#hmm actually I don't think I have a spoiler in this one

[animasola86]

🏚️ BONUS: THE HOUSE

misc!monsters x f!reader 🔥 words: 2.7k

You were invited to a Halloween party in a mysterious house, promising a night full of surprises - which all came true, one way or another. Now it's the next morning, and you're going back to finish that chapter of your life once and for all.

WARNINGS: None? Fluff! Mystery! Some (sexual) implications and references to previous chapters/adventures. Shapeshifting. (READ ON AO3!)

A/N: This is a bonus chapter for my CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE story A NIGHT TO REMEMBER. This references chapters 1, 2 and 6, so it's best to have read those or even better the whole story to understand it. It's just a way to tie up some loose ends. Cameo by an infamous masked man. Spoiler: there's no actual smut here, but it's somehow referenced (come back on Nov 20th for the smut bonus chapter!). 1 🔸 2 🔸 3 🔸 4 🔸 5 🔸 6

During breakfast (turns out the hairy man is not only a great lover but also a brilliant chef), you find yourself on Bear's lap, feeding and getting fed in a way you've never experienced before. It should be weird how fast you feel this comfortable with him. But it isn't. It's almost as if you've already accepted your new life.

If it wasn't for one thing. The absence of your purse and the remnants of your old life it entails.

“Can we go?” you ask quietly, wiping your index finger over his upper lip, teasing his mustache.

“You sure you left it there?” he responds, watching you closely, a little crease between his heavy eyebrows.

You shift on his lap. “Well, I can't fully remember, as you know,” you start, thinking back to your time at the party that brought you here (and ultimately into his arms). “But I think I left it in the bathroom. I had it when I entered the house, but if I still had it when I ran into you, you would have seen it it, right?”

He hums, nodding slightly as his eyes travel past you through the window. His hand lies heavy on your thigh, squeezing it gently. “I don't want you going back there, though...”

“I know,” you whisper, eyes wandering over his bearded face. “But I need it. As much as I just want to throw my old life away for you, I have to cut off some ties beforehand, and tell people where I am, or at least how I am. I hope nobody's worried yet...”

His hum turns into a low growl. You reach up and cup his cheeks, rubbing your thumbs over the corners of his tight lips. His dark eyes snap back to yours.

“I want to stay, I told you. I'm not going anywhere. But I have to get some stuff, too, you know? Like clothes? I only have this blouse and skirt with me. Unless you really just want to keep me in a cage, bound and gagged and naked...” you tease, raising an eyebrow.

“Tempting image,” he grunts, a chuckle escaping him. “But no, I want you to be comfortable here. And I guess clothes do their part, hm?”

“Yes, they do. I'll still wear your favorite cape whenever you want, don't worry,” you whisper, leaning closer until your nose brushes against his. “I do like red...”

He huffs a loud exhale, warm against your skin, before he tilts his head and presses his lips to yours for a short kiss. “By the way, whatever happened to your underwear, huh?” he mutters into you with a smirk.

You blush deeply, leaning back, your hands moving down to his shoulders. “Well, good question. Maybe I went commando in the first place?”

His hand comes up to brush a strand of hair behind your ear. “Hmm, I'm not sure I can believe that. You may be the adventurous type, or at least, you're open for a little fun, but no panties in late October? I bet your mother taught you better.”

You scoff, smirking back at him. “If I only did what she taught me, I wouldn't be sitting on the lap of a strange mythical creature, would I?”

He gives you a wink. “Little Red sure is known for leaving the beaten path, isn't she?” He watches you for a moment as you smile softly, before he throws his arms around you and hugs you tightly to his chest. “Fine, we'll go. Get that damn purse, you do whatever needs to be done, and then, as soon as the moon rises, you're in for a treat, missy,” he adds, burying his face in the crook of your neck as he holds you close.

You chuckle, snaking your arms around him as well. “Can't wait,” you whisper, closing your eyes for a moment.

Half an hour later, you walk up to the imposing house, Bear's hand tight around yours as he leads you through the garden. Everything looks so different during the day. It's eerily foggy, but the sun still tries to fight its way through the clouds. As you round the building to get to the front door, you realize just how old it looks. The paint is chipped, the wooden sidings aged and weathered and rotten in some places, the metal accents rusty and crooked, the whole structure looks as if it's holding up by sheer willpower (or by the magic that cursed it).

The windows are dark, there's an air of stillness around, and you wonder if anyone is even there to open the door. As you approach the steps leading up to the large entrance doors, Bear nudges you to stop. You turn to him, his tan face almost a little pale as he stares up at the big house. You mirror his concerns. He told you the house calls to the lost souls, trying to trap them with its original inhabitants. You may have found what you were looking for in the hairy man beside you, but what if that's not enough? What if the house won't let you go if you enter?

“It'll be fine,” you whisper, to ease your worries and the creases on Bear's forehead. He looks down at you, his brown eyes almost black. You reach up a hand to caress his cheek, trying to distract yourself with the scraping sound of his beard against your fingertips.

“Maybe you don't have to enter,” he growls quietly, putting his large hands protectively around your waist, pulling you closer. “Try not to tempt fate, okay?”

You lean up on your toes and press your lips to the corner of his mouth, holding his gaze. “It'll be fine,” you repeat. He sighs deeply, but then nods, reluctantly letting go of you as you slip out of his grip.

Giving him a smile, you slowly turn again and face the double doors. Your knock sounds loud through the quiet space. For a long moment, nothing happens. As you raise your hand again to rap your knuckles against the door, you suddenly hear footsteps. The creepy squeak of the door opening is almost comical.

A maid, a young woman, probably your age, in a neat uniform, looks at you, almost a little bewildered, confused, as if she hasn't expected anyone to just knock or even approach the house. “Yes?” she asks, staring at you.

“Uh, hi. I... I've been to the party last night and it seems I've forgotten my purse inside,” you reply hastily, shuffling from one foot to the other.

“Party?” the other woman whispers, frowning deeply, causing you to stare at her with your lips parting.

“Yes, party,” another voice suddenly sounds from behind her, and she is shoved to the side unceremoniously as a man steps next to her. “Silly Daisy, she seems to be a little forgetful today.”

You look up at the stranger, and something comes over you, like a cold wave of déjà-vu. He's tall, muscular, wears black pants and a tight black shirt, his large hands rest on the maid's shoulders for a moment, and you stare at them, following the pronounced veins up his arms. When you reach his face, the feeling is gone. You've never seen this man before, you're sure.

“Go be useful with the others,” he tells the servant girl, and she nods, blinking in confusion as he gives her a gentle push away from the door into the large lobby. You can see others shuffling behind him, probably cleaning up. “Excuse her, it's been a long night,” the man focuses back on you, and you still stare at him. His voice sounds strangely familiar, low, deep, but something's different. It sounds too clear.

“Uh, oh, no problem,” you mutter, furrowing your eyebrows as you look up at him. His eyes are so bright, blue or gray, almost icy in his pale angular face. A smirk plays around his lips.

“So you've lost your purse, huh?” he asks, crossing his strong arms over his chest.

“Yes!” you call out, glad to remember why you came here in the first place. “Have you seen it? It's, uh, this big,” you show him the dimensions with your hands, ”a red clutch, with a red leather strap.”

“Well, we do have a box of forgotten items right here,” he says, tilting his head to indicate to something behind him. Inside the house. “Come have a look.”

You freeze. Your first instinct is to turn around to look at Bear, but to your biggest surprise, you can't see him. Where did he go? Confusion washes over you as you look back at the strange man. Those arms... and hands... the voice. You can't shake the feeling that you know him somehow. When you meet his gaze, he smiles at you. It doesn't reach his eyes.

“Come on, we don't bite,” he says quietly, unfolding his arms to take a step back, giving you the potential space to walk through the door.

“I... I'd rather not... uh... I don't want to invade. You look busy. Can't you just show me the box? Or look for the purse?” you stammer, wringing your hands.

“I would be less busy if you would just come inside and take a look yourself,” he insists, raising an eyebrow.

Your heart sinks. How important is that purse anyway? Then again, why are you so afraid to enter? Surely they won't just abduct you. Your mind goes back to Bear, to his cabin, to the life he's promised you. And you want that, want to be with him, and you will be, if you just think hard enough so that no ancient magic can get its hooks into you. It'll be fine.

Inhaling deeply, you take another look behind you, hoping to see him somewhere. Maybe he isn't allowed near the house, so he waits somewhere behind a hedge or something. “Okay,” you whisper as you turn back to the man waiting for you to enter. “I'll be quick,” you add as you take the first step, your foot already crossing the threshold.

He steps aside, extending an arm to show you which direction that box must be. Your heart beats faster when you hear the door clicking shut behind you. Trying not to fuss about it, you keep walking until you find a large cardboard box on a little table near the pompous staircase leading up. You see various items. Phones, sunglasses, jewelry, scarves, and –

You freeze as your fingers brush against a large white mask. Suddenly another hand moves to grab it, veins and tendons working under tight skin as the man from the door picks up the costume. You gasp as he turns the mask between his long fingers. His icy eyes stare down at you, a smirk dancing around his lips.

“What a silly thing,” he says quietly. “What a lazy way to conceal oneself, hm?”

You blink as your mind reels with a strangely feeble memory. Your stomach tenses up, something hot gathering low in your body. Clearing your throat, you look away, focusing back on the box, your fingers pushing aside all kinds of things, until you finally see something red. Your purse. Clutching it eagerly, you pull it out and inspect it, sighing in relief when you find your wallet, your phone and all the other small things you brought with you.

“Everything in order?” the man beside you asks, still fingering the eerie mask.

“Yes,” you reply, taking a step back as you hug your purse to your chest. “Thanks. I... uh, I'll best be going now. Long way home,” you say, giving him a nervous smile.

He tilts his head, and between his fingers the mask does the same. A cold shiver crashes down your spine. “Sure,” he says. “Best of luck.”

You swallow hard, slowly walking backwards to the entrance door. Your eyes scan the adjacent rooms where people in costumes move about like zombies, slow and uncoordinated, trying to pick up dropped cups, wiping at surfaces. They look familiar as well. A sexy ladybug next to a guy with a white T-shirt that says This is my costume. You frown. You feel like you should remember them more clearly, but your mind is fuzzy.

Clutching your purse, you try to look away, and when your back hits the door, you gasp, your hand finding the door knob. You turn it, and it won't budge. Panic settles inside you. You try again, nothing happens.

Then you feel a body next to yours, towering over you, a hand reaching out to close around your own. You stiffen, bracing yourself as long fingers move your hand around the knob, and the door suddenly opens. Cold air hits your nostrils, and you inhale deeply. Looking over your shoulder, you see the man behind you, except now he is wearing that stupid Ghostface mask, making you jump and shriek as you realize how close he is.

A muffled chuckle escapes him. “Oh little Red, it's so sad to see you go,” he says quietly, his hand moving along your arm until it rests on your shoulder. “You really can't stay?”

You swallow the lump in your throat, trying to ignore the burning between your thighs. “No, I... I don't belong here,” you whisper, slowly inching away from him, your feet so heavy you can barely move.

“Hm, you sure?” he replies, tilting his masked face ominously. “I thought we fit quite well together last night...”

Another gasp escapes you, the memory rushing back into your head with a force that makes you stumble backwards, but as soon as you cross the threshold, standing on the porch, outside, you blink in confusion as it fizzles away again. All that remains is the man in the mask, staring at you, his face unmoving, eerie. A sigh sounds from behind the thick plastic.

One of his hands moves to his pants pocket, and as you watch him, frozen to the spot, trying to figure out what happened, he pulls something out that looks strangely familiar to you. The red cloth you chose to match your costume. Your panties. He unfolds them between his long fingers, and you feel a different kind of heat creeping into your cheeks.

“At least I have this to remember you, hm?” he says quietly, waving the garment at you in a mocking fashion.

You take another step back, breathing harder. “I... I don't know what you're talking about,” you reply, forcing the blurry images away.

“Whatever makes you happy, Red,” he sighs, scrunching up your underwear in his big hand before he pushes it back into his pocket. “Say hi to Bear from me, will you?”

His last words make you pause, your eyebrows furrowing. Before you can inquire what he means, how he can possibly know you're with Bear now, he closes the door so slowly it lets off another eerie squeak. You blink, staring at the old wood.

Somehow you manage to turn around, your feet dragging down the porch steps until you hit the gravel. Your head is spinning. And it only gets worse, when you hear a sudden rustle in a bush close to you. With a low snarl, a big black wolf jumps out of it, yellow eyes boring into you. You shriek in fear, stumbling back, but the animal has already grabbed the hem of your skirt between his sharp teeth, pulling you away from the house.

You loose your footing, landing hard on your already scraped knees, but at least the cold stab of pain is finally enough to clear your muddled head. Breathing harder, you sit on your knees, looking back at the large house behind you, before the wolf nudges your cheek with his wet nose. You turn to him, all the terror gone as you look into his bright eyes. There's nothing malicious about this animal. Your hand reaches out to pet his surprisingly soft black fur.

“Bear?” you whisper, sinking your fingers deeper into his pelt.

The wolf huffs a warm breath against your face before he licks his long tongue all over your cheek. You giggle as you try to get away.

“It's fine, Bear,” you whisper as you wrap your arms around the wolf's neck to get back up on your feet. “It's done. Let's go home.”

End notes: There will be one more bonus chapter after this: The Marking, focusing back on our werewolf friend. Stay tuned!

MASTERLIST // AO3 // ORIGINAL WORKS

KINKTOBER 2024 MASTERLIST

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 173 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: cutting the French tamarisk in my garden. (Speaking of cutting, I’m going to put only one bullet point instead of three before the cut because the first two are so damn long...)

JON: "Look, I would just really like to get through here as quickly as possible." MARTIN: "How come? This one seems like the quietest place we’ve been in a while – it’s just rows and rows of quiet houses. I mean, I know some people don’t like that sort of thing, but – (slight laugh) – I’m actually finding it kind of relax–" JON: (cutting him off) "Martin. Please." [ALL OF A SUDDEN, IT’S APPARENT HE’S BREATHING HEAVILY.] Hm, thinking a bit more about the background why Jon sounds so panicked here. Like really, reaaaally in distress. I somehow can't imagine it's just about Martin not finding out where they are and what this is. So is this domain doing something to him? In what way, the fear usually feels right to him. Is it the knowledge that the fear of children feels good to him and he doesn't want that? Being reminded once in a while that it is the suffering of others that feeds him? One could argue that he kind of got used to that by now and he gets a bit of a wake-up call here.

JON: "The Eye prefers the more complex neuroses and disquiets of a fully developed mind. So the children are allowed to age – and they are placed into domains where their fears can… mature." Remembering there was something about no pets/children will be harmed in TMA, I think? (Sorry, Gertrude's cat I guess.) Is there more to this "Eye prefers more complex fears" or is it simply done for the audience to get info that they are growing out of their childhood, so no child is harmed? (This has been done before, making a comment that no child came to harm. MAG 97, there were no children in Bucoda, so they couldn't die in the pit. MAG 125, none of the victims of that Slaughter Leitner had children). What begs the question, is the suffering of some people more okay than that of others? Ah, it's fine though, they didn't have children? (regarding MAG 125 e.g.) Or where's the limit to childhood? 13? 14? 15? 16? 17? 18 you're legally not a minor anymore though I very much didn't feel all that different than 16. (What did feel different was that everything suddenly wanted money from me just because I hit that magic mark although I was still in school - damn you, Capitalism!!) This was venturing a bit into the territory of MAG 155 though and not so much what this is about here, I just enjoy moral debates as one might have noticed from my MAG 155 relisten post ^^’’ So returning a bit to the topic, actually I didn't really have the impression that the victims here are not children. The screams sound like children. The statement seems like childish fears. Parents are mentioned... (so the kids on Night Street are joining Gertrude's cat here, I guess xD)

MARTIN: "Anyone who’s chosen to spend their apocalypse tormenting children – God, you need to end them. Now." The one who torments children: Is a child Martin: Surprised Pikachu face

MARTIN: "This is that kid Basira went after last year, right? The one the darkness cult took. So, So that’s not even a kid, that’s whatever was inside Maxwell Rayner; it’s just wearing his body!" [JON INHALES.] JON: (calling) "Callum!" Callum: Whatever was inside Rayner died with him and besides, I was an asshole before this. Martin: Surprised Pikachu face Guess what, kids can be assholes.

MARTIN: "I want you to use your power. I want you to help them; I want you to make things better!" Jon's power. The one he gets from a Dread Power. Dread! Which is at its best passive. Yeah, he got Martin out of this Lonely state he was in in MAG 159, but there is no snapping out of it in this new world anymore. There are no nuances. It's either causing fear, or feeling fear. Martin really is not up to date on how all this works. It makes sense, he is a few steps behind. Steps Jon already made when the world was still normal. (But yeah, I love the trope of trying to use evil powers for good and it does, naturally, backfire horribly because these powers are designed to cause suffering.)

"Is it because he is brave enough to fight the monsters? No. Jack is scared all the time. The world is so big and the night is so long, and the monsters are waiting under the bed and in the closet and down the hallway and in the street and round the corner and behind him." Oh, love the pace picking up here. It's getting this chasing rhythm.

"Her mother is downstairs, but she is part of the sofa now. She won’t stop staring at the television and laughing. Laughing and laughing." Haha, yeah, gotta love the TV zombies xD Do we have a word for them? That generation was quick to call the younger generation with smartphones “smombie”, while they themselves melt plenty into the sofa hypnotized by the TV in front of them. And then they just put a tablet (or a smartphone), the thing they condemn so much, in front of their children for them to watch YouTube so they don't have to play with their children... Sorry, this turned a bit into a rant about hypocrisy. Furthermore this is a domain of the Dark, but there is actually another fear in there. The parents not helping. Bit of Lonely? Or what would you say? This is also something that already dips a bit into the “matured fear”. When you’re a kid, you (usually) have grown-ups to stick up for you. When you’re the grown-up you gotta stick up for yourself and that can be very scary.

JON: "Is that enough for you? Do you need to hear more? See Luka. See Luka sleep –" MARTIN: (cutting in) "No, no, no; that’s enough!" [A JANGLING AS HE – REACHES OVER?] MARTIN (CONT’D): "That’s enough." [PAUSE.] [A FEW STEPS.] [THEN, CLOTHING SOUNDS AS JON SPEAKS:] JON: "Thank you for not hitting me this time." [A PAUSE THAT STRETCHES ON FOR THE SPAN OF THREE HEAVY BREATHS.] It's so interesting that this call out is phrased in a positive way. Highlighting, that now Martin has done it right rather then telling him what he did wrong before. But there is definitely hurt in Jon’s voice and Martin not reacting feels like he's taking time to consider what his actions really did to Jon and then stays silent out of shame. Also what did he do this time? Just pat Jon's arms? Shake him?

@a-mag-a-day

[unnonexistence]

trying a new writing strategy: to-do list style outline

[wereh0gz]

Thinking about the possible directions the frontiers story dlc could go

I've seen people speculate that it's gonna tackle Amy, Tails, and Knuckles saving Sonic from the corruption on Rhea Island, showing how it actually happened beyond them just poofing out of existence and then Sonic suddenly being ok. I really hope that's the case because I really want them to tackle the damage the corruption did to Sonic more overtly, not hiding the worst of it in idle dialogue

But if it's not that, then what could it be?

Could it be continuing off of the last scene at the end of the credits, where we see Eggman getting ahold of Sage again? Maybe Eggman decided he wasn't done with the islands and decided to continue researching them in hopes of using their technology to take over the world?

Idk and I can't wait for it to come out so I can play it

[cherrysnip]

sincerely yours - choi seungcheol

pairing: seungcheol x afab!reader

content: married life, dad!seungcheol's reaction when your daughter received a love letter.

(spoiler alert: he freaked out😭)

word count: 1.5k

Tuesday nights have always been Seungcheol's turn to wash the dishes. In retrospect, no one can even make him do a single household chore when he was younger. He grew up surrounded by helpers who were paid to do the job so he didn't try as much to learn them.

However, that changed when he married you. Probably it was because of how you were raised differently from him but you’re not comfortable of having other people hovering around your house to "do things you can do on your own". And unwilling as he was at first, Seungcheol just obeyed what you wanted because well, that's how whipped he is. (He'd undoubtedly say yes had you even declared the sky green.)

So here he is, seven years later, a "master" on the craft of washing the dishes. It's silly how such a simple thing could make him so happy but really, it wasn't easy for him to reach this point. He broke plates after plates that he swore at one point he saw you gritting your teeth like you were one thread away from strangling him.

But he said that every time you would smile at him and utter a soft thank you, hell, everything's worth it.

"Why are you smiling like a fool?"

He turned to see you leaning on the counter watching him with suspicion. A sheepish smile escaped from Seungcheol's lips as he reached out for a dry towel to wipe his hands.

"You don't have to know," he teased.

Your brows furrowed, "You better not be thinking of another woman or else..."

Seungcheol chuckled and walked towards you. He leaned, placing his hands on your sides, caging you on the counter. The action was so sudden it caught you off guard.

"How would I do that when you're everything I think about every waking day of my life? Hmm?" He planted a kiss on your shoulder which made you gasp. Years into your marriage but this little things your husband does still makes you giddy like a teenager. And of course, the blush spreading all over your face didn't escape Seungcheol, causing him to grin wider. Your reaction to his touch will always be his favorite drug.

"Now, you're just flattering me..." 

"I'm being sincere," Seungcheol insisted and met your eyes. "I still can't believe that after all these years, I'm actually married to you. How can I be so damn lucky?"

After he said that, your pouting lips turned into a wide smile. He is such a dork, you thought. You can't resist it anymore so you cupped his cheeks to kiss the tip of his nose. Being the competitive guy that he is, he did the same to you while chuckling. 

"I'm luckier to have married you, Cheollie. You're everything I've dreamed of a husband."

"Are you sure? I remember six years ago, you said you'll divorce me because I forgot to clean our room."

"Well, you already learned your lesson, didn't you?"

Seungcheol nodded, "I most certainly did."

"Oh by the way, I have something to tell you," you said a little bit later. Your arms were already wrapped around Seungcheol's waist with your chin on his broad chest.

"Baby no. 3?" Seungcheol asked hopefully and he only received a pinch on his side. "Aw! I'm just kidding sweetheart!"

"Tss," You removed yourself from Seungcheol but you still didn't let go of his arm while you gently dragged him to your living room. You picked up something from your coffee table and even though he was basically towering over you, he still wasn't able to have a clear sight of what it was because you were quick to hide it on your back.

"What is it?” He curiously asked but instead of answering him immediately, you slightly squeezed his arm."Promise me you won't have a heart attack?"

"How can I promise that sweetheart? Come on."

"Well, okay. Just please don't pass out."

"You're just making me nervous."

You pursed your lips and handed him the familiar heart-shaped paper. The last time he got a hold of something similar to this was during Valentine's Day and he almost lashed out. Good thing, you were able to prevent him from doing so. 

"W-what's the meaning of this?"

You clicked your tongue trying to supress your laughter. Knowing your husband, you kind of expected this reaction from him already. 

"Found that in your daughter's workbook. I was helping her with her assignment and that fell."

"Damn it! Seriously?" Seungcheol dramatically gasped and stared at the piece of paper again. "Sweetheart, you've already read this haven't you?"

"I did."

"And you're not bothered?"

"No, I'm not. Actually, I find it cute," you replied.

"It isn't." Seungcheol almost shouted but tried hard not to make it too loud because he was well aware the twins were already sleeping. "Look here sweet, whoever this kid was, confessed he has a crush on Chaewon and even wrote I LOVE YOU! He wrote I LOVE YOU to our daughter!"

You finally burst into fits of laughter, "What's wrong with that?"

Seungcheol was starting to get annoyed now but it immediately dissipated when you touched his arm and guided him to sit on the couch.

"Calm down Cheollie. It's just a simple note. No need to fret so much about it," you tried to ease him and Seungcheol sighed. He reached for your hand and pressed it as if he's trying to summon his lost composure.

"I mean...that kid wrote those words for our daughter. To our princess. And he's only what? Six years old? Does he even know what it means?"

"Don't insult the feelings of that kid, Cheollie. You yourself even proposed to someone when you were just what? Three?"

Shock passed through Seungcheol's face. He was just going to defend himself when you waved your free hand. "Don't even try to deny it. It was your mom who told me about it."

"Fine. But that's beside the point...last time it was Jungwon. Our little prince received a similar letter with three red roses on Valentine's Day and now it's Chaewon...and an I love you? God! The moment we received the result of your pregnancy test even felt like it just happened yesterday and now, they're receiving these...things. It's too fast. They're growing up too fast."

"Cheollie. It's not as if they're already marrying--"

Seungcheol was quick to cut off what you were supposed to say. "God no sweetheart! They're just six-year olds!"

"Exactly my point," You calmly said and closed the gap between you by hugging him and burying your face on the crook of Seungcheol's neck. "So loosen up, okay?"

"I'm sorry. It's just that... I know that after several years they'll grow up and will meet a lot of people. And then eventually, both of our kids will each meet the person they will love...but right now, I really just want them to enjoy their childhood first...is that too much to ask?" Seungcheol immediately stopped talking when he heard you sniffing. "Are you crying?"

You lifted your head and hurriedly wiped your tears without looking at him. "This is your fault."

"What did I do?" Seungcheol asked teasingly and helped dry your cheeks. "Okay, I'll stop being irrational now so you should stop crying too."

You immediately shook your head, "You're not being irrational. You're just being a good, scratch that, the best father you have always been. You're loving and responsible."

"And?"

"Fine. Handsome too. Very," you both chuckled. "Jungwon and Chaewon are sure lucky to have you as a father."

“And you as their mother," Seungcheol kissed your forehead.

"Seriously though," You suddenly said and peeked at the paper your husband was holding. "The kid is undeniably sweet writing a letter like that."

"Sweetheart..." He groaned and his plump red lips automatically turning into a pout like that of a kid sulking. 

"Sorry," you giggled. "I won't bring it up again."

You both just stayed on the couch for a long time hugging each other. And even with just that, everything felt perfect.

"Cheollie?" You called in a whisper.

"Hmm?"

"I just realized something after reading that kid's letter."

"Uhuh?" Seungcheol responded expectantly.

"That I don't say those words a lot to you," Your voice wavered. "Even if you very much deserved to hear it everyday."

Seungcheol can't help but smile because he is completely aware that you're not the most expressive when it comes to your feelings (which is a complete opposite of him) but he also knew that you have so much love to give and you just have a different way to express it. 

"Even if you don't say it everyday sweetheart, I can always feel your love for me and for the twins. And that, " Seungcheol hugged you tighter, "...is more than enough.

"But still, I feel like you want to hear it."

"I do but--"

"I love you, Cheollie." You said rather abruptly and buried your face on Seungcheol's chest. He could only laugh at your cuteness.

"Are you seriously acting shy now?"

Shame was definitely already creeping on your system so you slapped his chest and whined in a low voice, "Stop teasing me!"

With a contented smile, he whispered too.

"I love you more sweetheart."

—♡—

[cheapshrimpysheep]

I'm Sorry I Left You Behind

SUMMARY: The Bead Brawl tournament ends and Leona, Kalim, Vil and Lilia run away leaving you, Grim and Jack behind. Later, they will realize that they hurt you by doing this to you and will apologize to you.

CHARACTERS: Kalim Al-Asim; Vil Schoenheit; Lilia Vanrouge

TAGS: Fluff; GN Reader; Comfort

WARNING: Spoilers from Cloudcalling on the Savanna (Sunset Savanna's Tamashina-Mina) and its respective cards.

WORD COUNT: An average of 640 words per character.

COMMENTS: At first, I was going to write scenarios for all the event cards, but as Leona's was so personal, it ended up inspiring me to write a lot. So I decided to let him have his solo post:

There's a Calm Surrender (Leona Kingscholar x Reader)

By the way, I was undecided whether to use the name Neji or Kifaji, so I used both. 😅

I hope you enjoy. 😘

CONTEXT: To escape from Cheka, Neji(Kifaji) and the palace guards who were with them, Leona rushed to the car to drive back to the hotel. Vil, Kalim and Lilia went with him. And you, Grim and Jack were left behind in the rain.

I mean, Leona wanted to escape and the car didn't have seats for everyone but... still... it made you a little sad. At least you had Jack who never left your side. Eventually, Cheka and Neji(Kifaji) reached you, after Leona and the others had already fled. Of course the first thing Neji(Kifaji) did was apologize for Leona's rudeness and offer to take you back to the hotel.

When you arrived at the hotel, you went to your room with the intention of showering and changing your clothes. But before you can do that, someone knocks on your door.

“[Y/N]! You won't believe the ride we took with Leona.” Kalim tells you, enthusiastically. “It was amazing! I’ve never been in a car that shook that hard! It was so heart-pounding...” He stops himself when he actually looks at you. “Ho! [Y/N] You're soaking wet! What-?” and then he remembers “HA! We left you behind in the rain! I'm so sorry! Do you need anything? I can go ask for more towels for you.”

You say it's not necessary, that you're fine, you just need to take a shower and change your clothes.

“I'm glad. Let me know when you're done, okay? I really want to tell you about the ride... And made up for leaving without you.”

You shower, put on your pajamas, and text Kalim that you’re ready. But then, seeing Grim sleeping and remembering that Kalim can talk loudly without realizing it, you send him another message asking if you could be the one to go to his room instead, so you can be more comfortable talking without worrying about waking Grim up. He says it is a great idea and that you're welcome in his room anytime. Plus: “But come quickly. I really want to talk and be with you.”

SUNSET VILLA - KALIM'S ROOM

Kalim opens the door for you. It shouldn't be a surprise to discover that he had a much fancier and more luxurious room than yours. He closes the door and takes both of your hands to take you with him to sit on the bed.

“I have lots of snacks, you can eat whatever you want.” he tells you with a smile and pointing to a large basket full of traditional snacks.

He excitedly tells you how crazy and fun the ride with Leona was. And about when Jamil finally found him. You wanted to be happy that he had so much fun, but you couldn't shake the thought that while all that was happening you had been left behind in the rain, as if it would be easy for them to forget about you. And it showed on your face.

“Hmm? What’s wrong? Don't you like the taste?” He asks as you were eating one of the snacks. “You can always leave it aside and choose another one, no problem.”

You say that's not it and your expression becomes sadder as you wonder if you should tell him what you were really thinking.

“Well, I can see you're sad. Can you tell me what's going on. Nothing would make me happier than seeing a smile back on your face.” He smiles innocently.

You decide to tell him and say how abandoned and forgotten you felt.

“Oh no! I'm so sorry for doing this to you! We didn't want to abandon you and we didn't forget you. Well... I mean... I think technically with all the adrenaline we forget... But it wasn't out of spite! We just...” he sighs “No, there is no excuse. We did you wrong. I should have stayed with you.” There is a short pause. “I know a hug isn't enough to fix things, but can I give you one?”

You let him and he wraps his arms around you. It's very comforting, you feel a strong but gentle hug, that meanwhile loosens without releasing you.

“Can you forgive me?” He asks in a soft and sad voice, close to your ear, still hugging you. “I promise I won't do it again. I’ll never leave you again.”

You gently ask about what he just said. He breaks the hug calmly to look at you, still with his hands on your arms.

“I really like you. I feel really bad knowing that I hurt you. I don't want to do that again. I want to see you happy and smiling and I want to share all the good and fun moments I have with you. So I will never leave you behind again. It's a promise!”

When you arrived at the hotel, you went to your room to shower and change your clothes, but before you enter the bathroom, you receive a message. It's from Vil.

“I heard that you have already arrived. I would like to talk with you. Take a shower and let me know when you're dressed.” You reply to him to confirm that you saw the message, and shortly he replies to you: “I stopped by your room earlier and left the soap soap packed with hot spring minerals I bought in your bathroom for you to use this. But it's just this once, then I'll take it back with me. So enjoy it, but don't spend too much.”

You do so. You not only feel more comfy but more relaxed. You put on your pajamas and text Vil that you're ready.

“Grim is sleeping, isn't he? I'd like to talk without worrying about waking him up. Could you come to my room?” You say that you can and that you are going there now. “Thank you, [Y/N]. I'll try not to steal too much of your rest time.”

SUNSET VILLA - VIL'S ROOM

You knock on Vil's room door saying it's you, and you hear his voice giving you permission to enter. You enter and see him sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard with his legs stretched out on the bed and a bandage on one of his ankles with a bag of ice on top.

“There is no need to worry.” Vil tells you. “Personally, I think they are exaggerating a bit, but it wouldn’t be wise of me to refuse treatment.”

You close the door behind you and go to sit next to him on the bed. You look at his ankle again and sees that it and his foot are very swollen. You ask if it's really the doctors who are exaggerating or he who doesn't want to make a big deal of it.

He sighs. “Very well. I may have gone too far in hiding my injury and making it worse during the tournament. But now everything is under control. So please don't worry, okay?” He smiles to reassure you. “It is another subject I wanted to talk to you about.”

“And what is it?” You ask.

“I am sorry.” Vil’s words and look say.

“For what?”

“For leaving you behind and in the rain. I know it was Leona who ran away and left his guests behind, but I was one of those who went after him and got into the car. Which is equally rude and inelegant. You supported us the whole time and did what you could to help us and not be a burden and we treated you like one in the end, and for that I am deeply sorry. Did you arrive well at the hotel? Any symptoms of a cold?”

You answer no, that you arrived well, Neji(Kifaji) took it upon himself to guarantee that.

“I see. I must thank him, and apologize as well.” He smells the air. “Ah, you used the soap I left for you.” And you apologize for forgetting to bring it back. “It's okay. You can return it to me tomorrow. I can see that it's really good, the skin on your face looks beautifully healthy.” You smile thanking him. “You know, come to think of it, you can keep the soap. That skin matches that smile very well.” He smiles, and then laughs when he sees how flattered you got. “You should go back to bed now. It would be a shame to ruin the effects of your bath with a short night's rest.”

You agree and get up, but before leaving you notice his foot again and ask if he would like you to help him lie down.

“I told you you didn't need to worry. But thank you, I'll be fine.”

How silly, he was right. You rephrase the sentence: You WILL help him lie down.

“[Y/N], I already told you-” But you pretend you're not listening, and hold the bag of ice with one hand and his foot in the other. You look at him as a sign that he can settle in bed now. He sighs as he does so. “You are so stubborn. It's almost charming.”

“Almost?”

He laughs softly. “Stubbornness isn't charming most of the time, but... I think you can make it quite cute.”

You thank him for the compliment, and feeling bold, you lean in and kiss his forehead. “Good night, Vil.” As you start to straighten up, you feel a hand on your arm pulling you back. And he kisses your cheek.

“Good night, [Y/N].” he whispers with a smile. “And thank you.”

You arrive at the hotel and go to your room. You take a shower, put on your pajamas and when you're about to go to bed, you hear a light knock on the door. Grim groans and turns over, but doesn't wake up. You get closer to the door to ask who it is, but before you do it, you get your answer.

“It's the cute old me.” you hear Lilia's voice on the other side. You open the door. “Hi [Y/N]. Sorry to interrupt your rest, but I wanted to tell you something.” He says quietly. He leans to the side to see Grim sleeping behind you. “But maybe we should do it somewhere else. I don't want to wake Grim... again. In my room perhaps? I have some snacks.” he smiles invitingly.

SUNSET VILLA - LILIA'S ROOM

The two of you enter Lilia's room and he immediately grabs a bag full of snacks. He sits on the bed and invites you to sit next to him, with the bag between you.

“You can take whatever you want if you are hungry.” He says. You take one and it continues. “You didn't catch a cold, did you?”

You seem a little confused at first, but then you realize what he's referring to. You say no, and that you immediately took a hot bath when you arrived, but regardless of whether you tried to hide it or not, Lilia would immediately realize that you were sad about what happened.

“My deepest apologies.” he says regretfully. “I knew you wouldn't be in danger. You were with Jack and Neji(Kifaji) and the royal guards were sure to bring you back to the hotel safe and sound. That's how I usually see things at first. But... I didn't think about how that act could be interpreted. Running away for fun leaving you behind in the rain. Sounds like abandonment, doesn't it?”

You look away, with a sad expression that confirms what he said.

“That's why I wanted to talk to you. That was absolutely not my intention. I am quite knowledgeable about whether or not someone is at risk physically, but it seems like I'm still learning to understand the same emotionally. After all, what is no big deal for one person can be a very cruel act for another. I'm not saying you're too sensitive, but I think it depends on how much you like the person committing the act, right?”

He holds both your hands in his. “Your heart is your most wonderful quality. And as someone it can love, I should protect it better and not taking it for granted.” He kisses the back of your hands. “Could you forgive me for my mistake?”

If you would like to read more from me, you can find it in my pinned post: INDEX

[sugdenlovesdingle]

What if everything hadn't been wrapped up in 42 minutes and the 118 did get closed down?

slightly spoiler-y for 8x04, now also on AO3

---

"They're shutting us down. They're actually shutting us down." Buck ranted as he paced up and down Tommy's livingroom. "Actually, no, they have shut us down. As of today the 118 is no more!"

"So you've said." Tommy sighed. Evan had been talking and ranting almost non stop since he'd walked through the door of his house an hour ago, and while Tommy had been happy to see him, he quickly realised his boyfriend wasn't in the mood for romance.

"I'm sorry, I know I'm a lot... but... I've never worked at a different house than the 118. Working under a different captain than Bobby is bad enough, but at least I always had the others. Now I won't even have that."

"Don't apologise. I get it, I really do." Tommy stood up and put his hands on Buck's hips. "But didn't you say Hen is working on something?"

"Yes! And she won't tell me what! And look what happened! We're all going to be moved to other houses and Bobby will still be on that tv show!"

"Hmm... but don't you think they all want the band back together as much as you do?"

"Well... yes... but I wish they'd tell me what they're doing! I could help." Buck sighed in defeat.

"I know, but I think they want to keep everything as on the down low as possible. The less people know what they're doing, the less chance there is of things not working out or someone getting in trouble."

Buck groaned and let himself slump against his boyfriend's 6'2" frame.

"I hate it when you go all reasonable on me."

Tommy chuckled and dropped a kiss in his hair.

"A few weeks at a different house might not be so bad. I mean... it did me the world of good."

"So not the same thing." Buck muttered, face still buried in Tommy's shoulder.

"When do you find out what house you'll be at?"

"Dunno." Buck mumbled. "We just came off a 48 so we're supposed to have a couple of days off... but... they just said we'd get an email telling us what house to report to and when."

"You might end up at the 122 with Sal." Tommy mused.

"Oh yeah that would be great. Working under my boyfriend's best friend." Buck said sarcastically.

"At least you know him." Tommy reminded him. "And he's a good firefighter and a good captain. If Bobby hadn't shown up, I think the 118 would now be Captain Deluca's house."

"He'd give me shit just because he could. He'd be worse than Gerrard because he's your friend and we're together."

Tommy knew he was right, but also didn't want to admit it and spend the rest of the night talking about work.

"Are you hungry? I got Chinese take out last night and there is still plenty left. I'll heat some up for you."

"In a minute." Buck said, wrapping his arms around Tommy a little tighter, keeping him exactly where he was. "Just want to stay like this for a while."

"Maybe we should sit down. We'll be more comfortable."

"Nope. I'm good." Buck told him and somehow stepped even closer until they were practically one.

"Uhm babe... I think you're buzzing."

"Baby no more bee puns please. I'm tired. It's been a hell of a day." Buck groaned. He was practically falling asleep on his feet with just Tommy's arms holding him upright.

"No, babe, you're actually buzzing. I think it's your phone?"

"What? Oh! Oh shit." Buck scrambled to get his phone out of his pocket. "Shit shit shit it's LAFD HQ." he said after glancing at the screen. "Hello? Yes this is Evan Buckley."

Tommy gave him a questioning look when almost every emotion possible moved across his boyfriend's face in a matter of seconds.

"A-are you sure about that?" Buck asked and paused to listen. "No, no, no problem. I'll uh... yes... I'll uhm... wait for the email for the details then. Yes... thank you. Bye."

"What? Don't tell me they're actually transferring you to Sal's house?"

"No... Not Sal's... I uh... have to report for duty on Friday... at the 217."

[thedexcat]

VotV Speculation Megapost

(For posterity's sake, the latest major release is 0.8) (Also, buckle in. This post is a long one.) (Edit 9/20/24: Added Addendum 1) (Edit 10/14/24: Added Addendum 2) It should be extremely obvious, but spoilers ahead.

As we all know, Voices of the Void has a "story breadcrumbs" approach to its plot. Combine that with its alpha status, and we're left with a lack of hard answers. However, some pieces did seem to click into place. This is far from anything definitive, but here are some of the conclusions I've drawn. Let's start with everybody's favorite:

Part 1: The Arirals

god i want one to hold me like that

You know em. You love em. Like 90% of the fanart is about them. But the question is... what the hell are they doing here? Judging by the fact that they construct a campsite in the facility, they clearly expect to be here for a while. A common interpretation I hear from people is that the ones out in the facility are either political refugees, or just some sort of benign "tourist group". I've personally come to a different conclusion. Let's consider what they brought with them.

Exhibit A: The weapon (left)

The weapon they drop around Day 24 is no mere Star Trek phaser. If you drop it in the main building, pretty much EVERYTHING in the building is going to be sent flying from the resulting blast. Not only that, but the "human-wieldable" version that can be unlocked for the sandbox mode has one hell of a fire rate. Something tells me that there's no way in hell this thing is a civilian-grade weapon. And, as established in a previous post of mine, they're kitted out in full-body armored stealth suits.

Exhibit B: The stealth suit (Kerf dutifully remains there for scale)

These aren't tourists or runaways. They're goddamn Black Ops. But you're probably asking, "If that's what they are, then why do they have nothing better to do than to steal shrimp and prank you?" Don't worry, I'll get to that later. Eventually. Maybe.

For now, let's move on to a third thing of theirs: The letter to Kel.

Exhibit C: Esraniki's Letter (D-, see me after english class)

This is the letter left at the Ariral camp if you have maxxed reputation with them. There's one line in particular that's always stood out to me. "GET WE HOME YOU GET DEATH AVOID" So... why can't they go home? Let's review: A: They have perfectly functional spacecraft parked right behind you. Even if they were broken, surely some random Pre-FTL primitive wouldn't be able to help with a mechanical failure in their technology. Hell, they buzz you at the radio tower with one. So there seems to be nothing physically stopping them from leaving. B: They've come kitted out with some serious weapons and armor C: Something in the facility is drawing the attention of all manner of extraterrestrials (and ghosts and demons. are 'metaterrestrials' a good word for them?) So my take? They're monitoring something, waiting for an opportunity to act upon it. (In keeping with the Patch Note naming convention, I will be calling this unknown something "The Threat") Not only that, this 'opportunity' may only open up with the assistance of a human. But what could Dr. Kel possibly do that an Ariral couldn't? Well, I can think of one thing he can do better... Interface with human technology.

Exhibit D: Ariral Communique (quality: shit) Computer technology isn't some universal constant. You can't make a program and expect it to magically run on alien technology with an unknown architecture. This ain't Independence Day. The fact that the Arirals barely managed to send a heavily-garbled message to Kel's computer, quite frankly, speaks of an extreme amount of effort on their part. And it was all just to say the word "OUTSIDE".

If The Threat has some ties to human technology, then perhaps Kel actually could be more qualified to deal with it than the Ariral Black Ops. Hmm... An unknown threat with ties to human technology. Could it possibly involve...

Part 2: The Incredibly Suspicious Bunker

"I left a 'Do not enter' note on the floor. That'll stop people from investigating!" This damn thing is quite obviously, as TVtropes would put it, The Very Definitely Final Dungeon. It is my firm belief that this is what the Arirals were sent to monitor, and where The Threat can be found. But we can't really get much further in than a few doors. So... what's in there? An easy assumption to make is that it's some sort of fallout/storm shelter. But something nearby might tell a different story...

Exhibit E: *squints* ...Liberty Prime? If you take a metal detector over to the bunker entrance, you'll quickly discover a buried drive nearby. The image you just saw is its contents. It's clear that something is being depicted here. What exactly it is, well, that's hard to say. but if you look at that teeny tiny thing at the top, you'll see something that looks like the Alpha base and its radio tower

oh god we're getting into crusty duende video territory now

What this says to me is that there is a colossal something underneath the base. Some sort of mega-facility? Unnatural cave formations? Something else entirely? Or I could be looking at it entirely wrong. But the point is, it's very likely that something extremely expansive is down there.

What if we could just take a peek a liiiittle bit further in? Well, there is ONE way...

Exhibit F: The Least Cursed Elevator in Horror Fiction

Roughly around 3:33 each night, there is a chance that a camera inside the bunker will become active. It's monitoring what appears to be a heavy-duty elevator coated in blood. An elevator like this would also indicate something buried deep underneath the base. Say, this elevator seems familiar...

Exhibit G: Monique Santificer's Extremely Ominous Foreshadowing

...Huh. I'm sure that only means good things. So we have a Hellivator and evidence that there's some place that you'd need a Hellivator to get to. Are there any other clues around? Well, there's that handy instruction book on robotics. You can make your own little friend!

POV: You're 5'11 and she's 6'0 And... Oh! looking back at that camera, it looks like someone else made their... their own... friend...

Exhibit H: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- ...I don't think they followed the instructions to the letter. So it seems the people in the bunker were working on combining robots and, er, 'biomass'. I don't think our meaty friend here is The Threat itself, but I do believe that it is some aspect of it, or at least a result of it. And whatever The Threat is, it seems to be "leaking" out of the bunker. After all, this toothy bot here seems to have little siblings burrowing out from underground!

Exhibit I: should start running Kerfus. Kerfur. Whatever name they have, they love you! Such a shame that the flesh inhabiting their chassis does not.

they seriously recalled the ++ models over a little thing like this, smh Something deep underground, cursed flesh, and occult sigils. Hmm. Things would tie together neatly if there were, say, some sort of demon around associated with flesh and dark depths.

Part 3: Furfur (and conclusions)

"I WATCH YOU SHIT AT NIGHT" The Great Earl of Hell and raw flesh afficianato, it's Furfur! Demonology refers to him as a liar, but also a teacher of secrets. And he seems to really really like flesh. Not bones, though. He's always leaving those behind.

They say that if you burn an offering of flesh at his altar, he'll give you a marketable Furfur plushie!

The children who survived loved them! Interestingly, there's a certain location connected to Furfur: The bottom of the well. If you pass out at the bottom of the well, you will end up in a (dream of a?) mysterious structure.

Exhibit J: all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well

A few things of note in this place: -More demonic sigils -The only 'exit' is a tunnel leading upward with a broken ladder. And even if you could reach up there, Furfur's giant skull-face is blocking the way. -A unique knife, which when examined in the inventory, says that it was found "deep underground".

How very interesting that this flesh-loving demon has his own little place down in the depths of the earth. And you say the bunker reaching downwards has been spawning horrific robot-flesh amalgamations? Robots that are specifically of human design?

Well then. So here's what I think is going down:

no i'm not crazy it's invisible alien catgirls versus demon cyborgs you weren't listening were you?

-Some scientists from before did a Very Bad Thing in the bunker depths. If I had to venture a guess, it's that they bargained with Furfur for secrets of the flesh, perhaps in the pursuit of cybernetics, biocomputers, or somesuch. This resulted in the Very Bad Thing happening, thus creating The Threat. -The Threat was contained to some extent, but is starting to noticeably leak out. It is also severe enough to have drawn extraterrestrial attention. -The Arirals have sent a squad to monitor the situation and act if necessary. Seeing as there's been no urgent need to act as of yet, they are bored out of their skulls and taking it out on you. -The fact that the bunker hasn't been blown up by catgirl black ops already says to me that the situation down there is delicate, and a 'guns-blazing' approach would be inadvisable. Not only that, but The Threat seems to be tied to technology they have little knowledge of. They would most likely need outside assistance if they want a 'clean' resolution to the problem. -And wouldn't you know it? Right there in the facility is some nerdy, crusty, half-crazed twink that seems to be very proficient in handling human technology. How very convenient.

"average person eats 3 roaches a year" factoid actually just statistical error. Dr. Kel, who-

That's how I think this ties together, personally. Of course, there's always unaccounted for 'loose ends' that may or may not be tied to the Bunker Conspiracy (the rozital pit in particular has been bugging me with its vagueness). Plus there's always the chance that I misinterpreted things like a dumbass. There were a few other smaller things I wanted to cover, but my fingers hurt from typing, and my ability to hyperfixate has its limits. And sorry if the screengrabs are a bit mismatched, I've already spent hours on this post without having to get screenshots from the game myself. If anyone actually read through this monstrosity of a post, congratulations! If you're as deeply brainrotted as I am, feel free to point out the reasons I'm dumb and wrong :)

Addendum 1: Meta Aspects

no, not this. wrong place. wrong time.

Every now and then I hear talk of lore clarifications in Discord servers, Google Docs, etc. Will I be covering these?

(source) The reason? I want to give my impressions based purely on the work as published. Death of the Author and whatnot. The furthest I'll reach 'outside' the games are those ambiguous little teasers on YouTube, which you don't have to be in any 'specific server' or anything to see.

haha what if funni meme robot was irreversibly corrupted by the horrors?

Think of it as me giving a form of feedback on how the game is presented as an isolated work. Anyway, I'll be posting another Addendum later, connecting more demon stuff to the bunker. Fun! One thing I intend to investigate between then and now is a rumor of a very poorly documented... item interaction. As a little preview, consider this note.

It seems, in my pursuit of knowledge regarding a mysterious bunker in an incomplete videogame story, I find myself investigating a skeletal entity of ambiguous origin described as having a single glowing eye. God. Fucking. Dammit. Every time with this shit.

This always seems to happen whenever the protagonist is bullied by tall monstergirls

Addendum 2: Classified

Progress on my investigation has been slow due to a combination of poor RNG and real-life stuff. Fun fact: I've never encountered the fossilhound in my many months of playing, and it looks like that won't change anytime soon!

I'll get you one day, ya boney bastard. In the meantime, it seems that someone has leaked classified pokemon data communications from our employers...

And just who do we encounter within the first few weeks?

Our classified documents are their vacation photos

So it seems that at the very least, our employers seem to be aware of the Arirals. So to what end do they want to draw them out? And why would the Arirals show any particular interest in a human presence in this facility specifically?

They clearly seem to be hiding their presence from the world at large with their cloaking ships and whatnot, but they seem almost eager to grab the attention of anyone working at this particular site.

And, as everyone already knows, Arirals are certified Goobers. They form like 3/5ths of the Counsel of Goobers*. The ones we encounter at the very least are very much not what our employers expect to kill us. So our employers are also aware of the existence of some other threat, possibly even THE Threat. *the remaining members are Kerfuses and Dinguses

Truly an incomprehensible menace from beyond the stars. (source)

Personally, I feel like this all feeds back into my previous thoughts. There is clearly a Threat at this location, and the Arirals probably believe that they may need human assistance to do something here. Or maybe I'm just biased towards whatever random thoughts got cooked up in my head.

Anyway, hopefully next time I'll be back with reports of yanking the lifecrystal out from the Fossilhound's head and shoving it up its ass. I am so, SO sick of trying to get that thing to show up.

[teeful-corner]

𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ How? .ᐟ. . . (THE FUCK ARE YOU ALIVE!?) Lloyd Garmadon x Reader | Gender Neutral Reader

ੈ˳light Dragons Rising (s1) spoilers, reference to previous seasons; Ghosts of the past come to haunt Lloyd in the future, while somehow also quelling a long-term ache in his heart. ੈ˳tags / warning: implied relationship, death (slightly detailed), dealing of lost and angsty Lloyd, Jay and Cole are still not back :(, not proof read! 4.9k words.

"Hey Lloyd!" Arin called from the library, catching Lloyd's attention sharply as he tried to pass by. The call didn't seem urgent, yet Lloyd wasn't going to do anything of particular urgency either, so he decided to peak inside; he was also wondering why (and how) Arin was in the Library. Not that it had been locked, or anything of the sort, yet because the Library somewhere that Lloyd would have thought Sora would be, not Arin. Hmm, maybe scratch that. Arin would probably be in the Library if it meant he could learn anything about the ninja. Good dedication, he had to admit, albeit it a tad weird. "Yeah Arin?" Lloyd called back when Arin didn't turn his attention over to him, still engrossed in whatever he was looking at. When Lloyd entered the room, walking over to Arin to peer at the book from behind, he would soon notice it was an old photo album. Zane, Pixel, and Nya used to keep it up to date with adventures and general family outings. "Who's that? I don't think I ever remember a ninja wearing purple on your team before." Arin asked, pausing for a minute before he added on quite proudly. "And I know more about you guys than anyone should know!"

The photo that Arin was looking at was a group photo, one in front of the Monastery before one of the countless times it got burnt down. Sometimes Lloyd couldn't help but wonder why they didn't rebuild the Monastery out of something that was inflammable; though he guessed Master Wu always enjoyed coming back to a Monastery that hadn't changed. And Lloyd had to admit, it was also a nice change of pace of the constant changing world outside. It felt like a part of the chaotic world was standing still; even if that feeling was usually a brief one. Yet, in the photo, Arin would point at a Ninja who was piggy-backing off of Lloyd back. Well, maybe not piggy-backing. It was more of, at the time of the photo, they had jumped onto Lloyd's back and he was in the process of falling down. Meanwhile, Kai had burst out laughing and Nya was elbowing him, rather harshly, with a snicker. Though her efforts were rather targeted as seeing the rest of the team was already bursting out in bubbly laughter. Lloyd swore he could hear all their laughter echo in his pointed ears, like the day had just happened. But he knew he was wrong. His eyes became saddened as much as he tried to smile; if not to soothe Arin, then to soothe himself. "Ah, well, that's the Master of Crystals." Lloyd began to explain to Arin, who craned his neck back to look up at Lloyd. "...um, shoot. What can I say about them?" Lloyd tried not to laugh at his own short comings, a habit that he was constantly teased for yet he couldn't help. "The Master of Crystals?" Arin mumbled in echo to Lloyd's statement. His eyes filtered back down to the frozen photo, taking in how blurry everyone looked from moving. He couldn't help but crack a smile. "You two seem close!" "We were!... we really were." Lloyd's voice drew off a bit, his eyes glancing to the side as he still tried to wrack his mind on what to say. He knew if he said too much he would start crying, yet he also knew that Arin would want to know as much as possible. Yet how could he sum up them in words? That task, Lloyd thought, was impossible. "I wish you could have met them," Lloyd would find himself mumbling. "They were amazing, well as great as a person can be." Lloyd started as Arin turned to face him again, photobook still supported in his hands. "They were rather talented, some of their paintings are actually hung around the Monastery - well those that didn't burn in the fires. They were. . . wonderful, incredibly funny at all the wrong times. Fearless, in their own way, and yet reckless at the same time. Master Wu always scolded them for jumping head first into situations instead of using their head. "They were rather passionate as well, yet somehow managed to be a total introvert; they would not speak to the press, nor anyone they were uncomfortable with. Always gave one of the Ninja this stare that screamed 'help me'. Social awkwardness, that's the word for it." Lloyd couldn't help but smile as memories began to surface themselves after being dormant for years. Arin kept his eyes on Lloyd as he spoke, only occasionally glancing down at the picture to look of the Ninja that Lloyd spoke of. Arin couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't heard of them before. "They were also kind... maybe too kind." Lloyd paused in his speech, he had been rambling for a while before his words fell short. So much so Arin had noticed that Kai stopped to listen from the doorway; he seemed curious on the conversation, yet soon realized who Lloyd was talking about and grew the same solemn look. "What happened to them?" Arin was compelled to ask when he noticed all the past-tense that Lloyd was using when describing the Purple Ninja; furthermore the solemn look that the two grew when speaking about them. Yet, Arin wasn't sure if those looks were because the Ninja got lost during the merge. . . or if something before the merge happened.

The silence was more deafening than a rock-n-roll concert. Arin's brain was flooded with reasons for the sudden silence, ranging from the simplest answer (they were lost in the Merge) and the most complex scenario his brain could possibly think of. He would gingerly close the photo album and try and place it back into the shelf, "We don't have to talk about it if you guys don't want to!" He was quick to rush out. He didn't want to cause any sort of discomfort, and the silence suggested he had; that or he had just resurfaced some horrible memories that were being shoved away. Arin didn't hear when Kai had came over to the two, jumping when he felt the sudden warm hand on his shoulder, and gingerly glancing back over to Kai. He seemed in a much better shape about the question than Lloyd was. Arin knew Kai was trying to offer some sort of smile to soften the anxiousness that coursed through Arin - yet his smile wasn't very convincing. "They gave their life to try and protect us, kid." Kai explained, ruffling Arin's hair in another attempt to soften the mood. Yet, somehow Arin felt worse in hearing the news, turning to look over at Lloyd with apologetic eyes. Lloyd wasn't facing them.

Sora was quick to pick up on the more solemn mood that Lloyd seemed to be slumped in, not being as attentive during training or flat out spacing out - which tended to cause multiple accidents. Sora knew she wasn't the only one who caught on either. During her training with Nya, the Water Ninja continued glancing back at Lloyd with frowned eyebrows and eyes swimming in worry. Nevertheless, they both saw how careful Arin was around Lloyd, and Sora half wondered if some sort of stress caused Lloyd to crack and snap; she's heard from a few sources that he could have a temper on him. Yet, Nya pointed out how Kai acted around Lloyd and claimed that something happened that wasn't Lloyd snapping at Arin. Something much bigger. "How can something bigger than Lloyd snapping at Arin make Lloyd so. . ." Sora fished for the right word. Distant didn't feel right. ". . .I don't know! Not-Lloyd and Arin so cautious?" Nya glanced over at Sora, lips pierced in a frown, before her eyes returned over to Lloyd, "I don't know, but something did happen. Not Lloyd snapping happen, yet something. I've only seen Lloyd this despondent since-" And Nya stopped, causing Sora's interest to peak. She waiting for Nya to continue, dutifully noticing the rise of suspicion mixed with realization that swirled in Nya's eyes. When Nya did not continue, though, Sora asked with a cocked eyebrow. "Since some big even that caused Lloyd to lose someone close to him, and he somehow still blames himself over all these years?" It was a rhetorical question, laced with some humorous sarcasm, as Sora went back to her work. She was fixing up her mech, trying to add some enhancements on it so it would run smoother. All the while she was also trying to channel her elemental power without Riyu's help. This allowed Riyu to be able to lay in the sun nearby while intensively watching Sora's work, ready to bounce onto his feet if Sora needed his help. Sora noticed the silence from Nya, yet ignored it at first as she tightened a screw. Yet, after the third, the silence got a tad awkward. Sora glanced back at Nya, who was staring at her with a baffled look; almost as though she had seen a ghost. "What. . .?" Sora glanced behind her, seeing if she had missed something. Yet, she only saw her mech and came to the conclusion that she didn't. "How did you?" Nya's posture straightened as Sora glanced back at her. Now Sora was positively confused, "How did I what?" And Nya would roll her wrists, acting like that had carried the answer to Sora's question. It didn't and Sora was left just puzzled. Yet Nya seemed to get the hint that, maybe, Sora didn't know what she was talking about and happened to just take a rather accurate jab in the dark with her rhetorical question. As for Nya shook her head, clearing the baffled look on her face, before actually waving off Sora's puzzled look this time. "Nothing, nothing. I just thought-" And again, Nya wouldn't finish her sentence as her eyes drifted back to Lloyd. Sora would notice as she rubbed her neck, her eyebrows frowning more so than before, and a frown tugging deeper on her lips.

"I LEFT YOU GUYS ALONE FOR ONLY A SECOND!" Kai's shouting filled the court yard as Sora, Arin, Wyldfyre, and Riyu stood away from the gigantic hole in Monastery wall. Kai had gone inside only a a few minutes before a merge portal had appeared right above the Monetary; which both frightened and confused the four, seeing as Lloyd had used the dragon cores a few weeks ago! "It wasn't us!" Arin started, instantly trusting his hands up in the same way a cop would ask you to. Kai gawked at the four before rushing down the Monastery steps as Zane peaked door behind him, confused. Sora was quick to add to Arin's plea for innocence, yet she was cut off by Wyldfyre. "This was not our faults!" Wyldfyre crossed her arms, "Someone just fell out of the sky, crashed, and broke the wall! It was not me this time." Sora resorted just to agreeing with the two at this point. Kai groaned, and Sora wondered if it was out of laziness (for not wanting to deal with another broken Monastery wall) or out of 'I'm going to be killed for leaving you all alone!'. Either way he rushed past the four and over to the wall, but to Riyu's concerned growls, to check out the damage. He drew his sword just encase. "Fell out of the sky? But Lloyd should have stopped the rifts from reopening." Zane said as he walked over to Arin's left, staring at the rubble with confusion before he began to analyze the rubble as Kai began to carefully climb onto of it. "That's what I thought!" Arin shouted, thrusting his hands out at the crashed wall, "but then someone just- FELL FROM THE SKY!" Sora would add, "While being spit out of a rift. Though it disappeared after they got spat out." "Again, none of this was Wyldfyre's fault." Wyldfyre stated again, nodding in agreement to her own statement as though to add value to it. Nya didn't seem too amused as she rushed out with Lloyd to the hole in the wall and the proclamations of rifts and people falling out of them. Kai swore he was getting a headache from listening to Arin, Sora, and Wyldfyre explaining the situation again; not from their voices, yet from the sheer annoyance that these rifts were causing trouble again. Especially when they had all thought that they were taken care of. And just as he thought life was getting back to normal, or as normal as life after the Merge could get, life slaps him in the face. Again! Thanks life, you're really helpful. Yet Kai's sour thoughts towards life didn't stop him from checking the rubble and coming to a quick stop after he noticed a familiar gi lying on top of the white stone. His body froze at an instant, the grip on the Monetary wall tightened, both out of fear and unknowing how to process who laid in front of him. "Lloyd-" Kai called into the flurry of voices that tried to figure out what had happened. Gaining no response from Lloyd at first, Kai tried calling him again despite not being able to tear his eyes away from the person. Finally, "LLOYD!" "What?!" Lloyd shouted back to Kai, turning to face the Fire Master both confused and more aggressive than he intended. Though his stance quickly softened as he noticed Kai's face: pale white. A beat. Lloyd gingerly, yet with as much confidence as he could muster, walked over to Kai and where he stood on the rubble. As he approached behind him, Lloyd called out again: "Kai?" Yet the only response he gained was a shaking hand that Kai pointed towards the rubble. Concerned, and with adrenaline now rushing through his blood like crazy (the held silence from the others not helping his nerves at all) Lloyd climbed upon the rubble to come face to face with a haunting face. In an instant, it felt like Lloyd's world was turned upside down as his eyes flickered over every detail of the familiar body that was no longer mangled or torn, no longer gruesomely defiled in the most repulsive way.

Lloyd could still remember how their limbs hung on like strings, or were disconnected entirely. How their blood stained the concrete road blacker than it had been, how the rotting smell filled the streets before the war had ended and they were safe to burry their friend. The details rushed back to Lloyd quicker than he wanted; more graphic than Lloyd remembered it being. The shock, horror, terror, slight disgust all made him recoil away from the stones wall; it forced him to completely turn his back and cup his mouth in fear of puking. His eyes were wide, his pupils shrunk as he tried to get those horrible, god awful memories out of his mind. The smell he remembered that coated the streets hit him, causing him to hunch over. He knew this was all in his head, old trauma resurfacing to bite him in the ass for never fully recovering from that scene. He could hear the voices, panicked and just as disturbed (mostly from the original Ninja) when they realized who laid in the rubble. Lloyd distantly felt a hand on his back, but his mind swirled and circled as he felt like his gut had been punched. "What's going on? What's happening?" Arin panic sounded so far to Lloyd, and Arin seemed further when Lloyd turned to look at his student. Arin grew fearful as he saw the detailed horror on Lloyd. Nya was trying to calm the situation. Zane was examining the body, trying to make sense of what was happening. He first ran a diagnostic and the only words Lloyd picked up were "Alive", "Breathing", "Vital". They weren't mangled and torn and tattered, they breathed and were whole and alive. That was a wild concept to Lloyd, caused his knees to buckle. His hand slid down roughly on the Monastery wall as he crashed to his knees. He was trying to keep the tears from spilling over, hiccupping escaping his throat as he choked back sobs. "Can someone explain to use what's going on?!" Sora shouted as Lloyd balled his hand into a fist against the Monastery. Sora sounded distressed, Lloyd couldn't blame her. He couldn't blame any of the new students for how they felt at the moment, after all this was slowly turning into a shitshow of emotions. Lloyd could feel Nya trying to snap him out of his engrossing thoughts yet the felt all consuming; It's like Lloyd felt everything all at once and yet, somehow, nothing at the same time. He blanked out at the explanation the students were given. He blanked out for a while. He wasn't sure when someone had managed to move him, yet he now sat in the living room of the Monastery with his fists clenching at his pants and this sickening feeling still in his stomach. How can you possibly explain that the fact that someone who had died, gave their life, to protect something greater than them (yet somehow also meaningless after they gave their life) to students who hadn't heard of them before? Lloyd moved his hand to cup his mouth, trying to control his breathing as his eyes zooned out on the floor. His knee bounced now without the weight of his arm. He could hear Nya next to him trying to explain the seemingly impossible to the three students: "A long. . . long, time ago, during one of our last fights with Lord Garmadon, after Harumi had resurrected him, we were almost cornered." Nya explained, "Well, we had been running from their joint forces for a while, taking refugee in abandoned building of Ninjago, yet this time we had no were to truly run. I suggested we split up, confuse Lord Garmadon and Harumi and Lloyd said we needed to all stick together." Nya would pause, allowing Lloyd to notice how she had rambled a little and how Kai had to place a hand on her shoulder. There was a silent nod that was shared from Kai to Nya, something to reassure her. Nya took a deep breath before she continued, "To make a long story short, the Ninja you saw crashing through the wall was the Purple Ninja, Master of Crystals. . . (y/n). "They had, despite much protest, said they would ward off Garmadon and give us a chance to escape; promised that they would meet us back at the base-"

"Garmadon tore her to pieces." The growl in Lloyd's voice didn't go unmissed as he interrupted Nya. His hand pulled down from his mouth, pulling at his skin a little before he rubbed his neck. "Left her to die rotting on the street, limbs hanging on by threads. . ." His statement was followed by silence, stunned if not horrified silence. Lloyd didn't look up at the three students, who sat or stood nearby. He couldn't bare to catch their eyes, to catch the horror that their mind was crafting after the vague description that Lloyd left hanging in the air. The silence was thick, thicker than Lloyd would have wished. "But... but they seemed.. fine?" Arin choked out, trying to get some sort of positivity back into the room; or at least to get some people to start looking on the bright side. Despite the gruesome topic. "We don't know how." Nya answered, shaking her head. "The best explanation would be that she was fixed when their soul moved on to the Departed Realm? But we haven't seen much trace of that realm in the merged... nor have we seen many traces of other realms for souls, like the Cursed Realm." "Yes, and it is rather odd that she would appear now." Zane walked into the room, cleaning his hands with a cleaning cloth. Attention snapped to him in a unsettling way (from his standards) yet he guessed it was just worry for the Ninja he had just been taking care of. "Especially after Lloyd stopped the MergeQuake. We can only hope that means that the Realms are settling into their new place, and returning people to where they're meant to be. Yet, that would not explain how (y/n) managed to resurrect." Zane noticed how Lloyd didn't look in his direction when he spoke, yet he couldn't blame Lloyd, not after all they've been through. Not after all he's been through; Especially since he was the closest to (y/n). "Well, the only thing we can do now is just wait for them to wake up, yeah?" Sora pipped up after a moment and she would receive a nod from Zane. She made sure to think on her next words, as well as her tone, before she crossed her arms, "So then let's go do something! I'm sure your friend wouldn't want to wake up after being dead for so long to see you all depressed!" "OH!" Arin pipped up instantly. "I have just the thing!"

The smell of some sort of bread was the first thing that came to mind, the second would be the warmth of a weighted cover that was tossed up to my shoulders, and the third would be the softness of the pillow at my head and the mattress under me. The warm and softness coaxed me back to sleep, yet my mind made it feel as though I had been asleep for decades. Decades. A soft murmur escaped my mouth as I rolled onto my side, my brain slowly registering the sounds that echoed from where I laid. The sound of birds nearby, the clattering of pans, the sound of laughter and chatter and talking; Feet on wood floors and sliding doors. The smell of different ingredients mixing with the smell of baking bread or maybe pie. It was like the sweetest dream. I grabbed at my covers and turned again on the mattress below me. It was so tempting to go back to sleep, to let the soft, warm sounds bring me to a dream where I was with everyone again. That was until I had fully registered what was happening. With a quick motion I shoved the blanket off of me, sitting up, and looking around feverously. I stared at the room in front of me, all too familiar and all too haunting. My hands had a mind of their own at they first touched the sheets under me, then my cheeks and face, and slowly my whole body as I began to register something: I was. . . alive? How was this possible? Hadn't I died, oh I don't remember, a few years ago? This shouldn't be possible, it shouldn't-. Thoughts circled around my mind like a storm that could not be tamed, panicked and frightened, terrified and horrific. I tried to remember what I could not, at the time, and my only last thoughts were those of the moments before I had died. The feeling of my bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles all pulling apart are screams ripped out of my throat in a piercing way that still haunting me. The tears that streamed down my cheeks, the pain; oh the unbearable pain, all suffered to make sure that everyone else could hopefully see another day. So Lloyd could see another day. I raised my hand, feeling my damp cheeks. I didn't even realize I had been crying, and I frowned my eyebrows as I couldn't understand whether it was because the memories or the confusion. And I couldn't help but sit on the bed, my bed, as I reeled in all that was happening. I was alive, I was back. Yet was everyone else here? What had happened after I died? Did the resistance work? Is Ninjago City back to how it had been? Is- The thoughts brought me onto my feet and tugged at my gi, taking in a shaky breath as I felt it. My feet guided themselves, my mind in a foggy trance, to the door and out the room, down the hallway of the Monetary while following the sounds of voices and laughter. I was led to the kitchen, were I would stand at the door and look in at the scene: Lloyd, Nya, Zane, Kai, and four people I didn't know; three kids, one frog guy. They all were making Pies, from what I could tell, and they were laughing and smiling and joking. Kai had flicked flour at Nya, who sneezed and glared playfully at Kai. Zane was putting pies into the stove, helping as the kid with pink hair read a book out loud. Lloyd with a kid in orange stood at a counter nearby, seemingly racing to make the pie that the pink-haired kid was shouting. The frog guy stood nearby. I didn't noticed as tears flowed back down my cheeks as I stared at the scene, my mouth slightly agape. Everything seemed so peaceful, so right. I could only guess Jay was in his room changing because there was a massive pile of flour on the floor and on Kai and Lloyd. Cole probably in the bathroom from having eaten too many of the sweets, with all the empty pie tins that laid on the table. Nya was the first to notice me, she was about to throw water at Kai yet paused as her eyes caught a glimpse of me and looked back. I could see the way her eyes widened, realization and relief and overwhelm wash her. All I could give her in response was a small smile, a weak bit of laughter.

There was a brief moment were we just stared at each other, and the next thing I knew Nya had rushed away from her spot and enveloped me in a hug. And I couldn't help but hug her back, feeling tears form in her eyes as I choked on mine. "Oh fuck-" Kai mumbled, and I could only guess he had realized why Nya had not shot him with water and instead rushed towards the door. The room grew quiet, confused then realized, as attention darted over to Nya and I. Lloyd's eyes. Oh, his eyes. Despite the pain that rang through them, they way they scrunched and drew out lines on his face. Despite the way he could only meet my eyes for a few seconds at a time. Despite the way they reddened, looking like he was about to cry. His eyes were still lovely as ever. I tightened my grip on Nya, "What did I miss?" I mumbled softly to the shocked silence. I let out something akin to a airy-chuckle. "Most recently, the ending of MerqeQuakes which occurred when all the realms were merged together into one big realm; before that,-" Zane began to respond yet he stopped himself. He couldn't help but smile, and I swear he was about to cry (if he could). "Actually, that does not matter. What matters now is that you're back... and awake." Nya slowly let go of me, I could feel as she tried to break from my grip and I slowly loosened her. She was smiling, yet she was crying; choking on her own tears. I couldn't help but give Nya one last reassuring squeeze before I slowly moved around her and towards Lloyd. The silence seemed thicker as I reached Lloyd, his hesitance more noticeable as his brows thickened and frowned. A thin frown spread across my lips, I knew what this was about (that much didn't take me being alive for years to know). "Lloyd I-" My voice felt weak as I started, reaching out to Lloyd with my hand yet stopping. I balled it into a fist, seeing Lloyd turn away from me, and slowly dropped my arm back to my side. What words could you say to someone who you betrayed? Nevertheless someone like Lloyd, who's been through so much and the last thing he wanted (I knew) was to see my body on the concrete floor. Blood staining the road. Limps ripped apart by his father. I knew that so much that my last thoughts had been about Lloyd had how he would react when he saw the scene. My mouth twitched as I stood there, next to Lloyd, in silence as my head fell. Sorry was not good enough, it would never be good enough; no apology would be good enough to start trying to make up for the time I had missed. For lying, as I knew that I wouldn't meet them back up. For everything. For leaving him alone and making him bear the world without me for so many years. For not being there for him for whatever he had to go through while I was gone; it had aged him so, I could see the aged pain in his eyes. It would never feel enough. "I'm-" And yet, somehow Lloyd turned to face me. And somehow, he came to embrace me, hugging me tightly as though he were afraid I would die again. And somehow, he managed to be near me after everything I had done. And somehow, I had a feeling, we would slowly get through this. Slowly, I wrapped Lloyd in a hug and gripped onto his gi, just as tightly. I buried my face into his shoulder as he did the same and we just stood there and hugged tightly. And everything felt right, even if it was for a brief moment. Everything felt like it had and how it should here in the Monastery, with Lloyd: It felt like home.

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[shiro-s2e2-erukinzu]

Anime only watchers and people who aren't caught up with the Manga, BEWARE... Cuz I'm about to discuss Spy X Family Mission 93... You have been warned...! 👌

[SPOILERS AHEAD FROM THIS POINT ON]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

IT HAPPENED...! IT FINALLY HAPPENED!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!! 😵

Honestly, words cannot describe how crazy this chapter was, but we're gonna talk about it anyway...!! 👀 LET'S GO!!! 😆

The chapter begins with everyone checking how well they did on finals, and Anya did a whole lot better than last time...!! 😆

I AM SO PROUD OF HER!!! 👏😄

Anya went from 213th to 168th place!! 🎉 Let's hope that Anya continues to improve in the future...!! 😊👍

Then, we finally got to see how well she did in Classical Language and...:

She got second place...!

But, she will still receive a Stella for it!! 👏😆Then, we find out that she got 24 points in math, which is just below the cut off point... Which means...:

So, not only did Anya get a Stella, she ALSO received A TONITRUS BOLT!!? 😵😂🤣😌

GODDAMNIT ANYA!! 😂 That means the score is still tied, but now it's 5 and 5 until she either becomes an Imperial Scholar or gets expelled...!! 😌

Then, we got probably my new favorite Loid expression...:

🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂 I'M SO SORRY LOID!!🤣

This poor man can't catch a break, but at he's quite proud of Anya for doing well on the test...!! 😊

After that, we cut to Authens praising Anya as well, but Sigmund says something that intrigues me...:

"...One day you'll experience the frustration of realizing that hard work is not always rewarded..."

Hmm... What could this mean...? Personally, if Sigmund does have something to do with the experiments that were conducted on Anya, then this could be his way of saying that not many know of his scientific experiments... But, that's just a guess at this point and I could very well just be reading too much into this single sentence... 🤔

Moving on, before Anya goes to bed that night Loid asks her a question...:

I was surprised that Twilight asked this!! 😲 But his question turned out to be for naught because Anya doesn't really remember... 😔 So, Twilight just tells her to forget about what he asked and now I'm wondering if this will lead Twilight finding out the truth about Anya's past and that she's a telepath... 🤔

Well anyway, we cut to Anya and Damian receiving Stellas for doing well on the test, and then it's the middle school students turn... AND GUESS WHO SHOWS UP...?! 👀

DEMETRIUS MOTHER F---ING DESMOND!!!😵

AFTER ALL THIS TIME, HE HAS FINALLY APPEARED...!! 👀

I can't believe that I was ACTUALLY RIGHT that he was gonna look more like his dad...! (Check out this post where I drew what I thought he might look like!! 👍)

But to continue, Demetrius is also as strange as his mother and father... ESPECIALLY BECAUSE OF THIS...!!:

After finally getting to meet him and seeing that Anya can't read his mind, my original theory that he might be working with his father, just got thrown out the window...!! Because now, I think that Demetrius has been experimented on... 😥 I hope that I'm wrong, but I just don't know this point...

AND THINK THAT'S ENOUGH ABOUT THIS CHAPTER FOR TODAY!

Today's chapter was excellent, but now that Demetrius has finally shown up, my mind is going crazy about what this ALL MEANS!😫

Anyway, I think I'll stop for today and possibly regroup with myself to figure out WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE DESMONDS!! (Except for Damain, who is the only normal one there..! 🥲) So until the next Mission or if I try attempt to figure out what is up with the Desmonds; take care, be safe out there and be kind to one another...!! Later!! 👍

[thunder-wolf64]

I Have a Proposition

-by thunder-wolf64

Cw for Monk Gourm Surv spoilers.

Story below the cut.

As Monk crawled into a shelter, rain shook the ground outside. Unexpectedly, someone followed behind. Monk turned around and jolted seeing the creature behind them.

Enot's smile grew, it's flat red teeth shining against the dim light. "Hello, short one!"

Monk's ears pinned, "H-hello!" He returned the greeting. Monk shuffled into the corner a bit more, "Do you need to stay in this shelter? it's raining outside now, I don't think you'll make it to a different shelter." Monk patted the insulated ground of the room. "I don't mind company, I'd never want anyone to die to the rain, not without as much help as I can offer."

Enot chuckled softly, "You sure follow your namesake." It slithered into the box, soft moss and lichens padded the cold metal ground. Though that didn't matter to Enot. "Do you share shelters a lot?"

Monk was quiet for a moment, "... You must've heard about me from the scavengers, they love to chat." The yellow slugcat laid down on the ground, his short fur and body heat warning the ground. "Mhm back home I usually sleep in piles with the others, but now I'm here and more often scavengers and lizards will hibernate with me. I have yet to see another slugcat though!"

"You must miss colony life, you're a sociable little creature." Enot scooted closer to Monk and lays down, its long tail curled around both of them. "Colonies aren't around inside the walls anymore, the rain is too severe and the shelters are too small."

"The walls?" Monk echoed. He noticed Enot's long and disjointed tail curling around him, but he didn't mind. "Is that where I am?"

Enot nodded its head, its long ears smoothing out to avoid hitting the top of the cramped shelter. "Inside the walls, a place where the rain takes over, as you know. Your life on the outside, in the wilds, is more tame than the destruction here."

Monk chuckled, "I mean, not dealing with jungle leeches is nice-"

"Is feeling yourself slowly becoming paralyzed from a spider better? Is dealing the rot better? Is swimming in polluted waters better? is getting swept off the ground by vultures better? Is lizards fighting over your limp body better? Is being drowned by worms better?" Enot leaned closer and its smile wrapped around its long snout. "You haven't even experienced half of the terrors here. No matter how nice you are, how much kindness you treat a creature with, you'll always be reduced to a karma flower for your empathy."

Monk stood up and stepped away from Enot. "You can't know that."

Enot hummed, "hmm, well I do." Enot sat up on its haunches and leaned over the yellow furred slugcat. "You need to go home. You won't find your sister here. She's already gone."

Monk's heart raced, what does this slugcat mean by that? "She's not gone, she'll never be gone for as long as I'm searching for her." The whole reason Monk came here was for Survivor, he couldn't give up. "And how could you know?!"

"Everyone really needs to stop asking that question again and again." Enot rolled its strange blue eyes. "I made sure your sister had her ending. You need yours. You'll see her again, you just need a way to go home." Enot taps his claws, "Except you can't actually leave."

"You're not making any sense! Is Survivor already home? Is she still here?" Monk starts to lose his composure.

Enot frowns, "ugh, timelines, how do I make this sort of linear?" Enot starts to mumble to itself while Monk sees if he can make a run for the exit. "Gourm opened the door after Surv- but Surv isn't home so Monk can't see her..."

Monk leapt around Enot and dashed for the pipe, but the messed up slugcat grabs Monk by the tail and drags him back down. "Get off of me!" Monk yelps.

"Wait wait wait! Darn... OKAY." Enot gently tosses Monk back into the corner and blocks the exit. "Out of every scug I figured you'd be the easiest to convince towards their 'bad' ending." Enot groans and yanks on their ears in frustration. "Ummm, sure go home. It's a long journey, and your sister won't be the same. But screw the timeline, my existence itself is breaking this world!"

Monk looks on twitch fear, "...what?"

"You beat my games, I'll have to think this through better next time!" Enot begins to cough something up, an egg with a weird red marking. "Sorry about this, but it is .. your payment for your ending or whatever. Find the iterators yada yada and you'll be fine-" Enot reaches out and taps Monk on the nose, "-boop!" Enot drops the egg and everything starts to warp.

Monk gasps as he wakes up where he started last cycle. "... I think I need to go home asap."

---

Moink avoided Enot's tricks through plot holes! Yippie!

Also new monk design!

[mcuamerica]

Summer Nights | Tarquin x Fem!Reader

Summary: You're the reason Tarquin fights so hard for lesser faeries. Requested by anon here.

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: heavy acotar spoilers, alludes to sex, semi-violent mentions (nothing super specific), bit of sexism, talk of lesser faeries, (lmk if I forgot anything), loosely proofread

Graphics by @saradika-graphics

It wasn't easy waiting for him to come back. It never was. Whenever his cousin called for him to go to Adriata, you were always nervous for his return. Always nervous he would never come back.

"I'll be back in the morning. Don't wait up."

He said it almost every time he left. But those were the exact words he uttered when he left to go to the party hosted by Amarantha. And then, the news came. The High Lord, Nostrus, and all his court that attended the party were stuck Under the Mountain, under Amarantha's command.

In years, you were much older than Tarquin. But in actuality you were just as old as he was when you lost him. You met him when you were 40, but truly 20 in the way your kind of lesser faerie aged. While High Fae aged normally until reaching 18-20, your kind took double the time. However, he was just about 24 when you met him. Meaning you only had 6 years with him until you lost him for 50.

You were immediately enamored by the dark skinned, light haired male. His eyes a bright blue that reminded you of the sea. He was beautiful and took your breath away whenever you laid eyes on him.

At first, he was the prince of your city and you were simply a loyal servant. Lesser faeries rarely had any standing in court, but Tarquin started recruiting a few more of your kind once he met you. Your main task was helping organize the libraries in the manor. One day, he needed a very specific book, which the librarian directed towards you.

He was immediately struck when he saw you, your bright eyes, your silver hair. Clearly, you were of the Summer Court, but not High Fae, as your ears were rounded. "My lord." You said, bowing.

He waved his hand, simply telling you to call him Tarquin. Then, he requested the book he needed. You went deep into the library with him, seemingly losing track of time as you wandered the steps down to the lower levels. You spoke of all things, and he asked you all kinds of questions. Ranging from your work at the library to your heritage and your family.

"Your mother was High Fae from Spring and your father a water wraith?" He asked while you searched the stacks for the books he requested.

You nodded. "Yes, but my mother's High Fae heritage was weak and has never helped me with anything. My father's, however.. I have the ability to control water very well. Like any full water wraith." You said, smiling a bit as you found the book.

"Hmm.. I think that's a testament to how strong you are, not your heritage." He said, taking the book from your hands.

You smiled to yourself as he skimmed the book. "This is perfect." He said. "Now, tell me about your water powers.."

It only continued from there, the frequent visit to the library. The talks while you dug up some obscure book. The way they became harder and harder to find, one day having to go to a completely different library to find it. All while Tarquin escorted you.

You learned much about the prince/general while you walked throughout the libraries. It wasn't a one-sided conversation. And you quickly began to fall for him. And he for you.

It wasn't long until he was taking you on walks in the summer breeze, by the river that flowed through the city. He would show you around to different libraries and book shops. One day, just about a year after your first date, he took you to a beautiful lake. It was tucked away in one of the forests surrounding his manor, with such blue and clear water you could see the bottom of it.

After swimming and making love all day, you settled on his chest as he traced circles along your back. You hummed in happiness, looking up at him. The longer you looked at him, the harder it was to imagine your life with him like this. At least, your life with him in public.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I..." You trailed, thinking of your words carefully. "We can never truly be together." You said, frowning slightly.

He perched his weight onto his forearm, enough to lean over you and move your hair from your face. "I'd say what we just did to be as close together as any two individuals can get." He said.

A small smile tugged on your lips but you shook you head. "I mean.. publicly. I will never be your princess of this city. I can never be a part of your court. Not as a High Fae could be." You said.

Tarquin stroked your cheek with his thumb. "And why not?" He asked.

You narrowed your eyes. "You know why, Quin," using his nickname was like second-nature to you at this point. "Because I'm a lesser faerie-"

"We are both just faeries, (Y/N)," He said, kissing your forehead. "But you are right. At the moment, you cannot be in my court. But one day, when I know it will be safe for you, I will make you my wife." He said. "And until then, I've come up with a plan." He said.

He told you of it for the next hour. And you talked it through. When you could see him, when he would visit. How long you'd have to be apart. You didn't like the idea of leaving him, but it was the best way of staying safe and away from any enemies he might have. With you being a lesser faerie, it was harder for you to defend yourself from threats. Even with the wards Tarquin put up. Still, he was young and inexperienced and didn't want to take any chances.

So, you went to a small fishing village on the Summer Court border, just on the sea. It was closer to Adriata than your home city, but you were glad to finally be by the sea.

Tarquin would visit you each week, as often as he could. However, his visits grew more and more infrequent when Amarantha started taking hold of the courts. And he muttered those words that played over and over on your head when he left for that party. That party that separated you for 50 years.

But you had hope he would return to you. It faltered only for a moment when you heard that Nostrus was killed because of a rebellion. But your partner and lover was named High Lord, and granted every power with it. Even if it was stunted because of Amarantha’s hold on magic.

You made sure the fishing village thrived during the years of Amarantha. Using the knowledge you gained from books and Tarquin’s own training, you helped build a small group of warriors to defend it in case any of Amarantha’s sentries wandered too far towards the village. And with help from a few Day Court faeries that resided in summer, you set up wards to notify you if anyone entered your territory without permission.

You and a few trusted messengers that would go to Adriata for information, but sometimes they didn’t come back. And those were always hard days to talk to their families.

It was one of your trusted messenger that came to you 50 years after Tarquin left to deliver the news of Amarantha’s death. Still worried it could be a trap, you didn’t have the Day villagers lift the wards. Instead, you ad your guards go to the border.

After half a day, one came racing back to the office you had in the village. “The High Lord is here, my lady.” He said, panting.

You stood up, raising your eyebrows. “Tarquin?” You asked. He nodded and you motioned for him to go, smoothing down the summer dress you had on before you took off after him. You got to the border and faltered your steps, catching Tarquin talking to one of the sentries.

“Quin?” You breathed out, chest heaving. He turned towards you, eyes wide as he heard your voice for the first time in so many years.

“(Y/N),” he said, as if the breath was taken from him. You both ran towards each other and you launched into his arms, a bright laugh filling the air. Tears streamed down your face as you held him close, legs wrapped around his waist as you kept close. In that moment, you felt the bond snap between you two. You pulled back and looked into his eyes. You knew it snapped for him. As his bright smile met yours, you leaned down and kissed him deeply. As if everything that was unsaid between you two throughout the 50 years apart was said in one kiss.

“I’ve missed you.” You whispered, tears escaping your eyes. Tarquin set you down on the grass, cupping your cheeks.

“Me too.” He whispered. “I’ve thought of you every single day since I’ve left. And I love you so much.” He said, kissing you again as his own tears streamed down his face.

“Can I offer you something to eat?” You asked, searching his eyes.

A breath of relief came from his lips as he nodded. “Of course, my love.” He said and kissed you again.

It didn’t take long for you to get the hang of being Lady of Summer. You would go from city to city, helping Tarquin with establishing relationships. From being the main leader of your village, you knew how to settle disputes and help with city planning. What you didn’t know, however, was how to interact with the established court.

Many High Fae didn’t agree that a lesser faerie should be Lady of Summer, even if Tarquin put in new laws to make all faeries treated the same. Sometimes, when you were alone with court members, they would say as much to your face. When you brought it up to Tarquin, well,.. those court members didn’t have their positions for much longer. He even issued a Court decree saying all faeries, High Fae or not, had a place in his court. As members of his court.

It was that decree you thought the High Lord of night was coming to talk about when he and the female that saved you all from Amarantha stole the Book of Breathings. You’d never seem Tarquin so enraged before. Or disappointed. He truly thought Rhysand was going to be a High Lord to help him through the Court politics. You tried talking him down, tried convincing him not to send the blood rubies. But he was upset that they didn’t trust him enough to tell him.

Then you had to remind him that there were many things he didn’t disclose to them either. He still sent the rubies.

It was a last ditch effort to go to Varian when Adriata was being attacked, asking him to write the Amren to ask for help. Tarquin was furious when he found out you asked, but ultimately grateful since without the Night Court… Adriata would have fallen.

That’s how you ended up here, at the meeting of the High Lords. After some pleasant greetings from the other High Lords and Ladies, you sat next to Tarquin. Waiting for the Nigh Court and their entourage to arrive.

Tarquin was skeptical of coming, worried it would put you in danger. But you were the Lady of Summer, and if you didn’t show up it would be a bad look. Unless you were pregnant, which you most certainly were not. Especially during a time like this.

You set next to him, keeping your composure as each member of the Night Court walked in, led by their High Lord and High Lady. And you kept quiet until Rhysand asked for support in defeating Hybern.

“Despite my mate’s and Varian’s unsanctioned warning…” Tarquin shot you and Varian a look, which you simply nudged your knee with his. “You were the only ones who came to help. Why?” He asked.

Rhysand’s voice was gruff as he said, “Isn’t that what friends do?” He asked.

You gave a small smile, sure not to show too much emotion, as Tarquin rescinded the blood rubies.

Tarquin and you watched as the rest of the meeting erupted into chaos, Tarquin holding onto your hand so tightly as Azriel pounced on Eris that you thought it would fall off.

“Wives were invited as a courtesy, not consultants. That’s two that spoke out of then. And one from a lesser-“ Beron started once Kallias’s wife chimed in.

“You keep speaking, Beron, and you might find yourself without a tongue.” Tarquin said.

“You watch your tongue, boy. She might be your mate, but that doesn’t discount the fact that she isn’t one of us.” He spat. Tarquin moved to stand up and you could feel the rising anger down the bond. You grabbed his arm, squeezing it gently.

“And yet here she is, sitting amongst us as she should be.” Feyre said. “I was, after all, a human once. And you deemed me worthy enough, or at least pitied me, to give me some of your life force.” She said. “And here I am.”

You continued to watch as the High Lords, and High Lady, talked. And watched as Feyre used only power you’d seen from the day court to practically drown Beron.

You watched Viviane stand and then Cressida, declaring that they would fight for her. You stood up next, giving her a small smirk. “I will fight with you as well.” You said, turning your head to Tarquin. With Cressida beside you standing already, he rose, taking your hand in his. “We will fight with you.” He declared. “Once our armies are recovered, of course.” You added, a small smile tugging on your lips.

You mastered the Court dealings after that. And got to talking with Viviane about how she ran her village during the 50 years just as you had. She was much more successful than you.

And then you had the conversation with Tarquin that had been brewing in your head since the meeting. Since Rhys declared his love for Feyre and why he made her High Lady.

You were lying in bed with him, tracing circles around his chest. “Quin…” you whispered, looking up at him. “I want to ask you something. And I understand if you say no.” You whispered.

He hummed, looking down at you from his gaze at the ceiling. “Just ask, my love. I’ll give you the world if you ask.” He said.

A small giggle fell from your lips before you shifted so you could properly look at him. “I know I’m not High Fae… and that doesn’t matter… but… Could I be High Lady?” You asked.

Tarquin’s smile faltered and your heart almost stopped. You shouldn’t have thought of it. Your shouldn’t have asked such a stupid-

“It’s not stupid.” He said, sitting up. “I was going to surprise you tomorrow morning.”

“Surprise me?” You asked.

Tarquin nodded, smiling as he cupped your cheeks. “I was going to ask you to be inaugurated as my High Lady at the Summer Solstice. Once this is all over.” He said, pushing your hair from your face.

You smiled and leaned up, kissing him softly. “I love you.” You whispered. “And of course, I will be your High Lady.” You said happily.

“I told you, I’ll declare you as my wife for the whole continent to hear.” He said, kissing you again. “And now, I will declare you High Lady of Summer.” He said happily.

“As long as it’s with you, I will be happy.” You whispered.

“It will always be with me. You will always have me.” He said, finally planting a searing kiss to your lips as he moved on top of you. “Shall I show you how you will always have me?” He asked.

You giggled and wrapped your arms around his neck. “Please, Quin.” You whispered.

“Hmm… your wish is my command, my High Lady.” He said with a wink, delving into kissing your neck.

With another giggle, you interlaced your fingers with his hair. Finally, you were happy with him. With Tarquin. With your mate.

A/N: Ugh this was so cute to write. Hope you enjoyed!!!

p.s. I got a request for an Eris one-shot and I’m so obsessed I might just have to write it before I get to my next one tomorrow….

Main Masterlist

[istharoth]

Gawd. Listen, I have so much to say about Edward right now.

[Spoilers under cut]

First and foremost, this entire conversation. SUSPICIOUS. It's not the mermaid, I'm sure of it. (and Elias is the janitor iirc) and Towa 💀 bro is still stuck in the honeymoon phase as Romeo (I'm sorry, Fico) kindly puts it.

THIS JUST EGGS ME THE WRONG WAY. Like, sir, do you mean the people at DA that I shouldn't trust? As for Lyca, you don't want him to trust Neros, or...alternatively, you don't want him to trust Subaru?

Rail me. doggy, missionary, cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, upside down, inside out, one leg up, two legs up, in public, on a spaceship, in the garden, on the grass, in a car, in a box, on a table, against a wall (For legal reasons, this is a copypasta.)

SPY/TRAITOR (sigh. and what if I said the traitor is Haku Kusanagi? Because everything in my head points at him.

You know how Haku says he won't tell anyone that we attempted to leave DA, and then right in the next episode Alan goes "Oh, yeah, they probably know" lmao. AND LIKE, FUNNY HOW the Like Dove just stopped appearing after the Hotarubi chapter. Like not one dove after.

Then there's him just casually avoiding the topic of his stigma, like, dude, just tell me, I love you anyway.

(Though when Ed said 'comradery', my mind first went to Luca lmao, highly doubt it though. Unless they pull a "DA killed Luca's twin" and boom, a traitor theory is born.)

Again, suspicious ass lines. I think it's pretty transparent Mr. "I'm the Strongest Vampire *cough, heave, collapse*" doesn't actually have our best interest in mind. Revealing to the student body that MC was going to become Kyklos was wrong to do. AND HE KNOWS NEROS. BOY WHAT DO YOU NOT KNOW?!

Ed can't see the tree, but PC, Kaito (Coriander) and Towa can. Hmm...interesting.

Ren voice whenever Ed was near MC or Rui: "That's sexual harassment!"

But then, this chapter was a reminder of how terrifying Obscuary are, even if they don't want to be the way they are. XD I was pretty messed out by this chapter ngl.

[simply-wlw-kpopstan]

7. Home

⚠️ Spoilers ahead, brief mention of suicide (implied in 1 sentence)

You got a message from yewon with everything you needed on Sunday. She even did more than you asked and hacked into the psychiatric visitor's list to get your name on there. She truly was a gifted hacker if she can do all of that without getting caught. Now what will you do when you get there?

First things first, call your aunt and explain everything that happened. Step two get a good lawyer so you can fight harin's sorry excuse of a family and get her out. Step 3 get your aunt to agree to let harin stay with you. Thinking it over, the hardest part would be step 2. You knew your aunt would let harin stay if you asked, she already knew a little about her since you accidentally slipped out you had a crush. What will happen when you see harin? What if she thinks you're there to take her home and you have to tell her that you can't? You shook your head and waved those thoughts away.

The day had arrived when You were going to visit harin for the first time and got nervous. At first glance it looks like a small hospital but once you actually look, you notice the barred windows. you realize how isolated it actually is when you don't hear a sound and it starts to feel eerie.

When you arrived at the doors, they were locked and you buzzed the intercom. A woman at a desk looked up from inside, smiled and the buzzer made a noise before her voice came through "hello, how can I help you?"

"I'm here to visit someone, my name is y/n y/l/n."

"hold on just a second. " a slight panic creeps up. Does she know? What if they arrest you for hacking into the system? "ah yes I found you. I see you're visiting a new patient here. I'll buzz you in and you have to fill out a form"

"alright." you took a deep breath of relief once the line cuts and the door buzzes open. You walk in and take care of the paperwork, once that was done she gives you a visitor's pass and asked you to wait until one of the nurses comes down to get you.

The big doors swing open and a middle aged woman walks up to the reception with a clipboard. "I swear things are getting worse up at 4. We got a biter." she sighed as she hands over the papers.

"isn't this the 3th attack this month?" the receptionist asks and the nurse nods, "they should up the dosage for those people. Can you please take that girl to visit so Eun? She's the newest arrival, she's on floor 1."

So eun? Right. That was harin's name before she got adopted. That family really stripped her from everything didn't they? " ofcours." she turns to you with a smile and motioned to follow her" Come along. Sorry It took so long. It's been a hectic day." you quickly follow after her as the doors begin to close again. "You're the first visitor for her, we didn't think anyone would come since there aren't any emergency contacts mentioned in her file."

"It's complicated but I'm taking care of it. She had a family but they abandoned her recently. "

The nurse smiled broadly. " I'm glad she still has you then. Being here can take a toll on a person the first few days, it's important that she knows she's not alone in this. "

" I've told her that before. No matter what happens she'll always have me. "

"I don't mean to be rude but what is your relationship to her? Are you family?"

"I Uhm I'm a friend."

"hmm, a friend." she smiled, "or perhaps you're more? It's okay. Love is love, you can't help who you fall for." you smiled at her words and were thankfully she didn't ask anything else, "well here we are. She normally has roommates but they are all participating in classes at the moment so you have some alone time for the next 2 hours."

You thanked her for everything and stood in front of harin's door. You try to control your emotions before you walk in, she doesn't need to see you emotional while she's going through all of this. She needs a shoulder to lean on and you will be that for her. You walk inside the room and see her sleeping, she looks peaceful and you're debating on letting her rest or waking her up. Before you can decide harin shifts around in bed and opens her eyes, looking straight at you with a little frown. "hi there." you spoke softly

"Why do I always dream about you being here?" her voice cracks and you saw the tears well up in her eyes, "It's not fair, please go away." she turns around and faces away from you.

"harin this isn't a dream," you walk around her bed and squated down so you'd be face to face with her, "i'm really here." you tug a hair strand behind her ear and she just stares at you with teary eyes. "i'm here harin. This is real love. I promise you."

She loses the battle and a few tears slip down as she cups your face with one hand and traces her thumb in circles, "H-How did you find me?"

"does that matter?" you lean into her touch and kissed the palm of her hand. "I'm sorry that it took so long but I'll get you out of here, I promise. I'm already working on-"

"don't" she pulls her hand back and shifts to sit up in bed. "this is what I deserve"

"what? No. You don't deserve this." you shook your head and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"I do. I've hurt so many people and never even cared about anything but myself. I deserve to be in here. I deserve what happened to me. "

You wondered if she knew about what happened after the fire. What her 'family' did. You took her hand in yours and started to play with the bracelet you had given her, she's still wearing it. " do you know about your-"

"that they disowned me? Yes. When I woke up I asked to call my grandma but they told me there weren't any contacts and that's when I knew." she sighed.

"you still want me to believe you deserve that? You don't. I'm working on this, I'll get you out and you can stay with me. I'll expose them for what they did. How they treated you and-"

"don't. Let me stay."

"what ? You- you want to stay here?" to say you were shocked was an understatement, you would've guessed she would want to get out immediately.

"yes. I don't want you to go against them. They have too much power, you don't stand a chance against them. Just let me work on myself in here, I'll prove to everyone I can change. When I get discharged we can go out on our first date. I'll have that fresh start I wanted with you."

"are you sure? I already have an amazing lawyer who's looking into things. I can get you out of here, you can still work on yourself without being here."

"there are professionals here that can help me. I know you want to help me but this is what I want. This is my shot at redemption."

"alright. If this is what you want I'll support you. I'll visit as much as possible. Once you have your schedule we can work out which days I visit."

"that works for me." she smiles, "I'm really sorry I dragged you into this. I asked my grandmother if she could get you into baekyeon and in my class. If I just left it at that one meeting you woul-."

"Harin, don't. In the end I made the decision to go didn't I? I don't regret anything because if you didn't ask your grandmother we never would've had a chance together."

"I can't argue with you if you put it that way." she pouted.

"then don't argue with me." you smile and you leaned in until your eyes caught the sight of medication and then the overdose popped into your head making you pull back.

"what? What's wrong" she frowned and followed your gaze, "Oh." she looks down as she catches on to your thoughts. "they give us these pills in the morning. I guess it's to keep us calm? We don't have to take them but they write it down if you don't so they can see who actually needs them and who doesn't."

"were you actually planning to...." you couldn't get it over your lips but you didn't have to, she knew.

"I don't know. I want to say that I knew how much to take but I didn't. It was all pure luck. I don't really want to think about what could've happened, to be honest."

"that's okay, at least for now. I do want to talk about it but only when you're ready."

She nodded and tugged at your hand, "can I get that kiss now?" She asked as she looked down at your lips.

"you don't have to ask" you smiled and leaned in for that much awaited kiss. The moment your lips touched everything felt right again, she was here in your grasp and nothing else matters but that. "just so you know. Once you're discharged from this place you're coming home with me. My aunt and her lawyer are taking care of all the legal stuff."

"so we'd be living together?" She smiled.

"well, my aunt will be there in the beginning so she can get to know you and once she knows she can leave us alone she'll take off again. That were the conditions."

"I look forward to the baby pictures and all the stories." she teased.

"I was a cute baby for your information! But she does have some stories that I'm already dreading." you thought over all the embarrassing moments of your childhood she could tell. "maybe don't ask her in the first few weeks I'm begging you."

"hmm, you'll have to keep my mind off of it then." she smirked.

"Oh I'm sure I'll find a way to keep you busy." you smile, "I did want to ask you about what you want me to call you. Do you want to keep harin or change it back to so eun? Or maybe you can get a new name?"

"harin is fine. So eun is my past, I can't go back to that and if I change my name again my-- they will win. I don't want to give them that satisfaction." her expression changed from sad to determined really quickly once she said that. "they might have disowned me and are revoking the adoption but they can't change my name."

"what about your last name?"

"maybe I can mix my names? How does So Harin sound?"

"perfect." you kiss her hand and she smiles. You look around the room and it feels so empty, "so, what do you usually do around here?"

She chuckled at your attempt of normal conversation, " at the moment I usually talk with a bunch of doctors and psychiatrist so they know what type of therapy I need. They're all nice which makes talking about what I did worse. "

"Well, I'll sneak in a book next time." you wink and she laughs.

"I can have books. This isn't a prison where you need to smuggle stuff in. I am getting my own room soon though. Apparently they want to take me to a different floor, one with more people my age and stuff."

"as long as you don't fall in love with someone else I'm okay with it."

"Oh so you'll ask the staff to relocate me if I do?" She clocked an eyebrow.

"are you saying you'll find someone else?" you fired back.

"nobody would compare to you. You've seen me at my highest and lowest, enjoy it 'cause that' s for your eyes only. No one has seen me the way you have."

"I kind of like the thought of that if I'm being honest."

You stayed until visiting hours were over and promised you'd be back soon. True to your word you made regular visits after harin got her schedule and after a few months of good behavior on harin's part you could go out for a few hours. You mostly took walks in the nearby forest and did have some little make-out sessions in more secluded area's. Eventhough you had planned some cute little picnics harin refused to call it a date, she already planned out what she wanted to do with you when she was discharged and that was going to be your first official date. You didn't mind to call these picnics dates but since harin was so stubborn you agreed to calling them hangouts, as long as you were with her you were fine with anything.

It took a year for her to be discharged from the place. You had gotten yourself a drivers license and borrowed a car from your aunt to Suprise her. She didn't know you got one and were planning this for months but you'd do anything for her. You're leaning against the hood of the car when she walks outside. She stops and takes a second to close her eyes and bask in the sunlight, you can't help but stare at her and fall even more in love.

"will you finally tell me where we're going tonight?" you smile as she walks up to you.

"no. Not yet." she wraps her arms around your neck and pulls you close, "hi there." she smiles.

"hi gorgeous." you smile and kiss her, "you ready to leave"

"yes. as Nice as everyone was, I'm ready to start my new life with you." she looks around and frowns, "where's your aunt? Isn't she driving us home?"

Home. You could get used to hearing her say that. "actually," you grab the keys from your back pocket and dangle them in front of her face, "i'm driving. I wanted to be able to pick you up when the time came so I got my drivers licence. Now you can be my passenger princess."

"You're amazing." she smiled and gave you a peck on the lips before pulling back and putting her bag in the trunk with you scolding her for doing it herself. "i'm a big girl i can put it away myself."

You hummed and got in the car together, "are you ready to meet my aunt tonight?" you ask as you pull out the parking lot and drove home.

"I'm nervous but knowing you, you've already told her a lot about me." she smirked as she leaned her head against the headrest while looking at you, "you look really attractive driving."

" whatever is going on in that head, stop those thoughts. I'm driving." you throw a quick glance to see her smile. You took a hand off the steering wheel and placed it on her thigh, "we have all the time in the world now. No need to rush."

"I'm happy you said that because as long as your aunt's home we're not doing anything." she laughed at your small pout.

"define anything. Does it include-"

"nope. Stop those thoughts you're driving." she smiled and you loved how relaxed she looked. For the first time ever you saw her posture falter a little bit, she's just leaning against the window but the harin from a year ago would still have a straight back and a straight face while looking out the window. She's looking at the scenery with a content smile and you're happy she chose to stay and work on herself. it couldn't have been an easy decision to make when she heard you talking about getting her out but she stayed and it worked.

She was finally showing who she was, the girl that she had pushed back all those years. The person you saw when everyone else saw a mean powerful heiress. She was excited in showing people she had changed. jaeun had agreed to meeting up with the both of you in a few weeks, suji hadn't really answered but jaeun had mentioned she'd get her to join. It was an important step for harin to face the people she hurt and to try to make amends with who was willing to listen. she prepared for the worst when she asked you to contact them, not expecting them to agree and now she was looking forward to the meeting. You hated to remind her there was a chance they wouldn't except her apology but she said she was ready for it.

Once you got home you took harin's bags to the spare bedroom, sadly also one of the conditions of your aunt. You did compromise that you could sleep in the same room for the first few nights. As you were walking to her bedroom with some drinks you hear a thud from her room. "What was that? are you okay?" you ran into her room to see her laying down on the bed with a smile.

"yes don't worry. It's just this bed is so comfy compared to the bed I had." she sighed as she stretched out. You laid down next to her and she immediately cuddled into you, laying her head on your chest with a leg thrown over yours.

"I love you" you said as you ran your fingers up and down her back.

"I love you too." she leaned up a little and planted a kiss on your lips, "it's about time I said it isn't it?"

You chuckled, "you wrote it down, that also counts."

"no, not for the first time."

In the end everything worked out for the both of you. You went on your first date and harin got to talk with jaeun and suji. It took some time but the both of them saw how much she had changed, how much she regrets what she did and eventually forgave her. Harin occasionally woke up from nightmares and you always took a walk around the block when that happened. You'd sit down on the couch with hot chocolate and some TV show playing in the background as she talked about her dreams. There were a lot of things that she still had to overcome from her childhood, some things she wouldn't and it would be hard.

In the end harin knew she had a home with you and your aunt. Come to think of it She might be your aunts favorite since she calls her more than you but you didn't mind. It's about time harin felt the love of a parental figure, to have them care about her without any expectations. You slept in separate rooms when your aunt was home most of the time but once she left harin always ended up in your bed. Things slowed down and as the both of you settled into this new life you couldn't wait to see what the future had in store for you two.

masterlist

This is the end of this story🫣 thank you to everyone for reading, sharing and liking❤️ special thanks to @iwendix (I know Suprise mention😁) for reacting on the posts and leaving those comments. They really helped me come back to the story to finish it.

[misc-obeyme]

nightbringer lesson 44

OH. OKAY. I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS.

I'm still gonna try to keep it brief but woooooooo here I go! Spoilers below!

Okay, so biggest thing I picked up from this lesson was that Solomon's soul is not in his body. Right? Right?? Everybody else got that, too, right!??! Tell me I'm not insane. More on this later.

So we spent the whole lesson in Babel, where apparently you get to have a "moment of bliss" where stuff happens that makes you incredibly happy.

It starts out with everybody telling Asmo how they really feel about him, which is of course that he's beautiful and kind.

Then everybody ends up in TSL cosplay and Levi info dumps for several speech bubbles. (It's pretty adorable aldksjf.)

Then a ton of cats show up and Satan loses his mind. (But the cats also cuddle with everybody else because Satan's happiest when he sees cats cuddling with his family, the two things he loves in one place~)

Then everybody disappears because Mammon's moment of bliss is to be alone with MC (he's so bbg I can't take it). (Oh but I do feel the need to mention that everybody else was still there, they were just invisible which is SUPER CREEPY. Like c'mon MC was having such a cute moment with their first man...)

And THEN a bunch of food shows up and we think it's Beel's moment of bliss, but it's actually Belphie's because the twins are so close that Belphie is happiest when Beel is happy.

And then it like reverses and we have Belphie napping and all the boys in angel outfits, but it's actually Beel's moment. And they talk about this time they remember Raphael unleashing his spears on Mammon in the CR. And like then they feel guilty 'cause Satan doesn't have those memories but then:

Satan saw everything from inside Lucifer? CONFIRMED. And Lucifer was aware of it, too.

And then everybody's like what was Lucifer's moment of bliss? And they're dumb about it, but MC is like Lucifer's moment of bliss was this entire experience because he's happiest when his family is happy. D'AWW very precious but also kinda meh, imo.

Then Raphael comes back, but it's really him this time yay!

And THAT is when we find out that only your SOUL is transported to Babel. Everybody's physical body was left behind.

And I was IMMEDIATELY like oh. So THAT is why Solomon couldn't go inside. His soul is elsewhere. I don't think he's soulless, I think he's immortal because his soul is being stored somewhere that isn't his body. THOUGH it would also be interesting if Nightbringer was like... Solomon's soul gone rogue al;kjdsfjdf. But I don't think that's the case.

I think they're using this as a way to explain why people so often say that Solomon is more like a demon. Even though we also got this:

Hmm. Indeed. Solomon is NOT a demon. They were mad at him for not mentioning the thing about only your soul going into Babel.

Anyway, that's my theory and it's the only thing that makes sense to me though I have no idea what it has to do with anything.

I also thought it was interesting that Raphael is now part of the Brothers No More chat group with Simeon and Lucifer. I hope this means we'll get more of him!

And then this from the hard lesson because wow I hope this isn't just No 2 exaggerating.

LOL. You want to return something? BURIED ALIVE. That's so Devildom it's amazing.

Anyway, there were plenty of cute family moments in this lesson, but the potential hint about Solomon was the biggest deal, imo. What does it mean? I could be misinterpreting and maybe that isn't the issue at all? Maybe it's like... there's something wrong with his soul and removing it from his body would either expose something about him that he doesn't want the others to know or would like harm it further and put his life in danger? I dunno. He is still immortal, so.

My first thought was soul is elsewhere, but I do think having it like... reveal something about him unexpectedly would be interesting, too, now that I'm thinking about it.

I dunno, what do you guys think?

masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[hymnserendipity]

Mitsuya play Cupid with you and kazutora

Mention of smut(?), gender mentioned: they/them. Age up, last timeline, no spoiler.

Mitsuya was always your favorite cousin, as well as the only one your age that you could actually talk to. You saw each other quite often, at least once a week. Mitsuya is in the Toman gang, but you've never seen much of this side of him. you know some of his friends by sight, because he pointed them out to you by seeing them from afar. you always thought that criminals were unattractive and just a source of trouble but seeing how Mitsuya behaves you realized that not everyone is out of control, and you started to think that you wanted someone like him by your side, a kind and intelligent person, strong and sincere. So at that moment you were on a bench in a park near your house, you had met after one of the Toman meetings.

"So i was thinking.... Is there any of your friend that would suit me?" You suddenly ask. Mitsuya seems a bit surprised by the question, raising an eyebrow.

"Uhm, any friend that would suit you? What do you mean by that?"

"That would be a nice pair with me"

"Hmmm... What exactly are you looking for in a guy?" he tilts his head, wondering what your specific taste in a man would be.

"Someone like you" he seems a little caught off guard by your response, taken aback for a moment. He runs a hand through his hair, contemplating.

"You're looking for someone...like me. That's what you're saying, right?"

"Yeah" Mitsuya is mulling over your answer, and then chuckle lightly.

"Are you trying to find a copy of me or something? You can't expect every guy to be just like me, y'know"

"Caring, loyal, nice, gentle, smart" He listens to your list of features you're looking for in a partner, and he lets out another soft chuckle.

"Yeah, that's me...in a nutshell, I guess."

He nods and reply, still slightly amused by the situation. "But you think there's a guy out there other than me that has those same qualities?"

"I dont know, think about your friends."

"There's plenty of other guys out there who share the same qualities I have"

"Any you recommend?" He thinks for a moment, considering his list of friends and acquaintances, trying to figure out if any of them might fit your taste

"Hmm... Let's see... I guess if you really want someone with similar qualities, there's this one friend of mine who's pretty loyal, kind, and smart. He's been sort of unlucky in love, though."

"Who"

He contemplates on if he should give you the name, but with a slight smile, he decides to give you the answer you're seeking.

"His name is Hakkai Shiba."

"Oh, no. I don't like him." His eyes widen slightly, a little surprised by your response.

"What? You don't like him? Can I ask why?"

"Dunno, never found him attractive." He pauses for a moment, a little taken aback by your blunt response, but he couldn't argue with your truth.

"I see. You're not really into the timid type. Makes sense. Then, I guess there's not many guys out there that can satisfy your taste." He leans back against the bench, crossing his arms as he seems to be thinking again.

"But you know, Hakkai might not be super strong or anything, but he's got a good heart. He's loyal and kind, and he's smart in his own way. He's just not exactly the typical confident, macho guy you might be looking for."

"Nuh uh" He lets out a soft sigh, sensing your determination.

"You sure are picky, you know that?" he shakes his head slightly, a small smirk forming on his lips.

" Cmon think more"

Mitsuya chuckles at your persistence, but he begins to think hard again, searching his mind for any other potential candidates among his friends

"What about Mikey?"

"Oh well...maybe" he raises an eyebrow, a slight smirk forming on his lips.

"Maybe, eh? So you're willing to consider him?"

"I will consider him, yeah. Any other?" he takes a moment to think again, but then his eyes light up as he comes up with another name.

"How about Kazutora? He might be a bit of a troublemaker, but he's got a good heart and isn't half bad lookin' either."

"Oh God yeah!!!" His eyes widen slightly, a little amused by your sudden eagerness.

"Huh... You seem pretty excited about Kazutora. You like troublemakers or something?"

"Now we are talking!" he laughs a bit at your enthusiasm, finding it amusing that you got way more excited at the mention of Kazutora.

"Okay, okay, so Kazutora wins. You're definitely into the bad boy type, huh?"

"But Mikey also is well... Eheh" he chuckles again.

"Oh, are we talking about Mikey now? Didn't think you had a thing for our fearless leader." "How about their size? he raises an eyebrow, a tad confused by your question.

"Their...size? You mean like, their height? What about it?"

"Tsk, cmon you know what i'm talking about" his eyes widen slightly, realizing what you were getting at.

"Oh... Oh... You're talking about THAT kind of size?"

"Yes" he chuckled, a bit amused by your straightforwardness.

"Alright, alright, I get it. You wanna know about that, huh? Well, you'll need to be a bit more specific, though."

"I want to know about kazutora and Mikey, even chifuyu, if they are big or not, long or not, thick or not" he's a bit taken back by the bluntness of your question, but he chuckles lightly.

"Whoa, you're really upfront about this, aren't you? You really want to know about their...sizes, huh?"

"Yeah but my interest is more on kazutora." he smirks, realizing your preference between Kazutora and Mikey.

"Alright, I get it. You're more curious about Kazutora. Let me ask you this, why are you so interested in his...size in particular?"

"Just tell me their sizes, i'm curious." he pauses for a moment, contemplating if he should indulge your question, but eventually, he decides to give you the answer you're seeking.

"Well, if you really want to know... Mikey, he's... decent in size. Not too big or small, just average. And Kazutora, on the other hand, he's...quite well-endowed, actually."

"And chifuyu?" he can't help but chuckle at your curiosity, surprised by how eager you are to know about this.

"Chifuyu? Well, he's... He's not too bad either. Average, like Mikey."

"Mucho?" You ask with a smirk, he pauses for a moment, thinking about Mucho.

"Mucho? Yeah, I don't know. He's pretty big in general though, so I'd assume he's probably big down there too."

"Well then, kazutora is my first choice."

"Kazutora it is then, huh? So you're really set on him now, eh? Well he is pretty trublemaker so..."

"Oh wait what about baji?" he thinks for a moment more, considering your question about Baji.

"Wait, Baji? Ah, he's...he's pretty good. A bit lean, but he's got a good size. Decent, I'd say."

"Would you set me up with kazutora then?" he thinks for a moment, considering your request.

"Huh... Kazutora, eh? You really want me to set you up with him, huh? You sure he's your type?"

"I think. Would he take care of me, protect me and be gentle?" Mitsuya ponders your question for a moment, contemplating Kazutora's personality.

"Kazutora, huh? Well, he can be a bit rough and wild at times, but deep down, he's got a gentle and caring side. I think he'll definitely take care of a s/o and protect them. He's got that loyal and fierce attitude when it comes to people he cares about."

"Then go and set me up please"

"Good. I'll let Kazutora know about you. With any luck, he'll be interested. But you have to play your part too, yknow." he laughs lightly, enjoying the excitement and anticipation in your voice.

"Alright then, it's settled. I'll talk to Kazutora and see if he's interested. Just be patient, okay?"

"Okayyy, see you tomorrow with his reply" he smile at you, nodding in agreement.

"You got it. I'll talk to him and find out his response. You take care until then, alright?" he watched as you left, with a bit of a mischievous smile on his face

"This is gonna be interesting." he then made his way to Kazutora that was buying groceries at the nearby store, trying to figure out how to bring up the topic

"Yo, Kazutora, got a minute?" Kazutora glanced up as Takashi approached, a bit puzzled by his sudden request.

"Huh? Yeah, what's up?" he chuckled lightly, trying to figure out how to word the question.

"So, I have a weird question to ask you." Kazutora raised an eyebrow, growing more curious.

"Weird, huh? What is it?" he took a deep breath, trying to phrase his question properly before asking.

"So, how do you feel about the thought of...dating someone?" Kazutora shrugged, leaning back against the wall.

"Dating someone? Well, I'm not against it. I mean, if the right person comes along and we vibe together, then why not, right?" he nodded, encouraged by Kazutora's openness to the idea.

"Okay, that's good to know. Now, I'm gonna ask you a question, and I need you to be completely honest with me. Okay?" Kazutora furrowed his brow, feeling a bit confused but still intrigued.

"Alright, shoot. I'll be honest." he chuckled, trying not to give too much away.

"So, hypothetically...if I were to set you up with someone, would you be willing to go on a date with them?" Kazutora thought for a moment, considering the question.

"Depends. I mean, if they're someone I'm interested in, then yeah, I would. But if it's someone i don't know and there's no chemistry, then probably not." he nodded, understanding his response.

"Right, yeah, that makes sense. Well, how about this? I have someone in mind. They're pretty and fun to be around. I think you might like them." Kazutora perked up, his interest now piqued.

"Huh? Alright, I'm listening. What else can you tell me about them?" he leaned in, lowering his voice a bit.

"Well, they're smart, funny, and got a good head on their shoulders. They're not afraid to speak their mind, and they're very pretty." Kazutora chuckled at that, amused.

" I like confidence though, so as long as they're not too demanding, I'm cool with it. What else?" he thought for a moment, considering their personality.

"Yeah, they're definitely got a bit of a wild and feisty side to them as well. They picks fights pretty easily, but they're also really gentle and caring deep down. And they're definitely the kind of person who will challenge you and keep you on your toes. Think you can handle that?" Kazutora raised an eyebrow, intrigued by your personality.

"A feisty and gentle person with a wild side? Sounds like a challenge. I like it. I definitely think I can handle that." he chuckled.

So, just out of curiosity... What's their type, then?" Mitsuya paused for a moment, trying to come up with a response that would satisfy Kazutora.

"Well, a bit picky, like I said. They're looking for someone who's confident, strong, and can keep up with their fiery personality. Someone who can handle them when they gets riled up, but also treat them gently and care for them. Sound like anyone you know?" Kazutora chuckled, knowing exactly what that meant.

"Oh, so they're looking for someone who's not just strong and confident, but someone who can handle their feisty side and also treat them with care and respect? Hm, sounds familiar." he laughed lightly, amused by Kazutora's response.

"Yeah, exactly."

Kazutora's confidence soaring.

"Oh, trust me, I'm more than up to this, i'm definitely their type." He laughs heartily, amused by Kazutora's confidence.

"Well, look at that, you're confident and self-assured. That's a good thing. You might just be exactly what they're looking for."