#i would've given them to him myself but y'know

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

🎵 Whoooo wants a nice little short 'n sweet post-Prime one shot with Sonic and Tails and some angst and also fluff and cuddles and nightmares and sadness and cuteness and the implementing of that one headcanon from the post I made about Sonic getting more cuddly and clingy when he's hurt or upset??? 🎵

Sonic Prime - Healing Hugs

Something had happened in the cave with Sonic. Tails was absolutely certain of it.

At first, it had just been pleasant changes, pleasant surprises. Sonic had suddenly switched to being a 100% team player, had started paying attention to each and every thing Tails instructed, and seemingly communicated with Shadow just as the Ultimate Lifeform arrived out of nowhere to Chaos Control the Paradox Prism to who-knows-where.

Then there had been the more weird changes.

Every time Tails opened his mouth, Sonic would drop everything to listen to every word with laser focus, even if it was about something as simple as what he was going to get for dinner or some cool comics he'd read. He was giving a lot more hugs, too, far more than usual. Sonic used to be a lot more selective about physical affection, but now, Tails couldn't seem to get through 30 minutes of a day without his older brother scooping him up in an embrace, however brief. Not that he was complaining, it was nice.

He kept catching the hedgehog lying around in the grass, fingering the green leaves with utter delight in his eyes. Once he found him on the beach, sitting in a palm tree and singing some kind of pirate-y sounding song. Another time he found him wandering slowly around the woods nearby, talking to the flickies about how pretty the trees were.

Something was off, but Tails couldn't put his finger on it. From his perspective, he hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary happen during the battle in the cave, but Sonic's change in behavior made it painfully obvious something had.

Especially when the more negative changes started manifesting.

Not negative in a sense that Sonic was doing anything wrong. But he seemed . . . a little rattled. Some of his hugs were far more than just quick side squeezes. Sometimes he'd stare at Tails with an oddly pensive, faraway look in his eyes.

In bed, one night about a week after the cave incident, Tails found himself tossing and turning. These thoughts were driving him up the wall with how often they'd been occupying his mind lately.

He wanted so badly to sit down with Sonic and ask him what happened. He knew something had happened. But whether Sonic was willing to talk about it was another question entirely. He knew something was different, but he also knew his brother. Sonic didn't like uncomfortable conversations. If he felt unsafe, he would run.

Tails knew better than to confront him with questions that Sonic would likely not want to answer. If he'd wanted to tell Tails what was going on, what was different, he probably would've told him already.

With an exhausted sigh, Tails gave up trying to sleep and sat up in bed, casting a quick glance at the digital clock on his nightstand.

3:47 a.m.

Great. Even when I'm not working on a project, I STILL end up sleep-deprived. He smirked. At least Sonic can't get ticked at me this time, it's not my fault.

Speaking of the Blue Devil, he was right down the hall. Conked out on the couch, where he often slept. In fact, he'd been sleeping there every night for the past week.

Since he couldn't sleep, anyway, Tails slipped out of bed and crept down the hall, having memorized which boards creaked and which ones didn't. He half-hoped Sonic was awake so he'd have someone to talk to, but as he emerged into the living room, he saw his brother sound asleep, half-curled on his side.

Tails blinked and looked closer.

Sonic was asleep, but . . . he was also clinging extra tightly to his pillow. And he looked . . . incredibly stressed.

Was he having a bad dream?

Tails took a couple steps towards the couch until he stood right beside it. In past experiences where he'd found his brother having a nightmare, talking it out rarely helped. Sometimes even waking him up didn't help, either. He usually just wound up disoriented and panicking, and sometimes even ran off to deal with his feelings alone out in the wilderness.

Tails really didn't want him to leave. He also didn't want him to be alone.

He reached out and ever so gently placed his hand over Sonic's clenched fist, both ungloved.

One thing he had discovered about his brother during hard times like this was that he became more clingy. On the rare occasion he was visibly upset, he'd sometimes come up and just hug Tails without a word. When he was sick or injured somehow (and actually allowing himself to be taken care of), he tended to snuggle more. If he was in enough pain, he'd hold onto Tails as tightly as he could. Sometimes he'd do the same with their other friends, but Tails was always his go-to.

Not that it happened very often. Tails only knew these things because he'd known Sonic for most of his life. Sonic had raised him. He'd seen more of Sonic than anyone else had.

Now, he rubbed a finger over his brother's fist for a moment, then very carefully tugged the pillow out of Sonic's unconscious grasp. He set it softly on the floor, then carefully clambered onto the couch next to him, lay down, and hugged him tightly.

Without waking up, Sonic wrapped his arms around him in return and held him close, burying his face between Tails's ears with a barely audible whimper.

Tails could feel his brother's heartbeat racing, so he snuggled in closer and softly began to purr.

And, with time, he felt Sonic start to calm down.

A couple minutes went by, and his heart rate slowed down just a bit. The tension coiled throughout his entire body started to unwind, and his spiked-up quills lowered slightly in a more relaxed position. His ears were still kinda droopy, but he seemed a lot more restful than he had a few minutes ago.

Tails smiled, still bundled up tightly against Sonic. And his smile only grew wider when he felt his brother start purring, too.

There was something infinitely comforting about being held, about snuggling with his brother, the person who loved him to the moon and back. The person he loved in exactly the same way. For those moments, the very problems that had been keeping Tails awake half an hour earlier seemed to fade. He was here, Sonic was here, no words were spoken or needed, and they would be okay.

Tails slept soundly for the rest of the night.

-

The sound of flickies singing from the treetops woke Sonic the next day. He blinked blearily as his eyes came into focus, and he realized that Tails had joined him sometime during the night.

Once upon a time, waking up to find him right there had made him jump. It didn't anymore.

He smiled, carefully adjusting one hand so he could stroke his little brother's bangs and give him a tiny scratch behind one ear. Tails mumbled something unintelligible in his sleep, and snuggled closer in Sonic's chest.

He grinned wider. Tails hadn't been snuggly to this level in a while. Granted, he'd always been the more snuggly one of the two of them, but still. It kind of reminded Sonic of the first couple years he'd been taking care of Tails, when the kit was between 3 and 4 years old.

His smile faded a little as he thought of Nine at that age, still alone, still being bullied and hurt, with no one to save him and show him the love and care he deserved.

He could only hope that the other Shatterverse variants were showing him such kindness now. The thought that he would never get to see him again made his heart ache in a way he couldn't quell.

Sonic studied Tails's sleeping face, noting the intense similarities and differences between him and Nine. He wondered whether Nine had always existed even before the Shatter event, as a part of his little brother that Tails would never bring to light. Was it the same with Mangey and Sails?

A tiny snort escaped him against his will as he thought about whether Mangey's existence was an implication that a part of Tails just wanted to go a little feral. Sometimes he couldn't blame him.

His suppressed laugh had Tails stirring, blinking open his big blue eyes. He looked back at Sonic, grinning sleepily. "G'morning."

Sonic ruffled his bangs again, smiling as Tails giggled. "G'morning, little buddy."

Stop calling me that!

He froze at the memory of Nine's angry shout, and Tails clearly saw it.

"Are you okay?" he asked with a gentle, inquiring frown, slowly sitting up.

Sonic sighed as he sat up as well, leaning back to stretch, then pulled his little brother close again. "I've got a story for you, bud," he admitted, deciding it was about time to open up about what had really happened in the cave.

Tails gazed up at him with surprise, but then smiled and nodded.

"I'm listening," he replied quietly.

AO3 version

Did I come up with this while hugging a giant pillow during my nap earlier today? Maybe :3

I also maybe just really wanted to implement that headcanon somewhere teehee

[tachimichishrine]

<ok guys so hear me out. this is the second time i've posted this on tumblr (originally posted on my main— which isn't a fic blog btw) AND i have it somewhere on my other platforms that i havent touched in ages... im just tryin to organize myself so pls dont remind me..... womp womps apologetically,, anywho, it's canon that jouno was a crime executive before joining the hunting dogs sooooo !!!!!! >

"sweet and sour"

◝≞▣≞◜ crime executive!jouno saigiku x gn!reader

warnings: except for a bit of guns + cursing and ooc jouno,, none! this is all fluff :) i didn't write this in lowercase??? crazy amirite

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"Jouno Sai... Saigay? I was certain there was gay in there somewhere... Anyways! Hi!! It's a pleasure to meet you!!"

The mispronounced man in question glared at the individual who was giggling happily, strolling around in the office like they owned the place, shooting a, "Hey, Fernando, did you get a new haircut?", "Lookin' good in that suit, Ichika!", and, "Oh my god! Where did you get those shoes, I swear I saw the exact same ones at that store down the street, the uh... what's it called? Y'know what I'm talking about, don't'cha?" to his fellow executives like they've been friends for years on end.

The room had always been tense, from what he recalled. When people entered, they expected to get shot by the boss, or be given a task so difficult to complete that they would ultimately get shot. In short, a meeting with the renowned organization that Jouno Saigiku worked for was a death sentence for his subordinates, even more so for rival organizations.

Yet, this person had been bouncing around the walls like a child in a candy store, waving around the knife at their fingertips like a ten thousand yen bill and showing off the gun strapped to their thigh and waist with the same bubbly confidence of a new outfit they'd just bought the previous day.

'They're going to get themselves killed in no time,' he laughed to himself, waiting for the one in charge to enter the room.

For now, he was responsible for managing the building and their potential customer (from another criminal organization. It made him wonder how on earth someone like them could possibly be working in the same sadistic field as he did) until their meeting began. He'd never met this person in particular before, and wished he would've never had to. However, business was business, and he would need to accommodate them well enough to prevent a war between the two groups to break out.

"[l/n], was it?" he smirked, a strained playful smile that was barely hanging above the devilish one he had underneath. "It's Jouno Saigiku, and I'd recommend that you refrain from making yourself too comfortable in here. You are, as you know, on our turf, which means that-"

"Bla, bla, bla! you're so formal!" they scoffed with a wave of their hands, bouncing off of the velvet couch and strolling up to the executive, glaring at him with a particular expression that he couldn't see. "I'm actually rather touched that you knew my name! [l/n] [y/n], I'm your connect with [criminal organization name ~ [c /o/n]] so don't be a meanie!"

..."Don't be a meanie? "

As if by miracle, the boss entered right when they were about to get close enough to his straightened-out figure, almost army-like in posture, to tap his nose with their fingertip as one does with children. In his field of work, only people of utmost trust managed to meet directly with the person on the top, so he considered that perhaps they were prevalent in some other field that didn't have to do with relationships and appearance. Now, all he had to do was wait for his boss to get infuriated at their attitude and demand that he dispose of them and he'd be able to drag them out back and peel off their skin...

"[l/n], dear! It's been a while, has it not?"

This keeps getting better and better.

"Kantoku!" they beamed out, running over to the old man and avidly shaking his hand. "Oh, I've missed you so! Things have changed around here, didn't they? You never told me you promoted a new executive!"

With a playful eyeroll, Kantoku - the man in charge of his crime syndicate - gestured to the couch and began to converse, almost casually. What baffled him, perhaps the most of all, was that every regular beat of their heart was steady, this wasn't a feigned façade nor overcompensation for fear. This person was truly, genuinely an idiot.

"Pst, Jouno," the woman executive standing beside him nudged his shoulder, "the boss is here so we're free to go. Plus, that asshole who stole from us isn't talking, so we might need your help."

With that, he left behind both the room and the lingering feeling of confusion regarding [l/n] [y/n].

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Jouno Saigiku did not have a very complex job.

In fact, his daily tasks mostly consisted of torture and punishment, with the occasionally laying off (which undoubtedly meant death. There was quite a bit of death around him, a certain fading scent that permeated throughout any room he'd visit. This was not a literal physical scent, for that would obstruct his sight and handicap his senses, but nonetheless he found himself rather pleased when he felt warm blood splatter across his soft cheeks.)

Today was nothing different; supposedly, someone from [c /o/n] had blundered and fled right into their territory. Given the amical relationships between the two groups, it was their job to retrieve and return the fugitive, annihilate them if they do not cooperate and it becomes necessary.

At the moment, he found himself seated in a vehicle, driving to the last location that this person was last seen, being described as "[s/c] skinned and [e/c] eyed", all attributes which couldn't possibly make any difference to him, due to his lack of vision. When he asked for a name of this person, he was shocked to learn that it was the same energetical and bubbly individual who vaguely crossed his radar a few weeks back.

"Oi, oi, Jouno slow down, we don't wanna pass 'em 'cause you're drivin' too fast, 'ight?" his coworker for this mission reprimanded. "Just 'cause you can do that fancy hearin' thing ain't mean my eyes ain't good, 'ight?"

Jouno thus pressed his foot with more force against the gas pedal, speeding up the car only because he didn't quite like the tone of this person.

"Hm?" he asked innocently. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you very well, what did you say?"

"I said slow down you-"

They cut themselves off, not allowing for a response since their silence indicated that they had learnt something new.

"Woah, yeah, they're right over there!" they exclaimed, tapping a point on the window so that Jouno could hear the faint sound and distinguish which direction their target was. "Pull over, I'll tie 'em up and toss 'em in the back."

The white-haired man paused momentarily, thin brows imitating each other as they angled upwards in confusion.

"What do you mean? That's not them."

"For a blind bitch, ya really think yer all that, don't'cha? I can literally see them right now, they're standing outside the fuckin' car so pull over and lemme mug 'em."

His lips had pressed into a line, contemplating the situation. The reason he wasn't allowed to go on his own was because they were extremely picky about identifying the right culprit, yet Jouno cared little for his escort of sorts. He'd encountered [l/n] before, and what marked his memory the most, asides from their childlike behavior, was how their heart hadn't betrayed a thing on the outside attitude, despite being blatantly threatened. This person, the one that his temporary partner had suggested was their target, was in fact sweating buckets and had such an erratic heartbeat he might've believed them to be having tachycardia. On top of this, their breathing was not the same, from what he gauged, they couldn't possibly be the right height, build and walking pattern. People on the run obviously become more more jittery when faced with escaping an impossible situation, but this conflicted his knowledge in too many ways to be true.

"I believe," he suggested calmly with a grin appearing, still refusing to unlock the doors or pull over, therefore driving past the individual, "that [l/n] might not be as gullible as we first presumed, and that this person is a decoy set up to distract us."

And so, Jouno found himself pleasantly challenged by the least likely person.

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As the sun bled out into the sky during its descent from the zenith to the crepuscule, Jouno had finally managed to shed his gravely irritating partner and complete his task alone.

That idiot - really, that's all he could call them - decided to ignore his words and kidnap the scapegoat. Of course, this person sobbed and repeatedly told them that they're not the right person, that there's been a mistake, but no one believed their words. Inevitably, they were tortured for a few hours and deemed unnecessary. Jouno shot them, then headed back to search for the real culprit.

"Now, where could they be?" he hummed, almost amusedly, to himself. "Most people tend to lay low when running from important and dangerous organizations, but something tells me..."

He was rather lucky, in a sense, that someone had spotted the fugitive near a bar. However, this was over 5 hours ago. People on the run tend to be smart enough to scatter from location to location, but he supposed he shouldn't be overestimating other people's intelligence.

The door creaked with a lowly groan, as did the floor when he applied weight onto it via his heavy tread. Upon first impressions, the bar was nearly empty.

Then, he heard a voice call out.

"SAIGAY!! Ahh, it's been a while, hasn't it?! Come, come! Can I order you anything? You look like a bourbon man, are you into bourbon? Unless... fine wine? Oh dear, don't keep me guessing, come, sit!"

Immediately, as soon as they called out his name and announced themselves with such ardor, he knew he had the right person.

"No thank you," he smiled. "I can't drink, I'm currently at work."

"Are you? Aw, you don't mean you're here to kill me?" they replied, voice dipping down to a pouty grumble as they neared the end of the sentence. "I'm tired of people trying to kill me, it's no fun."

Idling at the entrance, Jouno didn't quite motion to sit next to them, nor did he seek to keep close in case of sudden evacuation. From what he had heard, this person was without ability, so they didn't pose much danger. Nevertheless, he was a cautious man, and had known that false information could potentially be fatal in certain circumstances, especially when the target is acting so laid back.

"You stole half a million yen from one of the most dangerous organizations around, I don't particularly think you'd've expected it to be fun."

Met with muttering, he would've asked them to speak up had he not heard the nearly incomprehensible, "but I didn't steal anything" from their lips.

"You didn't?" he said aloud. "Then where do you suppose the money had gone?"

A pause insinuated, and he pondered repeating his question in a more forceful way when they answered. "Woah, you've got great hearing! I wish I were like that, half the time people talk to me and all I hear is 'bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bl-'"

Jouno pulled out his firearm and pointed it directly at them.

"Enough games. Cooperate and I'll only make it hurt a lot."

"Gee, mister, did someone piss in your cheerios? I'll come, I'll come, just give me a second! I want to finish my drink."

On the table, however, there wasn't a single glass.

Upon having Jouno point this detail out (for while he could not see, he could still visualize objects in space with his other senses), they paused briefly. "So either you're blind but scarily good at it, or you can see through that crazy squinting of yours."

"I don't appreciate you stalling," he hummed, cocking the gun. "Do you think I won't shoot?"

"No, no, it's clear you would!" giggled the individual. "But, oh, do tell me more about yourself. Being threatened is so much more pleasant when-"

He shot them once.

He shot them twice.

Both bullets landed in non-lethal locations, such as their right shoulder and calf, which was enough to get his message across without rushing his punishment for their actions.

"That hurt!" they frowned, clutching at the opening from which blood was rushing out. "Owwie! You really don't like talking with people, do you, Saigay?"

"Saigiku," he corrected with a hiss. "Do you ever stop talking? I could very well kill you right now."

"Well, I sure hope you don't!"

This just made him want to shoot them even more.

He listened eagerly as they let out a few hisses and groans, then a soft squelch and the clattering of a metal against the marble countertop. He guessed that they were taking out the bullet from their calf, since the one in their shoulder had effectively shattered into hundreds of shards, and would require special medical attention immediately if they wished to live for a few more years. Then again, he knew that they probably wouldn't live past tomorrow, so it wasn't his concern.

Letting out a soft gasp while they tore off part of their attire in order to wrap their injured limb, they still seemed to be laughing. "Thanks."

"For the gunshot wound?" the white-haired male tried to clarify. He didn't take them to be such an open masochist.

Yet, his question only spurred a flurry of coughing and chuckles. "Of course not! I meant, thank you for not attacking me further. Really thought you'd kill me here and now, but you're letting me treat my wounds without interference. Is it because you have orders not to kill me?" Adding with a terribly comedic bite of their lip, they said, "Or have you been seduced by my charm?"

Once he made it perfectly clear that he'd shoot again, they backed off on the teasing remarks and requested that he help them up. "To walk," they'd clarified. "I can't walk, y'know. How do you plan on getting me back to your base?"

"I'll drag you by your hair if I need to," he replied.

(He had to hijack a car because there was no way he'd drag a body across the city, especially not a body as talkative as this one.)

"So you're telling me," they pondered while blindfolded and cuffed in the back of the vehicle, "that you're blind, yet you have highlights? They're pretty, I'll give you that, but why did you colour it? Midlife crisis? Doesn't sound right to me, plus you can't even see the colour so why on earth would you do it? Are you responding to me? I can't hear anything with this blindfold over my ears. Aren't blindfolds supposed to obstruct your vision, not your hearing? Man, but maybe I can hear perfectly fine and it's all your fault because you're not answering me. C'mon, Saigay, humor me!"

Of course, he had no intentions of humoring them.

"You're lucky I didn't gag you," he said. "Or cut off your tongue. In fact, knocking you unconscious would've been a splendid idea."

"But you didn't!" the ex-criminal beamed. "Besides, I'm going to get beat up enough once you deliver me back to [c /o/n]. If you ask them to let you watch and/or participate, they won't say no, I think. Pops isn't too strict when it comes to those things."

"Pops?"

"Y'know, the head of [c /o/n]. He's my dad's close friend and the brother in law of your boss."

That explained a lot of things, starting with this seemingly innocent person's involvement with such dark themes. Yet, there was still something Jouno needed to know.

"And you betrayed your own family friend?" asked the blind man, quickly approaching the location of the building in which he was given rendezvous for the drop-off of the traitor.

"Ahh, connections don't mean shit," they scoffed, waving around their tied hands as if to emphasize their point. "But I didn't betray them. I'd have to be an idiot.... No, not an idiot, whatever is worse than an idiot in order to steal money from a man who would've given me the cash if I asked him for it. So, no. I didn't steal anything. That's why I didn't run; I'm not guilty of anything, running would make it look like I am."

Jouno was interiorly perplexed. So they've got a decent brain behind all of that buttery personality, after all. But, there was just something about them that didn't fit with the narrative, something he couldn't wrap his head around.

"Why wait for me to tie you up?" he finally suggested aloud, hearing his own words formed allowing him to make more sense of his confusion. "Why not just waltz into the building? This makes you look both stupid and guilty."

A laugh burst from the backseat, the kind of laugh that makes you want to join in despite not fully understanding the reason behind it. It was however cut short, due to a sharp inhale of pain then a few curses murmured at their injuries.

"Maybe I am an idiot. Maybe I wanted to get caught. Who knows? Maybe this was all part of my master plan to lure you near Negishi Station so that I could use my all-powerful ability."

He spent a few seconds registering that last bit. Lure him out to Negishi so they could...

"BOOM!"

With a jolt, he nearly crashed the car; luckily, in time Jouno had realized that this was just a sound effect from the hostage, and not a real crash caused by an ability. They were, in fact, right next to Negishi, which made the whole thing a huge coincidence, but other than that, nothing occurred. They were still in the car, unharmed and untouched by any ability that he could detect.

Meanwhile, [l/n] was laughing their ass off.

"BWAHAHAH, you actually fell for it!!" they managed between heaving breaths and uncontrollable laughter. "I knew that since you were blind you would be sensitive to loud noises but that worked so much better than I thought it would, you should've seen your face! You were all like," then they proceeded to make a plethora of faces he couldn't see, but that he knew were all mocking him.

[l/n] continued, "By the way, just because I haven't used it doesn't mean I don't have an ability. So watch out for your ass, pretty boy, or else I might just... BAM!"

He did not flinch this time, but he found himself rather frustrated with his previous reaction. People, normal people, never teased him this way. He'd have thought [l/n] would be a bit less friendly around him after sustaining the injuries, but so far, that appeared only to drive them towards a playful alternative to revenge on par with a snowball fight between two children.

"I'll tell you what," concluded the hysterical individual attempting to calm themselves down, "let's do this again, same time tomorrow? Muah, it was lovely meeting you Saigay!!"

Before he could protest or question this, they waved around their somehow uncuffed hands, reached for the handle of the car door, pushed it open and leaped out.

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He found himself standing at the entrance of the bar the very next day.

It was beyond frustrating to pick up the pieces of yesterday's aftermath; based on his recollection and the most probable situation, [l/n] likely used the loud noises not only to ruffle and distract him, but to cover up for the sound of the click of their handcuffs being taken off, courtesy of a pin they had picked the lock with. On top of this, their haphazardous mention of Negishi station was just a way of situating themselves in space (since they had been blindfolded) so they could think of the safest escape route.

He quite frankly did not expect to be outsmarted by someone who can't even remember his name right. Yet, the fact remained that he was strolling up to the entrance of the same place as he'd previously apprehended them at, same hour of the day. He rather hated the sunset; nothing felt right for him. Not the consistent buzzing of the cicadas during the day nor the melodic trilling of the crickets; dusk never held a sustainable aura, and for this reason he'd grown to loathe it, despite being told repeatedly that the setting sun was beautiful.

Rushing curtly inside the building, the bells connected to the door jingled, and, almost on cue, a loud cheer roused him from his lucid trance.

"Saigay!! Over here, over here! Can't say I expected you to show up, but I'm pleasantly surprised!" gleamed [l/n] upon his arrival.

"It's Saigiku," he repeated for an umpteenth time, "and I'm here to turn you in."

They shook their head. "I'd have hoped you'd realized that I don't take to being kidnapped. But I do appreciate the perseverance, so I'll make a deal; have a drink with me, then I'll cooperate for an entire 5 minutes without trying to escape."

"...You truly are an odd person," said he, despite taking a seat by their side and waiting. He didn't know what trick they had up their sleeve (rather, their cast. Turns out, they'd gone to a private medical professional in order to have it looked at. He smiled when he noticed this; a sure sign that victory was much more likely tonight.)

"I'll take that as a compliment!" [l/n] laughed heartily, then called for the waiter. "One [favorite drink] for me, and he'll have a cup of whiskey. The good type, y'know what I mean, darling?"

The waiter raised a brow at the nickname and odd hint, but took the order anyways and began preparation. Meanwhile, Jouno sat, trying to protest that he did not want anything to drink, but was quickly cut off by his temporary enemy's much louder affirmations that he did indeed want some.

"You don't look like the type to be trying out sobriety," they hummed, "but I know if I let you chose for yourself, you wouldn't get anything. You'd be all," (and here their voice deepened and became gruff in an attempt to make it clear that they were looking to mock him,) "'I'm here to kill you! I'm a mass murderer so fear me!!' Am I right or am I right?"

Before he could respond, the fingers on their uninjured hand began to flick his dangling earring, on the right side of his face.

"You have an earring," they pointed out, almost stupidly. "Why don't you have one on the other side?"

He wasn't going to respond to any of this. In fact, he was toying with the knife in his pocket, gauging the right moment to strike with such an unpredictable opponent.

"Because I don't," he said dully. The waiter came, their glasses clinking with the ice inside as it toyed around in the liquid, gently being placed onto the counter.

"Fair enough," they smiled. "Okay sooooooo, wha'd'ya wanna talk 'bout? Gimme anything, I hate silence."

That made two of them.

"What is your ability?" he said rather bluntly, with a soft hum. He was in an optimal position to strike, only a few centimeters away, but he thought better than to attack without knowing such an important piece of information. Besides, with the way the conversation was going, they seemed to be eager to tell him the truth, for whatever reason, so he wouldn't lose anything to try.

After taking a long sip from their drink, they paused. "Nothing, I don't have one. You?"

The cautious man pressed further. "I find it hard to believe you haven't an ability in such a dangerous environment."

With a chuckle, they took another gulp from the glass. Then, turning to him with a relaxed heartbeat, they said very calmly and slowly, "I don't believe in needless deceit. Unlike you, Mr. Hide-my-knife-in-my-pocket-that-I'm-going-to-stab-you-with, I don't play dirty. So, when I say that I don't have an ability, don't be so surprised, yeah? The majority of people don't. I supposed when you're gifted, you don't quite try to sympathize with those unlike you."

So, they're aware of the weapon, yet made no move to dodge? Perhaps he's overthinking this, after all there are many people who seem invincible just because one doesn't act based on rational decisions, but based on their feelings. He should know, he spends most of his free time toying with said emotions and tearing them apart.

In one swift movement, he let his knife slide back down his pocket and removed both hands from the shadows.

"You sound genuine," he said, almost to himself.

"Well, I sure hope so," they laughed, despite nothing particularly funny being said. "I am being genuine, after all. You'll be able to bring me in and tie me up properly in a little while, so I'm going to enjoy the now while I still can, that's my philosophy!"

"Your philosophy is to drink something before you get kidnapped instead of trying to escape?" he repeated, incredulous. Perhaps their drink was laced with something, some kind of drug that drags your mood to a high. Even if he smelled no trace of anything other than [favorite drink], he concluded that this was the only reasonable explanation to this indecipherable human being.

Doubling over with a violent wheeze, they were (yet again) laughing at his words. They babbled a few words between gasps for breath, such as, "Didn't know you had a sense of humour!" and "Please, I can't breathe!" like he'd been a world renowned comedian. He almost felt the urge to clarify that he was attempting to degrade them, to criticize them and point out their stupidity, but one does not simply explain themselves when insulting another. Typically, their words transmitted the message well enough, but this was far from a typical recipient.

Finally recovering, they put on a mock angry face and waved around their finger. "You fiend, take it easy, I'm injured! At this rate, you'll make me pop my lungs out, ahah! Is that your master plan? To incapacitate me verbally? Bravo, I didn't expect that!"

"I wasn't..." he said, trailing off as he was thoroughly perplexed. What does one say in his situation? At this rate, his biggest concern was their oddities, not their capture.

On second thought, he nearly forgot that he was here to capture them.

"That's the beauty of it," they exclaimed, waving around their drink and spilling a considerable amount on his shirt accidentally with the grand gesture. "Unintentional torture! Wow, you must be even better than what I've heard about you, Saigay."

Not even bothering to correct them, he said, "And what exactly have you heard of me?"

"One, that you're very attractive. Two, you're ruthless when it comes to sadism. Three, you have exceptional intellect and four, you can hear heartbeats. Is that last one true? Wouldn't that make you a living polygraph?"

He was, but also wasn't, listening. The first thing they'd mentioned was his attractiveness, likely physical, but what an odd thing to point out, that is! Fighting down the odd feeling blooming in his chest with success, he finally mustered a response; an affirmation.

"That must be your ability," they pondered. "Isn't it? You'd be too strong if you had something else on top of this."

With a grin, Jouno explained, "It is not."

A melodramatic gasp could be heard echoing throughout the mostly empty room. "It isn't?? Gah, I must've been astronomically lucky to have escaped you last time!"

He'd've agreed had he not been promptly cut off by a rush of guesses regarding his ability. Most were way off, a select few absurd, and the entirety of them wrong. He felt his face contort into that of a confused expression when they suggested that he might be able to listen to people through walls, drawing an example by explaining that he might, and here the words were engraved into his mind, "listen in on people while they went to the bathroom, thus deducing whether their digestion was going well." Somehow, this had become a conversation in which they recounted the vivid tale of their daunting task of finding a bathroom once when they'd been in a 'foreign environment' - also known as the downtown region of the neighboring city during a negotiation.

All done and said, they'd contented themselves with a fairly one sided discussion, and he sipped down the Japanese whiskey he'd been handed. Upon noticing this, [l/n] stuck out both of their wrists as best as they could, pressed near one another as if pleading.

"Well, a deal's a deal! Take me away, Saigay! Ah! That rhymes! Maybe I should become a poet!" they giggled.

Jouno considered this for a long time, the topic that was on his mind ever since his arrival. The previous day, he'd told his boss that [l/n] couldn't be found, and that he must've made a mistake when saying that the doppelganger was a fake. This, of course, was untrue, but it also gave him leeway in case he found himself up against a formidable opponent. All of this meant that, if he did not turn [l/n] in to [c /o/n], he himself would not lose anything.

It wasn't sympathy, he told himself, that led him to get up and walk away as they left their arms extended. No, it was just an avoidance of unnecessary effort. If he walked away now, he would save himself the hassle of detaining them, all the while giving this person a second chance. Who knows, perhaps they'd be useful to him in the future.

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Jouno had not expected to be called by the lower ranking members of his organization early in the morning. What he had expected was to go to his office; not being told that there was a "package" waiting for him at the base.

He hadn't a clue what this package was. His first instinct was that it was a weapon of sorts, a bomb, anything that did damage. Although, it could very well also be a traitor who had been tied up and sent to him as a peace offering. The more he thought about it, the happier he was as he approached the location in which he was expected.

"J-Jouno-sama!" exclaimed one of the nervous underlings - a kid, really - holding a...

...A dog?

It barked at him, growling and struggling in the grasp of the two kids tasked with holding it down.

"What is this, a prank?" Jouno hissed, ready to make them pay before he even got the entire story.

One of them audibly gulped as their blood drained from their face, while the other stuttered an explanation. "N-No! We f-found this dog attached w-with a leash right in front of the building, and there was this attached to its collar," they said as they handed the executive a wrinkled piece of paper which, upon further inspection, turned out to hold an uncanny resemblance to a napkin from a nearby fast food place.

On it, there were an assortment of dots which were ink being pressed hard onto the fabric. Braille, he concluded. This person seemed not only to have specifically destined this to him, but desired to keep the contents for him only, rather than have someone read it for him.

On it, he managed to decipher the following:

'Dear Saigay,        Thanks for not trying to kill me!! I'm certain you're just a big softie heheh.         The doc told me I shouldn't be moving around too much after those wounds you gifted me, so now I'm kinda on house arrest lolol. Either way, I'd've loved to thank you personally but can't so I got you a present, its name is undecided yet BUTTTTTT they're a bitch just like you so I called them saigay jr. for the time being ♡ plus I figured you never had a guide dog, right?? So here you go!  XD

p.s. you never told me what kind of drink you liked. was I right about the whiskey? pls tell me!! i'll recover properly then find you, so you better have an answer by then >:( p.p.s. heheh peepee s p.p.p.s. you still haven't told me why your hair is dyed p.p.p.p.s. SAIGAY JR HAS YOUR MISSING EARRING BTW!!'

What on earth-

He certainly was no longer angry at this weird dog, but at the owner.

What made it worse was that the two kids had finally gotten over their fear of him and started calming down the dog (which he was not going to called Saigay Jr., much less Saigiku Jr.), noticing the earring; it was only a clip on that was obviously made up of cardboard clippings and poorly colored insides, as well as engravings that he could physically feel and recognize, but the resemblance to his own was noticeable. He wondered if this was an insult from [l/n] disguised as a present, but decided that there were too many exclamation marks for this to be anything resembling a threat. Not to mention the "XD".

Now, he had to figure out the dog. It's too much noise and too much effort, besides he doesn't like dogs all that much. He supposed he'll just have to snatch off that wretched earring and dispose of it before anyone makes the link and this haunts him, then kick it out. Surely it'll wander back off to its home or whatever. None of what followed would be his concern.

"Jouno s-sama, what should we do with the dog?" uneasily asked the kid. He shook his head, snatched the makeshift earring in one fell swoop and crumbled it into a ball in his hand.

"Take it outside, it isn't mine and I don't care about it. This was just a prank from someone I know."

With this, Saigay Jr. was released back onto the street, the collar still coated with braille dots that spell out its name.

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Once work was done, he decided to go for a walk, for some fresh air. However, Jouno was not expecting to hear panting coming from his side.

Saigay Jr. barked at him, happily wagging their tail and bouncing on their paws.

"What is wrong with you," he swore under his breath, then made his tone much vocal. "Go away! I don't want you here!"

None of this, obviously, got across to the dog, who was still following him closely.

"I said go away!" he yelled, a bit louder but also significantly harsher. "Stupid bitch."

It somehow reacted differently, barking much more avidly and skipping over to him with apparent excitement.

At this rate, he'd never get rid of the dog. He contemplated calling the pound and having someone take them in, but knew that this was likely an unnecessary step to take. Regardless, he'd have to get rid of it soon. All this barking is going to make him dizzy soon.

The sounds subsided as it transitioned from growling to a soft whine, choosing to lay down. It was then that he noticed a certain odor that he hadn't paid attention to before.

...Blood?

He almost could've sworn the dog was injured.

Jouno decided that it was not his concern and left it there, on the street, alone.

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The dog was certainly a stubborn little thing, as it was there when he came to work the next day.

He took out his gun, shot it in the air (loud noises hurt him a lot, but he knew the same applied to the animal) and hummed contently as it scurried off out of fear, out of his life.

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Saigay Jr. came back the very next day.

"Oh, will you fuck off already?" he groaned, taking out his gun yet again to fire a warning shot. Of course, he wasn't going to actually kill the beast, but he was reaching a point where he was very well considering it.

He stopped himself as he heard it whine, then lower itself to the ground, almost bowing to him in a human fashion.

"I'm not keeping you. [l/n] should've just left you in the dump where they found you," he said, realizing that he was talking to a literal dog.

He reached his hand out with a sigh, and began to pet it. This clearly made the dog calm down significantly, as it was finally getting recognition from the one it believed to be its owner, and so it didn't noticed as he curled his fingers around the leash, detached the ends of the collar then used it to attach the canine to a post.

As soon as it realized its situation, it began to growl, barking aggressively at him, then pouting and almost seeming like it was about to cry. Jouno didn't care, however, as he took out his burner phone and dialed animal patrol.

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Somehow, by some un-abiding law of the universe, Saigay Jr. was there, sitting happily, waiting for him outside of the building in which he operated.

Its leg and arm seemed to be getting better, he could tell, which made it likely that it wouldn't stop coming back to annoy him.

"It's like a miniature [l/n]," he laughed to himself.

Over time, he'd almost began to enjoy his daily encounters with the animal. He found it almost enjoyable to pet and ruffle its soft fur, eliciting the pleasant reaction of a calm dog.

Today, he decided, he would stop pushing it away. It's Houdini, this mynx, a Houdini who refused to disappear and could get out of any trap he laid for it.

"First off," he crouched down, stroking its ear, "ground rules. You are not my dog. I'm doing this to see if it'll get rid of you once you get bored with me. Got it?"

Ears drooping, Saigay Jr. seemed to be saying, "aww, but I wanted to be your dog!", to which Jouno replied with a look that said, "Don't make me get up and leave."

"Second rule, keep your piss and shit away from me, I'm not touching or smelling any of that. Third, you do as I tell you to. Understood?"

He wasn't expecting the dog to nod, but would've liked seeing it react other than burrowing its head further into the palm of his hand. Reluctantly, Jouno didn't resist, and sat there entertaining its need for physical touch for a few moments before springing to his feet.

"I'm going home. You are not allowed in my house," he warned, turning around.

Saigay Jr. followed him home anyways.

Somehow, as the day turned into night, he found himself helpless when it comes to resistance against this dog. It was thankfully very unproblematic, not making much of a mess when they arrived to the apartment which he lived in (it wasn't his, evidently. The criminal organization he worked for simply scared off all the tenants and let their members live there, unofficially.) He gestured to a corner for it to stay while he settled down, and stuck there for as long as he told it to.

As he took care of his own affairs, the time to rest finally came, and the dog didn't appear to have any plans to depart from its new best friend.

"Leave," he repeated forcefully, pointing to the door left ajar for it to crawl outside. "I said leave."

The message seemed to be getting across, as Saigay Jr. finally began to trek towards the entrance.

Then, it used its snout to shut the door, returning promptly and sitting down in front of him, waiting for some kind of reward.

"I'd really wish you'd die right now," he threw a hand on his face, tilting it upwards to display his frustration. "Fine. Let's play this the hard way."

He walked outside his apartment, knowing that the dog would follow, and shut the door behind them both. With a smirk, he activated his ability, disintegrating into the smallest specks and re-entering the room while sifting through the openings on the side of the door.

This way, he was back inside while the animal was whining from the outside, scratching occasionally to ask him to let them back in.

"Absolutely not," he laughed proudly, tossing himself into bed, trying to will himself to fall asleep before he'd begin to feel guilt about leaving the diligent and loyal gift from [l/n] outside.

A click, a creak and a shuffle later, and he heard a very clear panting noise.

Saigay Jr. had somehow managed to get inside.

"Fuck, you know what? I don't care anymore," groaned the tired man. "I give up. You win."

As he let himself doze off, the dog had crawled up onto the bed and softly laid its head on his chest, breathing steadily.

Jouno wouldn't admit that the sound and feeling was a nice change to his norm.

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At this point, Jouno had practically adopted Saigay Jr.

He didn't hear anything from [l/n], which he found odd since it had been over 6 months since he'd last seen them. He knew that he shouldn't be thinking about them; he'd only known the peculiar individual for a grand total of about 3 encounters, one of which he hadn't even interacted with them and the other two being attempted kidnapping and murder. The white-haired man knew that the only reason their image stuck in his head was due to this dog, this constant reminder of them, on top of their boisterous personality that he could've swore made him look at people like him (who had little to no personality, all business and no fun, as they might've said) differently.

The dog was a weird new addition to his life as well. He'd never seen it eat nor require to be walked. In fact, their relationship had gotten to the point where he was becoming more and more eager to be in its company; he woke up with Saigay Jr. (whose name he couldn't bring himself to change nor get out of his head), the both of them walked to his work, and then when he was done with his daily torturing, the loyal animal was waiting for him at the door of his apartment. He occasionally let it sleep in his bed, but mostly it found a small corner on the couch where both of them seemed content. It was a particularly odd situation; Jouno did not like pets. In fact, he didn't like people, so why would he expose himself to this small, fluffy thing for daily companionship? He didn't know, but found that there was no need to question a mutually beneficial situation.

Today, however, something odd had happened.

Saigay Jr. was not waiting in front of his door when he got back, covered in the heavy smell of blood for today's session was especially... artistic.

"Junior?" he found himself calling out, a name he never had the need to say out loud due to their chemistry. Yet, there seemed to be no movement nearby.

Weird, he thought, but there's no need to make a big deal out of this. The animal probably had to attend to its animal business, or whatever. Maybe the meeting that they always attend while he's at work was running late, he humored himself.

A few hours later, and nothing happened, no one showed up scratching at his front door or barking at it. He'd told himself that he was going to keep going on with his day as if nothing happened, but sleep was difficult to find because of the nagging feeling that something wasn't right.

It was then that he heard a knock at his door.

Not a scratch, but a knock.

He grabbed the firearm from the drawer next to his bed, and greeted the guest with a smile as he unlocked the door cautiously.

"Saigay!!"

He couldn't believe it; [l/n] was standing at his door.

"Sorry, sorry, I know this is sudden but at least be glad you were wearing pants when I knocked on the door," they spoke casually, letting themselves into his apartment and spreading themselves on the couch like they'd been living there for a while, in a particularly odd way that eerily resembled that of his dog, "but I was running late since my dad was telling me that I should come clean about this whole thing and bla bla, y'know that old man wisdom? You seem like you know what old geezers think. Anyways, Dad was givin' me the lecture and whatnot, so I told him that since I was mostly recovered, I might as well come and say hi without barking."

"Without... barking?"

He squinted his eyes even further as he tried to make sense of this.

"So you didn't gift me a dog, you..."

"Were the dog? Yup! The name's actually Soseki [y/n], and I've been a spy at [c /o/n] for about a year or two, can't remember too well since my time was cut short by a certain injury some pretty asshole gave me. Annoying, ain't it? I hate getting shot at. Being a dog is so much easier."

"You lied," he said, trying not to panic from the fact that he had been sharing his life for quite some time with another person in disguise, "when you said you didn't have an ability."

"Of course! Isn't that what everyone does? People lie tons, like when you told 'Saigay Jr.' that you didn't have a ticklish spot, only for me to find out that you have sensitive ears and chest. Very ticklish, especially when you think no one is watching."

He felt the blood rushing to his face while he swallowed dryly. What else had he done accidentally in all that time? He couldn't possibly have kept track of everything.

"Aw, he blushes," they laughed, tapping his nose before he could recover. "Relax, I'm not out to get you. I thought you were interesting and cute when you kidnapped me, so I thought I'd put you to the test for a bit while I recovered from my injuries. Okay, not so much a test, per se, but I wanted to hang out with you. I had a feeling you were lonely, and I was right!"

Heartbroken wasn't the right word to describe how he felt; what was running through his mind was a hellish mixture of embarrassment and fear of vulnerability. It's the sensation one feels when one is deceived and looks back on it, wondering how they could've been so foolish. He should've known, he kept telling himself.

"I get that you probably feel humiliated. Dad says that most people do, so I've just gotta smile and remind them that I've got a terrible memory," they laughed, reading his mind. "Maybe once you get over it you'll come to realize that I wasn't lying about wanting your friendship."

With a timid smile, nothing like what their usual bubbly personality would typically make, they bowed gently to him, seemed to consider leaning in to hug him, then decided that this all would be too much at once.

[y/n] left, hesitantly adding, "Same place... tomorrow?"

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Why had Jouno showed up at the bar where they had originally been introduced, all those months ago, when he'd been so foolishly deceived?

Perhaps it was as he kept repeating in his head, that he was there to pick up the pieces of his torn dignity. Or maybe it was to finally kill them and receive the reward on their head.

Or was it to accept their offer?

He reassured himself that he couldn't possibly, that people were terrible and he couldn't let himself get soft with this one or else he'd become mushy and weak. He wasn't sure what terrified him so much about that idea, but he didn't even consider it as an option.

As always, the bells jingled as he entered, but there was no shout of his mispronounced name.

Nevertheless, he took a seat at the counter, ordering the whiskey not because he wanted some, but because he subconsciously attributed it to this location and time, despite not having an overwhelming number of memories here. He supposed that certain memories can be short but impact you more than you could ever fathom.

Even while he waited, he'd began to feel the pit of his stomach drop, like he had a cavity in his chest in place of a soul. Jouno hadn't realized up until now how accustomed he'd grown to a persistent joyful presence in his life, be it [y/n] under human or canine form.

The waiter returned, placing his order against the counter, and murmuring in a melodic voice, "I didn't expect you to come."

He didn't have to glance upwards to know it was [y/n], and so kept his gaze downcast.

"I'd say I'm sorry but I don't quite see anything to apologize for," they said, taking a sip out of his drink, lips lingering at the rim of the glass. "I had a lot of fun in the past few months, haven't you? My approach might've been a bit cruel, but think of it as Karma for shooting me, twice. This way, we're even! Wha'd'ya say? We good?"

Jouno's mouth betrayed him as he snatched the cup from them, chugged it all down at once, then said, "yeah, why not?"

Immediately, their heart rate sped up from excitement, and they leapt across the counter to trap him in a bear hug. Trying to resist but knowing there was no point, he eventually melted into their embrace.

Pulling away, they giddily babbled, "Okay, so now that you've forgiven me, I feel like it's a great time to mention that I've seen you strip multiple times and I would've told you that it was weird to change your clothes in front of a dog but I didn't know how to tell you or look away without acting weird so I just went with it and I feel like maybe I should compliment your stellar abs while I'm rambling like this but complimenting you will probably not do much good so how about I just offer you another drink and we forget this whole thing?"

Jouno cursed under his breath, nearly chuckling but not quite, realizing that they were right. "Fuck, what else did I do?"

"Well, I've got to tell you that your snoring is adorable, but you roll a lot in your sleep and that, mister, is something we need to take care of."

For the first time since he could remember, Jouno laughed a genuine laugh, not laced with malice or sugarcoated, as he listened to [y/n] vividly recounting their numerous embarrassing tales of him, only to be teased back for their dog habits like the panting and tail wagging. He'd've thought that the drinks were making him loose, but [y/n] had actually told the waiter to give them both multiple shots of apple juice.

As the night progressed, Jouno slowly found out that he'd opened himself up a lot more than he was comfortable admitting. Yet, this made him both want to retreat and lock [y/n] out of his life and invite them into his daily rituals, to never let them go. On the other hand, [y/n] had always found him to be a wonderful person, and only became further entranced as they watched him operate on a daily basis.

Somehow, Sweet fell in love with Sour, and Sour fell in love with Sweet.

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Another set of months later, Jouno returned from a particular mission given to him in the middle of the night, exhausted, ready to do nothing expect collapse onto the bed and sleep.

He was practically dragging his feet as he approached the door of his apartment, inserted the keys lazily and opened it. As always, his partner called out for him.

"Sai!" they said, skipping up to the door and noticing his beat up expression. "Damn, what did they force you to do this time?"

He shook his head before burying it into the crook of their neck and letting his hands dangle by their side. "The guy I had to interrogate was an opera singer, lungs of fucking steel." Strands of his hair were brushing by their skin, and his lips were murmuring against the warmth. "He wouldn't stop screaming my ears off, even with the gag."

Unable to contain their laughter, they poorly comforted him with a rub on the back while shaking from giggles. "My poor baby, today hasn't been your day, has it?"

Almost like handling an infant, they snuck their arms under his own and half-carried him to the bedroom. Getting in with him and tenderly placing a kiss on his cheek, [y/n] traced out random features on his face with their fingertip, hoping to soothe his body with touch.

"You smell terribly by the way," they said sarcastically in a deep sultry voice. "Do I kick you out to sleep on the couch or are you gonna take a shower? I can smell the blood on you, darling."

Half-asleep already, he slurred a, "Tomorrow...", followed by, "It's not my fault you've got the nose of a dog."

"You aren't any better," [y/n] teased, rolling over on top of him and kissing his sensitive lips with the delicacy of a flower blooming in spring snow.

"Just... let me sleep," he groaned, waving them away like a fly, only to have his hand caught by their own.

"Mnn, fine," murmured the [h/c] haired individual, gazing at him softly with heavy eyelids, as mesmerized with him as always. "Want something fluffy to snuggle into?"

"No, stay the way you are."

With another kiss that lasted a bit longer and in which Jouno participated weakly, [y/n] rolled back and cradled his head, bringing it onto their chest.

"'Night, [y/n]," he managed to say, shifting himself so that he was curled up against their figure. After a brief pause, he shuffled himself again under the covers, resting his head on their body. With their chest steadily rising and falling in sync with their consistent breathing, he found that he slept so much better.

They smiled gently.

"Goodnight, Saigiku."

[twothpaste]

Giegue/giygas for the ask game, maybe?

First impression: I learned about Giygas through internet osmosis long before I even thought to play EarthBound. All the usual "ooooh this game is secretly sooo dark" and "he's ack-chewally an aborted fetus, see, oooo" kinda shit. I remember it giving me the impression Mother was way scarier and edgier than it turned out to be. (I played games like OFF and Yume Nikki first though. So by the time I got around to Mother, it was very refreshing to play somethin bright & uplifting at its core, lmao.) (In retrospect, I kinda wish Giygas wasn't among the first things every prospective player is told about the EarthBound. Going into the Giygas battle blind seems like it would've rearranged my brain molecules, and I wish I'd gotten to experience it like that.) I forget when exactly I learned about Giegue (I didn't get to play M1 blind either), but I'm pretty sure my first impression was honestly pretty neutral? The imposing presence of a huge alien spaceship, 8-bit sci-fi machinery, and a barely legible creature in a capsule was pretty wicked to see for myself the first time though!

Impression now: Giygas is a big triple decker chocolate layer cake worth of metaphor & symbolism. The existential horror of growing up, the fear of losing who you fundamentally are in the process, the horrific inhumanity adults are capable of, the hopelessness of coming to terms with the world as it is, and so on. Not really a character per se, but the quintessential globular slurry of adolescent angst Ness & pals've gotta contend with. Giegue is a bittersweet little story about a broken family. An internal conflict between vengeance, familial love, and maybe where one's obligations lie? Cool antagonist for sure. I wanna like him more than I do (M1's cryptic hands-off approach to storytelling is hard for me to sink my teeth into 😔). I've speculatively written (and drawn a comic for the upcoming zine 😉) about how Giegue became Giygas, and read some good fics on the topic. In the canon we're given, though? There's really so little binding them together narratively or thematically… I have a difficult time reconciling the two, in the context of the games themselves. Mother 2 in general feels more like a reboot than a sequel - and there's hardly if any "lore" weaving Giegue & Giygas together - so Itoi's choice to declare they're one and the same just seems kinda odd to me. C'est la vie. Fan creators make do.

Favorite moment: The Giygas battle, but like, before he goes sicko mode. When he's bound to a chamber of wires and innards, reflecting Ness' face back at him, and it turns out our fervently raving buddy Porky is actually the one in "control". The atmosphere is so intense and unnerving, such a bizarre yet captivating way to ramp things up. There's like, this sense of stomach-churning dread, as you begin - if only scarcely - to realize the alien overlord you were expecting is an entity far more powerful and personal and helpless and incomprehensible than you ever could've imagined. I mean. You know, because the internet spoiled you when you were 11. But in the bigness of the moment it still makes my mitochondria itch on a primal and cellular level. /pos. Love it.

Idea for a story: My favorite Giegue thing is the vague implication (??) of whatever the hell George did to to him. Y'know, whatever made him hate humanity so much. Whenever I see fan content speculating on how George might've experimented on him or mistreated him I do in fact Feel Somethin' There. (I have been a sucker for angsty-creature-in-a-lab stories from the time I saw Mewtwo Strikes Back in kindergarten all the way to Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 a couple months ago, and I don't suppose I'll ever be sick of 'em.) The conflict it introduces between George and Maria is intriguing too. Like, her husband's treating her dearly beloved child like a science project? Trying to extract the secrets of PSI from his oversized alien brain?? You know if this kinda shit went down, those two were on a caliber of divorce drama the world has rarely seen.

Unpopular opinion: I really like Giegue design interpretations that're freaky and grotesque and biologically unfamiliar. When the beast isn't just mammalian in nature. Truly out of this world.

Favorite relationship: A mean-spirited but otherwise ordinary 13-year-old willingly aligned himself with the alien emodiment of all things evil. And the alien embodiment of all things evil willingly let the kid be his right-hand man. And I'm normal about it. EarthBound tells us basically nothing about how Porky n' Giygas' partnership in crime came to be, but speculating about it sends me into a shark frenzy. Porky seeking power over the world that wronged him, at literally any cost. Giygas weaponizing a child's worst, most vengeful impulses. Porky ultimately usurping Giygas, at least in terms of agency. Witnessing the absolute horror his "master" becomes, and simply sidestepping out of the universe itself to dodge the mess he brought about. I like to imagine there was a period where Giygas was still cognizant enough to maintain a rapport with Porky - and that the two of them fucking hated each other. Both of 'em using the other as a means to an end, assured in the conviction they're the one with the upper hand. And they're kind of both wrong. Bloaw up da worl.

Favorite headcanon: Giegue/Giygas speaks (telepathically?) with a rural midwestern accent. Courtesy of the fine folks who raised him. Other aliens probably think it's weird and mondo cringe, but are too intimidated to say so.

[batsplat]

sorry if you’ve answered this before, but do you count Marc as an alien? I’ve seen some people do it on Reddit & I fully get why, but personally I kinda feel like only the og 4 can count??? I find myself saying “the aliens AND Marc” but then I’m wondering if I’m just being dumb about the semantics of it lol. Do you know if ppl more broadly in the sport (commentators, other riders, etc) count Marc as an alien? (god I swear this sport makes me type out the dumbest sentences I’ve ever written in my life lol)

I'm not massively fussed about this either way, though I personally do include marc as an alien because it's just a useful shorthand for those five riders. the term for those 'og 4' that gets bandied about is 'the fantastic four'... I cannot tell you why, but personally I just cannot bring myself to call them That. (though I've also seen the term being used for the top four in this year's championship, which I fw even less.) I talked about how I use the term in this post, where my main point was that to me the term primarily is about an era. there was a specific time span in motogp history where the championship was completely dominated by a small group of riders, partly because they were just very good and partly because they had a substantial machinery advantage over everyone else. in any given year from 2007 to 2015, you could safely predict that every single race would be won by one of four riders. the only exceptions to this are le mans 2007 (vermeulen on a factory suzuki), motegi 2007 (capirossi on a factory ducati), donington 2009 (dovizioso on a factory honda), and assen 2011 (spies on a factory yamaha). all of these races were conducted in the wet too... in the dry, it's complete domination

which, again. this is partly about the machinery, like this was just an era with way more substantial a factory/satellite divide than you'd get today (or indeed in the 990cc era). you never know what would've happened if more riders had that quality of machinery - though obviously it's worth pointing out that dovi in three years at repsol honda secured a single race win to dani's nine. (and casey got ten in 2011 alone, when all three of them were teammates.) still, it's at its most useful to me to describe them as like. a group. as a dynamic that consistently played out in competition across a set number of years. which to me marc is a part of. basically this:

because marc took over casey's role in ensuring that dynamic SO completely, I think it makes sense to include him in that group. the dynamic is essentially the same, right? until change in tech regulations, control electronics and michelin tyres and all the rest of it, as well as gradual competitive decline of the 'og aliens' and shift of the competitive balance between yamaha and ducati from 2016 onwards signals the end of the alien era. the aliens describe a cohort more than riders of a certain talent level (which is fine by me since I am not a fan of discussions of talent). but valentino has roughly the same age gap to dani as marc has to jorge, so... might as well expand it to those five

as for what the wider motogp world says, yeah, I do think they're mostly on board with calling marc an alien. again, I think when people are trying to talk only about the non-marc aliens, they tend to use the term 'fantastic four'. I do not use this term and generally just rely on context to make it clear who I'm talking about. but also if you prefer to not use the term to include marc, y'know, fair enough - the term wasn't originally used to apply to him. the difference is whether you're talking about a group of competitors elevated from the rest in 2007 to 2012, or 2007 to 2015. in practical terms, to me there isn't a massive difference between the competitive dynamics when casey was on the grid versus when marc was on the grid, so. that's where I come down on this

[buckevantommy]

It is kind of sad that we have this interesting character in Tommy who is this new experience for Buck and yet interviews ignore that and ask about buddie buddie buddie. It’s pathetic. I am over buddie stuff. I cant bring myself to care anymore about them being together because of how rabid the hardcore bobs have been.

#letbuddiestayfriends

i know there are reporters who are shippers instead of just objectively reporting on what a portion of the fandom wants, and tbh i really don't like reading/watching those interviews (for any cast member) bc the questions are leading and we end up with this shoehorned clump of answers that feels very self-serving.

that said: i was not in the fandom pre-season 7 or even pre-tommy, i've only started watching 9-1-1 from the beginning after starting with season 7, so i have canon bi!buck and bucktommy on my mind as i make my way through for the first time. but my point is: had i watched this show before tommy came (back) on the scene i probably would've gotten on the buddie ship and wouldn't have had a problem with reporters asking such questions, it probably would've been nice to be acknowledged in the media, y'know?

but as things stand now, it feels invalidating for buck's journey (past, present, future) to gloss over the significance of this relationship that has been such an eye opener for him. 

i think the problem starts with hardcore shippers ignoring that buck is a bisexual man first and part of a gay relationship second. it shouldn't be about any ship (even with all of buck's history with eddie, and even though i adore tommy and respect and love what they're doing with buck and tommy's relationship thus far) the narrative focus should be on buck moving forward (he is a main character, so like how hen is a main character but we know karen will show up now and then tommy won't be in every episode; and even if you want buddie to get together it makes storytelling sense to not make it happen right away - although i personally am not holding out hope for it nor am i craving it, but maybe that's because i've only watched up to season 4?).

the focus should be on buck coming into himself after so long, finally finding this missing piece of the puzzle - not a person, but an innate inner truth. i hope we'll see some introspection, as well as interactions and conversations with other main and guest characters that continue to highlight the importance of his storyline: that he is a strong (former womaniser) man who realised his bisexuality in his 30s, after 6 whole seasons - that is such a marvel and it's not something that's going away. bi!buck is canon from now until forever and all the way back to the start of season 1, and that’s a fucking treat.

and yeah, tommy. tommy is so satisfying as a return character as well as one who's past is so delightfully entwined with buck's, and they suit each other so well. i'm enjoying every minute of their relationship and tommy's presence, every scrap, every mention. i want him to stick around through season 8 and beyond because the narrative works so well.

i’m doing my best to ignore the naysayers, filtering out tags and blocking folks and avoiding twitter. i know they can be noisy and it sucks, but just remember that every cast and crew member who has given interviews about tommy/lou and bi!buck and bucktommy love what’s happening. oliver and lou are so on-board with these two, and tim is so keen, so we’ll just have to keep on spreading the love for them. 

oh- and fill out that form on abc’s website expressing your love and appreciation for tommy/bucktommy/lou: 

https://support.abc.com/hc/en-us/articles/360029276332-How-do-I-submit-feedback-for-shows-on-ABC-com

https://support.abc.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360003079511

[aresmarked]

kanamafu anon again! thank you for the lovely response! here’s an imo trickier niigo question: what do you think of ena’s dad?

i often see fans blow his shittiness out of proportion, like making him a physical abuser to the whole family or acting like he’s always been unsupportive when the text itself says he was supportive of ena’s art when she was a little kid. i agree that he’s shitty, but part of me thinks that… his relationship with ena can be salvaged, somehow? i know other fans wont forgive him even if he and ena get closure, which is fine, but i dont really feel that way? i keep trying to ask myself what sets him apart from, say, mafuyu’s mom in my mind, when they both say harsh things to their kids in an attempt to “protect” them. it’s like my brain’s really clinging to that part about how he wasn’t always like this, unlike mafuyu’s mom who has always used guilt tripping to control mafuyu. but maybe that’s silly of me, dunno. part of me thinks he’s just an emotionally stunted old man who is piss poor at phrasing things and that he just has some serious growing to do to salvage this, but then again maybe he shouldntve been a parent before that point and he still sucks because, again, he at least had the sense to not say “this art is shit” to, like, a seven year old so maybe it IS his fault? i do consider myself a fan of his character so i ponder this a lot. given your insight about mafuyu’s mom, though, i was just curious as to what you thought!

...Hfhfhf, almost right out of the gate with the essay questions. Hm.

I'd break my thoughts up about him into a few main points, but TL;DR if I knew a parent like this I'd go out of the way to make sure the kid gets some positive feedback from me, but he's a character/parent i could see improving in time.

He's one of those guys who's good at his craft but terrible at teaching. (You see these sorts a decent amount, for better or worse). While he had valid points, the way he chose to 'advise' isn't great. if a parent said something like that around me about one of their kids i'd have a Hard time reining it in.

As remarked upon in the game itself, he didn't talk to Ena as his daughter, but more as another artist, and moreover, I'd say, an adult artist. A few additional words would've made a huge difference in how Ena walked away from that conversation. like 'right now'. or advice on, y'know. what to actually work on. see point one again.

The major difference between him and Mafumom is that he does consider Ena's wishes, not hindering her from going into the arts, and not inserting himself where he's very much not wanted. He does respect what Ena wants to do.

Doesn't stop him having done a wrong and needing to repair that, to move forward. People are full of faults and strengths and I appreciate PSekai actually writing people with those. parents with those. it makes us feel even more strongly for ena cause yeah, a parent's mistake hurts a Lot! It makes a better tale cause it's real!

That said, while I think it's possible for Ena and her dad to potentially mend their relationship, as you say, such a mending will take time to believable and acceptable I think, not just to readers but to Ena. She's got no real interest in mending their familial relationship right now. and a 'forgive your parents' plotline when said parent hasn't taken real steps to actually mend the familial relationship would just be. so tired. that grounds been trod a thousand times. 'You'll understand when you're older'. i hate those plots where the kid forgives their parents without the parents really doing anything to reflect on their actions. the fact it's still a bit of a revolution when a parent does admit they've done wrong speaks mountains.

[bluecoolr]

what is the Todd family up to in the regular timeline anyway? are Nex and Nathan in that one? (cause I suppose Nathan wouldn't exactly be talking about that to his parents lmao)

omg, thought

if Nathan was just happily living with Nex, unbothered by the parents and pretty much trauma free... if Darrell found out, would he feel some degree of resentment? because. like. that's all he would've wanted. but due to his parents he ended up with the military and now has the trauma from a) war and b) ...y'know. and just

oh no I made myself feel feels

Ngl you made me really think about this one. 🤣🤓 Because in the canon Salome-is-Darrell's-final-girl plotline, she runs away from home with her parents still very much alive. But in the canon Nex x Nathan headcanons @probably-a-plant-thing and I exchange, their parents are out of the picture (dead). So, in a way, the Todd siblings are free to go and chase their dreams and find happiness.

Maybe Salome and Susannah have gone to become artists. Salome with her visual art and Susannah as a clothes designer, which predominantly showcase embroidery. 💕 I can't see Nathan doing anything but farmwork and he's very content being that way. He might have expanded the farm, possibly incorporated tech that would make his work easier. Judah would still live with him, but he would at times go with Susannah and travel. He's still quite drawn to home. Maybe he'd take over the pastorship, or pursue a degree.

You've also given me feels because I imagine that Nathan and Darrell would reunite in this instance (seeing how Darrell knew Trent and Trent now works with Nex).

Nathan would take him to a little fenced-in plot behind the house, under a large Magnolia tree. There is a headstone, unembellished, bearing the name "Erasmus - Father, preacher" and under it, "Arabella - Mother and wife".

"Died in his sleep." Nathan would say, pointing to their father's name. Then, to his mother. "Had a stroke not long after."

"And that's it?" Darrell would ask, disappointed but mostly angry. After all the violence they had caused - against their own flesh and blood - what right had they to die in such ordinary, non-violent ways?

"For the best, I s'ppose," Nex would remark. "If they hadn't up and gone, I would have done em in myself."

I don't really think he'd resent any of his siblings. Darrell loves them so much - in any AU. He didn't deserve what his parents and the world put him through, but he doesn't think anybody else should have taken his place. 🥺💙

[thatoneguy031]

I've heard that people are making pinned posts, so I thought I might as well do it, too.

Heya. Y'all can call me Guy, and I'm the head honcho for this(more or less) ask blog, and I think there's a few things you should know about me:

-I'm currently in my junior year of high school, and posts happen... basically, whenever I feel like it. If I don't get to an ask immediately, don't take it personally; I'm just a bit busy with other things.

-I'm bisexual, with a heavy, heavy male lean. I'm single too, but I'm not really taking any suggestions at this point. It'd be unfair for someone to show me their face and not have me show them mine. He/Him pronouns, too.

-This is also a Pokemon IRL blog. I only evolved recently, and I'm still getting used to being a Samurott. I'm currently learning about how to battle and act... y'know, like a Samurott. What does that mean, I don't know. But I'm trying my best!

-I like making stories. Like, a lot of stories. I have tons of characters, all of which are all available for asks.

-I'm a really dedicated memer. If it isn't about anything regarding plot development, don't expect it to be taken very seriously.

-I am a huge anime and VG fan. Current playthroughs/playlist of games(Reminder, I only have a Switch): The World Ends With You(Final Remix, the Switch release) Pokemon Scarlet Hollow Knight(I'm lost, please help) Rivals of Aether(Orcane main, Forsburn and Eliana secondaries) Super Smash Brothers Ultimate(I change mains every other week, honestly) Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4(Kakashi, Obito and Minato main) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe(I'm a Dry Bones main, who would've thunk?) Brawlhalla(I'm a Mako main, and Ragnir and Onyx secondaries) Pokemon Unite(I main Alolan Ninetails, but I've been dabbling in Garchomp due to personal reasons you'll see in later posts) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild(I'm lost, help me)

That's about it for me. I don't really involve myself in any political conversations, and I begin to feel uncomfortable when I have to talk about those kinds of topics with people. But, for those who want to know: Pro LGBTQ-whatever, obviously, but I don't pay attention to current events too much. I'm also not racist, if that had to be said.

If you're into the whole p3do or zoo thing, please leave. You genuinely need help, like, now. Oh, and bigots, racists, homophobes and all that jazz can get the boot, too. And I'll slam the door on your fingers on the way out.

I'd prefer if NSFW accounts didn't pay mind to this blog, as I'm trying to make sure that anyone can enjoy this place safely. I'm just want to make sure this place isn't the next Twitter.

As for my ask thingie, the reason why I even made this thing in the first place:

There are some obvious rules here that the public have to follow:

-No NSFW asks. A majority of my characters are children(About the same age as me), and I don't feel right putting them in such risque situations.

-If a character chooses not to answer a specific question. They might have some personal demons they need to fight before bringing up the topic, or they just might... not want to answer directly.

-I'm occasionally gonna be busy making updates to a character's story before I get to questions, so as mentioned before, answers won't be given out in a timely manner. I apologize in advance if there's any delays.

Here's some ask hints, I guess(Color-coded to associate the characters with the stories)*:

-Delta: Ask him about how he feels about Hertz or his living situation

-Hertz: Ask about his "academic" "performance", or why he decided to take Delta under his wing to begin with

-Jason: Ask him about his past experiences with Pokemon or something about Jayden, or something about his friends

-Jayden: Basically the same thing, or something about being the older sister of the family, or how she feels about Cheren and Bianca

-Cheren and Bianca: How they met Jason or Jayden in the first place

-Chris, or any member of his team(Stephanie, Wave, Lucas and David), for that matter: Try to get them to talk about their background or early childhoods

Smudge, Charles and/or Katie: Their hobbies, how they feel about each other, or how college is treating them

Trevor: His music career, and/or how he got into the music bandwagon in the first place, how his current job is going and stuff

Bryant: How he met Trevor, why they're friends, or their general connection

*Obviously, you can ask them anything, but these are some good starts if you don't know what to ask them.

Also, don't be afraid to ask me any questions, either, I won't bite. I'm just a dude tryin' to develop some social circles. Ask me about anything, really. Heck, you can even send anon asks, if you're too shy to show your face(Don't worry about it, I do the same thing all the time). If anything, I'd love to get some kind of advice with how to deal with evolution and all that stuff.

That aside, there are going to be tags on this post that can help you filter what and who you want to talk to, for both your sake and mine.

Now, without further ado...

Welcome to the show!

And I hope you enjoy your time here!

[clairethecutepup]

Ed Edd n Eddy (Assassin AU): The Newest Addition (Scrapped Writing)

No, I don't mean "scrapped" as in I'm no longer making a fan series of C2ndy2C1d's AU, this is just the original version of it and back when I decided on pure literature than comics. I just figured, may as well share it here, not just on Wattpad, for those who might've been interested in what the official "pilot" and original version would've been like. Y'know, back when I decided on the concept of "werebeasts" being included and all that, rather than save the living "assassin tools" for an ENTIRELY original series instead. There'll still be original characters involved, but as apprentices and new partners to SOME of the now-assassin cast: Nazz (Yami), the Eds (Cio), and Sarah and Jimmy (Claire).

If you want to read the two chapters, click "read more."

Chapter 1: Greater Team Quantity, Greater Team Quality?

I end the call with our higher ups and proceed into the "living room," if you will, of our hideout. I spot Ed and Eddy on the couch, the former playing his handheld console and the latter indifferently watching our TV set.

"Attention, please," I announce.

"In a minute, Sockhead," Eddy doesn't bother glancing my way, "it's gettin' to the good part."

"Sorry, Double D," Ed fiercely taps the gaming device's buttons, but with a thrilled smile, "I must save my fellow astronaut and wife-to-be, before all her bones are eaten by the evil marrow-sucker of Nebulon 5!"

Oh, for Heaven's sake... At the very least, they could simply feign an interest in what I have to say. Although, I've never understood why Eddy still calls me by that old nickname, given a fedora is less sock-like than the cap I'd wear in my youth. Old habits must truly die hard.

"Perhaps," I try again, "I should specify that I'm relaying a message from the organization itself? They wouldn't be quite happy if we chose to ignore them."

"Oh great..." Eddy turns off the television with the appropriate remote, "What do they want now?"

"It appears our scientists have completed a new invention of sorts," I explain, "which could result in easier job completions."

Eddy suddenly perks up with greater interest.

"'Easier job completions'?" He grins, "Like, 'easier cash'?!"

"Possibly..." I slightly shrug with a hand, before lowering it, "But whatever it may be and whatever it may accomplish, we're to head over and collect it."

"Then what're we waiting for?! Ed! Put your stupid game down already, Monobrow!" Eddy yanks Ed from the upholstery, "We've got an easy money-maker to get a hold of!"

Eddy drags Ed away.

"Can we stop for ice cream on the way?" Ed asks, never looking away from his device.

"Eddy, wait!" I chase after him, "It's about 'field testing,' more than anything...!"

Eddy can be quite difficult to follow when he runs at this eager speed, but I somehow manage. We head into the appropriate wooded area, where the large log sits beside its equally-sized rocks. Eddy zips inside, still dragging Ed behind himself, and I follow them into the faux tree remains. Eddy knocks on the fake moss patch within, and the panel underneath it moves downward and reveals the chip scanner. Eddy holds the back of his hand against the red sphere, before moving Ed's and mine there-- despite my protests of easily being able to do so myself. Now, I'm also being literally dragged along, by the wrist...

After our descent down the staircase, made visible with the opening of the log's bottom hatch, we arrive in our (literal) base of operations: the "Killer's Quarters," we dub it. Of course, this isn't the only hidden location for our assassins and other members to function within, it's merely the closest base to where we were... "stationed," if you will. Eddy finally stops in the lobby leading to the laboratory, and releases both Ed and myself. He repeatedly slams a fist onto the large, steel square that serves as the blocking entrance door to the lab's interior.

"Have you forgotten about the intercom?!" A female voice hisses from the small speaker.

I recognize the faint German accent and annoyed venom in that voice, and I fear we're already trying Sherubi's patience. Eddy presses the black button under the rectangular device.

"Yeah, yeah," he responds, "just give us this thing that's gonna make our jobs easier already!"

"Who exactly might this be, first?" Sherubi's voice shows signs of possible eye-rolling, "As if the unpleasant, loud shrieks of a familiar Dummkopf doesn't give me an idea already..."

"'Triple E,'" Eddy's eye-rolling is more obvious to me, "made up of Ed, Edd, n' Eddy...?" he furrows his brow, "And you're one to talk about 'unpleasantries' and junk! Unless, it's a 'takes one to know one' situation we're talking about here."

"Of course, I knew that had to be you just now... Miserable Backpfeifengesicht."

"Hey, you're the 'miserable back-pie-fee-'... Look, just quit your whining and get that new tool, or whatever it is, out here already! Boss' orders, y'know."

"Keep in mind, they made no additional 'orders' that prohibited your face from earning any actual assault on my part."

"Ooo, I'm so scared, someone get my mommy to save me from the big, bad Sherubi."

"Sorry, Eddy," Ed frowns, "no idea where she is."

Eddy and I stare at him for a moment. Bless dear Ed, he certainly tries his best. Eddy simply turns toward the intercom again.

"Look, I ain't asking again!" he demands.

"Fine, but you'd better be hiding behind your companions by the time I finally come out..." Sherubi hisses.

A few moments pass, and the door opens upward. Sherubi steps out with two things in hand: a scalpel in her right hand, and... Some type of small, humanistic being in her left arm?

Eddy furrows his brow, "You think I'm scared of that stupid little--"

Sherubi's thrown scalpel perfectly strikes his nose. Oh dear, now I'll need to heal his damaged part later... Yet, there's clearly something of greater interest here: I've never before seen a combination of, what I can only describe as, human and animal. It resembles an older child, possibly "tween-like" in that regard, but it's obviously no human offspring: I suppose Ed describes it best when excitedly proclaiming it a "little werewolf," despite the lack of coating fur or it having a human's face in place of a wolf's.

"No, she's not a 'werewolf,'" Sherubi corrects Ed, "but you are half right: we call them, 'werebeasts,' despite the lack of transformation capabilities. This particular one has been nicknamed, 'Claire,' but you're free to change the name if you'd prefer."

"A 'werebeast'?" I curiously repeat.

"Indeed," Sherubi explains, "they're living weapons that utilize human intelligence and ability, combined with the lethality and heightened senses you'd expect from the carnivorous predators of the wild. An assassin's perfect tool, and Claire here will be yours to use however fit."

Eddy finally pulls the scalpel from his nose.

"'Predator,' my foot!" he throws the tool onto the ground, "That twerp doesn't look like she could take out a mouse, so how's she gonna take out an actual target?!"

I'm afraid I feel skeptical, myself... I see there are capable nails on those paw-like hands and I'd imagine sharp teeth are hidden from view, but there's not much visible strength and promise to be seen.

"Hmph, I wouldn't be surprised if the concept of 'prototypes' escaped someone of your feeble mind," Sherubi frowns and glares at Eddy, "I'm certain they'd have told you these are a recent breakthrough, so of course they won't be at their prime just yet."

"But there's still gotta be some better ones in there," Eddy points to the lab, "right? So, how's about grabbing us a new one?" he lowers his hand and grins, "I'm thinking something bigger, with--"

"--Can't we keep her, Eddy, pretty please?!" Ed walks over on his knees, clasping his hands tightly in plea, "She is such a cute little werewolf! I promise to love her, and feed her, and take her for walks; oh, and I also promise to make sure she does not bite anyone and turn them into werewolves, to--"

Eddy smacks him aside, causing Ed to tumble away.

"Hey, 'cute' doesn't get cash!" Eddy crosses his arms, "Skill does, and nothing about that twerp screams it..."

"Well, tough luck then," Sherubi smirks, walking over to Ed, "because she's the one you three are getting, like it or not."

"Oh, boy!" Ed excitedly retrieves Claire from Sherubi, "Our very own werewolf!"

He crushes the poor thing in a tight hug that audibly cracks her bones. Claire's eyes widen and her tail's fur sticks on end, while her cheeks puff out and her face turns a slight blue.

"Ed, be careful!" I plead, "You're suffocating the poor thing!"

"Oh, don't worry," Sherubi smiles at me, "werebeasts were built to withstand this level of assault," she then frowns at Ed, "Although, you may want to ease up a little... I strongly advise against making your werebeast hate you."

Her words help Ed realize he's doing more harm than intended and he loosens his embrace. Claire immediately begins squirming in a desperate attempt to flee; but Ed's immense strength prevents that, despite how violently she causes his arms to shake. Oh, poor Ed... He seems so remorseful and saddened by the rejection. I also don't want Claire to be fearful toward any of us, if we'll be working together. Perhaps I could find some way to help? I whisper some useful tips, on how to come across less strongly, into Ed's ear. He smiles more hopefully and looks down at Claire.

"Aww, I am sorry," he says gently and soothingly, "Ed did not mean to hurt you, little one," he pats her head, ceasing her resistance and gaining her full attention, "he is only happy to meet you. I hope you can be happy to meet me, too..." he lifts her high enough to lie his head on hers.

Claire still seems a tad uneasy, but she's less eager to break free from Ed. I'm relieved I could patch the rocky start to their relationship, somewhat, but it'll be Ed's responsibility to leave a better impression on our new assistant. Personally, I don't like the thought of referring to something alive as a mere "tool" instead, given it undermines the idea of them being a living creature with their own brand of thoughts and feelings to consider.

"Well, I ain't happy about this!" Eddy snarls, before storming over to Sherubi, "Come on, there's gotta be a better 'werebeast,' or whatever, you can give us..."

"Like we'd give you three one of our better prototypes," Sherubi glowers at him, "considering how 'well' you've been doing your job, as of late. Don't worry, though," Sherubi pats Claire's head, "despite being the literal runt of the litter, she should be more than enough help for a trio that couldn't possibly do worse."

"But if you guys all want us to do better, why not give us one of those 'better prototypes,' right?" Eddy shrugs, "I mean, 'better means better,' don't it?"

"We'd prefer avoiding any losses of more decent 'blueprints' to build off of," Sherubi explains, "so we'll let the better assassins have the better prototypes," she smirks, "After all, 'better should mean better,' ja?"

"Yeah, and a smart mouth should mean a toothless one..." Eddy shakes a fist.

"I can stab you with worse than a scalpel, you know..." Sherubi pulls a throwing knife from her lab coat.

Oh dear, I best prevent worse injury to Eddy... I quickly hurry to Eddy and firmly, yet politely, pull him away.

"Well, we certainly appreciate the privilege of being considered," I nervously grin, "so thank you very much in that regard."

"Get off me, Sockhead!" Eddy shoves me off.

"Anyway," Sherubi puts her knife away, "here are some notes on werebeasts, before I get back to previous affairs."

I retrieve the stapled set of papers from her extended hand, giving them a quick glance-over. I hope she won't take offense, if I decide to take a few notes of my own. After all, personal examination proves the best learning method one can use.

"Well, love," Sherubi places a hand against Claire's face, "you're finally ready to go out there and see the world. Take care and make everyone back here proud."

When Sherubi turns to leave, Claire grabs her arm. She looks over her shoulder, frowning at the upset werebeast.

"SSS'errr'iii..." Claire winces as if speaking pains her.

"Now, now," Sherubi firmly, yet gently, removes her hand, "you're of more use to everyone outside the lab than in it. You need to go with them..."

Claire sorrowfully watches Sherubi depart back into the lab, the wolf ears on her head hanging limply and her eyes tearing up. Ed turns her around, before holding her up to his kindly smiling face.

"Aw, do not worry, little werewolf," he assures, "Ed will take good care of you."

"What's she so miserable for?" Eddy motions a thumb to Claire, "I'd be glad to finally get away from Ms. Hyde back there."

"Not everyone shares your sentiments about specific individuals, Eddy," I remind him.

We take our leave, with Ed consoling our newest addition about her newfound separation. Hopefully, this proves to be a change for the better, indeed. Not just for our own sake, but Claire's as well.

-----------------

Chapter 2: Familiarity Breeds Boredom (and Annoyance)

That lousy Sherubi... "We decided," my foot, you mean you decided! I bet Ms. Hyde just wanted to increase my chances of finally getting bumped off, by sticking me with the weakest "werebeast," or whatever, they had... Guess she's fine with Sockhead and Monobrow here also buying the farm, as long as I go down. Jerk... Well, if we already have the kid, might as well put her to work.

I head over to the "Bounty Board": it's where they hang up all the ugly mugs that we can hunt for a buck-- but keep your mitts off those higher bounties, I saw 'em first! I find a good one that's at least eight figures, so all I gotta do is tell the boys we're going hunting again. Or, we would, if Sockhead didn't decide to make a big deal out of it!

"What D'ya mean: 'later'?!" I point at the paper I'm holding, "It probably won't be here 'later'!"

"Eddy, we've just now received Claire," Double D tries explaining, "We don't know how well-prepared she is to handle a mission, just yet-- especially one of a higher reward. You know higher bounties mean higher difficulty..."

"So?" I ask, "She was literally built for this stuff!"

"Even machines need test runs, before they're ready for any matter of job, Eddy," Double D keeps at it, "It's all about ensuring there are no kinks nor other issues that could lead to trouble."

"Oh, come on," I shrug, "if it's 'test running' or practice, or whatever she needs, there ain't nothing like the real deal!"

"Eddy..." Double D holds onto his hips.

Great, I hate when Sockhead gets like this... Why can't he just go along with whatever I say, like Ed does? I'm supposed to be the leader here, for crying out loud! Well, looks like I've got two choices: either I just go ahead with what he wants already, or wait until I can't stand him whining anymore and just go along with it to finally shut him up. What I'm saying is, there's no winning with this guy... I guess I also wouldn't want to give Ms. Hyde the satisfaction of finally killing me off, so it'd help to make sure the kid can actually fight and stuff.

"Fine..." I roll my eyes, "We can wait until the kid's ready, or whatever..."

"And with an easier starting target..." Double D crosses his arms.

I wince, while putting the poster back. Goodbye, cash mountain... I swear, this twerp better be worth giving that kinda moolah up for now.

"You better help us get, like, three times this much when we're done!" I warn her.

She winces and shrinks in Ed's arms, looking like I hit her instead.

"Eddy!" Double D moves me away. He turns to the kid and pats her head, "Never you mind him, I'm sure we'll all learn to get along just fine."

"Yeah, and it starts by making up for that lost cash," I remind 'em.

What's with that harsh look from Sockhead? It's his own fault I'm not exactly happy right now... So, we leave the KQ and head back to our place. I'm sitting on the front steps, with my nose finally patched up, and watching Ed do whatever with the kid: right now, he's making her do tricks-- and doing them with her. He's standing on his hands and knees, and the kid's standing on all fours like an actual animal: on her feet and those paws she's got for hands.

"Roll over, like this!" Ed tells her.

He laughs to himself and rolls away, before he stops and lies on the ground. The kid copies him and stops in front of him.

"Good werewolf!" Ed pats her head and gets a tail wag out of her, "Okay, now sit!"

Lumpy sits up like a dog, even with his hands raised up on either side of him. The kid copies that, too.

"Good job!" Ed grins, while he pulls out some buttered toast from his shirt pocket, "Here, a treat for obeying."

After he throws it, the kid catches it in her paws and sniffs it. I wouldn't eat it, 'cause who knows how long Lumpy's had it in there? If it ain't mold to be worried about, it's the fact there's gotta be at least three diseases sitting inside that thing. Forget washing his clothes, Ed barely even washes himself... Well, looks like werebeasts don't get poisoned easily, since that kid's eating the toast just fine. She doesn't even gag, even though that butter has to be all spoiled by now.

"Do you like buttered toast, too, little one?" Ed asks.

The kid nods, but still keeps that nonchalant look on her face. Jeez, it's almost like she can't feel anything beyond: "crybaby sadness" and "big baby terror"...

"Come on," Ed turns away, "let's go have some more fun!"

The kid follows Ed, while they both stay on all fours. Come to think of it, what's Double D even need those notes for? Monobrow here's even more of an animal than the kid-- especially when he smells worse --so we've basically been trained to take care of werebeasts our whole lives! Of course, I can count on Sockhead to whine and moan about still needing to "properly research," or whatever... It's bad enough I had to wait till he finished reading those scientists' notes on werebeasts, but he's really gotta make his own, too?

"Very interesting..." Double D writes on his notepad, while he watches Ed and the kid howl together, "It appears the animalistic side goes beyond simple anatomical modifications to the human body," he chuckles, "It's like a child adorably at play," he frowns, "save for actually being able to tear one's throat out..."

"So, you're basically saying the kid that's part animal acts like an animal?" I ask, "Gee, I never would've guessed!"

"I know it sounds obvious, Eddy," Double D sighs and looks at me, "but you mustn't assume someone's entire nature by appearance alone. We should learn how closely she actually behaves to an animal, in order to avoid insulting her intelligence or simply being... creepy, to put it mildly."

"I say, just treat her like we do Ed, just with a few more newspaper smacks," I motion a thumb to them, "I mean, can you really tell 'em apart?"

"Dig a hole," Ed does, "dig a hole, dig a hole!"

The kid's helping him on his right, while they're sending dirt flying everywhere behind them. Well, looks like getting rid of bodies might be a whole lot easier now, if they can make a hole that big and that fast. Hey wait, they're messing up our base!

"Hey, you idiots," I yell, "cut it out! You two better fill that up, 'cause if I end up falling down that thing...!"

Ed stops and looks at me, while the kid hides under him like a scared cat.

"Listen to Eddy, please!" Double D adds, "Let's not engage in destruction of our own property, nor do anything that involves coating ourselves in needless filth. Why, just imagine the mess awaiting our base's interior, if you two decide to track all of that dirt and mud inside."

"Oh no, not dirt and mud..." I roll my eyes, "That's worse than the blood and other things we sometimes bring back here..."

"There's nothing wrong with avoiding messes when possible, Eddy," Double D frowns at me.

"Anyway," I say, "when can we start getting to work? I agreed to let ya train that kid first, but all we've been doing is screwing around, 'taking notes' and stuff..."

"Eddy, you need to understand how something works, before you can use it," Double D sighs, "Or, train, in this case."

"Well, hurry up already!" I glare at him, "While we're sitting around here, everyone's taking all the good bounties back at the KQ!"

"Alright," Double D sighs and stands up, "I think we've learned enough to avoid any issues." He walks over to Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, "Ed, Let's begin preparing her, shall we? First, we should practice combat in closer proximity," he pulls the kid and makes her stand up, before holding one of her paws, "It does seem like the fighting method you'd excel most at, given the sharpness of those teeth and nails, so it may prove the easiest starting point."

Later, I'm still sitting on the steps and watching my pals train that kid: Ed's all dressed up in one of those tough suits police use to train dogs, while Double D's telling the kid to show off what she can do. This oughta be good...

"Alright, Claire," Double D holds the kid's shoulders from behind, "sometimes a target will be wearing a matter of armor, such as bulletproof vests," he points at Ed, before lowering his finger, "When that's the situation at hand, it's important to find some manner of bypassing it, and you'll be assisting us in rendering them more vulnerable," he lightly pushes her forward, "Now, try to get through Ed's padding, but be careful not to actually harm him. Consider it an additional test of restraint."

"Wooooo," Ed towers over the kid and wiggles his fingers, "I am a big, scary target! You will never defeat me, puny assassins of no hope!" he leans down to the kid and whispers, "Do not worry, little one, it is only me," he stands up again, "Come forth and do your worst, plus infinity and one!"

The kid just frowns at him all sad-like, while those ears on her head flop down. Then, she looks back at Sockhead to protest with those eyes of hers. Great, nice "tools" you guys made, Sherubi: when they're not too scared to fight, they probably wouldn't end up doing much damage anyway. At least the kid probably wouldn't, when she looks like she came from some middle school classroom than a secret organization's lab...

"It's okay," Double D smiles at her, "precautions have been taken to ensure no one's actually harmed, and Ed understands there's no ill intention on your part."

"Do not worry, little werewolf," Ed grins, "Eddy likes to beat me a lot, but it does not mean that I do not like him."

"Only when you're being an idiot, Lumpy..." I groan.

The kid looks like she's psyching herself up: she's breathing in and closing her eyes. After she opens 'em, she growls and pounces. She actually manages to knock Monobrow onto the ground and slide them both across it. Huh, maybe she's not so weak after all. She digs and tears into the padding, sending shreds everywhere.

"O-Oh dear," Double D runs to them, "Claire, that's enough...!"

"Get her off, get her off!" Ed waves his arms and legs around.

Eh, I ain't too worried about Lumpy, he's been through way worse than that. I'm just glad the kid might not be so useless after all. Say, if she can make quick work of someone like that, maybe she doesn't need all this training! ... Hey, wait a minute, that means I gave up that giant bounty for nothing!!! That's it, if we do more training in the future, Sockhead's gonna be the one used for target practice...

"Okay, that's enough!" I call over to them.

They all look at me from where they are: Ed's still on the ground, Double D's standing over him, and the kid's held in Double D's arms.

"Look," I go on, "it's clear that kid's gonna do fine on the field, so let's go grab ourselves a target!"

"But Eddy," Double D argues, "we've only practiced close combat, thus far-- and even then, it's only slightly better than a trained attack dog."

"Seems like she'll do fine to me!" I tell him, "Now, quit whining and let's get back to the Bounty Board!" I point to where the KQ is up ahead.

After we enter the log and all that, we make our way back to that wonderful wall of cash opportunities. Of course, the target I wanted is gone-- thanks a lot, Sockhead --but you never make it anywhere by whining all day, so it's time to find ourselves a new cash cow to bring to the slaughter.

"Alright, kid, listen up..." I look at her.

She's riding on Lumpy's back, by hanging from his shoulders and looking over them. She returns the gaze with that usual nonchalant face.

"Now, ya see this?" I grab her chin, and point both her face and my finger at the board, "This's our secret to getting rich: the higher the number after that dollar sign, the higher the cash stacks we'll get from the 'Golden Goose' over there," I turn us toward that glorious, golden and bird-shaped stand behind us, "Our goal's to get as much of those fat stacks as possible," I let go of her, "so make that a reality and we'll get along just fine," I realize something and frown, "... Hey, you can read, right?"

She nods. I smile again and tell her to scan the board, while the rest of us do the same.

"Whoa, what the heck are you?!"

Hey, wait a minute... I know that voice! Sure enough, we see Jonny 2x4 standing there, with that annoying splinter in my side: Plank. Of course, that idiot just had to go and freak the kid out! While watching 2x4 finish his outburst, she jumps off Ed, probably to get away from that bald pain, and crashes right into me! Jeez, if she wasn't such a literal lightweight, that fall to the floor might've killed me by cracking my skull open! Lucky me, I just get stuck with a concussion instead... I'm real ticked off about it, so I grab that twerp, chuck her into Ed's arms and storm over to the jerk that caused this to happen.

"What D'ya want, Jonny?!" I glare at him, "Don't you have better things to do than be a real pain in the--?!"

"--Hey, if those parts are real," Jonny pulls on the kid's right ear and tail, making her wince, "then what kind of animal are you supposed to be? How'd you become like that, anyway?"

"Jonny, please..." Double D pulls his hands off the kid and stands in between them, "Can't you see you're frightening and hurting the poor thing? Let's not forget potentially causing yourself to be harmed via provocation. You really must learn to be more mindful toward others..."

The kid's now hiding her face in Ed's chest, like the big baby she is. For crying out loud, what the heck happens when she has to deal with a real injury during a job, like being stabbed or shot? That should be fun...

"There, there, little one," Ed pats her head, "It is only Jonny."

"Or, 'Dynamino,' if you prefer code names!" Jonny holds his hand out, "Nice to meetcha!" He points his other one at the wooden board on his chest, "And this here is, 'Plank'! What's that, buddy...?" Jonny frowns at him for a second, before smiling at the kid again, "He says: just make sure you don't give him any fleas, 'cause he already has termites to worry about."

The kid doesn't turn away from Ed, just turning her head slightly to look back at Jonny. He grins wider, and opens and closes his offered hand a few times.

"Come on, don't leave me hanging here!" He tells her.

For crying out loud, it's a handshake, 2x4... The kid slowly reaches her own hand out and finally holds onto Jonny's. He shakes her hand and arm at a fast pace, before he stops and starts squeezing her hand, like a stress ball. Surprisingly, the kid's cool with it and decides to finally chill out.

"Wow, you've got squishy paws, too?" Jonny smiles down at the one he's holding, before looking back up at her, "No really, what are ya?"

"Well," Double D tells him, "Claire is something known as a 'werebeast': they assist assassins through a combined effort of humanistic and animalistic abilities."

"And they are so cute and cuddly," Ed hugs the kid, "See, little one? Ed knows not to hold too tight now."

"Say, I heard they were making a new thing to help us," Jonny finally takes his hand back, "is that what they were talking about?"

"Sure is," I step in front of him, "So, how about you let her do that job of 'helping assassins,' by buzzing off?" I wave him off, before lowering my hand, "I'm sure there's some building or something waiting to be blown up..."

"What's that, buddy...?" Jonny listens to Plank, before looking up at me, "Plank says: 'Maybe we should use you to take people and things out instead, Eddy, since you're easier to set off than our explosives. Excuse us for existing and acting curious over something that's so common, like animal people.'"

"Don't get smart with me, Termite Chow," I lean into that board's face and press a finger against him, "I got a headache, in both senses of the word, 'cause of you two just now!"

"Plank says," Jonny keeps sharing that jerk's thoughts, "'Always happy to give you worse than that, Eddy. Too bad we can't be annoying enough, so you'd get just half the taste of what dealing with some no-neck, short-stacked chump is like. Maybe then, you'd learn to stop giving everyone such a hard time.'"

I'm going to turn this hunk of wood into mulch, and then I'm turning that mulch into sawdust. I don't know what I'll do with that stupid sawdust, but I'll think of something even worse to put him through after it!

"Hey, Jonny," I grit my teeth and clench my fists, while I stare Plank down, "maybe you can go ask the scientists for your own werebeast? I'm thinking a nice beaver one!"

"Err, Eddy...!" Double D suddenly holds a poster in front of my face, "I-I think I've found a suitable target for us...!"

I snatch it from him and look it over: it's got the face of some lady and a pretty good amount under it. Besides, I don't feel like staying here to be annoyed by 2x4 and his lousy partner in crime, or doing any arguing with Sockhead over other targets being "too difficult" for a first timer.

"Alright," I look up from the poster, "Come on, boys, we're heading out," I lead them away from the board and those two pains, before I look toward the kid, "Time to show us what you can do, Shortstuff..."

I swear, kid, you better be worth getting stuck with...

[stainedglass-lantern]

ahhh yay. i will relish in it. i wish i could see your face.

i also whittle, tho i'm not good at it yet. my grandfather liked to whittle and he once made me a peach walking stick. i think that's where my interest for it comes from. you should give it a go, it's nice to watch a block of wood slowly transform into something of your choosing.

there's a tell? boo. i guess i sound the same even tho i've tried changing things up.i'll carry on tho. it is fun like this, but i'm hopeful about revealing myself eventually.

i've listened to the songs! now to listen a little more and do the accompanied reading. i think i can guess who you associate with most but i'll wait a bit to be more certain. you could've put a tracker in that link y'know. unless you used a good one i don't think you did.

you must be somewhere less rural then. makes sense since you're in college. axe throwing sounds fun. do you play video games? things like axes and hammers are a favorite weapon of mine in fighting games. the heft is nice.

ah, just country? maybe you don't know my blog then. i've left enough hints there to figure out a closer area. i think i have anyway! you've not really given anything away yourself. but speaking about living situations, what climate do you prefer? and weather?

do you have nice conversations with that hiker? he must be very thankful you helped him. it's easy for things to go wrong out there. (⁠◠⁠‿◠⁠)

graveyards are very nice. i also tend to get a bit spacey with them, but always in a pleasant way. i've been to many. a book of epitaphs? could you share the name? i'll read it. tho if the example you gave is from the book, i can try finding it from that.

a pun, nice! i'm a sucker for wordplay.

very true. i just find people tend towards a bit of both, or if sadistic tend towards dominance and visa versa. hm, or at least that's what's talked about most.

yes, very much so. i react strongly to certain things, so no need to give you more ammunition. i'll let you know that sometimes i have to pause from reading your words to cool down. heart thumping fast, burning face, stomach twisting. hope you find it funny.

unfortunately, huh? same with me. not with the same sort of religious learning, but with the distaste for it. not that christians as a whole are awful people, just the ones i grew up around, ha.

ohh, yoruba. i'll hafta look into it. and no worries about the non answer, just keep it in mind please! a norse story i like is about loki stealing the god's golden apples.

lamguages are very fun. i think they provide a good insight into how different cultures think.

don't worry about being indirect. that's sort of just how you are, isn't it? anyway, if i was following the flow of conversation better i would've figured it out. you must have lost something very important to be so vague about it?

being bored is the worst. i hope this is at least a little entertaining for you. hopefully something interesting will happen soon for you.

do you watch any tv? if so do you have any favorite shows or movies?

what sort of clothing do you like? any uncomfortable textures?

i wonder what your bedroom looks like, or if you live in a dorm. is your room messy or a sort of "organized chaos"? do you wear any cologne?

ah! here's an interesting question maybe. is there anything you long for from childhood? myself, i wish i could play on the swings. i still would actually, if there was an isolated swing set nearby.

thank you again for indulging me in the ask game. and thank you for responding back, it was a pleasant surprise.

- 🌊

Don't count on it happening again for you to see. Though, I admit, it’s not hard to do if the right button is pressed.

I’ll definitely consider it when things slow down. Time hasn’t been too free to me lately.

Don’t worry, it’s just a ‘vibe’. I’m not too worried on finding you yet, as I have my own assumptions and such. That and I’m sure if I truly asked, you would provide - given your answers to the ask game.

Take your time, and continue your evaluations. I’m sure there’s much to discover.

Hah. I find his story relatable, in a way. Tell me your guess, I’d like to see what I seem like from your perspective, character wise.

I do play games, however the most I have in fighting games is the Mortal Kombat series and maybe knowing the slightest amount of Guilty Gear lore. I’ve played a lot of old games, and a good amount new.

Hm. I like the snow. I don’t see it a lot. It’s nice, and there’s a calmness in the freezing cold. If possible, I’d like to die in it. But that’s a bit odd to say. Forgive me.

He was fairly young, and now in high school. I hear updates only when important things happen. Aptly, I provide some advice and small tidbits. I’m just a guide for the most part.

I’ll be kind, for now, as I assume this response will be quite… out of character for me, as finals are hectic for us all.

It’s ’Comic Epitaphs: From the very best old Graveyards’. I found it in a used book store, no smaller than my palm in width. It’s a short little thing full of wordplay from Victorian age graveyards.

It’s fair, I do veer closer to the aforementioned more than the latter. I can’t ever find a box that fits me entirely. But, I need not vent my frustrations about it unprompted.

It is funny. I’m glad I can enact a reaction from you. That is the purpose of all writing, after all. Without a feeling it sparks, it turns into nothingness.

I fear that in this case, we have similar situations. Not exactly, but similar enough, indeed.

Is it too obvious to say Lilith? The first woman of Adam? Maybe. But that’s a good answer. I’ll look for your story as well. Sounds intriguing.

Cultural differences and ideologies are very interesting to me. I like to think of the multitude of ways that people have adapted to their environment, we somehow find a way to ruminate on such similarly shaped ideas and concepts. Everyone with their own opinions, somehow reaching the same conclusions but in very diverse ways.

Humanity is cute, basically.

It wasn’t much important- Just quite personal. I’ll forget about it someday, but it seems likely it will stick in my mind for a few more years or so.

True. And don’t worry. If your questions did bore me in some way, I would have never responded in the first place. I just haven’t been very clear minded as of late, and it makes things… dizzying?

No. Dulled. I think that’s the word I’ll go for.

Hmm. I don’t necessarily watch tv as much as I’d like to. I tend to be a little lost in pop culture that is recent. It’s frankly embarrassing on my part, when I learn about a show that’s currently everywhere, around 2 years late.

Sans my lack of knowledge— I do like some shows, but they’re fairly (around a decade) out of date. I have tried to keep up with movies though, so that’s recent. I liked Wicked (forced by a group to go) and Terrifier 3 was fun, and very camp. A refreshing touch. Longlegs was disappointing. Realizing I clearly have a favorite genre, don’t I?

Hmm. I like leather, especially. Things meant to last. I do dress classier from time to time. I like to look put together, so my garments tend to have thought behind them.

I’ve never really had a texture that I minded enough to have a dislike, but I do have a preference for the quality of fabric. If it’s too light, it’s not worth buying. Not enough thought in the wearer (too high an eye arm, or unflattering choice of bias) makes me get all nitpicky.

Knowing how to sew makes you think, a little too much in my case.

I live at home. Dorms are fine, just not very well being around others. And yes, it does get a bit mad scientist-like from time to time. I do try to make sure it’s at least presentable, most of the time.

Something to long for.. I didn’t have much of one. Maybe a picture. Something to look back on. I don’t have many of my own.

You’re welcome, and of course, take it with a pound of salt. I don’t mean to lead you on, and I don’t want to play with any pre existing emotions that you’ve felt for me. I can’t mean such a thing wholeheartedly, as my experience with you is limited to text boxes... I must have been a bit too ambitious in my answering.

It was fun to answer in a way that made a sentence. I figured that’d be a fun way to portray my response.

[mvtk42]

I recently got involved in a book club in my town, and for the most part I enjoy it - it's run in a combination bookstore and bar, and the vibes are immaculate. It's been a lot of fun reading both good and bad books, then talking about them over an alcoholic beverage with others.

The book we'll be talking about next week is The Ritual by Shantel Tessier, and to say I'm infuriated I've contributed monetarily to this author is the kindest thing I can say about this book so far, and I can't wait until next week to bitch about it.

TW: DISCUSSION OF DEPICTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT TOUTED AS DARK ROMANCE.

It's like Tessier took the worst parts of Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey and went, "Y'know what, I bet I can miss the point of BDSM EVEN HARDER."

Every sex scene so far is a poorly-disguised rape apologist fantasy. If Tessier has ever heard of Safe, Sane, and Consensual, she hit it over the head with a stout club and dragged it out behind the shed to shoot it. The concept of aftercare is given the same consideration a worrying amount of the country gives vaccines: disregarded where not outright disparaged.

The book's concept is, "What if women volunteered to be sex slaves for the Illuminati?" The book takes great pains to point out women must volunteer for this servitude - except the FMC had never heard of this group, was not at all involved in it, yet was still given to the MMC without her knowledge or consent. Then the MMC begins stalking her, at one point sitting in his car in the parking lot of her apartment building jerking off to watching her while she has no idea he's there. Classy.

It turns out the FMC's boyfriend is also part of this group (not that she knows that) and was given another woman. He doesn't even do her the kindness of breaking up with her bedore gallivanting off with this other woman, and the heartbreak of betrayal and the author's sophomoric understanding of mommy issues cause FMC to lose all respect for herself and allow herself to be used as a cum rag under the misconception she's "finally making her own choices."

I don't know about you, but when I'm mad at my mom, my answer is not to roofie myself by drinking a random bottle of liquid someone broke into my apartment to leave on my nightstand.

Then the MMC breaks back into her apartment to finger her while she's senseless. He would've sexually assaulted her with his dick, but the Illuminaughty says he can't fuck her until she takes a vow.

Like, I understand CNC is a valid kink, but she had no idea what the liquid was, nor did she know ol' boy was gonna come do stuff to her. She was never given the opportunity to knowingly consent, because drinking random shit (while displaying the survival instincts of a helium balloon in a cactus orgy) is NOT consent.

The scene that made me put the book down to type all this out was when FMC finally gives her vow - not that she has any idea what she's agreeing to, cuz no one explains it to her. MMC uses police-issue handcuffs on her, purposefully tightens them way too tight, half-drowns her in a Slut-Shame Baptism (to "wash away the touch of other men," even though FMC is a virgin and MMC knows this), then violently shoves his dick in her mouth for the benefit of the audience.

Once she's gargled his Good Time Goo, MMC drags her out to the back of the building, and as she's begging him to take the handcuffs off because she's in pain, he shoves her underwear in her mouth and prepares to go to town because now he's finally allowed to fuck her pussy.

At that point my face was aching from the expression of appalled disgust it'd been locked in for the past hour and I needed a break. Like, I get that this is supposedly dark romance, and it'd be one thing if these sexual assaults were depicted as that - or even if the FMC had some reaction to them other than "Tra la la these are just things that happen I guess tee hee wow my pussy sure is wet." But so far this is literally just the author saying over and over again, "Women sure do love getting raped," and it's disgusting.

[namelesschurch]

Weekly update:

Lev: Lev's back. Honestly, that's the biggest thing for me. She hasn't told me much about what happened. She says she got caught in some sort of VR world with a slightly reasonable megalomaniac? When I asked her about that, she just said "no one died" and then also proceeded to try and reassure me that there was no risk of dying for her - cause of Rook - who was this spellcaster that Lev mentioned earlier before she went on that month-long mess. I think I bawled half the time and yelled at her for the other half.

And now the idiot is picking fight with gangs. Gangs with guns. I can't. I can't lose her. I need to figure out how to distract her in someway. Maybe I should reintroduce her to Crow - her once guardian a timeline ago - at the very least, I can tell Crow that Lev wants to be a vigilante, cause she has massive opinions about that and kids. It's a low blow, but I will not lose her again. She'll either be strong enough to overpower everything that's out there or stay put until she is ready.

----

Mads: So. Mads became a god. Of second chances apparently. And I also made a stupid mistake assuming that Mads would be accepted like Kris is. Needless to say, I was forced to reveal some things about Chi and myself to remedy it. But I don't regret it. I have a bad feeling that if I had gone with my original plan and waited... well, it wouldn't have been good for Mads.

Hopefully, he won't make the connection. I really am the most pathetic goddess apparent, and Chi is unfortunately dragged into my mess by virtue of being her.

I am concerned as to the sort of mannequin-like state when the World Boundary had thoroughly suppressed him. Is that his vessel? Like I've heard that angels were created - and that for them to exist in the mortal world, they require something of Malkuth - of the physical realm - a vessel to exist in. Well, this is assuming the angel he is and the angels I know are similar. But why is he afraid of other mannequin / puppet-like things then?

Kris: He's gone exploring into Chi's Dream World and will have an update when he's done. I hope it's a good distraction for him at any rate. And...I am curious as to why Chi is connected to that world.

...especially if it is that dream world I am thinking about - the one that Lev always chided me on wasting skill points on. How did it end up turning into a game?

Crowley: I'm glad to see that seaweed hell hasn't eaten her. What is a little ominous is her reply tags to my enormous crab MTG post. I hope this is just her "the horrors are normal everyday things" sorta humor - and not y'know having an island-size crab that needed dealing with.

Erna: She's probably the one I'm most worried about. I don't think I can stop it either. Like Lev said, if she's the only one who has not been called... she'll likely accept the Calling willingly next time it happens.

bookkeeperofthescions: Will need to ask in the next week if she needs help with anything. It sounds like almost all of the Scions are down and likely in need of life-sustaining treatment - both soul and body-wise. I might not be able to teleport stuff myself, but the BC's can at least transport things - even if they tend to eat the stuff they transport.

Yugi / Seto / Mokuba / Joey / Rook? : Seems like the card game squad has come back safe and sound - Lev did say that. I am admittedly a little bit worried about Joey given his inactivity, though I'm fairly sure if anything did happen to him, Yugi or Lev would've mentioned it, right? Like I keep telling myself that if the events that happened to them were incredibly dangerous, I feel like one of them would've mentioned it - and then I remember Yugi has a talent for understatement, and Lev's opinion of danger is that it probably has to be city-ending for it be on her radar.

Nata: It seems she went back to Seattle after the damage from the alien? person. Was it the right thing to go "no I will not bring them back?" I can't really say. I know that if Lev disappeared, I would do all I can to bring her back - I did do all I can, limited as it was. But for random people I don't know, I probably wouldn't. Life and Death and Reincarnation have its place - messing with those things probably created the term "playing god."

Lark: Seems to be going to school, I guess? He obviously doesn't like it. Should also keep in mind to refer to him as a witch and not wizard - he's made clear the difference in societal context. Might be some personal context to, given how vehement he is about the subject.

holyhappyhour: Have not seen a response from Le after her comment on the moon. Hopefully, this is just her doing her periods of inactivity thing. Not everyone treats social media as their journal after all. And not someone as cagey as her.

Wayne Enterprises: I do not know what they are playing at. Inviting me to a dinner I do not have the qualifications to be part of - and then inviting me to a partnership that honestly seems fair on paper for the vertical farming project seems almost too good to be true. All I can think of is that I somehow hit some sort of alarm when I started asking about developing caves in the area - an alarm that's present in pro-company, the water is now poison, Gotham. Are they worried about me doing something - or are they already doing something in the caves? I don't have the connections to go blindly investigating - maybe this partnership could be a bribe even. But that's less likely. There's a lot of stuff a multibillion dollar corporation could do to make my life - a millionaire - and my company miserable. They don't need to cater to me.

plushwave: It is hard to tell how much it is Rose's very bad sense of humor coming out or if she's actually being serious. Also interested in the set-up of her world as mentioned by her comments of "Qin." I have also learned that completely different cultures and countries prevents direct comparison of cultures and countries - like you'd think this is a given, but it's a lot harder to actually put into practice when half the stuff it sounds like should be common culture. Or at least that's what I think. Anyway, cares a lot for Aloisia clearly.

enqueter: enqueter. Because I don't think I've seen any mention of name on enqueter's posts. Has some sort of genetic-related powers going on utilizing ADAM and what's called Plasmid. enqueter is a private eye that deals with ADAM-related stuff enough to be a sorta expert on the subject - has a related ADAM power called electrobolt?Not much information as of late. Will keep any eye on.

[ryanlockheart]

sydney wasn't usually one to go all out for halloween, but impressing maddox? that was at the top of his list. he wanted to pull out all the stops, knock him off his feet, and make it impossible to say no to him — even if he turned out to be straight. thankfully, maddox hadn't taken much convincing, but sydney couldn't say he wouldn't have been the same way if the tables had been turned. "i mean, no... i'd probably beg you for it anyways," he answered. he should've been ashamed or embarrassed, but he was nothing if not audacious and brave. "do you like having that much control over me? you like knowing i won't cum unless you tell me i can? or that i'd drop down and worship your feet in a heartbeat? i promise you, mads... you're never gonna find anyone else quite like me — who'll let you treat them like a slut and still make you breakfast in the morning," sydney questioned, a smirk turning up on the corners of his mouth. perhaps sydney had garnered a reputation around the frat house that he was a bit of a slut. it didn't bother him... but he'd never given them the proof, and well, halloween was certainly going to chain that. sydney would've forgotten where they were if it weren't for the bustling conversations and flashing lights. "'m not gonna pussy out. all those feet and all that cock? i won't be satisfied 'til i'm covered in cum and dirty socks," sydney answered with smug grin. "and i want you to pick a friend or two you'd share my hole with. i'll bet you'd bust just seeing three cocks in my tight little pussy." maddox still had some learning to do; like that doubting sydney would only make him prove you wrong more. the thought of all those guys, buff and sweaty, surrounding him had his cock twitching. he'd barely even touched it all night, which was certainly some kind of record. "whip your phone out whenever you're ready, daddy. i look very pretty on camera. don't see why my own feet wouldn't make me even prettier," sydney answered. "show it to whoever... post it wherever. let the whole world know i'm you're fuckin' little gooner cumdump." he giggled softly, a proud grin on his delicate, pink lips. "and for the record, yes, i get off to my own feet a lot. might pretend they're yours sometimes, but they're irresistible either way." sydney couldn't wait to spread his lithe, muscular legs in front of all the partygoers. what he really wanted, though, was to show them that he was maddox's, and maddox was his. he wanted the whole party to know that maddox was a real man, even as a freshman. "i'll make sure to take the best care of it, daddy," sydney promised. "you'll bust load after load just from tongue. win or lose, you're going to be scoring big time with me. i'll make sure of it, daddy... nothing but the best for you."

sydney did want to settle down eventually. he could see it with someone like maddox. he was a hotshot, sure to make hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. not to mention, he was handsome as could be. he'd be taken great care of — sydney would make sure of that. he'd cook him meals in something slutty, and clean up around his house... as long as maddox was happy with his life, that was that mattered to sydney. "just a little," the raven-haired male admitted. "i can't wait to see what you pick out for me... just remember, 'm your whore turned housewife. i'll even let you pick out what i wear all day long. just be sure you don't get jealous of the boys who might wanna touch me 'cause of it — they'd never stand a chance." whatever little fantasies maddox had in his pretty little head, sydney was going to make them come true. no matter how depraved and filthy or sweet and gentle, his pleasure would always come first to sydney. "if i can handle my own, 'm sure i can handle yours, daddy... but yours'll be even better. y'know, i probably won't be able to control myself, and i'll have to beg you to let me fuck them," he explained. "the guys'll probably never look at me the same way again. it'd be so pathetic just fucking those feet like a little bitch, but god... i know they're soft and sweaty, and they'd look so hot covered in my cum. 'd give anything just to do it." he sucked in a deep breath. where all of that had come from, he didn't know, but he was happy it finally was freed. there was nothing barred back where sydney was concerned for maddox. it didn't matter how embarrassing it might be, maddox would know every little kinky thing sydney had ever dreamt of. "i hope you know i want it rough. i want you to mark me up while you fuck me. if i'm gonna be your slut, you better make sure everyone knows. pull my hair, spit in my face, drag your nails down my back... all of it — and in no time, i'll be covering myself in my own piss," he breathed out. the crowd surely overheard him, but it didn't matter. he was sure he'd be on a bunch of random frat bro's snapchat stories, showing off how big a whore he was, in the morning, but all he cared about was swallowing down every last drop of that golden liquid. those plush lips were parted, letting his mouth fill up again before swallowing. maddox's flow never seemed to end, and sydney didn't want it to anytime soon. the next thing he knew, the younger male had taken the next step and was showering him in his piss. he let it cascade all over him and moaned. his hand rubbed against his aching length. the crowd had drawn closer, and the flash from all the cameras signified that there was surely recording going on. that didn't deter him. with maddox still going, the warm fluid dripping down his face, sydney turned to the boys. "i fucking love his piss. 'd be his fuckin' urinal all day if i could. 'd swallow every drop ," sydney began to narrate. "there's not a thing i wouldn't do that my daddy could ask of me. i'm his little slut." his fingers brushed up against maddox's low-hanging balls, teasing him just a little. "sorry, boys — 'm too addicted to his cock. you'd get if you got a taste of his piss." lips parted again as he started to drink down even more of the golden liquid. his green eyes turned back to maddox once again. "think you might like the audience, daddy," sydney teased. "show them i'm your slut. you've got the reigns. don't hold back."

maddox typically opted out of sigma chi's weekly festivities, but something was different this time. he had to see what tricks sydney had up his sleeve for halloween—he wasn't expecting the boy to show up in a costume that matched his own, but luck seemed to be on his side for once. seeing sydney in a skirt was enough to light a fire under his ass, to finally get the ball rolling after months of torturous interactions with the older boy. maddox's innocent crushed had evolved into unadulterated desire, and he was willing to do whatever necessary to get what he needed—even with their frat brothers watching. "do i even have to say the word?" maddox asked, lips curled into a knowing smirk. "all i had to do was show up tonight, and you were all over me. put on this slutty little outfit to catch my attention—and when you thought that wasn't working, you pushed me up against a wall and begged me to plow that cunt 'til you were pissing all over yourself and gooning on daddy's cock." by now, maddox knew that sydney had always been planning to give him what he wanted. he didn't care if there were other people around, or if his frat brothers caught him slobbering all over a freshman's cock. "that's a good girl," he hummed sweetly, combing through sydney's curls. "if you can get me that spot, daddy will give you anything you want—no limit. but we'll have to see if you can handle all that cock, all those sweaty feet. hopefully you won't pussy out, princess." maddox didn't know why he liked that idea so much, why the thought of sharing sydney with the team had his cock twitching in his jeans, but sydney seemed to like it just as much. the words that left the older boys lips only got filthier, the hunger in his green eyes growing more intense. maddox was entering uncharted waters, discovering things about himself that he was previously unaware of, and it was all thanks to sydney. "we're gonna have to film the whole thing, 'cause i'm definitely gonna watch that back. maybe that's what i'll show the team—they'd fucking wreck you after seeing how slutty you look stretched around a thick cock, sweaty feet in your face... you'd put on a good show, wouldn't you? bet that's what you get up to every night, even without a camera," maddox teased. he couldn't get the idea out of his head—the more it formulated, the more he wanted to see sydney spread out in the middle of the locker room, surrounded by the soccer team's sweaty feet and thick cocks. maybe he'd record the whole thing and make sydney watch it while he pounded his pussy once more after everyone was gone, or maybe he'd keep it to himself for when sydney wasn't available. maddox didn't know what he would do just yet, only that he needed to make it happen. "you're gonna get unlimited access to daddy's hole, babygirl," he said with a naughty grin. "after practice, or a game... you're gonna clean me up from head to toe, and you're gonna love every second of it. my balls, my feet, my pits, my ass... then we'll finish it off with a load on your ass and my piss down your throat. how's that sound?"

maddox hadn't the slightest clue what he was doing, or if he was doing it right. sydney was older and experienced, while maddox was brand new to the world that he was now apart of. he did his best to match sydney's energy, to vocalize any filthy idea that popped into his head—and luckily, it seemed the senior was eating it right up. all maddox cared about was showing sydney that he'd made the right choice, that there wasn't another boy on campus who could satisfy his needs any better. maddox was going to make sure that, by the end of the night, sydney belonged to him. "aw, look at you, princess. does letting daddy dress you up make you blush?" maddox teased, tenderly brushing his thumb against sydney's cheek. "i'll make sure you're always in something expensive and slutty. gotta look your best if you're worshipping daddy's feet and taking his loads in front of the entire house, right?" truth be told, feet were not something maddox thought of sexually until sydney came along. one look at the older boy's feet in a pair of sweaty socks and a few google searches later, maddox had a brand new fixation. it was just something he needed, whether it was his sweaty feet on sydney's face, or sydney's stroking his cock until he was busting all over them, maddox needed to get his fill. "you're gonna love daddy's feet, princess. coach was relentless today, had us running suicides for hours. my socks are drenched... i'll be surprised if the smell doesn't knock you out," he chuckled. "you're gonna have the time of your life. the entire house is gonna wish that you were their little slut, they'll want you to get on your knees for them, too. all of your friends are gonna watch you go crazy for a pair of sweaty feet... and that's not all, 'cause once you're done, your little cunt's gonna get the pounding it deserves. and i'm not gonna stop until you're pissing all over yourself and proving what a little gooner whore you are." the group of boys watching them had nearly doubled by now, but maddox could only focus on sydney. a few of them were recording, and some had even whipped their dicks out—it gave maddox a sinister idea, but he wasn't prepared to unveil it just yet. "they're you go, princess. tell everyone how much you love daddy's piss," maddox ordered. there was a gleam in sydney's eye that let him know the boy was enjoying himself, that he wanted more. with a smirk on his face, maddox aimed for the other's body, drenching his little outfit in the golden liquid that never seemed to end. "you like being covered in daddy's piss, angel? look at you, slut... you're filthy, and you love it. you've got a whole group of guys who'd love nothing more than to rip those clothes off you and shoot their loads in your tight little cunt, but you're too busy drinking piss to even notice," he teased. each of the boys that surrounded them perked up, thinking that maybe it was their turn to have a bit of fun with his slut. "you know what, why don't you turn around and get a good look at them... and while you're at it, look into that camera and tell them how much of a filthy whore you are."

[tartagliad]

Clothing

Summary: just you wearing your boyfriend's clothing :3

Fandom: Genshin Impact

Characters: Diluc, Childe, Ayato, and Zhongli

Genre: fluff!

Warnings: none

(A/N: completely self-indulgent from myself, that's why this idea came out, ehe~ also first time writing Ayato, hope i did it well :D)

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Diluc:

Let's be real, that black jacket is his favorite

Not only him, but you also loved it

Given the fact that it's not to heavy yet it still feels warm to wear

I know Diluc has a lot of set of clothing, but he just love wearing this one

Today though.. he can't find where it is

He asked the maids where was it and they said that it was already washed and was already in his closet

He gave up after that, thinking maybe he was looking at the wrong place

Since he's rushed and needs to work in the tavern, he just wear a black button-up shirt and a white outer (y'know, this one-)

Diluc then left and walk to the tavern

Nothing special happening in the tavern, just people ordered some drinks and have talk then proceed to get drunk

He was just wiping the wine glass when you came to the tavern

You walked in and sit on the bar chair in front of him, "ah, finished with your work already, dear?" he looked at you and you nodded

Diluc was about to turned around when he looked at something you were wearing

It was so similar to the one that he usually wear..

"uh.. y/n" tilting his head, you looked up at him, "is that my jacket..?"

You giggled and nodded, "it's fluffy, okay? i wanna wear it.." you said using an innocent tone

He swear that his heart almost burst out how cute you are wearing it

like miss- may I just hold you all day and night cause you look UNBELIEVABLY smol-

You saw him smiling and blush at the look of you, guess you have the permission to use it when ever you want

"Seems you look good in it than myself.. haha, you can use it anytime you want then, but be sure to tell me first.. maybe I would've ran with it-''

Childe:

ngehehehe-

You would love to steal his clothing and wear it to anywhere you want

Work? Meeting? or just have a walk? you would wear his clothes no doubt

It's just so comfy and warm, especially when he's out on a mission

You would wear it because you missed him so much :(

So yeah everywhere you go, you just wear it, yes it's big but you loved it

When he came back tho.. ehe..

Face would fill with confusion when he opened the closet

Childe didn't remember that he bring that many clothes with him but almost half of it is gone..

He checked his suitcase, it's only about eighth of what he had

Then he checked the laundry, it was filled with his clothes..

"Babeee.." he called you, a few minutes later you came, "yeah?"

His eyes is still locked to the basket and he didn't realized that you're wearing one of his

"..say.. since when I used that many clothes..?'' he aksed, you just hold your smile, "hum? you were the one who bring them, sugar..'' you answered

Getting more confused, Childe turned around finally facing you, "that's weird-'' that's when he understands what happened

"hah.. so the criminal behind this was here all along..~" he said playfully

You giggled and almost ran from him, but he already captured you

"ah ah~ you ain't going anywhere, girlie~" he picked you up and lie you on the couch

"Since you wear it without my permission.. tickle attack!!" he then tickles you as a punishment

"hahaha, I'm sorry- hahhaha!!" you laughed

Well, at the end he just let it slide and let you wear it, you look good with it either way

"What should I do now, hm? I guess now I have to baught some extra clothes for myself since you loved mine.. I don't mind it, you look cute in it either way.."

Kamisato Ayato:

I know his clothing look really long, but I literally would wear it-

It looks fun? cool? elegant? yes

He probably had a lot of different colours and models, would also use it depending on his mood that day

The fabric is soft and smooth, it's also surprisingly very comfortable to wear on a daily basis

Well, there's no doubt that Ayato can just sleep with that on if he's too tired to change-

When both of you are out and it's suddenly windy, he would give you the outer part which is the jacket on you

You swear that thing is actually so warm yet light??

You loved it so much, sometimes you forgot to give it back to him lmao

"Haha, darling.. my jacket is still on you", Ayato then gently takes it off you, you just pout

Since this is Ayato we're talking about, he would tease you and pretends to not know :(

"Darling, I'll be back soon, don't worry too much~", he smiles innocently, urgh.. that tone of his..

You just nodded, still pouty.. kisses his cheeks and wave a goodbye

Too cute he thought, Ayato is just having fun after that and went inside his office

Maybe he'll borrow you some of his clothes and tease you a bit

After all, he also wants everyone to know who you belong to~

"Hmm, it looks cute on you, darling. Maybe I should let you have a few of my clothes. Sure you don't want it~? It's comfy like me, y'know~ haha~"

Zhongli:

Zhongli has SO many layers on his body-

Doesn't it feel hot? Especially in Liyue Harbor..

Anyways back to the topic, it looks heavy not gonna lie

It's not light and breathable like Childe's or soft and flowy like Ayato's

It's also really big, it would just cover your body from top to bottom like a blanket would

Almost like Diluc's but this is thick thick, I like to imagine that the dark brown-black colour part of his clothes are like really firm fur (see how it rhymes-)

You liked it since it feels like it's protecting you :3

Maybe you can fly with it-

On some days when you feel really like you missed him too much

You would wear it, either the button ups or the outer

It smells like him too, it soothes the feel of you missing him :)

At the end, you just wear it around the house

Zhongli tends to find you wearing it when you're sleeping

He thought it's cute, your body just cased by his own clothing

"Hmm, is it warm, dearest?" he sat beside you and you nodded, leaning your body towards him

He adores how cute and beautiful you are in his clothes, Zhongli just stayed there, holding you and smiled to himself

You never failed to make him blush

Maybe he would try to wear some of your oversized clothes because some of them are his sized.. :D

"Seems you like wearing them rather than wearing your own.. You can wear it for as long as you like. I still have more that I can wear, it's all yours, dearest"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[bi-bard]

Waiting - Dream of the Endless Imagine (The Sandman)

Title: Waiting

Pairing: Dream of the Endless X Reader

Word Count: 898 words

Warning(s): mentions of death

Summary: After being forced to say goodbye to the person he loved, Morpheus finds himself obsessed with getting them back. All while the person they love makes themself at home in the world of the dead.

Author's Note: Yeah... I should've known that my readers wouldn't let me get away with an angsty ending.

PART ONE HERE!

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Being dead wasn't as bad as many people thought it was.

There was no pain. It was all just over.

Then, you spent the rest of eternity in your own personal freedom.

I don't think that I would've ever seen it that way if I hadn't seen my death coming. If I hadn't known about it ahead of time. If I didn't get to say goodbye.

I got more than most people did. I got to say goodbye to the person that I loved most.

I still thought about Morpheus constantly.

Death had been very kind. She befriended his raven to get updates about him. She would then report those updates to me. It felt like I hadn't been gone all that long. Like I was still a part of his life.

My life beyond life wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Hell was my biggest fear, so anything better than hell was a gift in my eyes.

I had found my personal freedom in this small house. A shelf of ever-changing books, a small kitchen to make whatever I wanted to attempt to make, a small fireplace to rest by, two cushioned chairs by said fireplace, and a small corner for me to finally pursue art as a hobby. My eternity had given me a head start when it came to developing that skill.

I was home.

Home and free.

I had long stopped tracking how long I had been locked away in this little home. I just knew that I was happy.

That all changed when there was a knock on my door.

"Come in," I called, placing the pan I had been holding on the counter.

I knew who it was. I just smiled as Death walked in. I threw my oven mitts on the counter and took off my apron.

"I have a question," I said. "If this is the death realm and the rules of living existence don't apply here, then why can't I make one soufflé?"

She looked at the dish that looked- without a doubt- like a disaster. And shrugged.

"Y'know, that's really not helpful."

She chuckled. "I come with news."

"Always a delight," I said, going to lean my hand on the counter.

I yelped when my hand went through the countertop. I used my other hand to push myself back up.

I looked down at my hand that was flaking away. Turning into dust. At the time, I thought I was fading away. That I wouldn't exist in any realm. Not even that of the dead.

"Death," I said, tears filling my eyes. I took a few stumbling steps backward as my breathing sped up. As if I could've avoided it.

"I was coming to tell you," she explained. "He did it."

"What?"

"Dream," she stepped toward me. "He did it."

I didn't have time to ask for more of an explanation as my legs started fading away.

"Help me-"

"You'll be okay," she promised. "Trust me."

I nodded and closed my eyes, letting myself crumble to dust.

I was in the world of complete darkness for mere moments.

I soon felt myself being put back together. Piece-by-piece until everything that had turned to dust had been reconstructed in my image. My eyes felt like the last thing restored.

I looked down, silently checking on myself. Two legs, two arms, one head... everything seemed to be in order. Even clothes. Nice to know that the universe could be kind.

I looked out to the horizon. It looked like a beach. A beach that was clouded with fog.

"(Y/n)-"

I turned around when I heard my name, completely prepared to defend myself against anything that could've attacked me.

Morpheus was there. He held his hands up to me when he saw how scared I was.

"I don't know how much you remember-"

"Morpheus!"

I ran forward and hugged him. I hid my face in his shoulder as he hugged me back. One of my hands found its way into his hair. I heard him let out a sigh as he relaxed against me.

"What did you do," I whispered, not wanting to let go of him to ask. I was terrified that I would lose him if I did.

He stepped back slowly, only moving far enough to look me in the eye. "I made you a dream."

"A dream," I repeated. He nodded. "And everyone's safe now?"

He nodded again.

I cupped the sides of his face and let out a relieved laugh as my eyes scanned every part of his face. I ignored the tears falling from my eyes as I leaned forward and kissed him. It felt like I had spent an eternity waiting for me. Maybe I had.

Maybe I didn't care. Because I had him back. I leaned back, my forehead resting on him. I pecked his lips a few more times before nudging my nose against his.

"I love you," I muttered. As if it was some kind of secret.

"I love you too."

While I was dead, I never thought that I would ever see him again. But now that I had him, I knew that I hadn't accepted my fate. I was just waiting. Waiting for him to find me again.

And I would've waited for him for all eternity.

Because I loved him. And that's all that mattered.

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Masterlist (Includes links to All Writing Challenges)

What I Write For

Some Original Characters

[cruncherzz]

⚠️ SPOILER Warning⚠️ (if you wanna play SOR blind then don't read this)

Shadows of Rose is an objectively bad DLC. You're free to have your own opinions but this is mine. It's a garbage DLC with horrible pacing, exposition, and energy.

I'm gonna start this off by saying one of the first things that stood out with this fucking thing--the Duke. What? The Duke is evil in this DLC?! Woah, why? Literally why, Capcom?! Was he upset that Amazon was running him out of business and took it out on the only able-bodied person around? Motherfucker went from being a tasteful NPC that entertained you with his small one-liners and timing to "Evil Pillsbury Doughboy with a shitty Halloween mask." It baffles the mind as to why he's evil in this for no fucking reason.

Also, why all the Rose's?! WTF? I would've loved to know why there were infinite Rose's just mulling about in this Megamycete Hellscape.

Also, also, Rose is a really annoying protagonist. It might just be because I genuinely don't care about Ethan Winter's and his "saga" anymore but I digress. Her motivation for wanting to get rid of her powers is that she doesn't have friends-- motherfucker, I don't have friends. Deal with it. They haven't posed a serious issue besides being a point of complaint like legitimately this girl's horrible past with her powers boil down to her having "white sweat." Her sweating milk like a platypus is what drives this bitch into going into the consciousness of a being dubbed the "Black God."

Ethan is also really dumb in this. "I called myself Michael because I didn't want to shock you." Omfg dude, she's already in the BLACK GOD'S consciousness and freaking out about dying to these deux ex machina Dementor ripoffs. Tell your fucking daughter who you are??? It really makes me laugh that Capcom still doesn't show his fucking face on screen too. Is he really that ugly? WHEEZE

Okay... the only thing. THE ONLY THING that I semi-enjoyed was seeing Eveline in this--and it's still not a very good encounter. Like, you deal with fighting Eveline specifically for like a minute and then you're done. It's just a repeat of Ethan's bit in RE7 where she shockwaves you backwards a bit and you deal damage to her after. No difference. It's lazy.

I kind of liked the Beneviento house for the horror aspects, I'm personally really terrified of mannequins. I hate them with a mf passion so the dolls and mannequins were a really nice touch.

I didn't like that none of the lords were there, we don't even get a mf backstory for any of them and yet this fucking character that was an infant in RE8 gets her own 3 hour DLC?? Cool. Awesome.

Speaking of the lords, Miranda's back! She also looks just... weird. It's barely noticeable but like... she doesn't look all the way like her normal character design; they fixed how fucking shiny she was from the RE8 game though so that's... good? Girl ain't greasy no more. One thing ticked right then, Capcom.

The final battle. Ooh, the final battle. Hah! ...I actually kinda liked the final battle because I like the animation for Miranda's wings but that's mostly it. I don't care for the speech that Ethan gives Rose about never giving up and all that jazz. Also, despite you only being able to use a certain amount of Rose's power throughout this DLC, because of the power of Moldy Papa speech and plot armor, she now can throw full as fucking trees at this bitch, absorb projectiles, and teleport. Not a joke. Where was this like 40 minutes ago??? It's just... annoying.

Y'know what really annoys me also? The ammo in this game. You actually get less ammo found and given to you in this game then the ammo drops around the Baker house in RE7. Like, "Michael" gives you some because even the game devs know they didn't fucking put much.

And one of the biggest things for me--Mia Winters. Where the actual fuck was Mia fucking Winters? Rosemary Winters mother, y'know, the woman who raised her and loved her?! She is mentioned--guess how many times--fucking once. She is mentioned once in this whole fucking thing. It's mind-boggling. I get on the Wiki for this game, it's established that Rose doesn't see Mia much now that she's grown up and shit. Does that eliminate the right to her having a relationship with the woman though?! Does Capcom just hate this woman?! Mia is mentioned once in a diary entry of Rose's from when she was a kid, it wasn't even directly about Mia. It was about her white fucking milk sweat and her wanting to have friends. Bitch, I could care less about your friend problems and milky skin. I waited this entire DLC for a flashback, a scene, a story with this woman and I got a paragraph from a elementary schooler complaining about side effects of mold puberty and mannequins that resembled Mia slightly that scared the shit outta me. Great work, Capcom. God, I hate this fucking game.

This game is really fucking irritating like... I actually am seething in vc right now with @highlifeboat. Capcom said they'd deliver and they did.

Fucking dogshit.

Absolute fucking dogshit

Anyway, my favorite part was when I got to turn off my Xbox and forget I ever touched this piece of shit.