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nkirukaj · 7 months ago

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The Radio Demon & the Billboard Doe (9)

Pairing: Alastor x Fem! OC

Warnings: Swearing & Graphic Depictions of Violence

Genre: Angst/Fluff (& Humor!)

Word Count: 3.1K

<Chapter 8

9. For the Entertainment

“What the fuck is it with that wall?”

They all look toward the hole that was blasted into the side of the hotel

“Y’all know me, love to make an entrance!” Cherri Bomb stepped through the hole “Angie! Ya little bitch! What’s going on? Every time I invite you to hang out ya say no!”

“Okay, Cherri.” Charlie walks up to the Cyclops “So glad to have you here, but…” she glances back at Vaggie “We have a door, please use it, okay? No more blowing up the walls. Okay?” Charlie gives a pleading grin

“Alright,” Cherri says, her lips flat as she rolls her eye. Charlie gives an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Voe gives an excited gasp “Cherri Bomb! Hi!” She waves at the other woman “I haven’t seen you since the last time you were here.”

“Uh yeah…” She squints “Angie! Answer me ya bitch!”

“Ugh, I’m just busy, ya know.” He lays down on the couch

“All the more reason to get pissed!”

“Yeah but between work…..and that’s it.”

“Come on then!” she pulls his legs

“Ugh!” he falls on the floor “Gimme a minute! Or five! Or a thousand!” He lays his head back on the ground

“Where were you headed, Cherri?” Voe chimed up

Cherri keeps tugging Angel’s leg “I was gonna drag Angel to-“

“This is a perfect opportunity to get to know each other! The club! We’re going to the club!” He points up at the ceiling

“Sorry to interrupt, but Voe can you go get Alastor? We need him to fix this wall,” Charlie approaches the three of them

Voe blinks “Why me?”

Charlie blinks back at the doe “Um because…uh…can you please just do it?”

The doe twists her lip in confusion “Okay.” she starts walking “Wait, where is he?”

“He should be in his radio station,” Vaggie stepped up next to Charlie

“Where is that?” she tilts her head in confusion

Charlie points down the hall “At the very top of those stairs.”

Voe walks toward them and starts ascending. After walking for about 10 minutes up the many flights. She took a second to breathe. Was this why they sent her? So they wouldn’t have to do all this? She stood wondering if there was a faster way to get up all these stairs, racking her brain with possible solutions, she just decided to accept her fate. That is until the overwhelming thoughts of wishing to move faster consumed her mind to the point where she didn’t even notice that she had passed about 5 flights in a few seconds. Looking back down, she realized that she was further along than she thought. Taking the next few flights in the same way. Once she took her time she noticed that she was moving and climbing unnaturally fast, her speed nothing like she’d ever seen before. Once she started to do it on purpose, she realized what exactly it was.

At the top of the stairs, she regarded her feet with awe “Cool,” she spoke smugly

The door to Alastor’s radio station was closed, with a sign saying ‘On Air’ lit up at the top of the door, she reached for the knob but pulled her hand back once she heard his voice.

“And that you wayward souls is why all other forms of music are inferior to jazz. “ she could hear the smirk on his face “Now ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to finally address the subject that you all have tuned in for. Recently, you may have heard the news that in my next broadcast, I plan to speak about my relationship with someone special. And finally, that broadcast is here!” Voe steps forward and presses her ear to the door. “I want to talk about a very important person, I’ve known them for some time and they’ve been on my mind recently.” he takes a breath “That person is….Voe the Beau, as she goes by” Voe inhales sharply, then covers her mouth to mask the sound “I’m sure you’ve heard of her. She seems to have taken Hell by storm. This demoness is quite the newcomer, she seems quite intelligent, and her flair is felt in almost all the crevices of Pentagram City. In fact, given the number of people willing to follow her, I believe that some Overlords, such as a certain talk show host with a picture box for a cranium should look out.” His tone gets threatening and ominous towards the end “This is Alastor, signing off” he ends his broadcast with the evilest of laughs as the ‘On Air’ sign goes dark. Voe backs up from the door as she hears the knob turning. Alastor, in his lean frame, stands in front of her in the doorway.

“Did you need something, my dear?”

She looks up at him over her glasses “Charlie asked me to come…get you.” She stands straight up “They have a wall problem.” His face is straight, but his eyes look down, almost disappearing. She wondered how it felt for him to be looking at her from such a great height.

“Once again, I am needed.” he starts to dissipate

“Wait!” Alastor reforms in place with an eyebrow raised “Can you like, shadow me down too?”

His smile turns into a smirk “Oh, my dear” he says before disappearing into the shadows

“Ugh this motherfucker,” she mumbles under her breath

Luckily she had gotten a hang of her unnatural speed and made quick work of the staircase, but it would’ve been better if he had just shadowed her down as she asked. She made it to her room, and fell face-first into her bed, resting her feet for a bit. It wasn’t even two hours before her ears picked up on some nonsense from downstairs. Mostly Charlie screaming and everyone else sounding annoyed as fuck. Her ears wouldn’t stop twitching with sound, despite how much she tried to ignore it.

But then she heard another voice that had never graced her ears before. It was high pitched, nasally, and grated her ears like nothing before. With a groan, she dragged herself out of the bed legs first and exited her hotel room. There was no way that any drama was going down without her being a part of it.

___________________________________________________________

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to see Alastor, duh”

“Didn’t he send you away last time?”

“And now I’m back! I’m like a boomerang baby!”

“I don’t recommend it.”

“Oh, what do you know kitty? Alastor loves me.” She strolls past the cat, up to the deer with a smug grin on her face

Voe’s appearance at the top of the stairs was nothing short of dramatic, but that was how she liked it. She’d heard the nasally high-pitched voice from a different floor. A voice she didn’t recognize. And now seeing who the voice belonged to, and who it was directed towards, she was not pleased.

Alastor stood incredibly still and silent at the pleas of the blonde. She started edging closer and closer to him, until making contact when she was holding his arm, and his pupils were looking down on her unsure of whether to recoil or throw her.

“Alastor!” Voe calls from the top of the stairs, using her incredible speed to then appear next to him, edging out the blonde. “Who’s this?”

“Mimzy.” The blonde speaks flatly, looking Voe up and down

“Hello, Mimzy! My name is Voe! To what do we owe the visit?” Her eyes are large, but unwelcoming, hoping to create a feeling of unease in her victim.

She turns back to Alastor, Voe fuming inside.

“Alastor, I need you!”

“And I do believe I made my stance clear.”

“Please I’m in danger! It’s not the sharks this time!”

“I wouldn’t care if it was a pack of wolves.”

“They’re foxes,”

“What?”

“Foxes? Just help me out one more time. For old time’s sake?”

“I told you no. I cannot have you bringing danger to our doors”

“But they followed me here!”

The walls of the hotel shake and shudder, the sound of something slamming into the front of the hotel, threatening to send it once again, tumbling down.

Alastor glared down at Mimzy, clearly angered with his unbroken smile, and inhaled with irritation.

“You wouldn’t just let your old friend bite the dust, would you?” Mimzy pleaded.

“I know I would,” Angel muttered to Husker. “Please?” she looked up at him with pleading eyes.

Voe squinted, examining Mimzy’s face, then looked up at Alastor to read his. They knew each other well, it seemed. Voe didn’t really take kindly to being ignored, but reading this woman for filth wouldn’t exactly accomplish what she wanted. Sure, it would put the blonde in her place, but it wouldn’t tear Alastor’s attention away from her. She needed something that could do both.

Voe quickly rushes out of the hotel entrance and finds herself confronting the foxes that are endangering her place of residence. She stands firmly in front of the doors, ensuring that her dress is neat, and her heels make a clicking sound as she maintains her position.

“Hi.” She waves “I’m Voe. I would like to kindly ask that you stop trying to destroy this hotel, as it is very special to me and the other residents.”

The foxes are visibly confused. “Just give us that bitch Mimzy, and we’ll be on our way.”

Voe scrunches her face “Yeah, we can’t do that, sorry.”

The lead fox grins at her evilly and full of delight “Or we could take you as payment, how’s that sound princess?”

“I don’t like that very much either.”

“Ain’t that quite a shame. Y’all make haste on the building,” he nods towards one of the foxes near Voe “Make quick work of the bitch.”

Voe turns up her lip as though she is disappointed, as one fox does as he is instructed.

“Clearly you have your species mixed up.” She examines her nails “‘Cuz I’m not a bitch.” As the fox approaches and reaches for her, she unsheathes a nail “I’m a doe.”

In one swift motion, she slits the throat of the fox before her, and he falls still on the ground, Oh my gosh, I had no idea that would actually work. “If anything, you’re the bitch.” She looks down at her booties, angry at the blood stain. “You messed up my shoes, what the fuck!”

She runs from under the hotel before they can process what they’ve seen. She stumbles a bit while stopping.

“Whoops. Still getting used to that.” She laughs awkwardly.

The remaining foxes charge her into a corner to which she responds by jumping 15ft into the air, slamming down on another fox associate, rendering him flat and mostly liquid.

“Crazy cunt just squashed him!”

“Don’t be rude. I’m not that big.” She runs full speed, slamming into another, sending him crashing through glass and through walls, disintegrating before impact.

Voe takes a deep breath admiring her work, and moving her hair out of her face, when the last foxes grab her from behind with a gun to her temple.

“Not so fancy now are you huh?” He spat into her ear as she struggled to free herself.

“I was gonna have you live with me as the pretty little thing you are, but now I’m gonna turn your bitch ass inside out.”

Voe’s voice lacks any emotion in her response “How many times do I have to tell you?” She inhales deeply “I’m. A. DOE!” She leans forward, sending back a kick with the force of 10 semi-trucks. Sending the air out of his lungs and the weapons out of his hands.

She walks up to him and places a foot on his crotch

“Are you supposed to be my predator? Cuz to me you look like prey.”

The remaining fox spits blood on her face, to which she does not physically react. But inside she is utterly disgusted and repulsed. Ugh please get it off me.

“Now you have a choice. I could break your neck, or I could try a fun surprise.” Her voice is eerily calm and monotonous here as if this carnage was not by her hand.

“Fuck you,” he tries spitting at her again

“Not one of the options, but it’s fine. Because I love surprises.” She cracks a satisfied smirk before leaning down and breathing flames on his already messed-up face. His screams end within minutes as the flames subside revealing the charred remains of his skull.

Voe stands straight and looks around “Wow, this is a mess. Ugh, I can’t keep looking at it.” And walks back to the entrance of the hotel, where the other residents and employees are standing with their faces pressed against the glass doors as if they were watching an action movie and they were on the edge of their seats. She knocks on the door “Can I come inside now?”

She approaches the short blonde once more

“There, I took care of your problem,” she dusts her sleeves off “You can go now. It was so nice meeting you!” Voe’s face was cheery, but her tone said otherwise

“But I-“

“So nice” she cuts Mimzy off “Bye bye” wiggling her fingers

Mimzy looks to Alastor for some backup, for which he provides none. He stands eerily still simply staring down at the short blonde with his signature grin wide and full of mischief.

“Hey,” Voe snaps in her face “Don’t look at him, look at me.” small flames burn in her pupils “Leave.”

Mimzy recoils from shock and fear, glancing at Alastor once more. When he gives her nothing she scoffs and flips them all off.

“Fine! Fuck this hotel! And fuck you!” stomping all the way out

“Would’ve thought she’d muster a ‘thank you’. I mean I literally solved her problem. What’s the issue?” Voe turns gesturing towards the other hotel guests and employees.

“Omg Mommy that was so cool!” Niffty runs up and grabs onto her leg with a death grip, rubbing her head on Voe’s knee.

“I admit I never would’ve expected that from you,” Angel rests a hand on her shoulder

“Good job,” Vaggie stated, Voe’s face warming on its own.

The hall was filled with the sound of clapping, from a single source. All looked to the Radio Demon, his everlasting smile a mix of amusement and smugness.

“Delightful show darling.” He steps forward, grabbing her chin and tilting it up to look him in the eye “Ravishing my dear.”

Her face turning the same shade as her hair, she whispers

“Thank you” with a humble smile, leaning on one leg as she stared up at him

“Now, let’s get you cleaned up.”

___________________________________________________________

They were in her bathroom now, and Alastor was wiping the blood off her face. Neither of them were speaking, which was oddly strange for both of them.

“Normally I wouldn’t waste good blood but,” he inhales “I don’t think you’d want my saliva on you”

Voe blushes once more, oddly unprepared for such a comment. She plays with her fingers and thinks about how close he is to her face with a wet rag. It seemed both out of and in character for him to be doing this. Alastor was a bag of tricks to her, and she was starting to wonder what he would pull out next.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” she admitted “I was just trying stuff out. And it worked. That’s what I usually do.”

“That is a great way to discover new things about yourself. But it’s also a great way to get yourself killed, my dear. You must learn to control yourself.”

“I guess, I don’t even know how I would do that. Just keep fighting people?”

“Rein yourself in. You cannot just let your passion explode all over. You must contain it, to control it.” Alastor finds one last splotch of blood on her jaw, wipes it with his finger, and sucks it off. “For fox demons, that is a rather delightful taste. Although I’m not sure if you are mixed in with it.”

“Was that a compliment?”

“Take it however you like, my dear. It was meant as an admission of fact.” He walks out of the bathroom and she follows

“Can you do something about my shoes?” She calls after him

He turns to view her, the tail of his coat turning dramatically as well “What exactly would you like me to do?” he glances down at her shoes

“Clean them?”

His grin became playful “Is that a question?”

“No,” she crosses her arms “Clean them.”

He tilts his head “Why do you think I can do anything about it?”

She shrugs “You fixed my glasses. Fix my shoes.”

“Fair enough,” his tone quite jovial. Alastor snaps his fingers and the blood disappears from her booties

“Nice!” She admires the freshly clean shoes, also noticing the stains gone from her dress “Wait a minute,” she speaks once more

“Yes?” His pupils are almost hidden by the bottoms of his eyes

She takes a step toward him “If you could just snap the blood off my clothes, why couldn’t you do that with my face?”

“Maybe I didn’t want to?” he strokes his chin. Voe smiles and looks down at her shoes thinking of the implications of that. She sees his shoes turn in the opposite direction and he starts walking out. “If that’s all you need, I shall be on my way, darling.”

“Why did you talk about me on your broadcast?”

Alastor turns back around, his grin static and wide “I knew I heard you listening.”

She waves him off “Yeah, yeah, but why?”

“I thought it was quite obvious. It was to enrage the nincompoop Vox, and confuse you.”

“Why do you need to confuse me?”

“I’m not sure. For the entertainment I suppose.”

“So it was all just a joke?”

“Oh no! What I said about you was true.”

She widens her eyes and looks away from him “You called me important,” she says in a sing-songy voice

“Maybe because you are important.”

“Wait, really?” she does her best to stop her eyes from getting watery

“Objectively, yes. Especially to your fans.”

She shakes herself back to reality “Yeah, duh. Obvi. Of course, I’m important. And don’t you forget it.” She stands tall

Alastor pulled down each of his sleeves individually “You know, my opinion of you has changed,” he spoke, his voice low “but I do not like that attitude of yours.”

She stood on her tip-toes, hopelessly trying to be at eye level with him. “Well learn to like it,” she leans into him “because it’s not going anywhere.” She whispers.

Chapter 10>

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turbofanatic · 1 year ago

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They've finally found something BotW/TotK Link won't eat.

I like Twilight's angy ears so I keep drawing him mad. He's not usually this angry! He's just dealing with a lot of disappointment right now, especially from the guy he thought was his cool mentor who happens to be a weird dork, what is up with that?

I think I might redesign the Hero of Time's armor because I hate drawing it. Or have him wear something else. Might also make character references once I nail some more stuff down, mostly not making Botw/TotK and OoT/MM Link absurdly overpowered (one has a drone army, the other a divine mask, I gotta do something).

Anyways, kind of messed up that out of the three of them, the werewolf probably eats the least gross stuff (still drinks chus IIRC though, he's not immune to the forbidden jelly).

I'll figure out a name for this nonsense and tag it all later.

#linkverse #hero of the wild #hero of twilight #hero of time #the legend of zelda #bodyhorror #tloz #myart #bad moon

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alanshee-keeper-of-realms · 9 months ago

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He's a Loser baby, but I Want him to be My Loser, Baby

Tw: Attempted end of life,

Synopsis: After Angel tries to end himself, Husk decides to finally do something...even if that means his loyalty is on the line,

A/N: so I have a theory Husk is going to free Angel, this plays out the Theory,

Husk would never forget hearing Charlie scream, which was saying a lot seeing as they were in Hell number one, but knowing it's someone you care for, he and the several occupants of the hotel had been relaxing a relatively calm day. Angel hadn't come down, but he had had a rough night, the former overlord had been wanting to keep a closer eye on the Spider Demon since he was happier, and not in the masking type of way

Husk had seen the signs of being suicidal before, the relaxed nature as they knew that they'd not have to worry soon,

He would blame himself for the rest of his existence for not stopping Angel before he went to his room,

Charlie had offered to go check on him worried something was wrong, (oh was it) Husk literally flying up the steps with Vaggie as Charlie knelt over Angel who was on the floor, one of the angelic blades they had just used on the ground beside him

And the blood, oh sweet lord it was everywhere, but his ears perked up, he heard straggled breathing and produced a mirror holding it in front of the others face he saw it fog and realized the other was still alive,

"Charlie I need you to get him on the bed Vaggie you bandage him, he's just unconscious."

The anger and fury he felt, he knew who this was the marks that littered the others form besides the damage Angel had done, that he'd hidden this was so much worse, he felt something snap,

Marching out of the room he was already formulating a plan, the biggest thing hinged on getting a certain radio demon on board, Alastor made him jolt as he appeared, he hated when the other did so,

"You wish to request something my dear Husker?" He purred, eyebrow raised

"Yeah, I want to challenge Valentino for Angel's contract, but I have ta ask you first. All soulsI get, go to you. Angie, though I want to offer im his freedom if I can"

His smile deepened, and Husk could see the glee in the others' eyes. However, of course, he'd be happy about this

"Gambling for another soul quite entertaining however if you manage to pull this off I think in the case of him rejecting his freedom it would be much more entertaining for me, for you to keep his soul,"

The overlords eyes widened, Alastor would allow that?

"Hopefully you did not fail in your quest Husker,"

The demon disappeared but the former Overlord knew he had permission and with a new fire in his heart he marched out of the hotel in down to the studio

Marching inside he yelled out

"I wanna talk to this asshole Valentino!" Making several gasp but others looked instantly interested

"Your the kitty who plays barkeep," Velvette appeared with a snort,"Whatcha want with Val he's bein a cry baby, Angel fuckin shirked his work,"

"He didn't shirk it he tried ending it!" Husk growled, making the other workers again gasp even Velvette seemed a bit surprised before a nonchalant look replaced it, as the door slammed open revealing a pissed off Valentino

"You you're one of those Hotel people tell Angel to get his fluffy little ass back to work" he snarled getting up in the others face husk shoved the other back

"Angel is currently comatose because he tried ending his life, Valentino which is why I'm fucking here. I want his contract" More gasps came from everybody around them

The Moth Overlord raised an eyebrow slowly slinking around the other, before laughing

"Do you really think I would give up my best workers' contract?

"One Round of Poker All or Nothing, if I lose I work as your mole if you lose I get his contract and soul," he knew he had to play up the other's ego to get him to agree to lure him," think about it Valentino you would have someone actually competent to listen in"

Husk new Alastor would know, but he was counting on that if worst came to worst,

And like he planned his words made the other Overlord pause and think,

" interesting proposition, Fine one game. With Angel not being able to work I'm going to have to struggle to fill in the rest of the schedule anyway you can be assured he will be punished thoroughly for it," he snarled as a table was drug over

Holding a hand out both of their abilities flaring as they shook hands and the deal was set

It was a difficult match purely luck whoever God Favored right now would be shown, Valentino laid down his cards smirking it was a four of a kind, a nice decent hand but Husk started laughing as he laid down a royal flush taking down the other overlord, he had won he didn't believe he still had it after he had lost to Alastor but here he was standing victorious once more showing his luck was still on his side,

"Oh shit," he heard Velvette mutter, a smirk on her face, a hand covering her mouth

Valentino for once looked stunned and for a moment Husk saw himself perhaps the biggest loss in his life, but the moth was forced to produce the contract and hand it over, he shrugged however immediately trying to play it off

" oh well I'll find some new bitch to be my star, and not like anybody will want his leftovers,"

Husk felt rage at the other's words, but with Angie's contract in his hand, he just focused on that the sheer euphoria he had done it, he could feel the others soul and he could not believe how warm it was despite everything the other had been through, it was almost loving and caring, he raced back to the hotel and saw Alastor standing on the balcony leaned on it

"Good show Husker, Angel Dust is awake he awoke when he felt something shift in his very soul." The other purred, with that smug grin the former overlord hated

He only nodded and headed for the other's room, Charlie caught him halfway there

Husk allister said you were going to do something-"

He pulled out the contract and she gasped" I bet it all,"

He let out a small noise as the princess of Hell embraced him tightly, hearing her murmur

"Thank you Husk," nothing more needed to be said he understood what she was saying

"Of course Princess,"

Before she let go and watched as he headed for the bedroom carefully opening the door he saw angel on his side curled up

"Come to stare at the failure?" Came from him,"can't even kill myself properly, now Valentinos gonna-"

" he's going to do nothing Angie, Please look at me,"he interrupted not wanting to use the contract to force the other that would go against what he was trying to do

After a few moments the other slowly turned over his eyes were red and it broke husk see the other so hurt bandages wrapped around him bags under his eyes slowly the other approached and tenderly wiped the tears away,

" how can you promise me he can't do anything he has my soul-"

" Angel he doesn't have it anymore" fear entered the other Demon's eyes and husk sighed and pulled it out that made Angel sit up wincing but the absolute shock written on his face

"Husk... how did you?"

" I saw you on the floor angel and I couldn't take one more minute of seeing you hurt, I blame myself partially for what happened I knew you were suicidal because I've seen it before but I didn't say anything. So I challenged Valentino to a poker game where I would be the mole they were looking for if he won and if I won I got your soul in contract as you can see my luck is still with me,"

Tears entered Angel's eyes, and Husk knew the realization was hitting him that all the years of abuse were behind him because Angie knew Husk would never treat him the same,

" I will free you, but only if that's what you want truly-"

A finger was placed to his lips to silence him, Angel was shaking his head,

" I have been underneath a overlord for as long as I can remember I honestly don't know what I would do but I do know it would be self-destructive I don't know how to behave without well someone to help guide me. If you're willing to take on this loser, I wouldn't mind having you as my Overlord, especially in comparison to that piece of shit,"

Holding up the contract, Angel felt the collar appear, but it disintegrated. To his surprise, the contract also disintegrating however, Husk gently took one of his hands, a ring appearing glowing bright orange it lit up the room, and Angel gasped before it faded and disappeared

" Guess we're both losers under the same umbrella, huh?" The spider demon smirked

Husk smiled placing a kiss to the others hand making the other grin,

"And baby that's fine by me,"

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel husk #angel dust #hazbin angel dust #huskerdust #husk x angel dust

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definitely-not-lying · 1 month ago

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Kokichi what's your opinion on the other characters in v3?

Fasten your seatbelts! we're going on a rant about my classmates nishishi~!

Rantaro Amami:

Hmm, Mr. Mysterious, huh? He's always so calm and collected, he’s hiding something, I just know it! But that makes him interesting. I'm curious of what's on his mind all the time. He sounds like a trustworthy person. But that was a lie! Rantaro is also really chill to talk to! :D

Kaede Akamatsu:

I think Kaede is too optimistic for her own good! I mean, over-the-top optimistic. It's a bit annoying... But she can be pretty cool sometimes too, she has some serious talent with that piano! She's a really good leader, but obviously not as good as I am. When she has an idea she is very pushy and I think that's boring.

Ryoma Hoshi:

I don't dislike Ryoma but I also don't like him. It's dissapointing that he finds no meaning in life and doesn't talk alot to others... He's kinda just a boring loner that's impressivly good at tennis. And he's so small! when I first met him I thought he was a little kid nishishishi~ please don't tell him I said that! :|

Kirumi Tojo:

Mooooooom? Just kidding! Hihi~ She's kind of a killjoy. She's always on my case whenever I try to cause some trouble! But Kirumi is also a talented maid. She's got a lot of skills and she's super efficient. I wonder how she always helps others and never spends time for herself!

Angie Yonaga:

The Atua freak? She's a dissapointment. The only thing she does is ramble about this so called Atua! I doubt she can actually make dicisions on herself. She’s always so cheerful and smiley, but that makes her so suspicious!

Tenko Chabashira:

Ugh, she's so annoying! Always going on about 'degenerate males'. But it’s fun to push her buttons! I wish I could tape her mouth shut forever. I should ask her to teach me Neo-Akaido too! Then I could surprise attack her with her own moves and my wish could come true :]

Korekiyo Shinguji:

He's weird... and creepy! "Sister this, Sister that" and his stupid mask... honestly, I don't know how the others put up with him. But as long as he doesn't summon a demon in my room i supposse he's okay.

Miu Iruma:

The itty bitty bitchlet. She's way too vulgar! I kinda respect her for actually being smart, unlike certain people... nishishi. If she wasn't such an annoying pervert she'd be almost interesting. I mean, how can someone with such a huge mouth even function?

Gonta Gokuhara:

The big gentlemen! He's so gullible it's almost boring... but i guess his heart is in the right place. He's also very strong! He could lift me in the air, no problem. It's kinda dissapointing he likes bugs so much. Those are just the worst! :(

Kaito Momota:

Ah, the Ultimate idiot! A wannabe hero who's fun to mess with. He's always so self-centered and calls others his side kick while he doesn't do anything! But I gotta admit, he's got guts! If he wasn't so heroic I think he would be... fine :/

Keebo:

Keeboy! He still didn't answer my question! Now i'll never know if robots really have d!cks :( Anyways, He’s so easy to tease, and he falls for everything. Poor Keebo, too pure for my games! He's fun to talk too and I feel like there is something more to him that we don't know...

Tsumugi Shirogane:

She's plainly boring... I don't like or hate her... heck, I even forget she exists sometimes! It's a bit annoying that she makes alot of fiction references that no one gets... She really is a hardcore loser!

Shuichi Saihara:

Aww, Shumai! The shy, serious detective. He tries so hard to be emotionless, but he’s so easy to fluster! He's one of the few people here who’s actually worth the time of the Ultimate Supreme Leader. I wish he would stand up for himself more often. He'd be way more entertaining then! <3

Maki Harukawa:

Ah, Maki Roll! So cold and serious—makes it even more fun to mess with her! She acts all tough, but deep down, I think she’s just a softie for Kaito. And maybe she’ll just kill me in my sleep... who knows! Either way, I’ll keep poking the bear. It’s more exciting that way, right?

Himiko Yumeno:

She's pretty lazy. And her so called 'magic'? She should come up with something better! But her tricks are very interesting. She once made a tiger cub appear from her hat! :0

If you don't like my opinions, try to change them! I'm not that stubborn but I can't promise anything!

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thelemoncoffee · 3 months ago

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ok i have a headcanon and the thing said take a shot so why not

i feel like dice would meet up in small clusters instead of the entire group at once and in different places all around the city just to mess with the people tracking them and also for the sake of convenience because they don't all live near each other

so no one knows how big (or small) their group actually is but here's the thing. each one of them has at least three nicknames and they don't make any sense. everyone's hearing all the names getting thrown around and thinking they're all different people but they're just getting horribly misled. people all think there's at least twenty or thirty of them but no they're just a small bunch of teens fucking around with names while simultaneously screwing with society

this is just self indulgent cuz i have a lot of 'names' and i react to most of them as well as my real name. just to list a few there's riley, jack, frank, lyla, angie, window (yeah. window), ana, lex and under (yes. under)

and if you want to saiou this (because i'm also a massive saiou shipper) shuichi can actually be smart and realise they're shouting different names at the same person. so instead of trying to keep track of the names he studies their masks and since they're all different in their own ways he realises there's only like ten of them. and there's finally someone with enough common sense, patience and observational skills to figure out the actual number of people in dice. everything just goes downhill from there you can imagine

-__

oh my god yes! eating this whole. i love the idea of them using names as their method of fuckary, it also means more names than just cards and chess pieces! i really want people to experment more with codename variety you have no idea

it'd be even funnier too if Shuichi in relaiation to the confusing codenames just asigned them names of his own to attach to the masks so he could better keep track of them in his notes. one day maybe Shuichi actually corners Kokichi and accidentally refers to him with his shuichi-assigned nickname, and it makes Kokichi so giddy he decides to add the name to the list

#ask kai

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babybluebanshee · 1 year ago

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Things I've Had to Deal With As a City Librarian - Another Mega Edition

Been a while, huh? There's been a lot of crazy shit going on at work recently, so here I am with another installment of chronicling the madness. Enjoy.

A man came in and asked Rachel for copies of sheet music, and this somehow devolved into him going on a ten minute speech about how he knew God wanted him to become a musician because he had a dream where he was told to play a massive organ. The guy was thoroughly convinced that the dream had been planted in his head by aliens who were working for God, and that he was destined to play the organ he saw in his dream when the world ended. Poor Rachel just stood there, unable to anything other than smile and nod.

A woman wanted to check out books. I asked for her library card. She handed me her civic center card. I told her that that wasn't the correct card. "Yes it is," she replied. I told her no, this was her civic center card. I even handed it back to her. "Why do you have my civic center card?" she asked. Ma'am, this is what you gave me. "Don't you need my library card?" At this point I can't tell if she's being serious or just fucking with me. Eventually she gets me the right card, all the while grumbling about why I took her civic center card and not her library card. If it wasn't for the fact this woman seemed totally lucid up to that point, I would have just assumed she had some form of dementia.

A mom and her little boy came up to check out her book. The little boy had a Hot Wheels car that he was rolling around on the counter, and ended up rolling it towards me. I turned it around and rolled it back to him. He rolled it back. We did this the entire time I was checked out the books, somehow timing it perfectly to scan a book in the time it took him to roll it back to me. His mom watched us the entire time and was clearly tickled by the whole thing.

Someone stuck a wad of chewed gum on the circulation desk, right behind the computer. I just happened to notice it when my pen fell back there and almost landed in it.

A little girl came up to the desk and handed Angie several used needles in a baggie, saying she found it in the parking lot. The mother was more horrified that they found the needles at all than she was by the fact her young daughter was holding the goddamn bag full of them.

We found a grocery bag in the cafe that contained nothing but a pack of toilet paper. No one ever claimed it. We hope that wasn't an emergency purchase that got forgotten.

A family of three - a mom, dad, and an adult son - came in with recording equipment and set up shop in one of our study rooms. They came up to the desk and basically said upfront that they were going to be loud for about two minutes, and that if anyone complained, they were sorry, and they'd be done quickly. There wasn't anyone in the other two study rooms at the time, so we were like yeah, sure, whatever. We still have no idea what they were filming, but they were there for almost four hours. They even brought their own props; at one point, the assistant director walked by and the son was wearing a really ratty blond wig. Another time, I walked by and the dad was wearing a scuba mask. It was one of the oddest things I've ever seen.

One of our long-time patrons came in with her two daughters one day, on the older daughter's birthday. She was wearing a flower crown and it was very, very cute.

A little girl checking out books with her mom kept telling me jokes. I responded with more jokes. Another instance of the mom trying really hard not to crack up.

A girl came up to the desk with a bag of food and a drink, asking if she could eat in on of the study rooms. She knew we generally wanted people to keep food down in the cafe, but there was a guy down there who was making her uncomfortable. I figured it was just a dude being a pervy creep, so I told her to go ahead and went down to check things out. I did indeed find the guy she was talking about, crouched down in a squat on the floor, staring down vacantly. I asked him if he was okay, and he looked up at me sleepily, saying he was fine. I headed back up to the desk, and he followed not to long after. He reached the front door, stopping the table where we have free masks in a basket. I figure he was going to take one and then head, but he just started...slumping forward. I thought he was going to faint or be sick, so I rushed back over and asked if he was okay. He said yeah, he'd just had a "rough morning". After another few minutes, he left. I told the director later and he checked the camera to see if he'd bothered the girl directly, and while he didn't, he had been in that crouching position for almost ten minutes before I went down there. He was sitting so still the cameras didn't detect a human being nearby.

A man came in about ten minutes to closing, went down to the cafe, screamed and cursed down there for a few seconds, then left. Feel your feelings, I guess.

We had a hair salon do some training down in one of our conference rooms for a couple days in a row. Julie was shutting down the cafe for the night and went to check the conference room trash cans. The hair salon had left two entire bags of training heads and a bag of fast food trash. Julie went to throw the fast food trash away, and screamed, because they'd thrown one of the training heads face up in there. I ran down there because I thought she was being fucking murdered, and ended up screaming myself because there's a fucking head looking up at me. As far as I know, the other bags of training heads are still in the workroom, waiting for the salon to come get them.

We have a patron named Reggie who comes in a lot to do two things - check out DVDs and use our computers to watch Hell's Kitchen. And Reggie really likes Hell's Kitchen. He will yell at the computer while he's watching Hell's Kitchen. Shockingly, only one person has ever complained about him before, and they didn't even care about him talking at the screen. They just wanted him to do it more quietly.

#woe to the librarian

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mihai-florescu · 11 months ago

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Can u explain to me the significance of anzu. If u wanna

Signed, someone that only knows of her as the self insert protag and wasn t aware she s somehow very important (i dont go here but i like hearin u talk about it)

Yes! Anzu is a character in her own right with a full backstory that expands beyond enstars actually, in ensemble girls, to the point where it makes me wonder at what point they decided to make enstars to show what she's been up to after leaving kimisaki (the school in engirls. There she is called angie, both angie and anzu are references to the pronounciation of the game titles themselves). She's also the older sister of the protagonist of engirls, a male transfer student from yumenosaki into kimisaki (the plot of engirls takes place in enstars 2 era, so her brother is actually still at yumenosaki during the first year of enstars, he's in the general course though, not the idol one).

The reason Anzu transfered is after a failed revolution she was part of in kimisaki. In that game she is a sort of ghost haunting the narrative, where a lot of characters still mention her (and compare iirc?) to her younger brother. I cant speak much of how this impacts him, ive only read a limited number of engirls stories, mostly ones from before he transferred. Heard the game ends with a timeloop he has to break, so im very curious to one day find a translation for That. So while that's happening over at kimisaki, but let's get back to enstars, where anzu gets another chance at a successful revolution and falls in love with idols in the process. Her presence and trickstars revolution solidifies that things are changing from the war into a hopeful future, the student council arent undefeatable, and there are still new characters that can appear and impact the flow of the story.

When trickstar were broken up by fine she stays and helps in the DDD in a way where, without her, trickstars revolution wouldnt have succeeded. She puts on a mask and joins on stage when the only other member left in the unit was subaru, and the minimum number of people to be qualified to perform is 2. She calls people from her old school in the crowd, amd her brother calls general course students, whose support for her trickstar lead to winning the first live against knights and make way for them to progress to the finals. In the end during the DDD finale it's her vote that makes the difference, going into overtime and making trickstar win. She's a regular person, not a genius, not even an idol, who had impacted the course of events time and time again until the end. She supported Trickstar's revolution, joined them on stage as support, i'd say she is the glue of the unit that helped keep it floating, made it a place to return to. On a grander scale, Anzu is a character who gets a second chance at a successful revolution that ends in happiness, something she had failed at kimisaki. Trickstar are the miracle that changes yumenosaki, but that wouldnt have been possible without anzu's support. Their 5th member.

A critique i see sometimes is that everyone ends up liking her for no reason but...thats not true? Many characters welcome her as a breath of fresh air and a needed new perspective, but others are aprehensive and untrusting in the beginning, it's not like her presence alone magically fixes everything as a deus ex machina or anything, she's actively working hard, to the point where she jeopardizes her own health in the process. And it's also not like she acts the same with all idols either, or doesnt have her own personality and input, she directly impacts their character arcs through her treatment, like in kaoru's case comes to mind first.

This is for ! era at least. I feel more confident talking about that one than !!, where she is part of the P association and experiences hardships and is undermined there, but i am not the person to talk about that as i dont feel like my knowledge of her role there is nearly good enough.

#ask #anon #enstars

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theamityelf · 1 year ago

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righting with Korekiyo and Angie

[ righting ] - sender does something to ‘right’ receiver; straightens their tie, sweeps their hair back into place, fixes a curl back into place, etc

...

Okay, so this is weirdly melancholy, but it's where the prompt took my mind for some reason. Maybe I can try it again with a lighter tone later. At least I succeeded in keeping this one shorter than the Buma one!

...

Angie was humming.

Korekiyo could not imagine how. Just thinking of what had happened mere minutes ago, the maelstrom of insects which had assailed them all, sent tremors of disgust through him. And yet Angie appeared perfectly at ease. Humming on the way to her room.

He followed her through the halls.

She appeared perfectly at ease with that, too.

This aura of ease was not exactly infectious, but it provided a new color to the atmosphere which made it easier not to focus on the overstimulating nightmare which had just transpired.

Focusing on other people was very calming. People were so beautiful.

He listened to Angie's footsteps, her breathing, her humming. It was enough to listen. Better to listen right now than to talk, but they were nearing the dorms now and would soon have reason to separate, so he quietly cleared his throat.

"You didn't seem to mind the insects," he remarked.

"Angie is used to lots of bugs," she answered simply, turning (almost twirling) to face him, and seamlessly switching from walking forward to walking backwards. "At least most of them didn't bite. I'm sure my blood would make a tasty meal for the creepy crawlies, but there are way better uses for it!"

"Such as religious sacrifices, am I correct?"

"Kiyo is super smart. Sacrifices are one of the best, most sacred uses for blood! But we also shouldn't ignore the blood that stays in the body to keep us alive. That's an important gift, too." She nodded her head sagely.

With the movement, a dot of red on one of her ponytails that Korekiyo had subconsciously mistaken for a splatter of paint (as Angie often had small amounts of paint dried in her hair and speckled on her clothes and face) crawled up toward her bangs. A ladybug. There was a ladybug in her hair.

He had thought that all of the bugs were back in their cages. Were they on him, too?!

Somehow, they both stopped walking at the same time. Perhaps Angie sensed his distress enough to anticipate his pause. She was very in-tune with others' emotions. "Kiyo?" she queried.

He took a deep breath and removed the ladybug from her hair with one wrapped finger. He was relieved when it remained stationary on him and did not start crawling around.

"Oh," Angie said, smiling at the small insect as though it were something endearing, like a flower petal.

"They are considered good luck in many parts of the world," he said, drawing comfort from thoughts of cultural practices and beliefs. "Most likely because of their beneficial role in farming. But then, many insects are considered good luck in some parts of the world. For example, butterflies and spiders have been considered good luck in many regions. Superstitions, and their sources, can be truly fascinating."

"Your studies are so cool! It's like Kiyo has the whole world in his heart."

He was blushing under his mask, but also he really wanted this bug off of him.

She seemed to intuit this, too, for she collected it from his finger with her own and blew it into the air with puckered lips. The insect took wing and landed on a nearby wall. "Make a wish!"

"My only wish was just granted."

She giggled and resumed walking, slowly. Allowing space beside her for Korekiyo.

"At home, Angie liked to learn about other places," she said, the slightest tinge of wistfulness dampening her cheer. "Now, it feels like it would be nice to be home. But that's Monokuma's nasty temptation, you know. Our new home can be a paradise, too. If we do our best."

Her smile did not wobble, as she applied her platitudes like a layer of paint over her clear homesickness. Korekiyo wondered if she smiled as soon as she woke up in the morning, or just when she walked out of her room. He wondered if she smiled in her sleep.

"You believe Monokuma will allow that?"

"I believe Monokuma is smaller than God. And God wants us to be happy here."

"The circumstances seem to suggest that God wants us to die here. But you believe differently. Are you of the belief that this is some manner of test?"

She took a moment to ponder his question and then thoughtfully said, "God's too sleepy to answer questions right now. But I'll give Him your message in the morning. Right now, I want to hear more superstitions about ladybugs! Angie loves stories."

He continued to rattle off things he knew about beetles and their significance to different cultures. The information became less relevant to ladybugs specifically, but Angie still appeared fascinated.

But shortly, they reached the dorms, and the rambling had to draw to a close. Angie seemed about to reach for her bedroom door, but then instead she reached toward Korekiyo and gently collected something from his shoulder: another ladybug.

"She followed us," she said with a smile. "Maybe that means we'll have super good luck."

"Only if we're concerned that aphids will set upon our crops."

Angie yawned. "Goodnight, Kiyo," she said. "Sleep tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite!"

The aura of misguided positivity dwindled steeply as soon as the door was closed behind her. Korekiyo stood there for a moment, taking in how cold and silent everything was. He could see the light seeping out from under Angie's door, and the shadows that moved with her, proving that she was alive in there.

Her beliefs did not seem to give her much leeway for human things, like grief and fear. Those feelings would have to go somewhere. He wondered if she would murder. Skimming his fingertips idly over her door, he considered the possibility. He believed...not. He believed that if and when Angie did snap, she would take the path of least resistance, as far as her own moral inhibitions. Murder would be too difficult a path to justify. But he wasn't a psychologist.

A ladybug crawled along the door, a few centimeters above his hand.

Slowly, he returned to his room.

And hastily, he tore off his clothes and showered, searching for any remaining bugs.

#danganronpa #angie yonaga #korekiyo shinguji #shinnaga #my fanfiction #my fanfic

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tv-gh0st · 3 months ago

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Oumota Monsters au

I have a tag now #Drv3 Monsters

i thinkkk im gonna make kaito a vampire might change eventually bc uhm im like hella indecisive

IF ANYONE HAS OPINIONS PUT IT IN TAGS PLZ PLZ PLZ

anyways i wanted to talk specifically about oumota in this post bc uhm there down bad for eachother

my main inspiration for this was the song Ghosting by mother mother (also i think its worth noting @lampochkaart also helped inspire this au with some art they made ty ty ty)

so i wanted a big premise of there realationship to be Kokichi Haunting Kaito

and bc im a hurt/comfert enjoyer i love it dearly<3 i think how they get together should be very hurt/comfort vibes ya know

like kaito gets fed up and wants kokichi out and kokichi whos down bad but has horrible coaping mechanisms(pushing everyone he loves away[WICH BTW I WANT TO INCLUDE IN HIS DEATH]) is like OKAY BRO I DONT NEED U

but a ghost without anyone to haunt is like

not great

and kaito straifht up doesnt realize hes down bad for kokichi is like fuck man

they have a depression arc where they both are like shit im in love but refuse to make rhe first move

and idk how they find eachother again but they do

and i think kaito would be the one to say it because he genuinely hates tip toeing around eachother OR OR OR kokichi would say he loves him in a fit of rage/just tired of keeping up his masks(cas he thought once he died it was done he would be free but nooooooooo he lives on as a ghost)

and then its all comfort from there babes

i think maki would be very against there realatjonship and shuichi at first would be indifferent(kokichi orginallly haunted shuichi and i think in this au haunting someone would kinda mean something) but in general shuichi doesnt have a problem with it

kokichis main friends(miu and rantaro) dont mind at all he also has ties to kirumi(mom) and gonta neither of which care(nore are told emiditly)

i dont think being monsters changes there dynamic to much there like the lovingly bickering and then look at eachother like the other is littarly everything in the world <3

its a bit of a slow burn bc there both idiots and dont know how to do feelings

and none of there friends are super into playing march maker(except probably miu)

ALSO maybe adding rantaro into the mix at some point

im not aure but if i did it totally be less angsty

rantaro has his feelings in check okay atlest romanticly

he doesnt really have to much experience but that doesnt mean hes a complete idiot who doesnt know how to communicate

i think kaito and kokichi would both be looking at rantaro being like shit hes hot and i want to make a deep emotional conection with him but how do i tell my idiot bf that AND THEN tell rantaro that

abd rantaros just like

yo am i aloud to join or what

BOOM POLYAMOROUS FOR THE WIN

thats how i imagine it going down

honestly them being monsters again doesnt change the dynamic

dw tho there will be angst in other parts of there not-lives

i just wanted to talk about my gay ppl

AND DONT WORRY THERE WILL BE OTHER SHIPS

including Tenko x angie x himiko kaemaki (possible kaemakiiruma or whatever) some tsumugi x kaede(its complicated) so yaya gay ppl are tots winning

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clinicallyinsanedumpsterrabbit · 1 year ago

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I already wrote out this entire thing but it didn't save so I am grumpy.. And there was a ton of writing. I am very very grumpy.

Anyway, I come with more feral side of Dave's soul content, because I love this emotionally unstable wittle creeture

He about to lose his shit in a jealous rage, he wants some loving gentle forehead bonks

Now for my art style that has more effort that took...

... *sobs in my art takes way too long to make*

(The lil comic took 6 hours.. These two pages apparently took 47... *sobs)

Now some facts about this clinically insane rabbit man.. (that I already wrote out before but it didn't save >:( ):

-He's still mostly jackalope as you can see from the sawn off antlers, as a jackalope he's "genetically" mostly hare, but does have some rabbit in him (specifically American fuzzy lop and some angora rabbit, what's why he's so floofy)

-He is indeed a rabbit/hare so he can be a bit um... Let's say "flirtatious" especially in the spring and summer... Tangerine men beware.

-As seen in the lil drawing of him being an angy lil dude, he may have some mild electro-kineses, he can't direct it anywhere, just zap things touching him, mostly when he's angy

-He hates the above power because it makes his fur go all static and uncontrollable, so he tries to never use it

-He and his reasonable side (I'll just call him Reas from now on) are constantly fighting, stressing Jack out a ton

-Reas tries his best to keep Jack away from Feral as he can be more dangerous and unpredictable than Reas, but with Feral also being just as, no, even more obsessive and possessive of Jack, this just makes him act out more.. Making Reas keep him away more, creating an entire negative feedback loop of misery and loneliness for Feral

-Since Feral feels so alone, he has sort of doubled down on the doctrine his so-called father figure taught him, trying to find purpose in his old work to not feel as alone and lost, but he'll never say he feels alone or lost, he has pretty unhealthy coping mechanisms, mostly destructive, making people keep even further from him and masking his misery with false confidence

-He's extremely emotionally unstable if you couldn't tell, but he's so extremely desperate for any positive affection that if the right person came along (pretty much any jack adjacent person) and gave him that affection, no matter how little, he'd just melt like putty in their hands... Sometimes literally, turning into some amalgamated goop rabbit, looking like glitchtrap at the end of Princess quest.

I hope you enjoyed how surprisingly dark and sad that got, and enjoyed my crazy ramblings about this damn lil creeture, may he haunt your dreams and cuddle all the versions of jack in your minds, bye bye for now

#art #digital art #dsaf #day shift at freddy's #dsaf dave #dsaf jack #davesport #dayshift at freddy's #i love this wretched little creeture so much #im gonna make him miserable for my own entertainment

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soosthesoul · 2 years ago

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spoilers for part 2 murim arc +++

while i understand that the common take on sui is that by far he's more or less a flat character that the author doesn't really know what to do with and hence uses him as more or less of a laugh track — and while i think that's hilarious, i also think there's deefinitely a little more to it from where that came from.

i also desperately want you to keep in mind that almost everything that kim roksoo - now cale has learnt is directly from his experiences at team 1 under soohyuk - now sui's wing. we know this from the test at the sealed god's temple where cale had tried to communicate with his gang via sgt!krs using the cintamani. that poor boy was so awkward.. my sgrungly crimblo...

let's start with how he's introduced! he finds cale in orsena's duchy and they essentially just have a staring contest for a while before sui joins the party. i.. i am not going to lie, while i was a tiny bit disappointed that they didn't have an emotional reunion, a little reflection on their situation and dimensions as characters made me quickly realise that it was no time or position to have a touching re-contact with each other.

mainly, i think this is because sui khan is guilty. he lives with the guilt of leaving cale behind, and he lives with the guilt of knowing that he eventually has to ask for cale's help regarding his own bird clan — as briefly touched upon in one of the earlier chapters.

his existence in xiaolen was barely there, he'd mostly spent his time with the kids, and volunteered to go spying without even having to be asked — while this may be perceived with the idea that lee soo hyuk prided himself in his abilities of stealth, it's also...

"our little sui wanted some air." maybe i'm looking too deep into this, but it seems that even cale picks up on the fact that sui is restless and uneasy for whatever reason and used it to jab at him as a joke.

skipping forward to when cale had to choose a party for his trip to jungwon, he more or less truly did not require sui's presence there besides for the fact of moral support.

and i think.. sui picked up on that, because he suddenly has this air of mischief to him, and while i definitely don't think that he's by any means faking his laughter, i also think he's genuinely masking his worries, concern and guilt by throwing lighthearted jokes to jab at himself and at cale, more or less as a silent apology of sorts.

he's also mentioned to be by cale's side much more often, whether or not this is because cale is in the body of the weak kim roksoo, nobody really knows. but i think cale thinks that's the real reason.

and while i seriously might be looking too deeply into things; these three instances 100% stood out to me.

(forgive me for the off-quote as i am going off of angie's summaries + poor machine translation via google lens)

1. when the emperor of jungwon had asked cale his name, it's specifically mentioned that he glances at sui who nods his head to encourage him. cale then smiles and states that his name is cale henituse

2. when the whole gag of sui making up murim versions of the entire team's names were going on, it's mentioned that cale had originally thought sui was going to give cale the name "kim roksoo", and its further mentioned that sui paused before saying gae-il (as a joke) then settling with hae-il instead.

3. after that whole exchange is over, they'd joked around with each other, "young master kim", "noble warrior lee". further proceeding past this instance, cale's little shit switch finally turns on and he monologues about how he begins to ignore sui's comments and even contemplates if he should call sui "young warrior lee" instead.

now, don't look at me like i'm crazy, please!! cause i'm well aware these are more or less the most normal instances to mankind that yrh may have just put in here to keep the mood lighthearted. but since when has yrh ever written fluff without the underlying gut-wrenching angst? keke

i seriously think this exchange between the two is their whole "reunion" talk, between two clearly emotionally distanced men, between them who were once best friends, but are now still finding the middle ground to interact with each other. their care and trust in each other remains the same, perhaps has even grown greatly, but in order to avoid accidentally doing damage, they try to find their own little safespace in the dynamics they've created with each other in earth 1 before lee soo hyuk had passed on.

i think sui definitely is bottling up a lot of things he'd rather not say to his dongsaeng who is still definitely struggling and has his plate full with the concerns of his own family and other dimensions. i think sui will finally get the push he needs soon, and i think that rereading part 2 with sui's inevitable arc in mind will be a juicy heartbreaker due to all the subtle and nuanced instances the author littered here and there.

while i agree that murim arc is most certainly sort of dragging on in the last 5 or so chapters, i still really really enjoy the direction part 2 is going in, and am eagerly waiting for more. choi jungsoo's appearance is going to break me in 10 halves, i'm most certainly not ready.

here's to manifesting soos reunion on monday chapter 900! here's to law of the hunt already reaching a 100 chapters!!

tl;dr - sui is a pro at masking. the soos.. definitely need closure, and the foreshadowing of it happening soon is driving me insane enough to theorise about it!!

#i cant believe the soos are making me write those theory posts that i detest reading..#trash of the count's family #lout of the count’s family #tcf lee soo hyuk #cale henituse #tcf #tcf choi jung soo #lee soo hyuk #tcf spoilers #tcf part 2

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authenticaussie · 5 months ago

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WIP Wednesday

(except my in-office day is Wednesday so I need a different day instead and one day I Will find a fun alliteration for it but for now it's Fuck it Friday). Game snagged from @suzukiblu

It’s time for a little accountability, sharing fic, and getting a kick in the pants.

Here’s how it works:

Make a list of five (5) of your WIPs for your followers to chose from.

Post a snippet from one of your fics that you've worked on in the past week.

Your followers get to send an ask with one of the five listed WIPs!

You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can't share from (for example, an event or gift fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in, or just post.

If you’re reading this, you’re invited!

If you see someone posting a WIP Wednesday Game snippet, send them an ask! Make them write. 👀🔥

I will say I love the "filenames not titles": my doc names are either a) the fic title or b) VERY RARELY a random title that I use to keep all my drabble/short fic/reqs in (even if they have their own titles. Like, my yj98 fics are all under "Core4 Shenanigans" even though there are like, six separate fics in there. jumanji au my beloved.)

Anyway!

file names:

Spiderkon, aka eight legs hit the wall (even more aka: yj98 shenanigans ft. Spiderman au) <- this one is a bang project so I will either post sections that are Not part of the bang or other Kon related fic :3

blogging (and other dangerous activities likely to get you adopted by the Batman) <ao3 link> Tim has made a slightly terrible mistake and now has to Lie To Batman. Oop. 😳

Stray!Dami

keep me in your Pocket (yj98 soulmates au ft. Kon in a pod and some Angy™ pockets)

Show me Skies on Fire <ao3 link> (....don't look at me?)

Randomiser - I have a bunch of my wip fics on a wheel and will just spin and dump 🤭

snippet from the Stray!Dami au, which features Batman: TAS!Selina and Damian's love of animals continuing no matter What universe alterations occur.

"And who's this little stray creeping around?" purrs a voice from behind him, and Damian barely manages to restrain his yelp, quickly turning and shoving the screwdriver behind him. The costume declares quickly that it's not a guard, but his voice still cracks when he says, "Catwoman?"

She winks behind her mask, overconfident and proud of it, and his hands feel sweaty on the handle of his screwdriver. He feels distinctly underprepared for his heist now, when comparison has shown up so obviously, but-

“I’m not here to get in the way,” he says, tilting his chin up. “Whatever you're here to steal, I don't care. But you're not allowed to call the alarm on me freeing these bengals, either.”

She doesn't blink at him, but it seems like a near thing; her posture straightens just barely from her languid sprawl, and he shifts one foot behind him so she won't get both if she decides to use her whip to trip him up. “And why would a little thing like you want to cause that much chaos?” she asks, and he bristles.

“I know your intent is always to humiliate your victims,” he retorts, and he wishes he had the teeth of the cats behind him, to bare at her and snarl. “But none of these animals deserve to be mistreated just because you're more interested in a grudge. Go steal whatever you're here for and leave me alone.”

“Kitten,” says Catwoman, a hint of a smile curling her lip. “I’m here to steal those cats.”

#bip bop nari drops #ask aussie #wip Wednesday #ALSO technically im. sleeping. shhhh <- its 2am #so im posting and then ill refrog in the morning and get hopping 🐸#......okay that frog emoji is kinda creepy tbh. C'EST LA VIE. FROG IT.

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saintsofwarding · 1 year ago

Text

BURIAL

Chapter 11

(You know it's gonna hurt. Don't you?)

"It's...it's not true. I know it's not."

(Don't be stupid, Donna. Everyone leaves you except me. Everyone betrays you. And it always hurts)

"Even you?"

(Silly Donna. I'll never betray you. I only want what's best for you)

"No you don't. She's what's best for me. She makes me feel-"

(Don't you dare say whole)

"She makes me feel in control."

(You think control is what you need? The guilt will eat you alive! Your dreams protect you, dummy! You won't be able to handle living when they're gone)

"And neither will you."

(Careful, Donna. I can put you somewhere far away. You know I can. You said it yourself. I'm stronger than you. But-)

A brush of porcelain fingers, cold as a corpse's.

(-we're so much stronger together)

"She's not working for Mother."

(They all work for Mother)

"Not like that! She's not her spy. She can't be, she can't, she helped me, she stayed. She came back-" Her thoughts scrambled and stuttered. She rose and paced back and forth and back and forth. The well yawned before her, its depths endless. It might have gone down forever. "She cares about me. She's not like Violeta- she accepts me. All of me."

(Silly little mouse. Caught in a trap)

"Shut up shut up shut up shut up-" She reached up, grabbing fistfuls of her own hair. Strands broke off between her fingers like wires. The tentacles on her face began to writhe and slap against her own skin, responding to her agitation. The pressure in her head built. She gripped tighter as her voice rose to a scream. "-Stop stop stop stop, I'm not listening, I don't hear you-"

(Yes you do)

"No I don't!"

(Yes you do, yes you doooo)

"No no no!" She slammed her fists into the wall, hard enough she felt her palms split and shear open on the rough stone. Blood trickled down her arms, twisting into her flesh. Her palms grew warm. She knew without looking they'd already begun to heal over. "No! No! No! Bad girl, bad Angie, bad ME!"

She railed and screamed and beat the walls and when she was done, her throat raw and scraped, she turned and collapsed back against the stones, breathing hard, clutching at her upper arms. A strangled keen escaped her, a weird animal sound, echoing through the darkness. The pulse inside her head went on, sickening, comforting.

Angie drifted before her like a small ghost. She nudged Donna, who opened her arms to let the doll settle in them.

(She doesn't know the half of it yet. It'll be just like last time, that ridiculous blonde creature with her stupid little shoes. You can't change the past, Donna. No matter how hard you try. Even if she showed you differently, it's only a dream)

"I can't hurt her," Donna whispered. A warm tear streaked down her face.

Angie leaned forward and licked it from her cheek. She chattered her teeth. (You won't have to. You have me)

Donna hugged the doll to her chest, half-wishing she could drop her down the well and watch the darkness swallow her.

"And what would I do," she whispered. "Without you?"

(You'll see)

(They always betray you)

(And we always have to kill them. Each and every one)

***

Elena heaved aside a heap of old furniture in the attic and found it. It stared back at her, lenses filmed with dust and tinged green. She'd seen a few around the village, left over from a great war that had, a long time ago, raged beyond the valley's borders, a war that Miranda had claimed to have protected the Black God's followers from, keeping the horrors of the outside world at bay.

A gas mask. She'd never worn one, but she knew its function- some of the workers Lord Heisenberg employed at the uppermost levels of his factory, processing the junkyard detritus he unearthed from the land around his domain, were issued the same sort. This one looked to be in much worse repair, its leather strap cracked and peeling, its olive green casing scarred-up. But, examining it, Elena found no holes in it, and when she fit it over her face and inhaled, the air tasted musty, hissing in through its strange elongated filter.

Let's hope it'll be enough.

She removed it and set it in a basket, along with the other things she'd gathered from the shack out in the garden. A set of long chains, and a pair of manacles, secured with a stout padlock.

Elena climbed down the ladder. She descended the stairs. Her shadow crept beside her, silent on the gleaming wood walls.

Donna waited below, Angie in her arms.

"I...I don't know," Donna began.

"It's going to work."

"If it doesn't, she'll kill you," Donna said. She squeezed Angie tighter. "She's told me. She'll hurt you. She'll trap you so deep inside yourself you'll never find a way out."

"So fight her."

"I'm not-"

"You'll have to be. If you want this to end." Elena gripped her hand, tight. "It's okay. We're in this together."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Donna nodded, her brow creased. She stood aside, showing the curious objects she'd assembled on the small table by the rocking chair. A collection of long taper candles. A lighter engraved with a strange many-headed beast. A black mirror, small as the palm of a hand, and so highly-polished it seemed like a perfect darker double of the world. A sprig of yellow flowers in a vase.

Elena heard her small inhale.

"It was easier," Donna said. "To be dead. To be a part of the dreams, not the dreamer. It was like sleeping forever. I told myself none of it was real. But now I must wake up."

"Some say the whole world is a dream," Elena said. "The Black God's dream. Or that we're all heading toward its dreams when we die."

"So then I really have been dead all these years."

"Then you're even more miraculous than I thought," Elena told her. "It's easy to die. Harder to return from death."

Donna faced her. The look on her face had changed. Still afraid, of course. Still so afraid, that nameless fear that was the undercurrent of all their lives, and yet something in it had settled. For the first time, Elena saw resolve in her single eye.

Donna reached forward, suddenly, and caught her by the hand. "Elena," she said.

"We should get-"

"Hush," Donna whispered, and leaned forward, drawing her hand up Elena's arm, to her cheek. Drawing her face to her lips.

Her mouth brushed Elena's.

Cold, still. Just a touch.

Once, twice.

And then again. Elena's hand came up to hold Donna's face, pulling her to her; the touch of her lips became something harder, became a kiss like falling. Her fingers in Donna's hair; Donna's hands at her face, cupping her jaw, pulling her in.

Her strange cold skin took on Elena's heat as she touched her. Finally, she felt alive. Her mouth tasted bittersweet like her flowers, the faint writhe of her face against Elena's somehow, against all odds, exactly what she wanted to feel.

She wouldn't have it any other way. Wouldn't have Donna any other way than this, now, monstrous and bitter and warm in her arms.

She pulled back, a little. Elena's lips felt bruised, her face flushed; Donna's eye was bright as she looked at her and gave a nod.

"Now we get started," she said.

"Yes, my lady," Elena told her, and at last Donna broke out in the smile she'd been waiting for, full and sweet, nothing held back.

She pressed her hand to Elena's chest, then turned, gathering up the candles. She gave half to Elena, and, together, they traced out a circle on the floor, around the rocking chair. Elena lit them one by one, and soon the darkened hall was full of their light, a sphere of flicker and glow that threw strange shadows on the far walls, made them seem to leap and dance as if they had minds of their own. Elena dropped the lighter in her pocket as Donna took a seat in the rocking chair.

Slowly, methodically, she lay the other objects down at the pointed toes of her boots. The polished black mirror, laying on the rug like a thing cut out of night, and, by its side, the vase with the sprig of yellow flowers.

Pollen drifted in the gloom and underlit Donna's face, throwing harsh shadow over the fine lines of cheekbone and jaw and eye socket. Elena imagined she could see the shape of Donna's skull beneath the skin, and shivered, at once cold.

Donna exhaled, settling Angie in her lap.

The candle flames lengthened, reaching toward the ceiling, long enough to snap.

"Now," Donna whispered.

Elena took up the chains. One manacle went around Donna's wrist; the other went around Angie's midsection. She wound the long chains around and around them both, around the rocking chair.

"Tighter," Donna told her. "I can escape this."

"I don't want-"

"Tighter," Donna hissed. In her lap, Angie's teeth began to chitter, her porcelain fingers clicking against one another.

Elena pulled the chains tighter; their links bit deep into Donna's clothes, leaving smears of rust on the black taffeta. Donna closed her eye; her lips fluttered.

The candle flames spat and flickered.

The padlock clicked in place. Throat tight, Elena knelt before Donna and touched her cheek. "Hey," she said. "You still there?"

"I'm here."

"Good." Elena stood back. "Okay. What now?"

The air pressure dropped. The temperature plunged; her breath became visible in the air, and a high scream sounded in the back of her skull, a buzz-saw through bone. She gasped and flinched, but stayed rigid, stayed where she was.

It's not real. None of it is real.

"You..."

Elena looked down. Donna's voice scraped from her. "You...know this will never work..."

"So prove me wrong. Come on."

"I'm...not strong enough...we...we're stronger together, she tells me so..." A burst of manic laughter escaped her. "She whispers to me at night, all about you, all about the way your skin tastes, the salt off its surface..."

"Come on, Angie, don't be disgusting," Elena said. Her hands tightened into fists at her sides. "Donna, you can fight it. Fight her."

"You don't get it. How can we look in a mirror and not see our whole selves?" Another course of laughter. It echoed around Elena, circling her; she heard pattering footsteps, the scrape of porcelain against wood. A sharp metallic ring, like a chorus of knives drawn.

Whispering.

Little tiny voices.

The dolls are watching.

She saw them staring from the windows of the dollhouse.

Something's inside.

"Break the mirror," Donna-Angie said. "Break the mirror and keep your eyes on what you can see in front of you. Break it and you never have to cry again. Break it all and forget!"

"Don't listen to her, Donna," Elena commanded.

Donna screamed; the sound tore from her, a physical force; it raked through Elena, shaking the foundations of the house. Wood creaked, walls groaning, dust sifting from the ceiling as Donna howled and twisted in her chair. The chain links strained and screeched. In her lap Angie woke, a malevolent light glittering in her eyes, kicking up her limbs as she twisted in turn against the manacle holding her in place.

"Not fair!" she screeched. She slapped at the manacle. "Not! Fair! You don't play nice, Lupu, not nice at all!" "Well, you started it." Elena pushed forward; her limbs shook, joints turned to water. It took effort, like walking against a ferocious wind. Another wave of screams burst from Donna, black liquid spurting down the sides of her mouth, dripping from her eyes and onto the floor. It writhed like worms. The black mirror shone in the candlelight, searing-bright. "Don't make me smash you into bad memories."

"And kill Donna?" The doll lowered her head. "You wouldn't do that, now, would you?"

"It wouldn't-"

"Oh, yes, it would." Her mouth fell open. "Ohhh, poor Elena. Thinking you might be able to...what? Save her from herself? Save that sad severed little piece of Donna Beneviento from the big bad monster made by her mind? Well, tough luck, sweetie! You get the whole deal...or you get nothing! Nothing, nothing, nothing!"

"Donna," Elena called. "Donna, listen to me. She's nothing. You said it yourself, she's just an old doll your father made, and you're all grown up now. You don't need her anymore. Tell her to go! Tell her to go away so far she'll never get out again!"

"Nothing, nothing, nothing." Angie had made a little song out of the word. "Nothing, nothing, nothing at all. Shhh."

Donna slumped backward, suddenly, her face so covered with black liquid Elena couldn't see her skin anymore; her neck was twisted back at a painful angle.

No- Elena stepped forward, heart pounding, but- her hands were still moving, twitching on the chair arms.

She stopped, breathing hard. Don't fall for it. Don't lose control.

Angie tittered. "Baby's sleeping."

"Donna," Elena said, between clenched teeth. "This is...this is just light, it's just memories. Like the projector. It isn't real."

"You're lying."

"I'm not-"

"You are. I know you are. You can't love her. You're going to leave her. Everyone does. You have to understand that I'm the only one she needs." Angie leaned forward as far as the manacle would allow. "You have to get that she's too weak for anything else."

Elena took a sharp breath. It hurt. The walls shimmered around her; on the edges, in the back of her mind, waited golden sunlight.

Donna was retreating. She'd regress again, so far away that Elena couldn't reach her. Reality was agony; that place, that dream, was far easier. Again and again she'd gone there, retreated there, leaving the rest of herself to wreak nightmares on the world beyond the borders of her mind.

She'd killed, Elena understood. She didn't know how many. She'd visited horrors on the innocent, on Violeta. On her. And still she couldn't leave her. Still she stayed, her body shaking with terror, not of Donna but for her, wishing she could go to her again and kiss her face and see if she'd wake up that way.

She wouldn't. Elena had run out of options. Only the truth remained.

I'm sorry.

"It was Miranda," she said.

Angie's mouth snapped shut.

"It was Miranda," Elena said again. Heat welled in her eyes; her throat was so tight she felt like she was being strangled. "Miranda...sent me here to spy on you. Or she would have killed me and my father. I...I could only think of him...too scared for anything else. And, saints, I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry, Donna, I told her about you. About you not being able to control your powers. About...what you told me, your secrets, your fears..."

Donna was lifting her head, black liquid streaming from her. Her eye was wide, shining. Angie began to laugh, low and dark.

"You did?" Donna whispered.

Elena couldn't speak. Tears streamed down her face as she nodded.

"It's true?"

She nodded again.

This time, Donna's scream tore through her like knives. The house erupted into darkness, a storm of screams and howls and shattering, the shadows rising in monstrous form, wolves and witches and nameless things with too many claws, too many eyes, crawling toward the ring of light as if they might extinguish it.

But Elena was ready. She was fast. She'd gotten fast.

She slammed the gas mask over her face and tugged the straps tight. It sealed around her face, and her next inhale tasted not of bittersweet flowers but stale air, swirling through her lungs. Nausea rippled through her; she doubled over and retched a mouthful of black slime into the gas mask. It spattered the inside of the glass, but it didn't writhe like before, no, didn't move at all.

Breathing hard, straightening, Elena stared out through the mask. It was already accumulating a rime of yellowish dust. That must have been the pollen. The house wasn't a chamber of nightmares anymore, just a hall with a ring of candles on the floor, and, before her, twisting and tearing at her chains:

Donna.

Her hair had come loose and hung around her shoulders in lank ropes, veins standing out against her pale face as she screamed and shrieked, black tears streaming from her eyes, the doll on her lap yelling abuse at Elena.

"Cheater!" she screeched.

"You shut up," Elena snapped at the doll. She looked at Donna. "I said I wouldn't leave you. I'm not lying. I know you'll get loose from those chains eventually. And when you do..."

She swallowed.

"Whatever you choose to do, I'm still gonna help you," Elena told her. "I trust you. I love you. Hold on."

She turned, already tugging the keys from her bodice, and ran. Down the darkened hallway, straight for the elevator.

Straight for the basement.

***

(You see? You SEE?)

"This isn't funny anymore, Angie!"

(Oh, I'm funny? How flattering)

"Just leave me alone..."

(To mourn? Poor Donna. I know you thought she'd be the answer to your loneliness but your answer was right in front of you all along...)

"I...I don't care."

Angie's eyes sprang wide. She drifted before Donna in the murky darkness, lace veil billowing around her.

(What)

"You can't bully me anymore."

(How dare you talk to me like that. After all I've done for you!)

"I...I know. And I used to need it. I used to want it. But I know now I can survive alone. And I don't care what you say."

They faced one another, now, like they had so many times before. The echoes of Donna's hoarse voice spilled around them, surrounding them. Surrounding her; for the first time in a long time her heartbeat spiked- not from fear, but from anger.

No: rage.

It boiled through her, a white-hot sear through her veins. Rage against Elena, against Miranda, against her parents, against her own weakness and silence and terrors. She wouldn't turn it against herself, not this time. Angie wasn't the issue here. Angie was a part of herself, always had been, a part she'd rather not face. But now here Angie was, looking her in the eye, commanding her body like a puppet. She saw, dully, as if watching a badly tuned television, her own body twisting and screaming in the chair, throwing herself against her chains so hard they'd leave bruises. Felt Angie's righteous hatred against Elena standing before her, dark eyes wide and focused on her with a ferocity Donna hadn't seen for a long time. If she had, ever.

She was so beautiful. She'd become so beautiful to her.

Fight it, Donna, she said. Come on. Fight it. Was it real? It didn't matter.

(No, Donna. She betrayed you. Now do to her what you did to everyone else you loved. Feel nothing. It's safer that way)

"I can't..."

(Let me do it. Let me hurt them. I can dream up tortures that would make even Dimitrescu shudder, just you wait and see! Prisons of nightmares. Endless. Glittering. Full of teeth. You know I can. I'll keep you safe)

"I...I don't need you to protect me."

(Don't do this, Donna!) A note of panic entered the voice. The sound of it changed, becoming more childlike, less sinister, a little girl's voice crying out for her. Claudia's voice. (Please, please don't do this to us-)

"No." Donna grabbed the doll in both hands. She writhed and gnashed her teeth but she hung on as tight as she could.

"I," she said, through grit teeth, "Don't. Need. You. Anymore!"

Angie began to laugh. The sound eclipsed the echoes of Donna's voice, the flare of her defiance burning through her; the darkness pressed in, twining up Donna's skirt and over her skin like tendrils of black mold. The doll's eyes gleamed as she leaned in.

(Little Dolly Donna. Then you leave me no choice)

She realized it an instant too slow. A call. An echo ringing down the mycelial connection that weaved around her, a web across the whole of the village, a web that connected them all. Donna, more so than most. And wasn't Angie a part of her?

"Angie, no," Donna choked, but it was too late.

(Better tidy up, Donna.

Mother's coming)

***

Elena didn't dare remove the gas mask. Tears dripped down her face, salty on her lips. She tried to steady her breathing, slow her heartbeat.

Just stay calm.

The elevator slid downward, downward, the rumble of its mechanism shuddering in Elena's gut.

Just keep going.

The sound of Donna's screams and Angie's cackling had long-since faded, and the silence had rushed in, the loudest noise that of Elena's too-fast heartbeat, thudding in her ears like a ceremony drumbeat.

She'd spat up a couple more mouthfuls of black liquid. It smelled floral. Was that the pollen's effect on her body? She had no doubt spores were deep in her brain, now. Maybe...maybe Donna had retracted her control once she'd put on the gas mask. Maybe a tiny part of her had recognized that Elena wanted to help her, and had relinquished control over her.

It was a small hope, a foolhardy one, but Elena would hang onto it with everything she had. She'd believe it.

Down, and down, and down, into the depths. The weight pressed on her mind, a surface tension easily snapped. The air chilled, like before, and the darkness came up to meet her, and then the light slid up from her feet to her scalp and the elevator was grinding to a halt with the wheeze of gears. Ding, it went.

Elena slid open the gate. Her first step creaked on the dusty floor. She paced ahead, past the door to the study, past the door that was locked. She tried it again, and it creaked open at a push. Inside was a storage room, shelves full of an enviable stock of fabrics, filing boxes, broken furniture, stacks upon stacks of old film reels for the projector. Nothing moved in the shadows; nothing was out of place.

Elena moved on. Her shadow moved alongside her. She felt a faint rumble underfoot- water? Surely not the falls, this far down. How far belowground was she, anyway? She'd tried to count during her descent but lost the numbers after she reached fifty. Deep in the cliffside.

That's where the Black God lives, the priests had said in church, once, reading from Miranda's tomes and treatise. Far, far below us, for the world is its womb, and the divine is birthed in its endless dreams.

These didn't feel like divine realms to Elena. The air was damp, crawling against her skin. Black mold dripped down the walls, infecting the antique furniture, the comfortable chairs, worsening the further down the hall Elena went. Deeper, deeper. She kept track of the hallways, the turns, but it all looked the same, whitewash and wood panels, gloom and flickering lights held within glass sconces on the walls. She passed the phone on its stand. It didn't ring. She hurried by and on, turning a corner, facing a hallway so pitch-black she could not see more than an arm's length ahead, even with the lit sconce behind her.

Her breathing quickened. The darkness seemed to shift before her- movement? Her fear making monsters where there were none? She reached for her flashlight and clicked it on. It illuminated, harshly, the whitewashed corridor, the darkened sconces, the cracked floorboards. Something skittered away from the light. She shone it up and flinched.

It glanced off doors. A pair of them, heavy wood with brass handles.

Elena clenched her teeth. There's nothing here. All your nightmares, they were inside you the whole time. A mirror, remember?

But still she felt it. Like a memory, forgotten. A terrible act, remembered not by her mind but with her body, with her nerves and her breath and the drone of dread in her gut. A weight, deep inside. A weight, warping the world around it out of shape, so heavy it pulled all things toward it.

Somehow, her foot moved. She stepped into the darkness. The sound of her breathing quickened inside the gas mask, the haze of pollen thickening on its lenses. The doors came closer. One was cracked, a gap of light shining from the far side.

She pulled open the doors.

Elena remembered this room. She'd seen it only through a haze of drugs and pain, when she'd first glimpsed Donna without her veil. Arm flayed open, being stitched back together. A low-ceilinged stone room, walls supported with rock arches. An ogre's kitchen from a fairy tale. The table was there, stout wood scarred like a butcher's block. From racks on the ceiling hung not corpse limbs but half-finished dolls, some missing eyes, some limbs, some their clothes, naked and sexless. Others were just heads, their wire armatures dangling below them like viscera. On shelves around the room waited doll parts, a sewing machine, a workbench arranged with paints and colorless glass eyes.

Through a bank of windows to her left Elena saw, lit with a blinding greenish light, what looked like a medical room, brown glass jars of chemicals lined up on counters, syringes and scalpels gleaming hungrily.

Something waited there, on a steel tray, on the countertop. A gleam of gold.

Elena moved closer. She stepped into the greenish light and stopped, staring down at the thing in the tray.

It was hair. A long, braided hank of blonde hair, attached to a scrap of bloody skin. The braid was secured with a red ribbon.

Violeta's hair.

The dread deepened. Elena felt it in her chest, on the back of her throat. Her heart pounded. Her nerves trembled, on the verge of fraying.

No. Don't you dare lose your nerve now. She could still be down here. Somewhere. She could still be alive.

Elena backed from the medical room, turned from the workshop, and stepped down an adjoining corridor. The hallway changed around her, transitioning from whitewashed walls to stout stone, slick with damp. The lights were now naked bulbs on wires, buzzing, releasing a faint wash of amber light that rendered all shadow twice as dark.

Strange objects waited on shelves. Broken dolls and odd little ornaments, music boxes covered in grime as if unearthed from a grave. Primitive statuettes with pits for eyes, carved from wood or crystal.

Elena clicked on her flashlight. It hit a door before her. This was different than the rest of the place. It looked ancient, wood warped and blackened, clinging to dark iron hinges that spiraled like goat's horns. The handle was dark iron, too, and carved into the door's center was the Beneviento moon and sun. It looked, like the statuettes, more primitive than Elena had seen before, as if this place was far older than the rest of the house. It looked older than anything Elena had ever seen before. Was this part of whatever had come before the house? Whatever had rested on this land centuries in the past?

She didn't know. But she recognized the metal of the handle, of the empty lock below. She reached for the keys around her neck and for the first time took up the small iron one, the key Violeta had seen fit to hide away.

It fit and turned. The lock dropped with a heavy thud. Elena felt it in the pit of her stomach. The hinges sang as she pushed the door wide, as it fell open to complete darkness.

She'd thought she'd seen dark before. Nothing like this. Nothing like this emptiness. Away, and away, echoes fanning into the void. She lifted her flashlight before it overtook her. Steps stretched downward, a descent into a black pit. Hand-chiseled, flagstone, slick with damp and years of grime. The dread deepened to a pulse.

You can't do it.

She did. Her foot slid onto the first step, and she kept going. Down, and down, and down. Her flashlight beam flickered; she gave the flashlight a smack and it steadied. Was it dimmer than before? It's your mind playing tricks. She couldn't let the fear win.

On and on through the wending halls.

The heavy mineral smell of the place was thick in her head, even through the gas mask. The smell of a deep world, decomposed.

Soon her hands and feet were numb. She kept going. Water dripped from somewhere ahead. An end to this purgatory of stairs?

Don't look back.

The flashlight beam caught on the jagged arch of an empty doorway and the slimy flagstones of whatever lay beyond. Elena stepped from the last stair and onto flat stone. Dust drifted in the air. Echoes plashed around her. She heard, again, water, and felt the humidity of the air on her bare hands.

The walls curved inward. A circular room? In the middle, something rose from the floor- a low stone wall?

No. A well.

Elena's breath caught. She stepped closer. It opened before her, a mouth, an empty eye. A yawning circle of perfect blackness. Rusty rungs were bolted into its sides. Elena moved to its edge, then stopped. Her flashlight beam had touched something on the far side of the room. Something slumped. A flash of gold.

She lifted the beam.

For a moment she wasn't sure what she was looking at. A mannequin, surely. Its white legs were sprawled, one bare foot twisted to the side. Fine black lines circled its ankles, its knees. Elena's gaze traveled up the legs, past the long skirt embroidered with red silk flowers. The matching bodice, the dangling, boneless arms, the hands curled against the floor. The head, twisted sharply to the side. Long ringlets of blonde hair fell around its face.

Glass eyes stared off into nothing.

"V...Violeta?" Elena whispered.

It was her. But it was a doll, too. Those weren't lines on her limbs, they were joints, as if each part of her body had been disarticulated and put back together. Her skin was glossy like porcelain, two red circles painted on her cheeks. Her hinged mouth hung open, her eyes wide and sightless, one cracked down the middle.

Elena began to shake. No. No. The doll's chest was split open as if with an axe chop. A curled, tentacled shape waited inside. Maybe it had once been fleshy, fetal, but now it was white crystal, glimmering amidst patches of sticky dried gore.

Elena couldn't move. She felt locked in place, unable to so much as breathe. Somewhere, her mind screamed at her to run, get out. But all she could do was stand, locked in place, and stare at the thing slumped there against the wall, half-waiting for it to move.

But it wouldn't, would it? Violeta had said so herself, in her journals. Donna had tried to give her the gift. And the gift had rejected her.

"Poor, poor Violeta."

A lightning-sear. A crack through Elena's whole system. It brought her back to life, broke her paralysis. She whirled. The flashlight beam fell on Angie and Donna, standing in the doorway behind her.

"What did you do to her?" Elena's voice grated from her throat.

"To her? Tried to save her, ungrateful thing. She saw Donna's face and oooh, didn't like that very much. So shallow." Angie chattered her teeth as she raked her hand down the cracked side of her face. "Called us a monster. So I showed her what monsters do. I showed her Claudia. Just to scare her. And it did!"

She let out a cackle. "We thought she was gone for good but she came back. Said she wanted to talk. But talk was not what she wanted, oh, no. She had a knife, smuggled out in her skirts, and she almost got us, too. Nasty, nasty. So we showed her something else scary and in the struggle and the screaming she fell down the stairs and cracked her head right open."

Angie shrugged.

"So...Donna gave her a piece of her gift," she went on. "It didn't work. She didn't come back to life. But look at her now! Isn't she pretty?"

"It-" Elena's mind raced. "It wasn't you, then. It was only a mistake. She wasn't supposed to die, was she?"

She looked at Donna, holding Angie, silent behind her black veil. "None of it was your fault! Not your parents and not Violeta. You wanted to save them all-"

"Not our fault?" Angie's shriek echoed off the walls. "I'll show you what's our fault! I'll show you right now!"

She sprang from Donna's arms and into the air, smacking into Elena and hanging on with hooked porcelain fingers. She was surprisingly heavy; Elena screamed and swung round, but the doll clenched down. She felt her scrabble at the back of Elena's gas mask, felt the gnawing of sharp little teeth-

"Get off me!" She swung round again, for the wall this time, hoping to scrape the little monster off, but-

Oh, saints-

Cold air rushed over her face. She held her breath, but maybe it was too late, maybe breathing it didn't matter. Maybe it had been in her all along.

The dream rippled before her, through her, and she slumped as Angie leapt from her and back to Donna's waiting arms.

Elena panted, breathing lungfuls of the pollen-filled air. What was the difference now? She lifted her eyes to Donna, understanding. A hole in the world. A weight that pulled all things down with it.

"You killed Claudia," she said.

#resident evil village #re8 #re8 fanfiction #re8 fic #donna beneviento #elena lupu #donna beneviento x elena lupu #karl heisenberg #donna beneviento x oc #mother miranda #resident evil #re8 oc #claudia beneviento #angie beneviento #gothic romance #gothic horror #chapter 11

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