? If he wakes up, we're in trouble!"

"We'll be in trouble anyway."

Holding tightly the satchel, the younger of the two girls nodded, watching her older sister sneak into her parents' chambers through the secret passageway, the one immediately next to their bed: leaning in a little, she barely caught a glimpse of his hair, hearing his relaxed and regular breathing, hoping he wouldn't wake up just then.

Asterya tried to focus hoping to quickly find what she was looking for even in the darkness of the room: on the low table as well as on the dresser there was nothing but maps and notes, and rummaging again through the drawers was out of question.

Damn, why hadn't she thought of that before?

A sudden rustling from the bed made her freeze on the spot, but fortunately her father had only rolled over in his sleep. And that's when she saw it on the nightstand.

Mornings like those, in which the cold breath of winter had given way to spring sunshine, were ideal for training, or for riding.

Ser Emeric walked out into the large courtyard in front of the huge gate, ready to take up duty after the night watch, just in time to see someone rushing out of the gate: it was not uncommon to see the prince going out for an early morning ride, usually preceding a long patrol over the city on his dragon, so he paid no particular attention to it.

Wandering his eyes over the sky, tinged in the vibrant hues of the dawn, he released a sigh: what a nice morning it was.

What a fucking morning it was.

Ser Emeric swallowed hard before stopping in front of the double door of the Council room, uncertain whether to knock or not. Behind the intricate carving of the wood, his worst nightmare.

"Fuck. Oh fuck. Fuck, no, i can't do it."

Of all the things that could have happened during his shift, that was definitely the worst since he began his journey as a White Cloak, and now he also had to report it to the most fearsome man in the realm, the same man he tried to avoid with all his strength.

Prince Aemond.

The former Regent, the Terror of the Trident, the man who killed the infamous Daemon Targaryen.

He knocked three times with a lump in his throat: he could be dead before the sunset, hanged at the Keep's wall by his own guts like a common thief or feeded to a dragon –or worse, feeded to his dragon– and in all of this, he was only twenty and yet to live.

What a fucking death, eaten by that damned beast...

"Come on in." answered the king.

Once inside, his eyes turned immediately to Aemond, while Aegon looked up on him, settling aside for a second the parchment in his hands.

"What is all this fuss? Oh, good morrow Ser Emeric."

His sight was darting from Aegon and Daeron, to Aemond. The first two sitting at the table, the latter standing next to a window, scanning the outsides, seemingly indifferent to his presence.

Aegon saw him swallowing in discomfort, droplets of sweat running down his forehead.

"What's the matter?"

"I... i have... i have to speak to... i have to speak to his... his highness." Ser Emeric stuttered. The poor guy cleared his throat, wincing when Aemond turned to him, inquisitive and menacing even if he was dead silent as always.

"Then speak! Did the cat got your tongue?" Aegon followed his sight, noticing the gaze Aemond had been giving him since he turned. "Uuh, i see."

His brother's gaze, already intimidating in his youth, had worsened with the age.

"The... the princesses, your highness."

Aemond arched an eyebrow, his good eye still staring at the guard.

If i survive this, i swear i'll...

"Which ones are you referring to?" asked Aegon, leaning back and crossing his hands over his stomach, amused. Aemond did not seem to share the same opinion: he finally ignored the courtyard, crossing his hands behind his back in his usual manner, clearly annoyed.

"You may have not noticed, but i'm everything than patient." his tone, cold and scoffed, made the poor guard to tremble again.

"In the name of the Seven, Aemond, let him speak. To which princess you are referring to?"

"I'm... ehm... i'm referring to princess Asterya and princess Alicent, your grace."

Although he did not have a favourite among his children, it was obvious to everyone that his daughters were his weak point, the lights of his life: Asterya, his second born but his first daughter, was the one with whom he shared the deepest bond: skilled with swords and daggers, excellent with the High Valyrian, a proficient student of history and philosophy. Basically, as his wife loved to say, his female counterpart.

Her twin sister Helaenys was the opposite: calm and poised, she loved indulging in Helaena's company and was as good at embroidery as she was at throwing daggers.

Arianne, named in honour of a maternal cousin who died in infancy, loved to dance and did so whenever she could, especially with her uncle towards whom she had, reciprocated, a sincere affection: Aegon had taught her to shoot with a bow and she had an excellent aim.

Alicent, the youngest of his seven children, was born with the same characteristics as her paternal grandmother (even if her twin brother was born with hair and eyes like a Targaryen) and named after her in her honour; she possessed a crossbow and like her siblings she was a skilled dragon-rider and above all, like Asterya, highly intolerant of rules.

His most beloved children, although Aemond would never admit it, even under torture.

"My daughters what?"

"The princesses are… are nowhere to be found..."

And here it is, that gaze: even without his left eye, Prince Aemond was intimidating as hell.

Please Gods, please give me a fast and painless death. Fast, at least.

"Ah, here's who got your eye patch, Aemond. This is a fortress, for fuck's sake, what do you mean they're nowhere to be found?" replied Aegon.

"What about the armory, or the kennel?" interjected Daeron, sensing the storm approaching.

"No, my prince. They're not at all in the castle..."

"For how long now?" was Aemond's question, interrupting Ser Emeric.

"A stable boy noticed them on your horse during the last changing of the guard..."

The last changing of the guard had taken place shortly after dawn, Aemond reasoned, hours before. Five, at least.

"You're telling me that not just one, but two of my daughters vanished from the Keep several hours ago and you are warning me only now, after all those fucking hours?"

In those hours, needless to say, he had searched for them in every wing of the castle, on every patrol path, in every niche. Ser Emeric looked away from Aemond, who began to mutter something in a language he cannot understand: something unpleasant for sure, judging by Aegon and Daeron's faces.

"I'm going to kill someone today, i can sense it...and it's not even midday, imagine that."

Aegon cleared his throat, trying to think up quickly a way to placate his brother before he could lose his temper, looking at his dominant hand already clutched on the hilt of his omnipresent sword, ready to draw it.

"Wi... with your permission, i'll... i'll leave immediately in their search."

"Yes, wise decision. I also send Ser Criston in search of the girls." Aegon nodded.

"No way." stated Aemond, fuming, feeling the headache already pounding in his skull. "You barely manage to find your cock in your trousers, let alone my daughters. You're dismissed, but i can assure you, Ser Emeric, we will talk about it later."

Ser Emeric did not make himself repeat it twice: he walked out of the council room as if he had The Stranger himself on his heels, leaving the three men alone.

"Woah, what was that?"

"Hm?"

"Who taught you to talk like that? I'm amazed, little brother!"

"Oh, shut up."

"Can i count on you for a healthy drink in my quarters after supper? Let's talk a little, come on."

"You know i'm not much of a drinker nor a talker, right?"

"Who cares? I'll drink and talk... and you'll listen."

"There will be no dinner for me if i don't get my girls home before Aerenys is back: i already know she'll kick my ass."

His wife had been away to her native castle for a fortnight due to family matters and she would return that afternoon with Helaenys and Arianne: with all the days to get into trouble, his daughters had decided to do it on the very day she returned to the keep.

"Don't worry, brother, they are smart, they have certainly avoided any danger."

"Daeron... you have spoiled my girls too much and here's the results."

"Like you haven't done the same since before they were even born."

"He's right, you know? And i wouldn't worry about your ass if i were you: Aerenys likes it too much, she won't do anything to you. And you'll see that the girls will be home in no time. You know, if it weren't for the fact that your faithful wife has always only had eyes for you and that Asterya is practically your female version –poor girl–, you'd say she's more my daughter than yours: what a temper she has. Well, indeed she's my niece."

"May the gods be merciful, that's the last thing i need." Aemond replied, taking his leave in between Aegon's laughs.

He summoned Ser Criston and a bunch of his most trusted guards.

"Ser Emeric told me they thought it was you, my prince." Ser Criston explained. "We questioned the stable boy and he says that she wore your clothes and she moved like you, she even mounted your horse like you do. Nobody asked her to remove the hood, they were sure it was you."

A frustrated groan escaped Aemond.

"It is beyond serious if they cannot tell a grown man from a sixteen year old girl." huffed upset. "My daughter is visibly shorter and thinner than me."

"As i say, no one dared to check under the cloak, my prince."

"We'll talk about this later. As for the guards, they have to pray that nothing has happened to my daughters or they will answer directly to me." warned Aemond. Once on the saddle, he noticed everyone in the courtyard were looking at him, and with a sudden gesture, he lowered the hood of his cape. "So you know who are you getting out of the keep. Now open the gate."

Aemond pulled the reins suddenly forcing the horse to stop almost abruptly: at its protests, he leaned in to give two affectionate pats as if to apologise.

"Have you seen something, my prince?" questioned Ser Criston, turning back and flanking him, peering in his own direction.

In the heat of the moment he had not thought of Vhagar: she was not in her usual place. She usually liked a certain spot near the water, surrounded by trees but wide enough to allow her to move her wings as she wished, but he noticed that she had moved at least a hundred metres, which was unusual.

"Yes and no. I think i know where they are." after dismounting the horse, Aemond handed the reins to Ser Criston, with the order to return to the Keep. "Asterya surely left my horse somewhere near. I'm hoping to return with both of them before my wife's return or may the Gods be merciful with me."

He did not wait for Ser Criston to leave: he put on his hood again and walked through the trees. His horse was grazing peacefully in the shade of a tree, the reins secured to a sufficiently strong branch, and Vhagar was resting as usual: the air expelled through his nostrils was sufficient to stir the vegetation.

Smiling a little and approaching cautiously, he was determined to surprise his daughters without irritating his dragoness. Aemond reached out a hand and touched her: Vhagar opened her eyes wide, ready to incinerate anyone who dares threaten what she was protecting.

"Shh, it's me."

Her gaze immediately changed, and he heard her grunt, happy to see him.

"Hi baby." smiled Aemond, fondly stroking her snout. "Are my girls here with you?"

Indeed they were: Asterya walked barefoot on the shoreline, with only her tunic and her trousers -his trousers- gathered up to her calves to avoid getting them wet, while Alicent sat on the sand in the shadow of Vhagar's huge wing and had her back to him, reading aloud an old tales book in High Valyrian. On the ground, on a large blanket, Aemond recognised some of his clothes -his embroidered jerkin with the dragon shaped clasps and his cloak-, a couple of his books, a small basket with some leftovers and Asterya's boots.

"...i cannot decipher this last glyph." whined Alicent.

"How is it shaped?"

"It's like... it's like a chalice..."

"Rēko, rose." answered Asterya, without esitation.

Aemond smiled with pride.

"Kirimvose, my dear friend." he whispered shortly after, thanking Vhagar.

Both the stable boy and the guards were right when they say they mistook his daughter for him: dressed like that with her hair tied up like his, Asterya had all of them fooled. Perhaps she even would fooled him too.

They were right. Gods how he hated being wrong.

The icing on the cake was his usual eye patch -surely the thing Asterya had used to trick the guards- and the dagger he had gifted her for her tenth nameday, that she recklessly leaved near a book and out of her reach.

Careful enough not to be heard, Aemond found a way to sneak up behind Asterya, catching her by surprise and grabbing her by the waist with one arm. He intercepted her fist and easily stopped it, holding her so tightly she can barely move, finally revealing himself shortly after.

"Got you!"

Asterya stopped struggling as soon as she heard his voice, giving him a little slap on his arm in protest as he put her back down.

"Papa? For Gods' sake, what's wrong with you?"

Aemond smirked a little amused, but still angry, shedding his hood.

"Nice try with that fist, good job. You have to improve though."

"You scared her!" giggled Alicent, encircling his waist and resting her head on his stomach.

He smirked again, returning Alicent's hug and lowering his voice.

"Let's say it was my aim."

"How did you sneak so silently behind my back?" protested Asterya.

"Well, i'm quite seasoned than you, i trained you and i know exactly how you move. Besides, i told you countless times to not sneak out of the Keep, and yet you still disobey me. And what's worse, this time you brought your sister with you." Aemond retorts, returning the dagger to her. "This must stay always on you: you may not know when you have to use it, your life might depend on it. This time it was me, but what if there had been someone else in my place?"

"Vhagar would have protect us."

"What if she hadn't been there?"

"Papa, please, nothing's happened." sighed Asterya.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, young lady. You always have an answer for everything, mh? Fine. You are grounded: you cannot fly with your dragon for at least two weeks."

"Two weeks?"

"One for you, one because you took your sister with you. That seems like a more than reasonable amount of time, counting that your mother would confine you to your rooms. There are rules that exist for your safety too, sweetheart."

"But... you told me not to stroll around the city alone anymore, or to the woods, or alongside the river... and i didn't do it again!"

Gods, he still remembered that time she went to King's Landing with her older brother -both disguised as commoners- to the Kingswood with her dragon or worse, to the Blackwater river.

Better not think about it again.

"Good, since i don't want you to go to the city without someone."

"You disobeyed Grandma Alicent when you were little, i know it."

She was referring, most likely, to his attempts in the dragon pit and above all, to the Driftmark incident. She knew it so well, since it was a story almost as old as him.

"Yes, that's true. And i paid a far higher price than you will." Aemond admitted. There was no need to deny something so blatantly well knowed, not to his own daughter. With an istinctive gesture, he then removed his eye patch and the sapphire underneath shone in the sunlight: few had seen his wound, and until then his children had no idea how awful it was. Asterya gasped, then looked at it in astonishment, her eyes fixed not on the gem, but on the severed eyelids, how the lower eyelid had sagged a little, making it wider than the healthy eye, how the eyelids seemed like to bent inwards and how the eyebrow, also cut in two, no longer allowed hair to grow.

"Oh, papa..." she said, raising a hand towards his face, but she did not dare touch it, only merely looking at it. "Has mama ever saw it?"

"We've been married now for eighteen years, she knows everything about me." he replied, stroking her head with a smile.

"Can i see it too, daddy? Can i touch it?"

Aemond bent down a little, allowing Alicent to look at him as well.

"Be gentle, it hurts more than usual today."

Asterya cleared her throat, feeling guilty for having brought back certain memories.

"Does it hurt a lot?" she asked.

"Sometimes yes, sometimes i don't feel any pain." he answered, still bent towards the daughter.

"Iksā gevie, kepa." asserted Alicent.

"You are certainly far more beautiful than I am, my love, but thank you. Why don't you start collecting the books in the bag, sweetheart? I need to speak a little more with your sister."

"Are we going home already? Ugh!"

"Your mother's coming back, aren't you glad to see her? I personally can't wait, I missed her."

"Yes, but at home Septa Gwyn never leaves us in peace. Can we at least take a ride on Vhagar?"

"We'll see."

Aemond waited until Alicent had gone some distance before paying attention to his eldest daughter again.

"Why are you crying?" his good eye wandered over her face, trying to comprehend the reason. Then he hummed, understanding.

"Two weeks are fine, papa."

"Two weeks my dear, not a day more, i promise. I've made so much mistakes in my life and i've payed for all of them, but if losing an eye was and it still be a fair exchange for having Vhagar at my side, losing your mother or worse, you or one of your siblings is a price i will never be willing to pay for my sins. I can understand your craving for freedom, i really do. But you're a Targaryen princess, you're my daughter: if something ever occur to you because of my past, i could never forgive myself. You can always count on me if you want to stay alone for sometime, for i would accompany you everywhere, but my point is that it's dangerous to sneak out alone. You don't want your annoying father around you? I got it, but at least alert your brother, or your guard. Someone. You scare the hell out of me every time!"

"Sorry…"

"Few things more, Asterya, i'm not done: i've showed the secret passages to you and your siblings only for safety reasons and not for sneaking in my rooms while i'm sleeping. That book belonged to Aegon the Conqueror himself, and the sand might damage it so take good care. About this…" Aemond added, showing the eye-patch she took from his nightstand "...you can use my things, but not this. Anyway, i'll order the seamstresses to sew you comfortable clothes so that you no longer have to ransack my drawers to steal mine: it's not appropriate for a girl to do such things."

"I won't do it again dad, sorry."

Aemond tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, cupping her cheek in a loving gesture.

"...your disguise would have fooled me too."

Asterya looked at him with a wide smile and with a deep affection in her eyes, hugging him tightly.

"You are not annoying." she said, standing on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on his scarred cheek. "And i will not ask anyone but you to accompany me, you will always be my first choice, papa, i love you."

For a moment she was again the little five year old girl who used to sneak in his rooms during thunderstorms, with her wide blue eyes seeking for his reassuring hug.

Aemond kissed her forehead, returning the embrace.

"Want to join for a ride?"

[pukefactory]

── ⋆⋅ HIT VIBES ⋅⋆ ──

⟡ Summary: A compilation of headcanons about Toddle’s and Pebble’s friendship (NOT A SHIP)

⟡ Character(s): Toddles (Dandy’s World), Pebble (Dandy’s World)

⟡ Genre: Headcanons, Fluff, SFW

⟡ Warning(s): None - Completely Safe!

𖥔 Toodles is a high-energy child, and Pebble is an equally energetic dog, making them one of the most hyperactive duos in Gardenview. It’s common to see them zipping through rooms, chasing each other, or running off to cause mischief. If a toon tries to stop them before they get into trouble, they’re either ignored or knocked aside by their sheer speed.

𖥔 When they’re not zooming around, Toodles enjoys practicing her makeup skills on Pebble. After decorating his face with poorly applied cosmetics, she proudly parades him around, asking others for their opinions. The toons do their best to be polite. Whether Pebble actually enjoys this or not remains a mystery—he simply sits there and waits for her to finish.

𖥔 These two are notorious thieves, constantly sneaking into the kitchen, especially after Cosmo and Sprout have just finished baking. They hide behind counters, waiting for the right moment before Toodles lifts Pebble up so he can grab a mouthful of treats. Then, they bolt. Unfortunately for them, they’re not as sneaky as they think and get caught more than half the time.

𖥔 Pebble is an incredibly skilled rock dog, even able to do backflips on his own! All of Gardenview is impressed, but no one more so than Toodles, who was completely flabbergasted the first time she saw it. She often asks him to perform backflips in exchange for treats, and he happily obliges. By the end, she stuffs him so full that not only is he dizzy from all the flips, but his stomach hurts. He spends the rest of the day napping, both exhausted and overfed.

𖥔 The pair plays together constantly, with games like fetch and tug-of-war. For the latter, they’ll use anything they can find as a toy, which results in random messes scattered across Gardenview. Stuffing, paper, metal—you name it, they’ve managed to destroy it. When they inevitably get caught, they’re forced to clean up, reluctantly complying. Otherwise, they lose their treat privileges for a week, which is basically their worst nightmare.

𖥔 Pebble also has a bit of a staring problem, something that unsettles Toodles. Even when she asks if he wants something, he just silently stares at her without explanation. Despite being freaked out by his unmoving gaze, this habit unintentionally rubs off on her. Before long, Toodles finds herself either staring blankly into space or intensely watching someone with her massive eyes.

[ablobwhowrites]

I’m going to make angst for vampire y/n and parent y/n, so beware. But right now here's some silly stuff about the DC y/n's and maybe some sneak peak at some other stuff I'm writing about.

Vampire y/n likes to sneak out of the manor sometimes but just sticks around the manor mainly because this is their new home and they don't want to stray to far from it. They do get concerned on how Bruce gets the blood y/n needs to feed but doesn't question it cause they are scared of the answer. Also they have the classic vampire get up with a cape but doesn't wear it a lot because bro does not want to walk around in that stuffy suit. But mostly wears regular clothes and is wondering if they could cute their hair and also has bunny slippers they wear that Jason got y/n. Also totally imagining when its Halloween, y/n loves to go try and find a haunted house and go into it or participate in it cause they can scare people but it’s alright cause it’s Halloween and they feel in place cause everyone sees them as a great costume also they maybe take a candy or two to snack on. Alfred would scold them after cause I imagine Alfred is one of those people who say that sweets before dinner ruins their appetite.

Jason: “I was meaning to ask you, what’s that pocket on your shirt?”

Tim: “Oh, y/n’s in here, sup y/n”

*vampire y/n in bat form in Tim’s shirt pocket*

Ex villain y/n likes making Damian made because when he gets mad he basically looks like batman scowling and how they do that is when it's Christmas and y/n puts a elf on the shelf in Damian's room as they found out from Jason, he hates that doll. They live at Wayne manor for the most part but if things ever go south for any reason, they have a secret place to stay at if things ever go that way but mostly things seem to be alright the hallucinations seems to be getting batter as the slade hallucinations and nightmares have been going away. But I do imagine they are still a bit afraid, just afraid that their place they can finally call home will be destroyed. They hope it doesn’t come to that. The Waynes accepted y/n as one of them and now they have brothers and a alright dad with Alfred that y/n considers a grandpa or something like that. It’s something that y/n doesn’t want to give up but sometimes, they are afraid, afraid of slade ever finding them. Or even go back to being a villain to being what slade made them to be.

I imagine that parent y/n finds the letter from penguin asking for them go on a date and y/n gets a baby sitter for his daughter as he wants to try and at least go dating again. Everything goes smoothly and I do imagine y/n pulling out the suit that he got when he was able to scrape some money together to go to a fancy place for him and his late wife and imagining the sit still fits after so long and when on the date with penguin, I imagine for the first time he felt young again. Felt like the night that he proposed to this wife, he felt happy again, even if she’s gone at least she’s forever with him even in moments like this.

I trying to perfect a fic I’m doing for detective y/n but I’m still rusty with fic writing after so long so hopefully I get it out soon😭

(But that’s all for my yap session, a little happy stuff before the angst arc but if you guys wanna know more about these y/n are have any story ideas or requests, please feel free to send a ask but that’s all for now, stay safe and drink water!)

[somepsychopomp]

sorry if it's a bit too much, but can we get a sneak peak to the nosferatu au?

It's not too much but I don't think I could give another peak after this because i literally don't have any more writing drafted yet, I'm still working on my outline lol

For reference, I started my nosferatu AU with this post, and everything below the cut takes place immediately after!

And for anyone who wants context to this AU: This is a very loose adaptation of Eggers' Nosferatu. Basically, the gods are much more monstrous creatures & more eldritch coded than canon, and they do consume humans as prey. Poseidon was a slumbering Cthulhu-esque being before being awoken by Ody's prayers as a child.

Word count: Approx. 1.5k

+++

For the next three years, Odysseus’ sleep was plagued by nightmares and oddities. 

Some nights, his body pulled itself out of bed and wandered the halls, attempting to find any door or window that would lead to the sea. On such occasions, a guard or servant would find the young prince swaying where he stood, responding to no voice or touch. Sometimes, some poor soul would have to run all the way down to the water, regardless of the night’s chill or the falling rain, to keep Odysseus from being taken by the tide. The best the house could do was return him to his room, ensuring the window shutters were latched and the door was locked. 

But it happened often enough that Laertes and Anticlea soon grew paranoid and sleepless themselves, afraid that one day, they might wake up to find their son missing forever. The king commanded a metalsmith to create a long chain and a shackle suitable for a child, with which he used to keep Odysseus from wandering too far from his bed. The shackle was at least heavily padded by a thick leather hide to make it as comfortable as possible, and it did its job in keeping the boy confined to his room. 

Other nights, Odysseus screamed as if he were being assailed by the Erinyes themselves. Guards would flood the room, or sometimes his parents, only to find a horrific sight before them: the crown prince contorted into painful shapes, his limbs splayed as he snapped his jaws and gasped for air, his eyes rolled back in his skull. Odysseus in this state would often throw himself from the bed and slam his limbs or head against the floor if no one stopped him in time. 

He would wail in his sleep as well, crying out and begging for whatever was attacking him, whether it be a spectre or something else, to stop. While the guards and Laertes used force to pin the prince down, Odysseus still easily hurt himself as he thrashed in their hold. 

No prayer or remedy could save him, not even giving the prince diluted wine before bed in the hope that it would induce deeper sleep. 

It was Anticlea who decided she would rather be the one harmed than her son. On the nights she woke up to his terrified cries, she would race her husband and guards to Odysseus’ room and hold him loose in her grasp. Though his knobby elbows would jab her ribs and even her face, she cradled her child as if he were still a babe. Even as Odysseus thrashed and his head sometimes slammed into her chin or nose, she only continued to hush him for however long it took for Odysseus’ terrors to cease. 

A few times, she even coaxed him into waking up. Flooded with relief, she would ask her poor boy what he was dreaming of to inspire such terror. The response never changed. 

There would be a dark shadow always lurking right behind him, sometimes even chasing him out of their own home. Anticlea would coo and caress Odysseus’ face as he cried in her arms, assuring him that it was only a bad dream.

While her own pain was her last concern, Laertes could not stand to see his wife looking so beaten after the long nights she spent holding their child. 

Though it broke his heart, Laertes decided that the chain was no longer a suitable strategy, though it did keep Odysseus from wandering. Instead, he ordered for two shorter ropes to be tethered to Odysseus’ bed. These ones terminated in cuffs used to bind his child’s wrists. This way, Odysseus could not fall off the bed and his movements were far more restricted. 

“Forgive me, my son.” Laertes said, willing his hands to not tremble as he bound his own firstborn child as if Odysseus was a criminal or slave. “I only do this because I love you.”

Odysseus, the poor thing, said nothing as his father restrained him. There was a small bronze bell mounted to the wall, low enough that he would be able to reach it even with his limited mobility. The bell was in case he needed help, as there was now a guard posted outside his bedroom at all hours of the night. That was, if he needed help beyond his screaming. 

At least his young sister was kept far from his room and was blissfully ignorant to his cries. 

And yet, there were other nights even stranger than these, rarer than Odysseus’ attempts to walk or scream in his sleep, but frequent enough to deepen his family’s concern. 

Some nights, Odysseus slept without making a sound. But in the morning, no one would be able to wake him. His father could try shaking him, his mother could try singing to him. All the windows could be opened up to let the sunlight in and Ctimene could crawl all over her elder brother, but Odysseus would not wake. 

At first, his parents feared that too much strong wine was inducing this peculiar state, but nights like these happened with or without the drink. Odysseus simply slept as if entranced, though his eyes would dart back and forth beneath their lids. 

He was not ill, but his body would refuse to awaken. Sometimes, it would take only a few hours for him to stir and ring the bell to be let free of his bindings. Other times, Odysseus would sleep through the morning and into the afternoon, even going as far as to slumber through the next night until he jerked awake on his own accord. 

Very rarely, he would sleep for days. 

He would accept no drink, coughing it up in his sleep even as his mother used the smallest trickle of water in the attempts to sustain him. The boy would merely waste away in bed, doing nothing but dreaming until whatever took hold of him released its grasp. 

Odysseus would be ravenous and parched upon waking up and his family would be more than happy to see him eat. His mother would have the servants prepare food all day long, fearful of the way her son’s bones were starting to show through his skin. His protruding ribs spoke of a malnourished, neglected child and Anticlea feared Odysseus would grow ill or even perish without intervention. Even if he claimed he was no longer hungry, she would have him eat as much as possible after one of his sleeping spells, fearing that the next could come as soon as the next night. 

Rarest of all, however, were the nights Odysseus laid down to sleep and woke up in the morning. No screaming, no nightmares, no walking, and no thrashing. He would sleep like an ordinary boy and rise shortly after dawn to go play with his sister or his father’s dogs. Those were the best days for everyone in the house, but not even these moments were truly safe. 

There were occasions scattered throughout the three years of hardship when Odysseus would wake up from one of his nights of contortion, attempted somnambulance, screaming, or a perfectly peaceful slumber to find a gift waiting for him. It didn’t matter if he was tethered to his bed or tied to it, or if he slept in one place for days on end, or if nothing unusual happened at all. There were simply some mornings when Odysseus would wake up to find sand on his feet and a gift in his palm.

Sometimes, it was a tarnished silver coin, as if the thing had spent a while in the sea. But it would be heavy and stamped with sigils he either didn’t recognize or were too faded to see clearly. On other occasions, Odysseus would wake to find himself with such trinkets as a corroded golden brooch or an abalone-inlaid comb.

There was no pattern to his gifts. They didn’t correlate to the phases of the moon, the tides, or seasons. The time between gifts could be months. It could be weeks. Or it could be days. 

They simply appeared whenever they wanted to. But the most frequent gift of his, the one token he found in his palm more often than any other, would be a pearl. Each the size of his thumb’s nail, if not even larger. 

In three years, Odysseus collected four white pearls, five blue, and one or two in shades of brown, maroon, and green. 

Along with more than one dozen black pearls. Impossibly large, rivaling the size of coins, with perfectly round surfaces, not a blemish in sight, and always cold to the touch.

His mother could take away his other trinkets, hiding them away wherever she pleased, but the pearls always had a habit of reappearing under Odysseus’ pillow the morning after they were confiscated. Thus, they were kept in a small box underneath the prince’s bed. 

Anticlea and Laertes knew exactly what all of their child’s nightmares and gifts meant. They could try to deny it, or stall as long as possible, and even lie to their poor boy to maintain what happiness he still had as a child, but they knew the truth. 

Odysseus was being coveted by a god and made the victim of their courting.

[tweetybaird]

headcannons of TWD characters

these are just some headcannons i have for characters from the walking dead. are these extremely unlike the characters? well, yes! do i give a fuck? no, not one!

tw: none lol there’s angst but just typical TWD stuff, these are mostly during the prison era

- carl and beth stole daryl’s cigarettes one of the first nights at the prison. they snuck up on the roof and huddled close to fight the cold. worried daryl would notice if too many disappeared, they chose to share one. (carl blushed over the fact that they basically kissed, beth only noticed how cold the cigarette was after his puffs.) they both decided they hated the taste, and swore they wouldn’t do it again, but every year on the anniversary of beth’s death carl finds a pack of cigarettes and smokes a few, letting some burn a little longer so she can smoke with him.

- rick tried teaching judith to say carl (or bubba), beth, and daryl, before he ever tried to teach her ‘dada.’ he felt guilty for the fact that in her first few days of her life he neglected her, and wanted her to acknowledge those who took such good care of her when he couldn’t.

- judith’s first word was actually ’mama,’ due to how often everyone told her stories of her mother. when she said it rick had to hand her to beth, and walked away. him and carl disappeared for a while after that. rick came back after a couple hours, but carl didn’t show till the next day. they both had bloodshot eyes and puffy cheeks, but nobody commented on it.

- (1) after lori’s death carl had awful nightmares almost every night. they were usually of his mom as a walker, blaming him for her death. when he had these nightmares he’d leave the cell block, sneaking out onto the roof. he’d wrap his arms around his torso like a tight hug and rock himself back and forth, before listing all the constellations he could see; just like his mom did for him when he was little.

- (2) daryl started noticing carl sneaking out, and followed him out once. they talked about it, and carl cried… a lot. daryl didn’t mind, he just pulled the boy onto his lap and rocked him while he cried. it became almost routine after that: carl would wake up in tears, daryl would walk with him onto the roof, he’d hold the child in his arms and rock him, and when carl fell back asleep daryl would carry him to bed. they never talked about this routine, and when the prison fell it never happened again. but sometimes, in alexandria, when carl wakes up with tears pouring from his eye, his instinct is to find daryl, and he has to rock himself back to sleep. (*whispers aggressively* daryl misses the rocking too. and sometimes he’ll sit on the porch counting the stars and wait for his nephew to come find him. he never does)

- (3) before carl dies he asks daryl to rock him one last time. nobody knows what he’s asking for, but daryl doesn’t hesitate. the man steps forward, pulling the now young adult into his lap, and begins rocking. there wasn’t a single dry eye in the room. daryl couldn’t sleep for weeks after.

- rick absolutely adores hugs, and carol meets his enthusiasm towards the embrace every time. the man is such a hugger and if he ever gets a “dry hug” from someone, where they merely patted him on the back and walked off, he’d immediately search for carol to make up for the loss. this never changed, even during his relationship with michonne

- when the children of woodbury first joined the prison, rick appointed carl with the job of telling them about all the adults of the original group. most of the younger kids didn’t understand that they weren’t all carls family, so he just told it like they were. there was not a dry eye amongst the group when they found out carl had introduced them as his grandpa hershel, aunt maggie & uncle glenn, uncle daryl, aunt carol, and so on.

- hershel panics a little more every time a patient comes into his cell. he begins a prayer when they come in, and doesn’t end the prayer until they leave. he gets angry when they leave in a body bag, and sometimes curses God. he apologizes profusely less than a minute after, and finds relief in the fact that every other patient he has/had that day survives.

- maggie is allergic to strawberries. no i will not elaborate. glenn was not aware of this fact and nearly had a panic attack one day when he tried to kiss his wife after eating one of the strawberries from the garden. maggie had seen glenn eat the berry and pushed him away quickly when he leaned in for a kiss. the Korean man looked like a kicked puppy when she did so, and maggie was quick to explain, giggling as she did. glenn never ate another strawberry after that, but they used to be his favorite.

- beth was actually carls first kiss. after the kids from woodbury came, carl and beth would often find themselves tucked away in a forgotten spot of the prison, backs pressed to each other as they read silently or went about their own hobbies. one day, carl was reading a spiderman comic, and must’ve made a strange sound, because beth turned around to look at him with a curious hum. “this makes it seem like kissing is this crazy world shattering thing. it’s just lips pushing against each other. what’s so great about it?” beth offered to show him what was so great about it. carl blushed profusely but obviously agreed. the kiss was sloppy at first due to carls inexperience, but they got used to each other real quick. carl found that he really liked kissing. they kissed quite a few more times after that. carl was very disappointed when beth got a boyfriend and they couldn’t kiss anymore, but beth snuck him a goodnight kiss every once in a while when she knew he had a bad day.

- daryl got sick one time at the prison, just a little head cold. he refused to acknowledge the fact that he felt sick until he nearly collapsed on top of rick while they were tending to the pigs. when he awoke the whole group was piled into his cell, some teary eyed, others just trembling in fear. daryl felt extremely guilty afterwards, and to this day he makes sure to let someone know if he so much as gets the sniffles.

- carol used to have a pug. his name was diesel and he was her baby. when she started dating ed, he told her he hated dogs. carol didn’t care, and refused to get rid of diesel. one day when carol came home from work, ed was asleep on the couch and her pug was no where to be found. when questioned about it, ed claimed he had no idea where the dog was. but carol saw blood on the front tires of his worn down pick up truck. it’s why she slashed said tires, and claimed she had no idea who could’ve done it.

- carl let someone trim his hair ONCE. and of course it had to be maggie. it was when they first got to alexandria. the ends of it had curled up and matted in some places and he knew it wouldn’t be worth the hassle of trying to pull the knots out. he sat in front of the couch and maggie reassured him multiple times that she was only trimming the ends, and that he didn’t have to let her do it. he held judith while maggie cut his hair. and if he cried a little bit and maggie had to pull judith away from him and hold him till he could breathe again? that’s nobody’s business but theirs.

- carl hates the smell of gardenia flowers, but they were beth’s favorite. they grew like crazy at the back of the prison, where most chose to avoid. every morning beth woke up to three fresh gardenias in the mason jar on her bedside table, and every night carl washed his hands vigorously as he gagged at the smell. beth never found out who brought her the flowers, and carl stomps on every gardenia he sees after she dies.

- rick actually hated being sheriff, and was going to quit his job a month after he began. but one day when he was picking carl up from school, rick saw his son gushing to some of his friends about how his dad was a “totally awesome super hero cop.” rick decided he loved being sheriff not long after.

that’s all for right now but i have SO many more. let me know if you liked this and i’ll make a part 2🫶🏻

[thatpointything]

Screw it, posting a silly crossover I’ve been hyperfixating on for a while here

Poppy Playtime/Elden Ring crossover

Basically, parts of the Playtime Co. factory moments after the Hour of Joy begins are transported to the Lands Between. Of course, things radically change with this sudden new player in the Lands Between as both employee and living toy escape from the chunks of the factory. Another thing to note is that some stuff from Elden Ring such as the Scarlet Rot has unique interactions with some Poppy Playtime stuff. Here’s what I’ve got on the big guys so far. They’re all really just rough drafts but enjoy!

Huggy Wuggy

Experiment 1170’s near-mindlessness made it perfect for it to be maddened by the Frenzied Flame. Nowadays, Huggy Wuggy is known as ‘The Frenzied Candle’ and is the de facto leader of the Frenzied Flame Village. Found as an optional boss there.

Phase 1 theme: A mix of No More Hugs and The Cuckoo Knights

Phase 2 theme: A mix of Happy Room and Formidable Foe I

Mommy Long Legs

Mommy Long Legs, like many other living toys that escaped the pieces of Playtime Co., severely underestimated the Lands Between and she lost one of her arms to Godrick the Grafted (who grafted said arm to himself afterwards) for it. Some time later, she started experimenting with grafting and even magic in an elaborate plan to kill Godrick. Found in the Academy of Raya Lucaria as an optional boss.

Phase 1 theme: A mix of One Last Game and Bloody Fingers

Phase 2 theme: A mix of Arachnophobia and Death’s Kindred

CatNap

CatNap, having left the factory some time after the Hour of Joy, was a staunch follower of the Prototype for the longest time. However, when the Prototype disappeared to seek the skin of gods, CatNap had a crisis of faith. In this state, he was far more vicious than usual, but he later had a change of faith. He turned to worshipping the Erdtree like the inhabitants of the Lands Between. However, he worships the Erdtree in a way that the Golden Order sees as heretical. At some point, he managed to sneak into Leyndell, set up shop in the East Capital Rampart and constructed a crude shrine to the Erdtree there. Nowadays, CatNap is a de facto Golden Order Fundamentalist despite not actually being part of the Golden Order, wearing discarded or stolen pieces of armor from that group. Found as a mandatory boss there, but you can choose not to kill him at the end of the fight and he even has his own questline and ending. The ending is called Age of Madness.

Phase 1 theme (Catnap, Erdtree Fundamentalist): A mix of Get Out and Erdtree Knights

Phase 2 theme: A mix of I Had A Nightmare and Godrick, the Grafted

Pianosaurus

Experiment 1163 was one of the first of the living toys from Playtime Co. to be infected by the Scarlet Rot. And thanks to the Rot’s interaction with the exotic materials that make up the outer shell of Pianosaurus, it quickly became one of the more violent creatures to be born from this kind of interaction. Thankfully, the beast shuns the light of the sun. Found in Gaol Cave heavily infected with and mutated by the Scarlet Rot. Fought as an optional boss there.

Battle theme: Omen Illusion

Yarnaby

Found in Limgrave. Can either be fought for his Remembrance or domesticated, which will give you a tool similar to the Spectral Steed Whistle. And to domesticate Yarnaby you need to give him certain meats, which are as follows…

Boiled Crab

Fireproof Pickled Liver

Immunizing Cured Meat

Well-Pickled Turtle Neck

Sacred Bloody Flesh

Opaline Pickled Liver

These can be fed to Yarnaby in no particular order. As a steed, Yarnaby is arguably better than Torrent in some aspects, as he can fight back when attacked and is faster than Torrent. However, Yarnaby’s main drawbacks as a steed are that he’s too big to go some places and he’s weak to fire.

Battle theme: A mix of All Skein And Bone and Old Warriors

The Doctor

After the event that transplanted parts of Playtime Co. into the Lands Between, it was only a matter of time until the reserve power in the chunk that housed Harley Sawyer ran out. This took a long time. Long enough that deathroot began to sprout in the chunk that housed him, but it eventually happened. However, because of the deathroot, one of the reserve bodies was animated by the power of the plant, with Harley’s soul having been forced inside it. As a result, he effectively became one of Those Who Live in Death, but for reasons unknown, Harley retained most of his soul. Found in Bonny Gaol, which he and several other surviving scientists from Playtime Co. had taken over and converted into a sort of laboratory.

Doey the Doughman

For Doey, he was infected by the Scarlet Rot at some point, which affected him a lot more severely thanks to his nature as a mass of living dough. Despite this, he retained most of his sanity and even managed to turn the Erdtree Sanctuary in Leyndell into an equivalent to the Safe Haven from Chapter 4. Depending on the choices of the Tarnished, when the Erdtree catches fire, this Safe Haven will either be evacuated to the Leyndell Catacombs or be attacked by an Ulcerated Tree Spirit. In the former case, there are minimal casualties and Doey will even give you Lord of Blood’s Exultation (provided you haven’t killed Esgar yet) as a thank you for warning him and advising him and his friends to get to safety. His Scarlet Rot symptoms even seem to be fading away in this case. In the latter case, most of the individuals in this new Safe Haven will have been killed by the Ulcerated Tree Spirit, but Doey will have killed it by the time you find him. And Doey has a mental breakdown like he does in Chapter 4, meaning you have to fight him. He fully succumbs to the Scarlet Rot in Phase 3 of his fight, becoming a being known as The Avatar of Rot.

Phase 1 theme (Doey, the Man of Clay): A mix of It’s All Ruined and Morgott, the Omen King

Phase 2 theme (Doey, Beast of a Thousand Shapes): A mix of Catalyst and Lichdragon Fortissax

Phase 3 theme (Avatar of Rot): A mix of Always Hurt Back and Mohg, Lord of Blood

[rosystuff525]

Okay so I have a very specific idea in mind for how Brook realises he’s an age regressor.

Idk if this will make sense of even be good. But I like it and I’m kinda my own target audience

- He did actually do it a good couple times over his long long period of isolation.

- it mostly came as a coping mechanism for nights wheee nightmares and the isolation were really bad

- honestly he didn’t even realised he regressed. Just some nights he was extremely fragile and ‘simple minded’ as he used to word it

- years and years later obviously he joined the strawhats!

- when he learnt of his other crew mates being regressors and caregivers he naturally slipped into a caregiver role like a fun grandpa! He already kinda was one anyway

- though something about it all seemed so…familiar . Eh who cares. Lock that in the mind palace!

- first time someone even knew of any hint of his regressor side is Robin!

- the two were confiding in eachother about their traumas and Brook happened to mention these ‘simple nights’ where he’s basically just cry like a child lost in a shop or play silly little easy songs on the piano

- though when Robin suggested it might have been age regression he just shook it off. No way! There’s like no way. With how much there’s no way there is no way there can ever be a way! Definitely!

- However , a lot of it came crashing down one night when after an extremely stressful day and just overall a bad mental state Brook went to sleep with a heavy mind.

- he woke up in what he knew would have been a cold sweat if he still had skin

- he got up and checked around five times that everyone was in bed , asleep and alive in the boys cabin before he went out to check the girls.

- he heard Nami snoring so he knew she was okay but as he went for the door he heard Robin

“Brook…I would hope you’re not that depraved that you sneak into our room at night.”

- it really caught him off guard. The way he practically jumped out of his non existent skin made it clear to Robin something else was up.

- his speech was odd, he was fidgeting…he was like when Zoro was trying to lie while regressed

- as he did speak the truth of just checking where she was , she strode up to him and took his hand.

“Is it a simple night perhaps?”

- he didn’t even know she remembered that. But after that all the floodgates opened as he began confiding in her about his worries and fears and the way he was practically clinging to her told her all she needed to know.

- picking him up with relative ease , she brought him to the study.

- that’s where she fully explained the regressing. Everything in all its beauty. Brook then realised that yeah…yeah he does regress

- he fell asleep in her arms wrapped up in a blanket

- the night after he tried playing it off as just him being emotional!

-but after another small talk he finally caved

- it’s hard for him to accept it and there is an aspect of shame of it deep in his mind. Mostly because he is the oldest strawhat and he feels a bit silly doing it

- his main caregivers are Robin and Jinbei but also Franky helps out too

- the others know he regresses but they never see it forms long time

(He’s still working on it)

- typically it’s just to around the ages of 3-6 but more on the younger side

[reds-writings]

OH MY GAWD YOU ARE SO FREAKIN TALENTED!

Seriously, every time you post, I immediately get this happy tingle inside. I think it’s basically a pavlov dog kind of instinct by now.

Everything you write feels so real. You take time with the details, with characterisation, you even write out the accents. It’s got this very meticulous quality to it, which is really rare and enthralling.

If you are feeling inspired by this prompt from the miscellaneous list, I would be thrilled to see what you can come up with

“The residual fear and anxiety after waking from a nightmare.”

thank you!! this is such a high compliment i am positively giddy. for this one i kinda did something different. reader gets comforted for once as opposed to rust! this drabble includes a bit of a sneak peek of what she went through after he left for alaska. fair to say it's a little heavy! hope you enjoy!

Nightmares visited you sparingly with the amount of attended therapy and self-care efforts you had made towards yourself over the past decade. It unfortunately hadn’t meant that they’d ever release your tired mind for good. Always involving the same scenario. July of 03. The Bayou. Those girls. Deafening gunfire riddling anything it could find. The searing pain of Lenny Broussard’s vengeful knife. You as the tragically doomed target. That stench of death burning your nostrils something sinister, stomach made to twist unforgivably. One way or another, you were forced to relive it on repeat in the inescapable realm of sleep. 

You’d had one tonight. It had maybe been a month or two since the last one but it shook you all the same. Ironically, the longer in between these nightmares the harder the come down was when they made their attack once again. Sweat stuck to you like some sickly second skin and your hands couldn’t cease their trembling no matter how hard you balled your fists. Defenses always remained high after these fits, like you’d somehow be unlucky enough to find yourself sent back in time to suffer the consequences of that failed raid in one torturously hellish loop. 

It had been raining hard outside for a while now. Using the violent downpour as white noise to helplessly quiet your unsteady mind, you had been curled in on yourself on the couch for God only knows how long now. The buzz of adrenaline had numbed your skin, keeping you locked in place like some petrified statue. The silent tears that once ran blood hot now stained your swollen face in a dry track as you fought off any lingering tremors. 

The sound of shuffling footsteps on hardwood had your aching muscles tightening up again and sinuses stinging with the threat of incoming saltwater. A hesitant hand came to rest on your hair, freezing in place at your sudden jolt at the contact. But you knew that touch. That veil of cigarette smoke and cologne that was so uniquely Rust. He hadn’t ever seen you like this before. Ever. The both of you hadn’t been able to really talk about all that he missed from Alaska. The window of opportunity had no room to present itself in the midst of you giving your all to making sure he healed successfully over the past several weeks.

His careful fingers brushed the curtain of hair obscuring your troubled face to tuck what they could behind your neck. He’d gotten a glimpse of some of the old scars from the gruesome attack here and there but you were careful to keep most out of view for his fragile sake. The one taking up most of the left side of your face often rendered him painfully remorseful whenever he really focused on it. An unmerciful marker to remind you both of the near-fatal blow that almost robbed you of life once and for all. His throat would always find itself tightening at the thought of having been so casually unaware of what horrors had occurred due to his ill-fated cowardice. From what he gathered, you had gone at it all alone minus the initial help from your sister living in New Orleans. Marty hadn’t offered much on the story. Whether it was because he didn’t feel like it was his place to share or he wasn’t around for much of it at the time, Rust hadn’t the nerve to ask. 

When you made no further shuddering movements, he gently maneuvered your trembling form into the haven of his lap. His other hand came to guide your head to his erratically beating heart. Discovering you so visibly small and frightened did plenty to set him off. You always cared for everyone else more than you ever would for yourself. It was a rare occurrence for him to be the one cradling you as opposed to any other scenario where it always seemed to be the other way around. 

“It’s okay, baby.” He kept his tone hushed as he gently rocked you back and forth. The tenderness of the notion had your body wracking in reviving sobs. All he could do was continue to sway and mumble words of comfort so that he may just ease your mind by a fraction. 

“We’re safe. You gotta breathe for me, baby. Breathe. Just like that.” Rust exaggerated inhaling and exhaling for you to follow. Soft kisses dotted your hairline as your hands unfurled to wrap around his sturdy midsection. If you had half the mind, you’d be embarrassed to find yourself balled up like some baby in your lover’s arms. You couldn’t find it in you to care one bit. No one could do what he was currently doing for you now in all the time you had been alone. 

Once your breaths had started to calm down again he moved your head so that he could see you more clearly despite still being shrouded in the dark. You were sure you were a grisly sight. Snotty, sniffly, puffy, and all. He didn’t give a shit about any of it. His heart burned all the brighter at the vulnerability you entrusted him with enough to display. The calloused pad of his thumb drew itself feather-light over your scar, making your eyes flutter shut. Not much about you had changed, not much could with an eternal beauty like yours, he decided. 

He brought himself down to kiss your marred cheek, then reverently once more to your forehead, before tugging you closer into his body as if to act as a shield against the world around you. 

“I’m sorry.” It seemed to be the only thing he could say lately. You just shook your head and nuzzled in as much as you were physically able, sticking to him like makeshift velcro. You just wanted to feel less at a distance from everything with him by your side. 

Rust was your tether and he’d be damned to ever let you go again. 

[coffeeviolinist]

Once again thinking about the rise and fall of the Akai family.

Little baby Akai who was his parents' pride and joy from the moment he was born.

Mary and Tsutomu boasting to all their friends about their son who at just a few months old is already showing signs of just how terrifyingly clever he is. He says his first word at just four months old, and by seven months he's talking in full sentences.

Baby Akai who was the spitting image of his mother in terms of looks and personality (minus the dark hair) but loved his father more than anyone in the world

He was always such a good boy. Reading his books and waiting patiently for his parents to come home every evening.

Four-year-old Akai learning that Shukichi is on his way and immediately taking his responsibilities as a big brother very seriously.

At nine years old, walking his baby brother to school for the first time, holding onto his hand tightly so Shukichi doesn't accidentally wander into traffic.

The brothers sneaking into their parent's room to wake them up on Christmas morning

Like all older siblings, he teased and pranked Shukichi all the time but would absolutely throw hands if anyone even looked at his baby brother the wrong way. At ten years old, he got his first suspension for beating one of his classmates into the ground after said classmate wouldn't stop mocking Shukichi, who was always a bit timid and didn't quite know how to stand up for himself yet.

He probably tried to teach Shukichi a few of the Jeet Kune Do moves he learned from Tsutomu because "you need to learn how to protect yourself in case I'm not there". The results were mixed at best, seeing as Shukichi really wasn't into learning martial arts, but Akai did at least manage to drill a few basic self-defense moves into his head.

Young Akai just living a normal, happy life.

And then his father disappears. And he doesn't come back.

His favorite person in the world is gone. And Akai can't just let that go. He needs to find out what happened, if only so that he can finally lay a ghost to rest.

So at just fifteen years old, he leaves behind everything and everyone he's ever known.

He goes to sleep in an unfamiliar bed. His parents don't come into his room to turn off his bedside lamp and take the book off his face that he fell asleep reading. His little brother doesn't wake him up at some ungodly hour in the morning telling him that he had a nightmare and asking if he can sleep with him for the rest of the night.

He tries to maintain contact, he really does. He misses his family so much it hurts. But he's busy with his life in America, and his mother and brother have their own things going on, and it's always been in his nature to withdraw when he's in any type of pain. So the phone calls, the letters, and the Christmas and birthday cards slowly start dwindling, little by little until one day they stop coming altogether.

He gets a baby sister, but he doesn't meet her for seven years. He treats her coldly at first, which is something that he'll regret for the rest of his life–he genuinely didn't mean anything by it, but his first interaction with his mother in years ended in a fight, so he was in a bad mood and unfortunately, little Masumi got the brunt of it.

And he still has his mission to worry about, so while he tries to be there for Masumi as much as possible, he can't be a big brother to her the way he was to Shukichi. He misses so much of her life and milestones, and most of the things Masumi knows about him are stories she's heard, either about his status as an ace sniper or his Jeet Kune Do prowess.

Sometimes, Akai wonders if she would still admire him if he had been a little more present in her life.

Now, Akai is 32 years old and still going to sleep in a place that isn't home. His father is still missing and is most likely dead. His brother isn't an Akai anymore. His sister is essentially living on the run with their mother, who was shrunk by the same drug that killed Haneda Kohji which led to their father being taken away, and both of them believe him to be dead.

His family was whole once.

Now, only time will tell if they can ever be that way again.

[littlegaybean1]

Another Life is actually driving me insane.

It's been FOUR DAYS since I watched it and every time I think about it (so like, every half an hour) I think of more things that make it such an incredible episode!!!

Firstly it's Buck in a coma. Obviously I'm going to love it. He's almost dead! He was dead, for three minutes and seventeen seconds at least. Therefore, naturally, this episode automatically became one of my favourites.

Then there's the tiny morsels of Buddie content. It's not prevalent here, which I actually like because it focuses on another relationship that I've also been waiting for for so long. However, in his approximately two minutes of screen time, Eddie does manage to give me just enough content for my ship obsessed mind to work with. I mean, come on. Responding with "Do more!" to "we'll do our best" is absolutely going to make me go slightly feral. He has about four lines and that's one of them. It could easily have been any of them, especially Bobby considering where the episode goes, but it was Eddie. No notes, chef's kiss.

Also the section with Christopher? MY HEART. He's already lost so much for someone so young, and Buck is basically family at this point. I'm also reminded of some parallels between Buck and Chris. They are very similar, but you don't really see it all that often. But if you compare young Buck to Christopher, you start to see quite a few connections. They're both unfailingly positive, but Buck's is more of a façade. They also have matching abandonment issues! In an earlier episode that I cannot recall the name of, Chris starts having nightmares and talks about how everyone leaves. Then, in this episode, Christopher is desperate to talk to Buck, to the point where they (probably illegally) sneak him into the room. And the thing that he is so desperate to say is "You have to come back". HELLO!? Did any of the writers ONCE consider that I am entitled to MONETARY COMPENSATION for all the EMOTIONAL PAIN they caused me. Ow!

I love mental construct Chimney and Hen. They're so chill with it, just like "I guess this is happening" and get on with it. They just accepted it, which honestly I think is somewhat accurate. They're definitely the most relaxed characters (with near death experiences of their loved ones notwithstanding).

Mental construct Bobby is the funniest thing, whilst also being somewhat emotionally devastating. He's off the rails. He's dead. He's a ghost. He's giving the deepest life advice ever. Buck's mind is honestly so weird and I love him for it.

Then there's the bit I hated (it was really clever and so good). Doug.

Oh my god. The reaction I had to seeing that evil creature. Honestly well done to the writers and the actor for making me immediately hate him so much after not seeing him for like four seasons. It was actually horrifying, the implications that if Daniel had lived, if their family had stayed together, Maddie would have had nowhere to run to. It's almost bittersweet, knowing that in another life the Buckley parents were caring and attentive, but with it came something so awful. I hope Doug Kendall is rotting in hell <3

And here's something I only noticed about a day after watching: the biggest negative impacts were on the people that Buck loves the most. Because this was all in his mind, designed to trap him there. Something that has been established is that Buck is, as I think Bobby(?) said, "the guy who wants to fix things". Buck could never be content somewhere that he was idle. In this life he isn't a firefighter, so he needs problems to occupy him. Therefore, the four people that he loves most are the ones that have the biggest problems.

First - Maddie.

Buck and Maddie's relationship is shown throughout the seasons, especially in Buck Begins and the build up to that. They have always been incredibly close, because they didn't have anyone else to rely on. So in the tempting, coma world, Maddie is still with Doug. She never escaped from her abusive marriage, and in this one she even has a child to add to the situation. Buck's first instinct as to what to do to get out of here is to find something to fix. The first thing he thinks of is Maddie and Doug.

Second - Eddie and Christopher.

Even though neither of them have actually said it yet (which is criminal) Buck and Eddie are very obviously best friends. Their relationship is incredibly strong, as is Buck's relationship with Christopher. He's almost like Buck's own child, or at least a nephew. I think most people can also see romantic chemistry between Buck and Eddie. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to have something go terribly wrong in the coma world. A large part of Eddie's character is his love for Christopher, and how he's trying so hard to be the best father he can be whilst balancing his dangerous job and the problems that he inherited from his parents and his broken marriage. So in this mental world, they have been separated. Buck needs to fix Eddie and Christopher, because Eddie cannot be the Eddie that Buck loves without Chris, and Christopher cannot be the kid Buck loves without his father.

Third - Bobby.

Oh my gosh. Even though I knew that it was only in Buck's mind, it still hurt so much. Bobby died without Buck there. He died!!! Without Buck there to take care of, annoy him and generally love him and be loved by him, Bobby never built the bonds he did with the 118. You can see right from the start the very paternal relationship that Bobby has with Buck, which this episode only confirms. I wouldn't say that Buck lost his parents, because you can't really lose what you never had. He never had parents (I am ignoring their redemption arc because I disagree with it. Sue me.). Bobby lost his children, but he never stopped being a father. He became someone's father again with May and Harry, but before that he became Buck's father. It makes so much sense for him to die. Because in the coma world, Buck has parents. Parents who have always loved and cared for him. So in this reality, Buck would never have needed another father. Buck can still remember his relationship with Bobby, and would never be able to replicate it in the coma world. It would be a push factor, something taunting him - there's a man out there, whom you love like a parent, who never even knew you. So Bobby dies. He's nothing but a ghost, nothing physical that can drive Buck out of this paradise reality.

Philip and Margaret Buckley. WHEN I CATCH YOU PHILIP AND MARGARET BUCKLEY.

Buck considered staying. He considered staying in the coma world, knowing that he would die. He stayed for the chance of having loving parents. All Buck ever wanted was to be part of a family that loved him. In 'reality', the 118 became this family, because his biological family was too broken to count as such. But in the coma, it isn't. His parents are loving and free with their affection, he doesn't have to nearly get himself killed for it. He has the older brother that he never knew, and still has the strong bond with his sister.

And then, we finally got it. There are two things that I have been waiting so long for. One has, unfortunately, still not occurred. But finally, in this episode, they gave us the other!!!

He admitted it!

He confirmed it!

There's no taking it back now!

I am proud to be able to say, with full canon support, that Robert Wade Nash is the adoring father of Evan Buck Buckley.

I'VE WANTED THIS FOR SO LONGGGGG

It's been so obvious from the first goddamn episode. I thank you May Grant for finally getting Bobby to admit that Buck is his son. The familial dynamics in the show might be my favourites, with the entire main cast feeling like a family. However, the most obvious of these has always been Bobby and Buck's father-son relationship. It's beautiful really, how close they are and how Bobby is finally able to admit to everyone, including himself, how deep their relationship is.

There's so much more that I could say, but this has already been so long so I'm going to try and wrap it up with one last thing. My rambles always seem to get away from me lol.

I absolutely loved the conclusion. It being the construct of Bobby to tell Buck how to get out is consistent with the focus of the episode, and shows the regard that Buck has for Bobby. Even in a prison constructed by his own mind to hold him there, Buck still has Bobby to rely on. It's one of the most heartwarming moments in the episode.

And then there's the confrontation or, as I mentally called it, the final boss fight. Daniel. The price of leaving is the loss of his brother, because Daniel only lives in the minds of his family. But that's not who the true enemy is. The enemy was just using his image, a mask to hide behind. I cannot honestly say I was surprised when he was revealed, but it was such a powerful moment when Daniel turned into Buck. Because everything happening inside the coma is Buck. It's all in his mind; the pain, the torment, the loathing. Buck's worst enemy, time and time again, is himself. His self worth issues, his abandonment issues, his self doubt. The final enemy to overcome is the voice in the back of his head, given form and prominence in his comatose state. And it almost wins. But there, on the other side, is everyone who actually loves Buck. The real love, not the kind that his mind imagined. Bobby with his rosary, Christopher sneaking in, Maddie and Chimney, Eddie, Hen, even his parents. They're all there because they love him. Because nobody, nobody at all, can defeat the voice in their mind without help.

Also Buck pulling an axe from absolutely nowhere was just peak escaping. Like yes, go get out of this coma by smashing a window with an axe that you just have because you're a firefighter. You get An Axe.

[circeyoru]

Hallo! I am a HUGE fan of your Unwanted Souls (I hope that's the name) series! I was thinking: would the hotel members (Angel) take advantage of Reader and Alastor actually going out on a date to sneak in Reader's room? If Bambi exists, would they lure him away with a corpse? Or would there be a protection barrier/Bambi being a lil guardian?

Go to MASTERLIST for the works. This ask is for {Unwanted Souls}.

AHhh! Thank you!! A huge fan~ Never would I dream that people would be a fan of my writings really. You got the series title right, no worries~

Oh ho~ This is first. Your room. Yes. Your shared and combined room with Alastor.

To get one thing clear, originally, Alastor has his radio tower and that's for broadcast, then he has a bedroom. If you weren't with him, he would have done the same as what he did in the show. But, you were with him and unconscious, so he requested for another room that right next to his for you (though Charlie and the others didn't know it was for you per say). That's in addition to the bedroom and radio tower he has. That additional room was merged with Alastor's to make a bigger room for you. Thus, you have your room!

As for would hotel members take advantage of your and Alastor's absence to enter. I'd like to say no, but that's too ideal, yeah? I believe all rooms are locked with their own key, but with demons have their unique powers, it's easy to break in. Still, there's a master key that Charlie and Vaggie would own to inspect rooms. You know how Charlie said she and Vaggie nearly managed to find all of Angel's drug stash? Yeah, they definitely entered Angel's room.

There's nothing in your room that's worth hiding or stealing, so you don't exactly fret over it. It's Alastor that does all that. Yeah, he puts a form of barrier on the windows and doors, basically anywhere that allows entry to your temporary home. In addition, there's shadow minions that would be left behind to guard your belongings and room. To Alastor, everything you own is precious, so there's a need to protect and preserve it, until you deemed it trash. Or you don't want Alastor to guard your stuff.

Now I'll say that Angel tried to enter your room once and regretted it. Because of Alastor's barrier and shadows, it got Angel one hell of a nightmare fuel. You got back to your room to find him tortured by Alastor's shadow minions, and it wasn't the intimate kind. You got Alastor to let go of Angel and you healed him, but Alastor was indifferent to the scolding.

"Dear, he deserves it for attempting to sneak into your room while you're out. How rude of him."

After that, no one attempted to enter your room without permission.

If Cursed Cat Alastor was here!

Ohh~ He's your little guard cat~ No need to lock the door or whatever charms. You can rest assured that Bambi will be in your room while you're away and guarding it with his cold heart. Any that trespass will get a roll of sharp teeth into their skin. No matter the reason.

Even when you're in the hotel or in your room, Bambi's guarding it and most importantly you!

[nightwalker6200]

Dad Gojo Headcannons:

I know the timelines/ ages are messed up with quite a few but I love little kid Meg and Tsumiki: I'll post more as I think of them :)

Gojo almost always has glitter or stickers somewhere on his clothes/ person. He normally doesn't notice and can go the whole day with a cat sticker or blue glitter on his back/ pant leg.

Gojo once handed back a report that Tsumiki had drawn all over. Yada keeps it tucked away in his desk.

Tsumiki and Megumi drew all over several graded papers (accidently) that Gojo then handed back. Inumaki, Maki, Yuta and Panda hung them up on their walls in the dorms.

Inumaki and Yuta are no longer allowed to babysit Tsumiki and Megumi. Yuta ended up being the responsible adult (basically babysitting 3 kids), and Inumaki ended up with a makeover. He wore the makeup for three days straight until Maki ended up dragging him to the baths, demanding he take a bath because he looked like a sadistic clown who just broke up with their boyfriend.

Gojo knows how to do hair. He practiced on Shoko despite her complaints and can braid neatly.

Tsumiki likes to paint nails and uses Gojo as a test subject when he's asleep - once during a fight, a villian had to stop because they couldn't take Gojo seriously with bright purple nails.

Gojo is surprisingly a good cook. He failed horrendously at first but learned from Shoko, Nanamin, and even Tsumiki. He quickly learned how to make the kids' favorite dishes.

Gojo knows all of the gossip at school and constantly gossips with Tsumiki about her classmates. Tsumiki always has the dets/ drama/ tea.

Tsumiki likes to be close to someone when she's upset or sick or hurt. Megumi only likes to be close if he feels really bad.

Gojo almost always has candy on him, something Inumaki and Panda take advantage of (he's used to stopping bickering between the kids so he throws it at any problem).

Megumi is the hardest to put to bed. He sneaks around, finding new ways to try to stay up past his bedtime and around the Six Eyes.

Gojo has a lot of guilt over Tsumiki's accident. He tears up almost every time he visits her and spent a week drunk after it had happened. He gave her permission to go (even though she would have gone anyway being a teenager) and feels as though he failed at his promise to protect her.

The first time Tsumiki took a boy to the school dance; Megumi and Gojo stood at the door, arms crossed, staring menacingly at the boy until Tsumiki was ready to leave. Gojo might have threatened him... Megumi might have summoned his dogs, who stood at his side, growling.

Gojo has millions of pictures on his phone of the kids, including his students.

Gojo gets squeamish over pulling out Megumi's loose teeth. Tsumiki always has to do it for him, or Megumi will rip it out, mouth full of blood.

Despite his protests, Gojo showed up to every classroom visitation Megumi had in elementary school. He went to Tsumiki's too (who was over the moon).

Gojo once paid a kid money to stop crying. The kid was probably Yuuji.

When Tsumiki has nightmares, she will loudly barge into Gojo's room whereas Megumi will stand quietly at the foot of the bed or side of the bed and wait until Gojo notices him. Gojo has almost punched the 8-year-old several times.

Tsumiki begs Gojo to read to her or tell her stories when they have down time. Megumi lurks in the hall, at the end of the couch or in the shadow, listening. He secretly likes it just as much as his sister.

Gojo knows all the lyrics to all of the Taylor Swift songs. He finds himself humming them at random, and him and Miki sing them loudly in the car to annoy Megumi.

Megumi and Tsumiki got lice from school. Gojo freaked and spent three days with his hair under a shower cap and hat despite Shoko telling him he didn’t have it. He even begged Nanamin to let him sleep over. Megumi threaten to master a louse as a shikigami to freak Gojo out.

Megumi tries to sneak attack/ scare Gojo at random. Tsumiki is the only one who has succeeded.

Gojo playing Barbie or stupid things like store or restaurant. He’s very dramatic and almost always asks to speak to the manager who is Gumi. Gumi tells him to piss off and never come back.

[barkhoffman]

What are some of your Hoffman and Angelina headcanons as they were growing up when they were younger?

hoo boy so basically I decided to make my headcanons angsty for no reason other than I wanted to lmfao

they come from an abusive household, and Mark assigned himself as Angelina's protector, since he IS the big brother and all

their parents are alcoholic deadbeats (Mark never wanted to end up like them, but after Angelina died, he couldn't keep himself from the bar), along with some drug addiction (gives him an extra distaste for Amanda and willingness to put drug addicts in traps when he meets up with John)

the point being, Mark essentially had to raise both himself and Angelina. he's the kind of big brother who would have tea parties if she wanted (with chipped little plastic cups from the thrift shop whenever they scrounged up enough money to take a trip there), who would beat up her bullies even if he wasn't confident or brave, and yet as they got older, they'd swap places a bit. Angelina turning into the type who'd proudly march up to the counter at McDonald's and say "he ASKED for NO PICKLES" while introverted Mark just put his head down behind her, embarrassed but happy to have helped raise such a strong young woman

when she was little, he'd pour her extra cereal and tell her "big brothers don't need to eat as much as little sisters." when she had nightmares, he'd sneak some of the air freshener their parents used to cover the scent of weed and spray it all around her room to "poison the monsters." on her first day of school, she clung to him and cried and refused to let go, and he felt so bad when he had to walk away and get to his own class.

eventually their dad got arrested for something and ended up shanked in prison for being a cunt, and their mom od'd later, shoving Mark and Angelina into the foster care system. they'd get shuffled around a bit until landing on one family, the Acombs, which Angelina would grow closer to than Mark (due to him being older and closer to moving out by the time they wound up there).

the Acombs were an old couple who spent their whole lives trying and failing to conceive. they didn't have much luck with fostering until Angelina and Mark showed up. Mark never much connected with them, but when Mr. Acomb was diagnosed with cancer, Angelina was quick to ask to be legally adopted by them, so that they could be a somewhat happy family for the short time he had left. Mrs. Acomb, while delighted with her new daughter, would succumb to a death of heartbreak not long after her husband passed.

and so, Angelina is the only family Mark has. different surnames, but an intertwined history, where she was the princess and he was her knight in shining armor. unfortunately, he couldn't stop her from getting together with a man all too similar to their abusive father, any more than he could stop himself from hitting the bottle after it ended the way it did.

I made it even more depressing again sorry

[maraudersinparadise]

In which James Potter returns to Hogwarts as a substitute professor, with a very special someone as a student. Or: Lily Evans's worst nightmare comes true as her ex-boyfriend reappears after almost two years of their break-up.

(links after the sneak-peak)

“I only duelled him,” Gideon said as they made their way to the door. “How in the world will I find faults in his duel?”

“Well, it’s not that hard. When he was fighting you–”

“The homework is individual, Miss Evans.”

Lily hadn’t noticed how close to Potter they were until he interrupted her. She rolled her eyes.

“Maybe if you had been fairer to him, he wouldn’t need the help, sir,” Lily retorted. Marlene tried to pass her laugh as a cough, but failed miserably.

“The classroom has an odd number of students,” Potter replied, crossing his arms. The red haired turned, ignoring Marlene’s grin as she did so.

“Marlene and I wouldn’t mind taking turns with him,” Lily suggested. Potter raised an eyebrow and smirked lightly.

“And diminish the amount of duels each of you would be having? Slacking much, Miss Evans?”

“I consider the quality of the duel more relevant than the quantity, Professor Potter.”

The thing about James Potter and Lily Evans was that sometimes, in some moments, they simply forgot that there were other people around them, and focused only on themselves. It had always been like that, and probably always would be like that.

Those close to them were used to it; how many times hadn’t Marlene just left them alone and they didn’t even notice?

So it wasn’t anything new to Marlene and Benjy the glares they shared, ignoring just about everyone in the room – including Gideon.

“It may be true when the person in question already has got a bit of notion and ability, Miss Evans. However, in the beginning, quantity is fundamental to firm up the basics.”

“Oh, so that’s why you used to duel so much back at school, Sir?”

Potter’s eyes sparked.

“Miss Evans…”

“I beg your pardon, Professor. That was out of line. I just thought, Sir, that you’d be open to criticism, but…”

“Constructive criticism is always welcome, Miss Evans, but I don’t believe that’s what just happened here.”

“You’re right, I was discussing homework with another student when you interrupted us, Sir,” Lily replied, smiling innocently. “Since both of us duelled you, I simply wished to compare our observations about your faults, Professor.”

“Usually one needs to last more than five minutes to observe their opponent’s faults, Miss Evans,” he teased her, but Lily didn’t stop smiling.

“Some can be very whopping, Professor Potter.”

“Such as…?”

Lily’s smile turned into a full on grin.

“I thought the homework was individual,” she remarked. “Besides, apparently my work’s supposed to be about the faults of whom I dulled first, is it not? Or do you want two papers about your faults, Sir?”

Potter grinned quickly, an old friend of Lily’s – it was a smile he used to show when she got him cornered at an argument. Seeing that expression, Lily’s lips stretched wider in reflex, but quickly returned to normal.

ffnet

ao3

wattpad

[beigetiger]

About your SoW AU

Valkyrie 👗 A headcanon about their clothes 💤 A headcanon about their sleep

Mevolent 😭 A headcanon about the worst thing that happened to them.

Lord Vile 🌟 A headcanon about their desires/wishes

Baron 😇 A headcanon about their religion/lack thereof

Oooo, an AU!

Valkyrie: THIS ONE I’VE WANTED TO TALK ABOUT. When Skulduggery goes missing in the explosion, she ends up with his hat and it’s one of the things that Mevolent doesn’t confiscate from her when he takes her to the castle. She wears it pretty much everywhere, it becomes something that the others in the castle associate with her.

And she probably sleeps pretty badly. Even in a normal situation I can’t imagine she sleeps well with the nightmares she probably gets, and so being held captive by Mevolent probably makes the matter ten times worse. Paranoia would probably be pretty relevant for her, and she would also try and use the nighttime as a way to sneak out of the castle. This would lead to Vile occasionally shadow-walking into her room at night to check that she’s still there, which would NOT help the paranoia. She’s just constantly sleep deprived.

Mevolent: I’m sure that a lot of really awful things happened to him while he was working for The Unnamed, but the worst thing to have ever happened to him was probably Serafina dying, since that happened a lot later in his life and therefore impacted him more.

Vile: he’s a fair bit like Skulduggery in the sense that some part of him does want someone to care about him, and that leads to his obsession with Valkyrie where he wants her basically undivided attention and believes she can give it to him because she loves Skulduggery.

Baron: I have a lot of thoughts about what his and Valkyrie’s relationship would be like, but I think after they kind of get used to each other, Baron would be a lot more open towards theological debates with her and they’d do it as entertainment sometimes. They’d have to be careful to not let things get too heated though, Baron is quite protective of his religion.

Thanks so much for the ask!