#edit bc i forgot to add an important tag:

[bat-the-misfit]

Hello :)

I don't understand half of the things you say but I really love when you post The Gif (TM) and you call Ni-Ki the "Boy From The Gif" (also TM). These posts make me laugh :)

Anyway you made a post saying you didn't get why your followers followed you and I though it'd be cool to share WHY I followed you LOL.

Also I agree with Camila that you should type him. I also don't like that Idols misunderstand the whole MBTI thing and wish they called professionals to get typed. That'd be so much fun.

Bye :)

me realizing that someone actually sees my posts and likes them:

tnx bro!!! that made my day!!!

sometimes you feel like no one really cares about what you have to say and that sucks, yk? idc about getting lots of notes or getting popular but sometimes it feels lonely when no one likes or comment on my posts lmao

now about typing him uhhhh... *runs away*

[cyrusclouds]

☆ INTRODUCTORY POST ☆

last updated on: may 23rd, 2024! haaiiii!! my name is cyrus, super nice to meet you guys!!! here's my pronouns.page for anybody curious on my pronouns and such, but if you just want a quick overview, i use any and all!! :DD

! I'M 14 YEARS OLD, DO NOT BE WEIRD PLZ !

moot requests are totally open!! a little p.s, i am angelkin, raccoon therian/raccoonkin, and a nina hopkins (creepypasta) & kris (deltarune) fictionkin!!! <3

CONTINUE FOR: dni, custom tags, and extra info <3

other links : pinterest , ao3 , spotify, simplyplural: cyrusclouds, @drhenrymillerrr & @cloudyfilezz

CUSTOM TAGS:

cyrus does art ☆

cyrus says a lot ☆

cyrus says a little ☆

cyrus makes edits ☆

cyrus speaks the truth ☆

cyrus answers your asks ☆

cyrus makes stimboards ☆

cyrus talks about system things ☆

cyrus says something important ☆

INTERESTS:

fnaf, dsaf, dialtown, scp foundation, batim, sander sides, mark egos, roblox myths, bnha, scott pilgrim takes off, hazbin hotel/helluva boss, hetalia, gravity falls, gobb, ddlc, mlp, undertale, deltarune, cuphead, dead plate, centricide, death note, pokemon, hamilton the musical, resident evil, underverse, detroit become human, okegom, tf2, kinito pet, and some other things i probablyyy forgot to add!!

YOUTUBER AND MUSIC ARTIST INTERESTS:

youtubers: flamingo, markiplier, jacksepticeye, danny gonzalez, drew gooden, jarvis johnson, kurtis conner, funkyfrogbait music artists: ghost bc, sleep token, mitski, lana del ray, jack stauber, lemon demon, sodikken, tally hall, will wood

BYF:

i have bpd and suspected asd, so please tread lightly and try to keep this a positive space (no drama)!

as my pronouns.page says, i am a minor. keep it sfw.

i tend to get very anxious with interactions, so if i seem nervous, don't worry, you didn't do anything!

i can be a bit obnoxious with asks, so if you don't like it, please just ask me to stop :))

DNI CRITERIA:

i block freely, buuuuttt... homophobes, transphobes, racists, zionists, nazis or neo-nazis, anti-furry, anti-otherkin, anti-therian, anti-neopronouns, anti-xenopronouns, anti-xenogenders, proships or comships, and overall assholes. keep off my page, you WILL be BLOCKED.

KINS:

dave miller (dsaf)

henry miller (dsaf)

twilight sparkle (mlp)

dr iceberg (scp foundation)

karen (dialtown)

darkiplier (mark egos)

dabi (bnha)

toga himiko (bnha)

yuri (ddlc)

error (underverse)

(none of the above are for abusive reasons!!)

[taras-toe-beans]

I was tagged by @kelandrin to do this challenge from @sporeservant

Izzrhys Illith'vir | he/him | drow | oath of devotion paladin | 103

What is your Tav’s…

favorite weapon: Glaive

style of combat: He's a human shield; throws himself in the middle of a battle and takes the brunt of the damage from enemies. Heavy hitter, loves his smites

most prized possession: He doesn't have a lot of physical items he holds dear. Most important is probably his amulet of Ilmater, as both a symbol of his faith and his spellcasting focus. The amulet is made of wood and red cord.

deepest desire: He wants to be useful, to be needed, and to help alleviate the suffering of others wherever he finds it.

guilty pleasure: He loves trashy romance novels. Both the cheesy, sickly-sweet kind of romance and the steamy, smut-filled kind. I'm starting to think the companions should form a book club.

best-kept secret: He doesn't go out of his way to hide this, but Izzrhys doesn't like talking about the fact that he has children in the underdark.

greatest strength: His compassion. While considered a bleeding heart by some, it has proven to be one of his best qualities. He will go out of his way to help others in need, especially if he knows no one else will stand up for them.

fatal flaw: Recklessness. Izzrhys is quick to lend a hand and equally as quick to put himself in danger. He frequently takes worse beatings than everyone else in battle.

favorite smell: Freshly baked breads and pastries

favorite spell or cantrip: Divine smite. Who doesn't love smiting the fuck out of baddies?

pet peeve: He gets really annoyed at people who have blind faith in any sort of leader. He's been there, done that, and at this point, watching it happen to other people just hurts.

bad habit: He frequently takes on way too many responsibilities and tasks. Time and time again, he's presented with the lesson of "you can't help everyone," and yet he still tries, even if he's spread too thin as it is.

hidden talent: He's surprisingly good with animals. No druid, of course, but animals have always been more drawn to him than a lot of his peers. He's also good at animal care and can usually heal them if need be.

leisure activity: He likes reading, mainly fiction. He's also very interested in linguistics and sometimes studies books on that in his downtime.

favorite drink: Brandy, fruity wines

comfort food: Has a not-so-secret sweet tooth. Especially loves fruit pies and pastries

favorite person: Gale- he would do anything for that wizard

favored display of affection (platonic and/or romantic): Hugging. Izzrhys is a BIG hugger. He loves holding Gale (he's 100% the big spoon), he makes sure that Karlach gets to make up for years of not touching anyone, and he ensures that everyone gets some physical affection, should they want it.

fondest childhood memory: He remembers the time he spent with his younger brother, Valdaer, in the underdark. It's all pretty mundane, some of the memories unpleasant, but any memories of his brother, he tries to hold onto.

Is there anything else you'd like to share? edit: totally forgot to fill out this section, bc I did have a couple of things to add. Izzrhys has severe arachnaphobia (needless to say the spiders under the blighted village and his meeting with Kar'niss did NOT go well). Also as mentioned, he spent his earlier years in the underdark, specifically in Menzoberranzan, but didn't escape until he was in his 80s.

[palestickyprinces]

on my hands and knees begging for a family tree (or multiple ones!!) for your original hotd/asoiaf characters...

anon your hand in marriage immediately. how did you know about my one true passion. reveal yourself in my dms within three days else you'll start to cough

some of these are way more in depth because i. well. i only just made some (cough the tullys and martells cough) while others i worked for a day or two on. the targaryen ones look weird bc this site doesnt like incest (or even when two siblings marry another set of siblings). i will put it under a read more lest it take 5 days to scroll past

me looking at anon

we're just gonna go in order of how i have them saved el oh el. also i was gonna link the trees but then realized anyone can edit them and i dont trust people not to fuck up my hard work so now you have to suffer my shitty screenshots. sorry

Maryce Redwyne

(ignore the fact it links to aemond, its just how the site works) now this one is a little weird bc i never fully committed to when it takes place in her canon so some people are dead who shouldnt be some people arent dead who should be etc... also daeron doesn't exist here cuz uhhh. well. i just never put him in.

this verse is also the ones my ocs vaerra targaryen and alyssa targaryen (of pentos), but i ended up removing them since its really maryce's story and i didnt want to include them for like two appearances worth of time

you may notice she has a child who's formerly gone entirely unmentioned...

Lorea Baratheon

this one is straightforward its just the canon family tree plus lorea. i have various other ocs and possible cousins in mind for her story but i dont think any are included in this. however i did go insane adding practically the entire lannister and baratheon/targaryen family trees theres like 60+ people in this one

House Errol

never mentioned these guys (because i forgot they existed) but theyre fairly important players in lorea's story, she runs into the kingswood after (spoiler!) her mom tries to 🗡 her and ends up at haystack hall. sebastion ends up agreeing to let her stay, then as the war continues is the one to push her to claim the throne. totally not because he wants to be her hand and marry his son to her. who would ever do that.

House Mallister

theres a couple more piper cousins/siblings in law on the other side lyman but thats fine. lyman has a wife named lynette swann and i never decided if his name would remain lyman. also i forgot to ever name one of elinor's brothers in law oops

after the hashtag scandal of elinor having a bastard baby her mom gets her brother lucas to marry his son to elinor and elinor is shipped off to pinkmaiden forever. sad!

Ellyn Hightower + Daemion & Alyssa

considering daemion didnt even have his own tag until like yesterday i dont think i ever shared that he's criston's son so. spoiler! theres nothing like giving your affair baby nearly the same name as your husband ❤️ also daeron is again not here. sorry. would be funny to include him just for the sake of the recent headcanons about criston being his daddy tho. when ur cousin is also ur brother and its not even from the incest side of the family

(im not actually doing that. daeron will probably just not be included. unless i really like him when s3 comes out in a decade)

all the stuff to the side is just canon targ bullshit i added

House Tully

these crop weird on tumblr oops. click on em to see it better. i made alys larys's sister bc i just thought being tortured by ur sister in law is funnier than aunt etc. i considered naming zoe and elmo's dad ernie

House Martell

alia and aelyx are twins <3 i did not add all of daeron's various descendants or ancestors because frankly theres kind of a lot of them and again this site hates incest and it starts looking funny real quick. given more time i mightve added them and the great bastards and all but this is what you get for now

maron said their first kid could have a targy name since they'd be a martell either way so daenerys insisted he give the second one a dornish name and then with the twins they just followed their previous pattern of girl gets dornish boy gets targy. these guys are arguably the happiest family of ocs i got

maron had a paramour before wedding daenerys and he sent her away before the marriage because he knew daenerys would take offense to it, and he didn't want to risk the still fairly new targ-martell alliance, or risk angering daeron, which could theoretically pose a risk to maron's own sister. the family's one real conflict is that the paramour has a son who later shows up claiming he's maron's REAL oldest child and that aeron is actually a blackfyre. thankfully the dornish are not stupid and basically just go ????? before kicking the kid out. well actually a lot more happens than just that but yk how it is. that plotline is also only barely existant. i havent even read a knight of the seven kingdoms yet

if you actually read all this then YAYYYYY come be my friend pls. or just send me more asks about my ocs. i love answering questions and talking for way too long i NEED more asks

[thebestestbat]

@ravenkinnie thanks for the tag!! if you want to do this pls say i tagged u....

his blood was touching everything - dc comics, raven , 1k.

i'm genuinely really proud of this one. i'm sad that i forgot to add joey because joey should be in the titans breakfast scene. but i think that one of the hardest things to do as a writer is write a coherent Dream Sequence Story because there are so few constraints for it, you know? and i think that constraints are one of the most important things for good art. but i like this one.

Everyone in this room will have to leave - dc comics, dickroy, 2k. this one might make the list only bc it's recent. but i love dickroy and hurt/comfort, and this is both. i added a sentence or two in the ao3 version (vs the zine version) that i hope addressed addiction in a better way.

bodies blotting out the sky - mdzs, sangyao, 8k.

look. i love to write about discovering sexuality after CSA. i don't particularly like the non-sangyao scenes in this anymore, but yeah.

unbreak broken - friends at the table: counter/weight, tea kenridge/natalya greaves, 2k.

the reason this is on here is because it's the first tea/natalya fic on ao3 :3 did i create the ship? Perhaps >:3c i hope i did. i love this ship sm

The Nature of Indifference and of the Crowd - friends at the table: marielda, alyosha/arrell, 2k.

this might also be on here because of recency. there are bits i wish i had edited more closely. but i do love this take on like tragic teacher/student weirdness.

[dumbass-tm]

omg am i finally using tumblr again.... for villainous ??????

[ashercries23]

my thoughts on jegulily + some headcanons

so starting out, regulus to me is a GAY MAN. like i legit can not see him being otherwise. he’s also trans bc i’m trans and i say so but that’s not important to my thoughts, just wanted to add that. james is pansexual for sure, with lily being bisexual ofc.

so now my thoughts on jegulily. i only really like it if they’re JAMES’ partners. so james is dating regulus and lily, but lily and reg aren’t together. they’re like really close, but not in a relationship.

i really hope that makes sense. i swear i’m not bashing anyone in this, i legit just can’t see reg and lily being together to save my life. but they can be besties 100%

edit 7/6/23: ngl i absolutely love lesbian/sapphic lily. i once saw a tweet that says “free her (lily) from the shackles of men” and i fully agree. stan pandalily and marlily (or pandmarlily if you’re brave enough)

edit 9/16/23: totally forgot i had this post lmao. i actually fully hc lily as a lesbian now so uh. yeah lol! not a fan of jily ofc. lily to me is very much a lesbian and should NEVER be with a man. she’s better than that. which ofc takes jegulily out of the picture as well. i’ve also begun to somewhat like dorlily as time as moved on, but i’m too obsessed with dorlene to fully change if ya get me. LASTLY! i’m fine with james being pan or bi. i’m absolutely chill with both.

updating the tags on this post now too!

[fbfh]

rocks at your window pt. 4 - ricky bowen x reader

disclaimer: this series contains smut and chapter by chapter warnings, so as with all nsfw works, ricky is aged up to 18+!! ricky and reader are 18 and in their senior year

additionally, we're working towards a ricky x therapy plot so he's going to start expressing some symptoms of mental illness and bpd starting in this chapter but I promise he does get therapy eventually and has a good support system (he gets worse before he gets better yk) and obviously i'm not a professional and this is for entertainment so while I have done my research pls take this with a grain of salt!! or several!! /lh

!! contains some spoilers for season 1 of hsmtmts, and previous chapters of this fic !!

wc: 11k I know

genre: smut, slice of life/coming of age, one sided pining, fluff

pairing: ricky bowen x (afab she/her) reader

warnings: NOT PROOF READ AT ALL, more facebook messanger texts we'll politely pretend aren't facebook messanger, protecting carlos and seb during hoco (+ one use of the word homophobia), you're the dolly levi of the friend group, a LOT of hello dolly references??, TOOTH ROTTING FLUFF, ricky's falling HARD, antagonist!nina, one sided rina angst (like BIG gina angst), big red is ricky's temporary therapist, ricky has bpd, ricky kind of splits on gina??, ricky has anxiety too, dr phil and big red and natalie's emotional support hamster are the only consistant things in anyone's life, drama/general messiness, oral (m + f recieving), sneaky quiet late night don't wake up the parents sex, making out, ricky thinks you smell so good he has to bang you right now, "stay quiet or I stop", switch!ricky, switch!reader, calling ricky a good boy, praise kink, giggly sex, waking up the morning after to an empty bed but not at all on bad terms (and no ghosting)

summary: ricky works up the guts to ask you to homecoming. if you can navigate all the drama, maybe he'll get to rearrange yours after dancing together all night.

song recs: old friend - mitski, 10 minutes ago - cinderella (1997), dancing - hello dolly (1969), in love on valentine's day - paul sandrone, daniel farrant, james knight (spotify link bc it's literally not on youtube??? tracking down this song was a nightmare /lh), you turned the tables on me - billie holiday, born to be brave - nico iaciancio cover (bc that's what I think the original sounds like in canon), soulmate who wasn't meant to be - jess benko, perfume - new hope club

a/n: could I have split this up?? yes but I'm not going to. also congrats 2 me bc I'm officially in the 10k one shot girlie club!! this is the longest thing i've ever written and my eyes are burning. ricky has bpd, I knew from the moment I saw this motherfucker I was like "yup bpd and mommy issues" and I was RIGHT why is no one talking about this also go watch crazy ex girlfriend

EDIT: I FORGOT TO ADD THE LINK TO THE VAMPIRE DIARIES VIDEO YOU REFERENCE IN THE BEGINNING (obvious spoilers for vampire diaries lol)

tags: @yesv01 @afidiofobia @aliyahsutherland @hopefullhearts @afidiofobia @aliyahsutherland @matiere-detoiles @ifilwtmfc @uselesssapphickitten @nxstalgicnxbxdy @ggclarissa

There’s no reason to be nervous. Ricky has literally no reason to be nervous. You’ve been together practically 24/7 since… all this began. He ducks his head down and his eyes land on the smooth counter top of the booth you’re sitting in. Heat rushes to his cheeks as it so often does around you, as he remembers all the time you’ve spent together. He tries to pay as much attention as he can to your summary of the video essay on vampire diaries you’d watched while doing homework last night, even though his thoughts are racing, and all centered on you. On asking you something really important - but also like, totally not a big deal or whatever.

“So apparently they just regularly bring characters back from the dead,” you inform him with a laugh, and take a sip of your coffee. He didn’t think people could look particularly cute while sipping something until he met you… until he got close with you. 

“Yeah, that’s pretty crazy,” he agrees, hoping he sounds normal. You glance up at him to make sure he’s okay. You can tell he seems a little distracted, and he knows he has to ask you. It’s now or never. 

“So…” he begins.

“Yeah?” you lean forward, already invested in what he has to say. God, he loves that. He loves the way you care, really care about what he has to say. He lets out a small, breathy laugh, that you mirror when you hear his.

“So, homecoming is soon,” he smiles, and is pretty sure you know where he’s going with this. Your eyes widen in moderate surprise.

“It is? Already?” you ask, pulling out your phone to check your very messy calendar. “Jesus, I thought we still had a few more weeks…” you muse, and Ricky smiles. God, how can you make everything - even being a little scatterbrained sometimes - so fucking cute? 

You look back up from your phone, snapping him back to attention. His breath is shallow.

“So…” he says again, and rubs the palms of his hands up and down his jeans. Why is he so nervous? He has no reason to be nervous. You’re silent, waiting for him to continue in a way that feels patient, encouraging even, instead of critical like it would be from someone else. 

“...Do you want to go? To homecoming?” 

His heart is in his throat.

“Like, together?” You take another sip. He’s so choked up, so worried you’ll say no. He nods. You smile. 

“Hell yeah,” you lean back and pull out your phone to text your mom, who is currently at a PTA meeting, about dress shopping this weekend, biting your lip as you type. Relief turns to elation as you discuss plans, coordinate rides with your friends, and get a plan together. He bounces his leg, getting really excited for all this. He’s never been one for school dances, but with you… it’s a whole different story. He can’t stop looking at you. 

“So, what color is your dress going to be? You know, so I can get a tie to match.” A light, happy chuckle dances across the table and you hum in consideration, glancing down at the scone in your hand, your favorite flavor that’s become somewhat of a signature with you and Ricky.

“Peach.” 

You both giggle.

“Perfect.” he smiles. You’re going to look so pretty in a peach dress. At homecoming. With him. A burst of kinetic energy waves through him at the thought. The atmosphere is nice, comfortable. It always is with you. You finish the bite of pastry in your mouth.

“You know,” you start, “maybe you should go suit shopping with your dad. It might be nice to have a guy’s day together.” 

His mom has been gone for a few weeks now, and he told you how badly his dad is struggling. He means well, it’s just… been hard on him. It might be nice, he thinks, really nice to go out and spend some time with his dad, have some fun. He doesn’t remember the last time they had a day like that together. He’d really like that, if his dad wanted to.

“Yeah,” he agrees, wondering when a good time to bring it up will be, “that would be nice.” 

Around the time you’re ready to head home, your phone lights up with a text from your mom, informing you everything at the PTA meeting went great, and she’ll fill you in on the details at home, and you thank her, informing her there’s a hazelnut coffee coming her way. 

It’s Friday night, and you have less than 24 hours to homecoming. You’re not sure how you were able to find a dress you actually like in the right color on such short notice, but somehow you managed. You and Ricky have been texting all day, filling each other in on how last minute shopping had been going for each of you. He was shocked at how well today went with his dad. He was bracing himself for the worst for a lot of the afternoon, but the day progressed and nothing bad happened. They even got dinner afterwards. 

Now, you’re sitting at your desk, finishing some homework while you facetime each other and fill him in on the whole cast’s plan to be there for Carlos and Seb tomorrow night. 

“And, like,” you continue rambling as you wrap up your science worksheet, “it’s so ridiculous that that’s even necessary, you know? Out of all the living things in the world, humans are the only ones who thought to make up homophobia.” 

“Right? Worst idea ever,” he muses. 

“Exactly!” you exclaim in agreement, looking up at your phone. You mutter something about how stupid people can be, eyes moving down and skimming your paper, double checking your answers one last time. Ricky watches you do this. Your desk light casts a warm glow over you, and he can see some of your posters on the opposite wall from  where you have your phone propped up. He knows exactly which ones they are, too. He has every detail of your room - and of you - memorized by now.

He’s supposed to be finishing his english homework, that’s the whole point of facetiming each other this late, to keep each other company while you work. Instead his papers lay discarded on his desk as he watches you, a look of fondness dusting his face. You tap your pencil against each question on your worksheet, eyebrows scrunched, mouthing the answers to yourself as you go. Occasionally you’ll stop, turning to your book to check a chart or vocabulary word, then erase your answer and select a different one. 

“And that’s why we proofread,” you mutter to yourself, and Ricky giggles. You look back up at him, smiling, then back at your paper for one last once over. 

“Okay, I’m just about done,” you say, putting your homework in your bag to turn in later, with a satisfactory sigh. Ricky glances at the time. It’s getting late already. He’s torn between wanting to make sure you get enough sleep, and wanting to talk to you all night. He watches you rub your eyes, suppressing a yawn. 

“We should probably go to bed now,” it’s more of a question, but you agree anyway. You pick up your phone and walk into your bathroom, grabbing your toothbrush as you say your drawn out good nights. 

Ricky thought he was nervous asking you to homecoming? Turns out that’s nothing compared where he is now, waiting for you in your foyer. Somehow your house had become the unofficial get ready spot for the girls and Carlos, and meet up place for everyone else. So that’s where Ricky finds himself, barely unable to socialize or talk with his friends, all his thoughts preoccupied with you. He hasn’t seen you all day; you and the girls have been getting ready together, and he’s been trying to teach Big Red to dance all day. 

Ashlyn comes down first. Her bubbly presence immediately eases some of the tension in the atmosphere from Ricky and EJ having to wait together in such close quarters. She waits with them for the others while they finish getting ready. It doesn’t slip past Ricky how nervous Big Red suddenly gets when she comes down the staircase. 

Natalie is next - almost. Half way down the stairs, a snap resonates off the walls, and she freezes. She looks down at her left shoe, the heel of which has completely snapped off.

“Oh my god,” she mutters, and walks carefully back up to your room. A minute later, presumably after she informs you about her wardrobe malfunction, Ricky hears your voice, faint and bouncing off the stairwell. 

“It’s okay, that’s the risk you take with stilettos,” you say, trying to calm her justified panic. He hears you say something about how Margot Robbie broke a heel at an award show a few years ago as your bedroom door closes again. 

The door opens, and Carlos appears at the landing. His face falls slightly as he realizes Seb isn’t here yet.

“It’s okay, he’s probably going to meet up with us at school.” Ricky comforts. 

“Yeah,” he agrees with a laugh at his own nervousness, “yeah, you’re probably right.”  Carlos takes a deep breath, and Ricky notices the swirly, metallic red pattern on his suit. 

“You look great, man,” He says, hoping to take Carlos’s mind off the unexpected radio silence from Seb. The comment is appreciated, but seems to catch him off guard. 

“Thanks,” he replies, “dude,” he punctuates with a friendly - very awkward - punch to Ricky’s arm. It’s more of a nudge, but he appreciates the sense of comradery nonetheless. 

Footsteps echo down the stairs, and Ricky looks up, stomach twisting in anticipation. Natalie emmerges, much more carefully this time. She greets everyone, then starts talking to Ashlyn about the shoe incident. Ricky is trying really, really hard not to look like he’s waiting for you, but it feels almost impossible to focus on anything else. 

Finally, several painfully long minutes later, he hears the click of high heels approaching the steps. He walks to the bottom of the stairs, heart thumping as you round the corner, and all the breath is pulled from his lungs at the sight of you. You descend the stairs, hair and dress flowing and bouncing with every step, glowing under the chandelier light. Your dress, mid length and flouncy, a peachy champagne that compliments your hair and skin tone perfectly, shimmers subtly when you move, glistening like starlight. 

Your makeup is understated and glowy, bringing out every beautiful feature you have - which is all of them. Your hair is perfect, glossy and voluminous. Your earrings look like little pink silk flowers, and there are matching, larger silk flowers on the side of your heels. Your nails are manicured a soft peachy pink, with little sparkling accents. You even smell like peaches, he realizes, subconsciously taking a step closer to the bottom of the stairs as you get closer. You seem to descend in slow motion as Ricky takes in every detail.

Your expression mirrors his the moment you see him. You did not expect him to look that good in a suit. It couldn’t fit better, the cut and seams of the dark fabric perfectly accentuating his physique. His tie matches your dress, the same shade of peach, and you bite back a smile. The expression on his face can only be described as a breathless wow, and it’s something you'll never forget. Your cheeks are warm and suddenly it all feels real. You find yourself very excited to have fun at homecoming with him tonight. 

You finally float down to the bottom of the stairs, stopping in front of him. It’s quiet for a moment, as you take each other in, face to face. You’re both struggling to find the words, thrown off guard by the energy in the air, by each other. Behind you, Ashlyn claps awkwardly.

“Alright, everyone ready to go?” 

You and Ricky both giggle at the same time, and his chest warms at how in sync you are. 

“Yeah,” You confirm, smiling over at Ashlyn and grabbing Ricky’s arm in a way that makes his heart palpitate, “let’s go.”

Standing with you on the dance floor, his hand on your waist as you attempt to teach him how to waltz, Ricky is so thankful for homecoming, for an opportunity to be close to you like this. 

“I told you,” he laughs, enamored with your optimistic determination, “I can’t dance.” 

“Yes,” you smile, “you can. You just haven’t had the right teacher.” His cheeks flush at your words, the feeling of your hands on his, and he’s hit with the sudden memory of the last time your lips were on his neck. 

“I think you’re probably right about that…” he mutters under his breath. You bite back a smile, adjusting the position of his hand on your waist. You step closer, and his heart beats faster. He watches your face closely as you explain the basics of a waltz, a box step. 

“Like in ‘Dancing’ from Hello Dolly.” you smile, eyes widening at the blank look on his face. “Oh my god, it’s a musical classic! Carol Channing played Dolly in the original broadway cast in ‘64, then Barbra Streisand in the film adaptation in ‘69.” 

“Wow,” he smiles. He loves when you talk about theatre and Broadway, loves the way your eyes light up. “They’re like, really famous, right?” You let out a light hearted scoff.

“Broadway legends.” You smile, “The movie was directed by Gene Kelly, too, it’s amazing. We should watch it this weekend, if you want to,” you look up at him, eyes glittering under the soft twinkling lights. 

“Yeah,” Ricky laughs, “definitely.” 

After a moment, you remember why you brought Hello Dolly up in the first place. 

“Right,” you say, memory jogged, “there’s a song called ‘Dancing’ where Dolly is teaching Cornelius and Barnaby how to dance so they can impress these girls who work at a ladies hat shop-” 

“Cornelius and Barnaby?” he asks with a laugh. 

“It takes place in 1890!” you say, jokingly defensive. 

“Right,” he agrees, “so a… ladies hat shop…?” 

“Totally era appropriate.” 

You’re both giggling, trying not to be too loud. You lean your head forward, resting it on his shoulder. The sound of your laughter, the feeling of your head resting against him brings back that warm feeling he always gets around you. It takes you a moment to regain your composure. It’s been like this all night, the conversation flowing like a river, always making each other laugh over something or other. 

“So,” you begin, once again ready to dance with him, “put your hand on her waist and stand.” You recite, moving his hand from your back to your waist and adjusting your posture. 

“With her right-” you hesitate, making sure you have the correct hand, then continue, “in your left hand. And…” You step back with your left foot, motioning for him to follow, then back and out with your right, then together. 

“One… two… three…” 

You repeat the steps.

“One… two… three…”

And again.

“One… two… three…” 

You look up at him, your smile blinding.

“Look, you’re dancing!” 

He looks up at you, excited, disbelieving that he got it so quickly.

“Wait, that’s it?” he asks quietly.

“Yeah,” you nod, “see? I told you you can dance.” You start to move again, and he follows, hesitant but slowly getting the hang of it. After a second, he says your name, voice quiet and still watching the ground. 

“Can you keep singing? It’s making it a lot easier…” he chuckles, hoping you can’t tell how much he loves hearing your voice. 

So you do. You sing quietly, just enough for him to hear, about dancing and how it’s the perfect excuse to hold someone you like close to you, as you waltz carefully around the room. An electric, intimate feeling ties you together as you weave through the room. It's like something clicked, he thinks, because it makes sense. This, dancing, makes sense. He’s pulled from his epiphany by your melodic voice. 

"We should do Hello Dolly, it would be so fun!" You giggle.

"Yeah?" He asks, smile mirroring yours, "Who would you play?" You let out a light hearted huff, considering. 

"I would love to play Dolly," you admit. You had always hoped to portray the classic role, dreaming of being able to follow in the footsteps of other iconic actresses like Carol Channing and Barbra Streisand. You barely get the sentence out when Ricky nods, agreeing. 

"You would make an amazing Dolly." You laugh, cheeks warm, flattered by his response. 

"Who do you think I should be?" He asks, that playful energy flowing comfortably between you as he raises his arm, spinning you around. 

"Well," you begin with a laugh, "if you played Cornelius we’d get to waltz together. But if you played Horace and I played Dolly we'd get married at the end." 

His heart squeezes at your words, imagination already taking off like a wild horse. Again, your melodic voice pulls him back down to earth. 

"But playing Irene would be fun too…" you sigh, twirling in his arms again, your dress glittering under the soft lights. Your hands return to their previous position resting on his shoulder and your waist, free hands clasped together, and you begin to move in tandem. You twirl and float around the room, feeling the music wrap around you like a warm blanket in autumn. 

In that beautiful moment between the two of you, he doesn’t just understand dancing, he realizes, he loves it. Like, a lot. He loves this, being close to you. He loves the connection between you, and he wants to keep dancing with you all night. 

He giggles, twirling you around in his arms again. On your way around, you see Carlos behind you at your table holding up his phone, a smile on his face. You’re glad he seems okay; Seb still hasn’t shown up and everyone’s been worried about both of them. A split second later, you’re back in Ricky’s arms, and your heart soars at the smile on his face. You’d been hoping dancing together at homecoming might help him in rehearsals. Based on how well he’s doing - and how much fun he seems to be having - you can tell your hunch was correct. 

After a few more songs, you begin to make your way back to your table. Ricky’s hand settles on your back, guiding you through the crowd. Two more people are seated there than when you left, and your eyes widen. 

“Oh my god.” you say quietly, “Gina and EJ came together?” 

Ricky glances up, gaze almost immediately turning back to you as you get closer.

“Oh, they did? I didn’t notice.” 

Fighting to maintain her poker face, Gina’s stomach drops at his words. Her eyes dart between you and Ricky, the way he’s looking at you. She grips her clutch tighter. This is really, really bad for her. Gina barely had a plan for making Ricky jealous and freaked out so he’d quit the show to begin with. She definitely did not plan on you waltzing into the picture - literally - and stealing away all of his attention. He can’t get jealous if all of his focus is on you. A sinking feeling begins to invade the pit of her stomach. 

Ricky’s phone buzzes with a text from his dad. 

“Hey,” he says, showing you the screen, “which shirt do you like better?” 

He’s been filling you in on his dad’s hot date he has tonight, and you’re both very relieved to see that he’s doing okay, putting himself out there. You look at the pictures, and consider.

“Hmm… the second one.” you conclude. 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” he agrees easily. He loves how you always seem to be on the same page. 

“Wow,” comes EJ’s voice from across the table. He sounds really stiff. “I had no idea you were each other’s dates to homecoming.” He states, sharing a quick look with Gina he hopes no one notices. 

“Yeah, we are,” Ricky smiles, “we’re each other’s dates.” He doesn’t think it would be too far fetched to say you’re… dating. 

“Yep, partners in crime.” You smile, showing off your plastic ring. Ricky holds up his, kept on a chain, sitting right over his heart. 

“Aw,” Carlos says, an almost bittersweet undercurrent to his voice, “you guys are so cute.” He gestures for you to lean closer to each other. “Let me get a pic for my story!” 

Ricky does not need to be told twice. He throws his arms around you, pressing a kiss to your cheek as you hold his arm and giggle. It’s the perfect shot, the sincerity of the fun you’re having evident in the photo. 

Gina runs her tongue over her teeth. She really does not like that. 

Across town, sitting at a table in a shitty karaoke spot, Nina scrolls through instagram while Kourtney rants about the bitch who criticized her costume suggestions. Something about a lime green sweater? She’s not really paying attention, she’s too distracted by the hideous dress that Gina’s wearing. And the fact that she went to hoco with Nina’s ex boyfriend. 

“Look at this,” she says, showing Kourtney her phone. “She looks like she’s wearing a bedazzled tablecloth.” Kourtney looks at her phone, disapproval written all over her face. 

“And,” Nina says, gearing up to point out the obvious jab at her, “she’s with EJ.”

Kourtney knows where this is going. Before Nini can go off about how obviously Gina has it out for her, she takes a sip of her drink. 

“Is there anything on their stories?”

She taps EJ’s story and it’s just a boomerang of the food. 

“No, just-” Carlos’s story plays next and Nina almost pukes. Right there on her screen is Ricky, kissing your cheek, leaning into you like a cat. You’re in an unfortunately gorgeous dress, grinning so sincerely, your nose effortlessly scrunched. Next is a video of you two dancing. Like, really, properly dancing. She can’t believe you got him to dance - he doesn’t even dance in rehearsal when he’s supposed to! She watches the two of you ballroom dancing around the gym, breath speeding up slightly at the realization that he’s actually good. The sick pit forming in her stomach grows as she rewatches the video again. She wants to know why, after all the practice, all the failed attempts and his reluctance, why it works when you do it? Why isn’t she good enough? She dwells in the feeling for a few minutes. She scrolls through a few more hoco posts before finding one that has your account tagged. It’s private. 

“Kourt,” she says, showing her her phone, “you need to follow her.” 

“Why?” Kourtney asks.

“So I can see what’s on her instagram.” Nina says. She can’t let you know she’s lurking, so the obvious solution is to lurk through Kourtney’s account. Kourtney sighs. She requests to follow you. 

A few feet away from your table, Ashlyn gives you a look, gesturing subtly to Carlos, then to the hallway. Seb still isn’t here. 

“Hey,” you say quietly to Ricky, “I’ll be right back.” you smile, eyes flicking over to Ashlyn and Carlos. 

“Yeah, sure,” he says, watching you leave with them to give Carlos a pep talk. A soft smile kisses the corners of Ricky’s mouth, watching you in utter adoration. He lets out a small sigh, gaze lingering on where you stood even after you’re out of sight. 

Gina watches him watch you, his dark auburn hair glowing in the warm twinkle lights strung up throughout the gym. His eyes seem to sparkle with joy when he finally tears his gaze away, staring absentmindedly at the table. 

“EJ,” she says, “could you get me some punch, babe?” 

“Uh,” he says, clearly unused to the term of endearment, “sure… babe.” He heads over to the drinks, the tension between them thinly veiled. This seems to snap Ricky out of whatever his train of thought was, and he scoots closer to Gina. She watches him lean closer to her and begin speaking in a low, almost strangely intimate tone of voice. 

"Hey, you know EJ went through Nini’s phone before they broke up, right?” 

She raises her eyebrows. 

“Just… you know, be a little careful around him.” 

“I can take care of myself, Ricky.” She states incredulously.

“Yeah, of course you can.” he says, head tilted to the side with a little smile, like it should be obvious, “You’re so talented and ambitious, and - honestly, way too good for him.” He mutters the last part, but she definitely hears it. 

“You’re way too cool to get your heart broken by a guy who plays water polo.” He says, drawing a reflexive laugh out of her. 

“Just… take care of yourself.” he concludes, locking eyes with her before moving back to his seat. It’s only for a moment, but long enough for her to commit the color to memory.

“Right.” she says, working harder than she usually has to to keep her expression neutral. 

Later, between dances, you and Ricky catch your breath at the snack table. You take a sip of your drink, eyes landing on Gina and EJ, who are very obviously arguing. You nudge Ricky, motioning over to them.

“What are they saying? Wrong answers only.” 

He considers, then begins to narrate in his best EJ impression. 

“Ugh, Gina! Stop moving! I haven’t posted on instagram in 35 seconds and blurry so doesn’t fit my theme.”

You try to stifle the loud, beautiful laugh that brings warmth to his cheeks and a smile to his lips as your eyes lock, sharing a look so close he never wants to look away. 

“I said wrong answers only…” you say through muffled giggles. He stares at you, fixated. He’s blinded by your warmth, your beauty, and he can’t look away from you. His attention is snapped back to where it had been when you gasp dramatically, shock written all over your face. He follows your gaze to EJ, who’s dripping with punch, and Gina, who’s storming away from him.

“...Oh my god.” you say, already dissolving into laughter again, Ricky following suit. 

Soon you’re dancing again, pressed up against each other, swaying gently to the oldies playing softly over the speakers. Ricky can feel your body heat, smell your shampoo, and the way it mixes with your sweet peachy perfume. You smell so good, he thinks he could probably get high off you alone. His hand rests firmly on your back, holding you close to him, and his fingertips brush over the exposed skin peeking out over the straps of your dress. He traces your shoulder blades, your spine, feeling how close together your hearts are beating. One of your arms is wrapped around him, your head resting on his shoulder. Both your free hands are intertwined, and he loves the feeling of your fingers intertwining with his. He’s steeped in a hazy sort of ecstasy, spurred further on by your warm little breaths tickling his neck. 

He lets out a soft sigh, more content than he’s probably ever been. He feels you smile against his blazer when he traces the outline of the back of your dress. You hum softly to the music, singing along to a few of the words. He’s not surprised that you know this song, of course you would know a song this pretty and romantic. He hopes he’ll remember to ask you the name of it later. Dancing, he realizes, isn’t just fun - it’s amazing. He loves dancing. He loves dancing with you. After a few moments, he realizes there’s not many people on the dance floor. He doesn’t get why so many guys don’t like slow dancing; when you really love someone, isn’t any reason to hold them close to you a good one? He thinks it is. His heart flutters when you let out a breathy sigh against his skin.

You adjust your head on Ricky’s shoulder, watching Carlos across the room. He looks so… melancholic. You should go check on him. And Gina. And probably EJ. Christ, tonight has been a lot. You adjust your head again, facing towards him. 

“We should check on Gina,” you say reluctantly, murmuring into his ear, sending a shiver down his spine. He loves when you do that, loves how you know when people are hurting and what to do about it. But right now, he really, really does not want to let go of you for anyone or anything. Maybe it’s selfish, he thinks, maybe it’s selfish for wanting you all to himself like this, but he just can’t bring himself to let go of you yet. Maybe he deserves to be a little selfish sometimes. Maybe he should just give himself permission to do whatever makes him feel better. He holds you tighter, face burying into your neck. 

“After this song,” he breathes, eyes fluttering closed in your embrace. You nod gently.

“Okay,” you agree, voice so low he can barely hear it. 

Eventually the final piano chords sound, and he holds you tight as the last few, painfully bittersweet notes reverberate through the room. The song ends, and he lets go of you slower and more reluctantly than he’s done anything. 

You sigh, tracing your hands on his shoulders, slowly coming out of that cozy trance like state you’ve been in together.

“Okay,” you start, “let’s split up. I’ll check on Carlos, you can check on Gina, and I’ll have Ashlyn check on EJ cause they’re cousins.” 

He agrees, hit with a sudden wave of nerves about the confrontation. You can sense his hesitation.

“What should I say?” he asks, with a chuckle. He’d told you about how he warned Gina about EJ earlier in the evening, which you had agreed was totally the right move. He told you how she seemed irritable after the interaction, and wondered if he’d done anything wrong, if he could have handled it better. “I don’t think so”, you had said with a sad shrug, “some people just refuse to acknowledge the person they’re dating is kind of shitty.” 

You’re right, he realized, now ready to approach this with more compassion and less confrontation. You think for a second, then reply.

“You can apologize if what you said before came off wrong, that you didn’t mean anything bad by it.” 

“Okay,” he nods.

“And try to relate to her - you’re new to theatre, she’s new to east high, you gotta stick together, you know?”

“Right.” 

You send him a thumbs up as you part ways, looking for Carlos. After chatting with Carlos, he left to get some water. You see Ricky approaching you through the crowd, and stand up from your table, meeting him halfway.

“How’d it go?” you ask. He seems hesitant.

“She asked for a ride home.” Your eyes go wide with understanding. He knew you’d get what’s going on, you always know just what to do. 

“Oh, dude, the last thing she probably wants right now is to get in a car with EJ.” Ricky thinks that’s the last thing anyone would want. “If you want you can give her a ride, then come back and we can keep dancing.” He smiles, and agrees. Any plan that ends with dancing with you more sounds like a good plan to him. You quickly fill him in on how things are going with the Carlos/Seb situation in spite of its anticlimactic nature - no one can get a hold of Seb, and Carlos is really, really regretting this whole thing. You and Ashlyn are going to try and hype him up and turn the night around for him so it’s not a totally horrible memory to look back on, and Ricky agrees that’s a good plan. 

“I’ll be back really soon so I can help you guys out,” he says, hoping to extend the conversation a little, to stand close to you and talk confidentially with you just a little more. You smile, looking relieved at his support, and it makes his heart flutter. You touch his arm, sending him a knowing look.

“We need all the help we can get, so thank you.” you state with a chuckle. He tries not to be obvious, but he knows he can’t hide his flushed cheeks and dilated pupils. He hopes you don’t notice. 

You really didn’t expect to be the glue holding everyone together tonight, but you love your friends, so you’re not complaining. After a lengthy conversation with Carlos about how amazing he is regardless of who he is or isn’t seeing, and that there will be so many guys throwing themselves at him after high school, you finally get him out of his funk a little. You were about to go dance together and have a good time, because he shouldn’t let anything ruin his homecoming, when Natalie scurried over to you holding the side of her dress. 

“It snagged on the back of a chair and my whole leg is out, Angelina Jolie style.” She says in a rush, clearly getting more freaked out. You and Carlos share a look.

“It’s okay,” you say gently, “I have a sewing kit in my bag and I can have you fixed up in two minutes flat.” You look over at Carlos again, making sure he’ll be okay. He confirms silently, nudging you two towards the doors. 

“You go fix this wardrobe malfunction,” he says, already trying to pull out of the funk he’d been stuck in all night, “I’m going to warm up the dance floor. When you get back, get ready to dance your heart out.” 

He’s not all the way there, but he’s trying. You both agree, and you send him one last encouraging look before moving carefully to the hallway, trying not to let Natalie’s dress rip any more than it already is. You look back one last time as you pass through the doors, and finally, Carlos is out on the dance floor. You smile, excited to dance with him once you get back.

“God, I wish I had my hamster right now…” Natalie mutters, and you know if she needs her emotional support hamster, it’s pretty bad. 

A few minutes later, you have your sewing kit and Natalie’s dress is back to its former glory. She has on a fresh coat of lip gloss, just finished showing you pictures of her hamster, and is ready to head back out. You stay behind to touch up your makeup a little, telling her you’ll be right behind her.  As you’re walking back out, someone turns the corner at the other end of the hallway. You freeze in place, eyes growing wide as they land on none other than Seb. He smiles nervously, raising a hand to wave at you. Before he can, you let out a shocked squeak, scurrying back into the gym. His heart sinks. He hopes you don’t hate him, and he’s really worried Carlos is going to. 

When you enter, you see Carlos dancing his heart out. You don’t have time to be relieved, weaving your way through the crowd to Mr. Mazzara. You slam your hands on the table, avoiding the sound and light equipment he’s managing. 

“Mr. Mazzara!” He looks up at you, startled, as you begin to explain in a rush. He looks at you, a pleading puppy dog look written on your face, and sighs. 

“I suppose that’s fine…” he says, making a few adjustments to the switch board in front of him. 

“Thank you!” you say quietly, before running onto the dance floor. Carlos is finally in his element. He dances beautifully to the music, free and expressive. Right when the beat drops, a circle of spotlights go up. One lands on him, the other lands across the room on Seb, and they lock eyes in a moment that can only be described as magical. Ashlyn looks at the scene, straight out of a movie, then over to you. You high five her. 

“Nice!” she whispers. You can see it between them, the energy, the chemistry, the electricity. You look at Ashlyn, nodding toward your table. You both sit down, giving them some time to talk and catch up. You try to be subtle as you watch them talk, not close enough to eavesdrop, but watching their expressions, gaging how it's going. They're smiling, then they're laughing, and soon they're dancing together. It's going well, you think. You can't wait for Carlos to fill you in later. 

Sitting in Gina's driveway, a surprisingly more comfortable energy in the air than either of them had expected, Ricky tries to think of how to say what he wants to say. 

"Not quite the evil mansion with wrought-iron and gargoyles you were picturing?" She asks, a hopeful playfulness to her voice. She almost sounds nervous. 

"What? No…" he says. The comment takes him by surprise, snapping him back to attention. "...Well maybe some gargoyles." His joking tone and comforting energy has her giggling. She doesn't remember the last time she giggled. She feels his eyes on her, and tries not to look over at him. She does anyway. 

"You're not that bad, you know." He muses. She tries to control her breathing. She doesn't say anything. 

"Also," he continues, looking back over at the windshield, "I should thank you for that night at the skatepark, keeping me in the show. It means a lot, it's… a really big deal to me." He looks up and left at the top of the car window, mind already wandering about how if he had quit, he never would have gotten close to you like this, never would have fallen in… your arms the way he had that night. He can't imagine you not being in his life, and he has Gina to thank in part for that. He feels a sense of gratitude blooming for her. They talk a little more, and the feeling grows; Gina really is not that bad. He can feel a friendly bond growing between them, a sense of comradery. 

"So… now is probably a good time to ask about the whole drink thing," he starts with a chuckle. She ducks her head, equal parts embarrassed at her actions, and that he saw her at such a low moment. She lets out a sigh. The gesture reminds him of something you might do. He thinks you two would be good friends. He’s already imagining what you’ll say when he fills you in on all this, he’s excited to get your opinion. 

“...My mom moves around a lot for work. Like, a lot…” 

Once she starts, she can’t stop, and it’s not long before she’s unintentionally spilled her guts and her life story to him. She wishes she could stop talking, but it’s like she totally lost her filter with him. She’s always been so reserved, so calculated, and now she doesn’t even have time to think before the words are already spilling out. It’s a new feeling, being so candid with someone, and an unsettling one. 

She risks a glance over at Ricky, who’s just… listening to her. Taking in what she says. That somehow makes her more nervous than if he’d just ignored her or told her to shut up already. She wishes someone would tell her to shut up, she wishes she could. She finally gets to the end of her never ending stream of consciousness, and she’s stunned as they sit in the silence, Ricky really absorbing her words, her feelings. He reaches over and grabs her hand, giving it an encouraging squeeze before letting go - a mannerism he picked up from you. Heat floods her chest, prickly and almost painful, hyper aware of where his skin just touched hers.

“You know, you-” She’ll never know what he was going to say, his words are cut short by the porch lights flashing through the windshield. Gina’s stomach sinks. She doesn’t want to go inside yet. She doesn’t want this moment to be over, but she has to listen to her mom. She reaches for the door, then hesitates. She turns back to Ricky, desperate to try one more time, to put herself out there, to plant some roots. 

“I meant what I said at the skate park… about you having your own style.” 

He smiles, looking down with a breathy chuckle. His leg is bouncing slightly, he can’t wait to get back to school and dance with you more, spend the rest of this magical night with you. 

“Thank you, that’s-” He’s cut off again, this time by the kiss Gina presses to his cheek. She’s out of the car and inside before he can look at her face. She holds her coat tight around her against the chilly rain beginning to drizzle down, and a second later, the front door closes and she’s inside.He lets out another chuckle, different this time. ‘That was weird.’ He thinks. He barely has the thought before his stomach drops, a sick, cold fear clutching him. What if you find out Gina kissed him? What if you find out and you hate him, what if he breaks your heart into a million pieces without trying? Or worse, what if you lose interest in him because you think he likes Gina? He can feel himself panicking at the idea, unable to stop the onslaught of all too real feeling anxieties wracking his mind, creating a pit in his stomach as he peels out of the driveway and makes his way back to school. 

No, no, that’s not going to happen. He’s not going to lose you because he’s not able to express how much he cares about you. He’s not going to let that happen. Trying to hold this panic at bay, he pulls out his phone as he walks through the parking lot towards the school again. How to show someone you love them. He types the words into google, skimming article titles, reddit threads, quora responses, until he finds himself at the gym doors. He sees you across the room, dancing in a group with Carlos, Ashlyn, Natalie, and Seb. ‘Oh, Seb’s here. That’s good,’ he thinks, a momentary relief that at least one or two fires had been put out tonight. He spots Big Red on the opposite side of the room, and makes his way over to him carefully, trying not to be seen by you. He can’t be around you until he figures this out, he can’t hurt you like this. 

Ricky approaches Big Red with an intense energy he has trouble reading, before Ricky starts to speak. 

“Dude,” he says, voice intense and hushed, “Gina kissed me on the cheek.” 

“That’s great!” 

“No, it’s not!” Ricky says, clearly very frazzled. Okay, that’s where this is going. 

“That’s awful!” Red course corrects as Ricky fills him in on the car ride with Gina. As he tells Red everything that happened, Ricky finds himself kind of hating Gina right now. Why would she do this to him, why would she put him in this position? Does she hate him or something? He thinks she must, there’s no other reason for her to sabotage his relationship with you like this. She must hate him if she’s trying to ruin the most important thing in his life. 

“Listen, I really, really like her…” his eyes keep flicking over to you, gaze magnetized by your presence, “like, a lot. How can I make sure I don’t fuck this up? Because I can not fuck up with her.”

“Woah, man,” Red starts, trying to help Ricky ground himself a little, “chill out. In all fairness, cheek kisses can be platonic.” 

“Right,” Ricky nods, starting to feel assured, and Red continues. 

“So, if Gina wants to date you when you’re… kind of seeing someone, she has to make that more clear to you.”

“Right.” Ricky states, agreeing. He really hopes she doesn’t. 

“I think you’re okay,” Red says, sensing his energy changing already, “just make sure she knows how much you like her. Make it really, objectively obvious.” 

Yeah. He just has to make it obvious. 

“Yeah, you’re right,” he says to Red, his eyes locked on you as you laugh at something Carlos says, making his stomach twist and tingle, “I just have to make sure she knows how much… I like her.” 

Red watches him make his way over to you, a spring in his step and a plan in his mind. Thank god for Dr. Phil, Red thinks, or else there’s no way he’d be able to help his friends navigate all their drama. He chuckles at the thought, watching Ashlyn fix the strap of your dress. 

Ricky checks his phone one more time on the way over, looking over a chart of love languages one more time. He’s not sure what your love language is, so he’ll just have to try all of them and see what you seem to like best. Gift giving and acts of service aren’t really options right now, so tonight he’ll focus on words of affirmation, physical touch, and quality time. If he has to drown you in all five love languages at once to make sure you know how he feels about you, he will. 

“Hey,” he starts, watching your reaction nervously, scared you somehow already hate him. You turn around at the sound of his voice, eyes lighting up. 

“Hey!” you smile, “You’re back!” you grab his arm, pulling him in closer to the group. 

“Seb’s here,” you say, and he smiles, relieved at your reaction. 

“Hey, man,” he smiles. 

“Fill me in later,” you say quietly, referring to giving Gina a ride, and he nods, a little bit ready to forget the whole thing. 

Now that all the drama, wardrobe malfunctions, and late entrances are out of the way, you and what remains of your friends spend the rest of the night like you intended; dancing, laughing, and taking great pictures together. Later on into the night, everyone’s just about had their fill of fun and the party starts winding down. You split up, most of your friends piling into the Salt Lake slices delivery van so Red can drop them off. After some more hugs and laughs, you finally part ways, climbing into the passenger seat of his orange Volkswagen Beetle. 

His heart is thumping as you grab his hand and squeeze it a little once you’re on your way back to his house, causing a fresh wave of heat to rise to his face, and god he's nervous right now. His mind is still screaming at him that you're going to hate him, that he has to prove his feelings to you. He lets out a small little laugh at the gesture. 

“Well,” you start, tired from the night, but thriving off the energy between you, “that could have gone way worse…” 

“Yeah,” he laughs, nodding in agreement. You talk for the whole drive back to his place. You’d planned on staying over tonight since Ricky was driving and you figured it would be late, plus your mom’s car is at the mechanic so she’s using yours until some time tomorrow. You exchange sleepy chuckles as he parks. He checks his phone one more time as you leave the car, opening an article of women submitting stories about how they knew a guy loved them in a new tab. He sees a text from his dad - the date went well, he hopes Ricky and you had a good time at homecoming, and he’s going to bed so try to keep the noise down when you get back. 

“My dad’s asleep,” he says softly, unlocking the door. He guides you inside, hand resting low on your back, and closes the door quietly behind him. Walking quietly from his foyer to his room shouldn’t have been a problem, but standing in the darkness with Ricky, you both suddenly find it hard not to start giggling. Hushing each other, you quickly sneak up the stairs past Mr. Bowen’s room, down the hall to Ricky’s room. He barely closes the door and flicks the lock closed before dissolving into giggles. You kick off your heels, glad to finally take them off, and grab a makeup wipe from your bag. He digs through his clothes for a second before handing you a big t-shirt to sleep in. 

“Thanks,” you say, throwing away the makeup wipes. He gazes at you, watching you transition from formal and made up to casual and comfortable, your beauty unwavering. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen anyone as pretty as you before. You watch him take off his jacket and tie, and undo the first button or two of his shirt. The action sends butterflies to your stomach and heat to your core. You glance away. You stand up, seeing if you can reach the zipper of your dress. Before you can ask, you feel Ricky behind you. 

“Need some help with that?” He asks, closer to your ear than you’d expected and resting his hands on your waist. You both chuckle.

“Yeah,” you state, voice low and soft. He moves slowly, unzipping the back of your dress, careful not to snag the delicate fabric. You feel the bodice loosen around you, the end of the zipper stopping at the small of your back. He doesn’t move away. You can feel his breath fan over your shoulder, hand still resting on your waist. 

His face is so close to yours, and he mutters your name softly before pressing a kiss to your jawline, then another and another. He moves down, burying his face in your neck as he continues to press hot, open mouthed kisses against your skin. He breathes in your perfume, peachy and sweet and intoxicating. He nips at your neck causing you to gasp, his hands moving below the draping fabric and directly onto your warm skin. You sigh at the contact. He pulls you closer to him, holding you tight as he sucks on your neck. Your dress is slipping off your shoulders, barely on at all anymore, as he begins to feel you up, touching you and caressing you so tenderly. 

“Ricky,” you sigh. Your voice sounds so pretty when you’re like this. 

“God, I-” he breathes, barely catching the words before they’re out. He lets out a nervous laugh, causing you to giggle in his grasp. He shushes you through his own laughter, his hands never ceasing the way they rome over your body. 

"We have to be quiet," he says, turning you around in his arms, pressing himself up against you, trying so, so hard not to kiss you yet. 

"I can be quiet…" you state, a jokingly incredulous tone in your voice. You stare each other down, and he tries not to break first, tries not to smile or laugh, but god, it’s impossible not to smile when he looks at you. Before he can crack, before he loses all composure and bares his soul for you, places his heart eternally in your hands to do as you please with, he pivots. 

"Yeah?" He asks, and you feel the energy change, growing electric between you. "Is that a challenge?"

His tone is dangerous and he watches your eyes get wide. A second later he has you pinned against his mattress, pressing playful nips and kisses against your skin as muffled giggles and sighs escape your pretty mouth. His hands move down, grabbing your exposed skin as he kisses you harder and harder, riling the both of you up. You tear off the little remaining clothes either of you has on and he begins to roll his hips against you, grinding his hot, throbbing member against your heat. You let out a breathy moan, louder than before, as he continues to rock his hips against yours. 

“That wasn’t very quiet,” he murmurs into your ear between kisses to your cheek and jawline. Your chest vibrates against his, and a wave of relief washes through him. You don’t hate him. He loves that feeling he gets when he makes you laugh, he wants to make you do it again. 

“I can stay quiet,” you insist, already swept away by his touch, distracted by the warm kisses and bites he’s planting on your neck and chest. You’re even more distracted by the feeling of his fingers making their way down, brushing against your clit as they come into contact with the arousal dripping down your folds. He smiles, realizing if he can get you this turned on, this touchy, you must like him. He pushes his fingers in, finally met again with the cathartic feeling of your cushy, bumpy walls squeezing and folding around him. Arousal gushes, dripping down his fingers as he begins to stimulate the tight, sensitive muscles stretching around his fingers. He dwells on the feeling for a moment, maybe two, before you’re moaning again. It makes him laugh. 

“I sure hope you can,” he says, another dangerously playful look on his face, “cause if you get too loud…” He watches you for a split second, hanging on his words, anticipation written across your face, “I’m gonna stop.” 

Your stomach flip flops, exploding with butterflies at his words. Before you can look at his face, before you can gauge how serious he is about following through on his threat, his lips are on yours again. He kisses you, mouth open, tongue already prodding into your mouth. You’re lucky, you think, that he’s unintentionally muffling your noises with his mouth. You’re really lucky, because he quickly finds your g-spot, and there are a couple moans you couldn’t hold back if your life depended on it.

Every sigh, every gasp, every beautiful heart pounding moan Ricky elicits from you sends a fresh wave of relief and reassurance through him. You don’t hate him, and you’re not going to. You could never when he’s this good, this devoted to you. It’s impossible for him not to be when you’re so good to him. You’re so responsive to his touch, you’re totally on the same wavelength. 

You must know what he’s telling you through his actions, through the way he looks at you, the words he’s had to bite back from spilling out more than once. You wouldn’t be dripping down his fingers and moaning into his mouth and grabbing at him like this, you wouldn’t be in his bed if you didn’t feel the way he does about you - or even something close to it. He’ll happily take whatever you want to give him. Of course he wants it all, he wants to completely take over your heart, but just a little bit will keep him happy until he can.

“Right there,” you whine against his lips, “fuck, just like that… feels so good…” you mutter. 

‘See?’ he thinks, ‘You don’t say stuff like that if you don’t like someone a lot, much less moan it…’ 

It’s working. His plan to not lose you is working, he just has to make you cum so hard you can’t think straight, as many times as possible. And he’s going to, because there’s no way he can risk losing you. So he brings up his thumb, rubbing it over your clit as he curls his fingers against your gummy walls. It’s euphoric and overwhelming, and you barely have time to tug his hair before you’re cumming and pulsing around his fingers. 

You squeeze and clamp tight around him, and he can’t resist anymore. He needs his tongue inside you, he needs to taste you, feel you squeeze his tongue and cream into his mouth. So he pulls away, already missing the feeling of your mouths against each other, and gazes at you, breath fanning across your cheeks, eyes locked. He takes you in, thumb caressing your cheek while the other continues to fondle your clit. After a moment he’s able to break his gaze away, and he moves down, pushing your legs open. You heart thumps in your chest in anticipation as he begins to lick and suck on your heat, tongue flicking into your drippy hole. 

As soon as he gets a taste, he wants more. He stretches out his tongue, going to town on your cunt. Every sigh and tug of his hair, every attempt to muffle your moans makes him more eager to have you gush your sweet sticky cum all over him. This time he has some experience, and he’s making the most of it. He finds those spots inside you that make your eyes roll back, switching between them, bumping his nose against your clit, drawing stifled moan after stifled moan from you. One slips out, for real this time, and he pauses. It takes all his willpower; your scent is intoxicating and your taste is addictive, but the look on your face when you realize he’s standing by what he said is totally worth it. 

“I told you,” he murmurs against your core, the vibrations and tone of his voice sending electricity through you, “we have to be quiet…” Your hand is clamped over your mouth, and you nod. Your timing couldn’t be better, because you don’t have time to finish the gesture before he dives back in. After that, it doesn’t take much to send you over the edge. 

You give him everything he’s wanted all night, squeezing and gushing all over him while he laps up everything, holding down your hips while he shoves his tongue deeper inside you. It’s always surprising how far inside you he’s able to get it. You whine and moan, choking out praise as he already begins building up another high. He’s throbbing, desperate for anything you’ll give him, and he wants to make you say more shit like that. He wants to be good for you. 

“Oh god- fuck, Ricky!” you choke out in a whisper, one hand tangled in his hair, the other clamped over your mouth. You’re already close again, he can feel it. He knew this would work. He knew he could prove to you how much you mean to him. He doubles his efforts, squeezing your thighs and grinding his face against your pussy, still dripping from the last times he made you cum. His eyes are half lidded and locked on you, watching your face, the way you squirm below his touch, the way your tits bounce with every movement. You’re not sure how long it is until he has you absolutely gushing and convulsing around his tongue again, but every moment is filled with ecstasy. 

“Fuck you’re good at that…” you murmur, hand now playing with his hair instead of pulling it. “You’re one of the good ones, huh?” 

You probably could have knocked him out with a feather. Your words reverberate in his mind, and his cheeks flush. One of the good ones. Yeah. 

He’s throbbing harder than before, almost painfully turned on. He climbs back up over you, but before he can reach into his nightstand for a condom, you flip him over, straddling him. You look down at him with those beautiful eyes that hold every star in the night sky, biting your lip in that endearing way of yours. Your hands are warm on his shoulders, and he’s stunned at the suddenness of your action, and really eager to see where you’re going with this. He could watch you like this for hours, freezing this moment in time forever, eternally content with you, the way you touch him and look at him. You lean down closer to him, breath tickling his cheeks. 

“My turn.” 

You smile, the words coming out in a hushed giggle. Before he can blink, you’re grabbing his rock hard cock, squeezing it in your hands and teasing the tip as you spread around the precum already dripping down the side. He watches you, eyes wide and excited as you open your mouth, wrapping your lips around him. Your mouth is velvety soft, warm and wet, and he has to try not to cum on the spot. You pump the base of his cock, taking more of him in your mouth, and he tries not to buck his hips. He tries so hard not to move at all, tries to be good for you while you work your magic on him. He lets out a long, low moan. Suddenly you freeze, popping your lips off with a small wet noise as you look up at him. 

“Stay quiet or I stop…” you tease, throwing his own conditions back at him. He nods, panting at your words. “Good boy.” You murmur under your breath, but he definitely hears. Good boy. He can feel the oxytocin flooding his brain, and you barely get your lips around him and start bobbing your head before he feels it.

“I’m close,” he chokes out, and you look up at him. He watches a smirk appear at the corners of your eyes before you drag your tongue along the bottom of his cock. It’s more than enough, and he watches in utter awe as he shoots his load into your mouth, and you swallow all of it. The sight is enough to have him throbbing again. He bites back more moans, desperate for you to keep going, for you to call him a good boy again. You bob your head along his length, tongue dragging along the vein on the underside of his cock. 

One hand comes down to fondle his balls, and a choked moan slips out. He never knew he could feel this good. He never knew one person could make him like this. You continue to lick and suck, squeeze and pump and rub, and soon he’s fighting another orgasm, hoping to bask in the feeling of your mouth around him for just a little longer. His prayers are in vain, he realizes, as he shoots another load of sticky, salty cum into your mouth. You have no trouble taking this one either. You continue to suck and lick, riding out the last of his high, before finally releasing him with a soft pop. 

Thoroughly fucked out, he watches you climb up next to him, awestruck. You grab a blanket, pulling it over the both of you, and moving his face to press a few more kisses to his lips. Your tastes mingle as your tongues connect, and Ricky doesn’t think he’s ever tasted something that delicious. He wants more of it. It’s only when you eventually pull away that your eyes land on the clock behind him. 

“Christ, it’s late,” you murmur. You blink heavily, Ricky mirroring the action, and you trace your thumb over his cheek, just looking at him a little longer. You tug the blanket up a little higher, snuggling up next to him. He holds you close on instinct, still trying to process everything that happened tonight in spite of how exhausted he is. It hits him suddenly, and he struggles to stay awake so he can appreciate the kiss you press to his jaw, the warm feeling of your hand on his chest.

He tries so hard to stay awake, to look at you for a little while, because no amount of time with you feels like enough. He refuses to acknowledge the heavy way he blinks and squeezes his eyes, trying to force them to focus on you, but he can feel himself losing the fight against the deep sleep he’s about to slip into. This night was a success, he thinks. He did a good job.

Late morning sunlight streams through his window, finally dragging Ricky back into the waking world. He looks over, missing your presence, and finds his bed empty. As he rolls over, he’s struck by the sweet, intoxicating scent of your peachy perfume. It’s all over his pillow, his sheets, his blankets. His whole room smells faintly of your scent. He buries his nose in the pillow where you’d slept, breathing it in, taking him right back to last night. 

Eventually, he checks his phone. It’s later than he’d expected, but he’s greeted with a text from you, bringing an immediate, even bigger smile to his face. 

He sighs, lovestruck. He doesn’t want to get out of bed, doesn’t want the scent of your perfume to fade. He just wants to bask in it. 

[kryptoknight]

Tagged by @lament-of-0rpheus and @supermanstoddlerleash thanks for the tag guys :))

10 Fandoms/10 Characters, in no particular order and bolded for readability:

Clark Kent/Superman | DC - Clark Kent my best friend Clark Kent he's just. So fucking important to me. As a TRA

Steve Rogers/Captain America | Marvel (<- 🤡) - unfortunately i do still dabble in some Marvel, although very rarely, and I will just always have a soft spot for him. He's Just Some Guy From Brooklyn, he's the man out of time, he a soldier, he's an artist- *gets pulled off of soapbox*

Zagreus | Hades Video Game - sad titty man

Achilles | Hades Video Game - sad titty man, the og edition

Patroclus | Hades Video Game - SUPER sad titty man. Aurgh

Skulduggery Pleasant/Lord Vile | Skulduggery Pleasant - i fucking hate Derek Landy for making these really complicated and 3D characters and relationships and then writing them Like That. Whatever, Skulduggery still compels me tho

Percy Jackson | Percy Jackson and the Olympians - my OG blorbo

Magnus Bane | Shadowhunters TV Show - I'm actually not as into this as i was, but i do love me a deeply traumatised, deeply sad man with glittery eyes. I have never claimed to have good taste

Sherlock Holmes | Elementary TV Show - okay, i will say i don't actually like viewing this show through a (modern) fandom lens bc i just think. That would do it a huge injustice tbh. I mean that in the least offensive way possible. Elementary's Sherlock is such a genuinely well crafted character that you can tell real work was put into and imo there isn't much, if anything, that fandom style projecting would add to him

Quellcrist Falconer | Altered Carbón TV Show - not really a fandom (afaik?) but that show was so good, and despite the fact that I wasn't a huge fan of the story of S2, i rly loved Quell in it and the 'we are more than the sum of our intentions' scene lives rent free in my head

Started doing this and immediately forgot all my blorbos so this was rly hard lmao. Also realised i need to consume more media.

Anyway, I saw this going around the DC block a lot, so sorry if you've been tagged already! And as usual, no pressure to do it @allgremlinart @alexeishostakoff @nightmareinfloral

[shadow--writer]

HI SHE’S BACK AND I ACTUALLY REMEMBERED HER FRECKLES THIS TIME THEY’RE KINDA IMPORTANT LMFAO. Raised her bangs up a little bit too, I love her expression so much. I tried (attempted and failed lol) the arcana style and I know it doesn’t look like it but I’m still proud lol XD. (also note everything about this is AFTER defeating the devil so none of that is mentioned lol. And I will probably come in and edit/add some stuff as time goes on.)

Check more about her in my #maeve tag!

~~~~

Maeve O’Connor

Age unknown (but she’s older than 22 younger than 30)

Female (she/her)

Bisexual 

Yes she is shipable!

Birthday is October 31st (Scorpio, forgot to put that in the bio but hush lol)

Familiar is an Egyptian Fruit bat called Tehi (TEY-hi) looks like this

She’s 5′3. 

Arcana representations are Strength and the Knight of Swords

Her occupation(s) is a doctor for the South End. Generally likes to help the kids that get into trouble down there. She also helps with South End schooling on the weekends. You can catch her trying to wrangle the kids (...and some adults)

Very sweet, bubbly and fun loving but has a stubborn streak to her. She’s very blunt and brazen and enjoys a good night out. Though she does always a love peaceful day in with a good book. Loves helping people out any way she can.

Likes: reading, dancing, singing, sewing, embroidery, keeping busy, aerial silks, a good brawl, baking (never cookies. Never.), sleeping, teaching, stargazing, adventuring, a strong drink (alcohol in general, she loves the buzz but hates getting wasted), lemons. She loves lemons. 

Dislikes: cooking, Lucio, unusually cruel people, being overwhelmed, fire, feeling scared, being useless, arguing with people, crying, her ex, feeling too warm, losing control, not being in control, wastefulness, being drunk, being taken advantage of. 

As always, more under the cut! I’m trying to be detailed in this bio lol. 

Fun facts:

She eats lemons like apples

Very superstitious. Her country raises most inhabitants with a healthy respect for ghosts and the supernatural along with their deities

She has a huge family! All of them hate pirates after one cousin was killed by a pirate raid on his ship (he was exporting goods)

Her dad calls her his Little Panther for her love of climbing trees

She has a large scar on her left shoulder blade from where Rhiannon (older sister) hit her with a battle axe when they were early teens

She has the highest alcohol tolerance in her family, it takes a bit to get her drunk

Always carries strawberries around (for Tehi but she also snacks on them) and if you kiss her she tastes like strawberries 

Smells like lemon and lavender 

Has a silver streak in her hair. Considered a blessing from her culture’s Gods

Has two sisters (she is the middle child)

Really good with kids. They enjoy hearing her stories, sometimes she sings to them

Has a small clinic in the South End (on the weekend she likes to help out with the kids schooling. She adores teaching them how to read and write. When kids ask about where she’s from she gets all starry eyed and bubbly)

Very flirty regularly, how you can tell she’s for realsies flirting is when she turns a bit more pink and her voice gets softer 

Yes she has abs

Her favourite colours are yellow (like soft yellows and the yellow of lemons) and green (like deep greens and soft light greens)

She makes her own clothes and loves making things for other people! 

Hates spending a lot of money, makes her feel itchy when she does or when someone else does

Has relationship trauma so if she flinches from your touch don’t be offended she doesn’t mean it it’s just...hard

Hates fire and the fact she’s so connected to it. When she loses control her magic lashes out and she never wants to hurt anyone

Loves dancing. She loves losing herself to the music, same with singing. She loses herself and she seems to glow brighter 

When she’s turned on her freckles glow brighter (like instead of soft starlight it’s full moonlight). And when she’s upset they dim

Yes she is covered in celtic warpaint tattoos. They stop at her elbows and knees but her back and front are covered in swirls and stuff

She has the mouth of sailor and will swear like one

Voice claim: Meg (Hercules)

Singing claim: Singing lullabies , Regular (and another bc omg Linda Eder is talented)

Outfits: 1, 2, 3

Love interests:

Main game: Julian, Muriel and Portia

Apprentices: OKAY I THINK IT’S SAFE TO SAY: Lucas @dela-png

[ilguna]

hi- I’m not sure if you’re the right person to ask, but I wanted to know how to start a fanfic writing tumblr- I mean, I’m just not sure how to start since I’ve never posted anything on my account- I’m sorry if this is an inconvenience-

Don’t worry about it. I’m a little offended that you would think you’re coming to the wrong place 😂.

Imma break it down for you.

BTW this post is long bc I wanted to cover all bases

—

First of all, if you’re on tumblr mobile, then that’s fantastic and we’ll start with that first. If you’re on desktop, I would like to suggest getting it on your phone because it’s more accessible and easier to manage than doing it on the computer. The only time I go to the computer is when I’m going to post fics, but we’ll get there.

I know you said you’re wondering how to start posting fics but I gotta give you some advice before that. Because there are just some things I cannot stand when it comes to some fanfic blogs, alright?

Be easy on your color scheme. I wouldn’t put any bright colors because it could hurt someone’s eyes, and sometimes it looks really bad. Going along with that, you should be careful what your second color is on your blog (let’s say that your base color was a maroon, and then you’d choose a color similar to that/darker than that. It’ll be hard to read the things in your bio, and it’s frustrating)

This is obvious, but make sure you have a profile and header picture, it’s more appealing rather than tumblrs default.

Turn ON asks and then proceed to do it for anonymous questions, because that’s the only way you get requests. Some people do it off anon but that’s not as common.

You can do this on desktop and a safari browser. It’s not possible to do on mobile just yet. Open up safari > log in > little person icon in the top right > edit appearance. Scroll until you see “let people as questions” turn that on. Turn on anon, and edit the box to whatever you want. Keep it short

Turn off “share posts you like” and the following one below it. It’s a risky game to play when it comes to what you’re looking at and liking.

No submission posts, normally people don’t submit things anyway. Turn OFF “on blog advertising” and then that’s it. It automatically saves so you can just leave to the next screen imma bout to tell you about

IF you go to my blog on desktop, you’ll see that there’s a theme. My font is different, I have a different set up than most blogs, etc.

If you wanna mess around with that, scroll to the top of page (you should still be on the same page from the anon instructions) and tap “edit theme”

It might take a second to load, but you’ll get there.

THIS SCREEN IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Besides the fact that it lets you edit your theme, this is how you put in a Masterlist, and all other links you might want in your bio.

You said you haven’t written anything yet, so there isn’t a need for a Masterlist just yet. But when you DO start posting, please come back to me and I’ll let you know how to put one in your bio, okay? Nice and shiny for your future followers.

If you wanna change your theme go to browse themes, change it from “all themes” to “free themes”. If you like mine, it’s called “Accesible”. If you just want the font, get out of the theme screen and scroll the screen on the left. Turn ON “open dyslexic

Remember, you can do all of this on desktop too, it doesn’t have to be on safari

—

Now onto posting, I have some opinions that might offend my mutuals (oopsie)

I can’t tell the difference, but PERSONALLY, I think posting fics on tumblr from my phone is gross. But that’s also because I’m writing 1000+ words normally and it gets difficult to post

If you want to post fics with more than 100 paragraphs, then you have to go to desktop or maybe safari tumblr (I don’t post from safari tumblr so idk if it works) because tumblr says NO paragraphs after 100 on mobile. There is no restriction on computer

I write in Google Docs, because it’s neater and I’ve discovered some hate for Word after deleting some of the shit I wrote over and over. Plus it’s an app, and you can open it up on computer. Easy to use.

If you use Notes on your phone, or type directly onto a tumblr post, then that’s fine but you don’t know your word count and it’s a little difficult to navigate.

When it comes to formatting, I used to have it be really long. But I’ve narrowed it down to 3, sometimes 4 things.

Summary: this is where I put the request so the anon/person knows that it’s their request. (I copy n paste the entire request in the summary part, I don’t answer asks (requests) anymore because it’s easier to answer them after I posted).

Warnings: my permanent is swearing, and then I add on (what type) violence, murder, suic*de, gore, etc DEPENDING ON THE REQUEST

Word count: and I do this because I write long imagines sometimes and some people don’t want to sit through 5k words of boring shit

And the optional—Note: I put this if I thank someone for their patience on the request, if I say happy holidays or some shit like that. I don’t have notes on every post anymore because they just turn out being the same every time

Apart from that, give it a title (make it unique but not too long!) who it’s for and then copy and paste the fic in

I’m using my own posts as an example right here, okay. But I have the summary and all of that bolder because it’s easier to see, and I want it to be different from the actual post. Most fanfic writers do this.

I also put 2 —‘s between the authors note at the top and the fic to also make a difference there

Don’t have the entire fic italicized, it takes away the special part of italicizing a word

Finally, it’s tagging.

I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT tag things that have nothing to do with the post. It’s my biggest pet peeve and it’s because I can’t comprehend why people tag (for example) Katrina Stuart when it’s a fic OR A RANDOM POST about someone else

Instead, let’s keep it simple.

🌸 STOP 🌸

I forgot to mention this. But choose your username wisely. You can change it later on, but it’s a goddamn pain in the ass when you have 50+ fanfics you wrote and your Masterlist is nice and clean only to realize that you have to RELINK every post individually

Listen, I changed my username on my old blog, and it took me 8 hours ROUGHLY to relink and fix every individual Masterlist. I had to create new masterlists, with so many tabs open to fix it

Instead, change it before you start fics

If you wanna be a colby brock blog, I have a canon url (which means that it’s so fucking GOOD and I’m angry that i realized it was open only a month ago rather than when I created this account) and it’s colbysbrocks (it’s a plural canon url). And I have colbysecrets too. If you don’t like either of those, I have a couple of other ideas that I wrote down if you want them

🌸 okay continue 🌸

This is how you should tag:

(I’ll give an example after this)

Your username first, the person it’s about, the fandom (if it’s not Colby brock, then something like marvel, etc). Then the persons name, imagine, fanfic, x reader, and oneshot. Then if it was requested

EXAMPLE ONE:

Azurebrock, Colby brock, Colby brock imagine, Colby brock fanfic, Colby brock x reader, Colby brock oneshot, requested

Simple, right? You can even use this method for Wattpad too.

EXAMPLE TWO:

(This is Star Wars, im using my own username again)

Kylorenlovesyou, Kylo ren, Ben solo, kylo ren imagine, kylo ren fanfic, kylo ren x reader, kylo ren oneshot, Ben solo imagine, Ben solo fanfic, Ben solo x reader, Ben solo oneshot, Star Wars

Notice that I tagged both of his names. I do this because it draws more people in, and more people will be attracted to it (however, in the Star Wars fandom there’s a difference between Ben Solo and Kylo-Ren, so you would have to specify in the title Ex. Resistance (Ben Solo) or Struggle (Kylo-Ren). It would depend on which persona you’re using

This works for a couple of fandoms, like twilight and shit like that

EXAMPLE THREE:

(Final one, I just wanted to cover this base just in case)

If it’s a request for more than one person. Let’s say Colby Brock and Sam Golbach (like a Polyamorous relationship, if it’s just about a bunch of people, tag the people in it and don’t put the imagine, fanfic, x reader, oneshot after any of them, it doesn’t apply)

If it’s a poly relationship (or maybe more) then do everything you normally do for one person, and then just add on the second;

Azurebrock, Colby brock, Sam Golbach, Colby brock imagine, Sam Golbach imagine, etc

If you’re on desktop, I would suggest putting in a Read More (this goes BEFORE your fic but after the authors note, below the 2 —‘s). The way you do that is press enter, and hover over the new break in the fic.

Off to the right you’ll see a . . . Click that and then you have the read more. I would only suggest using this if there’s more than 500 words, so that if the fic is super long, it doesn’t take up the entire dash for the follower (it takes forever to scroll and it’s annoying

If you’re on mobile, it isn’t possible. Just post and you can go back and edit later if you have a computer

[mention-maya]

I might go back to edit/add more if I get the chance but make sure to read this before requesting! very important! ^^'

╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴✎;

rules ˊˎ-

i can write mostly angst, fluff, humor for all x readers thing & female/male/gender neutral readers

I also will do x readers, headcanons, matchups, scenarios, etc.

characters you can request is 4 or less

this blog is safe for everyone! if you wanna request a certain reader like this then it's fine: (ex.) [character] x [deaf, pudgy, etc] reader. if forgot to include gender then it will be writing from a gender-neutral reader point for safety.

mostly anime I'm familiar with or already watch stuff like: cowboy bebop, fma, drr, etc.

if it's a character that I'm unfamiliar/listed with then it might be longer to write. It depends on which characters it is.

I will also add trigger warning just in cases! But I won't write any triggering content for the safety of other readers unless if it's a positive/encouraging ones like (ex. comforting depressed reader, etc.) for safety, add trigger warning with request for positive one + censors.

I'm fine with a little nsfw but not full-on explicit ones since I just turned 18 and I don't know much about it! little saucy ones will be tagged as #light-nsfw

make sure to be specific/descriptive with your request so I won't mess it up. If it comes out not what you expected then please dont get mad or anything like that!

I started this blog for fun/practice with writing, so it make take time bc writing block.

thank you for your time to read this, have fun requesting kiddos c:

– maya ᵕ̈

[changji]

Wow you really went off the other day but at least it was worth it 😪 I normally look at the scenery when I’m on a road trip, but then I get bored of it and decide to sleep bc there’s nothing else to do. Motion sickness must suck :(( do you take gravol or something to help with it? Coffee literally drains the life out of my funds it hurts me

Yes omg pls make me cookies I love them. Maybe you can even open a bakery with pastries and sell some good /cheap/ coffee. Ilyt my dear baker 🥺 ye I’m not the biggest fan of my bday either but gotta celebrate anyway!! One year closer to death woohoo 🎉🎉 your birthday is the most important day of the year!!! You can’t fight me on this I’m right

Pearls are so good. Like most places I go to don’t add anything to the pearls so it’s just bland squishy balls but the place I frequent adds I think honey to sweeten them. It gives the pearls life istg. It tastes so good 🤤 hollering is a funny word. For some reason I always associate it with yodelling which makes me laugh

Ksks you must be op if you can make a joke in the wall with a door slam. I can’t relate my arms are literally sticks and I have no strength in me. Chrome books are terrible in general. Add my schools terrible wifi and you get one big recipe for disaster. I’d never fight u either (unless it’s for your bday) ily too much for that 🥺🥺🥺

Hahah I think it’s me. I haven’t heard anyone say “go ham” except for the people who go to my school. I find it really funny tho so I try to incorporate it whenever I can LOL easily burnt? Can’t relate but apparently I easily tan. There’s this one diagonal stripe on my shoulder that separates pale me and tan me which ??? How did that happen and what was I wearing for that to happen??

It’s all fun and games until you go outside and see a mountain of snow waiting for you to be shovelled. But there are some good aspects to winter, like skating and skiing and all that fun stuff. Snow is so heavy?? Or maybe I’m just weak but after I finish shovelling I’m beat. Gardening is not my thing. There’s too many bugs involved flying around 🥴

Kind of? I always thought it was short for cappuccino but I could be wrong. They don’t taste like fraps tho, they’re sm better. I was always a frap hoe until I discovered lattes. My old elementary school was close to a Starbucks so whenever frappy hour was happening, my friends and I would go almost every day LOL

I heard that dunkin coffee is really good. Oof there’s so many things that the us have that Canada doesn’t. But apparently you guys don’t have ketchup chips?? How can one live without them? You know that’s what soulmates are, we’re stuck together forever and I don’t mind that. I’d never leave you 😌😌

YES OMG LATTES ARE SO EXPENSIVE. I pay around the same amount and my wallet cries every time. If you ever yeet yourself off a bridge I’d come visit u in hell and bring u iced coffee 💖 we really are soulmates wtf I get almond milk in my lattes as well!! I used to get normal milk and was like “I’m a bad bitch milk can’t hurt me” but that didn’t really work out. Sigh what we do for coffee 😔

Washing dishes is disgusting. I hate doing them but yk someone’s gotta do it and that someone is me 😤 I’m acc lazy when it comes to smoothies, I usually ask my mom to make them LMAO. Pancakes are pretty much made of flour if you think about it so technically when u eat one plain ur eating cooked flour,, how barbaric. Waffles are Built. Like. They have a 20 pack 😪😪

I love angst personally so pls go ham but not too ham I’d like to keep my heart. Honestly at this point my last brain cell has given up on me. But yes I love angst and I love torturing myself with heart wrenching angst that leaves me crying into my pillow at 3am (I’m talking about this one haikyuu fic that I forgot the name of. I was literally dying inside jalsjwo)

Pls do send me peet’s I’ll send you an iced capp in a cooler so it’ll be somewhat melted and probably spilt everywhere 🤪 tumblrs probably gonna block me again, I’m looking at how much I’ve typed rn and it’s a lot lmaoo. Yes I managed to save myself. I redid the whole last with less detail bc I was not Having It but it turned out better?? How is ur drawing now?

I start after labour day in September. But starting in 3 weeks?????? On a Thursday?? I could never wtf. When do you end? I’m so confused with these ap and honours thing, like there’s none offered in my school nor majority of the school district. Are they just advanced classes or something? It is 7 classes a semester or the whole year?

Stan talent i think you meant yourself??? Jsjsksk I am not only ur coffee soulmate I’m not #1 fan as well and I support u bc ily 🥺🥺 the read more tag had me laughing for a hot minute. Like we really could make an essay out of all of our replies. I don’t have any pets (besides fish does that count?) unfortunately bc my moms allergic to fur 🥺 hbu?? (I can’t believe tumblr blocked me again they can fight me)

-

i didn’t even pay LOL i freeloaded off my cousin 🤧 i like to look @ scenery sometimes but like i can’t bc my head hurts LOL and the scenery is always the same for me, mountains and fields with cows. i try to take dramamine but it makes me so drowsy that i’m just basically dead,,, i live off of my cousins money so i’m okay 🤪

tbh i use nestle toll house pre made cookie dough, like that shit actually slaps. it’s the best it’s so good omg, perfect for lazy hoes 🤧 death here we go ! the order is ur bday, then skz debut date, and then christmas i don’t make the rules sorry sis 😤

pearls are Dangerous, i once drank a smoothie and there were pearls in it and i couldn’t see them bc there were like. only 3 and they were Buried under the smoothie but i choked and almost died but i chewed one of them and it’s like. so weird. HOLLERING AND YODELING IM- i once went to some public yodeling class and left in 2 seconds bc it was a bunch of white boys dressed like the kid from walmart 😪

it’s not even strength i’m actually rly weak,, i always think the doors are closed but they’re not and so i like slam them open and the walls are thin so it’s just. a sad hole. terrible wifi,, my school has pretty good wifi tbh but we have like three connections, one for the chrome books only, one for the teachers & staff, and one for students and guests. like it works rly good but everyone has a VPN bc of stupid social media restrictions 😤 & ilyt 🥺 u would probably win in a fight tho LOL

go ham is so interesting. the first time i heard it i thought it meant go pig and i was so confused but ig,,, i live lathered in sun screen whenever i go somewhere with the sun. ppl are like “i smell sun screen” and im just there like 🙃 it’s me u got a problem u burnt chicken nugget ??? i wish i tanned easily, i have a tan friend and when i showed her when my legs got tan she was so confused. i thought i was tan tho? bc during marching band season my sock tan becomes So Bad i’m basically white. she said she was blinded when she saw me pull my sock down and i laughed so hard LOL & i hate those dumb random tan lines like. where u @ bro? where u come from??

snow is fun for like a day and then i get tired LOL i csn only handle wet socks and a red nose for so long 😔 i tried skiing one time and i did so bad that the instructor had to hold me down and walk with me down the slope. i fell so many times i think he hated me 😳 i’m also rly bad at skating? i went w my friends once and i held both of their hands and still managed to bring both of them down when i fell. a cute guy once helped me when i was struggling to walk so 🥴 not my brightest moment tbh,, trying to walk in skates while on ice. do u enjoy skiing/skating? also gardening is. gross. worms and dirt and the sun i’m not here for it.

u: cappuccinos! me: ...ice bergs,,, now that i think about it fraps kinda suck,,, i used to think i was So Cool for drinking starbucks but now i’m like. wow. i used to think there was coffee in a frap but it’s just. sugar and ice LOL also speaking of tmrw is bogo fraps here,, idk if it’s all over the world but myb u should check it out 😪

dunkins okay it depends on what you get, i once got an iced latte and it was good but my dad got an iced coffee and he like. hated it so we had to switch and it was so bad like. it was coffee crime. it was horrible and not strong it was basically milk 😤 also,, ketchup chip? i just googled what that was and. that’s literally so weird. fun fact i hate ketchup and all other condiments i can only eat bbq sauce and i tolerate steak sauce

UR LITERALLY SO CUTE OKAY UR MINE NOW HHHH

i mentioned this in the other ask but. we going broke bitches club 😪 when u come visit me it’ll be old town road the one w mason ramsey on a loop. nothing will top the og remix but no, i’ll be stuck listening to some 5 year old rap for all of eternity

I USED TO BE SUCH A GOOD KID AND DRINK MILK EVERY MORNING ever since i got to middle school i preferred sleep over waffles and milk and i hardly drink milk but when i do. my stomach does not have it.

my mom made me wash dishes today and she just stared at me when i put ziploc bags on my hands bc we didn’t have gloves but i just painted my nails and i’m not abt to put myself thru chipped nails. not yet 😤 waffles are so good like i love waffles and lattes only 🤧

well i’ll go very ham (am i doing it right LOL) 😤 the angst ending is a lot better than the open ended or happy ones LOL i’m so excited for it 🥺 i’m rly tryna get it out before the end of this month bc the edit says july and it’ll make me Mad if i don’t get it out before the end of this month

i wanna start in september 🤧 and i usually end in the first week of june. also on a wednesday LOL it’s gross. stupid. ap means advanced placement so it’s just. a college level class. lowkey mad bc i’m taking ap euro (as a sophomore 😒) and other schools take it in their senior years? apparently this is normal? and honors are just faster paced classes with more weighting so,, idrk oops 😬 some people take 7 classes in a semester but i took it for the whole year! this year i’m dropping orchestra i’m Not for that spit in the carpet life

the only talent in this house goes by ada and jisung. i don’t make the rules. i’m ur #1 fan 🥺 as soon as u post anything i automatically smash that rb button LOL also put a read more here bc like. we’re really out here writing a whole ass essay. i’ll look @ all our convos bet it’ll be like. a lot. i don’t wanna say smth and be off so i’ll just not. i have a dog! he’s the cutest in the world and i love him sm 🥺 tumblr can fight me first like. what’s this ask limit bull hhhhh

[mitsuhasnolifebutwatchesanime]

Part two of hiatus ending! (I hope!)

Time to take this blog seriously (or maybe take it with a different approach)

So I do want to get back to business with some rants, reviews, and maybe a few like, idk me talking at a camera for ages or something.

First and foremost, the queue is gonna slowly come back to life

If you love anime animation and gifs of such, pls shoot them to my messages and I'll gladly add them to my queue! Nothing crazily edited or grayscale tho

:0

I have lost my editor to her moving and didnt want to put any pressure on her to stay. I'd love even just someone to take a cursory glance over my stuff before I post it bc author's blindness is REAL

If you're interested in that, DM me here, or even shoot me an email mitsusouma@gmail.com OR my discord (dm for details)

I need to rework my schedule. During two moves I've lost all my anime notes to important adult paperwork, so I gotta start from scratch hahaha

I do need to catch up on shows I found to be priority contenders for the top ten/five which is my favorite post of the year and it was utter heartbreak to slash it and not do it :,^( I just didnt have the content

I'm also super down to opening a small discord server and hosting watch nights or w/e

I do work nearly full time to afford rent, and I hate to ask as I'm not doing anyone a service or personally suffering. Iffin you want to throw a buck by way or enquire about merch/media I may be trying to sell, please DM me or PayPal mitsusouma@gmail.com. seriously, just putting it there if you feel like it DO NOT TAKE THIS AS A DEMAND I'M NOT SUFFERING!

I need to expand my blog from just the reviews for anime. I want to talk about manga, movies, special stuff that happens in Japan and in the industry. I want to talk industry news with the industry, even if they're assholes about it AGAIN (looking at you SB. Where's volume 12 of Descendants of Darkness?)

ALMOST TOTALLY FORGOT

A-kon is at the end of the month! To any and everyone going to Dallas that weekend I wanna see and talk to y'all! Really I'm not shy, just wanna spout my nonsense at ya and get down and dirty with the anime talk ❤❤❤

Hmu if you're going to A-kon or tag me! Let's talk!

PHEW!

That was a lot of cluttered nonsense to go through, but I just wanted to get it out there. Let's talk, send questions, requests, w/e, I wanna talk so badly about the new fruits basket. Just all the things!

I am back baby!!!

[just-a-honey-badger]

I posted 351 times in 2022

That's 351 more posts than 2021!

91 posts created (26%)

260 posts reblogged (74%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@frey-the-they

@an-ungraceful-swan

@fromthemouthofkings

@shipsgaysfordays

@too-many-fandoms-to-explore

I tagged 187 of my posts in 2022

Only 47% of my posts had no tags

#marauders era - 15 posts

#ask bel - 13 posts

#important - 11 posts

#asks - 10 posts

#marauders - 10 posts

#sirius black - 9 posts

#wolfstar - 9 posts

#remus lupin - 8 posts

#ask game - 8 posts

#the marauders - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 114 characters

#that song i was talking about is everybody talks by neon trees and its fucking amazing but noooooo i have ptsd now

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

AGHHGHGHGH I CANT

i changed this just now and the edited version is at the bottom

SO I WAS JUST SCROLLING THROUGH #wolfstar headcanons AS ONE DOES AND I GOT A CRAP TON OF PROMPT IDEAS

SO I'M GONNA WRITE MY ULTIMATE COMFORT FIC (IF THAT'S A THING) AND IT'S GONNA BE SO GOOOOOOD

AND SO

LONG, FLUFFY MARAUDERS FIC (WOLFSTAR, JEGULUS, DORLENE, ETC) WITH EVERYONEEEE (JAMES, SIRIUS, REMY, PETE (BUT PETE’S ALRIGHT AND DOESN’T KILL ANYONE), REG, LILY, MARY, MARLENE, DORCAS, PANDORA, BARTY, EVAN, ALICE, FRANK, PANDORA, (MAYBE XENO IDK IF HE WENT TO SCHOOL AT THE SAME TIME AS THEM))

THAT FADES INTO JEGULUS RAISING HARRY (LILY AS SURROGATE MOM)

THAT BECOMES DRACO HERMIONE RON AND HARRY ALL BEING CHILDHOOD FRIENDS

AND THEN DRARRY BC WHY TF NOT

BUT MOSTLY REALLY MARAUDERS

AND FLUFF

AND FRIENDS

AND GAY

AND ENDLESS CAMPING TRIPS

AND WONDERFUL

BUT NO SMUT OR ANGST

SO IF YOU'RE INTO THAT KINDA THING

WHEN I'M DONE IT (IN LIKE THREE MONTHS BC I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED IT AND I'M WORKING ON TWO OTHER STORIES RN)

I WILL SHARE THE LINK

edited version:

LONG, FLUFFY MARAUDERS FIC (WOLFSTAR, JEGULUS, DORLENE, ETC) WITH EVERYONEEEE (JAMES, SIRIUS, REMY, REG, LILY, MARY, MARLENE, DORCAS, PANDORA, BARTY, EVAN, ALICE AND FRANK)

THAT FADES INTO JEGULUS RAISING HARRY (LILY AS SURROGATE MOM) AND PANDALILY RAISING LUNA AND FRALICE RAISING NEVILLE AND EVERYONE LIVES TOGETHER

AND THEN DRACO HERMIONE HARRY LUNA AND NEVILLE ALL GROW UP AS CHILDHOOD FRIENDS AND MEET GINNY AND RON

AND THEN THE REST OF THE UNEDITED VERSION STAYS THE SAME

12 notes - Posted September 18, 2022

#4

✨the queue✨: a guide

the queue is great! it's helpful if you want to post regularly or if you have lots of posts you want to reblog but don't want to do all at once.

you can queue posts by either a) clicking the reblog button > clicking the arrow next to it once it opens the page where you can add comments > selecting 'add to queue'; or

b) going into settings > clicking on the part that says 'labs' (where tumblr has new features they're working on) > turning on 'fast queue' (this adds a new icon next to the 'reply' and 'reblog' icons where you basically reblog a post but 'add to queue' is the default).

and why would i want to post regularly, you ask? well, the more you post (and the more diverse posts you have), the more likely it is for your posts to reach more people. accurate tags help with this, too. it also helps if you need to post at a consistent schedule for whatever reason, but can't always log on at the same time every day.

if you want to queue your posts at more random times, go into labs and turn on 'queue 2.0'. this enables a more detailed way to schedule your queued posts. i had to play around with it before i found something i liked, and i suggest you do too.

that's it

14 notes - Posted November 30, 2022

#3

*screech*

what if, and hear me out, the black family was not french, but japanese? and yes, the original idea started from a wolfstar fic tag on ao3. i forgot which one, sorry.

back to the main point. give me sirius and regulus not speaking french, but japanese. i get that french is a language of love, and all that, but i don't care. give me remus and james falling in lOVe when they hear the black brothers speaking japanese to each other.

please. someone. i'll never get around to doing it myself; do you know how many wips i have in my drafts? (answer: a lot)

16 notes - Posted November 17, 2022

#2

writing a new marauders fic where all the marauders in the afterlife react to harry's daily life (not his war stuff but like his cringe everyday stuff)

22 notes - Posted November 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

okay, but what if peter didn't exist and regulus was in his place and james and remus took sirius and regulus's last name and the marauders were all the blacks and they went to see walburga and were like 'hey mom!' and walburga fucking flips

173 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[thedragontamerying]

Stand By Me

Long time no see! I’m sorry that I’ve been quiet for a couple of months, life has been really busy and just overall choatic for me. I’ve been trying to send stuff to a school I’m transferring to; I’ve been working frantically on art show works; we had to put one of our dogs down (RIP my big Beauty girl ;-;) and just recently an extended family member has been in the hospital. So yeah, I’ve been busy. But I have been working on writing on the periodic free time I’ve had and I’m ready to start posting again. So thank you for being patient and I hope you enjoy the newest chapters!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Gallina in this chapter is @seal-pai‘s FFXV OC that I decided to add bc I love her and I do what I want. So if you’re interested in Gallina, go to seal-pai!

Tagging @insomniasix @theyearofdiamonddogs @zoeyredbird1 @seal-pai @ffxv-ocs-unite

Ch 1 <<< Ch 6 : Ch 8 | [Masterlist]

                                  Chapter VII: Where the Chocobos Run

It had been a couple of hours since the company had taken to the road again, leaving Cor and Monica to their own back in Leide. Artemisia was concerned about their whereabouts and doings, but Noctis insisted that they shouldn’t worry about them; the two could handle themselves. So to distract herself, she focused on the wonders of the Duscae region. The wind blew through the five’s hair, the atmosphere much more tolerable than before. The scenery that was once filled with desert sand and a scarcity of vegetation was replaced with mixes of green as far as the horizon and trees just as tall. The air no longer threatened to dry one’s skin if they left the top down too long. Instead, it was moist and refreshing thanks to the abundance of water in the region, something that Leide was lacking. Although, the humidity was no doubt going to be the source of many complaints from Noctis and Prompto, worried about their hair getting limp or frizzy. Artemisia couldn’t help the small huff of amusement at the thought.

“Look out world!” Prompto declared loudly from the front, startling Artemisia from her thoughts. “Here we come!”

“We can finally leave this dust bowl behind,” Gladiolus said with breath of relief.

“The lands beyond are vast by comparison to Leide.” Ignis stated, keeping his ever vigilante eyes on the road.

“Bigger’s better!” Prompto claimed with a saccharine tone, “More stuff to see and do.”

“First comes Duscae, a region known for its wetlands.”

“Really? Wetlands?” Noctis raised a brow at Ignis’ comment, failing to see the excitement in mucky water and mushy grass that sinks if you step on it the wrong way.

“Wetlands are really cool, Noct!” Artemisia urged, nudging his arm insistently.

“I think you’re the only person I know who finds grass cool.”

“No really! From an ecological standpoint, they’re really interesting! They’re one of the most biologically diverse biomes in the world, which means that so many different types of organisms can live together --” Gladiolus watched Artemisia go on her enthusiastic lecture, occasionally listening in on what she was saying out of genuine interest, but mostly enjoying Noctis’ bored and desperate look for escape. “-- And they’re so important when it comes to naturally purifying water. But they’re also really sensitive to pollution, which means that scientists can see early effects of pollution by studying how it affects wetlan-- MMPH!”

Gladiolus quieted her by covering Artemisia’s mouth -- and almost her entire face -- with his hand, pulling her into a playful headlock against his chest. “Okay nerd, we get it.” He smirked when she half-heartedly glared up at him, relinquishing his hold on her and letting Artemisia straighten her posture back to normal.

“Besides the ever exciting ecosystems,” Ignis gave a teasing look to Artemisia from the rearview mirror, “There’s also a chocobo forest.”

“Now we’re talking!” Prompto chimed in.

“Further west lies the Cleigne region, where we’ll find the town of Lestallum.”

“Oh, isn’t that where Iris is heading?” Prompto ask, turning in his seat to look at Gladiolus, as did the other two in the back. Ever since Insomnia’s destruction Gladiolus’ worry over his sister had been obvious. The two had always been close, what with Gladiolus practically raising Iris himself due to their father’s work making him absent a lot. During the trip Artemisia had caught him texting who she assumed was Iris, noting that he had been texting more since the news of their home.

Gladiolus glanced down at his phone before looking back at the others, the usual strength in his eyes. “Barring delays, she should have arrived by now.” He sighed, looking off to the horizon, “Maybe even had herself a look at the meteor.”

“The Meteor of the Six?”

“The same,” Ignis answered Noctis, “Its heat is harnessed to power Lestallum.”

“Whoa, that sounds way cool!” Prompto said, his interest piqued.

Noctis nudged Artemisia. “You going to explain how that works?”

“Would you actually be interested in the complexities that go into making a meteor into electrical power for a whole city?”

“Probably not…”

“Then I’m not going to bother.” Artemisia huffed, a stubborn pout on her lips.

Gladiolus chuckled at the two. “I’m actually looking forward to this.”

After a while more on the road, Ignis spotted a gas station and suggested that they refill the tank. “It will be a long drive.” The group pulled into the station, parking the Regalia next to one of the gas tanks. Everyone exited the car and took a moment to stretch their muscles, having been stuck in the small space for a couple of hours. Artemisia offered to fill the tank while Ignis and Gladiolus visit the shop to buy more potions. Prompto insisted on Noctis posing for a photo, stating that their first steps into the unknown should be documented. One photo turned into another which turned into a whole photoshoot, with Prompto wandering around with his camera and snapping anything he could find interesting. Artemisia failed to see the general interest in a photo of her filling the car’s tank, but she wasn’t going to get in the way of an artist and his muse.

Artemisia had just returned the gas pump to its original place -- she didn’t understand why Noctis always has to grunt when he takes care of the gas; the pump wasn’t heavy -- when a ringtone from Noctis’ phone went off. “Who could this be?” Noctis answered the phone right as Gladiolus and Ignis returned. “Hello?” Gladiolus gave a slight jerk to his head towards Noctis while giving Artemisia questioning eyes. Artemisia could only shrug unknowingly. “Iris?”

That caught Gladiolus’ attention. Him and the rest waited patiently as Noctis continued his conversation. He soon ended the call with a quick “Will do.”

“Was that Iris?” Gladiolus asked, stepping closer to his friend. Gladiolus sighed once Noctis nodded, before crossing his arms and giving a small huff. “Can’t even call her own brother…”

“In all fairness,” Ignis interjected, “Yours wasn’t in the obituary broadcasted all over Lucis.”

“What about me?” Prompto questioned hopefully, “She say anything about me?

“Guys,” Artemisia laughed, “Don’t worry, you’re all beautiful. Now why don’t we get a move on so we can meet up with her.”

Gladiolus was quick to agree, packing away their purchases in the trunk so that they could get on the road again. Noctis was about to go take his usual seat when Prompto grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. “See that sign?” Prompto pointed out further down the road at a giant billboard. The board had a large yellow bird on it and read Wiz Chocobo Post. “Chocobos! Chocobos!” He chanted excitedly, his voice dripping with utter joy. The enthusiasm was contagious as Noctis’ eyes were filled with the same interest as his friend’s.

“Hey, no time for that,” Gladiolus quickly shot back, shutting the trunk with a satisfying thud. “We need to get to Lestallum.”

“It’s still ages away. C’mon, just a quick visit?” Prompto pleaded. He looked over at Artemisia with a quick turn of his head before dragging her to his side, making Artemisia blink in confusion. “Back me up, Artemis! One chocobo lover to another.”

“Uh…” Artemisia interrupted, “Actually, I’ve never seen a chocobo.”

Prompto gasped, dramatically grasping his shirt over his heart as though he had been shot. “What?!”

“Okay, even I’m surprised by that.” Gladiolus added.

“Well w-we have to go now!” Prompto insisted with urgency. “We can’t let her be deprived of the joys of chocobos! Twenty-one years of life and none of it spent with chocobos is a crime! C’mon Noct!”

Noctis shrugged, “He’s got a point.”

“Whoo hoo! Chocobos here we come!”

Artemisia glanced over at Gladiolus, seeing the concern for his sister still present in his eyes despite how he was trying to cover it up. He seemed willing to make the stop at the chocobo ranch, but he obviously wanted to get to Lestallum as fast as possible. “Let’s make it a quick trip at least, guys. We really should get to Lestallum soon,” she insisted.

“Deal! Now c’mon, let’s go!”

With Prompto ushering everyone back to the car, the group was on the road again. They followed the directions provided by the multiple signs along the road, arrows indicating what turns to take. The entire way Prompto was going every mile to display his excitement to see the giant, friendly birds. He had turned on a very hokey pokey song on the radio that was about the creatures with him humming along to it with lyrics like ‘I want to ride my chocobo all day’. It was after the others had asked him to stop his singing that Prompto turned to look at Artemisia in the back seat. “I can’t believe that you don’t know what chocobos are. I would have thought you would have been all over them.”

Artemisia pouted. “I know what chocobos are, I just haven’t gotten the chance to see one in person.” Her busy schedule didn’t leave much room for miscellaneous adventures or outings unless it was either with Ismene or Noctis. Those outings were also a rarity considering that Ismene focused more with academic studies and Noctis always had Gladiolus or Ignis with him as his entourage.

“Well that’s all about to change.” Prompto pointed at another sign, this one including the word Entrance on it. “Here we are!”

Driving off of the main road and down a dirt path, the group came upon the ranch. It was a quant little abode, with a small windmill and tiny picket fence nearby at the front -- most likely where the chicks would go. Behind that was the business building, where a small shop was placed for chocobo lovers to buy antiques, or feed for their feathery friends. In front of that were some umbrella tables for customers to enjoy a meal while watching the animals. To the left were some storage buildings where the birds’ food and water was most likely being held, and to the right were some posts where the birds would be tied to interact with any visitors. The only thing that was missing from this chocobo ranch were the actual chocobos. There was no hide nor feather of the creatures; it’s hardly possible for them to be hiding, the birds were larger than most people.

“Odd…” Ignis mumbled.

“Do you think that they’re closed?” Artemisia asked.

“No way, chocobo ranches don’t close.” Prompto confidently answered. “Maybe they’re just giving them a break from the crowd. It’s hard being a celebrity, y’know.” Prompto joked, gesturing for the others to follow him. “C’mon, let’s go get us some chocobos.” The group followed him to this older man who was working around the meal tables. “ ‘Scuse me,” the man turned around after hearing Prompto’s voice, a name badge on his outfit reading Rancher Wiz. “We’d like to ride the chocobos.”

“The chocobos, huh?” Wiz sighed, a disappointed frown on his face. “I hate to break this to y’all but we can’t permit our birds to leave the post, not while Deadeye’s still about.”

“Deadeye?” Artemisia questioned.

Wiz nodded. “He’s an uncommonly ferocious behemoth that’s taken to prowlin’ these parts of late. His scent makes our birds nervous, and to prevent accidents or tragedies, we have no choice but to suspend rentals.”

“Aw man,” Prompto pouted degernatedly. Noctis also looked incredibly disappointed at the situation. Artemisia rubbed Prompto’s shoulder, trying to comfort him. “I’m sorry guys, but we can always come back later. Hopefully the behemoth will move on.” Wiz stared at the group inquizitively, his eyes narrow in thought before it dawned on him. “Hold on now, ain’t you the hunters that’ve been makin’ a mark?”

The five looked at each other confused, unaware of their recent claims to notoriety. “It would seem so…” Ignis answered.

Wiz tore down a flyer from the nearby notice board where bounties for hunts were presented and handed it to Noctis. It had a rough photo of a behemoth on it and a listing of a reward for the creature dubbed Deadeye. “You reckon you could handle the likes of Deadeye?” Noctis showed the others the bounty, “If you could bring the beast down, there’d be a reward in it for ya.” The group was always in need of more money, that’s for sure. “But knowin’ the danger, I wouldn’t blame ya for saying no.”

“What do you guys think?” Noctis asked, though his smile showed that his mind was already set. “We up for it?”

Gladiolus smirked. “Go big or go home, right?”

“Rest assured,” Ignis directed at Wiz, “You nor your birds will have none to fear once we are done.”

Wiz thanked them for their courageous service, giving directions on where the beast was last seen on Artemisia’s map. Once the group felt like they had everything they needed to know, they set out in the dense woods beyond the ranch. They followed the small dirt path through the forest until the path started to disappear as they moved further in. The edge of the trail was overridden by grass and weed due to the lack of explorers that venture out that far. So the group had to rely on any signs of the beast that they could find to direct them.

“Are we sure we’re going the right way?” Prompto asked, no doubt the ominous atmosphere of the forest making him nervous. The trees were so large and close together that it barely allowed any sunlight to shine through the collection of leafs at the top. And with the knowledge of a famously dangerous creature prowling the area, Artemisia couldn’t blame him for feeling intimidated.

Gladiolus, who was at the front of the group, took in the area before confirming “Oh yeah, we’re heading the right direction.” He gestured to large claw marks that were left in the large rock formation to their left. Prompto gulped at the sight.

Suddenly a blood curdling howl echoed through the area, the group flinching at the sound. “The hell?” Gladiolus growled, reframing from summoning his weapon but ready for action if need be. Birds flew above them as the sound of trees breaking and falling to the ground followed the howl. “Something’s amiss.” Ignis said, his guard up as well.

“We’re getting closer. Everyone stick together.” Artemisia instructed, slowly walking ahead as the others followed.

As the group traveled deeper into the forest they found more evidence of the behemoth’s presence. Claw marks and broken trees littered the ground, and growls echoed out as they walked, each one louder than the other. Artemisia decided not to the alert the others to a small pool of dried blood that she saw, not wanting to put them on edge even more; though her heartbeat definitely picked up after the sight. The further they traveled into the forest -- and closer to Deadeye -- the area became encased in fog, making visibility poor.

“So, Artemis,” Prompto walked closer to her, “as our residential beast master,” Artemisia wasn’t sure if she considered herself that, “got any advice for us?”

“Well… from what I understand, behemoths rely heavily on their sight and sense of smell since their hearing is horrible. And if the name implies, the fact that this one has a bad eye is actually a small advantage for us.” Another crash from a falling tree sounded out. “And we’ll definitely hear it coming before it hears us.” Prompto gave a weak smile, not sure if she helped his nerves or not.

“Don’t worry, Artemis isn’t gonna let us get eaten.” Noctis reassured, confidence all over his expression. “She’s got this.”

“Uh… Right.”

What am I suppose to do I can’t stop a claw that weighs over a ton from slicing right through you better hope that you see it first because you can’t outrun that thing oh by the Six that thing could snatch Noct out of the air with its giant teeth without a second thought if he’s not fast enough oh Astrals why did we do this why did we do this

They followed what evidence of the behemoth they could find through the fog, coming upon a small man-made cavern created by a huge, abandoned construction pipe. It was big enough for someone to crawl through, if one was willing to uncomfortably arch their back or scrape their boney knees on a hard surface that will more than likely result in bruising. Not to mention the idea of being trapped in a small space with a ginormous predator on the prowl wasn’t a pleasant one. But there was no way forward that didn’t involve going through the pipe, so it’s a risk they’ll have to take.

“Noct, wait!” Noctis was about to be the first to enter the pipe when another roar from Deadeye rang, this time it was close enough that the growl vibrated through the metal under Noctis’ hand. Gladiolus had stopped the prince in his tracks, holding his arm out in a protective stance to keep Noctis back from the potential danger. He looked into the dark pipe, investigating for any sign of the beast that was nearby. Artemisia poked her head under his arm to look too, only seeing some vegetation that was able to grow inside the pipe despite the small amount of sunlight. She gulped, taking a deep inhale of breath before slowly exhaling and ducking under the taller man’s arm and heading in first. “Hey,” Gladiolus whispered, urging her to come back behind him. Another growl vibrating down the pipe silenced them. Artemisia waited until it was quiet again, making sure the behemoth had moved on before looking back to the others and gesturing for them to follow. “Stay close.”

Gladiolus released a frustrated huff of air before following her, with the others close behind him. They crawled down the tight clearing, turning along with path. The pipe lead out to another small cavern, this one created with sheets of metal acting as a barrier around them. Whatever they were planning on making here that included such an uncomfortable walking space Artemisia had no clue. She was thankful for the bit of cover though, no matter how much it has degraded over time. Artemisia looked back at the others, checking on them when she heard heavy footsteps coming closer. She jumped forward to the other side of a small hole to where secure cover was, giving Gladiolus a signal to stay put.

“Hold up,” Gladiolus instructed. Soon a behemoth stood just inches away from the group, letting out a roar as it sniffed the air. The beast’s right eye had a scar going down its face and its eye was clouded over, no longer useful. “Deadeye,” Gladiolus pointed to his own eye, “The name says it all.”

Deadeye sniffed their direction inquisitively. Artemisia worried that they had been found before the behemoth looked away, grabbing something in its jaws and starting to feast on it. Based off of the sounds of muscle tearing and bones breaking, Artemisia had an idea as to what preoccupied the beast’s focus for now. She let out a shaky sigh, thankful that it wasn’t one of them. She glanced over to check on the gorging animal before waving her hand in a motion to follow her. Gladiolus nodded, giving the others the same instructions.

The group slowly started to crawl passed the giant beast as it ate, being cautious as to not tip off Deadeye to their presence. Artemisia peeked back to double check that it was still distracted before she started to move ahead, another large hole above her as the protective metal sheets were no longer there. As she crawled she noticed the end of tunnel, breathing a quick sigh of relief.

“Artemis!”

Artemisia whipped her head around when she heard the alarm in Noctis’ voice, seeing the large teeth coming down towards her at the last second. Before Deadeye’s jaws could clamp down on her person she was tackled out of the way, soon finding herself face down in the dirt with a large weight on top of her. Her protests were muffled by the soil as she pawed at the hand on top of her head, taking in a deep breath and spitting out grass once she finally was able to lift it off. “Gladi--”

Gladiolus shushed her, caging her under him as he stared ahead. Artemisia held her breath when she noticed how close Deadeye’s blood stained teeth were as it sniffed down into the tunnel. She could smell its putrid breath, a nauseous mix of the creature’s mouth bacteria and the remains of its recent kill. Noctis and the others were on the other side, eyes wide and frozen to their spots. Ignis had his hand over Prompto’s mouth to keep the blonde from screaming.

Deadeye removed its jaws from the hole and roared above it, splats of its saliva hitting the five’s faces as its breath sent their hair back. It inspected the area once more before walking away with a low growl. Artemisia released the air she didn’t know she was holding once the beast was gone, taking deep breaths to calm her rapid heartbeat.

“Thanks for the save.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“...” She squirmed uncomfortably under him. “Could you get off of me now?”

“Oh,” Gladiolus flinched, realizing how awkward her position was before carefully crawling off, “Sorry.”

The group made it to the tunnel’s end, Artemisia peeking outside first to make sure the behemoth wasn’t closeby before exiting. Everyone stretched once out, their limbs sore from being in such a restricting space. Another familiar growl interrupted the small moment of relief, the group being on the defensive once again as they moved on. This area of the forest had even worse fog than before, reducing visibility to only several feet.

“It’s weak on its right,” Gladiolus informed, “No eye, no horn.”

“We’ll stay in range until we can exploit its blind spot.” Ignis instructed as they carefully moved through the mist.

They moved onward, following the sounds of the beast. The group came upon a clearing of the forest that had large boulders laid out around the area; most likely the rocks had come down from the nearby cliff side, or perhaps Deadeye had moved them there itself. Moving closer, they saw a shadow move amongst the rubble, revealing a tail as the shadow moved. “We got the beast in our sights.”

“But no plan of attack,” Ignis added to Gladiolus’ comment, “The behemoth should be heading back to its lair, where we can catch it fully off guard.”

“Yeah,” Noctis grumbled, “As long as we stay on guard ourselves.”

“If we stay to its right and use the rocks and trees for cover, we should be able to follow it unseen.” Artemisia added. Agreeing, Ignis took the front, leading the group through the mist. He carefully navigated the group close behind Deadeye, using the beast’s tail as an indication to the creature’s location. There were a few times that the creature’s tail was almost within reach, close enough for someone to reach out with their hand. One false move, one accidental brush and the beast would know they were there. One eye or not, the five would be easily taken down by the giant in the thick fog.

The group was in the middle of crossing the clearing, hopping behind cover from one large rock to the other when the behemoth stopped in its tracks. Gladiolus and Prompto hurried over to cover with Ignis, but Artemisia froze in the middle of the clearing as the beast sniffed the air. A deep growl vibrated down its throat as it turned to its right, looking with its good eye. Artemisia pushed Noctis back behind the previous boulder, avoiding Deadeye’s view in time. Deadeye approached them, its large head sniffing the clearing where Artemisia stood just a moment ago. Ignis and the others moved to avoid its left eye, but Artemisia and Noctis stood still as it continued to sniff out their scent.

Artemisia held her breath as she guided Noctis to walk backwards with a gentle push of her hand against his chest. They stayed light on their feet as they backed away, trying not to disturb anything that would give them away. The water in the air must of made finding their individual scent difficult to track as the behemoth took its time.

With one more big sniff, Deadeye slowly turning its head towards the two stranded friends.

Except there was no prey.

Noctis, in the nick of time, had pulled Artemisia down with him into a large patch of tall grass. The two laid on their stomachs, completely engulfed by the long whisks of turf.

The behemoth growled, searching for what had caused the faint scent it had caught, baring its teeth before huffing out through its nose. Seeming to have given up on the hunt, the beast turned around and continue onward to its lair. Artemisia and Noctis slowly rose from their hiding spot once the predator left, disappearing into the fog. The two hurried across to join the others.

“Are you alright?” Ignis asked, brushing them both off the best he could.

“Yeah, we’re good…” Noctis shivered.

“J-Just… really cold now.” Artemisia trembled, trying to stop her teeth from chattering. In the heat of the moment the two failed to see the large amount of mud accumulating in the patch of grass they hid in. Now that they were no longer fearing for their lives, they suddenly became very aware of the chilling muck now plastered to their uniforms.

“At least you’re alive.” Prompto tried to brighten their spirits, though there wasn’t much he could do besides possibly hugging them to warm them up. But he’d rather not get any of that on himself.

“Once we get back to the post we’ll see if Wiz would be kind enough to lend us a washing machine.” Ignis said handing the two handkerchiefs to wipe the mud off their faces. “If they have one, that is.”

“Until then you’ll have to warm yourself up with the heat of battle.”

They both whined at Gladiolus.

The two tried to clean themselves off the best they could with what they had before moving on to find Deadeye, baring with the uncomfortable sensation of their slick clothes sticking to their bodies. When they last checked, Deadeye had hopped over a wall of rock formations before disappearing into the mist. The group followed, squeezing through a tight crevice through the rocks. Once through to the other side the five found themselves in an abandoned, decrepit building. The metal foundation bars of the would-be structure were exposed now due to the decaying concrete falling off its support. Even the entryway was nothing more than an outline of where a door would be. From the there, the company hopped down to lower terrain in what looks like a potential future storage room. Now, all that remained was an wide open area where the behemoth -- who had to be close due to the audible hisses -- decided to make his home.

They stepped carefully, investigating the tree line for any movement that indicated their target. As they moved cautiously, the mist had slowly started to dissipate, allowing Artemisia to notice several barrels sprawled around the area. Noctis had accidentally walked next to one and looked it over before flinching back as though the object had burned him. “Heads up,” Noctis announced, pointing to a caution sign on the barrel. “The barrels are flammable.”

“Eyes forward,” Gladiolus said, pointing to the forest in the distance. Trees snapped as a hulking figure moved through the woods, a familiar one eye zoning in on the group of friends. “We got company.”

The behemoth let out a blood curdling roar, baring its teeth as it leaped down to their level and crushed a barrel with its claws. The oil broke free and stained Deadeye’s foot. Noctis motioned for everyone to step back once they summoned their weapons, breaking out a magical flask filled with elemental fire magic. He chucked the flask at Deadeye’s slick foot, the fire igniting the oil on the beast and catching its clawed paw in flames. Deadeye cried out at the pain, stomping its foot against the ground to kill the fire. The weak fire only seemed to have agitated the creature more as it charged at the group with no hesitation.

The team separated, avoiding the lunging beast. Deadeye turned mid landing, causing it to skid until it hit what remained of one of the walls of the would be storage area. Some of the concrete fell on top of the behemoth, aggravating it even more. The bad landing had caused Deadeye to destroy more barrels, spraying more flammable grease on its body and causing the predator to slip before charging again.

Everyone scurried away from the rampaging beast like mice avoiding the prowling feline; ironically fitting. Deadeye ran after the group, changing its focus from person to person depending on who was closest. Noctis warped away from its attack while Prompto fired at it as he ran, frantically calling for help. “Prompto!” Gladiolus signalled his friend, charging his direction with his sword at the ready. Deadeye’s jaws almost caught Prompto before he fell to the ground, skidding under Gladiolus’ sword before he brought it up in a uppercut, slicing the behemoth’s face. Noctis warped on to the back of Deadeye’s neck, stabbing the muscle with his longsword. Deadeye roared and reared back on its hind legs, sending Noctis flying back despite his best attempts to stay on.

“Noct!” Artemisia and Ignis ran to their fallen friend, helping him up. “Are you okay?”

Noctis pushed away Ignis’ worried hands, forcing himself up. “I’m fine… Would have been better if it had gone down with that first barrel.”

“Your idea was in the right direction,” Ignis assured, “Unfortunately, it didn’t have the impact that we were hoping for.”

“We need more firepower if we’re going to take it down.” Artemisia looked over to where Deadeye had originally slipped, oil everywhere and a huge dent in the unfinished wall with small plates of concrete falling off. Ignis followed her line of sight, taking in the setting too before the two nodded to each other. “Noct,” Artemisia put her hand on his shoulder, “We need you and Gladio to keep it busy while we set up.”

“That’s a big order just for the two of us.” Noctis complained. “What are you setting up for?”

“Why for your original plan to flourish, of course.” Ignis explained, “You and Gladio will keep the beast distracted while we collect more barrels. Once we have enough the two of you will corral it to the spot and then--”

“Boom.”

“Precisely.”

Gladiolus summoned his shield, his only barrier against Deadeye’s claws pushing down on him. “Make it quick.” Noctis groaned before warping at the beast again to help his struggling companion. Ignis and Artemisia hurried to collect what they needed, grabbing Prompto to help. They dodged the hulking behemoth as they ran back and forth, carrying the bins over to the targeted area against the wall. Gladiolus and Noctis kept the beast off of their busy friends, baiting it away from the others and trying to survive in the meantime.

“Whoops!” Prompto rolled the last barrel over, accidentally kicking it over and spilling the contents onto the ground.

“Don’t worry, we should be good to go.” Artemisia secured a barrel against the wall, signalling Ignis. Ignis nodded, joining Noctis and Gladiolus with his daggers ready while Artemisia and Prompto secured themselves on higher terrain. “Corral the beast back against the wall. Artemis and Prompto are at the ready.”

Following the Strategist’s orders, the three men gradually forced the beast back towards the targeted area. The pooled oil was making Deadeye’s feet unsteady and the fluid was coating most of the creature’s body due to its thrashful movements as it fought back. Gladiolus forced Deadeye back against the wall with a strong push from his shield, surrounding the beast with the collected barrels. “Now!” Ignis yelled out to their far ranged companions as he, Noctis and Gladiolus hurried away from oil.

Artemisia smashed a fire flask against her crossbow, encasing her arrows in the magic before Prompto and her shot down at the barrels. Two explosions rang out before they caused a chain of explosions from all of the barrels, throwing Deadeye against the wall behind it. Deadeye cried out in pain as its whole body was engulfed in flames, the oil luring the rampant fire like food for a starving animal. Despite Deadeye’s attempts to run away from the fire, the ground was still soaked and in its frenzy Deadeye couldn’t manage to control its legs well enough to escape the burning pain raking up its body. Artemisia couldn’t help the sympathetic grimace, turning her head away from the scene. If her and Prompto could feel the heat from their perch, she could only imagine what agony the poor creature was in.

Soon the oil was all burned away, scorches left on the ground where grass once was. Deadeye, just barely standing, was covered in horrendous burns and embers still lingered on it. Deadeye breathed heavily as it tried to force itself upright but its legs were burned beyond use, having taken the brunt force of the fire. Noctis, Ignis and Gladiolus approached the pained creature, their weapons still on their persons. Deadeye growled at them, defensive in its weakened state.

With what strength the behemoth had left, it let out another mighty roar, trying to intimidate the others away. Rubble from the wall fell on top of its head, with bigger chunks starting to come down on Deadeye’s head. The explosion had created a deep crack in the wall’s concrete and Deadeye’s roar vibrated up the weakened structure. The wall broke apart, all of the concrete falling on Deadeye.

A large dust cloud erupted, hiding Deadeye and stinging everyone else’s eyes as the impact kicked up dirt. Noctis and the other two rubbed their eyes, blinking away the debris. The dust started to clear, revealing what was left from the collapse. A large claw laid motionless under a hill of rubble, all signs of life absent.

“Magnificent,” Ignis sighed, dusting himself off. Artemisia and Prompto joined the others on the ground, the three taking a moment to breathe. “Nicely done you two. We’ve taken down the target without nary a flame on ourselves.”

“I’m honestly surprised that we didn’t,” Gladiolus touched his forehead lightly, “Pretty sure the tips of my eyebrows burned off.”

“Huh, sounds like that would an improvement to me.” Noctis joked, him and Prompto laughing at his little jab at the big man’s equally burly brows. Gladiolus raised one of said brows, staring down at the laughing two. With a flick of the wrist he pushed the prince, causing Noctis to fall again into the wet dirt below him with a splat. Now it was Gladiolus’ turn for a laugh; Prompto quickly redirected his laughter at his bestie. Meanwhile, Ignis and Artemisia looked on like two tired parents with their rowdy kids. Noctis lifted himself up from the muck with a groan, the earlier discomfort from the first layer of mud coming back ten fold. Artemisia felt an empathetic chill go up her arms; the fight hadn’t warmed her up as much as Gladiolus had said it would. If anything the addition of sweat and the diminishing effects of adrenaline made her feel even colder.

Ignis sighed as he helped Noctis off the ground. “Now you’ll really need to bathe.”

We all do…

Noctis tried to wipe off the dirt on him, only spreading it across his face. “Then we should get back now.”

They could all agree to that.

By the time the group made their way back to the chocobo ranch, the sun had made its slow descent down the horizon, coloring the sky in blues and pinks. Hopefully Wiz would still allow them to see the chocobos despite the early evening sun. Artemisia wasn’t sure what time chocobos usually fall asleep but if Prompto didn’t get to pet some chocobos today, the poor boy might cry. He had been singing the earlier chocobo song almost the entire walk back, the excitement in his eyes overflowing.

Wiz noticed the group coming, meeting them by an umbrella table. He looked at them expectantly, waiting to see what news they brought with their arrival. Artemisia reached into her small belt pouch, handing Wiz a small chip of the dead behemoth’s claw. Wiz’s face broke into a giant smile. “Ya guys did it! You took down Deadeye! The area’s safe again an’ we owe it all to you.” He took Noctis’ hand, not minding the dirt and grim on it, and gave it a firm shake. “On behalf of the locals, I give ya my heartfelt thanks.”

“So…” Prompto scooted forward, “About the chocobos…”

Wiz laughed. “Our birds are at your disposal. You can rent them any time you like.”

“Can we ride some now?”

Wiz hummed, looking at the clock on his wrist before tipping his hat. “I reckon there’s enough time before dark for our heroes to get a few laps in. Let me get some out for ya.” He snapped his fingers. “In fact, since y’all risked so much for us, why don’t ya stay the night at the caravan and have some supper with me and the others? My treat.”

The five were quick to accept the offer; who were they to decline free food and a warm place to sleep. “We appreciate your hospitality.” Ignis thanked him. “If we could trouble you with another thing.” He presented Noctis and Artemisia in their dirty state. “Do you have a washer we could borrow?”

Wiz laughed. “Son, we live on a chocobo ranch. ‘F we didn’t have some kind of machine we wouldn’t look much different than the chocobos themselves. I’ll find you two some clothes to borrow while we throw those in for a cleanin’.” He looked at Prompto. “And I’ll see about those chocobos.”

“Alright!” Prompto squealed, practically jumping with joy. Artemisia envied his enthusiasm, the chill from her dirty clothes making her feel lethargic.

“Gallina!” Wiz called out, peeking through a door that led to the chocobo stalls. “We’re gonna need five birds. Do you have any spare clothes, too?” Him and this Gallina continued talking through the door before a loud kweh rang out. Soon a train of squawking and kwehs followed the first. Prompto grabbed Artemisia, forgetting about the crusty mud on her, and pulled her closer to the small pasture for the birds. “Get ready to be amazed, Artemis!”

Quick flashes of yellow ran past Artemisia’s eyes, all squawking and feathers abundant. Five of the giant birds ran together along the fence that caged them in the pasture, flapping their small wings excitedly as though to simulate flying. A few were leaping into the air, almost skipping as they ran. The birds were big enough that they could easily jump over the fence and run off if they wanted to, but they seemed more than happy to stay in their enclosure. “No jumping!” A woman’s voice called out to the birds. “One of you is gonna fall over the fence again and then no one will be happy.”

The woman walked out of the stall into the pasture; she must be the woman that Wiz was talking to. The woman, Gallina, definitely looked like someone who dealt with chocobos. While she was nowhere near Gladiolus’ muscle definition, she had a solid build with strong shoulders and thick limbs that no doubt could handle a thrashing chocobo. She had her giant, wild hair tied back in a ponytail that reached her rear, pieces of hay and various greens sticking out occasionally. And despite her uniform, there were various visible scars on her person, the most obvious and painful looking ones were the many that covered the majority of her face. Artemisia had never thought of chocobos as violent creatures but even the most tamed animals could be dangerous, especially the ones the tower over most people and were equipped with sharp talons.

Gallina walked over to the group, leaning against the fence. “You the group that Wiz said took down Deadeye?” The five nodded. “Well thanks for that. You have no idea how antsy the birds were the entire time that beast was around.” She looked back at the birds, some were still running in circles while a few ruffled their feathers against the grass, causing their feathers to puff up adorably. “All of that,” she pointed at the happy birds, “Is thanks to you guys.” She opened the hatch on the fence, opening the small gate. “So you ready to ride them?”

“Oh yeah we are!”

Ignis held back the excited Noctis by the back of his neck line. “My apologies, but these two need to bathe first.” He gestured to Artemisia as well.

Gallina blinked. “Oh! That’s why Wiz was asking about uniforms.” She started walking back to the stalls. “Give me one minute and I’ll set you up with a clean pair of clothes.” She was gone for a moment before coming back out with two sets of absurdly yellow clothes. “I know they’re not exactly high fashion, but they’re comfy. I can take your other clothes once you two are done showering. In the meantime,” she looked down at Prompto, who was giving her the biggest sad puppy eyes ever, “The rest of you are welcome to the birds.”

Prompto practically ran into the pen, chanting the birds over to get their attention. Gallina laughed at his enthusiasm; he was fitting in with the chocobos nicely.

“Noct, do you need any assistance?”

“With showering?” Noctis scoffed at Ignis. “I’m not a baby. It’s not like I’m gonna drown in there.”

“Stranger deaths have happened.” Ignis muttered before casually following Prompto. “Just be sure to clean thoroughly.”

A tint of embarrassment colored Noctis’ cheeks as he coughed awkwardly. He looked at Artemisia and vomited out a quick “I’m showering first” before dashing to the caravan before Artemisia could even react.

Artemisia sighed, rubbing her hands over her arms in an effort to warm herself. She couldn’t be mad at him for rushing for the shower, he was twice as dirty as she was. Unfortunately that meant she was going to have to wait until he was done. While her small stature was useful for combat, it wasn’t the best at keeping herself warm. No doubt Noctis was going to soak up the caravan’s limited hot water, too. She felt like it was fair enough for her to be peeved about that.

She suddenly felt a warm weight on top of her shoulders. She looked down and saw Gladiolus’ leather Crownsguard jacket draped over her shoulders, the size difference hilariously noticeable. She looked at Gladiolus, who’s decorated torso was now bare for all to see. “Thanks, but won’t you be cold too?”

“Don’t worry about it, I got my shirt in the trunk.” He assured, patting her on the head before walking away to where the Regalia was parked. Artemisia could see the many stares by the various ranch workers directed at him as the man walked past them to the car. He didn’t seem to mind, especially since the flustered stares and embarrassed giggles only boosted his ego more.

“Heh...”

Artemisia looked back at Gallina, who was leaning on the fence and supporting her head with her hand against her cheek. She had a giant grin on her scared face, directing it at the red head before her. Artemisia blinked curiously. “What?”

“Oh nothing, nothing,” Gallina chuckled. “Hey, we have a couple of showers inside if you want to use one of them. Better than standing around cold, right?”

“Yes, thank you!”

Gallina called for another post worker to watch the chocobos with Prompto and Ignis before she led Artemisia inside. They passed by the few other chocobos that remained in their stalls, Gallina petting them on the heads as they continued. “This your first time here?”

“Yeah, first time with chocobos too.” Artemisia admitted.

“Really?” Gallina looked back at Artemisia over her shoulder. “Huh… Well there’s a first for everything.” Gallina grinned at the smaller woman, her lips clipped by the healed scars on her face. “Don’t worry, I know these birds like the back of my hand. I’ll set you up with the perfect one for you.”

“Have you worked here for a long time?”

“Here: No,” Gallina said, holding a door open for Artemisia. “My family owned our own chocobo ranch in Galahd before we had to move to Insomnia.” Artemisia perked up at the name of her home. “Lived there for a while but then… Well, you know, recent events.” Artemisia’s mood dropped and based off of Gallina’s tone she wasn’t the only one who was feeling for their home, even if it was only temporary for one of them. “We moved out here and been working for Wiz since.” She smiled at Artemisia again. “I will say, Insomnia was never really home for me, but it is nice to see that refugees like you guys seem to be doing okay.”

Artemisia felt a different kind of chill go up her spine. “Was it that obvious?”

“Heh, I know those city clothes anywhere. Insomnian clothes stick out like a sore thumb compared to what most people out here wear.”

“Ah…”

As long as she doesn’t know about Noctis being the new king we’re fine. As nice as these people are, the group couldn’t risk Noctis’ security.

Gallina had her hand on a door knob before she looked at Artemisia again, tilting her head curiously. “But I don’t think I’ve seen those type of clothes very much, even in Insomnia. Were you guys Crownsguard or something?”

Crap!

“Oh no, it’s just a fashion statement.” Artemisia lied, keeping her voice even. “Going for that quirky, punk-rock look. The guys are really into that sort of thing and I just do it so that they don’t look too ridiculous, y’know?”

Gallina stared at Artemisia with a raised brow before shrugging and opening the door to a communal bathroom with a couple of stalled showers. “There’s soap and standard hair products in all of the showers and there’s a bench to lay out your clothes on. Once you’re done showering, you can hand me your dirty ones and I’ll throw them in the wash.” Artemisia thanked her and scurried in, eager to wash herself off of all the grime plastered to her.

After a enjoying her shower -- it was nice not having to worry about one of the guys accidentally walking in on her again -- she changed into the spare clothes that Gallina had left for her. While the outfit was a bit much, what with the shirt being brightly yellow and the small chocobo mascot advertising the ranch, it was better than her having to wear what spare clothes she had. Those clothes were beyond appropriate for a ranch setting and would surely be ruined with all the dirt and chocobo feathers. At least this uniform was comfortable, definitely the kind of material working people would prefer.

Leaving the bathroom, Artemisia went back to the pasture and found Gallina over by the fence, watching Prompto and Ignis interact with the birds. The woman greeted Artemisia when she saw her and took her mud covered clothes. “I’ll be right back and then I’ll set you up with your chocobo.”

Artemisia was about to thank her as the other woman walked away when an awkward cough behind her caught her attention. She looked back and had to stop herself from laughing. Noctis stood there, cheeks red, next to Gladiolus in a ridiculous outfit that differed from her own. This one seemed to have been some kind of festival uniform, the words Moogle Chocobo Carnival written on the torso and the back. It had a picture of a chocobo being ridden by some kind of alien, fairy, devil creature, if such a thing existed. She supposed that it was a moogle, as stated by the shirt. The colors on his shirt, with closer inspection, were just extreme close ups of the two festival subjects’ faces, coloring the shirt yellow, white, pink and orange. The best part of it was the hat that Gladiolus kept insisting Noctis to wear despite his protests. It had a chocobo’s face on the front with little wings sticking out on the sides, and a moogle’s face on the back with an antenna standing up on top. It was all absurdly wonderful.

“Don’t. Say. A thing.” Noctis emphasized, swiping the comedic hat off after Gladiolus put it on him again.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Artemisia giggled, a big amused grin on her face. “You look… stunning.” Noctis groaned, pushing Gladiolus off of him as the bigger man continued to annoy him. “Come on,” the embarrassed man insistently pushed the two into the pen towards the chocobos, ignoring the looks Ignis and Prompto gave him once the three joined them. A rancher had set up a saddle on to Prompto’s chocobo and now the blonde was getting ready for a ride. But it seemed like the chocobo wanted to play a game of tag instead as it lightly pecked Prompto on the head before running off, running circles around the man playfully. The rancher was obviously frustrated that the bird wasn’t behaving and tried to make it stand still while Prompto took some slightly dazed but loving photos of the silly bird.

“Alright the clothes are washi-- What’s going on?” Gallina returned and saw the little spectacle before her. The excited chocobo had gotten a couple of the other birds to join in on its game of chase and the other rancher begged for her to help get them all settled. Gallina sighed, muttering “This is what happens when they’re stuck in their pens for too long…” before joining the fray. She grabbed the reins from the main chocobo as it ran by her, stopping it in its tracks with a yank. The other worker wouldn’t have been able to stop the giant bird with just the reins, but Gallina’s build wasn’t for nothing.

“You,” she tapped the bird’s beak and pointed at it like a mom disciplining her child, “need to stop that, mister. You’ll get to run around in a minute.” The bird leaned forward and starting nuzzling into her neck, shaking its head side to side that made her own move in response. Gallina patted it on its neck before pushing it back once she felt the bird’s beak pecking through her hair. She gave the reins over to the other worker and calmed down the other two excitable birds in a similar fashion. Once all of them had settled down she guided them over to the group of five.

The birds walked over to the guys, introducing themselves to their new riders with little actions of affection. Gladiolus’ chocobo flapped its wings happily after Gladiolus patted it on the head before trying to return the favor and laying its own head on top of his, making a noise almost similar to a purr. Ignis’ bird was the most calm in its greeting, sniffing Ignis curiously before chirping in hello, to which Ignis rewarded it with some satisfying chin scratches. Prompto’s bird finally decided to behave and stand still so Prompto could love on it. Prompto was enthusiastically fluffing the bird’s feathers, rubbing his hands all over it and giving it little scratches. The bird responded with another peck to his head, which must be that bird’s odd way of showing affection. Noctis’ bird acted aloof when Noctis tried to coo the bird closer, only to to start begging for attention when Noctis looked away in defeat. Artemisia giggled at how perfect the combinations for everyone were.

“Artemisia,” Gallina nudged her, guiding Artemisia to the last chocobo as the guys started to situate themselves on their chocobos’ saddles. The last chocobo was sitting in the grass still, perking up when it saw them approach. “This is Dottie,” Gallina patted the sitting chocobo on the head. “She’s your chocobo. She’s super patient and she’s the one that most first riders go with. She’ll be perfect for you.” Dottie shook, ruffling her feathers before standing up and looking at Artemisia expectactly. Artemisia hesitated, standing a distance away from the bird. She knew that chocobos were usually super friendly and tame, but she couldn’t help but be nervous. “Come on,” Gallina urged, waving for her to move closer. “She’s not gonna do anything.”

Artemisia approached slowly, holding her hand out for the bird to smell as she came within reach. The large bird sniffed her hand inquisitively, sneezing lightly -- Or at least as lightly as a giant chocobo can -- making Artemisia flinch her hand back slightly. Dottie let out a little “Kweh!” before bumping its head against Artemisia’s hand, requesting to be petted. Artemisia let out a small sigh of relief, happy to see their first introduction went well and indulged herself in the sensation of the charming chocobo. Dottie’s bright feathers were incredibly soft and acted a lot like fur with the way it responded to be to touch; when she ruffled them it only made it more convincing.

“She’ll keep ya safe when you guys are out and about.” Gallina stated, watching the two bond. She laughed when Dottie forced herself forward to wrap her long neck around Artemisia’s shoulder in a hug. “Aw, see! She likes you.”

Artemisia chuckled at the cute display of affection, smoothing Dottie’s neck feathers in return. She heard a small click and looked over her shoulder to see Prompto with his camera in hand and a giant grin on his face. “Gotta capture the moment!” He proclaimed happily. “Oh. Em. Gee. Cutest bird ever!” Prompto proclaimed, referring to the photo he had just taken of the two. His bird immediately bucked him a little with a sharp squawk, almost like it was insulted that he wasn’t admiring its looks instead.

“We got a course ready for you kids if ya wanna race before nightfall.” Wiz informed, leaning against the otherside of the fence.

Prompto was urging Artemisia to hurry up and board her chocobo, eager to get some racing in. “How about a little competition?” Noctis offered with a confident grin. “The person with the best time gets to sleep on the bed in the caravan.” The caravans only had one queen sized bed, and while they weren’t the highest quality, they were still preferred to the rickety pull out futon.

“You can’t occupy an entire bed to yourself, Noct. You must share the other side.” Ignis interjected sternly.

Noctis sighed, a defeated frown on his face. “Fine…”

“But what’s a competition without a little wager.”

“Heh, I’m down for that.” Considering Gladiolus’ size it’s no guessing why he would prefer sleeping on the big bed instead of the futon.

“Oh yeah!” Prompto laughed over at Artemisia who was having a hard time getting on her bird’s saddle. “Come on Artemis! Don’t want to be left in the dust.”

Gallina helped lift Artemisia the rest of the way over her chocobo, giving Dottie a few secure pats as the rider fixed herself. “Just a heads up,” Gallina whispered in Artemisia’s ear, “Dottie hates losing.” She winked.

In the end, it was Prompto who was sleeping in the bed with a happily full stomach thanks to Wiz’s cooking. And despite the others’ losses, everyone was able to enjoy their time and had some much need laughter amongst themselves and the new friends they found on the ranch.

Though Noctis was a bit insulted that Prompto wanted to share the bed with Artemisia instead of him.