#but oh well welcome to my brain i like strong emotions

[somedaytakethetime]

I have been listening to this cover on loop for.. a long time now.. I should also preface with the fact that I'm incredibly emotionally unstable and tender today... 😶😶 so.... 😶 I have an abandoned idea and hopefully that'll come out right. How do we feel about fake dating, severe emotional conflict and also a bit of angst that will turn out well? Bit of.. hm... you know.. references... on the side.. 😶 I'm me.. everything is horny with me.. if you were around long enough you would have lived through it.. Warnings: Mild. Very mild. So mild that the water isn't even warm yet. But it's still a bit of non appropriate content for the childrens so.. you know the drill.. Word Count: TOO EFFING MANY! HOW MANY!? SIX THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETEEN MANY! YES I'M A CRIMINAL AND I'M SORRY

"Are we good friends?" you lift your head up from the papers you're going over and look at him, he's standing there serious and waiting for an answer. "No, I hate your guts. Why do you ask?" you say with an eye roll that shows you're joking, and he rolls his back, "I'm serious. Answer me. Are we good friends? Are we close friends? Are we on that level of friendship?" you look at him suspicious.. why is he asking all of these things? And how do you answer? Are you? You haven't been working here very long, it's long enough that you've grown comfortable with everyone though, you have to deal with all these men on a daily basis and you've learned how to handle each and every one of them. You like him the best, mostly because he's quiet and when you have to deal with so much testosterone? You want quiet. Plus, he's unfairly funny too. He's not the most extroverted, keeps to himself, but god is he hilarious once you get to know him. And you have. You've gotten to know him very well, you've probably grown closest to him out of everyone of them. In part because of how respectful he's always been, and in part because.. you shake your head and look at him, you suppose that.. "Yes. I think so? I would consider you a good friend, but do you consider me a good friend?". You list it out mentally: you text often enough, you have inside jokes, you feel comfortable with him, he's warmed up to you, you're totally comfortable to tease each other and bicker a lot. Yes, he's a good friend. But what if.. his voice breaks your pondering again, he's serious and quick, "Of course I do. That's why I need your help." oh... this isn't going to end well for you, is it? He's asked for help before.. it never ends well for you...

"I can't believe that I'm actually doing this.. I don't even think this is allowed! Do you understand how much trouble I'll be in if anyone finds out!?" and he just shrugs and laughs it off, scans the racks of dresses again and looks at a few before shaking his head and putting them back, "I'll cover for you the way you cover for me. You'll be fine, no one will fire you." and you scoff again, "Staff isn't allowed to date within the company! It's literally in my contract!" he just looks at you, smirking smugly, "Well, good thing that we're not dating." and pulls out another dress, looks at it from all angles, presses it into your hands and says "Go try this one on, I think the colour and cut will suit you." you sigh, exasperated, but walk away and do what he tells you to. Why did you agree to this again? Oh, yeah, because you're ''good friends''. And ''good friends'' help each other in times of need. You can still hear his pleading voice and you feel contrived. Yes, good friends help each other with mild tasks. Not with faking a relationship! You can't even legally do it, your contract states just that! You think... you can't remember exactly but you're pretty sure that's what clause 18 means.. too many clauses to remember.. you ignore clauses and huff as you take your clothes off and try the dress he handed you. He's going to a family wedding, needs a date and he wants you to fake being with him. Why can't he just take another girl that won't lose her job over this? Oh, yes, because he doesn't want to, right. "I'm just tired. I don't want to date. I don't want a relationship, I really don't, my last one was awful.. and that was years ago, I just don't care for this anymore. I want my family to stop bothering me about being single, I just need you to fake it this once with me and I'll never ask a favour again! Swear!" and he did look cute, holding his hand over his chest like a little boy scout, you'll give him the fact that he's adorable at times. Even if he would likely choke you for calling him adorable. You take a deep breath and stand up to face your reflection "Holy shit." this is.. not the dress you would have picked for yourself. It's gorgeous, yes, but there's a lot of chest.. tasteful, but you don't usually show your cleavage this openly.. can you even wear black to a wedding?? You open the door and walk towards where he sits, "Can I wear bl-" and he shakes his head, "Yes, you can. Trust me. At least three of my cousins will wear black. Plus, it'll match my suit the best and I think we should match. That's something couples do, no?" and you just look at him.. "I.. guess?" you really aren't sure, you've never been serious enough with anyone that you were matching for weddings. But in any case, it's his money. He's buying this dress so.. you'll take a pretty, expensive dress when offered.. besides you look kind of nice in it. Maybe... '"Stop being insecure." you look up at him, realising that he could notice you fussing and trying to hide yourself, "You look beautiful. I like how this dress looks on you. You hide yourself too much.", and you just look at him. You didn't know he.. noticed you like that. You don't think any of them notice you, that's your intention. But he did anyway. A warmth starts spreading in your chest and you just turn back "Okay, we'll get this one. It's your choice anyway, Mr. Moneybags, you know your family best." and quickly walk into the dressing room to change back.

"Oh god, why did I say yes again?" you're shaking, you're so nervous. You're walking through the pebbled path as you make your way into the giant private garden his cousin rented for his wedding. You're terrified of meeting his family. You're going to be introduced as.. what? Lord knows what. He has barely told you anything this far besides "I'll pick you up at home, be ready when I get there." and "You don't need to stress, my family is incredibly relaxed and they don't care for pomp. You'll see." sure.. you'll see... you'll see that apparently his cousin is also incredibly rich! Or at least it looks that way. God, you're going to make a fool out of yourself in front of all of these people... you should leave, you can fake sickness, you can-.. you can feel his hand engulf yours. A massive, strong hand suddenly snaking around your trembling one. His thick fingers force yours apart and lock them with his. It cuts your breathing for a second and you look up at him, "Please, stop that. You're safe. I wouldn't ask you if I thought anyone would be rude to you. My family will love you, I'm sure my mother will lose her mind. My father isn't a monster, even if he looks more intimidating, he'll be delighted with you too. He's been telling me to settle down for years.. they'll love you. I trust you completely and I want you to trust me too." he's looking into your eyes and you feel the urge to cry suddenly, you don't know why, there's just something there.. "I know it doesn't always come across that way, it's my temper, but I really like you. You're a good friend, I trust you. I've open up to you a lot more than I've opened up to some others I've known for years. I would have never asked if I didn't think we could fake being a couple well enough. Don't be scared, I'll be right here and you're safe with me. Okay? I don't need you to do anything major. Just need you to act like you don't hate me and that you would, if bribed and begged enough, sleep with me on occasion." he says it with humour, trying to make you laugh, but there's no humour in you right now. There can be none. Because you don't need to pretend that you don't hate him. And you definitely wouldn't need to be bribed into sleeping with him. You'd do so gladly. You'd even offer first. 'You want him' there's the traitorous voice that has been haunting you lately, whenever he's near, and that voice is correct. Which is a thought that scares you even more.

You're not okay. You're just simply not okay at all. You have drank enough that you've let go of all your inhibitions. You're watching him dance with his cousin's bride, lost his jacket and tie a while back, his sleeves are rolled up and he's the freest you've ever seen him. He's beautiful. He's so handsome. And he's hot as hell too. The reception has been beautiful, the speeches were lovely. His whole family nearly dropped in shock when he introduced you to everyone as his girlfriend. His mother shrieked in delight. His cousins did too. Even the bride, who has known him for years and watched him grow up, came over and gave you a huge hug, "Oh, I'm so happy to meet you!! He's a dog for hiding you from us, but I'm glad that you're finally taking him off the streets.. he's been evading love for too long." and she side eyed him, called him a sneak for keeping you hidden from them and he pouted and told her to get off his back. She treats him like a baby brother and it makes him huffy when he's treated like a child. All of his older cousins do, and they've ribbed him all night about not telling anyone that he was dating 'such a gem'. You're a gem. You've never been called a gem. Or beautiful this often either. His mother has hugged you and danced you with like she's known you for years. His father, tall and intimidating, has smiled softly at you often and asked you to dance with him too. They've been lovely and keep telling you how happy they are that he's finally found someone. "You're such a lovely girl, I can tell, and.. he deserves it so much. He's been alone for too long, he deserves a girl that will treat him right this time." it's tumbling in your head. What happened with his previous relationship? Something awful that everyone keeps avoiding but mentions in passing as something to never be spoken of openly. It must have been horrible if it put him off of dating for so long. You focus on him again, dancing with one of his baby cousins now, tiny little toddler that twirls her dress when he spins her gently. Your heart beats it's way up to your throat and you feel it threatening to come out. 'God, don't... you're faking this, just don't. You don't even know for how long he'll ask you to fake it, nothing makes sense about it.. but just.. don't.. be a good friend and don't.' yet.. you still swoon and sigh at the way he lifts his baby cousin up in the air and she squeals with delight, says his name in that baby tender way children do, and melts into his embrace as he kisses her a million times. He looks straight into your eyes suddenly, smiling as he kisses this baby, and you feel your heart again. You smile back at him, fondly and in love, and you lie and tell yourself that you're faking it.

"I need you to be free this Saturday, please tell me you are." you nearly jump out of your skin when you hear his voice behind you. Drop all the supplies you'd been grabbing from the cupboard and turn around, startled and a little angry, "Can you stop doing that!? How do you walk this quietly!!?? Are you a spy for some special organisation!??" and his hearty laugh turns your legs a little into jelly, "Are you free on Saturday or not, girlfriend?" your traitorous heart speeds up at being called girlfriend, you ignore it and ask him suspiciously, "I think so? Why am I being asked this.." and when he gives you that angelic smile you know you're in trouble again.. "My mum has invited us for lunch. Dad's cooking.", you give him a neutral look, "I promise he can cook! I swear men in my family are great cooks! It's a cultural thing.", and you watch him get smug, your blood rushes faster in your veins, but you choose a frown instead of swooning, "Do I really have to..", he looks a bit taken back by that but says softly, "I wouldn't force, of course, I would never do that. But.. we are dating. And my parents want to know you better. You have to remember that I did sort of just drop this on everyone out of the blue.." he looks dejected, you've never seen him this way, you don't like how it makes you feel.. "I don't mean that I don't want to, I'm sorry, but I'm just scared.. what if they don't like me? And what if I put a foot wrong? At the wedding it was easy to pretend. I wasn't the focus, and you cut all the questions down. But.." you say his name softly, "This time is different. They'll expect me to answer questions too. What if I don't know what to say and give us away?". he does it again.. his hand reaches for yours, holds them gently while his thumbs softly stroke your skin in a soothing gesture, "Hey, I'm right here. I'll be with you the whole time. I won't let you drown. We can do this together, I know my parents. They will only ask you questions about yourself, you can answer that, I'll answer what needs to be said for us.", you nod, his voice is so soothing, it makes your whole body relax, but you still say, "You can't always be doing that. We need to work a plan for how we met, how we started dating, all the details. We both need to know exactly what to say and it needs to match. We can't wing this. If we're going to pretend, we need to do it well.", he smirks at you, amused, "You're so cute. Always so obsessed with details, always want to do every little thing right. I love that about you.", your breath catches your throat and you watch him get closer to you, "Why don't you come over for dinner tonight and we'll discuss the details? I'll cook. I swear I'm good at it!", you barely find the breath to say a quiet 'of course' as his name is called from down the hall, he smiles, kisses your cheek with all the casualty in the world, and says "I'll pick you up at seven, girlfriend!" and starts to stroll away, suddenly looks back and adds, "By the way.. I like that dress, it makes your eyes sparkle. You should wear it more.". Leaves you standing there, heart hammering in your chest, thinking 'why did I say yes again?'..

He wasn't lying. He can actually cook. It's a simple meal but it still made you feel warm inside when he said "I'm making my favourite for us, I hope you'll like it.", before you watched him cook dinner for you. He doesn't let you touch anything, just told you to sit and relax, "Let me handle everything.", and you grabbed the glass he gave you and walked to his couch. You don't always drink, but he has impeccable taste and this wine, something you don't ever think much about, is very light. "White wine goes best with what I'm making, so I hoped you'd enjoy it." it tastes.. expensive. You don't know how you know that, but the bottle is so non-descript that it has to be expensive. His house has to be expensive too. You don't recognise a single thing in it, but the minimal decoration, neutral colours and the feel of the fabrics just says 'yes, he really paid several amounts of money for this grey couch'. You're afraid to spill wine on it, so you get back up and go sit across from him at the bar stools by the island. You take small sips as you watch him, relaxed and free, in just a basic black tshirt and grey joggers. 'Even that's expensive' you notice the Boss logo so that one you know for sure, but regardless of the price.. it's not really the logo you're appreciating. It's the way his body looks in that tshirt. The way his butt looks in the joggers too when he turns around to grab something from the fridge.. "Do you have any allergies?" you look up at him quickly, he definitely found you starring at his butt if the smirk is any indication, and you turn pink, say quickly to hide your embarrassment, "Not that I'm aware.", his voice is thick with amusement, "Let's hope we don't find out tonight." and goes back to cooking. "How did we start dating?", you ask emboldened and he doesn't skip a beat or look surprised, "I'm going to be honest, I think the best way is for us to say that we just started to grow close at work and one thing led to another. There's no need to give a lot of details, the less we say, the better it'll benefit us in the end.", and you nod, take a longer sip and stay silent. He's right. The less details you give to anyone, the easier the lie is to keep up. It's the logical, correct approach. And if it's the logical, correct approach.. why are you disappointed that there's no romance to it?

His body is warm against yours, his lips are soft as he kisses your neck. His hands are roaming your body and you moan openly when he sinks deeper, legs tightening around his hips, you cling to him and melt as he whispers in your name in your ear. You're so close. He's so good, he's always so good at everything, of course he'd be good at sex too, but.. he's just so good.. you want him so badly, you want it all so badly, you whine and moan and beg and.... wake up. Startled that your alarm went off. Nearly fall out of bed and look around, confused and frantic, trying to find out where you are. Home. In your bed. Alone, as usual. 'Right..', you sigh and get up, start to get ready for the day as the images play in your mind. You had a lovely dinner, you sat on his couch talking for far too long to the point you lost track of time and he even offered to let you sleep over "I'll take the couch, you can take my bed. I'm a gentleman, always." you can hear his voice so clear and that made your stomach twist again. You didn't want him to be a gentleman.. so you shook your head and told him you'd rather go home, made up the excuse that you can't sleep unless it's in your bed just to hide how disappointed you were. He's.. honest. That's the problem. He's been honest the entire time. He asked you a favour. Asked you to fake a relationship with him just for a while until his family stops bothering him and then he'll inform them you broke up, go back to being solitary as he's content to be. He told you that, in those exact words. And.. it stung. Even if you know that it shouldn't. Because, the truth that you are having a harder and harder time ignoring is: you like him. You had a crush on him before you started working there, you knew who he was. Of course you did. And working closely with him just made it worse. This is making it worse. Because now you get to experience what would be like to date him, yet.. you can't date him. No one can even know about it at work, granted he doesn't seem to care. Everything about this can, and will, end up horribly. Especially for you. You go to work feeling like a zombie, do your tasks mechanically, can't stop having flashes of your dream. How warm he felt, how good he felt. It makes you feverish and you're out of sorts all day. You're distracted and you keep reading the same line over and over until his voice breaks your trance "Are you free on Saturday or no? You never told me." you just nod, absent minded, "Yes, I am. Where do I need to be and at what time?", you're colder to him than he's used to and it makes him frown a little, "I'll pick you up as usual. Would you like me to buy you something to wear? I'm not insulting you, just offering if you'd like a new dress or a new outfit just in case.", that hurts your fragile ego given how you're feeling, "I have enough clothes and they'll suit just fine, thank you. Your parents surely won't be mortally offended to see me wearing high street, not if they're no pomp people the way you said.", he scoffs ,"No, they won't. No one cares about branding in my family, but thanks for thinking that poorly of us.", "Thanks for treating me like your poorly dressed sugar baby in a need of a make-over.", his eyes turn cloudy and he says, curtly, "I wasn't trying to imply that at all, I just made an offer. Given that you're doing all of this for me, I just thought it would be nice if I did something for you.", it offends you more, you interpret that as a being seen as a gold digger, "I don't need your money, I make my own. I can buy myself clothes, even if not with the price tags you can afford. And besides, I don't need anything from you, I agreed because we're good friends, remember?", he just nods and walks away without a single word. And you get up, walk to the bathroom, and lock yourself in one of the cubbies, sobbing quietly, for a good 15 minutes.

The ice has melted by the weekend and you both play the part beautifully. His parents truly are delightful and you do love spending time with them, they're so kind and sweet to you. You warm up more and more around him as the meal goes on and by the end you're sitting in his lap on the couch. It feels so natural. To have his hands on your body, his breath brushing your hair, to have him nuzzle you and place kisses on your temple from time to time. His father's words haunt you even when you're back home, all alone, "I haven't seen you smile like this in so long, son, I'm so happy you found each other." It makes it so much harder. Everything makes it so much harder. Because it starts a flood. The lunch is only the beginning. You start to spend more and more time with him after that. Get invited to go out with his friends and their partners, get invited for family birthdays. You have to watch him be himself around the people he loves the most, pretending to be his loving girlfriend. And you are. At some point it becomes less fake and more real to you. Something changes in him too. He's so free, so tender and touchy with you, his hands always seeking yours, nuzzling you, kissing your face in front of others. You do everything but kiss. Until you're pushed to. Another cousin gets engaged. Yet another family party happens. You're lightly tipsy, keep getting roped into doing shots with his mates. They like you, and you like them too, they're hilarious and they tell you all sorts of embarrassing stories about your "beloved" in his youth. You're just.. happy.. and he's happy too, holding you close, his body tightly pressed to yours, as you dance. You're looking into each other's eyes, you've never wanted to kiss someone as badly as you want to kiss him, and suddenly his cousin, the oldest one, shouts from across the room, "Will you just kiss the girl already!?" and he tells him off, laughing, while you turn bright pink and freeze. Suddenly all of his cousins and mates start shouting, hooting and encouraging him, "Come on, kiss her!", "Are you going to wait until the wedding day to kiss her in front of us!?", "You've never been this shy before!" and he wants to play it off, make sure that you're comfortable and don't feel forced, he whispers softly in your ear "Ignore them, they're being dicks.", but when he looks back at you.. your hands just wrap around the base of his neck, slide up into his hair, pull him down and you kiss him. Hooting and clapping erupts around you but you don't care. You're kissing him. You're actually kissing him. You feel on fire, you've never wanted anything so badly. You melt into him as he keeps kissing you back, hungrily, and it makes you burn even hotter. He pulls back so fast when his cousin, the engaged one, shouts playfully "Get a room!" and you're mortified that you just put on a show. He isn't. Just tells him off and says "You wanted me to kiss my girlfriend, didn't you? There you have it!" and you shiver all over at the mention of girlfriend again. You can't stop looking at him for the rest of the night. You're so into him. You're so desperate. You need him, you just can't play pretend anymore, you need more kisses, more touches, more everything.

It's not your fault that you fall into bed that night, it was simply inevitable. There was so much sexual tension between you after that kiss, or at least you felt it that way. He drives you home and you can't help when you kiss him at your front door. And the way he kisses you back just as quickly, just as desperately, just as willing, has you beg him "Come in. Please.". He does take you inside, you're tipsy in a way that makes you stumble a little, but not in a way that inhibits your judgment. It doesn't matter to him because he refuses to touch you like that, but.. you didn't stand on the same high ground as he did. Touching him made him feel something too, it turned him on and made him break his resolve. Falling into bed felt so natural, so right. Like it was meant to be all along. Feeling him, skin heated, above you as he whispered low in your ear, touching you, kissing you everywhere, sinking deeper and deeper with every thrust, making you arch up into him and moan and whine, his name falling freely from your lips along with begging, driving you both to the brink of sanity and watching it all fall apart as you collided into each other. Two bright balls of fire no longer capable of holding back. It left you euphoric, needing more and more, and he fed off of that energy. You fell apart together more times than you probably should have and you ended up falling asleep on his chest, exhausted, breathless and deeply sated. You dreamt about it in your slept.. imagined the beautiful life you could have together while sleeping safe in his arms... that's why it was extra crushing when you woke up all alone. Naked in your bed, cold in your sheet, with only a small note on your bedside table saying 'I'm so sorry'.

You're focusing extra hard on your work. You sobbed, felt like something was ripped from you, pulled yourself together and got dressed before leaving for work. 'It's fake. It meant nothing at all. You're an idiot. You're the one that fell in love. God, you're so stupid. This is all your fault. Why did you even say yes!? Stupid stupid stupid'. You copy some more lines and scan your work for errors. You might have messed up on other areas, but you're still professional above all. "Hey." his voice feels like a bucket of ice water now, you're no longer happy to have him around. You lift your cold eyes up and pierce him with a glare, "May I help you?" and he at least as the decency to look embarrassed, "I'm so-" you hold up a hand and cut him off, say coldly, "You can cut the crap. I don't give a shit. You can leave and go back to your training. This was it. I'm done, I don't care if you need help. Tell your family that I broke up with you.", you can see panic in his eyes. Good. You want him to hurt the way you're hurting, "I didn't think-" "No, you clearly didn't. I'm glad we agree on that. But none of that matters now because this is over. You got what you wanted and I got what I wanted, so we can both part ways now. Just inform your family that it's over and tell them that I did it. I want them to think I'm the bitch instead, that will make you look better. See? Aren't I nice to you, good friend!" your voice drips with sarcasm and he suddenly turns cold, "Of course. Thank you for your help." and just turns his back and walks away. It's a good thing that the bathroom is so close.. because you're going to hide in the same cubbie as usual and cry all through lunch again.

It's needless to say he feels sick. This isn't what he wanted at all. He freaked out and he knows. But that's exactly why he wanted to talk to you. Because.. he loves you. The previous night was just too much for him. He's been trying to push down all these feelings that have been bubbling inside him and he couldn't push them any longer. He didn't mean for anything to get so far, but you were so.. enticing. He wanted you. He just couldn't push at that anymore. You willingly wanted him too and he gave in. Even for a night, he had to have you, he needed to know what it was like to truly have you. He just wasn't good with the aftermath when all his feelings came crashing down on him and you were sleeping peacefully, no longer an anchor to help guide him on what to do. He responded the way he always does when he's afraid: by growing cold. He left you, all alone, in your bed and only wrote the cowardly note to appease his own conscience that he was doing things to protect you. He's been broken for so long that he doesn't know how to be whole again now. She messed him up, it skewed his views of himself and he didn't want to bring that into your plate. But he's fucked up even more than he would have if he'd been honest and faced the truth. He loves you so dearly, you've brought him so much joy.. he turns the volume higher as that song starts to play, drives home, sings along and feels sorry for himself as he remembers all the moments you've shared. All the times he wanted to kiss you, all the times he's wanted to confess he was falling for you, all the times he's wanted to say 'What if it was real? What if we stopped pretending? What if we truly did this?' but silenced those thoughts instead. He just wanted to talk, wanted to finally expose himself, pull the curtains back and show you all that's him, the rawness that he feels when he's with you. You're like wearing a woolly sweater against his naked skin: it was uncomfortable at first but it brought him so much warmth that he started to miss it even before taking it off. Having to face being in a relationship wasn't easy, it was painful even and he took control of it all on purpose, but as he started to taw out and let you take the wheel it just became easier. You're not like her, you're nothing like her, and you woulnd't hurt him. But he hurt you. It was so easy to love you.. you did it so honestly... with such a freedom and sweetness.. and.. he's in love. And he's waited so long to be in love... he's been so lonely.. he can't. He can't let you go. Not when he's grown this attached to you. Not when you gave him hope.

The incessant knocking on your door is pissing you off. The delivery guy needs to be joking right now, he can't be in much of a hurry. "Fucking hell are you late for the train!?", you swing the door open and it's not the delivery guy, "Yes, I am." he pushes into your house, holds your face in both hands and kisses you fiercely. Resists all your pushes, kicks the door shut behind himself with his foot and doesn't stop kissing you until you grow pliant in his hands, just the way you were the night before. You moan into the kiss and he immediately breaks from you, "I can't tell my parents you broke up with me.", you want to throw him out of your house, you're going to argue but, "In fact, I can't tell anyone that. Because you're not breaking up with me. I'm not letting you.", and he kisses you again, this time even longer, slower and sweeter, and you feel your brain completely dissolve and disappear. "We're not breaking up. We can't and we won't. I fucked up. I was a fucking asshole for leaving like that. I'm sorry. I panicked. I'm in love with you and I panicked.", needless to say that's not what you're expecting to hear at all. You stand there, looking at him like a fish out of water, and he continues, words pouring out of him like the rain that's finally pouring outside after threatening the whole day, "I love you. This started as a way to shut up everyone, to distract them so they would leave me alone again after I told them we broke up and that I just am not meant to be in relationship. But that's a lie. I wasn't mean to be in a relationship with her, but I'm mean to be in one with you. You humbled me. You showed me all these things about myself that I'd never seen. You showed me so much love. You showed me that someone can want me for me. I saw you fall in love with me. I pretended I didn't notice, because it scared me so fucking much. She left me completely fucked up, but you showed me that it doesn't have to be that way. You're honest and you're real, you made me see that I could be too. I want this to be real. I know I've fucked up things with us but I'll spend the rest of our lives correcting this if you let me. So, no, I can't tell my parents that you broke up with me. Because I never even got the chance to really date you, we can't break what never had the room to start."

You swallow and ask softly "What did your ex girlfriend do?", and he inhales sharply, "Fiancée. We even got engaged... because I'm an idiot. She didn't.. she just..", you realise that this is deeper and harder for him to open up about, you take his hand, the way he's done with you many times in the past, "I'm here, remember? You're safe with me. And I'm right here.", you watch him nod slowly, for a split second he looks like a child that's trusting you with all he has, and he sounds more hurt when he speaks again, "We met through a friend. I thought she was the world. I don't know why but it was like... immediate, you know? I just felt like she was what I'd been waiting for all my life. And god, I was so wrong.. but I didn't notice. I trusted her and I did everything she asked me without asking questions. I was eager, I wanted a wife and a family, I don't even know why I was rushing.. probably because I got so swept up in every dream she sold me. But she didn't love me. She just wanted the fame, the cameras.. she wanted the lifestyle, she wanted all this shine.. and that's not the man I am. But I offered it to her still. I proposed because she kept showing me rings and mentioning everyone around us marrying.. I didn't even notice they were older than us, I just started to feel like I had to do it too. We had everything. We got all the details, set all the dates, did the whole rehearsal.. everything. Only two days before we were supposed to marry.. I found her fucking my friend, the same one that introduced us. Turns out they'd been doing that all along.", your heart sinks when he tells you this, you want to find whoever this girl was and hurt her even more than she hurt him, you hold his hands tighter, "I'm so sorry, that's so cruel. You deserve so much better than that." "She told me I didn't. She had told me over our time together that I'm too stubborn, too difficult, too hard-headed to love.. she made me believe she was the only one that could ever put up with me and love me..", you push into his space, hold his face and say softly "You aren't. Yes, you are stubborn. Yes, you're hard-headed and at times that makes you difficult. It's pointless of me to lie to you, but you know what? None of it matters because you are worthy of love. You're easy to love when you're yourself. You're worthy of so much love, because you give so much of it back too. You made it so easy to love you.... I tried so hard to just pretend, to keep it to the lie, to make sure nothing was getting out of control but.. it was so easy to fall in love with you. That scared me so much..", you're so close together, you can feel each others breaths, "You hurt me so badly this morning. I felt my heart being ripped out of my chest. I carelessly let myself fall in love with you and you did that..", his eyes get watery, his voice sounds quieter and shakier, "I'm so sorry. I truly am. I was so scared, but I never meant to hurt you. Please let me make up to you. Let me fix this. Don't push me away now, not when I've finally opened up and allowed you inside. I need you. I don't know what to do without you, it sprung up on me so fast and I'm so lost.. let me fix it, I can fix it, give me a chance. Let me do things right this time, let me show you the love you deserve. Let me make up for everything. Just.. you are my happiness, you're in all of my dreams. Give me a chance to try again, give us a chance at an happy ending. Please.". You're looking into his eyes. All the vulnerability in them for you to openly see. You feel everything he feels right now, as if his emotions are your own, and you nod. Your voice comes out softly, "Yes. I love you. Yes.", and he kisses you like you just made all of his dreams a reality. And maybe.. you have. You'll have a whole life ahead to see if to that.

[rafesfavbimbo]

Part 2 to my Older!Rafe Cameron x Stepdaughter!Reader AU

A/N: I think I’ll make a moodboard for this AU! I hope y’all enjoy this chapter! Thank you for all the support!

TW: Emotional Infidelity! Immoral thinking? Step-cest! Eventual Smut!

Pairing: Older!Rafe Cameron x Stepdaughter!Reader

-

Rafe didn’t think much of it when he came home one day to his living room full of cardboard boxes and pretty pink suitcases. The details of his stepdaughter’s arrival being handled by his wife all on his dime. He didn’t mind, he was more than happy to provide for what would be his family. Yet, he struggled to accept that he would have a 19 year old girl in his house who was suppose to be under his guidance. He could handle babies or toddlers, maybe even a young teen but she’s practically a young woman already. Legal enough to vote and 2 years away from being legal enough to drink. He throws his suitcase on the dining room table as he runs a hand over his face with a sigh. Shrugging off his jacket on the top of one of the chairs of the table and rolling his sleeves up. Rafe walked to the kitchen ready to shout his wife’s name, and look for her when the sight he saw made him stop in his tracks.

Now this, was a nice little surprise. Rafe knows he’s a married man fuck —he knows. If the gold wedding band on his left ring finger was anything to go by. But he’s only a man and he can’t help but stare at the pert little ass spread out in front of him in tiny pink shorts as the top half off whoever was in his fridge rummaged through. His eyes ran down the pretty legs exposed to him and locked on the way her ass was so spread out that he could almost practically see the imprint of her pussy. He cleared his throat and the figure jumped a little, immediately standing up and turning around. The face that came into view made Rafe’s heart stop.

A sweet little angel was standing in front him, a gorgeous face that glowed with youth. Her pretty eyes accentuated by wispy lashes, her plump pout accentuated with a shimmery gloss slathered across. Her wrinkle free complexion dewy with natural makeup and the way she batted her lashes as she took him in as well made him want to groan under his chest. His eyes quickly moved down her half-turned position. Taking in the side swell of her breast in the matching tube top, down to her pinched in waist and pert ass. Fuck —so fucking beautiful. That’s all he could think as he felt his cock harden. His brain racked as he could only come up with one conclusion as to who this is, dread filling in his chest and he told himself this better not be- “oh! You must be Rafe. I’m y/n… your stepdaughter.” Said a sweet voice that sounded like music to his ears, her words registering in his short-circuiting brain. Fuck. His stepdaughter.

Rafe cleared his throat as she turned her front to him and stepped fordeward, plump chest bouncing with each step as her hardened nipples poked through the light pink fabric. Pretty tummy looking so soft and nuzzable as she reached out a pretty manicured hand. Rafe quickly shook the sinful thoughts building in his mind as he finally acknowledged her, his large hand encasing hers as they shook in each other’s grasp. Both their chest tightening and eyes stuck on each other’s as they refused to let go. Sparks were flying, so many fucking sparks that it made a small gasp fall from her pretty lips and his grip on her hand tighten slightly. His cobalt eyes cutting into her as she cowered under his strong gaze. He was so handsome. The years doing good by him and she could not believe this was her stepdad. Why was heat building quickly inbetween her legs for a man who was almost 20 years her senior, a man who was again her stepdad.

When Rafe finally made the move to speak, he dropped her hand quickly before the overwhelming tension that built suffocated him. Running the hand over the back of his buzz-cut as he gave her a warm smile. “Welcome y/n. It’s uh-it’s nice to meet you, your mom hasn’t stopped talking about your arrival.” He drawled, his voice making her want to whimper from how sexy it was. Everything about his was so sexy and she wanted to feel sick at herself for finding him so attractive but how could she? How could anyone? She bat her long lashes at him as she gave him a shy smile before biting her bottom lip. Looking down bashfully at her pedicured toes which Rafe immediately took notice of. He loved a well-pampered girl. Especially one that looked as sweet as her and smelled like creamy vanilla that was hitting his nose. His sweet little stepdaughter who he only just met but all he wants to do is devour her whole.

“Oh, I um.. I guess.” She sighed out, looking back up at him as she shrugged with an ironic smile. “I wish she felt the same way when I was born.” She admitted with a shy whisper, immediately looking down again as she realize she said it to the man her mother was married to. Hoping he didn’t take any offense to her mommy issues. Rafe sighed, stepping forward and reaching his hand under her chin. He pushed it up with his index finger and pinched it with his chin as she looked into his piercing gaze one more. “I know sweetheart, but be happy she’s making the effort now. You’ll be so happy here, I know it. We’re gonna take care of you. Don’t let a thing worry that little brain, you’re home now.” He comforted her, his use of a pet name making her insides turn into goo as she gave him a sweet smile which he immediately returned. He pinched her chin lovingly then pulled it away. He then knocked her chin lightly with his index finger making her let out a sweet giggle that he wanted to hear all the time. His heart already making space for her as she made his insides warm up. Sweet babygirl, I’m going to take such good care of you. Their sweet moment being interrupted by a voice he knew all too well.

“Oh great! You guys have met already I’m so glad! Honey..this is my babygirl!” Gushed his wife as her heels clacked over to her scantily clad daughter, hugging her as the younger girl tensed. Patting her back awkwardly as she looked at Rafe over her mom’s shoulder. Rafe reassured her with a wink and smile, that made her body loosen immediately and return her mother’s embrace. The older woman pulled back with a big smile as she turned to her husband, walking over to him and sliding her hands up his chest as she greeted him with a long peck. “Hi honey, m’so glad you’re home.” She drawled from the back of her throat, closing her eyes and kissing him once more as he stared at the girl behind her. Her pretty lips turning into a small frown as she looked down once more, arms crossing over her chest while she brought one out to inspect her manicure. When his wife pulled back from the kiss he was still staring at his stepdaughter. His gaze quickly moving to his wife’s as he gave her a warm yet not all genuine smile. Her smoothed her hair back as he greeted her with a, “hi honey.” Her smile widened as she turned to her daughter while looping her arm around Rafe’s waist. The two intertwined as they stared at her. Only in different ways. While his wife stared at her with giddiness, ready to build a relationship with her neglected child. Rafe stared at her with a slight frown marring his perfect face. He hated the way she caved in on herself, keeping her gaze down on her toes while she fiddled with her fingers.

“Baby, do you need Rafe to help you put your stuff in your room?” Her mother said softly, stepping forward and reaching out her hand to caress her daughter’s upper arm. The younger girl looked up at her mom, sadness still lingering in her eyes as she nodded slightly. Moving her gaze to Rafe as she cowered under his eye contact, moving her eyes down again immediately. Rafe hated seeing her this way, already feeling so protective of the little princess that landed in his home and was carving out her place in his heart. “Of course. C’mon princess show me where you want it.” He reached out his hand, waiting for her to place hers in his open palm. The younger girl looking at her mom for reassurance, her mom gave her quick nod with a warm smile. Only then, is when she placed her pretty hand into his. The use of a nickname once again settling in her as she smiled at him once more; Rafe immediately returning it with satisfaction settling in his chest. He guided her out of the kitchen and helped her move everything she had with her guidance and soft voice pointing out where she wanted her things to be settled.

-

After less than an hour Rafe brought the last of her things to her room. Watching as her eyes took everything in, moving to the balcony doors and opening them. She walked through excitedly and giggled to herself as she took in the lowering sun, leaving a warm orange haze over Kildare. She sighed as she leaned on the railing, not believing she gets to call this grand room and beautiful view her home. So different from the small apartment and bustling city she used to live in. Rafe shuffled slowly behind her onto the balcony, coming next to her as his eyes stared at her. He watched as she took everything in, her eyes shining with happiness. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” He broke the silence, watching her pretty eyes look into his as she nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” She shyly admitted, looking back at the sun kissing the ocean. Like two lovers meeting again in a warm greeting. Rafe’s eyes still holding onto her as he took in her glow in the lowering sun, his new sweet little angel who he was liking more than just in a fatherly sense.

He watched as her eyes welled up and a single tear dripped down her cheek, more following after from both as her lips pursed in a frown and her chin wobbled. Rafe’s brows furrowing in concern as he took in her the melancholic energy radiating off of her, immediately grabbing her in his arms. She immediately latched onto him, his hand pushing her face into his neck as a sob fell from her lips. Tears wetting his skin as he brought his hand to caress her head, laying his cheek on her as his other arm wrapped around her. “Hey princess,” he cooed to her. “What’s wrong, huh? C’mon sweet girl,” he urged her to answer as her hands curled into his button up and she buried face harder into him. His natural scent, cologne and warm skin immediately soothing her. He smelled and felt like home. His big arms around her as she felt safe in a way she hasn’t in so long. Her dad never held her like this, he never comforted her pain.

Rafe rocked them side to side as her sobs minimized into soft sniffles and whimpers, her arms coming to wrap around his waist as she pulled back to look into his eyes. Her head craning up to look at him as he craned his down. Taking in her red-rimmed eyes, long lashes clumped with tears, and red-tipped nose as he cooed at her once more. So precious, a little doll who needs to be taken care of and protected. He would do just that, he would do anything for her. It’s been only just a couple hours since they met and he’s already completely enamored by her, his feelings walking the tight line of paternal and something romantic. He didn’t know and he didn’t care to figure it out right then. All he knew is that she was his now, under his roof and he was going to ensure his angel was well-taken care of. Rafe brought the hand that was caressing her hair and used his index finger to wipe away her tears, “what’s wrong, hm? What’s got you so down? Aren’t you happy?” He cooed to her once more, cupping her cheek as he urged her to speak. Her lips still in a precious out and swollen from her crying. All he could think is how kissable they look, and as much as he liked how pretty she looked with tears streaming down her cheeks he hated it being from a negative emotion.

“I-I am,” she croaked out, voice raspy from her sobbing session as she nuzzled her cheek into his hand. “I just feel so overwhelmed, so much to take in. I-I’ve never..” she trailed off, looking down as she pushed her forehead onto his chest. Rafe immediately put his hand under her chin and pushed her head up to look back into his eyes, urging her to continue. “I’ve never had anything like this before. I’m so grateful, I’ve never been held so tightly this way or cared about. My dad was… let’s just say he wasn’t always nice an-and we lived paycheck to paycheck in a tiny apartment. For all this to be mine an-and you being so sweet to me. It’s all so much, and m’sorry for crying.” She whispered the last part, Rafe taking in her words as his arm tightened around her and his thumb and index finger pinched her chin. He gave her a sad smile as his thumb caressed her. The tip of it grazing the bottom of her lower lip. Anger building in his chest at the thought that she’s been living like that for so long, she deserves everything. All the luxury he was going to provide for her and he doesn’t even want to dwell on what she said about her father. He can’t imagine anyone treating her less than the princess she is. His princess now.

“It’s okay, baby.” He felt her hands fist the back of his shirt as he granted her a new nickname. Something way more intimate than the one he’s been calling her. “I’m gonna take care of you okay,” he spoke seriously, holding her eyes with his piercing gaze as he urged her to understand his words. Watching hers soften slightly, “You don’t need to worry about him anymore, or worry about that life anymore. You’re here now, with me. With your mom.” He added the last part for the sake of some normalcy, watching her deflate slightly as she remembered this was her mother’s husband. A woman who gave her up so easily and lived a beautiful life while knowing her daughter didn’t. “Maybe one day, you’ll tell me everything. For now, I want you to get some rest and sleep in the big bed that’s all yours now.” He pinched her chin once last time, using it to bring her closer as he guided his lips to her forehead. Kissing it softly with small pecks as both their eyes closed.

Warmth radiated over them and encased them in a small bubble. The orange haze of the lowering sun a physical representation of such. Deep inside they both knew this was crossing a big boundary, they should feel sick at being so touchy with each other so early on especially under the circumstances. He’s her stepdad, she’s his stepdaughter. Though they can’t find it in themselves to care, because it felt so fucking good and neither of them wanted it to end. They could stay in each other’s arms forever it felt like. The intense spark between the two beginning to build into a flame that neither would yet realize, would eventually grow and explode into something grand. Something that would blow up a lot of things, damaging them to no repair. Only they together would survive the explosion.

“Daddy’s here now, and I’m not letting you go. Ever.”

-

taglist: @xcinnamonmalfoyx @dreamygirli3 @littlelamy @ghoslyethastaryn @iknowdatsrightbih @starkeysbebe @enjoymyloves @ineedtosusoutmyreadinglist @starkeyboyismine

A/N: PHEW! They’re soulmates in case yall couldn’t catch that! I wanted it to be an instantaneous love kind of thing! Let’s see where this relationship winds up! Please let me know your thoughts it would be so appreciated! And if you’d like to be added to the taglist pls let me know as well! Thank you all so much for the support!! Much love, enjoy! 🥺🐰🌸💕

[louloulemons-posts]

Tea and Toast

Eddie Munson X Reader

Summary : Eddie shows up at your house in the middle of the night.

Word Count : 1.1k

Warnings : Not proofread, another 2am fic, angsty, happy ending?, reader isn’t described with any pronouns or psychical features, Eddies dad, Eddie gets hurt, physical assault, talks of Eddies mom, sad Eddie, cuts and bruises, reader takes care of him.

A/N : This one is a heavy one, so please don’t read if you don’t feel comfortable 🤍

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

“Baby,” you hear, brain foggy with sleep. Whining in reply, you try to block out the noise. “Sweetheart,” you feel your body being shook.

You’re awake, rubbing your eyes, to wake up your mind. Looking around in the darkness you find Eddie. “Hey,” you say, voice thick with sleep.

Pushing up, you look at him, leaning over to your lamp. He stops your hand. “Eds?”

“Just leave it off.”

“What are you doing here, thought you weren’t coming over tonight?”

“I know, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have come.” He stood from your bed, but you pulled him back gently.

“You know you’re welcome anytime,” you said softly. You pulled him closer to you, “But I know you, and I know you wouldn’t show up at,” you paused and looked at your clock, “2am, randomly without a reason.”

“I couldn’t stay there,”his voice broke.

“What?” you instantly become concerned.

“Im sorry I didn’t know where else to go. He showed up and Wayne’s at work and I-I couldn’t,” his breathing sped up.

“Hey, hey slow down it’s okay. You’re safe,” you pulled him into your arms. Rubbing his back and playing with his curls the way you know he loved. “It’s okay Sweet boy, I’ve got you.”

Slowly you felt him calm down. “My dad,” he began, you didn’t rush him, “I got back from dropping you home and he was at the entrance of the trailer park.

“Wanted to talk to me. To Wayne. Started yelling, saying we ruined his life, his reputation. I tried to get him to leave but he wouldn’t … a-and then … then he um ..”

“Baby did he hurt you?” you asked carefully, not wanting to overwhelm him. He nodded into your neck, letting out a sob. “I-if he wasn’t being so loud, and the neighbours didn’t come out … I just shut down … just like I used too.”

“It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re safe.”

“One of the guys at the front of the park threatened to call the cops and he bolted.”

“Cause he’s a coward,” you didn’t like bad mouthing people, but Al Munson was the worst.

“Eddie my love, will you let me see your face?” you softly kissed the top of his head and he nodded, sniffling. Pulling back slightly, but not letting go, you turned on your lamp.

Looking at his face, tears came to your own eyes, “Oh my baby, let’s get you cleaned up, yeah?” leading him to your bathroom, you pulled out your first aid kit.

His lip was popped, the side of his face bruised, he had a black eye coming and his eye brow was cut. “Can you sit here for me?” you motioned to the closed toilet. He sat on the lid silently.

Making your way to stand between his legs, “This is gonna sting,” you spoke, antiseptic wipe in hand. He hummed, you tried to be as careful as possible, touching his eyebrow, but he let out a hiss.

“Sorry, oh I’m sorry baby. I know it hurts.”More tears fell but you knew it wasn’t out of pain, well not physically, this was in his heart. “Why does he hate me?” he sobbed, resting his head on your stomach.

“Because he’s an awful person. You are everything he could never be. You are kind and loving and sweet and gentle. He is a mean man, a broken man.”

“H-he said it was my fault mom-“

“Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare listen to him, it was not your fault, it wasn’t anyone’s fault.

“B-but he said-“

“I know, but that is because he is a broken man who never learnt how to deal with his emotions. He didn’t talk about your mom and took out all his feelings on you, but Eds you were a baby.

“You were your moms pride and joy, she would hate the way he’s treated you. You have such a good heart and soul, and you honour your mom everyday by being so strong and kind,

“The way you look after Wayne, the kids, me. She’d be so proud. So please do not listen to a thing that nasty man says.”

He calmed in your hold, still holding you tightly. “I love you, thank you for being here,” he said, pulling away from your tummy, his face now splotchy and swollen with tears.

“I will always be here. I love you so much.” You kissed his lips softly, not wanting to hurt him anymore. “Tell you what, if you’re feeling up to it in the morning, we can go and talk to Hop. Tell him what happened, how does that sound?”

“You’ll stay with me?”

“Always. Now let me finish cleaning you up.”

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

Eddie had changed into a pair of clothes he’d left here, whilst you went to make him some toast and tea. Something your mom did whenever you were upset.

You also decided to call Wayne’s work place. “Hello?” an unfamiliar voice answered, clearly tired. “Hi, um I was wondering if I could talk to Wayne Munson please.”

Soon enough you heard his voice, “Munson,” he said simply. “Hey Wayne it’s me.”

“Oh hello Honey, is everything okay?”

“Not really,” you then explained the events of the night. “Is he okay?”

“He was shaken up. I’ve cleaned him up, we’re going to talk to Hopper in the morning. I just wanted to tell you so you could be careful, keep an eye out for him”.

“Well thank you for letting me know. Just … tell him I love him okay, and thank you for taking care of my boy.”

“I always will Wayne, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

You wandered up to your room, finding Eddie sat on the bed, legs crossed, eyes skimming across your bookshelf, to keep himself distracted.

“Hey,” you said softly, not wanting to make him jump. “Hi,” he smiled weakly. Passing him the plate and the mug you sat next to him, sipping your own drink.

“I spoke to Wayne, just so he can keep an eye out. He wanted me to tell you that he loves you.” Eddie paused mid bite, almost choking.

“Really?”

“His exact words, he loves his boy. I love him too,” you nudged his shoulder.

“I love you.”

The rest of the night was quiet, you and Eddie drank your tea and ate toast. He lay on your chest, listening to your heartbeat, as you played with his curls.

Soon his soft snores were filling the room. He would be okay. He was surrounded by love, maybe not Al. But Al didn’t deserve him.

People like you, Wayne, your friends. Those were the ones he needed. His family, definitely strange and not at all normal, but a family nevertheless.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

Thank you so much for reading! Please leave any requests 🤍

[prentissluvr]

sammy brain rot hours:

feminism leaves my body when i look at sam winchester,, wanna be a good lil housewife for him (!!!) (like im their bobby yk? mostly doing research from the bunker, joining on hunts occassionally) welcome him home with a kiss and home cooked meals (idk how to cook proper food) and and and bombard him with love and force him to take a day’s break after each hunt ,, cuddle him , go with him on walks (god pls) ,, listen to his nerd talk

i deserve it 😭

thank u for listening to me yap

-mwuah 💋

GIRL YOU ARE SO TRUE FOR THIS AND I MEAN THAT !!! i love this for you actually, like this is facts of you to say and it's so valid and yeah! i think that's the real stuff. and like there's actually so so much merit to that kind of thing, like bro research is so hard imo HAHA so you'd be so strong for that. and yeah who's to say you can be a badass hunter when you want to be! but like bro i think it'd be nice not to have to do all that travel and hard physical labor of yk killing stuff and almost getting killed. and then yeah!! that means you're likely far more well rested than sammy when he gets home which means that you can take care of him hehehehe.

like him being greeted with a kiss from you after a long drive is just so beyond amazing for him, it's so comforting and relaxing and lord knows that he needs and deserves that. plus you have food from him that's not from a diner?? this must be the real heaven for him. like i also cannot cook for the life of me, but mans loves salad! you could just makes him a simple salad and he'd be so delighted because it has freshly cut apples, his favorite dressing, and non-soggy greens! like how amazing is that! genuinely you could makes the simplest of things (which is the only thing that i personally am capable of LOL) and he'd just be so delighted <3 like anything homemade is such a rarity for him and it's genuinely actually something really really special to him when you make him food and now i'm getting all soft and emotional about the fact that sam's barely had that sort of thing in his life. for some people hand made food is an indicator of home, and we all know that sam has never really had that. anyways crying because you just make the bunker somewhere infinitely better to come back to purely with your presence. on top of that, you make him salads and kiss him sweetly and you make him lay in bed and let him cuddle you to his heart's content. like truly you're such a comfort to him i can't :,)

and walks!! oh god i literally was thinking about how much sam would love love love to go on walks with his partner, genuinely. he loves the fresh air under a circumstance so domestic and normal and it's made a million times better by you. your hand in his makes him feel so calm and it gives him those little pieces of normalcy that he craves, no matter the fact that he'll always choose this life. you give him balance and something pure and good to come home to. and ahhhh yes the nerd talk <333 i'm making heart eyes right now for real. he feels so so so grateful for someone to talk to about all these little random facts of knowledge that he has floating around in his head! in instead of shutting him down or calling him a nerd (well, sometimes you do but it's done so lovingly that he doesn't care) you actually will listen, and even ask him follow up questions! he's just so excited to share things with you <33

argh i love him so bad and i thank you for sending this ask, i'm always so so happy to listen to your yapping hehe i love it <33 but you so got my thoughts flowing so ty for that hehe <33 love it sm fr <33

[desmond69miles]

Hi there!

Can I ask for an ink demon x reader headcanons for a chubby fem reader who’s really cuddly and sweet, but can’t always portray her emotions correctly? You can do SFW and/or NSFW, it’s up to you! But I’m in the mood for something cutesy and fluffy!

Also, I love your content, have a great day/night! ^^

It's been a little since last posting and asks have been marinating in the ask box for awhile... It's finally time to get them done in some spring cleaning.

And as always, thank you for your ask! I apologize for taking a literal lightyear - shits been INSANE.

Warnings/Tags: No big warnings! Major fluff, hints at reader being autistic. No NSFW!

[-: Starting off strong, your relationship with Bendy is a little rocky to start. Both of you poorly communicate your emotions. The Ink Demon being the Ink Demon, he's not always open for cuddles, hugs, and kisses, and struggles to properly set the boundary for when it's okay for physical intimacy. Most often him setting a boundary is a violent growl and a snap of his teeth; not the most welcoming thing. And of course, you can't properly communicate that it's hurtful (and scary) when he responds that way to your affection so most instances end in separation and the silent treatment.

[-: I do think that the more you were around each other and the more you got used to each others patterns/behaviors, communication would become easier and less vocalized, more shown throughout body language, especially on Bendy's part. His major communication is through body language, not spoken words, much like any animal (and there are verbal cues such as a low growl - meaning 'space, please' - a hiss - meaning 'I'm getting pissed' - and your personal favorite, a quiet trill meaning 'show me some affection').

[-: I can imagine some frustration on both your end and the Ink Demons, this is new to the both of you. Thankfully Sammy is there to give some pointers on how not to be mauled by his lord (which works a lot better for you). But as I said above, time, effort, praise, and unconditional love will make everything easier.

[-: Oh my lord, I know Bendy would be very stubborn even if communication was therapist approved. Like, imagine this,,

It's the middle of the night. Or, at least you think so; there's no real way to tell time this deep down in the studio. It was a very, very long day of walking, fighting for your life, and dealing with Sammy and there was nothing more you wanted than a hot bath and to curl up with your inky lover. The bath was achieved successfully, Bendy sat by the tub and played with a rubber duck while you relaxed and climbing in bed was fairly easy as well. Half way into your sleep though, your eyes opened to the sound of crunching. This wasn't like a bag of chips crunching or like paper, no, it was... hard. Boney, if you would.

"Bendy, what the hell are you chewing on?"

"A bone."

"...Can you stop?"

"...No."

[-: Back onto the cuddly and sweet part, I think that Bendy would like that in moderation. He needs his space occasionally as I said before, but I do think he'd curl up against you like a huge dog (in the middle of the night you'd wake up to him licking your arm but that's besides the point). PDA around the studio is a heavy no no but in closed doors, in strictly demon domain, the Ink Demon doesn't mind if you cling to his arm (more likely leg, have you seen how tall he is?) while he draws/chills.

And... I got no more inside my brain.

Thank you guys for reading <3 Comments/Reblogs are like cocaine please keep them coming

[yurious-george]

4'33'', by John Cage, is commonly remembered as 4 and a half minutes of silence. But contrary to popular belief, the song is not actually meant to be the sound of silence, but the sound of quiet. Ambient noises contribute to - and consist of - the performance. True silence does not exist. If one tilts their head right, the whole world sings. and, with that said, a playlist.

yeah, this one's a doozy. hi, cubewatermelon and co. miss me?

rhetorical question. don't answer that.

A few nitty-gritty things out of the way, first. this is specifically intended for the 2018 mod team for the sleepless domain fans discord server, primarily cubewatermelon/mary cagle. Folks who knew me are welcome to look on, but I'm not going to do much to catch people up to speed. hi, everyone! hope you're well!

I also might be a bit disjointed or biased in my recollection. For reasons that will be made clear extremely soon, I can't put my childhood on a linear timeline. I can only express myself, and hope I don't mess it up horribly this time.

Noooowww to the big stuff. re: stalking; i genuinely didn't mean to stalk anyone, and when they told me to back off, i backed off. I am not willing to discuss this further. not being able to conceptualize other people's emotions or the consequences of my actions has caused some problems for me

that's an autism thing btw. im autistic i dont think i told anyone that

And now, the special guest you've all been waiting for: a big round of applause for the elephant in the room! In accordance with the WMA Declaration of Tokyo, the deliberate overprescription of psychotropic medication is a form of pharmacological torture. Most victims of pharmacological torture and experimentation are children, because it is nigh-impossible to sue for brain damage when there is no fully-formed adult brain for comparison prior to the abuse.

Torture is a strong word, but I don't have another word to use. psychiatric abuse usually describes mistreatment in psychiatric wards; pharmacological abuse describes a patient who takes advantage of a prescription; medical abuse is when a doctor (usually physically) abuses their patient. Being able to understand what happened to you is a form of agency, and I don't even have the words. I identify as a torture victim; this may change.

This high dose was precedented and legal, but the vaginal stretching of intersex infants is also legal. much involuntary psychiatric & psychotropic treatment (such as restraints and solitary confinement) are legal, and child marriage is legal. abuse is not abnormal: it is profoundly normal. Because something is normal, legal, and precedented does not prevent it from being torture.

and when your mother hands you a poison apple and says "here, eat this; it will be good for you; i hope someday you'll forgive me" you have to eat it, because you are eight years old and you don't get to argue with your mother. despite all this, I don't blame my aunt for refilling the high dose. when I said the dose was hurting me, she listened. (thank you, auntie. i wouldn't have gotten out without you.)

And this brings us to you. oh, you four. (five? i forget myself!)

I'd like to establish some context. I was used to things getting taken from me. friend groups in particular: I didn't expect to keep any friends, because I constantly expected to have to pack up and move on. I moved a lot in my childhood, and in Africa, i was constantly told that at some undetermined point in the near future, i'd have to go back to the states. living with my aunt was a temporary thing, i was expected to eventually move back in with my parents at some undetermined point in the future. I relied heavily on online friends because they were people I could have anywhere, so online communities were my only lifeline - not to mention, i was basically in solitary confinement while in Kenya.

Most of all, I was terrified of my mental health/actions being exposed, examined, found lacking, and ultimately excluded. (this is why i was so afraid of psychiatric wards.) When you decided something had to be done about me - cutting me off from the server so i had to speak with you - It was either comply with your demands to communicate (which I could not, and did not understand why) or lose the community. I was so, so afraid of you i wanted to die when you all confronted me, and of course i couldn't say that, because only manipulative people would say "your attempt to solve this problem makes me want to seriously hurt myself."

But then I got called manipulative anyway <3 yay <3

Seriously: I wasn't trying to manipulate anyone, and i have no idea how you can manipulate someone without intention. (ah, that felt good to say!) Between medication spellbinding, alexithymia, and prior abuse, all my thoughts were so disordered i genuinely couldn't explain myself most of the time. Looking back, I have no childhood memory where I was fully lucid. I leaned into a manic persona because it was the only way I had any agency at all. I was something beyond both reason and self-recognition, and I willingly tried to brute-force my way through an extreme trauma response to please you. And you still hit me with my worst nightmare. that's why i was mad at you lol

I was so, so afraid, all the time, and I didn't even have the tools to understand I was afraid. How could someone as confident and impulsive as me be so fearful all the time? Was that manic persona freedom? Or was it a longer leash?

(Forgive my impulse toward rhetoric. I shouldn't ask questions you can't answer.)

I also couldn't say how badly i was hurting, because that would be venting, but you also accused me of venting when I was just talking about my day? or what was on my mind? I didn't understand that very well. autism moment, don't bother explaining it now. I also couldn't burden people with my actual mental health problems, because making strangers deal with that would be toxic! I resent you for setting up a system where it seemed safest not to speak and then punishing me for my inability to communicate. I resent every system that set me up for failure and punished me for failing, including yours.

And yet - I know that was not your intent! I can see in retrospect how hard you tried to be kind using the tools you had. The people with power over me, who genuinely did not want to do me harm and gave me multiple second chances, still upheld and facilitated the systems that tortured me; a miniature parody of the psychiatric system. (talk therapy and communication are useless if you struggle with self-awareness.) The same is true for the source: No person in my psychiatric treatment wanted me to suffer, and yet, here I am: a torture victim without a torturer. (except my parents, sort of.)

The logical conclusion, then: the system only intends to heal those who are already compliant, or prioritize compliance. The rest of us are treated to induce compliance, and if we still cannot, we are sequestered away. My medicine made me sick, and my prescribers made money off of keeping me sick - off of my torture. This is not a conspiracy: it is my lived experience.

However, even if i could communicate perfectly, we still would have had massive communication issues. Like - you know that one page where ben and steffi talk about dating, and ben says he thought steffi was gay? and steffi gets super defensive and it escalates into a screaming fight? I found that offensive, because a character getting that offput by the concept of not liking men (or a man) is kind of lesbophobic! But I understood that it would be a pain to redraw/write the page so they they fight about something else, don't fight, or some other solution, so i didn't need it to be fixed - just wanted to point out that was a reasonable interpretation, and one to be aware of in the future. but somehow my concerns got interpreted as a phrasing issue…? like, Ms. Cagle rewrote the page to say "weren't into guys" instead of "gay"..? You were very polite about it, Ms! But I found this interaction so baffling I didn't even try to correct it. that… wasn't what i said…

frankly we should bring back mildly homophobic steffi. twas narratively appropriate (<- different essay for a different time)

but yeah the whole communication operation was doomed from the start. rip!

The issue was always my inability to communicate, but my meds made it nigh-impossible to understand what I was feeling, and when I did, expressing myself could get me institutionalized. My suffering was inevitable but always, somehow, my fault. Awesome! *disintegrates into a pile of sand*

I cannot deny I was a girl like a box of matches waiting to be struck. You had no choice but to do as you did. But is it really what you ought to have done? (On this, I have no answer. I hope you have one that satisfies you.)

(that was genuine, by the by. i've spent a lot of time pondering this mess, and I still haven't found the "right" answer. I don't think there is one - though action or inaction, there is no version of this story where I don't suffer. I can only hope it was worth it. wait, hold on *adds the omelas child to my Kin List*)

Nor can I deny making my previous open letter in a small attempt to 'get back' at you - i'm not above that. lord knows i'm not innocent. but i really was trying to channel that rage into something productive. unfortunately i was doomed to fail because i didn't know what i meant. if you showed me that letter now, you'd hear a lot of "what? I don't know why I said that" "i have no idea why i would complain about something so minor" etc. You can disregard all that. This is what I was trying to say. the obsession, the trauma, the projection: all of it. So much of my obsession was talking around an issue i couldn't identify.

(meguka image) I know now

I knew I would be traumatized by this whole situation. I saw it coming and i could do nothing to stop it. But Gear was crucial to deciphering all this - in fact, suddenly thinking about her last year prompted me to really dissect my medical situation and realize i was tortured. I couldn't have done it without her. cassie & maggie, against the world.

Gear scans surprisingly well as a victim of long-term torture, actually. I don't think you meant to do that but good job!

speaking of her - i still don't think she's consistently suicidal. she's a real cockroach of a character, and I love her for it! But sometimes, i want to die and i want to live mean the same thing, because they both mean i need to get out of here. Imo, her thought processes and desires frequently contradict themselves, like mine did. and making your favs kill themselves in increasingly gruesome ways is really fun catharsis!

But please don't take this to mean I consider myself - or Gear - blameless. I love her because she's not blameless, because she's cruel for fun, because she'd rather be wicked than helpless. Like knows like. What I mean to say is, as of 2018, there is a black space between little Margret and Gear, and I saw all the signs of something very, very bad happening in that space. I know because I shared that space. what I mean to say is, teenage girls don't go out of their minds over nothing. Everything I made here is just an expression of what I heard in the narrative's silences.

and thus my biggest apprehension around revisiting the comic. knowing the author and I have such fundamentally different experiences with mental health - what if the signs of torture i picked up on weren't intended, or i completely made them up? what if, in the parts i haven't read yet, there's information that uproots my entire interpretation, or berates her for refusing mental health services that hurt me profoundly? how do you reconcile that a character so crucial to deciphering yourself may not be anything like you at all? I Don't Know. Shitpost, probably

You're welcome to share those shitposts and whatnot by the way. Creating this let me put down years of hurt, and i hope it relieves you, too. I don't need to go back on the server, or forgiveness, or anything besides understanding. consider this a peace offering. the terms are yours.

Despite writing nearly 10k words, I still probably missed something or was callous or whatever. Self-expression and self-understanding are… new to me. My apology may be understated, but please take it as I meant it, with utmost sincerity. My askbox is open, and I'm more than happy to discuss antipsych resources, KB, What The Hell Is Wrong With Gear, artistic choices made in this comic, etc. I'm even down to reconnect on discord! Maybe. Uh, I'm conflicted. I reserve my right to not want to talk, be slow in responding, and so on, as should you. we've no obligations and all the time in the world. Let neither of us hurt ourselves in meeting because it's the "right" thing to do. I'm not blaming anyone or trying to start drama. If it would give you the most peace of mind to completely ignore this, please do so.

or, translated: as of right now, I'm not ready for any information about KB after steffi reunites with her dad, or difficult emotional reunions. I would really like to hear from everyone, and I'd appreciate casual well-wishes. I don't want things to be the same, I want them to be peaceful. Baby steps, cassie, baby steps. (very large and fearful prey animal tries not to run into oncoming traffic)

mostly, making this was for me. Perhaps I've said too much, but after spending so long unable to express myself freely, my art was cathartic and necessary. I'm no one's martyr or innocent, I'm just a torture victim trying to make sense of it all. I want to articulate some thoughts I couldn't figure out how to say before and make some silly things that make people laugh. Most of all, I'm happy in ways I never thought I could be, and I would like to share that joy with old acquaintances and other fans of a story I adored.

What I mean to say is: The train's about to leave the station, and there's an empty seat beside me. The train will still leave whether or not you board; but I would be honored not to go it alone!

Thank you to everyone who stuck by me even after the drama. Ethel, Felipe, Chris - even though we've fallen out of contact, your kindness and patience meant more than i can say. special thank you to @stars-in-a-jam-jar, the first person i confessed everything to after the smoke cleared, and someone i consider myself close with no matter how long we fall out of contact. My close online friends, @shafpanda, @theoandmoon, @dvanaestmrva, my honorary cousin @my-name-is-jimmy, and everyone else I confided in about my torture. and, of course, my partners @transloo and @teenyjellyfishy, and my little sibling, @aroacenezhaanddainsleif, the three people I love most in the world. Thank you, all. it is an honor to love you, and be loved by you.

[concussed-to-pieces]

Fandom: Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia

Pairing: Pro Hero!Mirio/AFAB Villain!Reader

Rating: Holy shit M.

Summary: As an individual with a pretty unimpressive Quirk, it hadn't taken long for you to stray from the straight and narrow. Until, of course, a certain pro hero from your past turned up on your doorstep…

A/N: Welcome all, welcome to our last installment! I'd like to thank you all for coming along on this little tale. 💚 Enjoy!

Tag List: @hijackser @nonstop-haikyuu @zombiexbody @buttons-beads-lace @swift-omg-no @ectoplasmictoast @tartimaar-bloggeth @plaguedoctorsnake

Part One: Breathing Room

Part Two: Consequential

Part Three: Sunshine; Golden Boy

[!TRIGGER WARNING!: This installment contains emotional duress and unprotected intercourse between two consenting adults. Stay safe!]

You gasped against his mouth but your surprise didn't last much longer than that. Instead you leaned into the kiss, a little giddy when a strong hand gripped the back of your neck to hold you still. 

"I'm not going to know what to do." Mirio whispered, his eyebrows drawn low in concern. "I've never done anything like this before. Never had the time for it."

"I'll let you know if I don't like it," was your answer, just as soft. 

Mirio's hold tightened momentarily. "You'd better. I won't forgive myself if you don't." As you nodded, his serious expression eased. "Okay." He breathed, "okay," and then pressed an entirely different kiss to your lips. It was wet, hot, full of tongue and his teeth accidentally hit your own more than once. It was only after your noses bumped that he pulled away with an awkward little laugh.

"Why'd you stop?" You asked, panting a bit. 

"Breathing was tough." He was panting as well, that signature smile brightening his formerly-pensive face. "More?" 

"Do you want more?"

"Yes."

"Then okay." You grinned, threading your fingers through the hair on the back of his head and pulling him in.

…

He couldn't think straight at all. 

Your hand had slipped down to unbutton his jeans a moment before and you were currently stroking his cock through his boxers which was…great, incredible, but he was definitely not going to last long if you kept that up.

"H-Hey," Mirio began shakily, groaning into your mouth when you kissed him. "Hey, I uh…look, if you keep-"

"I know." The smirk you gave him sent a shiver through his entire body. You looked so pleased with yourself. Maybe you just enjoyed having him at your mercy for once. Normally when the two of you clashed, you would only just manage to flee the scene. 

But- 

"Don't you want--" Mirio's breath hitched. "-don't you want me to…uh--well, y-you know." 

"We've got all night." You soothed, your hand doing anything but that. 

Mirio's whole body tightened up in response and he was vaguely dismayed by his lack of endurance. To be fair, he reasoned pragmatically, I've never had someone else touch me like this. "I'm going to-" he paused, scrambling to think of what the hell he was going to say, oh God why was this so embarrassing-

"Come for me?" You suggested and all Mirio could do was nod dumbly, his hips rocking into your palm. "Where would you like…?"

Oh God. Mirio's mind whipped itself into an immediate frenzy at the possibilities, the possibilities, on your face, in your mouth, on your chest, your stomach, inside- "I--mouth?" He managed to ask, his voice rasping low. 

You knelt without another word, placing the head of his cock on your tongue. Togata's entire being focused down on that one point of contact, his brain going blank. He heard some noise come out of him, it must have come from him but he didn't think he had ever made a sound that deep, it felt like it was rolling from the middle of his chest.

He only regained a portion of his senses when your palm pressed firmly on his thigh, holding him still to keep him from bucking any further forward--was that your throat–Mirio choked a little. "Holy moly." He gasped, confused when you snorted.

You pulled off of his cock, still snickering a little. "Gotta' say, I've never heard that one before." You said after swallowing. 

You swallowed.

"Is it okay for you to do that? I've heard--I mean, I don't know about the taste, so you don't…" Mirio trailed off, sure that his face was bright red. 

You made a dismissive sound, accepting the hand up from the floor. "Not a big deal to me, don't sweat it." He still felt a bit bad about it, but if it didn't matter to you…

Mirio took you by the upper arms again, pressing your back to the door as he plunged his tongue into your mouth. You made a startled noise, then it was as if you melted against him. Your fingers plucked futilely at his clothes like you were searching for some kind of anchor, or maybe you wanted skin to skin contact? 

…

Mirio pulled his shirt off over his head which satisfied your brain for the time being, and you leaned back to take in the sight of his upper body. "I love your hero suit, by the way." You crooned when he ducked in for another clumsy, breathtaking kiss. 

Mirio tilted his head, seeming confused. A flush began to work its way up his neck as he clearly realized what you meant, the young man looking self-conscious. "Is…is it too much? Should I change it?" He asked worriedly.

"Don't you dare!" You laughed, giving him a playful poke in his chest. "You have any idea how tough it was to focus on dodging your attacks when all I could think about was-"

"Okay, okay, whoa there." Mirio cut you off with the protest, waving his hands. "Were you--what, while we were fighting?!" He sputtered.

"A villain never reveals their secrets." You teased, winking and getting a reluctant chuckle out of the young man. "I'm only sorry my uniform wasn't tailored to inspire those same thoughts in you."

"I was always more concerned about whether I would accidentally hurt you." Mirio admitted bluntly. "I wasn't gonna' pull any punches, but I didn't want to use excessive force either. I know I…I could be kind of a lot when I cut loose."

"That was half the fun!" You protested, making him laugh again. "Especially when you'd grab me and you'd be all worked up and irritated-"

Another kiss silenced you, Mirio now pink to the tips of his ears. "Sorry, I-I didn't mean to be. I'm supposed to be kind of unflappable, y'know." He mumbled.

"Oh don't worry, I don't think anyone else noticed. I only noticed because I knew you for so long." You tapped his jaw. "You get a vein that starts building in your neck and your jaw goes tight."

"I do? Geez, I'll have to work on that." The young man sounded somewhat dismayed. "Can't have people reading me that easily."

"It's better that way. You want the normies to remember that you're still human, right?" 

Mirio went still, his expression darkening. "I…yeah, you're right." He then cupped your cheek, gently easing your face to one side. "I'd like to do this again, I think." He murmured, pressing a few light kisses to your neck and the bruise you sported on your shoulder. "This human stuff." He clarified needlessly, and his smile was tinged with sorrow even as he spoke. "I never know when it'll go away."

"You're not dead yet." You felt like an idiot as soon as the flippant, automatic response left you, but Mirio appeared to agree with your sentiment.

"I'm going to take full advantage of that, I promise." His smile brightening, he went so far as to give you a little wink. "Now come over here so I can uh…do…what people do when they hook up."

"Alright, we can move to the bed." You allowed, laughing as you pulled your shirt off over your head. You ought to have known that any sort of gravity the situation may hold wouldn't last for long in the wake of Mirio's perpetual good cheer. This was just a hook up between old friends and, hey, you figured if he performed well you'd be gracious enough to consider looking over the paperwork. Whether a reward for him or you, you couldn't really say. 

Mirio had bounded to the bed, but the way he was looking at you now gave you pause. 

You hesitated, fidgeting with the sleeves of your discarded shirt as confidence slowly bled out of you. "If you're not comfortable with this-" you began, hoping that he was simply nervous.

Mirio's swallow was audible. "You just look really good." He stated, his voice soft and layered with an odd, unfamiliar heat. You could feel your own temperature rocket up in response, a flushed sensation spreading rapidly at the young man's obvious interest. 

You did your best to appear unaffected, though your leisurely saunter was nearly ruined by your stumbling out of your pants. "Oh?" You mused, trying to free your trapped leg in a cool and collected manner. "I'll admit, that's pretty nice to hear. You're not hard on the eyes yourself, Mi-"

Hands grabbed just beneath your rear and you were abruptly pulled in between Mirio's legs, the young man staring up at you with something akin to hungry awe. You shivered without meaning to, startled and also a bit excited by this turn of events. You could absolutely live with Mirio taking the lead, if only because it might yield humorous results. 

"Now what?" You purred, slinging your arms back around his neck. 

Mirio wordlessly hefted your legs up over his thighs, spreading you wide in his lap. He then kissed the fingers of your right hand, one by one, before requesting in a low voice, "show me what you like, Sunshine."

…

This was fantastic.

Fantastic. 

There had never been a time in his life that he had felt like this and he wanted to remember every detail of it, etch it into his brain with indelible marks. 

What you liked was, apparently, something that he could provide, which was immensely encouraging. As was the sight of you splayed in his lap, your body trembling and voice hitching even as you instructed him to move his fingers like this. 

"Y-You're pretty good at this," you praised, panting. 

Your words sent a shiver down his spine and Mirio straightened up, feeling very self-satisfied as he quickened the pace of his fingers. He could hear how wet you were and the idea that he had done that (or had at least helped a bit!) gave him the confidence to ask, "can I try something?"

The eyebrow raise he got in reply made Mirio cringe a little, but then you were laughing and telling him to go for it. "I'll let you know if I don't feel comfortable with it, Golden Boy." 

"Okay, good." Mirio made a spinning motion with his free hand. "Turn around for me?" After you repositioned yourself in his lap, Mirio pressed his lips to the back of your neck. You quivered under the touch, making a soft sound.

"Don't tease me," you whispered.

"I won't." He promised, fingers trailing over your chest to your nipples. "I just want to feel you." His hand slipped lower, down your stomach to his rapidly-hardening cock. Mirio hissed out a breath, cupping his dick and then sliding it against your pussy. With one large hand keeping it pressed to you, he used the other to gently pluck and tug at one of your nipples, making you arch back against his chest. 

"Mirio…" you whimpered, your breathy voice music to his ears. The young man nuzzled his face into your neck in reply, mouthing at the sensitive skin he discovered there while he slowly worked his cock back and forth over your pussy. 

Togata abruptly realized that you'd had enough when you canted your hips just so, causing the head of his cock to slip into your entrance without his intent. "Oh! Sorry, I-" Mirio's words ground to a stop as you shoved his hand to the side, leaning your entire body forward.

"Fuck me–" you swore, the muttered curse combined with the hot, tight slide of your pussy making Mirio's breathing shudder. You were so wet from his definitely-not teasing that the young man could feel you soaking the base of his dick already, even if most of his brainpower was currently focused on holy hell don't come yet, please don't come yet, this feels incredible.

Your palms pressed down on his thighs and you wriggled, likely situating yourself more comfortably, but Mirio grabbed your hips before he could think twice about it. "Wait." He gasped, biting his lip in an effort to maintain some sort of composure. "Wait, don't move. Just--g-give me a second."

"Oh that's right." You couldn't have sounded more self-satisfied if you had tried, Mirio was certain. "This is your first time, Golden Boy?"

"D-Don't-" He wanted to protest, really he did. Just because he hadn't had sex before didn't mean he was unaware of it, unaware of the urges of his body. His own wants and needs had just…well, they had never really taken priority is all. Then your nails were lightly scratching his thighs and the denial died on his lips. 

"Hey, I'll take good care of you." You crooned, your smug tone only riling the young man up further. 

Mirio's eyes narrowed, his mind racing to come up with something that would throw you off balance. He wasn't exactly knowledgeable in this field, but he might be able to…

Without another word he wrapped an arm around your waist, his other hand seizing your ribs. Then, he laid back, dragging you with him.

…

Holy shit.

Holy shit. 

Mirio, sweet, heroic Mirio, the golden boy, currently had you at his mercy. Restraining you with nothing but his own strength, the young man worked you down until you were fully seated on his cock. You moaned, startled when he shifted you to once again have your back to his chest, his hold on you methodically changing to finally coax your legs up into a full Nelson.

"Holy shit." You gasped, Mirio's fingers laced firmly at the back of your neck encouraging you to look down and watch him penetrate you. "H-Holy shit, Mirio-"

"Don't worry." The young man's voice seethed hot against your ear, echoing your confident words from moments before. "I'll take good care of you." 

"Oh I–believe it." You whimpered, biting your lip. 

Mirio rocked you down into the cradle of his pelvis, seeming to enjoy the idea of you watching him. "This okay?" He grated out, the concern heartwarming but ultimately unneeded. 

"Fuck me, Mirio!" You cried, more than a little panicky at the thought of him stopping. This was the most excitement you'd had in ages, you weren't about to tap out before the fun even began! "Please, please please, I want you-"

Mirio wordlessly planted his feet on your bed, arching his back and thrusting up into you. You keened out, helpless to do anything but get fucked by the large hero. The feeling was breathtaking, a complete surrender of control that left Mirio free to do whatever he liked to you. Currently that appeared to be stretching you to your limits, his cock rubbing in just the right way to drive you to your breaking point. You weren't sure when you had started chanting his name, and you had no idea how you managed to find the breath to do so in the first place.

Mirio, for his part, seemed content to rut against you and pant in your ear, the normally-talkative young man all but silent. He suddenly shuddered bodily, muttering something and then adjusting his grip to ease the strain on your neck. "Probably wasn't too--comfy-" 

Truthfully you hadn't even noticed, but you definitely felt the relief once he changed his hold on you. Your thanks died on your lips as the hero continued his single-minded mission, the air leaving your body too quick for you to get out a sentence. 

"Gonna' come," Mirio grunted, then, "f–uck, want you to come though." The unexpected swear caught you off-guard, your body tensing up at the low, desperate tone of his voice. Something about witnessing Mirio's rigid control begin to fray was fascinating, and you found yourself hoping that you'd get to see more.

"In me," you managed to say, relishing the groan you got in reply. 

The hero shifted, arching beneath you while he fucked up over and over, and with one final, deep plunge, his muscles went taut. "N…not yet, not yet." You could feel the hammering of his heart in his chest, the trembling of his body as he strained and then after what felt like forever, he let go of you.

…

Mirio fairly collapsed, going limp. "Y' 'kay?" He gasped, hastily relinquishing his hold on your body. You, apparently in the process of catching your breath, sufficed with a thumbs up to reply. 

Mirio felt a laugh threatening to escape and he did his best to ward it off by skirting a hand down your chest and stomach to stroke slowly, slowly over your clit. Judging from the way you shivered and arched up into his palm, he got the feeling that it had been the right call.

"I want–" he paused, trying to think of how he could say it differently and just settling on, "I want you to come too, okay? Show me what I should do."

You inhaled quickly, your hand moving to cover his. Your index finger urged his own forward, drawing lazy circles while the heel of your palm kept him from retracting his hand. Not that he would have, of course! Mirio was intensely interested in finding out how he could get you to come, especially considering that you had managed to get him off so easily before. His own impressive recovery period notwithstanding, he still felt like you more than deserved to enjoy yourself if you were able to. 

Judging from the noises you were making and the way your body was writhing, you were extremely able.

Mirio latched his other arm over you just beneath your chest, pinning you down as best as he could. 

"I've got you now, villain!" He exclaimed, grinning broadly while he grappled them to his chest. The miscreant lashed out, yelling and trying to kick him, but their attacks passed harmlessly through his body. "Careful! You'll hurt yourself." Mirio chided, snagging the tail end of their deep hood and tearing it off of them with one sharp jerk. "Now let's see-!"

You? Mirio froze.

Seizing your advantage in his moment of distraction, you managed to wrestle free of his hold. You glared at him with wild eyes, a smirk growing on your face when he remained silent. "What's the matter, Golden Boy? Usually you can't shut the hell up." With that, you slung yourself over the edge of the roof. Mirio heard you hit the fire escape with a metallic clang, your running footsteps quickly fading away…

"I've got you now, villain," he teased, hearing you snort in reply.

"Shut up, you're such a nerd." You said with a breathless laugh, shoving your forehead against his jaw. "I'm not going along with your weird roleplay kink."

"Roleplay-" Mirio began to sputter indignantly, about to list his protests because of course it was a joke, he was joking, but he decided to shove his thumb against your clit instead. With his cock still inside you he found he could feel your reactions, even the ones you tried to hide, which he was sure might be considered playing dirty. He couldn't really bring himself to care much though, considering the fact that your fingers were digging into the hair at the nape of his neck. 

"H-Hey–" you panted, sounding a little confused. "Mirio, w--Mirio, holy shit."

"Is it alright?" Mirio cautiously asked, hoping that your reactions weren't being caused by something aside from pleasure.

"It's great, fuck, fuck-" You were trembling, seeming torn between fucking down onto his cock or up into his hand. This led to stuttering motions that Mirio slowly eased into the rhythm of, his pelvis shifting up to meet you and elongate the motion. Your whole body was pressed to his and, while Mirio had a difficult time splitting his attention between the sounds he was wringing out of you and keeping his fingers moving, he liked to believe he wasn't doing too badly. 

You suddenly tensed up and the hero choked, feeling your pussy throb around him. "Fuck." You breathed, going limp in Mirio's arms. 

"Wow." Mirio gasped, grabbing your hips and thrusting upwards. "Wow, Sunshine." His brain completely deserted him as he chased his own completion, dissolving into nothing but nonsensical muttering and panting. "S' tight–" He groaned and it was as if you tightened even further, forcing him to do nothing but grind himself against you like a man possessed. 

You pitched forward to brace yourself on his thighs and that was all it took. Mirio buried his cock inside your cunt and came, his hands trembling before latching down hard on your hips.

…

You stared up at the ceiling, stunned speechless. Mirio simply continued to gently clean you up with a washcloth. When you finally broke the silence, it was to ask, "where the hell did you learn how to rail like that?"

"Good?" He asked cautiously.

"Yes Mirio, fuck's sake," you laughed, your mind still hazy. 

"I mean, I-I dunno', it was my first time so I'm not really sure."

You shifted your weight, catching his wrist. "You weren't kidding earlier? I figured you were just trying to maintain that sterling reputation you've got."

Mirio didn't meet your eyes, seeming a bit embarrassed. "W-Well, what good would have come out of lying? You'd have figured it out pretty quick."

Deliberately softening your tone, you replied, "Thank you for being honest with me, then. Even if it could be awkward."

"You deserve honesty," Mirio insisted, "and you deserve safety."

You sighed heavily, flopping onto your back and rolling your eyes. "Alright, let me use the bathroom and then you can pitch me your incredible scheme." You raised a finger to ward off the excited outburst you could see he was about to unleash. "I expect to have my record scrubbed. I'm not joining some stuffy group on garbage terms just because you think I would 'work hard and succeed' or 'it's what's right'. You know you can trust me. If you want me involved, you can go to bat to convince your peers to let me function without imposing unnecessary restrictions."

Mirio looked incredibly serious. "Done." 

You reached over, giving his hand a shake. "Well then Golden Boy, sell me on your plan and let's get me that hero license."

He pulled you into him instead, his eyes searching your own. That serious expression didn't wane in the slightest, even as he leaned down to kiss you once more. "I'll keep you safe." He murmured. "You don't have to be afraid anymore, okay? I'll help however I can."

"Sh-Shut up, Golden Boy." You blustered, flicking the tip of his nose before making your escape to the bathroom. Before you did anything else though, you braced yourself on the sink and studied your reflection in the mirror for a few moments. Was it hope or just the idea of it, daring to brighten your expression from its usual frown?

Maybe…maybe this hero stuff isn't so bad.

[fatuismooches]

Smooches!! Hello sweetie pie! ૮꒰ ˶´ ꒳ `˶꒱ა ♡

I just thought this out of nowhere and honestly it may not work but basically, reader (maybe even fragile!reader I’m just a complete sucker for fragile!reader) and Dottore going out of the laboratory and into the icy land that is Snezhnaya to get some materials Dottore needs. But while you two are out, suddenly (somehow) you two get ambushed by maybe some treasure hoarders or perhaps some more elite enemies. And you end up getting hurt in the process. Maybe even to the point you end up bleeding. (Would this actually happen? Probably not bc let’s face it, Dottore is so intelligent and strong like you’ve said before even if this did happen the only other situation I can think of is the Traveler 😭) I also just want to see Dottore be like angered and pissed off at whoever dared to hurt his darling. (Like yes come be my protector Dottore boo boo 😭 💕)

But yeah this may not make any sense or even work but it’s okay!! As I’m writing this we finally got rain here!! And it was a thunderstorm to top it off so hopefully this heat goes down soon. Also to answer your question about my baby <333 (dog) we actually don’t know since we’ve never gotten her tested and we had originally gotten her from the middle of the street. She’s a small dog and a creamy colored with a few darker patches. Although she does look to be like a shih tzu! Okay I should stop talking about my baby 😭 if I could send pictures I would!!! (Also if it’s okay with you: I have a bunch of ideas that I hope to send before I have to inevitably start school, so if you see me spam your inbox I’m so so sorry :c )But I hope you enjoy your week and also enjoy this last week of July!! May all your days be filled with love and happiness, as I give you lots and lots of kisses on your cute cheeks and forehead. And a bunch of cuddles too! Please make sure you’re staying well and not tiring yourself with writing. I love you loads and so does everybody else!!! Mwa mwa!!

-from your dear boo boo bear 🎐 anon! ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

Dottore's lover getting hurt by someone else always fills my brain with too much brainrot 🚶‍♀️ I too love the idea of a cold "i don't care what happens to anyone + I'm too strong to be hurt" character becoming uncharacteristically angry when someone they care for gets hurt. And yes as you said the chances of you getting hurt are practically in the negatives since he plans for every possibility and circumstance... if there's even the slightest chance you can get hurt he won't do it (ESPECIALLY if it's fragile reader, that's a no-no) but for the sake of fanfiction 🥰 if you do get hurt, oh boy. He doesn't show much emotion on his face other than that cocky smirk usually. But when you get hurt he just has no expression at all, and speaks with absolutely no emotion, no mocking, nothing. And that's how you know he's upset. Now we know that Dottore really doesn't care if his experiments suffer or not, but when he gets the people who hurt you, he'll make sure to conduct the most brutal experiments possible. Not caring when they cry and beg for forgiveness. Debating whether he should kill them or forever drag out their suffering.

...Moving on from that- at least you get the most advanced possible treatment in Teyvat, which means you won't be hurting for too long. And ahh I'm glad you got some rain 🌧 ! Hopefully things cooled down over there, I cant imagine how hotttt it is for you 😭 And omg your baby sounds so cute!! 💖💖 And of course I will always welcome your brainrots! I don't mind the spam at all! Good luck in school too, I know its hard but you got this 💞🥰 Make sure not to push yourself too! Hehe I'm giving you more kisses and smooches! I will enjoy this last week of July, we're one step closer to the fall haha. Ily too!! Make sure to take care of yourself as well 🫶🫶

[leaveherwildliketheflowers]

Conversation with my therapist went like this:

T: We have had a lot of space between appointments this summer. How has that felt? Do you want to go back to a weekly cadence or do you think that it's better to space out our appointments going forward?

Me: Um, am I supposed to feel a certain way about that?

T: Well, yeah. You are in a different place than you were the last few years. You talk more in session than you used to. I know there are still things you don't bring up but you generally utilize your time better.

Me: .....

T: Think about it. We can discuss it more next week.

Y'all, I'm shook. This summer has been CRAZY with destination weddings, vacations, federal holidays and now being sick. As a result I saw T once from June 5th to today. I just assumed it was part of summer schedules and we would go back to our normal weekly cadence. Stepping down to once every 2 weeks wasn't even on my radar. Honestly, I feel like I'm just now adjusting from going from twice a week to once a week.

T is all in my head now though. Does she not think I need weekly therapy? Does she not have time for me in her schedule and this is her way of gently pushing me out of her case load? Is she just tired of working with me after 4+ years? Does she really think I'm ready to scale back on addressing my mental health?

Is this what happens if I make any sort of progress? I mean, in some ways I'm doing better. I have learned how to handle my grief with more success, though sometimes it still gets the best of me. My eating behaviors are under control at the moment. I'm generally being kind to my body. These are all the "safe" things that I talk to T about. At the same time I'm still really struggling in a lot of ways. My grief steam rolls me from time to time. My anxiety is the worst it's been in years, with frequent anxiety attacks happening at the moment. I'm still shit at recognizing and naming emotions, especially now that I have SO much distraction. These are things T knows and we have been talking about in the few sessions we have had this summer.

What T doesn't know is that I have been really, really struggling with suicidal ideation again. I haven't gotten myself to bring that up. I'm just not ready to address it, mostly because I don't know why it's back. I can't figure out why part of my brain is so desperate for an "out" right now, but it came on strong when I went back to work. Now I'm thinking, how in the hell do I bring this up without looking desperate for attention? Saying something now seems like I'm screaming, "I can't put more time between sessions, I'm constantly thinking about k*lling myself! Please don't leave me!" That really sounds pathetic doesn't it 🙃

Also, when I go long periods of time without therapy I block out my emotions because I don't have time to deal with them and without the accountability I won't make the time. Then when I realize, oh shit I'm finally accountable to report on how I'm doing, I panic and get flooded with it all at once. Then I spiral into an emotional panic or completely shut down and that's just not fun.

I'm probably over thinking this. Of course the logical thing would be to say all of this to T but I feel like I can't because any potential relationship conflict with her feels too scary. I really need her to be a safe place when I feel wanted, welcomed, seen and held. Normally I do feel that way with her but this simple conversation has triggered something inside of me. A child part that feels like once again we are being left to fend for ourself when all we desperately need is someone to sit with us in the dark while we cry. This little part is throwing an absolute fit because she is never understood or loved and she feels foolish for thinking anyone ever really cared. She feels abandoned.

Omg the fucking drama. All this mental gymnastics over one stupid question about how I want to spend my time and financial resources. Clearly I'm deeply insecure, I think everyone hates me, and I'm insane.

[nyotasaimiri]

Arc Two 116

Their conversation seemed peaceful. Nyota was reluctant to interrupt it, and reluctant to admit her own surprise. It was reasonable, if cynical. But she did not like her cynical self, not when it meant doubting her friend. Yes, once it was only reasonable, only safe to doubt everyone. Not now. Never again.

“Marcy, would you like to stay for dinner?” she asked over her own thoughts, stepping into the room as she caught a gap in the conversation. “It is hardly fair for me to beg favors of you and then send you away hungry.”

Marcy looked up with a smile that knocked the weight of half a decade off Nyota’s back. “I was hoping you would ask. I missed your cooking.”

Nyota returned the smile without a trace of rust; she saw surprise widen Oldarva’s eyes and share an echo of the smile with her as well. “Mihre, you are also welcome. Do you cook? You can join us in the kitchen.”

Mihre chuckled. Nyota was still learning to read Floran faces, but she had seen Namina twitch his nictating membranes like that before when he was feeling sheepish, or embarrassed. “I am not ssafe in kitchens. Best to stay here, maybe.” A bit of mischief sparked in their eyes. “And Namina is being sussspiciously quiet. Should humor him, yes?”

Nyota remembered the paintball incident and decided to leave well enough alone.

“They are going to get silly, you know,” Marcy said as she followed Nyota down to the kitchen.

“I know.” Nyota stopped at the bottom of the second ladder and held out her arms, indulging in a bit of her own silly. Marcy grinned and dropped down into them. The unhesitating trust caught in Nyota’s throat.

Marcy flicked Nyota’s sidelocks. “You’re not concerned?”

Nyota just shrugged, swallowing the sweet sting of trust for later. “We are pretty used to the Floran flavor of silly around here. Oldarva can handle them. She is tougher than most expect. Now, I do need both hands for this.”

Marcy accepted her fate and got down, heading toward the cabinets Nyota indicated to collect their tools. “Than most expect. Including you?”

Perceptive as ever. Memory and pride creased Nyota’s eyes. “Including me. It was her who captured Gizzie.”

“Wait, really?” Marcy stopped fetching bowls for a second to stare up at Nyota. “I thought that was you. Oh, you did say… I wasn’t really focused then, was I? But she did?”

It was Nyota’s turn to chuckle now. “As I said…”

“No kidding.” Marcy finished getting their cookware. “There you are. Sugar next, right?”

That earned her another laugh. “A good guess. I do like making sweets. Ah, thank you.” Nyota accepted the jar with a bit of suspicion. “That was fast. Where did you find it?”

“On the counter here.” Marcy pointed, and confirmed Nyota’s suspicions. Namina hadn’t hidden it again—he was up to something. “So, what are we making?”

“Occulemon meringue.”

Marcy went still and quiet, still holding the jar. “That… that was his favorite.”

Nyota paused. She could feel the pain rise in herself, but it was duller now, soothed by something else she could not name. She tried anyway, words stinging gently at her throat like pulling something sore away. “I like to make it sometimes. I think he would be happy to know that I enjoy it still.”

Marcy touched her elbow. The old gesture drew up a heavy, good, deep smile as Nyota raised her arm slightly, giving permission for Marcy to hug her. A quiet purr rumbled through her as Marcy pressed her face into Nyota’s side.

“You’re right.” Marcy let go after a moment and went to the fridge to find those occulemons. “And he would get on my case for moping. He never had any time for that. Grab life by the horns, he’d say.”

Nyota’s soft chuckle was richer now, full of weight and love. “That he would. And he would like that we share this with others, I think. Love isn’t meant for holding and keeping hidden.” The part of her brain that always rebelled at emotion fixed on the smoothness of the eggs in her hands and marveled at their perfect, delicate shells, at how her strong, heavy fingers could work with them without making them shatter at a touch.

Marcy found the fruit and started getting the rind off. “Yeah. Yeah, he would.” Nyota couldn’t hear the grief in her voice anymore. “Let’s get on with it, then. He was always pretty impatient.”

The chuckle turned into a rumbling purr. “Only with the little things.” The eggs cracked. Nyota relished the feeling of soft-smooth-round between her fingers as she caught the yolks. Warm, familiar yellow.

Marcy nodded, smiling again and thoughtful. “That’s right. Only with the little things.”  

[skzingitup]

ALBUM REVIEW TIME 👹

Since it seems FOB will be releasing a new album/new music soon, why not do an album review for their recent release that I never got round to listening to. MANIA

This review is dedicated to @bambino1294 as it is her fave 🫶🏻

Lets get started 🎆

Stay frosty royal milk tea - 7/10 - wow okay cool start right off the bat!! ARE YOU SMELLING THAT SHIT!! Different to what i’m used to hearing from FOB but its a welcomed difference!! Oh that bridge was so nice!! Yeah this slaps

Last of the real ones - 7/10 - this stating is giving coldplay 😭 its good tho!! When those guitars kick in 🤌🏻 it sort of looses its steam in the verses a little but it’s not enough to ruin anything!! Just makes that chorus hit. Strong final chorus. This is really good!!

HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON’T - 6/10 - a more tropical beat from FOB?? Kind of slays. Okay FOB x KARD performance when?? I am a sucker for when we just get a section of vocals without the instrumental!! It hits everytime!! I cant say this is a song I would choose to put on, but if it came on shuffle i would vibe so hard!! THE VOCALS IN THE BRIDGE??? heaven!!

Wilson (expensive mistakes) - 9/10 - oh this is good!! Yep that chorus!! Slays!! ILL STOP WEARING BLACK WHEN THEY MAKE A DARKER COLOUR!!!! I don’t even have much to say, this is just a whole vibe and i’m in love!! Gets a point deducted because the bridge didn’t hit like the rest of it. But still a huge slay!

Church - 8/10 - this one started out in a very imagine dragons way and i’m living for it!! I love his voice sm btw, i feel like i haven’t said that yet. There is just something about imperfect vocals that just hits so much better. Its the emotion 🤌🏻 yeah this one is groovy!! IF YOU WERE CHURCH I WOULD GET ON MY KNEES. so true!!

Heaven’s Gate - 10/10 - OMG THAT GUITAR IS THE PROGRESSION FROM EVERYBODY HURTS!!! I CAN PLAY THAT IN MY SLEEP!!! FUCK this is so good!! that chorus?!!!! Heaven’s gate?? More like i am actually in heaven!!! This would make a cracking TV drama song!! FUCKING HELL NO THIS IS RLLY GOOD

Champion - 6/10 - the guitars in this one 🤌🏻 IF I CAN LIVE THROUGH THIS!!! Literally my life motto atp. This feels like rock mixed with some classic hiphop in the verses. Its really good!! Yeah I like this one but again Idk if i would choose to listen to this one often. I would vibe if it ever came on randomly tho!!

Sunshine riptide - 6.5/10 - oh this is scratching my brain so well. oHH YEAH. The second verse??? Very different but not unwelcome. The instrumental for this one is so good tho. The bass 🫶🏻 the adlibs in the back 🤌🏻 yeah i think i like this one!

Young and Menace - 7/10 - that build up was so fucking good!! HOLY SHIT I was not expecting that Chorus!! This is so interesting!! It is definitely for a certain vibe, but I am on board!! This would have gone so hard on youtube fan edits back in the day!! This is real noise music!! Stray kids wish they could do this /j

Bishops Knife Trick - 8/10 - nice start!! Love the piano!! Solid drop to the chorus. Very much vibing with this one!! Has a nostalgic feel to it, would be amazon on a late night car ride!! Yep that bridge into final chorus really made the song!! A vibe 🫶🏻

This was a fun listen!! Its a really strong album. Heavens gate is now like one of my fave songs ever

[potatoesandsunshine]

Same anon as before, I loved the lil fic you did abt Astarion and Taryn, you captured his personality SO well. And Taryn, beloved girl. Absolutely fascinating character study. I’m very curious abt your cleric as well!!

bg3 anon my best friend bg3 anon <3 tysm!! i was really proud of that astarion characterization and i'm glad it was good. i'm juggling a couple ideas with her along with this new playthrough - cried my way through the game epilogue but i just wasn't ready to put her down.

currently chipping away at the postgame waterdeep newlyweds era - the idea of 'tav' as a character taryn has made up to deal with it all is just. she's so much. she can find a way to be honest about her feelings as long as she's pretending to be someone else. and thinking about her and tara is like... the friction between them dissolved when tara realized 'oh, another one'. anyway, i have to learn to write stage direction before i go any further with this idea but it's like five stories smashed together right now (taryn missing the rest of the party/newly married bliss/the sheer trauma of the waterdeep tower/the play within the play/can you befriend a tressym who has decided, no, i'm adopting you) oh! and there's also the alfira story but i think that's a separate fic.

and my cleric!!!!!!!!

this is elsie <3 (a blue tiefling cleric? groundbreaking.) she's got SO much wrong with her she is PERFECT to me. she's a tempest domain follower of talos, but it's kind of the classic 'surely this cheerful character can't be serving evil, can she?' situation. she can be. she's not actually sure WHAT she's doing on any given day. anyway, some elsie fun facts!

her name isn't elspeth, which i think would make more sense for the nickname - it's elisaveta, because a cleric being called 'god is my oath' made something insane happen in my brain. literally it would only be better if she were a paladin. elisaveta storm-heart welcome to the world it will be bad for you.

on my end of it (in the game she's got the acolyte background) when she was fifteen she... ran afoul of(?) and/or was chosen (?) by talos - in a blatant karlach parallel, he ripped out her heart and put a storm in its place, which is how i think of that tempest cleric reaction where you can zap people manifested

this has led to a... kind of weird perception of gods in general? i've got the idea for a conversation between her & one of the companions where she says something like "I've heard of people who choose their gods, but in my experience it's always the other way around" // she would be super insane about the gale-mystra situation but it's only act 1 she doesn't know about it

every misfortune in her life is attributed directly to the god she worships. yeah the logic just isn't there but when she was young and freshly-zapped by lightning the group of talos cultists that picked her up just said this is how it is.

she has fully outsourced her moral compass to wyll, which is honestly one of the best moves she could've made. you're welcome faerun.

i also characterize her as someone who has very strong initial emotional reactions to things - she's a crier, she stomps her feet, she throws things if she's by herself, little lightning bolts from her fingertips etc. taryn shifted into resignation so quickly, but elsie is really different! she's bad at hiding how she feels and she feels strongly. who's crying behind the last light inn? elsie. who's screaming at ketheric while he tries to monologue? elsie. who ran back to the enclave and killed kahga before considering any other options? elsie.

we're really early game with her so she doesn't know about any of the dead three stuff but she's going to be VERY unimpressed. if she didn't hate gortash already for the whole selling her girlfriend to hell thing, she'd hate him as... a religious obligation? and not in a sexy way like whatever he had going on with the bhaalspawn, more like a 'how dare these worms try to end the world that's literally what i was given the holy mission to do (that i've been ignoring)'

anyway she's super cute she has gray hair streaks for fantasy bullshit reasons and she's pretty sure talos never actually checks if she's doing her homework so it's fine, really, everybody's getting dramatic over nothing

[silvaswiftcast]

Fluffvember Prompt #7 Soft

Characters: Silva Cataracta, Ricmorn Cataracta, and Hien Rijin

Rating: General

Notes: Hien is having a rough day, but thanks to Silva's help, it ends on a good note. Words contained in [brackets] are in another language, in this case, it's Doman.

Content Warnings/Additional Tags: Polyamory Relationship (V Relationship), M/F/M Relationship, Comfort, Mild Angst (If you squint hard enough), Mentions of Food, Domestic Fluff.

“Long day?”

Hien let out the long, exhausted sigh he had been holding in ever since he stepped into the first meeting of the day. “Something like that,” he answered, closing his eyes as the silk ribbons holding his hair up fell free.

The snort sounding behind him made his lips twitch into a small smile. “Oh, you don’t have to be all kingly and leader-like with me, [my heart.] It’s just us,” she promised, giggling. The bubbly sound sent his heart fluttering. “Well— And Ricmorn, too, once he comes back with the pot of tea and something for all of us to eat.”

Silva knew her other lover would always welcome them in his home and the safe space it provided — no matter if they were having a rough day. Or if he was.

“Even though you hate politics?”

She rolled her eyes as she picked up the wide-tooth comb beside her. “Hate is a strong word for it. They’re just… not my forte,” she corrected. With her other hand, she gathered a section of his lengthy hair between her fingers, carefully working the comb through the jet-black strands. Her ivory horns picked up on his pleased hum as he relaxed. “I find them to be complicated most of the time and hard to keep up with due to their ever-changing nature. My role only lets me get involved in them when requested by the nations. Your understanding of them far exceeds mine.”

“Your talents lie elsewhere, you mean,” he chuckled. Not that it was a bad thing, but the young lord didn’t need to say those words aloud. He felt the point of her ivory tail quiver as it brushed against his arm before she moved on to a different section of his hair.

“Something like that,” she agreed, using the words he said earlier. The dancer grinned when he laughed this time. “I could tell you all about god killing and go into every minute detail of all the things I can craft with my hands. Not to mention plants and minerals — we know I don’t shut up about those once the topic comes up.”

Hien waited for her to finish dragging the comb through his hair before turning his head to look up at her. A rare thing it was due to him being taller than the Auri woman, but his position on the ground and her sitting on the edge of his bed provided him a unique point of view. Vibrant sea-green eyes lined with sea foam limbal rings peered down at him, curiosity shimmering in them.

“I enjoy hearing you talk about those things, [wildflower.]”

Especially on days like this. Days spent in and out of constant meetings and listening to his advisors argue over one another instead of taking turns to speak of their concerns. The young lord would rather hear about his beloved’s day — or days, should they spend weeks apart.

“I know,” she told him, brushing some of his unruly bangs out of his eyes, “and knowing you do makes my heart do funny things.” Silva leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on his forehead. “But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t lend my horns to you if you needed to talk things out or just to vent. Gods and kami know you listen to mine or Ricmorn’s troubles without a second thought.”

His lips found her palm when she shifted to cup his cheek. “I love you, Silva, and both you and Ricmorn are important to me.” She held his heart in his hands while he cherished the friendship between him and the Auri man.

“And I love you, Hien!” Silva beamed. “Always. And if my husband wasn’t so stubborn about his emotions most of the time, he would tell you how important you are to him, too.”

A surprised squeak left her when the samurai rose to his knees and pulled her into a hug. It took a few seconds for her brain to realize what had happened, but she quickly returned his embrace, a happy trill rumbling in her throat when his arms tightened around her. She carefully combed her fingers through his long hair as he held her close. And when Hien buried his face between her neck and shoulder, sighing as he let himself relax more, she gave him a gentle squeeze.

“Could… could we talk about your day first, instead?” she heard him ask beside her horn. “I would like to have a little more time to sort out my thoughts first before sharing.”

“That bad, hm?” was her soft murmur. “I’m sorry to hear, my dear.”

A bark of hollow laughter shook his frame as he pulled away. “As you questioned minutes ago… it’s been a long day for me. A very, very long one.”

“I would be happy to go first, then. Oh! Would you like to hear about how I helped one of the Auri boys I used to babysit as a teenager ask to court the girl he’s been crushing on for years?”

The way her eyes sparkled as she spoke told him it was a good story — one that made her day.

“I would love nothing more than to listen,” he said, smiling.

“Okay! So— I’ve actually babysat both of them for their parents from time to time, and—”

Hien sat back down and faced forward again so Silva could continue brushing his hair as he listened to her tale. He found her excitement adorable, incredibly infectious. It filled his chest with warmth and ease some of the burdens weighing down his mind. She didn’t even notice Ricmorn entering the room with a tea tray filled with food and a large pot of fresh, steaming tea — so engrossed with her story.

Not that it was a bad thing.

He thanked his friend for the cup of tea he gave him, and the pair exchanged all-knowing smiles as he joined him on the floor. They quietly sipped their tea as they listened to their beloved babble away.

In Hien’s mind, this was one of the best ways to end his day.

[thecountoflondonfansite]

“Yikes, and the other villains berated me for being reckless.” Hyde grumbled. Henry ignored Hyde’s comment. He was a bit nervous to see Wordgirl again even though it was Hyde that faced off against her and not him. “Oh, hello Wordgirl.” Henry greeted a bit sheepishly. Wordgirl smiled warmly at him. “Hello Dr. Jekyll, are you alright?” Wordgirl asked. Henry and Hyde were both surprised that the superhero knew who Henry was even though they hadn’t met yet. “You know who ah am?” Henry asked in surprise. A brief flash of panic was displayed on Wordgirl’s face before she quickly schooled her features. “Oh uh…Becky told me about you. Yes, we talk sometimes and she told me about you. That’s how I know who you were.” Wordgirl quickly explained. “Really? That’s nice to hear.” Henry remarked as he seemed to buy her excuse. Hyde on the other hand, noted Wordgirl’s nervous and hasty reply. He didn’t say anything about it, but his curiosity was somewhat piqued. Wordgirl nodded. “Yeah. I also want to thank you for helping to calm down Tobey. Only a few people can stop Tobey’s destructive rampages. One being his mother of course.” Wordgirl remarked. Henry’s expression became solemn. “Thank ye. He is one of me students, like Becky. He’s definitely a bright young man. Ah feel awful that he feels the need to ease his hurt and loneliness through destructive tendencies. Ah only wanted to help him.” Wordgirl was amazed and touched by Henry’s perspective about the boy genius. He really was a nice and caring person in and out of school. “It isn’t easy to look past Tobey’s destructives tendencies as his actions usually irritate people. I’m glad there’s someone like you who can look past that and focus on what’s important.” Wordgirl complimented. Deep down, despite Tobey’s aloofness and irritation, she did want to help the boy genius as well. It was difficult for her when Tobey always wanted to win her affections. Amber soon broke out of Rachel’s grasp and ran towards her father and Wordgirl, only stopping when she got near the heroine. “Hi there.” Wordgirl greeted. She was taken aback by the little girl’s sudden appearance but not surprised to see a civilian come up to greet her as it was typical for the hero. “Amber dear are ye alright?” Henry asked his child as he knew the young girl was frightened by the commotion earlier. He assumed she wanted him to hold her again in reassuring comfort. Amber just gave a slight nod but did not look at her father. Her huge eyes still transfixed on the hero. “You’re very strong and pretty.” Amber spoke. Wordgirl smiled and blushed at the compliment. “Thank you.” Wordgirl replied. “You’re just like Pretty Princess.” Amber added on in a happy tone. Wordgirl’s expression brightened and her eyes dazzled at the mention of her favorite tv character. Wordgirl hovered down on her knees to Amber’s level. “You enjoy watching Pretty Princess and Magic Pony as well.” Wordgirl exclaimed. Amber quickly nodded her head. “It's my favorite show. Auntie Rachel and I watch a lot.” Amber responded. Henry couldn’t help but coo at the excitement and adorableness of his daughter. He had no idea that just a few feet away that Dr. Two Brains was feeling the same thing though he had to hide his emotions since his daughter was on hero duty. Wordgirl gave Amber a bright grin. “Well it’s wonderful to meet another Pretty Princess fan. Unfortunately I have to go now and continue protecting the city.” Wordgirl then reached into her belt and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. Wordgirl quickly scribbled something on the pen before giving it to Amber. “Here’s a special gift for you.” Wordgirl spoke as she handed Amber an autograph. Amber gave an excited gasp. “Thank you. Thank you.” Amber exclaimed repeatedly. “You’re welcome.” Wordgirl smiled. She gave a goodbye wave before flying off towards another direction. “Wow her ego is like Whisker’s almost.” Hyde huffed as he pretended not to be jealous about Amber’s reaction towards Wordgirl. @unhingedexperimenter

(You can tag me on my tgs side blog. I also apologize but I know a few Scottish words. So to anyone reading this I apologize for the inaccuracy.) Becky Boxleitner noticed a change in the atmosphere as she and her pet monkey Bob walked into the sixth grade classroom. All of the students were excitedly chatting with one another. Becky and Bob exchanged confused looks at the scene. 'What is going on?' They both thought. Becky walked to where her friends Violet Heaslip, Rose Franklin, and Todd Scoops Ming were sitting, also joining in the excited yet low volume chattering. "Hey guys what's going on?" Becky asked her friends. They each turned their heads to greet their friend. "Hey Becky guess what, we're getting a new teacher for our class!" Scoops exclaimed. Becky looked surprised at the announcement. Bob also mimicked her facial expression. "Wait really? What happened to Miss Davis?" Becky asked, wondering what happened to their old teacher. It was just a week only into the new school year so a sudden teacher exchange was a complete shock to Becky especially since there were no announcements about it beforehand. "Miss Davis had to move back home because of a family emergency." Rose Franklin answered. "The principal had to scramble to find a new teacher to fill in for our class. It was all last minute stuff." Becky nodded in understanding of her friends' answers. It was a nice perk to be friends who were upcoming reporters. Soon the final bell rang which indicated for every student to take their seats. Becky took her place beside her best friend Violet and Bob plopped down next to her. Soon a man who looked to be in his mid 30s walked in and towards the desk. He had curly brown air, an arched nose, and reddish brown eyes. He wore a tan button-down shirt with a red vest as well as brown slacks and dark suede shoes. The man gave a pleasant and warm smile to all the students there. "Hello my name is Dr. Henry Jekyll and I will be your teacher for the school year." Becky and the other kids ears perked up as they took note of the man's accent. Even Tobey became slightly interested in his new teacher. None of them were sure where their new teacher was from. Dr. Jekyll gave a light chuckle as if he could sense their growing curiosity about him. He lightly clapped his hands together to gain their undivided attention and focus. "Well since this is my first time teaching here, why don't we all play a little game so we can all get better acquainted with each other. Here's what to do. One at a time, say your name and share a wee bit about yourself. Likes, family, interests and all that. I'll go first to show ya what ah mean. Again. My name is Dr. Henry Jekyll. I was born in Glasgow but ah moved to London where I attended university. I have a five year old wee lassie or daughter named Amber. I enjoy chemistry and reading on occasions. Now who would like to go next?" @unhingedexperimenter

Of course Tobey had taken the opportunity to place attention on himself and to have a reason to boast about himself. “My name is Tobey McCallister the third and I will be the most intelligent student you'll meet here.” The others had rolled their eyes, used to this kind of behavior from their peers. Becky seemed to be the most annoyed by it. Having been forced to put up with his destructive tantrums in the past. Henry smiled just as warmly as before. Unbothered by the obnoxious behavior that the boy had been displaying. Tobey had been going on about himself for a good few minutes before the teacher finally spoke up. “Ahem, yes. Thank you for that Mr. McCallister. Would anyone else like to tell me a bit about themselves as well?” No one could tell that behind the facade, Dr. Henry Jekyll was becoming more irritated by the moment. Not by the child but by the pest that refused to leave him be. Scoffing within his head at what they just heard. He didn't share the disembodied voice's opinion but wanted to give the other children a chance to introduce themselves as well. To the others' shock, Tobey seemed to have taken this well. Quickly going back to his desk with no issues. Becky was relieved at that. Soon the other children had started to introduce themselves to their new teacher with little to no issues. He seemed genuinely nice enough to her. This new teacher didn't seem like most of the adults within this city. Some she had to define words repeatedly for. Dr. Jekyll knew what he was teaching and knew his vocabulary. It was Violet who had brought Becky out from her own thoughts, calling her name. Waving a hand in front of her face. “Becky?” The girl smiled in an embarrassed manner. “Huh? Yes?” Violet smiled, patient with her best friend. “Why don't you introduce yourself now? Nearly everybody else already did.” She had given a surprised expression. Becky hadn't realized that she was so lost within her thoughts until then. She stood up and began speaking. “My name is Becky Boxleitner and I also like libraries,reading and Pretty Princess.” The presence that was grating at the teacher's nerves had deemed this too dull to enjoy. Leaving Dr. Jekyll be to his teaching. Well, getting to know his students. He was happy to see that they were engaged in these activities that were meant to break the ice. Though one student in particular had caught his attention the most. Becky. While she did seem rather bright, there was something strange about her behavior at times. Pausing whatever she was doing at the time to listen in on something. Thinking it went unnoticed. Even once looking alarmed and she made an excuse to go to the bathroom. He had allowed it. Feeling that it would've been better to have let her. It seemed…oddly familiar. As if he had seen that behavior somewhere before but couldn't figure out exactly where from. When the school day was finally over, Becky had gone to go home like the others. Dr. Jekyll had of course stayed behind to set more things up within his new classroom. Making a plan on exactly what he'll actually start teaching the next day. Though, the grating voice had returned to be a thorn in his side. “Come on. Leave this boring stuff alone. Leave it until tomorrow. I've been pent up for far too long. Let's have some fun.” This had earned an eye roll and a loud huff from the teacher. “No, I've got to get this done now. You will have enough time tonight. Just be patient until then.” A shadowy figure formed in front of Dr. Jekyll. A frown on its face. “But this is so extremely dull. I want to stretch my legs. I want to make myself known already.” Dr. Jekyll glared. “And that is precisely why I'm so hesitant to let you out so soon. At least let us get acclimated to our surroundings first.” The figure let out an annoyed groan. “You know you want this as much as I do. Otherwise you'd never have any actual fun in the sad and pathetic life you call yours.”

@thecountoflondonfansite

[dycefic]

Have An Evil Day

No prompt this time, just a sequel to ‘Welcome To Evil-Mart’

Working at Evil-Mart is usually… well, it’s retail. It’s physically exhausting, you have to deal with a lot of idiots without being overtly rude, and your feet hurt. Even though the hours and pay are very good, the benefits are great, and our bosses treat us well compared to most retail employees, it’s still not what I’d call a fun job.

But it’s not what I’d call dull, either. Especially not on days like today.

I was promoted to supervisor after the Food Poisoning Incident, so I have a little more authority and a little less obligation to be pleasant and I got issued a weighted cosh because sometimes Evil-Mart customers get… feisty. I’d never had to use it, though, because those who hadn’t seen what I did to Majority Rules, either in person or on one of the cell-phone videos that circulated afterwards, had at least heard about it.  They didn’t give me any trouble.

I was halfway through my shift, and the worst things that’d happened had been running out of croissants and a machine oil spill in Aisle Seven, when our greeter pressed the alarm button, which sent an alert to my handset. As front-end supervisor, that meant me, so I went over. Sam, who is unusual in the henching community for having actually aged out rather than ‘being retired’ jerked his chin in the direction of a tall, swaggering figure. “He just came in,” he whispered.

I did a full double-take before I took it in. Superdyne. Fucking Superdyne.

We’d all heard about his dramatic heel-turn a couple of months ago. The whole world had heard about it. Superdyne, who’d skated closer and closer to the line for years, had decided to cross it in a blaze of bloodshed. He was a villain now, he said. There’d been a whole speech about how ingratitude had driven him to it blah blah blah.

I work at Evil-Mart. I’m from a hench family. If someone becomes a supervillain because they hate Mondays or want to turn us all into dinosaurs or whatever, I don’t judge. I will sell depth-charges and laser guns to anyone who can prove they’re over eighteen without hesitation. But even we get kind of grossed out by the ‘I am forced to turn evil because I haven’t been given enough love’ thing. People who are actually so fucked up by emotional abuse or neglect or some superhero killing their family, we’re fine with them. But they don’t say that’s why they do it, and most of them need a lot of therapy to even realize it. People who actually say that’s why are entitled dickwads.

And now the dickwad had walked into Evil-Mart like he was entitled. Like he thought he was one of us.

“Lockdown protocols,” I told Sam quietly. “On my authorisation.” That takes a minute or two, though, so I went over to talk to Superdyne. “Sir, I have to ask how you even knew where to find this place.”

He smirked at me. “I have my ways,” he said smugly. He’d either bribed or beaten someone, that was my guess. “So this is where the villains shop? We all thought you went to Wal-Mart.” He laughed, like he thought it was clever.

“Yes, so you all say,” I said dryly. I didn’t feel like pretending he was the first person to make the bad joke. “My next question, sir, is what made you think it was a good idea to come in here.”

He spread his hands. “I’m one of you now!” he said happily. “I’m a bad guy! So now I guess I shop where the bad guys shop!” He looked around, frowning a little. “Although I was expecting more weapons and explosives. A… more villainous atmosphere. I didn’t know Evil-Mart had fresh produce.”

“I don’t advise buying herbs here unless you’re a magical practitioner. Some of them have… unusual effects.” A lot of our produce is normal stuff, but some of it not only isn’t legal, it doesn’t exist anywhere else.

“Oh. Well, that makes sense. But the bright lights and the bakery?”

“We have excellent gluten-free breads. In many ways, Superdyne, this is just another store. We have sales, we mark down the breads in the afternoon, we even have a PA system.” I pulled out my handset, and thumbed the button that tied it to the PA. “Attention, shoppers,” I said in my most soothing Customer Service voice, which made him grin. “Evil-Mart wishes to inform you – “ The countdown on my handset reached zero, and I turned to look at the entrance as a huge blast door thudded down. That was the last part of the sequence – staff outside the area were already in lockdown and security were on their way. I smiled, and continued almost without a pause. “- That we are in lockdown at this time, due to the presence of Superdyne in the store. Please remain calm, and be advised that security are on their way to deal with the problem. If you have a personal grudge that you wish to address with Superdyne at this time, he is standing near Register Six with a stupid expression on his face.”

He was staring at me, stunned. “But… but…” he stammered, and damned if he didn’t look puzzled. “But I’m one of you now!”

“No,” I said flatly. “You were always evil, that’s true, but you’ll never be one of us. And for the record, I’m one of the people with a personal grudge. All those henchmen you’ve killed and maimed had families, asshole… and they all shop here.”

He swung at me, then, but I spent years in hench training. Even someone super-strong can be dodged, and once I slammed my cosh into his groin a few times his punches got a lot more aimless. Around then, Tiger Ty came over the register, claws out and snarling, and I figured I should stand out of the way.

About ten minutes later, I turned on the PA again. “Clean-up to Register Six,” I called, in the same special voice. “Category 7, class three. Shoppers, please be advised that lockdown is now lifted but Register Six will be closed until clean-up is completed.”

Hunter, who’d been working Register Six, came out from underneath it. He looked a little green. Well, he was still in his teens, this was probably his first fatal mobbing. “What’s Category 7?” he asked in a shaky voice. “I haven’t heard that before.”

“Biohazard.”

“Oh. Class three?”

“Send three people. He was a juicy one.” I stepped away from a spreading puddle of blood. “Run and get a couple of caution signs we can put around this mess.” I eyed it measuringly. “And one of those fifteen-gallon plastic tubs with a lid, I’ll damage it out.”

He eyed the mess. “Are you sure that’s big enough?”

“Yeah, the average human is only about seventeen gallons by volume, and I’m not going to put all the blood and mush in there, just the big pieces.”

He gulped. “Ah. Yes, ma’am.”

I called after him when he ran off. “One of the black tubs, not a clear one!” Which honestly should only be common sense, but you can’t count on a flustered teenager to have common sense.

We frown on killing customers at Evil-Mart, up to a point… but when a particularly murderous super-hero walks into our store, well, that’s something else. I’d have to fill out a ton of paperwork, though.

I had to chase off one of Doctor Malign’s minons and two members of the Genetic Reign before the clean-up crew arrived, both of whom urgently wanted samples. In the end I scraped a few pieces of liver and unidentified organ into two of the bags we use for possibly-contaminated money just to make them go away. (They’re good customers, and it was just going to go in the trash anyway.)

By the time the clean-up was done, all the big pieces were boxed up, and I’d finished the paperwork, my shift had been over for twenty minutes, and I’d been asked to come up to the boss’s office.

“Listen, I have no issues with how you handled the situation, I want you to know that.” Mr Trent leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingertips together. “It was quick, it was efficient, and… given your personal history with Superdyne, not to mention mine and that of half of our customer base… richly deserved.”

“Yes, sir,” I said. It came out too meek, and I cleared my throat and straightened up. It’s hard not to be intimidated by Mr Trent, when you’re in the same room with him. It’s not his fault, and he does his best, but even under the strictest control his fear-inducing powers tend to unsettle anyone who gets too close. We all know he’s not doing it on purpose and we try not to show our reactions. “Do you have any orders regarding the remains?”

“Doctor Order wants them.” He rubbed his chin. “Get someone from the pharmacy to prepare samples for him, please, including brain tissue. He’s our primary supplier, and we can’t offend him. As for the rest… as you know, I’m retired, and I don’t usually participate in the Endless War.” One of his hands dropped to his left thigh. His prosthetic leg is some of Doctor Order’s best work, but the injury that led to his retirement had been brutal even by our standards. “But this is different. Superdyne came here. To our place of safety. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

I nodded. “Do you want the remains dumped somewhere public? Some kind of dramatic display?”

“No. Something more direct.” He rubbed his chin again, then tapped the intercom on his desk. “Iris, please send up Miss Fedorova from Marketing and Mr Levy from the warehouse.”

“Yes, sir,” Iris responded, and he clicked off the intercom again.

“The three of you worked together very well, during the food poisoning incident,” he explained. “And I believe they can assist us in a satisfactory conclusion.” He hesitated, then smiled ruefully. “Perhaps you should wait outside until they get here. I can tell I’m unsettling you.”

“Sir, I know you’re not – “

“Not doing it on purpose.” He sighed. “I do appreciate how hard you all work to make me feel… accepted, I really do. But I’m very annoyed right now, which makes control more difficult for me, so I think we’d both be more relaxed if you waited outside while I do my meditation exercises.”

I waited outside. When the three of us went into his office again, the miasma of low-level fear was definitely a bit lighter, and he smiled. “All right. Now, this conversation is going to be very confidential, and I will remind you all of the agreements you signed when you were employed.” We all chorused agreement, and he nodded. “Good. Now, this is very much a secret, even among Evil-Mart staff, but we do have a few online clients who are… ah… on the other side of the fence.”

Ms Fedorova blinked. “What?”

Knuckles sighed. “We ship to a few heroes,” he explained. “The ones who are… less homo than sapiens, if you get my drift.”

I didn’t, and from her expression Ms Fedorova didn’t either. Mr Trent spread his hands, drawing our eyes to his fingers. Which as a rule nobody looks at, because there’s fourteen of them, with four joints in each finger, and we know he’s self-conscious about it. “The less… purely human ones,” he said quietly. “One of the reasons I created Evil-Mart was to give those who can’t pass for human, like me, a place to be… people. To have dignity. So that the obligate carnivores weren’t reduced to living on pet-food or scavenging for scraps, so that those with complex metabolisms could get the supplements they need so that people who are still people, for all their outward differences, could shop in safety. There are a great many more monsters, demigods, abominations of science and other non-standard persons among our set than among the heroes, and I wanted to meet their needs, as well as selling weapons and Lair-away-from-home sets and so on.”

“And there are a few heroes who order from us for that reason,” Knuckles added. “The ones who can’t get medications to suit their metabolism, or need to eat things that you can’t get easily anywhere else.”

I nodded, because that much I understood. We have some very esoteric ‘dietary supplies’ that start with fresh, healthy, well-treated and disease-free prey animals frozen whole (from mouse up to calf and goat kept in stock, larger sizes by pre-order, halal and kosher certified where possible) and end with human blood (rejected blood bank stock mostly, we have an arrangement), and human flesh and organs (sourced from hospitals, morgues and crematoriums, guaranteed no murder, at least not by us). “Well, I suppose that makes sense. I’m surprised we ship to them, though.”

“Oh, they don’t know we know. It’s all assumed names and secret bank accounts.” Knuckles grinned. “But Mr Trent has all our online customers identified before we ship. And for the ones who don’t have any other options, well… we let it slide.”

“I can see why you don’t want that to get out.” Ms Fedorova tapped her chin. “What does this have to do with disposing of the body? I was planning to set up a really ghoulish display in a public place somewhere, I already have some sketches.” Marketing for Evil-Mart is… well, it includes more than designing our sale flyers.

“No. We’re going to deliver them to a hero… one of the ones who owes us… and make it very clear that just because someone decides to admit he’s a villain, that doesn’t make him one of us and it doesn’t entitle him to union services,” Mr Trent said flatly. “I want to make it crystal clear to all of them that a heel turn does not mean their sins are forgiven, or that we will accept them as anything other than a very brief amusement.”

Late that night – we were all on overtime, but it couldn’t be done in daylight – we wheeled a cart down the run-down hallway of a shoddy apartment building. “This is a terrible address for a hero,” Ms Fedorova muttered. “Are we sure he lives here?”

“I deliver here a couple of times a month.” Knuckles was pushing the cart. “I’m sure.”

“Okay.” Ms Fedorova cleared her throat, coughed once or twice, and suddenly her voice was deeper and her very faint Russian accent was as thick as pea soup. “This is intimidation tactic,” she said, grinning toothily. “Do not act surprised.”

I knocked on the door, but let Knuckles do the talking. “Delivery, Mr West,” he called, using the fake name the guy had been giving.

It worked… the door was unlocked and opened almost immediately. “I scheduled the order for next – “ the mark said, and then we were pushing inside, slamming the door behind us.

“Do not be alarmed, Mr… Dinoid, is it?” Ms Fedorova said, folding her arms. “Evil-Mart is knowing all along your real identity. But you are needing to eat, and we are not turning down regular business, so we make no trouble.”

Knuckles rolled his eyes behind her back at how much she was hamming it up, but I waved a hand. Let her have her fun. So Knuckles started unloading the boxes onto the table while she talked. “First, your Budget Bunny Box. Your favourite, da?” The next box, smaller, plunked down. “Two fresh chickens, halal certified, healthy and having lived good life, gift for good customer.” Knuckles dumped the plastic tub on the floor. “And mortal remains of Superdyne, with note.”

Dinoid was staring at us, but that made him shift into a combat stance, his long claws spread. “The… Superdyne’s dead? And in there?”

“Well. Most of him. The big pieces.” Ms Fedorova shrugged an impressively Russian shrug. I hadn’t even known that was a thing, but when she did it, it was obvious. “You must understand, when a mob tears a man apart, it is hard to find every little piece.”

“I’m pretty sure Doctor Malign and the Genetic Reign took off with doggy bags,” I said, as if I hadn’t handed them over myself. “And Doctor Order probably has some of him too, by now. So looking out for clones would be a good idea, I don’t know if that’s in the note.”

Insofar as that reptilian face could show readable expressions, he looked shocked. “Why on earth would… why? He changed sides? And why did you bring him to me?”

“We know your address, we know you don’t want to turn us in because we’re the only ones who can supply your meals, and our boss wanted us to make this very clear.” I indicated the note. Since Ms Fedorova was hamming up her Sexy Russian Supervillain act, and Knuckles was very obvious Muscle, I figured it was on me to be the Reasonable One. “He might have stopped being a hero, but that didn’t make him one of us. That didn’t make him acceptable to us. Our boss wants it made very clear that your failures shouldn’t expect to be accepted by us… or even spared by us.”

He shifted slowly, the tip of his tail twitching. “I… see. I understand why you would reject Superdyne. He was notorious for killing and maiming people on… your side. But I know other defectors have been accepted. Philomel, for example.”

“Philomel was child of villains. She is young, she is rebellious, she sides with heroes for a while.” Ms Fedorova shrugged. “Is understandable, da? The young do foolish things. She comes home, all is forgiven.”

He nodded slowly. “Tenebrous?”

“That story I don’t know.” Ms Fedorova glanced at me.

I nodded. “Tenebrous was just a kid. He was twelve when Varide recruited him. Nineteen when he broke with the guy. Varide put a kid into combat, left him with massive PTSD, then ditched him when he had a breakdown and went too far. Mx Frantique at least made sure he had a safe place to stay and some therapy.”

“It’s happened a few times.” Knuckles rested his elbows on the cart’s handles, his inhumanly big, strong hands dangling. “But there’s a process. A system. If someone’s sponsored by a villain in good standing, like Frantique sponsoring Tenbrous, they can be accepted. Nobody gets to just choose to join. Especially not a smug, entitled prick like Superdyne.”

Ms Fedorova suddenly leaned forward, scowling. “And why are you called Dinoid? You are not dinosaur. You are clearly monitor lizard. Golden monitor, I think.” She reached out and prodded his arm. “And not healthy, either. Look at colouration! You do not keep environment humid enough. Are having trouble with shedding, da?”

Now we were all staring at her. “You’re a lizard expert now?” Knuckles asked.

She shrugged. “What? Is hobby. Mamma’s little Varanus Acanthurus are pride and joy. Sadly, cannot keep larger monitors in city. Is unkind.”

Dinoid ran a hand over his head slowly. “Not many people realize,” he said slowly. “That’s why I order from you guys. I used to get frozen… food… from a pet supplier, but then I got contacted by someone who told me there was another option.”

“Is good thing. Those pet suppliers, they are rogues. They do not keep animals healthy, can get diseases or mites from those things.” Ms Fedorova sniffed. “I would never buy from them. My babies would get sick.”

He actually chuckled, then, seeming to relax a bit. “You’re not wrong. After… this happened… I got really sick a couple of times before I figured out what to eat, and where to get it. And even the reputable suppliers don’t always have the healthiest stock.” He opened his mouth wide, making a gagging noise. “You have no idea how bad that ‘reptile food’ is. Eating whole animals may be a little disgusting, but it’s nothing to some of that stuff.”

“I believe it,” I said emphatically. “There’s a reason Evil-Mart has such an extensive pet-food line. The horror stories we hear from some of our customers… well, you’d believe it, I bet, but most humans just look confused.”

Knuckles nodded, and spread his hands. “People who can’t pass for regular humans… or even for people, the way most normies see it… are a lot more common on our side of the fence than yours. That’s why we delivered to you. We figured you really needed it.”

“Does he order from the pharmacy?” Ms Fedorova was around behind him now, examining his back. “He is having calcium deficiency, am betting. He needs nutritional supplement.”

“I take a nutritional supplement,” he said defensively.

“The one for normal-sized lizards is not enough for man-sized monitor/human hybrid,” she said firmly. “Check pharmacy section next time. We are having excellent selection of supplements for hybrids, and chart to tell you how much to take for body-mass.”

He looked back and forth between the three of us. “You people are… not what I would have expected from an evil supermarket.”

“We may be… morally challenged,” I said, shrugging, “but we’re not heartless.” I looked around his tiny, shabby apartment. “Unlike some of your lot. I thought you were on a team. Why are you living here?”

He ducked his head. “I couldn’t live at the base,” he said, his tail drooping. “My… I made people uncomfortable. And the stipend isn’t much.”

“Isn’t much? With the merchandising deals they have?” Ms Fedorova sounded shocked, and the accent had dropped back a lot. “I know for a fact that if the accountants ever got hold of their books they’d owe more in back taxes than… well, than Evil-Mart would if our illegal product arm ever got discovered. And we pay our taxes on the legitimate stuff scrupulously.”

Dinoid blinked rapidly, though I couldn’t tell whether he was more surprised by her suddenly dropping her act or the idea that Evil-Mart pays taxes. “You do?”

“Of course. Not under that name, of course, there’s a shell company.” She sniffed. “All villains do. Al Capone, you know. We’re not getting caught that way again.”

Knuckles and I both nodded when he looked at us, and he shook his head. “Huh. Makes sense, I guess.”

“It does.” I looked around again. The place really was crappy. “I know it’s a personal question, Mr… West, but under the circumstances I’d like to know… how much is that stipend?”

He looked down at the floor for a while, then cleared his throat. “Uh. $1100 a month.”

We all stared at him. Ms Fedorova’s mouth fell open. Knuckles looked shocked, and I was horrified. “$1100 a month?!” I asked, my voice coming out louder than I’d intended. “For risking your life on a superhero team?! I have teenaged cashiers working part-time who make more than that!”

He looked almost as startled as we did. “For working a cash register?!”

“Evil-Mart pays pretty good.” Knuckles shrugged. “But that stipend is disgusting.”

“You are being exploited,” Ms Fedorova said, sounding really aghast. “That is terrible. Why, baseline henchman pay is twice that, and there are danger bonuses and…” Her voice dropped suddenly. “You don’t have a union, do you?”

“A union? Of course we don’t have a…” He trailed off. “You mean you do?”

“Of course we do. An extremely well-armed one.” Ms Fedorova folded her arms. “Henchmen And Allied Industries has represented us for generations. The last time a supervillain executed a union henchman for failure, he was boiled in oil… literally. On camera. Oh, of course some of the less reputable villains just pick up small-time trash from the streets, untrained rabble from the gangs and so on, so they can treat them as disposable, but we union members are skilled workers, with rights and protections. I bet you don’t even get overtime.”

“Of course not. Crime happens when it happens, and we have to…” He trailed off. “You guys get overtime?”

“We’re getting double time and a half for this conversation. And an extra day off.”

His eyes widened again. “Really? Wow, that’s… even when I was working a regular job, before this, I didn’t get pay like that.” He looked down at his hands and bared his teeth in what looked like an unhappy expression. “And now I can’t work anything but this kind of job. People don’t like having a scary dinosaur in their restaurant.”

There was a long pause.

“You can cook?” Ms Fedorova asked carefully.

“Yeah. I worked in my parents’ restaurant before… this.” He gestured at himself. “They were killed when we were attacked, and I was… changed.”

We all looked at each other. “After you’ve returned Superdyne’s remains to whoever you consider appropriate,” I said, grabbing a notepad and scribbling down my number, “I’d like you to give me a call. Evil-Mart is always hiring in the bakery and deli, and I mean always. Most bad guys aren’t great cooks. We don’t know why, it just seems to be one of those things.”

“You want me to join the bad guys?”

“I want you to work in a bakery. Villains and henchmen need to eat, and so do their families. Nobody’s going to ask you to rip superheroes in half, just maybe make a sandwich that won’t give anyone food poisoning.”

“That’s a regular concern?”

“Six months ago the three of us ran Evil-Mart’s physical store completely unassisted for most of a day because the only people who weren’t down with food poisoning were the ones who’d had the vegetarian and kosher meals.” I shuddered at the recollection. “Trust me. Someone who can cater staff functions without a major disaster would never have to live in an apartment like this working for us.”

“And we get full benefits, including dental.” Knuckles was shaking his head. “I bet you don’t even get hospital.”

“What hospital would take me? I always figured I’d go to the zoo and talk to the vet if – “

Ms Fedorova actually put her arms around him. “You,” she told him firmly, “are going to resign your terrible exploitative job, and then I will personally sponsor you to the union immediately. I have a spare room. You will like it. Humidity and temperature can be set just how you like, and Mamma Yelena will take you to real doctor expert in health of hybrids.”

“Those exist?” he asked, sounding a bit overwhelmed.

“Yeah, the Genetic Reign has like three of them,” I said sympathetically. “Listen, you can take some time to think it over, but you don’t have to put up with this kind of exploitation just because you don’t look human. Nearly a third of Evil-Mart’s staff can’t pass, and they’re treated just like everyone else.”

Superdyne’s dramatic demise got a lot of news coverage. Apparently it came as a real shock to the ‘good guys’ that there were some monsters even the superest villains wouldn’t embrace.

Dinoid no longer exists. Ismail Jameel works at Evil-Mart, and has expanded our fresh food lines a lot already. He’s a nice guy, and after Ms Fedorova told everyone how disgustingly he’d been exploited by those so-called ‘heroes’, he was welcomed with open arms. Literally, in at least one case – he’s dating someone from the warehouse, I’ve heard, though I don’t know who. He says we should rename the store, because we suck at being evil.

But evil is a really relative term. It can mean the blackest depravity, or a moment of viciousness, or even just ‘people on the other side’. Evil-Mart is called that because everyone, at least everyone on our side, is welcome. Plus, we all think it’s funny that the least-evil megacorporation is called ‘Evil-Mart’. What can we say? Bad guys have a sense of humour too.

Have an evil day!

[asimpforhotpixels]

╔══════ ≪ °❈° ≫ ══════╗

Title: The Creator's Guardian (Chapter 1)

Summary: a tale of Teyvat's creator's adventure as she tries to retrieve what she lost and hopefully purge her world of the corruption that plagues it. a tale told by a very overworked guardian as they try to save their beloved creator from her own stupidity and flirtiness

Series Warnings: Spoilers probably, Blood, Violence (a lot less than most impostor fics but still pretty gory) Overlooked trauma, Bottled emotions. will add more as the series progress

Additional Tags: Semi-Canon compliant, Women-centric as hell, OOC characters, Self-Indulgent series, Kinda SAGAU, the more accurate tag would be semi-soft! impostor cult AU. Creator/Guardian!Reader/Genshin Women. A very flirty, stubborn, "humor is my coping mechanism" Divine God. Omnipotent Characters. (A very sleep-deprived author so if you're confused, don't worry I am too.)

Reader Pronouns: They/Them

Word Count: 3541 words

Author’s Note: I...might've been too self-indulgent in this one- constructive criticism is welcomed <3, have fun loves <3

Taglist: @chocoenvy @moorzy

[prev] [next]

  ╚══════ ≪ °❈° ≫ ══════╝

“Have you decided on a name for yourself yet?” she asked you in an affectionate tone

She’s standing right beside you as you walked together in her garden. Your sense of smell is overwhelmed by the scent of countless flowers as your hands brush their petals. You opened your legs slightly as you walked when you felt the little fox cubs with their squirrel friends running between them.

“I still don’t see why that’s necessary, Your Grace.” you replied, carefully picking a flower to place behind your creator’s ear

“Why not? Aleizal (Ah-Ley-Zuhl) already chose hers.” she chuckles, caressing the Calla Lily that you placed

“Oh please, I rather not you compare me to…whatever she is.” You scoffed

“Is this jealousy?” Your creator teased, poking your cheek while giggling like a child

“I simply prefer offering everything I have and am to my one and only creator, is that perhaps too much to ask Your Grace?” You smirked, which made her lift an eyebrow with a slight red tint adorning her flower-framed face.

“My, my, my. You’ve been spending too much time with the Kitsunes haven’t you?” She pats your cheek before walking away with you right on her tail

“Have you ever heard of the saying ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye?’ “ She speaks after a few minutes of silence

“Yes?” You ask, confused as to what exactly she’s implying

“Well, it is important for my heart that you gain a little autonomy. After all, whatever would you do when I’m gone if you’re too dependent on me?” 

“My sole purpose is to be your guardian, your sword and shield. That’s all I-” your words got cut off when she unleashed a strong jet of hydro right into your mouth

“I created you as my companion. My friend if you will, perhaps even more.” She winks at you, enjoying the way ores began to appear on your face, your body’s way of expressing embarrassment

“I never wanted you to discard your own safety for my sake. But that’s exactly what you did, didn’t you? You threw yourself right in front of me when he attacked me, rendering you completely useless. Useless. You’re the reason I died in the first place.” 

What? This wasn’t how it went-

“Of course, it wasn’t how it went.” Someone chuckled right on your ear as the scene in front of you faded into pitch black

“Poor little guardian~ So pathetic.” That voice reverberated around your head as you frantically searched for the source

You then felt a hand grip your jaw, forcing it to stay in place as she played the most painful memory that you keep so deeply hidden inside your brain. 

The Creator’s downfall.

You are forced to watch as the same Gods that your beloved Creator made barged into her domain, an eerie-looking device in their hands and leaving no time for talking automatically activated it. Deep, evil smirks on their face as you realized that whatever it is, it posed a great threat to your Creator. You only managed to push her aside, taking the hit that was meant for her. 

The last sight you saw was her. Her beautiful galaxy-embedded eyes filled with pure fear and despair. And with that, you remained unconscious and inactive. Until The Tsaritsa along with the First and Third Harbinger, Pierro and Columbina managed to set you free. 

Since that night, it was all you could ever remember as you gazed up into the night sky. The moment where you failed to protect Teyvat’s true Goddess. 

“Hmmm… Such a deliciously pitiful expression you have there.” She says as she finally comes into your line of sight

“Aleizal.” You growled out, attempting to summon your double-bladed polearm, your signature weapon, only for it to not heed your call

“Oh dear, have the years corroded your brain, or did you just desperately try to forget everything that is connected to me? I must say, that hurts. Whatever that is you are doing? It won’t work” She sighs in faux hurt

“Cease with the hollow and flawed speech and tell me what it is you truly want.” You stared at her annoyingly beautiful eyes. 

“My, If I were truly the Creator herself, you wouldn’t even dare to speak like this. Too bad I just wear the same face.” She tilts your chin upwards with such force as she languidly runs her fingers on the seal she placed right on your throat

She hums in satisfaction before walking away, allowing you to look around. You know in yourself that you’re still somewhere in Snezhnaya since you can still feel the presence of Tsaritsa’s gnosis. However, you’re somewhere in-

“You’re in my domain. You are as powerless as when you were merely a bunch of ores and flowers when the creator made you in here so don’t even bother fighting the ropes around your wrists.” She nonchalantly says as she sits in an elevated chair. You refuse to call it a throne because she doesn’t deserve that.

“Since when did you have a domain?” 

“Since I learned to be independent of course”

“You mean when you betrayed our Benevolent Goddess?” as soon as those words escaped she fixed a cold hard glare right to your eyes as an invisible force pulled you close to her, 

“I never betrayed her.” She calmly stated. However, you can see the anger in her eyes, the anger that was slowly boiling over

“I simply… explored other choices. Found other methods to become much more powerful than what our Goddess would’ve allowed” You sarcastically smiled at her

“Ah yes. Did that option involve sucking his-”

“OH YOU-” She tried to grip the collar of your Fatui Uniform but it only passed through as you feel yourself fading away

“Aww, have you been growing weak lately? Not enough divine presence I presume? Can’t even keep your domain up for 15 minutes.” You teased her, knowing full well that in terms of divine presence, you have your reserves running lower than hers since she’s been hanging with false Gods.

“I suggest keeping your mouth shut. The only reason I was able to drag you here was that you were vulnerable to the sudden influx of divine presence. Get off your high horse because I will soon snuff that source out like I’ve done thousands of years ago. Mark. My. Words.” 

You woke up with a sharp gasp and with a sharp jolt as you sat up quickly. Only when you felt a cold hand on your shoulder did you release yourself from your stupor, slowly calming down as you took in the familiar surroundings. 

“You gave us quite the fright little one.” Tsaritsa guides you back into a laying position as she caresses your hair

“I am significantly older than you, Tsaritsa. Besides, how long was I unconscious?” You groaned, still feeling a slight headache

“3 weeks. We already possess the Geo gnosis, which in turn gives us possession of 3 gnoses. La Signora has secured that and is on her way home with Tartaglia. Lumine has also started searching for the Creator, however, she always seems to be a step too late.” The Tsaritsa recounted as she gives you a glass of water followed by a tray of mysterious medicine

“Dottore dropped these before he left with Pantalone for Liyue, Pantalone appears to have something to fix within the affairs of the Northland Bank. He says that these should help stabilize your body and reduce the headaches, however, you must seek the Creator as soon as possible. Not just for your sake but hers as well. That wretched impostor has issued another decree…” The Tsaritsa walks toward the large window you have in your chambers, it oversees the southwest part of her kingdom, admiring the way the snowflakes glow in her vicinity. 

The temperature in your room gets colder, defeating your fireplace’s warmth. The Tsaritsa was never one to express emotions clearly. You must first get to know her intimately, if she lets you that is before you are able to accurately identify her tells. The temperature phenomenon only happens when she’s in a state of red hot anger. 

The Tsaritsa explains that the decree was supposedly made after the countless reports of an impostor running around and actively hurting people through suspicious means such as controlling monsters to attack knights etc. Due to that, the ever-so-merciful Creator has ordered a detainment for said impostor in order for a trial to happen. 

“Are you implying that everyone in Teyvat is hunting down Her Ladyship?” You stood up, your body’s regeneration skills partnered with Dottore’s medicine have worked wonders and you feel as good as new

“Yes.” 

Suddenly a strong quake shook the ground as your fireplace fought to keep your fires contained, Your body shook with the earthquake and a frown adorned your face.

“I will be walking myself down into the abyss first before they try to harm a single hair on her grace’s hair.” 

“Yes, yes. I would appreciate it if you do so without either burying my castle under an avalanche, crumbling it, or melting it down. Thank you very much.” She says as she plucks a flaming flower from your head, encasing it in cryo to prevent it from harming anyone

You shook yourself out of your small fit and began dressing, ready for travel as you plan on journeying to Inazuma as soon as possible.

“Well, look on the bright side of everything, Dear Guardian. One of Arlecchino’s children has intel and evidence that Her Ladyship is heading towards Inazuma. Apparently, The Abyss Princess’ twin brother has managed to smuggle her in the Crux.” 

“I see. His name is Aether. if you forgot.”

“Oh, I know.”

“You just-” 

It was then that you felt a very familiar disturbance in the air, it felt eerie, yet comforting. A gentle prickle on your skin.

“It seems that Lumine is coming bearing some news,” Tsaritsa says as she waits for Lumine to step through

However, Lumine didn’t, instead only her hand came through. As if sensing your direction, the hand darted towards you, grabbing you and pulling you towards the abyss portal. 

“Hey! Lumi what gives…” Your voice fades as your entire being rearranges itself. 

You are quite used to this since Lumine used to bring you along in her travels but the experience never ceases to be so…disorienting.

Somewhere in Inazuma…

“Oh fuck fuck fuck putangina fuck shit fuck fuck shit pussy cunt fucking goddamnit.” A certain outlander cusses out loud as she is chased by a horde of angry people, quite a lot of them are vision holders, in fact, they were the very same characters she knows and loves, even the fucking archons are chasing her 

“This looks like a scene from a movie where there’s a witch hunt, but I’m not a witch. I mean, I don’t think I am, do witches even exist in Genshin? OH SHIT- Barsibatoes’ arrow nearly hit me there woohoo. I guess we leaning and rocking here.” She spoke her thoughts with a breathless huff

“What did I do to deserve this honestly! I should’ve pet more cats since obviously the cat molecules on me isn’t triggering Venti’s allergy-” 

“Cease running at once and face your punishment impostor!” Her words were cut by some random shogunate soldier

“Rude! I was trying to monologue here. This reminds me of high school days honestly, only I never remember being so…athletic.” and just as she says that, she trips on a pebble and lands flat on her face

“Fuck. I have read far too many SAGAU fics to know that this happening with 3 archons right on my ass is never a good sign,” she tells herself as she scrambles to get up as she always did.

The fall scraped her skin, thus allowing an inky black substance to trickle down the wound. She knew that these people were right. If she truly fell into Teyvat, then she would be the true God had she had golden blood. But no, hers was pitch black as if the Abyss itself is in her. However what confused her the most is the fact that with every tired step she made, grass would grow so tall as if hiding her from her pursuers. And should she encounter any mob or animal on her way, they would attack those who are chasing her 

It was all too confusing for her, however, she doesn’t have even a single second to think because Raiden Shogun, Zhongli, and Venti were sending attack upon attack right at her as she tries her best to avoid it all. She noticed that they had this animalistic gaze fixed on her, their eyes have this flickering reddish-purple tint. Which would’ve been normal on Ei or rather, The Shogun since she is the Electro Archon, however for Zhongli and Venti to have the same? It was suspicious, but she can’t afford to worry about that on top of her own safety.

And then her luck runs out.

She skidded to a stop as she realized that she was chased to the edge of a cliff. Which mountain cliff is she in? She doesn’t know and she doesn’t care to find out. With her heart pounding with adrenaline and fear, her breathing faster than Lightning McQueen, she turned to face her assailants.

“I know I said that I would’ve loved to be stuck down by your booba sword but I meant it in a sexy way, not in a murderous way.” She nervously chuckled at the Shogun who was slowly advancing towards her, with Zhongli and Venti shadowing her. 

“I will pay no mind to your distasteful nonsense impostor, so long as you let yourself be tied, arrested, and punished for your crimes!” The Shogun declares as she points her polearm at her

“What crimes?! I simply just woke up in this world with an arrow pointed to my face by that tone-deaf bard over there?! What? Is being this attractive a crime now?! I haven’t done a single thing that would be considered “evil” when compared to the deeds you all have done in your past. Makoto, Guizhong, and whoever the fuck’s body that is you’re wearing would all be so disappointed-” Her words were yet again interrupted as The Shogun slashed her throat with such rage in her animalistic eyes

Her hands quickly went up her throat in an effort to stop the disgusting black blood she now possesses. It overflowed so ominously, threatening. She felt lightheaded as she staggers back. She then gazes up at the people in front of her as if to mock them. She felt how the air crackled with electricity, how the wind picked up speed as the ground shook. 

She failed to notice how the non-vision wielders have now fainted.

She failed to notice the pain and confusion in the archon’s eyes

She did notice the very fact that as she struggles to breathe, the skies opened up, a figure gliding down with grace as the crowd parted. They radiate power, elegance, and knowledge. 

It was then she realized, that this was Teyvat’s Goddess… and that it is really weird seeing your face on another body. This must be how Venti’s friend felt. 

In her brain’s last-ditch effort for safety, she figured that death by heights is a much better way to die rather than be a spectacle and die while being gawked at like some animal at a zoo.

And so she allowed herself to fall backward, feeling that familiar tug in your stomach, similar to the feeling you feel when you ride a rollercoaster. 

She enjoyed the last bits of life, she always enjoyed the wind rushing through her body, the thrill of it made her laugh bitterly

“I hope this is all just a fucking dream.” As soon as she uttered those words, she felt herself slam into something hard. 

It was hard, yes. But it was…softer than what she thought it would be.

“Your Eminence!” she heard someone exclaim, it was then followed by frantic shouts as she felt wave after wave of relief pass through her

Soon enough, she felt good enough that she managed to open her eyes and what greeted her were warm pairs of eyes, so vibrant and comforting that in a haze she clung unto whoever this was.

“Pretty eyes and warm…” and with that, she succumbed to the darkness that was tempting her since ages ago

You, on the other hand, couldn’t stop the rage that was now boiling over. 

“Herald.” 

“Yes, my liege?” Answered the Abyss Herald that Lumine has by her side

“Stay here and guard our Creator. If even the smallest scratch adorns her body while I go and deal with some pest, your head will be on a stick. Is that clear?” You threatened in an eerily calm tone as you carefully set your beloved creator down on the huge comfy leaf that you have conjured up

“Yes, my liege.” He replies with a slight quiver 

Take a deep breath in and close your eyes in order to remind yourself that the creator would definitely punish you for killing off every single being in this world. 

Take a deep breath in and close your eyes in order to remind yourself that the creator would definitely punish you for killing off every single being in this world. 

Take a deep breath in and close your eyes in order to remind yourself that the creator would definitely punish you for killing off every single being in this world. 

Take a deep breath in and close your eyes in order to remind yourself that the creator would definitely punish you for killing off every single being in this world. 

Take a deep breath in and close your eyes in order to remind yourself that the creator would definitely punish you for killing off every single being in this world. 

Well, what the creator doesn’t know won’t hurt her. 

And with that, you manipulated the strings of fate, tying each and everyone present as of this moment in an intricately designed web of despair. Their screams echoed into the night, the trees shook as if laughing and the animals watched in morbid curiosity. 

“[NAME!]” She angrily shouted, desperately struggling to get out of the chains binding her, cutting her as golden droplets escape her flesh bag.

“I have warned you countless times Aleizal. Harm me all you want for your sadistic pleasure, but never harm Her Grace. It was quite simple, isn’t it? I let you play around, parading as Her Grace for your entertainment while I focused on looking for ways to revive Her Grace. This is the last bit of my patience Alei. Do. Not. Make. Me. Your. Enemy.“ You gripped her jar the same way she did yours, frowning deeply as you resent the malicious and brutish expression on her face. 

You resent the fact that she dares taint her eminence’s face and honor with her repulsive personality, expression, and actions. 

You suddenly let her go as you stumbled back away from her, scratching your throat with your claws as the sigil embedded there lit up

You’re running out of time. 

As much as you’re enjoying this scenery in front of you right now, there are much more pressing matters to attend to. So without a word, you jumped from the cliff and landed right in front of Lumine and Her Grace as you quickly picked up while the Herald conjured up a portal. 

“Lumine!” a masculine voice shouts, his head peeking down into the cliff

“Aether…” Lumine whispered, looking over her shoulder

“You can stay, however, I have no guarantee as to how long that rope will last so you have to make your decision… leave him once again, or drag him to Snezhnaya.” You state

Leaving Lumine alone to make her decision you hurriedly step into the portal. While you may have healed Her Grace from her superficial wounds, you sense that her soul has yet to completely pierce herself together, thus letting such uncontrollable streams of divine power and presence escape. She must’ve been so tired. 

You heaved a sigh as you realized that not everything is as it seems. The world created by the woman in your arms still has so many secrets that you have yet to discover.

Your eyes then widened as the events that happened today due to your impulses crashed down on you. Walking forward as soon as you felt the cold and the crystal floors at your feet, droplets of red, gold, and black blood drip down from you, a sour look on your face as fatui agents look at you in shock while they fall down to their knees

It was either because of the feeling of awe they felt upon seeing their Goddess…or the despair upon seeing you dirty the floors, either way, all the ruckus has managed to drag all the harbingers and the Tsaritsa out of their chambers.

“[Name]?” 

“I think I just started another war.”

You got your creator back…but at what cost?