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bumblebeehug · 1 month

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Together Forever

Summary: Natsu and Lucy being consent in each other's presence, and a little bit of Happy being a sweet baby boy. Notes: This is the first fanfic I've written and posted, and since I don't wanna re-read and edit stuff I'm just gonna close my eyes and hit publish :P Ao3 - FF.net

***

“Come on Natsu, at least steer your vomit away from me!” Lucy cried out, watching the sick dragonslayer destroy yet another pair of shoes. She was seriously considering putting plastic bags on her feet if Natsu couldn’t gain control over his flow anytime soon.

“Luuushi...” Happy said with a groggy voice, barely keeping his eyes open. The exceed had used up almost all his magic powers this mission, making him unusually tired - and unexpectedly cuddly towards a certain celestial mage.

“Come here Happy.” Lucy patted on her lap, letting the blue cat curl up into a purring ball of blue fur. The low frequent rumbling actually helped her calm down too. She would just have to deal with his shedding and the dirty shoes later - it’s not as if she could do anything now anyways.

Natsu himself was laying on the bench opposite to his best friends, watching them regain lost energy and magical power from the exhausting mission. It was sweet watching them both being calm like this. Of course he truly didn’t mind their friendly bickering. Happy felt comfortable enough with Lucy to show all sides of him to her, both the emotional and the snarky part. He remembered how loud and reductant Lucy was in the past, with her big and crazy reactions to almost everything that happened. Shouting every time Gray stripped or kicking Natsu out of her apartment. She never wavered. Once again, he didn’t actually mind that part, in fact, he really liked it. She had courage to be herself no matter who she was encountering, and her cute reactions often made the enemies favour her. However, she had gotten a lot calmer and sweeter the last two years. It must be that thing they call growing up, huh?

While in the middle of his thoughts, the train started moving extra much, making the salmon haired boy hurl up a mix of whatever he had eaten before boarding the hell-transportation. He really hoped Wendy could learn a new anti motion sickness-spell soon - life hadn’t been too kind since that Troia spell stopped working on him.

***

“Finally!” Natsu kissed the ground in delight of finally leaving the train, being back in their hometown. Lucy ignored him, as usual, and took care of their baggage. After all the years she had known him, he was still just as embarrassing to be out in public with. How hadn’t he picked up on social cues yet? Happy was still asleep in her arms, so after struggling for a bit she finally kicked some sense in Natsu, somehow without waking the cat.

“Come on and help with the bags you moron!” She scolded quietly, not wanting to disturb the sweet little animal who conveniently used her left boob as a pillow. “You don’t want to wake Happy, right? He deserves some rest, you know.”

Natsu obliged to the blonde’s orders. She was helping him nurse Happy back to full health after all. Grabbing the baggage, they soon headed back to Lucy’s apartment. The sun had started setting and he really craved that soft bed of hers.

Shortly after Lucy had met Natsu, she noticed an odd behaviour with him. Usually when walking back from missions with the entire Team Natsu, the air was filled with discussions. Natsu and Gray bickering in the background, Erza talking strategies with Lucy and Wendy, Happy and Carla talking about fishes or something, and then the occasional bickering between Lucy and Happy. When it was only Natsu, Lucy and Happy though, it was as if a switch had flipped. They rarely spoke, only leaving the sounds of Happy’s purring and Natsu and Lucy’s footsteps in the air. It was never uncomfortable though. They already knew what the other thought, and even if they didn’t know, they never felt the need to rush any conversations. This happened more and more frequently after the Alvarez Empire war, when Natsu had said those words to her. “We’ll be together forever, right?” Not any huge words, not anything complicated - just, the truth. Why would they need to talk all the time when they had forever in front of them. Everything would come in time. Lucy had decided to believe that.

“Hey, Lucy…”

… Did she jinx herself?

“Can we stay at your place? And can you make us some food, pleaaaase?”

Nevermind.

“Whatever, you guys just do what you want anyways.”

***

When they stepped into the apartment Lucy immediately went into the bedroom, carefully dropping off the knocked out exceed on the foot of the bed.

“I’m taking a quick shower, get the meat out of the freezer and defrost it while I’m gone, will you?” Lucy didn’t bother doing that stuff herself - Natsu knew her kitchen almost better than she did, he could figure it out.

Once she was in the shower she finally relaxed. A bath would undeniably be better, but right now she was more focused on getting all the dirt off her body. The mission they had gone on was fairly easy for Lucy and Natsu - the only one who had a hard time was Happy. The bandits had some type of flying ability, and the only way to defeat them was to get close. Therefore, Happy had to switch between them while they regenerated their powers. Lucy had gotten a bit worried when she saw Happy’s fur getting wet from sweat, but the exceed had just shaken her off, staying strong to the end of the mission. Lucy couldn’t help but admire him. If only Carla saw these heroic moments, maybe they would have gotten further in their relationship by now.

That reminded her of how protective Natsu could be. He hated it when Carla was rude to Happy. He didn’t show it, but Lucy saw. His twitching legs and furrowed eyebrows were of course big clues. Yet he still was very supportive. Every time Happy felt down because of Carla's cold behaviour, Natsu cheered him on, giving him money to buy an extra nice fish for Happy to give away. Lucy really had to give them better gift ideas though, once they had tried giving Carla a live eel instead, and she had ended up transforming into a human to run away faster. Who knew she was afraid of eels? And who knew she was that fast in her human form.

Lucy chuckled for herself at the memory. Yeah, she should definitely tell Happy to give her flowers or tea or something. She could at least spare Carla the terror of any other horrible sea creature.

After a quick round of shampoo, conditioner and body soap, she finally got out of the shower. She tried running a brush through her hair in an attempt to sort out the knots, but she quickly gave up. She would just have to brush it out when it dried.

When she left the bathroom, only dressed in a towel, she was met by a nice smell and the sound of sizzling coming from the kitchen.

“So, what are we having?” Lucy asked, secretly happy with getting a meal cooked for her. She would say that she was glad that it was free for a change, but she did buy the groceries with her own money after all.

“Curry ‘n rice,” Natsu answered, tongue sticking out of his mouth as he concentrated.

“Sounds nice. I’ll put on some clothes, then I’ll take over. You can take a bath or something while I finish it,” Lucy offered, once again not waiting for an answer before going into her bedroom where her wardrobe stood. She picked out a thin crop top and a pair of shorts in a soft material, before heading back into the kitchen.

“Now shoo,” the blonde said, dragging Natsu away from the bubbling pot.

“Wait! I didn’t turn on the stoves!”

Lucy grunted loudly.

“Whatever, I’ll fix it. You stink, here’s a towel, the opened medicines are to the left on the sink.”

Who knew the fire dragon slayer had such a passion for cooking? Lucy was pretty sure that was something only she knew about. Team Natsu never really had dinner the same way at Lucy’s. The only possible person who could have known about his cooking skills would be Lisanna, but to be frank, he didn’t really have enough control over his fire back when they played house. Happy knew about this skill of course, but then again, how could he not know about it? They lived together for god's sake.

As the clock struck 10pm Natsu finally left the bathroom, dressed in only a pair of chequered pyjama pants.

“Do you know where my t-shirt is?” He asked, lifting one of the pillows that laid on the couch.

“Oh yeah, it’s in the washer. Seriously, if you keep leaving your sleepover clothes here then you at least have to learn to wash them regularly!” Lucy scolded half heartedly, blushing slightly at the sight of her half naked best friend. It’s not as if she was immune to his muscular torso.

“Whatever, it’s not as if you ever come close enough to smell it anyways,” Natsu murmured as he made his way over to the table.

“Do I need to remind you that I also use the couch that I accidentally happen to OWN. If your clothes smell, then the couch will smell too. You seriously have to break your habit of sneaking in,” she groaned, knowing that her words had no effect whatsoever. “Nevermind that for now, did you see if Happy has woken up?”

“Nopfe, he’f ftill refting,” Natsu grunted, mouth full of hot curry.

“I’ll cut up some fish for him later then, hopefully he’ll get his energy back after a good meal.” Lucy pondered for a second, wondering if she maybe should wake him up anyways. He never liked missing meals and then having to eat alone. Lucy sometimes wondered if it was because he was unaccustomed to being alone, seeing as he always had the guild or Natsu around.

The mage decided to let him sleep on for now. Happy could wake one of them up if he wanted a snack in the middle of the night. It was already late enough for Lucy, so she sat down, finally digging in on the homemade food.

“Delicious!” She beamed, letting out a satisfied sigh before continuing letting the hot curry warm her up from the inside. Nothing tastes as good as a newly cooked meal after a long mission.

Natsu watched as the woman in front of him made a happy little dance before digging in. He had already eaten his portion of the food - almost four times the amount that Lucy had on her plate, and sat now and just watched as Lucy regained energy and warmth.

This was one of his favourite moments of the week. After many days sleeping in tents, constantly being on alert and never even getting the chance to clean themselves up, the smell and familiarity of Lucy’s apartment really made him feel safe. Sure, he might be a bit barbaric on missions, itching after someone to fight, not really caring about living conditions while he actually was on the mission, but getting back to this smell always made him shocked by how tense he had been the last week. Finding this type of ritual of sleeping the first night after a mission with Lucy, brought a sense of relaxation he didn’t know his body or mind possessed. Just coming home, chatting with Happy or starting cooking while Lucy took a bath or shower, and then himself taking a shower either while Lucy finishes or starts the food, or just after the meal. There was still one problem in Natsu’s opinion though. He still slept on the couch. After all these years she still wouldn’t let them share bed unless she was drunk or if he snuck in during the night.

While Lucy’s apartment smelled great, there was just something else he felt when he shared bed with her. Sometimes he got a boner, he was not going to lie, she is very attractive after all, but most of the time he felt something else. It could be called love, but for some reason that just didn’t sit right with Natsu. Love was great, no doubt, he had felt it lots of times, to his father, to his guildmates and to material things, but sleeping with Lucy was… Comforting. The combination of the sound of her soft breathing and her steady heart, and her cool skin against his hot, and then that special smell that he only could smell when they got really close. All this made him feel… Safe. Happy. Reassured. Content. If family could be an emotion, that is what he felt.

Even better was when Happy curled up in the middle of them, making Natsu able to smell and hear him too. Sometimes, when Natsu felt bold and cuddled really close to her, Happy would lay above their heads or close to Lucy’s belly. That’s when he truly slept the best.

Natsu knew that he wouldn’t exchange these two people for the world.

“Ya done?” He grinned, watching Lucy swallow the last forkful of food.

“Yep, that meal was exactly what I needed!” She purred, patting her belly. Natsu stood up and started putting away their plates.

“We’ll wash them tomorrow,” he croaked, filling the pots with water so that they would be easier to clean the next morning. Lucy just agreed as she began cutting up that fish she had promised Happy. When she was done Natsu had already removed all the dishes from the table.

“Let’s go to bed now,” Lucy suggested, a big yawn escaping her lips.

A small part of Natsu didn’t want to go to sleep just yet. His wounds were itching and he didn’t look forward to leaving Lucy’s presence. With Happy in Lucy’s bed he didn’t have anyone to cuddle with.

So, Natsu did what anyone would do in his situation. He took the lead, grabbing Lucy’s wrist on the way to her bed, only to gently fall into it and pull Lucy closer, wrapping his arms around her.

“N-Natsu… Hey... “ The mage was blushing furiously at his actions. Not that this was the first time he had done so, in fact, it happened more and more regularly nowadays.

She didn’t dislike sleeping in the same bed as Natsu. Quite the opposite to be honest. When she was cold she found herself cuddling up closer to his chest, feeling safe in his muscular arms. When it was hot outside they actually kept a good distance - but they always touched in one way or another. Legs tangled together, feet touching, or Lucy’s personal favourite - hand holding.

She vividly remembered that hot summer night in June, shortly after her birthday, when Natsu had climbed into her bed again. Natsu didn’t understand why she kept turning away and moving from him - he didn’t understand how unpleasant the summer heat was for normal people. He was a fire dragon slayer after all. In the end they just laid in bed, back to back. Natsu really wanted to turn the other way and hold his best friend close, but he knew that she was uncomfortable in the heat. Lucy didn’t know if it was her or Natsu who had grabbed the other’s hand in the middle of the night, but she remembered how important she felt that morning. He had respected her boundaries and still found a way to hold her close. It was heartwarming. Except the part when she saw that Happy had woken up early and raided her fridge in hope to find some yummy fishes. They ate breakfast at the guild that morning.

However, keeping that night in mind, Lucy finally gave in to Natsu’s demands.

“At least let us get under the covers first,” she mumbled, squeezing out of Natsu’s bear hug. She pulled Natsu to his feet as well and then crawled under her bedsheets. Natsu stood beside her bed, pouting in disappointment. Lucy giggled for herself before lifting up one side of the blanket, inviting him into bed. Natsu immediately lit up, jumping into bed with her, almost giving in to the temptation to cuddle up in her arms and sleep on those soft, squishy boobies. Once again, who could blame him for wanting to do that - not only would it be soft, warm and comfortable, but he would also be able to hear and feel the beat of her heart.

Of course, he didn’t do that. Natsu wasn’t a pervert (sometimes he wondered if he was though), but ever since Lucy showed up in his life his hormones had been acting up a bit. He had once felt a similar way for Lisanna, but nothing really blossomed on that part. Now he found himself accidentally seeing or feeling the curves of Lucy’s (sometimes naked) body and he actually got a boner from it. He had heard Gray and Loke talk about relieving themselves if the tension got too bad, but he only tried it once. He felt bad about it later though because he had thought some nasty thoughts about Lucy, so he never tried it again. No, Natsu wasn’t actually a pervert. He could go almost a month without thinking about Lucy in a non-platonic way, but one week every month Lucy smelled different. Wondering about this odd occasion, he had actually asked Levy about it. She had gotten all flustered and thought he meant that Lucy and the other girls smelled period blood, but then he explained that that wasn’t it. It came almost a week before that, and only from Lucy too. Levy explained that it possibly had something to do with her ovulation - the perfect time to impregnate a woman. This time Natsu had gotten flustered instead. He didn’t want to impregnate Lucy! Not then anyways. Not now either. He was far too young to have kids, and besides, it was his best friend they were talking about.

No, Natsu wasn’t a pervert. He never acted on these thoughts. He knew that Lucy wanted her lines between friends, best friends and lovers to be clear. Natsu didn’t mind being all over the place. He could easily bleed over all the lines, just them being them was enough for him. But Lucy wanted them to stay as best friends - not because she didn’t want to be with Natsu, but she just wasn’t ready to take that step yet. And Natsu respected that. He wasn’t sure of course if she ever wanted to have a romantic relationship with him - how could he be? But he had faith that they both would come around some day and show the world that relationships don't need to be complicated - they just needed to be happy together, and if kissing, cuddling, chatting or raw sex was the source of it, then so be it. In Natsu’s opinion anyways. Lucy still wanted things a bit more traditional, but it was clear that as long as they made each other happy it didn’t really matter if they had ever gone on a real date or not. They didn’t mind being more than friends, less than lovers.

Now, since Natsu respected Lucy, he didn’t use her chest as his pillow - even if it tempted him to, but instead he laid down beside her, faces facing, and he did the one thing he had never done before. As Natsu settled down beside Lucy, they had locked eyes. Lucy’s big brown eyes were dazy of tiredness, and her lips were turned upwards in a little smile. Natsu had a crooked smirk on his lips, still happy with his accomplishment of sleeping in her bed. As they gazed into each other's eyes they somehow found themself moving a tiny bit closer. Natsu lifted his head up slightly and gave Lucy a light peck on her lips. The kiss was short, Lucy had barely felt Natsu’s dry, chapped lips against hers before it was over. She just smiled though, not feeling as frustrated as she probably could have felt.

“Goodnight Natsu,” she said as a light blush danced on her cheeks.

“Goodnight Lucy,” Natsu whispered back. They both closed their eyes but still felt their hearts flutter as their hands reached each other.

Yeah. There was no need to rush this family. They understood each other perfectly fine, and after all, they were going to stay together forever, right?

#bumblebeehug writes #fairy tail #lucy heartfilia #natsu dragneel #nalu #happy the cat #happy the exceed #happy fairy tail #fanfic #fanfiction #ft fanfiction #fairy tail nalu #nalu fairy tail #nalu fanfiction #nalu fanfic #fairy tail fanfiction #fairy tail fanfic

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xxswagcorexx · 18 days

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the swagcore fic archives will become real in 5:

anyways, hi, i write too much fanfic, but a lot of it is on anon. i know a lot of people go to me for fic recs (you can see a post with More fic recs here) and i'm happy enough with my fics to recommend them to people :) also for funsies i'm gonna put small author's notes after each entry!

the stuff with my name on it:

Swap by cherubium and swagcore

[CLICK] [Jaron]: Statement of Ash…Swag, regarding events surrounding his husband, Red Doons. Statement recorded live from subject on April 4th, 2023, recording by Jaron Yeager from the LIFE Insitute, London,...Ohio. Statement begins. [Ash]: Are you seriously gonna be recording on that? or: a fic written for day 2 of roses and smoke week, swap/horror.

A/N: a collab fic I did with the lovely cherny! all i'll say is that we might have lied a little bit in the beginning notes. heh.

the sleep buoyancy investigation by swagcore

While Fundy walks around his street, he notices an odd poster about researching dreams. Having weird dreams all of his life and with nothing else to do, Fundy grabs the contact information and heads to the address. What possibly could go wrong? - "the sleep buoyancy investigation" is an experimental fic made with Twine. This fic is based on the Stargate Project, a now-defunct project by the CIA to study psychics. Word Count: ~3k

A/N: this fic was so so fun to do. my god. it really gave me my first taste of really experimental fics and that is something i've been playing around with! i do have an idea in mind for another fic like this (which is one of the first fic ideas i had when going into the lifesteal fandom) so! i'm excited for when i actually put my head down and write it!!!

from a windowsill by swagcore

It’s a cold night tonight. As Pearl stares out to the moon, feeling the wind through the tower’s rafters and the howls of the hound army roar from below her, she squints her eyes. There’s supposed to be a blood moon tonight. or: it's late at night, and pearl has some thoughts about the blood moon (and herself)

A/N: i'm going to be real, i'm a dl!pearl sleeper agent. i love her so much and her character is sooooo....*dies*.......she makes me ill!

late night break-ins and henna by swagcore

Ash visits Soc Inc. at the very normal hour of 3 AM on Christmas to give Red a Christmas present.

A/N: fun fact, i wrote most of this on an ipad at one of those friend reunions my dad had with his friends 💀 we were like 8 hours away from our house so i couldn't exactly leave so while on vc with my good friend toast we worked on fics together LOL she's actually the one who came up with the water bottle thing. it was awesome

misc collabs i did:

insufferable hand in insufferable hand by Anonymous

ashswag and reddoons get married in a very thought out, entirely sound plan.

A/N: this was a collab wiith np13, who you might know from "all of the roads led to you". it was actually working on this fic at first, i mentioned wanting to write a swagdoons divorce fic, and it brought me on the team to work on this one. this fic was so silly to work on and i had a great time writing it!!!

the various anon fics i have written:

one and a half cups of stout by Anonymous

Bdubs and Etho leave a party and are now burdened with the task of grocery shopping for cake ingredients. - (or: etho drags bdubs to his apartment so they can bake together)

A/N: god this fic was so fun and fluffy to write. i love baking in general, and the amount of detail i managed to put into this fic and how cozy-feeling it is is something i'm really proud of. fun fact, it's my most viewed and kudosed fic of all time, as well as the first fic i felt really, really proud of!

pommes voyage by Anonymous

headcanon that ren started making potatoes like crazy, like to the amount doc started to check up on him - originally a post meant for tumblr

A/N: this fic was really fun to write as well. it was supposed to be a tumblr post, but i got really carried away (and when i sent a screenshot of it into a gc my friend replied with "that is terrifying", and i decided to leave it as a standalone fic instead of a post) and it's a fun fic to read, methinks

and maybe, you'll find peace in the sun by Anonymous

During the time [x] escapes prison for the dozenth time, [s]he takes a quick detour to pick up some supplies. or: [x] finds an unguarded house in the woods, stealing ingredients so [s]he can make some stew

A/N: alright so, as a disclaimer, this was a fic written before ivorycello transitioned, but for archival purposes, i haven't changed it. for this post, i've made it clear what part i've changed. i'm still proud of this fic, in general, and ivory has since said that her past persona doesn't bother her anymore, so that's why i've included it here. once again though, read with those warnings in mind

the sun vanished by Anonymous

The stars revolve around Planet. It's their little secret, and most don't know enough about the stars to be able to notice. That's why, when they got banned, no one noticed that the sun vanished.

A/N: my first lifesteal fic! i really, really like the ideas in this fic and how i've conveyed them. fun fact i wrote most of this while in the car from homecoming--but i'm really proud with what i managed to beat out considering ost of it was written in a car backseat

dust by Anonymous

After winning Double Life, Pearl has some thoughts about the end of the world while looking at the death menu.

A/N: this fic is AWESOME i love minecraft death screens and like i said before, i'm a dl!pearl enjoyer to the MAX. it's also the first fic i ever had translated, and it was such a nice surprise to see it was translated in my email inbox that morning <3

jackalope by Anonymous

have you heard the myth of the jackalope? (of course you have. who am i kidding.) --- or: a character study on rekrap, as told by the myth of the jackalope

A/N: this was originally for a comic that was, looking back, wayyy too ambitious for my art skill level LOL. i've been brewing it in my brain for a while (hell, even my english teacher at the time looked over at it), and i still find it fun to read. once again, experimental fics ftw!

take your time, we've got all night by Anonymous

It’s rare to find quiet moments like this–moments safe enough for Ash and Red to get some sleep without either of them going on looking shifts. It’s a luxury in the apocalypse. And yet Red still couldn’t get his mind to shut up and let him sleep. Great. or: red can't sleep during the apocalypse. he wakes ash up and both of them spend the night talking about their pasts.

A/N: i'm already a huge sap in the notes, but this is, arguably, one of the most important fics i've ever written. for context, i wrote this while i was really down due to my entire family but me getting covid right before my finals and our winter vacation, so that left me alone in my room for 2 weeks. i was really down, especially since i couldn't spend christmas with my family as a result. however, writing this gave me something to pass the time, and the reception on it when i posted during a dark time in my life really helped. it's also the first swagdoons fic i've ever posted, so there's that too :) also, one of the comments of someone going back to read it a few months later also came while i was in a rough patch, so that really helped <3

four of a kind by Anonymous

Ash, Branzy, Clown, and Red close up the casino for the week.

A/N: first of, CASINOQUARTETCASINOQUARTETCASINOQUARTET- and fun fact, this is one of the first fics written after casino quartet first became a Concept (which. considering i first came up w/ the concept in the swagdoons server is. Yeah <- ill) so that's rlly fun to see how big casino quartet has become considering i see it in random places now LOL

l'appel du vide by Anonymous

If there’s anyone that knows Death, it’s him. or: sven escapes death, and still feels the void linger around him. and he has some thoughts about it.

A/N: i loveeeee minecraft death mechanics holy moly....anyways yeah this fic was so fun to write and the concepts are *chefs kiss*. it's also the first fic in the kenadian fandom tag so there's that too!

5 years, eleven months, and seventeen days by Anonymous

It's been 5 years, 11 months, and 17 days since they went missing. or: laurance is still investigating his friends' disappearances. even after all of this time. (he can't seem to move on, can he?)

A/N: this fic was a gift for my bestest friend ever :3 i'm going to be real it's been like, 6+ years since i watched mystreet but my friend reminded me of how fucked it was and i felt really included to write this. i loveeee fucked up implications in fiction!!!

jenga tower by Anonymous

"Dude-" Ash says through a wheezed breath, "Do you think this a little much?" Clown hums, "Mmm, no. I think you're just fineee." "Exactly," Red chimes in, definitely not helping the 'hey wouldn't it be funny if we all laid on Ash?' cause. or: casino quartet turn into a human jenga tower. for roses and smoke week, free day

A/N: once again. casino quartet brainworms strike again. i think this is the only fic i finished in time for the first roses and smoke week LOL. it's very fluffy and i still think it holds up. yeah they'd be Like That

what's the point of living if you can't die with someone else, huh? by Anonymous

"you mentioned about me going back home, right?" ash nods, eyebrow raised with suspicion. "well," red starts, "i think i said this last season: 'what's the point of living if you can't die with someone else?'" red gets up from the floor, "and you haven't used your god powers much," he says as he offers ash a hand to get off the floor. "dude." ash can exactly see what red's asking. or: alternatively titled: who knew killing your bestie with god powers could be so affectionate?

A/N: i love love love sappy swagdoons so much. this fic was so fun to write all of their memories and stuff. i love them so much i want to pinch both of their cheeks so bad!!! <333

a late night conversation about a stolen horse (and a few other things) by Anonymous

Red's going out for a supply run, and runs into Ash. They have a conversation about a stolen horse (and a few other things).

A/N: once again, sappy swagdoons. i love them so much. i'm going to be real a lot of this was inspired by this one survival guide book that i've had for literal years. i've kept it with me for fic purposes but when i was little i did read through it out of boredom so i do have a little bit of knowledge, which inspired this fic LOL

the thing about ash: by Anonymous

A glitch (as defined by Wikipedia) is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. In an article by Alex Pieschel, Pieschel writes that a "'glitch' suggests something more mysterious and unknowable inflicted by surprise inputs or stuff outside the realm of code." (or: ash, as told in the very nature of himself and what makes him, him.

A/N: okay i'm going to be real this is one of those fics that i'm 90% sure i was struck down by god to have a vision for this fic. i'm really proud with how deep i made the metaphor and it's one of the fics i'm most proud of :) it's awesome

mors mihi lucrum by Anonymous

"death to me is reward" is it really? (or: zolister has some thoughts about the trophy room)

A/N: this fic was so so fun to write. if you haven't noticed already, death in minecraft is one of my favorite things to explore and that showtime smp video activated a nueron in my brain when i watched it. i love death in mc so so much <3

Ashswag's 3-step, very simple plan, to survive the Genesis SMP by Anonymous

Exactly what it says on the tin.

A/N: this is another one of my "hcs into a fic" fics, and it's really fun! i'm going to be real, i still don't know much about ultrakill but i fuck with the aesthetic hard. that clair de lune level is so pretty....

in another universe: by Anonymous

things would have ended differently. (an experimental webweave done on ao3)

A/N: this fic was SOOOOO fun to do. i've always wished for webweaving to be more of a thing outside of tumblr, so this is an experiment into other options! it's so awesome i love experimenting with fanfiction...

the best of the best, you'll die like the rest by Anonymous

Agent Rek Rap II, an ex-agent trying to enjoy his life in early retirement. Or well, he was trying too. He gets invited to a concert by a familiar name. (He already knows how this is going to end.)

A/N: this fic turned out so well. i had a general vibe and i RAN with it. it was so fun to write, and hopefully, it's a fun read if you also like spy stuff!!!

homemade comforts by Anonymous

If Red was being honest, he reveled in moments like this. Moments when Ash and he were far away from all of the violence, all of the responsibilities, and away from any prying eyes around them. Just Ash and Red, cooking together in their shitty little kitchenette that only fits two people.

A/N: this fic was so so fun to write. i'm going to be real, it was supposed to be part of another fic where it showed swagdoons across servers but i decided to make it a standalone. i love cooking together with people so much, and hopefully this fic conveys that :)

it’s no big deal (that i love you) by Anonymous

Sometimes Ash understands people when they call him and Red a couple. They are partners, in a sense, but not in that way. After all, when you’ve spent so long as enemies, survivalists, comrades, even, you notice a lot about the other person. From tracking down Red’s movements to stealing that stupid bell from Capital City, to pressing down on wounds and praying it didn’t get infected, they’ve been through everything. Been through the happy, sad, and angry tears together, and everything else in-between. But of course, everything they did had to be a business deal—a private agreement between just both of them. or: ashswag has some thoughts about red while they fall asleep together (ft. swagdoons qpr)

A/N: once again. sappy swagdoons. because i am predictable. this fic is so fluffy, and i'm so proud with how deep the metaphor is and how soft and fluffy everything is. qpr swagdoons ftw!!!

fallin' in love by Anonymous

Ash and Red go to a pumpkin patch on their day off.

A/N: more fluff. i love them so much. i love fall vibes and pumpkin patches so this fic was me putting all of the fall vibes i could into this fic. so glad it's going to get cooler where i live now LOL

...and, scene by Anonymous

kenadian, the train escape, and the fourth wall. ...and all of the horrific implications that come alongside it.

A/N: this was written as a spirtual successor to my prev. fic about sven. it was so fun, and fun fact, it's the first fic in the kenadian character tag! yippee!!!

world is mine! by Anonymous

In a sleep-deprived move, Minecraft player Ashswag decided that making a Hatsune Miku cosplay would compliment his entire God shtick perfectly. or: ash becomes swagsune ashu

A/N: this fic was mostly written for shits and giggles, but although i haven't have much time for it, cosplay is something that's so dear to me <3 i love the craftsmanship that does into it!!! and the community is so kind <3

go to the end with me, my lover by Anonymous

“Hey Ash? I…want you to come here and take a look.” Red says warily. Ash quietly follows Red ahead. He climbs over the rubble Red is looking out on and— Oh. It was their wedding venue.

A/N: fun fact: i first heard of this song in class when someone showed me the mv after school and um. well let's say i shed a few tears. god if you haven't watched the love wins all mv, please do. it's so well done <3 also in general SWAGDOONS WEDDING LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO (ignore the angst)

it takes two to tango, but somebody has to lead by Anonymous

The tango is a dance that requires someone to lead, and a partner willing to follow them. (or, swagdoons through the ages)

A/N: this was so fun. i love writing in different formats!!! also it being experimental is AWESOME i love playing around w/ language :3 also i love acherswan so so much so that was also a bonus!!!

developments by Anonymous

A group photo of the Hemlock family and staff. Absolutely nothing goes wrong.

A/N: i love photography so much, esp as someone with terrible memory. i've been having fun exploring it in fics recently so yeah!!! also the first fic in the whitepine tag #awesome

memento by Anonymous

“You have a pretty face,” Red says out loud without thinking. Ash stops in his tracks, whipping his head back to stare back at Red. “I—What?” “Ah. Um. You look nice when you’re talking,” Red clarifies, “Wait.” Red steps closer and grabs Ash’s jaw. “The fuck—” or: Red is a photography student and takes a picture of Ash.

A/N: listen me and my friend dusty were talking and my brain came up with the most gay scene ever and i HAD to write it. once again, i've only used dslr's in my life, but hopefully the magic of photographing someone was captured in this fic. old people yaoi.../silly

and OH BOY that was a lot of fics. these are the fics i'm really proud of, so i hope y'all enjoy (and please say nice things to me if you have enjoyed them). thank you for making it through this LONG post!!!

#mcyt #tw caps #tw swearing #lifesteal smp #text.core #swagdoons

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oddballwriter · 1 year

Text

A Piece of Cake

Summary: You work at a food truck that sells baked goods, dessert foods, and other such things, named The Sweet Spot, with two other people who you've grown close to. Close enough that they know about your crush on the cook who works at the circus-themed food truck that you share one stop with. They're tired of you being too shy to make a move, so they help you get the ball rolling so that you two can actually talk to each other.

Warnings: Mentions of cakes and sugars. The reader gets teased by their co-workers a bit but nothing too harsh. Billie and Penny kind of ruining the moment while also making it a bit better?

Author’s Snip: I love this series and I wanted to make something for the sake of having something other than two sparse headcanon posts.

Notes: Go watch BigTop Burger and support the creator WorthiKids in any way you can. This show is such a delight and I love everything about it.

I’ll shut up now. Enjoy! And don’t be afraid to request.

"I'm gonna go stretch my legs." you tell your co-workers, almost out the door but their odd, almost sarcastic-sounding 'uh-huh's made you pause. "What? We hardly get customers at this stop, and our stock of food is fine. You can handle some customers while I'm out for a few minutes, can't you?" you question.

"Oh no. We'll be fine. For sure." one of your co-workers, Daniel, says, before speaking up again. "But how come you always want to walk while we're parked at this stop instead of all the others we do?" he asks, giving you a knowing look. "Like I said, we don't get customers here. It's half past noon. No one eats baked goods and desserts at noon." you say, trying to make up to defend your reasoning as to why you want to take a walk break at this spot.

"People also don't eat dessert at 1 pm, or 2am, maybe at 3pm, but those two other spots for one and two are okay to walk at too, don't you think, Y/N?" your second co-worker, Helen, suggests, with that same knowing tone.

"What's so wrong with me walking here. It's a nice walk around this block and there's some nice looking things here?" you ask.

"I bet there are." Daniel comments.

"Quit acting dumb. We know you just want to see that Circus Burger guy you have a crush on." Helen accuses. "What? No. I mean- I see him when I walk around sometimes, and I say hi, but I don't like him." you deny, even if Helen is right on the money. "And it's BigTop Burger. Not Circus Burger." you correct, trying to make her feel dumb for getting the name wrong, but you realize that it just makes you look more interested in him by knowing the actual name of the food truck he works for.

To be honest, they don't really care about your interest in him. They just like to tease you because of how much you deny it. And also because he wears clown make-up as part of his uniform and that makes the whole idea of you two kinda silly.

You look at your co-workers with a flushed face, knowing that even if you make a whole argument that you don't have a crush on him, they would know better.

"What's his name again anyways? Tom?" Helen questions. "It's Tim." you correct, again, this time with no defense. "Well. Why don't you take something for Tim and you two can talk. Maybe work up the courage to ask for his number too." Helen offered. "Or maybe just take him something for a couple of days and then ask for his number. One of the best ways to get to a man is through his stomach." she suggests.

"What should I take, though? We have so much stuff here." you say, looking at the plethora of cakes, cookies, brownies, rolls, and bonbons, the list could honestly go on forever and so could the various flavors, looks, hybrids of said things that you carried.

"Here," Daniel says as he moves towards the display and picks something for you. It was a slice of the funfetti cookie crust cheesecake. You look up at him with a 'really?' readable across your face. "What? His job has a clown theme. He might think it's funny." Daniel explains. You glance back down at the slice in its little plastic container that your truck usually puts your slice orders in before sighing and taking it.

"Go get 'em, Y/N!" Helen cheers as you actually step out of the truck and also hear Daniel shout "Don't worry, I'll pay for the slice!" as you walk forward.

The BigTop Truck wasn't that far from yours. It was just a turn around the corner and a small stride forward. It was impossible to miss the blue-colored brick of a truck once you turned the corner. As you got closer, you could see Tim leaning against the truck, on his break. As ashamed as it is for you to know that this time was usually his break time. 'Okay, Y/N. You can do this. Just walk up to him. You've done it before.' you think to yourself as you walk closer and closer. You were so caught up in your thoughts that you probably would have passed right by the BigTop truck and Tim if it weren't for him saying something.

"Hey! Y/N, right, from Sweet Spot around the corner?" Tim greets. "Out to stretch your legs again, huh?" he says. "Yeah. Sorta." you choke out, trying to both keep your cool and lower your excitement. "I brought you something." you say, holding out the slice of cheese cake to him.

Tim takes a second to look at it. "Oh wow. That's really something isn't it?" Tim comments. "Yeah. It's... something new on our menu. Some people have mixed feelings about it and," you explain, trying to come up with a reason why you'd just give him a piece of cake for free. "I was told to have someone kind of settle the score to see if we should keep it or not?" you conclude.

"I see." Tim says. "Well, I'll see how I feel." he remarks as he takes the container from your hands.

You somewhat avert your gaze so as to not make the situation weird by watching him eat. He uses the taped-in fork and takes a few bites pausing in between chews and taking pieces of certain parts to get the food as a whole.

"It's pretty good." Tim finally says, "No doubt, there's enough sugar in here to make a blood sugar monitor explode. But still good." he comments, trying to make a joke. "Yeah. I'm sure there is. If I'm being honest, this hybrid abomination feels like a culinary crime, but you know how it is with food trucks. If it's crazy enough it gets sales." you agree smiling a bit to show that you appreciate the joke.

Tim nods and even makes a few bashes himself. "Hey. I'm pretty sure we only have one or two people who actually like our food. I think everyone else is just trying it for the sake of seeing what it's like." Tim remarks, "I mean, our burger buns literally have sprinkles on them." he adds.

You think about the idea of how that would even taste and understand that that also feels like some type of crime against food as well.

"But hey. Your truck can get away with sprinkles. That's basically the go-to strategy for everything you sell." Tim explains. "I haven't eaten anything from there till right now with this, but your stuff looks good." Tim compliments.

You see Tim try and say something else after a long beat of silence but the window latch of the truck pops open and smacks him hard in the back of the head with a faint bunk noise.

"Hey, Tim. Steve wants us to head to the next stop early, for whatever reason, so-" a person with blue clown make-up and a cap on says, speaking low and monotone voice before pausing upon seeing you and their co-worker who was rubbing the hit spot, who was shooting them a quick glance.

Another person, this time a shorter, rounder woman with pink makeup, pokes her head out. She sees you and Tim as well but she changes to a brief shocked expression and speaks, "Sorry for the interruption. Tim, take your time. I need to talk to Billie for a second.", the woman takes hold of the window door and quickly throws it down to close it, but in the process hits Tim in the back of the head again. You hear her shout a muffled "Sorry!" from inside.

"Are you okay?" you ask. "I'm fine. Just fine." Tim assures. "That was Billie and Penny by the way. In case you wanted to know," he says.

"Thanks for the cake by the way it was really neat of you to offer me some." Tim thanks. "I'll keep that as a highlight of the rest of my day. Whatever that may entail." he says as he starts to walk around to enter into the truck.

You try your best to not squeal at the fact that he just called you, well, more like the cake, a highlight in his day.

You wave goodbye to each other before he gets into the truck and you turn to walk back to your food truck. Upon getting back, you find Daniel and Helen seemingly waiting inside for you.

"So, how was your date?" Daniel jokingly asks.

"He liked the cake," you say, "And I met his co-workers." you add.

"Ooh. Sounds pretty serious." Hellen buds in with a joke of her own.

#bigtop burger #bigtop burger tim #bigtop burger x reader #worthikids #youtube series #btb tim

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ursaius · 1 month

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Arlie/Iluvcapys (on here and Instagram) are sending information over to Claudia. Their posts claiming to having a friendship of over three years is interesting considering Claudia is 21, a full grown ADULT and this friend is what 18? I checked Claudias following and they follow a lot of minors. This is a little odd. As per your previous asks this ‘friend’ worded their question to sound like they were on the fence about their friendship with Claudia but now Claudia is posting about how their “friend is trying to clear their name and speak for them” so this friend had no intentions of cutting off a “friendship” where they aren’t even aware of who they are talking to speaks volumes! Mutuals have also let me know this friend is in their DMS sending screenshots acting like Claudia has no idea about them messaging your mutuals but Claudia is well aware. Sure Arlie “apologized” for their involvement in the lies but they had no intentions of doing the right thing if they continue to snake around on your asks and sending it to Claudia acting like they aren’t speaking. They are most definitely race faking as Mexican. As when they made their apology video to toothfairyfemme, they mispronounced “elle” as “L”. Clocked that immediately any person that speaks Spanish knows how this is pronounced as “eh-yeh” well, Claudia then decided to make a post BULLYING their followers about how “elle” is pronounced as “eh-yeh” and how “aLL NoN sPAnISh SpEAkErS nEeD tO gEt iT rIgHt.” This is extremely humiliating and hopefully humbling for them. Them claiming in a now deleted Tumblr post that “if they didn’t love you they wouldn’t have told you the truth” but let’s be real. If they ACTUALLY loved you, there wouldn’t have been a truth to reveal from your lies.

Yeah I figured that was the case with the arlie stuff but If he had somestuff he was gonna share with the class I wasn't gonna stop him. If he wants to send the shit I'm saying over to Claudia be my fucking guest I'd say it to their face if I gave half a shit about them but I don't, so I don't. And yeah I did find the whole pronoun thing weird as hell but I don't speak Spanish or French I only know English and I'm trying to learn German, may god rest my soul. So any other language stuff 🤷 I kinda gloss over cause I don't know anything about it. Anyway if they actually love me they wouldn't have done it in the first place. Love comes from a place of honesty and vulnerability and they gave neither. I was the only one being honest I was the only one being vulnerable. Like be so fucking real. They're not the one this will be attached to. They can delete all their accounts and start a new with no consequences no one knows what they look like. I plaster my face everywhere this is attached to me whether I like it or not y'all know what I look like. I will forever be know as that pathetic little butch that got catfished by some wacko.

#my post #chattering #claudia is a catfish #sweethartfemme is a catfish

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captainnameless · 11 months

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Charles has had the worst triple header I feel so bad for him :( Disqualified in COTA, booed in Mexico and a DNS in Brazil.

Poor boy just needs a hug and maybe one of Sebastian’s hoodies to wear. I feel like Lewis would get a call from a very distressed, tearful lil baby and be at his drivers room in 3 seconds flat, desperate to help him stop hurting.

Of course no pressure if you don’t feel like writing this. Also your minifics literally make my day <3

baby has just had a stinker of a season really, i saw a post where it explained all 17 races so far and i’m pretty sure Charles has had only 4 “clean” ones where nothing (bad) happened that was out of his control.

also i feel like shit so maybe writing baby charles feeling like shit will lessen my own achy chest.

Charles had dealt with it all so well, the heart break of another failure that wasn’t his, facing media and sports journalist and fans. They’d spoken briefly after Lewis had gotten out of the car, between his own interviews and Charles seemed okay; promised he was. Albeit tired.

When Charles’ name flashes onto his screen Lewis barely takes two seconds to answer, takes even less time to get up and out of his own hotel room when he hears how distressed Charles is.

Lewis sighs as he jogs through the halls of the hotel, trying to figure out where Charles’ room is, a small voice in the back of his mind telling him this is his fault. That he shouldn’t have let Charles leave alone but self reproach isn’t going to help the younger.

He still has Charles pressed to his ear on the phone, but they aren’t speaking, Charles is crying too much to be coherent anyway and Lewis’ heart sort of shatters when the sound of Charles’ cries is accompanied by a visual when he steps into Charles’ room.

“Oh, darling..” Lewis breathes, ending the call and locking the door behind him, kneeling down to join Charles on the floor and pull him into his lap.

Charles just sobs, embodying a wet noodle while Lewis manhandles him into his lap.

“You’re okay,” Lewis tries to soothe, holding Charles close. “You’re alright, breathe with me.”

Charles doesn’t seem interested in breathing, his eyes screwed shut while he hiccoughs into Lewis’ chest, hands clutching at the sweater Lewis is wearing.

Lewis frowns, he’s never seen Charles this upset and it’s a little unnerving. That same voice telling him he’s not good enough to be taking care of this. Lewis pushes it away.

“Charles, poppet.. Hey.” Lewis tries again, squeezing Charles tight and pressing their faces close together. “I’m right here, you’re safe, you’re okay. Breathe.”

Charles does lean into the touch, the grip of Lewis’ sweater loosening with every gasp-y breath he takes with Lewis, body slowly relaxing against Lewis’ chest, shaking stopping.

“Daddy!” Charles cries once he catches his breath, more tears leaking from his eyes.

“Shh.” Lewis soothes, brushing Charles’ tears away. “We’re gonna call Daddy in a second okay, see if he’s awake. Gotta calm down a little more for me okay?” Lewis hopes Sebastian is still awake, their time zone only 4 hours behind so he’s liking their odds.

There’s a soft whine that leaves Charles but no real protest as he stuffs two fingers into his mouth, trying to lessen his tears.

“Good boy,” Lewis whispers, still softly brushing the tears off of Charles’ cheeks and pressing soft kisses to his forehead until the tears have stopped leaking from his eyes.

Charles flushes under the praise, noticeable even with how red he already is from crying and buries his face into Lewis’ chest. “Daddy?” He asks again, this time muffled.

Lewis shifts to get his phone out, pressing the favorites tab before tapping Sebastian’s name. It goes to voicemail the first time and Lewis panics only a little but Sebastian answers on the second call.

Sebastian doesn’t even speak before his face contorts with hurt as their picture fills the screen, eyeing up a distraught Charles.

“Charlie, no, what’s wrong?” Sebastian asks, Lewis can tell he’s leaving whatever room he’s in, moving somewhere more quiet.

“Daddy.” Charles just says, voice miserable and mumbled around his fingers, still pressed against Lewis’ chest.

“Daddy’s here, on the phone. I’m sorry I can’t be with you, sweetheart.” Sebastian looks miserable saying, probably wishing for a teleportation device. “But you’ve got Uncle Lew, huh?”

Charles nods and Lewis holds Charles a little closer, pressing another kiss to his head. “I’m so glad you called.”

“You called?” Sebastian asks, full of praise. “Good job!”

They both know Charles has struggled asking for help with Sebastian off the grid, so Sebastian makes sure to praise him for it every time.

They sit and talk for a bit, up until Charles’ eyes start drooping, exhausted from the emotions and the tears.

“Bedtime,” Sebastian declares through the phone, and there’s an immediate pout on Charles’ lips. “Did you have a shower yet?”

A small smile plays on Lewis’ features, amused at the pout. He knows Charles hasn’t showered yet, still in his track clothes.

“Not yet,” the younger answers.

“So shower, then bed. You need the rest, sweetheart. We can call again tomorrow, I promise.” Sebastian says.

“No.” Charles whines, taking the phone out of Lewis’ hands to hold it closer.

“I’ll stay with you, huh?” Lewis adds, knowing he cannot replace Sebastian, but he knows Charles doesn’t not like the substitute.

“Sounds good,” Sebastian answers for him and so Charles nods. They end the call after an almost tearful goodbye that Lewis manages to control, helps Charles into the shower before rummaging through his suitcase to get him something comfortable.

All soft and warm out of the shower Charles basically falls asleep the second Lewis pulls him into his chest, blanket covering them both.

Lewis presses one less kiss to Charles’ damp hair before closing his own eyes.

#littlef1adventures #lf1a.minific

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acaplaya-musings · 7 months

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Voiceplay Visuals: A Chance To Fly (Wicked Medley)

You'd be hard pressed to find a Voiceplay arrangement that took more time to create/finish than this one. This was Geoff's creation (he arranged it, came up with the video concept, co-directed it, and collaborated on lighting design), and he apparently worked on this for years. I don't know how long exactly, but I'm fairly certain he vaguely alluded to it in a live Q&A he did on his channel in 2020, when someone asked if Voiceplay was planning to do any Broadway stuff. And based on comments I've read on reaction videos, I believe he's worked on it since sometime in 2019 or so?

But anyway, as spectacular an arrangement as it is, I'm not here to talk about it! I'm here to talk about the video which accompanies it, which was released on the 26th of November, 2021, and features the awesome Emoni Wilkins (in the role of Galinda), and the wonderful Rachel Potter (in the role of Elphaba) (and yes, this is another rare six-vocalist video for Voiceplay, though this time it's 4 members + 2 guests, rather than 5 members + 1 guest). One of the comments says that this is apparently Rachel's 10th collaboration with Voiceplay, though I can only count 7 previous ones (or 8 if you count Just Sing (she was in that too right?)). But regardless, what a veteran!

Anyway, the medley itself clocks in at about 7 and a half minutes, so enough backstory - there's a lot to get through!

Group shot! Love the giant clock backdrop, very cool (and very accurate/appropriate of course)

(Note that I've never seen Wicked, not even a bootleg, but I've listened to the soundtrack a few times on the odd occasion, and I know how the story goes)

(Also this video really highlights the height difference between Layne and Eli, the tallest and shortest of the group, respectively. Apparently Eli isn't actually even that short - he's like 5"5/165cm (which is about how tall I am) - it's just that everyone else in the group is taller than him, whether by a little (like Cesar), or a lot (like Layne, who's 6"1/~183cm)

I adore Emoni and Rachel's makeup looks in this one. Shoutout to Rick Underwood for doing amazing things yet again!

(Also that's a super gorgeous necklace that Rachel is wearing and I want it)

Super massive shoutout and kudos to Geoff and Eli for the lighting on this one! This is top-tier stuff! And so much variety throughout the video in terms of colours and light levels!

Cute earrings, and also face jewels! (Those things can be an absolute pain in the backside, both in terms of applying and then getting them to stay there! I'm assuming Rick used some special skin-safe "glue" product to make them stay in place, and/or some setting spray afterwards?)

Get it, Rachel! 🙌👌

Geoff is handsome as ever, of course

Firstly, go off, Eli! And second of all, Rachel looks so freaking enamoured by Eli during this part, which obviously would be because he's filling the role of Fiyero, the love interest of Elphaba (whom she's acting/singing as here), but also it's just a little bit amusing too 😁

"Think of it as personality dialysis!"

Cesar being adorable 💜

Layne popped a bubble! (With matching "sound effect" of course) (Also I only just realised earlier while watching this that Layne is wearing a tie, just that it's mostly hidden/tucked in)

"And with an assist from me, to be who you'll be, instead of dreary who you were- well, are"

Nothing but respect for my Wonderful Wizard! (He did nothing wrong 😁😝)

I love him your honour

(Gonna do a Geoff Hair Study for this one too, but won't include it in this post, because frankly this post is long enough ^^;)

(Also just realised that Geoff is also wearing a tie that is mostly hidden, and wait hang on a minute, that means that his shirt is actually fully-buttoned-up? Gasp!)

I know I'm going quite heavy on screencaps (and we're only halfway through the video, heck), but I had to share these blink-and-you-miss-it shots of Cesar and Rachel 😄

Cesar: "KILL THE WITCH!"

Geoff (noted bass singer and sometimes sea witch): Uh oh 😬

(Joke stolen from a YouTube comment, but it was too good not to include)

"Because I knew you," (🥺🥺🥺)

The urge to take a million screencaps of the Defying Gravity section at the end is strong. It's so good on all levels!

The quality as an individual screencap is not the best, but still, I'm calling it another "Voiceplay money shot", and such a cool way to end the video!

As I am typing this, the trailer for the Wicked movie (or part 1 at least) has been out for a few days, but I'm yet to even watch it, and I probably won't see the movie, because honestly I don't see how they could make any of the musical numbers better than this. And this was just a medley! And acapella! Re the movie, I'm a little uncertain on how to feel about Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, and I'm definitely skeptical about Ariana Grande as Galinda. Rachel and Emoni killed it though, as did all of the guys of course! Well done Geoff, this was definitely worth the hard work and the long wait!

#voiceplay #acapella #wicked medley #a chance to fly #geoff castellucci #eli jacobson #layne stein #cesar de la rosa #rachel potter #emoni wilkins #voiceplay visuals #acaplaya analysis

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forevfangirlwrites · 7 months

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Hey, would you mind writing about percy’s openning night for his own coffee and annabeth being all proud and cute for the celebrity au please?? I love your writing soo much i think you’ve done such amazing stories and i admit to dream about this au every now and then because of how much i reread it lol 🌹❤️ (and i know you asked this ages ago but im the same person that sends promps with the flower if you even remember me lol, im just really shy and my first language isnt english so i get extra shy but i love your stories and i think about them a lott, anyway have a good day 🌹)

Nervous is an understatement. He feels like he might puke (which is not a good look on your first day) though if the feeling is stemming from relief or anxiety is still unclear. He’s been working towards this for so so long and now that it’s finally actually happening, it almost doesn’t feel real.

So much anticipation and build-up and now that everything is set-up, decorated and the moment has come, the place is empty.

(Though the place does look pretty despite the emptiness with about seven tables set up across the space that’s decorated in accents of different shades of blue and a lot of plants courtesy of Grover who had made up for not being at the opening by showing up a week early to help decorate).

Granted it’s only been a few minutes since they officially opened, and he can’t blame anyone other than himself for the lack of fanfare.

He hadn’t wanted Annabeth’s influence at the start, and though he trusts Miranda (the teen he’d hired as a barista/social media liaison) to promote it well, he’s wondering if he should have done more.

He’d posted on his own private insta account of course but that isn’t going to do much other than his mom commenting how proud she is. Five minutes after opening without a customer isn’t that great.

“You got 40 likes on the insta post so far,” Miranda calls from her place further down the counter. She looks up from her phone. “You should pay to boost it so more people can see it.”

“You can do that?”

And suddenly he feels woefully unprepared for this whole thing. Maybe it would have been better to do the whole celebratory opening instead of quietly putting up an Open sign.

“I’m just gonna do it and you can add the amount to mu paycheck,” Miranda responds.

He has another brief panic of how he’s going to pay her paycheck if no one even comes in. Hoping his nervousness doesn’t show, he runs a towel down the already clean counter.

Percy’s always been a pretty confident person when it comes to work. He trusts his ability to pick up anything quickly and has a knack for finding odd jobs.

Hell, he had moved to California mostly on a whim and managed to do well at the time he worked at Cali’s.

And though he knows it’s this confidence in his work ability that had led him to opening up his own place, now that he’s here it really does feel a lot different than normal work. There’re more responsibilities. And even Miranda, who’s a part timer, depends on him to do well to get paid.

It’s all stuff he’s known this whole time but to actually feel that weight is different.

And even now, he knows he can handle it. If only he gets the chance, if only people actually start—

The sound of the bell on the door makes him start.

“Not bad Jackson.”

He tries to hide his astonishment as Clarisse and Chris walk in, hand in hand.

“It looks really cool Percy!” Chris echoes, eyes scanning the pretty decent sized space.

“Jackson you can’t look that dorky every time people come into your café, it’s bad customer service, close your mouth,” Clarisse drawls, rolling her eyes before looking up at the menu.

“Are we the first people?” Chris asks excitedly.

Percy smiles. “Well technically Annabeth was the first customer because she walked in with me when I officially opened and ordered a drink to claim her spot, but then she had to rush out for a call.”

Clarisse waves her hand. “Okay so girlfriend aside, we’re the first—”

The sound of the bell violently ringing interrupts their conversation as Jason Grace rushes in, clearly out of breath.

“Damn!” he swears, when he sees Chris and Clarisse on the counter. “And I definitely didn’t beat Annabeth, did I?” he asks, looking at Percy.

Percy can’t help but smile as he shakes his head.

Jason sighs, walking up to get in line behind Chris and Clarisse. “I hate Mark Edwards now,” he mumbles under his breath.

KEEP READING ON AO3

A/N: Thank you for the prompt! it's one I've actually been working on for a bit so you read my mind lol And of course I remember you! I really appreciate you sending in prompts even though English in not your first language! (Your English is amazing by the way so don't worry about that!) Thank you again for your support of the series ad I hope you like how it turned out!

#how to handle fame #actress annabeth #barista percy #hthf #percabeth #percabeth au #percabeth fic

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syrips · 1 year

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hello im gonna pin this post

hello my name is Syrips, im a super duper simp and simp/self-insert enabler for others who love strahd or any cos/ravenloft/fictional characters

im 28, but i sometimes say im thirty as a vague response because its easier and faster to say (or safer to say to strangers)

i think i am autistic but i am currently only self-diagnosed; i plan to tell my doctors once i compile a binder of reasons why i think im autistic based on noted events in my childhood, behavior, and my reflected perspective on things in pages of charts and text which is a totally neurotypical thing to do

im genderfluid and i am fine with any and all pronouns (different people may use different/changing/fluid pronouns on me, i am completely fine with this)

im polyamorous and pansexual/panromantic, i gush over games that have polyamory/pan options!!

i have huge CoS/Ravenloft spoilers so please, PLEASe do not enter unless you are fine with being spoiled with all kinds of content. i also wont explain what is or isnt 'canon' because, well, some things may be canon for one person, while potential/not-canon for another, so i really cannot confirm or deny it myself.. ask your DM for confirmation! (and for my players who are here, hehe, goodluck figuring it out!)

i do music, art, crafting, and streaming sometimes, here is my linktree: https://linktr.ee/syrips

please 'ask'/message/send me any and all of your curse of strahd and/or ravenloft works of art! this can include these and more!:

playlists

moodboards

art/portfolio/link to your art or artblog

pages of your OC/PC/dnd lore (both player and DM welcome)

campaign/session notes and storytime

canon and potential-/home-/head-canon dumps

narrations/imagines/ao3/google docs/fanfic/fic writings

cool crafts!!

i crave it more than strahd craves blood, please and thank you!

you can also send me stuff and let me know if you want me to gush/simp over it, provide advice, or simply acknowledge it (publicly or privately)! let me know in advance cuz i dont want to make you uncomfortable with what you share

i have no limits on triggering fictional content, just make sure to tw it properly if it is sensitive content for others

my Ask thingy is always open, i may ramble alot if i get passionate enough though so be warned! hehe

ok goodbye ill edit or change this whenever idk

Edit Entry 1 - 11th Moon, 2023

for context, keita/raze (he/him) is my irl partner. he's been a simp for alucard (castlevania) longer than i've begun simping for strahd. i only discovered this years into the relationship when we watched castlevania (where i expected to be a bigger simp for castlevania), and instead HE made high pitch simping noises as alucard appeared on the screen and i was like -sus eyes- wait a GOSH DARN MINUTE-. also, keita has a thing for necks. i shrugged it off when he first told me, but years later i started simping for strahd and now i look back at that moment like 'hm. odd.-'. anyways, i mostly started dating him because he sounds like a kermit the frog southern guy who goes 'howdy howdy' and he says 'i should be golden' unironically and i think thats pretty funny

i tag stuff as #making a keita tag so when keita presses this he can see all the stuff that he likes so that i can organize stuff and incase he ever decides to poke around my blog and use this tag search within my blog

Edit Entry 2 and 3 - 12th Moon, 2023

syrips OC/PC list (loosely alphabetical)

Other People's Adored OC/PC list (loosely alphabetical)

Edit Entry 4 - 7th Moon, 2024

hi huge warning that im fucking WEIRD. like i know people may enjoy the idea of me for entertainment/indulgence purposes but please please. if you ask/tell me to do something, i will 90%-chance take it seriously and respond bluntly/directly. please take my warnings seriously and please please interact with me responsibly!!

and i already know some would be like, 'oh syrips people always say that. they wanna act unique/special by calling themselves weird'. like. thats fair if people dont believe that but please dont be surprised when freakos start feeling more comfortable/vulnerable around you and you become shocked. like. stop trying to shame/blame freakos for what they've warned since the beginning. please, it's hurtful and disrespectful.

my asks are always open, be as blunt/direct as you want. most of my cws will be with "cw: " before it. let me know if you want me to cw tag something!

i use the #be cringe be free tag for weirdos/freakos/happy/indulgent stuff. this can include stuff that isnt 'cringe', and/or cringe we embrace. it's okay to be cringe. it's okay to say cringe culture is dead. it's okay to not see things as cringe. it's okay to embrace the cringe. it's okay to indulge, to be your favorite version of you. it's okay to indulge, even if it's unfamiliar/scary. i use the tag for moments of doing what makes you happy, regardless if youre unfamiliar with that indulgent feeling. be cringe be free!!

#syrips pc #will edit as needed

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rottingwaysofmisery · 1 year

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Non-Goth Music that Goths might enjoy

Along with what the title says, I will be elaborating on each. It’s mostly going to be metal because that’s my current interest but there will be non-metal recommendations, such as industrial rock or electronic music.

Epicus Doomicus Metallus - Candlemass

Not my personal favorite Candlemass album, that would be Nightfall, but it’s what I think would be most interesting to a Goth looking into other genres. To elaborate on why I think that, it’s the use of the vocals, subject matter, guitarwork, and keyboards. The vocals do an incredible job at communicating both storytelling and extreme emotions like anguish. The subject matter covers things like witchcraft, sorcerers, and wanting to die alone. The guitarwork and tone doesn’t sound anything like post-punk but it’s the way it complements the feelings of doom and anguish that might make it interesting to someone looking into other kinds of dark music.

TL;DR They’re slow, heavy, and dramatic.

I would like to highlight “Solitude” as my best recommendation to a Goth Rock fan, and “Under the Oak” as my personal favorite track.

Ministry

Not recommending any specific album, but specific songs from them. Hell, you might even consider some of Ministry’s work borderline Goth, but the overall genre is Industrial Rock/Metal, at least since they stopped making synthpop.

The tracks I’m recommending are as follows: “Every Day is Halloween” (single), “Golden Dawn” (from their album Land of Rape and Honey, which despite the name is actually referring to a plant and not the reprehensible act), “Cannibal Song” and “Dream Song” (both from The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste).

The first song is already kind of a goth music staple but I thought to include it anyways because I love that song.

DAF (Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft)

This one might be a little hard to justify just because of how all over the place they are, but personally I think they really have that post-punk attitude when it comes to their music. They’re basically this really experimental electronic band, hell their early stuff even has noise rock elements. If you’re into the more industrial experimental stuff and don’t need conciseness or melody then this might be an interesting band to look at.

I would like to highlight the tracks “Kebab Träume”, “Ein Bisschen Krieg”, and “Muskel”

King Diamond

I’m going to be blunt, you’re not gonna like this one if you don’t like traditional heavy metal. Along with that, you might not like King Diamond’s vocals. Yes, the band is named after the singer. Anyways, if you like Gothic Rock for the “spooky” Halloween-esque aesthetic, you might just fall in love with King Diamond. He’s an acquired taste for most, due to the unusual falsetto he displays all across his career.

Personally, I fucking love King Diamond. I think instead of recommending any specific song I’d rather recommend whole albums due to the storytelling aspect that King Diamond weaves into most of his discography. To paint you a picture, most of King Diamond’s discography is concept albums that tell horror stories, cleverly using vocals to switch characters, and using keyboards to really give that cheesy but lovable Halloween Horror feel, along with some of the coolest guitarwork in metal, done by the likes of heavy metal legend Andy LaRocque.

Onto highlights, I would like to highlight Fatal Portrait, notably one of the few albums not to be a fully concept album, particularly the tracks “The Candle” and “Haunted”, and Them, a concept album with my personal favorite story, and Conspiracy, the sequel to Them story-wise, which is my personal favorite album.

Celtic Frost

This one might be an odd recommendation if you’re only familiar with their popular stuff, but I’d like to highlight a few tracks that may be of interest.

“Mesmerized” (from their album Into the Pandemonium)

Recommending this one mainly because the vocals are very reminiscent of Rozz Williams from Christian Death, at least in my opinion.

“Os Abysmi Vel Daath” (from their album Monotheist)

This is kind of a risky recommendation, since this song and the album in general is just experimental extreme metal. It’s mainly the vocal performance here makes me want to recommend it, though it might be a bit of a stretch. I love this song but I know it might not be for everyone, though if it gives at least one person a new song to listen to then I’ll be happy.

Zoon - The Nefilim

Industrial Extreme Metal, by the same people behind Fields of the Nephilim. This one is a bit of an oddball in the discography of the people who made it, but personally it’s the only album I like by them anyways. Unfortunately, this was the only album they did in this style and under this name. They do, however, still occasionally perform songs from this album as Fields of the Nephilim. My personal favorite track being “Shine”, which is honestly a bit of a power ballad.

The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails

C’mon. You knew this one was coming. It’s an industrial rock album, and if you haven’t listen to them already you’re most likely going to LOVE “Closer”.

Sacrificed - Edge of Sanity (from The Spectral Sorrows)

It’s a straight up Sisters of Mercy-esque Goth Rock track that’s towards the end of a Death Metal album. The vocalist would go on to start a Goth Rock band, Nightingale.

I’m Going Slightly Mad - Queen (from Innuendo)

You may be confused. That Queen? Yes, same one that made “We Will Rock You” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”. This song is called Gothic Rock on wikipedia, but I’m including it anyways because Queen is not a Goth band.

Surprise - The Garden (Single)

This one might confuse you if you’re familiar with this band. From the instrumentation, to the vocals, to the subject matter, it just screamed to me “put me next to Goth music”. Listen to it for yourself and tell me if you get it. For some strange reason it was taken off streaming platforms unfortunately.

Deinonychus

This one is a black metal band with doom metal influences. Another riskier recommendation, what gives me the impression that a Goth might love this is a mix of the use of keyboards, the anguished harsh vocals, and the deep clean vocals. The best example I want to give is “The Weeping of a Thousand Years”, it’s like a bearded vampire speaks the clean vocals and someone tortured in the dungeon of a castle screams the harsh vocals.

Call from the Grave - Bathory (from Under the Sign of the Black Mark)

Another Black Metal band, this one even harder to justify. Bear with me, listen to the song and pretend that a zombie is the one singing. The song starts with this spooky ambience and then goes into this evil groove and later on has a solo that sounds like a funeral dirge, it’s awesome. I have no idea if anyone’s going to get why I’m putting this here along with the others, but if someone does that’ll be awesome.

Give Me Your Soul - Countess (from The Book of the Heretic)

Another Black Metal one, yes, but hear me out. This song is literally goofy spooky Halloween music, and it’s literally from the perspective of a demon who kidnapped someone. I fucking love this song, I just think if you kept an open mind you might love it as much as I do.

Floods - Pantera (from The Great Southern Trendkill)

Okay okay, hear me out again. This is literally borderline Southern Gothic, at least thematically, and topic aside it’s one of the best power ballads out of all of metal with one of the coolest solos literally ever.

Buried Alive - Venom (from Black Metal)

This song is hard to describe, it’s not quite a power ballad, but it’s definitely some sort of ballad. It’s catchy, it’s got a dramatic build up and it’s got groove (it has one of my personal favorite solos ever). Tell me what you think!

Black Sabbath

I find it a little funny that Black Sabbath had a literal “Living in a Box” moment by naming their first song on their first album after themselves. Anyways, this song, “Black Sabbath”, is dramatic and evil. It’s basically the first heavy metal song, and yet it has more doom in it than a lot of modern doom metal bands. Side note, Type O Negative has a fantastic rendition of this song, I could not more HIGHLY recommend giving it a listen.

I also recommend “After All (The Dead)” off of their album Dehumanizer. It’s got the doom and gloom but with that heavy metal oomph to it, so I hope you appreciate this song as much as I do.

Black Mummy - Death SS (from In Death of Steve Sylvester)

I must clarify again, the “SS” part of the name has nothing to do with the Nazis and is short for the singer Steve Sylvester. Anyways, this song has a more traditional heavy metal sound but in a bit of a spooky horror approach. You might ask if it’s anything like King Diamond, I can assure you it’s not.

Scream of the Butterfly - Acid Bath (from When the Kite String Pops)

This one is a bit of a ballad in an otherwise Sludge/Doom Metal album. Unrelated, but if you’re into metal with interesting textures I would definitely recommend this album.

Ghosts - Japan (from Tin Drum)

It feels like cheating to put a New Wave artist on here, but they’re still technically not Goth so I’m putting them anyways.

Filth - Swans

Noise Rock, it’s extreme music that isn’t metal. I’m including this one for a similar reason with DAF, because despite its genre it definitely has a bit of a post-punk attitude to things.

L’Eau Rouge/Red Water - The Young Gods

Industrial Rock with Dark Cabaret elements, oh my god this album is my baby I fucking love it so much. The fact more people don’t know about it feels like a crime.

Gloomy Sunday - Billie Holiday

This is technically not her original song but I enjoy her version a lot. Thematically it’s very dark, so if you are into darker music I would definitely recommend this.

The Devil is an Englishman - Thomas Dolby (Single)

Again it feels like cheating to include a New Wave artist but there’s no way in hell anyone considers Thomas Dolby “Goth”. Though I will say this song was composed for a movie called “Gothic”. Regardless, I would definitely recommend this, it’s dark synthpop.

Auburn and Ivory - Beach House (from Beach House)

Feels like cheating to include dreampop, but why not. I have this song on a playlist with music that makes me feel like a French mime, if that helps give you an idea of the kind of song it is.

Kate Bush

That’s all.

Anna - K.U.K.L. (from The Eye)

This is from one of the bands Björk was in before. Very experimental rock, I would personally recommend the music video version that’s up on youtube instead of the Spotify version.

Einzelhaft - Falco

This album is mostly known for “Der Kommissar”, but I find that there’s other good songs on this album, particularly “Ganz Wien” and “Auf der Flucht”.

An Angel of Great and Terrible Light - Uboa (from The Origin of My Depression)

I’m gonna warn you, this song along with the album this is from may be a very emotionally heavy album for some. However, I’m built different. Anyways I fucking love this particular song from the album.

End of Recommendations

That’s all I have for now, if anyone has any suggestions I’d love to hear them! I hope this helps someone find new music to love!

#goth #gothic rock #goth music #goth music recommendations #gothic metal #industrial rock #falco #thomas dolby #new wave #noise rock #heavy metal #doom metal #king diamond

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josouhenshin · 11 months

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Day 2

Last post Index Next post

Welcome back, girls. Last time, Shinobu moved in with his long-time friend Mizuki, and found out that he had taken up crossdressing. With suspiciously little prodding, Shinobu also agreed to give it a shot, and they went clothes shopping. However, Shinobu got spooked before they could finish and they had to go home.

This time, we’re going to get Shinobu some girl underwear. As Mizuho said, the josou lifestyle starts with the underwear!

...That does bring me to a bit of a conundrum though, with a story like this there’s necessarily going to be a lot of fuzziness around things like names and genders and identities, so hopefully I can narrate things in a way that doesn’t get too convoluted. Although depending on how things go in the story there’s pretty good odds that I’ll end up prioritizing girl mode eventually. Anyway.

“Okay, today for sure we’re gonna go shopping for underwear!” Mizuho begins excitedly. Notably, the text box here is still identifying her as Mizuki, but...

I mean she went through all the trouble of picking out a girl name, it’d be a shame not to use it yknow? And we wouldn’t want anyone around to overhear, right?

Mizuho asks Shinobu whether she wants to go in girl mode or boy mode. The game gives us a quick tutorial about the map screen- basically we have this option at the start of each day, and different activities and scenes will be available depending on which gender we’re going with.

If we want to visit a point of interest in girl mode, which I certainly do, we have to hit the “get changed” button. This brings us to...

...The dress-up mode screen. It’s telling us to press the crossdressing button.

In the top left we have our base stats, which I don’t fully understand the uses of yet, our cash on hand, and our heart rate. It looks like there’s some inventory slots or something there too, but Shinobu is not currently making use of their convenient and deep men’s pants pockets. There’s also the heart rate meter, which will start gradually ticking up once we hit the crossdressing button. Per the original twitter thread, it sounds like in the first game the amount of things you can do in a day is limited by how stressed out the protagonist is, so I assume that holds true here too.

Below that, we have our current loadout. There’s space for a couple layers of tops and bottoms, and other types of equippables if you scroll down. Currently we’re wearing the men’s sweatshirt, men’s pants, men’s sneakers, and “your own hair” in the wig spot. I’ve already expressed my thoughts about this outfit.

Along the bottom we have inventory tabs for (left to right) care items, makeup, underwear and camisoles, crossdressing goods, stockings, shoes, western clothes, accessories, and wigs.

We don’t have any new stuff to equip from here, so let’s just hit the button and head out.

Shina lacks confidence in her outfit, and locks up on the way out the door. Mizuho can tell that she’s nervous, and tries to encourage her to go out. However, Shina is still frozen, and she starts getting impatient.

Shina reflects that just a bit ago, she had no connection at all to the world of crossdressing, but, well, here she is about to go outside in girl clothes. “Is this really okay?” she wonders. She worries, with a flat chest, slapdash makeup, and an unnatural bulge in her lower quarters what people around her will think when they see her. She starts trying to explain herself, but:

“Don’t say ‘boku,’ it’s ‘atashi,’ remember?”

Shina starts apologizing. “Just like I thought, it’s impossible,” she says, “I’m so stressed out my legs won’t move.”

Mizuho grumbles in disappointment, and Shina says she’ll swap back to boy mode. She does so, and they head out.

At the store, Shinobu marvels at how many kinds of women’s underwear there are. Mizuho recommends going with something basic to start with, but the main thing is that Shinobu like it.

There’s another path to this point we could’ve taken, one which I’m not going to consider canonical to the playthrough, where Shinobu decides to go shopping in boy mode from the beginning. Instead of having a panic attack at the door, he asks Mizuho to pretend to be a couple again, and they head out. Mizuho seems very happy about this, but when they get there she does tease him about it. From there everything seems to proceed the same way.

They’re back home again. Shinobu reports that in the end he couldn’t decide what to get, so Mizuho picked something out for her again. Thanks Mizuho.

“Okay, how about trying them on and showing me?”

Shinobu is astonished at this request. He asks Mizuho not to look while he’s changing. Again, this is another case where it’s unclear the extent to which Shinobu understands that he’s being flirted with. I do also think that it’s really funny that Mizuho establishes an ironclad rule of no peeking and then immediately wants to see Shinobu change.

In any case, Shina tries on the new underwear. It’s very soft. She sticks her legs through.

“I- it feels good...”

She muses that women are always wearing stuff like this. She thinks it could be habit-forming.

Mizuho wants to see, and catches Shina by surprise.

“Wow! Cute, isn’t it!” she remarks, “and that reaction was totally girly, huh?”

Mizuho reminds us again that underwear is foundational to crossdressing. So always wear it.

“Shinobu, you kinda got a bulge in an odd place, don’t you!” She teases.

“Huh? Oh, that’s uh,” Shina stammers.

“Did you start feeling weird?” she asks, pointedly, “That’s a feeling I understand, though.”

Shina asks her not to look again.

“Girls definitely don't have anything like that there, you know~!”

Shina complains that she’s being bullied. She turns around and tries to distract herself and settle things down.

She does this by reciting a song about multiplication tables. “Let’s see, 2 and 2 is 4, 2 and 3 is 6, how did ‘let’s make a good country’ go again..?” I believe it’s the title of a heian era poem, but the intertextuality of this gag is already going way over my head. Shina also worries that since the underwear is kinda small if she’s not careful it’ll end up sliding out.

Is now a good time to point out that Mizuho has also been letting it rock this whole time anyway?

From here things seem to open up a bit more, and we’ll have a few points of interest to choose from on the map screen each day. I’m not sure exactly what the flow of things is going to be, but for now things seem pretty low stakes, so I’m open to suggestions.

Last post Index Next post

#trans 2 #I am curious the extent to which this game is going to discuss gender and how the characters feel about it as we get deeper #vs purely focusing on the romance and such #surely if anyone was poised to do both in 2005 these nerds would be in the running

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summerwritesfics · 4 months

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🖤For Warmth You’ll Be Longing, Nightingale, Chapter 1 - For Of Sugar And Ice I Am Made

Pairing: Hanzo Hasashi/Kuai Liang Length: 7694 Words Rating: Explicit 🔞 Warnings: Cult AU, Past Torture, Flower growing in peoples skin, Body Horror, Mental Health Issues, NSFK (Not Safe For Kuai)

For Warmth You’ll Be Longing, Nightingale Masterlist

Notes: Omg, I finally have a bit of a “AO3 authors post under any and all circumstance” story for these notes, as I edited and posted this with half of my face swollen :D My cheek is so swollen I can actually see it from the corner of my eye lmao. Also I have been having toothache on and off since yesterday. I know those things together prob sound really bad but I don’t believe they are actually related (I have episodes of swelling, this feel very much like that and as such does feel like it’s on it’s way to actually going down, plus the toothache is slowly getting better.) If my editing if a bit off that is probably why, but I said I’d try post stuff over the weekend and I’m gonna do it dammit lmao. Anyway enjoy this chapter where Kuai basically becomes a manic pixie nightmare girl. Some cracks in his psyche show a little and it’s only gonna get worse from here, so buckle up. Chapter title is from “Love Like Winter” by AFI.

Things could change so much in just a year.

Kuai’s ascension was greatly contested by the Elder’s for weeks after it had happened. Calls to try and reason with Lady Cetrion to change her chosen one. Some Elder’s outright refused to acknowledge Kuai for what he was now. The Grandmaster was, oddly enough, on Kuai’s side in this, trying to argue that Lady Cetrion had chosen Kuai for a reason, so they should trust her judgement and that she had a plan. Still, it took some time for the Elder’s to come around.

Kuai freezing the entire compound for a few days did seem to get the majority in line however.

The general consensus of the regular members of the Lin Kuei were a lot more positive thankfully. Surprised, given Kuai’s reputation as the rebel of the compound, but seemingly happy for him. Really, it appeared people were just happy their devotion had been noticed by a God in some way. Lady Cetrion had blessed Kuai Liang, and by extension them, when she bestowed this gift to him.

Sure, he still got the odd death glare from some Elder’s, but none had yet dared to try and take him down. He could walk around the compound with his head held high, all that he crossed bowing to him. All his pain and suffering had finally been repaid with respect and adoration.

So… Why did he feel like he was still completely without any power?

Sure, The Lin Kuei followed him without question now, but somehow he got the feeling that Cetrion’s plans for him were beyond the scope of just the compound. There were so many problems in the world, hunger, war, pollution. He felt like Cetrion wanted him to be the one to put an end to all that. That he could in some way be doing more to save the world from itself.

The problem was, he had no idea where to even begin with that.

Even he had been unable to contact Lady Cetrion for guidance, and all the Grandmaster could suggest was taking it a day at a time. But he was growing impatient, and what he saw of the world beyond the compound, he wasn’t sure he had that much time left to act.

“You wish to do too much too fast, My Lord,” the Grandmaster told him, standing just to the side of Kuai’s throne. “We must first convert others to our cause, then when we have the manpower, you can do what you wish.”

Kuai crossed his arms and slumped in his seat, but he supposed the Grandmaster had a point. If more people believed he truly was the messiah, the easier it would be to command the changes he needed. It was just getting a world that hardly believed the old gods even existed to trust what they were saying was proving difficult.

“The good news is, we’ve managed to recruit a lot of new members from across the globe,” the Grandmaster continued, ignoring Kuai’s mini temper tantrum. “I just got word that they’ve arrived. They’ll be brought before you for initiation, and then shown to their accommodations.”

“Do we have enough room?” Kuai asked with an eyebrow raised. “I hadn’t believed they’d finished the new lodgings yet.”

“They’ve finished enough to welcome at least some new members,” the Grandmaster informed him and Kuai couldn’t help but frown. How come I haven’t been told about this? Given he was the one who’d ordered the new buildings, it seemed logical he would be the one to be told first. “I believe the other elder’s assigned Elder Fang to oversee the project, that may be why you have not been informed.”

Kuai rolled his eyes. Elder Fang had always hated Kuai Liang, and Lady Cetrion’s gift had just seemed to make that hatred amplify.

“He would not be a problem if you’d just let me freeze him,” Kuai grumbled, stopping himself from sliding even further in his chair.

The Grandmaster just chuckled, “unfortunately he is a little too important for me to allow you to do that, My Lord.”

Important, my ass.

Kuai didn’t get a chance to continue that line of thought when the doors to the throne room opened. Cyrax stepped through, guiding in a surprisingly large group of people in civilian clothing. Kuai immediately pushed himself to sit up, so he at least looked somewhat more professional than he actually was.

The group was diverse. Young and Old, single people and families, all races. He found it curious how their message had united people who likely had such different life stories. It gave him hope for being able to reach more over time. Overall though, no one really stood out to him. They all just looked like regular people hoping for a new start.

That was, until he found his eyes landing on one particular man towards the back of the crowd.

He was tall, but seemed to be ducking slightly to try and make himself seem smaller. He had long hair tied into a bun, a trim beard and a yellow hoodie. But it wasn’t any of that which had caught Kuai’s attention. It was the fact he appeared to be trying to not draw any attention to himself. He was seemingly hiding amongst the crowd, not wanting anyone to notice him.

Kuai appreciated the irony that the mans attempt to remain incognito had drawn his attention.

“Welcome to The Lin Kuei,” the Grandmaster began, and Kuai tried to look like he was paying attention to everyone and not just this strange man at the back. “I am Grandmaster Oniro, and this-” he gestured to Kuai, “is Lord Song Kuai Liang, Lady Cetrion’s chosen one.”

There was a chorus of whispers from the crowd. Kuai couldn’t make out what anyone was saying, but he could imagine it was questions on how this man could be the chosen one. What made him so special, after all? Kuai smirked, he couldn’t wait to start casually using his powers around them and seeing realisation slowly sink in.

The man at the back didn’t really react. He just lifted his head enough to get a good look at Kuai Liang. Kuai debated waving at him, but decided that’d probably just be mean.

Grandmaster Oniro was droning on and on about the compound, their rituals, the daily schedule, how everyone would be given a job to do. Kuai knew it all already, so he could just shut it out for now.

The man seemed to be paying attention, although he was frowning rather intensely. Clearly he had heard something that he had either taken exception to or was unsure about. Kuai supposed that in the outside world, they probably didn’t have quite as many strict rules as The Lin Kuei did. He should just be thankful I outlawed physical punishments. It was pretty much Kuai’s first order as the chosen one. No one, no matter how disobedient they were, would ever suffer like he had.

While he suspected it was his suffering that had drawn Lady Cetrion to him, that still didn’t mean it had been a good thing or worth the pain.

“Cyrax will show you to your accommodation,” the Grandmaster concluded. “We will give you time to settle in and then we can begin your spiritual journey.”

Cyrax jumped to action, bowing towards Kuai and the Grandmaster, before beginning to usher out the crowd. Kuai’s gaze was still on that same man, who once more tried his best to blend into the crowd. Curious. Was he just shy? Or was he trying to hide something?

Only one way to find out.

“Would I be okay to observe the new recruits?” Kuai questioned, trying to make the request as casual as he could. “I would like to get a feeling on the type of people they are.”

“Of course,” the Grandmaster replied, “you may do whatever you like, My Lord.”

“Correct answer,” Kuai snarked as he jumped up onto his feet. “In that case, I will bid you adieu.”

The Grandmaster bowed to him as he confidently strode out of the throne room. He wasn’t sure what was going on with the man he’d taken such an interest in. Hell, there might have been nothing at all. But Kuai needed to know what the guy's deal was.

Hanzo glared at his own reflection in the mirror. This uniform he’d been made to wear was simple, dyed yellow, and made of an itchy fabric. Worse still, it didn’t have any pockets, so he wouldn’t have anywhere to put his contraband phone. He needed to figure out a way to carry it around, he required it to be able to record conversations and take photographs of the conditions here.

This closed off cult in the middle of the Chinese wilderness had always had people wondering about the conditions inside. Until recently, it had been impossible to get in from the outside, the only new members having been born within. Rumours of the group's cruelty were widespread but somewhat unfounded. Truth was no one knew what happened behind the walls of the compound, and no one had ever left to tell the truth.

Then, suddenly, that all changed.

Of course, claims that the Elder God’s had blessed the group with the messiah were obviously fake. It was obvious it was a bid to attract attention and gain new members. The question was why? Why did they need new blood? Were their bloodlines becoming too intertwined? Did they just decide they wanted to expand?

Did they genuinely believe that fraud with a flower glued to his chest was really the Messiah?

Hanzo didn’t know, but that’s why he was here. He was going to document everything that went on within these walls, and then once he’d gotten what he needed, write an article exposing them. Hopefully then the Chinese government couldn’t continue to turn a blind eye to their dangerous practices.

He looked down at the robe again. The sleeves were long and quite baggy, so for now he could possibly tie the phone to his arm. He grabbed a strip of rope, pulling the sleeve up enough to place the phone against his forearm and wrapped the rope around it, being careful not to strap it too tightly and cut off his own circulation.

He let the clothing drop back down, hiding the phone from view. This was as good as any time to start exploring and seeing what he could find out. It seemed they were being given time to get used to their surroundings before their first meal and proper initiation. Hanzo didn’t know what that would entail, but he had a bad feeling about it.

He turned to leave the room. It was annoying he’d be sharing with a lot of other people, it would make hiding his true intentions a lot harder, but he was used to this sort of undercover work. He was the journalist who’d blown the lid on the Shujinko scandal after all. He could do this. And at least this time he wasn’t alone. Thankfully it seemed other factions were interested in exposes the cults inner workings, and in the interest of getting all information possible, the factions had agreed to work together rather than against each other.

As he walked down the corridor, he pondered that this building looked extremely new. Clearly they had been planning to open up their walls for a while now if they’d managed to build this cabin. Still, it didn’t really reveal too much. For a shack it was actually quite nice. No, he had a feeling the things he’d be looking for would be in other parts of the commune.

As he approached the door’s to the outside world, he could hear two voices talking. He recognised one as Cyrax, the man who’d guided them in, but the second was new. As quietly as he could, he made his way to the door, sticking his head around just enough that he could make out Cyrax and his partner in conversation.

Hanzo’s eyes widened when he realised it was the so-called messiah himself.

“So, everyone is settling in then? No complaints about the cabin?” The messiah asked, his tone so strange that Hanzo could not tell what he was thinking. “Given Fang’s involvement in building them I would not be surprised if there was.”

“No complaints,” Cyrax assured him, leaning to one side and smirking. “Fang may have contempt for you, but he wouldn’t risk pissing off the Grandmaster.”

The messiah, Hanzo believed his name was Kuai Liang, tilted his head side to side like he was considering that.

“Yes. You are probably right,” he finally admitted with a frustrated sigh. “If you do hear anything though, please let me know.”

Cyrax hummed, raising an eyebrow before saying “alright, spill.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “What’s gained your attention this time?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kuai said innocently enough, looking at Cyrax with a pout and puppy dog eyes, far more suited to a child than a religious leader.

“You know damn well what I’m talking about Kuai Liang,” Cyrax fired back and Hanzo couldn’t help but hold his breath. It was such an informal way of speaking to someone who was technically his superior, Hanzo almost considered grabbing his phone to catch the aftermath that would surely follow. “I know you, and I know how nosey you are. Something, or someone, has caught your eye, and you’ve come to investigate.”

“I’m not nosey, I’m inquisitive, thank you very much,” Kuai replied, brushing down his outfit like it was dirty. It was now Hanzo was closer that he could tell just how much nicer the man’s clothes were than anyone else’s. His robe looked silky and comfortable, while also being extremely ornate. It was clear that his supposed status earned him luxuries the rest of the group did not get. “And maybe I’m just interested in the new people, we’ve never accepted new members during my lifetime.”

Cyrax didn’t reply, just continued to stare at Kuai. Weirdly Hanzo could sense Kuai squirming internally from the gaze.

“Alright, fine, yes there is someone who caught my attention,” Kuai admitted, brushing his hand through his hair. “There was a man near the back, wearing a yellow hoodie and hair in a bun.”

Hanzo felt all air leave his body. That was definitely him that Kuai was talking about. Why he’d taken notice, Hanzo had no idea, but it was the last thing he wanted. He needed to blend in and not stand out, definitely not immediately attract the attention of The Lin Kuei’s most important individual. What the hell did I even do to make him notice me?

“Oh, yeah, I know who you’re talking about,” Cyrax replied, rubbing his chin. “What about him though? He didn’t exactly stand out to me, if I’m being honest.”

“It is probably nothing,” Kuai said, shrugging as he did. “He was just trying a little too hard to not be noticed.”

Hanzo bared his teeth in a grimace. Was his attempt to hide that obvious?

“Weird,” Cyrax drawled, “he could just be shy.”

“Or he’s hiding something,” Kuai retorted and Hanzo held his breath. He’d honestly counted on just falling into the background. He hadn’t accounted for the possibility that any of the cult members would be that observant.

Let alone their so-called messiah.

Hanzo took a step backwards, and cursed when the floorboard creaked extremely loudly from his weight. Both Kuai and Cyrax stopped their conversation, and he knew they had to be looking towards the doorway. Maybe if he styled it out enough, he could make it look like he was just coming through.

He stepped outside, trying to look indifferent, and like he hadn’t been listening in to their conversation.

“Uh, sorry,” he muttered, attempting to continue walking past them.

“Wait!”

Hanzo froze at the sound of Kuai’s voice, seconds later an unnaturally cold hand was taking his and spinning him to face him. Hanzo was certain he must have looked like a deer in headlights as Kuai smiled up at him.

“You’re a new recruit right?” Kuai said in an innocent tone, like he hadn’t been talking about Hanzo just seconds ago. It was actually unnerving how sincere he sounded. Someone who could lie so well and so casually could only mean trouble.

“Um. Yes. Hanzo Hasashi, Your… Grace…” Hanzo wasn’t sure how he should be addressing Kuai Liang, but clearly that way in particular amused him greatly as he began to giggle.

“So formal!” Kuai lightly patted his chest. “There is no need.” He grimaced slightly. “Well, actually you might want to refer to me as My Lord in front of the Grandmaster and Elders, but otherwise Kuai Liang is fine!”

“I… See…” Hanzo wasn’t sure if Kuai was just trying to seem more personable to ease the nerves of newcomers or if he was trying to get something from Hanzo.

“No need to be so shy, Hanzo. I don’t bite.” Kuai pulled back ever so slightly, making a very obvious point to look him up and down. A wicked grin came over his face as he added on “I mean, not unless you want me to~”

Kuai winked at him, and all Hanzo could do was splutter in response. All Hanzo knew at that moment was that his entire face was hot, and that his flustered reaction was clearly delighting Kuai.

“Alright, easy boy,” Cyrax finally chimed in, putting a hand on Kuai’s shoulder. “You are a menace, stop teasing our new recruits.”

“I’m just being friendly,” Kuai insisted, practically giving Cyrax puppy dog eyes again.

“Yeah. Too friendly. Go be a pain in the ass somewhere else,” Cyrax shot back, it was clear from his tone he was teasing, yet Hanzo still couldn’t help but freeze slightly. How the hell Cyrax could be so comfortable being so rude to Kuai, even in jest, he didn’t know.

“Fine, spoil sport.” Kuai stuck his tongue out at Cyrax, before turning his attention back to Hanzo. “I’ll see you around, hope you settle in well.”

Kuai finally let go of Hanzo’s hand, before turning on the spot and walking off, lazily waving over his shoulder with one hand. Hanzo waited until he’d rounded a corner and disappeared before turning to look at Cyrax again, who was giving him a sympathetic smile.

“Sorry about that. Kuai Liang can seem a little full on when you first meet him,” he explained with a fond chuckle. It was starting to become clear to Hanzo that they were legitimately close, and not just in the form of a religious leader and a worshipper. “He’s still getting used to his role too. I promise he means well.”

Well. You probably would think that. Hanzo chose not to voice that thought, instead asking “about the whole messiah thing. How exactly did that happen?”

“I don’t know, really. They’ve been very quiet about it.” Cyrax rubbed the back of his head. “The Grandmaster and Elder’s were witness to it, but it’s like they’re all sworn to secrecy.”

“Right.” That just confirmed the whole thing was bullshit in Hanzo’s mind. It was all just very convenient for everyone involved to not be able to talk about it. “Um. Anyway, I’m going to go look around, if that’s okay.”

“Sure thing.” Cyrax patted Hanzo’s shoulder a couple of times. “If you need anything, please come find me.”

“Will do.” He bit his lip, and watched as Cyrax walked away.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he went to reach into his sleeve to retrieve his phone. He needed to see if the others were ready to meet, and write some notes about his close encounter with the messiah.

Only when he felt where it should have been, it wasn’t there.

He felt a pang of panic wash over him, clawing at the place it should have been. He glanced around the ground, wondering if he'd dropped it somehow. But he couldn’t have. He would have felt it, surely. Probably would have heard it too. Yet it was nowhere to be seen.

Icy fingers clinging to his hand came back to mind.

“Oh no,” he whispered to himself, the horrified realisation at what potentially happened hitting him at once. “But how the hell could he have…”

That didn’t matter. He could figure that out later. Right now, he needed to find Kuai Liang, and make sure his operation wasn’t squashed before it had even begun.

“Tch, what an idiot,” Kuai giggled to himself as he walked along the rooftop, holding his prize, Hanzo’s phone, up in the air triumphantly. A sleeve was such a shitty hiding place. He’d have done better putting it into his underwear than tied to his arm. “Then again, I am the king of contraband. Rookie didn’t stand a chance.”

He wasn’t sure who he was talking to. Himself, most likely. Maybe Cetrion. She was probably listening and watching over him, right? Maybe? He didn’t know.

He tilted his head as he looked at the device. He’d seen phones before when looking through the latest confiscations, but this one seemed particularly fancy. As he sat down, he pressed a button on the side, the screen lighting up and showing a picture of a pretty woman.

“Ooh, wonder who she is.” Kuai wasn’t really into women, despite the Grandmaster’s attempts to set him up with a wife. If he had to choose a woman to settle down with though, he could see himself being at least comfortable with one like her.

He had played with a few of the confiscated phones in the past, enough to know he had to make a swiping motion with his thumb to get to the main meat of the device. As he did so, a number pad popped up on the screen with the word “passcode” written above it.

“Drat,” Kuai hissed, noticing a button that said “hint”. He clicked it, hoping it would be something he’d understand, only to huff as he read aloud “Harumi’s birthday? Who the heck is Harumi?”

The thought occurred that was the name of the woman set as the phone’s background. His frustration diminished slightly, as he cancelled the passcode request. He stared at the woman, now dubbed Harumi until he found evidence to the contrary. Clearly she was someone close to Hanzo, if he held her photo so close to him, and made her Birthday his password. She looked too young to be his Mother, but too old to be a daughter, so a sister or wife then?

He idly swiped his finger across the screen, not entirely sure what it would accomplish, until a new screen came up. It took him a few seconds to realise it was a camera.

He gasped slightly. “Awesome!”

He held the phone up, trying to figure out the best shot of the compound. He assumed the big circle on the screen was what he needed to take the photo. He clicked a couple of times, getting different shots of the landscape. For as isolated as this compound was, it was at least surrounded by quite beautiful scenery.

Not that most got the chance to see it. Kuai only had because he was the only person unafraid to clamber onto the rooftops.

“Hmm, what does this button do?” He wondered aloud as he clicked a small button shaped like a more traditional camera, with circular arrows inside it. As soon as he clicked it, he was met with his own face staring back at him. “Oh!” He squealed in excitement, holding out his arm as far as he could to try and get as much of himself in the frame as possible. He began indiscriminately hitting the shutter button, taking photos of himself with all sorts of facial expressions. “Oh, this is such fun! No wonder the outsiders love these things, they’re fantastic!”

He was about to take another couple of photos of himself, when he noticed a strange little pop up at the top of the screen. When he brought it close enough to see, he realised it was a message of some kind.

[JC said: Hey man. We’re gonna meet at the big apple tree.]

Kuai frowned, clicking on the notification, only to be met with the passcode screen again.

“Damn it all!” He let himself flop backwards, looking up at the sky. How could he find out the passcode for this stupid thing? There had to be some way other than just brute forcing it. He could see the blurred picture of the woman in the background and his eyes widened. “If she’s that precious to him, maybe he has some other keepsakes of her.” He shot back upright and exclaimed “Kuai Liang, you are a genius!”

He slipped the phone into his pocket, scrambling to his feet and running as carefully as he could across the roof. Careful, was the keyword. The last time he was a little too heavy footed he wound up falling through to the floor below. The Grandmaster was less than impressed. And given it was before Lady Cetrion’s gift, he had paid dearly for his mistake.

His back stung just thinking about it.

“No, not thinking about that right now.” Really, he never wanted to think about that ever again. Yet his mind always seemed to wander back to it. He knew the torture room was still there, lying untouched in a layer of dust. He’d been in a few times, staring at the implements that just months ago had been frequently used on him.

Sometimes, he held the whip in his hand, almost longing for the sting of it against his skin once more.

Punishment was all he knew. Punishment was all he craved.

“No. Not now. Maybe later,” he hissed to himself as he came to a halt at the edge of the roof.

He held out a hand, concentrating until a bridge of ice began to form. He stepped onto it, before sharply forcing the ice down, and he slid along it until finally he hit the floor.

He brushed himself down. Taking a deep breath and then making his way towards the dorm buildings. As he entered the door he paused for a second, trying to listen and see if anyone else was inside. It sounded empty, but he knew that didn’t always mean it was. Still he walked over towards a bulletin board, quickly glancing down the list of names.

“Ah, there. Hasashi. H.” He pointed at the name and traced across to the room number. “Room 5. Got it.”

Making his way down the corridors, he was careful to peer into every room and make sure they were empty. So far, they seemed to be. It didn’t hurt to be cautious though. He continued, until finally getting to room five. He poked his head around the doorframe, checking if the coast was clear. He let out a sigh of relief when it was.

He quickly entered, glancing around and snorting. The problem with these extremely barebones and unpersonalised quarter’s is that he couldn’t tell which bunk and chest was Hanzo’s. He clicked his tongue. Just standing staring wouldn’t help him, he needed to start digging through the chests to see if he could find a clue.

He went to the first, opening the heavy wood and being thankful the elders insisted on no locks outside of important functions. This chest had very little in it, a few fiction books and that was about it. Granted one looked very interesting, and as he skimmed the writing on the book cover it implied the book was very heavy on the sexual content. He half debated pinching it, but quickly decided against it. If he could figure out whose chest this was, he might be able to slickly persuade them to give it up as a recommendation.

He put everything back, going to the next chest. It was also devoid of anything of interest. It was very much the same for the next 2 chests. He was beginning to wonder if he was hoping for too much, until he opened the 5th chest and a photograph taped to the inside immediately caught his eye.

A photograph of the same woman as the phone’s background.

“Hello,” he drawled, reaching for the small piece of paper and taking a better look at it. It was definitely her, Harumi. In fact, he was almost certain it was the exact same photo, or at least she’d been in a very similar pose. “That’s sad though, does he only have one photograph of her? I have more with Bi-Han, and we’re from an anti-technology society.”

He glanced inside the chest, and it really had nothing all that interesting in it. Just some clothes, a few hair ties and a small notebook. He opened it, but it was completely empty.

Kuai sighed, holding the photo up and staring at it. He almost wished Miss Harumi, whoever she was, could be here to tell him her stupid birthday. It’d make his life so much easier. Suddenly, he got the urge to flip over the photograph, to see if there was anything useful on the back. There, scribbled in pen, was a simple note.

Harumi’s 30th Birthday. 15th April 2020.

“Got it!” Kuai couldn’t help but consider how idiotic it was to have a bit of paper lying around that had your passcode written on it, but that dumb decision had made his life 100 times easier.

So, there were now a couple of choices for what the code was. Given it indicated it was six numbers long, it could either be day month year, or month day year, depending on which way Hanzo wrote it. He supposed year month day was also a possibility. If Miss Harumi was 30 in 2020, that meant she was born in 1990.

To start with, he put in 150590, to no success. Then 051590, and once again it was not accepted.

After he typed in 900515, he found the phone opened to a new screen, with a lot of buttons and options. Got it! Now he just needed to remember that number, 900515.

“I am so smart,” he giggled, as he put the photo back in its place. “No wonder Lady Cetrion chose me if the rest of the world is this dumb.”

Ironic, really, considering he’d spent his entire life being told he was stupid.

Either way, with everything back in place, he didn’t stick around the dorm. He didn’t really feel like explaining to any random recruit why he was snooping around. Hurrying out of the building, he rushed over to the building he’d been sitting atop earlier. He found the gutter that he generally climbed up, making swift work of scaling the building. Once he was on the roof, he sat at the edge, pulling the phone out again.

“9-0-0-5-1-5,” he whispered to himself as he put it into the phone again.

The menu popped up again, and while Kuai wanted to investigate and see what all these buttons did, he first wanted to find out what that message had been about. He clicked the corresponding button, finding that there was only one conversation on it. When he clicked it, he quickly realised there were multiple participants. He scrolled up to the top, but there wasn’t really much.

[S said: Remember to stick to the plan.] [S said: I will attempt to get hold of any sorts of paper work or files they have.] [S said: JX will try to get into any locked rooms, see what they’re hiding in those.] [S said: JC is gonna make good with the members, try to get as much as possible out of them.] [S said: H will document everything, either via photographs, audio or video.] [S said: K is joining us in a couple of weeks, hopefully bringing some supplies depending on what we need.] [S said: We need as much evidence as we can get if we have any hopes of taking these sons of bitches down.] [JC said: Thanks for reminding us of what we talked about 5 seconds before coming here.] [JX said: Also remember to delete all messages at the end of every day. Preferably every hour, to be honest.] [JX said: If any of them manage to get one of our phones, we need as little evidence of a co-ordinated procedure on them as possible.]

“Well, Hanzo screwed that for you already JX.” Kuai rolled his eyes. For all the effort these people went to, you’d think they’d have done a little better at keeping a low profile. Regardless, he continued reading the messages.

[H said: What we really need to try and lean into is the cruelty angle. There have been rumours for years of extreme cases of abuse, we need to expose that first and foremost. Their belief system being a fraud is also important.]

“Fraud? Who are you calling a fraud you bastard?” Kuai hissed between his teeth. He was a lot of things, but a fraud was absolutely not one of them. “And as for the cruelty, I hate to break it to you but you’re about a year too late for that one, dumbass.”

The next message was the one that had popped up earlier, and Kuai was tempted to send his own message. The question was, did he want to play pretend as Hanzo for a while and lead them on or did he want to scare the shit out of them right off the bat by revealing himself. Both options sounded like they could be entertaining to be honest.

He stared across towards the apple tree, spotting three figures standing around underneath it. Kuai smirked to himself, doing a few gestures on the phone until he’d brought up the camera again. He held it up, pointing towards the tree and snapping a picture. He returned to the message thread, selecting a button that looked like a picture and finding all the photos he’d taken came up. It seemed Hanzo had not yet taken any photographs, as only the ones Kuai had taken were there. Regardless he clicked the one he’d just taken, and without typing anything, hit the little arrow button.

[H has sent a photo] [JC said: Uh… Dude? You alright? What’s going on?]

Kuai smirked to himself, clicking on the picture button again. Scrolling through to find his favourite photo of himself. Once he’d found one he liked, one where he was winking and sticking his tongue out, he clicked it and then the send button, excited for the reception he was going to get.

[H has sent a photo] [JC said: What. The. Fuck?] [JC said: What is going on? Dude? H? If you’re there, say something.]

Kuai began kicking his feet as he excitedly chuckled to himself.

This was going to be so much fun.

Hanzo felt like he’d searched the entire compound, short of the private quarters of the cult's elders. He could not find the messiah for the life of him. His gut twisted, terrified he’d been found out already, only hours into arriving. If they found some of what was on there, they’d know he was here to be a whistleblower. At best, he’d be ejected from the compound, and at worst?

Well, he’d likely find out first hand just how cruel the cult could be.

He reached the end of a particularly large building, pulling on his hair as he breathed heavily. He had no idea what to expect. He couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid. How on earth had the messiah managed to grab the phone without him noticing anyway? Regardless of if the messiah stuff was bullshit, Kuai Liang was clearly sneakier than Hanzo gave him credit.

“Looking for something?” A sing-song voice called out to him. Hanzo frowned, it sounded somehow like it had come from above him.

He looked towards the top of the building, where over the edge of the roof, Kuai was sitting with his legs dangling down. He held up one of his hands, and dangling precariously between his fingertips was Hanzo’s phone. Kuai wore a huge grin on his face, clearly aware of the position he had Hanzo in.

“I must say these mobile telephones are fantastic aren’t they? The camera is a lot of fun, I don’t understand why we don’t have them,” Kuai continued like nothing was off about this situation. Like he didn’t hold the power to completely destroy everything Hanzo was working for. “Your messages were very interesting though.” Shit, shit, shit, how the hell has he managed to get in to read the messages? I had a passcode on it. “Oh, by the way, your little entourage is waiting for you over by the big apple tree. They seemed very confused by the photos of myself I sent them from your phone.”

Hanzo didn’t reply, the entire group was potentially rumbled because he’d been careless with his phone. He still did not understand how Kuai could have gotten through the passcode. It was Harumi’s birthday, there was no way Kuai could have known that, or even brute forced it. Outside of going through Hanzo’s belongings, that is.

A photograph he stuck to the inside of his trunk came to mind. A photograph of Harumi, Satoshi and himself celebrating Harumi’s birthday. And he would have written the date on the back.

His face dropped. How the fuck could I have been that stupid? Hanzo had done a lot of foolish things before, but this was beyond the pale. He really had just fucked up their entire investigation.

As he looked up to Kuai Liang, a triumphant grin on the messiah’s face.

“Ah, did it just dawn on you how I figured out your passcode?” Kuai taunted, as despite how light and carefree he sounded, there was a very dark undertone to his voice. “You aren’t very bright, are you?”

“What do you want?” Hanzo snarled. He didn’t understand what Kuai Liang was getting out of this. Surely it’d be more advantageous to him to immediately report this to his elders. Was he really so cruel as to want to taunt someone beforehand?

Kuai actually giggled at Hanzo’s response, leaning over the edge to sneer at him. “I’d be a little more polite if I were you. I might be quite enamoured by this technology, but I’m sure the Grandmaster won’t be quite as thrilled, especially if he reads through your messages.”

“You-“ Hanzo bit his tongue, what the hell was the messiah’s game here? “What are you going to do?”

Kuai tilted his head back and forth, like he was pretending to think really hard about it. The childish taunting action was enough to make Hanzo’s blood boil. He had to remain calm though, remember who he was dealing with. It was well within Kuai Liang’s power to make this 100 times worse for him.

“Why don’t we make a deal?” Kuai offered, leaning over the edge just a little further. “You let me keep this fancy bit of technology and I won’t tell the Grandmaster about the little investigation you and your friends are supposedly doing.”

“What? No!” He couldn’t let Kuai Liang keep the phone. He needed it to keep track of his investigation, document and contact the others. He couldn’t just give it to someone else. “I can’t do that.”

“Oh. A shame.” Kuai pouted slightly. “Seems the Grandmaster is going to learn about your little operation here and-“

“Please don’t.” Hanzo had no idea what he was hoping to accomplish by begging. He was just desperate to not get caught.

“Then, let me keep the phone,” Kuai demanded, his voice the most serious Hanzo had heard since he got here. As they stared at each other, Kuai narrowed his eyes. “Let me put it this way, I am going to get this phone either way. It’s just that with one of the choices, I won’t put you and your little friends on the Grandmaster’s shit list.”

Hanzo felt his resolve falter. While he needed the phone, he needed to stay undiscovered more. If giving up the phone would give them a bit more time, then he’d have to do it. They’d be able to come up with another plan for gathering evidence.

“If I agree, you won’t tell anyone?” He questioned, biting back his embarrassment.

“You have my word,” Kuai softly told him, placing a hand over his heart.

“Why though? What will you get out of this?” He just could not understand Kuai’s motives. What he basically had was the ultimate blackmail material. Why was a shiny toy all he wanted in exchange?

“Well, I get this nifty thing for a start,” Kuai replied, holding up the phone triumphantly. He looked genuinely excited to have it. Hanzo supposed for someone who’d been cut off from technology for most of his life, this would be a novelty. “But, I suppose I’m also interested to see what you uncover.” Kuai tilted his head. “And your reactions when you realise I’m not the fraud you think I am.”

Ah. Kuai had definitely looked through all the messages then. Weird that he seemed particularly offended by that word. It did seem to imply that Kuai Liang genuinely believed he was the messiah, and that just made him a lot more dangerous. That thinking was the sort that got people killed. Hanzo only hoped they could figure a way to shut this down before that happened.

“Okay,” he finally said. “Okay, you can have the phone, just, please do not tell anyone why we’re here.”

“Your secret is safe with me, Hanzo.” Kuai pushed himself so he stood up on the edge. “I would go and meet with your friends if I were you, they were quite concerned for your wellbeing.”

Before Hanzo could reply, Kuai turned and disappeared from view as he walked back across the roof. Hanzo just placed his head in his hands, groaning loudly. He wasn’t sure he’d made the right choice, or if he should have ever believed Kuai was telling the truth. But he guessed he’d find out soon enough.

He didn’t wait around, he needed to find the others and explain what had happened. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be too angry with him for almost fucking everything up. As he made his way from between the buildings, he saw the tree in question, where Jax, Johnny and Sonya stood under. When they spotted him, all three came over in a half-walk half-jog.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ man,” Johnny exclaimed as he reached them. “We were getting worried about you. Thought they’d got you already.”

“Might as well have,” Hanzo muttered, rubbing his temple. “Somehow, their so-called messiah managed to get my phone off me.”

“That… explains the selfies,” Johnny mumbled, and Hanzo almost did a double take. The idea that Kuai’s first instinct on getting access to the phone was to take photos of himself was inconceivable. Then again he did say he’d sent pictures of himself.

“Did you get the phone back?” Jax asked hopefully.

“No. The best I could do was get him to agree not to tell anyone about it, in exchange for him keeping the phone.” And he realised saying it out loud how dumb it was for him to do that.

“Do you think he’ll keep his end of that bargain?” Jax shifted on his feet, clearly anxious about this turn of events.

“Hard to say. He’s so fucking manic, I can’t tell what he’s thinking.” Hanzo looked over his shoulder, in the distance he could see Kuai Liang still standing on the roof. “I mean, he seemed genuinely enamoured with the phone, so. Maybe.”

He looked back at the three of them, Johnny and Jax seemed a little more relaxed, but Sonya was looking unconvinced.

“Sonya, I’m so sorry,” he started shaking his head. “I just… Fuck, I didn’t know what to do.”

“No, it’s okay. I think given the circumstances you did the best thing,” she admitted, straightening herself out and placing her hands on her hips. “We’re going to need to have a change of plans though. Jax, given you and I are sticking together for most of the time, you might need to give your phone to Hanzo for now. I’ll make sure Kenshi knows that he’ll need to bring an extra when he gets here.”

“Fair enough.” Jax reached into his pocket, passing the phone to Hanzo. “The passcode is 100892.”

“Thank you,” Hanzo breathed out a sigh of relief. Slipping the new phone into his sleeve, he needed to find a way to make sure this one wouldn’t be found. Although maybe Kuai would be sated with just the one. Who knew with him being the way he was.

“As for messaging, we’ll make a new group chat for our plans, but keep the old one open,” Sonya continued and Hanzo couldn’t help but frown at her with that. “It’s a long shot, but maybe Kuai Liang will make some incriminating statements in it.”

Hanzo nodded, that actually made sense. Kuai seemed a little all over the place, and in his excitement over the technology, might very well leave very hard evidence of the cults wrong-doings. He felt the phone vibrate as if on cue. Given Johnny had his phone out, Hanzo didn’t bother to get his. Johnny stared at the phone with an incredulous look on his face.

“Yeah, not sure about that,” Johnny claimed. “He’s just messaged asking if any of us are the owner of the chest with the pornographic novel in it?”

There was silence between the four of them for a few seconds. Sonya eventually sighed.

“Lord give me strength to get through this mission,” she grumbled and Hanzo couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

Whatever God was out there, he could only hope they’d help them get through this in one piece.

#mortal kombat #subscorp #kuai liang #sub zero #scorpion #hanzo hasashi #🖤for warmth you’ll be longing nightingale

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f0point5 · 11 months

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I'm kinda late today, but I still needed to put some thoughts on the last chapter in. :D

Is it just me or did y/n kinda revert back to her old ways when texting Elliot? She seemed to be rather closed off again. No emojis. Kinda short answers. Wonder where that came from lol.

I'm really looking forward to those next days and how this whole thing with Elliot going to COTA will go down. We still don't know whether she'll fly AirMax or commercial with her +1, do we? It's definitely gonna be interesting.

Why is noone talking about the dress she found? Was that actually a wedding dress store? She be cooking lol.

The messages between Max and Clara were sooo good! And it felt like there was more to unpack than meets the eye. Like there's always so much happening inbetween the lines. Again - maybe it's just me, but Max seems somewhat vary these days whenever someone texts him and starts off a little vague. His "is everything ok?" makes it seem like he's waiting for sth not to be ok soon. When it comes to y/n that is...

I loved that even though the pic Clara sent him probably made him feel things he'd rather not think about, his first reaction still was to ask what's going on and who took the pictures. Of course it's up for interpretation why that was. But I wouldn't write that one down to just jealousy. He was probably more puzzled, kinda shocked and maybe slightly worried for what's going on with her? I'd love to believe that was the case. Anyway the thought that he shouldn't be seeing this came only second.

"Who do you think they're for you ignoramus?" How much more clear can she be? Like didn't he get that at all? I'd love to get an insight in his brain because WHY would y/n do this for him? Like why would she want him to see her in underwear? What is his thought process here? Or does he honestly block out any of those thoughts completely? He's a rare species, let me tell you this lol.

Then what does Max mean by saying he's not the person to talk to about "this". About what? About y/n not being happy with Elliot? I mean I get that, like from his pov. But it was still an odd answer to give to Clara mentioning that.

And then there's still this thing he needed Clara for. You answered to an ask that Clara's "I know what you did Maxie" was her referring to that. But I'm still trying to figure out what it is. The post you first mentioned it was the same post in which Max asked Lando for the contact of his watch guy in Monaco. Please, help me out here with the cooking... are those two things connected? Because I believe that Max told both Clara and Lando that he doesn't want y/n to feel bad about it, that's why he doesn't want to tell her. With y/n's birthday coming up it could well be Max organising a gift, but if it was a surprise, then Clara and Lando (no matter whether the things are connected or not) would understand why Max keeps a secret. So there needs to be sth else... And the way Clara put that "I know what you did Maxie" in the messages it didn't appear to me as if it was anything bad for y/n or rather sth she'd feel bad about. To me Clara's words sounded more like she knew about sth sweet he's done for y/n, sth that again made her see what everyone else is seeing. But what do I know lol. This is really frustrating!!

On a final note... Y/n texting Max that she doesn't care about the others, she cares about him. The feeeeels. I read the ask about her putting him first - always. And those words are a perfect example of that. I don't think that's a problem at all. Because I really think there's nothing more beautiful then finding someone who'll always put you first and that going both ways.

The story on Clara's insta was a perfect ending to this post. I loved it. And she definitely did that on purpose. Good for her lol. She's just won herself like loooads of brownie points!

She was just icked out with him mentioning her birthday lol for sure she’s wondering how he found out.

She did indeed fly Air Max. But she has work stuff in the US to do so needed to go early and Elliot has work.

She didn’t buy a wedding dress lol.

What do you think her and Clara were cooking? Expand please.

Lol Max definitely was like “when she told me what she was doing today it wasn’t this so how did she get there?”. He was just confused. I don’t think he interpreted Clara’s message as Y/N took them for him, he interpreted it as Clara had set the whole thing up to get a photo to send to him. Clara is known to be a bit of a puppet master lol. Max was immediately aware that Y/N didn’t know he’d seen the picture.

I can’t say what he meant but he meant more than one thing but also only one thing.

Okay so, Clara was referencing the thing Max asked her for help with before Qatar. I won’t say what the nature of it was but it’s definitely something Max doesn’t want Y/N to know about (currently) and Clara was taunting him that if he didn’t play ball, she could always bait it out to Y/N. It was a low level threat from her and Max knew it. Which is why he asked her what she wanted, because they both know she’s got him by the balls.

Clara is…a force to be reckoned with thats for sure

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anotherobeymeblog · 1 year

Text

Obey Me cast relationship with MC songs (2023 edition)

Found this post when scrolling through my old posts from 2020 and decided it would be fun to give it another crack now that 1) we have a LOT more canon material to go off and B) my taste in music has expanded past just grandma songs (not that I don't still enjoy grandma songs ofc) Also adding Diavolo, Barbatos, and Solomon since I have a better grasp on their personalities now. (Well, only barely with Barbatos, but we'll get to that lol)

Warnings: mild spoilers for lesson 16 of the original game in Belphie's, some of these songs use gendered language when talking about the significant other (implied female: Mammon; implied male: Levi, Asmo) *this doesn't mean MC must be that gender in those scenarios*

Lucifer: Honey Moon by Birds in the Airport. Okay, starting off on a somewhat angsty note lol. But look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong. "...tear open every exit from the maze inside my mind" like come ON that's literally what MC does with Lucifer. Whether he'd verbalize any of this is another question entirely, but also isn't the point here.

Mammon: Fair by The Amazing Devil. I hemmed and hawed over this for a while, tbh. Wasn't sure if it was a lil too soft for his outwardly prickly ass, but I eventually settled on "this is him but he sure as hell isn't admitting it any time soon". The trouble with tsundere characters ig. But anyway he's a dork and the trying to make his partner laugh when they're mad at him felt very on-brand.

Leviathan: A Shitty Gay Song About You by Ezra Williams. I've associated Levi with this song for quite a while now. It has it all. Goldfish, self-deprication, pining, it's great. Oh, for Levi to lend me his sweatshirt tbh.

Satan: Cat Serenade by Beetlebug. Absolutely adorable song. It has cat metaphors, it has pining, it has the whole "I used to never open up to anyone but here we are", it's just super Satan in a lot of ways.

Asmodeus: Freckles by Kevin Atwater. I mean it's just adorable, first of all. But second of all, the theme of actually falling in love with someone for real when you're used to more casual relationships is pretty fundamental to Asmo's relationship with MC.

Beelzebub: Strawberry Mentos by Leanna Firestone. Idk maybe this is a bit too straightforward but even outside of any food references, it's such a sappy, sacchirine love song that it really does feel Right for Beel, big babey that he is.

Belphegor: Grace, Anatomy by Homemade Haircuts. Okay, while this isn't really addressed in-game, if he ends up in a relationship with MC, the shit that happened in the attic is gonna be weighing pretty heavy on his mind for a long time. Between that and his general abandonment issues, this song is an excellent reflection of his feelings about MC (at least early on in the relationship), even if most of it is stuff he would never actually say out loud.

Simeon: Chai Tea by audrey. Yeah, yeah, I know the title sounds more Barbatos, but the song itself is just so cozy and easygoing. (Of all the possible words to describe Barbatos, I think "easygoing" is about the last thing that would come to mind). All the other love interests are a bit more... uh... intense. Whereas this song is literally just being incredibly sappy and drawing a quiet comfort from the other person's presence even without talking about anything in particular.

Diavolo: Touch Starved by BB Bean. This doesn't require much elaboration, I don't think. The title says it all. Like honestly. "I'm just tired of the bubble, I just wanna hand to hold" is deadass how he acts in every surprise guest (at least in the og game, less so in nightbringer lol). Just wants to feel normal smh

Barbatos: A Wistful Waltz by Teddy Hyde. Okay, I need to apologize to Barbatos stans bc I struggle so much to figure this guy out (which I suspect is the point, but it makes it damn hard to come up with headcanons for him). But based on my tenuous grasp on his personality and... odd dynamic with MC, I think this should fit the bill. It's subdued but with that underlying intensity that I always seem to pick up on with him.

Solomon: Painting Roses by Dresses. I actually don't have much explanation for this, but Solomon in Nightbringer especially is just. He's such a fuckin disaster, man. (I actually was torn between giving this song to Solomon or Satan, but I ended up going with Sol in the end)

#obey me #obey me belphegor #obey me asmodeus #obey me leviathan #obey me mammon #obey me satan #obey me lucifer #obey me beelzebub #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me solomon #obey me simeon #obey me headcanons

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deepperplexity · 2 years

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Prompt: 22. Slipping & Sliding

Characters: Young!Snape and Young!Muggle!OC

POV: First, OC

Setting: Cockesworth

A/N: Last night I was up late to write this piece, getting it ready to be posted and everything because I knew today would be incredibly stressful and I needed to write two fics today since we are to leave for my hometown tomorrow.

Well, I'm not gonna finish RICKMAS 2022 on time. This is the last fic during the time of this event, maybe I'll write prompt 23 & 24 in the future but I cannot write them right now. Like I said, I went to bed stressed af but pleased with my efforts knowing I'd just have to write two fics in whatever spare time I could find tomorrow even if they would be super short. But today I woke up to a text from my mom letting me know grandpa has died during the night. One of my absolute favourite people in the world who has always been incredibly important to me, that I was going to see tomorrow and celebrate Christmas with… and now he's gone. I have not been able to function today, and I won't for a while. My heart fucking hurts.

I hope you can understand why I can't write at this time, and I will not be replying to comments for a while either because I cannot muster the enthusiasm or energy needed to do your comments justice. Thank you for joining RICKMAS this year, sorry I can't finish it on time.

Tags/TW’s:Friendship, Sledding Accident (no harm), Grumpy/Sunshine (platonic)

Word Count: 1.5k+

Masterlist page // Masterlist post // AO3 // LINK TREE

I never quite understood him. He never played with us. Always off to the side, never joining in. And he was, odd… His clothes were tattered and never the right size, his body strangely gangly and his face almost sunken in. I never saw him smile either.

“Mummy,” I said and tugged on mum’s jacket, “can I ask him to play?” Mum locked towards the young boy, my age probably. “That’s the Snape boy,” she said in a low tone. “Don’t you go making friends with his sort,” she continued before turning back to the other mums to continue talking about grown-up stuff I paid no attention to, gas prices weren’t anything I understood anyway. He looks lonely… That’s not fair when there’s so many of us here.

I grabbed the folded wax cloth mum had brought along with my sledge and trudged over to him in the deep snow. He was quite far off from the rest of us, sitting in the snow by a tree. He looked like a black dot among all the white. Quite different to my colourful appearance, my pink jacket almost shining in the sunshine reflected by the snow and I loved my yellow mittens with a matching hat, my purple scarf flapping about and my rainbow-coloured winter boots were probably my favourite thing about it all.

“Hi,” I said as I had nearly gotten all the way to the boy. “D’you wanna play?” I asked and stopped a step or two away from his feet. His shoes looked really cold to wear for the weather. “No.” He sounded like an absolute sulk, his voice slightly darker than I had thought. “Why not? We can use my—” “No, go away,” he interrupted but I had three older brothers who all loved me super much and were always constantly annoyed by my presence at the same time so it actually didn’t bother me at all.

“You know, you won’t make friends like that,” I said and plopped myself down next to him. Not feeling the cold snow with my thick winter pants on. “I’m not trying to, am I?” he snarked and half turned away from me. “Everyone wants friends, it’s more fun to play with others.” “I don’t play.” “Why not? You’re a kid like me, we should play.” “I’m not a kid,” he muttered again. “How old are you then?” “I’m twelve,” he grumbled and I looked at him from head to toe. “You don’t look it. I’m Sarah by the way, and I’m almost nine.” “Go, away,” he said but I wasn’t having it. He looked like he could use some fun. Why would he be there if he didn’t want to have fun? All the kids came to the slope to play.

“I’ll go away if you go down the slope with me once,” I said while standing up. “Or I can bother you all day, I have brothers, I know how to be reaaaaaaally annoying, you know.” His head jerked around at that and I beamed at him, his face told me everything. “Fine,” he grumbled and got up, suddenly turning quite tall and even more spindly. But, it felt like he wasn’t too annoyed with me despite the way he talked or looked. If I was right or not I didn’t know.

“Come on then,” I said and folded out the wax cloth big enough for four people to ride on at the same time. Dad had even stroked it with a candle before we headed out so it would really go fast. “One ride, and then you go away,” he said and I nodded. “Sure, sure, get on new friend,” I said and patted behind me. He rolled his eyes but sat down. “It’s Severus,” he said. “That’s the strangest name I’ve ever heard,” I replied, “but I like it. Now let’s slide!” I laughed and grabbed the edges of the cloth, pulling it up over my legs so it wouldn’t slip out under us while Severus placed his hands on my shoulders, barely holding on to me.

We scooted forward, towards the edge of the slope and then off we went, slipping and sliding down on the already flattened snow perfect for high speed. I shrieked and laughed as we picked up speed, feeling Severus’s hands tense atop my shoulders while I leaned back a bit. “Woho!” I shouted as we reached the steepest part and we swished ahead towards the end.

When we finally slowed down I was giggling too much, it was just so much fun to go sledging when you did it with friends. “Fun, innit?” I asked while looking over my shoulder with a wide grin. But Severus wasn’t smiling. His black hair was a complete mess around his face. “I rode with you, now leave me be,” he said in a dreary tone and I actually sulked a bit myself. I did say I would… Well, I tried at least… Perhaps Andrew wants to ride with me? “Fair enough, thanks for riding with me, Severus,” I said as we clamoured off the wax cloth. “Sure,” he muttered and began trudging up the hill.

I followed behind, dragging the cloth up behind me — good thing it didn’t weigh anything. A little ways away the other kids were going hard with their sledging thing of choice. Some had a snowball fight and others were building snowmen, even a snow horse.

“You know, you should play with us more,” I huffed out while we were getting to the steep part. “No thanks,” he said and I rolled my eyes. “I don’t get it, why are you so sulky? It’s soon Christmas and there’s snow, and—” “None of your business,” he interrupted but he pulled up his shoulders, it almost looked like was sad. “Don’t you like friends? And having fun?” “Friends only turn on you, so no, I do-ooOO—!” His arms flailed out as he slipped on a spot of ice, he stumbled back and slammed into me, sending me back, tripping over the cloth and toppling over.

I began sliding backwards while I saw Severus rolling over a few times. The shove he’d given me sent me flying down the hill on my back. I tried to turn around, reaching to grab at the ground but my mittens couldn’t get a hold of anything. “Severus!” I screamed out as I began to spin, faster and faster, while heading towards the tree line with too much speed. I shrieked as I stopped spinning, my feet towards the trees and my eyes fixed on Severus who looked with horror towards me.

He pulled something out of his jacket, his lips moved but I couldn’t hear anything but the snow under me as I hit a bump the bigger boys had built to snowboard over. I cinched my eyes shut as I flew up into the air, holding my breath for the impact I knew would hurt.

But I never hit the ground. I landed softly in the powdery snow just at the tree line — panting and heaving while my heart ran wild like a goose being chased. “What-, how-,” I stuttered as I shook my head only to see Severus bolting towards me. “Sarah! Are you hurt?” he called before stopping right before me, slipping something back inside of his jacket.

“How-? What happened? I just stopped? Mid-air? I was-, I flew and then-, what happened?” I asked, looking all around to find some explanation but nobody even looked our way. So I looked back at Severus who exhaled harshly before reaching his ungloved hand out to me. “I don’t know,” he said but that was a lie. “You saw, you know, what did you do? I saw you,” I continued while grabbing his hand.

Severus pulled me up but didn’t look at me. “You stopped me, you saved me, how did you do it?” I insisted, being as adamant (annoyingly questioning) as I could. After all, I had practised a lot with my brothers. “Let it go, you’re alright. That’s all that matter,” he muttered but I grabbed his coat and gave him a big, hard hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I said. “It was my fault, I fell into you,” he said and I peered up at him. “But you stopped it, somehow, that’s amazing!” I said. “It’s just mag-, if you say so.” “It’s what? What did you say it was?” I asked, latching on to the interrupted word while still hugging him. He was a head taller than me.

“Nothing,” he muttered. “You’re special, aren’t you?” I asked with a grin. “No, I’m not.” “Yes, you are. You’re special and you saved me,” I insisted in a manner only a little sister could. “Get off, Sarah,” he said and pushed at my shoulders. “When you tell me how you saved me,” I beamed in return. “I can’t tell you that, it’s not allowed,” he said while looking at anything but me. “I won’t tell, I’m really good at keeping secrets.” “No, I can’t, it’s not allowed.” “Fine,” I muttered and let go of him. “But we’re riding at least ten more times because you won’t tell me, and it was your fault I was sliding like that.” I’ll make you my friend, I’m very tenacious, Severus, I thought to myself.

Masterlist page // Masterlist post // AO3 // LINK TREE

A/N: Remember to appreciate the time you have with those you love.

Taglist: @lizlil @snapefiction @darkthought15 @monstreviolet @flowerdementia @marvelschriss @once-upon-an-imagine @ravennight41 @caseydoodles98 @slytherinprincess03 @theconsultingdetectiveswife @grimmyhild @monster-energies @myobscureimaginarium @snowblossomreads @eternal-silvertongued-prince @cherryglossie @setsuna-meiou31 @helena211 @a-queen-and-her-throne @justsaturn0 @turvi @imwithyoutiltheendofthelinebucky @sunnylikesfrogs @mamawolfsmith16 @dianilaws @morphineisouthoney @meteoritewolf69 @bionic-otp @elizabeth-baelish @romanceandsarcasm @severuslovebot @leah1243 @glowstar826 @rickmandowneyjr @yellowbadgermole @snapesangel @a-queen-and-her-throne @impulse-anchor @commodoreseverus @writewithmarites @alisongurl13 @yan-senna @writewithmarites @reinekefoxart @nixislight @lokisbjchnl @snowblossomreads @reinekefoxart @reiketsunomizunomegami

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[Dec:2022]

#rickmas2022 #rickmas #snapedom #pro snape #snape fic #young snape #snape makes a friend #fanfiction #severus snape #grumpy little snape #rickmaniac #alan rickman #deepperplexity fic #deepperplexity #plex

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