#because he didn't need or ask for tribute from humans

[azurescaled-archived]

[aquasarsstuff]

Endeavors with the General ft. General Lilia Vanrouge x reader

Tag: Long haired Lilia, fluff, he's the wife, he's pretty soft here guys, no gender mentioned

A/N: how tf do you write him? You can't tell me that no one is taking care of that beautiful hair let's forget silver who only uses soap. This is tribute for my hair that's getting cut. For context, I have a wavy hair that's more than 24 inches long. With a small estimation, I like to think that General Lilia and I have almost the same hair length. Thanks for reading my fics guys. I feel like my passion in writing is coming back just needed some validation

Masterlist

---

Being a general, your husband, most often than not, comes home looking unkempt. You don't chastise him for it. In fact it is one of the ways you get to bond with him and his busy schedule. With the way between humans and faes, you rarely got the chance to spend with Lilia as the kingdom's safety often calls for his attention. Most of the time, you are worried of his line of work, but you know his loyalty lies far deeper than just for the kingdom.

Now, you giddily opened the letter from Lilia. It seems that he will be coming home tonight. To prepare for his upcoming arrival, you canceled all your plans and used all the remaining time you have to plan a great dinner and sleep for him.

For hours, the servants around the house watch as you pace back and forth, waiting for Lilia's arrival

"Lilia!"

You jumped at him as soon as he opened the door. He effortlessly caught you as always, not even surprise at this entrance. "I've missed you." You push back the scarf on his head and slide off his mask. You were greeted by by his gentle face as soon as you did. Immediately, your lips that were magnetically attracted to his skin, latch on his cheek. You gave him plenty of kisses, yet purposely missing his twitching lips.

"It's only been 4 days." His hands fell on your waist. After you stopped from showering him with affection, you buried your head on his shoulder and hugged him back.

"4 days and 4 nights without you, to be exact. I was so worried when you didn't answer my first letter."

"I can't just be at your beck and call all the the time." He sighs before continuing, "It won't happen again."

You raised your head and look away from him, pretending that you are pondering of your verdict for him. You hum, "Well since you're here now, I forgive you." He huffed when you poke his nose and patted his head. You can see his cheeks darken after doing so.

"I'm not a child," he grumbled. You laughed at his bashful demeanor. He didn't exactly say that he didn't like it, and if he did, he could've pulled your hand away. Instead, you see the fearsome phantom general of Briar Valley act this cute.

"Yes yes, you are not love. Though there is nothing wrong with me desiring to be affectionate with my husband, no?" You wrapped your arms around his neck and finally gave his lips some love too. You broke the hug between you and gently took his hand, to dragged him to the dining room. As soon as you opened the room, he sees the array of servants carrying dishes. Even if the food were covered, his heightened senses immediately knew most what it was. He pulled one of the chairs for you to sit on before taking a seat for himself.

As the dishes were laid on the table, you turned towards Lilia. You noticed that he was just staring as the dishes were being served.

"Is it not to your liking?" you asked him, worried that there is something wrong.

"It's different back in the camp," he lied.

"You should eat a lot then!"

He winced as he realized that his excuse backfired on him. Truth to be told, he had a feast back in the princess castle, because someone insisted on keeping him stuffed for the journey back to you. Though seeing your enthusiastic demeanor, he could only groan internally as he is more apprehensive of seeing you sad than his stomach bursting.

Throughout the whole dinner, you kept rambling about what happened to you while he was away. Seeing how distracted you were, he opted to hand some of his portions from his plate to yours.

---

That was one of the ways you can bond with him: eating together. Another was through self-care.

You gently pulled the hair tie out of his locks, letting it flow freely. "Now what would I find here again?" You gently separated the hair strands and found a small twig stuck in Lilia's hair. A common find.

"You didn't have to do this. I've already dealt with this after I took a bath," he sighed when you shook your head.

"Tell it to this twig then." You enjoy his long locks too much to agree his earlier proposal. "You can't see your whole head, Lilia. Just let me do my work, hm?"

You softly brush his hair, admiring how the strands transition from black to red. "Besides, you have to thank me for keeping it this beautiful."

"It's no different than before," he retorts back.

You pouted, unable to find a counterattack. It was true that he was naturally gifted with his tresses. Even before your marriage, his hair albeit a little tangle at times, was still silky smooth to the touch. You speak from experience.

"What do you even do to have something like this? Do you have some secret routine you're not telling me?"

"Water and soap washes away dirt easily."

"That is true, but I was talking about your hair."

"And?"

"Wait what?"

Now in the present, we understand why Silver uses soap as his shampoo.

[thriftedtchotchkes]

safe & sound

pairing: finnick odair x reader

summary: after years of hard nights and bad dreams, finnick knows better than anyone how to make you feel safe again

warnings: post-mockingjay, established relationship, victor!reader, fluff, comfort, nightmares, brief depictions of death & anxiety

word count: 1.2k

(based on this request, tysm <3)

Callused fingers cradle your cheek while soft lips pepper softer kisses down the slope of your neck. They're a welcome reprieve from the terror that lingers after yet another bad dream.

Yet another night, forced to relive the greatest horrors of your short lifetime. Sometimes it's the arena, your hands covered in the blood of your fellow tributes, their small faces frozen in their final moments of fear.

Tonight's was somehow even worse. It was him, cruelly dismembered while you watched uselessly from the top of that damned ladder. You can still hear them clear as day, hissing your name instead of the Mockingjay's with voices much too human for their mutated, reptilian bodies.

But the games and the war are over now, you know that. You're not trapped in those tunnels anymore, or desperately tugging the love of your life to safety as the Capitol's mutts snap at his ankles in their violent attempts to drag him to his death.

Because in the waking world, they didn't. Finnick is right next to you, whispering sweet nothings in your ear that mean everything. Those gentle words spoken in the dark mean he's still alive.

"Open your eyes, sweetheart. It's not real. None of it is real," he mumbles carefully, shifting to mouth at the sweat-slick skin just below your jaw. The deep timbre and vibration of his voice are soothing, if only a little. "Take a deep breath—in through your nose, out through your mouth. Do it with me, come on."

You do as he says, tensing in anticipation, preparing for the overwhelming scent of roses, but it never comes. Instead, you smell seawater. It's strongest in his sleep-tousled curls, so you nose into them and breathe him in, letting your focus drift elsewhere. Somewhere safe.

Your next exhale is a little steadier, even more still when you repeat the action with him, once then twice. Slowly, everything you see, feel, smell, taste, is him. His lips meet yours, and your eyes remain open even as his flutter closed in your desperation to keep the familiar, nightmarish images that dance behind your eyelids at bay.

But as he coaxes your mouth open and buries his fingers in your hair to pull you closer, everything else begins to fade away. There's only Finnick.

You repeat it to yourself like a mantra—there's no one else here but Finnick. He's right here.

Blunt nails gently scratch your scalp, tensing to keep you near, to maintain the grounding pressure of his lips against yours, and the kiss deepens. But there's no heat behind it. Only the potent taste of sugar cubes and the persistent bite of determination. He won't give up until he banishes every awful recollection and replaces them with newer memories of comfort and peace—at least for the night.

Eventually, he pulls away, chastely pecking your lips a few more times when you chase him. Immediately, you feel colder, and as if he can sense it, he pulls you flush against him, resting his cheek on your collarbone.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asks, a faint murmur as he peers up to meet your gaze.

There's concern in his eyes, and you wonder if you were screaming again. God, you hope not. It happens often enough, but even so, it's not something you think either of you will ever get used to.

You sigh and start to shake your head, but stop short. Do you want to talk about it? The answer is usually a resounding no—why dwell on anything that causes so much pain, that you've discussed over and over, practically to death?

And yet, for the first time in a long time, there are words on the tip of your tongue desperate to escape. Tonight, you actually do.

"It was bad, Finn," you whisper shakily, still falsely convinced you need to remain quiet so you're not overheard. "They got you this time. Tore you apart...ripped you to shreds, and I did nothing. None of us did. We let you die—sacrificed you for some greater good, but no one even tried," you spit out, your voice rising in anger the longer you recall your dream. "We could've saved you. We chose not to."

He stays silent, his arms tightening around you as a reminder of your reality. You're positive he can feel you trembling, and his brows knit together in what anyone else would assume is sympathy. But he understands. He felt that crippling fear back then and he feels it radiating off of you in waves right now.

Fighting to hide the intensifying quiver of your lips, you breathe sharply out your nose to dispel your misplaced blame. You didn't lose him, and so of course there's no one at fault. You repeat that like a mantra, too.

"You know, sometimes I wake up searching for you. l expect you to be gone like you were never here at all," you mumble numbly, but your body betrays you, finally giving in to the burning behind your eyes. "It feels like I'm suffocating. I can't breathe no matter how hard I try, and there's this huge weight on my chest, this crushing loneliness I can't shake."

A few stray tears fall against your will, and he brushes them away with a gentle swipe of his thumb before you can rub your skin raw. He cups your cheeks again, guiding you down for another kiss, and it's salty and wet, just like seawater.

You suddenly feel overwhelmingly grateful. Night after night, you go through this same routine, and he calms you without question or complaint, lovingly. After so many years, it feels like second nature to both of you. And when he has his bad nights, quieter than yours but no less traumatic, you soothe his unrest with stories from your childhood, of ocean spray and fishing nets filled to the brim on a stormy day.

Rolling you onto your back, he braces himself on his elbows to keep from crushing you while he shields you from the rest of the world. This bed—the light, scratchy fibers of home woven into your blanket and pillowcases—is the only world that matters, the one you've made for yourselves.

Finnick kisses you breathless, then fills your lungs with his air. You feel lighter. Relieved. Then he speaks and his voice is like a lullaby, better than any bedtime story with a happy ending meant only for you.

"But you always find me, right? When you open your eyes, I'm always here," he says so earnestly that it must be true. You nod, your eyelids growing heavier as the world fades into a wash of bronze and seafoam green. "It's okay to close them. Get some rest. I promise you, I'll be waiting right here in the morning when you wake up."

As you drift off, he lowers his body to rest carefully on top of yours, and his heat acts as a blanket to shelter you against the cool, salty breeze filtering in through an open window.

You're home. You're safe. Tonight, you believe it.

thanks for reading!

[writingquestionsanswered]

What's "Filler" vs What's Relevant

Anonymous asked: How do you know when something is “filler” that needs to be deleted, or if it can be kept? I often see advice saying "your characters should talk about nothing but the plot... no frivolous banter or silly arguments, because it's useless, self-indulgent, filler-fluff." But then I watch or see things and it's like, hm... there sure are a lot of things happening here that aren't plot relevant, yet the audience adores it. For example, in a popular episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, called "The Tales of Ba Sing Se," nothing relevant to the main plot (stopping Fire Lord Ozai) happens. Instead, characters shop and go to a spa, rebuild a zoo, and go on a date. Part of the episode is even dedicated to one character's running off after having a nightmare. Nothing that we learn or that happens in the episode is ever relevant again as far as I recall, yet 19 years later, people still talk about how much they love that episode. So, I’m really confused as to what counts as useless filler/fluff vs what's important information. How do you tell the difference?

[Ask edited for length...]

First, it's important to note that a Nickelodeon cartoon from twenty years ago is not a great measuring stick for how to write fiction in 2024. ATLA, from what I've heard, is an amazing TV show, full of heart and top-notch character development. But it was also a cartoon created for and written to be enjoyed by children as young as age seven (the low end of Nickelodeon's demographic at the time), so it was following different guidelines from what you'd be following if you're trying to write a short story, novella, or book.

Case in point, the ATLA episode "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" is what's known in television as a "vignette," which uses short, self-contained stories unified by concept and theme to explore character relationships, growth, world-building, and to expand on themes that are important to the overall story. So, while the episode may not have contained plot-relevant elements, as get a glimpse into the minutiae of the characters' daily lives in Ba Sing Se, the characters and their relationships are still pushed forward, even if in only the tiniest ways.

And, again, this is a TV show with 61 episodes, not a short story, novel, or book, all of which are structured differently than a TV show.

On the Subject of "Fluff"

I want to be clear about the fact that if you're writing fan-fiction, fluff is just fine. And even if you're writing original fiction, you can get away with a little bit of fluff... you just need to be clever about it...

Filler, Fluff, or Relevant?

If something is absolutely necessary to move the story forward or understand it, it's plot relevant.

If something doesn't move the story forward and isn't critical to the reader's understanding of the story, but it helps them understand the characters or world in a way they didn't before, it's probably fluff that's been dressed up in a plot relevant costume. (That's the "you need to be clever about it" bit from above, which we'll get to in a second...)

If something isn't necessary to move the story forward or understand it, and it doesn't add anything to the reader's understanding of the characters or world, it's filler. It's just words on a page that serve no purpose, and it should be cut.

On the Subject of "Moving the Story Forward"

To clarify, in case anyone is wondering, "moving the story forward" means advancing the plot from one scene to the next scene. In other words, to use The Hunger Games as an example, Prim's name being drawn in the Reaping moves the story forward, because it forces Katniss to volunteer in her place. It moves the story from Katniss being a bystander at the Reaping to being a tribute. Another example, using Twilight, when Tyler's van skids into the parking lot and almost smashed into Bella, it forces Edward to use his otherworldly vampire strength to save her, which confirms in her mind that he's not human. It moves the story from Bella being curious about this weird boy at school to realizing he is something else and wanting to know more.

Dressing Up Fluff to Make it Relevant

Let's say you're writing a story about a young woman who stayed in her small town and went to community college while her high school besties went off to a college she couldn't afford, and now they've returned and she's trying to maintain these important friendships while struggling with feelings of resentment, jealousy, and feeling left behind.

Now, let's also say you have an idea for a really cute scene where your protagonist and one of these friends goes to a museum together for an afternoon. And as it stands, nothing plot relevant happens in this scene and it doesn't add anything to the reader's understanding of the characters or world. It's just something silly and fun you think would be cute in your story. How can you turn it from fluff to relevant?

To start with, look at your character's internal conflict... wanting to maintain the friendship while struggling with jealousy and feeling left behind. What could happen in the museum that could play on that? Maybe they stop in front of a reproduction of the Venus de Milo and the friend starts talking about the semester abroad she and the other friends did in Paris. This is a perfect place to explore the protagonist's feelings of jealousy and being left behind. If the character talks about her thoughts and feelings in that moment, either inside her head or with the friend, it gives you a chance to expand upon these feelings, explore why they're happening, and even to add further conflict. Maybe she confronts the friend and it doesn't go over well. Or, maybe she lies about something to feel better about herself, and that creates problems later.

Another option would be to look at the next plot point that needs to happen. Is there some way this scene can be used as a stepping stone between two existing scenes? Could something be added to this scene that raises the stakes or or makes the next scene more interesting?

While I'm sure there are some scenes you just can't make relevant no matter how hard you try, usually you can find a way if you just take the time to brainstorm and try out different ideas.

One Last Note...

On the rare occasion you end up with a fluff scene that has no relevance and can't be made to have relevance no matter how hard you try, write it anyway. Then, take it out, save it someplace safe, and hang onto it. These kinds of stories make GREAT incentives for things like newsletter sign-ups, subscription perks, web site bonuses, etc.

I hope that helps! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[spaceless-vacuum]

What would the yandere links feel about the reader being able to turn into a cat and having some known traits of one like instinctly snuggle I nto things even in human form and basically be like twilight turning into a wolf situation but instead of a wolf it's a cat with the fur the same color as their hair and same eye color.

Even more cute maybe reader turns into a small cat

“Does anyone know who this cat is?” Warrior picked up the small creature who had roamed into their campsite and cradled them gently in his arms. His eyes were full of delight as he held the small animal; it was surprising to see a cat just roaming around Hyrule as they were domestic creatures. He scratched the top of your head and you were delighted at both the attention and the scritches he provided. Sure the gloves he wore were a little rough and you would have preferred he take them off, but in your current condition all you could do was meow and that wasn't conducive to a proper conversation. 

“It’s not mine.” Legend called as he happily stood up and made his way to Warrior to pay tribute to the cat. He liked Wolfie well enough but nothing beat a cat! Warrior watched Legend approach and turned away from him. Hiding you away so that Legend had to keep walking in circles to get a good look. Once closer Legend could see that your eyes reminded him of someone in the group who said they were going on a quick walk. 

“What’s a cat?” Wild asked, standing up from the cooking fire so he could get a better look.

“It’s like a dog but smaller and more mischievous.” Sky chimed in. The skyloftian had never been around many cats but he knew of them and had already decided he didn't mind their company, even if he had never been around them before. “They have claws and can scratch if you're not careful and they purr when they're happy.”

Taking that as his cue Wild stood up and joined the group piling around the cat. Warrior stood still as the young man approached so he could get a proper look. Legend kicked the soldier lightly in the shin, a little upset that he'd let Wild pet the cat and not him. You for your part were so happy to be receiving so much attention. Sure it was a little strange having been immediately spotted and picked up but it wasn't too bad.

“I bumped into a healer once who had a pet cat. They were really sweet! She called it a calico. Really cute thing. It made a lot of loud rumbling sounds when I pet it.” Hyrule stayed on the outskirts of the group and watched with wide eyes at the new guest. He wondered if the cat would be following them around for a while or if they were just here for the fish Wild was grilling over the fire.

“That's what purring is.” Sky chimed in.

“You're just here to steal our fish aren't you.” Wind was by the fire helping watch the fish cook so they didn't burn. Wild didn't need the help but Wind argued he knew fish better than anyone because he grew up on an island and no one could argue. His face was set in a scowl and he had that squinty eye look that the whole group found adorable but could never say so. He stared at you conspiratorially and you let out a little murph and moved around in Warriors arms. Trying to stand was a little difficult but with feline grace and precision you landed on your feet and walked over to the sailor.

“Yeah I knew it.” He crossed his arms and stared down at you. Legend walked over to the fire and sat down close to it so he could stay by your side. All those times he didn't seem to click well with Wolfie finally made sense, he was a cat person. Wild slowly walked over to the fire as well and stayed down next to it, his eyes were wide and you could tell he'd never seen a cat before in his life. He looked both excited and pleased with this new discovery.

“If they want the fish, let them have some of mine.” Time offered. It was such a sweet gesture but you didn't need it, your portion was already on the grill cooked to perfection on the grill. You stared at it intently hoping someone would get the message and hand it over, and as such you weren't even aware of the pair of boots sneaking up on you from behind. Twilight didn’t say anything, he just picked you up with two arms underneath your front paws and held you there. Your legs dangled in the air and snickers and laughs kicked up from the group. Mischievous indeed, you had the look of trouble in your eyes and Twilight could tell who's look that was.

“Where did y/n go?” Twilight asked quietly. Not that he needed to be loud; the only sounds in the group was the fire as the small chatter of conversation had died once you trotted your way in. He stared at your eyes as you yawned and stuck your tongue out a bit. He set you back on the ground and you walked back over to the fish cooking and stared at them with wide eyes. Wild looked at you for a moment before it all clicked on him. The group had known about Twilight being Wolfie for a while and even Legend had hinted at his own animal form a few too many times and now, the cat was out of the bag.

[zafirosreverie]

"Would you go out with me?…I meant romantically" (Lovecraft x F!Reader)/(Poe x F!Reader)

for @stygianoir hope you like it!

H.P. Lovecraft:

He's been here for a long, long time, but he wasn't really interested in humans beyond the occasional sacrifices and tributes. There was nothing the human race could teach him, they didn't bring anything new, not even amusing for him. Until he met you.

He had been with the Guild for a long time, following orders, no matter how bloodthirsty or inhumane (after all, what did he care about the moral laws of a society that would soon disappear like so many others?), simply waiting for his contract to end so he could go back to sleep at the bottom of the ocean. But then you joined the Guild, and everything changed.

You were kind, gentle, a little distracted and radiated a pure and innocent aura, one that inevitably caught his attention. You know what they say, the darkness is always attracted to the light. He tried to approach you, the only important thing humanity had created, he needed to be near you, like a moth to the light, but it wasn't easy, you were just as shy or shyer than Alcott and Poe, which was saying a lot, and Lovecraft could see that his presence made you nervous.

However, he also felt that you weren't afraid of him, you just didn't know how to approach him. So he followed you around like a stray cat, waiting for you to get used to his presence. It wasn't his brightest move, nor the most dignified, but for an evil and ancient god, the prize often mattered more than the means, and you were definitely the prize he had longed for the most in his long, long existence.

Finally, after many months, you gave him the chance to make his move that he had been waiting for. He witnessed Twain's attempts to woo you, and although it bothered him, he had never done anything about it because you didn't really seem interested. Until one afternoon you went to him for help, saying how those flirtations and advances were really bothering you and that you wished the other man would stop. That's when Lovecraft decided to intervene, mark his territory and let the world know that you were the one to whom the eldritch horror would hand over his existence.

Listen, you knew he wasn't one for soft or cheesy talk, he just told you what he thought, direct and without embellishment and you had gotten used to it, you even appreciated his direct way of speaking because then you didn't need to try to read him or find out if the things he told you were true or if he was just being nice (you already knew he had a soft spot for you).

That's why he surprised you when one afternoon, while you sat in your study drawing, with Lovecraft's head in your lap, he opened his eyes suddenly and looked into your soul.

"Would you be my human?" he asked

"Huh?!" You blinked in confusion "I-I...I'm sure John already took that tittle"

Lovecraft frowned, as if the very idea was ridiculous and you were pretty sure he was judging you, even though his face showed no further emotion. You cleared your throat as an idea began to form in your mind, one that you really wanted to be true, but that you didn't dare say out loud.

"I mean-...you already have humans, what about the rest of the Guild? Or the people who still worship you?"

"They're not my humans" he said, as if it was something obvious "they're humans that I tolerate around me"

"You toletare me too?" you smiled a little, even as you felt your face blushing.

"I don't tolerate you. I actively seek your company" he corrected.

"…coming from you, I feel like that's an immense honor" you said sincerely, letting one of your hands caress his hair.

"It is" he replied, closing his eyes again.

You stayed silent for a while, your drawing already forgotten and abandoned while you simply looked at the impassive face of the man in your lap. Just when you thought he had fallen back asleep, you heard a soft whisper that you weren't sure if it was in your mind or he had actually said it.

"Would you be MY human?"

Clear images flashed through your mind, confirming the thought you had earlier. There was no mistaking the intentions of the horror in your arms, and as you timidly whispered a yes, you could feel as if an ancient, inhuman force surrounded you, warm and protective. The pact had been closed.

Edgar Allan Poe:

"Did she say yes again?"

Poe sighed as he sat next to Francis at the bar at the Guild base. It wasn't that they were close, he wasn't even completely sure he liked the man, but he was the only one in the organization who really had any notions of love and romantic relationships, so he was the only one who could help in his attempts to woo you.

The poor man hadn't been able to stop thinking about you from the moment he saw you. After all, you were the only reason he agreed to join the new Guild. After the disaster in Yokohama and Fitzgerald's surprising resurgence, the blonde had contacted his former employees again, in an attempt to regain the original strength of the Guild or even make it stronger.

As expected, some didn't accept. Steinbeck basically gave the man the middle finger, while Mitchell had decided to return home despite her embarrassment at not being able to regain the family's honor, and Montgomery had not even been considered for it. By the time Alcott had gone to look for him, they only had Melville, Twain, and herself on board (and Poe was sure that Herman had simply accepted out of a strange paternal sense toward Fitzgerald).

For a moment he had decided to reject the offer and wash his hands of Guild, but Louisa had asked him to at least just go see the new base, so that Francis would see that she had at least tried. It was a favor as "partners in shyness" that he had not been able to refuse. It was then that he met you.

When he and Louisa had arrived at the base, Fitzgerald had his back to the door, talking animatedly to someone. When he turned around, his eyes lit up at the sight of Poe and he quickly thanked him for coming back. Before Edgar could correct him and say that he was just visiting, Francis introduced you, and then his entire world stopped.

You were small (compared to him), pretty, young, your eyes didn't seem to be able to leave the ground and your cheeks were tinted a healthy and beautiful pink. Poe felt his heart begin to beat faster and he almost feared he had died, because there was no other explanation for being in the presence of such an angel.

"This is Y/N Y/L/N" Francis had said, breaking him out of his reverie "She will share the position of master architect with you."

The man had continued to babble further explanations, but Poe stopped listening again, simply staring at you behind the curtains of hair that hid his eyes. You were clinging to someone's arm, and it wasn't until he was able to regain control of the rest of his senses that Poe realized that you had, in fact, managed to bring two more members of the former Guild with you (although he never had the courage to ask you how the hell you'd contacted Lovecraft, or how you'd convinced Hawthorne to come back (honestly, part of him wasn't sure he wanted to know)).

And the moment you lifted your face a little to give him that smile, that damn shy smile, that had pierced his soul, Poe knew that there was no way in the world he could leave you. Not even Ranpo had been able to convince him to join the agency and abandon the new Guild. He just couldn't bear the thought of never seeing you again.

So he stayed and got to know you better. You two actually worked well together, and when Louisa joined the equation, the new Guild soon became the most influential organization in all of Japan (even the Port mafia had tried to do business with them).

It was easy to see the difference between this Guild and the old one, and for Poe, it was equally easy to discern why. It was you. Despite your shy and socially awkward nature, you were a little ray of sunshine to everyone, you knew how to keep a friendly conversation with anyone (as long as it was only one person, maximum two. Any more than that and you wouldn't talk anymore), help with their problems, you were a good listener and your silent company was always a source of tranquility and calm.

It was no wonder that Lovecraft loved sleeping near you, or that Hawthorne spent his afternoons reading next to you in your office. And for Poe, his favorite time were the nights, those in which you would timidly knock on his door and read his novels, those that he had abandoned in his obsession to defeat Ranpo and that thanks to you he had taken up again.

You had given him back a part of himself that he hadn't even realized he had lost, and because of that, he had decided to face his fears and try to establish a more intimate relationship with you.

The problem was that you just didn't take the hints. Whenever Poe tried to ask you out, you said yes, but then you would ask Louisa to join, so it was clear that you thought of it as a favor he was doing you, as part of the "partners in shyness" club.

Poe, being part of said squad as well, could never say no or correct you, so he ended up accepting the friendly solution. Louisa had apologized to him many times for that, but he knew it wasn't her fault.

"Why don't you write her something?" Francis asked, taking him out of his thoughts "You're a writer after all"

"I already tried, but I don't know how to write romance novels, and I don't think a crime scene is a good setting for a date."

"I meant letters, not a whole novel. Go back to the classics!"

That…that made sense. Edgar actually felt a little silly for not thinking of it sooner, but hey, it was better late than never, right? Days later, on one of the nights you visited him in his office, he asked you to help with something. But instead of the manuscript you had expected, he gave you a letter where he confessed everything he felt for you.

At that moment, you couldn't misunderstand anything, and all the kind invitations he had made to you before came back to your mind. You hid your face in your hands as you felt your cheeks heat up and apologized profusely for being so blind, but Poe quickly assured you that it was okay, he had still enjoyed those outings even if they hadn't been what he had planned.

“So… uhm…” he shifted uncomfortably next to you.

"I'll go out with you…romantically this time" you joked awkwardly and smiled shyly at him.

__________________________

"Oh, it's about time, you two," Mark joked when he saw you walking hand in hand. "Aw, don't blush, now that two of you are dating, you just need to adopt Louisa."

"Mark!"

[helpfandom]

Platonic! Yandere! 2012 Kraang x platonic reader HCs + bonus.

Tribute to @yanderes-galore . They did this first and better! Read their's first!!

Hc's under the cut.

[By the by, I will try my best to keep with the kraang speech. And these HCs run under the assumption you are a friend of the turtles with low - moderate fighting skills. Oh! and April has the favoritism from the turtles. Honestly, I'm sorry but I kinda slander Donnie.]

Tw: Dehumanizing.

What even made them want to keep you as a little pet? You didn't have main character powers like April, but you also didn't care. You didn't care that they all looked alike, it probably happened because you were chill and Kraang Prime took notice and went: "That one." While pointing at you. You found no problems with them as long as they weren't bad people, up until the Turtles tell you about them.

Now, would they mutate you? No. Likely not, I have a feeling that Kraang like you better human. Besides, keeping a full intact human means that they can monitor and track your behaviors to become more human-like, as well as keep said human under constant vigilance! "This is what a phrase known by those we call the humans is said: killing two birds with one stone."

Once Donnie figures out the Kraang have taken a liking to you AND April, and he tells the rest of the team, Splinter askes both of you to stay in the sewers, but neither of you do. Because April being kidnapped would cause the Earth to end, the turtles [mostly Donnie though, because he doesn't care for you as much. Sorry.] decide to watch over April, instead of you.

This is likely when the Kraang kidnap you and bring you back, since the turtles are too busy watching April, the Kraang are free to kidnap you. Of course, the turtles care, but sadly not enough to save you first instead of April.

If the turtles fail to save you, but they save April, they'll retreat back and while Raph and Mikey desperately want to go back and save you because you're stuck there, Donnie and Leo stop them by saying that the time isn't right. Leo cares, Donnie not so much.

The turtles saving April first and then you would be a point of manipulation from the Kraang. "Those that are called the turtles have abandoned the one we call [Your name but in leet speak]. (Like how April = 4PR1L.)The ones called the turtles have been shown to be in favour of the one called April. Why not let the Kraang show you what the humans call "love?"

They definitely forget to feed you and give you water a little bit. I'm sorry, but they don't know how to take care of their own experiments, much less someone they see as a pet. Although once they found out they were starving their little pet / kid, they felt bad and put at least one Kraang in charge of keeping you well-fed and watered.

Oh, the Kraang see you as a little pet, just a nice little human pet that they need to take care of [order from Kraang Prime and their own Yandere instincts tell them to take care of you.] Since Reader can't do much or fight well, this definitely causes the Kraang to see them as weak and frail. Because of this, reader is dehumanized and belittled without the Kraang realizing since... they don't know better, they don't know that this makes you hate them more.

The fact that they have a hive mind makes them actually scarier, because you'll start realizing, what you tell one Kraang, gets shared with all of them. They all 'love' you, and so when you interact with one, it's like you interact with all of Kraang!

Think of it kind of like the Truman show, except you [Truman, in this scenario] know and can't escape.

The Kraang love watching you and always watch you no matter what, partially because they don't understand that you feel uncomfortable being watched, and because of their odd fascination with you.

I feel like at least one of them would start collecting things about you, and then the rest of them would start doing the same, like Kraang 3 will have a picture of you sleeping, and so then one day... you wake up to at least 10 of them taking photos of you sleeping.

If you ever give one Kraang a nickname, the other Kraang will be jealous. They will also want a nickname, and when it's their turn to take care of the human, they will do a lot to get your attention and call them something. Even if it's a curse word that they don't understand; it's something you called them personally.

BONUS!:

You woke up one day, still stuck in the stupid Kraang prison cell with nothing but a stuffed animal they gave you one month after you were brought here as a 'celebration for you coming home.' Like this place could be home.

You flipped over onto your other side to be meet with a shock. There was Kraang designation 314133KurezenAlpha. Or as you nicknamed him because of the 'humanoid' body they chose: Steve.

You sighed, then massaged your nose slightly before greeting him. "Heya Steve." The Kraang Droid stepped back from in front of you to a few feet in front of where you laid on the floor. "Kraang 626Alpha is not the one you have designated 'Steve.'" You squinted slightly at him. "My bad, you looked like him." The droid stood a little stiffer at your response. "Kraang 626Alpha accepts the human apology. Kraang is here to give what is called 'food.'"

You looked at what the Kraang Droid was offering you. It didn't look appetizing and looked more like a big slop of mess than anything else, but it was food. Well... pretty much food. "Thanks, I guess. You going to be the watcher for a while?" You asked the Kraang Droid, although it was already standing stiff, it seems to stand straighter when you talk to it, as if trying to be the biggest, or trying to show off.

"Yes, human. Kraang 626Alpha will be what you call the 'Watcher.'" You ate the food, deciding what to call it in order to find a semblance of happiness. "Do you mind if I call you.... Kevin?" With that, the little brain in the middle of the torso smiled. "Kraang 626Alpha doesn't mind being called Kevin by you. That would be known as 'awesome.-"

A few months later, you woke up one day, still stuck in the stupid Kraang prison cell with nothing but a stuffed animal they gave you one month after you were brought here as a 'celebration for you coming home.'

You flipped over onto your other side to be meet with a shock. There was Kraang designation 626Alpha. Or as you nicknamed him because of the 'humanoid' body they chose: Kevin.

"Good Morning Kevin." You smiled at him. Kevin was actually pretty entertaining, and you liked him the most out of the watchers in the past.

"The one you have nicknamed as Kevin has been reassigned. I am Kraang 31417888930."

Well, as you started talking to the new Kraang Droid that was now your watcher, you wondered where Kevin went.

Little did you know, Kevin was being decommissioned, and shoved in the trash disposal to make a new Kraang Droid.

He pulled out a picture as they took him out of his body, it was you. The last thing he saw was you.

[ifwerenotcareful]

[sejanus x reader]

WARNINGS | "just the tip", promising to pull out then... breaking that promise

AN | this behaviour is obviously super fucked + only hot in a fantasy scenario. if any guy ever does this to you then dump his ASS, and know that eg stealthing (not exactly what happens in this fic, that's taking off a condom during sex without you noticing) can be punished by law.

minors dni. don't like don't read.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

sejanus had been stressed beyond belief by the hunger games. first it was just the fact that this crime against humanity was to happen at all. then the chilling announcement that the students had to function as mentors to the unlucky tributes, and finally the horrifible twist that sejanus was to mentor a boy from his district—and a former classmate at that.

safe to say sejanus was going through the worst days of his life. good thing he had you though, his on-again off-again hook-up. sej had never been able to commit to you; too much despair about the state of the world making his head a place too troubled to truly allow himself happiness.

but he came back to you like a moth to the flame, time after time, because the thing was: he needed you.

it was the same today, he'd cornered you in one of the less busy corridors in the academy, begging you to let him fuck him just once more, just this once.

you had half a mind to refuse him, you'd promised yourself to stay away from him if he couldn't commit, but his eyes were big and shiny with need, his face tormented by the turmoil inside of him, his hands fidgeting restless by his side, itching to grab you, grope you, touch you to bring stillness to hus mind.

you'd never been able to refuse sejanus at his worst. so you just nodded, and he was on you in an instant.

"thank you, thank you, thank you," he blabbered, speaking your name like a prayer as he buried his face in the crook of your neck and rutted against you desperately. you could feel wetness on your throat, and realized that he must have started crying.

"oh sej..." your voice was a broken whisper as you drew his face up to yours and let him kiss you.

the two of you stumbled into an unused classroom, having just enough presence of mind to draw the door shut behind you.

sejanus undressed quickly, and buried his face between your tits, sighing with the relief the closeness brought him. not long after he disposed of your bra and pants, too, so the unbottened academy shirt was the only piece of clothing remaining on your body.

"do you have—" you asked, and sejanus shook his head, having understood your question instantly. no condoms.

"just the tip, though?" sejanus begged, voice strained with need. you know you shouldn't say yes, it was too dangerous and your family didn't exactly have the money to afford an impromptu abortion. but you needed to feel sejanus inside of you, so you closed your eyes against better knowledge and nodded.

sejanus stretched you with his fingers first, broad as they were their touch was sweet and had you rubbing against him with need.

"you ready, baby?" he breathed and you nodded. you'd screamed at him last time to stop calling you baby when he was ruining your life by never giving you what you needed: him by his side always, not just when he couldn't stay away. but right now you needed for him to be soft, desperate and crying with need.

when he pushed inside of you, you almost cried out with pleasure, but had the presence of mind to muffle yourself by biting on your hand instead.

"fuck, baby, you feel so good," sejanus groaned, and he tipped his sweat stained forehead against yours. he drew back, then pushed forward again slowly; just the tip, just like he had promised.

but your hips twitched against him, and with every push he got more and more of his cock inside. he'd averted his eyes from you, instead had a distant yet focused look on his face, mouth half open with rough breaths as he let himself feel more and more of you by pushing deeper and deeper inside of him.

"you said just the tip..." you moaned weakly, and sejanus nodded.

"i know, i know, sorry baby..." but despite his apology, he didn't stop. instead he rocked his hips back and forth, getting deeper inside of you with each thrust. "you just feel so good," he murmured against your throat, and you shivered. "make me forget everything, the stupid games, marcus..." he choked on his words, and you could hear from his voice that he was close to tears again.

he'd stilled for a moment, but now started rocking into you again.

you shook your head, you didn't want this—but when you started to squirm in his grip he held you tighter, mouth half open and eyes on you, staring at you enraptured.

he panted as he moved inside of you slowly, gaze still fixed on you. his hands were boring into your hips, and he groaned brokenly with each thrust.

"please don't, i dont want—" you started, but sejanus soothed you.

"i'll just pull out, baby, nothing will happen, it's not dangerous, i know lots of guys who do it like this." you didn't exactly trust him after he'd promised "just the tip" then broken that promise just as quickly, and you knew it wasn't safe to pull out, but his chest was sweaty and his body crowding close and into yours with need, and his face was slack and relaxed, focused and even happy in a way you hadn't seen it since the games started.

his dick inside you felt so good, too, he was big and stretched you out just the right way—so against better knowledge, you nodded.

"thank you, thank you, thank you," he babbled again, now starting to fuck into you in earnest. he pulled back and plunged back in, then his thrusts became quicker and quicker, more and more desperate.

he cried out and your heart pounded—what if someone heard you?

he kissed you and you closed your eyes, let his arms draw you against him as you came closer and closer to your orgasm. you should've pushed him away, bit him and fighted tooth and nail when he fucked you although you'd said no, but in this very moment it felt just too good to care.

he and you, moving together, being one, like you were meant to be.

you almost got lost in the haze of pleasure until you recognized the tell-tale hitch of his breath letting you know he was getting close.

"sej, sej," you patted his arm, panting. "pull out sej."

"i—" sejanus groaned. "baby i can't, it..." his hips snapped into you faster and faster. "fuck it feels too good, baby i'm sorry—" he sobbed, burying his face in the crook of your neck.

all color drained out of your face and you tried to shove him off you, but his hold on you was too firm.

"sej, get off," you shouted," but your body was betraying you. arousal shot hot through your core, and his thrusts carried you closer and closer to the edge until a blinding orgasm crashed through you.

"thank you, thank you, thank you—ah—AH—baby—"

sejanus didn't seem to hear or register you anymore, just pounding into you blindly, groping your breasts and placing open mouthed kisses all over your throat.

he gripped your face in his hands and kissed you hard as his hips stilled and his cum pumped into you.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

END NOTES | i could imagine writing a sequel or writing abt the aftermath of this 🤔 we'll see...

[fanficshiddles]

Eternally Mine, Chapter 30

On Monday during the morning break, the teachers were in the teachers’ lounge talking about events over the weekend.

‘Wait, what? There were two vampires killed, as well?’ David asked, eyes wide.

‘Yep, unfortunately.’ Loki sighed with a nod.

‘Do you think they’re connected?’ Jessica asked, looking to Loki and Chris.

Chris shrugged. ‘I doubt it. Those after vampires are different to those after humans.’

‘Though the hunters maybe decided to slaughter a bunch of humans to blame on the vampires.’ Severus suggested.

Chris glanced at him briefly and nodded in agreement. ‘Could be.’ He hummed. Blaming the hunters for the humans’ deaths wasn’t a bad idea.

‘I dunno, why would hunters want to kill humans, that’s who they’re trying to protect from vampires... Isn’t it?’ Claire piped up with.

‘True. But if they’re getting desperate, they know they can’t kill all of us. Maybe they’re tying a new tactic.’ Loki said as he put his hand on her knee.

‘Hmm, I guess.’ Claire nodded.

‘We will never truly know who was behind it.’ Chris said as he stood up and went to make a cup of tea.

‘I think we know who is behind all of this. The two vampires, the humans…’ Hannibal grumbled and slowly looked at Severus.

Severus scowled at him and his jaw clenched.

‘Hannibal, if you’re going to continue to blame Toshi I highly suggest you start looking for a new job.’ Chris snapped at him.

Hannibal smirked and laughed as he stood up. ‘You’d really replace me, a vampire, just because of a human? A hunter, no less.’

Chris snapped and launched for Hannibal. He grabbed him by the collar and pinned him to the wall. Snarling in his face his fangs emerged and eyes turned red. ‘I’d do it in a heartbeat. You are easily replaced. Step out of line and it won’t just be your job you lose.’

Hannibal was slightly shaken as he put his hands up. Chris let him go and his fangs retracted.

‘Get out my sight.’ He barked at him.

Hannibal straightened his shirt and sulked away out of the room, tail between his legs.

Chris then went back to making his tea like nothing had happened.

‘God help him if he ever threatens Louise, if that’s how you react to him threatening a friend.’ David teased.

‘I doubt he would go that far. He’s scared of Chris.’ Loki chuckled.

‘Who wouldn’t be!’ Jessica laughed.

Chris just smirked and sat down again with his tea.

‘Hannibal has often been one to push boundaries, he gets a kick out of it.’ Matt commented.

‘Just keep an eye on him. If he goes too far with anyone, over anything, let me know.’ Chris said and looked at Severus, who gave him a curt nod of thanks.

Michael had been sitting in the corner of the room, just watching the goings on. Though his mind was elsewhere, worrying about his daughter.

‘Are you doing ok, Michael?’ Jessica asked, waving to get his attention.

He nodded and forced on a smile. ‘Yeah, fine.’

‘Claire and Jessica are going to a gig tomorrow night, so Spencer’s coming round to mine for a few beers. You’re welcome to join us if you want?’ Loki offered

Michael’s eyes lightened a little bit, but he shook his head.

‘Uh, thanks for the offer. But I need to be with Lily.’

Loki nodded in understanding. ‘How is she doing?’

‘Not great.’ Michael said honestly, his voice cracking a little. ‘What gig are you going to?’ Michael asked Jessica and Claire, to change the subject from his daughter.

‘It’s an ABBA tribute band!’ Claire replied excitedly.

‘It’s going to be a blast.’ Jessica grinned.

Loki rolled his eyes. ‘Thank god you’re not dragging me along to that.’

‘And here was me thinking you had good music taste, Claire.’ Chris tutted.

‘Hey! I so do! You can’t beat a bit of ABBA.’

‘I could think of a million better bands.’ Spencer groaned.

‘Exactly.’ Loki chuckled.

'Lord, don't tell Toshi. She was devastated when she realised she was too late getting tickets.' Severus rolled his eyes.

'Aww no. I didn't realise she was a fan. We got tickets on presale, luckily.' Claire said.

‘You two will need to be careful with rogue vampires and hunters going about.’ Severus continued, mainly looking at Claire.

‘I’ll be perfectly safe with Jessica.’ Claire smiled.

‘Yes and no... Alcohol can vastly reduce a vampire’s instincts and senses, remember.’ David said.

‘I won’t drink too much.’ Jessica shrugged, though everyone looked at her with eyebrows up.

She looked around everyone sheepishly. ‘Ok, ok… I’ll try not to drink too much.’

‘We will be fine.’ Claire laughed. 

-

That evening, Louise decided to message the girls chat for some advice.

L: So, uhm… I’ve got a date with Chris Friday night… but not just any date. He’s going to feed from me…

J: YES GIRL!

T: Ohhh, another step in your relationship!

C: This week is going to drag for him.

T: He will be going insane.

J: Make sure you get something out of it too, if you know what I mean ;)

L: Well, if it makes him happy and helps calm things down a bit for him, that’s all that matters!

C: Aww sis, you’re too sweet.

T: He better at least get you flowers and chocolate!

L: He always does anyway.

J: Adorable.

C: Where’s it happening? Have you decided yet?

L: His place. I’m so excited. Any tips for making it special for him?

J: Eat garlic all week.

L: Yeah, I’m wanting him to enjoy my blood, not end up with the shits all night afterwards.

T: Hahaha!

C: Definitely not. Jessica, behave.

J: Had to. Sorry babes.

T: No perfume or any sort of smelly stuff on you. Just your own, pure scent.

L: Deodorant is ok though?

T: As little as possible. Non scented if you can. Trust me on this one.

L: Ok, I’ll take your word for it.

C: Like I said before, drink plenty and eat a good meal beforehand. Have snacks, especially sugar, on hand.

J: As it’s the first bite, it likely will take a lot out of you. One, because it’s the first time but also because he will struggle to not take a lot of blood from you. It will get easier in time for him to control the amount. The less taken, the less recovery is needed… but he WILL get high on your blood.

L: Could explain why he said to wait for Friday so he’s got the whole weekend to look after me.

C: AWWWW! So stinkin’ cute.

T: He has a soft heart in there after all. You’re the best thing to happen to him, that’s for sure.

L: Stop, you’re making me blush!

T: Good.

C: Oh, by the way, Toshi. He was sticking up for you again today against Hannibal. He really has it in for you.

J: I thought Chris was going to tear his throat out!

L: Why do I miss all the fun?

J: I’ll try and video next time for you, Louise. You would’ve melted seeing him like that… ;)

T: Yeah, Sev was telling me about todays events.

J: Hannibal trying to turn us against one another is really not helping, we all need to be sticking together more than anything right now. That’s seven humans and two vampires killed all within just three days!

T: I don’t think we need to be worried about the human deaths. The vampire ones are concerning me, as they were good vampires. Well, reasonably good. They didn’t kill any humans, took from the blood bank and fed off drunks, but never killed them.

C: Why would we not need to be worried about the humans’ deaths, though? It means there’s a rogue vampire or two out there.

T: It’s not great, obviously. But we know after the hunt there’s likely younger vampires getting a taste for blood. It usually calms down in a few months.

C: The hunt was over two months ago now though.

T: I have a bit of a lead on it. I’m still working on it though.

L: Chris mentioned that it might be hunters, trying to make the vampires of Redbridge look bad?

J: I wouldn’t put it past them. The hunters are really zoning in on us.

C: Is it hunters that your lead is, Toshi?

T: Yes.

C: Why are they going after humans though, I thought they wanted to protect the humans?

J: Because there’s asshole hunters, too. They only care about wiping out all vampires, what’s some human lives to them in the grand scheme of things?

C: I guess so.

Toshi then messaged Louise separately from the group.

T: Claire doesn’t know, does she?

L: No. I figured best not to tell her, so Loki doesn’t find out.

T: Ok, good.

L: Thank you, for sticking up for Chris and helping him out. He was really distraught yesterday. I know you and Severus really helped to calm him down.

T: He’s trying his best, and I can see that. He’s still an asshole for doing it, but I get it. Was those events your reason for letting him bite you?

L: No, I was planning to ask him to do it anyway. Though with everything going on, it’s probably overdue being the right time.

-

Chris was out hunting late that evening. He was trying his best to find humans that didn’t deserve to live, so he was in the dodgier part of town, scouting around.

He wasn’t surprised when he heard familiar footsteps approach while he was on top of a roof, eyeing up a couple of suspicious looking guys.

‘Didn’t think it would be long before you appeared.’ He smirked a little, not bothering to turn or stand up.

Toshi crouched down next to him to look at the targets.

‘They’re good to get. Thieves, always high on drugs, and they’re known for sexual assault.’

Chris nodded. ‘Good to know.’ He growled.

‘I hear you’ve got a special event to look forward to on Friday night.’ Toshi smirked.

Chris raised an eyebrow and turned his head towards her. ‘Did Loki tell you?’

‘Louise did. She’s been messaging us on the chat, super excited about it. Also asking for tips or ideas to make it as special as possible for you.’ Toshi grinned and stood up, backing away from the edge of the building.

‘Really?’ Chris asked in surprise as he stood up quickly.

‘Yep. You’ve got a real good one there, you better not mess it up.’

A big goofy smile spread across Chris’ face. ‘I know I do... I certainly will be trying my best to not fuck things up.’

‘She took it ok then, what you did?’ Toshi asked as she folded her arms over her chest.

‘She did. I think initially it was a bit of a shock, but because I was honest with her, she seemed to forgive me instantly.’ Chris said sheepishly.

‘Well, don’t let it happen again. Just because she’s let you off with it, doesn’t mean you can carry on.’ Toshi growled at him.

‘I know, I know.’ Chris put his hands up. ‘Hopefully once I’ve bitten her, it will help calm everything right down.’

‘It should do.’ Toshi nodded.

‘Is she really asking for ideas to make it special for me?’ He asked after a pause.

Toshi smirked and nodded. ‘She is. Honest. Jessica told her to eat nothing but garlic for the week.’

Chris’ eyes widened. ‘You better be pulling my leg.’

‘Nope. She did. Though Louise knows better than that.’ Toshi laughed.

‘Thank god.’ Chris shook his head with a smirk.

‘I hope you’re planning to wine and dine her first?’ Toshi asked.

‘Of course I am. I’m planning to make her favourite.’ Chris said proudly with his chin in the air.

‘Alright, just checking.’ Toshi smirked.

‘Well, if you don’t mind, I’ve got some assholes to hunt now.’ Chris bowed his head at her, changed into a bat and flew off down to the street to start his hunt.

[he-goes-down]

There Was A Time:

previous chapters/warnings

5. Reckless Life

Second person POV:

The next few weeks were great, you had paid for some fixes around the house; lights, water, ceilings, walls, even Axl's broken door as well as buying your own mattress and sleeping on it on the floor in Duff's room. The guys started doing more gigs with you on their side, they were more successful as you equipped them with better equipment, and got some of the guys from the company to set up the stage instead of the members themselves. But you'd soon get a call that didn't make any one happy. Your boss had to extend the time until you and the band could record till next year. But you still had gigs to get the money and you were planning photoshoots for the band to get more publicity. You sat around the coffee table in front of the couch discussing stage outfits. "We should really get you guys a photoshoot." You said. "You need some appearance in magazines and newspapers if you wanna get bigger." You continued. "Yeah, and not just have the headline 'Crazy singer punches man in audience and gets arrested'." Slash looked at Axl. "Watch it man." He lifted his fist. "Alright, alright. Just kidding round." Slash surrendered. Steven took one of the magazines from the table and showed it to you, pointing to the cover with a smile. "Michael Monroe? You wanna do a glam shoot?" You asked. "Yeah! But just not as crazy as Bowie." He spoke. "Gimmie that." Axl reached for the magazine and snatched it. "Looks gay. Let's do it." Axl said as he gave the magazine a quick look and handed it to Izzy. Everyone agreed to the idea, you knew exactly how they were going to look; fishnet tops, makeup, shit ton of hairspray, they'd look glamorous. And they did. The photoshoots were a success. It didn't get as much attention as everyone wanted but they had fun doing them.

It was now early November and not a lot has changed in your routine. Gig, drink, another drink, hangover, feel guilty the next week, deep clean, get Axl out of jail. Repeat. Today on the agenda though was looking at new songs the members were writing. Slash and Izzy wrote a song about Heroine called Mr. Brownstone, it needed tweaking, but they already had a great riff for it. Izzy also wrote a song with Axl called Shadow Of Your Love, Izzy played a riff he was working on and didn't know how to make it fit the song as he wanted it to be a lot more mellow and acoustic. You told him it to maybe play it faster, he refused, saying that he wanted a slower song. Axl agreed with you on picking up the pace. Izzy scoffed and you decided to stop and not get further on his bad side. There were a lot more other songs that were looked at during that session but a lot of them were discarded as just songs to play at gigs and not record.

Once that was done, Axl asked if anyone wanted to go out and just fuck around a bit, you were the only one that tributed as the others complained it was too cloudy and it was going to rain or that they just wanted to stay home. You and Axl went down the strip and did some window shopping before going to a park and just having a walk. Axl was a really sweet and deep guy, he was human like everyone else, it was just that when he got attention it was because of the wrong reasons, normally him lashing out and causing fights. Fights that were caused because of him being protective and misunderstandings. You and Axl had a close bond, not as close as him and Izzy, but the two of you could talk about anything. You had the best conversations in the dead of night talking about philosophical things, and once or twice opening up and talking about past experiences and crying and comforting each other.

The park was quiet, no one was out as the clouds were a dark grey and ready to start pouring. "Want some booze?" Axl asked breaking the comfortable silence. His hands swinging behind his back the two of you walked on the path. "Got some on you?" You asked, as you couldn't figure out where he'd fit a bottle on his person. He flicked his head in the direction of the liquor store that was right over the parks fenced edge. "Fine, but you're paying next time." You dragged a sigh. "Who said anything about paying?" He smirked at you as he raised an eyebrow smugly. "I'm not gonna sit here and watch you steal." You laughed at him. "And! Watch you get arrested again!" You added. "Come on sweetheart, you gotta live a reckless life sometimes." He said, as he began to walk backwards to the store whilst look at you and flicking his hands. "You live it far too often Rosey!" You shouted at him and started to follow.

You went along with Axl's plan to steal, well you were actually the most important part of his plan. While Axl hid the bottle under his jacket, you'd try seducing and distract the man behind the counter. Axl nearly dropped the bottle on the way out, but it went smoothly. The guy even gave you your own expensive bottle from the locked cabinet for a kiss, who wouldn't say no to a little kiss for a 200-dollar bottle of booze. After your little thievery episode, the two of you went back to park and sat under a big oak tree. "We hit the jackpot! Fuck yeah!" Axl smiled as examined the fancy bottle you scored. "I'm gonna have to bring you along to everything now." He said as he gave you a quick glance then continued reading the label. You chuckled and threw your head back as you got comfortable on the grass. "Oh yeah, I brought this too." Axl searched his pockets on the inside of his jacket and pulled out a bag of weed. You were quite excited, you always wanted to know how it was like to have a blunt rotation with Axl Rose. He rolled the blunt and you opened the fancy bottle. "I'm definitely bragging about you when we get home." He said as he lit the blunt. "Yeah, and we'll leave them with the crappy booze." "Nah, that's still mine. Mine and yours." He responded to your comment. You didn't know why, but when he talked to you or talked about you, you felt a small tingle in your stomach. Even when it wasn't a flirty line. You felt and hit on your upper arm, you snapped out of your daydream, Axl was handing you the blunt. You took a swig from the bottle and traded the items.

You talked and swapped objects the whole afternoon, saying crazier and crazier shit as the blunt burned smaller and smaller and as the amount of liquid got smaller and smaller. "I can't believe," he started talking, "That you never kissed me. No matter how much! I ask and ask!" He said in a completely deluded tone, but he somehow made it attractive. You giggled at him but respond to him. Soon you heard the pitter patter of rain fall down the ground and leaves above you, and it fell harder and harder by the second. Axl got up without a word, grabbed your hand and dragged you out into the rain with one swift move. You squealed at the cold drips of rain falling on you and getting you and him both soaked. He placed one hand on your hip, and the other was holding the neck of the bottle as he took a swig. You snaked your arms around his neck and the two of you began to sway your bodies side to side together under the pouring rain. There wasn't any music but the two of you were dancing with each other in perfect unison. Axl sat the bottle down to the side and held the small of your back with his now free hand, the other hand trailed up to your waist and held you.

Subconsciously your bodies drew closer and closer until they were touching, and the wet material stuck together, soon after your faces came closer and closer together. You stared into each other's eyes, his blue eyes were mesmerising. Everything on him was mesmerizing and perfect. Your faces were now inches apart, rain drops dripped from your clothes, hair and face. "About that kiss...?" He spoke softly and smirked. "Yes." You spoke quickly. He pulled you in and kissed you. Your lips crashed together passionately, but it was soft. You continued to sway in the rain as you kissed with shut eyes. It was wholesome and comforting. Your mind was looping and spinning, it was on a high, from the weed and his addictive lips. You felt dizzy but it wasn't a worrying feeling, Axl was there to catch you. After a few moments your lips drew apart, the two of you panted softly, you still held each other so you felt his warm breath on your skin. The two of you didn't say anything, you didn't need to, you said everything you needed to when your lips touched. The two of you inched your faces closer together, this time with more confidence, closing your eyes, ready for the embrace. Just before your lips touched for the second time, Lightning struck a corner of the park and thunder pursued. Loudly and violently. Making both of you jump. "Let's get out of here." You spoke. Axl firmly agreed, and you started venturing back home. You didn't say anything on the way back, you didn't know if he kissed you because of the drugs or booze, or both, or neither, but it sure as hell sobered you up. Axl didn't say anything either. You could feel he kept glancing at you, you were scared to look back, what if he was angry? Or what if it was awkward as much as it already is. You looked back at him anyway. A small grin like smirk appeared on his face as he looked at you. He stretched his arm slightly, and he nodded to motion for you to look down. His fingers were spread as he held his hand out for you. You took it and your fingers entwined with one another. He squeezed your hand a few times on the way home just to communicate with you without speaking.

It was dark and late when you got home. No one realised you came in, or they didn't care. The two of you walked down the corridor, Axl went into his room but stood by the doorframe to talk to you. "Goodnight, Ax." You told him. "Goodnight doll." And with that he closed his door. You were a bit shocked. You didn't know what to expect. No, you did know, you were at least expecting a kiss. With that thought the door opened again, he kissed on the lips softly then on the cheek. "We should do that again soon." He whispered in your ear, then winked before he closed the door. You touched your cheek with the biggest smile on your face, and practically skipped to you and Duff's shared room, but you stopped when you heard the strum of a guitar. You carefully peaked your head into Izzy's room. He was playing the Shadow Of Your Love riff, and fast. He kept increasing the speed of it. You could see a small smile form on his face, as he was satisfied with how it sounded. You continued to the room with a smug look on your face and a satisfied heart.

[swiftieblyth]

Troublesome Twin

Part 4- Ideas

Warning list-

hunger games warning, abusive family, mother died in childbirth with the twins, Arachne, Coriolanus Snow, Dr. Gaul, violence, and murder.

I think that’s all, let me know if there’s more!

Word count- 1,062

Y/N held Coryo’s hand as they  walked into their chattering class, trying to ignore the glare from her sister, as they went to their seats.

“Your little excursion was in violation of about five different Academy rules, Mr. Snow, Miss. Crane.” Dean explained. “Chief amongst them, endangering a Capital student.”

“What? Who?” Coryo asked.

“Your little pet, Coryo,” Arachne let out.

“You, and Miss. Crane, Mr. Snow.” Dean called. “I’m moving for the Gamemakers to disqualify you both as mentors immediately.”

“You said we had to get out tributes to perform, not that we had to stay away,” Coryo retorted.

“I’ll add insubordination as well.”

“Holding her hand, Coryo,” Arachne cut in. “Introducing her to people, you make it look as if you and Y/N are one and the same as those animals. Although, Y/N might be.”

“Don’t,” Y/N whispered, holding Coryo back. 

“Coriolanus didn’t show those people anything they didn't already know.” Sejanus called.

“I don’t need your help, Sejanus.”

“That the tributes are human beings.” Y/N cut in. “Just like us. That’s why nobody wants to watch the games. It’s because people know deep down that winning a war 10 years ago doesn’t justify starving people’s children, taking away their freedoms, their rights.” Y/N was cut off with a laugh.

“Snow and Crane fell down in the cage…” Dr. Gaul taunted, walking in with a smile on her face. “It fell down in the cage but it landed…”

“On stage,” Coryo and Y/N let out at the same time.

“You’re both good at games. Maybe one day, you’ll both be a Gamemaker, like me.”

“If the Games continue at all.”

“Oh, they’ll continue. With performances like young Mr. Snow’s and Miss. Crane’s in the zoo. And I came here to ask your star mentors a question. “What are the Hunger Games for?”

“To punish the districts for their uprising, to commemorate the end of the war.” Coryo explained.

“To get revenge on the lives the capital lost,” Y/N cut in. 

“‘Commemorate the…’” Dr. Gaul started. “Dull. Dull. Dull. Punishment can take many different forms. Why not drop bombs, cancel food shipments, stage executions? Why Games?”

“Shouldn’t we be asking ourselves whether or not they’re right in the first place?” Sejanus cut in.

“You have a problem with my games?” Dr. Gaul asked.

“Some of those kids were two years old when the war ended. The oldest of them were only eight.”

“Sejanus?” Y/N warned in a whisper, glaring at him to stop.

“The Capital is supposed to be everyone’s government now,” Sejanus continued, ignoring Y/N. “It is supposed to protect all of us. I don’t see how making children fight each other to death is protecting anyone.”

“That sort of sympathy might interfere with your mentoring assignment.” Dr. Gaul stated.

“Perhaps the Capital students are ill-suited to be mentoring tributes.” the Dean cut in. “Perhaps the game's time has passed.”

“Dean Highbottom is wrong. My classmates too.” Coryo let out, making everyone look at him.

“Coryo?” Y/N whispered, clutching onto his hand. “What are you doing?”

“Trust me,” he whispered back, putting his free hand on hers. “Maybe Sejanus is onto something here. Maybe we should be viewing those tributes as human beings. I mean, you saw those kids in the zoo, they just… they just wanted to know Lucy Gray. If we need people to watch, we should be letting them get closer to the tributes before the Games.”

“To make the stakes personal.” Y/N chimed in, understanding where her boyfriend is coming from. “Who will watch the games if they care what happens to the tributes?”

“Everyone,” Coryo answered. “If they thought the tribute they cared about had a chance at winning. People need someone to root for.”

“And someone to root against.” Y/N finished. “We need them to invest.”

“And if we bend a few Capital laws,” Coryo cut back in. “We could even have them place bets. Look I, we know that Lucy Gray may not win in the arena, but if we give her a chance, I would bet the Plinth Prize that she can win people’s attention.”

“I’d like you two to write a proposal of these thoughts tonight, Mr. Snow, Miss. Crane.” Dr. Gaul smiled.

“Wait!” Clemmie called, standing up. “You mean you might actually use these ideas?”

“If it’ll help the ratings, why not?”

“Coriolanus and I are class partners, Dr. Gaul.” Clemmie stated. “We do all of our assignments together.”

“It’ll be an interesting test.” Dr. Gaul laughed.

Y/N and Coryo got their lunch, and went to sit. They found a table with three seats and sat on the side with two. Y/N started to eat when she noticed that Coryo was wrapping his up.

“Coryo,” Y/N let out. “Let me be the one to give them my food. Please.”

“Darling, you need to eat. Especially since you didn’t eat anything last night or this morning.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Love, you and I both know that’s not true. You need to eat, don’t think I didn’t notice you leaning on me more for support on the way here, or how pale your face is. Love, I’m not going to let you skip three meals in a row.”

“But Coryo-“

“No, let me do this, love, you eat.”

Y/N went to protest but was stopped by someone walking to the seat across from them.

“You trying to fatten that poor girl up so you can finally  start taking bets?” Sejanus asked, sitting down.

“You think they’ll give those kids a scrap if we don’t give them a reason to?” Coryo asked, while Y/N rested her head on his shoulder, taking small little nibbles at her food. “How do you think tribute will have a chance if he can’t eat?”

“He was my classmate. Back in 2.” Sejanus started. 

“It’s not your fault it’s him,” Y/N breathed.

“See, I know. I’m so blameless, I’m choking on it. My father bought him for me, you know, at the Reaping, just so he could show me that I could never go back to 2. But being Capital is gonna kill me.”

“So do something about it,” Coryo let out, wrapping an arm around Y/N.

“Quite the rebel.”

“Oh yeah. I’m bad news.” Coryo let out.

[majorsoapfan]

⭐️🥰

Ok, since I've been given the license to choose, I'm going to give you the director's cut about my interpretation of Festus and Coral's relationship. The fic that I'm focusing on for this is Play At Your Own Risk, however for every canon-ish AU that I've written, am in the process of writing or have plans to write, where there is a focus on Festus and Coral's dynamic, I do follow the same dynamic so to speak (so they've definitely been on my mind for a while).

This is going to be very long, but you asked for the director's cut so, you've been warned.

Now, in terms of Festus and Coral's dynamic, at least from what I've shown in my works so far, the paragraphs from 'Play At Your Own Risk' that can sum up their relationship dynamic, in particular, Festus' thoughts towards Coral, is this:

'Then finally, came the Mentors. She knew that they were coming because if the songbird had gotten one, then it was reasonable to assume that so would everyone. Although if she had had the choice, then she would rather have no Mentor at all rather than the one she had gotten. Because hers was a creep. A complete and utter creep, who made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and a shiver run down her spine as she observed the way that he had looked at her, the gestures he made towards her, the words he used to describe her. 

She had always thought that the Capitol saw the Districts as something less than human, not quite people like they were, but she was pretty sure that her Mentor didn’t even see her as that. To him, she was probably at best, an object, a possession, something for him to shape and mould in any way that he desired.'

And I'll admit, my inspiration for this stemmed from both the movie and book and from a gifset I saw here on Coral and Festus' first meeting in the film, where the creator made a mistake and had put 'desirable' instead of 'marketable' in Festus' lines. However, I'll admit, it took me a while to realise that it was a mistake, simply because 'desirable' didn't look too different or too off from what Festus had said, and if I hadn't seen the movie, and had just seen that gifset when going by my knowledge of the characters in the book alone, then I genuinely could have seen Festus saying desirable in the film and it looking natural.

Because both 'marketable' and 'desirable' both have connecting factors in what the Mentors are aiming to do with their tributes during the 10th Hunger Games. Their project after all, is for their tribute to be entertaining, therefore it would be obvious to Festus (in his own mind at least) that he needs to market Coral to the Capitol (marketable), he needs to make them want her or want to see her (desirable), otherwise he won't stand a chance at winning the Prize.

I'll admit that the word choice used in the film also felt to me a little like foreshadowing/an easter egg for the audience when referencing to how the tributes are basically marketed to the Capitol in the later Games, with the Capitol population starting to desire the more physically attractive Victors (Finnick, Cashmere, Johanna). Especially when one thinks about Finnick, who was also from District 4, seems to have been 'marketed' as 'desirable', at least after his victory.

(I also headcanon that Coral is actually related to Finnick, through his maternal side. That she's his grandaunt [her brother being Finnick's maternal grandfather] - there's no basis for this really than my own crazy mind connecting dots that aren't there. And if you believe the headcanon that Mags and Coral were friends/romantically involved before Coral was Reaped - which I do, it makes Mags and Finnick's bond that much sadder on Mags side as she would have Mentored Finnick through his Games, haunted by the reminder that she lost a relative of his, someone who was very close to her and she loved deeply, to the Games as well. And then by the time the 75th Games roll around, all of Finnick's family seem to be dead, making Finnick her last living connection to Coral. Finnick's Games and subsequent victory also would have haunted both Festus and Persephone then if they were still alive at the time as both of them would have seen their own dead tribute in him [Coral - family ties and Mizzen - youth and gender] and would have been reminded of their own failures towards their tributes whenever they saw him.)

Admittedly, all of that are just my wild thoughts so please feel free to just write me off as crazy.

However, crazy thoughts or not, it has influenced the way that I write Festus and Coral's relationship, as it highlights the power dynamic that is in place here between the two in the fic (and really any canon setting AU that I write).

Because as Coral hit right on the head in the paragraphs from the fic, Festus doesn't truly see her as a person. He doesn't truly consider her as a human being with her own thoughts and opinions. Right now, he sees her at worst, as an object or a product that he can advertise or market any way he wishes, or at best, an inferior being or animal that he can train and who will act exactly as he tells her to, regardless of whether or not that's who Coral personally is and her own thoughts about this situation and his ideas (another hint to the future fate of the tributes and victors by the time of the Hunger Games trilogy, how they're forced to adopt a marketing strategy so to speak in their interviews to try and get sponsors to help them survive the Arena regardless of their actual personalities and how many of the Victors might have fake personas that they present to the Capitol after they win to protect the last bit of individuality and self that they have from the greedy and entitled grips of the Capitol).

As far as Festus is concerned, Coral has no say, no right to voice an opposing opinion to his plans. She has no choice and he will be making the decisions from here on out when it comes to her well-being and for or the Games.

And then, what makes it worse for Coral here is that Festus can. He has the power to do exactly that. He has the power and the control to mould Coral in any way he wishes. And if Coral wants to give herself a fighting chance at survival (or to give Mizzen the best chance, which means she needs to keep herself in the best shape possible), then she can't go against him. She can't tell him no or try to fight back and/or argue with him.

Festus holds all the cards in this situation. The cards that could spell the difference between Coral's life and death here in the Capitol. Coral after all, is a starving kidnapped child, who is being chained and locked up, with guns being pointed at her constantly, away from her home and her family, with the looming knowledge that death will more than likely be coming for her, as well as trying to look out for Mizzen to in this dangerous environment for them both.

Festus on the other hand, is older than her (only by two years, yes, but as he's eighteen, he is legally an adult, whereas Coral is sixteen it seems and a minor). He is a member of an influential Capitol family and has freedom, perks, powers and comforts that Coral would never have even back in District 4 and as her Mentor holds her life in his hands, holds power over her and she knows this deep down even if she refuses to admit it in the fic.

Because to admit it, would mean admitting that she is vulnerable, that for the first time in her life, she is unable to defend herself and almost entirely dependent on the mercy of a stranger who she has no reason to believe would be merciful. And for someone like Coral, that is agony.

And in 'Play At Your Own Risk', Coral has no trust that Festus will truly help her survive the Games, so Coral needs to take care of herself.

I tried to show to this in particular through the topic of food, the main focus of the fic. Throughout 'Play At Your Own Risk', Coral is watching as the other tributes, already starving, battle between giving in and performing for food, chance that the Capitol citizens might be willing to simply hand it over without giving them something in return, or stubbornly hold on for a little longer. At first she resists going to the visitors to try and obtain food for as long as she can, but after her first meeting with Festus, where she hadn't received anything from him, hunger wins out and she tries her luck with the visitors when she gets back to the zoo.

Because she knows now that she can't count on Festus for help.

After all, technically Festus as her Mentor, should be invested in making sure she's well fed if she's going to have a chance at winning the Games. But that's not what the Mentors are interested in. Not really, going by the requirements of their project. As theoretically, Coral doesn't have to be the last one standing in the Arena for Festus to win (obviously though, the longer your tribute lives, the better your chances at winning. Now admittedly, their tribute living until the end and being entertaining seems to have been slowly intertwined in the quest for the Prize when it hadn't been originally going by the project's aims), she just needs to have been the most entertaining.

There's the difference.

Once again, tying back to Festus' first words to her in the film, he wants to win, therefore she needs to be marketable. She needs to be entertaining. Living until the very end? Maybe.

And for the Mentors, their competition started at the Reaping, they're already competing, therefore they want their tributes to put on a show. To entertain the crowds. Win them that prize. And it's possible that Mentors like Vipsania and possibly Androcles, deliberately didn't feed their tributes at the Zoo to make them perform for it in front of the citizens, as it would make them entertaining and memorable and therefore would better their chances at winning. Who's to say then that Festus hadn't considered the possibility too?

Festus, like Vipsania, seems to be competitive. He canonically likes dogfights and considered that betting on the Hunger Games would liven things up, hinting that he often betted himself. He also wanted Coral to do well in the Games, both for the Prize and for his own glory and had clearly been thinking of ways to achieve that prior to meeting her. Henceforth the way that Coral describes his behaviour towards her in their first meeting in the fic, the way he makes her feel and how he sees her as an object to control.

Festus wants Coral to win him the Prize, but when he first met her had never considered bringing her food to help keep her strength up for her to fulfil the task (not saying that she would, but logic would rule that a well-fed tribute would have the energy to be entertaining over a weaker and starving one). His reasoning for which I didn't show as Coral obviously wouldn't know and wasn't about to ask. I also left it unclear as to how much Coral knows about the Mentor's project/Prize (i.e. be entertaining), but at the end of that meeting, she knows enough:

Festus holds her life in his hands, she is subconsciously aware of this even if she doesn't voice it. Festus could be the key to her survival in the Games, but the same time she holds no trust that he'll actually help her. After all, he never gave her food, while she furiously notes that other Mentors did.

And in doing so or not doing so, Festus lost the only opportunity that Coral might be willing to give to him in terms of trust. Therefore by going to try and obtain food from the visitors at the zoo after, she's trying to make herself less vulnerable/at his mercy.

Coral might be powerless to stop Festus from 'marketing' her to the Capitol, but by trying to get food from the visitors without performing and not waiting and hoping for Festus to show up, she is trying to make herself less dependent on him and reduce the power that he holds over her well-being.

She has no reason to trust that he has her best interests at heart after all.

Now that's not to say that I think that Festus would be nothing but a horrible monster to Coral either. He has a softer side to him too after all (in the book as the film tried to erase it); he was one of the kinder classmates to Sejanus which had been considered unusual due to Sejanus' isolation from his peers due to being from the Districts and he was initially angry with Clemensia for not feeding Reaper in the Arena, even though a starving Reaper would be to Coral's and therefore his own, advantage. And I think after Coral's death, in the film especially, Festus would be haunted by her ghost and her last words for the rest of his life.

And Coral in the book clearly developed some trust towards him as she does ask for and receive food from him when she was in the Arena, so an understanding clearly had been reached between them. But Coral, as of the end of 'Play At Your Own Risk', and many of my other fics, has not reached that point in her relationship with Festus and therefore has no reason to trust someone from the Capitol who views her as a possession or something to control will actually help her.

I hope that makes sense.

[evita-shelby]

They didn't know we were seeds

Chapter 3

Cw: violence, murder, death,

@justrainandcoffee @call-sign-shark @emotionalcadaver @peakyswritings

Tigris is the only person allowed with her in the stockyard where she is to prepare for her last moments on this earth.

The arenas are specially done in advance for the games, the entire thing is usually attributed to the Head Gamemaker and only used for this momentous occasion. Afterwards it is a tourist attraction that pays for itself because to the Capitol this is entertainment.

Eva's Launch Room is not like her room back at the tower nor even the cabin on the train. It is a dressing room where she will go to her televised death at the 61st Hunger Games. Eva hopes it’s not Dustin nor Laurie who kills her. Nor Lacey from 8, nor Daisy from 11, nor any tribute she made sort of friends with this week.

The tracker had been injected into her forearm. Breakfast was eaten by her almost entirely because Tigris only eats raw meat like a real tiger. Tigris who never felt human and became a tiger despite her family’s protests.

Eva has little family to speak of.

Her cousins married and moved away, and Eva’s aunt would follow after now that her husband is dead from cancer and the last mouth to feed is here in the capitol awaiting to be slaughtered. Olivia is a strong woman; she won’t be like her only sister who couldn’t cope with losing her children.

Some say Eva resembles her more than her dead mother even if she doesn’t have Olivia’s auburn hair. But both were tall, deemed beautiful by all those who know them and shared the sharp brown eyes everyone in their family inherited from Eva’s grandmother.

No one stood in Olivia Souza’s way not even death. This last part Caesar had liked, said she should aspire to be more like her aunt.

And if she is to be like her aunt in that regard, Eva asks Tigris what other strategy the mystery girl from twelve used to survive.

“She ran away from the bloodbath just like your mentor did. Her sponsors kept her fed and she used all her tricks to stay alive. She only killed one person. The rest was just a disease in the arena.” The tigress whispers as if it were illegal for them to speak of a previous game.

When Eva is raised onto the arena, she laughs while a voice countsdown the seconds and she takes a look around to plan her escape while Dustin plans to take the hunting knife put amongst the temptations of the cornucopia.

Maybe Dustin wasn’t wrong in thinking he could win them, Caesar in his bubblegum pink hair had said she was selling herself short and he was right.

They are in a desert, just like the one her district shares with part 2 and 5.

Just like home.

Eva doesn’t stick around once she’s secured the meager offerings nearest to her before running as far as she can from this.

Dustin made a mad run to the weapons and paid the price for it when the careers overpowered him, she doesn’t know who killed him and doesn’t want to know. And yet she’s foolishly hoping it wasn’t Laurie as she hides in the overgrown grasses having tripped over something on her way to the thicket of trees that she knows only grow like that near water, even if you must dig to find it. There isn’t much place to hide, most trees do not grow tall in the desert and the tributes are picked off like flies by careers and other tributes alike.

There had been one who ran in her direction only for her to lose her footing and bash her own head on the many rocks hidden under the grass, the arena is as inhospitable as a real desert meaning it will have all those critters that don’t need man to be lethal.

Eva crawls on her hands and knees careful to avoid the ants, the scorpions and the snake hole she tripped on until she reaches the first of the trees. A scraggly mesquite bleeding sap and enough pods to see her through the night until she can find the source of its water.

There is an oasis where the careers will take over with their supplies as they always have, but her backpack ---which she kicked the boy from eight in the balls for--- has a metal canteen for water, a spigot and iodine. It has a good enough sleeping bag that might be useful for the cold desert night, some food she could make last a while with her foraging and only matches for a fire.

She needs a weapon, but she can make do with what she has while the killing dies down and whoever sponsors her sends her a gift. For now, she stuffs herself with the sap and the pods as the canons go off.

With not much here to give them cover, the toll is rather high and the display on the false heavens feels unending. Twelve have died just today.

Tomorrow morning there will be more canons, not from murder or even the animals in the desert, but from hypothermia. Eva will be lucky if she sees morning.

But she does and is rewarded with a tiny little runnel that is enough for her to fill her canteen and nourish the wildflowers, some prickly pear cacti or two and the trees she uses for shelter. The girl fills her backpack with what she has foraged before making a suitable walking stick from the tree she slept against.

She could stay here, hidden and safe until the Gamemakers corral them to get the games going, Eva thinks as she finds a pinyon pine with enough leaves and branches for her to hide in for tonight. Desert trees don’t grow very tall but this one is old enough to cover her and have some pine nuts despite it being late mid July.

Eva sets her first trap, on a cactus that she knows not to tap water out of she leaves the spigot knowing someone is bound to drink from it.

Three more during the night and its barely dawn when she hears the laughter from the career pack led by Laurie and his golden sword. They are hunting down tributes going by their talks. The girl from One laughs at her own jokes about the boy from 5 begging for her to spare him.

Only nine tributes left. Both tributes from 1, 2 and 11 who hailed from the southern part of her district, the boy from 4 who stayed behind to defend the oasis, the boy from 9, and Eva.

Eva would be casualty number 16.

“I told you Evie would survive, 10's part desert, remember.” Laurie acts as if he isn’t here to kill her.

The boy gives her that same charming smile he gave her when they first met at the training center and extends his hand to her. “Hi, gorgeous, how would you like to join us?”

He is counting on her losing.

Despite the growing animosity between them, Tigris is the last person alive who truly knows the man before her.

Coriolanus is so confident that Laurentius will take after his brother and win that he never considers Eva could kill the entire career pack with the poisons she can make with the flora of the arena.

Her grandmother was an apothecary, her mother as well and now she put her lifelong knowledge of living in a place like that with her healing training to the test. Even the trainers were impressed with her skill.

Now as the girl who snagged herself an alliance with the leader of the pack yesterday, she is safe from the others. Especially from the tributes who look down on her for being from a poor district and know her hold on Laurie Nelson spells death to them.

The spigot she left had tricked the boy from 9 and the girl from 11 because all the water from the runnel had dried up the day Eva left her trees. These two deaths happened while Eva lacked for nothing in the safety of Laurentius’ arms. The boy gave her the long hunting knife Dustin tried to fight him for and she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

She will make the games interesting, interesting enough for her to rack up sponsors and bets.

“Nelson may be able to keep her safe from other tributes, but can he save her from the Gamemakers?” There is a bit of blood from his sore on the drink and some on his lips that curve into a snake like smirk. It disgusts her along with the smell of the roses.

Grandma’am’s never smelled like these artificial yet real creations that fail to hide the rot in Coriolanus’ soul.

“We shall see, Coriolanus. It is only the fourth day, and these games can last up to twenty days.” The feline woman hides her distaste for the smell of his roses well enough to get him to think her ploy to turn Eva into the ghost of Lucy Gray was just a way to secure sponsors for her new ‘pet.’

Eva lives to see Laurie kill the girl from his district when they try to drown Eva and the career pack officially dissolves at the sixth day. Eva Smith somehow convinces Laurie to destroy the stockpile of supplies ---after stealing what they will need--- and leave his former teammates to starve or risk meeting them at the Feast that will surely come.

On the Seventh Day, the snakes come out exactly like the ones Coryo Snow once tampered with to save Lucy Gray Baird just as the Feast is laid out in the arena.

[otomelavenderhaze]

Cave dialogue a) Rayan talking about Chloe, his ex wife ~

"Oh... You too can't sleep? Come here, sit with me. Let's enjoy the show."

Candy: (He didn't have to ask me twice. I snuggled in and we watched the celestial night sky).

(I watched his stare get lost on the ocean of stars. He seemed to be in another place.)

"When we see this, without any light pollution, how the first humans must have seen it…"

"I can understand why they thought the stars as the soul of their dead. It was a bautiful tribute."

Candy: (I get it... So that's what going through his head that time. It doesn't surprises me why he looked a little sad) You... I know we never talk about this, but... Do you still think a lot about Chloe?

"Of course. Our story (his and Chloe's) always gonna be part of me. And I can even not believe in anything..."

"If our ancestors are right then, I know she's shining for me up there."

Candy: And... you get sad when you think about her? You need...

"No, not even one bit. If today I am crying, it's out of joy."

"Y'know, I honestly didn't think I would get over losing her."

"And then after you got in my classroom and into my life. So, yes, I should have a star up there shining for me."

"Because, with you, I understood the meaning of true love."

"And it wasn't the same of what I had with Chloé."

"Sometimes, I think, if the story/timeline was another, if I had met you first before I met her..."

"She and I would've been simply friends, without anything else between us."

"If fate hadn't been so cruel with her, it would've ended like that anyway, actually." (I think he means, they wouldn't have ended together anyway if she didn't die).

"I think she would have been happy to see me so happy these days."

"Just like I would have been in seeing her meeting someone else just as important as you're for me."

"And when I think of her today, is in this way: as a friend that left too soon."

"And that, of course, I still get a little with my heart tight. She was someone wonderful/beautiful."

Candy: I don't doubt you... I... it may seem like an inconvenience but I would have liked to have met her.

"There's still some of her in me. But, when I met you, I was like a ghost."

"Thanks to you and our feelings, she just became a beautiful star, just like my father..."

"And all the anothers that make me understand, day after day, the lucky I had for being alive and have you by my side."

(He smiled to me. All that sadness seemed to have melted away from his features when he kissed me).

[sunnyie-eve]

3 | Can't Do It

Series: The Benefits 

Paring: Coriolanus Snow x OFC Plinth!

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: small death

| MASTERLIST |

~

As the two were out headed to the academy finally, Aurelia spoke up to Coriolanus, "I still can't believe you did all that. Normally you aren't the type of risk taker."

"Well, I wanted to show her I care about my tribute. After all, I took your advice." He glances over at her as they walk side by side.

"I didn't tell you to get into the truck to be taken off with them. I sure as hell didn't tell you to take me with you." Aurelia laughs as they enter the academy.

"But you are a risk taker, Plinth. Might I add, you got to show off Wovey and how she's just an innocent shy girl." His words causes Aurelia to grab his arm to stop him from keeping walking to class.

"Are you okay? Are you feeling well?" She places the back of her hand in his forehead to check for a fever.

"I'm completely fine, Auri. Why do you think I'm sick." He laughs removing her hand.

"You aren't yourself this morning. What have you done to the Coriolanus Snow I know. Agreeing my tribute is an innocent shy girl... you would never talk about district people like that." She eyes him not knowing if she should be cautious of him.

Snow didn't know how to respond to her. She wasn't wrong whatsoever with what she was saying. It was all a hundred percent true about him. He couldn't care less.

"Maybe you're rubbing off onto me, Auri." He slightly lies but tells the truth a bit too.

She doesn't respond to him so she just walks off heading to class with him following behind her. Entering the class everyone but Highbottom looks at them.

"Your little excursion was in violation of about five Academy rules, Mr. Snow, Miss Plinth. Chief amongst them, endangering a Capitol student." He says keeping his eyes on what he was working on.

"What? Who? Aurelia?"

"Both of you. I'm moving for the Gamemakers to disqualify you both as mentors immediately." He adds so the two look at each other at their seats.

"If I may, you said we had to get our tributes right preform, not that we had to stay away." Aurelia speaks up.

"I'll add insubordination as well."

"Hold their hands, introducing them to people, you both make it look as if we're one and the same as those animals." Arachne looks over at the two.

"Coriolanus and my sister didn't show those people anything they didn't already know." Sejanus speaks up, "That the tributes are human beings. Just like us. That's why nobody wants to watch the Games. It's because people know deep down that winning a war 10 years ago doesn't justify starving people's children, taking away their freedoms, their rights."

Dr. Gaul ends up coming in speaking up about with Coriolanus and Aurelia did saying they were good at games. And that the games would continue because of their performance at the zoo.

She ends up asking what are the games for so Snow says what he thinks while Aurelia shook her head, "My question to you is why have them at all?" She asks so Coriolanus looks at her telling her to stop with his eyes.

"My sister is right. Are they right to have in the first place?" Sejanus adds.

"You two have a problem with my Games?" She asks so Sejanus goes off on her about how they're just kids who had nothing to do with the war. "Miss Plinth, do you have anything to add to your brother's words?"

"They're innocent kids who had nothing to do with the war. Hell, if anyone was to fight to the death, I'd rather have guilty adults that are criminals do it. But that's not your way of thinking is it?"

"Perhaps the Capitol students are ill-suited to be mentoring tributes. Perhaps the Game's time has passed." Highbottom speaks once again.

"Dean Highbottom is wrong. My classmates, too." Coriolanus speaks ups so Aurelia looks at him, "Maybe Sejanus and Aurelia is onto something here. Maybe we should be viewing those tributes as human beings. I mean, you saw those kids in the zoo, they just... they just wanted to get to know Lucy Gray. If we need people to watch, we should be letting them get closer to the tributes before the Games. To make the stakes personal."

Aurelia then nods her head at him, there was the Coriolanus she knew.

"Who will watch the Games if they care what happens to the tributes?"

"Honestly, everyone would." Aurelia hated to admit it but that's how people were, "If they thought the tribute they cared about had a chance of winning."

"People need someone to root for and someone to root against. We need them to invest. And if we bend a few Capitol laws, we could even have them place bets." Snow adds which kills Aurelia's soul.

Place bets on people like a horse race? Or any race at all. Rooting for someone wasn't bad but rooting for someone to lose their life was terrible.

"I'd like you to write up a proposal of these thoughts tonight, Mr. Snow." Dr. Gaul tells him so Clemensia speaks up saying that they were class partners so she had to be apart of it.

Dr. Gail laughs at her, "It'll be an interesting test." She starts to leave then turns back around, "Miss Plinth, I expect you to help Mr. Snow. You have a way of making people care about things." She adds then leaves the class.

For lunch in line Sejanus kept staring at his sister, "What do you want? I don't agree with Coriolanus on placing bets on people." She huffs taking her full tray.

"Are you going to help him still write the paper?" He follows her to go sit down.

"I don't want to." Aurelia speeds up going to take a seat.

"You trying to fatten that poor girl up so you can finally start taking bets?" Sejanus makes it to the table.

"You think they'll give those kids a scrap if we don't give them a reason to do it? How do you think your tribute will have a chance if he can't eat?" Coriolanus tells him so he takes a seat.

"He was our classmate. Back in 2. He and Aurelia were closer than the two of us." Sejanus tells him so Coryo looks at her.

"My first kiss." She confirms what he thought.

"It's not your fault it's him." Coryo tells Sejanus.

"See, I know. I'm so blameless, I'm choking on it. My Father bought him for me, you know, at the Reaping, just so he could show me that I could never go back to 2. But being Capitol is gonna kill me."

"So do something about it." Coriolanus takes more of his sandwich to put away for Lucy Gray.

"Quite the rebel."

"Oh yeah. I'm bad news." Coryo tells him.

"Yeah, he's the one who came up with the idea to get in the truck with the tributes. I didn't plan on doing that." Aurelia does the same with food to take to Wovey.

After school a few mentors went to the zoo to see their tribute. Wovey took the food from Aurelia and thanked her. As the two were chatting Marcus went over to them, "What are y'all trying to do?"

"What do you mean? I'm being nice and caring. You know how I am." She gives him a dirty look since he ignored Sejanus.

"Well you've been in the Capitol for some time so you can change."

"I haven't for your information. Do you want something?" She holds out some food for him but he walks away.

"You know him?" Wovey asks her.

"Yeah, we used to be classmates before I moved here." Aurelia sighs looking over at him sit alone.

Suddenly Brandy and Arachne start screaming and Brandy stabs Arachne in the throat with a broken bottle she was teasing her with.

"No, no, no!" Coriolanus rushes over and Aurelia goes to help as well. Yeah she hated her but she never wished death upon her even if she deserved it.

"Oh, shit." Aurelia says as she gets in her knees seeing how the bottle was.

"Somebody help us, please!" He calls out and the peacekeepers shoot at Brandy.

As they shoot both Aurelia and Coriolanus duck down but he moves from Brandy to cover Aurelia before he's dragged off along with her. Sejanus stood alone looking over at Brady no longer breathing before looking over at his sister in the distance.

At home that same night their father refused to talk about what happened at the zoo, "I'm just glad you two are okay." Their mother looks at her children.

"Coryo cover Aurelia when they started shooting to make sure she was out of the way." Sejanus tells her.

"Is that true?" Their father speaks up.

"Yes." Aurelia nods her head playing with her fingers. "Ma, is it alright if I go by Coryo's house? To check on him?" Aurelia asks.

"That's fine sweetie. If it gets too late just stay the night there. I'm sure they have plenty of room for you."

Going over to Coriolanus place, Tigris opens the door then automatically pulls her into a hug, "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thank you, I just wanted to check up on Coryo."

"He's in his room." She lets her in so Aurelia goes to his room knocking on his door before walking in.

"Just wanted to see how you're doing. I mean she died right in front of you." She walks over taking a seat in his bed.

"I feel like it's my fault. I suggested we get closer to them."

"It's not your fault. She did it to herself. She was playing/teasing Brandy like she was an animal in a cage. You remember how some of them wanted to kill you on the truck. They hate us and you can't push their buttons. They know they have nothing to lose since they won't be going back home after the games." Aurelia gets up to go stand next to him.

"Grandma'am thinks they're all rebels and that's I'm lucky Lucy Gray didn't poke my eye out when she could."

"Lucy Gray is nowhere near that type of person. She doesn't seem like that type of girl." Aurelia disagrees with that thought.

"She told me to use her before she can use me." He looks at her.

"Again she didn't seem the type. Coryo, don't just use her. Help her and believe in her." Aurelia says they sees he had paper out and a pen, "You're already starting?"

"Yeah, I've had some thoughts after everything..." He sighs then looks back at her to see her with tears in her eyes, "Lia..." He pulls her to sit down in his lap as she starts to cry.

"I can't do this."

"Yes, you can. You can do about anything. I know you." He rubs her back.

"No, I can't watch someone die that I have to look after. I hate this." She tries to calm down so he wipes her tears away.

"As much as it sucks, Aurelia. At least you aren't in their place."

She knew he was completely right so she stops crying trying to relax then makes eye contact with him, "Don't look at me like that. It makes me feel small." She laughs wipes more tears away.

"You are small." He pitches her side and she suddenly remembers she was sitting in his lap starting to feel odd.

"I should get going." She gets up.

"Let me walk you to the door." He gets up as well and walks with her, "I'll see you tomorrow." He opens the door for her.

"Yeah, good luck on writing the paper."

"I'll just say you didn't feel well so you couldn't help me write the paper. Plus I know you want nothing to do with it." He says causing her to smile.

"You know me so well. Thank you, Coryo." She turns to leave, "Oh, an idea for the paper... a good thing for it. People can send gifts to the tributes to help them. The ones they have hope for." She adds before leaving and he was going to stop her but Tigris called for him

[ariel-seagull-wings]

FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: EGON SPENGLER

Asked by @fleurviolettes​

@janeb984​

@spengnitzed @stantzed @bixiebeet @angelixgutz @thealmightyemprex @goodanswerfoxmonster @amalthea9 @themousefromfantasyland @professorlehnsherr-almashy @budcortfancam

Favorite Thing About Them: There was an excentric, always serious, socially awkward nerd character, played by a comedy actor who wasn't a big movie star like his screen colleagues Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis were, originally only meant to provide technological exposition, and he became the breakout character that audiences most strongly cared about. Egon Spengler showed viewers that just because we wored glasses, weren't muscular or trained in complicated martial arts, it didn't mean we couldn't be seen as heroes, even tough he initially decided to capture ghosts just hoping to earn a living like his friends. Also, while ocasionally awkward and a bit shy around women, he is never shown to be self hating. He talks with certainty about his scientificial knowledge, isn't much bothered by the teasing of friends like the more street smart Peter Venkman and Winston Zeddemore, and is shown that is because of his inteligence and seriousness that Janine Melnitz finds him atractive, without Egon ever needing to try becoming more "tough", "atletic", "cool", etc.

His lines about humans being like small bacteria are even complimented as romantic! There were moments where he would show an explosive temper, but its clear that its only in extreme circunstances where a dangerous treat is on the horizon and everyone's emotions are heated, and not before trying to present argumentations to better solve the problem first.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: Returning to a criticism I made on this post here, when the writers of Afterlife, a sequel made 37 years after the original film, decided to incorporate Harold Ramis death as a major plot influence, they also mixed the complicated personal life fact that Ramis was an absent parent to his second daughter for most of her life, wich was something he deeply regreted, into the character of Egon Spengler, using the cliche plot of a father who abandons his daughter without explanation (not even letting his friends know of her existence because she is suposed to be a "big reveal" even in universe) to fight the great scope villain, and get redeemed in the eyes of sayed abandoned daughter just because he is dead. That is not character growth, that is not a tribute to his creator, thaf is just cynical, unecessary melodrama (ignoring that the first was a comedy!) exploiting a complicated, painfull story of an actual, real family.

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

* I wear large glasses;

* Like his portrayal in the live action movies and IDW licensed comics, my natural hair is dark brown and grows in agitated curls;

* I love chocolate treats;

Three Things I Don’t Have In Common With Them:

* I don't collect spores, molds and fungus;

* I alternate between physical and online books, so I would never say the phrase "Print is dead";

* I'm not born in the United States;

Favorite Line:

From the July 1983 Script Draft:

"I don't understand. What have I got?"

"And not a very precise one."

"I have trace PKE valences everywhere in the building and extremely high readings in the interior stacks."

"Good in what sense?"

"I'm patched into the Bell Labs computer in Boston. We should have an answer in a moment."

"I think we can catch one."

"I own an automobile."

"It's a 1957 Saab."

"Those are proton packs and that's a Nutrona wand. They're prototypes of new devices for putting proto-mater in stasis."

"It's 9.642.55 square feet."

"Not all of this is for the office telephones. I'm constructing a fiberoptic network to monitor microwave activity outside the commercial frequencies assigned to telephone and television transmission."

"This is amusing."

"What?"

"I think it's too early to tell."

"We're all animals, Venkman."

"Okay - It's ready."

"This is the proton pack."

"14.55 kilos."

"Thirty-two pounds."

"This is the Neutrona wand."

"I'm working on a self-contained version but for now we'll run off building current."

"Switch... ON."

"It's ready."

"I've heat shielded the entire pack and it's fully portable now. We'll each be capable of shooting an ion stream up to 12 feet. The stream will repel ectoplasm but have no effect in the physical enviroment. Ready?"

"Power!"

"Then we'll be virtually defenseless."

"Ecto-visors."

"GIVE ME TWO PURGES NOW!!"

"Don't worry. He isn't going anywhere. Now DON'T LET THE STREAMS CROSS BEHIND THE POINT OF INTERSECTION OR YOU'LL Q US ALL INTO THE TENTH DIMENSION."

"Easy... easy... open the trap now!!"

"DON'T LET THE PHOTON STREAMS GET NEAR THE NUTRONA BARS ON THAT TRAP!!"

"Watch it... watch it... now."

"It's getting crowded in there. We have to arrange some kind of spill-release system."

"I tought we'd be busy but I never expected this many. That's what bothers me. All my recent data points to something big on the horizon."

"I am Egon Spengler, human being of Earth, Master of Physics, Doctor of Philosophy. Greetings Vinz Clortho."

"Free him, Officer. I will speak with the Minion of Gozer."

"I like these dehydrated meals because they save time. And they have a long shelf-life."

"Could I ask you a feel questions, Vinz?"

"Vinz, how will Gozer come?"

"I want you to look at these pictures, Vinz, and tell me if you see Gozer or anything that looks like Gozer."

"If I were to deactivate the grid generator, the facility could no longer contain the high-concentration of valences inside. You can see what's inside trough the monitor if you wish."

"I've plotted the location of our 99 confirmed manifestations. Look at the pattern and where it fits. Over the tri-state region we have many heavy industries responsible for the destruction of ozonic and other atmospheric layers. The random mesh of microwaves from telephone and telecomunication senders acts as a lens increasing the focus of all the sun's dangerous gamma and U.V. rays which otherwise would be filtered out if the protective atmospheric layers had not been destroyed. These rays are being focused raw on a region under which there lies buried many thousands of tons of chemical and radioactive waste releasing stripped electrons into the atmosphere.

Finally, even a casual glance at the map reveals this region lies within an almost equilateral triangle having at its intersecting points the Indian River Plant in New York here, the Three Mile Island Facility in Pensylvania here, and the Sands Creek Reactor here... two of which we know are leaking hundreds of roentgens per hour."

From the September 1983 Script Draft:

"Oh! This is big, Peter. This is very big. There's definitely something here."

"Two reasons. First of all, I found trace PKE valances everywhere in the building and extremely high readings in the interior stacks."

"That was both of them."

"Incredible. She was stripping ions all over the place."

"We were right about the proton count, Stantz."

"Raymond and I are convinced that we can trap a ghost and hold it indefinitely."

"Just for your information, Ray, the interest payments alone for the first five years come to over $75,000."

"Print is dead."

"Is that a game?"

"I collect spores, molds and fungus."

"I think it's the food of the future."

"This is the Proton Pack, Peter. The only problem with it at the moment is that it could cause sterility."

"Yes, well, I'm working on that."

"Peter, trust me. We are about to make scientific history."

"Raymond, the plug."

"She's telling the truth - or at least she thinks she is."

"Or even a race memory, stored in the collective unconscious. And I wouldn't rule out clairvoyance or telepathic contact either."

"You're a Scorpio with your moon in Leo and Aquarius rising."

"I blame myself."

"We'd better adjust our streams."

"Something was definitely here."

"Were you recently in the bathroom?"

"The wet towels, residual moisture on your lower limbs and hair, the redness in your cheeks indicating..."

"When you were in the bathroom, did you notice anything that was yellow and unusually smelly?"

"Wait! Wait! There's something I forgot to tell you."

"Don't cross the beams."

"Trust me. It will be bad."

"It's hard to explain, but try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and finding yourself confined forever in another dimension."

"They're not guns. They're particle throwers."

"I couldn't do that. You might hurt someone."

"On Earth - no. But on Krypton we could slice him up like Oscar Mayer Bologna."

"Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. According to this morning's PKE sample, the current level in the city would be a Twinkie 35 feet long weighing approximately six hundred pounds."

"I just met the Keymaster. He's here with me now."

"Die in what sense?"

"I don't care. I see us as tiny parts of a vast organism, like two bacteria living on a rotting speck of dust floating in an infinite void."

"You have nice clavicles."

"Oh, shit!"

"If you don't shut up I'm going to rip out your septum."

"Of course! Ivo Shandor. I saw his name in Tobin's Spirit Guide. He started a secret society in 1920."

"After the First World War, Shandor decided that society was too sick to survive. And he wasn't alone. He had close to a thousand followers when he died. They conducted rituals, bizarre rituals, intended to bring about the end of the world."

"Sumerian -- not Babylonian."

"I don't believe in luck."

"Thank you."

"It's Shandor - the architect!"

"I think he's saying that since we're about to be sacrificed anyway, we get to choose the form we want him to take."

"Full-stream with strogon pulse."

"No! Them! Shoot them! Cross the beams. Cross the beams."

From the 1984 movie final cut:

"That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me."

"Ray, it's moving. Come on."

"This is hot, Ray."

"Raymond, look at this."

"Venkman, get a sample of this."

"I'd like to analyze it."

"I'm getting stronger readings here. This way."

"I wouldn't say the experience wasn't completely wasted. According to these new readings, I think we have an excellent chance of actually catching a ghost and holding it indefinitely."

"I'm always serious."

"I think this building should be condemned. There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members. The wiring is substandard. It's completely inadequate for our power needs. And the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone."

"I could look for the name Zuul in the usual literature."

"Tobin's Spirit Guide."

"Venkman, shorten your stream. I don't want my face burned off."

 "I looked at the trap, Ray."

 "I don't think he's human."

"Vinz, you said before you were waiting for a sign. What sign are you waiting for?"

"I think that would be extraordinarily dangerous."

"I'm warning you. Turning off these machines would be extremely hazardous."

"Try to understand. This is a high voltage laser containment system. Simply turning it off would be like dropping a bomb on the city."

"Clear the building!"

"Oh, come on!"

"Your mother!"

"The structure of this roof cap is exactly like the kind of telemetry tracker that NASA uses to identify dead pulsars in deep space."

"It's not the girl, Peter, it's the building. Something terrible is about the enter our world and this building is obviously the door."

"Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes! Volcanoes!"

"Art Deco. Very nice."

"It's Gozer."

"It's whatever it wants to be."

"Ray? This looks extraordinarily bad."

"Look out!"

"Sorry, Venkman. I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought."

"I have a radical idea. The door swings both ways. We could reverse the particle flow through the gate."

"We'll cross the streams."

"Not necessarily. There's definitely a very slim chance we'll survive."

"I feel like the floor of a taxi cab."

"We'd like to get a sample of your brain tissue."

"Janine."

brOTP: His brother (Lionel in the novelization, Elon in the Earth Day TV Special), Eugene Visitor, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, Winston Zeddemore, Dana Barrett, Tiyah Clark, Slimer, Buster, Louis Tully, Sherman Tully, Dytyllio, Walter Peck, Louise, Irena Cortez, Bryan Welsh, Kylie Griffin, Eduardo Rivera, Garrett Miller, Roland Jackson, Ilyssa Selwin, Jenny Moran, Dani Shpak, Lou Kamaka, Marie Laveau.

OTP: Janine Melnitz.

nOTP: Pink Mood Slime, Gozer.

Random Headcanon: Since Egon still consults literature about the supernatural (more famously Tobin's Spirit Guide) and the STEM fields, is believable that when he says the phrase "Print is dead", is not in the sense that he doesn't read anything and only uses TV and radio as sources of information (otherwise he would have failed academically) but in the sense that his only reading is preexisting titles for work research and he doesn't read new releases and/or literary fiction and poetry, compared to Janine.

Unpopular Opinion: As I commented on this post here, I don't imagine that his parents (specially his father) were complete cold monsters that despised the concept of love when prioritizing Egon and his brother's academic education. Maybe some fans mix his father's personality with Uncle Cyrus, an old, demanding and arrogang relative that appeared in the Real Ghostbusters animated series, but its more interesting to imagine that, while flawed, Egon's parents were still feeling human beings who genuinelly loved him and his brother and just tought that working hard to provide them with a good school education while sacrificing spending time with the children was their, understandable tough misguided, way of showing how much they cared.

Songs I Associate With Them:

Medic

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The Gods Are Not Crazy

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She Blinded Me With Science

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Weird Science

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I Believe in You and Me

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Just The Way You Are

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Time in a Bottle

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Favorite Picture of Them:

Harold Ramis in the 1984 film

In the Real Ghostbusters animated series

 In the Extreme Ghostbusters animated series

In the IDW licensed comics