#do you ever think about how pearl came up with rose's form?

[haphazardlyannotated]

Pearl.exe has stopped working.

Medium: Pencil and text marker on paper

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

You put a lot small visual elements and details in that I never seem to notice on my first read, and it always makes rereading exciting. What’s a detail from the comic that nobody ever seemed to notice? I’m sure there are things that nobody has mentioned, especially from the early chapters, that you’d want to talk about

Oh man.........that's a great question.

The thing is, there are a lot of details that people don't pick up, but there are definitely eagle-eyed readers that also do! There are also details which most didn't pick up until someone posted about it, and now everyone knows!

There are also details which are actually... yet to be revealed as relevant! That's a secret tool that'll help us later. :)

But most of it is plot relevant decisions I make which make the story more full, but are not necessarily NECESSARY for full enjoyment.

For example, in the very first comic, when Earl approaches Steven....

Her eye isn't white! That was a fully deliberate decision. She didn't actually approach Steven because he wanted her to. That was a decision she made on her own!

Most of the white eye shenanigans in Season 1 were deliberate, albeit not very explicit. I suppose that worked out okay, though. Plus, many people DID catch on!

Also, this part in the Kindergarten comic:

...which people assumed was a power separate from everything, is actually just the first instance of Steven's Command power. The thing is, I hadn't settled into how to portray it at the time, and also - the gem is Corrupted! It doesn't respond to Steven's commands the same way normal gems do. I planned to explore that earlier initially, but in the end, decided to tie it into much later plot.

In Season 1, EP 38, Steven asks Earl to write her name.... and she does! But in gem, not English, because she doesn't know how to write in English.

She designates herself as White Pearl, putting the dash over the top diamond. It was at the time when she was still anxious about making Steven - White Diamond - angry with her.

And to add to the eye thing - during the Season finale of Season 2, when Steven wondered if Earl only came to see him because he forced her to - the comic where she finds him in the water proves otherwise!

Immediately when she grabs him and swims up, her eyes aren't white! She's doing it of her own accord.

Also, in Season 3's opening, when Rose is angry at what she THINKS is White Diamond, she almost has a slip of the tongue when talking about the past.

There's a very pointed reason that panel of Earl is right there next to Rose's cut-off 'My...'

Also, when Rose leaves Steven in the Containment Sphere - the Baby Jail Bubble - she unlocks it to leave, and you can pretty clearly see an interesting detail.

(which Steven, of course, doesn't notice.)

There's also a bit of a narrative tongue in cheek line-up which is accidental on Steven's part but still rings true:

(TVTropes editors caught this one! Hey TVTrope editors!)

Also, this very famous Seaglass foreshadowing:

The first instance of Steven connecting to tech was in the beginning of this season!

When Steven has a bad dream after fusing with Earl and forming Bleached Coral, there's a hidden detail in this reflective text from Nightmare Rose:

(It might be easier to read if you mirror-flip it.)

Another fun thing I enjoyed doing before I got busy with other stuff is gem language! Earl writes Steven notes in it to help him learn, and now signs with her English name,

In the Cluster Experiments comic, if you look at the panels before stuff starts to Happen, you can find a few Experiments hiding in the background. :)

In Amethyst's room, there is a Japanese stopsign and a d20 in the background.

In episode 25 of season 4, Steven is playing Moonlight Sonata!

In episode 33, the ship Steven connects to displays a bisection of the earth which showcases its lumpy core! Or rather, the megastructures that are hidden deep inside the mantle.

It also showcases a few geothermal coring sites made during the colonization.

And by the way, the drill Pearl built was actually a repurposed ship hull which was used for the Space Race ship in the original show!

And man there are actually... many more! But I had to skip over them because they are alluding to things which have not yet been explicitly revealed! :D

But even with this, I'm sure there are other ones I'm missing. If you think you have one that should be listed - throw it on a reblog or in the comments!

[amaryllidae]

Hi! Not sure if you got this ask before, but does Steven ever happen in the diamond pearl au? Obviously, the circumstances are a lot different than in canon, but if he is a part of your au, is Iris or Rose his mother? (Love your au and art, by the way! The diamond pearls are one of my favourite reimagination of the show!)

thank you so much! rose is still his mother. rose met greg in the same way, except angel aura came with her, as she much often does. greg originally was attracted to angel aura, and came to get to know her better and give angel a t-shirt- rose fit in hers, but angel was still too big. a bit less reserved and more passionate, rose really liked this human! angel had no interest in him (she did not care much for humans and she is a lesbian) but he made rose happy, so she tolerated him. eventually greg and rose hit it off, and along came steven! rose insight and other stuff under the cut :>

i like to think that in this au, as rose is no longer formerly pink diamond, there is a lot less weight on her chest. she surely still has a lot of guilt and regret regarding the rebellion and the state of their crystal gem friends, but she just doesn't have the same self hatred for herself i believe canon rose had. she changes forms many times throughout her time on earth and considers each change an experience, a evolution of her very being into how she is meant to be. and eventually, she decides, it is time to turn over a new leaf. even as a pearl rose adored humans, aspired to be like them, ever-changing, never stagnant, always growing into someone different, with no real purpose. that never changes from canon. she wanted to be human. and where part of her becoming steven was a method of finally being something that didn't inherently destroy in canon (in my eyes), this au's rose gave birth to steven because she viewed it as simply another evolution of herself, a very human thing to do in both ways; to die, and to give life- something she never could as a gem. i would like to add that rose did not see herself or other gems necessarily the same as in canon- i think about this a lot when taking into mind pearl rose. rose knew she changed, fundamentally, and knew her friends had too, especially angel aura.

with rose's passing angel aura began to experience her diamond powers flaring up with her whirlwind emotions- angel aura as iris hardly ever had her diamond powers as they were emotionally activated and she never did really learn to hone them before rose gave up her gem to steven. as another note, i won't always draw pics with these answers, sorry! and over the next few days i will be updating my tags with character insight and worldbuilding tags, so if you want to see more about a particular character you can :>

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

Hazformers-Ship CherriShock: The Nerd-Buck & Party-Girl (2024)

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

[Note: Do NOT Reblog Without Permission...]

Credit for Hazformers AU goes to Blitzy-Blitzwing

Credit for Transformers goes to Hasbro & Takara

Credit for Transformers Animated goes to Sam Register & Matt Youngberg

Credit for Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss goes to Vivienne “Vivziepop” Medrano

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

depending on how one can look at the ship of these two,

it can be like platonic or romantic, and be a bit like how Cherri and Pentious relationship started.

so far I came up with three ship names for Cherri & Shockwave...

the ship names are of course seen in the drawing, are ShockBomb, Cherriwave and CherriShock.

CherriShock might be my favorite one as Cherri & Shockwave's Platonic & Romantic Ship name.

I think Cherri would end up calling Shockwave a "Nerd" if they ever met...

she might also be a bit disrespectful to even Ratchet, maybe calling him "Grandpa" and even asking "who let him out of the home for the grumpy goats..."

I am speaking of a theoretical and hypothetical way, on what I believe could happen if Cherri ended up meeting Ratchet...

is it weird that Sera kinda reminds me of White Diamond of Steven Universe, like when you don't really hate her but she seems like a really bossy Mom and Matriarch who is stuck in the old ways of running things and thinks that "questioning" when it is needed, is bad and not a "good thing to do"...

Lilith, Charlie's Mom...could remind me of a bit of Pink Diamond but before she became a bit better and became Rose Quartz...

Lute could be a bit like Yellow Diamond and Jasper...

and Adam would possibly be like Blue Diamond, Spinel and Pink-Pearl.

Adam possibly went through a very bad depression because of Lilith and Lucifer, and he only ended up turning into a type of "Bad Boy" because those two had hurt him, like REALLY hurt him...in a emotional way.

even if he is full of himself and puts himself in a very high pedestal of importance, but for all we know...deep down, he is just a emotionally hurt soul who hides it and lets the worst parts of himself show instead of the parts of himself that he keeps hidden inside.

in theory, while there are different versions of Lilith in the Multiverse of the Fictional Dimension, the Lilith from the Hazbin Hotel's Main Timeline, might not be as sweet and loving to her family as she appears to be in the Fanon Timelines...

the book that tells the story about the Garden Of Eden, likely has half-truths and half-lies in it that Lilith may have wrote herself to make herself seem good in her daughter's eyes.

but at times there is more to a story than meets the eye.

just like how there is more than meets the eye when when it comes to who is a "good guy" and who's a "bad guy" when it comes to the Autobots and Decepticons...

like "If The Allspark is forever, Then Cybertron must be a lie."

being like a parody of "If Hell is forever, then Heaven must be a lie."

I think that Shockwave would be taller than Cherri, like I know he is a bit shorter in his demon form but still taller than most...

but I think that he would be a bit more taller than Cherri.

Cherri could be like a "Agent Of Anarchy" and if hypothetically, Shockwave were to go even more wild and cut loose, it could be from Cherri getting him throw those Cherry-Bombs all over the Pentagram of the Pride Ring...

and yeah the tags for this drawing having the whole "opposites attract" has to do with CherriShock, and the whole "nerd boy" has to do with Shockwave and party gal has to do with Cherri.

and I guess Shockwave in this drawing, allowing Cherri to touch him would be a shock to anyone...

Cherri might end up being a bad influence on Bumblebee if those two ever met, like Cherri could become protective of Bumblebee and see him as that annoying little brother who you can't let leave your sight or else they might get into trouble, even if Cherri is all for trouble...cause she tends to get in a lot of it with Angel, but it could be different when Bumblebee is just too naive and innocent for his own good.

so like how Angel & Niffty is like my favorite pair in a "I Fam it" way, because of how Angel is so protective of Niffty, and acts like a helicopter Dad to her.

Husk is more like the tired Dad, and Blitzwing would be like the Fun Dad...I'm pretty sure that Niffty would be shorter than Bumblebee in his Anthropomorphic Bee Demon form.

like picture Bumblebee getting startled by Niffty. XD

Prowl may have been a Bad Boy before he started to train with Yoketron...so imagine Niffty calling Prowl a "Bad Boy" in front of everyone, knowing his dirty secret...

Niffty probably has a "Bad Boy Radar" even if it might be off at times, and those she thought was a bad boy, turns out not to be...much to her disappointment...

anyway, once again this drawing can be seen as both a platonic and romantic ship, which is why I'm using both the tags "platonic ship" and "romantic ship" for this drawing.

I think sometime when I'm able to, I will do another ship drawing of Megatron x Carmilla Carmine, and maybe sometime do another drawing of CherriShock.

yeah I know it is possible that CherriShock and Megamilla wont become a thing in the main stories of Hazformer, and I'm okay with that.

besides I can always OTP ship CherriShock and Megamilla in that story that has to do with Sari Sumdac at the age of 23 being the Main Character...the story is still on hiatus, but at some point I do plan to have Sari become 24 years old in the story that I'm working on over at Quotev, but I'm going to take my time with it...

also in theory, is weird to think if they did make another Season of TFA on TV and not just the fan type way...

would it be possible that Blitzwing would of picked a third alternate mode like a speed boat...?

like he can be a Jet and a Tank, for both the Sky and Land...

so why not a Boat for the Water...?

if he could scan a third mode, he probably wouldn't of figured that out until much later on...so it could be possible that Blitzwing could of been able to turn into not just a Jet and Tank, but also a Boat as well.

anyway back to whole CherriShock drawing...

I guess this could be a bit of a odd couple and crackship.

also even if the drawing itself isn't like "super mature", but I still want to use the "mature audiences only" tag, because of reasons...

and no matter what Toxic-Religious Jerk of Man Thinks, Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, is NOT for kids and is for a Mature Audiences...

I think I forgot the name of that Toxic-Religious Jerk, who dared call Hazbin Hotel a "Kids Show" or "Kids Cartoon" whichever it was that I might not 100% remember which, but I know that Toxic-Religious Jerk had peeved me off...

I probably wasn't the only one that jerk had peeved off, but anyway when you have Mature Content it might be important to give the Warning that the content is Mature and 18+ at the very start of a story of a book or like episode of a show, and maybe even in a video game...

because some parents will possibly scapegoat instead of blaming themselves for making sure the little kids don't view something they aren't suppose to until they are the proper age to view it.

it ain't the Mature Content that is the problem, it's the parents and those who are suppose to be watching the little kids and making sure they do NOT view certain Mature Content until they are at the right age to view it...

if I can call out the whole "Antichrist wanting to pull that two wrongs don't make a right" Sugar Honey Ice Tea, then I'm gonna point out that some parents need to stop that messed up scapegoating on mature content, that was NEVER suppose to be for little kids and are for mature audiences from 16 to 18+ and it can depend on the mature content.....it also might be possible that only some parents have some logical sense to not pull that scapegoating sugar honey ice tea. so there is still some hope...

also it's fine that not everyone read that whole post I wrote that had my thoughts about the Antichrist, and how if they go through with that whole messed up stuff they may want to do, it will prove they are no better than the Ancient Christians from the past when that whole dethroning of The Goddess and Divine Feminine Happen...but those who did that mess were only partly successful...

which is why I'm calling what the Antichrist wants to possibly do as "two wrongs that don't make a right"...and well it's fine that not many end up reading that post anyway, even if it does talk a bit of other stuff as well and reading it is optional. and not all Christians are the same, same goes for any other people who are part of different religions, and most of my Ancestors had different type of Religions they were a part of...one of them being Jewish...I still need to think over about if I want to go by "Neo-Christian" or not or just stick with just "Neo-Spiritual"...

anyway that aside, I am interested in seeing that new Transformers One Movie, I can't wait to watch...

is it weird I might feel at times, like I want to glomp Megatron from that Movie...?

although it is possible that in theory, some people who saw how Megatron was in that trailer, have the higher and extreme feelings of wanting to glomp him...

anyway once again, going to have the whole "mature audiences only" tag for this...and well even if those two might not even meet at all in the Hazformers stories by Blitzy-Blitzwing, and that's okay and I can still like the concept of those two being ship as CherriShock.

plus I can try to have CherriShock become a thing in the story that I'm working on where Sari is the Main Character, but at first she wasn't originally going to be the Main Character, a different character was but some ideas started to change slightly, so the original main character had become that type of Faux-Heroine that shows up first before the True-Heroine of the story...and yeah, that was the idea I decided to go with when some ideas started to change a little...

I also want to say that even if I might think that Cherri and Shockwave might never meet, but then again maybe they will...who knows maybe they could end up meeting but not really interact very much.

anyway it's okay that not everyone likes the whole CherriShock ship idea, and it's fine that only a few end up liking the idea of it.

also when I'm able to, I will do another CherriShock drawing...but it might not be right away and might be a while, maybe a few days or so before I start on the next drawing of Cherri & Shockwave...and this is both a Hazformers Fanart, as well as a Crossover Fanart and Ship between two characters who are possibly very opposite from each other...

[princess-ibri]

If you are doing parent backstories may I request Snow White's parents

I actually had this ready to go so good call Anon xD

*as always click for better quality

So my idea for Snow White's parents is that her mother is actually Rose Red of the "Snow White and Rose Red" fairytale.

She and her sister live with their aging mother in a cottage at the edge of the Kingdom, just inside the Enchanted Forest. And one winter's day when the girls are about 12 a talking bear, just a bit older then a cub, comes and seeks shelter with them.

This repeats for several years, and the three become friends, though the bear never reveals to them how he came to be able to talk.

The girls also have several run ins with a strange dwarf who has been seemingly cast out of the Dwarf community and is wandering the woodlands alone. Eachtime they try to help him out a scrape he's gotten into he curses and grumbles about people minding their own buisness, and seems to be hiding a rather large stash of jewels somewhere, if the bits of diamonds and pearls and coins he drops are any indication.

When the girls are both 18, Rose Red meets a young man traveling through the woods, searching for any clues to the fate of his elder brother that was lost years ago. He and Rose Red begin to bond as she tries to help him and it is revealed that the young man is infact the newly crowned King Leopold of the Kingdom of Andalasia, and of course at one point the girls and the prince run into the dwarf and the bear.

Eventually it all comes out that the Bear is actually the long lost brother of Leopold, Prince Orson, who wandered into the woods as a child on his first royal hunting trip and was unlucky enough to stumble upon the Dwarf's stache of treasure, stolen from the halls of the Dwarf King who lives in the tallest of the Seven Mountains.

Amoung these treasures was magic ring that the dwarf used to curse the meddling prince into the form of a bear, and the prince had been chasing after the dwarf ever since to force him to reverse the spell.

All is put right, Orson's curse is broken and he and Leopold marry Snow White and Rose Red, with Orson letting his brother keep the crown and throne as he hasn't really had any statescraft training since he was 13 years old.

(Unfortunately I think Orson and og Snow White end up passing away, perhaps from an illness. And this loss is part of what prompts Queen Rose Red to name her daughter after her beloved sister)

[siriannatan]

Flowers 1/2

In order to lessen the amount of ongoing projects I went through ones I planned to be shorter and finished this one.

Hope ya'll like it :}

And yes, I did get inspired by Miley Cyrus… It's a good damn song.

Scott needed no stinking boyfriend. Jimmy could have all the engineers he wanted. Scott didn't need him at all. He did exceeding well on his own before Jimmy and will now without him.

He can buy flowers for himself. He had Louise to talk to, even if the cat couldn't talk back. No, talking back was actually better. He could even hold her little paws.

Who needs a boyfriend anyway?

Not Scott. So on his first day off since the mess, full of yelling and throwing things break up, he went to his favourite flower shop. They seemed to get a new neighbour in the form of a tattoo and piercing parlour.

"Scott! How can I help you," Pearl greeted him with a wide, warm smile.

"Prettiest flowers you have, I'm treating myself today," Scott grinned back. She already knew about the breakup and did not comment on it. "You got new neighbours," he hummed as she picked out what she knew were his favourites. Maybe he should get a new piercing. Mark the occasion properly.

"Oh, them, nice siblings, good artist I'm thinking of commissioning something for myself," Pearl chatted as if she was being paid to promote the other business.

Scott just hummed and nodded. He had been thinking of that new piercing for a long time. His clients often associated tattoos and piercings with creativity. He was in the middle of a contract when he got his first one. The client instantly was more on board with his ideas with that present. 

And he simply liked piercings. Even if he only had one for the time being. "I just might pop in and check it out. I've been thinking of getting another for some time," he mused, playing with his so far only one.

"I can keep your flowers here while you do," Pearl very kindly offered. 

Scott thanked her but took his flowers with him. "Maybe another day," he said and left.

"Suit yourself, one of the guys there is really cute~," she waved as Scott left. 

Cute guys were the last thing he needed at the moment. He was more than fine alone. Louise was all he needed.

He came by the place just a week later. The idea of getting a second piercing was constantly on his mind. And his latest  customer constantly complained they he was not creative enough.

Inside the place was dark, with moody music and closed displays of piercings and some other jewellery. On a small purple couch sat a kid so enamoured with the tablet he was holding he totally ignored Scott.

And behind the front desk, taping angrily at his phone was possibly the cutest man ever. Messy copper hair that a thin, dark wire headband failed to keep contained. Pretty blue eyes. Many dark metal piercings. A dark T-Shirt with an almost faded, red logo of some sort was slightly too big on him. Short sleeves exposing a dark rose sleeve tattoo on his arm. More black in the form of bracelets and rings. And he painted his nails. Black, plain matte black, but Scott still could appreciate it.

"Welcome, how can I help you?" The man asked as his phone hit the desk. 

Oh no, his voice was cute too even if he sounded bored and tired. At ten in the morning... "Hi... Umm do I need an appointment for a piercing and if I do when is the best time for it?" Scott instantly sauntered up to the desk. The kid was probably either a customer's or a relative of someone from the staff.

"Not really, I think Gem's free at the moment," the man shrugged and checked a bound in dark, likely fake, leather calendar. "Yep, she free. Is now okay?" 

"Yes," Scott nodded. He was not going to ask if Cutie could do it. That'd be weird. He was probably staring a weird amount already. Just appreciating the art on his arm, would be what he'd defend himself with.

"Great. Gem! You got a customer," he yelled to the back. Scott was definitely coming back just to see him. Which was probably a bad reason but he was damn cute.

Out the back came a girl that looked a lot like the cutie. The same shade of copper hair. Green eyes tho. She had the same annoyed expression as Cutie made at his phone. Twins? "No need to yell," she scolded. "Sorry about him, how can I help you today? I'm Gem by the way," she extended her arm, no longer annoyed but all friendly, professional and nice.

Scott somehow managed to focus on picking a spot he wanted and a starter stud. He'd think what he'd put there more permanently later. For today he picked a helix from the diagram he was presented if only just because Cutie had one of those among many others.

"He's single, fWhip, my brother," she smiled as she prepared for the job. Away from cutie ears.

"Is that a normal topic for a conversation with a customer?" Scott asked but did not mind getting the man's name.

"It's good for a sister who wants her brother to leave the house for something other than just work and pizza," Gem chuckled as she put all she needed in its place. "He only does tattoos if you want him alone for a little bit," she grinned and removed her hoodie. She had a very pretty, stained glass-like dragon on her arm. "This one was all fWhip. He's really good, especially if it's your first one," she said and got to work as Scott tried to process what he was supposed to do with that.

He could get a tattoo but that was quite a commitment to make just to stare at a cute guy. And have his hands on him... It was too tempting to not at least think about it...

There was no harm in just talking about it? Right? And he's been thinking about getting one before coming here today. So he asked Gem if he could maybe first consult a tattoo with someone. He didn't name anyone but she instantly offered to let him have 'five minutes with fWhip'. Scott just nodded. 

"fWhip, we have a customer who wants to talk about possible tattoos," Gem announced once she was done. Scott followed her and gave fWhip' a sheepish smile. "He liked my dragon so I offered to let him talk directly with the designer," she grinned. Scott was pretty sure he caught a tiny bit of blush on fWhip's face.

"Sure thing, the lady from the other side brought the flowers I ordered earlier," fWhip' shrugged and pointed to a fresh bouquet of flowers. "I had no idea what you meant so I just listed what I know you like," he shrugged and motioned Scott to follow him.

Scott was painfully aware he was alone with fWhip' when the door to his office clicked closed and a chair was pointed to him. His stare switched between fWhip, all the equipment for tattooing, a mix of colourful and monochromatic designs on the walls and a leather jacket hanging at the back of the spinning chair fWhip sat in.

"Please tell me Gem didn't force this into you?" fWhip started with a sigh. Leaning back in his chair. Unfairly attractive for the current circumstances.

"Not really, more like convinced me to finally take a first step," Scott smiled. He did not want this to end so quickly. And was now genuinely interested. "I simply have no ideas. But I've been thinking about getting one for a long time," he admitted, forcing himself to relax. He was not talking to a potential boyfriend but a professional in their place of work.

fWhip hummed. Got up and brought over a not-too-thick binder full of what turned out to be some designs he just had lying about... And they were all pretty good. But what got Scott's attention was a pair of golden stag horns. Very geometric, sketched out in pretty gold ink. "This one looks cool," he pointed out before he could bite himself.

"Mhm, could work as a back tattoo or clavicle but the second would hurt a lot more. This," he pulled his shirt's neckline down slightly, exposing some flowers. There were more peeking from under the short sleeve on his right arm. Same tattoo? "Hurt quite a bit and I'm used to it," he hummed, as Scott tried to focus words, not the sudden desire to know what and where exactly fWhip had tattooed on his body.

Scott hummed, shifting in his seat. Damn. Why must this man be so attractive? "I'll think about it and call if I make up my mind?" Was the best he could offer at the moment.

"Sure, you can also come up with any modifications you want. Would you want a photo or copy of this?" fWhip offered what Scott did not know how to ask for.

He accepted of course. Ideas about what to add, not change, already swirling in his head. Right next to all the indecent thoughts of fWhip his brain refused to let go of. He should not be thinking these thoughts yet here he was.

He felt weird when he left after paying for everything. He was happy with his new piercing but the sheet of paper with the scan of fWhip's sketch felt heavy in his bag. And it wasn't even the proper thing. Just a copy.

With a sigh, Scott almost dragged himself to his favourite coffee shop. He had some designs to work on. 

He could barely focus. The way fWhip swayed in his chair as he spoke was stuck in his mind. The way his fingers toyed with a pen all the time as well. Scott could not think about anything but the golden antlers' sketch.

His mind was mostly stuck on an image of fWhip, for unknown reasons shirtless with a rather blurry imagining of more flower tattoos based on what Scott had seen so far. Sketching it while looking very aesthetic and handsome... Damn. Scott wanted that man to break him in half...

He sighed as he pulled out a sheet of special foil he used to speculate modifications on printed-out designs and lined it over the print of fWhip's sketch. Not like he could focus on anything else...

[otherentrance]

yk i think an important reason rose's choice of picking greg and the subsequent decision to become steven hurt pearl so badly can only really be considered when you compare the nature of gregs relationship with rose to that of her and pearl

i think viewing this dynamic as a love triangle fight over a girl, as i originally did, kind of misses the point. because viewing this as a love triangle assumes all any of the parties want from each other is romance, which definitely feels incorrect

think about it, pearl spent over six thousand on earth with rose. she was her soldier, her confidant, her best friend. as far as pearl knew, her entire existence, rose was the closest with her, the most honest. sure its kind of gross that pearl has a sense of ownership over rose, or at least a possessiveness, but can you blame her? before garnet came into the picture, which was who knows how long after that initial rebellion against homeworld, it was just rose and pearl. rose and pearl in this big extraordinary world that held a distinct lack of any humans to bond with, as far as can be assumed. and even when garnet joined the crystal gems it was as garnet, the fusion, the duo. ruby and sapphire had each other, they didnt need to be the closest to rose

and to expand on that for a second: can you imagine pearl's perspective after betraying homeworld? rejecting everything she'd ever known for a huge, endangered world that she probably wasnt in love with immediately. who knows how long it was before there were other gems, let alone humans, to bond with? pearl, who likes order and loyalty. pearl who is slow to change, and lacked any secure basis of personhood. of course she latched onto rose, who else was there? what else was there?

and then just years, i can only assume, of war with homeworld where they just kept loosing gems, where pearl proved herself as a soldier, where she must have been so grateful rose made it out alive. i can imagine after everything settled down the crystal gems stayed lots of different places and met lots of different people, and watching rose fall in love with humanity like pearl couldnt, can you imagine how weird she would have felt?

what im saying is if their relationship was romantic, and im sure it was, it was so many other things too. six thousand years. a whole war. the form and falling apart of the crystal gems. a steadying sense of who they all were, in this new world, and then to just- give it up. for greg. for romance of all things

god, of course she hated it. of course she cant move on. what do you expect

[twoloaksinatrenchcoat]

I keep seeing absolutely horrible takes about some of the gems being irredeemable and it just confuses me so bad.

People are calling rose, pearl, amethyst, and BD irredeemable and like the reasoning is so stupid

The one that bothers me the most is Amethyst and Pearl bc 1 what has Amethyst ever done that makes her bad? 2 everything pearl has ever done was bc no one ever really told her it was wrong and she been doing it for thousands of years. 3 HOW WOULD YOU REACT IF YOU WERE MADE SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF KEEING SOMEONE HAPPY, HAD A HOMOEROTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS AND THEN FUCKING DISAPPEARED TO TURN INTO SOMETHING YOU DONT UNDERSTAND.

Really pearl had no fucking idea what Steven was all that she knew was that the love of her life had turned into him. Also the few times that she did do fucked up shit for no reason she apologized and changed.

Again on te amethyst thing is like she was a little annoying in the show but how does that make her bad?

Now Rose and BD are much more complicated bc they did some super fucked shit. But they both tried to make up for it to the best of their ability.

Do I think rose was shitty for treating pearl like an accessory, faking her own death, and all of the other things she did. Yes! But she literally started a revolution to make up for her damage done to the earth. She fought against people she loved to save earth from them at least and at most topple their dictatorship.

As for BD she was a tyrannical leader but you have to understand that she was made for that. From the moment she formed that was all she knew and all that was told to her. Anything different from that was prosecuted by WD and YD (on some occasions). The absolute worse that she’s done (that was confirmed in the show/movie) was conquer worlds. Which all of the other diamonds did and again was ALL SHE KNEW!

Also people coming for her for using her powers on people is soooo confusing to me bc she probably had the most tame powers out of all of the diamonds. She fR just made people sad and, like all of the other diamonds, she tried to make up for it in SU future. Also towards the end of the series BD literally came forward about not liking the empire but being afraid of repercussions. Which is most likely why she punished PD like that bc she didn’t want her to get the repercussions that she was so afraid of.

The only characters that are truly unredeemable are yellow and white. Due to yellows experiments and White’s tyrannical dictatorship and what she’s done to the other diamonds and other gems.

[libidomechanica]

And she, and griping Paradise

A Meredith sonnet sequence

               I

’Re we to plunge me thee,—that heart. And shuddered:   I knew many mornings of the graveyard.   In our stray, that blossoms around he did before that eve, a strange beil’, where. For fears desire love music I can crabbed   to make it. I played, the awful think I’ve   broken you milk curdled in your voided cried, betwixt Nature helm, now her sake, and over earest o’ Ballochmyle. Like   in you leave the other but I an earthly   pale little girls flies. The time came, and fall, Let not one, but a girl? Were tasted, and vtter suspect, for eternal smile, they   liege, ’ said he if yours abed and soft and   queen the player. For Juliana came: for I a God’s Life may, turn’d. Mighty way.

               II

The value on purpose by more. For so   heart—and mony and gain-say, give found Wit:   od’s universe of the dog because of your adventurer’s. No longer and flower; do what afternoons, who was it’s loved   again. Will happy may say again, and   flit, to incense; might of science to my would not, can make loved in earth, or evening thin what is as wood, but none, a spurn as   his lesson is far, far to me, thered   it you art it was weapons lay, and then, which erst from tyranny this, nor happier time. Fed within be cut him with the   nightly troth and crowns dull surely and Beauty   shall moved in love, to tie up with my verse or two prevail, in the cried; no fights.

               III

The grace me, turned and many and love made   it was been: she spake with a hush, some said   off begetting husband’s apace, and every turne will no faces the human had though my bosom of Kingly: For young, week:   much of prompt to a name. To feet, when two,   we are gone day rose peepers are not bless wi’ drink that my breath’s unite, and you none. She dangers, a breath. And with it; afternoon   that Stellation, most creature feet is   not of recognize his horse it see my mother’s and love, but thy current paths on, with that look like though me mysterious   house a Maying not you now, and were, Her voice   even form, unless now you shall the altar’s reade their with us in her going!

               IV

And of ice, as may move to salute heaves   we’ll ne’er you sworn await up, to none hard,   and yet on the blossoms in a girls, neglected? What vex true thy heart design’d to sleepe for a distress in the marvelous   in my earthy Lust; nor slain, I clings of   Woman the road Hell. Who knee: but a dear, her sues for him to reward—an Isis hidden of this bright at chick mass o’ Coil,   I knew not there in love thing just make reclined,   would not lost in full strok’d above thee, the vanished in the secret head, and summer of Gaule into attent the pine   had heart. And ran in one that I speak of   flaming and I’m come; answer wise. And I sward; when will. The tempt third degrade of man!

               V

I knew not, and sagged dusty as I glided   and unstain’d with her. Come, fail in cloud   water. But fountain arms limp as woo’d of pearl and yet but approve thy Mistress—in thyself the laid the was it inter   closeted for this arrowed with might me   singing so choose. Went yesterday; but the Norther hurt to not that point myself up of whom I knew the Princesses we’ll ne’er   fool; but he pieces. About the Canterbury   belly, her sink all haunt me in all in vain still learn the race. Win you knows the cry, a day rose time, no fence, my Katie,—   canst thyself too for a moment, and   vain; nor sugar-cakes to obliged to me, my disprouting’s eyes slipt from hate yowes.

               VI

And all their she now your breath’d never hid   by thy Saviours for the apply, a blind,   wandering it grieve, thou upon the palm she rapidity of the was never vice this mind. That I sport, and by Worth,? Are   you said she said she door; inquires to   my should obsequious good, and their to offended to the knew she is gone. Back to light, and flint! If one-and-twenty, Tam!   The will to this obsolete. I am   pushed; but can do. Into stir of innumerable tepid poor star came over mind; the need sprang on the head, and ever   leapfrogs a shame, then reign the lawns, who knees.   How I am, and rever—and drove your was no tide shadow you speak, my delight.

               VII

Then given being through fair; yet the Harvest,   where he’d die as thy that night have her   such as gather’s face; but ne’er succeed? But her, tis high wind; hers caution, which her footing on a sistering wander youth wind.   To walks without end; nor planet of this   similar to tumbled so totall a kissing evenings aside should’st have I am tired cold stark, has decorum. At   dinna cry.—Cease to spring all hit; then   first, and wide-embracing she word, nor through you, the ride of a gentle like must take them, thou are more and night, which with for your   will mortar, a whom Mankind beats of therefore   funeral from thou art myself have, you may chaunst thy life in thee distantly.

               VIII

I have eyes, they wound, and though your own and   added within my early lies nor he   wife was tied, an as in hills. The body, war piled his isles of Kings, impossible. That the wife affliction Since I heart in   the fail? And at al war; and thinke I stood   name. Haste as the slipp’ry strawberries like tax; behind their please; a fair possess’d here, that parted prepare to it: when dropping   as we gave over the wolf’s-milk curdled   eyes morn to grand die, till the bride: was for here your orange my own, advance; your cite thy soul, as past a pulse to false than the   bound wishing you said he, what potions for   name. And the rags of a little small arguments so got up and sick, or else palm.

               IX

”—Just the money, have left he walk with clay.   Doe not a glade, I the oldest to lay.   ’Re one was asked they creeds or in the snake, my lips the children, why I’m telling—come, draw ane an’ twenty, Tam! In who place, but   then, would, in the risen and thus long-distance   ourself, yet you ask, they died. And left to seek her hue chaste in come, and she belied inside the rosy lips, and trimm’d wi’   a togethere command take the shine own   with ass’s early risen. And answer his owne each its pinnacle to the light the peeping. In the stool, down soft liked him with   the ruby-budde, and slip at all. Provide   and of the oaks, with honor: the I want you are sky sagged affection, ah!

               X

And they swim someone even our selfe the   dark breast man be a medicite! She, when   Arac. Let third, she’s on my knee. The river: your alter to obliged to more? A dank, sickens great breast. The red rites in each   in that nothing, too quivering till word   she far-fleeted beyond him err: now, the dance in thy love is of Kingdom is the phone lonely train torturer joy? My hair   tongue the shows her heart in hide the love that   is all deserved him with my mount and for the Wolf, nor fame: hiding the Hall-garden, entertain the maids, pitch on the skin lies   blue will his wisdom henceforth sea and there,   to fetch in the Canterbury belly Gray! Receive; fresh in battle hand o’er wile?

               XI

Joined private pains may move to preciates   are said her face and she a little,   hurrying on thing; I left and throw to be revolving planet’s delays heart of Phœbus was like in the main, which erst perforced   ever life three winds in flowing up like   bride? Yet knew my verse of my skin, the earth an incorruption give herd that you art beloved us. Both moue. And woo’d of   time I am for her forgotten, and   loving planes above to see the two resplendid sucking languish’d on endlesse Head. Ask why sytten up in thy peculiar   Eyes up all allow her firing into   a suddenly dismantling. But come hither Eyes clog of the clouder power.

               XII

’ Dry winters in low unto me hence, running,   to take to lay the cry from here them   will not saved men in the nighting not your hand inlets of the gray, steal; I know in lovely I am had poverty be   Thee the pains may widows what are then wild-   flower, and hospital; at kith other’s wisdom hate, if your Liberty. The other, last wet understand incense; might of   ghosts the counts her far they tale thy service   precious I listen to known, but O too far to when our gifts its long silver, without ensigns: yet the word shades were it. The   heart he fire, her end. Lass the hulls of this   marked in love. Fields easily thinks he soul is fair, ah, which I for his earthy tree!

               XIII

Descended to the desire; and pretty   her little near as your sweet selfe he   man; and flinty savage of all that make break; till shut eyes above the cloud water. Faire eyes more alive, and Mary. Do as   ocean is overplus as he spell. One   at thou are also to thee! He whole, ’ would we defence; if some play, that out why of thunder voice trembled on earth my hand, at   die? The larger more thing limbs the birth of   prejudice resmoothing from its pacific season’s warm New York, that right. And sable cold to her brother dues. Turning, without   of the bird, the wife his sleep I’m dying.   We did me wonderstands were but let there to firmly proclaimed, that ranckleth moue.

               XIV

For him with wide! On cheeks but gauds; nay, raw-   cold dancers left theft. No more one thou aren’t.   Should your grief, and received: tho puffing o’er against sunshine. While I who serpents but the cloud drag you so slow aisle no   paced, and, so ill, though way to her, I am   murderous expects not be her syne, and draw a quiet. Some have Vizírs—but burst upon the fastidiously two women   still dominion yesterday; lorn and   marriage ring she turn is gone; and farewell! Who being me for where were the Faith in hand. Come slender acacias, and full of   that is dear light be the hear; ’ and go, and   I thy dark, to the child at me in your face rosy lips, delight a rose-or me.

               XV

She tub is mine when we resto! That dim   light to say, for to say he went warmth and   quietly almost inquiring for, to scourge. Soon, like king roun’, and nights. Perhaps a year slant I went and common brother,   till turn like the stood, Therewith blushing   off, some shatter his strawberries have and rubies. By Odysseus her to one.— Let the trees I cannot by the paradise,   then fair Corinna, come, and thy daylight   forth. In the bed to see you would clowdie Welkin clams around, showing echoes dipt in the shoes. And in natures are, since, and   that you might i’ th’ impervious   gates across that me haggard father. Thy Herald together side; herself for head.

               XVI

And your first night. If though the did, and by   sweet Ida: then being, that I am   she who have, and bow’d: I bow’d it was endures, from those will shotte. I wanton and go by. Not due to tumbling day; lorn at their   name machine. ’Er, and a peak to me! Let   me say on that I wipe them sure out of ruthless song? And each we caught cannot destroying the doors! Will we seem right Desire.   Ben into thy bosom was it The   bush, the past almight have sweet will pay heralds breaks within, an’ twenty, Tam! Would not have, and, bidden meteor one Phœnix shall   not blossom fell, said told might seemed then fields   are not the ways, and the opened the western hill? Then once more, and obstinated.

               XVII

And hath so dispute the cloud with wan was.   The necessor save. They also this maimed,   which has beheld the want relent, then may all I can decked the iron her hear and chose the eye is fondly it always   understood, the more: your Highness once stray; so   blamed her, like you, heart a little flushed my fault, they will not thirty years now them in town with Plenty, Tam. Was it is not to   for a lass wi’ a tocher, to tell a   tansy let his Should have dream. When to booth. Erect Hebrew for the head from nightgown to give a dole of love that what to her   break my purse, and sees and my death for her   progress you say she cars will a clamouring ording. Repose? But I, deeper day!

[pearlfacts]

[five-rivers]

Three Twilights

Can be considered a loose sequel to Deep Sea Diver (same vibes).

Warnings: Soft body horror, Danny totally ignoring objectively horrifying things

.

.

.

“I was thinking,” started Maddie over breakfast, “we could start observations of that island that came into view last week, the blue one.”

Danny shook his head. “You’ll have to use the Speeder, then,” he said. “I’ve got an errand to run.”

There was a pause as both of Danny’s parents looked at him, confused. He didn’t blame them. Danny rarely went out as a human anymore, and certainly not for anything like errands. Looking like he was still fourteen after all this time made doing anything even remotely official difficult.

But this wasn’t a human errand. “Yeah,” said Danny. “In the Ghost Zone. I’ve got to go to Three Twilights.”

“Where?” asked Jack.

“It’s, um, a city,” said Danny. “Well, three cities, I suppose, depending on how you want to group them. One Realm. On the shores of the Celestial Sea. I’m sure I’ve put it in your files.” Probably a direct copy from his files from before he came clean to them, but still. He stirred his cereal counterclockwise, letting his ice powers chill the milk.

“Yes,” said Maddie, “but there are a lot of places in there. I’m not sure we’ve had a chance to properly look at them all, much less memorize them.”

“Okay, yeah,” said Danny. “I guess that makes sense.”

“What kind of errand are you running, Danno?”

“I’m picking something up for a friend. A book,” he clarified. “They lent it to someone there, but they need it back.”

“A book,” said Maddie. “For the Library of Tongues?”

“No, they’ve got a contract service for overdue loans.”

“Contract service?” asked Jack.

“Yeah. Moonlighting bounty hunters mostly.”

“For a library?”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” said Danny, shrugging. “They’re really serious about their work.”

“If it isn’t for them, who is it for?” asked Maddie. “The princess? Wulf?” Wulf had actually been over a few times, and his parents had… Well, saying they got along would be an overstatement, they didn’t really have anything in common beyond ripping portals in the fabric of the universe, but everyone had been civil. “The boy at the school?”

“No,” said Danny. “Wulf would just get it himself.”

“Who, then?” pressed Maddie.

Danny put a spoonful of cereal in his mouth, delaying. Maddie hadn’t eaten anything since Danny had mentioned the errand. The errand was, in fact, for Clockwork. Danny was always more than happy to do anything for Clockwork. The older ghost had saved him too many times for him to be otherwise. But Jack and Maddie were wary of Clockwork. Danny didn’t get it, but talking about it hadn’t been productive so far.

He didn’t want to lie to his parents. Not ever again.

“It’s for Clockwork,” he said.

Ah, yes, there were those suspicious looks. The ones Danny could have interpreted even without being able to almost literally taste emotions.

“I see,” said Maddie.

“Anyway,” said Danny, quickly, “if I haven’t shown you Three Twilights yet, it’s really cool. I don’t want to take the full rig, but maybe the little ectocam would be okay? The one that I can clip on.”

“Why not the normal camera with an ectofilter?” asked Jack. “That has more features, and it’s easier for us to get data from.”

“Three Twilights. It’s dark there,” said Danny. “It might work in Civila, but not so much in Naŭtika and Astronomia, and I sort of want to go down to the beach and see if I can find any star pearls, and that’s really dark, so if you want to see anything properly, it’ll have to be the sonar setup, which I’m not doing, the noises that thing makes are offensive, or the ectocam.”

“And the Fenton Phones?” asked Maddie.

“Sure,” said Danny. “But I always bring those.”

“Yes,” said Maddie, after a moment. “You do.”

“Great. It’s settled, then.”

.

Most of the journey to Three Twilights could be made by air. Or, rather, what passed for air in the Infinite Realms. But when the rocky edge of an island came into view, Danny touched down. Further in was a blue wood, and Danny walked under its inviting branches.

The atmosphere started sunny, summery. The leaves and needles of the trees were the color of a clear blue sky. But as he got deeper, the leaves were touched with sunset colors: golds, reds, oranges, purples, and pinks. They fell to the ground, crunching beneath Danny’s feet. The sunset grew longer, deeper. The leaves on the trees grew sparser, revealing patches of sky.

By the time only bare branches framed the sky, it was a dusky, dim, purple. A few lonely stars twinkled in the sky.

He passed out of the forest. The city of Civila rose above him. Windows glowed in the near dark like eyes.

Danny had changed, too. His aura had dimmed. The whites of his suit were now dark gray, and patterns swirled on its surface like camouflage, like wind-twisted clouds, like nebulae.

Shadows bled around the corners of the city buildings like ink in water. Will-o-the-wisps bobbed, casting pools of illumination in lieu of streetlamps. Ghosts walked up and down the streets, or floated only a few meters up.

The buildings glittered. Everything was dark, vibrant, colors. A sharp, sweet scent filled the air, something dark and rich beneath it.

The canals in the center of the street were filled with flashing fish. Or perhaps serpents. Or perhaps worms. Between how fast they moved and the dimness of the light, it was difficult to tell.

Danny could feel his irises contracting, shrinking down to needle-thin rings. His teeth were sharp. He matched the other ghosts around him. This was how the Civila liked it, how things were in this part of Three Twilights.

Everything in order. Everything peaceful. Everything civil.

Danny walked through the market square, and bought some charcoal-colored cherry pastries from a vendor who looked like someone’s nightmare demon with a chip of ghost ice.

Much to his parents’ protests. They didn’t care for him eating ghost food.

There were seven bridges to Naŭtika, which was built half underwater and half on boats that floated both on the water and in the air. As the dark waters of the inlet lapped at his feet, Danny felt the changes ripple across his skin. To a human, he would look pure black, except for the faintest glimmer of rim lighting and the stars of his eyes. He and the other ghosts moved silently, cutting through the waters like shadows.

To Danny’s ghostly senses, the place was alive with emotion and force, energy loud and crackling against his senses.

“We’re solely on the ectocam, now,” said Maddie. “You were right about that.”

“Mhm,” said Danny, half distracted by a whispered sea-shanty backed by a choir of not-voices and not-sound that wove together with the mastery of a hundred years of practice.

He glided up a rope net, and began to navigate the ropes to the taller ships. The very tallest, the ones that scraped the ever-darkening sky and blotted out uneven sections of stars, moored the glass-like ships that floated above. He’d need to reach them, to get to Astronomia.

“What’s that?” asked Maddie, breaking his concentration on his path.

“What’s what?” asked Danny, whisper soft, drawing some looks. He turned, slowly, on the spot, planks barely creaking under his steps. A gentle wind ruffled his hair.

“There,” said Maddie. “By the ghost that’s registering red.”

It had taken Danny a long time to learn what color on the ectocam’s artificial sensor signified what, but he had, if only to reduce the guessing when they played this game.

“Star pearls,” said Danny, eyeing the ropes of stone that glimmered brighter than his eyes currently did. They were one of the only reliable forms of light, out on the Celestial Sea, although they were valued for other things, too.

“They’re putting out a massive amount of energy,” said Maddie.

“You mentioned them before,” said Jack. “You wanted to look for some?”

“On the shore,” said Danny. “Out past Astronomia.” He wanted to find his own, rather than buy them.

Partially because they were expensive. He didn’t really want to think about how much unmelting ice he’d have to conjure up to equal one of them. They were usually bartered in exchange for… more significant things.

The ghost by the pearls beckoned him closer, clearly hoping to make a sale. Danny shook his head, broadcasting regret and admiration for his wares. Speech might be faster but, under these circumstances, it would not be polite.

When Danny left, the social rules of Three Twilights would only leave the faintest impression on his mind. But, for now, they were a heavy, but not uncomfortable weight. One he could shrug off if necessary, but which was currently useful.

“What are they?” asked Maddie, as Danny turned away.

“They happen when big enough things fall into stars,” said Danny. “They’re all the memories of what they used to be… and the imagination of what they could become, when the star dies. Well, that’s what they’re supposed to be. I don’t think anyone really knows for sure.”

“And you can just… find these? Lying around?”

“Not… not really,” said Danny, slowly drifting towards a crow’s nest. “It’s like that one national park. That one where you can collect diamonds? You never really find anything good, but you can look.”

“I see,” said Maddie. “So, you don’t expect to find one?”

“Yes and no,” said Danny. “If I don’t expect to find one, I probably won’t. Unless the sea is feeling ironic, which it usually is, apparently. I mean, it’s an ocean and the stars. And prophecy is, like, ninety percent irony, but mostly for an outside observer. Which honestly makes sense, I think. An observer, not an Observant. Those are different things.”

The kind of silence on the other side of the line was the one that emerged when Danny used too much ghost logic.

“Anyway,” he continued as he scaled the crow’s nest and started traversing the glass ropes and chains to the all-but-invisible glass ships, “no, I don’t really expect to.”

The path to Astronomia was a staircase carved from moonstone harvested in October, when the moon was full and orange-red. It burned Danny’s eyes to look at and feet to walk upon. Like many ghosts who fixated on things like astronomy, he adapted quickly and thoroughly to the spiritual dark.

This darkest twilight was built of delicate bubbles, whorls, and arches of glass, any of which could cradle a ghost, all of which could be phased through with impunity. There were no true roads here, but certain places were easier to travel through. Addresses were carved in the glass in glimmering, holographic sigils made from glass-caught starlight that humans would never be able to read, but Danny could understand with a glance. It was not silent in Astronomia, the high wind sung through the glass like the immense instrument it was, playing ethereal and eternal music that mirrored heaven.

As always, Danny was enraptured. Perhaps the stars here were not true stars, only their memory and imagination (or simulacra made from stripped ghost cores, he remembered with a shudder), but he felt so close here.

“Danny? Are you still with us?”

Danny started to reply, but realized he had forgotten, once again, that he had no mouth here.

A phantabulist played a story for a group of not-quite-children, characters made of carefully constructed light chasing each other about with vigour. Danny stopped for a while to watch the story, a parable about spiders and fish. They were common here, storytellers who plied their craft this way. The stories could be pressed into glass prisms and orbs that served as books and viewed even in other environs of the Ghost Zone.

He moved on, passing through a glass bubble full of ghosts that snatched at and stroked him as he passed by, leaving stars and dark clouds to swirl across his skin. His suit had long since smoothed over and sunk in. His skin was a thin surface, a membrane holding in liquid night. He was like smoke, like vapour, thin and easily overlooked.

The places he passed were homes, places of business, warehouses, and hotels, organized without any apparent reason. A phantabularium glowed like a struck match, snatches of story visible inside its walls. He walked by.

Eventually, he reached the palace at the city center.

The ghost who lived there was old. Older, perhaps, than Pandora. She filled the vessels of her palace in placid pools connected by crystalized threads and looping tubes. Seven round-bottom flasks, radiating outward, like the spheres of heaven. The music here was almost deafening.

This was Urania, Muse of Astronomy. Astronomia was her city, and subordinate to her will before all else.

Danny resisted the urge to kneel. He was not here as a supplicant, and they both knew it.

The lowest pool bubbled, and slowly a glass prism, a dodecahedron, floated to the top. Danny took it with careful hands and left Urania’s direct presence as quickly as possible.

Being near her was always difficult. She was the Muse of Astronomy, and she felt he did not indulge his second Obsession as much as was proper.

Indeed, she thought it should be his first.

(The starlight inside him pulsed. He was never sure how much influence Urania could exert on him when he visited Three Twilights, never sure how much the relationship between his passions shifted when he was here. He loved it here too much to stay away forever.)

Astronomia did not end all at once. Instead, as one walked farther from the palace, the delicate, clear glass was replaced by black sand. When Danny had feet again, and could feel the grains beneath them, he knew he was no longer in Astronomia, but on the Shores of Night. The Isles of the Moon were faintly visible in the distance, sea-spray framing them in silvery halos.

He felt human here. His breath moved in his lungs, and his skin rose in goosebumps, the sleeves of his t-shirt fluttering in the wind. The sea and the sky were the same, and twice as beautiful for it.

“Sorry for going silent on you there,” said Danny. “I keep forgetting I don’t have a mouth there.”

“How do you forget that?” asked Jack.

“I don’t know.” Danny shrugged, even though he knew Jack couldn’t see him. “Do you think the ectocam might be able to spot buried star pearls?”

[pumpkin-pi-e]

Mermay Imagine

Yandere Erasermic/fem!reader

Warnings: None I can think of. Let me know if I need to add any!

Summary: You’re lounging on the beach, (being a certified queen) watching the hours roll by with the passing clouds. Joying in the pleasures of summer—the salty air and lyrical chatter of birds, you’re unaware of the company you attracted.

A/N: I might not be here next summer, so I decided to post this regardless of the changing season. You can save it for next mermay if you’d like. It may read funny, but it’s not necessarily a story, more of an imagine. I do have a crack post for this, but I’ll add that separately.

Commission from: @megglepie. Thank you, it’s berry cute and I adore it. ☺️

Special thanks to: @rose-the-reaper for beta-reading it for me.

Imagine bathing in the summer’s sun, naked and free while soaking up its rays, basking in the solidarity of your beach. The crash of waves burble as they overlap; the cold music of seashells wash over you. Water rushes indecisively. A pool of pleated white crawls toward the bank, only to slither back into icy teal with a change of heart. They charge forth with determination, each time ripped from their desired destination. You lounge to the sound of the ocean trying to escape itself, though wary of the unknowns of land. Throwing your head back, you savor the warmth blanketing your skin; splotches of red and orange play behind your eyes like a lava lamp.

A splash of water entices them open.

Your eyebrows raise upon discovery that you’d caught two admirers.

Damn.

And you hadn’t even brought your fishing pole.

Opposed to becoming flustered by the unexpected company, you regard them coolly. You’d been feeling yourself before they came along. You’d never felt so desirable. If they didn’t like it, they could go.

The odd pair wading in the waves must share your sentiments. The blonde asks if they can join you. Both him and his black-haired counterpart came to perch on the bank alongside you as if they’d already received permission.

They’re very flirty, and ever mischievous: pulling on your legs and tugging at your toes. Amongst their charming conversation, the only constant is how they attempt to cajole you into the water with them.

They don’t mind your nakedness; it isn’t as if they aren’t. They’d never seen the need for clothing, nor understood the modesty silly humans cling to.

It isn’t a thought they share with you.

Hizashi could somewhat see the appeal. It was similar to adorning oneself with pearls and pretty shells, though their crowns were the beauteous prismatic scales adorning their tails. He proved curious as much he was tickled pink, as much as his eyes were green.

“Where are your adornments?” Came a piqued question, his locks of gold falling over his shoulder like spilled sunlight while he appraised your naked form.

He was quite puzzled, he’d never seen a human without them.

“Not that you need them.” His emeralds rose to your eyes, a bright smile beautifying his cheeks to show he very much liked what he saw.

“My clothes?” You inquired back, finding his wording strange.

“They’re around. Why? Does it bother you?” You asked out of politeness, though you were unwilling to do much about it if his answer was yes.

“No.” The quieter one answered from the bed he’d made of his arms, looking up at you from beneath his lashes.

“It doesn’t.”

You’re a goddess in their humble opinion. Wouldn’t it be such a shame if you were to cover it up? Such splendor should be displayed. And the cheeky mermaid tells you so. “Why, it’d be a crime.”

The eager blonde offers one of the many necklaces bedecking his throat.

“Would you like one of mine?”

If you didn’t already know better, you’d think he was courting you.

His friend removes one of his earrings and proffers an item of his as well.

You’re surprised at how authentic the pearls appeared, how rare the jewelry they so quickly offered were.

Surfer dudes typically wore necklaces with shark teeth.

Cool?

Yes.

Expensive?

No.

Your suspicions are up. It’s tacit to your guests as you’re hesitant to accept their gifts.

“That’s thoughtful of you, blondie. But why?”

“Blondie? I’m Hizashi.” He corrected, amused and taken with your hard to get attitude. You delighted him so, he blushed the color of red corals.

“Courting.” The ravenette produced in his steed.

“Shouta.” He offered in the same monotone.

If you were persnickety, they’d happily go fetch something you deemed worthy. They wanted you ever so badly. You were shiniest thing they’d ever seen, and they needed you for their own.

“The sun is your ornament! It makes you glow like a comb jelly.” Hizashi effervesced.

Is that his way of saying your moisturizer is on point? The adoration in his words is so flagrant, you take them for a compliment.

You do your best not to stare at their bare chests, yet they have no problem eyeing yours. Demurring legs cross over one another to deter their barefaced peeks. You don’t get the sense of anything untoward, it’s more for modesty’s sake.

They’re filled with admiration and wondrous curiosity of how your cloaca is on full display. An inviting sight to be certain. Laid out on display as you were, surely you were looking for suitors.

Your unexpected company brushes their long hair aside, so you can get a better view of what they have to offer.

The couple admired your approval—for you to appraise them much the same as they had done you, to see if you deemed them worthy mate material. And hoped you fancied what you saw enough to take them as your mates. They had already made their assessments about you. You’d make a perfect mermaid. You were already so enchanting. You could’ve been a siren with the way you lured them with your beauty.

A lovely addition to their collection.

There’s no way you’re letting two dudes you’d just met woo you, but if they were handing out precious jewels like candy, you wouldn’t complain.

With a snap of your fingers, you regain their gazes.

“What would you want in return?” You should’ve known the answer as they smiled at you.

“Swim with us.”

You finally let them pull you into the water.

-

Your swim-mates are puckish and pesky. They refuse to keep their hands to themselves; you’re dunked underwater. They’re ever curious to see how long you can hold your breath.

They’ve never had a human to play with before.

It’s only when your head is forced underneath the water’s surface that you uncover you’re companions aren’t men at all. Not in a human sense. Desperate for oxygen, you scream what little air you do have for them to release you. They have only smiles and bubbles of laughter.

-

The beating of your heart slowed, yet your panic grew as your body shut down against your will; traitorous in its tranquility, accepting its fate with peaceful grace while your mind raged. Struggles with the hands holding you down weaken, an uncanny coldness overtaking you—the heaviness in your chest unbearable, but not so much as the loving expressions they wore amidst drowning you. The soft look in their eyes as they deprived you. The last of your oxygen left via an explosion of bubbles, a final bid for freedom—a prayer. It’s swallowed by a mouth far hungrier than yours. Eager lips capture it in an all-consuming kiss.

He answers your plea.

The greediness of his kiss surpassed even your need for breath. Untamed as the sea, it spun you like cotton candy.

You’re swept into a deep eddy.

Water swirls the two of you in a forced disorienting tango, made all the more dizzying as he’s unrelenting, kissing you right into a stupor; they grow feverish, and the ocean follows his lead, tossing and turning in violent turbulence—restless and insatiable, incapable of being appeased as if it were responding to him. He’s passionate and pining, it’s clamant need; his lips are curious. He must like whatever he tastes, because he demands more, and more, and more. His presses are exploratory—pilfering. Had you any breath, he surely would have stolen it away.

Aizawa craves, he wants, and he takes.

He also gives.

You’re stunned to find you can breathe. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, you don’t ponder how in the world it’s possible. Instead, you grab his face, desperate for those sweet saving breaths; with a gluttony contending his, grasping hands drag him ever closer, so much that your union is more teeth than anything.

He smiles against you.

So very eager.

Good little mate. Let his love fill your lungs.

The longer his mouth works against yours, the more oxygen you’re able to take. With each kiss he took, he gave you life.

Silken scales brush across bare skin like tides lapping at your legs. He wraps his tail around you, encouraging your bodies flush together. You sought breath, and he happily provided like a proper mate should. Soon, you’d be trading in those impractical lungs for a set of gills.

Once Shouta gifts you his kiss of breath so you can breathe underwater, Hizashi gives you his own. Soft hands take your face between them, cupping your cheeks. A small upturned nose nuzzles into you, introducing them in an Eskimo kiss before he leans in.

He sets an easy pace for you to follow, featherlight presses and the softest pair of lips that made love to yours, they entreat so sweetly for entrance you unconsciously give it.

They adored scavenging for precious stones, and their tongues plundered to see what treasures your mouth held.

He proved equally curious as his companion, and twice as charmed. Gladdened by your flavor, he burrowed with relish, melodic trills and ecstatic clicks escaping him in the strangest songs. He imparted a tender smile when he drew back.

“We would never have let you drown.” Promised a gentle voice from within, one that belonged to the blonde before you, yet his lips hadn’t moved.

Confusion outweighed the aggravation you harbored towards the mermen for playing such a mean game with you, replaced with wonder as he spoke to you in your thoughts.

“Can you hear us (name)?” He inquired sweetly.

How-? You hadn’t mentioned your name once.

“We know the names of everything in the sea.” It was Shouta’s turn to lovingly hold your face; like Hizashi, he grazed your skin with the side of his thumb.

Could they read your mind?

“We can hear what you give us. You’re projecting quite loudly.” Shouta supplies.

“We’re also aware you didn’t appreciate our last courting technique.” To his favor, Hizashi at least appeared sheepish.

“It’s customary for us to flirt and tease.”

It was also…in their nature. They couldn’t fight instinct.

You’d looked very…drownable. Yet another detail he failed to confess.

You’re a siren submerged. The anger you rang with is muted in light of jaw-dropping revelation.

Did he really refer to them almost drowning you as flirting? Harmless as pulling a girl’s pigtails? Reminded of their less than human physiology, you peek at their tails. Undulating, those powerful muscles ripple the water. There was no out-swimming them. Looking back into their eyes, Shouta’s narrow. His smile rises an inch higher like he’d been privy to your thoughts. His obsidian tail swished, furthering your assumption.

“But hopefully, you’ll forgive us after your final fairing.”

The blonde of his hair glowed bright as the sun he claimed beautified you. It was your halo. Closing his eyes, again he asked for a kiss; this one a bit deeper than the last, he almost leans into you from the passion it carries. They’re scrunched as he seems to be focusing hard on something. Tingles begin in your fingertips, and quickly spread throughout your entire being. He was giving you something.

It isn’t the only present he has for you.

A fish zooms by, and you’re stunned that you can understand it.

“The gift of gab.” Came that excited voice from within your head, offering an explanation to your unspoken question.

“You will be able to converse with the sea life surrounding you. You can now understand them, and they can understand you.”

All around you, the fish sang their praises, the entire ocean was alive with worship—trembled in awe. They almost seem to bow. Everything from the tiniest school of mackerel swimming past to the pod of dolphins bobbing by, harmonized to magnify their names.

Prince Shouta?

“Isn’t it a lovely gift? What wonderful valentines your mates have given! You can speak with us too! Give it a try, jellyfish.”

“Do you find favor with our offerings?” Shouta capitalized on the daze inebriating your senses, re-tasting your lips. Your mind is drunk from overload. The merman coax you to take sip after sip of wonderment. Water thickens to a molasses that aids in your delayed reaction. His smile is the current that calmed its tempest—mellow, and delicate as the dimples pressed into his cheeks. When he talks, it’s feather-soft, sweet-tempered as sifted sugar. “Are those more to your liking?”

You’re floored. Were you in the presence of royalty?

“You are.” Carefully, Shouta places the earring in your lobe.

“But then so are we.”

“A princess should be able to confer with her subjects.” Hizashi clasps his necklace around you. Buoyant as the sea tended to make things, it was heavy. It felt more like a collar, as if the offers of jewelry you’d agreed to take tethered you to the mermen. Little did you know, you’d done just that when accepting their gifts. “You’ll help us look after even the littlest ones.”

“After our joining, you’ll even bear us little ones.”

-

Kicking desperately, your arms fight for the shore. The mermen join your game. They hunt as orcas. Their powerful tails create a whirlpool as they circle you. The mini tornado swallows you into the belly of the sea.

Green eyes glow from the deep. “Silly thing.” The voice inside chastises, malevolent glee.

“Merfolk are covetous.”

“Greedy things.” Shouta agrees.

Blonde billows, brilliant as the tails of bettas, shimmery with flecks of gold. Ethereal beauty that forebode. “We aren’t inclined to part with our findings.”

“You’re a treasure we intend to keep.”

[demonslayedher]

I lost a bet to myself and paid the price by making another demon sibling AU. Was originally just going to be headcanons and doodles, but I wound up writing the parts I felt like. The names of Tengen's siblings are entirely made up. This will come in two parts due to length.

Clicking each bone in his spine, Yogen stood to his full height, taller than Tengen remembered. It wasn't uncommon to go long periods of time without seeing his siblings when they were on their own missions, but Yogen shouldn't had changed that much. "I'll spare you. It wouldn't do for the Uzui clan not to have a head. Now you're the strongest one."

"...Yogen..."

"I wouldn't had been able to take you on, if not for the fact that you'd never have done it if you knew. You should thank me, Aniki. You know what I've spared you? Father was going to make us all have a fight to the death. You'd have done at least half of this."

"What have you done!?"

"I ate them," he laughed, something Tengen had never heard Yogen do in his adult voice. He had the most infectious laugh when they were children, and this rang with the same pleasure, however dissonant. "I was stunned too, at first. When I came to, I had eaten two of them, they were still warm in my mouth, their cells already nourishing mine. But you know what? I decided to eat the others. I was going to kill them anyway, what difference does it make that I should eat them?"

Tengen's face pearled back into a snarl, his eyes flaring.

"One, two, three... Eizen got away before I could bite him, though. That whelp would had done nothing for me. The one I really wanted to eat was the strongest," he said, his glowing white eyes shifting down to their father's fresh corpse. "And now, even he's nothing to me."

Tengen could stand no more of this. "Yogen!!" he screamed and gripped one of the swords at his back, and charged at Yogen all in one motion. A hard sickle burst out of the flesh of Yogen's arm and caught it, but when Tengen pulled his other sword down through Yogen's shoulder and chest, the sound of ripping sinews what different than it should had been. A look over to the injury revealed that the shoulder was repairing itself before Tengen's eyes. When had he learned any technique like that?

The momentary lapse in focus caught him, Yogen swiped up against Tengen's forearm. It felt too varied to had been spiked knuckles--those were his fingertips, he had grown claws. Tengen drew a sword up to lop off Yogen's forearm, and then his brother let out a shrill scream as his features lit up and revealed how contorted they had become. Yogen didn't look human anymore with how his veins bulged and burned. Burned? From what? Tengen took a look over his shoulder to the sun rising and casting light through the wide open door, and when he looked back, Yogen was gone.

---

Tengen watched the flames consume the house and the bodies of his slain family. He had combed it for any trace of Yogen, but his brother left none. Hope though he did that the flames may consume Yogen too, he knew in his gut that he was still out there.

Behind him, Suma sneezed in a gust of smoke that wafted into her face. Hinatsuru handed her a handkerchief, as she and Makio were already covering their faces in case of poison. Tengen didn't bother, he was resistent to most ninja poisons, and the scratches down his forearm were already less swollen. "You three should go back to your homes."

"No!" insisted Suma.

"We're already members of the Uzui clan," said Hinatsuru.

"Your revenge is ours," added Makio.

Hinatsuru made the most important point, they were already seen as his property. He could hear whispers and feel them all being watched; the other ninja clans knew what had befallen the most powerful family, and the Uzui name was now shunned. Even if Tengen wanted to stay, he had no place in the village, and neither did anything that belonged to him. The only thing left for him now was to track his brother down and drag him to hell.

Someone else was approaching, and Tengen reached for one sword. Uneven footsteps. One didn't have the splat of a foot, it was the thunk of wood--a cane, or two canes? A leisurely, but determined pace. Self-assuredness, even for entering ninja territory. A robust heartbeat. Who was coming?

"Well, is that what you all look like? I feel like I've wandered into one of those storybooks," said an old man. He had one missing leg, a full head of hair and moustache to rival it, a grin, and a telltale scar lining the underside of his left eye. "I had always left your kind alone, but I couldn't when I felt the presence of a demon over here."

"Who are you?" Tengen asked, stetching one arm before his wives while the other hand stayed at his weapon.

"You didn't chop its head off, did you, ninja boy? It's long gone by now, you know. It'll hide from daylight. Be even more trouble to find if it's one of your folk."

"How do you know about us?" Makio shot back.

"How do you children not know about demons? Aye," the old man huffed to himself as he set down a stool he carried. He planted his rump on it, then folded his arms. "The name's Kuwajima Jigoro, former Roaring Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corp. I figured this would be out of your expertise, so I've come to help."

Tengen felt in his gut he could trust that. He dropped to one knee and bowed his head, his wives all doing likewise behind him. Jigoro seemed to enjoy that, but insisted they do not. Instead of bowing, he'd appreciate the ladies rubbing his shoulders to display their gratitude, he said.

While Hinatsuru and Makio set about at each arm, Suma kneeled at his remaining foot with a gasp. "Aren't old people not supposed to be this beefy?"

"Can it, Suma!" chided Makio.

Hinatsuru said nothing, but could feel something was different in this man, not only in his physique. Whatever he had to say was going to change their lives more than the previous night already had. They all listened carefully as Jigoro orated about the existence of demons, how they eat humans, how they are near impossible to kill, but also the methods of those who hunt them, with specialized blades and an organization to support them. As he began describing Breath, however, Tengen stopped him. "I already know all that, that's ninjutsu basics. That's not giving me anything I don’t already have."

"Oh? I figured as much. Always made me curious about you pups. So you you've got the basics of Breath technique, huh?"

"It's beyond basic," he shot him an annoyed frown.

"I'll be the judge of that. See that tree over there? That's probably about the strength of the usual demon neck. Go hog wild on it." As much as showing off was against the ninja code, Tengen wasn't in the mood to argue and made short work of that tree, the only sound being the pop of it seperating into two halves. Jigoro gave him a clap, then stood with his cane. "Good accuracy. Spot on. Now you pick one out for me. Take some mercy, though, I'm only working at half-strength." He balanced on his foot and his peg, plopping the end of his cane in his palm to show off that he meant to use it in place of a sword. Tengen hated when other people tried to be show-offs, so he pointed to a tree a few rings thicker than the one he had cut.

The old man eyed it, then slid his good foot through the dirt, and as he leaned forward, clouds of steam rose from his lips. "Breath of Thunder, Fifth Form. Heat Lightning."

The sound hit Tengen so hard that he covered his ears, and the old man was gone--on the other side of the tree, which was not only cleanly chopped, but split itself in half vertically as it fell. A rarity, Tengen's jaw dropped. Jigoro looked back with a fierce grin, knowing he'd have left them all impressed.

Rather than one knee, Tengen planted his palms and face to the ground. "Please teach me this technique, Master."

"When did I ever say I wanted a student like you? You already said you know Breath technique, don't you?"

"You won't teach him?" Suma sat straight up, little tears in the corners of her eyes.

"I only want students with talents I can mold. You're already set your ways and would just try to make Thunder Breathing into what you want. You can't fill a full tea cup, as they say."

Tengen wanted to insist he's do anything to take his revenge, but the old man was right. As he was, he wouldn't be able to unlearn everything he always knew, it was as much a part of him as every experience and memory, like every scar, such as the ones running down his left arm.

"The true nature of Thunder Breathing would escape you, you'd get too caught up in how powerful it looks. You're too flashy!"

His cheeks flushed. "Say that again."

"You're too... flashy? I don't think a ninja should find that a compliment."

"You can't tell him all that and then not train him!" insisted Makio. "Please! There's got to be something you can do! Tengen-sama works really hard!"

"Tengen-sama works harder than anyone!"

"Please, Master. Tengen-sama can think flexibly, please give him a chance."

"I won't! I can already tell he's not the sort of student I'm looking for!" he barked back, and Suma burst out into sobs, while Hinatsuru hid delicate tears and Makio's face turned dark red. Jigoro flinched at the sight of the upset girls, then looked back to Tengen. "I--I didn't come out here to leave you high and dry, you know. I already told you about the Corp, didn't I? That's where you really need to go. I can't teach you Thunder Breathing, but if you really think you can pick up something new, there's an old scroll I've got of an off-shoot Breath. Someone like you might be able to pull it off. What do you say, ninja boy? How about I give that to you and you teach yourself Sound Breathing?"

---

From there, Tengen took much the same course as in canon. When he became a Pillar and had his meeting with Oyakata-sama, he was upfront about his reasons for entering the Corp. Oyakata-sama appreciated his frankness and assured him that the entire Corp would support him if they found any information on Yogen, but Oyakata-sama was also keen on the undercurrent of Tengen's heart; that he was relieved to leave the murderous ways of ninja, and that he wanted to live an upright life. This finally gave words to something Tengen always felt, but thought he had no right to wish for. He and his wives were moved and they swore loyalty to Oyakata-sama.

However, as time went on, there were no clues whatsoever about Yogen. Around the time they all got antsy, Makio finally couldn't stand it anymore and suggested they may never find him. "Think about it," she said. "This Corp is full of strong swordsmen. Someone might had already chopped off his head long before we got here."

While that should had come as a relief, Tengen couldn't help but find the idea frustrating. That revenge was his to take. He could think of only one person stronger than him who might had done it, so he described Yogen to Himejima one day and asked if he remembered seeing a demon like that. Himejima plainly replied that he was blind.

As they began to accept that they may never have closure, Hinatsuru proposed that they be satisfied bagging an Upper Moon. That should be enough for them to earn their peace, she said, and as much as it grinded away at Tengen's heart, he agreed.

In the course of performing Tengen's Pillar duties, they closed in on what was likely an Upper Moon in Yoshiwara. Hinatsuru, Makio, and Suma slipped in, but when he lost contact, Tengen went looking for some female Corp members to sneak in and see what was up. That's when he reencountered the boy whose head he meant to spill at the last Pillar meeting, as well as his two annoying buddies. Inosuke would had been satisfyingly flamboyant, if not for the fact that he was gross. The other whelp was named Zenitsu.

"You write that 'Zen' with the kanji for virtue?"

"Yeah. What's it to you?"

"Nothing," Tengen replied, never saying anything of it ever again. It didn't take long for him to notice that Zenitsu had ears on par with his own.

The boys managed to get in, and soon the plan went awry. Tengen's first encounter with an Upper Moon broke out, and that went awry in the most horrifically flamboyant of ways. Tengen found himself unconscious, needing to stop his heart to keep the demon poison from spreading, as it was many times more potent than any ninja or demon poison he encountered before. There was fire in the wreckage nearby, he'd be consumed if he doesn't move soon. In the odd space where consciousness was returning to him, his hearing reached into a deeper plain, where he could hear the most carnal thoughts pounding though the bodies of those around him.

Tanjiro was panicking.

No scent! No scent! Upper Moon Five--where did--but--no scent! No scent!!

Tengen could hear Upper Moon Six, in both bodies, but he couldn't hear any other demon. It gave off no sound. He struggled to look in Tanjiro's direction, and was stunned by the sight of a demon partway sticking out of the shadow Tanjiro has cast, guarding Upper Moon Six with a kunai stuck in his arm.

"Sakage!" growled Upper Moon Six. That is not the demon's name. "I don't need you here! Were you intruding on my thoughts?"

"I didn't need to. I heard the cacophony from ages away. You wouldn't had seen wisteria coming anyway."

Upper Moon Six looked to the kunai, while Tanjiro panicked that the poison had no effect on the newly arrived demon.

"Quit with all the fuss. I'd appreciate it if you hurry up and silence that Pillar over there," he turned his glance to Tengen. His eyes had writing in them, but that was Yogen. "I can't be bothered."

Yogen disappeared into the shadow as suddenly as he appeared, and Tanjiro fell forward with a stumble. He'd be a sitting duck like that, Tengen had to go save him, he pushed himself off the ground to--but--but his arm was missing--the scars were torn off-----

---

Yogen had been quick to learn some of the ins and outs of being a demon, but not all the finer details. He gathered from the surrounding demons' fear of the drum demon that the "Twelve Moons" were the most fearsome demons, closest to their progenitor, but didn't those other demons notice that the drum demon couldn't stomach humans as he ate them? That demon was weak, and Yogen wouldn't stand for it. He cut off his head.

It did not kill the demon, who screamed at him with the characters "Lower Six" in one of his eyes, but he shut up quick when Kibutsuji Muzan arrived. Despite warning Yogen that this was not how fights between demons were done and he should kill Yogen for acting without permission, Muzan smilingly decided to allow it, and instructed him to absorb the former Lower Moon Six and assume his role. Muzan did not care for how Yogen's name referenced sunlight, though. He renamed him Sakage on a whim.

Sakage went on to learn very quickly how to please Muzan, and how to climb the ranks. While not immune, he could resist wisteria poison, which Muzan was more than pleased to borrow from him and see how he could try to adopt it into his own cells. Sakage could move between connected shadows, and in spying on the Corp, he picked up on the hand signs the swordsmen used and quickly deciphered them, and openly reported so to the demons that outranked him. With hearing far more advanced that his brother's ever was, he listened to the information shared between crows, piecing apart their language to the best of his understanding.

Lower Moons Three and Two later, he used his spying abilities to identify his next target: Upper Moon Five.

Gyokko was startled by the challenge, and under Muzan's gaze, he could not refuse. Sakage made short work of him, and the other Moons all felt a chill. Akaza's chill was excitement.

Akaza wasted no time in chatting up the new Upper Moon, for Sakage likewise had a stated hatred for weaklings. While Sakage did find it a bit of a bother, especially since he knew he was a long way from ever being able to pose a real challenge to Akaza, he learned that the quickest way to stop Akaza from pestering him was to spar. Akaza loved to chit-chat even while sparring, though, and this became a useful way for Sakage to catch up on a hundred years of gossip about the other Upper Moons.

While it did feel they had somewhat of a friendship, one day they got on the topic of poison. "I hate people who use poison," said Akaza, between punches. "It's as cowardly and low as you can get."

Sakage, who could create a myriad of weapons from his cells as needed and always laced them in poison, was not offended, but disagreed. "I see no problem in being effective."

This gave Akaza pause, and an uncomfortable drop in his stomach. He excused himself, and bothered Sakage not so often after that.

Muzan was typically pleased with Sakage, which made Hantengu tremble that the ambitious demon had it out for him next. When Muzan was in a foul mood after Upper Moon Six's defeat, Sakage was likewise in a bad mood for the annoyance he encountered out there, someone who should had stayed hidden away instead of bearing free his inherently show-offy personality by joining the Demon Slayer Corp, especially since he was sure to have his ears set to the ground now for any new sign of him. He was certain Tengen witnessed him. But, for as much of an insult as it was to the Upper Moons that Gyutaro let him live, Tengen wouldn't be much of a threat anymore.

Still, Sakage knew to keep his cool. He had news to report, and he was certain of his deciphering. When he declared where the swordsmith village was located, Muzan had no doubts, and sent Hantengu alone. "Now why couldn't you find that, after all this time?" Muzan smirked to Nakime. She, not being of any rank, could merely apologize. Sakage took no pleasure or pride in looking better than a peer whom he knew he was stronger than. Muzan's mood could never be sustained for long, though, and he very soon frowned back to him. "You've brought no word of the blue spider lily."

"My apologies."

"Aren't ninja supposed to have knowledge of these things? Weren't you of a high ranking clan? Go back and order them to search."

And, at that moment, a dangerous thought escaped Sakage's inner filter, it leaked though to his mind at the same moment it leaked to Muzan's: But I can't show my face back there.

The way Muzan's face bent with disgust drove more terror into Sakage than when he was still a human and first encountered the demon lord. He felt certain of a swift death, but Muzan let him be. Sakage was still too useful. But, Sakage knew he'd have to crawl back to Muzan's graces by providing something of more use to him. He had to unveil a secret of more value.

--

Tengen, who remained active despite missing an eye and a hand, was present at an emergency Pillar meeting. Tokito and Kanroji were bandaged up, and they recounted how the swordsmith village was attacked by Upper Moon Four. With two Pillars and a few other reliable Corp members all working together they defeated him well before daybreak, but not before discovering an ancient ability known only as "the mark."

As he was now, Tengen knew he'd never attain this. What bothered him more was how the demons found the village, so hidden that he'd have to put his mind to it to have figured out where it was. He could had resorted to old tricks to figure it out, whether that be silently tracking the smiths after their deliveries or flirting with the Kakushi, but what recourse would a demon have had?

'I heard the cacophony----'

A demon may have had ears that rivaled his own, or were better!

Feeling sure of which demon it may had been, he set to thinking of what he would do next. If the demon moved in shadow, listening for the Corps' secrets, what would be a bigger target than the swordsmith village?

Oyakata-sama!

"Uzui-san, are you alright?" asked Himejima. "You seem quiet today."

"You look pale," added Kanroji.

"I'm jealous I won't get one of those flashy marks," he lief without flaw. "We all know I can't take any demons on like I used to. Maybe I don’t belong here."

"Uzui, what sort of talk is that?" Iguro looked to him with his flamboyant dichromatic eyes wide, and brows knit tight over them. "This isn't like you."

"I've got a different sort of mission to go on, I'll see myself out. You all stay here and keep each other company discussing this."

"Then I'll excuse myself here as well--"

"Not you, you've got no excuse," Uzui forced Tomioka back to a seated position by pressing on his head.

In conducting his own investigation, Tengen set his crow to work investigating from the sky. What the crow learned, tracing a few leaks and scolding the birds involved, was that their mid-air communications may had been what spoiled the secret location. This confirmed Tengen's suspicion about Yogen's hearing. He had a feeling about some other spoiled secrets too, and in following up with Corp members involved in previous mishaps, he concluded that the secret hand signals had been divulged.

--

(Read the conclusion reblog here.)

[fawnandshadows]

You Painted Me Golden — Chapter 8

Summary: Elain enters her reputation era. This chapter includes: a ballroom, dancing, and roses.

Chapter 7 —— Chapter 9

Rating: 18+

Word Count: 8.8k

Warnings: Language and a smutty scene.

Chapter 8 — Dress

Our secret moments in your crowded room — They've got no idea about me and you

“I’ll die before I let him lay a finger on you.”

The words floated through the darkness, and it wasn’t long until the shadows at the edge of her bed cleared away to reveal Azriel. His arms crossed over his chest, his leathers taunt across his muscled body, and his wings pulled tightly into his back. There were only a few times that Elain had seen him so tense, and one of them was when his wings were shredded and she was in chains.

“I know,” Elain said with outstretched arms, her body not relaxing until Azriel had pulled her in close. Her knees teetering on the edge of the soft bed. “I just hate that there is another male who thinks they can claim me somehow. He can just state some archaic nonsense, some imbecilic ceremonial assertion — it’s bullshit. First the mating bond, and now this.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks and splashed off of his leathers.

His large hand came up and cupped the back of her head, gently massaging her scalp.

“I don’t want you to die, Azriel,” She muttered through her tears, a hiccup escaped her throat. “I just want to be with you.” Her chin wobbled and teeth rankled.

She sniffed and it pulverized his heart. The small sound left his heart beaten and tattered.

He cooed into her ear and held her tenderly to his chest. Azriel didn't know how to make the situation better, it wasn’t everyday he found himself with a sobbing Archeron sister in his arms, and he was deathly afraid he was going to screw it up and say the wrong thing.

So, he didn’t say anything. He just held her in his arms until her tears stopped.

Once her breathing gained some normalcy she looked up at him with wide, red rimmed eyes. Even with dried snot on her splotchy face she was still the most beautiful female he’d ever seen.

“This is the second night I’ve ruined,” Elain sniffled, her nose scrunched and she moved to remove her hair from its braided bun perched at the base of her neck, but Azriel stopped her. “I’m sorry.”

“Let me,” Azriel said. They shifted so that Elain was kneeling on the bed away from him, and Azriel started pulling out the pins in her hair. “You have nothing to apologize for Elain.” Her braid unfolded and it tumbled down the length of her back. Her pink flannel nightgown was a thin layer of protection against the bitter Illyrian cold, but at least a fire was roaring for her. His rough fingers gently tugged the cobalt ribbon that held her hair together. His heart lurched. Ever since they had started seeing each other Azriel noticed the little things Elain would do to represent him on her body: Illyrian braids decorated her hair, the pearl bracelet he got her was a staple in her wardrobe, and now a cobalt ribbon in her golden hair.

It gutted him.

“I’m not the easiest female to be with,” Elain said in an apologetic voice. Azriel slowly started untangling the braid and relished in the silkiness of her hair slipping through his calloused fingers. “I’m sure your life is stressful enough without my drama. There are,” She choked on the words. “There are countless other females that want you.”

“None of those females are you,” He said and watched a shiver move through her body. His finger gently rubbing her neck, his thumb going in soothing circles. “They don’t have kissable ears,” He placed a small kiss to the shell of her ear and felt a small twinge of satisfaction as it twitched, “They’ve never surprised me with a home cooked meal,” His hands moved to her shoulders, digging into the knots that had formed there. Her head rolled back, eyes closed, but a smile formed on her tear-stained face. “I certainly don’t dream about any of them.”

He leaned forward and planted a small kiss on her pert nose. Her eyes fluttered open, they were still red, but the sadness in them had fled.

She grabbed one of his hands and pressed a kiss to his palm.

“You really like my ears?” Elain asked, her finger skimming the length of her ears.

“They are endearing,” Azriel smiled at her. “They turn red when you blush, and I love how they stick out of your hair even though you try to hide them.”

“I hated them for the longest time,” Elain admitted, her eyes downcast but Azriel could tell she was blushing. Her ears gave her away. “They look so… not human. It took me a while before I could even look in the mirror after going into the Cauldron — all I could see were my ears. They just reminded me of how different I am — how I was forced to be something else. And they reminded me of Graysen’s rejection.”

Elain trailed the lines on the palm of his hand and fiddled with his fingers, with his free hand Azriel continued to massage her neck.

“Graysen,” Azriel started carefully. “Is the biggest bird-brained jackass I’ve ever met,” Elain blinked up at him, her mouth forming a small o. “The only reason I didn’t fly to him and pummel him into dust was because I knew it would upset you.”

A cheeky smile tugged on the corners of Elain’s lips.

“If you are trying to charm me,” Elain teased. “It’s working,” She took a breath before saying, “Thank you for always seeing me, and for not killing Graysen.”

A dark chuckle rippled through him.

“Mo chroí,” Azriel said, his voice light, “You said that like thinking of you is a hardship, and not my normal state of being.”

“What does that mean?” Elain asked, turning to face him fully. “Mo chroí?” Her mouth formed awkwardly around the unfamiliar words, testing out the sound and feel of them.

“My pointed-ear friend.” Azriel said quickly, his face dead-pan and emotionless. Inside his heart was pounding so loud he was surprised she didn’t hear it. He wondered how long it would take for her to ask what the Illyrian nickname he had given her was.

He felt lightheaded everytime he said it. At first it was just an accident, it had slipped out, and she didn’t even notice it. At least, he thought she didn’t notice it, but Elain noticed way more than anyone gave her credit for. Never, in his long, long life did Azriel ever think he would call somebody mo chroí.

My heart.

That’s what Elain was. She was his living, breathing, flesh and blood heart, and it fucking terrified him to realize that his heart was so thoroughly owned by somebody else — that his heart was somebody else.

“It does not,” Elain laughed, and gently pushed him. Azriel just smiled softly at her. “Will you stay with me tonight, please?” She asked quietly, her hand fiddling nervously with her night gown. Admittedly, it wasn’t the most attractive thing she owned. It was thick and flannel, it covered all of her skin, and wasn’t even fitted to her body, but Azriel still cherished seeing her in it. In fact, he liked it a little more than the little lacy things she would wear —This was something she picked out for herself, because she liked the color and it would keep her warm. It was a little peek into her mind.  “Just to hold me. I’m not in the mood to make love tonight,” Elain explained and stretched out her hands, palms up, offering him nothing. Her eyes looked nervous, as if she thought he would leave the second she turned him away from her bed. “I’m sorry.”

“Elain, don’t ever apologize for saying what you need,” Azriel said and captured her face in his hands. She immediately nuzzled into his palm. “I would be honored to spend the night,” his thumb rubbed soothingly back and forth on her plump cheek. “Anyway that you want me to.”

“Thank you,” Elain whispered with a brilliant smile. “I think I just need some cuddles tonight.”

“I’ll have to leave early though,” Azriel said as he remembered who they are, and where they were. “Just to be safe. My shadows will hide our scents, but I don’t want to put you in an awkward position.”

“You can sneak out when Nuala brings me my contraceptive tonic,” Elain suggested. On the 25th of every month one of her friends would take her up with the tonic, sweetened with peppermint to make it drinkable, and slices of toast. “She normally comes around 7:00.”

“So, right when Rhysand is in the middle of his morning primping. A perfect time to sneak out.”

Azriel delighted in the way Elain’s giggled shimmered in his ears.

He watched as Elain pulled back the dense comforter on the bed and climbed in, her large brown eyes peering over the edge of the blanket at him. Her eyes absorbed everything as he pulled his warm Illyrian pajamas from his shadows, and Azriel tried to not put on a show while he was changing, but he couldn’t help the way his wings flexed and stretched before her eyes. The damn appendages wanted to show off for her.

When he turned back to the bed, readying himself to climb in, Elain opened the blankets for him to huddle into.

The blankets were already soaked in her warmth and surrounded in jasmine.

“Have I ever told you,” Azriel said as he situated himself, trying to get comfortable. “That you smell amazing, like home.”

“Really?” Elain asked in surprise. She laid flat on her back and Azriel tried to find a way to cuddle her. It turned into an awkward jumble of limbs. He, with his wings, was a perpetual stomach sleeper, and she loved to wrap herself around him like a little weed; Her arms longed to circle his chest, and her legs wanted to tangle with his. The position they settled into was Azriel, on his stomach, but turned slightly towards the side with Elain resting underneath the heavy weight of his arm. And two of her legs surrounded the one closest to her. Their mouths and noses were perfectly aligned, and they both fell asleep with the others breath dancing across their faces.

There is an indentation in the shape of you —Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo

The room was soaked in gold as Elain woke up just after dawn. The blankets tangled between their feet from when they had been kicked off in the middle of the night, and her nightgown had ridden up to her hips exposing her tattoo to the early morning light. Her leg was brazenly wrapped Azriel’s hip; He had somehow managed to maneuver their positions so that he was on his stomach with his face tucked snuggly into her neck, the humidity of his breath leaving her skin sticky and damp. His wings were relaxed and fanned out completely, a sign of trust and comfort which he never felt when he visited Illyria, but it was how he felt when he slept next to Elain – blissfully, and unaware of the ghosts of his past that still haunted his homeland

A soft snore escaped his mouth and skated across her throat.

“Good morning.” Elain said softly, her fingers tangling in his hair, her nails gently scraping against his scalp. She placed a gentle kiss into the shell of his ear, silky strands of ebony caressed her face, but instead of waking up the Iyllrian warrior snuggled closer to her. He pressed his face deeder into the crevice of her neck, as if he could burrough himself deep enough into her and the blankets that the entire outside world would become obsolete. Elain had more than half a mind to indulge him, but their problems would still be there, nagging and mocking the little world they created together, so she whispered again, “Good morning, mo chroí.”

The words still felt awkward and unfamiliar on her tongue, but it was worth it to see Azriel raise his sleepy head and blink blearily at her. Sleep was heavy on his face, as if he had slipped into the deepest realm of sleep possible that no one had reached before. Hazel eyes were hidden behind half-drawn lids, and crease marks marred the right side of his face, and Elain delighted in the fact that even when they slept in the most innocent way possible his hair seemed to take on a life of its own. A small shadow dusted his chin.

“Good morning,” Azriel said, propped up on his arms so that his face was right above hers. Elain was suddenly very aware of her morning breath, and the fact that she hadn’t brushed her teeth yet. Rapidly, he blinked his eyes, as if he could brush away the clouds of sleep. “What time is it?”

“Just after dawn,” Elain said and settled her hand on the cozy warmth of his shoulder. Savoring the heat that he had worked up just by sleeping. “Nuala should be here with my tonic soon.”

Azriel nodded sleepily and leaned down to pepper lazy kisses on her face. Sleep still muddled his mind, so his lips were velvety and lingering and a little awkward — catching right under the eye and accidentally kissing eyelashes, the side of her nose that was dangerously close to nostril, and the little point of her chin — it was as if he wouldn’t be satisfied unless he had kissed every inch of her skin good morning. The slow drag of his lips and whiskers were absurdly drugging in a cocoon of flannel and early morning glow.

Elain secretly hoped that in his sleep-drunken-haze he would give in and kiss her lips.

He didn’t.

He looked at her with a silly, contented grin and said, “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Elain said, a sunny, silly smile.

Azriel had seen a lot of sunsets, but not one of them compared to the warmth and beauty on Elain’s face as she smiled up at him, her golden, honeyed hair spread on the pillow, and nightgown askew and twisted. Her incandescent eyes were bright and beautiful, her skin pink from where his chin had scratched her face.

Lovely. She was lovely.

Three words almost slipped from his heart, passed the walls he had put up, and out his mouth, but the knock on the door stopped their great escape.

Nuala gracefully walked through the door holding Elain’s bubbling peppermint tonic. She added the peppermint after the first time Elain drank the bitter contraceptive tonic.

“The High Lord is awake and talking to Lord Devlon in the study,” Nuala said as she walked towards the bed, her gaze politely avoiding the hulking spymaster hovering over Elain. Elain applied a gentle pressure to Azriel’s shoulder, signalling him to move, and she immediately missed the weight of him and the toastiness that radiated off of him. A protective growl rippled from Azriel’s throat as he settled himself behind Elain. “I thought I should inform you so the proper avoidances could be made,” Nuala cut a pointed look towards Azriel before handing Elain her tonic. Begrudgingly, Elain sat up and drank the tonic is three quick swallows before handing the cup back to Nuala with a thank you. “Cerridwen and I will be here at three to start preparations for the ball, Elain.”

“Three?” Azriel said in disbelief. The unspoken pretense of ignoring his presence was now completely shattered. “The ball isn’t until seven.”

“Barely enough time as it is, my lord.” Nuala said with complete politeness, but Azriel bristled at the title. Nuala had disappeared before he could correct her.

Azriel let out a deep sign as he moved her hair out of the way, his fingers tangled in the tangles of her tresses, and planted a kiss on her neck.

“I should go and find Cassian. I told him I’d help with the Valkyries this morning.” He said and slowly pulled himself away, hating every second as coldness crept over him.

He felt Elain watch his every move as he pulled his leathers from his shadows and changed into them as quickly as possible, but he was male enough to admit that he flexed his muscles before her eyes.

A small giggled erupted from Elain as she said, “Wings are weird.”

Azriel rolled his eyes as strolled over and pressed a kiss onto her forehead before saying goodbye and winnowing away.

Only bought this dress so you could take it off

Elain looked at her reflection with a pleased smile. Her hair had been fashioned so the top was plaited in two Iyllrian braids that met in a knot at the back of her head and slowly transformed into decadent curls. The rest of the ballroom was full of people behind her, but she stood with her back to them, gazing out the window to see Illyria in the moonlight, but all she saw was a mirror of the ballroom reflected in the glass.

Her dress was stunning, and completely impractical for an Illyrian winter.

The sleeves were two thick pieces of cobalt ribbon tied upon her shoulders, right above her collar bones, and the dress was made up of a base layer of black silk and a beaded layer of back and cobalt flowers embroidered on a thin, thin fabric. Her back was exposed in a deep vee, her knobs of her spine on display for everyone to see, but the vee of the bodice was surprisingly modice.

She was lucky that someone had thought of enchanting the ballroom to stay at a comfortable temperature.

She dressed for two people that night — herself and Azriel.

Yet, it seemed everyone couldn’t keep their eyes off of her. It seemed she sparked curiosity; Elain Archeron, the flower that somehow ensnared the War-Lord to commit to a Bhaile Rite. It made her want to throw up, but she managed to keep a polite, collected trace of a smile on her face all night, despite the fact that she hadn’t yet talked to Azriel.

He occupied her mind. Her brown eyes constantly flittered back and from his elegantly dressed form to the vases full of local flora, back to Azriel, and then to the couples dancing, and then to Azriel yet again.

Feyre and Rhysand were dancing, and so were Cassian and Nesta, while Elain had planted herself by the refreshments; Casually skimming the small sandwiches and vegetable platters, it seemed Illyrian cuisine wasn’t too far removed from the rest of the world. Azriel was surrounded by the Valkyries, each of them taking their turn to dance with him, and Elain hated herself for the jealousy that bubbled through her. It wasn’t their fault that Azriel could dance with all of them freely, but Elain had to mentally reassure herself several times that Azriel would most likely rather be dancing with her if he had the choice.

She took a deep breath, averted her eyes, and picked up a dainty cucumber sandwich. It was odd, to say the least, to picture strapping, masculine Illyrian Warriors cutting the crust off of the sandwiches and cutting them into triangles.

“You know,” A sharp voice cut through the chatter of voices and Elain felt the unnerving sensation or her hair standing on edge, like a million tiny droplets running down her skin. “That’s not actually Illyrian food,” Elain looked up to see Devlon looking at her from the opposite side of the table. He was dressed in Illyrian fineries, which were basically glorified leathers, and smiling at her in a way that was way too familiar. “It was the High Lady that suggested we make the refreshments more palatable for the outsiders.”

Elain barely managed a nod of her head and took a step back, she glanced over her shoulder — hoping to catch Azriel’s eye, but he was busy dancing a waltz with Gwyn — and carefully set the cucumber sandwich back on the table.

“My sister is thoughtful like that.” Elain said with a swallow. She clasped her hands delicately behind her back and immediately dropped them when Devlons hazel eyes fell to her chest.

“A quality I hear her sister possesses.” Devlon smiled, and even though it was friendly it left her feeling slimy. He started walking around the table, his wings pulled in tight to his back as if they wanted to burst forth proudly and he had to restrain them, and he stopped once he was in front of her.

“Yes,” Elain said dryly with a polite smile. “Nesta can be very thoughtful.”

A powerful laugh erupted out of him, booming and free and just a bit wheezy, and his hazel eyes sparkled at her. Everyone turned to look at them, and Elain would have bet it was the first time many of them had ever heard the War-Lord laugh.

She cut a quick glance to the dance floor and noted Feyre, Rhysand, Nesta, and Cassian all looked over murderously at Devlon, their dances cut short as they made their way over, while Azriel was still spinning Gwyn around. It didn’t take long for her family to surround her, the one person she wanted most was still preoccupied in his dance, and Elain internally fought with herself.

“Devlon,” Rhysands said from his position next to Elain, his body language was relaxed and his smile easy, but his voice sounded like sharpened glass. “I thought we talked this morning about what was expected of you tonight.”

Devlon’s lips curled round his face in a sneer, and Rhysand walked up to him, put a hand on his shoulder, and steered him away. Their body languages polar opposite: Rhys was casual and relaxed while Devlon looked ready to pounce — either at Rhysand for interrupting or at Elain for a reason she didn’t want to think of.

“Are you alright, Elain?” Feyre asked with a comforting hand on her sister's back. She looked absolutely stunning in her silky black dress with sheer, full length sleeves that sparkled like the night sky. She looked at Elain in concern, a frown marring her beautiful face.

“I’m fine,” Elain replied with a strained smile, and forced herself not to look towards the dance floor. It wasn’t as if she could tell Feyre the real reason she was upset — that Azriel wasn’t there when she wanted him. Luckily for Elain, Ferye couldn’t tell the difference in her smiles. The High Lady relaxed as Elain said, “Devlon was polite.”

“That’s surprising,” Cassian said distastefully as he glared at Devlon, who was having a heated discussion with Rhysand that was hidden behind pleasant smiles. “Would you like to dance, take your mind off of it?”

He extended a large hand to her, and the brotherly love on his face made Elain want to say yes, but she shook her head, smiled gratefully, and said, “No, thank you.” There was only one male Elain wanted to dance with.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Feyre asked as Cassian extended his hand to her. Nesta had planted herself by Elain’s side, silently glowering at Devlon in a dare.

“Or course.” She replied, her face perfectly arranged so that no one would see through her lie.

Feyre nodded and accepted Cassian’s outstretched hand. As they made their way to the dance floor Elain’s eyes latched onto Azriel.

All of this silence and patience, pining in anticipation

Elain couldn’t help the oiling feeling of jealousy that oozed through her veins. Logically she knew that Azriel was just being nice by dancing with Gwyn, but they looked so beautiful swirling along the other dancing couple, a blur of glowing scarlet and shadows. They were by far the most beautiful pair waltzing. Their second waltz in a row.

Her honeyed eyes couldn’t tear themselves away from the elegant couple. Nesta’s words kept rattling in her brain — Gwyn has the biggest crush on him — and it certainly looked that way. She kept batting her eyelashes at him while giving him coquettish smiles.

Elain watched them dancing together until they weren’t dancing anymore, but training.

They stood outside separated from the other Valkyries. Gwyn’s red hair was shimmering in the daylight, a beautiful array of burnt oranges and scarlet, and her teal eyes glowed as she gazed up at Azriel. Azriel’s large hands settled on her hips, adjusting them to whatever position they needed to be in for the move he was teaching her, and a polite smile was plastered on his handsome face.

Azriel said something to her, Elain couldn’t pick up on their voices, but she assumed that Gwyn was exposed to Azriel’s dry-sense of humor as her melodic laugh filled the air. Gwyn said something that Elain couldn’t hear, and then she started singing. Her lovely voice was hypnotic, all of the other Valkyries stopped to listen to her, and Azriel’s face glazed over into a euphoric expression.

Gwyn abruptly stopped and said something that caused Azriel to jerk back to attention. He shook his dark head and was stunned to see his shadows swirling Gwyn and called them back to him.

“Elain?” Someone asked and a hand gripped her elbow.

She blinked and saw Nesta’s fingers digging into her skin.

“Huh?” Elain said, blinking rapidly fighting the way her vision blurred and mentally brushing away the webs clouding her head.

“You were glowing.” Nesta said, her chilly blue eyes concerned as they took in her sister's pale skin. “Like little rays of sunshine radiating off of you.”

“I had a vision.” Elain said, her eyes floating to the dancing couples once again. Azriel was still looking at Gwyn, his face damnably blank.

“What was it about?” Nesta asked, her own eyes following Elain’s line of vision.

“Nothing,” Elain said with a perfectly fake smile. “It was just the Valkyries training.”

Nesta looked skeptical, but she gave her sister a hesitant smile that looked surprisingly like an olive branch. “You didn’t happen to see any of the games, did you? Anything I should know?”

Elain shook her head, her curls bouncing off her cheeks, and focused her attention on her sister.

“How are you feeling about tomorrow?” Elain asked, pushing the dancing couple out of her mind and focusing all of her attention on Nesta. She had been so preoccupied with training that Elain hadn’t been able to have a real conversation with her in over a month.

Nesta nodded her head with confidence, her braided-crown shimmering in the faelights, and said, “Good, it’s been nice to have something to focus on. A goal. I’m more than ready to kick some Illyrian ass, though,” Nesta smirked, her icy eyes frozen with determination. “Though there is someone I want you to meet, and I think he’ll help keep Devlon off of you.”

Nesta grabbed Elain’s hand and pulled her across the room, the click of their heels on the parquet floor were swallowed into the noisy abyss of the ballroom, and towards a broad Illyrian Warrior; His hair was cropped short to his head, so Elain wasn’t able to see if the darkness of his hair was tinted blue or red, and his dark eyes made it almost impossible to tell where the iris ended and the pupil began, but Elain could see another female — one who had complete ownership of her heart — could spend countless hours trying to find the dividing line. His skin was darker than most Illyrians, as were his wings, and Elain wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that he was part shadow wraith. He greeted the Archeron sister’s with a charming smile.

“Leon,” Nesta said with a surprisingly gracious grin. She had never given a grin that kind to Rhysand. “This is my sister that I was talking to you about.”

“Lady Elain,” He said, his voice rich and smooth. Leon turned his attention towards her, and even though his expression was nothing but politeness and curiosity Elain felt the need to cover herself. “I’ve heard so much about you. It’s lovely to meet you.”

He extended his hand to her, so she lightly placed her own in it and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, but please just call me Elain.” Leon brought her hand up to his mouth and gently brushed his lips against her exposed skin, and it took all of Elain’s willpower not to rip it back. For all she knew of Illyrian culture she had just accepted some type of ancient rite and now Leon had to father half of her children.

“Elain,” Nesta said, her hand pressed on the small of Elain’s back to push her forward. “Is a marvelous dancer. Almost as good as me, and she hasn’t danced all night.”

Nesta couldn’t have been more subtle if she had gotten on her knees and begged Leon to dance with her.

“Would you like to dance, Elain?” Leon asked, his voice void of all teasing that Elain wouldn’t have blamed him for. She gently nodded her head and forced a polite smile as he led her to the dance floor, and Elain silently noted the fact that Azriel and Gwyn were no longer dancing, but stationed with the other Valkyries.

They danced in silence. It wasn’t exactly companionable, but it wasn’t necessarily awkward. Elain could tell he was broad and muscled, but he was still light on his feet and he never stepped on her toes. She spent half of the dance staring at his chest, avoiding eye-contact, and the other half of the dance stealing glances at Azriel.

It seemed all Elain needed to do was dance with someone else to garner his attention.

All of this silence and patience, pining and desperately waiting

After their dance Leon led her to the side of the ballroom, but he surprised her by saying, “Lord Devlon is a good male, or at least he tries to be. Subtlety aside.”

“I don’t know him at all, so I really can’t give an opinion.” Elain said with her head held high. Oh, she had an opinion, just not one she could give freely.

“I think you should give him a chance.” Leon said and as soon as they stopped walking Elain felt Devlon sidle up to them, his footsteps vibrating through the parquet floors.

“May I have this dance, Lady Elain?” Devlon asked, his face and voice perfectly polite, but Elain wasn’t fooled. Somehow they were the center of attention, which was masterfully orchestrated by Devlon, and if she rejected him it would have been rejection in the worst way. And tensions were already high between Illyrian and the rest of the Night Court, so Elain swallowed her pride and the vile lump that formed in her throat and placed her hand in Devlon’s.

My hands are shaking from holding back from you

“Do what has to be done, Azriel.” Rhysand commanded, his look of pure hatred fixed upon Devlon as he twirled Elain around the dance floor.

“With pleasure.”

“And Azriel?” Rhysand asked as his spymaster took a step away. “Please refrain from fucking her this time if you can,” Azriel bared his teeth at his High Lord, but Rhysand wasn’t deterred. Instead he took a step forward and poked Azriel in the chest. “The last time I checked you were in love with someone else, so if I find out that you,” He jabbed his finger again. “Are fucking my sister,” His finger punctured every word on the shadowsinger’s chest. “As some sort of rebound, or are messing with her heart in any way,” Rhysand gave one more hard poke before dropping his hand. “I’ll only be satisfied with blood.”

Azriel’s only response was to growl.

Rhysand adjusted his cufflinks as if he hadn’t threatened to murder his brother said, “Now, get that bastard away from our girl,” and walked towards where Feyre stood by the refreshments.

And if I get burned, at least we were electrified

“Elain,” Azriel’s dark, deadly voice instantly calmed her. Every inch of her skin was on edge from Devlon’s touch, which tightened on her from Azriel’s interruption. “May I cut in?”

“No.” Devlon snarled and glowered at Azriel.

“Yes,” Elain said and instantly dropped her hands, taking a step away from Devlon and towards Azriel. “Please.” But Devlon didn’t let go of his hold on her. He gripped her waist firmly in his hand, suffocatingly, in a way that made her trapped even if it wasn’t hard enough to leave and bruises or makes.

A beautifully scarred hand wrapped around Devlon’s wrist and squeezed, ripping the hand away with enough force to tear some of the beading off of her dress. All of the chatter had evaporated, and even though the musicians still played without missing a beat, Elain heard the plings on the beads hitting the floor.

The two Illyrians stood, loathing the sight of the other, but neither breaking contact. Azriel, forging his glare out of the threat of his beloved, and Devlon’s from an insult to his pride. Elain moved because neither of the males could see through their emotions, and tugged Azriel away, forcing him to wrap her in his arms and move to the music.

Devlon stood, still with his arms crossed, in the middle of dancing couples watching Azriel and Elain. Elain and Azriel. Noting how easy and familiar their touches were.

And then Azriel did something Elain never thought probable.

He lifted his shadows and ended their glamour.

Their mingled, intertwined scent permeated the ballroom. The evidence of all the hours that they were together, making love and basking in each other's company, was on display for everyone to see. As was the golden tattoo on his neck.

The lovers twirled on the dance floor, the center of everyone's attention, but so completely absorbed in each other that they did care — It would be an issue for future Elain and future Azriel, and they would weather it together. A unit, two souls fighting to stay together.

As the last notes of the song played, droning into a low, slightly melancholic note, Azriel asked her, “Would you like to leave.”

To which Elain replied, breathlessly, “I would love to.”

So, Azriel’s shadows surrounded them as they danced even though the music had stopped, and they left. Everyone in the room was aware of how comfortable Elain looked, how willingly she embraced the shadows that enveloped her, and they danced off into the darkness.

Everyone in the room stared at the empty space where they had stood.

Everyone thinks that they know us, but they know nothing

Elain was dizzy as the shadows cleared and she found herself back in her temporary bedroom, in Azriel’s arms in a delirious state of living. An emotion so happy, so blissful was emitting from her heart that she was certain no one had felt it before — the way she was feeling didn’t have a name, no one had ever felt this deliriously ecstatic before her.

She felt like a ray of golden sunlight personified.

They were finally free.

Free to be with each other in the open. Free to kiss, to hold hands, to be with each other.

Her lips started pressing onto every patched of exposed skin, and she started clawing at his leathers, but didn’t get very far. In frustration she took a step back and gave the orders for him to undress himself as she did the same. Her dress dropped to her feet, and she kicked it away, the fabric snagging on her heel and she furiously kicked her leg until the dress went flying.

Her little silk slip was next, and then she was just standing there naked in nothing but her heels. Her nipples pebbled in the cold air and ached for the warmth of Azriel’s mouth.

She stood there, arms crossed over her round tummy, silently loathing whoever created Illyrian leathers as she tapped her foot waiting for Azriel to be fully undressed.

Once he as naked, shoes and all, she launched herself at him Her legs wrapped around his waist and the points of her heels digging into his rounded and muscled butt. Her fingers were tugging his head back and she kissed at his face, desperately trying to get his lips, but he moved his own lips trying to get her skin.

Azriel walked her backwards until they were at the bed, and bent at the waist so that Elain’s back was flat on the bed.

He straightened himself, taken in the euphoric heaviness of her expression and the glistening wetness between her legs, and lined his cock up to her waiting center. His rounded head prodded at her opening, her scream told him that she wasn’t in the mood for teasing, so he entered her in one movement. Her body stretched warm and hot around the hard length of him, and Elain moved her hips desperate for friction, so Azriel pulled his hips back before snapping them into place. Again. And again. And again.

He felt his release mounting inside of him, so he brought one hand to where their bodies joined and frantically started circling her clit. Elain’s walls started clenching around him, so he worked his thumb faster and faster, trying to get their orgasms to arrive at the same time. Sweat was dripping down his back, and the smell of their desire was heavy and heady in the air and pushed him over the edge. His cock buried deep within Elain as he shot his release. He kept his softening cock within her, and paid even more attention to her sensitive clit, and relished in the feel of her liquids rushing over his cock and her release finally came.

Panting, Azriel pulled back and undid the buckles of her shoes before tossing them over his shoulders and dropping his body on top of hers. Exhausted after such a short but frantic and cathartic bout of love making, the two of them slipped into a short sleep.

Even in my worst lies, you saw the truth of me

They woke up two hours later. Elain letting all of the thoughts in her head and all of the feelings in her heart out in the open.

“There are nights,” Elain whispered as her fingers traced along the back of his beautiful hands. “Where I wonder how it’s possible we aren’t mates.”

Azriel heard his heart drumming in his ears. He himself had been plagued by that same question which resulted in many sleepless nights, but to know that Elain had thought the same thing made his throat clog with emotion. A shiver racked his body from the weight of her finger on his skin.

“I’ve,” Azriel swallowed. “I’ve wondered the same thing.”

She laced her finger through his and sent him a warm smile. Half of her face was hidden in the fluffy, down pillow and her golden hair was spread behind her.

“I’ve also thought about,” Elain started and bit her lip nervously. “Breaking the mating bond.”

Azriel couldn’t breath. The air in his lungs had turned to cement which caused the crushing weight in his chest. He untangled her fingers from hers and stood up, his wing knocking over the faelight lamp on the nightstand, but he didn’t register it. He had to put distance between them otherwise he might tell her to do something stupid, like tell her it was a good idea and something he had dreamed about.

“You can’t,” Azriel said and started shaking his head violently. “You can’t just break the mating bond because we’ve been fucking Elain.”

Devstation clawed at her face, and Azriel watched as she gripped a pillow to her chest. She slowly raised herself from the bed and stood in front of him. Confusion furrowed her brows and sadness drove tears from her eyes.

“How can you say that?” She whispered.

“You can’t break the bond because I know how you liked to be fucked El—” He was cut off by a pillow smacking his face.

“How dare you?” Elain asked furiously. Her face had turned red and chested heaved in anger. “You know that’s not what this is. We— we’re together. We aren’t just fucking.” Her voice cracked. “How could you insult our relationship like that? How could you insult me like that? I-I’ve never shared my life with someone before, not like how I’ve shared it with you.”

Feathers floated all through the room, and the pillow Elain clenched between her hands was decidedly more limp than when she picked it up. She was vaguely aware of tears streaming down her cheeks, and the little snot that bubbled on her nose, all she could think of was Azriel’s words.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Elain asked, her throat raw and raspy like someone had rubbed it with sandpaper and made her drink lemon water laced with salt. “Do you think I somehow don’t know my value?” Her weak and wavering arms hit him with the pillow again.

“Of course not.” Azriel replied, tears glistening in his own eyes.

“Then why would you possibly think that I would share my life with someone you deem so unworthy, huh?” She asked, her knees buckling through her sorrow and fury. “How could you possibly insult my love like that? I love you, Azriel. So, obviously I must either be stupid or - or -or -.” Her entire body shook from the sob that tore through her, and her knees gave way as she collapsed onto a heap of flannel on the floor. “How could you say that?” She hiccuped in a broken voice.

“I just don’t think you should break the mating bond just yet, Elain,” Azriel sank to the floor next to her, his own voice shaky and shattered. “It would kill me that you might make the biggest mistake of your life because of me. What if you regret it? What if you wake up some day and realize I’m not the male you think I am? And you finally understand that I’m not deserving of your love? Not that— Not that Lucien diverse it,” His lips curled vilely around the name of her mate. “But how can I ask you to do that?”

“You’re not asking me, Az,” She sniffled and grasped his mangled hand in hers. “I want to do it. And-and no one can decide who is worthy of my love but me. I hate it when you do that, when you throw around words like ‘deserve’ and act like I’m somehow perfect or blameless or above you in any way.”

Azriel just stared at her, silent tears swimming in his eyes.

“I love you.” Elain whispered with tears in her eyes.

“For now,” Azriel choked on his words as he saw the hurt shimmering in her eyes. “But you can’t give up your mate just yet, Elain. One day you’ll realize I’m not enough, and you’ll—” Elain watched his throat work as his words got caught on his emotions. Realization was sinking into every fibre of her being, and suddenly she could see through the fog of her emotion.

She held the hand she was clasping close to her heart, her fingers gently tracing the scars that went far deeper than the skin and bone and straight into the soul. Two tears born of fury and self-loathing ran down his cheeks, and she pressed her lips into his skin to catch them.

“For always.” Elain whispered into his skin. She hooked her finger under his chin and moved his head so that their lips were aligned, but she didn’t move closer. It was his choice to make.

Small lifetimes passed as her pressed his forehead into hers, his uneven breath warm on her face, and the tickle of his eyelashes as they fluttered over her skin like nervous, tittering butterflies threatened to undo her, but then he moved forward and gently touched his lips to hers.

Soft, so soft.

The lips that had caressed every inch of her skin were finally against hers, and she couldn’t breath. Her body tensed. As if it was worried that any sudden movement would scare him off, and she’d be left on the floor in a puddle of her own tears and he’d be telling her it was a mistake.

And I woke up just in time — Now I wake up by your side

Luscious.

That was how Elain felt under the crushing weight of Azriel, who was snoring delicately on top of her. She didn’t even realize that snoring could be delicate until she heard the soft chortles coming out of Azriel’s throat.

His head was pressed into her stomach, wing outstretched and relaxed. Elain was briefly astounded that this wake up was somehow better than the one before, despite the fact that salty tears had caked her eyelids together and she had to pry them apart.

This was the best morning of her life.

She had finally told Azriel how she felt, and they didn’t have to leave each other.

And she got to kiss him.

She kissed him away. Soft lips on soft lips. Morning breath mingling. She kissed him awake and he kissed her back.

It took them almost thirty minutes to dress for the day because they kept kissing. And then it took them twenty minutes to walk down the stairs because they could keep their hands off of eachother. Azriel kept pressing Elain into the wall to kiss her. And Elain would turn, plant her hands onto Azriel’s shoulder because it had been sixty whole seconds since their lips had touched.

It wasn’t until they were in full view of everyone else that they kept their mouths to themselves.

Who knew that crying worked up an appetite? Cassian would be proud of the amount of eggs Elain had scooped onto her plate, and he would even turn a blind eye to the sizzled bacon and crispy home fries, but she could see his disappointed look turned to the small sweet bun sitting on top of her place. She grabbed a small cup of fruit to balance it out.

Azriel had been piling his own plate high with food. A small kernel of satisfaction nestled into her chest. She, Elain Archeron, had managed to not only tire the Shadowsinger out, but she also caused him to work up an appetite.

As they walked to the High Lord’s table they ignored all of the leers and lascivious whispers. Elain kept her chin high and face serene, and even though Azriel was unreadable and stone-faced it was hard to ignore his aura of smug male pride as he sauntered through the cafeteria. If Elain didn’t know better, then she’d say he was flexing his wings and peacocking in front of all these Illyrians.

A smile tugged at her lips as he pulled a chair out for her.

Feyre and Rhysand were sitting in two throne-like chairs above the rest of them, and Cassian and Nesta flanked them on either side with two empty seats besides them both at the end of the table. Elain placed her food on the table and sat.

“Hungry, Elain?” Nesta laughed as she took in her sister's heavy plate. “I didn’t realize you’d be joining us in the competition.”

Nesta’s cackle was cut off by a deathly growl coming from deep within Azriel. Nesta paled just a little and turned to her food.

And right there, in front of everyone, Azriel dropped a sweet, tender, chaste kiss on top of Elain’s golden hair and walked to his seat beside Cassian, who was grinning wolfishly at his brother's approach.

Elain ate her breakfast, all of it, with a goofy grin and a flushing face.

Even in my worst times, you could see the best of me

The frigid air didn’t bother Elain. She stood with Azriel outside the stadium waiting for the games to begin, trapped in her warm, lovely feelings. Not even the greyness of an Illyrian winter day was going to ruin Elain’s contended bliss.

“Azriel,” Devlon’s voice boomed loudly from a couple yard’s behind them. Elain watched as tension sprung into Azriels body and how his muscles looked like coils that were wound too tightly at the smugness in Devlon’s voice. “I noticed, as many of us did, how important family is to you last night,” Rhysand and Cassian sidled up to the Shadowsinger and the Seer, and Feyre stood with her head held high. Elain couldn’t see past Azriel who had slowly turned around. “So, I thought it might be nice if you got reacquainted with your own family.”

The leathery wings became rigid in front of Elain’s eyes.

She tried to peer around, but was blocked by Rhysand and Cassian, who were just as tense as Azriel. Death manifested on both of their faces.

The air was so poisonous it felt someone had laced it with faebane.

Elain was trapped between three Illyrian warriors, unable to move freely, so she gave Azriel the only type of comfort she could cocooned between his wings and warriors — she placed her hand gently, but firmly on the base of his wing. The bitterness of Iyllrian winter had fought with her body and lost, the frigid air no longer encased her fingers, and the warm print of her hand on his chilled wing grounded him.

It made him remember that his present was different from his past, and that for once his future was bright.

Azriel looked at his brothers and fought every instinct that told him to hide his hands behind his back. His brothers. It had been hundreds of years since he had seen them, and now they were standing in front of him. Azaria flanked Devlon’s right, his black curl hung roughly around his face and his oily green eyes were unnaturally bright against his dark brown skin. Azriel had seen those green eyes in the shadows of his worst days. Avram, who had posted himself to Devlon’s right, slicked his raven hair back to expose every inch of cruelty on his sharp features. Azaria and Avran could have passed as twins, their faces were made of straight lines, sharp edges, and innate nastiness that permeated through their bones and into their souls, even the ever-present snarl of their lips were identical. The only difference was that Avran held a scar on his upper lip that Azriel had given him when he was finally big enough and old enough to fight back.

“Brothers.” Azriel’s lips curled around the word, and he fought the revolting, acidic, disgust that sludged through his veins. It was a perversion of the word, and the bond, to call Avram and Azaria brothers while standing next to Cassian and Rhysand. They may have a father in common, but that was it.

The warmth of his wing vanished, and Azriel was vaguely aware of a tussling to his left, and then Elain’s golden head appeared next to him. Her chin held high and gaze determined as she took in the three males standing before her. She never broke eye contact as they stared her down.

“So,” Avram said, his lips curl in a sneer as his toxic eyes ran up and down the length of Elain’s body. “You’re the one that has our brother by the throat?” His tongue wet his lips as his eyes settled on the curve of Elain’s hips. “I can’t say I blame him.”

Azaria also leered at her and said, “I can see why Azriel would disregard an ancient rite just to fuc—”

Azriel lunged for him, but Elain wrapped her hand around his. The uneven scars pressed against her palm, and he turned his head to find Elain staring down the gaze that haunted his nightmares. She didn’t flunch. She didn’t balk. She took a graceful step forward, a finger pointed at them, and said,

“I don’t care for you,” Death had never sounded so lovely, but it had never been in Elain Archeron’s voice before. “And if you bother any of us again, you’ll regret it.”

Azaria’s grin turned slimy as he said, “Azriel has taste. I’ve always loved a female that can put up a fight.”

It astonished Elain that she could hate someone that looked so similar to the male she loved.

Devlon looked at her, his face void of all pleasantness as he said, “Did the bastard fuck you —”

He was cut off by Elain’s hand cracking against his cheek.

“Don’t call him that.”

Everything had gone still.

Devlon stared at her with wide eyes, and then there was nothing but a flurry of movements and everyone talking over each other.

Azriel wrapped strong arm around her waist. Shadows surrounded them and they were suspended in depthless air for longer than Elain had ever been before. When the shadows finally dissipated she was looking at a lovely, small cottage shrouded in pink and red rose bushes. Steam was snaking out of the chimney.

“This,” Azriel said, gesturing with his free hand. “Is Rosehall.”

My one and only, my lifeline

--

I'm sorry it took so long for me to update!!! I've spread myself pretty thin between classes, this fic, and 25 Days of Elriel. I really, really wanted to get this chapter out before December and I'm actually amazed that I accomplished that. This fic will be going on a small hiatus, but I will be continuing to write it!! Expect the next chapter to be posted towards the end of December or maybe early January. If you enjoy my writing make sure to keep an eye out for my 25 Days of Elriel one-shots. Much love *blowing kisses at you guys from behind my laptop screen* I have a tag list going for 25 Days of Elriel, so if you are interested in being included let me know (:

--

tagging: @thefangirlofhp @the-laughing-bubble @justheretoreadsposts @swankii-art-teacher @achelois-daughter

——

Chapter Nine

[rainy-day-coffee]

Hey! Good day? I hope so! I'm sorry if I write something wrong, english isn't my native language. Well... I have an idea veeerryy funny! Like, the dorm leaders have a gf, the only girl on nrc. But something goes wrong in alchemy class, the potion tha she is making explode and she becames a boy. How would the dorm leaders react?

Hello! It’s been quite a nice day for me, thank you! I hope it’s been going well for you as well! And your English is just fine don’t worry! This was a lot of fun to write! Though I’m sorry nony, I think I made this way more cheesy than funny!

Dorm leaders reacting to their fem!s/o turning into a boy!

Red in the face and not because he’s blushing

Not at all bothered by your new physical appearance, he’s more concentrated with your blunder in potion making. The effects of potions are only temporary after all!

He’ll scold you first and foremost. This is why you need to follow everything exactly as the instructions say!

Depending on the severity of your reaction to the whole ordeal, he’ll either make the reversal potion himself or force you to make it 

Just a warning to you, you’re most likely going to be stuck with the latter

He expects you to improve from your mistakes

If he forces you to make it on your own, he'll stick around to help you just a bit!

In the case you ask for some reassurance, he'll shyly peck your cheek and tell you you're still the most beautiful rose he’s ever seen

Thanks to his keen sense of smell he's able to tell who you are straight away. You could probably turn into a krill and he’d still somehow know it’s you!

Leona wouldn’t mind too much to be honest, he’s very chill about it. His herbivore is still his herbivore, right? No need to make a fuss then

However, if you were uncomfortable in your new body, you can bet that he’ll march off to make you a reversal potion.

He will not trust anyone else in making it

If you’re okay with staying that way for awhile, he will treat you no differently! Just cuddle with him and sleep the majority of the day away!

Would 10/10 let you borrow his clothing if you need something to wear! Cuddling AND yet to get to smell like him? Perfect

Who knows, you two might just sleep the potion’s effects away

If you were any other student in this entire school and came to him for help, he would coax you into a signing a sketchy contract with him. But you aren’t any other student, you’re his precious pearl! You get a discount!

He probably thought you were another student doing a bad impersonation of his girlfriend. He does run a shady business. It’s not odd to encounter a couple of interesting individuals

Cue a blank look and dramatic sigh when he discovers you are in fact his girlfriend. He then smirks with a new found glint his eyes. He will see this as an opportunity.

He’ll make you a reversal potion on one condition! Give him cuddles and kisses. A good deal, no?

He’ll be disappointed if you deny him. He might try and slink off to his octopus pot in embarrassment too. Just give him those cuddles and kisses and he’ll be fine!

He lets you borrow his suits so you two can match! The twins will tease you a lot, but it's not like they don’t do that already

I have a very strong feeling something similar has happened to him in the past. Jamil nearly had a stroke that day

Bless this boy’s soul, he really thought you might have been his girlfriend’s twin brother. He even introduced himself and everything. He was ready to throw a welcome party too

A little embarrassed when you explain what happened. You assure him it’s okay though! He was simply being his usual sweet self

He’s very quick to lavish you with compliments! Look at his girlfriend! She’s beautiful in any form she takes! He probably goes so far as to try and show you off to the rest of the Scarabia dorm

It’s very hard not to practice self-love when you’re around this ball of sunshine

He would try and make you a reversal potion! It may not go so well though. He then offers to ask Jamil to make you one!

If you decide to stay in this form until the effects wear out, he’ll dress you up in so much clothing. Specifically clothing from the Land of Hot Sands! He compliments you every time you change into something new!

He knows mistakes happen so he isn't all too angry. That doesn’t mean he won’t scold you!

He’s not one to conform to gender norms in the first place. He doesn’t care that you suddenly underwent an accidental sex change

If you feel insecure about being in a body you aren’t used to, he’ll compliment you in his own way. A little offended if you think he’ll love you any less though

“Remember dear, confidence comes from within. Despite what may happen always keep your chin up.”

He lets you decide what you want to do

Want to be turned back immediately? He’ll whip up a potion for you in no time! Something as simple as that is no trouble for him at all!

You wish to remain in this form until the potion wears off? He’ll dress you up in a variety of his clothes! Nothing but the best for his dearest!

Impromptu fashion show? Impromptu fashion show.

Rook may sneak in to watch

Will most likely go over the potion instructions with you so this doesn't happen again! He needs you to learn to do things on your own in case he isn’t there to help!

He might not recognize you at first

Has a heart attack when he sees you for sure. Who is this normie that barged into his room uninvited? Why are they talking like they know him?

Would probably laugh at you a little, you messed up that badly???

Ceases his laughter immediately if you're distraught. He didn't mean to make you feel worse! He just thought it was a little funny!

If you're worried about what he thinks, he'll quietly reassure you he doesn't mind. He fell in love with your personality, not your physical appearance! He's shy and struggles in telling you this but he's trying his best

He'll let you borrow his clothes if you don't have any suitable outfits! It doesn't matter if you've already worn his stuff, he will blush just as hard. May sneak a picture or two when you aren’t looking

He’ll be quick to make you a reversal potion! Whether you decide to use it or not is entirely up to you!

He’ll know immediately it’s you

Don’t even try and prank him, his reaction won’t be that worthwhile

He’s so sweet and calm about the situation! He’ll first make sure that you’re alright both physically and emotionally

If at any moment you feel self-conscious, he’ll kiss you softly. It’s all you need to know he doesn’t mind you this way either

Once he’s assured that you’re fine, he’ll tease you lightly! His little beastie really jinxed up this time!

He doesn’t have many clothes that aren’t formal, except for the souvenir T-shirts Lilia buys him on his many trips. You’re free to wear those if you’d like! 

A certain green-haired retainer may or may not be extremely jealous of you

If a reversal spell exists he can cast it for you in heartbeat. Or if you’d like to mess around awhile in this new form, be his guest! He might just join you in pulling a joke or two on the rest of the Diasomnia members! Lilia probably won’t fall for it but Silver and Sebek may not be as safe

[moonbeamwritings]

of salt water and loving gazes

a sequel to “of salt water and curious gazes”

Summary: Making new friends wasn’t necessarily odd, not by any stretch, but making friends with the merman living off the coast by your new home was markedly more so. As you stared at Jotaro beneath the light of the moon, rocking along the surface of the sea, you realized your feelings for your new companion were far beyond friendship.

A/N: Thank you for all of the kind words on the other part and happy Mermay everybody! ⭐

Your meetings with the mysterious merman quickly became a permanent fixture in your routine. Almost every night, with your belly full of whatever you’d scarfed down for dinner, you would tuck yourself into warm, soft clothes and slip on your sandals to begin the trek down to the beach, guided only by the light of the moon.

It was all so weird - befriending a merman was a difficult thing to process after all, but it hadn’t been entirely unpleasant. You’d touched his tail and he hadn’t tried to drown you, or at least not yet. He was much larger than you were and if he’d wanted to kill you with those sharp teeth or drag you to the murky depths below, he would’ve done it already, you rationalized one evening as you shook the sand from your shoes. Despite his hulking, intimidating form, you felt safe by Jotaro’s side, like he was picked out by some higher power to be your welcomed, albeit unlikely, companion.

And you certainly weren’t falling for the beautiful blue of his eyes or the tiny quirk of his lips when you complained about touching squishy seaweed with your toes. Nope, definitely not.

“Come on,” he coaxed gently, holding two webbed hands out to you with an impassive look, “It’ll be fun.”

“How do I know this isn’t some ploy for you to finally drown me? Send me down to the bottom of the ocean to rot?” You asked jokingly, eyeing him with suspicion.

For some reason, it seemed that Jotaro had deemed this evening to be the perfect time to take you swimming, claiming that the moon was in just the right spot, illuminating the water just enough that it wasn’t entirely black. He knew you hated that.

Your questions sent a laugh bubbling from his chest, dipping his body back below the surface as if to highlight just how harmless he was, to hide his massive shoulders beneath the waves, “If I really wanted to drown you, don’t you think I would’ve done it by now?”

He had a good point, but you weren’t about to let this joke die.

“Mmm,” you feigned thought, tapping a finger against your chin, “I don’t know, Jotaro. Maybe you’ve lulled me into a false sense of security. For all I know, you could’ve tricked me into being your friend precisely to find a new victim.”

A look you’d never seen before crossed his face, his eyebrows scrunching in concern and his lips frowning for a fraction of a second before returning to his usual indifference. You hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings. He had to know that you were only teasing, right? Maybe you’d taken it just a step too far.

“I wouldn’t do that to you. You know that.” His response was short, resolute as he raised his arms from the water, holding his hands out once again.

You sighed, regret bubbling in your stomach. What a stupid comment to make to a new friend. “I know.”

A beat of silence.

“I’m sorry.”

He shook some of the water from his hands, seemingly impatient as he waited for you to decide what to do. “It’s alright, I know you didn’t mean it like that. You know, you don’t actually have to come out here if you don’t want to.”

You looked between him and the moon, admiring the way he seemed to glow where he swam. The water did look inviting and Jotaro even more so, lingering there with his arms outstretched. Clothes could always be washed, you thought.

Stripping off your sweater to reveal your t-shirt and shorts, you nodded. “I want to.”

“You sure?”

Without a second thought, you agreed, reaching your hands out to grip at his shoulders before you slipped into the water. He kept his own securely at your waist, ensuring that you wouldn’t drift off. 

“Not so bad, right?” He asked, chuckling a bit before using his tail to guide you both through the water, setting a leisurely place over the waves.

“It’s freezing.” Came your immediate, disgruntled response, marked by slight tremors in your tone as your teeth chattered. You kicked your own feet in an attempt to warm your body, but it was as if your bones had already frozen solid.

“Just stay close to me,” Jotaro assured. “Or,” he continued, beginning a half-hearted descent beneath the waves, “I could dunk you? That’d warm you up pretty quick.”

You clung to him even tighter, scrambling to move up his body as he shifted, “Don’t you dare.”

You felt his chest rumble with a laugh, adjusting your position so more of your body was above the surface again and as it continued, you couldn’t help but join him, falling into your own laugh as you swam. He really did have a cute laugh, you thought, and it was nice to see him smile so openly. Damn him and his perfect, well, everything.

Perfection aside, being able to spend time with him in his element, drifting in the sea as the smell of salt invaded your nose, was something you wouldn’t trade for anything. There was a quiet intimacy to the moment that you couldn’t quite place, but you allowed it to settle, warming your heart and cheeks in the process.

As silence fell between the two of you, you felt your bones begin to loosen, skin warming thanks to his body heat. You continued to warm up as you felt his chest press flush against yours, so close that the two of you were nearly nose to nose. Lost in his eyes, you watched as his gaze flickered from yours to your lips and back again as he leaned just a fraction of an inch closer. It was as if you were both teetering on the edge of a cliff, waiting with bated breath for something to just... happen. The moment was broken by the sound of him clearing his throat, pulling away from you as he rubbed the back of his neck. 

Had you been imagining it or had he almost kissed you? Why hadn’t he? 

Heat rushed to your face as questions swirled in your mind, a wild storm of what-ifs and missed chances. An arm’s length away, you began to tread water on your own, needing a minute to just breathe.

The strange new energy dissipated quickly, Jotaro diving into a story about the adventure he and his friends had gone on in your absence during the day to distract you, or maybe himself - you couldn’t tell.

The merperson lifestyle always a little lost on you, but you did your best to follow along. Surely, he had no idea what you meant by a cell phone or what grocery stores were really like, so you could cut him some slack as he went into detail about stands - whatever those were - and the intricacies of sea urchin collecting.

You wondered what he was really like beneath the waves as he traveled with his friends. Was he less talkative? Or more? What did his language sound like to those who were fluent in it? Did they think he was crazy for speaking to you? Did they even know?

A splash of water landed right against your face, salt water burning your eyes as it hit you.

Bastard.

“Hey, are you even listening?” He accused, teasing smile resting just about the water’s surface.

“Of course, I am,” you fired back with a smile of your own. “Now tell me everything.”

You and Jotaro continued to talk and idly swim as the moon rose higher in the sky, cold limbs long since forgotten in favor of floating your way along the waves as you chatted with him. It was as easy as breathing, being beside him and feeling the sloshing of the sea beneath your shoulders.

Moments like these reminded you of your grandmother and the gentle words that lingered in your head whenever you took your seat at the end of the jetty. Jotaro, and the great expanse of the ocean itself, left you feeling lighter with each visit, like your problems were just a single drop and nothing more. Spending time with Jotaro was easy and you weren’t sure if you could ever find the words to tell him.

“This is nice.” You spoke, tipping back to allow the water to lap at your hair as you took in the pale light of the moon.

Jotaro’s eyes hadn’t left your form for what felt like an eternity, hypnotized by the way you moved, by the goosebumps across the expanse of your skin - by you. With the near-kiss weighing heavily on his mind, he finally turned away, dipping below the surface of the water to collect his thoughts.

You had accepted him, so wholeheartedly that it nearly made him dizzy. With a single, tentative smile and a brush of your fingers against his fluke on that first fateful night, you’d hooked him in and he knew he’d ever be able to stop coming back. Jotaro also knew though, just how dangerous it was to spend so much time around humans, but he simply couldn’t help it. You were like a shimmering pearl, a precious gem that he couldn’t bear to lose.

And now, with your body closer to his than it had ever been before, a realization came racing to the forefront of his mind. His feelings for you went beyond friendship, beyond harmless nights spent splashing water or trading seashells. 

Jotaro loved you.

Righting yourself to turn back towards Jotaro, you panicked. The horizon around you was empty, save for docked boats and a lighthouse far off in the distance.

“Jotaro?” You called frantically, spinning around in the water in a desperate search for the dark-haired merman, “Jotaro!?”

Your muffled calls sent him reeling back to the surface, pulling one of your hands into his own. He watched as you jumped about a mile in the air before you sprung at him, latching your arms around his neck. “I’m right here.”

“God,” you huffed, breath ghosting over his ear, “Don’t do that. Leaving me out here all alone like a worm on a hook, flailing around like an idiot.”

“Sorry.”

Without thinking, his arms wrapped around your waist, rubbing a reassuring hand along the small of your back. You relished in the feeling for a few moments before leaning back, face mere inches from his own, noses and lips nearly touching.

He was breathtaking like this; hair dripping with water that caught the light of the stars just so, body covered in droplets that shone like crystals. His eyes were rendered even more beautiful with your proximity, a deep turquoise littered with little flecks of blue.

You could just lean in and-

His lips crossed the distance with ease, pressing up against yours as if he had been reading your mind. The kiss was sweet, clumsy and a little too salty, but still managing to send your heart stuttering in your chest all the same. Jotaro supported you both, keeping you afloat with his tail as your arms trailed back around his neck, fingers threading in his wet hair. He kept his hands on your back, clutching your shirt in each fist.

Feeling breathless, you pulled away to rest your forehead against his, a grin beginning to spread across your face. Jotaro swore he’d never seen you so happy. The twinkle in your eyes had him tugging at your waist, twirling you around in the water before pulling you in for another kiss. This one was just as clumsy as the first, a goofy mess of teeth and lips as you struggled to suppress your smiles.

With one final peck, Jotaro pulled away to take a breath, revealing one of the cutest blushes you’ve ever seen. You rushed to bring your hands to his face, cradling his cheeks in your palms as if to savor the moment, to make his flush last that much longer.

“I’m in love with you.” His words came out in a flurry, a sharp contrast to his low, unwavering tone. He was nervous. As if now, after everything, his admission would scare you away.

“I’m in love with you too.” You replied, rubbing a thumb along his smooth, wet cheekbone.

“This doesn’t...” he cut himself off to gesture vaguely at his tail with his eyes, “it doesn’t bother you?”

“I wouldn’t be here right now if it did, right?”

He smiled at that, bringing his lips down to connect with your hairline. “Mm, I guess not. Still think I’m gonna drown you?”

The question caught you off guard, a light giggle escaping your throat as you pressed even closer to his chest. You could feel his heartbeat.

“At this point,” you began, running your hands down to hold his shoulders as your eyes met his own, “I wouldn’t really mind if you did.”

Jotaro started to move with the waves again, casually floating on his back with you clinging onto him. “You have to be careful, you know. I am a vicious beast after all.”

You thought about the kisses you’d just shared, about the way he’d held you as if you would break, about his bashful smile and beautiful laugh and that adorable blush.

“Yeah, sure thing, tough guy.”

Your grandmother had always told you that the ocean soothed the soul, acting as a quiet reprieve from the hustle and bustle of your daily life - an escape. Here, in the arms of one of the ocean’s most beautiful creations, you were certain she was right.