#because that was nothing i did intentionally... i didn't wake up thinking 'i will be racists today' it was a mistake i'm not proud of

[taegularities]

being here has never felt this suffocating.. it feels impossible sometimes to continue

[risuola]

HEADACHE — F. READER x SUKUNA RYOMEN ft. Yuji Itadori

Your head has been killing you all day but you tried to play it off as nothing to not worry your boyfriend, but he noticed and didwhat he could to ease your suffering.

cw: fluff, Itadori is 18 and is a vessel for Sukuna, reader is in pain (duh), things like SA and su1cide are mentioned (nothing discriptive though), there is like, one slightly suggestive joke I guess? it's fluff, let me remind you! — 1,7k words

a/n: yet another fluffed out piece of writing for the king, because I love him struggling to keep his authority, alright? there are also so many fics where Sukuna is just purely violent that I feel like him being everything but violent is very much in demand and I love him more gentle 🖤 i also often get headaches like the one described so it was my inspo, kinda.

It hurt. Your head had been killing you since this morning and slowly it was getting to the point where you couldn't even move. It felt like a storm had been raging inside your skull for hours, you couldn't think, couldn't eat, couldn't concentrate on anything all day, and three painkillers didn't help at all. Your vision was blurry, your balance was off, everything seemed too loud, too close, too bright, too intense. You wanted to scream, you cried, and even begged whatever there is in the universe to just take this pain away.

"I can't," you whispered, crying quietly into your pillow as night fell. "I can't, I can't..." You tried not to wake Yuji, you even acted like it hurt less than it really did, just so he wouldn't worry, but now you couldn't hold it anymore. Your hands were shaking, your vision went black, and you wanted to die.

You got up, quietly and carefully, and slowly padded to the bathroom, feeling your way through the walls because your vision wasn't reliable anymore, and you put your head under the ice-cold water. Unpleasant shivers ran down your spine, your breath came short, but you stayed there, begging the university to ease the agony. And it did, for a moment. It all came back when you threw a towel over your head, unable to withstand the cold anymore. There was no point, you were dying, there was no other way.

Defeated, you dried your hair as best you could and went back to bed, where the moment you laid down, Yuji's arm found its place over your middle. He was still asleep, thankfully, and you pushed a pillow over your face and dived into the darkness.

"Is this suicide?", a voice that you only hoped was the creation of your mind reached your ears and you ignored it for the time being. Yuji was sleeping, he didn't move his hand from over your belly, he couldn't... "It's unwise to ignore me."

"Please, I can't do this now..." you whispered and took the pillows away. It was wet with tears, and so was your face when you looked at him. It was Sukuna, but it seemed like he had very little control over Itadori's body. Or maybe he intentionally kept you close to him so that you would die of a heart attack, but the sudden rush of blood that made your heart pump much faster than usual only made you feel worse.

"You can't do what?"

"Why are you here?" you asked, wiping your face.

"I love watching people suffer, and you seem to be just the kind of show I'd enjoy."

"Of course you do..."

"What is the source of your pain?"

"My head hurts. So fucking bad."

"Poor little human," he chuckled, lifting his head and resting it on his hand for a better view. In any other situation you would have pushed him away, tried to distance yourself, but now you had no power to fight back, so you stayed where you were, in the emotionless embrace of a curse that lives inside your boyfriend.

"If you stepped out to enjoy my pain, please go fuck yourself. Not the best timing, curse."

"How rude," he chuckled, "as if you were in a position to speak to me like that. I can slice you to ribbons before that brat even thinks of taking control back. Oh, imagine how devastated he would be to wake up to the bloody mess of his little girlfriend."

"Oh, sure. How creative, threatening me with death, very original. Perhaps you should surprise me and use your little hocus pocus to ease the pain I feel instead of scaring me."

"You want me, the King of Curses, to heal a human?"

"Kindness would be a good look on you."

"Oh, you're so desperate," he laughed and you covered your eyes with your forearm, already tired of his shit. The silence hurt you, not to mention his amused tone.

"Get lost, Sukuna," you muttered. "If you're not going to help, then stay quiet."

"And who are you to order me around?" his long fingers clawed at your chin, forcing your head in his direction, and you lowered your arm to look at him. Red eyes almost glowed in the darkness of the night, but he looked calm. "Hmm? Little human, have you forgotten where your place is?"

"I know where my place is, but you're in my bed now, so the only rules that apply here are mine."

"What a mouth," he chuckled again. "I can make this headache worse, you know."

"By annoying me to death? You're doing great at that."

It really wasn't wise to push Sukuna's buttons like that, your luck was definitely going to run out sooner or later, and even if you thought you wanted to die because of the headache, that wasn't really what you wished for.

"Sukuna, please, don't be a dick, help a human out."

"Oh, but watching you in pain is so much more entertaining."

"Have you ever tried to be nice, or is the concept foreign?"

"Being nice doesn't hold any power."

"Oh, but it does. When people truly respect you, not because they're scared, that's a different kind of power. And you like power, right?"

"I'm the strongest, I don't care what maggots think of me as long as they kneel in fear."

"If those people are maggots, doesn't that make you like a maggot king or something?"

"Oh, you're pushing your luck."

"Sure, whatever," you smack his hand away from your face and put the pillow back over it. If he's not going to be helpful, what was the point of paying attention to him? Just because he wants it doesn't mean he has to get it.

"And now you plan to ignore me?"

With no answer, you just pressed the plush item harder to your face, hoping that the pressure would soothe you even a little, but no luck.

Sukuna achieved his goal of making your heart beat even faster when he suddenly climbed on top of you, pinning you under his body and throwing the pillow away. Both of your hands he pressed to the bed with only one of his own, and you looked at him with a combination of surprise, confusion, and a glimmer of fear. This was not an ideal situation in any universe.

"What now?"

"Oh, don't be so scared, you wanted me to help you, right?"

"I fail to notice where the helping part is..."

"You humans fail to notice a lot of things."

Ryomen continued to touch you, but his touch felt anything but intimate. It burned, it felt targeted when his palm brushed against your knees or your inner thigh. Wherever he pressed, you felt some pain.

"What on earth are you doin-"

"I advise you to shut up before I change my mind."

And so you did, still unsure of what was happening. Why was this man touching your skin when you could have sworn, he wasn't interested in any kind of human physical touch. He was toying with you, enjoying the way your heart was racing in your chest, how you struggled to free your hands from his relentless grasp, and how you tried so hard to stay calm when he knew your mind was racing 180 miles per hour and off the cliff.

"Such a simple human," he mocked, his fingers brushing way too close to your underwear to go unnoticed, and your hips bucked up to create just a little more distance. This had to be another kind of torture and he was having fun making you so pliable. His eyes never left your face and you struggled to maintain eye contact. "What if I opened a mouth on the palm of my hand right now?" he teased, and you didn't get the subtext at first, but once you did, the vision struck you in a way it shouldn't have.

"Christ, you're more perverted than I suspected a curse would be," you muttered, turning your head to the side, creating an opening for him to kiss the tear off your cheek.

"You don't know much about curses, sweetheart," he laughed directly into your ear, brushing it with his lips as he moved his hand higher, sliding it under your blouse to your hip. "There are some mindless curses out there that only focus on sexually abusing their victims." This wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening. But his tone didn’t change, he was amused more than anything. "But I'm not a simple, horny curse, don't be so afraid. I'm the king."

"For a king, you do kinda often need to remind people about it..." you muttered, breathing in and out, focusing on this simple thing to avoid turning into a mess.

"Remember my advice?"

"Yup."

You closed your mouth and a wave of pulsating pain washed over your whole body again, radiating from your head as if a bomb had just exploded here. You closed your eyes tightly, tears once again threatening to flow from under your squeezed eyelashes. It hurt so much that you couldn't think straight, everything was blurry and you had trouble even recognizing the man above you. You wanted to pull your hands out of his hold, to put them on your temples, to do anything to ease the throbbing ache, but he wouldn't let you.

His hand pressed against your forehead. A moment later, the grip on your wrists loosened and the man rolled off you, taking a place beside you and pulling you into his chest. When you opened your eyes, no sign of black marks met your sight.

"Did he help you?" Yuji asked, his voice soft and cooing, but with worry clearly intertwined with his words. "Does it still hurt?"

"Huh?"

"Your head, does it hurt?"

"No... You asked him for it?"

"Yeah... I noticed you were in pain today, but you tried to play it off as nothing. And you didn't sleep and cried and I saw how many pills you took and still hurt," he spoke so softly, kissing your head tenderly and caressing your back with care and affection. "I'm sorry, I guess he had to scare you a little because, you know... ego."

"Thank you, baby," you pressed your lips to his chest, nuzzling into him even more.

"Oh, don't be, you know I'd do anything for you."

Next day you noticed that every bruise you had on your body wasn’t there anymore. Every hurt you earned through your every day clumsiness and trainings disappeared.

So that’s why Sukuna was touching you.

[failing-to-write-again]

What would it be like waking up with Shu, Reiji, or Ruki?

So sorry I didn't see this Tumblr did not send me a notification!

But thank you for the ask and I will answer all three!!!

Under the cut because my writing is long and I might be mildly suggestive but nothing explicit!

Shu

I imagine waking with Shu would feel like a Saturday morning in Winter, where the heating is on and your bed is so warm and outside it's a cool snowy light.

Rolling over and feeling the slight chill of the vampire, his chest cool but the arm you slept on warmed by your body heat.

I think Shu, as a more subtle romantic, would enjoy like sleeping naked or at least shirtless with you. While throwing perverted comments around to deflect from showing his true sappy side, yet never actually going further then running his fingers along your spine as he holds you against himself slowly heating up.

Hearing him deeply inhale and stir as he feels your movement, eyes opening slightly and smiling before nuzzling between the pillows and your hair. A grumble of protest at having been disturbed.

If it is a weekend or holiday you give in easily resettling into the peaceful feeling of simple having skin contact with someone so intimately. Shu lifting the covers to cover you more as goosebumps cover your body slightly due to his lower body temperature.

A personal head cannon is that after you began to have an actual close relationship he would have servants bring hot water bottles to your room close to bed so you didn't have to be as effected by his chill. However by morning the once warm devices are now useless, yet he's less cold after a night of having you next to him.

Eventually you may try coax him awake. As he hides himself against your neck, feeling him voice complaints in a gravelly morning voice against your skin.

"My princess is so pushy, just rest order the servants to do the stupid errands. They're yours now."

Reiji

Reiji could go one of two ways depending on the day. A busy day or a holiday. Either way I think his room would feel fresh but still warm to wake in.

On the average day Reiji wakes you either accidentally as he gets dressed and ready for the day, or with a drink and some breakfast delivered personally to your room. He claims it's to prevent your morning mood effecting the household but it is actually to just keep you to himself a moment longer even if it's while you're both busy preparing for a long day ahead.

He runs his fingers through your hair to wake you, slowly massaging your scalp. You'd be surprised that it doesn't put you deeper asleep.

On the rare days he doesn't feel the need to wake as early he's sensual and soft. Rare for someone as prim and proper as him.

It's canon from the sleeping with a vampire audios that Reiji wears silk pajamas and bed sheets with high quality mattresses. I see him ordering you matching pajamas and night dresses in similar designs to his and he secretly waits until you get yours on before changing. He refused to admit when he's sweet. He melts when you sleep in his shirt after nightly romps in the sheets.

Ever the leading partner, you wake up being spooned by him either facing him or with you back against his chest and his face buried in your hair. You used to worry about it irritating him at first until one night you felt him nuzzle against it intentionally as he smelt the shampoo you had recently used.

Like Shu I feel he would do things to motivate the temperature difference. However maybe an electric blanket or a potion that will last the entire night.

Deepest as morning voice, grainy too completely unlike his firm even tone when awake. It's a personal side only you see. And forget Shu being the lazy one when Reiji has the time to sleep in with you. The man is begging for 5 more minutes.

"My love, stay...hm? Need a drink? I left one on the nightstand. ... You can't reach it?... Cruel woman treating your lover like this."

Ruki

Ruki's room must smell like candles and new books. A nice toasty feeling to wake to.

Clingy is the best way to describe how I feel he sleeps. So scared you may slip through his fingers or leave like others before, Ruki holds you close as you sleep.

I imagine he sleeps on his stomach due to having to sleep like that for so long after he initially got the scars on his back. His arm around your waist and head turned to rest abobe your shoulder.

The exception being when he reads a book to help you sleep. You lay, head against his chest or in his lap as he sits against a pile of pillows. You wake to his head against yours and the book left open on his lap as his arms encircle you.

Ever the slight sadist, on days you need to be up faster he might lightly pinch your sides to wake you. Chuckling as you squirm and complain at the rude awakening. Kissing you forehead in apology.

During nights where he has particularly bad nightmares you may have to wake him. Holding him against your chest and brushing through his hair as you comfort him best you can. You don't know when you both nod back off but you wake the next day to him still there resting more peaceful than ever. That being said night terrors have decreased drastically since you began to share a bed.

After you both wake up properly he holds you in his lap as you discuss your plans for the day. He takes his time laying kisses along your shoulders and down your sternum, a personal good luck ritual that makes the day a little easier to begin.

"Hm... where do you think your going? I assume like me you don't want to leave my side yet. Especially with those fingers tracing along my body. How shameless."

[prouvaireafterdark]

Hi! As someone just coming into reading the books but who's been with the show since day 1, I'm curious about why people take Lestat's narrative in TVL with 100% sincerity when the premise of the show seems to be interrogating the dissonance that everybody's versions create. Obviously there's some big things that are definitely going to be true, but I'd personally be disappointed if we got a straight adaptation of unfiltered Lestat perspective on events, haha!

I think you're conflating sincerity with some idea of omniscient, objective accuracy, which, as you note, is a useless thing to search for in a show where memory is continually shown to be an unreliable monster.

Lestat's version of events in TVL is sincere, though. He's speaking from the heart and he's trying to give the story of his life, mostly by sharing his truth about what his life before meeting Louis was like, and in part by filling in the gaps Louis leaves us with about what happened at Rue Royale. His recollection may turn out to be as faulty and biased as Louis' or Armand's has been shown to be in the show, but that doesn't make it any less sincere.

And I'm not implying that Louis is lying or anything. I'm talking about him not mentioning or glossing over the happy memories that meant a lot to Lestat and made up, for him, a big part of what it was to share a home with Louis and Claudia for so long. Giving Lestat the space to talk about his love for Louis and Claudia doesn't erase the abuse he inflicted on them in those moments of instability and rage. I don't get why people are so resistant to seeing that. It's not like it makes everything better. If anything, it makes it worse that he loved them so much.

What's important to note, too, is that at no point does Lestat in his retelling excuse himself for anything he did to Louis and Claudia and I doubt very much we would see him do that in future seasons of the show. Lestat even says it himself that he deserved what Claudia did to him. The way things worked out between the three of them is his greatest, deepest regret and it will haunt him for the rest of his immortal life.

Also, not for nothing, what we've gotten this season and last season are the unfiltered perspectives of Louis, Claudia, and Armand. That's not to say they're lying or intentionally obfuscating (okay, well, Armand totally is), but that is what we got---a narrative that was really challenged only by Daniel and not by anyone who was actually there who remembers it differently. I don't see why we shouldn't also get Lestat's unfiltered version, especially considered he is the main protagonist of the Vampire Chronicles series going forward.

For me and many others, it's not about excusing anything. It's all about contextualizing his decisions. Like, Lestat didn't just wake up one day and decide it would be fun to destroy his family. I want him to tell me in his own words (which, as a reminder, he has yet to do at any point in this series so far) what drove him to do the horrible things he did and how he really feels about it. When we do hopefully get that, I expect the fandom to interrogate his accounts as vigorously as they did Louis' and Armand's and Claudia's.

And to answer your question regarding the books specifically, we have Anne herself to blame for that. She wrote IWTV when she was battling some of the most intense grief and despair a person can feel. She had just lost her child. Writing the book was an outlet for that and you can feel it as you read Louis' perspective. When she decided to continue the series, though, she changed her mind about a lot of things---mainly who Lestat was as a character and how she had come to hate the "weakness" in Louis (which was really because she came to hate the "weakness" she saw in herself as she came out on the other side of her grief and identified with him less and Lestat more). There is a very real dissonance between who Lestat is in IWTV and who he is in TVL and beyond. The way she accounted for that in her own writing was that Louis was misconstruing certain events by leaving things out or straight up making things up like their reunion in NOLA at the end of IWTV, which Lestat claims never happened. The reason people take Lestat's words at face value sometimes isn't usually because they hate Louis or think he lied about Lestat's abuse. It's because Anne, as the writer of the story, wanted the reader to doubt Louis' version in favor of Lestat's because she had changed her mind about the direction of the story and the characters she created.

It's also worth noting that, in the actual text of the show, that version of events taken from the book, the content of the original interview, is described by Louis himself as an admitted performance. I think it's a perfectly legitimate reading to consider IWTV (the book) in the context of Louis trying to get Lestat's attention with something he knew would upset him, like Armand suggests was Louis' fantasy, because he wanted or needed to see him again.

This got long and rambley so I'll just leave you with the wise, wise words of Samothy Reid when asked to give one truth and one lie in the show: Everybody lies. Everybody lies.

I don't think that will change if we finally get Lestat's POV so imo people should just relax and enjoy the ride.

[eluxcastar]

For the whole dottore basically adopting the reader, what would he do if reader got sick? And would reader call him dad, dottore or zandik?

Dadtore with his sick child

── ୨୧：il dottore & reader

୨୧﹑synopsis :: more dadtore but with germs this time (the first germs)

୨୧﹑genre :: fluff

୨୧﹑content :: gn reader, child reader, not proofread, also written at one am I'll edit in the morning 😭

୨୧﹑words :: 700

originally this was gonna be another ramble but I was like this could be cute let's write it. as for the name I actually have no idea largely because when I wrote child reader last time I wrote them intentionally without dialogue so I actually didn't even consider it but Dad feels like a very down the road choice

Zandik feels more familiar than Dottore but whether he'd want a kid running around calling him that to everyone is a different question. I think there's a definite Dottore to Dad pipeline

Perhaps you managed, no thanks to your infinite curiosity, to get into the things he'd tried to keep you from. Dottore thought he'd done everything he could possibly do, but children find a way. When you wake up in the middle of the night to him still up and about, he's surprised to find you look barely awake, unsurprising on its own, but you are unsteady and warm to the touch.

That's not good. You've never been sick before. Dottore pauses, hand practically glued to you as he tries to think of what to do. Should he run you a cold bath? Maybe he should leave you or warm you up more so that you can sweat it out easily. He's not even sure what's wrong with you yet.

You're sleepy, it seems, as you're passed out in Dottore's arms before he can even carry you back to your makeshift bed, breath softening against his skin as your head rests on his shoulder. It's such a natural way for you to settle by now, even after only a few months, that Dottore waits to let go. You feel too warm, too fragile. It is the polar opposite of how cold you were when he found you.

He sets you back in your spot on the couch and wraps your blankets tightly around you. Your face is flushed, and you still look far too addled.

Rest and a lot to drink are enough, but they certainly don't feel like enough as Dottore stares down at you, all curled up amongst your blankets. More than ever, you look like a pathetic newborn kitten stumbling about and too small to do anything but sleep and blink with great effort. It's all in an endearing way. Dottore can't have you dying on him, especially not to a fever, but there's little he can actually do to help you and little that says he should be. Fevers are the kind of thing you have to sweat out, often because they're fighting something else. Dottore knows that well.

"Did you touch anything you weren't supposed to?" he asks. Dottore doesn't recall a time at which you went poking around with a dedication to finding anything or that you didn't cut it out the moment he scolded you.

You slowly shake your head as you register his question. It reassures him, seeing as he can't find a reason to doubt that. You've had very few problems with honesty before today. You're trustworthy enough not to interrogate you.

"Then you got it from someone else," he concludes. "You're not uncomfortable?"

Again, you shake your head once the question sets in. That's the best you'll get as you are. Whatever this fever is trying to fight off is not something you found in a petri dish and probably came from your disagreeable habit of being far too welcoming to strangers in the lab. If nothing else, he can find comfort in the fact he won't spend the next few hours worrying if you've contracted a deadly disease or greatly repel properties of the abyss. You're still very safe right here where he's able to watch over you.

Dottore takes a moment to lay you down, a vaguely tender show of practically pushing you over as you've dozed off to sleep again in the time it takes him to act. Dottore collects the mess of blankets around you and pulls them over you, opting to keep you from getting cold unless you get worse or throw them off in your sleep. He finds his overcoat bunched at your feet and drapes that on top of the blankets too, your favourite item of comfort and what keeps you most warm.

Dottore sits beside you in the tiny space between your feet and the edge of the couch. There is just enough room for him. His hand rests against your leg as he waits, watching your chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm. He is pleased to see you sleep well despite the circumstances.

That coat had once been wrapped around you, cold and shivering, and it engulfed you with fabric to spare. Dottore doesn't mind sharing it with you now.

[ccaramel-llow]

Hey if you are still taking requests could you maybe do Noah, Cody and Ezekiel with a mute reader?

Pairings; Noah/Reader, Cody/Reader, Ezekiel/Reader (All seperate)

Warnings; Cursing, Cody being weird, Ezekiel himself, Teasing.

PLATONIC !! 🫂

vv

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

Noah

, This guy would be the sarcastic and moody friend, Saying rude remarks about people in front of their faces when someone talks rudely of you.

, Will glare at the person who talks horribly of you and WILL smack talk the hell about people infront of their faces not giving a damn if their hurt or not.

, Noah would definitely be surprised if you did speak though, And would definitely say a rude remark without realizing it.

"You sound like a dying man gasping for air."

, Will probably gossip about people while your there just listening.

, He probably said a lot of rude things to you when he first met you, But when he warmed up the rude remarks just stopped and happened slowly when he got confirmation you

Cody

, Cody would be supportive and really chill about it, Telling you how hot Gwen is from time to time because everybody would just tell him to shut the hell up, He appreciates how you dont though. He does shut up though if you give him a angry glare.

, He will rant about his hyper fixations while your eating your food.

, Cody will definitely fix whatever electronic you or someone broke. He'd gladly do it!! Your the only person who listens to him anyways.

"You dont have to say a word my friend!! I'll fix it for you!! Just give me about like, a day or two?"

, Cody names you "Silent" While you put his nickname as "Chatty" in your contacts.

, Cody will punch someone if someone makes fun of you.

Ezekiel

, This guy would be your friend when he was rabid and you tried to look for him out of worry.

, Like Tarzan idk?? He'd probably be hesitant to trust you at first because of the horrible shit Chris has done to him because he was unlikable.

, He warms up to you soon and follows you around like a damn dog. Would probably kidnap you and Chris wouldnt care as long as you were the favorite in the show.

, He will literally rabidly attack others who smack talk you.

, He trusts you more then anyone else, Because even though your mute you cared for him when he was rabid and actually went to LOOK for him.

, He literally cant talk himself lmfao. I think he lost his memory of speaking or whatever so he relates to you alot. But he can read your body language!

-- end --

ROMANTIC ❤‍🩹

vv

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

NOAH

, He isn't that big on realizing how others feel but he can read your facial expressions and body language!

, He likes to say "If you don't speak that means you love me." And he smirks stupidly as you dont say anything.

, Noah personally does NOT know what to do in romantic relationships.

, He will be extra rude to people when they are rude, Or if he eavesdrops on people talking smack about you behind your back. He gets irritated just by hearing people talking badly about you when they dont KNOW you.

, He gifts you a notebook with a multi color pen, If you break it then he will stare at you with disbelief and call you a dumb ass.

Cody

, Nothing really changes with this guy, He rants about his day and some random stuff.

, Will probably spend his lifesaving's on candy and wrap it up in the most nicest gifts ever just to give it to you as a suprise, Like imagine waking up to Cody getting jumped by the girls (if you are a girl) just because he placed a gift of chocolate on your bed.

, He's the type of guy to give you flowers and intentionally buy milkshakes so you both can have edible straws and drink out of it.

, Sorry for saying this but he wears your shirt under his normal attire. And if you were in TDWT and it was that one jungle episode where you both were caught, He'd intentionally give you the x ray glasses.

, He lives with his mom. Trust.

Ezekiel

, You probably have dark humor or He just bothered you until you got a restraining order against him.

, He didn't stop flirting with you though.

, Eventually you found him silly and felt bad for him so you dismissed the restraining order.

, He brushes his teeth every day for you.

, when he turns rabid he still brushes his teeth because he doesnt want his teeth to be piss colored even though their already crooked (I think) around you.

, Tries to impress you by giving you flowers except he got them from a grave yard due to him being a broke fuck.

, He leaves dead animals on your bed as a love language.

[gege-wondering-around]

Derek and Noah for Stiles

No matter what, I believe Derek and Noah were two of the few, who truly cared for Stiles. Unconditionally and wholeheartedly, despite everything. And Stiles does the same for them.

Noah - the Sheriff

Of course as Stiles' father, Noah cared for him like a father should with his son but he did more, not only cause he was a single parent but also due to the supernatural being involved in their lives and messing around with Stiles.

When Stiles shows up back home with his cheeks bruised and his lip kind of cut open, Noah is already holding his son's face and he's already angry. Sriles tells him it's okay but the sheriff gets ever more angry, threatening to involve the police and deal with the kids himself. Just a few seconds earlier he was wondering where Stiles was, hoping he was okay, and when he got there and said "right here" Noah is relieved Stiles is back.

When Stiles is possessed and they are in Derek's loft, Chris aims to kill Stiles (the nogitsune has he views it) and the sheriff begs the hunter not to. He's holding his own gun, ready to fire at Chris despite both being on the same side.

In the movie, when Derek says "maybe you should call your son" Noah is dismissive about it. He doesn't want to disturb Stiles with Beacon Hills after all he went through in that city. He doesn't wanna worry his son or cause him trouble.

Also, and this is in all seasons, Noah is extremely patient with Stiles. Like a saint he tries to listen and understand as much as he's capable of handling until he breaks down too, because he's human just like Stiles. But still, Noah's is one of the few that takes time to understand and listen to Stiles, and even if he's his son it doesn't take away the importance of what he does for Stiles.

And, despite Noah probably knows very well that Stiles basically sucks and never plays on the field, he compliments him when he does and even score a point, which is the most the sheriff has probably ever see Stiles do. And he compliments him in a very delicate way, nothing fancy or anything, just a father proud of his son.

Derek

Even if Derek always seemed annoyed by Stiles, he also did anything to protect him.

When he was in prison with Chris he asked him if he would feel remorse for killing Stiles and Chris said yes, only if it was actually Stiles. Derek was silent and thinking, he didn't want to kill Stiles even if he had to, even if it was the "only way out" with the nogitsune.

Derek believed Stiles over Jennifer when he asked her about his father and he kept denying to know anything about it. He knew how important the sheriff was to Stiles and didn't want him to lose the only family he had left and be alone, suffering the loss of his father.

Also, just like Noah was ready to shot at Chris in the loft, Derek was ready to fight Chris to protect Stiles, despite had just been thrown around by the nogitsune. He was back in no time, ready to do what he had to in order to protect Stiles.

Stiles

But also, if Noah and Derek stand by Stiles' side and protected him, Stiles also did the same for them.

When Chris asked him if he had to lock up Scott he said yes, and argued with the hunter if it was better to burn his house down. He was protesting with Arget about the cruelty his family did and how there were other ways of handling things. He stood by Derek's side.

He killed Donovan to protect his dad.

He never stopped searching for his father when Jennifer took him to use him as a sacrifice.

When Boys died, Stiles was the only one that tried to comfort Derek, putting a hand on his shoulder, as to ground him and say "you're not alone".

(Even if not intentionally) when Derek was "trapped" in his sleep, Stiles was the one he imagined to wake himself up, asking him how to know if he was still asleep.

In the end I believe these three always had each other's back covered somehow. They always protected one of the other two and never betrayed each other's trust.

They were both there for Stiles when he was in a bad shape, wheter it be physically or mentally, they showed up or welcomed him in, taking care of him.

Derek and Noah were always there for Stiles whenever they could. They cared, maybe even more than most.

I'm not saying other characters didn't care about Stiles, I just took this two into consideration cause I like them.

[rhaenin-time]

oh no another break from my break because yes i did end up watching the episode.

It's SO bad you guys. To the point that I can see into the writers' room. They didn't even bother to close the drapes!

BUT! must... finish... chapter... and... establish... habit... of continuing to write despite HotD's bad practices because I've come too far...

I swear it's not a sunk cost fallacy. Okay it's a sunk cost but also I DO want to finish because I'm clearly still not ready to settle into original work, I don't want to start a new fic in a different fandom, and also... I do want to finish what will be a ridiculously long fic because I want to. Why is it so hard? Because everytime I put time aside and sit down to it, I start breaking down HotD's writing problems instead because thinking about F&B canon and thinking about where HotD went wrong... is kind of one and the same. Pretty much everything wrong with it can be traced back to deviating from the book.

Ugh, it's just annoying because before I started, I did read up a lot about specifically what kind of fic writing is actually beneficial for practicing original novel writing skills. And one of the big rules is that you need to resist the urge for wish-fulfillment or indulging in head canons with little basis in canon (nothing wrong with those fics they're just not considered a good way to build skills that transfer over to novel writing) and aside from your intentional and well thought out deviations, you're supposed to remain as consistent with the source material's themes, worldbuilding, and characterizations as you can.

Problem is that HotD already broke those rules in their expensive fanfic people keep claiming is canon. Problem is... I too included it as canon. Because I already accounted for the changes season 1 made to Fire & Blood and part of the challenge that actually started off as fun was reconciling those changes and trying to merge them with the source material.

But they've gone too far! And I know it sounds kind of weird and pretentious and self-aggrandizing (I am all those things don't get me wrong) but I'm annoyed that now it might look like it's MY fic that decided to do whatever it wants with canon, especially characterization. Because especially when there's so much bigotry and politics involved, I actually find it kind of distasteful when fic writers intentionally disregard established themes, characterization and worldbuilding in order to indulge in bigoted mindsets and interpretations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing for censorship or anything I just find it distasteful, and bad practice when the writer is unwilling to admit what they're doing and those interpretations find their way into the actual fandom and you get people arguing for them regarding the actual source material. Again, especially when bigotry and bad politics are involved.

Which is also annoying because so many of HotD's unjustified deviations are rooted in the bigoty and bad politics that, again, Fire & Blood actually condemns. And (that part of) this fandom is so annoying as it is. And as weird as it sounds I actually was trying really hard to "lead by example" and be as fair as I could to the greens, because, again, I'm trying to develop good writing practices.

Anyways, I guess this is a Fire & Blood merged with season 1 fic now, and everything will now err on the side of Fire & Blood. Anything established after season 1 is just Corlys's ep 8 - ep 10 fever dream and he wakes up in real canon which errs toward book canon aside from the changes season 1 made that I already accounted for. HotD has not earned the right to call itself its own narrative, so it's part of the greater metanarrative that Fire & Blood is a part of. Maester Condal's volume is simply... a conflicting account that has strong evidence for part 1 that sometimes even overrides Gyldayn's accounts, but he ran out of material and started making shit up and the challenge is in figuring out WHERE. Somewhere in between, the real story lurks...

Feel free to swipe that for your own sanity.

Is it unhinged that I'm claiming that my sometimes crackfic where the key players include Rhaenyra's boobs, Laenor's lube mummy, and Rhaenys's mop dummy is more respectful to Fire & Blood than HBO is? Yes. But is it also true? Also yes. And that's the damning part.

This has been an unedited rant.

Edit:

Wait. Do I take this in a meta direction for my author's notes? Since Aemond is Condal's blatant and uncomfortably telling self-insert... Hmm... You know Aemond’s pretentious study group I made up because I think it's weird that HotD doesn't realize that it's downright impossible for royals to be as isolated as they try to claim? Well, one of the members is named Ryam Condal. And he went on to write a *totally true account. Unfortunately, he was too young and naive to see Aemond for the dweeb he actually is, and also Aemond gave him weird ideas about dragons and Targaryens that he never unlearned.

edit edit

Wait. Should I truly invent a Condal insert named Condal who's slightly younger than Aemond and has a dumb admiration for him and wants to know why he doesn't come to their study group anymore now that Rhaenyra's around to properly educate him?

[pretty-weird-ideas]

Harassment Against Black Blogs Over My Post

After I made my post about racist blogs in the IWTV fandom, unrelated blogs have been intentionally harassed in my stead to continue a harassment campaign against THEM and also keep away from having to do work to harass and discredit me.

As I have said before, come on, hit me. Don't act silly. Hit me. I said nalyra-dreaming is a racist for the fact that she liked and defended a racist post regarding affirmative action and reverse racism. ME. I posted that of my own volition in the comfort of my own home. Deflecting with "Random black blogs that AREN'T this person said this" wake up, I said it.

"Well, the racism allegations are a deflection because this OTHER black blog is conspiring to-"

You're a goofy motherfucker and it doesn't suit you. Take the clown costume off, you've worn it for so long that it's gotten musty.

If you want to hit someone, hit me. It's very obvious that these bloggers are deciding between:

Start digging on a blog that has nothing to dig for

Continue a harassment campaign that's already happened against black blogs with minimal effort or explanation as to why they are getting hit still

You are forgetting that I made these statements, that I have posted about fandom racism, and that I have not gotten involved in any of this. And that was intentional, racists like we are seeing today (white, nonblack, and sufferers of internalized hatred) are now pointing to "ship wars" to deflect from real-life racist political beliefs that have NOTHING to do with fiction. I stay FAR away from that shit on purpose, with the intent that people would have nothing to deflect to when the going gets rough. I follow black fans who are antiracist regardless of their shipping opinions, and regardless of what they think in regards to fandom.

Like I said in the original post, I would never let someone do to them, as they have done to me and other black fans. I would not sit up there and let fans start a real racist political grift so that I can get one-up on black fans I do not like or disagree with. I cut that shit down fast.

So instead of digging on me, to deflect, they would rather find other users and drag them and hope it kicks up enough of a stink that users forget the posts that started it all this week.

160 notes on my post about this subject, 300+ on others, and suspiciously someone comes out with a hitlist of mostly black fans that they already dislike to deflect. It was because it's advantageous to attack blogs that they already didn't like and had beef with.

Did hundreds of people suddenly become unable to research or read things for themselves when they liked and reblogged?

Or are we fully investing in the grift that black anti-racists just puppet around white people using "White guilt" along with the reverse racism song and dance?

[didishawn]

Hey bestie!!!! Your works are chef kiss 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼 uhm I was wondering if you can write angst w Ferran? Idk like there's an argument n he says something hurtful?? Miss ma'am tbh I have no clue what im requesting😭😭 all ik is that I'd like some angst ending in fluff pls??? N ur writing is amazing so 🤌🏼

Broken souls (Ferran x Reader)

Warnings: angsty with happy ending, mentions of Ferran's insecurities and mental health, mentions of the internet being assholes, Sira mention (not in a truly bad way as the girl is amazing)

Masterlist

You know Ferran adores Barça and loves playing in it, it's where his best friends play and 9ne the best club's out there, but sometimes you can't help but wonder if things would be better had he stayed in Manchester City.

Words can bring down even the happiest of people, that person who everyone knows to be the nicest, the funniest, being broken by people on the Internet feeling the need to comment on all his flaws and creating insecurities.

It's terrible for anyone, brings them down, worsens their mental health and makes them sometimes not be themselves.

Your boyfriend, you know is broken, as months pass by he becomes even more of a shell of his true self, he might pretend everything is alright out there, but you know it isn't.

He overworks himself, training hours not enough for him, locking himself in the gym or using the goalie on your backyard to practice until late night hours, then waking up even before the sun rises.

You know he is exhausted, but he refuses to stop, you are worried about what will happen to him, you have told him so multiple times, and the screaming match you both are having right now is a repetition, already happened.

"I just told you to please come to bed, I don't think there is nothing wrong with it!" you shout at him, trying to get your words through that thick head of his, he shakes his head, a smile that is not truthful, almost cruel.

"You don't fucking understand, don't you? How can I go to bed when I fucking suck! Its almost as if you have fun seeing how terrible I am!"

"How can you say that? You know I am your biggest supporter! I just think you should also keep in mind to take care of yourself!"

He gives a dry laugh, face to face with you as he glares down at you, you are not afraid though, you know he would never hurt you -at least not with his hands that he furiously moves around and points at you.

"Really? Because I think you enjoy it, having all culers hating on me, maybe you like that I have no one by my side to have me all for yourself! Always so fucking clingy" he sighs "Sira understood..."

You both tense, his eyes snap into yours, apologetic, trying to reach out for you.

"Love, I'm-"

"Fuck you, Ferran. If Sira was so much better then she can take care of you so you don't fucking die from exhaustion" you are in tears "I fucking care for you and you just treat me as if I was a parasite, someone you don't actually love, maybe you didn't want a girlfriend -at least not me as its obvious you did want Sira, you wanted someone to keep your house clean and all that shit so meanwhile you repay me like this"

You walk away from his, you don't let him grab you a she wants, picking up your purse and intentionally leaving the house keys behind. You stop, see the promise ring on your finger, and go to take it off, his hands stop you.

"Please, amor, don't do that I promise I will try to do better, ok? You are right, I am sorry for treating you like shit, I promise I will listen to what you say"

You laugh "Only when you are about to lose me do you react, how can I believe your words for a second if maybe this conversation will repeat itself in a week"

"It won't, ok? I swear, y/n, I will do my best so there is no repetition on this, I want you, I love you, I won't be able to do this without you. I know I am an asshole, bit the one good thing I have is you and I will make sure to always remind it"

You think it over for a second, dropping your purse you let his arms wrap around you, taking a moment in them, you then go on to whisper.

"You are still sleeping on the couch after that Sira comment"

"Totally worth it if you stay"

[ottisbuns]

Ok. So like. Lum, right? Lum Lucendi. My OC who I talk about very little in proportion to the amount I think about her.

She is a living weapon. She is the last and only of her kind in multiple ways. She’s a pacifist. She has abandonment issues. She’s like eight. If you don’t let her be useful she will have a panic attack. She is the stable one. She is the mentor of the villain of her story. She could kill you. She would refuse to try even in self-defense. You can’t kill her. She has done nothing wrong ever.

She's a living weapon. Designed with intent and purpose to win a hopeless war. A soldier and walking magic battery, intentionally designed in the form of a child because well, if you hesitate for even an instant to strike her down because that's a child, you want to kill a child? An eight year old? then you are going to die extremely to death.

She probably would have worked, too. Certainly not well enough to single-handedly turn the tide, but she would have stalled things, prevented enough attrition that more like her would have time to be created. It's possible she might not even have died in the process. A true wonder-weapon.

But this didn't happen. Her creation process started much too late, and her side lost. All records of the attempt of her creation were intentionally destroyed to hide just how far they went to try and prevent defeat. But they didn't destroy her. They did not have time, and the facility responsible for her creation was near impossible to find without direct knowledge of it, so they judged it a needless risk.

It was thought that without the constant stream of intentional magic used to slowly make her she would eventually die, or at worst remain in stasis, half-complete, forever. Either way, ambient magic wouldn't be enough to actually finish her.

Except with nothing else around to consume said magic, it was.

It only took a thousand years.

Enough time that the civilization she was created to defeat collapsed, and the type of magic she was made to utilize to be lost utterly. Forgotten. She still knows it instinctively, but she’s the only one.

Not that she knows any of this when she wakes up. She doesn’t know much of anything other than how to fight and keep herself alive.

The battle instincts of a veteran and the understanding of human society of some sort of feral animal in the brain of a six year old child. She has no context for what she is, both as a weapon and as a person.

As a man-made living weapon she was of course intended to receive both magical and mundane conditioning to be able to fill her role. This was the one thing that the aimless, ambient magic that finalized her creation couldn’t replicate. So her conditioning is… spotty, mostly consisting of early priorities.

As a result, her instincts are extremely quick to pick a fight and choose the lethal option as per design, however the conditioning meant to make her not feel guilt about it is entirely absent. Moreso than in a normal person. As a result she has killed exactly once, an animal who looked at her in a way her instincts didn’t like, and felt so catastrophically remorseful feeling their life fade that she refuses to listen to those instincts again under any circumstance.

As a result for a full two years all she has as a being that she's willing to use is defensive instinct. How to directly make sure other things don't kill her. Her body can sustain itself indefinitely through a combination of ambient and her own magic, but only if she doesn’t use it for anything else. If she needs to defend herself, she won't be able to use magic to sustain herself for a while. So she slowly gets weaker.

Until she finds and saves the life of Tenebris, though they weren't called that at the time.

Whether it was because she was conditioned to imprint on the first human she saw or because she was just like that after spending her first two years in isolation, she gets attached extremely quickly, only really surpassed by how quickly Tenebris gets attached and adopts her.

Cue four years of being lost in the wilderness as neither of them know where the hell they are, during which both Lum and Tenebris get their names. Tenebris teaches Lum language and what being a person is. How to live and enjoy it. How to be a human. Lum, meanwhile, teaches Tenebris her magic. The magic that quickly comes to define Tenebris, indirectly leading them down the path that ends with Tenebris forging themselves into more of a weapon than Lum ever was.

and more than anything, during those four isolated years, they both become hopelessly dependent on the other.

[yandere-fics]

♡ How Daddy Sawyer Punishes You For Breaking Her Rules ♡

(Sorry this took so long, I finally got something to eat(food stamp day is tomorrow so I won't be starving to death finally lmao) today and then I ate too quickly and I felt tired and sick. BTW rule 10 is intentionally empty since it's the finishing rule.)

♡ Rule number 1: On days when daddy is home when you wake up, you must always give her a big kiss as soon as you wake up. On days when daddy has to leave for work make sure to call her and tell her good morning as soon as you wake up. ♡

You hated when she called in her security team just to escort you to her office, it was literally in the building next door and the security probably already knew that the only time they had to come get you was when she was planning on punishing you. Resisting however only made it worse so you acquiesced to her demands. If you resisted the punishment would change from something upsetting you can deal with to something you very much didn't want to deal with.

"Beloved, you sat in bed for approximately half an hour this morning and didn't even reach for your phone to tell me good morning nor did you attempt to say it to the camera." She patted her lap and you sat down trying to avoid making eye contact before correcting yourself and making sure to look her in the eyes to try not to make your punishment worse, "I thought we already discussed how important it is for you to tell me, how am I supposed to work if I am not given my good morning."

She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, turning you on her lap so she was cradling you closely. She reached for a blanket in the drawer of her desk and covered you. "I know you're upset that daddy is gone when you wake up but that's no excuse to ignore me, now I expect you to sit here on my lap for the rest of the day to make up for this."

♡ Rule Number 2: Always look daddy in the eyes when she's talking to you, you know how much she hates it when she can't see her beloved's precious eyes. ♡

"Look at me." She hissed which you ignored, you really didn't want to have to look at her right now, she'd fired your favorite body guard just because they accidentally bumped into you when they were guarding you because you stopped unexpectedly. You knew this was going to piss her off but you had to put your foot down on this, the guard did nothing wrong!

"Look. At. Me. I won't say it again." She squished your cheeks forcing your head in her direction but you closed your eyes. She let out a breath and you could tell she was rolling her eyes at your silly little defiance. "Do you want me to kill that guard for causing you to act like this, all you had to do is ask."

Your eyes flew open at that, staring straight into her eyes as she smugly smiled, leaning down and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Good girl, now you know the rules for not looking at me when I ask. I think half an hour of time out sounds appropriate unless you want to keep arguing about this silly guard nonsense." You shook your head and let her lead you to the isolation room.

♡ Rule Number 3: Daddy must always know where you are, never leave the penthouse or her office without informing her and she must approve the location you're planning on going to. Daddy will assign you a bodyguard to go with if she approves the location. ♡

You'd broken a major rule today, this was by far the one she took the most seriously, said it was a matter of your security and never to be taken lightly. You hadn't yet seen what the punishment for this one would be however you knew it wasn't going to be pleasant considering how often she emphasized this rule in particular. You just wanted to be alone without a guard for a bit and it's not like anyone was going to hurt you when everyone knew exactly who you belonged to, they'd have to have a major death sentence. Still she wasn't likely to see reason and so you braced yourself as you walked into the penthouse with the bodyguard who had come to fetch you, a body guard who was promptly shot in the head by the guard right next to Sawyer.

"I thought I told you not to shoot that bastard while my beloved was in the room, you'll scare her." Yeah scared was uhm certainly a word that could describe it but really you just felt like you might actually piss your pants from what just happened. "Beloved, come sit on my lap." She snapped and pointed which led to you running over, just glad to not be standing next to the splatter corpse anymore.

"I'm sorry daddy, I shouldn't have gone out." She sighed and leaned back, her arm wrapping around your waist and also forcing you to lean back with her. The guard at her side promptly rushed to remove the body from the room though you doubted that would lessen the guards fate for firing so close to you even if they were 100% confident they wouldn't hit you.

"No you shouldn't have but it's okay, now you won't do it again." She lifted your foot, clicking something into place around your ankle, you looked down and it was an ankle monitor. "This is set so you can't step out of the apartment or my office unless I put in a code on my phone which will allow you to go to the place you have asked me permission to go, it will inform me if you're idling on the path or not going where you promised you would go."

♡ Rule Number 4: Don't remove the collar daddy put on you, no matter how angry you might be with her. ♡

The collar hadn't been easy to get off, not that it was tight, she would never point anything harmful around her beloved's neck however it was built solidly and it was very hard to pick the lock on the clasp area. Still it felt entirely worth it once you got it off, it's not like she'd knows, you were in the spa, a place the guards couldn't follow you into that didn't have cameras and you needed a break from feeling like property, you could always snap it back on later-

"Miss Y/N, you have a call from the boss, she would like you to answer as soon as you step outside of the sauna." The guard shouted from outside the sauna door, likely still on the phone with Sawyer. Well fuck there went your plans for a bit of independence you thought bitterly as you popped your collar back on. You threw on a long robe and stepped outside the steam room yanking the phone from the guard.

"Beloved, there you are, I noticed you opened your collar, honestly I thought the alert feature would be useless since my good girl would never try but it seems I was right to installed it in the lock." She cleared her throat. "I expect you back this instant, you've lost outdoor privileges for a month."

♡ Rule Number 5: When daddy gives you a gift, say thank you and accept it. Never reject her gifts, it's very impolite since she bought it with you in mind specifically. ♡

"Daddy, isn't this a bit much?" You whined, trying to sneak a few things out of the cart and back onto the shelf when she wasn't paying attention. She only hummed continuing to examine a dress she thought would look good on you, a floral sundress, she did really like the way you looked in a sundress.

"Beloved, you know what the rule is." She said sharply, tossing it into the cart without looking back, you looked at the price tag, yeah that was definitely getting put back on the rack when she wasn't looking, it's not like she'd remember every single thing she had picked out for you on this shopping trip.

"Yeah but-" "Shh no buts, just take the gifts." She finally looked down at the cart noticing some of the things she'd excitedly picked out just for you had seemingly vanished from the cart. "Pretty girl, it seems we can leave this store until you understand just how much daddy needs to spoil you. Put everything you removed back in the cart, we're going to be here all day."

♡ Rule Number 6: Never use your toys without daddy's permission, if daddy is almost done with work then you are to wait for daddy to arrive home and take care of you. ♡

You were so close when your vibrator suddenly switched itself off. You whined as you went to check if the batteries had died before you noticed Sawyer standing there with the remote in her hand glaring at you from the doorway. "Aww did my sweet baby girl think she was gonna get to cum without daddy especially since you should have been aware daddy was going to be home very soon."

"I- I'm sorry, I just didn't want to disrupt your work with such a silly question." She kicked her shoes off and pulled her pants and boxers off, holding up a hands to stop you when you went to pull the toy out.

"No no, I want to see how messy that toy has gotten my beloved." She crawled up the bed until her face was between you legs, her hands gently pushing the toy in and out watching how your cute hole clung to the toy desperate for the release she denied you. "You're not cumming until I cum tonight and you know how long it takes for daddy to cum especially when she's mad at her baby."

♡ Rule Number 7: Never reject daddy's touch when she's in heat, you don't have to allow her to knot you however you must accept her touches or she might get very angry. ♡

"Daddy I really don't want to cuddle right now, please?" You grumbled as she pulled you into her arms tightly, rubbing against you as if she needed to merge and become one with you, growling when you tried your best to get out of her arms.

"Beloved, you know how badly my heart affects me right, I need to be close to my beloved and if you aren't willing to cuddle then I assume that means you want to do something else." She slipped your sleep shorts and panties to the side and her cock throbbed painfully against your hole begging to finally be close to you.

"N-no please I don't want to be knotted right now-" "Shh daddy needs to be as close to you as she can be, my beloved mate, you knew what you were doing when you wouldn't let me cuddle you."

♡ Rule Number 8: When daddy tells you she loves you, you must always say it back, even if you're really mad you can't hurt daddy's feelings by not reciprocating her love. ♡

"I love you, beloved." You ignored her continuing to focus on your book trying your best to keep a straight face and act as if you didn't hear her so then she wouldn't be able to punish you since it wasn't your fault, you just didn't hear her, even though it was really because you really didn't want to get distracted from your book.

"My beloved, set your book down now..." She growled causing you to jump in your seat and rush to place a bookmark in your book. You looked over at her and gave a sweet "What is it, daddy?"

"Beloved I know you heard me-" "No I didn't what was it you said daddy?" She scowled as you still tried to play innocent, standing up and walking over to you, swiftly picking you up and sitting down on the couch with you over her knee.

"How does 50 spankings sound maybe then you'll remember what daddy said to you." "Wait I remember-" "Count."

♡ Rule Number 9: Tell daddy you love her after a punishment, it's important to kiss and make up. ♡

You'd been in the isolation room for what felt like the entire day, you couldn't remember what it was you had said that pissed her off so much but either way it leads to a very long time out and so when she opened the door, her arms wide open waiting for you to come hug her, you didn't feel the most inclined to act nice about it even if it was going to lengthen your punishment.

"Beloved, come here. I need your love." Yeah yeah you knew what she was expecting you to say if you wanted to get out however you had no intentions of saying it even if you had to be in here a week. She sighed and left the room with a disappointed "I'll check on you in an hour."

♡ Rule Number 10: Remember even when daddy is punishing you, you're still her beloved mate. ♡

[clumsiestgiantess]

Chapter 21 of The Other-world Universe; is promising to save an entire city of people from an apocalypse the smartest thing to do? No. Is it the right thing? Hopefully.

all chapters listed here

[Calm Before the Storm]

I woke up the next day with the immense relief that I had not rolled over in my sleep.  Yet when I yawned, I didn’t feel Erica's form shift on top of me.  My head shot upright in a mini panic attack as I searched for her, trying to make as little movement as possible.  I was a few seconds away from fully sitting up before I finally found her.  

Erica had — either intentionally or subconsciously in sleep — managed to slip her way into my bra, and was sleeping soundly in the center of my chest.  Bewilderment and relief flooded through me so suddenly, I nearly laughed aloud at the sight.  Heat already began seeping across my cheeks as I watched her snuggle against me.  I was slightly suspicious that this might have been her plan all along, but it was entirely possible that it was a mistake.  After all, she had no blanket, and her spot tucked between fabric and my skin had to be rather cozy.  I have to admit, I don't blame her for sleeping there.

For a while I lay in the field trying to get control over my furious blush, but soon I felt Erica stirring on my chest.  I quickly shut my eyes, pretending to have been asleep.  Obviously, I couldn't see her reaction, but I could feel her flinch slightly once she awoke.  There was a split second of confused crawling around before she gasped; the audible shock behind its sound convinced me that she had in fact not planned for this.

"Holy shit!" I heard her whisper faintly, "How the hell did I get here?"  I bit my lip, desperately trying to keep myself from smiling at her reaction.  Thankfully, I hid my bemusement quickly.  Erica slowly crawled out from the top of my bra, trying her best not to wake me.  As quickly as she dared, she clambered down my side to the ground below.  The echoes of her faint touch still danced across my skin long after she'd stepped away.

When I was certain she had moved further from me, I pretended to wake up.  Erica was sitting on my cast-off clothing when I opened my eyes, no doubt pretending that was where she'd slept.  "Good morning," I addressed her with another yawn, "Did you sleep well on my shirt?"  Even with the slight distance between us, I could see the massive amount of guilt written over every one of her features.  To hide this, Erica busied herself by looking for the top half of her own clothes, which had been tossed off into the darkness the night before.  "Uhh, yeah!  I enjoyed spending the night with you."  Even her voice sounded slightly off-pitch with embarrassment.

"Something wrong?" I asked her.  "No!  Nothing's wrong; I just.. I can't find my stuff."  "Mhm, sure."  My mocking tone gave everything away.  She turned to look up at me, eyes wide.  "You woke up before me, didn't you?" she accused, a bit shaken.  "I may have," I replied, sliding closer to her.  "I.. That was an accident, I swear.  I wouldn't have done that unless you were awake.  You know, in case you disagreed."  "Well.. I don’t think I am disagreeing with it."

For once, Erica became a blushing mess instead of myself.  She collected her things from the ground with flushed cheeks and an embarrassed smile, pressing them to her chest.  We had breakfast together, and Erica promised to come sleep with me at least once every week.  "To keep you company out here," she clarified, "Not because of, you know, anything that happened last night."  “Really?” I mocked a shocked expression, “That’s not the reason?”  Erica rolled her eyes, “Alright, that’s part of the reason.  It’s like.. a billion times more exhilarating making out with someone who’s building-sized.”

With a bemused chuckle, I finished my meal.  "Let's go see what everyone else is up to today, shall we?" I asked after we'd readied ourselves for the day.  "I'm supposed to be guarding the town, but lately I feel like I've just been slacking off."  "Alright," Erica agreed, "I'll go bother Ivan, then."  I smiled, shaking my head slightly.  Ivan is, to say the least, almost the opposite of Erica personality-wise.  I can easily imagine the havoc she undoubtedly thrusts upon him in the Cavern Town.  Usually, I was around to deal with her charisma myself, but I guess he'd been having to deal with it for the past few days that I’d been away.  

I held out my hand for Erica to climb on.  It was an unspoken rule that she would ride on my shoulder whenever we traveled together.  She stretched tiredly across its length before sitting up sideways, her back tucked against my neck.  With her settled in, I started off towards the town.  I couldn’t help but sneak a glance at her every so often.  Erica always seemed the most comfortable perched on my shoulder.  Half of me thinks it’s adorable, but my more reasonable half always reminds me of the times she nearly fell off.  Despite this, the former part of me always wins in the end, and I let her stay.

Reaching the valley of the Cavern Town, I checked in with the guards before anything else.  However, they were nowhere to be found.  Erica and I exchanged puzzled glances as I bent closer to one of the wooden structures.  Multiple large guns greeted me in response.

I flinched harshly, feeling Erica’s grip tighten on me as she was thrown backwards.  After a few tenuous seconds, someone recognized me.  “Get down!” a guard whisper-yelled at me, “There were giants spotted on the horizon to the west!”  My nerves spiked instantly and I dropped onto the valley floor.  If the scientists come back now, I might not be able to fight them off!  Sure, I have my new weapon, but I barely had time to practice with it yesterday.  I haven’t even put up a barrier around the town, either.  What if they attack it again?!

Worst-case-scenarios drifted through my head while I pressed myself to one of the mountains behind me.  They're here for the other-world people, not me.  I tried unsuccessfully to calm myself down, but I knew that wasn’t true.  In fact, they might've come back specifically because of me.  After all, I'd killed a few of them in my rage the last time we'd clashed.  

What if the scientists came to kill me?  I don't think I can fight any more than five of them at a time.  And I only managed to do that because I'd caught them off-guard.  What if they lock me away like everyone else — an oddity from a world that isn’t there?

Suddenly, I was startled from my thoughts by a whisper to my side.  "You're alright; it's ok,"  Erica comforted me, carefully laying a hand on my neck.  "The hazmat giants aren't here.  Just- Just calm down.. you're shaking."  I am?  I am.  I hadn't even realized that my shot nerves were vibrating my body with fear-induced adrenaline.  Try as I might, I couldn't get myself to stop.  My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and I was almost pulled into another downward spiral of worries.  Thankfully, Erica snapped me back out of it.  She tapped my shoulder lightly and I turned to see her.  With one small gesture, she slid into my awaiting palms.

I tried in vain to stop myself from shaking as I slowly brought her in front of me.  Despite that, Erica still wobbled in my cupped hands as she stood, reaching out to gently grip my face for balance.  Once she steadied herself, she stood directly in front of my vision.  "Focus on me, alright?"  My head was brought closer to herself.  "You'll be ok.  Just focus on me."  I listened raptly, trying to match my erratic breathing to her calmer breaths.  Her chest grazed my fingertips with every inhale as she leaned over them.  Erica’s concerned expression filled my view while she tried to take my focus off the possibly vengeful scientists.

Is this how Erica sees me? I wondered, watching her concerned expression inch ever-closer to my eyes.  Do I take up her vision like this when I get close?  It was strangely comforting now, but I could certainly see how overwhelming I would’ve been to her before we got to know one another.

I kept my gaze on her, though she only really fit into my view one eye at a time. Before long, a guard from the structure opposite us gave the all-clear.  I stood up with Erica grasped lightly in my clutches, gazing out at the horizon beyond the mountains around me.  “Where’d they go?” I wondered aloud.  “Must’ve been on the hunt for a different town,” Erica noted, “They know better than to mess with this one, thanks to you.”  I smiled down at her thankfully.  She met my gaze with such tenderness I nearly went in for a kiss before remembering where we were and deciding otherwise.

Together we made it the rest of the way to the cavern, where a small crowd had gathered outside.  I recognized Ivan immediately; he stood at the front, nervously shifting from foot to foot.  He flagged me down, but two vaguely familiar people stepped in the way before I could get to him.

Erica quietly explained from her spot in my hands that they were the co-founders of the Cavern Town: Isabel Ashford and Marcus Stoll.  She’d met them briefly when she’d been ‘kidnapped’ from the cliffside.  These were the same two people who’d negotiated the protection deal.  I knelt in front of them, letting Erica off shortly afterwards.  “Defender,” the kinder one, Ms. Ashford, addressed me as I settled cross-legged on the ground.  'Defender' is my nickname amongst some of the people living there; many of the guards called me by it.  

“The giants could have attacked us earlier, and you would not have been here to do your job.  The one thing we asked of you is that you protect our city as amends for destroying it.”  I nodded my head solemnly, “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to protect you.  I have no excuse.”  Silently, I shifted to feel the smooth crystalline structure embedded in my neck.  “However,” I continued, remembering why I’d wanted to return to the Cavern Town, “I might have a solution.  At least, I hope I do.”

With a slight flourish, I slid my gun out from behind me.  A murmur rose from the group of people gathered outside.  “I made and tested this yesterday.  Working properly, it’ll be able to create a protective barrier over your whole town.”  The shorter gruffer one, Mr. Stoll, was ready with multiple questions: How strong is the barrier?  What is it made of?  How deep does it go?  Would people be able to leave once it was put up?  Would they be able to breathe inside it?  Will I continue to stay in the valley after I've set it up?  All good questions; I answered every last concern until the two leaders reconvened and headed back towards the town to debate my idea.

A large number of Cavern Town residents stayed behind once they heard Erica tell me to demonstrate the barrier setting for her, including one of the founders, Mr. Stoll.  He broke away from the other founder and slunk along the edges of the crowd, watching me intently.  I pretended not to take notice, but I could feel him watching me.

After covering various pieces of land with green, glassy covers, I realized I’d yet to figure out how to take them down.  Oh no, please don’t make me recreate this thing again.  Ivan managed to slip through the crowd towards me as everyone gathered around to see the small barriers for themselves — walking through them and testing their strength with various objects nearby.  I watched them intently.  None of them were strong enough to cause much more than a strong ricochet, which worked out perfectly.  I didn’t need anything blowing up by mistake.

Erica surveyed everything from atop one of my knees while I sat in the midst of the crowd, trying my best not to get overwhelmed by the amount of small people surrounding me.  Once he’d made it to my side, Ivan called up to me, but I strained to hear his voice over the crowd and his distance from me.  Erica noticed my confusion.  “He asked if the barriers are really going to do anything, because it looks like they can’t!  Everyone’s just walking through them!” she yelled to me.  Ivan yelled at her and motioned for me to lower my hand to him, learning from Erica’s little gestures.

When my hand touched the ground, everyone around Ivan scattered as if I’d put down an explosive.  I tried not to dwell on the fact that everyone there seemed so frightened of me, or the fact that I had to pick people up just to understand them.  My height was quite the advantage in an apocalypse where ‘giants’ were invading, but it was such a hindrance for so many other things.  I want to help people.  If those same people are frightened of me, then are they really going to want my help?  A small sinking feeling arose in my chest.  These barriers better work…

With Ivan in my palm, I lifted him to my face.  “I didn't say any of that!” he told me, waving a hand at Erica.  “I asked if it was strong enough to keep giants out while still letting people through.”  Erica rolled her eyes behind his back.  “Hopefully,” I answered Ivan.  “there’s no way for anything besides your people and me to pass through one.  The scientists and whoever else tries to get in will be blocked, though I can’t exactly test it with the ‘giants’,” I confessed, “I did test it with a few different objects.  Nothing got through.”

“If they can’t get through it, won’t they try to dig beneath the barrier instead?”  I shook my head, “Even if they tried digging beneath it, the barrier will grow to cover anything they dig out.”  “Won’t it grow over the tunnels we make to get materials and things in and out, too?”  “Don’t worry, I thought of that.  The barrier will stay open around them so long as you make them before I put it up.  If you do it beforehand, the barrier will grow around the tunnels when it forms.  If you do it afterwards, like the scientists might try, it’ll sense that there’s a breach and grow to fill any gaps.”

Ivan seemed satisfied at that, and I let him off beside Erica. She gave him a teasing look and he said something to her. It was hard to tell sometimes whether those two were getting along or not, but Erica burst out laughing and Ivan grinned, so I guessed they were both fine. Before long, the crowd dispersed, leaving me, Erica, and Ivan behind along with a few stragglers.  I glanced around inconspicuously, trying to spot the founder who’d been watching me, but it seemed Mr. Stoll had disappeared along with most of the crowd.

By lunchtime, I was the only one left outside to patrol the mountains and practice with my new weapon — besides the other-worldians in the watchtowers, of course.  They came out in shifts, but there was always someone there occupying every lookout.  The others had left for the Cavern Town by then, hoping to find news about the debate and my idea. I toyed with my barriers, trying to seem like I knew what I was doing while the guards were watching.  Thankfully, I found that I had to hold my hand on top of a barrier and will it to stop existing if I wanted it to fall away.  The idea was somewhere in the back of my mind when I’d first created the crystalline bar. 

I’d just returned to the valley after eating lunch in my field when the founders returned.  Thankfully, they hadn’t arrived sooner, or they would’ve found me missing once again.  “We’ve come to a conclusion,” Ms. Ashford announced.  “You may place the barrier over the town, but only after we put hidden passages in place for our people.”  “Which means you stay nearby until they’re finished,” Mr. Stoll told me with a hint of distrust, “You will sleep right here in the valley, and return to your place in the field only after the barrier is up and functioning properly. Afterwards, I suppose we could cut back on your working hours so long as you make an appearance daily to scout for other giants.”  

The rules were fair enough.  I didn’t like the idea of sleeping in the slim space between the mountains, but it wouldn’t be for very long.  Erica had immediately complained once she heard about my sleeping in the valley.  However, I reminded her about her perfectly fine bed in the Cavern Town.  “At least you have an actual bed, and a house,” I said after she grumbled over the fact she couldn’t secretly sleep with me.  Erica mumbled a half-hearted apology before leaving for the town, yelling: “Steal a bed from your own world if you want one so badly!”  Before I could tell her that was a dumb idea, and the scientists would definitely be able to spot it, she’d vanished into the rocks.

With the plan underway and a full-time job taking up most of my time, the days blurred together quicker than I thought.  Erica would come visit me on the mountainside at least once or twice a day to keep me from getting too bored or too worried.  Ever since those scientists made their way along the horizon, I was anxious that they’d be back to take the town while it wasn’t protected by the barrier.  I trained with my weapon with every opportunity I got, which sometimes included late nights.  I didn’t sleep much anyways; the restricting space between the valley, and the potential to damage more of the mountainsides, kept me up.

Several weeks later, a few crude passages had been established.  They would be smoothed, tiled, and lit eventually, but they were solid enough in their current state to count as complete.  With crossed fingers, I pulled out my gun and shifted it into the fourth and final mode.  The whole town — which had really grown into a city — had to evacuate just in case something went wrong and the barrier somehow failed dangerously.

I was shocked at the amount of people that filed out of the gaping cavern in the side of the mountain.  I’d never seen the whole population in one place before.  Every day a scouting group would come back with various items and occasionally people in tow, but I hadn’t realized just how many other-worldians had settled there.  This has to work, I realized suddenly, Otherwise everyone here might not have a safe space to live anymore.  The scientists know all of this is here.  Why haven’t they come to take it yet?

With everyone finally out of the cavern, the founders gave the signal that it was completely empty.  With careful aim, I guided the barrel to the center of the hollow mountain and fired.  A firework-esque crackle resonated through the valley, making my hair stand on end.  Pieces of rock fell off the mountainside and exploded on the barrier’s face.  Small landslides tumbled dangerously close to the crowd, but I quickly swept them away with my free hand, blocking anything from falling too close.

It was a rather raucous creation, but once everything settled down, the barrier looked stunning.  Tension released from my taunt muscles as my plan fell into place, and I let out a breath I felt like I’d been holding for days.  Soon, everyone from the Cavern Town returned inside — marveling at their brand-new protection.  I could hear the faint noises of celebration coming from within; cheers and music drifted through the barrier and the tunnels. 

As my reward, I was allowed to collect my things and return to the field.  The valley looked a bit more barren than usual without me in it.  I don’t know why I was so melancholy leaving it; I hadn’t liked sleeping there at all. Longingly, I watched the festivities from afar.  “If only I could actually celebrate my accomplishments with them,” I whispered, “but I bet everyone will get uncomfortable if I get too close.” I rubbed the bar on my neck unconsciously.  If only this thing worked how I made it…

Dark clouds rolled in on a strong breeze that smelled of rain.  I put up a barrier around my blankets in anticipation for the storm to come, then lay down and curled up in my empty patch of grass alone, left daydreaming about what I would be doing if I were other-world size with Erica and Ivan out celebrating.

The next morning, I woke up extremely early.  Too early. A storm had started up while I slept, and I was startled awake by a sudden downpour.  The sound of the rain pelting the barrier was horrendous.  For the whole city inside the other barrier, the sound was probably dulled by how full the hemisphere was with rock and machinery and patched-together houses.  For me in my almost empty barrier, the hollowness amplified the noise until it was impossible to sleep or even think.

I angrily took down the barrier and almost went to grab an umbrella from my own world before lightning suddenly streaked across the sky.  Shit, that’s close!  I hit the dirt, realizing that I was definitely the tallest thing in the field.  An umbrella would only make things worse.  If I got struck, I would probably just end up back in the basement rather than dying — just like what had happened on my very first day.  However, the electrical surge from an actual bolt of lightning, no matter how small, might be enough to knock me out.  At the very least, it would be tremendously painful.

Again I found myself hating my stupid living arrangements.  I was wet, my blankets and pillow were soaked, and I could barely keep my eyes open due to my early wake-up call.  The storm stopped a few hours later, but by then I’d stayed up for so long and was so soaking wet that I was already wide awake and shaking slightly with the cold.  I internally rejoiced when the sun came out, warming me up and drying me off a bit.

The whole field was practically underwater — flooded by the rain — so I took my meal to go.  I must’ve looked like an absolute mess.  The moment Erica saw me, she gave me a look that was equally pitying and slightly amused.  “You might want to borrow a brush from your world,” she chuckled, “You look like you were hit by a train.”  “Or a thunderstorm,” I grumbled, “I’ll be back.”  In a moment, I was in my own world.  

Thankfully, everyone was preoccupied with other things at the time, so I was able to get a hairbrush and a fresh change of clothes without anyone noticing me.  I stayed a bit longer once I heard my family making plans in the living room.  Soon enough they would come over to my room to bring me up to speed on their ideas, so I avoided them by taking a shower.  Minutes later, my dad yelled through the bathroom door that he and the others were heading out.  He offered to wait for me, but I turned him down.  I had to get back to the other-world.

With everyone gone, and myself finally pampered and warmed up, I took a moment to stroll through the house, marveling at how everything was just perfectly scaled to me.  Back in the basement, I packed a few extra items for my settlement — including a hairbrush.  When I went to put my things away, however; I got an ingenious idea.  Grabbing my blanket and pillow, I brought them into my world.  “I’ve had just about enough of being uncomfortable,” I grumbled.  

Taking them both into the field of strange energy, I gave them each special abilities.  I imbued the pillow with the ability to make it feel like I was sleeping on a mattress while I used it, and I imbued the blanket with the ability to be the perfect temperature at all times.  “There,” I sighed, placing them down.  “I’ll check on you later.  First, I’ve got to get back to the town.”

Erica was waiting for me in the same spot she'd stood before, milling around aimlessly, waiting for me to come back.  She did a double take once I re-appeared, then nodded.  "Yup, that's much better."  I rolled my eyes with a smile and gently scooped Erica up.  Or, more accurately, I’d barely reached for her before she scrambled up into my hand.  “Where are we going?” she asked, peering over my cupped fingers in excitement.

“Now that I have some time off, I was thinking of exploring the rest of the mountains over here.  I’ll get a lay of the land, maybe find another town.”  “Another town?” Ivan echoed.  He’d just stepped out of one of the new tunnels and overhead me.  “I don’t think that’s a good idea..  You’ll just terrify a bunch of innocent people.”  

“But I could help them!  I could give everyone a barrier just like this one,” I explained, gesturing towards the Cavern Town, now sealed off by an indestructible opaque hemisphere.  “You should wait until we know the barrier actually works before you do that.”  My brows furrowed in concern, and I knelt to see Ivan’s expression.  “You don’t think it’ll work?” I asked, slightly offended.  I’d worked hard to create something that would protect everyone from the likes of the scientists.

“All I’m saying is that we have no proof that it does work,” he reasoned, “I’m fairly confident it will keep the giants out, and so are most people, or else we wouldn’t have let you put it up.  But no one knows that for sure because no one’s ever tried to break in. You said so yourself that you couldn’t fully test it.”  I nodded, seeing the logic behind Ivan’s argument.  I wanted to solve everything desperately — to keep awful things from happening and to prove I wasn’t a part of such awful things myself — but not so desperate that I was willing to give false hope to people just to relieve some of the stress.

However, Erica scoffed in my cupped hands.  “And?  What are you suggesting?  Do you want us to lure some giants over to test it?” She asked sarcastically.  “No!” Ivan yelled, exasperation growing in his voice.  “We should know for a fact that the barrier keeps giants out before we go promising it to others!  If they’re depending on it to keep them alive and it fails, you’re going to be responsible for their capture!”  Erica was ready to quip something snide in return, but I placed my hand over her — holding her in an interlocking cage of my own fingers.  Again, it was hard to tell if they were getting along or genuinely fighting.

“Erica, let it go.  He has a point; we can’t go around giving out barriers claiming they can stop the scientists when we don’t know if they actually do.”  I could hear her grumble in protest, but her voice was too muffled by my fingers to understand.  “I’ll just patrol around the valley today.  Want to come with us, Ivan?”

He shook his head, “I have plenty of things to do in town.”  I nodded, watching him leave.  Was that an excuse not to come, or does he genuinely have stuff to get done?  Erica yelled something and I quickly released her.  “What did you say?”  “I said forget about him.  If he wants to sit around in the rocks, let him.  He doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.”  With an annoyed huff, Erica gave a running leap out into the open air before landing on my chest, clinging to the fabric of my shirt.  She clambered up to one of my shoulders and sat atop it — perched a dizzying height above the ground for someone as tiny as her.  

“Alright I’m set, let’s go,” she said as nonchalantly as if she’d got into a car rather than jumped over a deadly long gap.  Speechless, I glanced over at her with wide eyes.  She snickered and leaned back slightly, grinning at me.  “Something wrong?” Erica asked in an innocent voice.  I shook my head at her reproachfully.  “You’re crazy.  I don’t know how you get the confidence to do half the things you do.”

Erica thought silently as I meandered around the outskirts of the valley.  “Well, I know you’ll always be there to stop anything bad from happening,” she answered with a nonchalant shrug.  Of course I’ll always take care of her, but she she should still be at least a little self-conscious, shouldn’t she? It’s not just her I have to worry about anymore; it’s the whole town. The daunting reality had dawned in my mind watching the crowds of people outside the mountain, but now it had really settled in.

“We've.. stopped," Erica stated in confusion.  I could feel her edge forward slightly, trying to gauge my pensive expression from the side.  "Alexis?  Are you alright?"  A long sigh escaped my lips and I put a hand to one of my temples to massage it.  A slight headache had tormented me for the past few days.  The storm the night before had only worsened it.

"Yeah.  I'm just.. tired, I guess."  I sat down heavily on a flatter part of the mountainside.  "You haven't been getting much sleep in the valley, have you?" Erica asked, realizing how exhausted I really was.  "Well, there's that.  But I've also been so stressed with the whole 'this barrier better work because if it doesn't you might be leaving a few thousand people defenseless' thing too,” I added.  Erica patted the side of my neck comfortingly, I turned to her and she brushed a stray lock of hair from my face.  

“I know, love.  People talk in that mountain, too.  They know they have to rely on you…  It’s a mixed reaction, really.  All those people — I can’t imagine the burden,” she said softly.  “Even-” she paused, shook her head, then started again.  “I’m here.  I’ll help in every way I can, I promise.  I hate that this is happening to you.. to us, but I’m with you.  Even if I’m not physically fighting beside you.  Even if I really want to be…” Erica gave me a little pleading look and I returned it with a half smile.  “If you’re scared or stressed or anything, pick me up anytime and let me help you.”

“Thank you,” I sighed. Smiling softly at her, I reached up and stroked her arm, then carefully rested the pad of my thumb against the side of her head.  A rare genuine smile passed Erica’s lips as she closed her eyes, leaning into my touch.  “I didn’t get a lot of sleep-” I paused to yawn, “last night too, so you aren’t entirely wrong about the no sleep thing either. Stupid thunderstorm kept me up.”  “Then what are you doing carrying me around?” Erica asked incredulously, “Go and get some sleep, you big dork!”  “But, it’s not even dark-”  “If you’re stressed and tired, you have no reason to be up right now!  Go to bed.  No excuses.”

Sighing, I lifted Erica off my shoulder to get a better look at her.  She knelt in my palms, looking meaningfully up at me, gesturing for me to bring her closer.  The moment I bridged the small gap between us, Erica pressed a small kiss onto my cheek.  “Go rest,” she said softly, “You deserve a break, Alexis.”  I gave in — nodding my agreement as I headed back to the right mountain to let Erica off.  Leaving her and everyone behind the safety of the barrier, I trudged off to my things that I’d returned to the field.

When I flopped over onto my blanket, it felt like heaven.  I’d forgotten that I gave little powers to my bedding.  I spread out completely, enjoying all the room I had out in the field.  The tight walls of the valley near the Cavern Town had previously restricted my sleeping space — it had been close to claustrophobic.  Now I had all the room I could want, as well as my new more comfortable sleeping arrangements.  Though there were still plenty more hours of daylight left, I was asleep in minutes.

[valiantstarlights]

Your showXcomic swap AU is so deliciously unhinged and sweetly dark

Now I have the saddest imagining that Comic Dream lost his Hob because he chose Death a few years after 1989, unable to live in a world where his Stranger "forgot" about him. The Stranger he loved for close to 600 years.

But I do hope that Comic Dream finds a Hob to love and cuddle and stockholm syndrome into loving him.

Thank you! 🥰 I worked hard on the sweetly dark part, in the hopes that it would make the fic less unhinged. 😊 *glances at Dream* I think I failed, but that's okay! 😂

(putting everything else under the cut because fic spoilers 👀 CW: comic spoilers, dark!Dream, depression, dubious consent)

In this AU's multiverse, what you're imagining is definitely possible. 😔 There are Hobs who chose to take Death's hand after Dream didn't show up in 1989, Hobs who did it during one of the World Wars out of overwhelming grief, heartbroken Hobs in 1889, etc.

In The Truth Can't Hurt You, It's Just Like the Dark, I imagined that Dream lost his Hob in 1689, and his realm has been deteriorating ever since. And the state of the Dreaming is so bad that, after Dream escapes from his fishbowl, there is absolutely nothing left in the Dreaming except for ruins.

"But where are all the dreams and nightmares who have escaped to the Waking World?" you may ask.

As this is a dark AU, I'm gonna say that Dream ate them. 👀

He escapes and devours the first dreams and nightmares he finds in the Waking World without conscious thought. Just full on starving man at a feast mode. Because while he is Endless, he has also been starving for centuries, and the fishbowl made him feral enough to not care about anything except getting sustenance.

His arcanas give him more of a fight, though they do so with reluctance. Dream looks so gaunt, and they remember being lovingly crafted by him once upon a time. Surely they could help him, just a little, without losing themselves in the process?

But no. This Dream is too empty, too hungry, and has lost too much to hear their cries of mercy, and their pleas of no more, my lord, please, I still want to live!

I think Dream intentionally finds Corinthian last, and I think he relished each and every bite of him.

Does Desire go through with their dream vortex plan, knowing that their brother is already a shell of his former, haughty self? Probably not.

And anyway, I don't think Dream would talk to his siblings after 1689 at all. But especially not to Death. Even during their family dinners, and even with Destruction trying to get him to talk, Delirium trying to cheer him up, and Death apologizing endlessly because it was Hob's choice--

He doesn't say anything, doesn't eat anything, and just stares at the tablecloth until it's time to leave.

Desire senses no desire from him. Despair feels all his despair, but even that is too much for her. She chokes when she tries to bait him, while Desire feels like their lungs are collapsing because it's hard to breathe around him. It only takes one or two family dinners for the twins to ignore him completely. They both sit as far away as they can from him. They do not want to even look at him. (They still plot to get him captured though, but in this universe, it's because they hope that he becomes so weak that he would be forced to end his being Morpheus and become a new Dream of the Endless.)

On the bright(?) side, yes, this Dream will absolutely find a show!Hob who would love him and all his red flags. 👀 I think the Hob he'll find is very compassionate, and would see the state of him and his realm, and immediately be like, 'This Dream needs me, unlike my Dream whose funeral I just went to. 🥺 I cannot possibly abandon him.'

This Dream needs an entire realm's worth of new dreams and nightmares? Hob can help with that! Just tell him how, and he'll get to work. 😊

Rejuvenated by Hob's presence, Dream recovers his ability to create new dreams and nightmares from dreamsand. But Hob looks so eager to help, and Dream can't possibly let him down and say he can make new dreams and nightmares on his own.

So he tells Hob that they absolutely have to fuck, and Hob has to get pregnant and give birth to all of Dream's children. Because that's how dreams and nightmares are made.

Hob is intimidated because he has never even thought about being pregnant before. But if it's with Dream... 🥺👉👈

And a Dream who has been so kind to him ever since he arrived, never leaving his side and telling him that he loves no one else but him? A Dream who literally ripped the fabric of reality apart for him?

"Of course I'll help," Hob says shyly. "It might be a frightening experience, but as long as you're with me, I'm not going to be afraid. 🥰"

(Cue Dream immediately teleporting them both to the comfiest spot in the currently work-in-progress Dreaming and fucking Hob until his seed takes, because why does Hob know exactly how to make Dream insane about him? 🔥 Is that a skill that all show!Hobs have or something?)

And then of course Hob discovers that he absolutely loves being pregnant, because Dream dotes on him even more. So even when Dream confesses that he lied about the process of making dreams and nightmares, Hob just laughs and kisses him, and tells him to abandon his old way of creating on the beach, because Hob definitely prefers this method.

Needless to say, Dream is absolutely head-over-heels in love with his new Hob. He makes his castle--and basically the entire Dreaming, to Hob's liking. Hob would like to have more bright courtyards filled with flowering trees and picnic spots? Done. Hob would like for all their children to be able to have their own homes (so he and Dream can fuck wherever they want in the castle without getting interrupted)? A stellar idea. Dream helps Lucienne 2.0 build her house that's full of books, Gilbert 2.0 with his botanical gardens, and even Corinthian 2.0 with his sarlacc pit.

As a result, the new Dreaming is a cheerier and brighter place. The new dreams and nightmares love their parents very much, and they do not find it strange that both Dream and Hob always smell like sex, with their moddy always happily pregnant, and their father always smug and possessive.

Dream learns to delegate most of his tasks to his many children, so he and Hob could work on making more dreams and nightmares to repopulate the entire Dreaming. It's Hob's idea that he delegates so they can fuck more, and Dream thinks that his lovely husband has all the best ideas and can do no wrong.

And in this universe, all the new dreams and nightmares agree. Having Hob in the new Dreaming is a blessing. Absolutely the best thing that has ever happened ever. And the entire realm will go to war with anyone who would try to take him away from them.

[so-i-grudgingly-joined-this-site]

Dream doesn't seem to have any good qualities at all unlike his siblings. He doesn't care about people, he's cruel, ruthless and selfish. He blames others for his problems and he doesn't care about those that live in the Dreaming.

Did... Did Desire send this in? 😂 Okay, I'll try and tackle this in three parts: 1) How does he compare in "good qualities" to the other Endless, 2) when does he actually show any good qualities, and 3) addressing the blaming others/lack of care for his subjects.

Note that there are some later-comics spoilers ahead, since I had to pull some examples from there. I have no idea how far you are in the story, so I couldn't limit examples to a specific non-spoiler time frame.

So, to address point #1, it kind of seems like the Endless in general lack a lot of redeeming qualities.

Destiny and Death are truly neutral in everything. Death gets good PR, basically, because she's friendly, but she's still ultimately neutral. Honestly even her friendliness gives me "really good at customer service" vibes rather than feeling like a sign that she'd actually be friendly or nice to anyone in particular.

Desire doesn't do anything especially heroic that we see; the best they do is giving Tiffany their coat when she escapes the burning strip club in Brief Lives. They do save Dream via Alianora in Overture, but even then it's with a nasty caveat. In addition, Desire's the one behind all the Walker family's supernatural problems. Heck, Desire only had the newer generations of Walkers so they could selfishly use them in their plans against Dream. In comics canon they're also a rapist.

Destruction's whole deal is running away from every problem--which indeed comes across as sensible compared to his siblings. He mostly just likes being left alone with his cooking and bad art. But, he has no qualms whatsoever about killing innocents in order to keep running away.

Despair... we don't really get to see her do much so I think she falls under the "neutral" category too.

Delirium is too out of it to really do much intentionally, and what we *do* see her do intentionally is reckless driving and giving an eternal spiders hallucination-curse to the traffic cop who tries to stop her. Her irrational determination to see her brother continues even after it's clear it's actively causing people to get hurt. She doesn't seem to care about people for sure.

So, like. This entire family sucks. I'm not sure I'd say Dream is particularly worse, we just happen to see more of his issues because he's the main character.

Okay, now on to point #2. He does indeed care about others, on occasion, and also has unambiguously heroic moments.

In terms of "caring about others", he's the one who tries to call off the road trip in Brief Lives when he realizes that Destruction's alarms are killing people (although he doesn't find out Destruction is behind the deaths until Death forces him to continue the road trip for Delirium's sake). He seems highly disturbed by Ruby's death in particular, which is part of why I was so peeved at The Sandman Companion giving HIM the blame for it.

He's also canonically good with children; it's just adults he's terrible with. He's nice to the girl on the plane in Brief Lives, he entertains a group of children on a dream-adventure when we see him going about his duties in The Kindly Ones, and Calliope notes in The Wake that his issues with Orpheus apparently didn't start until Orpheus grew up. In Overture he's also kind and protective toward the alien girl Hope.

As for "heroic" moments... okay, I really had to think for some of these, but they ARE there.

Rescuing Calliope is probably the most unquestionably "heroic" situation he's in, since he was not the cause of the situation in the first place, and also has nothing to gain by helping. But he does help her, nonetheless.

Also, he takes hundreds of serial killers off the streets by stripping them of their beliefs at the Cereal Convention. It's hard to say that wasn't a positive move. Plus, one of the reasons he dislikes The Corinthian could be that Cori was causing so much harm to people in the first place.

Even before his big fishbowl time-out, Dream tells off Hob for participating in the slave trade and disapproves of slavery. (I'm going to ignore what The Sandman Companion says about that here...)

He helps Marco Polo out of the Soft Places desert, even though he himself had just barely escaped the fishbowl and wasn't sure if he had enough power to save both himself and Marco.

In my favorite issue ever, Fear of Falling, he gives Todd the advice he needs to get over his crippling fears in both the real world and the dream world.

Also, his treatment Nuala is a good indication that he's not the worst. Nuala gets gifted to him as a slave, to do "whatever he pleases" with... and his first instinct would be to reject such a gift entirely, but since he is bound by the fae's customs to accept any gift, he just basically lets her live in his castle rent-free. She takes up cleaning so she has something to do; he didn't even ask her to do that! His only demand is that she not use her glamour. If he were truly as cruel and uncaring about consent as some analyses (including parts of The Sandman Companion) would have you believe, it's doubtful that he'd treat an intended sex slave that way.

(Of course, if I were being uncharitable, I could point out that non-glamour Nuala is not conventionally attractive, and it could be something about him only being able to respect a woman if she's not sexually attractive to him... but I'm *trying* to be charitable to Morpheus here, for once)

And now for #3: Not caring about the Dreaming residents and blaming others for everything.

Admittedly, in the comics it is harder to tell specific instances about caring for the Dreaming residents, but there are a few. A big one is that he granted Lucien's wish to become a librarian rather than staying as a raven. Another is Abel's story about how he came to live in the Dreaming; Dream offered it to him as a gift, and when he was lonely he also brought Cain and gave Cain a house as a gift toward Abel.

I've been trying to keep this to the comics-universe for consistency's sake, but the show-universe definitely gives way more examples about him caring about his subjects. He gives Goldie to Cain and Abel to replace their gargoyle he had to absorb, he clearly cares about Jessamy and cries over her death, and he seems more upset about his subjects abandoning the realm as a personal abandonment instead of just a "they're my citizens so they should stay here" type deal. Of course, he also granted Lucienne her wish to become a librarian here as well.

And as for blaming others for everything... whew. That's a big one. Because even though he may have done that on some significant occasions (Nada being the biggest one that we see), ultimately, he ends up blaming HIMSELF for everything to an unreasonable degree. I actually won't discuss further examples on this one because it would be massive ending spoilers, but yeah, suffice it to say he overcorrects on that front.

So yes, for Morpheus, I think I'd paraphrase a line from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) that I think describes him well: He's an asshole, but not 100% a dick.

[greywoodrpg]

𝕛𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕖 𝕣𝕙𝕖𝕥𝕥 𝕔𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕟

he was born thirty-five years ago, is a human and lives in white oaks as a salvage operator. he looks an awful lot like michael vlamis.

"Now it's all residue, you're just a memory I wake up to I'm haunted by the ghost of you."

tw: dysfunctional family, alcoholism, child neglect, abandonment

There's nothing too special or remarkable to anyone's story, because they all have some trials and tribulations... they all have their ups and downs. Just depends when you drop in. Jesse Cowen's story is no different. It's certainly shaped him into the man he is today, though to say if he's a good or bad man is still up for debate. Like mentioned before, it depends when you drop in. If one is hard-pressed to label him anything, it might be some muddied middle-of-the-road conundrum- one you're not sure if you can or can't trust, let alone count on. You'd be better off flipping a coin to decide. No, of course he wasn't always so confusing and walled off. Maybe if his parents had bothered to care a little bit more, the man might have better guidance and discipline to him. Instead, his old man cared more to haggle about which curse word was best in a situation and insisted he didn't take crap from anyone, even if it cost him another job. His mom was just another trapped woman who got herself knocked up with the wrong man she couldn't get out from under, and it was hit or miss whether she'd look upon her children with a tender eye. Their home was rife with that stale, cigarette-and-vodka stench, and it was a good day if empty containers actually made it into the bin. Neither of them were really meant to be parents and everyone knew it, too... But that was their problem. At least he had his sister. Well, had his sister, yeah. His elder by just a few years, she was better mother to Jesse than his mom ever had been, which wasn't fair to either of them. She made sure he was inside by the time the streetlights came on. She made sure he went to bed with something in his stomach. She made sure he at least made some effort with his schoolwork. They would be thick as thieves one moment, and resentful of each other the next. Sometimes it was nice to have each other- sometimes, it sucked because you only had each other. Mom gave up at some point- just up and decided she deserved better, wanted more for herself, and that didn't include any of them. And dad... Well, they all knew he wouldn't hold up alone with two kids. He tried to dump them on the grandparents, and they weren't in any shape to even help themselves at their elderly years. Any semblance of structure broke down and both struggled with the knowledge nobody wanted them. Nothing but a couple of troublemakers, right, that landed themselves where people gossiped they would. Then one day, even she was gone. The circumstances of that, Jesse still doesn't know. Any hope in him, says she was taken. In the deep dark places he doesn't talk about, he knows she left too. He saw her with that strange person that was far more special than either of them would ever be, and she didn't look forced to go at all. But, call it what you will, Jesse refused she would just leave him behind. They took her, and he would find where, one day. He's been chasing her every day since. Greywood, he heard, was the next place to look.

“what power did he attain when settling in greywood?”

Intuitive aptitude- Jesse has always been one of those people prone to self-sabotage behavior. His work would be right, but the answer wrong. A smart guy, if he'd only let himself be. One of those frustrating idiots that intentionally stunts whatever growth you know he is capable of, because screw you and whatever you think he can and should do. That gift, if one can call it so, only came into sharper focus when he crossed into Greywood's territory. Before, he could figure his way through something probably, if he actually put his mind to it. Here, it's almost automatic, almost too easy, if he really wanted it to be. Problem is, he doesn't always care to let it be so. As they used to say when he was a kid, it's all wasted on him.

penned by... pea