#but also i probably should not of given that guy the $15 but he was trying to raise money for his kid ;__;

[simplepotatofarmer]

stressing because i'm like. $80 short for bills.

[trippinsorrows]

through your eyes + au 3

authors note: well. this got freaky. some smut ahead, folks. this really is starting to feel like a completely different story, low key.

part one // part two // au solana instagram

warnings: smut

taglist: @sayyestoheav3nn @fearlesschimera @cyberdejos2 @annfg8 @trentybenty @sabrina-carpenter-stan-account @zoeyybellex3

word count: 4.3k

"I need to talk to you."

Solana should have been talked to someone about this.

But, she's felt torn.

Torn on just who she can talk to about it.

And lack of options hasn't been the issue.

If anything, there's a copious amount of resources and trusted confidants she could go to. Courtesy of her large family, host of cousins, and other good friends.

It's actually easier to start with who would absolutely be the worst person to go to.

And her mom, interestingly enough, is that person. Ironic given how close she is to her madre. One of her best friends, in many ways.

But, not for this. Because Nina will go to Xavier, Solana's dad, and somehow Wes, Solana's brother, will get involved, and it'll just be a whole mess.

Beyond that, there's her cousins. Jade and Anriel will scold the living shit out of her and probably confide in their mom, Solana's aunt Sharmell, out of concern. Aunt Sharmell will go to her husband, Booker, who won't hesitate to literally fly out to Miami just to tell his brother, Xavier, Solana's dad. Thus, the whole damn family knowing.

Then there's her cousin, Roxanne. Roxanne would be great if not for her inability to hold water. And Solana definitely doesn't need her mom's side of the family knowing. They'll kidnap her and force her to live in Mexico for the rest of her life, believing she's gone mad.

Might not be too far off though.

Rhea will just kick her ass for being so 'fawkin stoopid'. Jaida will encourage it, because Jaida encourages all things questionable. But Kayden....Kayden could be the one.

She's also bound to not respond well, but still, someone Solana knows will ultimately keep this between the two of them.

Kayden Carter looks over at Solana with intrigue. With over 15 years of friendship, she knows when her roommate and best friend is truly in a dilemma, that nervous, panicked voice she typically uses present already. This is definitely one of those times.

"Okay." Kayden motions for Solana to sit down on the other end of the sofa, waiting until she does so to ask, "what's going on?"

Solana takes a deep breath, both hating and needing to share this. "You know the event I attended with my family this weekend?" Kayden nods. "I—I met someone there."

At that, Kayden lifts a pierced brow. "Oh?"

Solana looks away, explaining, "I was trying to get away from Ethan and ran into this man by accident, and he ended up helping me out. Pretending to be my date or whatever. It got Ethan to leave me alone, so that was good."

"Forget about Page's annoying ass, what about the man? Is he attractive?"

Solana scoffs. "Very." She's not quite sure how to describe just how fine Roman Reigns is. "But—"

Kayden's expression sours. "He's an asshole, isn't he?"

"Notorious." Though Solana does her best to stay tucked away in her little corner of the world within that's away from the mafia life, she's not stupid nor entirely disconnected. It's common knowledge that Roman is a dick.

And yet....

"But, he was nice to me. He's been nice to me." Kayden's expression shifts into confusion, Solana clarifying, "he—he came to my job this morning."

"Holy shit, he's serious about this." Kayden scoffs and smiles, clearly intrigued by the mystery of it all. "Wait, who is this guy, Sola?"

And now, here comes the part that Solana has been dreading since decided she would confide in Kayden. "It's....it's Roman."

Kayden blinks, not catching on. "Roman who?" And it's just one 'you know' look from Solana that has her eyes widening. "No." Solana closes her eyes. "Please tell me you're kidding." More silence provides the answer she's certain her roommate didn't and doesn't want to hear. "Roman fuckin' Reigns? Solana, have you lost your mind? Do you know who he is?"

Solana leans back into the sofa, murmuring, "of course."

"No, you must not, because this man is the devil himself. He's a monster, Solana. If you heard half the things he's done, you'd be running the opposite way. You'd be on the other side of the goddamn world to get away from him." Kayden continues to freak out, lecturing and chiding Solana for what she clearly feels is a bad call. "I just-I don't understand. Solana, you've always been so against our world. You've essentially lived in seclusion just because you don't want to be a part of it, and now you're entertaining the literal embodiment of said world?"

Solana runs her hands over her face. "It's not—it's not like that."

"Then tell me what it's like, because maybe I'm just confused, but I'm pretty sure you're telling me that you're talking to Roman Reigns?"

That's exactly what she is, but Solana is lost on just how to express that despite everything that's been said about this man, in the two interactions she's had with him, he's been nothing but kind. In his own way, of course.

"He....he hasn't been that way with me," she finds herself defending while also recognizing that it truly is a weak defense. "He's been....nice. He helped me out with Ethan. He came to see me at my job just to ask me out--"

"Wait, he already asked you out?" Kayden looks like she's about to spazz out even more. She shakes her head, taking a second to calm down. "Solana, you're my best friend, and I love you, but he's probably just trying to fuck you. You're gorgeous with a great body, and he obviously sees how innocent you are. It's just a chase."

It makes sense, and Roman more or less confirmed as such with his comment about wanting her with no clothes on. That should be enough evidence for her to find a way to ward off his advances.

But.....

There's this part of her that's absolutely intrigued by him, as he so smugly pointed out. A part of her that wouldn't mind to get to know him more. Even if it makes no damn sense to her.

"I can take care of myself." It doesn't come out as confident and assured as she would like it to be, nor is she entirely certain of her assertion herself, but it's expressed regardless. "I—I can handle this."

Kayden looks just as unsure as Solana feels. "Your family doesn't know, do they?"

"No." Her eyes widen a bit. "No one does, except you now. So please, please don't say anything to anyone." Solana needs to at least figure out just what's going on before she has to face the inevitable backlash from her family and others.

Kayden shakes her head. "You know I got you, girl. Even though I do think you're fuckin' crazy, you've always supported me in my fucked up relationships, so I'll do the same with you." Kayden suddenly gives her that teasing expression, poking her arm. "Besides, it's not like he's ugly, am I right?"

So right.

"I get so nervous around him," Solana whines, laying her head back against the sofa. "He's just so....he comes on so strong."

Kayden smirks, leaning over and playfully nudging. "He wants him some Sola, girl." She laughs as Solana covers her blushing face. "Who could blame him? You're gorgeous, babe."

It's such weird experience. Solana is still trying to heal and learn to love herself again after calling off her engagement, so a man like Roman Reigns coming into her life out of nowhere and being so intent on just....her....it's a lot to digest. Because taking away all of the things about him that make him dangerous and avoidant worthy, he's still, hands down, the most handsome man she's ever seen.

"So where are ya'll going?"

Solana bites down on her bottom lip. "He invited me to WarGames. Said he'll send a car for me."

There's obvious surprise on the face of her best friend. "First date is watching him beat the shit out of other men?" Kayden says aloud, nodding and shrugging. "It tracks." Solana rolls her eyes. "Well, what are you gonna wear?"

She shrugs, truly unsure when she remembers what he said. "Something....something red." Kayden is curious, as Solana shares a version of what Roman said. "He....he asked me to wear red."

Told. He told her to wear red, but Kayden doesn't need to know that part.

Smirking, Kayden nods, impressed almost. "Damn. He already wants you wearing Bloodline colors? First lady type shit." Solana grabs a pillow and throws it Kayden's way, her friend laughing and then gasping. "Holy shit, you have to wear that red dress I got you last year for your birthday!"

The mention of that little piece Solana swore would never see beyond the back of her closet has her eyes widening. "Kayden, no, I can't. That's way too revealing."

"That's the point, duh." Kayden tosses the pillow back and stands up off the sofa, pulling Solana up with her. She then looks over at Dulce who's been sleeping peacefully as her mama stumbles into one of the most questionable decision of her life. "Come on, Dulce. We gotta get mama ready to get dicked down."

"Kayden!"

--------

Solana is a nervous wreck.

She hasn't been this anxiety ridden since taking her NCLEX-RN, and that was a damn near traumatic experience.

This is literally just a date.

Kind of.

Cause she's never actually been on a date before where the man will be preoccupied the whole night.

But, she's also never been on a date with someone like Roman before either. It's just all around a brand new experience that has her so in her head. She's in it during the car ride and especially when she arrives at the Warehouse and is escorted to Roman's locker room.

She nearly has a heart attack when the door is opened and she expects to see him waiting, but it's postponed, God looking out for her, when she sees he's absent.

The security leave her alone without any guidance or clue as to just what she's supposed to do, so Solana takes that time to text Kayden and let her know she's arrived and that she's safe.

For now.

Not wanting to focus too much on the unknown of it all, she takes in his locker room which is much nicer than what's probably necessary. Craft table. Weights section. Sofa. Flat screen TV. A trainers table. The works, essentially.

It makes sense when she thinks about it.

Roman seems like a man who only accepts the finer things in life, if not the finest.

But, it's the section on the craft table with a bottle of wine that keeps snatching her attention.

Drinking is probably the last thing she needs to be doing, but that's exactly what she does.

She quickly grabs the bottle and and a wine glass, filling it up halfway before downing almost all of it. It's the perfect combination of sweet and bitter and hopefully helpful in taking some of this edge off.

"You sure don't disappoint, do you?"

It's a pure stroke of luck that she doesn't drop the glass in her hand at the rumble of his deep voice behind her. But, it's truly a miracle that both the glass and herself don't fall to the ground when she turns around to look at him.

Mio dios.

Roman is standing by the door, his hair down and clearly wet, water droplets sliding down his bare chest, Solana unable to take her eyes off his bulging muscles and the intricate tribal tattoos that somehow add to the magnanimity and beauty of this man. He's wearing black cargo pants tucked into black boots, with the sacred, red ula fala resting around his majestic neck.

Roman Reigns in a suit is one thing.

But Roman Reigns shirtless is something entirely different.

She's almost certain the ground underneath her shakes a bit, also deeply impacted by the god among mere mortal men.

If not for Roman initiating something beyond her embarrassing gawking. she would continue to stare. For a long time. A very long time.

He walks toward her, every step bringing her closer and closer to melting into the ground. This man is a giant. In every sense of the word.

But, it's when he takes his finger under her chin, lifting her head a little and has the audacity to say, "you can do more than just look, if you want" that Solana just about spontaneous combusts on the spot.

He's maybe said a total of 8 to 10 sentences to her in the entire time they've 'known' each other, yet even in the midst of that brevity, he still gives her more of a visceral, bodily reaction than her ex ever did.

"I—" Words are a thing of the past, something she was once capable of but not anymore. The sight of God himself has a tendency to rob anyone of the right to verbalization.

Roman chuckles, his other hand moving to her hip. "You listened."

Solana is certain it's her that's trembling and not the room around her. It takes her a minute to process he's referring to her dress. "You—you said wear red, didn't you?."

"I did." He acknowledges, once again giving her a one over as he bites on his bottom lip. "Good girl."

Oh, fuck.

Solana has to get the hell out of here. The room is freaking in shambles at this point.

Or, maybe that's just her.

She's a stuttering mess trying to communicate with this man. "I—you—probably have to get r—ready."

Roman smiles, and her entire world flutters. "Do I not look ready to you?"

Hardly. This man probably doesn't even know what it's like to be unready. Never experienced that. That's a mortal thing.

"No—I just.....S—sorry."

Similar to their last two interactions, Roman brings his hand to her back and tugs her into him. Solana, once again, places one hand on his chest, not even thinking about the fact that the water from his hair continues to dampen his body.

Until water hits her palm.

Solana is on fire. In all areas. She stammers out, feeling stupid as all the outdoors for stating the obvious. "You're wet...."

His gaze flicks to the space between her legs. "I'd bet you are too."

What the hell?

How is he so.....raw?

She absolutely refuses to move an inch, refuses to cause any kind of movement with her legs that could alert her to the fact that he's probably not wrong.

Not wrong at all.

If only Roman was on the same page.

"You are, aren't you?" His eyes narrow slightly, hand gradually starting to move down from the her back to the sizable swell of her ass. "I bet that pussy dripping for me already."

Solana's eyes shut, her nails clawing against his chest. "R—roman." Her breathing is labored, heart beating a mile per fucking minute, and that only intensifies when he squeezes her ass. Her natural reaction being to arch into him, her breast pressing against his solid body. "Oh my God....."

"God can't do for you what I can, sweetheart."

Blasphemy. Filth. Pure disrespect, and yet her head drops against his chest as he slides his hand to the front of her, wiggling it between her thighs.

Solana means to stop him, means to push him away, but her body seems to have a mind of its own, because she finds herself widening her stance, giving him all the access he needs.

The go ahead.

And he takes full advantage of that, Solana gasping loudly when he moves to cup her through her underwear. Her soaked underwear. "Dripping." He taunts, and it's true. Legs no longer mushed together, she absolutely feels the wetness dripping down, soaking her panties. "I'm taking you out to dinner after the match, but I think we should just skip to dessert right now."

Eyes widening, she gasps again when Roman removes his hand and picks her up, her thighs naturally wrapping around his waist. He carries her over to the trainers table, plopping her down on the edge.

"Lay back."

Her stomach is all kinds of twists and turns. She's not stupid. Far from it. There's only one place this is headed. "I—what?"

Roman, however, looks bored, stating so plainly. "I don't make it a habit to repeat myself, Solana. Even with a pretty thing like you, so do me a favor and just lay back."

If someone told her this is how the night would kick off, she'd call them crazy as all the outdoors. There's no way in hell this man is about to do what she thinks he is.

Is he?

Voicing her thoughts, she struggles with just how to word what is an otherwise simple thing to ask. "Are you...."

His gaze is piercing. "Can I?"

What a fucking question.

Once

Once has she had someone go down on her, and it wasn't even her ex-fiance. It was a guy she dated in college for a few months. To say it was......disappointing would be an understatement.

She didn't even finish.

Back to the borderline crisis at hand, she finds herself oversharing. "My ex. He didn't—he wouldn't....."

"Well, he's a fucking idiot." Roman's cruel but accurate remark is accompanied by his big hand moving up the sides of her dress until its scrunched by her stomach. "Eating pussy is a delicacy."

Her eyes shut again. He's so nasty.

So why is it only making her wetter?

Roman's fingers lightly tugging the waistband of her underwear reminds her of the proposed question.

This is a bad idea. A very bad idea. She doesn't sleep around. Doesn't let random men go down on her, and yet, the minute Roman licks his lips, the decision is almost made for her.

"Y—yes."

That alluring, small smile is back as he moves his hand to her stomach, pushing down just enough to get her in position. "Lay down, and let me show you what it's like to be with a real man."

Sweet baby Jesus.

Solana is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, back flat against the cool table when he goes to pull down her panties, leaving her open and exposed.

She hears Roman make a sound. "Mmm. Pussy just as pretty as I imagined."

Her hands clench at her side. He's thought about this? About her? About her—

"Ahhh." Her back is almost entirely off the table the minute his thick tongue gives one full, sensation stirring lick up her cunt. "Roman...." she moans, hands planted on the table, head thrown back as his cool breath blows against her pussy.

Seconds later, his tongue is back on her, fingers spreading her lips while his tongue teases a languid circle around her clit. "Oh my....."

The sound of his deep chuckle travels from his space between her legs. "I'm gonna make a fucking mess out of you."

And before she can process that, he tugs her by her thighs, diving face first into her cunt. Solana is a mewling, writhing mess as he sucks on her pussy like its the fuel and energy he needs for the fight to come. Laps at her with a hunger and desire that nearly matches her own, because whatever her ex did to her that one time is nothing compared to what he's doing to her right now.

"Shit...." Her body is hot, her nipples hardening by the second, and Solana can't help the way her thighs squeeze against his head, her lower half coiling and twisting from pleasure she's never experienced.

"You like that, don't you?" He hums, voice haughty and knowing. "Like me eating this pretty pussy, don't you, sweetheart?"

Her answer is an obvious one, breathed out over and through heavy pants. "Shit, yes." He sucks on her clit, the slurping sound practically filling the room and egging on her moans.

He pulls away, the absence something that's so much more noticable and painful than it should be. Only for her to arch again when his finger plays around with her nectar that feels like it's spread all over her lower half at this point. "Look how wet you are. I can tell she been neglected." Roman swirls his finger in circles around her clit, thumb applying just the lightest pressure. "Can tell she been needing me."

Solana can't and won't disagree. Not that she could anyway. Logic is very much a thing of the past. The only thing on her mind is ecstasy, and he's giving her more of that than she's ever had in all sexual interactions with all of her ex's put together.

"Goddamn, you taste good." He goes back to licking and sucking on her again, groaning almost. "Would stay down here all night if I could."

Solana nearly comes right then and there.

She wouldn't be opposed.

At all.

He stays with his head between her legs for what feels like inhumanly possible, long enough for that feeling she's only ever been able to give herself starting to rise. Toes curling and stomach twisting, she manages to whine out, "Roman, I—I'm gonna—"

He kisses her clit, coaxing her, guiding her, encouraging her. "I know, baby." She can practically visualize the smirk on his face. "Now be a good girl and come in daddy's mouth."

It's disgusting how that one filthy command manages to evoke her orgasm from her, Solana nearly sitting all the way up as her release shoots through her entire body. Roman continuing to suck on her and lap up every bit of it until there's not a fucking drop left.

Solana's practically lifeless body collapses against the table. Everything below her belly button is numb. Eyes shut, pulse probably in the danger range, she has no ability to do anything other than lay there and recover.

She's never come that hard, that much, that long.

Who is this man?

Solana whimpers a bit when she feels something against her, wiping her. A towel most likely. Strong but surprisingly gentle hands help her body to lift up only for her to fall against a solid chest, her forehead against Roman's shoulder.

She clutches onto him as he kisses her temple. "That's my girl." His girl. His anything. She's whatever he says and more. That's how fucked out he has her. "I'll see you after the match, okay?"

Sure. Fine. Whatever. Her ability to agree to anything was sucked out of her by that dangerous tongue of his, so the most she can do is nod against him.

Roman chuckles and gradually pulls away, Solana gripping on the edge of the table, eyes opening just enough to see that strong, muscular back of his as he walks out the door, closing it behind him.

She isn't sure how long she sits there, dress pulled up, towel covering her bottom half. She just knows that even after sitting for what should be a long enough time, her legs are still wobbly. Even as she moves around the room to look for her underwear only to see they're nowhere to be found, leaving her with one conclusion.

Roman took them with him.

The thought shouldn't make her pussy flutter. It really shouldn't and yet, here she is.

God, what did he do to her?

Swallowing, she does her best to maintain her pride and walks out, guided by the same guard who escorted her to Roman in the first place. He takes her up to what must be VIP seating. It's the perfect view of the celled ring and cages on the side intended for the participants.

Sitting there alone and with nothing else to occupy her mind, Solana's mind starts racing. That shouldn't have happened. She should have stopped him. Should have said no.

Even if she did want it just as much as he seemingly did. Nevertheless, that shouldn't matter. He's him. She's her. They're very different people. She's supposed to have morals and standards. Women who have that don't let men who are practically strangers go down on them.

But, that's exactly what she did, and she feels terrible about it.

"You must be my brother's flavor of the night."

Solana is already nervous as all the outdoors, yet somehow the interruption of her overthinking only serves to exacerbate that anxiety.

But, when she looks over and sees the source, Solana is unsure which is worse: what's said or who said it.

Rosalia Reigns isn't as tall or built as her twin brother. Not at all. A given considering their different sexes, but she's every bit as intimidating as him, and they do share some similar features. Same set of pretty brown eyes. Those full, pink lips and that overall powerful aura.

You know just by looking at her that she's an important person.

And she is. She comes only second to her brother.

Roman

Solana swallows and adjusts her dress as Rosalia gives her a oneover, not even trying to hide her distaste. "H—hi. I'm—"

"I don't care." Rosalia interrupts, a level of venom in her voice. "You'll be an afterthought come tomorrow morning when you join the rest of his whores on the island of forgettables."

Sting.

Solana shouldn't be surprised nor hurt by such cruel words. Rosalia, much like her brother, has never been known for kindness. Regardless, that knowledge doesn't stop the tears from pooling in her eyes.

Cause the words hit way too close to home given what just happened.

Something noticed by the other woman. An equally cruel smile growing on her face. "Aww, did I hurt your feelings?" Her smile deepens as she scoffs, sitting down in her chair. "Yeah, Ro definitely dropped the ball with you. You're dumber and more naive than the other stupid bitches my brother loves to entertain."

A stupid bitch. Any other time, Solana would disagree. She may not verbalize as such, but she would inwardly reject such a thing. But, she can't. She can't because it's true.

She gave Roman exactly what he wanted. Fell into his trap. Another of many nameless, faceless, forgettable conquests.

She's no different or better than any of the other women Roman messes around with.

She's now one of them.

And she feels disgusted with herself.

Not wanting Rosalia to see her cry, or anyone else, Solana mumbles a quiet 'excuse me' and rushes past the smirking woman. She needs to get out of here. Needs to go home.

Needs to never see or speak to Roman Reigns ever again.

This was a mistake. All of it.

And it can never happen again.

[messervixen]

Lily should have survived.

“Harry was saved by his mother’s love-“ Let me stop you right there.

I present to you: James Fleamont Potter.

You’re telling me that James didn’t love Lily and Harry enough to evoke the ancient love magic that Lily saved Harry with?

Mr. “Had an ego the size of a lake but a heart to match it?”

He loved both of them so much that he literally died trying to give them a chance to escape and that wasn’t enough?

I don’t buy it.

The only semi-logical explanation I can come up with is that he didn’t have his wand and maybe you can’t do something like that wand-less but did Lily have her wand?

Even then we’re talking about a guy who literally became an illegal animagus at the ripe age of 15.

He also loves and cares for people so deeply and it was LOVE MAGIC.

Look me in the eyes and tell me James Potter couldn’t have just saved BOTH of them without his wand.

Exactly, you can’t.

Honestly I could go on about all of the reasons James and Lily dying didn’t even make sense.

This is just another thing that makes me question why they died the way they did.

Them dying on an order mission would’ve been more realistic. There were just too many plot holes in them dying in Godric’s Hollow.

In conclusion, the ending of the first war didn’t make sense. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Edit:

Guys this post is not that serious I just mean that everything about what happened that night and the explanation for all of it felt like a stretch and kinda vague to me 😭

Even with the stuff about James not having a choice. Like yeah Voldemort didn’t verbally give him the option to back off but James still made the choice to try and hold him off.

Also James was a Pureblood and Voldemort made it known that he would spare them if they didn’t fight him because his whole thing was blood purity.

So like the “Lily was given a choice” still feels so vague to me.

Also Voldemort making the promise to Snape feels weird. Snape asked him not to kill Lily but Voldemort said that he wouldn’t as long as she didn’t get in his way. And Lily did get in his way of killing Harry so he didn’t break that promise by killing her.

Yeah he probably could’ve just knocked her out or something but he still didn’t break any promises.

And the whole reason Snape joined Dumbledore before the end of the first war is because he didn’t think Lily would just let Voldemort kill her son. He didn’t make an unbreakable vow or anything so Snape knew that Voldemort would probably kill Lily.

[donelywell]

This is just a summary of how the story goes, kinda like bullet points I guess. If the time ever comes that this eventually gets written as an actual story, It would be a lot more detailed than this. Also, I don't own Sonic Unleashed or think the story is bad (I actually really like it), this is just how a strange person (me) would handle the story in their own fan universe thing.

DEATH EGG October 1

Tails helps Sonic get up to the Death Egg.

Sonic storms the Death Egg, going Super.

Super Sonic follows Eggman, he begs for mercy, but it’s a trick.

Super Sonic gets the Chaos Emeralds ripped right out of him,

Eggman fires a beam filled with the Chaos Energy to the planet, cracking it into 7 pieces, releasing a Giant Monster, but it fades away.

Sonic turns into the Werehog, only barely hearing Eggman yell something about the Gaia Manuscripts through all of the intense pain that he’s going through, and is shot out of the Death Egg with the now drained Chaos Emeralds. Tails, on the Tornado-1, sees this happen, and chases after him.

APOTOS October 1

Sonic crashes into Apotos. He notices that there is a small being passed out near him, so he tries waking him up to see if he’s okay, this ends up scaring the kid for some reason. 

Sonic realizes he can’t talk for some reason, his throat feels off and his teeth feel weird, so he uses sign language to try asking if the kid is okay. The kid doesn’t understand, but assumes (probably not the smartest move) that he means no harm because his eyes seem genuinely worried, plus he’s slowly moving as though afraid to scare off the kid again.

The kid calls him ‘Mr. Monster Guy’, which makes Sonic realize he’s not his usual self. This mildly freaks him out, but he tries to act calm to not freak the small creature out. Using his claws, he writes in the dirt, which luckily the kid can read, and realizes the creature has amnesia. Sonic worries that he might have caused it, and vows to help him get his memories back. (Little Fella joined the party!)

Sonic looks at the rising sun, looking at it as something to lean on to stay optimistic, and turns back into his regular self. He finds his shoes and now drained Chaos Emeralds lying on the ground, and with a lot more pep in his step, holds onto the kid and races off to the closest city to hopefully get someone who recognizes the little creature (and see if Tails landed there after he launched Sonic into space).

>Windmill Isle Day Act 1 (plays as it normally would)

Sonic questions everything that just happened, the Chaos Emeralds being drained, the strange new form he took not even 15 minutes prior, what this ‘Gaia Manuscript’ is that Eggman was talking about; but he’s interrupted by the kid getting sidetracked from the memory treasure hunt with an ice cream stand that holds the famous Chocolate Chipped Cream Sundae Supreme! After a little begging, Sonic ends up paying for 2 cones. Sonic ends up calling the creature ‘Chip’ as a temporary nickname until they get his memories back, Chip absolutely loves it.

While they go around enjoying their ice cream and asking questions about Chip's past, Sonic ends up being given someone's pair of gloves.

Meanwhile, Tails is searching for Sonic, he’s surprised that his communicator is broken, or at least not responding, because it should have been able to survive a fall that high. He manages to get a rough estimate as to where he might be judging by where he fell, but Sonic could really be anywhere on this section of the planet with his speed.

Tails is highly concerned for Sonic’s health and safety since the last reading from the communicator reported that his heart rate has spiked dramatically right before he saw him fall from the sky.

>Windmill Isle Day Act 2 (You play as Tails as he flies around town, looking for Sonic)

As he still searches for Sonic as it’s heading into sunset, Tails gets a call from Knuckles telling him that something happened to the Master Emerald and that Angel Island has landed.

Tails tells him that he’s looking for Sonic at the moment, but promises to come over as soon as he can.

After the call is over, Tails realizes how long it’s been since he last ate and spots a local Gyro Food Truck. He ordered a bunch for Sonic to eat later if he spots him.

As the sun is setting, Sonic and Chip still haven’t found anyone who recognizes Chip. Sonic gives Chip a pep talk when he sees that the kid’s down in the dumps, suggesting that there are lots of areas around the world, maybe he’s just not from here. Right when Chip feels reassured, Sonic transforms back into the Werehog. Both are stunned and Sonic realizes that he changes into the form every night (Chip needs a moment to come to the same conclusion).

Chip immediately notices that the Sundae Stand Owner is acting strange, and asks him what’s wrong, even suggesting he eats some ice cream. Sonic shoves his now too-big-shoes into his quills until daytime. Chip accidentally drops the ice cream, but Sonic manages to catch it by stretching his arm out. Both are extremely surprised by this, kinda freaking Sonic out with how strange it feels but he thinks it’s kinda cool. Chip really likes the stripes.

Meanwhile, Tails finds himself in between a rock and a hard place. He’s surrounded by these strange enemies and forgot his weapon at the Tornado-1. He would normally spin dash into them, but judging by the sharp claws and spikes on them, his fur would not be enough defense from that hurting him more than it hurting them. 

He could have also flown away from danger, but he’s currently trying to protect a lost little girl he found surrounded by said enemies. He knows he doesn’t have enough time to drop his defenses and fly away while carrying her before they attack, so he just has to try keeping the already miniscule amount of ground they have.

While not looking, an enemy gets a lucky hit on him, causing him to yell out in pain. Despite the pain, he refuses to stand down and keeps defending the little girl.

With his new sensitive hearing, Sonic hears Tails’ yell. Instincts kick in, realizing his little brother is hurt, and runs after the sound. Chip, with his not as sensitive hearing, flies after Sonic in confusion.

>Windmill Isle Night Act 1 (plays as it normally would)

Once he makes it to Tails’ location, all of the enemies focus on the actual threat, Sonic. The little girl uses this to run back home, and Tails hides behind a wall holding his wound from bleeding too much.

The enemies are piling onto Sonic, so he unleashes all of the energy he’s built up (and some instincts he didn’t know he had), somehow becoming more powerful for a period of time, yet feeling a little high off the energy practically pouring out of each hit he makes in this unleashed state. 

Sonic Emotions Handling Scale: 

Normal form- Can hide it frustratingly well and has normal emotions, 

Werehog form- His face and new Wolf-like instincts make it hard for him to hide it but he still tends to try to push it off if he can + negative emotions are a lot more powerful + he’s a little clingy, 

Unleashed Boost- Can’t hide his emotions to save him and they are extremely powerful + easily goes into a downward spiral in emotions + somehow even more clingy + he still is super emotional when getting out of his Unleashed state and will do things without thinking.

After the fight is over, Tails calls out to Sonic, he knew from the moment Sonic stepped into the battle that it was him, Sonic practically raised him for almost half of his life, how could he not tell? Sonic however, getting out of his Unleashed Boost daze, realizes just how dangerous and brutal he could be in this form. So once he hears Tails’ call, he books it in fear of possibly being able to harm Tails unintentionally.

Chip finally makes it over to the aftermath, he and Tails do a quick introduction (like saying, you know Sonic? You're the brother he was talking about? yep, let's go!), and book it towards Sonic. Tails is surprised that he’s actually able to catch up to Sonic, even on all fours, Tails’ namesakes spinning can beat him in a race now.

Sonic manages to hide in a barrel, in abject terror of what he is. Tails and Chip quickly catch up and sit near the barrel, trying to calm Sonic down. Letting him know that no matter what he looks like, he’ll always be by his side and his little brother. He proceeds to go on about how looking different doesn’t make you a monster or evil, having his tails sway as he talks, as a subtle reminder to Sonic that he went through that fear of being different too.

Sonic slowly uncovers his muzzle to use his hands to sign that he’s a monster who could hurt Tails. Tails is surprised by how open Sonic is being so open about his fears, he normally tries hiding it as best he can so others don’t worry for him (a bad trait that Tails is extremely relieved didn’t seem to carry over when he’s in this form). Tails gives a sad look and recounts all of the times that Tails has accidentally hurt Sonic due to not being used to touch (and the several months it took him to learn how to retract his claws), but Sonic stuck around every time and didn’t blame Tails for it at all.

Tails suggests that he runs a vitals check on Sonic back at the Tornado-1, to see if he can find out what’s causing this form. (Tails joined the party!)

That, and the smell of several Gyros in Tails’ bag, seem to be enough to make Sonic slowly walk out of the barrel on all fours. Tails notices that Sonic’s stomach is rumbling and uses this to walk him over to the Tornado-1 without having his mind drift into negativity (wow, that’s odd, Sonic’s almost never openly negative). Chip finds out Gyros are really good, almost eating 3 before they make it back to the biplane.

After eating, Sonic stands up (and is actively trying to ignore the stomach churning feeling of being so incredibly huge compared to his little brother), to sign that he can’t retract his claws or speak properly. Tails tries to make the best of it and says that Sonic doesn’t need to touch anything for the check up.

As Tails is cleaning up and patching his wound with the first aid kit he has stored in the Tornado-1 (he wanted to immediately do the check up on Sonic, but the werehog refused to even start that until Tails took care of his cut first), Chip is in awe that Tails can understand what Sonic means just by looking at his hands. He really wants to learn how to do that, so he can talk to Sonic at any time of the day. Tails tries to recall that he might still have some flashcards he’d give to any new friends Sonic made when he couldn’t speak.

Now tired and worn out from a long day of running around town, eating tasty food, fighting enemies, and making discoveries, Tails and Sonic sit on a brick fence next to the Tornado-1 to run a Vitals Check.

It’s a symphony of yawns as Chips quickly falls asleep on Sonic’s leg. Tails, being exhausted, unconsciously rests his tails on Sonic's lap (a deep sign of trust) and leans on him as a pillow (he realizes the sheer amount of muscle behind the fur, theorizing that the expanse of his arms might have stretched the communicator too far, thus breaking it), like how he sometimes would do that when the brothers ride a train late at night after a long adventure. 

Sonic was in a half asleep state himself, but once he felt Tails’ tails rest on his lap, he perked right up. He’s surprised Tails can trust him so much even in this form, he thought this whole time that Tails was just bluffing it so Sonic would feel better. He might still be bluffing… using that 300 IQ brain to use this token trust sign to make Sonic relax. But Sonic quickly has exhaustion fog his brain again, letting this track of negative thoughts fizzle out at the moment.

With a yawn, Tails murmured that Sonic’s Vitals all seem normal, if not for a slightly higher than average Chaos Energy reading, but it’s not enough for it to change his form.

Tails is officially out, Sonic’s delicately soft fur and heart beat lulling him to sleep. Sonic, still not wanting to possibly harm anyone by accident, gently slips Chip off his leg, landing on his enormous paw (that’s another thing he feels off about, why are his hands so big?), and rests him on his head as he curls up as best he can without jostling Tails much. He tries his best to both find a comfortable position and keep his dangerous hands away from anyone. It’s a rough night, but they all got through it.

In the morning, Sonic transforms back to normal, with Tails handing him some spare gloves and a back-up communicator from the Tornado-1. After enjoying some Tarts for breakfast, they head out to Angel Island. Sonic accidentally falls asleep on the wing while Chip studies his flashcards in the back seat.

Angel Island

[zerobaselove]

randomly thought of asking zb1 to do that surf cruise- disco challenge w you 🫶🫶

this is so cute WAIT i wanna talk abt this (also anon reading through the stuff you sent has given me more motivation to write than ive had in weeks so THANK YOU ily (good) so bad

surf curse - disco challenge with zb1

okay first of all i can just imagine jiwoong being so confused when you mention it. it wouldn't click for him until you show him an example where he's like "ohhhh that's what you're talking about." but i totally think he would do it w you. though i think he would have a rlly hard time keeping a straight face KJSDFH probably ends the challenge with his head in his hands

rest of the members under the cut

as soon as you bring it up zhang hao is sat there shaking his head, insisting he won't do it with you. but after a couple minutes of pouting and begging he would give in. (you might have to kiss him to make up for it though) BUT despite originally being against it, you best believe his ass is making y'all retake it 4 times until its Perfect.

eeeeee hanbin!!! absolutely thrilled that you asked him to do it with you honestly. takes one look at the video you sent him with the caption "can we pls do this" and learns it within like 15 seconds max. (are we rlly surprised) definitely ends the video with his arms wrapped around your waist as you go to click the stop button on your phone.

lets all be fr here, matthew is probably the one who asked you to do it with him, and you happily agree. makes a big deal out of it too like he is getting the camera set up with good lighting and making sure your fits look cute together, the whole 9 yards. definitely very giggly the whole time, just massive smiles. also probably hugs you rlly tight at the end n spins you around a little (im losing my mind)

ok i think taerae would take very little convincing honestly. like hes shaking his head and waving his hand for about 10 seconds and then he sees how excited you are and boom hes off the bed going "fine, fine show me your little dance" and you two are in such a giggling mess when you film it that you almost mess it up (but you think it makes it that much better)

hear me out. i know its a silly little trend but ricky gets romantic w it alright. first of all i already know yall would be dressed so nicely, maybe out on a date or smth when you mention it and hes like, lets do it! bc he knows you want to. u guys practice once or twice but when you go to record it he takes you by the hand at the end and gives you a little twirl before pulling you in, where the video inevitably ends. (you don't even notice though)

tell me this isn't exactly how it would go with gyuvin. like the silliness and playfulness of it is just SOO correct. definitely just bounces around w you at some point, ruffling your hair n maybe giving you a peck on the temple. i think you both mutually were like we should do this its so silly!! also i feel like now it'd become your thing?? like he'll just start humming it or doing the dance and you pick up on it or vice versa.

ok honestly i think it comes up randomly with gunwook. like maybe y'all are walking home and you mention it and boom. ur stopping at the nearest park bench to set up ur phone and teaching him how it goes. i can just imagine him watching you with the most smitten look on his face as you rush back to where hes standing after you press start. like borderline giggling and kicking his feet bc he is rlly taking in how much he loves moments like this w you.

arguably i think this would be the most fun with yujin. like yeah i think he would get a little shy the first take but when you do it again hes just so bubbly and having such a fun time w you. like y'all both definitely just keep vibing and dancing around as the audio loops around after the video ends. ugh i just love that lil guy so bad

[mrs-barnes-rogers-writes]

A Second Chance Is A Better Chance - Part 15

Marvel AU

Pairing: Alpha Steve Rogers x Omega Witch Reader, eventual ? x Omega Witch Reader and Alpha Steve Rogers X Omega Witch Reader

Theme: A/B/O / True Mates

Summary: Rejected by your true mate at 21, you’ve given up on the Fates and the Moon Goddesses giving you a second chance. Being a Roamer for the last 9 years, you’re an Omega hardened by the world. You’re safe on your own because of your witchcraft, but it doesn’t stop Alphas and plenty of others sniffing around, especially when you’re an unmated Omega witch, who’s wolf also happens to be white, the rarest kind. You don’t need anyone, but why do you keep coming back to Brookville and why do you keep walking into trouble and helping people that you don’t know but for some strange reason feel like family. And where is that smell of apple pie coming from?

Series Warnings: A/B/O, eventual smut, violence in parts, witchcraft, shapeshifters

Chapter Summary: The reader prepares to leave Frank and Billy.

Chapter Warning: Sad everyone.

It takes two weeks and a whole lot of healing for you to be ready to leave for Brookville. There’s an underlying tension between you, Frank and Billy. They’ve resigned themselves to the fact that you’ve probably heard their conversation as your hugs get shorter and you suggest moving out of Frank’s bed and into the guest room.

You’ve also started to sort through your things that have been left there, making sure they fit in your car and giving them away if they don’t. When Billy tells you it’s fine to keep your stuff there, you tell him it’s not fair to anyone to have stuff scattered everywhere, reminding him you’re a roamer and everything should fit in your car. He huffs and helps you after Frank gives him a knowing look.

As the full moon rolls around and after a conversation with Logan you know it’s time to head to Brookville. Storm is nesting heavily and ordering people around to clean the whole house from top to bottom. She’s also been very vocal about your avoidance when asked about an arrival date.

“Maybe don’t leave today though kid. It’s a full moon and the pack will be tense enough without you up and leaving.” Logan tells you on the phone.

“They’ve asked me to run out with them.”

“And?”

“I need your advice.”

“My advice? Hang on, let me sit down for this.”

“Haha.” You replied dryly.

“Well, to be fair you’ve never asked me for advice before.”

“You know what, it doesn’t matter.”

“No, go on, I’m being an asshole. What’s up kid?”

“Would it be wrong? Would it be rude if I say no again?”

“You’ve never ran with them before right?”

“No, they’ve asked and I’ve always declined, just doesn’t feel right.”

“How so?”

“It’s weird. I’ve changed forms in the house but it doesn’t feel right to run out with them.”

“Go on.”

“It’s weird.”

“You said that already.”

“It feels like….” You let out a sigh. “It feels like it doesn’t fit. Like a shoe that’s the wrong size.”

“Then there’s your answer.”

“What do you mean?”

“If it doesn’t feel right there’s a reason for it. You’ve changed and ran in Brookville right?”

“Yeah.”

“And before that?”

“A couple of times in hotel rooms when I’d left it too long but not outside and then, well, back home.”

“I think you’ve answered your own question kid.”

“I’m not sure I have.”

“You have, just think about it.”

“Hmmmmm.”

“So, you’ll set off in the morning.”

“Yeah.”

“Let me know when you’re near and I’ll have Scott meet you there.”

“Logan.” You huffed. “I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, Stark’s security guy already explained how to get in and the security system. I just want to get in and get settled. I’m used to staying at the Coulson’s, I need to figure out the place. Scott will just get under my feet and piss me off.”

“Yeah he has that effect on people. I checked with the Coulson’s, their place is still off limits.”

You make a joke about being inconvenienced by their daughter going into labour there and assure Logan you’ll set off tomorrow.

You finish off packing the last of your things and putting together the gift box you’d started for Frank and his pack. You always left them a couple of things, oils, candles, healing potions and anything else you felt they might need, but this time felt very final and you made sure to get a bigger box and fill it well.

It’s late when you hear the howling of their return. You’ve been soaking in the bath tub for the last hour, taking a minute to ready yourself for the journey tomorrow. There’s soon sniffing by the door. Billy in wolf form.

“Hey pervert, I’m in the tub.”

He huffs and you hear him flop by the door. You can hear his tail flicking against it impatiently and decided to get out the tub before he tries to get in. When you open the door wrapped in a towel, he’s already rolling on to his back for you to rub his belly.

“Really Bill?” Frank says, wandering in, black sweatpants low on his hips. “I said fetch her, not ask for belly rubs, you damn idiot.”

You laugh as you reply.

“What’s up Frankie?” You ask as he approaches you. He wrapped his arms around you and planted a kiss on your head.

“Throw some clothes on and come outside.”

“Why?”

“Please just put something on and come outside.” He says leaving the room, calling for Billy to leave you to get dressed. He follows but the direction of his ears tells you he’s annoyed at not catching a glimpse of you naked.

You pull on a pair of boxers and an oversized T-shirt before strolling through the house to the deck, where you quick discover the pack and a select few of the extended pack members, along with Violet and her husband. They are chairs and tables set up and fairy lights wrapped around parts of the decking, candles are lit and there’s a pile of pizzas from your favourite place.

“What’s going on?”

“Aunty Witch, Aunty Witch. It’s a party for you.” Called Dani as she attempted to climb up your leg.

“What?” You said looking around at the group as you picked her up.

“Well, Frank said you’re probably leaving tomorrow.” Luke said. “And we’ve never got chance for us or the town to say thank you.”

“What for?”

“Really rarity? I don’t know maybe saving our town from Agatha, being part of finally taking down Hydra and everything you’ve done for us.” Elektra added, her voice starting firm but growing soft towards the end.

“We wanted to do a bit more than pizza but a little birdy told us if we did you’d probably turn us into frogs.” Matt added.

You looked towards Frank.

“Hey it wasn’t me baby.” He said pointing towards Violet, who shrugged nonchalantly.

“You didn’t have to do this.” You said quietly.

“Sure we did. Now, can we eat because I really need to get these feral kids to bed.” Added Jessica.

“Hey I’m not feral! Am I Aunty Witch?”

“No of course not.” You smiled.

The night passed as drinks were passed around, pizza well eaten and stories shared. Frank’s arm finds your shoulder and you don’t pull away this time. The same as when Billy’s hand finds you knee and begins rubbing circles on it with his thumb. Hours have passed when Luke lifts a sleeping Dani from your lap. Telling you to call if you need anything, just like he always does. Jess hugs you and looks like she’s about to say something deep but kisses your temple instead, a lump in her throat as she tells you to text her. Elektra slaps your ass as you clear away the pizza, never one for goodbyes. Matt hugs you briefly and is firm when he tells you to call him if any of the agencies start bothering you. Foggy hugs you tightly like you’re going to war and leaves without saying anymore. Violet hugs you too as Frank shakes hands with her husband, thanking them for coming.

Then it’s just the three of you.

“Bed?” You ask and they both smile and follow you inside.

Full of beer and pizza it doesn’t take long for you to drift off but even a sleepy you feels Frank and Billy hold you a little tighter that night.

The next morning you wake up to an empty bed. You think about slipping away but a quick sniff lets you know Frank and Billy aren’t far and someone’s making pancakes. You get dressed and freshen up, heading out to the kitchen to find them both shirtless and making breakfast.

How you had managed to not climb these two like a tree was a damn miracle. Billy shot you a wink and you worried for a second you might have said that out loud.

“Sit down princess. Can’t have you leaving on an empty stomach.” Billy smiles, nodding towards the table. You don’t miss that the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. Frank squeezes his shoulder before bringing you a tea, quickly placing it on the coaster and dropping a kiss to your head before returning to Billy’s side.

“Violet sent over some danishes and a fruit salad for you to take with you, with a message to eat the fruit first.” Frank told you.

You smiled and said a quiet thank you, pulling out your phone to send her a message.

“Here you go princess.” Billy said, placing a plate down in front of you. It had at least six pancakes stacked up, bacon, egg and was covered in syrup.

“Bill I can’t eat all this. I’m still full from all that pizza.”

Your stomach rumbling confirmed your little white lie.

“Baby, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. Being hungry on a full moon is normal. Don’t listen to anything that mother of yours told you. Eat up. I can’t have you leaving here hungry.” Frank tells you.

You rolled your eyes playfully and started to eat as the three of you made idle conversation. Once you’d all finished there was a long moment of silence. The three of you knowing it was time for you to leave but this time it feeling so very final. Frank sighed and then broke the silence.

“Baby, I want to be really clear on something OK, if you ever need anything, anything at all, you get in trouble or you need a place to stay, you come here or you call us. Doesn’t matter if it’s tomorrow, next week or a year from now, we’ve got you Omega, OK?”

You nodded tearfully.

“What if you find someone though? What if your second chance rolls in? What’s she gonna think of me strolling in and out?”

Frank reached out and squeezed your hand.

“Baby, if ain’t you, if you’re not the second chance, it’s never coming.”

You nodded and let out a shuddered breath. Unable to hold in your emotions anymore and with the lights starting to flicker you let the tears pour down your cheeks. Frank stood and pulled you into his arms.

“I’m sorry Frankie, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry it’s not me.”

“Me too kid. Me too.”

A chest against your back and sniffling in your hair let you know Billy had joined you both. You stayed like that until the tears slowed and the buzzing of your phone pulled you apart. You glanced at it.

“It’s Logan, wants to know if I’ve set off yet. Storms getting angsty.”

“Well you better not keep the pregnant lady waiting.” You laughed lightly as you wiped away your tears, pulling away to get the last of your things that hadn’t made their way to your car.

It didn’t take long and shortly after you were in your car and pulling away from Frank and Billy’s and their pack. You told yourself you were fine, even as tears rolled down your face and you started to play your sad songs playlist.

It took you a few hours to reach Brookville and the compound that housed Stark’s cottage. The gate looked heavy and reinforced and was surrounded by cameras, but opened as you neared it. You’d have been concerned if you’d not been asked for your number plate before. You drove down the gravel path and looked around at the heavy woodland. It wasn’t what you expect from Stark and was so different from that enormous and ugly skyscraper in the city.

When you pull up outside your new place to stay you’re quick to mutter ‘cottage my ass’ and decided you’d text Stark’s security guy, Happy someone, some quip about it not being a quaint cottage like he’d described. Sure it was nice, but it was also bloody huge. Again, cottage my ass. There’s a pretty little white picket fence around the garden and you wonder why there’s a need for it if Stark is part of the pack or an extended part at least and this is all pack land.

You decided to head inside first to familiarise yourself with the place before unloading your car. You take the side door and input the code Happy has given you. A projection of the him suddenly appears and he greets you as the door unlocks and tells you the keys, security tablet and a welcome basket are inside on the kitchen island. You thank him and go in, leaving the door open ready to bring in your things.

Your eyes go wide when you enter and you’re wondering if they really meant to loan you Stark’s actual cottage. Happy had told you it wasn’t quite finished and you’d expected a building site. How was this not finished?

You scanned around the lower levels. Mostly open plan and decorated in light colours. Homely but also very sleek and fancy. The kitchen was brand new and full of every Stark device you could think of. Before you had chance to peek upstairs an electronic sounding voice sounded.

“Welcome Miss Y/L/N, please register.”

You remembered then that Happy had told you over email to go straight to the tablet on the kitchen island to register yourself on the security system and that it you weren’t quick enough an alarm would sound.

Shit. You really didn’t want to piss off the pack by setting off alarms when you’d just got here. You found the tablet quickly and filled in your information, thankful that your basic info had already been part filled in. It finished by taking a photo of you, which you weren’t overly comfortable with but decided you’d get over it once you’d drank the wine in the fancy welcome basket.

“Thank you Miss Y/L/N, your registration is complete.”

You looked through the welcome basket to see what treats you’d been left, macrons, some fancy snacks, fresh bread and……….apple pie? You could definitely smell apple pie and it smelt delicious. Like all American homemade apple pie. Even nicer than the one in Violet’s diner. Not that you’d dare tell her that though. You rummaged through the basket as your mouth started to water but couldn’t find it. A chiming sound coming from somewhere sent you to the oven. But there was no pie there either? The smell got stronger and then your wolf picked up the sound of footsteps. Had Logan sent Scott with pie? The chime went off again.

“Why are you chiming? Where are you chiming? What are you chiming for?” You said putting your hands on your hips. There was a sudden surge in the scent as the footsteps neared and then a voice. But not Scott’s, a voice you didn’t know.

“It’s to let you know someone’s coming up the path.”

You swung round to find a figure in the door way. Definitely not Scott Summers and definitely not a beta.

At least 6ft 6, with quite possible the broadest shoulders you had ever seen. Blond hair pushed back from his face, and a beard a little darker than the hair on his head. Your eyes met his and you found bright blue eyes staring back at you.

Alpha.

Your alpha. Your second chance.

Enjoy this fic? Fancy a cuppa? My Ko-Fi.

TAGLIST

@animegirlgeeky @mrsevans90 @jvanilly @slut4rogers @otterlycanadian

[byhees]

ideal type ━━ ( 엔하이픈 성훈 ) ♡ genre fluff high school au potential friends2lovers warnings not proof-read skinship hardcore crushing

thinking about sunghoon, who happens to be the boy you have a major crush on; at first, you doubted the thumping of your heart to be some effect of ‘puppy love’, but now that you both have gotten closer over the months, it’s loud and clear that that’s, a hundred and one percent, not the case.

and to be frank, you’re not sure as to how he hasn’t realised this yet; you’d like to think that you’ve been really, painfully obvious— and that’s completely beyond your control, especially with all the adorable things that he does; he just keeps leaning over you to hear you better, cupping your face to take a fallen eyelash and patting your head every so often. i mean, who wouldn’t be flustered when under his caring gaze??? hahaha… precisely. but it’s completely normal to smile real hard when texting your friend, to gaze at a friend from afar because they just look so pretty and surreal, to… wish under every shooting star that a friend doesn’t notice your racing heart whilst hugging, to… blush at nearly every one of your friend’s cute gestures, to… uh feel all tingly around a friend. omg.

if he doesn’t want for you to completely crumble and melt right in front of him, then he should stop complimenting you nearly every hour of the day!! like stop casually telling me that i have pretty eyes, that this and that reminded you of me… it’s not healthy for my heart to continually thump so quickly, okay??

also, he just loves walking you back home, a cute, oblivious smile plastered on his stupidly cute face; it’s not that you dislike it, it’s that you fear when you might actually give into your inner temptations to hold his hand, because apparently he can’t keep it close to his side, and his fingers keep brushing against yours without a care in the world.

and you can’t exactly expect for one to not malfunction when their crush asks them what their ideal type is like; and so, when the few words left his lips, you began rambling… “oh y’know, it’d be good if he were this,” you said, raising your arm to indicate a height, “much taller than me. and has black hair and uh brown eyes. with a nice.. erm nose bridge. maybe it’d be nice if he were knowledgeable and smart and stuff. it’d be kinda cool if he had something he were passionate about, like a hobby or something… shows, uhm, passion! y’know??” that probably made zero sense, given your continuous mumbling and the insane amount of filler words, but that was what you’d blurted out to your crush, so maybe you can just live, laugh, love and forget that??

well, there was someone who hadn’t forgotten a word you said; in fact, they replayed in his head at all times. a head-ish taller that you? check. black hair and brown eyes? got those too. smart and knowledgeable? he’d like to think that that’s a check. a passion towards a hobby? well he goes ice skating on a regular basis if that counts?

and so, on the following day, you were definitely met with a surprise; “yn, look at me,” he says, bending slightly to meet your gaze. “don’t you think i look like the guy you described yesterday?” omg. you’re joking.

taglist open! @halcyoni-ki @wondipity @yjjungwon @shysakuno @niktwazny303 @vnsux @minhosify @haechansbbg @yeomha @stepout-09-15 @chansburgah @sona-verse01 @lilly-bubblelops @smouches @mrchweeee @luvistqrzzz @j1nniee networks! @kflixnet @enhanet @k-labels

[frozenjokes]

goodtimeswithscar becomes a mother

ao3 link

LOOP 14

“That was good. I’m feeling good about this.” Cub sat up in bed, sliding to stand. “Hard resets do everyone good once and awhile, it keeps the crazy away.”

“Who are you talking about?” Cleo snorted, looking over but not sitting up.

“Scar, obviously.”

“Given the circumstances, I think Scar’s doing just fine. It’s not nice to call a depressed person crazy in any case.”

Cub shook his head, “No, no. I can work with depressed Scar. It was when he got up, that was the problem, when he started looking at me with those crazy eyes. There’s something about them, he’s fucked.”

“He’s depressed, Cub.”

“He’s fucked up. In the head.”

“Yes, that’s what depression does. I say we start up the puzzles again, give him something to think about. Better than laying around doing nothing. The process of finding a good layout is interesting enough, we can walk him through it.”

Again, Cub shook his head, fiercer. “He wasn’t licking you.”

“He did. A little bit.”

“You didn’t see his eyes.”

“Holy shit you’re being obnoxious. If only a ‘hard reset’ would fix that.”

“His eyes, Cleo.” Cleo shot her gun. Cub looked at the bullet hole in his pillow, smoking slightly. “You missed.” Cleo shot a second time and did not miss as badly, but the split of his arm from a grazed bullet wasn’t going to kill him.

“Holy shit I suck.”

“Do you need me to come closer?”

“No! No, don’t you dare.” Cleo shot again. They missed.

“My arm hurts.”

Fourth time’s the charm, and the fifth was the ticket to the end. Cub was relieved for her; that was embarrassing.

LOOP 15

“We’re good to go, Cub.” Cleo called nearly the second the both of them woke up; she must have been the last alive, that dazed feeling was less intense when you knew you were about to come back.

He mumbled something, most likely an inaudible ‘what?’ but Cleo understood regardless.

“I walked Scar through the whole process. If you were curious, that last set up was a complete bust, so you didn’t miss anything. Two of the hallways had timers, what are the chances? Still, I’m hoping this goes pretty fast. Scar’s not the most perceptive guy, but he’s careful. When he was alone he got quite good at setting off traps, so good deal.”

“Did he lick you?”

Cleo barked a short laugh, “No, not really. He’s clingy as hell though, you’re just going to have to cope. I think he keeps trying to grab the back of my shirt? I mean, not much to grab with the tank top, but it’s cute, I’m like 80% sure he’s trying to scruff me. He’ll have an easier time of it with you.”

“No. No. Tell him he’s not allowed to do that.”

“I am counting on him trying to do that. I need to see him drag you across the floor by your collar, it will fix me.”

Cub didn’t get the chance to argue before Scar arrived, looking a little haggard, though that was probably just the state of his reset. When Scar wasn’t trying to kill the both of them on spawn he was distinctly sad looking, and there was something else too, something different about the way Scar looked that Cub couldn’t quite place.

“Great!” Cleo slid to their feet, and Scar brightened a little, meeting her in the middle. She turned back to Cub, who was still in bed, watching with heightened scrutiny. “Come on then.”

“If he’s tired he should sleep. Are you tired, Cleo? Are you hungry? Maybe we should eat.” Scar was glancing back and forth, looking more neurotic than he had two loops ago, if that was even possible. Crazy eyes.

“I’m not tired.” Cub grunted, getting to his feet, “And we ate before the loop began, we will never be hungry at the beginning. Are you hungry?”

Scar startled, “Oh! No, no I’m fine I- I also ate. Before.”

“Right.”

“Come on,” Cleo huffed, sufficiently fed up. “This is going to take a while, so let’s just start.”

“Make sure not to step on the pressure plate that blows up the entire ship and kills all of us,” Cub mumbled, struggling not to chuckle when Scar whipped around with eyes wide like saucers.

“The what!? That’s possible?”

“No.” Cleo grunted, slipping into the left door and leaving the both of them behind.

Cub smirked at Scar, who was still standing in place, neck fur bristling, “It’s totally possible. Happens all the time. But don’t worry, if a trap is going to blow up the ship, there will be a very subtle explosion engraving on the tile. You gotta look for it if you don’t want to ruin a good run. Cleo will tell you I’m lying, but they just think checking is a waste of time. If you want to be thorough, which you should be, you should make sure to check.” With that, he went through the right door, watching with great satisfaction as Scar scurried after Cleo. She wouldn’t last long.

Out of the whole escape room puzzle process, the walkthrough was Cub’s favorite part. It was always exciting, always engaging, and if he ever got bored on a bad layout, he was pretty efficient in setting Cleo up to die. They were always suspicious of him for this reason, and had gotten pretty good at knowing when they were being led into a trap, but that was part of the fun, even more so when Cleo flipped the script, though this happened less often.

Cub and Cleo had gotten their walkthroughs down to a science by now, having gone through so many loops and so many heavy resets. They were picky, starting by examining every hall. Timer? Reset, too annoying. Too many pressure plates? Reset, hard to remember. Horribly decorated? Reset, Cleo whined so much that Cub would be pushed to murder (it was the only way). Next would be identifying every trap in the control room and what was now Scar’s room. If something was too inconvenient or too deadly, reset. They would be living in the layout for months, and the two of them were very easily worn down. Make life easy, make sure both rooms have very few traps with low danger levels. This was more important for the control room, though they’d still be spending quite a bit of time in Scar’s. If everything looked good, then it was a matter of systematically testing every trap in every room and finding out exactly what everything did. More important to know in the main rooms, but in the case of accidents, identifying every trap could save your life, and more importantly, the time spent on the current run.

As far as this current layout went, it was looking pretty good. The hallways at least weren’t horribly obnoxious. Scar, though.. Cub found the two of them still stuck on the opposite of the first hallway when he entered through the control room, Scar diligently examining the floor while Cleo looked ready to kill him and then herself. Good, good. No need to draw this out too much though.

“Scar, I think you’re fine. This room looks good to me.”

Scar startled, nearly setting off a tripwire as he jumped, then looking behind himself, alarmed. “But I haven’t- I’m still looking! How do you know?”

“Back up, I’ll show you.” Cub produced a random object he’d grabbed from one of the boxes in the safe room; just a small weight, enough to set off a pressure plate.

“Waitwaitwait- no, I haven’t finished looking!”

“Back up, Scar, I’m gonna throw it.”

“Or stay where you are,” Cleo mumbled, to which Scar looked behind himself with great alarm.

“I’m backing up! I’m backing up! Don’t throw it!”

“I’m gonna throw it.”

Scar scrambled backward, which was probably going to get him killed before Cub could do it himself. “Don’t! Wait!”

Cub threw the weight. It hit the pressure plate, and for a moment nothing happened. No clicks, churns, or anything falling from the ceiling. Then the ship blew up and everyone died.

Many Loops Pass In Relative Uneventfulness, Many Gruesome Deaths Are Had, Pointless to Keep Track, Really

So Just This Once, For The Sake Of Compilation, The Counter Resets

LOOP N1

“I still can’t believe that happened, I mean, what are the chances? Not very high, obviously, but that’s still kinda crazy. And just the time I told Scar about it, nuts! Incredible, really. Incredible. Lady Luck has quite the sense of humor, huh?”

Cleo ignored Cub to the best of her ability, focusing staunchly on her meal instead of Idiots 1 & 2 doing their darndest to drive out the last dredges of her sanity. The ship explosion had happened multiple loops ago, but Cub still hadn’t stopped talking about it, partially because that’s just how he was, but Cleo also suspected he was very aware she was on the way to losing her cool, and given they were on a pretty good layout so far, she couldn’t do anything about it.

Not that Cub cared. Cub wanted Cleo to shoot him in the face, ohhh Cleo bet he’d just love that wouldn’t he, waste more time, play around and kill each other over and over, she was certainly tempted, but she would refrain, because that’s what Cub wanted.

Idiot 2 was more disconcerting, mostly because Cleo didn’t know what was going on with him. Well, that wasn’t entirely true; Cleo knew why Scar was having a rough go of it, he was still pretty new here, and Cleo didn’t think she’d take well to being screamed at by his family(?) and told not to come home again, but..

Well, Cleo had no idea what was going through Scar’s head. He had been acting a little strangely for a while, yes, but Cleo had just assumed he was holding onto his more natural behaviors as a comfort, that he was desperate to engage with Cleo and Cub like he was back home, which was completely understandable, especially when Cub was taking the brunt of it (who knew there were perks to long hair?).

But Cleo was starting to think something deeper was going on. Something weirder.

Scar had never been too strange when it came to eating. He preferred to eat alone, isolating himself and rarely talking, and almost never engaged with Cub and Cleo when they ate, which Cleo had just assumed was cultural. However, the second living ‘long term’ came up, Scar had completely changed. This was the first time since they’d started the walkthroughs that the three of them had been alive long enough to get hungry (except Scar, who when asked was never hungry, which was beginning to concern Cleo in regards to his past), and when they’d all come to eat, Scar had been completely fine until Cub mentioned something about the distribution of rations with a third person. Cub hadn’t even been trying to be snarky, Cleo saw Cub’s surprise when Scar flipped out, fearful and muttering, and then refused outright to eat.

“I’ll just finish what’s left, you two never eat everything,” Scar had said, calm, fur forcibly flattened, like he hadn’t just lost it at the idea of running out of food. They’d both tried to talk him out of it. Cub felt terrible, he didn’t show it, though Cleo could tell in the way he pushed where he normally wouldn’t have bothered, but still Scar denied him, borderline aggressive with his insistence.

“I eat less than you. Drop it.”

This had to make the top five for the most uncomfortable meals Cleo had ever eaten. Scar had perched himself on the boxes above them, staring the two of them down with an intensity Cleo had mistaken for bitterness, though after Cub had stopped eating, claiming to be done, Scar denied him.

“You eat more than that.” And Scar was right. Cleo knew that, but she didn’t know Scar had been paying that much attention. He always felt them alone when they ate.

The discomfort after that was quickly advancing toward being too much to bear.

Hm.

In hindsight, Cleo didn’t believe Cub was trying to get under her skin with the repeated comments about the ship’s explosion, at least not right now. He was nervous, guilty, and trying to fill the silence with whatever was running through his head. Cleo took a deep breath. They needed to get better about giving him the benefit of the doubt. Cleo attempted to converse with him, but neither of them managed to make the atmosphere anywhere near comfortable. Cleo didn’t think Scar ever blinked.

She was ready to fight Scar if he denied her when she told him she was done eating, but he only nodded, unmoving from his place above. He must be waiting for Cub. God. Terribly, terribly awkward. At the point when Scar believed Cub was actually finished, he took both containers and made off with them. There wasn’t much left for him. Cleo could only hope he really didn’t need to eat as much as they did; she genuinely couldn’t remember what he ate before now, he was so private.

Cub looked miserable. For lack of anything else to do, Cleo suggested they get back to work while Scar ate, and he took the opportunity with great relief.

LOOP N2

Ow. Ow.

Mosquitos, deer flies, horse flies, bugs, Cub was being ravaged by bugs, he really hadn’t considered the bugs when he’d started this journey. In the Wisconsin northwoods you breathed them, all sorts, but the deer flies were his worst enemies, drawing blood even through the thick layers of.. well, moss didn’t feel like an accurate descriptor. It looked a little like moss, like life had reached toward the sky and captured the stars, brilliant and twinkling and everything good. But moss didn’t have teeth. Sculk did. Cub liked that about it. Whether it hurt more or less than the flies, that was up for debate, but the sculk was consistent, familiar, everywhere, and the flies were in his way.

But with all the bugs, there was some reprieve. Afterall, another source of food meant less of those teeth under Cub’s skin. Less pain, though, somehow, he still managed to miss it.

Sculk was alien. It was not supposed to be here. But it wanted to be.

Sculk was a parasite. So was Cub.

Ow- Fucking- stupid ass dumbass fucking-

Cub jolted awake with a screech, being shaken- dragged out of bed, the monster on his neck- he was falling, a bear- a black bear had got him, he was being dragged through the woods by a black bear- fuck- what bear was it you where you were supposed to play dead? Cub had thought the brown bear, there weren’t brown bears in Wisconsin- He tried anyway.

He realized the floor was not dirt. The paws awkwardly dragging him along weren’t black or brown. Momentarily stunned, he heard Cleo cackle through the darkness.

“Scar- Scar! What are you doing? Wait- No no- No! Scar!”

Cub had the wind knocked out of him as his kidnapper attempted to jump onto Cleo’s bed, his stomach slamming into the mattress before he was unceremoniously dragged all the way up over a howling Cleo. Briefly Cub was released, to which he cautiously began to move until the sheets were pulled so hard underneath him that he fell off balance, only to be grabbed by the throat, then shoved head first underneath.

Cub needed a second to breathe, utterly shocked he was still alive. Then a large weight fell on top of him, and breathing became a little harder. The weight began to purr.

“Scar.” Cleo gasped, sounding just as shaken as Cub felt, though not nearly as dazed. The purring ceased briefly, then began again, Cleo’s bewilderment remaining unanswered. “What- Why?” they tried again, which Scar seemed more receptive to.

“Easier to watch when you’re close together. This is better. Efficient. Safer.”

“We- We don’t need to be watched, Scar. We are safe. This room is safe. There is literally nothing in here that can hurt us.”

“That King is awfully suspicious. It’s watching me.”

“He’s not on! He can not turn on by himself, we are fine.”

“What else lurks in the shadows, Cleo? You never know, you never know. One minute you’re safe, the next minute a hawk has swooped out of nowhere and grabbed your kitten, you gotta be careful, you gotta sleep together. It’s the best way to do it, it’s the best way.”

“I can not argue with you about this right now. Is Cub even alive?”

“He’s moving.”

Cub was indeed wriggling. He wasn’t uncomfortable per se; there was something deeply mollifying about having a large weight directly on your back, and he slept face down anyway, so this wasn’t a huge issue. Just adjusting.

“Let him go, Scar.”

Cub was a little offended by the implication that he could not get Scar off by himself- Scar was at least half his weight! “I’m fine.”

“He’s fine,” Scar parroted.

Cleo sighed, long and strained. She said no more. With enough passage of time, Cub stopped going to sleep in his own bed, since no amount of arguing was going to stop Scar from dragging him out of it every night. Though, out of all of Scar’s disruptive quirks, this was not something Cub minded all too much. He liked Cleo’s company, though he was relatively certain Cleo did not enjoy sleeping in a full bed nearly as much. Well, Cub definitely took up more room, but it wasn’t like she had slept alone since Scar had invited himself to sleep at their feet anyway.. then their legs.. then their stomach.. then their chest. Maybe this was always the next step. Cub wouldn’t be surprised if Scar had been planning it from the start. Oh well. No skin off his back.

LOOP N3

Cub was acting distant, which likely meant he’d found something that made this loop uninhabitable, was choosing not to say so, and was setting a trap. With the way he kept glancing at Cleo, she’d bet her life it was meant for her; seriously, he was so obvious. In any case, it made sense. Cub didn’t want to fuck with Scar, not right now when he was so clingy and sensitive. The worst possible outcome for him was to make Scar more sad and needy and weird, yeah, Cleo seriously doubted Cub would go after him right now.

Though, that very well may change. 90% of the time Cub tried to sneak off, Scar wandered after him with a bright, innocent curiosity, and Cleo could see the light die in Cub’s eyes every single time. In such a small ship, it was not easy to lose Scar.

Cleo took great joy from this struggle, making sure to laugh at Cub any chance they got. Standard procedure. If she was going to die in some terrible way, the path to get there would not be smooth, and if Cleo was sure of anything, it’s that she would surely die.

They did not tell Scar. Cleo wasn’t trying to rain on Cub’s parade after all, though the entertainment factor of the walkthrough had all but disappeared when they were aware this loop would not last. They had to find something else to do, so, naturally, the investigation began.

A murder mystery where there was not yet a murder, where there would be a murder, but the victim had yet to be decided. The assailant was likely to succeed, but if the target of his devices could identify the to-be murder weapon, she might be able to stop it, to turn the whole crime on its head.

…Maybe she would tell Scar.

It was the next day when Cleo saw him staring after Cub, who had excused himself to be ‘horrendously constipated’ for two hours before leaving promptly towards Scar’s room.

Scar looked concerned, genuine, which was cute, wishing Cub luck and telling him not to strain less he be plagued by hemorrhoids and nearly following him before being pushed back into the control room where they’d all been meandering before. Cleo put a hand on his shoulder.

“There’s a villain in our midst, detective.”

Scar blinked, turning to face her. He looked at himself, then Cleo, then back, unsure. “Not either of us?”

“No, it’s not either of us.”

“Bad shits?”

“Bad shits are an ever-looming threat, but not today’s villain.”

“It is for Cub!” Scar pointed out, gleeful in his observation, but sagged slightly when Cleo shook their head. “..No?”

“He’s a liar, Scar. A liar, and a soon to be murderer. I am not long for this world, Scar.”

“What? No! I won’t let him! I’ll go right now- I’ll show him-“

“I am not long for this world.. unless..” Cleo drawled, stopping Scar in his tracks. He looked unsure for a moment.

“..unless I go and beat him up..?”

“No, no, we need to stop him for good.”

“Unless I kill him and feast on his corpse!”

“Closer, but no, no. We have more tact, Scar, we’re smarter than Cub, right?” Cleo continued when Scar looked about ready to argue, “Killing Cub outright won’t do anything, it will ruin his game and that’s not fun for anyone. No, we’re going to beat him at his own game. We’re going to find his trap, and turn it against him!”

Scar’s tail twitched, unimpressed. “I feel like it would just be easier to kill Cub now.”

“That would be breaking the rules.”

Scar pursed his lips, “I don’t like your guys’ games very much..”

“Relax, no one’s gonna hurt you. It’s me or Cub, and there’s no better feeling than getting Cub in his own trap, trust me. I’d bet anything he’s already made it, he’s been scheming for a while. Now’s just a matter of setting up, then leading me into it.” Cleo rubbed their hands together while Scar’s ear only drooped.

“Oh dear.”

“Hush now detective. A murder is on the horizon, a target has been chosen, and the trap is being laid. It’s time to look for clues.” Cleo hit Scar hard on the back, chuckling when he startled, “I’d bet my life- fair to say, since it is on the line- that Cub has pilfered one or two things from the control room to assist in the construction of his devious design. All we know for certain now is that the trap is not in the control room, so we can search it freely. Everywhere else is a danger zone.” Cleo set off on her investigation, Scar trailing behind her.

“How do you know you’re the target?”

“He’s giving me The Look.”

“I- I don’t know about this. Cub’s expression never really changes.”

“It does. I would know, detective, he’s gotten me many, many times. But it’s alright! I have you now. With you on my side, Cub will be shaking in his little boots, I’ll tell ya. I am 100% certain no harm will come to me with a man of such investigative prowess on my side.”

Cleo was pleased when Scar preened, straightening up a little. “You think Cub’s scared of me?”

“Oh, yes, he’s very scared. He knows what you’re capable of, he won’t want to cross you. I bet he’s counting on the fact that you don’t find out, he knows what will happen to him, but you’re not going to tell him you know. We’re going to surprise him.”

“Yes!” Scar’s tail lashed, “He won’t know what hit him! I’m gonna confront him right now!”

Cleo wasn’t sure whether to laugh or sigh, but hey, at least he seemed to gain back some of that confidence that was previously lost. “I- No, Scar, that is like, the opposite of what I said.”

“I thought I was detective?”

“I mean, we’re both detectives.”

“I want to be lead detective. I want to confront him.”

“You- Sure. Fine. You can be the lead detective. But we aren’t going to confront him yet, we still have to look for clues, right?”

“Yes! Clues!” Diligently, Scar stormed off across the room, and Cleo watched him get inches away from killing himself on two separate traps, neither of which Scar seemed to notice or remember. Well. Cleo had no idea what he was sniffing around for (seriously, why was he sniffing?), but she was happy to get to work on the other side of the room. Cleo set most of their sights on the drawers, looking through to determine if anything was missing. By now, they had quite the mental model on the list of tools and resources kept in the control room, and Cleo was not surprised to find the tape measures missing. That was Cub’s most frequent tool, the sturdy metal one (of which Cleo had used to bash Cub’s head in more than once) and the loose one for less straight lines (not strong enough to be used for strangulation, unfortunately). Both were gone.

“Find anything, Scar?”

“Lies. Lies and deceit.”

“That so. You can smell deceit then? I’m impressed.”

“Oh I can smell it. I can smell it. It’s all over the place, all over. This room stinks of malintention.”

Cleo snorted, ultimately amused. Good to know he was into the roleplay, even if he wasn’t actually doing anything. “Do you remember if there was anything sharp in here? Cub is always looking for something sharp he can use to cut stuff since we don’t have scissors. He likes to make things, he’s always cutting up rugs and pulling fibers to use for.. Honestly, anything. It’s been a while since he’s gone out of his way to really make a trap, excluding what he did to you before. Sometimes he gets creative, decorates.”

Scar paced, eyes narrowed and whiskers twitching. “Sharp.. Sharp.. I mean, he’s got a whole box of sharp things in the safe room, right?”

“Oh, you mean the nails? Yeah, he’ll use those as a last resort, but they’re small and pretty lousy for cutting. Sometimes there are hidden knives and razors meant to be used for puzzles, and even swords if there are any particularly enthusiastic suits of armor around.”

“Hmm..” Scar continued to pace, and Cleo had to tug him away from a pressure plate he’d been told the location of about 100 times by now. It was incredible how cautious Scar was at the beginning of a loop, but less than a week had to pass before all that melted away. Keeping him alive took more effort than the actual walkthrough. Scar blinked down at the death he’d almost strode on in mild shock, then continued on pacing the other way without acknowledging it, “I don’t remember anything. Is it possible he found one on his own and didn’t tell us about it?”

Cleo blinked in a short pause, “Oh, you know, I bet you’re right. I haven’t seen anything wrong with this loop yet, and I had assumed Cub just found something that we would have agreed we didn’t want to deal with, but I bet he’s been dying to make a trap for ages, if he found a really good tool, he probably got excited.” Cleo fiddled with their fingernails, then looked up when Scar said nothing, confused at the silence. Scar’s face was radiant.

“You think so?” His eyes were shining.

“Uh,” Cleo stared, bemused by his expression, “Yeah?”

“Grrreat! I’ll confront him immediately! Caught in the act, the villain! Lead detective, Scar of the Scarfire mercenaries, is on the case!” Scar continued to cheer, unfettered by Cleo’s pulling on the back of his jacket, unsure whether to be exasperated or amused. But she didn’t get the chance to say otherwise when Cub meandered through the door from the safe room.

“SCOUNDREL! I know what you are!”

Cub startled, “Like- Gay?”

“MURDERER!”

“I- Okay. Like. In what context. Should I leave. Are you guys having a moment or something.”

Scar stalked toward him, tail puffed all the way out, and snatched an increasingly bewildered Cub by the collar, lifting him to his tip-toes with four hands and shaking him, “CONFESS!”

“Cleo!?” The distress in Cub’s voice was a rare beauty to behold, and while Cleo couldn’t pretend she’d planned this, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

“Vermin scum,” Cleo snarled, unable to keep the grin off their face. They joined Scar, poking Cub in the face, “Confess! We know what you've done, what you intend to do.”

“You- And you told Scar!?”

“AHA!” Scar howled, Cub flinching at the noise or perhaps the spit flying from Scar’s mouth, “He admits it!”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, detective-“

“-Lead detective of the Scarfire mercenaries.”

Cleo grimaced, taking a moment to wonder how committed to the bit she really was. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” When Scar visibly deflated, Cleo sighed, “Lead detective of the Scarfire mercenaries.” Immediately Scar was back to form, and Cleo viciously fought the urge to be charmed, continuing on, “Cub has only alluded to the truth; for this to hold up in court we need a real confession.”

“A confession under threat of violence is hardly a confession at all,” Cub huffed, only to be shaken vigorously by Scar, “This- This is coercion-”

“Enough, Scar,” Cleo patted Scar’s shoulder, and with a little hesitance, he ceased. Pleased, Cleo went on, “I couldn’t help but notice, Cub, that you were hardly gone for more than twenty minutes when you claimed your constipation would leave you ill for two full hours. What say you?”

“A stroke of good luck. I haven’t shit for days, it was about time.”

“Incorrect!” Scar bellowed, shaking Cub a few times for emphasis, “You shit yesterday! Twice! I know it because I wait for you by the door when you’re in the bathroom!”

“Dude.” Cub looked about like he’d aged twenty years. “You need to stop doing that.”

“It’s uncomfortable.” Cleo agreed, sage. “I would also like to submit a formal request for you to stop doing that.”

“But- But what if you need help! Cub, you were just talking about how you were sick!” Scar shook him again, gentler, Cub in turn attempting to distance himself from Scar as much as possible.

“I am not constipated, that was a lie to cover up the murder I’m about to commit. Scar, I don’t know how you think you can help me shit, but I never want to know, stay the fuck away from me.”

“AHA! Caught in a bout of lies! Give up, Cub! Your plans have been foiled!” Scar lifted Cub entirely off the ground, holding him a little more securely with two hands at his waist. Radiant, he turned to Cleo. “What now?”

“Well, we were supposed to catch him in his own trap, but this derailed before that could happen, so I guess we just win.”

Scar’s face fell momentarily, and Cleo did not doubt he had forgotten the original end goal in his great excitement to confront the to-be killer. “I- No! We can still kill him! We can kill him in his trap! Cub! Lead us to your trap! We are going to execute you in it!”

“Cheers, I guess.”

Scar turned Cub around so he was facing forward, holding him as far away from his body as Cub could go before giving his grand command, “Point, criminal!” Cub did so without hesitation. Valiantly, Scar marched toward the hallway to the safe room. Cleo trailed behind them, chuckling into their hands.

Scar dropped Cub in front of the door. “Go on.”

Cub looked back, mildly surprised, but only shrugged, making a scene of reaching for the door handle, bowing with a small flourish of his hand before pulling the door back. A little late, Cleo realized she and Scar were the only people framed in the entranceway, which wouldn’t have been any kind of issue if Ren were not standing at the other end.

“Your arrival was foretold! Come forth, for it is a verrry special day, specialest of all days! Your king has produced an heir, and his prince-eth shalt be celebrated by all the lands!” Ren did not have arms, but he did have little paws attached to the side of his flimsy pole body, and sitting atop them was a bundle of forest green carpet, with a ‘head’ made of that heavy tape measure, googly eyes attached crudely to the front. Around the forehead, the other tape measure was tied in a loose bow. How cute. Less cute was the maze of thread dancing across the floor, all tied taut to a tripwire that would drop a grand piano at the control room door, not likely to kill Scar or Cleo, but Ren surely would in response to the perceived threat. Was there even room to kneel? Ren seemed to be standing in the one place without any thread, but Cleo wasn’t confident they and Scar could fit. “Come forth!” Ren bellowed, more impatient now, “Or be hailed traitors to the crown! Give your adorations to my beautiful Boo!”

Well. This was not good. Neither of them could back out; if Ren deemed them traitors, his AI could access the different monitors and certain traps, and he would call upon his ‘personal Hawkeye’ to gun them down until their heads were severed from their bodies. But this was perfectly navigable, Cleo would just need to buy them some time, and Ren was very partial to compliments and roleplay.

“Your son, hey? Congratulations, congratulations! I take it Cub was your midwife, yes? Excellent! What a healthy baby boy!” Cleo took a step forward, praying Scar would just follow along. She couldn’t explain anything to him now, Ren did not take well to being ignored. “Did you say his name was Boo? Brilliant! A powerful name, fit for a prince!”

Scar did not move, only looking alarmed when Cleo took their first step, then their second. She just prayed Scar didn’t try to grab Cub from where he had tucked himself behind the large steel door; any sign of aggression and Ren would lose it. Luckily, Cub was far out of reach, and when Cleo met Scar’s eye for as long as she dared, he seemed to understand, expression hardening determinedly.

“Yes, yes!” Ren boomed, and if he had a chest, Cleo was certain it would be puffed all the way out. “My son, even newly born, is a strong man, very strong, he will make a fine leader. Come forth now! Bow before him!”

“Cleo,” Scar breathed, and for a moment she was very afraid he was about to run away. Arguably, what he actually did was worse. “Don’t worry about it. We have unfinished business.”

Cleo couldn’t do much more than yelp as Scar’s claws hooked under her arms and waist and she was tossed backward, landing hard on her back. Scar was already dancing across the floor when Cleo sat up, and Ren had made his declaration of Scar’s betrayal to the crown, spark’s flying at the ignition. Scar dodged the first bout of flame, impressively not tripping any of the thread-wire. Instead, the fibers themselves caught flame, half of Cub’s trap falling loose to the floor. Cleo might have considered a move like that smart if Scar wasn’t actively killing himself. And indeed, as Scar reached the end of the hallway, there was not much room to escape Ren’s onslaught, and even as Scar grabbed the pole of Ren’s body, he seemed not to realize Ren’s head could turn on its own, shooting him point blank in the chest. However, Scar cared incredibly little about the new hole in his chest, smashing Ren against the floor as a second blaze exploded from the robot’s mouth. It must have surely hit Scar, but he didn’t even react, continuing to smash Ren against the floor even as he was shot a second time. Cleo was almost impressed.

The explosion was earsplitting, fiery, and sudden, Cleo feeling only heat and then nothing, so much nothing she was certain she was dead, at least until her ears started to ring. When she looked up, the steel door was closed. Cub was still standing, gaping at the wall like he could see right through it.

“That was the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”

Cleo coughed, struggling to recover enough to speak. “That.. was something.”

“It- It was completely unnecessary! He didn’t have to fucking do that! Physically, he’s a lot smaller than you- he could have just bowed! Clearly the wire didn’t give him any trouble, his ankles are so damn skinny- why did he do that? He knew he could have bowed! He would have been fine! For fuck’s sake, he could have carried you through if he was worried! This- This wasn’t- That was meant for you!”

*this would be far from the last time in this series of loops that Scar died unnecessarily to a trap intended for Cleo, but he would always return, stoic and proud of the service he’d provided in dying for her. Cleo did not ever have the heart to tell him off; it’s flattering to have someone die for you, even when they’re being an idiot. Cub did not have the same reservations, but such cruelties are easy to dismiss from the villain of the tale. Said villain will continue to lose his mind as his traps are thoughtlessly ruined by a meddling kitty cat, accidentally killing himself in increasingly avoidable ways. Such is life.

[dovahbee]

NORMANDY SR2 INFO BOARD HOLIDAY EDITION

[NEW MESSAGES AS OF 12:09]

12:09- XO. LAWSON: Good afternoon. As all of you know, it’s the winter holiday season on earth. I would like to invite @all to the starboard deck for a cultural exchange at 14:00 for anyone interested in learning about human winter traditions.

-

REMINDERS:

- Candy canes are NOT weapons. ALSO they are a privilege, not a right.

- Mistletoe (the greenery hanging from the roof) is NOT edible.

- Mess Sergeant Gardner is dressing up as Santa Clause; if you see a man with a white beard and red clothing DO NOT OPEN FIRE.

- Menorahs are NOT edible.

- Hot chocolate is HOT. Human skin is sensitive. For the love of god, just be responsible.

-

Happy Holidays. See you there.

12:10- FLT. MOREAU: seriously

12:10- LT. TAYLOR: how stupid do you think we are?

12:10- CHF. ZORAH: yayyy happy holidays! merry christmas, happy hanukkah, joyous kwanzaa, feliz navidad, gung hay fat choy!!! am i saying those right??

12:10- GO. VAKARIAN: someone did research last night

12:10- LC. SHEPARD: goddamn it, did grunt eat another menorah?

12:11- SPEC. JACK: im pretty sure mistletoe is edible. i mean it’s a plant, right?

12:11– SPEC. MASSANI: good goddamn point

12:11- SPEC. GRUNT: will there be food other than the roof salad

12:11- LC. SHEPARD: i would like to point out— candy canes absolutely are weapons. i dropped a guy with one once.

12:11- XO. LAWSON: Not helping, Shepard.

12:11- SPEC. GRUNT: noodles please

12:11- SPEC. KRIOS: Impressive, Commander.

12:11– SPEC. GRUNT: please teach me battlemaster

12:12– LC. SHEPARD: gladly. just suck on the tip until it’s pointy then ram it in the jugular. should work for humans, turians, drell, quarians, batarians, hanar (probably?) and vorcha. it’s messy as hell but satisfying.

12:12- XO. LAWSON: That’s it. You’ve all lost your candy cane privileges.

12:12– DR. SOLUS: Wise decision. Shepard and Grunt safety hazards.

12:12- CHF. ZORAH: seriously??? You can’t punish all of us for shepard’s bloodlust

12:12- SPEC. GOTO: so let me get this straight, miri. you trust us with your life in a firefight, but not with candy canes during a Christmas party?

12:13- XO. LAWSON: a HOLIDAY party. and yes, that is correct.

12:13- LC. SHEPARD: i mean… it sorta seems fair. i trust vakarian on my six with an SR… but with a taser? absolutely not.

12:13- GO. VAKARIAN: i think LCs been shot in the head one too many times

12:13- LC. SHEPARD: not the point, numb nuts

12:13- SPEC. SAMARA: If Commander Shepard can safely operate a live firearm, she should be able to responsibly handle a sharp sucrose stick.

12:13- SPEC. GOTO: you’d think

12:13- LC. SHEPARD: i don’t know if i can. i just get this overwhelming urge to stab.

12:13- DR. CHAKWAS: Pushing your psych eval forward, LC.

12:13- GO. VAKARIAN: called it!

12:14- SPEC. MASSANI: so this party… do we get turkey dinner if we show?

12:14- SPEC. JACK: what the fuck is a turkey

12:14- XO. LAWSON: Dinner will be at 18:00, given Gardner has finished up. No turkey, just rations.

12:14- GO. VAKARIAN: Why the hell does Gardner look like that? [image.attachment_sergeant_santa_clause]

12:14- LC. SHEPARD: huh. looks like he was born for the role.

12:14- CHF. ZORAH: this seems… offensive. why did he stuff his pants and belly?

12:15- FLT. MOREAU: compensation, zorah

12:15- CHF. ZORAH: ohhhh

12:15– FLT. MOREAU: it’s not a real holiday party without booze @XO

12:15- XO. LAWSON: the LAST thing this crew needs is alcohol

12:15- LC. SHEPARD: [image.attachment_secret_candy_canes] jokes on you @XO i bought myself some on the citadel. knew you’d pull this crap.

12:15- XO. LAWSON: fine

12:15- LC. SHEPARD: this too [image.attachment_4.5L_bottle_vodka]

12:15- XO. LAWSON: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

[euniexenoblade]

Ok so Apple released it's 100 Greatest Albums list a while ago and I scoffed at it, but after watching some youtubers whine about it in different ways, I realized I hadn't given it the fairest shake. I haven't listened to every album on it and a lot of stuff I have listened to I haven't listened to in a long while. So, I'm gonna listen to every album featured and decide how I feel about them. And for fun y'all get small quick reviews.

Starting off, here's part one of my reviews.

I decided to start with Adele's 21. Not for any special reason other than it seemed like it might be nice to listen to in the shower. Adele has a great, powerful voice, but the album has two song archetypes that just get repeated. The songs are mostly competent so individually they're fine, but together as an album they make a very boring experience. Also, I recognized Rumor Has It from a commercial or something, I fucking hate that song. Docked extra points for having that song. This album doesn't belong on the list at all to me, and even if we are throwing a bone to the modern 2010s-2020s artists, she definitely doesn't deserve number 15. A ridiculous placement.

I decided to take on Drake's Take Care and hey guys, does Drake make any other songs? Why do they all sound the same? Does he do anything other than sad boy shit? Of the three Drake releases I've now listened to, this one is easily the best one. I didn't hate the experience, for that Drake deserves some kudos. But, I don't think there's anyway to view Drake positively in 2024. Maybe in 2011 this seemed special, but in 2024 I can easily say that this does not deserve to be on this list, let alone at 47. Giving Drake a pity placement is fine, but not in the top 50.

I have never understood the love that Hotel California garners. Like, the song is good, but it's not earth shattering, and the rest of the album is pretty typical rock for the era. There is just so little content that I haven't got much to say, it's competent enough to not be laughably bad, but it's also so run of the mill there's no highlights. Picking it for a list like this is what I'd call a safe option, not a real option.

I'll be frank, I'm not very familiar with Robyn or Body Talk, so maybe I don't have context on how important this album was to the history of the genre or music at large. Though, to my ear, the album bounces between having wonderful dance pop tracks to having some really boring, repetitive tracks. Still, not the worst album here (not even the worst in this post), it's just hard for me to really gauge how deserving it is for this list.

Probably an album with an unfair advantage, I've been listening to RATM since I was a kid. My favorite Rage album is definitely The Battle of Las Angeles, but I'm not dumb enough to say that should be on the list. Still think Evil Empire had greater music and potentially greater reach than the self titled, but this being here isn't bad. Just a shame it's only at 97.

Did enjoy this a quite a bit. However, musically speaking it feels incredibly one note. This belongs in the top 100 albums ever? Did it really have that level of cultural inspiration? I'm not mad at it being included, not even mad it's at 96, but for it to be in a better spot than the self titled RATM album? Incredibly stupid.

Probably a dumb thing to say, but this is what I expected Drake's album to be like? Fun music and fun lyrics about being a sad boy, a lover boy, and being too playful with women. Honestly, the only reason it gets such low ratings is consistently Usher says shit like this

GET IT?! IT'S CONFESSION PART II, SO HE SAYS PART TWO OF MY CONFESSION!! SOOOO CLEVER come on man. Does it belong on the best 100 list? I don't know. Let someone else decide that.

I have no issue with either of this being on the list, being in the 90s, or any real thoughts to give. Burial isn't quite my vibe musically so I got nothing to say, and Solange is great so it's like. It's cool they're there, no thoughts.

I don't have an issue with George Michael being on this list, but this album? I vibe Faith far more.

Flower Boy by Tyler the Creator is absolutely one of my favorite albums. I'd have imagined that Apple would have chosen Igor, since it's the one people universally seem to adore, but I'm happy Flower Boy is getting love. Flower Boy is my favorite from Tyler and it has special meaning in my heart, so any praise the album can get.

Look, if you're picking AC/DC albums to put on a list, then this is probably the correct pick, but why would you put AC/DC on the top 100 Albums of all Time list? I don't even think they'd qualify for the Top 100 Hard Rock Albums from before the 2000s list! Is it cuz of the Iron Man soundtrack? It's gotta be right?

This is probably my most unpopular opinion: Lady Gaga is overrated as hell. I do not understand what people in 2009 saw in these songs and I still don't get it now. Maybe it belongs on this Top 100 Albums List cuz it had some kind of cultural impact, I mean her music was inescapable for a time. But, I don't get it, I wouldn't put it on my list, and Bad Romance is absolutely one of the most annoying pop songs the radio has ever played.

And, to conclude this long ass pointless post, I'll just jump ahead again to end this on an album I enjoy.

I don't get the weird revisionism that happens around Kid A. I do love it to death, but when it came out it was critically hated. It just feels like everyone treats this as the greatest triumph in music, when the only people that have heard it are Radiohead fans and the weird hipster that tries to act smarter than you in music. Oh well, it's Captain America's favorite album so I guess it works.

I guess more of the issue is Radiohead is one of like, three or four artists on this list that gets more than one spot. Why waste a spot on Kid A at 33 when you have Ok Computer at 12, let some other unnamed artist be on the list instead.

Neither Kid A or OK Computer are my favorite Radiohead albums, but hey, I like Kid A. It's one of four albums I listen to when trying to fall asleep at night, so it's nice to see mentioned I guess.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Wait wait wait, in relation to that other ask—

Dad squad, but hero of power Ganondorf is along for the ride. The Yiga would be very very very dead

-Sky Floor

HAHA

Oh my gosh what a dynamic that would be 😂 Rusl would be very weirded out even after Ganondorf explains that he’s technically not the guy Rusl knows (I mean, he is, but he decided not to go down that route, at least… but he’s not telling Rusl that). Gan’s not happy that his boy’s been kidnapped, oof, depending on when this is that would be wild. I think best case scenario for a harmonious Dad Squad without diving into one of my AUs of my AU (lol) would be just before he tries to steal the Triforce, so his baby boy’s just turned 15 and he’s finally admitted he loves him and this is not how his day was supposed to go, ok, he was just sending the boy off after Link and Hemisi had their little moment and suddenly these freaks show up out of nowhere and Gan and Link can fight them off but then a portal appears and throws them both for a loop and Gan just woke up and WHERE IS HIS KID AND WHERE IS HE—

The Yiga would be very screwed, yes. But also Ganondorf and Abel would probably get along in their exasperation over literally everything 🤣 Abel, after all, has no idea that there’s a connection between Ganondorf and Ganon. Obviously he’s leery of the guy if their most trusting and sociable Dad had a rough start with him, but he also logically deduced that given they’re from different eras, and their sons share the same name, it isn’t too far fetched to assume the same applies to others.

Fierce, on the other hand, is strangely quiet around this new guy. He can sense something’s up, but he can also sense that Gan’s used a piece of the Triforce, which should be a sign that he isn’t a bad guy, right? But he definitely has some dark magic, and when he uses it the fierce deity mask reacts to it and tends to cause Fierce some pain.

(side note, Gan is super skeptical and curious about the fact that they’re traveling with a supposed literal war god)

I think the Dads would rub off on Gan, though. ☺️ Whenever he catches up to his kid he might have a better outcome.

But oof, if we’re going with my recent remarks about who the main Dad Squad villain is… Power Link is in for a heck of a time.

[very-grownup]

NUMBER 14

Sometimes a guy comes with baggage. You get it. Maybe he was raised in unusual circumstances. Maybe at a formative age he was given confusing lessons on the value of his own life. Maybe his dad sucks. Maybe he saw a bunch of children slaughtered in front of him in the snow. Maybe he was raised with less carrot and more implements of torture. It could be anything, really, and that can have an effect on a man's ability to open up and trust, especially if he doesn't have access to therapy. Remember: it's great to go into a relationship without plans to change a man. You should accept him as he comes. View him as a unique human being instead of a project.

But you have to ask yourself:

Should I be going into this relationship at all?

Can you live with his flaws?

Should you live with his flaws?

Are there flaws that eclipse all of his good qualities and the chemistry between you?

Because while he has a u-haul of baggage, Xie Wei has a lot of good qualities. He's well-educated and well-traveled. He can play a musical instrument beautifully and converse eloquently on classical literature and poetry, as well as write his own. In a time when women are expected to learn womanly arts such as flower arranging and incense blending and literacy is optional, Xie Wei sees no reason that young women shouldn't be educated with the same curriculum he uses with young men. These are all lovely qualities! Significant positives!

Now for the negatives: Xie Wei will lie to you, he is jealous, he does not understand boundaries, he is jealous, he is secretive, he is jealous, he is possessive, he is jealous, he has an undisclosed medical condition that may be vampirism (triggered by snow) or may be epilepsy (also triggered by snow), he is jealous, he is not interested in co-scheming, he is jealous, he does not understand consent, he is jealous, he may have some sexual kinks that really require consent to safely practise, and he is jealous.

On top of all that, if you have a cat, you and Xie Wei are fundamentally incompatible unless you can get him to agree to some extreme immersion therapy, and even if it does exist, Xie Wei does not seem like the kind of man to spend time in therapy.

You have to look at Xie Wei and ask yourself: how comfortable are you with the odds of his chucking any male child you have into a ravine? Because those odds are more than zero.

They will always be more than zero.

You probably shouldn't date Xie Wei.

Go back to see Number 15?

Go forward to see Number 13?

Or skip to the end to see Number 1?

[yuseirra]

I've been jotting down notes here like a madman, but no matter how much I think about it, I don't think Ai's boyfriend would have tried "to scare her" by sending Ryosuke..

Looking at how Kamiki behaves, he’s the type who takes responsibility for things even when it’s not his fault, and it really wears him down.

I mean, the things Ai brought up when she left to him were incredibly cruel...(she didn't blame him, just stated the facts but that alone would have broke him) The incident related to Taiki was something terrible, something for which a mere 11-year-old kid could have no responsibility; he was just a one-sided victim. Yet, when Kamiki brings it up when talking to Aqua, he talks about it as if it was something he had done, saying things like "what I did," and justifies Ai leaving as if it were natural. When someone "accepts" and "agrees with" things to this extreme degree, the possibility of aggressive outbursts is very low. If this guy showed aggression, it should have been MUCH sooner, he couldn't even do anything at Airi, he couldn't say anything when Ai left. He just... stands there with wide eyes all speechless. No sense of anger or active actions of rebuttals.

His personality seems to be one where, when something happens, he doesn’t lash out at others but instead torments himself. He blames himself for everything, thinking, "Oh, it's my fault that things turned out this way," and he’s terrible at self-protection (he’s similar to Aqua in this way, but his low self-esteem makes it even worse). He should have been angry at Ai’s words, but he couldn’t even do that.

This kind of reaction aligns with how he couldn’t say a word in chapter 155. From his perspective, he’s been believing Ai’s lie for over a decade, and then the next thing he says is that he’s going to do something for Ai. His ways of actions are consistent. If he’s still like this after 15 years, then he’s either always been like this, or it’s just his nature, or at least when it comes to things related to Ai (although it seems like this is how he is overall).

It’s not impossible that he "exploded after holding it in for so long," but what happened before Ai died wasn’t enough to provoke someone’s breaking point like that... If it’s true that she only contacted him after four years, well, it’s possible that this character, given his nature, might have been excited, surprised, and desperate, only to be rejected again, leading him to feel miserable and sorrowful. But then he might have thought, "Of course, Ai wouldn’t want to meet someone like me again; that’s only natural," and convinced himself of that. (If someone dumps him, he’s more likely to accept it rather than obsess over it. Think about it, he didn't do anything for 4 years;; and Ai's a celebrity, he could've tried to approach her on many occasions but the protagonist twins have no idea of the dad) Based on what he says, this interpretation makes more sense. I think he could've been just incredibly sad. But then something went wrong, Ai died, and now he’s completely out of his mind, thinking it’s his fault. I honestly don't understand why you'd try to harm someone who'd be willing to show your kids whom you share with them. Is he that crazy and broken? That sort of reaction is very different from how he used to be, and personalities don't change that drastically. Maybe he grew insane after the influence of the black star or whatever, but from how well the characters are written in this manga, I think there should have been signs if he were to be the type to take that sort of toxic action. Kamiki mostly just seemed.. timid and helpless, in his past.

He believes he was never loved by the person they loved deeply, but he also says he's willing to sacrifice their life for them while being so, that’s actually quite a miserable state of mind, isn’t it? Even in such a state, it seems like Kamiki was constantly doing something for Ai. Since he thought Ai didn’t like him, he probably disregarded himself entirely and went off the rails... with a mindset of "I don’t care if I die."

That’s why I think statements from this character like "It’s my fault" or "I did it" are not very reliable to believe at face value. It seems like he’s saying these things because he wants to blame himself, or maybe he can’t forgive himself, so he talks like that. I could be wrong, but at least when it comes to Yura, I think there’s a high chance that he’s less responsible than he thinks and that there’s about a 50% chance that he didn’t even kill anyone; the more I try to examine his character, I feel like he’s not someone who would originally harm others.

Maybe he really did nothing at all... If that’s the case, someone should save this guy. The only explanation I could think of, for having Ai say "help Kamiki" would be this. If it were to be any other way, and Ai was his victim, then the story is just so harsh on Ai, even if she loves him, Kamiki would have to pay for what he's done, not "helped". Well, his life has been pretty miserable. I don’t know what he’s been up to while the main characters grew up and after he broke up with Ai and looking at him all dressed up in a suit and holding champagne, he might have lived his life doing everything he wanted and enjoying it, but I think he’d have definitely been mentally devastated since Ai’s death. He’s probably extremely depressed, to the extent that it's surprising he’s still alive. It can’t be otherwise. I bet he really doesn't care about himself all so much.., the songs imply that very strongly.

This could sound like I'm trying to defend myself for shipping them but really.. I don't think Hikaru tried to scare Ai using Ryosuke in the first place. It just doesn't line up with his personality and what his behaviors used to be like. My drawings are actually drawn on the baseline that he lied about to be hated by Aqua and to get avenged by him (at that point of the story, he still believed that Ai and Aqua both wanted to get revenge on him and he decided to go along with it) but I know, I can be wrong. And there's probably a pretty low chance of this being touched again, but it's been so confusing for me... If he turns out to be like that, then it is what it is, I guess.

What he did, if what he claimed to do is what's happened in truth, is unforgivable. It shouldn't be redeemable, although he did have his own troubles. But with how the stories are lined up, Ai's confession of love comes AFTER he makes such a claim, and she wants to help him. Would the writer really try to justify or stand with a guy who tried to scare her ex by sending a guy with a knife?; and make Ai say those kinds of things? For her to wish not just herself, but to work with her own children -the protagonists- to help a guy like that? That'd be so cruel. I wouldn't be able to support that so wholeheartedly. I'd want to see him get some proper scolding at least, as a minimum but Aqua just let him go after having him see a video. It makes me wrap my head a lot... it's not handled really well if that's what the story really is.

And why send a pretty bouquet, out of all things when you're trying to "make someone feel the same despair"? Couldn't that have been just a well-meant gift? I mean he sent one to Akane and he's held one at a funeral, and those didn't turn out to have ill intent from what's been shown so far. How did this guy even meet Ryosuke in the first place?

I wrote a theory about what could've happened earlier, and in short, I think Nino being Ryosuke's accomplice on this (and her having introduced Ryosuke to Kamiki) would make more sense than this guy. Nino could have had many opportunities to encounter Ryosuke, but I can't really picture exactly how and for what reason Kamiki would've met this guy and formed a long-term alliance of some sort if he's never really wanted to harm Ai.

So yeah.. I'll just draw them lots before things clear up more(maybe it never will and I'm just overthinking things but I'm really curious just how Ryosuke got into contact with this guy; stuff's confusing) and I'll kick Kamiki's butt if he's really done that sort of thing. Idk; his reactions in 155 were even milder than how I first anticipated it to be...he has very low levels of aggression if I've interpreted it right.

It's so fun to think about these things, perhaps I'm a person who will be scammed really easily since I believe in people's goodwill but, it will allow me to draw some things for the time being.

[days-until-burnout]

Day 17 -

Characters - Jimmy/Joel Words - 519 Time - 15 mins Content - fluff

“What are you doing?”

Jimmy looks up to see Joel sit beside him. He smiles, turns back to face the starry night, rolling his head against his arm a little before settling again. Joel looks at him too, crossing his arms loosely over his bent knees, eyes following to the sky too.

“Just watching the stars,” he replies with a hum. He stares a second longer, then his eyes drift to his new companion, watching him on the corners of his eyes. Joel tilts his head, right then left, makes a face. “It’s  pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, sure.” Joel waves off. 

They hang about a while longer, away from the camp and everyone else. It feels lonely yet they are in perfect companion. Jimmy turns his head a little more, finding a different, better beauty to admire than the stars. He feels grass blades brush against his cheek, feels the breeze against his skin, feels how content and full his heart is when Joel nearby. He raises his right hand, wanting to reach him, touch him, feel him against the tips of his fingers, on his palm. The warmth, his touch. Maybe he should, he knows Joel will not mind, but he holds off as he drops his hand on his stomach, huffing at himself as he blinks back to the sky. 

“I thought you wanted to sleep early,” Joel says after a while, his voice no louder than quiet speaking, and it all feels so natural right here, “prepare for the hike tomorrow and such. Went to the tent, and you weren’t there. What a liar you are.”

“Were you worried about me?”

A pause. A sigh. Jimmy only smiles. 

“Not quite, no,” Joel shakes his head. “But I just figured it’d be best if you weren’t alone. Everything is already lonely as is, we don’t need to add to it.”

“Lonely, huh?”

He turns when he feels Joel looking at him. He finds his eyes, his face. He does nothing but smile against the face he has known forever. Or, well, a couple years now. A couple years that make up their lifetime, something like that. 

“Hey, Joel?” he asks, turning back to the sky, just missing the Joel raising his brow though he can picture it. “Do you feel lonely?”

Another pause. Jimmy has time. 

Joel sighs again, shuffles about, “Hard to, especially when a certain someone is clinging to me at every given chance.”

“Oi!” Jimmy laughs, closes his eyes, feels something press against the side of his arm. Warmth. “I just don’t want you to feel lonely, alright? Mr I Can Do Everything By Myself. You used to sound like a loner, you know? What a guy you were. But you’ve changed, for the better, I think. We’ve all changed. It’s good, I think.”

Jimmy opens one eye to look at him, peeking with a wide smile to watch him roll his eyes, smitten smile on his lips. 

“We have, probably. Not you, you big loser.”

Jimmy laughs, heart content when Joel leans down to press a kiss on the corner of his lips. 

_____

i wasnt going to write today, but i did 🧍‍♂️ totally did not hit burnout. nope. if im still writing, that means it did not hit me ;) also, i was going to answer my singular ask today, but did not feel like writing much so.... tomorrow! sometimes i find it funny that even my 'short' writing ends up in the 500-2,000 range. if i want a lower count, i have to actively intentionally do it lol

[britcision]

In honour of a combo Wednesday and then post-midnight Yule, have a WIP Wednesday friends! We haven’t seen Sam for a while and Hanukkah was early this year (finished on the 15) but we are here now!

This chapter’s already gotten intense as hell for Danny and Jason with Lady Gotham but we’ve been tragically without our resident fashionable goth (sorry not sorry Bruce) and we are definitely still a muppet movie, so enjoy Sam-Miss-Piggy creating some extra chaos behind the scenes 👀

No promises about how regular these updates will be because again, plot chapter, I like letting those drop without spoiling the reveals too much, but we shall see

——————

Chapter 18 part i So That Just Happened

Back in her own room on the other side of the country from Gotham, Sam Manson reclined back into giant, coffin shaped body pillow her beloved girlfriend had given her when they moved and contemplated her phone.

The brand new Wayne-chat was blowing up satisfactorily, although apparently Tim was a massive stalker too. That was probably a good thing; it meant she hadn’t actually nuked Tuck’s chances with his nerd-crush. Now they could bond over their mutual stalker tendencies.

But, did that make her revenge less effective?

It wasn’t like she was actually out to ruin his life, but she’d kinda like to leave a mark. Something that would make him think twice about letting her think he and Danny had fucking died in Gotham in her absence.

Or. Well. Gone radio silent in Gotham, which was probably actually worse because if they were dead she’d know exactly where they were.

The Wayne chat were all pretty sure Tim and Tucker were together too, and Sam’s new best friend Babs had even pulled up the feed from their living room tv somehow. Sam wasn’t exactly the tech wizard Tucker was, but… after seeing that, she disconnected her and Val’s TV from the wifi.

And settled in to remote watch Tuck get his ass kicked at Spiderheck, apparently. At least for a little while; until something else on her phone caught her attention.

It was… almost funny. While she knew she was a whole two timezones away, she’d never really felt left out before. Like maybe she should have stayed on the east coast…

Not that she regretted it, of course. She had a good job, a good school, a wonderful girlfriend who’d been so excited to get into a good school and really go to town on the business department.

(Apparently there were posters of Val’s face in the ethics classrooms. Sam refused to ask if they were golden example or dire warning.)

She was just… a long way away. Even a long portal away, and… being back with the guys, even in Gotham, made the quiet of their comfy little apartment seem lonely.

Huffing, she turned and traced her fingers through the leaves of her mimosa plant on the windowsill beside the bed. They curled gently shut at her touch, and made her smile. Just like always.

She was happy to be home. She wasn’t technically liminal enough yet that it was her haunt, but… well, for all the jokes Val made, Sam had to admit she’d put down roots. She loved her job at the greenhouses, and her internship at the botanical gardens.

She loved scaring the hell out of the dudebros in Val’s business classes who thought ethics were a waste of time. She loved sharing messages with Jazz about the boys, laughing that even three hours ahead, Tuck and Danny still couldn’t get up before them.

She was kinda considering texting Harley about Timblr too. Not like, for any particular reason; if Tim’s family weren’t gonna embarrass Tucker enough, Harley probably wouldn’t either. She’d probably think it was adorable.

Or, y’know, worrying evidence of obsession. Psych types worried about stuff like that, usually.

Sam was kinda also considering sending Harley Jazz’s number. Jazz might still be skating just on the neurosurgery side of the line, but she’d always been big into psychology. Big enough to try and double major, and only drop to major-minor after the third pre-exam meltdown.

And she could use having someone else do the shrink bit on her a little more often. Although really, for that Sam should make her a professional appointment; friends didn’t ask friends to psychoanalyze their overprotective pseudo-sisters. And Jazz could use more friends.

Jazz could use a transfer to a specialty that would let her sleep once in a while, a more stable supply of fresh ecto, and about six weeks in a meditation retreat to get the accidental telepathy under control, but more friends would be good too. And less stubborn insistence on her second try for double majors.

Maybe the switch to psychiatry full time would be good for her? Or psychology. Sam was a little fuzzy on the difference, which one Jazz was minoring in, and which one Harley did.

(Jazz’s current second major was neurosurgery, which Jazz insisted was totally less taxing alongside a neurology major because it was the same body part. She was the only person in her class attempting the double major though, so.)

Humming tunelessly to herself, Sam flicked back into the group chat. Babs was still sharing the feed… brows drawing in, Sam frowned at the little spider figures still fighting to the death. Now, she wasn’t as big of a gamer as she used to be, but she was pretty sure Spiderheck didn’t actually offer red berets.

Snorting a laugh, she flicked back out of the chat and opened a new one, adding both Jazz and Harley. All it needed was the perfect name… something that would grab both of their attention.

Obvious. Child’s play.

Snuggling back into her coffin pillow, Sam grinned down at her phone screen.

Danny Has A Boyfriend chat was live.

——————

And in at the last minute, Jazz! We’ll see if she shows up in person this chapter, I’m hoping it’ll be the last big lore dump before the first plot arc begins but We Shall See…

Chapter 20 is right around the corner though, and I like my divisibles of 5 so I miiiiight shoot for that Red Hood Reveal then… 👀

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[expectopatronum18]

Uk, on look back, i think class and social standing have such a profound effect on muggle born and half blood students without impressive sir names who enter the wizarding world for the first time. With Hermione, the reason she never felt any lesser than the purebloods is probably because she's not disadvantaged compared to them in any major way. In the books her parents r both dentists, so she's financially well off, also she takes at least one international trip to France during the holidays(I was pretty young when I read these books and my country is much poorer than Britain, so i'd just assumed tht was what regular British PPL do lol). Wizards like the Weasleys show her how it's possible to live a happy (if poor) life without having those political connections and influence. There's already been a huge war against the guy and his followers discriminating against ppl like her. Also there weren't really ppl to make her feel inferior; Draco and pansy r such annoying idiots, literally no one took them seriously apart from their little clique. (HOWEVER, idk y Rowling never went deep into how a killer snake roaming around the castle trying to kill ppl lyk her would affect a fucking 12 yr old, probably coz she doesn't exactly know what being discriminated against feels lyk; which ofc I m glad for, no one should, but tht doesn't excuse shallow writing)

Things couldn't have been more different with lily tho. We don't exactly know what her financial situation was lyk, but it's also pretty clear that she doesn't exactly come from money. Sure, slughorn took notice of her, but he's surprised tht she could be smart despite being muggleborn even 15 yrs after her death (none of the teachers in Harry's time discriminate this way). Also she went to school with PPL who became actual death eaters: Avery, muliciber, rosier, wilkies, regulus, barty Crouch jr, Lucius (early on) and ofc, Snape, her childhood friend. Not to mention the war was going on when she was in school (progressed as the yrs passed), ppl were scared and u couldn't trust anyone(so sympathizing with the purebloods probably wasn't that much of an unpopular opinion as it was during Harry's time), and it seemed like the death eaters were winning. Her chances of financial security and employment were almost non existent, given that half of the wizarding world was out there trying to murder PPL like her. Seriously, things couldn't hv been worse tbh