#i have a lot of feelings about the siblings caught in the middle of fighting

[psychologicalwarclaire]

Yelling

A small Mikey rant

They were yelling again.

Mikey didn't even know what it was about this time. He just knew that Raph was mad and Leo was mad and no one was stepping in to pry them apart.

Mikey used to.

He used to step in and diffuse the situation. And if that wasn't enough, he'd start to cry. That used to do something.

Because when he cried, his brothers would stop their fighting and calm him down. Then they'd sheepishly realize things had gotten out of hand and apologize.

But that was a long time ago.

Leo and Raph didn't seem to care about Mikey's tears anymore.

They screamed over his sobbing. They shouted over his pleading. Raph's eyes, sparking with red, didn't see Mikey's eyes sparkling with tears. Leo's twisted mouth spouted harsh words that squeezed Mikey's heart.

"--NOT WHAT I SAID, LEO!"

Mikey whimpered, curling into himself. His brand new subway car room was nowhere near thick enough to block out the sound. Did they have to argue in the most open part of the Lair?

Did they have to argue at all?

They shouldn't be yelling like this. It was stupid. It was always stupid. And they didn't seem to see just how stupid it was.

Mikey could.

Mikey could always see both sides of the argument.

Mikey could see that Raph was just frustrated but still cared for Leo SO MUCH. Mikey could see that Leo wanted independence and didn't UNDERSTAND that Raph was just trying to keep everyone safe. Mikey could see that they were both too stubborn to compromise.

Mikey could see their family tearing apart at the seams.

Mikey could see everything.

And if anyone saw the same things he did, they didn't seem to care.

They were yelling again.

And Mikey couldn't stop them.

They were yelling again.

And it was getting louder.

They were yelling again.

[kiss-me-muchoo]

𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 || 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐱 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐮𝐬

part one: the fallen fruit || part two: here

summary_after freeing Rome, you’ve lost Marcus Acacius, his baby and you are forced to marry Lucius Verus in order to freely rule as empress and visit Acacius’ grave

warnings_ CRINGE, age gap (legal) (I’m 20, sorry) historical inaccuracy, angst, sexism and misogyny, fluff but angst, a lot of canon divergence bc I said so. ANGST ANGST I CRIED WHILE WRITING THIS

note_ that’s it, it’s official, Paul Mescal my new bf, don’t you ever make me write a fic where I knowledge any Pedro character’s death (even if it’s canon) listen to 13 beaches pls

♪ ♫ Pedro playlist

♫ ♪ Paul playlist

✰ Index (+ fics here)

𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆ 𓆇𓆸⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆ 𓆇𓆸⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆ 𓆇𓆸

Once your eyes opened, reality struck you in the harshest possible way. This time, no one was there to tend your wounds. Although they weren’t severe, they had dozed you off for days. You heard Lucilla’s scream and you closed your eyes, knowing your love was dead.

Numbness assaulted you, nausea struck you and you heard everyone gasping in horror as their beloved general’s body collapsed in the arena.

Hours after Marcus Acacius’ died, you lost his baby as well.

A day later, Rome was freed. Lucius Verus became the new emperor and you caught a fatal fever when the sun came down.

That night, death seemed like the most convenient alternative. You had lost everything you had fought for over the years. The man you loved and the prospective children were taken from you before you could’ve claimed them.

Something changed when you woke up. Like time has passed so rapidly that the pain from the loss of Acacius and your baby has healed. But as soon as you think about the would’ve, could’ve, should’ve… you start sobbing.

It’s a bright morning and the city sounds peaceful. Everyone has moved on. And you know you’ll have to. Only that, you don’t know how.

With your brother’s death, your lover and baby’s, everyone was gone.

Lucius is alive…

There’s a knock on the door and soon it opened.

A man should never intrude into a woman’s chamber he had no relationship with.

“Ah. Princess y/n you’re awake….” He says uncomfortably. You didn’t knew his name, but had been running as a politician for several years.

“I suppose I’m no longer a princess”

“Trials are happening right now, the senate is a disaster but we’re handling it okay. Lucius Verus Aurelius refuses to be crown emperor but he has argued in your favor and you have been found not guilty, but you face conspiracy charges. Consequently, you’re still a princess. And the only person we can rely on according to the law…”

You sigh, looking away from the old man to focus on the tapestry that hangs from a wall. It has a naked woman’s statue in the middle of a garden. A woman being the center of attention.

You were the maximum authority at the moment. But you still had barriers to break.

“What did you do with the corpses of my brothers?” perhaps your siblings weren’t the most lovable people, but you grew up with them. They were your last remaining family.

“Emperor Geta and Emperor Caracalla rest in the secluded area of the cemetery of Rome. Where the punished are buried…” you nod.

They deserved punishment, but still, an odd sensation in your stomach rested, feeling shame and pity for your brothers.

Where did the good one go? An imaginary little light sparkles upon your eyes.

“And General Acacius?”

“In his Death Will, General Acacius stated that he wanted to be buried alone in one of the islands belonging to Rome” Your eyes water and you have to bite your tongue and gulp to calm your tears.

Where he had wanted to build a home with you.

“His wife Lucilla was buried in the neighbor island upon petition” You nod, trying to sit down. You finally spot the cuts and sewed arm. Fighting Pretorials had been more difficult than participating in the war.

Alongside Marcus…

“I would like to visit his grave. Marcus Acacius’s grave” Your voice sounded broken and you could barely see the man, failing to hide your growing tears.

“There is one problem, princess y/n. Until you’re officially crown empress, you can’t leave Rome and command without being considered charged, despite being not guilty. You must marry first and I’m afraid the only suitor is Lucius Verus Aurelius”

The man that made you feel so much in no time. Who made you feel like you could be for once unconditionally loved. And that maybe Acacius was not your downfall. Maybe you had one more chance to nourish your wounded heart.

You suppress a smile. You want to see him and talk. See if he felt the same way about you and if he did, it would be a new beginning.

“Where is he?” You ask trying to hide your excitement.

“The prince is back in Numidia. He wanted to give a proper burial to his friends and his late wife especially”

The little smile on your face disappears and you look down. Unbeknownst to the man standing in front of you, you felt shame. For believing Lucius would be waiting for you.

“How so?”

“He was given permission to go back with an audience from the council” you scoff, rolling your eyes.

“And why he was allowed to go to territory that is not declared Roman by the law yet…. But I can’t go to an island that is less than four hours away, claimed by the empire hundreds of years ago?”

The man gulps, seemingly uncomfortable by your sudden snapping. Your heart beats in anxiety and the anger increases. The first minutes after you awake you already feel the burden of your new present.

“Because he’s an heir…” to that, you can only sigh. Knowing the real answer.

“And I’m a heiress. I’m… a woman”

Rome was free. But as a woman, you probably never would.

“I suggest you rest and prepare for his arrival, princess. You’ll want to be ravishing to negotiate and assume the wedding”

“I haven’t decided if I’ll marry Lucius Verus Aurelius”

“It’s not like you have much of a choice, princess. I’ll send a doctor to check on you” The bitter tone of the man made you frown. You quietly curse him as he leaves the room.

Finally alone again. Like it seemed it would be for the rest of your life.

You should’ve run faster the first time you tried to escape Rome. You should’ve climbed that wall higher, maybe, just maybe none of your disgraces would’ve happened.

You had to go to Marcus’ grave. You had to say goodbye to him. Tell him all the things you couldn’t say the last time. Because he deserved it. To let him know that no matter where your baby and he were, you would always love them.

Lucius meant nothing, you try to lie to yourself.

I won’t be part of a deal, you remember as you look at the renewed Rome.

Suddenly you realize no matter whom you decide to love, you’re always the lover, not the wife.

Always the second option, never the one.

…

Four days later, you realized you had no other choice but to attend the hearing that would determine your future. Where you would face Lucius. If you had seen him once again before he left, many things could’ve been different, you liked to think.

But given the circumstances, you had no desire to see him again. You barely knew the man, of course, he would choose his wife first even when she was dead.

Your mind betrayed you with the idea of Lucius using you just all those nights to find a way to get out of the Colosseum. No matter what, he didn’t visit you, he didn’t bother to see if you were okay. Likely, he never knew you had fallen ill.

Everyone left you behind.

Happened once as a little girl who fell for her best friend, once as a teenager who fell for an older officer who turned General and once as a young woman who fell for a gladiator and turned out to be a missing prince.

With golden brackets that cover your arms and the heaviest earrings, you nervously walked through the long marble halls of the justice building. Near the temple of the god of war, there rested the place where justice was brought.

A guard opened the door for you and once you stepped in, the room was already full.

Every man inside stood up to greet you with a little reverence and you could feel a migraine already coming.

But when your eyes found a blue pair of aquamarine diamonds looking piercingly at you, the anger mixed with nervousness.

Immediately you look away from the prince. As you took a seat at the end of the long table, you could feel him everywhere. As if Lucius was silently begging for you to look at him.

“We reunite here to revoke any charges and penalties addressed to Prince and Princess; Lucius Verus Aurelius and y/n y/l/n”

You barely hear the man speaking, you were only waiting to hear the next part.

“From the power the senate gave us and by the guidance of the gods, said charges and penalties will be revoked by uniting the prince and princess in sacred marriage. Everyone who agrees says accipio…” everyone says the word, and you close your eyes trying to avoid huffing or ending up screaming in disagreement. Your father ascended to the throne rightfully. Every politician voted for him. When he died your brothers were young and naive and remained as so throughout their rule. Your only crime was to conspire against the empire along with Acacius when he was alive.

All a big nonsense.

“Hear hear, now… Do you Lucius Verus Aurelius agree to the terms of conditions of this agreement?” you look up to see the man. He looked different.

His wounds were healing, his hair looked trimmed, his beard styled. Without sweat, blood, and dirt covering his face, he looked gorgeous. Like an actual prince.

Lucius also looks at you. You can’t tell how he feels, but his eyes look hopeful. And his lips are slightly tilted. Was he trying to smile at you?.

“Accipio…” he says, looking away from you.

Your lips sealed shape a full face of anger.

“Do you y/n y/l/n agree to the terms of conditions of these agreements?”

“I would like to resign to my titles”

Gasps could be heard, and a mixture of shock and disapproval was all over the men at the table.

Lucius looks with curiosity at you. But you can see he’s also shocked.

“Princess y/n… you can’t resign” a man says and you roll your eyes.

“Exile me if needed. I can also recommend a handful of women who would be perfect suitors for Lucius Verus Aurelius” As much as you tried to sound calm, you sounded enraged.

“Then I won’t sign the agreement…” Lucius says looking at the same man who spoke first, then at you.

You eye him with confusion, he crosses his strong arms and he intimidates you with his strong gaze.

“I want you or nothing” he admits with tranquility. Which makes you even angrier. But also make your cheeks turn hot after feeling every man in the room exchange awkward looks.

How could he act so cooky and shameless?

Before you can say another thing, you are interrupted.

“If none of you agree, your charges and penalties will prevail. That would lead to several trials, where both of you could end up with death penalties despite being two rightful heirs”

Pinching the bridge of your nose, you sigh.

You’re so tired, drained from everything.

But you won’t give any man the satisfaction to see you crumbling.

Never again…

“You may constrain me all you want, Lucius Verus Aurelius. But you won’t hear what you want from me today”

The poison filling your voice intoxicated everyone, leaving the room flooding with awkwardness and uncertainty. Lucius and you share looks. There’s an odd warmth that makes you remember how good he was when you first met him. He is not a bad man. But you fell in love with him and overrated him so early.

With the silence reigning, the sound of your chair sliding as you stood up drew all the attention to you again. But you didn’t face anyone, you simply left.

The air hit you and you could already feel the tears threatening to spill.

It’s a shame because it seemed like it was a good day for Rome. You can hear kids playing nearby, and people selling goods while the clear sky warmed the afternoon.

“You really don’t know why I want you, y/n?” You hear behind your back, Lucius approaching with heavy steps, making you wipe your eyes before you turn around to see him.

“I would say to gain power. But I know you don’t want that so no… I’m clueless. All I know is I won’t be part of a deal when all my life I’ve lounged for love”

“I can’t believe you don’t remember…” he responds and you frown, disappointed that he has ignored your words. So rudely, you move away, farther from him.

“Who was there when you fell ill after breaking your bones?” your eyes almost pop out, you stop walking only to slowly turn around again and eye him in shock.

“Who was there when you used to escape the palace and needed someone to accompany you back?” Lucius pleads with every word he lets out, he walks towards you and tries to grab your hands but you slip away from his touch, defying him.

In your shock, you can only sigh as memories start reminiscing in your head. A childhood love that couldn’t be. Which involved some feelings you thought had no meaning. But sure they had. More than you wanted to admit as an adult.

Lucius Aurelius Verus was that little boy that you fell in love with as a child. That little boy disappeared without saying goodbye. A boy you thought you’d never see again.

“I left you and resented it all my life, y/n. Now I can be here for you again. Allow me to retrieve the memories we had…” This time you weren’t fast enough to prevent his touch.

He feels warm and at home. His fingers are calloused and his raspy fingertips slowly caress your knuckles. You want to hold him in your arms and cry from happiness. You want to curse him for making you believe he was dead.

But you are selfish after so much pain.

“Why you didn’t say anything when we met again?” You coldly ask, freezing the warmth he has built.

“I needed to know I could trust you first,” he says apologetically.

There’s so much to talk about. Never in your dreams, you thought you’d have the boy you loved once now turned into a man you must marry.

“Please, y/n. We’ll meet each other again, fill the empty promises we made years ago”

“You knew I was alive all this time. Why did you never come for me? We could have escaped. If I had known you were alive, a lot of my suffering could’ve been prevented” he looks away, he feels guilty.

“You married, Lucius. You were happy before Rome conquered Numidia. And I won’t diminish the death of her. But you moved on… like I never existed”

He grabs both of your hands but you move away.

“I thought you were safe. I had no chance of getting you back, that’s why I married. But when I saw you again at the celebration where I had my first fight…” even when he sounds convincingly remorseful, you still keep the distance.

“I don’t care, Lucius. The only thing I want now is to say goodbye to the only love that mattered while you were gone. I can’t visit his grave now for the charges, and when I marry you, I won’t be able to visit his grave because of it. Don’t act like you are not wanting me as your second choice”

If only you knew, Lucius thought as he watched you leave.

…

As a kid, your father would be delighted whenever you danced in the celebrations he hosted. Your brother Geta and Caracalla would sneak in and try to ruin your performance, they weren’t allowed to attend the parties because of their mother; a whore. Your father’s ginger hair had not spread across the twins’ heads and they certainly not looked anything like your mother. There was a snake hidden in the basket of flowers you carried while dancing. But a gentleman realized earlier and as soon as you dropped it because of the bite, he took you to the doctor. And that night you developed a little crush for the officer Marcus Acacius.

Soon you forgot about the older man when you took food and made your way out of the palace. Near the stables, you had found a safe place. Where you always met with who refused to tell you his name.

So you always called him amicus. You could only refer to him as a friend.

“Amicus…” you called him.

Soon he appeared, with burnt blonde hair, blue eyes, and his kind smile.

“What happened to your hand?” he asked pointing at your bandaged extremity.

“Geta and Caracalla placed a snake on my flower basket”

Your friend huffed, clearly annoyed that they tried to hurt you again.

“I wish I could be there, I would always protect you”

You smiled, caressing his face. You were no stranger to his proximity. At the rough age of nine years old, you two had grown a big friendship.

“But you’re always here for me, amicus”

“I won’t be always…” you frowned confused.

That was the last night you saw your friend; Lucius.

You shake your head, pushing aside the memories. Realizing you are once again in a party, but your father is gone. Nobody sits on the throne, your twin brothers are not around to try to banish you. There is no Acacius to help you and you are no longer a kid.

You wonder why Lucilla never told you his son was alive. That he was your best friend. You understand that probably she didn’t trust you enough, given that you looked like you were on your brother’s side most of the time. Although the reality was very different.

Lucius arrived at the celebration with many people trying to talk to him. His tone was kind, but he felt overwhelmed responding to the variety of questions thrown at his face.

Having all the attention resulted in frustration. He was no god and Rome started seeing him as such thing.

He was a humble man, despite growing up knowing he was a prince, he was accustomed to the peaceful farming life in Numidia. He married and thought he would die as a farmer. But even when he finished a rough day of tending his sprouts and counting seeds, mostly he would go to sleep thinking about you.

Lucius never forgot the little girl he found pacing through the secret passages under Rome. Surely he always knew you were a princess, you were alive and well within the walls of the city he grew to hate.

He thought he was correct in never telling you who he really was. He had no chance to say goodbye, he was forced to leave. For a lot of years, he thought he would never be able to fall in love again, but he found a new love.

As soon as he married, he tried to forget about you. And as much as he loved his wife, he always went back to you. Wondering if you were also married, if you remained as beautiful as you were as a kid, or if you missed him like he missed you.

His answers were given to him when he saw you eating figs and softly arguing with one of your red-haired brothers.

Lucius swore his heart stopped a few seconds before he had to fight under the demand of Macrinus. When he recited poetry, he understood you didn’t know who he was. He locked eyes with you for too long, which made you frown and exchange confused looks with Geta.

But he did a good job because you went to visit him later, realizing you knew only half of the truth.

Lucius never stopped loving you.

He watched you twirl around in a purple dress and he couldn’t help but smile. His need to know who you had transformed into was eating him. The curiosity over your love affair with Acacius and how you ended up on the battlefront of war killing him. And he wished nothing buy you to understand that destiny wanted you to be separated but now there was a chance to heal together and be together.

Although it seemed like you were beyond hurt. Only makes Lucius feel guilty for some reason.

A man from the senate reveals to the party you and Lucius are officially engaged and he knows you must be boiling in anger. Lucius tries to go and talk to you. Assure you that he wasn’t involved in the early announcement. He wanted your consent and forcing you would never fix your anger and resentment.

But when he tried to reach you, you were gone. And he knew to where.

To visit Acacius’ grave.

…

With white roses and a dirty cloak, you arrive at the island. Is smaller than you thought. It’s just a hill.

No gold, no ostentatious mausoleum, just a little mark in the middle of the hill that over the centuries would be swallowed by the Earth. There rests Marcus Acacius.

You swallow hard, hoping to get there before your legs betray you and you end up on the grass crying. After hearing the announcement of the engagement, you sprinted out of there making a mess of fury. Your desire to say goodbye to your love would never become a reality. So you took matters into your own hands and risked three hours of absence in Rome.

Each step adds a little more pain to your chest and you want to leave as fast as possible.

But you remain silent, looking at the little plaque.

Not even beloved General of Rome. Just his name.

“I don’t regret saying that I hated you the last time we talked…” you start, biting your cheek from the inside and frowning, competing against the tears that were already coming.

“I closed my eyes so hard to pretend I wasn’t witnessing your death” The chilly air makes you shriek, it also makes some scary sounds as you talk.

“We had a baby, Acacius. I suppose conceived in Athens. He left me hours after you did. I guess he sensed my bad luck…” you coldly say, attempting to joke with the silence.

“Not of importance anymore. I just came to say goodbye. To thank you for training me, and for making me a strong woman. Thank you for loving me the wrong way…”

“You can rest now, Marcus. Your death was worth it, Rome is free. But I’m not…” Finally, your voice breaks and you start sobbing, weeping, and crying so loudly that your lungs hurt.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be strong enough to come back again, Acacius. Your death will always be the loss of my life but our baby is my little hope. To always remind me that I was very close to having you…” with your legs trembling, you stand up and grab the basket. The flowers are gently placed and your tears fall over his name, washing the accumulated dirt.

“I’ll move on. Because I know that’s what you would’ve wanted. I’ll keep your memory alive. And I’ll never love the same way I did with you. You earned it, Marcus. In life and death…”

Dried from all the tears, suddenly you felt less weight on your shoulders. You feel light and in peace.

In that hill would rest the memories of your past, of the love you gave to that General and what could’ve been.

You leave in silence. And when you step foot in the boat again, you have the strength to smile and realize that you don’t care about anything anymore.

The sense of everything comes into question.

Nothing can hurt you anymore.

…

He’s there when you step a foot into the salty shores of Rome. Lucius looks worried. He gives confident steps until he’s facing you.

“You went to that island. Didn’t you?” He asks judging you, which makes you frown.

“I did…”

“Why are you risking yourself? I had to tell everyone you felt ill” You roll your eyes, not handling his words with patience.

“I have nothing to lose, Lucius. I don’t care anymore if I die right now…” he huffs and slides his fingers through his blonde hair, exasperated.

“Why can you understand you’re the one I want? I want you to be safe. But you can’t stop acting like there is no hope left. Why?”

You finally explode.

“BECAUSE I’M HURT!. You know my brothers never loved me, I thought I had you and you disappeared. I spent years in love with Acacius and when he finally looked down at me, he never chose me above your mother. But he wanted to give me a house, a family. I lost him and that night I lost our baby too, I didn’t even know I was with child. And now everyone’s gone, you’re back but I feel like you are just choosing me because you have no choice” Your lungs so tired of your crying make you ache as you end up sobbing once again.

Lucius immediately places his arms around you. And it’s the first hug someone gives you in a long time. So you sob harder and slide your arms to hold him closer.

“I didn’t know… I’m sorry” he whispers in your ear, one of his hands caressing the back of your head, fingers sliding through your hair.

“You’re not my second option. You were always the first. I choose you all or nothing because I couldn’t before. And now that I have you in my arms, I’m never letting you go”

Lucius feels like the home you never experienced but always dreamed of. His words start soothing you. His words feel bigger, like an oath this time. A healed promise of the one he made as a kid.

“When I looked at you again, I remembered that little girl I used to play with. With her dazzling hair and loving eyes” you look away, to the shore. You never liked receiving compliments.

“Look at me…” his fingers grab your chin and gently, he makes you look at him but you close your eyes after briefly meeting his eyes.

Just like the first time, you get lost in his blue irises. Blue like the sea you traveled, like the sea you once thought would be your way to freedom.

“Please look at me, y/n,” he says pleading, with his warm touch you know you won’t be able to oppose any longer.

Slowly you open your eyes and finally accept his gaze.

“You loved another man and I loved another woman. But we had already marked each other’s hearts before we met them”

Slowly, you nod. He smiles and wipes the tears from your eyes. He looks so gorgeous. You know he means every word. Only a man who did everything to save his mother and free a city would make such a big promise to a woman and beg.

You caress his strong jawline, ignoring the way his beard tickles at your fingers. You smile back at him.

“I love you”

Before he could finish, you kissed him.

…

You hadn’t thought back on your love Acacius in months, but that morning you dedicated the bright sky to him. You hope he’s happy for you.

You look at yourself in a mirror and smile at your reflection.

“Are you ready?” Lucius asked entering the room. Your smile grows at the sight of him dressed in gold and a crown in his head. He also eyes your dress and you blush at the way he is mentally undressing you.

Your husband is possessive, kind, brave, and an emperor.

“Stop staring like that…” he looks back at your eyes and it makes you chuckle.

“Come here…” he pleads and when you try to kiss him you both hear a tiny yelp.

“Oh Lucilla, I’m just trying to kiss your father…”

You had birthed a daughter two months ago in Egypt. And was named after Lucius’ mother. She had matted hair the same color as you and she had the blue eyes of his father.

“I’ll get her…” Lucius carried her and leaned to let you look at yourself tiny baby yawning, as she had woken up from a little nap. Her tiny hands flirt fists and her face scrunched in slumber.

She was a winter baby and every citizen of Rome was waiting to meet the daughter of the emperor and empress.

“So fussy like her father…” you claimed, making Lucius roll his eyes at you.

He had grown patient. A perfect partner and father. You felt lucky and blessed to have him. Thinking all the pain was worth it. Your head would now and then think back on what could’ve been if Acacius had survived, and his baby as well.

But you accepted that in this life, he wasn’t meant to be yours. So you prayed to meet him again in the next one. But for now, you were in the arms of your first love.

“I love you, Lucius…” he seemed lightly surprised, as he was the one that says it more often. But he knows he looks so clumsy and in love.

“Not more than me…” you kiss your daughter’s cheek and then your husband, making him softly gasp as you deepen the kiss.

“Don’t do this to me now, y/n…” you giggle, taking the baby from his arms and leading the way towards the door.

“Wait, satis… I know it’s nonsensical to ask at this point but…Do you think I’m being good at this?” Lucius asks pointing at little Lucilla, you sigh, walking back towards him.

“My love, there is no way of being good at this. But if she knows that we love her and that we’ll be here for her forever, is enough…”

He had his doubts a couple of months after the wedding when you got pregnant.

“You don’t know how proud and thankful I am of you. You decided to agree and give me a family after so much pain, satis” You form a smile grin, opting to avoid the memories of your old love. Because that was the past, sacred to you but still the past.

“We deserved it, Lucius.” He nods, taking your free hand.

“I have the feeling that this one will be a boy…” you say pointing at your still-flat stomach.

“Whatever it is… as long as you’re the mother, it’ll be okay”

You both exit the room hand in hand, hearing the excited crowd outside waiting.

_________________

PAUL X PEDRO X READER FIC IS COMING, COMMENT TO BE TAGGED :)

I won’t ever ever ever write a fanfic where a Pedro character dies again. NEVER AGAIN! I don’t care if you think this was cringe, I cried a lot while writing on different days. I love Lucius but in my head Acacius never died, so from now on if I write for him, he WON’T DIE.

follow me on twitter or I’ll kill myself 🔫

[jaredpadonlyyyy]

𝙏𝙃𝘼𝙏 𝘼𝙉𝙂𝙀𝙇, 𝙂𝙄𝙍𝙇

• 𝙎𝙈𝙐𝙏, 𝙎𝙈𝙐𝙏𝙏𝙔, 𝙎𝙈𝙐𝙏 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃 𝘼 𝙇𝙄𝙏𝙏𝙇𝙀 𝙋𝙇𝙊𝙏

• 𝟭𝟴+ 𝙈𝙄𝙉𝙊𝙍 𝘿𝙉𝙄 𝙄 𝙒𝙄𝙇𝙇 𝘽𝙇𝙊𝘾𝙆 𝙔𝙊𝙐

𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙎: 𝙐𝙉𝙋𝙍𝙊𝙏𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙀𝘿 𝙎𝙀𝙓 (𝘞𝘳𝘢𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴) 𝙋𝙄𝙑, 𝙁𝙀𝙈𝘼𝙇𝙀 𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙄𝙀𝙑𝙄𝙉𝙂, 𝘾𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙈𝙋𝙄𝙀, 𝙇𝙊𝙎𝙎 𝙊𝙁 𝙑𝙄𝙂𝙄𝙉𝙄𝙏𝙔.

𝘿. 𝙒𝙄𝙉𝘾𝙃𝙀𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙭 𝙔/𝙉

• ★ • ☆ • ★ • ☆ • ★ • ☆ • ★ • ☆ • ★ • ☆ • ★ •

It’s been a few days since Y/N and Castiel Angels of the lord has rescued Dean Winchester from hell. It’s been a wild ride. Castiel following orders, while Y/N had rebelled and had fallen. She didn’t care if she did. She was doing it for the good of humanity and the fact that they treated humans very bad, did not sit well with her. She didn’t like it not one bit of it. So, she went against the angels and helped the brothers out. To say they were furious was an understatement. She almost died trying to protect the Winchesters.

Especially since she had some sort of unwanted kind of feelings towards the older Winchester brother. She thought Sam was also sexy, but she was bit more curious about the older brother. Something about him was making her feel things she didn’t think was possible. It infuriated her to have some kind of feel in her lower parts of her body. It was so weird to her.

Currently the Winchester brothers and the Angel were in on an intense fight against some Angel that wanted to get to her. She didn’t know how they got caught off guard like that. Y/N takes the Angel blade in her hand and runs over to the Angel she was fighting with and stabbed him making him scream, as a bright light came from the vessel as she pulled it out. The body fall to the ground and she turned to the other Angel’s breathing heavily as she glared at them. “You either leave or you end up dead.” She shouted. The Angels looked at the other dead Angel and they disappeared making her slump her shoulder

She looked over at the bloodied Winchester men and she walked over. “Come here.” She told them as they met her in the middle. She healed them and they walked out of the building leaving the dead vessel behind calling the police to find the dead human left behind. As much as Y/N felt bad for killing the man inside. He probably would’ve killed her if she didn’t.

The two hunters and the Angel, entered the motel room they had checked in at, the brothers putting their stuff down. “I need a few drinks.” Sam told them as he looked at his brother. “Don’t wait up.” He said grabbing his laptop and walked out of the room. The Angel fell back into the bed as Dean sighed. “I, for one need a fucking shower.” Dean told the angel. “Yeah, you’re musty.” She smirked over at the man.

“Ha, ha” he said taking off his shirt. The Angels breath hitched as she looked at the half naked man in front of her. She blushed and she looked away from him. Her legs squeezed tightly as she gulped. She felt a pair of eyes on her and she dared to look over and Saw Dean looking at her with a smirk on his face. “Are you. . . Aroused?” The hunter asked her, it made her blush even more at the accusations. “What no!” She scoffed as she stood up from the bed she was in. “Go shower. I need some air.” She told him.

As she walked away Dean grabbed her wrist as he turned her towards him her chest hitting his bare chest. She gasped as she looked at his heart shaped lips. Dean’s hand lowered to her bum giving it a slight squeeze making her softly moan at the sensation she felt reach her Virgin pussy. Y/N knew her vessel was a virgin and so was the Angel inside of her. She wasn’t one of those angels that went around sleeping with men or her own kind. It disgusted her a lot to even have any kind of relation between her Angel siblings.

With his other hand he grabbed her other asscheek rolling their hips together. “Ah, Dean.” She moaned softly as she felt his hard dick rubbing onto her. “I-I’m, uh, s-still a virgin.” She whispered against his lips as he hummed. “You want this don’t you?” He asked her as she looked up into his mossy green eyes, that has her going feral. “Yes, I do.” Was the only thing he needed to hear picking her up. She gasped loudly and she rushed towards the bed tossing her on it.

He leaned down capturing her lips on his on a heated kiss. Their teeth clashing, tongue moving around each other. Moaning as Dean grinds his clothed dick on her clothed pussy. Dean pulled away kissing down her neck reaching the hem of her shirt pulling it off her body, leaving her in just a bra and doing the same with her jeans leaving her in just her pink lace panties

Y/N watched as Dean kissed down her body as she was curious as to what he was going to be doing to her. He spreads her long legs apart and he groans as he sees the wet spot on her panties. “Damn, so wet for me, already?” He said licking his heart shaped lip. He leaned down to kiss the wet spot making her back arch at the sensation. “I can imagine how tight this pussy is.” He groaned as he pulled the panties to the side. Y/N’s breathing starts picking up as his fingers graze her folds. “Oh, Dean.” She moaned, her body tensing as he grazed her clit softly very gently.

Both of her hands gripping the sheets under her so tight, as noises she didn’t know she could do came out of her mouth, Dean loved watching how he can make an Angel, a celestial being fall apart in his hands. Having all the control over her body making her putty in his hands. Dean kissed and sucked on her inner thighs making her squirm as he got closer to where she needed him the most. Then she gasp, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as his tongue swipes her slits up to her clit. “Oh, Dean!” She shook.

He pulled away ripping off her panties and going back his tongue working on her sensitive nub. Her body thrashing as she felt some amazing sensation was about to wash over her, his tongue moving in different directions, ways, patterns, his head the same way. “Stop! Stop! Stop! Aaah!!!” She shot up as her orgasm took her by surprise making her violently shake. Her hands grabbing ahold of the sheets under her ripping them as Dean licked her through her very intense orgasm. Y/N slumped down breathing hard as she looked at the ceiling in undeniable satisfaction

Dean stood up and wiped his mouth as he looked at her with pure amazement in his eyes.

“You ripped the sheets.” He told her chuckling as she blushed. “Sorry?” She said to him as he just laughed. “Don’t be.” He said as he walked over to her leaning down to kiss her. Y/N moaned as she could taste herself on his mouth. He pulled away going behind her to take off her bra letting her chest come out to his view. His mouth watered as he saw how hard her nipples looked. He cupped them in his large hand as he puts his mouth around them making her sigh in pleasure. His other hand playing with her hard nipple as she moaned loudly. He pulled away and stood up.

He unbuckled his belt bringing his pants and his boxer shorts down making his cock sprint out as the Angel looked at his with wide eyes and blushing as she saw how big and think he actually was. Her breath hitched as she looked at how it twitched and how it was leaking pre-cum. Dean just smirked as he saw how flustered she was by looking at his cock.

Dean leaned over her, in between her legs as they both looked into each other’s eyes. She couldn’t help the moan that slipped past her lips as she felt his tip on her entrance. He leaned down and brushed his lips against her own. “Are you ready?” He whispered to her softly as she started to breathe faster. It was something she never thought she would even think about doing. Especially not with the human hunter in her care. She was only meant to take care of Dean not fall into us charms like every other woman had in the past. Y/N nodded her head without saying a thing as she felt like everything inside of her was on fire. Dean placed a kiss on her lips gently as he sighs.

Pulling away, he sat up, grabbing his cock and slides it up and down her folds making her back arch as he spreads her slick on his cock. Dean then stop at her entrance and pushed the head of his dick inside as she bites her lower lips hard trying not to cry out at the slight pain of the stretching. Panting Dean looked at her. “Are you okay?” He asked her as she opened her eyes. “Yes, I am.” She managed to let the words out. With his tip inside he waited a little while and then he pushed again as Y/N groaned in pain of the stretching. She’s an angel and all, but she could feel the pain of the vessel. He stopped but she looked up at him. “Keep going.” She told him as he obliged.

Filling her up as she whimpered, he stretched her out no longer was she a virgin. Certain people weren’t going to be too pleased to find out that she’s no longer a virgin, but at the moment she didn’t care at all. Dean groaned as her tight pussy unintentionally clenched around his dick making his dick start to twitch because of how tight she was. Finally being all the way inside of her. He waited for her to adjust to his cock. He looked at the Angel and he wipes her tears as one made it out of her beautiful colored eyes

The Angel looked up at him and she nods her head as letting him know that it’s okay to move.

The hunter slowly rolled his hips making the Angel let out a loud gasp as he groaned softly. It really just wanted to take her on, knowing that she could handle him, but since she’s a virgin. He couldn’t just do that. Y/N kept on gasping, her leg shaking a bit as he went in and out of her in a slow pace. “Aah.” She lets out a moan. “Harder, please!” She told the man. He sat up and didn’t waist anymore time, grabbing the back of her legs pulling them up and started to slam into her at a fast pace. “Oh, Dean!!” She moans as she bounced along with his thrust. “Aah!!!” She grips the ripped sheets again making a fist. Dean looked down at where they connected and saw how his cock went in and out of her tight pussy as she fell apart. “Dean! Dean!! Aah!!” She could feel herself slipping into a bliss state as she lets the orgasm take over. Her body stiffened as she stopped breathing.

Dean moaned as he felt how her pussy walls were fluttering and he was so close to painting her walls with his own climax. “DeanDeanDean!!” She grasp her whole body shaking falling apart and Dean lets out a loud groan as his cock twitched as his cum sprouts inside of her. Shot after shot. Moan after moan. “Fuuck!” He grunted as the lights above him exploded as she squealed. Both of them calmed down. Y/N was so fucked out, so incredibly satisfied.

Dean pulled out making her gasp as he rolled to the side looking up at the ceiling catching his breath and trying to calm his heartbeat from ripping his chest open. He could still feel how his dick was twitching, but it was going soft. Y/N looked over at Dean about to say something when the door opened and Sam and castiel both entering the room still not noticing the angel and the big brother both naked on the bed.

Sam looked up and his eyes widen as he saw the Angel in a hurry looking for her clothes as Dean just laid there. Sam could see how flustered the Angel looked. “Uh.” Sam didn’t know what to say. The other Angel looked up, but he looked unbothered by seeing the Angel naked. He just looked at her flustered face and then looked at Dean covered in the ripped up sheets and the fact that there was no lights in the room. “Well, uh, wait outside.“ Sam told them both.

He pushed the other Angel out and left Dean and Y/N alone. “This is so embarrassing.” She told him.

Dean just laughed as he stood up and she looked at him and looked down at his now softened cock.

Her breath hitched as she got an actual view of it soft. Just like it was big when he was hard, he was big when he was soft. She didn’t know who she had survived that big thing, but she did.

Dean just smirked as he saw her looking a his dick. “Get dressed, sweetheart.” He said as he pulled up his boxer shorts, both of them getting dressed.

• ★ • ☆ • ★ • ☆ • ★ • ☆ • ★ • ☆ • ★ • ☆ • ★ •

Hope you enjoy! It took me a while to write this one. I didn’t know how to really end it, so I ended it with Sam and Castiel walking in on them completely naked with everything exposed to their eyes, I loved Sam’s reaction in the beginning of season 3 when he finds Dean doing it in a position I wish we knew. It was fucking hilarious and I love that scene, poor Sam

ANYWAYS! IF YOU HAVE ANY REQUESTS! SEND THEM OVER! I’ll try my best!

ENJOY! 😉🩶

[the-ultimate-puppeteer]

May I request Belle (zzz) finding a long-lost gn!younger sibling that's super oblivious and airheaded while she's doing proxy work?

Belle finds her and Wise's younger sibling while she's doing proxy work

I usually don't do gn stuff anymore unless the mood hits me but I like this idea a lot so let's get to it~

•Not many people knew it, but Belle and Wise actually have a younger sibling. Unfortunately, you were missing at the moment

•The reason being is that during the collapse of the old Eridu, they ended up being separated from you

•Hell a reason they actually started doing proxy work because they thought it might actually help find their lost sibling

•They knew the chances if you being found were slim and you actually surviving were even slimmer

•Especially since you weren't exactly the brightest person out there, you were airheaded and could be pretty oblivious at times

•That didn't stop them from holding out hope for you, though, since while you were airheaded, you are also weirdly competent and could always get yourself out of a bind

•And thankfully the siblings faith in you was rewarded

•It's took places a few months before they lost their Phaethon account

•Belle was in doing proxy work with the Cunning hares when they came across a random Agent in the middle if fighting several Ethereals

•And while normally they wouldn't interfere in such a mess, given that they didn't know who you were or if you were with Public security they still ended up watching

•Why well it was because of how despite the odds the fight was so incredible one-sided

•You skillfully and swiftly dispatched ethereals left and right dispatching them all in short time

•That when you start acting in a way completely different from when you dispatched those ethereal

•You were acting like an energetic kid, even bragging out loud about how cool you were, It was a stranger familiar feeling to Belle

•That's when you surprised everyone by suddenly popping out of nowhere right next to them and just started asking about directions

•Needless to say, everyone was confused at that point and caught off guard, with the exception of Anby who seemed to just be going with the flow seemed to be striking up a conversation with you

•That's when Belle noticed your way of speaking being extremely familiar, that being talking in the third person and your familiar hair color being a silver that fades into a dark blue

•That's when finally you stated what your name was in that energetic and ditzy way is when it finally hit her like a truck, lead to her to actually repeat your name out loud through Eos

•The way Belle had said your name caused the Cunning hares, to look at Eos with a questioning look, that's when she said your full name shocking you and asking a typical airheaded question of if she was psychic

•That's when she exclaimed in an emotional voice how you hadn't changed a bit and then called you by your childhood nickname that only your siblings knew you by leaving you stunned

•That's when you said her name out loud, shocking the cunning hares, asking if that was you

•Of course the moment ended up being broken when you asked how he ended up inside a bangboo.

•Being used to how you acted, Belle took the question in stride and introduced who you were to everyone else there

•That's when she asked the Cunning hares if they could put the current mission on hold promising them a discount on this and future missions as long as you got back safely, she wanted to get you back to random play as soon as possible to see you in person and to tell Wise the good news

•They'd finally be reunited with their younger sibling after so long, and when you finally showed up on their front door, a long and tearful reunion took place

[figureofdismay]

i keep thinking about the lines from Vince Gilligan's Drive script, the antisemitic conspiracy theorist with the pressurized head demands to know if Mulder is Jewish and if Mulder is a Jewish name, and Mulder says, "Yes, I am, and no it's not," plus there's the fact that he was buried unembalmed, which made his resurrection possible in DeadAlive, plus DD's statement that he'd decided Mulder was Jewish and to play him that way unless told to do otherwise, so despite the messy parts of the Kaddish script and other culturally 'Christian Athist' Mulder moments in the writing (most likely because of how little cultural awareness there is about the difference in Christian vs Jewish theism that it bleeds through everywhere), I do think there was a conscious positioning of the Mulder character as Jewish Adjacent via his mother + complicated by his WASPy father's domination of the family...

But they wrote that without any specific research or much accommodation for the implications of keeping him tied up with alien conspiracy plots and eugenics plot. Yet! Mulder was always on the 'fighting it' side, and the power hoarding conspiracists were all signalled to be rich WASPy conservative men, all but one of whom were White.

Also early the 90s independent internet fringe conspiracy theorists, i.e. the Lone Gunmen, Max and others shown to be allied with Mulder, weren't the radical right wing fasch of the last 10-15 years, and in the context of the show don't carry the same strange implication of 'an ethnically Jewish person surrounding himself with conspiracy theorists' would in the present day. I do get the sense that they were radical left instead -- that doesn't necessarily leave out the antisemitism part, of course so it's not un-complicated, of course. (And though I suppose i should feel grateful that CC made Mulder's son a fish mutant and not a lizard mutant that's also not a particularly reassuring implication... but then again the Revival is a pretty different animal with different, less collaborative creative direction.)

Yes parts of this subtext do bother me a lot. The fact that they got 3/4rs of the way there in the writing but never once had Jewish Adjacent Mulder talk about the mental toll of sorting the wheat from the chaff, finding genuine abduction survivor and alien leads in amongst the mountains of antisemetic conspiracy bullshit on message boards or how he doesn't really ever know which contacts are going to meet him and decide he's the enemy because he 'looks Jewish'... it's both a missed opportunity and speaks to a lot of ignorance. It makes me pretty crazy. There are a lot of half gestures towards Mulder's Jewish background and then a lot of ugly coincidences and unfortunate implications because no one really thought about what that would mean in the context of The X-File's genre content and recurring themes. But also some of that uncomfortable feeling comes from the fact that there have been a lot of cultural shifts since the original run was on the air.

Like, i don't think he's culturally exactly anything, caught in the middle and mostly without. It's a story familiar to me and my mother because my grandmother was also a young Jewish woman who made a hasty love match (i.e. she got pregnant) with a WASPy goy from a rich industrialist family, and said family held the purse strings, so keeping his mother happy was everything -- which was true even after my grandparents divorced, because of complicated inheritance reasons. She assimilated and let my mother and her siblings be raised as Christmas and Passover celebrating 'nothing in particular' kids, who went to shul when visiting her parents and kept shabbos sometimes with the neighbors, but still broadly steeped in cultural Christianity and outside the community, because it was the 50s and 60s and she was a divorced mother in an upper middle class white area who had to be careful to keep social doors open to all of them. I figure Teena and Mulder had a pretty similar situation in the 60s and 70s, with the added complication of accidentally marrying into an actual WASPy conspiracy hub who could have you 'disposed of' for speaking out of turn.

I just... Jewish Mulder is deeply important to me as a character, it's the execution in practice that I find extremely frustrating. it's the half way there implications, partly intentional, partly accidental because it's apparent that no one educated themselves on the history some of the bigger themes beyond the surface familiar Scifi-Horror tropes. Actually getting there all the way and digging into it, or trying even 25% more to avoid the pitfalls around Mulder and Teena would have added a lot to the show. And would maybe even have insulated CC against (some of) the plot bungles in the Revival. Very frustrating all around. But at the same time, it is a scifi show, and the aliens and rich White conspirators are very literal in fact on the screen.

And what's more, Mulder's particular blend of faith and hope and contention and interrogation, his willingness to Keep Doing The Work no matter what, because it's worth it and it needs to be done in the hope for a better world... that is very Jewish to me at more than a surface level. For me that makes all the awkward implications worth it.

[i3utterflyeffect]

Hi! I'm new here but im really interested in the selkie sticks au. Can you resume and explain it to me please?

oh absolutely!!! selkie sticks is one of my favorites but you could probably already tell judging by how incessantly i post about it lol

so the summary is that selkies are not humans who can become seals in this au, but instead they're sticks who can become cursors!

after the events of AVA 1, c!Alan becomes trapped in his computer as a cursor. what he doesn't know at this point is that he's actually a selkie!

usually the progression of selkie growth goes from stick -> fluffy stick (in the shape of some sort of clothing) -> stick sheds coat, and that coat can be used to become a cursor, but since c!Alan is kind of a freak of nature he goes from cursor -> fluffy cursor -> stick with coat!

anyway throughout AVA 2 and 3, he's stuck as a cursor and none the wiser to his status as a selkie! however, he does make The Chosen One and The Dark Lord! they end up inheriting the selkie status. Chosen's coat is obviously kept away from them by Alan, though, and both Chosen and Dark's coats are destroyed too much to be actually used in AVA 3.

After AVA 3, Alan at some point sheds his coat, turning into a mostly just very confused stick, and while he's on the desktop, he ends up accidentally drawing SC! SC is also a baby for no reason other than I wanted to. anyway he's forced to go into the outernet because he has no idea how to raise a stick, and ends up living there in hopes that SC can at least be somewhat normal! SC is also a selkie though so normal is relative--

he does end up meeting king very early on and it splits into two AUs where Gold either survives (because Alan turns into a cursor to break open the minecraft machine) or dies, but for clarity's sake i'm going over the one where gold dies! King and Alan end up losing contact with each other after that point :(

but anyway! Chosen eventually ends up finding out that Alan is in the outernet after finding him caught up in the crossfire with SC after a fight with Dark, and they end up kind of following him around just to make sure he's not hurting SC! Alan does eventually find out, but ends up being okay with this because. like. yeah he was kind of terrible to them, that's fair enough

he also ends up adopting the color gang (much to Chosen's disbelief) and just raising the group in general as the closest thing to normal kids as he can manage, and Chosen ends up babysitting a lot and growing very attached to their little siblings! they don't tell Dark about any of this though because. you know. Alan.

this ends up kind of blowing up in their face when Dark ends up finding out about them anyway and trying to kill Alan, which is equivalent to the showdown!! it happens when SC and the CG are a lot younger so even though Dark doesn't end up attacking the kids SC still exhausts themself pretty badly healing Alan and taking Dark out. I don't think Dark dies in this AU, partially because SC is weaker, but no one finds that out for a while--

(Also! Dark uses the virus to make a faux coat basically since their old one is damaged too badly, but this pretty badly hurts them as well :3c)

anyway! Alan basically takes Chosen in under his wing after that since they're still pretty badly devastated by the loss of Dark, and also Alan feels just generally horrible about everything. he ends up using what's left of Dark's original coat (as well as a few pieces of his own coat) to repair Chosen's coat as a gift for them, and generally things are pretty peaceful after that up until AVA 6!

i haven't completely figured out what happens yet (i mean. kind of obvious since the arc itself isn't over) but i do know Vic ends up most likely stealing Alan's coat!

Vic is a very weird middle point between selkie and not-- they have fur, but never ended up shedding, and can use Alan's coat to transform!

anyway a few notes about the au:

a selkie giving someone their coat is more of an expression of trust than anything romantic! it's just essentially saying 'hey i trust you', the equivalent of a cat showing their belly. giving someone their coat can also be something they do to comfort someone who's going through something as it's a comforting thing for them!

selkies aren't a well-known legend in the outernet and typically someone would default to going 'oh, that's a human' before going 'oh, that's a selkie' if they saw a cursor!

alan can regrow his coat if it's destroyed; the others cannot

purple is a selkie because it's fun, i said so, and also getting hit with the Minecraft Beam fucked them up a little bit

SC thinks of King as something similar to an uncle! purple has a similar view of Alan since he helped them cope with becoming a selkie

cursor!alan is ridiculously big even for a selkie. he's actually taller than king in this form. i need you to know how scary he is to literally any stick who isn't a selkie he's so so so big

No one except MAYBE Agent (and Vic themself obv) knows that Vic is partially selkie.

[kanerallels]

Day two of @spectre-week is for our beloved Captain Hera and oh BOY did I just barely finish this fic in time. Had to scrap my old one, then finished this in a haze of panic yesterday. But I actually stand by this! (It is low key set in my Steve Miller Au but you don't need prior knowledge of it to read this. Just enjoy!)

Once upon a time, Hera Syndulla was an only child.

And then, quite suddenly, when she was six years old, she wasn’t any more. Her mother, Eleni, told her she was going to have a baby brother or sister and Hera, well, she was excited, if a little wary. She’d seen her friends playing with their siblings, though she’d also seen them bickering and stealing things from each other. 

But Eleni told her she was going to be an amazing big sister, and her father was glowing with pride and happiness, boasting to his friends and co-workers, and Hera decided it probably wouldn’t be so bad. At least she’d have someone to play starships with.

Time ticked by, and Eleni’s belly grew, and she spent more time sitting down than standing. When she got up, she groaned about her swollen ankles, but she was still happy. And so was Cham.

The day when the baby came was long, and hard. Hera hated the sound of her mother in pain, and she could tell her father did, too. He paced the length of their house again and again, and told her mother that they should go to a hospital, that she needed help.

But Eleni was insistent. She wanted a home birth, assisted by midwives, in Ryloth tradition. So Cham gritted his teeth and paced, and Hera stayed curled up in her favorite chair, wincing at every cry.

But the end came, and with it, joy, and a new baby brother. Hera sat on her mother’s bed as Cham cradled both Eleni and the new baby close, then took her little brother out to show him off to the relatives. Then she hugged her mother, who kissed her on the forehead.

“I’m fine,” she told Hera. “Just because it’s scary doesn’t mean it’s bad. Your brother is here, safe and sound.”

Hera was a little unsure about the first part— at first. But then, finally, when Cham was back, he gently put her brother in her arms. Their eyes met, wide, for the first time, and Cham said, “Hera, meet Devaar Syndulla. Your little brother.”

“He’s tiny,” Hera breathed, staring at him. His lekku were barely stubs, his skin a delicate shade of green, like she and her mother’s. His eyes were orange, though, like her father’s, and they held hers with a wondering confusion.

“You were at first, too,” Eleni said. “He’ll grow. But he’ll need a big sister to look after him.”

“I will,” Hera promised.

True to her word, Hera kept a close eye on Devaar— which everyone quickly shortened to Dev. Unfortunately, for the first several months, he didn’t do much interesting. Other than cry and sleep and eat.

But, in a way that was painstakingly slow, yet flew by, he grew. Soon he was crawling, and then Hera had a lot of work to do, helping her mother keep him out of trouble.

It only got worse when he learned to walk. Dev had inherited his parent’s propensity for trouble, according to Cham, who laughed proudly and swung him in the air, eliciting gurgles of laughter. He made bolts for the door and for the dangerous stairs, trying to grab hold of pointy things and sharp objects.

Hera got very good at distracting him, oftentimes with her toy starships. She kept her favorite (a VCX freighter) hidden on a shelf where he couldn’t chew on it or break it, but showed him how to fly around the gunships and the starfighters.

Some of them even matched the ones they began to see overhead, more and more. Hera’s father was clearly concerned about them— and one day, it came to a head. The Republic was at war, and Ryloth was caught in the middle.

Hera and her family had to go into hiding, which Dev did not appreciate. But the bombings were dangerous, and the Separatists hated Cham. The feeling was very mutual. Hera’s father spent most of his time away from them, fighting against the invaders and alongside the Jedi and Republic troops.

While she knew it was dangerous, Hera liked to watch the ships soaring overhead. There was a spot not too far from their hideout underground where she could see out of an old drainage tunnel, and she could watch the gunships passing. Sometimes— only when it was safe and her mother was napping— she brought the one year old Dev, carefully watching him to make sure he didn’t run off.

“I’ll be up there one day,” she whispered to him. “Flying, like them.”

Dev babbled something that sounded like encouragement, and Hera decided to take it as such.

After what felt like years, the bombs stopped, and Hera’s father came home, his eyes wearier than last time he’d been with them. They were safe, he said, from the Separatists. And he brought with him a company of clones, who helped Hera, Dev, her mother, and all the other refugees return home safely.

Home was a little worse for wear, but Eleni always liked a project. They started fixing things up, and Hera was just starting to wonder if life would be normal again.

And then, suddenly, it wasn’t.

Dev got sick.

It was just a cough that wouldn’t go away at first, paired with a runny nose. But then it got worse, until the cough sounded like it was tearing apart his lungs. A fever sprang to life, and Dev was wailing with pain.

They tried everything. Antibiotics, half a dozen Republic drugs and even more old remedies that Eleni’s mother had used on her. Nothing seemed to work. Dev got sicker, and sicker, his skin pale and his movements listless. Soon, he barely moved at all, and Hera could read the fear on her parent’s faces.

They thought her little brother was going to die.

He can’t, Hera thought, staring at Dev. She’d stuck by his bed since the fever started, watching over him. Giving him water and cooling him with wet cloths. To think that her little brother would just… be gone? He couldn’t be. The galaxy wouldn’t do something so cruel.

Please, she thought. I’ll do anything. We can’t lose Dev.

Her answer came two hours later, in the form of a knock at the door.

Cham and Eleni had prepared for the worse. They were crouched next to Dev’s bed, tears in Eleni’s eyes and helplessness in Cham’s. Neither of them looked up at the knock. But Hera did.

Getting up, she walked downstairs to the door, keeping her steps quiet so she wouldn’t disturb her parents. Pulling open the door, she started to tell whichever neighbor it was that they didn’t want visitors right now.

But it wasn’t a neighbor. It wasn’t anyone she’d ever met before.

The human woman was hooded and cloaked in white, but when she looked at Hera, Hera could tell she was smiling, even under the shadows. “Hello,” she said, her voice holding an unfamiliar accent. “You must be Hera. I’ve heard much about you.”

“Who are you?” Hera asked, confused. “Are you a friend of my father’s?”

“I’m afraid I’ve never had the pleasure. But the Force told me to come here. I’m here to help your brother.”

That was all Hera needed to hear. Wordlessly, she stepped aside, and the woman came inside.

Eleni didn’t move when they entered the bedroom, but Cham looked up at the sound of the woman’s arrival. Wariness flashed across his face, and he rose, making a barrier between his wife and child and the stranger. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“Forgive me for intruding,” the woman said, her voice soft and calm. “As I told your daughter, the Force sent me here. I believe—”

“She said she can help Dev,” Hera blurted out, and then Eleni looked up.

Gaze locking onto the woman, she rose and pushed past Cham. “Can you?” she asked, looking directly at their guest.

“I can.”

“Then please.” Eleni’s voice cracked. “Please. We cannot lose him.”

“I will do everything I can,” the woman promised.

She looked at Cham, seemingly questioning. Cham hesitated, then said, “You’re a Jedi?”

The woman seemed to hesitate briefly. “Not— exactly. But I promise, I am here to help your son. Let me try, and if you think I’m hurting him, you may remove me.”

Cham’s jaw worked, but he glanced at Eleni and Hera, then at the bed where his son lay. Then he nodded, moving to the side. “Do what you can.”

The woman was at Dev’s side in an instant, pushing back her cowl a little as she knelt. Moving to watching her, Hera saw her rest a hand, marked with geometric tattoos along the back, on Dev’s head.

“He is very weak,” she said. “But I can help. It will take a little while, so—”

“We’re not going anywhere,” Eleni said.

The woman’s smile was just visible. “Of course. You may wish to make some caf, though.”

Cham made a little, and they settled in to wait. Even Hera got a mug, and found she actually enjoyed it— with milk and a little sugar. They sat together and waited, watching and hoping desperately.

It didn’t seem like the woman was doing anything. She was just kneeling there, a hand resting on Dev’s forehead. She didn’t say anything or bring out any props. She just knelt, eyes closed, for a long time. So long that Hera was starting to nod off against her father when a noise cut through her sleepiness.

It was a cry. Dev’s voice.

Hera’s eyes flew open, and all three of them bolted to their feet as the woman rose. “He’ll be alright,” she told them, and Eleni burst into tears. “Give him some water and a little tea tonight. Tomorrow you can give him food.”

Cham, tears in his own eyes as he put an arm around Eleni, said, “How can we repay you?”

Shaking her head, the woman said, “No payment necessary.” Giving them a little bow, she headed down the stairs.

Cham and Eleni went immediately to Dev’s side, gathering him up in their arms. For a moment, Hera hesitated. Then she followed the woman.

Their mysterious guest had already made it out the door and a little ways down the street when Hera caught up with her. It was late, and three of the moons were full and bright above them.

“Wait!” Hera called out, and the woman stopped, turning to face her. Her cowl was lowered, and her face was kind, with bright blue eyes and dark tattoos.

Pausing, Hera struggled for words, then asked, “Why? Why did you help us?”

Smiling, the woman said, “Because you needed it. And because an old friend asked me to.”

“How?”

“The Force flows through all living things,” the woman told her. “I just gave it a little nudge in this case.”

Hera nodded slowly, wrapping her mind around the words. “And you’re… not a Jedi?”

“Admittedly, it is a little complicated,” the woman said thoughtfully. “I was, at one point. Perhaps I still am. But I think what’s most important is that your brother is still alive. Perhaps he’ll help the galaxy someday. And so, I think, will you, Hera Syndulla.”

She smiled, and turned, walking down the road. Soon, she was out of sight.

But Hera never forgot it. Forgot what the Jedi had done for her family. Especially not, years later, when she saw someone do the same thing, far above Gorse.

It wasn’t the first miraculous thing she’d seen, and it was far from the last. Her journey was just beginning.

[happysparklingshadows]

𝚃𝚊𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚊 𝚃𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚛 + 𝚈𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙰𝚕𝚙𝚑𝚊𝚋𝚎𝚝 (’96)

Warnings: Controlling behaviors, Financial abuse, Mental illness, smut, mentions of physical pain (Not intentional and from a sleepwalking moment)

Notes: Taissa is such a mean lesbian and I feel like we as a fandom need to give her more love because who doesn’t love ‘96 Tai? Btw I love this format! @zhivaxo​ @g1rlsriot

                   *.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*  

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

I think Taissa is a very dominant ChapStick lesbian and would like to do more masculine performances of affection. Taissa holds the door for you, protects you with her mean standoffish personality, and tries her best to provide. She grew up in a very middle-class traditional home with still-married parents and two younger siblings, and she wants to be like her mom, the more significant breadwinner in the household. She wants to become a high-paid prosecutor, and she would want you never to have to work again. She is a big BIG act of service and Verbal reassurance, so she does a lot of hard labor for you and wants to be told she is doing good by you.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

Taissa is very conflicted about how far she will go for you and how much her ambitions get ahead of her. Like how she was with Allie’s leg, I feel like Tai has a lot of pent-up rage inside of her for some reason that even she doesn’t know why she has. It would have to be other Tai getting their hands dirty, acting out all of Taissa’s subconscious urges of bloodshed. I don’t think it would happen often, only when someone threatens her profoundly because she usually relies on her sliver tongue to get her out of things with you.  

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

Taissa would never kidnap you because she doesn’t want to have the consequences or social isolation of being a creepy person. However, she would mock you when you act like you are trapped with her. Because are you serious? Are you in bondage? Are you locked in a cage like how she wants to? No? Then fucking get over it, baby. 

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

Taissa is overbearing and dominates your life in many ways. She will do things for you against your will as she files you into your license, she will let you cheat off her homework with her hovering over you to explain how to make it look like you did it all on your own, and she doesn’t let you solve any of your own problems. It’s a fucking godsend for you at the beginning of your relationship, but it becomes something of a problem when she starts fights with you and makes it about how you are being crazy. Taissa loves a good Gaslight. 

“Okay, so just make a little box in the corner and start writing the radio. So, Mrs. Goldberg can’t tell you’re coping.” Taissa says to you as she sets her homework beside your empty one. There is no judgment but just serious business in ensuring you didn’t get caught. 

“Thank you, baby, again. I just didn’t have time to do my homework last night because of my shift-”

“Don’t worry, pumpkin, I got you,” Taissa said as she kissed your temple, moving a hair behind your ear. She gently points to your writing and says, “Carry the two.” 

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

Yes, she is very open but keeps certain things to herself. She doesn’t talk about her generational trauma with the man with no eyes, she doesn’t talk about the sleepwalking unless Tai has to or is forced by you, and she refuses to believe that the other Taissa is real. She didn’t want to accept she had problems because if Tai had any, she was fucking insane and destructive. Taissa is not doing her best and is not perfect, which fucking breaks Taissa apart inside. She doesn’t share that stuff. 

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

Taissa is never wrong until proven wrong with rock-hard evidence, and she can’t believe you are fucking serious right now. She will simply double, triple, quadruple, and quintuple down because she doesn’t want to be wrong in a fight. She is the type to keep fighting even when Taissa knows she is wrong, but you don’t have enough evidence to prove her wrong, so she keeps fighting.

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

Taissa controls you, and she does so much for you that she doesn’t give a fuck if you are trying to leave her because you can’t. Try to find someone who will take care of you like her. She would use any means to keep you or manipulate you to anchor you to her. She came up in a very upper-middle-class family. If you were from a more similar to Natalie’s economic state, she would make you believe that you deserve how you are being treated because you are so lucky to be with her because of how much she can and does do for you.  Like, find someone who is going to buy you a car? Who can save all the money they make at their part-time job because their parents don’t need a dime from them, and they just buy you a fucking car because they just build up money for college? Or, more significantly, she would pay rent for your parents when they can’t make up this month because money is very tight. She would never outright hold it above you, but it is implied in the fabric of the relationship.   Even if you were in a better financial state than Natalie’s, Taissa would find a way for you to depend on her to provide for you. 

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

 Normal Taissa Never intentionally tries to hurt you physically or emotionally, but another Taissa is not ashamed to do any urge that subconsciously comes to her. Other Taissa would be physical and unwilling to listen to anything that you will say to them, which is quite terrifying, especially in the middle of the night in the wilderness. 

“Tai, Wake up, Please, wake up!” You beg her as she pulls you further and further into the dark woods. She blankly walks into the woods, letting you get hit by branches of trees as she naturally seems to duck; she ultimately lets you get hit by the wood. It has almost knocked a tooth out of your mouth, your lip is busted up, and a bruise is forming on your cheek. 

“Come.” She just says as she pulls you with a death grip on your wrist, not letting you go as she walks further into the woods. 

“FUCKING WAKE UP!! YOU’RE HURTING ME!” you cry as you pull her arm away from yours to no avail. It’s not working. She is pulling you to the cliffside. 

“He wants us here.” She stopped and stood in front of a tree. Her hands cup the sides as she starts to wake up. Taissa gasped as she felt how cold her feet were with the snow in-between her toes and her body without a coat. Her eyes are met with the same fucking symbol. 

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

Traditional. Taissa wants to have kids and a dog, with a red house with a white fence. She grew up that way, and she wants to grow old that way. She doesn’t care to deconstruction the patriarchal or mystical aspects of what ordinary people see marriage as because, for Taissa, it is more of a confirmation of your championship being for life. Although controlling and manipulative, she doesn’t want you to be unhappy and try pretty hard to make you happy. 

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

Taissa is very confident in herself and is not scared of anyone taking her away from her because she is very secure in herself. She doesn’t think Jealousy is very healthy and doesn’t let herself get jealous, and she does that by controlling who you hang out with and what you are doing. She trusts you and doesn’t think anyone is special enough to take her attention away from you. 

Kisses: How do they act around or with their darling?

Taissa tries her best to be good to you but isn’t the best because she is just a teenager. She treats you like her wife and doesn’t like the idea of being with another person. She loves you and only wants to be with you; she can’t imagine why you want anyone else. She treats you like you are her lover, but she doesn’t hold as much reverence as the other girls have for you. 

Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

Taissa took a while actually to approach you with anything other than friendship. You two were a part of the soccer team since freshmen year, but you didn’t have any classes together. You two weren’t very close, but Taissa always paused when she saw you, always having to look at your beautiful face. Once you two have classes together and have a moment to talk to each other, you two become closer until she finally asks you out. Once she is your friend, it will take her a few weeks. 

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from how they act around everyone else?

The two sides of Taissa are the most challenging thing for her to mask; her personality naturally masks many of her tendencies and darkness. The Snarky smart-ass way she held herself before the crash pushed people away enough not to see those things. But I don’t believe her showing or being more verbal about her darkness to you wouldn’t break her mask because it’s just something about being with Taissa. 

Naughty: How would they punish their darling?

Cold shoulder and eye rolls. Taissa thinks of herself as mature and calm but still a teenager. She doesn’t know how to talk healthily about her feelings, and she doesn’t want you to hate her, so she just becomes quiet and shows her displeasure with you at every chance she can get. 

Oppression: How many rights would they take away from their darling?

A lot of them. She would make things very strict in your relationship, and she makes sure that you follow each one or else you will be at the end of hours of lectures from her. Or worse, you will start a fight and have a bad tonight. She gives you a schedule, rules like which hallway or jobs in the group you can do, and Tai doesn’t let you do your own things. 

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

Taissa doesn’t have much patience for anything and uses that impatience to work towards her ambitions. She was raised in a home that only praised her or gave her the spotlight of attention when she was going her best and excelling. She was on top of everything for some reason, and it wasn’t because she was patient. It was because she puts so many fingers in many pies and quits when it gets too annoying and lengthy.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

Taissa would literally stop. Taissa would just disappear, and other Taissa would keep her going. My headcannon is that other Taissa is a splitting of Taissa’s psyche that does the things that normal Taissa doesn’t want to do. Like is closer to the spiritual, does the hunt, and eats the meat. So I believe that if you died in the wilderness, Taissa would “move on” by her brain, not letting her feel it until she returned home. I feel like Taissa would never remarry or find a new partner because you were her wife after the events of the wilderness. 

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

Fuck no. Taissa isn’t being as bad as she could be and doesn’t think she is being that bad. She doesn’t understand why you think you are “trapped”; the door is right there. But you both know you can’t because of more than just not wanting to be with her anymore; you no longer have the resources you have because of her, and it would ruin your life. 

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

She got this way because of her neuroses and upbringing. Taissa grew up with very healthy parents to each other but was controlling her every move, and she learned that her parents' hovering and expectations were love and care. She was given a tight school schedule, clubs, tutoring, piano lessons, and French lessons, and she was expected to be the perfect daughter. And Taissa fucking crushed it because of that pressure; her mother once said something about it, making Taissa a Diamond. She is a tough, sharp, and beautiful person because of all of her weight since she was young. Tai’s mother didn’t see an issue with parenting style because, after all, her grandmother did that to her mother, and she is a successful doctor, now Chief of Staff. So, to Taissa, being possessive, strict, and controlling is all an act of love. 

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

She is annoyed normally because she doesn’t know how to fix it. When it’s a moment of mutual sadness and vulnerability, she has no problem. It’s healing to cry together, but she is usually really not great with tears. 

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic Yandere?

Taissa is not verbal about her dark tendencies, which are very much kept to her chest. Because you are the same age as her, 18 years old, you just think these strict rules you both follow are because it’s how serious relationships work. I don’t think you would ever have the vocabulary to put together that she is a Yandere unless someone told you that those things are bad (bc it’s 1996 girl. These girls didn’t know what seasonal depression was) 

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit to escape?

Her ego and pride. Stroke either, and be kind to her; you can do anything. She doesn’t mind too much and allows you to do your own thing on your schedule, so you have plenty of opportunities to leave her. 

You moan as Taissa kisses down your stomach, and her fingers plunge in and out of you. Your legs are open and wide just for her to have all of you. You were wet because of her. Taissa smiles as she starts to lick down on your clit. 

“Fuck! Tai-” You pant as you try to stay quiet for the girls downstairs, “Yeah, just like that. You’re so good at eating pussy.” 

Taissa feels a surge inside her as she moves her tongue faster. She loved the praise and just wanted you to be pleased with her. She loved how you tasted and how you felt against her tongue. Your hands come to her hair, and you move them to her shoulders to not mess with her hair, and you claw your fingers into her shoulder. “Yes, ah~.” 

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

Never intentionally; it doesn’t hurt you terribly when other Taissa doesn’t get physical. I see the other Tai grabbing and dragging you in the wilderness and letting you get hit by branches of trees, and she would drag you to where she could feel it. 

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

Tai is like Van in that she reveres you as an angel figure. You are simply better than everyone else, and so is she. She thinks you are too good for this world and doesn’t like it when people try to silence your personality shine, and she doesn’t hold back from confronting anyone if they do that to you. 

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

She just didn’t get close to you for a while until you were meant to meet. It didn’t take her long to go for you when she knew you and became friends with you, and I would say she would take maybe a week of friendship to be like, “Okay, this is not just friendship.”

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

In the sense of independence of yourself, yes. But your will and your opinions, never that. 

Yandere Level

 7/10 (She is Controlling and very Territorial over you. She is good to you and loves you openly. But she does have problems that people outside of the relationship would notice.)

Freedom Level

 6/10 (You are not very free with your schedule and what you can do with your free will, but she doesn’t stop you from having your own opinions and hobbies. She doesn’t take your personhood away from you.)

Vanessa    ✿  Shauna ✿

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Could I mayhaps ask for your thoughts on each of the Box Legendary Pokemon?

*cracks knuckles* SURE! let's do this

Gold and Silver: I actually don't feel suuuuper too strongly about Ho-oh and Lugia, tbh--though i will say they both have more solid designs than. A Lot of other johto Pokemon imo LMAO. I liked Lugia a lot when I was a kid and that affection has waned a bit as I got older but I do still think it's cool. They both have pretty solid lore as far as Legendaries go, I'm just not particularly attached to 'em...something like a Legends Johto game really has the potential to do something cool with 'em (I feel like with Ho-oh especially) and I do kinda hope we eventually get to see that.

Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald: MY HOMEEEEE Hoenn box Legendary trio sooo near and dear to me...Ruby was my first game Groudon was my first Legendary but I think he's kind of just ok. I like Kyogre a lot more and I Love Rayquaza, definitely a long time favorite Legendary...they're really just a solid trio of Pokemon with some really cool designs and concepts at play, and I like the new lore and forms ORAS gave 'em. Kyogre's Pokemon Pinball boss fight kicks ass to this day and im not kidding.

Diamond, Pearl, Platinum: MY DEAR LATE MIDDLE SCHOOL/EARLY HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS I thinkkkk as a trio I think I might like Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina the best...Legendaries I never tire of seeing. Palkia is one of my all time favs, gazing so lovingly at my giant Palkia plush ive had for some 15 odd years...Giratina is too, honestly, Giratina fucking Rules (though I actually don't like its Origin form very much and never had...I'm an Altered Form Giratina girlie.) They're just all super solid designs and for Dialga and Palkia especially they really feel like perfect embodiments of The Game Theyre the Cover Of. Also I love Origin Form Dialga and Palkia sorry. Theyre my precious ugly as fuck horses.

Black, White, BW2: WELL. THESE MIGHT TRULY BE THE BEST ONES. Zekrom/Reshiram/Kyurem are not my favorite Trio, but together just everything they represent is so cool. One day we WILL see that Original Dragon so HELP ME GOD. I'm more impartial to Zekrom (i played Black and White 2) but it still has such a striking design, I have to say. Reshiram is an especially beautiful Pokemon and definitely one of my favorites. I have. So Many Reshiram cards and plushes HJFDJGDF And well some people don't like Black and White Kyurem for whatever reason, but well i simply have to say they have been making me crazy since high school and the concept of Pokemon Fusion Really in The Game will never not be fucking bonkers slash POS. i LOVE White Kyurem (go figure.) THATS MY FUCKIN FREEEAK

X & Y: i don't. like X & Y very much 🥴 I wish I liked Xerneas more but something about its design is just kind of lacking some 'oomph' ro me. It doesn't feel like a strong poster child for the Fairy type's debut. Despite everything Yveltal does go hard as fucking hell though I still like it a lot. I named the one I caught in Y HELLRAISER back in college and I was shocked they let me name it that.

Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun/Moon: ok nevermind scratch what I said about DPP Sun and Moon have my favorite Legendary Trio for absolute certain. GOD I WISH SUMO/USUM WERE BETTER GAMES!!!!! SOLGALEO LUNALA AND NECROZMA ARE ALL SO FUCKING COOOOL!!!!! DUSK MANE NECROZMA AND DAWN WINGS NECROZMA ARE SO FUCKING COOOL!!!!!!!!! NECROZMA FUCKING EATS THEM FOR POWER. Just in general fantastic designs all around, and it's so cool that Solgaleo and Lunala are Legendaries That Evolve.also i played Moon/UM but I have grown deeply fond of Solgaleo over the last year or so. As if it's my fault he looks like...no, I shant say.

Sword and Shield: I don't like SWSH very much either 🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴which is a shame because Zacien and Zamazenta have really cool concepts and designs!! I love their old tattered beat up forms, I love that theyre siblings 🥺I love that the one that isnt Your box legendary goes with Hop, that's so so sweet and so so cool. I just wish SWSH had more of a..........yknow. story. to do anything else of any substance with them. Cool Legendaries in bad games...sad!

Scarlet and Violet: WELL. THESE MAY ALSO BE THE BEST ONES AND I'LL SAY IT WITH MY WHOLE CHEST. god, just. WOW. I like them both a lot but I'm especially fond of Miraidon, to absolute bits. This really feels like the most realized version of a box art Legendary that really truly is a Character in its own right, you get to spend that whole game with your dragon, it well and truly Is Your Friend and it's just fantastic. Theyre endlessly charming and silly and conceptually just so fucking cool. They killed someone. My motorcycle that eats sandwiches. My BUDDY!!! I named my Miraidon Delta Accel :^)

[avroravia]

out of curiosity, what do you think each of the mythical!readers sort of backstory is? feel free to ignore this, and i love the idea so much it’s really cool!

tysm! you’re so sweet <3

i actually already thought of these when i was typing the intro post! i’d be happy to write more specific things if anybody has any more quesions! <3

mermaid is an only child to a soc couple. her dad was always out of town for work and never really present in her life, and when he did come home, he would essentially live in his office. her mom was a stay-at-home wife, and she really did love mermaid, but she definitely had a lot of her own issues that caused a strain in their relationship. i’d say mermaid’s parents had around a 7-10 year age gap, with her mom being younger. her mom is a pretty vain woman, and her main focus is on her appearance. she would always say things to mermaid growing up (like when she was a literal child) about her face and body that made her a bit self conscious. mermaid is an only child, but she has a million little cousins running around who she takes care of, and she loves them like they are her own siblings. these things made her super independent at a young age, and she never really caught a break from it. when mermaid eventually opened up to darry about how she grew up, it was a weird moment of realisation that people with money can have problems too. it was kind of a shared struggle that they both had to be independent at a young age, and they both felt like it was nice to share that burden with the person they love.

vampire has one older sister, who’s about 10x more scary than she is. their parents had them really young, and they don’t have a good relationship with one another or vampire and her sister. they were both alcoholics, and pretty deadbeat. i don’t think they were very physically abusive with their kids, but it was very emotional. this caused her older sister to move out right after her 18th birthday, and vampire moved out with her a few years after when she turned 17. the two of them have a very close relationship that kinda works like, ‘you’re the only person i have,’ until vampire started dating dallas. i think vampire’s sister had a brief relationship/fling with buck. dallas was into vampire the moment he met her, but when he found out she was sisters with ‘that one scary girl buck used to date’ it scared him off a bit, but he bounced back super fast. dallas never asked vampire about her home life, but he listened when she opened up about it. dallas understood it well, and it strengthened their bond further.

ghost lives a much happier life compared to her counterparts, with two loving parents and a cute baby sister. her family is lower middle-class, but they make enough to get by. ghost grew up in a small house, and when she was around 15 her parents adopted her little sister. they chose to do this because they wanted another kid, but her mom was too old for that strain on her body. ghost loves her sister to death, and her little sister definitely looks up to her. when tim met her family for the first time, they were all so sweet and polite. he had never been used to a stable home growing up, and it was a new experience for sure. angela loves ghost and her sister so much, and she’s always babysitting ghost’s sister whenever her and tim go out on a date.

dryad is a middle child and the only girl in her family. she was raised in an upper middle-class home, with her two brothers. her older brother is already married, and lives with his own partner, and her younger brother is around 9 years old. despite the 5-6 year age gap, they still fight all the time which makes their parents laugh. because dryad’s the middle child, she can sometimes feel a bit forgotten. that’s part of the reason why she loves johnny so much, because he’s so focused on dryad and he remembers everything. dryad’s parents are super polite people, and a bit on the older side. when johnny met dryad’s whole family for the first time, he was kind of surprised at how wholesome their dynamic was. her brothers aren’t the type to be super harsh with the boys their sister dates, and they were very welcoming of johnny. her older brother’s partner was also very kind and polite.

[ghidorahsrealm]

So... hasn’t taken me a while, before I wanted to redesign Daevas. I thought she looked rather bland and not much like the hybrid of a Queen and Devil, so instead of two heads, I’ll be giving her five total and revamping her head design so that she has two sets of split jaws on each head (which is going to be an absolute pain to draw each head).

Additionally, I’m going to give them the cobra hoods I gave to my new Ghidorah design, plus give them a sort of hierarchy of horns - the two outer most heads will have smaller, more ‘stump’ like horns, and progressing to the middle head is where they are the biggest and sharpest. 

As for their limbs, I decided to revamp the inner chest limbs so that they’re bigger and more so used for stabilizing Dae, as she has a lot of front weight going on. Might make them bigger so that they’re like the outer set of limbs for better support. Her wings are being changed too to be more ragged - it bothered the hell out of me how I made the wings too streamlined, as I want to lean more heavily towards Ghidorah’s heritage than Mothra’s with this daughter. That’s pretty much it for Dae, as for the moth next to her, that’s actually a new character I’m slowly working on.

Titanus Askifro is the son of Mothra and Battra.

Askifro, I imagine, has a very posh way of speaking, almost like a Victorian style. He doesn’t enjoy short-conversations, so he’s typically advise to have something you can talk extensively about, preferably something he also enjoys - which, admittedly, isn’t a lot. He has a relatively stable relationship with both Mothra and Battra, but tends to prefer his father rather than mother. 

he’s actually the older half-brother to Dae, as Mothra first landed with Battra before reaching out to Nii (there’s a whole poly relationship going on that I’ll maybe explain later). Dae never got to meet her older half-sibling, but honestly? Askifro and Dae would surprisingly get along - she understands and respects Aski’s knowledge of things, and is actually a little upset at not meeting him sooner. Something about his presence soothes her immensely, and she feels genuinely safe around him. 

Aski doesn’t mind having Dae around, but finds it daunting to be the older sibling. He doesn’t have any trauma really, so it’s hard for him to exactly feel that connection with his younger sister - very much a advice rather than comfort guy too, but tbh his advice is just “kill your enemies and wear their skeletons as trophies” which Dae just responds with “please no”

very knowledgeable on kaiju biology, and is a pristine collector of their bodies if a kaiju is too pass. very careful, very precise. if its a fresh death, he’d likely eat the corpse then drag the remains elsewhere, or if it’s just the bones or a rotting corpse, he’d clean the flesh off of the bones and carve whatever he wants out of them

fucking hates Goji tbh, but keeps it veeeeeeeeeery close to himself. he’s not a big confronter, preferring to keep all of his secrets and opinions to himself rather than tell anyone, including his parents. WHICH REMINDS ME, SHIN AND ASKI

god, he didn’t expect her to be so blunt and outright rude towards him. he didn’t really find her intimidating though, just... kinda annoying. the most he’d do is just bap her on the head (Dae doesn’t do anything about it bc shes admittedly a little spooked of Aski despite the fucking power and height difference) and try to teach her proper manners, which Shin doesn’t actually need, she’s just being a dick

she does warm up to him after a while though, and so Aski watches over his little siblings with a lot of care, actually. HOWEVER, he definitely doesn’t want to get involved in Dae’s rivalry with Apoc. that’s a disaster in itself and while yes he cares for Dae, it’s her fight, he literally has no connection to them so he doesn’t care, plus he can probably get bodied if he got caught in the crossfire 

random thought time, after getting to know each other, Shin grows comfortable enough to gossip to Aski about stuff with the other kaiju, and he listens, hiding the smile as he hears all the tales. OH and if they were in their human form, they’d definitely braid each other’s hair and go out to get their nails done, Aski doesn’t give a fuck 

one last thing, with Aski and Dae, they have a something similar to what Goji and Mothra had - Aski sacrificing himself to give Dae power, then Dae goes absolutely ham. that is all

[interdimensionalburnout]

((Quick OOC post, and hopefully the last one I need to say about this recent drama in my personal life for a while. In the aftermath of this stupid fucking adventure, we still have to find a place to live long-term and get unpacked.

((Once I'm good and used to working 7AM to 3:30PM again, and this emotional bullshit's smoothed over, I can get back to having fun hobbies and put some more time into RP again!

((SO! What's happening to Mick! Bullet-points edition, as little word-salad as possible (I'm a prosy kinda fruitcake):

In April we found out mom had been "robbing Peter to pay Paul," and in doing so had racked-up a 16,000 dollah electric bill.

That happened at the same time the landlady wanted to send an appraiser to the house to assess value and damage, because she and her siblings want to sell it so they can pay to put their mother in a retirement home (I have strong opinions on that).

They never communicated with us, never even offered to transfer all the money we'd already paid in rent towards, you know, buying it ourselves.

They actually were kinda dickheads about it, but it's also fine because that house is a money-pit and they deserve each-other.

Mom bullshits the electric company, the landlady doesn't immediately kick us out, but we keep slowly packing anyway.

Eviction Notice in June, extended until the 28th of August.

Things keep getting heated, blame keeps getting thrown around.

The tension keeps rising to a boil. Lots of things get left behind in the move, personal items, valuable items. My plants had to be packed into a blue-box, likely dead by now.

Dad's work puts us up in Air B&B's until we can get into a house he's trying to buy. Dad gets a loan and a realtor, and finds out that Florida is a "Spousal State," meaning he can't get a house without his wife signing for it. Their marriage is on the fritz and has been for fifteen years (at this state, this thing was fucked as soon as they said "I Do.") but he was willing to sign a contract for the next 30 years with her anyway.

Things keep getting heated and mom's grip on everyone keeps fraying further. Moving five animals and four humans (one of whom is borderline immobile and infirm) takes two trips to Gettysburg, and then two trips to Florida.

The tension rises again, mom calls dad's job to try and cow him. She'd tried that once before, fifteen years ago when they almost divorced before, and back then dad told her that, "if you ever do that again, I'm getting a divorce."

I get a job super fucking fast and already put in eightish hours

Dad and I have to take off yesterday in order for him to finally drive mom back north. She takes the smallest dog, leaving her other dog with me and dad and jay (sibling), because she can barely take care of the small baby let alone both babies.

Dad will be driving back down to florida soon,

And the rest of our lives will, I guess, start.

He also asked his realtor to help us find a rental that'll take two medium-sized dogs and two small cats.

TL;DR- Mom and dad have been fighting in a flawed marriage from the minute they put rings on, their kids have been caught in the middle and it derailed our adult lives, but the (failed) move provided the final straw that broke the camel's back, and now mom is gone and we have to get on with our lives,

and I'm too numb about it to really feel happy or sad.

[kennahjune]

El and Steve Being Siblings Because I Said So :)

El didn’t quite understand the concept of “siblings”. Papa had called the other kids in the lab her brothers and sisters, but she never really knew what that meant.

Mike tried to explain it to her before, and so had Lucas and Dustin. They weren’t very good at it.

When El asked Will he said “there’s really no way of describing it that comes to mind. But you kind of just know when someone’s your sibling. They don’t have to be blood related, but— there’s some kind of bond there, and you’ll know it when you feel it.” He had given her a knowing look.

So now El sat in a chair in the living room of the cabin, her feet swinging back and forth while she hummed along to the song on the radio; Dancing Queen by ABBA.

Behind her, none other than Steve Harrington was braiding her hair.

El had worked hard over the last couple of years to grow it out. But she never knew how to maintain it. Max wasn’t much help since she never really cared about her hair as much.

So when El walked in on Steve styling his own hair she demanded he help her. Steve didn’t put up a fight.

It became a weekly thing for the 2 of them. Every Wednesday, at exactly 2:15 PM, Steve would come over to the cabin and they’d sit and do hair.

Hopper was sat at the table. El could see him just out of the corner of her eye: he was reading the paper and smoking, as per usual.

Steve went on and on about what he was doing with her hair.

“It’s a simple french braid, really. The kicker, though, is that instead of finishing them both off all the way to the ends, you stop right at the back of your head where the braids meet in the middle. Tie them off and then continue with a normal braid for the rest.”

El listened closely, following along with his words and watching him as best she could in the mirror in front of them.

“Steve,” El addressed. Steve hummed to show he was listening. “Can I have.. a ribbon?” She asked quietly. El was still getting used to asking Steve for things— that and she was still getting used to talking to others in general.

Steve perked up behind her. “A ribbon?” He never turned his attention from the braid he was working on. His voice was slightly muffled from how he was holding bobby-pins in his mouth, but El heard him loud and clear.

“Yes. Ribbon. Please,” she confirmed. Steve put in the last bobby-pin, El felt it go in with a little force but made no comment.

Steve looked at her in the mirror, a bright smile on his face. “What color or pattern?” He reached down to the coffee table and into the bag he brought. He emerged with another smaller bag that held many types of ribbon for her to choose.

“Um…” El swallowed, a bit overwhelmed with all the bright colors. Her eyes caught one at the bottom. “This one, please.” She pulled the ribbon from the rest.

It was a light baby blue with white polka dots. It was also pretty long. It was simple and cute— just El’s style.

Steve’s smile grew into a wide grin. “That one’s my favorite,” he said while grabbing the ribbon. El looked at him in the mirror threw her eyelashes since her head was angled down.

“You.. wear ribbons?”

“Sometimes.”

“What else do you where?”

“Hmmm… oh! You know those really colorful rubber bands I brought over?—“ a slight nod from El “—Yeah well, I wear those a lot. Just small braids.”

El thought about that while Steve quietly sang to Bohemian Rhapsody.

“Can I..” she hesitated only a moment. “Can I put braids in your hair?”

Steve paused behind her, only briefly, before resuming securing the bow he made where the two french braids meet.

“Sure. I’ll even leave it in to sleep tonight so my hair will be curly in the morning.”

Steve smiled at her in the mirror, and El couldn’t help the giant grin that brought out her dimples. She scrambled out of the chair.

“Sit sit sit sit,” she demanded.

Steve giggled to himself but sat down nonetheless. El rummaged through his bag, taking out a few cans of hairspray, a few bottles of leave-in conditioner, a new bottle of mousse, and finally getting to his small handbag filled with hair ties. She grabbed it and took out the smaller plastic bag of rubber bands. She also grabbed the brush.

Immediately, El got to brushing Steve’s hair, she only had to stand on her toes a little bit. She was amazed by how soft his hair was despite the amount of product he used in it.

The song changed to Loverboy by Queen. El hummed along with Steve’s quiet singing while she finished up brushing.

“Is there a certain way to do this?” El asked Steve.

Steve hummed in thought. “I don’t think so.” he shrugged. “I usually just do multiple random braids in different sections to get it curly. Hence why this is usually done before bed.”

El hummed while sectioning off a part of his hair.

“What’re ya thinking super girl?”

El looked at him briefly in the mirror. “3 braids. 2 on sides one in back. French braids. Pink, blue, yellow rubber bands.” She hesitated with her next sentence. “And.. maybe a bow?”

She didn’t look at Steve in the mirror until he answered. El knew it was frowned upon for boys to wear “girly” things. Especially in Hawkins.

“Sure! Go for it.”

El looked at Steve. “Really?”

Steve nodded slightly, not wanting to disturb her work.

El grinned wide once more and continued working. Once the right braid was done she moved to the left. The style wasn’t meant to be “fashionable”— it was just her experimenting— but she didn’t want the braids to be messy, to let Steve know that she was paying attention when he explained things to her.

In no time, she had all three braids finished and tied off with the multi-colored rubber bands. El turned back to the bag and went to the decorations box Steve carried with him. It was a small wooden chest that held things like hair clips, beads, barretts, and bows. El grabbed a light blue bow with stars on the ribbon ends. They could match— kind of.

She continued humming to Girls Just Want To Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper. She focused on bringing together the ends of Steve’s braids. There wasn’t much to work with but she managed clipping the bow and turning for a can of hairspray.

One quick spray down and El deemed Steve done.

“It’s so weird seeing myself without my hair in my face,” Steve said after praising El on her braids for 3 minutes straight.

They were cleaning up now, having spent nearly 5 and a half hours doing hair and goofing off. Having Steve around was fun. It was like having a girl-friend without having a girl-friend. Yes, Max was technically a girl-friend, but her knowledge seemed to end after clothes and boys.

With Steve, El could do hair, paint nails, and dress-up. Was this how people with sisters acted?

El begged Hopper to take their picture. Just a quick 1 or 2: one of the back and one of the front.

Hopper grumbled the entire time but he took multiple photos of them despite them only asking for 2, so El figured he couldn’t be too mad.

Steve took the camera with a promise to stop by the Byers’ in the morning to ask Jonathan about processing the photos for them.

El walked Steve to the door, lingering on their conversation about the movie night at Steve’s the next night while listening to Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler.

Before Steve could fully leave El took a page out of Max’s confidence and pulled him into a hug.

Steve froze, but only for a moment before he rested an arm across her shoulder in a one-armed hug. El felt him press a soft kiss into her freshly-done hair.

“Goodnight super girl.”

“‘Night Steve.”

[BONUS: Jonathan did end up processing the photos and now Joyce, Hopper, El and Steve all have copies of them. Steve had them taped up proudly in his bedroom. El adds her’s to the photo album/scrapbook she and Hopper had started. Hopper frames the photos for his work desk. Joyce has hers on her fridge.]

[lilacthebooklover]

An analysis of Rococo (OMORI), because he doesn't get enough love :)

This is an analysis of Rococo as a character, looking into almost every word he says and interpreting them. It's time to find out just how tragic this funny little artist man can be >:]

"I've been alone for so long... but after what feels like an eternity... At last... I have... an audience!"// "PLEASE LISTEN! I'M SO LONELY!!"

He's been alone for ages, judging by Sweetheart’s long-lasting relationship with Spaceboy, him falling in love and moving in with SWH when she got her castle 'as a young donut', and his loneliness . This is someone who hasn't spoken to anyone in years and is willing to beg for a bit of company. 

He also clearly thrives on attention, both from this quote and the grand flamboyance of others, so being without that for so long must have been terrible for him. While 'what feels like an eternity' could quite probably be a hyperbole, he's had no way to tell the time since he's been literally trapped inside the walls.

The poor guy's so lonely . :[ 

"In the beginning was me... crying in a pod in the middle of space... witnessing my home planet blow up right before my eyes." // "I can still remember it all so vividly... Fire... Fire... everywhere... and then darkness." // "Even as a baby, I knew I was the sole survivor of my species... the last elf in the entire universe."

I know this is a Superman reference, but I’m going to treat it as its own separate thing for the sake of the backstory :)

Immediately, this shows us that he's lost his home as a child (being a literal baby when his planet was destroyed) alongside any family, friends or even people of the same species. He was completely alone from the start, and there's no way that something like this wouldn't cause issues later on.

Also, the fact that he remembers this shows two things: A- this affected him so deeply that it remains with him to the present day; and B- he can remember it despite being incredibly young. This means that it's likely he remembers a lot more , having such an extensive memory– e.g. everything that happened with SWH, too: them being close, her claiming 'Sweetheart is for everyone', himself getting abducted by the guards, every moment of living in the walls... It may be a stretch, but it's a possibility, and his storytelling shows that he may overdramatise his past a lot, but there are still some key facts within it.

The repetition of 'fire' makes it seem like he's almost reliving it, caught up in his memories. This is a tragic backstory already , and this is just the first 2 lines.

""So this is how it ends..." I thought."

There's no panic, no regret. Just pure, depressing acceptance. He was ready to die, knowing that he couldn't do anything to stop it and having been exposed to death so early on.

(This is also likely just something he made up remembering for the effect, but that shows that either then or later on, he realised he could very well have died in that desert. Ouch)

"Yet... In a stroke of luck, I was found by none other than a young DONUT by the name of SWEETHEART. She brought me to her family and they took me in as one of their own."

He and Sweetheart grew up in the same house, the same area of Faraway, best friends. They seemed to be like siblings, judging by her taking him in, them fighting, and knowing and caring about each other incredibly well. This makes her later betrayal all the more heartbreaking because this isn't just a woman Rococo's pined for before, but rather his entire world . 

He never mentions Donut Grandma or any other relatives outside of this, just her. They don't mention him, either.

 He doesn't have any friends, or a close bond with anybody , except  for Sweetheart, who intentionally locked him in her walls for years. Again, Rococo's completely alone.

"It was a rough childhood. We fought frequently, but she would always win... If I fought back... Well... ..." // "Anyway! I learned to run! And I got quite good at running… But... there's only so far you can run." // "Yes, it was a hard time. But even through that suffering, I stood firm."

I have... A lot of feelings about this part.

He describes his childhood as 'rough' even after he was rescued, which is immediately a red flag. He says that he and Sweetheart fought frequently, and it doesn't seem like any adults broke up their arguments.

Then, Rococo says that SWH always won. They would get mad or disagree, but even as a child, Sweetheart refused to accept she was wrong. This says a lot about her character; Sweetheart's always been like this.

'Fought back' means that Sweetheart had to be fighting him in the first place, and Rococo just had to take it. He was getting hurt, either physically or verbally, on the regular.

The frequent ellipsis throughout show how difficult it is for him to remember and share this. He cuts himself off a few times, his voice trailing off, while never explicitly saying what Sweetheart did.

However, as a result of Sweetheart having different opinions to him, Rococo 'learned to run' . This means he had to be running from something, his forced cheer at the matter and determination to change subjects and make his story dramatic and lighthearted again demonstrated through the exclamation mark. 

Then, there's the phrase, '...there's only so far you can run'. He's speaking from experience here, and it really brings to question again just what he had to run from, and why. 

Furthermore, this is immediately followed by, 'Yes, it was a hard time', showing that he found simply growing up around her– and having reason to run– difficult. This is to be expected growing up with Sweetheart, but the fact that he didn’t seem to have anyone else means that she was his only company constantly. His childhood is far sadder than I initially realised.

'Suffering' again shows us just how much he endured as a child; I'll go back into this in the next point.

"Because even then, I knew everything had a purpose. I was sent to this planet and survived for one reason and one reason only... to repopulate my entire species."

Rococo ploughed through his 'suffering' for only one reason: he felt it was his obligation to repopulate his wiped-out species. That's... Actually really disturbing, when you think about it.

Rococo doesn't think he's alive for the sake of being alive. He doesn't think he was just fortunate enough to survive. He believes that he has been kept alive by the fates solely in order to procreate.

This is an impossible goal, too, since he is the only one left. There are no other elves for him to have kids with– even if they were, options for partners would be incredibly limited and based not on love, but necessity. At best, he could make hybrid elf-donut kids with Sweetheart, but he can't repopulate his species. What he views as his only purpose is one he isn't even able to fulfil.

This is also a huge weight on his shoulders. There would always be that sense of estrangement since he is the only one of his kind, his desire to make more showcasing even that hidden hope for those like him. Because people like to be around those of the same likes, interests and species , but for Rococo, that last bit's impossible.

Loneliness is the centre of his entire backstory, and has followed him relentlessly throughout. 

"There is a conspicuous gap in my memory after this, so I'll fast-forward a few years." // "At some point... SWEETHEART and I fell deeply in love, became engaged, and moved to this giant castle together!"

This has some truly horrible implications. 

Rococo, having remembered his time as a literal baby, lost an entire chunk of his memories as a (presumable) adult? It doesn't seem likely, and 'conspicuous' only further supports this.

The fact that this is immediately followed by him and SWH falling in love seems wrong , to say the least. Rococo has just said he suffered at her hands, fought frequently with her, learned to run because of her, and now, he doesn't even remember falling in love with her.

One moment, he's living in Orange Oasis with his adoptive family. In the next, he's engaged to Sweetheart in a giant pink castle with no clue how he got there.

What seems more likely is that Sweetheart, who loves people loving her , got frustrated with Rococo's lack of blind adoration and decided to do something about it. 

It seems that here is when she encountered the Keeper of the Castle, who she begged to make the castle hers. In the Keeper's words: "That girl. She was an elaborate one.

This dwelling. It takes the shape of one's deepest desires. A place to return to. Somewhere to call home."

Her 'deepest desires' resulted in Rococo having a years-long gap in his memory before finding out he was apparently in love with and engaged to Sweetheart. He probably believed this, too, as by that point, he would have been affected by the Castle he now resided within. 

The Keeper said he gave her "A castle full of riches, servants for her to command, a stage for her to flaunt her power". He does not mention Rococo, but this tells us about SWH's desire for power and reveals that the sprout moles are either of Sweetheart’s creation/wants or were tricked into loving her.

If it is the latter, the same would have likely applied to Rococo.

"We were inseparable, her and I... and we loved each other dearly! I would do anything for her, and I mean anything!"

The ellipsis here indicates either that Rococo looks back on this fondly or with unease. The following exclamation mark again shows that he's trying to make his story seem happy, trying to convince himself that the only person he was close to genuinely cared about him as a person.

The emphasis on 'anything' once again contradicts his feelings prior to the memory gap, suggesting that Rococo's mind has, in fact, been tampered with. There is no mention of SWH doing anything for him– only the Keeper' remark on her hunger for power.

Needless to say, this doesn't suggest that their relationship was particularly healthy .

"I was ready to spend the rest of our lives together... to grow old... and to raise hundreds upon hundreds of children!" // "Hmm... Thinking about it now, I wonder if I ever made that clear to her."

Again, he longs for people of the same type and is excited to fulfil what he believes is his purpose. He made it clear quite early on that he's always wanted to be a father, so him not mentioning this to Sweetheart ever seems unlikely. 

Knowing SWH, she was probably far more focused on her own wants than Rococo's, regardless of his feelings. Their relationship was based off of what she wanted– and it seemed that Rococo grew a little too attached for her liking.

"Alas, all good times must come to an end. As SWEETHEART's fan base grew, she and I grew apart as well."

He views their relationship as 'good times', despite what he's depicted being sudden and unequally reciprocated devotion. As Sweetheart became more centred on her fame and fans, Rococo grew more and more alone. 

Again .

"She began receiving gifts and letters from suitors from all over the universe... asking for a chance to prove their love to her."

The ellipsis once again shows his hesitation. He doesn't want to remember this, yet recounts it all the same as it is an integral part of his story. She’s the only person he has, and Rococo doesn’t want to lose her.

Don't forget that by this point, he and Sweetheart were engaged . 

"Being her one true love, I was vehemently against this notion! But she wouldn't have it!" // "“SWEETHEART is for sharing!” she would say!"

They are planning on getting married by this point. Sweetheart is all Rococo has, and he has said that he would have done anything for her.

And yet, that wasn't enough for Sweetheart. Rococo is being perfectly reasonable here, yet once again, he suffered as a result. This is a sad echo of their apparent fights as children.

"..." // "So... one night while I was asleep... SWEETHEART and her servants tied me up and sealed me inside the walls of her castle."

The pause here shows his sadness at this, seeming to have to take a moment for himself before speaking. Here, his grandeur is gone, replaced by pure misery.

Sweetheart assisted in tying him up, and as the guards were manifested from her desires, them helping her get rid of him shows that she simply no longer desired Rococo.

This would have been traumatising in itself– being kidnapped in the middle of the night and aware enough to see your attackers–, but the fact that Rococo knew and trusted her so much makes this even sadder.

He had nobody else, and Sweetheart sealed him away for what was probably intended to be forever. Rococo, once again, was alone .

"I have been wandering aimlessly through the darkness inside the walls ever since... surviving off old TOAST and TOFU." // "Yes... You four are the first living beings I have seen since that fateful day."

Firstly... Toast? As in, toast that people become if they lose a fight? As in, toast that is essentially dead bodies?

Considering all of Sweetheart’s skeletons in the dungeon, it would not be a surprise if the corpses of those she executed were also thrown into the walls– anything SWH didn't want, after all.

Rococo, potentially having never been exposed to the concept of toast=person, had to survive off of this. What's even worse is that he could have known what it was yet had no choice but to eat it, supported by the use of ‘living’ in the above quote. This also means he's been here for a while , long enough to start starving and for SWH to make through multiple seasons of a show and date Spaceboy.

If that isn't a horrifying thought, then what is?

Secondly, he became absolutely isolated after this. Left with no closure and no explanation, Rococo can only wonder what went so wrong for this to happen.

Living in the walls means he could have been able to hear everything SWH was doing– including her courtship of Spaceboy and 'Sweetheart Quest for Hearts'.

Either that, or he’s been exposed to no other form of human contact for years. He's also in a dungeon , with no natural light and a distinct lack of hygiene or, well, anything really.

"Sniff... Oh... SWEETHEART... Why did you do it? Was I not good enough for you?"

He doesn't blame her. He doesn't blame the fans.

Rococo blames himself .

His idea of 'not being good enough' for Sweetheart is equivalent to him being locked in her walls to rot for years. This is someone who is very much not okay.

He has to stop himself from crying here, sniffing as he laments what he views as his failure. Because Rococo has been alone for his entire life, and Sweetheart was the only exception.

He loved her more than anything, so it's hard for him even after he's found to view her as in the wrong. Sweetheart, after all, was always the one to win their arguments, to do something that caused Rococo to run if he fought back.

!

"Sigh... For the last few years, I've had a long time to think." // "I kind of gave up on my dreams and all that stuff now... It all seems so far away and pointless..." // "So... I've decided to drop everything and become an artist instead!"

He's given up on his dreams. Rococo's main one was to repopulate his species, but now, he can't think of anyone who loves him. It takes two people to make a child, and Rococo's all alone.

So, he's left without a purpose. He has nothing to do but utilise his surroundings– until Omori & co. find him, Rococo believes he's never going to leave the dungeon. So, he decides to use what he has available.

And that's painting supplies. He aspires to become an artist, waiting and waiting for anyone to make art for. He's desperate to be commissioned, to have a purpose again.

We never actually see him leave the dungeon, but he had to be getting those bed upgrades from somewhere . Imagine, after years of solitude, Rococo finally manages to leave the walls, only to retreat back to them at the first possible opportunity. He doesn't know how to live anymore, how to be around other people.

He feels incredibly lonely, but can't find the strength to interact with others anymore.

Art becomes his only reason for existing, Rococo devoting every bit of his time to it until he masters it. But then...

"Thank you, fellow living beings. Through these few commissions... I feel as if I had made great leaps in my quest of self-discovery in the process. I am also very rich now." // "I can do no more for you! I truly feel complete!"

'Fellow living beings'. Rococo's so socially awkward by this point that it's not even funny (okay, maybe it's a little funny). He feels the need to remind himself that he is, in fact, still alive.

He 'feels complete'. There's nothing more for him. He is ready to pass away.

Now, Rococo has managed to 'find his purpose', be it what he originally intended or not. He's become as good as he can at what he focused on doing, except...

...There's nowhere to go from there. 

Rococo will inevitably be left alone once again, trapped in a cycle of loneliness and purposelessness. If his purpose is to be an artist, how will he get any better than he already is? If he wants to spend his money, what will he use it on?

At the end of this story, just like the rest of the points throughout, Rococo is still alone. 

He has money, he has his art, he has a comfortable bed, but he still possesses a total of zero friends. Omori and co. are customers. Sweetheart is in Deeper Well, working for the Slime Girls and not giving a toss about him. None of his adoptive relatives in Orange Oasis seem to care about him.

Rococo always has been, and seemingly always will be, all by himself– all the way up until he dies, just like the rest of his kind. He was never able to complete his original goal, he is left with nothing more to do after completing his last commission, and he has nothing more to spend his money on.

Because Rococo is alone once again

The End :)

Huh, that turned out a little longer than I thought it would. Oh well :)

Rococo's such a fun character but I barely see anyone talking about him, so I hope you enjoyed this little look into him! He's so silly and dramatic and angsty :D

Thanks for getting this far lol

[beansterpie]

marley-manson said: I hadn't even heard of it til now lol but now I'm curious what those reasons Bucchigiri isn't your cup of tea are

I hadn't heard of it either until my sister started watching it on a whim and then DEMANDED I watch it too so she could talk about it with someone lmfaoo

The basic premise so far is.... new kid moves (back?) to a city and transfers to the high school there, but said school is essentially divided into two rival gangs that are very focused on being The Strongest Fighters™. He is reunited with his childhood friend who is part of one of said gangs, but seems to not want anything to do with him for ~backstory reasons~ (even though said friend seems to think the world of him). Through shenanigans he ends up becoming posessed by a genie like entitiy who can grant him incredible power and strength so that he can attract the attention of a girl in his class-- but then ends up being caught up in the dick measuring contest war between the two gangs.

It's like, very silly. And ngl I can see the appeal because it's campy af, and it seems very deliberately homoerotic right from the get go. It goes out of it's way to frame all the gang in-fighting as a sort of homoerotic obsession with other guys, while making the protagonist easily the most heterosexual character in the series, but that's like, what makes him kind of pathetic and annoying because the girl he's trying to date hates him. But ngl I kind of just find the characters annoying 😂 I don't like the protag, I don't particularly care about any of the other characters so far either, and they feel like such tired archetypes that I find it hard to be interested. Also there's a character who turns out to be basically in love with their sibling, and though it's framed as weird and creepy it's still there for comedic effect and it simply Does Not Land for me.

Also, the entire story is set in this... alternate version of Japan that seems to have a lot of ~middle eastern~ influence in the archetecture, which seems to be so that these genie-like entities.... fit into the environment of the story?? I guess?? I know there's plenty of anime/manga out there that just sort of uses generic 'middle eastern' aethetics because it looks ~exotic~ or whatever, and at this point I'm kind of past humoring that sort of stuff. I think it's in bad taste and it doesn't endear me to the series.

But yeah! It's very homoerotic, and it could very well become an explicity gay story later on-- and if it is then idk. I might??????? check it out again????? but ngl what I saw so far didn't interest me too deeply, and there's always the chance that it's just homoerotic for flavoring rather than having any intent on actually going through with anything sooooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[sunlit-gully]

Happy WBW! What's the harshest part of your world? Be it a place, a law, something character-created or otherwise, what is just HARSH?

Answering for my WIP Anthologia Sovietica. Spoilers ahead, read at your own caution.

Well if Medea Kurauli's life wasn't some harsh shit I don't know what is.

She was born to Nino Chincharauli (a Khevsur Georgian) and Vakha Aldamov (a Chechen). The girl was the result of Vakha's illicit affair with his tachanka driver Nino, which ended in disaster because Nino turned out to be a traitor and a spy. In the end Vakha had to execute his own lover, in the middle of a battle no less, and unwillingly abandoned a newborn Medea.

Otar Kurauli, the ten-year-old son of the local forest ranger, was scouting around the ground when he stumbled upon Nino's corpse, now irreversibly disfigured by a northern goshawk. The infant wrestling with the bloodthirsty bird of prey, so Otar took pity on her and decided to adopt her, as his mother was also nursing a newborn son and would have milk to spare.

When Medea was about to enter secondary education, she had to part with her hometown for a boarding school in Dusheti and, 8 years later, Tbilisi State Medical University. This obviously changed the girl a lot; for the first time in her life, the highlander girl got to experience new ideas and sights, and escape from the oftentimes-unbearable oppressiveness of her parents, who were very much conservative and sceptical of Soviet authorities. Medea retained some old Khevsur garments and traditions, but generally she found nature, music, clothes, and her siblings the only good parts of her childhood.

War broke out 2 years after her admission, and Medea joined her division as a field medic. Her medical skills, while mostly cobbled during wartime, were very much sufficient for treating battle injuries, and as such she was the division's sweetheart.

Soon the young medic pined for the division's intelligence officer Mykola. But before any of them could confess, their tender feelings were disrupted when Medea sacrificed herself to divert the German’s attention during an ambush in Sandomierz, subsequently getting imprisoned in Ravensbrück camp. This was where she suffered from horrific, unethical medical experiments and cruel assaults by camp tyrants, resulting in a crippled leg she had to amputate (she later used a wooden prosthetic leg). Fortunately, thanks to the courage she showed to the camp's chief when she refused to drink with him to victory of Nazi arms, Medea avoided her execution and, finally, ran from Nazis. She later anonymously submitted a testimony of her time in the camp to the Nuremberg Trial.

After having fled Ravensbrück, she joined as an unofficial member of a division belonging to the underground KPD resistance movement in Berlin, fighting alongside Soviet troops. This was when she met Lev Adler, the unofficial scout of the Soviet division she was trying to contact. They took a shine to each other at first sight due to shared trauma - Lev had also lost his family and innocence to the Nazi Reich. During the Battle of Berlin, Medea was chosen as her underground unit's representative in a meeting meant to establish contact with the nearest Red Army division. Much to her joy, her long-lost lover Mykola was also present. By a stroke of luck, all three survived to Victory Day and went back to the Soviet Union a happy family (Lev Adler now Lev Sokolenko). Afterwards Medea also got 4 more kids with Mykola - Viktor, Rusudan, Lasha and Mykyta - and gradually settled into domestic bliss.

Too bad the bliss only lasted 12 years.

Remember Medea's wooden prosthetic leg? This is where it comes to play. During a business trip to her native Chaukhi mountains, the doctor got caught in a flood. Because her wooden leg broke in two, she was unable to run away in time from the oncoming landslide.

Suffice to say her family never recovered from the shock.