#i like making my own cosplays as close to from-scratch as possible

[kadoodles-on-ao3]

It's been a while since my last aside so I felt like sharing what I've been working on in my free time! I promise I'm not lazy, I'm just busy and also really like starting new projects halfway through working on 8 other projects for some reason haha

Speaking of starting something new when I haven't finished something I started previously, Minh and I were planning on making a collab Shulkelia one shot for Valentine's Day! Obviously that didn't pan out haha but it's still being worked on and it's extremely cute and fun :) Hopefully it will be ready to post sooner than later! And I also will hopefully be able to work on Constellations soon as well!! (Seriously I feel. SO. bad about my hiatus, especially since I know how many interesting and fun rough-draft ideas we brainstormed up for it that are just waiting to be finalized and shared with the world!!)

Another thing I wanted to do for Valentine's Day but extremely missed the boat on was mass dumping the few good NSFW Shulkelia pieces on here (with a planned warning ahead of time as well as copious tagging and hiding under readmores, of course!), including a full translation of a doujin! However, it being a nearly 20-page comic with dialogue and onomatopoeia all over the place meant I couldn't go the normal route of putting the translation below the art, it would just be way too messy and confusing. So, I decided to open up Photopea and replace the Japanese text with my translation! I felt bad about editing someone else's work (still do haha) but there was just no other way to do it, there is. SO so much onomatopoeia in there that it would be a nightmare to do it any other way. But that fact also contributed to why I still have yet to finish the translation: I got wayyy too ambitious in my typical perfectionist way, and decided to use the clone tool to edit out the hiragana and katakana handwriting for the onomatopoeia and place English text in their places, rather than just put it in small, parenthetical text next to the original writing like manga translations typically do. And oh my GOD I should never have done that there are literal HUNDREDS of characters I had to painstakingly edit out and I'm STILL not even done yet no no no... But I'm so close to finishing it!! I have only a couple pages left and then it's good to go!! Expect to see it along with the other NSFW art of them (again, with multiple warnings far ahead of time plus careful tagging to make sure you won't see it if you don't want to!!) in the near future!

Not XC related at all, but my most recent project has been making an Ao3 site skin (and, in the process, learning how CSS works) and it's been really satisfying! It's nothing super fancy, but it does create a noticeable improvement from the default (in terms of clarity/organization/readability, no offense intended at all of course!) and I'm very pleased with it so far! Once it's done I'll share it here, complete with notes on what each piece is doing to the layout and how, so anyone can use it and tweak it how they like! :)

I unfortunately haven't made any more progress on Xenoblade 3, sorry to say. And actually... it's partially because I'm worried that I'll end up liking Noah so much that I'll get even more distracted from writing Shulkelia or Xenoblade 1 in general haha... Like I'd never give up on that of course, 1 and its characters will always have a special place in my heart! But I can see myself getting swept away by The New Guy TM, much like I do with new project ideas popping into my head...

My FFXIV x Xenoblade 1 crossover has made some good progress! I've now finalized the outfits for over half of the characters I plan on making, after hours and hours of trying different chestpieces and dyes to get them as close to their canon outfits as possible! In fact, maybe I could share a little more about what exactly I'm doing, to show how I was having too much fun and made it a bigger thing than it had to be, to help explain why it's taking so long haha:

So originally the idea started out as "what FFXIV job best suits the playstyle/archetype of each of XC's playable characters?" (and I have a whole host of notes in my head about why that is from both a gameplay/kit perspective and a fandom-y General Vibes/Aesthetic perspective, which I will for sure post along with the pics). And if I could draw well, it probably would've ended there: I'd just have made some art of the cast posing with their weapons and call it done. But since 1) I can't draw the things I see in my head like I want to and 2) I like to over-complicate things for fun, I decided to pile onto this idea by not only adding more characters of (XC SPOILERS!!!) Alvis, Egil, Meyneth, and Zanza to the roster (including in terms of what jobs suit them each and why!) but also recreate everyone in-game! (I really wanted to do Dickson as well, but unfortunately there are absolutely zero mustache options that look like his :< There's only one that's even remotely similar, but the face is completely wrong for him (what facial features look like are tied to faces, for some reason; the Mustache Facial Feature creates a different type of mustache depending on which Face option you pick) so there's no way to make a character that looks sufficiently like him, at least to my standards. Maybe one day they'll add one that fits...? If they do I will for sure make Gunbreaker Dickson a reality!) This resulted in me needing to not only sit down for hours in XIV's character creator ensuring every detail was as close a match to their designs as possible, but also opening up 8000 tabs in Eorzea Collection and looking through every. single. last. glamour option. in the game for each. and. every. slot. for each. and. every. character. to find out how closely I could translate their weird (affectionate) XC clothes into weird (affectionate) FF clothes. Combine that with my stubbornness in wanting them to look as accurate as possible resulting in making two different outfits per character based on whether or not they can equip/glam the gear as the job that suits them most, (plus the fact that I'm doing [again, SPOILERS!!!] Mecha-Fiora in addition to Homs!Fiora as well as having three [three!] different job options for Shulk based on varying levels of both XC and XIV spoilers to avoid ruining twists for either game), and the fact that I went a step further and decided to also make alternate-race versions for the main party (that sounds... bad lmao. fantasy races, like elves and catboys and such) like half if-these-characters-were-instead-created-by-the-XIV-designers-in-an-alternate-timeline-what-race-would-they-probably-make-them-judged-by-me-like-their-jobs-on-both-lore-and-Vibes-TM and half if-the-XC-gang-existed-irl-and-played-XIV-what-would-they-make-their-characters-look-like, and reminder that each of these versions have two different outfit variants and each outfit needs a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 7 separate pieces each that also need to be dyed and have multiple different options to try on for every character and... it took a teeeeny bit longer than I was expecting to get through haha. But that's not at all to say it's a chore to get through; it's certainly been a process yes, but I've been having a lot of fun the whole time :) Finally getting every element just right, from all the details in character creation down to their eyebrow shape to finding the best option for every armor slot dyed just the right color, seeing it all come together and actually look quite a bit like the character is so satisfying! I can't wait to share them all, I hope someone out there enjoys the results as much as I did creating them! :) Oh, and I also will be making a glam list for each outfit as well as sharing my notes on what I picked in the character creator, so if you want to do an in-game/WoL cosplay as someone or maybe even make an alt named after one based on my recreation of them then it'll be easy for you! :)

Even though I haven't been keeping up with my fanfic writing as much lately, I do still get little ideas for things quite often and am typing them down in my doc for later! I have a gigantic backlog of things I could write: fanfics long and short, Shulkelia fics and Genfics, non-fanfic concepts both XC-related and not... rest assured, even if I'm not posting on here or Ao3 my mind is always buzzing with something and I'm always wanting to create more!

[polycraftory]

Critical Role Leatherworking Projects

I wanted to write these all down in one place so I can link back to finished project photos and how to guides later.

These are the cosplay projects we currently have in the works: Nott Level 10, Laudna Level 3, and Imogen Level 13! These will all be completed by NY Comic Con 2024. I also have notes on my Imogen Level 3 cosplay that is currently on hiatus and I'm also planning a Jester cosplay for NYCC 2025.

If anyone would be interested in buy guides or even how tos on this sort of leatherworking for cosplay (general ones or cosplay specific), please let me know! I feel like leatherworking was a hard craft for me to break into because a lot of info on the internet is not at all written for a queer femme or a younger person in mind. If I can make this incredible craft more accessible, I'd really love to!

All the cosplay notes & links under the read more since it got long.

I also include the links to the tag I use to track each of the projects and some of our general cosplay/crafting tags in case you are curious about the rest of the cosplay construction other than the leatherworking.

Also psst if you like critical role we run an etsy and we already have some critical role shirts.

General Links

These all link to tags on our blog for easy navigation. Someone in our polycule has decided to specialize in every element of cosplay construction and I'm trying to document it all! We also just do a lot of general crafting. You can check out our pinned post for a larger tag directory!

Leatherworking

Crafting

Cosplay

Critical Role Cosplay

Specific Projects

Projects that are in bolded italics are completed.

Nott

Level 10

Our Project Tag: Nott the Brave Cosplay

This is her goblin look but with the yellow dress. For belt accessories, we decided to take some inspiration from her level 11 Veth outfit as well as her earlier level stuff instead of sticking close to the official art for the leatherworking.

WIP Photos With All Accessories & Belt

Double Wrap Belt - to hold Many Things. Most of this belt is complete with progress photos to be posted soon. All that's left to do here is sew around the entire border for longevity and finish. I attached the buckle and belt keeper with snaps instead of rivets so the hardware could be changed out for other cosplays. I am creating a guide on how to make a double wrap / super long belt (it usually requires seaming two belts together).

Button Pouch - Completed Photos - Progress Photos & Buy Guide - This is a belt attachment designed to hold buttons to hand out at comic con.

Bigger Belt Bag - Completed Photos & Notes - Progress Photos & Buy Guide - This is to hide a phone / money.

Potion Bottle Holder - Progress Photos & Buy Guide - This is another belt attachment. The leatherworking for this is done, but I'm not posting finished photos until I melt wax over the cork on the bottle.

Flask Holder - Completed Photos Soon - Progress Photo w/ Official Art Comparison - Yet another belt attachment. I'm making my own pattern for this to exactly match her level 10 flask and I'm very excited! It's got such fun cut outs. I'm considering selling these with a flask if there is interest since I made the pattern entirely from scratch.

Laudna

Level 3

Our Project Tag: Laudna Cosplay (link will be added later!)

Attempting to get as close as possible to the official art.

Belt Bag - I am so in love with the shape of this little bag I am so excited to make this. I am going to make my own pattern for this and size it up a bit so Gabe can hide their phone in there, and I'm going to make it so the lace wrap at the front is purely decorative with a hidden snap closure for easier phone access.

Two Brown Belts On Top Of A Black Belt - Even though I try to usually make my cosplay leather projects more modular / more adaptable for other cosplay or day to day use, this is So Specific and it's got to be designed to sit right despite all the stuff attached to it via rope / ribbon. My plan is to make a thick (3-4 inches?) black belt/panel (with corset lacing in the back). I decided to directly attach the two brown belts to the corset belt so they'd stay in place and so I can hide rivets to support the ribbon with stuff on it and due to the fact that I'm using 3D printed belt buckles that are decorative rather than functional. WIP pictures soon!

Imogen

Our Project Tags: Imogeon Temult Cosplay, Imogen Temult Level 3 Cosplay, Imogen Temult Level 13 Cosplay (link will be added later!)

Level 3

Currently On Hiatus - her new outfit fucks so hard (and I'm a black leather girlie at heart) so I set aside a bunch of already done cosplay work to pivot but I will get back to this. The plan here was to be as accurate as possible to her level 3 official art.

Waist Double Layer Belt / Harness - I have a design already worked out for this that very closely mimics the design in the official art. I planned for it to be modular so that you could snap the harness on and off as well as detach the belt pouch so it might be flexible for use in other cosplays/adventure core wear.

Coin Pouch - Completed Photos - I modified a pouch pattern to add the x criss cross lace detailing down the one side. This was my first ever leatherworking project.

Knife Thigh Holster

Project Note: Dyeing leather light brown/saddle brown is not very forgiving (I really hecked up my belt dip dye the first time) so if possible buy the leather already dyed the right color or practice on darker colors first is my recommendation to save yourself some heart ache (or, like, actually use dye reducer and dye in multiple passes but I couldn't figure out how I was going to store a bunch of reduced dye in my tiny apartment so c'est la vie)

Level 13

Knife Thigh Holster (but black & gold this time) - also a custom design. I'm giving this an attachment via swivel clip to my belt loop to act like a garter belt and keep the holster from sliding down. Instead of fucking around with tooling when I don't have time to learn a whole new skillset, I'm cutting a second thin layer of leather to add 3d moon and star embellishments.

Leather Corset - I'm probably modding an existing leather corset since I don't know if I'm Emotionally Ready to make one from scratch. Her corset doesn't look like it has boning but I want mine to because I like the structure. Trying to find gold moon hardware that doesn't have a face on it may be the death of me (why moon buckle have face on it!?!) - Update: I've decided to table this for this year and use a plain black corset that fits me well. I'll probably return to this as a later upgrade to the cosplay.

And Then What?

Jester Level 2 and whatever else my partners decide to cosplay next year. I also have some non-cosplay leather projects on the docket but I'll leave that for another post.

[blookmallow]

and today on “why do i keep watching these,” we have: 12 ways to sneak candy past your parents

half of these are just like, meticulously crafting candy versions of regular household things, because, ah ha!! your parents won’t notice your chocolate if you’ve made it into a fucking realistic ipad 

nevermind that this requires already having chocolate in the first place, and somehow having the time for all this prep work to make it look like an ipad, which apparently the parents don’t notice at all, and i really feel like you could’ve just eaten the chocolate in the time it took to make this, but what do i know i guess 

or how about some candy golfballs? they don’t explain how to make these. just do it. make some golf balls. if your parents catch you eating them, they’ll just think, oh, haha, silly me, she’s just eating some fucking GOLF BALLS, at least it’s not candy!

however she does not at any point make any attempt to eat the golf balls, she’s just playing golf with them, so i guess her parents object to even the existence of candy anywhere in the vicinity whether anyone is eating them or not. and if the idea is to eat them when they’re not looking, couldn’t you just. do that with any candy. why did they need to be golf balls. how does this help anything 

we also have, uh... squid game?? for some reason??? are kids watching squid game? i feel like kids should not be watching squid game 

anyway the hack is, steal your mom’s lotion container and. make whatever these sugar candy things are. in it. they did not explain how to make this. it seems like the need to sneak it past her mom is kinda irrelevant if she was able to Make it herself so i dont know why she now needs to hide it but whatever

she then gets caught, because she used her mom’s lotion container, so her mom noticed the missing lotion container, so the hack was completely useless to begin with, 

really not selling your ideas very well here, troom troom 

so anyway the parents respond with a family squid game cosplay and tell her if she can cut out the star she can have it. so, to recap here, this hack is:

1. dump out all your mom’s lotion so you can steal the container. only works if she uses this particular little round lotion tin though

2. make your own... korean sugar candy thing. im sorry i dont know what that stuff is called. from scratch, by yourself. you know how to do that, right? your parents wont notice this, dont worry. their absolute devotion to monitoring the house for any possible candy contraband won’t be an issue here 

3. your mom notices you’ve stolen her lotion and will come looking for it, but when she sees your squid game reference she’ll immediately forgive you for ruining her lotion and sneaking candy, and join in by giving you a challenge that will result in her letting you have candy. i guess. no word on whether she just fucking kills you if you mess it up though

then there’s also. making a pipe out of gum, which is another very unnecessarily complicated process, and im gonna bet they probably used clay or fondant or something because i DOUBT gum would be this easy to work with 

but the thing is, this isn’t the little girl making a pipe out of gum to sneak it past her parents, as the theme of this video would lead you to expect. no, the dad notices there’s a leak in the kitchen sink, so he needs to replace the pipe, and he remembers, ah! my daughter has some stretchy tube toys! i could use one of those! which is already not a great idea for how to fix your plumbing, but for some reason he decides to use her toy to... sculpt a pipe out of gum. and use that instead. as you do

so really the daughter wasn’t even involved here. i think the idea was “make a tube toy out of gum” in line with the other “make candy look like regular stuff” hacks but for some reason they made it about the dad instead so it no longer makes anything close to sense

anyway shockingly this doesn’t work out well and it breaks so they have to call a real plumber to come fix it 

and for SOME REASON they make their daughter pay for it???

she didnt even DO anything this time it wasn’t even her gum it was her dad doing all this weird nonsense. i think maybe they meant for her to replace a pipe with gum as a Sneaking Candy scheme that backfired but like, forgot what they were doing halfway through 

none of these were good, none of this makes any sense, would not recommend

also shout out to this apparently TWELVE HOUR VIDEO about. secret rooms for. elemental puppies. or something. i dont know i was too afraid to find out 

[20dollarlolita]

Hi there. I've loved the goth lolita since high-school and I've just ordered my 1st custom ordered dress from Etsy Dollbe. It should take 2-3 months for completion and shipping.  In the meantime, I'm tempted to try my own hand using one of these old A line dresses of mine as a base for a pattern. (Please see pic)

I have basic sewing skills of alterations and simple projects like totes or cosplay/Halloween costumes. Dart work is not my forte yet. Anything lolita that I purchase in the future will have to be custom made for my taller curvy shape (size 12-16).

Are draft alterations of an old A line waste of time or is it worth while? Do you have any suggestion?

I've said it before on the smock dress with puff sleeve post, but I'll say it again: your ability to add detail to a simple garment is going to make or break your ability to sell a nontraditional garment as lolita. You can add a bigger skirt or change the straps, and if it's not detailed enough or not given the right elements to make it work, it won't look lolita.

This is actually the phenomenon by which Yumi King's lolita dress tutorial, which is barely constructed by a normal standard of craftsmanship, still reads as lolita more than a lot of bad replicas out there. That's not to say that making a garment lolita is as easy as gluing some lace on it and calling it lolita, but you should be planning on adding lace.

With the pictures that you've given my main concern is the shape of the bodice. That pleated skirt is not uncommon, even if it's low volume, but the bodice has a more closed neckline and smaller sleeve holes than you'd expect out of a lolita JSK. Remember that it's expected for you to wear a blouse under the bodice, and you need to figure out how you're going to come to terms with that restraint.

However, while the re-construction necessary to get these pieces to be proper, by-the-book lolita would be kind of intense, and possibly more work than just building a dress from scratch, there is nothing stopping you from reworking the dresses to be heavily lolita-inspired. You can practice how to build upon a foundation, and learn the ways to reach EGL's intense adornment standard without feeling cluttered or tacky. Doing this will also help you build connections that will help you when you do sew your own lolita. It'll teach you how to build your own bows. It'll teach you where to source good lace. Building yourself a garment that's heavily lolita-inspired can also help you feel like you have something more lolita in your wardrobe. It might not pass the CoF check, but if you're doing lolita for personal enjoyment and not online approval, that might not matter.

For reference, here's a heavily lolita-inspired piece with a similar box pleat waistline. There is a good choice of accessory (I own this piece so if you want detail shots, let me know) such as pearls, which builds upon the undersea theme. This dress does have fewer detail additions than a normal lolita dress (it doesn't have hem lace, for starters), but that's a decision of how to balance the piece.

Learning how to make something over-the-top in a restrained way is something you learn best from doing. You get experience from trying things. If you're not able to start doing full lolita yet, you can still gain the experience of incorporating those details into a piece.

If you're absolutely determined to make these pieces actual lolita, I'd probably turn them into skirts with bustle backs (example), because the bodices will be difficult to modify, and the skirts don't really have the normally expected lolita fullness. At that point, however, I'd have to be doing it because I love the fabric, and not because it would save time or effort.

Also, check the notes to this post, because if any of my followers have suggestions for good places to get lolita for a curvy/tall dress that goes up to size 14+, they'll probably leave them in the replies. (please do, if you know)

[crystalrose555]

Don't make me slap you pt 20

Oh boy, this one’s a long noodle~

“How about this one?”

“No.” “Ok, this one?” “No.”

“Levi, why did you bother tagging along if you are just going to turn down every outfit?”

“Because I still think that Marley shouldn’t go. She should stay home with me.”

“Over my dead body, Levi. This is one of the biggest parties of the year, anyone who's anyone is going to be there and Mochi and I are going to be stunning together~” Levi groaned as he looked around Majolish, seeing the vast amount of customers looking for clothing and outfits for the upcoming event. Meanwhile, Marley sighed as she placed clothing back on the rack and turned to the brothers.

“Yeah, I don’t think this is going to work. You demons sure are long, have any of you heard of the terms ‘plus and petite’?”

“See? Look, it’s fate, Marley and I are just going to stay home and marathon The Magical Ruri Hanai: Demon Girl.” Levi sharply proclaimed with a triumphant smile on his face.

Asmo gave a flat look at Levi before turning to Marley with a beaming smile.

“Mochi honey, why don’t we ask Levi to make your outfit?” Levi nearly choked on air as he realized what was happening.

“Wait, Levi, you know how to sew clothing?”

“Y-yeah, I just sew together cosplays and stuff, it’s not a big deal.”

“It’s a pretty big deal to me, all I can are patch-up jobs. It’s really impressive.” Marley smiled at the nervous demon.

Levi’s face quickly heated up as a crooked smile formed across his face. Asmo, seeing his brother falling for his bait, turned and held Marley close, sealing the deal.

“Don’t worry, Mochi, I’ll design something beautiful for you so that you don’t look like a costume disaster~”

“Like hell, normie! For your information, I’ve done custom requests that have won many cosplay competitions, so I can make something that will look great on her!”

“Oh really, then I assume you won’t need any help with Mochi’s measurements~”

“Her m-measurements?” Levi stammered out.

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

“Alright, make sure you are all on your best behavior. This may be a party but I don’t want an incident like last time, do you hear me?”

“Oi, why are you starin’ at me when you say that?” “Because you are usually the first one to cause trouble.”

Lucifer sighed as he took a good look at his brothers in their polished demon forms. Surely, there will be a day when they would be able to carry themselves like proper lords of Devildom but sadly this party wasn’t one of them. He peered through his fingers and took a glance down to see a grumpy Marley who had a purple bow on top of her head for the occasion. He smirked at the sight and took his leave, disappearing into the crowd to go to Diavolo’s side in the far distance. His brothers took a sigh of relief while Marley tried to scratch off the stubborn accessory.

“It’s no use, Mochi. It’s enchanted to stay on during the party.” Satan declared while stroking his chin.

She just snorted at him, flipped on her back, and flailed about wildly on the floor. Spectators stared and giggled at the fuzzy animal flopping on the marble, leaving the demon brothers looking away in embarrassment. In a haste, Mammon squatted down to her while his brothers tried to block some of the gazes.

“Hey, it ain’t comin’ off, so quit flippin’ out like a fuckin’ tuna!” He barked.

Marley stopped and barked back at Mammon’s face, causing him to fall back on his bottom. At that exact time, Asmo turned up his natural charm and drew the eyes of all the spectators to his form. Satan sighed and gave a slight nod to Beel who then picked up the irritated seal and quickly walked off with her slapping against his forearm in annoyance.

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

Levi paced back and forth in a less crowded spot in the grand hall while Satan and Mammon stared at him in disapproval.

“Levi, will you stop? You’re going to wear out the floor at that rate.” Satan pointed out.

“Why am I the only one who’s worried? This is a major story event and it always gets crazy during story events!”

“Can you translate? I don’t speak nerd.” Mammon jeered.

“I’m saying something already went wrong! She shouldn’t need this long to shed her skin, she was dressed back at the house!” “Hmm, maybe that bow had a stronger effect than we thought.” Satan contemplated.

“Naw, that ain’t it, take a look.”

Suddenly, Mammon pointed in the distance, drawing his brothers’ attention to Asmo leading Marley to the opposite side of the room.

“That dirty double-crossing normie!” Levi hissed as he slithered through the crowd, leaving Satan and Mammon to follow.

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

“Isn’t she the cutest when she’s next to me?” Asmo chimed as he held Marley tightly while showing her off.

Simeon and Solomon chuckled while Luke and Marley shared a sigh from Asmo’s enthusiasm of showing her off as much as possible. 

“Yes, she’s very lovely, Asmo, but maybe you would like to let your friend breathe on her own.” Simeon gently suggested.

Pouting, Asmo released Marley from his grip and then latched onto Solomon’s arm. Marley straightened up and gently straightened her outfit with a sigh of relief while everyone else gave into soft laughter.

“But truthfully, you look astonishing tonight, Marley. I take it that Asmo designed it himself?” Simeon pointed out.

Marley looked down at herself with slight embarrassment before answering.

“Levi and Asmo made it for me when we couldn’t find anything on the rack. I have to say that when I heard about a party, I wasn’t expecting this.” She claimed while looking around at the extravagant hall.

“Hmph, I guess demons can throw a pretty decent party once in a while.” Luke snarked. 

“Luke, don’t be rude, besides you’ve been eating everything from the desserts since we’ve got here.”

“Only for research! Besides, I wanted to see Mochi again since I can barely find her at school.” Luke stammered out with a red face.

“You really like Mochi, don’t you, Luke?” Simeon teased.

Luke turned his head with a hmph and rushed over to the dessert spread in the distance. Simeon shook his head and followed after him, leaving Marley alone with Asmo and Solomon chuckling. The music picked up and swelled as demons began to swarm the dance floor in couples. 

“Marley, any chance I can have your first dance?” Solomon asked with a smile.

Marley tilted her head gently to the side.

“I guess so but I don’t know how to waltz.”

“Don’t worry, Solomon is a great dancer, Marley. I’m leaving you in good hands, so have fun~”

With that, Asmo left the duo alone to attend to his admirers. Taking his hand, Marley followed Solomon to the dance floor and slowly joined the musical current that had trapped all the dancers. 

“See, you’re a natural Marley.”

“Really? I was worried I wouldn’t be able to keep up.” “I don’t think that’s what you’re really worried about. You’re worried that someone will recognize you from school, am I right? It would be bad for anyone to realize that you party-crashed this event.”

“I guess you got me there, but Levi and Asmo placed an enchantment on my dress to make me unrecognizable to everyone here unless I reveal myself to them.”

“I remember that spell, Asmo had me develop it so he could see what people say about him but that only lasted an hour or so before he wanted attention again.” He sighed causing Marley to chuckle.

“I have to admit, I’m having more fun dancing than I thought.” “I’m glad, it’s a lot easier to waltz on two feet than four flippers, huh?” “Yea-”

Marley’s mouth snapped shut as she shot a sharp glare on the white-haired sorcerer who smiled carelessly. Her grip tightened into a vice as cold air radiated from her body. Ice crystals started to form on Solomon’s shoulder as she dug her nails in.

“Easy, easy, that spell won’t last if you cause a scene,” Solomon warned with a smile.

Marley turned her head away from him, her eyes glanced over coldly.

“Come now, don’t give me the cold shoulder. I finally got a chance to talk to you. ” He chuckled.

“...How?”

“I had a bit of a feeling since seals aren’t common as witch familiars but Asmo confirmed my suspicions.”

Marley’s icy gaze returned along with her biting cold.

“Don’t be mad at Asmo, he had the best intentions. You want to go home, right? I’m surprised you lasted so long without returning to the sea but I guess hanging out with Leviathan has its advantages.”

The duo continued to dance and swirl while Marley remained silent.

“...What do you want then? There’s no reason for you to help me and you don’t seem the type to completely give in to Asmo.”

Solomon offered a warm smile in return.

“I just want a chance to talk with you, I’ve always wanted to meet a selkie. Your people are such rare creatures and whenever I find one, they always turn back into a seal and swim away.”

“Are you sure it isn’t the fact you’re a shady magician?”

“Come on, now that’s mean! ”Solomon laughed out hardily as they continued to spin.

[miracul0us-multishipper]

You (Part 2)

Now you see me, now you don’t!

Part 1 | AO3

Felix Graham De Vanily was, in his own humble opinion, special. 

He was smart.

He was composed.

He knew exactly what to say and when, and he could make people see exactly what he wanted them to see.

He wasn’t his cousin, after all, almost identical looks aside. Adrien never knew when to speak up, or when it was better to stay quiet. Never knew how to hide his thoughts and keep his - utterly unrealistic, when it came to his father - hopes in check. And he might be smarter than Felix gave him credit for, but all that intelligence left him as soon as his friends were concerned.

That was what all his flaws boiled down to, really.

Adrien made the fatal, unforgiving mistake of caring too much. Always had.

(It was what Felix liked about him, deep down. Adrien was genuine, in everything he felt. Felix envied him for the ease with which he made friends.)

But.

Felix wasn’t like Adrien at all. He was too smart to care for people - his mother aside - any more than he had to. Mundane distractions. Friends, crushes - all things that would only deter him from his path in life: high above the crowd, always the center of attention, yet unreachable. Playing everyone, but gone before anybody noticed.

It was a glorious but lonely road. No, scratch that. It was a lonely but glorious road. Much better.

He didn’t need anything or anyone.

He was the sole and solemn genius of the family.

He was a magician, who didn’t need any fancy jewelry to work miracles - just the right distraction and disguise.

He was-

“Ow!”

Groaning Felix looked at the little bite marks on his finger. 

“Were you even listening?! Or did you just wait for an opportunity to stab me in the back?”

The black and white bundle of fur and betrayal on his lap meowed and swiped at his hand, now out of reach.

 “I knew you couldn’t be trusted.”, he grumbled and shoved the traitor off of his legs, but couldn’t help but smile when he smugly licked his nose - as if to say: I'd do it again. “I raised you too well. Now, where was I?”

He sighed.

“Ah, yes. I don’t care for anyone - please stop scratching that ear, honey, it’s not healed yet - because I'm just too smart for that. So it’s utterly impossible that I, Felix Graham de Vanily, am in love with Dupain-Cheng. Got it?”

His cat, the little bastard, answered by knocking his pencil box over and started to chew on a pen. Felix narrowed his eyes.

“Oh? You dare doubt my word?”

With quick fingers he stole his cat's spoils and placed it out of his reach.

“Quite bold for a creature without opposable thumbs, hm?”

Insulted, the poor, thumbless pet retreated to his laptop and laid down on the keyboard - causing the screensaver to give way to the last opened tab. Which was Marinette's Instagram page.

“Wah!”

Hurried to hide the proof of his interest - as if she might somehow appear in his room if he looked at her picture for too long - he shooed his pet away and closed the tab. Said pet meowed smugly and, upset about being chased away from two spots already, sat down on his pillow. Great.

“You did that on purpose!”, he accused his cat. “But that tab proves nothing. It was merely a passing interest in her admittedly wearable work. It has nothing to do with any confessions - faked confessions, or that she can apparently recognize me in disguise, or the very neutral fact that she is cute, by some people's - not my own! - standards.”

His cat blinked. And sneezed onto his pillow.

“Bless you. Now move, or I’ll use you instead of a bunny for that hat trick I’m working on.”

Sighing, Felix let himself fall backwards onto his bed, grabbing the fleeing cat and burying his face in the fluffy fur.

“Oh, to be a cat!”, he wailed into his involuntary comfort pillow. “With no troubles except how to best annoy his owner.”

 The poor animal hissed and escaped his grasp, saving himself from the bitter fate of a comfort pillow.

 “Run, you uncaring monster.”, Felix sighed, “Leave me to my worries. Which don’t include Marinette at all, by the way.”

He sat up and watched as the little traitor turned to sulk on his dresser.

“Stop looking at me like that. Even if I had a short bout of interest - possibly even infatuation! It’s already all but cured.”

He nodded to himself, ignoring that the disinterested cat had begun cleaning his leg instead of listening.

“School's closed, after all!”, he hummed, scrolling through the news on his phone. “And social contacts are to be reduced to the bare minimum. So I’m not going to see her again before this passing interest has... well, passed.”

As if in response to his words, his laptop started to ring and the monitor lit up with the picture of blue, blue eyes and a smile that could melt the stars off of the sky. Not that he paid attention to such things.

“Oh no, no, no!”, he panted as he fell out of his bed and stumbled towards the computer. “Incoming Skype call?! Oh, come on!”

The ringtone repeated itself and Felix jumped.

“What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?”

Panicking, he looked at his pet.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do?!”

The addressed party blinked. And went back to licking his nuts.

“Argh! I am surrounded by incompetence!”

Taking a deep breath, Felix straightened his vest and cravat - just because he was staying at home for the foreseeable future didn’t mean that he would dress any less professionally.

“Who needs your advice anyway. I can do this.”

He straightened his back and sat down on the chair in front of his desk.

“I am Felix Graham de Vanily, the best actor in all of France and the United Kingdom, not in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I can totally answer a Skype call.”

Before he could think again, he pressed the green button.

“Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng!”, he greeted overly enthusiastic. “We meet again.”

“If you can call it that.”, Marinette laughed with the voice of a goddamn angel. She was wearing a white, polka-dotted pajama top, was illuminated by early-noon sunlight falling through some sort of window in the ceiling, and her hair – was – down.

If this was some sort of cosmic test, it wasn’t fair.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your virtual company?”, he said quickly, trying not to think too much about how her hair looked even softer than the fur of a certain cat. Then, for good measure, he added: “Miss me already?”

Marinette disappeared  for a moment, before returning with a sizable stack of papers.

“As much as I could do without my favorite pain in the neck, we have a school assignment to do. You know, since school is closed?”

She leaned in and he held his breath.

“Did you even notice? I haven’t seen you last Friday.”

What was he supposed to answer to that? Oh, I noticed alright! It kept me from embarrassing myself by avoiding you, because my brain got all mushy ever since you fake-confessed to me pretending to be my cousin?

Ha! Fat chance.

“Aw, worried for me?”, he improvised, as usual, by being sarcastic. “Let me soothe your concern for your favorite pain in the neck: I merely got tired of cosplaying Adrien. I'm a very busy man, you see?”

She rolled her eyes and somehow managed to make it look cute.

“Of course you are. Well, hopefully not too busy for a presentation on marine biology, due next week.”

He blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“You know, the one Adrien and I are supposed to do?”

Felix Had Questions. For example:

“How was I supposed to know that?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t hack into Adriens E-mail account. I saw you present homework that you couldn’t have known about if Madame Mendeleiev hadn’t emailed you, as Adrien.”

She raised an eyebrow, in a way that could almost be described as playful.

“Plus, you seem the type to do that.”

He scoffed and crossed his arms, as if it would hide his racing heartbeat.

“First of all: No, I am not breaking into my cousins account. I may like to prank him - or rather everyone, really - but that goes a little far. Secondly, that Lila girl was only too eager to do homework with Adrien-Me, so I could keep up with every assignment once I could get her hands off of me.”

“I thought a magician never revealed his tricks?”

True. But he had wanted to see if she would get jealous. Which she didn’t. Which was expected and totally fine by him. He didn’t care anyways.

Lucky for him, Marinette wanted to tease him more than an answer.

“Well, I hope your work ethic is better when it comes to presentations. I'll send you the materials!”

A click later, his laptop alerted him of One New Email, containing no less than twenty-two pages of material. He raised his eyebrows.

“Not to crush your little illusion of me as a hard-working student, but that looks like awfully tedious work. What makes you think I would voluntarily do homework meant for Prince Charming?”

The sassy little smirk she'd shown him during their battles of wit last week returned.

“You mean, aside from the fact that, once school is open again and Adrien is back, your little trick with pretending to be him will be revealed? And that I’m your best chance not to be chased out of town by a very angry Chloé Bourgeois? Not to start with Alya, Rose and Juleka, who still haven’t forgiven you for that stunt you pulled the last time you were here.”

Sound argument, he had to give her that.

“Pah!”, he said, just for the sake of irritating her. “So what? It’s not like it was my idea to move to Paris anyway!”

That was at least partially true. His mother had insisted to come back to France, mostly because she wanted to keep an eye on Gabriel. But he hadn’t been against it either.

It wasn’t like he had friends in London anyway, and in Paris it at least didn’t get boring, with all these butterflies and superheroes. Plus, he wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he had missed Adrien. That boy could use a little family - once Felix was done pretending to be him. 

Marinette hummed and tapped her chin impatiently.

“Well, then see it as the prize you promised me after our little insult-match at the Trocadero.”

“Wait, wait, wait!”, he held up his hands. “I already settled that score, didn’t I? You confessed to me, remember?”

“I practiced confessing to Adrien with you, you mean.”, she reminded him with a raised eyebrow – Ouch, by the way – before leaning back in her pink chair. “And that was because you talked me into it. I never told you what I wanted, did I?”

Well, fuck. Not that the prospect of working with Marinette was that unpleasant, but in his current state of emotional confusion, it would only be detrimental. He needed an out, an excuse!

“Why would you want to work with me anyways? I would have thought you'd jump at the chance to do something with Prince Adrien of Dreamland. Why settle for the pain in the neck?”

Marinette sighed.

“Adrien is still recovering from his flu, and given the current, ah, global situation, I thought it would be better to put his health first. Besides, you're my favorite pain in the neck.”

“I'm flattered, darling”, he said, trying not to sound like it was as true as it was, “but-“

“Oh my gosh!”, Marinette interrupted him with a shout, and suddenly her eyes dominated the entire screen, as if she were mere millimeters away from her own computer. “Felix! What is that?!”

“Huh?”, he made, eloquent as usual. He turned around, just in time to see his traitorous cat jump from the dresser right onto his lap. Apparently, now that Felix had someone else to talk to, the little bastard felt neglected. 

“You mean him?”, he asked, turning back to the screen with the cat in his lap. An inhuman squeal came from the other side of the line and Marinette sacked back into her chair, which spun around its axis, like, three times in a single second.

“Felix Graham de Vanily!”, she said with all but glowing eyes. “Show – me – the cat!”

Since her voice made absolutely clear that it had been an order and Felix had always had a strong survival instinct, he obediently held up the little monster. Who let out a plaintive little “Mow”, but otherwise submitted to his fate.

“Oh my gosh!”, Marinette repeated, “He's adorable!”

“You think?”, Felix said dumbly, at a loss for how to react to this sudden change in situation.

“I do! I do! What's his name?”

“Uh...”, Felix thought, debating whether a lie would save his reputation. “Uhm...”

“Don’t tell me you named him Felix Junior!” She turned towards the cat in false exasperation. “Did he name you Felix Junior?!”

The cat that was most certainly not named Felix Junior meowed in his feline confusion.

“No, of course not!”, Felix snapped back, sinking into the chair as if it might have mercy and swallow him.

“Then what's his name? What, for God’s sake, is this pretty little kitty called?!”

What had his life turned into?

“'dini.”, he mumbled, hiding his face behind the cat.

“What? Speak louder!”, Marinette demanded, and so he accepted his fate.

“Houdini!”, he groaned in embarrassment. “I named him Houdini, alright? I was eleven!”

For a moment, the line went quiet. Then, inevitably, Marinette burst out in laughter.

“For real? I can’t believe it!”

Sulking, Felix turned away from the screen, but immediately Marinette stopped.

“No, no, no! Bring Houdini back! I love his name, okay? Give him back!”

“You're not telling anybody of him, got it?”, he hissed, cheeks as red as Ladybug's suit. Marinette snickered. 

“Of course, I promise. Houdini will be our little secret, alright? Now bring him back!”

Satisfied, Felix turned the chair back towards the laptop and placed Houdini on the desk. The curious thing didn’t hesitate to lounge onto his keyboard and examined the camera, much to Marinette’s delight.

“Oh lord, he's so cute!”

Felix sighed and leaned back.

“Believe me, he knows.”

“He looks just like you!”

At that, Felix spluttered and jumped up again.

“W-w-what?!”

Internally already setting up the equation: “Marinette thinks Houdini is cute, and Marinette thinks Houdini looks like Felix, then Marinette thinks Felix is cute?” he was about two seconds from fainting.

“He's got a little tie, see?”, Marinette giggled on, ignorant of the thought-spiral she'd sent him into. “Just like you!”

Oh. She meant the patterns of his fur, which admittedly looked a little like he was wearing a tie. Of course.

“Who's the most adorable thing in Paris? You are!”, Marinette continued with her shameless adoration of that undeserving little brat, who currently Mow-ed happily at the screen. Pah!

“Just so you know, he bites people for fun.”, Felix badmouthed his own pet, absolutely not because he was jealous. “You can’t trust him. He'll act sweet, but as soon as you're not looking he's got your fingers between his sharp little fangs!”

“Eh, I can handle it.”, Marinette shrugged and immediately went back to admiring Houdini. “You're a good kitty, aren’t you? The best, the best! Yes, you are!”

“No, he's not!”, Felix insisted through clenched teeth. “He's moody and arrogant! Nobody likes him, that's why I took him in! He thinks it’s fun to hurt people, he holds grudges forever and he's incredibly annoying when he's bored!”

Wait, was he still talking about the cat?

“You just like him because he looks all cute and innocent, but if you knew him, you'd never even want to be in the same room as him.”

Marinette had gone quiet on the other side, and Houdini narrowed his eyes at him in betrayal. Then she shrugged.

“If you don’t want him anymore, I'll take him in.”

“What?!”

She would have to pry the little shit out of his cold, dead hands!

“Did you not listen to a word I said?” he asked, trying not to let on that he didn’t actually dislike Houdini.

Marinette smiled.

“Sure. But I still think he's a good kitty.”

“But why?”

She hummed, pushing her stack of papers aside so she could put her elbows on the desk. Resting her chin on her hand, she looked up in him.

“Most cats are. You just got to give them a chance to come out of their shell.”

“But... But he's mean!”

“Maybe he's just lonely. Maybe he needs some friends, and then he'll learn to be nicer. I can wait.”

He was not blushing!

“Why would you want to? There's lots of better cats, you could just pick one of them right away.”

“Yeah, well, I want Houdini. All cats deserve a chance. Even the meaner ones.”

She smiled down at the black and white loaf that purred on his keyboard.

“In my experience, peop- cats only show their best sides if you give them a chance to open up. If you're too quick to brush them aside as hopeless, or mean, you might miss out on the most wonderful personalities underneath. And I think Houdini is one of those.”

And then, because the universe just wanted to see him fall, she winked at him. Jesus Christ!

“Anyway, I'll give you some time to read through the material I sent you. Message me once you’re done, we've got a lot of work ahead. Bye!”

Before he could realize what she had said, the window blanked and closed on him. Disappointed that his fan had vanished, Houdini meowed and returned once again to Felix' lap.

“Bye.”, Felix stammered belatedly. What had just... How could she go around just saying things like that? And then hang up?!

“Ugh, Houdini!”, he lamented. “Look what I have become!”

Reduced to a beetred, stammering, weird-cat-metaphor-using fool!

The cat gave a smug “Mrow” and headbutted him in the chin, but Felix didn’t have it in him to complain.

“Fine,” he sighed in defeat, “you win. So what if I like her?”

Houdini purred.

“You do too, don’t you? Bet you'd bite her anyway.”

He purred on, unperturbed.

“Knew it.”

He sighed once again.

“She's right, though. You are a good kitty. Deep down.”

Houdini meowed and licked his finger, just where he'd bitten him earlier.

“Well, now you're just sucking up to me! Two-faced little demon. Mwah!”

He pressed a small kiss to the top of his furry head, then rolled the chair closer to the desk and opened his emails.

“Alright, then.”, he tried to motivate himself, “let's show Marinette what a good kitty- what a good person we are and do our homework.”

At that, Houdini promptly stood up and jumped onto the bed, leaving him alone with twenty-two pages of reading material.

“Bastard.”

- - -

Bonus:

Ladybug, crashing through Felix' window: Felix Graham de Vanily!

Felix: Ladybug?!

Ladybug: I have it on good authority that you own a good kitty! It is crucial for the safety of Paris that I pet him right this instant!

Felix, remembering her right hook: ... sure?

[kirumod]

Thank you for the Genocider Syo ask, I really liked it! If you're willing, I would like to see a sequel for the V3 class.

hello, dear! i'm very glad you liked my writing! for those who are unfamiliar, this is a continuation of the request for a genocider syo that instead of killing people, cuts all their hair.

also, i must say that i apologize deeply for how late this is. i could not see it until late, and only started working on it even later.

Kaede Akamatsu would be upset that one of her classmates/schoolmates would do a thing as horrible as.. cutting people's hair without their permission, and would worry about the rest of her friends. She'd take this very, very seriously, and would be annoyed if people joked about it. It's a big deal to her, and once Syo is confronted, she'd firmly lecture her about her harmful actions.

Angie Yonaga would believe that God willed her sudden disappearance of hair, and once she cheerfully presents this to her classmates as a definite proof of God's will, they would hesitantly tell her that it is very likely that someone else is the cause of this. Angie wouldn't mind it much, for God would punish the culprit in due time if he so wished.

Gonta Gokuhara wouldn't be too upset. He never really took care of his hair, and this would be an opportunity to finally start. His classmates would ask him about the reason for the sudden change, and would be very worried when he admits that he woke up like that. They'd start the search for the guilty immediately.

Himiko Yumeno would be annoyed but consider it too much of a pain to care. She'd insist that she can use her magic to grow it out, if it wasn't a pain. Tenko would make be very worried about her, and would look for the culprit on her behalf.

K1-B0 / Kiibo wouldn't find themself hairless, as their hair is metallic. Instead they would be left with scratches and peeled-off paint, which would be fixed with light maintenance. Despite the minimal damage, they would be very upset that someone tried to hurt them, and consider it a robophobic crime.

Kaito Momota would be devastated. He wouldn't let anyone know, but it's very easy to read Kaito. He spends a lot of time styling his hair, so it makes sense for him to be as upset as he would be. In the end, he does tell Shuichi about what happened, and the detective helps him find the culprit.

Kirumi Tojo would be more worried about the occurrence happening to others rather than her hair. She already has pretty short hair, and it wouldn't take too long for it to grow out to its previous length. She'd voice her concern to her classmates, warning them of what might happen and offering to search for the perpetrator on her own. They'd end up helping her despite her insistence.

Kokichi Ouma would be really upset, crying dramatically about what happened. Needless to say, his reaction isn't sincere, and no one can really what he really feels about the situation. He'd rapidly switch from joking about it to treating it seriously as if it upsets him greatly. In the end, everyone ignores him and brushes it off as one of his pranks.

Korekiyo Shinguji would be displeased, to say the least, considering that he grew out his hair for his sister. Admittedly, his sister was a terrible person, and this may be the push he needed to realize that... But for now, he'd refuse to leave his room. If Shuichi was close to him, he'd tell him the reason of his self-isolation, and Shuichi would promptly look out for the culprit and might even ask Tsumugi to make a wig that looked like Korekiyo's hair, without telling her any details. When Korekiyo's hair grows out a bit, perhaps shoulder-length, he'd stop wearing it.

Maki Haruwaka would be infuriated. She spent a very long time growing her hair out, only for that effort to be wasted because of some rogue trouble-maker to throw that away. She'd threaten her classmates until someone confesses, and while she won't actually kill one of her classmates, she'd make sure they'd never do it again.

Miu Iruma would be pissed off and would start yelling insults at anyone who looks at her. After calming down, she'd say that she doesn't need long hair to be the beautiful genius she is. She'd still hold a grudge towards whoever hacked off her hair and would insult them at any given chance.

Rantaro Amami would approach the situation logically, not too bothered about the results but rather by the actions. He'd probably laugh at the absurdity of the situation, joking that he's no longer the pretty boy of the class.

Ryoma Hoshi wouldn't mind much. He hides his hair under his cat hat anyway, so nobody would notice. He would warn his classmates about the possibility of it happening to them, but true to his personality, he'd phrase it in a vague way. Most wouldn't know what's coming until it's too late.

Shuichi Saihara would go back to wearing his hat in a failed attempt to disguise the mess that is his new hairstyle, and discreetly search for who might've caused it. After being teased by the others, he'd include them in his search. He'd probably take their teasing too personally, though, and they'd soon let up and help him.

Tenko Chabashira would be quick to blame one of the men in her class. Shuichi offers to help her find the culprit as a peace offering, and she'd agree while still being cautious of him. She wouldn't really mind having short hair, though. Especially after Kaede tells her she'd look cute with short hair.

Tsumugi Shirogane would use this as an opportunity to walk around in cosplay, wearing a wig of whatever character she was obsessing over that week. Of course, she'd be upset at the loss of her hair, and would ask Kaede to help her with her predicament. Kaede would ask Shuichi for support, and eventually, word would reach the entire class, who volunteer to help Tsumugi.

[behindtheunderpuppets]

Dale’s Puppet Design (Papyrus)

(Sans and Frisk design here)

PAPYRUS IS FINISHED! I didn't keep track of time but I estimate that I spent at least 55 hours making him. I actually started making him before Frisk but ended up finishing Frisk first since I didn't know how the frick I was going to attach Pap's arms or make Papyrus' jaw movable (that's right, he can talk, suckas!) His design is completely different from the other puppets and at first I thought it would be easier cause I wouldn't have to sew clothes. BOY, was I wrong.

Coming in at a whopping 16½"/42cm, Puppet!Papyrus (or"Pappet") towers above Sans (11"/28cm) and Frisk (10"/26cm). If you've been following for a while, you may remember my post lamenting how I made the frame way too frikkin big and had to start completely over. Apparently I still made him too big but at least he's not the size of a small human child anymore. When I remade the "skeleton" (hah hAHA!) I forewent wiring the shoulder pads.

It took a long time for me to figure out how to make Papyrus' jaw move. Eventually I came up with a design incorporating a spring in the form of a hair tie. To shape the head, I found a tutorial on drawing Papyrus and drew it myself (UGHH, DRAWING), then photocopied a bunch of sizes and held them up to the frame to make sure the proportions were right. Then I took a very thick gauge of aluminum wire and shaped it into the jaw, matching the size on the drawing. I used a slightly smaller gauge wire to form a hinge around the jaw, using the same wires to make a rough outline of the head. Inside the head, the jaw wire bends upwards into a loop, which is attached to a rubber hair tie. I hope to hell that it doesn't break, because it will be very, very hard to fix. Another wire prevents the jaw from moving too far forward. I filled out the rest of the framework with thin, flexible wires.

To shape the torso and pelvis, I covered the wire framework with cosplay foam, only putting down one thin layer at a time to ensure it dries all the way (I LEARNED MY LESSON FROM LAST TIME). For his boots, I used the same technique as with Frisk and Sans where I first made the shape I wanted and covered it with a thin layer of foam. Following the theme of me overestimating the size of Papyrus, the first boot attempt was way too friggin big and I had to start over.

I made Papyrus' shoulder pads and gloves out of foam. At this point, I gave him a face cause it was getting creepy.

And then I made it even creepier by using my patented Puppet Suspension System™ to hold Papyrus while drying. The counterweight in the bag is a jar of Fusilli beans, which I pulled at random from the family pantry.

Once the foam was dry, I put on a few layers of acrylic paint to match his sprite. Before I glued on the gloves, I rolled up fabric around the wires of his arms (same as torso and legs). The outermost layer is stolen from the bottom of a black velvet dress. I used a different matte spray finish this time (pictured right), because it claimed to "eliminate sheen." You can still see some shine but I think it's just unavoidable. I want the puppets to be as unshiny as possible so that they don't have a glare in videos. The brown boot drying on the stick in the background is because I tried putting the new finish on Frisk's boot and ended up with a really dull, foggy look that I had to paint over. It's still lighter than the other one but whatever, it's good enough. It seems like 2 layers is the limit for matte finish.

Next, I made Papyrus several sets of swappable teeth out of poster board, covered with foam and painted. Initially, I used wood and put spaces between the teeth, which looked horrifying, as you can see below.

Papyrus' boots are held on by stuffing leftover black t-shirt material around the wire of his feet. For his signature red scarf, I knew I wanted the floppiest, least stiff fabric possible to make it look realistic on a puppet. I have plans for a video series which includes Frisk wearing two of Papyrus' scarves (it will make sense in context) so I needed it to be thin, compressible material. The nearby Jo-Ann's (craft/fabric store) just closed so I ended up getting a really soft red shirt from Ross. It took a while but I finally arranged it and cut it into the right shape, using hidden sewing pins to secure the fabric.

And VOILA! A completed Pap!

As always, I am more than happy to talk crafts and offer what advice I can to anyone! These are my own designs (because I'm too lazy to follow instructions) and you are very welcome to use them! Please let me know if I can explain anything better, and remember to follow @underpuppets for puppet shenanigans.

EDIT: I totally forgot to mention how I covered his skull. I used a white plasti-dip spray, which kept coming out bubbly so I worked out a system of spraying it first into a cup and then painting it on the foam with a brush. I did it this way so that I can use double sided tape to hold on different eyes instead of using magnets, which I didn't have room to add and didn't work very well with the Frisk puppet. I went back and covered Puppet!Sans' head with plasti-dip as well, which makes it way more durable and less likely to get scratched or marked up. Papyrus' torso is still really soft and I live in fear of putting him down on something sharp or dropping him or something. Thankfully, cosplay foam is pretty easy to repair, so if that happens I'll be able to fix it pretty easily. I also glued on the arms in a way that will allow me to somewhat easily replace those wires if they break from bending too much.

[parkmuse]

Cat Got Your Tongue Pt. 2 (M)

Word Count: 7,474 (Reposted) (Wonhopes Masterlist)

Taco ain’t your innocent kitty no more.

cr.

You let out a heavy sigh, flipping through channels out of boredom in your living room. You keep glancing over at your phone, biting your lip as you gave in and opened the lock screen.

No new messages.

You swipe open the phone and you’re met with a photo of you and Namjoon from your anniversary. Both of you are smiling like idiots, him with his chin resting on your shoulder with his arms wrapped tightly around you with the big Christmas tree brightly shining in the background. You smile at the memory, but it finally dawned on you that this was all in the past.

You roughly chucked your phone to the opposite side of the couch, expecting a loud thump but instead a cry of pain erupted from beside you causing you to jump in your seat. You looked over to see your precious little fluff ball curled up, ears faltered and then you realized exactly what you just did.

“OH MY GOD TACO I’M SO SORRY!” You scooped him up into your arms, showering his face with kisses as you profusely apologized to your poor cat.

You bring him onto your lap, stroking his head as you scratch behind his ears. In turn he purrs, snuggling up against you as a gesture to say he forgave you, then licked at the exposed skin on your thigh.

You smile at him when he looks up to you and meows, lifting himself up until you’re face to face with him. His paw lightly strokes at your cheek, then he brings his face to caress against yours. You giggle, lightly stroking his back as you start playing with his tail.

You were really happy to have Taco alongside you especially at this point of your life. When you feel sad he makes you feel better, and when you’re lonely he’ll be there to comfort you, licking your face and cuddling with you until your tears dry up and your memories of your horrible ex-boyfriend fade away.

“You’re so cute, Taco.” You continue playing with his tail, letting it glide through your fingertips as you use your other hand to stroke his back.

All of a sudden his purrs are overpowered by what sounded like heavy grunting, making your eyebrows crinkle in confusion.

“Are you okay Taco?”

He continues to make those deep, heavy grunts, then changed to what sounded like panting as if he had just run a marathon. Suddenly your vision blurred, your surroundings oddly morphing into some weird spiral that ended up turning pitch black.

You groan in your spot, slowly opening your eyes as the sun’s warm rays shine brightly in your face, slightly pulling you out of your dream state. You’re still half asleep, still tired from all that craziness that occurred in your dream last night when Taco turned into some hot naked dude in your bed. God, you must have been so desperate to get over Namjoon your brain whipped up some really weird ass shit.

You attempted to stretch, but something constricted your movements. You tried moving your arms, then you realized one of your hands was grasping onto something warm and fuzzy. You curiously squeezed it, stroking it between your hands with half lidded eyes but froze once you heard a guttural moan right in your ear.

Slowly you realized you weren’t alone in bed. Thick arms were tightly wrapped around you, legs were tangled along with yours, and hot breaths panted against your ear. You were still slightly in a daze but woke up immediately once you felt a hot, slick muscle swipe against the shell of your ear followed by another deep groan.

“Y/N, mm, don’t squeeze too hard,”

He pulls you closer to him, snuggling his face into the crook of your neck before latching his lips onto it. He ran his wet tongue along the expanse of your neck, slowly running upward towards your ear. He catches your lobe between his lips, nibbling lightly causing shivers to run up your spine.

By reflex you squeeze the object in your hand again, making him buck against you and moan your name aloud in a raspy tone.

“Fuck Y/N, I told you not too hard!”

Your eyes widen and you turn to look at him, emerald eyes stabbing daggers into you. You were about to say something but realized the object just twitched in your hands, then you frantically pull off the covers.

You were mortified to find him naked against you again, dick out and rubbing against your leg. But what really caused you to want to faint and leave this world for good was what was in your grasp. A brown tail in your hands; a brown fucking tail that came from between his legs.

You screamed aloud then quickly shoved him off of you, kicking and thrashing until you succeeded in throwing him off the bed.

You hear a loud grunt from below, then you slowly peek over.

“What the fuck was that for?!” He says as he sat up. His ears flop down as he rubs the back of his head.

You stare at him in shock, realizing your figment of your imagination didn’t come from your dream.

This is real.

He’s real.

Taco’s not your small cute little fluff ball anymore, he’s morphed into a human man. A hot but naked pervy little-

“God, is this how it’s gonna be every morning from now on? It’s barely 9, let me sleep some more,” He moves to stand up but he jumps in his place when you scream again.

“NO! Y-YOU’RE NAKED!”

“Y/N, you’ve seen me like this all the time. Why are you so shy now?” He quickly shoots you a suggestive smirk. “Oh, is it because it’s the biggest you’ve seen-“

You slug a pillow straight into his face causing him to fall back to the ground with a thud, groaning aloud again.

You jump from the bed and run over to your closet, opening the bottom drawer and pulling some of Namjoon’s old clothes out. You curse to yourself as you can’t help but inhale the remnants of his cologne that lingered on his shirt. You really have to get rid of these.

Once you kick some sense into yourself you turn to Tae and toss the clothes at him. “I don’t care if you were a cat or are a cat or whatever the fuck, if you’re staying with me you’re not walking around naked so put those on.”

He pouts at you, giving you his big, glossy eyes as his ears falter. After a good few seconds he realizes you aren’t going to give in, rolling his eyes dramatically and letting out an annoyed huff. He throws on the t-shirt and immediately groans in disgust, “God, this smells like shit. I always hated whenever baboon would come over and stink up the whole place.”

“His name is Namjoon,” you blatantly corrected him.

“Same thing! Why do you even care? It’s not like you’re together anymore-oof!”

You quickly swung another pillow straight into his face, making him fall back again. He rubs his head and groans, “What the hell was that for?!”

“Just hurry up and get dressed! We’re going somewhere.” You stomp out of the room and head to the restroom, slamming the door on your way in. You can’t lie and say that Tae didn’t just hit home. Why did you care? Why do you still care about that cheating asshole?

You hate that you let tears fall for someone that did you dirty, that would throw away years of a relationship; for someone that wasn’t worth it. Why were you still in love with him?

Soft scratches against the door stopped your sniffling. “What?” You said after clearing your throat and trying to sound as normal as possible. You rubbed your eyes as the door slowly squeaked opened, cat ears peeking through the door. You quickly looked away not wanting him to see you pathetically falling apart. “What is it? I’m almost done, we’re not showering together if that’s what you’re here for-“

He turns you toward him, grabbing your hands to lower it from your face. Once he gets a good look at you his eyebrows crinkle in distress, head tilting to the side. “Why are you sad?”

“I’m not, I just washed my face and got something in my eye-“ Before you could finish he grabs ahold of your chin in his hand, swooping down to run his tongue along the side of your cheek. He runs his slick muscle upward, lapping up your tears before kissing the side of your eye. He moves back to look at you again, visibly upset.

“You were crying, I could hear you from the other room.” Damn those cat ears.  “Did I say something? I’m sorry if I made you sad.” He bites his lip, then brings his head to the crane of your neck. He rests both of his hands on each side of you, trapping you between him and the sink. He runs his nose along your flesh, lightly nipping at your soft spot making you relax. Your heart was beating a mile a minute at the sudden contact, but it felt…nice.

“Will you forgive me?” He slowly draws circles with his thumbs along your hips, lightly ghosting his lips along your jawline. He rests his forehead onto yours, bringing his hands to your face. You two stare at each other for a long moment in silence, your breathing being the only thing echoing along the walls.

Tae was very, very, very handsome, and sometimes you forget for a moment that this guy is half human. At least that’s what he says—he probably somehow broke into your house, kidnapped your cat and cosplays as Taco. But a big part of you feels as though he is really telling you the truth, that he’s being this gentle because he’s your best friend and has always been with you from thick or thin. His emerald eyes show pure concern, kindness and love that you really need at this moment.

You instinctively lick your lips and his eyes quickly dart down to your mouth, causing him to slowly lick his own as well. The concern over his face quickly changed to something much darker as his eyes stared daggers into you.

“I’ll make it up to you.”

He slowly moves in and you close your eyes, heart about to jump out of your chest. He swipes his tongue along your top lip, the sudden warmth making you moan a little. He licks the corner of your mouth, then nibbles on your bottom lip causing you to groan and clench onto his shirt tighter.

“Tae,” you say breathlessly as he brushes your hair behind your ears, tracing a finger down your jawline before grabbing ahold of your chin again. He takes his thumb and rests it on top of your bottom lip, pulling it downward.

“Open up for me,” He says in a low grunt, grinding his hips into yours, “Open up for meowster-“

You move forward and quickly bite on his thumb, causing him to yelp and back up. “What the hell Y/N?!”

“Meowster? You’re ridiculous,” You spew as you shove past him with flushed cheeks and out the door.

“Like master! But I’m half cat, get it? Don’t you have a sense of humor?” He pouts while sucking on his thumb.

“Just hurry up and get ready!”

-

After what felt like ages to force Tae to suck it up and put on the rest of his clothing, you two took off. You whacked his hand each time he tried to touch the beanie you took 20 minutes getting both his ears to fit snugly inside, and he always responds with a hiss and a pout back at you. A part of you is a bit happy you chose his attire, having his fringe out of his eyes and showing off his beautiful emerald eyes. You never noticed how his eyebrows were so defined and having his forehead shown made him ten times more attractive than before.

"You know you don't only have to look, you can touch too."

You didn't realize you were shamelessly checking him out, a smug smirk plastered on his face as you catch a glimpse of his pink muscle dip out from his mouth, making his bottom lip glisten.

"You're so full of it," You scoff, turning away as a blush creeps up your cheeks from being caught red handed.

"I think the one who's going to be full of it tonight is you-OW!" You give a hard left hook into his side, making him gasp out in pain.

"Keep it up and you'll be a prune by the time I'm done with you," you say as you roll your eyes from his exaggerated cry of pain.

"K-kinky...it's okay, I like it rough," He manages to wink at you as he clutches to his side.

You sigh in annoyance, "Okay hurry up, I don't want to run into crowds." You pick up the pace on the sidewalk, him following suit and catching up with you.

"Where are we going anyways?"

"To the mall. I wanna see if that Santa is still there. Maybe he knows why the fuck you turned human." You quickly dodge a group of teenage kids on their phones, not even bothering to look at their surroundings as their eyes stayed glued to the little lit up screens in their hands.

"Why do you want to talk to a mall Santa? What would that fake perv even know?"

"Just shut up and follow me!" You finally reached a crosswalk and clicked the button on the pole. You stand there, tapping your feet impatiently as you watch cars speed past you. After a few moments you realized that for once, Tae actually listened to you and really did shut his god damn annoying mouth. How surprising, he should be like this more often. It makes him a lot cuter-

You turn your head to talk to him but he's nowhere to be seen. You panic for a moment, hoping he didn't just run off and have a wardrobe malfunction like flashing his long ass ugly tail in public. You're about to take a step back but your feet kick onto something on the floor, halting you. You look down, not expecting to actually find what you're looking for.

Tae is on the floor in an inhuman crouching position, staring intently right above him. You have no fucking clue what the hell he was doing, and his strange posture is catching everyone's attention around you.

"Tae what the fuck are you doing?!" You hiss at him, reaching for his arm to get him to stand up again. He quickly dodges your hand by hopping strategically over to the left side, eyes still glued right above. You can't help but get even more irritated, "Tae, seriously, you need to-"

"Shhhh," He whispered back, eyes still staring at the sky, "You're gonna make it aware."

You look at him like he's gone insane, then follow his eyes up to the top of a tree. You see a tiny bird there in its nest, resting on top of a large branch.

"Dinner is on me tonight-"

 You whack him on the back of the head and before he can yell at you for hurting him again you pull him by the arm and across the street. He groans as he clutches the back of his head, "Y/N, I know hitting me turns you on and all but you can't actually hurt me-"

You turn to face him, a vein already popping out of your temple as you let go of his wrist. "You seriously have to stop with this bullshit. You're human now! At least the majority of you...but try to act like a regular human being, especially in public. I don't want someone to call the cops on some cosplaying, bird hunting weirdo."

"Did you see the feathers on that one?! It was probably so juicy, you're seriously missing out-" He stopped speaking once you cracked your knuckles, preparing to hit him again.

"Fine, fine," He huffed, "I'll be human for you."

"Thank you." You two start walking at a steady pace again, a few blocks away from the mall.

"I'll show you what a real man is like since you want me to so bad," You heard him whisper huskily under his breath, brushing his hand against your side. Your eyebrows crinkle in distress and you're about to turn to give him another knuckle sandwich but all of a sudden he lets go, pouncing forward onto a passerby, knocking both of them to the ground. Everything happened so fast you don't understand what could have possibly happened, but could Tae seriously not even act human for two fucking seconds?

 You see the man in a black hooded sweater groan from underneath Tae, his jet black fringe covering his closed eyes. He's making a move to get up but Tae has him pinned down, inching closer to his face. Everyone nearby stops again, waiting for a fight to unfold.

"I knew it was you. Still ugly even in human form," Tae chuckled. The man finally opens his eyes, looking up at Tae before his eyes popped wide open.

You're about to pull him off and just buy a damn leash for the guy since he can't control himself, but then you hear him talk.

"What the fuck? Tae?" He finally moves off of him and pulls him to sit up, crouching in a cat like manner in front of the stranger. Once people in the surrounding area realize nothing is going to happen, they continue on walking.

"I guess my good looks still run strong when I'm in this form, huh?"

The stranger brushes himself off, still observing Tae from head to toe. "You didn't have to fucking tackle me down, you could have just said hi. When did you turn human?"

You were still standing there beside them, completely lost at what was going on. Did Tae know this guy? Who was he? Maybe some old neighbor that would leave some milk out for him at his windowsill at night? You were trying to figure out who this mystery man was, then his hood slipped off his head. He immediately pulled it back on, but not before you were able to catch a glimpse at the top of his head.

Without a doubt you saw a pair of cat ears, ones similar to Tae's but the back was black and the inside was a bit more pink. Your jaw dropped and he saw your reaction, a hint of amusement on his stone cold facial expression. You didn't miss the side of his mouth twitching upwards a bit, but then his attention turned back to Tae.

"Just yesterday man, still not really used to all these free form movements." Tae arranges his fingers to form the word "blood," then proceeds to shoot little finger guns at him.

The man nods, then pushes himself to stand up. "Well, try and act a bit fucking normal next time. Damn, that hurt." He rubs his lower back, then turns his attention at you. "Who's this pretty little bird?"

"Y/N," you answered, trying to ignore his weird little nickname for you. When he smiled he actually looked really cute, a lot different than his intimidating expression from earlier.

"That's a sweet name, suits its owner." He took a step over to you, "Ever wonder what it would be like to stroke a hybrid Persian's-"

 "Fuck off Yoongi, get your own owner!" Tae hisses, shoving himself in between yourself and the black haired boy. He clutches onto your sides, blocking you from him. Were his shoulders always this broad?

Yoongi chuckles, "I was just playing around Tae. Jeez, you get so possessive sometimes." He puts his hands in his pockets, then begins walking the opposite direction. "Seems like you were in a rush somewhere so I'll be going now. I'll see you two around." He winks at you, making Tae growl under his breath.

"Fucking Persians, always think they're top notch breeds," He says once that Yoongi guy was out of earshot.

"Look who's talking," You respond, "Anyways, who was that guy?"

"Some dude I knew awhile back. I didn't even know he was in this form now, but I recognized his scent off the bat. He always reeks of coffee and mint."

"So he's a cat too?"

"Yeah, hybrid. I wonder if anyone else we've known are human now too." You didn't know that Tae wasn't the only one who could have possibly changed like this. You thought this was all by chance, all because of your dumb wish you made with Santa last night.

"So you're telling me this has happened before?" You groan. What's the point in even going to the mall now? This definitely didn't happen because of a wish upon a star, so there's no point in talking to the fake Santa that gets paid minimum wage to falsely make dreams for idiots like you to believe will come true. You two just got there too.

"Yes, but a while ago. But don't worry Y/N, I still know how to use it! I made sure last night-“

He cries in pain when you kick him in the shin, “I don’t know why I haven’t put a muzzle on you by now.”

“S-save that for the bedroom, I love being gagged.“  

You were getting real tired of this kid, or cat, whatever. What the hell were you going to do now? You have no idea how this happened, why this happened, and why this especially happened to you.

Why did the universe hate you so bad they turned your cat into a pervy, obnoxious little half human?

You pause at the front of the mall, watching as kids run by into the winter wonderland. Your eyes get lost as they travel to the big Christmas tree above, still as beautiful as ever when you saw it yesterday. Memories start flooding again back to when you and Namjoon would go on dates there, your hands intertwined and bodies molding perfectly against each other as you gaze across the twinkling lights above. You two would stand there, counting all the stars that dangled along the tree before it got so cold both your teeth would chatter. He'd surprise you with hot chocolate at your favorite cafe, the sweet aroma filling your senses and the silky texture spreading warmth throughout your soul. Then he'd pull you closer, pressing a chaste kiss on your temple before whispering sweet I love yous as he rakes his hand through your hair, turning you around to plant a passionate kiss over your lips. Every moment with him always felt so right, and you always felt safe tucked into his arms.

Two arms suddenly wrap around you and engulf you into a hug. A broad chest is pressed flushed against your back as a chin rests on top of your head. You immediately recognize the all too familiar scent, your body slowly relaxing as you inhale his musky cologne.

You were in Namjoon's arms.

You two are here on your date, the one you both planned a few weeks back. He hugs you tighter from behind, bringing his lips to your temple once more as you close your eyes and bask in his touch and all his warmth.

Everything else was a dream. Taco is at home, sprawled on the floor and napping as usual. Namjoon never left you; he was here with you now, forever and always like he said. You slowly reach up and grasp onto his long sleeve you loved seeing him wear so much. You smile softly and turn towards him, "Nam-"

You're met with a head that immediately clashes to your forehead, making you groan out loud. Before you can say something his head automatically drifts upwards, his nose and forehead brushing roughly against the side of your face. Your cheeks rub against each other and soft purrs fill your ears.

Your eyes finally adjust to see Tae in front of you, continuing to rub his face onto your skin and into the curve of your neck. You can't imagine how weird this must look in another person's point of view, some dude just rubbing his entire face all over your damn head while you stand there and let it happen. You forgot that you gave him a pair of Namjoon's old clothes, and you not seeing him from behind earlier just made everything seem so real.

You snap out of your thoughts when you feel a squeeze against your ass, followed by a warm tongue swiping at the corner of your mouth. "Mm, I bet you taste way better than catnip-"

You shove him off of you, quickly wiping your mouth as your cheeks heat up again. "Stop rubbing yourself all over me!"

"You always let me do it before! I don't get why its’ a problem now," He huffs. "You're so soft and you smell so good, I can't help it."

You blush harder than before, but chose to ignore his statement. You take a good look at him in your ex-boyfriend's clothes, and the remnants of his scent just makes it hurt even more. Once you compose yourself you grab him by the sleeve and drag him towards a store nearby.

"Since we're here anyways, let's buy you some new clothes. Those really do reek."

 -

You enter the first clothing store you see and walk over to the men's section. The racks were filled with plaid button ups and neutral colored shirts, all of which would probably look amazing on Tae but you didn't want to boost his ego. You skim through some clothes and pull out a nice cream colored long sleeve, followed by some slightly baggy black pants that could easily hide his tail.

"Here, try these on." You toss the clothes over to him and he catches them in his arms.

"Why do I have to wear clothes? I'd be doing everyone a favor if I graced everyone's eyes with my naked body," He huffs.

"Can you stop being gross and just try them on?" You roll your eyes, turning back to look at some more clothes for him.

"Y/N?"

You immediately freeze up. You knew that voice anywhere.

"I knew it was you!"

Your eyes unwillingly meet his in front of you. He's wearing the exact clothes last time you saw him, but they're actually on his body rather than strewn all over the living room floor. He's wearing a beanie so his fringe doesn't cover his eyes, that same smirk plastered on his face that you knew too well and fell in love with.

"Namjoon." You didn't know what else to say. You couldn't think of anything else to say.

Right after you spoke someone comes and grabs him by the arm, flinging herself onto him. "Babe, I thought I lost you! Why did you run off so- Y/N? What are you doing here?"

This was your worst nightmare come true. The two people you never wanted to see again were standing right in front of you, holding hands and probably on a date. Namjoon was here with Yoona, your ex best friend that also went against your back and broke your trust. You had so much you wanted to say, so many questions on why they would ever do this to you but nothing came out.

"Helloooo? Earth to Y/N? I asked you a question," Yoona said. She smirked when you were still frozen on the spot, not a peep out of you. "Cat got your tongue? You always seem to be out of words when it comes to us. Just like last time when you caught us, all you did was stare," She sneered. "You don't even have a boyfriend anymore, why are you even shopping for men's clothes?"

You feel like you couldn't breathe. Did she really just bring that up? It felt like a punch in the gut.

"She's here with me, I'm her boyfriend."

Tae partly shields you behind him, stepping in between again. He grabs your hand and intertwines them, pulling them up to his face to place a soft kiss before bringing them back down. He turns to you and gives you a soft smile, squeezing your hand once more.

Yoona's jaw drops, ogling Tae like he was some model that jumped out of a GQ catalog. Namjoon looks surprised as well, his smirk slightly faltering as his eyebrows crease. He quickly regains his composure, smiling back at you two once more.

"I see you've already moved on Y/N- wait, are those my fucking clothes?"

You see Namjoon's eyebrows raise, looking Tae up and down. You curse to yourself, forgetting that you gave him those clothes to wear and he hasn't changed out of them yet.

"Why are you wearing my clothes? Wait, did she ask you to wear them?" He laughs out loud while Yoona giggles beside him, clutching harder onto his arm. "Wow Y/N, I didn't know you were that obsessed to actually have your boy toy play dress up as me."

He takes a step forward, clutching onto the neck hole of Tae's shirt. "I've been meaning to go get these back, but seems like she needs it more than I do."

Tae smacks his arm away before saying, "You can have them back. They fucking stink anyways." He lets go of your hand and pulls his pants down in front of you three, right in the aisle in public inside the store. All three of your jaws drop, and he continues by taking off his shirt and throwing it at Namjoon. He reaches for the hem of his boxers but Namjoon quickly stops him, "NO! Dude, keep those on." Tae huffs, slightly wishing Namjoon would want them back, but reluctantly keeps them on. You're glad he didn't go that far since his tail is still out of view.

All three of you are standing there staring at a barely clothed Tae bewildered, people nearby throwing out disgusted remarks or covering their eyes as they pass by, but the silence is broken when Namjoon lets out another hearty laugh. He clutches his stomach as he keels over, wiping a tear that slipped from his eye.

"Damn Y/N, where'd you find this one? Quick fucks on Tinder won't give you two year relationships, you know. Just freaks, and it seems like you've got a perfect one in your hands."

You don't even know the guy standing in front of you right now. Never in all the time you've known Namjoon has he ever spoken to you like this, let alone implying that you're some easy slut when he knows all too well he was your first for everything. He was your first date, your first kiss, your first love. All you wanted to do was get out of here and hide out at home to cry your eyes out for the rest of eternity.

"You can't ever find someone like me, even if you tried to make one with your sick fantasies.” He turns to Tae. “Does she tell you to fuck her like me too?"

"Don't ever fucking talk about her like that." You hear Tae snarl in front of you, talking a step forward and into Namjoon's face.

"I don't know what this girl's told you man, but I'd be careful with her. Don't listen to cheap sluts-" Next thing you know Tae pounces onto him, knocking him to the ground. He's got one of his hands pressed onto Namjoon's chest, his face a mere inches from his, heaving over him. His stance is like that of a lion's, about to end his prey.

"Call her that again and I'll fucking kill you!" Tae growls over him, digging his nails into the flesh of Namjoon's chest. Namjoon groans in pain, and Yoona is screaming uncontrollably behind a rack which brings all the attention back to us. Her annoying cries brings you back to your senses, and you immediately rush over to pull him off.

"Tae, stop!" You attempt to grab his arm but he doesn't budge. He pushes Namjoon further into the concrete, reaching with his other hand to grasp onto his throat. The beanie on his head slides off, revealing his two ears at the top of his head.

Namjoon is still fighting against him, but freezes once he catches sight of his head. "W-What the fuck?" Tae's ears twitch, standing tall as he continues his attack on Namjoon, but before he can crush his neck you quickly slide your hand down his boxers, grabbing his tail harshly. Tae lets go of his throat and moans aloud, hands shaking as they're planted on either side of Namjoon's head on the concrete.

"O-Oh my god," He moans, suddenly moving his hips against the boy to relieve some kind of friction.

"What the-" Namjoon looks confused as ever, but immediately screams once he feels something hard against his thigh. "DUDE GET OFF ME!"

You squeeze his tail harder, stroking it as you grab under his shoulders to pull him off of him. You finally succeed, Tae still being affected by your touch. You quickly shove his tail back into his boxers, pulling his beanie over his head but not before you catch Namjoon staring intensely at what was in your hands.

"What-"

"Come on Tae, let's go." You don't let Namjoon finish, pulling you two across the store as people watch you drag a half naked man into the dressing room. You lock the door behind you, putting the clothes on the hook as Tae leans against the mirror, huffing.

You glare at him, "Why the hell would you-"

"Did you hear how he was talking to you? What he called you? I'll fucking kill him," He growled under his breath once more. You've never seen him look so angry, so hostile and his eyes just showed how serious he was about what he was saying. He took a step closer to you, "Move so I can finish what I started with that jackass."

"No! They're just words, I could care less!" You say as convincingly as you could, trying to push him back but his strength was too much for you.

"Don’t lie! They hurt you! I could feel it. He hurt you, and I won't let anybody ever do that to you." He tried to make his way around you but you wouldn't budge away from the door.

"Please Tae, don't do this." You pleaded.

"I can still smell that asshole, he's still nearby. Now move." You saw how determined he was, and you knew he wasn't planning on stopping until he got to Namjoon again.

You brought your hands to his head, the beanie slipping off again. You pulled his head downward to look you in the eyes. He was livid, you can see his emerald eyes staring daggers and his nose flaring. You brush one of your hands upwards and to his ear, scratching lightly.

Your touch makes him falter a bit, making him grunt. You continue your actions and he puts his hands on each side of your head, scraping the door lightly.

"Just let me-"

"Please." You bring a hand to his back, releasing his tail from his boxers. You tug at the base lightly, making him groan and rest his forehead on your shoulder. You continue to stroke lightly while scratching behind his ears, making him moan huskily into your ear.

"Fuck," He groans, his hands moving to rest on your hips, mouth latching onto the side of your neck. You moan lightly, craning your neck to the side to give him easier access. He laps at one of your sensitive spots and you press more firmly on his tail, making his hips rut into yours. The thin fabric of the boxers leaves little barriers and you can feel his hard length press against you, making you mewl out his name.

He starts grinding into you at a steady pace, a few harsh thrusts here and there that brushes deliciously along your core, your stomach tightening at the feeling. He nibbles on your neck, then sucks harshly making you grasp onto his hair.

"Tae," you moan. You feel the sting on your neck when he bites down, lapping up the spot where he marked you. He hikes you up and you bring your arms around his neck, your legs on either side of his waist.

"You’re mine," He grunts, driving his hips into yours, groaning your name in your ear as you do the same with his.

You watch through the mirror across at how Tae is ravaging you, pressing you firmly against the wall as he laps over the dark purple mark on your neck. His hips keep a quick pace, your fingers digging further into his broad shoulders as you let out quiet, choked moans.

The dressing room is nothing but the sounds of your mewls and his heavy breathing, constant thuds of the door clacking back and forth each time he drives you into the wall again. He picks up the pace and his moans get louder, desperation spilling out of his mouth. The cords in your stomach are snapping one by one, just a bit more to have you falling over the edge.

"Fuck Tae, I think I'm gonna-"

Two loud bangs vibrate against the door of the dressing room, making you two jump.

"EXCUSE ME, THIS IS A BUSINESS. WE MUST ASK YOU TWO TO LEAVE THE STORE IMMEDIATELY OR WE WILL CONTACT THE POLICE," You hear from the other side of the door.

You're embarrassed as ever, letting out a small sorry as you hear the angry footsteps get fainter and fainter. You two are still panting, trying to catch your breath.

Your hands are still wrapped around his neck and he still has you pinned to the door. Just the sounds of your regulating breaths was strangely comforting, and you lock eyes with Tae once more. You lean forward and kiss him on his nose, caressing one of his cheeks. He stares at you with wide eyes, his ears twitching and flicking upwards.

"Do that again."

You lean forward, kissing him on the nose again.

"Again."

You leave another peck on his nose, seeing his ears standing straight and eyes practically boring into you like you just gave him the best present he could ask for. You giggle at his cute reaction, then he leans in to swipe his tongue along your top lip. The momentary warmth felt so nice, and a part of you is craving for more. He moves to leave a kiss on the top of your nose, then rests his forehead on yours.

His lips ghost over yours, making your breath hitch in your throat.

"Meowster thinks we should continue this in your bedroom," He says as he licks his lips. You smash your forehead against his, making him groan and release you from his hold. "What was that for?!"

"You're dumb, now put those clothes on so we can leave!" You say as you open the door and walk out of the dressing room.

-

After paying for the clothes and being frowned upon by everyone in the store, you two decided to head back home. Tae begged you for some ice cream after seeing a huge sign in front of the store that read "It's meownificent!" (owners probably had a cat fetish), so you stopped in and got two cones. You walked in silence as you licked up your melting dessert, Tae lapping his up and getting it all over his face. You passed him a napkin but he insisted he didn't need one, wiping it on his arm and licking it off himself.

“Napkins are for muggles,” He says as he continues to clean himself with his tongue. You roll your eyes, then go back to eating your ice cream.

It’s melting really fast, some of it dripping onto your hand and down your index finger. You try to prevent it slipping further down your fingers with the napkin, but Tae’s reaction was more quick than yours. He grabs your hand and brings it to his face, taking your index finger into his mouth and lightly sucking on it. His tongue twirls around it, lapping up all the sweet cream.

“Mmm,” He moans as he still has your finger in his mouth. He finally releases it, making a popping sound, “Tastes so good.”

You whip your hand away as you furiously blush, accidentally pushing the cone toward your face. The ice cream smears a bit on your cheek and your lip, and before you can reach to wipe it off your chin is grabbed and Tae’s tongue is lapping up the mess. He swipes up your cheek, then turns your head so you’re face to face with him. He’s so close his breaths are fanning against your face, then he leans in and licks your lips. His tongue dips into the crevice of your mouth, making its way to get every bit of cream off your lips. You unintentionally whimper at the feeling, clutching his sleeve as he continues his ministrations. He nibbles on your bottom lip before letting go of you, “There, all clean! I told you no one needs napkins-“ You punch him in the gut, making him groan.

“Y-you can’t just do that!” You blush as you try to give him an angry look over your embarrassment. He huffs something along the lines of it’s a free country as you wipe your hands with the napkins.

You stop in the middle of the sidewalk, a feeling of dread suddenly surging through you. Tae turns over to you and his eyebrows crinkle once he sees your facial expression, “What’s wrong?”

“What are we going to do now?” You sigh. “How do we get you back into a cat?”

You toss your cone into a nearby trash can, “I don’t even know why this is happening, and why to me? What did I do? Why was I cursed to be stuck with your pervy little-

“Why do you want me to turn back into a cat so badly? Is it that bad to have me this way?” You look up, surprised to see how somber his face looked.

“But you’re supposed to be-“

“Who says I’m supposed to be a cat? And when I was, you’d always tell me how much you loved me. We’d sleep together, eat together. You’d always talk to me, tell me everything. And now when I’m like this, you treat me lower than a fucking pet.” He turns away, and you could see how genuinely upset he is.

“I can’t help this happened, but all I ever did was love you. Why does it matter how I look?” He says in a broken tone.

You bite your lip, feeling bad at how you’ve been treating him. He’s right— all Tae has ever done was stay by your side, helping you when you needed it, comforting you when you were sad. Even if he’s human now, he’s been the same sweet, caring friend you’ve always had. And all you’ve done since the incident was be a dick to him.

You walk up to him, reaching for his hand. He’s still looking away, so you bring your other hand to his cheek, making him look over. It breaks your heart once you see how sad he actually was, and it made you feel like the worst person on the planet.

You caress his cheek, squeezing his hand lightly, “I-“

“Tae?”

Both your heads whip over to a women standing a few feet in front of you. She has long, wavy black hair that cascades past her rosy cheeks and milky colored skin. Her makeup is nice and light, but you can tell she would be beautiful even without it. You see her surprised facial expression, and you’re confused as ever. How could she possibly know him? She must’ve confused him for someone else, there’s no way-

“Youngji.” Tae whips his hand away from you, causing you to flinch. You can’t help but feel a little hurt since he’s never shied away from your touch. He turns his body so your other hand is away from his cheek, moving his hands to his pockets as his eyes never leave the woman.

She gives him a faint smile, “Long time no see.”

[aurorajay]

I love making costumes but I always feel bad about my skill level being far below everyone else’s. Even though I love making costumes they never look good quality. Any advice?

It's easier to answer specific questions about a project vs. a general "how to be good”, but I'm gonna give it my best shot.

First off, go easy on yourself, you're learning! I know I'm still learning. Hell, the seasoned pro of 3 decades is still learning! Every fuck up and mediocrity is a step of improvement. I won't tell you that practice makes perfect, because it doesn't. It will make you better, great even. But it won't make you perfect. No one ever achieves perfection. And that's okay! Literally every single piece I've ever made has multiples elements I would change if i could. Even the ones that look good, like the now-popular moth cape. I will do lots of things differently when i make my next one.

Also, I know from experience how hard it is to avoid comparing yourself to others, especially online. So when we (inevitably) do, I think it's important to remember that there can be a BIG difference between in person and photos. That cool looking cosplay armour? Upon closer inspection it might be held together by hot glue. That pretty formal gown? It might have a real shitty fraying seam down the back. All we see is a carefully curated version of reality.

It's hard offering practical tips without more info to go on, but hopefully some of this will help. I think what makes a good looking costume can be broken down into 4 basic elements, so here’s what I think are the most important things to consider

Design: This is the part that people seem to have the easiest time with, and I can help the least with. Coming up with the idea. And when you’re costuming just for the pure enjoyment of it, there are no bad ideas! Now everyone approaches this differently, whether it's sketches, moodboards, or diagrams. Unless someone else is executing the concept, it doesn't even need to look remotely good! As long as you understand what the design is supposed to be, it works.

I will say to design with practical considerations in mind though. Think about where, how, and why it will be worn. Plan for things like zippers and buttons to get in and out, the weather where it will be worn, how much movement will be required, etc. You don’t want to end up sweaty and stuck in a polyester bodysuit that can only be opened with the help of two assistants in say, an outdoor summer event in LA.

Materials: This can be tricky, because it’s dependant on your resources. Materials are expensive, and quality ones even more so. But researching options and picking the best fit for your project is important. Making a historical piece? Stick to natural fibers. Cosplaying a superhero? You're gonna need spandex.

If you're short on funds, going through second hand stores can be real handy. Bigger ones will sometimes have actual yardage, but you can find sheets, curtains, saris, and all sorts of things to take apart and use. Get familiar with the properties and names of different textiles. You'll eventually develop a skill for spotting the nice stuff.

More specialized tools/materials like say fosshape or sewing machine attachments are harder to stumble across, but there will be online sales. If i find something good for cheap I buy it and hang onto it for later projects. If possible, take advantage of sales and rare finds while you can. You're a dragon and materials are your hoard!

Construction: Obviously you want your costume to be well-made, but this means knowing and mastering different techniques. It's a slow process, but one everyone is capable of undetaking! Firstly, you need to familiarize yourself with technical terms to make finding the actual tutorials easier. One of my go-to resources for this is The Sewing Book, by Reader's Digest. (There’s also a newer version available, I’ll include it below). It covers a wide variety of techniques, materials, etc. and has fantastic diagrams. Can’t recommend it enough

Companies that sell specialized stuff like thermoplastics or casting resin often have tutorials on their websites which can be indispensable to learning to use them properly. As well as very important safety precautions. They will also sometimes list external how-to sources or sell instructional books.

Take a close look at clothes and costumes you own to understand how they are put together. Figure out what techniques are appropriate to use where. A flat fell seam is great for jeans and french seam is perfect for chiffon, but try the reverse and it will be a pain. Take pictures and make sketches of interesting details that catch your eye. You can come back to them for ideas later.

I try and incorporate at least 1 new technique into every project I make, that way I'm always learning. But don't jump straight to trying it out on the final piece! Always make a sample (or several) beforehand. And keep the samples for later reference! I'm trying to amass a big scrapbook-style binder of samples, which is sooo so handy to come back to when it's been a while since you've done something.

Fit: This is the final, and possibly most difficult element of costuming. No matter how cool the design, how fancy the materials, and how good the construction, if something doesn’t fit right it’s going to look and feel wrong. Most of us here are making costumes for ourselves, which means you're going to need help. Measuring and fitting clothes on yourself is a nightmare, so enlist a friend or family member to give you a hand.

The other thing you can do it is to get a dress form/mannequin. These are pricey, and will probably need to be customized with padding and such anyways, so I recommend you DIY it. Again, you will need a helper, because the easiest way to get a custom dress form it to just straight up duct tape yourself into a crappy old shirt, cut it off, then stuff it. There’s tons of tutorials online for this, it’s a tried and true cheap method.

I highly recommend learning some basic pattern drafting, and that’s honestly the hardest part. You can rely on store bought patterns, but they are extremely variable in quality, and unless you’re in the rare minority who are a sample size, it will need some altering to fit you right. They can be a good starting point, but ultimately I think pattern drafting from scratch is much faster and more adaptable, if you're able to learn it. This is where you will need some good books or video instructions. I don’t have one single resource to recommend for this, but I will list some books at the end. If you personally know ANYONE with this skill, try and get them to teach you everything they know, because they are worth their weight on gold.

It’s important to note that some pattern drafting is easier than others, Stretch fabrics are MUCH more forgiving in this area, and that’s how i got started. Because the fabric will accommodate your form, the pattern requires fewer parts and darts, and there’s more leeway for mistakes. The one downside is that stretches can be more difficult to sew. Personally, I feel like they more than make up for it by being simplicity of drafting. The resources I’ve linked are geared toward drafting for non-stretch, but if you’re not following a similar tutorial i recommend stretch.

One last thing in regards to fit. ALWAYS MAKE A MOCKUP. You can work out so many fit issues just by making your costume in crappy material first, taking note of the fit issues, and adjusting them with pins, marking them with a sharpie, etc. Then you can change your pattern accordingly. Whether it’s a breastplate made of cardstock or a dress done in old sheets, you should always make a mockup. Sometimes several! The material doesn’t matter as long as it behaves roughly like the good stuff you plan on using. Don’t use a heavy blanket for if your costume is going to be a gauzy nymph robe, for example. But it doesn’t have to look nice. It just has to be wearable.

Resources:

*These are mostly tailored towards women’s garments. A lot of the same principles apply, but making men’s costumes will have some separate considerations not covered here. Just something to keep in mind if you want to draft for guys. These are all just starting points anyhow. There’s tons more out there

https://www.amazon.ca/Sewing-Book-Alison-Smith-2014-02-03/dp/B01JXQQ9Y2

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Sewing-Step-Step/dp/1606522086

https://www.handimania.com/diy/your-own-shape-sewing-mannequin.html

https://www.fearlessmakers.com/measurements-for-pattern-making/

https://opensourcestitches.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/pattern-drafting-101-drafting-the-basic-bodice-block/

https://opensourcestitches.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/pattern-drafting-101-the-mens-shirt-block/

http://isntthatsew.org/pattern-making-101/

https://sewing.wonderhowto.com/how-to/draft-basic-pant-pattern-0126850/

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/063206501X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[notveryglittery]

star light, star bright

it’s @blinksinbewilderment‘s birthday!!! you know what she likes a lot? romantic analogical and brotherly prinxiety :) it’s a quick little bulletfic with lots of extra bonus background ships. i really treasure our friendship, blink, i hope you have a day that shines as brightly as you do, and that you feel as much happiness as i do whenever i get to talk to you <3!! 

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

brotherly prinxiety 

big bro ro 

virgil goes to roman for advice on how to ask out his long-time crush logan

roman initially teases him relentlessly because anyone with eyes can see logan has liked virgil back for at least three quarters of that long-time 

when roman realizes the two are in fact blind pining oblivious dummies, he jumps at the chance to help this ship sail as smoothly as it can from where it’s been docked for far too long 

roman is obviously a Professional Matchmaker - look, his name is in the word “romance”

(never mind the fact that patton is the one who swept roman off his feet with a romantic declaration at the top of a ferris wheel underneath a bright full moon)

(they’ve definitely let roman live this down. absolutely no one brings it up at every given opportunity)

so roman teaches virgil all of the important things to woo one’s true love (“he isn’t my true love,” virgil gripes, hoping roman doesn’t notice how hard he blushes. roman notices.) this includes: practicing of poetic confessions, the perfect combination of flowers in bouquets, romcom movie marathons. 

to virgil’s mortification, roman invites patton to one of their lessons. to virgil’s further humiliation, patton’s brother declan tags along, and it turns out virgil’s to practice his confession on declan because he’s got that same dry wit and humor as logan, and surely he can offer the best reactions. 

(declan thinks this is very stupid but he and virgil are also kind of frenemies and so declan will take any blackmail he can get his hands on) 

it goes about as well as you think it would 

meanwhile, one logan sanders is trying to smother himself with a pillow

“babe, you of all people should know how physically impossible it is to do that” 

logan throws the pillow at his queer platonic partner 

by some miracle, remy dodges it and manages not to spill a single drop of his starbucks 

so as we all know, logan has been pining for virgil for quite a few years now, and as we also all know, he is a blind oblivious dummie 

remy is surprised his ears haven’t fallen off yet with how much logan gushes about virgil

it would be cute if it hadn’t gotten really old like a year and a half ago

(okay, it’s still pretty cute but remy thinks a lot of things about logan are cute) (like, hello, the utter look of concentration on his face when he’s deciding which tie matches his outfit best?)

remy wants logan as happy as he can be, of course, but virgil is… well, remy and virgil kind of had some issues sophomore year that they never really resolved.

it doesn’t really interfere with their relationship now given the dynamic of their friend group. they kinda tolerate each other. but remy’s gotta give virgil the Talk - you know the one, “you so much as even think about hurting logan and they’ll never find your body” 

remy and roman definitely haven’t been texting each other updates over the months, why would you even insinuate something so devious 

after many shenanigans and montages of:

roman helping bolster virgil’s confidence

big bro ro helps virgil to perfect all the makeup tricks he’s learned on his own over the years. virgil understands now just how good winged eyeliner sharp enough to kill a man can make you feel. 

he really does get better with pick up lines and flirting; he stumbles sometimes but it feels effortless and that’s the important part.

declan jokingly threatening to steal logan away if virgil didn’t get on with it

while virgil knows declan’s aroace ass would never, virgil does not know that logan likes him back, and so this still seems like an entirely plausible thing to worry and stress about 

sometimes, declan drapes himself over logan and heckles him into a debate; partially to see virgil get all flustered over logan all worked up, partially to encourage virgil to hurry up already, wouldn’t he like to be in logan’s space like this?

remy dropping hints around virgil about logan’s newest interests

virgil and logan might be close friends who have been mutually pining over each other for years, but there’s still things they don’t tell each other, or don’t get the chance to share. if remy happens to let slip that logan wants desperately to visit the new exhibit at the observatory, well, that’s neither here nor there.

and he does give virgil the Talk, a few nights before the plan is set into motion. in the same go, they mostly remedy their past issues. by the end of it, virgil wonders how it’s possible for someone to be so threatening while using pet names like “babe,” “sweetie,” and “honey” every other sentence. 

eventually, virgil is deemed Ready. it is Time. 

halloween is virgil’s favorite holiday and because logan loves virgil, he also loves halloween. sure, all the sweets are a health hazard, and trick-or-treating really isn’t the safest tradition, and ghosts do not exist - but virgil glows during this season. he adds autumnal colors to his wardrobe and it really is not fair how good he looks in oranges, and browns, and deep greens. 

(in case we aren’t all on the same page yet, logan is Very Very Gay.)

everyone is at remy’s house. it’s definitely one of the biggest homes in their small town and so this is where a lot of the holiday parties tend to take place. the dormir family is also generally just really well liked. which means more people than invited show up but if anyone knows how to throw and manage a party, it’s remy. 

anyway the plan is that virgil and logan finally get together at this party so that they can finally go trick or treating with the gang in matching costumes 

it is so lame and virgil would rather forsake trick or treating completely but also he may or may not have been planning couple’s costumes for like four years now

everything is going really well! 

roman and patton are social butterflies, flitting from the dance floor to the kitchen to the backyard. they’re dressed up as she-ra and perfuma, respectively. roman’s even threaded led lights into the underskirt and cape so that he’s actually glowing. patton’s flowers aren’t just a crown atop his head, they twist and weave along his arms, around his torso, and down his legs.

remy wears the same thing every year to the party: pajamas and a ridiculous pair of slippers. he saves the extravagant costumes for halloween night. he truly is a spectacular host, making sure drinks and snacks are restocked, that nothing’s being broken, and checking in on those who don’t handle the crowds too well. 

logan’s dressed in a very impressive le petit prince costume - it’s so good, it might as well be a full on cosplay. (virgil definitely isn’t swooning, what?) logan sticks close to the edges of rooms, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. 

(in, for example, virgil’s arms, on the dance floor, swaying to a slow song.)

virgil is dressed as jack skellington and declan in a creepily accurate oogie boogie - everywhere he goes, plastic insects fall out of his costume. patton’s shrieks of terror at seeing the fake spiders keeps startling the party guests. 

eventually - totally not by plan or anything - logan and virgil end up in the backyard together, on the old wooden swing bench on the porch. it’s nearing midnight and the crickets are chirping and there’s an owl hooting nearby somewhere. the moon is obscured on this cloudy night. 

virgil thinks it’s perfectly spooky and atmospheric 

logan doesn’t need to see the stars in the sky when they’re sparkling so brightly in virgil’s eyes

logan’s feet barely reach the floor and so virgil uses his heel to push them back and forth. thankfully, both of their costumes keep them warm enough in the chilly fall weather. (though they, of course, could always do to be a little bit warmer.) 

virgil’s breathing is measured and it’s super obvious he’s counting them in his head. logan scoots closer and lays a hand over virgil’s. his breath hitches.

“there is something i would like to tell you,” logan begins. 

the record scratch in virgil’s head sounds loud enough that everyone at the party should be able to hear it

“for the… last couple of years, i have harb-” 

“hold on,” virgil interrupts, loud and sudden. “hold - wait a seco - there’s no way you’re -” 

logan normally finds all manners of virgil’s speech patterns endearing but right about now, logan has a finite amount of courage and it is quickly running out

“- going to tell me right now-”

“of course i love you.” 

virgil’s jaw promptly snaps shut 

(he’s been working so hard on this and all this time??????) 

virgil isn’t really aware of the high-pitched noise he’s making until logan reaches out and firmly presses a hand over his mouth. 

“it is my fault that you have not known it all the while,”

(and the way logan says it, like a treasured line from a fairytale. virgil’s sure he’d recognize it if he could think at all.)

“i understand if you do not reciprocate these feelings and i apologize if i have made you uncomfortable with my confession,” logan is saying now while virgil’s still working on rebooting. logan lowers his hand. “i hope that this will not negatively impact our friendship. i care deeply for you and-” 

virgil’s systems spark back to life and he interrupts again, this time with a short bark of laughter. 

“l, oh my god, no offense, but i’ve been building up to this night for months and you just-” he has to pause to stifle his laughter. he’s equal parts giddy because logan likes him back and frustrated because logan’s liked him back for years and neither of them had done anything about it until now.

logan looks confused. 

virgil wants nothing more than to kiss him. 

“i’m in love with you” bulldozes over his brain-to-mouth filter instead

logan looks confused, elated, overwhelmed, stunning, he blushes so prettily, virgil thinks, and all of his practice must pay off, because the next move he makes is easy. 

at some point, they’d turned towards each other. virgil’s hand cups logan’s face. leaning closer, virgil’s gaze lowers to logan’s lips, and then back up. who knew eye contact alone could be this electrifying?

“can i kiss you?” virgil murmurs. 

“i can’t think of anything i’d like more,” logan responds. 

(back in the house, declan grumpily shoves a twenty dollar bill into roman’s hands.)

a week and a half later will find virgil and logan in matching costumes. for their shared interest in astronomy, they’ve lowkey always been called the “starlight gays” amongst their friends, and their costumes certainly help solidify it. 

logan is wearing dark jeans and a navy button down. with roman’s help, he’s lit up like the night sky; led lights form constellations that, if asked, logan will explain in a heart beat. from his shoulders trails a glittering black cape that catches the light just right (it’s impractical for trick or treating but the way virgil keeps wrapping himself up in it, snuggling close to logan’s side… well)

virgil’s the opposite in whites and greys, though he’s glowing as well, a near match to the full moon in the sky. he seems exceptionally pleased with the makeup he’s done for the costume, silver and blue and sparkling. 

(they look like they should be at a con, honestly, instead of out for one night collecting candy, but it’s cute, and that’s all that matters) 

and of course, they live happily ever after

(with only the slightest of teasing for the rest of their lives about their slow burn romance) 

[whumpookies]

Merlin one shot, bit of humour can be found here

"No boat huh?"  Matthew muttered, scratching his head in slight confusion 

It was one thousand years later, and what would have been water was now fields, yet the Isle of the Blessed still sat on a hill in all its glory- the same hill that Talia and Matt stood facing. 

"No boat. That’s global warming for you," Talia shrugged easily as she placed down her longbow, making Matthew roll his eyes 

"So, what are we doing here?" Matthew asked as he sat on the hill looking down to the isle.

"Remember the last time we were here?" She asked, joining him sitting on the hill, their knees touching as they leaned back.

"Screaming vale, Doracha, cranky old woman, scarification of a soul to close the vail, Lancelot being an idiot, you warning the old hag..sure hard to forget, really. Why?" Matthew grinned cheekily. 

"Well, time for..revenge," she smirked. 

Matthew blinked..and blinked. "We're what?"

"Going to get revenge, well we ain't but..you’ll see," she half shrugged, laying back into the grass enjoying the rays from the warm sun.

"How? Or should I say why?" Matthew asked, looking over to her.

"Because I promised Lancelot I wouldn't get revenge...back then...didn't say anything about helping get revenge." Her eyes closed, unable to see the disbelieving look Matthew gave her. "You know he's gonna have kittens knowing what we're doing." She shrugged again, standing brushing the grass off her shoulders, Matthew following her actions. 

"That's why we'll tell him after we deal with the old crone," she grinned before grabbing Matthew's collar, dragging him down the hill towards the island.

"Just how are we doing this?" Matthew muttered climbing down the embankment.

"With a dragon." She answered, following him down the silence followed as Matthew stared at his best friend in shock. "A...dragon?"

"Yes, Merlin let me...borrow Kilgharrah"

"Borrow?" His eyebrows rose skywards, scepticism gracing his features. 

"Okay, not borrow...more like the dragon has it in for the hag, so we made a deal." Talia rolled her eyes before continuing along the field as Matthew huffed, "I don't want to know do I?"

"Nope." She answered, snickering. They carried on towards the Isle of the Blessed with a sense of mischief in their hearts.

"Just how did you get our swords and the longbow past the airport checkpoint?"

"You're really asking that now, Matt?"

"I'm curious, it’s not like you can say 'Hey officer, don't worry, just going to get revenge on Cailleach the old hag, then call a dragon, watch him eat her. Just ignore the swords, oh please don't check the blade, it's sharp. Oh look there goes your finger, don't matter if you hurry, it can be sewn on again!" Matthew counted off on his fingers, sarcasm dripping off his words.

"You finished?" She asked, rolling her eyes, once again asking herself why to the heavens. Surely deities were listening.

"Oh no, I've just started!" she sighed before clambering up the steps of the dry dock. "I actually said we're part of a cosplay team…"

"You what?!" 

"Now I bet you wished you never asked!" She cackled, walking down the dock, leaving a groaning Matthew. 

"You have no idea," he sighed.

It was as if time had stopped. The walls were damp, cobwebs spread in abundance, corridors dark until they spotted the light at the end of the tunnel leading to the altar. "How are we getting the old crone to come here? Not like we're sacrificing anyone...why are you looking at me like that?" Talia grinned at a very worried looking Matthew. "Don't worry, no scarification needed. Luckily Merlin knows a few tricks nowadays."

"Yeah, well he could at least get a haircut and a shave!"

"I think he's got the wizard look right down" she glanced over at him. 

"I still think Tolkien met him."

"What, to get the whole Gandalf look down?" She asked slightly confused

"Hell yes! Come on, both Merlin and Tolkien's characters have the beard and long hair… plus look what happened when you asked him to dress up at Samhain!" Matthew grinned, shaking his head. 

"Yeah..that was interesting," she agreed, her forehead creasing slightly.

"Tal, he declared Gandalf as a half-baked wannabe with a guilt complex the size of Albion."

"Point taken," she chuckled, shaking her head.

"Then Lancelot laughed that much he nearly passed out."

"Wait till this year at Halloween you'll love it…"

"If you say Merlin and Lancelot as themselves, I'm so going to be there to watch," Matthew said. 

"Nah, I gave up on that, thinking Harry Potter and Dumbledore." 

The laughter echoed down the empty passageway as they broke into the altar area; it was still large and lush with green grass swaying with the wind.

"You know Talia if this place wasn't linked to the old religion it would be perfect"

"I've nothing against the old religion, just the old hag with a god complex."

"Well let's do this, it's gonna be a long drive back."

Walking around the altar, Talia's hand running along the cool stone as Matthew stood leaning against the wall watching her. 

"How are we doing this?" He asked. 

"Easily, Cailleach is listening to the old hag and is too nosy not to! You ain't getting a sacrifice to some old hag. So come on let's have this out!" She yelled the last part, her voice echoing around the walls as she jumped up on the altar, sitting on the edge. 

"Are we really pissing her off?" Matthew asked.

"I don't get pissed off," the voice croaked behind him. 

"Bloody hell, you old cron don't do that!" Screeched Matthew in a high pitch voice that would make an opera singer jealous as Talia doubled over laughing. Cailleach stood behind the young man all in her dark glory. 

"What do you want, guardian?" She said.

"Oh come on, Cailleach. No hello? It's been, what, one thousand five hundred years, give or take a year...or ten," Talia shrugged, grinning ear to ear as she crossed her legs on the altar."The last I saw of you guardian...you threatened me, and I don't take well to threats," Cailleach accused, her eyes squinting at her.

"I don't take well to you trying to kill Arthur, Merlin or Lancelot," Talia shrugged easily, surprised  by her anger

"It is not killing.."

"Really? A sacrifice to close the veil isn't killing?. Don’t you have enough souls in the underworld?"

"Not yet," she grinned, looking to Matthew 

"Dream on hag, we're taken," Matthew muttered, walking over to Talia by the alter, sword in hand. 

"So it seems that you are, child." Cailleach mourned at the loss of another soul joining her.

"See, I promised someone I wouldn't get revenge on someone else." Talia brought the conversation back on track. "Lancelot." 

"Yes Cailleach, Lancelot, but I spent the day with a very large green-scaled dragon and it seems he still holds a grudge," she smirked, evilly sitting forward. 

"Oh look, Talia, I think it just dawned on her?!" Matthew laughed as Cailleach searched the skies above her as the wind picked up.

"So it seems Matt. Heads up hag, we've got a visitor!" Jumping down, Talia grabbed Matthew, dragging her friend towards the wall as wings came into view. 

"Done my part. Good luck Cailleach," Talia yelled over Kilgharrah's arrival.

"Amazing how hard it is to get a dragon to meet the gatekeeper," Talia muttered as she pulled Matthew into the gatehouse. 

"We are not gonna watch?" Matthew asked.

"Have you ever seen a gatekeeper and dragon go at it?"

"Well...no."

"Me neither, but Kilgharrah said to stay out of the…" A crash and crackle of magic hitting something stopped them.

Both looked to the door. 

"I think I get why now." Said Matthew worriedly looking over at her before a crash followed as rocks flew past the doorway. 

"Oh, that's one pissed off dragon." 

Talia nodded, sitting on an abandoned table. "Wouldn't you be? That old hag nearly killed Merlin, tried to stop the path of Arthur."

"Let's not forget the whole vail crap." 

Sparks struck the door frame as Matthew jumped back. "Oh, the whole Veil needs a blood sacrifice and all that crap. She has real issues with wanting blood." 

Fire bombarded the area passing the door; the heat could be felt with ease. 

"Damn, should have bought marshmallows," Said Matthew bemoaning the loss of a good crispy marshmallow.

"Next time."

"I'm bringing the sausages as well then!" She shook her head as Matthew watched the show as close to the door as possible.

"Well, the old hag needs a peg knocking out of her." 

"Duck!" Matt yelled, boards, bursting, showering bits of wood in all directions.

Talia ran to the door shouting around it. "Kilgharrah get a move on you overgrown lizard! That almost killed us!" 

Matt stood brushing debris off his coat moving away. 

"Bit close," he sighed. 

"Just a bit." 

With the table upturned, they sat behind it, flashes of lightning and flames, crashes and bashes, debris flew past the door frame or closer allowing them to duck, roars covered ears and magic was yelled as it all continued...

"How long?" Talia groaned heavily.

"Three hours and five minutes, in other words, five minutes from the last time you asked." 

"Damn"

"Tal, tell them to quit," Matt moaned whilst cleaning his nails with his sword.

"And get my head blown off?"

"Come on, it's getting late, Merlin can only keep him busy so long!"

"Your point?"

"I'm bored, hungry and they’re being.." he pointed to the door as a lightning bolt struck close by, "...idiots, and they’re going to get us killed!"

Sighing heavily Talia stood, brushing herself off and stormed to the door. "If I die, I'm haunting you!" She muttered before diving out the door quickly as a whip.

Matthew listened intently to the point of straining his ears above the yells of casting, roars and the odd flame until…."THAT WAS MY CLAW!" A deep booming voice Kilgharrah echoed.

"Well if you weren't such an arse, I wouldn't have to stab it, you stubborn bloody dragon! And don't you start either you old hag!"

Matthew snickered, leaning against the wall, shaking his head as laughter rippled through him, whilst trying to listen as Talia continued to rant.

"...yes, I know! Get over yourself, Cailleach or I'll run you through old woman…."

Matthew shook his head, wiping the tears away "...oh trust me, I go to that underworld and I'll haunt you so much that you'll be begging to kick me out.."

He had to agree, she probably would. Talia could be annoying as hell, that was for sure.

"..Yea you're pissed at each other, I get that but come on! When Arthur gets released from Avalon you both need him, so give it a bloody rest! Don't start, you overgrown chicken...and don't you start you wrinkled old pug!"

The second bout of hysterical laughter struck the young man bracing himself against the wall, only Talia would insult a dragon and the gatekeeper of the underworld.

"...Right, that's it!!! I'm calling a truce till next Samhain. You, Kilgharrah, home till Merlin wants you, and Cailleach back till the underworld…no, not Halloween, that my bloody time you get Samhain the eve of Halloween!"

Attempting to catch his breath, Matthew began gathering his and Talia's things.

"Yes, I promise I'll call upon you next bloody Samhain...just...behave till then!"

Matthew cleared the doorway as Kilgharrah flew off, no sign of Cailleach could be seen.

"Finished venting?"

"They are like bloody kids I tell you! I ain't cleaning this mess!" She vented, walking over to her friend gathering her stuff from him. 

"meh, we’ll just call Merlin on the way back; he can clean it up," Matthew reassured as the two made their way back out of the old palace.

"Next year we'll bring Lancelot and Merlin. It'll be fun," Talie said. 

"Only if we bring camp stuff and food," he replied. 

"Deal"

"Cool. Hey, can we stop by McDonald's on the way back? I'm starving," Matthew asked as Talia rolled her eyes. 

"Sure, Merlin wants a happy meal anyway"

[rebelminxy]

Cosplay Surprise

Pairing: Jared Padalecki x PlusSize!Reader

Trope: Slutty Costume

Word Count: 2458

Rating: Mature for the design of the costume

Summary: There is a Halloween party going on at one of the conventions, and this will be the first time everyone from set sees the reader in their element when it comes to costumes. Might even reveal a secret she’s been hiding for a while. 

A/N: In this piece, Jared isn’t married to Gen. This is purely written for fictional use and in no way meant to disrespect the Padalecki family. I send them my best regards and love.  This was written for @supernaturaltropecelebration​ Halloween Edition.  Pictures are not mine, found on Pinterest.

     (Y/N) stood in front of her full-length mirror, debating if she should really go through with this costume or go with plan B, which was a simple Catwoman costume. She took in a deep breath and reminded herself that she promised Jessica Nigri that she would join her and the girls in the cosplay. It wasn’t the fact that she was a big, curvy girl that made her nervous, she was used to dressing the way she was for the camera. Her issue was the brand new relationship she was in with the very well known TV star Jared Padalecki and how this side of her was something she never expected to reveal to him, let alone what she did before her job on set as a special effects artist. 

     Before getting her dream job, (Y/N) used to model. It wasn’t the typical, run of the mill modeling, walking down runways. No, what she would do is create sexy, barely covering the important parts, cosplay outfits and take pictures of herself in different poses. She would then post one or two on her Instagram page and the rest would be sold via a Patreon page she had, where she had different memberships and each member had a different value of packaging. And yes, there were online trolls that called her and her friends, like Jessica, sluts and attention whores. But she ignored them because she loved being able to create all these costumes by hand. She even would purchase cosplay items or outfits from different creators just to give them a shout out and help them with their business, hoping the community could grow. She would even auction off certain costumes or accessories and donate that money to a charity of her fanbase’s choice. Simply put, if she hadn’t gotten her dream job, she would have continued doing what she loved.

      (Y/N) took in a second deep breath and decided to stick to her costume. She did put a lot of work into it like she always did to every cosplay she had made herself. She just hoped Jared would be ok with it. They were currently at a Supernatural convention and Jared wanted to use this event to announce their relationship to the fandom. They had been dating for a couple of months, only coworkers and very close friends knowing about their relationship. But when Jared asked her to be his girlfriend officially, the first thing that worried her was the fandom’s reaction. Danneel assured (Y/N) that everything would be fine, but (Y/N) wasn’t so sure about that.

     The ride to the convention hall where the party was at was a long one, (Y/N) making sure her costume was perfect. Even with the fear of Jared judging her after tonight, she still didn’t want to let her online fans down. The car stopped at the back entrance where everyone was told to go through and (Y/N) was so happy to see Jessica standing by the door, phone in hand. (Y/N) climbed out of the car and when she shut the door, Jessica looked up and smiled widely at her. 

“Wow, woman!” Jessica exclaimed as she stood up straight, watching (Y/N) climb the stairs. “You still got it, girl! I still can’t understand why you stopped doing the cosplays and closing your Patreon.”

“I couldn’t do that AND work on a tv show set without someone finding out about that life,” (Y/N) responded quietly.

“Didn’t the guy that hired you said he wanted you because to the cosplay work you’ve done?” Jessica asked as she opened the door for both of them to enter.

“Yeah but that information stayed between us and the two other heads of the makeup department.”

“It’s not like you were doing porn or something,” Jessica shrugged as she walked a bit ahead.

“It’s borderline and you know it woman,” (Y/N) huffed in annoyance. “Plus, it's not something you throw on a resume.”

“You got your dream job because of it.”

“Yeah, and now I’m dating one of the faces of the show and I’ve told you how the fandom can get,” (Y/N) said angrily, pulling Jessica by the arm to stop and face her. “Do you remember what happened to that actress that played the character Lisa on the show? And that was just a character!”

     (Y/N) let Jessica go and turned away from her, pulling out her phone to call a cab.

“This was a mistake, I should have just gone with the cat woman costume and hoped no one would recognize me. I’m heading back to the hotel to change.”

“No, you’re not!” Jessica exclaimed, grabbing (Y/N)’s phone. “You shouldn’t be ashamed of your talent. Not only can you make a costume from scratch but your makeup and special effects skills are flawless. Top it off with one sexy body and a great personality, and Jared can call himself one lucky son of a bitch.”

“He won’t once he finds out about my old Patreon and sees the pictures. You know what some people call us for doing those pictures. It’s one thing to see an online troll say it, it’s another when there could be a big possibility that the man that I’m falling for will think the same thing.”

“(Y/N), the man adores you!” Jessica exclaimed as she caressed her friend's cheek. “Just go in there with me and you will see. Yeah, it will be a surprise for him to find out his hot girlfriend used to pose half-naked in sexy cosplay outfits for paying fans, but he won’t judge you for it.”

     (Y/N) looked at Jessica and smiled weakly. She nodded her head and hugged Jessica, the silent thank you being made. Jessica pulled (Y/N) by the hand and guided her down the hall to the main door where the party was being held. There were two guards there and when both girls showed their invites, the guards opened the doors.

“Ready, babe?” Jessica asked, holding (Y/N)’s hand tightly.

“Ready as I'll ever be,” (Y/N) responded, standing straight and shaking herself mentally.

     Jessica walked in first with (Y/N) right behind. The girls strutted their way through the crowd over to their other friends who were jumping where they stood in excitement. (Y/N) smiled widely at them but froze when she heard a voice call out to her. She could suddenly feel his presence right behind her, causing her to turn around to see Jared standing there in his Nightwing costume. Jensen, his wife Danneel, and Misha were with him as well. All four friends eyed (Y/N) up, especially Jared. Once his eyes landed on hers, his face went serious, making (Y/N) cringe internally, ready for any outburst.

“What are you wearing, baby?” Jared asked slowly.

     (Y/N) looked down at herself once more to make sure everything was perfect. She and the girls decided to cosplay as the group K/DA, her character being Akali. But instead of the outfit Akali wore in the music video, she went with her usual twist. She wore a black push up bra that lifted her breasts up, white cloth sewn in the front to look like the top Akali wears in the video. The leather jacket she wore was an exact replica from the music video but she wore it off her shoulders, revealing the lines of paint on her skin. She wore a pair of skin-tight black leather pants with a white belt around her waist. The pants were cut like the video, one normal length leg and another cut short, but instead of the smaller cut starting at the top of her thigh, she cut it smaller as if it were underwear, which barely covered her buttcheek. She wore a black knee-high stocking on the leg that wasn’t covered by the pants, and her shoes were a pair of all-black six-inch converse heels she got specially made for the costume, which had a gold and white buckle at the very top and white laces. She wore a long purple wig styled up in Akali’s signature ponytail in the video and the signature black cap with gold K/DA sewn into it. To top the entire look, she had a black face mask with the scary demon mouth painted on the cloth, which she had hanging from her neck, and her exposed skin had the same designs Akali had painted on her when she glowed in the dark.

“It’s my costume. Jessica and the girls have been planning this cosplay with me for a couple of months now and since I was coming here…..” (Y/N) slightly stuttered before suddenly being pulled by Jared through the crowd and out the party room. 

     He didn’t stop until he found an empty hallway, letting her hand go. (Y/N) leaned against a wall, dreading what he was going to say. But he stayed silent, so she spoke up.

“This isn’t new for me, you know. I used to wear this kind of stuff before my job on Supernatural,” she mumbled before standing straight and facing his back, ready for what she was going to say. “I mean, this is what I used to do for work. I would create costumes like this and get pictures taken to sell to my fanbase, on my Patreon. That’s how Jessica and I met. She helped me grow by inviting me to join her panels at cons she would do and do photoshoots with her.”

     Jared still didn’t turn around to look at her, so she continued.

“I loved it, Jare. Still, do and, if it wasn’t for my job on Supernatural, I would probably still do it. I love being creative. I love that, somehow, I helped and motivated some girls to be comfortable in their own skin and be able to admit how sexy they can be, no matter what society deems sexy. I loved it, not for the attention, but for the small changes I was able to do and put my work out there.”

“I already knew about all that,” Jared mumbled as he turned around to face (Y/N). 

“You did,” (Y/N) gasped, taking a step back in surprise.

“Obviously, this isn't something you could hide forever. To be honest, I knew the first day you joined us on set.”

“You WHAT?”

“Yeah, umm,” Jared chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “A cousin of mine was one of your Patreon members and he had shown me the last set of pictures you sent out. He was sad you quit. You looked so different but I could still see it was you. The glasses and baggy clothes, plus you never mentioned that stuff to anyone so I assumed you didn’t want people to know.”

“Yet, you asked me out, knowing those pictures were out there?!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air.

“(Y/N), that doesn’t matter to me. What you did before we met won’t change how I feel about you. Plus, I had my moments of pride knowing that everyone’s dream girl was actually with me.”

     They both laughed at his last statement, (Y/N) holding her stomach from the pain of laughter. Jared then pulled her into a tight hug, placing a kiss on her shoulder. 

“I love you for you. What took me by surprise was seeing you like this. It’s one thing to see you in pictures, another in person.”

“I love you too, Jare,” (Y/N) whispered back. They stood in silence for a moment before (Y/N) spoke up. “So, does it bother you people out there have pictures of me in revealing positions?”

“To be honest, no. They have pictures, I have the real thing,” Jared responded with a wide smile before leaning down to kiss her deeply. 

     (Y/N) moaned into the kiss, her arms reaching around his neck to pull him as close as humanly possible, mentally admiring the man. Jared ended the kiss too quickly for (Y/N)’s taste, but what Jared said next made her almost drop to the floor in laughter.

“I did have to take every single picture of yours from my cousin, though. I don’t mind complete strangers but my cousin, it just seemed weird. Bet he will have a heart attack once he finds out who you are and that you are my girlfriend.”

     Jared laughed along with (Y/N), walking back to the party hand in hand. Before they went inside, (Y/N) pulled at Jared’s hand and looked up at him, the worry written on her face yet again.

“What about the fandom?” she asked softly. “How will they take it all once we tell them about us?”

“I doubt they will judge you,” Jared answered, placing a hand against her cheek. “They will love you and hey, maybe they will want a few pointers when it comes to costume design and makeup if they see your pictures.”

     They both giggled and (Y/N) leaned up for a chaste kiss before they moved to go back inside. Once they were inside, Jessica and the girls, Jensen, Danneel and Misha crowded around them. Danneel admired (Y/N)’s costume while Misha and Jensen secretly congratulated Jared on his lucky catch. Even other cast members and crew that were at the party came up to (Y/N) admiring and applauding her costume. After an hour in, Jessica came over to (Y/N) and whispered something in her ear. She nodded her head fast and kissed Jared on the cheek, telling him to get as close to the stage as possible, before following Jessica.

     Both girls went behind the stage, their two other friends waiting behind the black curtain that was behind the DJ. They all got into position and (Y/N) shook her arms and legs from nerves. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to the side to see Jessica smiling, giving her a wink and a thumbs-up, silently letting her know she had this. None of them could sing, but they did lip-sync and dance to the song once at a convention, costumes provided to them.

     That’s when she heard the DJ present them to the crowd and the curtain raised. (Y/N) looked into the crowd and saw Jared standing right in front with a big smile on his face, causing her to smile right back. She lifted her mask over her mouth just as the song “POP/STARS” started to play, ready to show her new friends exactly what she was made of.

[artificialqueens]

(Love)Sick Overseas (Phianca) - Albatross

AN: Phi Phi is feeling a bit under the weather but determined not to let it ruin her vacation. And who should she happen to run into on her way back from picking up cold medicine but Bianca Del Rio?

Just a short, fluffy little Phianca sickfic. And yes, I do think they’d be cute together and no, @VeronicaSanders, there will be no Bitney sequel. No Bitney, ever.

Getting sick in the middle of his trip to the UK had certainly not been part of Jaremi’s plan. No, he had been looking forward to this excursion for months and he’d be damned if something like the sniffles was going to stop him. At first it wasn’t even anything too serious; just a sneeze every now and then or a runny nose in the morning. But by the fourth day it was clear the symptoms were not going away…if anything they were getting worse.

But Jaremi was stubborn, if nothing else.

A bit of cold medicine until it all passed and he’d be fine…at least, that’s what he told himself.

Now here he was, returning from his second trip to pick up some OTC cold remedy and his nose was already protesting mightily. Even his throat was starting to feel scratchy but Jaremi was determined to continue his vacation plans uninterrupted. So what if his head was a little foggy or he was slightly unsteady on his feet every now and then?

Drinking had the same effect so all was good to his mind.

With enough effort he could remember his way around the city and all the places he wanted to visit and that was fine with him. Once he returned to the hotel with this last batch of cold medicine, he’d be off for a bit of shopping around town. Who knows? He might just find some new inspiration for his drag looks while he’s out there. That’d certainly be a plus.

As he was pondering over which stores he wanted to stop at first, a vibration from his pocket captured his attention. Curiously, he pulled the phone from his cargo shorts and felt his heart jolt a little as he recognized the name flashing across the screen. No other than ‘Roy/Bianca’ along with a small icon showing a fully beat and smiling face of the queen in question.

Somewhat amused and certainly wondering as to what his long-time friend could possibly need, Jaremi answered the phone on the fourth ring with a pleasant, “Hello?”

“Turn around, bitch,” came the joking voice on the other end.

Almost painfully, Jaremi instantly twisted himself around at Roy’s insistence and found the older queen speedwalking to meet him. The sharp turn caused his head to spin a little more than it ought have but Jaremi pushed the feeling aside as he greeted his close friend with a bright grin. Before he could even ask what Roy was doing here, he felt a light and friendly rap to his arm as the older queen bitched him out, “I was calling your name for the last two minutes. Looked like a fucking idiot with you ignoring me! You got earbuds in or something, bitch?”

Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, Jaremi admittedly vaguely that he had just been lost inside his own thoughts for the last block or so. Rolling his eyes, Roy accepted the answer and asked what Jaremi was doing all the way out here.

“Vacation. Sightseeing,” the younger queen replied. “Just relaxing for once. What about you? Got another show out here or something?”

He knew that answer was unlikely. Not that he stalked Bianca’s tour schedule by any means, but he often made sure he was at least up to date on known shows and as of two days ago he was sure Roy was still tucked away somewhere in the US doing god-knows-what for his next tour. So it came as little surprise when Roy replied with a shrug of his shoulders, “No, just on vacation, too, I guess. If you could call it that. Courtney has some event next week and asked for my help. Figured I’d make a real trip out of it in the meantime. Relax too, you know?”

Nodding in perfect understanding, Jaremi knew all too well what Roy meant. After all, he was one of the hardest working queens in the business. He hardly ever took time off for himself. Even when he wasn’t touring, he always had his hand in something whether it was for a future project or just to help another performer. It was admirable but often Jaremi wondered if Roy would eventually burn out going on like this. It wasn’t his business but he did worry from time to time. More than he’d ever admit verbally to anyone. 

Even now Roy seemed a bit anxious just to be doing something and seeing Jaremi must have felt like a godsend as he immediately proposed that the two head out for lunch and catch up. Jaremi could see that he was itching to talk about something of substance and didn’t have the heart to say ‘no’ or even to delay until later in the day. So he simply followed Roy in a state of reluctant obedience as he eagerly led them off down the street to a cafe he’d spotted the day he arrived. Roy had already been on his way there when he found Jaremi so it almost felt like a sign from the universe to invite the younger queen…if Roy believed in that sort of thing.

Though their styles of drag were quite a bit different, especially with Phi Phi lending herself more to cosplay as of late, there were still a number of similarities the two had bonded over. Whether it was creating new and unique looks, comparing tips on how to overcome certain costume design challenges, or just an easygoing kiki with one another as they gossiped over whatever drama had recently been stirred up in their drag centered universe. There was never a lack of topics to discuss, though today Jaremi seemed a bit out of it.

Normally he had a sharp wit, far more than what he’d normally dare say around most other queens, yet this afternoon he wasn’t nearly as quick with the shady remarks. Instead he let Roy dominate the conversation almost entirely rather their typical back and forth. Despite how much Jaremi had tried to hide it, he could feel his mind growing increasingly cloudy as their meal went on. He wished at the very least he had taken some of the medication he had brought but it almost felt a little rude to do so. If only he could subtly sneak off to take some of the pills but even going to the bathroom whilst carrying the bag would have been suspicious.

So all he could do was suffer in silence as his nose began to clog up and his throat felt increasingly dry in spite of however much he drank. And though Roy didn’t comment on it, he had certainly noticed the change from their typical kiki sessions. At first he thought Jaremi was simply tired, and once or twice he worried he was actually boring him, but still Jaremi was trying his hardest to pay attention, not even sparing a glance to his phone, so Roy figured it had to be something else.

One of Jaremi’s usual habits was to go all out on desserts, sampling at least one or two with every meal in a foreign country, but today he declined to even look at that particular menu. It was then that Roy knew for certain something was definitely off with the younger man. As they awaited their checks, he questioned his companion quite bluntly, “What’s up with you, queen? You’ve been out of it since we got here.”

Jaremi faltered for a moment before immediately trying to defend himself but Roy’s withering gaze stopped him mid-sentence. Ashamed, he reluctantly admitted that he was getting sick and hadn’t had a chance to take his next round of medicine before Roy had caught him on the street. He expected Roy to withdraw in concern for his own health because after all, his voice was his money maker, but instead Roy did something quite unexpected. He actually scooted his chair closer and around the table as he touched Jaremi’s wrist in concern. His brows knit together in sympathy that sharply contrasted his exasperated voice asking, “Why didn’t you say something? We could have done this another day! Or even just waited until we got back to the states!”

Shrugging Jaremi tried to play off the situation as though it weren’t as big a deal as Roy was making it. His voice was quiet and starting to show evidence of his illness as he replied, “It’s fine, really. The symptoms aren’t too bad. And it’s been awhile since we talked…It was nice just to catch up by ourselves.”

Shaking his head, Roy muttered, “Idiot.”

The statement would have been more scathing had it come from anyone else but Jaremi’s heart felt like fluttering again as he heard Roy state quite definitively, “Let’s get you back to your hotel.”

Their checks arrived at that moment and despite how usually he’d do anything to keep himself from acting like a child in front of strangers, Jaremi couldn’t stop himself from whining, “I have plans!”

“I don’t really care,” Roy declared apathetically with his trademark glare. “You’re going back to your hotel even if I have to walk you to your room myself.”

The pair stared each other down and if Jaremi had any intention of disobeying Roy’s demand, he ought to have pretended to give in right then but the silent argument went on long enough for Roy to figure out that he’d better follow through on his initially empty threat. Otherwise Jaremi would be back on the streets as soon as his back was turned, probably hacking up phlegm in just a few hours to boot. 

No, if he wanted Jaremi to rest, he’d have to escort him back to his hotel and wait until the younger man fell asleep. Which shouldn’t be too long considering how heavy-lidded his eyes already looked.

Much like a rent-a-cop on duty, Roy ushered the protesting queen back to his hotel room. To his surprise it took little more than a sharp glare and a few cutting words to convince Jaremi to take his medication and at least sit on the bed. Beyond that, Jaremi utterly refused to do anything else to indulge Roy’s unwanted mothering. He was all but pouting and nearly on the verge of a temper tantrum that would have rivaled one of Alaska’s yet Roy stood firm with remarkable patience.

“Sleep will be good for you,” he reasoned in as best of a persuasive tone as could be managed, “You already look like you’re about to drop from exhaustion anyway.”

Jaremi couldn’t stop his eyes from rolling at the statement, however true it might be. His muscles were starting to give out and probably the only thing that kept him going right now was his desire to defy the older queen at every turn. But Roy was determined to outlast him. Despite how eager he was for something meaningful to do earlier; getting a sick Jaremi to relax and go to sleep seemed far more important. Deciding to take an approach he had followed a number of times before, he made a shooing motion with his hand and told him to lie on his stomach.

Skeptical, Jaremi only gave him a brief glance, essentially saying, ‘The fuck?’

Rolling his eyes once more, Roy urged him, “Just do it. I’m not gonna do anything sketchy or weird.”

Still, Jaremi was unconvinced…at least until he heard a quiet, almost suspiciously gentle attempt at persuasion, “I promise….Please lay down?”

It was highly unusual to hear such a tone from Roy. Typically he’d just give up after awhile or make some sort of scathing remark but today he was actually being…soft. It was a little off-putting but Jaremi found that he genuinely liked seeing this more caring side of his friend. Thinking at the very least he trusted Roy not to do anything unwholesome, Jaremi relented and laid on his stomach in the middle of the bed while his head rested on a pillow.

He turned to look at Roy as he carefully set himself down on the edge of the mattress so as not to cause it to dip any more than necessary. Just as the younger man was wondering what he planning, he felt the light trace, almost scratching of fingertips running across the expanse of his back. An involuntary shiver rose through his spine at the sensation but much to his surprise he found himself almost leaning into the touch for more.

His voice bordered on a happy purr as he admitted, partially muffled by the pillow, “That feels really good, actually.”

Practically hearing the smirk Roy was undoubtedly wearing, the older man mentioned, “Yeah, Adore loves it when I do this whenever she gets sick or hungover.”

Then almost immediately thinking better of it, he quickly added, “That doesn’t leave this room.”

There was an edge to his voice that caused Jaremi’s stomach to turn but all he gave Roy in response was a content nod. As was the Roy’s intention, the body beside him was slowly relaxing and drifting off to a lazy lull of a sleeplike state. Almost as an afterthought, and perhaps mostly influenced by his sick addled mind, Jaremi found the courage to ask, “What is going on between you two any way?”

This was a common topic of debate amongst the queens and fans alike but no one really had a satisfying answer. Figuring now was as good a time as any, Jaremi took his chance to ask Roy directly. Sounding quite used to the question, the older queen replied with a chuckle in his voice, “What do you think?”

He genuinely wanted an answer, Jaremi realized, and would wait very patiently until the younger man gave him one. Almost guiltily, he forced himself to examine both his own feelings and what he’d observed first and secondhand of the two queens’ atypical relationship. Sounding unsure yet still a bit hopeful, Jaremi answered softly, “I think…you’re just really good friends.”

He turned his head up to face Roy and study his reaction yet much to his surprise, he found a calm, pleased smile waiting for him. The elder queen nodded his head in confirmation and it was there they let that particular conversation drop. Burying his face into the pillow for a minute, Jaremi couldn’t deny just how light and happy he felt. His heart was racing and he was sure his illness had nothing to do with it but either way, he was satisfied with what he had learned.

He was almost at the point of falling asleep when Roy drew back his fingers. Jaremi’s drowsy eyes reopened and he turned to look at the older queen once more. He was mildly surprised to find Roy sliding fully onto the bed to lay beside him.

Trying not to let on just how happy was, Jaremi slowly drawled out, “Gonna stay here till I fall asleep?”

There was a hint of a smirk resting on Roy’s lips as he replied casually, “Maybe a little after that too…Is that alright?”

Feeling like a child who’d just gotten everything and more that they could ever want for Christmas, Jaremi nodded his head and bit back a quiet yawn. 

Roy’s eyes had gone noticeably soft as he gazed down at the half sleeping form beside him, still struggling futilely to stay awake. He almost chuckled at the fruitless effort but hid it behind a fond smile instead. He raised a hand to ruffle Jaremi’s hair and urged him once more to finally go to sleep. This time there was no protest, no argument as the younger queen nodded and nestled himself snugly amongst the pillows. 

In another very un-Roy-like behavior, he leant down and pressed a brief kiss to Jaremi’s cheek. In truth it was just a little too close the lips to have been accidental but Jaremi was all too willing to let that slide for the time being. All he said in response through his bright grin was a sing-songy declaration of, “You’re gonna get sick tomorrow.”

Shaking his head, Roy laughed softly and affirmed quite adamantly, “I’m not gonna get sick.”

“You’re definitely gonna get sick,” Jaremi mumbled half into the pillow as his eyes slid shut.

Whatever Roy said in response was muffled and unheard as Jaremi dozed off into a content, dream-filled state. True to Roy’s assertions, the next day he felt perfectly fine. Not a trace of Jaremi’s cold to be found in his system. The day after however…that was another story.

[kitsune-translates]

SCI 谜案集 [English Translation] Case 1: Number Killer

previous

Number Killer 25 Suggestion

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang drives to the address of professor Xu’s private clinic that Chen Jing provided. They wander about the area and make their way to a street of low-end bars.

Bai Yutang’s car would attract too much attentions, so they parked somewhere further away and strolled over.

That area is filled with local gangsters, bars, clubs…sensual places. Most people on the streets here are young, dressed bizarrely.

Zhan Zhao is checking the unit number when Bai Yutang suddenly pulls him closer to himself and puts his arms around him.

“What’s that for?” Zhan Zhao jerks his shoulder and glares at him.

“Hush.” Bai Yutang murmurs, “Don’t look back, someone is following us.”

….! … “How are we exposed so quickly?” Zhan Zhao asks in surprise.

Bai Yutang smiles, “Probably not what you are thinking of.”

“What do you mean?” Zhan Zhao gives him a confused look.

“You will see.” Bai Yutang pulls him into an empty alley.

They hear footsteps behind them, it sounds disordered, like there are more than one person.

Bai Yutang halts his steps and two men sprint up to them while another two stops behind them. The four of them fans out and traps Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang in the center.

Zhan Zhao observes the gang, they are all twenty something youngsters in punk outfits, their body tattooed and sporting bizarre hairstyles ---- Cosplay??

“You seem rich.” One of them sizes Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang up, “Lend me some cash.”

Zhan Zhao tries to hold back his laughter. A police captain is getting extorted, this is probably a first for Bai Yutang.

“It’s okay if you don’t have any money.” Another gangster reaches out smirking, “We can also have some fun together…” His hand heading straight for Zhan Zhao’s jaw.

Before anyone could react, Bai Yutang has already taken hold of that gangster’s hand, twisting it into an unnatural angle with a loud crackling sound --- it’s broken.

“AHHH.” The gangster falls onto the ground cradling his arm, screaming in pain.

The other three panics immediately.

Bai Yutang asks Zhan Zhao, “Do you still remember the moves I taught you?”

Zhan Zhao nods eagerly, a real fight, actual combat! This is a rare chance!

Bai Yutang shakes his head in resignation, and beckons his hands at the three gangsters.

The gangsters exchange a look and the leader yells, “Get him…” And all three of them charge towards them.　　

Bai Yutang steps forward, dodging one and blocks the other two’s advances.

The one that was dodged goes straight for Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao repeats Bai Yutang’s teachings in his head, “Time yourself, put your right foot forward quickly, use your right arm to follow your opponent’s forearm movement, grab hold of your opponent’s left shoulder with your left hand, your left foot step forward against the outside of your opponent’s left leg, turn your body around, pull down your hands towards the right, and throw your opponent’s body forward.”

With a loud thud, the gangster flies out and got a mouthful of mud.

Yay~ Zhan Zhao holds up a small fist pump. He turns around to see Bai Yutang has already taken care of the other two gangsters and is staring back at him.

Bai Yutang sees the adorable expression of ‘That was fun, I want to do it again’ on Zhan Zhao’s face. He really wants to pull Zhan Zhao over and kiss him, but… Never mind, he will probably get punched.

He picks up a random gangster from the floor, “Do you still want to continue?”

“Cough… No… please, no more.” The gangster begs while coughing.

“This address.” Bai Yutang lifts the gangster up, Zhan Zhao also closes in with interest as well, “Is it around the area?”

The gangster squints his eyes at the address and nods, “Yes…Yes, it’s in the house over there.”

Bai Yutang lets go of the guy and the whole gang flees immediately. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao have no interest in pursuing them and head straight for the house instead.

It’s two-storeys house, the tattered roll-up gate is half open, inside is the pitch black corridor.

Bai Yutang peeks into the corridor and retrieves his torchlight from his pocket. He turns back at Zhan Zhao and murmers, “Be careful!”

“Okay.” Zhan Zhao nods and follows him.

The two of them walks into the corridor. According to Chen Jing, the clinic is on the second floor.

They move up the stairs carefully, unlike the pitch darkness on the first floor, there are dim lights leaking out of the second floor.

Switching off his torchlight, Bai Yutang stops, blocking Zhan Zhao’s way.

Zhan Zhao looks at him in confusion, Bai Yutang pulls out his gun and points at his own nose. Zhan Zhao takes a sniff at the air, there’s indeed a heavy scent --- the smell of blood

He pulls out his gun as well and gives Bai Yutang an anxious look.

The two of them part ways and closes in to the room from different sides.

The room door is not closed tightly, only shut lightly.

Bai Yutang nudges the door open, the light inside the room is dull crimson and he is immediately overwhelmed with strong smell of blood. Zhan Zhao frowns, no matter who it is, the person would not still be alive after so much bleeding.

The two of them slides into the room and are immediately shocked by the scene in front of them.　　

They spot professor Xu lying flat on the ground, his throat cut, the entire floor is covered in blood. From the colour and the coagulation of the blood, he has been dead for at least 24 hours.

As colleagues who have worked together, Zhan Zhao couldn’t bear to see professor Xu in this state, he turns his head away.

Bai Yutang does a quick check of the room and calls the S.C.I. team in resignation.

This sinister house is surrounded by police vehicles in no time, barricading the curious public from the house. Zhan Zhao is sitting in the police vehicle, deep in thoughts. Bai Yutang opens a can of hot coffee for him, “Are you alright?”

Zhan Zhao accepts the coffee, holding it with both hands, feeling the warmth from the can warding off the coldness surrounding him, “What do you think?”

Bai Yutang sighs and sits down next to him, “It feels like things have gone out of control.”

“I thought that once we find professor Xu, we would be able to close this case. But he ended up murdered.” Zhan Zhao takes a sip at his coffee, “This taste like crap.”

“That Dr Zhang is a suspect.” Bai Yutang takes the coffee out of Zhan Zhao’s hand, “It tastes like crap?” He tries a sip, and tosses the coffee away, frowning, “Like this can of coffee, I bought it for drinking, but it is more useful as a hand-warmer compared to for drinking.”

Zhan Zhao chuckles, lowering his head.

“What are you laughing at? Stupid cat!” Bai Yutang scratches his head.

“The way you comfort people is terrible!” Zhan Zhao looks up, “Being logically doesn’t suit you at all.”

“But you still laughed!” Bai Yutang nudges him with his shoulder, “I am good at everything!”

…

“Cap, we are done surveying the area.”

Bai Yutang nods, “Found anything useful?”

Wang Chao shakes his head, “Nothing, not even the murder weapon.”

“What about Zhang Long?” Zhan Zhao asks.

“I called him just now, he hasn’t found Dr Zhang yet, he’s still working on it.” Wang Chao answers, “Xu Qing them are still at the school…That guy seems to have evaporated from the face of earth.”

“Keep looking, stay sharp.”

“Yes Sir.”

Just when he was ready to leave, Bai Yutang’s phone rings suddenly. Picking his phone up, Bai Yutang is startled at the caller ID, “It’s from commissioner Bao.”

“Hello. Commissioner?”

…

The phonecall only lasted for ten seconds, but Bai Yutang’s face is filled with alarm and shock.

“What’s wrong?” Zhan Zhao rarely see Bai Yutang like this, he has a bad feeling, “What happened?”

Bai Yutang puts his phone down and gazes over at Zhan Zhao, “Zhao Jue escaped.”

“…What?!...” Zhan Zhao almost jumps, “How…how is that possible?”

“Commissioner Bao asked us to go over first. Let’s go, cat.” Bai Yutang tugs Zhan Zhao along with him towards his car, he yells back at Wang Chao, “Get some people and follow me.”

The trip normally would take three hours, but Bai Yutang took only an hour to get there. Zhan Zhao knows how stressed Bai Yutang is just from the way he is driving his car like a plane.

Once they reach the research center, they head straight for Zhao Jue’s cell.

Bao Zheng is smoking outside the room, judging from all the cigarette butts on the floor, he had been here for quite a while.

“How did this happen?” Looking at the empty cell, Bai Yutang asks Bao Zheng.

“We got him on the film.” Bringing the two to the control room, Bao Zheng turns on the monitor: The image is clear enough, the person who brought Zhao Jue out is Dr Zhang.

“Zhang Boyi, forty-two years old, famous psychologist, he is one of the researchers in the research center, so he has access to the cell.” Bao Zheng puts out his cigarette, “He knows the place well, he got Zhao Jue out when the guards are changing shift.”

Bao Zheng takes a look at Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao’s tightly knitted brows, “You two don’t have to be too worked up over this, we will put out an arrest warrant for him. I asked you to come because I wanted Xiao Zhan to take a look at Zhao Jue’s room.”

“His room?” Zhan Zhao looks confused.

“Hm.” Bao Zheng chuckles, “Didn’t you notice something wrong with it the last time?”

“…” Zhan Zhao turns around to glare at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang shakes his hand quicly, “I didn’t say anything.”

Bao Zheng shakes his head, “Although I’m older than I used to be, but I’m not blind. The two of you are acting so secretively, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what you are up to.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanges a look and lowers their head in embarrassment.

“Now, the two of you, be careful, especially Xiao Zhan.” Bao Zheng stops them who are heading out, “And your brother.”

Bai Yutang looks nervous immediately, “You think, Zhao Jue will try to harm cat and my brother?”

Bao Zheng nods.

…

“My brother discovered his secret back then, that I can understand, but, cat has no connection with him whatsoever.” Bai Yutang seems rather worked up, “Why would he try to harm cat?”

Zhan Zhao tugs Bai Yutang back, “Yutang, calm down.”

Bai Yutang jerks away and continues, “What happened back then? Why didn’t you say anything? What’s there that you can’t tell us?”

Bao Zheng grins at the pissed off Bai Yutang and worried Zhan Zhao behind him suddenly.

He lets go a long sigh, “Twenty years ago, I have seen scenes like this as well.”

“…?...” Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanges a look and turns back at Bao Zheng in confusion.

Bao Zheng pulls a chair over and sits down, “Back then, Yunwen and I were like this as well, easily agitated. Zhao Jue would always be the one holding us back and helping us to come up with solutions. It isn’t because the thing that happened was a secret… but because, we really don’t want to mention it again.” He lights yet another cigarette, “Do you know, why Zhao Jue has killed so many?”

The two shakes their head, Bao Zheng smiles bitterly, “Because back then, police works were very traditional. Zhao Jue’s idea of using psychological analysis would always come under criticism. He recommended setting up a special department for psychological analysis and recruit specialised psychologists to work on criminal profiles many times…But it was scorned upon every single time.”

“He wanted to prove that psychology works, that’s why he went to kill people?” Zhan Zhao asks.

“Yep.” Bao Zheng inhales, “He used psychological suggestion to kill, then use psychological analysis to save those people… He made a fool out of those who used to mock at him.”

Bai Yutang has calmed down by now, “He wants to harm Zhan Zhao, because of jealousy?”

Bao Zheng nods, “Do you know what is the last thing he said before being fitted with the silencer?” He inhales again, “He said he is jealous, jealous of me, of Yunwen, of everyone…He said a genius, must find a stage for himself, if not, the genius will live in more misery than those fools. Everything he did, was to create a stage for himself, that’s all.”

Hearing Bao Zheng’s words, Zhan Zhao seems to be in a daze, “If, the psychology research center already existed back then, if such department was already established…”

Bao Zheng nods, “Then he would be just like you.”

…Bao Zheng falls into silence, seems to be lost in his memory. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao note the regret and sorrow in his eyes. An expression, Bai Yutang is very familiar with. He has watched it for over twenty years, his old man would make this face often, while smoking and deep in thoughts…filled with endless regret and sorrow. When he was younger, he thought it looked super manly, but now that he recalls it, he was fortunate.

“Smoke less.” Bai Yutang tells Bao Zheng, “It’s bad for you.” He leaves with Zhan Zhao after speaking.

They return to Zhao Jue’s room, Zhan Zhao walks in and starts to examine the room carefully. He seats himself on the red chair and flips through all the sketches that Zhao Jue has left behind. Bai Yutang sits outside and gazes at Zhan Zhao inside the room dully. Time passes slowly as the sky outside turns white.

Zhan Zhao stands up and leaves the cell.

“Cat?” Bai Yutang notices Zhan Zhao’s paleness, he seems to be in discomfort. Bai Yutang walks up to Zhan Zhao, while Zhan Zhao shudders, “Cat!”

He reaches out to catch Zhan Zhao’s falling body, “Cat, what’s wrong?”

Bai Yutang pulls Zhan Zhao into his embrace and touches his face gently, “What’s wrong? Exhausted?”

“No…” Zhan Zhao holds onto Bai Yutang weakly, “Lock…lock the room. Don’t look at those drawings.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Bai Yutang asks in confusion.

“Gather…everyone in the research center, they need psychotherapy.” Zhan Zhao calms his breath, and colours starts to return to his face, “Zhao Jue has sketched psychological suggestions into his drawings…Those who has viewed the drawings often is likely to commit suicide, or murder…”

Next

[danganronpaimagineslol-blog]

Danganronpa Imagine | V3 girls getting jealous and their S/O reassuring them (2/2)

A/N: Here’s the second half, thanks for your patience!

Angie, Tsumugi, Tenko, and Himiko x S/O

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: N/A

Requests are closed at the moment!

Angie Yonaga

“Ya-hoo! S/O, over here!” In her usual sing-song voice, Angie called over her S/O.

“Oh, Angie, what’s up? What did you wanna talk about?”

In the morning before school, Angie’s S/O had received a text message from the Ultimate Artist.

6:37 AM: 💖 Angie 💖: gooooooooood morning, s/o! did u sleep well???? i sure did! btw can u meet me after school today??

6:41 AM: You: gm! yeah, i slept fine and of course, cant wait to see you!

6:41 AM:  💖 Angie 💖: nyahaha, im happy to hear it~! bye-onara, see u later!! (✿´‿`)

They had proceeded to be a nervous wreck the entire day, wondering what Angie could possibly be calling them over for. ...Maybe a date? they optimistically considered.

“Well, S/O, Angie has called you here today because Atua is mad and disappointed with you,” she stated as casually as if she were announcing the weather.

Oh.

Despite not even really believing in Atua themself, her S/O still felt the slightest bit offended. “W-what did I do?”

“Nyahahaha, there’s no use playing dumb, for Atua knows all!” Her S/O winced as Angie stared intensely, almost unsettlingly, into their eyes. “But if you really forgot, then Angie supposes it won’t hurt to remind you!”

“Uh, yes, please, er, r-remind me...?”

“To put it simply, you tricked Atua. You promised loyalty and devotion to only His vessel, yet you let yourself be defiled at the hands of another woman!” The artist’s cheerful demeanor didn’t match her words at all.

“I was... defiled?” They frowned.

“Right-o! That short brunette tainted you with her constant hugs and touches!” Angie sounded legitimately concerned before perking up instantly. “It’s quite alright though! If you’re sacrificed soon enough, Atua will purify your soul and welcome you!”

“Angie, wait! Slow down!” Surprisingly enough, the artist did simmer down and allow them time to think. A short brunette that hugs me a lot? ...Ah, I remember now.

“It’s not what you think! That girl, she’s, like, obsessed with me or something. I push her away, yet she always returns. I promise you, I’m not seeing anyone but you, Angie,” her S/O frantically explained, a tad scared for their life.

“Oh, then you won’t have any trouble with her anymore!” she exclaimed with a huge grin. “Atua said that He really liked her blood sacrifice!”

“Wha-?! A-Angie, did you-?!”

“Nyahaha, of course not! Angie’s just joking!” She laughed lightheartedly, and her S/O let a sigh of relief escape their lips. “Besides, Angie remembers her promise to you. Y’know, the one where she can’t make any more sacrifices, no matter how much He wants one?” the artist pouted.

“Y-yes, I remember, and I’m super duper grateful,” her S/O laughed nervously.

“Still... Something must be done about that girl, don’tcha think, S/O?” she wondered. “Anyone who stands between our sacred love must be dealt with! ...So says Atua.”

Her S/O blinked. “Wow, Atua really doesn’t like that girl, huh?”

“He says she gives Him bad vibes,” Angie said with a shrug.

“Angie...” they began slowly, not knowing quite how to phrase their question. “Are you sure that, well, Atua’s really the one who dislikes the girl? Like, it’s not you that’s annoyed with her?”

Before the two had started dating, her S/O had learned that Angie had difficulty differentiating her own emotions from Atua’s. However, at the time, she was convinced all her emotions and actions were because of the god. Despite this, after hanging out with her for several weeks, her S/O was soon to pinpoint some emotions that were definitely Angie’s own: for example, her love for them.

“Nyahaha, who knows? Atua works in mysterious ways!”

Her S/O bit back a grimace. Normally they loved her chipper, eccentric personality, but this really was a serious moment. “Look, let’s try to talk this out before... you do something you regret to that girl.”

“Sounds good!” she agreed.

“So, when the girl gets really touchy with me, it annoys you, right?”

“Right-o!” Angie sang.

Her S/O bit back an amused smile. “Angie, are you... jealous?”

The Ultimate Artist blinked. “Hmm, that’s certainly a plausible verdict! After all, Atua gets very lonely when you don’t play with Him!”

I’ve hit the nail on the head, it seems. “Hey, Angie, if you’re getting jealous, you can just tell me, y’know? No more of this, uh, Atua-being-mad-at-me stuff.”

The artist appeared to think this over but said nothing in response, so her S/O continued.

“I’ll give that girl one final warning to change her ways, alright?” They smiled. “And I want you to know that the day I stop loving you is the day I die.”

“Aww, that’s no good, S/O! There’s still the afterlife to think about!”

“Ah, right.” Her S/O laughed.

“Angie has already secured a nice spot in the afterlife since she’s a platinum disciple, but she worries about you!” She took their hands in her’s. “Angie will pray for you too, so we can be together forever!”

Her S/O softly smiled and squeezed her hands. Even if the Ultimate Artist was a bit weird in expressing her love, her affection for her S/O was nonetheless loud and clear. To let someone like her become jealous of another girl... I must be the worst partner ever, they thought regretfully.

“I love you, Angie. Don’t ever worry about anyone else coming between us, okay? You’re all I need, in this life and the next,” they reassured.

“Angie better be, lest Atua release His wrath upon you!” Despite sounding menacing, her words were full of love. She giggled and jumped on her S/O, squeezing him into a tight hug.

“Atua loves... No, Atua and Angie love you too!”

Tsumugi Shirogane

“Tsumugi, I've noticed you've been scratching at your skin for a while now. do you want some moisturizer or something like that?”

Tsumugi’s S/O didn’t want to bring her reddish skin up for fear of offending her, but they were starting to feel bad for the cosplayer. Scratching and twitching uncomfortably for the past hours or so; it really was a bit concerning. Plus, since she was currently a guest at their home, they felt responsible for making her as comfortable as possible.

“Thanks for offering, but I’ve already tried lotion earlier and this rash didn’t go away,” the Ultimate Cosplayer replied.

Her S/O blinked. A persistent rash all over her body? Sounds oddly similar to cospox... they thought. However, as far as they could tell, despite a slight change in style, Tsumugi didn’t seem to be dressed too similarly to anyone else they knew. However, speaking of which...

“Tsumugi, I’ve noticed that you turned to pastel yellows and pinks, rather than your usual blue uniform. Can I ask why? Oh, not that there’s anything wrong with this new look! You look great!” they added quickly.

“Oh!” The Ultimate Cosplayer seemed unprepared for this question, not to mention a little uncomfortable. “Well, thank you! Yeah, I, uh, just got inspiration from this new anime that aired a while ago. There were, um, lots of pastels, and I thought it would be, er, cool to switch up from being so plain all the time.”

Ah, of course, Tsumugi and her otaku interests. In fact, their shared interest in mainstream and obscure media was what brought them together in the first place. “Oh, cool. What’s the anime? I may have seen it,” her S/O asked.

If Tsumugi wasn’t nervous before, now she truly was. Being who she was, she should’ve been able to pull out any pastel-themed anime out of her brain like it was nothing, but her thoughts were currently a jumbled mess.

“I-I, well, it’s, I f-forget the name... You know, i-it’s, I...?” she sputtered. She began scratching at her skin a bit more.

“Ts-Tsumugi, are you okay? You’re pretty pale and sweating quite a bit; are you sick?” her S/O asked, concerned.

“Y-you know what? Be right back.” Tsumugi suddenly picked up her backpack and trekked into the bathroom, leaving her bewildered S/O behind on the couch.

A few minutes later she reappeared, but this time she was back in her blue uniform, the old pastels nowhere to be found.

“Ah-? Tsumugi, you didn’t need to change! Sorry if my question made you uneasy-”

“No, don’t worry about it, you didn’t do anything.” She sighed.

Tsumugi’s S/O was about to inquire her more, but then they noticed something very odd. Her skin...? It’s no longer red, they realized. No, this can’t just be a coincidence.

They cleared their throat. “Uh, were you, by chance, cosplaying as someone real...?”

Bullseye. A jump and an expression of horror was all the confirmation they needed.

“Tsumugi...” they began, confused.

“I can explain,” she interrupted. Her panicked state had promptly vanished, replaced with a face of solemnness and almost... resent?

“I’ve seen you hanging around that other girl, you know. The one with the frilly pastel outfits,” she said calmly, looking directly at her S/O. “At first, I tried to ignore it. But then she started giving you hugs like it was nothing, and I was... I was just plain terrified she was taking you from me.”

Tsumugi’s S/O’s eyes widened. They opened their mouth to reply, but the cosplayer continued.

“So I took her pastel style and incorporated it into some outfits to wear. I didn’t think it would be enough to trigger my cospox, but I guess really deep down, my body knew that what I was doing wasn’t right.” She laughed softly. “In hindsight, this really was an awful plan. I know that you’re not someone to fall for looks, especially clothing, but I guess I was just... desperate. Desperate for any possible way to keep you.”

“Tsumugi, that girl and I are just friends. Those were platonic hugs, but if they make you uncomfortable, I can stop,” they suggested.

"Oh, no, no, it's fine. I'm just being overdramatic. It's my fault for being so plain possessive," she replied bitterly.

It suddenly clicked in her S/O's mind. This feeling of resent emanating from the cosplayer, it wasn't directed at their friend. She was mad at herself.

Before the cosplayer could utter any more self-deprecating words, they swiftly swooped her into a tight embrace. “You’re not being overdramatic or possessive at all. I’m sorry for not noticing what was going on.”

Tsumugi buried her face into their chest, eyes beginning to brim with tears. “You’re... You’re not mad at me?” She suddenly faced upwards, staring right into her S/O’s eyes. “Y-you should be mad! This is- I’m unforgivable.”

Tsumugi’s S/O comfortingly ran their fingers through her hair. “Of course not I’m not mad. In fact, knowing that you care so much about me, it’s touching.” They laughed softly. “Tsumugi, you can’t control your feelings, so try not to beat yourself up about this, okay?”

“I...” Feeling embarrassed, she retreated back into the safety and comfort of her S/O’s warm chest. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Just promise me that if you’re uncomfortable about anything ever, always feel free to talk to me about it. I won’t ever blame you for anything,” they reassured.

Although muffled, her S/O was able to hear Tsumugi murmur a quiet, “I promise.”

Tenko Chabashira

Tenko and her S/O sat at their usual hangout spot during lunch. Although a few of their friends also hung around them, they tended to only talk to one another. After all, due to a lack of shared classes, lunch and break became their only chances to interact during the school day.

The two made light conversation about nothing in particular, instead focusing mostly on their lunches. However, a few minutes into lunch, another girl came jogging up to Tenko’s S/O, a bit out of breath. This mystery girl had never approached their lunch group before, but no one really minded her presence.

“Oh, S/O...! I was... looking everywhere for you!” She hunched over, breathing heavily.

The Ultimate Aikido Master cocked an eyebrow at her S/O. “Oh, is she your friend?”

“Yeah, she’s in most of my classes, actually,” they replied and turned to face the girl. “Do you need something?”

She straightened up and cleared her throat. “Nothing in particular. Just wanted to hang out with you this lunch!” The girl took their hand in her’s and beamed.

Tenko’s S/O shot a glance at the martial artist and noticed her tensing up. Shaking the girl off their hand with an awkward laugh, they blinked uneasily. “Well, sure, of course you can. But don’t you usually hang out with your own friend group?”

The newcomer took a few steps back, lip trembling. “A-are you asking b-b-because you want me to g-go back to them...?” Her eyes began watering, which caused them to start panicking.

“W-what?! No, that’s not what I-”

“Hahaha, I’m just joking! Chill out, dude!” The girl playfully pinched their cheek, resulting in a barely audible “Tch.” from Tenko.

“Yeah, my friends all just went to the library to study, but I have, like, no homework or upcoming tests, so I decided to not join them,” she explained. “So I ran all over campus trying to find you!” At the last word, the girl lightly tapped them on the nose.

She proceeded to plop down right in between the Tenko and her S/O, much to the Aikido master’s irritation. In fact, Tenko didn’t even bother hiding her face of pure disgust; either the girl didn’t notice or didn’t care.

She continued practically swooning over Tenko’s S/O, resting her head on their shoulder, giving them impromptu hugs, among other things. Right as Tenko felt her temper about to snap, she quickly stood up, looked the girl dead in the eye, and asked her to leave in the most polite way she could muster.

“Sorry, but I’ll have to ask you to leave,” she declared matter-of-factly.

Her S/O and the girl both turned to face her.

“Huh? How come?” the newcomer pouted.

“I have something to discuss with S/O.”

The other girl opened her mouth to protest, but Tenko’s S/O spoke up quickly. “Yeah, I think you should go. Sorry.”

She blinked at them in surprise, looking back and forth between the two people ushering her to leave. Finally, after a few seconds, she packed her things and walked off with a huff.

“...Are you two really just friends? She seemed a bit too friendly to me.” The question sounded more like an accusation.

“What? Of course we’re just friends!” Tenko’s S/O looked a bit offended by even the suggestion. “And I agree, she was really raising some red flags...”

“Then why didn’t you push her away?” she inquired. “You know, tell her that you were uncomfortable?”

“S-sorry, I probably should’ve said something. I just didn’t really wanna be rude.”

Tenko scoffed. “She was the one who was being rude, not respecting your personal space like that!”

Her S/O furrowed their brows in contemplation. Although admittedly not very calm to begin with, they had only ever seen the Ultimate Aikido Master get this fired up around “degenerate males.” Something about the girl had really rubbed Tenko the wrong way.

“...Hey, you know I can take care of myself, right?” her S/O slowly spoke up. After running through a list of possible reasons for her behavior, they felt that maybe her protective instincts had taken control. “If she had gone any farther, I could defend myself just fine.”

“I... That’s not it.” Tenko shook her head.

“Oh. Then, uh, what is it?”

“I know you can protect yourself. I’m not scared of that sort of thing. It, well...” She sighed. “Fine, it bothers me when she acts so buddy-buddy with you.”

Tenko had never been one to hide her emotions, which her S/O was thankful for, especially in situations like this. Communication was never a problem between the two.

“I mean, who does she is? Basically throwing herself on top of you, especially when your girlfriend is less than one foot away?! That’s classic degenerate male behavior!” She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation.

Her S/O laughed as she spouted her catchphrase. “So what you’re telling me is... You’re jealous?”

They were just joking, but the martial artist’s face reddened. “M-me? Jealous?! Jealousy is an emotion for degenerate males that are too possessive over their partners, and as such, I c-can’t possibly be... j-jealous...”

She faltered, realization dawning on her face. So she wasn’t hiding it on purpose. She just... Didn’t know? her S/O thought, amused.

“Haha, hey, Tenko, it’s okay if you’re jealous. Feeling that way doesn’t make you stoop down to a, well, ‘degenerate male’s’ level,” they reassured her.

“So, Master was wrong then?”

He’s wrong about a lot of things, her S/O stopped themself before it slipped out of their mouth. “Well, yeah, you can’t control your feelings. I’m glad you told me about this, really.”

Tenko visibly relaxed, a huge invisible weight taken off her shoulders.

“Hey, next time I come across her, I’ll tell her to stop calm down a bit with all the physical contact. And Tenko, I want you to know that you’re my number one and always will be. I’m... I’m sorry that you had to feel jealous in the first place. You wouldn’t have felt that way if I communicated my feelings more...”

“S/O, don’t blame yourself!” she cheerfully demanded. “If you have time to sulk in regret, you have time to change for the better! That’s what Master always told me! ...Or is that also wrong?” she second-guessed herself.

Her S/O laughed and swept her into a loving embrace. “No, that’s correct,” they said softly in her ear. “I’ll start changing now then... Tenko, I love you. I love your enthusiasm, your pep-talks, sensitive side, everything. You’re the only one for me.”

She almost completely melted in embarrassment right in their arms. “I l-love you too, S/O!” she determinedly declared, hoping the waver in her voice went unnoticed.

A few intimate seconds passed before they reluctantly pulled apart. Tenko fidgeted with her fingers. “I... I kind of feel bad for your classmate. I should go apologize.”

“Oh, ah, right. Haha, I’ll go with you.”

Himiko Yumeno

“S/O, are you ready for some more magic?!” Himiko asked with over-the-top enthusiasm.

“Himiko, that’s the sixth one in a row. Are you sure you’re not tired?” The magician’s mage’s S/O had been invited over to Himiko’s house after school and had since been bombarded by an onslaught of magic displays. Of course, they didn’t mind at all. In fact, they loved seeing Himiko so passionate, but it was a bit out of character. She usually complained about being out of MP after the first or second demonstration.

“Of course not. Today the planets are all aligned so I’m surging with magical power,” she matter-of-factly replied.

“Oh, uh, right.” Her S/O felt that such a phenomenon would’ve definitely made the headlines of hundreds of news networks, but they decided not to comment on it. “Himiko, you know what? We should have a quick break. Even with your boosted MP, a little intermission never hurts, right?”

“Nyeh...” The mage hesitated for a bit but ultimately nodded. “You’re right.”

Her S/O subtly breathed a sigh of relief. Even if Himiko felt as if she could take on the world right now, they still didn’t want her accidentally overexerting herself.

They settled down at the dining room table. The mage had practically deflated after plopping down on a chair, so her S/O found and boiled some tea themself. The two made light conversation, but mostly silently enjoyed each other’s company.

However, the moment they finished their tea, Himiko quickly shot up to her legs, wobbling a bit. “Time to continue the magic show!” she announced.

“Wait, s-slow down!” Her S/O swiftly scooped up the two cups and deposited them in the sink. “Himiko, I know you said that your MP’s all boosted, but are you sure that’s the only reason you’re doing so many demonstrations?” Planetary alignment or not, the mage had never shown so much enthusiasm before. Even when at official performances, she was never this excited.

“N-nyeh? What do you mean?” she stuttered.

“You usually start saying ‘It’s a pain...’ after just one trick,” they pointed out.

“Trick?”

“Er, sorry, I meant after one display of magic. My point still stands though.”

Himiko furrowed her brows in defiance. “I-I told you, the planets are all aligned today, s-so-”

“Himiko,” they chided. “Are you positive that’s the whole truth? I won’t be mad if it’s not.”

“I-I-I-I’m n-not lying! O-o-of c-course it’s...” The mage faltered. “F-fine, that might not the whole reason,” she slowly admitted.

“Oh.” Although her S/O knew something was up, they hadn’t expected Himiko to actually admit it. “So, uh, what is it?”

“It kinda has to do with this other girl,” she murmured. “Y’know, the tall, purple-haired one that’s super good at sports? She’s, like, on the track and swimming team.”

“Oh, yeah, I know that girl. What about her?”

“W-well, I kept on seeing her hang around you. I didn’t really care at first, but then I started noticing her always touching you, like jumping on you or using your lap as a pillow. And you weren’t pushing her away, either,” Himiko sulked.

“I... I’m sorry, I didn’t know that was bothering you. I’ll tell her to knock it off.” Her S/O awkwardly scratched the back of their neck. “But what does this have to do with you performing more magic lately?”

“When I saw how you kept on hanging out with her, it made me start to think that maybe... Maybe you preferred more athletic, energetic girls. You know, instead of people like me.”

“Himiko...”

“So I decided to try harder. I thought that if you were impressed by how hardworking I was, you w-wouldn’t-” She sniffled. “L-leave me for her.”

“H-Himiko, I’ll never leave you! I wouldn’t be dating you if I didn’t love you for who you are!” her S/O frantically reassured her.

“A-are you sure? I know it must be a pain to be in a relationship with me, s-since I don’t do much...”

“I’m positive. You’re all I’ll ever want and all I’ll ever need. Even if you think that your laziness is annoying, that’s what makes you, well, you. And I love all of you.”

Himiko finally let herself sob. She practically tackled her S/O in a hug, who scooped her into their arms bridal-style. Himiko clung to them and buried her face into their chest, blending together a mishmash of phrases.

“I-I’m sorry-” A hiccup. “I l-love you too, and I was just really scared, and I know I should’ve-”

“Shh, it’s okay, Himiko,” they softly consoled the bawling mage. “I know you must be exhausted, so let’s go sleep.”

Although other couples would think the two weird for literally sleeping on dates, Himiko and her S/O found nothing more comforting than cuddling until one or the other fell asleep by their side.

She stretched and yawned in response, shutting her eyes and tightening her squeeze on them.

Her S/O laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

＊ Mod Chiaki