#but ineffectiveness? now that annoys him lol

[thedevillionaire]

All right, well I want to ask everything from that list, even the things I already know! But 8, 9 and 11, would be fabulous, thank you, and the bonus Q, too, if you're keen?

lol, feel free to ask things you already know, if you want! I can talk about this stuff endlessly. ANYWAY, though... I've answered 8 and 11 here and the bonus question here, but for 9 - How do they feel about sneezing? Do they do it in public? Or are they trying to avoid it? - you're the first. 🫶

Cerberus is entirely fine with sneezing if it's not intrusive or excessive. He's reasonably sneezy, generally speaking, without extremity - it's not at all unusual for him to randomly sneeze for no clear/identifiable reason - and it doesn't bother him at all. He's not embarrassed or anxious about it in any way; he gives it practically no thought, really, outside of a courtesy excuse me or the like - he may be unconcerned but he's always courteous - unless it's happening A Whole Damn Lot. Then he'll be annoyed by it, particularly if it's interrupting something that he does not want to interrupt. But even then, he only rarely stifles - or, more accurately, badly attempts to stifle - if it's really an issue. Mostly, though? He's unconcerned. If he needs to sneeze, he's very unlikely to try to prevent it from happening. Sneezing has a purpose, and he only gets frustrated about it when that purpose isn't achieved despite repeated...efforts. Good times. 😘

[buggysangel17]

Meet The Cross Guild

Summary: You meet your husband's new 'co-workers'. Mihawk realized the worry that came with having you as his one and only weakness. Characters: Dracule Mihawk x Wife!Female Reader (Amihan). Sir Crocodile. Buggy. Word Count: 1,392 Chapter Warnings:  Alternate Universe-Canon Divergence. Mention of slicing someone's body part. (Buggy obviously) lol.

Masterlist | Series Masterlist || Send Me An Ask?

“Who is this?”

To Mihawk, it took a lot out of him to bring you here—in what would now be his new home, a place that would also serve as one of the many places where meetings would take place with the likes of one Crocodile and the annoyance of the fucking clown. But it was a risk he was willing to make knowing that you could handle your own.

After the events as what was your shared home in Kuraigana Island, how you had fought almost in the same par as him, he trusted you enough to be in the same space as two other former warlords that could possibly be a danger to not only himself but to you, his one and only weakness.

“That’s a good costume. The nose even looks so realistic too.”

He stands corrected.

He had watched Buggy take hold of your face, offended as his nose was now a topic of discussion. But somehow the fear was never once lingering on your face even as the empty threats begin to spill out of the clown’s lips for his nose being acknowledged.

“I’d be careful with my wife, she knows how to wield whatever weapon she could get her hands upon.” He had warned not his wife, but the man that had the utter audacity to hold onto his wife the way he did.

“Wife?!”

Buggy did not even finish the single word before a knife was pulled out of your palms and slicing through the man’s hand, ineffective knowing the Devil fruit the clown had with him. But the shock was all the more amusing in your eyes seeing the lack of blood as well as pain in the face of the clown.

“He isn’t affected by slashing attacks, My Love.” Mihawk had finally explained as you were still utterly confused by everything that the man in front of you was being.

Mihawk watched the arrogance in the clown as he continued to tease his wife about close to invisible because of his powers, but busy as he was with his own thoughts a ghost of a smile had laced the swordsman’s face as you instead pulled out a blunt mace from out of your palm and immediately bludgeoning the man with it knocking him down cold for a good few minutes of peace.

“Thank you.” Mihawk patted your shoulder, appreciating the lack of annoyance for now.

“It seems we have interrupted your time with your wife.” It was now Sir Crocodile that made his presence known, with the lack of an annoying figure that was Buggy, he was free to talk without much of an interruption.

“It’s fine.” You reassured with a smile on your lips, returning both your knife and mace back to your palm right in front of the man.

“It seems we have another Devil Fruit wielder then.”

“She is.” Mihawk finds himself interrupting the man’s line of questions. The less the man knows about you and your background, the better. He trusted you, but the same could not be said about the two men that was now in his home.

“It would be best to keep an eye on her then, Hawk Eye, if the World Government knew about her existence, it would be her head that’s plastered in the Bounty Posters.”

Mihawk has known as much. But he trusted not only himself, but as well as you that you would keep yourself away from much trouble as you possibly could. With this new change in both of your lives, you never resented him for it. In fact, you enjoyed yet another change in your life alongside him. That alone had reassured him that anything that may come, you took to stride.

“She can handle herself perfectly fine with or without me to help her.” Mihawk spoke.

“I’ll leave you three to it. I’ll bring the tea once it’s brewed.” You patted him on the chest and kissed him on the cheeks before leaving the two men to the impending conversation that they would be dealing with now.

“If she finds herself becoming a pirate, she might even surpass you, Hawk Eye.”

“And I don’t doubt you on your statement. But she is content to work by my side for now.”

“But until when?”

~

“They seem—nice. The clown is also a funny one.” You spoke the moment Mihawk had slipped out of the bath he had.

He was welcomed to the sight of you in bed in your delicate nightgown with a book in hand. You were surprisingly in good spirit even with how the entire day played out. Buggy, for all intents and purposes did not back down even after being knocked down cold by your hands. Somehow doubling down in making his entire stay focused on getting on your nerves but somehow you welcomed him with a smile and asking if he wanted any of the pastries you’ve made for the day. But his worry had been more on Crocodile, how his interest in you and your power had unnerved him—he might not have gotten under your skin, but he succeeded in getting under Mihawk’s as much as he did not want to admit it.

Instead of crawling into his side of the bed, he finds himself crawling on top of you, nestling his cheek against the flesh of your chest—this was his side of the bed now for the past few months. His arms wrapped around your waist as your hands now rested on his hair, scratching onto his scalp in the same way that he loved you doing.

“What’s on your mind, Darling?” You inquired halting in your movements.

“Keep going.” He finds himself urging you on.

“You’re so needy.” You playfully complained but obliged to his request.

“It’s not really something you need to worry about. Just a few hindrance that needs to mind their own business.” He began. “We had made an agreement with the clown that he will be the face that is plastered for the World Government to see but I’m concerned about what it would mean if they find out about you.”

“I’m not really worried.” You shrugged, smiling down at him. The softness of your gaze towards him brought him peace that he would have never thought he would deserve. “I’m married to the strongest swordsman in the world, I’m certain and I am very confident that you will not let anything happen to me.”

All his worries, it all magically vanished away at your words. How even when all was said and done, when the circumstance of your relationship was not as ideal as he would have wanted it to be, you still gave him faith that he never truly believed he deserved or earned.

He flipped the both of you until you were now under him, a surprised squeal escaping from your lips from the sudden movement. He smiled immediately pulling you in for a kiss before you could admonish him for the sudden movement.

“I care for you, so much more than I would ever care for anything else in this world. I vow to protect you, to care for you, and to love you until my last breath.”

They never had their vows, and this was the closest thing he could do for it. He will make a reality out of a once forced circumstance.

“Mihawk…” You wrapped your arms around him, drawing him closer, and for a brief moment, the world around you both disappeared. All that mattered was the two of you, your love, and the vows that he had made. It was a promise that would withstand the test of time.

As you finally parted, your forehead touched, and you looked into his eyes, your heart was full of love and gratitude. In the serene moment of peace in your own little space, this was a beginning of a new life for the two of you and Mihawk will make sure you will have the life you always wanted and what you always deserved.

“I love you, Mihawk.” You whispered, voice filled with emotion.

Mihawk smiled, his eyes glistening with love. Your lips met once more, sealing your vows and love in a kiss that would linger in your hearts for as long as you were both alive.

[gt-daboss]

Slight Horror, Fantasy Mixed With Modern Elements

Behind the Books (Part 1)

Hell no, the human probably thought. And Shevana couldn’t exactly blame him.

Every human knew of the dangers of meeting a witch. From bedtime stories told by parents to get children to go to sleep to unexplained disappearances of friends, family, or coworkers. Witches were a constant, unavoidable threat to any human. The boogieman that stays hidden in plain sight, any man or woman you meet on the street could be a witch in disguise trying to prey on the unsuspecting. 

And now I’ve not only summoned a random human but shrunk him as well. 

“Reveal yourself, human, I am the only one who can revert you to your true form, so unless you want to scamper around my floors for the rest of your pathetic life, you will come out now.” 

Even Shevana was a little bit surprised at the harshness of her voice, her gruff and annoyed tone she knew would sound even worse to the 3-inch tall man hiding in her room, never mind the unavoidable fact of her being a witch. Still no response, Obviously, ‘Vana, you can’t even hold a conversation when they don't know you’re a witch.

“Listen, Alex, this is all a big misunderstanding, It is not you who I’m after. If you continue to waste my time, however, I will make you part of their punishment.”

“How- how do you know my name?”

The bookshelves. Wasting no time to answer his question, she immediately turned toward the sound of his voice and began walking. In the back of her mind, she realized how scary this probably looked for the tiny human, but it was quickly brushed aside by her annoyance at the whole situation.

Slamming her hand onto the shelf she heard Alex’s voice, she tapped her fingers in annoyance. “Come out, now, I know you are there, do not make me reach for you, human.”

No response, of course, Thats it.

Shoving away her grimoires, Shevana quickly spotted the now-revealed human. Shaking like a scared animal, when he saw her hand reach toward him he bolted. A fruitless effort, but once again she felt her heart nag at her, which she once again ignorantly ignored in the heat of the moment. Snatching Alex up in a tight grip, she brought him closer.

“Wait! Please, don’t!” the human screamed as he squirmed violently in my hand. Many witches had told her their experiences of the first time having full control over a human, –usually through soul manipulation rather than her own size-related one– it was always described as an elating feeling of power. To hold so easily a person's life in one's hand, holding their destiny in your fingertips as they were powerless to stop your whim, their will submitting to your own…

The reality was nothing like that.

Not at all. It was sickening. 

The human’s, cold, shifting body pushed ineffectively against her large digits, digits, whose delicate senses detected the rapid pounding of the human’s heartbeat like a hand to drums. Only instead of the melody of drums it was unfiltered, heartstopping fear. 

Fear of her. 

Thats all for now, I wanted to keep it short since whenever i make long projects they somehow never get completed (looks at my 5 WIP's) but i did leave some mysteries in the story that would be resolved if there was a part 2 to try and motivate myself to complete it lol.

PART 2

[stray-tickles]

Cat's Out Of The Bag

a.n. So I've gotten really into wolf 359!! And to think I started listening to it as something light before bed, lol. Anyway here is a fic <3 I love my dysfunctional dumbass space crew.

Isabel Lovelace had a mischievous streak. She always had, although it had become dormant. Something about losing her entire crew and being lost in space in cryo-sleep didn’t put her much in the mood for fun and games.

She’d warmed to this crew though, except for Selberg. Minkowski was tough and straightforward in a satisfying way, Eiffel was a genuinely good guy with a dorky sense of humour, and even Hera’s sarcastic streak had grown on her. They were a good crew.

All that to say, she’d bonded with them a bit, and that along with the relative safety of the Hephaestus had her old playfulness returning. And she knew exactly who to prank first.

“Hey, Hera?”

The AI’s voice crackled to life. “Yes Captain?”

“I’m uh- I’m gonna sneak up on Eiffel, as a joke. Can you not warn him?”

She might have imagined it, but she could swear that Hera rolled her eyes. “Sure thing, Captain.”

“Thanks!”

“Good luck.” Hera said, amused.

The door opened silently when she approached Communications, and Lovelace could hear that Eiffel was in the middle of one of his usual broadcasts to his beloved listeners. It couldn’t be more perfect if she’d planned it this way.

She took a deep breath and pushed off the corridor wall, effortlessly floating into the room and right behind Eiffel.

“And that, dear listeners, is why nachos are the greatest of all foods. In other news, the weather report for tomorrow is sunny with a chance of-AAAHANOLEMMIEGO!”

Lovelace pulled back in shock when her quick grab at Eiffel’s sides earned her a loud shriek and a jolt like she’d given him an electric shock.

Eiffel curled up into a ball in his chair, staring at his unexpected attacker with wide eyes, his arms glued to his sides.

“Jeez, what the hell did I do?” Lovelace asked with an incredulous laugh. “I was just trying to scare you a bit. You okay man?”

“Yep!” Eiffel said, almost an octave too high. He didn’t move. “Totally fine!”

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You’d better not be hurt or something. I hate doctor’s visits as much as you do but you can’t just leave that stuff.”

“What? No, not injured, definitely nothing wrong here, no sir.”

Lovelace rolled her eyes. “Eiffel, the second I touched you you screamed like a…” A wicked smirk spread across her face. “Wait.”

Despite her request, Eiffel did not wait. Instead, he frantically unbuckled himself from the chair, fumbling to escape.

He didn’t make it more than a couple of feet before Lovelace pounced, both hands clamping onto the fleshy parts of his sides and vibrating furiously, earning a second shriek followed by a fit of high-pitched laughter.

She grinned. “Oh, this is too good.”

Eiffel wriggled like a fish on a line, trying to shake her off to no avail. “No, it’s not!” He squealed, snorting loudly when one hand clawed at his stomach. “Fuck! Stahahap you psycho!”

“Well, that’s a bit rude.” She teased, fingertips plucking at his ribs and earning more and more high-pitched squeaks between helpless giggles. “And here I thought we were friends.”

Eiffel batted at her hands weakly, cackling and smiling so wide it almost hurt. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed this much. He felt like he just might melt.

He kind of felt like he’d needed this.

Lovelace couldn’t help but chuckle along, taking in Eiffel’s massive grin and wild laughter. “I can’t believe I didn’t know about this.” Her hands slid up under his arms. “You’re so goddamn annoying.”

“FUCK!” Eiffel screeched, her blunt nails scratching away under his arms doing a good job wearing away at his sanity. “PLEAHAHAHA- PLEASE!”

She lightened her touch so that he didn’t actually die. “Oh, learned some manners I see.”

Eiffel kicked his legs, now back to giggling wildly. “I hahahate you!” He whined, snorting and ineffectively slapping at her.

“Aww, cute.”

“Shut up!”

She laughed. “Give up?” He was getting pretty red in the face.

Eiffel nodded weakly and hiccupped in between giddy giggles, squeaking when Lovelace reached to ruffle his head. “Dork.” She said affectionately. “Hope you learned your lesson.”

He still felt tingly and warm, and like he wouldn’t stop smiling for a while. “Yep! Note to self, Captain Lovelace is a cold-hearted killer.”

“Damn right.” She smirked, floating over to the door and wiggling her fingers a bit more than was necessary for a wave goodbye.

Eiffel stayed curled up in a ball, floating in the middle of the room and hugging himself, grinning like crazy.

“Um, Officer Eiffel?”

Oh. He’d forgotten that Hera definitely saw all of that. “Hey Hera.” He said, trying to come off as casual and not embarrassed out of his mind.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Are you sure?” She sounded genuinely concerned. “You were, um, screaming for a bit there.”

Heat rushed to his face. “Heh, just the nature of tickle fights, what can I say.”

Now she was amused. “There didn’t seem to be much fighting.”

“Look, just cos it’s very one-sided doesn’t mean it’s not a fight!”

“At a certain point I think it just becomes one person attacking another.”

Eiffel wasn’t sure if it was possible to curl up into a smaller ball, but he gave it a try anyway. “Fine, it was an attack then!”

“A tickle attack.”

He squeaked.

“Does that word bother you?” How, how could he know that Hera was smiling when she didn’t even have a face?

“Stoooop.”

Hera laughed. “Okay fine, you’ve suffered enough for now.”

For now. It sent a chill up his spine that wasn’t entirely dread.

Hera hesitated, a little nervous. “Can I ask… what it feels like? Tickling?”

Eiffel managed to uncurl a little and was proud that he didn’t twitch at her use of the word. “Huh?”

“I have a basic understanding of most sensations; pain, hunger, fatigue, but to be honest this has always confused me.”

“Yeah,” Eiffel laughed. “Well, it doesn’t exactly make sense.”

“I was pretty alarmed there for a moment. Begging for mercy and laughing don’t usually go together.”

He blushed. “Heraaaa.”

Hera snickered. “Well, I’m getting that it makes one more easily embarrassed than usual.”

“I’m legitimately mad I can’t throw something at you right now.”

“You can certainly try!”

“Why are you being so mean?” Eiffel whined, burying his face in his hands.

“Because it’s nice to see you smiling.” She supplied affectionately.

The words sent a shot of warmth through him, and his smile grew wider.

“So?”

Eiffel felt his face get hot. “It’s… I dunno, it’s a lot? Like you overload, so you can’t stop from laughing and trying to get away.”

Hera hummed. System overloads were pretty horrible, in her experience. “Anything else?”

“Uhh…” He tried to think of the best way to communicate the feeling to someone with no body. “It’s like static? Like, if static was a feeling instead of a sound.”

“That sounds like a lot.”

“It is, I mean, it can be.”

“And not very pleasant.”

“I-” Crap was she really gonna make him say it? “Sometimes, but if it’s someone you’re close with it’s like, bonding, I dunno.” He hesitated then mumbled, so quietly he hoped she wouldn’t hear, “It’s nice.”

“That is one of the primary theories on why humans are ticklish.”

“Wha- really?”

“Mm-hm! Familial bonding.”

“Ha. What a weird thing to evolve.”

“You do all still grow appendixes.” Hera paused. “So… tickling is being overwhelmed with static sensation, and can be a form of bonding.”

Eiffel smiled to himself. “Yeah, I think that’s more or less it.”

“And you like it.”

“Shut up!”

Someone had apparently turned up Hera’s smugness levels today. “I’ll tell Captain Lovelace you said that.”

“NO-” Eiffel’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh my god she’s gonna tell Minkowski. Hera, Lovelace is going to tell her. Oh god I’m so screwed!”

--

Eiffel spent the rest of the day on edge. He didn’t see any of the other humans, and Hera had the mercy not to tease him any more than she already had, but he was all too aware of the storm brewing out of sight. He’d had years of bugging Minkowski with no comeuppance and now the cat was out of the bag. And he was a dead man walking.

He kind of wished the thought didn’t make him so damn smiley.

It was- it was fun, the laughing and play fighting, and it wasn’t something Eiffel had had in… a really long time. He hadn’t even realised how much he’d needed that until today, and now his surprisingly sly Commander who just happened to also be a top contender for best friend was next in line for some playful revenge, and the thought of it made him feel… kind of giddy.

“Evening, Eiffel.”

The voice made him almost jump out of his skin. “Commander!” He whipped around, hands raised defensively, only to find Minkowski giving him a bemused look.

She raised an eyebrow. “You okay there?”

“Uh huh, yeah totally, never better!” He swallowed. “How are you? Haven’t seen you around today.”

“Yeah, it hasn’t been too crazy today, I’ve just been running diagnostics for the most part.” The shadow of a smirk touched her face. “Spent some time with Lovelace, so I wasn’t too bored.”

“Oh?” Eiffel’s voice rose to a squeak. “What’d- um, what’d you guys talk about?”

The smirk grew bigger, but Minkowski remained innocent-sounding. “Nothing important.”

His voice had still not returned to its usual register. “Okay, that’s nice!”

“Have you eaten?” She stepped closer, and Eiffel’s eyes widened. “I know you’ve been busy.”

Minkowski struggled to keep a somewhat straight face. Her Communications Officer looked like a deer in headlights. This was too good.

“Yep! I-I mean no- no, I uh, I was gonna go now and… get some food! Gotta get some of that delicious protein, yep!” He span to the door, making to leave.

The hand that grabbed his shoulder make him scream a little bit. He turned his head to find Minkowski grinning at him. “Maybe I’ll join you.” She said innocently. “If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind! Why would I mind? That would be crazy, everything’s fine, yeah let’s just go and get something to eat!” Eiffel did his best not to seem like he was running away, but he wasn’t sure if it worked.

Minkowski allowed herself a quick laugh at his expense. This was the perfect revenge.

--

Minkowski managed to keep Eiffel on edge for a few days. Every time she got too close, he’d freeze up, and if she managed to touch him, he’d all but jump out of his skin. It was fun. And funny.

The fourth day of her torment, however, was different. “Hey Eiffel.” She said, knocking on the comms wall as she entered. She was expecting a jump or a squawk or for him to freeze up, but Eiffel sighed instead.

“Hey Commander.” He muttered, not turning away from his work.

Hmm. “You okay?”

“Huh?”

She crossed the room and put a hand on his shoulder, noting that he didn’t flinch. “Are you okay?”

Eiffel looked up at her and seemed to register her presence for the first time. “Yeah, I’m… I’m fine.”

Minkowski raised an eyebrow.

He sighed. “Medical check-up day, that’s all.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.” He ran his hands over his face and groaned. “Sometimes I think handcuffs are overrated, you know?”

That alarmed her enough to spin his chair around to face her. “He didn’t do anything?”

Eiffel had the gall to look confused. “What? Oh, no, nothing like that, just the usual Hilbert bullshit.” He gritted his teeth. “I know I’m wasting time waiting for an apology, but…”

Minkowski felt some of her tension ease. “Doesn’t mean you don’t deserve one.”

“Yeah.”

She bit the inside of her lip, considering. She’d spent a lot of time with Eiffel. For a long time it had been just the two of them, before they’d gotten Hera up and running again. “Do you want to go watch a movie?” She asked, as non-awkwardly as possible.

The truth of the matter was that there was exactly one movie on board the Hephaestus, and it wasn’t one either of them were very fond of. It was, however, an excuse to sit on a cramped couch together, and if every single time they would up snuggling then…

Well, it worked out for the most part. Physical contact was scarce in space.

“Yeah.” Eiffel rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

--

She would never tell Eiffel, but the first time they’d squashed together on the tiny, too hard couch to watch goddamn Home Alone 2, Minkowski had been so overwhelmed that she’d had to fight not to cry. It was so easy to neglect the side of her that sometimes just wanted a hug, and after two years of not being on decent terms with either of her two human crewmates… it had hit her harder than expected.

Douglas Eiffel awkwardly cuddling up to her had almost brought her to tears. If nothing else, it had been a lesson.

So, it really wasn’t an imposition to have him leaning his head on her shoulder and pretending to watch Home Alone 2.

He snuggled a little closer and Minkowski raised an eyebrow. “Want me to move over?”

“Nah.” Eiffel said. “I’m good.”

“Good.” She rested her head against his with a smile.

Eiffel felt himself relax as the not great movie carried on. It was nice to be close to someone. To have a friend around. “I’m just saying, forgetting Kevin once is a mistake, doing it twice is deliberate.”

A hand squeezed his side sharply, making him yelp and jump. “Sshh.” Minkowski chided, not moving her hand. “I’m trying to watch.”

Eiffel froze, barely daring to breathe. She was doing this now? Why? And, more importantly, how did he feel about that?

Oh, who was he kidding?

“Still don’t know why they wouldn’t send us up with Star Wars.”

Blunt nails scratched gently at his stomach, immediately sending Eiffel tumbling into a fit of giggles, throwing his arms up over his face.

Minkowski grinned. Cute. “I’ve told you before, putting media that has exploding space stations on board a space station wouldn’t be good for crew morale.”

Eiffel struggled to speak between giggles, twitching. “It’s Star Wars!”

“Mm-hm.”

He whined, squeezing his eyes shut and snorting when she started poking gently at his ribs. This was so mean, she wasn’t even tickling enough to have him laughing properly, and he couldn’t squirm away without winding up on the floor.

“What’s wrong with you? I’m not even doing anything.”

He kicked his feet against the couch, if only to do something. “Yes you are!”

“Oh?” Another hand joined, poking at his stomach while the other continued at his ribs and yielding a series of increasingly embarrassing snorts. “Then what am I doing?”

Oh, fuck you. “Hehe-Hera! Help!”

His distress call got a laugh from both of them. “No offense, but how do you expect that to work?” Minkowski teased.

“Oh, I’m sure you’d love if I could come and help the Commander out.” Hera said with a laugh.

His face was on fire. “Shuhut up!” He squealed, sinking into the couch, burying his face in Minkowski’s shoulder and weakly slapping at her hands. “Not what I meheheant!”

“Sure, I believe you.” Hera said, and Eiffel just knew she’d wink if she had eyes.

“You guys suck!”

“Aw, you don’t mean that.” Minkowski teased, one hand tickling around his ears and making him scrunch his neck up like a turtle.

Eiffel could feel his bones and brain getting melty, and he knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep from squirming off the couch for much longer. “Commander plehehease!”

“Oh fine.” She withdrew her hands with one last poke, grinning affectionately. “Since you asked nicely.” He collapsed against her, still shaking with giggles. “Feel better?”

Eiffel heaved in a much-needed breath and wrapped his arms around her middle, squeezing tightly. “Shut up.”

Minkowski’s smile widened, and she returned the hug. “I don’t think you’re allowed to give me orders.”

He snorted. “Sorry, the chain of command ends where this couch begins.”

“You writing your own DSSPPM?”

“Damn right. Number one, chain of command is bullshit like ninety percent of the time.”

She rolled her eyes and wiggled a finger into his side. “Number two, tickle attacks are very effective for both discipline and morale.”

Eiffel jumped at the poke, then grinned wickedly. “Number three, revenge is sweet.”

“Don’t you d-” She cut herself off by clamping both hands over her mouth to keep the laughter in as Eiffel’s fingers wriggled up and down her ribcage.

“Oh?” He said delightedly. “You too?”

He had just caught sight of the smile hiding behind her hands when he suddenly found himself pushed onto his back, shoulders and head hanging off the couch entirely. Minkowski smirked down at him. “Four,” She said slyly, “Don’t start a fight you can’t win.”

Eiffel squealed before she’d even touched him, immediately caving into laughter at the sight of wiggly fingers. “Okay, okay!” He shrieked. “I’m sorry!”

Minkowski snickered but let him up. “I didn’t even do anything.”

A flush claimed his face. “I have an active imagination.” An imagination which told him he was never gonna live this down. Still, it was good to know that she shared his little weakness. “Back to the movie?”

They both looked back to the screen and laughed. It was over. Eiffel rubbed the back of his neck. “Guess we should go get some sleep, then?” He made no move to get up.

“Probably.” Minkowski agreed, also staying on the couch.

“Cool.”

There was a long pause, both refusing to look at the other or move.

“Y’know actually I think I’ll just stay here.”

“I’m not that tired, so-”

“Oh.”

“Oh.”

Eiffel huffed a laugh. “Cool.” He muttered, not needing any further permission to curl up and rest his head on her shoulder.

“Goodnight.”

“Night, Commander.”

“Cuuuute!”

“Shut up, Hera!”

[sacred-stanning]

Chapter 16 Part 6: Looting and Luteing

The annoying Sleep Staff Sages took their shots and missed, but I won't let the insult go unpunished. Lute takes out one...

...and Vanessa gets the other.

I want tanky Cormag and Franz in place to deal with the next group coming from the front entrance. They remove some problems, and Franz wrecks a guy so hard he wrecks his sword too.

Here is an Eclipse guy being ineffective against Vanessa.

So I actually remembered that the Great Knight had a red gem, and I have Ephraim remove an obstacle before sending Rennac in to take the gem.

Franz gets rid of the Troubadour, and L'Arachel gets rid of a Cavalier that she is just able to defeat.

That opens the way for Lute to eliminate the Great Knight now that he no longer has a red gem and is of no use to me.

And look at that! She's maxed out her magic stat! (This is why there is a decent argument for putting Lute in Sage if you're going to favor her a lot. She can easily hit even the 30 cap for Magic in Sage, let alone this 25 one in Mage Knight.)

Vanessa cleans up and gets a level up with strength! Let's go!!!

Next enemy phase, I get t watch these guys flail about with Eclipse against L'Arachel, Rennac, and Franz.

The good news is, one is out of uses, one of them has only one use left, and the other guy only has three.

So, lol, of course they waste them with 0 percent hit rates against Vanessa and Lute in the next enemy phase!

Now there is just one guy with Eclipse uses left!

Lute and Vanessa charge in and get rid of these annoyances.

In other news, L'Arachel gets A staves!

And Lute runs right by the remaining Druid to hit the Priest behind him. Her reward is a Physic staff, which she can't use, but Moulder and L'Arachel can!

Also, for some reason, "Physic" is "Libro" in Japanese. This has been consistent throughout every FE game I've ever played in Japanese, and it makes me wonder where the translation "physic" even came from.

Next time: Some final looting, and onto Orson

[mermaidsirennikita]

Do you consider any of your succession opinions unpopular?

Eh, I wouldn't really know. I think that there are many people who probably feel similarly to me. I also feel like there are very different interpretations of the show. I don't engage in Succession "fandom" a lot. I talk about it with a few of my friends, I answer some anons about it, and I have since I started watching. I'll read other opinions sometimes, usually thinkpiece meta, but I don't really wade into like... Twitter, Reddit, even the tag here, at least not for hot takes.

I do see a divide between people who view Succession as something comparable to Game of Thrones (which I don't at all) and people who find it comparable to like... The Godfather (or other shows that I think probably have been influenced by that kind of thought process, like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos). I fall into the latter camp. I'll be real, I'm a Godfather fan, so there's that... But I think the comparisons to The Godfather are so fucking clear with this show?

--Both are immigrant stories wherein the impoverished father with a violent childhood came to another country (eventually ended up in America after coming to Canada in Logan's case) to chase a dream.

--Both are perversions of the American Dream, which is ultimately a capitalist dream.

--Both are very much about the succession crisis of an empire.

--The parallel between Michael and Kendall: Michael was never meant to be Vito's heir but "had" to step up to the plate to protect his family, eventually discovered he craved power quite a bit, and lost his soul. Kendall was always meant to be the heir but was seen as unfit, and though I do think Kendall probably is the most fit of the siblings to inherit on a business acumen/experience level, I believe the fact that he is motivated by chasing something he expected versus taking on something he had to rise into is one reason why Kendall is a much less effective "don" type figure compared to Michael (whose fuckups were less about him being able to run a profitable and powerful empire, but about him being able to keep his family and soul).

--Vito did evil but ultimately always loved his family and especially his children, and was motivated to create something to give to them and protect them with that creation (the downfall being that because that creation was mafia, it would *always* be the thing that put them in danger). Logan did evil and was motivated not as a father but as a rival to his children, coming to resent them for taking the very things he gave. As such, he never sought to shield but rather to WITHHOLD. In a lot of ways, though Kendall is a Michael Corleone parallel, Michael's own loss of his soul and corruption can be comparable to Logan.... But I think Michael still loved his kids a lot more than Logan, if in part because culturally that was something that was very important to men in his family. I mean, I disavow most of The Godfather Part III, but I think Michael loving his children is one of the few things it got right, even if he never really expressed it correctly.

--The place of women in The Godfather: to be seen and and not heard, to be supportive, to be secret keepers who never acknowledged they even knew secrets. While Kay does rebel against real damage and does express real complaints, she's written in a way that is so annoying and hypocritical that many Godfather fans don't... like her. Whereas Connie also rebels but eventually takes her place as like, a pseudo-replacement wife to her own brother (lol The Godfather IS based on the Borgias) and functions as a proper mafia woman, and Apollonia is upheld as the Wife That Should Have Been in a very romantic way. Succession shows us through Shiv especially that this actually kind of sucks for women. She is ineffective and incapable of stepping up to lead, but that's less to do with her innate intellect and more to do with Logan and the patriarchal structure cutting her off at the knees, and now she herself attempts to use the patriarchy for her own benefit (hushing up cruises, etc) while repeatedly not realizing that they will NEVER accept her.

--Of course, Fredo and Roman, the tragedy of the one that is seen as weak an ineffective and for sure queer-coded in a misogynstic, homophobic culture that he nevertheless does benefit from on some level simply by being a man. Succession leans more into the reality of being not just sad but truly angry and resentful about such treatment, and that sadness and vulnerability twisting into a hard shell of viciousness and sexual aggressiveness in the face of sexual frustration. Like, Roman is "what if Fredo's dad actually super didn't love him and TOLD HIM he was useless, rather than just sort of letting him do stupid little jobs and focusing on the more competent kids". Even Michael isn't as wildly mean to Fredo as Logan is to Roman, and Michael KILLS FREDO LOL.

--But also... Connor as Fredo? Lmao. Connor is a more straightforward version, but not everything has parallels so I won't bother.

--The Godfather is about mourning the loss of a bygone romanticized era and a father you will always see as the best because he loved you and you loved him, and the inability to compare to him causing you to diverge in the worst way possible... Whereas Succession is an attempt to overcome a father who did not love properly by becoming a leaner, meaner version of him. While lying to yourself about that.

Anyway, all of this to say: I see THAT kind of parallel thinking, I imagine the show will continue in its subversive way, I'm not saying it's Godfather fanfic but I am saying I view it (among other works) in that lens, that sort of genetic history of cinema and television. I don't see it in a Game of Thrones lens. I think a lot of people do. I think that's less to do with the content and tone of the show, and more to do with the timing of the show and the timing of it taking off (especially in the pandemic, the year after GoT ended) and the basic idea of "who will inherit". Except, there's more to "who will inherit" pieces than GoT, lmao. There are mUCH BETTER ONES. There's King Lear too, which we know is an influence.

So yeah, I don't think my opinions are unpopular, but I really wouldn't know, and that's a little background on how I think of the show that you didn't need.

[randombubblegum]

my friends are soo upset with me right now because i'm literally so mad because "2000 rts for funeral grey leak" and then i went on insta and now "5000 comments for funeral grey leak" like no i'm not doing that. i literally miss so bad when he'd randomly go live and leak stuff. and my friends are like "but its not his fault its the fandoms fault" huh???

your friends are idiots youre literally right 😭😭😭 this shit is so stupid first of all, like the blatant yet ineffective attempts at algorithm manipulation by baiting his fanbase with 0 critical thinking skills is SO annoying and tacky and has been since he started it last era. its honestly embarrassingly transparent and gives away that hes flopping more than anything else, bc uhh, relevant artists dont have to do the 2022 version of begging for facebook likes

and SECOND OF ALL, he literally CANT leak shit “like he used to” anymore because thats what kept getting him into legal fights with labels LMAOOOO 😭😭 like its literally a breach of contract in MOST label agreements to unilaterally drop music free online just because you feel like it. like whether you agree thats a fair clause or not (i think its shitty) is IRRELEVANT because thats how business contracts work when you are doing anything professionally??? you sign the contract with the other party and then you follow it, and if you dont follow it they have grounds to LEGALLY come for your ass lol. see: all of the equal vision fight. also hes literally not even “leaking” this hes dropping it exactly on schedule and the comment and retweet bait is totally irrelevant

[chitsangenthusiast]

can i get an uhhhhh zukka fluff number 10?

me, walking in two days late with a venti caramel flat white: hey lol

(sorry for this lateness! i wasn’t expecting to be so exhausted after irl stuff this weekend BUT in my defense you did give me the hair braiding prompt so. really. ofc it was gonna get out of hand and need more time lmaooooo rip)

i hope you enjoy!!

the prompt: "stop moving and let me braid your hair"

"Ugh, I’m so going to get sick. This sucks.”

Zuko lightly knocks an elbow into his chest and starts separating the hair next to his temple into three small groups.

“I woke up sick and you woke up next to me. Hate to break it to you, love, but it’s going to happen regardless," he states, then elbows him again when Sokka moans in sorrow. “You're such a baby. Stop moving and let me braid your hair.”

“Bossy,” Sokka grumbles, but he does bring his free hand to rest on his husband’s thigh while he works, and shoots him a small, grateful smile.

(the full ficlet under the cut!)

—

The sound of his husband’s footsteps has Sokka turning—and he’s met with the sight of Zuko already glaring at him before he can even properly raise a judgmental brow.

“I thought I told you to stay in bed?” he asks anyway, and rolls his eyes in amusement when Zuko petulantly crosses his arms with an annoyed sniff.

And then sniffs again, harder, in a useless attempt at clearing his clogged nose.

“I heard Izumi,” he says, and immediately has to cough a few times into his elbow to try to smooth down the dry, painful rasp in his throat.

Sokka just snorts, and doesn’t come closer.

Instead, he repositions their daughter so that her sleepy face can be better seen across the room. Covered in her favorite blanket and wrapped tight around her dad’s shoulders, she looks exhausted. Her eyes only barely open from being jostled around, acknowledging her baba’s presence before slipping shut again with a small whine, and Zuko’s pulse can’t help but trip over the sickly flush on her own cheeks or the tiny wet coughs she occasionally lets out. He quickly steps into the room toward her.

“Uh, what do you think you’re doing?”

Sokka’s derisive tone stops him from getting too far. It’s softer, not it’s usual brash volume in an effort to be gentle on Izumi’s ears (and Zuko’s headache), which means it’s also entirely ineffective.

Zuko stares hard at him as he determinedly makes his way over, and Sokka lets out a loud groan.

“Hon, you’re sick! Get back in bed!” he tries again, this time in mounting horror when Zuko starts to get close, and he quickly pivots so that her body is blocked from view by his own. “She doesn’t need any more of your germs!”

“It’s just a cold, Sokka. Don’t be ridiculous,” Zuko scoffs—then has to cough into his elbow again before he can continue. He ignores the exasperated look he gets. “It’s just colds for both of us. Let me see my daughter, she’s not going to get any sicker if I’m around her.”

“Alright, well, you just saw her,” Sokka shoots back. He still hasn’t moved Izumi back into Zuko's line of sight, in case he tries to reach out and take her from his arms. “Now go lay down until I can come take care of you next.”

The complaint is heavy but without heat, and it makes Zuko finally look up at him with a frown. This close, he can see the clear exhaustion on his husband’s face; Izumi had come to his bedside early in the morning, sniffling and tearfully frustrated from not feeling well, so Sokka has been the one up with her all morning, alternating between taking care of her and passing along messages to the attendants about Zuko’s cancellations for the day since, naturally, he also woke up sick. He’s only half-dressed for work, with scruff still on his jaw and his hair draped over the shoulder that Izumi isn’t resting on, and Zuko’s mouth twists in quiet guilt.

“Your hair’s not done,” he blurts out, knowing better but too tired to think of a better way to phrase it, and Sokka grumps at him.

“Yeah, well, between a fussy sick husband and a poor little one who refused to be put down all morning—” here, he drops a quick kiss on Izumi’s head and rubs a sympathetic hand up her back— “I haven’t really had the time to put it up for the day yet.”

Zuko cuts a glance to the clock. “Don’t you have a meeting in an hour?”

He winces at Sokka’s hard sigh.

“I’ll just—” Suddenly, Izumi lets out a big sneeze, quickly followed by an agitated cry, and Sokka shifts her around so that she’s better cocooned in his arms as he starts to sway a little to calm her. “I’ll get to it eventually. Or I’ll just show up like this and guilt everyone into doing what I want. Could be a good tactic actually, I think some of the committee members are parents who would empathize.”

“Let me do it for you.”

Sokka immediately steps away from him with a deep frown. “Nope, keep your sick hands away from me. I’m the only one left!”

“I won’t get you sick,” Zuko snaps, and doesn’t care about Sokka’s complaining as he drags him over to the couch to gently push him down into the cushions. Izumi fusses, wiggling against her dad’s hands so that she can pull away from his shoulder—then does a hard tilt over, startling both of her fathers as she dives into the pillow right next to Sokka’s leg.

“Izumi!”

As soon as her head hits the cool fabric, she lets out a happy, relieved noise and snuggles down into it. Her blanket comes up tighter around her shoulders, her feet shuffle around slightly in Sokka’s lap as she works to get comfortable, and she doesn’t even bother giving either of her dads the time of day before closing her eyes to try to find sleep.

Zuko promptly plops down next to his husband, shocked and a little woozy. “She’s not allowed to hang out with Toph anymore.”

“Does she think she’s an earthbender, just falling back like that without a care?” Sokka quietly seethes back in agreement. One of his hands comes down to wrap around her ankle as he lets out an explosive sigh, and he drops his head heavy against the back of the couch. “The two of you are going to be the death of me, I swear.”

Zuko pouts. “I haven’t even done anything yet today.”

“You’re out of bed when I told you not to be,” Sokka fires back, then quickly leans away when he notices the hands reaching out for his hair. “Ugh, I’m so going to get sick. This sucks.”

Zuko lightly knocks an elbow into his chest and starts separating the hair next to his temple into three small groups.

“I woke up sick and you woke up next to me. Hate to break it to you, love, but it’s going to happen regardless," he states, then elbows him again when Sokka moans in sorrow. “You're such a baby. Stop moving and let me braid your hair.”

“Bossy,” Sokka grumbles, but he does bring his free hand to rest on his husband’s thigh while he works, and shoots him a small, grateful smile.

The sight makes Zuko press a tiny kiss into the braid. “You know, I missed getting my ‘good morning’ kiss from you.”

Sokka immediately snorts. “Izumi got all my kisses this morning, sorry babe. I’ll give you one when you can finally breathe through both nostrils again.”

“Too long,” Zuko complains back, as he finishes off one of the braids. With Izumi half draped over his lap, Sokka will likely only be able to wear the two on his right side today since Zuko can't really get to the other side of his head, so he moves to start pulling his hair up into a wolf tail.

Sokka hums, and looks over with an sad, wistful smile. “Yeah, I can agree with that.”

With his hair held up in a fist, Zuko can now see the bare stretch of his husband’s neck, along with the dark fuzz of hair on his scalp that will need to be shaved at some point. He spends more time than necessary trying to catch any flyaways, sliding his hand up and around his head just so he can relish this moment of touch, and smiles at the quiet sigh he receives.

“I love you,” Sokka murmurs, one hand still on their daughter’s foot and the other rubbing light circles on his husband’s thigh. Zuko chuckles as he makes quick work of securing the wolf tail.

“I love you too,” he whispers back, and then leans in. He takes a moment, just a quick one, to press his warm forehead against Sokka’s skin—his body temperature does nothing too soothe, but Zuko’s spirits are still wonderfully lifted anyway—before pulling back to leave a lingering kiss on that same spot.

���There, without any worries of catching my cold.”

Sokka’s responding exhale is fulfilled, contented, and definitely whiny. Zuko drops another kiss there, just so he can appreciate the whining part again, then presses a few more along his hairline because the elated inhale he gets is too good not to be rewarded.

And then he keeps going, covering his husband’s head in little kisses as he loosely wraps his arms around his shoulders—only to be surprised into a long, firm kiss when Sokka suddenly (carefully, to not disturb a snoozing Izumi) twists around to pull him close. Zuko laughs into it, utterly pleased at finally getting what he’s wanted all morning, and curls around his husband as they indulge themselves in kiss after sweet kiss.

“You’re definitely going to get sick now,” he eventually mumbles into Sokka’s mouth, but he doesn’t pull away, and neither does Sokka.

He does let out a long-suffering laugh though, and lands a quick kiss on the space right between Zuko’s eyes. “Oh, I'm well aware, hon. Izumi kept blowing raspberries in my face earlier. Like I said, the absolute death of me.”

Still, the fingers that have found their way into Zuko’s hair push on the back of his neck anyway, beckoning.

Zuko grins, and dutifully falls back in to collect more of his husband’s kisses.

[ratsoh-writes]

With your height hcs in mind, how about an SO who carries them around for permanent cuddles? Dealer's choice.

Dealers choice eh? Well I’ll describe the three who would love this the most then catagorize all the others.

Sans: he’s basically been conditioned his whole life to enjoy being carried around. The second papyrus became taller he was only 11 when he outgrew sans lol he started carrying his older brother around as a power move. Then papyrus became best friends with undyne and she started carrying sans around. Then other monsters in Snowden caught wind of it and it just became a Snowden inside joke that whoever is close to sans can pick him up and carry him like a kid. Sans has zero problems with this and enjoys the attention. If anything, SO doing it for cuddles is just icing on the cake lol

Oak: his memories may be patchy, but oak definitely remembers how much he enjoys being picked up. He’s not too heavy that willow can’t do it, but it’s definitely not recommended for his back. But SO can pick oak up any time. He’ll immediately go limp and purr himself to sleep. It’ll be hilarious seeing this little human carrying around this broad 6’ skeleton like a cat.

Lord: this is pretty surprising, but lord actually loves being carried. Only after he trusts his SO enough to get over his fear of touch that is. Lord is very attracted to affectionate and strong people. So once he finds that special someone, being carried around is pure bliss. He’s going to be a little baby about it. Pouting is his best and terribly ineffective way to hide his bashfulness. This is a big honor once SO reached this stage. Literally only his brother can touch him so casually. Not even his two best friends, and wine and mal know almost everything about him.

Now for the rest of them!

Adores it! So can pick him up anytime: sans oak charm sugar peaches G slim

Loves it but hates to admit it: red willow rythm green snipe

Only if he gets to carry them back: papyrus star cash honey mutt Jupiter butch rust basil

Will get annoyed but not too mad: mal coffee pop Pluto bruiser

Put him the eff down: edge wine rancher boss ace noir lilac

[angst-fairygodmother]

Can I request a fluffy little fic with Klaus? And like he’s always super supportive even if he doesn’t quite understand what you’re doing, he’s kinda always like “fuck yeah look at you go!” I could really use the love lol

A/N: Hey Nonny. I didn’t know what sort of things you meant, so I defaulted to what’s familiar for me: the struggles of higher education.  I hope you enjoy it, and that whatever you’re doing, you know it’s amazing because you’re doing it 😊 Word Count: 1944 Content Warning: mild language, brief references to drugs

You groaned, your head hitting the table as you stared down at your circled answer, the wrong answer again. You were determined to keep taking this practice test until you got it right, until all of the answers felt like second nature. Except you kept making the same mistakes over and over again instead. 

Your pen sailed through the air, causing your best friend, and eternal headache, to duck with a chuckle as it clattered against the wall. 

“I see studying's going well,” he teased, walking further into the room.

“Klaus Hargreeves, unless one of the assortment of pills I just know are in your pocket right now is a magic one that will help me remember this shit, I say this in the most heartfelt and loving way possible: piss off.”

He pressed his hand to his chest dramatically. 

“Exqueeze me?” he trilled, “I come to make sure you’re alive, as you’ve not been seen in days, and this is the thanks I get?”

“I’m serious Klaus,” you sighed, running a hand through your tangled hair. “I need to study.”

He looked you over, taking in the bags under your eyes, your rumpled clothing, the sag of your shoulders. You were overworking yourself, as self-destructive in your own way as he was in his, and it pained him to see. 

“You need a break,” he said, crossing over to you and sweeping you up in his arms, toppling your chair in the process and surprising you with the strength hidden in his arms. 

“Klaus,” you whined, struggling ineffectively from your position pinned to his chest in a bridal carry. “No, I don’t have time for a break right now. Especially not the kind you mean.”

He sat down on your bed, keeping you in his lap and began carefully finger-combing through the knots in your hair.

“I have no ulterior motive, mademoiselle,” he hummed. “Only your wellbeing in mind. Relax with me for one hour,” the worst of your knots gone, he laid down, tugging at your arm to try and get you to join him. “And I will leave you alone for the rest of the night, or even help you to study, if you want.”

“I don’t want...chemical aids.”

He scoffed. “Who do you take me for? I know you better than that.”

“Then how could you help me? You don’t know anything about the material. Or testing.”

“I’ll...hold up your charming little flash cards, or read you the questions. I don’t know. Sit next to you and cheer enthusiastically whenever you get a question right and burn the whole book if it claims you’re wrong?”

You couldn’t help the giggle that slipped out, and were glad of it when he flashed you that dazzling grin. The longer you sat, awkwardly leaning and half in his arms, the harder it became to resist his temptation.

“Fine, one hour,” you said, attempting to be stern as you relented, curling up against his chest.

“No more, no less. And then we shall study until our eyeballs fall out,” he promised, fingers crossed behind your back as he held you.

~

Your hands shook nervously and you thought for sure you were going to sweat through your blazer as you paced the hallway outside the small lecture hall. You checked the notes you had tucked in your pocket and licked your lips to try and wet them, not that your equally dry mouth and tongue made much difference. 

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the board, distinguished faculty, and guests,” you muttered for what felt like the seven-hundredth time today. “No, that sounds stupid. Why am I calling the faculty distinguished but not the board or the guests? Maybe I should just do ‘good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board, faculty, and guests,’ but that sounds weird too.”

You flopped against the wall, groaning in frustration. This presentation was the moment, your time to shine, or to crash and burn, dictating potentially the entire rest of your career. And public speaking was not your strong suit. 

“Y/N?” your advisor said, poking her head out into the hall and giving you what was surely meant to be a reassuring smile. “They’re ready for you now.”

You took a deep, shaky breath. “Okay, thanks, Linda. I’ll be right in.”

This was your thesis you were about to defend. You had spent more than a year researching and writing it. So why did you suddenly feel like you knew less than the day you walked into your first “101” class? 

“Time to face the executioner,” you muttered to yourself, squaring your shoulders and walking in behind Linda, feet carrying you slowly down the aisle to the podium. 

You paused, taking a moment to arrange your notes and scan the crowd, looking for someone who looked friendly and unassuming, maybe a kindly librarian type, to focus on while you spoke.

Instead you locked eyes with a familiar, wholly unexpected pair of green eyes. You frowned, about to call out and ask what the hell Klaus thought he was doing here, when you remembered exactly where here was. You cleared your throat and tried to school your face to be placidly blank.

“Good evening,” you started, gaze still fixed on his face. “I would like to thank everyone for their time and attendance, um here, um today.” 

‘You’ve got this,’ he mouthed silently.

You smiled, launching into your presentation proper with gusto. 

Every time you felt yourself hesitating or fumbling, you sought him again, and his awed little smile bolstered you, reminding you of all the late nights he had spent up with you, watching you from your bed as you paced the room or sat hunched at a desk, thinking out loud or talking to him about it all, offering little suggestions (never that helpful) or affirmations (always very helpful) occasionally, just to remind you that he was there, for you. 

Before you knew it, your time was up and you exited the room to a smattering of applause. Out in the hall, a pair of warm arms wrapped around you from behind and lips were planted on your cheek. 

“That was brilliant! You were brilliant!” Klaus said enthusiastically before dropping his voice to purr in your ear. “And the whole ‘genius’ thing is very sexy.”

You felt your cheeks blush heatedly. “I’m not a genius, Klaus.”

“Well I had no idea what you were saying, other than super smart stuff, so I disagree.”

You slid out of his arms, although he did manage to keep one circling your waist, and started walking, planning to stop at the 24 hour cafe on campus for a quick pick-me-up and then head home. Klaus followed, holding you as close as you’d let him, planning to go anywhere and everywhere you wanted and nowhere else.

“How do you know it was super smart then, if you didn’t know what it was?”

“Because I know you, and you’re the smartest person in the world.”

“I am not,” you countered, giving him a gentle shove, blushing even harder now. 

“And because all those stuffy old academic types in there were impressed.”

“You think so?” you asked hopefully. 

You felt like you couldn’t get a read on the room the whole time you were presenting, and their questions had been extremely critical. 

His eyes twinkled as he stared down at you. “I know so.”

~

Before you knew it, graduation had crept up on you. You sat in the hard plastic chair in the stuffy canvas pavilion, surrounded by all of your classmates, and waited. It had been hours, and would be hours more, and you just wanted it to be over. No one was there for you, no one cared if you even got this diploma. You could probably slip out the back and be gone before anyone realized, the only sign of your absence the awkward pause when your name was read. 

It had always been this way, all through your schooling. Your parents didn’t really understand your career choice, or didn’t have time to come for campus events. You didn’t have a lot of friends due to the demands of your program, and your own innate awkwardness. Instead of being a celebration of your achievements, graduation felt like another reminder of how alone you were, how most people would never remember you unless you did something embarrassing like trip and fall off the stage. 

Making excuses and muttering apologies, you slipped out past the rest of your row of fellow graduates and out into the fresh air and bright light of the campus lawn. You breathed a deep sigh of relief, taking off your mortarboard hat and unzipping the robe-like graduation gown about half way. 

“Y/N?” you jumped at the sound of Klaus’s voice, not expecting him to be here of all places, and especially not coming out of the tent you had just exited moments ago.

“Klaus!” you gasped, hugging him. “What...what are you doing here?”

“I came to see you, obviously,” he said, booping the end of your nose. “So when I saw you looking like you might be making a break for it, I followed.”

“Oh.” You were flattered that he would attend or managed to spot and recognize you in the sea of identically dressed co-eds, confused how he’d found out the date and time, and a little annoyed that you’d been caught. 

“Were you running away?”

“They can mail me my diploma,” you said with a shrug. It wasn’t quite an answer, but it said everything it needed to.

“Y/N,” he sighed, placing his hands on your shoulders. “You know I don’t understand all this college, academic, brilliance stuff. But I know it’s supposed to be special and important and one of those things you’ll always remember.”

“Because it’s supposed to be a celebration. Only I don’t feel like celebrating alone.”

“Well, you’re not, are you?”

“My classmates don’t count. I barely know them.”

“I meant me.” He leaned down, pressing his forehead to yours. “You’re not alone, because I’m here. I’ll always be here.”

You smiled softly, staring into his green eyes, so tender and full of love, as you remembered all of the times he had been there already: how he’d gone to the post office and held your hand when you mailed out applications, how he’d listened to you practice for your admissions interviews for days on end, every late night study session and “study” session, every distraction from anxiously awaiting a grade, pulling you up when you sank into a slump or felt like a failure and cheering you on for your highs and successes. Klaus had never been through formal schooling, had no desire to for all that he was clever. But even though he never knew what the hell was going on, he was there for you through it. 

“I should have known that,” you murmured. “After all, you always have been before.”

“Even geniuses can’t know everything,” he countered with a shrug and a smirk, before leaning down to press your lips together softly. 

You wrapped your arms around his neck, stretching up on your toes to bring you closer to him as his hands slid down from your shoulders to rest on your waist, an embrace as much as a kiss. You became dimly aware of the sound of applause from inside, signalling the end (finally) of the current speaker. Reluctantly, you pulled away.

“I guess I should probably get back in there,” you sighed. 

“Only if you want to,” he said, thumbs tracing circles on your sides. “I’ll support you either way.”

[penaltbox]

here’s a short 1.5k lol

You’re sitting in your room, finishing up some homework when your phone lights up on your desk. You take a glance and figure you’d respond in a second. But when you see the name ‘Ryder Donovan’ you smile and grab your phone. You’re not sure what he could be asking you about, because you didn’t have homework for your shared class this week, but your interest is always piqued when it comes to Ryder. ‘what are you doing rn? and have you eaten?’ You’re not sure where he’s going with that so you answer with a ‘why?’ The response comes in quick. ‘please just answer the question’ You laugh to yourself, because you can hear Ryder saying it in his silly voice that he uses when you’re talking before class starts and you tell him you’re having a rough day. You respond, telling him you’re just going homework and haven’t eaten yet. Your phone dings with a new message. ‘want to get dinner? ive been shunned from my place and i dont want to be here anymore’ You try to keep your cool, but it’s really hard when Ryder Donovan, the cute boy you sit next to in class that you totally have a crush on, asks you to get dinner. Sure it’s a casual thing, he just needs to get out of his room, but that doesnt make your smile falter or your heart beat any slower. Deciding to play it cool you respond with ‘hm maybe i can put you out of your misery, depends on where you want to go’ ‘anywhere you want’ You smile at that when another message comes through ‘meet you at yours? we can walk together?’ You agree, willing to have some company while you walk, especially when it’s Ryder’s. You’re waiting for a text, telling you he’s here so you’re surprised when there’s a knock on your door. You have to stop yourself from taking a sharp intake of breath when you see Ryder on the other side. His hair isn’t styled, clearly just dried from a shower and you think he should wear it like that more often. “Hey.” It’s Ryder that starts the conversation, beaming down at you. “Hey, sorry. i just wasn’t expecting you to come up,” you laugh. He scoffs, “I have manners, you know. My mom raised me well.” “I don’t doubt it,” you respond as you reach out and pat his chest. You’re not sure where the confidence came from, but you decide to move on quickly. “So, dinner. I was thinking Brunch Club?“ “Perfect.” You head out in silence and you’re not sure what to say to break it. It feels weird seeing him out of class and not having that as a crutch for conversation. You know you’re overthinking it and, apparently, Ryder notices it too. “What’s going on in that pretty little head. I can hear the gears turning.” You blush at that and he nudges you lightly with his shoulder before continuing, “seriously, you okay?” “Yeah. Yeah, sorry. Just debating food choices.” He nods at that, seemingly unconvinced but he lets it slide. When you’ve stopped, waiting to cross the street, Ryder glances towards you and gives you a smile full of mischief, and you know you’re a total goner. “You’re short,” he starts. “Perfect height for me to do this,” he says while throwing his arm on your shoulder, using it as an arm rest. You fake gasp, feigning offense, “I’m not short. You’re just...tall.” At that, Ryder throws his head back and laughs and you feel accomplished. You’ve made it to Brunch Club and he grabs the door, ushering you to go first. You smile, thanking him. “You’re welcome, shorty.” You can’t help the way your heart flutters and you try to give him a glare but the smile on your face makes it ineffective. “Look,” he says, “even your hands are small.” To prove his point, he grabs your wrist and brings one of your hands up to his. You feel yourself flush and your heart is pounding at the touch and you will it to go down. “No, they’re normal. You’re just giant,” you laugh as you say it, unable to finish your sentence. You giggle to yourself, “a big friendly giant.” It has ryder rolling his eyes but he laughs nonetheless. “Ok, pipsqueak, let’s eat.” You let him win this round as you order your food. You guys take forever to eat and it’s because you can’t stop laughing. You’ve both shared stories and opened up. Now, Ryder is trying to tell you this embarrassing story about Shay and he can’t finish it because he’s laughing so hard. His laugh makes you laugh, and the fact that you’re laughing only makes him laugh harder. You know other people are looking over at you two, but you can’t find it in yourself to care. You’re having too much. Eventually, you both calm down and start finishing your food. You steal a breakfast potato off of Ryder’s plate, giving him a smug smile, your eyes shining. “Hey, you have your own food,” he complains, but he’s giving you a charming grin and you know he’s not actually mad. You wrinkle your nose at him in response, making him chuckle. “Yours looked good,” you shrug. “It’s because there’s a great model behind the plate,” he says. “Oh really, where?” “You’re looking at him. or maybe you’re blinded by my good looks?” “Definitely not,” you scoff. You guys finish up and Ryder pays. He doesn’t even let you argue, saying he was the one who asked you to come. “It’s the least I could do, since you saved me from my misery.” “Glad I could be your knight in shining armor, Ryds.” “I do make a cute damsel in distress,” he says, a teasing tone to his voice. “Yeah, you do.” At that, he blushes and scratches the back of his neck, changing the subject. He walks you home and you don’t really want your time with him to be over. glancing at the time, you decide to invite him in. “You know, just in case. So you’re not walking into anything.” He gives you a smirk and you think he’s going to call you out on the reasoning, but you’re thankful that he doesn’t. Instead, he accepts the invite and it’s how you find yourself in your current position, on opposite ends of the couch watching Chopped. You guys took your guesses as to who’s winning and you laugh as Ryder’s choice is out on the first round. He looks at you, a small pout on his face and it’s so cute you feel your heart skip. “Better luck next time, bub.” The pet name makes him blush although he tries to hide it. To distract from it, he grabs your hand and pulls you closer, squeezing your sides to make you laugh. “I bet your choice is out next round,” he teases. He keeps his arm around you then, and you don’t make any attempt to move away. As the episode continues—and your choice makes it through the final—you find yourself further cuddled into Ryder’s side. ‘smooth play, Donovan,’ you think to yourself. After another few episodes, you’re fully leaning into him, head on his shoulder, almost asleep. The episode you’re on is almost over and when it is, you feel Ryder shift. “Come on, pretty girl. Time for you to get some rest.” You’re too tired to react to the nickname and just mumble incoherently. You walk him out and he doesn’t leave without a goodbye hug. “I had a lot of fun today, we should hang out more,” Ryder says, arms still holding you in the hug. “I had fun too Ryder. Thank you for dinner,” you say as you finally let go. “Text me when you’re home safe,” you call after him and he assures you that he will. Ryder makes his way home and he texts you that he’s made it as he opens his front door. Upon walking in, he glances up and sees a few of the guys sitting on the couch. “There he is,” Shay announces. “What’ve you been up to, Ryder?” “Had dinner with a friend.” “Dinner...at midnight.” Shay’s tone is accusatory, feeling like he caught his brother in a lie. Ryder simply rolls his eyes. “Well we had dinner, then we just hung out.” The other guys are willing to leave it at that, but Shay knows his little brother better than that. He can see the brightness in Ryder’s eyes and can practically feel the happiness radiating off him. “Who’s this friend?” “Didn’t know I was coming home to an interrogation, mom.” From the couch, Mike snickers at Ryder’s response, but Shay knows it’s a deflection. As Ryder turns to go to his room, he hears Shay’s teasing voice, “Ryder was with a girl,” he sings. There’s a chorus of ooh’s as Ryder’s face flushes and he flips his brother off before he finally walks to his room. He wants to be annoyed at his brother, but when he opens his phone to a text from you saying ‘glad you made it home, big friendly giant’ he can’t help the goofy grin that forms instead.

[killemwithkawaii]

Demon Sal getting a master who likes camping. (I would absolutely put a marshmallow on his tail and lick it off sensually, lol~)

Demon!Sal with a master who likes camping-

>You had been out in the woods for about a week- an experienced camper, hiker, and navigator, you both adored the gifts that nature provided and respected the danger that the wilderness could present without any fair warning. You had come prepared with the essentials (a compass, a knife, a water purifier, emergency rations, etc) but were otherwise determined to rough it as much as possible for your extended vacation from the rest of humanity.

>Most of your other trips were taken solo, but you had a rather unusual companion this time around- a clingy, masked incubus named Sally, who had taken quite a liking to you after he had found you masturbating in the middle of your campsite. You had been there for a few days and hadn't seen another soul pass by, so you had let yourself relax and have some 'you time' before you turned in for the night. You had snapped out of your fantasizing when you felt the hot breath of something sizable waft over your cheek.

>What your instinct said was a wolf or a cougar (or at least a raccoon) turned out to be a different kind of predator all-together, but he had sniffed you out none-the-less. At some point, he had curled up next to you to enjoy the show and had made himself visible in hopes he could convince you to let him assist in your efforts to unwind. You declined, trying to ignore how oddly tempting the offer was. 

>You would have chased any other stranger or animal away with the ax you kept handy for fire wood, but watching him flit around the campsite in mid air, digging through your bag and inspecting your things, asking what everything was for- he was kind of cute, and you enjoyed educating people about wilderness survival anyway, so you humored your uninvited guest and taught him the ropes

>Sally stuck around after that

>As planned, you foraged for your breakfast, ate granola and jerky for lunch while hiking the local trails, and then fished for your dinner in the evenings. It was hard work, but it was satisfying on a level that modern life just couldn't match for you. You were a savvy survivor in a mechanized world- though you had to admit, a hot shower and some clean clothes did sound nice... But, the lake would do for now.

"Okay, it's time to wash up-" you declared mostly to yourself, but also to your impish companion. 

"...are you just going to stand there and watch?" you had already removed your outer layers and were about to wade into the water to rinse yourself off. You'd hoped he'd get the hint that you wanted some privacy, and he did, but that didn't mean he was going anywhere.

"Do I have to?" he tilted his head, pigtails swaying, "I mean, you and I are quite well acquainted, wouldn't you agree?" 

>It was true- you two had spent the better part of a week together, just the two of you in the middle of nowhere, admiring the scenery by day and swapping stories around the fire after nightfall (you found his s'mores-making skills were rather impressive- he always chose to roast his marshmallows by impaling them on his tail and rotating them constantly, resulting in a perfectly golden-brown crust that was so tempting, you didn’t even mind eating them directly off of said appendage when he offered them to you) Hell, he'd already seen you naked and in the midst of pleasuring yourself, but it felt different to be stripping down right in front of him, even if you were just trying to bathe. 

"... ugh, fine," you stripped the last of your garments off and threw them to shore before submerging yourself completely. The water was a cool, and incredibly refreshing after neglecting your usual personal hygiene routine. 

>You felt Sallys eyes on you as you scrubbed away the caked-on dirt and dried sweat from your body, but you didn't begin to flush until you noticed his reflection next to yours- he had avoided alerting you to his approach by levitating above the surface, only now dipping his toes in the water as the rest of him hung in the air

"Can I help you?" your sarcasm was weak at best- you were trying to sound annoyed, but your voice faltered with his close proximity (and a new level of awareness of your own nakedness, now mirroring his)

"Oh, sorry- It's just been such a long time since I've seen a human looking like you do now, darling..." he sighed as he allowed himself to sink into the water beside you, his deep voice laced heavily with nostalgia. 

"I remember when your kind first got the spark of consciousness- you were so curious, so creative, but still so animalistic in your behavior... It was adorable, and it was sooo much fun to play with you..." 

He reached out and toyed with a lock of your wet hair.  "But now, you tuck yourselves away in your boxy dwellings, all stacked on top of each other, playing with your toys and squabbling. You clever lot have come up with such strange things to complicate your lives with, and you're all so desperate to accomplish your frivolous little goals... It makes my job easier, having you stressed and needing release, but all of you have become so concerned with status and cleanliness and modesty that you seem to have forgotten your roots. It's sad, really..."

>You swallowed hard, "Well, that's why I come out here, honestly... to get in touch with my roots..."

>Sally leaned in closer, taking a not-so-subtle sniff of you before he spoke into your ear,

"To be... more human?" you couldn't see his face, but you could hear the smirk in his voice, as well as your own heartbeat against your ribs.

>You held yourself with one arm, a last-ditch (and ineffective) effort to shield yourself from his unblinking gaze "Y-yeah..."

"Ehehe, oh, my sweet little mortal..." you felt his clawed hands graze over your shoulders and trail downward as his tail snaked around your thighs.

"You've done very well in your efforts, but please," he finally pressed his chest against your back, nuzzling his masked face into the crook of your neck as his hands wandered and the grip of his tail tightened around you, ensnaring you like the predator you had originally believed had wandered into your campsite

"Allow me to show you what it feels like to be truly human...~" 💘💦

[ahiddenpath]

Digimon Adventure 2020 Ep 11 Reaction

In which the kids have their own ideas about how to proceed, and it’s beautiful.

(Warning: I got excited and started cussing a lot.  Also, this ep is really good, and I’m really proud of this reaction, you should read it!).

I love it when the Chosen argue.

The kids arguing means that they have different ideas, different priorities.  The kids making a stand- Yamato prioritizing the mission, Sora and Jyou prioritizing the digimon who will die without help- means that they are exerting agency over the situation.  This is so refreshing after all of those “blindly follow the prophecy, without even having an actual, living being to explain things and provide prospective” episodes.  I mean, seriously, I was a second away from “Would you kindly” jokes.  (If you’ve never played the original Bioshock...  DO IT, OMG).

AND SORA!  FINALLY, SOME GOSH DANGED CHARACTERIZATION FOR SORA!  I am so happy for her!  Now, this is going to get highly subjective, but...  I detest “competency” as the main character trait for female characters.  And so far, what we know of Sora is that she’s: competent, active, brave, warm (so we’re told- we’re mostly left to infer this from her beautiful facial expressions, which I guess is fine, but I’d love to see it guiding her actions more, which we’re finally getting!), and supposedly well-liked at school (no proof of this, just Koushiro’s word).  Er- also, knives.  For some folks, this seems to be enough to celebrate, but it just...  Falls so flat for me.  

The idea of a “competent, active girl” suggests that most female characters aren’t competent and/or active, or that competency/being active are male traits (hence, Sora having these traits somehow makes her “tomboyish”).  In Adventure, Sora was always competent, active, and playing a guiding/decision-making role with Taichi and Yamato, while Koushiro provided intel for them.  I remember and liked that about her, but I love Adventure Sora for simultaneously accepting, struggling with, and resenting her caring, sisterly role for everyone.  The caretaker love and resentment cycle was so fucking real, dude.  Sora’s...  I’m gonna say it, she’s probably the most complex Adventure character, and when people reduce her to AcTiOn ToMbOy, I vomit in my mouth (even though she absolutely is competent and active!  It’s just that competency does not a personality make, and she had SO MUCH relatable, compelling stuff going on!!!!!  And also, “tomboy” in general implies that certain character traits are masculine, which is damaging for everyone, frankly). 

Anyway, here we see Sora standing up for her principles, which means saving these digimon who will die if left where they are.  There is no fighting, no name-calling, no posturing...  Just Sora saying: I care about these digimon, this is the right thing to, and therefore, I will do it.

ALSO I AM PROUD OF JYOU FOR BACKING SORA, and also showing his Adventure roots with an attempt at peace-keeping so ineffective that it was annoying, lol!  First, he is sad that Sora asked Yamato’s opinion, not his...  But when actually asked for his, he says “Er- I guess everyone has good points?” *sweat sweat*  THIS IS SO CLASSIC JYOU, I AM CRYING.  And then Gomamon is like, “What do you want?”  Ie, I don’t want a statement of validity for everyone else’s thoughts, I want your thoughts.  Gomamon is the best!

Then we jump to Gabumon and Yamato, walking off all lonesome-like.  Gabumon says, “Yamato, they can’t know what you’re thinking if you don’t tell them,” and honestly?  THAT’S A HELL OF A LINE FOR A KID SHOW.  Damn, Gabumon is great?  In the fortress siege ep, I thought that Gabumon explaining that Yamato is excluding the others to protect them was a little...  Too much.  Kids shows especially tend to error on the side of being too explainy, though, for the sake of their young audience (I laughed my ass off in Frozen when Olaf goes, “TrUe LoVe SaVeD hEr,” or something similar, because yes Olaf, we fucking got that, thanks, lol!).  This line was similar in intent (helping the audience understand an aloof character who is potentially unlikable on the surface), but damned if that ain’t some tea for real life.

AND JFC, WAS WEREGARURUMON ALWAYS SO FUCKING EXTRA?!  Wait, what am I saying, of course he was!  Hahaha!  I gotta say that these reboot perfect level evolutions aren’t feeling earned or impactful, just a kind of fun, “Oh hey, there you are” (and in this case, “Who does your nails, btw?”).  I’m hoping that we’ll see other content to make up for this, but so far, I’ve given up on the thought of being touched/impressed by evolutions in Digimon Adventure:.

AH SHIT!  BUT AT THE END!  Sora says, “Thanks for coming back!”  And Yams replies, “Eh, you were bait.”  And SORA!  SHE SEES THROUGH THIS BS!  SHE’S ALREADY REACHED GABUMON LEVEL OF SEEING  THROUGH THIS IMPOSSIBLE BOY’S GRUMPY FACADE!  “Well, we’ll leave it at that,” she says, with an understanding smile.  GOD!  THIS IS SO GOOD, I FINALLY SEE SORA IN FRONT OF ME, I’M CRYING, THIS IS 1,000% MORE SORA THAN HER OWN INTRO EP!!!!!!

AND I AM DYING!  Yams says, “I have a brother, so I...  AM SO... DETERMINED TO END THIS AND PROTECT HIM.”  You butt face, EVERY KID HERE HAS A FAMILY, OMG, WHAT A FUCKING DORK!  I am absolutely dying!  Here Yamato is, tryin’a explain his tunnel vision and his DEEP DARK EMBARRASSING SECRET...  HE, A HUMAN, HAS A HUMAN FAMILY THAT HE LOVES.  It tells us a lot about Yamato, alright, but not what Yamato was actually trying to say (ie, I hate to admit it, but I am a huge softie for my brother)!  Instead, what we’re finding out is...  Yamato is forgetting everyone here has a beloved family that they also want to help, because HE LOVES HIS BROTHER SO MUCH!  

GOD, SUCH YAMATO.  SUCH PURE, UNDILUTED, 1,000% CONCENTRATED YAMA JAMMAS.  I FUCKING LOVE HIM.  WHAT A GOOMBA!

THIS EPISODE WAS SO DAMNED GOOD, my second fave so far after Mimi’s intro, and it had 0% to do with the action/plot/evolutions and 1,000% to do with these dumb kids being good, dumb kids, god I love them.

ALSO!  HERE WE ARE AT RUINS AGAIN WITH KOUSHIRO AND MIMI?!?!?!?!  AM I HAVING A STROKE?!?!?!?!?!  BUT THIS TIME IT’S EVEN WORSE BECAUSE TAICHI IS HERE!?!?!?!?!?!?  GOD, I AM SO FUCKING HAPPY.  WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS BOUNTY?!?!?!?!?!?!

God, thank you, reboot.  Bless.

ETA:  I’m also hoping we swing back around to Leomon’s Resistance.  I mean, I assume we will...  And I also assume Leomon ain’t gonna fare so well, lol!  But seriously, I wonder what kind of intel Leomon can provide?  I’m loving that the Digital World has so much going on, its own groups and such.

[gayregis]

blood and wine rewrite au basic layout

i already posted something like this before but i cant find the post so im just rewriting all of this from the top of my head

everyone’s repurposed roles:

geralt - he’s still a witcher. he’s geralt of rivia. obviously. i don’t have time or interest to think about how to rewrite the entire witcher 3 game to be lore-friendly, but i assume there would be less triss and more dandelion involved in it. for this let’s just take him as geralt having done everything in tw3 but with the personality of geralt from the books because geralt from the games doesn’t have much of a strong personality good for writing or thinking about.

regis - a bitch. nah jk. he’s same regis but just what he was like 100 years ago when he got his head cut off. he’s less spiralling-into-doom than he was then, and is less desperate and hopeless overall, but is slowly getting there once again. he doesn’t remember anything about learning from his mistakes and becoming a good person, because this regis didn’t get any of that. to this regis, it’s like no time has passed at all since he died, and he’s ready to start partying again without any thought of the consequences. he’s moved to toussaint because everyone’s already tipsy there and the north is plagued by war so it’s not a really great source to be drinking from (like if there was a sewage leak near the vineyard you sourced your wine from). he doesn’t remember anything about maturing up or about becoming a surgeon or about the hansa, so that sucks.

dettlaff - not a fucking maniac. actually a character geralt will likely spend a good amount of time talking to. total character overhaul because he does not have a personality in the actual DLC. he arrived in toussaint because he had heard that regis had returned and wanted to fix things wih him, he had previously left him.

syanna - not a fucking dumbass, yet still naive in her own way due to being blinded with the promise of power. in this, she is planning to stage a coup on the duchy (because she is the older sister, so it IS her right by law) and she supports regis’ slow dive again into uncontrollable insanity because it helps her prop up rumors that her sister’s reign is ineffective against real threats and is cursed. but this alliance does not go as she planned...

orianna -  in this, she is the owner of a gladiatorial school (instead of an orphanage), and is still like in canon a wealthy and influential individual of beauclair, yet reclusive from human society. she is regis’ best friend and goads him on, because she never fixed her own issues with alcoholism and now is elated to have him back and forgetting that they had disagreements which drove them apart in the first place. they’re best friends (NO romance) and it’s just good to see how insanely different orianna and geralt are because they’ve both been regis’ close friends at different points in time.

the purpose of this:

fix regis’ relationships with the vampires. he slowly drove all of his good friends away by going off the deep end and many are likely wondering whatever happened to him. but books regis would never consider partying like that again, so we bring the party regis back and then slowly de-escalate him into normal books regis again, and we finally get closure with him and his old friends.

cool dramatic stereotypical vampire shit. i’m talking about a final battle or conversation in a giant dark castle with large open windows and billowing drapery.

regis’s hairstyle

give syanna actual agency as a character and give her motivations that extend beyond pure revenge (although they are related to revenge) and make her more unique so she is not just a ripoff of renfri. 

demonstrate anna henrietta and geralt’s relationship as it was in the books. he was genuinely intimidated by her and i interpret him as being jealous of her relationship with dandelion, so he in practice was quite withdrawn around her as she was her overemotional and embellished self

give dettlaff an actual character, holy shit. i hate how sorely underdeveloped he is in the game. i understand why because it’s not meant to be writing, it’s meant to be a video game, but come on. i hate having the vampire with the cool character design be the ultimate villain of the whole narrative. in this, he’s someone geralt can talk to and sees himself in. he’s emotionally mature and doesn’t mix with the other vampires. since we already know what regis is like, we don’t have to sit through dettlaff making excuses for him and trying to describe what his character is like. we also get a better view of regis’ past through dettlaff’s lense. 

give orianna an actual character, holy shit. i hate how they didn’t even try with her and just used her as a “surprise, she is quite evil!” gimmick. have her actually have a larder for blood that is lore-friendly yet still jumps out at the audience as morally wrong.  give her more personality and development.

examine regis’ backstory without actually getting into every single year of those 4 centuries. we can examine how it started good, turned bad, went worse... there’s a lot of loss involved and i think this would be nice to process it.

roughly what happens (under cut because if i ever do write this fic out, this is spoilers, literally the synopsis of the whole thing):

anna henrietta sends envoys to geralt. they establish that the duchess has no conflict with geralt and that her conflict was with dandelion, only. she has requested his help because he effectively dealt with many monsters while he was in beauclair and established a trustworthy reputation (also, he’s famous, and toussaintoirs are superficial). instead of the beast of beauclair killing particular victims, it’s the countryside which has been plagued by vicious attacks of the devil knows what.

geralt arrives and examines the scenes of the attacks. the sincere majority of the victims are alive, so he speaks to them. they remember nothing, but woke up with their village fucking absolutely trashed and with vomit everywhere. they all have wounds on their necks. geralt thinks he knows what’s up, but is reluctant to deal with it because of his memories of regis, who he misses

damien de la tour is assigned to geralt as a sort of backup. they argue and geralt manages to get him to stay put in beauclair while he rides to a village they believe will be attacked next. it’s not even a full moon so the vampires don’t even come out in their bat form (disappointing) but instead just mesmerize their way in in humanoid form. dettlaff sneaks up on geralt who is (ahem) staking out the situation, and is like hey dont kill regis hes not evil hes just misguided!! and geralt is like REGIS? EMIEL REGIS? THTS WHO’S LEADING THEM? i ..... i know him.... and dettlaff’s like what the fuck how... then they get caught and regis is like oh hey dettlaff who’s this guy and geralt feels very left out :( and also sad bc regis doesnt remember shit and geralt even lists the hansa members by name and regis is still like O_O ok yeah im just going to hypnotize you to get lost ok goodbye! but dettlaff prevents him from doing this and they both get thrown out of the party.

after the party geralt is a mess and is like wtf so hes back and what... how... huh... and dettlaff doesnt know how he returned or why he returned either but they compare geralt’s knowledge of how regis died with dettlaff’s knowledge of how regeneration works and they figure out that regis just regenerated from his past body and that’s why he doesn’t have any of his memories from when he turned good.

then they eavesdrop a little more and find out that syanna has been talking to regis and making deals with him (its... not really like she thinks, regis really hasnt been doing anything he doesnt want to. shes just like “hey can you attack this village here” and regis is like yeah i was gonna host a party there tomorrow night ...) so they are like who the fuck is this woman and track her down to her base of operations, and then they find out that THEY got followed by damien de la tour, who identifies her as sylvia anna. geralt is a little miffed on behalf of dandelion that damien seems to be so close to anna henrietta but i digress.

geralt reports his findings to the duchess but does NOT mention regis because the duchess knows who regis is. then we get the same vampire talk from canon b&w where the duchess and damien are sorely misinformed on every single thing ever.

geralt is defeated and has no idea on how to fix this and hes looking hard into a mirror by candlelight and then decides to go to bed so he turns around and regis is right behind him like hey. cue ‘holy shit what the fuck’ moment and freaking out. regis explains himself and says that he doesnt remember him but the fact that he gave so many specifics weirded him out and he kind of wants to know more out of curiosity. also he wants to talk to dettlaff but feels too bad about how he argued with him like 3 centuries ago that he cant just ask him directly.

so they talk and geralt is all :(( and regis is like ok well. i kinda want to get these memories back because they sound pretty significant and also im pretty miserable. but also im not going to stop partying bc its the only thing that makes me feel alive rn. so long!

geralt and dettlaff talk to orianna and she dislikes them both but still talks to them and then regis materializes and also begins bothering them and its quite civil but this scene just serves to demonstrate how annoying they are as friends lol

there’s scenes where you can either save damien / syanna from being unalived by the vampires’ / regis’ hand, only if you let syanna die will the duchess be mad and accuse you of being heartless like dandelion is and then geralt and the duchess actually get into an argument bc of that comment but geralt ofc loses bc hes scared of her lol

no matter what you get regis his memories back but your decisions to either continue helping him or not is what makes him change or not. even after he gets his memories back (or because he gets his memories back?) he decides to raze beauclair bc hes just so fucking miserable and geralt has to talk him down, if you are harsh and not understanding and shame him etc then he doesnt change, if you condemn his actions but still offer your support then he does.

if you offer your support > geralt talks about the hansa like For Ever and regis then adds in everything and yay regis is back to normal. theres like a wholesome montage of geralt being like “just TRY to sew up a wound i promise you you will be good at it” and regis does and hes splendid at it. regis and dettlaff finally make up and are bros once again. we help orianna with her issues and she realizes stuff but is still going to have a drink once in a while. if syanna is alive she doesnt hate on any of this but just decides to make up with the duchess and then become captain of the guard (damien gets fired for being a dumbass).

if you do not offer your support > regis goes to cry in a delapidated creepy old castle and you have an epic fight (geralt is backed up by dettlaff) and he turns into a bat and geralt almost dies, they manage to decapitate regis again and put him in the ground and set a timer for 50 years

if you redeem regis then there’s an ending scene where the duchess is like “oh regis i didnt know you were in town” and hes just like <:) ahaha... yeah...

cue crying about milva/cahir/angouleme For Ever. maybe link this with the fic where geralt and regis bring them all back as ghosts/real ppl and then they have to deal with those consequences

[turqrambles]

Digimon World - Midgame - Some Assorted Thoughts

At the time of writing this post, I’m sitting at around 31 Prosperity for the first Digimon World game for the PS1, which I could consider pretty mid-game for this type of game, so I just want to write down what I think about this little adventure.

For the record, I am talking about the original Playstation version of the game. The one with the T-rating (which feels way too high for this game since there’s no swear words and the battle damage is fantasy-level at best - is it because of all the poop in this game?) and the one with the CGI Metalgreymon on the cover for the NTSC versions of the game.

I’m playing this game on a physical copy that somehow survived like five moves on my PS3, just for reference. 

(Yes that’s that actual price I paid for it. That was a big price for little kid me.)

The Past Trials of My Schoolchild Self

First thing’s first - as a kid, I actually did not like this game very much!

For starters, I didn’t get very far in the game. My Digimon would keep pooping all over the place for one since I don’t think I fully understood the timing of this mechanic. I stopped playing the game when my Airdramon was one poop away from turning into a Sukamon and I found myself unable to stop it because I saved right before my Airdramon would make the final poop, thus trapping me in an unwinnable game loop. If I turned the game back on, I could only watch as my beautiful flying feathered snake transformed into a poop with eyeballs as I was powerless to stop it.

My Digimon had to suffer for my mistakes.

But besides that, I just found the game far too cryptic to figure out just what was going on, and my Digimon would never turn into anything cool. My Airdramon really was the coolest thing my Digimon ever evolved into, so the yellow turd Digimon really was like salt on a wound.

But, to add insult to injury, one time I hatched a baby Botamon and talked to the old man, only to have this giant dinosaur run up to me and blast the literal infant into smithereens.

Greymon is a dick.

What I remember from kid me’s file of this game - I finished the Drill Tunnel, I got to the dinosaur world one time, and I’m pretty sure I entered Myotismon’s mansion one time because out of sheer luck, my Agumon digivolved into a Bakemon one time.

I know what I didn’t do - I never recruited any of the shopkeeper Digimon so I was doing an itemless run as a kid. A big mistake, considering how important items are in this game!

A Brutal Beginning

Playing this game in 2020 when I’m an adult and have a better concept in how these types of games work is making this playthrough a lot easier for me, but don’t be fooled. This game is still pretty difficult.

I’m going to be real. One of the main turn offs for this game for a lot of players, especially little kids in the year 2000 with dial-up internet and no strategy guide like myself, is that this is one of those games where the beginning starts out slow. Real slow.

Sure, most great RPGs give you a real sense of power and accomplishment once you figure out the mechanics and get stronger as you progress through the game, but in this game, you have less options at the start because, as it turns out, the shopkeepers, the superior meat farmers, the air taxi service, and all those fun little options typically available to you in other RPGs have all turned feral as a result of A Bad Thing That Happened on File Island and it’s up to you and your plucky partner Digimon to explore the wilds and beat them up one by one until they gain a little humanity (...digitanity) and expand the town. 

While it is really cool to see the town expand through the course of the game - buildings are built and lights are gradually installed - but man, the fact that you go for a long time without having a shop if you don’t know what to do kinda sucks. A lot. I kept thinking to myself about how Pokemon is a lot more generous with the item drops and, while the shop inventories at Viridian City and Pewter City aren’t great, they’re there from the beginning.

Note: To get this guy, you have to chase a rumor from a Baby Digimon that there’s a fish that shows up after a certain time on a certain map. Then you have to progress through the jungle enough that you find the one Betamon that isn’t an enemy. There. Now the shop’s open. What, are you saying that’s super convoluted? Why yes it is. Welcome to Digimon World.

Not only that, but this game’s biggest flaw comes from one tiny feature it omits from the game - Digimon World doesn’t have a world map.

See this artwork? This is the most you’re ever going to get.

You know how a lot of RPGs - your Pokemon, your Final Fantasy, etc etc - have a world map that’s easy to access from the start menu? Yeah, this game doesn’t have that. It instead prints a rather rudimentary map in both the instruction manual and on the design of the actual disc. You know what that means? You’re SOL if you ever bought this game used.

I didn’t of course, but physically cracking open my disc case just to be like “ah okay I need to go north” was more annoying than anything. Maybe if the instruction manual came with an actual physical map you can unfold would’ve been better?

The Starter Dilemma

Like most monster collecting games, you have a choice of starters at the beginning of the game. Depending on how you answer the questions at the beginning of the game (all two of them, with only one of them truly mattering), you can start with either an Agumon or a Gabumon. Cool, right?

Well, it starts the fall apart the moment you fight the first boss in the game - a wild Agumon with weaker stats than your partner. And that’s when you realize that one of the starters starts out with a major battle disadvantage at the very start.

Agumon’s starting move is a little ranged attack that it can shoot at enemies. It can hit the enemy from pretty far away so he can evade a lot of close up attacks.

Gabumon’s starting move is an ineffective little flailing of his arms that requires him to get up super close to the other Digimon in order to hit them.

Did I mention this attack is weaker than Agumon’s starting move? This type of starter set-up is utterly baffling to me. Why would you intentionally hobble one of the choices?

So if you were a kid hoping to go on a grand adventure with your happy little dog lizard (instead of doing what a lot of people recommend, which is train your dog lizard for several in-game days until he evolves into something better) expect to see a lot of battles where the enemy Digimon just casually moves out of the way as your dog lizard yells “PWAH”.

Luckily this problem ceases to exist once you start digivolving and learning new techniques, but it’s still a major bummer to start the game on.

On top of that, unlike Pokemon, your Digimon can die. It can only faint three times in battle before he crumbles into a pile of bits and data in a rather brutal cutscene involving the flesh being ripped off your partner’s wire frame while the old man Digimon just kinda glumly stands off to the side and is like “lol he ded”.

So uh, have fun with that, children who accidentally run into a boss Digimon while trying to figure out where the hell anything is.

Sometimes Being Cryptic Is Good

That being said, in an age where I can just peek at my phone if I’m stuck, this game is kinda refreshing in a “playing your first Pokemon game” kind of way.

With no in-game maps and only vague hints of what to do next purely by talking to the villagers, you’re just kinda...left to your own digivices (see what I did there) as you explore this vast, uncharted world and slowly figure out what you’re supposed to do next and, since the world is arranged in a circle around the town, you can go in multiple directions and progress in any way you want.

There’s no set progression, with the story advancing based on how many Digimon you befriend rather than what places you’ve beaten. There’s no pressing incentive to go beyond the Native Forest if you don’t feel ready for that yet. Sure, the town won’t expand if you don’t, but you can still go at things at your own pace until you get a better feel for the environment. You’re just left to experiment as you gradually figure out how to make your Digimon evolve into cooler things.

And honestly, it’s kinda fun playing a game where I don’t know the exact numbers off the top of my head in terms of how to get a certain Digimon so a lot of times I’m genuinely surprised at the evolutions I get.

You just, you know, need a lot of patience. Especially when this game’s English translation is...not great. (which is common with a lot of PS1 games)

The land changed after the land changes happened.

Current Consensus

You need a bit of patience to play this game, but it’s definitely rewarding if you stick by it. I’m certainly having fun playing this game, but I will say out loud that I’m also playing this game while watching a couple let’s plays and having GameFAQs open.

I will say that, as an adult, I actually find myself appreciate this game more than when I did as a child.  It has its flaws, but after a pretty intense learning curve, it becomes pretty rewarding. You know, when it’s not requiring me to fish The Lake Guardian at 9 am with a piece of meat attached to my fishing rod in order to improve my gym.

I give it a “It’s Fun When It’s Not Being Bullshit” out of 10.

Quick Bullet Points

This game has some bangers in the soundtrack so at least it’s pleasant to listen to.

I do like that you can evade the enemy Digimon on screen so you can reasonably enter some places with a lower leveled Digimon than what that area requires. This is just not advisable since most of the Digimon are befriended with a boss fight. That being said, item management is a big thing in this game so enemy dodging is still a useful trait.

You can buy portapotties to keep your Digimon from shitting on the ground but since your Digimon has only one use animation, it uses it by eating it.

 Cherrymon has a radically different design in this game than any other piece of Digimon media and it’s kinda funny how creepy he looks in this game.

The Monochromon Shop minigame earned the reputation that it has - it truly does suck ass and leave you at the mercy of RNG.

It’s been proven by hacking the game that the Bonus Try in the Gym exercises is rigged so never use it.

I like how this game creates recolors to make sure you can tell the difference between the recruitable Digimon and the Digimon that are just meant to be fought against....only for the series to then make these recolors recruitable, defeating their original purpose. I guess I should be glad they’re all considered proper Digimon now.

Poop is an element. You can have creatures of the Poop type.

No seriously Monochromon’s Shop minigame has given me a hatred for Veggiemon and I don’t think I can ever recover.

[wonderful-bellies]

Pokemon Battle:

(Happy Birthday! Here’s a gift! :D)

In the pokemon world, a woman named Medli, who was a giant nerd, where holding her birthday with her friends. One of these people was the pokemon trainer, Laria. She was wearing black and purple dress with a little bow, her skin was dark brown, her eyes ruby red and her long hair that down to her thighs were green. She also had a little golden necklace. She was taller than Medli, but Medli was lucky that she wasn’t the type to tease people for being shorter than her, like using them as an amrest or something.

  They also had their pokemons with them. Both Medli and Laria had six each. Medli had Lucien the Lugia, Nidel the Serperior, Neyo the shiny Mew, Nashyl the Seviper, Vihro'sae the Liepard and Jin the Talonflame.

Laria meanwhile had Sammy, a shiny gardevoir who was also among those known as a “perma-mega”, meaning he’s permanently a mega pokemon. Alongside him, she also had Miara the Mew, Gal the Galvantula, Ethan the Gastrodon, Grass the Gogoat and Basal the Scorbunny.

  After having eaten for now as well as opening gifts and presents, walked Laria up to Medli. “Hey.” She said, looking a bit nervous, though that’s pretty normal. “I was wondering, if you’d want a quick battle, just for fun?” She asked gently. Medli nodded and stood up. “Let’s make a special rule, we’re only allowed to send out a pokemon once, so it’ll be best two out of three. We’ll figure something out if it somehow ends up being a draw.” She said, and Laria accepted.

  The two of them found a good spot to start the battle. Kehsun, another serperior, flipped a coin, and it would be Medli who send out the first pokemon.

  The pokemon she send out was Lucien the Lugia, he was a big boy with large wings. He looked a bit nervous, or maybe he was just shy.

Laria meanwhile send out Gal the Galvantula. The drider- like pokemon stood on her four large legs, while she fumbled her fingers as she looked at Lucien. Truth be told, she always had a bit of a crush on the big dude, but couldn’t really say it.

  Gal would have the type advantage over Lucien, so let’s see where this will go:

Lucien started out by flying into the air, as he just dodged some webbing being shot at him from Gal. He fired an ice beam back, she tried to dodge, but her large body made her a big target, her legs ended up being frozen. He landed and walked towards her, but when got close, she shot an electro ball at him. He was down on a critical, but then he put his hands together and smashed into the earth, using the move Earthquake on her, making her faint. Lucian walked over and took the drider, and gently began to swallow her. While he was taller than her, in terms of body mass was she bigger, so it was a bit of a challenge of getting her down, especially the abdomen. Once she was inside, he patted his gut and let out a sigh. “That was good fight my friend, you did a good job, you almost won.” He told her and walked out to the side line to watch the next battle. Inside his large belly, was Gal blushing, not really saying anything yet.

  Lucien watched as Kehsun flipped a coin yet again. “You know, you can speak to me whenever you want right?” he said, though Gal was still quiet until she finally made up her mind. “It’s not because i’m sad, i’m just shy, and i don’t know what to say when i want to talk to you.” She answered him, and he gently stroked his stomach and thus her. “Take your time, just know if you ever need something, just ask. There’s no shame in it.” He said in a friendly tone and laid down.

  The next round began and this time it was Medli’s dumb boi, the naga Nidel, a serperior like Kehsun. He gave a cocky smile as he looked at his opponent, the gastrodon Ethan. This time it was Laria who should send out first. Ethan simply gave a shrug and a smile, he had always been pretty laid back, some joke with it’s because he’s a slugtaur-like creature, even though that’s not the case.

Nidel charged ahead, while Ethan used rain dance. Nidel immediately wrapped around Ethan, thinking he had trapped him, but Ethan was just like “nah dude” and slid right out of his hold. Ethan gave him a smirk and immediately shot water gun at him, even if it was ineffective. Nidel knowing that he did this to annoy him, charged at him with leaf blade and got a critical hit. “Nice shot.” Ethan said still keeping that laid back smirk on his face, “but now it’s my turn”, he said as his body was surrounded by an aura, and soon he charged forward at high speed himself, catching Nidel so much off guard that he actually got scared for a second, it was giga impact. It connected perfectly, and send Nidel flying. He was out of breath, and soon he saw Ethan over him. He tried to wrap around him again, but Ethan just slid right out. He grabbed Nidel by the shoulders and began to swallow the green naga. Nidel protested, but soon he found himself inside the gastrodon’s stomach. Ethan slurped up his tail as if it was a noodle. Afterwards, he found a tree to lay up against and rest, while Nidel was still complaining.

  As he was laying down he stroked his belly, but he was getting slightly tired it and pushed Nidel down to his second belly. He hummed a bit for himself and now leaned back yet again. “You’ll just have to relax.” he said, knowing full well that Nidel would NOT be calming down any time soon.

  Third round started, and this time it was the two mews, Neyo and Miara. Miara was the more experienced, but she’d rather perform than fighting, so she convinced everyone that they would do that instead. First it was a dance off, and while Neyo was awkward was nervous and awkward at first, he soon got the hang of it, and started to dance for real. Neyo was a bit more elegant while Miara was a bit of a showoff. A vote was held and it was Neyo who won the performance. Miara just gave him a smile, “You did good my friend. You did good. However, when she touched him, she felt how soft and squishy he was, he was no mew, he was a ditto. She was surprised at first, but then she quickly put the pieces together, and gave him a comforting smile. “There’s no need to hide who you are, we all love you like you are. You’re perfect as you are.” She told him. At first he was hesitant, but soon his form loosened up, to show that he was indeed a ditto. He slowly began to envelop her body and absorbed her into his own. “Are you okay?” He asked as he walked to sit besides Lucien. “Yes i am, don’t worry.” She replied.

  Sammy looked on from the sideline. “Seems like Laria lost.” He said to Kehsun who watched from a chair he had taken with him out. “Seems so, tough they all did a good job. I’m surprised she never called you over, since that you’re her most powerful pokemon.” Kehsun commented and looked up at the male gardevoir, who came with a shrug as he placed his hands on his black “robe”. “I’m surprised myself, but oh well.” He said and took a bite of cake that was shared among them to the party.

  Laria looked over at where the pokemon stood. The only pokemon over there that was her’s was Gastrodon, with a belly full of an angry Nidel. The other two, Lucien and Neyo, was Medli’s, which meant that she was the winner.

Laria walked up to Medli and gave her a handshake. “It was good fight, and you honestly deserve that win.” She said with a smile. Medli smiled back brightly. “Thank you, you were good yourself, however, you do know what the winner gets right?” Medli said than asked. “Aren’t you a bit short for that?” Laria asked in one of her rare moments of sarcasm. “I MAY BE SHORT, BUT I’M MIGHTY AND STRONG!” Medli answered back with a bit of a hesifit, but soon calmed down to an adorable pout that basically screamed for headpats. Which Laria provided.

  Laria took off her glasses and placed them on a rock, and proceeded to bend down in her knees so she was more face to face with Medli. She felt Medli’s hands on her shoulders, and soon felt the warmth and wetness come around her as she entered her friend’s mouth and slowly travelled down into her belly. Medli gulped her down more and more, and soon was Laria all the way down, leaving a large hanging gut for Medli to either cuddle or carry around. “And the winner is Medli!” Shouted Medli in playful triumph. “Happy birthday you nerd.” Said Laria. “Thank you, you hypocrite.” Medli replied back, as in her mind Laria was the bigger nerd of the two.

AAAAAA I’m sorry friend this is the cutest shit??? and you indulged me and let me be the pred ayyyy!! Damn RIGHT preds can be short lol. I loved this so much friend i was smiling like a doof while reading this. Lucian and Neyo were so heckin precious and i love Laria and her pokes aaa thank yooooouu <3