#i saw this event randomly a bit ago and it called to me like the green goblin mask

[13thfairytale]

“Now, kneel to me!”

A card for @beneathsakurashade ‘s fan event Seven Sins and Punishments!! Voice lines, full outfit, and trivia under the cut!!

Summon: “Now, kneel to me!”

Groovification: [LOCKED]

Set to Home Screen: Time to ship off! Don’t wanna be left behind!

Home Transition 1: I love, love, love ballgowns! Look at how it spins!!

Home Transition 2: “The sun is always alone, like me,” … I know she was, you know, evil, but it’s hard not to feel bad for the kid…

Home Transition 3: I can’t sing, and don’t ask me to, but it’s still fun going to musicals and stuff! Even more so that we get to dress up for it.

Home, after login: A message of regret, a bottle in the ocean… that’s certainly a long shot.

Home transition Groovification: If that one story’s right, the princess was real lucky to have a twin to take her place. Me and my siblings look nothing alike! … And the fact I’m years older than them.

Tap Home 1: Ballroom dancing isn’t so bad once you get the hang of it, and there’s the bonus of it making you feel fancy!

Tap Home 2: Since the princess had a set of hand mirrors, I found some to match! Look, they fold—isn’t that cool? Never seen any like it before!

Tap Home 3: I don’t get it that often, but brioche bread is soooo good! I can see why the original princess liked it so much!

Tap Home 4: I heard the original princess was a blonde, but I don’t like wigs, and my outfit’s different enough that I think it’s okay.

Tap Home 5: Hey, hey-! Stop pulling on the ribbon, I don’t know how to fix it if it comes undone!

Tap Home Groovification: [LOCKED]

Full outfit

Trivia

The outfit is obviously very Riliane-inspired, specifically her new outfit from the 2023 Miku Symphony art!! Inspo also taken from her mom, Anne!!

[wooskirbyplushie]

Our Little Secret ~ K.HJ

✰ idol!hongjoong x fan!reader where the guys catch hongjoong not so secretly slip a paper into your hand at a fanmeet

✰ word count: 3.6k

✰ warnings: some cussing (nothing crazy), pet names (love), female!reader, glasses!hongjoong cuz that’s enough to drive me insane tbh, she/they pronouns used for reader

✰ a/n: hey so i randomly got this idea one day and decided to execute it lol. tbh im not sure if i’ll keep updating this or not just because it was only supposed to be a little drabble but im 87% sure i’ll continue it just so my friends don’t hold me at gunpoint to finish it😭😭

✰ italics are used for inner thoughts, bold italic is just to emphasize words, also don’t pay attention to the timestamps for the texts later on k that’s it

you were late, you were so late, and you couldn’t blame anyone but yourself.

today has been marked in your calendar for almost 2 months, the day that ateez finally had a fanmeet in your city. you had saved up for the event for so long that when they announced it you didn’t hesitate to snatch your card out of your wallet to buy tickets for you and your best friend, kaylani.

but today you completely fucked your schedule up. oversleeping was not in your plans and neither was having to iron your outfit and rush to catch the train, just for it to delay for 15 minutes. in addition to the 5 minute bus ride from the station turning into a 30 minute walk because the bus you and your friend needed to catch didn’t run that day. who knew?

by the time you finally got to the venue, security were already trying to lock up the doors. i mean, it made sense considering they started meeting fans almost two hours ago.

“hey!!” kaylani shouted to try and get the guards attention. one of them looked up, utter confusion on his face as he watched two young girls jogging at them from across the parking lot.

“please we- we have tickets. the train made us late, but we cannot miss this event” you breathed out as fast as possible, trying to catch your breath at the same time. lani shuffled around for her phone to pull up the virtual tickets before the guards shrugged and scanned both tickets to let you in. “you girls either have really incredible or really horrible timing” one of the guys commented and told you to have fun.

you both squealed the second you got inside.

following the arrows and signs, you reached the auditorium that ateez was having their fanmeet in. now usually, fanmeets had a show in the first half and the actual meet in the second. but thankfully this time around it was swapped, meaning you guys didn’t miss any of the actual show. would it possibly be delayed because you were late? ehhh you’d cross that bridge when you got to it.

“we’re really here holy shit that’s ateez 20 feet away from us-“ you started rambling before lani cut through your thoughts with another squeal. she saw her bias, that had to be the only reason

“ITS JONGHOOO AHHHH”

“wow kaylani, it’s almost like he’s in the grou- AHHH LOOK ITS HONGJOONG”

kaylani rolled her eyes and mocked you. “wow y/n it’s almost like he’s in the group.” touché.

it wasn’t long before you realized they had changed quite a bit for this fanmeet. for example, the boys weren’t sitting in age order, or what you and lani called “fanchant order”. jongho was first and hongjoong was last, which didn’t really matter, but you knew your heart would race more and more as you got closer to your bias.

joong was your ult bias and had been for 4 years. you loved all of the members (duh) but the thought of possibly holding that man’s hand sent you over the moon. sure he held other girls hands, but this was gonna be your moment.

“bro. bro we’re next” kaylani whisper shouted while gripping your shoulder.

“unhand me you fein- oh god that’s jongho like he’s real.”

“RIGHT THATS THE CHOI JONGHO. 4TH GEN VOCALIST AHHHH” if you couldn’t tell she was a jongho ult before, it was super evident now. and because of that, you let lani go first.

******

if she could’ve, kaylani would’ve talked jongho’s ear off for 40 minutes. luckily he seemed intrigued by what was being said, laughing and giggling along with your friend. and now you wish you went first instead.

eventually she moved to wooyoung and was out-yapped, while you talked to jongho, really just telling him all of your favorite runs and verses he had. then you moved down again, and again, got to san and almost forgot your morals. he had you giggling for your life and the blush on your face was impossible to hide. he was THE ateez flirt.

but you and kaylani kept moving. to be real, since you were the last people in the room, there was no real rush but you decided to be mindful of the boys time.

yunho and yeosang were adorably nerdy and a hint of shy in real life, seonghwa really knew how to catch you off guard. one second you were talking about his lego collection and the next he was spewing out compliments and grabbing your hand. you tried to turn your face to hide your blush again, but you turned right into hongjoong’s direction and almost screamed. he was staring at you, and hard. what you hadn’t realized was kaylani whispering how much you “loved him” and how he was your “ultimate bias and first choice for a husband.”

yea you were either gonna go back to jongho and tell him how she brought his photocard to prom, or you were going to murder her.

you finished with seonghwa and slowly moved to hongjoong while lani stood off to the side and snuck a few pictures. “so. i’m your ult huh?” hongjoong questioned, arms folded across his chest.

you gulped, “y-yea you’ve always stuck out to me,” your voice came out in a whisper. hongjoong chuckled and leaned forward a bit.

“i’m your ult but you have no problem flirting with san and seonghwa in front of me, yea?”

“i don’t see the difference between that and you holding a bunch of fans hands, flirting with them.”

your mouth worked faster than your brain could, and you regretted it the second you finished the sentence, slapping your hand over your mouth.

hongjoong tilted his head and raised an eyebrow over the rim of his glasses. god he looked good in glasses. “quite the mouth on you…”

“y/n” you finished his sentence.

“y/n..” he trailed off like he was letting your name marinate on his tongue. “really pretty name for a really pretty person”

now you were really blushing. you didn’t care if it was fan service, he was servicing the hell out of you and you were eating it up. “thank you joong..” and he smirked in return.

******

you talked for a while (ok like 5 minutes) praising joong just like you did all the other members. he asked you what your favorite songs were, and san jumped in when he heard you mention desire. “honestly such a hater, desire is a masterpiece!!” you exclaimed as the top desire defender in tinyville. joong and san laughed before san walked off backstage and hongjoong picked up his sharpie, doodling while you talked.

you just kept going, your level of yapping surpassing kaylani while she was talking to jongho. hongjoong was eating it up though, especially when you started listing your favorite rap verse from him, even saying you could tell an ateez song by his signature giggle.

“it’s a bit embarrassing but i’ve listened to the songs so much that i just know? your music saved me, genuinely.” you trailed off before joong grabbed your hand.

“i honestly think it’s adorable.” he replied with a genuine smile. his smile was warm and bright, like lights on a christmas tree in december. you were soon brought back to reality when a guard told joong he had to wrap up with you so they could move on to the show. he nodded while messily writing something on a small piece of paper with his non dominant hand, still holding your hand with his other.

“well i guess this is goodbye, y/n. it was really nice talking to you and your friend” joong said, subtly crumbling a paper up in his hand before going to slip it into your own.

you weren’t dumb, you played like you didn’t even realize, following along with his skit. “it was really nice to meet you joongie,” you replied with a soft smile before you both got up and walked in your respective directions.

******

“you aren’t slick joong, i saw that.” san whispered while the group got dressed for the next part of the show. he was putting on a school boy uniform, adjusting the blue tie that went with it. hongjoong sat next to him, tying the shoes that he swapped into.

“doesn’t matter if you saw it, managers didn’t see it.” he responded with a shrug. joong knew him getting caught would mean having to change his number and most likely block you if you ever reached out to him, but in his head it was worth the risk.

“if i saw it, how do you know they didn’t see it captain?”

“because i waited till they turned around. and to be honest, i don’t care if they saw. i liked her.”

“liked who?” wooyoung asked as he walked over to steal san’s cologne. “because if you mean the last two people that came in, i don’t blame you! the last one was extremely pretty..”

joong just shot wooyoung a side eye before grabbing his phone, letting out a small sigh at the sight of no notification from you. he thought you guys had a little connection, right? then again-

“she probably just thought you were servicing her. ya know, your job.” san said stiffly, fixing a few stray strands of hair. joong clicked his phone off and threw it to his side with a slight head shake. maybe san was right, you probably didn’t look much into it considering it was his job to service his fans. maybe the managers did see him and they took the paper after you were out of joong’s sight. he was getting stressed over a girl he just met and even though his friends were talking to him in logic, hongjoong refused to learn that language.

he let out another small sigh before ruffling his hair and clapping his hands together to gather the group to get on stage. he had to clear his mind so he could perform. “alright guys let’s do this. hana dul set,”

“fightingggg!!” the boys yelled in unison and cheered, hyping each other up for what was to come. one by one, the boys started leaving the dressing room to take their places in the wings of the stage curtains.

seonghwa made sure everyone made it out, before looking back to see hongjoong lagging behind. “you coming bub?” joong looked at hwa, then his phone on the couch, and back to hwa before sending him a quick nod and walking out the door.

he’d be able to make it through the show.. right?

******

“soooo we’re just gonna ignore what happened back there? you know i saw that right love?” kaylani pressed you while fixing her lip gloss, making you jump out of your thoughts.

“what happened?? we just had a normal conversation!”

“normal my ass. you talked for like five minutes and then KIM HONGJOONG SLID YOU HIS-“

you slapped your hand over her mouth. you were in the empty bathroom but there was no reason to take any chances of a manager, or even worse, a fan overhearing and reporting back to one. “kay, i love you. dearly. but please lower your voice love…”

she sighed behind your hand and obliged before complaining about you smudging her lip combo. you rolled your eyes and pulled the crumbled sheet of paper from out of your jacket pocket to show your friend. the numbers were a bit wayward, but joong was writing with his left hand so it was understandable. he somehow still managed to make it legible enough for you to understand though.

“it’s his kakao talk im assuming. i still have the app from when you and i had to use it when i was in seoul.”

“do you know for sure it’s his number ?”

“of course i don’t know for sure kay, im trying not to lose my mind right n-“

“text it.”

that may have seemed like the obvious answer but you were still extremely nervous about getting caught. and the idea of getting caught by a manager was still circling around in your brain. “there’s a chance that he’s waiting for your text ya know. just text it and see.” kaylani finished with a shrug, her lips popping as she finished up her lip combo. you took a deep breath before shakily grabbing your phone and opening your kakao talk.

what were you even going to say ? hi ? that sounded basic but there really wasn’t much else to do. there was no reason to say your full name because, well, what if it wasn’t truly him ? lani must’ve gotten bored of watching you stare at your phone without typing anything because after a few seconds your phone was in her hands as she drafted up and sent a message for you.

“KAYLANI !???”

“it’s fine, i just said hey and that it was the girl from the fanmeet. unless he’s going around giving his number out to every pretty girl like a whore, he’ll know it’s you.”

she handed your phone back to you before throwing her hands on your shoulders and flashing you a slight smile. “it’ll be fine ok? now let’s go watch our boys do the utmost embarrassing shit!”

you nodded in response and stepped out of the bathroom to make your way to your seats.

now what your best friend didn’t know when you bought your tickets was that you saved enough for front row. and the surprise was pretty evident by the screech she let out once you dragged her to the seats in front of the stage.

“no way no way we’re this close HOLY- y/n forget hongjoong will you please marry me???”

you just laughed and playfully pushed lani towards her seat, “get off of me and sit down goofball.”

******

“2 minutes to showtime!!”

the lights were dimming as the members stood in the wings of the stage, mic packs being adjusted and pinned onto the boys. wooyoung was humming some vocal warmups to himself before he walked over to hongjoong. “jeez captain, lighten up. you look like yeosang told you that hwa was his favorite hyung and not you…”

hongjoong jumped, unnoticeable to wooyoung, and scoffed in response to his statement. “please, as if that would ever happen.”

“ah you’re right. you look like your mom told you that bumjoong is the favorite child.”

“is there a point to your escapades or do you just enjoy annoying me?”

a look of fake hurt flashed across wooyo’s face in response, “ouch. you must really be missing your pretty girlfriend to talk to your best friend like that joongie.”

hongjoong spun towards wooyoung and gave him, yet another, death glare. “keep your voice down are you insane ? listen, we have a job to do, get focused on that.” and with that he stormed back to his place on stage. just take a few breaths and it’ll be fine… no reason for you to snap on your members.

“places guys; 10 seconds!”

he didn’t think it was possible, but that 10 seconds was both the longest and shortest time of hongjoong’s career. he knew you were in the crowd, he knew he had to do his best just for you. but what he wasn’t expecting when he scanned the crowd was to make direct eye contact with you and your friend in the front row.

oh he was soooo fucked.

so fucked that hwa had to elongate his intro and improvise an extra end part to get joong to snap out of his daze.

“ah i’m sorry, i got caught up looking at all of our beautiful atiny! hi guys, my name is kim hongjoong, captain of ateez!!”

the crowd seemed to take it well, i mean his job was fan service. but in truth, he was lying, he was only looking at you. and to his surprise, you were looking back; in fact he could feel your eyes on him frequently, and anytime he didn’t it was just because you and your friend were laughing together.

hongjoong kept finding himself on your side of the stage, often sending you flirty glances and winks during his verses; and god you were eating it up. not to mention how obsessed he was with getting you to smile. unfortunately for him though, he had to give that same energy to everyone for his actions to not be so obvious. even more unfortunately for him, san and wooyoung were on his ass the entire time, which caused seonghwa to send suspicious glances joong’s way. fuck.

hwa approached joong halfway through the show, once they were offstage during yunho and mingi’s unit performance. “fess up, why are you clinging to one side of the stage and why do you keep zoning out?? it’s not a good look and it’s making us look unorganized on stage.“

hongjoong just toyed with the hem of his sleeve in silence. to be honest he was trying to focus but he was drunk on the thought of being able to make you smile. there wasn’t anything he could say to get hwa off of his back, so he opted for a shrug.

“are you not feeling ok? you should’ve said something beforehand joong-“

“i’m fine.” please just drop it…

“fine.” hwa started, preparing his mic to get back on stage. the irritation was evident in his actions, but his voice was still soft. “but you’re the leader, just know this shit is on your shoulders if management says something.”

hongjoong just nodded in response, following seonghwa’s actions in fixing his mic. “that’s 50,000 won for calling me leader and not captain by the way.” he retorted with a smirk before running back on stage to meet the audience’s cheers.

******

“okay atiny, you guys enjoying the show?” yeosang asked, receiving a loud roar of approval from the crowd.

“i take that as a yes! but unfortunately…” jongho started his sentence, and atiny realized that the show was coming to an end. “hey hey we don’t want to leave either, but we have one more performance for you guys! are you ready??”

the rest of the guys were set up on a prop couch for the last song, each of them holding a red or white rose, as they waited for jongho to join them. once he did, the speakers started playing the instrumental of seventeen’s “ready to love” and seonghwa started off the cover, the crowd going insane.

eventually the boys got to the ending and handed out (or really threw) their roses to people in the crowd. and to no one’s surprise, hongjoong sat on the edge of the stage and handed his white rose to you, his fingers gliding over yours during the hand off, causing a goofy smile to take over your face with a light pink blush. kaylani teased you after making sure to get the entire interaction on video, you simply rolling your eyes and covering the camera in response. joong winked before getting up to join the members for their final bow and go back to their green room.

“thank you atiny!! we’ll be back soon” san yelled as the curtains closed and yunho and mingi peaked out to wave one last time.

******

hongjoong was the first one back in the room, his mind filled with your smile and whether or not you texted him. he loosened his tie and jogged over to the couch where he left his phone, anxious but also eager. but when he heard the members following close behind, joong grabbed his phone and rushed to the bathroom; mostly to avoid being teased by wooyoung, reprimanded by seonghwa, and shamed by san.

“you ok captain?” mingi asked from the other side of the door. “you left kinda in a hurry..”

“y-yea i’m fine, drank a lot of water earlier.”

mingi just shrugged it off with a low “okay” and went back to the other members, hongjoong letting out a small breath that he didn’t realize he was holding. he clicked his phone on and surprisingly saw a kakao notification from an unsaved contact. hongjoong’s face lit up brighter than his phone screen as he opened the app to reply.

but wait. was it you or a stalker?

did someone else possibly see the paper he gave you?

was he overthinking? yes. but most of it seemed logical.

joong sighed before he reread your message.

?: hey

?: it’s the girl from the fanmeet

still he had to confirm it was you.. and he had a pretty decent idea of how to do it.

joongie: really? then say something i said to you earlier

joong figured you would take a while to write back but you actually replied right away.

?: “really pretty name for a really pretty person”

joongie: i’m glad you texted me y/n :)

he just smiled at his phone, thinking of what to text you next. should he ask to facetime you maybe? should he flirt or was it too early for that? joong’s mind had a million tabs open at once but he really wanted to live in the current moment-

until wooyoung decided to be obnoxious and bang on the bathroom door like the police.

“hey some of us actually have to pee ya know!”

open tab number one million and one, strangle jung wooyoung…

[lexirosewrites]

Hello, I saw you only had one submission for tomorrow and so I have come with Thoughts that I have made just for this. It's Steddie but we're going to focus on Max for context and fluff; you CANNOT have O!Steve without considering his pups, okay??

Max, with all her Family Issues, doesn't always immediately believe that people care about her, at least as much as she cares about them??? And also, she's never going to SAY she cares. You kind of just have to Figure It Out through proximity and the rare times she is willing to imply she would not say no to your company or assistance.

As such, she knows O!Steve cares about her. He got hit in the head with a fucking plate for her (and the others, but it was Billy, so it was also very for her), not to mention the rest of the UD stuff with him protecting everyone. But she doesn't really know that A!Eddie cares about her like that?? It's not like she thinks Eddie doesn't like her, they talk and joke and he gives her rides to group events because they're neighbors, but there's a difference between "I don't mind this kid" and "i care about what happens this pup," you know? She's not offended, it's just a fact of life that not everyone is going to be particularly concerned with her.

Max used to show up randomly at Steve's to spend the night when home was a bit much, but then Eddie and Steve started dating. Steve would never ask her not to come over even if Eddie is there, and Eddie might not mind her presence sometimes, but she doesn't want to impose so she just deals with it and stays home.

Maybe one day she's out on her skateboard after Hellfire (she doesnt play, but she and El hang out in the vicinity and talk), and the weather turns bad super quick. Thunder, lightning, freezing cold, pouring rain, the works. She doesn't have any change to use a payphone, so she's like tucked under an awning that shields her from about 10% of the rain.

A car comes by after about half an hour, and she gets briefly blinded by the headlights, but then they're driving away. Except then they're not. The car did a super illegal U-turn and is parked on the sidewalk, and it's not a car, it's a van. It's Eddie's van, and he's jumping out of the driver's seat and running over. He's got his leather jacket on, but as soon as he's next to Max, he's taking it off and holding it out to block her from the rain.

They run back to the van, Max still wrapped in his jacket, and Eddie cranks up the heat and starts rambling about trying to find her while he starts driving. Max is like "?? Find me??? You saw me half an hour ago???? Weren't you going to your boyfriend's????" And Eddie looks at her like she's speaking in tongues and is like "yeah?? And then it started fucking pouring so I called your house to make sure you got home okay but no one picked up. I drove over to see if you were just asleep, but no one was at your trailer so I came looking. "

Max is like. Positive she's not processing this correctly. So she's like "you were at your boyfriend's house. And you stopped your date to call me. And when I didn't pick up, you left your date. To drive all the way home, in this weather. And then drove around to find me because I wasn't there." And Eddie's just like "yeah, that's about it"

And look, Max isn't just going to Announce that this sounds like absolute nonsense, because that's a bit too much vulnerability, but it's probably written on her face, because Eddie glances over and suddenly the van is full of Reassuring Protective Alpha scent. His tone is super light and chill (probably for her benefit) but he just goes "like it or not, Red, you're one of my pups now. I might have to share you with Stevie, because he'd fight me for sole custody in a heartbeat, but that just means you're ours. Now come on, you haven't been home in ages and Stevie missed you."

Max just kind of looks at him confused, but then she looks out the windshield and they're at Steve's house, and Steve is already throwing open the door looking super relieved and he runs over with like a huge umbrella and holds it over Max specifically while he gets her inside, and he fusses over her and she allows it (just this once) and then she takes a shower to warm up and when she gets out there's a pair of Steve's shorts and Eddie's shirt waiting for her to put on while her stuff dries and their scents are super nice together and they smell like Home and Pack. Then they all drink hot chocolate and watch a movie and Max stays the night and never worries about coming over again.

The End and whatnot

-irrelevantbutembarrassing

🥲🥲🥲 she’s their pup

[honorarysimp]

Interlude: The Diner

series masterlist

Out of everywhere in town you’ve been since you arrived two weeks ago, this is the only place you’ve truly felt safe.

The diner was a blast from the past, a relic of a time long gone. The checkered linoleum floor worn and scuffed in places, and vinyl-covered booths gave the place a retro feel, while the crackled and faded wallpaper added a touch of nostalgia.

The smell of stale coffee and fried food hung in the air, adding a distinct atmosphere to the place.

The diner was dimly lit, the fluorescent tubes above the counter casting a harsh, almost clinical light over the small space. In one corner, an old radio played quiet music, the sound barely reaching a few booths in the room.

You are currently sat in a booth towards the back, visibly exhausted beyond measure as you nurse a cup of black coffee.

Coffee is suppose to be the answer to everything, but you’ve had to reconvey your initial claim the last week.

Your phone suddenly rings loudly in the quiet diner, the sharp sound causing you to flinch, jarring and breaking the ambiance like a hammer against glass. You glance down at the screen, expression darkening as you saw the word "Mayor" flash across the display.

With a heavy exhale, you let the call ring through to voicemail. The Mayor was the last person you want to deal with at the moment. You’re frustrated and exhausted, as this investigation seems to be leading nowhere.

Why answer her when you have nothing to report? She knows where to find you if she’s that desperate for results.

You reach into your coat pocket and retrieved your tape recorder. You lay it on the worn tabletop and looked at it for a moment with a slight grimace.

You hesitate before starting the recording, the weight of your lack of progress weighing heavily on you. With a weary sigh, you hit the record button and began speaking, voice low and tired.

"It's been two weeks since I arrived here, and so far, I've got nothing. No leads, no suspects, just a whole lot of dead ends."

You continue, your voice growing more frustrated as you detail your efforts thus far.

"I've tried everything," you admit, hand running through your hair in exasperation. "Witness interviews, forensic analysis, even digging through records going back decades. But every time I think I'm onto something, it just leads nowhere."

You lean back in the booth, shoulders slouched in exhaustion. "It's like this town is intentionally keeping secrets."

You pause for a moment, expression thoughtful.

"The people here," you begin, voice a bit softer. "They're just as much victims as anyone. I've started to get to know some of them, and they're just trying to live their lives. But then there's this..."

You trail off, expression conflicted. You knew you’ve always tried to be logical and professional when it comes to your job, ruled by rationality and evidence. But this case is pushing your boundaries, forcing you to question your own beliefs.

"Maybe... maybe there's no logical explanation," you admit, voice barely a whisper “the only thing that’s consistent is the fact one person goes missing a month, but even that doesn’t make sense because it stops and starts randomly- goddamn it.”

You hit the pause button on the tape recorder, frustrated. You sit back, the silence in the diner somehow making the weight of the case even heavier.

You sat for a moment, eyes unfocused as you mull over everything that has happened in the last two weeks. The disappearances, the dead ends, the strange events... everything about this case was slowly chipping away at your certainty, your usual rational mind struggling to find footing.

You start the tape recorder again, voice weary but determined.

"The attack in the woods," you began. "I've tried to make sense of it, but it just doesn't add up. The masked figure came out of nowhere, silently and unexpectedly. The knife cut me, but there was no blood, no trace of any kind at the scene. And even after searching, there were no footprints or tracks of any kind. Nothing."

You trail off, eyes fixed on the tabletop. "It's like the assault never even happened."

You again continued, tense with disbelief. "And then there's Wes," you say, shaking your head. "He just vanishes after walking into the lake. We've searched the lake more times than I can count, and we haven't found a body. Nothing. It's like he just vanished into thin air."

Your frustration and confusion becomes more and more evident the more you spoke, the mystery of the case growing more complex with each passing moment as you verbally try to debunk it aloud. "It makes no sense," you mutter, raking a hand through your hair once more, knee bouncing in a fidget underneath the table.

You pause for a moment, taking a deep breath to calm your frustration. "The disappearances, the attack, the lack of any solid evidence... everything about this case just feels wrong. Like there's something bigger going on, something just out of my grasp.”

You look down at the tape recorder, brow furrowed. "But how do I solve something when I can't even see all the pieces? How do I find answers when everything I've tried leads to more questions?"

You sat slumped in the booth, gaze unfocused as you wrestle with your thoughts. "I need... I need..." you repeat in a low voice, frustration and desperation mingling in your tone.

I need a fucking cigarette.

You clench your fists, refocusing on trying to piece together the elusive clues in your mind. "I need something decisive, something concrete," you continue, eyes sweeping over the steam rising from your mug as if the answers were etched within the small bubbles resting on the liquid’s surface.

You let out a heavy sigh, the frustration etched on your face. You reach out and hit the pause button, shutting off the tape recorder.

You lean back in the booth once again, taking a moment to gather your thoughts. The weight of the case hung heavily on you, the lack of progress a crushing disappointment. Never has a case had you so in the weeds before, you should have something by now.

"I need to find something," you mutter to yourself, jaw clenched. "I can't keep spinning my fucking wheels like this."

You rest your elbows to the table for a moment, rubbing a hand over your face as if trying to scrub away the fatigue and temporary defeat. Everything about this case was getting under your skin, the lack of progress wearing on your already frayed nerves.

The Diner's bell jangled as someone entered, causing you to look up from your thoughts. Your gaze lands on Tara of all people, who had just walked in.

You register the first responder uniform she is wearing, coming to the conclusion that she must be working the night shift. Or just got off it, depending on what time it is, that of which you aren’t sure. Your eyes lingered on her for a moment, taking in her tired but determined expression.

Her head turns and you’re already meeting her gaze, a pause between you, and then you silently gesturing for her to join you. You see the hesitation on her face, the fatigue and worry that mirrored your own. But after a moment, she relents and walks over to the booth, sliding into the seat opposite you.

“Hey” you start softly, watching her take your coffee mug off the table and take a small whiff before taking a sip.

You don’t question it.

“Nothing yet on our end, you?”

You shake your head, “even if we did, I’m sure Sam would be the first one to let you know.”

Tara nods, and you both fall silent.

The one waitress that seems to be working tonight walks over, she gives you both a kind smile.

“You’re working late tonight, Cici” Tara says politely, which makes the woman laugh good naturely.

“I could say the same to you, coffee?”

“Please.”

She scribbles it down, glancing back up “and the usual?”

Another nod from Tara, which then has Cici’s gaze going to you expectantly.

“I’m still doing okay with just coffee-“

“The Detective will have what I’m having Cici, thank you” Tara cuts you off, making Cici glance between you knowingly as she jots the order down and heads off without another word.

You look to Tara and narrow your eyes, but she beats you to it before you can speak.

“I wish you’d stop making assumptions about me, you know.”

A pause, you reach across the table for your mug but she pulls it from your reach.

There’s a good chance Tara is talking about the last conversation you two had before you found Wes and Chad, but of course you’d hate to assume.

So you wait for her to continue, after a moment her expression softens slightly and she nudges your coffee mug back across the table to you.

“For what it’s worth, I’m rightfully in the same boat. Worrying certain people are only around for information, for wanting to know things rather than-“ she stops, clearing her throat.

That’s when you get it. The hot and cold.

“Look… I’ve never once been dishonest with you, I’ve got no reason to be” you start slowly, giving your still aching shoulder a little roll before reaching across the table to accept your mug back.

“But-“ you pause, as your fingers brush against hers, neither of you acknowledge it as you pull the coffee mug back to your side “unfortunately that’s the one thing I’m under contract not to tell you, which is who hired me. You already know why I’m here, and if there’s one thing I can promise you is that I’m not using you for any reason.”

She is clearly skeptical, you can tell by the way she looks at you. But you can also see that slight softness between her brow, like she wants to believe you.

You sip your coffee, sitting it to the side before placing your palms flat on the table top, “ask me anything you want, no pool games, no deals, no trades, no bullshit. And then I’ll do the same.”

That look returns, the one Tara gave you a week ago when you’d asked her out for drinks.

“You still are trying to pick my brain” Tara says with an amused tone, you offer a smile and shrug.

“I wanna know you, is that so hard to believe?” You say as you nudge your coffee mug back over to her, a silent offer.

Tara eyes you, then the mug, then you again. She’s fighting back a smile, something you’ve noticed she does a lot with you. In a way you consider it a win, because it means she’s starting to like you even when she doesn’t want to.

“Fine” she agrees, pushing the coffee mug back across the table to you before crossing her arms, “but you’re on thin ice hot shot.”

You grin, trying not to feel triumphant for finally managing to somewhat get through to her.

“First things first, what’s your favorite scary movie?”

The disapproving look Tara gives you makes you laugh harder than it should, which in return, makes her smile more than she should.

And for the first time in a while, a sense of normalcy envelops you both. It won’t last, but for now, it’s nice.

previous, next

[synthleeius]

afternoon

l.. lee aether *has a fucking stroke*

i wanted this to turn out a bit better, but idk 😭

Aether laid comfortably in his bed, curled up in the white blanket that was definitely too big for the mattress itself. After staying up late in Liyue doing the simplest things people could have done themselves, he was tired out. But so tired that he slept all the way to lunch? Paimon wasn't so sure..

To be fair, Paimon had only woken up around an hour before.. but that doesn't count! She was used to Aether being her personal alarm clock. She had decided that he could sleep until she got some food for a late breakfast.. But when she came back into the room, he hadn't shifted in the slightest bit.

“Traveller!” She huffed, floating over just above his figure and shook his shoulder. “Come on, up!”

Aether groaned, swatting her hand away and pulling the covers over his head. “Ugh, stop..” His floating companion unfortunately didn't give up, but took a different approach. She sat on the side of the bed, tilting her head at him.

“Paimon’s disappointed! But.. there's no other choice. Paimon’s gonna do the unthinkable!” She exclaimed, standing up on the bed proudly before screeching out her next words;

“XIAAAOOOO!!!!!–”

“Shut up, shut up!” Aether gasped, jolting awake and slapping a hand over the other's mouth. “Paimon! He's probably busy!”

“It got you up though~” She teased after Aether removed his hand, smirking smugly. “Well.. lucky, I don’t think Xiao heard Paimon anyways.”

“..Huh. I guess so. ..well, in that case–” The blonde flopped back onto the pillows, turning away from the now floating Paimon. “Hey!! Traveller! Get up, or Paimon’s gonna-”

“You called..?”

She gasped dramatically, her whole body jolting around in a panic. When she realised who it was, she sighed in relief. “Xiao! You always pop up so randomly, you know that?”

“But.. you're the one who called my name. I don't see how that's very ‘random’, Paimon..” He replied, his arms crossing over his chest in the familiar stance.

“Whatever! Just- help Paimon already! The traveller’s being lazy again!” She whined, tapping where Aether’s shoulder would be under the blanket. “He was awake just a few moments ago, Paimon doesn’t know how he does it.”

Xiao took a few steps over, peering over at the other’s sleeping state. “..Why don’t you just do it?” He asked softly, gently taking ahold of the blanket and dragging it down just so Aether’s face was visible.

“Oh believe me, Paimon’s tried.” She sighed softly, shaking her head. “Well.. This is your problem now. Tell him that Paimon’s in Mondstadt! Bye Xiaaoo~”

Before he could object, Paimon had disappeared into the hall and out the teapot. He huffed quietly, sitting on the edge of the mattress with his legs crossed. He stared for a few seconds, before gently nudging his arm. “Traveller.”

With no response, he repeated the motion. “It's late..”

“..I saw you last night, you know.” Be began, after realising that small movements weren’t doing anything. “Running around for people you don't even know. It's.. admirable, I suppose. But you shouldn’t be doing it. If mortals like yourself don't take the breaks they require, things like this happen.”

He perked up at the small breath the other huffed out, rubbing his eyes with the back of his knuckles. “..I know..” He mumbled, a soft giggle leaving his lips. “You're so poetic without realising it.”

“A-Ah.. I have little knowledge, nor talent for poetry.” Xiao spoke, his hands moving absentmindedly to sit in his own lap.

“Uhuh..” Aether mumbled in response, yawning softly before stretching his arms up. “..Hey, what are you doing here? Did- ohh..”

Seemingly just processing the events that happened, his eyes fluttered open to look up at the adeptus. “Sorry that Paimon called you. I didn’t.. I guess I was being slightly stubborn.”

The claim made Xiao huff a chuckle out, shrugging. “It's fine, I wasn’t particularly busy.”

“That's good..” He whispered, moving to lay on his back. He let out a few sleepy noises, his eyes drooping back shut. He should be getting him awake and out of bed.. but..

“Half an hour, okay?” The adeptus sighed, softening slightly at the pleased sound the other expressed.

And soon that half hour passed, causing Xiao to enter back into the warm room. He was slightly tempted to explore the house Aether resided in, but decided against it after some thought. Instead, he spent the time taking a look around the nature of the realm.

“Aether.” He called quietly, leaning on the door frame before fully welcoming himself in. “Come on, up.”

“Ugh, no..” He whined, turning around to face away from the other figure. “Later.”

“It’s almost two in the afternoon, and figuring Paimon’s been out for a bit..” he trailed off, returning to his previous position on the mattress. “What I'm trying to say is.. would you rather wake up to me or a screaming Paimon?

“..Good point.” Aether mumbled, “But I really, really don't want to.”

“Just come on. It's not the end of Teyvat y'know.” He replied, nudging the traveller somewhere on his torso, it was hard to tell under the blanket.

To Xiao’s surprise, he felt the other jolt away from his hand huff. “Mmph, dohont.. come onn, im tired~..”

“..Are you hurt?” He asked, gently moving the blanket to his upper thighs and poking around the area he had before. Considering the crop top, it didn't provide a lot of protection.

“hah.. noho, Xiao-” Aether giggled, shifting his position on the bed. “stop it..”

“You don't seem hurt.. you're laughing, after all.” Xiao thought out loud, tilting his head to the side. “Are you just pretending?”

“Xiao, it tickles.” Aether finally whispered, his knees curling in at the thought of it. “..Oh.” The adeptus said with a now understanding tone. “Good.”

“Good?” Aether repeated with a playful scoff, “How is that good?”

“Good because you're not in pain, like I previously expected.” He corrected himself. “Now.. Up. You have your daily commissions, don't you?”

The traveller groaned, crossing his arms over his face to block the sunlight from his eyes. “ugh, don't remind me..”

“Aether.” Xiao repeated sternly, “Last chance until I have to get you up myself. It’s too late to call this just ‘sleeping in’.”

“Boooo,” He mumbled, “Do your worst..”

Aether didn't really expect Xiao to do what he did.. After all, he didn't really have a great understanding of it, he forgot what it was just a few moments ago!

..So which is why he was surprised when he felt cold fingertips skitter up his side.

He yelped, his arms immediately shooting down and reaching for the attacker's hand. Of course, he was too sleepy to remember that Xiao was a literal adepti, and stopping his hand from reaching his own was probably the easiest thing in the world. “Xiahahao-” He whined, kicking his legs out from their previously curled position. “Cohome ohon!”

“If you just sat up, you could prevent this.” Xiao mumbled, pressing the said fingers into his lower tummy. The movement resulted in a loud yelp, rapid giggles flowing from the other’s throat.

“Yohou could prevehent this too! ju- jehesus chrihist!” He gasped, his hands still on a futile attempt to push the other’s away.

“Jesus who?” He asked, a confused look on his face. “You must be delirious..”

“Ahahm nohot!” He claimed, pushing his back into the mattress like that would do anything to ease the sensations. “if ihi am, ihits yohour fahault!”

“Hm. If you say so.” Xiao shrugged it off, seemingly careless. He began to move his hand down the side of his torso, latching onto his hip and squeezing softly. “Is this convincing you?”

“Ihits nohot!” Aether exclaimed, “Ihits- ihits making… yohou..- ugh, yohour impohossible!”

“I'm impossible?” He asked sarcastically, “Well, I'm not the one who overworked himself all night.. Honestly, Traveller.. I wish to know your thought process when you decided that was a good idea.”

“Cahan yohou shuhut uhuhup?!” He bucked slightly into the other’s hand, a small gasp leaving his lips before another round of giggles.

“Can you get up?” Xiao repeated, feeling an unusual amount of playfulness in the moment. Unusual.. but, welcomed. Especially when it turned the oh-so powerful Traveller into mush.

“Buhut I dohont wahant too!” He repeated himself, his head leaning back into the pillow, digging his heels into the bed. Xiao looked up, catching a glimpse of Aether’s face.

His fingers slowed to a stop as he stared at him, taking in his expression. “Hah.. x-xiao? What's wrong?” He asked in a giggly tone, his arms moving to cross over his tingling torso.

“..Nothing.” Xiao mumbled, blinking his gaze away from his face. “Your blushing~” He smiled smugly, tilting his head down. “What happe- xihihao!”

“You seem to have forgotten your current position, Aether.” He chuckled softly, letting his hand squeeze up from his lip to his stomach.

“Have you had enough yet? I trust you’ll get up eventually.” He mumbled, using his nails to scribble just above his navel.

“Ihi wihill, ihi wihill!” He whined, small breathy giggles leaving his lips at the aftermath of Xiao stilling his fingers.

“..In a second.” He finished his sentence, feeling a genuine laugh escaping him at the look Xiao gave him.

Without a second thought, The fingertips travelled up his ribcage and gently scritched in between the bones.

"You- ugh.."

“I was kidding-!”

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

Sorry for any mistakes !! 💺 anon

1) One more yoga idea!! You're doing your usual exercises when all of the sudden you feel his hands on you. "Let me help you with that, love." And he helps us stretch more (after all, he is good at stretching us, if you get what I mean)

2) If my man was so riled up just from us showing a little bit of thighs, how would he react if we send him a photo of us in lingerie??

3) His clothes are our clothes too, so we just borrow anything. His sweatpants (he def makes a comment about we're cleaning the floor with them since they're too long), shirts, dress shirts, jackets, even his socks and tie??

4) Speaking of clothes, Tan with a sophisticatedly dressed wife? Dressing up in nice suits while on missions? Helps you take off your blazer once home because he feels

5) OK JUST IMAGINE FOR A SECOND THAT HE SHAVED (for whatever reason idk), and now he looks like a baby and we tease him

6) Putting on lipstick and telling him to come closer so we can blot the excess off, so he brings us some tissues but we just start kissing him, leaving lipstick all over his face 🫠

7) (just added this one last min) about tan being a flirt, I feel like he makes some comments and lem has to shut him up because he doesn't wanna hear all that

8) This random thought that I had : "Can we watch The Intern?" "Are you serious, again?" "Can you be a fucking man and watch The Intern with me?" The wife privilege is real

9) So we talked about reader getting injured, now I'm making it about him. He survives the events from the movie and we're also left traumatized since we saw him almost die and every now and then we stare at his scar and try to not think back to that day :( and we're trying to hide our tears from him :(

10) He has that 'I don't want a cat but when I will get a cat I will treat it as if it's my child' vibe and I love him for it !!

Assassin!reader 1) AAHH imagine we have the same coat they are wearing at the beginning of the movie so we all match?? (in our size ofc)

2) And also, what would you say our codename is? It's obvs a fruit so we match with them but which one are you thinking?

3) Reader being even more of a menace over text?? They start to get worried because we aren't responding to their texts or calls and when we do, we send them something like "Sorry guys, just got hit by a car" or "SORRY the train I am in is on fire" (TRUE STORY BTW)

4) RANDOM 2AM THOUGHT!! We're on a mission and we run into another assassin who's also married (like the wolf except his wife is alive oops) and after a little bit of fighting, we just end up gushing about our lovers !!

5) So in the book, they had to go to Morioka, not Kyoto. So that sparked a scenerio in my head. After tan hangs up (it's the phone call before they meet with the yakuza, that scene) : we say "We're stopping at Morioka though, not Kyoto." "No it's Kyoto, love" "No, the destination says Morioka." We show them the details we were told, and we all start to realize there's something wrong. (Ignore the fact that we didn't tell them 😘😘)

+ more lem because we're platonic soulmates 1) I mentioned this a long time ago but imagine a convo of us trying to argue with him about how we're actually a diesel. "Think about it, you said they bluff, they're liars and the worst. That girl back in Japan fooled all of us with her act. I do the same when we're on missions and need intel!" And he's just shaking his head and crossing his arms. "Are you hearin' her right now?"

2) Sorry I'm touching on this topic again but what kind of music does lem listen to? I'd say probably ones that hype you up so much that if he were to sing you would hear it from a meter away from his car, with his windows up.

3) We get a notification from them, saying they finished the mission and will be home in 3 hours, so we send on the group chat a photo of the food we prepared and he is so pissed!! "COME ON IT'S THREE HOURS. You can't do this to me"

4) Another sms one sorry!! I hc he uses emojis randomly "Why is this man arguing with me about how many people we killed? 😻😻" (Us) "Where's my gossip buddy??" "REPORTING FOR DUTY 🤾🏿‍♂️🤾🏿‍♂️🤾🏿‍♂️🤾🏿‍♂️" "The fact that you don't understand what I'm trying to say is making me cry" "You don't know what you're talking about do you?" "NO 🗣️🔥💯😼" "BRO THE GRIP HE HAS ON THAT PHONE WHAT DID YOU EVEN SEND HIM ⁉️ Him fr: 🧍‍♂️>🧎‍♂️>🐶" "ALSO NO DON'T TELL ME WHAT YOU TWO ARE TEXTING 🤺🤺" "Wasn't planning to 😱" STOP HE DEF MAKES STORIES USING EMOJIS WHEN HE'S BORED!!

ALSO THE SMS?? ! NOT LEM PICKING 17 WHEN WE ASK HIM 😭 Also requets might get open?? AS ALWAYS NO RUSH LOVE but I just wanted to ask if you will be accepting smut?

JUST SAW THE OTHER ONES WITH TAN OML. The photo with the bathtub, we're so evil imagine we leave him on read after that 😭😭😭 I FEEL LIKE I DON'T SAY THIS ENOUGH BUT THANK YOU SM FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO ILYSM 💗💗

apologies for any in mine, I do these on my phone 😭😭

1- AAAAHH YES!!! hands on waist standing behind ‘helping’ you (I do see what you did there and im liking it)

2- if he got it in public I feel like he’d do a really long exhale, a deep kinda sigh and palm over the bottom half of his face. maybe rake through he hair (we got him all frustrated and flustered tehe)

3- that’s a given. we share clothes, ie we take his. also imagine imagine ??? he wears our dressing gowns in the morning ??? and he’s just making a tea and having a fag out the back door and he’s wearing a floral stain dressing gown (I uhm think that’s very hot) also also he wears plaid pj bottoms bc I say so and we always wear them

4- like a mafia/ mob wife ???? im seeing the vision and again im loving it

5- AAAAAHH stuff like that freaks me out. he would feel like a stranger in your house and he’d look so naked without it😭😭😭😭

6- ARFGGHH OMG THATS ACTUALLY SO CUTE ??! pink or red or brown smooches all over his face 🫠

7- yes yes yes !!! lem loves relationship gossip as much as the next, but some things he just doesn’t want to hear. I feel like lem has no filter sometimes so if he says he doesn’t wanna hear it you know it’s bad😭

8- “can you be a fucking man and watch the intern with me”😭😭😭😭 I think he enjoys your movies a lot more than he lets on. and happy wife, happy life 😌

9- he has the scar from it??????🥲☹️ he def notices the way you look at it and he reaches out for your hand, giving it a squeeze bc he knows how sad it makes you

10- I love men that love cats😩 he is one to say he doesn’t want one but loves it the most out of everyone

assassin reader

1- stop it!!! that’s so cute 🫠 so coordinated I love it

2- back when I first started writing tan I thought I was being original when I named reader cherry, turns out lots of other writers used cherry😭😭😭😭😭 I thought it was unique only to see that it wasn’t. imagine if you were from new zealand and your code name was kiwi, little bit on the nose but that would be pretty cool ngl (just thought of that so had to say lol) but I really haven’t given it much thought since that debacle

3- 😭😭😭 yes!! like one disappears and updates with the craziest things “thought I bruised my rib, turns out its puncturing my lung🤪 back in a few hours”

and wait you were on a train that was on fire????

4- awwww :(( be like “one sec my man is texting me” “yeah no problem, mine is too” “want to have a timeout— he gets funny when I don’t answer checkpoint calls” “mine does too. he calls me every 30 minutes to make sure im okay and where I need to be” 😭😭😭 and then just chat and gossip

5- damn I really should read the book

platonic lemon

1- 😭😭 love it!!!

2- yesss !!!! idk why but I cannot think of any??? but his taste is very different to tans, that I can guarantee. also lem is an avid music listener, he knows what���s popular and what’s in the charts

3- 😭😭😭 he gets hangry (it’s okay me too)

4- never be sorry!! omg yes that works so well for him and makes so much sense !!! I enjoyed reading those texts way too much😭😭 and the “him fr:” pissing

—

he’s just too impatient lmfao, didn’t even get a chance to tell him what it’s for

im gonna give you the 411… im opening then in an hour just before I go bed, shush don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret. and ofc to the smut, always always yes to the smut 😭

hehehe yesss!! it’s not our fault we misunderstood him (we didn’t, we just like to tease) he’d spam with texts until you reply

AAAAAAHHH YOURE ALWAYS SO SWEET THANK YOU :(( ILYSM 💓💓

[korgbelmont]

Cassius Harlow x Stevie Sun

Part 2

It's no mistake that Cas ended up in Beachwood, and he knows it and now he wants answers. Meanwhile, Stevie and her friends want answers from Cas...

Written in the present tense

Part 1

Tagging: @choicesficwriterscreations, @jerzwriter

Warnings: Swearing, talk of blood

Word Count: 1105

Notes:  I don’t own these characters, they are the property of Pixelberry Studios.

Harlow created on cooltext.com

This is set a couple years after the events of both books.

Arriving at a cave deep in the woods, Cas throws the creation in before speeding back to his home. Once there, he storms in and grabs his phone, dialling and holding it to his ear. After a few rings, a voice comes over.

Astoria - Cassius.

Cas - Beachwood wasn't chosen randomly, was it?

Astoria - So you know about the creations, then.

Cas - Cut the crap, Astoria! What do you want from me?

Astoria - To exterminate the remaining pests. Do so, and you may be allowed to return to Crimson Beech.

The line goes dead and Cas slams the phone down, filled only with rage.

Cas - Assholes!

Cas sighs in annoyance.

Meeting at the library, Stevie, Blake, Donovan, and Tyler start looking through folklore books in the hopes of trying to get answers about what they saw the previous night. Blake flicks through the pages and thinks back to Gabriela's murder, and the dream they had.

Blake - (Could Gabbie's ghost have visited me?)

Tyler - Blake!

The sound of Tyler's voice snaps them back to reality.

Blake - Huh?

Tyler - You okay?

Blake - Yeah. Just thinking.

Donovan - No luck.

Donovan drops the book down on the table.

Stevie - Nothing here either. Why don't we try and find Cas? We might be able to get some answers.

Tyler - Given what he did to that thing, I'm not inclined to be within at least two meters of him.

Donovan - I'm with Tyler on that.

Stevie - But he might be our only chance at answers.

Blake - Stevie's right. This Cas guy is the only one with answers, ironically the one who gave us the questions. Best thing we can do is just keep an eye out for him. Without knowing his full name--

Stevie - Harlow.

Donovan - Huh?

Stevie - His name is Cas Harlow.

Blake - Okay, that gives me a place to start. I'll go down to the town hall and check records for new arrivals.

That night, Cas begins his hunt for the remnant creations in the forests, looking for any sign of the creatures. He skids to a stop in the forests, sniffing. He walks over and finds blood on a tree trunk. Wiping his fingers along it, he finds that it is slightly sticky.

Cas - You were here recently. Question is how many?

Hearing something, he raises his hands into fists, but sees only a Doe running away. Sighing, he lowers his hands.

Cas - This is going to be easier said than done.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Cas begins walking through the forest, heading in the direction of his place.

Once back, he finds four people, including Stevie, waiting at the door.

Cas - Can I help you?

Blake - Yeah, you can give us answers.

Cas - Fuck off.

He pushes past them and Stevie places her hand on his arm.

Stevie - Please. We just want to know what we saw last night.

Cas sighs, opening the door and standing to the side.

Cas - Come on then.

They all enter and he closes the door behind them. Blake crosses their arms while everyone looks around.

Blake - So what are you?

Cas closes his eyes for a moment, and when he opens them, his eyes are silver and fangs in place of incisors. Tyler and Donovan stumble back a bit.

Cas - I'm a Vampire.

Stevie - So can you turn into a bat?

Tyler - That's your first question?!

Cas - No. I'm stronger and faster than a human. And as long as I remain inside Ley Lines, I can walk in the sun.

Blake - And that thing?

Cas - It's called a creation. Two years ago there was a Vampire Creator in Crimson Beech who tried to take the power of the Lines. And he used his power to turn Vampires into those things like you saw last night. We thought they were all gone, but it looks like there are a few still around. Which is why I'm here. Albeit against my will.

He chucks his jacket on the table and leans against it.

Cas - Now, I'd like to know how you found me.

Blake - I'm a Private Investigator.

Cas - That so?

Donovan - Why now?

Cas - What?

Donovan - You said you took these things on two years ago. Why you hunting them now?

Cas takes a deep breath.

Cas - I don't know why the Elders want them dealt with now. And I don't know where they could be hiding. I chucked the one I killed in a cave and I spent the majority of the night checking the forests. But I'll be out your hair once I'm done.

Silence fills the room and Tyler scratches the back of his head.

Tyler - Maybe... we could help you?

Donovan - What?!

Cas - No.

Stevie - Why not?

Cas - It's easier for me to do this without you lot getting in my way.

Blake - Maybe. But no one knows Beachwood like us. Can you walk into the town hall and access records?

Cas - I can speed in.

Blake - And look through without getting caught?

Cas glares at Blake.

Stevie - Face it, Harlow. You're stuck with us.

Cas raises an eyebrow at Stevie.

Cas - You're not gonna take no for an answer, are you?

The four of them talk at the same time.

Stevie - Nope.

Blake - No.

Donovan - Looks like it.

Tyler - Absolutely not.

Cas runs a hand down his face, groaning in slight frustration.

Cas - Fine. I'll let you help. But it's on my terms.

Blake - Name them.

Cas - First, you keep something silver on you at all times. We're not that keen on it.

He pulls up his sleeve, showing his brands from the elders. Stevie looks in shock.

Stevie - How?

Cas - I'm not the most popular in Crimson Beech. Second term, you learn Vampire lore. I sounded so much like Golden Boy then.

Blake - Fine.

Cas - And one more thing. If we find them, you'll all need a boost.

Tyler - Boost?

Cas - Vampire blood.

Donovan - You're not gonna... bite us, are you?

Cas - No. But a drop of Vampire blood will give you the heightened senses, strength, and speed for a small amount of time.

Blake - Oh!

Tyler - Well that's...

Stevie - Awesome!

Cas looks over at Stevie, and he can't help but smile ever so slightly.

[yourangel137]

Bloodstains on the curtain / chapter 2

Here is chapter two! I hope you all like it<3 tagging: @pix-stuff as promised.

Pairings: yandere/murderer!Childe x GN!reader

Warnings: stress/anxiety

Genre: mostly fluff

Type: Series

Word count: 1123 words

Summary: Is it truly him? Is he truly the killer? He can't be.. he's just too kind, right?

It’s hard to figure out how you’re supposed to feel after such an event, your stomach still twists and feels sick upon remembering the scene you saw just a week ago. After the police had safely brought you home, you haven’t been able to rest. Nightmares upon nightmares happen, no matter how many hours you decide to sleep. Your parent decided to call a therapist for you, someone who is able to help you let go of your trauma. Yet nobody knows what truly bothers you.

Why does the killer have the exact same keychain as Tartaglia?

Your best friend, Tartaglia, might be hiding more than you thought at first. Your best friend, the person you fell so hard for that it hurts knowing he might be a killer. It must be a coincidence right?

A knock can be heard on your door, your eyes immediately darting towards your bedroom door before it opens up and your mother enters your bedroom. “I made you some dinner, do you want to eat it here or with me downstairs?” She asks you, her worry still clearly present in her voice.

“Here, if you don’t mind. I just need a moment for myself..”

“Okay, I get it. Times are very tough right now but just know I’m here for you ok? I’ll bring you a plate.” And there she went again, going downstairs to get you a plate before going back up with it and putting it on your desk.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it..” Your mother’s smile is enough of an answer to your gratitude before she leaves you alone again.

A coincidence... It must’ve been a coincidence... A bright yellow star keychain, the same keychain you gave to Tartaglia as a little token of appreciation towards all he’d done for you. You still remember where you bought it, how it was the last one in stock and how happy Tartaglia got from such a small gift.

It has to be a coincidence.

You slowly begin eating the food your mother made for you, brain still pondering who the killer could possibly be. Your phone lights up and you see a message from your best friend, but for now you decide to ignore it.

‘If Tartaglia really is the killer? Would I be able to tell the police?’ You think to yourself. How could you possibly send your best friend of 10 years to jail? Someone you managed to develop such strong feelings for? Is it normal to doubt yourself?

Your phone lights up again, this time ringing fills your ears, breaking your trail of thoughts and worries. Quickly you swallow the last bit of food down before picking up the phone. “Heeeeey, my star, it’s Tartaglia~ Are you feeling a bit better today? Did I scare you again by calling randomly? You didn’t check my messages so.. I hope you don’t mind me simply calling you~” The corners of your mouth lift up, cheeks flushing slightly, all while your heart skips beats of happiness.

‘Nah, he can’t be the killer.’

“No I don’t mind you calling me, not at all actually! I was just eating dinner so I couldn’t reply immediately, sorry about that. I feel a bit better today, I’m just very tired.. How are you feeling today?”

His happy giggles melt your heart before he answers back: “I’m glad you don’t mind me calling, I’m just worried about you, ya know? I’m doing great now I hear your voice again~” His random flirting immediately gets to you and your cheeks flush once more. “Are you still getting nightmares? I hope they are gone.. but then again, I can’t imagine how horrible that scene must’ve looked..”

“It’s getting better, but I still get them frequently. I’m sure it’ll go away eventually, right?” you reply with a positive tone in your voice.

“I do hope so.. But hey! Now that girl won’t bother you anymore right? With the bullying? Isn’t that something positive at least?”

Your words get stuck in your throat, saliva building up while you remain silent. Tartaglia coughs up a forced chuckle and softly states it’s a stupid joke he shouldn’t have made.

“You’re right though.. She won’t bully me anymore.. I just don’t know how to feel about why she won’t bully me anymore. Do people genuinely deserve to die because they hurt another person?”

The other line stays quiet this time, yet the air turns thick and the silence makes you so uncomfortable. After a few minutes you hear his voice speak out again:

“Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. At least you’re safe, right Y/N? That’s all I care about, your safety.”

“...”

“Anyways~! Do you have plans tomorrow? School is still closed so we could hang out if you’d like? We could go out and shop for new clothes or just get some ice cream or lunch? What do you think?”

Before you know it, a tear drops down your cheek, worry filling your heart again. You clutch onto your sweatshirt while you hold back the urge to cry. “I almost died back then Tartaglia..”

“You won’t die, nobody will hurt you, my star. You got me, right? I’ll keep you safe even if it’ll cost me my life. Nobody will hurt you, nobody will. I’ll make sure of it, okay Y/N? Can you believe me and trust me with that?”

You hum softly while nodding, wiping away the tear that rolled down your cheek. “Please.. Keep me safe.. I’m scared the killer saw me and I’m next on the list..”

You hear a soft sad sigh from the other line before you hear his softer and more gentle voice speak out once again: “I promise, I’ll keep you safe. How about tomorrow I’ll come pick you up and I’ll hold your hand the whole time while we shop together, hm? I’m sure that’ll make you feel a lot safer right?” He ends the sentence with a cute chuckle.

“Alright.. I’d like some fresh air actually.. Text me the time you’ll be here then, okay? I’ll stop calling now.. I’m getting very tired.” Not even 10 seconds later you already see his message appear with the time, making you chuckle slightly from his enthusiasm.

“There you go! I hope you sleep well tonight. Dream of me instead! I’ll even protect you in your dreams~”

You sigh and face palm your forehead softly from his very obvious flirting. “Alright dumbass, I’ll dream of you instead.” You hear his gasp on the other line and can’t help but laugh. “Goodnight to you too.. Thank you by the way. Byee byee~”

I guess tomorrow will be your first time going outside after the incident, how is that going to go?

---

Hope u have a lovely day<3

Much love,

Angel

Last updated: 07-08-2023

[blue-dream-catcher]

#2 My brain thinks I have a crush

Back when I was in school, there was a girl in my class I tried to be friends with. While I was a straight-A's student, she was not, but she dedicated her school life to drawing, sports, and maths, and she was much more outgoing and lively than me. She took part in basketball championships, helped me understand the parts of maths I was very slow at, and she'd be the one to draw all of our class's school event posters from the sketches I made. She was really good at it, too: she wanted to be a tattoo artist. To this day, I have two drawings she made for me and one drawing I shamelessly borrowed from her after an art class competition - all put up on my wall because I like them so much. I would not say that we were *friends*, but we were definitely on a good note with each other. I enjoyed watching her draw or just sitting next to her, not speaking or anything, simply observing her do her stuff. Sometimes, as we were getting older, I would catch myself thinking she was pretty, and she was so much cooler than me, always surrounded by people with whom she could goof off, while I was a socially awkward introvert, but never ever have I thought I had a crush on her.

Back then, I didn't even have the idea that I could like girls the same way I did boys. While I had "quiet" crushes on some of the boys in my class, I wouldn't think I could ever think the same way about girls, even the ones I found cute or cool. The realisation came to me in college, but at the time, I was already utterly alone after cutting off all of my school connections, and my college experience was basically a completely blank sheet of paper. School graduation was the last occassion when I saw that girl, and I'm pretty sure she lives in a different country now, but at some point my brain started *randomly* giving me dreams about her, and in those dreams, I have a heavy sympathy for her.

I must admit, they make me feel extremely embarrased, and I am not a fan of these dreams. It somehow feels a bit weird to have romantic dreams about a person you last saw a few years ago, but my subconscious is stubbornly trying to persuade me that I find that girl much more attractive than I actually would in real life. In these dreams, that used to happen basically every night a while back but now only occur sometimes for no understandable reason, I am usually back in my school and I try my best to be around her, take care of her, be cute with her, help her, and - on (thankfully) rare occasions - push the awkward romantic stuff further into cuddling. During this one nap, we met in the middle of the street, and she told me about her sad romantic life and even called me pretty, but in most cases she doesn't notice my sympathy immediately, and I try not to be obvious with it either, which is pretty much how I would behave in real life with a person I like.

Honestly, as of now, I am tired of these dreams. I'm absolutely sure that I would be happy to see her again in real life, even in a few more years, and I would be excited to ask her how she's been, but these stupid sleep fantasies that I often laugh about make me feel like my brain is bullying me - __-

[andreyshch]

What i wanted to delete but shouldn't because one should be honest with oneself but also i never wanted to pile the history of myself. It must be able to take care of itself. But i will delete it already did because of the moral judgements which i have a right to have but not to express. Or is it not the same? Yes, but it's better to speak about the things you like, may be indirectly, than about the things you don't like - no matter directly or indirectly. Rage is a cry for help - never have thought about it this way but it's true, not probably. Strange that it makes it acceptable in others and disgusting to have. The opposite of what usually happens.

Also there was a portion of cheap prophetism typed with one finger. May be it is true, but it doesn't matter.

Instead I want to remember D. in psychiatric facility No.30, who... no, i can't. No, I can. Only it will be fully and genuinely inadequate.

How to write not about but to. Somebody or things. At least to yourself. Unconsciousness is conscious and is even speaking. Although not very loud, it is repeating, insisting. Probably it will never give up, only if there will be no chances left to be heard. But maybe even then it continues to speak, at least to what is left, the body.

It wasn't a tragic event for him.

Last time i saw him half-lying in his bed, the light was shut off in the room which he was sharing with K. and another K. and he was thinking, even if he wasn't, he was away for something.

I had a poem about him, written few years later, but it's lost on the disk which has died. The poem is there but the text is unreadable and cannot be restored. There are some symbols and marks but there are no means to decipher them. Mostly question marks. Corrupted. No, it just disappeared. It wasn't a tragic event for D. He was doing something intellectual in his pre-institutionalized life, nobody knew exactly what. This last time he was just lying with his head and shoulders upright and thinking, focused on something or nothing. I was standing in the light of the corridor in the doorway he was looking at but he didn't seem to notice. After return i was told he was taken to the hospital and suddenly died there.

I will better add some more photos, not mine. Found by me.

This is a photo of one woman, made by her, not of her, called "January. The new year." Blurred because i'm not registered and have no access to the clear image.

This is a cat.

This is some strange defect of my phone. It shows such blackened images of the opened youtube pages sometimes. Randomly. Like they were petrified and found by some cavemen archeologists. Without any knowledge about the internet or the screen with some sublime invisible processes underneath.

This is a photo of a drugstore in L. where i was living for some time 20 years ago. No, a bit more. Now the buildings are huge and numerous and i can't recognize not the buildings but the streets, even directions.

But this photo somehow shows. I don't know what it shows exactly but what it shows is the direct exact image of something. Of something like me. Or, if not, something kin to me, no matter if i'm wrong or forgot it.

the steam of earth, the same as the cloud

°

My little boat,

Take care,

There is no

Land in sight.

*

Charles Simic

[loversj0y]

it completely took me out. like i knew about the bit and had seen clips of the bit several, numerous times even. but i never watched any mcc events before bc i didnt know what was going on when i tried to watch the first time so i got lost and never really watched it after. and Now. Now. a Week ago. i Saw one of the MCC vods in wilburs pov. and i said “why not!” and it was a very early vod for mcc. so then i say. hey. finals is coming up, this could be nice to put on in the background while i work on revisions. and so ive been choosing them randomly, mostly hitting the early ones. but today! i see “MCC 16” and think oo 16 is a good number, like that number, very dividable, why not watch it? and so. there i am, learning how the french revolution changed the perception of graffiti as being vandalism when all of a sudden i hear wilbur soot go from not having a great mcc experience to suddenly being in lore mode. and i think oh? is this bit time perhaps? fun! first time i stumble upon in during vod rewatching, and i return to my paper. only to hear, moments later, wilbur soot loudly praising ace race and saying how ace race is taking him on a date and fucking him, followed by groans and praises, calling ace race his sweet lover, and then, only moments later, following it up by an ace race parody rendition of numerous hamilton songs, most notably, hamilton’s monologue during “the world was wide enough” as he is about to die. and i am just expected to sit there and watch this. as i revise my assignments. absolutely not. my jaw drops. i sit in confusion, awe, and bafflement.

he continues to say things so vulgar that his team (consisting of philza, ranboo, and TOMMY) had to laugh it off as they were entirely unsure of how to respond. (and think about that for a second. TOMMYINNIT. had no response. the same kid who spends the entire vod joking about viagra) and then the game is over. and he just. moves on. as if it was not a world shattering performance art piece he just shared with twitch, youtube, and the world.

hey gang! fun fact!

i was never able to catch mcc live bc i always work saturdays and i usually just never watched the vods bc i just didnt, right? so i never knew. the full extent of the ace race bit.

but ive been going through and watching all of them as i work on my finals coursework. and uhm. yeah. i was not expecting to hear wilbur soot go, loudly, “oh, yeah, ace race, you can fuck me,” and then just. entirely sound very much turned on. and proceed to finish with a hamilton rendition. before, panting and sighing. i didnt expect to hear any of that as i wrote my paper on the history of graffiti.

im not sure how to feel.

[jasontoddswhitestreak]

something more

(originally posted by alpha-bug)

summary: where pietro confesses his feelings to you without actually confessing them to you, through a necklace. inspired by this prompt list.

content warning: pietro maximoff x fem!reader (i’ll try to write more gender neutral fics in the future!) obviously set in a world where he survives and civil war doesn’t happen. (friends to lovers, mutual pining and pietro being a sap.)

note: okay so this is my first fic in a while so i’m sorry if this sucks </3 i want to write more pietro/peter fics so please send requests ! (also lemme know if you can guess the movie bucky was confused about !)

REQUESTS ARE OPEN!

masterlist

"You're staring." Wanda points out, idly watching the older twin stare at the person who clouded his thoughts, not that Wanda needed to read his mind to know that.

"Don't you have something better to do?" Pietro scoffed, unwillingly looking away to glance at his sister. She chuckled, turning away from her brother to check on the pot on the stove, before continuing to chop the vegetables scattered on the chopping board.

"Don't you?" She simply asked, humming to the song playing out loud from her phone, Pietro's eyes were drawn back to you.

You were explaining the plot of a movie to Bucky who stared at the screen in pure confusion. "I don't get it? He killed her but he loved her?" Bucky asked you, in response you shook your head exasperated. "You saw her give birth right after, how could she be dead if she was naming her kids Buck?" You asked, glancing up when you heard the footsteps of someone approaching you.

"You're not replacing me with this old man, right?" Pietro teased, moving to sit next to you, reclining back on the couch, arm around your waist. You rolled your eyes at what he said, automatically leaning into him as the three of you continued to watch the movie playing on the big screen in front of you. The two of you barely noticed when Bucky decided to leave, too caught up with one another to bother caring about what's going on in your surroundings. You pushed him away from you when he tried to steal the m&ms you were currently snacking on only for him to pour most of the packet into his mouth.

"You disgust me Maximoff." You scoffed, biting back the smile forcing its way up. "And you love it Prinţesă." Pietro retorts, his eyes meeting yours. You opened your mouth to say something but nothing could come to mind, it was common for Pietro to randomly call you nicknames but that doesn't mean you were used to it, especially when he'd use pet-names.

Your friendship with Pietro came as a surprise to the rest of the Avengers years ago due to the differences in your personality but if you asked any of them what they thought about your friendship now they'd complain about how clueless the two of you are to the other person's feelings.

Somehow in the chaos that the two of you called your 'friendship', the line between platonic feelings and romantic feelings blurred. Pietro isn't the type of guy to steer away from romance but this situation was entirely different to anything he experienced. He cant just tell his closest friend that he loved you, he couldn't tell you how when he holds you in his arms it pains him to let go. How could he tell you that? After everything that happened to him in the past, the wall he built around his emotions to protect himself began to crumble and you were the cause of it. Pietro always struggled to talk about his feelings, his past. He felt the urge to protect himself and his twin from anything that could hurt them, he didn't want to make the same mistake again.

The unintentional movie night led to the two of you continuing to hanging out in Pietro's room hours later. It was your nightly ritual to watch an episode or two of a show that Pietro usually wouldn't want to watch before the two of you go to bed. Pietro was in the far end of his room, fumbling with something in the palm of his hand while you sat comfortably in the middle of his bed, head resting on one of his pillows as you set up the show on the laptop.

"For someone as quick as you, you sure are taking your sweet time doing whatever it is you're doing."

Pietro glanced back at you in surprise, almost like he forgot what he was supposed to be doing, too busy staring at the dainty chain tangled in the palm of his hands, with a small engagement ring at the end, in place of a pendant capturing all of Pietro's attention. It was fit for a petite woman. The silver was slightly scratched. Two slightly larger silver stones surrounded a slightly larger stone, although quite dull at first glance the engraving on the inside showed was still noticeable.

"I'm in no rush, dragoste mea." He chuckles, shoving the necklace into his pocket before moving to take his shirt off to put on a different one while continuing to speak. Your eyes followed his movements, subtly admiring his body as his muscles unintentionally flexed which resulted in you feeling your cheeks heat up, quickly looking away to not get caught checking out one of your best friends.

"You know I still don't know how I feel about Vision hanging around my sister." Pietro confesses, his overprotectiveness towards his younger sister evident as he continues to replay what occurred during dinner hours ago, Wanda confessing she wouldn't mind moving to a rural neighbourhood with Vision instead of staying at the Avengers Headquarters.

"People can't control who they fall in love with Pietro." You sighed tiredly not realising the irony behind your words, it wasn't the first time Pietro mentioned his hesitation towards the Android.

"People can't, robots can." He scoffed, walking to the dresser to put away his shirt, now wearing a pale blue shirt instead of the charcoal grey T-shirt he was previously wearing.

He moved to the bed, sitting beside you before shifting around to get comfortable. Your hand reaches out to the laptop to begin the episode only for Pietro's hand to place his above yours, stopping you.

"Since we're on this subject..." he paused to pull the necklace from his pockets before holding the necklace out towards you, letting the ring dangle from the chain between the two of you, twisting and turning because of the sudden movements.

You glanced at Pietro in confusion, eyebrows furrowed. He then pulls the hand that was covered by his own and turning it so your palm faced upwards, dropping the necklace in your hand. You held the necklace between your fingers, admiring the gems on the ring before noticing the engraving etched on the inside of the engagement band.

"I+O?" You read out the engraving in confusion, eyes meeting Pietro's soft gaze. He paused for a bit, struggling to put together a sentence that wouldn't cause the wall he created to completely collapse.

"Irina and Oleg, my parents. This was my mother's engagement ring. It was apart of the few belongings they've managed to find after what happened." He gently takes the necklace from you, signalling you to turn away from him so he can put it around your neck. Gently pushing all your hair to the side you felt goosebumps rise wherever Pietro's fingers grazed on your skin, the familiar heat rising in your cheeks once again.

You were secretly relieved that he couldn't see your reaction, the unspoken tension between the two of you currently was unbearable. You looked down at the ring, twirling it around with ur fingers while Pietro continued to speak.

"We decided that Wanda should keep our father's ring since he barely acknowledged me as his son, let alone a person." Pietro chuckles dryly.

Pietro turns you to face him, palm resting on your left cheek. "It looks good on you Draga Mea." He compliments you, eyes glancing down to your lips ever so often. "Why did you decide to give it to me?" You whispered, struggling to find your own voice.

Pietro's mouth curved into a smile, his thumb gently stroking your face

"Can't you tell?" He asked.

"Hmmm i think I'm going to have to hear you say it." You teased, smiling up at him, arms sliding around his neck pulling him closer towards you. He rolled his eyes feigning annoyance before telling you what you wanted to hear.

The next morning Wanda lightly knocked on her brother's door, wondering why he wasn't at breakfast. Waiting a couple moments for a response Wanda slowly opened the door only to be met with with the two of you lying in bed in each other’s arms,  the laptop ended up at the edge of the bed as you completely forgot about it after the events of last night. Pietro had his arms tightly wrapped around your waist while your head rested on his chest, the two of you smiling contently.

"They're good for each-other." Wanda whispers to her partner who stood beside her.

"They are indeed."

[mayakern]

I saw on your Twitter you play dnd! What kind of character do you play and what system? Also, do you do your own commissions of your characters or do you get it from other artists?

oh hell yeah i love dnd!!! i mostly just play 5E but my regular group did our second session in city of mists last night and it was SUPER fun (we play that instead of our ongoing game whenever our aussie players can’t make it)

i don’t usually reuse dnd characters because even tho i love my characters, they usually all end up with their own history and relationship to their games so adapting them feels weird, but here’s a run down of some of my favorite characters i’ve played! (and ye all this art is by me)

1. anenome (or nem for short)

she’s a water genasi arcane trickster rogue/divination wizard. she’s from a game where we started out playing kids (nem was 11) and then after a Big Event had an 11 year time skip where everyone in the party had to separate before a big reunion. she used to be a really shy and sweet and optimistic kid, but after everything fell apart and she became an accidental criminal, she stopped believing in any sort of fairness in the world and grew up super jaded and nihilistic, tho she still strives to protect that spark of optimism in others (not that she’d admit that). she is SUPER SUPER gay and is married to flare (fire genasi sorcerer). they have a bunch of history and i love them a lot!

2. nora

this is my city of mists character!! she’s a twitch streamer/cam girl/only fans model/l33t h4x0r. she’s clever and compassionate and very silly and a bit gross. part of her backstory is that when she was a relatively new twitch streamer, someone tried to cyberbully her by calling her a “garfield looking ass motherfucker” and so she immediately dyed her hair orange and made that her entire persona just to fuck with them (thus the custom garf headset).

3. hemlock

hemlock is an onomancy wizard! she was made for a storybook game — essentially all the characters lived on a bookshelf in someone’s home and can travel between books.

when characters travel into a new book, especially if it’s an “active” book (i.e. currently being read), they get assigned a role that is both available and closest to their archetype (so, as a wizard, if hemlock entered a book of king arthur’s tales she would likely be assigned as morrigan or merlin if available, or another magic user if not).

hemlock herself was from a story where her family (two sisters and her mother) were turned from good witches/princesses (it was unclear) into evil hags/witches and hemlock bartered her name (and right eye) to keep her mind/heart/goodness.

the onomancy wizard subclass is SUPER interesting and fun and is all about the naming of things and works super well with fairytale stuff (which i love). tbh i REALLY want to play hemlokc more. that game was insanely fun and ended prematurely due to scheduling difficulties. i just don’t think there is another game setting that would ever work for her bc she is so specific.

4. althea

my most recent character is althea! she’s an aasimar grave cleric. she woke up in a morgue about two weeks ago (in game time) and instantly fell in love with the mortician who discovered she was still(?) alive. she has no memories of her past (and tbh no real desire to go looking for them). she is smart but also a dumb ass, has 6 charisma and no sense of self preservation and is completely and utterly in love with rosemary (the mortician, now barkeep) and will literally do anything she wants, no questions asked (and will even do things she THINKS rosemary wants unasked... such as maybe yoinking a very obviously cursed goblet from a ritual circle of living corpses in literally the first game session just bc she thought rosemary would think it was cool).

5. penny

penny was my first long-term dnd character! she was my third dnd character ever but in a lot of ways i consider her my first because the other two were run primarily in 4E and didn’t meet often enough (or just enough period) for me to get a grasp on them or the game mechanics.

penny is a light domain cleric. she was made for a buddy cop game i joined randomly on roll20 because i couldn’t find a consistent group to meet with IRL. i was super nervous to join a random game with strangers but really wanted to play dnd so i gave it a shot and i am SO glad i did because i still play with that group! or.. what became of that group. it started out as a group of me and a bunch of strangers, but i quickly made friends with the DM and one of the other players, then devin joined a couple months in, and slowly original players left for various reasons and we invited other ppl in (a couple of my friends, the other longterm player’s gf, etc) and now that is the main group i still play with! (nem and nora and a bunch of my other characters are from games w that group)

when the game was open for player/character apps, we were asked to pitch what role our character would play in a buddy cop movie and i picked the straight man archetype (haha i know). penny is very sweet and shy and wholesome.

i have a bunch of other characters, most of which can be found on toyhouse, but this post is already way too long as is! whoops!

[astranne]

HAIAHWISEN im so excited for school BAUABAISKAIES im literally only excited for science class BAHAHEISNE so in dropping tighnari and collei hcs modern school stuff bc BAUAHSIENWI

Tighnari being a Science teacher makes so much sense totally not because i said so. Tighnari would be a funny teacher tho. Him?? He would make rlly stupid plant jokes cant tell me other wise and other biology jokes too. Maybe even chemist jokes.

Collei would try her ABSOLUTW hardest to be the best in class but i feel like Tighnari would favor her over the others. COLLEI MY BELOVED! Imagine her studying in Tighnari's class and he just bonks her on the head with a plant book (softly) and gives it to her to help.

Tighnari going around class talking and calling the popular student a funny botanical name and waiting to see their reaction (plot twist its on the current topics and he does it to keep them on their toes).

Tighnari wouldnt pull out a pop quiz no, he'd do a pop test and prolly laugh himself to sleep knowing the hell he gave his students. Alternative, he straight up says "fuck it" and give them quizzes suddenly in the middle of lessons in pure spite to mess with them to see if they pay attention.

Collei being the wonder she is, always passes. Tighnari gives her candy and reluctantly gives the orhers candy too.

YK THAT ONE IMAGINE OF "student's tears" WITH THE TEACHER DRINKING IT? THATS TIGHNARI RIGHT THERE!

I dont know but i saw a hc that Albedo and Tighnari would get along and ive clutched onto that. Imagine them studying together in college and losing contact and then getting to know eachother again when they realize they work at the same school.

Tighnari not so subtly adopting Collei, Collei meeting Sucrose, Albedo adopting Sucrose, Sucrose meeting Collei. The Nerd Squad 🫶 My skrunklies in one spot.

-🪶

*takes deep breath*

fischl anon has once again decided to bless us with a masterpiece… i love this sm i can‘t- this brings me so much joy, just all the possibilities and scenarios running in my head…

tighnari is a biology teacher, it's canon now. well, modern au canon, but still. he kinda reminds me of my own biology teacher (he also teaches chemistry, so yes, tighnari will also teach chemistry), who knows the most random shit on earth, all while knowing all, and i mean ALL, plants in our country by heart and many more. this man... still don't know HOW he can remember all of this and know with one look from which region the plant or flower came from, but yeah. thats basically tighnari.

and yes, he will make jokes. he will also always say "i know it's not very interesting when i talk in my boring voice, but i hope you still learn something" (while his voice is just calm and not boring 😭he keeps all the sass very hidden, until it just randomly pops up) he's also the favorite teacher. if you have him in bio and/or chem, you are blessed.

every student he had has his own plant name (in latin too) and he remembers. every. single. one. even students from his first class, which was already years ago. and everyone has another plant name, never the same one. by the end of the semester, students now answer when they're called by their own name, their plant name and said plant name in latin-

COLLEI- i love collei sm and i didn't even start the event yet. (i'm still at the archon quest, who tf made this quest so long?? (not that i'm complaining but it takes so much time...))

collei is his favorite student and also the favorite of everyone else, no discussion.

also, tighnari doing random pop quizes, which are like super hard, is also canon now. he does this to prepare them better for their exams and especially finals, and he prides himself that his students never fail bio/chem (i admit a bit unrealistic, but many students have crushes on him and want to impress him, so they study super hard) not to mention, they always think the exams are really hard, but it's actually rather easy, since they're so used to random hard pop tests. and since said tests always get graded too, everyone pays attention and even revives at home.

tighnari only gives out dextrose. like the dextrose energy bonbons thingies. (i love these sm and my previous math teacher always gave them to us when we remembered the chem formula of glucose (which is C6H12O6 hehe)) and he will always carry these around and when he walks in the classroom to check the papers the students are currently working on, he just gives it to them when they did good. it's like being blessed by god. because tighnari always smiles then. yes. many students have their crush on him. (me too tbh)

OKAY BUT- tighnari seems kinda a sadistic teacher, like why tf would this person be a teacher?? but he's just preparing them for their future, where it's even harder. and he isn't just mean mean, but also nice? like- yeah, everything i just said above lmao. because i have several teachers who drink student tears for breakfast, and he isn't one of them. no way.

yes. albedo and tighnari are teacher besties. albedo probably teaches history. or physics. albedo and tighnari also randomly just join their classes to teach mixed subjects/lessons (like,,, evolution, orrrr idk some random history which involves bio. OH maybe also alchemy classes, but those are like optional classes (you bet those are always full and it's first come, first serve))

sucrose and collei are now best friends because their adoptive nerd dads are best friends too. just... them <3

okay and now that i've seen tighnari and albedo as teachers, lisa is the librarian (ofc she is), jean is the headmistress, barbara is the school nurse and noell is besties with sucrose and collei, since amber dragged her to met them and now we have precious 4 lil nerds. because yes, noelle is a nerd too (she wants to be like jean in this one, which means she wants to be headmistress, which means she has to study hard) and amber is really smart too (even tho most don't really notice with her personality) and since amber is already besties with collei, yeah- we now have sucrose, collei, amber and noelle as the four nerd children of albedo and tignari. they try to deny it but it's useless. everyone knows <3

OKAY THANK YOU SM FOR SENDING THIS!!! i loved this sm, like ugh- just met tighnari, saw some crumbs of him (since i didn't do the story quest yet) and i'm just... i really want to pet his ears :)

sorry this took me a bit longer, but i'm still in pain and just try to sleep the whole day to ignore my pain ._.

[saberstars]

I'm Here

Pairing: Gender Neutral Y/N & Loki

Fluff, angst, implied smut

Warnings: Mentions of depression/mental illness, epilepsy/seizures, mentions of sex, as always if I missed anything feel free to let me know

Summary: Loki & You have a pre-existing friendship with benefits & one night you have a seizure after some spiciness. He cares for you helping you afterwards & makes sure you rest easy & safe. Reader is portrayed to have seizures more so during changes in sleep phases, not awake. The wake seizures or more of a medium ish absence/ focal aware seizure that only occur on occasion & can be “fought” through.

Word Count: 1796

Notes: This was intended to be a gender neutral reader. I think I removed all he/she pronouns.

Additionally, I know that not everyone experiences seizures the same way, and that epilepsy can affect people differently. This is all written from my experiences with it, so I ask that you do not tell me I portrayed something wrong. I can and will accept constructive criticism, But I will not accept someone telling me blatantly that I am wrong with my experiences. Therefore please keep that in mind when reading. I genuinely hope this fic brings others comfort if you suffer from epilepsy or any disorder that causes seizures. Thank You <3

It’s been three years since you found out you suffered from epilepsy. A diagnosis that came late in your life to be fair. As a young child up until you reached adulthood, you suffered from eye shakes that would eventually turn into stuttering spells that made it difficult to breath or not breath properly at all. You never passed out though, you got close a few times, but you managed to stay awake and “fight it off.” You started to notice over time that you’d also get a strange taste in your mouth, almost like metal or as if you were sucking on a battery and it had that zing flavor. You knew that was a precursor and would panic on cue rightfully so. You hated when you had your mini stutter fests because all you could do was hope it didn’t happen.

Of course you complained to your parents as a child but they didn’t think it was anything. They said it was just a panic attack. So you took their word for it. That was until you started having grand mals in your sleep. At first you thought they were just a part of some strange dream, that wasn't real to you, not yet anyway. You would wake up exhausted, sore, sometimes unable to move properly, walk, open and close a fist, and you just overall couldn't stay conscious sometimes. Again you complained to your parents about it, but they said it was nothing. You probably had night terrors or some form of minor sleep paralysis. So you dumbly believed them.

When you moved out, You sought answers, and eventually got them. You were grateful. The medication they prescribed helped tremendously though, it did make you tired but it was worth not having your episodes. Thankfully your case wasn’t as severe as others and it was manageable so long as you took care of yourself and took your medications. Though you were warned, breakthroughs were common, and missing your dose can and would cause a seizure.

Despite having such a diagnosis, you kept it to yourself. You never really told anyone. It wasn’t until you started sleeping with a friend, that you finally divulged your secret too in the event that it ever happened whilst they were with you.

It was someone you randomly slept with on and off with. A friend with benefits, his name was Loki. You had met the god shortly after his father had passed and his home, destroyed. You found comfort with each other despite it being more of a sexual comfort. You both used sex as a way to fight your own demons, a distraction, a quick grab at serotonin. Despite the sex you both developed a very deep friendship. You’d read together on occasion, have very interesting debates on current events, history, as well as other nuances, and a lot of other things. You even met his brother and the avengers at one point.

You both slept soundly after spicy events had taken place 2 hours prior, Loki had come over desperate for attention of any kind. He didn’t say why, but you knew it was a rather serious topic he wished not to discuss and rather lessen the pain with ecstasy. Little did you know, on this day a few years ago he indirectly murdered his mother. He blamed himself dearly, he knew if he would have kept his mouth shut for once in his life she may be here today. So he needed a genuine distraction. One of any kind. Preferable you. Due to the spicy events that took place you missed your dose, due to falling asleep promptly after, which cost you dearly. Missing doses always caused this to happen no matter what.

You gasped for air like usual, your body contorting outwards first with a thrust. You were awake, conscious, and terrified for the few seconds you normally were given before blacking out. You began to stutter violently all the air leaving your lungs as it happened. Until no sounds were made and it was just you chattering. Loki woke immediately, with a completely calm exterior despite a raging mixture of emotions internally. He knew you never called an ambulance for these things because you were normally alone & unaware until you became conscious again. She made him promise to never call 911 unless it was over a certain time length, to save her medical expenses, or unless she stopped breathing for good.

Loki dare not touch you though as you shook and curled up. The last thing he wanted was his godly strength to crush you somehow or cause you more pain. Instead he watched and hovered until you finally stopped. It was a short 50 second one, which was under your time limit, but he still debated calling. It’s not like You would’ve known he lied.

His breathing hitched as he went to check your pulse and airway, ever so delicately, which were both clear and strong.

“Oh thank you.” he whispered

A few hours had slid by with still no response from you. Loki sat next to you, staring down at you, to the point where he would fight the urge to blink, waiting for a stir of some kind from you. He did give the courtesy of redressing you though, in a nightgown from a drawer after an hour slid past. He even went as far as ensuring that you were adequately covered by the blankets to avoid being chilled. It has been 3 ½ hours now, with no stir of any kind from you. He knew it would be awhile before you showed any signs of movement possibly but this worry tore him to his core. In the midst of waiting he refused to just idly go back to sleep next to you, he was determined to stay awake until you were conscious again, so that you knew, he stayed there waiting for you. Loki didn’t know when he found himself talking to you as if you were awake, but all he knew was that it made him feel a bit better, and he hoped that when you woke it would make you feel better too.

“You know, I’ve been reading this really dumb gothic romance novel. I think you’d like it because of how naive the girl is. I know you like to criticize and pick on how they make decisions.” he spoke with a chuckle in his voice thinking back to how you’d flail your arms and drop your book to scream about how dumb some main protagnist could be.

“I'll have to buy you a copy or give you mine when I’m done.” Loki shifted his weight from his right to his left brushing your bangs out of your eyes.

“I don’t know why you keep those so long, all they do is get in the way of your gorgeous eyes.”

It was in that moment you rustled, you shifted your neck ever so slightly, Your eyelids twitch. Loki leaned forward parting his lips as he watched with a heart of hope completely overwhelmed with joy when he saw the color of your iris’s. He exhaled a shaky breath cupping your cheeks which caused you to flinch sending a wave of shocks through your body. It was at that moment you knew. You knew what he saw, what he had gone through. Your heart sank and you immediately berated yourself internally despite your exhausted state.

“It’s ok you don’t have to say or do anything. I’ll stay, I’ll take care of you for as long as you need.” Loki assured you, wanting you to know that you didn’t have to go through this alone. You never really had anyone stay, let alone worry about you. Your eyes began to water as tears rolled down your face.

“I’ll go grab you some water, you’re probably parched. I’ll also grab you a banana. I read that potassium can help with the cramping.” Loki said leaving to yourself for a moment. He also grabbed tissues for your eyes and nose just in case. Upon returning her placed everything at your side offering help to sit up. “Do you need to use the bathroom or help sitting up?” He asked with a gentle tone.

You nodded trying to take a good deep breath so you could speak a bit. “I’m so sorry you had to see that… but thank you. Thank you for staying, for helping. I do need the bathroom and I would appreciate help. My legs are still...” you mustered out with all your might but after a point your tongue refused to work with you.

“Of course, I may be a monster but I’m not entirely cruel. If it helps… you can just think to yourself and I can listen that way. So that you're not struggling too much.” Loki admitted with a tone of self depreciation.

“You're not a monster just because you're different & have made mistakes.” you thought as Loki picked you up bridal style walking you to the bathroom. Of course he placed you down on the toilet and waited outside for you to do what you needed. Since he had only added a nightgown to your previously naked body it made things easier. It was exhausting to just sit up and do everything but you pushed through. You even pushed yourself up and limped to the sink best you could to wash your hands. Upon hearing the faucet though Loki came back in standing behind you offering support if needed.

“Catch me~” you thought before falling back into his arms with a snort.

“You're lucky I have godlike reflexes you minx.” He replied with a hint of flirtation. You had used more than you had in you to wash your hand. Loki caught you obviously and carried you back to the room placing you back on the bed. “No, more like I knew you were ready to catch me.” you slowly thought as exhaustion tugged at your consciousness again. Loki noticed the pill bottle on your dresser before prompting you to take it. Instinctively opening it and sliding one into his hand.

“You should probably take this before you fall asleep.” You took it mentally saying thanks drinking the glass of water with it.

“Yeah that would probably help avoid some added breakdancing.” You joked trying to use humor to lighten the situation. Loki stared plain faced trying not to entertain your joke though, despite finding it secretly witty. Maybe he’d laugh at it when you felt a bit better. Soon after you began to dance between awake and sleep. Loki took note based on how your thoughts jumbled around between multiple things, laughing to himself a bit before minor intrusive fears began picking at you. Loki immediately jumped into action in an attempt to squash them soothing you a bit.

“You can sleep soundly, please get some rest. You don’t have to force yourself to stay awake out of fear or guilt.” Loki spoke in the most caring and sweet tone he could muster up. Trying to convince you that it was going to be ok & it worked. Somehow you knew he was right & that you could trust him completely. You drifted back to sleep peacefully thinking about how for the first time in your life, you didn’t fear sleeping in your bed. You didn’t have intrusive thoughts about whether or not you’d wake up in the morning or not. Which honestly brought tears bubbling their way up and out of Loki's eyes. The amount of trust you had in him in your thoughts, at that moment completely took his breath away. And that was something he wasn’t going to break or ever lose.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

ayup, clanny! have you seen the AGOTI mod yet? if yes, can you do some headcanons or a scenario where the newly imprisoned AGOTI meets the unwilling warden of the void who’s been trying to escape for a few years (i think time moves faster in the void), so they team up to get out. When Cherry and Keith show up, Cherry actually recognizes the warden as the crazy talented old producer for her and Tabi before they mysteriously disappeared, and they all end up escaping and the warden becomes AGOTI’s new producer. -🎋🦊

Ooooh nice idea! I love the mod so yes ......

"Ugh..stupid-ass demon scumbags!" Agoti stormed around the Void in anger, jumping from one floating rock to the next. "They couldn't handle me taking the spotlight?! What kinda bullshit is that?!!"

"Hey buddy, you might wanna chill out-"

"SHUT UP, ASSHOLE!!" Spinning around, the tendrils of his hair lashed out at the other person who spoke.

But he was surprised when you dodged the attack. With little effort you grabbed his hair and flipped him over, sending him crashing to the ground. He groaned in pain and opened his eyes, shocked to see the electrified prong aimed at his chest.

Though he also saw you were covered in armor, sporting a symbol of some kind on your chestplate. "I'm giving you one more chance to calm down." You warned. "I really don't like hurting people."

"Yeah? Well you really kicked the shit outta me just now.." Agoti hissed, but ultimately decided to give in. "Fine. I'm cool. Can ya point that thing somewhere else?"

You nodded and held your spear back to your side, while he got up and dusted himself off. "Who are you anyway?"

"The Warden of the Void. I assume you're that hotheaded "A Guy On The In-""

"Just call me Agoti. It's less of a mouthful." He put his hands on his hips, looking around at the white sky. "So you're the warden of this place? This goddamn prison that I shouldn't even be in.."

"I heard a lot of folks say that but..I'm inclined to agree with you."

He did a double-take. "Wait, really?"

"According to this log.." Waving your hand, you brought up a hologram that displayed his profile. "You're here for...outshining every singer in your town and threatening the careers of two famous rockstars?"

"...what the fuck..so they weren't bullshitting?"

"No. To be sent here because of that is an unusual punishment."

"So you can't enter a plea deal or whatever? Make those jerks come in here instead?"

"Unfortunately I can't." You made the hologram disappear. "In a way I was wrongfully imprisoned, too."

Agoti seemed baffled, so you explained how you were sent here ages ago. You've forgotten what you previously did, but one day you were just randomly given the duties of the Void's warden. Anything you needed to subdue and process prisoners was granted to you--but you could never leave even if your sentence was finished.

You've sought out ways of escaping for years...without much success. But you didn't wanna get caught, and until Agoti came here, you had no actual incentive to leave.

Once you finished your story, the screen demon hummed in thought. "So..you want out, I want out. I bet we can make something happen." With a toothy grin, he offered his hand to you. "How 'bout you show me the ropes and I'll help you find an escape? Deal?"

"It could take us a long time to figure that out." You hesitated. "You should be aware that time moves exceptionally fast in this dimension. Minutes out there are like hours in here-"

"So what? Better to start finding a way out now than later. C'mon.." Agoti was growing impatient, but fortunately he managed to get through to you, as you shook his hand.

"Alright, Agoti. It's a deal." You smiled.

...........

Neither you or Agoti knew how long it's been since you made that deal to help each other escape.

But finally, you figured it out. The solution was right there in front of you all along:

A singing battle

Singing was the key to escaping this place. With the combined soundwaves of two singers, a portal to the real world could be produced.

Now the only problem was...you were never really a singer, and Agoti was. So it wouldn't be a fair match that can create a strong-enough portal.

"You're tellin' me there ain't another goddamn singer here?!!" He fumed one day as you regrettably told him no other prisoner was proficient in music. "Great..juuuuuust GREAT!! We spent all this time and got nothing out of-!"

"Wait, what's that?"

Agoti looked to where you were pointing, seeing a portal opening up in the sky, before two figures fell out of it: a boy with blue hair and a girl in a red dress.

They crash landed onto the platform you and Agoti were on, miraculously suffering no injuries of any kind.

"Huh..this is new.." He remarked as he approached the couple.

The blue-haired boy made a beeping noise, standing up and rubbing his head. You noticed the microphone in his hands, but more notably..you recognized the girl who was with him.

"My apologies but..have we met?"

"Hm?" The brunette looked up at you, surprised, though you could see her eyes flash with recognition. "Are you...[y/n]?"

"[Y/n]? You two know each other?" Agoti quirked an eyebrow, bewildered. He hadn't known your actual name until now.

"Yeah, a long time ago I was her music producer. But last time I saw her she was with someone else." You mused, trying to remember who her last boyfriend was. "It was.....Tabi wasn't it, Charlotte?"

"Woah woah...Tabi dated her?!! No way. He never told me about that!"

"Yeah um..we were together for a while," Charlotte awkwardly chuckled. "But....I-I'd rather not talk about it. I just have a new boyfriend now. He's Keith." She gestured to the blue-haired guy.

"Yeah! And..uh...skee deh beh doo bop!" Keith pointed at Agoti, who looked offended by whatever he said.

But he went back to snarling at the pair, manifesting a microphone out of thin air as he stepped closer. "Another singer, huh? Well I hope you have better insults than that! Because we're all gonna be here a while....a very long one."

Knowing what was about to happen, you decided to stand by them and make sure nobody else interrupted, while Charlotte hopped onto a nearby floating rock.

And so you watched Agoti and Keith have a rap battle, in which your friend kept losing again and again. You did try to warn him not to lose his temper, as this could be the only chance of you two escaping this prison.

But his frustration and impatience got the better of him, as by the third round he turned the platform into a giant speaker and sent it flying into the air. Poor Charlotte was clinging onto the rock for dear life, but you caught her and tried to keep steady as the platform swayed.

"Well..so much for "staying calm"." You sighed as Agoti shouted at his rival, berating him for "insulting him", before the two had one final showdown.

Although he lost yet again, their combined efforts managed to breach a portal into the dimension, and you all escaped through it.

Finally..you and Agoti were free from this hell.

~Epilogue~

In the weeks following the events in the Void, you've decided to become Agoti's new music producer once his career started back up. Thanks to your talent, the fans returned in no time at all.

The main issue was him previously making a competition out of singing, so he decided to perform his music locally and lose the ego...just a little bit of it.

Meanwhile Solazar, his friend and manager, was concerned about Charlotte and her ties to the family that trapped you to begin with.

Though the two of you just brushed that aside for the time being, wanting a chance to experience the real world again.

It was good to be back.