#her personality’s also still being friendly and jovial

[quibbs126]

Oh yeah, I did this yesterday as well. I didn’t post it since the canvas isn’t full, but the design mostly is

This is for that g2 inspired AU thing I talked about…last week was it?

But yeah, I had decided to try my hand at some of the designs of the characters (which are mostly TFA inspired but not entirely), which at that point were pretty much just Optimus and Hoist, but then for whatever reason I never got back to it

But yesterday at work I was attempting to draw this design again on my cardboard sheet because I needed something to draw, and some of my coworkers saw it and really liked it, and so I decided to go back and finish the digital sketch

So yeah, this is that. G2 inspired AU Hoist. Need a better name for that

She’s almost entirely based on this first toy, with her colors coming from the second because of my different colors rule

Admittedly the toy isn’t at tow truck as I want, and I need to figure out how her hook and such fits into her robot mode, but it’s a start at least

I’m also aware her chest plate is a bit too plain, and it needs some sprucing up. I kind of made the design while not thinking about the actual color scheme she was going to have

Speaking of colors, I do like these colors on her. I don’t know if they fit her personality, but I think they look nice on her. Took some tweaking to get it right though

But yeah, this is supposed to be her like, initial design, so I’ll work on it as I go I suppose

Oh yeah, and I also made an alternate color version of her with the original green and orange colors

I’m still sticking with the other colors, but I just did this for fun

Yeah I just felt like sharing this. Though unfortunately I don’t know when I’ll have the full canvas done because other than Optimus and Megatron, I have literally no clue who else to put here, Autobot or Decepticon

[smolvenger]

The King of Asgard (Loki x fem! Reader Oneshot)

Synopsis: As the wife of Prince Loki of Asgard, you suddenly discover that Odin and Thor are gone. You are made queen and your dear husband is king. But a king needs an heir...

Word Count: 5K

Warnings: SMUT Y'ALL!!! 18+ Breeding Kink and Vanilla P in V sex and dirty talk. Some angst in the beginning but lots of hurt/comfort regarding his discovery about being a Frost Giant. Some married fluff. I use the canon events in Thor 1 but stretch out the timeline because it's my fic and I can do what I want. References to fairy tales because I'm a slut for literary references.

A03//My Ko-Fi//My Etsy Shop//Masterlist//Wattpad

A/N: Since seeing Thor 1 in its completion this has been in my head. I don't usually write for the big man Loki himself too often- but it's a treat to do so! Maybe I will do more of this stuff if I get more ideas! REBLOGS, COMMENTS, DMS, AND ASKS ABOUT MY WORK ARE ALWAYS APPRECIATED! Also, I don't know if Frigga is also Freya the goddess of love and sex in this universe when I wrote this but her character is clearly more FRIGGA than Freya...so yeah...mea culpa

Taglist: @evelyn-kingsley @jennyggggrrr @five-miles-over @fictive-sl0th @ladycamillewrites @villainousshakespeare @holdmytesseract @eleniblue @twhxhck @lokisgoodgirl @lovelysizzlingbluebird @raqnarokr @holymultiplefandomsbatman @michelleleewise @wolfsmom1 @infinitystoner @littlespaceyelf @superficialdomina (since all the way back you asked to be tagged! Ta da! Here it is!!)

You had many regrets in your life. But marrying Prince Loki was not one of them.  When he asked you, you threw your arms around him and kissed him repeating one word- “Yes!”

You never regretted the day you wore a jeweled veil and walked down that aisle. You never regretted vowing before all the gods that you were his and he was yours. You never regretted becoming Princess of Asgard. Not if it meant the love of your life could become your husband.

Some whispered that your choice was unusual. That it was the wrong prince. That you should have married Thor. After all, it seemed obvious he was going to be the heir. But things did not happen in your heart the way they did. Thor was jovial and friendly to you. But before your betrothal, he liked you as a sister. No more, no less. Even if Odin commanded it, Thor would object to the match. If Thor learned to reign in his arrogance someday, you thought, he would make a fine lover to some lucky person!

Other than being the most beautiful man you had ever beheld, Loki was intelligent. Full of elegance as well as guile. Well-read, polite, patient, and charming, but could hold his own in any battle. It seemed you were one of the few people who recognized that. That was one of many reasons why he loved you.

You both attended feasts side by side. He would flirt with you even though you were still about a year into marriage.

“Why, it is too bad that such loveliness is sitting by herself tonight! May I have the seat next to her?” Loki would croon as he sat in the chair next to you.

 You danced every dance together at balls. You especially loved spending free hours exploring the Asgardian library together. Reading works from all Nine Realms. Sometimes until you both fell asleep by the fireplace. Not to mention his finesse in the bedroom.

Loki confessed of his wedding day nerves to you in private. He feared…displeasing you on your wedding night. But your mutual passion and reverence for each other won over all else. Every time you coupled, you brought each other to Valhalla and back again. You learned about each other’s bodies like studying maps. Each minute of lovemaking was both exploration and worship of each other.

Lately, the two of you were careful. You had your own special tea to drink before or after it happened. At most, he would spill his seed somewhere that wasn’t between your legs. You knew so much was happening. Becoming a parent would put more stress on both of you. Especially considering Odin was about to name his heir.

 Though you both did hope someday to have a child. You knew Loki would be a wonderful father and you wanted to be a mother. You wanted a family. You wanted to have a sweet baby (or two) of your own to cuddle and kiss. To hear it laugh when you tickled it. To welcome their first steps with open arms. To watch it grow. To leave your own mark- a person who was both Loki and you.

Now wasn’t the right time, both of you knew it. When you would sigh about it, he would hug you.

“We will wait, my love…time is our friend…” he’d assure you.

 There were worse things in life. And you might as well enjoy what you had now before it was too late. You were lucky to have him. Many couples lived happy, long lives together without children. You were fortunate to have a man who you could confide anything to. And he in turn confided all his worries to you.

The ceremony arrived. And it was not Loki who was named heir as he hoped. It was Thor.

As you stood next to Loki, you felt him stiffen. Thor smiled and held up Mjonir as the kingdom cheered for him. Looking at your husband, you took his hand. You heard him take in a deep sigh through his nose.

“I know you wanted it…I’m so sorry…” you whispered to him, rubbing a thumb over his palm.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

 One evening when you walked about the garden. The sun was setting and while there was some light, you wanted to admire the roses Frigga grew. Dressed in your golden dress, you knelt to sniff a few red ones. Admiring her work and the peace of the place. You jumped when a guard ran over to you.

“The Prince Loki requests your presence immediately in the castle vaults,” he reported.

Picking up your skirts, you hurried there.

“Loki, where are you? Are you hurt?” you asked as you entered.

He was standing on the steps before the Tesseract’s section. He looked up at the sound of your voice. There were tears in his eyes.

“I…I just spoke with father…” he said.

“What did he say this time?” you asked.

He took a step towards you. More tears fell down his cheeks.

“Y/N…I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have married you, shouldn’t have made you my prisoner…” he said.

Pain curled up in your chest at the words. Their grip tightened your throat and your eyes watered as well as his.

“Prisoner!?! What are you talking about, Loki? You cannot believe every word Odin says! I will talk to him myself right away! How dare he say such cruel things to you! You do deserve me! You do!” you cried.

You reached over to grab his hands and he jerked them back.

“No Asgardian maiden deserves to be sold and made wife to a Frost Giant!” He blurted.

You paused.

“Frost Giant?” you repeated.

All your life you heard whispers of the land of the Frost Giants, or Jotenheim. And they were always violent tales of terror. The large, ice creatures were longtime enemies of your kingdom. It was typical for Thor to boast about how much he would slay if given the chance.

“Stay here…and watch…” Loki instructed.

He put his hand on the Tesseract. Upon contact, his skin turned blue and his eyes red. A frost giant if you ever saw one.

Your eyes widened and you gasped in response, a hand flew over your mouth. Shock made your body lock in place. But you did not turn your eyes from him.

“Oh, Loki!” you cried.

You did not flee. No, you would not. Instead, you ran up and embraced him. He felt cold to the touch. As his hands released the Tesseract you felt him warm up in your arms as his skin turned back to ivory. They curled around your back, and he buried himself in your touch. You felt him shaking. Despite your own surprise, you would not abandon him. Never.

“It’s alright…it’s alright, I’m right here…this is a lot, I know…” you consoled as he cried.

He explained to you that years ago, Odin found an abandoned Frost Giant baby in Jotenheim. He took in the infant to be raised as one of his own. But never telling that young prince the truth about his parentage. Not until an accidental discovery. In a recent battle a Frost Gant touched your husband’s arm, changing your prince’s skin to blue beneath his grip. And blue skin could not lie.

“Do you know what I am, Y/N? I am a monster! That’s who you are married to! A monster!” Loki mourned.

You glanced at the door, then back to him. An idea from a recent library read growing in your head.

“Are you familiar with Midgard Fairy Tales? The ones for children?” you asked.

“No,” he answered.

“You don’t?” you asked.

“Midgard never interested me before…”

Taking him by the hand, you led him back to the library. You found a collection of Midgard Fairy Tales left on your favorite chair. You brought it to him and opened it up, flipping the pages. You then pointed to one story. The first page was illustrated with a ship on the ocean, then a rose, and a grand castle.

“You should read this one right here. It was written years ago by a lady. It is a Midgard Fairy Story called La Belle et La Bete or Beauty and The Beast…” you explained.

Loki took the book. He then flipped the page to see a picture of the eponymous beast.

“I know enough of fairy tales. They’re all the same. There’s some giant or creature who’s always the villain. Kidnapping unwilling maidens and hoarding gold. That is until a prince skewers them. Then there’s great celebration over the killing,” he dismissed.

You placed a hand on the page before he could close it.

“You’re right about one thing. There is a beast in this one…” you continued.

“Oh, and he’s there to do those things so babes will grow up learning to hate me,” Loki complained.

“No! Not in this one he’s not!” you objected.

You turned the page. It showed the Beast smiling with a lady in a rose garden.

“Yes, he is a beast. But do you know what he also is? He is the prince in the story! He might look frightening to some, but beneath it, he is kind and generous! He falls in love and marries a woman who sees that in the end! She doesn’t focus on what makes him monstrous and different- she accepts who he is!”

You set the book down and cupped his face.

 “Because she loves him!”

His jaw dropped, speaking nothing. He leaned into your hand.

“A Frost Giant? Yes. I will learn to adjust to the blue skin…but you are my husband. I could not ask for a better one. And I love you. No matter what…” you said.

He embraced you again and you both cried. Tears of happiness and of sorrow. Blue skin or white. Yellow eyes or blue ones. He was Loki. He was your husband, and you would always stay with him. Besides, it’s what he would have done for you.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

When you went to bed that night, you expected tomorrow to be a day like any other. But instead, you were shaken out of sleep.

“Loki, what is it? It’s too early…” you murmured, half-awake.

You felt your bedside but did not feel the lump of his body.

Wakefulness creeping on you, you saw the guards and a few servants in your bedchambers. You jumped to sit up. You held onto the blankets, your knuckles popping in your grip.

“Where is my husband? Is he alright? What’s going on?” you questioned.

Their eyes were all wide. One servant stepped forward and spoke with gravity.

“The prince Thor is banished. And Odin has fallen into his Odinsleep. Loki is now King of Asgard. And you are it’s Queen.”

It was only four sentences. But it felt like something from a dream. You jolted out of bed to stand. You barely opened your mouth to respond when the servant knelt before you. He took your hand and kissed it in reverence.

“Your highness! Queen of Asgard!” he announced.

All bowed before you in your room.

 You expected many things when you married the god of mischief. Just not this! It felt like one of those Midgard Fairytales happening to you.

When you dressed and hurried to your husband in the throne room. You forgot your new role and froze your steps. He sat on a throne, legs deliciously apart. He took up space now. The throne was entirely his and he was going to use every inch of it. He was decked in the robe of a ruler, not a prince destined to wait in the wings all his life. He had power in him, and you had to confess the aura of it was…. doing something for you. Your legs were buckling beneath your dress. There was that infamous, mischievous smile on him. It made you shiver. Already morning and desire swirled inside you. When his head turned to see you, he lit up. He got up from his throne and walked down. Per habit, you curtsied low. Then, placing a finger beneath your chin, he led you to standing. Your sex beneath your legs clenched at the gesture.

He then grabbed you and lifted you up in a hug where your feet didn’t touch the ground.

“Y/N…darling!” he greeted.

He put you down and placed a kiss on your lips.

“But…are you ready to rule? It won’t be easy…” you worried.

“It will not. But at last, think of everything I could do…lead armies…unite kingdoms…”

Even Jotenheim and Asgard if he decreed it so, you noted. You then smiled at him. He was glowing from pride and joy. He took your hand and kissed it.

“If we’re together through this…we can handle it…” he said.

They placed you to stand by his side on the throne.

 Frigga entered. She bowed to you. Your own knees bucked a little out of habit. Usually you were the one bowing to her! You walked down to her, taking her shoulders.

“Queen mother…I…I’m speechless! …I don’t know how I could ever be a queen as well as you!” you confessed to her.

She kissed your cheek and gave you a patient smile.

“Don’t worry, I will help you. Day by day, step by step, you will learn how.”

“Thank you…what do I do now?”

“You will be crowned this afternoon. The kingdom will be watching. Look at them, your people. And show them you care…” she advised.

The hour arrived for them all. Swarms of people broke in like a flood to the throne room. You felt every eye as a golden crown was placed on your head and as his familiar helmet was placed on Loki.

Remembering Frigga’s advice, you looked down on them. You allowed a smile to grow on you. You smiled as you heard your name being chanted along with your husband's name.

They cheered and bowed to you. Flags were waved and confetti fell like snow across the palace.  Loki got took your hand and lifted it up before them. They began to cry out.

“Hail the King Loki! Hail the Queen Y/N!”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

When the sun began to set, a familiar servant ran up to you.

“The King sends his regrets that duties require his immediate attention. He asked for the cooks to go ahead and serve you dinner in his absence,” she announced.

“Thank you,” you replied. An attempt at a regal tone of voice new to you.

The servant bowed and left. She didn’t do that as reverently when you were a mere princess. You ate your dinner alone and then took a rosewater bath right after. You noticed several stray petals floating around in the tub.

Once you finished, you returned to your chambers. It seemed they would stay the same for now. The King’s room was for the Odinsleep. Drying yourself you picked a nightgown. Tonight, it was a white one with a silvery tone to it. It had long sleeves that draped down and had beautiful beading around the bodice. The neckline dipped down to the clasp that secured it. Some might consider it immodest, but it was too beautiful for your resistance. It gave you some very sensual cleavage that you loved (and so would your husband). The skirt then dipped down to the floor, making it feel like a robe, but the material was not so thick that it felt too hot.

If you dressed more like a queen, even at night, you would feel more apt to the role.

What a day it had been. Part of your body ached after such excitement. You sat by your vanity on a cushion. Flowers (including the roses you liked) from the gardens in vases bedecked it. By the candlelight you checked your hair. Sighing in, you relaxed on the seat, admiring the glimpse of the kingdom at night from your curtains. Enjoying a moment of peace.

You then heard his voice outside the door.

“I am now going to bed. Do not disturb us unless there is an emergency,” Loki ordered the servants and guards. Already he was speaking more like a king.

The doors creaked as he opened it and walked inside. Though he was in his own green bedrobes, there was a bounce and urgency to his step. Then he approached you as you sat on the cushion before the vanity. Though his blue eyes did wander hungrily to your low neckline. They then returned up to your face in the mirror’s reflection.

“How is my pretty queen tonight?” he asked.

“I’m good…” you answered.

“Are you tired?” he asked with a tone of concern.

He placed a hand on your shoulder, fingers drumming in anticipation. Was there some old prank he was going to pull that he wanted you to see? What was he going to say?

“Only a little…I’m still taking it in…” you replied.

He embraced you from behind, nuzzling into your neck. You smiled at the contact of feeling his nose against your skin. He smiled as he looked at you in the mirror.

“You always were a queen to me, my dear….” He said.

He kissed your cheek and then lowered his lips to your neck. You smiled, enjoying the increasingly amorous gesture. You felt the tickle of his breath. His soft lips made another kiss in between your neck and clavicle. You melted into it.

“My, Freya has gotten someone enchanted…” you teased.

“It’s not Freya who enchants me…” he husked.

He then turned you around and led you to stand. And laid a desperate kiss on your lips. You wrapped your arms around him. He slid in his tongue. A hand of his crept to hold your back to him. You groaned into it. Already, arousal began its long, sinful climb with its wet signal between your legs. You released lips with a satisfying smack.

“If you continue this, I’ll ring for that tea…” you said.

“No…” he voiced.

“Hmm?”

He held your hands down.

“You won’t need that tea tonight. Or for a while…” he said.

You blinked.

“How come?”

He gave you a smile, looking in your eyes.

“I must tell you…the council has given me much advice. To secure myself as king, there are a few things I can do. Enact laws. Silence any rebellions or refusals. And, since I’m already married...”

He paused.

“Sire an heir.”

You felt your breath stop in your throat. Your eyes widened. His smile went down to a smirk. A glint in his eye as he went to you. His eyes roaming down your exposed chest. His hands wandered down, staring to hike a little of your skirt.

“So, you’re saying…” you stuttered.

“Y/N, I…I need you tonight…tonight…I’ll give you a child, an heir, someone to carry on my reign, and keep me as king…Would you like that?” he asked.

He leaned closer. Wanting to kiss you, then pausing. You could feel his breath just on your lips, making you dizzy. He placed his hips against yours. You felt a moan shudder out of you. Your answer was an easy one.

“Yes, yes I would.”

He swept you up in his arms, strong despite his lean frame.  Your heart raced so hard you felt it would burst out of you. He laid you on the bed then crawled over you. You felt yourself trembling like it was the first time. He cupped your cheek and leaned over to kiss you.

“My queen, my darling…”

You wrapped your arms around him.

“And my Prince made King,” you said back.

Intuitively, he ground his hips on yours. A small shudder went through you, coming out as a sigh. You reached a hand to run it through his hair as he kissed you again. Combing through those dark curls you loved so much. Because they were a part of him. His crown that never left him. You gave him another, harder kiss. He then looked down at your robe. He slid a hand over the beading, over your chest.

“A lady beautiful as you could doesn’t need such …embellishments…” he growled.

He removed his hand to lift it in the air. He flicked it and a green light began at the tips of your toes and then worked its way up your legs and through your body. Your evening robes for sleeping vanished and instead was your skin. He wetted his lips at the sight of your nakedness.

“I’ve longed to see this, to touch you for hours…”

He went up to your bare breasts. You gulped as he began to kiss it. Your back arched on impulse, tensing already. As he worked his way to the center, you felt yourself tensing already. Smiling at the pleasure as he used his tongue, swirling your nipple. Chills ran over you. He released his mouth to whisper.

“I’ve missed your breasts. The shape. The softness. Feeling you…”

He replaced it with his large hand. He gently squeezed and groped both around. You exhaled out another sound coming out of you. Not a polite one.

“Perfection-perfect for my hands. And perfect to nurse my heir…”

He then lowered himself down, kissing your stomach. Tracing your hips. He then kissed your bellybutton, dipping his tongue into the hole of it. Only a symbol of what was next. A delicious forewarning. Preparation. You grew wetter with the feeling of something soft and wet inside a hole of yours.

“Loki…Loki, my dear…husband…” you whimpered.

He held your hips down, tracing it and feeling them again. How they curved up to where they made your waist. His fingers sprawled possessively over your flesh. Then back down to your hips. Looking down, there was a bulge getting bigger against his green robe.

“And these…perfect. Perfect for what I put between them. For my mouth, my fingers, my cock, and my child…”

He pulled his head up, then you put your finger to his lips. Giggling lightly, as did he.

“You talk so much. But you’ve yet to bare yourself too, my love,” you teased.

With a cocky half-smile, all he did was tilt his head. The seidr ran down from the forehead to the toes, and the smooth robe was replaced with his warm skin. He was so beautiful. Every time he took off his clothes, it was everything in you not to stare. He had a broad, ivory chest so large and enveloping. It was like a blanket when you rested your head on them or when he thrust on top of you. You put a hand to explore the crevices, going through the patch of hairs on him. His muscular shoulders, perfect for digging your nails in. His abdominals-both soft and strong. For he was both at the center of his heart as well. Thighs made thick from running, jumping, and everything a warrior did.

He ground against you. His cock, already hard, teased your stomach. He leaned up to kiss your neck in its small soft spot. A hand returning to your breast.

“You will look wonderful engorged with a babe…a child…a part of you that will always be there, a trace of us together.”

“Loki…my dear husband…I love you…” you voiced.

He smiled, inching close.

“And I love you when you’re screaming beneath me…”

With one long, beautiful hand, he took the outside of your legs. He traced his fingers down from thigh to knee. Ghosting against the upper flesh of your skin. As tenderly as if you were the brightest, most precious jewel kept in his treasury. In seas of coins, rubies, and diamonds…it was you, you out of everything else, that mattered to him.

He took his large, beautiful hands and then moved them to the inside of your knees. You bit back a moan, leaning your head into the pillow as you felt it.

Using both his hands, he then spread you apart, wide open. He looked down at you and grinned. He had seen, felt, penetrated, and tasted your pussy like an addict. Always hungry for more. Even if you were poison, he would consider it the sweetest way to die. He placed himself back up. The tip just teasing your entrance. Every nerve inside you screamed. It brushed against you, never plunging in.

“You’re a banquet all for me, my dear…now…are you ready?” he whispered.

“Oh, please…. stop tormenting me… I want a child…and I want you…give me…give me one, Loki…” you begged.

“Let me…let me feel your sweet warmth and take your king’s shaft…” Loki husked.

He plunged into you slowly. Part of you panted through your nose. You felt him climb inside, inch by agonizing inch. This was a ceremony, sacred as any other rite in a royal bedroom. As if everything had to be right. Yet there was beauty-there was divinity. An ecstasy of reaching something otherworldly in between each other’s legs. You let out a loud gasp when he placed all of you inside him. You grabbed onto him.

He then retracted his hips, and he began to thrust into you. Grinding you right into the bed. Writhing as you accepted his largeness like it was new. Each gasp from his breath, each pant from each thrust. You could feel one muscular arm of your husbands touched the headboard, keeping him steady against you. You felt your back and ass slide against the silk sheets. He was slow, but eager.

“Yes…I promised you… when we married…I’d give you-nrgh-I’d give-give you everything-fuck-everything you’d ever want-gods…yes, gods, yes!” he whimpered as he thrusted.

You let out a moan with each thrust, your own breasts bouncing slowly with the movement. He looked down, releasing the hand on the headboard to slap them.

You let out a gasp- “L-Loki-you-you-you beast!”

“I thought you figured that out already, darling…” he whispered with a chuckle.

You felt his other hand wander to touch your back. You writhed under him.  He then slid his hand under his hips guide you up. His strength held you steady. He hit a different angle and you let out a cry-it was deeper, and his cock had found it’s way to your bud. Already sensitive and shaking.

“L-Loki! There! Please! There!”  you begged as he kept thrusting.

“As my queen commands…”

You saw the veins in his neck tightening as he kept on. His black curls messed around him- wild and free. A creature claiming his prize for the night. How beautiful he looked. You returned a hand back up and pulled him down. You kissed him with such fervor as he thrust that he stayed for only a second inside you, pausing, catching a breath. What breath there was, anyway.

Then he picked up the pace slightly. You were starting to see stars. That sweet angle where he got your clit. You felt pleasure rise  in you. Yes, it was arriving. You moved your hands down from his shoulders, down his triangular back. Once you found his soft, perfect ass you pushed him in again.

“Loki I’m…I’m…I’m close…oh norns- I’m…I’m going to cum!” you pleaded.

“So…am I-nrg-Call me king, call me king again and…and…I’ll-I’ll drive you there with me …”

He lowered his voice. Guttural and demanding.

“Call- me- your- king.”

He even got his free hand inside, speeding you up as he too sped up. You felt it-the breaking point.

“Yes-please-my- my king! My king!” you cried.

He let out a shout and you felt his hot seed spurt inside you. Your own climax then broke upon you. Thw words repeated out of you in a whisper.

“My king…my…my…”

It was the climax where it spun inside you. You felt your whole-body lock. Your quim felt as if it was spinning, sputtering with the pleasure. As well as his seed.  You groaned as it washed you down and you felt it. Your eyes teared up. His stayed inside, spurting like mad. Free and plentiful after starvation. A broken dam. He stayed inside. Not wasting one drip of him. You accepted it, every bit of it. Not one drop would go to waste. You felt your body buzz. Vibrating on the inside though you were still. Still except for your own breasts heaving with the breath you caught. You felt him catch his breath on top of you too.

He then cupped your cheek. His curls fell before his face. But his smile and blue eyes glowing from them.

“I couldn’t have asked for better. A better broodmare. A better wife. A better queen by my side…” he said.

Playfully, you went up and kissed the tip of his nose. He grinned at it and then embraced you. Arms flinging around each other. His own sweaty, earthy scent mixed with the rosewater bath you had earlier.

His cock still twitched inside you. Then you felt a final hot release of him and there was no more. He pulled out. Once it left you, you felt a cold space in your quim. Like it was an empty niche, something that needed filling. So much was he a part of you. You reached up your hand to brush his curls back. Seeing his face. Seeing him.

He then went down to your stomach, kissing it.

“I think if it’s a boy…we should call him Tuck…and if it’s a girl...Idona…” you then told him.

He rolled over to lay his head on the pillow. Then he turned over. You hummed at the sight of him- oh Hela, his beautiful profile was art itself!

“And what if we have twins?” he asked.

“I’ll figure it out, later!” you replied with a small laugh.

You placed your head on his chest and looked up and he down.

“I hope you’ve forgiven me for missing dinner…we’ll eat together tomorrow night; I’ll make it up to you…” he said.

“Of course, I forgive you. You had duties of your own…” you whispered.

He then gave a smile with the familiar, delicious darkness in his eyes.

“It might take more than once. We will try for an heir no matter how many times it takes. I’d like to have you on that very table like a meal of my own to devour. And I’ll have you on the library walls. On each rug. On each column. So, rest well…you have several duties of your own tomorrow.”

[rollinouttahere-writes]

Lucky Break Chapter 2

Yandere Straw Hats x Reader

5k Words

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It’s fortunate that Orange town isn’t very big. You weren’t running around for long before you saw a crowd of people partying, and much to your horror, Luffy was there. In a cage, and tied up with rope.

Creeping closer, you take note of everything going on around him. That giant ship you saw earlier is there too, so you can assume that the people holding him hostage are also pirates if their flag is anything to go off of. You’re not sure why they’re all so jovial right now, but you’re hoping that you can use this party they’re having to get to Luffy undetected. 

Part of you wasn’t sure about this. It would be very easy for this to go wrong and for you to get into serious trouble. You may not personally know these people, but if they’re keeping someone in a cage, you can assume they aren’t exactly friendly. Still, regardless of the risk, it doesn’t feel right to not try and help Luffy. Especially not when he’s offered to help you despite possibly having nothing to gain from it. Even if it’s scary, you have to help him.

There’s at least one obvious problem here, you majorly stick out from these pirates. The general fashion around here could best be described as sea-faring-clown-chic, so your normal clothes made you stand out significantly. You inch a bit closer and are relieved to find an abandoned, colorful jacket. Hastily, you slip it on and untie the (still damp) bandana from your wrist. You fasten it over your head to hide your bandages, no use in trying to blend in only for your injury to call attention to you.

After checking to make sure the coast is clear, you crawl over to the cage Luffy is in. He lights up the second he notices you, “Hi Lucky! What are you doing here?”

Oh yeah, just announce your presence, why don’t you?! You shush him, “Keep it down! Why are you in a cage?” At the very least, he looked too chipper to be seriously hurt.

“Nami said she would be our navigator if I helped her out, so here I am! Not sure what the plan is though,” he says all this extremely casually, like this was the most normal way to add someone to his aspiring pirate crew.

“Who the hell is Nami?”

Luffy scooted around until he was facing a big tent close to the ship, “She’s over there, the girl with the orange hair. She’s a thief that steals from pirates, but she promised she would join us if I did her a favor!”

You couldn’t help the incredulous look that spread across your face. Surely he isn’t that naive! How did someone play him this damn hard over the course of like half an hour since you last saw him? “Luffy, she obviously tricked you!”

“You don’t know that! Just give her a chance, it’ll probably all work out,” he was way too relaxed and confident about this. “Hey, since you’re here can you go get me some food? No one’s bringing me any and I can’t reach it.”

Paying his request no mind, you cut to the chase, “Luffy, focus, do you know where the key to this cage is?”

He tilted his head and hummed as he thought about it, “Hmm, I think the captain has it, he’s the one who put me in here. He’s that guy with the big red nose!” Luffy motioned his head towards the tent Nami was in. You looked over and saw him. You’re pretty sure he is genuinely a literal clown. You can’t decide if that’s going to make stealing a key from him easier or harder.

How are you supposed to slip into a tent and check his pockets for a key? You’re trying to avoid being noticed, so that’s going to be very counter intuitive. Oh well, you’ll need to figure something out if you want to get him out of there. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

You try to leave and make your way closer to the tent, but one of Luffy’s hands clamps onto your ankle. “You’re going the wrong way,” he states plainly.

Oh god, his arm is doing that stretchy thing again. It takes all you have to not shudder at the disturbing visual. “What do you mean? I need to get closer to where he is.”

“Not that! I’m hungry, go get me some food, please!” He was full on whining now, giving you the most pitiful puppy eyes you think you’ve ever been subjected to.

“Seriously?!”

He nods his head with fierce determination, “I’m very serious about food! Oh, and make sure it’s meat!”

He’s looking at you expectantly and has made no move to unhand your ankle. Groaning, you comply and agree to get him his damn food. He is currently a prisoner, but his top priority is somehow food.

Much to your chagrin, the nearby table with all the food has a lot of people milling around it. Hopefully, if you keep your head down, grab the food, and go, no one will pay attention to you. It’ll totally be fine! Just act normal and like you’re supposed to be here and no one will look at you twice!

You casually strut up to the table, hoping to grab and go. You’ve barely even touched the meat before someone behind you speaks up.

“Who the hell are you? And why are you wearing my jacket?”

A chill runs down your spine. Oh god how could you let yourself get caught this quick? Now you’re gonna get thrown into the cage with Luffy. No! You can’t give up that easily, there has to be a way out of this.

Taking a deep breath, you put on the most annoyed expression you can and turn to face the owner of the voice. He looks hungover as all hell and is clearly pissed that you took his jacket. You scoff at him, “Are you shitting me?”

Your sharp reply takes him a bit off guard, “Wha- No, I’m not ‘shitting you’! Who even are you?”

“Seriously? I just told you my name last night and you already forgot it?” If he looks this hungover, that must mean he got really drunk last night. Hopefully, you can use that to your advantage.

“You did?” His eyes trailed upwards, visibly wracking his brain for any memory of such an event.

“Yeah,” you snap at him. “Right after I joined. Quite the warm welcome I’m getting here, being forgotten and then having you cop an attitude with me.” You cross your arms over your chest and scowl at him.

“Is that why we were partying so hard last night?” He said this so quietly that you doubt he’d meant for you to hear it. “Wait, that still doesn’t explain what you’re doing with my jacket! Give it back!”

You slap his hand away when he makes a grab for it, “Hell no, I won this fair and square from you! If you didn’t want to lose it, you shouldn’t have bet it during our drinking competition. That, or maybe learn to hold your liquor better, lightweight.”

His face flushes at this, “Oh come on, I just got that after losing my last one!” He ran a hand down his face, muttering something along the lines of ‘this can’t keep happening’. Pleadingly, he looks at you, “Please give it back, I’ll make it up to you I swear!” 

“No, I don’t think I will. I like this jacket, thank you very much,” you don’t like it, the colors are downright obnoxious, but you need this to blend in. Hopefully it’ll work better now that the person who it belonged to is out of the way.

Confident that you’ve successfully pulled off the greatest gaslight of all history, you grab some food and make to leave, but he calls out, “Wait!”

Shit! Did you not have him convinced? “What now?” You hissed at him.

He put his hands up in front of him defensively, “Calm down, I just wanted to ask what your name was again. I promise I won’t forget it this time!” The poor guy actually looked like he felt bad, you were starting to feel a little guilty for gaslighting him as hard as you just did.

Shifting your (Luffy’s) food to one hand, you extend your hand to him, “Just call me Lucky.”

“Lucky! Yeah that’s right, I remember now!” He lied through his teeth as he accepted your handshake. “Mine is Piero, I don’t know if I told you that or not.”

“You did, but thanks anyways, I guess,” you say dismissively.

Finally, it seems your passive aggressive attitude paid off, and he quickly excused himself. You let out a dramatic sigh of relief, almost not being able to believe you pulled that off. Now you’ve got someone on the inside that’ll vouch for you if anyone else questions your presence.

You scurry back to Luffy, who had managed to slip out of the ropes since you left him. Excitedly, he stretches his arms out to grab the food before you can even get all the way over to him. He barely gets out a ‘thank you’ before he’s inhaling what you fetched for him. At the rate he’s going, it’ll be gone in like 2.5 seconds.

Not wanting to get roped into another food run, you hurry away from him and towards the tent. Your plan for now is to eavesdrop a bit before making a real move. You grab some food and water, and make yourself comfortable on a barrel near the flap of the tent.

While you mostly got something to eat to help make you look more casual, you couldn’t help but scarf it all down at almost the same pace as Luffy. You hadn’t realized just how hungry you were until you took your first bite. It tasted great too, but it’s hard to tell if it’s actually good or if you’re so hungry that anything would taste like a fine dining meal to you right now.

Nami and captain clown were talking, but it was hard to understand what they were saying with all the background noise. Despite allegedly having a big blowout party last night, they were having another one today which made it basically impossible to pick up on a quiet conversation.

Chugging the last of your water, you inch even closer to the flap and lean in to hear better. It didn’t help much. You still have no idea what’s being said. Maybe you catch a word here and there, but it’s not enough to really help you.

Against your better judgment, you lean against the fabric a little bit more, but it comes loose and you tumble head first into the tent. Right in front of the captain who is going to be way harder to fool than some random shiphand.

Him and Nami gawk at you. You stare back, frozen temporarily from this stupid mistake. No, no, no, this is really bad! You force out a laugh, “Hahaha, oops! Sorry about that, captain! I’m so clumsy!” 

Your attempt to stand and run away ends before it can even begin. Your leg is tangled up in the fabric from where the tent came apart. ‘My christ this is going terribly,’ you internally curse at yourself, frantically trying to get your leg loose.

Your panic only increases when the clown stands and stomps his way towards you. The second you freed your leg, you were grabbed by the front of your (stolen) jacket and yanked to your feet. He loomed over you, and all things considered, was surprisingly intimidating. “Captain? Why would someone who isn’t in my crew be calling me captain?”

Welp. Here goes nothing. “Because I am in your crew? I know I just joined, but you didn’t forget about me, did you?” You weren’t bold enough to try the aggressive approach again.

His eye twitched in annoyance, and brought you way closer to his face than you ever wanted to be, “What are you trying to pull? Do you think I don’t know who is and isn’t in my crew? Do you think I’m stupid?” He all but snarled at you. Shit, this isn’t working as smoothly as it did with Piero!

“I-I’m not trying to pull anything! I mean we did party pretty hard last night, I’ve already had to reintroduce myself to several people today!”

He quirked an eyebrow at you, but didn’t say anything, so you continued talking, “Yeah! You can go ask Piero, we were talking just a minute ago!” You’re not sure that relying on someone you were pretty mean to was smart, but you were panicking. 

The clown laughed at this, he laughed so hard that he dropped you and clutched his sides as he cackled, “Piero? Anyone could convince that drunk they’re a part of this crew!” You were frantically crawling backwards to try and get away from him, but he stepped forwards and dug his heel into the jacket to stop you. “Who else can vouch for you, hm?” He had a huge condescending smile on his face, absolutely positive you wouldn’t be able to deliver.

Having made it just outside the tent, you whip your head around looking for any possible way out of this. Not far away from you, you spot your best chance.

“Richie! R-Richie knows me!” The lion perks up at the mention of his name, peering over at you. As odd as it sounds, it kind of makes sense that he’s here. Somehow, your current situation is so bizarre that a lion being a part of a group of clown pirates is the most reasonable explanation for why it’s here.

“The lion? You want a lion to back you up?” He looks absolutely dumbfounded at your choice, and you can’t blame him. In any other scenario, you would think this is the dumbest thing ever, but this isn’t exactly a normal situation now is it?! 

You aggressively nod your head, “Yeah! It’s not like he would accept just anyone!” He would if food was presented, but he didn’t need to know that, “S-So if he recognizes me then you’ll know I’m telling the truth!”

He stares incredulously at you for a moment, then smirks, “Alright, go ahead. If he doesn’t eat you then I’ll believe you.” He gestures for you to go approach Richie while snickering. 

Despite your previous encounter, you couldn’t help the pit of anxiety in your gut as you approached the lion. Sure, he was nice after you gave him some food, but you didn’t have any more food on you right now. For all you know, that alone would be reason enough to tear into you.

Richie watched as you approached, tail flicking back and forth as you got closer. Out of the corner of your eye, you see some guy (with bear ears on his head?) watching this interaction curiously.

“H-Hey buddy, remember me? We’re still cool right?” He tilted his head at your words, and leaned forward slightly to sniff at your hand that you had extended towards him. You stare unblinking at the animal, praying that he doesn’t start acting the way an apex predator should and rip you apart.

Instead of ending you, he simply licks your hand and rolls over onto his back. Once again, all your survival instincts are replaced with the burning desire to pet a cute animal. “That’s a good boy! I knew you remembered me!” You cooed at him while vigorously petting his exposed tummy.

You hear gasping behind you, “Richie??? You don’t even let ME give you belly rubs!” Bear ear guy cried out.

Looking over your shoulder, you see the captain slack jawed. Evidently, he had not anticipated that this would actually work in your favor. Finally, you see a flash of uncertainty in his eyes. You might be able to pull this off after all.

“Such a sweet boy! At least you didn’t forget about me!” 

“Captain Buggy, who is that?” Buggy? That’s the captain’s name? 

Buggy stomped over to you and dragged you to your feet again, “What the hell is going on with you? Who are you?”

“My name is Lucky, and I already told you that I joined your crew yesterday. You said that you would believe me if Richie didn’t turn me into a snack,” you were irritated that he was still pressing the issue. Why couldn’t he just go with your lies and move along? 

“I’m the captain, if I want to keep questioning you then I will,” he snapped back. As he says this, your eyes are drawn to a key dangling from his belt. That must be the key to Luffy’s cage! It’s so close too, you need to find a way to get it off him without being noticed. 

“I did what you said, stop sticking your nose in my business just because you forgot!”

Gasps resound around you, immediately making you question if this was a bad move. Glancing around, you see all the merriment has come to a screeching halt as they all stare at you. Some are violently shaking their heads, like you just said something wrong.

“Whaaaaat?!” Buggy shrieked. “Did you just say my nose has bigness???”

“Huh?”

“You did! How dare you?!” His voice is so high pitched now that you’re sure he’s only going to be heard by dogs soon.

“No I didn’t! I told you to keep your nose out of my business!” You over enunciate every syllable in hopes that he won’t mishear you so severely this time around. It was a lost effort.

“You said it again!” He was now shaking you back and forth in rage. 

Pain shot through you with each shake, your head was throbbing right now. This was so stupid. You almost had him, and then it all goes to shit because he keeps mishearing you. You can’t let your cover get blown so stupidly! Luffy is depending on you and you have no idea where Zoro is! You’re going to have to make a bold move if you want to get that key.

Grinding your teeth, one of your hands snap forward and grab his shirt. You yank him towards you, so close that your noses are now touching. His eyes shoot wide open and his screeching stops. “Listen to me! I didn’t say a damn thing about your nose, you made that up so you could have something to get bent out of shape over! It’s not my fault you’re embarrassed that you forgot about me, so quit trying to turn this around and make it a me problem!”

It is dead silent. You could hear a pin drop from across town, you’re sure of it. Everyone is watching you two with varying levels of abject horror. Buggy’s face was already tinted red from yelling at you before, but now it was so flushed that it was blending in with his nose. His fists, which were still clutching onto your jacket, were shaking. 

You could only pray that this wasn’t the dumbest move you could have made. For all you knew, this guy would kill you for this transgression. God, you hope he can’t hear your heart pounding out of your chest right now.

Finally, he shoves you off of him and spins on his heel to stomp away, “Fine! But you’re on thin ice, Lucky!”

Everyone was staring at him as he left with their jaws damn near on the ground. You cannot believe you just pulled that off. You decide to slip away while they’re distracted, not wanting their attention to turn to you. You’ve already garnered way more attention than you ever wanted to, all you want to do now is free Luffy and get the hell out of here. Now that you’ve got the key in your pocket, that should be easy enough.

Before you can make it back to him, someone grabs your arm and yanks you into an empty tent. Oh, come on! You whirl around to give whoever did this a piece of your mind, but froze when you recognized her as the orange haired girl Luffy told you about. 

“Nami? What do you want?” 

Her expression morphs into one of shock, “What? Wait, how do you know me?”

“Luffy told me about you,” and how she tricked him, not that he’d figured that out yet.

“You’re with him?” She gave you a once over, “There’s no way you’re a pirate, you look completely out of place.”

“What’s it matter to you?” You huffed and crossed your arms, glaring at her, “Look, if you don’t want anything, then I need to get going.”

Nami purses her lips, thinking over what to say next. She sighs before continuing, “I just wanted to know why you had enough of a deathwish to try and pick a fight with a pirate, but I suppose I know why now.” She pinches the bridge of her nose, looking terribly annoyed by the situation, “If I were you, I would leave while you can. Get out of here before you get hurt.”

“I plan to, but not before I get Luffy.”

Nami’s eye twitches, “Leave him too, nothing good will come from associating with a pirate. I don’t know how long you’ve been with him, but look at you! You’re lucky that Buggy didn’t kill you a minute ago!” She snatches your loosely tied bandana off your head, “Not to mention whatever happened to earn you that!”

You grab onto the bandana and try to pull it out of her hand, but she just holds onto it tighter. “Mind your own business! He’s helping me out, so I’m going to help him too whether you approve of it or not,” you told her very matter of factly. Who is she to tell you what to do?

She lets go abruptly, causing you to stumble back. For a moment, she fixes you with a hard stare. Then, she shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders, “Fine, do whatever you want. Don’t come crying to me when it comes back to bite you.” She walks past you and leaves you alone in the tent. 

You’re not sure what that was all about. Nami really had nothing to gain from telling you to leave, so you can’t fathom what compelled her to pull you aside like that. “It doesn’t matter,” you mutter under your breath as you put the bandana back on. For now, all you need to worry about is getting Luffy out of his cage and finding Zoro so you can all leave. This place isn’t that big, so Zoro should make his way over here soon enough if he hasn’t already. 

Feeling confident in your plan, you step out of the tent and look over to where the cage is, only to find a cannon pointing right at it. That wasn’t there before!

Your stomach drops at the sight, and your heart rate spikes again. Dammit, how can this many things keep going wrong all at once??? Looking at who’s standing by the cannon, you spot Nami. What?! Was she telling you to back off because she wanted to blow Luffy the fuck up???

You want to run up and stop her, but several of your “crewmates” stop you. “Sorry, Lucky. I know you probably want a chance to use a buggy ball, but that Nami chick needs to prove herself first,” one of them has an arm around your shoulder to keep you in place and another has an arm linked with yours.

It’s finally dawning on you just how dangerous pirates can be. It’s one thing to think about how they could hurt you, it’s another to see them cheering someone on to kill a guy with a fucking cannon. If Nami wasn’t the one about to light the fuse, you would think that her previous talk with you may have been genuine concern. These guys were insane!

Nami makes eye contact. Much to your relief, you can see her hesitating. Frankly, she looks sick at the thought of setting it off. You shoot her the most pleading look you can while trying to shake off the people holding onto you.

Luffy, bizarrely, looks entirely unconcerned. He’s just watching Nami with a blank expression, which then switches to a more coy one. You can see his mouth moving, but can’t make out his words over everyone chanting around you. 

Apparently, Nami was taking too long to make a move, because another pirate approaches and snatches the box of matches out of her hand. Shit! You’re now frantically trying to wiggle out of the pirates’ grasps, much to their confusion. “What’s your problem? Just relax and enjoy the show.”

Several things happen at once. The pirate that stole the matches lights one and reaches for the cannon’s fuse, you break free from the pirates holding you back, and Nami whips out a staff and beats the pirate with it. She looks to you and yells over the ensuing chaos, “You have the key right?! Go get him out!”

Ignoring the question of how she knew, you sprint for the cage. Skidding to a stop in front of the lock, you pull the key out of your pocket. You jam it into the hole, but it doesn’t budge. You try again, twisting it in every direction, but nothing happens. “What the hell? Why isn’t this stupid key working?”

“It doesn’t fit? Oh, I guess that wasn’t the right key then,” Luffy says nonchalantly.

“What do you mean this isn’t the right key?! You said the captain had it!” 

“I mean what I said. I said I thought he had it, I didn’t know for sure,” he shrugged his shoulders, still not taking this situation anywhere near as seriously as he should.

“You should have made that clearer!” You shouted as you violently threw the now useless key away, nailing someone in the crowd with it on accident.

“Why are you yelling so much? It’s not a- whoa whoa whoa the fuse is lit!” Luffy’s tone finally left its neutrality and became panicked. Your head snaps towards the cannon and you see that he’s right. Shit! Nami didn’t stop that guy in time!

There are some stairs behind you. Maybe if you can push the cage down them Luffy will be safe (well, safe from the cannon at least)? You put all your strength into pushing it, but it’s barely moving. There’s no way you can get it out of the way in time! Nami is trying to snuff out the light with her bare hands, but several pirates are charging at her now that she’s revealed herself to not truly be with them.

“Nami, behind you!”

You don’t know what to do. On one hand, you need to get Luffy out of here, but on the other, you don’t want to just stand by while Nami is killed after she tried to help you!

Thankfully, you didn’t need to decide what to do. Just before the pirates could deliver a blow to her, they’re brought to a halt by a green haired swordsman.

“Zoro!” Both you and Luffy cried out in relief.

Gasps ring out on the crowd and the entire atmosphere changes instantly. Everyone who was ready to rip Nami apart before was now backing away in fear. Murmurs of ‘pirate hunter’ could be heard as everyone became deeply unsure of themselves and their next actions.

“Just how many of you were planning on taking on one girl?” with the same ease you saw him disarm the pirates from earlier, he sent all four pirates hurtling into the crowd. He glances over his shoulder, “Are you hurt?”

Nami, who had definitely burned her hands only seconds ago, shakes her head and mutters out a ‘no’. Zoro nods and fixes the already tense crowd with a cold look, his mentioning that he hung up being a pirate hunter doing absolutely nothing to quell their anxieties. 

Despite everyone else’s open terror, Buggy remains calm, even smirking at the situation. “I don’t care if you’re still calling yourself a pirate hunter or not, having your head would make my name even more feared,” he pulls out several knives as he walks towards Zoro, who is watching with what could only be deemed boredom. 

As Buggy gets closer, Zoro sighs and unsheaths his other two swords. Much to your confusion, he puts one of them in his mouth. Now you may be a recent amnesia victim, but that doesn’t seem quite right to you. However, upon noticing the lack of confusion from everyone else here, you do find yourself questioning if maybe this is more normal than you’re remembering.

Everyone watches with bated breath as Buggy runs right at Zoro. It only takes a second for all three of Zoro’s swords to cut right through his opponent. Buggy falls to the ground in pieces and you recoil at the sight. It’s not like you were fond of him or anything, but seeing someone get hacked up like that was stomach churning regardless of personal feelings.

One could typically expect killing a pirate crew’s captain to be met with rage or sorrow, but there was something genuinely chilling about their reactions. They were laughing. Like there was a joke that the rest of you were all missing out on. 

You ignore your discomfort to look at Buggy’s corpse again, and you notice something odd. He isn’t bleeding.

“Weird, his body had no resistance,” Zoro joined you in staring at the body, now also sensing something was off.

“Wow, was he really that weak?” Luffy wasn’t reading the room whatsoever. You’ve barely known this guy, but can’t help but feel like this is typical for him.

The dry chuckling erupts into downright maniacal laughter. You look around desperately, trying to figure out what was going on, and your blood runs cold when you see what it was.

A knife had been stabbed straight through Zoro’s abdomen by Buggy’s disembodied arm.

[petrichor-idyllic]

Hi Petri <3, I have a request for a Minho x fem!reader where they're still in the glade. It's the middle of the night and everyone's sleeping, Minho and reader are together on his tent (because here they're already dating), she hears a little cry so she goes outside to see what's happening and find Chuck sitting on the ground and crying next to a tree, he's sad cause he thinks he's not good at anything and is just bothering and annoying everyone around, so she talks to him and explains that he's new and its normal to not know what to do or how to help properly, she tells a story about when she wanted to be a runner just to impress someone and prove her worth, even though she was really bad at it, and how she discovered that actually she was really good at something else, gardening. They have one beautiful conversation and hug it out, after that she put him back to sleep and goes back to the tent, just to be surprised by Minho who was awake and heard the whole conversation and begins to tease her about the little crush she had on him, the ending can have a bit of spice if your comfortable with that.

That was it, love you :)

This is an adorable idea and I have been itching to get around to it.

Your ideas are always so good, man. I'm always honoured to write your work.

EXPOSURE

MASTERLIST | MINHO MASTERLIST

SUMMARY: See above. Takes place before the arrival of Thomas, but not by much. Established relationship.

WARNINGS: Inappropriate language, spice, Chuck being sad, you getting bullied by your boyfriend.

You've been dating Minho for a while now.

And you couldn't be happier.

You love him. He's your favourite person in the Glade by far, for multiple reasons. Being the only girl is no easy feat, but Minho was always respectful and any flirting was always jovial and friendly.

Unlike some other people.

He always defended you and was sure you were always comfortable, and if he came back from his job and found out someone had upset you - well, good luck to them.

In your eyes, Minho is the perfect man, even if he is a bit too cocky.

And is never fucking there.

The most contentious point in your relationship is definitely Minho's line of work. He's always busy out in the Maze, and whilst a lot of the other Runners work on a cycle so they're not bleeding themselves dry - Minho doesn't get that luxury. Day in, day out, Minho goes out into that Maze. He's Keeper, so he has to.

Which sucks for you because that means the only time you get to see your boyfriend is in the evenings. When he's exhausted. Well, Minho is a stronger man than you, for sure. You doubt you'd have any stamina if you had to do what he does every day. And he still manages to come back to the Glade and not pass out.

So, that's something, at least.

Though, this means the most time you spend with him is at night.

No - not like that.

At least not most of the time.

The man is tired, okay?

The Builders made you a hut the first week you arrived by Alby's orders. Mainly for privacy reasons, but also Gally thought it might get him on your good side.

Gally wasn't very happy when Minho started sleeping in your hut.

So, whilst Minho sleeps through the night, you often spend some time watching him.

Sometimes, it scares you how much you care about him. Especially since he risks his life literally every day.

Every night, you admire him and appreciate that he's still here and that he's asleep; safe and sound - next to you.

Your fingers trace the scars littering his bare back as he faces away from you, the blanket loosely covering his lower half. You and Minho are comfortable enough around each other that you normally just sleep in your underwear.

His soft breaths reminding you how lucky you are to have him, you lay on your back.

You should probably get some sleep, too. Zart will have you doing heavy lifting in the morning, no doubt.

You sigh. Going to grab the blanket, you freeze when you hear what sounds like someone sobbing, and then trying to stop themself. You sit up straight, listening for the sound again.

And after a couple of seconds, it returns.

You swing your legs over the side of your creaky, makeshift bed, grabbing Minho's trademark blue button-up and slipping it on.

Being careful not to wake your boyfriend, you open the door and peer out. It's hard to make out since the Glade is quiet and dim at this hour.

But, with your hut being pretty close to the Deadheads, it doesn't take you long to spot Chuck, sitting in front of a tree. His knees are pulled up to his chest and his face buried in his knees.

Chuck is the latest Greenie - and the youngest Glader here. He's about twelve, definitely no older than thirteen.

You walk the couple of yards away from your hut to the crying boy.

"Chuck?" You ask after a second, standing in front of him. "Are you okay?"

He sniffs, not even bothering to look up from his self-cradling. "Go away."

You sigh.

Looking back at your hut, you almost want to go back and cherish your precious time with your boyfriend. But you can't leave Chuck crying here - you promised you'd look after him when he first got here.

You take a seat in front of him, crossing your legs and adjusting Minho's shirt to make sure it keeps you decent.

"Chuck," you say, your voice low and reassuring, "what's going on? It's me; you know you can talk to me."

He peaks up at you, thinking for a second before shaking his head and returning to his hiding.

"Chuck-" you huff, "I'm not leaving you here."

"I'm not gonna tell you."

"Guess I'm staying here all night then, hm?"

Chuck glares at you, his eyes appearing above his knees, and you grin at him. He rolls his eyes, but moves his legs so he's sitting how you are. Legs crossed, sitting opposite each other, you raise your eyebrows, promoting him to speak.

"It's just... ugh, it's dumb," he rubs his face with his hands, trying to hide any remaining tears.

"I'm sure it's not - if it's upsetting you this much, then that means it's important to you. Come on, what's wrong?"

He hesitates. "I'm just... I'm just sick of being useless."

You furrow your brows. Chuck's been here for two weeks; he can't be sick of anything yet.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm- I'm just bad at everything. And no one likes me. I just piss everyone off and get in the way and everything thinks I'm useless - and what's the point? Why is everyone else so good at it all and I... suck."

"Hey," you shuffle forward, reaching for his hand. "You're not useless at all, Chuck." You rub his hand, offering some comfort. "You're just new, dude. Everyone feels useless and annoying when they're new because you don't know anything yet. We were all the same - we've all gone through the same klunk."

"Yeah, right," he scoffs, clearly not believing you.

You think for a second, recalling your own first couple of months here and smiling to yourself. You let go of Chuck and let your hand fall into your lap.

"It's the truth."

"Uh huh."

"You don't believe me?"

He shakes his head.

"Alright, you wanna hear a story? Something I've never told anyone?" This gets his attention. You smirk. "It's embarrassing."

"Yeah, okay." He crosses his arms. "This better be good."

"Well, did Newt ever tell you that I wanted to be a Runner?"

Chuck tilts his head, his mood already lifting. "No? You wanted to be a Runner?"

"Mhm," you nod, chuckling to yourself. "My first few weeks here, I didn't really know what to do with myself. I tried everything and nothing really fit - and then I suddenly decided I wanted to be a Runner."

"So? What's embarrassing about that?"

"Well, I'm not sure if you've noticed Chuckie-boy; but I am no Runner."

"So, what happened?"

"Well, I uh," you scratch the back of your neck, "I actually wanted to become a Runner because I... well, because I had a crush."

Chuck blinks, and you look away, sheepishly. You've never actually told anyone how long you've had a thing for Minho - but it started way before you started dating, and probably way before he had a thing for you.

"Shuck off," Chuck snorts, "you wanted to be a Runner 'cause you wanted to screw Minho?"

"Ew - don't say it like that!" You warn him, but he simply raises his eyebrows, giving you a knowing look. "Well, yeah - but that's not the point."

You clear your throat before continuing. "Anyway, I didn't really have any other motivation to do a job. So, being a Runner seemed like a good bet. I convinced Alby to get Minho to trail me - and I was shit." You snort, mainly out of embarrassment. "All I did was embarrass myself in front of the hottest guy I'd ever seen. I'm not fast, and I have a klunky memory and no sense of direction. So, I made a complete fool of myself."

"How is this meant to make me feel better?"

"I'm getting there," you snap. "After that, Newt got me a second trail in the Gardens - and because I wasn't so hell bent on being a Runner anymore and accepted that was dumb, I actually tried and ended up being good at it. And now I'm a Track-hoe - and it's great."

"So, you've got a decent job? Congrats." The boy flops backwards, sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Jesus- Chuck," you try to level with him. "It all takes time. It took me months to even trial as a Runner; never mind, shuck it up. You can't expect to be brilliant straight away. It takes a lot of effort and patience, and you've only been here two weeks. And sometimes things don't go how you expect them to, but that's fine. You'll be fine. You're gonna find your place and settle in - you just have to be patient." You pause. "And shuck what everyone else has to say; I know you're capable, and so do you. That's all that matters."

He smiles at you, nodding. "Yeah, okay, you're probably right. I'll be fine."

"Yeah, you will," you shift so you're on your knees, "now, gimme a hug and shuck off to bed, Chuckles."

Chuck sniffs, but grins at you, leaning forward and hugging you. He buries his face in your neck. "You're okay, yeah?" You ask as you rub his back and he nods.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he pulls away, "thanks, (Y/N)."

"Don't worry about it, kid, now - scram. Bed time." You stand up, offering a hand to him and yanking him to his feet before playfully pushing him away.

He laughs when you push him again. "Okay, okay, I'm shuckin' goin'."

You stand there for a moment, watching Chuck vanish off into the Glade and to his hammock. Shaking your head, you scoff, turning around and returning to your hut.

Though, when you open the door, you did not expect to find Minho sitting up straight. His legs hang over the bed, the blankets bundled around his crotch, a grin plastered across his face.

You freeze.

He's meant to be asleep.

"You should wear my shirt more often," he hums, "it suits you."

"Shut up, shank," you roll your eyes, shutting the door behind you.

"Hey, that's no way to talk to your long-term crush, is it?" You pause again.

Oh God.

He's never going to let you live this down.

"You're eavesdropping on my conversations now?" You cross your arms defensively, trying to ignore the heat coming to your face.

"Kinda hard not to when you talk so loud. Ain't my fault the walls are thin," he leans forward, tilting his head slightly and a faint smirk playing on his lips.

Dammit.

He's hard to resist.

"So, how long were you crushing on me for, exactly? 'Cause I don't think we've had that conversation." He's enjoying this new power. You are not.

You sigh, walking towards him and standing in front of him. You touch his hands, which he gladly reciprocates. You look at the floor and his looks at you.

"You're cute when you're flustered."

"Shut up, Minho," you hiss, making him let out a chuckle.

"You became a Runner because you wanted my attention?"

You look at him, pulling your bottom lip between your teeth. "Yeah," you say reluctantly.

"How much?"

"What?"

"How much did you want my attention?"

"Minho, seriously-?"

"And for how long?"

You throw your head back, groaning. "Minho-"

"No, no," he cuts you off, "I wanna hear it."

You hate it when he's like this. Well, no, you don't - but you do. He knows exactly how to get you to talk and how to turn you into putty at his touch.

You huff, dropping your head again. "I... I always wanted your attention." You murmur, the words being barely audible.

"What was that?"

"I always wanted your attention," your eyes meet his as you raise your voice. "From the first time I saw you jogging back into the Glade, gross and sweaty." You fiddle with his fingers, avoiding his gaze once again. "I was never attracted to anyone else." You press your lips together. "I was immediately attracted to you - there."

Your face burns, and your hands are sweaty. It's not like you can't tell Minho everything - it's just that this is going to be a teasing point for the rest of your life, and Minho doesn't need the ego boost.

"Is that so?" His voice is heavy and silky as his hands come to your waist. He slips them under your (his) shirt, resting them on the skin just above your underwear. He draws small circles into your hips.

You look at him, already getting drunk off of his touch. "You gonna show me how much you want me, then?" He mutters, leaning up.

Caving in, you press your lips against his, allowing him to guide you with his hands. He frees one hand and tosses the blankets to the side, leading you to sit on his lap. Your hands come to the back of his neck, brushing against his hair and deepening the kiss.

The thin amount of fabric between your bodies and the energy in the room is enough to get friction going. You hum into his mouth, grinding against him as you feel him harden against you.

Your hands go to the bottom of the shirt, about to lift it over your head when Minho stops you.

You pull away, puzzled and he grins. "Keep it on, it suits you, remember?"

You roll your eyes, kissing him again, your hands coming down his back, digging your nails in as you roll your hips.

"Shit," he mumbles pulling away for a moment, panting into your mouth. He takes your bottom lip between his teeth, pulling gently. "I shucking love you, you know that?"

"I love you, too." You look at him for a second before shoving him back.

"Shuck!" He exclaims just before you kiss him again, you lips trailing down his jaw and littering his neck. You leave deep purple marks on his chest, making the boy hiss and pull on your hair.

You keep going further down, peppering his abs with your affection as Minho's eyes roll back into his head.

"Shit," he repeats, his forearm coming to cover his eyes as his brain completely short-circuits. "What are you doing to me?"

His skin is flushed, his chest rises and falls, his hair is a mess, and you don't have to see his face to know his pupils are blown wide.

Sure, Minho holds a lot of power over you, but it goes both ways. You're the only person that gets to see him like this; dishevelled, whimpering, needy - weak.

You fiddle with the waistband of his boxers, feeling his grip tighten.

You look up at him, admiring him once again before you speak.

Whoop whoop, another Minho piece done.

"I'm showing you how much I want you."

The Glade pieces are so fun to write, and it's not very often I get to involve Chuck, so this was a nice change.

I hope you enjoyed :))

[grasshopperdoingdogpaddle]

Since we have already seen what kind of personality Jack would have as a good person, were given a short glimpse of what Wuya might be like if she was good, and already have a pretty good idea of what a Good Chase Young would be like, how do you think that the following listed Heylin Baddies would be like if they were given the yin-yang yo-yo treatment (as in had all of their evil chi left behind within the Yin-Yang World and thus be made pure good)?

Hannibal Roy Bean

Katnappe

Sibini

The Sapphire Dragon

Mala Mala Jong

Raksha

Dyris

Tubbimura

Cyclops

Vlad

PandaBubba and his men

Gigi

Le Mime

All the villains outside of the main three getting chi-swapped?

In the case of Hannibal, if it were possible to remove all the evil chi from him, I don't think anything of him would be left. He'd just be obliterated. The Yin-Yang world's chi-swapping can't touch him though.

Katnappe would channel her bioengineering skills for good and also run a rescue center for cats on the side. She would still steal either funds or supplies for her cats or otherwise finesse them, and her methods for acquiring grants sometimes involve hacking or manipulation, because that's still who she is, but it's for a good cause now.

The Sapphire Dragon, despite its malevolence, probably counts as a "neutral" creature like the Chi Beast. So no change there. But if you could chi-swap it, it would still probably be making Sapphire Zombies, it would just use them for nicer tasks than being its army and would perhaps be a little more picky about who it zombifies in the first place.

Raksha would be a friendly, Frosty The Snowman sort of creature! It would make playgrounds out of ice for kids to play in and invite guests to take shelter from the cold in its Snow Castle and sing musicals! He still considers himself the King but he's a jovial king.

Dyris would become a guiding figure that helps sailors avoid getting lost and rescues humans who have fallen overboard. (Klofange still thinks she should be dealt with before this chi-swap wears off and she goes back to her old ways in any case.)

Tubbimura would be taking nobler jobs and using his skills as a ninja to fight for justice. Which probably put him as odds with his ninja clan, as they are traditionally spies and assassins for hire. Tubbimura's services are still very much for hire, but he's a more heroic figure for hire now, probably usually a bodyguard.

Cyclops is a baby who is just following the lead of whoever is currently its caretaker, its caretaker just usually happens to be Heylin. As long as his caretaker is not evil, Cyclops will operate as he always has and just follow their lead. A Cyclops following good Jack is fun to imagine! (It's probably what we would have gotten in the show, if shortly after Jack had been chi-swapped, Cyclops hadn't been tied up and catapulted into the fiery pits of Chase's world.)

Vlad would have a similar switch to the one Jack have as good Jack. He's super helpful and bubbly and supportive, almost scarily so, and he changes to more formal fashion. The good guy he was pretending to be in his first appearance, essentially. He'd probably even rejoin the Xiaolin temple.

Instead of running the largest crime syndicate and being the number one crime lord in the world, Pandabubba would start running the world's largest charity, and turn his business operation into a non-profit. He still strong-arms donations and volunteer help from others, but for a good cause. Proceeds mainly go towards habitat conversation, especially for pandas!

Gigi would just happily spread his flowers through the world, but without trying to turn people into plants and take over everything.

Le Mime would still be pretty much the same behavior-wise, he's always liked messing with people as pranks and pranks are neutral. He just wouldn't actively be allying with evil anymore.

But I'm not sure about characters like Mala Mala Jong and Sibini. I guess they'd just be dudes? Everything about them is so wrapped up in their evil schemes specifically, it's hard to imagine what traits they have that even can be decoupled from that. They may fall under the same chi-swap immunity as Hannibal does, especially in Mala Mala Jong's current form that is just an amalgamation of Shen Gong Wu holding themselves together around his sealed heart.

[slippinmickeys]

This is for @medicatedmaniac who asked for a Ficlet set in the Proof of Life Universe: “Proof of Life my beloved - maybe the leadup to the Pulitzer prize being awarded? Maybe the night of and their in their hotel room getting ready to go to the ceremony? Or they get a letter about being nominated in the mail and maybe have mixed feelings on the nomination?”

1. She gets caught as she stands on the threshold of the hotel room, déjà vu suddenly overlaying her vision like a slide into a projector. The window is in the same place. The desk. The carpet is the same, though cleaner. If she closed her eyes she would hear a spat of gunfire. She does not close her eyes.

“Scully?” says Mulder from behind her with a gentle hand on her upper back.

She has stayed in hotel rooms since being held hostage in Africa, but this one…this one has a layout so similar to the one in which she was held that her amygdala takes over her higher functions. For a moment. One moment. Then she swallows and forces herself to breathe again. Forces herself to calm.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Mulder whispers. He has come up more closely behind her, is looking over her shoulder into the room.

He is the only other person in the world who would get it, and does.

In a moment, the bags he was holding hit the floor and he brushes past her, marches into the room with purpose, directly to the desk, where he picks up the telephone receiver.

“I’m getting us a different room,” he says.

Scully swallows thickly and finally does close her eyes, breathing deeply through her nose. She does not hear gunfire. They are an ocean away from that place.

“Wait,” she says, then moves into the room herself. Stands in the center and takes a slow turn. Mulder, still standing at the desk, still holding the phone receiver in his hand, watches her.

She turns to him calmly, and, she thinks, with dignity.

“Before you call,” she says, “take my picture.”

“Take your-”

“Take my picture,” she says. “In front of the window.”

Mulder slowly lowers the phone. Glances at her. Glances at the window. She doesn’t have to explain what she means. He understands immediately.

“A journey of a thousand days,” he husks.

Scully nods. “The light,” she goes on, “is perfect.”

2. Africa again, but far east of the jungle mountains and lowlands besieged by war, they are now in the shadows of Kilimanjaro, the savannah stretching before them as paper unfurls from a scroll.

Scully is here for six months, the resident doctor in a rural hospital built and supplied by a Canadian charity. She treats diseases long dead in the First World west, urges the women to collect water from the new well six miles away rather than the river that is only two.

She has a local guide and contact who works for the charity, a lanky Maasai man who goes by the Christian name of James. He wears ropes of delicate and colorful beads and a lion's tooth on a cord around his neck. Under his red tunic he wears a white Hanes wifebeater and sandals made of old tires. He is missing a tooth on the side of his smile, which he is also always wearing.

“Good morning, Doctor,” he says in his friendly accent when she emerges from the clinic door to see if there is anyone waiting for treatment.

“Jambo!” Scully says at a volume and enthusiasm which makes her uncomfortable. She would rather a quiet hello and nod, but the culture she is living in necessitates jovial greetings at all times.

James is leaning against a post just beyond clinic porch and holding a spear which means he was likely out in the bush.

“Have you seen Mulder?” she asks.

“Yes,” he says. “He got a call. He asked me to come and get you.”

At this, Scully raises her eyes. Cell phone reception is spotty here at best. She hasn’t bothered to carry her phone with her in weeks. Mulder always has his out in the field, but the clinic is in a dead zone and there’s really no point.

James pulls his own cell phone out of a pouch that’s looped around his waist. He presses a button and hands it to her.

“Scully?” says a tinny voice punctuated by static. She puts the phone to her ear.

“Mulder?”

“Scully,” Mulder says. “Call Benjamin and Savato, tell them we have to leave early.” He explains his statement in a rush and Scully is dumbfounded when she silently hands the phone back to James.

He nods at her and steps back respectfully. When she’s halfway through the door of the clinic, she comes back to herself and spins around.

“James!” She calls out. “How does your phone work here?”

James smiles widely, showing the gap in his mouth.

“Magic,” he says.

3. The day is sullen; gray and without cheer. Outside the window, the rain comes down in a defenestrating assault.

In the bright doorway of the bathroom — they have a top floor suite — Mulder stands, struggling with the knot of a bow tie.

“Monkey suit,” he says, a little whiny.

Scully smiles and walks up to him, the silk sheath dress she’s wearing whispering as she moves. She’s not wearing heels yet and has to tilt her head back to look up at him.

“It’s only for an evening,” she says, reaching up and taking over the knotting. “And if the big mucks at Columbia hear you complaining, they might take back your award.”

Mulder lifts his chin to give her more room to work. After a moment she feels his warm hands settle on her waist.

“There,” she says, straightening his bow tie. His hands stay where they are.

“Does it feel weird?” He asks her quietly. “To be here? For this?”

She pulls a stray hair — hers — from his white sleeve.

“A little,” she says.

4. “…for fairly obvious reasons, the areas of arts of scholarly arenas live close to my heart and lived experience. Over these two decades, so much has changed in our world. And we all know those changes have had huge impacts on journalism, the arts and scholarship. But three things have remained true. One, is that we value these roles of journalism, the arts and scholarship, and that has remained central to a good life. Personally, socially and politically. The second is that good and talented people continue to join these professions. And the third is that the Pulitzer Prizes annually provide the world with the occasion like tonight, to honor and celebrate these critically important areas of human endeavor, and the people who perform at the highest levels in them…”

The speaker continues to drone on. Scully pushes the remainder of her short rib around on her plate. Mulder has barely touched his fish.

The picture of Scully standing in the window of room 1055 at the Hilton has been projected on a giant screen behind the podium for the last several minutes, and Scully can feel the eyes of the gathered assemblage flitting to her on a near constant basis.

They’re probably thinking of her trauma, of her experience, and they have most certainly read the stories that were breathlessly published about her and Mulder. Most of them have seen up close and personal the ravages of war and upheaval. There are several journalists she knows here, acquaintances she left behind when she resigned from CNN. Most of them approached before the ceremony and politely inquired about her, her health, what she was up to now. Many with a sad, pitying look on their faces.

She sets down her fork and turns the wedding ring around in circles on her finger. She doesn’t feel pity when she looks at that picture. The look on that woman’s face displays nothing but courage, and the eye behind the camera nothing but love.

When Mulder heads up to the stage a moment later to be handed the certificate he won, the applause that spreads through the room is thunderous. His eyes never once leave hers.

5. The lobby of the auditorium is thick with people and humidity, joyous voices rising up over the static of tires sloshing over rainy streets just beyond the front doors. They’ve been back in the States for a week, but Scully still isn’t used to the crowds. The noise.

From behind her, Mulder touches the bare skin of her shoulder. He’s just returned from the coat check and holds up the red wool coat she’d had to buy at Nordstrom two days before. She puts her arms through the silken sleeves.

All around them winners and colleagues and friends are making plans to go out and celebrate their accomplishments. One man in a charcoal suit has a bottle of Veuve in his hand that he swiped off of one of the tables. Several people have invited them to join them.

Mulder tips his head to whisper in her ear.

“We can slip out right now when no one’s looking,” he says.

She doesn’t even wait to answer, using her small stature to slip in between several people and out into the cold damp.

They’ve been provided a town car and driver for the evening, but it’s too hard to find him in the chaos outside the auditorium, so they hail a cab instead. Once they’re on their way back to their hotel, Mulder pulls the certificate out from under his coat where it was sheltered from the rain and looks at it.

“I’m starving,” he says to the piece of paper.

“You barely ate,” Scully points out.

“I was nervous,” he explains.

Scully takes the certificate gently from his hands and looks at it. The gold foil. The calligraphy.

“If we call in a room service order now, it should be to our room by the time we get out of the shower,” she says.

“God I love you,” Mulder says reverently.

They gorge themsevles on cheeseburgers and truffle fries, and, on a whim, a bottle of champagne (Mumm’s rather than Veuve, as, Mulder points out, he isn’t about to spend his prize money on booze) as they sit around in fluffy white robes with HBO on mute on the big TV in the corner.

On the desktop, under their room key, sits the Pulitzer certificate.

“That’s as much yours as it is mine,” Mulder finally says to her, nodding towards it.

“Yes,” she agrees, and sets a half full glass of bubbles on the bedside table. She reaches for the terry cloth tie of his robe.

Later, it’s all soft sighs on soft sheets and Mulder fills her with himself until they become each other.

[falena-kingscholar]

Welcome to Sunset Savanna!

The king is a very busy man with lots to attend to, so I'll be taking care of all the administrative stuff so you all can have your fun!

My name is V, you can call me the royal advisor if you really wanted, and I'm here to keep everything running smoothly, keep this blog a safe place, and make sure everyone is having fun. In order to do that, of course, there have to be rules, so let me make this short and sweet as I can for you!

Bigots, terfs, racists, p*dos, you're all on the DNI list. I will block you if you come on my blog with the intention to harm someone else, or openly admit these values.

Being an advisor means I've got plenty on my plate beyond this blog. There is a real person running all this, with my own life to live. Please be patient and understanding.

Have fun!! If I or someone else is making you uncomfortable, feel free to let me know so I can set things right.

Limit your NSFW. I don't mind if you're thirsty to a certain extent, and I'm fine with cursing. Keep in mind that the RP community on Tumblr is diverse both in gender + sexuality, but also in age and I would like to keep this page friendly to everyone.

OCs, MCs and other Canon characters are welcome to interact. Just as a bit of a heads up, I'm not super comfortable shipping Falena with anyone besides his wife - but if you read below you'll see why that's a little rocky too.

This is a HEADCANON version of Falena. Below is a short description of how I interpret him and a few of his relationships. This is to ensure I enjoy the character I'm playing. This does not mean I'm not open to feedback or constructive criticism, just be respectful please.

Get To Know The King

He's fairly jovial and upbeat most of the time

He's really bad about just listening to problems - he likes to solve them

He and his wife are in a bit of weird spot - it's because he's still a closeted gay and it's impacted their marriage. He loves her still, just more platonically than romantically. They agreed to have a kid in hopes of repairing the rift they were both feeling, and it kind of worked, but he still really needs to be honest about his feelings Soon

Cheka is the one person he loves more than ANYONE and often comes across as a bit of an overbearing dad he's totally not just adding on to loving Cheka with all the love he wishes his brother would accept

The age gap between him and Leona? GUESS WHAT, I, THE PERSON BEHIND THE SCREEN HAVE THAT SAME AGE GAP WITH MY SISTERS (twins) (however we are still close and besties so I know. the Opposite of what I did is what I need to do for Falena sldkjfhlskdjf /hj)

That being said, Falena has a strained relationship with Leona that he has only recently come to notice now that Leona isn't around as often. He really wants to make amends, but feels like a complete stranger to his own brother and it shows in his interactions - he still kind of treats Leona like he's 6-13 because that's the Leona he remembers - the one who was still excited to see him when he came home from RSA. It wasn't until Falena was 19 that he noticed a bit of a rift. They started getting closer, then when Falena was 21 he was coronated and got married to his betrothed as his father fell ill.

Thank you for reading all of that! All that's left is to give credit where it's due.

The beautiful portrait done of his Royal Highness used as the face of this page, (with permission), was done by none other than @/lemonwerewolf here.

Dividers were made by @/saradika-graphics, here.

If the way I write seems familiar to you, you might recognize me from @twistedwonderlandshenanigans , my HC's and general writing blog for twst. (I follow from @/symphonicmetal101 though)

Thank you again, the King and I hope you enjoy your stay here,

In Sunset Savanna

[seafoamreadings]

week of august 6th, 2023

aries: venusian activity in your 5th house, retrograde or not (it is) means romance and creativity for you. love your inner child in the way that it needed when you were young. take yourself outside to play, or buy yourself a nice toy. if you have your own children or spend a lot of time around someone else's kids, be a safe and trustworthy grownup to them for extra good karma!

taurus: venus in retrograde comes back to square uranus and conjoin the sun, retracing her fairly recent steps. while it's probably less bubbly and bright than last time, it's still alluring and may herald romantic developments.

gemini: the moon in your sign such as it will be this week can make people antsy. you're not really an exception. on the brighter side of things though, you're more fluid than any other sign and can easily turn any mood around. you can turn other people's moods too, with your charming eloquence put to good use.

cancerians: it may well be that recent leonic themes are not something you're quite comfortable with, and maybe with venus retrograde over there you even have some financial struggles occurring. this week especially, overspending is ill advised. it's not such a mercurial time that you need to work out a whole budget unless you want to! just think twice (or three or four times) before you buy stuff for fun.

leo: sun conjunct venus is HUGE for leos, never mind the fact that venus is in retrograde. that just means you get to do this again after she turns direct and it'll be even better then! good vibes all week if you wear gold, especially rosy golds, and glitter, and big sleek hair. plus embrace the feline life and attitude. lilith is also in that neighborhood, so no need to adhere to any traditional roles. be in your wildest authenticity. you may be a house tiger, but you're still a tiger.

virgo: this week is peaceful for you if you are willing to surrender. but for a sign who has a negative stereotype about being micromanaging control freaks, which yes is a stereotype but also yes has some truth to it (admit it!!) this is no easy task. just practice letting go. if you founder, practice some more.

libra: venus retrograde is an introspective time for you but if there's any time during the process that you should be out socializing it's this week, and if you don't want to then at least take some good selfies. the glow is unreal and people should see it, don't deprive them of your divine aura.

scorpio: frivolous for some but poignant for you. that's the vibe this week. others can't be expected to understand what you're going through, so you may feel a bit lonely in it all, but try to enjoy or at least appreciate the solitude such as it is and do something really kind for yourself, and then do something really kind for someone else, with no expectation of reward or even recognition.

sagittarius: jovial jupiter, your sign's ruler, gets beamed with a friendly trine from mercury, the merchant and trickster. little harmless deceptions or mistakes can actually work out in your favor, and if you're in any form of sales it is currently profitable.

capricorn: once a month, like this week, the moon treks through your relationships house in cancer. on the weekend you'll probably feel like settling in and settling down with a comfortable person. but make sure they are more than comfortable - your structured lifestyle needs more than a nap and a good meal.

aquarius: uranus in taurus has likely had you feeling out of your element. and the series of squares to that ruling planet of yours probably compounds the problem. the trick is to stay utterly true to yourself, while also embracing ways in which you can grow, especially in areas that involve nature - the grass, the trees, the dirt. get out of your mad scientist lair for just a bit.

pisces: increasing activity in virgo, much of which is shadowy and operatic, has you feeling a bit wuthering heights. partnered pisceans may be questioning their commitments or feeling questioned themselves. single pisceans are more likely than usual to find themselves in "situationships" they really wish were more, even if they struggle to admit it.

[lumiereandcogsworth]

this is kinda vague cause I don’t have any specific question in mind but can you talk about lumiere and adam’s relationship? just ,, anything about them? cause lemme tell youuuuuuuu something 🫵🏻 I think about that fic where he performs a magic trick for little adam all the time

SCREAM!!! the fact that you think about that fic so much makes me SO HAPPY😭 i ADORE adam & lumi’s relationship so YES LET’S GET INTO IT BABEY!

for starters, i headcanon that they’re 11 years apart. i did this because dan stevens and ewan mcgregor are 11 years apart, lmao. but i also think it makes sense! so i didn’t feel like altering that.

they met when adam was 4, and lumiere was hired as a 15-year-old footman. i think they liked each other instantly. lumiere’s jovial/loud/playful personality perfectly filled in all the gaps of adam’s terrible shyness. queen renée liked him, (she was only like. 6-7 years older than him) and he reminded her of her own younger brothers, whom she dearly missed. this helped adam trust lumiere quicker, as lumiere ended up spending extra time with him.

like in the fic you’re referring to, lumiere quickly picked up on how regularly adam needed to be rescued. mrs. potts filled him in on the severity of the situation here, and how it’s been like this since he was born, so lumiere became pretty protective of adam. he’d try to distract him and pull him out of reality as much as he could. cogsworth was always on the fence about it, because on the one hand, he wants to follow the rules and obey the king’s orders that servants aren’t supposed to be friendly with the family. but on the other hand, he cared about little adam too, and he was glad, in THIS case, that lumiere was so good at being sneaky

a couple years later, plumette joined the crew as a young maid. lumi fell for her INSTANTLY, and they became besties very quickly. she, too, of course, felt so badly for the little prince. she also became trusted by queen renée (who was alwaaysss rooting for those two — she’d get their schedules rearranged so they could work together or get days off together, and even find secret rooms to allow them alone time. she’s the OG plumiere shipper😤)

ANYWAY, my point there is that lumi and plumette very much became the big brother & sister that adam very much needed. they both played with him as much as they could. they’d go for walks with him in the garden when his mother was occupied, they’d race boats across the pond. lumiere would give him piggy back rides around the castle and adam would actually laugh sometimes!! he was so,., not very expressive as a kid. especially not happy emotions. so it always melted their hearts when they could hear his precious little giggle🥹

i’ve mentioned this before i think, but for birthdays and christmas and such, queen renée would send lum and plum to paris to get gifts for adam, since she was often not permitted to leave without the king🙃

lumiere also taught adam how to play chess!!!!! he also taught him some “special moves” (cheating) that guarantee (he’s cheating) victory every time😎 (he taught him how to cheat because beating cogsworth is funny). but he still knows (and never forgets!!!) the basics!!

when the queen got sick… ough. everyone was just trying to take care of adam as much as they could. which wasn’t enough At All, but it was all they could do. and when she died? OUGHDKFJSKJ!!!!!!!! adam was 9 (and a half), lumiere was 20. everyone (except the king 🤬🔪) is very very very sad.

adam would have really really awful nightmares, following her death. he’d wake up screaming and sweating and panicking. he’d cry and just entirely be unable to calm down. lumiere soon learned about this and started sneaking to the west wing at night and sleeping in the hallway outside of his room. and then when he’d hear adam wake up, he’d come in and try to soothe him best he could. he’d climb onto the bed and sit beside him and hold him tight until the crying turned to whimpering. adam would mumble “where is she? where’s mama? i want mama” and lumiere would shush him gently and try to keep him calm and pet his hair, telling him to go back to sleep.

the king soon found out about this (he had too many RATS working for him😤) and forbade it, putting a guard outside adam’s room so no one was allowed in during the night. (and sometimes louis would force him to stay in there during the day too! if he was being particularly difficult (having autistic meltdowns or just in general Being An Autistic And Depressed Child) and no one could control him🙃)

anywaaayyyyyy this is the beginning of the many cracks and fractures that would come to their friendship. adam is sent to boarding school in the fall and he just gets more closed off, angry, sad, you name it! from here. it’s not a 180 flip though. the first few years when he comes home for breaks, he’s still drawn to lumi & plum and still leans on them. i have a sweet fic from when he was 11 that’s 🥹🤧 a precious moment amidst the terribleness. and it’s more lumi doing card tricks!! hehe!! he’s an entertainer, what can i say?🤩

by the time he’s a teenager though there’s basically nothing between them. his father beat him enough times to Stop Talking To Them that he just finally gave up trying. and when his father dies just before adam turned 16, it’s all a mess. adam’s completely cold with all of them. he’s been away most of the time the last 6 years because of school so when he does come back and Stay at the castle, he just really makes it his domain. he invites all the awful friends he’s made in the cities, he creates his corrupt and awful court, he indulges and drowns in his self-loathing. all that good stuff 🙃

and where does it leave lumiere? heartbroken with the rest of the gang. feeling like they failed him. which is so hard because it’s like!!! they did as much as they COULD. if they did any more, if they were less sneaky, less careful, they’d have lost their livelihoods! and they couldn’t risk losing their work OR leaving adam to truly fend for himself. so they settled for the brief moments they could each spend with him, desperately hoping it would be enough for him to turn out like his mother, instead of his father😭

but of course. we know how the story goes. during the curse it’s interesting because he’s just stuck with them. like there’s no other people he could distract himself with. he’s stuck with them!!! and he clearly still listens to them, at least to a degree. i really love the scene where he sees a place setting for belle at the table and he gets PISSED and yells “LUMIERE!!!!!!!!!” and goes to talk to him. and he’s all pissy and grumpy but he’s still talking to him!! and cogsworth!! and mrs. potts!! it’s just so complicated!!!! like it’s not like he’s FORGOTTEN how much they meant to him, it’s just that his mind and heart are so DEEPLY clouded by the trauma of growing up with his father and the anger that he still feels for him, and himself! because of him! AGHGHH!!!

but you know what scene kicks so much ass??? THE ADAM & LUMIERE HUG!!!!!!!!!!! i’ve already perfectly elaborated on it here, and idk if i’ll ever be able to elaborate on it again because it usually just makes me go GJSKFHWKDHWKDHSKSJ!!!!!!!!!!! but that hug is just. CRAZY. “HELLO OLD FRIEND” ??????? i’m gonna throw myself into the sun. adam calling lumiere his old friend is genuinely one of the reasons i fell so FREAKING hard for this film seven years ago. what a line. what a scene. THE IMPLICATIONS OF IT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! adam’s cold heart is thawed and is full of LOVE and he HUGS HIS OLD FRIEND, THE ONE WHO WAS LIKE A BROTHER TO HIM, THE ONE WHO PLAYED WITH HIM AND WIPED HIS TEARS AND HELD HIM WHEN HE JUST WANTED THE WORLD TO SWALLOW HIM WHOLE. THATS HIS OLD FRIEND!!!! ADAM LOVES LUMIERE SO SO SO MUCH 😭😭😭

gosh… anyway, as a last, lovely, note. they of course become such best friends. after the curse, they have a couple deep talks that are so Good for them both, but especially adam. and adam learns how to confide in him, how to trust him again. they play billiards and pass the time! they play chess and adam “wins” and lumiere’s like hey dude i thought we AGREED we were only gonna use those moves on COGSWORTH!!! also lumiere becomes his valet for many years, so they’re just always chattin about one thing or another. (it’s usually court gossip though. lumiere being a servant has ALL THE TEA☕️).

they become fathers together, their children grow up together. heck! they become fathers-in-LAW together!! juliette ends up marrying lumiere & plumette’s eldest son, sebastian!!! :”) (and reecy & their younger child xavier are BEST FRIENDS😤 which is also VERY IMPORTANT‼️) their families are just forever intertwined. even before the marriage, they really are family. in a modern suburban au, i just KNOW they’d be neighbors having barbecues at each other’s houses all summer 🤧 anyway it’s just so beautiful man!! adam and lumiere just have such an important bond. they’ve Truly been through thick and thin. it’s such a sweet love, to have a friend as wonderful as they have in each other 🥹

[cast-you-dxwn]

You know who

Name: Lucius Morningstar

Gender: Technically Genderless, presents Male

General Appearance: Tall, broad, corded with muscle, every part of Lucius’ being screams of his father’s genetics. He stands a few feet taller than Oriana, shorter than Michael by a fair margin but still taller than the majority of Heavens residents. He is far less feathered than his his mother and sisters, only having a ruffle about the back of his neck and a light coating of feathers over his knuckles and forearms, but the wicked talons and razor sharp teeth are a clear indication of his mothers identity. He shares his father’s strong features, his curly golden hair, but he shares his eyes with his mother and sisters.

Personality: Jovial, a young man who has grown up in a golden age of Heaven free from the Old Councils heresy, without the lingering threat of being taken from his parents and turned into a monster. He is quick with a joke (perhaps too quick), a very casual and calm presence who has inherited his mother’s patience. That said, he is supremely protective of his mother and sisters, and explosively quick to anger if they are threatened or insulted.

Special talents: Lucius has inherited many of his father’s abilities. Amongst them are the ability to manipulate holy energy, an innate mastery of weaponry, and the talent of creation. He mainly uses the last to make his sisters laugh or make them snacks.

He has his father’s wings, six of them, but they are patterned in the same manner as Ori and his sisters, the clearest sign of his mixed ancestry.

He also has a far lesser version of Orianas talent for precognition. He can’t see the future, but he does have a ‘spidey sense’ that will trigger when something bad is about to happen and give him h chance to act preemptively.

Who they like better: Oriana, Lucius is a huge mamas boy. He adores Michael as well of course, but when he is young he is stuck to his mothers side at all hours, learning everything she has to teach (or at least trying, claws are hard for babies).

Who they take after more: SAINT FUCKING MICHAEL. Lucius is very calm, kind, and well-intended. But he is possessed of a Seraphs powers and the Exorcists propensity for extreme physical violence. He was taught well, but he takes the “protect your sisters” edict his father gave him a little too seriously. Ayalet has had to keep her brother from maiming her boyfriend more than once.

Personal headcanon: Very secretly, Lyriel is his favorite sister. Despite being more than 1000 years older than him, she’s the second youngest, and he spent a great deal of time pestering her when he was young. She’s the one who taught him how to paint, and he would always make her fruits as thanks. They maintain a friendly rivalry, but would do anything for each other.

Faceclaim:

[nanjokei]

i wrote some quick oc profiles yesterday in my notes app ill just share them unedited under the cut ^.^

important context is that the characters were in cryostasis for 96 years (were only supposed to be in it for 25 but lol) so its set in 2107

i want to write more later...

1. ALPHA

REAL NAME: Clarine ■■■■■■

AGE: 20

DOB: 05/18/1991

GENDER: F

HEIGHT:

UNIT: Bedrock

WEAPON: Dual-wielding sword and dagger (think Nanami from Utena)

MENTAL: S | PHYSICAL: S | TACTICS: B | HANDLING: A | PERCISION: S

OVERALL RANKING: 2

A young woman carried by the tides of life.

Her motto might as well be "Sure, I'll do it."

Alpha is hardly apathetic, but she is malleable to a fatal degree, as if she has little care for her own well being, as long as the next day comes. This is beneficial, so do not hesitate to make use of her whenever feasible.

There is not much to note about her personality aside from her apparent and distinct lack of any. She also shows disinterest in befriending the other pilots beyond being jovial acquaintances with them, lowering any risk of unnecessary attachments. She is quite friendly, but is quick to excuse herself from any social activity. Really, it is as if this woman could disappear at any moment, but she is also a permanent bedrock for the team. She chose the name of her unit quite aptly.

For this reason, even aside from her high aptitude, she is by far the most reliable pilot and there are no troubles with deploying her whatsoever. She will be ready at any time which is unfortunately rare among the squad.

She works well with others, and is shown to have compatibility with Kappa in particular, as they have similar aggressive tendencies in battle. However, unlike Kappa, her fighting style is incredibly plain and she injects no unnecessary individuality into her work. Overall, she can be paired up with anyone. She adapts to their style and proclivities as needed.

Make no mistake, despite her plainness, she is remarkably talented with no apparent drawbacks.

2. KAPPA

REAL NAME: Daniel ■■■■■

AGE: 23

DOB: 11/11/1988

GENDER: M

HEIGHT:

UNIT: Longinus (later Longinus - JꙨKER.. lmao)

WEAPON: Spear

MENTAL: B | PHYSICAL: S | TACTICS: A | HANDLING: S | PERCISION: B

OVERALL RANKING: 4

How do you solve a problem like Kappa?

He is well mannered and not difficult to deal with, but the biggest issue and his downfall is the delusions of grandeur he has about what kind of job this is.

To put it frankly, he is someone who is much too inundated with video games, movies and TV.

He calls out attack names, shows off and even spent days coming up with names for his unit.

On the flip side, he is enthusiastic and obedient, albeit rather reckless. As long as he is not sent out alone, this can be nipped in the bud easily.

For all these mostly positive qualities, he has a troublesome tendency to busybody and make unnecessary suggestions after every deployment. There's no use listening to his blabbering, so please ignore them, with special note to shut down his constant nagging and questions about the status of other pilots and units. Especially his constant harrassing of us about the status of the pilot Delta and the unit Polydeuces.

Unnecessary questions about such future matters are strictly forbidden.

He is a valuable asset despite everything, so treat him carefully, as he is surprisingly sensitive. His inflated sense of justice is not troublesome as it flaccid and carries a shocking lack of idealism. But still, he is an idealist by choice nonetheless.

It is clear he does not even believe his own bluff, which may explain his impacted MENTAL score.

3. SIGMA

REAL NAME: ■■■■■■■■■■■ (Redacted at request of pilot.)

AGE: 26

DOB: 03/09/1985

GENDER: X

HEIGHT:

UNIT: Trojan, also a possible Gemini system candidate

WEAPON: Double guns (similar to Uzi SMGs..?)

MENTAL: A | PHYSICAL: B | TACTICS: S | HANDLING: B| PERCISION: A~B

OVERALL RANKING: 6

Sigma, while a skilled pilot, is a special case and cannot be deployed freely.

Due to his medical background as a nurse, and our understaffed medical wing, he is to be stationed there for as long as necessary. He is also to monitor the vitals of pilots during deployment until we are able to train others to be able to do so as easily. Not only due to our lack of personnel, but also due to his outdated knowledge of medicine.

After all, the pilots possess risk of disease that have long been wiped out in our time— both figuratively and literally. Given such knowledge was foolishly purged from most medical textbooks, he may be the only one who could deal with diseases such as "influenza", for which we do not even possess vaccines for any longer.

They are logical and unbiased, but not cold in the slightest. Overall, has good relationships with all the other pilots. Perhaps this is to be expected from someone in that profession, but it is a positive trait, so it must be noted upon.

In simulations, Sigma was shown to be alert and adapt to any possible scenario thrown at him. In fact, he is even able to come up with solutions previously not accounted for that are much more efficient than the projected best case scenario. If there ever comes a day he must be deployed, we will witness something great.

However, it is of utmost importance to note that their actual piloting is only above average most of the time, so do not expect miraculous performance either.

4. DELTA

REAL NAME: Alex ■■■■■■

AGE: 24

DOB: 07/01/1987

GENDER: M

HEIGHT:

UNIT: Polydeuces (requires second pilot add-on and other currently unimplemented features)

WEAPON: Sniper rifle (can also be used in melee. somehow.)

MENTAL: S~? | PHYSICAL: F | TACTICS: S | HANDLING: S | PERCISION: S

OVERALL RANKING: 1

Delta is proof that you are not served victory in a silver platter.

To start, there are no two ways about it, he is terminally ill.

It seems that our predecessors were obscenely confident in our ability to find a cure for his still yet to be diagnosed illness. The future had other plans. While we have a combination of medications that keep him functional in our present day, it doesn't mean he is even remotely healthy. He is nowhere near even the suggestion of deployment. His observed medical ailments, as well as his old medical records, are compiled in a different confidential report with a clearance level of 5.

The worst part is that Delta begs to be deployed.

He thinks of doing nothing else.

Due to all this, he is deeply resentful of us and a poison to morale. He is increasingly impatient about the "when", and more and more unwilling to accept any kind of explanation for the perceived delay.

It is not good form to bring up personal ethics in such reports, but no part of this feels like it was handled with any kind of responsibility. Even to us, who would have to deal with the fallout.

It's not difficult to sympathize with his plight, and most pilots thankfully quickly grew numb to it, so there are less problems with them intermingling than expected. In fact he gets along with most pilots normally. It may be due to the fact that Sigma is the main person nursing him, but he is especially fond of them. Still, there are no shortcuts here.

In simulations, his performance is so perfect that the results were thought to have been doctored at first to justify the mistake of recruiting him. He was tested rigorously as a result, but not as much as our predecessors OR we in the present time would have liked, as even mere simulations exacerbated his health problems. So it goes without saying that in practice, at this moment even a stationary position such as sniping is out of the question (he is capable of other roles as well, not that his body would allow it). In recent simulations post-cryofreeze, his MENTAL parameter became unquantifiable. It has shockingly not impacted his other parameters.

It is critical to note that Delta is on the verge of quitting constantly. As we cannot afford to lose such an asset, you may be as lenient with him as needed. Just be careful not to accidentally extend such leniency to the others.

In addition to that, ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■. ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■... ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■.

5. RHO

REAL NAME: N■■■ ■■■■■■ (The pilot was very particular about this redaction.)

AGE: 18

DOB: 04/05/1993

GENDER: F

HEIGHT:

UNIT: Amaryllis, also a possible Gemini system candidate

WEAPON: Lasergun (handgun size)

MENTAL: B | PHYSICAL: A | TACTICS: D | HANDLING: B | PERCISION: C

OVERALL RANKING: 8

Rho is the youngest pilot in the roster, barely qualifying, as the program was forbidden from attempting to solicit and recruit minors.

Aside from how young she is, she is also selectively mute. For the most part, this is no issue for us, as she has been cooperative and had given us several alternative means of communicating with her, and she is even able to speak somewhat fluently to a few select pilots. Our concerns mainly lay with her performance related to this that may be a safety concern for both her and whoever may have to work with her, so we are currently reviewing all possibilities and solutions as well as performing more simulations before considering deployment.

As for her disposition, while surprisingly sociable and bubbly, she ultimately prefers to be alone. She is dutiful and attempts to project an air of maturity and responsibility... whether this is to avoid others as much as possible or simply to assuage any worries, no one knows yet. Due to her age, it is my own personal suggestion to keep monitoring her mental state. She is still quite immature.

In simulations, Rho has shown decent performance, hampered by mediocre reflexes and lack of experience. She is good at following instructions and can think for herself to some extent, however she shows little imagination when challenged by the unfamiliar and is thus prone to minor panic and impulsive decisions that make little sense. This flaw tends to bring simulation runs to a premature end, too many times to ensure a high enough rate of success to be of any use, but there is potential.

Simply put, to deploy her right now is to send her to an early grave.

She is quite skilled with bridge work and is happy to do it, and was able to adapt to current technology at a breakneck pace. She is also able to work with pilots in real time for the most part, showing a great amount of focus. Because of this, despite not being ready to be deployed, she makes herself incredibly useful.

[blackjackkent]

Chatted with a random Flaming Fist in the refugee camp area which turned out to be a, uh, VERY DIFFERENT CONVERSATION THAN I EXPECTED.

"Hail, friend! Fine day, isn't it?"

"Forgive me - you're in no mood to talk about the weather. Your journey here was a hard one, no doubt. Is this your first time in Baldur's Gate?"

He seems jovial, but something about his tone feels just the slightest bit forced. So Hector is cautious.

"My past is none of your concern."

"No offense intended. Just being friendly. You won't find many others making the effort." His smile tightens sardonically. "Used to be you'd arrive knowing you'd a full belly and a warm bed waiting for you. Not anymore. These days there's barely enough to go round. Add the refugees on top... and, well, folk aren't feeling too generous."

Hector cocks his head to one side. He hears his companions shift uneasily. All of them heard the way the man's voice twisted on the word "refugees", the air of malice that came into his whole attitude.

Hector keeps his voice deliberately even. "Is there anything I can do to ease these people's burden?" he asks.

"Been asking myself the same question," the guard mutters harshly, seeming to be speaking to himself as much as to Hector. "I wouldn't be the first to interfere. Some well-to-do's in the city donated enough to see the newcomers right for the time being. Only they didn't bother helping everyone else. Locals going without while strangers feast-- it's stoked the fire all right. Some Baldurians are kicking up a fuss round the front of the barn as we speak." His voice lowers and he meets Hector's eyes with a significant glance. "If I wasn't wearing this uniform, I'd walk round there and teach them a lesson they'd never forget."

Hector's eyes narrow. It's hard to discern whether the guard is saying he'd want to beat up the Baldurian complainers or the refugee interlopers, but either way, this is not the talk he wants to hear from the city's guardians. "You're supposed to keep the peace, not stoke the fire," he says coolly.

The soldier barks a laugh. "What peace? If no one steps in, there'll be bodies piled high in the streets before long." His jaw sets, as if he has come to some sudden conclusion. "Those refugees have been leeching on our city for too long. If we don't show them we mean business, they'll bleed us dry." He leans forward, stabs a finger at Hector's chest. "We need to march round the front and kill every last one of them. Let's see them eat our food with their guts on the floor. What do you say?"

Hector stares at him, disgusted, appalled. Not only at the suggestion, but at the fact that he somehow believes Hector would be a kindred spirit, to go along with this brutal plan.

"They're innocent people!" he sputters, so bewildered that it's a struggle to form a coherent response. "You can't just kill them!"

The guard's smile grows, suddenly, maniacally. "Why does it matter? Innocence makes the blood run clearer!"

Suddenly he straightens. His neck cracks to one side, his body spasms, his eyes light with a pale red glow that spreads to cover his whole body.

Hector goes still as a statue, his breath seizing in his throat. Orin, the Bhaalspawn from Moonrise, one of the Chosen, the most mysterious and dangerous of the three... stands directly in front of him.

"So..." Orin murmurs with lunatic glee. "You're the lickspittle who crushed the Bone Lord's thrall." She looks him up and down appraisingly, that wide, manic smirk cutting her face from ear to ear. "Have you come beg-begging, sniffing for our stones? Gortash won't like that - a throat his black hand can't choke the spit from."

She draws closer to him; he can smell the stench of blood in the air she walks through. At his side, his companions are all also still as stone, tense as a drawn bowstring but wary of striking. None of them know anything about this person, this creature - who she is, what she is capable of, or even fully what she wants.

She laughs brightly, brushes the tips of her fingers over his chest in a single taunting motion before drawing back. "You'll need to bleed and carve this city if you want to turn him to grave meat," she sneers. "He shivers at the thought."

Her voice lowers almost to a whisper, her eyes glinting conspiratorially. "When you find the lordling - tell him Orin is watching."

She vanishes in a burst of red light, leaving the group standing bewildered behind her.

Fear of an entirely new kind flickers through Hector abruptly. "So Orin is a shapeshifter," he whispers hoarsely. "How long has she been watching?"

A creature who could be anything, anyone... this is a threat unlike anything they've already encountered. If Orin could take the place of someone he trusts, someone he would believe implicitly... she could make him do anything, and he wouldn't even realize it.

How can they fight such a thing?

Then again, he thinks, with a flash of dark humor, I thought that about Ketheric, too.

[usagirln12003]

Hooty: Hogwarts AU

Hooty is a Polstergeist that haunts the house of Edalyn Clawthorne.

Hooty is shown to be a jovial and very welcoming creature with a falsetto voice, often greeting visitors to Eda's and trying to be accepted as part of a group activity. He is rather talkative and claims to have many stories of his experiences to share, but he rarely, if ever, gets to share them since most people, including the inhabitants of the house, consider him to be annoying.

King refers to him as being desperate for attention, which he doesn't deny. He is easily annoyed by the neglect which Eda and King throw at him, but nevertheless offers help if needed. Hooty can also be passive-aggressive at times. Once when King refused to let him into his boot camp, causing Hooty to play "hard to get" when King comes to him for help later. Because of his station in life, being bound to the house, most of his activities and hobbies involve talking, telling riddles, listening to music, and rolling around in the mud.

Much like Eda and King, Hooty also has a cheeky and mischievous streak to his personality, occasionally being amused by seeing people getting hurt or poking fun at other people's bad luck. However, Eda also claims that despite his annoying tendencies, he still finds his way into her heart.

Like owls, Hooty is also aggressive and territorial. Once he mistakes Luz's painting of himself as an owl trying to take his territory, prompting him to freak out and tear up the drawing. Despite this, he usually won't make this mistake if he sees the person creating the art of himself. He later shows his aggressiveness again when he angrily told King not to interrupt him while demonstrating about ghosts and became furiously aggressive when he was offended by King's weird dance as he believed that he's making fun of his mother.

Hooty is known to be quite emotional at times. He often cries and pulls himself away every time he thinks he failed to help King, Eda, and Luz with any of their problems. After thinking he failed for a third time, Hooty has a nervous breakdown. He decides that everyone in the house will be better off without him and tries to leave, going so far as to rip himself out of the house in an attempt to get away from it, all while crying hysterically. It is only until Eda and King convince him that he did end up helping them and seeing Luz and Amity hold hands together that he finally calms down and cries happily, knowing that he did help everyone.

Even with all his goofiness, Hooty is shown to be a great and competent protector, having protected Eda and King for years. While he serves as the house's annoyance, he’s also shown to be the building’s protector as well and being very good at it, being able to single-handedly defeat Lilith and all the aurors when they came to arrest Eda, defeating everyone just seconds after waking up from slumber. Hooty also managed to protect Luz and King when they ventured to a nearby colony of Acromantulas, acting as a shield to them when they were escaping the place. He also managed to successfully protect Lilith while she was awaiting her new wand, earning her friendship in the process.

One thing that distinguished Hooty above everything is his willingness to be friendly to everyone he meets, even enemies. While beating up Lilith and the aurors, he continued to be friendly to them, (forcefully) having tea parties with them once he manages to capture them. While it could be just desperation in wanting to have friends, whether is friend or foe, Hooty will be amicable to them. He’s also unquestionably friendly with Luz, King and Eda, despite the trio often ignoring and even mistreating him when he’s being too annoying. Hooty is also shown to never hold any grudges against anyone, befriending Lilith despite her years of trying to catch her sister and bearing no ill will towards Amity despite her severely jinxing him shortly after meeting, being very welcoming to her when she comes back to the house the second time.

[relamune]

Kael'thas for the ask meme thingy please i need

favorite thing about them Okay I'll try not to write a novel here but there's so little I don't adore about Kael'thas & it's hard to choose just one thing for this lmao. Like you can tell he cared/cares about his people a LOT, he just made some very poor decisions. I love that despite everything he tries to put the blood elves first, he definitely shouldered way more responsibility than he really needed to even for their leader imo, he had other people he could have relied on to share that burden! but he didnt!

Even before the scourge or the outlands, kael had SUCH an interesting personality? Like hes sometimes this bratty childish prince that can be stubborn as hell if he doesnt get his way but he's also easily one of the most powerful mages at the time, even getting on the council of six seemingly relatively easily because of it. So he may be a bit spoiled but he definitely clearly knows how to reign himself in & be serious when he needs to be & that makes him such a fun character with depth beyond just leaning into one trait or another.

Blizzard really shafted themselves when they tossed him away, I would have LOVED to see him progress through the expansions beyond being forgotten about until Shadowlands. least favorite thing about them how blizz threw him away :) I will never recover from the knowledge that they used him PURELY to fill a raid boss slot. He had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. I guess on the other hand we probably wouldn't have nearly as much content with the triumvirate as we do but I'm still not happy about nerfing Kael like that. favorite line "This is your brain, say hello brain. (brain says 'Hello!') And this is your brain on fel magic: (fel magic burns)(brain cries in pain) Any questions?"

(Honestly any of the HoTS quotes are gold this one just made me laugh the hardest) brOTP Hot take perhaps? Sylvanas pre-scourge. I like to imagine he kept trying to play matchmaker with her & lorthemar at that time & both of them hated the concept (but unfortunately kael is a stubborn bitch) but otherwise their friendship was equal parts business and jovial (as much as Sylv could be anyways) OTP honestly a BIG tie between Kael x Rommath & Kaellidan nOTP Controversial take in the Kael fandom probably but Jaina. I like them as friends or friendly rivals but don't really understand why there would be romance between them. random headcanon okay idk if this is gonna make sense & this is more of like a character study headcanon rather than a legit "this is how I think he goes about life" sort of thing but i have a big hc the triumvirate are just...sections of Kael. His laidback/care free traits being Hal, His leadership & determination & drive to protect the blood elves being Lorthemar, & his passion for magic & everything scholarly being Rommath. Idk maybe I'm looking to far into it but the fact Lor has reminded Rom of Kael on more than one occasion & vice versa really has me thinking on this.

If you want like a legit headcanon tho I definitely think Rommath got his humor and love of puns from Kael back from when they were younger. Kael said one (1) pun once, Rom laughed his ass off (& still refuses to admit it), & has come to appreciate the crafty wordplay of puns ever since.

Also another for you as an excuse to put it somewhere :: his title "the sun king" was actually from Illidan, back during one of their first meetings. Illidan meant it more in a derogatory way towards kael but kael thought it was brilliant & adopted it unpopular opinion i,,, actually dont like his VA in TBC. Nothing against the guy personally, imo it just doesnt fit Kael? I liked the one they used in Heroes of the Storm & SL (which i...THINK is the same person? idk im bad with remembering names but they sound similar so im sticking with that assumption) song i associate with them I have way too many actually that are just ship songs but I do associate this one specifically with Kael

Glass Animals - The Other Side of Paradise favorite picture of them his hearthstone battleground illustration does very gay things to me

[naradivision]

Relationship: Family & Friends - Yuuya Kanata

—Family Tree—

Enchu Kanata (夏向 炎昼) † - Yuuya’s deceased biological father whom he cherishes so dearly. Going by the artist name “Natsumeku”, he was sung praises by fellow artists to be a god-tier composer who absolutely knows how to turn every piece of music into the heartfelt masterpiece. He has a friendly nature and worked in the entertainment industry for quite a time so he had built a variety of connections here and there, but very few know that he also had a small band “Σummer sign” with a studio under the same name, and even more lesser than few know that his real surname wasn’t really his but his mentor’s who had now long passed away… And whilst being a soft-spoken cordial man at his core, he still got a divorce from his wife. And that was one thing he forever grieved for not being able to make up with her until she left with their only daughter. However, he did strive to raise his son all on his own and that somehow sparked Yuuya’s interest into the world of melodies. Sadly, one day he was found dead after a fire broke out at his studio. The incident is identified as an accident, but is there anything deeper than that?

Mayonaka ███████ (まよなか, 49 Years Old) - Yuuya’s biological mother who he desperately craved for her affection. A cold beauty whose expression always appears as stern and difficult to read, her husband used to be the only one that was able to get beyond her hard shell until she divorced him because of their disagreement on something. She once worked as a journalist for Koyo TV news. From Yuuya’s childhood, she seemed to always ignore him for some unclear reason. The last thing he knows about her is that she has moved into the territory under Chuohku, taking his older sister along. It’s highly possible that she has found a new job there—

Mamori ███████ (茉守, (now) 24 Years Old) - Yuuya’s beloved biological older sister. She is the one whom seemed to receive all the attention from their mother much to his jealousy, yet she hasn’t even once forgeted about her little brother and tried her best to shower him with a lot of love and care which greatly influenced him until today. Even if deep down he still can’t shake those ugly feelings off his heart, he can never bring himself to spite her and does cherish his dear big sister the same way she has always done for him. Her departure with his mother makes him sad but he still holds onto a vague hope to meet her once again. From his memories; she is always his supportive big sis, his mother figure, his proud hero, his playful storyteller, and is someone he idolizes from the bottom of his heart —But HEY, which kind of person is she really? [Status: Unknown Who knows? ]

Yoshiteru Kanata (夏向 芳照) ✝︎ - The kind and goofy music teacher who returned to his hometown in Nara after his retirement. Out of his generosity, once he had mentored one of his students who ran away from his overbearing family that wasn’t supportive of his choice of dream until that boy finally became a successful musician just as he had always aspired. Later, the boy was so grateful of him that he chose to bear his surname ‘Kanata’ instead of his real surname —And yeah, that person was none other than Yuuya’s father, Enchu Kanata. Unfortunately, Yuuya does neither know nor conduct any interaction with him due to the fact that he had already passed away due cancer for years before he was born.

Tachi Kinoshita (太刀 木下, 21 Years Old) - Yuuya’s graduated senior who is now studying up north at the University in Sendai to become a P.E. teacher. As a jovial athlete who harbors a zeal for music, he used to be the president of the club Yuuya once joined and also the one who taught him how to perfect his guitar skills. Furthermore, he is a diehard fan of several music bands, including 86 and even the now disbanded Σummer sign. Both of them still keep in contact and message each other from time to time.

Ojou-chan (approximately less than 1 year) - Yuuya’s new roommate and the special guest of Ajisai Residence. She is a petite Siamese kitten discovered in the mysterious package delivered to Saigo’s place. Noticing the collar around her neck, Yuuya thinks there might be somebody waiting for her return and eventually makes up his mind to find that person for her. She loves exploring but always hisses at strangers and won’t let most people touch her, she has soon grown to be quite attached to him though. And a lot later, whether it is someone’s intention or not, he discover that she has also brought one more passenger along the way —Plus another surprise; she can actually fully understand human language.

████████ ███████ (29 Years Old) - The younger cousin of Yuuya’s mother. Notoriously known far and wide as the monstrous woman in the Party of Words who not even pays respect towards her superior e.g. Otome and Ichijiku, she has a peculiar thrill in crushing things people hold dear to them. Putting that aside, the Party of Words has granted her a special unit for the sake of her matchless rapping skills. It’s only a matter of time before she could get a glimpse of her new toy adorable cousin…

????a K????a?? (28 Years Old) - Yuuya’s another cousin but this one is related to him from his father’s side. Yet honestly speaking, he himself and her aren’t even aware of their relation. And much of a wonder, they do share a few similar traits in both their natures and appearances. Also, somehow it happens that destiny has played some kind of trick by making them get to know each other via their participation in this ominous tournament…

[angelofrainfrogs]

Spend the Night: Ch. 31

~Coauthored by @zeitghest~

Fandom(s): Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach

Description: The familiar melody of Grandfather’s Clock chimes through the echoing halls of the Pizzaplex…

Charlie wakes up in her Puppet’s vessel yet again with one goal in mind: to stop William Afton’s reign of terror for good. She enlists the help of Glamrock Freddy, the emphatic leader of the newest iteration of the Fazbear Band. But there seems to be more to this bear than meets the eye—and the same goes for the mysteriously familiar kid the duo find tinkering with animatronics down in Parts & Service.

With some help from friends new and old, Charlie’s journey into the bowels of the Pizzaplex will unravel mysteries none of them ever expected. 

Rating: T

Read on Ao3

Unserviced servo turning Refurbished fur perturbing It doesn't matter where you go They'll find you

~They’ll Find You by Griffinilla~

Hannah was quick to take Charlie’s offered hand, sparing a lingering glance over her shoulder at the fading purple substance before turning forward. Whatever that stuff was, she decided she didn’t want to know. To distract herself from thinking back on her untimely demise, she asked Charlie: “So if you’re staying in Freddy’s room, does that mean he’s helping, too?”

The bear seemed amiable enough for a robot purely from the small interaction and other info Hannah had absorbed about him over the years. Although she couldn’t quite see him assisting with taking down a child murderer… maybe he was just letting them borrow his room as a safe space?

Silently thanking Vanessa for leading the charge back upstairs, Charlie glanced down to the younger girl.

“Freddy? Oh man, I don’t know what we would’ve done without him,” she laughed, jovial and affectionate at the mention of the superstar bear. “Freddy’s been protecting us. He also happens to be my personal favorite character—at least from the Glamrock line.”

As they approached, Charlie hoped Gregory wasn’t at the door to psyche her out with a false demand for a password that didn’t exist. Last time was stressful enough. “Everyone should be inside; don’t be shy…”

It was Freddy himself who answered the door, his usual smile bright and welcoming. It stayed present as he took in the newest addition to their little band of misfits, nor did it slip when a cursory, non-obvious health scan revealed that this girl didn’t have a heartbeat.

“Hello, there,” Freddy greeted, crouching to Hannah’s level and resting his arms on his knees. Unfortunately, his facial recognition software didn’t seem to work that well on ghosts; he couldn’t get a read on who this girl was. “I have seen you around the Pizzaplex before! I did not catch your name, though—mine is Freddy. What is yours?”

Hannah giggled at his formality, her tension easing at the bear’s friendly demeanor. Still holding Charlie’s hand for the time being, she replied: “I’m Hannah… Nice to officially meet you, Freddy!”

“Likewise!” he replied, standing again and ushering the group inside. “We have many things to share with you, Charlie. But first, as you all heard, this is Hannah.” He gestured to the girl, then to the two boys near the couch, looking as if they’d been playfully fighting over who got more room to sit moments before Freddy opened the door. “Hannah, this is Gregory and Michael.”

Mike gave her a jaunty little salute, his gaze hooking onto Vanessa over Hannah’s head. The guard’s shameful nod told him everything he needed to know—this girl was indeed one of his father’s latest victims.

As the group entered the backstage bedroom of Freddy Fazbear, Charlie gave Freddy a quick hug. She was happy to see her friend again after the emotional rollercoaster of finding those lost souls. She was sure Vanessa needed the break, too.

“Go take a breather, Ness,” Charlie murmured, sounding less formal than she had before they'd left on their journey.

On the couch, Gregory and Michael had been needlessly attempting to dominate their sides. Gregory was pinned, shoved, and squished into the corner as he was overpowered by Michael easily. Though once his silver eyes landed on Hannah, he ceased all retaliation. He grasped for a pillow and press it hard against his face as if he was hiding from her.

Was he shy? Charlie hadn’t expected such a trait. Then again, Gregory never mentioned friends before. Or perhaps his bashful mature stemmed from his newly acquired… condition.

“Gregory!” Charlie attempted cheerfully. “There’s a new friend I’d like you to meet! Come say ‘hi,’ buddy!”

This only seemed to make Gregory sink into himself. He wanted to be friendly, but the first normal-looking girl here was only going to pick on him—he just knew it. A thoroughly muffled “…Hi.” was muted into the bowtie pillow, something he’d hug close to his head for comfort.

“He’s being a little shy,” Charlie murmured to Hannah. She let go of the girl’s hand to allow her freedom to roam about. “He’s a good kid, though! Promise.”

“Yeah, don’t mind him; he’s just a weirdo sometimes—hey!” Michael let out a surprised laugh as a tiny hand shot out fast as lightening to smack him on the arm. Mike quickly retaliated with a rather intense ruffle of Gregory’s hair, which spurred Freddy to intervene.

“Boys, please relax,” the bear said in a measured tone, coming to stand next to Hannah. He’d just locked the door after a quick chat with Vanessa, who opted to sit right outside the room to play lookout and subsequently give everyone else time to bond. She’d only feel like an uninvited guest if she stayed with them, anyway.

“Your accent is cool!” Hannah said after a moment of the boys separating and resituating themselves. She looked to Michael, a small smile tugging up her lips. “I’ve only heard people talk like that on TV before.”

“Oh—uh, thanks,” Michael replied. He gently nudged Gregory with his elbow, trying to toe the line between encouraging his brother without pushing too far and making him upset or shut down further. “Come on, she seems nice, right?”

“I’m not gonna bite you or anything!” Hannah started to laugh, although this quickly trailed off as she realized the very obvious reason why the boy might be afraid of her. Looking to her shoes, she clasped her hands behind her back and admitted: “Oh… I feel like you guys already know this somehow, but I’m kinda… a ghost. Sorry if that freaks you out or whatever.”

She didn’t want to scare off potential new friends, especially the only one who seemed to be around her age, but she couldn’t help her unfortunate circumstances.

A ghost? Gregory was roused by his brother’s nudge, and the pillow was pulled back down to his chest in an instant. His startling eyes looked right away to the girl, and found nothing wrong with her. She looked the same as Cassidy—in the sense that she looked just like a normal child, save for a slight transparency coating her skin. Gregory felt his face heat up in embarrassment. He should’ve known it was just another ghost.

“—Man, that’s a relief,” he said, now reclined and relaxed. He figured that Hannah couldn’t judge him for the way he looked no more than he could judge her. He took stock of her, then quickly ruffled his hair back into place.

“I’m Gregory; this doofus is my brother!” he’d say before Michael’s hand lurched out to mess with his hair again as he was often want to do. “—Noooo! Dad said stop!”

Gregory laughed, batting fruitlessly at Michael’s arm. Charlie could only watch as the boys made fools of themselves in front of the newest ghost. She hoped that Hannah found it as endearing as she did.

The boys were strange, to say the least. Brothers that shared some vague facial features if one looked hard enough, but spoke in opposing accents. They didn’t seem shocked Hannah was a ghost—in fact, Gregory was outright relieved.

And not to mention the elephant in the room—or maybe “bear” was the correct term. Hannah might be young, but she was smart enough to piece together that Freddy Fazbear was the one who’d told the boys to stop messing with each other… so why in the world did Gregory call him “dad?”

“Do not pay their antics any mind,” Freddy murmured, almost as if he’d sensed her thinking about him. Hannah glanced up at the tall robot, seeing a weirdly articulate look of fondness on his face as he offered her a smile. “I am sure you will all get along quite well.”

Hannah nodded, turning back to the pair. Emboldened by Freddy’s vote of confidence, she stepped a little closer to the couch. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words were replaced by a gasp as she got a clear look at the flash of silver she’d seen earlier when Gregory appraised her.

“Whoa—your eyes!” she breathed, staring intently at the boy’s face. Michael instantly stopped his brotherly torment, ready to either comfort or vouch for Gregory based on Hannah’s reaction. The room itself seemed to wait with baited breath until Hannah added with an excited grin: “They’re awesome! Are those contacts?! I wanted to wear these bright red ones for Halloween but my mom wouldn’t let me… The silver ones are way cooler though!”

Gregory was ready for it. He could take it, resigned to the fact that he would forever bear the mark of death on his face.

Then, Hannah surprised him. He stilled on the couch and with fluttering eyelids, giving her a confused look. It then turned to relief, followed by the feeling of caterpillars crawling inside his guts.

“You think my eyes are cool?” he asked with a scoff, trying to play it cool. He crossed his arms, leaning back to take the compliment in stride. “Y-yeah—” he’d say, coughing when his voice cracked to clear it up. “—they’re my real eyes! What was your Halloween costume going to be?”

He could relax; Hannah was an alright person but there was something about her that made Gregory want to conduct himself a little different than he had been earlier. Much to the benefit of Charlie’s weary conscience, she was glad that Gregory and Hannah were getting along. Gregory was in need of a friend his age anyway. She came to the couch and sat next to Michael, balancing herself on the armrest to watch them interact.

“Your real eyes?! Whoa…” Hannah sounded more impressed than before. She paused, thinking of the dozens of costume options she’d gone through before finally deciding on the perfect one.

“I was gonna be a vampire!” she announced proudly. Her ponytail swung two and fro as she quickly shook her head with the need to clarify. “Not one of those lame ones that sparkle or don’t really look like vampires or whatever—I’m talking red eyes, fangs, and my sister was gonna help me put fake bite marks on my neck! She’s good at special effects and stuff.”

A bit of the sparkle left Hannah’s eyes as she thought of her sister. Man, she and her mother must be worried sick wondering where she was…

“That sounds awesome!” Michael chimed in, also able to spot the telltale signs of someone falling into their dark thoughts from a mile away. “Hey, who knows—maybe we’ll find a way to make the vampire look still happen.” He shrugged, the not-quite-promise the best he could do. It did its job to get Hannah out of her head though, as she nodded at Michael with a tiny smile.

Charlie sent Michael a glare that could only last so long before it broke into a smile. It was hard to even pretend to be mad at him. Her attention turned then to Hannah’s anecdote, then at Gregory’s face. He leaned on his hand, listening to her intently.

“You’d make an awesome vampire.” Gregory agreed, and Charlie was sure she hadn’t ever heard Gregory speak with such conviction before. He thought it was important for her to know that her being a blood-sucking demon of the night would suit her well.

“Oh yeah! There’s gotta be stage make up around here. When we have free time, we'll find a place to play dress up!” Charlie reassured. Hannah won’t ever get to see Halloween outside the Pizzaplex again but the four of them could still make it fun for her, she figured.

“…I want to dress up like a clown. ‘Cause Mike hates clowns.” Gregory grinned, tenderly mocking him.

Charlie rolled her eyes. “Do you guys ever stop picking on each other? Or did it get worse while I was gone?”

“Oh no, it for sure got worse,” Michael said matter-of-factly, then shot his little brother a glare. “And I don’t hate clowns in general, I just hate a few very specific clowns.”

“Ennard is being quite helpful, Mich—”

“Nope, I don’t want to hear it, Freddy.” Michael cut the bear off with a raised hand, then offered him a strained smile. “Sorry—let’s just talk about that whole situation later, okay?”

Freddy nodded in deferment, knowing it best not to press the matter. Hannah simply stared between the group, realizing there was a huge ton of contextual information she was missing. Well, hopefully if they actually became friends they’d tell her in time.

“Anyway, don’t worry about how all this is connected Hannah, but speaking of clowns… we have news for you, Charlie!” Michael continued, eagerness filling his voice. “We found out who else is in the basement with your dad and Cassidy: it’s Evan and Lizzie. Don’t be mad, but… we took a trip down to see them while you girls were wandering around.” He grimaced, folding back into the couch slightly as he waited to get an earful from his best friend about visiting their old families without her.

Michael’s gut feeling about Charlie’s reaction turned out to be accurate. There was a heavy gasp before she leaned over and shook his shoulders. She was over the moon now knowing that Liz and Evan were waiting for them! But of course, Charlie was guarding Vanessa and collecting the soul of a lost child—so of course she missed a reunion with her childhood friends.

“AHH! Lizzie and Evan?! I miss those guys like crazy!” she admitted, unable to stay mad for long before letting go of his shoulders to give him a break from sudden vertigo. “PLEASE tell me you gave them hugs for me.”

Gregory laughed at this exchange before his gaze flickered back to Hannah. He stood, stretching his legs and giving Charlie a chance to fully seat herself into the couch. While she and Michael caught up, Gregory went to get Hannah’s attention.

“Do you want to play Freddy’s arcade game with me?” he asked, fishing around in his pocket for his tethered coin. He flashed it to her, then swung it on the clear string it was attached to. “It’s on me!”

“Of course I gave them hugs and said you missed them.” Michael sounded offended at Charlie’s suggestion that he wouldn’t do such a thing. As Charlie settled on the couch next to him, a look of decades-long relief fell upon his face.

“We… all had a good talk,” he murmured quietly, leaning in so his more intimate feelings weren’t overheard. He didn’t care about Gregory and Freddy, as they’d witnessed his entire slew of weekend breakdowns, but Hannah had been through enough recently—she didn’t need to see his emotional trauma fifteen minutes into their first meeting. Mike let out a soft laugh, looking sidelong at Charlie. “They told me I was being a dummy and they’d forgiven me for everything eons ago…”

And this was exactly what Charlie had been trying to tell Mike the same thing this entire time. She snaked an arm around her best friend, pulling him in for a hug. She could tell that there was a weight lifted from him now—a semblance of normalcy had returned to Mike's life. It was amazing what forgiveness could do.

“How do you feel?” Charlie asked, imagining that it couldn't all be okay, but things were better. They were similar to how they were before—

Fixing the broken parts of their shattered lives bit by bit.

“God, it… it’s so much better, knowing for sure they don’t hate me, Charlie,” Michael echoed his friend’s thoughts, leaning onto her shoulder and allowing her to hold him close. He never thought he’d receive forgiveness from anyone, let alone his siblings.

Let alone Evan.

By this point Hannah had eagerly followed Gregory over to the arcade machine, slightly in awe as he showed off his handy-dandy coin trick for endless fun. She couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder at Freddy who, to her surprise, did not come over to lecture them about cheating the game with fake money. In fact, he wasn’t even paying attention to them, moving to the door to have a muted conversation with the night guard through the closed metal. Only when they were done talking did he turn and catch Hannah’s eye, smiling warmly and making his way over.

“I’m surprised Freddy lets you get away with that,” she said, watching as Gregory began a game. Hannah flashed a grin, shrugging slightly. “Not that I’m complaining—it’s cool you get to hang out with him! Did you get to meet all the other animatronics, too?”

She had no idea how long Gregory had been here, but from his mildly disheveled appearance she guessed a while. Hannah certainly wasn’t judging though—her body was currently frozen stiff as a board in a random secret room in the basement. Appearances didn’t matter all that much once you were dead…

Gregory stepped aside to let Hannah go first, as this would be his fifth time this night trying to beat his own personal high score at the leader board of Superstar Skater. Gregory's hair was coated in a slight sheen of sweat and grease; in fact, he'd been slicking it back this past night due to the grime. Again he raked a hand through his hair before smirking wryly.

“Freddy loves me, dude. He doesn't care what I do,” he bragged—even if that last part was somewhat of a fib. Freddy didn't let him get away with just anything. It was all within reason. But if such an ideal impressed Hannah, then sure, Freddy would let him get away with murder if he wanted.

At the mention of the other animatronics, Gregory rolled his eyes.

“Those guys are such tools. But... They're not themselves right now. So—I don't know,” Gregory remarked with a defeated attitude before showing Hannah the controls on the game before them. Then, he stepped back and allowed her to take the reins.

Hannah had stepped up to the console, absorbing Gregory’s instructions and meshing them with everything she already knew about how these arcade games worked. She wasn’t the most skilled player, but she enjoyed the console platformers nonetheless.

In the midst of their momentary peace there was a sudden commotion outside the room, though with the curtains drawn the group could only listen and guess what was happening. It started with a loud banging in the vents that led from Rockstar Row directly to Freddy’s room. A low, simulated laugh echoed through the walls, making Vanessa shoot to her feet with her flashlight pointed towards every grate she could find. She raised a fist to knock on Freddy’s door and warn them of danger, but there was an even louder noise that caused her teeth to grind together.

The surprised and then terrified scream from Monty was quickly overshadowed by the shrieking of tearing metal. Seconds later a vent cover in Freddy’s room busted open, clattering to the ground mere feet from where Vanessa had been quickly ushered inside. She jumped at the sight but didn’t have time to process before Monty’s head came shooting out of the opening, skidding across the floor to smack into the base of the couch. Whatever efforts Vanny made to get him back in commission were all for naught—it was clear by his stillness and features mangled worse than before that the gator was not getting up again tonight.

This was proven further when his upper torso fell from the vent opening, seemingly pushed out by an unseen force… Which Vanessa quickly discovered as her shaky flashlight beam moved back up just in time for something to stick its face out with a grinning clown mask and too many wires.

“Holy shit!” she yelled, pressing her trembling good hand over her mouth. “What the fuck is that?!”

Charlie had all but jumped into Michael's lap, frightened by the sudden commotion. She hadn't realized who was in the grates helping them and figured it was something worse than Monty. She shielded Mike before the rest of Monty's torso came out of the vent, busted beyond repair. Just like Roxy...

“It's cool! Guys—chill! Chill! It's just Ennard up there!” Gregory shouted, aimed mostly at Charlie since she had to deal with the alligator head landing not two feet away from where she sat. Cupping his hands around his mouth, Gregory shouted towards the open vent. “Thanks, Ennard!”

“YOU ARE WELCOME...!” It was so hard to hear them, especially when their voice had even more distortion and echo from being inside of the air ducts.

Gregory went over to Monty, inspecting his busted pieces with curiosity. After a quick nudge with his foot, Charlie got off of her friend and told the boy “—Dude don't mess with him like that.”

“Why?” Gregory questioned, smirking at the gator’s weak attempt to get the drop on them. “He's busted. Look! Look how busted he is.”

Looking over his shoulder, he glanced at Hannah nonchalantly. “Oh yeah—don't worry about it, but there's like... robots after me. No big deal.”

He spoke as if he hadn't been internally screaming this whole weekend wondering if he would live to see the next day outside the Pizzaplex.

“Um… okaaaaay?” Hannah breathed out in a voice rife with skepticism. This little event prompted so many questions, but honestly she didn’t even know where to begin.

“What the hell is that thing?!” Vanessa reiterated, eyes fixed to the dark hole in the wall. Her heart was still racing, so Freddy guided her into his vanity chair so she could sit properly.

“You really don’t want to know,” Michael replied with a heavy sigh.

“Ennard means us no harm,” Freddy assured, gently patting Vanessa’s shoulder. She simply shook her head, then massaged the bridge of her nose as if to relive some tension.

Hannah had wandered close to Gregory, staring down at the decapitated gator with a pinched expression. “So like… is Monty dead or…?”

“Huh?” Gregory seemed almost confused by her question at first. After glancing down at the dismantled bot, he gave a shrug. “Nah—he'll be fine. Eventually.”

He didn't really know that Monty would be okay. They might have to scrap the whole model… Though Gregory knew all that made Monty up was a line of coding, several data points and some fixed personality traits that could be downloaded into any endoskeleton.

Bumping, Hannah's shoulder he reassured: “He'll be good as new come tomorrow. I'm sure of it.”

“Okay,” Hannah relented, because really what else was there to say about everything? She was no expert on robotics, but surely there were failsafe’s in place in case the main animatronics malfunctioned. They were too important not to have backups. After a lingering glance at Monty, she shrugged and moved back to the arcade game, wanting to distract herself from her new, very weird reality with familiar animated graphics.

Charlie laughed at Michael's brief warning about Ennard, quiet and under her breath. Despite the robot having actively saved their asses so many times now, he’d forever remain bitter and salty when conversing about them. Not that she could exactly blame him.

“It's best not to think too hard about all of it, you know?” Charlie said to the group, having finally chilled out about the busted Monty being shoved past the metal grating. “You alright, Ness?”

“Yeah… I’m fine,” Vanessa replied after a brief pause, giving Charlie the faintest ghost of a smile. “Everything’s just—a lot, you know?”

“You are already helping a great deal,” Freddy reassured, smiling down at the guard.

Vanessa let out a wry laugh, rolling her eyes. She really hadn’t done much except lead Charlie to William’s lab and find the missing kids—but it was already too late for them. She hadn’t even been the one to bring Hannah back… that was all Charlie. At least Vanny was no longer a threat; that was probably the best thing to come out of this whole fiasco of painful memories.

“So did you find anything down there?” Michael asked, directing the question more towards Charlie. His gaze briefly flickered to the kids at the arcade machine. “Besides Hannah, I mean.”

Charlie glanced away, thinking about the backroom and hidden stash of Remnant just waiting to be used. Two jars, with one already used up... Two kids still astray, with one successfully made immortal. It wasn’t hard to understand exactly what William planned to do with the rest.

Charlie didn't want to think about it.

“Remnant. There was a lot...” She looked down at her hands where they rested on her lap. “There's a backroom full of endoskeletons. They're programed to—to deal with the kids after they're brought to Parts & Service.”

She reclined into the couch, hugging herself with her palms on her elbows. It was hard being this distant about things sometimes. “I... don't want to say more than that.”

With their present company, she felt like it would be far too graphic to share, not to mention rude.

Michael leaned back into the couch as well, slipping an arm around Charlie’s shoulders to pull her into a side hug. He knew how hard this topic was for her to discuss, despite how well she hid her discomfort—no amount of time would ever make up for the pain and torment Charlie and all the other restless souls of William’s victims went through.

“We’ll get rid of the Remnant and the endos once my father is dealt with,” Michael reassured, rubbing Charlie’s upper arm reassuringly.

“The Remnant’s taken care of,” Vanessa chimed in from the vanity chair. When the group turned to her, one corner of her mouth quirked up in a smile. “Charlie smashed it.”

Michael let out a hearty laugh, squeezing Charlie tightly against him. The gesture said everything he needed without words. Freddy’s expression softened into relief now that the risk for anyone else to be subjected to an immortal injection was gone.

At the arcade console, Hannah let out a groan of frustration as she lost her last life. She’d held on as long as she could, but a slight misjudgment of where the platform edge was caused her character to plummet to their doom.

“Aw man!” she lamented. “I’m not good at these games…”

Charlie cracked a smile, content to relax on the couch for just a bit longer. Now that all of them were together, she’d take a few moments of peace before starting their ultimate plan.

Then she looked to Gregory, watching him as he played with his new friend. As he gently reassured her about how much he used to suck at the video game, he showed her what to do.

“It's all about memorizing the platforms! I was pretty bad until I stayed the weekend here,” Gregory told her, hitting the start button for one more try.

Charlie almost didn't want it to end for him. But if they didn't do anything about William tonight, there may not be another day for Gregory to play.

“So, now that we're all here...” Charlie began, subtly getting the ball rolling as she leaned her head into the flat part of Michael's shoulder. “We should probably get this over with... Right?”

In an instant, the room grew thick with tension as the stark reality of their situation came crashing down. They couldn't keep pretending like they were a happy family—not yet. Not until William was purged from the face of this earth so he couldn't hurt another soul.

Michael held onto Charlie for a moment, bracing himself for the encounter ahead. He wasn't nervous or scared of meeting his father again. He felt quite the opposite, in fact—it was going to take all his strength not to try and rip that rabbit apart with his bare hands the moment they set eyes on each other. As Michael looked to Freddy, who was watching Gregory with a reluctant expression, he had a feeling the bear might not be so docile either when faced with the man who'd tortured his new family and used his best friend's body as a puppet.

“Yeah...,” Michael admitted somberly, looking back down at Charlie. He shifted to embrace her in a proper hug, holding on tightly for as long as he could. Eventually he let her go, offering a tiny smile that he tried to inject as much confidence into as possible. “So, the plan is: you'll take Gregory down to the basement to wait with the others. Meanwhile, Freddy and I will track down William and act like we're pissed at ‘Evan’ and are trying to get him, causing William to chase us right where we need him to be—that's the gist of it, right?”

“I'll stay here with Hannah,” Vanessa offered, half-heartedly raising a hand. She grimaced as she looked at the little girl still involved in her game world. “I think I'll be more of a burden than anything if I go with you; I'll make sure she stays put and let you know if I see anything go down around here.” Vanessa patted the walkie on her belt, and Michael nodded.

“Sounds good. Oh, damn it—what should we do with Ennard?” Michael asked, shooting a frown up towards the vent. Not five seconds after their name was called, an eyeball on a wire stuck out of the opening to stare at Michael and Charlie.

The eye dropped down on a long cable, staring at them before batting its eye playfully. This made Charlie laugh, having to cover her mouth so she could actually hear what Ennard had to say.

“UNT-T-TIL THE BASEMENT, WE—E ARE YOUR BACK-UP. IF THE—THE PLAN GOES SOUTH...” Ennard paused, their voice slowing down to an eerie, glitching lull. “We rip him apart...”

The even and clarified tone of their voice sent a chill through the room. It was like every robot in the entirety of their system had agreed for once, unanimous in their hatred. Charlie nodded slowly, glad not for the first time that Ennard was on their side.

The eye blinked at Mike, its gaze turning deferential. “IS THIS-S-S A GOOD PLA-AN, MIKEY?”

Michael heaved a sigh, hating that Ennard actually had a good, solid idea. He stood, moving near the vent and looking at up the amalgamation with a stern expression.

“Yes, being back-up is good,” Michael confirmed, but before Ennard could get too excited he went on a little louder. “But listen—you've got to forget your obsession with me for this to work, okay? I need you to focus on protecting everyone else first and foremost—especially Gregory. Do you understand?”

Whether Ennard would actually take this direction into account if the situation turned dire, Michael couldn't be certain. He just hoped that if it came down to saving himself or Gregory, Ennard would continue their trend of obeying Mike’s instructions and help the child first.

Said child was currently being tapped on the shoulder by his father, who smiled down at Gregory and Hannah when they turned to him. In a light, friendly tone, Freddy said: “It looks like you two are having fun!”

“Mm-hmm!” Hannah nodded, her own grin bright and excited. “Gregory's showing me all the tricks to get the best score!”

“That is wonderful—do you mind if I borrow him for a moment?” The paw on Gregory's shoulder indicated that they didn't actually have the option to say no. Still, Freddy kept his tone measured, not wanting Hannah to sense any of his rising concern. “Perhaps you can try out some of those new tricks for yourself!”

“Oh, uh... sure.” Hannah shrugged then promptly turned back to the game, deciding it best not to argue with the giant robot. If Monty was clearly on the fritz, who knew if Freddy was being affected by the glitch too.

Freddy took Gregory's hand and led him over to his siblings so they could catch him up on the plan and make sure they were all on the same page. As he was reluctantly pulled away, Gregory made sure to impart a last piece of advice. “Make sure you get that balloon; it's more points! Okay, bye—”

Ennard’s excessive eyes trained on Gregory as Freddy led him over. It was clear to anyone that Ennard was calculating the risk in their mind. Keeping Gregory as a priority meant that Michael, in the event of an emergency, could lose his skin. This would be bad for Ennard as Michael's skin was rather homey—even if this one was made of silicone. But if Ennard let Gregory die due to neglect, then there would be no way to ever convince Mikey to potentially lend Ennard his skin someday.

Choices, choices...

“GREGORY IS TOP PRIORITY... YES,” they decided resolutely.

Charlie made a pyramid with her fingers, resting the side of her index finger against her own nose as she reiterated her part of the plan aloud. They couldn’t afford to make any mistakes in these final hours. “So I'll be running with Gregory, pretending that you're both chasing us? And we'll be meeting again in Henry's workshop. Correct?”

“Correct,” Freddy confirmed, resting both paws firmly on Gregory's shoulders and squeezing them in comfort. He would love nothing more than to leave Gregory here to get lost in the world of video games with his new friend, but unfortunately the boy was an integral part in the plan.

“We'll try to keep as much distance as we can between you guys and William,” Michael said, coming to stand next to Gregory and running an absent hand through his hair. “We'll try to bring him straight to the workshop, but if anything goes wrong... I'm sure you'll know soon enough.”

Despite his best efforts, Mike's anxiety was peeking through his façade of overconfidence. His fingers shook, snagging a lock of Gregory's hair which made the boy flinch. “Crap—sorry.”

With an annoyed huff directed towards his own self-doubt, Michael crouched and wrapped his arms around the boy in a tight hug. Freddy released Gregory's shoulders, letting the boys have their moment. As Michael felt Gregory's telltale warmth of life, he was able to take a deep breath—soon, this would be all over and the worst thing they'd have to worry about in the near future was which hotel they'd try and finagle their way into staying at so everyone could get a nice, long rest.

“Keep Charlie safe, kid—she needs at least one strong brother to look out for her...,” Michael murmured into Gregory's ear, managing a smirk.

Gregory's eyes were clamped shut as Michael hugged him. He managed to squeeze his arms around the elder boy in a strong hold. It felt different being told to be the one to protect Charlie. Normally it was the other way around. This made Gregory feel the need to put his best foot forward and to be brave for the both of them, despite having the utmost confidence Charlie would always have his back.

“Are you ready to do this?” Charlie asked, watching as Gregory took a deep breath. He patted his brother's shoulder, knowing if he stayed any longer that he would never leave the comforting glow of his family.

“Yup. Let’s go. Love you guys—and don't let the stupid rabbit bully you.” After stepping away, Gregory glanced to Hannah and sent the girl a smile. “I'll be back to play video games with you later. You know, if you want to...”

“Mm-hmm,” Hannah replied absently, fully immersed in her game world. Vanessa watched her from the vanity, deciding it best to wait for the tension in the room to ease before revealing that she was going to be Hannah's babysitter. Hopefully the girl would just play on the arcade machine for the rest of the night anyway—at least she didn't need to worry about taking a break to get some food...

“Love you, too,” Michael said to his siblings, shoving his hands in his pockets as he watched Charlie and Gregory head for the door. Freddy was still at his side for a moment, but as Michael looked up at him the bear suddenly rushed towards the pair and scooped Gregory into his arms in one fluid motion.

“I am sorry, I could not help myself,” Freddy apologized, clutching his son in a grip almost too tight for comfort. “Stay safe, superstar—I love you so much. We will see you both again very soon and put all of this at an end.”

Michael had to look away or else he'd join the hug... and then Charlie would surely add herself to the pile and they'd just end up standing in a huddle until daybreak.

Gregory was robbed of his breath from the intense squeeze. His dad was worried, but with good reason. It wasn't long before Gregory hugged him back, knowing the bear wasn't likely to let go until he felt a smidge of returned affection.

“—Love you too, Dad!” Gregory grunted. It wasn't an annoyed grunt, more like one that struggled for breath. The hold betrayed how scared Freddy really was for him with these strange new emotions. “I'll see you again real soon...”

In the vents, some muted thumping was heard as Ennard retreated. They were to move into the hall, set on following the pair. At the door Charlie had to look away, unable to bear watching them say what could be their collective and final goodbye.

Satisfied that his affection for his son had been thoroughly expressed, Freddy set Gregory back on the floor. Though he wore a smile, his bright blue eyes betrayed his worry of all the things that were to come. However, Freddy was designed to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and this time was no exception. A simultaneous wave from Freddy and Michael was the signal for Charlie and Gregory to slip out the back door. The boys watched until the pair were out of sight, then turned to each other.

“Ready, big guy?” Michael asked, holding up a hand to Freddy for a high-five.

“Ready,” Freddy confirmed, smacking his palm against Michael's without hesitation. As Michael moved to the front door, Freddy paused a moment before going to Hannah's side. He bent slightly, speaking softly as he told her: “Hannah? We to step out for a little bit, but we will be back shortly—Vanessa is going to stay here with you until then.”

The name ripped a jagged hole in Hannah's 8-bit world. Her eyes widened in fear as she looked back and forth between Freddy and the night guard. “C-Charlie's gone, too...?”

“Just for a bit,” Freddy reassured, placing a hand on top of her head to provide some comforting pressure, his expression nothing but sincere. “Vanessa will not harm you—I promise.”

Hannah sniffled, and for a horrible moment Michael thought she was about to cry. Then, confident in the animatronic's word she gave a little nod, shooting Vanessa a warning glare not to mess with her before returning to her game. With that task out of the way, the bear met Michael at the door.

As one they exited the sanctuary of Freddy's room and stepped into the cold, foreboding air of the main Pizzaplex.

***

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