#fangs forgery

[starlightshadowsworld]

Monikers I would give to the Armed Detective Agency and why.

Yukuchi “Silent Death” Fukuzawa

-Former assassin who hasn’t lost his touch at all. The Agencies last line of defence and there secret weapon.

-Plays into him coming across as the stoic silent type.

Edogawa “Case Cracker” Ranpo

-He’s known for one thing and he’s going to make sure everyone knows it.

-Ain’t ever found a case he can’t crack.

-Probably said by the police force rolling their eyes and realising oh…shit he’s the real deal.

Akiko “Butterfly Butcher” Yosano

-She beats people with a cleaver, I rest my case.

-Butterflies in her ability and hairpin, and I like alliteration.

Doppo “The Forger” Kunikida

-To forge as in to create something (and depending on the definition it can mean to make an intimation of a thing) which fits his ability.

-Forgery is also a crime and that felt fitting for mr ‘fuck authority I make my own rules’

Katai “Signal” Tayama

-Refers to how his ability lets him manipulate electric signals.

-The central communication line for the Agency and you cant do shit without a signal so it shows how important he is to them even in his absence.

Osamu “Unchained” Dazai

-Slippery bastard who often goes off doing his own thing.

-Refers to both his party trick of escaping handcuffs and the way he’s never caught unless he allows himself to be.

-Very ‘you’re trapped in here with me’ vibes.

-Somewhat ironic considering how he remains chained to this life.

Kenji “Earthshaker” Miyazawa

-Refers to what bought him to the Agency and plays into how he’s seen (and is) a terrifying force of nature.

Junichiro “Phantom” Tanizaki

-His main strategy in a fight is to make himself invisible to the enemies eyes.

-Can and will make people disappear.

Atsushi “White Fanged Demon” Nakajima

-Play into when the tiger was basically a cryptid. Is he a tiger or something else in entirely sort of thing.

-And how Atsushi’s been demonised his whole life.

-Thought it’d be fun to give him a moniker similar to Akutagawa, who’s been known as the Black Fanged Hellhound.

Kyouka “Jasmine Dagger” Izumi

-Refers to her prowess as a swordswoman.

-The jasmine flowers in her hair. How she’s the flower in darkness that not only braved the light but thrives in it.

[dearestspirit]

a note heard in heaven - 07 (final)

mizu x fem!reader | au based on the film the handmaiden | word count: 10,495 | warnings: mdni. this series will contain sexual and dark themes, including: abuse, sex, sexual assault/harrasment, period typical misogyny, murder, allusions to suicide, and period typical stigmas against mental health.

series masterlist | previous part

You sit across from Taigen in a lavish hotel, somehow stomaching your meal as he babbles on about riches and luxury. Nausea stews in the core of your belly, all your worry for Mizu leaving your head empty of ways to reply to the man’s droning. All of your senses tried their best to focus on anything else– the scent of cigarette smoke wafting through the air, the pleasant taste of your food, the sunlight brightening the more western styled decor. The rattling of your hands is hidden behind small, polite bites. Ever so ladylike, newly wifelike. A sharp heave to your heart as you manage to notice the subtle dilation of Taigen’s pupils as his gaze trails over you. One that you’d come to understand is ingrained in your genetics to recognize; like prey at the bottom of the food chain, you feel your skin prickle, an urge gnawing at the very marrow of your bones. His plate, untouched, completes the predatory picture painted before you. Taigen was more than capable of being patient to act upon his carnivorous desire. How long you had, you were unsure.

Disregarding your trepidation, or at least refusing to comment on it, he slides an envelope your way over the table. Contained inside is a collection of black and white photographs depicting a well-furnished home.

“It’s owned by Russian nobles,” He leans over with his elbows on the table, a fang-toothed grin taking over his face. “We can marry again, there.”

Your brows shoot up at that, eyes trained on him to see if you can detect any hint of humor in his words. Your attempt to speak up is interrupted by a waiter coming by, taking your plate and replacing it with a sweet dessert.

Giving you no time to question him, Taigen resumes. “Soon enough, I’ll get notice from the asylum staff that my wife has passed.”

“Oh,” You pause, a strawberry dotted with cream nearly in your mouth as you instead lower your fork. “I thought you’d ask them to just keep her there.”

“Mm, well, I supposed she wouldn’t like to live there very long. Besides, you should’ve both known by now that I’m nothing if not a bastard.” He chuckles at that remark, though you couldn’t find it within you to even huff.

Digging into his suit jacket, he pulls out a passport. Inspecting its contents, you’re impressed with how polished the forgery is. With this, you’d officially become Mizu. Any legal traces of your old life would be no longer as soon as Taigen received word from the hospital.

“I’d like for us to get married again, once you take up her name.”

You scoff at that, shaking your head.

“I’ve come to like you, actually.” He tells you, and the unmistakable feeling of your veins running cold freezes you in place.

“Has it ever occurred to you to think about Mizu? She’s all alone in that wretched place.” It’s your best attempt at changing the subject. After all, she was the only one on your mind anyway.

You think of how, if she were here, dining next to the two of you– her chair closer to yours, hand perched on your thigh to soothe your nerves– she would’ve let her head rear back and cackle in Taigen’s face. For him to have any notion in his mind to genuinely confess romantic attraction to you… you have to think of her laughter so that you don’t cry. You have to think of the way she’d choke on her breath at how pathetic he is, even in an establishment such as this. No concern for social expectations, just utter amazement at Taigen pursuing the impossible. How her hand would travel a smooth path up your back and would curl around your shoulder as she tells him you’re spoken for.

“Why would I care?” Taigen snorts. “For how she was raised, you would think by now she would’ve seen it coming.”

“And you would think you wouldn’t fall for your partner in crime, Taigen.” Is about all you can muster up, hoping to dissuade him.

“Ah,” He shrugs, leaning back and lighting a cigarette. “To be honest with you, I can’t find myself minding, even if my love for you ends up costing me everything.”

Bile tickles at your throat at his nonchalant use of the word ‘love’, as if any of the time you two had shared could reasonably end with love as its conclusion. As if the bloodthirsty way his hands had touched you was love. As if all his greedy want for your money was love. From your end, you could’ve only summed it up with indifference. Disgust, even, if you wanted to push it that far.

Love burrowed itself far deeper in the reaches of your heart. That’s what you knew. Love was… it was someone rushing after you, finding you teary-eyed at the top of a staircase. Carrying you back to your bed and staying until sleep came to you, trick and all. A pair of shoes you couldn’t fathom scuffing, couldn’t bear to muck with mud. Floating, fragrant petals in cozily warm water. The flavor of bittersweet candy, a thimble grinding down all the painful parts of you that hurt. Earrings that, when you wear them, serve only to remind you of the eyes you wish you were looking into rather than your own reflection. Gentle hands undoing all superfluous buttons and laces without tearing into the skin underneath. A thin layer of sugar glazed over lips you wished to kiss forever. Cries of her name that wisped away in the blackness of night. Pitiful remnants of a library as she stood unshaken, metal baton in hand to ward off your suffering. Huddling closely for body heat when freezing fog rolls over the two of you. Blue waves of the sea, a halo-esque ring of light. Verdant hills accompanied by her husky chatter in your ear.

Love was companionship.

Love was her.

“With all due respect, I’m not quite sure what you’d know of love.”

Mizu scowls at the handful of rice she holds, the lifeless body of an insect poking out from where she had just bitten. She had to eat to survive her stay here, of course, but fuck. Sighing, she rolls her shoulders and stretches her neck, joints popping. The scratchy fabric of hospital clothes weighed on her. There was no room for distrust between the two of you anymore, she knew that. Still, she can’t shake the twinge of worry thrumming through her. Not that you’ll leave her– you wouldn’t, and she can’t believe that for the first time in her life, that’s actually true of somebody– but of you, alone, with Taigen. If he had even an inkling of what’s been plotted behind his back, it wasn’t certain how he’d react. Intrusively, the thought that he might hurt you claws at her. Rice squishes in her hand as she finds herself clenching her fist, leg shaking and chains clanking around her ankles. Mizu tries to be a patient woman. Tries to not immediately want to cut down everything in her path, but… Shit, she wishes she had pushed Taigen off that fucking boat, passport be damned.

More simply put, she just missed you. Never before had she known the ways of love, and she had lived most of her life believing everyone around her would leave, or that she somehow deserved that rocky emptiness of being alone. It became clear to her over time that you were the same– so savagely left abandoned in a world you could only escape through death. Even then, was it an escape if the cycle repeated beyond your passing? It’s funny to her now, how she had shown up at your door expecting some naive, immature girl who wouldn’t have cared about her at all. She was so, so certain that you’d be disgusted with her, eagerly taking the opportunity to run away with a handsome, wealthy man. Mizu could’ve never predicted you, all your melancholic radiance that had enraptured her. How carefully you had pieced yourself together and how, crashing into her, you’d let her handle every unsightly, jagged shard of you. Every time you brushed against her, touched her, held her arm or her hand– it was in that she found meaning. Entirely reorganizing herself into a protector, into somebody worth protecting in return. Her fingertips trace along her lower lip, thinking of saccharine candy, ripe peaches, and the night she made a promise to you.

She’ll carry that promise to the end of the world.

Before her mind can return to visualizing the many ways to dispose of Taigen, heat crawls its way through the asylum. Thick, heavy smoke laden with ash creeps across the ceiling, the distinct scent of fire apparent. Ironically, it’s the first time since arriving here that Mizu feels like she can really breathe.

Finally, she’s able to pluck a hair pin from her usual updo. A thin piece of metal that luckily no one had bothered to confiscate. One of the nurses rushes to the doors, throwing them open to reveal dark, fiery clouds rolling in. Amidst the commotion of patients and staff alike hollering, Mizu reaches down to her shackles to start picking the locks. Freeing herself, she’s greeted by familiar faces– or, familiar bodies, rather– as her friends from back home don gas masks and makeshift protective gear. In all honesty, they look silly to her and she thanks whatever powers there are that you won’t have to see her like that. As much as she believes in your goodness and as much as she revels in the way you dote on her, she’d like to retain some shreds of her dignity beyond this whole affair. The sight is certainly something you wouldn’t let her live down.

Her old colleagues fuss over her, hurriedly getting her own mask and gear on. Mizu doesn’t even take a second to consider the risk of literally walking through fire with only shoddy equipment to protect her. So deliberately focused not on her survival, but yours. Getting you out of Taigen’s grasp and into safety. Into her arms, where she hoped you felt safest. And, perhaps a bit selfishly, she wanted to feel your lips at the crown of her hair. To rest her chin in the middle of your chest and close her eyes and not feel underlying dread. Splay the length of her fingers across your lower back to feel the realness of your skin. That once miniscule throb in her heart had grown, overwhelmingly emerging as what she could only call desperation. Desperation for your domesticity– stability she had never yearned for nor thought she needed.

But now, when the portrait of you as her wife had taken residency in her mind, there was nothing more she wanted. Every possibility of a life with you had rooted itself within her. She recalls the moment you had told her you could’ve even been happy staying with your fiance, as long as she was your handmaiden. Remorse chewed at her, thinking if she had confessed sooner that you wouldn’t have thought so lowly of yourself. Like you needed to convince her with wealth and extravagance to make her stay. Wherever the two of you ended up, it didn’t matter to her. Home could be a cabin built in the solitude of snowy mountains. Somewhere in the city accompanied by busy foot-traffic and bustling markets. Out in the grassy, sunny countryside with some animals or farmland. Little dwellings by the shore, a river, a lake. Even some kind of desert where she’d cringe at the heat and sweat dripping down the back of her neck. Anywhere, she decided. She’d take you anywhere after all this was over, as long as it meant never seeing your eyes gloss over with tears again.

Home was companionship.

Home was you.

Mizu wasn’t sure when she had become so sentimental. So sappy that she had to swallow down a lump in her throat, a tightly wound density of all her terror and all her adoration.

Drumming pulses in your ear, you can’t seem to slow your heartbeat. You’ve separated into hotel rooms for the night, Taigen no longer in your presence. Staring down at the two glasses you’ve filled with wine, you try to work up some courage within yourself. This is likely the only chance you’ll have to rid yourself of him. Clutching the vial in your hand, you unscrew the cap. His wedding gift to you, the tiny glass filled with liquid opium that, should your fiance have ever found you, would’ve been enough to kill you. Shakily, you tip it just so that a few drops cascade down into the alcohol. You could only hope he had been truthful about how strong the substance was.

If Mizu was here, you guessed, she’d be able to do this no problem. You hadn’t been oblivious to the intensity of her stares pointed towards Taigen. Though, back then, it wasn’t clear if it stemmed from jealousy or plain annoyance. The man’s arrogance was always laid on thick when he was near, so it came to no surprise to you that someone like Mizu wouldn’t be fond of him.

You give yourself a little self-assuring nod, determined to go through with the plan. He’d be the best at locating you two if it ever came down to that, and you knew it wasn’t a chance you could take with your fiance also likely to be on your trail. If he wasn’t already. Grabbing the two glasses, you figured all you could do was move forward. Even if you couldn’t bestow yourself with some false bravery, you at least knew you could do this for Mizu. For her survival, the likelihood that you two could reunite. What else could possibly matter more at this moment?

Even still, your steps as you make your way to Taigen’s door are hesitant. Realistically, while there were many paths your actions could take, there were only two possible outcomes. Either Taigen’s death, or… yours. You learned a long time ago that death was not all that terrifying. You were no stranger to welcoming it, even. Worse than that was the idea of leaving Mizu all alone. Shaking your head, you knock on the door. From outside, you can hear Taigen groan and the faint creaking of bed springs as he lifts himself up.

He seems surprised to see you, but he gestures you inside anyway. Taking a wide step away from him to make your way in, you clear your throat.

“I wanted to come offer my gratitude for what you’ve done for me,” You tell him, hoping there’s no wobble in your dictation as you put on a deceitfully flirtatious smile. “I supposed that I could at least offer you a kiss.”

Handing him one of the glasses you have, he shakes his head. “No.”

“And why not?” Your eyes dart to where he holds his drink, having not taken a sip yet.

“I can tell that it’s not something you truly want,” Taigen sits on his bed– covered in a layer of money– eyes half lidded as he looks up at you. “I wouldn’t want just a kiss like that.”

“I see,” You nod, clicking your tongue. “And if I gave you ten minutes? What would you give me?”

His throat bobs as he swallows thickly. “Anything.”

Taigen stands so suddenly that it startles you briefly, before his lips are wetly planted onto yours. One of his hands is already firmly at your waist, digging into the fabric of your clothes, trying to get under them. Inwardly, you recoil at his nature– so forceful, impatient. Nothing like Mizu, who takes only when you enthusiastically give. Leaves you waiting until you’re wanting, wanting, wanting. When his lips part from you, you slowly blink as you come to your senses, seemingly forgetting where you were as you thought about the one you wished you were with.

Thumb toying with your bottom lip, Taigen grins. “I’ll spend these ten minutes teaching you so much.”

Nauseating. Raising your drink, you take large, nervous gulps of the wine. Hoping to encourage him to do the same, as he has yet to indulge. The thought that he might know throbs at the back of your mind, a painful ache that you aren’t sure how to soothe yet.

His mouth finds its way onto your neck, repulsively blazing down the exposed planes of your body. It’s fine, for now, you think. Let out a staccato of exaggerated, feminine moans and he’ll be none the wiser. Abruptly he begins to peel at the neckline of your clothes, pulling the sleeves down your arms until your chest is bare. Discomfort bubbles up, and you take his jaw in your palm, guiding him downwards so the two of you are kneeling on the carpet. Forcing his drink out of his grasp, you sip, retaining it in your mouth. Clumsily, you knock your face against his to try to kiss him, spilling the drugged alcohol into his mouth. His eyes are wide as he fumbles, swallowing frantically as a few droplets escape. So you do it again, another rush of wine into his system until his cup is empty. Taigen’s head drops to the nape of your neck, once again ghosting his lips over your bare skin. A smear of wine stains you, clinging at his biceps to keep him from falling over on top of you. Body swaying, his strength was slowly sapped out of him by the opium.

Relief floods you as you crawl away from him, watching as he faceplants onto the floor limply. As grim as it is, you feel a bit giddy as you hop up to your feet once more. Tapping at the side of his head with a socked foot, he lays unmoving. Failing to show any signs of life, you’re immediately rifling through his discarded suit jacket, retrieving his passport. The next few minutes go by in a flurry for you. Tearing apart his wardrobe to take his clothes and cramming as much of the money layered on his mattress as you can into the briefcase he’d brought with him. Adrenaline coursed through you in staggering waves, nearly numbing your fingers as you worked. Mizu was waiting for you, and finally, you would be on your way to her. How many days since you last saw her had you spent looking at the sky, thinking it could never compare to the blue of her irises? How many times had you looked at Taigen, willing your mind to see Mizu across from you instead? How many times had you licked your lips, praying you could taste the tang of her sugar on them?

Mizu– the syllables of her name, the bells of her laughter, the shine of her eyes– all of her, spilling over in your mind until she tints every corner she touches.

Soon, is all you could think. Soon, she’ll be yours again.

The next time Taigen wakes, he’s splayed out on the floor, drool soaking into the pristine carpet underneath him. Groggily turning his head, he’s greeted by two swordsmen. He could only guess they were sent by your fiance. Clicking his tongue, he lowers his forehead back to the ground.

“Fuck.” He breathes, ever aware of how screwed he is.

It isn’t long before he’s hauled into some carriage to take him back to your estate, wrists bound together. Still, he manages to fish his cigarette case out of his pocket, taking the last three white papered ones and lighting them all to smoke.

It’s there, the library, where Taigen finally learns what you meant. When you two had first met and you had told him you would never go back to the basement. Claustrophobic and frigid, the dark room is practically a dungeon. A brutal display of all your fiance's grotesque perversions, hidden away from prying eyes. The overtness of it all even makes Taigen a bit queasy, though there’s nothing he can do about it as he’s strapped down to a chair. Fingers forcefully placed into some well sharpened bookmaking tools, once a proper thing that your fiance had cherished. Madness apparent, your fiance sat reading a letter you had written to him aloud.

Taigen’s consciousness drifted in and out, delirious from shock, fatigue, and pain. What he understood from what you had written was simple and struck directly at his ego– you had thanked him for sending Mizu to you. His shoulders raise in a self-deprecating chuckle at that, shaking his head and staring at his feet restricted below him.

“Can I…” Taigen heaves, ignoring the echoing drips of blood. “Can I at least smoke a cigarette, mister?”

Your fiance snorts. “What an idiot,” He rummages through Taigen’s jacket, finding the tin he was looking for. “I’ve arranged it so that no two girls can leave together, anyhow. They’ll be back with me soon enough.”

Placing the blue-wrapped cigarette between Taigen’s lips, he lights it for him as well. “Now, come on…” Your fiance goads, a malicious smile on his face. “At least tell me about your wedding night with her.”

Taigen grunts, inhaling the smoke deeply. He’s not surprised by the question in the slightest, now more familiar with your fiance’s ways than ever. The readings were already depraved enough as it is, but now, this room he was trapped in… Again, it made even him start to feel the swirls of distaste in his gut. Foolish man, he thought. Foolish for not just taking the money and running. His mind drifts to the night your fiance shamelessly asks about. There, at the inn concealed in the depths of a forested mountain, you had him fooled then too.

Worried that Mizu would be listening in, Taigen urged the two of you to ‘do your best’. Stepping away from him and disrobing, you had laid yourself on the bedroll, completely covering yourself under the blanket that had been provided. Taigen crawled over on his knees, caressing the side of your face, impressed at your beauty. Attempting to press his lips against yours, you had unsheathed a dagger and pointed it in his direction. In your eyes was a fire, the statement ‘no’ very clear in the flames.

Taigen pauses, taking his last blue-wrapped cigarette and lighting it. Breathing the smoke in deeply once more, he shakes his head. Remembering the truth but covering it up with some falsities that get your old man peculiarly excited.

That night you had pleasured yourself, Mizu’s humming drifting through the air. He demeans himself a little, thinking he should’ve known right there and then it was never going to be him who made it out alive. From above the fabric of your sheet, even he could tell the rhythm of your desire was harmonious with Mizu’s voice. How, when put together, your moans and her tune, made a complete song. When your finishing wail had sliced through the silence, you took the dagger to your palm to allow droplets of your blood to fall upon the bedroll. Convincing enough, he thought.

Tendrils of tinted smoke curl through the room, sitting thickly in every space it could. Taigen’s eyes squint as he watches your fiance grow weary, stumbling as he coughs.

“You know,” Taigen’s tongue darts out and wets his lips, lethargy overtaking him as well. “Mercury is the most fatal in its gaseous form.”

The older man falls to the floor, ailing and helpless.

Taigen rears his head back, taking quick breaths of the smoke, hoping the fatal gas invades his lungs even faster. As he fades, the last image in his mind is of all three of you cramped in that tiny wooden vessel before reaching the ferry.

Of your body, curving into Mizu’s as you tightly hold her hand. Of your face, where there’s a hint of a grin more venomous than he remembers, teeth sharply biting through the haze of silvery fog.

Of him, poignantly alone and rowing.

Mizu has always prided herself on her ability to keep herself calm. She’s always been levelheaded, capable of being rational in even the worst of times. The room resounds with the never-ending clicking of her shoes as she paces back and forth, eyes sternly on the floor. You should be here soon. Or, should you have been here already? Ignoring the burning stares of her friends who had rescued her from the hospital, anxiety starts to cloud her mind. Was there a chance you’d left her? Worse, was there a chance you were still plotting with Taigen? Or… what if you really did like him? More than you liked her? She wasn’t oblivious to the way his gaze started to shift when it landed on you. Being apart from you, it was so easy to let her lack of confidence swallow her whole. An insecurity she hid well, always seeming so self-assured. Here, without you, she couldn’t search for the sparkle in your eye, or the upwards quirk of your lips, or the subtle flush on your cheeks. Those things that only happen when you look at her. As if she’s someone precious, someone to be adored. Someone who was wanted. Even just imagining your bashful expression is enough to send her heart racing, hoping to be reunited with you sooner rather than later.

Outside, the streets are lively, people going to and fro. Weaving your way through them, at what you hope is a normal pace so as to not draw attention to yourself, your attention fully set on the various signs leading you to your destination. Directions repeated themselves in your head like a mantra, making sure you couldn’t miss any turns. Picking up speed, you briskly make a turn down a more narrow alleyway that takes you face to face with the building you had planned to meet Mizu at. While the doors were far less ornate than what you were used to, they still intimidated you all the same. With luck, she’s here. Hoisting yourself up the concrete steps, you raise your fist to knock. Before you can make contact, the doors swing open with a force that tumbles you down the steps, dropping the bag of money you’d taken. Carefully catching your footing, you look up at what’s caused the commotion.

A pair of ice blue eyes greets you, and finally. The cracks of your heart have begun to fuse themselves together, the warmth of her lapping at your wounds to heal you. Shattered thing that you are, made anew by the way her arms cling around your waist with ardent fervor. Her hair, loose and tousled, catching the rays of sun. Laughter ringing in your ears as all you can do is clutch at her. Arms tossed over her shoulders, gripping at the fabric of her kimono as you nuzzle yourself into the crook of her neck. Your body nearly tears itself in two, half gasping in mirthful giggles, half gasping in shaking sobs. Mizu’s hand pets at your hair, cradling the base of your skull and softly shushing you. For this brief moment, everyone else has crumbled away and that dream of yours truly exists, much like it did in that grassy field as the two of you ran. For this brief moment, the world is two people and the sidewalk they stand on. It’s the frenzied path that Mizu’s hands follow, up your back, over your shoulders, down your arms to your wrists until she takes your face in her palms– like she’s afraid of separating from you even for a minute.

Her thumbs drag through the still wet tear tracks on your cheeks, her lips parted. You watch as her eyes flick about, mapping out every detail of your features she can. Committing them to memory, as if you two would ever be apart again. When her eyes trace a path down to your mouth, there’s a shy flutter of her lids, a momentary dart of her tongue to wet her lips. Endearing as always, there’s the way her skin reddens in a creeping flush all the way to her ears. You had learned, over time, that Mizu was not one to vocalize the things she yearned for. She was a woman who preferred action over dialogue, letting her eyes, hands, and body language speak for her. Just by looking in those irises of hers, you can tell what she’s hoping for.

“Ask me.” You sniffle, a wide smile on your face as she’s already rolling her eyes.

“Come inside, first. There’s people out here, okay?” Mizu whispers and shakes her head, though the tears at the corner of her waterline are unmistakable.

She pinches your cheek as a pout forms, clearing her throat of unshed tears. Damn the world around you, she wanted to kiss you until you were sated and panting. Until your knees faltered and quivered, embracing her so you didn’t fall. Mizu makes a move to grab the briefcase you had so unceremoniously dropped earlier, offering up her arm for you to take. She’s grateful to see you latch onto her, cozying yourself up to her side in delight. You were more than welcome to crowd her personal space at this point, her usual qualms against physical touch thrown to the wayside when it came to you. It’s the first time she hides her gaze from you, suddenly feeling sheepish. After all this time being away from you, to finally being able to touch you… it’s overwhelmingly mushy. You look at her with such loving intensity. She needs a breather, needs to let her system cool off before she overheats and explodes right here in this alley. She supposes that was just your effect on her– turning her brain to lovesick soup.

“Everyone’s inside waiting… and probably peeking through the windows, so let’s head in.” Mizu grits her teeth, reminded of the teasing she endured in your absence.

“Okay,” You tell her, leaning your head to rest on her shoulder. “I missed you, you know.”

She’s more than relieved to hear it, any doubts she had washing away with your kind words. “Of course I know.”

You’re the first one to head to the door, holding it open for her as she effortlessly carries in the duffel of cash. Everyone approaches you hospitably, shaking hands with you and giving their thanks for the gold jewelry you’d gifted them. It puts your nerves at ease how cordial they are, seemingly liking you. While Mizu and you would be traveling away from them, you were glad to know you had their approval. Hopefully, if time soothed these wounds, you could write or visit them without worry for any consequences.

A few of them head into the other room, gathering up all the materials needed for the next step of your plan. It gives you a few minutes alone with Mizu, which you welcome.

“Will you ask me now?” You plant your hands at her collarbones, looking at her with pleading eyes.

“You really are infuriating,” Mizu huffs, but her pinkening complexion states otherwise. She lets her knuckles brush your cheek, using her thumb to tilt your chin. “May I kiss you?”

“Yes, please.” You mutter.

Mizu takes her time. There’s an eternity beyond this that leaves her craving something chaste with you. Craving the way her lips land on your forehead first. To your cheeks, where her nose nudges at your heated skin. Dotting the tip of your nose as she watches the excitement in your eyes grow, up until your lids close in anticipation. It’s only then does she bring her mouth to yours, her hands landing on your waist. Her kiss is tame, short-lived yet expressing all she had in store for you after you two made your escape. When she pulls away you follow after her, planting one more peck on her lips. Abruptly feeling demure, you take a step back, her hands falling back to her sides.

“Sorry…” You mumble, toying with your fingers to distract yourself.

“Don’t be,” Mizu swipes a thumb over the height of your cheekbone. “It’s… cute of you, really. I’ve never had anyone want to be so romantic with me before.”

“Their loss then, isn’t it?” You say as you bump your shoulder into hers.

You spend the next few hours getting fussed over. In order to make everything go as smoothly as possible, you’d be clothing yourself with a more masculine disguise. Besides, as a noble– or, former noble, at least– you would be more recognizable. Not that you had ever personally left your estate, but you’re sure your fiance has already had the news spread wide and far, guards looking everywhere for you two. With everything in place, you look like the typical man you’d see on the street. Your hair’s been made to appear short, a suit that’s just a little too large draping your frame, and you even have a patch of false facial hair to stick onto your upper lip when you’re ready. Mizu, of course, finds this amusing.

“Honestly,” She’s snickering from behind you. “You don’t look all that bad like this.”

“Is this how you felt when we were on the train together?” You ask, peering into the mirror as you took in your current image.

“Sort of,” Mizu shrugs, her voice lowering to that husky, flirty tone of hers. “Mostly I was thinking about how I must’ve looked more like your husband than Taigen. How I should’ve put you right in my lap and kissed you.”

“You should’ve.” Your eyes dart over to where she stands in the reflection of the room, willing yourself to ignore how her comment ignites a warmth in you.

“Logistically, we still needed him then,” Mizu comes up behind you, nose against the back of your neck as she leaves a kiss there. “Trust me, if we didn’t, we would’ve been the ones getting married at that inn.”

“Oh, would we?” You spin around to face her. “I seem to recall us talking about marriage once, specifically you being someone’s wife, and you very much replied that you’d pass.”

She scoffs at that, bowing her head. “That was… before.”

“Before?” You inquire.

“I can’t pin it down to one exact moment, but before it was you who I was picturing getting married to.” Her voice is small, sensitive. “Though, the moment I realized… it was probably that day I saw you kissing Taigen, out in the woods. That day… I really thought he had you. That you had romantic intentions with him.”

“You’re kind of oblivious then, aren’t you?” You smile, rubbing at her arms to try to comfort her. You could tell the sudden vulnerability took a toll on her. “I told you I thought about marrying you on that night I got you all dressed up, when you kept asking if I was really going to wed my fiance.”

She blinks, her memory jogging itself. This time, it catches the way you had stuttered back then, tripping over your words to say you… you’re asking a lot of questions. “Well, you could’ve been a little clearer.” Mizu coughs, covering the lower half of her face with her hand.

“I could’ve.” You laugh at that, shaking your head. “If I was any clearer, maybe you would’ve spoken up sooner.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Her response is curt, to the point. An emotion swims in her eyes that you can faintly recognize– something resembling regret.

“We were both surviving off instinct, trying to escape lives we didn’t want. I’m not going to hold that against you.” You soothe your hand up and down her back, feeling her sink into your touch.

She nods, though anything more she was going to say is interrupted by her colleagues returning to the room. Time for the real work to begin.

Together, after finally applying every piece of your disguise, it was their job to photograph you and prepare your fake passport. Since you’d be traveling under the cover of being a man, they’d have to adjust the picture inside. You had watched over their handiwork, noting the remarkable precision with which everything was completed. Hopefully it’d be up to par. Or, if you had any luck left, the ticket agent wouldn’t scrutinize it too heavily. You waited by the door, observing Mizu saying her goodbyes. Fiddling with the newly made passport in your hand, you tried to quell your anxieties. Everyone had reassured you how convincing the charade was, that you had nothing to worry about. More than anything you wanted to trust and believe them, but with your lives on the line, it was hard to. Or, it is hard, until Mizu finally turns to you and takes you by the hand. All it takes is one squeeze to quell the anxiety you harbored in your chest, one squeeze for your heart to thump wildly with love rather than fear. That coy smile of hers chips away at your resolve until you finally mirror her expression.

“There,” She says with a sense of satisfaction at seeing the upturn of your lips. “Now we can go.”

Arriving at the station, it’s blindingly bright. The surrounding architecture and decoration is bathed in a formless white, the nothingness of it all creating a nauseous twist in your stomach. Going around are a few men holding pamphlets which you can only assume has your image on it. They stop by multiple women, lifting their headwear and examining their facial features. It almost dizzies you, the agonizingly slow pace of the line you’ve slotted yourself into alongside Mizu. You crowd against her back, trying to find comfort in her closeness. In the way her spine dips, in the way you can feel the warmth of her skin through the thin blouse she dons. It softens what you think is the inevitable blow. That the ticket agent will see through your ruse and you’ll be back to hell in no time, but you had been with her until the end, you suppose.

So when he seamlessly– seamlessly as in Mizu takes care of everything while you freeze in doom behind her– exchanges your two tickets to Vladivostok for two tickets to Shanghai, you’re stunned. While he had checked a few lists, it wasn’t done with any sort of urgency or genuine belief that either of you were the women being searched for. You stand there, locked in place until her fingers curl around your wrist and beckon you to get a move on to board the ferry.

Reaching the deck, the sun has begun its descent, washing you both in a hazy orange. Mizu, wordlessly, takes a step towards you and tries her best to gently peel the fake mustache off your upper lip. She chuckles as she does so, feeling a flicker of heat crawl up your veins. As she pulls off the ring Taigen had given you, it’s a weight lifted. Many weights lifted. It’s a first for you. The idea that if you look over your shoulder, no one will be chasing after you, desperate to lock you away. Safe. Safe, with Mizu’s eyes sparkling like you’ve never seen before and the sun framing her in a halo, you’re safe. All you feel you can do is press a kiss to her lips, hoping everything you wish to tell her is translated in the way you give yourself to her.

The way you urge her below deck, to the room you had been assigned. It’s a beautiful one, decked in grandeur. There’s a few chairs and a larger couch in the room, accompanied by two porthole windows facing the night. That deep blue, sprinkled with a dusting of silvery stars was suddenly no longer a dream. And neither was Mizu. Here, in this private space, you could shed your hat and undo the pins in your hair. It allowed you a moment to breathe, stepping over to the luggage you had packed.

You turn to Mizu, looking at her expectantly. “I… brought something,” You’re muttering, a dash of embarrassment apparent in the way you speak. “For us, I mean.”

She takes the sleek black box you hand her, one adorned in ornate golden flowers and held together by a teal rope, tassel on the end.

“We don’t have to.” You’re quick, nearly stumbling over yourself.

“I haven’t even opened it yet.” Mizu throws an eyebrow up at you. Her movements halt, showing her concern. Her care, for she won’t open it if you really rather her not.

“Well,” You gulp. “You can.”

“Okay. I will.”

And she does.

There’s a tremble in the way she coughs as it opens to reveal two pairs of bells, each one on a length of rope. You can see the way her grip tightens, knuckles paling.

“Like I said, we… we don’t have to,” You’re putting your hands over hers, attempting to close the box. “I just thought, maybe to celebrate…”

Mizu wrenches the box back towards her, your hands falling waywardly to your side. Clearing her throat, she finally tears her gaze away from the bells to look at you.

“We can.” She tells you, pupils blown as you stare into their inky darkness. Inky like letters on a page you once read, pages you’d wished were her.

The unfiltered husk of adoration in her voice wracks through you, your mouth drying in surprise. “You’re sure?” You all but squeak. “Just because I want to doesn’t mean-”

“I want to,” Mizu says plainly. “I was only taken aback for a moment because of how much I want to.”

“Oh, then…” You bounce on your heels, hands clasped together in a nervous energy, unsure of how to move your body or exist in this space with Mizu’s confession.

She gingerly places the open box aside for now, stepping forward. Her chest flush against your own, it causes you to jolt slightly.

“Can I show you?” Mizu asks, and you find yourself fixated on the way her lips move, the way cockiness and desire and love swirl together in the syllables she speaks.

“Show me how the Count would?” Your skittish nature propels forward this joke of yours.

“Funny,” Mizu huffs, exhaling from her nose. “No, I’m going to show you how your wife would.”

There’s a powerful beat of your heart that almost knocks itself out of your chest before she’s arching into you, her mouth descending on you with quickness. To meet at the juncture of your jaw, curling around to your cheek as her palm takes residence on the side of your neck. Holding you in place, her thumb sits below your ear with a firm pressure. There’s a shine in her eyes, a teary glaze over them as you feel this newfound sense of freedom settle over the two of you. It all culminates, crescendos to the extraordinary point of your lips meeting. It’s paradoxically finite, the first yet the last. Singular yet familiar. The bookend of a story never told.

Something entirely yours.

Something that can be met only with the clutching of fabric, a blouse that’d sooner be torn to shreds if you had any lack of self control. Neither of you are a stranger to the machinations of this devotion, but you find yourself quelling the more primal depths of your brain. Beyond this ferry your life laid in wait, and you’re sure– or hopeful, rather– that you’d have more than enough opportunities to indulge yourself. Instead you let your hands roam, memorizing the texture beneath your palms, the silken smoothness of her as Mizu’s tongue parts your lips. It’s a simple motion with a simple response yet it sparks a heat of lightning through you all the same. Courses even stronger when her lithe fingers travel down the expanse of your sternum, languidly unbuttoning your dress shirt. Remorse paints her face as she pulls away from you, a physical pain at even the notion of being apart. Her chest heaves with a shuddering breath, helping you discard your stiff suit jacket to the side. Trailing a finger down your middle, following the path of undone buttons, she gulps. The softness of your skin underneath the rough pad of her fingerprint, a silent wish that those ridges could impart a brand upon you– and the same for her, as she’d welcome any mark of yours on her flesh.

That wish turns out to be fleeting– there are no barriers here, no line she can’t cross without your desire for her to do so– she herself can grant them. So she allows her teeth to sink into the skin bare to her. The column of your throat is granted no mercy, not now when you’re melting from the heat of her mouth. Not now when there’s no longer the lingering threat of someone else finding the flowers of reds and purples and yellows she’ll plant on you. Teeth laying claim on every inch she can muster, licking at the bruises blossoming. She pants against your neck, your hands tight around her biceps to hold yourself steady. Mizu is damn near ravenous, starvation fueling her as she is finally able to satiate herself with something she’s been denied for so long. Blood pumps through her with a thunderous current, radiating through her cheeks so warmly you can feel it.

“You know, right?” Mizu rasps, nose pushing your unbuttoned shirt to the side so she can latch herself to the nape of your neck.

“Know what?” You breathe, a particularly hard bite of hers causing you to mewl.

“That I love you,” She’s sliding a hand upwards, slipping your sleeve down your shoulder to expose even more of you to her. “I love you.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” You nod, heart throbbing. You’re sure she can feel the pound of it as her lips glide along your heated skin. “I love you too.”

“My name, please, say it.” Mizu asks sheepishly.

She tries not to dwell on the pang of selfishness she feels at the request. How long had she spent forsaking certain pleasures to steel herself to a world that has never wanted her? Is it so wrong to let herself whittle that world down, to pinpoint her existence to the way your voice calls for her? The way your voice wraps itself up in honey and coats her bones in the sickeningly sweet urge to live.

“I love you, Mizu.”

There’s a desperateness to the way she shuffles backwards, fully disrobing you of your shirt, torso completely in the nude now. The glow of her cheeks almost implies a drunken state, eyes glossed over and lips shining. It’s not long before she’s back to it, only this time she nuzzles her mouth to the side of your breast. Your wrists are enclosed in her hands now, leaving you still in your place as she works the fat into the grip of her teeth. Moving inward, it’s sudden when she pulls your nipple taut, releasing only when she hears the hitch of your breath and feels the squirm of your thighs. Her breath ghosts along your skin with a chuckle at your reaction, knowing there’s not much you can do other than relent and take whatever she offers you. You more than welcome it though, a distinct restlessness pumping through you.

“Mizu,” You plead, as she’s now turned her attention to the opposite breast. “To the… to the couch over there, at least, please?”

The want drips off your voice in waves, ones that fill Mizu’s lungs and snaps her out of her trance. You’re hauled into her arms, feet off the floor as she carries you with ease. Unceremoniously plopped onto the plush cushions of the loveseat, Mizu now stands tall over you.

Running your hands up and down her thighs over her pants, you peer up at her curiously. “May I undress you?”

Her fingers curl at the base of your skull, thumb caressing back and forth. “Sure, princess.”

You snort at the nickname, rolling your eyes, but the endearment in her voice enchants you. Tucking into the waistband of her pants, you pull them downwards at a teasingly slow pace. You grin, a quirk of irritation present in the furrow of her brow. As they pool at her ankles, you move to work the tie of her blouse undone. Mizu shakes it off, joining the pile of clothes amassing in whatever corner of the room they’ve been tossed to. She’s rid of her underclothes just as quickly, naked before you now. In another swift motion, her hair cascades down the flow of her shoulders and falls along her. It’s her natural state, all the prim and properness of her attire unfastened by your doing. Every tense muscle of hers melts, this way. Shoulders dropping, lids fluttering, chest sinking with a sigh. Melts her into a syrupy puddle taking form in your palms. There is no end to the blessing you feel, not when you’re the one she looks down upon so expectantly. Your hands trace down her lower back, over the swell of her ass and you end up with your thumbs dug into the meat of her thighs. Ghosting your mouth at her hip, you nip at the protruding bone there. She hisses, the slight pain making her wince. But you see her writhe, feel the way her hand comes to rest at your shoulder and she subtly starts to tremble. Secretly, she’s expressive to a degree where she’s easily readable, if you’re trained to see it.

Expressive and sensitive. There’s a high whine of her voice as your tongue swipes along the crease of her thigh, closing the distance between you and where she very much wants you to be. Stopping at her inner thigh, you decide it’s your turn to grace her skin with bruising hues, teeth settling into her. Her breaths sound adjacent to hiccups, like when one can’t get a full inhale before exhaling again. Like all she’s ever done was wait for you, hoping you’d kneel at her altar. You give her your worship in the form of fingernail tracks down the backs of her legs and teeth marks following a circular path. Up one thigh, arcing across the curve of her lower belly, down the next thigh. She was your Mizu, your very own deviously angelic sight to behold. In her eyes swam the prayer she wanted you to recite– and you would.

You use your thumbs to part her lower lips, opening her up to you. You’re in awe of her always, momentarily lost in the glistening of her arousal you’re met with. Bringing your mouth to her, you feel your lids flutter at the first hint of her taste, the first twitch of her thighs. Your nose is nuzzled into the pudge of her mons pubis, the faint curls of hair there. Eagerly, you trace your tongue over her cunt in rolling circles that have her whimpering, zinging through the silence directly to your own heat. Sucking at her clit, you can feel her hips stutter, her fingers reaching to your hair and pulling. You gasp, panting hot breaths against her. Using your hair, she grinds herself into you, your accepting mouth, as you grab at her thighs and hope you get smothered. It’d be a fine way to go, is all you can think. Mizu’s wetness stains the sides of your practically drooling mouth, coating even your chin in a sticky luster. She shallowly bumps her clit across your tongue, as you begin to notice her thighs shaking in your periphery.

“Close…” Mizu whispers down at you, the hold on your hair morphing into more of a gentle grasp. More of a caressing coddle, keeping you flush to her pussy.

You think it’s the way you look up at her that does her in– the flutter of your lashes, the way your tongue is held out for her to just use, the overwhelming gleam of your eyes that just scream please. Arms wrapped around her thighs, you keep her upright as her knees wobble, pitchy breaths in your ear as she rides out the shocks of her orgasm.

You can’t help but laugh into her inner thigh, elation tickling up your throat at how much you love her. How beautiful she is, how lucky you are.

Mizu’s brow furrows again, her trembling beginning to finally cease as she straddles your lap. Those fancy slacks you have on are quickly darkened at the contact.

“What’s so funny?” She’s quite obviously still breathless, but stubbornly she must question you anyway.

“Nothing’s funny, promise.” You lean backwards, causing her body to curve into yours. The way her heart is always searching to be close to your own, some sort of echolocation using the ever in tune beats. Your palm follows her spine, up the bumps of each vertebrae, coming to rest between her shoulder blades.

Mizu, reaching between your smushed together bodies, cants her hips in such a way so that she can finally undo your trousers. Aiding her, you lift up so she can successfully get them off of you, though it’s still a bit of a struggle. It takes a second but she also manages to maneuver you into the position she’d like you in– something that’s clearly never been a challenge to her thanks to her strength. You’re sprawled out, laying on your back and she’s between your legs, sitting on her knees. With one of your legs balanced on her shoulder, she smiles, greeting your ankle with a coy kiss. Like this, she has more than enough room to dip a hand between your thighs. Enough room to roughly press her thumb to your clit, swallowing harshly as she hears that first moan of yours break through. Spurred on by the way your head lolls back, her fingertips find your entrance with ease. You had been nearly soaked through your trousers, not to mention your underclothes, making the first thrusts of her fingers smooth. She curls them within you, prodding at that soft spot that has you cooing in wanton delight.

Mizu wants nothing more than to paint your image into the deepest recesses of her mind, make you a mural on every neuron. She’s relentless with her motions, the back and forth drag of her fingers, sculpting you to the shape of her until that’s all your body could manage to remember. With her free hand, she urges your lips open with her thumb. Of course, she knows by now how intelligent you are, how fiery you can be if really put to the test. There’s still a twinge of pride in her at the way you still so obediently take her thumb into your mouth, already twisting your tongue around it to sufficiently wet it. The way there’s no metal to dull the feeling, the way there never will be. Of everyone she’d seen you reject, of all the times she’d wondered what your true feelings were… those were all dashed away. You loved her, a certainty that no longer chilled her to the bone with dread. Rather, her heart constricts itself into the outline of a thimble, squeezing with a vigor that almost makes her cry. No shame or embarrassment prickling her teary eyes, just the cool relief of knowing.

It has her collapsing into you, mouth meeting yours in a wet fervor as your leg slips down from her shoulder. There’s an insatiable appetite that fuels her, makes her want to know no other sensation than the way you wrap around her fingers, the way you simultaneously crumble against the cushions yet arc up into her touch. Your arms become something much like angel wings to her, how they wrap around her shoulders in a protective shield, restraining her so close to you that whatever heaven lies between you two is nothing more than a mere sliver. Her chest rumbles with a groan as she feels the sting of your nails in her back, feels you start to spasm every time she crooks her fingers, feels the way your breath sputters into little hitched hums.

“I know, I know…” Mizu utters into your hair, vulnerable and wanting.

Hearing the reverence in her voice shatters you, every wire in your body snapping with a broken, choked moan. She continues to work at you regardless, though her pace slows as the crash wears off.

“Mizu!” You huff, giving a half-hearted, feeble attempt to swat at her arm.

“Sorry.” She wets her lips with her tongue, looking down at you with a lopsided grin, one that borders on mischievous as she slips her digits out of you and watches your thighs quiver.

You take a moment to recuperate, eyes closed and neck craned backwards to nestle into the couch. Mizu’s weight on top of you is lifted, and you hear the padding of her steps around the room. What really causes you to perk up though is the abrupt chime of bells, eyes snapping open to see her standing before you again, box in hand.

“You still want to, right?”

“Yes,” You clear your throat, raising yourself to your knees. “If you do?”

Mizu takes the same position, facing you as she kneels. The previous hesitance you harbored starts to dwindle even further as she stamps a chaste kiss to your lips, shaking her head in a nod. You’re sure the two of you are more than prepared, a sense of calm easing over you. Those stories that had once seemed so impure, so terrifying to face no longer existed. This was not an act of imitation or entertainment– this was you tangling one soul to another, willingly giving yourselves to each other without any malice.

Something like giddiness bubbles in Mizu’s chest as she finally holds one pair of bells, face flushing at the simple implication of it. One of her knuckles grazes at your lips, a silent acknowledgement. Open. When you do, she guides the silver charms into your mouth, one at a time. It’s an odd sensation, the weight of them on your tongue unlike anything you’d experienced before. Mizu’s eyes watch, mystified as you suckle, soaking them in a layer of spit. Even more mystified when she drags them out by the rope, moonlight catching on their shimmering appearance. Flame like redness blazes ever brightly as she cups her palm underneath you, the cold surface of the first bell prodding at your entrance. You take deep breaths, parting your thighs a bit more so she can gain some more leverage. In an attempt to ground yourself you crane your neck downward to rest against her shoulder, but Mizu shakes her head at this. Face cradled in her other hand, her thumb caresses at your cheek.

“I…” Mizu breathes, unsure of how to approach her desire. “I want to see you take it.”

You nod, throat constricting and unable to vocalize as you feel yourself take the bell inside you, finally. It’s not necessarily painful, just a slight discomfort at the foreign intrusion. Still, the anticipation excited you. You’re sure you must seem a disheveled mess but you knew it wouldn’t be long before Mizu was one too, which especially lit a spark in you.

“Is that alright?” She whispers to you, a kiss to your cheek as punctuation.

“Uh-huh, yes,” You tell her, one hand twisted in the fabric of the couch and the other clutching onto her. “More, please?”

When you look at her, she’s dazed momentarily, lost in the way the black of your eyes suggests an infinity, suggests time is circular and you two would find yourselves here over and over. She could only hope so.

“Of course, anything you want,” Mizu tells you. “Whatever you ask of me, I’ll answer.”

The other bell, directed by her hand, nudges into you with less difficulty than the last. An unusual fullness, unlike Mizu’s fingers– or your own, for that matter– one that sends you into a bit of a head rush. Woozy, cunt pulsing as you stave off the satisfaction of release until you can pleasure your lover as well. A distinct tremor in your fingers as you reach for the other set of bells, letting them chime as you raise them up. Eyes glued to the pale, barely there pink tint of her lips as they encircle the bells one after the other. It strikes you then, how whittled down and pliable she becomes in your hold. All the clay of her rigid angles, frustration and anger smoothened by the wet kiss of your lips upon her jaw, at the furrow of her brow, the corners of her mouth. Piercing ice, that which chills you deeply, turns into an awe-inducing clear sky. Your rumination of her halts at the sharp, pitchy cry that erupts from her. Mizu embraces the first bell sinking in, eyes squinting closed as she adjusts. Heated hushes leave you as your thumb traces over the ridge of her hip bone, soothing any aches.

“Okay,” Mizu mutters, teeth digging into her bottom lip. “That’s… good.”

“Yeah?” You smile, heart trilling with exhilaration– she liked it.

She nods, eyes darting to where your hand holds the next bell under her. Permission, a plea for you to continue. With a gentleness, you push upwards, watching as her body accepts the bell, stretching around it until it settles inside. Mizu sighs, a placated noise as she drops her forehead to your shoulder, urging you to lay back. There’s a faint ringing as you do so, causing a flush to creep along your chest and up your neck, prickling your skin. She just smiles above you, half in disbelief and half in ardor. Trailing her fingers up your thighs, she spreads your legs in such a way to where she can maneuver her own between them. With a quick glance to your face, she rocks herself down onto you, muffled chimes resonating in your ears.

Their ringing crests as she finds rhythm, the clarity of it sending a pulse through you until it buzzes through your fingertips and your toes. It’s the culmination of all you’ve ever wanted, a melody that strikes a chord you had long thought nonexistent. A yearning that had clawed at your very innards to be known, to be given to, to be loved. She buckles, face above yours, red and panting. Lovesick, too, with a foolish grin. Her sweet laughter mixes, collides with the song you two create, hurling you off the deep end as you join her. Join her in this composition, all those shattered bits of you crooning a harmony until your halves become a whole.

Until the hymn of all your adulation reaches heaven.

a/n: the final part!! i'm really sorry for the long wait between chapters, especially this being the last one. i experienced a lot of technical difficulties and personal life happenings so it took quite a bit. still, i hope this is a satisfying conclusion, i hope people enjoy the story because it meant so much to me to write and have fun with and see everyone's reactions. thank you for reading, everyone!! i appreciate everyone's patience and kindness so much more than i can describe. also, not entirely sure when/what i'll be writing or posting next. i hop around from interest to interest a lot so there's no guarantee there will be more bes related works so soon after this one, but feel free to leave suggestions in my ask box or in the comments!

[smells-like-mettaton]

Happy birthday @carlyraejepsans!! Small birthday fic for you!!!

Word Count: 1 123

Rating: G

Summary: Papyrus and Mettaton enact an explosive plan to get Sans and the Queen together.

XXX

“Are you sure this will lead to an explosion of romantic feelings?” Papyrus whispered to Mettaton in their hiding spot behind a conveniently-shaped shrub. 

The convenience was artificially-created—he had been the one to trim this particular hedge in the shape of himself and Mettaton—but that was okay. Sometimes these things needed a little artificial flavor, or nothing would ever get done! 

He hoped Queen Toriel liked the artificial flavor of bombs. 

“Darling, nothing is more romantic than missile toe!” Mettaton replied, holding a long pair of binoculars to see through the hedge. “Just wait. This program hasn’t even started yet!”

Papyrus scooted closer, pressing one eyesocket to half of the binoculars. It gave him a pretty good view of his brother and the queen standing beneath one of the garden’s arches, where Sans liked to hang out and pick water sausages for his “illegal” hot dog stand. Mettaton had forged a note in Sans’s handwriting, and Papyrus had set up the missile toe—a tarsal-and-bomb combo Mettaton said was a hit on the surface—to create the most romantic atmosphere possible. Surely it would blow through Sans’s aloof exterior and compel him to confess his true feelings!

“Hey, Tori.” Sans hid a bundle of water sausages behind his back. Papyrus wasn’t sure why he bothered, since they both knew Toriel knew what he was doing with them. “Water you doing here?”

Papyrus suppressed a groan. Sans was never going to get anywhere with abysmal puns like that! It was a good thing he had such a brilliant brother looking out for him!!

Toriel laughed, though, because she was absolutely smitten by Sans’s slime-emitting charms. Somehow. 

“Oh, nothing mulch.” She smiled, her fangs poking out from under her upper lip. Papyrus had caught Sans grinning dopily at that smile more times than he could count. Not that Toriel would be able to tell, since Sans’s expressions were nearly impossible for anyone but Papyrus to read. “I hoped you might be able to tell me.”

She held out the note Mettaton had written. It had told her to meet Sans here for a special surprise. 

“Huh. Any idea who wrote that?” Sans asked, glancing around. 

Papyrus tried to keep his bones from rattling with anticipation. 

“It was not from you?” Toriel frowned. 

“Nope. It’s a pretty good forgery, though. They even got my i’s write.” He held the paper up to the sun lamps in the cavern ceiling, like he was trying to see through it. Mettaton hadn’t hidden any secret messages, though, as far as Papyrus was aware. “Hey, wait a second.”

While looking up, he’d apparently noticed the missile toe. Perfect timing!

“Hit it, darling!” Mettaton said.

Papyrus pressed the remote detonator. 

The bomb exploded with a BOOM of bones and confetti. It was loud, it was flashy, it was perfect! In fact, Toriel was throwing herself at his brother already!!

She tackled Sans to the ground, tarsals raining down on her back. Sans’s face, pinned near her shoulder, went bright blue.

“Are you alright?” Toriel asked him quickly, propping herself up on her palms. 

“Uh,” he said coherently. 

“Ugh, Sans, you’re blowing it!!” Papyrus hissed.

“Let the show go on,” Mettaton stage-whispered. “There’s still time for a grand finale.”

“Not sure about all right, but looks like I’m all left in one piece,” Sans finally said, still lying on the ground. 

“Thank goodness.” Toriel sighed shakily. “Perhaps I should not have disbanded the Royal Guard after all… I never would have expected such a cowardly attack…”

“Heh. I think you’ve got it the other way around.” Sans picked up one of the fallen tarsals. “This has the Royal Guard written all over it.”

“You mean—Papyrus did this?” Toriel’s brow furrowed.

Papyrus cursed. Ratted out by his own brother! Didn’t he have any sense of gratitude??

“Do you not think that is a little far-fetched?” Toriel asked, standing and helping him to his feet. “Perhaps he is being framed. Your brother has no reason to fight either of us. Unless our puns pushed him too far…”

“Nah, he’s not into that kind of pun-ishment.” Sans grimaced. 

“Then why…?”

“Because Sans is incapable of telling you how he feels!” Papyrus burst through the hedge, leaving a Papyrus-shaped hole in the Papyrus-shaped shrub.

“Hey, bro.” Sans sounded tired, and not at all surprised to see him.

“Papyrus?” Toriel gaped.

“And Mettaton!” Mettaton burst through his adjacent shrub.

“And Mettaton.” Sans sighed. “Nice job with the note.”

“Thank you! Having a built-in photocopier comes in handy.”

Toriel pinched the bridge of her nose. 

“What is the meaning of all this?” 

“Romance! Drama! Bloodshed! What else?” Mettaton beamed. “The producer isn’t supposed to be seen on set, but Papyrus made the executive decision to pull back the curtain, so here we are! Ready for our close-up!”

Toriel shook her head, but chuckled.

“Of course… well, that is sweet of you. But, I am afraid your script has an error in it.”

“An error?” Mettaton gasped with a hand to his mouth. 

“Yes. You see, I already know how Sans feels about me.” She smiled.

“You… what???” Papyrus’s jaw dropped.

Sans went pale. Paler than usual, anyway.

“What.”

She rested a hand on Sans’s shoulder.

“I did not want to press you on the subject. I have been alive for hundreds of years. I can be patient.” She gave Papyrus a stern look, and he shivered. “As you should learn to be, as well. It is terribly impolite to force someone to confront their feelings before they are ready.”

Papyrus looked away. He’d just been trying to help! Still, there was no fighting a look like that. He could only hope she decided to spare him.

“I see… My dating handbook must be missing a few pages,” he muttered.

“There was no force involved! Only the romantic catalyst of missile toe!” Mettaton insisted, hugging Papyrus close as if to protect him from Toriel’s glare.

“Missile…?” Sans snickered. “Okay, that’s funny.”

“I knew you would understand!” Papyrus said. Sans always appreciated a good jape!

“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t try toe blow me up again. Just ‘cause ya missed this time—”

“UGH!! You are impossible!!! You are lucky the Queen puts up with you!!!”

“I think I do more than put up with him.” Toriel winked.

Sans blushed again. 

“Wonderful! That’s a wrap, darlings!” Mettaton waved with the arm that wasn’t squeezing Papyrus. “No need to thank us. Just order a jar of MTT-Brand Beauty Yogurt™ for your first date, and we’ll call it even!” 

Mettaton engaged the wheels in the heels of his boots and zoomed them away. The sound of Sans and Toriel’s laughter echoed behind them.

That was all the thanks that Papyrus needed.

[obsidianluxury]

Castlevania Hector X Vampire Dom Reader

Hector is human. Despite being an asset to Dracula’s army, it did not mean that the other vampires respected him: still viewing him as a lesser being.

However, not you. You showed him respect and courtesy, unlike the others, and showed an interest in his work as a forgemaster. He became enamored with you and eagerly awaited your every word because of your charisma and empathy.

Hector feels your presence and stops his swing, hammering over his shoulder. He casts a sidelong glance.

“[your name]”

“hector”

Hector lowers the hammer in hand, a small smile spreading across his lips. “What brings you here?”

“You” you answer sitting on an empty area near his forgery. Hector’s face flushes, and he lowers his gaze. “Oh- um… I- I am just working.” You lower your gaze from his figure to his forgery. “what are you working on” you get off the table and walk closer to him but keeping your distance so as not to get you’re self hurt.

Hector turns his neck alert of your sudden movement, his face flushes at your sudden closeness.

“will you not answer me?” you ask a little disappointed. Hector snaps out of his trance, he shakes his head out of the trance. “M- my apologies… I am working on a new piece. If this battle is going to be bigger than it seems, I will need to make more weapons.”

“keep up the good work” Hector cannot focus on his work, only hearing your words in a distant fog. His skin tingles and skin flushes at your praise. “y-yes.”

seeing the state he’s in it only makes you wanna see how red you can make him “you’re very pretty hector you have no idea what you do to me” upon hearing your words hector immediately stops his hammering and looks to you.

As you get closer you move your hands over his chest and stomach. “i really want you” your hand traces the band of his pants before slipping by and grabbing his ass underneath his pants. “can i have you?” you say squeezing his ass.

Hector gasps and freezes, stunned by your action; a hand squeezing his backside, another hand squeezing his heart, your warm breath on his neck. He tries to pull away, but every movement sends a shock through his body. His chest heaves as his breath quickens. In a whisper, he asks, “what am I supposed to say to that?”

“you can always say no, you know I won’t force you” you say taking another squeeze of his ass

“De—decline? You— you want me to decline something like this?” Hector’s voice goes shaky, as though something so wonderful could never be offered to someone like him and in this way. He tries to move again, but his body is stiff and unmoving. He is at your mercy. “Then do you like it?” you ask biting at his ear.Hector bites his tongue to stop himself from saying “yes” over and over again. He nods, barely able to get the words out. “Yes, you can.”

in a flash you use your vampire speed and strength to place him on a table. his back lays flat on the table and you above him. you bite into his flesh with your fangs sucking his blood claiming him as yours. Hector’s body quivers in pleasure as he becomes trapped beneath your firm touch. His breath deepens as your fangs find his neck, puncturing his skin. His mind begins to cloud, thoughts escaping, lost with every drop of his blood that you take. He becomes nothing but a vessel to serve and please— yours for the taking now. “you’re delicious” your lips slowly and passionately trace his neck down his collar leavening a path of bruises “i’ve wanted to taste this blood of yours for so long, it’s even better than i imagined.”

Hector whimpers as your lips travel down his neck, leaving a trail of delicious agony in their wake. His head falls forward to give you more space, making it easier for you to take. His breath hitches in his throat, his body trembling under your touch, overwhelmed by the pleasure you give him. While your mouth is focused on his upper body your free hand wonders his waist and your hand grabs at his cock.

Hector lets out a sharp breath, frozen in place under your hand. His face flushes red again, and his chest fills with heat as he is overwhelmed with passion. His heart races while his breath quickens. He shivers under your touch. your hand moves up and down around his cock, you tighten your fist causing him to thrust into your hand. “you like that pup?” Hector can’t do anything but nod his head with a slight pout on his face. he shuts his eyes tight, focusing only on the pleasure you give him. “good I want you to feel good just worry about taking everything I give you hm?” Every word you say is an embrace to him. He feels your love and gratitude. His body trembles, wanting every bit of the pleasure you are giving him. Hector has no idea how this is possible, how someone like you could find someone like him,a human, attractive. Tears trickle down his cheeks as his breath comes in rapid, shallow gasps.

You lick his tears away “good boy does that feel good hm baby?” Hector lets out a small whimper, and his cheeks flush even redder than before. Your words fill him with warmth and that wormth continues to build in the pit of his tummy. He is at your mercy in every way possible, his body now belonging to you. His breath grows steadier as he takes everything you give him. seeing the expression in his face you can tell he’s close, you twist your hand at the tip of his cock. “you gonna cum baby? cmon cum, feels so good doesn’t it pretty boy” at your words his face scrunches and his pretty dick shoots white in the palm of your hand.

you lift your hand to his face “clean my hand.” Hector heard the assertiveness in your voice and can’t help but obey. “his lips touch your palm first then he like at your palm making sure to swallow his load. “good boy” you grab his face kissing him and tasting him.

I really wanted to make this a Breeding fic where reader fills Hector up over and over, but i literally have no clue who my audience are and what they’re into so i’ll just have the breeding fic in mind for now. but i hope you enjoyedddd.

[wangxianficfinder]

Sick Fic / Hurt/Comfort

~*~

simple love | 簡單愛 by auberjing (E, 19k, WangXian, Modern AU, Hurt/Comfort, Slice of Life, Getting Together, Falling In Love, Strangers to Lovers, Caretaking, Angst and Feels, Grief/Mourning, Eventual Smut, Happy Ending, Hopeful Ending, Nude Photos, Nude Modeling)

watching my heart go round by typefortydeductions (E, 77k, wangxian, modern, developing relationship, grief/mourning, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, implied/referenced suicide, mental health issues, past alcoholism, dom/sub, BDSM, impact play, consensual non-con, dirty talk, objectification kink, dom LWJ, sub WWX, building a family, the work of getting better, sex in SSRIs, happy ending, breathplay, rimming, orgasm denial, safe word use)

of all the hands by typefortydeductions (E, 51k, wangxian, canon divergence, arranged   marriage, emperor LXC, PTSD, nightmares, dual cultivation, mental health issues, fluff & angst, consensual non-con, pining, politics)

paired wings soaring by typefortydeductions (E, 33k, WangXian, Modern AU, Domestic Bliss, Slice of Life, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, both physically and emotionally, Kissing, BDSM, one instance of car sex, Light Somnophilia, Suspension, subspace AND domspace, Comeplay, very loving and consensual degradation)

💖 Pentimento. by orange_crushed (E, 73k, wangxian, modern, college/university au, art conservation, museums, pining, not actually unrequited love, angst w/ happy ending, misunderstandings, smut, major character injury, hospitalization, hurt/comfort, past incarceration, forgery)

兔死狐悲 (tù sǐ hú bēi) by Anonymous (M, 14k, WangXian, Modern AU, Getting Together, Meet-Cute, Doctor WWX, Hospitals, Canonical Character Death, (But a minor   character - not the ones listed), Angst with a Happy Ending, Misunderstandings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort)

box your errors by mellowflicker (T, 42k, WangXian, Modern AU, single dad lwj, Domestic Fluff, Family Issues, Slow Burn, Kid Fic, let lwj have friends agenda, Hurt/Comfort, Pining)

Waiting for Spring by thievinghippo (E, 130k, WangXian, Modern AU, MLB AU, Baseball AU, Mutual Pining, Pining while fucking, slight angst, Happy Ending) specifically the 2nd fic

some things go forward by everythingispoetry (T, 73k, WangXian, Modern AU, Hospitals, Teenage Drama, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Happy Ending, can teenagers adopt a baby, or rather can a baby adopt teenagers, papayas?)

总有一天; a place to hide (can’t find one near)  by yiqie (E, 76k, WangXian, Modern AU, Pianist,Getting Together, Mental  Health Issues, Suicide Attempt, Suicidal Thoughts, Depression,   Hospitals, Overdosing, Eventual Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Additional   Warnings In Author’s Note, This is really rough but it is hopeful!)  

take my hand, will you share this with me by doodlebutt (E, 137k, wangxian, JC/WQ, modern, figure skating, hurt/comfort, pining, angst w happy ending, major character injury, recovery, getting together, past trauma)

in wild plums and river willows by SnowshadowAO3 (T, 17k, wangxian, canon temporary character death, angst w hopeful ending, grief/mourning, descriptions of physical pain, alcohol mention, fatherhood, the importance of legacy, hurt/comfort, hallucinations vs ghosts, grief and love as inherent bedfellows)

Fangs of Desire by UseMyMuse (E, 39k, wangxian, graphic depictions of violence, rape/non-con, modern w magic, vampire LWJ, halfling WWX, hellhound/banshee WWX, dub con, sexual assault via vampire venom, venom addiction, recovery, magical war, child neglect, attempted murder, WWX sold off, WWX/others dubcon)

Buried in Lan Wangji's Heart by FoxyYaoguai (E, 7k, wangxian, canon divergence, angst w happy ending, marriage of convenience, smut, love confessions, wedding night, WWX lives, hurt/comfort, pining, fluff)

a fever, a promise, an unopened door by pale_and_tragic (T, 9k, LXC & LWJ, wangxian, post-canon, sick fic, angst w/ happy ending, hurt/comfort, fever, hallucinations)

Ties by WithBroomBefore (M,15k, NMJ/WQ, wangxian, canon divergence, fix-it, not everyone dies au, family feels, no golden core transfer, sect leader JYL, canon typical violence, sick fic, trans NMJ, sunshot campaign, WQ pov, happy ending)

i don’t wanna lose you (hope it never ends) by annemari (T, 20k, wangxian, post-canon, sick fic,  getting together)

Sick Bed Reserved In Gusu Lan by scifigeek14 (T, 14k, wangxian, canon divergence, sick fic, hurt/comfort, healing, illnesses, fever, fix-it, golden core reveal, happy ending)

Diverge by WithBroomBefore (T, 13k, wangxian, canon divergence, fix-it of sorts, first kiss, angst w happy ending, golden core reveal, LWJ pov, sick fic, LWJ stays at Burial Mounds, happy ending, everyone lives au)

they who refuse to be blessed by sysrae (E, 7k, wangxian, graphic depictions of violence, canon divergence, hurt/comfort, angst, whump, golden core reveal, developing relationship, bathing/washing, sharing a bed, confessions) 

the soft animal of your body by sysrae (T, 15k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, modern culitvation, Golden Core Reveal, Hurt/Comfort, Whump, Animal Transformation, Shapeshifting, Sort Of, Getting Together, Confessions)

Warming up (to him)  by barisan (T, 9k, LQR & WWX, WangXian, Hypothermia, Cloud Recesses  Study Arc, Temporary Character Death, Medical Inaccuracies, YZY Abuses  WWX, JFM Bashing, pre-wangxian, Good Uncle LQR, Angst with a Happy  Ending, Hurt/Comfort)

when you’re doing all the leaving (then it’s never your love lost) by tardigradeschool (T, 26k, WangXian, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Canon Divergence, Sharing a Bed, Sharing Clothes, Fix-It, the inherent eroticism of under robes, Golden Core Transfer)

Convalesce by incendir (G, 4k, wangxian, hurt/comfort)

Halves by Keysmashed (T, 3k, wangxian, post-canon, implied/referenced character death, heavy angst w/ happy ending, hurt/comfort, soulmates, grief/mourning, getting together, true love)

More than a Dream of You by VoidRune (T, 8k, wangxian, canon divergence, time travel fix-it, sunshot campaign, hurt/comfort, pining)

Succour by incendir (T, 8k, wangxian, hurt/comfort, angst)

💖 the minor fall, the major lift by Fleetling (T, 5k, wangxian, modern, musicians, depression, hurt/comfort, oblivious WWX, good sibling LXC, supportive LXC)

💖 my indelible friend, you are unbreaking by Fleetling (T, 26k, wangxian, modern, angst w/ happy ending, fluff, hurt/comfort, implied/referenced torture, found family, love confessions, getting together)

love of mine, someday you will die (but i’ll be close behind) by ryneisaterriblefan (T, 7k, wangxian, canon divergence, temporary major character death, soul bond, light angst, hurt/comfort, cuddling & snuggling, pining, sharing a body)

sing to that lonely child by ravenditefairylights (G, 12k, wangxian, angst, hurt/comfort, it gets worse before it gets better, found family, devotion, amnesia, canon temporary character death, teacher WWX, family bonding, family feels, misunderstandings, character study)

💖 hello my old heart, how have you been? by ravenditefairylights (M, 10k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Temporary   Amnesia, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Trauma, Unreliable   Narrator, Pining, Hair Washing, Hair Brushing, Hair Braiding, Soft   WangXian, LWJ Needs a Hug, Sleepy Cuddles)

missing you (but not anymore) by goodnyte (G, 2k, wangxian, post-canon, burn out, sick character, hurt/comfort)

Gentian Seeds by yuyu_finale (T, 9k, WangXian, Thirteen Years of WWX’s Death, at first, Post-Canon, later on, Mentioned Madam Lán, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, but literally, some elements of character study, Soft WangXian)

Waltz for the Moon  by LilyMaxwell (T, 3k, wangxian, LXC & LWJ, scifi au, mermaids, hurt/comfort, healing, sad w/ happy ending, brotherly love, suicidal references, romance, ocean imagery)

💖 you are safe / loved / worthy / enough   by everythingispoetry (T, 150k, WangXian, Modern AU, College/University, Social Media, Mental Health Issues, Healing, self-care, Anxiety, Hurt/Comfort the mortifying ordeal of self-acceptance, Falling In Love, Depression, Slow Burn)

❤️ side effects may include by slightlytookish (T, 14k, wangxian, post-canon,  case fic, curses, ghosts, OC death(s), fluff, pining, feelings, first kiss, getting together, love confessions)

I would wait for a thousand years  by bleuett (T, 10k, wangxian, post-canon, memory loss, immortal LWJ, hurt/comfort, curses, reunions, intimacy, fluff, yearning, angst w/ happy ending)

Feathers On My Breath by Sweetlittlevampire (T, 3k, wangxian, cloud recesses study arc, pre-relationship, teen crush, panic attacks, nightmare, angst, hurt/comfort, past character death, sharing a bed)

the best good thing by almostsophie1 (T, 12k, WangXian, Space, Post-Apocalypse, Touch-Starved, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Hurt/Comfort)

💖 Soft boys being soft- Wangxian soft fics by deliciousblizzardshark (multiple works, 230k)

where the shore meets the sea by pale_and_tragic (T, 14k, wangxian, LXC & LWJ, modern, anxiety, agoraphobia, panic attacks, depression, hurt/comfort, angst w happy ending, getting together)

Hope Series by RoseThorne (G/T, WangXian, Transmigration, Time Travel Fix-It, Memory Loss, Angst, Sharing a Bed, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Good Parent YZY, Referenced Sexual Slavery, Sexual Tension, Arranged Marriage, POV Alternating, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Good Parent LQR, Butterfly Effect, Kid Fic, Epistolary, Cultivation Sect Politics)

🧡 do not envy the roots that hold you down by eccentrick (T, 12k, WangXian, WQ & LSZ, WQ & LWJ, Found Family, Brother-Sister Relationships, Reincarnation, WQ wasn’t given Meng Po’s soup, Reunions, awkward cousins lwj and wq, wq is a creepy child, Grief/Mourning, Trauma, Additional Warnings In Author’s Note, Rebirth, Soul-Searching, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Guilt)

🧡 rain falls and soaks into the earth series by RoseThorne (T, 43k, WangXian, WIP, Near Death Experience, Attempt Drowning, Madam Yu Bashing, Recovery, No war AU)

the thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break by RoseThorne (E, 88k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Soulmates, Self-Esteem Issues, Fix-It, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, PTSD, Handfasting, Panic Attacks, Getting Together, First Time, Aftercare, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, /Referenced Torture, Scars, Chronic Pain, Golden Core Reveal, First Time, Switching, sex-related injury, LWJ Stays at the Burial Mounds, LSZ is a Wèi, Good Sibling JC, Dissociation, Burial Mounds Settlement Days)

[invested-in-your-future]

So how do you explain Qrow and Taiyang and especially Ozpin not telling Ruby anything about her silver eyes during her time at Beacon? Off the top of my head the only time Ozpin did try tap into triggering them was when he enabled team rwby go on a mission leages above them in v2.

The way I see it - that neither Qrow nor Tai would want that for her. Just keeping it a secret and hoping it never triggers was the plan. It always felt like Ruby deciding to be a huntress was something Tai wasn't comfortable with because of how Summer ended up. Of course, Taiyang isn't one to go against his daughter's dreams, so being passive-aggressive with Qrow was all he could do.

As far as Silver Eyes go, genetic inheritance is not guaranteed - Ruby being born with them was up to a chance. And at the same time, having them didn't mean she would activate them - that also would be up to chance. But if she ever uses them, she can't "undo" that.

It's also why Qrow did not sound that happy when he had to tell Ruby about the eyes at the end of V3 (And the awkward look he shared with Taiyang). None of that conversation sounded like an "Oh yay, you unlocked superhero powers!" kind of deal - it always felt like a "there's no point in hiding it now since we failed" situation. Qrow sounds defeated when he has to tell her - she already used them, so there's no going back.

Ozpin only found out she had them at the start of V1. So, till then, both Tai and Qrow hid it from him.

Why did he not do anything? Ozpin was busy with everything else happening - like the Fall Maiden assault. In the show, it does feel like he sits there going ":O" at everything going wrong, so one of the first things I am doing is the idea of Ozpin possibly having attempted to steer an unavoidable outcome towards something more favorable by using his students as chess pieces. This whole generation of Beacon has lots of weird and unique circumstances - a champion of mistral(reminder that Monty wanted Raven to fight JNPR), a boy who was allowed to stay despite forgery and having no training, a girl with silver eyes, a heiress to one of the most powerful corporations in the world, a former high-ranking white fang terrorist, a daughter of someone who deserted Ozpin. Even Nora and Ren had unique circumstances. So, instead of Ozpin sitting and doing nothing, it is more like he had attempted to stack the deck in his favor before everything fell apart.

The one time we see him interfere directly is when clearing up obstacles for their journey to Mt.Glenn - the decision that starts a chain reaction that sabotages part of Cinder's plan by having Roman use the train stuff months before the Fall. He has lived for hundreds if not thousands of years - he has patience and a sense of what to prioritize. So chances are Ozpin wouldn't directly act on the silver eyes' knowledge, but at the same time, Ruby would have likely found herself in situations that would nudge her towards them, and if they work, they work.

Ozpin shares information when it is beneficial. Knowledge is a tool for him in a way that veers toward Faustian bargain, especially if the story ISN'T going to go along with the idea of Raven being mad at being able to turn into a bird. He wouldn't tell her anything if it would make no difference. Does telling her cause her to activate them faster? Then he would. It doesn't? Then, there's no reason to inform her because it introduces too many variables.

Whatever happened with Summer didn't happen in a few days after all - Team STRQ has been in the game for quite a while. There's no reason to believe Ozpin would have moved faster with RWBY.

Both Ozpin and Salem have lived for centuries - it would be awkward if they treated the passage of time as well as the concept of planning the same way human beings(who live ~100 years tops) would.

[demon-prosecuted]

I like to think that either Phoenix or Larry had a Gamecube as children, and on at least a few occasions, brought it to Miles' house to play games. Which is where Miles discovered Animal Crossing and fell in love with the game. (Not that he'd ever verbally admit it)

He's kept up with the releases as best he could (von Karma was anti-fun and all) and is a devout follower of the "The first always goes to Blathers" mindset. He can tell all the art forgeries apart from the genuine without a guide, and has a violent hatred for Redd, even though he needs the kitsune.

And I think either Fang or Whitney are his favorite villagers.

[kaysmuse]

T H E R O O K 

was personally recruited and turned by THE KNIGHT at some point in the 20th century. the rest of the founders opposed it – there´s an unspoken rule amongst them to not spread their curse – but THE ROOK, a survivor of multiple unspeakable horrors who had only ever known life as a tumbleweed across South America as a human, insisted. par de course of being the youngest amongst the partners, THE ROOK is very adept at technology and specializes in many forms of forgery. they also got a megawatt smile that could light up a whole room…so bright you´d miss their fangs.

[clwngasm]

𝐐 . *  ― ❛ 𝐡𝐞𝐲 , 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲 ? 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞 . ❜

@jizzlords

𝐀 . *  ― 𝒐𝒉 . . . fingers twitch to shuck fragile pearls that spill over ℎ𝑢𝑒𝑠 * ! * shimmering trails grace cheeks , blushing lines brandished in their wake . hands 𝑟𝑢𝑠ℎ to cover a bleeding , 𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 weakness ! a sleeve sweeps cheeks ; if , a 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 too late . . . reddened rims [ && * ] glossed iris speak in shouts , a 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵 sniff only punctuates * ! *

( heart upon a sleeve , far too 𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 * ! * )

a heart fucking kicks , 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 upon the sight before him . lines of ribs feel 𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 , something amongst a chest 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 ! both the sight he most wanted [ && * ] least needed * ! *

𝚘 𝚣 𝚣 𝚒 𝚎 . a 𝒔𝒊𝒏 , a work of art * ! * sculpted , a figure carved , lovingly cut lines of marble . broadened shoulders , the slender dip of a waist , to luscious 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒔 . . . each lovingly gifted . a 𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 to a sin ! how could one not fall to 𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒕 with such a sight * ? * to fall to knees , kneel at an alter to such divinity . to 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 * ! * . . . to map out planes with lips . every slope [ && * ] dip ! trace any slight imperfections ( as if any part of 𝑜𝑧𝑧𝑖𝑒 could be 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 * ! * ) along the lines of shoulders , to chase 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 along skin !

tied up in 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 green eyes ; tethered among ethereal emeralds , just to come undone . 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚞𝚜𝚝 ; to fall to lust with him would be inevitable . to fall in 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 . . . only a fool could , [ && * ] he has only ever been a 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒍 .

as if a sin could 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 something so 𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚢 . an 𝒊𝒎𝒑 , a broken one at that ( 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 ; barely worthy of working with a king of sin * ! * ) a crooked little 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 thing ! a life only gifted by mam . it , only spells out one thing . . . ' 𝚒 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 - ' the sin a shooting star , lighting up a darkness . technicolour amongst monochrome , it 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 spells one other thing ; it's already too late . . .

( sneakily , sweeping errand scattered tears . . . ! lips 𝚏𝚊𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎 a smile ! wide [ && * ] full of fangs , hitched crooked against cheeks ; a frail forgery . )

❛ 𝐨𝐳𝐳𝐢𝐞 * ! * it's nothing ! jus' mams , big clown contest * ! * there's some - uh ? really 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐟 competition - i'm just , i'm just not sure i'll 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 up . . . ❜

𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒 * ✖ *

[detectivewoof-a]

Photo: a person at a book signing table with a matching photo by them

Prey drives were really never a thing for me until the day I realized who he was. 

1980, I think it was. Finally scraped enough money to at least buy a cheeseburger, found a bussing job that didn’t ask too many questions about what I was doing in the US, I had thought I shaken them for good in the streets of Georgia. I had forgotten all about them, honestly, up until I woke up with a shotgun pointed at my face somewhere between Jackson and Atlanta and a bat cracking across my head. 

Funny how that seems to happen a lot to me. 

Woke up in someone’s apartment the next day, some guy and his wife saying they found me but couldn’t find enough ID on me to take me to the hospital. Made sense at the time, all I crossed the border with was a name in my head and a need to escape the ghosts that haunted me back home. My half-broken English probably made my thanks a little strange, but they were nice enough folk. Gave me some food, an ice pack, insisted I stayed until I felt like myself, didn’t really question why he had pamphlets for shelters ready... 

In hindsight, I probably should’ve. In hindsight, sometimes instinct is worth it in the end. 

I wasn’t used to nice, so it bothered me that they were so willing to take me in. And they both had a smell to them that was familiar. He never seemed to stop smelling like burning dirt and copper wires, while her hands held the musk of oleanders.  

I didn’t think much about it until I read one of the pamphlets. Recruitment material, the fucking sun symbol plastered all over it the same as the bodies I left buried back in Guatemala. At the time I didn’t know if it was chance or if they thought they could turn me into a pet like Lydia and Marco but I... made them regret their kindness. 

I still remember her screaming about how they didn’t know they’d find children in the desert. It was funny, because I hadn’t mentioned what happened. A guilty consciousness does make memories a little clearer, it seems.  

They were easy to cut a deal with. They promised to supply me with anything I needed, that even their family would supply me without question. Anything to clear their minds about the children that cried for their parents on that day.  

They were more than willing to sell out their own generations to escape their hell on Earth. Admittedly, I probably enjoy it a bit more than I should.  

Even the boy was taught quickly. His forgeries were honestly better than the fucking fangs that gave me the papers in the first place. He’s skittish about the whole arrangement, which is good. I know he always wants to mention how he has nothing to do with whatever vendetta I have against his parents, but I know him well enough to know he wouldn’t dare. I know he’s hiding their location from me for that reason, taking their punishment upon himself. 

But between you and me? If he knew what they did? He’d ask the Soul-Guide personally to lead them to the deepest corners of the Underworld. 

[uroborosymphony]

Bold all the things your muse has done ( will  /  would do is in italics, bolded italics means they’ve done it before and will probably do it again ).

 ara :    morality challenge.

murder  /  manslaughter  /  assault  /  robbery  /  breaking & entering  /  theft  /  embezzlement  /  money-laundering  /  kidnapping  /  torture  /  blackmail  /  arson  /  trespassing  /  treason  /  libel or slander  /  obstruction of justice  /  lying to law enforcement  /  creation of a weapon  /  espionage  /  riot  /  escape from lawful custody  /  contempt of court  /  public intoxication  /  conspiracy  /  accessory to a crime  /  harboring a fugitive  /  bribery  /  perjury under oath  /  resisting arrest  /  identity theft  /  corporate fraud  /  tax fraud  /  document forgery  /  destruction of evidence  /  assassination  /  counterfeiting  /  sale of a controlled substance  /  purchase of a controlled substance  /  failure to pay child support  /  hacking crimes  /  threat  /  pick-pocketing  /  shoplifting

tagged : @clemencetaught. tagging : @velvetineblue @ofgentleresolve (Felicity my girl HI, can I tag Annie mm Annie as a Black Fang member when she does crime) @tvsteoftrvgedy @kamipyre

[crossoverquest]

Location: Tatiana Qwartz’s office - The NSR Tower - Vinyl City, Florida

Megumi to Tatiana: How did these Saiarks get in your office, Tatiana?

Tatiana’s 2 Orange Saiarks: Saiark!

Tatiana: I made them. They might be forgeries, but they're superior to the originals, and they're just the tip of the iceberg! If you don't have the gumption to handle them, you've got no shot at Black Fang.

[flymeandtiememaam2]

Smugglers Caught

Eva Air stewardesses (l-r) Mei Chan-Ling, Su Fang-Lin and Wei Li-huan trapped three currency smugglers on board their flight from Jakarta to Taipei. The women had been alerted that fraudsters might attempt to smuggle thousands of New Taiwan Dollars (NT$) into the island at pre flight briefings all that month and both Fang-Lin and Li-huan became suspicious at the high value notes the three Chinese men were spending on drinks and luxury items. They reported their concerns to their manager, Ms Mei, who arranged for a NT$ 1,000 banknote passed by one of the men, to be scanned on the inflight forgery detection machine and the bill was indeed found to be counterfeit.

A subsequent search by the stewardesses of the men’s hand luggage uncovered a haul of thousands of NT$ notes, most of which proved to be forgeries. The group, effectively caught red handed, were left with little option but to admit their guilt and surrender to the crew. The delighted stewardesses confiscated the fake cash and then took the criminals they had captured to the rear of the plane and tied them up. The gang were detained by the women in the crew quarters, their hands bound behind their backs, and strapped into seats with their ankles also tied, until the Airbus landed at Taiyuan International Airport. There the stewardesses were able to hand their captives over to Taiwanese police.

Source: Pinterest

[drmikewatts]

IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence, Volume 5, Issue 9, September 2024

1) Editorial: From Explainable Artificial Intelligence (xAI) to Understandable Artificial Intelligence (uAI)

Author(s): Hussein Abbass, Keeley Crockett, Jonathan Garibaldi, Alexander Gegov, Uzay Kaymak, Joao Miguel C. Sousa

Pages: 4310 - 4314

2) Incomplete Graph Learning via Partial Graph Convolutional Network

Author(s): Ziyan Zhang, Bo Jiang, Jin Tang, Jinhui Tang, Bin Luo

Pages: 4315 - 4321

3) Adversarial Machine Learning for Social Good: Reframing the Adversary as an Ally

Author(s): Shawqi Al-Maliki, Adnan Qayyum, Hassan Ali, Mohamed Abdallah, Junaid Qadir, Dinh Thai Hoang, Dusit Niyato, Ala Al-Fuqaha

Pages: 4322 - 4343

4) A Distributed Conditional Wasserstein Deep Convolutional Relativistic Loss Generative Adversarial Network With Improved Convergence

Author(s): Arunava Roy, Dipankar Dasgupta

Pages: 4344 - 4353

5) A Similarity-Based Positional Attention-Aided Deep Learning Model for Copy–Move Forgery Detection

Author(s): Ayush Roy, Sk Mohiuddin, Ram Sarkar

Pages: 4354 - 4363

6) Enhancing Reinforcement Learning via Transformer-Based State Predictive Representations

Author(s): Minsong Liu, Yuanheng Zhu, Yaran Chen, Dongbin Zhao

Pages: 4364 - 4375

7) Bilateral-Head Region-Based Convolutional Neural Networks: A Unified Approach for Incremental Few-Shot Object Detection

Author(s): Yiting Li, Haiyue Zhu, Sichao Tian, Jun Ma, Cheng Xiang, Prahlad Vadakkepat

Pages: 4376 - 4390

8) Regional Ensemble for Improving Unsupervised Outlier Detectors

Author(s): Jiawei Yang, Sylwan Rahardja, Susanto Rahardja

Pages: 4391 - 4402

9) Progressively Select and Reject Pseudolabeled Samples for Open-Set Domain Adaptation

Author(s): Qian Wang, Fanlin Meng, Toby P. Breckon

Pages: 4403 - 4414

10) A Lightweight Multidendritic Pyramidal Neuron Model With Neural Plasticity on Image Recognition

Author(s): Yu Zhang, Pengxing Cai, Yanan Sun, Zhiming Zhang, Zhenyu Lei, Shangce Gao

Pages: 4415 - 4427

11) A Multimodal Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm for Filter Feature Selection in Multilabel Classification

Author(s): Emrah Hancer, Bing Xue, Mengjie Zhang

Pages: 4428 - 4442

12) A Nonparametric Split and Kernel-Merge Clustering Algorithm

Author(s): Khurram Khan, Atiq ur Rehman, Adnan Khan, Syed Rameez Naqvi, Samir Brahim Belhaouari, Amine Bermak

Pages: 4443 - 4457

13) Universal Transfer Framework for Urban Spatiotemporal Knowledge Based on Radial Basis Function

Author(s): Sheng-Min Chiu, Yow-Shin Liou, Yi-Chung Chen, Chiang Lee, Rong-Kang Shang, Tzu-Yin Chang, Roger Zimmermann

Pages: 4458 - 4469

14) Building a Robust and Efficient Defensive System Using Hybrid Adversarial Attack

Author(s): Rachel Selva Dhanaraj, M. Sridevi

Pages: 4470 - 4478

15) Retain and Adapt: Online Sequential EEG Classification With Subject Shift

Author(s): Tiehang Duan, Zhenyi Wang, Li Shen, Gianfranco Doretto, Donald A. Adjeroh, Fang Li, Cui Tao

Pages: 4479 - 4492

16) Prefetching-based Multiproposal Markov Chain Monte Carlo Algorithm

Author(s): Guifeng Ye, Shaowen Lu

Pages: 4493 - 4505

17) Shuffled Grouping Cross-Channel Attention-Based Bilateral-Filter-Interpolation Deformable ConvNet With Applications to Benthonic Organism Detection

Author(s): Tingkai Chen, Ning Wang

Pages: 4506 - 4518

18) An Intelligent Fingerprinting Technique for Low-Power Embedded IoT Devices

Author(s): Varun Kohli, Muhammad Naveed Aman, Biplab Sikdar

Pages: 4519 - 4534

19) A Novel Applicable Shadow Resistant Neural Network Model for High-Efficiency Grid-Level Pavement Crack Detection

Author(s): Handuo Yang, Ju Huyan, Tao Ma, Yitao Song, Chengjia Han

Pages: 4535 - 4549

20) Prioritized Local Matching Network for Cross-Category Few-Shot Anomaly Detection

Author(s): Huilin Deng, Hongchen Luo, Wei Zhai, Yanming Guo, Yang Cao, Yu Kang

Pages: 4550 - 4561

21) IOTM: Iterative Optimization Trigger Method—A Runtime Data-Free Backdoor Attacks on Deep Neural Networks

Author(s): Iram Arshad, Saeed Hamood Alsamhi, Yuansong Qiao, Brian Lee, Yuhang Ye

Pages: 4562 - 4573

22) An Unbiased Fuzzy Weighted Relative Error Support Vector Machine for Reverse Prediction of Concrete Components

Author(s): Zongwen Fan, Jin Gou, Shaoyuan Weng

Pages: 4574 - 4584

23) Stabilizing Diffusion Model for Robotic Control With Dynamic Programming and Transition Feasibility

Author(s): Haoran Li, Yaocheng Zhang, Haowei Wen, Yuanheng Zhu, Dongbin Zhao

Pages: 4585 - 4594

24) A Unified Conditional Diffusion Framework for Dual Protein Targets-Based Bioactive Molecule Generation

Author(s): Lei Huang, Zheng Yuan, Huihui Yan, Rong Sheng, Linjing Liu, Fuzhou Wang, Weidun Xie, Nanjun Chen, Fei Huang, Songfang Huang, Ka-Chun Wong, Yaoyun Zhang

Pages: 4595 - 4606

25) Learning Counterfactual Explanation of Graph Neural Networks via Generative Flow Network

Author(s): Kangjia He, Li Liu, Youmin Zhang, Ye Wang, Qun Liu, Guoyin Wang

Pages: 4607 - 4619

26) Linear Regression-Based Autonomous Intelligent Optimization for Constrained Multiobjective Problems

Author(s): Yan Wang, Xiaoyan Sun, Yong Zhang, Dunwei Gong, Hejuan Hu, Mingcheng Zuo

Pages: 4620 - 4634

27) Strategic Gradient Transmission With Targeted Privacy-Awareness in Model Training: A Stackelberg Game Analysis

Author(s): Hezhe Sun, Yufei Wang, Huiwen Yang, Kaixuan Huo, Yuzhe Li

Pages: 4635 - 4648

28) An Explainable Intellectual Property Protection Method for Deep Neural Networks Based on Intrinsic Features

Author(s): Mingfu Xue, Xin Wang, Yinghao Wu, Shifeng Ni, Leo Yu Zhang, Yushu Zhang, Weiqiang Liu

Pages: 4649 - 4659

29) Unsupervised Representation Learning for 3-D Magnetic Resonance Imaging Superresolution With Degradation Adaptation

Author(s): Jianan Liu, Hao Li, Tao Huang, Euijoon Ahn, Kang Han, Adeel Razi, Wei Xiang, Jinman Kim, David Dagan Feng

Pages: 4660 - 4674

30) A Causality-Informed Graph Intervention Model for Pancreatic Cancer Early Diagnosis

Author(s): Xinyue Li, Rui Guo, Hongzhang Zhu, Tao Chen, Xiaohua Qian

Pages: 4675 - 4685

31) Remaining Useful Life Prediction via Frequency Emphasizing Mix-Up and Masked Reconstruction

Author(s): Haoren Guo, Haiyue Zhu, Jiahui Wang, Vadakkepat Prahlad, Weng Khuen Ho, Clarence W. de Silva, Tong Heng Lee

Pages: 4686 - 4695

32) UPR-BP: Unsupervised Photoplethysmography Representation Learning for Noninvasive Blood Pressure Estimation

Author(s): Chenbin Ma, Peng Zhang, Fan Song, Zeyu Liu, Youdan Feng, Yufang He, Guanglei Zhang

Pages: 4696 - 4707

33) SBP-GCA: Social Behavior Prediction via Graph Contrastive Learning With Attention

Author(s): Yufei Liu, Jia Wu, Jie Cao

Pages: 4708 - 4722

34) Quadratic Neuron-Empowered Heterogeneous Autoencoder for Unsupervised Anomaly Detection

Author(s): Jing-Xiao Liao, Bo-Jian Hou, Hang-Cheng Dong, Hao Zhang, Xiaoge Zhang, Jinwei Sun, Shiping Zhang, Feng-Lei Fan

Pages: 4723 - 4737

35) Automatic Plane Pose Estimation for Cardiac Left Ventricle Coverage Estimation via Deep Adversarial Regression Network

Author(s): Le Zhang, Kevin Bronik, Stefan K. Piechnik, Joao A. C. Lima, Stefan Neubauer, Steffen E. Petersen, Alejandro F. Frangi

Pages: 4738 - 4752

36) Variable Curvature Gabor Convolution and Multibranch Structures for Finger Vein Recognition

Author(s): Jun Li, Huabin Wang, Shicheng Wei, Jian Zhou, Yuankang Shen, Liang Tao

Pages: 4753 - 4764

37) ClassLIE: Structure- and Illumination-Adaptive Classification for Low-Light Image Enhancement

Author(s): Zixiang Wei, Yiting Wang, Lichao Sun, Athanasios V. Vasilakos, Lin Wang

Pages: 4765 - 4775

38) Improving Code Summarization With Tree Transformer Enhanced by Position-Related Syntax Complement

Author(s): Jie Song, Zexin Zhang, Zirui Tang, Shi Feng, Yu Gu

Pages: 4776 - 4786

39) Automated Detection of Harmful Insects in Agriculture: A Smart Framework Leveraging IoT, Machine Learning, and Blockchain

Author(s): Wahidur Rahman, Muhammad Minoar Hossain, Md. Mahedi Hasan, Md. Sadiq Iqbal, Mohammad Motiur Rahman, Khondokar Fida Hasan, Mohammad Ali Moni

Pages: 4787 - 4798

40) MTPret: Improving X-Ray Image Analytics With Multitask Pretraining

Author(s): Weibin Liao, Qingzhong Wang, Xuhong Li, Yi Liu, Zeyu Chen, Siyu Huang, Dejing Dou, Yanwu Xu, Haoyi Xiong

Pages: 4799 - 4812

41) Reinforced Reweighting for Self-Supervised Partial Domain Adaptation

Author(s): Keyu Wu, Shengkai Chen, Min Wu, Shili Xiang, Ruibing Jin, Yuecong Xu, Xiaoli Li, Zhenghua Chen

Pages: 4813 - 4822

42) Cross-Modality Calibration in Multi-Input Network for Axillary Lymph Node Metastasis Evaluation

Author(s): Michela Gravina, Domiziana Santucci, Ermanno Cordelli, Paolo Soda, Carlo Sansone

Pages: 4823 - 4836

43) A Novel Grades Prediction Method for Undergraduate Students by Learning Explicit Conditional Distribution

Author(s): Na Zhang, Ming Liu, Lin Wang, Shuangrong Liu, Runyuan Sun, Bo Yang, Shenghui Zhu, Chengdong Li, Cheng Yang, Yuhu Cheng

Pages: 4837 - 4848

[sumeria]

Is cheryl blossom a good person

hard to say. i think cheryl wants to be seen as a good person very badly.

i think in her head certain actions that are actually quite bad and silly and detrimental such as locking herself in her mansion for 7 years, that seemed to her like a noble and good sacrifice when in reality she was just wallowing in self-pity and letting hiram ruin the town.

by and large her actions are actually really fucked up and awful.

in s1 she is mostly an antagonist who bullies and manipulates others and burns down her house.

in s2 she is extremely racist wrt josie and chuck. shes mean to ethel and in general a shithead about the carrie role.

in s3 shes really the queen of microagressions in her relationship with toni and she fucking pressures her into joining a cult, and in general is a bullying shithead in s3 too.

s4, idk, producing and selling alcohol to minors is pretty fucked and so is gaslighting your relatives about cannibalism and so is having your brothers corpse hanging around the house. also being shitty to toni

in s5 she decides to curse everyone in town because they didnt apologize for something they had no clue about, is weird and kind of racist towards toni and fangs again, and while ultimately a funny and victimless crime its still shitty, art forgery

s6 she cursed a baby. come on.

the only genuinely 100% good-natured moments cheryl has expressed to me that are not immediately tainted like 5 minutes later by her pulling the most fuckshit know to man are her taking in britta and being willing to sacrifice herself to stop the comet. even helping archie get forged was less about her goodness and more 'itd be more of a pain if this idiot died because we need him to fight percival'. same with resurrecting a bunch of people tbh. a lot of the good she does is sort of immediately tempered by her going ugh this is so irritating :/ or her explaining her motivations why shes doing this good thing

ig tldr i dont think shes a good person but i love her anyway

[sonobeunitsarecool]

Fake meme translyrics (PinocchioP)

See that’s a lie This too’s a lie You too are a lie, you too, you too What is “true”, holds no grace, won’t even try What is “true”, feels so cold, making me cry A single bite, the venom flows, can no longer breathe Desperately, confuse the fangs, with mimicry What is “true”, about myself, I cannot abide What is “true”, about myself, I simply must hide Say it like it is, they all turn away, it happens all the time Desperately, say it’s okay, and fall in line Desperately, cover my torn seam, and say it’s fine Pan Am, see me laughing; Filtered, candid picture Embellished, journal entry; Bought, social likes It’s fair-weather, let’s go and play Up on the stage, we dance away Food models, take a bite; Watered down, take a sip Counterfeit, making bank; Knock-off, wear all day I’ll soothe this withered heart, with the lies we all say Spinning globe in our hands; Uneasy peace in our hearts Under the artificial sky; Bought, social likes Pulling the strings of the puppet that’s me This fake meme’s all that I can see I hold to me, a doll, empty and made to look like me And hoped to find, a warm “truth” I could believe Yet all I’d find, was a fake “truth”, I couldn’t believe

See that’s a lie But here is a truth That’s right, an untruth, untruth

What is “true”, about yourself, do you even know? What is “true”, that you feel, is quite strange, no? You could say that it’s love, could say that it’s kind But roses have thorns, and so Without a word, my garden wilt, as I watched you go

I’ll Love a fake love and tour a fake tour and Work a fake work and rest a fake rest and- Crocodile tears, so touched; Pseudo-news, swallowed up Silk flowers, a nice touch; Emperor’s clothes, it’s in style Totes new trend, let’s follow; Saying “it’s me, PinocchioP”* From a bud that was burned down, a lie began to sprout

Spinning globe in our hands; Uneasy peace in our hearts Under the artificial sky; Bought, social likes Whoever’s pulling the strings of “me”, This fake meme’s all I wanna see A forgery of who I want to be, and the process is simply A “truth”-ectomy, cures the pain, and left empty

Pan Am, see me laughing; Filtered, candid picture Embellished, journal entry; Bought, social likes It’s fair-weather, let’s go and play Up on the stage, we dance away Food models, take a bite; Watered down, take a sip Counterfeit, making bank; Knock-off, wear all day I’ll soothe this withered heart, with the lies we sing again, today

Spinning globe in our hands; Uneasy peace in our hearts Under the artificial sky; Bought, social likes Pulling my strings with every pluck This fake meme’s just not enough I hold to me, a doll, empty and made to look like me And hoped to find, a warm “truth” I could believe Yet all I’d find, was a fake “truth”, I couldn’t believe ‘Cause my old “truth”, that I believed, was lying to me

Untrue, so pointlessly untrue, Falsehood, tragic, cowardly useless falsehood, A lie, though we’ve saved hearts with this lie, Yet in the end, there’s no “truth”, could you believe? * (please note that I am not actually PinocchioP, I just thought it'd be funny for the "singing fake songs" part)