#except glimmer is too nice here LOL

[kaereth]

She-Ra/The Owl House crossover for a commission- Catra, Adora, and Glimmer as Phillip, Caleb, and Evelyn :x

[oomfvia]

⛧critical failure

pairing: astarion/gender-neutral bard tav, astarion/gender-neutral bard reader (second person)

spoilers for act 3

sfw, friends to lovers :)

2,547 words

posted this on ao3, liked it and thought it'd be nice to put on here too after fixing some typoes

preview:

“You know,” Astarion says, a singsong tone to the disapproval in his voice. “Was this really the best use of your gold, my dear?” He tilts his head in that way you’ve previously found handsome, but now it’s terribly infuriating.

It takes all the willpower in your body to not scream at the fool standing in front of you. Well, yes, Astarion! It could almost be a life-changing use of my gold, if you’d just fucking notice that I’ve been gathering expensive memorabilia of you for the past few days, priorities like a gigantic cult-brain be damned.

larian doesn’t make astarion react even if you go through great lengths to show him his own face. it fills me with joy to think about how you could get an entire statue commissioned of the guy and he would just shrug and wonder to himself who that handsome elf is LOL

in this timeline you (tav) don’t sleep with astarion at the tiefling party because you were a lightweight drunk out of your mind. yes, you curse yourself for missing that opportunity every single passing day at camp.

An unexpected perk of renting out the entire second floor of the Elfsong Tavern was being able to decorate the place as much as you liked, giving it a personal touch for as long as you made camp there. You made it a habit to bring back as many stuffed animals you encountered along the way in your journey, cramming plush owlbears and kittens into your pack as carefully as you could to avoid staining them with blood.

Occasionally, you hung up the odd painting or two, but none that were especially valuable — just the ones their previous owners wouldn’t miss. Though, you had to admit that none of them struck a particular chord. Perhaps you just haven’t ransacked enough abandoned homes.

Out of all the heroic acts you can tell the tale of, you would consider exterminating ghosts to free a possessed artist to be one of the weirdest. When Oskar Fevras, finally back to his senses, offers to draw a painting of you, you’re tempted for a moment to take him up on his offer. A gallant, heroic portrait of the aspiring saviour of Baldur’s Gate! It’s the stuff of a bard’s dreams. A perfect centrepiece for camp, would it not be? Except, you suddenly hear an exaggerated sigh from your right.

“You know, I’m just starting to think that rescuing the poor artist from the Zhentarim was more trouble than it was worth,” Astarion muses aloud. “A painting, after all of that slo-“

“Hold on,” you interject hurriedly and wide-eyed despite your attempts to sound As Normal As Possible. You turn to the rest of your party, a growing smile on your features.

“I need to have a talk with Oskar. In private. Artist to artist. Just for a minute!”

You’re all too eager to guide your party back to the bottom of the staircase, before returning to the artist with an excited glimmer in your eye. Oh, Gods, this is going to be amazing. Surely, you can get away with calling this a simple, friendly gesture without being questioned too much. In a hushed tone, you discuss your very specific request with the artist, keeping your voice low to avoid it being picked up by pointy, elven ears.

When you return to camp with your new painting titled ‘The Sanguine Seducer’ (Oskar had a…peculiar taste for names), you find an appropriate spot on the wall for it. Not too near the muse’s side of camp for it to be too obvious, but near enough for him to eventually take notice.

To your dismay, said muse does not value your new find in the same way, even when you ask him about it while stifling your excitement.

“Another one to add to the collection, I suppose.” Astarion says, acting far too nonchalant for your liking.

You realise that to a vampire with no ability to see his own reflection, it’s another portrait in the same vein as the others on the wall. You have half a mind to tear that picture of the maid holding a duster to shreds, as well as the one of the Red Prince hung up next to it. Instead, with a soft sigh, you return to your side of the second floor after bidding Astarion a curt goodbye, balling up the fists resting on your lap. Should’ve just gotten Oskar to paint me, bloodied armour and all.

Your other companions either don’t acknowledge the painting’s inspiration, or were intentionally refusing to. You don’t blame them — if your own shame was this overwhelming, the second-hand embarrassment must be painful as well. And with a few days having passed, it’s far too late for you to just tell him. Well, it isn’t, but your immature sense of pride wouldn’t allow for it.

Was there any other contrived way you could show Astarion a reflection of himself? Your mind whirs with the same intensity as it does in battle, trying very subtly not to burn a hole into the vampire’s forehead with your stare. How did he make reading a tome look good? And how did a man this well-read not recognise himself, or at least, the admittedly well-painted replica of his visage?

One fine afternoon, you chance upon a corpse, or at least, what little was left of it. You'd recognise the garish pattern on that mangled pant leg anywhere. It’s heavier than expected, and you end up relying on Lae’zel to haul Dribbles’ leg back to camp. You follow her in grimacing at the bloody, squelching sound it makes as she places it in her pack. Just as you were about to leave that awful cavern, it finally clicks. That Mephit from the circus.

As the rest of your companions take a well-deserved day of respite, you leave camp early with a stash of long-forgotten equipment, every piece having been replaced with something far more suited to the battles ahead. After what seemed to be hours of bartering with the local merchants, your pockets feel a great deal heavier, interrupting the spring in your step that you would’ve had otherwise.

Stoney is more than happy to receive your gold, and just as promised, you find ‘Astarion the Sensuous' delivered to your door the next day. Of course, this comes with a fair bit of judgmental stares from your fellow adventurers. Unfortunately, it includes Astarion himself, his expression quizzical as he looked upwards at the sculpture.

“You know,” Astarion says, a singsong tone to the disapproval in his voice. “Was this really the best use of your gold, my dear?” He tilts his head in that way you’ve previously found handsome, but now it’s terribly infuriating.

It takes all the willpower in your body to not scream at the fool standing in front of you. Well, yes, Astarion! It could almost be a life-changing use of my gold, if you’d just fucking notice that I’ve been gathering expensive memorabilia of you for the past few days, priorities like a gigantic cult-brain be damned.

The only thing that stops you is the thought of how Astarion’s face has been lost to time for him, after centuries of losing the man he used to be. It keeps you barely grounded, leaving a bitter taste on your tongue. Perhaps if you had just bedded him, which he seemed very willing to participate in during that party with the tieflings, instead of snoring into your bedroll, you would be able to muster up the courage to just yell at him.

That same night, you vent your frustrations with one too many rounds of Hoot’s Hooch, wallowing in your muddied thoughts. The painting. The statue. Astarion. His past. How much you’d like to see Cazador Szarr’s head on a stick.

After a few more drinks, you find yourself somehow both temporarily blinded and dancing uncontrollably. If not for Karlach mercifully pulling you back to the Elfsong Tavern, perhaps you would’ve been there trotting your feet clumsily through the night.

When you’ve all but given up on showing Astarion his own reflection, it happens when you least expect it.

Battling Cazador Szarr is quite possibly the worst experience of your life. There was already so much to take in from your way to the site of the Black Mass — those poor Gur children, that harrowing list of names, Sebastian. Not only are you fighting an incredibly powerful vampire lord, but you have to squash that blasted lump in your throat threatening to bring tears to your eyes in the process.

You emerge triumphant, but barely alive. Your chest rises and falls heavily as you attempt to regulate your breathing to the best of your ability, taking laboured inhales and exhales. Through blurry eyes, it takes all of your concentration to focus on the unfolding aftermath. Astarion, after centuries of being puppeteered, finally had the upper hand against Cazador. You wouldn’t want to miss it for the world.

“Get over here. We can do this,” Astarion beckons, an uncharacteristically desperate tone to his voice.

Your own comes out raspy, and the metallic taste of the dried-up blood staining your gums is equally as horrific. “What do you need?”

“I need your eyes. In a manner of speaking.”

Before Astarion can specify what exactly he needed your eyes for, your tadpole is all too eager to reach out. Your perspective floods Astarion’s mind in a series of vignettes of silver curls, sharp fangs, and deft fingers. The same features he’s seen at camp, both painted in deliberate strokes and painstakingly carved into marble. Alongside them, a heart-wrenching sense of longing that has festered for far too long.

Whether for better or for worse, fatigue overwhelms any potential embarrassment you could have had. The tadpole’s connection is severed as suddenly as it was formed, your body and mind completely exhausted to their limits. And as you find yourself falling to the floor, you utter out what you had wanted to say all day, ever since you entered this damned castle. What you had wordlessly thought to yourself as you watched him pace through the halls, looking the most vulnerable he had ever been, wanting to be anywhere but here.

“Astarion…Please, stay…”

You wake up in a cold sweat, your upper body screaming in residual pain as you lift yourself up from the bed. Rapidly blinking, you scan your surroundings, familiar wooden walls dyed orange hues of the sunset, gentle light streaming in from the windows. The Elfsong Tavern. To your left, ‘The Sanguine Seducer’. By the door, ‘Astarion the Sensuous’.

To your right, the man himself, seated on the floor beside you and once again absorbed in a tome.

“Astarion,” you choke out, your tongue now dry and tacky in your mouth. It breaks his concentration, and he immediately turns his head upwards to look at you. With a single movement of his wrist, the book shuts with a satisfying thump. You meet his gaze, the inner corners of your eyebrows raised in panicked concern. Did he complete the rite? Is he the Vampire Ascendant now? Or is this the same Astarion you saw in the morning, lost and confused and all he ever remembered was that poor excuse of a home?

“Please tell me you-“

“Dead. I’m free from him. Forever.”

Oh, thank the gods.

“The vampire spa-”

“All of them are making their way to the Underdark as we speak. And yes, including my siblings. Someone has to make sure they keep their fangs away from whatever horrors may be lurking around.“

“The oth-“

“Our other travelling companions have very graciously decided they’d rather leave us alone for….whatever this is.”

“Can you stop interrupting me?” You sputter in frustration.

“It was impossibly easy to guess what questions you’d ask, with how long I’ve had to wait for you to wake up. Now, have some water. You look dreadful.”

Astarion stands up, strolling over to the nearby table to pick up a glass of water. You drink from it eagerly, releasing a throaty sigh as your throat finally feels quenched. He watches your graceless behaviour with narrowed eyes, visibly unimpressed.

“More importantly, your little nap allowed me the time to think of what choice words I had for when you’d finally wake up.”

Your breath catches in your throat, Astarion’s pointed tone reminding you of things that you’d rather forget. Out of all the possible ways that tadpole could have gotten you into trouble, you didn’t think it’d betray you in such a juvenile way. Exposing your secret crush, out of all things? It almost feels like retribution for meandering around Baldur’s Gate, breaking up turf wars between the Guild and Zhentarim, and picking up abandoned children from the streets, instead of vanquishing The Absolute.

“I don’t know whether to thank you, or laugh at you,” Astarion continues, the hint of a smile on his features.

Your cheeks are practically burning up at his words, and all you can do is gawk at him, equally flustered and mortified at the same time. He takes it as a sign to keep speaking, for which you are more than grateful for.

As Astarion speaks, his smile grows, showing glimpses of his fangs. “Oddly enough, by collapsing on the ground like that, you saved me from myself and let me walk a new path where I can be free. Truly, honestly free.”

In Astarion’s voice, you find warmth, sincerity, and…gratitude. You bite your lower lip gently, swallowing heavily. It breaks your resolve to bury your affections for him, like a dam that shatters, water flooding past the cracks. Even if you hadn’t fallen for him long before, how could you not fall for him now?

“I…I’m glad to hear that, Astarion,” you say, making a valiant attempt to portray the essence of calm composure. “But it was all you,” you insist, slightly knitting your eyebrows together. After all, you’ve done nothing but make a lovesick fool of yourself.

“You did more than that,” Astarion responds, the smile lingering on his lips. “If I had ascended, those…tributes you’ve collected of me might have become inaccurate to my image. I suppose that’s one way to tell me that you prefer me the way I am,” he adds with a slight shrug. You respond with a roll of your eyes, though clearly out of bashfulness rather than any genuine ill will on your end.

“Anyway. If you have any other…commissions on your mind, I’d like to at least be asked to pose next time,” Astarion says, his smile turning into that familiarly haughty grin. After such a long day of seeing him looking awfully bleak, it was unusually reassuring.

You scoff at his teasing words. “There weren’t any, and there certainly won’t be now that you've caught on.”

“How bardlike of you, to dedicate art to your beloved. Very tasteful art, now that I’ve gotten a closer look at it,” the vampire says, ignoring your protests. He glances at his portrait on the wall, looking more than pleased. If only out of consideration for his circumstances, you bite back the multiple retorts you can think of, letting him dangle this over your head as much as he likes.

“And what do I get for all of my good taste, besides having to listen to you gloat?” you ask, tilting your head towards him with a resigned smile on your face.

“Darling. I’m sure that when you’ve healed those broken bones, I’ll have thought of a multitude of ways to repay your devotion in kind.”

You exhale deeply, letting your shoulders slack. How bad could a bruised ego be at this point?

“Took you long enough to realise it, you halfwit.”

You punctuate your sentence with laughter at the absurdity of it all. Astarion joins you, laughing in that effervescent tone that makes your chest squeeze.

Your conversation is drawn out for hours until the dead of night. When you wake up at dawn, you find your limbs tangled with Astarion’s under the blanket of your bed. It leaves the sweetest ache in your shoulders when you rise.

As you prepare for the myriad trials the new day would certainly bring, you entertain the thought of putting a quill to paper, celebrating tender kisses and exchanges of secrets from a newfound lover through lyric poetry.

[vrnicky]

Okay so!!

I'll introduce to you: FIRMTALE!

What is it exactly? Just a way for me to create something and call it original lol

Jokes aside, this "au" takes part in a total different district, kinda like what Starlight Glimmer in MLP did with the equal thingy.

The problem is, all the adult/boss monsters are missing, just the weaklings and children are left, humans have never seen monsters before and of course, discriminate them, some of course treat them equal and for safety have to hide them from everyone.

Slowly as Ebbot found this district, quickly started moving the neighborhood closer to the city, the humans being educated into an open mind and the children who weren't adopted/protected by humans, were sent into the orphanage of Ebbot. The scientists still can't figure what happened to the humans since the humans and monsters were never in a fight and looked like they never actually interacted together until recently.

So now that's quite explained, let's say hi to the stars of the show!!

Elias is 15 and Odell is 5. Both were found together hiding away from the strangers until they were adopted by two kind souls.

Firmtale Sans- Elias

Totally untrustworthy of humans, doesn't like them, except his adoptive parents. He is aware of what happened in the old district and doesn't like humans.

He is still too young to control his magic and to have an ability. His magic is a cyan color with a scar in his left eyebrow because of his clumsiness. He's the youngest Sans, obviously.

He doesn't react at the name of Sans, once he got found, he got the name of Elias. And he was the one choosing Odell for his brother's name.

Firmtale Papyrus- Odell

So fcking happy to be included in everything, he trusts and loves everyone, if Papy believes in you, Odell thinks you're God. His favorite words are Shiny and Sticker. He loves sticking stickers to the people he loves!

He is way too young to control his magic and to have a magic ability. His magic color is light purple. He's the youngest Papyrus, obviously.

He doesn't react to the name of Papyrus because since he remembers, his name is Odell. He likes the nickname Oddy, he always giggles at it.

They were adopted by Concha and Leonardo Gutierrez (Human version of Toriel and Asgore). Both adopted them legally later on once they moved to a nice house, Concha was really protective of them with all the discrimination going around.

More information about them later when I draw them officially!! Hehe

@ratsoh-writes they're here!!

[dany36]

after months of putting it off i finally finished xc3 future redeemed with 25ish hours in yaaaay time to put this thing to rest with some extremely junk thoughts below (with spoilers of course)

i gotta be honest, i wasn't really looking forward to playing through this dlc ever since it was announced. it came out in...what? april? may? i forget, but it was around the time that i was playing the dlc for horizon and then i think totk dropped after that and i just kept using that as excuses to not pick it up and play through it. plus i wasn't a fan of the design for older shulk (yeah yeah i know inspiration from dunban but idk just personal preference that i didn't vibe with it) and well rex is probably my least favorite protagonist tied with the dude from tales of arise (lmao i forgot his name), and really overall i didn't care to play as them again, so i mean not the most perfect material for me to look forward to.

anyways, some positives:

-seeing colony 9 again was cool but the excitement to callbacks to places in xenoblade 1 kind of wore off in xc3. so when i heard the original colony 9 overworld music it didn't make me flip my shit as when i would see references to it in the base game. it was more of a oh that's cool i guess. same with valak mountain even though when i played DE i was so excited to see it again.

-might be because it was a dlc and the world wasn't as unnecessarily huge and empty to explore as in the base game but i actually was having a better time exploring this world than the base game's. finding relics and containers was actually useful and rewarding (and necessary i'd say!) this time around instead of finding your nth useless drop-off container or whatever those things were in the base game that i just stopped bothering to pick up.

-oh in comparison to finding and sending of husks which i again lost incentive to do very early in the game, finding city survivors was better because at least you would get to see colony 9 grow etc.

-the chain attacks are still as fun as ever and FR is no exception. it was great hearing the chain attack music again!

-i felt like the bosses were harder this time around? alpha kicked my butt several times before i was able to beat him. i mean i certainly didn't have the best gems (sorry, not gonna go farming!) and didn't unlock all the slots for accessories/gems/affinity growth but it was a nice change having to be on my toes and carefully plan my chain attacks instead of just doing whatever like i would do in the base game lol.

-glimmer actually? sorry that your dad is rex but your healing powers saved my ass so many times in the last battle that now you get an honorific mention. like...this girl was just ON. TOP. OF. IT. i'm a bit confused about the instrument theme that she had going on though--was this an xc2 reference that i'm forgetting or something? like did pyra/mythra really like music? lol. anyway i really liked her and nikol's friendship and the bits that we got to see of it, it's why i never changed their unity combo because they are besties and they always attack together :) OH and that sidequest that ends with A volunteering to teach glimmer how to play the lute was cute, especially since that sometimes you get to see them practicing together at rest spots. i wish we had gotten more types of those sidequests but well, can't have it all i suppose.

-A. i was very wary about her character starting the dlc but she actually ended up growing on me, design-wise and battle-style wise. her friendship with matthew was interesting and i liked how she would compliment matthew's wild and reckless side. idk not much to say here other than i thought she was cool despite me being judgement about her character initially lol.

-matthew. pretty fun protagonist. it was like having reyn as a protagonist except with a bit more smarts. again i was wary about his character starting off but his personality as a protagonist was refreshing and he was pretty fun to play as, too.

the negatives:

-the secret locations were...pretty lame? they were in the base game as well so idk what i expected. i'd get to a secret location and i'd be like oh....is that it? i don't remember xc2's secret locations or how they'd compare but i know most of the time xc1's would get a little bit more of a reaction from me.

-the affinity scenes oh my god. they were so boring and meaningless to watch most of the time. i think i watched at least like 80% of them and there wasn't really anything that would make me look forward to watching them like xc1 future connected's. i think in one of them you're just talking about the fighting machines that they're building in colony 9? or looking at a tomb?? like idk i certainly wouldn't feel like i was growing my "affinity" with any of the party members! plus the fact that they were just like shots of the scene you were looking at instead of seeing the characters interact (like with FC's) would just make them feel even more souless. idk maybe i'm just so jaded about this whole thing now but i just didn't really feel it when shulk talked about fiora at the overlook park or dunban outside of his house. i guess it also doesn't help that he's talking about them with people who don't know anything about his world so that must be weird to him too. so i mean idk i'd always look forward to the heart-to-hearts in xc1 and affinity scenes in FC and here it was just like maybe one or two that i was like "wow i'm so glad i got to see this!"

-ok this is pretty random and i'm not sure it's a negative but i was just reminded of this when talking about the previous point: towards the end the whole party is walking together towards prison island and within earshot of everyone else shulk is talking to A and he's like "hey, A, when I refused to become a god..." like lmao imagine being nikol or glimmer and hearing THAT sentence. like WHAT hahahaha like SIR what do you mean!!!! anyway!!!

-na'el. i'm sorry but...why am i supposed to care about her again other than she is matthew's sister? she likes kids and likes to play the piano? unlike N who i got to sympathize with after learning his origins, i never really cared much for na'el and actually was like "whatever lady, i don't care much for you!" whenever she'd show up, so i wasn't able to really to connect to matthew's struggle or whatever. like i know she's supposed to remind us of N/moebius with her being like "i don't wanna fight anymore i just want things to stay as peaceful as they are RIGHT NOW in the city!!" but idk i never found her character to be too sympathetic or interesting for me to care about, so her whole thing was just....pretty weak to me which is kinda bad considering how much of the game seems to revolve around her.

-again this isn't exactly a negative but one thing that confused me was that i'm PRETTY sure matthew mentions the queen of keves being imprisoned in the castle, which is something that nia also mentions when you rescue her in the base game. so is the reason why shulk and them are not worried about that atm is because...of the truce...with Z...and...alpha being the main threat?? i mean I GUESS but unless i misunderstood (not sure because as soon as i heard that i was like uhh HELLO??) it just seems kind of weird knowing that melia is captured (unless matthew meant the "fake" melia which to him would be the "real" one since he wouldn't know) and they're just like yep!! that's right! she's imprisoned! anyways.

uhhh this is getting way longer than i wanted it to be so i'm just gonna wrap it up and say yep, that was A DLC alright. i mean again this is just me being jaded but after i finished xc2 and saw that they were trying to connect xc1 with xc2 i was just like...why lol. considering how i thought xc1 ended pretty well?? i just never really cared about how this whole thing would connect, so i don't really remember ANYTHING about xc2 other than how much i did NOT enjoy it, i never played its dlc because i didn't care about the lore. while i was playing the dlc i know some xc2 stuff flew right over my head, and i'm rusty on my xc1 lore, but again, xc2 disappointed me so badly that i just never really bothered to keep up with the overall lore. i enjoyed some parts of xc3 yes but after i finished it i was never like oh i hope they make a dlc of this and that!!! unlike when i finished xc1, where i DID want to play Future Connected because of how miserably things ended for melia in regards to her dead family, her people, her half-sister who apparently hated her (BUT LUCKILY RECONNECTED WITH AT THE END), and her whole hometown being fucking destroyed. might be me being biased because melia is like one of my favorite characters ever but i mean...who wouldn't want to know what would happen post-xc1 to such a tragic character? which is kind of funny to say considering that we more than likely would not have gotten FC if it hadn't been for xc2 lol.

anyway, overall i don't really feel too strongly about this dlc. i was just mostly going through the motions and trying to get it done so i can just move on with my life lol, i got other games to play. like sure it was great seeing the worlds at the end unite once and for all and apparently there were some xenosaga references towards the end to make this whole thing be in the same universe (which flew over my head since i'm not that familiar with xenosaga), so that's cool and all, but idk rex and shulk sacrificing themselves and the game trying to make me feel sad by having nikol and glimmer run up to them because those are their dads!!! ;( just made me shrug and be like "ok i guess??" yeah i'm tired lol.

oh well, for now time to wait for the next game in the xeno series!!!!

[ineffablebookgirl]

psychoanalyzing Aziraphale and Crowley through the ages instead of doing my research project that's due next week. pt. 5: Knights of the Round Table / Wessex

This interaction is kind of a drawn-out mirror of their very first interaction on the wall. Aziraphale has done something under his own volition, which he knows goes against what he's supposed to do. And then he backpedals to try to course-correct.

In Eden, he was grappling with giving away the sword. Here, in a damp field in Wessex, 500 years after hitting on Crowley in a pub in Rome, he is trying to stay on the straight and narrow (haha straight lol). He wanted to hang out with Crowley, and he sure as heck made that happen under his own volition and it definitely was not a Heaven-approved activity.

Now, when they meet, there's a familiarity. This is the first glimmer of their "old married couple" vibes. Who knows what happened at Petronius's place, or if they've had other dinners together since then (my guess would be yes) (except maybe not -- more on that later). But they clearly have some kind of stock of each other.

This is when Crowley first suggests the Arrangement to Aziraphale. Crowley is no longer just teasing Az about being a questionable angel, he's trying to get something out of Aziraphale -- something that benefits him, yes, but also a step forward in their relationship. A more explicit acknowledgement of the reality of their roles, not just the company line.

Crowley isn't the grumpy emo teenager we found in the pub in Rome, but he's also not the carefree old-testament imp with the flowing locks anymore. He's settling into the personality we see in the modern day, the "Eh, fuck 'em, let's do it our way and just do the bare minimum to not get noticed," the forced casualness that he wraps himself in to protect himself from the sharp bitterness of the pain he sees God cause.

And Aziraphale is also settling into his modern personality as well. His guard is up. He's keeping his head down and doing his job, tromping around in the mud to foment peace for King Arthur because that's part of the Ineffable Plan, I guess, don't worry about it just get it done so I can go home to a jug of red and a nice illuminated manuscript in front of the fire.

He also has adopted his patented Aziraphale Radiant Smile, the Kill Them With My Polite Englishness Smile, and maybe that's part of his armor too. He knows he's harming humans, he knows he's working for Amazon Corporate, but he has bills to pay. But dammit if he isn't going to bring a little bit of sunshine and joy to the day of every last human he encounters along the way. Whether they like it or not.

But... back to the question of whether they've hung out between Rome and now. The thing that trips me up is that Aziraphale deadnames Crowley. In Rome, he accidentally starts with Crawley, but he corrects himself immediately. Here, he just addresses him as Crawley, and Crowley has to correct him. So maybe they haven't run into each other since Rome. 500 years is a long time. It's feasible Az forgot. Or, he does it deliberately, to try and redraw the lines, go back to a version of their relationship before all this familiarity built up, a version of Aziraphale who knew his place and got on with it, and a version of Crowley who knew Aziraphale's place and teased him for it. Not this Crowley who suggests working together, who insinuates they have more in common with each other than with their head offices. Not this Crowley who knows him. Knows that the best way to get Aziraphale's cogs turning is to point out how uncomfortable the work is, how much more quickly he could get back to the fire and the wine and the book if he worked together with Crowley ...

Everything was different in Rome, and this meeting is Aziraphale going oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit and running in the opposite direction, for the first time, but not the last.

(I think they both have their own versions of this pattern, of getting a little closer, a little more vulnerable, and then overcorrecting to reinforce their defenses against that vulnerability. More posts to come!)

Final note: this is the only time they meet by accident. I'm not sure what that signifies, but Douglas MacKinnon said, "Everything is meant," so it must mean something. 🤔

[thebigqueer]

"Fellas, Is It Gay to Perform Necromancy on Your Ex-Crush?" - Valgrace (1/2)

Summary: Nico decides to help Leo reach out to Jason.

Notes: This is a 2-part story because I made it too long lol. Also it's technically valgrace but it features nico & leo more (for this first chapter).

Read on AO3

The firelight flickers over Leo’s features as he sticks his marshmallow stick into it. Despite the warm company of flames, goosebumps still rise against his bare arms as a gust of wind pushes through the evening air.

He sighs. Piper’s been gone for too long, and he’s getting lonely on his own. He could easily move across to the other side of the amphitheater and sit with his siblings, but right now, Leo really just wants to be with his best friend. He hasn’t seen her in a long while and it’s been nice catching up with her.

The marshmallow’s lightness gives way to darkness as it chars in the fire. Leo considers bringing it closer again, but he figures it might be better to let it continue roasting. He likes the taste of burnt marshmallows.

So did Jason, Leo thinks wistfully. Then he scolds himself for even thinking about the late demigod.

It’s been months since he’s has died. Leo should be over it by now; he should have moved past it. But he hasn’t.

It’s hard to forget when every time he thinks about Jason, he can only remember the secrets he kept from him.

Leo scrubs a tired hand across his face. He needs to stop thinking about him. Jason’s in the past, and in front of Leo is only the future. He can’t keep himself tied to what could have been, but instead focus his attention on what can be.

Besides, Nico’s already sent in those holograms that Leo made Jason while he was trying to find his way back to the real world. That alone has released the demigod of some of his guilt; at least Jason’s going to finally know how he feels.

But it’s not enough. Leo needs to talk to Jason. He needs to let go of him for once and for all.

The marshmallow in the fire blazes. Its whiteness bubbles and boils in the flames, then hardens into black crust. Leo almost laughs. How metaphorical.

The crunch of footsteps snaps the demigod’s attention, and he turns to the sound of it. Expecting it to be Piper, Leo offers a false grin to the approacher and gears up a joke to exclaim. Upon closer inspection, however, his eyebrows jump in surprise and anxiety - as well as a little bewilderment - hum in his blood.

A teenage demigod stalks towards him, his dark, feathery hair fluttering in the cool air. Silver tips gleam in the firelight at the ends of it. Abysmal obsidian eyes bear into Leo’s own, and a knowing, embarrassed smile cracks against the hero’s face.

“Nico,” Leo murmurs into the quiet. “Hi.”

“Hey,” he responds. His deep, glass-like voice resonates in the air and pierces into Leo’s ears. “Mind if I sit?”

Leo scoots over to make room for him, offering a confused but nonetheless welcoming look. “Sure. Cool hair, by the way.”

Nico smiles. “Thanks. I did it after a mental breakdown.”

“Sounds ideal.”

“It wasn’t.”

“Oh.”

After an uncomfortable pause, in which Leo turns back to his marshmallow in embarrassment and Nico picks on his jeans, the son of Hephaestus asks, “What brings you here?”

“I live at camp,” the demigod says blandly.

Leo rolls his eyes. “Not what I meant.”

Nico’s dark eyes glimmer with amusement. Despite Leo’s melancholic state just seconds before, a flutter of relief overcomes his heart. He and Nico haven’t talked much since he’s gotten back, but he’s glad to see that the demigod looks a lot more… comfortable here, for lack of a better word. He looks like he’s found his place.

“I know,” Nico says. “I’m actually here to talk to you.”

Leo nods. He’s been expecting this. “About the holograms I asked you to send Jason?”

The other demigod shrugs. “I’m a curious person. I’m just wondering what’s up with that. Totally fine if you don’t want to talk about it, though. But, you know, seeing how you asked me to travel to the Underworld specifically just to do that… Can’t help but be a little anxious about whatever it is that I gave him.”

Leo nods again, but this time a trickle of anxiety runs down his back. His shoulders rise and fall in a shrug.

“I don’t mind talking about it,” he says. Leo turns his gaze to Nico and offers him a pointed stare. “Besides, I think more than anyone, you might know what I’m talking about.”

If Nico understands what he means, he doesn’t show it. He remains still and patient, unsurprised, as if he’s expecting whatever Leo’s about to say before he even says it.

The son of Hephaestus sighs. He pulls his marshmallow stick back from the fire, but he doesn’t make a move to take the sweet substance off. His mind wanders back to so many nights ago, when he, Jason, and Piper had been sitting in this exact place, telling each other scary campfire stories and laughing when any of them cracked a joke.

It’s amazing how much has changed within a year.

“Listen, Nico,” Leo begins, his voice strangling itself, “I just want to start by saying that… I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you on the ship. I wish I could have been a better person to you then. But I guess I was dealing with my own stuff, and I was kinda blinded by my own issues to see that others around me were having troubles too. So I’m sorry about being inconsiderate to you.”

Nico waves his hand by way of dismissing the apology. “It’s fine. I understand that. My problems didn’t need to be of your concern, and I’m sure there were things that I could have helped you with that I hadn’t. Don’t feel sorry, Leo. You were dealing with your own issues.”

Leo shakes his head. “But it’s… I…” He groans and runs a hand through his hair in frustration. “It’s more than just me being sorry. I just wish I’d let you know you weren’t entirely alone. In terms of being, like, confused about your… identity, I mean.” His heart flutters in his chest as he turns again to Nico, anticipating the demigod’s reaction to his admittance. He’s not sure if he’s come off as direct as he needs to be.

Nico frowns. “You mean, like, me being gay? What does that have to do with this?” he asks defensively.

Leo notes the way his voice hitches at the word “gay,” like he’s still trying to taste the way it feels around his mouth. Nico shifts the tiniest bit away from him, as if he’s fleeing from judgment. The sight of it creates a crack against Leo’s heart; he doesn’t want Nico to feel like he’s being criticized.

“What I’m trying to say,” Leo says in what he hopes is a calming voice, “is that… I know what it was like. I mean, I don’t know what it was like to be you specifically, but I get that anxiety over your sexuality. I… I went through something similar.”

For a moment, it seems as though Nico doesn’t fully understand. His eyebrows curve into the center as he absorbs Leo’s words. Confusion sparks against his eyes. But after a moment - a moment in which Leo’s eyes bear deeper into Nico’s, begging him to comprehend - understanding flashes against the son of Hades’ features. “Oh,” he murmurs. “So… Are you saying…”

Leo nods. “I’m… queer. I know you and I haven’t had the same experiences with our sexualities, or even in general, but just know that… I wish I could have done more to reach out to you.” He shrugs. “Maybe we could have helped each other out.”

Nico offers a hesitant smile. “Yeah. I guess so. Wish I’d known, too. But… I’m honored you told me. Admitting this kind of stuff can take a lot of courage, as I’m sure you know. I’m glad you’ve come to some kind of conclusion about yourself.”

“You too, man,” Leo says. “I’m glad that you’ve found a way to move on from your fears of yourself. I’m not sure where you stand in terms of your confidence, but just know that we’re all proud of you. We all support you.”

Nico’s smile widens, just a bit, and that’s enough to make Leo’s heart skip a beat. He’s never seen Nico look so sure of himself, but the sight of it makes Leo excited, too. It gives him hope that maybe someday, he’ll be able to reach that level of assurance.

Not today. But someday.

Nico rolls his eyes. “Enough of this cheesy stuff. What does this have to do with those holograms?”

Leo shifts in his seat, contemplating what to say and how to say it. His chest thrums with a sudden burst of anxiety at the very prospect of admitting to Nico something that took him so long to do to himself. How will Nico even take the news? Would he make fun of Leo? Would he tell him Leo’s feelings are a mere joke?

Will he understand?

Leo’s chest expands as he takes a deep breath. He knows he’ll feel better when he tells someone about why he’s done what he’s done. He’s kept this in for too long.

The son of Hephaestus plays with his fingers in his lap, if only to get a distraction from the world around him. “I… I really… I liked Jason,” he murmurs. “I spent a lot of time pining for him. But I also spent a lot of time hating myself for liking him.”

Nico’s eyebrows lower and he offers a considerate, empathetic nod. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

Leo turns his gaze to the son of Hades. Sincerity sparkles in Nico’s eyes, and an urging look covers his features. Leo’s anxiety lulls itself as he sees the understanding; at least the son of Hades isn’t judging him.

“Yeah,” Leo murmurs, “so that happened. It’s kind of why I decided to date Calypso. I just wanted to… forget about my feelings for him, you know? But that wasn’t fair to her or me, because in a way I kind of used her. We’re broken up now, though, which I think is better for both of us. Still good friends.”

Nico offers a polite nod.

“Anyway,” continues Leo, “I was getting tired of keeping that secret in. So you know how I sent that hologram to you?” When Nico nods again, Leo takes that as a sign to go on. “Yeah, so I tried doing something similar to Jason. Except for him, I kind of just kept all those holograms for myself. They were mostly used for therapeutic purposes, just so I could get a better understanding of myself.” Leo sighs and runs a shaky hand through his hair. His hollow chest thrums with guilt at the thought of the holograms; they contained so many secrets that he couldn’t give up, not even to the person they were intended to be given to. “I meant to give it to Jason,” he promises, “but he…”

In a quick second, memories of Jason sear Leo’s mind. His gleaming hair, his awkward smile. The way his laugh would echo around Leo and envelop him in happiness.

He was perfect. He was everything Leo wished he could be.

He was everything Leo wished he could have.

Leo bites his bottom lip. A surge of hot tears crash against his eyes, and it takes all his strength to prevent them from pouring out.

Nico shifts his body so that he’s closer to Leo. Not close enough to make either of them uncomfortable, but enough so that Leo knows he’s not alone. “It’s okay,” he whispers. “I get it now.”

Leo nods. Despite his efforts to keep his emotions in check, a tear still manages to slip out. It flashes in the orange firelight and drips from his face, bursting onto the green grass below.

Through a choked voice, he whispers, “I just… needed him to have those holograms. I needed him to know the truth. I didn’t want him to leave this world without… without knowing that there was someone who loved him in that way.”

“You needed to let go of your ghost,” Nico murmurs in understanding. “You needed to move on.”

Leo nods.

“Did it work, at least?” asks Nico. “Do you feel better now that you’ve given it to him?”

The son of Hephaestus opens his mouth to speak, but silence strangles his voice. Taking a deep breath, he whispers, “It’s not enough. I need… I need more. I need to actually confront him.”

Leo turns his head to Nico, a pleading look in his eyes. He hopes Nico understands what he’s asking.

The child of Hades’ eyes widen in surprise. “Are you asking me to take you to the Underworld?” he asks. “Look, Leo, I’m not sure-”

Leo shakes his head and waves his hands dismissively. “No, no, I’m too exhausted for adventures. I just want some time without all that excitement. But I just… I’m wondering if maybe there’s a way that I can contact him. And knowing that you’re a ghost whisperer…”

Nico’s eyes darken in the firelight. A cold, icy film covers them, and he fixes Leo with a stern look. “I can’t bring him back, Leo,” he says. “That’s not fair.”

Leo raises his palms defensively. “Hey, no, that’s not-”

“I’m not finished, though,” says Nico. An air of hesitance lingers in his words, and when he turns his dark eyes away from Leo, the latter’s heart skips a beat in anticipation. Excitement and anxiety roar in Leo’s ears. Will he agree to help?

Nico turns his face into the firelight, but he looks right through it. His mind wanders to some other place, some other world where Leo can’t reach him. The son of Hades’ olive fingers twitch in the glow of the flames.

Nico looks around, and as he does so, the silver tips of his hair flash in the firelight. A stern, anxious look pulls on his features.

“What is it?” Leo asks. “What were you going to say?”

Nico turns back to him. His dark eyes burn brightly in the firelight, flaming with excitement. In a hushed, hurried voice, he whispers, “Meet me in the woods tonight, right after the sing-along. Don’t worry about curfew, because I can shadow travel the two of us out. Don’t tell anyone you’re going there. I have a plan to help you.”

At Nico’s words, a gust of wind brushes between the two and chills Leo down to his core. His skin prickles with goosebumps once more, but he’s not sure if that’s because of the chilly air or because of Nico.

With one final skeptical look, the son of Hades stands to leave. But before he can, Leo asks, “Wait, what are you doing? What am I going to walk into?”

Nico pauses in his steps. His body freezes and he goes rigid, almost as if Leo’s question has shocked him.

Then he turns and, in the flicker of the firelight, a ghost of a smile haunts his lips. “You deserve to see him one last time, Leo. And you need to learn to let him go, because the more you keep holding onto his memory… the more you become a ghost of yourself. I can’t bear to see another friend go. Consider this a gift from me to you.” His hand lingers at his side, almost as if reaching for a sword that isn’t there. “Consider this a gift from one friend to another. That is, if you consider us friends.”

A ripple of surprise thrums in Leo’s blood. If there’s anything he didn’t expect tonight, it was to hear that Nico di Angelo considered him a friend.

But nonetheless, a relieved, grateful smile gleams against Leo’s mouth.

“Friends,” he promises. “I owe you one.”

Nico laughs. “Yeah, you do. I’ll see you in a bit.”

And with that, the demigod rushes off into the darkness, leaving Leo alone with only the flames for company.

[tpwkjerii]

a ghost’s melody

searching for a quiet place to study, you stumble across a seemingly abandoned library and recital hall. when you discover that you’re not as alone in there as you thought and begin to fall for the mysterious boy playing the piano, you start to wish you believed in ghosts before.

pairing: ghost!pianist!taehyung x reader

warnings: character death (not main, except for tae who’s already a ghost lol), slight angst, some cursing, kinda heated makeout session, sfw (PG-13)!

genre: fluff, slight angst

word count: 4.3k+

listen to: claire de lune and adagio for strings

a/n: first fanfic on here lol i hope it isn’t trash & pls enjoy loves!! xx

Kim’s Library and Recital Hall

At least that’s what you thought was written on the battered storefront. The building’s exterior was aged — the faded letters were peeling, the glass windows were dusty with years of negligence, the copper door handle was rusted from the elements, and the black-painted wood was chipping at the corners.

The store was a perfect match amongst the other ones along the deserted street. It was so ordinarily fitting that anyone could have easily passed it. However, it happened to be exactly what you were looking for — a quiet place to study and somewhere to potentially spend the night since your roommate decided to let you know at the last minute that her and her boyfriend would be in your shared dorm for the night.

With a small shrug, you moved towards the door and attempted to push it open. After a fourth push (that was more tiring than you’d like to admit), the old door finally creaked open. Surprisingly, dust didn’t meet your eyes as you thought it would, and with a brief inspection of the interior, you noticed that it was oddly clean — a stark contrast from its outer appearance. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that someone was diligently taking care of this place.

Paying it no mind, you moved further into the old store, basking in the silence and mildly soothing aura. The music-themed decorations and portraits of deceased musicians reminded you of your brother, and the quietness was a peaceful contrast from your hectic dorm (and, somehow, your campus library).

Before choosing a desk to work on, you checked your phone for the time.

4:37 PM

Nice, you thought. You should be able to get a few hours of work in while the sun is still up. Hopefully this place still has electricity or candles laying around. You sat down at a large wooden desk close to the storefront and pulled out your textbooks and papers, slowly beginning your studying.

You studied your notes in pure silence for 15 minutes when you heard a noise, but it was too quiet for you to distinctly make out what it was. It sounded like a scuffle, almost as if someone was walking but stopped abruptly. You turned and looked around carefully — maybe this place wasn’t as abandoned as you thought.

After looking around for a few moments and not noticing anything else, you returned to your books, although you paid much more attention to the pepper spray sitting in the pocket of your bag. Once twenty minutes passed, you slightly relaxed and hoped it was just a rodent. With a heavy sigh, you stood up from the desk and stretched, figuring that you could take a break and walk around.

With your phone in hand (and pepper spray in the other), you walked away from the desk and into a random aisle of books. You explored the various titles, noting that you hardly recognized any of them. It didn’t take long for you to realize this store was probably much older than you thought, considering that the most recent titles and portraits were from the late 1800s.

As you explored more aisles, you kept thinking of your brother and how much he would love this place you found. Yoongi always loved music and he never failed to humbly show off his natural talent at it. He once tried to teach you how to play the piano; unfortunately, you were too impatient and annoyed that you didn’t get it right away to ever succeed.

You were wrapped in your thoughts as you aimlessly walked around, now only thinking about how you would love to show your older brother this place. Suddenly, you found yourself at the entrance of a hall, and you stare in awe at the large grand piano sitting at the end. Despite its old age, it looked incredibly taken care of. The black paint was flawless and shined in the low sunlight, not a single chip in sight, and the ivory keys glimmered. You were about to walk towards the enchanting instrument when you heard the floor creak.

You froze in your tracks. That creak did not sound like a mouse, and you definitely didn’t hear anyone else enter this place after you. You tore your gaze away from the piano and turned around, your hand gripping your pepper spray. Weaving through bookshelves towards the table with your belongings, you cautiously looked for the source of the noise. But just as you turn the corner, you hear a gentle melody ring through the air.

Usually, this is the time where you would run. Or, if you were the character in a horror movie, the audience would be screaming at you to leave the store to avoid a tragic death.

But you didn’t want to run. Not because you found potential death exciting or because you wanted to piss off your imaginary viewers. But because the melody that was playing was the same one your brother spent months playing over and over again to perfect. It became so familiar to you in your home that you always associated it with him.

With a rapidly beating heart, you all but ran back to the empty recital hall. The volume increased as you neared the hall, and you held your breath as you finally approached the open doors.

“Yoon-” your whisper was caught in your throat as you made eye contact with a ghostly man. His face was devoid of any emotion, eyebags dark and defined, skin tone ghostly pallor, and eyes sullen and tainted with agony. Yet, he was beautiful. He had round feline eyes, defined jaw and cheekbones, full lips, and dark hair that fell elegantly on his forehead.

You waited as he continued playing the piece, knowing exactly when the end approached due to months of listening to it courtesy of your older brother. As the mystery man hit the last note, he looked back up at you, shock evident in his features.

“You’re still here?” he asked, his deep voice throwing you off guard.

“Y-yes, I am,” you started, finding yourself extremely nervous in his presence. You awkwardly shuffled your feet as you rambled, “I’m so sorry for intruding. I thought this place was completely abandoned, and I had no idea you were here. I’ll get going, so sorry again.”

With that, you turned to run back to your bag and get out. But he moved and grabbed your wrist at an unnaturally fast pace, and you gasped at how cold his fingers were on your warm skin. Goosebumps prickled along your arm as you looked up at him in shock and confusion.

He let go of you with a sheepish apology. “It’s just… it’s been a while since anyone has come by. You don’t have to leave,” he said, hastily adding, “unless you want to, of course! I cannot force you to stay if you do not wish to.”

A soft smile spread at your lips. This man was not nearly as cold as he looked or felt. His emotionless eyes seemed hopeful and his mouth was fixed in a boxy smile. With hope that this was fate of some sort, you told him, “I would love to stay.”

“What’s your name?”

“Me?” the ghostly man pointed to himself, oddly shocked at the question.

You nodded, adding with a small laugh, “I don’t see anyone else here who could answer my question.”

He breathed out a laugh as he answered, “Taehyung. And you?”

“Y/N. It’s very nice to meet you, Taehyung.”

He grinned at the way you said his name, and continued, “What brings you here, Y/N?”

“Ah,” you nodded and propped your arms up on the table you two were sitting at. “Noisy dorm halls, librarians who don’t care about enforcing quiet rules, and a horny roommate. You?”

His smile grew at your brutally honest answer. He hesitated as he answered, “I live here. I take care of everything.” It wasn’t a complete lie.

Your mouth parted. “Are you Kim Taehyung. As in a Kim of Kim’s Library and Recital Hall?” you joked, relieved that he found your reference amusing.

“Yes, I am Kim Taehyung. I’m relieved you find that interesting,” he responded. You grinned at the way he answered, his tone and diction captivatingly formal.

“Well, you’ve done an excellent job maintaining the interior. The outside though… that could use a bit of help,” you admitted honestly, to which he laughed heartily at. “Do you get much business?” you asked cautiously after he stopped laughing.

He shrugged, the same boxy smile still on his face. “Not much, but it’s alright. The silence is peaceful.”

You nodded thoughtfully, sensing there was more to his answer but deciding not to push it. “It is very peaceful here, and if you ever need some help around here, I’ve got more free time than I’d like to admit.”

Taehyung laughed again, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I’ll consider it,” he responded genuinely, his voice growing softer for a second. “I’ll have to warn that working here isn’t as great as it may seem. It’s quite boring.”

“Pfft,” you shook your head, “boring? With the piano skills you have? I could spend all day listening to you play while I dust or shit like that.”

He basked in your ability to speak freely and jokingly with him, and at that moment he gathered the courage to ask the question that was lingering on his mind ever since you made eye contact with him.

“Why didn’t you run away when you first saw me?”

Your gaze faltered for a second, but a small smile returned to your face as you answered honestly, “I was going to run, but the piece you were playing reminded me of my brother Yoongi.”

A brief flash of shock passed on his face, luckily unnoticed by you as you continued your story.

“He used to play it so much, and it felt like fate to hear it again in this place,” you paused, looking back up at Taehyung with a sheepish smile and glassy eyes. “You see, as I walked around, I kept on thinking of how much Yoongi would love this place. Books and sheet music and portraits of musicians and silence. It’s just so so perfect for him. But, as much as I want to, I can never show him this place.”

“Why?”

“Yoongi died 3 years ago.”

[you]

goodnight yoongi. sleep well! i know you’ll do great at your performance tomorrow! mom and i will be waiting for you at the end !!

p.s. seokjin is invited to dinner next week ;)

[best/worst brother ever]

goodnight Y/N. thank you :]. treat me to some lamb skewers after?

p.s. you can text him yourself

[you]

of course, anything you want !!

sleep now, it’s already 3 am

p.s. why would i when i have you? :)

[best/worst brother ever]

ok, mom

[you]

>:(

When you turned your phone off to sleep that night, you didn’t realize that would be the last conversation you would ever have with your older brother.

The house was silent when you received the phone call.

Min Yoongi died in an accident on the way to the recital hall. A drunk driver hit his car, killing him and his friend and roommate, Kim Seokjin. The doctors did everything they could, but he suffered from too much blood loss...

You felt empty. Quiet tears escaped you as you sat in the passenger seat while your mother frantically drove to the hospital. The fresh bouquet of flowers you bought early in the morning to congratulate Yoongi on another performance well done was sitting in the backseat, the bright colors mocking your misery. Labored breaths left you as you ran to his hospital room, and you struggled to breathe when you saw his still body on the bed.

The doctor's solemn words drowned in the background as you fell to your knees. Your hands clutched Yoongi’s in hopes that he would reassuringly squeeze them again and wake up to say that it was just an elaborate prank. But he never did.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Taehyung whispered, offering a hand, which you gratefully took.

You shrugged, responding while wiping your wet eyes, “It’s ok. It was 3 years ago, and there’s really nothing to be sorry about. I’m not even sure why I told you.” You spoke honestly, which was odd since you barely knew Taehyung. For some reason, you felt as if you could trust him with anything.

“So what about you?” you asked after a few moments of silence. “Tell me about you. All about Kim Taehyung,” you finished with a gentle smile, your smaller hand still in his larger one.

“Well, I am 25 years old, a pianist as you saw, I grew up on my family’s farm before I moved to the city to study music with my uncle, and I eventually inherited the place we’re currently in,” he answered, his boxy smile growing as he told you more about himself.

“Wow,” you said, shocked at how much he told you despite knowing you for a short period of time. But you technically did the same.

“How did you like growing up on a farm?” you asked curiously, your hand unconsciously tightening your grip on his.

His eyes lit up as he replied, “It was peaceful. I loved the animals and spending time with my grandmother. The village was nice, too. My friends were always a few steps away,” he paused for a moment, “but when I started to play the piano that my uncle gifted me, I found my new passion: music.”

“So you eventually moved to the city to study music?”

He nodded excitedly in confirmation. “It was hard leaving my parents and grandmother,” he added. “But I tried to go back whenever I could.”

“It’s difficult leaving your family,” you agreed, unsure of what to say next. Luckily, Taehyung expertly carried the conversation.

“So Y/N, how old are you?” he asked, his boxy smile not fading for even a second.

You grinned and responded with the same tone he had earlier. “Well, I am 20 years old, I study Literature and Biology at the National University, I grew up in a city with my mom and older brother, and I found this place by complete chance.”

“You’re more interesting than I thought, Y/N,” Taehyung grinned. “And complete chance? What does that mean?”

“Well,” you started, “I was just thinking about how much I hated my roommate and dorm floor, and I somehow stumbled upon this completely deserted street. To be honest, I don’t even know where I am right now. Yet I’m still here talking to you, is that crazy or foolish of me?”

“No.” His left hand reached up to move a strand of hair away from your face. Your breath hitched and body froze as his cool fingers met your warm skin. “It’s not crazy or foolish at all,” he finished.

You melted under his haunting gaze, and you didn’t even notice how the sun had fallen outside and how the lights automatically flickered on.

Five hours.

Or at least it felt like five hours of you and Taehyung simply talking. At this point, you were really hoping he wasn’t planning on murdering you because you honestly have never met a guy this perfect. It seemed like he didn’t have a single flaw!

With each conversation and joking remark, you found yourself moving closer and closer to him until you two were thigh to thigh. Your denim jeans met the expensive material of his trousers, and both of your warm hands were covered by his much colder ones (something you chose to chalk down to iron deficiency or other potential medical conditions).

To merely say you were growing feelings for Taehyung would be an understatement — you were falling in love.

Eventually, he offered to show you around the store, considering you only really looked at the front. His hand around yours, he led you towards the back, where there were less bookshelves and more music-oriented displays. There were encased instruments, very old photos, worn sheet music, and more portraits.

“My uncle loved collecting portraits,” Taehyung said when he caught you staring at one of Jung Hoseok. “He said it was like always having a memory of someone, even if they passed.”

“Your uncle was right. Although I think pictures and a camera may be cheaper,” you teased, unaware of the slightly pained smile on his face. You looked around some more, and your smile fell as your eyes landed on a very familiar-looking portrait.

The curve of his lips, strong jawline, uneven eyelids, defined eyebrows — it was like you were looking directly at him. Your breath hitched as you looked at the inscription below the oil painting.

Kim Taehyung / 1877 - 1902

“Taehyung…” you called. He didn’t respond.

“Taehyung,” you called again, slowly turning around, your eyes meeting his panicked ones. “You… You’re …”

“Dead.”

“What do you mean you’re dead? You’re standing right here! But the portrait. Oh my god. Is this a dream? Have I been dreaming this entire thing? Ghosts aren’t real! Are you a demon? Oh fu -”

“Y/N!” he shouted, his arms wrapping around you to calm you down, his icy skin only further reminding you that a dead man was hugging you.

“You’re so cold! Oh fuck! You’re so cold! I’m so stupid!” you continued panicking, completely unaware of how to deal with this if it really wasn’t a dream.

“Can you please give me a chance to explain?” he asked, his low voice soothing you.

Begrudgingly, you nodded, and melted into his tight grip. It was hard to believe that he was a ghost when you were physically touching him, a complete contradiction of what online conspiracy theories and horror documentaries (and your biology lectures) told you.

“I didn’t lie about anything I told you. I was born in 1877 and I died in 1902. I was poisoned by another musician who grew jealous of my success. I chose to stay in the human realm as a ghost instead of pass on.”

You remained silent, needing a moment to think. Was he telling the truth? But Taehyung didn’t have a reason to lie to you, nor did he have a reason to be honest. And why was he so insistent on explaining himself? Did he have the same feelings as y —

“I’m telling the truth,” he said abruptly, sensing your inner turmoil. “I understand if you do not trust me. It would be hard for anyone living to trust me in this situation, but I want you to know that,” he paused, looking at you with such emotion that it made you want to reach out to him and take all the pain he was feeling away. “That I am being genuine because I care about you the way you care about me.”

You gasped quietly in shock.

“The last living person to enter this place was 60 years ago, and no one ever stayed,” he began sadly. “But then today, you,” he looked down to make eye contact with you, “you came in and you stayed and we talked for hours.”

As much as you wanted to comfort him, you still remained silent.

Taehyung continued, “Even when I was alive, I never encountered anyone who spoke as passionately as you, who was refreshingly honest, or who cared about what I said as much as you do. Y/N, I hope you understand that our time together today has meant the world to me, and I would never betray your trust or presence for anything in the world.

Your eyes teared up at his confession, and you barely managed to whisper, “Today meant a lot to me too.”

Taehyung let out a relieved breath and tightened his hold on you. “I may be a dead man but my feelings for you are true. I hope that you’ll accept me as I am and -”

“Tae-” you attempted to interrupt him, but he cut you off and only tightened the hug.

“And if you do not accept me, I understand,” he finished, his voice strained as he said the last two words.

“Taehyung,” you started, but he interrupted you again.

“Please, if you wish to leave do not say anything else. I fear that I might not be able to take it if you bless me with your voice and presence again just to leave soon after,” he pleaded, his hands gently holding you to his chest as you two still remained in a fond embrace.

“Taehyung,” you started again, feeling his chest tighten as you gently spoke, “Although this is all very hard for me to understand, I do accept you.” He breathed out a sigh of relief. “But,” you said sharply, and he winced at the word, “You need to explain everything for me to truly believe in you. How am I seeing you? How does this all work?”

Begrudgingly, Taehyung released the hug, and looked at you with a cheeky and fond smile. “How are you seeing me? Easy, as a ghost I can choose when I want to be seen,” he paused, “and when I don’t.” As he uttered the last word, his body disappeared in front of your eyes, and a surprised gasp fell from you.

“You! You! What the fuck!” staring as he reappeared, his body once again covering the wall behind him.

He laughed again at your shock, also finding your blunt language endearing. “It’s something all of us ghosts can do,” he said casually while you stood in shock. He continued, “I can also feel sensations like a human when I’m in this form.”

He stepped toward you again, leaving only a few centimeters between your bodies. “For example,” he started, grasping your warm hand and bringing it up to his cheek, “I can feel the warmth of your hands and how they feel on my skin.”

He dropped your hand and bent down, his beautiful face now directly in front of you. For a moment, you two only looked at each other, his strong eyes holding your curious gaze and his cool breath sending a shiver down your body. “And,” he finally said, “I can feel chills as your breath fans across my face.”

He stood fully up again, leaving you both relieved and disappointed. “I can also feel emotions just like I used to when I was alive, although I’m sure you already know that,” he told you, the boxy smile returning to his face. Your heart still recovering from the intense eye contact only a few moments prior, you could only muster a nod in response. “Would you like me to continue?” Taehyung asked.

“No,” you admitted, shocking him as he was ready to explain more.

“No?”

“I believe you, it’s difficult to, but I believe you,” you told him, your voice quiet as you looked up at him fondly. “This is all confusing as fuck, and I really don’t know what the future would look like for us but,” you pause briefly, watching as his smile grew to meet his eyes, “I have feelings for you, and I want to try and make this work.”

Taehyung grinned and wrapped you in a tight hug, the ice cold of his skin no longer sending an unnerving chill down you. He looked down and used his finger to lift your face to look at him. Wordlessly, he closed his eyes and leaned down.

Following his motions, your lips eventually met. Taehyung kissed you with gentle passion, his full lips molding perfectly against yours. His hands moved down to the small of your back, and he pulled you in tighter to deepen the kiss.

This was better than you expected. His cold lips set a fire within you, and the way he moved his lips against yours made you feel as if your chest was going to burst at any second. The moment his lips touched yours, and yours his, you knew that you could never feel anything like it again.

A moment of adrenaline seeped into you as you parted your lips, greedy for more. At this, electricity coursed through you and you felt as if a fire was ignited between you, and as Taehyung deepened the kiss the fire grew, nearly consuming you both whole.

Your lips moved in sync with his for what seemed like an eternity before he broke the kiss, leaving you breathless. He allowed you to catch your breath before he spoke, “I’ve wanted to do that ever since I saw you enter.”

“Why didn’t you?” you asked, a teasing tone evident in your words.

“It would be rude of me to walk up to a beautiful stranger and steal a kiss from them,” he answered, his hands moving to play with your fingers.

“I suppose it would be, but I wouldn’t have minded,” you admitted, making deep eye contact with him once again.

Taehyung smiled at your words, and he waited a moment before saying, “I know someone that I think you would be happy to see again. If you feel comfortable with me, I can take you to him.”

Your eyes widened, and at that moment, you could hear the same melody he was playing earlier coming from somewhere deeper in the hall. In that moment, you remember seeing the book that Yoongi had when he first learned the song, and how the composer was named Kim Taehyung.

A tear rolled down your face as you looked up at Taehyung in shock, his confirming nod causing a choked breath to leave you. Yoongi already found this place.

With the brightest smile you’ve had on your face in years, you gently grasped Taehyung’s hand. “I’ve never felt more comfortable in my entire life.”

[shyneanon]

Just wanted to write a x reader about HT Sans out of curiosity, so I did. Kinda long though. But I hope you guys like it. Have an x reader of mine where Axe doesn’t do anything incredibly stupid, lol.

(I promise the longfics are gonna be updated I just wanted to write this >~<)

---

It had been a long time since you had first fallen into the Underground. Long enough that you’d lost track of time. Though that wasn’t hard to do when there was no sky to watch.

To be honest, you were lucky to not be dead. You had the feeling every other human to fall down here had died at the hands of monsters.

For some reason the two skeletons… hadn’t killed you. Which was odd, considering that when you’d first met them you’d had to navigate some deadly traps while they’d watched. When you’d made it past everything, the taller one had seemed impressed with you, and proud.

The shorter one hadn’t seemed so pleased.

Their names were Papyrus and Sans, apparently, and upon Papyrus’ insistence they’d snuck you through town and to their house, where you resided to this day. You wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that you had survived their traps, which Papyrus insisted on calling “puzzles,” despite the fact that they had obviously been designed to kill anyone who failed them. But at least Papyrus was kind to you. He was happy to talk, though he was very hesitant to answer a lot of your questions. Often he responded by telling you that he couldn’t answer your question at all. But he liked sharing his hobbies and favorite media with you, so even though he was holding you captive, he’d become like a friend.

Although you had the feeling that holding you captive was more for your benefit than theirs. When they fed you, it was always the same food. Some kind of meat.

You had the feeling you knew what kind.

But you wouldn’t ask. To spare your sanity.

Sans wasn’t hostile. But he made it a point to ignore you. Even if you needed help with something and you asked, he would simply act as if you weren’t there, as if he couldn’t see or hear you. If you annoyed him enough he would shoot you an unsettling look with his one red eye and you would back down. You quickly learned not to bother. You decided he didn’t like you, and that you were lucky he hadn’t killed you by this point. Especially considering that he hauled a giant axe everywhere. So you left him alone and spoke to Papyrus instead.

Over time, though, Sans started to change.

One day you were asked to throw out the old food, and as you were attempting to figure out which of the meat was older and therefore likely to go rotten soon, Sans intervened.

And he helped.

The whole time he barely said a word to you, and he didn’t look at you for even a second, but he helped. Though you tried not to get too optimistic. Perhaps he had simply been annoyed by how long you’d been taking.

A few days later, when you and Papyrus were playing a board game to pass the time, Sans sat next to his brother to watch. This was also new-- he usually did his best to stay as far away from you as possible at all times, dinner being the only exception.

He joined the two of you to watch several times, and then one day Papyrus asked him if he wanted to play a game for more people. And Sans said yes.

That day you saw a different side of him.

Rather than brood silently with an unsettling grin on his face, Sans started to crack jokes. Bad ones. At first you were too confused and almost bothered by the sudden change to laugh, but eventually he made a particularly fucked up joke and you laughed from the shock of it, despite Papyrus scolding him.

The next time you and Papyrus played a 1v1 game, Sans sat next to you.

Several sessions of this happened, Sans sitting and watching. You couldn’t tell if he was rooting for either of you, though he occasionally made jokes mocking you specifically. You’d noticed he never liked to say anything mean to his brother, however, so maybe that explained the lack of jabs at Papyrus.

Then one game, as you were contemplating your next move, Sans leaned in next to your ear. You leaned away, expecting him to say something threatening or cruel.

Instead, he gave you a hint.

As it turned out, Sans was really smart. He understood strategy, though he rarely employed it much when he played with you two. You had the feeling he liked letting Papyrus beat him.

He wasn’t such a bad guy, it seemed.

Then he asked to play a game of chess with you one day. You had the feeling he’d beat you, but you said yes.

You were right. He beat you quickly and easily. But he seemed to enjoy himself, particularly with some jabs at you that were accompanied by winks. So you didn’t mind.

Though you did feel something kind of odd whenever he winked at you. And it didn’t stop even when winking became a regular thing. In the following weeks he started pulling pranks on you, something he apparently enjoyed a lot. Papyrus seemed annoyed about it at first, but then confessed to you that it had been a long time since Sans had regularly cracked jokes and pulled pranks on others, and he was happy to have glimmers of the old Sans back. You’d had no idea this was what he had been like before… whatever had happened in the Underground had happened. Neither of them would talk about it. Regardless, seeing Sans smile and laugh so sincerely felt really good.

...

And then he cornered you with his axe.

Or, at least, that’s what it felt like at first. One day, weeks after he had begun to lighten up, Sans approached you when you were in the kitchen, dragging his axe behind him. Papyrus was out of the house, though you didn’t know where, or doing what. They never told you that either.

He’s going to kill me.

“Heya,” he said.

You tried not to stare at the blade. But it was hard. “Hi,” you said.

He took a few steps closer to you. There was nowhere you could go. You were against the extremely tall sink. If he decided he wanted to chop you up into little pieces, there was nothing you could do about it.

“Think we can talk?” he said.

You nodded, but once you did you weren’t sure if that was the right decision.

“Cool.”

Before you knew it he was standing over you and you were pressing yourself back against the sink. You felt so small.

This is it. He’s going to take his axe, and he’s going to cut me into little pieces. And then eat me.

“So…” he began.

Please just make it fast. Please just don’t make me suffer. Please just get it over with--

“I wanted to say thanks.”

“... Huh?” was your only reply. You realized you were shaking.

“Thanks,” he repeated. “For being nice to my brother. And… to me, even when I haven’t been so nice to you.”

Not sure what to say, you just stared.

“He’s… been through a lot. He’s really needed a friend. And I’m glad you’re being that friend to him.”

You weren’t sure if he was trying to put you at ease before murdering you, but you smiled a little. “It’s no problem. Papyrus is fun, I like spending time with him.”

“Yeah?” Sans smiled one of his more sincere smiles. “Yeah, my brother’s really cool.”

There was an awkward (and, at least for you, tense) silence as you both looked at each other.

“Sorry for scaring you.” His red eye looked away. “I know… I look scary.”

Hm?

“It’s not you,” you said. “You’ve just… been holding that huge axe… the whole time, and I didn’t… Y’know, I just thought, maybe…”

He looked at the blade as if he’d just realized it was there. “... Oh. Oh, that makes sense.”

He unceremoniously let go of it and it dropped to the ground.

“Still, I know I’m… intimidating.”

“The way you look doesn’t scare me,” you told him. “It hasn’t for a long time. Your appearance is just that, your appearance. No big deal.”

He watched you, as if he were looking for signs that you were lying.

Then he smiled, seeming almost… reassured.

“Cool,” he said.

He moved closer. His smile was different, though you couldn’t figure out what he was thinking. Though, that was often the case with him.

“Listen, I don’t hate you anymore. I haven’t for a long time. I’m sorry… for the way I treated you.”

“It’s OK,” you said. You weren’t sure why he’d treated you that way, but he was apologizing.

“Thanks.”

You realized the two of you were making eye contact, and then you noticed the pupil in the middle of his red eye. It was… getting bigger?

“I… like you a lot, actually.”

What do I say?

“I like you a lot too,” you returned. It wasn’t really a lie. He was fun. You just… weren’t ever sure what he was thinking, so you had always been slightly afraid that he wanted to kill you.

You saw his cheeks start to turn a blue color. You had never seen that before.

A… blush? Or am I insane?

Wait, when did our faces get so close?

Why is my heart beating so fast?

“Anyway,” he said, leaning away from you. When the gap between you widened you suddenly felt like you could breathe again. “I’ve got stuff to do, upstairs.” He winked. “Like nap.”

He picked up his weapon and turned away, though he looked back at you.

“See ya.”

All you did was raise a hand, and he left.

After that day, things were different.

Sans had been nicer to you for a while, but now he was really nice. He threw you compliments, and they didn’t seem sarcastic. He sat next to you on the couch regularly. He would breach your personal bubble-- albeit carefully. Sometimes he would brush hair out of your face, or put his hand on your shoulder when talking to you, or sling an arm around your shoulder. It… seemed friendly, but you weren’t sure if it was supposed to be more.

Either way, your heart would beat fast and your senses would heighten whenever the two of you made contact.

He spoke to you whenever Papyrus was out and he wasn’t. Sometimes he ended up telling you stuff that he and Papyrus had refused to address early on in your stay. He didn’t give details, but… it was sad.

A couple of times you gave him hugs to comfort him. They were returned, and the two of you would just… stay like that for a little while, holding onto each other. Even you started telling him about home. You were kind of like confidants now. It seemed that Sans didn’t tell Papyrus a lot, in an effort not to worry him. Papyrus worried already, it made sense that Sans wouldn’t want to make it any worse.

Then one day, while you were sitting together on the couch, he finally explained to you how he’d gotten the hole in his skull.

A former friend, the current queen… had stabbed him with a spear.

You held him, and he held onto you.

“Thanks,” he said, “for listening to me.”

“I’ll always listen to you,” you told him.

Like that day in the kitchen, you realized that your faces were close. This time it seemed very intentional, though. Sans was watching you carefully. Your own face got hot.

“Sans?” you said. It was almost a whisper.

He pressed his teeth to your lips and you froze up, shocked.

Almost immediately, he let out a soft moan, as if just the kiss were releasing tension. He pulled you closer. Your heart started to pound, and without thinking you threw your arms around his neck and kissed back. His arms wrapped around your waist, and you sank into him. His teeth then pressed against your neck and you shivered, sighing. It was followed by his teeth slamming into your lips, and you were swiftly pressed down onto the couch. It felt like his touch was a shockwave that moved through your whole body. You opened an eye and saw that he was flushed blue.

“I haven’t felt this good in so long,” he told you. “Everything sucks here. But you…”

More kisses. He sighed. Your eyes drifted shut again.

“... you make everything go away. You make me… feel things… I’ve never felt before.”

A hand worked its way down to your hip. He looked… high.

“... Y’know… Paps… isn’t gonna be back for a while.”

Your face got hotter than it already was. Was he insinuating what you thought he was insinuating?

“Geez,” you said with a shy smile, “we just kissed for the first time. At least… take me out to dinner first, right?”

He chuckled. “OK… yeah, maybe I’m moving a bit fast….”

Another kiss, this one more gentle. He cupped your cheek.

“I’m just… not used to feeling this good. It’s… kind of addictive.”

You fluttered your lashes playfully. “Ooh, I’m addictive?”

“Yes,” he responded. There was no irony in his voice. “Yes, you are.”

You were clutching his hoodie, and you realized that what you had thought was blood on his clothing was actually ketchup stains. You could smell it. It made you giggle.

“What?”

“I thought this was blood but it’s ketchup.”

A deep laugh. “You didn’t notice that all this time?” A wink. “Wow, you’re slow. Try to ketchup.”

You flicked his forehead playfully. “Get off the stage, nerd.”

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” you replied with a smile.

“Y’know, sex is great and all, but y’know what’s better?”

You raised a brow. “What?”

“A nap.”

You snorted.

“Don’t say it’s not true.”

“It’s true,” you told him, smiling.

“Here,” he said, pulling you up from your horizontal position and then flopping back, pulling you with him. “I make for a great cushion.”

“You do,” you observed. He was a skeleton but it actually didn’t feel weird to lie on top of him. So you got comfy.

“Nice. If Paps gets mad at me I can blame you.”

A wink, and you stuck your tongue out at him.

“Aw, c’mon now. That’s just childish.”

He wrapped his arms around you.

“You’re insane for liking me, by the way.”

You grinned. “Eh, I blame Stockholm Syndrome.”

He snickered.

[knightofameris]

nothing you can do  — kuroo tetsurou

✎ gender. neutral ✎ contains. I mean, angst lol. unrequited love, childhood friends to,,,, unedited (so expect lots of grammar mistakes) ✎ wc. 1.3k

✎ summary. it was supposed to be childhood friends to lovers, right? so why is it that you now have to move on?

✎ ameris’ notes. based off a lil scenario from 🍒 baby! <3 (sorry lmao i’m reorganizing this to make it pretty!)

Kuroo Tetsurou wasn’t what everyone actually knew him to be. To everyone else, he was charismatic, a scheming bastard, a somewhat respectable volleyball captain, and a science nerd with crazy charms that could get people to just instantly like him.

He’s good at making connections that way.

But to you, you knew him as that shy little kid that you grew up with. A shy little kid who would follow you and Kenma around. His father wasn’t around much, if at all, his mother nonexistent, and his grandparents would give him the type of doting all grandparents do. He didn’t have any siblings either.

Which was probably why Kuroo would always hang out with you when he’d get the slightest bit bored with playing video games all the time with Kenma (this was before Kuroo got Kenma to play volleyball with him).

Now he’s someone who’s easy to talk to. Kuroo could literally pick up a conversation with someone on the train and actually hold a conversation with them.

There were always some days where you’d see the same little kid though. Sometimes he’s hesitant when it came to leading the volleyball club. A side Kuroo didn’t want to ever show his teammates; he was the captain after all, he had to keep the image that he was an unmoving pillar. Especially if he wanted to make the Battle at the Trash Heap happen.

You got to see all sides of Kuroo and grow up beside him unlike anyone else (well, maybe except Kenma)

Maybe that’s one of the reasons why you fell in love with him.

Love. Maybe that’s too strong of a word. But that’s what you felt it was.

You don’t know how it happened. You just knew that the strong platonic feelings you had for him growing up eventually evolved into something new. You remembered when you were in middle school when a classmate asked if you liked Kuroo or Kenma and all you could do in response was gag.

But now in your third year of high school as you sat with Kuroo and the rest of the volleyball club at lunch you realized it was something different.

“You like him, don’t you?” Yaku asked one day, munching on the little cute octopus sausages he stole out of your bento. Kuroo, was luckily out of earshot talking to the others.

You felt heat rise up your neck and before you could reply to the libero, he laughed.

“Don’t worry, I won’t say anything but I think you should tell him,” Yaku turned to look at Kuroo where your gaze already was. Except, you could only give him a deadpan look.

“Really? And ruin our friendship?” You scoffed, taking away your bento from him so he couldn’t steal anymore. “No thanks.”

“I’m just saying, he looks at you the same way you look at him!” Yaku said smugly. “Besides, the other day Lev was mentioning how pretty you are and Kuroo told him to stay away from you.”

A glimmer of hope entered your chest at the thought of Kuroo reciprocating your feelings. But, that couldn’t be possible, right? Kuroo was just protective over you, you are close friends.

“What’s the worse that can happen, he says ‘no’ and you guys continue being friends. And, if he really ends a friendship over something like that he’s a dumbass and it means you deserve better.”

Luckily for you, the worst that did happen was Kuroo Tetsurou did not feel the same way and you continued being friends.

But at this point, fuck. At this point, you wish he broke everything off.

You wish he’d be an asshole and break whatever friendship you had with him. Because now seeing him with his girlfriend, months later, it hurt so so much more.

Because every goddamn day since you confessed to him, you wished Kuroo would show up outside your window with flowers and your favorite snacks and tell you that he lied, that he did like you back but he was just too stupid to see it. Or that he was too scared.

Instead, he got himself a girlfriend. Someone you couldn’t even bring yourself to hate because she was just too nice.

“You and Tetsu have been friends since elementary, right?” She asked you, pulling her knees up to her chest as she sat beside you. She lay her head against her legs and stared up at you.

“Yeah,” you replied, trying to swallow down that little bit of pain that was lodged in your throat. Kuroo had asked you to stick around with her during practice so that she didn’t feel lonely. And of course, you couldn’t say no to him. Part of you believed it could be so that he could break up with her after practice, then ask you out.

But you knew that wouldn’t happen.

“That’s really cool,” she smiled, staring back at the court to stare at her boyfriend, at your best friend that you have a crush on. “You don’t see much platonic friendships like yours. I thought you guys were dating so I didn’t think I had any chance with Tetsu.”

You gritted your teeth then coughed into your fist and stood up abruptly, “Sorry, I need to use the restroom real quick.”

Staring at yourself in the mirror in the restroom, your eyes being bloodshot red, you came to the conclusion of one thing. If you wanted to be happy again, you’d have to be the one to cut things off with Kuroo. You had to get over him.

It wasn’t too hard to avoid Kuroo. Besides, the school year was ending in a few months. Then you’d be off to university and luckily, you weren’t heading to the same one as him.

Kuroo stared at your back as you walked straight past him, a tick mark appearing on his forehead. His grip on his girlfriend’s hand tightened and she could only glance between the two of you with a confused glance. Kenma, stood off to the side, a small sigh leaving his mouth.

“Do you know why they’ve been avoiding me?” Kuroo asked Kenma. Kenma side-eyed him.

“I think you should know, Kuroo,” Kenma replied, walking off to his own classroom instead. He didn’t like third-wheeling Kuroo and his girlfriend without you.

Kuroo sighed, then looked down at his girlfriend, “I’ll be back, I’m gonna see if they’re alright.” Kuroo kissed the top of her head before letting go of her hand to walk after you.

He knew there was one place you’d be. The one place where you always go to catch a breath of fresh air.

Ironically, it was near a little alleyway of sorts, where a lot of cats always gathered.

And Kuroo was right.

You sat on the ground, petting a few stray cats as you ate your lunch all by your lonesome.

“Why are you avoiding me?” Kuroo asked, straight to the point. He didn’t want to beat around the bush, not with how you’ve been avoiding him for weeks on end. With graduation around the corner, he wanted to spend as much time with the people he loved the most. Even if he didn’t love you in the way you wanted.

You turned your head quickly towards his voice, your eyes wide.

“Tetsurou, hey,” you reply calmly, as calm as you could. It was inevitable that he’d come to find you.

“Why are you avoiding me?” He repeated.

“I-uhm. I’m not,” you replied. “I just need some space from everything. Just a little stressed is all.”

Which wasn’t wrong. And sometimes you would need space from everyone. Maybe not this long but... Hopefully he’d buy it.

“That’s bullshit, what did I do wrong? And what can I do to fix it?” Kuroo asked, nearly begged as he approached you. Instead, you stood up quickly, the cats already scuttering away, and backed away from him. Kuroo stopped, instead opting to wait for a reply.

All you could do was smile and glance off to the side. A light spring breeze flowing through this odd alleyway.

“Nothing, Tetsu, there’s nothing you can do.”

✎ ameris’ notes: okay so LOL. i originally had a link here to my private post to an audio recording. but hnngg i think that’s the reason why it wasn’t showing up in tags. so, i’ll be having an entirely separate post with the link so just check out my profile, it hsould be the most recent post (but not the pinned post)

that’s only if you want to hear my voice... 

HAH sike i took it out

anyway i hope u guys enjoyed it cus i wrote it when i was on like idk. i was sleep deprived. so idk if this is actually any good LOL

[leporellian]

how i would rewrite warrior cats: into the wild

rewriting the entire series is a big Thing in the warrior cats fandom, and i don’t have the time to do that. however i have been having Ideas about what i would do if i rewrote the books, and the changes are... drastic, to say the least, so i figured i would write them down in a bullet-point style List Thing to see what happens.

- we open on henry, an old wise sage-type kittypet, telling two kittypet kits- rusty and smudge- about the forest cats and their legends, primarily that of how the clans were born

- there were always little groups of cats in the forest, and they were originally very hostile- except for a lush spot full of prey, herbs, just about anything needed for survival. this spot has had many names and is referred to by a different name for each clan but universally, it’s called fourtrees, because there are four grand oaks that guard the area. this spot was something of a truce area where all the groups could get along

- however tension slowly boiled throughout the forest until there was a massive war at fourtrees. lots of cats dead and even more wounded. their spirits joined together to form starclan, who told the cats to unite or die- and as punishment for breaking the fourtrees truce, they set the whole thing ablaze. it’s no longer the survival spot it was

- however, the spirits say, the four oaks will grow from their charred remains again, as will the rest of the area. everything will be as it once was in time. starclan themselves cannot last, and must be reborn every 600 moons (or some other large number) from the midst of celestial battle. however, every time this happens, the spirits say, the coming of the ‘end of the stars’ will always and only be heralded by a heroic cat in a flame-orange coat, as a nod to the fire that started the clans to begin with. so it’s kind of like an avatar thing

- anyway 6 moons later there’s a battle at sunningrocks that kills redtail and oakheart. bluestar and spottedleaf, while discussing who will replace redtail, see a comet across the sky

- every falling star means a warrior has faded in starclan, and it means they are to be reborn- and something wonderful is on the cusp of beginning, says spottedleaf. spottedleaf also notes that according to the calendar system kept by the medicine cats the ‘fire alone’ cat should have arrived about 6 months ago, so everyone’s worried about what’s going on w/ that, Where Are They. she does note however that a lot of cats think the calendar had a miscalculation at some point and that the ‘fire alone’ cat is shadowclan’s new leader

- anyway rusty, the kittypet, decides to enter the forest. the twoleg nests here are Not A Good Place for cats to live, bc there’s constant fighting between the kittypets and everyone has their own boundaries and it’s very chaotic. there is a group that tries to monitor it called the blood brothers, but they’re usually in the city so their guidance isn’t often There. so both rusty and smudge want to Get Out and join the clans

- like in the original books he meets graypaw, who’s always interested in outsiders, and then bluestar, lionheart, and tigerclaw. lionheart is graypaw’s mentor, bluestar is thunderclan’s leader, and tigerclaw is bluestar’s nephew who is kindly yet determined, and has become deputy after redtail’s demise. again like in the originals he’s accepted into thunderclan fast

- smudge feels Betrayed. for some reason the writing takes special note of the glimmer in his striped collar- it’s all kind of colors, purple, red, blue, yellow. it’s very distinctive...

- next morning, lionheart and tigerclaw lead rusty to the thunderclan camp. all is well and good until longpaw and sandpaw roll up

- longpaw and sandpaw are twins and look exactly alike. they’re also the children of redtail and are both very competitive with everyone and each other (although they are very close) because they want to be Like Their Dad. both are taking redtail’s death hard

- longpaw is like ‘i wanna beat him up’ and given these are two 10 year olds basically everyone’s like ‘well rusty can fight too so Bet.’ it’s an even fight, longpaw gets his ear torn and rusty gets his collar ripped off

- this fight proves rusty is capable of being in thunderclan, and he’s renamed firepaw, which is a nod to the ‘fire alone’ thing as a ‘hey isn’t it funny he came right after the clock lined up for a fire-cloaked savior? strange lol’

- anyway firepaw is introduced to some Other Characters besides everyone i’ve mentioned thus far: - ravenpaw, medicine cat apprentice. he was a loner kit found abandoned on the territory and he’s constantly nervous and jittery. he’s also kind of clingy and a tad annoying because he’s constantly worried of being abandoned again, but he Is endearing - graypaw and darkpaw, twins similar to longpaw and sandpaw (although unlike them they have an ‘opposite twins’ kinda thing). both are the sons of willowpelt and a shadowclan tom, but both deal with it differently: graypaw is a dreamer who constantly is interested in cats from outside thunderclan ‘like him’, and darkpaw wants to try and overcompensate for it by being nothing but loyal- especially to his mentor, tigerclaw, who’s a father figure to him. dark isn’t mean but he is very sardonic and sarcastic, and it’s also made increasingly obvious that he Knows Something and is very nervous about it. weird - (yes, longpaw and sandpaw are annoyed that they’re the only ‘fully clan’ cats in this batch of apprentices.) - spottedleaf, thunderclan medicine cat. kind of a ditzy aunt type, it’s joked that she acts like a stoner bc she’s inhaling all the Herb Scents all day. fully enables all of the kids to do Dumb Things - the elders, who dislike all these new apprentices bc besides long and sand none of them are fully clan-blooded. the most vocal about this is thistleclaw, an elder always trying to start shit, and tigerclaw’s father (altho tiger is embarrassed by thistle’s outbursts). - and finally, cinderkit, who always tags along w/ the apprentices although she isn’t supposed to. she is however very smart and the apprentices don’t mind her tagging along. she’s made an apprentice like 1/2 way through here

- anyway at the gathering windclan is MISSING and NOBODY seems to know what is going on, but both riverclan and shadowclan are acting shady about it. 

- also brokenstar, The New ShadowClan Leader, seems like a nice guy, a Poster Boy type. his fur is bright orange so everyone’s like, ‘yea he’s the fire that’ll herald feline gottdammerung’ but nobody wants to THINK about feline gottdammerung yet because like, That’s An Upsetting Thought! it’s also noted that he’s way young for a leader

- anyway the apprentices (and cinderkit) are like. ‘we gotta know what's happening and why windclan vanished’ and everyone is involved (although sand and long keep their distance). it’s a very ‘up at midnight at a slumber party’ kind of aesthetic. everyone in shadow and river also has a motive, and at points there’s even evidence that something caused windclan to die out. lots of red herrings

- eventually yellowfang comes into the picture like she does in canon and they figure out shadowclan drove windclan out and that windclan is Alive and Out There somewhere. the evidence is enough that spottedleaf and tigerclaw (who's like the Cool Resident Dad) agree about it and so a spy patrol is sent to sneak in on shadowclan

- anyway everyone discovers how fucked up shadowclan is behind the curtain (what with the elder abuse and child warfare) and is like ‘holy shit we gotta stop these guys’ so there’s a big fight like in the original book and brokenstar is dethroned like he is in canon and brought to thunderclan

- thunderclan saves the day, yellowfang joins spottedleaf in the med cat den, and the apprentices all get names (save ravenpaw who’s a med cat apprentice)- firepaw is fireheart, graypaw is graystripe, darkpaw is darkstripe, longpaw is longtail (in honor of redtail), and sandpaw is sandstorm. it’s noted darkstripe looks super uncomfortable when tigerclaw is mentioned to be deputy. long and sand have a humorous argument abt their names and who got the Cooler One 

- however everyone’s like ‘ok so brokenstar wasn’t the Fire Savior so who IS’ and fire is dismissed out of hand bc he’s a kittypet and all the past fire saviors was clanborn. ravenpaw however tells fireheart in private that he believes fireheart is the Fire Alone, and that Shit Is About To Go The Fuck Down

- meanwhile, darkstripe asks if he can see fireheart alone, and fireheart obliges. darkstripe sits down and, very quietly, says ‘i have to tell you about what happened to redtail.’

- and it ends there lol that’s book one.

[wtf-yoongi]

Stage lights. ‹‹part I of III››

pairing | jungkook x reader

summary | you visit jungkook on tour for the first time

genre/warnings | high levels of fluff + relatively new relationship + warning: features jk being extremely tired in between sets + but it’s ok because you look after him afterwards and now my heart is clenching 

words | about 7k total (part I is 2,034)

note | kinda belongs in the same universe as this one, but can be read separately. i got carried away and wrote this huge thing, so i decided to separate it into three parts. i hope you like it 🖤 p.s.: the other two will be posted in the next few days. also: have i mentioned i love jk and want him to have the whole world?

Your phone vibrates repeatedly inside of your pocket, but you can’t really reach for it while trying to get your luggage out of the conveyor belt, can you? You run towards your red, small-sized suitcase, thankful that you were fast enough to reach it before you had to wait it go around again.

When the tiny wheels are finally on the ground, you retrieve your phone to check the texts.

Hae is there to pick you up, ok? She has expert level English like me lol

She’s also wearing a bright orange jacket so you recognize her

Let me know when you’re with her?

You don’t really feel like replying now, choosing to look in the direction of the exit to see if you could already locate a bright orange spot somewhere instead.

It’s not that you are trying to ignore him – quite the opposite. To be completely honest, your nerves are killing you.

It all feels even more real now that your feet are on the ground and your brain keeps telling yourself oh my god he’s somewhere in this city breathing this air while at the same time trying to calm down. It has been months since you last saw each other, work and classes getting in the way, but the day has finally come. 

And you couldn’t be more thankful – or nervous. There’s something about seeing him after such a long time that, deep down, worries you. Yeah, you talk every day, but texting and video calls only go so far. They’re not the real deal. And even though 99% of the time all that comes to mind is how badly you want to hold him close and hug him for hours, there’s 1% of doubt there for some reason. 

Seeing someone after a very long time just gets awkward sometimes. And you don’t want things to be awkward, not even a second. You only have a few days together before you have to go back home, there’s no time for that – no time to lose.

You finally start moving again, holding onto your phone a little bit too tightly and dragging your suitcase behind you. The exit doors are not far from carousel number twelve and you can see there are a number of people waiting for arriving passengers: family members, friends, nicely-dressed people holding up iPads with fancy last names… And a young woman wearing the most absurd orange jacket.

Jungkook must have shown Hae a picture of you before – she’s quick and doesn’t think twice before waving shyly in your direction as soon as you’re through the automatic doors. You smile at her kindly and notice she’s immediately reaching for her phone to text someone. It wouldn’t surprise you if it is Jungkook himself or another staff member that could let him know the news.

“Hi,” she greets with an excited smile. “I’m Hae, it’s a pleasure to meet you! How was your flight?”

It intimidates you a little seeing such a sweet-looking person your age be so formal and polite around you. She looks like she could be your friend – a friend that insists on carrying your small suitcase even though you have no problem at all doing it yourself.

When you’re inside the black SUV, you text Jungkook back.

I’m on my way now, please tell Hae to relax and treat me as a friend

It’s kinda freaky how diplomatic she is

A few seconds pass before you get an answer.

Let her be, she’s nice haha

She’s an assistant to the head of PR. Literally her job description includes being as diplomatic as possible

You smile at your phone and then raise your eyes to Hae, who’s sitting on the passenger seat next to the driver. They exchange a few words in Korean, but remain quiet for most of the long ride to the venue.

There’s a little bit of traffic when you’re near the stadium, the influx of cars coming and going more intense the closer it gets. It’s great to see people lining up, singing and dancing in anticipation. The line itself isn’t as long now and you assume most people are already inside. With that, you also realize this is, in fact, your first BTS concert. How weird is that?

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to put this on,” Hae interrupts your thoughts and you turn to her to see a simple black baseball cap in her hands. “I’m really sorry about this, no one’s going to see you, this is just extra precaution. If you could hold onto this and wear it every time you’re outside, that would be ideal.”

You don’t say anything, settling for just nodding in agreement and taking the cap from her hand. As you put it over your head, you wonder if these are going to be some curious few days, filled with first timers. But even if the thought of hiding a relationship is foreign to you, you know, in this case, the price is totally worth it.

The closer you get to the stadium, the louder the cheering seems to get. When Hae opens the door, you find yourself parked next to many other cars and vans, and you can finally hear the sounds clearly – thousands upon thousands of people filling up every seat. She moves to get your luggage from the trunk and you just want to yank it out of her hands to carry it with your own, but stop yourself from doing so at the last second with pursed lips and a let her be in the back of your mind.

With a “follow me, please”, Hae leads the way through a maze of corridors, doors and temporary structures built solely for the single show that’s going to take place in this stadium. It surprises you just how big everything seems to be, the scale of it all, and Jungkook’s pressures kind of seem more real now. Putting yourself in his shoes becomes just a little easier as you can feel the buzz from the fans building some sort of anxiety inside of you.

“They’re inside this room,” she finally speaks again and points to a door with a sign that says ARTIST in big, bold letters. “I’ll see you again when the show starts, ok? Oh, and I’ll take care of your luggage, you don’t have to worry about that.”

You nod and let out a small “thanks” just when she turns the knob and opens the door, moving her hand to signal you can go in. You can hear many people talking before even seeing anything, but you’re not ready for the sheer amount of people working in a single room when you finally peak inside.

Everything looks like the most organized mess ever. There are black labeled boxes and bags everywhere and people moving up and down with Canon cameras, freshly-ironed shirts, makeup brushes and everything in between. They all seem to be speaking or laughing quietly and in a rush, their Korean rolling out of their tongues so easily it startles you when you hear something you can actually understand. 

“Hey, you’re here!”

You suddenly stop scanning the room to turn to your immediate left, where a familiar face is smiling at you. Namjoon has a water bottle in his hands, which he promptly leaves on top of a table to greet you properly.

“It’s so nice to see you! How are you doing?” He asks and leans in for a quick hug. When you separate, he’s once again speaking, but this time you don’t understand a word except for Jungkook-ah in the beginning of the sentence.

All of a sudden, you feel like all eyes are on you. People working all around stop for a second to see you for the first time and you start to wonder what exactly Namjoon said after calling Jungkook’s name.

It all lasts less than a second, though, as the staff at least looks like they have more important things to do than looking at a stranger – and you’re deeply thankful for that. To your right, you see both Jimin and Hoseok waving hello from their seats where they're having their hair done. You wave back at them with a smile and it isn’t until you turn your head to face forward again that you see him quickly moving towards you.

Jungkook has the most absurd smile on his face, dimples in full display – and, somewhere inside, you melt completely. There’s something different in him and you can finally see it now that he’s in front of you. His jaw looks more defined, his hair texture is healthier than the last time you saw him and there’s something about the way his eyes glimmer that certainly can’t be captured on camera. You have to be face to face to see it.

He takes longer strides the closer he gets to you and you feel like he’s fighting the urge to run altogether. It all happens so fast – you can’t even extend your arms in his direction before he’s crashing into you, the air leaving your lungs in a low humpf. Jungkook surrounds you with his body, his arms tightly holding on, while you do your best to press a hand to his back at the same time you’re trying to hold the cap on top of your head so it doesn’t fall to the ground.

It is overwhelming, but in a good way. Suddenly, that 1% of doubt is a thing of the past.

Jungkook lets go all of a sudden and looks into your eyes, soon grabbing your hand to lead you out of the room again without saying a word. He’s taking long steps and you have to be quick on your feet to follow.

“Where are we going?” You ask and you have to adjust the strap of your backpack before it falls from all the moving around.

Jungkook doesn’t answer, though, and swiftly pulls you into another room nearby. This one is much smaller, you notice, and there’s no one inside. When he closes the door behind you, it gets quiet and, somehow, familiar.

“My God, I’ve missed you,” he says under his breath, pulling you close again. He’s calmer now, taking his time to bury his face in your neck and take a deep breath. “I’ve missed you so much, I can’t believe you’re actually here.”

“I’ve missed you, too, you know? A lot,” you reply, running your hands up and down his covered back to comfort him. “A whole lot.”

“I’m sorry I had to drag you out of the room like that,” he speaks quietly before taking a deep breath – and you can feel the air he exhales soon after. “Too many people watching.”

“It’s ok, I understand.”

Everything feels so still you can swear, for a moment, that the whole world has stopped. Jungkook is slowly rocking both of your bodies from side to side, humming a song you can’t recognize, and it seems impossible to fall more in love with him than right now. You close your eyes, taking everything in, and you can smell the slight scent of fresh laundry in his clothes.

“And I wanted to kiss you,” he admits out of nowhere. “Can’t do that in front of everybody.”

Jungkook gently disconnects his body from yours, taking his time to look at you now. He softly places a hand on your face as if he’s struggling to believe you’re there and you’re real. When he smiles, your heart melts further – and you don’t know how that’s even possible.

“Can I?”

You smile back, nodding at the same time you reach for the back of his neck. “You can kiss me a hundred times.”

“Just a hundred?” Jungkook asks with a disappointed voice, leaning in closer now. “What happens if I want more than that?”

“You get… Refills,” you say and laugh at your own choice of word. “Endless kiss refills. Does that sound good?”

“Hmm,” he hums, kissing you and tasting your lips for the first time in what seems like forever. “Sounds great.”

He laughs and leans in again.

☁️ read part II here ☁️

Read more ›› masterlist

[dramarising-replacement]

Re: https://dramarising-replacement.tumblr.com/post/617916922335543296/so-ive-had-a-subspecies-since-september-i-noticed

TL;DR: Things are fishier than they seem, and M might actually be more of a thief than SB. At the very least, M 100% falsely accused SB of theft; at the worst, M stole SB’s idea and went on an editing spree to cover their tracks.

I don't have a tumblr so usually commenting on posts here is more trouble than it's worth, but I just have to on this one for some reason. Maybe it's because I think the entire concept of “subspecies” is stupid, maybe it's because thanks to a namedrop I could easily dig everything up... but from what I found the drama OP (M) definitely seems shady. Brace yourselves, my salty friends, for an unnecessarily long deep-dive into stupid drama (because what else are you going to spend quarantine doing?).

First, let's take a look at the timeline.

According to the original post date, the drama OP (M) created their subspecies in Dragon Share on September 13 2019. The thread has moderate activity levels up (~2 week post gaps max) until December 13 2019, when it apparently dies (barring any ghost bumping of course). The next post on the thread is made May 11 2020, when M suddenly becomes active again. M also created a new subspecies thread in Dragon Share on May 9 2020 at 13:05 FR (exact times will become relevant later on); it seems the posts were filled in with edits made within the next couple days, as is standard. Also of note is the fact that many of M’s posts in their original thread have edits made May 9 2020 from 10:39-13:27 FR (this will be key); additionally, a majority of these edits are made on posts that contain the guidelines for the subspecies- not sales, affiliates, pinglists, etc. that would require any sort of update.

The “accused” in this case (SB) created their hatchery thread in Dragons For Sale on December 24 2019. Aside from sales/affiliate posts, no edits to the main hatchery posts were made since December 29 2019 (likely filling in from a structure laid out 5 days prior), except for on March 19 2020, when it looks like they might have converted how they list dragons for sale to be linked to a tab instead of posted/adjusted g:t ratio. In any case, I believe these particular edits do not really play a big role on the overall timeline and drama, same as M's edits on their new thread. For a user that describes themselves as “barely active”, they do a decent job at bumping posts, with ~1 week between bumps except for 2 spans of ~1 month: from Feb-Mar, and after a short bout of bumping, from Mar-Apr.

The drama begins when M makes their post on SB’s hatchery thread May 09 2020 at 10:10 FR, which is edited less than a minute later (maybe a typo correction?). So here’s the timeline all pieced together:

September 13, 2019 – M creates the subspecies

December 13, 2019 – M seemingly goes inactive on their thread

December 24, 2019 – SB creates their hatchery thread

peace, until…

May 09, 2020 @10:10 – M accuses SB of “stealing” their idea on SB’s hatchery thread

May 09, 2020 @10:39 – M edits their subspecies requirement post

May 09, 2020 @13:05 – M creates a new subspecies thread

May 09, 2020 @13:14 – M edits their old subspecies main post

May 09, 2020 @13:21 – M edits a post about ‘Queen’ variant(?) requirements on their old thread (Important)

May 09, 2020 @13:27 – M edits a post showing examples of ‘Queen’ variants on their old thread (Important)

~BONUS~ May 12, 2020 – people start defending M on SB’s hatchery thread. The posts weren’t exactly the nicest, so who knows if they’ll still be around by the time this gets out of the queue

Ok, I know what you’re all thinking- what does all this mean? How is this shady?? For that, we will have to dive a bit more into the content of the posts to put some context to that timeline; but first, let’s take a look at the threads and see if the theft accusation is accurate.

M’s old subspecies thread:

Messy layout/design. Links are left as ugly long URLs, but most importantly… there is no consistency on what the subspecies design is! In the main post, no colors are listed, but the genes are specified to be Slime/Lionfish, Sludge/Bee, and Capsule. In their next post on the subspecies requirements, genes are listed as Slime, Sludge/Bee, Capsule- no Lionfish to be found! Color specifications are kept vague, with only a Honey tert required, though they do also lay out 4 specific named variations using Amber/Amber, Amber/Gold, Lemon/Gold, and Lemon/Lemon. The post with the ‘Queen’ requirements lists genes of Slime/Hex/Capsule, with no colors specified except for the same 4 variants made earlier.

M’s new subspecies thread:

Still a work in progress, but looks to be pretty much identical to the previous thread; the only main change is that banner is replaced with an original (credited!!) logo (good job on that, M). The main post specifies genes of Slime, Sludge/Bee, and Capsule. The color rule examples post contain the subspecies and the ‘Queen’ variant (Slime/Hex/Capsule), and include some additional variants as well- ‘Crystallized’ (Bee sec), ‘Wasp’ (Lionfish prim), Pollenators[sic] (Glimmer tert), and ‘Hornets’ (Pinstripe/Sludge/Glimmer).

So if you’ve been paying attention, M’s ~super special unique subspecies~ has color requirements of “anything honey-like” (while also having 4 specific color combinations) and a combination of random genes in addition to the “official” genes thanks to the addition of “variants” that have nothing to do with the original Slime/Sludge/Capsule premise. The only consistency seems to be Honey tert.

SB’s hatchery thread:

Aside from some hard-to-read colors used, has nice formatting. Lists 6 pairs, which are strictly either Amber/Amber or Grapefruit/Grapefruit, with a small range of matching terts for each pair (not necessarily encompassing Honey). 5 pairs give primarily Slime/Hex (+small gem gene chance), and 1 is Slime/Sludge. As far as terts go, 2 have terts weighted towards Capsule, 1 is Capsule/Runes, 1 is Opal/Glimmer, and 1 is Glimmer. So primarily Slime/Hex/assorted, in an xxy Amber/Grapefruit+assorted.

So to put that all together:

M’s claim of subspecies “theft” would really ONLY pertain to their ‘Queen’ variant, not their main subspecies (only 1 of SB’s pairs has a 50% chance at making M’s subspecies). In addition, the range built into SB’s pairs violate the only seemingly consistent rule of M’s subspecies: a Honey tert. The only argument for “theft” would pertain to the gene combo of Slime/Hex, which appears in 5 of SB’s pairs and M's ‘Queen’ variant (though again, SB’s pairs do not have the right tert color/gene most of the time!).

Now, do you remember that timeline? After accusing SB of “stealing” their idea (presumably for the ‘Queen’ variant), what did M immediately do? They went back to their thread and specifically edited the posts pertaining to the requirements for the subspecies and the ‘Queen’ variant! It’s theoretically even possible that the ‘Queen’ variant didn’t even formally exist when SB made their hatchery- all the dragons mentioned/posted in M’s thread are the standard Slime/Sludge/Capsule subspecies, and 3 of the registered dragons of the ‘Queen’ variant were bred in January (well after SB started their hatchery), with 1 other dragon acquired from untraceable sellers at some point (likely around the same time as it is the parent of the other 3). You might even say that perhaps M “stole” the idea for the ‘Queen’ from SB… M also posted the proof themselves in the OP that they use shady edits to change the narrative in their favor- SB specifically mentions this in the screenshots after calling out M for removing their link, who then backs it up by claiming they were “project” dragons; yet M placed them in the “Completed breeders” tab, which was hastily edited to now include “Breeders that need gene alterations”, a shady move that SB commented on and M decided to post proof of for some reason lol.

So if this is true, and M accused SB of stealing their idea, then raced to edit their posts to create a narrative to justify their claims… why would they do it? My theory is simple: an honest mistake combined with jealousy. There are only 12 registered dragons listed on both the old and new subspecies threads, half of which are owned by M. On the other hand, SB’s hatchery lists 22 dragons sold, only 1 of which is exalted. Now I don’t know anything about hatcheries, but I think that is a decent amount for just under 5 months of sales, especially when taking into account the periods of seeming inactivity. I think that M either went on hiatus or forgot/gave up on the subspecies back in December, before SB created their hatchery. SB then created their hatchery, using similar (but definitely not the same!) ideas. Time passed, and one day when browsing the sale forum M comes across SB’s thread. Seeing SB’s hatchery have the popularity they never had, combined with poor memory of the details of their subspecies after such a long time had passed, M comments mistakenly accusing SB of theft. However, not long after they find their old thread, and realize that SB isn’t at all copying their Slime/Sludge/Capsule xxy Amber-ish/Honey, and rush to make the edits needed to tidy up their claims. In the process, they quickly realize it’d be best to just start a new thread altogether, as the current thread was a mess and had no more reserved space past the ‘Queen’ variant (which may have been reserved/lore space before M covered their tracks). Far less sinisterly, perhaps M continued their subspecies idea after abandoning the thread, and after accusing SB they realized that they never actually officially updated their subspecies.

  But who’s to say? There might not be a smoking gun one way or the other, but there’s enough circumstantial evidence to say M doesn’t look as innocent as they sound. As far as SB’s response, it was definitely out of line and way too harsh. But you’ve also gotta admit you’d be pretty peeved if you had been peacefully minding your own business for months and suddenly someone comes in out of the blue, wrongfully accuses you of being a thief, demands you give them credit for all your hard work, then proceeds to buy your dragons to make them part of their “rightful” hatchery, erasing any mention of you as just another slap in the face. From looking at the dragons they’ve sold, SB doesn’t really seem to care what happens to them- genes have been changed, links have been removed, no drama that I can see. It really seems like they are reacting more to M’s shadiness over the whole deal than anything else. That said, nobody likes being namecalled, so SB’s parting remark wasn’t right even if they were wrongly accused of theft.

[hold-my-hand-kuroo]

A Bouquet For You || 02 - Carnation

A Bouquet For You Masterlist

taglist: @disgruntled-gay @moonchild-kun94 @skyguy-peach @error707-thememelord @o51oc @nanacee @prettysetter @sugawsites @shareyourfandomfaves

The next morning is exactly what you feared. You wake up late, missing the three alarms that you had set for yourself, and after some deliberation, you decide to go without breakfast. Not your best idea, but between being late on your first day or a hearty meal, you’d choose the former any day. First impressions were important.

“Are you sure you’re not going to eat?” Kenma asks, watching you fumble around with your shoes at the doorway. “Or actually, where are you even going this early?”

“Work. First day,” you say hurriedly. Turning the doorknob, you turn back to give him a quick wave or something similar to it. “See you. I’ll be back later tonight.”

“B-bye?” he responds like a question. After all, Kenma still doesn’t understand why you’re conversing with him like a real person. The feeling of living with someone after so long feels foreign, and he’s continuously caught by surprise with your behavior. Even a rush, you still poured a glass of milk for him, forgetting that spirits don’t need calcium for strong bones. He drank it nonetheless, being very confused.

Work is exactly what you had imagined it to be. Hell. Within your very first hour, you’re bombarded with new tasks and papers. “Experience is key,” your supervisor had said, but between the directions being fired at you and more coworkers just giving you endless stacks of files, you quickly are at a loss for what to do. Between flipping through the manual and managing your work properly, you find yourself already utterly exhausted by lunch break.

Lunch break. That was your next problem. Nobody wanted to involve themselves with the new, troublesome rookie, leaving you to eat on your own, albeit quickly, because you wanted to get things done.

“D-do you mind if I sit here with you?” a small, shaky voice stammers. You look up from scrolling through your phone to see a short, blonde woman. She grips tightly at her lunch bag, eyes quivering. “You don’t have to let me, though! I don’t want to be too pushy!”

“I don’t mind!” you answer kindly, offering the chair next to you. You watch as the woman of nerves shakily takes the spot. “Actually, thanks for offering. I was worried that I was going to have a hard time getting along with other people.”

“It’s always hard on the first day. I’ve been here for a few months, and it’s still really difficult for me!” she agrees. She seems more relaxed, shoulders going down slightly. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, the woman opens her lunch before jolting upright. “I’m sorry! I never introduced myself. I’m Yachi Hitoka!”

You vaguely remember her name, and you realize that it’s the person whose desk is right next to you. You’re embarrassed, to say the least, realizing that you barely made sufficient introductions to the people around you. Offering your own name in turn and apologizing profusely, the two of you get along better than expected. As it turns out, Yachi, though having only been at the company for less than half a year, was a designer genius. Often tasked to be the leader of poster projects, your coworker who seemed only to be made out of nerves was a master at what she did. You hoped to be like her one day.

“It’s a little rough at first,” she admits, wiping stray crumbs off the table, “but you’ll be fine. To be honest, I saw some of the samples you sent in with your resume. Just a peek though! Your pattern-designing is really interesting and pretty, so I think they’ll be useful in the future. If you need any help…you know…feel free to ask me.”

After lunch, you feel like a new person. You’re not sure if it’s just getting food in your system, or Yachi’s genuine optimism and show of support, but you’re determined to work harder. After getting chewed out by your supervisor for making multitudes of errors in the files, you’re back at rock bottom again. Expected.

Walking out of the office building, you trudge your way back home, squeezing your way through the mob of people all rushing to get back home at the station. Taking the train was economical on your part, but a massive hellish experience. You always took notice to stay near the doors, but eventually, people would just push you toward the middle, and you’d be stuck there. Pushing your way back out was a million times worse, as you never felt good about shoving other passengers, even if their actions warranted it.

From there, you carefully follow your GPS back to your apartment complex on foot. You didn’t exactly know yet the area that well, so you were careful to not get lost. As you’re walking, you stop and notice the little florist shop and its display of pink and red flowers. They’re small, and the way the setting sun hits the freshly watered petals, reflecting glimmers of light, fascinates you. Walking closer toward the shop, you lean down and admire the delicate beauty in awe.

“Sorry, but that’s just display. We’re currently out of carnations,” a familiar deep voice informs, followed by the closing and locking of the door. You look up to the source and let out an audible gasp. “Oh, hey. It’s you.”

“So that’s what you meant last night by cutting and dying,” you muse, looking at your neighbor and the daffodils he has in hand. “And here I thought you were some kind of gang leader.”

“I suppose what I said taken out of context sounds pretty bad,” he chuckles, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. He looks down at his bouquet and motions them toward you. “I was gonna give you this when I got back, but I guess it doesn’t matter now. Here. Congratulations on moving in, Neighbor.”

“Thanks,” you laugh, graciously accepting the house-warming gift. “Although, it’d be better if I could get a name to thank. I’m Y/N by the way.”

“Shit, did I never mention a name?” he murmurs, tsking. You almost laugh again. Poor introductions seemed to be a pattern, and you were one of the worst offenders. “I’m Kuroo Tetsurou. I’m, as you can see, the owner of this shop. Some people call me a florist, but I’m really a plant magician.”

“I’m sure you are,” you reply with a roll of your eyes. “Did you just get off from work?”

“Yup. This shop closes every day at 7 PM. Won’t be catching me doing overtime.”

“What about last night?”

“Except when I forget things, which usually doesn’t happen,” Kuroo clarifies with a smirk. He glances at your offense attire and raises a brow. “First day not so good, huh? Are you going home? I’d be willing to lend an ear if you’d like.”

“How kind of you,” you sigh, then nod tiredly. “It’s my second day here, and I already have a therapist. Lovely.”

“It’s good to complain a little from time to time.”

Following the florist, you hum a little in contemplation. Then, taking a deep breath, you being to talk about how terrible your day was and how you’ve been yelled at more times today than ever in your life and that reading the manual over and over again actually didn’t help, but none of the senior workers were very approachable. To be honest, you felt a little bit silly, opening up so quickly to a stranger, but once you started, you couldn’t stop. In fact, you don’t even notice when you’re right in front of the door to your apartment room until you hear the jingling of Kuroo’s own keys.

“Sorry, I got a little carried away,” you murmur, embarrassed for what seemed to be the millionth time that day. “I didn’t mean to rant-“

“But you look so much better after letting a little bit of steam off,” Kuroo interrupts, flashing you an insanely bright smile. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Since we’re neighbors that share the same route home, let’s just be friends, yeah?”

“Y-yeah?” you say like a question. “I mean, yeah. Sounds good.”

“Then, see you around, or maybe tomorrow, Y/N,” the florist concludes, unlocking the door to his room, already halfway in. “Hope tomorrow goes better for you.”

“Thanks,” you reply, giving him a wave before stepping into your own home. Setting your shoes aside, you quickly wonder what to do with the flowers. It’s not like you had a vase ready, so you take an empty water bottle out from the recycling instead. Carefully setting the yellow buds into the container, you leave it at the center of the table, deciding that the centerpiece brought a little life into your apartment.

“Hey,” you hear Kenma murmur, walking out of your room with console in hand. You then remember that you really did more life in your apartment. “Nice flowers.”

“You’re not even looking at them,” you chuckle and roll your eyes. “The neighbor gave them to me. Do you like them?”

“They’re fine.”

You laugh again at his aloof attitude and try to throw away the parchment paper that was used to wrap the bouquet. It’s until then that you notice a small note flutter down onto the floor. You bend over and pick it up, wondering if it’s a price tag or something of the sort.

“Hey, it’s Kuroo. You probably already knew that lol. Anyways, I hope u like daffodils. Keep them away from direct heat, and they should live for a while. Since we both seem to be like night owls, feel free to cure my of my boredom. XXX-XXX-XXXX”

“Why are you smiling in the middle of the kitchen?” Kenma asks, brow raised, and in hindsight, you must have looked dumb. If a ghost thought you were creepy, the look you had on must have been just terrible.

“Nothing,” you say quickly and scramble to set the note aside. You know he doesn’t buy it, but you don’t care or want to elaborate on how the florist next door’s kindness made you feel unusually warm. Surprisingly, finding your first friend in a new area was much more relieving that you had expected it to be, especially when your new friend seemed so open and lived close by. “It’s just a note on how to take care of the daffodils.”

“Oh.” There’s a brief silence, and you brush it off as him going back to his game. “I guess that’s fitting since they mean new beginnings or something like that.”

Now that was odd coming from a ghost who couldn’t even remember why he was still here.

“How do you know that?” You watch as he comes to a realization too, eyes widening ever so slightly out of sheer surprise. HIs reaction reassures you that he isn’t lying to you about the amnesia, and you let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m not sure.” He’s frowning, seeming to rack his mind for any clue, anything at all to remind him of where his knowledge came from and why he couldn’t move on. It’s all fruitless in the end. “I…really don’t know.”

“It’s okay,” you reassure, giving him a small smile. “It doesn’t matter that much anyway. I don’t mind cooking another portion, especially when you eat so little. Or maybe I eat a lot- Well, whatever.”

From the couch, Kenma nods and sinks into the cushions. Still, he wants to know why out of everything he could have remembered, why were they the flowers. In his current state, he can’t imagine himself as a flower buff in the past; hell, he doesn’t remember being the sun, but every morning when it rises, he feels like he’d hate to be in it, so if he can’t stand the outdoors now, he probably couldn’t either in the past. He thinks hard and long, but when you call him and tell him that’s dinner’s ready, all he can do is give up and go listen about your day.

It’s all so strange, he thinks.

[immortalled]

// slightly salty rambling (but not really upset or anything, i just want to toss my 2 cents in) for ts

it’s totally okay to dislike a character for whatever reason, or no reason at all, sometimes you just don’t like ‘em and that’s all there is to it... but it always strikes me as weird when people dislike alisha for being selfish, manipulative, and not respecting boundaries, or simon for being a voyeuristic creep, yet they love nathan for the same reasons. like it’s somehow different because he’s cuter and quirkier and “oh it’s just nathan being nathan”. 

he’s been all these things, multiple times, in arguably much worse ways and without remorse. all of the misfits -- except maybe curtis because he’s almost the misfit of the misfits lbr -- have done something bad.

and... like... it’s also okay that they’re not good people. that’s the whole point of the show. they’re not meant to be moral. they’re social outcasts who are supposed to mess up and be terrible and accidentally kill people and do really bad things. they have all the set up to be super heroes, but they just completely suck at it. 

tbh the misfits are a fairly realistic interpretation of what most delinquent young adults would be like if they suddenly got powers. they’re not gonna be the x-men or teen titans or whatever. they wouldn’t even be competent villains. they’re just going to be stupid and reckless and do the things any other misguided, damaged young adult does... but with the added weirdness and stress of having super powers.

i’m getting off on a tangent here. basically, what i’m saying is that it’s okay that these characters do bad things. it’s okay that they’re not perfect, or nice, or good, or moral. they absolutely shouldn’t be. simon is supposed to be creepy, alisha is supposed to be selfish, kelly is supposed to be aggressive, nathan is supposed to be a fuckboy. even curtis, the closest thing to a moral compass the group has, isn’t perfect. but like... if you’re gonna dismiss some of them entirely for their sins, you gotta acknowledge your fave’s sins, too. 

if you don’t believe me, or maybe have forgotten, i made a list of the bad things nathan has done. canonically. trigger warnings ahead for mentions of some pretty heavy stuff like sexual assault and ra.p.e.

nathan has canonically:

- bullied all of the misfits at least once, the most notably being simon who he is absolutely ruthless with, constantly calling him names and putting him down (only shows a glimmer of remorse when simon finally calls him out on it... but goes back to bullying him later anyway)

- delightedly made this remark to lucy, a psychiatric patient, just because: “a lot of people say I'm mentally ill but obviously i'm not, because i'm over here, and you're over there... with the other crazies.” (no remorse)

- consistently sabotaged his mother’s romantic relationships out of jealousy (only remorseful after he reaches a breaking point and ruth, someone he trusted and respected, scolded him for it which forced him to do the minimum and leave his mum and jeremy alone)

- mentioned multiple times that he takes advantage of drunk girls for sex (while this doesn’t necessarily make him guilty of r.ap.e like alisha which we get clean evidence for, but it dangerously toes the line and is concerning all on its own; i wouldn’t call his tone while admitting it to kelly remorseful, just embarrassed)

- peeked at jessica while she was changing in the locker room (no remorse and goes so far as to try to excuse it as something he couldn’t help)

- tried to guilt kelly into having sex with him after she decided she didn’t want to (then later attempted to make her jealous; no remorse)

- did nothing when he saw his little brother drug simon’s drink despite knowing that simon doesn’t do drugs 

- touched at least two characters (rachel and brian; three if we count simon) inappropriately (no remorse)

- manipulated and forced daisy to touch him after he contracted an std even though she explicitly said “no”, then accidentally killed her (only remorseful because he was terrified he’d be charged with murder)

- been an accessory to at least three murders, four if you count alternate universes

and that’s just off the top of my head. i’m sure there’s more that i just can’t remember right now. but he’s literally done everything simon and alisha have.

just... i dunno. it’s okay to acknowledge that a character or something is bad while still loving them. you don’t have to support or agree with something to like it. but please don’t hate simon and alisha for these things then paint nathan as a blameless angel. he’s really not. lol

[etherealellaelf]

Disney Remakes: they’re not all bad.

I submit that some of the disney live action remakes are, regrettably, a bit off. But not all of them. A lot of them are really good. Here’s why.

-Lion King did really put me off with the lack of expressions. I’m not sure if I have much to say about it, lol I’ll have to see it and let you know. Honestly though I don’t think I can because I love the original Lion King so flipping much, it’s a masterful movie and part of its mastery is the beautiful hand drawn animation and its expressive characters. I can’t think I can watch a bunch of real lions just talking. Who knows? I’ll keep you posted.

-Alice in Wonderland, one of the first of them, had some really good feminist moments. I love the Hatter and Alice’s love for each other, I guess he’s like the only human in Wonderland so it makes sense. But I get some weird ideas because the denizens of Wonderland are supposed to mirror the characters in Alice’s real life, and since the only redhead in Alice’s life is Hamish, that weirdo who asks her to marry him and he’s a total jerk.... and the Hatter is a redhead too.... idk it’s weird. Also it’s weird if he represents her dad because number one he’s dead and number two it’s incest, but the Hatter does say a few things that her dad said at the beginning....hmmm... fishy. However I feel like I can rest assured because this might just be the case of “Johnny Depp came to shoot today in a homemade cosplay and nobody can stop him because he’s just a mad genius”, in which case why do they keep letting him do that??? I don’t mind the hatter’s design, but can you imagine Just Plain Old Johnny Depp In All His Sexy Glory as a mad hatter? It would have been fine. They had to give him a gap between his teeth, CGI enlarged eyes, crazy red hair, white and pink makeup... oh well, whatever, it’s fine. I like how Underland looks a bit more like Narnia than like a Tim Burton land; I honestly don’t know if they gave him complete creative control when it came to the CGI set design. It might’ve been cool to see that.

-Cinderella was wonderful, I thought. I really love how Cinderella and the Prince interacted a lot more, falling in love over a long period of time. In fact, I feel like it was a spiritual remake of Ella Enchanted(which, in my opinion, Disney really botched up because the book was just so amazing), so they did really good in my book. My brother, however, hates that at the end she just twirls in her tower and doesn’t do anything to save herself, when in the original she tried to escape. He thinks it’s really unfeminist and he doesn’t want his daughter to act like that. I agree on that mark, but I’ll let everyone watch it. Also they threw a little bit of the Beauty and the Beast original fairy tale in there when her dad, a merchant, asks what she wants and Cinderella asks for the branch that brushes his arm or whatever; similar to a single rose, when her sisters ask for riches. I also liked the handling of Lady Tremaine; it really humanized her and I felt for her. The stepsisters were silly as per the usual. The King went from a bumbling psychopath(the cartoon) to a very melancholy, concerned father, and I cried at his death scene. Bravo, Kenneth Branagh, bravo.

-I really like all of Beauty and the Beast, although I do think that they made Lumiere & friends a little bit too important in this movie. I needed more moments between Belle and the Beast that were in the animation! Evermore was breathtaking though, let’s be honest. Although let’s be honest, I REALLY REALLY wanted to see a shirtless Dan Stevens emerge from a wall of rose petals because that sounds absolutely magical and super HOT. I’m so mad they had to redo it. Also I like the subtle crush Lefou has on Gaston; I’ve always wondered if he liked him. I do wish that Josh Gad had toned it down with his fabulousness though, because although I love fabulousness I wonder if it was slightly offensive. I really liked Gaston, and I feel like he could have gone a little bigger and with more bravado, could have been from slightly comedic to VERY comedic, but I think that’s alright. He did a great job. And as for everyone complaining about the villagers being really nasty and openly evil towards Belle, I actually liked it. It’s clear in the cartoon that the villagers whisper behind Belle’s back, but I feel like she just has a small smidgeon of an idea that they think she’s weird. In this, they freaking ATTACK her. They’re like ‘We can’t have smart bicc’s in our town! Get out me town!” It is a bit on the nose sometimes but I think it works because it helps Beast and her relate to feeling like outsiders. I do think the Beast knowing how to read kind of gave them something in common as well, but I disliked how he scoffed at her favorite book, Romeo and Juliet. I wish he had been more understanding like, “There’s this poor girl whose library is like, seven books, and amongst those seven books, one of which is probably the freaking bible because they belong to a pastor, her favorite is basically a romance. She’s not well read; I’m going to show her the classics.” Which back then was probably, like, idk, Voltaire? Too soon? Eh I’m not sure when it takes place. I do wish he’d gifted the library to her though, that was a nice gift for her in the previous movie. (Here’s the thing; the Beauty and the Beast cartoon is basically a perfect movie and I don’t think anything can live up to it, but this one was good too. It wasn’t better, but nothing can be better than that movie. Except maybe the Princess Bride or the first Pirates of the Caribbean or the stage production of Phantom of the Opera. No, not even then.)

-Dumbo? I haven’t seen it yet, I’ll have to and update this.

-Okay so Aladdin is really good. I entered the film with the meme cringe in my mind, totally expecting it to look weird and bad, but honestly Will Smith was such a great actor! And I actually freaking cried so many times because number one: the genie was aladdin’s father figure that he never had! He taught him how to date! Number two: the genie got his true love as well, and you see her and their kids at the beginning of the movie! SPOILERS btw. Sorry. Also Number three: they picked Will Smith to play the genie because he’s HITCH of course! The matchmaker extraordinaire! (I just love Will Smith. I wish he would run for president; it wouldn’t be the first time we had an actor in the white house. Just kidding, I don’t want to burden him that way, and there are really smart candidates this year to choose from. I just am urging everyone to go vote, and no more harambe crap!!!!) Also Jasmine had a nice new empowering role in this movie. I just sort of wish Jafar had been more menacing and villainous. But his actor was fine, just a bit soft-spoken.

-Lady and the Tramp- I started it on Disney+, I need to finish it. I’m halfway there. 

-Christopher Robin is a gift; it’s both simple and complex. It has a lot of nice metaphors and I could feel my heart hurting for much of the film. Seriously good aesthetics as well, Director of Photography!!! 

-The Jungle Book is a really good remake! So much excitement, and I could totally see Bill Murray in Baloo. (I think it’s equal in terms of story to the movie Mowgli, although Mowgli had that nasty little surprise at the end, I’m still hurt about it.)(also in comparing, the CGI is similarly good, but Mowgli wanted to do a really ambitious face capture thingy and I’m not sure if it worked,(uncanny) but it was interesting! It was also a lot darker. I think they’re both good.) Ben Kingsley was superb, of course, as Bagheera, as always, and he has a really fatherly voice(I thought Christian Bale did well as Bagheera as well, but he was more of an action figure in that movie, less of a father/teacher figure). And John Favreau, as always, went the extra mile to bring the action, the writing, and the moral through, and made it super good for children at the same time!(the same cannot be said about Mowgli, as there were some violence/action things that go beyond ‘peril’, hence it’s PG-13 rating) My one discrepancy was the voice of Kaa. Scarlet did fine, but I always thought of Kaa as a boy. I think they could have found a slithery voice actor for Kaa. Benedict Cumberbatch did really well as Smaug, hissing and growling, and he could have done well. I also think that Tom Hiddleston could have done a great job; he has a really gentle and pliant voice that can turn menacing in the matter of seconds, and if it’s about the snake being sexy as Scarlet Johanssen(haha what??), I think that Hiddles can bring it.(I’m not quite sure what I’m talking about at this point so I’ll shut up now.) I do feel like Mowgli started shooting way before The Jungle Book was even a glimmer in John Favreau’s eye, and that kind of makes me want to root for Mowgli because I’m sure that different movie houses have people working in both, probably swapping stories with their friends, and I’m sure it wasn’t an exact copy, but I can totally see Bill Murray in Baloo’s face and that can’t be by accident. Just saying. Not calling Disney out or anything, but I’m sure they can take it, they have like a trillion dollars. Anyway. Still a good one.

-Haven’t seen Pete’s Dragon.

-101 Dalmations, I know this shouldn’t count but it just does. I loved watching this as a child. I’m so happy they didn’t make the dogs talk? Haha it usually works when they do, but it gave a lot of room for Doctor House and Mister Weasley to interact. Also Glenn Close is great. I think this movie’s a good example of a career woman who decides to get domesticated and her sista is like, “Girl, you can’t do this! We have to be strong women! You have to come back to work!” But Anita is all, “Girl, respect my decisions! Feminism isn’t forcing your girl to be exactly like you, it’s giving me the respect to make my own decisions. If I want to have a baby with my husband, that’s fine. I want to be a mom!” I feel like the “new” 101 dalmatians remake they’re gonna make, will have a different opinion. Similar to wicked and maleficent, it’s going to humanize Cruella, but I just hope that they’re nice to Anita. She’s such a smol soft bird and if she wants 2 billion dogs and one baby, that’s fine... ugh, that’s gotta be like so much dog poop in her house... anita what are you doing...

-Maleficent. Obviously I love it. I love how those arguing fairies are super incompetent at raising Aurora because they’re too busy fighting, so Maleficent has to swoop in and rescue the princess. I like how Maleficent is a fae and it’s so sad how there’s like this rape metaphor when Stefan cuts off her wings, and that would be reason to curse his baby, especially because they were in love and he betrayed her! Stole her wings! Married someone else! T^T Maleficent, you poor misunderstood fairy! I love her motherly relationship with Aurora. I love that she’s the one who kisses her forehead to wake her up because Philip met her just that day. However, I don’t like how they just shove Philip out of the way, because Sleeping Beauty is honestly so romantic, and I love how they dance together and everything. I also like the raven boi. I ship him and Maleficent so hard and I hope he doesn’t die in the sequel, I haven’t seen it yet.

-So technically the Parent Trap is a remake. It’s awesome. It gave my childhood so much romance and prank ideas. It’s much better than its predecessor, especially because the mom in the old one is, like, urged to look prettier by her butler(wtf?!?! YOu’re FIrEd?!?). I’m so glad we’ve come so far.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Are the remakes better? In some cases they are. I think Cinderella is better than its predecessor. I think the original Alice is very good, as a nonsense movie, and I feel like the remake is equally good, but they’re different movies with different motives and plots. The original Beauty and the Beast is my favorite and it’s perfect, so the new one isn’t better, but it is really great and I love it, too. Anyway, that’s all.

[dollsorwhatever]

Hey, Adora

My Adora got here today! She’s very cute, I think almost every detail was well done (except for the hair). I wish her white top was separate but overall she’s a quality doll, especially for the price! My friend also sent their Adora along with her for some hair styling, which I thought would be fun! Mine is going straight to the reroot artist tho lol Now I hate polypropylene in every form and think it’s literally a punishment from God made specifically to cause me turmoil, but you can make it look and feel passable with high heat and some product. But first, I needed to figure out how to make her bump look more accurate.  Adora actually has a pretty good rooting pattern; she has a triangular thatching for the bump to add structure. But for some reason, despite this, Mattel just....threw it into the ponytail with the rest of her hair with no obvious effort to make the bump look even slightly accurate.  Here’s a (messy) test I did for getting an accurate bump; mine is on the left, the hideous factory bump is on the right:

Much more refined and accurate to the animation, and all I did was add an extra elastic to the bump section and tie it into the ponytail to make sure it had the correct shape:

After I figured out how to style the bump, I took it all down, washed and conditioned it with scalding hot water, and then flat ironed it into oblivion. After that I smoothed some Volks Treatment Mist over the ends and gave it a very slight curl with my flat iron. Here’s the end result:

The ends are pin straight and any frizz is gone! The hair still feels cheap and gross, and brushing it too often will result in little frazzled strands all throughout the head but this is good for very light handling (even better for display).  The ponytail does stick out a little farther than I’d like- it was the same way prior to styling, probably because poly hair is so wiry and tends to stick out:

I decided to leave it wrapped in a cello, so that it’s flatter by the time she gets home:

I took it off a couple minutes ago and it’s already flatter, so a couple days like this will definitely help.  Also side note, this body can’t sit with the legs close together:

This is the closest I could get them with her back still straight.   It’s not too bad, probably looks better with clothing on, but it’s just....weird? Especially for Mattel? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Mattel doll with the splayed-leg problem before. She-ra sits just fine, but all of the dolls with this body (Catra, Adora, Sshadow Weaver) have this problem, and apparently Glimmer’s body does it too. Annoying.  Anyway I can’t wait to see my Adora with some nice quality saran hair, and I hope my friend loves Adora’s newly styled, shiny hair! Now I need to get the remaining three dolls (and maybe the Swift Wind set- I want She-ra’s battle chestplate lol) thankfully Glimmer and Catra have saran, so no reroots for them.