#he NEEDS a cat. or else he'll die. a second time

[localcryptic]

torn between "i need to draw my ocs at their lowest moments, suffering in agony, covered in blood, etc" and "i should draw my ocs in their dream home surrounded by loved ones and petting a cat"

[loggiepj]

To Love A Lannister

chapter 2 | chapter 3

The crowd had gotten louder the moment you opened your eyes, squinting at first against the sun. You wanted to shield your sight but with your hands tied behind your back, all you could do was wiggle your head to the opposite direction. And when you looked to the sides, there Cersei stood, her lips curved into an evil smile, along side her son, King Joffrey. The sound of a man grunting beside you made you turn your head. A masked man was pulling some kind of rope beside you. Your eyes followed where it leads, ending on a machinery located on top of you. It only took you a second to figure out it was a guillotine.

Thwak!

You abruptly woke up, grasping your neck as if on instinct if it was still connected to your body. You weren't scared to die, not for now, anyway. But you'd have a far chance getting killed from drowning rather than execution.

It was only a harmless threat, you thought. Cersei was known for it. And even when you knew what you were getting to in the end, it couldn't hurt you a little less to try, that maybe the endless looks you get from Cersei during dinners and passing meant something other than distaste.

Sleep was hard to get by after that. With nothing else left to do, you decided to wake up for the day.

Oberyn and Ellaria were still fast asleep so you tried to find food for breakfast. And if luck permitted you, you might bumped into the Queen herself.

It was not the Queen you met by the courtyard near the Kitchen's Keep but Tommen, her youngest son. It appeared he was chasing something that scurried further away into the bushes.

When he didn't see you standing behind him, he bumped into your chest. "Apologies My Lady, I was just chasing my cat."

"No worries, My Prince," you greeted back as you bowed. "In fact, I saw him running towards those bushes. I'd help you, if you'd allow it."

"Please, I don't want to bother-"

"Nonsense," you said, then you and Tommen crouched unto the dirt and began looking for his cat. Fortunately, a sliver of gray caught your eye before it jumped to the nearby fence.

"Got you," you said as you caught the furry cat, brushing its fur as you returned it to a smiling Tommen.

"Thank you, My Lady," he said.

"Does it have a name?"

"Ser Pounce."

"An honorable name."

"Do you think so? Joffrey doesn't think so," he said sadly. "He always says he'd kill him and make me eat it."

"I'm sure he's only kidding, My Prince," you said, though you didn't doubt Joffrey wouldn't do it. "If you need any place for him to hide for the meantime, you can always ask me."

Tommen smiled from ear to ear. And that was when you finally noticed you two weren't alone.

"It's time for breakfast, Tommen," Cersei called, her hands tightly clutching against the post. The Queen possessed a kind of beauty no one could compare. And you were completely enamored.

"Your Grace," you greeted, bowing your head.

"Coming, Mother!" Tommen answered before turning back to you. "Would you like to join us for breakfast, My Lady?"

Before you could reply, Cersei added, "I'm sure Y/N has something else to tend to this morning-"

"Of course, I'd like to dine with you," you interrupted, chuckling softly. "I feel famished myself already. Tommen here can tell me more about Ser Pounce and how he became a knight."

Tommen laughed as you walked together towards the dining hall, ignoring Cersei's warning glare she was sending your way.

Luckily, Joffrey wasn't around to join. And that meant Tommen was free to discuss with you about his cat and about the cats in Dorne. You had shared with him how you used to have a pet cat who died due to old age. You mentioned it was your late cousin Elia's cat.

"That's terrible, I don't want that to happen to Ser Pounce," Tommen said as he brushed the furry cat on his lap.

"I'm sure he'll live a long life, My Prince," you assured him. "In fact, Myrcella has also gotten herself a cat in Dorne."

The mention of Cersei's daughter made the Queen drop her spoon.

"Really? I can't wait to meet them. Mother, can we go visit Myrcella in Dorne?" Tommen asked.

Cersei could only force a smile. You didn't mean to put the Queen on the spot so you eventually changed the topic.

When Tommen had excused himself to chase after Ser Pounce, who suddenly jumped from his lap to chase a mouse, the air in the room grew thick.

"You seem to have gotten close to my daughter," Cersei began, after sipping her wine. "I'm glad hospitality is still being practiced in Dorne nowadays."

You smiled at her. "Yes, Your Grace. Myrcella's a bright girl, kind and exceptional. I loved having her around when we're reading scrolls about the night sky and the history of Dorne."

"She doesn't need to know the history of Dorne, when she'll be back to the Capital once she's of age," Cersei said.

"Well, Myrcella always seems curious. And there's no harm seeking more wisdom when there's nothing left to lose."

There was utter silence as you both continued to eat.

"She misses you, Your Grace," you said sincerely. This softened the Queen's stature. It even brought a little smile on her face.

"Mm, we do send each other letters from time to time," Cersei answered.

"You know no words would be tantamount to physical presence-"

"Are you suggesting I should visit Dorne?" Cersei asked, chuckling.

"Why not, Your Grace? I, myself, could give you a tour."

Cersei laughed softly. And it was the kind of laugh that didn't sound evil. It was a genuine one. A soft one. One that's full of longing.

The conversation went on as you both talked about Dorne, about Myrcella, about Cersei's travels when she was young, how being a Queen caged her from exploring and how she once had a dream she had a boat of her own and she'd be the captain.

It only ended abruptly when Jaime arrived, setting his helmet on the dining table rather loud and harshly, as if he was intentionally interrupting your conversation.

~~~

Later that night, Tywin held a small dinner for the guests. You would have enjoyed it, however, the sight of Cersei and Jaime rather close together only made your stomach churn with spite.

And there was King Joffrey, boastfully showing off the wild boar he had caught earlier that morning. You knew he had ordered a servant to do that for him. You were about to counter his speech but decided against it, remembering how you had promised to control yourself around Cersei's first son.

The only time you couldn't pretend to be happy were the times Cersei was with Jaime. Jaime came back a week ago with a decapitated hand. You felt pity for the man who had suffered being a hostage by the Starks yet you couldn't help feeling bitter whenever he and Cersei had gotten close.

You knew the rumors. Drunk Tyrion even confirmed it one night you accompanied your cousin in certain brothels. That Cersei was truly involved with her twin brother Jaime. That the King was not the true heir. Even Myrcella. Or Tommen.

You decided to ignore them when you could still control yourself. One wrong comment from you would make your nightmare come true.

And then there was Ser Loras Tyrell from Highgarden, brother of the bride to be Lady Margaery, the one Cersei is arranged to be married.

This made you feel more hatred as if you had any right at all.

Cersei was staring outside the window alone with a glass of red wine in her hand when you noticed Loras approached her. She immediately dismissed him the soonest he opened his mouth to talk before she went to watch by the next window instead.

The disappointment on Loras' face brought comfort in yours.

This was the time you finally approached Cersei.

If she'd dismissed you like the way she did to the poor guy, it was probably a sign from the heavens to give up on pursuing after her.

"Your Grace," you greeted, bowing your head before standing beside her by the window. The celebration had spread outside the Red Keep, where you could see a couple of people drinking loudly and yelling outside their houses.

"Parties in Dorne are different," you commented. "It's lively and thrilling."

Cersei snorted before she sipped her wine, her eyes still on the horizon. "And what of the Capital?"

"It's dark and dull, the complete opposite to be honest, but I mean no offense, Your Grace," you replied.

"If it was such a bore to you, why bother come?"

You smiled. "And miss this chance to meet you, Your Grace? I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world."

Cersei's cheeks flushed but your eyes could only be imagining it for the torches inside the castle could be playing tricks on you.

She licked her lips before speaking, "What do you want?"

"What?"

"You've been certainly making it your priority to catch my attention," she went on with disdain in her voice. "Sparing with Joffrey, getting close with Tommen and Myrcella. Is it Tommen you want? I'm sure Dorne won't tolerate such a thing."

It made you laugh. "I believe you're right, Your Grace."

Cersei chuckled darkly. "I'd better be dead before I'd allow your marriage to my youngest boy."

You quickly shook your head, still laughing. "No, Your Grace. It was just to catch your attention."

"To what end?"

And you only stared at her as if you had nothing else to say.

She scoffed, suddenly realizing. "You must be out of your mind. In fact, I believe you want to get yourself killed."

"Dorne is amazing," you reasoned. "In fact, richer and more powerful than Highgarden. And we all know Ser Loras is a pillow biter. And. . . Myrcella already loves it there in Dorne-"

"I don't think you have noticed one wrong physical aspect. How would you even gift an heir to my father?"

You smiled. "Trust me, I have no problems with that, Your Grace. I'm sure the rumors about me have also spread upon my arrival."

Cersei only fell silent as her eyes quickly darted to your crotch back to your face before gazing out the horizon.

"If you think I'd entertain such a ludicrous idea then I suggest you guard your doors at night because I myself will slice off your tongue. You're not even a known Martell. What makes you think degrading myself to your level would even be a fair comparison as to marrying Loras?"

"Forgive me, Your Grace." You bowed, hurt upon the admission. "I didn't mean to offend-"

"Offend? You insulted my family name."

"Cersei, a word?"

Both of you turned to Tywin's voice.

"Apologies My lady Y/n, I have something to discuss with my daughter."

"Of course, Lord Tywin," you said, then you looked at Cersei, avoiding her eyes. "Your Grace."

[satansaidnottoday]

When they are sick: human Au.

Info: Human AU, GN!Mc.

Summary: how do they deal with being sick and how can you help them.

Warnings: just general talk of sickness.

Lucifer

He ignores all of the symptoms and signals that he's going to be sick.

Even if you try to tell him to take care, he will tell you it's just a sore throat.

He's sneezing all over his paperwork and can barely breathe.

He won't take a single day off. He'd just chug some pills and act like his fine.

In the end, you have to force him to bed when the fever takes over and he's writing down nonsense. You let Diavolo know he won't be working the rest of the week.

Protests and whines about it, but it's too weak to do anything about it. Internally he's actually glad someone cares for him, but it's too prideful to admit it.

He will sleep most of the day, trying to pass the sickness as fast as possible. Bring him tea, and some medicine, and put on his favorite classic vinyls. It will help immensely.

When he is better he thanks you genuinely. Being the oldest brother, he never got to rest and get taken care of. He's very appreciative.

Mammon

The moment he feels the smallest indication of sickness he starts to whine about it.

He just wants attention. Your attention specifically.

If you give in and console him he will latch on to you and act way worse than he actually is.

If you don't he will whine even more about you not caring about him.

"Mc! You're do cruel, I could die you know…"

Over dramatic when the cold actually hits him.

He's in bed with the lowest fever ever, crying because he's going to die.

Encourage him by saying he's way stronger than any sickness and he'll instantly stop.

You're right! The great Mammon can't lose against a common cold.

Won't let you leave his side. Gets really needy and asks you the most random questions to keep you talking to him.

"Okay but what's your second to last favorite animal?"

Will get better pretty fast, his immune system is amazing. He will pretend to still be a little sick to get pampered tho.

He will buy you presents as a thank you for taking care of him.

Leviathan

He ignores the symptoms at first. It's not like he leads a super-active lifestyle anyway. Playing video games all day can't make your cold worse.

His immune system is shit due to how little he goes outside, so when it hits, it hits really hard.

He says he's okay and can take care of himself. It's a lie, he not only wants you to take care of him, he desperately needs it.

He gets high fevers and skull-hammering headaches. Every time he sneezes he feels like his brain is rearranged. He can't even sleep because of the pain.

He clings to you and whines about the pain.

"Why meee?"

You make him his favorite chicken ramen because that's all he wants to eat.

Since he can't look at screens, you read him novels to keep him entertained.

When he gets better you stay over for a marathon of every new anime episode he missed.

Satan

He starts preparing when he feels the symptoms coming.

He tries a few home remedies he read about, but they rarely work.

When he is actually sick, he will arrange time off work. He has his doctor on the line and already made a run to the pharmacy to get real medicine.

Takes a lot of short naps.

His symptoms are strong, but he knows how to manage them.

Reads most of the day. Only allows the cats into his bed. Sadly, that doesn't include you.

He won't let you come close, he will even try to convince you to not visit at all. Of course, you still show up to make him vegetable soup and refill his honey tea.

When his eyes sting too much to read, you sit at a cautious distance and narrate to him whatever book he wants.

Gets better pretty fast.

He surprises you with homemade dinner as a thank you.

Asmodeus

He panics when he realizes he is going to be sick. Tries to deny it until it's too late.

He hates being sick, more than anyone else. He hates the puffy eyes, the swollen nose, the chapped and broken lips.

The only saving grace is you. He loves the extra attention (like he doesn't get enough already).

He actually has a pretty good immune system and has barely any symptoms.

Doesn't exaggerate his symptoms like Mammon, he just straight up tells you to pamper him.

And how could you say no to that face?

You spend the week holed up in his room because he doesn't want to be seen by anyone but you. Every time he needs you to run an errand for him, he frames it as a mission.

Your most frequent mission is getting more chocolate.

Skincare, skincare, and more skincare. You use around 20 different masks a day.

When he is feeling better he wants to go out and have a proper date.

Now you gotta pamper him because he was sick before! He couldn't fully enjoy his time with you.

Beelzebub

Has an immune system made of steel.

Rarely gets sick, and when he does he just goes on with his normal life. At most, he gets a low fever and has to test for a day.

You can convince him to take a little rest by offering to cook for him. Anything will do, even just instant soup. He just loves the thought of you cooking for him.

He will try to help, do not let him. One thing he does get when sick is dizzy. You don't want him near anything hot.

He is completely fine by the next day. I wish we could say the same about you.

He infected you. Now you're in bed with a high fever and can barely move.

Don't worry tho! He will make you the best chicken soup you've ever tried.

Belphegor

You would think he is another drama queen, but honestly, he doesn't have the energy for that.

He already expects you to spoil him at all times, sick or not.

He gets sick too often to make an event out of it. The winter, the change of seasons, and humidity variations; everything gets him mildly sick.

Of course, that's just a great excuse to take extra naps.

Doesn't care at all about infecting you, he will demand you cuddle him the whole time.

You're the greatest body pillow ever, so of course he needs you to feel better.

A lot sweeter than usual. He will drop the snark and be pure fluff.

Force him to eat some vegetables, he will never get better if he keeps sustaining himself on snacks and candy.

If you're strong enough, you will have to carry him everywhere. His bones hurt too much to walk.

If you're not strong enough, you will build muscle dating him.

Not much will change when he gets better, he'll just have more energy to tease you.

A little bonus Lucifer scene. Because I'm shameless about my favoritism.

"Luci, I think you have to go to bed," you said as you raked your hand up Lucifer's hair. He looked at you from his desk, his eyelids dark and red.

He tried to speak, but his throat hurt and he gave up. He let himself rest against your touch. He slowly shook his head.

"You have a fever, angel," you leaned down to whisper, caressing Lucifer's face and feeling it burn under your hands. "What you're writing makes no sense."

You tried to explain, but Lucifer wasn't hearing anymore. He hugged your lower body and let his head rest against it, looking for comfort. You gave him your arms and helped him stand up, guiding him all the way to his room.

Thanks for reading!

[radiance1]

Vlad jumps universes.

Why? Well, his empire crumbled because of a certain wizard, who marked his fall as 'collateral damage' and Vlad?

Vlad was PISSED.

As a last fuck you from that same wizard, Vlad was turned into a cat, before that wizard croaked and died. So, Vlad jumped universes since everything he built crumbled and there was literally nothing tying him to that universe anyways.

So, he stepped foot in this new one and decided he would build his empire from the ground up, just like his old one. He will admit, it was a bit harder than he expected, being a cat closed a few methods for him to acquire what he wanted.

So, what to do?

Take a random, down on his luck man, and make him a deal he can't refuse of course. Lost the love of your life? Your family cut off all ties with you? Lost your home in a house fire and in crippling debt?

Well, does Vlad have an offer you can't refuse!

He'll give you everything you could ever need! Anything you would want, could be right within your grasp! You could change your fate with this one simple choice.

This is a deal you can't refuse!

Did he actually think he had a choice in the matter? When Vlad said he can't refuse, he meant it. Vlad will bring whatever you want within reach, fulfil your wildest dreams and give you a life of comfort you wouldn't have even believed a few moments prior!

Vlad then goes on to use said guy as the 'CEO' of his company, ripping multiple businesses out of the hands of the unwary and rebuilding his empire one block at a time with a human puppet as the face.

Said human puppet feels like he made a deal with a demon in the guise of a cat. But hey, he gets a lavish life and paid off debt so he's not really complaining about it. Could be worse, like asking for his soul or to gather a bunch of sacrifices to summon some greater demon god or something.

Then they pull up to Gotham for a Gala, the guy is unsure about it, but Vlad couldn't care less, and wants to smack the guy over the head with his paw because you think he would let you die while he was there? No, you're currently too useful for something like that.

He does roll his eyes though.

The guy wants to feel happy about it, but is slightly concerned and then decides not to think about it.

So, a while before the gala, Vlad goes out because he was curious about Gotham. Making no attempts at hiding how well-maintained he looked, or the expensive collar around his neck, that he willingly got himself thank you very much, because he goes the extra mile to play his part.

Of course, in a city like Gotham, such a thing doesn't go unnoticed. Resulting in multiple attempts to try and catnap him, not that they ever work, in fact, apparently seeing his powers just make him even more valuable.

Something about him being easy pickings since he doesn't belong to a Familia (Heard Robin call them that and it just caught on with everyone else) and that they could sell him off if they were quick.

Them? Sell him off? Tough luck.

After about... the fourth? Time that this happened, a few cat interrupted before he could do anything and then suddenly said cat gets shot, stands back up and goes back to fighting said humans who then ran away when another cat with power over electricity pulled up a few seconds later and they decided it wasn't worth it.

He could have taken care of himself, but it was interesting nonetheless, and because of that interest, he was now following the immortal cat who was constantly yapping his ear off with questions out of curiosity, bemusement, and interest.

Kevin the Deathless.

Is apparently what he was known as in the underbelly of Gotham city, known for his sheer recklessness and to be quite a pain in the ass since he would get back up no matter what you throw at him.

Vlad's interest only grows.

When asked for his age, he reveals it very easily since he didn't see any point in hiding it. 176, an age that shocks the cat, which is obvious, and then he's told that he's older than 'Gramps' and that he's 150.

Vlad pauses. Then resumes in the next second on the way to the warehouse that is home to Kevin's Familia.

Then he finds the Head to be Danny, and suddenly isn't as surprised anymore. Though for Danny to be the lead for an organization? Never thought he had it in him.

Danny is about as enthused to see Vlad as Vlad was enthused to see him.

Which is not at all.

Most of it due to the awkward tension between the two because of their past and outliving their friends and family and then just never getting around to trying to fix it. But Danny asks why Vlad is here, Vlad says for a gala, Danny then clarifies that he meant in this dimension.

And why he's a cat.

He gets a good laugh out when Vlad explains because of a wizard, which was the same circumstance as him but still, he didn't expect a wizard of all things to topple Vlad's empire and turn him into a cat. Said wizard is dead now, but details, details.

Vlad questions where he got Kevin, and Danny is like: "No you can't have him." While hiding Kevin under him, or trying to at least.

Vlad is like: [Wrinkles nose] "I don't want him you imbecile. I'm just curious."

Then they talk for a while, Vlad being filled in a bit about the different Familias around the city, Vlad is impressed that so many cats have what this dimension deems as meta-abilities. Then Vlad goes back, a few days later, and the Gala starts.

Then that Gala was held hostage and Vlad has never been so... done. In his life. The urge to smack his puppet grew, because this guy just wouldn't stop worrying about it.

Vlad is literally with him, why the fuck is he worrying? No harm would come to him when Vlad is around, the idiot.

So, due to losing patience, he went to take care of them. Fur changing from grey to black as night as he used his powers to take care of them.

Whatever fallout happens, he'll leave to his puppet to deal with. for worrying so much.

[introspectivememories]

four months into getting to know each other, shouto finds him by touya-nii's shrine. his little brother gently sits down beside him and offers a small prayer.

"yumi-nee-san," natsuo wonders if his little brother will ever drop the second honorific, "said you were the closest to him," shouto says quietly.

after all these years and the use of past tense still makes his heart break. 'you are the closest to him' he wants to correct but that wouldn't make sense anymore. touya-nii hasn't been talked about in the present tense since before middle school. does shouto even remember a time before nii-san's dea-, disappearance?

"yeah, i was," he says, eyes never leaving the photo. it's the one nii-san took for sixth-grade picture day. kaa-san had got him all dressed up and he had hated it. somedays he thinks if he looks close enough, he'll see the displeased pout on nii-san face. "why?"

his little brother says nothing for a long time, back ramrod straight. natsuo has no idea what's going on in that head of his. shouto has so few tells that he's practically a blank slate. natsuo hates his father.

then slowly and so quietly, he has to strain his ears to catch it, shouto stammers out, "do-, do you think he would have liked me?"

natsuo's immediate reaction is to say 'yes'. yes, of course, touya-nii would've loved you. yes, of course, touya-nii would've crossed the heavens for you. yes, of course, he would've loved you shouto; you're his precious younger brother.

but he remembers the way nii-san used to spit out shouto's name when he was a kid. the way his brother's mouth wrapped around it, the face he made, like he had just eaten something disgusting. he remembers the way touya-nii had become almost crazed by the end, hellbent on proving himself the rightful heir to their shitty father's legacy. he remembers the way touya-nii had said, "i just need to prove that i'm better than him,"; the 'him' said with such bitterness and contempt.

he knows instantly that touya-nii would not have liked shouto. that this house and his father would have twisted any ounce of love, nii-san would've held towards shouto, into jealousy and hatred.

(this house may have ruined all of them but it only ever broke two of them.)

natsuo can't say any of that to shouto. his kind little brother who forgave him for not being there. his amazing little brother who falls in love with every cat he sees. his wonderful little brother who has a wickedly dry sense of humor. his soft baby brother who loves him and yumi-nee with a passion. his tender-hearted baby brother who still worries if his long-gone older brother would've liked him.

no, natsuo can't tell shouto that nii-san wouldn't have like him. shouto will internalize it like he does with everything else that hurts him. and there is already so much that hurts shouto, he will not add to that list. his baby brother smiles these days, nothing big like his green-haired friend, but quiet, lovely, ones all the same. shouto talks more these days. they have dinner together when natsuo is home. his baby brother laughs now. it's a miracle like nothing else in this world.

shouto is the best thing to come out of their house and natsuo will die before he ever hurts his little brother. so instead, he curls an arm around shouto's shoulders and pulls him into a loose side-hug.

"of course!" he lies cheerfully, ignoring the ache in his chest, "touya-nii would've loved you. you're his — and our —precious little brother after all. there is no universe in which he wouldn't have loved you."

the tips of his baby brother's ears go red and his pleased little answering smile makes the ache of lie go away. natsuo will tell a thousand more lies if it means shouto never stops smiling like that.

[whataboutsimple]

Heyy, just wanted to ask your opinion

What are your thoughts on Cassie Rose and Lukas. It came out of nowhere. It seemed pretty fun though. The killer and the guy that was framed for the killers murders

It's not like I ship it. Not really. I'm not sure how if it'll work out as a ship at all. But I definitely want to see them having to go on dates together cause their cat's have become besties

(Yeah.. I'm going to come here from time to time now. Hope you don't mind)

Oooooh~ you already know I can make them work out as I ship:)

All we need to do is slightly punch canon in the face *punches it with a strength of Godzilla* and pretend Lukas never really left the Ocelots and was playing along with them the whole time.

That way it'll make him just as much of a villain as Cassie is. Twisted love to the point where they both sight dreamily, thinking how they can can rid of Jesse together.

Or we can work other way around and actually let Lukas get back to the mansion to save Cassie, since no one really deserves to die from hunger with their cat on their hands. Sure they will send her in jail or something, but I think Lukas is pretty much capable to take her under his wing and help "redeem" herself.

They can bond together over building, since Cassie did built this mansion and she's probably an Old Builder too. Maybe she can teach him how to deal with a sword, and he'll teach her how to oneshot with a bow. I think Lukas would be pretty much interested in listening her rambling about Redstone and Potions, maybe even homworld where she's from.

Of course it won't take only a week, she will be salty for a long time, but in my opinion the right company around will cool her down. Plus they can promise her to help to get back in homworld.

And if we're talking about notaship version, I have plenty of ideas actually here.

As you probably know, I'm rooting for "Cassie Rose as an Old Builder" trope, because for me it only makes sense. However the second trope I'm rooting for is that the closest thing she had to a parental figure was Soren. Because to me he seems like the most hearty person.

Hadrian is hot crazy ass old man.

Mevia is hot crazy ass old woman.

Both Isa and Harper are too focused on work and probably don't know how to deal with children (and they're a bit too salty too).

Otto was probably too boring for her.

And than there's Soren, who doing crazy thing, experiments, dance and sings, just what a child needs.

Well, at least until she hit her teen years, where Mevia started effecting her, turning poor girl into maniac she became.

So, what was that for?

Let's remember some part of the fandom counts Soren as a parental figure for Lukas.. yeah! Siblings Cassie and Lukas trope!:D

It actually would be funny, knowing how different they are. Lukas probably will built something beautiful and rainbowish, when Cassie would go with "And now let's add just a bit of lava.." "NOOOOO!"

Also hilarious would be if we add Aiden there. He can be a friend of Lukas, his lover or Cassie's friend or lover. Either way he would put lots of chaos.

After the Sky City events, if Aiden bonds with Lukas, Cassie would probably go into the protective mode and promise to snap his head if he hurt her lil bro.

If Aiden bonds with Cassie however, Lukas will worryingly run around trying to prevent them from killing someone.

One more trope us rivalry of course.

Thanking the letter in S2, we know Cassie probably escaped and now very angry with Jesse. Knowing her love for difficulty and non-standart ways for the win, maybe just maybe, instead of straight approaching Jesse, she'll decided to go after his friends first.

Specifically Ivor, Petra and Lukas.

If Petra is a bit too strong for her, Ivor's missing would notice fast enough, her perfect first target would be Lukas, who leaves pretty far from everyone else.

Imagine the girl putting traps in his house, when he comes back in the evening. As soon as blonde steps inside, something snaps his legs, making fall down with horrible pain. While he gasps for air, trying to lift himself up, the last thing he sees is White Pumpkin with two bright yellow eyes, before he gets a bit with an axe, that's finishes him.

Well, that wasn't really a rivalry, more just dying Lukas.

I can't think of anything else in the moment.

I actually love Cassie a lot, especially her red hair and Winslow, even though the girl could've just explain the situation and ask for help, she decided to do the murder. Just what the doctor ordered.

Lukas.. well, I have mixed feelings. I like him as a character, I ship lots of ships with him, but I strongly avoid Jesskas or Aidkas content. It's not about characters, but about how people present them in this situations.

I'm not against the ships and even wrote some oneshots, when people asked, it just that.. I don't know, I have some allergy towards popular things. That applies to Jetra, Jesstra, Lukesse, Jesskas, Aidkas, Harpvor or Jesse, Lukas, Petra themselves.

When I'm writing something about them, I actually enjoy it, but content of other people keeps me away somewhy. Expect yours! The way you deliver both Petra and Lukas I love..

But I think I went off topic, yep. Sorry.

[sea-of-dust]

Kira☆Kira☆

Miscivious vocalist! reader x Grusha and Rika

Summary: Dating a vocalist is something but them also being a skilled Pokémon trainer is something else. Especially when their scary lizard thing stands on its hind legs...

Notes: The reader has a Koridon for context on the scary lizard thing 💀. Wtf does it need wheels for. Also anyone else notice the hashtag pokemon scarlet and pokemon purple?

Grusha

One of the things he admires most about you is how well your vocals shift when the moment calls for it. You could sing gently to help pokemon sleep then scream at the top of your lungs to hype up a crowd. "Why is a special talent of mine~. Maybe I'll sing you a lullaby one of these days...what was your name Grusha?" That was the first thing you've ever said to him, the first time you've meet, since then he's always had this warm feeling in his chest

His dreams already died but whenever he sees you he always sees another dream flourish and bloom. One of the many reasons he's attracted to you

He doesn't admit it but he's very cat-like hell deny missing you when your on tour. Yet his actions say otherwise. You would leave to take a bath and he would offer to bathe with you. If you were cuddling somewhere your even more screwed. He'll pin you down making sure you can't move. He also refuses to offer affection verbally yet you wake up in his arms

Speaking of tours he can only go to the shows in Paldea. He's a gym leader he can't exactly leave. So you decided to Perform with Rhyme! It was crowded but at least he got to see you do what you enjoy

He doesn't tell you he isn't that into rock until you showed him more tone downed rock. "So does that mean you don't like the music I play?!" he'll die before answering that question.

You decided to take on the gym challenge. "I'll only use one Pokemon to nerf myself" "Why do you feel the need to do that" "Why I want this to be a fair fight hmmm" you change your position of a Pokemon and you begin the battle...was your motorcycle always um...standing on two legs?

Grusha isn't a big fan of Koridon especially after you just sat there using flamethrower to one shot his whole team. "I WON" you clasp your hands together. He sighs in defeat but at least you're happy.

"So where's my commemorative picture?" You smile mischievously "you have enough pictures of me already" "this one's gonna be special" he smiles under the scarf taking a picture with you. "Nice! Showing this to Koridon" "anyone but Koridon I beg of you"

He thought his old fans were bad...DEAR GOD YOUR FANS TATTOO YOUR NAME ON THEIR FOREHEAD. "No shame~. But at least I can use them to commit a crime for me ☆" "please never go through with that"

You and him often appear in interviews together. Every time the interviewer asked you a question about your relationship he narrows his eyes and just stares at you. "So how's Grusha like at home?" "Uh..." Grusha's staring you down. "Almost the same as when he's out" that's a lie he's almost attached to you at home. You've never seen someone so addicted to hugs. "Have you ever seen Grusha without the jacket? Can you describe his figure? "He has an amazing figure" You were about to nerd out in front of him when you felt someone look at you. It was Grusha... He's going to grumble about this as you drive him home you think. You look over at him. Even with that scarf, you can still see that disappointed face. He doesn't say anything about it he just sits there...disappointed.

"What I can't compliment my boyfriend in front of others" "it's not that" he pauses for a second the aggressive motion of Koridon underneath you two. He holds onto you tighter. "I get it...FREE FANSERVICE" There's silence between you two once again. "You know what never mind..." He holds you close even more, with barely any more space in between your bodies tucking his head into your back.

Your Koridon was such a party crasher, mood ruiner, fart cloud. He dosent like Koridon. You two could be in a heated moment and he would ruin it. ESPECIALLY WHEN IT INVOLVES FOOD. Date in a fancy restaurant? He would pop out the Pokeball and eat the food you were feeding HIM. He doesn't want to hurt your feelings by saying it out loud but your Koridons a Lizard cock block

The worst time he thinks Koridon ever cock blocked him was when you two were about to go to sleep and you got on top of him the moonlight hitting your face at just the right angle "good night dear" and just as you were about to kiss him you two hear rummaging in the kitchen. "HUH?! I'm gonna go check that out stay here" you walked out seeing Koridon's attempts at opening the fridge. "....are you serious" your Koridon looked pleased you opened it for him and let him pick something out before going back into his Pokeball. Walking back into the room you tell Grusha what happened. "Koridon was just trying to get a snack" "oh that's alright" ARE YOU SERIOUS?! THAT WAS THE MOST ROMANTIC YOU'VE EVER BEEN SINCE YOU CAME BACK FROM TOUR RUINED BY YOUR FREAKING SPACE LIZARD. He hated Koridon ever since. At this point, he tells you to ignore Koridon whenever you two are about to kiss. Just give him the smooch and you'll deal with it later 😾.

Whenever you're seen in public by a fan they usually just want a picture. One time someone posted where you and him were and you saw people suddenly line up in a cafe all lined up to see you. He sees you get overwhelmed and decides to lead you out of the establishment. "Hey hey-" "don't hey hey me your obviously getting stressed out" "but still I should be-" "They lead two blocks down" "oh...maybe I couldn't" "That's what I thought"

You like to sleep on him for his reaction. "What the heck are you doing" and you'd just be dead asleep. Whenever your not there his pokemon usually do that for you. Their mindset is probably, "second parents gone must give dad cuddles" sometimes they sleep on his face...not fun

Rika

She likes rock! And found your band out trying to get out of her comfort zone. She fell in love with more than just a voice that day. So she looked around your band's profile and found out you guys not only had a YouTube channel, but you were coming to Paldea! This was her chance.

You were performing when a technical error occurred, you took the chance and decided to talk to the audience. "And what might be your name sweet checks" may have been the first time she's flustered to answer her own name "Rika..." "Rika huh? That's a nice name rolls off the tongue" you get a message from staff that everything's fine and get up to continue performing. Ever since then, she's used that to fluster you. "Remember when you called me sweet cheeks?" "OH GOD"

You eventually moved to Paldea sending your parts of songs overseas to your producers and bandmates. Still meant you had to go to events with your band. Wasn't a problem till you get texts from Rika saying she missed you. "Bro your always looking at your phone you ok?" "It's just...I wanna see my girlfriend" "it's been 3 hours" "that's two days 😔" "..." they had to look up pictures of her to keep your head in the game. You always try to surprise her when you come back. Appearing behind her, waiting for her outside of gyms. Your bandmates call it laughing through the rivers of tears. She does miss you too she just doesn't say it out loud. She does try to touch you more often "Are you trying to figure out if I'm an Astral projection?!" "Are you?!" "AM I?!" You try to put your finger through yourself only to fail. Another thing Rika teases you for.

She knew you had a motorcycle like Pokemon she just didn't know how much of a cockblock it would be. She'd lay down and you'd take the chance to kiss her when Koridon pops out of his Pokeball. "OH KORIDON-" you're trying to hide Rika behind you as Koridon asks for food. She was disappointed but it won't happen twice...right? It did. You two were on a calm ride in an amusement park enjoying the view when you saw Koridon drift down toward you two. " what in the-" "HES AIR SWIMMING?!" LET HER HAVE HER KISS DAMMIT. She basically leaves Koridon's Pokeball on tables just so you and her could have intimate moments.

Speaking of Intimate moments, she pinned you to a wall in a semi-public area. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue" "Rika- you know this isn't the time or place-" "oh come on surely no harm could come from teasing my s/o a little" "MOM IS THAT Y/N?!" You look at her with an I told you so glance as the kid begins to freak out seeing their idol. "And why are they getting pinned to the wall like that?" "Let's go honey those two are occupied" you were so embarrassed. You'd get her back sometimes pinning her to the wall yourself. "Finally caught you" you've got her pinned no escape. "Oh? This is a tad unexpected-" she isn't used to being flirted with you should have known this by your first interaction with her. You usually use this to your advantage pinning her to a wall and then just making a deez nuts joke or straight up staring at her and doing nothing.

You sometimes open up your guitar case to practice when she's not around when you do practice when she's around she nearly begs to try ending up in you two singing karaoke and leaving you too wiped it even sing tomorrow.

She likes telling you to try on her stuff and wear them to concerts. "My glasses look so cute on you! Please just for today!" "I have a concert but..I'll try-" your fans made edits of you with her glasses on. Witch, she will promptly shove in your face. "Y/n with glasses is something I didn't know I needed in my life~" "DON'T READ THEM OUTLOUDDD" you cover your face with a pillow. "Hehe"

You made a bet with her that if you soloed her team she would pay for dinner. She laughed at the idea at first she's an elite four member you sure? "Oh I'm very sure" "like your confidence dear-" she was going to eat her internal monologs words BECAUSE JESUS KORIDONS HUGE WHEN DID YOUR MOTORCYCLE SUDDENLY KNOW HOW TO FIGHT!?" "Guess your paying for dinner" you scoff. Now she's at a 50/50 with Koridon, he cockblocks her, and now he beat her ass...the only positive to that pokemon is that he helps you see her and she likes seeing you.

You somehow convinced her to put her hair down and dear god...."YOU LOOK LIKE OUR DRUMMER!" "is that a good thing or-" "he's so pretty hold on lemme find a pic" first Koridon cock blocking her now a love rival-. "LOOK!" "Eh he's not that good looking" "I'd turn into a mop if he told me too" "...what-" he had to explain to her that you two have an inside joke about how pretty each other were and she eventually agreed with the drummer that indeed...you're hot.

Despite the inside jokes, she knows you wouldn't cheat. How? Because you gush about literally every little thing she does. "She's just so AHHH you know what I'm saying bro" her Clodsire agrees with you. "Wish I was single again so I could ask her out again" you pause. "ANYWAY DID YOU NOTICE THE LITTLE SPIN SHE DOES WHEN BRINGING OUT POKEMON SHES SO HJSKZKZ" you can't put into words how much you love her. That's all the proof she needs to know you'll always be by her side.

Whenever you cover darker songs she thinks you're depressed or something. "Are you alright?" "Yea why" "you can tell me if anything bothering you you know" "yea why'd you ask?" "..." "is it because of the cover? We covered it because it sounded cool then we actually looked at the lyrics and realized how dark the song was... it still slaps tho so we covered it" "oh-" she's still checking for sighs only for those sighs to come in as deez nuts jokes. It's depressing how many deez nuts jokes you can make in a day.

You have this habit of putting tape on a piece of paper after scribing something. Then putting it on someone or something. So you started putting paper mustaches on Koridon and Clodsire. If she ever caught you you'd put on a disguise saying it was the "doodle bandit". She's surprised by how much tape you have-.

You had to pull Rika out of a bar once. While trying to get her to sober up and sleep she would be like "STOP I HAVE A S/O" you at this point were tired and kinda pissed off. So you smiled menacingly "what's your s/o like" "they're chaotic yet fun to hang out with, they're so soft too" she went into detail about how much she loved you while also telling YOU to stop touching her. Fortunately, you came up with the fastest way to sober her up or at least wake her up completely. "Hey, Rika you mentioned your s/o plays rock right?" "Howed you know" with your guitar plugged in you started playing loudly. Fortunately not screaming directly in her ear, but enough to let her verify you. "You sound like my s/o..." "I am your s/o" "nah they're way prettier than you" "...." You did not give Rika a good night after that. You made sure she slept on the couch till she came back to her senses.

She likes her cuddles so, if you do not deliver that night she'll be salty. "Are you too good to give your gf cuddles" "Rika I told you I roll over a lot when I sleep" "well then I'll roll ON you so you have no choice" "pardon?" She took that literally. You weren't able to move last night because she decided to sleep on your chest. She is expecting you to pat her head as she drifted off to sleep. "Good night dear" you don't tell her this but the reason, besides you being a messy sleeper, why you don't give her cuddles is that her heartbeat quickens rapidly and you didn't want to cause any medical problems

She likes wearing your band's merch to fluster you. "Ah seriously" you cover your face peaking a bit then closing the peak. "It's so cringy~" "I think it looks great" "ahhh save me-" You mumble. You wear a shirt with your band's name on it too, so why not match to share the cringe you know. If anyone notices you blame her. "Yea I'm a fan...but Rika here's a HUGE fan I just like the shirt" "you look like the vocalist...sound like em too..." a fan looks at you like your being interrogated."That's only a coincidence!" You smile nerviously "oh look at the time ill be seing you!" you nearly run away from the conversation running with Rika. She thinks that your reaction will never get old.

[mariademetal]

౨ৎ⋆ ˚｡⋆ kitty itadori yuuji / gn!reader ©mariademetal 2024

cw ... yuuji calls reader babe, blood(?) but nothing violent and no vivid description of a wound, if there's anything else lmk note ... haiii welcome to my lil established relationship yuji fic in which he is a stupid cat dad this is HEAVILYYYYY based on my experiences with kittens (every single kitten i've ever owned has shat on my bed once, as if just to get it out of their system before devoting themselves to a litter box) and the many fatal injuries i've received from them..... word count ... 3.1k

At first, you're the one that's apprehensive about bringing the cat home.

It's a little brown thing that ambushes you at the foot of your apartment's stairs, and who was very fun playmate for the first twenty minutes it followed you around, but got to be a little more trouble than you thought it might be worth after locking into climbing you like a tree and tearing a hole in your jeans in the process. At which point, you decided that while your hangout sesh was a lot of fun, it's time for your friend to go back to its mother.

To its fortune, just as you steel your resolution to leave your new friend at the bottom of the staircase on which it first attacked you, Yuuji shows up— of course he does— and decides as soon as his eye catches the claws hanging off of your shirt that he will simply keel over and die if the two of you don't foster the kitten.

"What if her last owners neglected her?" He pleads with you, looking you with the most convincing sad brown eyes you've seen in a moment while he speaks. (All while his new best friend bites his finger like it's made out of something positively delicious.) You're in the worst place in the world for this discussion, you think, still sitting at the bottom of that damned staircase. The fact that Yuuji will have won the moment you move into your apartment with that kitten keeps you in place at the price of your pride.

"Look at how fat she is, Yuuji," you gesture to her, and you can't even remember at what point in your heated discussion it became her. "What if her owners love her dearly and are waiting for her to come home? I'm not going to... catnap her."

"What if her mother died and she's looking for a new one?" He keeps asking these stupid hypothetical, rhetorical questions that prove nothing but still annoy you to no end. Not to mention the way he's cradling her in his arms— you have no doubt that by new mother he means himself.

"We already have a kid," you grit out. By kid, you don't mean an actual child, but rather a betta fish that Inumaki dared you to buy six beers deep and who you, unfortunately, discovered you could not return the morning after, nor ever. Yuuji stepped up as his father when you proved to be a little bit too absent as a single parent to him, and he's alive and thriving to this day, albeit in a tank you doubt is quite the recommended size. "What if she eats Fish? He's my pride and joy."

At this, Yuuji stops and thinks. "Aren't Nobara and Maki looking for a cat?"

"I think so," you hum, and tentatively reach over Yuuji's lap to rub your little enemy's stomach.

"Lets just take care of her until they're ready to take her," he smiles at you, tight-lipped and hopeful. "I'll make sure she doesn't eat Fish. I'll scoop her shit and feed her too."

You take your hand back to allow another tenant to pass between you and Yuuji and lean your head against the railing with a sigh. It's a bad idea and you know it. As much as you'd love to think you and Yuuji are ready to take care of a cat, dedicate the time and care it needs to it, you just can't. But if Yuuji says he'll take care of her just for the meantime, you know he means it. "... Alright. But the second she fucks with Fish, she's gone."

As it turns out, Kitty, as you and Yuuji have intermittently named her to match with Fish, is an only slightly worse roommate than Yuuji. If you were to rank everyone in your apartment by how much you all contribute, it'd go something like this— Fish in first place, obviously, for all the joy he gives you and Yuuji, as well as causing the least mess; you in second, for feeding and raising Fish up; Yuuji in third for cooking and paying the bills; Kitty at dead last for shitting all over your comforter on the first night she stays with you and having the audacity to beg you for food come morning.

Yuuji had prepared in every way he could think of— he bought her a litterbox, plenty of food for kittens, a collar (just until Maki or Nobara take her to get chipped), and enough catnip to plant a field. And, for what it's worth, when you’d first brought her into your apartment, just before Yuuji left to buy her supplies, she was an angel. She was the calmest you'd seen her the whole evening, carefully sniffing the floor of your apartment, sneaking up behind corners, checking for any harm that might come her way. So preoccupied with discovering this new, unknown land that she doesn't even acknowledge Fish's existence. It was only after she'd settled in that he ran to get her kitten things.

Naturally, Yuuji didn't think to check if Kitty actually knows how to use the elegant litter box he'd so diligently set up for her in your bathroom, so where you were expecting to sleep in and wake up to your boyfriend peppering your face with kisses, you instead wake up at the asscrack of dawn to the feeling of him jerking your blanket off of you (and the rest of your bed, you suppose), Kitty watching him from the floor with what you can only describe as morbid curiosity.

"Yuuji, what...?" You croak out, wiping the sleep from your eyes.

Then, the smell hits you, and you're confident you're not falling back asleep.

While Yuuji washes your blanket and lectures Kitty on the proper, sanitary way to relieve herself, you sprinkle some food in Fish's tank.

You stare down Kitty, who, in Yuuji's temporary absence, has taken to frolicking around your flat, as if she isn't a criminal, as if she didn't ruin your favorite duvet, and with a glare that softens by the second, you scoop out a can of cat food into a bowl and put it on the floor for her, despite the fact that Yuuji swore he’d take care of feeding her.

For what it's worth, you have to appreciate that, at the very least, she hasn't so much as glanced in Fish's direction. Despite how vehemently you're denying it at the moment, Kitty is, in fact, tearing and clawing and shitting her way into your heart— but if she does come to stay with you for any extended period of time, you'd rather it be one in which you don't have to constantly move Fish further and further away from her reach in order to keep him safe.

Fish, your first and beloved son— an accident, sure, but the happiest you've made in your life. There have been nights where you have been one dry heave away from throwing up your stomach in its entirety, and the only thing that could get you to stand up and drink some water was Fish, blub-blub-blubbing in his own, urging you with bulbous eyes to take care of yourself (because if you don't, you can't take care of him).

He's a selfish child, but all children are, you suppose. It’s their right.

Kitty finishes her food with a satiated meow and barely makes the three-foot journey to your coffee table before dropping down onto her side and passing out. It's an adorable sight, obviously, but one that also reminds you that that could've been you this morning if only she hadn't emptied her bowels onto your blanket.

Yuuji comes back to your apartment, empty-handed and head hung low, and you already know what he’s going to tell you; “Your blanket didn’t make it, babe.”

All you can do is sigh and throw your arms up. “I’ll pick up another one after work.”

Thankfully, after that fateful morning, Kitty didn’t have many other shit-related accidents. It was incredible, really, how easily she managed to fit into your life, how easily she forced you to carve time out of your day to spend with her instead— she sleeps on your couch since you tragically banned her from your bedroom, wakes you up like an alarm clock, consistently, to give her breakfast, and lazes around your apartment in tandem with you and Yuuji scurrying around to get ready for your respective days. You have class in the morning, he has work, and you always come come back just in time to deliver Kitty and Fish’s lunch. You’ve also found that Kitty has a taste in television— she screams at you whenever you put on Rupaul’s Drag Race, out of excitement or prejudice you can’t quite find out, and curls up into a ball in the crook of your elbow whenever you watch Seinfeld. Then, Yuuji comes back from work and if you don’t have plans, the four of you eat dinner together like a bonafide family.

Tonight, you don’t have plans, but Nobara, who has been promising to call you about Kitty for the past month you’ve had her has finally caught you on your phone.

“Of course I want her,” she insists, and you can see her bob swaying along with her head as she jerks it around in your mind's eye. (You love her dearly.) “It’s just… not a great time for Maki and I.”

Maki and I seems to be her favorite thing to say nowadays— you don’t think you’ve seen one without the other in some months. “That’s fine, but me and Yuuji can’t foster her forever, you know,” At the sound of his name, Yuuji whips his head around to see what you’re doing. Once he clocks who you're talking to, he mouths to you to tell Nobara he says hi. “Yuuji says hi, by the way.”

“Yeah, tell him I say hi too,” Nobara sighs. “We’re moving into Maki’s folks’ place, and I don’t know how they feel about cats and stuff.”

“Maki’s folks’ place is so big I doubt they’ll ever even see her.”

"I'm sorry, but can you just keep her until we're settled in?" Nobara asks with a politeness that's very out of character for her. Then again, if you had to live within a mile of the Zen'in compound, you'd be worn out, too.

It must be a sign from God, from Buddha, from the universe, or maybe just fate that before you have the opportunity to mumble out an uncertain I don't know to Nobara, Kitty wraps herself around your calf. She's gotten so big, you think to yourself— it feels like just yesterday she was small enough to fit in your shoe, but over the month you've fed her and scooped her shit, she's become big enough to play with your shoes.

"Yeah, of course," you splutter out. You press your phone against your shoulder and lean down to pick Kitty up while Nobara chatters away in your ear about gratitude and just hum when she asks you this or that. For a moment, just a moment, you wonder if you should be selfish and keep Kitty for yourself. Then you reprimand yourself, because she's still, for all intents and purposes, Maki and Nobara's cat.

Still, as you come to terms with the fact that Kitty's stay in your apartment will certainly be longer than you originally planned, it seems Kitty comes to the same realization— you and Yuuji discover that she's pointedly decided to make herself entirely at home. She was never well behaved, not really, what with the way she'd pounce on Yuuji whenever he fell asleep on the couch, or the way she'd dig her nails into your thighs whenever your petting skills failed to meet her standards, but it seemed that you, at the very least, had an understanding when it came to respecting the space you're all sharing— your apartment. She didn't scratch your couch, didn't spray litter all over your bathroom, and seemed to ignore fish in his entirety.

Now, though, she's picked up possibly the worst hobby of all— knocking shit off of other shit. Pens off of your desk, detergent off of your washing machine, cups off of your fucking kitchen counter. Yuuji, guilty for anything and everything he is physically capable of being guilty for, has cleaned up after her with a vigilance that you feel genuinely bad about. Unfortunately, he doesn't do it as carefully as you wish, which is why you're picking glass out of his hand with a tweezer at one in the morning after he stumbled out of your room to find what you and him had neglected to put away (what Kitty had managed to knock off of a counter) this time and found out the hard way. By tripping on the culprit in the darkness and falling hands-first onto the scene of the crime.

"Are you sure you can go to work tomorrow?" You ask, voice soft, and Yuuji, who has been smiling since he woke you up with a yelp, finally falters.

"I think I'll be alright," he murmurs back. "Nanami won't be happy, but..."

"When is he ever?" You snort.

"He likes Kitty, too."

"You've shown him pictures of her?"

"Of course! I've shown pictures of her to everyone in the department," he grins, and you can picture him, heavy in his uniform, lifting his phone up to his stoic boss' face with a picture of Kitty, asking Isn't she cute? Then him adjusting his glasses before nodding, Yes, Itadori, she's very cute.

You suppose that's the effect Kitty has on people. Yuuji, too.

He's sitting on the edge of the tub, you're sitting on the toilet seat, paper plate balanced on the sink beside you to drop the fragments of glass onto, Kitty passing and curling around your and Yuuji's feet. It feels odd to say it, but he got off lucky in this situation— only a few pieces of glass burrowed themselves deep enough into his skin to bleed, and the rest are just stuck on the surface. Still, you're pretty confident Yuuji's in a lot more pain than he's letting on.

"Really, Yuuji," you huff, "I think you should stay home tomorrow. Just so the swelling goes down and it'll be less painful the day after."

"It doesn't hurt," he starts speaking with his whole chest, but once he clocks the look you're giving him of complete and utter disbelief, his confidence wanes. "... that much."

"I know you're worried about money, but I'm worried about you," you start, and try not to wince with him after pulling out a particularly deep shard of glass. "And besides, if this gets worse because you went back to work too early, we'll have to pay for that, too."

He hums. "I guess so."

You wrap his hand up diligently, pepper his face with kisses, and shoo him away to your bedroom so you can pick up all the glass on the floor that didn't end up on that paper plate. He calls in sick.

You get through your classes like a zombie being pulled along campus by a leash. As it turns out, staying up until the early morning making absolutely sure that there wasn't any glass left on your floor did not prepare you for success when it was time to leave. Still, Yuuji solemnly swore to spend his day focused entirely on healing, so you achieved one little victory, if nothing else.

When you get home, before you can even grasp the doorknob, you hear Kitty yapping away, Yuuji sniffling, and something being shuffled around your living room. You don't know quite what you're afraid of— an intruder, Kitty growing to the size of King Kong, or Yuuji having shrunk of Kitty's height, but after peeking your head into the door, you can confidently say that it is none of the above. You do, however, see the assortment of Kitty's things gathered right by the door.

You step into your apartment, kick your shoes off, and greet Kitty as she practically jumps into your arms.

"Yuuji?" You call out to him, and realize he's in the bathroom, probably figuring out what the best way to remove Kitty's litter box would be. "What're you doing?"

He walks out of the bathroom, eyes red, bandage on his hand freshly, but messily changed, and his head hung low. "We have to give Kitty up," he says, and you immediately clutch her tighter in your arms.

"What're you talking about?"

He just gestures to where Fish is— rather, where fish should be. His tank isn't just empty, it's gone. You realize what happened.

"Did she eat Fish?" You ask. Your voice is calmer than you really are, but you don't want Yuuji to think you're mad at him for Kitty coincidentally killing Fish the one day he happened to stay home.

"No," he insists, and points to a red Solo cup he's placed on top of your bookshelf. "He's there. She... knocked his tank over. I saved him before he could die, but..."

You look down at Kitty, who is similarly looking up at you— it's like she knows what she did, like she knows exactly what your one condition to let her stay is, like she's pushing the rules just to see what you'll let her get away with before kicking her out. But Fish is not dead, albeit traumatized and certainly not thriving in his temporary home. You realize that you think you'd forgive Kitty if she clawed your eye out. You've been denying your truth— denying that you love Kitty like she's yours, because she is— for far too long.

"I-I remember what you said about only fostering her if she doesn't mess with Fish, and I agreed, so—"

"I don't want to get rid of her," you interrupt Yuuji, and his expression goes from distraught to severely confused.

"No," he insists. At first, you were the one who was apprehensive about keeping Kitty. Now, the roles have been reversed. "She messed with Fish. I get it."

"Yuuji," you say, softer, and walk towards him. You look at his hand and realize he must've worked so hard on his day off, to clean up the glass of Fish's tank, to clean up the water, the decorations, the plants, and how scared he must've been that Fish would die. How scared he must've been that you'd be mad at him. You love him too much for that. "We're not getting rid of Kitty."

"We're not?"

"Of course not. Do you want to?"

"Of course not!" He huffs, and makes a face at Kitty that she must not like, because she takes a swipe at him from all the way in the crook of your elbow.

"So... do you want to tell Nobara?"

"Hard pass."

[cactusnymph]

plsplspls beggnig for more wyllachstarion theyr like crack to me 😩😩😩 can you do the spooning

Karlach is way too excited for the night to play hard to get with Astarion who spends the rest of the day pretending that he's aloof and not interested in touching her, as if he didn't try to seduce her on their second night together at camp.

Then of course he tried it with Wyll and it also didn't work because Wyll is such a gods damned romantic. And now Astarion is over by his tent, drinking whine and reading a book while definitely not looking over at them. Not even a little bit.

Karlach adores his adorable pouting face so fucking much, it's giving her cuteness aggression.

She's sitting with Wyll—he's sitting between her legs so she can hug him from behind and put her chin on his shoulder. Karlach is brimming with so much joy that she doesn't really know where to put it. This is literally the best thing. She is hugging her boyfriend and she can kiss his cheek without giving him burn marks and he's leaning against her as he throws a ball for Scratch who keeps excitedly bringing the ball back to them.

Karlach thinks she could die happy right now.

Well, it would be even better if Astarion was over here as well, but she's sure that he'll come around at some point and there's no sense in pushing him round. It takes time and Karlach understands.

Yes, she wants to go fast, fast, fast, but she gets that not everyone can go as fast and burn as quickly as her. For now Karlach can revel in how Wyll's skin feels against hers, how his hair tickles her cheek, how soft Scratch's fur feels under her fingers whenever she touches him and how exhilarating it is to press kisses to every inch of naked skin she can find on Wyll right now.

One of her fingers slowly makes its way along the waistline of Wyll's pants to feel the coarse hair leading from his belly button down into his pants and she can hear him suck in a breath. It makes her smile so wide.

Fuck, this is the best.

She nuzzles her face into the side of Wyll's throat and breathes in—gods, he smells so good. Like sandalwood and woody smoke. Karlach doesn't know what Astarion smells like yet, but she wants to learn. She hopes he'll let her.

When she glances over to where he's sitting his eyes are on them and gods, they're like bright burning embers, glaring holes into the two of them snuggled over there. Karlach chuckles into Wyll's skin.

"He's looking, isn't he?", Wyll asks and turns his head to press a kiss on Karlach's cheek.

"Yeah", she breathes. Wyll laughs quietly.

"Do you think he'll let us...?", Wyll asks, trailing off. Karlach hums. She doesn't want to get too hyped up about Astarion joining them for the night but man, she wants it so much. She wants to hug him, touch his hair, kiss his insane cheekbones... Fuck.

"I dunno. But fuck. I really want to."

Wyll swallows and nods slightly.

"Yeah. Yeah. Me too."

They go to bed without Astarion who keeps glaring holes into the sides of their heads the entire evening while pretending to read his book and Karlach that it wouldn't help to invite him over. Astarion is like an angry cat who needs to sniff your metaphorical hand at least a hundred times before pushing his head against you.

Karlach can wait. She can do it.

She spoons Wyll and almost cries again with how good it feels to hold him like this. There's no way she can sleep. She has to revel in how this feels. And if her arm falls asleep it doesn't matter because there's no universe in which she'll let go of Wyll.

Wyll on the other hand is fast asleep in her arms, his ass pressed against her crotch which. Well. She can live like this. She can be normal. Karlach tries to concentrate on other things instead when she hears quiet footsteps approaching the tent and then the flap is opened and cold air sweeps in.

Karlach doesn't have to turn around to know who it is.

"It's fucking cold", Astarion complains without saying hello or anything else. Karlach chuckles and gently detaches herself from Wyll who makes a soft, sleepy sound.

"Our little grumpy cat is here", Karlach whispers and Astarion huffs full of offense.

"I am not a grumpy cat", he hisses, proving her point before climbing into the space between Wyll and Karlach. Karlach can tell that this is new for him. He moves stiffly, clearly not knowing what to do or how to act which makes her heart break for him.

Gods, she will cuddle this man so fucking much. As soon as he warms up to the concept of nonsexual intimacy.

"Do you still need to drink?", Wyll asks, his voice bleary from sleep. Karlach can feel the pause in Astarion's body, the moment he thinks about this question and what it means—what it implies.

"I had a bear", he mumbles and flinches as soon as Karlach presses against him from behind, wrapping her arm around him to pull him close before doing the same with Wyll so they're all pressed together as close as possible with Astarion in the middle.

He's not moving, maybe he's scared to.

"If you want you can have some of mine tomorrow. Dunno if it tastes okay, though", Karlach offers. Astarion doesn't say anything but Karlach doesn't mind. She presses a soft kiss to the back of his neck and hears him suck in a breath.

"Alright?", she asks, not sure if she overstepped.

"It's fine", Astarion mumbles, a million underlying tones in his voice. Karlach kisses him again and again, touches his soft curls and walks her fingers up his arm. Only a few moments later his breathing evens out and Karlach smiles against his back.

Yeah, she's not going to sleep. She has to savor this for as long as it lasts her.

feel free to send me more of these <3

[noodyl-blasstal]

The Dog House

Day 15 of @taznovembercelebration and I got "playlist"

Read below or on Ao3. Missed yesterday? Catch up here.

-

"Taako?"

Music thuds out of the kitchen, loud, bouncy, and accompanied by the sweet scent of vanilla and spices wafting in the air.

"Taako?" Kravitz tried a bit louder.

Nothing.

There is absolutely no way for Kravitz to compete with ‘Bake, bake, bake, bake, ba, bake it’ and be heard. He knows, he’s tried before. The volume is an important part of the process.

Although... Maybe that will actually work in his favour. Kravitz pulls out his phone, juggling the warm lump in his arms to do it. It’s worth a try, if nothing else, Taako would see the funny side.

He hits record and smiles lovingly into the camera. "Hello love, I'm just here at the house and I have something big to ask you." There's no reply from Taako.

"If you don't reply, I'll assume it's okay, but can we get a dog?" The music thumps away in the kitchen.

"Specifically this dog?" Kravitz readjusts slightly to get the pomeranian into view. "He's very fluffy."

"Okay, well, as I haven't heard anything from you, I'm assuming this means Fluffums can stay."

Fluffums' tongue pokes out adorably and he flops his sweet head to the side. Kravitz can't resist planting a little kiss on it.

"That's the name he came with by the way. Magnus… well, you know. Anyway... I'm glad you..."

"Magnus did this?" Taako says from behind his right shoulder.

Fuck.

Kravitz should have known better than to assume he'd get away with this, Taako always knows somehow, but also, he'll kill or die for this dog… Well, be sulky about it if Taako says definitely not because obviously two yesses is important, but maybe he can live in the Astral Plane part time again, Taako’s really into this sleeping stuff. Fluffums licks his hand reassuringly.

Kravitz smiles as innocently as he can and stops the recording… Maybe if he edits it down Taako’ll forget that he heard the last bit? He didn’t say anything when Kravitz said to anyway - you couldn’t object to a wedding three months later could you? Probably not. He’d have to look it up before he used that as a defence, but it sounded solid.

“Magnus didn’t do anything. He just showed me Flu…”

“No. We’re changing his name.”

“But what if he…”

“He doesn’t. He’s not attached to it. Taako is not calling anyone Fluffums.”

“Even m…”

“Especially not you… Unless you ask nicely.” Taako breaks his serious face to smirk at Kravitz and goddess damn it all if that doesn’t still make him want to kiss Taako stupid.

He has to concentrate though, he can win this. He just needs a compelling argument.

“Look at his little face.” Kravitz elevates The Dog Formerly Known As Fluffums to eye level with Taako. “See.”

“Yip!” Says No Longer Fluffums in the most charming tone (even if Kravitz does say so himself.)

And, it’s only a split second, the smallest of glimpses, but he sees the softness in Taako’s eyes.

“He needs a home, somewhere safe.” Says Kravitz.

That argument’s how Taako got all the cats here.

“And what about the ca…”

“He loves cats.”

“But couldn’t eat a whole one?” Taako tries to look stern, he almost manages it.

“Taako! He would never.”

“Mr Mittens is going to fight him.”

“Mr Mittens fights everyone.”

“Not me.”

“Well of course not, you’re perfect, Mr Mittens fights everyone else.”

There’s a long pause, then Taako stares intently at The Dog Who Couldn’t Be Fluffums, the dog stares right back, pink tongue poking daintily out of his mouth. Kravitz wants to snap a picture, but he really shouldn’t ruin the moment and he’s already taken so many…

Taako wrinkles his nose. “He’s not sleeping on the bed.”

Kravitz can sleep on the sofa once Taako is asleep and sneak back to bed before he wakes up, that’s completely fine.

Kravitz nods seriously.

“He can’t climb on the furniture.”

Kravitz isn’t furniture. Ergo, if he was sitting on the chair then anything sitting on him wasn’t on the chair. That was just science.

“That seems fair.”

“You need to do all the research on how to look after him.”

Taako says that like he thinks there’s a chance Kravitz hasn’t already done an intense Googling session at Magnus’. Like he didn’t stop at the pet store on the way home. Like he hasn’t already rifted everything they could need and more into his closet.

“Of course I can do that.” He pauses, waits for any other conditions, but none come, Taako must love him. “Does that mean we ca…”

“Yep.” Taako tries to look ambivalent, he fails.

It’s not that Kravitz ever really thought Taako would say no, but it’s nice to have official confirmation.

“What do you think of Fluffernutter?” Taako asks suddenly.

“Conceptually, or?”

“For him.” He nods towards Kravitz’s armfull of dog.

Kravitz considers it for a moment, he’s definitely fluffy and sweet, peanut butter is nice, he’s nice. Kravitz likes fluffernutter, he likes the dog. “Yes. I think that’s right, love.”

Fluffernutter nuzzles happily at the crook of Kravitz’s arm as Kravitz draws Taako into his free arm. “I promise to still love you just as much.” He says, grinning over Taako’s head.

“You’d better. Cha’boy refuses to lose out to anyone.” Taako’s hand strokes idly at Fluffernutter, the dog nuzzles his hand and wiggles towards him.

Kravitz gives it a week before Taako’s the favourite. It’s okay, he’s Kravitz’s favourite too.

-

I hope you enjoyed! Wanna see the next prompt? Find it here.

[thedo0zyslider]

Thunderstorms and Thieves - 6k Words

One stormy night, a Bandit wakes a Sheriff with a knock at his front door, and they don’t talk about what happens after.

A03 Link

"It's two in the morning, Martyn. Why are you at my house?" Jimmy says, giving his least favorite bandit an exasperated look. A loud knocking on his door had woken the Sheriff up early in the morning. Safe to say, he was not pleased to find the knocker to be Martyn, instead of someone else he actually liked. 

"I just stole like, ten pounds of gold from Stratos," The Bandit says, two very heavy looking sacks being held in both his hands. They seemed to be weighing him down quite a fair bit, his shoulder hunched downwards with their weight. The Sheriff has to wonder how he carried that down a floating island and all the way to the mesa. "Mind if I hide out here?”

The rain is also pouring, Jimmy might add. So it makes him look even more pathetic and soaked, like some kinda soppy stray cat left out to die. Almost like Martyn had made it rain himself, because he knew it would tug on the Sheriff's heart strings a little. Maybe that's why he stole from Stratos, to make a thunderstorm happen.

"Stealing from Joel is really funny," Jimmy begins, eyeing Martyn up and down. He's going to make the conversation as long as possible, just so the other blonde can get more cold and miserable. As cruel as that may seem, and how wrong it may feel. "But you're also a wanted criminal in my town. I should arrest you right here and now.”

"The jail is open at two am, innit it?" Martyn mumbled with a sigh, clutching his bag of gold tighter. His hair was plastered to his skull by now, and Jimmy was starting to feel slightly bad. Which meant the criminals' dastardly plan was working, dammit.

"Yes. But I don't want to walk in the pouring rain." Jimmy says, moving out of the doorway where he had been standing. "So I guess you can stay 'till mornin’ time.”

"Oohhh~ getting to sleep with the Sheriff. How lucky am I?" Martyn smirked, leaning forward a bit more. And subsequently had the front door slammed on his face. It was far too early, or perhaps late, for all of that.

Though a minute later, he opened the door again, the Sheriff's empathy having overridden his common sense once more. And seeing Martyn still standing there, even more soaked than before, well that wasn’t helping. Damn the rain and his sense of right and wrong, damn them both.

Jimmy moved out of the doorway again with a heavy sigh, knowing he'd probably regret this come morning time. “C'mon.” He mumbled, and led the bandit into his house. The blonde also mentally prepared himself to have all his valuables stolen when he woke up again, thrown right in the bags with all of Joel’s taken gold. 

Martyn follows behind him after a bewildered second, his movements a little cautious. And as soon as he steps in, there is water drenching Jimmy’s nice wooden floor. He should have been anticipating that really, with how hard it was raining, but he still internally groaned and grumbled over the wet wood and the possible water damage. 

“Let's get you a few towels, yeah?” Jimmy says over his shoulder, already walking into the living area. He hears the click of a door behind him, and a few slow footsteps after it. Like Martyn can't believe he'd got what he asked for. Like the Sheriff would actually leave him out there to get rained on and get sick and whatnot. He wasn't that heartless, now was he. 

“Yeah…” Martyn mumbles out a response, setting his two bags of treasure down with a low thunk . Jimmy ignores the sound, and whatever other noise his guest makes, and heads towards the bathroom. He figures he'll need at least four towels, with how drenched Martyn and with how heavy the rain was falling. So he grabs as many as he can, and heads back out to the living room. 

When he returns, Martyn is standing right by his stolen goods. He hadn't moved an inch, likely not wanting to ruin any of the Sheriff’s furniture. Or the rest of his floor. Jimmy walks over, silently relieved that his couch has stayed dry, and wonders just what he's going to do with this criminal come morning.

“Here.” He says, handing Martyn one of the towels. Before the other can even respond, he's already placing two more on the floor around his feet, hoping it does something for the now soaked wood. It probably won't, and he'll probably have to inspect his floor later, but a man can hope. 

“Thanks.” The Bandit replies, clutching the towel in his hands for a second. He seems awkward, standing in Jimmy’s house late at night. The Sheriff can't blame him, he knows he would be off put if the roles were reversed and he was in Martyn’s house. They are kinda enemies, after all. Kinda being the keyword there. They don't act like a Sheriff and a pesky criminal are supposed to, and both men are very painfully self aware of that fact. 

Neither of them say anything, as the thief starts to dry himself off. They just let the awkward silence and the sounds of rain fill the space as Martyn begins to move. The first thing he does is remove his boots, a gross squelching sound accompanying the motion. Jimmy cringes at it, and hopes there isn't too much water in there. The blonde seems to reserve a towel for just that, soaking up any water in his shoes, before moving onto his wet face coverings. The masks that usually covered his face were just as drenched as the rest of him, and had to be uncomfortably sticking to his face. Distantly, the Sheriff wondered if the other was even comfortable showing his whole face around him, and finds that question will be answered as soon as he asks it. 

Martyn slips his mask off, well, er, his masks . There's one covering his eyes, which is the first to be removed. It's the one he only wears on occasion, when he's not thieving locally. The authorities in the mesa know to look for him, regardless of what he wears on his face. The other mask, the one hiding the bottom half of his face, is the mask that never comes off when he's on the job. And Jimmy can't help but stare when he slips it off, and throws it on one of the wet towels below. 

He's never…..he's never seen Martyn’s full face before. It's quite a pretty face, even when only slivers of it are showing. And the full thing is absolutely gorgeous. His face looked soft and plump to the touch kike the rest of him, his rounded yet sharp features seemingly perfectly molded to fit him. Like the blonde had been sculptured by a God themselves, one that wasn't stuck on floating islands. Jimmy would be lying if he said the wet hair, falling right onto Martyn’s face, wasn't adding to the effect. 

Lord this man was pretty. He was so, so fucking pretty. The Sheriff couldn't stop himself from staring just a bit. 

Martyn noticed him staring after a minute, drying his wet hair best he could with the towel he'd been lended. “What?” He asked quietly, glancing up. They made eye contact, and the Sheriff felt his breath hitch just a little bit. His eyes were very blue, and very nice to get lost in. 

“N-nothing, let’s just…” He mumbled, face burning, forcing his eyes away from the criminals and back to the floor. “Let’s just get you dry, okay?”

Martyn raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on how red the Sheriff’s face must be. “Okay.” He mumbled, running the towel he was holding through his hair once again. 

Jimmy cleared his throat rather awkwardly, then backed away a bit. “I'll…go get you a change of clothes.” He explained, heading back towards the bathroom. His bedroom was right next to it, and he made a mental note to snag an extra towel on his way back. Just in case.

“Okay, thanks again.” Martyn says, muffled as he finally starts to dry his face. Properly this time, more than just slipping the wet and gross fabric off his face.

“Don't mention it.” He calls over his shoulder, and disappears into his room for a few minutes. He digs through his dresser for a lot longer than intended, all his old and now unused clothes a little buried in the drawers. But he does find them. And eventually Jimmy walks back out, another towel in his hands as well as some gray sweatpants that are far too big for him and a faded t-shirt. He thinks it was a cream color at one point, but now it's turned into some weird off white color after years of use. He hadn't worn it since he became Sheriff, now always wearing his work uniform, and was sure Martyn wouldn't mind the band clothes. His other option was soaking wet, after all. 

“You can get changed in the bathroom.” He says, handing the clothes for the bandit; once their face to face again that is. Martyn has left the drenched towels on the floor in the neatest pile he can, while being dried off the best he can. His shirt has been unbuttoned somewhere in the process, and is showing some of his chest. Jimmy tries not to stare, and keeps his gaze pointedly fixed on the other’s face. 

 “Yeah, okay.” Martyn hums out a response, reaching down to pick up the drenched fabric from the floor. He doesn't quite know what to say, and the Sheriff doesn't either. So he lets the other man scurry off in silence, dry clothes and wet towels alike clutched in his arms as he goes ro get changed. Jimmy watches him go for a few moments, before turning back to the rest of the room. There's still some stuff to handle in here as well, even with the perpetrator gone for the next few minutes. 

There's still wet floorboards and bags of gold to take care of, but Jimmy can really only do something about the latter at the moment. So that's what he does, temporarily alone in his living room and the rain still falling outside. He crouches down, and opens the bag of gold. It needed to get sorted sooner or later, and now is a pretty good time to do so. The blonde might even be able to return some of the riches to Joel and curb his anger a bit, if he's lucky.

He tips the bags on their sides gently, ears flicking as the treasures inside them clink with every movement. Martyn might’ve been right with his estimate of ten pounds, both bags required a good bit of effort to push over. Nothing too strenuous, but enough to make him wonder exactly what was in there. And there was only one way to answer that question as well. 

He retrieves a few pieces of treasure from the first bag, inspecting them before setting them to the side. If he's going to sort through this much stolen gold, he's gonna need an organization system. Especially since of the few things he pulled out, half of them are far more valuable than their counterparts. He wonders how the bandit got all this, and where he even went to get it. Stratos wasn't a small empire by any means, and hard riches scattered across all its upper islands. Either the elf knew where the vault was, or he was really good at stealing from multiple buildings in one night. Both of those options seemed very likely, knowing the man's track record and his rather impressive lock picking skills. (Which I'd why Jimmy wouldn't have taken him to the jail anyways, because he'd have to sit in there all night to make sure the prisoner actually stayed in his cell. ) 

“What're you doin'?” Martyn asked, now standing in the doorway once more. He had managed to walk out of the bathroom unnoticed, probably because of all the sneaking around one of his jobs required. Jimmy looked up in surprise at the sound, and nearly dropped the gold he was currently holding. 

Martyn stood there, somehow snug in clothes that shouldn't fit him. He looked…. nice in the Sheriff's stray t-shirt and sleep pants. He looked really nice actually. Enough that Jimmy had to stop himself from staring. Not to say he didn't look good in his normal outfit, no, Martyn looked good in practically anything . Jimmy felt his cheeks starting to turn red again, and had to look back to all the gold scattered across the floor and towels. He could think about why the Bandit looked so good in his clothes later, when he didn't have pounds and pounds upon stolen goods still sitting in his house. 

“I thought I would sort through the gold.” Jimmy explained, separating another small pile of it with his hands. “Try and return some of it, to get Joel off your back a bit.”

“Thanks.” Martyn blinked, sounding surprised at the last bit. Like the Sheriff would never help him with his crimes. And yeah, he was a criminal, but he was one of the few people that hated the Sky God with a passion. And those people gotta look out for each other, in Jimmy’s mind,  to keep each other from getting struck by lightning. Or maybe that was his poor defense for actually liking the bandit. Just a little bit. 

“Lemme help you.” Martyn says after a moment, crouching next to the Sheriff. Close enough that they could touch, if they really wanted too. Jimmy feels their tails brush for a minute, and hesitantly flicks his own away. The bandit says nothing, just opens the second bag of gold and gets to work. He seems to have already understood the Sheriff’s organization method, quickly tossing the items into their correct piles. Jimmy blinks, a little impressed, and decides to get back to work. They can't get this over with quickly if he just stares all day, like some kind of idiot. And the staring would probably make Martyn uncomfortable, which he doesn't want, if he wants the other to stay in his house. Not that he wants Martyn to stay over, no, never that. He would just…..feel bad if he kicked him back out into the worsening storm. Yeah, yeah, that's all. 

The two of them sorted through the stolen goods in near silence for several minutes, the sound of the storm outside becoming a nice ambience. The rain beat down in the windows, seeming to pick up in its intensity. Jimmy has to wonder if Joel has already discovered the crime, or if he's still asleep. If he has, then the storm is truly getting worse. If he hasn't, then it will worsen before dawn and maybe continue its anger into the next day.

The God of the Sky wasn't very pleasant when crossed, and the Sheriff had plenty of first hand experience and needless damage to his town to back that up. 

The gold was sorted into three piles. The first was for plain ole golden coins, ones used for paying people with. The second was for actual treasures, the things embedded with diamonds and other gemstones. There was a fair amount of jewelry in here, jewelry the Sheriff is sure Joel never wore, so he wondered just what exactly the God was doing with all of this, other than just letting it sit around and collect dust probably. 

The third pile was a miscellaneous pile. Anything that didn't quite fit into the previous piles went there. Any damaged coins or trinkets, ones that weren't worth much anymore, were the main contents of the pile. Plus any item they were unsure about. This pile was definitely going back to Joel, and he didn't even need to ask Martyn to know that. It would probably be the only pile left unstolen from as well, unless the thief sees something shiny or cool looking in the scarps that he wants. 

There's quite a few things in here Jimmy himself will be keeping, at least until Joel comes storming by. Items Martyn probably didn’t mean to steal, based on their appearance. And he finds one in the first bag, buried under more coins than the Sheriff’s ever seen in his life. For a brief second before he finds the item, he truly considers pocketing some gold all for himself. He thinks about taking a couple hundred and then blaming it on Martyn, because he knows the God would probably believe him, his hatred for theft stronger than his distaste for the Sheriff. But the thought causes guilt to shoot through him, even if he is stealing from Joel , one of the richest men in the world, and he has to put all the treasure back in its correct pile. Before he does something he truly regrets, since letting a known criminal into his home apparently isn't one of those things anymore. 

“This isn't Joel’s” Jimmy says into the silence, after picking up a small pedant; the item that's buried under all those coins he kinda wanted to steal. It was made of gold, like the rest of the treasures were, but in the middle was a small H. And there was only one person on those islands to whom this thing could belong too. 

“Oh,” Martyn says, catching sight of the small necklace in Jimmy’s hand. Guilt flashes across the bandit’s face when he sees the small H in the pendent, and he frowns. Martyn won't steal from children, a fact the Sheriff mentally notes down for no particular reason at all. “I didn't mean to steal from Hermes.”

“Figured.” Jimmy says, separating the pendant from the other three piles. That's the fourth pile now, in case something else of Hermes’ had ended up in those two bags. Which is a real possibility, because he knows half of this stuff is from at least three different floating islands. “I'll keep it, and give it back to Joel when he comes by.” 

Martyn goes back sorting with a question, his tail now comfortably resting closer to his side. “How do you know he'll come by?”

“Because he knows you live here, and will accuse me of stealing. Or sending you to steal it.” Jimmy says, already imagining the things he'll be called come morning, right as the stolen goods pass through his fingers. Heh, if Joel knew about this, they'd both get stuck to hell and back by lightning. Probably. Especially if he found out about Hermes’ pendant. 

“Fair point.” Martyn huffs, having sorted about one third of his bag by now. Jimmy is momentarily surprised at his speed, and then remembered the life he lives and how many bags of treasures he's probably had to sort through while on the run. “I thought you didn't like his kid, though.”

“I'm not gonna steal from a little kid.” The Sheriff flicks his ear, annoyed for a very brief second. He thinks Hermes is an annoying little brat, but he won't steal from her. He's like, not even ten. And if Sausage gave him that pendant, then that's another emperor he would have pissed off in taking it. And both Joel and Sausage are already scary enough on their own, nevermind combined. “I'm not that mean.” 

He changes the conversation topic with a huff, giving Martyn an inquiring look. “Why'd you steal from Joel anyways?” He wants to know why the puny, bandit mortal is picking fights with the local God, other than shits and giggles. 

“Because he's an asshole. No one deserves that much gold, especially not assholes.” Martyn mutters grimly, sounding like he has personal experience with some rich assholes. Jimmy makes a mental note of that, and files it away for later. “I don't like how he vandalizes the town either.”

“You know those are all targeted at me, right?” Jimmy asks, raising an eyebrow. He sorts through another handful of golds, pushing it to the side and keeping it far away from Hermes’ stuff. 

“Yeah. And?” Martyn raises his own eyebrow in turn, sorting more gold into the second pile without even looking. 

“...Nothin’.” Jimmy mutters, feeling the way his breath hitches a little. He decides they're done talking for now, actually, lest he get even more flustered than he already is. This gold won't sort itself after all, and talking just slows them down. He ignores how Martyn is near halfway through his bag when he thinks that, and he's just got to the one third mark with his. Yep, talking sure slows them down. Yep…

They keep sorting in silence, listening to nothing but the falling rain and the clinking of sorting coins. The Bandit begins to hum a steady tune to himself, and Jimmy could not help but work to the beat. It certainly made everything go a lot quicker, so much so that he didn't even notice the other man had finished sorting through his bag. The elf there for a minute, looking at the piles of his loot, before he makes up his mind and turns his attention to the Sheriff.

“Lemme help, it'll go quicker.” Martyn mumbled, scooting over. Scooting a lot closer . Like enough that the two men were near flushed against each other. And Jimmy was being very normal about a pretty man sitting mere centimeters away from him. He's very, very normal about it, thank you very much. Totally not red in the face or anything….

“...Okay.” He said, ear flicking a few times. Martyn just gave a nod, grabbed some gold, and started sorting. Jimmy tried to do the same, but found the task had suddenly gotten a lot harder, all thanks to the elf presence. How close they were….closer than they'd ever been. For a fleeting second, the Sheriff dumbly wonders why he was feeling all this stuff and getting so flustered, over Martyn of all people. Then he remembers how the other is dressed at the moment, and suddenly understands all over again, another trinket being sorted into the pile as he does. 

Their hands kept brushing as they worked, and Jimmy tried his damn best to ignore it. It was pretty hard after all, since they were sitting side by side and working together. But Martyn never said anything, only occasionally hummed to himself as he sorted through who knows how many pieces of gold. Jimmy tried to help best he could, even in his flustered state. He wasn’t able to do much, with his current state of mind and also how fast Martyn was with this whole sorting thing. It feels like the blonde did most of the work actually, for both of them, which bothered the Sheriff just a little. He didn't really like being unhelpful, or deadweight, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it. Plus he was far too tired too, considering it was probably nearing three in the morning now. Maybe even four, with how long they'd be at this and how much golf they'd had to sort. 

It seems, as they finish going through the bags, that Joel has finally become aware of what's happened. It took him a good few hours, but still. Outside, the rain gets even heavier, and it sounds like hail pounding against the window. The God has to be right pissed then, to make the storm that much worse. Suddenly, thunder sounds off in the distance, making the Sheriff jump a little. Martyn’s reaction to the noise, however, is a lot more intense. 

The Bandit jumps, dropping the last pieces of gold he's holding and scattering them all across the floor. His tail curls in, and his pointed ears flatten back in what has to be fear. The Sheriff gives him a surprised blink, and scoots a little closer before he even realizes what he's doing. 

"Are....are you okay?" Jimmy asks, hesitantly reaching out. He didn’t touch Martyn, but lingered a few inches away, in case doing so would scare him even more. The blonde wasn't sure if that was a normal reaction to random lightning, or something more serious. Though he felt like it was the latter. 

"Yeah I just..." Martyn mutters shakily, clearly trying to steady his breaths. "I just don't like thunderstorms…” He runs a hand through his probably damp hair, like the action is grounding or comforting to him. Jimmy scoots even closer, resting his hand a mere inches away from Martyn’s other one, the one still resting by the lingering pieces of gold. 

"Oh, okay.” Jimmy mumbles. The bandit seems surprised by his easy acceptance, like he expected to be called dumb or childish for his fear. It’s the surprised glance he gives Jimmy that really gives it away, and Jimmy decides he won’t have that. Still being scared of storms is very valid to him, especially when you're regularly upsetting the God of the Sky.

“I'm still freaked out by dogs.” He offers, hoping it provides some kind of comfort. Martyn blinks at him a few times, puzzled, as he begins to shuffle the gold he’s taking (which is most of it) into the bags. Only the things for Hermes’ remain untouched, and a few hundred to a thousand, give or take. Jimmy had still pocketed none for himself.

“Why?” The bandit asks after a quiet moment, seeming to realize what the other is trying to do. It took him a good few minutes, but he got there eventually.

Jimmy shrugs, watching as the two bags become full of Stratos’ gold one more. He wonders how much money is truly in those bags, and if Martyn had really hit the jackpot like he appeared to have. “Dunno, just never liked ‘em. Especially the big ones.” 

“And now you have cats.” Martyn noted, halfway done with his work already. The Sheriff half wonders if they’ve  lost a few pieces of gold to the floorboards, or if any were lost to the rain. He sleepily wonders if there’s a trail of gold leading Joel right to his doorstep.

“Yep. They're probably hiding from the rain.” He mumbles, a small giggle escaping him. His two cats, Norman and Flick, were very silly little things. They also hated rain, like Martyn, and would probably emerge from their hiding place as soon as the storm was over, begging to be fed and played with.

“Neither of them are scared of me?” The bandit says, curious. It makes sense why he’d think the cats were scared of him, since they hadn’t seen hide nor hair of either of them since the blonde had arrived. Thinking about it, the Sheriff had barely seen them since before he originally went to sleep, as they were being skittish that day. Maybe they'd sensed the upcoming storm…

“Nah, they're pretty friendly to people. Not dogs though.” Jimmy says, remembering how friendly his boys were. It wasn’t unusual to see them hanging around town, or his office, getting all the pets and attention from anyone they could while the Sheriff was hard at work. The spoiled little things they were…but they were his number two and three deputies for a good reason. And it wasn’t just the fact that they were cute, Jimmy sowre that up and down whenever anyone asked, and he wasn't going to stop insisting that now.

Martyn giggled at that, but is promptly interrupted by another loud clap of thunder. The elf jumped once again, tail flicking wildly behind him, and it sounded like he cut himself off from screaming. Jimmy’s eyes widened, and he moved even closer to the other out of concern. Thankfully, all the gold was now done being sorted, so none had gone flying when Martyn jumped this time. Thankfully, the Sheriff thought as the elf pressed against this side, their work was done and they could finally rest. Maybe spare Martyn some feat and sleep through the rest of this storm. 

“You can sleep on the couch, if you'd like?” He offers after a few minutes of sitting, the two men pressed together, now that the gold is all put away and the bandit’s nerves are starting to calm a bit. It’s late, raining, and would probably benefit both of them if they went to sleep now.

“Y-Yeah, that would be-” Martyn stammers, and is cut off by a loud strike of lighting this time. And after seeing how he reacted for a third time, after seeing the way he jumps and his whole body goes rigid with fear, the Sheriff knows he just can’t let him sleep on the couch like he originally suggested. He can’t leave this poor man to face his fear alone, especially with the extra knowledge that a pissed off God (who also hates the both of them, no less,) is causing it.

“Nevermind.” Jimmy sighs, grabbing the Bandit’s hand. Martyn startles at the touch, but lets it happen. He leans into it, actually, if Jimmy isn't imagining things. “I can't just leave you alone.” He manages to pull them both up from the floor, and ignores the way the elves face turns a bit red at his strength. That's one of the million other things from tonight he'll have to think about later, it seems. 

“Thanks..” The blonde mumbles, letting himself be pulled towards the bedroom without much complaint. Which was a little unsettling actually, because this was the type of thing he'd make some inappropriate joke about. Maybe reprise his earlier remark about sleeping with the Sheriff and how lucky he is. But Martyn says nothing, and is perfectly content to stay silent as they enter the bedroom.  

It's a bit awkward at first, when both of them sit on the bed. But the storm makes another noise, lighting or thunder Jimmy couldn't tell, and the bandit jumps once more. Next thing both of them know, Martyn’s pressed himself up against the Sheriff in his temporary panic, looking for anything that was warm and comforting. Apparently, Jimmy was the latter thing to him. Another thing he could think about later, after the night was long over. 

Jimmy makes a comforting humming sound, because if Martyn thinks he's comforting he's going to be so, dammit. The Bandit is curled into his side, kinda like a cat, ears flattened from the loud sounds of the storm outside. Without either of them noticing, his tail ends up tied with Jimmy’s, and the Sheriff doesn't care when he does notice. It's actually kinda….nice, being this close to Martyn, regardless if the others fear. He wonders if the blonde thinks this is nice, and if it would nicer on any other night. A normal one, without stolen gold and a raging storm, a night just for them to spend together alone. 

“Any reason why you're scared of thunderstorms, or….?” He mumbles, resting his cheek against the other’s head. He's tried and ready to go back to sleep, so the bandit will have to be a good pillow for the next little while. He does have work in the morning, after all, like he has every day….

“I just….always have been since I was little.” Martyn hums. He sounds throughly rattled, and tries to get closer to the Sheriff with every loud noise. Noises that are probably louder for both of them, due to being hybrids and having better hearing and all that stuff. Jimmy knows the thunder and lighting hurts his ears a bit, and can't even imagine how loud it might be for poor Martyn. 

“Mm, okay.” He mumbles in response, eyelids starting to droop as he once again remembers his own childhood fear of dogs that'd stuck around. Yeah, Jimmy could feel his brain shutting down, and the rest of his body begging for the sleep it probably really, really needed. Which was the Sheriff’s sign to start slowly laying the both of them down, Martyn still snugg aganist him as his own head hit the pillow. “Try to sleep?”

“Yeah, I'll try.” The bandit mumbles, and stays tense for the next few minutes. And Jimmy know he won't be able to sleep if Martyn can't, and just lays there upset on his arms. So, after a little hesitantion he starts running his fingers through slightly damp hair, an action that he hopes will calm both of them down, and lull the two gently into sleep. Normally, the Sheriff doesn't think he'd be doing any of this, but it's like, three am and he'd gone to bed late. He's functioning on an interrupted four hours of sleep, and doesn’t have the brain capacity to think why being so affectionate with Tumble Town’s most troublesome bandit might be a bad idea, actually. That , like a lot of other things, sounds like a thought and a problem for morning Jimmy. 

Thankfully, maybe due to the touch, Martyn relaxes despite the roaring storm outside. His breathing slowly but surely evens out, and before Jimmy knows it, the blonde is fast asleep beside him. Sleepily, a smile forces its way onto Jimmy’s face, and within the next minute or so, he’s fallen asleep as well; fully comfortable in the presence of a criminal. (He doesn’t mind it, he finds as he drifts off, even though he should. Something about this one is very, very different, he thinks. In a good way, a way he wants to cherish and keep close, despite everything. Despite all the stolen gold in his living room….)

__________________________________

In the morning, the Sheriff wakes up to the two of them tangled together. Sometime when they were sleeping, Martyn had ended up laying his head on the cow’s chest. He’s sound asleep, and snoring gently on top of it. Jimmy holds back a noise of amusement at that, and spares a glance at the window. The storm has calmed since they went to bed, and it seems to be past sunrise already. He doesn’t feel very well rested, not after his early morning interruption, but he’s awake and has stuff to do today. Feeling well rested is a luxury for a certain type of people, and Jimmy has never been one of them.

He starts to sit up slowly, feeling a little guilty for dislodging the person on top of him. Martyn barely even wakes up at the movement, most likely tried out of his mind from the previous night. He just snuggles closer to Jimmy, clinging onto him like a damn koala clings onto a tree, and buries his face back in the Sheriff’s chest. The Sheriff just makes another amused sound, and shifts again, hoping it would wake the bandit up this time.

Thankfully, that is finally what rouses Martyn from his slumber, though he doesn’t stop holding onto the Sheriff like a lifeline. He murmurs something into Jimmy’s shirt, something all bleary and unintelligible, and a surge of fondness goes through the Sheriff’s chest at the sound. Maybe he does actually like Martyn, just a little bit.

“Good mornin’” Jimmy mumbles quietly, pressing a quick kiss against his bandit's forehead. He feels his cheeks burn a little, and kinda wants to do it again.

Martyn doesn't notice the affection, too focused on snuggling even closer to the Sheriff. If that was possible. And he was probably too out of it as well, considering he woke up only a few seconds ago. “Morning….” He mumbles back sleepily, reaching up and pressing his face into the crook of Jimmy’s neck. 

The blonde lets out a huff of fondness despite himself, and absentmindedly runs a hand though the others hair. “You gotta get up, I have work to do.” He mumbles into Martyn’s hair, already starting to shift the other off him. 

Martyn makes a mumble of protest, putting a bit of a whine into his voice. The Sheriff had no idea he was this clingy before today, and was already thinking of how he could weigh this over the bandit in the future. In case he tried any of his more extreme shenanigans around the town. “But I'm tireddd.” 

“C'mon, you know Joel's gonna be here by noon. And I can't get caught with a criminal in my bed.” Jimmy reasons, now properly sitting up. Martyn slides off him with a grumble, but doesn’t protest. He seems content to just lay in the sheets for a few minutes longer, still blinking the sleep away from his eyes.

“As far as that God and the people are concerned, I'm the bartender right now.” Martyn mumbles, his blue eyes meeting the Sheriff’s own for the first time that morning. There’s a small smile on his face, and the cow hybrid can’t help the warmth he feels upon seeing it. 

“There's bags of gold in my living room.” He points out, gently poking the bandit on the forehead. Martyn scrunches up his nose in response, and makes yet another attempt to snuggle closer to him. Jimmy resists the urge to roll his eyes, and makes another point he’s pretty sure will work. “Fwhip's coming over at nine.”

“ Fine.” Martyn huffs, sitting up instantly. His own distaste for the deputy was enough to get him up, just as Jimmy suspected it would be. He wasn’t sure why the elf disliked Fwhip so much, but it was working in his favor right about now. The blonde is moving off the bed before even Jimmy is, his feet hitting the floor with a dull thud. The Sheriff watches him, curious, as Martyn prepares to leave for the day.

“I’ll get the gold and be gone in a few minutes.” Martyn says, doing some quick stretches. Likely in preparation for all the distance he'll have to cover with those bags in toe, even if Jimmy’s sure it's not a hard task for a bandit of his caliber. “Cover for me? When Joel comes by?” He fixes Jimmy with a look when he's done speaking, one the Sheriff knows he couldn't say no to, not in a million years; even if he was already going to agree in the first place. He kinda wants to get lost in it, if the blonde's being honest. 

“Of course.” Jimmy nods, stretching a little himself. “You can keep the clothes by the way, I don’t wear them anymore.” He adds, once again finding himself flustered by the bandits outfit. He shoves the thoughts down as quickly as they come, and tries to focus on going along with his morning. 

“Oh, thanks.” Martyn murmurs, sounding surprised. He slowly begins to shuffle towards the door, looking like he doesn't know what to say after last night and the last few minutes; now that their not as sleep deprived and bavk in their right minds. Which is understandable, there's a lot of things Jimmy wants to say as well, but doesn't know how. He really wishes he had the words for it though, because he felt important. He wonders if Martyn does too. “Well…..see you later.”

“Yeah….see you later.” Jimmy says, watching the other leave. He can't help but stare as the elf retreats, and the bedroom door shuts behind him. The sounds of moving fills the quiet house, the cats having yet to emerge from their hiding places. Or they hadn’t decided to be vocal yet, one of the two. More than likely, one of them (probably Flick) was intently staring at Martyn from some hiding spot and watching him leave, like the little weirdo he was. 

There's the sound of the bandit shuffling around in the bathroom, probably retrieving his other clothes. Other clothes, because Jimmy’s old ones were now his. Judging by the sounds, he then moved into the living room, and started to carry his two bags of stolen gold out. The Sheriff had to wonder if Joel would even miss all that gold, or if he was just gonna make a fuss about it just to fuss. And throw insults at his two least favorite people, but that's a question for later in the day. Right now it is morning, and everything feels oddly still and somber as Martyn leaves his home. It's also far too quiet, but Jimmy makes no effort to change that. He doesn't know what sound would be appropriate to fill the silence. And so no one else, human or cat, made a sound as the house's temporary visitor departed. 

Jimmy hears the front door click shut as he stands, and almost wishes he'd kissed the (his) bandit goodbye. 

[sweetperversiongirl]

Ian Gallagher has the gait of a large and formidable predator. He's always been like that. Even at 15, he looked like a skinny teenage Bengal tiger.

Mickey remembers every movement, every curve of that muscular and strong body, every freckle on his milky skin. He remembers the sun reflecting in that fiery red hair, making it look like unstoppable raging flames.

Once upon a time, he allowed himself to fly too high. Like the brave but reckless Icarus.

He didn't just burn his wings. Mickey lost his head and burned to the ground, leaving behind only a pathetic handful of ashes. For a moment he thought that was all, but he quickly realized how cruelly mistaken he had been. Even separated from Ian by hundreds of miles, he continues to burn, but he still doesn't regret one minute, one fleeting moment spent near this man.

Mickey sits on the tiled floor of the Guanajuato cat shelter and thinks about what his life has become. Where once Mickey simply survived to continue his miserable existence, now his priorities have drastically changed. Now there's more to his personal world than just him. Somewhere far away, in the Windy City, lives the one and only person for whom Mickey is willing to do anything. That doesn't mean he'll throw himself in front of bullets for Ian. More accurately, of course, he wouldn't hesitate to do so if it were a matter of protecting, of saving. But Mickey knows it's easy to die for another man. It's much harder to go on living away from half his heart for the sake of making that person happy.

A local old-timer, a ginger tom cat named Rusty, sits across from Mickey and scrutinizes him with intelligent green eyes. Rusty has lived here for a long, long time, probably most of his life, and so far no one has wanted to take him in. The shelter's owner, Maria, didn't have the courage to get rid of an animal whose gaze literally penetrates deep into the soul of everyone Rusty bestows his precious attention on. In fact, there have been very few such people over the years, and somehow Mickey has been lucky enough to be among them.

He has no idea how he earned the favor of this willful beast. Hell, Mickey doesn't even know why he came to this rescue shelter in the first place, months ago. Since then, however, he and Rusty have become real friends. Of course, as much as that's even possible with cats. Mickey doesn't quite understand why he's become so attached to this snooty bastard. Maybe it's the fiery red hair, or the green eyes, or the fact that Mickey needs a friend, and he's getting pretty bored with human companionship.

And no, Rusty doesn't make Mickey think about Gallagher more often. Simply because you can't think about anyone more than every second of your existence.

Rusty is as independent and arrogant as any member of the feline family. Unlike Ian, he is not looking for someone to be important to him. He doesn't try to be important to anyone. He is completely self-sufficient, unless, of course, he takes into account senile arthritis and progressive deafness. Mickey teases him affectionately, calling the cat Firecrotch.

Now he has to part with his furred friend forever, and it makes Mickey's stomach twist painfully. But now someone else needs him. Someone who once left a gaping hole in his chest that no one, not even Rusty, can ever fill.

Lowering his gaze, Mickey looks down at the cat and reaches out one last time to touch his fingers to the soft, age-tarnished red hair.

"I hope you'll forgive me, buddy."

Rusty's emerald eyes radiate what Mickey would call understanding and appreciation. He could, if he really believed that animals were capable of something like that. Perhaps Mickey has just never encountered true blind devotion before. The realization of this fact makes parting with Rusty even more painful, but Mickey will make sure his friend lives his life in comfort and convenience. The considerable sum he intends to leave to Maria will clearly help him in this. He trusts this woman. At least as far as her wards are concerned.

Mickey holds out an envelope full of cash to the landlady.

"Take care of him. Please."

Closing the door behind him, Mickey finds himself in a narrow alleyway, red-hot from the midday Mexican sun. He looks up at the pale blue sky, squinting against the bright light. No, he doesn't feel like Icarus. More like a phoenix ready to rise from the ashes.

It's time for him to run. He's been doing it for as long as he can remember. Mickey is always running from someone: from Terry, from Svetlana and the baby, from the one true love of his life, Ian. And now he's running from the cartel.

He has no idea how this epic marathon will end for him, but he's very tired.

But this time, a glimmer of illusory hope flickers in his wounded and broken heart. Hope that this escape will be the beginning of something really important.

[thosenaturalones]

from a journal found on a fallen Shanian archer

Most of the 'glorious Shanian army' are serfs and were never trained to fight. They gave clubs to those who didn't bring a staff to fight with. (I am a lordson, but as the youngest, I was pressed into service, but I brought a bow and a sword. The sword I gave to someone else of good character, but whose staff was already cracked.) Those who survive battle are encouraged to pick up weapons and armor of the fallen. I am very grateful for the weapons training I received as a child; as a bowman, I am allowed to keep distance from the enemy. I have survived three assaults on the Green Wall. Only two other men are still alive from the group I came in with, Aaron and Tisdale, both slingers. Many of the men here are criminals, and serve here as punishment. Imagine that, my fate the same as a common criminal.

The northern front along the Green Wall is terrifying. First of all, there's the Tortles. These gigantic creatures possess speech and intelligence, yet possess the claws of beasts, AND are ferociously strong AND are essentially covered in half-plate armor. Second, the Lizardmen, aren't much better. Their scales can deflect arrows and blades, and their mouths are maws of razor-sharp teeth. They're monsters, too. I've witnessed Lizardmen *eat* men alive. Some can even spit acid. Third, there's the Frogs. They cover their weapons and arrows in a poison that makes your heart stumble and often stop entirely. Lastly, the Marsh elves are very different than our own. They're not dark skinned, but are instead pale with brown hair, and they can just vanish. I've seen Marsh Elves disappear in the rain, as if melting into the air itself. And some of them can grow their fingers into talons that melt your flesh and leave terrible scars. Our commander has one such a scar across his face.

I've heard rumors of cat people, but I've never seen one.

I'm going to die out here, I just know it. I wonder if my soul will be destroyed if one of the necromancers turns my corpse into a zombie. I try not to think about it.

Sometimes I think the Monsters have built the forward towers just for us to have something to do. The towers have archers and wizards atop them, shooting at us through killing holes. And by the time we capture one, everyone inside has disappeared.

They're wooden, but we never use fire on them. Maybe because fire spooks our flesh golems. I hate the golems. They look like giant people but their eyes are dead. Not-People. The clay golems that watch over our camp aren't so bad; they just look like statues. But the flesh golems are clearly made of dead men. Our own men. The golem wranglers handle them and repair them with lightning. They're tremendous on the battle field, I admit. I've seen them actually kill Tortles and Lizardfolk, literally tear their arms off, but still... they send shivers down my spine. Geoffrey, who's been here for much longer than me, said he saw one go berserk once. It started killing everyone close to it.  So that's the rub, you're more likely to survive by staying close to the killing machine--so long as it doesn't freak out and can no longer tell friend from foe.

This is pointless. We almost never even get to the Green Wall, and it's never been breached. Even if and when our catapults damage a section of it, its mostly repaired by the time our men can get there. The earth erupts in front of us as they charge, causing the men to stumble and fall. You have to run through the mud, because any patch of grass near the wall can come alive and hold you in place for their javelin throwers or archers to pick you off. When the fog appears, you run. Marsh Elves are invisible in the fog and can gut you like a fish in an instant. And the Frogs hide in the fog, too, with their poisonous arrows.

I swear the monsters must have trap doors and underground passage-ways like they use in the theatre. I need to talk to the Commander. Maybe he'll listen to a Lordson.

[cyanide-latte]

5 & 23 for copper ren and chrys :)

OOOOHHHHH THESE ARE GOOD ONES

5: How far is your OC willing to go to get what they want?

For Copper and Ren, I'd say in both their cases it really depends on what it is. Copper can be tenacious as hell and he's willing to go pretty far to get what he wants, but he's also got a code of honor and morals he's developed that he tries really hard to stick to. Which is probably going to deteriorate over time in his adult years as he starts to realize that maybe those things are holding him back from his goals, leading to him becoming more morally gray. But he is very determined to get what he wants by the sake of his own efforts and merits. Ren is slightly different; it does really depend on what it is he wants and how badly he wants it and whether or not he trusts anyone else to accomplish it. But if he wants that something bad enough, he's pretty cavalier about outright destruction, threats, and making other people's lives hell to meet his goal. He dislikes lying or manipulation, but if he feels he has no other choice, he'll resort to it. He's also quite willing to die for some things and he's absolutely considered killing for yet others (though he's not sure he's ready to cross the line of that extreme yet.)

Chrysanthos is usually more relaxed and not willing to sweat the small stuff. Isn't worth stressing over. But if it's something he really wants or feels needs to happen, Chrys throws his all into getting it. Typically that's ensuring the safety of those he cares about, and you'd better believe he's going to stop at nothing to protect what he loves. Second-guessing goes out the window and, also, people do crazy things when they're in love.

23: What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

Copper- For a long time, expressing any emotions is difficult. Growing up in the situation he did, it was rarely safe for him to express his feelings, so he didn't. Adjusting to being able to do that is quite a journey. Grief is probably the thing he has the most difficulty processing, because I think it might be the one he understands or recognizes the least. Not that he doesn't experience it, but recognizing it for what it is, how it impacts him and what he then needs to do with it doesn't come easy.

Ren- I've been struggling with Ren on this particular aspect of him since creation, and I do think the emotion he has the most difficulty processing is romantic love. A big part of this is probably tied to the fact he's on the aro/ace spectrum in the weirdest way possible: he's demiromantic and graysexual. He's also polyamorous in that he's open to potentially dating multiple people because he thinks that it might help him to figure out more about himself and that different partners may help him to grow in different ways as a person. But the fact remains that he's still demi/gray, and he's genuinely worried that he might be aromantic (I promise you he isn't) and fooling himself and that he may never actually know how it feels to have romantic feelings for someone. I think the emotion he has the most difficulty expressing is fear. He struggles to express it in a way that he feels is taken seriously by most other people, who are probably used to him seeming to not be afraid of anything.

Chrys- ...this jackass is just knife cat meme smiling at me like "lol take your best shot, honey" and being an absolute pain. Going to have to go wrestle him into compliance like he's a gator and I'm Steve Irwin.

Thank you for the ask!

Taglist: @tixdixl @ramshacklerumble @inmateofthemind @simons-twsted-children @blithesharem @elenauaurs @rainesol @distant-velleity @thehollowwriter @theleechyskrunkly (let me know if you want to be added to the taglist for my TWST OCs!)

[salvatoraes-moved]

character info sheet.

name.

stefan antonio salvatore.

name meaning.

stefan: crown. ( german ) antonio: priceless, flower. ( spanish or italian ) salvatore: savior. ( italian )

alias( ses ).

stef, hero hair, the ripper of monterey, the good brother.

one picture you like of your character.

couldn't decide between these two because they're my favorites ugh.

two headcanons you never told anyone.

one : after his mom died, stefan found a stray cat who would often sit on the salvatore estate porch that he'd fed, pet & keep company often. he never brought it inside because he knew giuseppe wouldn't approve. the cat was black & white & had a little pink nose. he named him snowball & had him up until he met katherine. two : when stefan moved to the united states after klaus ( @klaeus ) left in 1512, he decided to move to a more secluded town on the east coast, away from more people. at this point, he was trying to wean himself off of human blood but was still struggling. so, he decided to stay in a small cabin in a forest where he could easily find deer. whenever he did go into town, he wasn't there for long, only there to pick up other things he needed, including actual groceries so he could cook. a side headcanon for this one : he had an extremely thick italian accent. by this point, he was fluent in english but being new to the united states, his accent was thick for many years.

three things your character likes to do in their free time.

one : his favorite thing to do when he's got free time is read or journal ! two : cook, literally will cook you anything you want & he's good at it. three : he likes to work out, it helps the blood cravings.

two people your character loves.

damon : his brother unfortunately comes first to him always. no matter what damon does, who he hurts ( even if it's stefan ) he will always forgive him & always save him. he always comes back, even if they're not on speaking terms. stefan would literally die for his brother & he'd absolutely drop everything for him if he asked or needed it. damon is his big brother, the only family he has left & even though he's caused more pain than happiness in his life, he'd still put him above anyone.

elena : we all know how stefan feels about elena. she is one of the people he loves most in the world. besides damon, she's on the top of his list. his love for her runs so deep, he'd do anything to protect her. even when they aren't together, she's someone else he'd drop everything for & go to. he's loved a lot of people over the five hundred years he's been around but there's nobody he'll love as deeply as he loves elena. she is his soulmate, his other half & his heart. klaus & valerie are close seconds ( tied, in my opinion ) but it's still elena over anyone.

two things your character regrets.

one : tearing through villages upon villages, even ones with children when he first became a vampire. he has heavy guilt about that & has ever since he stopped drinking human blood. & he probably always will. sometimes he still has flashbacks or nightmares about what he did back when he was a newbie vampire.

two: not spending more time with lexi. while needing a savior & rock while he was weaning himself off human blood, he spent years upon years with her. but in vampire terms, it's never enough. once he got on track for the final time ( until the end of season one ) & stopped seeing her as often, he missed her. he knew she couldn't come around to him too often because she didn't have a daylight ring but he wished he would've visited her more often or at least called her more often. & then when she died, it was one of the worst & most painful moments of his life. she was his best friend & he hated that it got to the point where she only visited him on his birthday every year when he knew he probably could've went to her.

one phobia your character has.

deep water : after he spent three months drowning in the quarry over & over due to silas throwing him in it, he developed a fear of deep / open water. while he can't stay dead or actually die from drowning, it's still something that gives him major anxiety & ptsd. stefan immediately starts to feel a panic whenever he thinks about it. sometimes he spaces out & thinks he's back in the safe, he thinks there's water creeping up in his chest, no matter how much time has past. he also has frequent nightmares about what happened to him in the safe.

stolen from : @snnydcys <3 tagging : if you see this, you're tagged !

[mejomonster]

Silent Reading, chapter 41. I didn't mention it but the Tao Ran house party chapters beforehand had soooo much luo/fei stuff including Luo Wenzhou recognizing "hey I think fei du is a grown man now and I think I do have a crush objectively just because it's Fei Du I feel awkward about it hmm I'll examine that later." So again Luo Wenzhous more mature in recognizing his feelings developing. Still didn't choose to act but its still a big development. Especially him shifting to see Fei Du as an equal, as a person who if a stranger isn't a murdering violent bitch Or a poor child who needs his protection, but an attractive charming sometimes rude individual who has his dark moments or withdrawn ones but is also quite handy and smart and pleasant at times. It's that internal decision to stop letting his old biases color how he sees Fei Du, and start seeing him as an equal. Which certainly in part drives his more reliable work afterwards of generally trying not to insult or purposely pick as many fights - you scold a child, but not an adult stranger you just accept them or stop talking to them. You can tell them they hurt you and they either fix it or don't, but unlike a child who you might tolerate messing up frequently an adult you eventually stop fighting them if it's forever. And since that realization Luo Wenzhous shifted to some teasing and ribbing back when Fei Du starts it (and still a bit of "I'm your dad I'm disappointed in your slutty rich boy ways" lol) but he's definitely toned down the picking fights and is now approaching things more positively/cooperatively with overtly warm intent (so more like he treats Tao Ran).

Second? Oh my fucking God I had a breakdown reading this scene Fei Du (as he's now doing) made a sexual innuendo that it's sad Luo Wenzhou sleeps alone, so Luo Wenzhou TOOK THE BAIT and said then why don't you blow ME. IM CRYING

Fei Du!!!! This is why the flirting you did was pandoras box! It was only gonna be a matter of time before your twos penchant to "give back as good as you get" combined with "use sexual innuendos to sexually frustrate him" resulted in Luo Wenzhou getting too into the rhythm and giving back ToT

WOW. And then they both sat there in awkward horrific nonresponse cause like. What the fuck else were they gonna do??? Only way from there is fei du to COMMIT to the path and say he'll keep Luo Wenzhou company that night and go "comfort" him and Fei Du did NOT expect his sex come on to be accepted with a suggestive matching response lmao

So they immediately go to "pay your respects to dad (me)" no doubt hoping if they lean into the ur my surrogate dad the sexual tension SURELY HAS TO DIE RIGHT. Great job guys. Excellent. Yall are doing Phenomenal

Also Fei Du you're literally conditioning yourself to a very specific kink I hope yr that self aware at least. You're gonna have Luo Wenzhou tied to the bed in a year saying "does daddy want another" in between bites and you're both gonna WISH such a statement turned yall off but unfortunately now it's ingrained cayse you fuckers kept calling each other that right in between flirts for MONTHS. GUYS!!! YOURE SO DUMB SOMETIMES

I love them. I think they're great. Fei Du is absolutely streamlining right into this relationship and Luo Wenzhou is literally doing Nothing except chilling. He got a crush? Sure. And he was keeping it TO HIMSELF. Then you had to keep making the sexual come ons fei du, like fucking hell man at Some Point Luo Wenzhou was gonna be like "Well he said he wanted it and I wanted it anyway and if he's happy wirh it Sure" especially in the heat of one of yalls "verbal competitions" so really like. Congrats on creating the awkwardness fei du I love you dearly.

Also lmao Luo Wenzhous power is to say shit so !!!!! They're both too awkward to speak djjdjf

Quote (I'm still fucking crying. Also on a serious note aww ;-; the cat backstory and Fei Dus fears ;-; ):

Fei Du accordingly stopped the car at some distance. “Do you…uh, need to get vaccinated?”

Hearing this ordinary inquiry, Luo Wenzhou was very shaken—more shaken than if Luo Yiguo had run over to him for a cuddle. He was even a little tongue-tied. “N-no…no need, the last one hasn’t expired yet.”

Out of the twelve months of the year, Captain Luo was in an “unconquerable condition” for eleven and a half of them. The doctor who gave him the vaccine had proposed to get him a “yearly card,” moving from retail to wholesale.

When Luo Wenzhou’s shock had passed, he couldn’t resist taking a cheap hit. “You being so filial all of a sudden makes me a little panicked.”

Fei Du reined in the unusual expression on his face and once again put on his obnoxious drawl. With a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, he said, “Caring for lonely elders is everyone’s responsibility. Tsk, keeping company with a cat in the endless night seems very desolate.”

Perhaps because Fei Du was so improperly dressed, and perhaps because Luo Wenzhou’s good opinion of himself had gone to his head, he felt that Fei Du’s glance, floating over as he talked nonsense, had a touch of seduction to it. Accompanying the hummed “in the endless night,” it truly did inspire reverie. Thereupon his mouth accidentally went a little over the line.

“What,” said Luo Wenzhou, casually taking a liberty, “you’re offering oral consolation?”

Fei Du: “…”

Luo Wenzhou: “…”

As soon as this joke that had gone too far was spoken, the two of them became silent at the same time. Inside the small and narrow sports car, the atmosphere was so unusual as to defy description.

Luo Wenzhou would have loved nothing better than to somehow put those words, which had somehow slipped out, back into his mouth. He was dumbstruck for a moment, then gave a dry cough and not very brilliantly backtracked. “At the end of the year, don’t forget to bring dad a box of snacks.”

Fei Du forced out a laugh. “Should I also burn three incense sticks?”

After this, the two of them simultaneously climbed out, in tacit agreement, planning to forget the preceding awkwardness inside the innocent sports car.

Luo Wenzhou suddenly remembered something. He turned to Fei Du. “On the subject, I remember you quite liked that cat. Why were you unwilling to keep it no matter what afterwards?”

Fei Du put his hand on the car door. His movements paused. The distant lights fell on his exposed forehead and brows; the arcs seemed to have been carved that way, the outlines finely planned.

“A pet?” After his pause, Fei Du said, as if nothing had happened, “I don’t like having pets. They’re so much trouble. I didn’t feel comfortable saying so in front of Tao Ran. Also…”

He looked up, the tip of one eyebrow moving lightly. “What if I have a hobby of sadistically killing small animals? I couldn’t control myself, and I was afraid I wouldn’t have a way to account for myself to Tao Ran, so I had to keep a safe distance. Captain Luo, do you think that’s a reasonable explanation?”

Luo Wenzhou stared, intuitively sensing that these words of Fei Du’s weren’t a disgusting joke, but before he could read the meaning between the lines, the voice of a member of a search and rescue team came over his earbud. “Captain Luo, we’ve found the place where the girl threw the alarm device, as well as some footprints.”