#friendship STILL wouldn’t be a tier below romance

[heartless-aro]

It is very important to criticize the “Why does everything have to by gay? Can’t they just be friends?” attitude that homophobes have towards gay characters, but it’s possible to do that without saying things like “This character literally did xyz for the other. Friends wouldn’t do that!” or “But character A says character B is the most important person in their life! There’s no way that’s platonic!” or even things like “Actually, they should have sex with each other instead of being ‘just friends.’” Whatever it is you think that friends can’t do, they can. Friends can think of each other as the most important person in their lives. Friends can go through pain for each other, risk their safety for each other, be physically affectionate, rely on each other, and die for each other. Friends can share beds, kiss, or have sex.

Friendship is not a tier below romance.

[hinasaki]

okay i finished arise so here are some thoughts:

(non-spoiler thoughts first, spoilers below the cut)

combat is very fun. everybody is fun to play as. i am bad at game but i still had a ton of fun trying everyone out in the arena

boost artes and strikes are good and useful. mystic artes are real easy to trigger, even advanced ones. i’ve triggered some of the advanced ones by accident, that’s how easy they are

i was dubious about the skit style change at first but i got used to it, and it’s fine.

camping is good and i loved the little scenes you could get between party members

the world is gorgeous. the painting style they went with really just looks amazing.

okay, spoiler time

some specific thoughts on characters first:

alphen: he’s fine. i’ve been spoiled by velvet in all honesty because i love a protag who isn’t all Good and alphen is definitely Good. they did a good job keeping the mystery of his past going and he has a lot of very nice interactions with other party members. he’s fine.

shionne: my wife is a bitch and i like her so much. shionne has a good arc and the way her relationships with each of the party members grows feels really natural. saw the reveal about her thorns coming a mile away but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. i care her and want her to be happy. I especially like her very cute friendship with rinwell

rinwell: baby. rinwell also has a really good arc! the way her opinion on renans changes over the course of the story feels very natural - she doesn’t immediately stop hating renans after meeting shionne and dohalim and even after she grows to love them she still occasionally slips up. she’s good. i like her

law: baby #2. most of law’s story is front-loaded which had him feeling a bit detached as far as the story went in the later chapters but i still very much enjoyed having him around. he’s a sweet idiot. he’s absolutely a teenager.

dohalim: i love him. consistently good interactions with other party members, he has very good scenes with alphen, shionne, and rinwell. i was VERY pleased that he got a lot of focus during the lenegis part of the game. i loved his arc of learning to cope with his guilt and growing from a Ruler into a Leader.

kisara: i wanted to like kisara. i really did. i tried. i kept hoping for a magilou moment (aka a single moment late in the game where everything crystallised and i fell in love with them) but it never came. and i’m sad about that because there are some genuinely cool things about her! there are good bones! she has some really nice interactions with alphen! unfortunately a lot of her scenes end up being either her talking about her brother or her trying to mother everyone and i am just.... not here for that

overall i liked the party. they’re not my fave but i did like almost everyone quite a bit. i felt like their evolution from working together out of necessity to found family way very well done. it was natural. i keep saying “natural” because the arcs really did feel that way. they flowed nicely and almost never felt forced or hurried. it was nice!

now, because this game has basically attempted to pair up all of the party members.... the ship opinions....

alphen/shionne: holy shit tales did a het ship that didn’t feel forced! their relationship flows very nicely and they grow closer slowly over the course of the game. i don’t feel like it’s a luke/tear tier canon ship but it’s good. Them getting married in the end credits was very cute

law/rinwell: very very cute. not entirely sold on rinwell’s feelings but that’s fine, it reads pretty much entirely like law has a crush and has decided that saving the world isn’t really the time to bring that up. it’s cute.

dohalim/kisara: bad. bad. bad. i’m glad it’s just tease because i can pretend it’s not happening. they have some really good platonic moments! they have a nice dynamic as people learning to be equals! it’s extremely uncomfortable to throw romance into that mix! and i feel like it was a *huge* disservice to kisara for the writing to push her into this ship. it just felt bad. not to mention this alongside the haha she’s like his mum jokes just ughghghhghghghghgghhg NO.

as far as the plot goes, it was pretty good. we had a clear goal from the beginning which is always appreciated, only to have the rug pulled out from under us at the end in usual tales fashion. i saw somewhere someone said it had a plot structure sort of like legendia and LMAO TRUE with the one month time skip. the game as a whole reminded me quite a bit of tales of rebirth funnily enough - similar plot structure, themes regarding race dynamics, some nebulous force being the cause of a lot of suffering... it’s a tales plot. it’s not particularly groundbreaking but the characters really carried it and made it compelling. also i just loved the design of the final dungeon. the thorns are Aesthetic.

The main problems I had with the game were the amount of spelling mistakes in the subtitles, or where the subtitles didn't match the dialogue. It's most noticeable with the battle lines but happened in other places too. I didn't have a problem with CP because I kept an eye on it and I was playing easy mode but i can see it being more than a little bit of a pain. Like. Why? And also, just as a side note, did they ever mention how shionne got to dahna? Because I might have just missed it but HOW DID SHE GET HERE? did she come down for the crown contest and just chill for seven years? Did she steal a starship and come down by herself - in which case what happened to her ship that we couldn't use it to get to lenegis? This feels like an important piece of information that we just.... never find out.

speaking of reminding me of other tales: oh boy! there were a lot of times i felt reminded of older titles, which made me real glad i’ve played almost all of them now. i talked about legendia and rebirth vibes above but also MASSIVE graces nostalgia what with going to space. i know twin worlds could be referencing a number of games too but the specific dahna/lenegis/rena structure reminded me a lot of eternia with inferia/orbus barrier/celestia and it was just nice. i can’t remember where? maybe pelegion? but the general aesthetic gave me big xillia vibes. i’m not sure how many of these were deliberately intended to invoke nostalgia but i’m glad for it - it really felt like a love letter to older titles (like zesty was supposed to be) while also clearly moving towards a new future for the series.

I'm not sure how I felt about there not being much of a primary antagonist. I guess it helped push the theme of forgiveness because really how can you blame a sentient planet for everything wrong with the world when it has no concept of human morality. I guess it's just my personal preference since I prefer the conflict to be a clash of ideals or wills (again, I'm spoiled by berseria). The sidequest where you get tiny little bits about the lords felt tacked on too. The lords largely felt cartoonishly evil but I guess that's probably so we don't feel bad killing them lmao. Vholran needed a whole lot more build-up IMO as a foil to alphen because he ended up feeling like he was just... there. There wasn't much to him. I wanted to know more about why he was the way he was but I guess we'll just never know.

overall i wouldn’t say arise is one of my favourite games but it was definitely an enjoyable experience! i’d absolutely recommend playing it yourself if you get the chance!

[imagining-in-the-margins]

Spencer + Cat OR Spencer + JJ. Sorry if you answered something like this! I wanted to hear your thoughts!! Your opinion on this is very important to me :)

This is a cop out answer, but... no 😂

I’m not a fan of Reidams or Jeid. I understand the appeal of both (enemies to lovers, friends to lovers), but I don’t personally enjoy romance between either. That being said, I would have loved to explore a Cat/Reid friendship — but they didn’t have enough time to do it well. For example, I really would have loved to see Cat write to him like he suggested she should have. I think them getting closure would have been really cool (but I’m also a fan of The Walking Dead comics... iykyk).

(My thoughts on other potential ships below — don’t read if you think it’ll bother you to read negative things about a ship you enjoy!)

I liked Lila* (see below) a lot, and I think Austin was very similar, but without the baggage of being famous. Austin seemed so genuine in her connection, and the two got along well. She was never rude to him and she’s not a walking stereotype. I think Spencer would pair well with someone who was more of an extrovert. More confident, more personable. Just how I interpret him.

I didn’t like Loker basically at all, merely because I think she was written specifically to be another autistic-coded character (bc we can only be with other autistic people, right?). Einstein is also coded that way. And while I enjoy her because she is very similar to me, she also fell into the stereotype trap (bc Spencer can only like smart girls, right?). I wouldn’t have minded either of these characters if they fleshed them out. I preferred Einstein because she was more high-energy and less awkward, but I think Loker could have been good, too. Just a matter of preference. I also liked the medical professional from the anthrax episode. She was chill. Still in the smart girl trope, though.

I hated Max because there is literally no defining trait about her. They even switched her job they bonded over to make her look smarter (bc she definitely needed a man to say she was worth it first, right?). I literally forget her character existed, and RLC is one of my favorites on the show.

So yeah... I wish they had stuck with Austin or brought her back. She was just a normal girl who thought Spencer was cute and funny. They didn’t even need to spend time on it. They could have just mentioned here every now and then. But no... they had to have Maeve.

Fucking Maeve. I can’t even get those thoughts straight. Please. It’s so bad.

Also, I feel the need to say that all of this ignores the most important of all ships. The god-tier Spencer ship. The one that holds my heart. I would give it all for them. They need no explanation.

Ralvez 💜

*DO NOT contact me about Heard. Both her and Depp are disgusting and DV and ephebophiles are huge triggers for me. Don’t comment or post in reblogs, please. I will block you.

[court-of-pokemuses]

Every Bruno ship rated!

I’ve done this over on my main account @/pkmnsdarkqueen, and I think it’s kinda fun. It’s every ship on the muse from this page rated by my personal opinions. For this account I’ve been slowly working on it since January, and since this is a multimuse it took this long. I hope ya’ll enjoy!

Disclaimers directly below and the list under the cut!

strike through=my side commentary, trying to be funny, usually about ship names italicized=if asked I’d be down to rp it mostly just to see how/it it’d work bold=ship name and who in it to help you find a certain ship highlights=they are grouped up, again in case you want to find that one ship * by name=I just think it’s a wildly random ship

Took out category of Bruno and a protagonist/rival/or companion since they’re all children so it’s a hard no. A few other younger characters fit in the other categories though they’ve been judged no as well for the most part. Some shipped but ONLY in the context of the character being grown up.

Took out category of Bruno with pokemon because pokephelia. In multiship some of them have a pokemon and these have been dubbed as being one of the human’s part pokemon. 

Also ships where a human and one of Bruno’s pokemon have been taken out because again pokephilia. So many people are shipped specifically with his clefablee for some reason

ships on ‘never ending romance’ website. Before asked yes mun has other ships she likes that aren’t listed, but Im only focusing on those listed.

Bruno w/ a Villian:

Top rated ships: Iapetos, and Tortuga shipping

Bottom rated ships: Battalion, Indistinct, Krypton, and Reprobate shipping

BattalionShipping - Archer & Bruno 0/10 Everyone is shipped with Archer, everyone is shipped with Archer, everyone is shipped with Archer, why the F! Bruh naw I don’t see it. Bruno is too pure for Archer and if anything Archer would just manipulate the Frick out of him.

EquiusShipping - Bruno & Mars 3/10 Mars too! Like seriously she’s everywhere. Eh I mean they both have happy personalities and I could see it working a bit better, but still I dunno how smoothly they’d work together considering life directions. 

GroundworkShipping - Bruno & Giovanni 0/10 Giovanni gets around the most out of anyone though, and always has such a dope ship name. Also hahahaha, no, yeah no Bruno too fluffy. 

IapetosShipping - Bruno & Maxie 4/10 Ehhhhh, maaaaybe? I dunno I just they have some more compatibility as others but if they were together it’d be one of those grumpy lad with fluffy muscle boi. 

IndistinctShipping - Bruno & Petrel 0/10 Bruno why would you put Bruno with the trigger happy lad???? No no no danger!!!

KryptonShipping - Bruno & Proton 0/10 Proton is like that guy who wants to murder every npc in the d&d party, naw.

ReprobateShipping - Bruno & Ariana 0/10 Reprobate means someone without morals so Ariana would likely flirt, and Bruno would 100% not realize what’s going on until like they’re in the bedroom and then you’ve got Bruno breaking the door down to leave cause he’s panicking. 

TortugaShipping - Archie & Bruno 4/10 Heh 2 muscle bros? Ok kinda cute, but if anything I think it’d be even cuter as best bro friends that work out, just saying. friends 10/10

Bruno w/ a Champion:

IronRingShipping - Bruno & Steven Stone 6/10 Heh, ok could be cute. I mean Steven’s kinda a wholesome soul, but they’ve both got some shady stuff too it could be kinda cute. 

PotentialShipping - Bruno & Lance 5/10 The name is amazing for this. Eh potential maybe especially with Bruno’s whole mind being scrambled about thanks to Rocket and his early time with Lance getting also lost. But yeah idk maaaaybe?

Bruno w/ an elite:

Top rated ships: StrongestKnight, Control/StrikingIce, and Giant shipping

Bottom rated ships: Bauble, Despondency, and MuscleBurn shipping 

***BaubleShipping - Bruno & Agatha -50/10 Oh gosh plz no, Agatha is the one that made his brain all messed up. He forgives her but he’s not gonna romance her. Plus age gap much?

ControlShipping/StrikingIceShipping - Bruno & Lorelei 9/10 Heck yes please I think this one would be super cute. Again Bruno would kinda have all those memories gone, but at the same time maybe that’d be the sparking point for them talking again. 

DelilahShipping - Bruno & Karen 4/10 HEY THERE DELILAH WHAT’S IT LIKE IN NEW YORK CITY! I’M A THOUSAND MILES AWAY BUT GIRL TON- Anyway so now that’s out of my system, I think it works smoother than Karen and Koga but I still like the vibe of the four of them being like a family with each other. 

DespondencyShipping - Bruno & Will 1/10 I like this less than Delilah cause Karen connects with Koga, and Will connects with Bruno. It’s like they each have their own older mentor to help them with their specific things to adapt to civilian life. 

ForesightShipping - Bruno & Phoebe 3/10 Phoebe gotta go get shipped around with every other human too. Ehhh kinda cute? But there are others I can see her with better. 

GiantShipping - Bruno & Marshal 8/10 Big bois over here flexin! Yeah I think it could be cute. They’re very similar in personality Bruno is just a golden retriever and Marshal is a Rottweiler. I think it’s cute. 

*JourneyShipping - Bruno & Lucian 7/10 The journey they went on was how the frick to read good. Seriously poor Bruno watches this man whip through a book meanwhile he’s struggling cause he keeps forgetting words. I could see it tbh either with Lucian helping him read and they fall for each other, or just friends with one helping the other. 

LaeliaShipping - Bruno & Caitlin 3/10 Eh maybe? I don’t really feel how they'd really hit it off, but they likely would have some fun as friends though. 

MuscleBurnShipping - Bruno & Flint (elite) 2/10 They’re just gonna be 2 nerds screaming at each other and making bad decisions, but Bruno trying to stop Flint. Please let them be friends and make these mistakes.

ReturnShipping - Bruno & Koga 5/10 Yeah ok this swings between cute as flip to but their friendship is cuter! I’m down for either direction. 

StrongestKnightShipping - Bruno & Wikstrom 10/10 YES! This is cute as frick it’s currently being shipped and I love all of it. 2 wholesome bois who also happen to talk kinda odd, and are muscly. Also bless that ship name, get Bruno Armor please.

Bruno w/ a Gym leader:

Top rated ships: Toughie, Bancho, Ataraxia, and TarotSport shipping

Bottom rated ships: IsshinRyu, Kendo, Rurouni, and Zubon shipping

AtaraxiaShipping - Bruno & Gardenia 10/10 Ok when I first talked about who to ship Bruno with one of them was Gardenia and I still ship it. She has the same wholesome soul as Bruno, and energy but with that soft taking care of plants vibe and it’s cute.

BanchoShipping - Bruno & Jasmine 10/10 This is a Jasmine ship that I do enjoy alot more than others. Bruno does well with wholesome folks, and Jasmine really is top tier wholesome levels. Also she maybe small but home girl tough as nails. Watch her sit on his shoulder to see a concert play or other cute things with their size differences.

**BlackbeltShipping - Brock & Bruno 0/10 Don’t really get this one tbh. Like they both take really good care of their pokemon, and that’s about it....

DjinnShipping - Bruno & Roark 2/10 idk why but I’m just imagining Roark and Bruno in the underground Roark mentioning they’ll have to go around awhile to get this place, and Bruno just punches his way through walls to get there. I dunno I just want them as bros. 

DrillSergeantShipping - Bruno & Lt. Surge 2/10 ....Usually I can see Lt. Surge with a fair amount of people, and like they’ve both been through some trauma in their lives so like I should be able to see it but I just can’t???? idk here

**FrostHeaveShipping - Bruno & Brycen 4/10 Weirdly I kinda see it. Idk just let Bruno find out the other has a whole secret life as an actor and gush over trying to keep the secret. 

GestaltShipping - Bruno & Morty 1/10 The name baffles me. Like I’m just saying prt of a whole? What does that mean? Also naw Morty is too salty of a boi.

*GrasshopperShipping - Bruno & Bugsy 0/10 I need someone to confirm Bugsy’s age before I can feel comfortable shipping him with anyone. I’m just imagining Bruno training his young grasshopper, Bugsy, who is trying to get swol!

IsshinRyuShipping - Bruno & Janine -50/100 0_0 Koga would understandably kill him, and there is no way Bruno could see her like that.

KendoShipping - Bruno & Pryce 0/10 Even without the trauma he caused Will and Karen from the manga no. Like age gap wildly bad.

MikageShipping - Bruno & Clair 5/10 Eh could be cute. I see them bonding via beating each other up though in training. 

MontevideoShipping - Bruno & Volkner 2/10 I feel like Bruno would try to cheer him up and then it wouldn’t go over well, and yeah Volkner is just too broody. 

MuramasaShipping - Bruno & Maylene 6/10 Like him and Clair but Maylene is more wholesome so better chance.

RollerDojoShipping - Bruno & Korrina 4/10 Cute but I am more partial to other ships with Korrina so I don’t see it as much. 

RurouniShipping - Bruno & Roxanne 0/10 I still feel weird shipping Roxanne cause idk her age! F it her only ship is Bugsy fite me. Besides she has that know it all vibe and I just feel like Bruno would feel dwarfed cause of his voice tik.

SenseiShipping - Brawly & Bruno 2/10 Freaking Brawly getting around too. Ship name kinda says the dynamic with Bruno as a teacher and Brawly the student. If you’re into that dynamic then I can see it, but for me it’s ehhh. 

SitDownShipping - Bruno & Flannery 7/10 What is this name?! XD I kinda think it’s cute just Flannery screaming as she does to show confidence and Bruno screaming back cause he thinks it’s appropriate and them both being a general mess. 

TarotSportShipping - Bruno & Sabrina 10/10 Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It’s cute Sabrina is broody like volkner ye but we’ve also seen she has a soft spot for people that make her laugh and Bruno is one of those guys who’s unintentionally pretty funny. Also this is just April and Andy from parks and rec.

TokyoRainShipping - Bruno & Erika 5/10 She’s super soft and wholesome, and I see it more than other ships with Erika. Ehhh idk on this. 

ToughieShipping - Bruno & Whitney 10/10 HOW OLD IS WHITNEY!? Also frick I really hope she’s an adult cause they have the vibe of, guy who looks like he can and would beat you up but his girl friend is the one who is 100% more willing to throw hands. 

VentifactShipping - Bruno & Falkner 0/10 Falkner and Janine tho. Anyways I don’t see what they’d connect on. 

*VestigeShipping - Bruno & Misty 0/10 Naw Misty is like too abrasive for me. And like I know that’s kinda why I like him and Whitney but the difference is that Whitney hides her savageness. 

YevonShipping - Bruno & Elesa 4/10 Kinda cute can see Elsa introducing him to new fashion and all. But there are other ships with Elsa I think would work better. 

ZubonShipping - Bruno & Chuck 0/10 Chuck has a wife and forgets her all the time. No hurting fluffy Bruno boi like that.

Bruno w/ Professor or prof assistant

HokkaidoShipping - Bruno & Celio 2/10 I......what would they have in common exactly?

***ContemplationShipping - Bruno & Professor Oak 0/10 Bruh Oak???? No yeah like c’mon really, no, just I can’t see them being anymore than friends.

GnosisShipping - Bill & Bruno 5/10 Idk maybe? Like Billy gets into shenanigans what with becoming a pokemon and Bruno trying to help with stuff only to end up with a fussy Bill. Kinda cute.

Bruno w/ Minor GAME npcs:

*PersevereShipping - Bruno & Zinnia 8/10 Please. Give me feral girl with confused boi who’s trying to figure out what her deal is. Also them both having small pink pokemon is cute. 

PilgrimageShipping - Bruno & Eusine 3/10 While I do want to see them on a journey/pilgrimage together I don’t see them coming out of it shipped too easily. 

*PowerHouseShipping - Bruno & Greta 1/10 Wild choice, and she reminds me of all the other punchy hit gals but on the same level of connections Korrina but alot less. 

Bruno w/ Minor ANIME npcs:

OsakaShipping - Bruno & Kathi Lee 2/10 Diantha’s manager huh? I mean they’d be cute but I don’t see it lasting long term with Bruno’s lazy habits here and there. 

*PlayFightShipping - Bruno & Duplica 0/10 I think they’d have a fun dynamic but as friends and nothing romance coming out of that. 

Bruno w/ Orre, or Ranger character

EngrishShipping - Bluno & Bruno 0/10 They are just shipped cause of the names, and I don’t see anything else. 

LoveMuscleShipping - Bruno & Lovrina 0/10 Guess what, bam bah bum, she’s a child! and always acts childish. 

Bruno and multiple people: (All are gonna be a no romantically because I don’t see Karen being poly, but I’ll give plot ideas)

Top rated ships: IndigoLeague, and SelfDefenceAgainstFruit shipping

Bottom rated ships: SecretTechniques, QuizzicalBlackbelt, and Ringside shipping

DawnguardShipping - Brawly, Bruno, Chuck, Marshal, Korrina & Maylene 10/10 This is just all the punch bois and gals together but with a cool name. Although tbh I am totally here for them all hanging out or all being guards in some au. 

*MayleneFatalFourwayShipping - Bruno, Byron, Crasher Wake & Marshal 9/10 The name gives me concern. Are these just all people shipped with Maylene? Ahhh idk I think they’d be good pals tho catch em all teaching each other Dif training techniques.  GachimuchiShipping - Bruno, Chuck & Crasher Wake 7/10 This is the crash and brash gang, and they will wreck everything mostly on accident. 

IndigoLeagueShipping - Bruno, Koga, Lance, Will & Karen 1000/10 YES! GOOD CREW! great buds, SUPER GREAT LOVE EM!

IndigoPlateauShipping - Bruno, Blue (game), Lance, Agatha & Lorelei 9/10 A good group except for the fact that Agatha traumatized the boi, and Blue can be a butt and wasn’t champion as long. Great group video game wise but story wise kinda hard to play with. 

ISMRSShipping - Bruno, Misty & Yellow (Special) 8/10 I can not figure out what the ISMRS means. I’m gonna see this group as feisty girl, big buff guy, and neutral girl  on an epic adventure! And yea I think it’d be fun. 

OriginalEliteFourShipping - Bruno, Lance, Agatha & Lorelei 10/10 Same thing and indigo plateau. It good but kinda limited, but if nothing else time when they’re all in Rocket you got cool story potential. 

***QuizzicalBlackbeltShipping - Brock, Bruno, Aria (anime) & Felicity 3/10 I wanna break this down for ya we got breeder/gym leader Brock boi, the swellest boi Bruno, a super contest lady, oh and someone who appears as TCG art for the lot game corner. This is a wild amalgamation of characters. 

RingsideShipping - Brawly, Bruno, Chuck, Crasher Wake & Maylene 5/10 They all train on the beach, that's it that’s the only thing I got for this ship. 

SecretTechniquesShipping - Bruno, Karuta & Koga 2/10 It’s trying to be focused on a ninja ship but I don’t think Bruno is much of a ninja so it feels forced.

*****SelfDefenceAgainstFruitShipping - Bruno, Cherubi, Tropius & berries 420/10 (for meme worthiness, and ship has nothing to do with weed just adding o the meme) I AM AWARE OF WHAT THE REFRENCE IS HERE AND HECK YEAAAAAAAAH, gosh this is a dumb ship the reference btw, it’s 3 minutes long: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnjYeHBWvKA 

ShitennouShipping - Aaron (elite), Bruno, Drake (Hoenn), Flint (elite), Grimsley, Koga, Lance, Lucian, Marshal, Sidney, Siebold, Wikstrom, Will, Agatha, Bertha, Caitlin, Drasna, Glacia, Karen, Lorelei, Malva, Phoebe & Shauntal (gen infinite) 10/10 All of the elites, all of them, in one room, and hanging out. Heck ye let em party it up. 

TripleThreatShipping - Bruno, Crasher Wake & Marshal 10/10 Idk why but they feel like the most cohesive punchy bois as a group. 

Bruno’s pokemon shipped w/ other pokemon:

HiddenLegendShipping - Clefable & Suicune (Bruno's & Misty's) 1/10 Did....did Misty get a suicune at some point??? Also hidden legend, are you telling me that clefable is like legendary quality rn. what is this cleanable and I’m confused! MaskFableShipping - Clefable & Yamask (Bruno's & James's) 1/10 I mean Yanmask has some fun personality and I think James and Bruno would have some good friendship but idk how to feel about a ship there. 

StrongFableShipping - Clefable & Snivy (Bruno's & Ash's) 1/10 Please explain to me a thing about why Snivy??? Anyway yeah also when is he gonna see Ash much?? StrongLoveShipping - Clefable & Golem (Bruno's & Bruno's) 10/10 See at least these two can actually see each other often. Also yeah I do think it cuter than most like I mean they can actually be with each other and fluff with big rock boi is cute.  WrestlingFableShipping - Clefable & Hawlucha (Bruno's & Ash's) 3/10 Again when they seeing each other? And I mean kinda like the wrestle bpi and fluffy girl but still how it gonna work?

Other Ships Mun likes 

BandagedknucklesShipping - Bruno & Cheryl 100/10 Look Cheryl is soft and cute. Bruno is soft and a sweet boi. They’d be adorable together I’m just saying. Also Cheryl getting into the chaos she gets into and Bruno being the muscle acting like a body guard to her when she needs it. Cute shiz ok!

[transformationstuck]

[1] Karkat wants to me matesprits with John, but unfortunately, John is Not A Homosexual^TM. After doing some research on human sexuality and discovering the definition of being straight is “being attracted to the opposite sex”, Karkat comes up with the idea of having John turn into a girl. With that definition, that would mean John would then be attracted to boys, and thus Karkat would have a chance.

(Disclaimer: I don’tactually think Karkat would do that to someone (IMO they’d do it the other wayaround, i.e. Karkat into a girl), but this is what the prompt asked for, sow/e. Also, ask is truncated from the original to avoid spoilers.)

Your name is Karkat Vantas, and you have a problem; one JohnEgbert. Stupid, sexy John Egbert. Ever since the humans had met up with whattrolls remained, you’ve been unable to get the human boy off your mind. You’vecaught yourself staring at him whenever he entered a room, and been caughtdoing so multiple times. Finally, after about a perigee of this, Johnconfronted you about it.

“Karkat, I’m flattered, really!” he’d said. “But I’m notinterested in boys like that.”

Of course, to your vastly superior troll think pan, genderhad absolutely nothing to do with sexual attraction, so this statement confusedyou. When you’d asked him to clarify, he’d simply sighed and said that he was“not a homosexual”. This, of course, clarified nothing to you, but to John itseemed to be the final word on the matter, so you dropped it.

Later, you started doing some research. You’d booted uphuman Google and started searching, and found that this “homosexual” thing wasa big deal for humans. Apparently they couldn’t reproduce with someone unlessthey were the opposite gender? That just seemed so inefficient to you, but it’ssomething you’re going to have to deal with even if you don’t understand it.

You let the matter drop for some time. You put in aconscious effort to not stare at Egbert’s ass, and were starting to succeed.But then, while you were making some grubtoast, the answer finally hit you.

Heterosexual – a.Sexually attracted to people of the opposite sex.

Of course. It was so simple. If John was a girl, then theopposite sex for her would be males. And you’re a male, so she’d be attractedto you! You can’t believe Past Karkat didn’t think of this already.

Which brings you to the present, where you’re asleep in yourrecuperacoon, scouring the bubbles for a god-tier version of Feferi. You’vebeen searching on-and-off for about two weeks now, and you’ve asked otherghosts to spread the word around, so hopefully one would come out of thewoodwork soon.

As you round a corner, transitioning from rolling desertdunes to the purple spires of Derse, you spot one, hovering in the air, lookingout onto the cityscape below.

“Feferi!” you call out. She turns to face you quizzically,her white, dead eyes meeting yours before a massive grin engulfs her face.

“Crabcatch! Glub glub glub! Hi!” she says in her usualear-piercing, far too excited tone. God, you’d forgotten how loud she is.

“Sweet mother grub’s prolapsed egg chute,” you say, cringingat the noise, “could you be a tiny bit quieter?If I go deaf I’m not gonna be able to hear anything you’re saying!”

“That’s not how hearing works, dummy!” she says, closing inon you.

“Maybe for seadwellers, but holy fuck, my auricular spongeclots are screaming in pain here! And pain is usually a good indicator that youshould stop doing the thing causing it!”

“Alright, fine, sheesh! Don’t be such a coralybaby!” shesays, slightly softer.

You pause, staring up at her unamusedly. “That was a stretchand you damn well know it.”

She shrugs. “What can I say? Force of halibut.”

“Oh my god, do not start with this. Believe it or not thereis a reason I am talking to you right now, and – surprise! - it’s not to exposemyself to your shitty puns!”

Feferi pouts. “But Crabcatch…”

“No buts! I’ve had far too many discussions derailed sincethe humans came here and I’m not about to let this one slide off the tracks aswell!”

She sighs and gently lands on her feet. “Fin. What did youwant to glub about, oh great, no-nonsense, can’t-have-fun leader of ours?”

“Don’t-“ you say, almost immediately, much quieter now.“Don’t call me your leader. I don’t- I don’t deserve that title.”

Feferi tilts her head questioningly. “Why? What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But-“

“Hey, remember what I said about keeping the locomotivefirmly on the tracks?” you say, returning to full volume. “That still applies!”

“You’re the one who changed the subject!”

“Fine! Consider that diversion firmly halted! Thecontrollers have caught the mistake and the overland railed freight vehicle isback on its normal route!”

“Okay!” Feferi says. And the says nothing else for aboutfive seconds. “You haven’t told me what you wanted to talk about yet.”

You blink, and then introduce your forehead to the palm ofyour hand. They’ve been becoming quite good friends recently. “Right. So. Lifepowers. I need them. Specifically, the genetic mutators.”

“Why?”

“Uh…” you say, stalling while you try and think of a wayto put this.

Feferi apparently knows enough based on the blush creepingonto your cheeks, because she squeals again, shaking her fists back-and-forthexcitedly. “Ooh, it’s a romance thing? Who is it, Crabcatch? Who is it? Tellmeeeeeee!”

You can’t believe you’re that transparent. Maybe you’ll haveto study how Dave keeps his mask up so well. “It’s uh…” you say, hesitantly.“It’s John.”

This time you pre-empt the squeal by sticking your fingersin your sponge clots, but it does little to dampen the high-frequency soundwaves piercing through your skull. “You and John? That’s so adorabubble!” Shepinches your cheek and, on pure instinct, you swat her arm away, unsheathe yourclaws, crouch down and growl at her. She seems unamused. “Wow, someone sure isjumpy!”

Your growl gradually starts to fade as your conscious mindstarts to catch up. “You should know better than to do that. You’re not human,you can’t pull the ignorance card here.”

“Speaking of humans…” she says, raising her eyebrows. “Whydo you need my life powers for seducing John?”

“It’s, well… how much do you know about human sexuality?”

“Ah, I see,” she nods in understanding. “He’s not attractedto guys, is he?”

“I know! What the fuck is with that anyway!”

She shrugs. “If they can only make grubs with the oppositesex, of course there’s a psychological pressure away from attraction to thesame sex.”

“Feferi,” you say, pinching the bridge of your nose.“Rhetorical question.”

“Right, right! But you do know that I can’t just go intopeople’s minds and change how they think, right? That’s very much a Vriskathing to do!”

You shake your head hastily. “No, no, I don’t need that.”

“Then what do you need?”

“Well… if he’s attracted to the opposite sex… what ifyou turned him into a girl?”

Feferi pauses for a moment, and then her eyes light up andher grin somehow gets even wider. “Crabcatch,I like the way you think!”

—————

And thus, Feferi agreed to help you win over John by turninghim into a girl, thereby making him attracted to makes by the definition ofheterosexuality – and thus, hopefully, to you.

Feferi told you that the entire process would take about aweek to complete, but on the first day you’re already spotting some subtledifferences. Him and Dave walk side-by-side chatting quite a lot, and you’vegotten used to how they look together. So it immediately catches your eye whenthey enter the common room and John is half a head shorter than he was evenyesterday. Everyone else notices it too, even Dave – although nobody decides tobring it up. They simply stare for a second or two, before shaking it off astheir eyes deceiving them and going back to whatever it was they were doing.But you know better. You know this is the start of something much, much bigger.

On the second day, John’s clothes don’t quite fit himanymore, and his hair has started to grow out. He’s noticed something’s up bynow, and is nervously starting to question people about it. He probably thinksthat he’s coming down with some strange disease – a thought that’s probablyonly reinforced when midway through taking with Kanaya all of his facial hairfalls out. They both stop and just kind of stare at the hair floating throughthe air, up until Kanaya accidentally breathes some in, causing a coughing fitthat John seems to find very amusing.

On the third day, his clothes fit again. His god-tier outfitis adapting to his changing body – and boy has his body started changing. Hiships are noticeably fuller now, his face has started to round out, and youswear you can see the hint of spheres starting to form. All the humansbasically follow him everywhere now, all of them concerned for the wellbeing oftheir friend. You’re kind of envious of them – how when one of their number isin trouble they all band together to try and solve the problem, comforting eachother with their presence. While they’re around John looks as happy as ever,but as soon as they’re gone you can see the confusion in his eyes. You wishtrolls could catch that human disease called friendship.

On the fourth day, Rose figures out what’s going on. It’skind of hard to miss at this point. John now sports a well-developed set ofspheres – or “breasts” as the humans are calling them – and the fat on his legsis starting to redistribute itself. His arms are getting thinner and his handsare getting smaller – a fact that was highlighted harshly to him when he foundhe could no longer interlace his fingers with Dave’s as he once could.Eventually, Rose breaks the news to him.

“John, I think I know what’s going on.”

“You do?” he says, brightening up. “What is it? Can you stopit?”

“I’m afraid not,” she says. “I wouldn’t know where on earthto begin.”

“Well, knowing is the first step!” John smiles. “What isit?”

“You’re, uh…” Rose pauses, seeming to search for the rightwords before giving up and deciding to be direct. “You’re turning into a girl.”

John looks down at himself – at the orbs on his chest, hisplush rump, and the lack of facial hair, rubbing his chin where his facial hairused to be. “Oh,” he says simply, matter-of-factly, as if he’s not affected bythat revelation at all. He looks back up at Rose sheepishly. “I probablyshould’ve figured that out sooner, huh?”

“To be fair, it’s a completely unprecedented change.”

“Yeah, but it just sounds so obvious now that you’ve saidit!”

“Everything is obvious once you know that it is true.”

You, meanwhile, are surprised at how well John appears tohave taken the news. You’d expected some sort of outburst – maybe shock, maybedisbelief – but no. He seems calm and collected, as if it wasn’t the changesthemselves that were bothering him, but rather the uncertainty as to their originand purpose. You’ve noticed that a lot with humans, actually. Not knowingsomething is the absolute worst thing for them. Even if the answer to aquestion is depressing or harmful , they don’t care; to them, knowing theanswer is better than living in ignorance.

You still haven’t made up your mind as to whether you admirethat about them.

On the fifth day, John seems noticeably happier. His faceseems to have finished shifting and his thighs look a lot more feminine. Hisvoice has changed slightly too – not much, but everyone notices the differenceimmediately; it’s ever-so-slightly higher-pitched than it was yesterday. You,meanwhile, are glad that the changes don’t seem to be affecting who John is asa person. He still eats the same too-salty junk he always has, he still playsand jokes around with everyone, and he even managed to get Jade to slip on abanana peel. Even though Jade caught herself in mid-air, he was still roaringin laughter. The god-tier-assisted chase that resulted was truly a sight tobehold.

On the sixth day, John’s voice seems to have settled.There’s no mistaking him for anything but a woman now – the face, the curves,the voice, everything about him is feminine. The only thing that gives awaythat he used to be anything else is the bulge in his pants, which is still aslarge as it ever was.

Not that you’ve been measuringit or anything. Nope.

You catch him staring at you throughout the day. You knowthe look he’s giving you well – you’ve seen plenty of romance movies where oneof the main characters has the same look at their face. When he catches himselfhe shakes his head side-to-side before furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, shakingit off and going back to whatever it was he was doing, as if what just happenedmeant nothing. But you know. You know he’s checking you out.

Progress.

On the seventh and final day, you struggle to locate the lastchange. You distinctly recall Feferi telling you that it would take all sevendays for every one of the changes to occur, and yet you really cannot see any.Fortunately, Kanaya does. She’s been taking a keen interest in John’s changes,and when you glance over at her, you notice that her gaze is fixated uponJohn’s crotch. You follow her eyes to their target and squint, still not seeinganything different, before you finally realize that the bulge in his pants haschanged shape. Whereas before it was one large ball, now it’s more concentratedinto one shaft. You can still see some extra stuff below it, but it’s very,very small.

And on the eighth day, John Egbert is officially a she.

Or, well, sort of. She still has a bulge in her pants whereher human bulge is, but the shame-globes below it are nowhere to be seen.Instead, the fabric of her (now much more form-fitting) pants is flat againsther skin. You wonder if she actually has a nook down there, or whether it’sjust smooth skin. It’s not like you can just go up and ask her.

You’re still spotting her staring at you, but instead oflooking away sheepishly whenever you catch her, she simply meets your eyes andsmiles at you.

Progress indeed.

—————

You give John space. You don’t want to rush this – not justbecause that would be incredibly suspicious, but because you’re not sure howcomfortable John is with her new attraction to males. You may not understandthe whole gender-attraction thing, but you know enough about people to know that she needs time tosort out her thoughts.

And so you give her time. You don’t make any advances onher, no matter how much you may want to. You don’t cut her off entirely,though. You still watch movies with her and get into grubcorn fights about therelative merits of troll and human cinema. You still feed each other food fromyour respective planets, to varying degrees of success. And you still try towrestle her when she uses the windy thing to beat you at video games.

Over the weeks she’s started experimenting with her expandedwardrobe options, much to Kanaya’s delight. The first time she showed up in thecommon room wearing a skirt and leggings she looked so awkward, as if sheperpetually wanted to evaporate into the air and abscond far away. But overtime she got more confident, and now you don’t notice any difference in herbehavior between when she’s wearing pants and when she’s not. One time you evensaw her in a complete dress. Kanaya’s been helping her with that, and while youstill don’t understand the point of fashion, even you can admit that some ofthe outfits she’s created for John have been, well, beautiful. They’re notplain, and they’re not overly revealing. Instead, they seem to amplify John’snatural beauty, and you have no idea how Kanaya’s accomplished it.

Shenanigans, probably. That’s what is always comes down to.

—————

It’s about a perigee-and-a-half after John’s changefinished, and you’re walking up to her room. It’s movie night, and you’ve got atreat for her – troll Con Air, one of the only Alternian films with a concisetitle. You, of course, despise the film and everything it stands for, butyou’re willing to make concessions in this case, because you’ve decided tostart making your move. You’ve waited long enough – you want her as yourmatesprit, and that won’t happen unless you act.

But as you move up to knock on her door you hear a gasp fromwithin her room, and your fist freezes in mid-air.

Was that…?

And then it happens again, louder this time.

Yep. John’s getting off in there.

Part of you wants to creep away and go back to your room –for obvious reasons – but another, more vocal part of you wants you to stay.You’ve fantasized about John making those noises for you for so long, and nowhere she is, just a door and some thin drywall away from you, moaning her heartout.

Fuck it. This probably makes you the most despicable beingin paradox space, but god damn, you can’t bring yourself to move away. Insteadyou very, very quietly lay down on the floor and peek under the door, hoping toget some visuals to accompany the incredibly sexy audio track.

But when you peek under the doorframe, your blood-pushercatches in your throat.

She’s not masturbating at all. She’s having sex.

And she’s having sex with Dave.

They’re sitting on the floor, cross-legged, naked, andfacing each other. John has Dave’s cock in her grip, and Dave has John’snoticeably smoother cock in his. With every pump, John moans out her pleasureloudly, whispering Dave’s name every now and then. Dave’s less vocal, but youcan tell from the grunts and the blush on his face he’s feeling just as good asJohn is. They lean in and lock lips, their free arms wrapping around each otheras they continue to pump each other, John’s moans growing louder and louderbefore she pulls back, releasing Dave’s cock.

“Ah… ah…” she pants, her breasts heaving up and down.

“Why’d you stop?” Dave asks, leaning back towards John.

“I- I want-“ John gets out between pants. “I want you tofuck me, Dave.”

Dave blinks. “Well shit, why didn’t you just say so?”

John smiles at him, and you know that smile. You’ve seen iton the screen many times. It’s the same smile you’d hoped John would direct atyou one day.

It’s a smile of pure, unfiltered love.

John rolls over onto her front, sticking her ass in the airand presenting it to Dave. Her cock hangs down between her legs and you finallyget confirmation that yes, John does in fact have both sets down there. Hernook is wet and open, ready to accept a cock – Dave’s cock.

Dave shuffles up to her on his knees and puts his hand onone of John’s asscheeks.

“You ready?”

“Mmn, yes. Fuck me, Dave.”

Dave sticks his bulge into John’s nook, and you can’t bareto look any longer.

You crawl away slowly, moving just out of earshot before youget up and run at full-speed back to your room. You lock the door behind youbefore you collapse onto the floor, screaming into your sweater as candy-redtears start rolling down your face.

The search, the change, the patience. It was all fornothing. John was with Dave. She was with Dave, and not you.

Apparently Kanaya heard your wails through the walls,because she’s somehow managed to lockpick your door and is hugging you, restingyour head on her shoulder and rubbing your back soothingly as you let out yoursorrow.

You start to fall asleep cradled in her arms, her soft handsand smooth voice soothing you the entire time.

You’ve missed your chance. She’s with Dave. She’s not with you.

And maybe, you think as you start to drift off; maybe that’swhat you deserve. Maybe you should never have meddled to begin with. Maybe youshould have just left her as a boy and accepted that he just wasn’t interestedin you.

Yup. You are unequivocally the most miserable excuse for atroll in all of paradox space.

You fall asleep in Kanaya’s arms, her hands running throughyour hair, and you have no more tears left to shed.

—————

You’ve started avoiding people. You only ever leave yourroom to grab food, water, or relieve yourself. You turn off Trollian and removeit from your husktop’s auto-start list. Whenever you encounter someone, you tryand extricate yourself as soon as you can. The only person you’ve been seeing thesepast few weeks has been Kanaya, and even then that’s purely because you can’tlock her out. You’ve contemplated upgrading the security on your door, butknowing her she’d just chainsaw her way in anyway.

She’s been trying so, so hard to get you to open up to her.You don’t want to tell her – you don’t want to tell anyone – but she makes it so hard not to. Kanaya is one determined troll, and once she sets her mindto something she doesn’t stray from that path.

It’s one of the many things you admire about her. You wishyou were as good a person as she is.

One day, she’s come over to watch a romance movie with you.She doesn’t particularly enjoy them herself, but she knows that they bring outthe old Karkat – the loud Karkat who will make damn sure that everyone knowswhat he’s thinking – so she puts up with them, for your sake.

You don’t deserve someone like her.

About seven minutes in and halfway through the title, shedoes something that makes you freeze up. She wraps one of her arms around yourshoulders and pulls you towards her, causing your head to rest upon one of herspheres.

And it’s- it’s too much. She reaches down and startsstroking your cheek, shooshing you,and you can’t take it anymore.

“I fucked up,” you say, voice muffled by Kanaya’s body. “Ifucked up someone’s whole life, just because I couldn’t take no for an answer.”

Kanaya doesn’t say anything – she just keeps stroking you,and pulls you in closer.

“I just- I really love John. I can’t- it’s the strongestfeeling I’ve ever felt,” you continue, “and when he told me that he- he didn’tfeel the same way, just because of some stupidhuman gender thing, I-” you choke up, and Kanaya’s thumb brushes up on yourcheekbone. “I had the absolutely fuckingstupid idea that hey, if John isn’t attracted to me because he’s male, then what if he was female?”

Kanaya pauses, and then sighs. “Oh, Karkat…”

“I know, alright!I know! I know…”

“Shhhhh…” she says, resuming her stroking.

“And it-“ you sob, “it didn’t even fucking work! I completely screwed with hislife, changed him into- into her, andshe’s with Dave. Not me. Dave.” You bury your face deep into Kanaya’s sphere.“It was- I can’t- I’m the most despicable being in all of paradox space.”

Unable to keep stroking your face, Kanaya switches torunning a hand through your hair, occasionally rubbing a horn, while anotherhand stokes down your back.

You start crying, no doubt staining Kanaya’s shirt red, andshe just keeps shooshing you, her chest thrumming with resonant frequencies andgradually calming you down.

“It seems to me,” she says, after the tears have sloweddown, “that this is something you should really speak to John about.”

“I know!” youyell, frustrated. “Do you not think I fucking know that? I just- I just can’t-”

“Why not?” she asks, and that simple question stumps you fora moment.

After some thought, you reply “Because she’ll hate me.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“No, but I can be pretty fucking confident of it.”

She sighs, clearly frustrated with you. “Okay, think aboutit like this. How many times have you talked to John since you isolatedyourself?”

“None,” you reply honestly.

“And how much time are you likely to spend with her if shedoes in fact hate you?”

“Still none.”

“But, how much time will you spend together if she doesn’t hate you?”

You pause and consider the question. “… More than none?” youventure.

“Exactly.” She pats your head. “Go talk to her. It literallycannot get any worse than it is now, and by opening up to her, it may well getbetter.”

… She’s right. Of course she’s right; she’s Kanaya, for god’s sake.  But… “I don’t know if I can.”

“Well, you’ll never know unless you try.”

You take a deep breath in and relax into Kanaya’s touch,starting to chirr in response to her. All you need to do is get up, walk downthe halls, and talk to John. It’s nowhere near the most difficult thing you’vedone in your short, pathetic life.

Nevertheless, extracting yourself from Kanaya’s embracecertainly feels like it.

When you look up at her face, she’s smiling warmly down atyou. “Go,” she says.

And after hugging her one last time, you do.

—————

As it turns out, John’s not in her room. Of course sheisn’t; that would be far too easy.

You checked that nobody was in the nearby bathroom, and thenheaded for the common room. There’s literally nowhere else anyone hangs outexcept their rooms and there; but when you enter it, you find she’s not thereeither.

You do find Rose, though, who looks up from her book in mildsurprise. “Karkat?”

“Rose,” you reply succinctly.

“I take it Kanaya got through to you, then?” she says,dog-earing her page and putting the book down.

You’re caught off-guard by that, but after a moment’s pauseyou decide that it makes sense that her matesprit knows she’s been seeing you.“… Something like that,” you say, rubbing the back of your neck. “I’m lookingfor John.”

Rose’s eyes flash orange for a second, before understandingspreads across her face. “I… see. She’s on the roof.”

“Thanks,” you say, starting to backpedal out.

Rose interrupts your abscond. “And Karkat: if John doesn’tforgive you, then you will be subject to the full extent of my wrath.” Hervoice is harsh, dangerous, and leaves you rooted in place from a primal fearyou can’t shake off. “And as any of the other humans can tell you, when I getmad, people tend to get impaled with black tentacles emanating from themonstrosities in the Furthest Ring.”

You stand stock-still in the common room doorway, afraid ofthe black fire behind her eyes that you’re not entirely certain is merely ahallucination.

“Just keep that in mind,” she says, suddenly casual again asshe picks up her book and resumes reading.

You tiptoe very carefully out the door, and then turn andsprint away.

—————

After you ascend a frankly fucking ludicrous number ofstairs, you make it out onto the roof of the meteor. John’s here, just likeRose said. She’s alone, wearing her standard god tier get-up, lying down andstaring up at the inky blackness above you. You start walking towards her, takingstep after step, and her eyes dart down to check who’s approaching her. Whenshe sees it’s you, she immediately summons the windy thing to push herself upto her feet and starts running towards you.

“Karkat!” she says brightly, a smile creeping across herface and into her (beautiful, azure-blue) eyes. You barely have time to braceyourself before Egbert’s wrapped you up in a tight hug, pressing her head intoyour shoulder.

“Uh… hi,” you say, shocked at the reception you’rereceiving.

“I missed you!” she says, whining.

“John,” you say, pushing at her, trying to get her to letgo. “John, we need to talk.”

She takes the hint and pulls away from you, furrowing hereyebrows quizzically. “… What kind of talk?” she asks.

“The one where we discuss monumentally bad decisions thatI’ve made.”

“Dude, if this is about disappearing for a few weeks, that’sfine!” she says, holding up both her hands in an acquiescent gesture. “If youneed some alone time, I get that! People can be overwhelming.”

“It’s not that,” you say, sitting down on the floor andgesturing for her to do the same.

“Well then what is it?” she asks, following your lead andsitting down opposite you.

You take a deep breath and close your eyes. This is it. Thepivotal moment.

…

Oh god you’re scared shitless.

“… Karkat?” John asks after several seconds of awkwardsilence.

You release the breath you’ve been holding and bury yourface in your hands. “It’s my fault.”

“… What’s ‘it’?” she asks.

You wave your hand in her general direction. “What you are!”

“Karkat, I know that!” she says, and you look up at her inshock. “Don’t you remember our first conversation? ‘Attention human: this isyour god speaking’?”

“Not that!” you groan, frustrated, struggling to come upwith the words. “I mean… the change. From two months ago.”

John seems genuinely lost as to what you’re talking about.

“Holy fuck, I guess I have to spell it out for you then.”You take another deep breath – in, and then out. “You turning into a girl?Remember that? That- that was my fault.”

John’s eyes widen in surprise.

“I know! I know.”

“But why?” she asks curiously, furrowing her brow and bitingher lips.

“Because I’m selfish!” you yell at her, removing your facefrom your hands and staring straight at her, your eyes getting moist. “I’m a completelyselfish asshat who wanted something so badly I didn’t stop and think ‘GeeKarkat, isn’t messing with someone’s body kind of messed up?’ No, that would betoo sane of a conclusion! No! No.”

You take another deep breath and close your eyes. “When youcalled me out on staring at you,” you continue softly, “you made it abundantlyclear that you weren’t interested. That should have been the end of it – it’san unrequited flush-crush, it’s not like those are rare. But no. I couldn’taccept that. I was being rejected for something I couldn’t control – my gender.So I did some research, and discovered that the definition of ‘not ahomosexual’ is ‘attracted to the opposite sex’. And so I thought ‘Hey, what ifthat wasn’t a problem? If John were a girl, then we would be the opposite sex toeach other, and that’s not an issue anymore!’”

You open your eyes for a second and see some semblance ofcomprehension starts creeping into John’s eyes before you shut them tightagain, once again cupping your hands over your face.

“So I got a god tier Feferi to change you into a girl,” youconfess. “Because that’s a brilliant idea. Taking away your bodily autonomylike that surely couldn’t be an absolutelyreprehensible thing to do, could it? No, surely not.”

“… So the reason I’m a girl now,” John says slowly, as ifshe’s working through this in her mind, “is because you wanted to date me.”

Your shoulders slump. “Yeah.”

You peek your eyes through gaps in your fingers, and to yourcomplete and utter shock, she doesn’t look mad. Instead, she shrugs hershoulders and says “Okay.”

You’re at a loss for words. “Okay…?” you prompt her,wanting clarification.

“Yeah, okay,” she says, repeating the shrugging motion.“Karkat, I don’t really give a shit that I’m a girl now. I thought that wouldhave been kind of obvious by the fact that I didn’t scream when Rose pointed itout to me.”

… You always just assumed that was shock. Surely nobodycould have been that nonchalant about suddenly changing gender?

“And yeah, you did it for a pretty shitty reason,” shecontinues, “but whatever! That doesn’t change the fact that I don’t reallymind.”

“… Really?” you ask her, refusing to believe this isactually happening.

“Yeah. Really,” she says, shuffling over to you and puttingan arm around your shoulder. Something in your hind-brain objects to that –that’s a pale thing, John – but thatshouldn’t be going off went you don’t have a moirail.

… At least, you think you don’t.

… You’re totally moirails with Kanaya, aren’t you. Yep,that sure was a thing you completely failed to notice. Good job, past Karkat,on once again outdoing yourself in the perception department.

“Plus now I get to wear skirts and dresses, and that’spretty awesome,” she chuckles.

You shrug her arm off you and look her straight in the eyes.“What about your sexuality?”

John tilts his head. “What about it?”

“I replaced it. You’re attracted to boys instead of girlsnow. By turning you into a girl, I changed a part of who you are.”

“Karkat,” she says, cupping your face in her hands andmeeting your eyes, setting off those pale infidelity alarm bells again. “I’mgoing to repeat this as many times as it takes to get it through to you. I. Do.Not. Care.”

You’re having such a hard time believing this is happeningright now. Red tears start leaking from the corners of your eyes, pooling inJohn’s soft hands. She quickly removes them and wipes them off on her pants.

“Besides, who said I wasn’t attracted to girls anymore?” sheasks.

You freeze in place for a second. “… What?” you ask,confused. “But I thought… why would that…”

“Yeah, I don’t know either. Maybe my new body caused themale attraction and I just kept the female attraction that I already had? Butyeah. I like everyone now. It’s kind of annoying actually,” she says, rubbingat her neck. “Before I only stared at half of you guys, but now everyone lookshot. It’s distracting.”

“Welcome to what every troll ever feels like,” you mumble,before pausing. “Wait,” you interrupt yourself, “does that mean, uh…” youcast your eyes away from her. Oh look, that completely featureless grey floorlooks mighty interesting all of a sudden. “Does that… uh…”

“Include you? Yeah,” she tells you frankly. “Yeah, it does.”

… John thinks you’re hot? Are you blushing? You’re totallyblushing, aren’t you. God damn it.

“Karkat?” John says, trying to get your attention, and aftera second’s pause you make eye contact again. “I’m going to try something,alright? Promise you won’t freak out?”

“I-” you say, stumbling over your words. You’ve about totell her not to go through with whatever machinations she’s planning, but…

“Comeon…” you mutter, tongue stuck out in concentration. You and John areneck-and-neck, and if you can just get the drift boost just right, you shouldbe able to beat her to the finish line.

Butjust as you’re about to get the boost John throws a banana in front of you. Youspin out and she races past you to victory.

“Ha!Suckered again!” John yells in triumph, throwing the controller up in victory.“I am the MarioKart champion! You-”

Shegets bonked on the head by the stray controller, yelling out expletives as youlaugh your ass off.

… your mind drifts to all the time you’ve spent together.

“Whatin the absolute shit is that?” you ask him, pointing at the disgusting-lookingamorphous green mass he’s handing you.

“It’sjelly! It’s food, Karkat! Try some!” he says, handing you a plastic spoon.

“Youeat that stuff?” you exclaim,slightly mortified.

“It’sjust flavored animal organs! Come on, eat it!” He scoops up a small portion andpushes it towards your mouth.

“No!Get that away from me you-”

Heshoves the spoon into your mouth.

Ohgod. It’s the most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted. You close your eyes inrapture.

“Toldyou so~” he sing-songs, and you punch his arm lightly. “Ow.”

And you come to a decision.

“Idon’t get it,” John says in the midst of the pale courtship taking place on screen.“Why is the green-blood not freaking out about this?”

Yousigh in frustration. “Because they’re moirails, John. This is what moirailsdo.”

“Butshe’s not pale for the yellow-blood. Why is she just letting him have his way?”

Youpause and look over at her, slightly shocked. “How did you know that?”

“Isn’tit obvious?” she asks you. “The green-blood is black for the yellow-blood. Comeon, Karkat, even I’m not that thick. It’s kind of hard to miss, what withthe picture of him in her room with the suspiciously knife-shaped holes in it.”

“…You caught that?”

“Uh,yeah! Was I not supposed to?”

“Mosttrolls don’t spot that until their second watch-through.”

Hereyebrows shoot up. “Huh,” she says. “I guess I’m the quadrant whisperer.”

Youthrow a pillow at her.

“Okay,” you tell her. “I trust you.”

John closes her eyes and slowly, tentatively, approaches you– before you can even register what she’s doing your lips meet, and suddenlyyou’re kissing her.

Holy shit.

Holy shit.

You grab onto her shirt and push her away. You can’t. You can’t.

“I can’t,” you tell her, your hands shaking. “I can’t.”

“Karkat, I don’t care-”

“You can’t,either! What about Dave? You can’t just- this isn’t fair to him!”

“Wh- he doesn’t care either!” John yells, and your eyeswiden.

“What,” you saydisbelievingly.

“Yeah, we talked about it,” she shrugs. “It was like, ‘HeyDave would you mind if I was poly with you and Karkat?’ and he was like ‘Go foryour life, just leave me out of it’, and so were we are!”

You just sort of stare blankly at her for a few seconds.Dave is… okay with this? SharingJohn? With you?

“Karkat?” John says, flicking her hand in front of youreyes. “Earth to Karkat?”

“Wha…?” you mumble out.

“You okay, dude?”

“I’m just… I don’t know. This is too much.”

“… Would another kiss help?” John suggests tentatively,biting her lower lip.

Would another kiss…

No, you know what? Fuck it. This entire meeting has alreadygone infinitely better than you’d even dared to dream. Future Karkat can worryabout the consequences for once in his miserable life.

And so you answer John’s query by wrapping your arms aroundher and kissing her. She closes her eyes and kisses back, leaning back to layon the ground. She holds you close, her tongue darting out to pry open yourlips – you let her, and your tongues meet.

“Mmn…” she sighs, working one of her hands up yoursweater, stroking your skin. It feels electric – every nerve she touches firingon all cylinders, leaving you wanting more, more.You kiss her harder and she rolls you both over so she’s on top of you, veryobviously grinding her spheres up against your chest. You reach down and grab ahandful of her ass, and she gasps, pulling away from the kiss momentarilybefore your other hand finds the back of her head and pushes your lips backtogether again. You can feel her stroking hand is pinned under you so you archyour back, letting her extract it. She immediately sends it down for acounter-ass-grope, and you sigh into her.

John Egbert is kissing you. This is a thing that ishappening. You’ve got a hand feeling up her butt and a hand on the back of herhead, pushing your mouths together. It’s wonderful. It’s everything you’d hopedit would be.

You remove your hand from the back of her head and squeezeit between you two, kneading one of her breasts. It’s soft, pliable – much likeher ass is – and you don’t want to take your hand away. Your finger catches onthe nub adorning it, already rock-hard, and she gasps. You repeat the motion,tracing circles around her nipple, and she shudders against you, her breathinggetting harder.

You can’t wait any longer. As much as it pains you so youpush John away from your lips, and instruct her. “Clothes. Off.”

She gets the message, rolling off of you and starting tolift her hood and shirt off. You do the same with your sweater and undershirt,before moving onto your pants. You glance over at her and find that she’spaused just shy of taking her panties off, just as you have for your boxers.She’s staring into your eyes, asking for confirmation, and you wordlessly giveit by pulling your underwear down, leaving you fully naked. She quicklyfollows, and you both spin around to take the other in.

And what a sight it is. Her legs thicken and flow upwards,flaring out to encompass that magnificent tush. Her waist curves in for just amoment before widening out again, framing her perfect breasts that would fitperfectly in a single cupped hand. Then her neck, not too slender but not toofat either, holding up the perfect, rounded face of John Egbert. You can seeher giving you the same appraisal, and her gaze catches on your bulge.

“Huh. It’s the same,” she says, non-puzzled.

“Yeah,” you say as your eyes dart down to her bulge. It’serect, standing up at about a 60-degree angle, her foreskin peeled back toreveal half of that ever-so-slightly purple head, wet with pre. It’s wide, but notso wide that one hand couldn’t wrap around it. It’s long, but not so long thatyour insides hurt in sympathy pains.

It’s also really, really pretty. You never thought a bulgecould be pretty, but you just don’thave any other word to describe it. It’s smooth, inviting, and just fits in sowell, like nothing else could possibly be there and look anywhere near asnatural as that cock does.

Just below it, starting where her shaft meets her skin, isher nook. Her outer lips have opened up and you can see she’s wet already. Sheruns a finger down from the tip of her bulge, along her smooth shaft, acrossthe top of her nook, and finally sticking the fingertip inside herself, sighinglightly in contentment.

It’s perfect. She’s perfect.

You shuffle closer to her, reaching out and grasping hershaft in your hand, and pump up and down, testing the waters and gauging herreaction.

Her eyes tell you all you need to know.

You start pumping her, up and down, somewhat awkwardly.You’re not used to doing it from this angle, but after a few false starts youadapt, and John shakes in pleasure. “Karkat…” she groans out, leaning herhead back. “Ah…”

You silence her with a kiss; one she is all too happy toreciprocate.

You can feel her getting harder in your hand as you pump –up and down, up and down. Occasionally you run your thumb across the head, andshe moans into the kiss. After a while you switch targets, moving your handdown to her nook, rubbing her folds and sticking one, then two fingers insideher. She shudders, breaking the kiss and wrapping her arms around yourshoulders, burying her face into your neck.

“Karkat, let me- ah- let me love you too,” she groans, andyeah, some attention on your bulge would be nice. You pull your fingers out ofher, causing her to emit a pleased sigh, and she pulls back, lying down on thefloor, your cock in her face.

“What are you-” you begin asking before you’re interruptedby her tongue running across your head, and suddenly you don’t have any words.

Holy shit, JohnEgbert is licking your bulge, and itfeels superb.

You throw your head back and moan, and apparently John takesthat as a sign that she’s doing good, because she ups the stakes and takes yourtip into her mouth, gently sucking on you. You squeeze your eyes shut.

When you manage to regain some measure of control and lookdown at her, a beautiful sight greets you. John’s taken your entire head intoher mouth, sucking and licking, drool leaking out around her. She’s got hereyes closed, the barest hint of a smile tugging at her lips.

She looks happy. Fulfilled. Like her mouth was always meantto be around your bulge, and she just never knew it.

As she reaches a hand up to stroke the parts of your bulgeshe hasn’t taken in yet, you slowly shuffle over, lying down, making sure Johnis comfortable while you make your way towards her cock. You’d never even considered this before – troll teeth andsoft flesh do not mix well – but if she’s making you feel this good with just her mouth, you’ll be damned if you’re not goingto return the favor.

And so, when your head is finally aligned with her dick, youwrap your lips around it and take it in, just like she did for you. She moansout in pure pleasure, her mouth vibrating around your bulge, causing you tomoan and vibrate around her, heightening her pleasure and causing her to cryout; and thus the cycle continues, your combined pleasure building andbuilding, spreading outwards and merging together into one glorious whole. Johngives out a massive, ear-shattering cry, you taste her material on your tongue,and you can’t hold on any longer. With your last conscious action you removeyour mouth from her dick; your vision whites out, every nerve in your bodylights up, and you call out John’s name.

For a few, blissful seconds, the world is shrunken. No game.No meteor. Not even a floor beneath you. It’s just you and John, wrapped ineach other’s arms, and the energy of a thousand stars burning a fiery rhapsodythrough your veins.

When you come down, the first thing you notice is thatJohn’s mouth isn’t on your bulge anymore. That’s a shame.

The second thing you notice is that John is absolutely drenched with your genetic material.She’s rolling around on the floor, rubbing at her hair and skin, trying to getit off.

And in your sex-addled state, your think-pan decides now isthe time to break down into hysterical laughter.

You shut your eyes and laugh, and laugh, and laugh. It’s just so funny. You have noidea why, but that doesn’t stop thegiggles escaping you.

“Karkat!” John whines. “I can’t get it off!”

“It’s- hehehe- it’s not-” and you’re gone again, unable toget words out behind your boisterous laughter.

When you start regaining your mental faculties, you findJohn staring forlornly at you.

That won’t do. That won’t do at all.

“C’mere” you mumble out, holding your arm out welcomingly.She accepts your offer and snuggles up to you, resting her head in the crook ofyour neck while your arm comes down and pets her in long strokes down herspine. You feel her smile against your flesh, and you smile with her.

“So,” John says aftera minute of snuggling and light kisses, “how did you know me and Dave weretogether anyway?”

“Wha…?” you mumble incoherently.

“Well, you weren’t there for the announcement, so how didyou know?”

Oh.

Oh.

Your cheeks flush red and you look away, John laughing atyou. “You totally peeked on us, didn’t you?”

“Shut up,” you mumble.

“Hey, I won’t tell Dave if you don’t! I just think it’s-”

You interrupt her with a kiss, and her words die in hermouth.

You’ve done some shitty things these past two perigees. Youtook one of your friends and, without consulting them, completely changed theirentire body, all for your own selfish whims; all because you couldn’t take nofor an answer.

And yeah, that was an incredibly fucking awful thing to do.But right here, right now, with a now-female John kissing you deeply,passionately? For once in your life, you can forgive Past Karkat’s colossalfuck-up, just as John forgave you.

You close your eyes, savoring the kiss, and you smile.

—————

Full ask text: Karkatwants to be matesprits with John, but unfortunately, John is Not AHomosexual^TM. After doing some research on human sexuality and discovering thedefinition of being straight is “being attracted to the opposite sex”, Karkatcomes up with the idea of having John turn into a girl. With that definition,that would mean John would then be attracted to boys, and thus Karkat wouldhave a chance. He enlists the help of Feferi, and with her life powers, Johnturns into a girl over the course of a week. After John settles into his newbody, Karkat discovers that his plan worked and John is now attracted to boys –the only problem is it’s not Karkat that John has a crush on.

This was originally going to have a sad ending, as theprompt seemed to ask for, but once I wrote it I decided it didn’t sit rightwith me, and now it’s about double that original length. My writing life in anutshell, basically.

Also, let me know what you thought of the smut scenes. Ican’t figure out whether or not I’m any good at writing them.

[moonlight-at-dawn]

My Strength Lies In You || Chapter 6

Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Title: My Strength Lies in You Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 (Eventual) Pairing: Noctuna (Noctis Lucis Caelum x Lunafreya Nox Fleuret) Characters: Noctis Lucis Caelum, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Gladiolus Amicitia, Ignis Scientia, Prompto Argentum Rating: T Genre: Friendship, Romance (slow burn, maybe?) Summary: Noctis has come of age, and he embarks on a journey to see more of his country and of the world alongside his four closest friends. Wherever they go, they protect the people, fight monsters and daemons, and heal the Starscourge. AU where Noctis isn’t the Chosen King and there’s no war with the Empire. Author’s Note: If I thought I was sorry last time for how long it took.... lol. Thanks for being patient as I struggled through this. Here’s hoping the next chapter won’t be nearly so painful to write *crosses fingers*

AO3 Link

"Fresh air!" Prompto shouted, opening his arms wide as he took in the sky.

Everyone was exhausted as they came up from the mines where they had barely escaped with their lives. After Keycatrich, they hadn't thought there would be as much trouble in the next underground area they found, and for the most part it really had not been so bad.

And then a daemon that resembled a samurai of yore had attacked and thrown them off a catwalk and into a hoard of goblins.

After the attack and fall, the fight had been far more of a struggle than it should have been, and they had needed Luna to heal both Gladio and Noctis before making their escape from the mines. They had expected to spend much more time in the mines than they had, and it was still the early afternoon. Slowly making their way back to the car, Noctis frowned as a large rain drop landed on his shoulder, drawing his attention upwards. The storm that had been on the horizon had moved in much faster than he'd thought it would.

Looking out at Longwythe below them, Noctis hesitated just a moment before he climbed in the car after Luna while Gladio called to him to hurry up. "Let's just head down to Galdin Quay now," he told Ignis.

"But we haven't actually been in the town yet," Luna protested, confused as to why they would skip it.

"It's not too far, we can come back for it."

"I don't mind," Ignis spoke up, glancing in the rear view mirror at them before he turned south on the road to do as Noctis had asked, "but why?"

"I bet he just doesn't want to sleep in another dingy hotel," Gladio shook his head, smirking faintly.

"Damn right I don't," Noct grumbled, leaning against the door and looking out the window as the rain now poured down. "I'm sore, I'm gross, and I want to sleep in a good bed and get some room service. Problem?"

"Nope!" Prompto chimed, turning around to grin back at them. "I'm excited to check it out, normally I'd never get to see a place like this...!"

"The Quayside Cradle hotel is supposed to be quite grand and exquisite. It's my understanding that they have a handful of luxury suites as well. Should I ask after those, Noct?" Ignis inquired.

"Up to Luna, depends on how close she wants to be to a bunch of guys."

Luna laughed softly at the teasing way he put it, and she smiled, "I have no problems with that. In fact, it sounds nice."

"Right then. Ignis, go ahead and just book the nicest suite that'll accommodate us. For a few days."

"Woah, how long we talking?" Gladio asked, now serious in the way he questioned Noctis.

Frowning at his tone, Noctis shot him a grumpy look, "Like I just said, we're not far from that town back there, and I want to be comfortable. If there's not much to keep us busy at Galdin Quay, we'll come back up and work out of Longwythe and retire to Galdin."

"Alright. So long's you aren't planning on slacking."

"Not for that long. But I do intend to get some good quality slacking in there. It's a beach resort, after all."

"And it's raining."

"Woah! And too bad, too, I bet I could get some amazing pictures from here!" Prompto shouted, trying to snap a few photos, but the shore was on the other side of Ignis. "I definitely need a chance to take some photos there when the weather is better," he added, settling down now that they had begun a winding descent down to the coast.

A few minutes later, they slowly rolled by a small strip of buildings, shops and cheaper places to rest or grab a bite to eat when at the beach. The closer they got to the shore, the classier the businesses became, and they pulled into the large lot that served both the resort hotel and for public access to the beaches. With the rain coming down, it was impossible to take a guess at what the place might be like on a normal day, but it seemed quiet in a way that suited it and felt like its natural state.

Ignis grabbed his umbrella and went on ahead to set up the reservations. They were thankfully under a carport, keeping dry though chilled by wind as they grabbed their bags from the trunk. A bellhop from the hotel came over with a luggage cart draped with plastic, and he loaded up their bags for them, ushering them ahead. With only two umbrellas between the four of them, Noctis and Luna shared one, while Prompto tried to fit under one with Gladio without much success. Once they were all in the lobby and out of the rain, Gladio made sure to tip the man well and Luna thanked him graciously.

Waiting for Ignis to finish at the counter, they stayed out of the way, trying not to attract any attention. He came to them a few minutes later with the card keys for each of them. Once they were in the elevator, he handed them out and explained, "The suite has three bedrooms. Two of them have king beds and are attached to their own private bathrooms. The third bedroom has two full size beds, and the couch in the sitting room is a fold out, so everyone has their own place to sleep."

"Score!" Prompto cheered.

"I booked it under the assumption that Noct and Lunafreya would each take the main bedrooms. The three of us can decide who gets the couch."

"I'll take it," Gladio spoke up with a shrug as they walked up to their door.

Ignis let them in, standing aside as they each stepped in, their luggage following with the bellhop who had first helped them outside. Once they were all in, Ignis looked around and continued, "Then there's a third bathroom for the rest of us, of course."

Prompto whistled in awe, walking around the small kitchen that hadn't been mentioned, "Next you're gonna tell me there's a hot tub in this room, too."

"No. However, because this is one of their top tier suites, it comes with access to their top tier amenities. There's a separate spa and sauna just for guests in this wing."

"I don't think I'll ever get used to this high class lifestyle..."

Noctis shook his head and shrugged. He had been the one who insisted on the comfort this time, but the extra amenities didn't matter that much to him. All he really wanted was to be able to stretch his legs and to sleep on a mattress that didn't feel stuffed with rocks. Walking over to the dining table, he sat sideways in a chair and opened up the binder containing the room service menu, calling out, "Luna, you should pick whatever room has the better view. I'll be keeping my curtains closed."

"Alright, Noctis."

"And write down what you want for lunch before you go wash up," he added absently. She nodded to him, and everyone went about getting settled in and jotting down what they wanted to eat. While Prompto took the first shower, Ignis placed their order and Gladio set about making sure they were properly settled in, since they would be staying a few days.

Luna was just as glad for the reprieve as the others, and she took her sweet time cleaning up and caring for her hair and skin. The Leide region was so dry that she felt almost endlessly itchy thanks to the heat and dust in the air. Her hair was down as she let it sit with some product she had brought with her to bring moisture and health back to it. She wouldn't exactly say she was vain, but she had appearances to keep up and she liked to look nice even without the reasons, it was just no tragedy if she didn't.

Rubbing lotion over her skin, she hummed a soft melody to herself. When she finished where she could reach, she got up and pulled a robe on, opening up the door and poking her head outside. The food still had yet to arrive, and Noctis was sitting on the couch playing on his phone, alone in the main room. "Noctis?"

"Huh? What's up?" he looked up, a blink and his lips pressed tight together the only reaction he gave to her appearance.

"Would you help me to put lotion on my back?"

He hesitated, almost dropped his phone when his fingers twitched, and then he caught himself and nodded, "Ah, alright...?"

She smiled to him and nodded, stepping aside so he could join her in her room. "I'm sorry to ask you, Noctis. If you're uncomfortable, perhaps I should ask Ignis instead?"

"I'm fine," he answered a little too quickly.

She had suggested Ignis simply because he had long held a role of caretaker, but Noctis was the one she was most comfortable with, and she was glad that he agreed. Pulling her hair over her shoulder, she clutched the front of her robe closed while pulling an arm from a sleeve to bare her back to him. She peeked over her shoulder when she felt his hand pull away just before touching to her skin, his voice whispering a curse. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, sorry. I just realized it would be cold so I tried to warm it up, and my hands soaked up most of it... Sorry..."

She giggled quietly at that and shook her head. "It's alright. You must need it, too."

"Guess so," he mumbled, and set to work. His hand was timid on her back, but he was thorough, and she felt calm under his touch.

Sighing softly when his hand pulled away and she heard him closing up the jar, she slipped her arm back in the sleeve and got up to duck behind a changing screen. "This hotel has a place to get massages, right?"

"Uh? Yeah," Noctis answered, having been about to leave until she had spoken. "I'm gonna check out the hot tub a bit after lunch, myself."

"That does sound nice, but I didn't bring a bathing suit with me...," she stepped back out, wearing a long and elegant sundress, a dark blue in color with pale flowers, a far different sort of outfit than she would usually wear.

"You didn't pack an umbrella, you didn't pack a bathing suit...," Noctis smirked, shaking his head and tsking her softly.

She pouted at the tease, "Those are for leisure time, I didn't pack anything for that."

"How do you plan on keeping dry if we're hiking in the rain?"

"I have a poncho," she stated matter-of-factly, lifting her chin defiantly though her eyes danced with humor. "A large, drab poncho that keeps me dry and my hands free. How will you stay dry and fight at the same time, Prince Noctis?"

He raised his arms in surrender, laughing, "Alright, alright, you got me there. After lunch, why don't we go check out the shops, get you a bathing suit so you can enjoy that hot tub. And hopefully the beach before we leave, too."

"We'll see if they have a poncho for you, as well," she added with a wicked grin. Covering her mouth as she giggled softly, she shook her head at him and reached out to pat his arm as he pouted at her. "Thank you, Noctis. And until then, I think it's time I write some letters home. Who knows when we'll next have as much time?"

"Makes sense. Speaking of doing some writing... You have our notebook, right?"

"Of course," she smiled, and she opened up one of her packs to pull out a slim box. Pulling off the top, she set some stationary out on the table for herself, and she held their notebook out to him.

"Thanks. I'll give it back when I'm done."

"No rush. It's yours as well as mine, Noctis."

He grinned at that and pointed at the box she had pulled it from, "And you're a lot better at keeping things safe than I am."

"...When you put it that way. I'll be sure you give it back before we check out of the hotel, at the very least."

Chuckling at the jab he had invited, he nodded to her and left her to her letter writing. Back in his room, he sat down at the desk, testing a pen on the hotel-provided notepad before he would commit to using it in the precious notebook. Satisfied, he flipped through, smiling at the memories he peeked at as he leisurely flipped through to the most recent pages. Smoothing his fingertips over the heavy grain of expensive paper, he smiled at the birthday note he found etched below the last message he had written to her before she had come to Lucis for everything. Luna had signed it with a series of stickers, a cat, a car, a chocobo, and a few hearts screened with flowers.

He smiled warmly at the note, the pride she expressed in him as he continued growing into his role. And it was just that role that he wanted to begin to write about. Taking in a breath, he tapped the pen against the scrap paper, leaving small flecks of ink as he thought on how to express himself, wanting to tell her about the shared memories and emotions he experienced when taking in his ancestors' weapons, and how it made him think so much on what kind of legacy he might leave behind.

//Tenebrae - ME 744//

"To crown the King of Light is the calling of the Crystal."

Noctis watched her face closely as Luna answered his questions about the Cosmogony. She had such pride shining in her light blue eyes, and he couldn't help but to smile in return and to feel some of that pride as well. "But we don't know when that will be, right?"

"That is correct. It could be you, or one of your children, grandchildren, or so far down the line that it's too difficult to say," she giggled quietly, holding her hands out with her palms up to show how little they really knew about the timeline. "But one day, one of the kings of Lucis will cleanse Eos of the Starscourge with the power of the Crystal and the Lucii."

"And that's why my dad is protecting it."

"And one day, that duty will fall to you. It will be up to you to see to the safety of the Crystal, to heed its advice, to know when to use its power..."

"The way you talk about the Crystal, it's almost like it's alive." He looked at her curiously, rubbing his leg absently as pain throbbed in his thigh, radiating down his knee and up his hip and back.

Luna smiled at him and set the book aside with care before hopping off the bed to kneel beside him and rub his leg. She didn't yet have a grasp on her magic to use it to heal him, but she was trained in other ways of healing. Her mother insisted that it was bad to rely on magic for everything, and she agreed, and now she was grateful for it as she could help her young and newfound friend in between his healing sessions with Sylva.

"Do you think the Crystal is sad, in Insomnia?" he spoke suddenly, surprising her with his words.

"What, what do you mean, Noctis?"

He turned to look out the large windows and she followed his gaze curiously. "There's so much life here, in Tenebrae. The grass, the trees, the flowers. There's birds, and bugs, and the wind is always moving. But Insomnia is all concrete and wires. It's people crowded together, and cars everywhere. There's hardly any wild animals, the wind can't move through all the buildings, it's... so different. The Crystal is supposed to help life, but it doesn't get to see it..."

Luna stared up at him in wonder. Thinking on her response, she gave herself time by shifting focus back to giving his leg its proper massage. He winced and hissed with pain, but otherwise he bore through it, and relief came not long after she finished and sat back beside him on the edge of the bed. "I'm so happy to hear you say that, Noctis..."

"Eh? Well, I mean, you did just say, it's my job to protect and care for it, right?"

"That's right. Perhaps you should ask it when you're back in Lucis."

"Ask it?"

"Yes. The Crystal can commune with the Kings of Lucis. But, until you wear the ring, it may not speak to you."

"I'll still try!" he promised her earnestly. "When I'm better, and back home, that's the first thing I'll do. I'll go see the Crystal, and ask how it's doing."

Luna giggled quietly at his conviction and nodded happily. "Thank you, Noctis! It means so much to me." He returned her smile, but she could see some confusion in his eyes. Without waiting for him to ask, she explained, "The Crystal is the last connection that we truly have with the Draconian, Bahamut. It may even be the last of his life force. Caring for the Crystal, it could be seen as the same as caring for Bahamut. As Oracle, I will be the connection between humanity and the Astrals. It's my calling to tell the Astrals of our will, but also to hear theirs, to aid them if they ever have our need. But I cannot do anything for Bahamut, where he is. That duty, falls to you and to yours."

Noctis took in her words with a grave expression, feeling the importance of it all. While he knew so many pieces of the history and their duties, it wasn't until Luna began reading the Cosmogony with him that he understood faith and the depth of their responsibilities, and how far spread their influence truly was. He nodded to her, and he flashed a confident smile, "Don't worry, Luna. I won't let you down. No matter what, I'll make sure it's taken care of."

She gave him a warm smile, her face beaming with gratitude, "Thank you, Noctis!"

//Present Day - ME 756 //

Noctis leaned against the wall of the elevator, his chin dropping to his chest as he yawned widely and drew Luna's attention. Grinning at her as she tried so hard to stifle a yawn, he saw the tightness of her jaw and the way her chest held tight as she struggled not to let it out. She shot him a dirty look when he laughed, and her expression quickly melted into a smile and a quiet giggle. They stepped out of the elevator and into the hotel lobby, deciding to give the gift shop a good look before venturing into the heavy rain.

"Did you finish your letters home?" Noctis asked curiously.

Luna shook her head and she shrugged, "No, but you have been quite clear that we'll be spending a few days here. I figure I ought to be able to get them done before we move on."

"Yeah. Will it be Umbra or Pryna, you think? Or you gonna put the letters in the post like common folk?"

She laughed softly at the question and realized she wasn't sure of the answer. "I suppose we'll find out, won't we? If no one is available before we leave here, though, then I will simply put them in the post. No sense in waiting on them if they're busy. They probably have more important things to do."

"Makes sense," he shrugged. Hands in his pockets, he looked around the gift shop and realized they had wandered around the whole of the small store and hadn't seen anything worth even a closer look. Shaking his head, he raised his arm, small umbrella dangling from his wrist by a thin strap, "Guess this is a bust. Shall we?"

"It seems so, if I want it for today. I hope at least the wind has died down, but being by the ocean, I won't hold my breath..."

"Same here," Noct chuckled as the two left the small shop. Walking past the restaurant and registration counter, they could hear the wind and rain beating against the drawn shutters. Ordinarily the hotel would be wide open for the view and fresh air, but with such a heavy storm, they closed everything up for safety. Stepping out from the main shelter, the wind sent rain to them even so far under cover as they were, and Luna wrapped her arms around herself, pouting as her long hair whipped around and in front of her face.

All of that madness, and there were a few people out and about with umbrellas just as they intended to be, and she glared at them as she realized they made it so she wouldn't be able to complain and go back inside.

Noctis had no such cares when it came to voicing complaints, and even as he was opening up the umbrella, he sighed, "I really hate rain..."

"Perhaps we shouldn't worry about it today, after all, then?"

He shrugged, setting the umbrella against his shoulder to cover them both, "We're here, we might as well. Then we can go back in and relax."

"You're very keen on getting me into a swimsuit, aren't you?"

"I'm keen on getting you to lighten up and mix some fun with your work," he shot back with a smirk that didn't fully cover his embarrassment. "No reason we can't enjoy the world as we explore it, right?"

"I suppose not," she teased.

They stuck close, their sides pressed tight together as they huddled under the umbrella for warmth and trying to stay dry. Walking as quickly as they dared on the slippery dock, Noctis glanced down at Luna, her arms wrapped around her chest as she was hardly dressed for the weather. Then again, neither was he, with only a short sleeve shirt and pair of jeans. "Sorry!" he called out a bit loudly to be heard over the wind and rain as it roared over the dock, seeming much heavier than he thought it was when they had stood just outside the hotel. "If I had a coat, I'd give it to you!"

She tilted her head to look up at him with a wry smile, "We should have stopped back at the room!"

"Then you could wear that sexy poncho," Noctis laughed as he recalled her way of describing it.

"It would hardly go with my dress!" she complained with a smirk.

He laughed and shook his head with comic disappointment, "No umbrella at all but you refuse to wear your poncho with your dress...!"

"Packing for long trips is very complicated!"

"Is it? Never noticed."

She pouted at him, her cheeks puffed out, and he knew he was in trouble. Luna set her hand daintily just above his on the umbrella, and with a flash of an impish smile, she snatched it out of his grip and took off running. She laughed as she ran, taking care her heels while heading towards the parking lot and shops.

"Ah! Luna!? Hey! Get back here!" Noctis shouted after her. He set off after her, his heavy steps sending water splashing back up and soaking his ankles. He wasn't trying seriously to catch up as she led them to one of the shops, and once inside, he yanked the umbrella back with a huff and shook it out. "Now I'm soaked...," he whined.

She giggled at his poor attempt to seem angry, his lips still curled up in a smirk. "We were soaked before."

"Not this bad," he sighed dramatically and shook out his arms. Looking back over his shoulder out the glass door, he shook his head, "It looks bad now, but I swear it didn't look so bad before we started walking on the dock."

"Perhaps Ramuh is playing tricks on us," Luna laughed softly, rubbing her arms dry and warm.

He shot her a grin and rubbed the back of his neck, "He's napping somewhere closeby, isn't he? Guess that might not be too far off."

She giggled at that and tapped her lips teasingly, as if to say her lips spoke only truths and secrets. His grin broadened at her playful vibe, and he felt a pang of longing when she turned away to browse the shop. Shaking his head to clear it, he huffed at himself before walking after her to help the search for the bathing suit.