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crowsofdarkness · 3 months ago

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Cam Boy!Bill Skarsgard: Bill Reaches Out-Part Two

-pics not mine.-

Pairings: CamBoy!Bill Skarsgard x Viewer!Reader

Summary: Bill isn't ashamed of the work he does, showcasing his body online for anyone willing to pay. His number one rule was never to make a connection with anyone who either sent him messages or paid for private one-on-one video sessions. That was until you decided to request a certain private session.

Content Warnings: 18+ smut which includes Bill having an only fans page, masturbation, phone sex, virtual sex, and language.

Authors Note: this is a limited mini-series, just a bunch of blurbs that take place in this universe. i'm not sure exactly how long this will be. tags will be open for this if anyone is interested!

CamBoy!Bill masterlist.

BILL

“Oh, fuck,” I grunted while guiding my hand up and down my cock, desperate to finally reach that high I’d been chasing for awhile now.

The red light on my camera continued to blink, indicating it was still recording, and I eased my body deeper into my bed. Sweat stuck to every inch of my skin and with my free hand, I brushed away some strands of hair from my forehead. My legs shook while my thighs burned, the positioning I was in not exactly comfortable. But I would do anything for the perfect content.

Except my body wasn’t cooperating with me tonight. It had been a rough week trying to cum and I blamed being tired, working too much on filming content. Yet deep down, I knew it wasn’t the truth. There was only one main reason why I’d been having trouble having an orgasm.

Her.

The woman who has been clouding my mind ever since our one on one private video chat a week ago.

Y/N.

I video chatted a lot of different men and women who signed up but none of them clung to me the way Y/N did. For days after, I tried to rack my brain on why she had this hold on me but in the end, I was fucking clueless. All I could think about is how shy she was. How she wanted to do more with me but she didn’t quite know how or what to do. The way she hesitantly took her shirt off that night and the crimson hue that covered her entire body made my cock so fucking hard. I wanted to mark every inch of her skin with my teeth and cum. I wanted her screaming my name while I buried my cock so far deep inside of her cunt.

I wanted to corrupt her, show her everything in my world that would make her blush. I wanted Y/N to be mine even without knowing anything about her.

“Shit!” I cursed through gritted teeth, the familiar burn igniting in the base of my spine.

I gripped my cock tighter, my pace almost bruising, but just as fast as that burn sparked, it was gone.

Slamming my bed in frustration, I got up and turned off the camera. The idea of recording content tonight for my Only Fans was clearly not happening. I tried to tell myself that it was fine, I posted a tik tok earlier today and uploaded some unseen old content on my Only Fans so if I didn’t record new content tonight, it’ll be okay.

My limp cock swung slightly as I moved about my bedroom to grab some clothes before stalking into the adjacent bathroom. After I turned on the water, I let the steam fill the air and rested my hands against the bathroom counter. My phone had been plugged in here for the last thirty minutes so before jumping in the shower, I decided to check my notifications. It was always the same, never bothering to pay attention, so just as fast as I picked up my phone I was ready to set it down until one name stuck out like a sore thumb.

Tik Tok: xxY/Nxx liked your video.

With the amount of followers I had, I never really paid attention but the second I saw her name on my screen, I couldn’t help but be curious. Sure enough, it was Y/N. Her tik tok only had a few videos that consisted of her and her friends doing the new trends. I watched every single one, especially the one of just her where she tried to do a recent “thirst trap.” While I thought she looked absolutely breathtaking, I could tell she was extremely shy and nervous.

On her profile she had her Instagram linked so obviously I clicked on it and let out a groan of pleasure at the amount of pictures pulled up. While she was nervous posting on Tik Tok, Y/N had confidence on Instagram.

The steam from my shower had spilled into my bedroom but I refused to step inside the shower. I scrolled through her Instagram for the next few moments, my cock becoming painfully hard. The spark I lost the last few days began to flicker inside of my gut and with one hand wrapped around my cock, I liked picture after picture of her. But it wasn’t enough. I needed more so I clicked on the direct message button before I even thought about what I was doing.

“Have I told you how beautiful you are, Y/N? Because you are,” I breathed into the microphone, leaving her a voice memo. “Fuck, I need to see you again. Think we can do another video chat? I miss how creamy your skin looked against your bed sheets. I miss those perky breasts. Fuck.”

My pace on my cock slowed when the orgasm was teetering on the edge. I knew it was going to be over soon but I wasn’t done leaving her a message.

“I need you, baby. I tried to stay away but you haunted my dreams. I need to hear you moan my name. Need to see you touch your pretty cunt. Oh my fuck-.”

I let out a howl of a moan as the cum spilled into my hand, body convulsing with euphoria as I panted Y/N’s name over and over again; still recording.

Letting out a deep breath, I smeared my cum over my lower stomach and eyed the two minute long voice note. This could go two ways.

Y/N could listen to this and get extremely freaked out, block me or worse call the cops.

Or.

She could reply back with her own voice note.

Not bothering to think another second about my choice, I hit send and locked my phone to finally step into the shower.

READER

Oh.

My.

Fucking.

God.

I sat on the edge of my bed with my phone in my lap, the sounds of Bill moaning and begging playing on a loop. My entire body ignited with a blaze so hot, I had to shed my sweater, sitting in just a tank top and shorts. Sweat gathered at the back of my neck as I replayed the message over and over again.

It all started a few minutes ago when I was sitting in bed reading a book and I received notification after notification of someone mass liking my posts on Instagram. My heart nearly fell out of my ass when I noticed it was Bill who was behind it. I hadn’t heard from him in about a week since our one time video call. But I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about him non stop since. I would watch his Tik Toks but that was it. I couldn’t muster the courage to watch his Only Fans content because I still couldn’t come to terms with what we did together. It wasn’t wrong, I knew that. I was so embarrassed with myself that I needed to pay a man to give me attention.

Although, now, I wasn’t paying Bill. I should ignore him. Move on and focus on a relationship that wasn’t started on a sex website. But he sent me this message. He reached out first.

And some message it was.

Wiping my palms on my thighs, I let out a breath and slowly sent a message back.

Me: First off, what the hell kind of message is this? Whatever happened to hey, how are you?

Me: Also, how did you find my Instagram?

Bill replied almost instantly and my jaw dropped at his message.

Bill Skars: Did you touch your pretty little cunt while listening to my voice memo?

Bill Skars: I found your tik tok since you liked my recent video and you have your instagram linked. I must say, I fucking love what I see.

By now, the heat had all but vanished from my body but I could faintly feel the wet spot in my panties.

Me: You’re insufferable. I can’t believe you talk like this to a woman you haven’t met.

Bill Skars: You’re aware of the content I post. Plus, when we video chatted you seemed to love the way I talked.

The heat returned to my body in a flash and I adjusted my position on my bed so I was on my knees while I typed another message.

Me: Why are you messaging me? I thought what we did was supposed to be a one time thing?

Bill Skars: I’m addicted. I haven’t been able to cum for the last week. I stalked your instagram and boom, painted my hand.

As much as I wanted to revolt in disgust, not being used to having someone talk to me this way, but instead I squeezed my thighs tighter. The image of Bill cumming in his hand because of my pictures was clear in my mind.

I did that. My pictures.

Me: You just admitted to stalking me. Do you know how fucked up that is?

Bill Skars: Does it turn you on? Make you wet?

Licking my lips, I continued to ignore the wet spot in my panties and typed.

Me: What do you want?

Instead of replying, Bill now went silent so with a sigh I placed my phone on my bed and decided to pass the time by making myself something to eat. When I returned to my room twenty minutes later, I noticed two new messages from Bill. My heart beat wildly in my chest. I couldn't breathe as I read them.

Bill Skars: To talk.

Bill Skars: I mean it, Y/N. All the joking aside. If I make you uncomfortable in any way, please say so and you can block me. No hard feelings.

For a beat, I thought about my decision on what to do. Originally I signed up for that private video chat in hopes of talking with him and now that he wants the same, I should take it. But what would come of talking with someone who does what he does for work?

Only one way to find out.

Me: No, you’re fine. I’ll admit I’m not used to having someone talk to me the way you do. It’ll take some time.

Bill Skars: So does that mean we’re friends now? We can talk all day every day about how our days went and what we ate for dinner.

I stifled a giggle before laying down in my bed.

Me: You’re so funny.

Bill Skars: So I’ve been told.

Bill Skars: Can I have your phone number? I absolutely despise texting on Instagram.

As soon as I sent him my number, my phone lit up with a facetime call and almost immediately, I sat up in bed to look at my reflection in the mirror across my bed if I looked somewhat decent. With a quick fluff of my hair and adjusting my shirt, I hit the green button.

Bill’s face appeared on my screen and I mentally cured at how gorgeous he look. He must have shaved somewhat recently because he only had a small amount of stubble on his upper lip.

“Hi,” he smiled.

“So do I need to expect random facetime calls from you?” I teased while lounging back on my bed.

Bill shrugged while he sat on his couch. “Depends if that’s alright with you.”

“More than alright,” I admitted.

“I missed seeing your beautiful face.”

Once again, my skin ignited at Bill’s words so I did my best to make him not notice.

“We video chatted once for ten minutes and you literally just stalked my instagram,” I said.

“It’s nothing compared to the real thing,” Bill winked.

I raised a brow. “It’s facetime. It’s not real.”

“What if we make it real? Not right now but once you’re comfortable.”

I bit my lip which made him let out a deep groan while rubbing a hand over his face. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” I asked. “I just bit my lip.”

“Exactly. You don’t realize how fucking sexy you look doing that.”

Clearing my throat, I adjusted my arm underneath my pillow to become more comfortable while I held onto my phone with my other hand.

“So when we meet in person, how would that work? You’ve stated before you live on the east coast. I’m nowhere near there,” I said.

I wasn’t about to tell him exactly where I live. Not after getting to know him outside of his only fans.

Bill gave me a lopsided smile, one that made my heart flutter. “You said when.”

I rolled my eyes. “If. If we were to meet, that is what I meant.”

“Sure,” he nodded, not believing a word I said. “We can figure out the logistics of all that when it comes to it. For now, let’s just get to know each other.”

“Is this a friendship that could potentially lead to more or is it just sexual?” I asked the question that had been burning on my tongue since I answered the phone.

“I’m fine with just talking. I’m fine with keeping this strictly sexual. I’m fine with both, more partial to both. But it’s whatever you want.”

“I already told you the last time that I’m not familiar with the whole sexual side of relationships. So I would need some tips and patience,” I said.

Bill smiled. “I’ve been told I’m a very patient teacher.”

My cheeks burned while my stomach flipped with the prospect of this new relationship.

“So, what do you want to know?”

For the next long while, Bill and I talked, both about our lives and our interests. It was nice having someone to talk with about random stuff, things that other people in my life didn’t care to know. Bill listened intently the entire time, never interrupting. I returned the favor, laughing at some of the stories he told me growing up. I didn’t judge when he divulged on why he started an only fans account.

Peering over at the clock on my end table, my eyes widened when I realized it was just after ten in the evening and I had the early shift at work tomorrow. Yet I didn’t want to stop talking with Bill. So I did my best not to let him see how I yawned into my pillow.

“Tired?”

While we were talking, he moved from his living room into his bedroom and we both were laying down in our respective beds.

“No,” I lied but soon another yawn fell from my lips and Bill chuckled, the noise going straight to the butterflies that seemed to blossom in our conversation.

“Get some sleep. I’ll talk with you tomorrow.”

I frowned which made Bill let out another groan, like the one from earlier. “You gotta stop that, angel. You’re making me crazy over here.”

“Angel?” I teased when I heard the pet name slip.

A crimson hue covered his cheeks but he did his best to mask it by running a hand over his jaw.

“Sorry, it just slipped out. If you don’t like it-.”

“No,” I quickly shook my head. “I like it. It’s nice.”

“Good because it stays.”

We both stared at each other through the phone, not saying a word, as we wore stupid goofy smiles. I reveled again at how nice it was to have someone that was wanting to talk to me.

My eyes began to feel heavy so Bill spoke right before they closed for the night.

“Dream of me, angel. Only me.”

#bill skarsgard fanfiction #bill skarsgard smut #bill skarsgard imagine #bill skarsgard #bill skarsgard blurbs #bill skarsgard fics #bill skarsgard x you #bill skarsgard au #bill skarsgard x reader #bill skarsgard reader insert

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devildom-moss · 2 years ago

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idk how to verbalise this idea properly so bear with me but: mc whose entire logic in life is 'fuck it we ball' including when it comes to romance, so they just completely go along with any attempts at flirting in a sort of "yes, and-" fashion

which probably only encourages said suitor and then mc has the Audacity to be surprised when it gets intense enough for them to realise they're actually being seduced lol

gn mc with just the brothers for now pls!! thank u for your services

Hopefully this request is what you were looking for. Honestly, I had a bit of confusion while writing, but I tried. I went with headcanons because that seemed like the best fit. Thanks for the request.

gn!MC who casually flirts back with the demon brothers headcanons

(and then has the audacity to be surprised that they're being genuinely pursued)

(Suggestive)

Word Count: +2700

Lucifer

Lucifer is an awful flirt, trying so hard to fluster MC and convince them of his dominance. (Where’s it at though? I don’t see it.) His flirting is so suggestive that it’s actually pretty easy to just assume it’s a bit of playful teasing between friends.

For MC, it plays out like those posts that say something and then escalate immediately – something like “Kiss your homies goodnight. Kiss them with tongue. Eat their ass.”

Having an MC who flirts back with him can be a bit embarrassing, and it gets Lucifer’s hopes up so much. (“Could you pour me another cup of coffee, MC?” “Third one this morning, Luci. Not sleeping well?” “I’m afraid not. Perhaps you should come over and help – but then again, we might not get much sleep if you do.” “Aw, Luci, do you want me to fuck you senseless to help you fall asleep?” “If you’re offering, who am I to refuse.”)

He’ll be frustrated that MC keeps flirting with him, but they never follow through.

Lucifer is so horny that it’s absurd. MC could be completely normal, and this man would be thirsting. (“I really don’t want to do this lesson. This chapter is so boring.” “Normally, I wouldn’t use positive reinforcement, but if you complete your work, I’ll reward you.” “What kind of reward?” “Come to my room tonight and find out.”)

Poor MC doesn’t realize they’re being seduced until Lucifer has dragged them into his bed.

“Sleep with me.” “I’m not really tired, Lucifer.” “Good. Then you’ll have plenty of energy to make out and maybe even fuck me – if you want.” His touch would be so intimate – rubbing their inner thigh or groping their ass. “IF I WHAT?!?”

Lucifer would turn pink up to his ears. Part of him thinks MC is just teasing him again, but he would quickly realize that they’re being genuine. He’d feel absolutely humiliated. Did they not want him at all? Did all of that flirting mean nothing?

Before he could die from the shame, Lucifer would manage to blurt out, “Do you want me or not?” He wants some honest commitment in return for his affection, and if MC won’t bring that, that’s unacceptable. Of course, there is some thrill in a chase, but in that moment, Lucifer won’t have it in him. It would be a battle to fight some other day.

If MC tells him no or gives a half-hearted response, he will ask them to leave his room with one hand covering his blushing face. He wouldn’t even be able to look at them as he closed the door – and he’d probably avoid them for a day or two. (Also, he might cry a little after the door is locked).

If MC insists that they do want him, he’ll be especially needy while also acting all sadistic – attempting to tease them to distract from his own embarrassment. This poor loser will require so many kisses to reinflate his ego.

Mammon

To be fair, Mammon would bring this upon himself. He loves to act like he’s uninterested – constantly interrupting his fawning and puppy-like following of MC to save himself from the absolute humiliation of being *gasp* honest about his feelings.

I can see Mammon regularly initiating flirting, but this man can’t follow through to save his own life (maybe to save the life of someone else, though). An MC who reciprocates his flirting would leave him a blushing, flustered mess. Most of the time, his embarrassment cuts the interaction short.

“Ya just can’t get enough of the Great Mammon, can ya?” “Of course not, you handsome devil~” “I- uh! Hmph! Damn right!” he’d say it, crossing his arms and avoiding eye contact while the blush rises in his cheeks. How is MC supposed to respond?

If they tease him further and flirt more, he’ll just yell and tell them to knock it off. If they just shrug it off and move on, Mammon will be too flustered to make another move on them that day. The flirtatious spark just kind of fizzles out like a defective firecracker.

It takes a lot of boldness on Mammon’s end to get MC to realize he’s being serious. And honestly, Mammon is so adorable, MC may have the opportunity to take the initiative and push things a little further first. (You want to tell me most MCs could just flirt with Mammon, reducing him to a blushing, aggressive mess, and go back to watching that movie or playing that video game upon Mammon’s belligerent demand, and not want to kiss his face? Okay, sure.)

But let’s ignore that thought and say MC follows Mammon’s flirting in the “yes, and” fashion. After Mammon continuously sabotages his own chances, eventually, he’s going to get so frustrated that he will smother his own shyness long enough to get what he wants.

He’ll get MC alone and string together some make-shift confession – a plea for more. “Ya know, if ya wanna kiss the Great Mammon or somethin’, I’m not gonna stop ya – like, I mean, I want a little more outta ya. So, don’t hold back just cause ya think I don’t want to or nothin’.” (translation: Please kiss me. I know I act like I don’t want you, but I really, really want you to kiss me. Please, please, please.)

His face will burn, and a blush will work its way up to his ears. It’ll be hard to deny the intensity of his feelings, and it will weigh down on MC – a truth previously held in a bag on their back, tethered to dozens of helium balloons that disguised its weight, and then suddenly found every string cut loose by Mammon’s admission. He really loved them. For his confession, all Mammon would get was a stunned but heartfelt “oh.”

He gets so upset and embarrassed that MC didn’t realize he was being serious before. He went on a rollercoaster of emotions; meanwhile, this whole time, they hadn’t even taken his advances in earnest. It’s practically offensive.

The only remedy for Mammon’s bruised dignity is for MC to immediately hold and kiss him until he’s temporarily satisfied. (“Ya owe me big time for not takin’ me seriously.”)

Leviathan

I mean, he kind of has to flirt before MC can flirt back – unless we’re going to count accidentally blurting out his innermost perverted desires as flirting. Sure, I suppose it’s basically flirting to tell someone “It’s sexy when you tell me what to do. I can’t stop imagining you doing that in other settings.”

He’s so bad at flirting that nothing will happen for a long time after he realizes he’s head over heels. Levi is fine spending the rest of his (or at least MC’s) life pining for them – or at least he believes that. But the longing and desire will start to creep in, and he’ll wonder how much he can ask from MC. Friends can hold hands and maybe even cuddle, right? Maybe even kiss? Could they even –?

The thoughts eat away at him until he can’t wait for MC to make the move anymore. It slips out of him like some mating request written by Dr. Suess: “Would you –? Could you –? With an otaku? A gross, disgusting one, too?”

Levi is so visibly flustered that he doesn’t leave much room for ignorance. Even the most extreme masochist wouldn’t subject themselves to the furiously blushing, trembling state that Leviathan had worked himself into. He’d be on the brink of tears. All his hope in the world would be precariously perched on a ledge, awaiting your response.

I can’t see MC not knowing that Levi was attempting to seduce them, but perhaps the timing of it came as a surprise. Or perhaps they had never taken his affection seriously. He has so many favorites that he can’t pursue; just because he has a massive crush on MC doesn’t mean he had plans to act on it.

He will get even more embarrassed and down on himself to know that MC didn’t take him seriously at first. He understands, but that doesn’t make it any less hurtful.

He will require physical reassurance – as much of it as MC is willing to give him. And honestly, if MC doesn’t end up kissing him until he forgets how to think after his confession, he’ll probably hide in his room for a few weeks purely out of shame.

Satan

With an MC like this, the back-and-forth flirting goes on for an inordinate amount of time. Satan is not a flirt by any definition, but when there’s someone he likes, he knows how to turn on the charm. He’s smart, passionate, and mentally quick on his feet; he’s a natural charmer for the right audience.

Satan moves pretty slow when romance is concerned. If Levi wasn’t such a hopeless cause (affectionately), Satan would probably be the slowest to escalate a romantic relationship. He and MC will have a dozen dates under their belts before the desire for more had become an unbearable burden for Satan to silently ignore.

Eventually, Satan would find himself reading in his room with MC, unable to hold back anymore. He would ask, “Would you mind if I kissed you?” “No, I don’t mind if you want to.” “Could I kiss you now?” “Eh, sure.”

Everything up to that point could have been misread as platonic or some casual interest – maybe even curiosity on his end.

But he was serious, and it was evident in the way he approached MC to collect that kiss. He would straddle their hips, set their book aside (face down to mark the page like a real gentleman), and lean down for the kiss. Then, his lips would move against theirs, and the smallest sigh would escape him like a quiet release of sexual tension that had pressurized his entire body. Then, it would all click for MC.

Surprisingly, he wouldn’t be upset or humiliated if MC hadn’t taken him seriously before. In fact, he sees it as more of a personal failing, and in a low, seductive voice, he would tell them, “Allow me to prove how genuine and deep my feelings are for you.”

Asmodeus

He flirts with everyone, so how was MC supposed to know??

He asks them on dates so often. He’s probably the only one who could make out with MC and they’d still think, “yeah, we’re besties” because when Asmo pulls away with a giggle and a grin, telling them how much fun that was, it doesn’t feel serious.

It would take a moment of angst – either Asmo feeling like MC doesn’t take his advances seriously enough (and they don’t) or MC getting down on themselves – for them to realize.

Asmo would pull them into his room and leave small kisses all over them, peppering in compliments. “You’re so gorgeous, and I adore looking at your face.” Then, he would kiss their cheek. “You’re such a sweetheart.” Then, the other cheek. “I always have so much fun when I’m with you. I don’t ever want you to leave my side.” He would kiss their forehead. “I want you to feel confident; you’re such a wonderful soul.” (He would probably add more compliments if MC was feeling self-conscious.)

His words would get sweeter and more honest. “I feel seen in your eyes – like every part of me is accepted. I don’t have to play it up or try.” He would work his way down their neck with soft pecks to their skin. “I want to share everything beautiful in this world with you.” In part to avoid meeting their gaze. “I want to make you smile with everything I have.” And in part so he could whisper the words into their ear. “I want to help you whenever you need me. I’ll sit right next to you through any pain and hardships you encounter.” No one else had earned the right to hear his praise and affection. “I want to be a comfort for you – someone you can return to like a home.”

Finally, he would face them with a striking affection. “You know I’m in love with you, right? It’s not just lust and fun. You’re everything. You matter the most – after me, of course. It’s me and you and everything else.”

Asmo seduces everyone. That isn’t shocking. But this was more than seduction. It was genuine courtship. He won’t fault MC for being surprised. It caught him off guard too.

Beelzebub

Beel is not super flirty, but he makes it known that he cares through his actions. So, there aren’t many opportunities for MC to “yes, and” flirt back with him.

He asks them out to get food often and brings them snacks, but that doesn’t signal any romantic intentions. Sometimes he might stare at MC affectionately or admit how happy he is to spend time with them, but it’s nowhere near intense.

Sometimes, he asks for something more selfish. It starts small: petting his head, holding his hand, hugging him. None of those register as seduction from Beel for MC, especially compared to the affectionate nature of his twin. In fact, no one would fault MC for thinking these were platonic wants. After all, Beel has been through a lot. Sometimes this sweet, big baby boy just needs physical affection.

Then, he would get a bit bolder with his requests: “Could you feed me?” “Can I feed you?” “Would you hold me?”

As innocent and platonic as Beel may seem, he makes a lot of off-hand remarks that sound a bit perverted. “I bet MC’s lips would taste good.” “I wonder what you taste like.” “MC has nice hands. I bet they would feel good…” These comments could open the door for some flirting from MC, though. “Wanna taste me, Beel?” “Should I give you a massage? Or maybe something more?”

MC flirting with him would make his heart race. Even if MC didn’t follow through with their flirtatious offer, it would encourage Beel to keep pushing his luck.

Finally, he would ask, “Can I kiss you?”

Beel would look so shy and embarrassed, holding his hands awkwardly to his chest, that it would be hard not to take him seriously. The question – and his desire – would be a slight shock. Beel wouldn’t mind that MC was surprised, although he would be disappointed if he was turned down.

If MC takes him up on that offer, they will come to realize that his ravenous hunger showed itself through a kiss, too – as if he had been starving for MC’s touch and affection.

Belphegor

He’s so affectionate and cuddly. In that way, he’s similar to Asmo; it’s pretty hard to tell how serious and intense Belphie’s feelings are. He’s just kind of like that.

It’s common for Belphie to ask to be spoiled with affection – head pats, feeding him, hugging him, sleeping together, going out with him, praising him, holding his hand, being his pillow, etc.

His need for attention doesn’t cover up for how flushed his face gets when MC is the one to give him affection. His neediness doesn’t explain how much he clings to MC or how he blushes and tells them not to stop touching him.

So, actually, he’s less flirty than he is demanding of attention. Going along with his demands only encourages him to vocalize and act on more of his desires. He’d even ask permission to kiss them and to be kissed.

MC probably wouldn’t figure it out until Belphie starts sleepily trying to make out with them.

“Belphie, are you half-asleep?” “What? No. I’m awake. Why?” “That was a really heated kiss.” “Of course it was. Can we keep going?” “I’m sorry, what?”

“Don’t you like me back? We sleep together, go on dates, cuddle, and you even let me kiss your face and neck whenever I please. Don’t you want to go further?”

It hits them. Belphie can read the look of surprise on MC’s face, and it makes him pout. MC really should have known how he felt by then, but he’s confident that his affection is reciprocated before MC even responds.

“Sheesh. You’re really difficult, you know? I’ve had to do a lot of the work here because you’re so dense.” Belphie would straddle MC’s lap and take off his shirt. “I’ll let it go this time, but you better start putting in more effort from now on.”

A/N: Only about 1 hour left to vote in the poll. And we just got to 100 so y'all are getting 2 posts this month. Genuinely, I typed this a/n up, talking about only needing one more vote, checked it again, and the one vote is no longer needed. Good job, y'all. I swear if there are ties...

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changeling-ethereal · 1 year ago

Text

Request by: @jellibean2018

Hello, Jelli! About two months ago you sent in a request, however my tumbl did me dirty, and I ended up with your ask, and the entire fic deleted! (Though, much to my relief, I found screenshots of the fic in a chat with my friend who was reviewing it. Thank god).

So, I have to tag you, and remind you what you wanted.

From what I remember, you wanted a fic with a female sinner Reader who was once a victim of Alastor's, and the two ending up meeting again in hell. You also wanted an unsettling vibe with Alastor reveling in the memory of killing Reader.

I also want to add that I apologize for how long you had to wait for this fic to be done. I haven't been doing well with fics lately, so this was a struggle. And my mental health started going shit too which is why I stopped posting for so long...

Anyways, I really started to struggle with writing fics, so I ended up experimenting with this one - it's kind of written with huge metaphor kind of style? Hope that's okay with you...

Anyways, hope you'll enjoy reading this at least a little, and I once again apologize.

🎙️// The sweet history we share... //🎙️

{Alastor x female!Reader}

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Type: Fanfic

Settings: Not specified

Genre: Unsettling? Can't tell if it actually gives that vibe though,

!TRIGGER WARNING!: Mentions of cannibalism, murder, violence, blood, saliva, dead bodies, Alastor revels in the memory of killing Reader, possible yandere vibes? Alastor sees Reader as nothing but a meal, but he puts her on a pedestal - that's probably some kind of fucked up attachment that surely has a name? I'd say the vibe is quite unsettling, but I can't say that for sure, Angel indirectly suggests the use of drugs and hints at sex related activities (but it's just a single line), and that's probably all?

Sidenote: Reader is written as a female just as requested,

Sidenote: I have no idea if I wrote Alastor well... but it feels like I really made him ooc as fuck and ruined the whole request,

Sidenote: Rereading this I think everyone is ooc as fuck even if they have minimum dialogue,

That should be all,

Hope you'll enjoy,

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Ah, nostalgia. Ah that sweet nostalgia. And that embrace of her.

She comes in unannounced, an unexpected guest. But oh is she welcome.

And oh so welcome are those treats she brings to the table.

She easily settles in, making herself at home. And into a cup, a bunch of memories she pours.

And that demon, the radio demon as he's called - he drinks from that cup greedily.

And like a man dying of thirst, he can't help but ask for another cup to be poured.

His senses feel high, his body tingling. A feeling of addiction is what fills him.

And he can't get enough of those sweet memories, so, he downs one cup after the other.

But with each greedy little sip, the thirst only grows and grows - he's not had his fill still.

So, the demon goes on and on, tasting one memory after the other.

And his mouth waters a big deal the more he can taste, and he savours each and every one.

Ah, and he can't tell which one of the sips of memories he enjoys the most, which one is the most saliva inducing one.

Is it maybe the giddy old memory of how he followed you through the town?

With you completely unaware? Naively trusting those poorly enlightened streets?

Trusting that a bit of weak light will keep you safe?

Or perhaps it could be the sweet memory of the thrilling chase through the forest?

That one forest where thousands of dead bodies laid buried deep in the ground?

Those dead bodies in whose footsteps you followed suit?

Oh! And what about that memory of how you so desperately tried to navigate around and hide, escape his clutches?

Even if he could hear your sharp breaths as clear as the day?

Oh! Or maybe his favourite one could be the moment of when he tackled you down?

Pinning your body under his, finally cutting the chase so the real fun can begin?

And that beautiful moment of how you hopelessly dug your nails into his skin til blood trailed down his arms?

That one beautiful moment engraved into his head of how you desperately clawed at those lanky hands of his?

His hands that trailed, squeezed and pinched at your body, feeling you up like a winning prize, like a fine piece of venison?

Ah, it was so hard to pick which one was the most treasured one!

Hell, it could even be the simple memory of the melodious sounds of your cries.

That melodious, angelic sound of your pleading, whimpering, sobbing and screaming.

Especially those sounds you made when he bit down onto your flesh.

Oh, and that taste that hit his taste buds back then...

He still remembers it like it was yesterday.

And his tongue still tingles, and saliva still floods his mouth every time he thinks of just how tasty you were back then.

And now his mouth waters as he silently wonders... would you still have such taste even now?

Or did becoming a demon change the sweet, addictive flavour of your fragile flesh and thick blood?

Oh, how his senses urge him - beg him - to just grab you and take at least one single little bite...

I'd be really easy too, now that you're a part of the hotel staff.

Silly little you, you didn't flee when you were faced with the fact that he - the one who took your life - also works for the hell's princess now.

You didn't take the more than gracious chance to turn on your trail, run and never return while you still could.

No, you are too stubborn, and you insist on staying, even despite how frightening seeing him on the daily is for you.

Silly little you! Don't you realize how easily he could snatch you away and repeat history?

All it would take is a single moment of when you're alone and-

Ah, but he can't do that - at least not yet...

Where would be the fun in that?

It sure would be a shame to end your lovely reunion this fast and early on, no?

Not to mention the odd, messed up attachment the deer demon feels towards you...

Now, not to be mistaken! What he feels isn't the usual attachment one would think of!

It definitely isn't the good or healthy kind either...

So, we shall not be mistaken, let's not get our hopes up and think he cares - for he doesn't.

You mean nothing to him - at least as far as it comes to you as a person.

Your value could be most likely compared to something of a sentimental value, a plaything at best if you will.

Still, no matter what you are to him - you are by far his most favourite one at that.

That's what can be said for a fact.

And for reasons beyond us and even Alastor, those memories he shares with you are put on a pedestal - put way above the rest.

There were so many faces that twisted in fear, so many names he kept tabs on, so many tastes he's tried, and so many lives he's taken.

But very vast portion of them is long forgotten, not really standing out all that much.

Nor holding any real value. Barely any of them mattered...

But you, on the other hand - oh, he could never forget about that one lovely night you shared...

And even when more victims - more faces, more names, more tastes - came, they couldn't compare.

No, they never could.

Those memories of you and your taste were always stuck in the back of the radio demon's head no matter what new person was on the menu - what new dish was on his plate...

So, one can only imagine just what he feels now that you're back within his grasp.

Oh, not even his wildest fantasies could've come up with or prepare him for such sweet moment!

This was like a gift from the Devil himself!

Yes, a gift - one that Alastor would make sure to cherish greatly...

Ah yes, he would cherish you so.

He'd take his time unwrapping you like the perfect little gift that you are - he would savour you.

And only when he'd get tired of messing with you, only then he'd get to the real deal.

Oh, and when he'll finally do, it'll be like a starving man plunging onto bread crumbs!

It'll be such a beautiful, satisfactorily moment - Alastor can almost feel himself drooling at the mere thought of the moment.

Oh, how he just can't wait for the very moment!

The moment is so close, and yet so far - and every little glance your way is like a test.

A test of how long he can resist the temptation.

Every little move you make, every little noise that leaves you, every little expression your face twists into.

Oh, he can barely hold himself back!

His body feels so restless, and his thoughts are all over the place.

And no matter how much he reminds himself to be patient, to not cut straight to the chase just yet.

He still can barely keep himself in check.

His thoughts are going to dangerous places, and your familiar, sweet scent teases his nose.

Oh, and you're so within reach too!

It'd really just take a single little moment and-

"Geez, that perv's still at it?".

Oh, that's right.

He's almost forgotten about those curious eyes watching him from afar.

Watching, and trying to see inside his head...

But judging by the response Vaggie's hateful comment receives, it seems she's the only one to see right through him.

The only one to see the real danger behind that wide smile he always wears...

"Ya-uh! His eyes have not left her ever since she's joined the hotel staff!".

Ah, Charlie. Dear, sweet Charlie - now she's something else.

She's completely different from her girlfriend - she's quite naively trusting and optimistic.

Fully believing that there's a piece of good in everyone.

And hence not being concerned for your safety when the deer demon started to show an interest in you.

Ah, that sweet, silly little thing.

Caught up in trying to see only the best in people and their intentions...

It's amusing - and truly adorable.

And oh, does it play into Alastor's favour oh so well...

"Okay, that's like so sick and totally-".

Oh, Vaggie - she tries, she really tried to warn the others.

Make them see Alastor for what he truly is.

But aside from Husk, nobody really listens to Vaggie's concerns.

No, she's not all that listened to when she voices her opinions on the deer demon.

Not even when she expresses her concerns for how the latter constantly follows your every single step no matter the time of the day, no matter where you go...

And to think she has quite enough of a say in things as the hotel's manager, as well as the princess' girlfriend!

Oh, that poor little thing - it must be such an awful feeling.

How humorous!

And oh, how unfortunate...

"Ah! Do you think he's-?".

Niffty is completely on board with Charlie.

Similarly to the princess - she too doesn't see the real harm in Alastor's advances towards you.

Seeing his behaviour as nothing other than subtle romantic gestures.

The little demoness' version of romance sure is rather twisted...

And yet, it's still quite surprising Niffty doesn't see the harm in things.

After all, she herself knows Alastor just as well as Husk does...

"Yeah! Strawberry pimp totally got the hots for that one!".

Angel was caught up in the spiderweb of romanticizing the same thing as well.

Just like Charlie and Niffty, he couldn't see the truth...

"What? No! Are you all crazy?! That's not the case at all! How can you all not see that?!".

Oh, Vaggie - again and again, she really tries and tries.

But the result is always the same - nobody pays her warnings or concerns any thought.

And yet she still keeps on going.

What a miserable little thing she is.

"Oh my- I have like the best idea!".

Not even Charlie notices how Vaggie nearly begs for them all to see things from her point of view.

None of them can see things for what they really are.

Alastor's got them all right where he wants them.

Without even having to try much...

"We should totally get the two to have some alone time!".

Charlie is quick to naively play into the radio demon's games.

Without even knowing she's doing that.

She can't see this all is exactly what the deer demon wants...

And neither can Angel or Niffty.

Aw, those naive little fools...

"Yes! We should- like- create some really romantic atmosphere and leave them to it!".

Niffty follows through in Charlie's steps.

She too plays right into what Alastor wants.

Though whether or not she's aware of it is up for a debate...

"We should lock 'em up in a closet together or somethin', or even give them a little... somethin'... to just... ya know, set just the right mood in.".

And angel is quick to fall for Alastor's games too...

Ah, those silly fools...

Unaware they're making all this much easier than it should've been.

They're sealing your doom - the inevitable end you're ought to meet at his clutches.

They're making this all too easy...

They're shoving the little mouse right into the lion's den.

What unfortunate silly fools.

And what an unfortunate little you.

Your friends are serving you to him on a silver platter.

All of them - or nearly all of them - thinking they're doing you a favour.

Thinking they're simply helping a mere fool in love gain the heart of his love interest.

When in reality, they're actually helping a starving predator get closer to his chosen prey...

It was rather humorous - a good source of entertainment for sure.

So, Alastor would humour the group.

He'd indulge in their schemes of trying to set you up with him.

He'd gladly play along and lead them to think he's interested in you.

Well, interested in you they way they think he is, not the way he actually is...

No, they can't know what he actually wants from you.

They won't know.

He'll make sure of it.

They won't know until the very last moment, until the deed's already done.

Or, he'll lead them to think your disappearance has nothing to do with him.

After all, the sudden disappearance of a poor little sinner like you would be nothing new in hell.

You'd just be added to the endlessly growing numbers of hell inhabitants going missing.

Your disappearance would be just a part of the mere statistics.

Well, he'll see.

All depends on which option would prove to bring more benefit.

As well as which one would prove to be more entertaining.

That's what, to the deer demon, matters the most at the end of the day.

For now, he'll just go with the flow and let the situation progress by itself.

With the occasional shove to the right direction, of course.

But it doesn't seem like he needs to wait for that long for everything to be set in motion...

"Hey, Al, you got a minute?".

Yeah, he really doesn't need to wait for that long...

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#hazbin hotel alastor x reader #alastor x reader #hazbin hotel x reader #alastor pilot x reader #hazbin hotel pilot x reader #alastor x female reader #alastor imagines #im not samantha im samanta requests #im not samantha im samanta ask #im not samantha im samanta works #frenklinesamuelsrequests #frenklinesamuelsask #frenklinesamuelsworks

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basedonconjecture · 8 days ago

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Six Song Soundtrack

I was tagged by @mythals-whore! Not me being so excited to do this and then agonizing about it for days instead 💀

I’m also tagging @thedissonantverses, @rat-spit-village, @introvertedfangrl, @complikatedd, @mercars-musings, and anyone else who wants to and hasn’t been tagged :)

Rules: make a post with links to music and/or lyrics describing six things/events about your OC/story.

These are in no particular order bc I can’t be arsed to figure out priority

1. Notre Dame - Paris Paloma

I rarely go down there / the view's just so beautiful from here / and I can see everybody at their worst points / … / I'm not a higher power / I just live in the ceiling / cause I'm lonely on the fringes / and it gives my life some meaning in the exile / in my exile

This is like…almost too literal for Selora tbh. It’s mostly speaking to the disconnect between her and most people around her. And, at the same time, her version of running away usually involves finding the highest place to climb to (roofs, rafters, attics, etc.) because up is the last place anyone looks 👀

2. Scar Tissue - Moselle

hit hard and ask about the bruise / looks so out of place on a pretty girl like you / low bar but really what's the use / collect the reddest flags / to tie into a noose / … / it's like I'm running / after something / but it doesn't beat my pace / I don't think that it's a race / I think I'm in it for the chase / … / speak up they call it attitude / impress and it makes em' act a fool / praise the ways that you're breaking all their rules

This is probably the closest to her theme song (if someone else me was choosing lol she’d never be this honest even if it’s trueeeee) but it’s more true pre-Veilguard than after because she does grow a lot over the course of that. This is Opportunity era Selora for sure tho iykyk 🤷‍♀️ There’s also like a ton of lyrics in here I could have pulled for her to ahahahaahaha my poor bb.

3. Ready - Hael

ready, set, go / gas to the fire / push a little farther / jump a little higher / fast, not slow / watch me taking over / running right beside you /feel me moving closer / ready right now / paid my dues / standing in your shadow / give me all the power / something to devour / don't let yourself get jealous / it will kill you if you let it

If there existed a Karate Kid-style training montage of her from fledgling to, say, the night she took out the Antaam unit before everything went off the rails, this would be the song set over it. It also would for sure be on her workout playlist in a Modern AU. She’d also probably choose it as her theme song if she had the choice—but she does not :)

4. Take - The Rigs

hit the dirt / stand up and do the work / stealing the devil's purse / this is your lot / quench your thirst / you've got to get there first / no time to question worth / dreams can't be bought / … / heroes rise / legends were born to die / you'll live through the words they'll write

This song is most representative of like the little interior voice narrating her thoughts lol the rhythm of it too is very much like a marching cadence which I think is pretty indicative of how rote some of the things she tells herself really are. Like bbygirl barely even believes these things she says to herself to make any of it worth it but she keeps saying them 🥲

5. Will You Follow Me Into the Dark - Klergy

This one is less for the lyrics and more for the vibes. There’s a turn in Per Essere Veri currently planned for around the 75% mark (which I can say bc none of you know when or where that’ll be) that this track plays over in my brain. If you’ve been here awhile, you might have seen me also attribute this song to Sel & Viago. That remains true and the only clue I will give you <3

6. Picture You - Chappell Roan

Listen, the time between the almost kiss and the lock in was a rough time. That’s all I’ll say. White-knuckling her way through being v Normal and Totally Unaffected and wow the world is possibly ending and we’re spending that time yearning for someone unavailable? Embarrassinggggg. Will go to her grave with the secret of how she got through it djsjsjsjdha

#six song soundtrack #why was this harder than i thought it would beeeeee #probably because i have like 3 playlists for this thing lmfao

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yuri-is-online · 9 months ago

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An office shoujo think post

so you know that post from wttmcsms? The one about having a fake ring to chase off the men, a character who doesn't notice it, and flirts with reader trying to prove he'd be the better husband:

I came up with a slight idea for a dating sim based off of it by expanding the original concept just a tad... but I would appreciate some advice lol. It would be a super simple project with the classic neutral, bad (sort of), and good endings to help me practice the coding stuff.

The Setting: it's a simple office rom-com, nothing too deep or serious. The MC has recently decided to start wearing the ring due to some bad experiences at their previous job and is encouraged to do so by their best friend who promises to help keep up the ruse.

original concept/the flirt- same as the above described scenario with no real changes... he would be the "first route." Very shojo flirty love interest who wants to prove himself to the MC and teases them a whole lot. Pretty simple not too much drama?

the pathetic guy- Lennox... he's short and normally really self assured but for some reason he turns into a pathetic mess around the MC on his route. He's a bit of a loser when it comes to romance and constantly shooting himself in the foot to the point it is surprising how well put together he is outside of it. Similar in concept to the flirt's route except he's not a smooth operator.

the tsundere- megane ceo ikmen except she's a woman. She's the sister of your best friend and doesn't remember hearing about you getting married but what if it's true? And she's lost her chance? Because she keeps sticking her stupid foot in her mouth and making it sound like she hasn't been in love with you all this time and when she learns you aren't married that just makes it worse. Because if she flirts with you now then won't she just be like all the other people who made you uncomfortable?

My problem is I would want to add a fourth normal route but I can't settle on a good trope to model it after... the reason being I have a yandere route planned and i know that's not everyone's cup of tea lol. But tropes are difficult, so here are the potential ones I was kicking around:

let's sexualize that old man- idk middle aged salaryman who works at the company tm. The problem is I wanted to also make him a little more pathetic which is Lennox's trope. I guess we don't have a kuudere, which sort of works well for the middle aged man trope.

rivalmance- the MC is a secretary and the business they work for makes some sort of product... so I guess there could be another secretary? Maybe for the cfo of the company. I'm thinking of a rich, bratty ojou-sama. A Regina George type... except less pink and more black??? I'll be honest I am not as fond of this one might need to take it back to the drawing board.

senpai- a pretty obvious trope for this sort of set up... a mentor at the company, maybe the retiring or senior secretary who is very soft and big brotherly who is really gentle in how he expresses his concern over how little your husband seems to care for you, but not because he wishes he was him. If he says that enough maybe he'll believe it?

kohai- MC is new to the company so maybe a little bit of a timeskip where there is a new secretary who really wants to prove himself. Super big golden retriever energy with a person who desperately wants to be taken seriously but is a bit clumsy so you don't at first. He insists he loves you but everyone in the office brushes his feelings off as a crush and it's super annoying!!!! But he's got really chubby cheeks so his pouting is just too cute to listen to what he's saying.

or something idk. I want to work on the demon thirst trap idea but... I really need to practice the code to do that well so I need to do something much much simpler first and office shojo is pretty simple I suppose.

#housekeeping #amare game #talking shop #feedback appreciated #i think it is semi obvious who the yan is #or at least it will be once i finish writing the demo #i have a decent ish outline of stuff i did on a break last night and everyone but the fourth normal route is a repurposed oc so #solid grasp on how to write these guys #idk #i'm going to bed now

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ag-updates-and-archives · 4 months ago

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L.S. Dunes: Present tense

Anna Zanes|January 7, 2025

L.S. Dunes appear on the cover of the Winter 2024 Issue — head to the AP Shop to grab a copy.

L.S. Dunes are more than the sum of their parts.

That’s not to say the band members aren’t alternative heavyweights in their own right. Though they scoff at the term “supergroup,” the collective CV of members Anthony Green, Frank Iero, Tucker Rule, Travis Stever, and Tim Payne scoff right back. But come here for nostalgia or crate-digging, and you’ll be sorely disappointed. It’s not to say these five are rejecting the superlative, or shying away from their legacy — they’ll tell you outright that their work across Saosin, Circa Survive, My Chemical Romance, Thursday, and Coheed and Cambria have paved the way for the artists they are today, not to mention the explosive, tender entity that is L.S. Dunes. The point is, after decades of experience as key players in the East Coast post-hardcore scene that emerged during the millennium, LSD have learned it’s less about sticking to your guns — and more about trusting your gut.

By way of a group chat spawned in the creative desert of COVID-19 — initially serving as a brain dump for the antsy artists — L.S. Dunes were formed. However accidental the band may have been, quickly, it became a lifeline. Though for them, the comfort and companionship they found in each other and music was unsurprising. “This shit is ancient,” Green tells me. ��People have been gathering to sing, dance, celebrate music, and get cathartic for fucking as long as we’ve been on this planet. And it’s cool when you can find people that are going to properly pay homage to music, give music what it deserves, and not make it about them or a scene or an image — they just make it about how powerful and transformative music can be if it’s really done in an honest, true way.” By texting back and forth parts on the fly, instinctively building off one another’s input, the group began to grow and evolve — a familial, DIY process that they’ve stuck with to this day, whether they’re working in the chat, on the road, or in the visionary womb that is Will Yip’s Studio 4.

There are few rules but a handful of mottos. For one, Dunes refuse to look back — instead opting to highlight where they are today as artists, embracing the thirst for experimentation and creativity that started it all, supporting each other no holds barred, and shrugging off lurking expectations. As Iero puts it, “One of the big rules in the band is that you chase everything.”

We’re sitting backstage in the nondescript green room at Brooklyn Paramount — the guys are gearing up for their third show supporting Rise Against on tour. “The way I can describe it is like a trust fall,” Stever says, and the other four nod along enthusiastically. “This band is doing that with melodies or guitar parts for me, and they always catch it — and it doesn’t matter if it’s not exactly what I thought it was going to be. I trust that it’s going to be something that I really love, and that’s what we do here. That’s what made me addicted to it from the get-go, sending it constantly, whatever I have.” Onstage, they embody the same ethos. L.S. Dunes are a fluid unit, undulating in tandem with the ferocity of Green’s maniacal movements, riling up as he cracks the mic cord like a whip. As energy builds, magician-like, Green appears to grapple with an invisible forcefield for a hair-raising moment — and all breath seems to catch — before he pushes it back out into the crowd, dousing the audience with an unbridled display of emotion and sweat. Whether the display is rageful, loving, or pained seems unknown, and also unnecessary. Like magnets, these five musicians are conducted, and connected, by something unseen.

In describing L.S. Dunes — a feat — I lean on the word “present.” Rule agrees. “This is the present. We have our other bands, but this one reminds us to be here now.” Evidently as an audience member, it’s felt. Watching them take the stage for their debut set at Riot Fest — with only two rehearsals under their belt — I witnessed lauded alternative heroes play a daytime festival slot on a small stage, a special, and momentous, opportunity. But not because it felt like a My Chemical Romance underplay, or a portal through which I could catch Circa Survive reincarnate. Once Dunes began to play, all greater context, any preconceived notions, and even the surroundings fell away. This was no Pet Sematary situation — bringing together many styles, Dunes balance chaos and meticulousness in a manner that revival or replication couldn’t touch. “It’s naturally its own thing,” Stever says, “because we all as individuals bring something completely different than we could have to our other bands. That’s a double-edged sword from the get-go that we have. We’re going to be related to everything we came from in this band, and that’s OK. We’re lucky for what we have outside of it. But we get the short end of the stick sometimes.”

The short end of the stick, for members of “supergroups” — and actors leaving sitcoms alike — is, in many ways, typecasting. Iero, Green, Stever, Payne, and Rule have altered culture in their own right, as a part of the soundtrack that fueled an entire generation of emotionally driven listeners. For many, their work has been the impetus in identity and community building — and as such, they’ve been woven into the rose-colored memories of our youth. Considering their success, it’s easily assumed — in the age of anniversary tours, nostalgia festivals, and the reissue of knee-high Converse — that these artists will live as our Warped Tour scrapbook, and on command, can bring us back, and make us feel that way again. Or that they want to. For L.S. Dunes, it’s simple — grow or die. “Yes, everything that you’ve been through and experienced has gotten you to where you are today. There’s no sense in hiding from that. But at the same time, there’s no sense in rehashing who you were, and what you did then. Those projects exist. We did that already. Go listen to that shit if that’s what you want to listen to — it’s still there,” Iero impassionately explains. “We’re not saying that we wish it didn’t happen. No, I love that it’s there! I believe in, appreciate, and stand by 99.99% of the things I’ve ever created throughout the years, even though sometimes I may look back and cringe a little bit.” Rule, piggybacking on his bandmate’s point, drives it home. “Our younger selves,” he says, matter of factly, “are what allowed us to start a fucking supergroup.”

This year, ironically, L.S. Dunes performed at Las Vegas’ nostalgia-drenched When We Were Young Festival — and stuck out as one of very few new bands on the bill. With the exception of Green, the whole group were on double duty that weekend — Coheed and Cambria, My Chemical Romance, and Thursday were also set to play. In the heat, 30-something interviews deep, my Swiss cheese-like memory was stretched to its limits. For two days, we’d been summoning the ghosts of MySpace — for some with fondness, others trepidation. For most, both. Eager for the oasis of an idiosyncratic perspective, I sat down with Dunes, during the millisecond they happened to be all in one place. The band were straddling two honorable realities — feeding hungry fans 20-year-old records and satiating their current creative drive. When I brought up the phenomenon of nostalgia, Iero had insight: “If we rest on our laurels on that shit, we become a caricature of what we were then. You’re placing yourself in a timeline that’s already passed. But moving forward and taking chances, that’s also hard. The music industry is in this giant cycle of fear — we have to keep doing the same thing because nobody’s buying records, but nobody’s buying records because you’re doing the same thing. It’s a fear-based cycle.” The key to breaking it? “It’s about understanding the pitfalls that are out there, and also believing in what you’re making so much that you don’t give a shit,” he says.

I’ve heard it said, “expectations are planned resentments.” And Dunes have come up against these — fans of their previous projects lashed out, and a controversial video the group made with AI was met with a wave of internet backlash. But at the end of the day, they’ve won out. The LSD fanbase is as dedicated as they are when it comes to realizing this new chapter. “It’s like any relationship. If you’re not giving your authentic self, there’s no way there’s going to be true growth or real understanding,” Green says. “But if we’re giving our authentic self as much as we possibly can, as a group, we can cultivate a relationship with our listeners where they just want us to be happy, and make the music that feels truest to us. And it’s not always going to be what they’re expecting.” Anyway, none of this was supposed to see the light of day. “This was all just an exercise. None of us needed to be busier. We have no business being on the road as much as we are right now, between all of our bands!” Rule reminds me. That same sentiment has been their bedrock, and their driver. “[L.S. Dunes] still operates under the guise that it wasn’t supposed to see the light of day. That takes the pressure off — the only pressure is in having fun and making stuff with your friends. You’ll end up with genuine, free-spirited songs and art, and that’s what we’re trying to do.” Being present is L.S. Dunes’ North Star. And with success, they haven’t changed course. The exercise is still stepping out of fear and looking forward, and the triumph is emerging authentically themselves, as an unapologetic unit.

In the final cut of Past Lives, their 2022 debut album, the band tell me many songs are their very first takes and demos. Onstage, they’ve adapted songs on the fly — Green instinctively added a verse to “Fatal Deluxe,” in real time, and they haven’t looked back or played it as it is on the album since. “Collaborators can do stuff like that,” he says. “If there’s grip, there’s too much fear in the pot. There needs to be a little bit, but you can’t get sucked down into the fucking void. With too much fear, it’s impossible to be as creatively exploitive as we’ve been able to be with each other.”

Another slogan the band live by is “first best guess.” With all credit to Rule, the remark has turned into lifeblood for LSD, and it works, in part, due to how well the quintet gel together. “We don’t critique in a way other than with positivity. We don’t get halfway through a song and think, ‘Oh, what do we need to do here?’ If it’s not done yet, we still just keep being creative and keep piling on, and eventually it just falls into place,” Payne outlines. “There are very few songs that we were like, ‘We need to change this.’ It’s usually just first best guess. When Tucker puts drums in, first best guess. That’s usually the most natural, and that’s how we all approach it. Just like, ‘Let’s go with it.’ Hop on while it’s exciting.”

Since the start, intensity has been signature to LSD’s music. Lyrically and sonically, their sound is layered, complex, analytical — a smooth compound of multiple ideas and techniques. Lyrically, Past Lives toed the line of darkness, and though that subject is no stranger to Green, entering that space again took a toll. What began as helpful felt heavier as time went on. “The first record, I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to use this as my therapy. I’m going to get all this dark shit and all this hard shit I was going through,’” he reveals. “But I didn’t realize how careless I was being with some of the spells I was casting, lyrically, for myself.” Forever a champion of using his pain for artistic good, Green kept this in mind while the band got to work on Violet, their follow-up album. “I saw this second record as an opportunity to counteract some of the damage I did to my own brain,” he continues. “Just singing some of those songs for an entire two-year cycle… I thought, ‘How do we make something where it’s not going to feel like I need to go to therapy at the end of the show?’”

Violet does see growth across the board, and Green infuses his poetic lyricism with newfound hope — though, as a whole, the band tell me their sophomore album is, in many ways, just a continuation of the first. The creative momentum has been stimulating and powerful from the jump, as has their kinship. But with tours and sessions at Studio 4 with Yip under their belt now, bonded in new ways — this is where the rubber meets the road. “It’s about friendship and companionship of us as a group,” Green says. “Everybody knew each other, and some people were closer than others at the beginning of the band. My mom used to say — when you make a pasta sauce, you can serve it that night, and it’s great. But the next day… it’s sauce. We started LSD, and it was cool. We were all together. But really over this time of everybody being together, our friendship as a band has altered how we operate. It’s become this big relationship.”

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From Past Lives to the forthcoming Violet, that bond has catalyzed a shift. “The biggest difference for me between the first record and the second record, as far as writing and all this stuff, is that on the first record, we sent ideas back and forth, and we were so excited,” Rule observes. “It was that excitement of sending your first best guess. On this record, we had our first best guess with confidence. I think playing together gave us confidence to be able to have more guts making this record.” But the call wasn’t only coming from inside the house — those who’ve really seen, heard, and honored such an authentic and personal project have only furthered this sense of confidence. Green goes back to the idea of connection. “The fanbase for this band is very unique,” he says. “They have given us a very clear signal of like, ‘Hey, we got you. Go do what you love.’ So I don’t feel like we had to climb up from a mountain or anything like that. It was almost just a newer experience of being able to write.”

Sonically, Past Lives also felt like an exorcism of sorts,blending catharsis and cynicism. The textural album surges to the rhythm of Rule’s urgent, explosive drumming and Payne’s profound bass tone — Redditors have deemed him “Tone God” for a reason — and the tactile chemistry between the two guitarists, who clearly coax each other out of their comfort zones. It’s aggressive and guttural, swinging from fast to slow — while, like a pulsing artery, Green’s dark dialectic reigns, dialing in feelings from his introspective and heart-wrenching solo album Boom. Done. On Violet, however, from instrumentation to structure, you can literally hear their increase in confidence and closeness — not only in the risks taken but in the restraint as well.

For the first 43 seconds of the album, all you hear is the bright, rough timbre of Green’s voice and a percussive inhale. Spiritual and esoteric as the lyrics are, it’s a deeply human moment, one in which you can really feel that “trust fall.” Then, instrumentation seeps in, and there’s a bit of Deftones’ “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away),” and its forefather, “Never Let Me Down Again” by Depeche Mode — both of which are also built on a crescendo of breathiness and heavy guitar riffs. Off the bat, the track begins to build the case that where Past Lives was a passionate and uninhibited contemplation of death, Violet is an anthemic, self-assured celebration of life — a paradox that only LSD could articulate so beautifully, back to back.

“It doesn’t matter what we do individually. The most important thing is what’s best for the song. Whether that’s playing less or playing more or not playing at all — there are a lot of things you can do to service a song in the best way possible,” Payne points out. “We all went into the first album with that mentality, but again, you’re tracking remote, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m going to do all this shit.’ With Violet, we really harnessed that. Collectively, we all simplified, having the knowledge that ‘I can actually play less here because I know when you write your shit, it’s going to fill up that space,’ and that’s what makes all of the parts play off each other. Sonically as a band, this is a little bit more of a less is more approach.”

Less may be more, yet, true to form for Dunes, Violet has infinite layers. No two tracks are alike — the empowering ballad “Paper Tigers” sees refined arrangement and toothsome rock riffage. It’s Rule’s favorite, and the drum fills let you know it. “Machines” is purely post-hardcore, soaring and melodic, apart from a few delicious shrieks. That one is Payne’s preference, while Green goes for “Fatal Deluxe” — “I get lost playing that song,” he says. For Iero, it’s complicated. “Forgiveness” might be his favorite on paper, but from the green room at Brooklyn Paramount, he professes, “It’s the type of song that when you write it, and hear it, it fits any definition of the word success. Writing a song that gives me chills, that if I heard it from someone else, I would be fucking sick that I didn’t write it myself, that’s success to me. So if it comes out and no one likes it, I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me. It’s already the best thing I may have ever done.” If you know anything about Iero, you know he’s been a part of a generous handful of bands, as well as written on 5x platinum songs like “Welcome to the Black Parade.” It’s a hefty claim, though the rest of the group corroborate — it gives them chills.

“Songs are like loves, right? They’re like relationships. Sometimes you meet someone, and you’re just not ready for it, and it doesn’t work out. Sometimes you rekindle that down the line when it works out for both of you. Songs are just like that,” Iero explains. “They just come together, and it’s this beautiful romance that is love at first sight, and it just happens. You only get a couple of those in your lifetime. ‘Violet’ was that for me. I have the video of me playing it for the first time. I had gotten this guitar that my friend Michael sent me, and I just sat down to play it, and the first thing I played was ‘Violet’ almost in its entirety. Then that day, I sent it to everybody, and I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is good or not.’ Then Tucker sent it back with a drum beat, and I was like, ‘Oh, I think this is really good.’ All of a sudden, we just started writing on it, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is kind of cool. Maybe this is something that’s going to make the record. Then Anthony sung on it — and then I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is everything that I love about Morrissey and the Smiths, but without the racism. It’s one of those things that just fell out of me, and it seemed like it fell out of everybody else at the same time. The way it came together — the song steps up, and when you think you’ve had your chorus and that’s all you’re going to get, it steps up again. It’s just one of the most beautiful things I think I’ve ever heard.”

The process that ensued echoed every familial sentiment these five men had shared with me. Green adds, slightly smirking, “He doesn’t remember this, but Frank turned and looked at me, and goes, ‘This part needs to be big.’ I’m also thinking the same thing in my head, but my heart started to beat. Like I was at the principal’s office.” He continues, enthusiasm building, “I wrote and wrote and wrote and listened, and I absorbed... And I was on my way to the studio singing to the song, listening to it in reverse — and had a moment. I was so excited when I got to Will’s studio… I was just so overwhelmed by the spirit of what makes you creative and what gives life and what destroys something to make something new. I knew it didn’t matter if anybody else thought it. And that’s the type of special that this band has.” Tucker laughs, “I remember walking into the studio — and you were losing your mind. Then I listened to it. I fucking fell in love with it.”

It would be remiss not to honor Yip in this story. An authority when it comes to contemporary alternative music, Dunes favorably call him the “sixth member” — a title bestowed on the producer by not one but two other bands I’ve spoken to recently. All the fanfare is well deserved. Sonically, Violet embodies the confidence and stride the band have felt on their sophomore run — it’s sharper, shinier, and tighter without forgoing any of Dunes’ spontaneous emotion. He reaps fluidity and cohesion across 10 truly diverse tracks, matching the thoughtfulness of Dunes themselves. But most importantly with Yip, for this band that value trust above all else, they’ve never had to worry. “He’s really specific. He has this thermometer gauge to get that feeling right — he’s all about feeling. He’s not going to fucking push you to do anything. He’ll always advocate for you,” Green gushes. “He’s never going to do whatever the label wants or whenever anybody’s paying, and he’s going to make sure that you’re comfortable with what you’re singing, what you’re playing.” And for a band born out of a desire to subvert expectations, that’s the ideal environment.

Though they gave me more than enough, one question lingered after my conversations with L.S. Dunes. As someone who has dated, befriended, unfriended, and been surrounded by musicians for 30 years, I couldn’t crack the code as to how, and why, these five talented men can honestly just get along. A band that leave ego at the door, unequivocally in full support of each other, feels as common as seeing a solar eclipse. But like eclipses, LSD are also about alignment. For the band, it was the time and place, with enough time and places behind them, that they had agency to begin. “They say you can’t pick your family — we got to pick our family with L.S. Dunes,” Green says. “We get to decide this is the amount of crazy we can deal with. This is the amount of chaos we can handle within each other — and this is what we can add to it.”

#ls dunes #interview alert #anna zanes #michael dubin #pics just dropped #anthony green #tim payne #travis stever #tucker rule #frank iero

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chaotic-multi-fandom · 2 years ago

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Something that I love and appreciate about Ash Lynx that I don't see many people talking about is his lack of desire for personal revenge. It's such a small and obvious detail, that I don't think we stop to think about it enough, but Ash is not consumed by revenge. Even after everything that happened to him, we never see him express a desire to kill or torture Dino, or anyone else who hurt him, we just wants to be free. Even with researching banana fish he's just trying to figure out what's wrong with his brother so that he can cure him, his motive is never revenge. Wanting to destroy and make Dino suffer would be a completely understandable reaction, yet all he wants to do is prevent other children from experiencing the same things he did.

The only times we see Ash express a desire for revenge, is when people he loves are hurt. This is seen several times with Eiji, such as when he's shot and he chases the men and shoots them with rage in his eyes, or when Shorter dies and he kills Dawson as he begs for mercy. This is why at the start I emphasised *personal revenge*. But I just think that his overall lack of thirst for revenge and just deep desire to be free is an extremely important facet of his character, that really just highlights who he is on the inside beyond all the violence and suffering, and is also very telling of his strength.

This is also one of the reasons why I dislike the "yut lung is just ash without eiji" rhetoric, because I feel like it does such a disservice to both their characters. Yes, they've lived through similar trauma and are in several ways parallels to each other, but they're different people with or without someone to support them. First of all, before Eiji, Ash did have someone, Shorter, and he had other people he cared about such as Skipper and his gang. Obviously none where as influencial or life changing as Eiji was, but painting him as being completely alone before meeting Eiji simply isn't true. Secondly, Ash and Yut lung are very separate people with separate personalities and with indivual nuances to their stories despite their similarites. One of these is the desire for revenge. As I established Ash isn't consumed by personal revenge, but Yut Lung very much is, his entire first arc is his search for revenge agaisnt his own brothers, whom he wants to kill.

Yut Lung isn't Ash without Eiji, he's just Yut Lung. He's a different person with different responses and reactions to the world around him, and of course, having someone to love and care for him would be monumental, but he'd still be a completely different character to Ash, and in my personal opinion, would have a harder time accepting that love than him (as we see briefly with his connection with Sing).

Of course there's also differences in their stories that I think are worth noting. I won't do it on this post because frankly I've been procrastinating making lunch and I need to do that rn. But reducing Yut Lungs's character to an "ash without eiji" is truly tragic in my opinion, and not only a disservice to him as a character but also to his story. Yut lung isn't just there to be a parallel to Ash, and I feel like we sometimes forget that. Anyway I'll get more into the nuances of Yut lung's character, and the nuances of his and Ash's stories and they way they both parallel and differ from each other if y'all want. If not I'll probably forget, and it'll just live in my mind, keeping me awake at 4 am.

#banana fish #banana fish rant #banana fish analysis #ash lynx #eiji okumura #ash and eiji #yut lung lee #ash lynx appreciation #yut lung lee appreciation #tw sa #tw violence #anime

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laforzadelvoila · 2 months ago

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Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me

Title inspired by a song by The Smiths.

Fanfic prompt generator: Explore the concept of parallel timelines, with the characters witnessing different outcomes.

Basically a little one-shot about Chrollo who, without really knowing why, decides to accept the answers to a question he had been avoiding until then.

Set after Chrollo and Hisoka’s fight and before the Phantom Troupe leaves for the Black Whale.

Also on AO3.

One way or another, for better or for worse, he always ended up returning to the only place he could call home. Chrollo adjusted his own coat in the cold wind, taking in the familiar sight before him: it had been a while since he had been in Meteor City, but the only notable differences were that the trash monuments were bigger and there were some new brick buildings. As he walked towards the main Church, he came across a group of children playing, who greeted him when they saw him, which gave him a glimpse of himself and his friends as a child — just as Chrollo always returned to his homeland, his thoughts always returned to his past, when it all began.

Even though he was wearing civilian clothes, everyone there recognized him anyway, so he decided that he could now remove the bandage around his head that hid his cross-shaped tattoo in the middle of his forehead.

The Spider leader had his head bowed, his face unconsciously contorted into a grim expression of pain. In a few days, he would board the Black Whale heading to the New Continent, where the Spiders would steal the treasures of the Kakin Empire. But now they had a new objective: to kill Hisoka Morow, the traitorous magician.

Weeks before, Chrollo had finally agreed to fight Hisoka, who had been obsessively looking forward to this moment, after collecting the necessary skills to execute his plan and have a 100% chance of winning. Despite having betrayed the Troupe, Chrollo didn’t hate Hisoka that much, but he was definitely tired of continuing to be chased by him, so killing him seemed like the most satisfying option.

However, what Lucifer’s namesake did not foresee was that Hisoka, from the post-death Nen, would use his Bungee Gum to force his lungs and heart to function again, resurrecting him. Chrollo knew that there were cases of Nen continuing to act after the user's death, or even intensifying, but he had never heard of anyone programming Nen’s elasticity to force the body to revive. He had barely believed it when Machi called him, completely distressed, which was strange for the always so serious woman, and told him what had happened: Hisoka had come back to life, warning that he would hunt down the members of the Phantom Troupe one by one and murder them all.

And the clown had fulfilled part of his threat: Machi sent Chrollo a photo of Shalnark’s remains, the bloody corpse tied to the playground swing, and Kortopi, with only the severed head covered by hair visible.

Shalnark and Kortopi were dead. Chrollo was on the subway when he received the message, he could barely breathe. Shalnark and Kortopi, his subordinates, his friends, were dead, and it was all his fault — if only he had effectively killed Hisoka, if only he hadn't borrowed their skills, maybe they could have defended themselves, if only…

Terribly familiar feelings crushed his lungs, feelings that had haunted him since childhood, and that had never really stopped following him: guilt and fear. But also something intoxicating, the burning desire for revenge, the thirst for the blood of someone like Hisoka, who had arranged the bodies of the two dead Spiders as if they were his own work of art.

He had once again failed in his role as leader. The deaths of Shalnark and Kortopi reminded him of Sarasa’s death, and reopened the precariously closed wounds of Uvogin and Pakunoda’s deaths by the Chain Bastard — although they were different situations: Uvo deliberately wanted to fight Kurapika Kurta, and Pakunoda, whom Chrollo loved and whom he regretted having loved him, chose to sacrifice herself for him and the Troupe; in the case of Shalnark and Kortopi, they did not have the same opportunity to decide their last fights.

Paku’s last wish right before she died was for the rest of the Spiders to survive; Phinks told him that, in her final moments, she smiled, sharing with them her memories, her soul and her heart to keep the peace among the group, passing away in the process. Now, thanks to Hisoka, her sacrifice had been in vain — and this realization devastated Chrollo, the way that damned clown destroyed Pakunoda’s last hope out of sheer pettiness.

More regrets. Phinks also commented that Paku wondered if the Spider’s head would be able to forgive her for choosing to save him instead of prioritizing the integrity of the whole, and Chrollo wished he had been able to tell the woman he came to love that he never resented her. Now he wondered if she would forgive him for letting Shalnark and Kortopi die.

He found it amusing, in a very tragic and infuriating way, how bad of a loser the magician was, seeking revenge after his disastrous defeat even though it was Hisoka who persecuted and tormented him, insisting on a fight, and all Chrollo did was give him what he wanted, a horror show to satisfy his thirst for blood, even warning him of the fatal consequences.

Hisoka would be on the Black Whale, and Chrollo was determined not to make the same mistake again: when he found him, he would use the perfect skill to kill him once and for all, even if he had to sacrifice his own life to do so. The other Spiders would also be on the ship, each also wanting to hunt the magician — including the arachnid's new eleventh leg, Illumi Zoldyck, whom the leader of the Troupe had already hired in the past to assassinate the Ten Dons, and who aimed to kill Hisoka for his own reasons.

Now, deeply devastated and shaken, Chrollo was back in his homeland in search of answers to a question he had been avoiding until then. The silhouette of the Church where he had spent much of his childhood studying became visible as he approached.

He caught sight of some of the aged faces of the assembly’s elders, whose reactions upon recognizing him ranged from contentment, indifferent coldness, irritation, and even concern. The leader of the Phantom Troupe didn’t care about what others thought about him or his group of murderous thieves, it would simply be pathetic and unproductive if that were the case, after all, the Spiders’ objective was precisely to spread chaos throughout the world of crime in the name of Meteor City — from where they even received criticism, especially from some of the elders, but the Troupe also didn’t care about the opinion of a bunch of old men too busy with disguised bureaucracy than with real actions.

Upon entering the Church, the first thing Chrollo noticed was the nostalgic smell of sweet wood and melted candle wax, very different from the rotten smell outside. Even though it had been years since he had set foot there, the man was still able to move through the temple’s tortuous corridors without any problems, nimbly reaching the creaky stairs that led to the dimly lit basement.

The stone walls of the basement closed increasingly into a dark, claustrophobic corridor, and Chrollo headed straight towards the door lit by a modest hanging lamp. The musty, dusty air made him cough, revealing his presence to the old acquaintance on the other side of the door, which was suddenly opened.

“Chrollo, my child, you're back,” Father Lisores’ voice was torn with age, he adjusted the small glasses hanging on the tip of his nose. “What brings you here?”

The young man’s throat was dry; he knew the desolation on her face must be worryingly evident. Although he was now old, Father Lisores was not one of the elders of Meteor City, being merely an employee of the clergy who, a few years earlier, had developed a Nen ability and wanted to gift it to Chrollo, who at the time had refused it when he learned of its nature.

“I came back to accept your gift,” he finally found the courage, although perhaps it was simply desperation, to utter these words.

“Come in,” Lisores opened the way so that Chrollo could enter the small musty room.

It was a miserable room even by Meteor City standards, the walls green with humidity and lit by a single flickering candle, all that was above the stone floor was a straw bed, a small filthy table and two rickety chairs.

“I heard about the terrible deaths of Shalnark and Kortopi,” Lisores began. It was distressing to see him so physically fragile.

Chrollo didn't question it; he knew that the communication system between the inhabitants of his homeland was shockingly effective and agile.

“Yes, and my Troupe and I intend to avenge them,” the man replied dryly, looking at his hands, as if he couldn’t look the older one in the eyes. “I don’t really know why I want to accept your gift now, maybe because I feel like I need some kind of answer… it’s been so long that I feel out of my own head, and after what happened, now I fear losing control.”

Chrollo couldn’t simply afford to lose control; more than ever, he needed to be an unshakable leader and ensure that his Spider would live, even if he had to pay with his own life. He couldn’t let the doubts and fears that haunted him distract him from his duty — the thing is, the man wasn’t sure if knowing the answers would bring him any resolution, most likely it would bring him more anguish, but he hoped it would remind him of the importance of his role.

“So you are looking for some kind of guidance,” Father Lisores murmured. “It is common to look for answers through faith.”

Lucilfer wrung his hands, knowing that the other’s speech had many meanings behind it: not only did his journey back to Meteor City to finally accept the priest’s gift represented his need for advice from some higher order, but also his own Troupe was the result of anguish in not knowing what to do next, fueled by fear and guilt, just like a religion, longing for any protection and something to fight for and believe in.

He raised his head as he felt the flow of Nen from Lisores begin to surround the old man’s body. In the elderly priest’s hands, a single white feather materialized.

“I call it A Feverish Night’s Dream,” Lisores said, and Chrollo noticed the obvious Shakespeare reference. “When I touch it, in the blink of an eye I am introduced to different worlds, random worlds where things have taken a different course from ours.”

While interesting, it wasn't necessarily a very useful ability, nor was it intended to be; there was no way to control which alternate realities the user would be able to see, and most of the time there was nothing you could do about the discoveries you made, you could only watch them unfold as you crumbled inside.

Chrollo believed in destiny, that all roles were set. Perhaps it was his way of coming to terms with the path he had chosen to follow. It was Judas’s destiny to betray Jesus, and it was Jesus’s destiny to be reborn as the savior of humanity — in the same way, it was Lucifer’s destiny to hunt down the evildoers of his homeland and become the bloodthirsty villain he was today.

The priest offered Chrollo the feather, and that was his last chance to give up and back down, but he went ahead and accepted the object, not caring about future regrets. As he touched the feather, a single physical second transformed into an immeasurable infinity in his mind.

First, Chrollo found himself in the familiar setting of Meteor City, where he and his friends, now grown up, were delivering food to the poor children of their hometown, which, surprisingly, seemed more successful than it was now. And his stomach sank as he recognized Sarasa, or rather, what she would have looked like if she had reached adulthood, doing charitable deeds alongside them. So this was what things would have been like if Sarasa and all of his friends had survived childhood; in the midst of the crowd Chrollo recognized himself without his tattoo, as well as Paku, Shalnark, Franklin, Nobunaga, Phinks, Feitan, Sheila, Machi, Uvogin: all safe and sound.

He had always believed that if it hadn’t been Sarasa, it would have been another child from Meteor City who had suffered such a particularly brutal death, including any of his closest friends. That is to say, one way or another, it would still be necessary for them to take measures to prevent the deaths of more of their compatriots.

And there was a reality where, apparently, things didn't take such a sinister turn. It was kind of bittersweet, actually, to know that there was another life that was unattainable for him where he might even have been happy and free from sin.

Then, Chrollo was transported to a new world, this time it seemed like he was still a member of the Phantom Troupe, bearing the cross-shaped tattoo on his forehead, but he was wearing civilian clothes and, surprisingly, had his arm around Pakunoda's waist — the condition for her abilities literally prevented that, how was that possible? —, but the most shocking thing was the fact that she seemed to be carrying a light-haired baby in her arms — couldn’t it be… their son or daughter?

He was so astonished that he barely noticed when the scenery changed, and for a second he desperately wanted to go back to the previous scene, wanting to know more about the idyllic world in which he and Paku had somehow been able to form a family. However, there was nothing he could do but continue to watch impassively.

Despite the emotional blow, Chrollo had already imagined that the realities he would encounter would show him having a happy and less tragic life; the last time he himself had been genuinely happy was when he and his friends were dubbing episodes of Power Cleaners, but that had been a long time ago.

The last trip was the most surprising and enigmatic: there was a woman with dark hair like his carrying a baby that Lucilfer assumed was him. Could that be his biological mother? She seemed to live in a wealthy mansion, which made him wonder why she would abandon him in a place like Meteor City. Chrollo had never been interested in his roots, he felt that searching for those particular answers would be a kind of betrayal, but it was still curious to imagine how his life would have been different if he had been raised in better conditions. What he was sure of was that it was impossible for him to form bonds like the ones he had formed in Meteor City, so it was the only time Chrollo didn't end up wishing for another taste of one of the realities he had seen.

And that was the end. Chrollo blinked, looking back at old Lisores in front of him, holding the damned feather. It really was a pretty useless skill, and he barely had time to process everything he had witnessed.

He summoned the Bandit’s Secret into his hands.

“Okay, now I just need you to place your hand above the drawing on the cover,” Chrollo instructed.

Lisores did what was asked, and the process was complete for the youngest to definitively obtain the A Feverish Night’s Dream — which, as its name indicated, seemed like a frustrating and short dream, full of empty promises and destroyed aspirations.

The expression on Chrollo's face was complicated. It was more a mixture of pain and disappointment than anything else; the faint taste of love and happiness he had tasted in that brief experience was so sweet and devastating, so addictive.

Chrollo left Meteor City that night, ready to dream once more.

#hunter x hunter #hxh fanfic #chrollo lucilfer #my post

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ismahanescorner · 4 months ago

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Lights Out | Book Review

Author: Navessa Allen

Genre: Dark Romance, Rom-Com.

Publisher: Zando

Release Date: 24/02/2024

Rating: 4/5 🌟

Synopsis:

I want someone with a soul as black as night. Someone who would burn the world down for me and not lose a single minute of sleep over it. Trauma nurse Aly Cappellucci doesn’t need any more kinks. She likes the one she’s landed on just fine. To her, nothing could top the masked men she follows online. Unless one of those men was shirtless, heavily tattooed, and waiting for her in her bedroom. She dreams about being hunted by one in particular, of him chasing her down and doing deliciously dark things to her willing body. She never could have guessed that by sending one drunken text, those dreams would become her new reality. I want things most people don’t, craving darkness and depravity instead of light and love. Josh Hammond has spent his life avoiding the limelight, but his online persona is another story. At night, he posts masked thirst traps for his millions of fans to drool over, but one follower has caught his eye: Aly. After reading a comment begging him to break into her house wearing a mask, he decides to take her up on her offer. Together, Aly and Josh live out their darkest fantasies, unaware that Aly has captured the attention of someone else. Someone with far more sinister intentions than a little light stalking. As Josh turns from predator to protector and the stakes heighten, he must ask himself how far he’s willing to go for the woman he’s obsessed with.

Review:

cw//: stalking, murder, multiple kinks!!

a few months ago while i was dooming scrolling on tiktok, i got a couple of videos with sound bites from the audiobook. the snippets were so outrageously funny that i got the audiobook checked from my library to see if the hype is deserved or not. and lets be honest here for a second, considering booktok’s track record, the hype is never deserved!!

this book however, deserves the love it’s been getting; especially the audiobook cuz the narrators did a fantastic job!

the plot isn’t all that new but it is unexpectedly lighthearted and full of comedic elements that makes the story better in my opinion. what do i mean by this? i personally don’t like formulaic dark romances that follow the structure to a T cuz they lack originality and have no romantic substance beyond the tropes. so i really like the fact that this book didn’t adhere to the rigid structure and gave us a decent rom-com with dark elements!

#books #bookworm #booklover #book review #booknerd #lights out #navessa allen #josh hammond #mask kink #aly cappellucci

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foxes-that-run · 1 year ago

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Daylight

Harry said Daylight is about infatuation with troubled things. He sings about a long distance relationship where his muse, to me Taylor, keeps him at a distance, he wants to be with them and wants more than his muse gives him. In a theme for his work at that time Harry sings of cocaine, travelling the world and romantic encounters but he really just wants his muse to love him back. Yet knowing they keep him at a distance Harry can't help wanting to be with them.

The lyric video has Sunflowers with their heads are dropped :( this happens when they don’t have water, a reference to Taylor Swifts Clean (When the flowers that we'd grown together died of thirst) and Sunflower Vol 6.

Music video

The music video for Daylight is fantastic and full of Haylor easter eggs in these:

@womanexile has detail in part 1 and part 2,

@this-daydream-is-dangerous-13 post about the timeline for making the video and the James Corden $300 video showing it was made May 22 before it’s July 23 release. The Olivia tattoo is seen in it. and

This post about seven and the video

Title and Track list

Daylight is also the name of the last song on Taylor Swift's album Lover. It was originally the title track, and Taylor hinted at it in the Red Liner notes while she was still dating Harry. Taylor’s Daylight is about true love, the last sung verse of Taylors Daylight is [love] "it's golden like daylight". Harry then opened Fine Line with Golden. Daylight is track 5 of Harry's House.

What Harry has said

youtube

Howard Stern (8:10) Harry said:

"Daylight was quite an early song on the album, it's one of my favourites and it was kind of a stream of consciousness writing that happened kind of late. It was one of those songs that very much captures a moment of what was happening in the studio. We were kind of all talking about going to bed and then we started this song and it felt like if we go to bed and do it tomorrow it's not going to be the same as it would be if we finished it now. So you found a way to stay up. I think sometimes there are things that can feel like we have to find a way to finish this now. We did an all nighter, finished it and went out the beach to watch the sun come up and it was a nice moment of this album." Stern 'this is about some woman that didn't pay attention to you. He reads the line with cocaine before asking. There is a frustration in this song' Harry confirms it is about one woman. And responds "I think it is kind of like an infatuation with chasing troubled things"

Stern continues, 'You know Taylor Swift has a song called Daylight, maybe she's the girl in the thing?' To which Harry says "here we go, mm hm." and looks away. Stern, seeing the answer, offers, 'or am I reading too much into it.' which Harry agrees with, Stern comments on his smile Harry adds "You know I'd love to tell you that your spot on, but I can't" smiles and exchanges a knowing look with Mitch. Call me as convinced as Stern, what Harry said was he couldn't confirm that, especially after Stern read the cocaine line.

To Zane Lowe Harry (41 mins) told a similar story about staying up to complete it and told the surfing/song writing metaphor. Zane approached it along with As it Was and Grapejuice as a suite he sees as expressing pain and vice dependency. Harry moved on to talk about As It Was.

Timeline

Harry was in LA promoting Fine Line when the COVID travel ban was introduced 17 March 2020. Harry told Zane Lowe (24 Mins) he stayed home for 6 weeks then booked and went to Shangri-la studio to record. LNT, Daylight, Keep Driving and Sushi were in this group, to Stern and Lowe he said Daylight was one of the first. That places these songs between 28 April 2020 and 18 July 2020 (when Harry was back in the UK) Daylight at the earlier end of that time. The leaked too much sauce was recorded and Taylor wrote Folklore in that period also. See 2020 timeline.

Live Performances

Daylight was the 4th song on the Love on Tour Setlist, once Harry's House was released. Harry replaced it with Stockholm Syndrome for 18 shows from 18 May 2023, appearing in a handful of shows in June and July. The only shows with both were Wembley and the last show.

The tour visuals have a blue bird flying between LA and London. Harry also had a cloud background. Showing LA rather than NY is interesting when the song mentions NY.

What is the Bluebird Reference about

Bluebirds appeared in the opening to Love on Tour and may refer to:

Charles Bukowski's has a poem Bluebird, Harry is read Bukowski books and poems on stage. In the poem, the bird is a metaphor for Bukowski's emotions, articulated that he weeps in private. He keeps it hidden with whiskey to protect his image that sells books of misogynistic poetry, he opposes weeping with strength and cleverness. If Harry is referencing this, this is it is consistent with the reference to Harry's own work:

In "If I could Fly" Harry shared his vulnerability with his muse for their eyes only and hoped they would not run from him. In this same HH recording period, Harry has a series of songs that describe a rockstar lifestyle, referring to choking and cocaine, (Daylight, Keep Driving and (leaked) Too Much Sauce and (leaked) Make My Day) but that Harry actually just wishes his muse reciprocated his feelings and wanted to settle down and be happy.

When she was 14 Taylor Swift's was given her first record deal and performed at a writers night at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. She talks about it in this video when she returned to the cafe, there are photos of her 2004 performance with Scott Borchetta in the audience. The cafe has a chair with a plaque she included in the Taymoji set. Harry would have known this, however the Grammy museum also covered when she played there in 2018. Taylor also had a bluebird in the WANGBT video and on 17 June 2023 uploaded a single image to youtube with bluebirds promoting Eras in Mexico. This was a few weeks before Harry’s daylight MV was released.

This link lists songs about bluebirds. I think Paul McCartney's "Bluebird" and Joe Ely's "If you were a Bluebird" are both plausible.

In Summary I think the bluebird is a metaphor for Harry's inner feelings that he is someone who loves and wants to be loved back. He sees his rockstar trappings are a salve, not a life goal.

Lyrics

I'm on the roof, you're in your airplane seat I was nose-bleeding, looking for life out there Reading your horoscope, you were just doing cocaine In my kitchen, you never listen, I hope you're missing me by now

The opening verse expresses the frustration Stern referred to. Harry's muse and he are apart now, and he is missing them, almost indigently hoping they miss him too, yet he cares, he’s reading their horoscope. This sounds to me like a disagreement or unsatisfying parting and Harry wants to be with them.

I hear the first lines as a double meaning:

Harry is high (on the roof, nose-bleeding) but his muse is higher (in the sky).

his muse has also now flown away in their own airplane seat and left him waiting - they are separated by distance.

'Nose bleeding, looking for life' reminds me of Kiwi "Holland Tunnel for a nose, it's always backed up" and Satellite's name and "You got a new life". "Out there" and the tour visuals showing LA rather also remind me of Satellite's 'L.A. Mood'.

In the music video here Harry climbs down from a ladder to the sky, which reminds me of Story of My Life's "But, baby, runnin' after you is like chasin' the clouds". Clouds appear in several of their videos, including Lavender Haze, where, on the Eras tour, Taylor climbs up a ladder to one:

If I was a bluebird, I would fly to you You'd be the spoon Dip you in honey so I could be sticking to you

To me, this lyric is most reminiscent of Harry's One Direction song, If I Could Fly and it has the similar meaning, Harry is separated from his muse and wishes he could fly home to them. While If I could fly is about sharing vulnerability and hoping they don't run from him, in Daylight his muse keeping him at a distance.

I love dip you in honey so I could be sticking to you, it's adorable and bittersweet and very Harry. Bittersweet because Harry wants to be with his muse, who at the start of the song was not listening to him and he was hoping was missing him. He wants to spend all his time with them and he doesn’t feel that is reciprocated.

In this part of the video, the muse in Red (Taylor's colour) takes shots at him (songs, antics in media) he is resigned that it may kill him, his muse gives a flirting smile when it doesn't. Harry then walks past muses in pink with a bored look. A Grapejuice reference "I'm so over whites and pinks" Harry only has eyes for his 'old and Red' muse, even though they enjoy taking shots at him.

Daylight, you got me cursing the daylight (ooh) Daylight, you got me cursing the daylight (ooh) Daylight, you got me calling at all times (ooh) Ain't gonna sleep 'til the daylight (ooh)

This lyric reminds me of Harry talking about staying up to finish the song, but also he's staying up late night talking and wanting to be with his muse all the time. Calling at all times could be a muse on a different timezone, or maybe one he can't keep from.

In the video Harry is trying to get to his muse, clowns (read: us) are in the way. He cries and we are on his side, because we are! Harry is commenting on fans getting in the way of his love. Sorry Harry. He is too loud for his muse dressed as Miss Americana (& the Heartbreak Prince) who leaves. This scene reminds me of Story of my life "holding on too tight"

Out of New York, I'm on the comedown speed We're on bicycles, saying, "There's life out there" You got the antidote, I'll take one to go, go, please Get the picture, cut out my middle You ain't got time for me right now

This verse is similar to the first, Harry is a parting from his muse, he feels incomplete when they are apart, but his muse is keeping him at a distance. The verse has similarities to several of Harry's songs:

Out of NY, comedown speed, I hear as Harry leaving NY and coming down, or feeling sad to be away from his muse.

Harry does refer to Bikes in Matilda, however to me, where Harry rides a penny farthing here in the video emphasises that this is a winding wheel reference. The spinning and 'life out there' also remind me of Satellite again. In the first verse Harry was looking for life out there and he has now found it.

Antidote is also in Golden "I can feel you take control (I can feel you take control) / Of who I am, and all I've ever known Lovin' you's the antidote", and Ever Since New York "Choose your words 'cause there's no antidote" a Medicine is also similar to an antidote. Also in End of the Day "Twenty minutes later, wound up in the hospital / The priest thinks it's the devil, my mum thinks it's the flu / But, girl, it's only you" Here Harry takes one to go because he's parting from his muse.

Finally, the last 2 lines are also reminiscent of Satellite "(Spinning out, waiting for ya) / I'm in an L.A. Mood / I don't wanna talk to you/ She said, "Give me a day or two"

#harry styles #haylor #harry’s house #charles bukowski #bluebird #song analysis

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walviemort · 1 year ago

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hidden blessing (12/?)

Summary: Killian thought the only thing he was left with after Milah’s death was a broken heart and a thirst for vengeance. It’s not until he gets to Storybrooke, after so many years spent in stasis, that he discovers something else: he’s carrying her child. How does this new, tiny blessing change his path? (Canon-divergent from 2x12.) rated T | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | part 11 | AO3 | 3.5k a/n: So sorry for the long posting delay (again)! But on the bright side--I have a few more chapters ready :) Hope you enjoy this one!

Killian was jolted from sleep by a sharp pain in his stomach. His eyes fluttered open as he yelped and his hand immediately rushed to the spot the pain was coming from—but something didn’t feel right.

He looked down—and gasped: his belly was much larger than it had been when he fell asleep; it looked like he was about to give birth, and he could feel his babe squirming around impatiently inside.

“No, no, no—what’s happening?” he murmured, hoping he didn’t wake anyone else. Then he hissed as another jolt of pain hit him, under his palm.

“Tick tock, tick tock—looks like someone’s about to pop.”

His eyes darted to the side, where Pan was smirking and staring at his round bump.

“What the hell did you do?” Killian demanded, then groaned again as another contraction came, even stronger than the last.

“Did you really think you and that babe would get out of this scot-free?” he taunted. “I thought you knew me better than that.”

“No, no—you can’t—ahh!” he tried to beg, but it was cut off as his contractions came even closer together.

“Push, Hook,” Pan told him, now below him—waiting to catch the babe, as it were. “You don’t want something bad to happen to them because you didn’t, do you?”

“I won’t,” he panted, even as the pain and pressure increased.

“Oh, but you have to,” Pan said, almost teasing. “Or I’ll take them myself.”

Killian’s body betrayed him and he felt himself bearing down on the next contraction, just like he’d read in his pregnancy books. But it was the last thing he wanted to do.

And then, suddenly, Pan was standing over him with an infant in his arms. They were wrapped in a blanket so he couldn’t see their face, but he could hear them crying—and his heart broke. “Please, Pan—have some humanity; give them back,” he cried, reaching for them.

Pan just stepped back and laughed. “No; they’re mine now.” And disappeared.

“No, no, no!” he screamed, and tried to get up to make chase, but he didn’t get very far when—

—When Emma was whisper-yelling his name, gently shaking him awake. “Hook! Are you okay?”

He was panting and looking around; he was at the camp still, everyone else was still asleep, and, blessedly, his babe was still growing within him, wiggling around in his womb.

He sighed in relief and fell back against his bedroll. “A terrible dream,” he replied. “Pardon me, but I just need to…” he started, trailing off as he undid the buckle of the belt around his vest, then pressed his palm against the still-small bump. Thank the gods; everything was still as it was supposed to be.

“I take it your dream was about the baby?” she asked quietly, taking a seat next to him.

“Aye,” he nodded, and gave her the run-down of it. Saying it out loud helped calm him, somehow.

When he was done, to his shock, Emma reached for his hand where it still sat on his stomach and squeezed it. “I’ve had a few of those, too, since we got here. Honestly, I’ve had them ever since Henry was under that sleeping curse, but now, I just keep seeing him being taken—by Pan, Regina, Neal. The sooner we get out of here, the better.”

“Indeed,” he agreed as he sat up—and caught her hand in his as he moved. “And Swan—we will save him; we’ve come too far not to at this point.”

“I know,” she said, though she didn’t sound confident. “I’m just not the most optimistic person by nature.”

“Then it’s a good thing your parents have enough of that to spare, eh?” he joked. “As does Baelfire.”

She’d been smirking, but it fell at the mention of her former lover. “He might have too much,” she complained.

“I take it you two didn’t end on good terms?”

She shifted uncomfortably; now it was his turn to squeeze her hand in encouragement. He certainly didn’t expect her to reveal anything she didn’t want to, but he had been curious about the demise of their relationship. “Remember how I said I was pregnant in jail?” He nodded. “He let me take the fall for a theft; I got caught, he got away.”

A pit formed in his stomach. “He did what?” he growled.

She waved him off. “It’s in the past; nothing to be done for it now. And, y’know, there’s a part of me that still loves him—and probably always will. But I can’t forget the pain, either.”

He longed desperately to punch Bae—or worse—for doing that to Emma, but given his own indiscretions against the lad, he didn’t have much of a moral high ground. (It would mean more if Emma were to do it, anyway.) “It’s understandable that you’d have complicated feelings towards him, then,” he offered instead. “And you are the only one who gets to decide what to do about them.”

“Thanks,” she said sincerely, a small smile coming back to her face.

They simply sat for a moment, still holding hands, as the weight of their conversation settled around them. He figured he should probably add to that, though. “Also, I need to apologize for my behavior earlier, back in the Hollow. I can’t fully blame it on my hormones, but I definitely gave into some baser instincts that nearly cost us the mission—and our lives. I’m so sorry.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but then seemed to lack the words to say in response. He didn’t need one, really; it was more important that he say it than she accept.

But then she leaned in towards him and pressed her lips to his—firmly, but briefly.

She pulled away quickly and stood, dropping his hand as she did. “Go back to sleep; we need our rest for tomorrow,” she said—nay, commanded—then headed back to her own bedroll.

He stared as she walked away, then slowly laid back down. How could she do that and then expect him to simply fall back asleep and not be left with a tempest of emotions to deal with?

(Likely, she presumed he was pregnant and fatigued—which was an accurate assumption, and he did drift back off much sooner than he thought—but bloody hell; he wasn’t sure what was going to be harder to survive: their impending confrontation with Pan, or the emotional whiplash she was inducing.)

—----------------------------------------

In truth, Killian had no idea how much time passed during the events that followed. That was one of the odd things about Neverland—the vagueness of the passage of time; it could have been a couple days or only a couple hours. (It certainly felt like the former.)

That morning, they packed up camp and followed Tink’s lead to Pan’s hideout. After stepping aside to (urgently) relieve himself (one of the many side effects of pregnancy he was discovering), he came back to see Snow and David being far more affectionate than they had been over the last…however long. Something must have changed while he was on his little adventure yesterday.

On their hike, he found himself in stride with David as the fairy set the path. “So, you and the missus seem to be back on good terms,” he observed.

“Yeah,” David said, smiling a bit, but not fully. “We’re, uh, we’re gonna stay.”

“Stay?”

“Here, in Neverland. Since I can’t leave.”

“Seriously?” He was aghast that anyone would willingly live here, but David just nodded. “Well, it’s…romantic, I guess. I wish you the best of luck.”

Any response David was about to give was interrupted by an unwelcome rustle in the jungle ahead; they were both quick with their blades, as were Tinkerbelle and Neal. But it was just Regina and Rumpelstiltskin, joining back up with them, apparently. Much as he loathed to admit it, it was good timing, too; they had come with a better tool to aid in their fight against Pan.

“Pandora's box,” Regina said, explaining the odd cube Rumple held. “It could trap Pan for eternity simply by opening the lid.” He rather liked the sound of that.

Neal, however, did not—or rather, didn’t like any idea that came from his father (of that, they were generally in agreement).

But Neal’s explanation of a prophecy stating that Henry might be the Dark One’s undoing turned everyone’s head—and then, all of them against Rumpelstiltskin.

Given the man’s reputation, no one quite believed him when he said he wasn’t going to do anything to hurt Henry—not until he offered Pandora’s box to Neal, in exchange promising he wouldn’t use magic.

Killian wasn’t sure if it was due to that revelation or the general weight of what they were about to take on, but tension settled over the group as they continued on; even his babe’s movements were a bit more stuttered, it seemed. But at least now, he felt comfortable enough to rest his hand on his belly around the others; he wasn’t sure if the sense of comfort he was trying to pass to his child was felt by the little one, but it at least was by him.

A bit later, Emma came up alongside him with a canteen. But after he’d had a few sips, she asked, “Hey, can we talk?”

“I've found when a woman says that, I'm rarely in for pleasant conversation,” he teased, but obviously he wouldn’t deny a reason to chat with her.

“There has to be a way for David to leave the island—right?”

His heart fell; the one time she was trying to find a bright side, and he had none to offer. “I wish there was, love, but there isn't.”

She (adorably) chewed her bottom lip. “That water—it’s connected to the island, right? What if we take some of it with us? That way he can stay alive in Storybrooke.”

Gods, he hated to be the bearer of bad news. “In theory, yes, but for how long? Once the water runs out, the dreamshade will take his life.”

“Unless there was another cure.” The Crocodile had apparently been eavesdropping, but everyone stopped when he spoke. “Oh, you’re suddenly interested in what I have to say? Thought I wasn't to be trusted,” he sneered.

“You're not, but I'll take my chances,” Emma snapped; Killian wasn’t so sure.

But apparently the Dark One had been working on an antidote to the poison ever since Killian’s attempt to murder him with it hadn’t worked out (alas—though he supposed, for Henry’s sake, it was a good thing it hadn’t).

“What's your price?” Emma asked, perhaps a bit too earnestly—but he knew she could handle a deal with the Dark One.

“Well, this is quite the favor. I'd expect one of equal weight in return,” Gold answered, far too happy.

“No,” Neal countered. “When we get back to Storybrooke, you're gonna save David because it's the right thing to do. No deals, no favors, understand?”

Killian turned away and brushed a tear from his eye; he was so proud of the lad (even if they were effectively the same age, he’d always think of him as that boy on his ship) (although he was still angry at him for what Emma had told him; gods, these emotional swings were annoying).

And, amazingly, Gold agreed. Emma, excitedly, ran to tell her father. (Killian had a few more tears to secretly brush away; damned hormones.)

He was able to pull it together by the time they got to the perimeter of Pan’s camp (although he nearly boiled over again when the Dark One “borrowed” his sword—without permission; at least David had an extra).

Despite all their mental preparedness, they hadn’t anticipated finding a nearly empty camp, save for—of all things—a girl.

Wendy was her name, apparently; he’d heard it in passing in his centuries here before, though was unaware she had shared history with Bae. But their brief happy reunion was cut short when she revealed the reality of the situation: that Pan was dying, and he needed Henry’s heart to survive—but they had already left for Skull Rock.

A new plan was quickly hashed out that, unfortunately, had the group splitting up—the idea made him nervous, even though tactically, he knew it was necessary. As such, he and Tink made their way back to his ship to prep it for departure; if all went well, as soon as Emma had retrieved her son, they’d be able to immediately disembark and get the hell out of this cursed realm.

“Good luck, Swan,” he told her, being so bold as to reach for her hand before everyone went their separate ways. “Like I said—I’ve yet to see you fail.”

She gave him half of a smile and squeezed his hand back. “Thanks; you too. See you soon?”

“I look forward to it.”

He and Tink then headed toward where they’d docked the ship, but if he wasn’t mistaken, she was being weird—constantly sending him sideways glances with a smirk on her lips.

“What?” he finally asked her. “Something is on your mind; spit it out, fairy.”

“Someone’s got a crush on Em-ma,” she sing-songed in reply.

He scoffed. “You’ve really been here too long; I think the immaturity of the Lost Boys has rubbed off on you.”

“Oh, come on; it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“I didn’t say that I was—or that I was trying to hide it. She’s quite aware.”

“Wait!” she said urgently, then jumped in front of him and grabbed his chin. She turned his face side to side, then grinned. “Oh, there it is!”

“What?” he asked, pulling his head back and out of her grasp.

“Emma’s kiss,” she answered, winking.

“You can see that?” he hissed, then nervously scratched behind an ear. “Is it that obvious?”

“Only to fairies,” she tossed back, then started their trek again. “Does she know about the little one?”

“Aye; everyone does,” he confirmed. “Not like I’ll be able to hide it a whole lot longer.” He cupped his still-small bump, but knew it was only a matter of time before it was obvious. (And also made a mental note to visit the doctor as soon as they docked in Storybrooke.)

“No, probably not,” she laughed. She looked over her shoulder to say something else, but then a blast of energy emanated from across the island, knocking them both down.

While not as dramatic as his fall in Dark Hollow, he still took a minute to check on his babe before rising to his feet and helping Tink up. “The bloody hell was that?”

Any humor she’d had in her expression had disappeared. “No idea, but I think it came from Skull Rock.”

Oh no; that couldn’t mean anything good.

And without any further discussion, they both started to run back in the direction they’d come—back to the others. Something told him that the plans had just changed drastically.

He just prayed it wouldn’t hinder them leaving.

—---------------------------------

Killian’s stomach was not presently strong enough for the sight that greeted him upon their return to Pan’s camp: not only was the Dark One nowhere to be seen, but Henry lay on a pallet, pale and lifeless.

He had to excuse himself to retch; gods forbid anything like that ever happened to his child.

Regina quickly told everyone what had happened—the other groups had arrived at roughly the same time: how Henry had been tricked to giving Pan his heart (who had subsequently ran off with it—as well as Pandora’s box, but not before trapping Rumpelstiltskin inside it), and if they weren’t able to get it back within the next hour, the boy would die—and Pan would win.

The Lost Boys had returned, but most were holding loyal to Pan and refusing to reveal where he’d gone. At least, they were until Emma began to talk to them—and offered the one thing so many of them wanted: a home.

(Killian’s tears returned.)

And finally, one boy told them what they needed to know: Pan had gone to his thinking tree in the Pixie Woods. He knew exactly where that was.

Quickly, they hashed together a new plan from the old one: while the ladies took on Pan, everyone else would head back to the ship to make a hasty exit.

There was no time for a sentimental farewell this time, but hopefully the knowing nod he gave Emma would suffice. And then they were off.

Neal turned to him. “Let's gather up the Lost Boys and get 'em aboard the Jolly Roger, then get it ready to fly.”

He bit back the initial annoyance that anyone was giving commands for his ship, but that was beside the point right now. Fly? “Let's hope you have a Pegasus sail. Otherwise, we're at the mercy of the trade winds.”

Neal held up the coconut. “Pan's Shadow. It'll get us home, as long as your ship holds together.”

He couldn’t hold back any indignation at the insult towards his ship, though. “As long as your plan holds together, she will,” he snapped back.

He felt a bit guilty for the attitude, even if he had an excuse at the ready for being short with…well, anyone, but thankfully Neal just smirked and shoved the coconut back in his bag, then shouldered it before doing the same to Henry’s prone form.

Tink and the Charmings led the way to the ship, while he and Neal brought up the rear, making sure none of the Lost Boys got, er, more lost.

Also—they were definitely the slowest of the group. Killian was slogging after his restless night, while Neal obviously had a heavy load.

“Are you alright with him, mate?” Killian asked Neal. “Do you need any help?”

“Nah, I got him,” came the strained answer. “Besides, you shouldn’t be doing any heavy lifting, should you?”

“Ah, probably not,” he agreed, vaguely recalling something about that in a book. Then he chuckled. “In a way, we’re both carrying our children at the moment, eh?”

Neal laughed. “Honestly, think I prefer this way. Might not be as small but I dunno if I could handle birth.”

“I’ve been trying not to think about it,” he admitted in reply. “But I suppose it can’t be that much worse than losing a hand—right?”

“I guess you’ll find out,” Neal answered. Then he added, “This is still really weird for me, you know; not how I ever thought I’d get a sibling.”

“Aye, I imagine so. But the fact you’re at least acknowledging it is appreciated, rather than running off screaming.”

“It is what it is; but we can figure out the family dynamics when we’re home, okay?”

“Okay,” he laughed in agreement.

But then he mused on what Neal said: “home.” Obviously, their next destination was Storybrooke; that was home port for most of this little band. But…could it be his?

He thought about it as they reached the ship and readied it for travel. There was no sense trying to go back to the Enchanted Forest; there was nothing left for him there anymore. And Neverland was the only other realm he’d spent much time in; like hell would he attempt to raise a child here.

So Storybrooke seemed as good a place as any. (And its proximity to Emma was certainly a plus.)

He was perhaps getting lost in daydreams of a potential life in that small town adjacent to its blonde sheriff when she arrived, stomping up to the deck with Regina and Snow in tow—but most importantly, Henry’s heart.

With not a minute to spare, Regina restored the boy’s heart. There was a tense moment waiting to see what would happen, but then Henry gasped and opened his eyes, a collective sigh of relief sounding from the adults in response.

The lad was mildly confused by what had happened but just happy to be okay, and obviously tired. “Well then—only the best for our guest of honor. Captain's quarters,” Killian offered, and Regina ushered him below deck.

As everyone got settled, Neal freed Rumpelstiltskin from Pandora’s box. While he wasn’t thrilled to see his foe again, it did mean that David could be cured—and that did bring a happy tear to his eye.

He wanted to go to Emma and share a bit of that joy, but Neal moved into her space. So instead, he mounted the quarter deck and took a moment alone—well, he and the babe. “We’re almost through this, little one,” he whispered, cupping his belly. “Then smooth sailing until you arrive.”

Once Regina had returned to the deck, she and Emma went about manipulating Pan’s shadow into a more usable form—particularly, trapping it in the jib sail. It made him sick, on top of the usual wave of nausea he was dealing with, but what other option was there?

“You think it'll fly?” Emma wondered, staring at the eerily dark sail.

“It has no choice,” Regina confirmed.

“Then let's get the hell out of Neverland.”

That was his cue. “As you wish, m'lady,” and gave the command to weigh anchor.

Finally—they were leaving this accursed realm. And as he felt his baby kicking within, he smiled, looking forward to the future for the first time in so long.

————————————-

thanks for reading! tagging @cocohook38 @wyntereyez @jennjenn615 @superadam54 @ashley-knightingale @justsomewhump @teamhook (let me know if you want a tag!)

#cs ff #killian jones ff #killian mpreg #my ff #hidden blessing

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aquariaries · 1 year ago

Text

Kou Mukami 10 - Chaos Lineage

***I do not mind if you use my translations as a base for another language, I just ask that you credit both 46snowfox as the original translator and myself as the English translator if you do!***

Original translation credit: @46snowfox

https://46snowfox.tumblr.com/post/617475223016669184/01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08

You can find Kou's previous chapters in @tournesolia's masterlist linked down below!

https://tournesolia.tumblr.com/

————————————

Yui's Monologue:

Yuma-kun had lost consciousness.

In the midst of dismay, Kou-kun safely managed to join us.

Then, carrying Yuma-kun, we all headed through the forest.

By chance we managed to find an abandoned house where we could stay and rest.

It's only temporary, but we've found a place to relax, and we don't know when Ruki-kun and the others will start following us.

While carrying that anxiety, we waited for Yuma-kun to wake up.

————————————

PLACE: Abandoned House

Yuma: ... ... ... ...

Kou: Yuma-kun ... ...

Yuma: ... ... Ngh, nnnn ... ...

Yui: (... ... ! He opened his eyes!)

Yuma: Kou, Azusa ... ... and ... ...

... ... What's with you guys ... ... Staring at one's face ... ... and all while wearing depressing expressions ... ...

I mean, 'the even hell happened ... ... ?

Kou: Yuma-kun ... ... Do you know who we are?

Yuma: Huh? Of course I know ... ...

Azusa: So you won't say that we are Kou and Azusa from Violet, and also know about Eve ... ... ?

Yuma: Hah? Violet ... ... ?

Kou: Then that means you remember? You know that guy who took tomatoes from your garden and dissapeared?

Actually, the culprit of that was me. They were so delicious that I ate too much.

Yuma: Aah!? That was you!? You selfishly took the tomatoes that I worked so hard to grow ... ... tch ... ...

Yui: Y-Yuma-kun! You shouldn't get up so suddenly. However ...

(The fact that Kou ate his tomatoes is a story from when they were in the Mukami mansion.)

... ... You've really remembered everything.

Thank goodness ... ... !

Kou: Yuma-kun!!

Azusa: Yuma ... ... !

*They all hug Yuma*

Yuma: Woah?! You idiots, if you hug me so suddenly then–- Uwaa!

————————————

Yui's Monologue:

-- Yuma-kun has recovered his memories.

We were so overcome with emotion that we hugged him.

As we all jumped at the same time, we ended up falling out of the bed however, when we all looked at each other, we ended up laughing.

After that we simply explained what was happening to Yuma-kun, who was still unable to grasp the current situation.

————————————

Kou: Yuma-kun? What's wrong, you're making a gloomy expression.

Yuma: No ... ... It's just, how do I put it.

Even though I've lost my memories, the murderous thirst I had against you was real. One misstep and I would've really killed ya ... ...

Kou: If you're going to say that, then I'm no different. I did many cruel things to the person I love. Even now I regret it.

Yui: Kou-kun ... ...

Kou: But ... ... She forgave me. That's why I must reciprocate her feelings and move forward.

Of course, I will also forgive you Yuma-kun. We are brothers after all.

Azusa: It doesn't bother me either. I'm just glad you got your memories back Yuma.

Yuma: You guys ... ...

Yui: It's as they say Yuma-kun.

Yuma: Yeah ... ... Thank you.

I can't erase what I did in the past, but in return I'll make up for it.

Yui: Yeah! Having Yuma-kun with us is reassuring.

(Yuma-kun has finally returned! Now next we have to ... ...)

Yuma: The one who seems to be troublesome ... ... is Ruki.

Azusa: ... ... Yeah, it doesn't look like Ruki is going to give up on Eve ... ...

Yuma: Yeah, he'll probably chase her down to the ends of the Earth until she's caught.

Yui: As I thought, there is no escape huh ... ... ?

Kou: I think it would be difficult. Also, this place is closed off like a miniature garden. At some point we will run out of places to escape.

Yuma: You talked about that before earlier, didn't you? But is it really true these lands are surrounded by cliffs?

Yui: Yes. We couldn't see what was on the other side. I don't think it will be easy to escape from here.

In that case, we should look for places to hide ... ...

Yuma: As I said before, we can't go back to the mansion where I was. Seeing that I was with the enemy, they'll think I betrayed them.

Azusa: Same here ... ... We can't go back to where we were either. Carla-san will think that we're traitors and capture us ... ...

Yui: It's true ... ... We don't have anyone to trust anymore ... ...

From here on out, we won't be able to depend on anyone and we have to move forward with our own strength ... ...

Kou: Uuuuhm ... ... Their target is Eve. We can't run away from this place.

And to top it off we have no one to trust. But there are only so many places we can escape to ... ...

Aaah, jeez! I have no idea what we should do~!

Yuma: After all, the one who's good at thinking about these types of situations is Ruki.

Kou: Haah ... ... Seems like we were more dependent on Ruki-kun than I imagined.

Yui: Yeah ... ...

Azusa: If only Ruki's memories would return ... ...

Yuma: Do you think they'll be able to at this point?

Yui: Well ... ...

Yuma: ... ... Right?

Yui: (Just when we recovered Yuma-kun's memories we have returned to a dead end.)

(And the atmosphere now is not very good ... ...)

Selection:

————————————

-> Continue the discussion ♟

Yui: (But, we don't have time. We don't know when they could attack us.)

Shall we start again from the beginning? If we analyze the situation from scratch, we may come up with something ... ...

Azusa: But now I feel that no matter how hard we try, nothing will come to mind ... ...

Yuma: It's true. I'm tired from using my head so much after a long time.

Yui: (Of course ... ... We'd spent a long time walking in the forest, and Yuma-kun just recovered his memories.)

... ... You're right. Let's rest for today.

Kou: Yeah. Let's think again once we've calmed down.

————————————

-> Propose a break ♙♡

Yui: How about we leave the conversation here and rest for today?

I don't think it's good that we continue to push ourselves and we might come up with something while we rest.

Kou: Ah, I get it! You usually have good ideas when you're doing something else.

Azusa: Thats right. Besides, I'm still worried about Yuma's body ... ...

Yuma: I'm fine, no problems here.

But, I agree to rest. Let's keep thinking tomorrow.

————————————

*Time skip*

Kou: Hah ... ... I'm exhausted ... ...

Yui: A lot of complicated things happened today.

But ... ... is it really okay for me to use the back room when everyone is exhausted?

Kou: In these situations it's ladies first.

Besides, I'm here too, so it not like you'll be alone. Don't worry, don't worry.

Yui: But, it would be better for Yuma-kun to rest instead.

Kou: Yuma-kun is tough, so he'll be fine. Besides ... ... you haven't forgotten, have you? You are the one in the most danger.

Yui: ... ... !

Kou: I think we'll be fine for now, but we don't know when something might happen. Make sure you stay by my side whenever possible.

Yui: ... ... Yes, understood.

(This is not the time to let our guard down. Even if everyone has recovered their memories, we have no place to run or return to.)

(And we don't know when Ruki-kun and the others might show up ... ...)

Kou: ... ...

Yui: Kou-kun? What's wrong?

Kou: Ah ... ... Sorry. I was thinking about Ruki-kun.

Yui: Ruki-kun ... ... ?

Kou: I didn't say it before earlier because I didn't want anyone to feel anxious, but ... ...

I think that recovering Ruki-kun's memories will be more difficult than everyone thinks.

When Ruki-kun looked at me ... ... his gaze said that he really intended to kill me.

Yui: (Ah ... ...)

Kou: When he attacked our mansion, and even in the dungeon ... ... I didn't think Ruki-kun could have that kind of expression.

Yui: (I also saw Ruki-kun's cold gaze ... ... I can understand.)

(It was different from when I first met the Mukami family. They were eyes without a hint of mercy.)

Kou: I shuddered because I thought he really was going to kill me, but even more so I ... ... was shocked by it.

Yui: Kou-kun ... ...

(We can't become timid.)

(I can certainly understand Kou-kun's feelings of anxiety. But ... ... still–-)

Yui: ... ... You must not give up.

Kou: Eh ... ...?

Yui: The bonds between you are not so weak that they would collapse in the face of something like this, right?

I know that best, as I've observed everyone from up close.

Azusa-kun and Yuma-kun came back.

So ... ... It'll be okay. I'm sure Ruki-kun will also recover his memories.

And then, we will all go back home together!

Kou: Yui ... ...

... ... Yeah, thank you.

Definitely ... ... We'll all definitely return home.

Yui: Yes ... ... !

(Thank goodness, Kou-kun's expression has brightened again.)

Kou: Even so ... ... I keep showing you my most pathetic sides.

Truthfully, I would like to solve everything in one go and be cool in front of you.

Yui: Fufu, oh Kou-kun.

You're not pathetic, you're far from it. After all, I know many of your coolest aspects.

Kou: ... ... You really are good at cheering me up and pampering me.

But ... ... With just that, I won't be satisfied.

Kou: Nn ... ... *kisses*

Yui: (Ah ... ... On my lips ... ...)

Kou: ... ... This is a thank you.

Yui: Is it because it's give and take?

Kou: Nope. It's because I want to give you my feelings.

*He hugs her*

Yui: (Ah ... ... He is hugging me ... ...)

Kou: ... ... Fufu, you really like when I cling to you, Yui. I can feel how excited you are.

Yui: Yeah ... ...

Kou: Your face is red ... ... How cute. Nn ... ... *kisses*

Yui: ... ... Nn ... ...

(His kiss is so gentle ... ... I'm feeling dazed ... ...)

Kou: ... ... To be honest, I don't know what will happen next.

I think that many terrible things will happen until we manage to return home.

Even so ... ... I will definitely protect you.

Yui: Kou-kun ... ...

(Both me and Kou-kun ... ... No matter what happens from now on, we won't give up.)

(–- Until the day we can all return home.)

-END-

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #chaos lineage #diabolik lovers translation #kou mukami #yui komori #azusa mukami #yuma mukami #ruki mukami

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not-so-randomblog · 2 years ago

Text

I thought I’d post a fanfic for Halloween 🎃

Critique is very welcome!

Basically Mikey and Leo get bitten a wolf mutant and start to act funny the fuller the moon gets.

“Get back here!” leo cried as he ran after the wolf mutant, who didn’t spare him a glance and continued running through the alleyway.

“Donnie! Raph! You guys stay down here while me and Mikey cut him off on the roofs!” leo ordered. The others nod before parting ways, Mikey and Leo making their way to the roof while Raph and Donnie keep chase on the ground.

They managed to trap him between the four of them despite his fast speed. He looked around contemplating where to go next, “give up, you're surrounded” Raph said, pulling out his sai’s.

The mutant growled, “I’m not going down without a fight!” he said before lunging after mikey, he dodged the attack only for the k9 step forward and sink his teeth into his arm.

“OW” mikey screamed, shoving the mutant off him. Beads of blood began to form on his arm.

Leo ran after the beast, swinging his katana in an attempt to get him to drop the stolen items.

The beast doged the attack and grabbed him by his hand before he could pull away. He slammed his teeth around Leo’s wrist as he screamed in pain.

“Leo!” The others yelled in panic.

The turtle kicked the k9 into some trash cans nearby, lunging the bag of stolen goods out of his hands. Raph swiped the bag out of the air, preventing anything inside from breaking.

The beast fumbled getting up from the trash cans as he wiped his head side to side looking for the goods.

“Looking for this?” Raph raised a brow as he held up the bag. The mutant growled before shoving himself out of the trash, “You haven’t seen the last of me!” he snarled before running deeper into the alleyway.

The turtles watched him flee into the night before someone spoke. “Hey Leo, is your wrist ok?” Donnie asked turning to his brother

“Yeah it's fine, just sore” he complained as he bent the injured wrist.

“I’ll have to clean you and Mikey’s wounds off when we get back to the lair” Donnie spoke.

“Alright, let’s head back”, Leo sighed.

——

“OW” “don’t be dramatic” Donnie complained as he wiped the antiseptic on Mikey’s bite mark. “You don’t have to be such a brute about it” Mikey wined as Donnie finished wrapping his bandage.

“Your turn, Leo,” Donnie signed as Mikey hopped off the table. The blue clad turtle quickly took his place, careful not to upset his aching wrist.

“Alright, now let me see your wrist,” Donnie said, holding his hand up. Leo rested his hand on the scientist. Donnie gently bent his wrist, looking for any signs of pain or irritation.

“It doesn’t seem sprained or anything” Donnie concluded, “just put some ice on it when it hurts” he suggested as he reopened the rubbing alcohol.

Leo walked out of the lab, scratching at his freshly bandaged wrist. “Why is this thing so itchy?,” He asked himself.

——

The boys were acting weird, and not just because Mikey keeps asking for the pepperoni of everybody’s pizza or Leo scarfing down his food faster than usual, and everybody else’s for that matter.

But REALLY weird stuff.

Raph rolled out of bed with a feeling of thirst in his mouth. He yawned as he walked into the kitchen, still groggy and wiping some of the tiredness from his eyes.

His eyes snapped open as he realized the noise he was approaching. Raph crouched, as he slowly approached the noise, he peered around the counter before he recognized the figure.

“MIKEY” the turtle flung his head out of the trash and scrambled to his feet, “WHAT, WHAT” Mikey said as if preparing for danger. “Why are you digging through the trash” raph asked, raising a brow.

“Uh, getting a midnight snack?” He said, smiling nervously.

“From the trash?” Raph said sarcastically, “yes?” Mikey said with an unsure look.

Raph let out a defeated sigh before walking to the cupboard on the wall, “Go back to bed, Mikey”, he advised.

“But I can’t sleep” Mikey complained, “then try again,” he persisted.

The younger turtle huffed before turning around and walking out of the kitchen. Raph rested his mug on the counter, wondering what he could have possibly been eating. And from the trash can of all things. Raph turned on the faucet to collect the water in the mug he picked out allowing his curiosity to get the best of him.

He rested his full cup on the counter before approaching the trash can. When he peered inside he found-

Bones.

They were bones, broken and jagged like they had been chewed on. Some weren’t even cooked and still had large portions missing from them.

Raph looked into the trash can with confusion, and mild disgust.

——

Leo didn’t have as big of a change in eating habits, but he wasn’t quite acting himself.

Like how he slept through the day, even missing training, and only waking up when the sky was dark and inky.

“Leo!?” Donnie said banging on the mutants door, “come on, you said you wanted to train bright and early yesterday remember?” He asked rhetorically. “Leo-” the mutant cut himself off in frustration before pulling the door open.

“What could you possibly be doing-” his words died on his tongue as he realized the terrapin was dead asleep on his bed.

“Leo? Leeeo? LEO?” the turtle yelled. The sleeping turtle simply laid, taking deep slow breathing, still unaware of the sibling in his room.

Donnie, starting to get concerned, leaned down and shook Leo, increasing the intensity the longer he slept.

“Leo!” He tried to call him out of his sleep one last time. Donnie moved his hand from Leo’s shoulders to grab his wrist.

He placed both fingers on the side of his wrist, a normal pulse for someone sleeping, he thought, removing his hand.

Donnie walked out of his room and gently slid the door shut as Raph approached the room.

“Is he up?” He asked, “No, I can’t wake him up for anything” Donnie said raising his brow. “Is he ok? Leo never sleeps this long” raph observed.

“Yeah, he doesn’t, but he seemed fine beside the whole sleeping thing. I mean, he did have a regular pulse and everything” he concluded.

Raph looked behind Donnie and at Leo’s door before continuing, “we should keep an eye on him. Him and Mikey are acting funny”

The boys walked back downstairs, and back to the couch, finally noticing a sleeping Mikey curled up on the couch.

“Yeah, we should keep an eye on them,” Donnie agreed, giving a concerned glance to his brother.

——

It was about a week after Mikey and Leo had been bitten. The bandages came off and their wounds healed nicely, likely to fade in afew months.

The boys were acting, more normal than they had within the past few days. Mikey and Leo both woke up at their usual times and are acting themselves, except for some out of place hostility. But besides that they were acting relatively normal.

Until the full moon began to rise.

It was hard to tell when it was night or day in the sewer, but the turtles could somehow always tell after all these years.

“You guys ready to go on portal?” Donnie asked as he adjusted his Bo staff in its holster.

“I don’t know if I can go tonight guys, I’m feeling really weird” Leo said with a weary expression on his face.

“Yeah me too” mikey complained,

“Oh come on, are you two really not gonna go on patrol just because you feel a little funky?” Raph challenged

“Usually I would but this feels, different” Leo supplied.

Raph sighed in defeat, “I guess it’s just me and you Donnie” he said turning to the terrapin.

“Let me go get my sai’s and we can go” raph said before going to his room.

Raph adjusted his sai’s in their holsters as he walked downstairs. As he glided the second one in its case, he heard a pained groan from the living area.

He snapped his head up and ran down, “what’s going on?” He demanded, “I don’t know” Donnie said nervously.

Leo screamed in pain as he withered on the floor, he dug his fingers into the cement as they stretched with claws sprouting from his fingertips.

There was a sickening cracking echoing through the lair as his limbs grew unnaturally fast.

The same was happening to Mikey, his snout stretched in an unnatural way. Sharp, pointed ears began to emerge from the top of his head, accompanied with strands of golden brown fur erupting from his skin.

The sound of knee and arm pads could be heard snapping and dropping to the floor as well as bandages stretching and tearing to make way for the new growth and claws.

When they stopped struggling there was a quiet, excluding the panting coming from the newly transformed turtle’s.

“…are you guys alright?” Donnie asked, as he backed away from the werewolfs.

The werewolf’s snapped the heads at the terrapin before lunging themselves at him.

Raph pulled him out of the way, narrowly avoiding the two sets of jaws, as the wolves collided with the floor. They push themselves off the floor, claws grating against the cement as they sprint after their fleeing brothers.

In seconds they were hot on their heels, growling as they attempted to nip at their legs. Donnie jumped in alarm, “Raph quick, we need to get the garage!” he said in a panic

Raph nodded as they picked up the pace, creating some space between them. The turtles sprinted under the garage door, before leaping up and slamming it shut.

Angry snarls could be heard from the other side of the door. The mutants sighed in relief as they stepped away from the door. The feeling was short lived, as two sets of paws began slamming on the thin metal.

“Uh, Donnie, that's gonna hold right?” Raph asked skeptically.

“I sure hope so,” Donnie said, “what happened to them!? All week they’ve been acting strange and now they’ve turned into these things!” Raph says gesturing creatures slamming on the other side of the door.

“I don’t know” he confessed “But it has to be something from the past few days. That’s when they started acting up”

What had happened within the last week? They thought, they had gone on patrol, stopped some crime, and had pizza. All the regular things, so what could have happened between the past few days and now to cause this-

“The wolf!” Donnie exclaimed, “What?” Raph questioned, “While we were on patrol the other night Leo and Mikey got bit by that wolf mutant before he ran away! That must be the reason they turned into these things!” He concluded.

“So that guy turned them into werewolves?” Raph asked

“I guess he did,” Donnie said, realizing the full weight of his words. “So how are we gonna undo this?” Raph asked

“If I can get a sample from one of them, I could probably undo the whole transformation!” Donnie exclaimed.

“And what are we supposed to get as a sample?” Raph questioned, raising a brow.

The taller mutant grimaced, “we’re gonna need some spit”.

————

It was quiet, too quiet, for the amount of noise the wolves were making banging on the garage door.

Donnie carefully pulled up the garage door, just enough to peer underneath it. There was no sign of their transformed siblings from what he could see.

“I think they’re gone, raph” Donnie said pulling the rest of the door up.

They stepped out of the garage quietly, looking all about the lair for any odd looking terrapins. They explore the other parts of the lair, searching for their turned brothers.

“Do you see them?” Donnie whispered, “No, it’s like they disappeared or something” Raph compared.

They find their way to the kitchen finally finding a trace of the lost brothers.

The fridge had been raided, the door was wide open with lukewarm air drifting out of it. There were scraps of food spread across the whole kitchen. The drawers had been pulled out of their sockets, one even laid on the floor. The only thing in the kitchen remotely untouched were the uncooked vegetables spread across the floor.

“Looks like they got in the fridge” Raph observed, “yeah no shit” Donnie commented, gaining an unimpressed glance from the red masked turtle.

“But where are they?” Donnie asked suspiciously.

“I don’t know, they're probably upstairs if they're not down here,” Raph said.

“Then let’s go check upstairs,” Donnie prompted.

“Hold on a second, we should probably have something that’ll get them to leave us alone without them getting hurt when we find them. Don’t werewolves have a weakness or something?” Raph asked.

“Yeah I think they do actually, but I can’t remember what” Donnie commented, placing a hand under his snout.

“Mikey likes this kind of stuff, he’d probably know what it is” Raph mentioned.

“Yeah but he can’t tell us right now..wait we can look through his comic books! There’s bound to be an answer in one of them!” The terrapin exclaimed.

The turtles creeped upstairs, their eyes darted left to right looking for any movement among the shadows.

They tiptoed to Mikey’s room, keeping their eyes open for anything. Donnie pulled open the door, practically holding his breath in anticipation.

He made a sigh of relief as he peered into the room, no werewolves.

Just a messy room, he thought, as he stepped over an empty pizza box. “Now where would Mikey put his comics?” Donnie asked himself.

They had practically torn the room upside down looking for that comic book. There were various comics spread around the room, in drawers, in small piles on the floor and on his bed, and probably some other places.

“Where is it?!” Donnie complained, “we’ve looked through this whole room and we still can’t find it!”

“It’s gotta be in here somewhere” Raph observed.

“But where?” Donnie asked, shuffling through Mikey’s night stand drawer again.

Raph stood by the bed going through the pile of comics resting near Mikey’s pillow for the third time. He glanced down at the bed and continued his search, before realizing what caught his eye.

He snatched the sheet off the bed, finding a comic book face down, laying on its pages. And right on the cover was a silloet of a werewolf howling at a full moon.

“I found it!” Raph said holding the flimsy book in the air, “this has to be it”

Donnie’s eyes widened before crossing the room, “do you see anything?” Donnie asked as Raph flipped through the pages.

“Not yet- wait, this is it!” Raph exclaimed, “it says, silver is a werewolf’s weakness, but too much could kill them so we’ll have to be careful. But where are we gonna find silver?” Raph questioned

“Silver”, the word danced on Donnie’s tongue, “I might have some silver in my lab, I use it in some of my experiments” he explained. “But it’s not a lot, I’m not sure how effective it’ll be,” he edmited.

“It’s better than nothing,” raph said.

——

They snuck in the lab, quickly finding the silver and going back upstairs to check the rest of the rooms for their furry siblings.

None of the bedroom doors were opened, and there were no signs of the creatures of the night. Even so, the turtle's hearts were beating out of their chest as they opened up each door.

There was a feeling of simultaneous relief, and growing fear with each door checked. If the werewolves weren’t in the first three rooms, they’d be in the last.

The two mutants looked at each other, both having their silver ready in their hands. Raph breathed in before grasping the door handle and yanking it open.

They stood ready for an attack from the k9’s, only to be let down by an empty room.

The turtles gaped at the well kept room, it was like Leo and Mikey hadn’t been in their at all.

They stepped inside, carefully walking around the room as they searched for the mutants. They searched to no avail as they stepped out of the room, knowing less then they had going in.

They weren’t there, they were at the end of the hallway, each door in the entire lair had been checked for the werewolf turtles. And there was barely a trace of them.

“They’re GONE???” Donnie announced, pulling at his mask tails.

“Where could they have possibly gone if they aren’t in the lair??” Raph panicked “they're probably just somewhere in the sewers right?” Raph questioned.

“We’ll have to see. Come on!” Donnie called as he ran out of the lair.

——

Donnie and Raph had searched over half the sewer tunnels, still no sign of their werewolf siblings.

“We’ve searched over half the sewers and still no sign of them,” Raph said as he spashed through the sewer tunnels.

“They have to be around here somewhere, I don’t know where else they would be” Donnie said with slight worry.

As they walked past a sewer cover, Raph realized something was off. He backtracked to the ladder, listening to the unmuffled sound of cars whooshing by.

“Donnie! Come check this out” he called.

They approached the ladder, listening to the increasing volume of night life.

They finally stepped under the gaping man hole cover, being greeted by the deep dark sky and the light of a full moon casting its light on a apartment.

“..They have to be around here somewhere, huh” Raph said sarcastically, as he met Donnie’s eyes.

——-

They stood on a rooftop, arguing over where they would find their lost brothers.

“How are we gonna find them? They could be anywhere!” Raph yelled

“I’m sure we’ll find them, they're probably somewhere familiar, right? Let’s go on our usual patrol route and see if we find them” Donnie suggested.

As they ran farther from the lair, they notice a noise as they hopped from one roof to another.

“What is that?” Raph asked as he tried to pinpoint the noise.

“It sounds like, howling? Donnie said, as his eyes followed the source.

His eyes lead to a rather large k9, howling at the bright round moon. “That’s one of them!” Donnie called before chasing after the wolf.

Leo sat atop a large hotel, its logo shining brightly in red over the city street.

As the turtles crept onto the roof, the werewolf restarted his howl, unsuspecting of the figures approaching him.

Another howl ripped through the night, as Donnie reached into his side pouch, pulling out a loaded dart gun.

He straightened his arm and pointed it at one of the only non protected areas on him. Donnie pointed the nozzle at his shoulder before pulling the trigger.

Leo’s howl was broken by a yalp, as he turned around growling at the same siblings he couldn’t recognize.

He bared his fangs and hunched his back, puffing up his jet black fur, making him seem even larger than he did in his new form.

“Leo, calm down” Donnie soothed as the k9 approached, his voice only seeming to piss the creature off more.

The mutants stepped back as snarls rippled through the wolf.

Donnie pulled out his silver coin, praying it would deter his sibling as he pointed it at the beast.

Leo whined, finally beginning to wobble as turned to escape.

“Leo, wait!” Donnie screamed as he leapt onto the lower roof, landing clumsily as his limbs nearly gave under his weight.

He wobbled across the roof as the others gave chase, finally flopping onto the ground and shutting his eyes with a whine.

The turtles sighed in relief, finally knowing one of their brothers was safe and out of harm's way.

“Alright, now let’s get him back to the lair” Donnie announced.

He gently nudged the k9 before he grabbed his front paws, “woah, he’s heavy” Donnie said as he attempted to pull the k9 over his shoulders.

“He can’t be that heavy” Raph argued as he lifted up his other end.

“Woah he really is heavy” he admitted as the two pulled their brother off the ground.

“Yeah, how does one turtle gain that much weight in that little time?” Donnie wondered.

——

Once they got back to the lair, they rested Leo on the slightly torn up couch before continuing the hunt for their lost brother.

“Are you sure we can keep him there all by himself?” Raph asked.

“Yeah, those darts would keep a regular person out for 5 hours minimum, so he should be fine” Donnie concluded.

——

The search was starting to get tiring, they were almost finished with the patrol route and still no sign of Mikey.

“What if we don’t find him tonight?” Donnie asked with worry.

“We’ll find him, we just have to keep looking” raph supplied as he jumped onto the next roof.

Donnie suddenly halted his movements, causing the same reaction to the other turtle.

“What is it?” Raph asked as Donnie approached the alleyway behind them.

“What is that?” He asked, as he pointed to the wiggling lid of the dumpster beneath them.

They hopped down to the alleyway, approaching the lively dumpster with caution. Donnie pulled out the familiar dart gun, getting ready to use it at a moment’s notice.

The garbage lid finally swung open, revealing a turtle werewolf munching on the disregard remains of a pizza.

They froze, not wanting to provoke the werewolf into running off or attacking.

Donnie slowly raised his arms, dart gun pointed directly at the k9 oblivious to the imminent threat.

As the werewolf enjoyed his crust he finally looked up enough to notice his siblings, and the barral of the dart gun pointed right at him. His eyes widened, and his ears laid flat on his head in surprise as Donnie took the shot.

A yalp echoed through the mutant as the sedatives kicked in. He slumped further into the dumpster, finally cooperative enough to be carried back to the lair.

——

“We finally got both of them” Donnie sighed as he rested his baby brother on the couch.

“Took us long enough” raph added. “Now you can finally work on that cure,” raph reminded him.

“Right! I just need to get something from my lab” Donnie said before retrieving the objects.

He came back with two clear plastic baggies and two long cotton swabs for the saliva samples.

First he went up to Leo, grabbing his long snout and gently pulling his mouth apart to make way for the swab.

He did the same with Mikey before returning to his lab.

——

He spent hours in that lab, but he finally had a way to reverse their transformation. He filed the two syringes with the elixir, and walked out of the lab.

“It’s finally done,” Donnie announced, exhausted but glad.

“I sure hope it works” Raph said as Donnie approached the werewolves and guided the needles into his fuzzy arms.

“Now we wait,” Donnie yawned, before crashing onto the couch.

Afew hours later he awoke to the sound of familiar yawn.

“Ugh, what happened?” Leo groaned as he broke out of his daze. “You and Mikey turned into werewolves and me and Donnie had to chase you around the city to make a cure” Raph supplied simply.

Leo stared at the turtle, as his still foggy mind tried to comprehend what was just said.

“Well what did we do?” He asked

“Well you were howling at the moon, and Mikey was eating out of a dumpster at this pizza joint” Donnie replied.

“I should have done that sooner”

The sets of eyes shot to the once again freckled turtle, still fatigued from the dart gun.

The others merely laughed at the antic, before falling back into their exhausted slumbers.

#tmnt #tmnt 2012 #my ✨original✨ writing #my stuff #Happy Halloween!!#tmnt 2k12 #tmnt fanfiction #oh my god I actually posted it

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mimimaymagic · 2 years ago

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In Defense of Sebastian Sallow.

Lately I've seen a lot of people who generally liked him in the beginning slowly start to change their minds, calling him a toxic manipulator & saying he was using MC for his agenda from the very beginning. I strongly disagree and in this post I'm going to give my reasons why I don't believe he's as black and white as people have begun to paint him.

I also want to add that everyone is entitled to feel however they want about his character & storyline. The purpose of this post isn't to imply there's a right or wrong interpretation, it's all just my opinion. Being able to discuss and debate this character is the very reason why he's by far the most interesting, or even realistic, companion in the game.

I will only be discussing his arc until the end of the quest 'In The Shadow Of The Estate', in which you visit his family home and investigate the surrounding area - else this post would go on forever. Naturally, there will be spoilers ahead.

- If you're sorted into Slytherin, he's likely the first person you speak to in your common room. He immediately expresses interest in how you ended up at Hogwarts after the dragon attack but doesn't press you for answers. I think, like everyone else at the school, he's just very curious about you. He generally also seems to have a thirst for knowledge like his parents had and I think most people just assumed he's sus from the start because he's a charming Slytherin.

- Within the same conversation, if you express interest in Sebastian's book and the Dark Arts, he warms up to you instantly and calls you a "kindred spirit" - likely because no one else in his life shares his views on the subject.

- If you're sorted into Gryffindor (ikdr!), Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, you meet him in your first Defense Against The Dark Arts class and beat him in a duel. From this point, he becomes a friend to you and I truly believe he's just a generally nice, personable guy who will befriend anyone.

- In terms of the Hogsmeade visit, I'm told Seb & Natty have mostly the same dialogue/actions so I don't think there's anything special to discuss there since if Natty has sincere intentions in opening up and befriending you, why shouldn't Sebastian?

- Just wanna talk about a tiny instance he proves his genuine care for MC that really stood out to me even though the action isn't exclusive to him: In the Three Broomsticks cutscene when Rookwood points out that he's looking for MC, Sebastian will - without hesitation - jump out of his seat to take on a fighting stance. It's made very clear that he WILL protect you if it comes to blows.

- The next time you see Sebastian is when you ask him about the Restricted Section. Even if you aren't totally transparent with him, he easily agrees to helping you & risks getting into more trouble despite the fact that he won't gain anything from it.- One might say he agreed to help because he's nosy, but he ends up leaving you alone and wishes you luck before chasing after Peeves. He also never forces you to expose what you've learned.

- "I like having friends who are in my debt." This line for some reason has become "proof" that he's a manipulator to some people and personally, I don't see it? I saw it as his way of cracking a joke & lightening what was a very stressful situation for the MC. Added to the fact that even after he takes the fall for you and you thank him for it later, he brushes it off as if it's not a big deal. Also, he never holds it over your head and at no point in the game does he make you feel indebted to him.

- Additionally when he's caught, he has no idea that you're watching. Therefore his instinct to protect you and make sure you stay out of trouble is entirely sincere.

- Something else that a lot of people reference when talking about how he's a manipulator is him supposedly spilling all his secrets as a means of gaining your trust: immediately inviting you to Crossed Wands, betraying Ominis' trust by showing you the Undercroft, telling you about Anne's curse etc. Again, I disagree. This is a 15 year old boy, he's definitely not an evil mastermind; in fact, I'd argue he's too impulsive to even consider making long-term plans like that. Now this might be a reach on my part but I think he's yearning for a similar companionship as he had with Anne. Sebastian even says later in the game that the curse has completely changed her, and not just physically. I think the reason he's so open so quickly is because he's genuinely just more excited than anything to have a new "partner in crime".

- I also want to remind everyone that only in the Undercroft are you "forced" by the game to tell him the whole truth if you've chosen to keep it a secret. Yet regardless of whether he knows about your special abilities or not, he still treats you exactly the same. He's still just as charming, teasing, friendly and genuinely gives you the feeling that he likes you. I'd even go as far as saying he's the only companion who really feels like a friend (which I think comes down to his personality, writing + his voice actor's amazing line delivery).

- Also in the Undercroft, he doesn't really have anything to gain from letting you in or teaching you Confringo. In my opinion, he knows there are dangerous men after you (even if you haven't told him yet) and just wants you to have a means of protecting yourself since you're "behind" on the work.- It could be argued that he just wants a secret place to practice forbidden spells with you but at no point in the game does he force you to learn the Unforgivables. [In a meta sense, he has to reveal the Undercroft to you regardless since it plays a massive role in the main quest.]

- In the end, he invites you to Feldcroft to meet with Anne so you can hopefully cheer her up. I can't see any "manipulation" in this either since he didn't plan for the argument with his Uncle Solomon, nor did he plan on Anne suddenly falling ill. I think that when it comes to Anne, he generally has good intentions, and genuinely wanted her to meet and befriend you like he had.

- After the whole debacle in the Sallow house, you and Sebastian snoop around Isadora's home and end up back at the Undercroft. It is only here that he finally understands your abilities and brings up the idea that your ancient magic COULD help Anne. Sebastian has exhausted every single option in his arsenal at this point and I think he's just clinging to anything he hasn't explored yet. But he only brings it up here, he never even considers it prior to this which is why I believe him being kind to you, helping you and becoming your friend had no secret intention.

In conclusion, I don't believe he's been manipulating the MC from the start. I truly believe his intentions in befriending MC were sincere and that he does "change" as he delves deeper into the Dark Arts. With characters like Sebastian, I don't think it does them justice to be put in a box. He's just too complex for that, and when making your final decision in the game keep in mind that this fictional kid is neither totally good nor totally bad, he's just human.

#sebastian sallow #hogwarts legacy #sebastian x reader #sebastian x you #ominis gaunt #anne sallow #solomon sallow #hogwarts legacy sebastian #hogwarts legacy ominis

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