#because why would it be any other day naturally

[dameronspector]

He’s a Thunderbolt

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Avenger!Reader

Summary: You find out Bucky gave up his position as a Senator and now he’s doing free agent work with….a new team?

Warnings: Slight Thunderbolts* spoilers!!, First meet with the team, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Reader is an Ex-Shield agent, Tinge of Angst, Banter, John Walker Hate- click off if you don’t want that, no physical description of reader.

AN: they’ll always be the thunderbolts to me guys idc. I wrote this in a rush, hope y’all like this!

Ps: I won’t tolerate any kind of Sam or Bucky hatred on my page.

You spent the night at Valentina Allegra De Fontaine’s gala with Bucky, keeping him company and helping him socialise. It was clear he had no interest in it but had to because, duties. But both of you were bored so you hung around the corners and stuck to each other’s sides. He looked rather sharp in his tuxedo and hair slicked back, so that was an advantage, and he couldn’t keep his hands off you, constantly reminding you how beautiful you looked in that formal black dress.

Although, watching Valentina flaunt all the Avengers property (including the ‘A’ from the Avengers tower) like it was a fucking auction was making your head spin. Your whole life and fragments of your dysfunctional superhero family was just laid out in front of you behind glass displays like they were art pieces. It was weird, it was odd and you didn’t like her from the first time you saw her. You had warned Bucky about her, and luckily he had understood because he felt the same.

So naturally, you assumed Bucky would stay out of her way and do his job. You were happy that he was finally healing, his words lighter and body language more relaxed as the days passed by and if he wanted to work as a Senator now to improve the Brooklyn constituency, then you’d let him do so, happy to see him content in doing what he wants and to let him have the autonomy.

And then, Bucky called you the next morning after he had left for office, to tell you something important, and he started the call with telling you not to get mad at him.

“What happened? Are you okay?”, you panicked, thinking someone had threatened him or worse.

Bucky let out a weary sigh, “Um- well..you see..”, his voice trailed off, like he was dreading this conversation.

You straightened up, “What is it? Just say it, Buck, don’t stress me out like that.”

“I-uhh…I resigned…from my…position”, he replied in a guilty voice. You paused.

“I’m sorry, what? But- why? Did something happen? Did Valentina do something?”, you growled.

“No- I mean, she’s sketchy but I didn’t resign because of her. I resigned because I am…I want to work as a free agent again. Actually, I’m in the middle of the Utah desert right now with uh- some people”, Bucky confessed, his usual light and unbothered voice a little heavy and subdued.

You quirked an eyebrow, “You…resigned..to work as a free agent again…with some people and you’re in the middle of nowhere”, you deadpanned. Bucky winced.

You couldn’t believe this man. Everyday there’s a new discovery with him.

“Bucky, what the hell are you upto?”, you sighed out.

“Sweetheart, I’m coming home with… these people. I’ll explain it to you once I get back, okay?”, he tried to reason.

“Yeah, alright. I’ll be waiting. Love you”, you murmured.

“I love you too, honey”, Bucky replied softly.

-

The doorbell’s sound echoed throughout your and Bucky’s house and you went over to open the door to see-

Bucky in an all black outfit, his black jacket, his knives and guns holstered around his legs and waist band, hair messy and there were 4 other people standing behind him- 2 women and 2 men.

The blonde woman had a cropped bob and piercings with hazel-green eyes, she looked worse for wear but she was beautiful, the other woman was a brunette with striking blue-gray eyes which were observant and you noticed that her suit was very cool. One of the men was large, with a graying beard and a shaved head, he was wearing a red suit that looked, well, trashy. And of course, you recognised the fourth one right away.

“What the hell is he doing here?!”, you stared daggers at John Walker and questioned Bucky. The other three stared at Walker in shock.

John pursed his lips and waved at you before Bucky blocked your view from Walker with gentle hands on your elbows. The three of them stared between you, Bucky and Walker and the blonde woman let out a low whistle at the look of anger on your face.

“Sweetheart-hi. I can explain. Can we come in?”, he pleaded with his ocean blue irises shining earnestly and you huffed in disbelief. Everyone, minus Walker, stared at the scene in shock. Bucky had a girlfriend?

“First of all, why are you hanging out with him? And why is he here? Why should I bring him in our house, Bucky-”

“I know, I know. You can punch him all you want but please- let me explain to you first, honey”, he almost begged and the two women snickered under their breath, Bucky turned around momentarily to glare at them before the large, bearded man clapped Bucky on his shoulder.

“It’s not good to hide stuff from your lady, Mr. Soldier”, his voice boomed, Russian accent prominent.

You quirked an eyebrow at him.

“And who are these people? And what are you wearing, Barnes? You wore your formals this morning”, you glared at Bucky and he grimaced. He didn’t think about the details before coming home and now he was in so much trouble.

Bucky cleared his throat before gently moving you inside, making his way past the threshold of the door to enter your living room. The four of them followed behind Bucky and Walker actually had the decency to close the door.

Bucky made you sit at the dining table while the others awkwardly stood by the door.

“Okay, baby, listen. We know Valentina was being odd, right? Well, she’s involved in something known as the Sentry Project. She’s been experimenting on civilians unethically. One of the casualties is a guy named…”

“Bob”, all of them chimed in exasperated.

“Yeah, Bob. The rest of the participants died, he’s the only one who responded to the experiment. And she’s gonna use him as a weapon. He’s-he’s very unstable and she knows it. Airlifted him to New York to try and manipulate him into turning himself to OXE again. We’ve been trying to rescue him”, Bucky finished and squeezed your shoulders lightly.

You furrowed your eyebrows. A crazy experiment like this and nobody bats an eye? Crazier things have happened, but with your experience and contacts you developed as an Ex-Shield agent and Avenger, you should have probably found out about this before.

“Wait, what? How does nobody know about this?”, you asked in confusion.

“She was experimenting on him in Malaysia and she has a secret vault in the middle of nowhere which was heavily guarded. Plus, she’s got the money and influence—Likely bought a lot of the security and government officials as well”, the blonde woman responds, her Russian accent just as prominent as the large man next to her.

“Hold on, who even are you guys?”, you grumbled and pointed at them.

Bucky let out a breath, “Yeah, uh- That’s Yelena”, he pointed at the blonde woman and she waved at you with a smile.

“That’s Ava”, he pointed at the brunette, “Hi”, she greeted you and you gave her a tentative nod.

“That’s…Alexei”, he pointed at the big man. “Greetings, my lady, it’s an honour to meet the woman who made an honest man out of Mr. Soldier”, he exclaimed and smiled big before approaching you with his hand extended.

You stared at his hand and nervously extended yours before Bucky stepped in between. “Yeah, no. That’s enough”, he announced and pushed Alexei back towards the group.

“And…you know Walker”, Bucky replied meekly. John grinned, “Hey, haven’t seen you in a while-”

“Shut up”, you and Bucky cut Walker off and he raised his hands in surrender. “And this is (Name), my partner, who’s also an Avenger”, Bucky introduces you to the team and they all “ooh” at that, Alexei being the most excited.

You gave them a close lipped smile before turning back toward Bucky, “What the hell are you doing in a team with him, James?”, you asked Bucky in a stern manner.

Yelena, Ava and Alexei stared at Walker and Bucky and chuckled amongst themselves. “Honey, we have to work together. And…he’s kinda useful”, he tried to convince you, Walker smirked smugly.

You gave him a look before turning back towards the group. “You”, you looked at Yelena. Something about her was familiar, “are you sure we haven’t met before?”

Yelena blinked and before she could reply, Alexei’s voice boomed again, “Oh, you must be friends with her sister, Natasha. She was very brave, my Natasha. I was so proud of her”, he announced in a somber yet proud manner.

You paused, “You’re…you’re Natasha’s sister?”, you whispered in disbelief.

Yelena frowned, her chin quivering and she nodded at you. Bucky smoothed a hand on your back, his face shifting in empathy, “Yeah, baby. Yelena and Alexei, they’re Natasha’s family.”

Your eyes widened. Natasha was one of your really good friends. Ever since she passed away, you have felt a hole in your soul. Her absence was visible and huge. She would always talk about her guiding light—her sister. You never thought you’d get a chance to see a part of Natasha’s life again and felt your eyes tear up.

“Oh my god, Buck”, you whimpered and looked at him, he gave you a sad smile and encouraged you to go towards Yelena. You walked over to Yelena and grabbed her by the shoulders, eyes taking her in.

“You- oh my god. You’re so much like her”, you whispered, kicking yourself for not realising that before. Her mannerisms, the way she carried herself—it was all Natasha.

Yelena’s eyes shone with tears, Alexei smiling tearfully next to her.

“She used to talk about you all the time. Called you her guiding light. I’m- oh god. I’m so happy to see you. She was so proud of you, Yelena”, you confessed sincerely.

Yelena frowned and his lips quivered, tears falling down her cheeks, “Really?”, she asked in a small voice. You nodded and gave her a fond smile.

Yelena let out a soft cry and leaned in to hug you, her arms going around your shoulders and her face smushed against them. You stumbled back before catching her and hugging her back just as fiercely. After a while she pulled back and stared at you with bloodshot eyes, “Thank you. For being my sister’s friend”, her shaky voice confessed.

You gave her a wet smile and squeezed her shoulder before turning around to face Bucky, who was looking at you with a soft smile.

“Well, what’s the plan?”, you huffed out in reluctance and wiped your eyes.

Bucky opened his mouth before Alexei cut him off, “Well, we have to take down Valentina and OXE! And we will go to New York and ride to her place like soldiers!”, he yelled in enthusiasm, “For the Glory!”

You stared at him with wide eyes and everyone else groaned loudly.

“Dad, stop it!”

“That’s not what we’re doing-”

“How are we just going to storm her place-”

“Well, if you listen to me-”

“Oh my god, shut up! All of you!”, you shouted and all of them quieted down and stared at you like bugs under a log.

“You guys don’t even have a plan! You’re talking about storming her place, you think she’s not smart enough to amp up her security?”, you questioned Alexei. He sputtered and looked around the room in shock.

You sighed, “Anyways. Where is her place, Buck?”

Bucky swallowed, “Well, she’s the one who bought the Avengers tower, so she’s going there now.”

You paused, momentarily forgetting that the tower belong to the OXE group and by that extension to Valentina.

“Right, of course. Uh- let me know if I can be of any help. I can order something if you want?”, you asked the group.

“Actually, some food would be great”, John spoke up and you glared at him. Bucky turned you around and walked you into your shared bedroom before grabbing your phone to order some takeout.

You turned around to face Bucky, “Does Sam know?”

He froze, his face locked in with a guilty expression and you knew right away.

“Barnes, don’t tell me you just teamed up with these people without informing Sam. You’re doing that isolation shit again”, you asked him sternly.

Bucky scratched the back of his neck, “I mean- no? No. I haven’t talked to him…yet”, he murmured.

Your eyes widened in disbelief, “You cannot be serious, Bucky! You just met him. What’s wrong?”

“I’ll call him soon, I swear. It’s just a lot, for now. This Bob guy, he’s very vulnerable and very strong. We cannot let Valentina use him for whatever motive she has. Just let them crash over for the night, we’ve had a long day…Please?”, Bucky requested you with his hands cradling your face.

You stared at him in mild irritation and grumbled, “The girls can take the guest room.”

Bucky smiled at you and pressed a loving kiss to your lips, “You’re the best”, he murmured against them and you finally cracked a smile, leaning into him and kissing him deeper.

-

You stepped out in the living room to see that Ava and Yelena had taken their seats on the kitchen island, bantering loudly with Walker and Alexei who were trying to find something in the kitchen, knocking over your things.

“You can take the guest—What the hell are you two doing to my kitchen?!”, you screeched and pushed them out of the way, putting things back into their place.

“Get out of our kitchen”, Bucky sighed in annoyance and pushed Alexei out before gesturing Walker to join him as well.

“I told you not to touch-”

“I just wanted some water!-”

“Well, you could just ask-”

“I want something stronger-”

You and Bucky looked at each other and shook your heads. These were children in adult bodies.

You silently filled up a glass of water and another glass with one of Bucky’s leftover rum before placing it in front of Walker and Alexei.

The whole room quieted down and the two men picked up the glasses, gulping the liquids down.

“You guys want something?”, you asked the Ava and Yelena.

They gave you sheepish smiles before asking for a glass of water each.

Alexei finished his glass of rum and gave you a huge smile, “Thank you, (Name), you have been so kind to the Thunderbolts.”

You paused and the others groaned loudly. You smirked, “Thunderbolts?”

“Yeah! That’s us! Inspired by the West Chesapeake Valley Thunderbolts, Yelena’s peewee soccer team-”

“Okay! Shut up!”, Yelena yelled and Alexei gaped at her.

“Lena, don’t yell at your old man like that!”

And the room erupted in chaos, again. Their voices overlapping each other’s and arms waving around wildly.

Bucky was standing there with his vibranium hand covering his face and the human one resting on his hip. Pursing your lips to stop the laugh from escaping your mouth, you made your way over to him and circled an arm around his waist,

“So…you’re a Thunderbolt, huh?”, you cooed teasingly in his ear.

He groaned loudly, “Don’t start, sweetheart, I swear to god…”

You giggled and looked around the messy assassins and soldiers in your living room, their chaos and banter making your house feel lively. Maybe, you could adjust with them. (Except, a particular someone.)

“They’re nice”, you murmured and Bucky scoffed, bringing you closer to him with his metal arm around your waist.

“Spend a whole day with them and then we’ll talk”, he kissed your cheek.

You held the back of his neck gently and looked at him, his eyes exhausted and lips cracked.

“Don’t scare me like that again. I expect you to, at least, give me a heads up before making such big changes, okay?”, you pleaded with a soft voice.

“Yes, I’m so sorry, baby”, he nodded and kissed your cheek again.

The room had quieted down suddenly and you turned your head to look at the four of them smirking at you two. Bucky let out an exhausted sigh next to you and you chuckled lowly.

These four combined with your grumpy boyfriend was going to be an interesting and entertaining bunch, for sure.

-

AN: I’ll make a second part to this where we talk about #that post credits scene. I’ve written a similar fic for Sam but i wanna write it for Bucky as well, hehe.

Please like and reblog!

[obsessivevoidkitten]

A Relaxing Caving Vacation

Yandere Male Naga x Male Reader CW: Noncon, fingering, anal sex, double penetration, copious amounts of cum, general yandere behavior, delusional yandere, overstimulation Word Count: 3k (Comm for @fandomsfanman hope you all enjoy it!)

Hiking, camping, fishing, really any outdoorsy activity, these were the things that you enjoyed.

But you needed something new. Another frontier to explore. A new obsession for you to focus on.

That new focus was spelunking. Cave exploration. The air, the quiet, the hidden stone depths, a secret to be explored, carved by nature just for you! It completely captivated you.

Of course, you weren't insane! You didn't go anywhere really dangerous. No Nutty Putty incidents for you, thanks. You stuck to big wide open caves without any treacherous narrow paths, instabilities, or areas particularly prone to flooding.

You were trying to decide what cave to explore next, you finally settled on Springwell Cave.

Apparently at the bottom it had blue crystals that glowed and a small pond of water, clear as glass. Very shallow and very safe.

It sounded perfect. You'd hike there, camp a bit in the surrounding woods, and after all that build up you'd delve into the cave!

But it had been a while since anyone had visited Springwell Cave. Anyone human, that was.

And so in slipped a male naga named Urzum. A lean but somewhat muscular man with white hair, dark skin, and gleaming silver scales.

He loved the soft glow of the crystals, the pure pond, the safety and seclusion. It was the perfect home for him during the day. At night he'd leave and prowl for food.

Lately he had been prowling for something else too.

He was in rut.

His every night was spent fruitlessly searching the woods for a mate to sink his twin cocks into and then cuddle. But it seemed no one was interested.

There were no nearby nagas and the other forest folk fled from him in fear even though he had never once hurt or hunted another hybrid being, just regular feral animals.

And so every dawn he retreated back to what was now his cave and masturbated furiously in a vain attempt to take the edge off his rut.

Urzum was getting desperate. Whimpering as he constantly switched between his cocks, fervently jerking one and then the other, spilling his seed. He was so very eager to slip it into a lover he could call his own, instead he was wasting it on the floor.

The cave was filled with his musk. His need was palpable.

Your day was spent hiking to the campsite, sun shining, birds singing, the cool breeze pregnant with the scent of honeysuckle as it danced through the branches of the trees.

Sure you could have driven much closer, but why would you do that?

You thought to yourself that it was going to be a perfect day of hiking and camping leading up to the cave!

By the time you got there, there was still plenty of daylight left. You set up your tent and a small fire and cooked yourself up a can of stew you had brought with you.

You enjoyed your meal and then cleaned up and put out the flames before strolling around the area. You were too tired from all the hiking you had done earlier and wanted to tackle the cave the next morning when you were well rested.

As the sun began to set you felt a growing sense of unease. Like someone, or something, was prowling in the darkness. Watching. Waiting.

Though it was probably just an animal you couldn't shake the feeling. And of course, wild animals could be dangerous.

Urzum had slithered out of his cave and near your campsite. He had not seen many humans in a while. Could you be the warm fuck pocket he had been dreaming of sinking his dual dicks into?

The snake stalked you silently to get a better read on you. It seemed you were a skilled little camper, perfectly happy in the rough and rugged wilderness. That was important. If he had a human mate it wouldn't do for them to be all sad because they didn't have their modern conveniences.

It also seemed that you respected nature and cleaned up after yourself.

And then there was just something in your eyes that really sold him on you.

Back at camp you could feel a gaze boring into you and you could swear you caught the eyes of a predator in the brush, reflecting the fading light.

Maybe a wolf or bear had encroached into this area. Maybe there was a serial killer on the loose.

You relit the fire and lit a torch in it. You swung it towards the shadows.

"Just get out of here, whatever you are! I'll fight if I have to!"

Urzum was flat out crushed. You hadn't even got to meet him and already a potential mate rejected him! Maybe you just had some misconceptions about nagas. Or maybe his scent displeased you.

The naga slunk back to his cave early to sulk.

After a couple hours, sure now that whatever had been stalking you was an animal and that it was long gone, you finally managed to sleep.

In the morning it wasn't even something you were thinking about. No, you had a cave to explore!

You made your way to it and took a deep breath once inside. You had expected it to be the cool earthy air of most caves but instead you were hit with an almost tangy slightly sharp scent. It could almost be described as somehow heady.

Ignoring it, you continued on with your little adventure.

What you had been smelling since you had entered was Urzum's home were the pheromones from his rut. And what you also didn't know was that your scent stirred the naga from his normal day time slumber.

He was overjoyed, recognizing the smell immediately. You must have had time to think after he left so obediently and decoded that his smell was alluring after all!

Why else would you follow his trail and stroll right into his den when it smelled so very much like him?

There was simply no other explanation.

There were no other paths that would get you lost, and it was a small cave, so you would be there soon! He started tidying up and readying his nest for his nice new human mate.

As you progressed through the few large rooms and spacious corridors of the cavern the smell got significantly more pronounced.

Crystals also started appearing in the walls. Larger and brighter as you kept going.

The room before the final one with the water was where you arrived next. The smell was dizzying there.

The source was quickly discovered.

Slithering towards you from a dark corner with no crystals was a massive naga. The type of creature that you had only heard rumors about existing.

The human half had black skin and hair that blended in well with the shadows. His scales were like obsidian, except for the underbelly of his snake half which was pearly white.

Your first thought was that he was going to kill you with those sharp fangs, but then you noticed two large erect cocks bobbing as he headed towards you.

It took you too long to get over your initial shock and the monster had you.

"L-let go of me! I don't know what you expect, but you are NOT putting those in me!!"

You squirmed in his grip but he held you close, slowly removing your pack and clothing as he did so.

"Ah! Of course you humans only have one!"

He gently fondled your balls and cock as he said this.

"Well, don't worry, this will feel amazing!"

You tried to twist away but you were pathetic in comparison to him. His cocks oozed copious amounts of precum, the perfect lube, that he scooped up with two fingers and worked into your asshole until it was nice and yielding.

"I d-d-don't don't want th-this!"

His fingering had you stuttering and mumbling, but he wasn't going to stop there.

"You're just getting a cold tail, darling! I know how bad you want this, no need to be all shy~"

He licked a stripe up your cheek.

"Why else would you follow my scent into my den?"

You tried to elbow him in the stomach but he didn't even seem to notice.

"I didn't even kno-oooh mm uhhh~"

He had slipped one slimy cock into your well prepped ass, it kissed your prostate perfectly with each thrust into you.

"Seeee!? You make such pretty noises being bred. No need to deny what you want~"

You glared at him but couldn't summon the brain power to do anything else as embarrassing noises spilled from your lips as he filled you.

Then his other cock joined the first, the stretch overstimulating you and bringing you to pleasured tears that he licked away.

"All that denial for nothing my love~"

Urzum was so happy. His rut was finally being satiated. He finally had a perfect partner to cold close while he drilled them with his cocks.

"You're taking it so so well!

You glared at him again but your gaze faltered as you spilled your seed and cried out in orgasm.

Only the first of many as you discovered that nagas took quite a while to finish breeding.

Urzum caressed your belly, bloated with unimaginable amounts of cum. He kept cumming in you over and over with seemingly no end in sight.

You were a sweaty, unkempt, musky mess by that point and had gone completely limp other than the occasional twitch, shudder, or orgasm.

After 6 exhausting hours he finally pulled his monster cocks out of you and cleaned you all up and dressed you. He made sure you were hydrated with fresh water from the cave's pond and even cooked you a little snack.

You were so compliant all fucked out like that, so cute, Urzum was very pleased. He laid on his bedding with you nestled on top of his coils as if they were a cozy nest.

Urzum could scarcely sleep, thinking of how wonderful life would be with his new mate while you slept like a baby.

But if he thought you were just going to stay that way he was wrong.

It was the better part of a week before you fully snapped back to your normal self. It didn't help that his rut continued for a long time and he kept fucking you stupid for hours at a time every chance he got. He had taken advantage of your shocked and obedient state to get to know all he could about you and teach you about himself as well. As if you were dating.

But you were thinking clearly and the fuckathons he subjected you too no longer made you an idiot for hours after. So while he was out hunting at night you took the opportunity to get the hell out of there.

It had been embarrassing to be turned into a quivering moaning mess but that didn't mean you would stay that way. You weren't broken and that damn snake wouldn't get the chance to break you.

You know he has left the cave by now so you waste no time being sneaky or careful. You rush out, thankful for the linear nature of the cavern.

In no time at all your face is met with the cool, fresh, night time air of the forest. The first time your nostrils had been free of Urzum's strong musk. Even after his mating season, it had remained thick in the cave's air.

For the first time in a while it seemed as if luck was actually on your side. The night was well illuminated by the pearlescent full moon, you'd be able to run without fear of injury in the dark.

Your legs burned with the effort, carrying you as fast as they could to safety and civilization. Once you made it to your car you'd get the fuck home and put this whole mess behind you.

And you'd never go caving again. No, you'd find a more sensible hobby. Gaming, perhaps.

Your sliver of good luck had run out though. As you made it up a hill you smacked right into Urzum. You fell on your ass and looked up at the naga. He was holding two limp rabbits, a bundle of foraged leaves and roots, and looked stunned.

"Wh-what are you doing out of the safety of the cave, love?"

He wound around you, carrying you in his coils as he resumed his way home.

"Oh, you must have wanted to help me hunt! That's no job for you my little mate~ I'm the provider!"

You squirmed and thrashed, you started to cuss him out and correct him but what good would that do? If he thought you were trying to escape he might be more vigilant and it would only make it harder to get away later! Best to let him stay in denial and delusion.

Urzum set the rabbits and forage down where he prepped food and then carried you to his nest, laying you down gently.

"Hunting is my job, baby. It's so sweet that you wanted to help but it isn't your place. I'll remind you of yours since you forgot so easily."

You fought him, but he just thought it was foreplay.

"Aww, acting all tough even though your needy little ass wants my cocks so bad."

Your validating moans were music to his ears when he pressed into you. First one cock, then the other. Both worked tirelessly at filling you up with musky naga seed. He forced you into a mating press, lovingly claiming your mouth with his own as his forked tongue probed the depths of your mouth. You probably should have bitten him but you were lost in waves of pleasure with each rock of his hips into you.

The naga’s hands explored your sides, caressing you as he had his way with you. He broke the kiss, a string of saliva momentarily bridging the distance between the two of you.

“See, my love? You look so much better when you are in your proper place!”

He plunged into you hard and fast, you couldn’t even keep up your typical rebellious gaze. You moaned lewdly and often as Urzum took you. He wrapped his arms around you and held you close as his dicks filled you up with his love, throbbing deep inside you for a few minutes as Urzum rode out his climax.

After that you were pretty quiet for a bit and your dedicated mate took the time to clean you up and make you some rabbit and veggie stew which you ate without complaint before going to bed. The effort of staying up late, running so much, and being fucked damn near senseless had taken a significant toll on your body.

The next morning you were clear-headed and better able to assess your situation. Running away hadn’t been successful. Nor had struggling during sex or outright telling him he was wrong and that you didn’t want to be his mate. You decided you just wouldn’t cooperate with anything he wanted at any level.

You wouldn’t even eat a single bite of food until he got the fucking point. Not one crumb.

When he tried to feed you some reheated rabbit stew the next day you refused to take the bowl that he handed you. When he tried to spoon feed you you moved your head away from the utensil, not letting it anywhere near your lips.

“I’d rather starve than stay here any longer!”

He smiled down at you and pinched your cheek in a way that felt condescending but was probably just meant to be sweet.

“Not hungry right now sweetie? That’s okay, you can have it later.”

But when later came you still refused. Now he was getting a bit worried, but you didn’t seem ill.

“I’m just not going to eat anything you touch!”

“Aww, is someone cranky? Are you mad because I haven’t been giving you enough affection? No problem, I know exactly what will work up a nice appetite and make you feel more than loved!”

“Wh-?”

Urzum put the bowl off to the side and pulled you close to him. He expertly removed your clothing in a flash and already had his fingers working his precum into your hole to stretch it. You fought, of course, but as always you were powerless against his invasion of your hole.

Your struggles quickly melted into little fidgets and squirms of pleasure as he sank both of his cocks at once into your well prepared asshole. You were on your knees in the nest taking both of his dicks, actually pressing your ass back against each thrust despite yourself.

“G-get off!”

“Don’t be fussy baby, I’m giving you what you need. You’ll feel better after this, I promise~”

He reached his arm around you and started jerking you off, his hand lubed with a mix of your precum and his, you scowled as you humped into his grip, cumming almost embarrassingly fast.

“If you just asked for breeding instead of getting all huffy we could do things a lot faster~ But I love when you get all bratty and needy!”

He kept working himself into you, playing with your spent cock, until you came two more times. You whimpered and moaned with each release until finally he flooded your depths with thick cum. You couldn’t see his balls, as they were nestled away internally, but they had to be huge to flood you so thoroughly.

As always, you were an overstimulated fucked out mess that was utterly helpless and obedient after a bout of lovemaking with your “boyfriend”. You complied with him spoon feeding you. He took it as proof you had just needed some sex to work up a proper appetite and to provide affection so you weren’t so fussy.

After your meal he cleaned you up and kept you warm and safe in his coils while you slept. He was content with how well he was taking care of you, you sleeping all cozy on him was proof enough of that.

You could act all defiant, bratty, fussy, and claim otherwise all you wanted but he knew you loved him, and he would NEVER let you go.

[afterthelambs]

How I interpret Joker Persona 5

Since Joker is a silent self-insert protagonist it can be hard to get a reading on his characterization. He can make inconsistent choices gameplay-wise that clash with what was set up. He's supposed to be the righteous leader, and yet... you have the option to cheat on girlfriends, or sell your friends out to Yaldobaoth and become Evil, or doom the world for a selfish wish. It's easy to dismiss all that as 'not the true ending' but to me that would be boring and a cop-out. These are treated as equally-valid choices in terms of player input, so I think any interpretation of the character has to account for that. Like he is definitely a little unhinged.

Is Joker evil? No because he spends most of the game being a good guy and can choose to be a hero till the end. The desire to do the right thing is ingrained in his character.

So is he inherently good? No because it's coded into the game that he can betray all his morals. In P3, Makoto at worst betrays his team to protect them from pain. He never turns sinister the way Joker can in the Yaldobaoth-deal ending. P4 has an accomplice ending but even then you at least have collaboration of some sort, as opposed to Joker who is alone in his fall from heroism. The good ending being the 'true' ending doesnt erase the fact that Joker has the potential to go dark in a way the other protagonists dont. This is also a part of him, which I think makes him wayyyy more interesting.

So how are you supposed to reconcile all these inconsistencies into a cohesive characterization? Is it just 'out of character'?

Ironically, I think the best way to understand Joker's character is to first understand Akechi. If you accept that they are two sides of the same coin (and the game beats you over the head with that lol) then that means they share a lot of internal rage and pain about the world. It means Joker did not have his emotions together nor a healthy outlook on interpersonal relationships, at least in the beginning. It explains why a lot of Joker's confidants start out transactional. The main difference (asides from Akechi being more marginalized) is that Joker has the opportunity to respond to his traumas in a healthier way. He channels his rage into a good cause, and he can choose to do so til the very end (ie the true ending). It also explains how he can reach a breaking point and go down a darker path instead, similar to Akechi.

This is my preferred way of interpreting Joker in light of all the wildly different directions he takes in the actual game. It's why I personally like my Joker characterization as a little unhinged, a little dark, very emotionally troubled and evasive, AND very kind + empathetic to others despite that. He knows he's a little fucked up inside and that's why he's desperate to do the right thing. Joker isn't just good by nature, he actively chooses to be.

If you need any more proof, look at Maruki. He's the only other character that gets this much parallels drawn with Joker. But the ways that Joker's characterization can be derived from Maruki is a whole other post. I'll probably get to that some day, but it's interesting that when the writers decided to make a parallel to Joker for an extended story, they went with another unhinged antagonist that understands him on a deeper level.

[piplup335]

Guest 1337 x reader!

note: in this story, he never got married! now with that aside, to the note we go :D

*ahem*

HELLO, F E L L A S

“omg no way, 2 stories in a week???1?1!!?” HECK YEAH BOIII

I felt a bit silly and tried out what I like to call a 1 hour challenge! :D

basically, it involves me cooking up a story within an hour :,) I can’t do it for my requests as sticking to a specific prompt takes more time, sorry! ;-;

but yeah, wrote this for the sillies, so on this platform it goes :D

enjoy! :)

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You had a normal life. Had.

You enjoyed your days in the real world. You had a job you liked, parents you loved, and a life with a nice work-life balance. The only thing you didn't have was a romantic partner, but you were still content with your life.

You were just a regular person.

So why did fate have to be so cruel to you?

Why did it decide to throw you, of all people, into a cruel loop of life and death? Why did you have to be ripped away from everything and everyone you once knew?

You weren't so different from the others, you soon found out.

When you saw the other survivors for the first time, you were too scared to talk to them. But after taking a few hits for Dusekkar and giving a medkit to Builderman, they slowly started to warm up to you.

Instead of seeing you as just another survivor, they saw you as an ally. A companion that could be trusted. A familiar face, another beacon of hope that they could get through another round.

Slowly but surely, you started to act more naturally around the other survivors. You laughed more at Shedletsky's crappy jokes. You let Elliot heal you with a pizza to the face while Jason was chasing you. Every face you saw was no longer that of a stranger, but a friend.

And once everything was said or done, win or lose, the survivors would respawn and return to the cabin they called home to rest until the Spectre, the very thing that threw you into this forsaken realm, grouped up everyone for yet another dance with death.

Over time, you got to know everyone better. Elliot, the pizza boy. 007n7, a retired hacker for good, now a dad wishing to reconnect with his son. Shedletsky, Dusekkar and Builderman, all with experience as Robloxia's governors. You could relate to Noob- a regular fella who got thrown in for seemingly no reason.

But there was no one you could connect to as much as Guest 1337.

The both of you were quite similar. Stripped away from everyone and everything the two of you loved and cared about.

He lost his family, his friends, everything. He lost everything. Cruelly torn away from everything like it was but cheap fabric.

You could almost see yourself in him.

The two of you bonded over that, even during rounds. You'd give some of your supplies to him and distract the killer when his health got low. Guest would block the killer's attacks for you and distract the killer long enough for you to find Elliot and heal up.

After rounds, the both of you would sit on the couch in the living room, chatting about your previous lives as the flames danced and crackled around the logs in the fireplace.

Eventually, the both of you slowly fell for each other. You were his everything, and he was yours. The both of you became each other's cornerstones...the only thing preventing any of you from going insane.

Guest confessed first while the both of you were in the middle of a round. It was adorable, because he was blushing furiously when he did. Instead of the tough, no-nonsense soldier you were so used to seeing, you saw a blushing mess, like a high school teenager confessing to their crush for the first time. Of course, you accepted his confession...and he was so ecstatic and touched, that he ended up kissing you right then and there.

It was as if the both of you had finally completed each other.

The both of you found one thing, something that was always out of reach.

Someone to love.

John Doe walked in on the both of you kissing, but instead of impaling the both of you with spikes, he paused at the doorway...as if he remembered something. But he seemed to shake it off and walk away without disturbing the moment.

At least he was nice about it.

Regardless, a relatively brutal round had just ended. Jason's relentless hunt killed the vast majority of the survivors, with you, Guest and Elliot remaining. Thankfully, Elliot was skilled at dodging Jason's machete swings...otherwise, the round might have lasted for a bit longer than anyone would've liked. Any of the survivors, at least.

Both you and Guest were exhausted. The two of you just wanted to rest and relax after a long day...and that was what brought you to this point.

You were curled up in Guest's arms, your face pressed up to his torso.

"Dearest, you're warm..."

The male looked down at you. He adored how you looked, wrapped up in the sheets with your cheek pressed up against him. You looked so peaceful in this state...

"And you look adorable, my love."

You let out a sleepy chuckle and wrapped your arms around him, pulling yourself closer to him. You loved him so much...and you never wanted this moment to end. You loved everything about him- from the battle scars that never really healed to his blue hair, usually neatly combed and styled, now all over the place because of how much you messed with it.

"...you're comfortable...I could fall asleep like this because of you, Guest..."

You felt one of his hands moving behind your head, his fingers tenderly carding through your hair and messing it up slightly. His free hand snaked down to your waist to rub small, soothing circles on your back.

"Holding you in my arms makes me feel complete, (Y/n). I never imagined I'd love someone as much as I love you now...but here we are. Just you and me after a long day..."

The combined sensations coupled with the low rumble of Guest's voice was too relaxing for you. You were already exhausted from the round, and being in your lover's arms only made you feel drowsy and tired. You needed to sleep.

"Guest...? I'm tired..."

He pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead. A kiss with so much love behind it.

"Sleep, my love. I'll be here to watch over you."

You would never get tired of his kisses. But you were tired now, that was for sure. You felt so safe and secure in his arms, like a protective shield from whatever this dimension had in store for you...

...but now was not the time to stress about the future. You got through the round, and now it was time to rest.

"Goodnight, Guest...I love you..."

You closed your eyes and began to drift off.

Just before you dozed off into the realm of nothingness, you managed to catch a soft, loving whisper right beside you.

"I love you too, (Y/n). Sleep well."

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and that’s it for this story! take care, and I’ll see you all soon! :D

[fozmeadows]

Hello! I am re-reading the tithenai chronicles and couldn't help but note a particular due is paid to horses in both books, I was wondering if this comes from you having particular experience with them?

Hello! This is a very funny question to me personally, because I once saw a reader argue that, because I've written multiple books in which horses die, I must hate horses in real life, and am therefore Problematic for using fiction to channel my obvious anti-horse sentiments. I really wish I was making this up, but if nothing else, it does serve as a perfect example of how absurd it is to equate depiction with endorsement, because I actually love horses! I learned to ride as a kid, and had weekly lessons for years; I had to stop when I was fifteen, because I didn't have time for it any more, but for ages, I was very much a Horse Kid.

In fact, I'm in a storytelling mood, so here is a Foz The Horse Kid story:

The year I turned fifteen, at the start of tenth grade, I changed to a new school with better academic opportunities. Midway through the year, we all went away to camp, and for the second day's activities, we were meant to spend half of it bike riding on dirt trails, and half on horseback. Now, I did learn to cycle in childhood, but after a particular memorable crash around age eleven, where I hurt myself quite badly (I still have the scar), I'd basically given up on bikes; I was frightened of them, and even now, I can't balance on one unless my feet are able to touch the ground on both sides. So on this day at camp, we were split into two groups: one would do bikes first, then horses; and one who'd do horses first, and then bikes. I was assigned to the former, and it's not an overstatement to say I was terrified.

I made a single, trembling effort to get on the BMX I'd been given, but the seat was too high for my feet to touch the ground, and I promptly fell over. Somehow, I did not burst into tears, which would've compounded the embarrassment of being fifteen and unable to ride a bike, and was instead granted permission to ride along in the supply car behind the cyclists until it was time to switch activities. And so I would've done, if not for the fact that, right before we were due to set off, one of the boys from the other group showed up with a different problem. He was still on his horse, which was being led along by one of the instructors, partly because she'd had to bring the horse anyway, but mostly because he'd had a pronounced allergic reaction to something and his eyes were so swollen that he couldn't have safely walked on foot.

It was, very nearly, a perfect narrative turn of fate. I couldn't cycle; he couldn't ride. Solution: we would switch places and double up on the activities we were capable of performing, so he'd cycle twice and I'd ride twice. It felt like something out of one the Horse Girl Novels I'd read as a tween, but I sure as hell wasn't complaining.

"Can you ride?" the instructor asked me.

I told her I'd ridden for five years, and she was very pleased to hear it, as it meant we could safely canter to catch up with the other group, who'd already gone on ahead, without risk of my falling off. So I mounted up and off we went, chatting the whole time, until we reached the other students. They turned out to be the beginner group - the riders had been split into two parties based on skill level - and the remaining instructor, who was the younger brother of the woman who'd picked me up, was leading an unmounted but saddled grey mare along by the reins.

This felt very significant to teenage me, because I loved grey horses, so naturally, I asked why she was there. The answer was that she'd originally been assigned to a teacher who'd radically overstated his riding ability: she wasn't a beginner level horse, and due to some foolishness or other on his part, most likely yanking too hard on the reins, he'd been bucked off. This has resulted in him walking - or limping, rather - back to the main part of the camp to recover, leaving the mare behind. Which also meant that the instructors were now shorthanded: they'd expected to have a vaguely competent third adult along to help out with the beginners, and instead were on their own. Which meant that, as the only other person in the group with actual riding experience, I ended up being drafted as a helper.

My mission: riding alongside one of the more popular girls in our grade, who was very nearly as nervous about being on a horse as I'd been with the bike, and trying to keep her calm. Having started from a place of anxiety, she'd then watched the teacher get thrown and one of her friends led away looking like an overripe tomato; understandably, she wasn't having a great time. So I talked to her, and because she was scared of the horse, it was easy to joke about how I'd been scared of the bike, which I think made her feel a bit better; I won't say she ended up loving the experience, but she settled down, and nothing else eventful happened for the rest of the ride, which ended when we met back up with the advanced group and the bike riders to switch over.

My original group was now set to ride, and because the instructors were also swapping over, the brother and sister now got to lead the experienced group, while the other pair took the beginners. Which meant that, as I more properly belonged in the experienced group, I got to stay with the same instructors - and because I'd helped them out on the previous ride, I was offered the chance to ride the grey mare who'd proven too much for our teacher. This was, again, an extremely Horse Girl Novel thing to be happening, but there were only so many horses to go around, and as one person had already fallen off the mare after misjudging their skill level, it made sense to offer her first to the one student they felt vaguely sure was competent.

Offer here being the operative word: it was very clear that I could've said no if I wanted, and as she'd thrown her last rider, it would've been understandable if I'd declined. Still, I said yes, and it felt like that won me some extra respect from the instructors, if only because it made their jobs slightly easier. So I mount the grey mare, and it was instantly apparent that she was a fast, responsive horse. Up comes the rest of my group, several of whom are farm kids who actually know what they're doing, and we all set off - and once again, there's no teacher, because they're with the beginner's group.

Now, I've always been an extrovert, and whether due to practice or nature, even as a teen, I was very rarely intimidated by adults. If someone talks to me normally, I'll talk to them normally, and I was, by this point, having a really good time. This meant that, as a result of my cheerfully bantering with the brother instructor, I ended up riding alongside him at the front of the pack rather than back with the others, and when we hit a particularly long stretch of open track, I joked that I bet I could beat him in a race to the next gate.

"You're on," he says, and counts us down - three, two, one - and off we go from a walk to a gallop, leaving his sister to yell exasperatedly after us, "OI, DARREN!", with an implied you bastard at the end of it, because he definitely wasn't meant to be racing, and especially not with a student. But she couldn't chase after us, which means we got away with it, and of course he ended up being faster - he knew the track and his horse in a way that I don't - but I kept up decently, it was all great fun, and by the time the others caught us up, we were waiting at the gate for them, laughing.

The rest of the ride was uneventful by comparison, but pleasantly so. Some of the farm kids joined in the conversation at various points, the scenery was gorgeous, and the grey mare was perfect to ride. By the time we were done, the sister had forgiven her brother for being an idiot, and the two of them were joking that I should come help take the horses back to the stable, although of course I couldn't. But as we dismounted at the corral, and I stopped to give the grey mare a thorough goodbye pat, one of the farm kids, who was also part of the popular group, walked over and calls my name.

"Yeah?" I said, because this kid had never spoken to me before outside of class.

"You were really graceful," he said, and promptly turned and walked away again, before I could really manage to get out a thank you. It was an absurd thing to happen, I thought at the time - almost more implausible than all the other Horse Girl Novel stuff - not least because it wasn't the sort of compliment that teenage boys are typically known for making. It's the kind of thing that sticks with you, thought, which is why I still remember it so vividly some 24 years later. Graceful is not a thing I'd ever been called before and haven't been since - my general vibe is that of several racoons in a trenchcoat - but for one day, I got to live out the Horse Girl Novel Camp Fantasy dream, and it still makes me happy to think about.

All of which is to say: I am really, genuinely fond of horses! Though sadly, I don't think I'm capable of riding any more; I slipped a disc so badly in 2019 that I've taken permanent damage, and my suspicion is that three minutes in the saddle would be enough to put me into spasm. But either way, I can still write about horses - or creatures which serve the same narrative niche, ie: animals you ride and form a bond with - and that's pretty great.

[anonymous-dentist]

You might be wondering why Lukey was a prisoner to begin with. See, Lucas was rude. He defied authority, he conducted illegal experiments regarding something the Seven had banned research on: the Philosopher’s Stone, which allows the transformation of any natural material into gold

These days, though, Lukey is just happy to make health and other support potions to keep his guild alive. He isn’t a prince (he thinks), but he likes being treated like one. He… was scared. In the beginning. Alone. He thinks he was alone before he woke up, too. He has scars… not as many as Pangi, but enough to make him wonder who he was before. But now he has Bad, and he has Aimsey, and he has Pangi, and he wonders if Pangi would still be his friend if he found out that Lukey isn’t the prince he thinks he is

But then he wakes up every morning to Pangi snuggling him from behind, and then they train later until Lukey’s arms are sore, and then they chase each other through the woods and tackle each other into the grass and their noses brush from how close they are. And then later they go to bed and argue over who gets which side of the bed, and it’s…

“Would you hate me if I told you I don’t think I’m a prince?” Lukey asks

Pangi looks at him like he’s an idiot, which he might be. “Why would I hate you? You’re just Lukey to me, who gives a shit if you’re actually royalty?”

And that’s sweet and all, but they both do eventually decide that he’s a prince after all the Null guys keep showing up, because who else would a kingdom send literal armies to find than missing royalty?

Okay so I’m thinking

Pangkey au, prince x knight shenanigans

For whatever reason, Pangi decides to travel with Random Guy Lukey for a bit. Maybe he just feels bad for him and thinks he’s gonna die out in the woods, idk, or maybe he’s just gay as fuck, idk

And okay so then right. Then Pangi sees a wanted poster on the wall of a tavern one night that was posted by the Kingdom of Null itself, and right there is Lukey’s face drawn with a lot more menace than Lukey himself gives off, which fits considering all those Null guys are creeps

But Pangi knows by now that Lukey doesn’t have any memories prior to a day or so before they met

And Pangi is just a little dumb, so he puts together the rumors of a missing government figure in Null and Lukey’s sudden appearance, and he’s like. Oh, shit, I’m a lost prince’s bodyguard. Noooooooooooooooo

And so he dedicates himself to keeping Lukey safe until they can meet with Bad at the Green Fortress, like “Holy shit, we can get so much reward money out of this…” (because he’s an asshole)

But little does he know that Lukey is just an escaped prisoner. And little does Pangi know that he will not, in fact, give Lukey over to Null and that he will, instead, fall so deeply in love with him that all he wants is to make Lukey smile

[hoshiina]

pairing: hoshina soushirou x gn!reader

summary: how you met hoshina at an art gallery, the art piece mentioned is The Tiff by Florence Carlyle, link to a better pic of it I took myself (I think)

notes: you're a little bold, you're a fate believer

“Darling,” Hoshina said and you immediately snapped out of your daze. “Darling, are you listening?”

“Sorry,” you replied truthfully.

“What's on your mind?” he asked, sulking a little. It was fair, considering this was your first date in a while. Ever since you got engaged, dates had become far less frequent— there was a lot to still plan out with your wedding coming up.

That made you laugh. You pointed to the advertisement on the billboard for the art gallery. “Remember?”

It wasn't like you’d always had a great interest in paintings, nor was it like you were an art gallery enthusiast, but there was one painting particular painting you had always gone back to see.

You had found it by chance one day, while you were at the gallery for a project you had. It was of a pretty lady from seemingly a well-off family sulking after a small quarrel with the man behind her— perhaps her lover. Painted in a time period where it was only natural to show and paint formality, especially in women, it showed a private more real depiction of a woman in her home.

The colours used and the pure scale of the painting absolutely took your breath away. The slight sulk on her face that seemingly unmatched her beautiful dress that took up the canvas was nothing short of stunning. You could not put a finger on just what it was that caught your eye, but it calmed you so much during a stressful week at school. Before you knew it, you found yourself going back to it whenever things were rough. It was sure to better your day.

That’s what you were doing yet again that day. Going to see that one painting. You had been going to see it rather often lately, but you couldn’t help it. Finals week was soon and things were busy at work too. It was the only thing that would calm you down.

“Excuse me,” you heard someone’s voice. You turned around just to take a look, but to your surprise he was talking to you. It was a young man, perhaps around your age. He had a long coat with a pretty sweater underneath. He was gorgeous, quite frankly. Quickly, you took your earbuds out.

“Oh, hello,” you said.

“Sorry to bother,” he said. “Is this one of your favourites? I feel as though I've seen you a few times here. I apologize if I'm mistaken.”

“It actually is,” you said. “I think that might have been me as well. I find myself coming here whenever I'm having a rough week.”

He smiled. “That sounds nice,” he said. “Sorry, I must sound terribly strange— this is one of my favourites as well. You're here quite often whenever I come to take a look. I thought I'd… say hello.”

Suddenly he seemed rather flustered.

“Oh, not at all. I'm glad you said hi,” you said. “It’s unfortunately not the most popular painting in the gallery, not many people stop by for that long here.”

He seemed vaguely relieved. Or perhaps that was in your head.

“Are there others you like?” he asked.

“Um,” you said. “A few here and there… but I usually come here just to see this one, embarrassingly… However, if you have any you're fond of, I'd love to see. If you don't mind, that is.”

“I’d love to,” he said.

And that was all it took for the two of you to spend the rest of the day together, just walking through the art gallery— stopping wherever necessary. While you actually preferred to go to the gallery alone because you felt more comfortable stopping and taking your time, the pieces you enjoyed overlapped quite a bit and you felt at ease going around and taking your time with him.

“Sorry, I hope I wasn't taking up your time,” he said after you had gone through the gallery, looking at his favourite pieces. There weren't a great abundance of them, but you could immediately tell why he liked them— they all made you want to stay longer to take a better look.

“Not at all,” you said. “I haven't felt so nice in ages.”

He smiled softly. “I'm glad to hear,” he said.

Your eyes met his, and you averted your eyes by reflex. He was so pretty, you were sure you could feel your face heating up. You hoped he couldn't tell.

“You're quite adorable, do you know?” he said, naturally.

Immediately, you turned to look back at him, and he couldn't help but laugh. “See,” he said. “You look so flustered.”

“You're teasing me!” you said.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said, after a small chuckle. “I couldn’t help it.”

His eyes widened slightly and your eyes met for another moment too long— but to you, that moment felt like an eternity. The world around you blurred, the other people lost form, and the colourful pieces you were surrounded by were all just a jumble of colours. It was just you and him. And perhaps the pounding of your heart.

The next words that left your mouth were nothing but bold, but it was your heart speaking, not your head.

“Can I… ask for your number?” you asked, averting your eyes, very bashfully.

That caught him off guard. Less the fact that you’d be exchanging numbers, because he had already planned to ask you, but rather the fact that you asked him first.

“I was just going to ask. I apologize I made you ask,” he said. Then a moment. “Is this safe to say you don’t have a partner?”

Your heartbeat quickened. “No, I do not,” you said. “You?”

“No, as well. If we come here again, can I assume that’ll be a date?”

Your eyes widened. “I’d love that,” you said softly. “Rather… could this be a date?”

His cheeks were faintly red and it took a moment before he chuckled. “I didn’t expect you to be so bold,” he said. He held out his hand, waiting for you to take hold of it, and so you did.

That was all it took for so many more dates to follow. By the third date, he had asked you to be his partner, and to his delight your reply was immediate. For quite a few dates after that one, you just met up at this art gallery to do the same thing, and after the two of you felt like you’ve checked everything in the gallery, the dates finally shifted a little. Sometimes it was a brunch at a cute cafe, or a horror movie a little too late at night, or even a study date.

It didn’t take long before you found out Hoshina was from a renowned family of swordsmen, and his goal was to join the defense force. He’ll tell you now, thinking back fondly, that in reality he was really nervous telling you about it. He didn’t know if he could take it if you had told him he couldn’t do it. Yet, naturally, you seemed so excited for him. He’ll tell you now just how much it meant to him that you didn’t doubt him for a second. That was when he knew for sure that he loved you.

Hoshina laughed. “Remember? Really?” he asked, giving you a playful jab. You laughed.

“We haven’t been in a while,” you said.

“We really haven’t. Should we go today?” he asked.

“That’d be really nice actually,” you said, and he nodded happily.

For a few seconds neither of you said anything.

“You know what scares me a lot?” Hoshina started to say, all serious. That caught your attention. He wasn’t one to get so serious often, let alone speak about his fears. You didn’t know he had fears for starters.

“What?” you questioned.

“I think about what would’ve happened if I didn’t bump into you at the gallery the few times I went. We were at the same painting, at the same time, multiple times. Anything could have gone wrong,” he said. “And then what if I hadn’t said ‘hello’? What then?”

His eyes went to his ring on his finger for a moment— only a moment— but you would never miss it. “Would none of this have happened?”

To his surprise you laughed. “No, because we’re meant to be,” you said.

His eyes widened. He knew you weren’t cracking a joke, you were laughing because to you, this was a silly question. You were dead serious.

“Think about it,” you said. “The sheer probability that we were at the same place at the same time all those times must mean something if it happened. I think that the fact that we’re going back with rings on our fingers after all these years means it was meant to be. Not the other way around.”

He couldn’t help but smile. This wasn’t out of the ordinary— he’d overthink something and you’d come and blow his worries away.

“I suppose I was meant to be yours then,” he said, oh so naturally. Then, a chuckle. “Darling, you look starstruck.”

“I am,” you said. “I was most definitely meant to be yours.”

You pulled on his sleeve and he didn’t waste a second. His lips were on yours and it hurt you how ridiculously happy he looked.

“Love you,” you said.

“Love you, more,” he said.

A few months later, the two of you were to have your wedding at the exact gallery, where everything started.

[growth-opportunities]

"I'm not sure if it was because I wanted to grow, or because I could actually grow that made me sure... Made my transition a piece of cake though."

"You know those moments where, you know, a kid is watching an Olympic figure skater or a ballerina or a press conference with an astronomer or whatever and they have that crystalizing thought of 'that's what I want to be when I grow up?' I had that moment, too. Except, instead of a random public figure, it was my older sister's best friend, and instead of seeing her achievements in athletics or academics, I watched her grow.

"I guess technically it was athletics; she had been on her high school's grow team, but she was just showing off. My after school club had been cancelled, so I had gotten home a bit early, though just in time to see Nara blowing up her tits. I had always harbored a bit of a crush on Nara, with her dark eyeliner and her septum piercing and the shock of red in her black hair, but my fascination with what I was seeing went beyond that. When I saw her tits growing, swelling, not just through the course of nature but through her sheer force of will... fuck. It just awoke something in me. I wanted that. I wanted to be able to do that.

"It seemed especially impossible since, at the time, I was still presenting as a (slightly effeminate) boy. I was kinda in denial about transitioning, for whatever reason thinking oh, it would be nice if I could do that, but that's not for me. It was really the idea of joining a growth team and training to grow that even made me consider the possibility of starting to transition. It's kinda funny, in hindsight. Like, I really went at it like it was no big deal, like there wasn't really a reason why I couldn't be the first cisman to become a competitive titty grower. I read every book that I could, watched interviews with competitive growers, even probed Nara for some tips. She knew long before I did, but she was kind enough to let me crack my egg on my own. We actually got really close during that time, to the point that she's now, officially, my girlfriend!

"Anyway, back then I did everything I could: practicing, studying, changing my diet. For a long time, I couldn't tell if there was any growth just because I was softening up in general. And then, I still remember it, one day it was just like fwoomp! There was no denying this growth. I had tits! Real, full, bouncy tits. Right on the cusp between B and C cups. I looked at down at them, looked at them in the mirror, gave 'em a little jiggle and just went 'okay, right, so I'm for sure a girl'. Crazy, in hindsight, that that's what it took, but I've been so much happier for it since.

"Now I keep my tits around a DD, putting just a bit of low pressure behind them to keep them from shrinking back down and to keep them looking full. Nara loves them and she loves taking credit for them, too. More than that, though, she loves encouraging me. She was my first encouragement, after all, and she loves pushing me to see how big I can get. I never did pursue competitive growth, but I still manage to top out at a pretty high level; my most recent max was around a V cup. Not bad for someone whose assigned gender shouldn't have them at all!

"Nara likes to do ahem some other things with them, too, but I don't think that'd be super appropriate to print in your magazine."

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I have a hypothetical question what would happen if it was discovered meghan & harry

A- have no children

B- came from surrogacy

And then they say the Palace knew all along but said nothing?

Would this break the trust of the people towards the Monachy?

Because I've got this tinhaty feeling even Prince William (as a King one day) won't be able to stop their ongoing pr drama.

I know this is a hypothetical ask but let me be clear: I do not tolerate the inviskids theory here and I will not be addressing that part of the ask. If that's something anyone wants to tackle for the anon, you're welcome to do so someplace else.

Well the main thing is that this is unprecedented. As in no one knows what would happen because it's never happened in modern royal history before. There's what the BRF could do or should do, but it's only is speculation. We don't know what they would do because they've never had to do this.

There's a couple of different issues about children borne by surrogacy. I'll focus only on the issue about the line of succession since that's the most important one.

Quick sidebar: There are two kinds of surrogacy, gestational and traditional. Gestational surrogacy is when an embryo created from the genetic material of the mother and father is implanted in another woman to carry and give birth. Traditional surrogacy is when a woman uses her own egg and is artificially inseminated by the father through IVF. A couple who conceives their own embryos through IVF and which are later implanted in and carried to term by the wife are not using a surrogate. The controversy with the Sussexes is the alleged use of a gestational surrogate - Meghan's egg + Harry's sperm implanted in Woman B to carry to term and give birth to.

Where the line of succession is concerned, there are two legal questions: is the child of the royal's body (meaning is the child a natural legal descendant of the royal parent) and is the child born of the lawfully wedded wife (meaning did the royal wife give birth to the baby)?

According to the British legal interpretation of the line of succession, both questions must be answered 'yes' for the child to be entered into the line of succession. The latter (of the mother's body) It's why members of government (and the court before that) used to be present during the royal birth; to bear witness to the birth and to ensure that the child wasn't switched. (The practice of government officials being present at the royal births ended in 1948 when future-Queen Elizabeth gave birth to future-King Charles and in its place is the current modern practice of doctors present at the birth certifying and attesting to the birth.)

If the Sussexes used a gestational surrogate or if Harry is not the biological legal father of his children, then by law, the child should not be in the line of succession to the crown and if the child is, the BRF should remove them as soon as it has been legally and factually confirmed.

Then there's the follow-up issue: who knew what when? (And I think I've talked about that here before, but I'm too lazy to search for it.)

Did Elizabeth know? Charles? William? When did they know? How long have they known? Did any other family members know? Did any staffers/grey suits know? If they did, who did they tell? When did they tell? How much did they know? Did they know everything? Or did they only know rumors?

The longer people knew about the Sussexes' use of a gestational surrogate and the more information they knew about it, the worse it will be - this absolutely is a case of "the coverup is worse than the crime."

Will it shake public trust in the monarchy? Honestly, I have opposing thoughts.

On the one hand, yes, absolutely, because this is tampering with the LOS. Harry will bear the brunt of anger - by the press, the public and other members of the BRF - so kicking him out of the LOS too along with the children will be the first step to repairing the public trust, followed by taking all the titles. Charles will get pulled into it and how bad it gets for him will depend on how long he's known and what exactly he knows, and when he learned what he knows. Charles, however, is insulated by two factors: 1) all this happened while The Queen was still in charge, so he can deflect criticism onto her (but he'll still get flack for 'why didn't you do something when you became king') and 2) Harry's own statements that Charles no longer speaks to him and has never spent time with the grandchildren, which Charles can deflect by saying 'see, I knew it was wrong and thusly stayed away. William will also be affected, but I foresee it being more of a bumpy ride for William since he made very public steps as early as possible to separate his family/office/household from the Sussexes - from booting them from KP to kicking them out of the foundation - plus we have Meghan's complaint on record that the then-Cambridges didn't really do anything with them.

Is this an abdication crisis-level shaking of public trust? I don't think so. It'll be bad, but I think it's more 'reckoning with Diana's death'-levels bad than abdication crisis-bad, where if the BRF puts their heads down and does solid hard work for a few years with no scandals or little minor ones, they could probably come out of it relatively unscathed just in time for Prince George to take his place as the new Royal Heartthrob in his 20s (yes, I felt icky writing that).

Buuuuuuuut on the other hand...maybe not. There's already a lot of speculation about how the Sussex kids came to be. There's no public affinity for the kids. The BRF has never met the kids. William and Kate don't speak to the Sussexes and have never spent considerable time with them. George, Charlotte, and Louis probably don't even remember good/fun times with Harry and I doubt they spent any time around Meghan. Charles has it on record that he doesn't speak to Harry either and Harry has it on record that he doesn't speak to Camilla. The Sussexes aren't receiving or using taxpayer funding. So it's entirely possible that all the BRF needs to do is cut off the rotten branch at the right time and they come through with some minor scrapes and bruises (versus beaten to a bloody pulp).

But note that I said "at the right time" too. If there's no Charles-Sussex reconciliation and William takes the titles because they've been exploiting the monarchy for personal profit shortly after he becomes King and then it comes out later that a gestational surrogate was used and William then consequentially takes them out of the LOS, then I don't think it will be as shattering to public trust. Controversial, yes. Crisis, eh, maybe not.

But if it's revealed/confirmed there was a gestational surrogate tomorrow, Charles waffles on what to do, and public outcry grows louder and louder for a week (like what happened when Diana died), and then Charles finally takes the titles and/or kicks them out of the LOS, that's more of a crisis and not one that I think Charles's monarchy and Charles's image will ever overcome.

But that doesn't mean the drama is over - the unintended ripple effect means it'll be that much harder and that much more intrusive on the Waleses kids when they begin having their own families. There's going to be an enormous burden of proof on George, George's wife, and Charlotte to prove that their children are of the body in all the ways it legally matters. I don't think we're going back to the days of government ministers on the other side of the curtain/doorway, but possibly a lot more media scrutiny, maybe even more paparazzi photos.

There was a time when I thought that the BRF could excuse all of this and absolve Harry by deflecting it onto Meghan and having her bear all of the responsibility for this - as in Harry didn't know anything, Meghan kept him at arm's distance through the whole pregnancies, but the Netflix docuseries and then Spare squashed that because both 100% implicate Harry.

I do think now that the BRF's strategy - or at least Charles's strategy, if it came down to it - is to deflect all of it onto both Harry and Meghan by pointing to the Sussexes' very public complaints that they were abandoned, no one really talked to them, no one really visited, by creating plausible deniability that they were even around the Sussexes that much in her first pregnancy to think anything was amiss. (There's no plausible deniability for the second pregnancy - it's absolute denial because the Sussexes were in California and and they were all over there in England.)

But again, all this is what I think could happen and what the BRF should do based on what we know about their PR machine and legal precedent.

I have absolutely no idea what the BRF actually will do and how the public would respond. This is 100% uncharted territory, something we can only watch and see what happens.

[infiniteeight8]

omega fox Stephen alpha dragon Tony

Prompt: To no surprise please can we have some more Omega fox Stephen, Alpha dragon Tony? I have loved everything so far and I’d love to have Tony and Stephen meet in person. Totally open to you choosing when. 🥰🥳🤩✨

@auntynessi I got the notification for this one, but not the Ask, hence posting like this instead of as an answer.

It took me a minute to figure out what should come next for this one, and then I thought, this is a series with shapeshifting in it, and we’ve had hardly any shapeshifting! So here’s some of that. And, you know, them meeting in person again. 😀 This being a mini-series, I’m skipping over a whole bunch of phone calls.

Previous parts are here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/4654960

Uh, this got really long. World building got me! Behind a cut for that reason.

-

Tony was going to be in New York, and Stephen had arranged to have three days off in a row.

The thought felt somehow alien: Tony was going to be in New York, and Stephen had arranged to have three days off in a row. Stephen had never ‘arranged’ his days off before. He received them, of course, but he’d always left that to the hospital’s discretion, because there was very little he’d prefer to do over work. Even when he was dating Christine, he’d never arranged days off. But then, Christine was also a doctor and had understood his schedule. It made sense that it would be different with Tony. It was a perfectly normal thing to do.

Still, it was a relief when his building’s reception rang up to let him know that his guest had arrived. Now that Tony was here, Stephen could stop thinking about arranging his schedule around Tony’s trip. It was a business trip, of course. He wasn’t coming solely to see Stephen. But after three months of regular phone calls, it had felt natural to say, Well, if you’re going to be in town, maybe I can make my days off line up.

Stephen’s front door swung open without a knock and Tony called out, “Honey, I’m home!” as he stepped inside.

Startled into a laugh, Stephen turned and found Tony grinning at him. “This isn’t home,” Stephen said.

“Sure, but everyone at home is sick of the joke,” Tony said, shutting the door behind him. 

Since ‘everyone at home’ consisted of JARVIS, DUM-E, and U, Stephen doubted that. Well, maybe JARVIS, but from what he’d heard, he was reasonably sure the bots would enjoy the same joke an infinite number of times. Still, a fresh audience was always fun. “Welcome, regardless.”

Tony wandered around the apartment while they found their way into their usual conversational rhythm, only slightly altered by being in person rather than over the phone. As he explored, Tony ran his fingertips over the furniture and picked up journals, knick knacks, and papers Stephen had left out, examining them idly. When he reached for a patient file Stephen had brought home, Stephen reached out and caught his hand.

They both froze as a partial change rippled over them. Stephen could feel his fox ears twitch. “Patient confidentiality,” he explained after a moment. 

Tony nodded, but when Stephen would have let go, Tony turned his hand and caught him. “I’d almost forgotten how strongly we react to each other.”

Stephen hadn’t. But then, Tony had been through a lot more in the intervening time. “When was your last full shift?” he asked. Recent full shifts made a person more reactive.

“Years,” Tony said. A distressed noise slipped out of Stephen. Tony smiled wryly. “I know. But… dragon. There aren’t a lot of opportunities. And now I’m not even sure I can.”

“Why not?” There weren’t many things that could prevent a shift.

“Afghanistan,” Stark said. “I’m carrying around some shrapnel. And there’s an… implant. I’m not sure how a shift would affect those.”

Stephen frowned. Tony’s doctor should have explained this. “It wouldn’t,” he said. “Shifts may be physical, but they aren’t biological. Your shifted body is not analogous to your human body. Body piercings are the obvious example, but studies have been done on everything from pins and plates to pacemakers and organ transplants. When you shift, none of the damage to your human body carries over, and when you’re injured in shifted form, none of that damage carries over, either.”

Tony looked stricken. “So if I’d shifted in Afghanistan—”

“No,” Stephen broke in quickly. “You couldn’t have shifted then. Not because the trauma would have carried over, but because you wouldn’t have been strong enough to complete the shift. Studies have been done on that, too.”

“I wondered,” Tony said, swallowing hard. “If I’d shifted, if I could have escaped sooner. If—” He stopped. They didn’t talk about the kidnapping.

“Dragons aren’t immune to bullets,” Stephen said quietly. 

Tony nodded, then looked away. 

“Would you like to change?” Stephen asked carefully. It wasn’t good to go so long without a full shift. Normally one would only change in the presence of close family, or a lover, but who did Tony have to share that with? As reactive as they were to each other, it seemed… appropriate.

Tony thought about it for a long time, but the longer he thought, the more certain Stephen became that he’d say yes. Eventually, Tony nodded. “We’ll have to move your furniture.”

The living room was large, but so was a dragon shift. They pushed the furniture out of the way, using the couch as a shield for the piano. Stephen drew the curtains across the windows and kept his back to the room as Tony shifted. When a snort blasted hot air across his back, Stephen turned.

Even curled up, Tony’s dragon form filled the living room. Fortunately, he seemed comfortable, rather than squashed. He was a dark, gleaming bronze color, with a lighter, almost burnished gold belly and highlights around his eyes and the edges of his folded wings. He took Stephen’s breath away.

Another hot snort of breath ruffled Stephen’s clothing. Your turn, it implied. “Close your eyes.” Tony rolled them first, but he closed them.

Stephen’s own shift was quick and easy; he changed often. When he was settled in fox form, he scrambled over Tony’s folded forelegs and the end of his tail into the hollow made by the dragon’s body. Tony curved his neck a little more so that he could look at Stephen, who barked softly before laying down and wrapping his tail around himself.

Tony snorted again before settling, his eyelids drooping almost shut. Not to sleep, Stephen knew, but to rest. Resting was different when shifted. Deeper. More fundamental. Tony hadn’t rested in a very long time, but he could, here in Stephen’s den.

[one-sunny]

Wrong time | Waiter

Sanji x F!Reader, Modern AU series, Artist!Reader

08: When you move to a new town, you don’t expect to run into your high school sweetheart. Old feelings begin to arise and you are suddenly faced with the complexity of relationships, communication, and the struggle for true connection.

Warning: 18+ only. use of cigarettes, toxic relationships, toxic behaviors, mentally/ emotionally abusive behaviors, gaslighting, destructive behaviors, miscommunications, complex feelings, jealousy, anxiety, loneliness, some reader x other characters (fwb), slow burn, angst

Sanji couldn’t sleep.

His mind was a battlefield of all of his wrong doings. Harsh words and careless actions akin to swords and arrows. The bodies on the field were hazy and unrecognizable, but a part of Sanji knew that they were all different versions of him.

Of the Sanji who never did any wrong, at least in his mother’s eyes.

Of the Sanji once deeply in love.

Of the Sanji who stood on his own and knew himself strong.

And the one currently at war was the Sanji of hope. The one that held on to a single shred of his dignity to keep him from completely collapsing at Vera’s feet to do what ever she asked of him. To stand on his own as he once knew how to. And yet, that version of himself was losing. It was battered, beaten, and stained bloody by a bright red that wasn’t natural.

The bright red that plagued his mind.

The bright red that held a deep seated scowl, focused on what Sanji would never admit was his source of hope. The bright red that had what he so craved. The bright red that heated his skin until it burnt him alive and filled him with a burst of adrenaline that made Sanji want to kick through his own front door.

And that thought drives a blade through the Sanji of hope. Because why would he be considering such a thing if Vera had been wrong? Why would he be so troubled if her words didn’t hold any truth? Sanji felt like a shell of a man as he witnessed the battle in an out of body experience.

The battle against his bloodied body of hope.

Bright red.

Bright red.

He can’t give in. He can’t. Not yet.

Sanji felt himself being rocketed forwards, pressing into the deep wounds of that horrid bright red to stop the flow. He had to hold on, just for a moment. Just until he knew for absolutely certainty. He had to try to maintain a shred of himself. He couldn’t allow part of him to die so easily. He wasn’t lost without her. He could do this without Vera.

Stepping through the Baratie’s doors filled Sanji with a sense of hope. Purpose.

But that was effectively squashed as the day droned on. As his mind was elsewhere and he burnt his palm on a pan. As he sliced his fingers while chopping an onion, something he could do in his sleep, and rendering it contaminated. And that mistake filled distraction meant only one thing for the blonde chef…

Waiter duty.

Sanji was fed up with the day. After being yelled at by Zeff, cursed at by an elderly woman with an expired coupon, and having food thrown all over the restaurant by a rowdy toddler… he was exhausted. Ready to get one of his final tables over with so he can go home and crawl into bed. Sanji was almost certain that the exhaustion tugging at his mind would outweigh the mental battle.

That is, until catching sight of a certain red head at his table. Because sitting amongst her was Ussop, the human vacuum himself, a moss headed menace, and his ex-girlfriend.

And Sanji decided in that moment that the universe must hate him.

He casts a panicked look towards the other wait staff, debating on switching with another waitress, when Luffy perks up. “Sanji! Hey!” His hands are waving above his head and catching the attention of the nearby patron.

So Sanji swallows up his pride and stalks over, waving Luffy off. He takes a deep breath, “Welcome to the-“

“What are you doing out here? I was looking forward to eating your food?” Luffy speaks with no social awareness.

Sanji grits his teeth, “The wait staff needed help.”

Zoro holds a smirk, “And they wanted to get you out of the kitchen that bad, huh?”

“Don’t start moss-“

“Okay, how about we order our drinks?” Nami calls above everyone, offering Sanji a sympathetic look. She notes the wrap on his palm and the bandage on his finger. His precious chef hands.

Sanji goes around the table, eyes focused on his little note book that he didn’t even truly need. But still, the scribbled words were a good distraction for him. Especially when he hears your voice above all of the noise. He feels your attention on him, sitting at the end of the table and the closest to him by far.

But he is off before he can allow himself to make eye contact.

He takes a moment to breathe as he prepares the five drinks, half tempted to give Zoro the wrong drink, but ultimately decides against it. That could be an argument for another time. The glasses are placed on a tray and Sanji is waltzing expertly towards the table.

Placing the drinks down, he nearly chokes when your fingers brush in the hand off. It was so aggravating. The goosebumps erupting up his arm. He was suddenly thankful for the long sleeves that normally made him sweat.

Sanji was counting down the minutes- the seconds- before the end of his shift as he scribbled down the obnoxiously large order. Luffy and Zoro must have just gotten out of the gym, their already large appetite increased tenfold. And he is off before any questions can be asked or any conversation can be started.

He places the ticket and suddenly takes a new interest in rolling the silverware. It was a task he normally hated, but it was just repetitive and mindless enough for him to not care about that. So he sits down with some of the other staff.

Something he comes to regret as Patty levels his eyes on him. “What’s gotten you so jumpy, boy.”

Sanji wrinkles his nose at the question, “Nothin’.”

“No it ain’t.” He crosses his arms over broad chest. “You’re a crap cook, but you don’t ever burn yourself. Or cut yourself. Or look this miserable when the old geezer demotes you to waiter duty.”

“Geez, thanks.” Sanji mutters, carelessly tossing a fork and steak knife together to roll.

“Thought that table was your friends?”

“Some of them.” Sanji dismisses the notion.

“Right, the green haired guy.” Patty nods knowingly, before his head tips in thought. “But that other girl,” He notes the way Sanji bristles, nearly dropping a fork. “She’s new.”

Sanji tries to appear nonchalant, “Yep.”

Patty narrows his eyes, “You have beef with her or somethin’?” Sanji scoffs in response and Patty is quick to interrupt. “Right, not with a lady.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“What? She reject your sorry self?”

“No.” Sanji’s jaw locks.

But the other chef seems to enjoy the reaction he pulls from the young guy. “Well she is awful pretty. Think she would be interested in an older guy?”

“Not you, that’s for sure.” His teeth grit together.

“Never know until I try.” Patty slowly stands and Sanji’s head snaps to attention, hand flying out to block his path.

“Stop.”

“Oh? You have some kind of claim?”

“Patty-“

“You finally trade in that witch for someone-“

“Shut up!” Sanji slams his hand against the table, pain shooting through the burn in his palm. He catches a few looks for the outburst but it prompts Patty to sit back down. “She’s my ex-girlfriend, okay? Things are complicated right now.” He grits, before his eyes narrow. “And I don’t ever want to hear you speak a word about Vera or we’re taking this crap outside.”

Then he is off to check on the food.

After being yelled at by Zeff to just run the food, Sanji is back at the table and passing out plate after plate. He delicately places the grilled chicken breast before you, something you would undoubtedly hate because of the maple in the glaze, then juggles plates to make room for Luffy’s various dishes.

Before he leaves the table side, he watches as your nose scrunches around a bite of chicken. For some reason, satisfaction flood through him. He still knows you. Better than you know yourself, apparently.

With a huff, he returns to rolling silverware. There would be countless tasks to do in the kitchen in preparation of closing time, but Sanji wasn’t kitchen staff today. Zeff made that clear. So instead he focuses on his menial task.

Roll after roll.

Check on his tables.

Fork after fork.

Cash the rude couple out.

Knife after knife.

Mere pennies as his tip.

Until everything was used up.

And he notices your drinks are due for a refill.

With a water pitcher in hand, he moves over to the table of his friends, noting their smiling faces. Plates were almost empty meaning that he could go home soon. His eyes focus on filling cups. Around the table. Five water cups. Until he is finally pouring the chilled liquid into your glass and avoiding your eye.

Yet he can’t avoid the sudden bright glow.

He doesn’t mean to look, really. It’s not any of his business. But he catches the text popping up on your phone anyways.

yeah yeah i’m waiting on you

but i’m getting impatient

He didn’t even need to see the contact name, because the bright red hair in the pictures was enough. It was plenty. It was that stupid, bright red that was haunting him.

“Sanji!” Your gasp pulls him back to reality as you jump up, invading his space and making it hard to breathe.

All eyes are on Sanji. And that’s when he realizes he had overfilled your cup, allowing it to spill onto the table and in your lap, judging by the wet stain on your pants. You look confused. Everyone looks confused.

“I-I’m sorry.” Sanji scrambles his apologies and gathers up napkins to clean his mess. You realize he’s frantic. You’re telling him it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. And he hates that you’re being so kind.

In his rushed toss of napkins, he realizes the water almost got to your phone. Maybe he should have kept going. Drowned the device to kill out the messages that caused his distraction.

No. None of this was your fault.

Suddenly, the wounds reopen and bleed that nasty, bright red that Sanji found himself hating so deeply. The lifeline- that hope- that he clung to was slipping through his fingers. His resolve, that shred of dignity, was flickering away with the life force of that Sanji of hope.

And Sanji was struck by the thought that he can’t do this on his own. He needs something to fill the aching hole that losing a part of himself left behind. A hole that only one person could fill…

He forces his feet forwards, before he collapsed into himself in the middle of the dining hall. Before he allowed himself to succumb. Before the next Sanji to join the battlefield was himself entirely instead of just a part of him.

Unsure if there is even breath in his lungs, he bursts into the employee bathroom, avoiding the mirror hanging over the sink. He didn’t need to look at himself. He needed to make the call before he lost himself entirely.

“Come on, come on.” The steady ringing of the phone seemed to be slower than normal. Impatience. Foot tapping against old tile. Then, the line connects and Sanji breathes a sigh of relief. “Vera.”

Series Masterlist | Chapter 09

Taglist: @thekatisspooky @teacarby @zoecelestine @vespidphoenix

[lsunstreakerl]

NEWCHAPTERNEWCHAPTERNEWCHAPTER THANK YKU FOR THE BEDTIME STORIES SUNNY 😁😁

BIG OL' RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE WE ARE NOW IN ANKLE-HOOKING, HAND HOLDING, CHEEK-CARESSING, MASSAGING-EACH-OTHER TERRITORY good lord is rico down bad sfhhehfhshdhshhds

and the part where it really hits rico's competency kink because wifey is great at solving town arguments and being amazing at diplomacy and caring about the villagers, even wanting to be there in person to protect them and assure them 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ learning that max is great at forgery is HILARIOUS and rico has now gone to level flirting or idk maybe max is now aware that yanno, the king is interested in him (SURELY HE KNOWS THAT RIGHT)

protective and jealous rico makes an appearance!!! him being possessive of max when the duke STARTS FLIRTING WITH MAX THROUGH THE LETTERS (WHICH INSANE BECAUSE WHAT???? 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 HELLO?????? NO CONTEXT JUST THAT?????) and the way every time he does that/becomes protective of max (see: incident with dennis) and then max having an existential crisis because he's horny for the king which, good for him!

really the entire chapter is just rico trying to flirt and love max while max is battling his horny ass thoughts

WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT RICO LEAVING MAX WITH NO SHIRT???? WAS THAY ON PURPOSE TO SEE WIFEY WITH NO SHIRT/TO THEN OH SO CASUALLY TRANSITION TO MASSAGE TIME?????? also max turning into just a melted pile of nothingness because of the massage was very funny and cute wdym he just cuddled and snuggled :D!

also DENNIS????????? EX-ENEMY?????? SUSPICIOUS OLD MAN WHO JS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHO MAX IS IM KEEPING AN EYE ON HIM...I can't tell if he's like actually fought against max and so is skeptical and doesn't trust him even after max killed saddik or like if he's just old man curious idk 🧍🧍

uhm ofc can't end with mentioning max revealing to rico he HAD NO IDEA UNTIL A FEW DAYS AGO SHFHEHFHEHDHEHDHEHHHEHDHD took me out honestly rico was like 'no way 🧍🧍🧍🧍🧍🧍 smart wifey...very unaware...flirted for NOTHING' it's like he doubled down and turned the flirting to the MAX becausbethey went from nothing to basically touching every moment (will max ever tell rico how he found out through the 'being called a whre moment'?) LOVEEEEEE that martijn and joris are as usual doing best friend duties by teasing them, as they should 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

thanks for the chapter again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THEY ARE MAKING LEAPS AND BOUNDS IN THEIR PROGRESS!!! LOOK AT THEM GO!!!!

max is great at forgery! he would also write for vic sometimes, but not for any valid reason- he just got bullied into it frequently. and he's used to working with a smaller community up north, so it's not surprising that he immediately jumps to being there in person to reassure them.

the duke got max's "be so fucking for real" face one time and it was enough to make him straighten up his act. and now he's on his forgiveness tour! (while managing to also piss off the king. multitalented)

rico absolutely ups the flirting by about 200% once he realizes that it wasn't that isn't receptive- he just didn't know! and now that he does know, he's blushy all the time. and you can't really blame rico for wanting to see more of that :)

yeah the no shirt was on purpose. he's been waiting for the chance to get a good look without worrying about bleeding out and the opportunity just drops in his lap! what else was he supposed to do?

max finally gets all that tension worked out and turns into a purring housecat. rico decides that will become a frequent part of their routine.

dennis definitely has some old man curiosity going on! he's been guarding rico for most of his life, so he's naturally suspicious of the new prince consort.

YES YOU GET IT rico doubling down as soon as max admits that he didn't know is incredibly real of him, and also why they make so many small jumps so fast! hand holding, ankle hooking, pinning to the wall in a way that simply cannot be platonic

max is going to keep that one to himself for a little bit, because he's not entirely sure how rico would react, but he has a gut feeling it's not good.

martijn and joris are so happy that the king and prince consort are becoming more comfortable with each other, but they still have to fulfill best friend duties 🙂‍↕️

I'm so glad you liked it!!!! fmf has been such a joy to write so far, and everyone has been incredibly patient with me while I worldbuild and try to figure them out. it makes me happy to know it's got people that love it as much as I do 🫶🤍

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

THE HUNDRED LINE: LAST DEFENSE ACADEMY - Journal #5: Route 0 Days 57-66. [MASSIVE SPOILERS]

//As I mentioned before, due in part to me having more immediate obligations to get through, I ended up taking a break from this game. But when I did, I genuinely was so excited to get back to it that I started to go threw withdrawals.

//I'm not addicted YOU ARE!

//But in all seriousness, I wanted to try and cover as much ground as I possibly could. I was shooting to make go from Day 57, where I left off, to Day 70 at least.

//But man, this game is SO LONG. And these days in particular were jammed with SO MUCH STUFF.

//It's...hard to say how I feel about this arc of the story, but I can confidently say that it's probably the most emotionally damaging part.

//Which is actually ironic. One common theme of the Danganronpa games and their plots is they start of strong, tend to petter out during the middle, and then where it flops massively, it hits back with the most emotionally engaging, and typically the SADDEST part of the story.

//And even though Hundred Line is not split up by chapters, turns out it hit the same way. I complained a bunch about the previous stuff I experienced, but everything I found in this part was LEGENDARY.

//But I can't say any more than that, because again, spoilers.

DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS POST IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED/SEEN THE HUNDRED LINE: LAST DEFENSE ACADEMY. I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT VERY SPECIFIC PLOT POINTS AND MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE GAME.

//So let's get started:

DAY 57:

//One thing I will say out of the gate is that the actual plot progression over the course of these days is honestly kind of slow. It has a really slow, steady buildup, and then immediately, it all comes crashing down.

//The highlight of today's discussion, as I fully expected it would be, is Moko, as it's now been 8 days since she showed up at the school out of nowhere. Seeing as, by this point, she's the only one of the group not on the battlefield yet. I assumed that this arc would be centered around her, but there are other things to note as well.

//Specifically, the Invader Commander that we took prisoner after the last battle, is now in a cage in the courtyard, and Shouma is apparently taking care of her.

//Not gonna lie, Shouma's budding relationship with the enemy commander throughout this part, even if most of what we know is only given by word of mouth, is pretty engaging. Through this initial interaction, I started thinking that he might have had a crush on her.

//By the way, this Invader is CLEARLY an important character SOMEHOW, because she appears on the map and has her own icon, suggesting that she's someone we can talk to. As I said before, my current theory was that this Invader was going to end up being student number 16, since most of Kodaka's games have an evened out cast like that, and Hundred Line's lineup was only really one off.

//Ima and Kako show up a little later because they spent the night playing games and trying to ease into their new relationship dynamic. And credit where it is due, the way they interact now towards each other is MUCH better!

//I think the big issue is that the sister-complex nature of Ima, and the submissive sister nature of Kako made it really hard to relate and sympathize with them both. But now that Ima's worldview has changed and Kako is trying to be more independent, they now seem just like regular siblings, and I can definitely get behind that.

//I would KILL someone to have a Danganronpa/Danganronpa-style game that features siblings, and just HAVE THEM BE SIBLINGS. It's my firm belief, based on...very obvious past experience, that having siblings, especially if they're twins, in a killing game is just a really obvious plot point in the making, where one of them dies, they both die in the same trial, one impersonates the other, etc. There's so little you can do with that idea, which is why I'm never on board with it.

//This is definitely acceptable though. And as rushed as the story felt, I am happy that Ima is now treating Kako like a sister rather than his most cherished property.

//I spent Free Time as I often do; with trying to level up my social stats and physical stats, but during my break, I was given some advice on something.

//Someone told me that it was a really good idea to get everyone to learn Last Yell, and then try abusing that move as much as possible in the battles. Especially the one's that last for a while, i.e. more than one round.

//I haven't actually talked about it before, but to go into a bit more detail here, but up until now, I've mainly been using the voltage meter to use my super abilities and take out enemies in a large group. But on top of using the meter to use ultimate moves, you can also use them to give your character's a boost, like a boost in damage for instance, one of which is called Last Yell.

//The way Last Yell works is once it's activated, whenever an ally uses a skill while you're sitting at exactly 1 Action Point, there's a 50% chance that whoever has Last Yell active will trigger an effect called Support. Support enhances that skill, adding +2 damage and granting 2x Voltage instead of the usual amount.

//The really interesting, and frankly absurd part is that multiple instances of Last Yell can be triggered by a single skill, assuming that most of your characters around you have it activated. These effects stack additively. You can trigger up to 4 instances of Support, resulting in a potential +8 bonus damage and 5x Voltage gain from a single skill, assuming your luck holds.

//Which makes this ability not only INSANELY STRONG, but also VERY STACKABLE.

//The true hilarity begins when you strategically lower your AP to 1 and intentionally leave a few AP-boosting enemies alive. If you line things up right, a single skill can wipe out several of them at once, and each kill can independently trigger Last Yell, rapidly snowballing your Voltage. This Voltage can then be reinvested into activating MORE Last Yell Boosts, amplifying the effect even further.

//When it’s time to face the boss, you repeat the process: bring your AP back down to 1 and use the Voltage you’ve generated to trigger Act Again instead. With the right setup and a bit of RNG, this effectively converts 100 Voltage into multiple skill activations, each one hitting with +8 damage or more.

//And again, this lasts across the whole battle, so you don't need to reapply it to characters after each wave.

//Unfortunately, I didn't have much of a chance to actually TEST this power, because most of the fights I did in this part of the story only lasted around two rounds, and in the major boss one (spoilers) the first round only has you use two characters on the field, and the rest of your squad join in the second round. So there wasn't really any way I could use this in-game hack effectively. But it's definitely something to keep in mind for the future.

//So I grinded a bunch of BP, and got everyone in the squad to learn it.

//I DID consider maybe going on an exploration, because I want to upgrade my gear and potions and don't have enough levels or gear for it at the moment. However, I decided against it, because Nozomi is unavailable for the current period; being too focused on taking care of Moko, and can't come out with us.

//Nozomi kind of carries me during lengthy explorations, so I didn't want to risk going out there without her.

DAY 58:

//Day 58 was pretty uneventful overall. The only major development is that Moko seems to have come down with a fever, and things aren’t looking good for her. Her condition just keeps getting worse, adding to the growing sense of hopelessness surrounding her situation, and Nozomi is running herself ragged trying to help her.

//What stood out to me most during the day was my curiosity about how the invader commander might eventually tie into the main plot.

//Once again, I’ve been speculating that she could be the mysterious 16th character, though based on what’s currently happening, I’m still not entirely sure how that would work. There’s just not enough narrative groundwork laid for that twist, at least not yet.

//Again, nothing much happened today, I just spent the Free Time like I normally would, but the day wraps up with another flashback to Karua.

//In the scene, Karua is nursing a sick dog back to health, and Takumi ends up taking care of her when she herself inevitably falls ill from looking after it. Again, all of these Karua scenes tie back to her subtle connection to Nozomi in some way, and Nozomi herself is being shown to be losing sleep and health because she's too serious about taking care of Moko, just as Karua was this dog.

//It also retroactively explains her actions during the prologue, where she ran off after the stray dog that turns out to be Sirei. She just has a strong instinct to protect lost or sick animals, even at her own expense.

//By the way, I should mention something I’ve noticed but haven’t brought up until now: almost all of Takumi’s flashbacks involving Karua have Clair de Lune playing softly in the background.

//For you Danganronpa fans out there who somehow don't recognize it, that's Kaede's song from V3 that plays at the end of Chapter 1 when Shuichi is in her lab by himself, after she's died. It's a song that's pretty synonymous with Kaede and V3 as a whole, and in the music credits of the game, she's even listed as the song's composer.

//While that track is often associated with Danganronpa, it’s interesting that it only shows up once or twice in those games. Apparently, it's used far more heavily in The Evil Within, which makes sense when you realize that Masafumi Takada, the composer for both Danganronpa and The Hundred Line, also did the music for that game.

//I haven't played The Evil Within, so I don't really understand the deeper meaning of that song being in it, but there's not really much reason for it to be tied to Karua in all the scenes we see of her. So rather than being a deliberate thematic reference, I get the sense that Takada just really, REALLY likes that song, lol.

DAY 59:

//Shouma is clearly forging a deeper connection with the enemy commander. Despite the language barrier between them, he's managed to prove that meaningful communication is possible between our species. Apparently, he spoke to her, and, surprisingly, she not only understood him but seemed to genuinely enjoy the exchange. It’s a small but powerful gesture that suggests a potential bridge between our two worlds.

//However, this development doesn't sit well with the rest of the unit, and it’s easy to understand why.

//The more Shouma learns about the commander, the harder it becomes to uphold the narrative that the Invaders are fundamentally alien or inhuman. They're intelligent, capable of understanding language, and able to form emotional connections, just as any regular human being could. Considering they also use hemoanima to fight and transform, really, the only difference between us and them at this point in terms of nature is that we speak different languages.

//In particular, the likes of Kyoshika and Kurara don't like it, because as far as they're concerned, the Invaders are murderous monsters who must be annihilated. Likening them to fellow humans when protecting humanity is the reason we're here in the first place doesn't bode well for them.

//So when Shouma starts treating the enemy with empathy or even curiosity, it feels like a betrayal of purpose. After all, we’re supposed to be here to protect humanity, not question whether the so-called monsters we're fighting might actually be people too. As those differences fade, so too does the moral clarity of our mission.

//On a different note, I’ve noticed a shift in the game’s pacing. Earlier on, I remember complaining that there wasn’t enough free time to explore or build relationships, but now, I seem to have more downtime than I know what to do with.

//Wanting to make use of it, I went to the school library in the afternoon to boost my social stats and ended up reading yet another heavily censored book. But this one had an interesting detail that stood out.

//It confirmed something I’d been suspecting, and that I talked about in my previous posts for this game. Not all media was simply lost after the Tokyo Residential Complex was established. Some of it was DELIBERATELY destroyed. Specifically, anything containing records of human history before the Complex existed.

//That revelation adds an unsettling layer to the worldbuilding. It makes you wonder what exactly are they trying so hard to erase? What truths have been buried under layers of propaganda and silence?

//We obviously know it's related to World Death, but even that suggests there's more behind World Death's origins and what it actually is than we're let in on.

//With the strange behavior of the Invaders, Shouma’s growing bond with the commander, and the increasingly obvious signs of a rewritten history, I’m starting to question the entire narrative we’ve been given. The real question is...are we REALLY the heroes of this story?

//Again, mostly standard day, but I do want to quickly make a note that there was this line in the breakfast scene that suggested that not even Shouma's dog loved him, and was actually trying to run away from him. Which is actually super depressing, because Shouma's dog was supposed to be the only thing in the world that cared about him, and is the very reason he's out here fighting.

DAY 60:

//We've offically been here for two months, and all dumbass Sirei could do was show up in a suit, apparently not having prepared anything.

//This is where the somewhat casual air of the story starts to take a bit of a turn, and we get more suggestions as to what's really going on here. It starts off with Moko not getting any better, so Nozomi prepares to go out and get ingredients so she can make some kind of medicine with the Gift-O'-Matic. Takumi doesn't want her going alone, so he heads out with her.

//This isn't my first rodeo doing this as part of the story. We basically have to move the characters around the board to three locations to progress. After touching down on the second one though, it suddenly starts raining.

//That rain becomes a thunderstorm after grabbing the third and final ingredient, and not wanting to be struck by lightning, Takumi and Nozomi duck into a nearby building to wait out the storm.

//This is a pretty crucial moment, because this is the first time that Takumi and Nozomi have been alone since they met. And not in a hostile way either.

//However, even though this is Takumi's chance to finally have a one-on-one conversation with her about her potential connection to his childhood friend, he reads the room, and decides not to bring it up directly.

//Nozomi is really out here acting like she's not the most integral member of the party, smh.

//Nozomi ends up talking a little about her routine back in the TRC, though not in much detail. But in the middle of this reflective moment, she accidentally drops a major revelation; one that completely shifts Takumi’s understanding of her place in the story.

//Without meaning to, she lets it slip that she WASN'T recruited into the war effort the same way the rest of us were. In fact, from what she says, it becomes clear that she was never meant to be at the Last Defense Academy at all.

//At least...that's what I'm getting.

//By this point, I had already started to suspect something was off about Nozomi compared to the rest of the group. Rather, I had expected as much since her debut in the trailer; purely from the fact that she had a different means of combat than everyone else.

//Everyone at the academy shares one critical trait: we all have a specific kind of special blood anomaly that enables us to wield Hemoanima...or at the very least, that's the feeling I'm getting from Shouma's flashbacks to the Kamukura hospital. It’s the cornerstone of our combat potential and the primary reason we were drafted into this war.

//But Nozomi stands out. She’s never demonstrated the same affinity for Hemoanima as the rest of us. Instead, she relies entirely on her custom artificial armor to fight. And now, with this accidental admission, the pieces begin to fall into place.

//My guess is the real reason she can’t use Hemoanima is because she doesn’t have the blood type, and she was never compatible in the first place. Unlike the rest of us, she wasn’t chosen; she herself chose this path. She VOLUNTEERED to fight in a war she wasn’t meant to be a part of.

//Realizing she’s said too much, Nozomi goes quiet. But instead of shutting down completely or deflecting with a lie, she simply asks Takumi to drop the subject...for now.

//I like Nozomi's reaction to this. She doesn't freak out about it, she just makes a calm request. It shows that she trusts him, not just to keep her secret, but to respect her boundaries. And considering how rocky they started off, this is a good thing.

//She’s not ready to talk about it, and yet she’s vulnerable enough in his presence to admit that.

//However, the situation however only gets more confusing after that.

//Nozomi quietly reveals that her mother was a researcher; a detail that immediately draws ANOTHER parallel to Karua, whose mother is also known to be involved in scientific work. We found this out during Karua's introduction in the prologue.

//But as Nozomi continues, the similarities begin to blur into something more unsettling. She offhandedly mentions that her own birth was one of her mother’s many experiments, implying she may have been created or modified as part of a larger scientific agenda. It’s this almost chilling admission that casts her entire existence in a more ambiguous, possibly artificial light.

//Adding to that mystery, Nozomi's mother is supposedly dead, while Karua’s mother is still alive...

//...as far as WE presume, at least. The truth is, we have never MET Karua's mother. She only talks about how she's never home, so the possibility that Karua's mother could be gone is also non-zero.

//There's a chance that Karua's mother did pass away, and Karua never really talked about it to the Sumino family.

//And then there’s the matter of their fathers. Both Nozomi and Karua lost their fathers in car accidents during childhood. That parallel feels too specific to be coincidence, yet the emotional texture around each story is distinct enough to prevent an easy conclusion.

//I just want to give this game credit for doing a really good job at handling the Nozomi/Karua mystery. Because no mystery in this game has fucked with my brain more than this one.

//These two seem to share a mirrored origin, as if they’re reflections of one another rather than entirely separate people. On the surface, they appear fundamentally different in personality, outlook, and role in the story, but they are strikingly aligned in appearance, backstory, connections to scientific institutions, and a sense of being shaped by forces beyond their control.

//The game is walking a fine line, skillfully feeding just enough symmetry to make you suspicious, while also presenting enough divergence to keep you uncertain.

//There have been so many possibilities and explanations brought up so far. Are they sisters? Clones? Variants from different timelines?

//None of those feel right, and yet, there's no clearly obvious way to explain it either, other than Karua and Nozomi just ARE the same person. But again, even THAT doesn't feel right with all that we know so far!

DAY 61:

//By the time Takumi and Nozomi return to the academy the next morning, having weathered the storm overnight, they're greeted at the entrance by Eito, who’s waiting with unexpected news.

//Though their original reason for venturing out was to gather ingredients to make medicine for Moko, it turns out that Moko has already made a full recovery in their absence. And sure enough, when we return to the cafeteria, there she is, waiting for us.

//(GOD she is so absurdly big...!)

//Upon reuniting, Moko properly introduces herself for the first time, and her presence INSTANTLY shifts the atmosphere. What follows is a heartwarming reunion between her and Nozomi.

//As for Moko herself...Yeah, I REALLY like her!

//It becomes clear pretty quickly that all the good feats Nozomi spouted about Moko before are true. She's loud, goofy, and delightfully over-the-top, she barrels into the scene with an energy that’s impossible to ignore. Her personality is larger than life, and in just this brief introduction, she manages to bring levity and laughter.

//There’s something incredibly endearing about how unfiltered and open she is, even when she's saying some kind of violent bullshit. She has a kind of “big sister” presence, but not in a solemn or protective way, more in the sense that she’s the type to ruffle your hair, tease you relentlessly, and then throw you over her shoulder affectionately.

//Even in this short exchange, it’s hard not to smile when she’s on screen.

//Although, we do get a very brief hint that something's not quite right with her when everyone asks if she's fit and fighting ready to combat the Invaders. More on that in a bit though.

DAY 62:

//Takumi begins today dwelling on his discussions with Nozomi, and isn't really giving much attention to her accidental confession. Instead, he's focusing more in the experimental side of things.

//Assuming Nozomi IS Karua, he suspects that the experiments that Nozomi underwent is the reason why she doesn't remember him. Which...you know, I'm willing to give credence on this line of thinking. Even if I am left guessing, that's still a better avenue than nothing.

//But even with that, there's so much lore to unpack here.

//For reasons that I can't quite explain, I keep going to check up on the captured commander every morning before I head to the restaurant, thinking that she might do something or say anything to me. I kind of wanted to see if anything had changed behind the scenes.

//On the first day when I went to check on her she looked sad, but since then, her expression is more passive and she hasn't been saying anything. She's not been smiling or anything, but I keep going back to look.

//Entering the cafeteria, Moko is standing in the middle of the room and recounting a story that's making everyone laugh their asses off over it.

//Moko tells a lot of stories at breakfast over the course of these few days. The best part about them is I can't tell if they're tall tales or not, because knowing who's writing this game, these events are perfectly plausible.

//What made me laugh was that whenever all the characters are in a room together, I have a tendency to talk to all the characters I'm not supposed to talk to, then talk to the important character to progress the story; just so I don't miss out on all the optional dialogue. And this time when I did it, I talked to Ima, who was basically saying that he's worried that Kako would be inspired by Moko, and hopes that she doesn't start thinking she wants to be like her, followed immediately by Kako saying she wants to be just like her. That gave me a tickle.

//We actually cut to business quickly after the story, and as it turns out, Moko, suspiciously, doesn't remember anything when she got captured by the invaders, suggesting that her memory had been wiped. So we're unfortunately not getting much out of her on THAT front for the moment.

//Not that I expected we would. We don't tend to have a lot of luck with this kind of thing.

//It took me a while to click honestly. I thought that the game was suggesting that Shouma was going to have a romantic tension with the Invader we captured, but right now it seems more like he's treating her like a pet.

//RESPECTFULLY of course, but he's not quite seeing her as an equal human being. Or rather, maybe he is seeing her as an equal, but only because he himself thinks he's on a dog's level.

DAY 63:

//NOOOOTHING FUUUUCKING HAAAAPPEEEENED!

//Basically we just rinse and repeated what happened the previous day. Wake up, hear Moko chatting about shit in the cafeteria, something doesn't seem right, Free Time.

//I do have a couple small highlights. For one, you can talk to Yugamu in the hallway before you go to breakfast.

//Takumi and Yugamu haven't had a single wholesome interaction yet. Takumi just DOES NOT LIKE THIS MAN, haha.

//Similarly, Darumi clearly doesn't like Moko at all. But obviously, that's because happy situations where people are alive and merry are her kryptonite basically.

//And once again, Nozomi herself seems to be noticing more keenly that something is up with Moko.

DAY 64:

//That kind of culminates into today, and the following day too.

//The moment you walk into the cafeteria, you sense there's something off about Moko. Unlike the last two days, she’s not at her usual post telling the morning story, and instead looking distant and aloof in the corner, in a way that's kind of eerie.

//I actually kind of started getting chills at this point. I should have realized at that time that they must have meant something.

//More directly, the news for today is that through his interactions, Shouma has somehow taught the Invader to speak like a human. Or at the very least, he managed to teach her how to say the word "Beautiful" in their language.

//I honestly do feel a little bit bad for Shouma in this part of the story, because he clearly cares about the Invader we captured. But everyone else is treating her like a feral animal with rabies, and honestly, that might be the safer bet. But still, she doesn’t seem violent. I just hope Shouma’s attachment doesn’t end up getting someone hurt, or cause a rift in the group.

//Later that evening, Nozomi shows up at Takumi’s door, and invites him to a quiet classroom to talk privately. She says she suspects Moko is hiding something, which...yeah, no kidding. Moko’s whole vibe has been really off lately, despite having a really corny introduction.

//After a short conversation, Nozomi agrees to confront her. It's risky, but we need answers before this situation spirals any further out of control.

DAY 65:

//This is where things go from "Oh God" to "OH SHIT!"

//Remember how I mentioned that this part of the story is the most emotional trainwreck we've seen so far? Well, here's why.

//Moko tells another story in the morning, and I swear, these tales get more outlandish as things go along.

//But more importantly, Takumi suspects that Nozomi called Moko to the same room she called him the previous day, and worrying for her, he goes to eavesdrop.

//Things...don't go well.

//Kudos to Nozomi, she at least goes out of her way to explain thoroughly to Moko what she noticed, and why she was concerned, on top of giving her very good reasoning for it. But Moko's response is to blow up on her, and she even accuses her of being a fake friend, getting close for no reason other than wanting whatever information she forgot about the Invaders.

//And it becomes very clear very quickly why Moko is suddenly acting so untowards...and it's NOT pretty.

//Takumi goes to check up on Nozomi afterwards to see if she's okay, and ends up coming clean about eavesdropping.

//Side note, Nozomi's room is actually super cute and cozy looking. Not-Not really much of a big deal, kinda just wanted to mention it because I like it.

//Anyway, a conversation ensues, and Takumi comforts Nozomi, sympathizing with her, and Nozomi resolves to apologize to Moko in the morning.

//Things seem like they're really tense after Moko and Nozomi's argument, but then somehow, things get even worse.

//And by the way...get used to hearing me say that. Because for these last few days to cover here, we just get bad news after bad news after bad news, and we keep getting the shit beaten out of us by the narrative.

//The boy wreathed in the Undying Flames appears again in Takumi’s room that night, and as we are already aware of by now, every time he shows up, disaster follows. First, it was Sirei’s death, then Hiruko vanished, etcetera.

//Takumi doesn’t waste a second. He bolts after the boy, convinced the ghost is headed toward the Defense Room (Not sure why because if the ghost was looming in the school he'd have multiple chances to get to the Defense Room, but...okay)

//But instead of catching up to him, he runs straight into Moko in the hallway. And this is where everything gets surreal.

//Moko's dialogue starts glitching with random capital letters in it. Her sprite begins to warp as well, and as Takumi follows her, her features become twisted and grotesque.

//When Takumi finally reaches the Defense Room, it’s not the boy waiting there, but Moko. And what he sees is nothing short of a nightmare. Moko is standing far too close to the barrier of Undying Flames. Takumi tries to pull her back, to stop her from breaching whatever lies behind the fire, but then she turns...

//OH FUCK MY ASS!!!??

//Yeah, not gonna lie, even with the buildup, this CG scared the SHIT out of me! It was WAY more horrifying than I thought it would end up being, and it's enough to make someone pull a Tsubasa and throw the hell up.

//When I first saw what was going on, I had the sickening thought that what happened is the Invaders turned Moko into one of them when they captured her. I haven't talked about it explicitly, but I had this theory before that the Invaders weren’t born, but were actually humans twisted into something else. If they captured Moko, maybe that’s what happened to her. And maybe all of her weird mannerisms the previous few days were just the result of her humanity slipping away.

//Just as things spiral completely out of control, not only does Nozomi appear, but the Undying Flames react, almost like they recognize her presence. They lash out at "Moko," hurling her out of the room and out of the school entirely.

//Takumi and Nozomi go to get her, but before that, Takumi insists they suit up. So with it being just the two of them, and with no alarms sounding, they jump into the battlefield.

//Before we fight, we get a few more cutscenes of Nozomi trying to get through to Moko. I get where she's coming from, like, she really wants to believe there’s still a piece of her friend left in that thing, but man, she’s really slow to accept that Moko is long gone.

//It’s rough to watch honestly. The story is putting Nozomi through the emotional wringer, and she barely gets a breath before it throws her into another devastating scene.

//The first round of the fight kicks off with just Nozomi and Takumi squaring off against the thing wearing Moko’s face, and a swarm of smaller, shadow-like creatures she summons.

//I'm gonna be completely honest, I wasn’t expecting her to hit that hard (despite, you know, the fact that Moko is a wrestler), so Takumi actually got taken out in the first round. Luckily, he did enough damage, and Nozomi finished Moko off pretty quickly.

/.Visually, this whole display is horrifically stunning. Not only is the enemy design grotesque, but the dialogue cuts deep. The horror elements are firing on all cylinders, and I think this is the closest I've ever been to finding one of Kodaka's games genuinely scary.

//Thankfully, backup arrives just in time. The rest of the gang shows up finally, where Yugamu puts his bizarre and encyclopedic knowledge of the human body to use, and explains the full scope of the situation.

//As it turns out, Moko wasn’t possessed, and she didn’t turn into anything. What we’ve been fighting isn’t Moko at all. It’s an Invader Commander wearing her skin, and it's been im impersonating her from the start.

//Looking back, this explains A LOT. It explains how and why Moko was able to get through the wall of fire without any hemoanima-based fire hydrant, and ALSO why when she showed up, the school alarm sounded. It's kinda freaky looking back and noticing all the oddities.

//Then Fake Moko turns up the nightmare factor, as she starts creating twisted shadow versions of the team; one for each of us. It’s a full-blown shadow clone battle, and honestly, it’s a fun mechanic.

//Darumi throws out a meta-comment pre-fight, "Clones make things easier for the devs," which cracks me up even as I’m clenching through the chaos.

//Honestly, this battle, at least for the first half, is TOUGH! More than I expected. The shadow clones have all our moves and abilities, and the only saving grace is that they don't have much health, meaning one good super move is taking them out easily. It's best to make sure you use the characters who can hit in a wide area with their attacks, like Gaku or Ima.

//But I make a point to let Nozomi land the final blow. She’s earned it.

//When the Invader finally collapses, it drops the mask. I'm impressed because this wasn't just mimicry. This thing had access to all of Moko’s memories, her voice, her habits, everything. It was a near-perfect copy. The only reason we even noticed something was wrong was because of the subtle breaks.

//Then comes the gut punch: the commander confirms it. The real Moko is dead. There’s no saving her. She’s gone. And with that, any hope of her returning to the team dies too.

//On top of that, the commander's initial plan was to go in under the guise of Moko being sick, and get to the Defense Room without anyone noticing. But because Nozomi never left its side, that was impossible. They tried to do it on the day Nozomi left with Takumi, which is why Moko conviniently woke up.

//So we're probably not even gonna be able to see what Moko can do until we do another playthrough, where we might get a chance to save her before she gets captured.

//This affects everyone pretty badly, because they'd all grown to really like Moko, only now finding out she was never the real deal. Just a copy that was out to get them all. The scene ends with Eito killing it when it went silent.

//Out of rage, detest, and spite against the Invaders for what they did to Moko, the others are ready to take it out on the Invader we’ve been keeping locked up, the one Shouma’s been trying to reach. Ultimately though, they’re simply heartbroken, betrayed, and just looking for somewhere to put that pain.

//But before it explodes into another tragedy, Eito steps in. Then Takumi. And, in what might be the most heartbreaking part of all, even Nozomi asks everyone to stop. Despite being ridden with Despair over finding out her best friend was killed by the enemy and impersonated, she rightfully points out that now's not really a good time. They should come to a conclusion in the morning.

DAY 66:

//No, far from it. Day 65 was an emotional beating in and of itself, but waking up literally the next morning, and things somehow go from ABSOLUTELY AWFUL to EVEN WORSE!

//We honestly shouldn't have even brought up the possibility of killing the Invader we captured, because lo and behold, that bitch ESCAPED from the cage!

//The timing is way too convenient. The lock on her holding cell has been clearly broken, not picked or bypassed, and considering she didn't have the means of getting out on her own because her abilities were deactivated, someone let her out. That much is obvious.

//Naturally, all eyes turn to Shouma. He had the motive and he had the access, since he was assigned to watch her. It adds up on the surface, but even the characters themselves point out that it still doesn’t sit right. Shouma doesn't have the emotional will to betray everyone, as much as he cared for the Invader and as much as he tried to defend her. Plus, he had the key to her cage, so why would he break the lock.

//Personally, I suspect Eito again. He's still my prime suspect for killing Sirei and making Hiruko vanish, as well as burning our food. So this could be the next phase of his plan.

//The problem is I really don't understand his angle this time, assuming that he IS the traitor.

//Then again, I never understand what his angle is. He’s clearly trying to weaken us from within for whatever reason, but this seems like a really unprompted tactic. Why release someone we were planning to execute anyway?

//Takumi, on the other hand, doubles down on blaming the Undying Flames Boy. He’s convinced the ghost is orchestrating all of this from the shadows.

//But Nozomi, ever the voice of reason despite everything, finally pushes back, finally pointing out that without the boy’s sudden appearance, Takumi never would have found Fake Moko in time. If anything, the boy SAVED us.

//I don't really get why Takumi is so insistent the Undying Flames boy is evil when he hasn't really done anything untowards yet. Takumi might just be that stupid, or at the very least, he's not spending much time thinking about it.

//And just as we’re all knee-deep in suspicion and tension, the situation gets even worse. Turns out, the escaped Invader didn’t leave alone.

//One thing that everyone noticed early that morning is that the Tsukumo Twins didn't show up to breakfast. We assumed they were late again, because they both slept in after the last big battle we did, but the situation is...far worse than we thought.

//Takumi goes to the Entrance Hall, and as he does, Kako suddenly comes back in, dressed in her Class Armor, and no sign of Ima. She passes out, and after she recovers, we find out that the Invader left the academy and took him hostage.

//Ima. The newest member of our team. The one who just started opening up, started fitting in. And now he’s gone.

//But...haha...SAY IT WITH ME EVERYONE! "IT! GETS! WORSE!"

//The fire extinguishers in the entrance hall and the emergency ones on the bus are BOTH BROKEN. So not only can we not get outside the Wall of Flames to chase after Ima and save him but we’re essentially TRAPPED IN THE SCHOOL! Surrounded by the Undying Flames, with no clear way out.

//This is bad for multiple reasons. The main one is that we obviously can't rescue Ima from whatever fate he's currently suffering, but also we get most of our resources from random shit we happen to scavange in the wild. Now we can't even do that.

// might be misremembering here, but I'm pretty sure Takumi blames the Undying Flames boy again.

I still don’t understand Takumi’s obsession with him. Every time he’s shown up, something helpful has happened, if not directly, then indirectly. He’s never spoken a word, never raised a hand against us. If anything, he seems like the only one trying to guide us. And yet, Takumi can’t let it go.

//The loss of Ima hits hard. We were just beginning to get to know him, to fold him into the rhythm of the group. And now, just like Hiruko, and just like Moko, he’s gone. Probably permanently. At this point, I’m scared to hope for anything different.

Conclusion:

//After my disappointments from the previous arc of the story, this one brought some amazing plot points, mysteries, and generally awesome times all around. Here's my takeaways:

The mystery of how Nozomi is connected to Karua, or whether they are the same person or not, is starting to become more and more layered, and as such, I gradually grow more and more interested in it.

I feel really bad for Nozomi in this part. She got emotionally damaged by what happened and I don't know how she's going to cope with it going forward.

Shouma's unexpected fondness and budding relationship with the Invader Commander, though it only lasted a few days, was unexpected, but not unwelcome. I enjoyed it.

The whole situation with Moko turning out to be an enemy commander in disguise was so sad, so TERRIFYING, and so BRILLIANT. Day 65 genuinely had my heart racing the whole time.

My hopes for Ima's survival after this are not high. Now that the Invaders have him, I think it's light's out for him. He's in my prayers though.

I am honestly a little disappointed that both Ima and Moko are gone. I only got to use Ima in two battles, and I didn't get to use Moko in ANY. I'm really hoping my theory about the timeline reset is right so I can use them both for real.

//Man, you don't know how good it feels to finally be back to playing this game again. Like I said, I was starting to go into withdrawals during my break. I'm enjoying it THAT much, even with all the despair and pain it's giving me.

//Can't wait to see what happens next~

-Mod

[reddevilmcnt]

Even though Brendan had reached out to touch him, resting a warm hand against the tatted, angular ridge of his shoulder blade, Riven could indeed keep up with hiding any physical reaction that might betray broken instances of his mourning. Grief was complicated, coming and going in waves, oscillating between the hottest anger that Riven's ever felt, and the cold all-consuming blanket of emptiness, numbness. There lingered a natural tendency to personally shield Brendan from seeing any of that... including how difficult it was to feel pain in Bren's presence at all. It made him wonder if Bren could tell how much soul-deep calm he brought into Riven's life--------- or if he was also secretly tripping over his own nerves too much to notice the way everything about Riven softened in his presence. These weren't plainly obvious changes, however... and the fact that Riven went away for so long didn't help matters. Brendan would have to see Riven around others, and then compare it to the regular happiness of them just being alone together.

Or-------- or, most likely, Riven had to try not wearing menace so much on the outside. Like his protective, second layer of skin.

He wasn't very good at it, though, upon hearing Bren talk about his parents? He could immediately gather why he'd shaped up to be more so of a loner who only spoke in straightforward, blunt tones in most cases. Riven couldn't imagine missing being around his parents; maybe it happened when he was a lot younger, and holidays were rough, for sure, but he'd always preferred the hundreds of miles in between them. It was only unfortunate that that distance had been applied to him and Bren, as well. ...But it was Riven's fault for never trying, for starting all those handwritten personal letters and never finishing them, for never sending off postcards or leaving voice messages. Someway, somehow, Brendan had still taken him back as a friend with open arms. Forgiveness, or maybe just a sincere, quiet understanding. Gentle things that could make a man's heart burst, truly. Maybe one day he'll be less of a ticking time bomb, and evolve into a stronger man capable of being treated softly, and extending that to his... non-crush. Yeah. Of course.

"That's good, that you guys get the holidays together," His words were honest, gorgeous green eyes melting significantly at how adorable Bren looked when just standing there twiddling his thumbs (seriously, why was Riven obsessed with everything this boy did? It made no fucking sense.) He may not ever get to experience the family unity that Brendan had, but to be honest? Riven was just relieved that there'd been caring individuals there in his corner while he was off... being a selfish asshole. Or so his own mom and dad would call him-------- while they laughed at all those ideas of him becoming some famous artist, up until they realized he was a big deal and they weren't getting to eat off any of the fruits of his labor. Gage wouldn't let them take advantage. That brotherly bond was terribly, excruciatingly missed... the way that it was silently understood that they had to protect each other, even from their own blood.

"Oh, yeah? Similar how?" He'd asked in the midst of lifting the sandwiches with a spatula out of the skillet once the croissants looked golden and crispy, the brie nice and gooey, only glancing up at Brendan again when he seemed to lose track of his own thoughts--------- and then they were just staring at each other like a couple of fond idiots. Riven's mouth twitched, although he didn't call him out and just continued aligning sandwiches on a fresh clean plate. ...There were times that, yeah, he wouldn't doubt Brendan was attracted to him every now and again (the new him, not the younger, more lanky, awkward, and plain-skinned him) but it was normal to sometimes question your attraction to your friends, right? It didn't have to be some big thing, because everyone in the world knew that Bren deserved lighter, sweeter, better. His brow did begin to furrow a little at the newfound knowledge that Gage had ever needed to warn Brendan away from some crazy shit, but all he does is wave Bren closer, and then lift a yummy croissant sandwich for him to taste.

"Yeah, sounds like him... he was always good at that. Looking at someone and being able to tell when they were too soft for some shit." Mouth quirks in a crooked smirk, although he's only vaguely mocking himself. Riven remembers the very first time he held his brother's gun without his permission and couldn't stop his own hands from shaking-------- the dumb shit expected from a child, and yet he'd never been able to develop his brother's cold-bloodedness towards the world. How Gage could send a soldier out on a hit in one breath, ruining someone's life and absolutely destroying their loved ones on a regular ass Tuesday... but then smile and take care of Riv after all was said and done, had been some terrifying combination of shocking, disturbing, and lowkey fascinating to watch. To be capable of flipping cruelty on and off like a switch...

"It gets frustrating being the soft one. You know? Sometimes I don't even think it's worth it." There's a long pause, before he scoops up the plate in one hand, and grabs for a large bag of chips with the other. Lunch and nap time, please.

"If you got into any serious trouble, you would let me know, right?"

Just because he was constantly back-and-forth on whether or not he should get his own hands painted in blood, didn't mean he couldn't readily call someone without those inhibitions.

Perhaps that was enough.

he blinked — hand still hovering over where the device had been sitting on the counter, the easy peace between them making it hard for mind to catch up on exactly what'd happened. the intention of just passing it over once he'd finished stocking the rewards from their shopping trip ; perhaps that'd tripped him up. the easy domesticity between them so he'd thought it fine to hand it over but riven's reaction wasn't that unusual. a lot of people didn't like it when people went near their phones, regardless of what the intentions were. it wasn't enough to send warning bells, but to realize that there was still a distance between them that bren tried to brush off with a shrug. ‘ my bad. i was just going to give it to you while i grabbed the fruit, ’ replies with what he hopes is a casual tone as he does just that. moves back to the other side of the kitchen island to pick up the bag that held the fruits and vegetables that needed to be put in the crisper, but pauses. thrown off again, this time at the mention of his brother, yet bren didn't know why. he'd known why riven had all but disappeared and been content to give him his space, despite also wanting to fix something that no one could. his fingers twitched for a second before he gave into the urge to place a hand on riven's shoulder blade to offer a gentle comfort that he didn't know if the other needed or not, but made him feel better. ‘ that's cause i'm the shit. ’ a cheeky grin that he didn't really feel as he patted his back once before turning back to the task at hand.

‘ don't hate on my duck, it's going to be cute. i'd look silly if i had serious stuff like you do, ’ he declared as the different produce finally got put into their proper places on the shelves, then plopping down onto a bar stool to keep himself out of the way while riven cooked and away from trying to steal a bite. ‘ plus, i think it'd look cute next to my shooting stars. ’ hues went to his arm as he turned it this way and that, visualizing the place so that he'd be able to point it out on his own skin whenever it was time to be serious about it, his rambling more for his own sake than riven's to ease the tension. ‘ oh, they're good ! yeah, mom and dad moved a couple years ago. said they got tired of being here and wanted to move some place warmer so they went south to a retirement community and i think they're enjoying it. wish they'd come back, but ... ’ trails off with a shrug. it'd taken him longer than he wanted to admit that not having them around had made him, seflishly, upset as if they didn't have a right to their own lives. he and mason had been fully adults, cemented in their respective careers before they'd moved to start another phase but he still hated that he couldn't walk into their home and smell the mix of home and something cooking, hear his father turning the pages of the newspaper he refused to get online for the nostalgia of it all. ‘ i get upset sometimes that they left cause sometimes i get lonely, but they come back for holidays and we go there. it helps, ’ he confessed, staring down at his twiddling thumbs before looking back up.

‘ mason helps and is still here. we adopted someone into the family. they didn't really have anyone else either and they come around a lot. their name is makiah and she does tattoos too ! i think that you'd like them. you're a little similar, actually. ’ standoffish with others, an unflappable attitude, loner but a great person to have in your corner. admirable, passionate ... it took him a second to realize that his thoughts had centered onto riven rather than the commonalities between him and their adoptive sister and a blush spread that he hoped riven wouldn't turn around and be able to pick up on. ‘ i see some people from the neighborhood when they come to the bakery, but i ... well. ’ he can't help the little chuckle, next words coming cautiously slow. ‘ your brother told me i should stop hanging around and i listened to him. ’ after the fact, but that didn't need to be said.    

[vamptastic]

romancing astarion has thus far made me exponentially less attracted to him. can we go back to you serving face in the background and contributing the occasional quip while i go do my hero things? i can't listen to the pickup lines i cant. they're bad they're not good they're bad. and i don't know if hes doing this on purpose as some kind of sick and twisted test of faith or he thinks he is a master casanova. also if astarion can't lift a backpack full of plate armor he sure as hell cannot lift up my entire PC. sorry.

[crystal-verse]

divinity -- noun; the quality of being divine/divine nature/a divine being

sae'pheli'ehva has always been divine. mortal bodies are not meant to hold such sacred, hallowed aether.