#but it literally makes it it too much of a hassle to let him die

[the-witchhunter]

I think why I’m annoyed by Danny coming around getting rid of Constantine’s “soul contracts” or collecting soul pieces and what have you fundamentally isn’t because it misunderstands how that works

It’s because it’s what makes him functionally immortal

WHY IS DANNY TRYING TO KILL THIS RANDOM MAN??

[illubean]

Request 4 you :-D alright I was wondering if you could do a drabble with a reader with a men ability that makes her similar to a banshe pls😣 (chrollo, illumi, kurapikachu, layoreo, and 🌹feitan🌹)

HXH W/ a Banshee!Reader

Characters: Kurapika Kurta, Leorio Paladaknight, Illumi Zoldyck, Chrollo Lucilfer, Feitan Portor Type: Headcanons, Gn!Reader

alright i did some reading on banshees for this and obviously they have their scream right? but they also have clairaudience, precognition and supernatural detection! p cool if you ask me :D

Warnings: none??

Kurapika Kurta

every time you predict the death of a phantom troupe member he's like fuck yeah

if you work with him you mostly end up gathering info

like you can literally fly super fast, see vaguely into the future and have super cray hearing

i couldn't think of anything for this guy im so sorry...

Leorio Paladaknight

the first time he saw you hovering about he damn near shit his pants because he thought you were genuinely some type of ghost

knowing its just your nen doesn't make him any less scared since you can sense supernatural and paranormal activity...

sometimes you tell him you feel ghosts and whatnot around to fuck with him

he cries

he can't even rant about you to anyone because you WILL hear it

every time he mentions you he has to look around and make sure you're nowhere near him even if he knows you're cities away

sometimes you use your clairaudience to snitch on him LOLLL

he will mutter something under his breath and you'd be like "Leorio just said ____"

you probably told him Gon would die (he didn't actually but almost did) and he didn't believe you at first

bro was like do NOT joke about that and you're like I'm not joking and he's like FUCK

maybe you should stop playing pranks on him because now he finds everything you say hard to believe...

Illumi Zoldyck

you help him catch runners on missions LMAO

if he happens to keep you around you know all of the Zoldyck estate gossip because your clairaudience lets you hear everything that goes on in the mansion

every time you hear something new you and Illumi whisk away to some corner and chat quietly

no matter what you tell him he's surprisingly interested, he can and will gossip like a teenage girl

sometimes when he feels like a job is too much of a hassle he lets you handle it with your death scream thingy

he's not a lazy person but everyone has their moments

you are his personal little ghostlike assistant

Chrollo Lucilfer

yeah he's making you one of the supportive members of the troupe

he uses you to gather information with your heightened hearing and ability to predict the death of others

probably asks you if you can contact the dead

if you can then awesome, now you can answer a lot of his questions but if not then oh well

since you can fly pretty fast sometimes he has you snatch up people for questioning

he avoids using you for offensive purposes because your screams reach very far and could possibly accidentally kill him or the other troupe members

so when he does you're usually alone

you were able to sense that Uvo was going to die and also the exact moment he did

knowing his friend would die didn't make it any less painful for Chrollo tho :(

Feitan Portor

he thinks you're a valuable asset to the troupe

most of the time when it comes to catching people for torture and interrogation Chrollo sends you two

you guys are the perfect team for the job honestly, you can catch enemies quickly and also attack them from long distances while Feitan handles all the gross torture stuff

he probably carries ear plugs for this so yk..you don't accidentally kill him when you scream at the enemy

when you predicted Uvo would die after the first run in with the shadow beasts Feitan is like no way

then all of that shit happens yada yada yada then he goes to fight Kurapika and he actually dies

and Feitan was like fuck you were right

now he knows not to doubt your morbid intuition..

[theoldoor]

Hello tumblr it is your daily dose of fenrot (fenrir brainrot)

On today’s episode we return with more kakavasha x fenrir / aventurine x eifenhe THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG ONE PLEASE BEAR WITH ME

Thats it

Thats

Literally what they are

—- Aventurine’s part… this one is rather shallow i need to work on it more

Kakavasha aided Fenrir greatly by accommodating his partial blindness by being his eyes in talia, they were an inseparable duo. The thief and the getaway driver. The distraction and the agent. Etc… Well mostly due to obligation to the other party, but the obligation soon grows to be affection and they were doing it willingly without being asked.

Obligation as in Aventurine needed a guide to live in Talia and Fenrir needed a pair of eyes to navigate through Talia so it was initially just transactional that they helped each other as they both win. You know, a good deal also comes with some other gifts and that was their growing affection for one another. Platonic, family whatever the relationship status is they will still care for each other unconditionally at that point, even if they were enemies.

Aventurine, then was Kakavasha and Eifenhe was Fenrir. They have both left their past behind, recycled what their scars had taught them to knowledge to survive in that deserted plains. I think that’s a beautiful thing to Talia as well. The junkyard of Galaxy where everyone cared for survival, your past wouldn’t matter, as long as you live that’s all that matters. Maybe that’s why Aventurine/Kakavasha thrived there, and so did Fenrir. They could literally just renew themselves, in exchange of dropping their humanity for the sake of survival. But that is a trade which they have no power to decline - Talia gives you no other choice but to survive.

—- but Talia is not total rebirth, it’s recycling

“In your distance, I find my desperation.”

“In your closeness, I find my fear.”

One would still have scars of their past, and that is exactly what Fenrir and Aventurine/Kakavasha had as their obstacle

Fenrir - cares for other to distract himself from caring for himself because he’s to afraid to confront his own issues as he knew it would be a hard thing to accomplish, and he’s scared to open up because what if other will think of him differently? What if they think he’s disgusting?

Aventurine - distance from others so that he wouldnt hurt them by making them care because he believes he’s not worth being cared for. Aventurine wouldn’t open up either for somewhat of the same reason.

Both seeks to be understood but refuse to be weak.

—Put this in a scenario

Be mean or be quiet.

Fenrir, he would want you to be mean. Cruel even, hurt him or kill him. Just don’t stay quiet and let him care.

Aventurine, he would stay quiet. He would let himself rot, to be hurt, to die. Just to free the others from the hassle of dealing with him.

Desperately helping an individual who believes there is no cure is a good trope but i need to figure out how to write it. Or like the Doctor is sick with the same illness trying to treat the patient who believes the cures the doctor is saying is bluff because he has the same illness. Lol.

—- Fenrir’s part —-

No matter how ‘ruined’ and ‘broken’ a temple is, as long as there is faith, there will still be respect and devotion and that is Fenrir and Aventurine.

Fenrir will not stop loving others, he will devote himself to everyone and anyone - as long as they return affection and acknowledgement but not too much. Make sure to run, make sure to keep him on a hook because if you shower him with love, he’ll think it’s fake and run away himself. So Aventurine distancing himself actually works :P

BEAR WITH ME— AVENTURINE AS THE RUINED TEMPLE

Aventurine, when he was with the clan and was full of potential, waging with luck but is now only a shadow of that former self as he is invalidated and traumatized through his past with slavery and now burdened with being in the IPC - his constant smile hides a fractured soul, much like the crumbling walls of a temple that concealed its past glory.

The constant distance he kept from others to protect them from the burden he believe he would put on them would make him seem unreachable. And his first-impressions is like this all out brazen-bravado guy that you admire ties more to the ruined temple as the place was once a place of reverence, maybe people could tour outside, but left in desolation once you look closer due to its unstable structure within.

We all know Aventurine’s past - the stories of bloodshed, etc. Much like the old relics in the ancient temple that held stories of a fallen glory. Many people would see it as “just an empty and dusted relic”, which is what Aventurine would probably see about his past as well, nothing of value. But to historians, the scholars, it is a blessing to find fragments of its story. And also, the avgins being ethnically cleansed… oouuuHHHHHG AAWWDD - Rich of history and honor, yet scarred and hidden from plain sight.

NOW ONTO FENRIR’S PART- FENRIR AS THE FAITH

It’s… literally his character. The devoted. The dog that follows.

Fenrir’s tendency to prioritize others’ needs over his own is a clear example of his unwavering faith and devotion. He will search for the good in things to believe in them, yk’know the stupid dog, even in things that are inherently bad. Much like a believer that see divine in a place of worship, even if their faith is in the wrong place, even if the place is in ruins - his faith in Aventurine’s potential and his commitment to staying regardless as he saw Kakavasha before Aventurine, despite that he’ll be hit with the latter’s distance and fears for his closeness.

Within Avidity (talia clan), Fenrir is established to be a caretaker, mediator and a restorer of sort. His care is a reaction to distract himself from the main issue, himself, but also a sort of hope - to bring back Kakavasha, revitalize that young and hopeful spirit even after he knew how it had grown to Aventurine. A devoted prayer fixing the temple for their faith. He will not keep praying to the broken temple. HE WILL BUILD IT FROM SCRATCH IF HE MUST.

This also carries on to Fenrir’s constant chase for validation. Despite Aventurine’s retreat and the metaphorical crumbling of his defense, Fenrir would always chase to support him. If a devotee’s know that their object of faith is crumbling, they’ll still persist to maintain their belief. Fenrir is devoted to Aventurine, affectionately but borderline religiously… :freaky:

— FOR THE BOTH OF THEM:

The interdependence:

Aventurine and Fenrir depended heavily on one another, whether if they like it or not. It was Talia, the Kingdom of Banditry, the Junkyard of the Galaxy that they live in. The place was cruel and they must rely on one another to live.

Similarly to the temple and the devotee, they cannot exist meaningfully without the other.

Religious trauma (my thoughts are trailing off FFAWWWK)

Aventurine’s religious trauma and Fenrir’s atheism… hehehahauahAAAAAUUUGHH

Fenrir never believed in Aeons, gods or whatnot. Well he knew they existed, but he did not put faith in them as he knew they would do him no good due to his past of trying to rely on them but they all ignored him. However, he betrayed this belief for Aventurine. He believed in Aventurine, devoted in even. (Ok this soudns kinda toxic but BEAR WITH ME ITS NOT ITS AFFECIONTALEY)

But his belief is out of a imaginary salvation or blessing, he believes in Aventurine so deeply is because out of his own personal conviction and trust for the man. He believes in Aventurine because Aventurine heard him while no one else had.

And Fenrir, as mentioned above, he won’t use some divine blessing as protection. He doesn’t believe in that. He will go head in, he will build the temple (aventurine lol) back up, brick by brick bare hands if he must. He is practical, as taught by living in Talia.

Aventurine would of course notice the devotion to him, and obviously gets reminded of his past and the Giathra Triclops… eheheheuh…. But what separates them is that, Fenrir relies on him - not any other force. The place is being restored not through divine intervention, not from others, but through the personal effort of Fenrir.

(Ok fuck im rambling im trailing off now but WE GOT ONE MORE SECTION TO GET THROUGH - THE BROKEN MIRROR X FRAME AND SPEAKER X FLY WILL AND FLAG POLE X WAR TORN FLAG WILL COME TMR!!!)

—- THIS WILL BE A SHORT ONE DEAD LANGUAGE X LINGUIST

Its similar to the ruined temple and the devotee, but this one reflects more onto their post-talia time and more direct considering their post-talia quest is Fenrir and Aventurine shit talking in Avgin sigonian and everyone is trying to figure out what the hell theyre doing because everyone is freaking out as the room theyre trapped in is being infiltrated by a Riddler.

Within Talia, their dependence were a necessity to survival, but now they’re back on their feet theyre justttt chillinggg.g

—-

FUUUCKK OK READ THIS ONE CUZ IM TRAIING OFF, IN CONCLUSION FOR THE DEAD LANGUAGE X LINGUIST

- Literal and direct connection to Avgins and Fenrir’s dedication for linguistics (he wrote a dissertation about the Avgin-Sigonian dialect as a thank you gift to Aventurine)

- Fenrir having a PhD in linguistics and Masters in Archeology -> a literal linguist and historian

- Aventurine being guarded and of a ethnically cleansed race -> a dead language, full of mystery and history

- Fenrir’s patience and persistent efforts to understand Aventurine -> understanding a dead language, reviving lost words and tales from Aventurine

- A dead language is useless to most people. But to linguist they’re a treasure -> Aventurine thinking he dookie but hes literally Fenrir’s everything + Fenrir will love regardless Aventurine for Aventurine, regardless of relationship status and if he could use Aventurine or not

Ok im logging off now brainrot is enough

—— scrapped but i like to include this in for lenght

Its obvious, Aventurine is the dead language, once vibrant and full of meaning but now lost and obscure. Also direct reference to the Avgins being exterminated.

+ His past of being guarded makes him complex and enigmatic, much like an ancient language.

Fenrir, having a literal PhD in Linguistics, its so obvious with this one lol. Now that he doesn’t need to build up Aventurine or anything, he takes his time to still devote to the man by understanding him. He wanted to understand Avgin-Sigonian partially because its his chosen field of interest, but also, he wanted to understand Aventurine. (And the Riddlers are trying to ruin the last bit of Avgin Sigonian, despite being in the same faction, Fenrir does not want them meddling with the few last trace of Avgins cuz… aventurine)

It’s not necessarily reviving Avgin Sigonian, it’s more like Fenrir comprehending the language to make sure, even if there were no more speakers, the language would be written in history in a way. Fenrir trying to understand Aventurine’s structure through the language now that he’s no longer a need, but a want for Aventurine lol so he needs to make sure he’s still relevant to Aventurine in a way. (Ok im trailing off a little too much here.)

[cowboy-robooty]

another day another divine vision. let me tell you about italys entitlement to love pipeline. so see italy loves to sleep around he loves da ladies da one night stands and most certainly aint about that commitment bullshit. it isnt out of malice or anything its just he cant really see the appeal hes like bruhhhh that is SO not worf it :/ blehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... and like holy rome was when he was 7 okay that doesnt really count since when italy was 7 he also used to believe girls couldnt fart a lot of things were different at that time. but see i think italy is able to fall in love with germany despite his commitment issues because he also has a raging sense of entitlement. italy is the opposite and exactly the same as romano. romano is possessive as shit because hes the unloved brother that got nothing so when he gets something he hoards it to himself while italy is entitled as shit because hes the ultra loved by everyone child and always wins out in the end so he feels like he deserves everything at the end of the day. he isnt a bad guy but hes a bit of a spoiled brat to his core because of this since he can easily feel entitled to things after a while. and see italys love for germany hinges upon that entitlement being activated.

because germany is fully devoted to italy hes fucking obsessed with him he will and does do anything for him if italy asks him twice (sometimes thrice). germany will let italy ruin his life every single fucking day and still comes back crawling for more. hell be like italy this is the last fucking straw do NOT EVER fuck up my car again and the italy will destroy it literally the next day and germany will be mad for 30 seconds before sighing and going "well its okay. but im serious this time dont do it EVER aga-" **repeat for the next one million years**. and italy is very aware of this and honestly germanys undying loyalty and shit is why theyre able to stay together. because germany will always accept italy into his arms whenever italy comes running to him even if he also is sticking grenades into his back pockets and wiping his hands on germany's shirt while doing this he will always be like "... come here italy". and i think italy really realizes that germanys always going to take care of him wether hes on the losing side or not and even if hes with germany on the losing side everybody on the winning side likes italy already so theyre not going to really punish him fr so its overall better to lose with germany than win with everyone else since the winning side is going to make him actually do shit. Italys always with germany but if germany actually gave italy consequences depending on how severe these are he would actually leave germany rather than deal with them if he found it too much of a hassle to deal with. And this is how i believe their relationship is like for a very very very long time like for basically the entirity of the anime so far even like italy saw germany about to die and did not even grant him his last wish of smiling for him because he was like errrm! sorry dude but im looking out for me!

but i think this is able to morph into love because over time italy unconciously starts feeling entitled to germany. germany is so loyal and always there for him so hard that italy starts to feel entitled to this treatment because no matter what he does no matter how scum gong or batshit he can be germany will always see him as a perfect angel who could never have ill will (and only kills him out of incompetence) and welcomes him with open arms. italy starts to feel like germany is SUPPOSED to be with him. that it isnt right if germany isnt because italy is entitled to him already obviously and this is why italy starts developing jealousy and is like wtf germany is supposed to like ME most! Its unconcious and he doesnt really think about it too hard but his entitlement slowly grows over time and although it makes him be like GERMANY YOU CANT LIKE RUSSIA MORE THAN ME!!!! it still leaves him being selfish where he leaves germany to die by pictonians lol. the entitlement is able to morph into love though because it becomes so strong that italy one day realizes that hell feel so much intense discomfort if germany isnt by his side. he feels like germany is supposed to be with him hes supposed to like italy best and always pamper and spoil him and be obsessed only with italy and let only italy do special things nobody else can do. and it keeps growing until he realizes what he feels is love. because he realizes that there isnt anything he can think of thats worth more than his relationship with germany. he feels so entitled to germanys life that hes willing to give his own life up to keep their lives intertwined forever. hes willing to give up his freedom in exchange for germanys loyalty since now he cant see himself enjoying his life without it. its become such a common pleasure that its impossible to go on unless he has it. even if not being able to screw as he pleased will make him deeply unhappy, not having germany by his side would make him infinitely more unhappy. he might hate doing shit for people, but he would hate germany being hurt and alone 1000x more than how much he hates getting his ass up and doing him a favor. and THATS how italy realizes that he is so very totally in gays with germany chan forever since hes willing to do anything to keep him in his life and lucky for him he doesnt have to do anything except make their loyalty mutual. hashtag itager babywin!

[whataboutsimple]

As the Gabriel loving anon you make a very good point about Gabriel offering his armour to Jesse instead of Magnus and Ellegaard and how while it would take a lot of time for the developers to figure it out (having the choices from saving Petra or Gabriel impacting the plot and what not which I imagine would be quite a hassle to program), it would really flesh out Gabriel more and we all know if given the chance Gabriel would have given his armour to Jesse not only to help but also to protect Ellegaard and Magnus by preventing them from giving up their armour.

At the same time though, would any of us be able to handle the angst of Gabriel dying as a result as Ellegaard, Magnus and Soren mourn the loss of their closest friend, the one whose the most genuinely heroic out of the entire order and Ivor later realising and discovering that his wither storm killed his friend Gabriel in his attempt to expose the truth?

YYYEEAH!! YOU'RE BACK! Welcom, dear Gabriel loving Anon:)

I'm gonna call you G

First of all: I would've probably close the game and cry if they really killed him, I was very emotional child (still emotional child lolz-)

Number two: yeah, but imagine the angst?? THE ANGST it would've been so tasty- not talking abt how it would raise his popularity in fandom, bc rn? He's just a guy who was with Order and that's all. Literally no personality outside of it and it makes me sad because the guy has potential to be a very good-working character and it doesn't even matter who you're going to pair him with and in which way - he works with everybody and with every dynamic!

As I said before: Gabriel is literally Jesse but from Original Order!

Believe it or not, but I DID some researches by pairing him up with almost every in-game character (not with new order, blaze rods, youtubers or games players for obvious reasons.. it kind of feels wrong even though I believe they all are grown ppl-) and he DOES goes perfectly with anyone-

"Hey Jack, you lost a friend? Me too! Let's grieve together, don't worry I got u" "Hadrian, you're evil, stop, ppl can die forever. Lemme just beat the sh!t out of you and than give you a second chance bc I know I can help you" "Yo, Reginald! Cool armor, want me to help you to fight monsters properly? C'mon bud, let's warm up" "Ooooh, Harper, great mechanism! Ellegaard did those to. Wanna tell me abt them a bit maybe? I can listen forever."

Just give me ANY character you can think of and I'll write a whole book abt how they can be together with Gabriel. Like friends, like couple, like enemies - doesn't matter!

The funniest thing abt his character is that he's been through a lot - he lied himself, he saw the death of his friends, he cares about people, he does hero stuff, he felt ashamed and proud. He's not perfect and so is his life, but that's the main reason why he's so flexible! We can turn him to any of the sides and we will find an in-game proofes that he can be on this side! He can behave like that and like that and that especcially!

There's so many timelines, AUs and pair in my head abt him that I have, but don't want to put it all here cause don't want to create too much cringe content- I'm trying to do Gabriel Propaganda and not Anti-Gabriel Propaganda.

Ahhh, anyway- I think I talk too much-

Hope you have good day/night, G!<3

[xenokattz]

Free Nashuri/Namuri fic plot!

The catch is it's unbelievably angsty & depressing. Like, I do angst but this is too much even for me. I literally dreamt it up then had to check in with my mental health when I woke up just in case . 😜 Then I unloaded on my bestie and @pilesofpillows

So if you're brave enough to do political romantic-tragedy, please take this off my hands. I cannot write this. It will destroy me.

Everyone else, please pour yourself a beverage. And I'm sorry.

*~*~*~*~*

No powers modern AU where Shuri joins MSF after her brother dies of Mumblemumble Disease. She's sent to a country where there's an active revolution & pretty vicious guerilla fighting. The leader of the rebellion is code-named Namor and is the son of the ousted but democratically elected president. The current president is a puppet placed by You Will Never Guess Country winkwinkhinthint.

She gets caught in a crossfire and/or kidnapped. Both Stockholm and Lima Syndrome happens. They MADLY fall in love. Shuri works with the rebellion and helps out in all the villages that have been hassled by the puppet government. Namor starts thinking about maybe not bombing any more places or at least be a bit less savage about his attacks. This goes on for a year or so.

One day, Shuri sneaks into another MSF camp to get supplies but Nakia or Okoye recognizes her. They keep her from going back. Somewhere in the medical exam to make sure she's okay, they discover she also has her brother's terminal disease so she stays away from Namor's revolution to spare him the sorrow of another loss, etc etc

Namor thinks she's abandoned him and takes even more risks because no fucks given any more. To the point where his lieutenants, Namora and Attuma, are like "NO. SIT DOWN. SORT YOUR SHIT."

He finds out she's in the capital city where his worst enemy, Puppet President, lives. And he sneaks in, fully intending to confront her but he finds out from MSF that she's in hospital.

Namor goes to visit but Shuri is already dying. She tries to send him away because he'll get arrested and executed. He doesn't give a fuck because if she's dead, he wants to die too. So as soon as she passes, he shoots himself up with a lethal dose of something.

So.

Yeah.

I'll just let myself out.

[asoulofatlantis]

For some reason I kinda, sorta somehow am looking forward to watching Elaine die XD I mean, she isn't really dead, so I really don't have to feel bad about it ;P

Anyway, seeing those Panzer-Soldat-Weapons makes me want to kill someone myself. I am pretty sure I know what Greamheart wants to do with it and I don't like the idea of being part of this at all.

These days I sometimes miss those times when we did not see the corpses in so much detail and bathed in their own blood ^^'

You have to hand it to her, she was literally ready and willing to die for Van.

This was the one of 3 deaths that were having some emotional impact on the player. But only the first time. The second time I am watching this and with no emotions at all. Falcom really fucked it up with this games deaths. Because whenever I watch Millium and Olivert die in CS3 I cry even tho I know they are alive and will be coming back in CS4. The deaths in this game are nothing but boring and even somewhat stupid at times.

A lesson we learn throughout the Trails-Series time and time again is that if you rush things in an emotional state, it will never be good. Obviously its easier said than done to stay calm and collected after watching a monster impale the woman you love, but he arshived nothing with this, aside from going to Aidios side with Elaine, which certainly is not what she wanted, or otherwise, she would not have sacrificed himself for him.

You know, I often think about the waisted potential this story could have had. If Elaine would have truly died, everything would feel so much more impactful and it would also have been really a new route to see the protagonist lose the person he loves most and struggle to move on. Also... Elaine dying as an A-Rank Bracer would also have had much more impact than some Random bracer we barely saw once or twice dying off-screen. But at the end of the day, Falcom still shys away from truly killing our main-characters...

I tell you this screen is your biggest nightmare in this game.

It is pretty annoying that we have to go to almost complete the same scene twice. They could and should have handled that differently. Jumped to a later moment and then get Vans reaction that something feels wrong. Like the moment when Agnes leaves.

(Urg. My Controller fell and wasn't working anymore. I don't seem to have a cable for my PS4 Controller and my PS5 Controller refused to connect. Getting my Switch-Controller to work is a hassle and to be honest, at this point I am too used to the X-Box controller so I rushed to the store so that I could get a new one before closing time, even tho I do not have the money this month. And just as I get back, after some fiddling, my old controller is working again. But I guess, money problems aside, at least now I do have a replacement at hand, if needed... in any case... lets continue. Although I've lost most of my motivation...)

Its called saving your ass!

Agnes might not be the one, but the way she observes and analyzes Van is pretty amazing. She can read him like an open book.

For someone who is supposed to give up her pursue at the end of this game, she is quite bold, taking his hand and all.

Something tells me I am slightly or significantly underleveled ^^'

I have to admit, back in the day, this moment caused me a slight second or two of panic.

Ah... my two beautiful children. It has not been this long, but I still have missed you ♥

[syzzish]

PLAN B !

brother’s best friend!eren gives you an alternative plan for your evening.

— NSFW SMUT ! virgin fem! reader pretty vanilla for the most part ; pet names (pretty girl, princess, baby, pretty) groping, fingering, head—fem! & male! receiving, praise, missionary, unprotected sex, creampie.

not proofread, expect gramatical and spelling mistakes. lowercase intended!

now playing: don’t - bryson tiller

— eren has always been kind of protective over you. he grew up with you, and quickly figured out you were that you were too sweet for this world. it was natural that your beloved older brother’s best friend was who you had a crush on, too.

it was innocent at first; few blushes here, a subtle compliment there, all around mindless flirting. he thought it was so cute the way you’d hide your face if he ever complimented you. and then slowly, as you got older, it escalated to not-so-innocent flirting. he’d purposely stare at your chest while you spoke, saying “i’m sorry, what were you saying? i got distracted” when you’d wave your arm in his face to get his attention again, or snarky ass comments like “what’re you gonna do about it, pretty?” after you got mad at him.

eren just knew you so well, it was in his nature at this point. he knew just about everything about you, probably more than you knew about yourself. it was his job to be annoying, but to also be the person you’d go to if you needed help.

though, when he said “if you need any help, text me”, this isn’t what he meant.

Y/N: eren, i need help.

EREN: what’s up, pretty?

Y/N: can you come over? i need to show you

EREN: yeah, gimme like 10 minutes

Y/N: okie thank you <3

EREN: anytime

so when he got there and you pointed him to the direction of your room, and he saw two pairs of lingerie on your bed, and oh man, when you said “which one should i wear? i’m going to meet someone”, something in him went off.

“you know, when i said you could text me if you needed anything, i meant like if it was a live or die situation, right?”

you pouted. “i know what you meant, but technically this falls under the category!”

“how so, huh?”

“because i…” you mumbled through the rest of your sentence.

“speak up, shorty.” eren looked at you, green eyes piercing your skin. you sighed.

“because…i’m a virgin. and tonight is the first time i get to experience something new. i just…want it to be special.”

“so you’re asking me what lingerie to wear?” he looked so confused, yet somehow managed to make you feel like your reasoning wasn’t solid.

“i mean, you’re a guy, i figured you’d have an opinion on what looks good and what doesn’t.”

“okay first of all, you don’t need to do anything special to impress a guy. chances are he just wants to hit and leave, so taking off lingerie is gonna be too much of a hassle. second, you’re a virgin?”

“well yeah.”

“i could’ve helped you with that part.” eren let his mouth go before his brain could process what he said.

“w-what?”

“i mean, do you know this guy?”

“yeah…”

“don’t lie to me.”

“damn okay i don’t. i just want to get it over with! all of my friends already lost their virginities and i’m literally the only person who hasn’t!”

“so you want to give it to a random guy?”

“well when you say it like that it makes it sound dumb.”

“because it is y/n. look, either you go to this guy and fuck someone you don’t know, or go with plan B.”

“what’s plan B?”

“let me fuck you instead.”

you froze. was he being serious? you can’t fuck your brother’s best friend, let alone lose your virginity to him!

“and why would i do that?”

“because i actually know you, and how to please a girl. there’s no guarantee that guy knows what he’s doing, but i do.”

eren stepped closer to you, grabbing your chin and running his slender thumb down your lip.

“whatdya say pretty girl, wanna let me fuck you?”

you looked up at eren with bright eyes, he swore up and down that was the cutest thing you could ever do.

“i-i mean, yes, but i don’t know what i’m doing.”

“that’s why i’m here. i’ll make you feel good, trust.”

you nodded as eren leaned in to kiss you. you’d kissed people before, sure. but this one, this felt different. maybe it was the way he combed his fingers through your hair, or how his tongue licked your lip for access to yours. or even how his hands somehow travelled to your waist and picked you up from under your thighs. no, it was definitely the way he tasted like mint, and how he would make small mmph’s and exhale audibly every time he needed air. it was all so much to take in.

your fingers started wandering as well, making their way to his hair, allowing eren to let out the most arousing noise you’ve ever heard. if you weren’t already soaked, you definitely are now.

you felt eren start to move towards your bed, supporting your weight on his hips with one hand while he threw the lingerie aside with the other. he then placed you on the soft surface, looming over you, his body in between your legs, as your lips continued to mindlessly move together. you felt his silver chain against your hot skin, his hands trailing up and down your waist, his tongue fighting you for dominance, the way his hips lightly grind into yours. you loved everything about it.

“‘m wanna go down on you. can i, pretty girl?” eren spoke in between kisses. his voice was quiet and deep, contrasting perfectly with your high pitched squeals and whimpers. his slender fingers made their way to the hem of your shorts, ghosting over your skin on his way there.

“yes, fuck, please” was all you managed to get out. your mind felt hazy, maybe it was the lack of oxygen, maybe it was the way his breath fanned over your core. we’ll never know for sure.

“have you been..?” he questioned, looking up from his position between your thighs.

“n-no.” you turned your head to the side, feeling eren’s gaze on you.

“okay. i’ll start slow, alright? make you feel good.”

and that he did. eren kissed on your thighs, purposely teasing you. as you squirmed underneath his touch, the thought of his tongue on your core drove you insane with anticipation. finally, he tugged on your shorts, signaling you to pull them down, and stepped back when you were left with your panties on.

“have i ever told you how fucking pretty you are?”

“maybe a few times, but i thought you were joking.”

“is it obvious now that ‘m not joking, y/n?” eren looked at you with desire. he wanted to know what you’d say next. he meant what he said, you’re stunning to him. you’ve always been.

“i guess it’s pretty obvious now.”

“good, cause you’re really fucking pretty. c’mere.”

eren pulled you by your hips closer to him on the edge of the bed. he bent down and pulled your panties off of you. you heard him groan slightly, his breath fanning on your pussy.

“so beautiful, y/n.” he mumbled, right before-

“h-holy shit!”

you swore you had the wind knocked out of you. his tongue felt amazing. the way he’d lick long and then suck on your pretty little bundle on nerves, and when he added a finger, then two?! you saw stars.

“you’re so wet, baby. so sweet.”

you had never felt this much pleasure in your life! it was too much, so when you tried closing your legs, the boy in between them forced them back open, pinning your legs to the bed.

“open.”

all you could do was moan in response, too weak to say anything else.

eren continued lapping at your cunt, finger-fucking you into oblivion. you felt a knot in your stomach form, threatening to break any minute now.

“eren! ‘m gonna..’m so close!” your moans filled your bedroom, the pleasure too good for you to worry about how you sounded.

“you’re gonna what? tell me, use your words, pretty girl.”

“i’m gonna—fuck!—‘m gonna cum!”

“go ahead, cum for me.” eren’s hands made their way up to your shirt, lifting it slightly to gain access to your tits. he squeezed and caressed them, not forgetting to pinch your nipples.

although it was all so friggen good, what sent you over the edge is when he hollowed out his cheeks while sucking on your clit. you let out a loud, drawn-out moan, voice breaking at the end. your back arched off the bed as eren continued to lap up your juices, stopping shortly after the overstimulation started to kick in.

“you did so good, baby.” eren cooed, pushing the hair out of your face. he pulled off your shirt and kissed the valley between your breasts, his hands groping your pretty tits.

“do you still wanna go all the way?” eren asked, detaching himself from you. he was already happy he made you felt good, but part of him hoped and prayed that you’d say yes because the raging cock in his pants was begging for attention.

“yes, you have to feel good too, ‘ren.” you said hazily. your eyes were barely open, the post-orgasmic sleepiness kicking in. eren smirked.

“good. do ya think you could suck me off, pretty girl?” eren lowered his sweatpants to where you could see the print in his boxers. your eyes widened as you look at him.

“w-will it even fit?”

“i’ll make it fit, don’t worry.”

you sat up and got on your hands and knees, eren standing in front of you. slowly, you peeled his boxers off, palming his erection as you went. finally, his tan length bounced free, blushed tip angry and leaking with pre.

you took his length into your hand, feeling his shudder against your touch, and as you placed a few kisses on him, you heard him mutter a small “fuck”. you could tell he was getting impatient, so why keep him waiting?

you started slow, only taking an inch or two into your mouth, swirling your tongue along him. you felt eren’s hands make their way to your head, and suddenly his entire cock was shoved down your throat.

“i hope you don’t mind princess—ahh—but i’m gonna fuck your face for a lil’ bit, hmm?” eren said lightly, his moans soft and loud. his hips collided with your face as you opened your throat for more access. at this point, you were gagging pretty harshly, and there were tears streaming down your face. your throat was definitely going to be sore, but holy shit did it feel good knowing he was moaning because of you.

eren’s hips began to stutter, his pace becoming inconsistent. he pulled away from your mouth with a whine.

“i don’t wanna cum yet, but thank you for warming me up, pretty.”

you nod and smile. that was the cutest thing you could’ve done in that moment and boy was eren happy you did it.

“can you lay down for me?”

you obliged, laying down on your back as eren spread your legs once again. he towered over you, lean body and prominent muscles looking delicious in the dim lighting of your bedroom.

eren lined himself up with your entrance, pressing lightly against your pussy.

“eren, is it gonna hurt?”

“maybe a little at first princess, but i’ll be right here. let me know if you want to stop, kay?”

you nod, reaching out for his hand. he took your hand, interlocking your fingers and pressing them against the bed. eren leaned down to kiss your lips, lovingly and sweet.

“you ready?”

“y-yeah.”

was this actually happening? were you about to lose your virginity? to your brother’s best friend? you never imagined he thought of you like this. it made you feel special, that your first time had some meaning to it.

eren pushed slightly into your pussy. you winced a little, the stretch was painful.

“shhh, it’s okay.” eren whispered into your ear, pressing light kisses below your ear and around your neck.

he continued pressing in, the stretch almost too much to bear.

“eren, it hurts!” you yelped, arching your back off the bed.

“i’m almost in, pretty girl. do you want me to stop?”

“..no. can you just…do it faster?”

eren chuckled. “you sure?”

“yes, just get it over with!”

“mkay.”

eren thrusted his hips against yours, finally bottoming out in your cunt. you moaned loudly, trying to adjust to his length as quickly as possible.

“you’re so tight—ahh.”

he waited for you to adjust, your walls hugging him tightly. he kissed your lips once more, whispering “good job, pretty girl” and “i’m so proud of you.” once you were acclimated to the new feeling, your tapped eren’s hand and he started moving slowly.

your moans and embarrassingly loud cunt’s squelches quickly filled the room. you never felt so full in your life! you felt each and every part of his cock brush against your walls, the large tip kissing your cervix easily.

“‘ren—faster please” you managed to say, moaning your way through the request. with a grunt, the boy started moving faster, steadily increasing his pace.

it didn’t take long for the familiar feeling of the knot in your stomach to reappear. eren could tell you were close, too. the way your virgin pussy hugged and pulsated around his cock so nicely, he wasn’t gonna last long.

your moans became increasingly higher, eren adding a few moans here and there to the symphony. he just felt so good. the pain was long gone at this point, pleasure overloading your senses.

“‘m gonna cum!”

“me too, princess.”

eren sped up somehow, his hips at a inhumane pace. his mouth latched on to one of your breasts while a hand reached down to circle your clit.

with a few more thrusts into your pussy, you came, and you came hard. so hard that eren was almost forced out of your soaking wet cunt. he detached from your breast to whine, speeding up even more. the fingers on your clit sped up as well as eren’s head loomed on your chest, his bun falling down to tickle your chin.

he grunted into your chest, mumbling sweet nothing as his hips stuttered and his thrusts became inconsistent.

“cum— where do i cum, pretty?”

“inside—cum inside me.”

“i-inside? fuuuck!”

eren’s cum shot deep in your pussy, warm and in spurts. he continued to fuck his cum into you at a much slower pace. his fingers on your clit moved to a fist on each side of your head as your own made it up to his hair.

“you did so good, baby.” eren mumbled as he kissed you lazily. “let’s get you cleaned up.”

eren pulled out, not without you whining at the loss of his cock, and went to get a warm wash cloth. as he cleaned your body, he couldn’t help but wonder why you agreed to letting him do something so vulgar to you. his best friend’s innocent little sister.

he laid down next to you, pulling your back close to his chest.

“t-thank you eren. i don’t think i would’ve been able to enjoy it the way i did with someone else.”

“‘m just glad you let me.”

should you tell him? that you’ve always liked him? that you wished it was gonna be him to love you for the first time?

“eren.”

“hmm?”

here goes nothing.

“i know that this is probably not the best time, but i really like you. i always have.”

silence swelled the room as you worried he didn’t feel the same. what if you were just another casual hookup? or if he only saw you as your brother’s little sister?

“y/n.”

“yes?”

“i love you. i always have.”

THANK YOU FOR READING MY DARLINGS! sorry about the cheesy ending, i couldn’t resist :’) i’m a sucker for eren omg. anyway, i hope you enjoyed! comments and reblogs are encouraged and appreciated! have a lovely day/night and stay positive my loves! mwah <3

[soft-boi-eli]

Hello Hello!

I just wanted to say I love your fics!

ALSO!

Could I request a CC!SBI X Gn! Insomniac Reader! Where the reader is an insomniac (Obviously-) but is somehow a pro at MC!

Like they are basically god at the game! They also REALLY enjoy horror games! They don’t get scared easily and LOVE horror movies! They basically love anything horror/creepy-

ANYWAYS!!

The reader lives off of ramen and Monster energy drinks (For fun-)! They have a Twitch (Which has about 18 mil followers and 14 mil subs!) and a YouTube channel (Which has 20 mil followers!)

They mainly play horror games (Obviously-) and MC!

You can do headcanons or scenarios/images with the SBI! Maybe like playing a horror game together or MC? OR! Maybe some things they do together? Or when they meet up? Or-to many ideas Nightmare-

ANYWAYS!

I don’t really care! And don’t worry about taking too long on it!

ALSO!

Maybe we could be friends? Only if you want too!

Remember to eat, drink, and get enough sleep!

<3

Yes. I lovesthese ideas and I'm gonna choose headcannons due to they are a bit easierfor me to write.

And yes I'm perfectly fine with being your friend! I'm actually happy to make friends on this app so yeah!

Pronouns:nonbinary

Tw: cussing. Insomia, mentions of horror movies. Mention of horror games. Fluff.

SBI with a horror streamer friend head cannons.

*Ahem* tommy wanted to paly a game with you so you choose a game that didn't look like horror until the middle. He screamed at the jump scare and it made both of your chats so happy.

When phil decides to play with you there is literally a silence after a jump scare. Everyone thought he had a heart attack and honestly so did you until he spoke up about accidently hitting his mute button when he jumped.

Wilbur. He's a bit better then tommy but more scared then phil would be. Any little noise won't get him but when it starts to get noticeable the noiseless to him. The jump scare, he'd fall out of his seat and stay on the ground for a bit. You ask if he's good and he literally doesn't answer. He's dead. You killed him. Congrats.

Techno. He'd handle them a bit better then everyone else. Not as good as you but heisnt very paranoid. He literally runs at the noises trying to get jumpscared. While you run after him telling him to stop because if he doesn't then you'd lose and die. And technoblade never dies.

If you all play together both tommy and wilbur pussy out. Techno last the longest and phil the second longest. While you remain the ruler of horror games.

Now how you all met was dream invited you to the dream smp to add to the chaos. Needless to say it got extremely chaotic due to you being on almost 24 hours. You first ran into techno. He seemed confused and skeptical.

You both found eachothers love for potatoes. You set up camp quote close to techno but not too close.

Phil popped in when he needed something for a build and noticed a new name. Talked to you in chat and asked to join your VC. You both found each other talking for a bit.

Wilbur was next. Wilbur got curious over the new person and just hoppedinto the same VC as you techno and phil. He was quick to realize that you were a famous youtuber. Mainly for your horror videos and your extreme Parkcore skills.

In minecraft that is.

Tommy noticing that all of you were in the same VC joined in with shouting. He was low key jealous that everyone was obsessed with you. Then he saw why.

You literally cracked jokes at his shouting.

"Is that an angry pomeranian? Nah nah. It's an angry child. Even better an angry blonde!" - you.

He was shocked and immediately started joking and laughing with you. He wasn't fully angry for long.

Now about your diet. When they heard that you had only eaten ramen and drank angry drinks they were concerned. You lived quite close to techno so when you guys met up he was shocked that you looked as healthy as you did.

He hated the fact that you literally didn't eat anything else.

You told him occasionally you have something other then ramen but you were just too lazy to really cook anything and that you didn't feel like burning the house down.

One month phil, tommy, wilbur, and techno decided to organize a month long sleep over so that they could celebrate your birthday. Phil being quote the father figure cooked different, but easy dinners every night just so you didn't eat only ramen that day.

When they actually arrived though you got a text from Phil asking about your address in your dms. Not think much of it you just sent him your location.

You were going to take a small nap. Just to bost your energy before you went and streamed later that night.

As you were sleeping there was a car heading to your house.

Phil, wilbur, tommy, and techno were all just existing in the car. And when they arrived to your house they didn't expect to actually see a clean house.

You woke to a loud knock.

When you opened the door in your half dazed state you expected a package. But to see four people standing on your porch.

You nearly jumped out of your skin.

You were stuck there blinking at them.

Finally snapping out of it you let them in. Confused on why in the ever loving fuck they were here.

Phil explained they were here to celebrate your 21st birthday and they were here for a month.

You stared at them for a while. Confused on what to do since you haven't had people over in almost 2 years.

But you got use to it.

So when you got done streaming and smelled something other then ramen you were thrown off guard. Like what was that. I haven't smelled that in years.

But after the second day you got use to it too.

For your birthday phil literally made a feast.

Like he found your favorite food other then ramen and cooked it. With that he prepared everything you could dream of.

Your sleeping habits. Let's dig into those.

I'm in no place to talk as right now it's 3:05 in the morning. And here I am.

But when they are over they don't let you stay up till no 3-4 in the morning. They all know the importance of sleep.

But there are those nights where no once can sleep and it results in a late night stream. And streaming for hours none the less.

The amount of accidental all nighters everyone has pulled was immense. But that's what happens with jet lag, adhd, and insomnia.

Literally you get tired randomly. Sleep for only 3 hours. Wake up. Drink coffee, energy drinks, highly caffeinated tea. And don't sleep till late at night.

Pillow forts.

It's a must and it happens. Horror movies, pillow forts, and snacks. Like you all are in this massive fort, watching horror movies, one by one you all are falling asleep. You and techno were the last up due to technos active mind and your body not letting you sleep.

You two literally just vide there, changing the movies from horror to some silly animated movies, like how to train your dragon, frozen, Luca, and many others.

You two pull an all nighter and it's actually a bet to see how long anyone else takes to notice.

You bet an hour. Techno says all day.

You won. Philza notices the worse eye bags under both you and technos eyes and immediately starts scolding.

He is papa bird and he won't let anyone of his children neglect their needs.

"Did you even drink water at all? You guys should of been sleeping not binge watching horror movies all night!" -philza

You could only offer a smirk, along with a laugh.

"I think we did I just can't fully remember. Also we were watching animated films. Not horror. Surprised you didn't wake up to let it go." - you.

You turn to techno.

"You owe me 15 bucks pig boy!"-you again.

Handing you the money he rolls his eyes. "Yeha yeah. Rub it in." -techno.

Ah yeah they found a horror game that you were scared of surprisingly. It was actually surprisingly you hadn't played it yet.

Outlast.

You had been holding off that game until you finished your other one but here you were. Bored out of your mind.

So you decided fuck it.

That game teriffed the shit out of you. It was so good though.

When you screamed they all came rushing up due to the fact that you never scream.

They say you out of your chair, on the floor, blinking. They thought you were hurt.

But you sat up and looked at your computer.

"Damn. That was actually really good." When you looked behind you and found the boys all staring you smiled and waved.

"You need something?"-you

"You screamed. We heard a thud. We thought you fuckin died!" -tommy.

"No I'm alive. My soul almost divorced my body but it's still quite here."-you

That day made highlights.

The popular y/n actually got jump scared. The one person who never screamed at horror games screamed.

When they left you were sad yes but they were still your best friends. Ready to talk when ever you want.

Sometimes I think that you guys talk all through out the night. Them forgetting that you were actually in a different time zone.

Sometimes they pop into your streams, be it MC, horror, you just talking to your fans, or even the once in the blue moon, cheerful games.

They just pop in and start talking to you. And you talk back like they were there since the beginning.

Phil is now one of your moderators too. Along with tommy, wilbur, and techno. When they pop in they make sure no one picks on you.

And since you are now close to the SBI. You are now part of it.

You didn't choose the fans did. But they are your new family. No matter what.

Even if they disagree with your eating habit.

Or energy drink addiction.

Or insomnia.

Or you mainly playing horror games.

Or you basically living in your streaming room.

Or even the nearly 24 hour streams.

I could go on but I'm not gonna.

I'm tired. But I can sleep. 2 days and I get to have a tour of my new school.

And it took so long to finally get into it.

We have been going through a huge hassle even before school started to get me enrolled.

And then we had to get me into this program.

But now on Monday I get to go in. Get a tour. Then start either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Anyway hope you liked. It's now 3:50 and it's no proof read I'm sorry

[nayaaatv]

"the moon." - s.j. <3

# : fluff, !non-idol au, established relationship, meeting your family

warnings ! : none(?)

wc ! : 0.7k (hehe)

a/n : ok if you don't have siblings or cousins im sorry just pretend pls ∩(´ `∩)

"you're gonna do ok babe they wont kill you" you assured him, hoping he'd calm down by now.

he just got more paranoid by the second.

"but what if?#!!?:!: what if they dont like how i look or how i act or how i-"

"if they don't like you that doesn't mean i wont love you. besides, if i love you, im sure they will too." you cut him off, dragging him to your doorstep before he starts rambling on again.

"what if they-" he starts again. "jake, love you've been repeating the same question ever since we stepped foot in the car. you'll be fine i promise!" you assure him again, he finally calms down as soon as you kiss his cheek.

you knock on the door with the hand that isn't about to get crushed by jake. you open the door to see your close relatives, talking, drinking, playing. you were at ease, but the boy beside you was literally about to die from cardiac arrest.

"y/n!" you heard your mom call for you. "haha mom!" she walks up to you and hugs you. you pull away to introduce your boyfriend that was quite literally hiding behind you like a little kid.

"ah, mom this is my boyfriend, jake. jake, this is my mom." you smiled at him. he smiled back, but only you knew that he was on the verge of passing out.

"hi miss l/n!" he said cheerfully, with a hint of nervousness. your mom smiled warmly.

"hello jake! i hope she isn't a hassle to deal with." she joked. you hit her shoulder playfully as jake chuckles. "oh trust me miss, im willing to deal with her all my life." he said.

you covered your cheeks, flustered. your mom laughs as she drags the both of you to the small crowd in the house.

your younger and older cousins dropped everything as soon as he saw you and jake.

"is that him!?" the younger one asks. you nod happily as they all hug jake. you almost died from how cute they all were. "hey, get off my boyfriend! let him breathe sweet jesus." you laughed.

"they.. they know about me?" jake asked dumbfounded. you lean into his ear. "they've known before we even got together." you whispered. you could feel his cheeks light up in a bright shade of pink.

all of your cousins start teasing you and jake. you laughed it off while jake was covering his face in embarrassment.

"foods ready! come on kids."

its been 5 minutes into the dinner and everyone's already bombarding your boyfriend with questions.

it was all simple questions at first. like, 'what do you study' or 'what's your future career' and things like that.

until one of your siblings decided to make a bold bold question.

"how much do you love her?" they asked.

you looked at jake, worried, but also curious. he looked back at you and smiled.

"god, i wouldn't trade her for the moon." he confessed. you blushed, hiding your face in jake as your relatives start laughing and oo-ing.

"he's a keeper, that's for sure!" your dad says

and then the dinner goes on, you were happy to see jake finally calming down and being at ease around your family throughout the night. a few hours later you both say your goodbyes to go back to your apartment. but you tug on jakes sleeve before you both get in the car.

"would you actually trade me for the moon?" you asked curiously. he looked at your face and smiled.

"id give you the whole galaxy. you're my moon. you're the stars in my sky. you're the one i love." he kisses your forehead as you smiled.

your faces are an inch apart until you lean in and kiss his sweet pink lips. his hands find your waist as you wrap your hands around his neck. the kiss lasts for a minute until you finally decide to go home.

"hey, one of your cousins gave me this spiderman watch! so cute right?" he laughs. you giggle at his antics.

that's where you knew, you were gonna be with him until the moon stops shining.

[mukamibabe]

tw for suicide . and generally dark stuff, the diaboys are mean, there’s unhealthy relationships but i repeat: this is diabolik lovers. not the most happy franchise,,,

i feel like it just gets darker the longer you read it, so.. read at your own risk

request from @cielphanthomhivesimp :

I have a request can you please do ( where the reader keeps running away the kill herself because she was tired of running away)  the reader then got reincarnated and the meet again ( what would be the reaction of the Sakamakis, Mukamias and Karl) No rush

sakamaki’s

shu:

so.. i mean.. i honestly hate to say it but shu probably wouldn’t have cared too much?

i say this because he thinks prey that fights back excessively, like to the point where they attempt to run away more than like.. 3 times? it really might not be worth the hassle for him. unless you’ve got like?? super good blood, like extraordinary, you might be worth a little more effort, but either way.. not really

it’s just way too much work for shu to put up with- some resistance is fine, but if it’s consistent then he’s probably just gonna let his brothers have you.

now, knowing this,, um. . i can’t really say that shu would feel bad or upset that they killed themself. if anything, maybe that’s better for them, not having to live such a life that they seemed to hate so much

also i definitely feel like the diaboys with their sacrificial brides/humans sent to them have had this happen before. usually they kind of try to prevent it from happening because if their prey is going to die, they’d prefer for it to be on their own terms. re: they’d rather kill the bride or slowly torture them just to avoid giving them the satisfaction of death. 

honestly though this isn’t much as an issue for shu. he genuinely just can’t be bothered.

anyways, when they are like.. reincarnated? well.. lmao shu’s heard of it happening but like.. not in normal humans. which, is what he had assumed they were- 

he’s not excited, per se, but he’s honestly really intrigued. it’s also really unfortunate that in order for him to actually have interest in them they’d literally killed themself,, if that makes sense?

he’s not reiji, but .. this doesn’t just happen. or at least, not from what he’s experienced. it makes know sense to him and he really feels tempted to dig deeper into why they’re just.. reappearing. 

reiji: 

reiji would actually be quite disappointed by this, but not for a nice reason. reasons, actually. 

he’s upset that they somehow managed to do such a thing- he’s upset with himself because at the very least, he could have watched or something. 

although he’d be really interested as to why they have been reincarnated. and his newfound interest honestly might not be a positive thing, either. 

like i mentioned earlier, if their prey is going to die at some point, the boys want to be the one to do it. this is especially true depending on the brother, and reiji is one of them.

at the very least, he’d like his prey to fulfill some sort of use to him before they die, whether it be for entertainment, blood, or for experimental purposes. or, all of the above. 

anyways, yeah. reiji likes to make his prey have some sort of worth to him, and by them getting reincarnated, it’s not the best thing that could have happened to them because after reiji knows the truth? he’s like.. ecstatic, but only because this is a lead for more information.

to be honest, it could get even worse because reiji might even want to test out whether or not they’d reincarnate for a second time, so..

also, unlike shu, reiji wouldn’t just give up after a while when his prey starts escaping/trying to run from him. iy only encourages reiji even more, fueling that stupid vampiric carnal instinct. reiji isn’t a quitter, and that’s both a good thing and a bad thing.

ayato: 

alright so. honestly? i think it depends on how .. involved, ayato was in terms of like.. the relationship as a whole. ayato would hate to admit this, but sometimes he can get somewhat attached to his prey. which, is inevitable, considering once ayato has chosen you to be his personal blood bag, he’s bringing you almost everywhere.

now, if said prey was constantly trying to escape from ayato, it’d probably be a one-sided relationship on ayato’s end. not a deep relationship or anything, but again, ayato can be kind of obsessive towards his prey. by being his prey, he’s not letting them go easily, unless he’s the one doing it. which means they will be gone for good.

so, he’s gonna be pretty pissed over the fact that they’ve actually managed to escape his grasp, even at the cost of their own life. does he care? not particularly, i mean, it’ll be a pain in his ass to wait until he gets his hands on someone else, but he’s honestly angry about it. yeah, he knew the way they frequently tried to escape was excessive, but it never got extremely annoying, at least. like reiji, not necessarily going to be giving up easily on a prey that runs away.

once ayato finds out they’re alive, or reincarnated, or whatever. it matters little to him of what actually happened but honestly.. he’s thrilled they’re back. and, like reiji, it’s not for a good reason.

by coming back to life like the way they did, ayato becomes even more possessive towards them and might even get a little more hostile. he’s still upset they’ve tried to take the easy way out, and he’ll make it clear to them, too.

ayato may even take this ‘incident’ as a sort of proof that they’re a lot more tolerable than he originally thought, which doesn’t exactly mean for good things. 

kanato: 

i can see his reaction to their death going three ways. he’s either extremely pissed and ends up going on an entire rampage, is a sobbing, screaming mess because it’s not fair. how dare they do that to themself? that should have been his choice, not theirs. he’s genuinely destroyed over it, honestly. the third reaction being, all of the above.

i guess it actually depends to on whether he sees their body or not, and then how they are reincarnated. if kanato liked them enough, it’s very likely that he’ll want to add them to his collection of dolls. it’s not unlikely.

so yeah, depending on how they did it, and if kanato actually is able to get his hands on their body. if he’s able to recover them, it’s quite likely that he will.

and honestly, it’s somewhat of a miracle that after so many failed attempts to run from kanato that he hasn’t gotten angered and just.. got rid of them already. on his own terms. which is why he reacts to their death in such a ..dramatic way, i guess you could say.

so, when they are reincarnated, naturally, it’s a shock. kanato might not even know if it’s actually real or not, which.. could be another bad thing. if it’s not actually real, then that means there’s no harm in killing you again, is there? that’s how he sees it

kanato is already .. unstable, so genuinely i don’t know if he’d think it’s like a delusion or not. i imagine some of his dolls have probably done some things on their own at some point, but not to the extent of coming back to life.

i feel like im always saying this with kanato but there’s multiple ways in which things could happen, and in this case, after they’ve come back to him, he might be really pleased by it because he gets to spend more time with them,, in a way that probably isn’t fun for his prey considering they’ve tried countless times to escape from it, or, kanato sees it as a bad thing and will essentially put them back in their grave. 

laito: 

hmm... okay, surprise, laito’s not very happy they’ve killed themself because guess what- he wasn’t finished with them just yet, and even if he were, they shouldn’t be the one making that choice. 

almost like kanato, if they’ve really tried escaping that many times, laito might just finish them off, getting what he wants from them for the last time and then just moving on. 

honestly, laito has probably encouraged them to escape, knowing it’s not going to work for them. i can even picture him bringing up death as an alternative way to escape, but like . not that simple- he’s not nice about it

anyways, they’re dead now. he supposes he’s not surprised, and it really is a shame that he couldn’t do anything about it, but i doubt it’d be the first time laito’s experienced something like that.

the whole coming back to life thing, however, that would be new. and for once, laito would have no idea how to react. his response is just completely blank because all he can think of is how? why? did they truly not die then? seriously he’s so confused and that’s not a good thing, either.

laito being laito, he’ll quickly recompose himself, as he’s not willing to let his guard down. 

i can see him being something like “well, this is a surprise~” and then boom. everything is just.. deja vu. that prey will have to relive everything from before, endless torture from laito. 

in fact, after laito’s gotten his hands on them again, he’s not as willing to let them go compared to before. they’ve invoked another type of possessiveness in laito, yet at the same time, there’s some type of unhinged distance.

subaru:

he’s conflicted as well. naturally. there’s a very small part of him that almost feels bad, but what’s done is done, and after finding out about their death, he has no choice but to move on. even if there wasn’t an attachment towards this prey, it still bugs him, yeah, but regardless, he can’t change anything and he wouldn’t want to in the first place. food is food, and if they go, it shouldn’t concern him, is what he thinks.

that being said, he almost feels some sort of pride for them, to do such a thing. being dead is definitely better than suffering with the likes of him, in his eyes, so props to them, is what he’d think.

it also makes subaru feel more like a disgusting monster, but he already knows that and has accepted it, so it’s not something that bothers him. or at least, not entirely.

now in this case, after they’ve come back, it’s obviously different, considering it’s not something he’s ever experienced. with that, he’s kind of.. shocked. like big bro laito,,, he’s kind of stunned. speechless.

except, unlike laito, he’s not smooth above recovering, lol. he literally stops functioning and can’t figure out how to think,,

his reaction is just .. like. empty. it’s hard to process, really. he’s not sure if it’s real, either. are they just coming back to haunt him? for being the scum that he is? he’s not scared or anything, it just kind of.. messes with him. it’s weird, and he simply doesn’t know what to think.

now, depending on his relationship with them, which, once again was assumably not the best,,, he may or may not let them get away, or encourage them to run while they can.

mukami’s

ruki:

ooof. ruki is another one of the diaboys that takes deaths pretty serious. meaning- if his prey is going to die, it’ll be at his will. anything else will honestly make him really uhhh.. unstable. not big on showing it, though

so to find out that they’ve killed themself?? he’s beyond mad. he’s upset with himself for allowing it to happen, and he’s upset at them for even doing it,,

he, of course, pretends it’s nothing. he acts unbothered, which isn’t that difficult because he really isn’t, it’s just a lot of rage being felt towards them, which is kind of unfair because.. they’re dead. 

or so, he thought. no matter how he meets them again, it’s not something he’s happy about, per se, but lowkey.. he’s excited.

after seeing them again, he wants literally nothing more than to to teach them a lesson. 

like some of the other diaboys, ruki gets extremely more.. aggressive with them, as well as controlling and manipulative. if they thought he was bad before they died? he’s a lot worse, with little to no remorse. 

first, he’s going to make them regret it, and then, he’s going to figure out how they managed to like.. resurrect themself. they really won’t be in for a good time- suicide is a touchy subject for ruki, and i’m sure he’s probably encouraged it to some of his prey, only to rub it in their face that they can’t. 

kou:

hmm.. . it’s kind of tricky because kou doesn’t even know how to feel about it. their death isn’t something he necessarily was hoping for, but he’s not going to cry over it.

if anything, it’s more of a pain, and he thinks he should have expected it, but obviously he didn’t because if he did, he would’ve stopped them.

i actually feel like kou would maybe feel the most pity for them, though it’d be too late. he’d never show it, either.

but, he gets it. a little bit. he’s seen their escape attempts and honestly has understood the reason behind it, but even though he understands why they’d want to run doesn’t mean he’ll make things any easier for them. they have their role, and that’s to serve as his prey. so while he’ll maybe feel sorry for them, he’s going to make it so they eventually accept that. if they do, they’ll be treated well.

so, yeah it’s a surprise but also.. not really, but at the same time it is. because he didn’t think they’d have the nerve to do so.

usually kou can let go of things somewhat easily, at least regarding prey, but because of the circumstances, yet another diaboy is upset. 

except, when they come back? kou’s so much more interested in them more than ever. it might be scary, but he might actually be a bit nicer towards them?

probably fake, and of course, with expectations, but still. 

yuma:

...ouch? he’s not sure how to react initially other than “well this fucking sucks”

that’s literally his only response, he’s not happy about it but he’ll get over it within seconds.

honestly this one might be a bit shorter just because of his lack of response to it. 

except, when they show their face again? he’s.. actually kind of excited? he’s not even sure why, but it’s a really .. different sort of situation, and he is curious. 

at the same time though it’s like?? seriously? how come they could come back to life but not anyone else in my past?? 

it’s not a big deal, though. 

lowkey might think they’re a ghost lol. has to get verification from his brothers because really he has no idea.

um.. honestly, there’s not much to say. maybe it was fated that they were to stay with him. he’s not going to treat them any differently, but it’s nice, he guesses.

azusa: 

:(

azusa has already been personally hurt by all of their constant attempts to escape, but he’s really sad that they went that far.

a part of him can’t even really .. i guess comprehend their death. like, he knows why they did it, and yes, he does blame himself and dare i say he feels a little bad about it, but it’s hard for him to actually accept the death, and that he’s the reason behind it.

he’s not overly sympathetic, and his brother’s will help him quickly move on, but there’s a part of him that feels empty, even though you were just his prey and not like.. an actual friend or anything. 

the only bad thing about them coming back, though, would be that the rest of his family will surround them like dogs, and will be watching them like hawks. they had seen how gloomy azusa was after it, and if they can prevent it, they have no issue with doing so.

when they do come back, he’s not sure how to feel. he is happy, but he’s almost like yuma where he isn’t sure whether they’re like.. a ghost or not.

it depends to on what they want to do from there. 

lowkey i can see azusa guilt tripping them into staying with him again. if not, it still might happen regardless.

karlheinz:

another one, huh? 

i doubt their death is a surprise to karl, and knowing him, he probably allowed it. 

honestly? i can almost picture him knowing the whole.. reincarnation thing was going to happen, anyways, so.. that makes things interesting,,

either way, he likely saw it coming after their countless amount of escape attempts. he’s not exactly bothered, and if he did know they were going to be reincarnated, then that’s perfect.

somehow, he finds out like... right away that they’re back. and sure as hell, he’s not letting anything in his way because this reincarnation thing? ground breaking. 

they’ll be in for a lot, honestly. he’s like reiji where it ends up turning into an experiment.

[bloody-bee-tea]

Bell

Nie Huaisang has barely sat down when Jiang Cheng speaks.

“I’m ready to marry,” he says without warning and watches in amusement as Nie Huaisang fumbles with the tea pot.

Jiang Cheng decides not to mention the stain he leaves behind on the table.

“What the—uh, I mean, that’s great, Jiang-xiong,” Nie Huaisang finally manages to get out and then he shifts in his seat. “It’s just that—you’re great and all, and good looking of course, and everyone would be flattered, really, but I’m not?” he finishes weakly and Jiang Cheng hides his amused smile behind his cup of tea.

“I’m not speaking about you,” he eventually tells Nie Huaisang and it’s almost comical how he sags in relief.

“Then why the hell would you tell me this, Jiang-xiong, you nearly gave me a heart attack,” he wines and finally gets around to pouring himself a cup of tea. “What brought this on?”

“My Sect is stable for now and it feels like the right time to settle down,” Jiang Cheng tells him with a shrug. “A good alliance won’t hurt either, and my Elders are getting on my case about a marriage. I figured, why not.”

“And there’s someone you like?” Nie Huaisang wants to know and Jiang Cheng nods.

There’s even someone he loves.

“I still don’t see why you would tell me about this,” Nie Huaisang says after a moment and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.

“I’m looking for your approval,” Jiang Cheng says and gives Nie Huaisang enough time to widen his eyes in surprise before he goes on. “I wish to marry Nie Mingjue.”

“Oh,” Nie Huaisang whispers and suddenly he seems tense and sad and Jiang Cheng frowns.

This is not the reaction he expected.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Nie Huaisang lowly says and Jiang Cheng puts his cup down harder than he wanted to.

“So I’m good enough for you but not your brother? Is this an insult to you or to me? Didn’t you say anyone would be flattered? Are you lying to me now, Huaisang?” he demands to know and Nie Huaisang flinches before he hides behind his fan.

Jiang Cheng glares at him, because Nie Huaisang damn well knows how he thinks about that.

“Of course not, that’s not it,” Nie Huaisang nervously says. “It’s just—da-ge isn’t doing so well,” Nie Huaisang finally admits and that at least Jiang Cheng can understand.

Even if a pit of worry opens in his stomach at hearing that.

“What do you mean?” he prompts Nie Huaisang when he falls silent again and Nie Huaisang’s fan speeds up.

“His qi deviations—it’s getting worse,” Nie Huaisang admits.

Jiang Cheng has seen a few of them over the course of his friendship with Nie Huaisang, mostly because Nie Mingjue didn’t seem to think twice about leaving his Sect for days or weeks at a time, always deciding to join Nie Huaisang when he came by on one of his visits to Lotus Pier.

Jiang Cheng just didn’t think it was this serious, yet.

“Worse?”

Nie Huaisang nods.

“More regular and more violent. Even er-ge—he told me—I should prepare, he said,” Nie Huaisang brings out and Jiang Cheng frowns.

If even Lan Xichen no longer has hope that his playing is doing something, then it really must be serious. The guy is a notorious optimist and for him to be pessimistic about it—Jiang Cheng doesn’t like it.

“Yeah, well, I haven’t played for him yet,” Jiang Cheng decides on a whim but a plan is forming in his mind.

He will not allow Nie Mingjue to die before he turns thirty. There’s no way in hell that will happen.

“Jiang-xiong, what do you think to achieve if even er-ge can’t help anymore?” Nie Huaisang wants to know but there’s the tiniest bit of hope in his voice.

“Maybe Lan Xichen goes about this wrong,” Jiang Cheng decides, the plan taking more concrete shape.

It would make sense if Lan Xichen’s playing isn’t having the desired effect if what Jiang Cheng thinks is true.

“Can you even play the song?” Nie Huaisang asks and Jiang Cheng grins at him.

“No, but I know a master who might be willing to teach me.”

He’s not talking about Lan Xichen, they both know it, and Nie Huaisang’s eyes go wide.

“It’s impossible, Jiang-xiong,” he then says with a shake of his head. “Even if Lan Qiren would be willing to teach you one of their secret songs, are you even good enough to learn it? And why would you think that you have more success than er-ge?”

“You seem to forget what my Sect’s motto is,” Jiang Cheng tells him and takes another sip from his tea. “Attempting the impossible is literally what I do,” he says and that, at least shuts Nie Huaisang up.

Jiang Cheng guesses it’s mostly because they are sitting in what was a burned out husk just a year ago but is now again a bustling, thriving Sect.

No one imagined Jiang Cheng would be able to rebuild Lotus Pier like this and he proved them all wrong.

He’s going to prove them wrong about Nie Mingjue’s impending death as well.

~*~*~

“Sect Leader Jiang,” Lan Qiren greets him when Jiang Cheng enters the room.

“Teacher Lan Qiren,” he respectfully gives back and Lan Qiren waves him off in the same move he tells him to sit.

Jiang Cheng settles down and waits for Lan Qiren to pour them both some tea before he speaks. He did learn his lesson with Nie Huaisang, as amusing as that was.

“I intend to court Nie Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng says and just like Nie Huaisang, Lan Qiren jerks with his words.

Jiang Cheng would be offended that this is everyone’s first reaction, but honestly, he thinks it’s more amusing than anything.

“Why are you telling me this?” Lan Qiren wants to know after a moment and Jiang Cheng gives him a winning smile.

“I need help with the courting gift,” Jiang Cheng tells him and watches as Lan Qiren’s eyebrows go up.

“What do you intend to give him that you think I’m able to help?”

“I need the Song of Clarity,” Jiang Cheng says without beating around the bush and Lan Qiren freezes.

“That’s a Clan secret,” Lan Qiren reminds him and Jiang Cheng shrugs.

“I know, but I’m counting on the fact that you care too much to deny me this,” he says. “Nie Mingjue’s death would devastate Lan Xichen and you love your nephew too much to want that to happen.”

Lan Qiren regards him in silence for a long moment before he sighs.

“If you want to marry him, it would devastate you, too. And you already lost so many,” Lan Qiren says and Jiang Cheng is surprised enough by his words that he falls silent.

He doesn’t see why Lan Qiren would care about if it hurts him, but it’s nice to know that he does.

“Which is why I won’t let it happen. But I need to learn to play the song.”

“What makes you think that you can achieve what my nephew cannot?”

“No offense to your nephew, but I think he’s going about this wrong,” Jiang Cheng says with a shrug.

“Elaborate,” Lan Qiren says, but his voice doesn’t snap like it used to in the classroom when he was outraged and Jiang Cheng counts it as a win.

“Lan Xichen is a formidable musician, but outside of a fight he’s too soft. I haven’t heard him play for Nie Mingjue but I’m guessing he’s trying for a gentle, soothing approach. It won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“Have you known Nie Mingjue to be gentle and soothing?” Jiang Cheng shoots back and Lan Qiren frowns. “Even when he cares about someone he’s gruff about it, an undercurrent of anger always there. It’s just who he is,” Jiang Cheng says, because he has witnessed it enough times to know it to be true.

Nie Mingjue doesn’t care about anyone more than his brother and even with him he can’t be gentle and soft. It’s just not who Nie Mingjue is as a person, and that’s perfectly alright. But Lan Xichen is trying to appeal to that side of Nie Mingjue, so it’s no wonder he’s not making any progress.

“What is your plan, then?” Lan Qiren inquires. “To sit on him and force him to listen instead of having him meditate?”

“Yes,” Jiang Cheng bluntly says, because he guesses that’s the only way he’ll get Nie Mingjue to listen and it would be the most effective. “The song doesn’t have an effect because Nie Mingjue is not gentle and soft, there’s nothing the song could react with. If you play the song when he’s angry and ready for a fight—it might wield more of a result.”

“You gave this a lot of thought,” Lan Qiren muses but he hasn’t yet snapped at Jiang Cheng and that simply has to be a good sign.

“Of course I did. I didn’t just wake up yesterday and decided I would marry Nie Mingjue.”

That happened a few weeks back, but Lan Qiren doesn’t need to know about that.

“Can you even play the guqin?”

“I was raised as the heir to one of the five Great Sects. We all had to learn,” he says with a shrug.

“But can you?” Lan Qiren asks again, clearly not buying Jiang Cheng’s bullshit.

“I have a basic understanding of it,” Jiang Cheng finally relents and a cold shiver goes down his back when Lan Qiren smiles at him.

“The Song of Clarity is one of the more complicated ones,” he warns him but Jiang Cheng has never met a challenge he wouldn’t take.

How hard can it be, anyway.

~*~*~

It turns out the Song of Clarity is a fucking bitch to learn and Jiang Cheng hates the song with a passion. It’s unnecessary stupid and hard and just out to make Jiang Cheng trip up over seemingly innocent looking notes and if he never has to play it again it will be too soon.

But he learned it for a reason and he did not go through all of this pain and hassle to simply never play it again.

“You’re ready,” Lan Qiren says two weeks into his lessons. “You can play it for Nie Mingjue.”

“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng says, as he bows to Lan Qiren over his guqin.

“Did you send an official courtship letter yet?” Lan Qiren wants to know and he frowns when Jiang Cheng shakes his head.

“No. I talked to Huaisang, who told me not to marry his brother, because he’s bound to die soon. I doubt Nie Minjgue’s answer will be different at the moment, and I’m not accepting that. Huaisang did give me his blessing to try though, so there’s that.”

“I see,” Lan Qiren says and strokes his beard. “If Mingjue accepts, you send him here, for a talk.”

That makes Jiang Cheng freeze.

“A talk?”

“Jin Ling is too young to give Mingjue a fair warning as to what will happen to him if he makes you unhappy, so I’m going to step in.”

Jiang Cheng is unable to find his voice for the longest of times, because that he didn’t expect. He knows Lan Qiren has to like him at least a little bit, otherwise he would have kicked him out the moment Jiang Cheng barged in with his outrageous demand but this—this almost speaks of family.

“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng chokes out and when Lan Qiren smiles at him this time, it’s a soft thing.

“You’re very welcome, Wanyin. And now go and court that stubborn man.”

“I will,” Jiang Cheng says and gathers up his guqin. “I damn well will.”

~*~*~

Nie Mingjue is frowning at him when Jiang Cheng refuses to take a seat in the great hall.

“Why do you have to be so contrary today?” Nie Mingjue presses out and Jiang Cheng can see it, the unnatural anger, caused by the always threatening qi deviation.

He doesn’t like it, but he will damn well use it for his own gain here.

“I’m itching for a fight, can’t you see?” Jiang Cheng gives back and bares his teeth at Nie Mingjue. “Though I doubt you can take me today. I bet the anger makes you all sloppy,” Jiang Cheng teases him, fully aware of Nie Huaisang’s nervous flutter of his fan in the corner of the room and of Nie Mingjue’s narrowing eyes.

“What do you want, Wanyin?” Nie Mingjue snaps and for this Jiang Cheng softens his smile as much as he knows how to.

“I want to marry you,” he says and doesn’t let Nie Mingjue’s surprised gasp deter him. “But not if you’re going to make a widower out of me in the week after our wedding. So you’re going to endure me playing the most boring, difficult fucking song for you, or I will force you to.”

“Force me to,” Nie Mingjue repeats and gets up. “You think you can force me to listen to it?”

“Look at you,” Jiang Cheng scoffs, though his heart is beating quicker with the threat hanging over him. Nie Mingjue is a formidable warrior after all. “Your hands are already shaking. You can’t beat me.”

Jiang Cheng and Nie Mingjue have sparred a lot when he came to visit Lotus Pier and Jiang Cheng did win a few times, but it was too rare for this kind of confidence and Jiang Cheng knows it.

He is counting on the fact that Nie Mingjue really is too far gone already to put up much of a fight.

“Fuck you,” Nie Mingjue hisses but he reaches for Baxia.

“You can, if you win,” Jiang Cheng cheekily gives back. “If I win, I will sit on you and you will damn well listen to me play.”

~*~*~

The moment Nie Mingjue hits the ground, Jiang Cheng is on him, whipping out the guqin Lan Qiren gave him as he settles down on Nie Mingjue’s back.

Jiang Cheng makes himself heavier than he usually is—using one of the many talismans Wei Wuxian came up with back in the day—and Nie Mingjue struggles under him, cursing and yelling, hitting the ground and kicking his legs.

Jiang Cheng will never get a better opportunity than this.

He starts to play the Song of Clarity, his own emotions running high from the fight and from his worry for Nie Mingjue and he thinks it might just be okay like that.

Clearly Nie Mingjue doesn’t react to the gentleness with which Lan Xichen plays for him; maybe he needs to have this song played a bit more aggressively as well.

Nie Mingjue doesn’t stop his struggling throughout the whole song but Jiang Cheng isn’t deterred by that. When he ends it, he looks over his shoulder down at Nie Mingjue who is glaring at him.

“You need me to play it again?” Jiang Cheng challenges him and Nie Mingjue huffs.

“I hate that fucking song.”

“The feeling is mutual, but you’re not getting out of this the easy way. So what will it be?” he demands to know and Jiang Cheng startles when Nie Mingjue slaps the ground, apparently in anger before he sags.

“Play it again,” Nie Mingjue says and Jiang Cheng can’t fight the rush of happy satisfaction that runs through him.

So he plays the cursed song again and then one more time for good measure, though for that last one he allows Nie Mingjue to get up and go through forms with Baxia and when he finally, finally vanishes the guqin again, Nie Mingjue’s grip is steady and his eyes are clear.

“How the hell did you do that?” Nie Mingjue demands to know once he’s done with his form and Jiang Cheng gets up to stretch his legs.

He never really was one for sitting down.

“I played the song, same as everyone else,” he gives back but Nie Mingjue shakes his head.

“Yours is different.”

“Because I don’t try to soothe you with it. I don’t want to get rid of your anger or your gruffness. I want to get rid of the death that could follow it, so I play for that.”

“Is that why Xichen’s song doesn’t work?”

“Probably,” Jiang Cheng says with a shrug and then he startles when Nie Mingjue simply drops Baxia to the ground.

There’s a heart stopping moment where Jiang Cheng fears that he overdid it, or that he did something wrong, that Nie Mingjue is experiencing a qi deviation at that very moment, but before he can move and try to help in any way possible Nie Mingjue’s hands are on his face and Jiang Cheng is being pulled into a scorching kiss.

“I don’t know what you intend to give me for our wedding, but nothing can compete with this,” Nie Mingjue breathes out when they part and Jiang Cheng darts in to nibble on his lower lip.

“Try me,” he says and claims Nie Mingjue’s lips again, because he can and there is nothing else he wants to be doing at that moment.

Judging by how they just barely make it to Nie Mingjue’s room, the feeling is mutual.

(Jiang Cheng does have a better gift at the wedding; he modified the Yunmeng Jiang Clarity Bell in a way that allows it to resonate with Baxia, to clear away resentment and to replicate the effects of the so despised song without Jiang Cheng ever having to play it again. It turns out Nie Huaisang is the most grateful for that, actually, because he started to hate the song with a passion, too.)

Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!

[maliceinborderland]

Hey! On the topic of kids, a thought: how do you think the AiB main cast would act and what would they do if they found a young kid in the Borderland?

I’m answering this hella late, but I’m finally in a place where I don’t feel cautious about going into my ask box, sooooo here it is!

Arisu, the shining poster child for all things moral, would 100% take the child under his wing and do all he can to protect the kid from any dangers, and quite literally do anything that he can to make sure the child lives because, let’s face it, no one wants a child’s death on their hands. The child would probably have a lot of questions and Arisu would do his best to answer them whilst doing everything he can to not scare the kid.

Usagi… if we’re talking about Usagi at the beginning, she probably wouldn’t think twice and leave the kid behind. She has one goa in mind and one goal only: survive. She doesn’t care who has to die as long as she lives, even if it’s a kid. They’d just have to tough it out. As the series progresses, Usagi’s sense of unity seems to grow, thanks to Arisu’s presence, and she’d probably go along with anything he decides. She’d initially be hostile towards the kid but eventually develop a sense of responsibility towards the child and look after it.

Chishiya, I honestly don’t see him bothering to care for a child. He’s an “every man for himself” sort of person and a child is no exception to the rule. A child is too much responsibility and too much of a hassle to take on in the Borderlands. If others are around he might feign interest and care for the child, but if it ever came between his life and the child’s he wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice the kid. Hands down. Despite being a resident at a hospital working to become a full fledged doctor in which you are required to swear and take an oath to protect human lives, Chishiya isn’t one to really care. Keep in mind, this a man who took a dying man’s final letter to his family, promising to get it to them, and threw it in the trash. This is who Chishiya is.

Kuina, like Arisu, is a person with a strong sense of morality and quite sensible. Since she is her mother’s caretaker outside of the borderlands, so being a caretaker comes naturally to her. She’d shield the child from any harm and offer to care for it. Despite having spent a lot of her time with Chishiya, Kuina is shown to have a stronger sense of right and wrong, and is works as a conscience for Chishiya, often expressing her dislike for his cold decisions, so this would greatly reflect when taking care of a child. She’d probably try and teach the kid some self defense moves, just the basics, enough to survive. I feel like out of all the women, she has the strongest maternal instincts of them all.

Hatter, this dude would 10/10 mold the child in his likeness. Take it under his wing, take it along with him in every game, making sure the militants protect them both. Hatter had a close relationship with his father, so he has a strong paternal instinct, as well. The child would be at his side at all times, even when showing “justice” to immigrants at the Beach so that the child would know that despite being cared for, that there was a hierarchy to follow.

Aguni… [SPOILER ALERT]if you’ve read the manga, you’d know exactly how he’d act if he came across a young individual in the borderlands, he’s not one to sugarcoat things and will call out childlike behavior as a nuisance and a disrespect for the lives that have been taken while the young individual remains. Aguni is a man of power, so he’d train the kid in order to gain more power and leverage in the games. Aguni had a tough childhood, and no real father figure, so I don’t think he’d be a perfect picture father figured but he was an SDF officer, and there’s a strong sense of camaraderie in the military.

Niragi, this may come as a wild card, and as shitty of a man he might be, I don’t think he’d stoop so low as to kill a kid or to leave it to die. Niragi is aware of the circumstances they’re in and if anyone belittles the kid and shoves them aside with little to no importance, I think Niragi would snap. He knows what it’s like to be cast aside and over his dead, charred body if anyone mistreats the kid under his watch. Niragi’s never really had friends and his relationship with his parents is quite strained, so he’d be flying blind when taking care of the kid. In his mind food, water, and a place to sleep we’re all the essentials to taking care of a kid. If they were old enough, he’d teach them how to use a gun, but not so that they’d be a militant. It was only to be used if they really, really needed it. In case of emergencies, ya know? He’d probably lose his marbles if in the middle of a game, he was stuck with a losing hand and fighting another player, and the child shot the other player. It’s not the fact that the kid fired the gun that has Niragi losing his shit. It’s that the kid fired it with their eyes closed and without even aiming properly.

Last Boss… sigh. What do we do with you, Takatora? This man gives no fucks, okay? 10/10 would slash the child up like butter. No fucks given. He lost any sense of human feelings after clearing his first game in the borderlands, this is something he himself admits.

Karube, I feel like he’d be like Usagi. Initially, I’d feel like he’d be a bit apprehensive about looking after a kid in the borderlands, but with Arisu’s intervention he’d probably give in and help watch over the kid. Would probably teach the kid how to use a switchblade or a Swiss Army knife, just for defense. I don’t see him wanting to establish any sort of emotional ties to the kid, though.

Chouta, we all saw how he warmed up to the schoolgirl from the first game and how he reassured her when she was scared. I like to believe Chouta wasn’t a total creep(as for manga Chouta, well…), as he seemed to show genuine concern for her, so I feel like he’d demonstrate similar concern towards a child.

[eliemo]

Something Long and Stupid (Part 2)

Summary: Remus knew he wasn't a good person. He was Deadpool, a killer for hire, "the merc with a mouth." He'd come to terms with what he was a long time ago. He didn't need Spiderman to remind him of what he was.

He didn't need Virgil to come into his life and make him question it for the first time

Notes: Violence, blood, gore, sexual inneundos

I didn't make a taglist for this story but I know @teamplutoforlife wanted to be tagged <3 And thank you @cheshirevalentine for editing

Part 1

Remus was falling, twisting onto his back as he plummeted towards the ground, the buildings around him nothing but a blur as he flew past. He could faintly hear the construction on the ground over the pounding of his own heart and the howling of the wind rushing past him, barely hearing the alarmed shouts of the workers watching him fall.

Virgil was nothing but a speck in the distance now, perched on the edge of the roof. Lifeless white eyes watched him fall, unfeeling and still.

Pain exploded in Remus’s back as he slammed into something sharp, legs hitting the ground when he finally stopped falling. He could just barely make out the rusty, blood stained spike in front of him, poking through his chest from his back where he'd fallen, blood pooling around the wound and into his suit.

-

“Hey.”

Remus jumped so hard he nearly fell off the roof, scrambling to his feet and reaching for his gun as he whirled around to face whoever the fuck was stupid enough to sneak up on him.

Spiderman was perched beside him, apparently fine after his near death experience last night, and holding… a pizza box?

“Hey,” Remus said carefully. “What the fuck?”

Spiderman shrugged and held out the box in his hand. “I have pizza. You asked for pizza.”

Remus stared for a moment, frozen where he stood with his hand hovering over his gun, trying to figure out if this was a joke. “You… actually brought it?”

“Yeah?” Spiderman said, like he didn’t understand how this was in any way strange. “Oh did you… were you joking? Did you not actually want it, or—”

“No, I did.” Remus stayed right where he was. What the hell was this? Was this a prank? Was he being pranked?

“Then… here,” Spiderman said. He held out the pizza box, close enough for Remus to cautiously take. “I didn’t know what you liked so I just got cheese. But cheese is good. Everyone likes cheese.”

Holy shit. Spiderman was a dweeb.

Remus carefully opened the pizza box, and when there wasn’t a bomb or some kind of spider-themed booby trap inside, just a freshly baked cheese pizza from some local place he’d vaguely heard of, Remus let his shoulders relax and barked out a laugh.

“Well shit,” he said, pleasantly surprised. “Thanks, Webs.”

Spidey was shuffling a bit, looking ridiculously awkward, and Remus was suddenly reminded that they were both just… people under their masks. “Uh, yeah. No problem.”

Remus hesitated, because he hadn’t been kidding about Spiderman owing him a pizza he just… hadn’t actually expected him to follow through. There was no way Remus was eating all of it on his own, he barely ate much as it was.

“Do you, like…” he paused, wondering if this was going to get him punched or laughed at. “Do you want a slice?”

Spiderman actually startled, like him being asked to lunch was just as rare as Remus asking someone to lunch. Jeez, he’d have figured people begged Spiderman to eat with them all the time.

“I, uh… I bought it for you, so—”

“Yeah, and I’m offering. Christ, do you want some pizza or not?”

Spidey still hesitated, and while it was annoying as hell Remus supposed he’d be a hypocrite to judge when he’d been half convinced there was a bomb in the pizza box two minutes ago.

Well, it wasn’t like it would have been the first time.

“Uh, sure,” Spiderman said, still visibly wary. “Thank you.”

Remus ignored him in favor of opening the pizza box and setting it down, motioning for the vigilante to take as much as he wanted.

It wasn’t until Spidey turned away slightly to hook his fingers under the bottom of his mask that Remus remembered- duh- they both had to pull up their masks to eat.

It wasn’t a problem, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to risk exposing their faces to each other, but Remus really wasn’t in the mood to be gawked at. A glance at his jaw might ruin Spiderman’s lunch.

“I’m not looking,” Spidey said, and Remus realized he’d been hesitating for a few too many seconds. “I can go, if you don’t wanna pull up your mask around anyone.”

Remus waved him off, even as he continued to fiddle with the leather. “I’ve got some scars, is all. Like… a lot. People think they’re gross.”

“Oh,” Spiderman said, and then simply shrugged. “That’s fine, I don’t care. Scars happen, dude. I’ve got a bunch.”

Remus still hesitated, a little caught off guard from Spiderman calling him ‘dude' while so nonchalantly eating his pizza just a few feet away, but he quickly pulled himself together and tugged his leather mask up just below his nose.

It was just a few inches of skin, and still enough to reveal a handful of scars littered across his jaw, and the one that stretched down from his cheek.

Spidey barely glanced at him, which Remus guessed he should have seen coming. It’d be a little out of character for New York’s hero to be an asshole about someone’s scars, but you never knew with heroes. Some of them were pretentious assholes.

They ate their pizza like common civilians, perched on their rooftop and watching the people of New York mingle below.

Remus barely ate two slices. He didn’t really eat much to begin with, and it was far more entertaining to watch in silent awe as Spiderman easily finished the rest of the box. The hero was a good two heads shorter than Remus, and looked like he barely weighed a hundred pounds. If Remus didn’t know better, he’d think the guy never ate at all.

“My metabolism is different,” he explained sheepishly when he caught Reus staring. “I eat more than… you know. You. Regular people.”

Remus scoffed, because this was definitely the first time anyone had described him as a ‘regular person’ but he let it slide with an eye roll and a thanks for lunch.

They parted ways, and Remus let himself relax at the thought of having one less enemy roaming New York.

Remus hadn’t meant to start hanging out with Spiderman.

Really, he hadn’t. The impromptu pizza date was supposed to be the end of it, just a slightly awkward peace offering that made it clear neither of them would actively try to kill each other in the near future.

Remus had saved Spiderman because he was bored, and Spiderman had bought him a pizza. That was all.

But then less than a week later Spiderman had swung (literally) by with takeout- coincidentally from Remus’s favorite place a few blocks away- and Remus hadn’t been able to say no to sharing.

They’d shared a meal together three times in the last two weeks, and Remus was starting to think it wasn’t an accident.

It probably wasn’t helping that Remus had started carrying snacks on him.

Remus wasn’t going to eat them himself, and Spiderman was always complaining about how hungry he was, so he’d just started keeping packets of gummies or granola for when he saw the hero swinging past. Chucking them at his head was good target practice, anyway.

That didn’t mean they were friends. Remus didn’t have friends, because being friends with Deadpool was possibly the dumbest idea anyone could ever have.

Remus had seen what happens when people get close to him. He wasn’t going to go through that again.

Apparently, Spiderman had other ideas.

It had been just another fight that Remus had happened to run into, watching for a moment as Spiderman took down what was probably his third armed robbery of the day.

He knew he probably could have just continued on his way and gotten lunch, but there were five of them, all armed, and Remus didn’t feel great about those odds despite Spidey’s reputation.

So Remus had decided to return the favor, Spiderman had introduced himself by butting into Deadpool's fight after all, and stepped in to finish the job twice as fast.

And it had gone fine. Spiderman had greeted him with stupidly cheeky finger guns and unfortunately insisted they keep all of them alive, which wasn’t Remus’s specialty but he’d manage.

It had been easy, some druggie civilians no match for New York’s hero and the merc with a mouth, three of them encased in webbing within two minutes, another on the ground with a bullet in his knee.

It had been fine, until Remus was shot in the chest.

Which, to be fair, wasn’t a big deal. He was shot in the chest all the time. It’d be a hassle if he didn’t get the bullet out before his skin healed around it, but it wasn’t like he could die.

It occurred to him a bit too late that he had forgotten to tell Spiderman that.

“No!”

The raw panic and emotion In Spidey’s voice caught Remus off guard as he stumbled backwards, pain he was unfortunately used to by now exploding in his chest as the bullet met its mark. There had been a fifth goon, hiding out and biding his time, which would have been a great plan if it didn’t end with a face of webs and a swift punch to the temple.

Remus lowered himself to the ground, the wind knocked out of him, dark crimson blood pooling around his hand and flooding through his fingers as he clutched the wound.

Spiderman was rushing over, and Remus could practically feel the worry behind that lifeless mask. He skidded to a stop and dropped to a crouch, hands hovering, frantic and unsure.

And maybe Remus was just an asshole, but this was fucking hilarious.

“Deadpool?” Spidey called, the vigilante leaning over him as Remus dropped to lay on his back. “Jesus- hang in there okay? You’ll be fine.”

Remus forced himself to cough, wet and ragged, biting back a smile. “This is it for me, Webs. I can see the light.”

“Deadpool shut the fuck up!”

“Everything’s getting dark—”

“I said shut up,” Spiderman snapped, and Remus gasped involuntarily, arching his back when gloved hands pressed down on the wound. “You’re gonna be fine, you’re… just- just stay awake, okay? Don’t close your eyes.”

Remus coughed again to hide a smile, blood splattering his chin, closing his eyes anyway and letting his head fall back on the concrete. He stopped listening to Spidey’s rambling, committing to the bit of playing dead- very obviously playing dead, for the record. He stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth and everything, waiting for Spiderman to catch on and tell him off.

“No!” Except Spidey still sounded genuinely distressed, only pressing harder on the wound. “No, no, no! Deadpool! Wake up!”

Well. This wasn’t any fun if Spiderman was too panicked to even pay attention. He sighed, opening his eyes again to sit up slightly and whack the vigilante’s shoulder.

“I can’t die, stupid,” he said, grinning when Spiderman scrambled back. “Cut it out. I’ve just gotta get the bullet out so it doesn’t heal around it. Those things hurt like a bitch, so—”

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Remus opened his mouth to respond, because there were lots of things wrong with him and he had a list at the ready. But he didn’t get the chance because suddenly Spidey was throwing himself forward, wrapping his arms around Remus and pulling him close, probably getting blood all over his suit.

Haha, what the fuck?

“You’re such a bitch,” Spiderman said, muffled since his face was practically buried in Remus’s shoulder. “You’re the fucking worst.”

“Aww, were you worried about me?” Remus asked, burying his shock. “That’s so sweet, Spidey.”

“Shut the hell up,” Spiderman growled. “I thought you were going to die.”

“You were so worried! It was so cute, oh my god!”

Spiderman finally pulled back, only to rear back and punch Remus square in the shoulder. Hard.

Remus barked out a laugh, now nursing two injuries. “Fucking- ow. I still feel pain.”

“Sucks.”

Remus crossed his arms, wincing when it pulled at the bullet wound still in his chest. “Rude.”

“I’m rude?” Spiderman asked, incredulous. “You thought it would be funny to play dead!”

“To be fair,” Remus argued. “It was funny.”

“No it wasn’t!”

Remus shrugged, already turning his attention to the bullet in his chest. “If you had known it would be funny.”

“Well I didn’t,” he said, the mask’s white eyes glued to Remus’s hands. “I thought you were dying.”

“I can’t die,” Remus said. “That’s not a joke, Webs. I don’t just regenerate fast, I can’t be killed.”

“How the fuck was I supposed to know that?”

Remus shrugged, a little put off because this was not how he’d expected this to go. Damn Spiderman and his stupid savior complex.

He turned his attention back to the bullet wound, the pain already faded to a familiar numbness, but two gloved hands grabbed his wrists before he could start digging around for the bullet.

“Here,” he said, obnoxiously soft. “I’ve got it, let me help.”

“Nah, it’s cool,” Remus said, tensing against his will at the thought of someone else caring for a wound. “It’s not too deep, I can get it.”

“Are your gloves clean?”

He took a minute to consider that, calculating the swords he’d been holding, the gun he’d reloaded that morning, coming up blank when he tried to think of the last time he’d properly cleaned any of his weapons. Not to mention he had to climb buildings with his hands, lacking Spidey’s abilities to walk up walls and propel himself across the city in seconds.

“Probably,” he lied. “What am I gonna do, get sick?”

Spiderman hesitated. “Do you do that?”

“No.”

“I can still get it,” Spidey said. “Let me help.”

Remus scoffed, trying to cover up his own uneasiness. “You wanna stick your hand in there? You know it’s gross, right?”

“I know how to remove a bullet, Deadpool,” Spiderman said. “I’ve gotten shot before, I can get it.”

There was no reason not to drop his arms and let Spiderman do what he wanted. The asshole was stubborn, but he obviously meant well. With how shaky Remus’s hands were, Spidey getting the bullet out would probably be quicker anyway.

And he was the city’s hero. He’d made it clear he didn’t mean Deadpool any harm, especially not when the Merc had so graciously dropped in to save his ass today.

Remus didn’t know why it was so hard to just relax.

“This is dumb,” he said, wondering if he could annoy Spidey into giving up. “I can handle it fine.”

“I know,” the vigilante said. “But I want to help. It’s like...returning the favor or whatever.”

Remus sighed, a little shaky now, but reluctantly nodded. The longer they argued, the faster the skin would heal over the bullet still lodged in his chest, and Remus would really like to avoid that happening. Again.

“Fine,” he growled. “Jesus, you’re stubborn.”

Under the mask, Remus was sure Spiderman was smirking at him. “Look who’s talking.”

Remus hadn’t expected Spiderman to be so gentle. He was digging a bullet wound out of Deadpool’s chest, there wasn’t really a way to make this a pleasant experience, but Spidey was taking his time, moving carefully as he dug into the wound.

“Could you hurry up?” Remus growled, teeth clenched. This would have been over in seconds if he was doing it himself. It was so much easier to just stick his hand in the wound, dig around for a second, and rip the bullet out. “I’m not exactly a fan of having someone else’s fingers in my chest.”

Spiderman didn’t even spare him a glance. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I got shot,” Remus snapped. “We’re well past that.”

Spidey didn’t respond after that and Remus for once stayed quiet to let him concentrate, breathing heavily to try to ignore the panic that came with being vulnerable like this. The vigilante couldn’t kill him, but he sure as hell could cause him a shit ton of pain.

But he wouldn’t. Remus had to keep reminding himself that he wouldn’t. Spiderman was insufferably good- he wouldn’t kick someone while they were down.

Eventually Spiderman’s fingers found the bullet and Remus gasped, forcing himself to shove the pain away and make a lewd sounding moan when Spidey’s fingers left the wound.

“Jesus,” Spiderman muttered, and Remus laughed when he tossed the bullet dripping in dark blood to the side. “You okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Remus said, and he was. Physically at least. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a civil conversation with someone, let alone had someone willing to help patch him up. “See? All good. It’s already healing itself.”

True to his word, Remus’s chest was fusing itself back together, skin closing up over the still bleeding wound, the rest of the pain fading to a background throb. It’d be like nothing ever happened in ten minutes.

“Holy shit,” Spiderman muttered, leaning in close to watch. Remus tensed uncomfortably. “That’s...fucking wild.”

“Yeah, it’s great.” Remus brushed it off, scrambling to his feet and ignoring the way Spidey moved to try and help. “Anyways. Are there any more fights you need me to hold your hand through, or can I go take a nap?”

“Oh please,” Spidey scoffed. “I was fine. All you did was get in the way and get shot.”

“I saved your ass,” Remus retorted, smiling behind the leather mask. “You’d be dead if it weren’t for me, Webs.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Spiderman mumbled, but Remus was willing to bet money he was smiling too. “Go take your nap, Deadpool.”

Remus gave a mock salute, sheathing his sword and turning away from the remnants of the battle and starting for his apartment.

Maybe Spidey wasn’t so bad after all.

[hello-im-not-a-possum]

18. Skeleton

Buddy and Sammy find the “goldfish room” as the latter calls it, AKA the closet where Joey keeps his skeletons, literally. And in the process, Buddy learns about a few of the skeletons in Sammy’s metaphorical closet. (Set during ink hell, pre loop, post Buddy befriending the lost ones/searchers.)

The Prophet was a strange ally.

It was weird to work alongside someone who worships the guy who tore you in half and is the biggest reason why you’re stuck in a nightmarish, inescapable studio, especially when it wasn’t the nicest or friendliest person before getting claimed by the ink. (Although, as he thought back on it, had he ever met Sammy before it was claimed by the Ink?)

But ANY ally was better than an enemy, especially when that ally knows the studio better than anyone else down here. Besides, it seemed like the Ink man was either unaware of their past or didn’t even know who they used to be, and even if it did, it wasn’t angry about their past issues.

At the same time, working on scavenging trips with the former musician was a nightmare; it was way too tranquil about the situation, and there were too many weird murderous monsters that the wolf and gofer were aware of.

“I do not need to run, little wolf. I can evade these creatures without issue through my Lord’s gift.” The Prophet calmly stated as Buddy gestured confusion about why it didn’t run when the pair heard something that sounded suspiciously like the projectionist’s screams. “Besides, running through these halls is risky, I would be heard by those… more unsavory denizens of this studio and get ambushed by them.”

He wished his typewriter was quieter in instances like this, being able to type out ‘But what if you get caught by your lord?’ and other messages to hand to him without risking alerting the Ink Demon would be great. Or just having his voice back in general.

“If my Lord decides to send me back to the puddles, then it is his right to do so to prove I have changed.” He answered the unspoken question. “But it does mean that I have to work harder to get him to notice how much I have improved, get him to notice me…” 

‘Please don’t read my mind unless I give you the “go for it” gesture. It’s creepy otherwise.’

“My apologies, little wolf, while your thoughts come in quieter than everybody else’s… they’re still noticeable, especially when it’s just the two of us.”

Buddy hesitantly nodded and just tried to lead the Prophet out of the ransacked room to look for more stray supplies.

A few more hours of searching lead the pair to a locked room, something that experience told him meant that either it was another dead end or a hidden treasure trove of supplies, and not wanting to go back to the safe house empty handed, he was ready to roll those dice.

Buddy gestured for the Prophet to stand guard as he picked the door’s lock, and as the door slowly creaked open, he was thankful that he couldn’t speak because the scream that came out from his mouth would’ve been loud enough to alert every monster in the studio.

The former gofer felt sick to his stomach when he saw them. Piles upon piles of rotting, mangled, corpses. Human Corpses, not toony corpses like the other Borises or the butchered up members of the Butcher gang. Most of them were unrecognizable, partly because he had never seen most of these people in his life, and partly because they had decayed so much that what remained was hard to figure out who was who and what. The oldest corpses were nothing but skeletons and clothes, and the freshest one looked like…

...Like his own body.

“The goldfish room...” The prophet muttered loud enough for Buddy to hear, startling the poor pup out of his skin as he didn’t hear him enter behind him.

The wolf shuddered and continued to scour the room for anything worth the hassle of all of this. Boris wanted to take a few of the bones, which Buddy unenthusiastically obliged.

“Don’t eat those!” The Prophet interjected so loudly and harshly that it startled both the former gofer and the wolf toon. The ink creature’s anger was so much scarier with how rare it was to see now. “Especially not him! He’s my-” The Prophet stopped itself by covering its ‘mouth’ with its hands as if it was about to reveal a big secret and just took the skeletal arm out of Buddy’s hands and put it back where he found it. Its voice went back to it’s normal calm tone that reminded him of someone who was on the verge of falling asleep, but Buddy heard somberness in the musician’s pitch. “...they’re unclean...”

‘Prophet?’ Buddy gave him the “go ahead, read my mind” gesture. ‘Prophet, what is this place? Who are these people?’

“...You’ve seen your own corpse among them, correct?”

Buddy nodded.

“I know you’ve met Joey, but tell me; ...Has he ever called you ‘Henry’ before?”

‘Yes he has, but what does that have to do with…’ he gestured at the bodies on the floor ‘this?!’

“Henry’s been gone for a long time now.” The prophet stated, but there was a hint of recollection in his tone that weakened the calmness, and the more he talked, the more broken (for lack of a better term) his voice became. “Do you think that you were Joey’s first replacement goldfish? That after Henry left the studio, you were Joey’s only other other Henry?”

Buddy’s ears began ringing and he heard music; it was loud, distorted, fast-paced, and all over the place, the type of music that makes your heart pound out of your chest and makes your hackles stand up, the type of music that tells you to run, but doesn’t clue you in to where or why. The prophet’s body started to shake and tremble.

“The first Other-Henry was actually named Henry as well. And like his predecessor, was an excellent artist who really connected with the characters...”

‘Sammy? What’s going on? do you hear this too?!’

“But unlike Stein, Ross was a very stubborn person who refused to let anyone push him around, especially by either Joey or myself. Surprisingly, I liked that man, but he didn’t last long...”

Fear kept Buddy’s legs frozen to the ground as he covered his ears in a fruitless attempt to muffle the music, it felt like it was being played directly in his head, and then it clicked when the whispers started up, whispers in their tone, but not in volume, they were loud enough to drown out parts of what the Prophet was saying;

‘Sammy help us!’

“The next one was more like you, a younger, less experienced and more skittish person, his first name was ‘Lawrence’ so everyone called him ‘Larry’ to avoid confusion...”

‘Sammy, where are you?’

“...But he was also too nosy for that poor boy’s own good.”

‘you’re too weak!’

“The one after that was a scatterbrained fellow, very passionate about his work but didn’t focus very much on one topic or another...”

The Prophet’s monologue was completely drowned out by the music and chorus of desperate and angry “Other Henries” at this point. Buddy knew he was still talking because of the musician’s gestures, but didn’t hear a single word out of him. 

‘Saaaaaammyyyyyyy....’ ‘You’re such a spineless coward...’ ‘Sammy please save us..!’ ‘Why did you let Joey kill us?’ ‘The ink... it’s so cold...’ ‘No wonder Susie hates you so much...’ ‘Sammy, please! It hurts!’ ‘Why did you let us die?’ ‘Why won’t you help us?’ ‘You’re no better than Joey.’ ‘Sammy, help us!’ ‘I thought you loved me...’ ‘Sammy, help us!’ ‘You promised me that you’d always be there!’ ‘Sammy, help us!’ ‘They were right about you...’ ‘Sammy, help us!’ ‘Saaaaaammyyyyyyy....’

He knew that the lost ones, searchers and Prophet could hear each others’ thoughts, but didn’t understand what that was like until now that he was hearing Sammy’s thoughts. No wonder most of them were always so depressed and on edge...

‘Sammy?’ the gofer shook Sammy gently, only to hear his own voice join the chorus of other Henries as one of the ones who sounded like he was mad at him. ‘Sammy, snap out of it!’ he shook the Prophet harder, still not waking the Ink creature out of its trance. ‘SAMMY!’ Doing the first thing that came to mind out of desperation, Buddy slapped the mask clean off of it.

The music and voices died as if they were a candle light snuffed out by the wind.

For a few seconds that felt more like hours, Buddy and Sammy stared at each other in silence before Sammy put its mask back on as if nothing happened and led the toon wolf out of the goldfish room, took a key out of its pocket and locked it behind them.

-----

Back in the safe house, Buddy started up a pot of bacon soup, the stuff tasted a little bit better when it was hot while Sammy tuned the banjo in the dining area and Dot tried to stir up conversation.

“So... how did the supply run go?”

“Fine.”

Buddy involuntarily let out a snort as he took the soup off the stove and took out his typewriter.

[It was the scariest one we’ve ever done so far.

While looking around for stuff, we ended up in this place S The Prophet called ‘the Goldfish room’ and it was filled with dead bodies. HUMAN dead bodies. And mine was in the pile! I couldn’t tell if it was haunted or if it was just the prophet’s thoughts going]

“Little wolf, I do not wish to think about that room again...”

[Sorry.]

The wolf sheepishly put the typewriter to the side and poured the soup into bowls. As the toon and lost one ate, the prophet mostly just stared into his bowl as if he was watching something in it.

“...Before my enlightenment, I was not a good person.” The masked musician stated unprompted.

“Huh?”

“I wasn’t an evil person per say, and I wouldn’t go as far as to call the man I used to be a monster.” He sighed and adjusted his mask. “But I was certainly a bad person, an asshole, a coward who hid behind physical strength, and I had more vices than virtues.”

[Prophet, what are you talking about?]

“I’m trying to answer the questions I know you have before either of you two pester them out of me. Maybe when you’re sated my Lord will allow me to forget again.”

[Are you sure? you seemed really upset back ...there.]

“Well look at it this way, maybe getting it off your chest will help you feel better about it?”

“I suppose...” The prophet sighed again.

“So what does you being a crackhead before finding the Ink Demon Religion have to do with a room full of dead bodies?”

“Dorthy!”

“...I’ll just listen before asking anything else.”

“Thank you.” It readjusted its mask. “Now where was I...” it hummed to itself for a bit before speaking again, with venom slowly but surly pooling into its words. “I had more vices than virtues, and Joey could see all of both, using my virtues to his advantage, and using my vices against myself, he did everything he could to keep me from leaving him too, and it worked.”

The prophet took in a deep breath to stabilize itself.

“Every time I tried to leave, he did something else to make me stay; ‘I love you’s turned to gifts, gifts to false promises, false promises to threats, threats to blackmail, blackmail to going through with it, and when he felt me slipping through his fingers he turned to taking advantage of my addictions... That... monster was a parasite in all aspects except physically... And I didn’t even notice until I might as well have been a walking corpse as I was seeing others march to my fate, but I couldn’t even so much as squeak out a warning without Joey swooping in on his behalf. Some Henries, heads of the art department, didn’t need to be warned by me as they found out what would await them and fled. But Joey didn’t like that... When I tried to warn the ones who needed to be warned, it was easy for him to dismiss me as a loon, a drunk, and an addict, until eventually I just gave up. I couldn’t even save myself, let alone anyone else... let alone the other art departments...”

“...I just stopped trying to keep Joey from leading the sheep to the slaughter, maybe they’re right to be angry at me for being such a coward...”

It then turned to face the wolf and put its hand on his shoulder.

“You’ve asked yourself if you’ve ever met me before the Ink had claimed me, as for that, I don’t know, nor do I think it matters, Buddy. I was nothing but a shallow and beaten husk of myself long before I even had tasted the ink. Even if you met me before then, you only met a ghost, not a person.”

The three then stayed in silence for a while before the clicks of Buddy’s typewriter caught the other two’s attention.

[Well, if it helps you any I think you’re not as bad of a person as you tell yourself you used to be.]

“And I don’t need to hear everyone’s thoughts to know that you’ve really stepped up to the plate when it counted. I don’t think a coward would try to do have the stuff you’re doing now.”

“Thanks you two” The Prophet’s voice cracked with emotion. “That... that really means a lot to me.”

[sepublic]

When Eda/Luz is Threatened...

           Okay, I know @novelist-becca already went over this in the past, but screw it, I’m in the mood to gush about Eda and Luz, so;

           It’s worth noting that there’s a pretty clear difference between how Eda reacts towards someone who threatens her, VS someone who threatens Luz. Tibbles and Lilith serve as pretty good control groups, given how they’ve interacted with Eda and Luz separately on a different basis, and Eda’s reaction to them in each scenario clearly differs…

           In Tibbles’ case- There isn’t any retaliation to begin with, at first! Yeah Eda hates his guts, but as soon as she gets her elixir, she and King just ditch him to his fate. Eda doesn’t even know that the Mud & Sundry stand is about to collapse on Tibbles when she leaves, so from her perspective, HER issue with getting the elixir is well and done- And that’s it! No need for revenge, Eda has no pragmatic quarrel with Tibbles, and it’s very practical of her as a result.

           …But when Tibbles threatens Luz, King, Willow, and Gus? When he tried to KILL them outright, whereas the last time, he just dressed King up in cute clothes? THEN Eda retaliates violently… Tibbles’ scheme is already ruined and she could easily steal his snails for herself, the kids and King are safe, Eda herself had no participation in Tibbles’ scheme… But the kids were threatened, and Eda goes out of her way to dump a bunch of crab-apples upon Tibbles, setting him up to be eaten alive by his own animals- She’s trying to kill him here, and honestly, I can’t blame her.

           Eda’s lax attitude towards Tibbles is also prevalent early in Really Small Problems; He’s apparently been trying to send her death threats, and even if that wasn’t Tibbles… Eda seems more concerned about Tibbles’ potential plot towards her, than actually getting back at him for past incidents. Even when she easily sees past Tibbles’ attempt to poison her, Eda just… Goes on with her day, doesn’t bother with Tibbles. She leaves him be, repeatedly spares him of her own volition- And so Tibbles pushes his luck when he targets Luz. THEN he only has himself to blame when Eda sets him up to die; If we never see Tibbles again after this, it’d be a safe assumption to say he actually gets killed off-screen because of Eda.

           All in all, Eda’s attitude towards Tibbles is incredibly lax- Yeah he’s a threat to her, yeah he’s annoying and despicable… But otherwise Eda only does what needs to be done, until Luz is threatened. This pairs well with her interactions with Lilith- Lilith is set to capture Eda… And obviously, Lilith doesn’t plan to actually kill Eda, Lilith thinks she’s helping Eda, and also they’re both sisters who –mostly- know one another… So yeah, that plays a role into Eda not feeling all too threatened nor preemptively defensive when Lilith is around. She lets Lilith into her space, doesn’t try to strike back in anticipation UNTIL Lilith messes up…

           And even then, Eda never actually aims to hurt Lilith! She goes out of her way to save her, and their duel in Covention was clearly treated as more of a fun spat than an actual attempt to hurt each other! Eda seemed to treat it that way at least, and when her curse is brought up, Lilith makes it clear again that, yes, she doesn’t actually mean to hurt Eda (even if she still does anyway by accident).

           But then Luz is captured, and… Well, Eda’s downright murderous attitude towards Lilith says more than enough. When she confronts her sister minutes before execution, Eda first mentions Lilith hurting LUZ above all-else, as if that’s more important to her than being cursed. And, I can see why- The curse happened years ago. Eda knows that Lilith has been trying to fix the curse, that much was made clear since Sense and Insensitivity at the latest. She obviously regrets what she did, and hey, it was only at EDA…

           But Luz didn’t deserve to be threatened. Luz didn’t deserve to almost die, whereas Lilith’s curse never physically harmed Eda, at least not in a direct sense. And it’s King vouching for Lilith by pointing out that she helped LUZ, that Eda then stops her attack- That, and to also not hurt King. Eda seems to care more about Lilith hurting her found family, and conversely, that means Eda is less than impressed by attempts to appease her; But attempts to make up by appeasing the ones she loves and helping them, THAT changes her tune!

           Which, one could perhaps get into speculation that maybe this relates to Eda perhaps not thinking very highly of herself… Or at the very least, she of course values her loved ones WAY more than she does herself, which doesn’t necessarily mean Eda has any low self-esteem! She definitely seems confident enough and it’s not exactly an illusion, but Eda’s own pride in herself could’ve partly stemmed as a survival tactic from the pain and ostracization of the curse by others, being persecuted by the Emperor’s Coven, etc. She does seem to genuinely believe what she says, Eda isn’t just saying it to fool herself- And while there are cracks in the façade here or there, they seem more standard insecurities, and not pointing to Eda making everything up.

           Really, you could go out and say that this evokes the attitude of Eda not really blaming people for being mad at her, even! She knows she’s mischievous and a troublemaker, a rascal who revels into it- She’s a pickpocket and well aware of it… Eda has a tendency to intentionally aggravate others, so she figures it’s not too personal if people hate her, because YEAH- If Eda met herself, she’d hate Eda too! It’s like Eda’s lowkey accepting and admitting her own flaws, or that in some scenarios, such as Tibbles in Hooty’s Moving Hassle- It isn’t meant to be anything personal besides individual gain and greed. It’s just someone trying to get by, even if it IS at the expense of someone else, but that’s about it. And even when Tibbles DOES try to get personal with Eda, again- She lets him be.

           Eda accepts that yeah, she IS a bit irritable and a mess, what about it? It is who she is, and HEY, she’s pretty empathetic, she can understand why people do things, she won’t hold a grudge… But when her own loved ones are threatened, that’s different, because they mean SO MUCH more to her! Not to mention Luz is a literal child and doesn’t deserve any attacks by whatever adult is targeting her… Eda’s willing to forgive and forget, but when it comes to Luz, hurting her apprentice/daughter is borderline unforgivable.

           Then we have people like Wrath; Eda seems like she could’ve initially humored his request to be his girlfriend for like, a day or two before she’d make it backfire on him… But then she notices Luz, who’s being physically harassed by Wrath, and she makes up her mind- If Luz has to put up with this danger and discomfort for even another second, and ploy or ruse to get by Wrath isn’t worth it! Eda will take him head-on, and even then… She makes it clear that her main concern is always Luz, she makes sure LUZ gets away from the Conformatorium, even at the risk of Eda’s self- It’s Luz who matters for Eda, it’s what happens to Luz that forms the basis of her priorities!

           We have Adegast, who Eda mostly knows as the creep who targeted Luz and held her hostage… And likewise, he had a LOT of those fake maps created, so who knows how many people he’d target, or already had? And how many of them are kids- These ‘Chosen One’ maps seem like they’d only work for the kind of young kid with that sort of imagination… So naturally, Eda doesn’t hesitate to kill Adegast by eating him alive, because hey, she can also get a snack out of it!

           There IS a bit of an exception in the Slitherbeast… However, the Slitherbeast isn’t some malicious adult- It’s literally just a wild animal, they don’t and usually can’t operate on our usual standards of morality. Not only that, but the Slitherbeast didn’t go out of its way to hurt Luz, it ony retaliated when she wounded it with a pretty huge fireball- And even then, it didn’t actually hurt Luz, it only succeeded in kidnapping Eda, Emira, and Edric. The Slitherbeast DOES at one point corner Luz later on, but she manages to fend for herself, and with everything mentioned above- And yeah, Eda isn’t going to hold any grudges against the wild animal that HAD been trying to mind its own business, when Luz had accidentally hurt it- And it’s not like it could’ve known that was an accident.

           So, Slitherbeast gets a pass. Then there’s Once Upon a Swap… Again, Lilith is a special case in that Eda knows she’s fundamentally a good person, they’re sisters and whatnot- And of course, Lilith doesn’t know she’s threatening Luz, she think she’s going after Eda, so Eda can’t blame her for intentionally trying to hurt Luz, that’s a pure accident that’s kind of Eda’s fault anyway. On the flipside, you have Boscha and her friends attacking King-in-Luz’s-body… And to be fair, it’s King- King can definitely get himself into deserved trouble. So they’re not REALLY retaliating against Luz for her own actions, it’s King for HIS own actions, even if they think it’s Luz… Plus, Boscha and her posse are literal kids.

           Aside from mixing everyone’s bodies up to provide cover for herself and the others, Eda doesn’t try to harm or retaliate! She doesn’t even try to get back at Roselle and Dottie, who tried to hold her prisoner! Again, Eda really is a forgive-and-forget kind of person, but when it comes to others… She can’t speak on their behalf, and she doesn’t ever want a kid like Luz to feel obligated to forgive an adult who hurt her. That’s not Luz’s responsibility, she shouldn’t have been hurt no matter what in the first place.

           Then we’ve got all those other episodes… Eda doesn’t know that Amity tried to get Luz dissected, and anyhow I doubt Amity actually intended for Luz to be hurt, just aiming for her to be pushed into a corner where she’s forced to out herself. Being a young kid like Luz, whom Eda knows is the child to Odalia and Alador, who likely stood out to her as a nasty bunch… And she can understand, even if it’s wrong- At least enough to not go out of her way to seek revenge on a literal child. This also applies to Covention, and Amity didn’t even try to hurt Luz, and as far as Eda knows, Luz agreed to that binding oath to not practice spells if she failed!

           Eda doesn’t know about the Demon Hunters who threatened Luz or the others… She DID meet them in Escape of the Palisman, but she doesn’t seem to recognize them, and clearly Luz and the others tried their best to cover up the incident. If Eda had recognized the Demon Hunters, I imagine she wouldn’t have just let things be, but who knows? She doesn’t hold anything against them, and in THAT case, they didn’t know Eda was a witch, they thought she was a wild animal out of control and a threat to others… Which she WAS (Eda even threatens Luz and King in that state), so Eda can’t blame them.

           Eda doesn’t know about what happened in Lost in Language… Mattholomule’s antics and that Detention Monster are already being resolved and anyhow aren’t life-threatening. Eda isn’t aware of what went on with the Bat Queen, but ultimately the Bat Queen turned around for Luz’s sake and only tried to chase off Luz for Owlbert’s sake, because Luz DID hurt Owlbert, so Eda can of course sympathize with that kind of protective nature- Plus Eda and the Bat Queen are on good terms and they love each others’ kids!

           Piniet… WELL, that’s an interesting conflict- If Luz and King hadn’t escaped, I also feel like Eda would’ve been VERY brutal with him, if aforementioned precedents set any example. She’d of course track down Piniet by learning about Ruler’s Reach, and Piniet would be in for a reckoning… Then we have The First Day, the Greater Basilisk is already incapacitated/dead by the time Eda arrives. Eda doesn’t know what goes on with Inner Willow, who only targets Amity from being literally set on fire… And while we don’t see Eda tackle Grom herself, she was obviously poised to beat it to kingdom come. And then there’s Boscha in Wing it like Witches, which Eda doesn’t know about, and also Boscha is a literal child.

           Repeating what is already well-established and obvious by this point- Eda seems to have an almost selfless double-standard… In that, she doesn’t really hold it against others who have a conflict with her, unless it’s a really personal betrayal like in Lilith’s case… But even then, Eda doesn’t go out of her way to kick an opponent when they’re down, or even hurt them, until Luz is threatened. And, I think that’s really sweet- Eda knows she’s flawed. Eda’s a full-grown adult, she’s definitely done things that would make people rightfully mad at her… But Luz?

          Even if she DID mess up, it’s definitely not out of malice, because that kid is trying her best- Plus she’s a KID, she doesn’t deserve to be hurt for that! Eda can understand if another kid doesn’t quite understand that, because children don’t think things through… But when an adult with power and age levies that over Luz the child? Eda doesn’t necessarily think of Luz as lesser or ‘weak’ for being a kid… More on that later… But while she wants Luz to be able to stand up for herself and be her own person, let her do things by her own request; As someone who was alone for so long, abandoned because of the curse and for being a criminal…

           Eda can’t bear to let Luz handle that burden on her own, even if she could- Because she’s a KID, she shouldn’t HAVE to do that in the first place! Eda’s not gonna fail Luz, not like how Gwendolyn seemed to fail her and Lilith… And, that plays into her kind of laughing off Luz’s attempt to take on Grom, when she first announces it! Eda doesn’t necessarily think of Luz as weak, and it’s clear that by the end of the day, she knows that as a kid, Luz shouldn’t be expected to handle that kind of terror… And this of course plays into how Eda has zero judgment when she reassures Luz and is ready to take on the responsibility of Grom, until Amity steps in. Coupled with giving the Witch’s Wool cloak to Luz (which Eda also had the concern that she herself wouldn’t need it soon enough), and Luz’s own accomplishments in the season finale… Managing to free Eda, fighting her way through the Conformatorium, instantly solo-ing Warden Wrath, and even damaging Belos?

           Coupled with how Eda has no issues with learning glyphs from Luz, because she believes and trusts in Luz’s guidance, knowledge, and skill as a witch- And I think it’s likely that Eda greatly respects Luz’s strength as a witch, if she hadn’t already… She was clever enough to figure out the glyphs, after all- And I think that REALLY began to change Eda’s perception of Luz’s potential, even beyond Luz rallying Tiny Nose and the others against Wrath, and having the maturity to dispel Adegast’s illusions! Luz wasn’t just strong in the emotional, spiritual sense- She has a real pragmatic cleverness, wit, adaptability, creativity, and now magical skill, that is worth recognizing and honing! And not just because she has no other choice, I think Eda genuinely trusts and respects Luz, to be willing to learn from her…

           …Even so- Eda’s totally going to freak out anyway if anyone keeps trying to threaten Luz, and dang it, she’ll do all she can to protect Luz, even if Luz is arguably more capable of defending herself now! Because she’s a kid, just because she can, doesn’t mean she should, Luz shouldn’t have to worry about that, screw anyone else who suggests otherwise!