#but i don't think they're running in my area again yet

[aniseandspearmint]

My county resources page for post Helene is like, "You can get food and water at THESE PLACES! Look how helpful we're being!"

Me: *absolutely no way to get there* *no car* *no one to ask for a ride*

My county: oh lols not you we guess! Or any of the other hundreds of people in a similar situation!

*sigh*

[nochepsicodelica]

Toji who leaves hickeys all over you so often that you have to push him away when you start looking like you fought an octopus.

"Toji, you know these aren't always gonna be so small. They're gonna end up looking like bruises. Just look at the ones you already left."

"Mhm," he hums, already leaving another one on your shoulder blade, releasing your skin with a wet smack of his lips. He rubs his spit into the mark like it's some sort of salve that'll make it last longer.

"I'm fine with these," you say, looking at all the one's he left on your chest and below. "but my neck... i'm running out of makeup, baby. I won't be able to cover them if you keep this up."

"Then don't." He would just love that. Despite how nonchalant he sounds about it, it's a highly recommended suggestion. He would genuinely love it if you walked around with his marks all over your neck. People will automatically know that you already have someone you get freaky with.

"I have to go to work sometime. I wouldn't be able to take having my neck stared at by everyone I talk to. No more neck hickeys."

He nears your neck, again. The second you say he can't put another mark on it, he spots a clear area and leans in, lightly pressing his lips against it.

"Tojiii," you whine, leaning forward, away from him. "Leave it alone."

"But, it's clear. It's lonely without being marked like the rest of your neck." He scoots forward again, putting his enormous hands on your waist to pull you close. "I'll be quick. Just-"

"Mm-mm. No," you interrupt, brushing his hands off of you.

"I might just die if you don't let me do this, ma."

"Really?" You raise your brows in disbelief.

"Really," he responds, so confidently.

You scoff. "You're so dramatic. You won't die if you don't get to suck on my neck."

"Who knows? I might spontaneously collapse because of it. Weirder, more unexplainable things have happened."

He's so dumb sometimes. Your hunk is absolutely ridiculous, and yet you find yourself weighing towards his point in this.

"Would marking up that blank space actually cure you?" You feel as silly as him for asking the question.

"Who's to say?"

You tilt your head and deadpan. "Right. I guess i'll take my chances and just keep the random patch of unmarked skin on my neck."

"Hey, that doesn't mean we can't try. Come on, now."

You groan and roll your eyes before making your way back to him. He cups your cheeks, smirking as he looks into your eyes, before turning your head to expose the blank area on your neck.

"It's a reaaally good spot, doll. I think i'm gonna make it."

You huff, unable to look at him because of the way your head is turned. You feel his tongue slide over your neck, the gesture transitioning to his lips kissing the area and then it feels sharp. His lips leave a stinging sensation with every second that they stay on you.

"Ow, fuck, you vampire. It feels like you're actually trying to suck the blood out of me." You wince. "Are you done?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm done." He admires his masterpiece and smirks with pride. You have an entire collar of hickeys that he put on you, and the newest one looks mean.

"You look pretty. Could eat you up, mama." He swipes at the new mark with his thumb, looking at the color that will remain on your skin for the next few days.

"I can tell. You already devoured me. You're insane. Just look at all of this," you say, running your hand over your kiss stained neck.

"I was just nibbling on you," he speaks, into your jaw, before smoothly laying you down, onto the bed. "Just wanted a little taste," he says, taking your hands in his and pinning them above your head. "Am I really insane for that?"

"Um..." you laugh, making your flustered state obvious. "Yes?"

"Damn." He gives you a long, deep kiss, that makes you forget what you were talking about. "You think i'm crazy?" You hum, and he does it again.

"Haven't you played with me enough? I feel like i'm some chew toy for you." You giggle, feeling his lips on your cheek, trailing towards your jaw.

He hums, dismissively. "Found more blank space."

[luveline]

i lowkey need to see stripper!reader and spencer again

for you gorgeous ♡ fem

cw adult themes

Hotch and Spencer draw attention at the strip club for the same reason but in varied fonts. They're both reminiscent of your regulars, Hotch the picture of a businessman with a wife to forget and steam to blow, and Spencer the silent sweetheart, pretty but too shy to talk to normal girls. 

He doesn't need a normal girl when he has you. 

You're glad for your cover up clothes as you lean against the dressing room door. One of the bouncers peers at you from the corner of his eye. 

"Trouble?" he asks. 

"Not sure. Probably not." You wave until Agent Hotchner notices you. To your delight, he raises his hand politely. 

You step around the bouncer and bypass the stage to the lighter area of the club where they stand in wait. "Hello. I could've met you outside." 

"Would you?" Agent Hotchner asks. 

You don't need him to explain. It's not the most professional thing, loitering in a club like this. You follow them out of the club and onto the street, cold even in your sweatpants as the wind rails. Spencer lets you squeeze his fingers in greeting, but that's all. 

"It's nice to see you again, Agent Hotchner," you say honestly, giving him a smile. 

He doesn't return the pleasantry, but Spencer swears he's softer than he looks so you choose to run with it as Agent Hotchner says, "We need information on one of your patrons." 

"Tennis Lawley," Spencer adds. 

"Tennis," you repeat. "I thought my pseudonym was bad."

Spencer gives you a quick look. I'd laugh if I weren't at work, it says. "We think he's involved in a string of killings in Washington DC. What do you know about him?" 

It's not an exaggeration to say you've played therapist for Tennis and a ton of guys just like him. Being a stripper, an exotic dancer, whatever anyone wants to call it (though Spencer usually just calls it your work) has pros and cons. You've felt it to be heavier on the con side, but this is a big plus, being able to assist someone you care about with something important. It makes you feel useful for once, like you're more than the froth of the city. "Ask me anything," you say, hiding your cheek from the cold with a deft hand. 

Spencer and Agent Hotchner ask you all sorts of questions, personal to their suspect and less so, and for the most part you're able to answer them. You can tell from the look on Hotchner's face that he's both surprised and extremely satisfied by your knowing, and he emphasises his thankfulness with a touch to your upper arm before he says goodbye. "Your help is invaluable, Y/N, thank you." 

Spencer, your sweetheart, stays for a more thorough farewell. 

"Have you eaten yet today?" he asks, the hand you'd squeezed earlier leaping for yours. "You look tired." 

"It's getting close to midnight, Spence. I'm alright. You and Agent Hotchner should head home and rest yourselves…" You bring your hand to his cheek but think better of yourself, pushing your arm over his shoulder instead for a hug. His own arms contract around you immediately. "I miss you lately, where have you been?" 

"Everywhere. I miss you too," he says. Despite the months of knowing one another, and the many states he's seen you in, you know without looking that Spencer is blushing profusely. 

You kiss his cheek as your heels return to safe ground. "Come and see me again soon, okay? And bring your rich friends. The older one, Rossi, is he really a millionaire? A divorced one?" 

"Yes, he is," Spencer says with a laugh, his voice climbing higher, "but I don't think he's looking for another wife right now, sorry." 

"Maybe Agent Hotchner–" 

"Stop calling him that." 

You look Spencer straight in the eye, nearly caught off guard by how sweet and soft they meld at your touch where your hands linger in his. 

You often think that you and Spencer aren't meant to be. Your life, whether willing or unwilling, by choice or design, is entirely focused around your body, and Spencer's world revolves around his mind. You know that what you do for work isn't anything to be ashamed of, but you have the same doubts as anyone else. You know what people think of you. You wouldn't blame Spencer for thinking the same things. And you wouldn't expect him to want to be with you in any aspect that wasn't physical. 

But when he holds your hands in his like this, as though they're made of something delicate, something he wants to map every detail or by fingertip alone, you wish things were different. 

You clear your throat. "I really do miss you when you're away," you confess. 

"I'm sorry." 

"Don't be." Your hands miss his the millisecond you pull them away. "I guess I shouldn't keep you. Your boss will be wondering where you are." 

"Are you okay?" 

You can't even pretend it's a strange question; you're acting strange. "I'm fine, Dr. Reid. My nice new boss knows I know the feds, and all the girls are jealous of me when you guys come to visit. They think I'm on your payroll." 

Spencer quirks a puzzled frown, brows pulled together tightly. "You're harder to read than most people. Have I ever told you that?" 

"I guess it's 'cos I spend so much time pretending I'm a different person," you say, smiling to prompt him into smiling back. 

"Maybe." He pulls his bag from where it rests against his hip and opens it, rummaging through the contents with a confused murmur until he pulls out the shape he'd been looking for. "Here. Don't go to bed hungry, okay?" 

Spencer puts a protein bar in your hand. 

He steals a quick hug and leaves not long after that, crossing the dark parking lot to the mass of the dark SUV he arrives in. With one hand, you clutch the protein bar until it takes a new shape, and with the other you blow two sweet kisses, a cheesy, gaudy gesture that never fails to make your favourite special Agent blush. 

[aamircoeur]

just distressed (still not a damsel) ー ultraman, ken sato.

ultraman getting to know his damsel as kenji sato, the baseball player.

SEQUEL. PART 1.

sfw, female reader. UNEDITED.

you smiled at the chef and sat down on a stool, looking around to examine the place. it was clean and the lighting inside was warm, and the place had a lingering smell of fried eggs and soy sauce, which you really liked.

it was seven in the evening and you were at tonkatsu tonki for dinner, as per ultraman's suggestion. you had small chats with the chef as he made your order, with you being the only customer that he had as of the moment.

a few weeks have passed since your lengthy chat with japan's superhero. although you had been in the scene when yet another kaiju attacked this week, you weren't as involved as the previous times, which made you sad about not having the chance to talk to ultraman again. it was for the better, though, you thought. the poor guy sounded like he needed all the rest he could have.

he handed you your bowl of tonkatsu and poured water to your glass. while you were talking to the chef, a replay of this morning's baseball game was playing on the television that hung on the wall of the restaurant. you took a peek every now and then whenever the chef made reactions about the game, making you curious. "are you a fan of baseball?" you asked, taking a bite of your tonkatsu.

you got to know the chef for the past thirty minutes that you've been in the restaurant. he's a sarcastic man who genuinely cared for the food of the customers and their well-being, saying that his regulars had been coming in and out of his restaurant for more than twenty years.

"huge fan. i used to watch the games held in tokyo dome with my daughters," he said, his eyes never leaving the television. "but they've grown older, and we only watch together when they're free."

you hummed in response. "i was a huge tigers fan, and my daughters were even bigger fans of the giants." he laughed, and you smiled at him. "what about you? you like baseball?" he asked, wiping the spatula that he used.

you drank water to help you swallow your food before answering. "ah, not really. it never really piqued my interest." you said.

in the middle of your conversation, a group of rather tall men walked into the restaurant, greeting the chef before sitting down, who only waved his hand at them as he focused on his conversation with you.

"what do you mean it never piqued your interest?" the chef echoed, his eyebrow raised in a rather animated way which made you laugh at him.

"i-it just never crossed my mind much."

"baseball never crossed your mind much?" the chef asked in disbelief. "it's the best sport there is! don't tell me you're one of them basketball people."

"i have nothing against baseball. personally, i just don't like it. it looks fun though!" you explained yourself.

"you hate baseball?" the chef asked in front of you.

"i donー"

"you hate baseball?" the guy who sat near your stool chimed in.

"i don't!" you said, rubbing your cheek to show light-hearted annoyance.

the chef looked at you and faked a scoff, before walking to the group of men further from you to ask for their order. you laughed at him and sighed before drinking from your glass of water.

"so," the guy from beside you called out. "what was the "you hate baseball" argument with the chef?" he asked, taking off his sunglasses before hanging it at the front of his shirt.

you smiled and playfully rolled your eyes. "what i was saying is that i don't hate baseball." you said, taking a bite of your food after. "it's just not in my area of, uhm, interest or expertise."

the guy chuckled, running his hand through his jet-black hair. "i don't think i've ever met anyone who told me that they don't like baseball."

"what is it with guys and baseball?" you joked.

"hey, everyone likes baseball." he responded. he reached out his hand in front of you, offering a handshake. "i'm kenji." he said.

you accepted the handshake and held his hand, shaking it. "i'm [name] [surname], pleasure being baseball buddies with you."

"don't think that us being baseball buddies would work, considering how you don't like baseball," he joked with a forced frown on his face.

you groaned and he just laughed at you.

kenji ordered his usual and kept quiet, listening to his teammates as they debriefed the game that they had earlier. he was happy to have a close friendship with each and every one of them after struggling with adjusting to moving back to his home town two years ago.

but what made him the happiest is this restaurant, and seeing you in it. the night after his talk with you downtown, was the only time that he got a good night's sleep the whole week despite him getting only five hours.

not in a million years would he admit it, the chances of seeing you during a kaiju attack was the thought that made him feel light on his feet and eager to protect the city (to see you). but to his surprise (he was bummed the whole day), he didn't catch at least a glimpse of your [color] hair, but it was fine, he thought.

he didn't need to see you all the time, he thought. that would be greedy and desperate, he thought. your safety is what matters, it's a good thing that you weren't near another kaiju attack, where he had the chances of talking to you again, he thought.

"so, were you near the kaiju attack last week?" kenji asked.

why the fuck did he ask that.

you looked at him and tilted your head. "uhm," you said, chewing on your food and swallowing it as your facial expression questioned the weird conversation starter.

great, kenji. now she probably thinks you're a freak, he thought.

on the outside, kenji was as cool as ice with his unbothered look and relaxed body language. but internally, he was on his way to drive his motorcycle off mount fuji.

"i was near it, actually." you said, drinking your water. "i was a few streets down from the kaiju, so thankfully i didn't have any trouble getting to a safe place."

kenji sighed out of relief, thankful that you were safe, and that you didn't seem to think of him as a freak. "that's good," he said.

"funny you mentioned kaijus," you said. kenji looked at you with shock in his eyes, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

did you figure it out . . ?

"i've recently gotten my old apartment building ruined by one just a few weeks ago." kenji sighed.

"oh, i'm sorry," kenji said and you just waved your hand to let him know that it was okay. "how are you holding up?" he asked.

"alright, i guess. the landlord was kind enough to give us back two months worth of rent back for the inconvenience and exposure to danger. i guess the kdf offered their aid to him." you said as you continued eating your meal.

kenji hummed. "what about you?" you asked, placing the back of your forearms against the table counter, your elbows brushing against his.

kenji took notice of this and cleared his throat. "i haven't been near one," an obvious lie. "there was one time when a kaiju attacked the arena that i played in, it was gigantron, i think?" kenji said.

"oh, that's unfortunate. glad to know you're safe." you said.

"oh, no, i'm really not. the kaiju now holds me hostage in my own home."

"huh . . ?" your eyebrows knit together in worry, your [color] eyes staring into his purple ones.

kenji stared back into your pretty eyes and felt warmth on his cheeks. he looked at how your expression says that you believed every word he said. kenji covered his smile with the back of his hand and laughed, squinting his eyes.

you immediately frowned at the joke and gave his shoulder a soft punch before taking another bite at your food.

suddenly, the lights of the restaurant started swinging and flickering. you felt the ground shake and you looked at the people in the restaurant, before locking eyes with kenji once again who gave you a worried look.

a speaker that came from the street alerted everyone of the happening. "this is the kaiju defense force. evacuate the area immediately." the speaker repeated.

the roof of the restaurant broke, a red-colored foot piercing into it. you heard the people that kenji came in with shouting as they guided to help each other scurry to exit the building. as the others left, everyone was divided and you were with the chef and three other people. the chef led you all to the back exit of the restaurant and you all ran into the street, gathering with the other people in the neighbouring buildings who went out for their safety.

"are you all okay?" the chef asked, beads of sweat forming on his forehead from the sprint.

you gasped for air, trying to ease your breathing as you threw him a thumbs up.

"kenji and the others went out into the street to where the kaiju is," one pointed out.

another held onto his shoulder and gave him a worried look. "i'm sure they're alright." he said.

the crowd talked amongst themselves while the tmpd (tokyo metropolitan police department) made sure that everyone was okay and that the injured were provided aid. ultraman appeared as always, his glowing eyes acting as the sun in the cold night.

after an hour, ultraman had guided the kaiju back to where it came from. the kdf gave the tmpd the green signal and told all the civilians to go home for the night, asking those with the damaged properties to stay behind to discuss insurance and such. you bid farewell to the chef who asked you to stay safe before he was guided by the policeman to talk in an office.

a man tapped your shoulder and bowed farewell to you along with his mates, hoping for your safe travels. they were the people you were separated with in the restaurant. you greeted them good bye and started walking home.

alone again, you sighed to yourself and rested your hands in the pockets of your jacket.

this was probably the first time that you were dangerously near a kaiju attack without talking to ultraman, you thought.

turning right into a dark street, you saw a big motorcycle parked on the side as you were about to pass it, and before you knew it, a huge being emitting a beam of light was falling from the sky.

what the fuck?!

you covered your face with your arms before it landed to spare yourself from accidental blindness, and you were surprised to lower your arms just to see the man that you met earlier at the restaurant instead. "little ma'am?" he called out, eyes widened as he panted.

you stared at him with complete shock visible on your face. "kenshi?!"

taglist: @ttulipwritezz @c-losur3 @saeyari @taleiak @spencerrxids

[joi-me-hoi-me-noi]

Hope your requests work now😁

I would like to request maybe todoroki and reader have a secret relationship and class 1-A thinks there’s something wrong with him so they follow him into a restaurant and they see him and reader kiss.

I’ll leave the rest up to you😁😊

OH MY GOD YESSSS!!! THEY'RE WORKING!! Also, thank you for your help and the request anon. Please enjoy!

TODOROKI x READER - SECRETS

As soon as they saw him 'accidentally' burn his UA outfit on the shoulder, they knew something was wrong. Todoroki would never do something like that.

"Midoriya, ask him what's wrong." Mina pushes the boy toward his friend.

"Hey Shoto, is everything alright? You've been acting strange." Shoto perks up at this and looks at Izuku.

"What do you mean?" Todoroki's leg was bouncing.

As Izuku was about to say something else, Sero tapes his mouth shut and stands next to Izuku.

"Sorry about that." Sero pulls the boy along until Shoto goes back to studying or whatever he was doing to distract himself.

"What the hell was that Izuku?!" You find yourself listening in on the group sitting directly in front of you.

"You told me to ask him." He gets hit over the head by Bakugo and then they continue whispering.

"Let me try." Momo gets up and approaches Todoroki.

"Hey, Todoroki. Do you want to study after class is finished?" He looks up at her.

"Uh, sorry, I can't."

"Why not? You owe me study time you know."

"I'm...I'm going out with family to a dinner. Apparently, I can't miss another one of those. Sorry." His foot is tapping yet again.

You shake your head at the group's antics and continue to focus on your work. The bell rings and you quickly pack your things. A hand slams down on your desk, startling you.

"In a hurry, L/n?" You simply nod and hurry to pack the last of your belongings.

You didn't have to look up to know it was Bakugo. Bakugo quickly snatches the notebook off of your desk and holds it above his head.

"Can I have it back please? I'm really in a hurry." You hold out your hand, waiting for him to give it to you.

"I just noticed how weird you're acting too. You know anything about Icy-Hot?" He moves his eyes to Todoroki then back to you.

"Why are you asking me? We don't even talk to each other." You send him a glare and using your quirk, you grab your notebook from his fingers.

You leave the room and quickly make your way to the dorms to get ready for your date. You look at yourself in the mirror and you know you look fabulous. A ding turns your attention to your phone, a text from Todoroki.

'Check your balcony.'

You simply shake your head while letting a small laugh leave your lips and open the door to your outdoor abode. As you look around, you see an ice slide that he created for you both to escape your dorms. He was at the bottom, giving you a small wave. You wave back and then let yourself glide on the slide.

"Well, you dress up nice. Let's go!" You pull him along as you both run through the woods to get to where you need to be.

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

Mina runs into the living room area of the dorms where almost everyone resided and opens the curtains to show them what she saw from her balcony.

"Todoroki left!" Everyone was flabbergasted, he would never.

"What if he's just playing with us." Everyone looks at Kaminari like he just said the stupidest thing in the world.

"He doesn't know how to play people!"

"Damn! Sorry!" Mina was already grabbing her jacket and throwing on her sneakers.

"Where are you going?"

"To spy on Todoroki! Are you guys coming or not?!"

All of sudden, the people who were still awake started to grab their things and put on their shoes.

"Let's go!"

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

"I'm so glad we made it to the reservation." You smile at your boyfriend lovingly as he does the same.

It was a beautiful venue, you wondered where he got the money to pay for this. probably from Daddy's wallet The stars twinkled onto the candlelit balcony where you both sat. He scootches his chair a bit to be closer to you as he holds your hand in his.

"You know I really do care about you." Shoto presses a gentle kiss to the back of your hand while looking at you.

"You're just new to this and it's okay, we all have our firsts." Your other hand is placed on top of his.

You kiss his knuckles and smile at him, the stars illuminating both of your eyes. As your hand moves off of his, he brings his hand up to the side of your cheek. You look into his pretty eyes; it was the first time he was initiating something like this.

"Can I kiss you?" You smile and watch as his lips turn into a soft smile.

"Shoto, you want to waste your first kiss on me? Are you sure?" You joke, looking away to the stars before he gently turns your face, so you look at him directly.

"I wouldn't want to kiss anyone else; I'll savor the moment forever."

That makes you smile even more until he starts to lean his head in and closes his eyes. The moment feels different than the cuddles and hugs, it's intense. Your eyes flutter shut as do his as your lips connect into a kiss. One of your hands resting on his shoulder while the other goes through his hair, messing it up slightly. His hand still rests on your cheek while the other is on your waist.

Soon you both pull away, slightly swollen lips and little grins on your faces.

"That was really... good. You sure it's your first time kissing someone?" That makes him let out a light chuckle.

"Yes, I'm sure. I want another." You both lean in again but you look to the right and see Uraraka hovering in the air, snapping pictures of you both.

"WHAT THE FUC-"

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

After walking to the perfect spot to watch Todoroki at his 'family dinner', they climb into a high enough tree to see what's happening and if he lied to them.

"Guys, what if it is a family gathering?" Izuku asks, playing with his hands nervously.

"Then we leave, but it's obviously not. He was acting wayyy too nervous about it when we asked." Mina tells Izuku.

The continue to sit in the tree until they see him sit at the table with-

"Oh my god! Is that Y/n?" Sero squints his eyes as well as everyone else.

Momo makes binoculars and holds them up to her eyes, pointing them at the table Todoroki sat at. Her mouth dropped and it was confirmed, he lied and he was going out with you.

"Hey, Ochaco. Wanna do something real quick?" Mina asks with a smile.

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

"I can't believe you guys spied on us." Your arms were crossed over your chest while you walked back to UA with the group.

"You both were acting weird, we needed to know what happened to the both of you." Mina stated.

"Well now you know."

As you approach the doors of the dorms, Mr. Aizawa was standing at the entrance.

"Thank you for letting us go out tonight." You and Shoto walk by Aizawa, he gives the both of you a small nod.

"All of you who went out will have early morning training." Everyone groans, watching the two of you walk away free.

"Why don't they get in trouble?"

"They asked."

[lymtw]

Thinking of the utterly unhealthy obsession Toji has with your lips. He fantasizes about them a lot, to the point where he zones out staring at them while you're talking. They look so soft. He knows they're soft. He often wishes there were a way to experience their gentleness for the first time again.

"Toji, can you focus for two more minutes, please?" You sigh, dragging a hand down your face in frustration. He's supposed to be helping you decide what to make for dinner.

"Hm? Say that again, babe." He's lost on the subject of your conversation. It's those damn lips, always sabotaging him.

He watches your eyes roll, irritated by his lack of attention. You scoff, tossing the kitchen towel you've been drying dishes with on the counter, and turn around instead to start putting them away.

"Woah, hey." He stands from the stool he's sitting on and makes his way towards your little kitchen area. "Baby," he calls as you continue stacking plates on the shelves. "Ma," he calls again, watching as you ignore him and put a glass cup on the next shelf up. "Mama, stop." He stands behind you, his hands cupping your elbows.

You stop, your hands flat on the counter. "It's always the same thing, Toji. Would it kill you to listen to me for once?"

His hands run up your arms, settling on your shoulders. His fingers dig into the rigid muscles. "You're tense. Quit stressing."

You fail at suppressing a groan at the flash of relief in your shoulders. "There you go..." you pause, wincing at the pressure, "switching the subject again."

"I've got it handled, doll. Drop the stress." His arms circle around your waist and he pushes closer towards you, his chest to your back. His chin rests on your shoulder so he can get a look at your exasperated face.

"How..." you sigh, defeat creeping up on you. "You weren't even listening," you mumble to yourself.

"Drop. It." He knows your thoughts go a million miles an hour, a huge contrast to his, but what he won't have is your stress levels affecting your attitude towards him.

You drop your shoulders, exhaling through your nose.

"There's my good girl," Toji murmurs into your jaw. His hands creep up your torso, raising your shirt slightly as they reach for your breasts. "I'm fine with ordering in. What do you think, baby?" He kisses your shoulder, his hands gently squeezing your breasts.

"I wanna cook for you, Toji," you say, your hands on his wrists.

"And you're a saint for that, but you cook for me all the time, mama. You deserve a break... with me." He takes your right hand in his, bringing your palm to his lips. "These hands are good for more than just cooking."

You saw his trap and fell into it anyway. You willingly let him carry you away, kissing him with your legs wrapped around his waist and everything. Toji just knew what to say all the time, and you were weak for every word rolling off his saccharine tongue.

You fell for his trap and allowed him to drag you away, yet still ended up on your knees for him. Toji stood in front of you, his thumb tracing your soft lips, smearing the lip tint messily onto the corners.

"You've got the prettiest lips, darling," he says, still spreading the color across your lips. "It's your fault I can't pay attention to a thing you say. I get lost the second I focus on the way your mouth looks when you form words, and when I think about how pretty your mouth would look drooling on my cock." He looks you up and down, noticing the way you press your thighs together.

"'M sorry," you mumble, before pressing your lips together again.

"Yeah, I forgive you. Don't look so down." He plays with the color on your lips for a few more seconds, leaving streaks all around your lower lip. "Clean me up, yeah, princess?" he asks, stroking your lip for you to let his thumb in. You open your mouth, closing it around his thumb. The taste of strawberry and subtle hints of wax invade your taste buds as you slide your tongue around the pad of his thumb. He holds eye contact with you as you ensure that no color is left on his thumbprint. He pulls his thumb out, slowly, your lips gliding off so gently.

"Such a pretty girl, aren't you?" He praises. You watch with glossy eyes as he sticks the same thumb that was just in your mouth, into his. "Made a mess on your pretty face. Let me tidy you up a little bit, before I do it again." He wipes away some of the lip tint streaks around your mouth. He even tries to distribute the remaining color on your lips, evenly.

You love the feeling of his rough hands on your skin. So much that you take matters into your own hands, even if you're the one submitting to him. You grab his hand, bending all his fingers except his index and middle fingers. You stick them in your mouth and give them the same treatment as when you were cleaning your makeup off his thumb. Your tongue lathered his digits in saliva, your lips squishing shut against them as you sucked them in and out of your mouth.

Toji lets out a deep chuckle when he hears you breathe out through your nose. "You're gonna give my cock the same treatment, huh?" You release his fingers with a pop of your lips. "Mhm," you hum, nodding in response to his question. He cups your cheek, his saliva coated fingers dragging along your jaw. "Lucky me."

He released his cock from its confines. His sweatpants did very little to hide the twitching monster during the show he made of your lips. The whole time, while your tongue was wrapped around his fingers, he could feel himself oozing in his boxers. He was twitching, pulsing, throbbing, all of it at the lewd image of you in front of him.

You have the same look in your eyes every time he whips his dick out. It's always desire before fear, and even then, your fear lasts two seconds because Toji reminds you that you're his good girl and you can take it. All you want is for him to praise you every time for making him feel good.

"You want it?" He asks, lidded green eyes boring into your soul. He teases you, collecting some of the precum pearls on his tip and rubbing it along his shaft. All you can do is watch with a tinge of envy for now.

"I do. Please, can I have it? Please?"

You're a master at begging for Toji. You beg for things that might even destroy you, but that's one of the things he loves about you.

"Mm..." Toji, hums. "You want it bad?"

"Please, Toji. I want it so bad. Let me..." your fingers twitch against the sheets, and your mouth pools with saliva.

"It's all yours. Take it, doll."

You excitedly push forward, your mouth instantly wrapping around the tip of his cock to lick up the precum drooling out of him. Toji has never met anyone so enthusiastic about giving him head, but your eyes seemed to light up every time he spread his legs comfortably.

"Jesus fuck, doll," he breathes, watching your nose scrunch as you devour his inches before pulling back to the tip. "That's good, fuck... keep going," he groans. He tucks wisps of hair behind your ears, keeping you from constantly pausing to move your hair away from your sticky lips.

Your lips find their way back to the halfway point of his length. You feel a gag coming up as you try to take more of him in, so you pause, letting your tongue glide around what's stuffed in your mouth. You feel him twitch in your mouth, a quick act that makes your cunt throb.

"Breathe through your nose, princess. You're right there," he says, wiping away the tears that sprout on your waterline.

You take a couple heavy breaths through your nose before taking another shot at swallowing the whole thing. His tip was way past your comfort, but that didn't stop you from relishing in the sounds coming from the person you were sucking off. It was worth the temporary discomfort, especially when you got to hear him choke back moans when your nose met his pelvis.

"Mhm... good fucking girl. That's it," he groans. You can feel goosebumps traveling up his thighs, beneath your palms. Your chest heaves from holding back a gag, but you quickly find relief when you start pulling back again, your lips leaving a shiny coat on his cock. Seeing the gloss on his entire length was like a reward for the milestone hit. Toji's entire cock has now been crammed into your throat.

Your lips come off of him, swollen, slickened, and brighter in color than before. You don't let yourself breathe for too long, still determined to make him cum.

"You're a trooper," he blurts, drunk on the sensation of your warm mouth. He mutters a couple curses under his breath, absolutely losing his mind as your hands join in on your performance. He leans his head back, panting as he runs a hand through his sweaty locks. The thick air in the room was enough cool his head for a bit.

"Fuck, i'm gonna cum," he grunts. "Oh, baby... fuck." He doesn't even need to ask if he can fuck your throat for the final seconds remaining until he unravels. Your hands clasp around the backs of his knees, and you leave your jaw hanging for him. "You're the fucking best. No one deserves shit from you, princess," he grits out. He grabs ahold of your face, his fingers resting beneath your jaw for a second before he quickly starts thrusting into your mouth. Your eyes roll into the back of your skull, tears shedding when they shut instinctively. You breathe heavily for a couple seconds, rejecting the urge to gag as he prods the back of your throat, repeatedly. Your ears fill with his loud groans, and you finally open your eyes when your mouth is pooled with Toji's load. Toji pants, vibrating with pleasure as he works on composing himself.

You swallowed most of it, only a little bit seeping out from the corner of your lip when he burst violently. You remain on your knees for Toji, waiting for him to look at you again.

"You swallowed it?" He asks, a raspiness mingled into his voice as he catches his breath.

"Mhm," you hum, sticking your tongue out for him. Your heart pangs when you see his eyes go from your tongue to the corner of your mouth.

"You missed some." His thumb collected the drop that glided down your face, and he smeared it over your lips. "Lick it off."

You did it in a heartbeat, earning a deep chuckle from Toji.

"My disgusting little freak... go lay down for me."

[disneyprincemuke]

in the name of friendly racing * fem!driver

a simple race on their scooters flips the entire paddocks upside down

pairings: liam lawson x fem!driver, logan sargeant x fem!driver, mick schumacher x fem!driver, oscar piastri x fem!driver

notes: hello everyone i know i haven't posted a vr piece and it's all because i couldn't fully grasp the fact that femdriver and logan are not together in this universe but i took a break from them and yes i'm coping well, but no i will not stop tearing up about their love story k? anyway, i think this is MID compared to other crack fics i've written but i'm trying i promise

(series masterlist) | (📂 the rookie season)

she holds up the scooter in one hand, the other on her hip as she leans into the tablet in liam's hands. "what's the route again?"

"are you stupid?" logan asks.

"no, do you want to not join us?" she asks quickly, lifting her head to glare at the american across her. she darts her arm out and shoves logan back. "i'll disqualify you right here, right now. you wanna spend your afternoon in your driver's room like a loser like the rest of them?"

"he sent it to the group chat, how can you still not know the route?" logan scoffs, narrowing his eyes down into a glare.

"i'm just making sure!"

"relax," liam mutters, holding a hand up in an attempt to break up the fight that he's sure would happen if he doesn't interfere. "i'll disqualify you both."

"just tell me the route," mick sighs, shaking his head. he steps forward and tilts his head to try and get a look at the screen under the scorching sun above them. "no cheating, okay?"

logan huffs. "tell that to her."

she throws her head back and rolls her eyes. "god, logan!" she winds her arm back and darts an arm out to grab logan's sweatshirt. she bundles it up into her hands and tries to yank logan towards her.

"okay!" mick cries out, grabbing her wrist and pulling her away from logan. he carefully, finger by finger, removes her hand from grasping his sweatshirt and pushes her back. he then guides logan two steps away. "the race hasn't even started yet!"

oscar pops his head between the girl and liam. "are you sure you should be doing this?"

"of course," liam mutters, glancing at oscar. "why are you here? i thought you didn't want anything to do with us if we went through with this?"

"yeah, but i'm curious. so i know which places to avoid - i wouldn't want to get run over by road rager over here," he gestures to her and then at logan, "and mr. beating-(y/n)-is-my-life's-mission over there."

"she can't possibly be beating me at every single thing!" logan cries, throwing his arms in the air, and pointing over at her.

"sore loser!"

"okay, so we're starting here," liam points at where they're standing. "we start at williams."

"are you guys going to the pitlane?" oscar questions.

"no, are you crazy? do you want somebody to kill us?" mick scoffs. "i'd get my scooter rights taken away from me!"

"yeah," liam agrees with a nod. he throws oscar a judgemental stare, absolutely bewildered at the thought that they would be racing at the area where literal cars could be driving out. he looks back down at the ipad. "anyway."

"we zip between the racing homes," logan mutters, tracing the map of the paddocks that they'd pulled up from the internet. "and then we make a round around the interview table and the finish line is back here. don't forget to zip through the racing homes again."

"exactly," liam nods. "everyone aware of the rules?"

"you guys had the time to come up with rules?" oscar laughs. "seriously?"

"no shortcuts," mick says, turning his head to look at the younger girl. he grabs her wrist. "have you got your watch on so we can track the route everyone takes for the race?"

"yes. i'm a fair racer, above all," she scowls, retracting her arm from mick. "and we stop for everyone who calls us, yes? especially the fans."

"easy," logan nods, a smirk stretching his lips. "suddenly i'm kind of thankful nobody really likes me."

"what? don't say that," she grunts. "i like you. we like you."

"break it up, lovebirds. we are not friends, we're competitors," liam mutters. "you guys got the glasses (y/n) stole from seb's office?"

"i didn't steal them. we're borrowing them!" she rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. "don't break them - seb doesn't know i took them from his office."

"oh, i'm pretty sure charles would have let you borrow his if you asked," oscar whispers. when she turns her head to glare at him, oscar lifts his arms up to surrender. "but, you know. what do i know?"

"well i'm not sponsored by rayban - my glasses aren't here yet. i get when everybody else gets them," she frowns. "and, i don't wanna bother charles. it's okay."

"so you snuck into seb's office instead."

"it's not sneaking in if the door was wide open," she laughs, rolling her eyes. "duh?"

"ah, is that why you needed me to keep a lookout in the hallway?" logan says.

"shut up. i'm going to beat you," she mutters, pointing at logan with a threatening finger.

"okay, so are we clear about the rules?" liam puts the ipad down and looks around. "we've literally tried to make it as foolproof as possible. there's no way you guys can find ways to cheat, right?" he turns to her. "right?"

"i don't know why you keep looking at me - i'm a fair racer! you should be asking mick if he's going to be honest about this one!"

"why me? isn't logan desperate to keep the paper mache cup that we made three nights ago?"

"in my defence, i still believe i should keep it even if i lose because i worked on it the entire night. all you fuckers did was play overcooked and scream at each other in mick's hotel room."

"okay, shut up and race," oscar mutters, flailing his arms in the air to dismiss their huddle. "are you guys ready? can i start the race for you?"

"for someone who doesn't want to be a part of this, you sure are pushy," she mutters, turning on her heel to hop onto her scooter. "are we ready? apple watches and rayban glasses on?"

she takes the sunglasses that have been resting on the collar of her blouse and puts it on. she turns to her left and points at logan. "i'm gonna crush you."

logan pushes the sunglasses up his nose, looking ahead and doesn't spare her another glance. "sure."

"okay, okay," oscar cheers, clapping his hands. he reaches into his back pocket and reveals a red handkerchief. "turned your scooters on? everybody got their smart watches and smart glasses on?"

"start the race, cunt!"

oscar's lip twitches. "anyway. be safe, you guys. we have a race this weekend."

"i don't," mick smiles. "stay safe, though."

"start the race before i do it myself, bitch!"

"liam, shut the fuck up!" she shrieks, stepping off her scooter momentarily to whack him on the arm.

"god!" liam screams, his arm darting out to whack her as a response. "the race is going to start and you're not going to-"

"go!" oscar shouts, waving the handkerchief into the air. he darts to the side to get out of their way with a giggle.

almost immediately, logan and mick have already pulled back their handles, darting away from the williams racing home. she shrieks and shoves liam, causing him to lose his balance slightly, hops onto her scooter and drives away.

"oh, liam!" a deep voice calls. "i've been looking for you everywhere!"

"fuck's sake," liam sighs, shaking his head as he turns to see christian walking up to him. but he smiles as he is approached by the team principal. "yeah, christian?"

up ahead, she frowns to herself as she watches mick and logan racing head to head. there's no way to catch up to them on these scooters - it's simply not like an f1 car. she can only bank on the fact that someone, somehow, will stop them to give her some sort of window to pass them.

with the little number of people in the paddocks on a wednesday for the weekend proves that they should have done this early in the afternoon on friday. there could have been more obstacles and distractions for them.

if only the boys had listened to her.

she shrieks when she sees george flagging mick down ahead of the alpine racing home, forcing mick to come to slow stop. she screeches loudly when she passes mick, her hair being blown back by the wind and speed she's going at.

"thanks, george!" she screams, momentarily waving at the brit as she passes the mercedes pair. she can see logan ahead of her, speeding and manoeuvring around the crowd flawlessly by the ferrari home.

surely, somebody will recognise him and pull him to a stop, right? if nobody does, she can only hope that alex is somewhere in the paddocks wondering where his rookie has gone.

the race, objectively, is going fine for her. logan was momentarily stopped by a williams engineer. she passes them screeching, also thanking the nameless woman and waving at logan smugly as she accelerates her scooter.

when she does that, her eyes widen when she sees mick also passing logan. she has no idea where liam has gone, or if christian has even let him go from their conversation at the back of the paddocks.

she does get stopped, once, by susie who stops her to ask her a question. it was a simple question that she easily had the answer to and susie let her off in seconds. she excitedly presses a kiss on the older woman's cheek and quickly accelerates away, shocked that mick is suddenly riding next to her.

behind them is logan trailing shortly, and liam's conversation with christian is actually short. so behind logan is liam, held back by a couple of seconds only.

it's just that christian had overheard them whispering earlier that day about their race and he had lurked by the williams racing home to mess with his driver.

she, unfortunately, does get stopped another time, by a fan that was being brought around for a tour of the paddocks ahead of the race weekend. she grumbled under her breath when the three boys passed her: mick mimicking her shrill screech, logan passing her with his fingers in an 'L' shape, then liam simply ignoring her.

the race is short. suddenly they're all at the final stretch, now circled back at the ferrari racing home as they aim to make it to the finish line where oscar sits in a plastic chair, hunched over as he texts his girlfriend.

she screeches when she sees mick come to a stop right by the aston martin home. it's then questionable when she sees logan stop, and then liam. and suddenly she's getting flagged down by liam.

she rolls her eyes and ignores them, clearly being sore losers that she is now destined to win their little race. she goes right past them, slowing down slightly since it seems that she is the only competitor left in the race.

"(y/n)!" she hears a familiar accent. her eyes widen as she looks back, seeing sebastian with his hands on his hips, surrounded by her friends with the guiltiest expressions on their faces.

it all happens very fast. she had all intentions to slow down and go back to where they were, but she hadn't seen the rock up ahead.

if only she'd been looking ahead.

the front wheel of her scooter is caught against the stone, sending both her and the vehicle flying forward. "fuck!" she screams, her arms stretching out to try and break the fall.

"oh, my god!"

"that's going to hurt."

"are you stupid?"

"are you okay?"

she stays in her spot for a couple of seconds as she tries to digest the events of what just happened to her. one second, she had been on her scooter, the next she's knelt on the ground with her hands planted into the ground.

then it hits her: all of the pain from her fall.

she removes her hands from the ground and blinks rapidly, allowing the blood to seep from her now wounded palms. she feels it in her knees, surely scraping her favourite pair of pants when she had skidded against the floor. one of sebastian's pair of raybans is strewn not too far from her on the ground.

her scooter is ahead of her, which oscar is now bent over and pushing it upright.

she looks up, meeting logan's eyes with a hand over his mouth.

"it's not funny!"

"it's a little funny," logan shrugs before he bends down to meet her. "are you okay?"

tears immediately well in her eyes. she stretches out her hands and shows logan her injured palms. "i hurt my hands!"

"we can see that." mick is the next to kneel next to her, taking her hands into his. he moves her hands about and tries to assess her wounds. "we should get you back to your room and treat these."

"where are my glasses, you fucking- seriously, (y/n)?" she hears sebastian mutter. she lifts her head and watches sebastian pick up the pair from the ground and turn to her. "seriously? a race on the scooter i had to beg to get you?"

"it was liam's idea!" she cries, wiping her eye on the sleeve of her blouse. "he challenged me!"

"it was premeditated!" liam screams in an attempt to defend himself. "she said we would race once you got her scooter approved!"

"shut the fuck up!" she screeches, reaching out to push liam. "i told you not to tell on me!"

"okay, enough fighting," oscar sighs. he bends over and is the only one to think that she should not let her wounds be against the dirty ground for too long. "come on, let's get you all patched up."

"but my knees!" she cries, sniffling as she looks down at her scraped jeans. there's a small hole on both of her knees, the edges seeped with blood and small matching wounds on either. "i can't-"

"enough crying, drama queen," logan mutters, already hunched over and tapping his shoulders. "i'll carry you back. stop crying."

taglist: @wcnorris @treehouse-mouse @laura-naruto-fan1998 @mindless-rock @vellicore @leilanixx @ironmaiden1313 @angsthology @cherry-piee @christianpulisic10 @elliegrey2803 @cashtons-wife @sadg3 @a10vely-yutazen @mellowarcadefun @glitterf1 @megatrilss1885 @peqch-pie @gentlyweeps-world @woozarts @inejismywife @meadhgbcavanagh @2bormaybenot @love4lando

[felassan]

John Epler in the BioWare Discord (August 7th, again) -

User: "Since the dialogue wheel is coming back, will our choices set our Rook as diplomatic/humorous/aggressive with varying tone and voice lines similar to Hawke being able to be blue/purple/red?" John: "Not to the same degree - we want to give you the freedom to play your Rook differently depending on who they're talking to (you might be kinder to your companions and brusque with authority figures, for example), but your tone choices will have an impact within a conversation and, sometimes, with specific characters across multiple conversations." --- User: "I have to ask: how muscular can we make the elves?" John: "Reasonably so. You won't be making any massive bodybuilders but like... Timothy Olyphant?" User: "As a follow up what about humans and qunari? Quite muscular a la arnold or big viking type? Or not so much that lvl?" John: "Larger lineages (Qunari, esp) are bigger by default so the upper bounds are going to be bigger, but for modeling and animation we did want to put some limits on it. But your Rook can look pretty reasonably muscled, regardless of lineage choice." --- User: "Are there any time-sensitive quests (in terms of gameplay time, that will fail automatically if not addressed in a timely manner), and if there are please tell me they're at least indicated as such in some way?" John: "There are quests that can go away and technically 'fail' if you don't address them - but, to be VERY clear, this is not an in-game timer, but rather as you progress the game's story forward. That said, we do try to sign post them as much as possible." --- User: "Does Rook ever get the choice to cuss?" John: "Yes. You'll know when you're doing it, and we leave it up to you to make the choice, but sometimes, cursing is exactly what the situation demands."

[character limit text break!]

User: "Does the bioware team read the other channels and if so do they think we're unhinged or endearing?" John: "Little of column A, little of column B. But I mean, I've been online for 27 years, the internet has ruined me as much as anyone." --- User: "all the Rooks we've seen so far are wearing purple, please tell me we dont have to wear purple" John: "Everyone else can wear whatever colour they want but you, specifically, must always wear purple." --- User: "All the games have had unique faction symbols for our protagonist (Warden, Champion of Kirkwall, Inquisition) I assume there will be one for the Veilguard Will the symbol for it get released before the game or is this something that will be revealed in-game/after it’s launched?" John: "Every faction has their own symbol - including the Veilguard themselves! You may have noticed it in some of the art out there." --- John: "As a general comment - one thing I want to be super clear on - even as creative director there are things I can say, and things we're not ready to talk about. I'd rather spend my time answering what I can instead of a dozen 'sorry I can't talk about that yet' - especially since this channel is on slow mode." --- User: "There are blood effects in combat after Rook hits an enemy. And I think a developer shared images of the blood effects on hit after the reveal. Will characters be covered in blood or other environmental effects? Like getting wet from walking in puddles or muddy from running on dirt?" John: "There are environmental effects that persist on characters, depending on the environment you're traversing. They're subtle, but they're there!" --- User: "how many tattoos can we choose from? are there also full bodied ones too?" John: "I don't know the exact number, but there are quite a few. Some are full body as well, though you have control over colours and opacity on a more granular basis."

[character limit text break!]

User: "Of the zones/areas revealed what was the most challenging to design?" John: "Each has its own unique challenges. Arlathan seems simple because - well, it's a forest, right? But what about Arlathan makes it different than places you've been before? How does it fit into the established lore? Minrathous is a different kettle of fish because we've talked about it extensively and in a way that meant it HAD to be grander and more impressive than anything we've built before, which can be a tall order. The team did a fantastic job on all the areas, though." --- User: "which faction has the best fashion, in your opinion?" John: "Crows. Largely because 'black leather and feathers' isn't a look I could pull off in the real world but I am glad my Rook can." --- John: "Alright folks. I've gotta head back to work, but please keep asking questions and I'll answer what I can as soon as I can!"

[source: the official BioWare Discord]

There was also this question and answer:

User: "Can we name our saves like in Origins?" John: "I had to double check because I was about 95% sure on the answer, but also, I've been on this project for its entirety and sometimes I remember features that we had to cut (or never actually built) - yes. You can name your saves to reduce confusion."

but the answer may have now been deleted.

[rebo-chan]

I've been thinking about KHR's bonds. (When am I not?) And I've thought about the way that Amano likes to write bonds. You'd be pressed in this fandom to find people who don't care about at least one area of it whether that's the Vongola kids, Varia, the Arcobaleno, Kokuyo, etc. After a conversation with my best friend, I realized it's kinda interesting how Amano has somehow successfully created so many realistic bonds for such a diverse cast. Like we see so little of them, but you'd be pressed to convince the KHR fans that the funeral wreaths don't adore Byakuran.

So there's the thing right? Katekyo hitman reborn is the shonen that is 100% about the power of friendship. Like yes other shounens use it and its a meme for a reason, but they also have other stuff going on. Other motivations. Other theming. Meanwhile Tsuna growing up and becoming a better person for his friends /is/ the theme of Reborn. That is the entire motivation for the series. There's no grandiose scheme where Tsuna will save the Mafia world and be the chosen one, though the series tries to put Tsuna in this position to his chagrin.

As evidenced by the scene in Future arc, where Tsuna is unable to light his ring because he is so stressed about sending everyone back to the future and fighting this unknown powerful enemy. And so Reborn walks up and tells him "You're not a hero. Stop trying to be. It's not like you. What were you thinking about when you first lit your flame?" And he responded with "I just..wanted to protect Kyoko." Reborn satisfied with that answer then asks, "And who do you want to protect now?" And Tsuna answers with "Everyone." And then his ring lit up. That's the core to the series!! Right there!! All it ever was 403 chapters worth of these characters just wanting to protect each other.

So, in talking to my best friend, he pointed out that outside of daily life arc, these characters don't really have moments of vulnerability towards each other. Frankly, it seems the cast of KHR is allergic to being vulnerable. There aren't that many scenes of "you guys are important to me. I love you guys." Y'know stuff that tells the audience yeah these guys are close. And when Tsuna TRIES to have these moments, like with Reborn, Reborn pretends like he's asleep and doesn't hear Tsuna say that he's going to save him. Yet somehow, we all understand that these characters love each other so deeply.

And that made me realize it's all in the dialogue and actions, rather than inherent bonding moments. It's Reborn clenching his fist when Tsuna is getting gravely injured by Daemon. It's Yamamoto and Gokudera having a fight about Gokudera not being worthy of being Tsunas right hand man as Gokudera doesn't care for the other members of their family. And Gokudera never addressing this again, there's no verbal indication that Gokudera even heard Yamamotos criticism. Yet later during Merone invasion, Gokudera reaches a hand out to catch Yamamoto when they're getting separated. And later, he protects Ryoheis unconscious body as he is fighting Gamma to the death. It's Byakuran saving the funeral wreaths from their miserable lives and them protecting him even when he begins to strike them down. It's the way Mukuro runs to assist Chrome when she is in danger, or swears up and down that he is not allied with Tsuna but also feeds the Vongola information about Byakuran. It's the way Squalo refuses to cut his hair for his vow to Xanxus, or Mammon's gratitude towards Xanxus's willingness to fight for them. It's Ken ensuring that Chrome is always fed by giving her the snacks and candy they bought. These characters don't need bonding moments, their love for each other shines through their every breath and finger twitch.

And I think that's a fascinating way to write a connection on Amanos behalf. And it was done so well we can't even argue that these characters all love each other.

The way I summarized it is most characters love each other because they spend time together and improve together. KHR characters spend time together and get better together because they love each other

Anyway that's it for this one. Please let me know any dialogue/actions that drive you guys mad about these characters 👀 I know this series is full of them.

[panlight]

you know, last night out of boredom I was scrolling around tv tropes site and fell into a rabbit hole, and thru that I found entries for the Twilight Saga on the "Unintentionally Unsympathetic" and "Protagonist-Centered Morality" tropes that I found intriguing. Specifically about the Cullens:

In Unintentionally Unsympathetic

They are held up as the epitome of generosity and goodness. Even so, they generally are cold and anti-social to anyone who isn't another vampire or Bella, they are hostile towards the werewolves even though some (for example, Alice) never even met the werewolves before, and they are perfectly fine with letting vampires that do drink human blood hang around the area.

There's a scene in Breaking Dawn where the Cullens invite a bunch of vampires into town and give them keys to their cars so that they can feed on humans from out of town, because apparently their friends murdering people is okay so long as they don't know the people being murdered.

In Protagonist-Centered Morality

And by Breaking Dawn, the Cullens have agreed that they need backup if the Volturi are coming to get their murder on, so they call in every favor they have with the other vampires. Now, the Cullens have sworn to feed only on the blood of animals, these vampires have not, and yet the Cullens are happy to lend them their car to go hunting for humans (and vampires in the setting inevitably kill any human they feed on, unless they're turned) — just as long as Bella doesn't get hurt. Oh, and that they hunt outside Forks so people Bella knows won't die.

Yeaaa,, come to think of it, what was up with that?

My memory of the book is foggy but I did recall some narration where Bella sees the garage empty of some cars and notes that "the vampires had gone off to hunt" (even though??? they can run faster than any car so why bother? ??) and I can't remember if the movie addresses or acknowledges it but.. I DO remember the part where Aro considers having the La Push packs as "guard dogs" and Edward talks about how the idea won't work because the werewolves, being committed to protecting human life can coexist better with them/The Cullens more than the Volturi and now that I read those entries I'm just sitting here like But you're no different letting all those human-eating vampires chill at your place and causing a werewolf explosion?? And being soooo hospitable as to lend your cars for them lol!! At worse you're enabling it!! (facepalm)

Yeah this has always bothered me.

I think in the book it's specifically Edward who is lending out his keys to the visiting vampires. And, genuinely, why would these hundreds of years old nomadic vampires who don't live among humans like the Cullens do even know how to drive??

And also, they aren't even there THAT long? It's like, what? 2 weeks, max? And they don't have to feed that often. Could they really just . . . not hunt during their stay, or try the vegetarian thing to humor their supposed friends? If your vegan friend invited you to their house and you accepted their invitation, you wouldn't expect to be served bacon cheeseburgers for dinner. Or have Carlisle buy more donated human blood as he's been doing for most of the book and offer it to his guests as a 'nice compromise?'

Again, it's like SM didn't actual want to deal with any of the vampire stuff and just kind of swept it under the rug with Bella being "uncomfortable" with their hunting habits. Either a) deal with it! Show us Carlisle trying to persuade people, Emmett betting Garrett, Benjamin, Peter and Charlotte that they couldn't do it, an angry exchange when someone comes back with freshly bright red eyes, something!! or b) explain it away with an alternative like donated human blood, everyone agreeing to try the vegetarian thing, not being there long enough that hunting is necessary, etc.

If you're going to make it not matter you might as well go all the way and actually remove the moral quandary entirely. Instead we're in this sort of unsatisfying middle option when get one paragraph acknowledging that's happening but neither the 'good' vampires nor the shifters (!!) do anything about it because everything is justified in the protection of Renesmee and the furtherance of Bella's happily ever after.

Even though earlier in the! same! book! Sam says: "And inflict the menace on others? When blood drinkers cross our land, we destroy them, no matter where they plan to hunt. We protect everyone we can."

(I mean I GUESS they aren't technically crossing Quileute land but still like . . . c'mon.)

It could have been a cool source of conflict in a section of the book that really kind of needed some! Instead of Bella's little subplot with Jenks not going anywhere and fight training for a fight that never happened, we could have had something more than just, "well I don't like that they're killing people but we need them to witness so, meh."

[penkura]

Scared of Doctors anon again.

I now raise you: Law during his time at Punk Hazard finding y/n while they're still a subject.

Honestly I have too many thoughts about this. It's helping me wait for the dub to come out

Such good ideas though, omg. I'm thinking and more is coming to me for this, it's such a good prompt. There's so many ways it could go!

But for now...

Law had not intended to save you when he came to Punk Hazard. He had a plan, one that would hopefully bring down this Devil Fruit factory and help him get his revenge, it didn't include meeting and getting to know you little by little in the time he was there. You had run into Law by accident when trying to escape, making him curious about what was going on.

You look scared when you first run into him, having turned a corner abruptly and colliding with the young doctor, asking him for help.

"Please, help me get out of here!"

"What?"

There's a fear in your eyes he doesn't like seeing, while you grip his coat tightly and plead with Law to save you, somehow. He knew Caesar was conducting experiments, obviously with the SMILE fruit and everything, but he didn't know the extent, and now he's more curious seeing you.

You look perfectly fine and healthy, there doesn't seem to be a reason why you should be afraid of anything. Most of the people that Law has seen through the lab are willing participants, or they've been bribed by Caesar with something for him to use them. You don't seem to fit either bill, unless there's something hidden that even he can't see.

But his powers should tell him, right? The brief scan he does shows nothing is wrong, though he can see some kind of drugs in your system. He'd have to do his own testing to figure out what they are and what they're for, but you're interrupted by Monet a moment later.

"Oh, I see you've met our oldest patient, doctor."

Law's concerns grow when you immediately remove your hands from him, looking towards the ground with more fear than before. Monet explains you'd been sick with a highly deadly virus three years ago before she and Caesar took you in, away from your home and family, and have been working ever since to find a cure. He watches as you back away bit by bit, turning more into yourself and apologizing, before turning around and running back where you'd come from. When he asks Monet at the illness was, she beats around the bush and doesn't give a straight answer, Law knows something is wrong with this situation but he's not in a position to figure out what it is.

Not until the Straw Hats and the Navy show up anyway. The distractions provided by them allow him the time to find you again, though you still seem fearful of him. He holds his hands up where you can see them, making you tilt your head.

"I won't hurt you. I won't touch you at all. I can use my powers to see about your illness."

"...why bother? I'm gonna die anyway."

How strange, to hear words he'd said so long ago said to his own face, but in such a different situation. After Law explains how his Devil Fruit powers work, you consent to letting him do a proper Scan, and you're confused when he tells you there's no sign of any illnesses in your body. He still sees those drugs in your system, but he doesn't have the time to check what they are yet.

"We're going to destroy this place. You'll have to come with me if you want answers from Caesar."

You really don't know if you should trust him or not, he hasn't given you much of a reason not to apart from being a doctor, like Caesar and Monet had claimed to be. Your voice is shaky when you ask Law if he promises to find out what happened, and when he does, you're almost crying as you nod. Law lets you take his hand, once you've calmed down and agreed to go with him, he starts to lead you to a safer area.

"I won't let anything happen to you, all right? Not until we get you the answers you need."

For some reason, you decide to trust him.

[luveline]

Hi don’t know if you’re taking requests (if not please ignore!) just wondering how Halloween would look like in the KBD universe or even a masquerade ball for prince Steve and reader?

thank you for requesting angel ♡ kbd mom!reader, 2k

"I think we should paint her orange," Avery says. 

Steve pushes the wand of his bubbles back into the container, coating it in solution. "What for, honey?" 

"For Halloween! We'll paint her orange and she can be a pumpkin." 

"Oh." 

Steve purses his lips, blowing bubbles over the green grass of the garden. It's alive despite it being late October, mildly crisp underfoot. He can hear leaves crunching under Bethie's boots where she runs around toward the back gate. 

Wren sees the bubbles and giggles wildly. Steve grins. "You like those, sweetheart?" 

"What if we make her green like a witch?" 

"Who, Ave?" 

"Wren." 

"Oh. Well, Wren can't use face paint yet, babe, she's too little," Steve explains, dipping the wand in solution again. "But they're very good ideas. Do you know what you want to be?" 

Avery throws her hands out. She's getting older than he ever imagined her, but she's still so small at the end of the day with delicate little hands and facial expressions cute enough to make a grown man cry. Steve would know, he's cried a ton of times just looking at her. 

"I already told you." 

Steve pretends to remember to spare her feelings as he blows more bubbles. He knows you'll know, and so it's a white lie. Better for everyone. "I remember! You're gonna be awesome." 

She smiles for the first time in ten whole minutes and sits down next to Steve. He offers her the bubbles and the wand, freeing his hands to give her a loving squeeze from either side. "Very good ideas," he repeats, patting her arm.

Bethie comes running with two cupped hands. Steve can picture her find before she shows him, and still he's horrified to see a slug in her palm. It's not big but neither is she, lavishing across the breadth of her hand. 

Ew, Steve thinks. "Wow, Beth! What did you find?" 

"There's snails, too!" she says excitedly, her eyes bright as her attention flickers between the slug and her dad. "They're sleeping, I think. They're stuck to the slide." 

"Beth, listen to me really quickly?" 

"Yeah, dad," she says, nodding. 

"I like that you're being gentle with the slugs, you're being nice, but as soon as you put him down, don't touch your face, okay? In fact, when you put him down, we're gonna go inside and wash our hands." 

Beth looks down at her slug in alarm. "What?" 

"He's not dangerous!" Steve reassures her. "But he might have germs. Germs don't hurt our skin, but they can't go in your mouth, okay? Good girl." 

"He can't hurt my skin?" 

"No, bub. Some bugs can, but not the plain black slugs. How about next time you want to pick one up, you come and get me and we'll pick it up together?" 

Steve doesn't want to kill her fearlessness in this sole area, not when she's usually timid around everything else, but he also doesn't want to kill her full stop. All these random bugs, Steve doesn't know what's what. 

"Okay. I picked this one up because he's got a yellow stripe," she says. Beth speaks in full words and makes sense the majority of the time, but her delivery is clumsy, heavy in places. Steve can still remember her first word. He's a firm believer in taking your time (please. please, let her take her time). 

"You're super brave," he praises.

"Mom says bugs are more 'fraid of us than we are of them." 

"She's right. Think if something this much bigger than you picked you up one day, you'd want them to put you down gently, right?" 

Determination fills her eyes. "Yes." 

She starts to run off but then slows, holding her hand aloft in front of her. 

Closer by, Avery blows bubbles near Wren's soft chair, the youngest baby giggling like a tinkling bell. You and Steve have emphasised to Avery that Wren isn't her responsibility. Look after her as you would your other sisters, but don't feel like being the biggest sister makes you in charge. Avery sort of listened, but now she's planning Halloween costumes in her head, Steve's worried she's putting too much on her little shoulders, as she tends to do. 

"Come here, my big girl," he demands, opening his arms. 

Avery grins and jumps into his lap. Steve groans playfully, happy to be trampled, and just glad she had the foresight to screw the cap on her bubbles before she pounced. 

"Hello. So, do I need to go to the store for this costume?" he asks. 

"Probably."

"Okay. Are you coming with me to choose?" 

"Mom said we're all going after lunch." 

Steve waves her arms back and forth. "I guess we better get ready, then." 

Easier said than done. Steve marches the girls back inside to find you've already dressed Dove and sat her in her chair with her lunch in front of her. Feeding young kids is tough because you're always trying to rotate things to keep their tastes big, but you've given in today to an easy solution; everybody's having pizza subs and halved grapes. So long as they're fed, who minds? 

"Give me the babies!" you say, jumping up from your seat to grab Wren, chair and all, "Hi. Something tells me it's time for a bottle." 

"I'll get them dressed–" 

"Go get yourself dressed. They can eat first." You kiss his cheek. "I put some stuff out for you already." 

"I can do it," he insists. 

"Take a break," you insist back, your tone gentle as velveteen.

His turn to kiss your cheek. "Do you know what Avery wants to be for her costume?" he asks in your ear. 

"She wants to be Belle, she told us weeks ago." He remembers as soon as you say it. "But I don't think finding a costume for her is going to be very easy this close to Halloween." 

Steve doesn't blame either of you for your busy October, but he hates himself watching Avery grow more and more disappointed with every store you drive to. There are no yellow princess dresses to be found, only store brand pinks. Bethie is ecstatic to choose one of those ones and Dove insists on a white fairy costume with sugar paper wings, but Avery's frown grows heartbreaking when it's clear there aren't any Belle dresses to buy. 

"I'm sorry," you're saying, Wren strapped to your chest, Beth and Dove knee to knee in the shopping cart in front of you. "It's my fault, baby, I left it last minute." 

"No, it's my fault," Steve says. 

Avery glares for a while, standing in front of all the dresses. Steve bends down to speak with her. "I'm sorry, Ave. Don't be mad at mom, okay? It's not her fault even when she says it is, she was busy working and I forgot about costumes because I had all that stuff with Wren and the doctors and my glasses and–" He winces. "I'm sorry. Really, really sorry. So be mad at me if you want, I was supposed to remember, but I'll make it up to you, promise."

"I told you ages ago," she says morosely. 

"I know. You did. I didn't think about them running out of costumes, Avery. Sometimes when you're a grown up you have so much stuff to think of you don't have room for all of it, but that's not fair, huh? Now you don't get the costume you wanted." 

She sighs, but the thing about Avery is that if you understand her point, she runs out of anger, just like her mom. She wants to make up, burying her face in Steve's thigh for a hug. 

"What am I going to be now?" she asks. 

"How about Belle's blue dress, babe?" you suggest. 

"They don't have any Belle costumes!" 

"I know, but we can make one. That's what me and dad did growing up, right?" you ask. 

"All my costumes were homemade," he seconds, "that was the fun part." 

So Avery marches you guys to the normal dresses and together you look for something nice and long enough for her tall stature. It's in the middle of this searching when she gasps, jumping up to grab Steve by the elbows. 

Delighted at being forgiven, he bends down at her whim. "What?" he asks excitedly. 

"Wren can be a bumblebee, like me!" 

"You remember that?" he asks. 

"No, but you have the photo in the car. Do you still have the costume?" 

It's Steve. Of course he kept the costume, he keeps everything, an attic stuffed to bursting with the offcuts of your lives. You giggle from the landing underneath him, the baby in one arm and a spooky drink made special by Dove in the other hand. "I wish you could drink more than milk." 

"Don't poison her!" Steve says, covered in cobwebs and knees white with dust as he climbs down the rickety ladder back onto solid ground. You wolf whistle as he reaches up to close everything safely, and cheer when you see the bee costume in his hand.

"You're the best. Think we should let Avery put it on her?" you ask. 

"Maybe. Think she can be gentle enough?"

Your little girl, so preoccupied with her sister's costume that she forgot about her own? Yes, Avery can be gentle enough. She sews Wren's small arms into the costume's sleeves like she's handling a girl made of glass, and she doesn't attempt to lift her, quick to say, "Dad, can you pick her up for me?" 

Steve lifts her and Wren does her scrunch, legs pulled up high and face a little startled. She's just old enough to giggle, prompting Bethie to join in as she races across the living room rug, the skirts of her dress fluttering against the floor. 

"She looks like a bee!" Dove says, following after, her fairy wings jittering with her movements. 

"She is!" Avery says, buttoning Wren's last button. 

Finally, after an exhausting afternoon (both of energy and your wallets), the four girls are dressed in their Halloween costumes. Avery as Belle in her original blue dress and white apron, not the costume she wanted but clearly her favourite character nonetheless. Bethie wears her pink princess dress and one of Avery's big plastic tiaras, her hair done as you would style your own for date night. Dove twirls in her white fairy dress, silver corset ribbons shiny in the light. Wren gurgles in his arms, her soft wings folded between her and Steve's chest. And you, uncostumed, stand beautiful and tired in the doorway, sparkly eyeshadow in a stripe up your cheek. 

The girls smile at him and their eyes glimmer. 

"Wow," he says, leaning back against the couch. "You guys look amazing." 

"It's about an hour until we're gonna leave," you say, "so please do mommy a favour and watch some TV, okay?" 

You set them up in a line with a bowl of chips each —you can vacuum them clean. Steve cleans as quickly as he can while you wipe your face and put aside some stuff for tonight in case the girls come home hungry, and eventually, eventually, you and Steve make your way to the kitchen table for a quiet minute together. 

"Wren's–" 

"In her bassinet," Steve says. "You're–" 

"Fine." You reach for his hand. "And you're–" 

"Perfect." He rubs the back of your fingers with his thumb. "I've missed you today. I know we were together, but…" 

You slouch into the table, resting your cheek on a placemat and closing your eyes. "Me too, sweetheart." 

He shuffles closer and leans in. "Tired, huh?" he asks gently, pressing similarly soft kisses to your cheek. "Love you," he says. "Don't fall asleep." 

"I'm not. Just resting my eyes." 

He doesn't rub your back, worried it'll send you to sleep. Instead, he kisses all over your face, sloe at first and faster when he realises it'll take a while to cover every inch. You smile and let him do as he pleases, laughing under your breath as he kisses your eyelid, squirming when he pecks under your nose. "Freak," you mumble. 

"That's what I'm being for Halloween."

"What am I gonna be?" you ask.

"Same as every year, I thought. Most beautiful girl this side of the Mississippi river." 

You like the sound of it, pulling your joined hands to your face to nuzzle his knuckles. 

"Or you can be Frankentstein," he suggests. "I'll be the monster." 

"We can just be the two tiredest parents ever." 

"That's not super creative, babe, we kinda do that every day." 

"So I'm not beautiful every day," you say quickly, having set him up. "Knew it." 

"You tricked me." 

"Did not. Make it up to me?" 

"What do you want?" he asks. 

"Just a hug, Stevie." You raise your head to smile at him sleepily. "A really nice hug, please." 

He saves the line about every hug being nice when it's with you and cuddles you, stroking your back for countless minutes, murmuring nothings to you until baby Wren shriek-cries from the living room. Steve soothes her upset, and you start the impossible task of getting everyone in their shoes for a night of trick-or-treating.

[tigergirltail]

TIGER HRT CHAPTER 6 - MONTH 6 - THE CAGED BIRD

CONTENT WARNING - This chapter contains mentions of medical injections, bigotry, child abuse, self-harm, and attempted suicide. Reader beware.

FIRST - PREV - NEXT

I had my six-month check-up with Dr. Erian, an online appointment just like last time. No particular medical issues this time around, bloodwork checks out, genetic reconfiguration is stable. We can't do a thorough physical exam over the internet, but according to him, I am "the very picture of health, by the standards of your species". I'm a bit curious what standards those are, given that I have yet to hear about any other tiger therians. Hopefully there ARE standards, and he's not just giving me empty reassurance.

We also spent some time going over dietary concerns - am I getting enough meat, am I reducing my fruit and grain intake appropriately, that sort of thing. I assured him that I'm eating real meat with every meal, just like the booklet said to, I've been limiting fruits and vegetables, and I don't even have an appetite for anything grain-based. I'll probably miss what fresh bread used to be like, but I just can't bring myself to want it anymore. Apparently not every therian is following the diet they're supposed to, but the doctor didn't have any concerns about me, "assuming your answers are honest, Miss Alexis". What, does he think I'm about to lie to the one person who knows how species transition works?

At one point during the discussion I thought I heard him mutter something about a "foolish undine", but I must have misheard. Undines are water spirits or elementals or something - a fictional creature. Then again, so are dragons and lamias, but the first well-known humanity remover was a dragon-girl, and I've been hanging out and playing online games with a lamia. At this point you could tell me there's someone out there transitioning to Sonic the Hedgehog, and I might actually believe you.

I've hit the point of full fur coverage, so no more awkward bald patches! Unfortunately, this does mean I need to start taking my estrogen in a form other than skin patches, because there's nowhere left to stick them. After a lot of agonizing over the pros and cons of potential liver damage from pills versus facing down my needle phobia, I opted to ask my endocrinologist to train me on injectable estrogen. She made a somewhat tone-deaf joke about not being trained in veterinary medicine, but she was otherwise very patient and reassuring, so I let it slide.

I do want to state for the record that I am a big scary tiger who's not afraid of anything and I only cried a little bit the first time I injected myself.

My ears are definitely becoming much more sensitive - I keep hearing really annoying high-pitch noises when I'm around heavy machinery, and that happens a lot more often than you might think. My office at work is right next to an elevator, and whenever someone uses it, the motor lets out this gods-awful whine and I have to plug my ears until it stops moving again. My local grocery also has a few freezer units that give off a similar sound, constantly, and I've had to start wearing earplugs to go on food runs.

As for visual changes, I can see in the dark reasonably well, but I've also started getting headaches and discomfort when I squint or try too hard to focus on something. I guess I should probably just… try to not do that. I have spent a significant portion of my life staring at a screen, so my eyes probably aren't in the best shape overall.

Now that my physical changes are pretty much done, most people just assume I'm wearing a very intricate costume - at least, until they get close. No costume has mouth movements or facial expressions this realistic, and believe me, our top furry scientists and engineers have tried.

At one point there's a conversation on the humanity removal chat server about the political climates in our respective areas towards therians. Obviously, a lot of the right-wing talking-head shows have been shitting themselves inside-out about the idea of people giving up their humanity, especially the ones with a more religious bent. "How dare these freaks forsake God's holy image", "Humanity is a divine blessing and must be cherished", "We call on the one true God to smite these worshippers of the Beast", and so on like that. Excuse you, but I've never worshipped your discriminatory god and I'm not beholden to their 'holy image'. My goddess is one of beauty, love, and artistic expression, and the entire reason I'm changing myself in the first place is as an expression of self-love.

Most of us agree, though, that the absolute worst of the 24-hour news cycle doesn't have anything to do with how regular everyday people see us. In fact, we're rare enough still that a decent proportion of people don't believe we exist - they think that tabloids made us up to sell more copies. I don't know if that's better in terms of acceptance, but I'll take it over a torch-and-pitchfork mob running me out of town.

The conversation shifts to us sharing our locations, those of us who are comfortable doing so at least. We generally keep it vague, but most of us are at least alright with saying which country we live in. I narrow it down to a province for myself, mainly because my province alone is larger than some countries, but also because once we start to get noticed by the media and the world, there'll probably be no stopping our locations becoming known.

It's also going to get interesting if anyone starts asking how most of us are going to the same medical provider when he requires that consultations be done in person, or why the location he operates out of - Hyper City - doesn't appear on any map. Truthfully, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it myself.

The next day, I get a private message from the girl with the corvid avatar:

"Hey I saw your post when everybody was talking about where they are! I live there too!! We should totally meet up sometime ^v^"

…This is a dilemma. Obviously, I'm worried about the optics of a teenager meeting up with a 39-year-old she met on the internet, there's all kinds of ways that could be taken the wrong way, but dammit, I still don't know anyone like me in this part of the world, who knows if I'll ever find anyone else who's local? …I really want to try, but I should at least give her a warning, and a judgement-free out.

"Uhh I get wanting to meet up, but I'm more than 20 years older than you, would your parents be anywhere near cool with that??"

There's a long pause. I see her start and stop typing multiple times. I'm worried I've upset her. Eventually, she sends another message:

"I don't give a fuck what they think"

I'm taken aback by the harshness of the reply, and don't manage to type anything before another series of messages pops up:

"and they don't care what I do anyway so it's whatever" "if anyone asks I'll just say you're my weird aunt" "you have no idea how bad I want to meet someone who GETS IT" "humanity is a curse and I want to be free"

'I want to be free'. Something about that phrase hits somewhere deep, in a source of pain that never fully healed. Freedom from pain, freedom from self-hatred, freedom at any cost, even if it meant my life. I remember how that desire for freedom feels.

The only thing I can think to do next is ask if she's okay. Her response is to ask if I can go on a voice call. I'm not sure if she wants some confirmation that I'm a real person or if she just doesn't want the next part of the conversation preserved in the text log.

"Hey…", I begin cautiously as the voice call starts. "Can you hear me okay?"

There's a suppressed sniffle on the other end. "Yeah… I hear you."

For a moment I entertain the thought of going all 'when I was your age' and explaining that I was always cautioned against talking to strangers on the internet, but it's probably not the time for that. Read the room, Alexis.

She's not saying anything. I'm going to have to start this off, I think. Something harmless, something value-neutral…

"So from your icon, I'm guessing you want crow HRT? Raven HRT, maybe?"

"Crow HRT.", she states simply. "Crows are everywhere here, and I've always loved them, always been jealous of them. They get to go anywhere they want, do anything they want…" She lets out a groaning sigh. "Augh, this is stupid. You probably think I'm stupid for wanting this."

I can't hold back from giving a little bit of a laugh. "Hah! Young lady, one year ago I went to a doctor and told him to his face that I wanted him to turn me into a recessive-gene variant of an endangered species that doesn't even live on this continent, and then I threatened to bite him if he wouldn't do it. Fantasizing about being a crow is just about the normalest thing I can imagine compared to that."

"…You said you'd BITE him?"

I grin, though without a camera set up she can't see it. "Every one of us who seeks out humanity removal therapy is already a little bit inhuman, even if we don't fully know it yet. After all, why would we remove something if we felt emotionally attached to it?"

Another audible sniffle. "Holy fuck, you DO get it…"

"I sure hope I get it, it's not like I can un-grow the fur and the tail."

She gives a laugh, then there's a long pause. "…Does it hurt? Is it scary?"

"Sometimes. My fingers were REALLY sore while my claws were developing, and having your entire facial structure rearrange is no joke. As for scary, well, I sure get stared at a lot more, but I think I scare people a lot more than they scare me."

"Heh, maybe I want to be scary."

I frown a little. "I don't. I just want to be true to myself."

There's an awkward silence. After a while, I decide to bring up something I was curious about:

"So I remember you asking if there was a way to get species HRT without your parents noticing. I'm guessing they're not exactly supportive?"

She lets out an uncomfortable groan. "Mmmngh… They watch a lot of those news shows, you know, the ones that only run angry sensationalist bullcrap? Dad gets furious at the idea of anyone changing themselves, something about the 'holy sanctity of the human body' or whatever. He even thinks tattoos are blasphemy. Mom says it's the most horrific thing she can imagine, she nearly fainted when she caught me watching a stream of this one dragon girl talking about her changes."

"And here you are, wanting to be a bird… I'm sorry, that sounds really rough."

"It… It is." I can hear her voice faltering. "Hearing nothing but how terrible a waste it is, and how awful and horrific they are, and the whole time knowing that I'd give ANYTHING for it to happen to me, I just… I'm sorry, I just…"

"Hey, you don't need to apologize… I'm not going anywhere."

"I just… don't know how much longer I can take it!"

"…Take what?" I'm afraid to ask my next question, but… I just have to. "…What are they doing to you??"

Somewhere deep inside her, the dam just… breaks. She starts sobbing as she tells me about how her parents yell at her over every single mistake, how she gets shoved or hit just for being in the way, how she hurts herself just so the pain gives her something to feel and to focus on, and how she… How she once climbed up to the roof of her building and took a flying leap off. She had every intention to end her own life, but in the moment her feet left the ground and she felt the air under her arms, she experienced a rush of euphoria, for the first time she can remember.

…And a moment later, she broke a leg and several ribs when she hit the ground.

She explains that she spent over a month in hospital, a captive audience for her parents to yell at more, when they even bothered to show up at all. I'm too stunned to even react.

She's spent the years since then chasing that high, climbing trees and jumping off, finding rooftops and hilltops to go stand in the wind, looking up online videos of parachuting and wingsuiting and hang gliding, and when she first heard rumours about medical treatments that can alter one's very species, she started frantically researching. That's how she started finding other therians to reach out to, how she got involved in the group chat.

"Have you… had an appointment with Dr. Erian yet?" I have a feeling I already know the answer - something something, 'letter from a physician, two psychologists, live as your preferred species for at least a year'. The same horseshit I had to listen to.

"No… I tried to get one, but he won't see anyone under 18 without parental consent, and fat chance of ever getting that."

Huh. I hadn't expected that, it feels surprisingly principled for him. Though at the end of the day, it's probably just another liability thing - ol' Teddy Erian covering his own ass as usual.

"I just…" She's started crying again. "I just want to turn into a beautiful black bird and fly away from all this, forever… I just want to live my life on the wind, going wherever I want, never having to see a single human again…"

I can feel my own tears welling up, and that's the moment I make my decision. I'm going to meet up with this girl, and I'm going to find a way to help her. Maybe she doesn't need humanity removal, maybe she just needs to know someone who understands.

We decide on a place and time to meet up. There's a little cafe I like nearby, run by a trio of neurodivergent queer women. It's a public place, and about as safe for weirdos like us as you can get. Corvid-girl tells me she'll be the one with a feathered headband and a crow-skull necklace. I tell her I'll be the one with white fur and a tail. That manages to get a laugh out of her. I choose to take that as a victory.

There's something about the way she laughs that sounds a bit like a crow's call. I wonder whether that's intentional on her part…

A few days later, I'm sitting in the cafe enjoying a hot chocolate and a roast beef sandwich - extra meat, naturally. Dr. Erian said I have to start cutting chocolate out of my diet because cocoa is going to become toxic to me, but… chocolate! I did ask for a lighter mix though, so what I'm drinking is actually mostly just hot milk. Maybe there's a cocoa-free substitute out there I can look into…

I'm snapped out of my thoughts by a squeal of delight emanating from the front door. There's a teenage girl standing there, staring directly at me with a look of amazement on her face. Dark clothes, pale skin, black hair, headband with feathers in it, and hanging from her neck, an amulet in the shape of a bird skull. I smile and wave a paw at her. She practically bounces as she walks up to my table and takes a seat.

"Holy SHIT, you're… And you even have the… Your face looks just like… Can I touch your paw??"

I laugh and hold out my paw. "Haha, sure, just watch out for the claws, they don't stay all the way inside just yet."

"Oh, it's okay, I'm used to sharp things!"

I wince as I think back to our voice chat from the other day. I REALLY hope she doesn't mean what I think she means, but I can't help noticing she's wearing long sleeves, even though the weather has been getting warmer.

She turns my paw over and squeals. "OHMYGOD you even have the BEEEEANS!" I can't resist smiling as she starts poking and prodding at my pawpads. "You look SO!! AMAZING!!"

Corvid-girl starts frantically complimenting all my animalistic features - "Your stripes are so pretty!" "I love your tail!" "Ohh, your fangs, they're so COOL!!" - and I start uncontrollably blushing. I never would have thought species affirmation would feel this euphoric… Naturally, being a teenager, she takes this as an excuse to push even harder, and I start covering my face with my paws, thoroughly embarrassed.

"You look just like the tigers they have on stage for those shows in Vegas!"

"H-hey, that's actually not okay…"

"You know, I bet you'd look good up on a stage too! Everyone would love to see you!!"

Instinctually, I let out a growl, louder than I actually want to. It has the intended effect, in that she stops dead and stares at me, but so do a few other cafe patrons. Oh gods, here comes the embarrassment again… "H-hey, look, it's just…"

"Sorry." She's gone completely deadpan, and stiff as a board.

I close my eyes tightly. Gods, why did I DO that?? First the waitress at that seafood place, and now an actual CHILD. I REALLY need to start getting a handle on these predator instincts. When I open my eyes again, she's still standing there, and she looks like she's on the verge of a panic attack.

I need to calm her down, need to bring her back. "No… I'M sorry. I shouldn't have done that, I just… The animals they use for those stage shows get abused all the time, and it's kind of a sore spot for me."

"…Really?"

Okay, she's talking, she's distracted, maybe I can still salvage this. "Yeah… Every species has baggage, it's one of the shitty parts of being therian, and tigers, white tigers especially, they're treated like show pieces, or worse."

"…Well shit, I knew they're endangered, but… fuck."

"Yeah, it's a whole thing, I try not to -"

Our conversation is interrupted by one of the staff tapping corvid-girl on the shoulder and asking to talk privately. She reluctantly agrees to go to the back of the store and talk. At first I think maybe she's being chastised for being a disturbance, but the barista who pulled her away is giving me some very pointed looks. Worried looks, I might even say.

If I angle my ears just right, I can almost hear them through the noise of the rest of the cafe.

"…other patrons were concerned… …young lady so close to a dangerous creature…"

I wonder if the barista notices the indignant look that crosses my face when they describe me as a 'creature'.

Corvid-girl lets out that bird-like laugh of hers. Her voice is a lot more distinct and easier to pick out:

"It's just my aunt! She's not a 'creature', she just takes meds to look like that!"

The barista doesn't protest as corvid-girl returns to our table, but they're still giving me a very 'You'd better not try anything' kind of look.

Corvid-girl sits down, seemingly a little more grounded, a little more sobered. "…I guess I never thought to ask, why a white tiger?"

I lean forward, head in one paw, and give a bit of a shrug. "I relate a lot to them."

"To… being treated like a show piece, or whatever you said?"

"…Yeah. When I was little, they called me 'gifted' and put me in a separate school. I remember being excited about it, but it turns out it just meant getting more homework."

"…Ew."

I smile a little bit. "That's what I thought too! They wanted me to be some brilliant prodigy, a genius in the making, but the reality is I was just more observant and better at math than most people, that's all. I actually had to take an extra year of school because I was so bad at it."

"EWW!!"

"I KNOW, RIGHT?? But, then I went to college and graduated at the top of my class, so the joke's on them in the end."

"I wasn't even planning on staying around long enough for college…" She still has a bit of a depressed air about her, but she's not going into a panic. Maybe I'm better with kids than I thought.

"Yeah, I remember, you were going to turn into a beautiful crow and fly away forever." I try to give her a reassuring look. "But hey, the human world isn't ALL bad."

"Says the woman who's turning herself into a wild animal."

I snort quietly as I hold back a laugh. "Okay, fair, but wild animals don't get the internet, or nice little cafes where weirdos like us can just sit and talk."

"Hah, yeah… Weirdos like us." She gives a smile. An actual, genuine smile. Suddenly all the awkwardness is worth it, to see someone so deeply unhappy smile. "That reminds me, I saw on the server you're into witchcraft, can you… teach me?"

Somehow I feel like I should have expected this. The goth-looking crow girl is into witchcraft, big surprise. "I… guess? Maybe? I'm not like an expert or anything, I've just read a few books and cast a few spells is all."

"Ooh, what kind of spells??" And now she's back to her enthusiastic self.

"Just some protective charms on people who needed them, a few card readings with a tarot deck, nothing much really…"

"Does it really work??"

"I mean, the people I cast those charms on ended up safe in the end, but who knows if what I did made a difference? Some of the card readings were scary-accurate though, I think I might have a talent for divination."

She laughs. "Gonna have to get you to read my future sometime."

We end up spending the next hour or so making small talk, getting to know each other, talking about the ins and outs of humanity removal, complaining about Dr. Erian, until…

"Hey, I gotta go catch the bus back home, but… this was nice." She gives a bit of a smirk. "Cool to meet another weirdo."

Before she leaves, I ask her name - I still don't know it, I've been internally calling her 'corvid-girl' this entire time.

She gives me a disgusted grimace. "Ugh, it's 'Margaret'. I'm named for my great-grandmother, it's SUCH an old-lady name."

"Margaret, like Maggie, as in magpie?" I smile a little. "Those are corvids too, you know."

Her expression softens a little. "…Never thought of that. Still don't like it, though…"

"Well, is there a name you'd like better? I can start calling you that if you like."

She freezes. Somewhere in her eyes I can see her mind working to process what I've just said. "…Nobody ever asked me that before. I'll… think about it." She turns to leave.

"Wait, hold on a sec."

"WHAT!?" She outright glares at me, then seems to soften. "Sorry, it's… never mind."

That… was an EXTREMELY sudden mood shift. Trauma response, maybe? "I… was just going to ask if you wanted a sandwich or something to take home."

"…Didn't bring any money…"

I shake my head a little. "That doesn't answer my question. Would you like me to BUY you a sandwich or something?"

"…Egg salad if they got it I guess…"

I go up to the counter and buy her an egg salad sandwich to go. She looks like she's going to cry when I hand it to her. I… probably shouldn't make a big deal about that, but somewhere deep inside, my heart breaks a little. Does she never have anyone just… offer her food?

I'm beginning to understand why she wants to leave behind the curse of humanity. I chose this path, I wanted to be a tiger, I'm running towards something. Corvid-girl, though? She's running away from something.

I walk her outside, and she starts to walk away, but suddenly stops, and turns back to me. She walks resolutely up to me, then grabs me in a hug.

"Soft…" Her voice is muffled against both my shirt and the fur underneath. "You're very soft…"

Once I get over my surprise at the sudden gesture, I hesitantly put one arm around her shoulders and pat her on the back. She pulls away after a few short moments, and walks away down the sidewalk without another word.

I touch my shirt where her head was leaning, and notice a small wet spot.

---

Time to play "Spot the References!" Intentional references below:

"something about a 'foolish undine'" - welldrawnfish (Fish HRT)

"the first well-known humanity remover was a dragon-girl" - ayviedoesthings (Dragon HRT)

"I've been hanging out and playing online games with a lamia" - ariathelamia (Lamia HRT)

"someone out there transitioning to Sonic the Hedgehog" - sonic-spirit (Sonic HRT)

"watching a stream of this one dragon girl talking about her changes" - Rain, by Jocelyn Samara D. (Dragon HRT)

[waffliesinyoface]

thinking about Echoes of Wisdom again, and, I really hope that the progression in that becomes the standard for zelda games from here on out.

Like, the old standard set by Ocarina of Time, followed all the way to Skyward sword, was strictly linear. I, personally, don't have a problem with linearity, but the devs at nintendo clearly do, if their comments on BotW are anything to go by. In my mind, the downsides of a lack of player agency are more than made up for by the dungeons having a proper difficulty curve, and having a linear story.

In BotW and TotK, in a desire to put player freedom above all else, you can do the dungeons in whatever order, and you get all your abilities right out of the gate. ...Which also means that every single dungeon has to be presented as though it's the first dungeon a player might encounter (ie: explaining you need the map to activate the terminals to control the divine beast every single time) and also can't be too difficult either. And the also means that the story can't be too heavily tied to dungeons because, again, the player can do them in any order. Which leads to moments like every single one of the sages in TotK giving the exact same backstory of "Ganondorf attacked with armies of demons, we fought him with sacred stones, we almost lost but then rauru heroically sacrificed himself, and then the Sage of Time showed up and said you'd be around to fix shit in a few thousand years".

This is, uh. I'm not going to beat around the bush: fucking terrible. TotK tried to solve this a bit with the 5th sage dungeon being locked behind doing the other 4, and the run up to the castle, but it kind of fell flat. Especially because mineru, by the time you get her, really isn't very good.

Echoes of Wisdom, thankfully, fixes this! You have free roam of the map from the start - though, some areas will hand you your ass if you don't have strong enough echoes of your own - but you have to do the starter dungeons, the Gerudo and Zora, first. If you go to the areas with the later dungeons... well, you can go there, but there's no point, because the plot hasn't actually happened there yet. If you decide to go visit the deku scrubs first, they're just chilling. The only thing there is funny dialogue. (For example, if you try to climb the mountain first, Tri will pop up and go "there is nothing here for you and you WILL freeze your ass off, are you sure you want to be here...?")

This!! Is the best of both worlds. The player has freedom to do stuff in whatever order, within limits. And, unlike TotK, which just gives you the same goddamn information each time, the game goes "okay we have 3 different lore-drops we need to do, and they need to be done in [x] order, but it doesn't actually fucking matter who says them."

Granted, this is much easier to do when there's no voice acting, but. Come the fuck on, nintendo. You have like 10 scenes total with voice acting. You can make the actor say something different depending on when you do them. This isn't hard.

[sweetiesicheng]

dk - retirement

word count : 840

-

"y/n!" seokmin shouts and runs over to you. with your trophy by your feet, you open your arms and practically jump into his. "you did so amazing out there, baby," he says to you and pecks your lips.

"thanks," you reply with a smile. "did you get some good shots?" you ask.

"yea. gonna have a lot of editing to do, but it'll be alright," he says to you and puts you on the ground.

you look around and notice someone looking at you. it looks like they're trying to get your attention so you can be interviewed.

"i think i gotta go, babe," you say to him.

"hm? oh," seokmin nods, "go. i'm going to get some more shots."

you go over to an area to be interviewed and people are almost swarming you. some security guards have to settle everyone down before you can be interviewed.

"y/n! how does it feel to have won your last race?"

"people say your performance when you were in monaco was better. any comments?"

"y/n, why did you decide to retire?"

you take a deep breath in before speaking. "today's race was an honor to be a part of. despite the difficulty, i think all of the participants showed themselves today," you speak in front of many mic packs that are being held by reporters. "the decision to retire wasn't an easy one, but today's race was my last race as a professional. i have been honored with being one of the many professionals in this field, and i can't wait to see what the future has to bring for the future for me as well as others."

more questions start being thrown out, and you answer them as you can. the questions start to focus on about your retirement, but you don't mind. the news was slowly let public because of how well liked you are.

when you're done getting interviewed, you meet with your crew.

"dinner on me, alright?" you say to them, "and you guys gotta meet the kid."

"chan, right?" one of your crew asks. "think he can keep up?"

you grin, "just because i'm not driving doesn't mean i'll be gone. i'll make sure he gets everything straight."

"you don't need to help us, y/n. we got everything," another crew member says to you while some of them pack up stuff.

"you sure?" you ask.

"yea, don't worry about it," they reply.

"thanks."

you look around and find seokmin taking photos in the press area. you don't want to bother him yet since he needs to get his photos, so you go to another area and change out of your suit. when you're done changing, you pack up your backpack and sit in a room where a few of the racers are.

you're pretty friendly with most of them, but you didn't feel like talking to them right now. honestly, you're getting pretty sad since everything's over. your career that you started off years ago is now over. however, you know you won't be away from the races. maybe you'll end up being a commentator once in a while.

but for now, you'll live your life.

—

"baby?"

you look up and see seokmin walking in with his backpack on. it looks like he's done working for the day since his camera isn't out.

"you okay?" he asks when he walks over to you.

you nod, "yea. just a little sad," you reply.

"i bet," he replies and kisses your forehead. "you know, we'll probably be back here to watch a race in a few months," he says, "and you can just take mingyu's car for a little joyride on the course when we go to a race."

you chuckle, "i definitely will do that."

"ready to go?" he asks, holding his hand out to you.

you nod and take his hand, "let's go."

you and seokmin leave the building together. there's still some paparazzi lingering, but you give simple waves and smiles to the photographers. you meet with your crew and all of you decide to head to a restaurant for dinner.

"hey y/n," one of your crew members calls. he holds your trophy up, "i think you should bring this one with us."

"bring it to dinner? and have seokmin drink out of it again?" you ask.

"oh come on, you did that before i did," seokmin says to you.

"and i'll do it again if it means you'll do it," you say to him. "hand it over," you say and receiver your trophy.

"wait, stop right there. you look cute," seokmin says and suddenly takes his backpack off. he fishes his camera out and turns it on. "gotta show off the best racer in this industry," he says and takes the lens cap off.

you smile, "she's retired now," you remind him.

"doesn't matter. she'll be number one in my heart for the rest of our lives," seokmin says and holds up his camera to take a photo of you.

[vulpixisananimal]

[You held the knife right to Ramos' throat, ignoring Mirabelles panicked yelling. Mind craft?!? MIND CRAFT?!? WHY WAS THAT HERE!!!]

"Raaaaamoooooos~"

"I-I didn't!! I didn't do anything please!! P-please!!" [He looked between you, the knife, and Mirabelle.] "I-I came here with Mira to warn you, r-right??"

[You grin evily. Leaning closer to Ramos' face, the rain running down your cloak not helping your image.] "Oh you did~ Didn't you? And how do I know you didn't get Mirabelles mind as well~?"

"Loop!!" [Mirabelle yells.]

"I-I didn't do anything!! I p-promise I-I, I-"

"Oh you didn't do you? Oh, and I'm sure it WASN'T you who started meddling in everyones minds in Jouvente!!"

"I-I, I--"

"LOOP!!!" [Oh that was, a tone you had NEVER heard from the Housemaiden. You turn to look at her, she looked furious. You faulter.] "Let Ramos go!!"

[. . . . . You back away from Ramos. They stumble back.]

"Now say sorry."

"But Mira-"

"I said say sorry."

[You shudder, stars. You had never seen her like this. You look at Ramos, they're terrified. You sigh, and force the words.] ". . . I'm sorry Ramos."

"I-it'sfine. . ." [They mumble out, getting to their feet.] "I. . . S-sorry."

"Do not apologise, Ramos. Loop, look at me,."

[You look over to your Housemaiden. With a hand on her hip, she gently bonks you on the head.]

"Ow."

"No mind craft, see? I'm fine." [She says with a huff.] "Now can we please be productive?"

"Right. Sorry, Mirabelle." [You say, looking away. Stars. . .] "So, what happened."

[Mirabelle looked to Ramos, they took a breath before explaining.] "Alright, w-well, I got back from my jog, went inside, saw Isa in the common area, gave him a hug and felt a tingle- No no no let me finish!! I'm fine I promise!!"

"You better be." [You mumble, stepping back again.]

"O-okay, okay so, it was mind craft being spread from Isa to me, but, well, y'know, I can do some of that too! And I remember that mind craft needs some time to latch on? If that makes sense?"

"Go on. . .?" [You say, impatiently. Mirabelle gives you a look.]

"R-right. Well, I uh. . . I ran outside, found Mira practicing with her sword, and uh, a-asked her to hit me over the head."

"HA!"

"Loop!"

"It was funny! Sorry~"

[Ramos rubbed their shoulder.] "I-It's alright Mira, uh, s-so, well that kinda jumbled my head enough so I could use my own mind craft to dispell the one effecting me. Then, well, me and Mira went to grab you."

[You tap your foot. Great. Just, great.] "Why does this have to happen again."

"A-at least, we got to you first! Right?" [Mira says, trying to stay cheery.] "Now as long as you're safe we can figure this out!"

"Right you are~ Mirabelle~" [You say, like nothing ever happened.] "And Ramos, I am sorry. Thank you for getting me."

"O-oh! Uh. . . Thanks." [They say, looking away.]

"Now, shall we see how Isabeau's doing?"

"H-Huh?!?"

"Right away, Loop?" [Mira asks, concerned.]

"I want to see what's up in person. I promise, I wont let him touch me."

"If you're sure. . ."

[You weren't sure. But you had to see. The three of you walked back to the inn. Ha, don't let him touch you? What a reversal! To think he always thought you didn't want to be touched, yet, it's true now!! Ha!! Haha!!]

[Ugh. Mind craft. Why was it here again? Alright, if it WASN'T Ramos who caused it? You knew it could be spread by touch, so who would have had physical contact with Isabeau. Any of your party, realisticaly. Jan the innkeeper. . . Wait.]

[Ugh.]

[Nuuuullllll are you around at all~ My faaaavorite time looping headmate I could soooo use your help~ I KNOW you were the one in charge this morning and oh I don't remember a thing! It's quite serious you know, Mind craft~]

[. . . Stars. Stupid. Fine then be that way. You'll have to make do.]

[Coming around to the homestead, you notice that Isabeau is standing outside the front door looking down. He looked normal, if not a bit worried. You breathe in, and out.] "If I could talk to him alone? You can stay near, of course."

"I-if you're sure." [Ramos says, worried.]

"We'll jump in if there's trouble! Okay?" [Mira sounds confident.]

[You nod. And start walking to the front door. He didn't notice you untill you were a few paces away, he looked up, and smiled.] "Hey Sif!"

[You stop a few feet away.] "Hey Isa, everything alright?"

"Yeah! Well, kinda? Have you seen Ramos?" [He gets up and walks over to you.] "They were acting kinda weird earlier."

[You take a step back.] "Nope~ I wanted to talk to you about him, by the way."

"Oh? Is there something. . ." [You take another step back as he walks to you.] ". . . Uh, everything alright?"

"Not really. Could you just, stand over there?" [You say, you could hear the tension in the rain.] "Have you been feeling alright?"

"Yeah! I've been feeling great!" [He stays where he's standing.] "Though we don't wanna get a cold from the rain, right?"

[Questions, questions. . .] "I'm just worried, well, have you seen anyone else at the Inn?"

"Apart from those three this morning? Nope! There was a bonded-couple around this morning, but they left really early."

[This morning?] "Who were those three again?"

[He tilts his head.] "That traveler, remember? Silver hair? Her name was Vixul, by the way. I think she knew those two who were bickering but that's just a guess."

{That girl. Ask about that girl.}

[You twitch a little. Hello to you too, Antimatter~] "Oh? What was she like!"

"Oh she's nice! From some place far off, said I couldn't guess her country even if I tried!" [He replied with a laugh.]

{Antimatter? Really?}

[You need a nickname, Antimatter~ Hmm, couldn't guess her country?] "She didn't. . . Do anything weird, did she?"

"Weird?" [He shakes his head.] "No? Sif, are you sure you're okay?"

"Oh I'm great, Isa, don't worry about me~" [You say with a smile.]

". . ." [He looks away, clearly something on his mind.]

{. . .}

". . . What's wrong, Isa?" [You ask. Still not taking any steps forward.]

". . ." [He sighed.] ". . Do you even like me?"

[!?!??!??!!??]

{!!!!!!}

"W-what ah. . What brought this on?" [You say, trying not to panic.]

"You don't, do you. . ." [He gripped his arm.] "Not, you anyways."

"W-what, what do you-"

"You never liked me did you!" [He looks, looks REALLY upset!] "I-it's been months since I said I love you a-and you keep avoiding me!!"

[WHAT?!?!?!?]

{It's true. Siffrin did not want to talk about their relationship. They were terrified.}

[OF WHAT!!!] "T-that, I-, I'm sorry Isa I, I just have a lot going on and-"

[He yells.] "That didn't stop Mal!"

[What??]

{That's enough. He's being controlled, loop back-}

[You ignore it.] "I- What?!? What did, it. . ."

[Isabeau took a step towards you.] "The only one who's been close to me was Mal! And you all said it was scary and dangerous!! A-and I'm starting to think you were just jealous!!"

[W-what. What. Mal?? what is he talking about?!?!]

{Leave. Go away.}

[You are NOT kicking me out of front!! You take another step back.]

[Isabeau continues.] "Mal has been the ONLY one to be there for me! To really, really be there!! A-and, and I just want to know if you love me too or if it's all fake!!!"

[T-this, this isn't real. Haha. It's not. He's-]

{Effected by mind craft. Please leave now.}

[You didn't.] "I'm, Isa I'm sorry I, uh-"

[He's crying, he- his right hand is bleeding?!?] "It's fine!! Just say it!! Just say you don't love me!!"

{Go. BACK!}

[You shake, that's, that-] "I-isa, I, I-"

"It's fine!! It's fine!!! At least I know one of you has the courage to kiss me!!"

[WHAT?!?!]

{Loop back. Loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back-}

"W-what did, did, you, a-and-"

"What does it matter!!" [He's crying harder.] "I, I- I'm--"

-Loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back loop back LOOP BACK LOOP BACK LOOP BACK!!! PLEASE!!!!!}

[You can see him choke on his words. You smell, y-you smell-] "I-I'm, sorry--"

[You smell burnt sugar.]

{-LOOP BACK LOOP BACK LOOP BACK LOOP BACK LOOP BACK LOOP BACK LOOP BACK LOOP BACK LOOP BACK LOOP BACK LOOP BACK LOOP BACK-}