#but in a lot of these posts the transformation is just like. poof! hes a doggy now :)

[tahthetrickster]

my controversial take as a werewolf-enjoyer is that i find werewolves that are just 1:1 replications of standard real-life canid behavior incredibly boring and unfun. werewolves need a certain level of horror or dread to them to hold my interest. like at a certain point its like this isnt even a werewolf to me this is a shapeshifter with a wolf fursona

[novantinuum]

Reformation ref sheet for an AU Steven (named "Astra") who's been invading my brain since like,, April. It's VERY wide, apologies. There's a lot going on here because this man is incredibly old and has poofed way too many times for varying reasons. (See This post for how I headcanon that Steven can poof and still be considered a hybrid being.)

While I will not talk in huge length about certain aspects of his AU on this blog due to some of it involving strong NSFW themes, there is a ridiculous amount of other lore I've developed over time for Astra, and I love him to death. He is my sad, lonely mans who I metaphorically hurl against the wall like a sticky hand when I need to feel something.

This version of Steven will likely never have any kind of full ass fic or comic made about him. Despite that, I do enjoy sharing some art and fun character lore for him from time to time. So, I might as well finally give followers like... literally ANY context for him. I've had this ref sheet for a while and just have never gotten around to throwing it on here, LOL.

Ridiculously long dump about my guy under the cut.

Subnote, this was supposed to be a quick post but I can't help myself and wrote you a fucking BOOK under the cut because I love my guy so much UWU

(Content warning I guess for like, extremely vague mentions of Steven/Steven later on.)

-

The huge tl;dr of Astra is as follows: he's a version of Steven who exists for SO long that he basically transforms into something of an ancient, lonely god.

He's outlived every single person he once knew as a child, and so as a result is starved for affection. At the same time, being vulnerable is the absolute scariest thing for him and he's really shit at navigating relationships, F.

The guy is THE most powerful living creature in his entire universe by the end, and yet remains a soft-spoken, (generally) benevolent soul. He dedicates himself to acting as caretaker for the vast, populous world he exists within, and to maintain the continuing legacy of Gemkind. A big discovery that occurs in this AU is that Gems are in fact susceptible to entropy over the span of millions of years and will eventually fall "inert," (but not him because of weird hybrid biology stuff he honestly sees as more of a curse than a blessing) so a huge plotline early on in Astra's lifespan is trying to either find a "cure" for this issue or to develop a means by which new generations of Gems can be created without the reinstatement of Kindergartens so Gemkind doesn't overtly go extinct.

-

But, to start... this Steven diverges off a point in canon- this is the timeline where he actually takes up the Diamonds on their offer of the throne in the movie, believing he may have a better chance of heralding true societal change working from the INSIDE rather than stepping away. Because he pours himself so thoroughly into his role on Homeworld and his mind is continuously occupied by this purpose, he never experiences the events SU: Future, nor does he develop his "pink mode" (yet...) or corrupt at all.

However, he's also so engrossed in his work that he's... kind of a shit boyfriend to Connie as years go on. (In that he's not terribly attentive... always super busy... their visits are often cut short, or few and far between.) Their relationship never really goes anywhere as a result, though Connie wants it to. To be fair so does Steven, but he's so scared that everything he's worked so hard to organize and set up in this new era will fall apart if he steps aside from his role for even a moment that he can't allow himself to follow that want.

At some point here he learns he can poof through a complete freak accident, and that's where things really begin to change in this timeline.

It takes a good few months for him to reform, but once he does he's back at it with all his work on Homeworld pretty quick.

The thing is... he doesn't have an innate physical need to eat or drink or sleep anymore, because he now consists of entirely hard light. It mimics human biology to an insane degree, so he COULD do all those things, but he doesn't need them to persist. So... he kinda takes this as an excuse to cut those activities out of his schedule entirely so he can spend more time focused on his duties as a diamond.

Connie is NOT a fan of this, and this leads to some debate and tension within their relationship. That being said, they remain an item...

Up until out of nowhere, Connie dies in an accident on Earth while Steven is off planet in a place where he doesn't have any contact with them for a few days. By the time the Gems are able to get in touch with him, it's far too late to resurrect her.

The kicker? In the autopsy it's discovered that she was a few weeks pregnant when she died.

Steven is emotionally gutted by this... and the thought of what could have been... and poofs.

The guy is understandably destroyed when he comes back in his next form, and his form reflects that- his gem flips as a sort of metaphorical severing from his own humanity.

He spends a long while in a deep depression at the loss of his childhood sweetheart... at the loss of any potential for (as far as he sees) a "normal" human life. There's a part of him that resents the choices he's made to end up in this present, but like, there's still work to be done.

And as the years move on, a LOT of that work is mitigating the growing relations (for better or for worse) between Gems and humans as humanity stretches their legs and reaches out into the stars. Humans kinda get... really aggressive in their expansion though, and quite territorial, and it leads towards some inevitable conflict between them and Gemkind. This time, with them more at fault. Things get so spicy that some groups of humans and Gems go to war.

Steven tries to mitigate one of these situations at the front lines- and gets poofed by a disgruntled Gem, speared straight through the back because she (kinda wrongly) assumed he would take the humans' side due to his ancestral ties to them.

When he reforms this time, he is glowing a perpetual pink. The Gems don't really know what to make of this, but he seems to be in perfectly fine health otherwise, so they assume it's just a normal aspect of this new neutral form.

And while this isn't something Steven has context to figure out until like... billions of years later, what's actually happened is that he's entered a permanent pink mode, pretty much. Guy's just got that much bottled up, unaddressed trauma.

He spends a long time in this form, and over all these thousands of years oversees the slow return to peace between Gems and humans... their marriage as a space age federation... and their deeper exploration of the galaxy. Beyond their home solar systems exist a bounty of alien species they've yet to meet... some friendly, some less so. There's definitely some conflict that crops up amidst the local galactic neighborhood when Gems and humans show up on the playing field here, lol.

But all-in-all, Steven develops a fairly peaceful and predictable routine during this reformation- living more like a Gem than ever before. He's still got the Crystal Gems at his side through all of this, and they are some of his greatest confidants.

And then... without any warning... Gems begin to go inert. Amethyst is among them.

Some of them simply stop reforming after they poof... especially those who were older Gems, or who have been cracked before. Steven and the other Diamonds using their powers together are able to "fix" this at first and "jumpstart" their reformation, but it's just a bandaid of a fix- these Gems will fall inert again pretty soon. And the longer they persist without poofing from alternate causes, the more unstable their form, power, and memory becomes. (Think of this as Gem dementia at its late stages,,, oof.)

The bottom line? Just like organics, Gems aren't immune to the forces of entropy. Sooner or later, their gemstones will decay from the inside out. Stubborn to find a way to save the ones he loves as he watches them slowly deteriorate all around him, Steven dedicates himself to trying to find a cure. But deep down, a part of him recognizes the futility of this. What he believes Gemkind actually needs to do is to develop a means of rebooting Gem incubation that doesn't destroy planets, so they can rebuild their quickly dwindling population and keep their legacy alive.

The big problem with this is that Gems take a SHIT load of energy and resources to properly incubate, so that puzzle will take a long ass time to sort out. There's kinda a lot of chaos that happens during this time. The reality of their own blunt mortality freaks out a bunch of Gems, and Steven has to do damage control with the heads of state for a lot of other alien species.

In the interim, all the Crystal Gems and some of the Diamonds (White is still in the picture, though) end up falling inert. Pearl is the last of the CGs to do so.

Steven is understandably SUPER gutted about this, and poofs yet again. (Lol notice a theme? Poor mans keeps poofing from friggin' anguish. Help him.)

After reforming with barely any changes, it's right back to work for this guy. He and the rest of his team of researchers are unable to find any cure for Gems decaying and falling inert, but they do end up making huge leaps and bounds in other kinds of tech. One of these advances allows Steven to finally deep-scan his own gemstone down to the atomic level to check for decay- this was previously a process that was very invasive, and came at the risk of irreparably damaging a Gem, but not anymore.

He expects to find evidence of the same micro decay that's been slowly eating away at the rest of Gemkind within his OWN diamond, but the thing is...

He just... ISN'T decaying at all? Even though the sheer age of this gemstone itself should suggest otherwise? As it turns out though, his existence as a hybridized being makes him kind of... an anomaly. When he first reformed all those thousands of years ago, all the data within his gem- data that would otherwise be susceptible to decay- was translated into genetic material. DNA that's woven entirely out of hard-light... but, DNA that has also been constantly regenerating itself thanks to a combination of all the intricate biochemistry surrounding the human telomere and his healing powers.

In other words, he is incapable of falling inert from natural causes, like micro decay. He's functionally immortal. Unless someone shatters him (or... heaven forbid... he shatters himself) he simply can't die.

Which, all of a sudden, makes his race to save Gemkind from their quickly approaching extinction all the more personal. Because if he FAILS- then he'll be the very last of Gemkind. There will be no one else left in this world who is even remotely like him. (Humanity has mixed and mingled with the galactic locals so much by now that they're very much unrecognizable from what they once were.)

His spirit is very nearly broken by this discovery, and he is severely tempted to throw all his own principles out the window and just sanction the construction of new Kindergartens again, if only to keep the dwindling Gem populations up and birth new generations. Perhaps surprisingly, it's White Diamond- the last Gem left who Steven actually knew since the very beginning- who urges him to reconsider. To not give up on his own morality, to not revert all the miraculous changes he's worked for these long few million years.

The big shift in the tides is when he discovers the means to jump to alternate timelines, and thus the existence of the greater multiverse. This allows him to gather intel and ideas from a far greater spectrum of sources.

And eventually... it's with the aid of many alt versions of himself from other lines across the multiverse that leads to him finding a suitable, eco-friendly solution to his Gem incubation problem. (This is the aspect of this AU I cannot discuss in length for discretion's sake. Use your imagination. Or don't, I don't care.)

The following two sections, I'll be talking more about the broad thematics than anything else. At this point, know that there are now new batches of Gems being created all the time. Gemkind is no longer at risk of any extinction, but now- like any stable organic species- new Gems are made at the same rate that they fall inert.

So, the BIGGEST thing here with this reformation is that this is overtly where this guy picks up the name "Astra." Why a name change? Well, after White finally went inert, leaving him the last Diamond in existence within this line, it basically just felt... upsetting to him, to continue to go by a name that every person he ever loved used for him. Thus, the new name is overtly a means to distance himself from that past, and from that pain. (It's also a name he chooses while thinking back to a meaningful conversation he had with White, back before she went inert, oOF. I'll probably yell about that at some point in another post.)

So, too, is the lack of any tangible facial features. He HAS a face, but others just can't see it. He subconsciously obscures it from almost everyone's sight as a means of avoiding vulnerability. One might also have noticed by now that this guy's proportions have gotten like, really strange and sorta "stretched out" over time the larger he becomes... and this is intentional, as it's yet another way he's just becoming more inhuman in form, yet another way he's internally separating himself from those humble human origins of his.

But here's the thing, though.

Deep, deep down, to be human and to live a simple human life is basically all he's ever craved. It's everything he feels he's lost forever, with the death of his Connie. And instead, he's kinda stuck in a hellish sunk cost fallacy of his own making, acting as eternal caretaker for this world that- no matter what he does to try and make it a better place- will never quite be PERFECT. Thus, in his mind, even though he's literally fixed Gemkind's BIGGEST problem, he can't Stop. He can't Rest. He simply can't allow himself himself to lay down and Sink Away into the unknown.

And even if he could allow himself to do so, he is so, so scared of walking that path alone.

If he's going to die... he wants that end to be at a lover's side.

How, though, is someone who's basically a god supposed to find anyone in this multiverse with experiences they can remotely relate to?

Well... ultimately, Astra finds that it's far, far easier to build up a close relationship with varying versions of himself than anyone else. He's... kinda trash at it, though. This guy has so much bottled up Gunk in his head and is so starved for any form of affection that he has a habit of throwing WAY too much of himself into the relationships he engages in, and expecting that same level of commitment in return. There's one relationship with an alt Steven he's in for a while that ends up pretty unhealthily co-dependent before it fizzles out, and then another where he assumes the individual is committing to this partnership for the long run, but then no... actually Astra was always pouring more into this dynamic than he was receiving in return.

This second relationship, when it ends, is pretty devastating to him- since it was one that lasted for like, a LONG ass time. Unimaginably long. We're talking billions of years, here.

Uh-oh! And now he's even more distanced from other people. Folks can't even parse his actual chosen name at this point- except he isn't really consciously aware of this for a while?? It's yet another silent cry for help, yet another internal defense mechanism specially intended to keep others from truly getting to know him. Because every time he does... stars. No matter what he does, he keeps getting hurt. Almost everyone he knows and loves is torn from his life eventually... if not by death, then by some form of tragedy... and he's just so, so tired.

He wants literally ANYTHING to change in his life. He craves some new form of purpose. He craves the attention of someone who might love him as passionately as he loves them.

For a while, he almost believes he's found that- in yet another close relationship he forges with an alt version of himself- but while this other Steven does care for him immensely, it's only as a friend. Which kinda kills Astra, because he's like, lost in the sauce levels of In Love with this guy. There's a LOOOOOOT of story I have here with this, oh my god. If I am thinking about this AU I am usually thinking about this Old Man Yaoi. The great bulk of it is very NSFW themed though, so y'all getting the cliff notes.

The MOST important thing to know though, is that Astra both makes intense leaps and strides in once again allowing himself to be vulnerable with this man, and ALSO kinda intensely fucks their whole mutually agreed situationship up. It's messy. I am crying and wailing at these two old dumbasses. Jesus fucking christ.

But then, it's in the aftermath of this whole deal that an individual named Orion comes into the picture.

Orion quite literally falls into Astra's world by complete accident, but it's a very lucky accident- because she is a diamond hybrid version of Connie from another universe who- beyond a few differences- has a strikingly similar history to his. The big difference, though? She never found a means to create new Gems without Kindergartens, so she was the last of just a few thousand Gems who existed in her entire line. Part of a deeply endangered species.

This version of Connie arrives in some very deep mental turmoil, and so Astra does his best to give them a stable home and a place to heal. And while a past version of him might've been tempted to throw way too much of himself into the slow building rapport they have, he's blessedly Learned a thing or two from the past few major relationship experiences he's had... and chooses to like, ease up. Just offer himself as a friend first and foremost, should they care for one. Man learns restraint, lol.

And it's a damn GOOD thing that he does, because out of the genuine friendship they foster, Orion is the one who ultimately falls in love with him first. The relationship that's established here is one that's balanced, a true partnership where they simply make each other better people. It's through Orion's encouragement that Astra eventually reconnects and makes up with that last person he had an intense relationship with, even.

In time, Astra truly grows to thrive with Orion in his life. He becomes a far more open, vulnerable person, someone who feels safe to truly exist as who he is, to bare every complicated, battered facet of his past to those he trusts. While he may have taken the LONG road to get here, he too heals. And as a result...

One day, Astra simply stops glowing entirely. Shrinks down to more reasonable proportions. He stops hovering around on automatic, stops subconsciously scrubbing the memory of his face or name from people's minds. He stops denying his truest, deepest self- the reality that he was born an organic being, and raised as a human.

The burred reality that all he's ever truly wanted since the day his first lover died is to be a father.

To live a quiet, simple life with the people he loves.

For so long it was a mirage of a future he thought he'd never chase down, but for how much he made all the wrong choices the first time around, now he has a second chance.

And so in my brain, that's exactly what happens. Astra and Orion start a family together and continue to act as guardians over this universe for many years to come, until- after they are satisfied with the long life they've lived together, and their children have moved on to start forging their own paths- they eventually pass Beyond at their own will in each other's arms, ending their impossibly long godhood at peace.

I really don't know how to end this post lmafo, so I will simply say: if you somehow read all of this, holy shit you are so brave. Thank you for engaging with my insane ramblings. Have a nice day LOL FUIHSNUFSJG

This man haunts my brain so much I missed two off ramp turns on the highway the other day while thinking about him. Help me.

[holy-reference-in-a-username]

if you have paid any attention to my ramblings on my process, you know that i tend to rethink my comics and toss out a lot of work if im not satisfied with how it turned out. so i thought id share some previews of comics that have gone unseen, and why they havent been posted (yet?) in order of how likely i am to finish and/or post them :)

(under cut bc long post)

Be nice to each other: Main 4. Tomtord/Polyworld, angst. 4 pages. Matt confronts Tom and Tord on how have been acting, accidentally compelling them into saying how they really feel.

Status: abandoned.

I drew this one quite a while ago and i still really like the dialogue and character interactions i wrote for it! vampire hypnosis is a super cool concept and im definitely going to use it in the future, but this ultimately didnt pan out how i wanted it to.

Why it's not posted: while the buildup and climax are really good, this would be a huge mess to clean up. this would require some serious work both between the four of them and on my part for writing and drawing all of that!! plus, it would totally change the relationship dynamic between Tom and Tord, possibly ending it altogether (and i still have so much i want to do with them!!!)

Ed and Edd: Eduardo, Edd, Eduardo's mother. No pairings, angst. 3 pages. Eduardo can't wait to introduce himself at school, but he's got competition for the name he chose.

Status: abandoned.

Trans Eduardo is such a good concept. imagine figuring out who you are only to find out someone else already is that. of course you're going to hate them.

Why it's not posted: two main reasons. one is that i couldn't figure out how to end the comic (a recurring theme lol), but another is that i'm still not super confident with writing Eduardo yet. ...or writing children. so kid Eduardo is a challenge.

Can't tell where you're looking: Tommatt, fluff. 3 pages. Tom isn't as sneaky as he thinks he is.

Status: on my list!

Tommatt fans, i have heard your pleas i have received your asks. it's on my list.

Why it's not posted: i had a great idea, drew several pages, thought about it, and decided it sucked, actually. it can be reworked, but my motivation did not get out unscathed.

Bad (?) Dream: Tomtord, uh.... yeah thats just smut huh. 2 pages. A bad dream for one and a good dream for the other.

Status: ???

I'm not saying SHIT.

Why it's not posted: originally, it was because i didn't want to post suggestive stuff on this blog. now, it's because i found better ways to cover the concepts in this comic. Y'all will simply have to wait and see ;)

Matt figures it out: Matt, Tom. could be Tommatt. hurt/comfort. a collection of random sketches. Matt figures out how to turn into a bat! It sucks!

Status: on my list!

I've been wanting to talk about this SOOOO BAD!!! because why would you transform in a second via a poof of smoke when it could be an hour-long painful disturbing process?! honestly could be described as hurt/comfort/hurt.

Why it isn't posted: well for one it barely counts as a comic, just random sketches and a general idea. to be fair thats how most of my comics start, but... you know. i havent worked on it in a while mainly because the characters need to solve some personal problems first.

Not tonight: Tordmatt. fluff/suggestive. 2 pages. Matt's got pointy ears again, and Tord knows what that means!

Status: on my list!

TORDMATT FANS I HAVE ALSO HEARD YOUR PLEAS! Also, yippee i get to infodump about my headcanons via a comic

Why it's not posted: unfinished, and i hit a bit of a road block. usually its in writing, but this time its in the art half! so i have no idea how to get around it yet!!!

Puberty sucks fr. imagine losing an eye: Tom, Tom's mother. no pairings. angst. 3 pages. When did Tom's eyes change?

Status: on my list!

You all remember the soul-crushing existential grief that started at the same time as puberty, right? No, just me? Huh.

Why it isn't posted: layout isn't quite what im looking for :/ also, a half-naked child on tumblr, even in a completely non-sexual context, is something i am slightly apprehensive about!

Something's wrong: Main 4. Polyworld, angst/suggestive. 20+ pages. Tom doesn't feel well. Edd, Matt, and Tord try to help.

Status: actively working on it

Oh, you guys remember that poll? Haha thats funny. Yeah i'm still working on this one.

Why it isn't posted: uh its not done yet. and also i am unsure of whether or not it will be allowed on tumblr. or whether or not i want people to speculate on my entire deal.

...and while i'm here:

Communication comic part 6: IN PROGRESS!! these idiots need to establish boundaries. all of them. i believe <3

Zombie Tord part 4: ON MY LIST! i want to get through the communication comic first :3

thank u for reading all my ramblings :D! i am so fucking excited to continue working on all of my dumb shit and i am so happy that ppl like said dumb shit

[scaredcrab]

A match! (drabble/hc)

Character: ☼ Wukong x Reader; ☾ Macaque x Reader ☽

✐ Context: You got a match in a dating app!

✐ Category: Funny. Cute. Romantic.

I never used one of those apps before, so I'm basing this solely on what I saw from posts and videos on the internet.

☼ Sun Wukong:

✐ Probably it all started when MK noticed how alone his master seemed to be.

✐ To help, Mk would create the account for Wukong, a thing that the monkey was totally against, but he decided to give it a try to please his student (or maybe he totally wanted some new company).

✐ Your profile did catch the Great Sage's attention easily.

✐ The description said that you like animals, and your hobbies included cooking, baking, and watching a lot of different series that he particularly liked too (the adventure ones with clear inspiration on JTTW).

✐ An animal lover would be perfect to deal with the Monkey King and his little monkeys, the fact that you were into making food was a huge attractive, and it was clear that watching TV would be a nice activity since you two shared similar interest when it comes to entertainment.

✐ And your cute profile picture showing off your beauty kinda made him more interested in this whole dating idea.

✐ Happy news! His solicitation to talk got accepted! Soon the two of you were babbling about your favorite shows and other common interests.

✐ If you choose him as your match, your profile probably stated that you were in search of someone funny. His profile picture was a blurry pic of one of his little monkeys with a puffy cheek for eating an oversized piece of fruit.

✐… And seeing this interest in amusing men, made Wukong put all his goofy charm on display, you would laugh so much while chatting to him.

✐ The fact that your online crush has martial arts as one of his hobbies listed on his profile did get your eyes too. I mean, who doesn't enjoy the concept of a strong person that know how to defend themselves?

✐ Ok, you had to admit that the idea that he would have a sexy fighter body also made you interested.

✐ When you asked for a photo of him, you had to ask him to "turn off the cute monkey filter he was using".

✐ He didn't manage to make you believe that he was in fact the Monkey King, he had to take a photo of him in human form (but continued to say that this wasn't his original appearance, and you laughed at his "silly joke")

✐ When the moment of the first date finally happened, you arranged to meet in a humble cafeteria, but busy enough to have almost all the tables occupied.

✐ Sun Wukong appeared in human form to avoid any type of outdoor confusion. Happiness fuelled him by seeing how things just clicked naturally between you guys.

✐ But when the date ended, and you two were ready to say goodbye, you gave him a surprise kiss in his nose and he literally transformed back in front of you.

✐ A poof sound was emitted in the air, revealing a ginger monkey with a scared expression. Silence tainted the surrounding for a bit, until your partner broke it.

"Uuhhh... Well, I'm the Monkey King, just like I said before... Yey?"

"That was... Kinda cute." - You said with shocked eyes and blushing cheeks.

✐ With you knowing who he really is the dates got more interesting, he took you to fly in his cloud, to see his land, to know his monkeys and his successor, to watch him training.

✐ It would take a long time for him to work up the courage to ask to be your boyfriend.

✐ After plucking up the braveness and arranging a cute, and romantic date, he would appropriately propose (or as appropriately as he could manage).

-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-

☾ Macaque:

✐ Macaque was probably bored and searching for any distraction when he downloaded the app.

✐ He thought that playing with one stranger feelings was a fun idea.

✐ Soon he found your profile that wasn't just the perfect victim, it was quite of charming to him too.

✐ First, the profile showed a beautiful frame, elegant, yet simple.

✐ The description informed that you were a "night owl", a person full of flaming passion to give, with meditation and writing novels as the main hobbies, but reading and watching theatrical plays as activities you enjoyed too.

✐ It was more than clear that you two would talk about good stories. His interior artist was crazy to show his many shadow plays to someone special, Macaque just didn't want to admit it openly.

✐ Of course, you had no trouble getting interested in this captivating and attractive figure.

✐ The profile picture showed his dazzing human form, and the way he described himself clearly highlighted his dramatically theatrical side, so poetic and mysterious at the same time.

✐ The two of you would spend late nights talking about different ideas for dramatic scripts, judging movies and book scripts you might be seeing, and sharing gossip about any interesting celebrity drama.

✐ Any time you had a question about how something would work mechanically in a fight, so you could write in your book you would talk to him, as the profile made it clear he was a fighter.

✐ Even more fun was asking side effects of specific blows, such as how a person feels after receiving a kick in the chest.

"I'm going to research how much a person bleeds after being stabbed."

"You need to specify how the cut was, if it is superficial, only a few drops will come out of the cut, if it is a larger tear, the blood will come out more quickly, but it depends a lot on the severity of the blow."

"... Wow... You totally have to help me with my book. Let me give you more details..."

✐ Mr Six Ears started to build some unconscious expectations after seeing how enchanting you were. Any amount of flirtation coming from him was returned by you with an even more effective dose of sweet talk.

✐ The monkey didn't notice, but over time any notification he heard made his own heart flutter. Your passionate side was slowly making him delirious with strong emotions.

✐ You set up your first date at a memorable restaurant, sure it wasn't the most expensive in town, but the high quality was remarkable.

✐ Even though the place was full of elegant people, he couldn't take his eyes off you.

✐ Flirtation filled your table conversation, both of you dedicated to making the other feel attractive. You mostly praised his voice, making clear that to you his voice was much prettier than the singers in the background.

✐ In the end he pulled you in for a kiss in the expectation of messing with you, having fun playing with you, but what he felt was something too good for him too.

✐ Subsequently, the end of the date made him notice how he was actually feeling.

✐ He didn't talk normally to you for a month (a thing you didn't like at all, it's super common for people to disappear after the first date), but after that break he got more intense, he clearly had something to tell you.

✐ A date was arranged at the theater where he works. After a beautiful shadow play presentation in which he told the story of the legendary Six Eared Macaque, he called you backstage for a chat.

✐ Macaque showed his true form, he was ready to be rejected for lying, but you smiled as if you already knew he was probably a demon.

"You weren't exactly discreet about your supernatural abilities, I saw you grab a bottle of wine from the shadow of our table on the last date."

✐ The next few dates got better and better, and not long after he found himself officially dating you.

[bots-and-cons]

Can i request Optimus, Arcee, and Bumblebee react to their human friend (preferably female) somehow turning into a cybertronian and now they have to help her to get used to her new buddy?

A/N: I have a post about this with Knockout, and a bit more angsty one where the reader dies and gets revived as cybertronian, so if you’re interested, check those out too

~Bumblebee~

•Bee is honestly pretty excited when you turn into a cybertronian, but he is also incredibly confused, just like the rest of the team

•There is certainly an adjustment period to get used to your new body

•Nobody really knows why it happened, but you touched some iacon artifact by accident and poof, you turned into a cybertronian

•Since Bee is your guardian, he got the job of teaching you about being an autobot

•You’re very clumsy in the beginning and the whole transforming thing doesn’t really come naturally to you

•You still have to pick an altmode now and Bee tries his best to explain how the switching between your alt mode and bot mode feels, because he thinks if you can feel it you can do it

•His explanation is very much about the vibe of the whole thing, rather then how it would actually work

•Anyway, you’re having a lot of fun, even if you feel really clunky and being so big is very odd

•All the very normal sized things look so small now that you’re like three times your previous height

•You eventually turn back into a human when the relic’s effect wears off, but at least now they know what it does

•It’s really disorienting being a human again, just like it was disorientating when you first turned into a cybertronian

~Optimus Prime~

•When you turned into a cybertronian, it was obviously a big shock for everyone 

•It was decided Optimus would look after you and teach you how to transform and stuff like that

•It’s not usually really something that has to be taught to cybertronians, because they just know how to do it naturally, so this is definitely a new experience for him too

•You’re super clumsy at first, and definitely not feeling like yourself

•Your body feels weird, because it’s not really yours yet since you’re not accustomed to it

•Optimus teaches you about all kinds of things like how to switch to your blasters from your hands and how to activate your blades

•It’s certainly a learning process, and you learn it quicker with your dominant hand for some reason

•You pick up on the feeling you get when you’re doing things right, so it starts getting easier to use your weapons and stuff

•You’re obviously not allowed to fight, because you have no experience and who knows what could happen to your human body if you changed back when you’d gotten injured in your bot form

•Optimus might also be kind of overthinking things, because he doesn’t know how this whole thing works

~Arcee~

•Another normal day at the autobot base, a human turning into a cybertronian is an everyday thing

•Arcee is pretty tired of all the shenanigans that keep happening, but she does still start mentoring you in how to be a cybertronian

•She thinks it’s important you can keep yourself safe, even if the situation is temporary and you’re not really leaving the base, because something unexpected could happen

•First of course you have to pick an alt mode so that’s what you do

•Then Arcee teaches you to use your blasters, which causes a few misfires and a very annoyed Ratchet, because he almost got shot

•You actually end up being pretty good with the blasters, your aim is great and your reaction time is good too

•Arcee is worried about how this little accident with you turning into a cybertronian happened, so she tries to research the relic, but there seems to be no information about it

•It turns out not to be permanent though, so she can sigh in relief once you’re finally back to your human self

•You think it’s a bit of a bummer, but you’re also happy to be able to go home again

[its-short-for-jackalope]

THE SEARCHER IN THE SHADOWS

☆ Thoughts On Part 2 ☆

Time for the unhinged companion to my part 1 post, lol. I love how much these musicals surprise me, I always have such a fun time and oh boy do I have thoughts and feelings about part 2.

Once again I am not going to be able to capture every thought I have about everything because there is... so much. But I can try to express a portion of it, so on with the rambling!

Meanwhile / Sia's Vision

I love part 1 & the new characters we met, but I was definitely missing the rest of the quartet so I was so excited to get to hear them again today. That being said, I was totally unprepared for how I would react to their arrival (heh). I was damn near kicking my feet and I was close to either giggling or crying basically the entire time, but I guess they balanced each other out so I basically just vibrated in my chair instead, lmao.

I'm so happy that Margaret has been to Lincoln Island before? I was a little worried that she didn't even have a chance to see that any of her people had survived before she was sent away and she lost her memories. (However the hell that happened.)

I love how John and Samuel are both like "I can accept this mysterious magical woman saving our lives once, but TWICE? That is a little suspicious. 🤨😑"

SIA'S VISION. It happened years ago, and now we know we're not alone that Sia went straight from 1835 to 1874 just like the quartet, so she must have gotten the vision sometime between 1829 and 1835, proooobably a lot closer to 1829, since she said 'years.' She sees the Antikythera being claimed by the Ellen Austin, and evidence of Margaret's transformation magic as well as her radiance. She also saw John (the scientist) screaming for Rose as she drowns while the Antikythera takes on water, perhaps sinking entirely.

SIA'S PLAN. (MAYBE.) Okay so I very well could be wrong, lol, I'll get that out of the way right now, but I think Margaret had already been sent away when Sia had her vision. Part of this reasoning is simply because it would feel more satisfying to me if the quartet didn't come together entirely because it was forseen, and also because Sia says 'our Margaret returned.' Idk, just the delivery of that makes me feel like she must already be gone at that point. Sia wouldn't have left Margaret somewhere unsafe, so she probably looked around New York to scout it out, and/or maybe she was watching from time to time, to make sure she was okay. So maybe she saw the Stratfords at some point—Samuel says he read about Margaret in The Sun, so maybe she was interviewed in the building and they occupied the same corner of the city at just the right time for Margaret's guardian traveler to see the twins?—and then when Sia has that vision, she recognizes them and that's when she knows they have to keep these people safe. (And maybe she uses a bit of magic to send a certain scientist a certain paper about certain discoveries to ensure he joins the party...?) So in the years before the quartet gathers together, Sia makes plans with her friends. I don't know exactly what these plans are and won't really try to guess, but clearly part of it involved scheming with Addison to make me SO WORRIED about her and the crew leave her ship (and an orrery for Rose) drifting on the Sargasso at the right time and place, AND they must have had enough foresight to be prepared for Sia's 39 years away; we didn't hear her poof back to let her friends know when she was going, and they knew when to expect her return, so it must have been pre-arranged to some extent. So Sia skips ahead, dropping off the quartet in 1874 and returning to Lincoln Island where Rose has already been learning and testing for 9 days, until it's time to meet Margaret again on the Antikythera. And now we're caught up. (Was this whole ramble necessary? Eh, maybe not, but I needed to think about it and it took long enough to type that I'm not deleting all that, are you kidding?)

Arrival, part 2

aw, yay! I'm glad Margaret and the boys all got a similar welcome to Rose! I wasn't sure if there would be any fanfare for Samuel and John, lol.

The twins are reunited! 😭❤ (And Margaret and John get to say hi to Rose too, yes, yes, I was very happy, but this isn't about them right now. TWINS.)

Dakkar and his scanner, lmao. (Going to try and fail to not think about him taking out his trusty tech as a distraction when he witnesses the siblings' reunion. I'm totally fine and normal about this, guys. Trust me.)

Yes, filling everybody in about Kal! I suppose he was the specific threat they were worried about when they were trying to verify Rose's identity in part 1, which would probably make sense if he's Itzal's attack virologist or something. But I have concerns about how the scan went. Addison tells us Kal has a way of tracking people he encounters and the scanner they use to check has a database that doesn't recognize anything on Samuel and the others, but, uh. AFAIK that scanner has been here on Lincoln Island for 45 years, nice and protected. How many updates have they gotten? And what was that Kal said back in TGOA? "Non-lethal fog, my latest brew." ...YEAH. I HAVE CONCERNS.

Not Rose's somber "We must keep looking for the key" after the chorus 😭😭😭 We know Sia's been reassuring her and Ahlaam has been insistent that there's no pressure on her, but uh. There is pressure. And Rose probably feels some degree of guilt for not accomplishing everything these literally magical people hoped she would after they saved her life.

Margaret almost recognizing the people around her, Dakkar echoing/answering the calls we've heard from Margaret since the beginning of the story..... AUGHHHHH 😭

I am very interested in Samuel and Addison's dynamic (to put it lightly) and I want to know what the captain is so curious about bears for.

Magic Ways

I love this song so much. We get to receive lore in an easily digestible way AND the music is amazing???? Move over, Schoolhouse Rock, I only want to learn things from the Travelers and Searchers from now on. (This joke isn't even good but I've wanted to make one about Schoolhouse Rock since the premiere so this is what we get. sorry, lmao.)

SEVEN, SEVEN MAGIC WAYS! Radiance, Perception, Protection, Illusion, Healing, Movement, and Transformation. If I'm understanding correctly, everyone from the Blazing World has the Radiance. (And I assume every descendant born on Lincoln Island does, too? although if they didn't have any magic because they lost their connection to their world that could be interesting... 👀) It seems to be the root/core of it all, if it's the one everyone shares. All the magic connects them, but I think the Radiance is the deepest and strongest connection. I am not going to rattle off about all of the magic ways here because, well, reading my ramblings (delightful as they are) doesn't hold a candle to listening to the actual song, lmao, but I am going to share my ideas for what kinds of magic the different BW characters might have.

SIA — radiance, movement, perception, transformation, possibly more; if she was helping Margaret train her protection magic, then I think it could be reasonable to suspect Sia may also possess it? But that's a maybe for now—Sia could simply know both Margaret & how protection magic functions well enough to be able to coach her.

AHLAAM — radiance, movement, illusion (I believe she was going to cast an illusion spell on Rose during Two Weeks as one of the tests, and she also tells us about illusion magic in the song), possibly more; Ahlaam doesn't specifically say that she only had three magic ways, unlike...

DAKKAR — radiance, healing, protection. He says that "three is more than enough for me" so I think we can safely assume that's it for him, unless he has more magic that he just doesn't use for whatever reason, which could be an interesting idea. No evidence for it tho, I'm just saying words. <3

ADDISON — from what we know so far, she might have only one magic way, the radiance, but I keep thinking about her journal. Margaret had to use transformation magic on it to be able to read it, so does that mean Addison also has that power, or did somebody else (Sia?) transform the journal specifically so Margaret would have to transform it back and use her magic? Or, as some friends have joked, is Addison nerdy enough that she just writes in invisible ink?

MARGARET — in TGMH, we saw her use the radiance for the first time. in TBS, movement. TGOA, transformation. in this episode, she has started using protection magic. Matt has told us that there will be 7 pulps and there are 7 magic ways, so I'm wondering if we'll see her unlock or regain all the magic ways, with one new power returning in each episode. We still have one more part to go for this episode, so we'll see if this theory is disproven real quick or not, lol.

Thank Gravity

hi, what if I exploded?

the only m/f pairings I care about are written by Matt Dahan and this is only a slight exaggeration

JOHN WANTED TO TALK!! HE'S THE ONE WHO INITIATED A FEELINGS CONVERSATION!!! HE FINALLY GOT SOME SENSE!!! I'M SO FUCKIN PROUD???? 🎉

THEY! KISSED!

what if I just, like, perished. would y'all be cool with that.

I am so not normal about how we've gone from them both yearning for 'a place with no laws of gravity' to them both thanking gravity—

have we considered the option of me just walking into the ocean? I think that might be the best course of action here.

oh my god. I love them.

Masterpiece Containing Masterpieces

Jackie's absolutely gorgeous art shows a bit of bright blue sky visible from the bridge of the Nautilus, so I'm guessing everyone got some much needed rest and continued the tours the next day, lol.

godddddd the callback to Margaret's Apartment. Maps of the Earth and sky lavishly hanging from golden frames—I need to bite something. (/pos)

John, if you're asking questions you should at least give people time to finish answering them, lmao

Someone is going to push one of those damn purple buttons and everyone is going to have a bad day, calling it now. If it doesn't happen this episode, it will happen in one of the later ones. And I am going to be glaring at them all mistrustfully until it finally happens. 😑👉🚫🟣‼️

Samuel and his imagination going crazy over the orrery's potential... and the way Addison talked about the Firestone getting burnt out, I wonder if that means it isn't repairable. Maybe Firestones are extremely rare, idk. curious how this orrery is still able to help them with the Gate somehow. WOULD LOVE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THESE GATES, BY THE WAY. JUST SAYING. /lh

EDIT: oops, the orrery on the Nautilus is not the same as the Antiythera's, I don't think. but it still seems like this one can't go back in time, going by the conversation!

Before the Island

yessssssss new solo John song for me to lose my mind about. also a casual reminder that Curt Mega is so gender it's unfair. <3

John, I love this for you. so much. go crazy, run wild, be silly and push buttons—NOT THE PURPLE ONES, FFS 🙏—and be happy with Rose.

John thinking his dad would understand what he's feeling instead of feeling smothered by his father's legacy and afraid of disappointing him......... 🥺😭❤

Ipomoea, part 1

the cover art!!!!!

This song is so goddamn pretty. Natalie and Kim's voices are heavenly together.

the imagery Margaret describes is so gorgeous, I want to draw it.

Margaret is closer than she's ever been to getting her answers!!!

JUST LIKE HOME 😭😭😭😭😭😭

and here we learn another time travel rule, which simultaneously makes me go "oh cool, that will probably make the timeline a little less messy" and "oh poor Sia, you lost 39 years with your besties" and "HEY SIA SO YOU BASICALLY LIED ABOUT BEING ABLE TO HELP ANNA GET OFF THE SATELLITE, HUH? CARE TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF??" (This isn't really even about Travelovers, this is about Anna being LEFT UP THERE and someone needs to give Sia a talking to for this, on mine and Anna's behalf. 😭 John, you've smooched your girl, now go be mad for your bestie, plz.)

hi Dakkar, ilu, please never die

Ipomoea, part 2

JESSE BHAMRAH I ADORE YOUR VOICE

I was a tiny bit worried about where this was going. I expected him to start using magic against Margaret to force her to defend herself, so the way he's like 'yo we should totally have Sia try to attack/kill us both' instead so they could combine their protection power was a really cool and delightful twist

I also love how Sia absolutely knows where this is going

IPOMOEA, SHOW ME YOUR WORTH! STAND WITH ME NOW, OR GET PLUCKED FROM THE EARTH!!!!!!!

Dakkar and Margaret are both so committed to this, & the way they sing together!!!!!!!

THIS SONG, YOU GUYS, I CAN'T. 😭❤

THEY'RE SIBLINGS! I don't currently have the brainpower (or time, tbh) to truly & accurately express how I feel about the reveal. Feel free to read my very smart friend's cool post about Dakkar and Margaret instead, it's very good.

I know I had a little "et cetera" sort of section at the end of my last post with some other thoughts, but honestly I am tapped right now, lol. Matt Dahan packs so much cool stuff in these episodes that there is undoubtedly a bunch of really cool theories and connections I haven't even touched upon in this post, but that's okay, it's long enough as it is. 😂

basically,

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I love pulp so much and I am VERY AFRAID and VERY EXCITED for part 3.

Now if you'll excuse me I need to rewatch part 2 until Mr. Dahan himself pries the video out of my greedy little hands.

[fountainpenguin]

Hey!

I read the last chapter of "So, You're Studying the Cloudlands..." and I know it was mentioned in some of the fics before (at least for some), but can you tell us what some of the characters in your stories specialized in? (Magic Specializations)

Feel free to ignore this ask

Magic Specializations post (Worldbuilding sideblog)

Kitchen & Vanity

This type of magic is all about levitating multiple objects at a time. Experts can actually use multiple objects (Think magically controlling a sewing needle in one "magical hand," a jackhammer in another, while pouring milk into a cereal bowl with a third).

Cosmo and Wanda studied this kind of magic as part of their godparent certifications. A lot of non-godparents don't bother; it's not something they consider relevant or beneficial in daily life. For godparents, mastering the ability to levitate things - sometimes multiple things - is pretty important, since you're always trying to manage your life with that of a child's.

I think Peri probably specializes in this in City Lights AU. This is also Goldie's field of study since she's going into politics (will o' the wisp ambassador position)- Levitating items is hugely helpful for all the things she juggles.

What I'm saying is that Goldie can weightlift via magic better than Poof can (even though he's the jock) because she put all her tokens in on this. Her homework is all about flaunting magical strength. As she gets older, she can bench press a skyscraper, yacht, a blue whale... stuff like that. She can also fight you physically; she briefly enjoyed fencing and grappling (Plus she's a fan of morning jogs), but she was pulled away from these things by her mom and mentor, who didn't see the point. Goldie reluctantly cut back on fighting boys and - in line with traditional will o' the wisp values - turned to flirting with them instead. Poof, however, finds everything about Goldie's strength extremely attractive. She absolutely messes with Foop by yoinking him off his feet with magic and tossing him in the air.

Essential Magic

Also called "essential sensories"

This kind of magic is about poofing, teleporting, and shapeshifting. Those who specialize can pull this type of magic off on the first try.

Wanda has more training in this area than Cosmo does. He's certified as a godparent, but he gets a lot of wishes wrong on his first attempt.

This is what Poof is studying in Cloudlands AU- We see him talk about it in "Looking Back:"

Poof floats forward, shaking his rattle. The rice and beads or whatever else is in there clatter around and two small figurines appear in his hand. He sets them down at opposite sides of Denzel's desk. One is a figure of himself. The other is a figure of Foop. Both stand across from each other, rattle and ba-ba drawn. "Essential magic is all about spontaneity, experience, and power. This is what we use for stuff like poofing and transforming objects. That's my specialty. We like to be able to poof up the right thing at the right time in the right place on the first try. No mistakes, and no pain for any living creatures we summon. That's what essential magic is all about." Denzel plucks up the Poof figurine and squeezes it a few times in his hands. Cathartic, but… It doesn't offer the same maniacal thrill as grabbing hold of a fairy in the flesh. "Hmm. Why the extra names? Why not call them Fairy magic and Anti-Fairy magic?" "Well, just because this is the stereotype, it doesn't mean every Fairy and Anti-Fairy specialize in the variety of magic you would expect them to because of the culture they were raised in. That's racist." Denzel grunts without comment. Foop snorts and Poof tilts his head. "It's like this." He waves his rattle over the desk again. This time, a pale green apple pops into view with a puff of dust. "I'm learning how to poof things from one place to another. Even if I'm in a third place! If I keep up my studies, then someday I'll be able to close my eyes and actually see locations I want to poof to, before I try poofing there."

"Looking Back"

He also implied he'd be able to steal snacks from the cupboard at his house, but Cosmo put a magic lock on it

Mama Cosma also specializes in essentials- She was once a godparent (Playing into why she teaches fairy summer school at the end of "Where's Wanda").

This magic also lets you glimpse the location you're about to teleport before you actually do. We saw H.P. use essential sensories in Baby, You're a Rich Man:

I puffed upwards at my cowlick, adjusted my tie, and allowed him to disintegrate me. After several seconds, we rematerialized back where we'd been standing beneath the floating table. "Sir?" H.P. frowned at his starpiece. He shook it by his ear and tried again. Once more, our particles zipped down to the Kansas area, struggled to reform, and the emergency safety measure kicked us back to the bar. "Something's interfering with it," he muttered, then locked eyes with me. We said it together: "The rain." Weather like rain and snow and hurricanes scattered the magical energy field. When it got really bad, it wasn't safe for us to even stand out there, lest we risk asphyxiation either because our magic lines would lose connection, or they'd keep connection and we'd taste too much unfiltered, raw magic dripping with pollution. Sometimes the presence of lightning under the clouds beneath our feet was dangerous, just from the static electricity that sent our lines fritzing. "We have little choice but to take the long way." H.P. closed his eyes. I could see the balls, glowing lavender, moving left and then right behind his lids. "Let me see… Where's a clear, dry spot I might set us down? Definitely not… Try a few hills over… Has to be something closer… Too near the state road… That's a will o' the wisp burrow… Got one. Pool of magic, right there. The lip of the barn roof's keeping it stable beneath. We'll be outside. If there should chance to be humans about, prepare to run."

Baby, You're a Rich Man - Chapter 8

Combat Magic

Foop and Big Daddy specialize in this! Poof gave Denzel Crocker a brief explanation in this scene:

"Charms can increase your abilities like your speed or strength and give you an edge in a fight. Or, they can heal you if you're hurt. Foop always says he decided to go into this field because he can feel it every time I give myself a papercut, but I think he probably just wants to beat me up." "Don't give me a reason to," Foop grumps, kicking the teacher's abandoned desk. Denzel scribbles this down anyway, not trying to hold back his snort. "Now that, I would pay to see." Poof smirks back and slides the two figurines closer together on the desk. "Hexes are, like… little traps placed on objects that only activate when someone triggers them later. Those are things that I might never get around to studying unless I want to spend more time in school. I don't. My mama studied hexes and I'll never get over the betrayal I felt when I found out there's one on our fridge door handle that turns your appetite off from everything except healthy snacks… "The thing is, every focus follows the rules of a single magic system. They're just different. They're all very deep and take centuries upon centuries to totally master. Like, even if you learn how to make a hex, it takes ages before you can develop it in a way so it won't be undone by bacteria, water, counter-spells, or just the decay of time. Things like that. And you don't want your hex to wash off and infect something else."

"Looking Back"

Teen Poof isn't very experienced in combat magic, which is why we had this scene in "All I Ever Wanted:"

Anti-Marigold herself lay crumpled on one end of the couch on the far side of the room, her arms around her torso and her face twisted up. She looked so absolutely tiny like that- smaller than even Foop. Goldie probably would have sprawled her limbs over as much of the couch as possible, but Anti-Marigold seemed to want to disappear. Poof shut the door behind him and poofed his coat onto an empty hook nearby. "Hey." He lifted the pocket spellbook above his head. "I've got painkillers. What do you need?" "I won the snake-eating contest," she mumbled by way of explanation. Poof chuckled. As he floated over to her, he flipped the book open to its middle. "That's so you. Okay, let's see what I've got. Hm hm hm. So, uh…" He glanced again at the groggy anti-wisp, then at the book in his hand. His finger rested on the first step of the relief process. "Do you want me to just do it for you?" "You, please. I'm in pain. Drank lots of soda. Didn't help." Funny. She looked so like Goldie with her pigtails, the sharp point of her jaw, and the way she curled in all her toes, and yet… she also wasn't Goldie. Anti-Marigold carried herself through life with a less confident air, shying away to the fringes of a party rather than mingling with the big names in the center. She was delicate, fragile, but still so passionate about her dreams. The same blue eyes, but different faces. Also, Goldie would never let him recite a painkilling charm on her if she was still awake enough to wave a wand. Poof cleared his throat and knelt down by the couch. "I'm gonna have to touch your bare stomach for this, okay?"

"All I Ever Wanted"

At that stage of life, Foop could've done a painkiller charm (and larger types of healing) without the book or physical touch. There are benefits to specializing in something, but most Fairies prefer to master 1 or possibly 2 areas rather than spreading their abilities thin.

Spreading yourself thin risks you looking average or below average... Not what you want if you're trying to advance your career.

In "Looking Back," Poof mentions that he and Foop signed up for the Make a Godfriend program, so they take after-school classes and then they're essentially "godparents" to a child in need. They were paired because Poof studies poofing things up and Foop studies healing. Much better option than pairing two people who study the same thing.

I've mentioned previously that Binky was platonic godpartners with some of his friends. That would also be a "co-workers paired up because different specialties is beneficial" situation.

Alteration Magic

Sanderson is one of the only characters licensed in alteration magic, which is all about changing the body (and locking it in - essentially permanently - as opposed to temporary shapeshifting).

Here's a scene where that came up:

Anti-Cosmo shook his head. "Foop, aging magic is strictly to be used for costume parties and amusement parks. What you're proposing here is that someone age you well beyond your years and leave you that way permanently. Age altering is difficult for even the most experienced magic users. Even I didn't try to study it at the Academy. Where would we even find someone licensed to oversee it all goes well?" Mr. Sanderson pricked his ears. Reaching into his coat for the cell phone that functioned as his wand, he said, "I could do it for him. Age-jumping is my specialty. It's amazing how much that type of magic comes in handy when I'm working the complaints desk around the holidays." "And I'm licensed to oversee the process," the Head Pixie mused. "We could age the kid forever, lock him in place, and have the paperwork official within the hour. If in return, it will shut him up for life. I wouldn't mind. No, I really wouldn't mind that at all." Anti-Cosmo jabbed a finger the pixie's way. "Don't you dare. He's become a spoiled brat these days and you'll only encourage his whiny behavior." "Just a few hundred thousand years," Foop begged, clasping his hands. His lashes fluttered as he made the attempt to widen his already enormous violet eyes. "You won't even notice I've grown. Why, think of how wonderful your life would be if you had another brilliant adult around the castle to play chess with and rant about Mother to." "We already play chess together, and hardly a week goes by when I don't hear you berating your mum's intelligence in some manner or another as it is." Anti-Cosmo began to gather his map together, rolling it tight. "My answer, of course, stands at no. I most certainly won't authorize you to magically age yourself and skip out on several hundred crucial millennia of brain development. And since you are but a minor and I am your father, that will be the end of this decision as we know it."

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails - "Must Be 150k or Older to Order"

Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo use alteration magic to shrink the large noses they were born with. Timmy's wish temporarily undid this cover-up at the end of "The Girl Who Would Be Queen."

Black Magic

There's also black magic, which is what Dr. Rip Studwell specializes in because that's the medical field. It was used to switch Cosmo's and Anti-Cosmo's fagiggly glands.

Anti-Cosmo's first wife (Anti-Saffron) specialized in this because she's a veterinarian. Foop's betrothed Anti-Coriander studies this since she's a surgeon- She helped care for Anti-Wanda after the assassination attempt that kicked off the May Blossom War.

Here's a scene referencing that:

She led me down a rear corridor. My mother's room was locked. Given her status, it was safer that way. Topazimi unlatched it simply by waving her hand, and the door slid sideways into the wall. I'd steeled myself for a body lying unconscious in a bed, a tube feeding purple magic into her arm, her hair tossed sideways and make-up hardly smeared. Not this. The room was very cold and very black, the floor tiled and the walls dark marble streaked with gold. There was no bed. Not even a coffin. My mother was a melted pool of white cream dripping down the wall. An anti-selkie and a young anti-habetrot stood on either side of the smear, jotting down notes as though it wasn't a person. "How long has she been like this?" I asked, not moving. "A few minutes," said the anti-selkie. "She maintained herself as smoke for an hour earlier, but as for pulling her body together again… I'm afraid there's been no progress."

"You'll Never Know"

Thanks for the interest! :)

[lilrambo-shooter]

Over-analyzing the Phantom Thieves' escape from the Final Palace [SPOILERS]

Hopefully this hasn't been done already. If so, oh well, it was fun for me, who just finished their first playthrough last month.

This post has spoilers for the true ending of Persona 5 Royal.

Ok, I have thought about the animated cutscene of the PTs escaping Maruki's crumbling palace more than I thought I would. There's the memes of Goro's (possible?) last words being a complaint about being crushed by 5 women, the worry of the PTs when Joker lets go of the rope, etc etc.

One thing I kept going back to, though, was how we end up with the comic relief of Goro ending up at the floor of the Mona Copter.

So let's start from the beginning of their escape. The palace is crumbling, and the PTs are seemingly stranded on an island of rubble, with no way out. Morgana then urges everyone to hop into the Mona Car:

(Forgive the crappy screen pics, my PlayStation doesn't like 3rd sem stuff)

So the first thing we see is Haru leaning up to the window, with just a hint of Goro's outfit in the bottom right corner.

The next thing is a shot of the whole bus:

Two things: 1. Out of the two pictures, there's no sign of Futaba! 2. Where does this put Haru and Goro? Well, both of these questions have the same answer: In the far back!

One thing about the Mona Bus's design I never quite realized with my playthrough of vanilla P5 years ago was that there are seats running perpendicular to the first two rows. Based on the angle of the first image with Haru, we can see the back of the seats from the second row. For Goro, there is a few frames in which he is seen in the back:

Therefore, we can surmise this setup:

But what about Futaba? Even though it's from a previous cutscene and different escape attempt, we can see that the layout of the characters is the same, with the addition of Futaba in the back:

So that's what it's like for seating arraignments in the Mona Bus. What about the Mona Copter? The first shot we get of everyone sans Joker gives us Goro's comic relief:

We can see that all five of our pretty thief gals are up front, Goro squished on the floor, Ryuji and Yusuke in the back, and Joker hangin' on down below. It seems pretty packed. Goro's got a point, Mona! Or does he? Time to hit the Thieves' Den!

It's slightly different on the inside compared to the cutscene, but the layout seems to be the same. We don't get a good look at the back, so let's look at that:

Hmm, a good amount of open space! But wait, there's more! As it turns out, there's even more space in the back.

Based on this, here's the sketch of the Mona Copter's layout:

What's the deal!? There seems to be plenty of space! How did the Mona Copter become so front-heavy? We can see that the characters' arraignments are generally the same, save for the fact that Haru, Futaba, and Goro moved to the front, and Joker straight up just doesn't get put inside. Now, I'm no expert of the Metaverse, but I'd like to imagine that if Mona suddenly poofed from a bus to a helicopter, our PTs wouldn't so wildly get thrown about. Plus, we can see in a later part of the cutscene, when Maruki decides to make his final stand, that there is implied to be more room in the back with Ryuji and Yusuke:

Here we see Makoto grabbing the edge of the seats in the front, and Ryuji and Yusuke bracing on their respective sides. It's quite odd how they ended up like this.

My takeaway? Other than the fact that this whole post is ridiculous? Something happened mid-transformation. Maybe things didn't happen as instantly as we think, or the Mona Copter teetered around as Mona regained balance. Or both! Let's say they all began to fall forward as the Mona Bus began to fall right before the transformation. Those in the second row would have the seat in front of them to brace on, while the three in the front could brace on the dashboard. Meanwhile, Futaba, Haru, and Goro have a lot more space in the back to fumble around in. With the loss of seats in the Mona Copter, it's perfectly possible that while transforming, the three in the back lost balance, tumbled to the front, and Goro just happened to be the unlucky one. I'm going to be honest, I have no clue on what that means for Joker.

This whole bit with the Mona Copter was most definitely just for the gag; moreover, we can just say it's Mona giving Joker a good view of Goro, who Mona knows is most likely going to vanish when all is said and done. Doing his bestie a favor and acting as a wingman, eh? The front's glass only goes so far along the bottom the the Mona Copter, and Goro is busy taking up all of it, rendering the sight of Joker only visible to him, Ryuji, and Yusuke.

So yea, do what you wish with this information, I don't care. I just wanted to express my thoughts about this whack ass cutscene lmao

[kiraversee]

Hi! In your magical girl svsss AU, how are the magical girls chosen?? Is it like a birth thing, or does it happen at some point when they are already a certain age?

Because if it is the second, I want to imagine a scene where SY is hanging out with some demon friends and suddenly he is chosen to become a magical girl (be it through a cute creature telling him or just sudden transformation) and both he and his demon friends start to panic because what????

I also want to know if, in the case SY becomes a magical girl (which I just realized could or could not happen), he could try to join a CQM to change the image people have of demons from the inside!

Sorry for the long ask, I just saw your post and got really excited about it!! ✨️🎍✨️

YOU LITERALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW EXCITED I WAS FOR THIS ASK!! LIKE I WAS SO EXCITED(and shy) THAT I COULDN'T READ IT! I HAD TO HAVE MY FRIEND READ IT FIRST THEN TELL ME WHAT YOU SAID!! I AM SO GLAD YOU WERE INTERESTED IN MY LITTLE AU! AHHH I'M SMILING!! also to answer your question, it is from birth and being chosen! Let me explain with a little storytelling:D.

(ps theres a short version of this story under the cut since ik some people like to get to the point:D)

The first ever magical girls were lovely people who fought demons and saved the world countless of times, even though they had to fight demons multiple times even almost risking their lives! They still had time to be in love~ as they grow older they married their now spouse's in a grand ceremony.

In the far future the angel helper that was sent to help the magical girls warned that if a magical girl decided to retire and have children, the power they have now will be distributed upon the magical girls children, leaving the magical girls without magic anymore (ofc if they decide to have children). As the children of the magical girls grow up, they also fall in love and the cycle continues for as long as that magic last. Once many generations have been passed, the magical girls power will be so faint that you will not even be able to do any simple magic spells

If a magical girl does not wish to have children, they will not grow old like the normal humans because the magical girls power is from the heaven's itself, as long as they have their powers they will grow old and slowly die of old age without any health problems.

There was less and less magical girls in the world. The heaven's thought it was a problem because the demons, without strong enough magical girls were reeking havoc again! The heaven's held a meeting and decided to send down angel helpers once in a while to give powers to the most qualified humans the magical girl powers.

Boom done storytime! (Heres a shorter version so u don't have to read all that) So if the magical girls has children, they will inherit the power and the cycle of childbirth continues until the magical girl power eventually just goes poof bc theres so little of it! If a magical girl doesn't want to have children they will grow old and die slowly bc.. powers!!! Once in a while the heaven's will like send an angel helper to give humans magical girl powers.

Actually i do wanna touch on the magical girls power giving thing bc its actually really interesting to me off course!

The heaven's sends out tiny angel helpers to give humans magical girl powers by giving them accessories that pierce into your body, (like an earring) energy will start to invade your immune system and slowly merge with your cells while slowly changing them to be different from a human cells! So technically if you want to like donate blood you can't anymore bc your blood ain't no type A or B anymore, its Type SMG or what it stands for, SPARKLY. MAGICAL. GURL.

Also (i say also a lot) your shen yuan idea is amazing! Like omg! Like that would be so cool if one day its just like

SY: *hanging out with demons then a very sparkly light falls from the sky*

Demons: "what the f-"

Angel: "WAHHHH THAT FALL HURT! I SHOULD'VE USED MY WINGS 😭"

demon's and SY: *extremely confused????One demon sneaks up and hits it with a pan, Rapunzel style!*

(I'm not very good with skits so if any of y'all have a better skit ideas, share em! I would love to read em!)

Boom that short skit of how i imagine that scenario would go! I've decided to give SY clingy angel helper bc rivalry with binghe why not.

Oh yeah to answer your question, I could definitely see SY joining CQM bc he wants his demon friends to live freely in the human world!

Also i very very veryyyy much appreciate your ask! It was also very fun to read how much you enjoy my au!! I'm terribly sorry if there is any grammar mistakes😅 or if my explanations are very confusing! English is not my first language... (its my 3rd language)

[pof203]

A Summoner Birthday

Previous post: https://pof203.tumblr.com/post/721440855573020672/a-summoner-birthday

Battle ahead.

Enemies:

Blue Fencer

Fire Mage

Water Wraith

Red Yaksha

???

Preselected Characters:

Lupin

Wakan Tanka∞

Maria

Bigfoot

Choji

Selected Support Character:

Masked Ball Christine

Story (Chapter 2 Part 2)

Here we go!

Boundless Tail!!

With that last blow, you managed to defeat the Wicked Stepmother and Stepsibling as they start to regain their true selves.

FLASH

Oh my goodness! What are we doing here?!

I don't know. I remember that we sat down to watch television, then suddenly, we're here. Wherever hear is. And why is Lupin here, too?

Lupin: The TV you were watching. Does it by any chance connect to the Internet.

Babalon: I'm not sure how that helps, but yes. A lot of television sets connect to the Internet these days.

Then I guess we better get you up to speed.

One explanation later...

Arc: So, we're back in Boogeyman's world.

Boogeyman's Voice: Pretty much. Are you upset?

Arc: More like surprised. If I had known Lupin and his friends would be coming here for his birthday, I would have come in case of trouble.

Lupin: I just didn't want to cause you trouble.

But do not worry. As soon as we find all the breakers and reboot the system, we'll be able to send everyone back.

Babalon: I hope you can... (suspicious) I just hope you can do it with an Invader around.

I'm a little hurt to hear that. Was I really that bad during that time?

Lupin: You were just going through some issues and I help you get through them. You were never bad at all.

Arc: I know Lupin and I don't get along very well, but I know he's a good judge of character. If he says you're not bad, even during the Invaders' move, then he's right.

Wakan Tanka: I know. And I thank you for that, My Lupin.

You take each other's hand and then embraced happily.

Bigfoot happy to see Wakan Tanka happy. Wakan Tanka and Heyoka happier together. Makes Bigfoot happy.

Arc: (shocked) Hold on, I just realized something.

Babalon: What is it, dear daughter?

Arc: This story we're in, I know it, too.

Maria: So?

Arc: Well, in the story, the girl had two wicked stepsiblings. But it was just me and Mother here.

Babalon: Come to think of it, you're right. Where's... (shocked) Oh my goodness!

Maria: What's wrong?

Babalon: I just remembered. Before me and Arc went to watch our show... I saw Azathoth playing an online game. You don't think...

Lupin: That he might be the other Wicked Stepsibling?

Arc: If that's so, where is he?

Maria: If I have to guess... He's already at the ball.

Arc: Then we have to get to him.

Lupin: (checking the map) The map says that the breaker is at the palace where the ball is. But it says the palace is still a ways from here.

Babalon: (taking one of the pumpkins) Then we have no time to lose.

Maria: (confused) Are you going to...

Babalon: Why not? In this virtual world, magic works like a charm. And I'm ready to do my part for my family and friends.

Bipedid... Bobbili...

Poof.

In an instant, the pumpkin transforms into... an orange stretch limo.

Choji: That's amazing! Volos is never gonna believe this.

Maria: It's beautiful... And modern.

From Wicked Stepmother to Fairy Godmother in a snap.

Babalon waves her wand again to Arc and their clothes change.

Now this is much more appropriate for this world. Let's go!

We get into the limo and Babalon drives us off to the palace.

In the palace, the ball was in full swing as dancers glide through the room. Sitting on the throne was who we were expecting to be.

That's right, everyone, just dance. It's gonna be okay... For me, that is! *maniacal laugh*

Babalon: (worried) Azathoth, please stop this!

Azathoth?: Mother! You and Arc have arrived. Just watch, I'm about to make you the proudest mother ever once I've captured the Prince's heart... Speaking of which, there he is now. Welcome, Prince Cthulhu.

You can tell that he's talking about you.

Lupin: Hey, you're good kid and all, but I already have someone and I love him dearly.

Wicked Stepbrother: I see that... But you can do way better.

Bigfoot: (upset) What that mean?

Wicked Stepbrother: Why would you want to be with him? You only like him just because he's popular, just like everyone else. But when he was a god and you realized you had the power to take that from him, you saw it as your chance to have him all to yourself.

Wakan Tanka: (tearing up) ...

Lupin: That's not true! I did what I did because I truly love him and he loves me.

Wicked Stepbrother: (scoffing) Last I heard, he loves everybody. What makes you so different?

Bigfoot: (sternly) Because he Heyoka. Wakan Tanka love Heyoka then, love Heyoka now. And Heyoka love Wakan Tanka.

Wicked Stepbrother: Though I don't understand why he would love him in that powerless state. Prince Cthulhu, you and that Invader were both gods, yet you took that away so you could have him all to yourself... But me, I can be way better than him. I am like you. You will be mine.

I understand that you want to make Mother happy, but this forcing Lupin to love you is not the way to do it.

Babalon: It hurts me to see you like this.

Wicked Stepbrother: We've said enough! Bring the Prince to me, my dancers!

Wakan Tanka: (determine) No!

Wakan Tanka and the others try to protect to you, but there are too many dancers to fight off. You try to fight them, but they quickly pick you up and take you to the Wicked Stepbrother who then tried to wrap you up in his tentacles.

Wicked Stepbrother: Now, Prince Cthulhu, I have won you. You are now mine and mine alone.

You try to fight off the tentacles as the Wicked Stepbrother tries to lean in to kiss you.

Wakan Tanka: (losing his temper) THAT'S ENOUGH!!

Wakan Tanka runs through the dancers and grabs the Wicked Stepbrother by his shirt, pulling him away.

Wakan Tanka: (burning with energy) I know Heyoka is the prize in the Game, but that's no reason to treat him this way. He has made up his mind. Though this does not mean I have officially won the Game, he decided to be with me... You think I have completely lost my godhood?

FLASH

Then you need to think again.

With one hit from his fist, Wakan Tanka∞ frees you from the Wicked Stepbrother's grasp and you rejoin the others.

Wicked Stepbrother: (angry) You don't frighten me. I will defeat you!

Bigfoot: (determine) Wakan Tanka and Lupin together! You no take him away.

I make sure that.

Guess it's time to get cooking. You ready, Maria?

Maria: This is suppose to be a story about the character my clothes are based on, but Azathoth's warped mind is change the story, and not for the better.

Lupin: Don't worry, we'll fix it.

You take Wakan Tanka∞'s hand.

Lupin: Together.

Wakan Tanka∞ smiles happily to you.

The battle begins.

To be continued...

[writerartistdreamer]

@whumptober @whumptober-archive

Title: At Last, My Love

Hello and welcome to my next story! Since I like to reimagine this part of the story quite a lot and like to think of situations in which Belle did NOT, in fact, get captured by the Evil Queen, I wrote today's Whumptober story about it, using today's prompt. You can also read this on AO3. Enjoy!

Posting Day: 9

Prompt Day 9: "You're a liar"

Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)

Characters: Belle, Rumplestiltskin

Summary: What if Regina didn't kidnap Belle after her adventures?

After months of travelling around and going on adventures, following the brave rescue of a cursed prince, Belle decides she has a beast of her own to face. Her decision leads her back to the Dark Castle, where her heart's true desire awaits.

Belle had been gone for months on end. Banished from the Dark Castle, she couldn't imagine returning to her former kingdom, stuck in the same old story that had kept her captive of a title she could not fulfill, at least not the way they wished her to. She had chosen a life of travelling, of endless journeys throughout villages and kingdoms and sleeping in taverns as all adventurers did. She worked in the same taverns she slept in, wiping tables, serving drinks and singing songs for a few coins of gold and copper and a warm bed or cot at night. Still, after the last adventure she had gone through along with Mulan, who had quickly become her friend, and saving a life from a curse's eternity, the woman had made up her mind. She had to return to the Dark Castle, for there was another beast she had to face.

As she stood in front of the large estate, satchel at her side and sword strapped to her back, Belle reconsidered her decision. Her feet somehow stopped working, not being able to take any steps forward. What if he once again turned her away and screamed in her face? What if her heart would break into a million pieces once again? It had taken too long for it to be put back together and, while not fully healed, she was not sure she could have it break once more, for it would not hold again. Her hand reaching for the pearl drop necklace clasped at her neck, her mother's words once again rang true in her mind and soul: 'Do the brave thing and bravery will follow'.

With a deep breath, the adventurer stepped forward, sauntered to the front gates and placed her arm against the door to knock and demand to be let in. Expecting to be met with resistance, Belle was taken by surprise when the gates instantly opened to allow her in. She entered the castle and felt outright grief, regret and loneliness seep through her bones, the frozen embrace of darkness trying to swallow her whole. Still, she kept walking through the foyer until she reached the doors of the Great Hall, a place which held so many memories, so much joy and love and sorrow all at once, everything and nothing in an overwhelming amalgation. While the sorcerer had not poofed himself at the entrance to usher guests away, he could be on the other side of the door, spinning his thoughts away. The thought of seeing him once again after everything they had gone through hit her once again, like a dagger through the heart, a breath stolen from her lungs. Still, she stood brave and determined and pushed the doors of the chamber with all her might, preparing herself to face her demons and brush the cobwebs of despair away with her usual stubborness.

The curtains were still open, just as Belle had left them that fateful day in which she had reached the clarity she had needed to understand her feelings for Rumplestiltskin, yet everything seemed barren and sorrowful. The glass cabinet stood broken, lying sideways, the long mahogany table stood empty and dusty, parts of the carpet were burned, signs of too much power being let loose. On the pedestal, where an important golden goblet once stood, the chipped cup took precedence- her chipped cup. The one that had started it all, that had given way to their whirlwind bond, stood on the pedestal as if welcoming her back home. She tried to keep her tears at bay, yet remained speechless when her ocean blue eyes landed on the other side of the room, where a figure stood hunched over a spinning wheel, constantly moving and letting streams of gold pool at his feet. Rumplestiltskin was right there, at the other end of the Great Hall, the two once again standing in the same room with one another, yet so very different from the way they used to be. The man looked as if he was encompassed by an unbreakable gloom, such darkness and sorrow clinging on to his frail figure, his hair limp and skin lacking its usual gleam. Still, it was him, her Rumple, right there for her to reach, for her to gaze upon, and her heart tugged at her to find him.

It was the one time her words failed her, Belle, who was usually so well-spoken and had the right thing to say. For once, she was clueless as to what words she was supposed to string together, what the right thing to say would be. All she could do was take a few more steps towards the wheel, while remaining on the other side of the room, and speak the name of the man she loved. "Rumple?"

Rumplestiltskin's hands instantly ceased on spinning the wheel as his head spun around to see where the sound had come from. His eyes landed on the beautiful brunette standing on the other side of the room, clad in an adventurer's atire, sword strapped to her back...his brave, beautiful Belle. Only it could not be her, could not possibly be his Belle, not after he had so cruelly banished her from the Dark Castle, from her home. He stood up from his bench, befuddled and upset, taking one step forward, hands shaking as he gazed upon the woman. "Belle?" His voice wavered as he spoke a name almost as a prayer.

A sob arose from Belle's throat as she nodded, taking another step closer to the sorcerer. She didn't trust herself, did not trust the situation to get closer to him and reach for him just yet, yet she desired it so. Belle unstrapped the sword from her back, leaving it on the ground as a sign of peace, and took a deep breath in. "I'm back. Rumple, I'm back" she managed to let out, shaky smile spreading upon her rosy lips.

All of the sudden, Rumplestiltskin seemed to almost be struck across the face, his expression changing. He shook his head, frown on his brow, anger seeming to stew inside him. "No. You're a liar. She's not here. She can't be here. She left" the sorcerer spoke, his voice taking an edge, almost as if warning her to stay away. "You're lying. You're not her" he said once again, warmth leaving his gaze and being replaced by a frozen sheath.

Belle remained in the same spot, thinking everything over. She could understand why he would not believe her and, while that was not why she had expected anger to arise from him, she had been prepared for it. Once again, Belle took a few steps forward, although she noticed the sorcerer recoiling from her. "It's me. Belle. The same woman who made a deal with you to become your maid in exchange for you saving my kingdom" she tried to explain, tried to show him it was truly and undoubtedly her.

"No. You're not her. She would never come back here" Rumplestiltskin responded, a sneer taking over his features, yet she could still glimpse deep sadness and...was that heartbreak?

Belle could recognize heartbreak after having noticed it within her own gaze, such heaviness clinging to her, she felt as if she could drown. It was right there and the woman fought everything within her not to let another sob resurface. "And yet I am right here, right in front of your very eyes. I came back, Rumplestiltskin" she fought back, hope keeping her afloat, present enough to speak to the man in front of her- her greatest love and her greatest heartbreak.

The sorcerer continuously shook his head, not being able to believe such a thing. Whoever had disguised themselves as his little maid, his Belle, to entice him had done a damn good job to get through to him if only for a moment, yet he would not let himself be fooled. "No" was all he had left to say as he braced himself against the table.

"The curtains" Belle began, taking a step forward, then another, and noticed the shift in Rumplestiltskin's gaze. "The curtains are down because I tore them apart after climbing the ladder. Remember? I jested about you nailing them down and you, without missing a beat, confirmed you did indeed nail them down. Who does that? Only a man as set in his ways as you could" Belle continued, a teary chuckle leaving her lips when she recalled her memory and her amusement at the situation. "I tugged on and on and finally, the curtains gave out...right along with me. I fell from the ladder, thinking I would make contact with the floor, thinking that as the moment I'd die...and you were there to catch me. I was so shocked, I couldn't utter a single word for a good few minutes. You held me so tenderly, as if it was second nature and all I could do was thank you" the woman recalled the memory, a few tears falling down her cheeks in the meantime. Without realizing it, she had stepped right up to him, the two standing toe to toe, so close she could reach out to him. All she could bring herself to do was place her hand against his shoulder, begging him in her mind to believe her.

Rumplestiltskin's gaze found hers, her touch leaving him speechless, frozen, as it always had. He stared right into the depths of her blue eyes, those eyes that had haunted him and blessed him, drowned and rescued him at the same time. Those blue eyes filled with such kindness and honesty, so unmistakably her. Something within him shifted and his anger and dount seeped away, instead leaving room for the man to resurface. He wavered as his hand reached out to caress her cheek, tears erupting from his eyes as his mouth trembled. "My Belle" he gasped and instantly wrapped his arms around her, clinging to her as if she was his safety line. He felt how his Belle clung to him, how she held him just as close, heard her sob against him and felt her tears soak his shirt as they both cried in each other's arms, the overwhelming weight of everything that had happened finally being released. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Oh, Belle" he whispered, not trusting himself to even stand straight unless he held her in his arms. His hand came up to cradle her head as her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, her face buried in his chest.

"Oh, Rumple" Belle whispered, hot tears pooling down her cheeks, grateful for his embrace keeping her together and on her feet. There was still too much to be said, too many apologies and confessions to be heard, too many stories to tell, yet in that moment, the two lovers clung to one another as if life the world itself would crumble to pieces unless they held on to one another.

[typhin-hoofbun]

I will say, for the record, that it is SUPER WEIRD to find out your MOM is reading your stories on FurAffinity. (She doesn't have an account that I know of.)

She reads a TON of books, 90% of which are your basic dime-a-dozen "romance" novels. (No hate, just sayin'.) She told me my stuff is "really good, and she's not just saying that because she's my mother" and "You've really got something here that should be published, this is professional-quality stuff". Meanwhile, I write non-human protagonist (mostly) post-transformation fiction. All three of the main characters are based on me (some more than others), which means being transgender/transspecies (even if they don't know it at the start). Princess the dragon lays eggs, the implications of which I really thought might weird mom out, but NOPE. So, I guess I come by it honestly?

About 50% of my feedback has come from people I know, who initially read my stuff to be kind. My readership is hard to gauge the size of, but fairly small. The number of people who comment is even smaller. All but one person has said they were immediately hooked. I don't expect my stuff to be everyone's cup of tea, but even if it's not something that the reader can completely vibe with, I like to think I have enough stuff that there's something in their experience that can still resonate with the reader. I guess it's because of the core emotion for each series is something that's pretty universal. (Summaries after the break.)

Princess the dragon (dog-sized, nonanthro) focuses on issues from low self-esteem, as well as the desire for unfiltered love and affection. She constantly feels like she is a "burden" because of her inhuman body, no longer having things like "thumbs" or "bipedal stance" or "the ability to talk to people without them freaking out". She always feels like she's "not doing enough", like what she does "doesn't count". I think that resonates with a lot of people, who like how she's found someone who accepts her for who she is. Who tells her it's okay to want to be a pet. Who treats her as an equal partner. Learning to do what she can now, instead of obsessing over what she can't.

Flopsy the Hoofbun (horse/rabbit hybrid) focuses on the feeling of "I have to be useful to be liked/tolerated/allowed to exist", which is similar to Princess's low self-esteem but a bit different. Prior to the start of her story, she has a clearly-defined "role" for herself: She is a Living Construct, or "Like a golem but better". She exists to follow orders and serve her Master. This isn't a bad relationship, her Master treated her well, almost like a daughter. He was greatly surprised to find just how intelligent and capable she turned out to be, and he wants her to be happy and fulfilled. It's just she never really thought of any desires beyond "Helping the people of the village with their farm work, pulling the plow and hauling boulders/logs, defending Master from threats on the road". Now that he's dead and she's trapped on Earth, she finds herself fighting crime while trying to wrap her head around these "independent" and "person" things she's told to learn to be. And trying to wrap her head around why her "human form"'s friends like her when they don't know she's fighting crime as "The Superbunny". So the story is about finding her innate worth in her own self, instead of purely in the acts of service she's previously defined herself with.

Vayryn the Yinglet (fictional species from the webcomic "Out of Placers" by Valsalia) focuses on the feeling of being "Tiny helpless creature being kicked around by uncaring/hateful bastard giants". She's been kicked down a lot by her transformation: she's now three feet tall, covered in fur, has little stick legs/arms, her feet are now hands, her shelltooth makes her look like she's rat-faced, has a long tail with a thick poof of fur, she's lost 80-90% of her body mass and correspondingly most of her strength, and she can't say "th" sounds anymore. Nobody takes her seriously, even on the phone where she sounds like a 10-year-old kid. But in the calamity is also opportunity: The autoimmune condition that wrecked her body has been completely cured by being rebuilt at the cellular/genetic level, she doesn't have to deal with HRT pills or opiate pain meds or any of her other medications, she's finally been able to get back into programming, and her unique situation means she's getting a heck of a following on Twitter. Where Princess focuses on the low self-esteem side of things, Vayryn focuses heavily on the "Learning to do what you can do, instead of focusing on what you used to be able to do" aspect. It's both escapism for someone with disability, as well as learning to deal with it. (In Vayryn's case, she's trading one disability for another, though she's trying not to have "being a yinglet" officially ruled a disability, due to fears any potential future transformees will be stigmatized. There's still a huge learning curve involved in any drastic change in abilities, though.) Vayryn is the most closely "based on me" of the three: All three have my personality and backstories based on things I've experienced, but Vayryn starts off in a carbon-copy of my specific situation minus a couple factors. She starts with the same condition I have, the same meds, the same IV port implanted in her chest, and so on.

Writing is like drawing.

You can words together good put however you want, and it is not inherently bad or wrong. You should just do it if you enjoy it. And not if you don't.

You might fuck up the grammar of your language or something, or write about a subject that someone finds cringy.

But asking yourself whether your writing is good or bad, or thinking it must be bad because no one is reading it, is a fruitless and needlessly self destructive activity you should abandon immediately.

The real truth is that no one reads anything. Statistically.

The books and stories that get read a lot are outliers and shouldn't be counted.

It's also generally harder to read the works of someone you know. It feels too intimate, and too risky. And doesn't come with professional or popular recommendation.

Most people only have time and bravery to read best sellers, whether that's on the New York list or by ranking of kudos on AO3.

So, for those of us without the power of a huge publishing house or a rabidly active fandom behind us, getting readers is really grim. Super slim pickings. And does not reflect on the quality of our writing.

But again, there's no such thing as "quality of writing".

And, as per a previous post, it's perfectly fine to want to show it off and to ask people to read your work.

Just, don't take it personally if they don't. Or, at least, don't blame your writing. Blame them.

[inktheblot]

owo trans optimus?

Trans Optimus!!! 🙌

Like I said in that other post, as a trans person it's nice to just point at characters you like and say "poof you're trans now". It doesn't always go any deeper than that, nor does it have to. But I do have a few more specific trans thoughts about OP, depending on continuity and whether we're looking through a lens of human concepts of gender vs. potential Cybertronian concepts of gender or similar societal constructs, or an in- or out-of-universe perspective.

There's a potential queer/trans metaphor practically any time a character has some kind of name change, alternate or secret identity, or anything like that -- not least when there's a lot of emphasis on the theme of change, of transformation, on every level from the societal to the individual to simply being able to alter one's body shape. So for one thing, you could look at Orion Pax vs. Optimus Prime as some kind of gender transition, with "pre-robot-T" vs. "post-robot-T" being the most simple, more-or-less-equivalent-to-a-human-transition standpoint. In G1 especially, the physical differences between the two are more pronounced, in overall shape, facial structure, voice, etc., changing from features that read to us as humans as comparatively more "feminine" (smaller, curvier, more pronounced lips, higher voice) to more "masculine" (larger, more blocky/square, more "muscle mass", deeper voice).

There's also the possibility of reformatting into Optimus being dysphoric rather than euphoric. In some stories there seems to be more of an emphasis on being Prime as being a burden, and OP becoming more closed off, more depressed, resigned to the expectations that this new position and presence carry. Of course, there's a number of factors that feed into this, not least being a chosen leader in the middle of a war and all the trauma that comes with that, but that doesn't mean one can't also draw comparisons to a trans experience. Inhabiting a body that feels incorrect, being called by a different name/title, this body and name and title all carrying connotations of a certain role, a role you don't necessarily feel comfortable or fully yourself in but you keep up for others' sake.

There's also the interpretation that I really like that both frame type and function are facets of Cybertronian gender identity or similar, and that they don't always align, but they're expected to, and one is also expected to conform to both of which they're assigned at birth/forging/construction/etc. If you pull little details here and there from various continuities, you could have, for example, an Orion Pax who is both greatly skilled in and greatly enjoys his station as an archivist, but it wasn't one he was forged into or cold constructed for but one that he was brought into by Alpha Trion (whether to his knowledge or not), and he's noticeably larger or of a different shape than a typical coworker or member of a similar caste. How does all of this inform his identity and sense of self? What parts feel Right and Good, what parts make him feel out of place, what parts might he want to change? How is he read by others and how does he want to be read? And how might these things shift if and when he becomes Optimus Prime, with a new frame, a new alt mode, and a new function? Much to think about. If he's comfortable in his function, purely by happenstance, but not so much in his body, and then he loses the security of that function being the primary purpose in his life plus has the things that made his body stand out exaggerated even further, that's a major oof. Or if the frame upgrades feel Gender, but the shifts in status and language that are coupled with them don't. Lots of possibilities, lots of ways to explore the idea that gender identity, gender roles, gender expression/presentation, body parts, pronouns, interests, aesthetics, etc., are all things that can influence each other, but aren't inherently, rigidly linked or defined by one another. Through an alien lens, sure, but still a theme that's relevant and important to human trans lives.

One more idea that's been presented is that Cybertronians are by nature genderless, that gender is not a construct that they culturally have, but one that individuals may adopt for themselves after having contact with other worlds/species and thinking "yeah I like that, that feels right for me". Optimus Prime on Earth has several traits that might lead the average human to read him as a "man", or something similar: his voice, his pronouns (whether automatically translated or picked intentionally), even his position as a military leader. Is this something he's comfortable with? Is it insignificant, something of no meaning or consequence to him? Is it something he'd be curious about, something he'd look more into as a part of better understanding and respecting the planet he and his people are taking refuge on, and if so, would come to any new conclusions about how he sees or wants to present his own gender(s), if any gender at all? Would he adopt any human gender descriptor(s) for himself, whether temporarily in an attempt to compare his identity as he knows it to terms his human colleagues would better understand, or permanently as a sign of a complete shift of that understanding into concepts he'd never had the means to consider before?

There's a lot of directions you can take this concept (even multiple at once!), and I think they're all really neat. One thing's for sure, this truck is not cis. 😉

[simplyotometrash]

MC turns into MSheep!

Inspired by the lil anime announcement we got because I love MC still being represented by a lil sheepie~!

As usual, this is gender-neutral reader!MC

It was a total accident. You were just working on your potion project with Solomon. He was helping you with the math of it, mostly, since it was pretty complicated. You had no idea where things went wrong. There was a puff of pink smoke when you added the last ingredient and suddenly Solomon was a giant! Well, actually you were turned into a small pink sheep...

Lucifer:

He didn’t know what to say when Solomon brought you home.

You were a sheep. A tiny sheep. And very pink.

His beloved was a sheep.

Lucifer.exe has stopped responding.

Honestly, give this old man a few moments to take in the shock and let things settle.

Then he’s going to threaten Solomon because who else would have turned you into a fucking sheep?

A tiny voice sounded from the sheep. It sounded like you, only smaller.

“It was my fault. I think. Solomon didn’t even touch my potion ingredients.”

Well, that doesn’t change anything. Solomon had best change you back or else.

And those words shot pure ice through your veins. You knew when your Lucifer got pissed off, his threats were not to be taken lightly.

For the time being, however, you had to live as a sheep.

Lucifer didn’t hesitate to just carry you everywhere. What if you got lost? Or Beel tried to eat you? Or Belphie thought you were a pillow? Or Mammon tried to sell you?

There were too many variables and this old demon just wanted some peace of mind.

So you went literally everywhere with him. You two still talked as normal. You even slept in his room still. 

You promised yourself to help him relax once you were human again. You knew your situation caused a lot of unneeded stress on the poor man.

It took three whole days before Solomon was able to change you back.

But when you were human again you didn’t expect Lucifer to hug you so tightly or give you such a firm kiss. He had missed his human being, well, a human far more than he cared to admit.

But you better make good on helping him relax. I think there’s some grey in his hair now.

Mammon:

Haha, good joke, Solomon! Now, where was his human? Really, where were they hiding?

He was so sure it was a prank and you were taking pictures from the bushes or something.

When you voice sounded from the small sheep Mammon nearly fainted.

What the fuck did Solomon do to his human?! The Great Mammon’s human was a sheep!

You explained your situation and Mammon only grew more jittery.

He was grinding his teeth. He didn’t hesitate, though, to snatch you away from Solomon and hold you like you were the most sacred thing in the whole of Devildom.

“Ya better turn them back! I can make money at the casinos so name the price!”

Oh he was serious. Mammon was willing to pay good Grimm just to turn you back.

And Solomon, after cruel teasing with pricing your return to human at over a million Grimm, said he would do it for free. After all, there was no telling if this would wear off or if it needed to be reversed.

So he would do it. It was a good chance to study your potion recipe and figure out how you fucked up.

Mammon, like his older brother, took you literally everywhere with him. But by everywhere I do mean everywhere. Lucifer at least had the decency to leave you out when he went to the bathroom. Mammon did not.

He was also making sure to keep you away from Asmo, who had fallen for your pink and fluffy form on sight. 

Mammon talked to you like you were still human. He treated like his human.

But he also acted like you would break at any second. He had never been so careful in his life.

He honestly cried on the third day, worried you might be stuck as a sheep. He didn’t know what to do.

Of course, you were turned back by that evening. Solomon had dropped by to check in and the potion naturally wore off.

Mammon hugged you so tight you felt like you were being suffocated.

But he was back to normal the second Solomon joked that he wanted to get paid for his efforts.

Levi:

Once Solomon was able to get into his bedroom, Levi just about fainted at the sight of you.

He wasn’t even skeptical about this.

It was just like the anime “Help I’ve Accidentally Been Turned Into a Sheep and Now I’m Stuck!”. Literally, just like the anime! 

You needn’t worry about anyone trying anything with you while Solomon worked to turn you back, it wasn’t like you would be leaving Levi’s room very much.

You were in his lap almost 24/7 save for when you needed food or to go to the bathroom. Or he needed to do the same. 

His room was a fortress so you were pretty much safe. 

You couldn’t remember the last time you got to spend quite that much time with your otaku. He could be difficult at times, especially when he was playing a game.

You actually relished the time spent as a sheep because of it.

Levi was not-so-secretly getting more and more anxious though. 

He saw the anime! He made you watch it with him in one sitting, too! What if this turned out just like the anime and you never turned back into a human?

The main character in the anime was a sheep for an entire YEAR!

If he had a soul it would have left his body at the very thought.

By the end of the third day you could tell he was totally falling apart.

His partner was a sheep. Probably forever.

With a poof of pink smoke you were human again.

And Levi unconscious because, for some reason, you turned human and had no clothes on.

You just put on some of his clothes for the time being and called Solomon.

You caught a glimpse in the mirror as you were on the phone and told him to keep working on that reversal potion.

You still had sheep fluff for hair, horns, and sheep ears...

Satan:

If looks could kill then Solomon would have been dead where he stood.

The sin of wrath was so pissed off that there was an evil, menacing aura radiating from him.

And it was directed solely at Solomon.

“I don’t even want you working on a way to turn them back. You might be a great sorcerer but I’m going to do this myself.”

He snatched you away and slammed the door in the sorcerer’s face.

No one tried to bother him as he stormed back to his room. 

“I promise I’m going to turn you back, MC.”

He poured over his books and had you give him the potion you had been making. You had to tell every single detail you could remember of what happened leading up to your transformation.

But he didn’t only focus on turning you back.

He couldn’t neglect you being in the room with him. You still brought out the calm within him and made him feel at ease.

When you insisted he take breaks, he would make some tea and give you a straw so you didn’t get tea in your wool.

Like he usually did, he read to you when you wanted to go to sleep. It was even more relaxing holding a warm ball of fluff.

But he barely slept.

He had to figure out a way to turn his favorite person back to normal.

You were still you, no doubt about that, but he missed you being a person. Someone he could kiss and hold hands with. Someone he didn’t have to worry about accidentally crushing or losing because you were so small.

He finally figured it out. He studied your potion recipe for hours on end until he figured out what went wrong. You had been given a recipe that had been “mislabeled”.

Knowing that made it a cinch to turn you back within the hour.

Now to murder the dodgy sorcerer who gave you the recipe for class to begin with.

Asmo:

“Whaaaaaat? MC? A sheep? Oh, darling, you are so cute! And so soft!!”

He canonically loves cute things (did you read the Devilgram story about him taking care of bunnies?) so he was having the time of his life.

And then it hit him as soon as Solomon laughed.

He couldn’t go out on dates with you. He couldn’t kiss you. Or see your stunning face. Your voice wasn’t the same. 

Solomon promised to do what he could to fix this, but it could take a few days.

Did he spend the next hour crying and hugging your fluffy body? Yes, yes he did.

You got him calmed down, reassuring him that it was temporary and there were some perks. He would totally get lots of attention on Devilgram if he posted your pictures! You were pink, his favorite color! You had lots of soft wool he could brush and he could paint your tiny sheep hooves!

That perked him right up.

He spent the next several hours styling your wool, somehow managing to put braids in it. He gave you cute decorative pieces to wear in your wool, painted your hooves to match his nails, and even gave you a little bowtie!

And boy did his Devilgram blow up with attention at the sight of your pictures.

You even inspired his newest clothing designs! Clothing for pets! Devildom didn’t have a cute variety of pet clothes, and while you weren’t a pet, you were very inspiring to look at.

Even pets deserved to look beautiful!

You were so soft to snuggle with but nighttime really made him miss you. Even in an innocent way, he missed skin-to-skin cuddling. It was always so reassuring.

But he didn’t have that.

He managed to get through the days that went by before Solomon finally turned you back.

And he was beginning to wonder if Solomon had drawn out your time as a sheep on purpose.

That didn’t matter, though. Not when he had to take you out on a date!

Beel:

Solomon was holding something soft and fluffy. Was it food? Cotton candy? It looked really sweet and tasty.

“Beel, no, it’s me!”

“MC...?”

He wasn’t happy once the situation was explained. But he didn’t show it. To be fair, he wasn’t the most outwardly expressive of his emotions unless it was necessary.

With Solomon’s promise to return you to normal, he just carried you back to the kitchen with him.

But he wasn’t hungry anymore. Not when his dear human was in a new and unusual form.

It caused him to go into a bit of a crisis, though.

What did sheep eat? What could YOU eat? You were a human in a sheep’s body after all. Did you have to eat what sheep ate or could you still eat your favorite things?

He sat there, staring at the cupboards and fridge, with the most worried look on his face.

To be fair, you weren’t sure either.

And you two stayed liked that until Satan said you could still eat whatever you liked, though it would be best to avoid meat unless it was basically shredded. 

Then came Beel’s next huge crisis: he was terrified of crushing you!

You were so tiny and delicate now, even more fragile than when you were a human.

It took a little convincing but Beel took to carrying you literally everywhere you wanted to go. He loved how soft you were.

Though you didn’t like how often he drooled on you because your fluff looked too tasty. You promised to get him cotton candy once you were a human again, which kind of helped the situation.

Beel even made sure to make everything you ate easy on you! He didn’t want anything to be hurtful to your little sheep body or hard for you to eat!

He didn’t hesitate to help you drink the reversal potion once Solomon got it made, holding his breath until he saw you in your proper state again.

He could breathe easy again. 

Belphie:

What was Solomon carrying? A new pillow or something?

It looked so soft and like it would be a perfect napping pillow.

He wasn’t even listening to anything Solomon had to say, the explanation going in one ear and out the other.

He was focused on going inside to use the new pillow.

Until he heard you talking to him after Solomon had given up on explaining anything.

Now he was mildly concerned. You weren’t you anymore. You were a sheep. He actually listened as you told him your story, unlike with Solomon, and he merely shrugged.

“Well, what can you do? You’ll be normal again eventually.”

You knew your grumpy demon, though. He was worried about you. But Belphie was never good at showing his worry for others unless it was drastic.

True to form, he passed out once he laid down again. You were held against him as if you might disappear while he slept.

It was all the more proof he was worried about your situation.

He still slept most of the time, he was like a cat in that he slept for hours without moving. You had to wiggle free to do anything. No one wanted to wake up to a sheep smelling like piss and you didn’t want a bath.

Belphie whined that taking care of you as a sheep was too much work, but the moment anyone tried to take you from him he immediately got defensive. He even threatened to break Mammon’s hands.

The only one he trusted with you was Beel.

Always sleeping holding your little sheep self did make him realize he wanted a stuffed animal version of you just like that.

It was so nice to snuggle with.

But he missed the normal you. He wanted to have you to lay on or go “star” gazing with. He wanted to do things with you again that weren’t quite possible with you as a sheep.

So he may have gone to find Solomon and threaten him if he didn’t turn you back quicker.

It was all for naught, as he came home to find you curled up in his bed in your human form once again.

He’d wake you up later. For now, he wanted to take another nap with you.

[phoenix-downer]

Enchanted Neighborhood Chapter 5

~1225 words. Sora/Kairi. Post-Canon. Family AU, SoKai Parents AU. Reunions, Fluff, Winnie the Pooh.

This story is a sequel to After Ever After and Love’s Cost, and this is the final chapter.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5

Summary: Sora and his kids return from their adventure with Pooh and his friends, and Kairi reunites with her family and reminisces with Sora.

Sora landed on the ground of Merlin’s house with a loud thunk, and naturally, his three children wound up piled on top of him: Miyu, then Haruto, then Emi. He groaned deeply because he was still in teenage form and not used to bearing this much weight at once. 

“You guys are too big for this,” he grumbled, earning a few laughs and giggles from his kids. And a shocked giggle that sounded out from somewhere above him, a giggle he knew better than any giggle. He spotted a pair of black boots near his head, and his eyes traveled up Kairi’s long, lovely legs and beautiful figure before meeting her dancing eyes. 

“Kairi!” he said, trying in vain to wiggle out from beneath the dogpile he was trapped under. “How was tea with Aerith? How are you feeling? How’s the baby?”

She just giggled again. “Sora, what on earth happened?”

He scratched his cheek. “Oh, about that. So Merlin accidentally hit me with some spell that de-aged me, and then I got pulled into Pooh’s storybook…” 

“Kids, get off of your father,” Kairi commanded, and the kids quickly obliged. Sora scrambled to his feet, and Kairi just looked at him with a disbelieving smile. He was still taller than her even in this form, but not by much. 

“Seeing you like this… It really takes me back,” she said, her eyes sparkling. 

He grinned. “In a good way, I hope.”

She smiled and cupped his cheek. “Yes. It reminds me of my teenage years, when I spent a lot of time swooning over my not-so-secret crush.” 

“I was pretty bad at hiding my crush too,” he admitted, and Haruto gagged. Sora pouted and ignored his son, and Emi made some comment about how Mommy and Daddy were acting all lovey-dovey. Miyu, he noticed, was blushing. Oh boy, was she thinking about a crush? He’d have to ask Kairi later if she had any info about that. 

He turned back to his beloved wife. “I really wanna kiss you,” he said in that slightly whiny voice she never seemed to mind, “but Merlin should transform me back first,” he finished, rubbing the back of his head. It would be kinda awkward if she kissed his teenage self, especially in front of the kids.

Kairi laughed lightly. “I would prefer that, yes. But no matter what form you take, I’ll always know it’s you,” she said softly, and now he really wanted to kiss her. 

“Merlin, a little help?” he called, and the wizard at last poofed into existence in a cloud of pink smoke. 

“Ah yes, sorry about that, Sora,” he said, then puttered around for the right ingredients and spell, knocking about cabinets and shelves and sundry other places. The kids watched him attentively as he cast the spell in question. Several odd smells and poofs of colorful smoke later, and Sora felt his body transforming into his current self. 

He coughed and tested his arms and legs, wiggling and stretching to make sure they were the right size, the right length. He breathed a sigh of relief. Oh good, he was back to normal. Being young again was fun, but this was how he should be, and now he could kiss Kairi—

As the smoke cleared, the kids laughed hysterically, and Kairi was giggling too. He looked down at himself and groaned. “Really Merlin? You couldn’t transform my clothes at the same time?” he grumbled. He was still stuck in his now way-too-small teenage clothes and looked completely stupid. 

“Sorry, that’s a different spell,” Merlin said, then thumbed through the pages of his spellbook. “Hmmm, let’s see, maybe I can find it here—”

“That’s okay,” Kairi said, waving her hands, “I’ve got a change of clothes for him in my bag.” 

Sora gave her a relieved look. Merlin was a good wizard, but he was an odd duck and sometimes his spells had… interesting results. In this case a regular change of clothes was far safer than random spells.

Wait, Kairi had a change of clothes for him in her bag? Was she hoping they’d—

She smiled and wiggled her eyebrows, and he gave her a knowing grin. She was. 

“Alright, kids, let’s get going,” Kairi said, and the kids dutifully gathered together with some slight herding of Haruto. Sora gave Miyu the keys and told them they could explore the shops in the Main Square, get some ice cream from Scrooge McDuck, and then go on ahead to the Gummi Ship. With that the kids were off. 

Sora glanced at Pooh’s storybook and smiled. The cover had transformed once again to show him and his kids sitting by the creek with all his friends gathered around. Next time he really would have to bring Kairi with him. Then the book would feel complete. 

Now that he and Kairi were finally alone, they went on an impromptu date in the gardens, revisiting old memories and making new ones. Afterwards, as they sat at one of the fountains gushing clear water, she caught him up on how tea time with Aerith had gone and asked about his adventures. 

“How are Pooh and Piglet? Rabbit? The others?”

“They’re all great. It was really nice to see them again. And I promised I’d bring you next time, too.” He stroked her hand and smiled. “It’s not the same without you.” 

She smiled softly. “I’d like to join next time, yeah.” She rested her hand on her belly. “Once the baby is born.” 

“Oh, did Aerith say anything about—”

“We’re having a boy,” Kairi said, beaming happily. He laughed with joy and embraced her, then kissed her deeply. It was still too early to know what the baby would be with conventional medicine, but Aerith had a way of knowing these things, and he and Kairi both knew she was right. She’d been right about the other three, after all. 

Speaking of them, it was time to return to the Gummi Ship. They strolled through the streets of Radiant Garden together while holding hands and boarded the ship, and Miyu, Haruto, and Emi were already dutifully seated and ready for takeoff. Sora was about to sit down when Kairi pulled him in for one more kiss.

“For luck,” she said when she released him, her eyes sparkling. “Drive carefully, you wouldn’t want your wife and son to have a rough journey, would you?” 

She smiled and winked. It took a moment for this information to sink in, then the kids all reacted at once.

“I knew it!” Haruto crowed, punching his hand into the air. “I knew I was gonna have a baby brother!” 

“Oooo, a baby brother?” Emi asked, wiggling excitedly in her seat. She glanced between Sora and Kairi. “I can’t wait to meet him!” 

“Same,” Miyu said, her eyes dancing as she looked to Kairi. “Did Aerith tell you?”

“Mhmmm,” Kairi said, a smile on her face. “Let’s get home, I want to start prepping the nursery.” 

“Home,” Sora repeated. He sat down and powered up the controls. The Gummi Ship whirred and sputtered to life, and a rush of adrenaline poured through him. He couldn’t wait for this next chapter in his family’s life. 

It was like he’d told the kids: every day was an adventure, and this was just the latest chapter of it.

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

A/N: Sorry about the delay on the final chapter, but hope you enjoyed this next entry in my SoKai Family AU. Thank you again to @angel-with-a-pipette and @scoobysnack1107​ for providing inspiration and reading over the story, and thank you everyone for reading! 

[ridiasfangirlings]

1) Post rock. Yata is attacked by a strain that turns a person's clothes into a bikini, he can take off the bikini and put on other clothes, and she immediately turns into a bikini, but will have the same properties that clothes that were before the bikini. Fushimi laughs at Yata, but when the rest of the Homra and Scepter 4 guys show up, Fushimi realizes that they too can see a lot of Misaki's bare skin.

The inner war of ‘wanting to tease Misaki for looking ridiculous in public’ vs ‘not wanting to let anyone else see even an inch of Misaki’s precious skin.’ Poor Yata meanwhile is not pleased about this whole thing, imagine he gets hit by the Bikini Strain and immediately his clothes are transformed into like a sweatshirt-material bikini. He’s probably right in front of Homra when this happens and Yata screams like a girl, trying to cover himself and he’s totally red-faced and embarrassed. Kamamoto tries tossing him a jacket to cover up but the jacket just poofs into another bikini (this one even more revealing and Yata screams again).

The Homra guys tell Yata that maybe he should go back and find somewhere to hide until they can catch the Strain and get the power reversed. Yata nods and makes a run for it, except now he needs to like run through the streets of Shizume in a bikini. Luckily for him S4 is helping in the pursuit and they’ve set up something of a blockade so there aren’t any people around. Yata’s almost relaxed before he hears someone laughing and he looks up to see Fushimi there, complimenting Yata’s bikini. Yata’s face gets red and he tells Fushimi to shut up, this was a Strain thing okay. Fushimi snickers all don’t you look pretty Misaki, Yata’s like just help me get out of here before anyone sees. Fushimi wonders if Yata’s embarrassed, just enjoying this very much as he touches Yata’s chest. Yata’s face gets even redder and he coughs like Saruhiko don’t touch like that, Fushimi’s eyes get this mischievous glint as he’s like why, do you like it.

Before he can tease Misaki more though some of the other S4 and Homra members catch up to them. The Homra guys are like wait what happened, wondering why Yata’s in a bikini while Yata tries to cover himself with his arms. Fushimi clicks his tongue and tosses his coat over Yata, Yata is now wearing a S4-motif blue string bikini. One of the Homra guys laughs and wolf whistles all looking good there Yata, Yata’s like shut up. Fushimi meanwhile is standing there stock still, having suddenly realized that not only can he see almost all of Yata’s skin but so can all these other people. He grabs Yata’s wrist and Yata’s like wait what’s wrong, realizing that Fushimi looks irritated. Fushimi snaps at the S4 guys to stop staring and get to work as he just bodily drags Yata over to one of the vans.

When he finally lets go Yata’s rubbing at his wrist like what’s the big deal all of a sudden, Fushimi’s all sullen as he grumbles that didn’t Yata want to get out of there. Yata’s like well yeah but you didn’t have to drag me and then he notices that Fushimi’s ears are red as Fushimi mumbles that he ‘doesn’t want anyone else to see Misaki like this but me.’ Yata’s face feels all hot now and he coughs like w-well I guess the other guys can handle this for now and you could take me home. It eventually turns out that the power won’t wear off for a couple days and of course Yata’s not going anywhere until that happens, like if he leaves the apartment people will think he’s some weird pervert. Fushimi agrees to take on the daunting task of staying with Yata and bringing him food and getting to see him walk around all day wearing only a tiny string bikini, it’s hard work but he’s very committed to the task.