#i let him have just the *teeniest* little bit because it can be harmful in large quantities but???

[yourlocalxenomorph3]

why does the obligate carnivore in my house crave avocado

[realcube]

comfort hcs 💗 feat. overworked! reader

characters: yaku, oikawa, yams & akaashi

trigger warning: swearing

thank you to anon for this sweet request!

morisuke yaku

♡ he has concerned mom energy to i feel like he’d notice that you’re overworking yourself before starts negatively effecting you 

♡ once he figures out that you’re actually stressed and he’s not just being paranoid, he will probably hold an intervention where is like ‘sit down, let’s have a cha--’

♡ but you just push him out the way to grab your coat, ‘sorry, sweetheart. i don’t wanna miss my bus!’

♡ DFRTYJUHG he just stood there like a statue looking at you like (●__●) this bitch-

♡ anyway, once you come back from uni/college/school/ work etc yaku insists that you need to sit down and discuss your problems with him 

♡ then you’re kinda just like ‘what problems?????’

♡ also, after what happened that morning, yaku was not taking ‘no’ as an answer

♡ no matter what you say 

♡ homework? you can do that later

♡ chores? he’ll do them for you if you just listen to him

♡ hungry? you can eat while you listen to him

♡ showering? you smell fine!

♡ so yeah, he will pick you up and carry you to the living room if he has to

♡ he’s probably really serious about the issue bc your feelings aren’t a joke to him but he lined up your favourite plushies on the couch so he could talk to them as a third party when you disagreed with him

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

“i study in moderation! and i have not been neglecting our relationship; i just need to focus on my studies!” you tutted, averting your gaze from yaku’s as you thought about his accusation; did he really feel as though you had been taking him for granted? because of course, that wasn’t your intention at all and the more you thought about it, the more you realise that perhaps he was right.

yaku rolled his eyes at your response, quite enraged by your dismissive tendencies but he didn’t want to take his anger out on you so he simply turned to the kiiroitori plush that sat beside him, “duck, do you think (l/n) has been overworking themselves and ignoring both of us?”

kiirotori was forced by yaku’s hand to nod in response.

you snorted slightly before trying to furrow your eyebrows in anger once again, “their name is kiiroitori!” 

tōru oikawa

♡ dsfghjkl ngl he clearly overworks himself too so he wouldn’t even notice 

♡ he’s like ‘oh, you’re spending hours upon hours of a day - losing sleep and energy - to dedicate yourself solely to one thing so you can be perfect at it??? that’s completely normal!’

♡ spoiler alert, it’s not

♡ it’d probably take a third-party to point that what you are both doing isn’t healthy (either iwaizumi or a therapist)

♡ then you’d both look at each other like ⚆_⚆ wut 

♡ anyway recovery time ig ✨

♡ he’d definitely just try distract you whenever he sees you studying/training/practising

♡ forget overwork, he doesn’t even let you work 

♡ oh and y’all have started having ‘lazy days’ once a month where you make it a point to nothing but each other :))

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

you both stared at the television, pretending to be absolutely engrossed by jumanji. however, once you let out your fifth sigh that minute, oikawa could tell that you were just as disinterested as he was so he peered over his shoulder to look at you, “this is so boring.” 

you nodded, shuffling closer to him so he could drape his arm around your shoulder and bury his nose into your hair. “it’s so hard to just sit here and do nothing when i know that i have a lot to do, y’know?”

oikawa hummed in agreement, “but it’s nice to finally spend some quality time with you, angel.” he placed a kiss on your temple, scooting awkwardly in his seat before pulling you down to lay down next to him on couch. 

“yeah,” you purred, happily falling onto the soft cushions while in oikawa’s embrace, “i’ve suddenly had a change of heart - i love these lazy days.”

“that was fast.”

tadashi yamaguchi

♡ it would take him a wile to built up the courage to actually express his concern about you overworking yourself

♡ but until then, he’ll show them in more subtle ways

♡ like if he sees you working at your desk - whether your posture is straight or not - he’ll rush up to you and massage your shoulders/back while talking

♡ he always sends you goodnight texts and gets v snappy when you text him in the middle of the night 

♡  ‘tadashi, what did you get for number five on the maths hw?’

♡ if he opens the message and notices that you sent that crazy late at night or the ass crack of dawn, he’ll lose his shit

♡  ‘(Y/N) WHY WERE U UP AT 3AM DOING MATHS HW LITERALLY GO TO SLEEP’

♡ he forces himself to ask you out on dates irl so that if you use work/training/practise etc as an excuse..he can give the puppy eyes 🥺

♡ don’t get me wrong, he’s not manipulative at all but you just overwork yourself so much he think that the teeniest tiniest little bit of fun wouldn’t do you any harm 

♡ he literally cares for you so much and he just wants you to be healthy and happy like is that too much to ask ಥ_ಥ

♡ it would take him 3 months of mental preparation to confront you but he’d do it eventually lol

♡ he’d still be super duper nervous though 👉👈

  ♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

“(y/n).” yamaguchi’s soft voice rang quietly through the hallway before he stuck his head inside your room in search for you. he let out a sigh upon noticing that - like always - you were sitting at your desk, drowning in papers of schoolwork. 

he hurriedly approached you, suddenly throwing his arms around your shoulders as he hid his face in the crook of your neck before wailing, “(y/n)! i know it’s none of my business but i just think you work yourself way too hard and i see how sleepy you are all the time and you didn’t even eat the cupcakes i made you because you were too busy studying - i thought you loved my cupcakes!”

your eyes widened at the sudden contact and the string of words yamaguchi was babbling in your ear; but you semi-understood what he was getting at. so you steadily turned around to wrap your arms around his neck and rub his spine reassuringly, “i am so sorry, tadashi. i had no idea i was worrying you.”

he shook his head against the skin of your neck, “it’s fine, i worry about everything.” he joked before changing to a more serious tone, “it’s just that-- i think you should care more about yourself. take some time to relax once and a while, y’know?”

his sweet words resulted in your lips curling to a smile while his arms wrapped securely around your body brought you a much-needed feeling of peace, “alright, i’ll try.”

“good.” yamaguchi chirped, pecking your forehead then positioning his face where it was prior, going back to enjoying the feeling of your soft skin agaist his. “-so, are you gonna eat the cupcakes or”

keiji akaashi 

♡ he overworks himself too

♡ if anything, i think he’d praise you for being ‘hard-working’ at first ‘:)

♡ but once he notices how much you work and how negatively it’s effecting your mental/physical health, he’ll intervene

♡ like yamaguchi, i think he’d start small by subtly doing things to reverse the effects of your stress 

♡ and simultaneously, it kinda helps him too

♡ for example, if you get stress ance, he’ll do a bunch of research on the best skin treatments for it, buy the products then do facemasks with you + create a whole new nightly skincare routine for both of you 

♡ or if your not taking care of yourself properly, he’ll book you both in for a spa appointment 

♡ or if you’re tense, he’ll get you both massages from those professional ppl that make you strip naked

♡ when they make you get your tiddies out, you know they are a professional  masseuse

♡ and he’ll take out on ten times more just to help you relax

♡ also, they’re always slow-paced dates bc like ofc akaashi takes you out to the park/beach for picnics....does he seem the sort of guy to take you bowling?? no.

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

you sighed as akaashi brought a spoon up to your lips, looking at you expectantly but you simply whined, “keiji, i should be at home studying right now. you know my exam in 5 months, right?” though akaashi wanted to believe you were joking, the seriousness in your voice made it clear that you genuinely thought 5 months was a short period of time - even considering all the work you’ve already done in preparation for it. 

so akaashi simply shrugged in response, continuing to prod your lip with the spoon until you parted you lips, allowing the pudding he made to enter your mouth. then, he pulled it out lower it to observe your pouty expression for a moment; you were so cute that he couldn’t help but smile softly. 

“i’m sure you’ll do fine, sweetheart. i believe in you.” he said, gripping your waist before placing a tender kiss on your cheek. “for now, let’s enjoy this perfect weather. it only comes around once a year, so why not make the most of it, hm?” 

before you were able to reply, akasshi utilized the hand  the had on your waist to pull you back onto the picnic blanket with him, so you were both looking up at the pale blue sky, decorated with delicate clouds. “what do you see?” he inquired, gesturing up to the shapes the clouds formed.

you snickered, slowly intertwining your finger with his as you examined the sky for any familiar shapes or silhouettes in the sky. “oh!” you exclaimed, lifting your index finger to point to a particular cloud adorning the sky, “that kinda looks like my maths professor in a gallon hat.” 

akaashi snorted, “i have no idea what your maths professor looks like but alright.”

you laughed, lowing your finger but not everting your gaze from the special cloud you spotted, “what about you, babe? what do you see?”

with a moment of hesitation, akaashi immediately replied, “an angel.”

your eyes scanned across the sky for a cloud in the shape on an angel but you simply couldn’t find the one he was referring to, so you whipped your head to the side to see where he was pointing, only notice that his eyes were fixated on you. 

“y-you’re such a simp, keiji.”

[artificiallyimplantedmemories]

[ ep 6 liveblog/commentary under the cut (finally) ... so many screenshots inside. I’m not sorry? ]

this is fairly stream of consciousness as I was watching in between bouts of tutoring so it’s less Massive Thinky Thoughts than usual, but w/e, it’s a commentary!

They said no fly zone and I was immediately concerned. If Sam goes out there with the wings, I hope he doesn’t get shot at. On the flip side, Bucky just “Sergeant Barnes” his way in, huh?

I appreciate them using the holo-face tech again so it’s not a throwaway, but also having those makes everything so messy. In the meantime though look at this pause face XD

WHEN CAP SLINGS HIS MIGHTY SHIIIIEEELD

“I thought Captain America was on the moon.” Who spread this rumor widely enough for members of the GRC to believe it?? lmao

“A baguette and a few French fries.” Sam’s sass will never stop being top tier. Also I love that both Caps get to fight Batroc. Yay parallels!

“You don’t think I’ve ever fought for something bigger than myself? That’s all I’ve ever tried to do, and I’ve failed twice.” Ow. Bucky, you’ve kept Steve safe all throughout WWII, you’ve been part of the fight with Thanos and helped the Avengers win, you’ve fought your own mind for the greater good, healed the damage and the trigger words in order not to become a weapon against people, stop thinking of your failures ;_; (I say as my Nat muse shrugs sympathetically in my head)

Bucky showing off the same compassion as Sam with Karli? <chef’s kiss> Bucky on a motorcycle again? <double chef’s kiss>

Sharon I see you with that trick. We stan a smart woman!! Not gonna lie I did think it was a tracker at first though. Ruthless. Way more ruthless than Sam would approve of...

I’m not gonna lie, seeing the difference in fighting style between Steve and Sam with the shield is just so fun? Sam gets to work far more in three dimensions, he uses the repulsors and the wings and the shield all in tandem. It’s like seeing a cross between Steve and Tony in some ways, but with the added acrobatics. It’s cool!

Seeing Karli’s supporters starting to question her and her extremism is rewarding. I’ve known multiple people who have come from backgrounds that were pretty close to brainwashing that have slowly broken out of it over time, either due to seeing how twisted things were towards the top or increased exposure to people who weren’t part of their (forcibly) exclusive group. It’s a hell of a wake up call. And that extremism continues for Karli, setting the truck on fire. How much are her friends following out of genuine commitment vs out of obligation vs out of fear?

Walker’s “you don’t think Lemar’s life mattered” is the realest anger from him that I’ve been able to identify yet. At least if he’s fighting them, Bucky’s getting a chance to save the hostages.

“Boy you just earned this ass-whoopin’!” XD XD XD

And there we have the contrast: John continuing to fight single-mindedly instead of giving a damn about the people trapped and burning to death. He doesn’t always think those lives matter. The parallels with Karli build. And of course she’s getting her ass kicked to some extent because Walker is a trained fighter, she’s far more someone working on instinct. But good on him for trying at the last minute to save them anyway.

We knew Sam was gonna save the day but damn it feels good to see it!! I love the concept of him with his human strength augmented only by the tech he wears (like Tony!) wearing the wings of an angel, saving people with superhuman compassion and a brain that lights up like the fourth of July. That’s our new Cap, folks, the one that we needed.

Bucky’s smile in response I’m !!

BUCKY’S MURDERFACE WHEN KARLI THROWS THE ROD !!!

Sam knocking out five people with the shield, you work them angles, babe !!!!!!!

Is it Sharon backstory time? It sure fuckin’ is!! Holy shit she’s got so much more invested in this fight than a pardon, and her face here is just so genuinely hurt?? Ow. But also cool the Power Broker theory was true. Honestly props to her for rising to the top and finding a way to keep tabs on the whole world while legit exiled. That said, she’s got to have done some incredibly problematic shit to get there so we’ll see what shakes down from that.

LOOK AT HER FACE

Aw fuck of course she’s been shot. Gonna skin someone if she doesn’t make it, but given how they had her moving after, she should be fine. People in the MCU have come back from far worse lol

THE CRUX OF THE SHOW RIGHT HERE. SAM WILSON EVERYONE.

If this murderball wasn’t the antagonist, Nat would be cheering her on, look at how fierce!

But also Sam ;_;

Okay, feels aside, check out the way that when the shield gets punched, Sam instinctively pre-empts being shoved back by deploying his wings, digging them into the ground to reinforce his stance. You can see here that he’s got it tripod style behind him, knees bent to absorb the shock and keep him balanced but flexible while he takes the blow. Whoever planned and choreographed this knew their shit. This here martial artist approves!

“Stay down!” “No.”

“Lincoln, really?” “Great man, great quote.” “Not when you say it.” Pfffft.

Karli’s desperation for Sam to fight back is such a poignant note here despite the hoarse yelling, because it speaks to her need for validation, the need to believe that she’s fighting for the right reason, that the people opposing her deserve to be hurt. But if he doesn’t fight despite everything, then he’s simply not allowing her that vindication, and she has no choice but to question whether it’s right to fight him. Innocents being harmed? She can do that in an abstract way. She’s not punching or shooting them, they just happen to be there and in the way of the explosion. The GRC members? Not innocent because they’re directly taking away her ability to further her cause via passed resolutions and inadequately distributed resources. Sam is neither of those. He’s clearly fighting alongside those who oppose her, but refuses to actually fight her despite his ability to. He’s someone she can’t resolve with her ideas of the world and it’s devastating her. Even as she’s got her gun trained on him, she looks lost and has to fight to regain the nerve to shoot.

Thank you Sharon. It’s possible he could have pulled something out of the hat last minute (he did have his wings after all), and the look Sam gives her is slightly disbelieving, but I think a lot of the grief here is the fact that she’s so young and her cause has roots in a genuine problem that’s not being resolved and is impacting literally half the population of the world. Sharon looks so relieved, and it must hurt to see her protege die especially at her own hand, but she’s never been one to pull her punches (or her bullets).

How long do you think this death is going to haunt him? (Can anyone say “his whole life”?) (Also La Pieta vibes)

AN ACTUAL ANGEL oh, he lands so gently, looks so solemn, puts her on a stretcher to try to save her T_T

Sorry I totally broke the mood and laughed at “or is it Captain Falcon” because I’ve played too much SSBBM early in my life oops. Just imagine Sam as this guy, yelling “FALCON PUNCH” dsfkjgsdjfh

Okay, I’m so glad that Sam is broaching this topic in public (despite the fact that you know they’d try to move it to a private discussion immediately in real life), and that he’s trying to make people understand the struggle and make more compassionate decisions. What I found highly interesting in the cinematography here is that:

1) They pan back to Bucky occasionally to show him thoughtfully listening, not interrupting, and maybe it’s important that this be an example to follow for people who are non-minorities when a member of a minority is talking about their struggle, and

2) when he says “Every time I pick this up, I know millions of people are going to hate me for it.” they cut immediately to a close up of John Walker…

And he looks down, guilty. Maybe that’s a sign of self-recognition. Maybe there’s hope for a change. (I wouldn’t hold my breath for it though.)

Oh hell the look on Isaiah’s face. Did I cry? A little.

Bucky’s starting to smile just the teeniest bit but you know who’s also smiling? TORRES. HI BABY BOY!

Empathy, empathy, empathy. The power of the people, the power of the government, the power imbalances that make the world the way it is. Sam. Wilson. GOD I love him. Thank you, thank you.

Bucky trying to play it cool. You dumb butt XD Look at their dumb faces aaa

Ahh, Sharon. Told you she’d be fine. Just needs to see an illicit doc or something. She probably has twenty of them lined up.

I SEE YOU THEME MUSIC

Oh D: That’s… no… why death, no.

Of course Zemo is smiling, he probably arranged for the Super Soldier deaths. OR VALENTINA hello I forgot about you. Oh, US Agent outfit, proper. He’s acting like a little child with it, go figure ^^; Still haven’t figured out Valentina’s motives, I’m curious.

Aw hi Yori. Bucky being honest and making proper amends is gonna make me tear up again. But also: “by the Winter Soldier… and that was me.” WAS. WAS. THIS IS PROGRESS. “I didn’t have a choice.” P R O G R E S S. EVERY NAME CROSSED OUT. P R O G R E S S !

Sam & Isaiah. I’m so proud of them. “You’re special.” DAMN RIGHT!! Gosh I love them I love them I love them.

“I might fail. Shit, I might die. But we built this country. Bled for it. I’m not gonna let anybody tell me I can’t fight for it. Not after what everybody before me went through. Including you.”

CATCH ME TEARING UP AGAIN. They got him a memorial!

Ahhh a party! Sam smiling! Bucky roughhousing with the kids! HAPPINESS ;A;

“Welcome home Agent Carter.” Hmm this doesn’t seem like the best… ah, yep. Saw that one coming XD Look at that boss face though yow!! 

Also I’m hoping we get to see her at Peak Manipulative doing Cool Things in an Ends Justify The Means fashion because how dare that be reserved for men in superhero shows/movies? We love to see a woman about to deliver a smackdown.

closing thoughts: Lots of plot movement and action in this round, and finally an episode that was centered properly around Sam and the impact he has on the world. We saw an acknowledgement of real world struggles, steps taken to avert extremists but also steps taken to fix the core issue at the end. We see Sam saying you don’t want Karli 2.0 which reinforces the power of violent protest in otherwise peaceful movements and the fact that it’s listened to. We see a reclaiming of dignity, of owning one’s own power, of facing one’s fears and healing. We have an appropriate cliffhanger. Nothing in this episode was wildly surprising (though I though it was interesting that they went with moving the people out of the building, presumably to allow Sam greater flexibility to soar around and look cool, and also to buy them time so they didn’t get gunned down lol). On the other hand, there was nothing that I found needed to be surprising. It was a solid episode and I enjoyed it, and the resolution especially with Isaiah made me really happy. I’m eager to see what’s in store for Sharon, what Val and John are planning, and all the other shenanigans to come.

[mal-ark3y]

A Puppet of the Past

Something got me pumped up today. It was because of a story a guy I once knew shared. It was this physical and mental adrenaline run of a win. And it was. In my head at least. Before I realised how badly that reflected on me.  This guy reshared a story of his wife, where she’d misspelt the word terrarium under a picture of a terrarium she and her husband (my ‘friend’) had worked on. Now this guy is the kind of meanass punk who knows how to gel very well in society so people have the impression that he is a nice person. He isn’t. 

There is this litmus test where they ask a woman to judge a man by the way he treats his juniors/inferiors. That’s a bit restrictive. We should judge people by the way they treat people that the former need no help from. That when the real beans start to spill.  We were on an exchange program together and we had a gala in our first week. I was dressed in a saree and had to carry a change of clothes because we were going to sleepover at a senior’s place. Now, I needed someone’s help to carry the bag, because I was wearing a saree and I didn’t want to spoil it. Mister Congeniality here was already carry a girl’s purse. When I asked him for help, he flat out refused. Thanks for nothing, bitch. 

Now, I know he had no incentive to help me out. When you have pretty girls you can be nice to, why waste your time on the fuglies, right? This beautiful thought got me spiralling down thought after thought after thought - from am I so ugly people don’t even want to help when I clearly need help to am I so ugly people don’t even have like the teeniest tiniest crush on me. 

But what I did realise, is that like your stereotypical, tow-dimensional super-villain that gets taken down in 30 seconds, I also am snowballing over an issue that my tormentor has not even taken note of. I am getting hyped and hurt over a person that 1. doesn’t give a single flying fart about me and 2 (and more importantly). can’t tell that his beau spelt terrarium right after having worked on it (yes, I had to Google to check the right spelling, but even I know there is something totally off about #TARRARIUM) I have let others’ words and actions fester and grow into voices that guide my actions. And they don’t even realise their words are my masters because I matter so little in their lives (which is why they felt so empowered to be such fucking dicks to begin with).

It is stupefying to know that I am not the protagonist of my own life’s script, that I am the probably the weak, forgettable villain in my own story. I have been losing to them, those who don’t even care about me. And maybe that should be my redemption - that they didn’t give a thought to the shit they did, it didn’t come from a good place or any place for that matter (I don’t think they meant me any harm - they just couldn’t care enough about me to think of me as a threat). So maybe I should stop thinking so much about words people say without thinking.  It’s not easy and I am just starting out. 

[somidoumas]

here we go again with this

🗣 I WARNED Y’ALL. Remember that.

So since this little white boy has friends who won’t leave me the fuck alone, let’s talk about a racist member of the RPC that everyone should avoid.

The person in question is Avery (@hermionegrangers). I would actually link to his blog but alas, his blogs are blocked on my account. If he changes URLs, my bad. He is, by the way, a grown ass man (26+). In case that makes this any more repugnant.

Basically, @rihannasweeddealer and I run @chwrpg and we had the pleasure of kicking out a racist a couple months ago by the name of Avery. He had been a member of the group for three years at that point and was a prolific collector of the trashiest white gays in all the land. 

One in particular, @vontuss, was an adaptation of Amber Von Tussel from the original Hairspray. Now, years ago, when he took up this character, he intimated over a Skype call that he was going to make Archie just the teeniest bit racist to stay true to the film. This was 2014, mind you, so the RPC was very different, but even then, I told his mayo-infused ass that was not going to fly.

Imagine our surprise when he decided to do it anyway!

And imagine the loveliest of delivered news: he had joked with two Latinx members of our roleplay about his lovely white gay of a character threatening to build a wall in conversation with their Latinx characters. These members no longer have these receipts, but let’s be real — looking at that above screenshot, you believe it, right?

Now, said collector of the trashiest white gays in all the land decided to pretend as if this was all accidental and that he was glad we were talking about this, it’s time. 

But consider this: Roque and I are both Latinx and we are the sole admins of the roleplay. We were relatively friendly with Avery. So why didn’t he make these jokes with us? We both play Latinx characters, after all. 

But no, he decided to share racist jokes with some of our more forgiving and meek members, knowing that they wouldn’t say anything. We only found out about this weeks or even months after the fact because of how selective he was. And we have felt guilty ever since for leaving them in harm’s way.

I have dragged Avery’s ass to hell and back, though more discreetly than this, for these two months. For that reason, I have never received an apology from him, though he lied to others and claimed that he did. 

Even so, he’s still a racist, but even worse now, he’s clearly of the ideology that he only owes apologies to people who provide his white trash ass some quote-on-quote respect. As if he deserves any.

Why do I bring up respect? If you’d like to take a look at the apology he sent to Roque, here it is. He seems to hold respect for the lesser loudmouth, but not me? Hm. What a shame, to lose out on an insincere and tragic ass apology.

I’m sure you can find more racist trash on that character blog if you dig deep enough, but this is surely enough to justify our claim that he is an unabashed racist. He is a garbage fire. Avoid him at all costs.

These are some examples of his writing. And some more.

He is currently a member of @thefoxholecourtrp, though this is the first the admins will hear of all of this because I’ve yet to contact them — so don’t berate them. If they do nothing about this, that’ll show who they are.

I hope this serves as a message to all admins to remain vigilant and to check in with your members on a constant basis. There are countless insidious, quietly racist members of this community. It’s our job to expose them.

Feel free to reblog this and spread the word! Let’s take out the trash together, shall we?

[missymarysthings]

Petrified Petals

“So...did you find me on accident, or on purpose...Salazar Rose?“ Medusa asked in a low tone as she watched the bat that had appeared take human form. She then laughed at the smirk that appeared on his face. “Don’t try to act clever. That was never your forte. You smelled the blood that was in the air until about...20 or so minutes ago? Maybe it hasn’t been that long. My sense of time is shot!” she said and laughed more. 

“Lorena...Lorena...” Salazar said in a disappointed like tone and slowly shook his head. He then tsk’d and wagged his finger at her. “Is zis vhere your talk of hard vork und dedication gets you? You have alvays been a delusional fool und zis is ze final proof! How crazed und disheveled you look...how unsightly! Lower zan low class!“ he said and moved closer to her. 

“I may be crazed, but you’ll always be nothing more than a glorified bat and a spoiled brat!” Medusa said in return as she moved to try and get in his face. However, her chains stopped her short. “You make too many mistakes Salazar, always depending on your grandfather Demetrius to bail you out! Either literally or by throwing around his name and credentials. Never by your own merits. One day...oh one day Salazar...it won’t work,” she said with a lopsided grin.

“So you say. As it stands, I am ze one ahead Lorena, not you,“ he said and revealed his fangs to her. “Right now I could have you at my mercy, und do vhatever I vanted. Who cares about a trapped has-been? Hmm?“ Salazar said and his eyes started to glow faintly. 

Before he could move any closer to her, however, a wall of water appeared between them. He also felt the wind of something being swung at his neck but it stopping just before it would connect.

“I care,“ came the stern and, surprisingly, slightly commanding tone from Liliane. Her eyes were narrowed at Salazar’s back as her sword, Lucinda, was a mere inch from his neck. Her other hand had a bag with the various things she had brought for Lorena and herself to eat and drink. 

“My Flower? You vould vaste your time vith zis disgrace?“ Salazar said, not believing she would be here, but still not moving yet just incase. 

“For the last time. I. Am. Not. Your. Flower. I am happily engaged to Selik, and the only disgrace here is you,“ Lily said, not dropping her tone or her sword. “You are a disgusting piece of filth with no sense of morals, no sense of respect, and a disgrace to male kind. People like you, and your grandfather, are the ones who give bad reputations to the rest of your kin. The kind that damns the innocents that may be of the family name, blood, or race,“ she continued.  “If you do not willingly get away from Lorena? I. Will. Make. You. She will not be harmed on my watch.“

Liliane had long since grown tired of the Rose vampire named Salazar. Ever since they first meet years ago in her university days she did not care for him or his disrespect. He was creepy towards her and she soon realized he really only saw her as a trophy for him to win. She was thankful to her Schwarzschild  and Richter kin, for looking out for her the best they could. An incident and close calls may have happened at first, but they kept him at bay. And when she first met her now fiancé, and he noticed the evidence of what this Rose had tried to do to her, he did what he could to ensure her safety as well. 

But she would not let them carry the burden alone. In a way, Salazar was the last straw that made her try again to learn the sword. So if they could not be there, she could fend for herself. Everyone had protected her and looked after her for most of her life...it was time she stepped up and not ‘hide behind them‘ anymore. She would help herself, and try to protect others if she could as well.

“Bitte, why such harshness? You vould really place ze Stellato over me?“ he asked as he glanced over the shoulder that didn’t have the sword dangerously close to his neck. “Look at her! How can you even-“

“Ten seconds Salazar. I mean it,“ Lily interrupted. 

“My Flower! I-“

“Five. Four. Three. Two-“

“Fine!“ Salazar said as he turned back into a bat and flew to a different part of the roof. He changed back into his human form and tried to get closer to Lily. However, she pointed her sword at him, her eyes still narrowed.  He stopped but reached his hands out to her. “Why can’t you see I’m ze perfect one for you? I can make your beauty shine so brightly! Make you ze envy of all ze high status ladies. I could give you anyzing you ask for! Lily bitte! Ditch ze brute und marry me instead!”

“Listen to these last words carefully,“ Lily said as one of her own eyes flickered a moment. “I will not be treated as some pretty little trophy to be paraded and shown off. I will not be with someone who does not respect me or my feelings. I do not need to be fancy, I do not need people to envy me for it. You say you can give me anything I ask for and yet you continually deny the one thing I ask of you. You will never be perfect for me, because you do not really accept me for who I am. And lastly? How. Dare. You.”

With a speed that her wolf kin would likely be proud of her for, Lily spun around once to give her the power and force needed to cleanly disconnect Salazar’s head from his body. She watched his head roll slightly near Lorena and his body crumple to the floor. Liliane huffed and resisted the urge to spit on his severed head. “Selik is not just some brute! My future husband is a wonderful man who is so much more than what he appears to be! But a shallow, pathetic, and sad excuse for a creature like you would have never understood.”

Medusa watched as Liliane tossed the bag she had up in the air before calling the wall of water over. She sat more fully as she then watched the water swirl around the Richter and her sword before gently going around the outside of the bag and dispersing. The only evidence that Liliane Richter had caused bloodshed was on Salazar himself and the part of the roof where they were. 

When Lily carefully caught the bag and made her sword disappear, Medusa started cackling madly with glee. “What a show, what a show! My my, Liliane, I was not told about this side of you! How interesting!” she nearly squealed in excitement. “Oh to see Salazar get his comeuppance...gods I didn’t think I would get to see that day! Even at my lowest...I still outlived him,” Medusa laughed more and leaned forward so she could get a better look at his head. “The satisfaction...the slightest bit of vindication...I really could die now with the teeniest, tiniest bit of actual happiness despite all the madness and everything else...” she said in an actual soft tone. 

Liliane sighed softly and brought her free hand to her cheek. “I’m not often like that. And this...is the first time I’ve killed anyone. It really should have been in self-defense or if he tried again to hurt you. I guess he really hit the last straw for me,” she said as she looked at Lorena and Salazar’s head. “What am I going to do about this? I can’t leave...this here. That’s not good for you. I don’t want to bother my relatives with this mess but...at the same time I don’t know...” she mused softly.

“Oh! Oh! Suggestion if I may?“ Lorena ventured before laughing a bit manically. “Send his dear grandfather the body! Only the body though! But the head, keep it as a trophy! I think that was the old tradition anyway! Or was that just rumors...hmm, you may have to ask your wolf kin for the truth! Or present them with the head, as much as he must have been a pest for them like his grandfather? Oh they would certainly be proud of what you have done. Or mixed feelings. But either way! They would know what to do~“ she continued.

“I...don’t think Selik would approve of me keeping the head of...that thing. I wouldn’t really want to keep it anyway. I never have to see his face and stupid or smug grins again and I’d rather keep it that way,” Lily said. “Actually...“ she then summoned some water again to push the head and body to a different part of the roof away from them. “Yeah, it’s probably best if I let papa Seff or his brothers handle it or whoever they get to do it...I’ll call them later, for now though...”

Medusa watched as Liliane moved closer to her and sat down. Raising a brow she further watched as the Richter pulled the things she had out of the bag and place them between the two of them. There were little sandwiches and...fudge? As well as what looked to be either tea or juice. “So...what is all this? That’s a little more than simply fulfilling a basic need...”

“I suppose. And maybe had I not felt like hand making all this I would have been here sooner and deterred that thing from getting near you. But...what is done is done,“ Lily said as she picked up a sandwich. “So besides the little sandwiches, which are the most obvious thing...I also made some cherry flavored fudge and some iced tea. The tea would have been cherry too, but I was out. I hope you don’t mind that its just sweet tea,” she explained. Medusa blinked at the Richter and looked at the sandwich.

“I don’t-”

“Deserve this? Ja, ja... I know you’re going to keep saying that Lorena. And I’m going to continue to insist otherwise. Unless you tell me what you refuse to...what grounds do I have to determine you don’t deserve any of this?” Lily interrupted and wiggled the sandwich lightly near Lorena’s mouth. “None. Now...I’m not going to have all this by myself, that would be rude. So...?”

Medusa rolled her eyes and scoffed. She still believed the kind Richter was wasting her time on her. However, the whole Salazar thing, that made her like Liliane a little more. “I’ll tell you what. Since I am grateful for what you did to that, well you put it quite well yourself on different occasions...” she said and paused to nod her head towards where Salazar’s head and body were with a laugh. “Over there...and it was quite delightful to me...I’ll acquiesce this time and eat, and drink, what you have brought for me.”

Despite the reasoning, Lily smiled happily. She was thankful that Lorena agreed to eat and get some nourishment. It may not be so easy next time, but for now she had accomplished something and it gave her a little hope. Still...she wondered if she could do it alone with as little as she knows. Maybe she could call Nia and the Reinhardt brothers. Or maybe just Sein. He was the oldest and the main one handling business matters if she remembered right. So surely he knew Lorena somehow right? Ruba told her that Lorena was the head of their family and business so...yeah?

Liliane was brought from her thoughts but Lorena actually reaching out and grabbing the sandwich from her. She blinked realizing that Lorena had freed one of her hands from chains to do so.

“However, I’ll not make you go through feeding me,” Medusa said with a laugh as she noted Liliane’s surprise. “I am really undeserving for that sort of treatment. Although the thought that you would have is sweet,” she added.

“Lorena...“ Lily began but stopped when Lorena shook her head.

“You better start eating too before I change my mind~“ Medusa playfully warned. Lily chuckled a little and slowly shook her own head before she picked up another sandwich for herself. “There we go~ To the demise of a mutual pest!“ she said before taking a bite. Medusa then blinked and quickly took another bite. “This is...more refreshing than I thought...“

“Oh my...“ Lily said softly, trying to hide her amusement, before taking a bite herself. “Well I brought plenty, so as much as you feel like eating...go ahead!“

Once Medusa eventually had her fill of tea, sandwiches, and fudge, her free hand instantly went back into being chained. She yawned a bit and looked at Liliane with one eye closed and a lopsided smile. She told the Richter that she did enjoy everything and that it was a good ‘last meal’ of sorts. Of course Lily told her not to speak like that but she just laughed and said that she’s thinking about resting her eyes for a bit. Medusa also wished her luck with the whole calling her kin to deal with ‘certain remains’ thing with a chuckle before she stopped speaking or laughing for now. 

Lily promised that she would continue to check on her, but that only got the slight raise of Lorena’s shoulders as a response before she closed her other eye. Lily sighed softly before she moved to the completely other side of the roof and sat on the edge. She swung her legs idly as she pulled out her phone to make a few calls. 

The first was to her papa Seff. She was going to use her water to move the body and head to a different location for someone to retrieve and do something with. She briefly explained that she had an encounter with Salazar and what she ended up doing to him and how she wasn’t sure what to do next. Of course she also apologized for troubling him with this and possibly being an inconvenience or causing consequences she did not consider. And of course, she also thanked him in advance and offered to make anything he and those that helped a large batch of anything they wanted. 

The next call, however, was the trickier one. She wasn’t sure how to approach the matter. All she had though were her hopes that maybe he knew something or had ideas and her desire to help Lorena. With this call though, she got Sein’s voicemail. “Hallo Sein! It’s Lily. I’m hoping you can help me with something. It’s an unusual matter but...do you happen to know Lorena Stellato? Something has happened and she’s not doing well at all! But she’ll tell me nothing. Her state right now is...something to be seen in person, but please call me back and I’ll try my best to tell you and where she currently is. This may be a lot to ask but I swear I’ll make it up to you if you can help me help her! Thank you in advance either way...have a good day Sein.”

She hung up the call and sighed. For a moment she looked up at the sky in thought. For a few moments today she had seemed to balance Lorena’s aura, but it went chaotic again. At least right now it was more subdued. It was a little thing, and maybe it was only because Lorena was letting herself rest, but it was something else that gave Lily some hope. 

“I believe you can be saved Lorena...”