#did I just show you how capable cats can be and that goes against your beliefs here :(

[fruitless-vain]

To add to this:

Boy were they Mad when “well it’s a cat 🤷‍♀️ so they don’t really, yknow, get Trained”

Was met with

“Formerly trained service cats are a very real thing! They are just as capable of being extremely good service animals with proper training and years of dedication put in to being able to handle public access work! Some can perform to the exact same obedience standards as my dog does with walking in a heel, ignoring the public, food, response to cues, and scent detection alerts!”

When the conversation shifts from

“So how does getting a service animal work? 🥰”

To

“Well my cat doesn’t Need any training they help me by just existing 😤 😡 “

And “that’s neat! They’re classed as an emotional support animal then, not a service animal, and as such do not have public access rights”

Turns in to

“😡😤🙄”

[fanofthings20]

Blackfire Part 1

First meeting

Agatha after her trial where she absorbed all the coven members' powers (killed them all) what occurred was out of her control her power is of the dark arts of absorbing any powers used against her. She is deep in the throes of shock and remorse just staring at their remains. She didn’t even notice the figure clad in black until the figure was lifting her face and when purple and dark green eyes met there was an instantaneous connection between them. Their magic blended together so well that they could not deny their soulmate status even though they had just met it felt like they had always been aware of each other's presence. 

Before any words were said this mysterious figure placed theirself in front of Agatha’s sightline while simultaneously behind their back waving a hand in quick motion with a brief flash of green and the bodies surrounding them disappeared. This figure after ensuring the bodies are gone goes down on their knees to be at Agatha’s level and hugs them. Agatha seeking all the comfort she can from this stranger clings to them with all her strength. After Agatha has slightly started to recover and lets go of this person, she looks back up to their face which is covered with a hood/mask where their dark green eyes are visible. 

They both slowly stand back up off the wooden planks. Agatha steps close enough to where she can finally reach the hood, her hands make this move slow enough to where the other has enough time to grant permission with a single nod. Once the hood and mask have fallen she is greeted with the most unbelievably sexy female face with the smuggest grin to exist. Do you like what you see, sweetheart? This was the first vocal response out of her soulmate and she was struggling to stay focused given the sexy face and deeper-toned voice coming from her new companion. 

The name is Rio Vidal. Rio just stands there admiring how flustered and distracted her mate is. Rio purposefully invades Agatha’s personal space in a way that their bodies are touching and that there is little to the imagination for what lies underneath. Seductively whispering in her ear Unless a cat has your tongue, I need your name Fuerte (sexy). Agatha finally recovers from Rio’s presence and tries to turn the tables on her by saying Agatha, Agatha Harkness hot stuff. 

Wedding: estimation month after they met

Given they were already fate-determined soulmates there was no point in delaying the inevitable. Since they did not have a coven their only choice was to visit Lilia Calderu who was a semi-mentor/older parental figure option that showed true interest and care in Agatha. Since Agatha’s mother was a total letdown of a b-witch (if you get Agatha’s drift). Honestly, Evanora should count herself extremely lucky that she was already dead by the time Rio and Agatha connected and that Rio only had one capability after death. Rio is highly protective of Agatha so there are times when Evanora is mentioned that Rio takes great pleasure in scheming ways she would have repaired the torture she put Agatha through.

Now Agatha and Lilia had a 50/50 relationship between family figures or sarcastic old witches. But Lilia was indeed happy and slightly concerned when she discovered who her soulmate was given how honestly psychotic Rio can seem to be at times. It happened to be a full-blood moon on the night in the woods that they had their ceremony and Lilia served as the officiate and witness. It was a quick service but staying within tradition these powerful witches said their vowels in Latin Rio’s facio Amor (I do love) and Agatha’s i parum pudici (i do sexy). With a simple rope of their personal items lightly wrapped around their connected hands. They finally share their first kiss as soulmates and wives getting so caught up in the emotions and powers that Lilia has to clear her throat at least four times to bring their attention back to the present. They thank Lilia for her time with payment before rushing back to their new-ish home. 

Once they reach the security of their home, given they are both the most powerful witches (extra power with full blood moons), ever so sassy and playful energies, both dominates, etc. It turns into a full fledge sexy fight for power over each other and the deep-rooted desire to f**k the life out of their partner. A lot of flinging the other around, knife cuts, pinning wrists to walls/floors/tables/bed, flipping each other, sassy back talk, all the positions imaginable, unbelieve number of orgasms. They were up all night long going as if they were senor scratchy (if you get the drift). On more than one occasion during the consummation of their wedding, there was a bright light of a mixture of dark purple & dark green color combo. They were caught up in the pleasure to notice the light bustings which would lead to quite the discovery later.

4 months later

Our marriage so far has been amazing nothing but absolute bliss and love. One night after dinner we were in the living room together on the couch. The habitual routine of Agatha using my lap as a pillow reading one of her books while I fiddled with my blade and are both casually finishing off our wine glasses. I was slightly distracted tonight by this connection to another being that has been around for a month but it feels more like dreamwalking with brief glimpses into their life. This being seems to be in serious trouble and completely alone given what was glimpsed last night of it chased by these suits of armor. 

One of those armor suits lashed out, striking close enough to a foot to knock this being off balance and there was a mirror right across from the spot this being fell. This being took a moment to look in the mirror before glancing back at the shadows, it gave me the chance to notice it's a small wolf pup. But the look in the eyes and the power essence there's more to this pup than regular pups. I felt a thumb caressing my cheek and her voice was distant at first but as my focus returned to the present I could finally hear “come back to me darling”. 

  Leaning into her touch allowed me to breathe in her scent to keep me grounded. Looking down at her it was easy to notice the concern in her purple eyes. “You okay hot stuff”  “I’m okay mi amor just thinking of that pup I told you about”  “Any more indicators of where this mysterious pup of yours might be darlin'?”  

 “I’m not sure but it feels like it might be a darker world”  “Well we will keep looking until we find the pup”  “mi amor, I think there's more to this pup than meets the eye it seems like a darker toned magic than either of ours in this pup”  “at least the pup will fit right in with what seems to be the running requirement of darkness” Agatha took a little longer to stare into Rio’s eyes and rubbing her cheek until she felt that Rio was indeed okay before she returned to her book. They stayed like that for two more hours before heading to bed for the night.

When the connection was reestablished, it was impossible not to notice the extreme pain that the pup was injured. This time instead of being chased the pup had been cornered by at least four of those armored suits there was no possible path excluding going right through those suits which were three times the size of the pup. The pup was snarling, waiting and watching as these suits came closer until the darkest level of magic was unleashed that disintegrated those suits. Watching the armor fall apart on first contact and the figures within were instant imploded messes. This is a dark level of magic that surpasses even the Darkhold’s abilities which is intriguing because that has never been achieved before. 

But the power this pup holds can be examined another day because that magic flare was essentially a flare saying here I am for those suits to follow. Speaking of the devil about ten more suits headed this way, no idea if the pup can hear me I start whispering “you gotta start running pup”. The pup took off running as fast as its injured body could afford but there was a slim chance the pup would be able to get away. It seems our intentions and connection were aligned because in the next moment, there was a black light and then nothing. I intended to reach this pup to get them out of harm's way.

When the connection died off in the present there were a couple of loud thuds starting with our bedroom ceiling and what sounded like the front porch roof. When Agatha heard the second thud she woke up and we both rushed downstairs to investigate given no one should have been able to breach our protective wards. Since we had no clue what awaited outside the front door I kept Agatha behind me because she could get injured whereas I had no such capability. Getting closer to the door I felt a familiar presence on the other side that couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than the real deal. Either my grin or our connection gave Agatha all the details she needed to have a feeling about who had finally found their way to us.

“Shall we go meet our mysterious wolf pup addition my love”  “Indeed mi amor, do we have any healing potions available?”  “Yes darling, is it for you or our addition”  “Our addition seems to have gained recent injuries”  “Let's not delay giving care any longer” With that they finally walked outside to see a small black-furred wolf pup lying on its left side with a pretty deep bleeding gash with a metal arrow sticking out of its right side. The pup had been staring at its injury and didn’t notice us at first but when I stepped off the porch onto a branch its attention snapped right to us. Instead of being defensive snarls that's expected, the pup lets out low pained whines it stares at us for a few moments before it turns its attention back to its injury. I have a gut feeling about what might occur and no matter how much I gotta give the pup credit for trying to use the same method I would. 

I also don’t want to watch them make the wound worse especially when it’s been a long journey of trying to track this pup down. There’s a deep connection between us that I want to have the chance to explore along with the power this young one holds. I try reaching for our connection and it seems to both of our surprise the connection comes to life keeping our little friend further distracted allowing me to reach them telepathically. “Oscuro cachorro (dark pup) don’t do it, I admire your plan but you don’t have to worry about danger here.”  “we’ve been looking for you cachorro, it was finally time for you to be safe at last”  “all you have to do now is trust us to care for you and to help learn your powers”  

I can sense there’s a human element hiding in this pup, patiently waiting till they feel comfortable to speak up. At this point, I've managed to get within five feet of our pup trying to ensure it feels safe enough to not withdraw on me. I feel a gentle nudge in my mind before hearing a young but deeper-toned voice “I’m sorry Lady Death, for failing you”  “you didn’t fail darkling, but we can sort that out after your better”  “I can’t shift back until energy is recovered”  “Wouldn’t want you to shift now anyway given your recovery will be less pain and faster for you this way.”  “That is my soulmate Agatha, do you have a name darkling?”  “No names given to death carriers”  “That’s okay, we can sort out a well-deserved name for you when you're better.”  “I’m going to pick you up now so you can meet Agatha and go inside for wound care, is that okay?”  “Trust you”

Carefully approaching and picking up our pup holding them in my arms walking back towards Agatha who’s watching with nothing but concern and care in her eyes. When we get close enough our pup lifts their head off my arm to reach out and sniff Agatha’s extended hand. They sniff for a while before giving her a quick licking, head nudge and speaking to me with an even weaker voice level  “trust her”.   “Easy pup save what energy you have let now” I finally look up at my love speaking out loud to her “Our pup trusts you darlin”. After that we head back in the house to treat her wound.

TBC in Part 2

Taglist:

@i-believe-in-melinda-may @thesapphictimelady @apenas-comentarios-e-reeposts @believe-in-magic13 @pusteblumenfan @darlyuniverse @scoliobean @abandonlilly @polaris-likethestar @cheesysoup-arlo @gallifreyan85 @thecavalrywife @sgm616 @angelbeingatitspurest

[couldeatthatgirlforlunch]

YAY I can bother you again! \:D/ /jk

Anyways I consider asking my favorite writers stuff as my therapy, so here I go. (Sorry if this is sudden or traumatizing)

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

I feel so bad for saying this but I'm most attracted to any batfam member (adult obvi) when they are at their worst, Bruce and his pathetic angsty ass literally all the time? Let's make a Robin.

Angry Dick with a cheerful facade trying to just be Bruce's equal? Bra is unclipped.

Post pit Jason so angry and mercilless feeling betrayed (any iteration but mostly Arkahm knight) and vengful? Baby I'm yours.

Fanon Tim who is sleep deprived and stalkerish? I'll strip in front of any security camara in Gotham.

Stephanie feeling she needs to prove herself? Please let me top you.

Insecure about his powers Duke? Sudenly I'm a physical meta expert, please show me those abs.

Cassandra thinking she is only capable of damaging? Honey put your hands on me, I assure you it will be anything but unpleasant.

Damian after "accidentally" killing Dick? Hello my name is beloved!

Don't feel bad about it!! I'm just the same and there's nothing wrong with us!!!!!!!!!!

I mean, pathetic wet cats who would just curl in my lap and rant or cry while I indulge them and they become dependent on me and only me??

Battinson is my favorite Batman from the movies bc hello???? I mean I get it why people liked Bale but like???? A guy who's been traumatized for 20 years and got to the point of making an armour to fight against criminals unrelated to the ones that took his parents bc he got so sad that he reflected enough that he came to the conclusion that no one should ever feel like he did, and he would use his entire life to stop crime because people deserved better, even the worst criminals shouldn't die bc they can change or other people might be miserable if they miss him?? And he's ready to die for that!! He doesn't care!! And then he becomes a parent but he sucks at parenting bc he loves them but he never learned how to love?? BABY I CAN TEACH YOU

Jason at under the red hood or as Arkham Knight??? YOU CAN KEEP KILLING PEOPLE IF THAT'LL MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER BABE, especially if you keep me around bc we dated before you died/got tortured for months/years, kidnap me, love me, make me yours, I don't think killing your pops is gonna help you feel better, but no nagging will come from me I SWEAR

Fanom Tim being so neglected by his parents that he doesn't think his physical and psychological suffering is important, the fact that he obsessed over his childhood heroes, putting himself in danger, practically deciding that he was going to help them, not bc "I wanna be a hero and I can so I should be" but bc "I don't have much to lose, we all need you, and I want to help you, bc you're all I have!!!" and caring so much that he tries to clone his bff when he dies, and almost dies just to bring his dad and hero back, bc he cares about others more than he cares about himself??? Baby I'm right here!!!!

ANY Damian angst, Damian sad over Dick, over Bruce, over Talia, all while pretending he's just angry, I love him!! Damian that just wants to make them proud!! Damian that wants to be good!! To be on their level!! To be powerful!! To be good enough!! I love love love him!!! I'm with you no matter if you're a hero, a villain, or an antihero!! Damian Wayne, you will always be famous.

Dick swallowing his traumas, his emotions, breaking down at any opportunity, feeling responsible for everyone and destroying himself bc of it!! His relationship with Bruce never being quite the same after he became Nightwing, but they still know, deep inside, that they would come running if the other asked for help, but they never do. And Dick sometimes doesn't even know if Bruce sees him as his son!! And he's sad bc of it, but he can't show it bc how do you tell someone that?!?!?!

Steph thinking she's never gonna be enough, that she needs to prove herself, when this feeling never goes away, bc it's more about you than others? YES YES YES

Cassie!! Don't feel guilty about your past babygirl!!! It wasn't your fault!! You're just a victim!! They even took your voice from you!! Come spoon me and you'll feel better!!!

You're perfect Duke!! You're amazing and cool and handsome and there's nothing wrong with you!! You have the most awsesome powers ever!! Now come here let me look into those brown eyes and lets make out.

Seeing characters that are just so unreal but we can relato to, watch them suffer, feel joy in it!! I'm just like you and you're just like me! Be mine!!

This is about DC, but I'm an invincible, the boys and Marvel fan too. I'm drooling seeing Invincible and Rex Splode at their most toxic or weak moments! I love seeing homelander, soldier boy and the deep being so pathetic that they HAVE TO make it everyone's problem!! On my Winter Soldier brain rot I was constantly going over and over again on the same scenes watching this man be sad and miserable and covered in blood and not having autonomy of his own body and being alone!! Of course I got sad, but we can be sad together!!

Anyway, I love receiving fun and easy asks like that (I'm unreasonably happy that you called me one of your favs), I closed the asks bc I was just feeling I little overwhelmed with anxiety, college, future and the amount of requests I was receiving even if I knew I didn't have to write every fanfic idea people sent me and can just write what inspires me in the moment, be it something people asked, or some inspiration that came for me from another place

[bonefall]

I’m rereading Po3 and despite its flaws I really enjoyed the introduction to the three. Jaykit isn’t mentioned to be blind in the first few chapters and instead they chose to show how much MORE capable he is compared to his littermates; until at the end of chapter 3, he brings up his blindness on his own. It makes forcing him to be a medicine cat SO much more frustrating because it really feels like they’re setting him up to be a warrior and choose his own fate (note i haven’t finished the reread this is just my first impression)

I like how you seem to take that path in BB regardless! It makes his arc so much more enjoyable

His arc in canon is super frustrating because he's such an independent character who clearly wants to make his own decisions in life, but then he just gets shoved into the medcat den. I LIKE that he ultimately goes there and that he enjoys it; but it was still really fucked up that they stripped away his autonomy in the process.

Re: they are not real, they are writing choices. Taking away the choices a disabled character can make over their own life, forcing them into a celibate nun role, and then going "awwwww dont worry see? he likes it! This was the best thing for him :)" was fucked up.

And imo it didn't have to be that way! You wouldn't have to go the FULL route I did with big changes, he could just be more involved in the descision to stop being a warrior apprentice and it would be fine. Minor change that would make a world of difference.

I do also have to interject to say though... blindness should really not be an extremely severe impairment for a ThunderClan cat.

I'm dead serious.

Whiskers are built-in sensors that tell you the exact position of everything within several inches of your head, ears swerve to pick up sound, and the jacobson's organ provides a sense of smell so keen that I have an entire Clanmew expansion draft because I needed to make WORDS describing the power of this sense that humans do not have. I cannot stress enough how delicate their other senses are, felines do not rely on their sight like primates do

ThunderClan lives in a mixed-oak woodland, where sight is already often obscured by foliage, objects are close together (for whiskers to feel), and nearly every movement makes noise against the leaf litter. RiverClan and (moor-running) WindClan cats would have a harder time with this disability than Thunder or Shadow.

Cat sight SUCKS to begin with. It sucks BADDD. They don't have color vision, they're significantly nearsighted, and they can't track up-and-down movements well. WC doesn't write realistic cats (more like small fuzzy people really) and I also work with more humanesque eyesight, but the only thing Jay should really lose is an ability to rapidly track a small animal swerving fast. Blind cats are often still excellent hunters in spite of that!

So it's an extra big waste that they railroaded him into a position he didn't choose, saying he couldn't be a warrior. This is the perfect disability to write, if you want to explore how ableism can impact the characters in this society who ARE legitimately still capable of nearly full independence, but still need to find accommodations for what they can't do.

In the same arc they're doing the dumb Cinder Reincarnation Plotline, no less!! Where SHE is also feeling like she has no choice over her "destiny," and gets a conflict over a potentially disabling injury

"Oh nooo if cinderpaw breaks her leg she wont be a warrior!"

"What the f-- Im Jaypaw and im reporting live from the scene where a Category 1 Idiot Moment is taking place. Woman breaks leg, suddenly everyone believes she is a horse, more at 11."

One of these days I should really make "herb guides" just covering how various sensory disabilities impact the lives of Clan cats and some tips for writing them as warriors, especially between Clans. Stuff you wouldn't usually consider, like how much noise deaf cats tend to make, how RiverClan would get a ton of sinus infections and lose their sense of smell, being blind in Sky vs Thunder, etc.

[play-rough]

Re: pet regressors, what is comforting to you when you are in petspace? What activities do you do to play? What would you like your caretaker (owner? what’s the preferred terminology?) to do with you?

Ehehehehe, as someone who goes into little space and pet space at times, you have no idea how happy this question makes me ^-^ This post will bounce all over the place. Apologies in advance.

First topic, verbal communication ✨ sometimes I am capable of speaking, but the words are usually improper/grammatically incorrect due to the headspace. I prefer noises like whining/barking/mewling/squeaking (depending on what pet headspace I'm in).

Second topic, nonverbal communication 🤐 body language does play a good part of how you communicate with your owner or other pets in pet space. It lets another see your emotions or thoughts. Nuzzling, biting, head butting, pushing, leaning on, eye contact/motioning, licking, nibbling, rubbing against, pawing at, wriggles (picture excited dog that starts a full body shake when they hear the word "walk")—these are all different things I use to motion what I need or want. Because you write so much hurt/comfort, I also noted down a list of common behaviors I have when feeling certain emotions, but I have no idea if that's a tmi. (Side note, I can use ASL properly when in pet space, but it's a bit awkward.)

Third topic, lingo 💃 I usually see other people call it petspace, and for the most part I do as well. Animal headspace is a slightly different thing for me because it's not so,,, codependent? Usually I call my partner "master," and I refer to them as that or "owner" when talking to their people about my dynamic. I prefer the first in direct address, but certain nicknames work too when in headspace. I don't use either if I'm between little and pet space. I have a specific way of talking then.

Fourth topic, objects of interaction 🧸 toys and comfort objects are definitely important. I was a semi-destructive mess before I finally bought some to keep me from chewing on stuff I would have to repair later. Because I'm not always near my partner when I'm in pet space, I usually keep myself occupied. Hm, collars help ground me, and leashes are occasionally to my benefit. The collar's weight and significance of showing I have a master helps my head to not be so foggy/have me not spiral into on emotion, and the leash has two purposes depending. If I'm in petspace alone, it's something nice to play with with my hands. If my owner is holding it, it's a way I can immediately know where I'm looking for guidance/instruction.

Fifth topic, master-to-pet interaction 🤝 because my main pet space is dog/puppy, I'm a big fan of commands and training. When I talk to people about the dog in me I mean the acts of service girlypop who's very eager to please lol. Exercise/going on walks is also tons of fun. Romping in the grass is peak. But also toys >>> Toys are the best.

Sixth topic, little shittery 🤭 people in pet space are not exempt from a love of mischief or habits of getting into things. I'm more obedient when leaning towards dog, but when I'm in a feline headspace, I have no qualms about doing stuff I shouldn't. Knocking stuff off the table for fun, moving stuff around to frustrate someone, hiding a belonging that I should not have, stealing food—all this done while acting completely innocent. I will pull out big doe eyes and a curious purr while knowing I will be darting to go hide in a closet or under a bed the moment they figure out it's me who did it. Playing chase is fun; what can I say...

Seventh topic, miscellaneous notes 📝 • I don't like using eating utensils in petspace. It's just kinda weird for me to actively pay attention to. But if it's a command, I can momentarily get over it. • When punished by or frustrated at my owner, I'm more prone to being sulky in a cat petspace and being dejected in a dog headspace. Being snippy versus curling up and crying type thing. • I'm definitely possessive of my master in an odd way that makes me like to wear something to show I'm theirs. It's like a symbol that not only do I have an owner but they're also the love of my life, hehe. • Reading and writing are do-able in headspace, but I don't exactly like to. When I'm little, I just focus on the task and tell myself once I'm finished I can go get my blanket and hug it (if I'm big enough), but my attention span and energy levels in pet space usually have me falling asleep on any paperwork I'm supposed to be doing or be unable to do anything in a timely/constructive manner. Do-able but not very useful. • I'm neurodivergent, and that also affects my time in petspace. Auditory sensory issues become stronger, and I sometimes have to walk myself through some things I could normally do without thinking. • Crawling on all fours just feels more natural.

P.S. I was grinning like mad fool the entire time I was writing this.

P.P.S. because I had to go off to class before I could answer, I spent most of my day drafting up a reply and making notes.

-💜🐕‍🦺 (I might also use 💜🐕 depending on the mood sksksk I'll get into that explanation later if situations permit)

Thank you! This is all very very helpful!! I really enjoyed how detailed all your examples were and they will be very helpful for the petre fic 🥺🩷 thank you for taking the time to type all this up i really appreciate it!

[vaginachronicles]

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this way, I was honestly thinking that I wasn’t capable of it anymore.

I don’t cry. It takes...a lot. There’s a lot of possible explanations for this. One is that when I was a teenager and my mom was at the height of her manic depressive disorder, (which entailed violence towards me), she would gain some sort of satisfaction out of seeing me equally in the same pain she was. I trained myself to bottle it all in so that I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing me break down. And I guess that kind of stuck.

When I have cried, it’s usually not even because of something that’s personally happened to me. It’s random and strange, like the audition video of a talent show on Youtube...or the end of a film (how dare you “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World”. I didn’t cry when I ended my last relationship, though it was painful. Generally when something happens to me, I’m able to stomach it because it rarely compares to what I’ve been through before. 

I ugly cried for two hours today.

Over a dog.

Honestly, if I wasn’t still sitting in a cafe surrounded by people, I’d probably be home and practically dehydrated from it. 

This is a distinct pain. You can’t hold it in or hold it back. There’s no control to exercise. It takes over you. Your chest feels completely hollow. Your stomach feels so completely twisted into knots that you can’t eat. My appetite died harder than it ever had. Sara (the good one) went to breakfast with me (bless her heart), and I had to shove the eggs down. Each bite felt heavier than the last. It’s hard keeping it down.

A god damn dog.

Shortly after I met my partner, or ex...I don’t know who he is at this point...he began fostering a puppy. He works as a manager at an animal shelter, one of the things that drew me to him, and they have been critically over capacity for a long time. When I was first introduced to her, he was confident he was adopting her. Completely sure. When I tell you she is the cutest damn puppy you have ever seen...I mean it. Her name from the shelter was Ontario. He was calling her Miss Thing, which was a terrible name. She was a boxer/bulldog sort of mix, and her face had all the rolls that you just want to squish and kiss. So that’s what I called her, Squish. 

Squish was a puppy, and fostering puppies isn’t easy. Food and water run out of them nearly as fast as it goes it, you practically have to olympic sprint to get them outside in time. They have nuclear levels of energy, and they just want to be on you/near you/around you at all times. Quite simply, she was a baby. She needed patience and tenderness. Over time, he seemed less capable of showing her either. I understood...his job is long, hard, extremely stressful days. The things a puppy can do with poop in a crate are....unbelievable. I could see the toll it was taking on him, and I didn’t want it to cloud his judgement of his feelings or attachment to her, so I tried to help more and take some responsibility. As much as I could without actually living there.

I cleaned her accidents. I took her for walks. I ran her in laps, trying to wear her out. I bought her plush toys to both keep her company and because she just absolutely loved them. I bathed her. I tried to temper his agitations towards her. And through all this, I came to love her so much. I don’t want to admit that I loved her more than my cats...I love my cats...but I did. I was mom. I don’t know if this is some sort of weird trauma response to an abortion years later. But I just loved her, unconditionally.

I made this clear to him. He still wasn’t sure he wanted her. Realizing it was possible he wasn’t going to foster fail, I began evaluating how I could make space in my life. Would it be difficult? Absolutely. Potty training...covincing my landlord...paying more rent...probably signing a new lease...limiting my future rental options...increase in monthly expenses. I knew what I was up against, it was a lot. But none of it mattered, because I loved her and if it came down to it I was going to try. I had to try.

This was the week of the adoption event she was meant to be at, if he didn’t foster fail. I sent him a message on sunday, after writing a draft email for my landlord, and told him if he was sure he wasn’t going to adopt her to let me know and I was going to send it. I didn’t want to send it unless he was sure because my landlord could always say no and then use that as a segue into raising my rent anyway or putting me on a new lease. He said he would think about it and let me know. I saw him on valentines day, he didn’t say anything. Nor did he do anything...at all. But, whatever. I tried not to think anything of it.

I talked to him every day this week. I asked him how the preparations for the event were going several times, because that was a stressful aspect of his job. He never mentioned Squish. A relief, I thought. If he kept her, or even just stayed on the fence long enough to keep her out of the event, it would give me time to prepare.

I talked to him all day yesterday. Normally I would go over his place friday nights, but my depression the last two days had been taking me over physically, and everything I needed to get done piled up around it, so I told him I was going to stay home. He never mentioned anything. He sent me a picture of her sleeping on his lap, and I called her my sleepy bee.

I had a horrible night, couldn’t sleep...chest pains. Was up until almost 6 am. Managed to sleep a few hours, before my cats began terrorizing me for their breakfast and I finally gave up. Since I did not see him the night before, I set aside my normal saturday afternoons of research and decided to shower and get ready to see him. It was the morning of the adoption event, but I knew he had gotten up early to finish all the preparations.

I got out of the shower and looked at my phone.

And it felt like I had been shot.

He had taken her to the adoption event and let her go. Never telling me he wasn’t adopting her. Never giving me the chance to talk to my landlord. Not even giving me the chance to say goodbye. My heart immediately just felt completely broken. Not only because she was gone and I’d never see her again, but because he was capable of doing something to hurt me so god damn much.

The adoption event was ticketed and sold out. Even if I went, I wouldn’t get in. The very first video they posted on the event page, I saw a puppy in the background wearing green footy pajamas. They knew her as Ontario. They didn’t know she was Squish, and that she had a home with me. 

I’m not stupid. I know she will be fine, loved. But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel like my heart was cut out. I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to let anyone or anything close to me, while simultaneously wanting to fall into someone’s arms who I trust and cry everything out of me. But that person doesn’t exist for me. I don’t think they ever will, and I honestly am not sure I even want them to. I’m tired of caring. I’m tired of loving. I’m tired of giving and having pieces cut out of me. I thought there was a future here, maybe. Finally. Someone who could see the real me, and respect me, and love me, and who I could create something real with. The relief of not facing a lifetime of relentless loneliness. But it never gets better. It just doesn’t. 

[getouswh0re]

TOKYO REVENGERS REACTIONS:

❤︎ forever is a long time, but I won’t mind spending it by your side ❤︎

an; how Tokyo Revengers characters realise they have fallen in love with you; warnings: none, slight angst, fluff, slight manga spoilers

characters; mikey, draken, chifuyu, baji

For as long as you could reminisce, MIKEY and you have been thick as thieves, doing all sorts of shenanigans (with most of them being his idea of course) and enjoying the time of your youth together. How you wish good times could stay like this forever; just the two of you running through the labyrinth of streets without having a single worry about what the future has to offer, the thrumming of footsteps echoing against the asphalt pavements as chime-like chortles reverberate in remnants of the dwindling sunset.

The two of you have been through ups and downs throughout the years, yet you and him would always seek for solace in each other’s company. The one incident, though, which brought both of your hearts closer than ever — was Emma’s passing. In the dingy bedroom, it was the first time you saw Mikey’s walls collapsing as he leaned into your chest, raw cries laced with heart-wrenching pain reverberating through the solemn midnight air. It broke your heart to witness the tough blonde in such a state of despair; he had lost way too many people already, and the light that was long lost in his hollow eyes now bore semblance to an impenetrable void — devoid of life, and the will to live.

“Hey, y/n ...” A meek croak cut through the lingering silence. “What does it feel like to be left alone ... before you get to realise all of the people you’ve loved is gone?”

Hearing that, your eyes were glassed with a layer of tears that was threatening to overflow. Nonetheless, you held it back, leaning forward as you pulled the blonde into your arms and gave him a tender hug.

“I know how it feels, Mikey ... it’s painful, you’re left alone, you want the agony to stop ... but you’ll not be shouldering this on your own. I’m here for you ... when you need me, okay? So please ... don’t bottle up all of these feelings by yourself. We’ll share the suffering and live on. Promise?”

People came and go in his life, yet the only one who stayed with Sano Manjiro until the very end was none other than you — his first love.

DRAKEN’S instincts have always been spot-on, and this is the same just like any other time — the only thing special is you being in the picture. From the day you become acquainted with the gang’s vice commander, Ryuguji finds himself gravitating bit by bit towards you. He would look forward to seeing you at every meeting, feeling his heart sink whenever you can’t hang out with him, Mikey and the others; initially the blonde only thinks that it is nothing more than a measly feeling — friends would look forward to hanging out with each other, right?

But it is soon proven to be wrong when an unintentional comment from him reveals his feelings towards you to everyone.

“Where is y/n? It feels a bit different today —“

As if everything is in slow motion, his friends swivel their heads around — stares burning into the back of his skull with their jaws dropped.

“Dude, you’re totally into y/n huh.”

Oh shit.

Before the blonde realises, everyone starts to bombard him with questions; not that they aren’t happy for him who finally manages to find the one, but rather — how do polar opposites like you and Ryuguji attract one another.

“Dude, you’ve totally found the right one!”

“Man I feel jealous that you have your eyes on them first! I would’ve shoot my shot if I were you.”

“If you don’t man up and confess, don’t blame me for stealing y/n off their feet —“

“Hold on!” A yell from him is all it takes to make the gang quiet. “How do you guys know it’s love? I mean it can be anything —“

“Just how dense can you be, idiot?” The others chime in unison.

Someone save him, boy is hopeless sometimes.

To pinpoint how he has fallen in love with you would be immensely difficult for CHIFUYU, there are way too many moments where he just finds himself diving headfirst into love! But if he has to choose the exact instant which kindled the flames of adoration, it would be every little bits about you which make him lovestruck.

He loves how your gaze softens at the sight of pets running around every time you come and visit him at the pet store he works at, cooing over how endearing you look as your eyes crinkle when kids wave to you on the streets, admiring your patience and kindness towards everyone you meet — the list goes on and on. Falling in love with you (to him) feels like a typical romance troupe which he has read ad nauseam in shoujo mangas, yet experiencing it firsthand is definitely a first for him.

And of all the attributes he loves about you, the one which makes Chifuyu ascertain his feelings is how you could see the good in people whom you hold dear to your heart — him included.

The sky fades into a myriad of pomegranate pink and indigo as the two of you hang out at the park after the gang meeting has ended, each of you eating an ice cream. With you finishing yours first, you turn over to look at the blonde, only to discover that he has some smudged on his cheeks. Seeing this reminds you of your childhood years together where Chifuyu also had ice cream smeared over his face — the nostalgia of it making giggles roll off your tongue, earning a perplexed look from the vice captain of the first division.

“What are you laughing at y/n??” It only make you laugh harder as his whining reaches your ears.

“Nothing! It just reminds me of how we used to hang out at the same spot when we were younger, also eating ice cream whilst watching the sunset. You also had ice cream all over your face back then. I can still remember that cute ass look on your face ~”

“Come on, it’s in the past! Stop mentioning it y/n, I’m going to die from embarrassment before long. You better attend my funeral —“

“Cute and dramatic as ever Fuyu.” You give him a tap on the nose. “But you know what? I feel so glad that fate brought me to this adorable kid with ice cream all over his face back in the days, and I’m grateful for having you in my life Chifuyu.”

Poor boy almost suffers from a heart attack.

BAJI adores your duality; whether it is watching you coo over street cats or casually firing comebacks at his occasionally snarky remarks, he embraces both sides of your personality, thinking it is what makes you unique to him. Other than that, the teen finds himself drawn towards you for another reason. Being the motherly figure of Baji and his friends, you would always make sure they take care of themselves, chiding them gently whenever they neglect their health; it is something in which he values a lot — he might be known as one of the toughest fighters in the gang, but Baji is also a teenager at heart.

Whenever he needs to vent, you would be there to lend an ear; every time he falls ill, you would rush to his house with warm chicken soup and all the necessary medications to take care of him until he feels better (despite him telling you that he is capable of taking care of himself, which he isn’t). Occasionally Baji would show up outside your bedroom window bartered and bruised, and you would put aside the things you are doing at that moment to dress his wounds, giving him a nag on how he should prioritise his safety over anything else.

You are like a pseudo parental figure to Baji — his solace and anchor whenever life doesn’t go as what he expects; he could never ask for more from you, but deep down — the teen knows that people would eventually drift apart someday.

And a part of him wished this would last forever, that he could let down his walls and be the middle school Baji that yearns to be taken care of by nobody other than you.

The longer he’s spent time around you, the more the queer sensation in his gut stirs. Baji could feel his heartbeat becoming frenzied each time he is hanging out with you, and his usual confident facade would drop as the teen stutters over words. And being rather dense at the beginning, nothing dawned upon him until Mikey and the rest almost have to withhold the urge of bonking Baji in the head for not realising how he’s fallen head over heels for you, did he realise all of this is love after all.

[parallel-selfs]

Glorious Masquerade (chapter 3)

Translation by Gasumasuku Gamer, Ekala and Otome Ayui. EN playthrough by RoseEmber.

(Smug Malleus activated. I love him teasing Grim, it's cute)

"I would immediately fall if I tried to use those stilts."

"The music is getting me more excited for this festival."

Oh, it's Snow White and the Cheshire Cat.

(I found the Micky mouse!)

(I'm curious what Royal Sword Academy's costumes look like)

Sits in the middle of the table, Grim on her left and Firefly on her right. Slowly leans on Malleus's shoulder because friend.

Once Sebek and Grim start arguing, she picks up the cat and places him on her lap to stop the fuss.

(Rollo can't be at my cool kid table, unless we kick Idia or Sebek out.)

"I didn't do research because I wanted to be surprised."

The damn puppet.

"It's a form of entertainment. I watched a few shows with the concept."

It was lava. She knows what happened, but says nothing.

He was protecting the city from his "teacher."

He wasn't exceptional, he was a murderer!

Deep, unshakable bond? He tried to kill the boy! Twice!

Biting her tongue the whole time in anger and tries to not let it show on her face, but a scowl could be seen.

It was the festival of fools where a knight threw a tomato at him and everyone started attacking him.

(I like that, magicless people being able to use magic too)

Walks over to Idia and offers hand. "Come on, Idia. Dance with me."

Crouches down. "Grim, you were told to not use magic in the city."

Just watching the fireworks instead of joining in because she's still new to magic.

(The impatientess from just tapping his finger)

"Yeah magic is dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. But erasing all magic I don't agree with. I have seen what magic can do and how it can harm others, but I have also seen it as something beautiful and fun."

(Boy, Alice has faced eight overblots, she fully understands magic and what it's capable of doing)

Before she could reply to his comment, Grim comes over, ("Mom, look at what I can do!"). Walks away with Grim while glaring at Rollo.

Would definitely come to the festival again.

(Seriously, why is the fireplace so freaking big?!)

Your judgement has arrived.

Grim cries out mom.

"Guys, I think we need to get out of here." Turning to head out of the door and finds more flowers.

Backs up to get away from the flowers while her mind races on what's happening.

A flower wraps around her ankle just to jerk herself away and stomp on the crimson flower before running to Trein.

Professor Trein soon figures out by observing how the flowers seem to feed off of the magic they use.

(Chenya is fucking pissed, damn)

(Now that raises the question, how did Rollo get a hold of something that's extinct?)

Sebek goes to yell out just for Alice to beat him to it. "I knew it!! I knew you were up to something!!"

Rollo is thrown off guard by her furious voice and burning eyes, but only for a second.

(The name is now literal) Holy shit.

The floor disappears under her and yells, "oh shit!" as her body drops into the unknown. Malleus calls out her name and she glances over to him taking her in his arms, holding her tightly against his chest as they fall.

(I can't believe EN added puns)

(Why did Epel whisper it to Grim? Say it out loud, Alice is confused and anxious.)

Malleus slams down on his back with her on top. "Sorry, Malleus."

"Azul, don't be a kiss ass."

My back is starting to hurt.

Unsettled by the screams.

Azul was going to ask how Alice knew Rollo was up to something, but Idia cuts him off.

She sees the flowers approaching and pulls on his arm to get him to move, but sees the smile on his face and gets worried.

Looks at her friend who just intensity staring. She takes his hand in hers and rubs her thumb on the back of it.

I doubt he feels responsible, Epel.

Riddle, rules have nothing to do with guilt.

Lets go of him and backs away from the power bursting off of him.

(😭)

She runs over and hugs him. He chuckles with a smile and pats her head. "Were you worried about me?"

"Malleus! Please calm down!"

Shields herself from the blast and gets knocked onto the ground. She uncovers her face and stands up to stare at where Malleus was. Panic sets in.

"Of course I was!... You dummy." Mutters the last part against his chest. He softly chuckles.

(Now we know how they were destroyed centuries ago)

"I'm sorry, Professor Trein, but it has to be said. You guys are fucking assholes."

"When we fell into the waterway, I tried to safeguard Katelynn, as my friend is still learning how to use magic..."

(I'm curious how different the dialogue would be if it was fully after Book 7)

"Azul, I will slap you."

Tool that spreads magic through the city? "Oh! The bell!" Alice and Malleus say at the same time.

Bites tongue again.

"Miss Winter, who has faced many challenges..." -Trein

"I'll do my best to help."

"Yes, Grim will be the coolest."

Gremlin Epel.

And they never had the chance to question her on why she yelled, "I knew it" at Rollo.

[visd3stele]

Hi! I was wound wrong if I could request a Jude x Cardan story?

It would be an au of sorts where Madoc was banished before Cardan became king.

(This is like background for the story) Everyone in Jude’s family goes to live in the mortal world while Jude stays behind. Cardan becomes king then eventually Jude becomes queen and they fall in love. Years later Madoc and the rest of Jude’s family (including her sisters) are invited to have dinner with the king. They are expecting Dain or really any of his siblings except Cardan and are suprised when Cardan comes.

Jude is arriving late and to not spoil the surprise Cardan just says his wife will be joining soon. Again everyone expects Nicasia but instead they see Jude.

Ik I basically wrote out the whole plot but I had fun with the idea. How they react is totally up to you. I really enjoy your writing and hope you have a lovely day!

thanks for the request :)

it was really fun to write.

I hope you like it 💛

and thank you for your nice coment! Have a good, good time for a long, long while yourself!

Shockingly familial/r

here are my masterlist and request posts

no tw that I can think of

quotes credits: found them on google; in bold and italic and between [], belong to: ¹,⁴Brian Froud, ² Hope Mirlees, ³Harry Behn, ⁵Charles de Lint

*someone take pinterest from me, too many beautiful fanarts* picture on the left: by @bxromanceart , picture on the right: by @palesile

[The myths and legends about Faerie are many and diverse, and often contradictory...]¹

"Madoc, Red Cap, traitor. You are herby banished from Elfhame for as long as I am High King and the Land is as much myself as I am the Land." Eldred's words bounced off the walls of the Throne Room. Madoc clenched his jaws to stop himself from muttering anything that'd worsen the situation. The ruthless groom of war didn't understand what happened. And from his kneeled position at the foot of the many daises leading up to the throne, he couldn't scan the crowd in search of a knowing face either.

All he could see were the shining legs dressed in armor belonging to the four knights in his close proximity. He could picture Oriana behind them, ice blue face devoid of any emotion, but the pink of her irises growing warmer and warmer with each passing second of reprieved anger. He could also visualize Vivi's cat eyes glistening gold with delight, her small frame shacking with silent snickers. Oak would try to break free from his mother's firm grip on his hands, little horns pocking the air left and right with his futile attempts.

He pledged his allegiance to prince Dain not so long ago, promising to help him get the throne and gaining a good fight in return. Both fae would have a chance at greatness. But something happened, Eldred found out about the betrayal and ordered Madoc and his family brought at the Court immediately. Though the old king seemed unfazed by his son. He must not know the whole story, then.

[...word is a fairy, mocking and illusive, speaking lying words to us in a feigned voice]²

Poor Madoc. While his sentence has been pronounced, he couldn't see the pleased smile on Dain's face. His father's trust in him was hardened by this show of loyalty and capability. And his chances to be given the crown multiplied.

Jude eavesdropped from afar, trying to muffle out Taryn's worries. When the knights showed up, demanding for the family to join them at the palace, or be taken forcefully, Taryn grew nauseous. Oriana sent the mortal girls away to deal with it before they could make things worse somehow.

"What's happening?"

"He exiled Madoc." Jude spoke in a trance, not really comprehending it. If she was to believe the High King's verdict was real, then she'd have to say good bye to Fairyland. Of course Oriana would insist the family should follow him. And she had no place in Elfhame without Madoc. Did she?

"That's... no, that can't be."

"Like furred ears and magic?"

Taryn fell silent against Jude's rhetorical question. "What else?" She couldn't help but inquire after few more minutes passed.

"Nothing. That's all. The knights are escorting him outside. Come on."

Not waiting for her twin to fold her skirts up and run, Jude hit the ground towards the group. She saw the royal family at the balcony, watching the High King's orders being fulfilled.

"Oh, girls. Here you are, finally." Oriana's head snapped in their direction. "Come along, now, hurry. We mustn't waste their times."

Taryn lowered her head and hugged her torso. But she didn't question it. She joined the group waiting to be taken to the mortals land. Jude, on the other hand, seemed to be petrified, glued to the spot.

"Jude?"

She shook her head. "No," the whisper was barely audible, a sound not even meant for her own ears, but rather escaping her lips by mistake. "I can't." Elfhame was her home. She may not have chosen to live there and she might be but a mortal at the end of the day, but Jude visited the Otherworld with Vivi and Taryn earlier that year. And she felt like an intruder. A sham. It wasn't for her, the girl knew it with all her heart. She belonged to Fairyland as much as Vivi didn't and Taryn wished to.

"Are you sure about this?" Cardan broke Jude out of her reverie. He lounged on the throne, head thrown backwards and legs tingling over the arm rests, rolling the crown between his fingers casually.

"Yes." Jude answered from behind the throne, ready to slip inside the secret room there when her family showed up. Her own crown toyed with the moon rays sneaking inside the grand room, shining atop her brown locks.

One year and a half ago, the mortal girl believed her life ended. With Madoc out of Fairyland, her whole family gone with him, Jude was left alone at their manor. Eldred has been kind enough to allow her residence, since she did nothing to support her adoptive father's rebellion after all.

It's been a rough couple of months until she finished school and joined the knight guard, earning the trust and respect of the royal family. And, in turn, the appreciation and tolerance of the folk. While in the service, Jude uncovered Dain's conspiracy. The prince has been sent to prison, but that is not where the royalty drama ended.

Jude got close to Cardan after she witnessed Balekin's behavior towards him. They become partners in mending subtleties of the court with the help and support of the Court of Shadows. Sadly, they couldn't stop Balekin from going on a spree and erasing the Greenbriar line. Except for the brothers, of course.

Jude stepped in and managed to have Cardan turned High King. And soon, their feelings for each other bloomed and the spiteful fae boy and the wicked mortal girl married. Making Jude the first High Queen of Elfhame.

Now, her majesty wanted to reunite with her family.

[Their Majesties and I sat where two streams/Of starry rivers joined and flowed away as one,/And their enchanted castle made of dew and dreams/Towered above us high beyond the moon and sun.]³

Madoc entered first, steadying Oriana with a hand over their entwined arms. The fae woman laced her fingers with Oak's for a firmer grip on the hectic boy. Behind them, Vivi dragged her feet, making a show of being bored. And Taryn searched the palace for the littlest changes, hope to be welcomed at court bumping against her heart's walls.

All five of them came to a start upon seeing the empty throne room. Until they noticed the knights posted outside and walked in the gardens. Sure enough, a table has been prepared for a meal under the stars.

"His majesty will be here shortly," a fae that was finishing the decor announced, signaling for them to take their seats. And soon after they did, they heard the feather light steps of the folk.

"Welcome back, general." The owner of the voice felt his features relax into an amused expression as the table became the stage of a comedy.

Vivi broke into a fist of uncontrollable laughs, Oak joining confused, but happy for a reason to giggle after Oriana instructed him to behave. Taryn's mouth hanged open, eyes widened in surprise and face frozen starring at Cardan as shock made her forget all about manners and self conscience. Oriana's polite smile never faltered, but the tall woman neglected to reprimand her children, focusing intently on the young, smirking king instead.

But Madoc? He must have been the funniest of them all. His golden cat eyes bulked out of their orbs, lower canines scratching the greenish lips repeatedly as his mouth rustled with uncertainty. His nostrils flared, growing bigger with each inhaled breath. A vein around his eyebrow pulsed at the same beat the jaws' muscles flexed.

The general firmly believed Dain took the crown. And was finally calling for him now, his trusty ally, to fulfill all of his promises. Never in his most absurd, abnormal dreams had he imagined Cardan, that drunkard, good for nothing, little prince, would welcome him and his family in the palace as High King.

"A pleasure to see you all," Cardan said, a hint of mockery lingering in his voice. And it wasn't even a lie, as the sight of their shock and disdain entertained the king to no end.

Oriana was the first to broke out of it, gracefully getting to her feet. She squeezed her husband's shoulder in a warning that didn't pass the obsidian gaze of the High King. Madoc rose reluctantly, making an effort to hide his grumbling, though, while Oak looked between his parents trying to decide what to do. Taryn stumbled on her feet clumsily, and next to her, Vivi rolled her eyes and waved at Cardan with two fingers raised.

To further everyone's surprise, he waved back. "Please," he spoke bemused, stroding forward towards the grand chair at the head of the table. "Sit."

All at once, as if on cue, sat down. "I can see my appearance caused quite a shock."

"We just expected one of your older siblings, your highness," Oriana sounded as pacifying as possible.

"Ah, yes, yes. Perhaps my traitorous brother, Dain. Or the scheming Balekin. Father had quite a group to pick from."

"What are you talking about, boy?" The words escaped Madoc before he could weigh them properly. Oriana and Taryn paled, but Vivi begin to look interested for the first time since they got there.

"Boy?" Cardan rose an eyebrow. "You were so eager for a new king I thought you'd have more respect for him."

"Forgive him, please, your highness. He's a bit stunned. We all are. You never showed interest in the throne before." The icy skinned fae reasoned.

"True," Cardan shrugged. "I had some... let's call it support, shall we? I had some support from my queen."

"Queen?" The whole table echoed the title.

"Why, yes, of course. She should be joining us soon."

"Do we have to wait for her to eat," Oak whined, but no one really noticed him.

"And how long have you ruled, your highness?"

"A couple of years, general."

"I assume your queen has been by your side ever since."

"Longer even. In fact, it was her idea to call you back."

"May I know why, your highness?" Madoc's mind flooded with possibilities to work this situation in his favor. But he needed more details about the queen, the king and their plan.

Cardan prompted his elbows on the table, much to Oriana's indignation, tilting his head to the side on which the looped crown leaned on on his head. "She knows you, general." Or at least she thought she did.

If Madoc could use the reverent form to address the High King in a mockery of his self, then Cardan could toss around the removed title to tease him as well, toying with the greenish fae with no remorse.

"Is that so?" Madoc asked. And Cardan's smirk spreaded as hard steps passed over the grass. Jude entered the scene, chin high to support the crown similar to her husband's, sword swinging over her leg.

[...All things are possible in the land of Faerie.]⁴

"Impossible," Taryn muttered. Vivi choked over air – or her own saliva – and had to do a double take before convincing herself that her sight isn't messing with her.

Noticing their daughters' reactions, Madoc and Oriana turned slowly. The latter gasped audible, pink orbs growing the size of a fae fruit. The former knitted his eyebrows, observing his favorite child carefully.

In his mind, and certainly in his companions' as well, Orlagh's daughter was the one wearing the crown. The dark blue locks of Nicassia flashed through Jude's family's heads, beholding the golden crown like the queen she was raised to be. But instead, the girl they shared a house, a life, a past with, was approaching.

"Jude." He said, and the girl nodded tightly at him. She walked by Cardan's side, where a new chair sprouted from the ground right next to him, at the head of the table.

"Hello, family. Welcome back."

"You are the queen?" Taryn blurred out and just as quick, Vivi mumbled. "That's not even the surprising part. You're married? To Cardan?"

Jude's face softened at her sisters and a smile spreaded her lips. "I know, what was I thinking, right?"

Next to her, Cardan rolled his eyes. "What were you thinking? My, my, dearest punishment, I was the fool who proposed."

Jude hit her husband's arm affectionately. "Shut up. It was the best decision you ever made."

"Yes, yes it was." Cardan leaned in and caught Jude's lips before she could draw back. Except she wouldn't have. Her hand flew on his cheek, bringing him closer.

"Unbelievable." Taryn shook her head. Vivi cooed loudly, causing a blush to color her half sister's face. Oriana and Madoc were both confused. Their eyes drifted to each other, searching for answers they themselves didn't have.

"Jude, my dear. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Oriana," Jude said tightly. Madoc huffed impatiently, but remained silent.

"Is there a problem, general?"

"Why are we here, your majesties?"

"Because," the High Queen started, "you are my family. And I want to give you a second chance, if you prove yourselves worthy of it."

"That's great and all, but can we eat now?" Oak piped in, breaking the tension with bubble laughs forming all around the table.

[We call them faerie. We don't believe in them. Our loss.]⁵

[writings-of-a-hufflepuff]

My Liability, My Deadweight

Fandom: The Chronicles of Riddick

Collection/Series: My Liability, My Deadweight

Pairing: Richard B Riddick x Female Fat + Glasses Wearing Reader

Writer: @writings-of-a-hufflepuff aka @hufflepuffing-all-day-long

Rating: T (Swearing, Riddick is Riddick, violence)

Warnings: Swearing, violence towards deadly alien creatures, violence from deadly alien creatures towards the reader

Summary: None of this was supposed to happen. You were supposed to be on a holiday resort planet, relaxing by glistening waters and forgetting your troubles. Not traipsing through a deadly jungle on an uncharted planet with a just as deadly companion who seems torn between helping you and hating you.

Notes: So I guess this is going to be similar to Western AU Din in that i’ll probably write some stuff in the same sort of world/vein as this. I’m just interested in the idea of Riddick with a reader who is the opposite of a survivalist, who isn’t fit or strong, who is scared. The idea of Furyans having mates or soulmates that they don’t really get to choose and the idea of Riddick having to come to terms with the idea that the person he wants to protect so bad needs his protection more than most is interesting to me.

This is probably such a niche thing to write, not only because the fandom is tiny, but also because people tend to write Riddick fanfic where the reader or OC is extremely capable, but I wanted to write it. So self-indulgent fic coming up.

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Kratos is a horror show of a planet. It’s the sort of planet you’d never thought you’d end up on, the sort of planet that you saw on horror vids and read about in the tales of survivors of tragedy. You weren’t supposed to be on it. You were just on a short trip, just supposed to go to a stupid holiday planet, at the insistence of your boss that you needed a break from your desk, that you worked too hard. You were a city slicker, an urban citizen, not an outdoorsman or an adventurer, certainly not the sort of person who’d come to a planet like this. But, your pilot had needed to make a stop, said there was a problem with the fuel cells that he needed to check out. So you’d made a pit stop on a barely charted planet. Nothing good ever happens on a barely charted planet. 

Covered in dense, muggy jungle, the planet would have been beautiful had it not been trying to kill you and your, for want of a better word, companion at every turn. It was covered in vibrant green forest, tropical plants, exotic and brightly coloured flowers (many of which, it turns out, were deadly themselves). There were brightly coloured bird-like creatures and primitive mammals that scurried through the trees and across the ground. It would have been beautiful, except for the limp in your walk from the burning claw marks deep in your thick thigh, except for the blood that followed in your wake, the dead bodies of the crew you’d left behind, and the yellow eyes that seemed to follow the two of you under the dark canopy.

After a stupid decision by your group to go out into the jungle to try and find a settlement of some sort, just because it had seemed like (as if there was any real reason to leave), you’d been picked off one by one. You could only describe the beasts as fucked up panthers. Two tails with stingers at the end, sharp spindly spines along their backs, an elongated neck, venomous fangs and sharp teeth and claws. They were hard to spot, silent in the underbrush and decidedly and most definitely deadly. The only reason you were still even alive was because of Riddick, because for some unknown reason the man, the murderer, had decided to stick close to you, like glue. You weren’t complaining.

At the time of boarding the ship for your trip it had seemed horrifying, to know that you were travelling on the same transport as Richard B. Riddick, escaped convict, known murder, predator. He was the sort of man your parents whispered about, the sort of man that you never wanted to meet. He was someone from your worst nightmare. Now he is your saving grace and surprisingly not what you had expected of a notorious big bad. While he meets many of your expectations, crude at times, harsh, and physically intimidating, he defies them too. He is at times oddly gentle with you and, the mere fact he cares about someone’s survival other than his own, is in itself a surprise. A fortunate one for you. 

“Are we nearly back to the ship?” You ask because your leg is killing you, because you so desperately just want to get off this planet even if it means being stuck in a confined space with a convicted murderer. You hate this planet, you hate the constant feeling of fear and of uselessness. You hate the truth of it all, that you are weak, vulnerable, prey not the predator. It has you realising your many weaknesses, many vulnerabilities, many failings. 

“Shhh…” Riddick raises his hand out in front of you, a universal sign to stop, while the other comes to his lips in a shushing motion. If he were a dog, his ears might very well have pricked up at the slightest sound. 

To you nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There were no unusual sounds or movement in the brush. You couldn’t see anything out of place. Just as you begin to notice the silence, the lack of sound, that is the moment everything goes terribly wrong.

“Riddic-” You were cut off by your own scream. 

Things happen so fast that you don’t really have time to process them. One minute you are standing behind Riddick attempting to get his attention, the next a dark shape crashes into you and you’re on the jungle floor a heavy weight pressing on your chest and stopping your breathing. Your hands reach up instinctively, pushing against the creature in an effort to keep sharp gnashing teeth from your face, but you’re not strong and you’re not a fighter and you can feel your arms beginning to collapse already. Can hear yourself screaming for Riddick even as part of you thinks he’ll leave you there, abandon you to be eaten alive. There is a deep fear that this is it, this is the end. That it shall be painful, terrifying, lonely, and unfamiliar. 

Claws scratch at your arms, blood runs over your skin in rivulets as you scrabble in the dirt. Then as suddenly as the weight came it was gone, hefted off of you with an angry roar and the sound of a knife hitting flesh over and over again. You don’t look, can’t bring yourself to look, just lie there and breathe, in and out. You don’t want to see him do what he’s good at, don’t want to see alien blood, a dying creature, the parts of him that are less than gentle. So you stare up at the canopy and catch your breath, feeling the blood flow down your arms, the bruises that ache over your stomach, hips and legs. Feel the relief flow through you, combat the shock, as you realise you are not dead, you are alive, and he did not leave you to die. 

You’re rather numb in truth until you hear him muttering above you, “goddamn liability, deadweight…”, it shouldn’t upset you because it’s true. But it does, it upsets and angers you because you didn’t want to be here, you didn’t want any of this and you didn’t ask him to hang around, didn’t ask him to help you. You had no say in this. This was not your idea of a holiday, your idea of fun, or your fault. 

It forces you to your feet, forces you, despite the blood dripping from your wounds, to stand and face him, despite the bruises, despite the pain, despite the fear. You find yourself planting your feet even as you sway unsteadily, standing with hands on your wide hips and a scowl aimed at a man that could kill you easily. For the first time you’re too angry to overthink your actions towards the man. For a moment you stop thinking and start acting. 

“If i’m such a goddamn liability, then just leave me here! I didn’t ask for you to stay, Riddick! I didn’t ask for your help! If it’s such a fucking chore to have me along, if i’m really dead weight then leave me! Go!” You didn’t normally scream at anyone, it wasn’t your personality type. You were quiet, shy, retiring. A wallflower. You didn’t scream. You didn’t start fights. You didn’t do any of that. Anger wasn’t your natural response to anything. Fear was. But after being hunted down, time and time again by giant alien cats with venomous fangs and an uncanny ability to hide on a jungle planet, all while being called a liability, a dead weight by the one person you had to rely on, well, you were finally at your wits end. You were in pain, you were upset, frustrated and ready to just go home. 

You didn’t understand it. Why Riddick even bothered with you, practically a stranger. You knew you were a liability, that’s why it hurt so much when he said it. You were soft, emotionally and physically. You were a slow runner, a poor fighter, had terrible eyesight that required glasses, you weren’t light on your feet or graceful and you certainly didn’t know much about survival. You were overweight, unfit and unsure on your feet. You were prone to panic and tears, you were easily emotionally and physically unbalanced. Until this trip from hell you’d been content in the inner rim, working a normal job, a safe life. Your day to day had been comfortable, safe. Easy. You weren’t cut out for this, for danger and potential death and had Riddick, this known criminal, one of the most sought after murderers in the verse, not decided to stick by your side you’d have died at least ten times already. It didn’t make any sense and your frustration at yourself, the situation and at him had tears pooling in your eyes. You didn’t ask for any of this.

“I can’t.” He’s so impassive, so calm, that it pisses you off more. It pisses you off how hard it is to read him, how he hides his eyes behind black goggles that stop you understanding him. How he hides all emotion from you so easily. How is he okay with this? How is he so calm when everything around the two of you wants to kill you, when he could have left this goddamn planet already if you weren’t slowing him down at every turn? How could he stand there above the body of some hell spawn creature and just stare at you like that, like everything was just fine, just normal? Like he wasn’t covered in it’s blood. Like you weren’t dripping in your own. Like you hadn’t almost died. Again. 

“I..I don’t get it…? What do you mean you can’t? You could walk the fuck away right now. I can’t stop you! No one else is here to stop you! If you want to leave, leave! No one’s holding you back, Riddick! No one is going to stop you! I can’t bloody well can’t! Look at me!” You sound hysterical even to your own ears but you can’t help it. You are so scared, so confused, so frustrated, so panicked by all that’s happened, all that could happen. You gesture down to yourself, to the bloody coating you, the way you protectively hold yourself off of your hurt leg, the sheer stature different between the two of you. All the things that make it very abundantly clear that if he chose to simply walk away you couldn’t stop him. 

“Listen, princess, it’s not that fucking simple!” The snap is almost relieving, that he’s not as cold, not as impassive as you thought. That he could break too. That he could be angry, that he could be upset, that this wasn’t just normal. Even as his steps closer cause your back to hunch, cause you to second guess your antagonist behaviour. 

“I don’t understand!” 

With a growl he’s crowding you against a tree, thick arms caging you in. He’s imposing, large, a head taller than you and the action has him taking over every one of your senses. He never touches you in anger and while the display is intimidating, it oddly enough doesn’t scare you. It almost feels secure. Perhaps because not once has he done anything to suggest to you that he would hurt you, every move he’s made has been to keep you safe. Every time he’s touched you has been to pull you from danger or bring you back to your feet. Despite his harsh appearance, his foul language and the deadliness that he displays at every turn, he has never once given you cause to fear him. To fear how he would treat you. 

“You’re my mate, got it?! I don’t get to choose, I don’t get a choice! I can’t leave you! I just fucking can’t, so you’re a fucking liability and dead weight, but you’re my dead weight, got it? I ain’t fucking leaving you, we either both get off this motherfucking planet or we both get eaten by these fucks, princess. There’s no inbetween, understand?” Silver eyes flash at you as he tears the goggles from his eyes,  his brow furrows and the muscles in his thick neck and broad shoulders bunch and move with every piece of tension that bursts through him. You are distinctly and sharply reminded that Riddick is a predator in every sense of the word, while you are prey. You are on two separate ends of the spectrum. 

“Mate…?” Your eyes flit across the landscape behind his head, trying to process all those words and all their meanings. You don’t understand, you don’t understand any of it. But, those words soothe you in a way you can’t explain. He isn’t going to leave you. For whatever reason, for whatever this is, whatever he means, he isn’t going to leave you.  You let out a breath you didn’t even realise you’d been holding. He’s not leaving, even if you’re a liability, a deadweight. Even when things get bad, he’s not leaving. He is, at this point, your only chance at getting home, getting away from him, of surviving. The panic in you begins to soothe, calm and settle. 

“We don’t have time for this.” You’re startled by the sudden display of affection as the man cups the back of your neck and presses his forehead into your own, “Just trust me.”

“I do, Riddick, I trust you” It’s hard to explain, the trust you feel for him, the safety as you let him lead you once more through the jungle. You are bleeding, in pain and still ever so aware of the dangers around you, but you have an implicit belief that with Riddick you are as safe as you can be. That if there was ever a person to carry you through this it would be him. 

You might still be confused, might not understand what he means by you being his mate or by his obligation towards you, but you know that he isn't leaving you for dead and that is enough right now. That is more than enough.

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

                                                   All Works Taglist

@charradelange @belfry-bat  @gabile18 @beccaboo929​  @trasheater

[dailymeruem]

Royal Guard Nomenclature

You might know the Royal Guards for having some creative names, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably read HxH Wiki trivia on where the names came from. However, I haven’t seen any comprehensive post getting right into it, so lets have some fun research time and look into the origins of the Chimera Ant Royal Guard’s namesakes and how they might have affected Togashi’s characterizations of them! 

While i’m trying to keep everything as brief as I can, this will be a longer post so if you want to gain some knowledge and kill some time, read on! I’ve linked sources throughout the post for further research!

Naming Origin Sources

All three of the Guard’s names - Neferpitou, Shaiapouf, and Menthuthuyoupi, respectively- were chosen by the Chimera Ant Queen prior to their birth in the story. They are mashups from two sources - Ancient Egyptian mythology, specifically the pantheon of traditional gods and goddesses, and a French children’s book series entitled Caroline et ses amis (Caroline and her Friends) written by Pierre Probst. 

The Guard x Egyptian Gods

In Ancient Egyptian life, people worshiped a large number of deities which represented natural forces and phenomena (sunlight, life, childbirth, etc). The people regularly offered sacrifices and performed rituals to please the gods so that these forces would continue to function according to divine order (ma’at). Each god or goddess had complex relationships, characteristics, and symbolism associated with them. {x}

Neferpitou x Nefertem

The first half of Neferpitou’s name, “Nefer-”, is derived from the Egyptian deity Nefertem. A very ancient god by Egyptian mythos standards, this god is associated with the lotus flower, as he was believed to have emerged in a water lily from the primal waters at the creation of the world. He also represented the first sunlight and the lovely smell of the Egyptian blue lotus. Nefertem is usually depicted as a young, beautiful man, and sports titles such as “He Who Is Beautiful” and “Water Lily of the Sun”. {x}  {x}

In HxH, Neferpitou is the first Royal Guard to be born, which ties in nicely to Nefertem’s being a very early god born from the creation of the world as well as being associated with the first sunlight. As for the beauty aspect, Neferpitou’s androgynous appearance could play into this factor, as some gods in the Egyptian creation myths were depicted as androgynous.

Nefertem’’s mother is often credited as being Bast/Bastet, the guardian goddess of cats, or Sekhmet, the warrior goddess of healing (both goddesses are often considered to be two aspects of the same goddess). These goddesses are both depicted with cat or lioness heads, and so Nefertem is often depicted with a lion’s head or as a lion. I needn’t say more about this tie to Neferpitou! Aside from the cat aspect, Sekhmet’s being a goddess that both goes to war and heals is reflected in Pitou’s dual nature- both a ruthless killing machine in their own right and with their Terpsichora ability making instant armies, and a reliable healer using the Doctor Blythe ability, showcasing a compassionate side. {x} {x}

Shaiapouf x Shai

Shaiapouf’s Egyptian name component comes from Shai, which, interestingly, is not so much an entity as it is a concept- the deification of the concept of Fate. The name Shai is usually translated as “that which is ordained”. This god was said to determine the span of each person’s life; he was with each person at their birth and remained with them through their life until their final judgement in the underworld (duat). Shai would offer the true life story of the individual at their judgement, and could either protect or damn them. This deity has so much power in the Egyptian mythos that even pharaohs and other gods were subject to it.  {x} {x}

Now, although Shaiapouf as a character doesn’t have an omnipotent power over fate, the concept of fate runs really strong in Pouf’s characterization. Pouf, along with the other Royal Guards, was present at King Meruem’s birth, and intended to stay at his side throughout his whole life, guiding and protecting him. This is a role that Pouf seemed to take to heart, almost to an extreme. As we know, Pouf saw the King’s destiny of becoming the ruler of the world and dominating all other species as being absolute, and began to actively work against the Guard and even the King himself when he began to stray from the fate that Pouf had “preordained” for him. Going so far as to attempt to kill Komugi, who was the most important person to the King, Pouf’s actions, although out of a motivation to protect the King, would have been damning for the King had he succeeded.

Shaiapouf’s nen ability, Spiritual Message, gives us a hint as to his namesake as well. The god Shai hid nothing from Osiris (god of the underworld) at the final judgement of that person’s life, and so does Pouf’s ability allow him to see the absolute truth about a person’s emotional state by reading their flow of aura. This gives Pouf the ability to come to conclusions about that person’s personality, thoughts, and possible course of action, seemingly allowing him to predict their “fate”. {x} 

Also, this may be a trivial fact, but Pouf has the habit of ending his sentences with, “That’s all there is to it”. A very final and fateful statement indeed.

Being a concept, Shai is neither male nor female, but is more often depicted as being male. In this form, he is often said to be married to Renenutet (cobra goddess of child rearing who gave newborn babies secret names), or Meskhenet (goddess of childbirth). These three are often depicted together which gives us a definite picture of the cycle of birth and death. {x}  {x}

In HxH, after Meruem is mortally wounded by the Miniature Rose Bomb, we get the lovely and terrifying experience of seeing Pouf and Youpi feed themselves to the King in order to revive him. In this scene, both guards are ecstatic as they have ascended to the level of a Chimera Ant Queen and are filled with an unconditional motherly love for their King. The ties here between this occurrence and these trifecta of gods associated with birth and life are pretty strong.

A few final small factoids: The Greek people associated Shai with their god Agathodaemon, a god of fortunetelling that was considered to be a serpent. As well, the word Shai was also an Egyptian word for “Pig”. Thus, Shai was sometimes depicted as a serpent-headed pig, also called the Shai animal. I am reminded of the time Pouf was shown to be able to rearrange his cells to impersonate a certain blind Gungi player.

Menthuthuyoupi x Montu

The final Royal Guard, Menthuthuyoupi, bears the name of Montu, a very powerful and ancient god in the Egyptian pantheon. Montu (also written as Monthu or Menthu, the latter which Youpi uses in his name) originally was a manifestation of the scorching effects of the sun (Ra), but over time this was modified to mean destructiveness in battle, which led to Montu being known as a god of war. He was said to attack the enemies of cosmic order (ma’at).Montu is usually depicted with a falcon head or a bull head. Falcons were a symbol of the sky, and bulls symbolized strength and war. {x}  {x}

Montu was often linked with other gods and is depicted as a fusion of those gods. For instance, because of his association with Ra, he often appears as Montu-Ra. Occassionally he is linked to Atum (another creator god) and Set (god of scary natural phenomena and deserts). Over time, Montu was also linked to Horus, a god associated with the pharaoh, and therefore Montu is sometimes seen as being a symbol of a Pharaoh as a ruler and conqueror.

In HxH, Menthuthuyoupi definitely embodies the warlike aspect of his namesake. Being the only guard not made from human genetic material, he is able to act on instinct and devote himself completely to being a soldier for the King, attacking anyone who threatened the King’s divine rule. Being immensely powerful, Youpi was capable of immense damage with his Rage Blast and Rage Incarnate nen abilities. As well, just as Montu gradually evolved over time to represent more complex aspects of life in Ancient Egypt, so too did Youpi evolve over the course of the Chimera Ant Arc, which gave his life new and more complex meaning.

The many forms Montu can take reminds us of Youpi’s unique Metamorphosis ability, which allows him to change any part of his body at will to suit his needs. Youpi’s Rage Incarnate form, in which his body takes the worm of a winged centaur, is a callback to Montu’s two most common depictions; as a Falcon (Youpi’s wings), and as a Bull (Youpi’s hooves). {x}

One of Montu’s wives was thought to be Tjenenet, another goddess of childbirth, which has ties to the event of Meruem’s rebirth discussed in Shaiapouf’s section above.

An interesting tidbit of info is that Montu was sometimes though to be a guardian of family life. He is sometimes mentioned in marriage documents to enforce commitment; infidelity is described as “the abomination of Montu”. While this doesn’t really have anything to do with Menthuthuyoupi aside from maybe reflecting in his loyalty to the King, the next time you feel tempted to cheat on your significant other, imagining a frowning Youpi may dissuade you.

One thing that each Royal Guard has in common with all of their Egyptian namesakes is that all strive to support what they see as the Divine Order using their individual strengths, even if their methods of supporting this order greatly differ.

The Guard x Caroline et ses amis

The Caroline series is a series of French childrens picture books, or albums, written and illustrated by Pierre Probst. There are 44 books in the series, which were written from 1953 to 2007. They follow Caroline, a little blond girl who is independent and active, and her 8 mischievous animal friends, who talk like humans. The series was adapted into an animated TV show titled Caroline et ses amis in 1994, which is most likely the source Togashi got the names for the Royal Guards from (and you can find on youtube!)  {x} {x}

Neferpitou x Pitou

Pitou is one of the 8 animal characters in Caroline. Pitou is a panther, and he appeared in a collection called “Les Albums roses” (The Pink Albums) in 1952, which were a precursor to the Caroline books, thus making Pitou the first character of the future Caroline series. Pitou is characterized as being lazy and cunning.

In HxH, our Neferpitou was the first of the Chimera Ant Royal Guard to be born, just as Pitou was the first character that began the Caroline series. Both of them being a cat is also a very obvious connection that both share. While there are other cats in the Caroline series, Pitou being a panther harkens to Neferpitou’s wild nature. Caroline’s Pitou being both lazy and cunning are character traits that show up in HxH’s Pitou as well; we see them exhibit extreme intellect in science, military strategy and manipulation, but at the same time they are the most playful of the Guard and get distracted very easily.

Shaiapouf x Pouf

Pouf is a white kitten that wears a blue bowtie. He is characterized as being elegant, snobbish, and eccentric. He is prone to going on rants about his dreams of greatness, much to the annoyance of everyone else, and he has little quirks such as hating water and the cold.

If it weren’t for the physical description, you might have thought I was describing HxH’s Pouf- he too is elegant, snobbish and eccentric and often goes on long, intellectual rants, which are mostly never followed by the rest of the guard. Shaiapouf is also always wearing a flowy white dress shirt that features a bowtie-like collar which is reminiscent of Pouf’s white fur and bowtie. While Shaiapouf isn’t known to hate water or cold, he does manifest peculiar quirks such as melodramatic monologues and playing his violin when he is upset.

Menthuthuyoupi x Youpi

Youpi (also spelled Yupi), is a cocker spaniel dog. He is naive, turbulent, and a little bit grumpy, but also generous, devoted and affectionate. He can be fearful and prefers staying home to going out on adventure. He really likes being cuddled by Caroline, the main character.

Menthuthuyoupi in HxH displays a lot of similar characteristics to his namesake: naive, turbulent, and devoted are all adjectives you could use to describe him. Because of Menthuthuyoupi’s lack of ego, he is solely devoted to the King and his divine destiny, not bothering to give a thought to other courses of action, which could be a reflection of Caroline’s Youpi prefering to remain in the safety of home. After Meruem’s revival, when Youpi and Pouf share a affectionate spiritual bond with him, Youpi is shown to cherish the new bond he has with his King, just as Caroline’s Youpi is affectionate towards Caroline.

~~~

One thing that all the Royal Guard share with their Caroline namesakes is that both sets of characters unquestioningly follow an independent leader character that they love and support. As well, in the case of Neferpitou and Shaiapouf, their manner of dress is a homage to Caroline- Pouf dresses in a very elegant and frilly ensemble, very French of him, in my opinion- and Pitou’s outfit is reminicent of both an old school French military uniform and a child’s school uniform.

A bonus Caroline homage in HxH: The titular character Caroline is famously depicted with her pigtail hairstyle. A certain blind Gungi player is also famously shown sporting a similar hairstyle.

Bonus Section: Meruem’s Name

Although not containing as much lore as his Royal Guard, the King’s given name can give us a few fun tidbits in keeping with the etymology of the Guard.

As you know, in-universe, the Chimera Ant Queen states her son’s name, Meruem, to mean “the light that illuminates/shines on everything”. His name is very close to the common Arabic name, Maryam (مريم), which has multiple romanized spellings. The most notable use of this name is in Biblical history as a form of the name Mary, who was the mother of Jesus, and Miriam, who was the sister of Moses. 

It is thought that the name might have roots originating in the Egyptian language; the words “mry” (beloved) and “mr” (love) are thought to have been derivatives of the name.This root meaning would work in portraying the love that the Ant Queen had for her son, even before birth.

Other scholars have thought that the Hebrew root words “mr” (bitter) or “mry” (rebellious) were the basis of the name in the case of Miriam, as she was born at a point in history when the nation of Israel was subject to bitter slavery by the Egyptians. “Bitter” and "Rebellious” might be words you could use to describe Meruem, at least when he is first introduced to us. {x} {x}

Other fun tidbits: Meruem’s characteristic “neutral” face expression, young and feminine facial structure, and characteristic “cat eyes” is very reminiscent to a lot of ancient Egyptian art. One that stands out in my mind is the famous Head of Nefertem statue, found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, which depicts the Pharaoh in question as a child in the form of the god Nefertem (remember him?). Interestingly, both Meruem and Tutankhamen were kings that ascended the throne (and died) very early in their lives. I’ll let you look at the piece and notice the similarities yourself!

~~~~~~

And that about does it for all the conclusions I’ve drawn. I hope you enjoyed reading through this and that it prompted you to do some reading and research of your own! Togashi chocked HxH full of fun little references to things in our real world, and it’s so much fun to do a deep dive to find all this trivia. If you think of/find any other fun things too add to this post, feel free to reply/reblog with additions. Cheers!

[submissivekpop]

got7 reaction that i cant word properly even after retyping it like three times; hybrid roommate being frustrated to hell and back because [member] doesnt realize they can hear him moaning the reader’s name while masturbating

Mark

Kinda oblivious, to be honest. Doesn't realize what's going on until you tell him. I mean, he did notice you were frustrated, but he simply thought it had nothing to do with him. He was sure of it. He's honestly so dumbfounded when you tell him that yes, you can hear him moan your name almost every night. He thinks you're making fun of him, at first, then turns the deepest shade of red as soon as he realizes you're not.

Jaebum

He's doing it on purpose, you're sure of that. Moaning you're name loud enough for the neighbours to hear every single night you're at home is not a coincidence, especially when you have people over - whether it's friend, a date or anyone else, he doesn't care. Secretly wishes you'd do something about it, but he doesn't know what to expect when you tell him to quiet down, or face the consequences. Seeing you mad at him, however, turns him on more than he'd be willing to admit. "Make me." he says, and you're more than happy to oblige.

Jackson

He'd be lying if he said it didn't turn him on. He's having the time of his life, but you don't know it. Snarls at you whenever you talk to him, subtly mocks you and manages to make fun of you in the most imaginative ways - last time I checked, not a smart way to say “hey, I like you”. You can't tell if he's doing it on purpose, or if it's just the way he is, but you almost feel like he's trying to get on your nerves - and boy, he's good at it. He's not even surprised when he ends up pinned against the wall. "I've been thinking about this for ages" he blurts out, and you can't help the grin forming on your lips. "Yes, I know. You're pretty loud, you know that?"

Jinyoung

"I don't know why you're mad at me, but I'm sure it's not a good reason" he says, and you suddenly feel like punching that pretty face of his. Of course it's a good reason, how can he think you'd be mad at him for a stupid reason? Okay, maybe you're not exactly mad, just... frustrated. Frustrated because he seems almost incapable of getting any of the hints you've been dropping for the past two months - maybe, you think, maybe you should be more straightforward, and so you do. "I know you think of me when you jerk off." His face turns pale, then becomes as red as a pepper. "W-Why don't you do something about it?" he asks, trying not to sound as embarrassed as he is. "Maybe I will." you say, and he feels the sudden need to sit down, his legs trembling.

Youngjae

On the verge of tears the moment he notices you’re frustrated. He thinks it’s his fault, as if he’s done something that made you angry at him. Tries to confront you about it a couple of times, but he immediately chickens out. Drinks a little too much with the hope of finally succeeding in asking about your recent behaviour, but falls asleep on the couch before he can get to your room. To make things worse - or better, depending on how you see it - he has a wet dream, a wet dream that, once again, causes him to moan your name. He wakes up as soon as your hand touches his shoulder, almost startled at the sudden touch. "You've been doing that for quite a while, shall we make your dreams come true?" you ask, and he feels his head getting fuzzy. Definitely wasn't expecting it, but he's not going to reject your offer. He's not a fool.

Bambam

Here’s one that gets frustrated because you’re frustrated. Acts like an annoying brat for an incredibly huge amount of time, getting on your nerves the more he stays around you. Yes, because, apparently, leaving you alone is not something he’s capable of. “What did I even do, uh?” he asks. “If you think you can take it out on me just because you’re such a big and scary wolf-” The death glare you spare him is enough to make him shut up, but definitely not enough for him to leave alone. That’s until, that same night, you notice he’s taking a little longer to shower. Then, it starts again: he moans your name - not once, not twice, but at least a thousand times. Knocking on the bathroom's room probably wasn't the smartest idea, but it's the only one you could think of. "Hey! I can hear you!" you say, and he goes quiet for a moment. Then, almost unpredictably, he answers. "How about you join me?"

Yugyeom

Comes to you with the biggest puppy eyes you’ve ever seen. “Are you mad at me?” he asks. “Did I do something wrong?”. Almost cries happy tears when you tell him that, no, you’re not mad at him and that no, he didn’t do anything wrong, you’re just… frustrated. “Why are you frustrated? Did something happen?”. Something did happen indeed - something that implies him, your very own roommate, jacking off in his room while calling your name. He has no idea about it - he still doesn’t grasp how enhanced senses work on humans, no matter how many times you told him to just think of you as a dog. Or a cat, whatever he likes best. You think about telling him, but you know he’s probably going to faint or die of embarrassment - or, even more likely, hide in his room and never come out. You pretend everything is fine, but you eventually get to the point where you can't take it anymore. You have to tell him. As you thought, he spends the next three days in his room, only getting out to get some food or go to the bathroom. You can't hear a single sound coming from him, not until he decides it's time to put on a show - he doesn't just want you to hear him, he wants you to catch him red-handed.

[goodlucktai]

What about some hurt/comfort for Natsume & Natori? (Not slash tho)

Natori doesn't seem like he has anyone in his life to take care of him except his shikigami :(

x

"You need to sleep," Hiiragi says. Her tone is unchanging, an unhurried monotone, but somehow it manages to carry a thread of concern.

Shuuichi waves her off, sifting through papers. "In a minute. I just have to finish this."

A group of exorcists in over their heads sent these reports earlier today. Yesterday, now, Shuuichi amends inwardly with a bleary glance at the clock in the kitchen, which reads an inappropriately cheerful 6:07 AM. And they'll arrive to collect them, along with Shuuichi's notes, in just a few hours.

"They are presumptuous," Hiiragi says, "to assume you had this time to spare them, and on such short notice. You're busy."

"Not with anything that matters," Shuuichi laughs. It comes out not sounding like a laugh at all. Hiiragi tips her head incrementally to the side, no doubt staring at him behind her mask.

"Your work does matter."

"This work does," Shuuichi says, laying a hand on the papers scattered across the desk. "The other stuff-- "

"The 'stuff' that pays your bills," Hiiragi says. "The 'stuff' that keeps you fed, and gives you reason to leave your house and interact with people who won't make you think about ghosts."

It's Shuuichi's turn to stare. "I didn't realize you were such a firm believer in my acting career."

"I don't understand it," she says frankly. "But you enjoy it. It may not be.... 'vanquishing evil,'" she goes on, quoting the report the exorcists sent as if it's something slimy she's peeling off her shoe, "but that doesn't mean it doesn't matter."

It might be the lack of sleep talking, but Shuuichi feels strangely touched. He has to swallow before he can reply, something that happens rarely, if at all.

"I'll make sure to sign an autograph for you," he teases, grinning. "But only after I've finished this."

"Hm," Hiiragi says. She doesn't call him an idiot, at least. A few minutes after that she leaves from the living room window, ostensibly to patrol the neighborhood.

Shuuichi will just finish his notes, and then set an alarm for-- he checks the clock again, and winces-- and hour and a half. He'll get that much sleep, at least. He's worked with less.

At some point, the front door opens. That's odd. Only a few people have a key to his apartment, and none of them who do live anywhere near here. His shiki certainly don't use the door.

A familiar voice says, "Hi, Natori-san."

Shuuichi lifts his head, so fast his vision swims. There's Natsume, standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the sitting room, hands full with a cardboard drink tray and a brown paper bag bearing the distinctive golden arches. He looks decidedly windblown, as if he flew the whole way here. He probably did.

His brow is wrinkled, mouth tucked into a frown. It's the way Shuuichi imagines Hiiragi's face looks behind her mask at least ninety-percent of the time.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Shuuichi says, pushing himself upright. He has to lean on the desk to get there. Natsume clocks it with a flick of his eyes but doesn't comment. "Don't you have school today?" Shuuichi goes on, desperately trying to remember what day it is. Friday, right?

"No school," Natsume says, putting the drinks and the bag on the counter. "Teacher's institute."

"Are you in trouble?" Shuuichi asks carefully.

"I have to be in trouble to come visit you?"

Natsume wanders into the sitting room and sets his messenger bag and his ugly cat down on the sofa. He actually points a stern finger at the cat in clear warning that it needs to behave itself, as if it isn't actually a giant monster capable of leveling buildings should it so choose. Something about that manages to be hilarious, where it isn't slightly horrifying.

Shuuichi smiles a bit. This weird kid means the world to him.

"Did you bring me breakfast?" he asks lightly. "I hope that's coffee."

Natsume is so receptive to any manner of kindness, even after the life he's lived, that he smiles back like a knee-jerk reaction. It still feels like an accomplishment when he does.

"Tea," he corrects. "And some egg sandwiches. The sausage ones are for sensei. Can you eat with me, or-- if you're too busy-- "

"I can take a break," Shuuichi says, and slings his arm around Natsume's shoulders, steering him back into the kitchen. "Let's talk about what dragged you all the way out here in the early hours of the morning, shall we? Does your mother know where you are?"

"Of course she does," Natsume insists. "She even sent some leftovers with me. I put them in the fridge already."

Shuuichi is in a vulnerable state, and that just about undoes him. He clears his throat and takes a big, scalding gulp of tea instead of saying or doing anything embarrassing. "Tell her I said thank you," he manages.

"Or you could just call her," Natsume points out dryly.

"Or I could just call her," Shuuichi agrees.

In his defense, Shuuichi truly didn’t stand a chance. The combination of heavy food and a hot drink… the pale fingers of dawn creeping through the shades at the kitchen window… the steady back-and-forth of comfortable, friendly conversation… no one asking anything of him, expecting anything from him, except his company…

He dozes off in his chair at the counter, face buried in his folded arms. He feels someone draw a blanket around his shoulders, their cold fingers lingering protectively near his nape, and Hiiragi’s voice says, “Thank you. He’s very stupid.”

“No he isn’t,” Natsume replies loyally. “Well, not all the time.”

It’s ridiculous how well Shuuichi sleeps after that.

He wakes up a solid ten hours later, the blanket slipping to the floor. The TV is on in the next room. Hiiragi is perched on the counter beside him. Her mask somehow manages to appear both smug and judgemental without actually changing at all.

“Sleep well?” she asks with no inflection.

“What-- time is it?” Shuuichi asks blearily, looking around for the clock.

“A little after four,” Hiiragi says. “Those exorcists have come and gone.”

“What?”

“They didn’t come inside. Natsume dealt with them at the door.”

“Sorry, Natori-san,” Natsume pipes up in the doorway. He shuffles a bit, self-conscious until Hiiragi seems to catch his eye. Then he lifts his chin a little and says, “You seemed tired, so I handled it. Hiiragi and Sasago both said it was okay.”

Betrayal, Shuuichi thinks, glaring hard at Hiiragi. She gazes serenely back, entirely unmoved. He’s firing her.

“Natsume, I appreciate it,” because there’s very little in this life that Natsume could do that Shuuichi wouldn’t back him up on, “but don’t talk to strangers. Even though they’re exorcists, that doesn’t automatically make them trustworthy.”

“I don’t trust most exorcists,” Natsume says plainly. “You’re one of, like, two exceptions.”

And there’s a lot to unpack there, but for some reason the first thing Shuuichi thinks of to ask is, “One of two? Who’s the other one?”

After a beat, in which Natsume looks as though he doesn’t want to answer, he admits, “Hakozaki-san.”

“Hak-- the recluse with the dragon shiki? The owner of that mansion we watched burn?” Shuuichi laughs, unable to help himself. It unwinds tension in his body he hadn’t even realized he was holding. “Natsume, you never even met him!”

“I still liked him!” Natsume says hotly, embarrassed. “He was friends with yokai!”

“And I’m sure if he’d had the chance to know you, he would have spirited you away as his son and heir within two business days.” Shuuichi chuckles, leaning back in his chair. “Lucky for me he didn’t have the chance, I suppose.”

Natsume huffs, but he still climbs into the seat next to Shuuichi. After a beat, Nyanko-sensei hops up into his lap.

“I might have gotten you in trouble with those exorcists,” the boy admits. “I told them to do their own homework from now on. That if they kept taking advantage of your kindness, you wouldn’t help them anymore.” He glances at Shuuichi sidelong from beneath his fringe, and adds, “They got mad, so I sicced sensei on them. I, um, think they thought he was my shiki. I also think they thought I’m from your clan. I couldn’t tell ‘cause they were all, um-- screaming, at the same time.”

And-- okay. There is a right and a wrong way to react to this, clearly. A teenage boy using his terrifying yokai friend to menace people within Shuuichi’s network? Not good! Very bad, even!

But Shuuichi has to lean forward against the counter, face buried in his hands, because he’s absolutely howling with laughter. Natsume is stammering, trying to explain himself, but he doesn’t say sorry. He isn’t sorry for sticking up for Shuuichi. He showed up at Shuuichi’s apartment at seven AM with McDonald’s on his day off from school, and chased a bunch of exorcists out of the building, because his friend needed a break and that’s just the kind of person Natsume is.

The kind of person who deserves something fancy for dinner tonight, Shuuichi decides, and he’s still smiling as he reaches for his phone.

Hiiragi places it neatly in his hand.

“I don’t want your autograph,” she says. She doesn't call him an idiot out loud, but she's probably thinking it.

Hell, he’ll order something fancy for her, too.

[austarus]

Harrison Wells (Eobard Thawne) x Reader Ballistic Confrontations (2/3)

**A/N: The picture/edit/gif does not belong to me. It belongs to its rightful owner.

Word Count: 4578

Part 1   Part 3

Oliver’s eyes narrowed at the doppelganger he had struck down. What a fool. Oliver-X nudged the body with his foot before giving the unconscious Thawne doppelganger a rough kick to the chest. The impact of the sound was drowned out by the alarm. The body had lurched to the side and the man’s glasses flew off his face, yet still no response. A cruel smirk crossed the Dark Arrow’s features, secretly feeling satisfied on taking out his pent-up rage towards Thawne against a weak mirror image. A damned fool to not be prepared for a secondary attack. He should have known better. Oliver hummed to his thoughts, his eyes showing nothing but utter coldness. Ruthlessness. This was his path after all. Weak, just like the rest of this world. It’s so-called ‘heroes’. Pathetic. Oliver looked on with no remorse as he walked through the halls, boots.

“Such a shame.”

This is what needs to be done. An image of his Kara drifted to his mind, the way her body convulsed. The blood that lingered. Her smile fading. But Oliver-X shook it away. She would be fine with their forces at the warehouse, there was enough action going on in order to legitimize the scope of their distraction while he infiltrated his doppelgangers base of operation. Thawne’s labs- or as Oliver thought of it, Thawne’s Castle of Cards. He is the only one among them that knows it tech and secrets inside-out. The Queen doppelganger cracked his neck, readjusting the bow in his hand as he braced himself to face-off with the lackeys that were left over in this forsaken excuse for a laboratory. Everything is going according to plan.

***

Mick and Frost had already left, planning to intercept the Earth-Xers in the Speed Lab. Meanwhile you were to stay with the ladies as backup. Electricity hummed through your veins as adrenaline pumped. Multiple camera feeds showed your friends either fighting or getting dragged to the Pipeline. Still radio silence from the others. You gritted your teeth as your eyes focused on the screen where the fiends threw Harry into a cell like ragdoll. Their first victim. One thing was for sure, Oliver-X was here directing the grunts while his cohorts were distracting the dispatched heroes. Felicity had her tablet handy in case she needed to work her tech magic, shutting down the Cortex mainframe from being accessed by Oliver-X and his cronies. Iris had quickly suggested the vents were the best place to hide until they can determine what necessary steps you three would need to take to get to the others. The three of you would not succumb to the position of sitting ducks. Unfortunately, Iris didn’t have enough time to grab a laser rifle from the closet.

You climbed into the vents first with quiet movements, Felicity following and Iris behind her to seal the vent. Closing your eyes for a moment, you focused- tuning out Iris and Felicity’s hushed words of worry for their men and your friends. You tuned out the dull thrum of electricity that emitted from the labs’ computer system, focusing on one type. Cellular electricity. Human generated electricity. Snapping your eyes open, you lead them down a few routes. The two women chalked it up to your knowledge of the ventilation system as you’d hid here multiple times to escape the tension in the Cortex, but really it had been the intensity of electricity that steered you. The multiple electrical signals that spiked made you keen on navigating away from those corridors and rooms. More Nazi’s would be on guard there. One little scuffle with the wrong group could alert Oliver-X. You breathed a sigh of relief as the neural electricity passed by, unaware of what lies just above.

Iris didn’t know, neither did Felicity. No, they would never know. No one would. No one would ever know that you could shatter a person’s nervous system with a flick of the wrist. Never know that you can put the one of the most vital organs into cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest usually resulted from an electrical disturbance in the heart. It's not the same as a heart attack. Shutting down cells, yet overstimulating neurons. How would the human body fare? They were… morbid curiosities that haunted you. But rather giving into those conjectures you settled for a milder solution, immersing yourself into the field of electrical neurophysiology rather than contemplating how a person can expire by your will. Eobard had been intrigued with your desire to understand the physiological field that your powers can be derived from. He helped you, of course, entertaining the electricity that sparked in your eyes with understanding. You breezed through medical articles and journals, understanding the neural circuitry and it’s outlets. Yet, your intent wasn’t to kill (not to his surprise), just to render an adversary unconscious for a period of time. Or in a speedster’s case, the ability to jumpstart their heart and motor functions. Stimulating a failing organ, should the situation arise. Even in a way to hypothetically understand how a speedster’s body can siphon off your generated electricity without harming their natural laws of the Speedforce.

But like any meta, there were hypothetical limits and lines drawn, even to a possible conclusion of short-circuiting your own body without careful proctoring. You’d be lying to yourself if you hadn’t wanted to push your abilities further than that, but you hesitated. The desire was strong, but the darkness was too powerful. Could you afford the hypothetical blood on your hands? Would you be able to sleep at night, knowing that you’d be just another monster? Questions like that swirled in your head, but it’s the remembrance of your friends that you didn’t give into that… dark instinct.

You’d done it before. Once. On accident of course, but you were overwhelmed with anger and terror and fear that night. Trudging on, that moment resurfaced to the front of your mind. Your skin prickled as you remembered the sensation. Feeling the meta’s heart stop and mind short-circuit with neural electricity. The body shut down. The electricity out as if you’d turn off the lights inside the intruder’s body. You didn’t mean to. You were just scared. There was just… so much blood. Blood on the ground. Blood on Harry. Harry’s blood. Your breath hitched for a moment, but the two ladies behind you were none-the-wiser. Swallowing harshly, you pushed the image of the dead meta and Harry’s half-terrified/half-surprised face. You both never talked about that incident, nor did he ever bring it up to the others. It wasn’t his right to, after all. Two years had past, but that incident remained with you. You’d sworn that a moment like that wouldn’t occur. The guilt was too great on your conscious even if it was for self-defense. But…

Looking down from the vent opening, you realized your electrical instincts had brought you close to the entrance of the Time Vault. It was the one place Felicity and Iris can at least hold off in. You just needed to buy them some time. Felicity is more than capable of utilizing Gideon into locking the Time Vault, especially without Eobard around. After a few minutes had passed, you deemed that it was safe enough to drop down. You found the panel entrance, unlocking the pebbled room with your handprint to the side of the panel. Felicity and Iris jumped down, your plan dawning on them. You eased them in with a push. The fake panel wall reintegrated shut. You didn’t have much time.

“Find a way to get in contact with the Legends,” You spoke as the door had shut. “Smalls and Tinman should be aboard with Amaya.”

“What are you going to do?” Iris frowned as Felicity got to work.

“Buy you some time,” you breathed, pulling out your gloves. “It’s all that we can work with at the moment before the Dark Archer decides to play Cat and Mouse with us. If anything goes south, don’t look for me.” You needed to make sure.

“But-”

“Iris, please.” Your eyes trained on her, reluctance present in her demeanor. “Trust me.” She nodded. You left.

Now, who would be the cat and who would be the mouse, I wonder? You mused, climbing into the nearest low vent.

***

“Excellent, I will rendezvous at the warehouse,” Oliver-X nodded, his hand on his comm system. The heroes have been detained, her doppelganger seized. His own doppelganger caught. No more tricks. The labs were secure, remnants of the Earth-1 fighters detained. All is going according to plan. His lips twitched up.

“Did you know that the human body can only generate between 10 and 100 millivolts?”

You jumped down from the vent, landing perfectly on stable footing. The Dark Archer had his arrow and bow drawn in an instant, readily aimed at you. He watched you with careful, stormy eyes. You both stood in silence. One move and he could off me, but so could I. Your gloved fingers fidgeted; a subtle flicker of electricity honed there. “Such a fickle thing, really, when there’s an electrical imbalance within the body. Various things can go wrong.”

The Dark Archer’s eyes narrowed, noting the underlying threat in your words. “You’d be smarter to run. Wouldn’t want to end up like the others.”

“I don’t run from danger.” You smiled wickedly.

“Such naïve words from a hero.”

The dead meta flashed through you mind again. The blood on your hands. Would you do it again? For your friends? Your family? “I’m no hero.” Yes.

You two had circled each other in the dimly light room, tension thick in the air. Dust collected here and there, white sheets covered table and monitors. Oliver-X was amused, to say the least, his eyes locked on you with every intent to-

“-To my knowledge you have a speedster in your arsenal.”

He didn’t blink. “What of it?”

You rolled your eyes. Really, such a man with little words. “Take me to him.” Your hand balled into a fist The bulb behind Oliver-X shattered instantly, yet he did not flinch or look back.

As fun as this could be, I’m not here to play games.

“You are in no place to make such demands.”

Neither is he.

“It’s not a demand, just an innocent request. Indulge me, breacher.” You held your head higher, “You’re not the only one with a love.” You sensed his hesitation as he understood. So, you pushed. “The radiation is killing her, isn’t it? Flew too close to the sun, like poor Icarus.” You couldn’t help but taunt him. Oh, it felt good. Felicity had given you the run down, reiterating Alex’s hypothesis in regarding what she found in Kara-X’s blood cells. It didn’t take a genius to understand why they came here. Why they’d come now. With Eobard in tow. “Too much is too much, in the end. But… that’s why you’re here, right? To fix your love before- well, before the radiation eats at her.” You huffed a laugh and paused. Another lightbulb burst. Each out releasing electrical energy. “Right?”

An arrow whizzed past your head, hitting the wall behind you. The Dark Archer’s patience was running thin. You swallowed thickly but didn’t cower. Fear tickled the back of your mind, but you pushed it away. You needed emotions to overwhelm him into slipping. It clouded rational thinking in even the most skilled assailants. Eobard had drilled that into you.

Breep, breep, breep.

The SS alarm rang against his person. You tilted your head at him, curiously watching what he’d do next. If he chose to fight, then so would you with every ounce of energy in your system and that surrounding you. That comm, you could use that. That’s assuming it didn’t self-destruct when out of his reach.

Oliver-X grunted. His time was running, he needed to get to the rendezvous point. “Fortunately for you, I’m in a good mood. However, one foot out of line and you’ll be joining your friends on this earth’s makeshift cells.” He grabbed you by the upper arm and dragged you to walk with him. “That or an arrow to the heart.” Blunt just like Ollie. Well, this is better than being dead. Yay for progress.

***

Yawning, you shifted a bit in your seat. Your hands were bound behind you and there were two Nazi soldier guards to each side. In a sense, you were absolutely bored. Neither soldier paid you any mind and your hands were getting kind of numb from how long it’s been held back there. Basically Oliver-X dumped you onto them and gave them permission to kill should you escape your babysitters. Great. How long has it been? An hour? Two hours? Where were the others?

“So,” You broke the set silence. “Does this job give you guys any benefits, or do you guys have to like… find your own medical insurer? Does your Earth even do that?”

“Silence, we do not acknowledge such petty talk from someone of your caliber.” Soldier 1 had his finger on the trigger as he turned to you.

Someone’s crabby today. “Well, that was rude. I was just asking a question. Are you guys always this ill-mannered?”

“No, Ian just didn’t have his coffee today and he’s pulling some overtime.” Soldier 2 spoke up from polishing his weapon. Interesting, meaning that it’d be easier to take him out since he’s running on lack of sleep and is exhausted. This guy, though, seems more alert so I’ll maybe have to take his buddy hostage before whacking him.

“Devon! You’re not supposed to be fraternizing with the enemy?”

“How is it fraternizing if it has nothing to do with the General’s heart?”

I think he’s talking about Kara-X. “Devon does have a point,” you piped up. “Honestly, just-”

You blinked and Eobard had sped into the room, wind blowing as he had entered. Negative electricity deliciously licked in the air. Your heart skipped a bit as his red eyes met yours, but your mind anchored you. “Get out,” his distorted voice had hissed at the guards, both who had which shuffled out like ants. You weren’t going to miss them, though their bickering did entertain you. In an instant you were free from the power dampening cuffs and Eobard had drawn his cowl down from over his head along with his techy face shield-mask thing. Just seemed excessive. He took a step towards you with a hand outstretched, but you leaped from your chair and stepped back with a hardened look.

“Don’t touch me.”

A flicker of pain resonated in his eyes, something hollow hit your own heart, but this needed to be done. You needed answers from him, so you kept your distance. “This… isn’t the welcome back reunion I was expecting.”

“Screw whatever it was you were expecting,” You spat, eyeing the SS on his chest in lightning bolt form with disgust. It replaced his Reverse Flash insignia. “Nazi’s, Eobard? Really? What the hell are you doing?”

“You’re angry. Understandable.”

“Of course, I’m angry! You were gone. All of a sudden, three years ago. Erased from existence. And now you’re just… here. With Nazi’s no less. You hate them!”

He licked his lips, frustration present in his tone. He did hate them, every last one of them. “I was just trying to survive.”

“Really? Really? Like this?”

“I had no choice. I just needed some time. Time that-”

You shook your head at him, anger sparking within you. “-No, do not give me the whole ‘time’ bullshit. You can save that for Barry. You owe me an explanation before I decide to over-write every one of your friends’ brains here.”

“They are not my friends,” Eobard retaliated fiercely, he took a breath to calm down. “Did Barry not tell you?”

“Tell me what?” You questioned through gritted teeth.

“You want an explanation,” Eobard had spoken before he whisked you away to the top of one of the Central City towers. The air was crisp, drizzle cascading onto the city. You regained your footing; Eobard gripped your upper arms to steady you before letting go. Message received that you didn’t want him to touch you. “Fine, I’ll give you an explanation. When Barry saved his mother and changed the timeline, he had pulled me from that night and caged me. Like an animal. But,” The yellow speedster started chuckling to himself, doing the little pace he did when he did his monologues. Yes, he does it frequently. “He needed me. He needed me to fix his mistakes. He was losing his speed, his memories of the previous life he had. And oh, did I relish in making him say what he needed me to do the most.” You just rolled your eyes, arms crossing.

“Get to the point, Thawne.”

“One thing led to another and certain… things happened with the Legends and I ended up in the Speedforce after the Black Flash got me, after being erased again. Or so I thought. I… The Speedforce works in mysterious ways, you see. It punished me in for my deeds by sending me to the most miserable place in the multiverse.”

“Earth-X.”

“Precisely. You’ve seen just how ruthless they are, anyone with powers that had opposed them were decimated. I couldn’t die. Not again. I wouldn’t allow it to happen again. Not like that and certainly not at their hands.”

“But others can?”

That stung him. Eobard paused for a moment before his eyes reconnected with yours. “No matter what I could do, they would have found me out. To the expense of those lives, they were already targeted for death regardless of how they can plea or be helped. There’s a resistance group, it’s only a gamble of fate if they’re snuffed out or snuff out the Reich. I was confined to their labs because of my intellect and speed. My task was simple. Find a solution to Overgirl. Fast.”

“And that was to come here. To cut open Kara for her.”

“Here’s the tricky part that they don’t know,” Eobard grinned wickedly, giving you that little look that says he’s got a wildcard up his sleeve, “a heart that they’re so desperately chasing after won’t save Kara-X.”

Enlightenment flared up in your mind. Eobard took a step towards you, this time you didn’t back away. He recognized that look. “A heart won’t stop the cells in her body from replicating and contaminating the heart cells once more. You threw them a bone to get here.”

Eobard nodded, “I studied her anatomy, I’ve made the calculations. Even with a new heart she’d just revert back to her previous radioactive state. The heart would be a temporary fix, but her internal organs are all infected. Festering.” The man in the yellow suit rubbed his lips with two fingers, a move he does when his nerves were getting out of his control. When things were going south, and he needed to recalculate and try a different approach. “I manipulated the calculations in order to seem like the heart would be a reasonable solution along with pumping Kara-X with new blood. Didn’t take long, of course. But I made sure I was the only scientist working on this project. I couldn’t have a liability if others were involved, else they would have made sure I would never run again.” The speedster had marked those words grimly.

Your throat went dry. Death had been haunting Eobard since he had gotten stuck in your time, it even followed him to Earth-X, the place of his punishment. You could have lost him without knowing. You did. Back when he get involved with the Legends, apparently. The speedster stepped closer, the back of his gloved hand brushing against your cheek. You flinched back to reality at the situation, back to the reality of him. Eobard’s heart tugged at the idea that you were seeing him as the rest of those monsters. While he was one, he wasn’t like the ones from Earth-X.

“And Oliver-X is too blinded by his love for her that he’d go to any extent to get her back to 100%.” You summed up. Like how Eobard had done anything to come back here. You gingerly took his hand. What a mess.

“There wasn’t a moment when I hadn’t thought of you while there. But I needed a way back, I needed to get back here. Back to you. I wanted to come back, needed to or else I was going to go insane without you. I was going to lose my sanity and myself there. But the thought of you kept me together. And I would do anything. Even if it did mean ‘allying’ myself with them,” he had done air quotes around that word, “in order to get back here. To my Earth. To you.”

His words echoed in your mind. Anything could be anything. “That won’t excuse what you’ve done. What… what you’d been doing.” I can’t fathom the thought of him… carrying out those heinous crimes and missions. Yes, Eobard is no stranger to committing a felony or five. But to the degree of these Earth-Xers?

“No, it doesn’t.” He wanted to ask. Eobard so desperately wanted to ask for forgiveness, but he stopped himself. “But I hadn’t participated in anything regarding their goals. Just the Overgirl project. Oliver-X wouldn’t have allowed me to anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“You already understand the type of radioactive issue Kara-X is experiencing, provided by Oliver’s Kryptonite arrow.”

“Yeah, Felicity gave me the run down. Her cells have too much solar radiation. Cells subjected to such energy can be fatal to her system. The cells are essentially overwhelmed and overworked that they’re misfunctioning. There’s no regulation in her system or that regulation is waning.”

“The project was the cause… of her imminent downfall. She wanted to be stronger, fly higher, hit harder, so she ordered I subject her to solar rays.”

“Eo, did you-”

“Yes, I did.” He had said it without hesitation. The most logical thing he could have done. Oliver-X, he could handle in a fight. Only a bow and arrow with some fists being thrown, no problem. But Overgirl… “Solar radiation exposure in concentrated time increments were implicated to avoid suspicion on my part. And like I had predicted she demanded a higher dosage when given smaller amounts. Kara-X isn’t a patient person, when she demanded results, she demanded them now. I delivered. She is her own double-edged sword.”

“She was your death sentence,” You deadpanned, you squeezed his hand and he winced. She had broken his wrist earlier when he and Oliver-X were at it. She was not pleased with her threat. “Should you have slipped up.”

“When things don’t go her way she’d take it out on me,” Eobard mused, pulling his hand back to take off his gloves. Recovering bruises and dark spots were on his wrist. Your heart sunk further. “Blamed me for her sickness when even Queen understands it was her lust for power that drove her to this extent.” The genius saw hate flash in your eyes as he felt the electricity spark in the air. “It was either I take her out or the Flash and his friends given her remaining time.”

“Either one would have driven her to her death.”

“Quite frankly, it’d be better for the latter, but since Barry and his entourage were sent away.”

“What do you mean they were sent away?”

“…”

“I think it’s best if I don’t tell you, or else they’ll think something’s up if your reaction isn’t sincere.”

You pursed your lips and deeply frowned. You had gotten your answers, more than that, but then that led to ‘Where the hell did they get taken to?’ And then it hit you like how Weather Wizard hit Barry with an ice ball. Eobard raised an eyebrow at you, knowing you’d figure it out on your own.

“No.”

“I’m afraid so, t-” Breep, breep, breep. Eobard cursed, shutting off the alarm on his person. “We need to go back. Now.” Eobard swooped you up, your arms interlocked around his neck before he sped you back to the labs. Chit-chat over. Back to facing the real problem. Overgirl.

***

What awaited you was a scene you were not prepared for. Kara strapped down to a gurney under red light, one you can assume is dampening her Kryptonian strength to a mere human. She squirmed and grunted, but to no avail. She could not break free. Overgirl was smirking over her, such cruelty and intense demeanor a strange contrast to the kind and soft-hearted Kara you knew. Oliver-X watched with indifferent eyes as guards were stationed outside the med bay.

“I would stop squirming if I were you,” Kara-X mused. “Wouldn’t want your heart to give out already?”

“At least I have a heart.” Kara retorted.

Upon your entrance with Eobard, Oliver-X’s eyes narrowed slightly while Kara-X crinkled her nose. Kara’s eyes went wide but blinked her surprise away as she glared at the speedster beside you. She hadn’t forgotten how he said he’d carve her open from earlier.

“Kara,” you whispered, her eyes were brought back to you and you shook your head subtly.

“Well, well. I didn’t know you liked to play with the rats, Eobard.” Overgirl sneered at you and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes at her. Eobard gritted his teeth but remained silent. You’ve had worse scathing comments thrown your way since being with Eobard before the accelerator explosion. Being called a rat wasn’t anything. Kara-X frowned at your lack of response. “Now, who’s this little… rodent?”

“That’s none of your-“

“-His love.” Oliver-X cut Eobard off. Kara’s eyebrows went up from where she laid.

Kara-X drawled in morbid amusement with a clap of her hands, “How touching.” A twisted smile ran across her lips as her eyes scanned you and Eobard carefully. Eobard had placed restraints on you once more but had whispered to you that they were loose enough for you to slip out should hostilities arise. “Who knew that the bastard speedster had a heart. Such emotions. A person that actually ate up his lies and loved him. Just another monster. Interesting, interesting. Makes this all the easier to-”

“You lay one hand on her, and I’ll personally see to it that you never get your new heart and he dies an excruciating painful and slow death.” Eobard didn’t smirk at the Kryptonian-X. His words were slow and they were lethal. Rather his signature smirk appeared, “After all, I’m the only one fully equipped and to successfully perform your surgery before your time runs out.” He glanced at the wall clock, the second hand moving along with each tick. “Tick tock, time is ticking. For you.” Kara glanced between you and Eobard then to Oliver-X and her doppelganger.

“You insolent-”

“Kara,” The Dark Archer stopped her, a hand gripping her upper arm harshly. She looked him dead in the eye, so much hate, so much anger. Clouded emotions. Oliver-X’s own eyes challenged her in a silent match, “Enough. Let’s go.”

The pair left you and Eobard with Kara, but not before throwing disgusted looks your way. You turned back to Eobard, who had changed back into his normal choice of all-black clothing. You gave him a pointed look, which he understood perfectly.

Now what do we do?

[peppermintbee]

OMORI’s poor writing (Part 2)

Once again, if you are a big fan of OMORI, this review is not for you. Treasure this game, love it, recommend it, make fan art, buy the merch, do what you will with it. I am not here to take OMORI away from anyone. Based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam, I know that my opinion is in the minority.

However, just as the fans have the right to praise the game, I have the right to examine it, criticize it, and explain why it failed to provide a compelling experience. This is second part of my review where I will tackle OMORI’s problematic themes and disrespectful appropriation of mental health.

[ See Part 1: Plot Writing Lies ]

(Note: I use “OMORI” in all-caps for the game title, and “Omori” in title case for the character name.)

Spoilers and criticism below.

Part 2: OMORI’s message is mishandled and distasteful

OMORI provides a warning that it depicts scenes of depression, anxiety, and suicide. Because the game includes these scenes, I assumed these mental health issues are presented in a way that is meaningful and respectful.

However, that is not the case. 

Despite having depictions of such, this game is not really about depression, anxiety, or even suicide. It’s about committing a horrible crime, lying about it, and getting over the guilt.

1. Suicide as a game mechanic

Suicidal thoughts are intrusive, terrifying, and painful. As well as ending the victim's life, suicide wreaks havoc on the lives of those who once knew them. It is often a taboo topic, but discussing such matters is an important step to understanding and preventing it. Video games are a medium well suited to approaching such dark topics.

Unfortunately, OMORI does not handle the topic of suicide well at all.

First, suicide is written as a unavoidable game mechanic that seems to have been included for shallow reasons such as aesthetic and shock value. To leave Sunny’s headspace and wake up, you--as a player--must direct him to stab himself in the stomach. 

But why? It’s not like waking up involves some sort of major sacrifice. In fact, waking up is something that is more or less unavoidable. Reality should be something that snatches Sunny away from his headspace against his will, perhaps as an encroaching darkness that Sunny can run from, but never truly escape. But instead, facing reality is something you are forced to opt into in the most needlessly violent way possible.

Forcing you--as a player--to literally commit suicide just to wake up from a dream is a pointless, distasteful, and disrespectful action that sets a precedent for suicide not being taken seriously in this game. (And it isn’t.)

In the black space, Omori is pressured to kill a cat. In that scene, regardless of your choice, you are forced to kill yourself. However, the act of stabbing yourself has been seen so many times at that point that it has completely lost any impact. Who cares about suicide when it’s been reduced to just a means of travel?

Lastly, if you fail to defeat the final boss, Sunny commits suicide in the real world. However, this is not a cutscene, it is once again something that you--as a player--are forced to do to progress. Putting these actions in the hands of a player is not as meaningful as the writer seems to believe, because there are no other options to progress. Any weight in making that decision is lost to resignation; a frustrated sigh of “Well, okay, fine. I guess I have to click Z here.” You are then rewarded with a SLAPPING pop song and a psychedelic cutscene of Sunny falling to his death. It’s tasteless to its core and appropriates the deaths of every suicidal person as a quirky, shallow “bad end.”

(Seriously, this is how the writer decided to depict a child taking his own life.)

2. Sunny/Omori is a poor presentation of depression

Sunny/Omori does not smile. Even in past photographs before The Incident, he still is not smiling. The contrast between Sunny and his friends stands out like a sore thumb, so I assumed this was the writer’s attempt to show that Sunny is dealing with depression, where he can’t be happy even in happy situations.

Of course, if that were the case it would be inaccurate since depressed people do smile and do hide their true feelings. They are often dismissed with, “You can’t be depressed, I saw you smiling once.” However, I was willing to let Sunny’s chronic frown slide because sometimes you have to oversimplify an idea to get your point across.

Much to my surprise, there is NO evidence of Sunny having depression before The Incident and there is very little indication of him having depression throughout the game either. The evidence of this is that while looking at a family portrait, Sunny comments that he's never liked to smile. Since he's a a baby in this portrait, this goes to show that his not smiling is simply a preference -- a quirky character trait that makes him stand out so that you feel an emotion during the true ending when he finally smiles. 

Everything in the game seems to point to him being pretty happy and well adjusted up until he killed Mari. Then, even after he killed Mari, he pretty much looks and behaves the same way. Wouldn’t it be more jarring and tragic if you saw Sunny was happy in the past, but depressed now?

Which leads me to my next point...

3. Sunny and Basil are not depressed, they’re guilty (and for good reason)

In the book I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t), Brené Brown explains the difference between feeling guilt and shame.

Guilt means: “I did something bad.” Shame means: “I am something bad.”

Guilt, when attributed to bad behavior, is actually a healthy emotion. It means that you have a sense of right and wrong, that you empathize with those you’ve hurt, and it motivates you to make things right.

Shame is an unhealthy emotion. It arrests growth, destroys self-esteem, causes poor decision making, isolates you from your loved ones, and is directly correlated with anxiety and depression.

OMORI should be a game about overcoming shame. All the right set pieces are there. Sunny’s walled himself off, his sister (allegedly) committed suicide, and he seems to be struggling with lifelong depression. However, this all falls apart, when it’s revealed that he killed his sister and staged her death as a suicide to escape blame (with Basil’s help). He DID do something bad. It’s not shame, it’s literally guilt.

All at once, OMORI stops being a game about recovering from grief and depression and becomes a game that demands the player to sympathize with a killer and liar who is hiding from his crimes. Because he and Basil feel bad about what they did, Sunny and Basil are presented as greater victims than their actual victim.

4. OMORI asks you empathize with villains (with ZERO self awareness)

Games where you are playing a character with a guilty conscience has been told before, but where OMORI really fails is that Sunny is not truly held accountable for what he did to others. Instead, the game focuses on HIS pain: since killing his sister he’s been isolated, he’s having nightmares, and he’s suicidal. 

The plot of the game is focused on helping Sunny forgive himself for ruining other people’s lives. The writing barely acknowledges how his friends/family feel about what he did. When his victims’ pain IS addressed, it’s either used to further victimize Sunny (ie: isn’t it sad for him that he made his friends so sad?) or it’s used to reassure the player that Sunny’s victims have forgiven him (or will forgive him). 

In fact, the game holds Mari responsible for her own death, citing that her "perfectionism" must have been what pushed Sunny to attack her. OMORI presents Mari, through headspace, as someone who accepted death gracefully and wants Sunny to live a happy life. She is never given her own voice and nothing in the game suggests she is capable of feeling bitter over her death and postmortem desecration. She plays the role of the Madonna archetype--and the perfect victim--allowing the player to empathize entirely with Sunny while accepting that Mari brought everything on herself.

[Mari suggesting that Sunny acting out his aggression on her was her fault.]

The climax of this game is NOT Sunny telling the truth to his friends. The climax is Sunny defeating his guilt and forgiving himself. We know this because the story does not even show how his friends respond to his confession, because-- once again-- what’s most important thing is resolving Sunny’s pain, not the pain he has caused others. (Though the game does heavily imply that his friends will forgive him.)

[Pictured: the boys shedding their guilt is the true happy ending ]

Imagine, for a moment, if this game was about an abuser, who caused immense pain to someone and got away with it. Then, the whole game was about how they felt bad for the abuse they caused, and-- as a player-- you help them forgive THEMSELF for their past abuse. Then, in the last few seconds of the game, they either apologize to their victim or kill themself. The victim’s response is not shown because it is not important.

This is the plot of OMORI, except with a bunch of excuses thrown on top to make it more palatable. Sunny and Basil are just soooo cute and sad. Killing Mari was an accident. Stringing her body up like a piñata was a juvenile mistake. The boys feel SO BAD that they want to kill themselves. And because suicide is so tragic, you-- as an audience-- are manipulated into empathizing them.

5. In OMORI, suicide is used as a cheap ploy for sympathy

As I mentioned before, suicide is horrible and tragic. People struggling with suicidal ideation need help, support, and respect. That said, let’s make one thing clear: being suicidal does not automatically make someone a good person. There are plenty of examples of criminals who kill themselves to escape the penalty or guilt for something they did. It is so common in the news that I don’t think I have to list out examples.

In bad endings, Sunny and Basil’s suicides are 100% motivated by guilt for their very real crimes. Now, it should be stated, Sunny and Basil do not deserve to die. And because suicide is such an extreme, permanent end for those two boys, we-- as players-- are invested in preventing that tragic end at all costs.

However, the looming threat of suicide is used as leverage to force the audience to dismiss the severity of what Sunny and Basil did. As I’ve said before, the plot of the game is about soothing and alleviating Sunny’s guilt and stopping him from killing himself as opposed to making things right. 

The worst thing is, this tactic actually works. The threat of suicide is so strong, it has distracted many players from the truth that this story is about sympathizing with a boy who has killed his sister, with little regard for those his actions have affected (see point #4).

It’s terrible because suicide is such a serious topic worthy of discussion, but when used as little more than pity-bait, it twists your perception of what the characters did and silences those who try to criticize how this game handles such topics.

6. Mari's suicide being fake is a terrible twist

Lastly, by revealing Mari’s “suicide” as an accidental death, OMORI misses an opportunity to tell a much more powerful story. In the first half of this game, when Mari is thought to have committed suicide at the young age of 15, is a sobering moment. That tragedy is something very real.

If Mari had killed herself as opposed to being killed, Sunny isolating himself after his sister takes her own life is realistic. Mari’s death coming as a surprise is also realistic; how often have we heard people saying that they never knew someone was suffering? That they seemed like such a happy person?

Losing a loved one to suicide does not just cause horrible grief, but crippling shame as well. Those left behind will blame themselves, tormented by thoughts of how they could have saved them, how they would do anything to get them back. That shame can follow you forever, haunting you like a ghost, threatening you with the same fate. Overcoming that grief and shame is no simple task, and I truly thought OMORI was going to be about grappling with grief and letting go of survivor guilt.

Instead, Mari didn’t commit suicide, her life was cut short by her brother. Then, her body was staged as a suicide, forever changing how her family and friends perceived her. Her hanging body did not represent a devastating loss of life and horror of teen depression, but instead is a cheap twist that represents Sunny’s guilt for killing her and tampering with her corpse.

Conclusion:

As I’ve mentioned before OMORI has a lot of potential. The set pieces of a depressed kid who escapes to a dream world to cope with his unresolved trauma is one that had the makings to be very meaningful. However, it fumbles these issues, creating a sloppy plot that results in a problematic message. It’s baffling that this even happened, especially considering the length of time this was in development.

[ditzydawn11]

keep me safe

Neville Longbottom x reader

not requested

warnings: attempted sexual assault

2500 words

THIS STORY HAS MATURE THEMES. My heart goes out to all of the ladies who are a part of the 97%. You are strong, you are beautiful, and you are not alone.

When someone tries to hurt the reader, Neville steps in and protects her like the true Gryffindor he is. 

Neville was your best friend in the whole world.

In third year you had asked Professor Sprout to use her greenhouse to cultivate a plant for your own needs. You had a knack for potions and although you couldn’t stand Snape’s constant droning in class, your passion for the subject was unmatched compared to any other of your studies. 

You had been trying to create a potion that would allow your pet cat, Socks, to levitate. Ever since you first picked her out in Diagon Alley during your first year she had longingly stared out the window in your dorm admiring the owls flying outside. 

Obtaining the magical ingredients was no trouble, Snape often let you come and take what you needed because you were his top student. However, to make it cat safe you needed muggle cat-nip, something Snape definitely did not have on hand. 

That’s what led you to the greenhouse on a cold and rainy April morning with your small pot and bag of seeds in hand. You didn’t expect anyone else to occupy the small plant house at 7:00 am on a Tuesday so you didn’t bother to knock. You let yourself in and were startled to see another student with his back towards you tending to some plant. 

“Oh, hi!” you squeaked out. Before you could react, the poor boy dropped the empty pot he was holding creating a large crash and shattering the clay everywhere. “Oh I-I-I am so-so sorry. I-I didn’t know anyone w-was here,” he said between frantic breaths as he was focused on trying to pick up the pieces. “Don’t apologize, I should have knocked. Let me help you.” you kindly offered. You bent down onto your knees to his level to help pick up the broken pieces. “Here,” you said handing him a rather large piece that was still intact. Neville looked up to grab the piece from your hand. He was so caught up by his own clumsiness that he didn’t get a proper look at you. He was taken back by your beauty, the way your hair perfectly framed your face, the subtle red tint to your nose and cheeks from the cold, and the way your eyes sparkled in the early morning light. Neville could barely get a sentence out when your hands met exchanging the Terra Cotta. “Uh..thanks,” he said quickly looking back down at the ground.

You stood up and dusted off the front of your skirt. “I’m y/n by the way. Sorry again for startling you,” “Don’t worry about it. Oh um I-I uh I’m Neville.” “It’s nice to meet you, Neville, Sprout is letting me use the greenhouse to grow a plant of mine for a potion. So it looks like we will be seeing more of each other,” you happily stated.

From that moment on you and Neville became the best of friends. Though if you were being completely honest, you longed for more. You had gone out with a couple of guys on small dates over the years and Neville even took Ginny to the Yule Ball but you never really clicked with someone like you did with Neville.

Now you were in your 5th year starting to think about life after Hogwarts. Laying with your head in Neville’s lap under a big tree near the black lake you two discussed your futures and what you think you would do after graduation. “Hey Nev?” you asked interrupting the comfortable silence between the two of you. “Yes y/n?” he responded setting down the book he had been reading. “What do you want to do after we’re done with school?” you asked him while staring up at his face from down below. “I dunno, maybe teaching. I’ve pretty much taught you everything you know about Herbology,” he responded with a chuckle. “Hey!” you gave him a playful smack “though I do suppose I wouldn’t have passed my last exam without you basically teaching me the last chapter.” 

“What about you?” the brown-haired boy asked while playing with the ends of your hair. “I think I want to continue my study of potions. I mean imagine developing a potion to finally reverse horrible diseases and terrible curses,” you replied subtly referencing what happened to his parents.

You were the only person Neville had told the story of his parents to. Ever since then you always made an effort to remind him of how proud his parents would be of him. He often doubted his abilities but you how brave and capable he was. You would trust him with your life.

“If anyone can brew those potions it’ll be you,” he said in a quieter tone. “Aww thanks, Nev, I know exactly who I’ll be getting my ingredients from,” you said with a smile. Nightfall was approaching so the two of you made your way back to the castle for dinner. The two of you were an unconventional duo to everyone else but to you, you were best friends and wouldn’t want it any other way. 

Later that night you closed your eyes to fall asleep but your mind began to drift. You began to think about Neville which isn’t uncommon seeing that you spend most of your time together but you were thinking about him in a different way. 

You’d be lying if you said you hadn’t thought of him like this before but what’s even worse is that part of you wishes it was this way. You had noticed a bit of...tension between the two of you on occasion. Like the time you couldn’t reach the top shelf in the greenhouse so Neville came up directly behind you to get the watering can for you. Or when you grabbed Neville from the library to go and watch Fred and George’s newest prank unfold and you held his hand the whole way there. You so wished that something more could blossom between you two but the last thing you wanted to do was jeopardize your friendship. I mean having Neville as a friend is better than not having him at all. You knew you could spend hours thinking about this so you just decided to roll over and try to get some shut-eye.

A few days later you were supposed to meet Neville in your guy’s usual spot after lunch, in the greenhouse, but he didn’t show. You figured he probably forgot (something he does quite often but you secretly think is absolutely adorable) so you left to go and find him. After searching for a bit you went to check for him in his dorm. Before you knocked you could hear faint sniffling from the other side of the door. You gently knocked and called out “Neville? Is that you? Can I come in?” After a few seconds of quiet the door slowly opened to a teary Neville on the other side. You instantly dropped your bag and gave him the biggest bear hug you could. You broke the hug and asked “Neville what’s wrong?  What happened?” “y/n why am I a Gryffindor? I’m so pathetic I can’t even stand up for myself,” he said through his sniffles. “Neville you are far from pathetic. You are the bravest, and most kindhearted, and loyal person I know. That’s why you’re a Gryffindor. Your parents would be so proud of you. I’m so proud of you.” you assured. It turns out that a few Slytherins sabotaged Neville’s potion in Snape’s class so it would explode everywhere. When Neville went to confront them he froze which caused everyone to laugh at him. You continued to hug him until he calmed down but you wished there was some way you could get Neville to believe in himself as you believe in him.

About a week later you found yourself sitting in the courtyard reading your transfiguration textbook for your test tomorrow. You were sitting on a small bench by yourself in a relatively secluded area of the outdoor space. You saw a figure approaching and looked up to see none other than McLaggen, someone who you often complained to Neville about on a regular basis. “So sweetheart, there’s a trip to Hogsmeade coming up and you look like you could use a date,” he said with a sickening smirk. “Bugger of Cormac,” you said as you began to collect your things. “Aww that’s no way to talk to me darling,” he said inching closer to you “you know I don’t like taking no for an answer.” Cormac McLaggen was just about the most disgusting guy at Hogwarts. He had asked out pretty much every girl in the school including yourself on multiple occasions. The answer was always a hard no but he couldn’t seem to get that through his thick skull. “I said I’m not interested now I have to get to class. Goodbye.” you hastily replied while trying to get as far away from the douchebag as you could. Before you could get very far he grabbed you and pinned you up against the stone hedge directly behind you. “What the fuck” you screamed as he began ripping open your uniform blouse and putting his hands on your chest and neck. You fought back as hard as you could but he was just too strong. 

What you didn’t see was Neville watching you from afar. He had been sitting with Dean and Seamus when he saw McLaggen make his way over to you. He knew that you would never stoop to that level but it did spark a kind of jealousy in him seeing another boy talk to you that way. When he saw him push you against the wall Neville reacted before he could think and sprinted over to you as fast as he could. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing Cormac?” Neville yelled as he pulled the asshole off of his best friend. “Just showing her what a real Gryffindor is like since she seems to spend all her time with you, a pathetic excuse of a wizard,” said Cormac as he began to get closer to Neville who was standing directly in front of you as a shield. “Don’t you ever come near her again? You hear me?” Neville threatened without any hesitancy or fear in his voice. “Yeah right,” McLaggen scoffed as he advanced on Neville. However, before he could do any more damaged Neville punched him straight in the face causing Cormac to fall to the ground. 

By this time a small crowd was beginning to form. McGonagall broke through the mess of students “What in the world  is going on here?” She looked at the scene in front of her and quickly put together the pieces. “I see, students get to class, I’ll be taking Mr. McLaggen to Dumbledore. We do not tolerate this kind of behavior. Longbottom, I trust that you will make sure Miss y/l/n is alright. Please take her to Madam Pomfrey if she needs anything. Very well.” and she grabbed McLaggen by the arm and made her way back to the castle. 

The crowd had dispersed leaving just you and Neville. Neville realized that he hadn’t even checked in on you yet because he was so disoriented from everything that just happened. He quickly spun around to face you. Your mascara was completely smeared, you were sobbing, and your blouse was ripped open leaving your bra and chest exposed. “Can I- can I touch you?” Neville softly asked not wanting to make you uncomfortable in any way. Instead of using your words you just collapsed into Neville letting his arms wrap around you in an effort to keep all the pain and ugly things as far away from you as he could.

You don’t know how long you two stayed like that but Neville pulled away eventually and used his thumb to wipe off some of your smeared black eye makeup and tears. “Here,” he said while pulling off his burgundy Gryffindor sweater and putting it over your head. He saw that you were still exposed and didn’t want anyone seeing you like that. “Do you want to go to Madam Pomfrey?” he softly asked while rubbing soothing circles on the back of your hand. You shook your head no “can we just go sit by the lake. I don’t want to go back and deal with everyone yet.” “Of course,” he replied. 

Neville guided you over to the lake and you two rested under your favorite tree. There were no words exchanged between the two of you. Just comfortable silence and a telepathic-like connection that told you that everything was going to be alright. Neville rubbed soothing circles on your back as you lay your head on his lap. You don’t know how long you two stayed there but you soon realized that you must have fallen asleep because it was nearly dusk and you were in Neville’s arms walking back to the castle. 

He carried you back to your common room and up to your dorm. Neville layed you down on your bed and tucked you into the covers. He made his way to the door but stopped when he heard you call out his name. “Hey, Nev? Could you maybe stay? I just don’t want to be alone right now.” “Oh, uh sure,” he said making his way back to you. He didn’t want to make you feel bad for seeming hesitant because honestly, he would love nothing more than to stay with you. However, the last thing he would want to do is to make you uncomfortable or seem like he was taking advantage of you in your time of distress. Plus with his massive crush on you, he gets incredibly nervous any time something remotely intimate or romantic occurs between you two. But he swallowed his nerves and kicked off his shoes to be there for you when you need him most. He would do anything for you. He crawled under the covers and kept a substantial amount of space between you two though honestly, the school-issued dorm beds weren’t that big. 

You didn’t say a word but gently turned over so you were facing away from Neville. You scooted closer to him and in a moment of bravery grabbed his hand from the opposite side of the bed and pulled it over you so you two were cuddling. You let out a sigh of relief partly from Neville not pulling away and partly from finally finding some peace from the stress of the day. 

“Neville?” you called out. “Yes y/n,” he called back. “Thank you for keeping me safe.” and soon after those few words left your mouth in the still silence of the room, you were asleep.

Neville let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and bravely planted a kiss on the top of your head. Maybe he really was a Gryffindor after all.