#have they never seen jellyfish before? apparently not

[changingplumbob]

Chopra Household: Chapter 5, Part 3

Mercedes practices her words, the household gets some new additions, Cassandra and Rahul get excited about the impending Chopra and the baby shower starts.

Inside, after much insistence by the twins, all the girls in the house practice potty together. Neither twin has reached level 3 yet but they’ve got plenty of time. Outside Rahul begins to plant some aubergine on his crop spots. Luckily weeks of cleaning the chicken coop has left him with lots of fertiliser he can use. All the crops get dusted with super vitality fertiliser today.

Cassandra: What flash cards do you want Mercedes

Mercedes: Nan amils

Cassandra: Animals it is. Okay little lady, what is this one

Mercedes: Bwear

Cassandra: Bear. B B Bear

Mercedes: Not bwear, bear *giggles*

Cassandra: Very good. How about this one

Mercedes: Belly wish

Cassandra: Close. Jellyfish

Mercedes: *quietly* jelly-fish, jelly-fish

Cassandra: What about-

Mercedes: I know! It turtle mama!

Cassandra: Yes it is! Well done

Here we have the newest household additions. Mini goat Turtle and mini sheep Seven. Yes, I let the toddlers name the animals, again (or maybe it was my childish brain, I’ll never tell!)

Inside Savannah and Mercedes take some time to have fun together. They both agree that a new baby is unnecessary since they exist. They’re going to try ignore it and hope it goes away. Mercedes suggested yelling at it but Savannah said that would just get them in trouble with their parents. Mercedes may still try yelling, only time will tell.

Cassandra needs some time outside so practices her guitar while Rahul sets things up for the new household members. Unfortunately something spooks Seven, not too sure if it was the guitar or the flock of chickens. Cassandra stops and takes some time to calm down and comfort Seven, just in case it was her.

Brilliant news! I hadn’t seen Binky or Boo, just a new wild rabbit. I thought, gosh darn it they passed on. I was WRONG! Here is Binky, alive and well in the garden. Also, she’s still apparently a young adult? I don’t know how rabbit aging works. Rahul pets her in delight for me.

Dinner goes much better with both parents. Cassandra has the night off and both girls happily chatter to her and Rahul between mouthfuls. Mercedes eats everything off her plate without tossing it on the floor! Savannah of course would never waste food. While Rahul clears Mercedes even blows Cassandra a kiss.

Before bed both twins get bubble baths. It’s the baby shower tomorrow so there won’t be any time in the morning.

Savannah: Watch out mama. I make wave go high

Cassandra: Very high indeed. How high can we get those arms

Savannah: All way up mama

Mercedes: Papa, you like bubbles

Rahul: I do like bubbles

Mercedes: You want share

Rahul: No thank you little ladybug

Mercedes: To late *splashes*

Rahul: Oh no, you’re much too fast for me

Mercedes: *giggles*

Savannah: Mama, can I has help with potty, I not want to be yuck

Cassandra: Of course you can. Oh, that was a kick

Savannah: I didn’t

Cassandra: I know honeybee. I mean the baby kicked me

Savannah: How

Cassandra: From the inside

Savannah doesn't understand but really doesn't care enough about the baby to ask any more questions. Potty time is successful and no messes are made.

Cassandra is exhausted after working on growing a human all day so Rahul tells her to head to bed and he can put the girls to sleep. Mercedes, book loving toddler that she is, requests a story. Savannah however is happy enough to be tucked in without a story.

In the middle of the night Rahul wakes up and wonders where Cassandra is. After checking the bathroom he goes and finds her in the hall from the kitchen.

Rahul: Everything okay my darling

Cassandra: I was hungry and craving some fruit

Rahul: Shall we go back to bed

Cassandra: Actually big guy, I was worried. We didn’t have a lot of time together yesterday with me working with the girls. Maybe…

Rahul: What is it

Cassandra: It probably sounds stupid but I was wondering if we could read to the baby. I want it to know your voice

Rahul: That’s not stupid, I’d love to

2am, Cassandra and Rahul are awake and taking some time to be together.

Rahul: Is the book meant to look upside down

Cassandra: Luna said some books are like this

Rahul: Perhaps it’s a way to fight against pregnancy brain

Cassandra: Hey, I don’t have pregnancy brain

Rahul: Well I do

Cassandra: For someone who dislikes comedy, you do make me smile

Rahul: You make me smile my darling. Now what happens after the pink dinosaur

Mr Cluckton: *crows* Hear ye, hear ye. A new dawn is upon us

Mrs Feathers: *clucks* It does keep happening

Mr Cluckton: *clucks* My keen guard chicken senses tell me the watcher has rearranged the yard. Be vigilant everyone!

Cassandra is too hungry to wait for breakfast so she has some leftovers while Rahul cooks some eggs for him and the twins

Rahul: What are you doing

Cassandra: Washing up

Rahul: You should leave that for me

Cassandra: You’re busy to, and we need to be ready for the baby shower

Rahul: You can barely access the sink over the bump

Cassandra: It does feel like I’m much bigger than when I had the twins. Maybe it’s a second pregnancy thing. I wish I could do my yoga, my back is so stiff

Rahul: I can help with that

Cassandra: But big guy, the eggs-

Rahul: Will be fine, now turn around. How’s that

Cassandra: A bit lower, yeah that’s perfect

Rahul: How is our baby doing this morning

Cassandra: Pretty active, do you want to say hi

Rahul: Of course I do. Hi little one, it’s papa here, I love you so much already

Rahul: And don’t you worry about your big sisters, we’ll keep you happy

Cassandra: I hope so

Rahul rests his cheek on Cassandra’s belly, feeling the baby kicks against his face.

Rahul: Forget athlete, I think this one might have inherited your sense of rhythm

Cassandra heads off to shower and Rahul returns to the eggs, which did indeed survive being ignored, the pros of sim cooking.

Cassandra collects the days eggs and is cleaning the coop when Seven bounces over to see what is happening. After she feeds the chickens Cassandra cleans up Seven.

Cassandra: We’re having visitors today, must look our best huh

Seven: *bleats* Clean is good

Cassandra: Have you seen Turtle? Turtle! Where are you? We need to clean you to

While Cassandra waits for turtle to appear she treats Seven to some milk. We have plenty of prairie grass but Cassandra wants to bond. She then shears off some wool to keep Seven looking sleek.

Cassandra: There you are Turtle. We really must adjust the gate locks, can’t have you wandering off. Who knows if foxes would try to get you

Cassandra cleans Turtle up and milks her to get rid of the pressure

Cassandra: I bet that feels better huh? I always feel better after pumping

Baby shower time and the weather is perfect! Unfortunately I added some gates to change where the chickens could get to and there seems to be a problem with sim visitors entering the property.

Savannah: Welcome all to our home

Mercedes: We glad you here to cel- sally

Savannah: Celebrate!

Mercedes: Even Milton *giggles*

Milton is not amused by this joke.

Mercedes: Uncle! Uncle! Play!

Alexander: Okay but go easy on me Mercedes

Devin: She’s running riot over you

Alexander: She’s just an enthusiastic play wrestler

Milton: Savannah, let me in

Savannah: What the password

Milton: Huh

Savannah: Not it

Milton: Look, the dog got let in

Savannah: Dog knew password

Milton: Dogs can’t speak

Savannah: Not it

Milton: *sighs in frustration*

Previous Part ... Next Part

[glowflygraveyard]

the hot springs are busy today, it seems. dozens of staff members scurry around, all looking too busy to pay yuzu any mind. a special event, perhaps? yuzu waits patiently on the sidelines until a familiar face catches her eye. there's been a new resident who moved into the apartment recently, though the name escapes her. her father mentioned they work several jobs and should have no trouble with rent, but she didn't quite expect to find them here.

"can i help you, little miss landlady?" the sickly pale octoling asks politely. yuzu's eyes are drawn to his uniform. strange, she's never seen any of the other staff wearing a uniform. maybe it's a personal preference.

"um, i'm looking for mister murasaki. we have a meeting today," she has to raise her voice slightly in order to be heard over the busied chatter around them.

"ah, of course! this way, please," the octoling gestures and uses the luggage trolley to clear a path for the both of them. yuzu has to stick close behind him to avoid getting swept away, and from this distance she catches a whiff of cleaning detergent, or perhaps hand sanitizer. she didn't know there were inkfish who could actually stand those things. before she can think about it too much, however, the octoling slows to a stop, nearly causing yuzu to bump into them.

"here we are. the boss is just inside the kitchen," he says before pushing the door open for yuzu. with a polite bow, yuzu gives her thanks before slipping past him, only to be greeted with another room full of busy staff milling around like ants preparing for the winter. she has to look for a few moments until she can spot murasaki leaning over one of the counters.

again, yuzu waits on the side until their eyes meet. sliding the knife he was holding into a sheath hanging from his waist, murasaki weaves his way between jellyfish to reach yuzu.

"sorry about the mess," he apologizes with a glance over his shoulder at the rest of the kitchen. "we'll get to talk later. but in the meantime, are you hungry? you can join our special guest for lunch." then, as if reading the question marks popping up in yuzu's head, adds on, "ah. it's your aunt satou. she's a specialized doctor. apparently some other family members decided to tag along, but she's the only one you need to concern yourself with." yuzu nods, then eyes the knife on murasaki's waist.

"are you going to cook, uncle murasaki?" she asks, and she doesn't expect the annoyed sigh murasaki lets out.

"it's a pain, but yes. family members are important guests, and it's sort of a company policy for me to be as involved as possible when it comes to service. can't trust anyone else to get the job right," he says, pointedly glaring at a jellyfish chef who has just tossed the entirety of their frying pan onto the roof of the kitchen. yuzu can't help but hide a giggle behind her hand. "anyways, come with me," murasaki continues. "i'll take you to where satou will be eating. it'll be just you guys, so don't worry. i'll join you later." with that, yuzu feels her nerves returning, but this is the whole reason why she's here. her mother said she could trust murasaki and satou, and the fact that she came all this way must mean she's willing to help.

she just hopes satou is a nice person.

[auxiliarydetective]

OC Pride Challenge: Day 20

You can find the challenge here

This week, it's all about LGBTQIA+ artists, so today I'm using a song by Queen for Raevyn Maumahara.

Raevyn and Gordon just seemed like the perfect couple to do something with Queen for because of Gordon's love for anything having to do with Old Earth. He'd definitely know their songs and love them. So, you now get to read how Raevyn and Gordon's first date came to be.

This thing called love

I just can’t handle it

This thing called love

I must get ‘round to it, I ain’t ready

Crazy little thing called love

Raevyn bopped to the music as she listened to Gordon play his guitar and sing. She had heard people play the guitar before, back during her time at Union Point. But nobody played it quite like him. When he did it, it looked almost like magic. His entire body was moving along to the music, as if the song were a part of him. And the way he sang… his voice was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard.

A-this thing

Called love

It cries like a baby in a cradle all night

It swings

It jives

It shakes all over like a jellyfish

Woo, I kinda like it

Crazy little thing called love

This was her first party on the Orville and it was honestly one of the best she had ever been to. Everyone was being nice, everyone got along, there was nice music… Honestly, she had never heard almost all of these songs before. Gordon’s music taste had to be pretty special. Everything about him was special. To be honest, she had been fascinated with him from the start. A legendary pilot who had been suspended for something incredibly childish, according to what she’d heard. Kind and playful but also deeply insecure. Also, he had red hair, which was something Raevyn had never seen before. She still remembered her first day when she had asked him if it was dyed and his laughter afterwards, saying that, no, this was all natural. Apparently, it was just rare. Fascinating, that human gene pool. With all those thoughts spinning in her brain and tipsy from the alcohol, she listened to Gordon sing his song with words she didn’t understand until he played the last few chords, a grin on his face. She applauded along with the others, cheering and hopping up and down. John, who stood next to her, regarded her with a smirk. After a few short bows to his audience, Gordon put his guitar aside and picked his beer bottle back up. As chatter started up again, he made his way over to John and Raevyn.

“So, how was it?” he asked, wide-eyed and excited.

“Great!” Raevyn grinned. “You were great, Gordon.”

“Yeah, man, I dig it,” John agreed. “You could’ve become a singer.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Gordon said. “I’d rather be a pilot.”

“What’s the name of the song you played?” Raevyn asked. “I’ve never heard it before.”

“Really? It used to be super popular in the 20th century.”

To this, John chuckled. “20th century,” he muttered.

“That was Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen.”

“Queen?” Raevyn repeated. “As in royalty?”

“No, that’s the name of the band,” Gordon explained. “Their frontman, Freddie Mercury, wrote in under ten minutes.”

“Wow, he must’ve been a genius!”

“He really was.”

Their conversation came to a pause as both of them sipped on their drinks. John seemed to have taken on a more passive role, which was unusual for him. Clouded by alcohol, she couldn’t read his mind anymore, so she didn’t really know why.

“The band has lots of other hits, too,” Gordon continued and Raevyn listened, a permanent smile on her face. “Probably their most famous song is Bohemian Rhapsody, one of the most popular songs of all time back on Earth. Have you heard of that one?”

“No, sorry.”

“No? Oh, come on! We gotta change that! I-”

“Gordon!” Captain Mercer called from the other side of the room, waving him over.

“Be right back,” Gordon said before hurrying off to see his friend.

Raevyn looked after him, smile still plastered on her face.

“So when are you gonna tell him?” John asked, sipping on his drink.

“Tell him what?” Raevyn asked.

“That you’re in love with him.”

Raevyn chuckled nervously. “How’d you get that idea?”

“First of all, you’re blushing.”

“That’s the alcohol.”

“Second, it’s hard to miss the way you look at him.”

“Well, uh… Yeah,” Raevyn murmured, “I might have a bit of a crush. - But don’t tell him, alright?”

“I might if you don’t get your act together soon,” John threatened playfully.

“It’s still too early to tell him,” Raevyn protested. “I mean, we’ve known each other for, what, two weeks?”

“Some people don’t even wait that long.”

“That’s you, probably, but not me.”

“I don’t get it,” John said. “You can read minds, so you gotta know that he’s in love with you too, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then what’s stopping you?”

“I want to make sure it’s more than a crush because a crush is, well, it’s just a crush, it doesn’t have to be anything serious.”

“But it can turn into something serious if you give it a chance.”

“Maybe.”

“Listen, I’ll just leave you two alone and you try to make something out of it, alright?”

“What?”

But as soon as he had said that, he was already walking off. Raevyn scoffed and took another sip of her drink, trying to calm her heartbeat. That was when Gordon came back, looking after John in confusion.

“He left you alone, huh?”

“Yeah, he had somewhere else to be, apparently.”

“Hm.”

Gordon took another swig of beer.

“Hey, uh, I just wanted to say I really like your outfit tonight,” he then said with a smile. “That’s something I’ve never seen before.”

“Oh, this?” Raevyn said, looking down at her wrapped top and skirt. “It’s nothing special, really. At a party on Tenshin, every other girl would be walking around like this.”

“Well, I like it. Really suits you.”

“Thank you. I like what you’re wearing too. It’s simple, but it’s nice.”

“Thanks… So, uh, Bohemian Rhapsody, right?”

“Bohemian Rhapsody, tell me about it.”

“It’s super complex with multiple layers and cultural references nobody fully understood back then and nobody understands now but it sounds absolutely brilliant. You really have to hear it. Freddie Mercury’s voice is really incredible.”

“I will, I definitely will,” Raevyn promised with a smile. Then, she got an idea. An alcohol-induced idea maybe and probably also inspired by John being pushy, but an idea nonetheless. “But, uh, have you ever seen them live?”

“Who, Queen?”

“Yeah. In the simulator, obviously.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Would you like to? I mean, you and I, in the simulator, watching a concert, just for the feel of it?”

Gordon stared at her for a second. If only she wasn’t so drunk, then she’d be able to sense what he was thinking.

“Yeah,” he finally said. “Yeah, absolutely, I just… is that a date, are you asking me out?”

“I, uh, yeah,” Raevyn stammered. “Only if that’s not a problem to you, of course, if you don’t want it to be like that you have to say it, I-”

“No, no, that’s not it at all,” Gordon quickly threw in. “I was just a little surprised. How about tomorrow, as long as we don’t get a hangover.”

“I’ve got the night shift tomorrow, so that won’t really work.”

“Oh.”

“But I’m free the day after that, how does that sound?”

“Yeah, sure! 19:00, Simulator 3?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“Oh, wait, no, we gotta get ourselves some cool outfits first!” Gordon called out excitedly.

“Outfits?” Raevyn echoed.

“Yeah, outfits. You know, get into the spirit.”

“Sure, whatever, I just don’t know anything about 20th century Earth clothes.”

“You’ll be fine. After all, what do synthesizers have databases for?”

“Okay, yeah. Let’s do it. So, 19:00 at the synthesizer room?”

“Yeah!”

They kept talking after that about various things, laughing and having a great time. Raevyn, however, was overflowing with happiness. She could barely believe this was actually happening.

[quilleth]

I was going to say now that a cat isn't using my arm as a pillow i can post an unboxing for the dream valley vanora head, but freya decided to nap on me again xD (it's ok she's older--14 this month!-- and her health's not very good so she can use my arm as a pillow if she wants). i just need to type one handed i guess lol

so the reason the box felt so hefty when it arrived? is because this is what the box for the head looks like! cushioned and padded inside and that black outer is fabric! like damn this is a NICE box y'all (featuring uninterested inspector #2)

She came with a postcard print of Adria and one of Vanora, and the COA (also really nice. like wow dream valley lure me in with nice boxes and holo coa printing! unfortunately they're not releasing the body as a human body so i probably won't actually be getting more from them, but never say never!)

She also came with a nice pair of eyes that sadly, won't work for anyone I need eyes for and couldn't get a nice picture of, but they're a pretty purpley grey

My lack of spatial reasoning strikes again because i thought these ears were a LOT smaller xD I almost feel bad that i'll just be using them to test dye formulas

The Dream Valley White is a warm toned white more like a cream color as opposed to the paper white from Loongsoul (and Ringdoll and Charm Doll I hear, though I don't have any white dolls from them). I'll have to keep that in mind when I look at dye formulas.

These ears are SO cute! I don't think the 1/4 bunny girls have the same detailing on their elf ears, but the new jellyfish girl does i think. I think this could be really fun to paint for my Vanora, since she is a genasi and I usually draw her with some pink/ coral on her ears (like fishy fins without actually giving her more fin like ears)

I apparently have a thing for sculpts with slightly open smiles like this xD Idk i just think it's cute! and it matches the first dollmaker thing I made of my Vanora.

She also has a cute profile!

now I just need to figure out a body for her. Interestingly, she's listed as having an 8.6 cm neck, but when i was looking at her it seemed larger, so I thought I'd see if she could fit the 62cm Loongsoul boy body which has a 9.4 cm neck. Her head fits fine and moves ok on it, but the aesthetics don't look good to me (the neck looks too thick, and obvs it's a boy body), which is good to know and keep in mind when looking at bodies for her! Some of the 60-65 cm girls have like 9.5+ cm necks, so I'll know to avoid those ones. Also it was just generally funny xD Her head is 21.5 cm and Bai Jue (dollhua) is like 19, so it's definitely a shift in aesthetics in my bunch I'd say xD

The only thing making me waffle about it (other than there not being muscle bodies in the 60cm ish range) is that i could (should?) get a body for her and figure all that out now, or I could get a head for Faolan now and try placing a custom order for their bodies through Resinsoul at the same time (cen for him and asking if they could do a custom muscular girl body like i've seen them do with their 1/4 dolls before). The latter would potentially save me needing to dye as much (easier to request a custom body color to match the dyed head than try to dye a head to match i think) and potentially be a bit cheaper, but if i get her sorted now, then i can customize her and potentially have better luck getting a switch head in milktea rose for him if i find one i like second hand or get really lucky and they rerelease Ryuzo again. Most of the dolls i've got bookmarked for him second hand are normal resin, so I'd have to dye them a light tan. Which i don't mind per se, but also milktea rose and ryuzo are really pretty xD But if I don't get something for him now...then the heads i do have marked might sell by then...and then i have to find another option! There is one head that's tan that I have bookmarked, but it has a pretty faceup already and I'd feel bad wiping it :/

Decisions are hard ><

[petnews2day]

The day my dog was poisoned by mycotoxins

New Post has been published on https://petnews2day.com/pet-news/dog-news/the-day-my-dog-was-poisoned-by-mycotoxins/

The day my dog was poisoned by mycotoxins

We thought she was just being cute, sleeping with her head on Mum’s foot, the picture of a dozing faithful companion.

But when Dulcie, our 7-year-old Irish Terrier cross, lurched awake and started staggering around before tumbling onto her side, eyes rolling, the panic set in. Minutes later we were in the car, racing across town to the after hours vet.

“She’s probably eaten some cannabis,” the vet said when we arrived, giving me what felt like a meaningful look, especially as I’d chucked on a pair of tie-dye leggings before our frantic drive.

I’d just like to state for the record: I don’t smoke. And I don’t have any of the sort of poison houseplants that can harm pets in my home, either.

READ MORE: * The owners who are sourcing black market CBD oil for their pets * Vets, residents, concerned about spike of suspected cat poisonings in Napier * Nine things you didn’t know could poison your pet

As if on cue, Dulcie peed right in the middle of the surgery and proceeded to sit in it, tongue lolling as she listed slowly sideways.

Kylie Klein-Nixon/Stuff

Dulcie, the 7-year-old Irish terrier cross, on her way home from the after hours vet, high as a kite.

At least she didn’t seem distressed, just high. There wasn’t much the vet could do, except tell us to take her home and let her sleep it off, which we did.

I have known dogs to eat all sorts of stupid things: chocolate, jellyfish at the beach, mussels at the beach (with the shells, necessitating surgery), string (also necessitating surgery), roadkill, animal poo, mulch, bathroom sponges, the gussets from undies, long forgotten rat poison, blister packs of Nicorette gum and panadol, and used tissues. She hadn’t been near any of those things lately though.

My initial fear was a poisoned rat or even a bit of 1080’d possum, but those poisons have much more dramatic and upsetting effects than what was happening to Dulcie.

Kylie Klein-Nixon/Stuff

Dulcie passed out against Mum’s leg – we thought it was cute. She was high, probably on mycotoxins.

Could she have eaten the remains of a joint chucked in the bushes where we usually walk? It seemed like a big reaction for such a small amount of pot.

I slept next to her that night, not wanting to leave her alone. She repaid my motherly kindness by vomiting right next to my head. It smelt like I imagine evil smells.

We took her back to her regular vet the next day, and Dulcie’s teetotal reputation was restored: “I think it’s more likely to be some kind of mycotoxin,” the vet said.

Apparently with cannabis ingestion, dogs will get the zoomies, and then flop about a bit. The change can be quite sudden and dramatic. The most dramatic thing about Dulcie was the size of her pupils.

It was more likely she’d eaten something mouldy.

Mycotoxins grow on most household food, including bread, rotten fruit, dog food and compost – all things gutsy doggos like eating. Symptoms can include vomiting, diarrhoea, tremors and seizures, disorientation, panting, and loss of muscle control (hence the peeing).

We might never know precisely what Dulcie ate, but there’s no need to panic if your dog does eat something while out walking.

“Seek advice to start with,” says NZ Veterinary Association head of veterinary services, companion animals Sally Cory. “Your vet will do a risk assessment and decide whether it’s something that should be seen straightaway.”

Dogs are “opportunists”, that often eat something before you even realise, and once it’s been swallowed there’s not much you can do at home.

“Keep reasonably focused on where your dog is, particularly if they’re off lead, because most dogs are just sort of walking along with nose to the ground, vacuuming everything up. Just be aware of if you’re in public areas; often people just leave scraps around, chicken bones and all sorts of things that can actually be really quite problematic and harmful.”

The problem is, no matter how gross it is, “it’s all food to your dog,” says PetPro Trainer founder Sonia Calvert.

“Recognise what scavenging behaviour looks like in your dog – you can usually tell when your dog’s on the scent of something – then either have a brilliant recall where your dog can turn away from food and come back to you, or get a solid ‘drop’ where the dog will release food on command.

“You can’t do it on the spot. You’ve got to train it, and you’ve got to practise it.”

Calvert advocates positive reinforcement training, rather than aversion training – such as dogs are given to stop them chasing kiwi – because you don’t want to make your dog scared of eating.

These are “tricks” any dog owner can teach their pet, with patience and persistence, and it could save your dog’s life – or at least save you waking up to rotten road kill spew in your hair.

By the way, Dulcie had a 100% recovery.

[lilas]

Enchanting date at the Big City Aquarium? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Farah’s having a good time!

@31daysofwayhaven – Enchanting, feat. Farah Hauville and Det. Annie Tomás (she/her).

[atticsandwitch]

Obey me characters with an MC who does reckless things because they're afraid of being a burden.

Self indulgent, comfort, angst Less headcannons, more drabbles.

First, in a group chat without MC: House of Lamentation (7) Satan: I just found MC in the kitchen, trying to open a can with a chef knife. Mammon: WHAT Mammon: Why would they wanna do something like that?? Asmo: (Wide eyed emoji) Belphie: Yea, that's stupid even for Mammon Mammon: HEY! Satan: They couldn't find the can opener, and they said they didn't want to bother anyone. Levi: That's actually kind of cute. Levi: It's just like the main character of this anime I just started watching who acts really tough and independent, but deep down is afraid to ask for help and just wants to be loved! Satan: That's not all Lucifer: it's not? Satan: Solomon saw MC yesterday climbing the bookshelves in the RAD library. Satan: Apparently they'd reached the sixth shelf before he could levitate them and the book they needed back to the ground. Beel: Are all humans like this? Lucifer: No. It seems we've found a particularly troublesome one. Levi: Actually I saw them do something similar earlier this week. Asmo: Oh no. Asmo: I bet Mammon's having a heart attack rn Mammon: (sweaty nervous emoji) Levi: They were standing on the counter trying to reach something on the top of the cabinets waaaay in the back. Belphie: That's not that bad Levi: They were also standing on an upside down pot because they were still too short. Levi: and they were wearing heels. Lucifer: Everyone, make sure to keep an eye on MC as often as possible

Lucifer

Sighs out loud reading the group chat

"And here I thought I would just have to protect MC from demon attacks"

He decides to have a talk with you once he gets a little time, and not just about safety. He has a whole lecture planned out about climbing the book cases at RAD.

Unfortunately he's swamped with paperwork and bills to go through, so he doesn't have the chance to talk to you right away.

The next day, however, you're all invited to the Demon Lord's Castle for another overnight retreat, or event of some sort.

Everyone is having fun and causing a ruckus, as usual, and at some point during the evening the group loses you.

You excuse yourself to go to the bathroom, but the palace is so huge you get lost even with directions. At a certain point you know you can find your way back and ask for help, but you can't bring yourself to, and decide to press on to try to find it yourself.

Eventually you find yourself standing in front of an ornate mirror with no reflection. You stop and ponder it for a moment, and as you're about to step away you hear a whisper. You can't make out what it says, but it compels you to step closer. In a corner of the reflected room you notice what looks like a puppet made of bone, with blackened eyes.

"~MC~..." An ethereal whisper, "...c...l...oser..." and in a blink of your eye it's closer to you, and you've stepped closer without realizing it.

Your heart is racing, but you can't stop yourself from reaching out to the mirror. Is it really a mirror...? Another blink and the bone puppet is closer. It tilts it's head at you, and outstretches an arm.

You try to pull back, but realize you can't, you're now mirroring the actions of the puppet as it steps closer, and closer.

Suddenly your vision goes black and you're pulled backwards by the waist, away from the mirror.

After a moment, Lucifer removes his gloved hand from over your eyes, and spins you to face him. He looks worried, frightened almost, but soon regains his composure.

"I thought you were going to the bathroom, MC" He says

It takes you a second to form words again, "I... I was.... I got lost" You had to really think hard about it for a moment.

Lucifer sighs, "You know the castle can be dangerous. If you weren't sure where to go, why not ask someone to show you?"

You were feeling particularly vulnerable after what had just happened, and so decided to be deeply honest, "I'm afraid of being a burden..." you mumble.

He's surprised by the admission, but pulls you close.

"Of all the burdens I've had to shoulder in this life, I promise that you are not one of them, MC" He whispers into your hair as he kisses the top of your head.

Mammon

Immediately goes to find you after he finishes reading the group chat.

He finds you doing something dangerous with a knife again, and grabs your wrist to stop you.

"Oi, human!" He only calls you that when he's angry, which is rare, "What do ya think yer doin'?"

"I'm just-" he cuts you off

"I don' wanna hear it!"

"Then why did you ask?" you're stare at him. Mammon's face reddens and he realizes he's still holding your wrist, so he gently takes the knife out of your hand and sets it down.

"I mean- What's goin' on with ya lately? Everyone says yer doin' a buncha dangerous stuff!" He put his hands on his hips and only resumes eye contact as he finishes his sentence.

"What do you-?"

"Like climbin' bookshelves, and whatever this is-!" He gestures to the knife and you look away. You're silent for a while; too long for Mammon to take, "C'mon, MC, talk to me" His voice finally softens, arms dropping to his sides. You finally meet his eyes, and the look of concern on his face is heartbreaking.

"I like doing things myself..." you can tell he's not buying it, "I... I just don't want to be a burden..." You admit quietly, voice wavering somewhat.

His eyes go wide, "...MC..." he says softly. Mammon pulls you in for a tight hug, one arm wrapping around your shoulders, and the other hand resting on the back of your head, and holds you like he'd do anything in the world to protect you, which he would.

"Listen up, 'cuz Mammon's gonna give you some free advice" you hear a sniffle, and realize he's crying.

His human was hurting like this, and he never even noticed. What kinda demon am I? He thought, but he knew this wasn't about him right now, so he held you tighter.

"You will never be a burden to me...Ya got that?"

Leviathan

Thinks its pretty adorable that you actually seem to be a little tsundere.

Because of this, and his social anxiety, he doesn't confront you about it right away. Not until the jellyfish incident anyway.

One night you're hanging out with Levi in his room, when you notice that one of his jelly fish decorations had fallen to the ground. So, you decide to string it back up for him.

You looked around, Levi absorbed in his game, and tried to judge the distance between the edge of the bed-tub and the ceiling. That should do it! you think, and climb the edge of the bed-tub. The edge was difficult to balance on, but you knew you'd be careful, and you could almost reach.

Levi turned around just in time to see you, arms stretched too far over your head and on your tip toes on the edge of the tub, and watched as you lose balance completely. He saw it, you were going to fall backwards toward the other side of the tub and crack your head!

Now, he may not be as fast as Mammon, but he is still a demon after all, and just as you felt the jolt of the fall as your foot slipped, you felt arms around your middle, pulling you forcefully forward.

Leviathan had jumped to your rescue, unconsciously changing into his demon form, discarding his controller unceremoniously to the floor, and in his panic underestimated his own strength.

The two of you ended up both landing on the floor, you on top of a very red Leviathan.

"Wh-wh-what were you doing normie?! You were about to fall and crack your skull on the tub!"

You guiltily hold up the jellyfish, "I was just trying to fix it"

"Well get a ladder next time!" It's taking everything in Levi to ignore the position your both in, because its' just like that time in- nevermind, this is more important.

"All you had to do was say something! I was sitting right there!" He still hasn't let you go. He sees the look on your face change into something he can't quite get a read on, but whatever it is, is also full of sadness. "You could have died just then, MC. Why wouldn't you just ask for some help?" His voice is softer, "I was right there" and softer still, almost desperate.

"I..." He could tell whatever you were about to say was difficult for you, "I'm just so afraid of being a burden"

He's heartbroken, "You're my best friend, my player two, my Henry th-the- the person I love" He goes red again and quickly continues as if to bury the words beneath more words, "You're a lot of things, MC, but you're not a burden"

Asmodeous

Worrying is bad for the skin. Worrying is bad for the skin. Worrying is bad for the skin. But he can't help it.

One night you get home particularly late, and none of the brothers have seen you. They were about to send out a search party when you finally came home.

When he finds out you walked home alone again, and were so late because you got lost, that's when he finally decides to confront you.

"You walked home alone again? And took WHICH street?! MC don't you know how dangerous it is for a human in the Devildom, especially one with no real magical powers? Not to mention in that area!"

How were you supposed to know? You were lost. He knows these things, but doesn't give you a chance to point them out.

"Beel saw you leave right after classes. If you were so lost why didn't you call one of us?" he asks. The worry and exasperation is plain in his voice.

"I..." you start, "I didn't want to bother anyone that's all" but he can tell there's more to it than that.

"Why are you so worried about bothering us? Don't you know we care about you?" He asks, concern slowly turning to sadness.

"I just don't want to be a burden..."

His eyes go wider than before, which you didn't think was possible. "What in the three realms would give you the idea that you're a burden? MC, you're so precious to me, and if anything were to ever happen, I-"

He begins welling up with tears and pulls you into a tight hug.

"MC, I was worried sick. We all were. Please... Come to me when you need help... I love you"

Satan

He walked in and found you trying to use a chef knife to open a can, brought you the can opener, and ultimately left; not entirely sure what to make of the situation yet.

The next time he saw you, you were climbing on top of an unsteady looking stack of books to reach something in the House's library.

Were those one of his stacks? Had you stacked them yourself? It didn't matter. What mattered was that the books all began slipping out from under you.

He rushed over, and caught you with ease as you fell, but your momentum ended up knocking you both to the ground.

He sighs, "What am I going to do with you?"

"Sorry, " you let out an embarrassed laugh, "Are you okay?"

"Yea, and you?" he asks. You nod, and he helps you up. To his confusion you immediately begin stacking the books back up.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asks, suspicious. It looks like you're about to try to climb the stack again.

"There's a book I need" He was right.

This must be how Lucifer feels. He sighs again, and grabs your hand to stop you.

"You can't keep doing stuff like this, MC. It's dangerous" He looks serious, but his cheeks are a little pink, "I'm worried about you. Why won't you ask for help?"

"I..." You start, but hesitate, averting your eyes.

"Tell me the truth, MC" Satan almost pleads, a sad look in his eyes.

"I don't want to be a burden... that's all..." You say, so quietly it's almost a sigh.

Suddenly it all made sense; the way you tried to hide when you were upset, how you always carried just a little too much, the way you always offered to help, even if there was little work to do... Why hadn't he put the pieces together before now?

"Then, I need you to do something for me" He says, after thinking a moment. He steps closer, "I need you to start asking for help,"

He pulls you close, and hugs you tightly, "I know it'll be difficult, but that's why I'll always be there for you"

He pulls away slightly, still holding you, to look into your eyes. His face is very red now, "I'll do whatever it takes to show you that you're not a burden," Kindness and determination burn in his eyes as he leans in for a kiss.

Beelzebub

He was walking down the hall when he spots you down at the other end near an open window.

The wind blew something out of your hand, so you leaned out the window to try to grab it. This is when Beel got worried, his instincts kicked in and he picked up his pace.

Your homework got caught by the wind, but stopped by some of the vines clinging to the House of Lamentation, so you leaned out the window but it was just out of reach. You knew you could get it if you could reach just a little further, so you lean out a little more... Just a little more...

Unfortunately that's when you lost balance, and felt yourself tip forward. You'd be out the window in no time flat, and then you'd be flattened on the ground.

Thankfully Beel was able to grab you by the waist and hoist you back inside to safety.

You thank him, and explain the situation but he still looks confused.

"Why wouldn't you just come get one of us? We could've easily gotten it down for you" he asks.

"I thought I'd be able to reach" you try, with an embarrassed and unconvincing smile.

"Tell me the truth, MC. Why are you so afraid to ask for help?"

"I don't want to be a burden..." You say softly, sadness written plainly on your face and in your voice.

"Oh" You look up and the sad, sympathetic look Beel gives you makes you want to cry. "I know the feeling"

"You do?" You ask, tears beginning to spill over

"You think I don't know how many problems my stomach causes for everyone?" He gives you a slightly more serious look, "But that doesn't matter" And now a reassuring, although still slightly sad smile, "Because the people who love and care about you will never think of you as a burden. And trust me, MC, there are plenty of people who love and care about you"

"Like who?" You didn't want to ask, part of your brain knew the answer, but you just had to silence those negative voices.

Beel blushed, "Like me" he says, then silently wipes the tears from your face and pulls you into the softest, safest hug you've ever felt.

Belphegor

He wasn't worried at all initially. Sure humans are fragile compared to demons, but they're not that fragile. Plus you've survived this long on your own and now you've got demons, angels, a prince, and a sorcerer all looking out for you. Not to mention the way brothers' tend to exaggerate.

He was laying outside under a large tree, intending to try out a new nap spot, when he saw you leaning out of the window.

He smiled and was about to wave when he realized something was wrong. You were leaning too far out of the window. You were going to-

He jolted upright like he'd been hit by lightning as he watched you lose your balance

He already knew there was no way he'd be able to make it to you in time, even with demonic speed.

Thankfully Beel was there. Belphie let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding when he saw Beel pull you back inside and got up to go make sure you're alright.

He realizes his brothers were right to be worried, and he's angry about it.

You're on your way back to your room by the time he catches up with you, but he can see that your eyes are red from crying, and his anger evaporates. He asks you what's wrong, and you explain everything.

Why you almost fell out the window, your conversation with Beel, and how you're afraid of being a burden.

"Well, Beel's right, you could never be a burden to any of us" He says, so don't even worry about it" he says, giving you an easy smile, despite how sad he felt for his human.

"That's... Easier said than done..." You reply, unconvinced.

"That's why I'll always be by your side, MC. I won't even give you the chance to worry about it!"

He pulls you into a hug and strokes your hair, starting the waterworks all over again. He'll hold you until you've calmed down again, and then pull you up to the attic where you two can make a pillow fort and nap.

He'll probably also start a tickle fight just to hear you laugh again.

Btw, who made you feel this way, MC, he just wants to murder torture talk.

Diavolo

Lucifer has shared his concerns, as he often does, so Diavolo is aware of your reckless nature. He finds it somewhat amusing, but mostly concerning.

It's during one of the events that he finally witnesses it for himself.

He always found it sweet how you tried to help everyone, and you were doing it again. You were running around helping all of the brothers with everything. He doesn't know how those seven managed without you before you came to the Devildom, and the way they rely on you is more than a little amusing.

This time you were helping Asmo with decorations, but he seemed to have disappeared somewhere, no doubt to fix his makeup, or to take a break to avoid sweating too much.

When Diavolo walked in his eyes went wide. You were using progressively taller stacks of chairs to climb the tallest stack in the room in order to hang decorations on the ceiling, and your arms were so full of supplies that there was no way you could balance properly on the already unsteady stacks.

He'd already made it to the base of the stacks when the one you were on started to wobble.

"MC!" he called out in a panic, but this seemed to startle you, and the jolt caused you, the stack of chairs, and all your decorations to come crashing down.

Diavolo caught you effortlessly, and shielded you from any flying chairs in the process.

"Mc, are you okay?" He asks, eyes still wide, "what in the Devildom were you thinking?"

"Sorry, I was just trying to help" you say

He feels anger towards the brothers creeping in the back of his mind. That they would leave you alone, with so much work, and still none of them are to be found after such a loud crash; it's unacceptable. But he pushes those thoughts back for now.

"That was dangerous, even for a demon. You could have been seriously injured just now," The look of concern on his face tugs at your heart.

"Sorry" you mumble again, "You can put me down, now... I should start cleaning up"

"Forgive me for being selfish," He smiles a little, "But I don't think I want to put you down just yet. The clean up can wait"

Your face reddens. You're not sure what to say to that, but you can't deny that it feels good to be held like this in his strong arms.

He looks briefly around at the mess of scattered chairs and decorations that you had intended to hang and clean up by yourself, "Tell me, MC," He looks back to you, "You seem to have a hard time asking for help, why is that?"

You're surprised by the directness of the question, and look away. He notices, and feels a bit guilty, but knows that if things continue the way they are, you will definitely get hurt one day.

"I guess it's because... I'm afraid of being a burden" you answer honestly. You feel that you owe him that much.

"I see..." He hums, then smiles happily, "Then perhaps I should carry you around until you admit that you are not a burden!"

"WHAT?" the look on your face makes him laugh heartily.

"Just kidding!" He chuckles, "...Maybe"

"Diavolo that's- I-"

"You are extraordinary, MC," There's a serious look on his face now, "In fact I could describe you in a million different ways, but the word 'burden' would never be among them"

He begins walking out of the room, still carrying you in his arms.

"What are you doing? What about the decorations?"

"I think I'd like to keep you to myself for the day, if that's alright with you, my dear" Diavolo smiles down at you.

As you two walk down the hall, away from the ballroom you hear the brothers' voices as they enter, "Whoa? What the heck happened in here?" Mammon exclaims.

Barbatos

He had invited you for tea, and you offered to help Barbatos make and serve it.

You try to carry too much, and in your rush drop the entire tray, shattering the beautiful tea set and all of the plates of desserts.

"I'm so sorry!" You immediately bend down and begin tying to pick up the pieces, "I'll replace it-" You stop as you realize that you're not sure you could even afford to replace a royal tea set.

"Allow me to help" Barbatos says, bending down.

"No, no, it's fine! I can get it!" You look up and give him an unconvincing smile, and while you're not paying attention to what you're doing, you slice your hand open on one of the sharp pieces of porcelain.

Barbatos pulls a roll of gauze and bandages out of one of his pockets, "Let's get this taken care of, shall we?" he says, but you're still picking up pieces with your other hand.

"I can do it, I just-..."

"It's only a tea set," As Barbatos stills your frantic hands, he notices your tears.

"I'm sorry," You finally say after a long moment of silence, during which he begins bandaging your injured hand, "I tried to help, but I was still only a burden after all..." Barbatos is surprised by this admission, to say the least.

"You should know that It makes me very happy to be able help and take care of people. I especially enjoy the way your face lights up with a tinge of surprise whenever I do something for you that you are not expecting..." He pauses in thought, and looks as though he's realized something that makes him sad, but whatever it is, he keeps it to himself. He finishes bandaging your hand, and places his on the side of your face.

"MC, It is a pleasure, and genuinely brings me joy to be able to do things for you. Please allow me to help you more often."

He takes a handkerchief out of his pocket and dries your tears.

He leads you to sit in a comfortable chair, "Please, rest until you feel better, and allow me to take complete care of you today"

He makes some tea and food for you both to share and makes sure you don't have to lift a finger for the rest of the day, leaving the broken tea set completely forgotten on the floor in the other room for the time being.

He always has kind words for you whenever you see each other, and while he enjoys your help in the kitchen, he always makes sure not to let you do too much, and he never lets you clean up.

He takes extra care of you from now on, and Diavolo finds it absolutely adorable, though he may be a tiny bit jealous.

Solomon

You might've actually given this man a heart attack.

He would've thought it was funny if it hadn't looked like the bookshelf was about to come crashing down on top of you.

"Don't worry! I'm used to climbing things; I'm careful!" You try to convince him, "That does not, in fact, make me feel any better, MC"

He dedicates time to teaching you a levitation spell or two, depending on your magical abilities, so you don't have to climb things any more.

As he's teaching you he decides to ask you about the book shelf incident.

"Something's been on my mind lately" He says, turning to you as you practice. You ask him what it is as you turn your attention to his face and notice that he looks troubled. "The other day, in the library. You knew I was there, sitting nearby... Why didn't you just ask for my help?"

"Oh, I just thought I could get the book myself" That wasn't the answer he was looking for, so he presses on.

"But surely it would've been easier to use a ladder, then. wouldn't it?"

"Well... I- uh- wasn't sure where they were" you sounded a little embarrassed, and turned your attention back to the spell.

Solomon looks a little saddened, "Hmm..." he pauses. You didn't want his help and you didn't even want to ask him a simple question? "MC, is there a reason you didn't want to ask me for help?" Watching you, he saw that the question gave you pause.

"I... have a hard time asking for help sometimes..." You admit, hoping that's the end of it. But of course, it isn't.

"Oh?" he gently prompts you to explain.

He can tell that you're only pretending to pay attention to the spell now, to avoid eye contact, "I've just always been afraid of being a burden"

His face grows sadder for a moment, but you continue to avoid his gaze. He folds his arms, and moves a closed fist to his chin in thought.

"I think that sometimes, not asking for help can be more of a burden" he says, finally catching your attention. You look up questioningly and he continues in a gentle voice, "Think about it, you're placing too much of the burden on yourself, which is making everyone around you worry. And besides that, what if you get hurt? Then you'll need more help from others than you would have in the first place"

It's your turn to look troubled. You hadn't realized that you were worrying everyone, or that you were causing them trouble.

He lets you think for a moment, before placing a comforting hand on your back.

"MC, it's okay to rely on others. People like it when you ask for help. It makes them feel special to you" He says, and when you look up he's giving you one of the kindest smiles you've ever seen on this shady magic boomer's face.

He hopes you catch his little hint, I want to feel special to you, MC

"Thank you, Solomon. I'd never thought of it that way" you smile back, "I'll try to ask for your help more often"

"I'll look forward to it!" He says with an even brighter smile.

Simeon

He noticed just in time; you had decided to walk home alone again and two suspicious looking demons were about to corner you down an alley.

You were scared, you think they had been following you for at least a couple blocks, and now you had nowhere to go. You were at a dead end.

"You two want to leave." A familiar voice, "NOW." Simeon was smiling, but he looked so intimidating in the shadow of the alley, and something ominous was also radiating off of him. Was he angry?

"C'mon it's not worth it" one of the demons said, "Killjoy" said the other. Simeon watches them leave with an intimidating expression before finally approaching you.

"MC, are you alright?" He asks, features now full of concern.

"Yea! Thanks for that, I was starting to get a little worried"

The concern on his face grows, didn't you know how much danger you'd been in just then? "Those two had been following you for a while... Why didn't you call out for help? Or call someone on your D.D.D?"

"Well... I- I just thought maybe they were walking in the same direction, so I wasn't sure..." You sounded nervous.

How could you be unsure? Simeon had never seen a more suspicious looking pair of demons in his life, and if you'd heard what they were saying they wanted to do to you, you'd understand why he was angry. He sighs.

He notices you're shaking, ever so slightly. Maybe you had overheard... You seemed to be more shaken than you were trying to let on.

In the silence he realizes that this part of town wouldn't be part of your normal route back to the House of Lamentation, "Were you lost?" You nod. "Why not ask for directions?" He asks

"Everyone was so busy when I left RAD... I didn't want to bother them. They're always taking care of me as it is... I just thought..."

So that's why you were walking home alone

"I'll walk you back then" he offers you his hand, and you want to take it, but to his surprise you can't bring yourself to.

"That's alright! You've already done so much for me. I'm sure I can find my way home now!" You try to force a smile, but Simeon can see right through you.

"MC... What's really going on?" His face is serious again but his voice is kind as he steps closer and rests a hand on your shaking arm.

You can't hold back tears any more, "I... Just don't... want to be a burden... to anyone" The quiet words break Simeon's heart.

Who could've made you feel this way?

He draws you into a strong, gentle hug, cradling the back of your head to hold you closer and stroke your hair.

"Don't ever think like that, MC" He breathes into your ear, "You are so loved"

Luke

You're going to give this smoll baby angel a heart attack, and there's not much he can even do to about it.

You were carrying too much, like you always do, and Luke noticed almost too late.

You were heading straight for the stairs, and your books and supplies were stacked too high for you to see!

"MC, LOOK OUT!" he shouts.

You stop just as your foot passes the threshold of the first stair and you feel the drop.

You drop everything you're carrying, but thanks to Luke's warning you stopped your own momentum before you could tumble down the stairs with everything else.

Relief floods through Luke as you stare at the mess, shaken and disheartened by the prospect of the clean up.

He runs to you, demanding to know that you're okay.

Of course he helps you clean up and carries as much as he can for you.

He's always offering to carry things for you now, even if all you have is a book or two.

He keeps a nervous eye on you from now on too.

Give this poor baby angel a hug.

[r0-boat]

👉👈 anon with a strange idea. context: i was playing around with shindanmaker and put volo's name in it, and it gave me mermaid. so naturally i made him a jellyfish mermaid, slightly based off of jellicent and arceus but not really. takes place in modern times btw.

you end up on the beach, and a sign catches your eye.

"⚠️WARNING: NO SWIMMING!⚠️

an apparition resembling a jellicent lurks in these waters. people have gone missing some time after stepping in. avoid at all costs!"

you brush it off, since apparently this beach is also near the swankiest of cities you've ever been in. must be some weird myth. so you step in the water anyway because it's deathly hot. like, 100 degree hot.

"see? just a myth!" you say to yourself as you take another step. then you feel an overwhelming, stinging pain in your leg. then sliver/gold tentacles piercing your skin. "wha–?"

you're dragged to the depths of the ocean. somehow, an entire ruins was sunk here. you feel like you've seen this in history books... you take in a deep breath– wait, you can breathe?!

you take a good look at whatever, or whoever, dragged you here; an incredibly attractive blonde man, well, half-medusa. his hair is oddly shaped, and his eyes seemed to glow with the remaining light piercing the water.

"i never thought someone would come to me willingly!" his voice is like honey, almost having you forget that your leg stings like hell.

"who are you?" you croaked.

"these mortals like to name things, do they?" he drawls on, before smirking. "you may call me volo."

Tentacles tentacles tentacles Volo what those tentacles do?👉👈😳

Hhhhhhh

I absolutely love the concept of Ursula!

Excellent! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ gold stars

[voidsiblings]

Ok ok speaking of monomon she really fucking bothers me, you know why?

Cause there is no one else like her in the game.

There is never shown to be any jellyfish settlements or structures within fog canyon aside from the archives, the jellyfish are treated like an anomaly by the hunter and I have also heard the theory that they are artificially created. They do not wear masks and do not seem to have complex thoughts when dream nailed implying that they are on a similar level of intelligence as tiktiks, so is monomon the only intelligent jellyfish? If so why? Were did she come from who are her parents.Did the mask maker just give a normal jelly a mask for shits and giggles and monomon was created? Why do jellyfish weird out the hunter so much?

Are they not native to Hallownest? But they can't not be or else monomon wouldn't have written that whole elegy because she would have know that the whole "Hallownest is the only civilization" thing is bullshit. I mean that's why the weavers don't respect the pale king cause they are not native and therefore know that the pale king isn't as big of a deal as he pretends he is. So WHAT THE FUCK IS MONOMON, why is she so different, why does she wear a mask, just???

ok you're so right and have obviously had Thoughts on this before. unfortunately I don't have any personal headcanons about Monomon (except the fact that she does seem to be organic, even though she's apparently the only one of her species, and is obviously of a different one than the uomas / oomas / Uumuu) because I ignore the parts of the game that I don't want to mentally wrangle.

HOWEVER. I've been reading through Ghosts that We Knew by NurgleTWH (good fic btw, though it has Ghost/Quirrel so I understand if anyone's uncomfortable with that; I'm neutral about it) and it's got the best explanation of Monomon that I've seen so far. (any inaccuracies in this summary are my fault, I only read this part once and haven't gone back to find it again.) basically she says that Monomon is the last member of an extinct species that was endemic to Fog Canyon before the establishment of Hallownest. the Pale King discovered the unique, previously sealed-off biome of Fog Canyon while commissioning tunnels constructed for the kingdom's highways. unfortunately, Monomon's species was in the grips of a plague (separate from and predating the Infection) and Monomon's egg was the last to be laid. she was kept apart from the others to avoid infecting her and reintroduced to her native habitat after the last of her species had died out.

this adequately explains (to me) why she's the singular example of her kind, why the other species there are like and yet unlike her, and why the Hunter seems perplexed by the entire jelly family.

(also another thing I ignore about this game is the Mask Maker. because what the hell.)

[fruitcoops]

Omg can you write about coops going live on instagram and answering TONS of fans questions? And just being domestic and cute together in general

I can, yes! This is partially the 450 celebration--to the lovely person who suggested writing a sequel to one of my favorites, please know that I love and appreciate you! Coop credit goes to @lumosinlove

Check out Part 1 here

“Is it working? I think it’s working.” An explosion of hearts covered the screen and Remus’ eyebrows rose. “Yep, definitely working. Hello, Instagram! I’m Remus Lupin, winger for the Lions.”

“And I’m Sirius Black, center and team captain.” Sirius waved at the phone. “We had a great time answering your questions last month and we figured we’d come back to do it again, since there were so many people we couldn’t get around to in those few minutes.”

“I can already see a bunch coming in. Should we start?” Remus asked, turning to him with a small smile.

“You go first.”

“Alright, first question….” He squinted at the screen. “How long have we been together? We’ve been dating for just over a year now, but we’ve known each other for three-ish.”

Sirius snorted when he read the next question. “What do we do in our free time? It’s cute that you think we have free time. Um, we read a lot. Sometimes I’ll play video games with the guys.”

“If we have a free weekend, we’ll go hiking or take a short road trip. Practice takes up four or five hours a day, so we’re very low-key, which I think surprises people.” Remus scrolled down a bit. “What are our favorite foods?”

“Don’t say it.” Sirius said immediately. “Don’t you dare.”

“Fine, fine.” Just as Sirius began to answer, he coughed, “pineapple pizza.”

“No!” Sirius smacked Remus on the arm with a pillow as he laughed. “Menace. My favorite food is pasta, because it’s versatile and I’m not a heathen. All of you who are agreeing with him, stop it right now. I’m very disappointed in your tastebuds. Next question…do either of us cook? We do, yeah.”

Remus gave him a look. “Do you, though?”

“That’s a funny thing to hear coming from the man who said he’d die for one of my grilled cheeses yesterday,” Sirius countered.

“Fair point. Yes, we both cook, but I generally do it more often because I enjoy it.”

Sirius looked back at the camera with sad eyes. “He kicked me out of the kitchen last week.”

“You kept stealing bites of soup!” Remus laughed. “It wasn’t even done, you could have gotten salmonella!”

“You can’t get salmonella from soup,” Sirius scoffed. The comment section went wild. “…apparently you can. Huh.”

“Next question, before we get too off-track. Who is the more dramatic one?” Remus folded his hands and rested his chin on top. “I’m giving you three guesses and the first two don’t count.”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “You’re plenty dramatic.”

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“Moving on! Oooo, this one is for me specifically.” He shifted closer, wrapping an arm around Remus’ waist as he read. “Sirius: does Regulus—you spelled that wrong by the way, there’s only one ‘g’—does Regulus still live with you? If yes, how does that work?”

“I’m telling him someone spelled his name wrong,” Remus said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “He’ll get a kick out of it.”

“He’ll be so pissed,” Sirius agreed. “Nope, Reg moved out a few months ago and now lives with Pascal Dumais, but it was really neat to have him around. He’s still got a room here and it was nice spending so much time with him after we didn’t talk for a while. He’s awful about vacuuming, though.”

“Aw, people think that’s cute.” Remus smiled as he read the responses. “Ohoho, people are getting nosy. What do we argue about the most?”

“I’m not sure, actually. Maybe chores?”

“I was going to say practice time. We’ve gotten into a couple tiffs about watching tape or running drills after we get home.”

“That’s true.” Sirius frowned at the screen. “For those of you who apparently think that’s all one-sided: it’s really not.”

“He came downstairs to get me at ten or eleven at night the other day. We’re both hockey nerds, so it happens from time to time.”

“Are we going to keep doing tiktoks? Oh, for sure, they’re a ton of fun.”

“Absolutely. Where else am I going to get the inspiration to glue things shut just to irritate him?”

Sirius shook his head with a smile. “Diablotin.”

“Nothing like being called a gremlin by your fiancé,” Remus laughed, tapping the screen. “Okay…who’s the best in bed?”

“I’d say we both sleep really well,” Sirius said. “You talk sometimes, which is really funny.”

Remus glanced over. “Do I really?”

“Yep. I think you were grocery shopping the other night. You kept saying orange juice very adamantly.”

“Interesting. I agree, though, we both value sleep.”

“There are too many questions!” Sirius scooted forward and sifted through them. “To jay-mac 2001, we both love kids and might have some in a few years. No, mermaid queen, we don’t really have friends outside of hockey because we don’t have lives outside of hockey—” Remus leaned his forehead on Sirius’ shoulder as he laughed. “—but I’m sure that will change someday. Oh, here’s a fun one: what are our love languages?”

“Our what?”

“Love languages. Like the Buzzfeed quiz Pots made us take last week.” The screen lit up and Sirius looked offended. “Of course we know what Buzzfeed is! We’re 25, you fuckers!”

“I think mine was quality time.”

Sirius pulled Remus’ arm further around his shoulders and leaned into his side with a smile. “It’s physical affection,” he singsonged, making him laugh. “Your turn.”

“Have you finally found your song?” Remus read aloud. “I think so! We did an interview a while back and there was a question about our ‘couple song’, which we didn’t have at the time.”

“That didn’t answer the question, sweetheart.”

“Oh! Shit, sorry. It’s La Vie En Rose by Edith Piaf.”

Sirius read the next question and snorted. “This is convenient. Who swears more?”

Remus looked away. “It’s, uh, a tie.”

“That’s such a lie.”

He sighed. “It’s probably me.”

“You taught a literal baby to swear.” Sirius turned back to the camera with a wicked grin. “Harry’s first word was ‘Loops’, but his second was ‘shit’ and there’s an eighty percent chance he learned it from Re.”

“Changing the subject!” Remus cleared his throat, then smiled. “Aw, I like this one. What’s the compliment you get most often from your partner?”

“Does it have to be verbal?”

“Sirius.”

Sirius’ eyes went wide. “Not like that! Oh, fuck, I did not mean that! You always touch my hair, so I figured that was a compliment. Merde.”

Remus shook his head. “We need a supervisor again. Anyways, you talk about my freckles all the time and it’s adorable.”

“You’re adorable.”

“Sap.”

“Yeah.” Sirius kissed his cheek. “What’s the best date I’ve ever been on? We went ice skating at the local rink a few weeks ago and it was so much fun. I had never done that before.”

Remus’ eyebrows rose. “I thought for sure you would say the aquarium.”

“The aqu—oh, right! With the jellyfish arch!”

“Yeah!”

“Now it’s a tie, I can’t decide.”

“That’s fair. From spaceman93: who tops? We actually don’t have a bunk bed, though that would be cool as hell! Do you think Ikea sells them?”

“We should check.”

The screen exploded into activity again and Remus did a double-take. “Yes, we do buy our furniture from Ikea, there’s no need to sound so shocked. This person—I can’t read your username, sorry—wants to know which of us is more cuddly.”

“Definitely me,” Sirius said.

“For sure. I like cuddling people, but only a select few. I mean, I’m assuming you guys saw the Cap cuddles slideshow at our last game.” He laughed when Sirius turned pink. “Why are you embarrassed? It was cute!”

“There’s a hashtag now!” Sirius complained. “I have a reputation.” Remus rolled his eyes fondly as Sirius looked for the next question. “Ha! Do we ever get jealous?”

“Yes, but not for the reasons people might think.”

Sirius laughed quietly. “We went out to a bar for Kasey’s birthday a month or so ago—”

“Oh, please no.”

“—and a young lady was hitting on me, not taking the hint—”

“Jesus.”

“—so Re comes out of nowhere and kisses me full on the mouth in front of everyone.” He snickered and Remus hid his face in his hands. “It was kinda hot, not gonna lie. Really funny looking back, though. Your turn, sweetheart.”

“Who is clumsier? Ooh, we’re both disasters off the ice. I tripped over the carpet about twenty minutes ago.”

“I’ve run into every doorframe in this house at least twice.” Sirius grimaced. “If I could just tape my skates to my feet and always be on ice, that would be much safer.”

Remus cocked his head to the side. “I dunno, it would be hard to sleep in them.”

“I do that all that time.”

“That’s true, you take a nap in the hall at least once a week in full gear.”

“Reverse Edward Scissorhands.” They had to take a moment to stop laughing before Sirius turned back to the phone. “Mon dieu. Alright, what do we have next…when did you know I was ‘the one’? When did you know, mon amour?”

“Breaking out the nicknames, very snazzy,” Remus teased as he rested his chin on his hand. “I think it was just an accumulation of things, and then one day I went ‘oh shit’ and just knew. Sometime around New Year’s, maybe?”

“You only made it two months?” Sirius teased, nudging him lightly.

“Shush, you.” Remus nudged him back. “I knew I wanted to propose when I came home from hanging out with Leo and you were napping with the dog. You had done the dishes and left Avatar on so we could watch it together, and I opened the door and knew that I wanted that moment forever.”

Sirius smile was unbearably soft, and he kissed Remus on the cheek as hearts filled the comments section. “I’ve never seen so many keysmashes in my life,” he laughed when he looked back to it. “Hey, someone addressed one to you specifically.”

“Really?” He leaned forward eagerly. “To Remus, do you feel like part of the team yet? I do, a hundred percent! It helped that I was close with a lot of the guys from being the PT, so those friendships carried over really well. Being a player on the roster has only made that better and it’s the best job in the world.”

“Who has the better smile? We’re going to say each other, so I think we’ll leave that one to the comments—fuck, that was a bad idea, it’s moving too fast for me to read!” Sirius tapped the screen desperately, then gave up and waited for the scrolling to slow down. “Ask each other one question you’ve always wanted to know the answer to.”

“Do you actually want to get your ears pierced?” Remus asked. “You talked about it a while ago but I wasn’t sure if you were kidding.”

Sirius thought for a minute, biting his lip. “Y’know, I might. It was one of those things where it started as a joke and then I kept thinking about it. I’m not sure, hockey’s not the best sport to have things that can catch and tear.” They both winced at the idea. “My turn. What is it about pineapple pizza that you actually enjoy?”

“It annoys you.” Remus laughed as Sirius rolled his eyes. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I honestly don’t know why I like it so much. There’s something about the sweetness that goes so well with the regular pizza taste. Okay, last question for me: how many freckles do I have? Not many right now.”

“So many in the summer,” Sirius said dreamily. “That’s the best part of summertime and the only reason I like Florida. They might have bouncy ice, but it’s worth it to see the freckles pop.”

“Whew, Florida’s getting mad in the comments!” Remus grinned. “Get some real ice, then come talk to us.”

“Final question, then we really have to go. What does your partner look best in?” Sirius drummed his fingers on his knees. “His jersey. Or my jersey. He does own a pair of skinny jeans, though, and that was the closest thing to a religious experience I’ve ever had.”

“They’re comfortable.” Remus shrugged, but he looked rather self-satisfied. “That’s all we have time for, folks, but thanks for joining us!”

“Go Lions!”

[maniacwatchestheworld]

So... Uh... Does anyone else think that Moreau may have been in the military...? I know that it's a popular headcanon that he used to be a doctor since a sign to 'Moreau's Clinic' can be seen in-game. But this may also just be a cheeky reference to The Island of Doctor Moreau, which the character very obviously takes inspiration from.

In any case, I think that this may be the case namely for 2 reasons:

Moreau has tattoos. To me this suggests that he had a life and was actually out on the open ocean at some point before he was infected with his cadou. I find it a little hard to believe that our boy Salvatore would actually stroll down to a tattoo parlor in his current mutated state, and I also think that it would be difficult to convince anyone to go out to give him a tattoo because he might just eat any tattoo artist that fucks up! It just sounds more likely to me that he got them before he became the sad fishman that we know and love today. As for the tattoo designs themselves, one is a jellyfish with 'Mother' written across it, and while the possible meanings and implications of it are interesting, for now I'm going to gloss over that one. Because more pressingly, the other tattoo of his that we see is that of an anchor. Anchor tattoos are obviously pretty popular among sailors and anyone who lives or works by the sea. But apparently anchor tattoos adorned with rope, like you can see with Salvatore's sick tats, are especially popular among members of the Navy.

Moreau is packing heat! Why don't I see people discussing this more often? Two of the most powerful guns that you can find in the entire game are found in his area, and the magnum is specifically referred to in-game as being Moreau's Hidden Weapon. Moreau has a fucking gun! WHY!? And not only does he have a gun, but it's beautiful. Out of anyone in the game you would expect to have a gun, wouldn't it be Heisenberg? But nah. Sure, he may be hanging around in close proximity to tanks, but we never directly see him with a gun. Closest we get is seeing him playing with that knife. But to be fair to him, I don't think he needs to bother with using guns anyway. I don't think that any of the lords do. And yet here our buddy Salvatore is with a gun. I'm not even certain that he can use it (webbed fingers and all), and yet it's clearly kept in good condition. To me it seems that it's likely that he has no intentions to use it, but rather just keeps it around for sentimental or aesthetic reasons. And why would MOREAU of all people in this game be a gun fan!?

Now on their own I wouldn't think much of these two facts. But together they may just possibly paint pattern. And it's certainly an idea. One that I think has some interesting potential! >.>

[marvelgiggles]

Learning to Be Loved

Chapter 3

It was now becoming the end of summer, which almost time for school to start. You didn’t want to go back to the school you went to last year. You were fairly advanced when it came to your other classmates, especially in STEM related classes plus they were your favorite topics. Peter found out that you loved those types of classes, he wanted you to come to school with him.

Another thing that has happened in the past few months since living with the Avengers is that you’ve broken out of your shell. You were now the person you always hoped you could be surrounded by the family you had always dreamed of. There were still some bridges to be crossed but you were improving daily and the Avengers were very patient with you.

“Y/N you have a guest at the downstairs entrance.” JARVIS announced. You squealed and ran as fast as you could to greet Peter. “Peter!” You yelled and jumped into his arms. 

“Hey Y/N/N!” He said hugging you back just as hard and kissed your cheek. He set you down, “What’s everyone up to today?”

“Wanda, Sam, Vision, and Rhodey are on a mission. Tony and Pepper are on a business call and Steve and Bucky are out training, so I’ve been bored. Wanna build a blanket fort and watch movies?” You asked bouncing on the balls of your feet with excitement. 

When the Avengers went on missions together or in groups, you were worried the entire time they were gone. You finally had a family and didn’t want to loose any of them. There was a part of you that completely understood why they had to go on missions and you were incredibly proud of them for doing something that brave and knowing that they were helping people. You tried to keep yourself busy so you wouldn’t think about it too much. 

“That sounds amazing!” Peter said, “Race ya!” Peter suddenly took off giving him the advantage. 

“Peter, no fair!” You giggled running after him to try and beat him to the living room. The two of you were giggling as Peter would slow down to help you catch up but when you were close he would speed up again. When the two of you finally made it to the living room, Peter won by just a hair. 

“I win.” Peter sang which caused you to poke his tummy. He gasped and curled away from your finger. “Is that a game you want to start now there Y/N?” Peter started to poke your tummy in retaliation which made you giggle slightly. 

“Nohoho.” 

“You wanna grab the blankets for the fort? The more you grab the bigger it can be.” You grinned and rushed off to the closet that held all of the blankets, you grabbed as many as you could carry while still somewhat seeing where you were going. You got back to the living room Peter had moved some of the furniture around to clear a spot for the epic fort you were going to make. 

“Let’s get started.” Peter rubbed his hands together rapidly, something he did when he was excited about something. 

After an hour, you and Peter made the most epic blanket fort in the history of blanket forts. You had the TV set up on the ground, also doubling the use and making it one of the walls of the fort. You also brought some of the extra string lights from your room down and strung them along the ceiling. It was also loaded up with some of the extra blankets you didn’t use and all of the pillows that were from the couches. It also was stocked full of all the appropriate movie marathon snacks. 

“What movie should we start with?” Peter asked you. 

You shrugged. You didn’t want to accidentally pick a movie that Peter didn’t like and make him want to sit through the whole thing. “Whatever you want to watch is fine.” It also helped you were pretty easy to please when it came to movies, as long as it wasn’t a horror movie or super graphic. 

“Are the Lion King movies okay?” You nodded with a smile. You both made yourselves comfortable while also each grabbing a snack. Halfway through the movie Peter spoke up. 

“Y/N,” you turned your head to look at him letting him know he had your full attention, “do you wanna cuddle?” Your face all of a sudden got very warm and you avoided his eyes. You slightly nodded and Peter opened his arms, “Well come here then Cuddlebug.” You eagerly crawled into his arms.  

While you have broke out of your shell in the last few months, you were still struggling with asking for certain types of affection. You had no issues giving hugs to people, but you were still too nervous to ask for cuddles or kiss someone one the cheek. The Avengers gave you the nickname of Cuddlebug because cuddles were one of your favorite things on the planet.

“Thanks for keeping me company Peter.” You whispered. He drew you closer to him while giving you a chaste kiss on the forehead. 

“Of course. You’re one of my best friends Y/N, I love hanging out with you.” 

Another thing that all the Avengers have learned about you appreciated words. Growing up you were never told that someone was proud of you, that someone cared about you, or even that someone loved you. Since the Avengers knew a little background of your previous life they tried their best to always tell you what they thought of you. 

“I like hanging out with me too.” You teased, even though you had a rough past you still understood sarcasm, which was also something that came to life recently.

“Oh look, it’s miss sassy pants, guess I will have to fix that.” He rolled you onto your back and he laid on your side, crossing his over and under yours pinning you into place, and then he started to squeeze your hips. You burst into giggles trying to twist away but Peter’s legs had you stuck in place. 

“Peheheheter!” 

“Oh can miss sassy pants not take some tickles? Well that’s too bad, I have to tickle all of the sass out of you.” Peter sang now bringing his horribly quick fingers up to your armpits making you Tickle Me Elmo giggles burst out. 

“Looks like miss sassy pants has turned into Tickle Me Elmo, how cute.” Peter chuckled, “Maybe this spot will make you loose all your sass.” He then moved down to your ribs, he hit a particularly overly sensitive spot. It was at the bottom of your ribs but on the backside of your rib cage. You were so shocked at this new feeling that you didn’t even try to squirm it was like you were paralyzed with laughter. 

You were trying to tap out or do something to get him to stop, then thankfully he decided to have mercy on you.

“I’m definitely going to remember that spot.” He squeezed it quick again eliciting a squeal from you. “But it’s not as good as this one.” He jellyfished the knee closest to him and you quickly grabbed his hand and wove his fingers between yours so he didn’t get carried away and tickle you longer than you could handle. “I’m done I promise.”

“I like hanging out with you too Peter.” You told him once you finally caught your breath and the both of you got more comfortable and finished your Lion King movie marathon. 

———————

It was the first day at Peter’s new school and it would be a lie if you didn’t say you were nervous. You were about to go to school with a bunch of genius kids and a new school, but you were thankful to have Peter by your side. 

You were standing outside the building looking at the front doors, “Ready?” Peter said grabbing your hand.

You let out a breath you didn’t even know that you were holding. “Is it weird that I’m nervous?”

“No but I’m going to be with you in class all day. Mr. Stark made a call apparently.” He smiled and you felt so touched that Tony would go out of his way to make sure that you were comfortable and with Peter all day. Peter tugged your hand and you followed him into school.

You felt a lot of eyes on you making you feel really small and uncomfortable. Peter just simply squeezed your hand letting you know that he was there and walked into your first classroom. 

You were a little surprised to find a few round tables in the room instead of a bunch of desks. Peter walked over to a table with a few people and sat down, you immediately followed so you wouldn’t have to sit a table where you didn’t know anyone.

“Y/N, these are my friends Ned and MJ. Guys, this is Y/N.” Peter told you while pointing to a girl with curly black hair and the guy who couldn’t stop smiling with no hair. 

“So you’re the Y/N Peter has told us about.” You suddenly got really nervous, what had Peter said about you, good things or bad things, that fear of suddenly loose your closest and first friend made it’s way to the pit of your stomach. Peter started to notice your tense state and simply placed his hand on top of yours. 

“Hey, I’ve only told them good things. I told them that I made another best friend over the summer named Y/N and that she was super fun to hang out with.” 

You smiled appreciatively at him, “Why aren’t there desks?” Peter chuckled at your question but you didn’t feel stupid or insecure at his response. 

“It’s supposed to help with learning. We are all facing each other and the teachers have structured their teaching so we can work more in groups and go back and forth with each other, rather than just sit and listen to them talk all the time. Not all the teachers have it but it’s becoming more common throughout the school.” 

That made you nervous and a little more excited about school. You were always such a hands on learner but you didn’t really know anyone yet so you were even more thankful that you were in class with Peter and that Tony made a call to the school. 

Finally, lunch time came around and you were the first one to sit at the table Peter told you he sat at. You felt a presence sit next to you and you turned to look expecting to find Peter but instead you were looking a boy you’ve never seen before. He was wearing a letterman jacket and he was kind of handsome as well.

“Hi, I’m Brad. What’s your name?”

“Y/N.” Then all of a sudden a large group of guys in letterman jackets sat around you. 

“Well Y/N welcome to Midtown High. Where’d you move from?” He was obviously trying to get to know you for some reason and you just wanted to leave but you also didn’t want to be rude. 

“I’m just here for today to see if I like it.” You said quietly not liking the pressure you felt from all of the guys around you.

“I hope you stay because...”

“Hey Y/N, wanna join MJ, Ned and I over there.” Peter interrupted Brad, you had never been so thankful to see Peter. You eagerly nodded when all of a sudden you felt a hand on your arm, trying to get you to sit back down and you knew it wasn’t Peter. “Hey Parker, she was already sitting here.”

“I know!” Peter actually looked pretty angry at Brad, “But this is where we normally sit and you didn’t have to sit here plus Y/N is my friend and she’s clearly uncomfortable, so take your hand off of her so she can come sit with her real friends.” You had never heard Peter talk like that and you made a note to never get on his bad side. Brad thankfully did what Peter said and you stood up to follow Peter to where he was sitting. 

“I’m sorry about Brad. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Peter said as you were making your way to his table. 

You shook your head, “Thank you for saving me.” You said quietly.

Peter kissed your cheek quickly and whispered in your ear, “That’s my job Y/N.” Causing you to giggle at his cheesiness and the whisper in your ear tickled a little bit too.

After lunch time was over, you went to all the other classes with Peter and enjoyed your day at the school, but when the bell rang at the end of the day you were even more happy to go home. You were never really away from the compound for that long since you’ve lived there so you missed everyone and couldn’t wait to get back home. 

Peter told you he wouldn’t be coming back to the compound with you and he had to go somewhere with his aunt after school, so Happy would be picking you up. Peter did walk you out to the front door and you instantly spotted Happy’s car. 

“Bye Peter, have fun with May.”

“I’ll text you later, Y/N.” He pulled you into a hug before you got in the car. Happy and you made light conversation on the way back to the compound. 

“Welcome home Y/N.” JARVIS said as you walked in the front door. 

“Hi JARVIS! Is Tony in the lab?” 

“He’s currently working on a new model for his suit.” JARVIS told you and you ran to the lab wanting to tell Tony about your day. Once you got to the lab you saw a stool right next to him, you figured if you sat there he might even let you help him.

“Hey pipsqueak, how was school with the kid?” He turned from what he was working on and kissed your hair.

“It was fun.” You said simply kicking your legs back and forth on the stool watching in fascination on what Tony was working on.

“Yeah, so is that were you think you wanna go this year?” He set his tools down and stopped what he was doing to give you his full attention.

“No.” You said quietly suddenly getting nervous to tell Tony what you were thinking. You looked up a Tony quick and his head was cocked to the side and one of his eyebrows was raised. 

“I liked the school but I’d rather learn stuff from you in the lab and help you with suits and other things.” You were suddenly snatched off the stool in a big bear hug and Tony swung you around in a circle making you laugh.

“I get to have you here all the time!” Tony screamed as he continued to spin you around. When he finally stopped spinning you felt his hands squeeze between you arms and your armpits, he started to wiggle his fingers causing one of everyone’s favorite laughter from you. Your Tickle Me Elmo giggles broke out and you started to kick you legs.

“Tohohohony!” You giggled, you couldn’t help but try to get some momentum to break free of his grasp but you also didn’t mind as you loved being tickled. Tony didn’t acknowledge your protests and started to rub his beard in the crook of you neck. Your giggles got more frantic and your kicking became a little more desperate than before. Tony kept this up for a while, he’d either rub his beard around your neck, or wiggle his fingers in your armpits or even do both at the same time. 

He finally had mercy on you after a while and set you back down on your feet and he gave you a long kiss on your forehead. “I would love nothing more than to teach you everything I know. I’ve always wanted a little apprentice.”

“I’m sorry you went through all that trouble of calling the school for nothing.”

Tony waved his hand dismissively, “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my girl. Now where should we start?”

[etherrealoblivion]

The Same Direction

Prompt: After a difficult case, the team goes to Rossi’s beach house. Spencer has trouble dealing with his feelings toward Y/N.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Rating: Mature

A/N: Thank you so much for 200 followers! Here’s a treat. gif from Pinterest.

Words: 3,000

MASTERLIST

~

“Orders from Strauss, everyone needs to go.”

The team had just gotten back from a big case, spanning a total of five weeks on the job. It was a particularly rough one; the killer had gotten away, and the family of the victim was pressing charges. They were all in desperate need of a vacation. And it just so happened that luck was on their side. Rossi had a beach house that he’d been keeping well hidden. Strauss had gotten wind of it - presumably through a little hacker birdie - and told the team to take a week-long break to calm their nerves.

The team was ecstatic to finally get some time off. Besides, everyone loved the beach.

“Is it mandatory?”

Everyone except, apparently, for Spencer Reid.

“Yes,” Hotch said shortly, picking up his go-bag and dismissing everyone to go home and pack.

Spencer, however, was not giving up.

“Couldn’t I just stay home and relax?”

Y/N, the newest member of the team, shoved him softly.

“What’s the matter, Spence? Scared to see what Rossi looks like in his thong?”

“It’s called a Speedo, Y/N,” Rossi said, already headed out the door of the briefing room, leaving his coworkers gaping behind him.

Great. Spencer had no choice but to pack up his belongings and join his friends on the trip to the beach. He never thought being packed in a car with his closest friends would be quite like this. Once they’d gotten to forty-two bottles of beer on the wall, he’d fallen asleep.

The beach house was quite nice, which, in retrospect, should have been expected. Rossi was not all that shy about his wealth, nor shy about spending it. 

Spencer was just glad there were enough bedrooms for everyone. He said he’d come to the beach but he didn’t say he’d actually go to the ocean. His plans for the following week consisted of a locked door, a plethora of books, and no ocean. 

Plans, however, that never came to fruition.

“Hey, Spence,” Y/N was stood in his doorway, a wrap around her hips and a shawl on her shoulders, “We’re all gonna check out the water. It’s low-tide. You comin’?”

Spencer gave her a withering look.

“I-uh-I can’t. I’m, um, I’m allergic to sunscreen.”

It was a lame lie and he knew it. He also knew better than to try and lie to a profiler, not to mention a gorgeous woman who he may or may not have a tiny, minuscule crush on.

“Really?”

An evil glint shone in her eye and she tranced forward, hoisting him up out of bed and pulling him out of his room. He protested the whole way down to the beach, trying to come up with excuses.

“Our stuff could get stolen, someone could get stung by a jellyfish, I’m not in my bathing suit.”

“Spence, you’re not allergic to sunscreen, you can borrow some of mine, Rossi brought a safe for our stuff, and I know for a fact that those are swim shorts you’re wearing.”

“Yes, but I don’t have my SPF swim shirt! If I get burned it’s your fault!”

She just giggled, clutching his arm as she led him down to the beach, spotting their coworkers lounging under a rainbow umbrella in the distance.

“Pretty Boy? What are you doing here? Y/L/N finally drag you outta your room?”

“Yep!” she said proudly. “Although I’m not sure I’ll be able to drag him into the water. He keeps muttering about jellyfish statistics. Don’t start!” she added as he opened his mouth.

Spencer blushed, taking a seat in the one empty lounge chair, startled when Y/N sat down right next to him. He tried his best not to think about her warm hip touching his.

Prentiss bounced up, closing the book she was reading. “Well, maybe he’ll follow our lead, huh? Come on, guys!”

And she ran towards the water, Morgan, J.J, Garcia, and Rossi jumping up to follow. Hotch was taking a walk along the beach so Spencer and Y/N were suddenly alone.

“Are you not going to go in?” Spencer asked as she fumbled with her beach bag.

“I am, I just need to put on sunscreen.”

She stood, stripping off her shawl and skirt wrap. Spencer tried not to watch as she squirted the lotion into her hands, rubbing them together and massaging her legs, arms, and neck. He turned his head toward the beach, attempting to watch a flock of seagulls. His eyes unconsciously drifted back to her toned body, so exposed. She didn’t even seem bothered by how on display she was, people walking by able to see quite a lot.

“Spence? A little help?”

Reid snapped to attention, eyes refocusing.

“What? Oh.”

She had turned her back to him, holding out the sunscreen bottle. 

“You want me to…. Put-put the….”

“Sunscreen on my back? Yes. Please use a lot, I burn easy.”

No, no, no, no. NO!

“Okay.”

Fuck.

Spencer took the bottle and squirted a generous amount into his hand. Y/N smiled at him, pleased he was helping her, and laid down on a beach chair, untying the back of her bikini, the strings dangling down toward the sand leaving her back fully exposed.

Spencer swallowed hard.

Okay. This was fine. Just think about crime scenes. Dead bodies. Naked Morgan! There we go. Boner gone.

But the moment he touched her skin, all hope was lost. She felt like silk under his hands, the softness of the lotion only making him glide against her smoother. He could have handled that just fine if not for the fact that as he rubbed the lotion into her skin, she let out soft moans, gasping as he brushed over certain spots.

“Mm, that feels nice, Spencer. A little higher…. Yes, right there,” she keened softly.

Spencer had to suppress a moan himself. The sight of her underneath him, back displayed, writing and moaning was enough to get him hard.

The sunscreen was now well-applied to her back, but Spencer couldn’t stop yet. There was a growing issue in his swim shorts and he wasn’t sure how to handle it. So he just kept rubbing her back, going from stingily applying the sunscreen to a full-blown massage.

That…. did not help the situation. 

Y/N just kept moaning his name, telling him how good he was at this. The situation was escalating and Spencer needed to stop.

He moved his hands away quickly, turning away from her and shutting his eyes, praying that his … length … wouldn’t be that visible.

“You okay?” she touched his shoulder and he spun around, hoping and wishing she wouldn’t look down.

She didn’t. She was busy retying her bikini.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, far from fine.

She took the bottle back from him.

“Want me to do your legs?”

“NO! No. Um, no thank you. I think I’ll just stay here. This isn’t a swim shirt and I don’t wanna get it wet.”

She smiled devilishly, leaning forward and grasping the edges of his shirt.

“Then don’t.”

And ever so slowly, maintaining eye contact the entire time, she lifted his shirt up over his head and threw it down on the beach chair. Even stranger, Spencer found himself letting her. He let her squeeze sunblock into her hand and run it over his shoulders, massaging it in as he had done to her.

“There! Now you can come in the water!”

“Y/N, the dangers of-”

“Hush! Follow me!” and she grabbed his hand, leading him toward the ocean, calling out to their friends.

“Look who’s here!”

“Reid!” the group cheered collectively, laughing as Spencer slowly entered the water, wrapping his arms around his torso self consciously.

He always wore a swim shirt. Even in hot tubs. It hadn’t even occurred to him how uncovered he was until he was smack dab in front of his colleagues.

“Hey, what’s the deal, Pretty Ricky? I’ve never seen you swim without a shirt before. Come to think of it, I’ve never really seen you swim.”

“About one in every sixteen people gets injured somehow at the beach. One in three of those happen in the water.”

“La-la-la-la-la,” Garcia said, plugging her ears. “I do not want to hear about how dangerous the ocean is. Living in blissful ignorance is my forte.”

Y/N laughed and Spencer joined in, a little of the tension slipping off his shoulders. Once the banter began, it was easier to forget about the unknown terrors lurking beneath the water’s surface.

Until….

“Hey, let’s go deeper!” Prentiss said, slowly wading further until she was so far out they could barely hear her. “Come on guys! I think there’s a sandbank just up ahead!”

“I’m out,” Garcia said, turning around and walking back to the shore. “I’m going to nake a nap. If anyone needs me, don’t bother trying to wake me up.”

Morgan, Rossi, and JJ all enthusiastically waded deeper towards Prentiss, frolicking in the waves and calling for Spencer and Y/N to join them.

Y/N softly took Spencer’s hand.

“Come on, I don’t know if I’ll be able to touch the bottom and I might need to hold onto you.”

And before he could protest and pull out a worrying statistic, she had led him just deep enough so that his head was above the water. In front of them, their friends were clearly standing on a sandbank, happily jumping in the waves.

“Spence,” Y/N mumbled, struggling to keep her head above the water. “I can’t touch.”

“Oh, um.”

“You don’t mind, do you?” she asked, climbing onto his front and wrapping her legs around him, securing them behind him. His hands unconsciously flew to her hips to hold her, the movement shocking him.

This…. was not good. She was pressed right up against a very sensitive area that he’d already had to calm down from earlier. The sudden contact was making the blood rush downward, no doubt leading to a very unpleasant conversation.

“Thanks,” she whispered, sliding her hands around his neck and glancing down at his lips. Wait, what?

If Spencer hadn’t been so distracted, he would have been able to read her expression better. Instead, he was left a muttering mess, trying to keep his thoughts as pure as possible so that there wasn’t a sudden growth in his trunks.

“No problem,” he said, voice cracking and he kept walking toward the bank, Y/N in his arms. Each step made her rub up against him in a less than pure way.

“You okay?” she asked, readjusting her legs and pulling tighter to him.

“Mm-hmm,” he grunted, not trusting his voice not to give out.

By some miracle, they reached their friends, Spencer set her down and was finally able to control his breathing enough to stop the hardness growing in his pants.

The obligatory beach games were played with much splashing, diving, and seawater getting in people’s eyes. After the third round of a game of chicken, Rossi decided it was time to head back. The tide was getting higher and it was about dinnertime.

“Can you give me another lift?” Y/N turned to Spencer, taking his hand for the millionth time that day. She always was a little more touchy with him.

“Um, sure. Hop on,” he pat his back, hoping it was nonchalant enough not to arouse suspicion.

That’s not the only thing that’s aroused.

Hush!

And she smiled, jumping up on his back and riding him back to where she could touch the bottom.

“Thanks, Spence. You’re fun to ride!” and she trounced off toward the beach house, leaving Spencer befuddled and confused.

~

Rossi cooked up a pot of his famous pasta for dinner, sending everyone into a glorious food coma from overeating.

Spencer retreated to his room and dug his nose into Les Miserables, quickly getting sucked into the story.

A knock on his door startled him several hours later.

“Come in,” he muttered, pulling the covers up over his bare legs.

It was Hotch.

“Hey, everyone’s turning in for the night, just wanted to let you know. In the morning, we’re going to head to that frozen ice place.”

“Okay,” he smiled at Hotch as he closed the door. 

Glancing at the clock, he was surprised to see it was already 10:30.

Usually, Spencer accidentally stayed up until three AM, falling asleep with a case file clutched in his arms only to wake up in three hours. Tonight, however, there was no case to stress about, no time to wake up tomorrow, and no having to worry about stupid feelings for a coworker. If he wanted to, he could go for a walk on the beach and no one would bother him.

Which is exactly what he chose to do.

The sand had gone from scorching his feet during the day to chilly and more stable at nighttime. He walked for about five minutes until he saw a soft light in the distance. Someone had lit a small fire a few meters from the shoreline.

He was about to turn around when he noticed a very familiar shawl wrapped around the figure’s shoulders.

“Y/N?”

Her head snapped towards him and although he couldn’t see her expression, he could hear the smile in her voice.

“Hey, Spence!” he walked up and sat next to her, facing the ocean. “What are you doing out here?”

“I was just taking a walk. What about you?”

He made the mistake of looking at her, nearly gasping at the way the soft glow of the firelight illuminated her features. He couldn’t help watching her lips as she spoke.

“Oh, same as you. I just kinda needed some alone time.”

“Oh, do you want me to-”

“No!” she reached out, grabbing his arm to stop him from standing. “No, It’s… It’s ok. I like having you near, Spencer.”

His breath froze in his throat.

“I-ahem-I like to be near you, Y/N. I mean, you’re fun to be around.”

She laughed, hugging his arm and resting her head on his shoulder. Spencer tensed at the contact, wondering if she knew what she was doing and, more importantly, what it was doing to him.

They stared off into the waves, watching the birds dance on the horizon, the moon low in the sky. It was beautiful.

“You ever wonder why we do what we do?” she asked, voice barely a whisper.

He was shocked yet again by her forwardness. He never knew what she was going to say.

“Like, we know how to do the job, but how do we turn it off? Everyone we come in contact with, we have the tools to read their lives story right off their face. But what the hell do we know about each other? I don’t know. Sometimes I just feel like no one knows me.”

She glanced at him, cheeks turning pink. “Sorry, forget it,” she whispered, pulling back from him and throwing sand on the fire. “Goodnight, Spencer.”

“You like the beach,” he blurted, making Y/N stop standing up. “You-you like the beach and-and chocolate ice cream. You hate it when Hotch’s belt doesn’t match his shoes but you never say anything because you don’t want to bother him. You tell people your favorite color is blue but it’s actually yellow. When a case involves a child, you always wear your hair down so that if you’re the one to find them, they’ll be able to smell your shampoo. You don’t let anyone initiate contact with you and you never let anyone hug you. Except-except for me.”

The words left his mouth before he could stop them. His gaze had drifted back to the ocean, spotting a dolphin jump in the distance.

“That’s what I know about you, Y/N.”

He dreaded meeting her eyes but the silence was more unbearable.

The moment their gaze met, a wave crashed upon the shore in front of them and Y/N leaned forward, gently pressing her lips to his. Spencer gasped, lightly pressing back, keeping his hands firmly at his sides.

Emotions flew between them, Y/N reaching up and softly touching Spencer’s cheek, a burst of care rising in his chest, tightening in his throat. His hand found the back of her head and he pulled her closer. Silently, she climbed into his lap and deepened the kiss, moaning softly against his mouth.

Spencer gasped, hands moving to her hips, grasping them roughly. Her lips parted and she ran her tongue along his lips, parting them softly and delving deeper the moment he gave her access. 

The fire next to them was out but a new one had lit between them, sending waves of warmth amidst their bodies. Spencer was emboldened by the kiss, gently biting her lip and coaxing her mouth more open. Their hands moved everywhere, pulling each other’s hair, caressing each other’s backs, and holding each others cheeks ever so gently.

Y/N was the first to pull back, resting her forehead against his, breathing heavily against his mouth.

“As much as I love this, I’m not all that excited about sand getting in certain places.”

He laughed lightly, stroking her hair.

“I’m-I’m not quite ready to….”

“We don’t have to.”

She pulled back, giving him a heartwarming smile and stood up, holding out her hand to Spencer.

“Come on,” she smiled and he took her hand, standing. “Let’s take a walk.”

And so they walked off along the beach, hand clasped together, conversing quietly about nothing in particular.

No matter how much Spencer already knew about her, he found himself wanting to get to know her all over again.

And Y/N had absolutely no problem with that.

~

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

~

[electricbluebutterflies]

“context doesn’t help” fic prompts, round 7

It’s apparently been over a year since I last turned the out-of-context situation comedy of my life into a prompt list, so... here are some gems for whatever situations you want to use ‘em. Feel free to change pronouns / tense as needed, and reblog and write for whatever babes you see fit.

“Your hand wasn’t broken yesterday.”

“He keeps putting his mouth on things he shouldn’t.”

“I can’t be blamed for being lured in by pretty blondes.”

“This is why we don’t homewreck.”

“I’m not sure how to put a bow on karma.”

“It’s the off-season for dead bodies.”

“I look like a vampire queen.”

“You’ve watched too much Tiger King.”

“Y’all are gonna find a body.”

“You made him insecure!”

“Let me first establish that I’m not a cougar…”

“I have never seen such beautiful profanity.”

“It’s like Satan is a dog and they’re a stuffed chicken.”

“He’s a boy, not a jellyfish!”

“My mother is dead, so I called you.”

“You’d fight anything for me.”

“That’s how you get mutants.”

“Have you ever seen a moose?”

“She could walk right past a beach umbrella and not even see it.”

“I could do worse but I’m trying to be respectful.”

“Have I seen your dick before?”

“You are not an apex predator!”

“I’ve been in that position and I almost passed out.”

[secret-engima]

This. Has been a perfectly terrible day. Can I beg you for a ficbit or a snippet from one of your works, like Team Gremlin or Noctscar or something ? I just - they’re beautiful, and I just really, really need something beautiful right now.

SURE. I don’t have much in the way of snippets, but lemme see what I can find. I might have to throw in something from BNHA cause that’s the fandom the muses are chewing on this exact second.

...

Team Gremlin:

     It had been … a very bad few weeks for Qrow all told. And that was saying something. Everything had seemed fine one day, business as usual. Tai was back from his requisite number of missions to keep his license and teaching at Signal again —which he genuinely seemed to enjoy for some reason—, his nieces were as adorable as ever, and Summer was sometimes talking his ear off about maybe taking a teaching position somewhere herself after running a few missions to keep her own license active —she’d been busier lately with the girls than running around kicking butt, but it wasn’t like Qrow blamed her for that—.

     Then Leo was found dead in his office. Knifed in the neck, one round discharged from his weapon in the direction of the guest couch, blood pooling all over the chair and low table where the investigators said he’d been dragged from and laid on the floor in some kind of pose. No one unusual had been seen going in or out, there had been nothing on the office cameras —covered by a Semblance of some kind, it was decided, because of the fading, glass-like Aura shards on the floor—. The only warning had been the sound of Leo’s single shot before he died. Qrow had arrived as soon as he could to help investigate, since the primary suspect would … not be one the police even knew to look for. He had helped Dyna —poor woman had been wire tense with rage rather than her usual calm self, and it was no wonder—, search for clues the police would miss, then searched the secret tunnels for good measure.

     They had found a Grimm inside one of the deeper antechambers, far too deep to have gotten there by accident, a strange, jellyfish like beast that had been surprisingly hard to kill for something that small. They’d never seen it’s like before, and the thought of it being under the school, where kids were, where Oz and his inner circle were supposed to hold sway-. He’d never seen the otter Faunus more furious as they stood amid the fading Dark dust, her lips twisted, brow wrinkled in a way that had made the black line and red dots of her old bandit tattoos look more pronounced.

     They’d found no other signs that Salem knew how to get into the school tunnels, but they rechecked them all and trapped several of the ones leading outward as temporary security measures. With Dyna in place as the new —temporary on paper but soon to be permanent— Headmaster, Qrow had gathered up what evidence they could pry loose from their police contacts and gone back to Oz so they could try to sort this out.

     Of course, Qrow’s first impulse was to blame Salem, but Oz had listened to the report of a jellyfish Grimm under the school and his expression had folded into something pained. Knowing. He must have known what kind of Grimm it was, but hadn’t elaborated yet, just told Dyna to investigate all of Leo’s documents, Scroll calls, and communications over the past year, and insisted he would not explain until there was either evidence or not for his theory, for fear of making them biased.

     So, with Salem seemingly not the automatic culprit, they had started hunting for info. Summer had offered to come back and help, but Oz had told her to stay on her chosen mission instead.

     The pen had been an unexpected complication.

...

Always I Dreamed verse

     Summer ducked past her into the shower as Raven left it, pausing to stare at Raven’s tattoos for only a moment before chirping a quiet good morning and asking if she was okay after yesterday. Raven just grunted, because she was combat functional and frankly that was all that mattered. She had already pulled on her clothes from yesterday —all their possessions were in her inventory and she didn’t want questions on where it came from, she’d have to stuff it all in a duffel bag and hide it in the den to explain that away later— by the time Taiyang got up and Raven remembered the uniforms. Raven nudged open the bag while Qrow ducked out of their den and peered over her shoulder, “Everybody has to wear that stuff?” Qrow sneered as Raven pulled out the first button down shirt, “Hardly looks sturdy.”

     “It’s just for the school grounds I think, we have our combat gear for training missions and stuff anyway.” Taiyang said as he pulled out a shirt of his own from a different bag. Raven took a moment to glance at his bare torso. He slept in pants but not a shirt apparently, which was stupid, but better than being entirely naked at night. He had a decent build, which she knew from watching him fight yesterday, and a truly appalling lack of scars. Her life had been saved by somebody who had probably never had a truly decent fight in his life before that day. Wonderful.

     He also had tattoos, and Raven squinted at them for a moment because despite the differing size and placement, they all looked very much like the ones Raven and Qrow had gotten during a rare moment of total drunkenness at fifteen. He was missing the large asian dragon outline that wound up Raven’s own torso, but he had the blue crow perched as if about to take flight that Raven had, the running blue wolf who’s lower half dissolved into petals, and she thought she glimpsed a blue clockwork rabbit under his right arm. When he turned around briefly to put his back to them, she saw that most of his back had been taken up with the stylized outline of a raven in flight.

     She shook her head and looked away. Whatever. Summer possessed a tattoo on her arm similar to the asian dragon winding up Qrow’s arm from elbow to shoulder. Some tattoos were just popular, and blue ink was easier to come by for fill-in tattoos than the black used for outlines.

     Qrow must have remembered Taiyang’s words last night about Raven’s uniform being at the top, because he was already rooting down to the outfit right beneath hers —there was more fabric in the bag than that, but Raven wasn’t going to worry about why just yet—. He yanked out a shirt and jacket that looked his size, then blinked when something short and plaid tumbled out with it. Snatching it up, he unfolded it and made a face, “Is this a skirt? With my uniform?”

     Summer poked her head out of the bathroom, a wash of steam following her —oh right, hot water showers were a thing, darn— while Taiyang looked from Qrow to the skirt and back. Qrow was busy staring at the skirt, so he missed the expression of pure glee that flickered over the other teen’s face before he casually said, “What, that? It’s a kilt, man. Old Vale tradition.” Raven blinked very slowly, because that was a surprisingly good lie even though she knew it was nonsense —her memory on early canon was fuzzy, but she would have remembered the male characters running around in skirts—. She debated calling him on it for a moment, but she was from outside the kingdoms like Qrow, so technically she had no way to know that Taiyang was lying.

     Besides, if Taiyang wanted to poke the bear that was her brother’s temper, better he do it now and get it over with than later when they were training.

     Qrow was still making annoyed noises under his breath as he examined the “kilt”, and a glance at Summer slipping out of the shower in a towel showed she was fighting down laughter. Silver eyes met Raven’s with hopeful amusement and Raven looked away. She was still angry that the Story had forced itself into place in her life. With a shake of her head, Raven finished yanking out her uniform —one of? There was so much fabric in there, did the school really waste money making multiple outfits for each student?— and started pulling off her old clothes to put it on. Taiyang made a noise like someone had knifed him just as she dropped her shirt to the floor and she looked up in alarm. Taiyang had whipped around to put his back to her, and she could see the flush of color crawling up his neck and the backs of his ears. He didn’t look hurt or anything, but when Summer wandered in and dropped her towel onto her bed to put on her uniform —huh, she had the same tattoos as Raven, Qrow, and Taiyang, just with the perched crow as a large outline that went down to her mid back and a large blue raven in flight over her abdomen that looked like the smaller one on Qrow’s back—, Taiyang made the dying noise again, snatched up his bag of clothes, and rushed for the bathroom.

     Raven had the feeling she should understand what that was about, but she didn’t get it, and when she risked a glance at Summer, the other girl actually looked just as baffled. So maybe it wasn’t some social thing she’d forgotten. Maybe it was just a thing with him specifically.

...

Feather-Light and Fire-Bright verse (BNHA)

     Which was why, the next time she spotted a little red feather slinking over to place a trio of shiny buttons on the park bench she liked best, she hastily caught it with one hand. It was very soft, wiggling slightly in her grip, twitching and fluttering almost like a frightened living thing, so much so she shushed it gently on instinct, “It’s okay, I won’t damage you.” Taking out the note she’d spent days agonizing over, she skewered it to the quill of the feather, “I need you to take a message to whoever controls you.” She let it go and the feather wiggled erratically in the air, like a cat trying to wiggle free of an unfamiliar collar before flitting away. Fuyumi resisted the urge to chase it and see where it led. She’d sent her note, now she would wait for a reaction.

     She absently took the three coat buttons and put them in her pocket before going home. It would be stupid to leave them as litter in the park, but it also felt like a bad idea to throw them away and possibly anger whoever was watching her. Besides, she had a collection going now, she almost had enough matching buttons to make a full set for a long coat.

     A week went by with no sign of her shadow before she finally spotted a red feather again. It lurked on the edges of the park, flitting out into view as she walked by before slipping off in the direction of a more sequestered part of the park. Fuyumi hesitated, saw the feather come back and swirl around her a few times like an excited puppy before rushing off again and decided she was either about to meet someone shy or about to be kidnapped and potentially murdered. Slipping her hand into her handbag to grip the small pro-grade taser inside just in case, Fuyumi followed the feather into the copse of trees that shielded that part of the park from the street and the rest of the grassy area.

     The feather slipped away to rejoin … a lot of other feathers, and Fuyumi paused on the edges of the little forested nook to get a good look at her mysterious shadow for the first time. Golden eyes, piercing and almost predatory in intensity, flitted up to meet her gaze as he stood up. He was about her age she would guess, maybe a year older, so lean that if she hadn’t been able to see the muscles of his bare arms she would have called him scrawny. He was wearing a sleeveless hoodie that looked like it had lost a few too many rounds with a washing machine, clean but all faded and stretched and worn looking. His hair was all tousled and pale gold, and the red feathers were clustered on his back in huge wings that looked like they belonged on someone about twice his size and weight. He smiled a little, a practiced thing that was too nervous to be real, but if Fuyumi hadn’t lived her entire life around Pro Heroes and the children of other such elites, she would never had known.

     He held up her note between too fingers, not commenting on the wary distance still between them nor making any moves to close it, “Um, I’m not a stalker, just wanna get that out of the way. Sorry if I … came off that way? I’m, uh, not good at introducing myself and I didn’t … really know what else to do.”

[seizethecarpe]

Know By Hart || Solo

Timing: Current Summary: No matter how practiced he was, Dave had never been good with grief. Triggers: Somehow… none. Contains grief.  Author note: Before you read this, I want us all to remember that I’m completely innocent please file your complaints to the local mime ungulate 

In 2004, José De Nueves had walked into Dave’s life. He’d had an easy smile and slightly glassy eyes. It had taken a rusalka, a Swedish fortune teller, and three drinks for José to hold up his hair and reveal in true depth the feathery scars that framed his face. He grinned with two teeth missing as he’d explained the tendril like creatures he’d hunted for one night. “Made me the perfect soldier,” He’d said with a laugh as he downed his whiskey glass. “I don’t give a fuck about anything.”

When Dave had followed his scent to a crypt a year later, he’d found a spawn chewing on José’s drained neck, a stark reminder of how the smallest mistakes could make even the routine hunt a death sentence. He’d wondered that night if José had even cared as they’d ripped his guts out in front of them, felt anything at all as they’d dragged it out of him until his intestines had torn all over the cemetery lawn. Or if he’d screamed and begged for his family anyway, right at the end, his soul returning to life only when it was too little, too late.

Unsure which fate was worse, Dave’d raised a glass in the man’s memory, and chose to forget. 

——- 

In ‘11, there had been Jasmine. Her honey warm skin highlighted the feathery scar that tucked under her jaw. Her bar, her spare room and her bed had all been Dave’s home for a little. But she’d always been clear that when push came to shove, he wasn’t her priority, he wasn’t human enough to risk her life for. All the same, they’d talked for hours under the thick cover of clouds as they waded up mountains to find the monstrous beast contaminating the local springs, they’d talked through her thick cigarette smoke, outside the fading wooden sign of her bar. They had talked more than Dave had spoken to anyone in years. She bared his soul, little by little, and in turn one day she told him about the nest nearby that she sent her friends too when they had lost one thing too many. Dave had listened intently, harder than he’d listened to anything, until the glass in his hand had shattered. 

Not too long, she’d warned. You could lose too much of yourself too fast, and end up more ghost than man. The next day Dave had hiked five miles, peering into the edge of a dried out lake, and saw the silvery creatures there, languidly floating through the air with a dozen tentacles. Dave thought of José, all light gone from behind his eyes, and Jasmine whose grief sometimes sounded wrong, like an untrained actor on the stage. Dave turned and left, hungry tendrils chasing after him fir half a mile.

Two years later, Jasmine had insisted she was retired at forty two, but there hadn’t been another slayer for a hundred miles, so she had come when he’d called anyway. Some cruel unnatural winds had extinguished their fires, and when the aipaloovik wrapped its arms around her and pulled her underwater, Dave made just one attempt to get her free before he told himself there was nothing he could do. 

The white polyps she’d told him about haunted his thoughts longer than she did. A quiet, gentle what if. 

——-

Last year, Dave had met a boy wearing a grin like armour and who considered his enhanced healing another weapon in his arsenal. Dave had saved him from drowning, the kid had saved his life with the penance for the murder of Winn Woods. And then the saving had happened again, over and over, until it became as routine as the wise cracks and eye rolls. 

He loved you. It rattled around in his head. When he’d seen the words on his phone in what had obviously been a final goodbye, Dave hadn’t let them ring any more true than the promise that they’d go fishing with beers. Now, the caster’s voice was stuck in his head, sneaking up on him when he was elbow deep in the bowels of his van’s engine, as he garroted a fish to eat in his human form, when he covered his body with slime to slide into his seal pelt. Sixty feet of ocean above him and he still wasn’t safe from Nell Vural’s voice. Thanks for that, Adam.

It was worst in the mundane moments, like folding laundry, because his mind churned while his hands were busy. See, Dave found it easiest to associate with hunters because he always knew they were destined to die. Everyone agreed there were things no one talked about because there was the deep undercurrent of knowing that Dave probably broke most of their codes, but as long as they didn’t know, it could go ignored. It was an emotional barrier that suited everyone just fine. Until now, apparently.

Dave smoothed his fingers over the edge of a shirt that had seen better days, folding it down as tight as he could before putting it away in a drawer that clipped into the wall of his van. His van was a mess, fishing gear scattered across the floor, seaweed drying on a bucket he hadn’t cleaned out, photos hanging skew on the wall. He wasn’t ever perfectly neat because how humans took care to keep their possessions perfectly in line was alien to him (the sea was never tidy), but he damn well knew he could do better than this. 

Humans considered it a sign of intimacy to show someone their living spaces. Dave couldn’t remember the last time he’d let anyone in here that he wasn’t giving a ride elsewhere. Adam hadn’t known him, not really. Hadn’t seen the emptiness in Dave’s heart, that the fire that kept him going ran on fumes. Who the hell was he to speak of love, when Dave hadn’t let him deeper than his second skin? That there was so little left in Dave worth loving. 

He looked down at the shirt he was folding, the collar pressed down skewed and the sides lined up at angles, and realised at some point he’d picked up the wonkyphoto from the wall, and the cracked, bloody compass Nell had given him that Dave had put on his bedside table and not looked at again. In the photo, three toothy sharp smiles were yellowed with age, teenage boys tussling in the sand. The photographer’s shadow stretched across the sand beside them, and even twenty five years later he could see the impatience behind the boys’ expressions at the doting woman behind the camera. The brass of the compass offered no such warmth, and filled the interior of the van with the scent of the last blood Adam had ever spilled. He flicked it open, and saw it pointing south west again. How could he forget, his home wasn’t a house but an underwater grave.

Fucking ironic, that each grief pointed so sharply to the other, blurring the lines of his most defining pain. Dave didn’t know how long he stared between one and the other before he returned to folding his shirts, and putting them away. He hung the photo back on the wall, and carefully put the compass away along with the rest of his fishing gear, tucked into fabric so that the scrapes it had taken in Adam’s final moments would be its last. When he was done with the laundry, Dave’s mind was set. 

His grief had always been a call to action.

--------

In the hours of hiking since Dave had set out, White Crest becoming a distant blip on the horizon, Dave hadn’t changed his mind. More doubts should have crept in, but they hadn’t once, his mind clear of thought and feeling already. Just one step past the other, past the purple heather fields and overflooded lily pad ponds, under canopies drooping with pine needles and summer chirping birds. 

White tiny flecks began floating past his face through the trees, which slowly grew as he walked deeper into the heather moors. White floating tendrils extended out, brushing against his clothes and hair. The deeper he walked into the cloud, the more the air felt like water, as if the trees had become kelp forests and he was swimming through clouds of chrinoids. The only thing that made the masses of them different than a mist was that Dave could not feel his way through it. They pulsed around him like Jellyfish, glowing under the setting sun.

In the densest part of the mist, he turned instead to an ethereal white creature at his side, as large as an old TV. Its mass of white tentacles fluttered against Dave’s skin curiously. Shame prickled in his veins, flinching away from those delicate touches. The sick, sinking feeling that this was wrong finally set in, worse than most vices that people leant on for their grief. If Adam could see him- but Adam couldn’t. He wasn’t a single damn person’s role model, and didn’t owe anyone his grief. Not even for a good man whose connection to him had been skin deep and yet reached him to his core. Dave swallowed, and turned back to the town for the first time since he’d made this choice, but all he saw was the clouds of white as he weighed the same thing as so many others had before him. 

Grief had always been a call to action. He stepped a little closer, and didn’t flinch as the tendrils brushed against the side of his face, then latched on.

The tendrils were as gentle as a kiss. He’d expected it to be like the time he’d gotten tangled up in an octopus, suckers bruising his skins for days, but if he hadn’t felt the white static encroaching on his mind, this wouldn’t have been unpleasant at all. Tendrils which hadn’t attached traced over the planes of his face, lulling his eyes closed. Peace spread from those pinpricks deeper into his mind, and he could see the appeal of staying here for eternity. Let them clear him out, until there was nothing left except his mission. 

Dave sighed quietly as he felt himself become lesser. He pulled away, and the tentacles let him, and Dave couldn’t even feel the absence of whatever they had taken. That was good, feeling the loss would have been too close to more grieving. The flickering tendrils of the hartvlinders trailed after him as he hurried away, through the clouds of gentle creatures until he burst out into the dying of the sunlight. 

Dave tested a memory like he might tongue at a broken tooth. Deep in a swamp with the rotting corpse of a giant fish clogging up his nose. Dave gave a countdown before lowering Adam into the cleanest water they could find, working quickly to wash off the last of the acid gunk. Adam had been weak kneed and badly burned after his adventure in the monster’s stomach, but he had shut his eyes dutifully and held his breath as Dave washed the worst of the acid out of his hair with exceeding care. As soon as he was out of the water, he’d cracked a joke filled with post hunt exuberance, one after the other while they waited for their stamina to return, until holding back his grin made his cheeks hurt. They hurt again now, hot tear tracks prickling his face. Dave sagged against a tree, and then down onto his knees. Something was gone, he was sure, but not this. The hartvlinder hadn’t been so goddamn kind as to take away his newest, sharpest grief. Or even what he’d really wanted gone: the regret of words left unsaid, the guilt of outliving another kid, the shame of envying a good man for a life where he’d completed his mission and saved everyone.  

Dave would have to learn to wear it until it became another ropey scar on his heart, another line on his death-weighted net.