#i say this as if everyone doesn’t already know/assume LMAO | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kyber-crystal · 9 months

Text

i will follow you into the dark || bradley "rooster" bradshaw

summary: your first instinct has always been to push people away when they get too close, but for some reason, you have trouble letting one pilot go. but little did you know that he had settled into your heart from the start and has no intention of leaving. (in which you have Bradley Bradshaw wrapped around your finger, and you don’t even notice—5 occasions that solidify your love for him, and 1 time you realize it)

words: ~3.3k

warnings: angst (BUT A HAPPY ENDING, I PROMISE), near-death experiences, brief mentions of violence, also my writing LMAO

a/n: hi guys i haven't posted a full-length fic in a LONG time but here we go :) this fic won the vote so it's going up first! hope you enjoy :)

I. meet me in the middle

“Mav!”

You and Maverick turned around at the same time. “Which one?”

“The pretty one,” Rooster stated.

“Be more specific.”

“I am being specific, Captain.”

“No, you aren’t.”

“Fine, I need your daughter.”

“You always need her for something.”

“Sorry, pops,” you grinned and clasped Maverick’s shoulder, and walked over to Bradley. “Come to kidnap me again, Bradshaw?”

“Actually, I’m hungry.”

“Then…go eat? I don’t see what any of that has to do with me.”

“I’m going to dinner, and I want you to come along,” he explained. “So, let’s go.”

“Is that why Cyclone was grumbling about someone spilling coffee all over him earlier? I knew it had to be you that put him in that mood.”

“Doesn’t matter. Come on.”

You looked back at your father, who simply laughed and motioned for you to go. The test flight would have to wait.

It was 5:30 when you got there, but the usually-crowded cantina had only one other person inside. Rooster didn’t hesitate as he set down his car keys and slid into the booth right next to you.

“There’s a seat right there,” you pointed out.

“And?”

“You can sit over there.”

“I don’t want to, though.”

“Alright, then.”

You weren’t even done for the day and already, felt tired and worn out beyond belief. The one thing that had been keeping you going was Maverick’s promise to take you on a Mach 7 test flight. (With the Admiral’s permission, of course. But you wouldn’t be surprised if he had never asked.)

Rooster tells the waitress your order without blinking, and you give him a tired smile as a thank you.

There’s no animated conversation, no loud comments or jokes or anything of the sort as the food comes out, but neither of you mind. Sometimes, all you needed to cool down from a long week was each other’s company and a steaming plate of fajitas.

The little routine you’ve established falls into place so easily you don’t even have to think. Impromptu dinners, blasting 80’s music as the sun goes down, taking the offbeat path down to the coast with salt in your windswept hair. Little to no words spoken, and somehow the silence speaks volumes.

But you don’t understand why he’d choose you to do this with, out of everyone. You’d expect him to drift towards someone less damaged. Someone who could keep up to his free and daring spirit and push him to his limits. Someone who had less baggage and didn’t flinch at every little touch.

But despite all that he doesn’t leave. Even when everyone else around you seemed to, he was always there, assuring you he’d wait no matter what.

“Don’t worry about it.” He places a gentle hand over yours as he hands his card over to pay later that evening. “Let me treat you tonight.”

“Thanks…”

He holds the door open for you as you walk out and keeps a ghost of a hand against your back the whole way to the car. You’re trying to burrow into yourself, but he doesn’t stop looking at you. The feeling of his eyes on you sends shivers running down your spine and you nervously shift in your seat.

“You okay?” Rooster places his hand on the headrest as he reverses out of the parking lot. “You seem quiet tonight.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” He doesn’t press any further, assuming that you’re tired and that’s why you’re unwilling to say much. He knows. He understands. “If you ever need to talk, though, I’m one call and a 15 minute walk away. Or 7, if I sprint.”

This makes you laugh a bit. “If you say so.”

II. waiting on you

As soon as you hop out of your plane, he’s the first one there to greet you and pulls you in for a hug. You have no time to react to it because he’s so quick to sweep you up into his arms. You can smell a mix of sweat and coffee and a little bit of raspberries on him, and it helps bring you back down to reality.

“You saw me a few hours ago, Roos…please let me go…” you mumbled into his shoulder. His grip on you only tightens further. “What’s with the excitement?”

“Nothing. I’m just happy to see you.”

Not knowing what else to do, your hands awkwardly reach up to pat him on the back. “It’s good to see you, too.”

Though you don’t say it out loud, you’re also just as happy to see him—it’s comforting to know he’ll be waiting whenever you return from something. And that, you think, is more than enough.

Rooster carries your things for you without asking, and you’re grateful because your shoulders feel like they’re going to fall out of their sockets. Once again, he’s standing close by as you go to your quarters, ever the watchman. If he doesn’t have a hand on you, then his eyes will stay glued to you for as long as they can be.

“Is that my shirt?” he asks as you step out of the bathroom wearing an oversized vintage T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

“No.”

“It looks better on you, anyway.” He smirks; you fail to notice the way his gaze lingers on you a bit longer than normal. “You ready to go? They’re waiting for us at the Hard Deck. Hangman’s complaining about a rematch or somethin’.”

You lean into his side and smile, and he puts an arm across your shoulders. It feels so natural that you almost don’t notice. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

His eyes never leave you, even when he’s in the thick of the game. It’s impossible to ignore the heat pooling in your stomach every time his gaze flickers over to yours.

Coyote notices your dazed look and nudges Payback in the side. “How is it that everyone knows that Bradshaw and Y/N love each other except Bradshaw and Y/N?”

“Because they’re stupid,” Payback whispered back.

“Ah. Makes sense.”

“So, we need to do something about it.”

“Hm…I’d say we wait it out. They’re going in the right direction.” A small smile graced Coyote’s face as Rooster pumped a fist up in victory before rushing over to embrace you. “A room full of people, yet all he sees is her.”

“You’re so right, man.”

III. rose-tinted glasses

“What are you looking for out there?” Rooster called out.

“Something pretty,” you replied as you stood by the ocean’s edge, the wind fanning your hair around your shoulders. He’s sure that he’s never seen a more mesmerizing sight.

“I beat you to it, because I already found one,” he stated with confidence, eyes never leaving you.

“Where?”

“I’m looking right at her.”

“That’s not what I meant, silly. Do I look like a seashell to you?”

“No, you’re even better.”

You laugh once again and resume your search. Right then, a glowing scallop catches your eye, and sand dusts your clothes as you bend down to pick it up. It’s smooth and seems to glow in rose gold amidst the early evening light.

“Would you look at that,” you breathed out, palm extended to show him what you’ve found. “It’s perfect.”

Rooster encloses his hand around yours, and you can feel the heat radiating from his skin. It’s cold out but you’re not freezing at all because he’s so close. He’s so close. Your heart skips a beat.

“Wow…it sure is.”

He kneels down with you, and you spend the next few hours making it a competition to see who can find the most unique set of stones. A strange feeling washed over you as you watched his brows furrow in concentration. Never had you imagined to be spending Thursday night with Bradley Bradshaw by the seashore, and yet, it feels like you’ve done this thousands of times before.

Everything seems to fall into place.

IV. for you, i’d cross the line

“Y/N, hey.”

“Are you drunk?”

“Doesn’t matter. Move over.”

You shifted on the bench to make room for him and he sat down next to you. This was probably his tenth time playing his rendition of ‘Great Balls of Fire’ but that didn’t matter; the man knew how to sing. You found yourself leaning into him and listening to his heartbeat, and the sensation lulled you into a peaceful trance.

You took one good look at your best friend. Sweat lined his forehead and his face was bright red from both the alcohol and heat, but still, you were 100% sure that you’d never seen a more beautiful sight in your life.

The way he seemed to gaze at you made your heartbeat pick up speed. It didn’t matter that he had too one too many drinks in the moments leading up to this, nor did it matter that he was always one to be rather affectionate with you. It didn’t make you love him any less—if anything, it made him all the more endearing.

“You’re looking at me very…intensely,” you mumbled. “It’s making me nervous.”

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he murmured. “A man can’t help it when he’s in love.”

“Was that tipsy you or sober you?”

“Sober me is saying I love you.” He continues playing, unfazed, and the sound of the piano in your ears fades away into nothingness.

It’s drunk Rooster telling you he means what he says, the confidence boost making him do things he normally wouldn’t. It’s drunk Rooster attempting to serenade you as his warm, alcohol-riddled breath falls against your neck. It’s drunk Rooster talking…but there’s a sober truth hidden behind his words that sends a shiver down your spine.

You’re nose-to-nose as he starts to sing, and you lose yourself in a sea of gold and blue as his warm thumb grazes over your cheek. As if there’s an invisible string drawing you together, you move closer and closer towards each other. Drunk or not, he was utterly enchanting and you couldn’t turn away.

Once again…you ignore the stirring feeling in your chest at the feeling of his body being so close to yours.

V. saving grace

You find yourself opening the door to Rooster, who has a bouquet of your favorite flowers and some large Tupperware in hand. Butterflies flutter in your stomach as you accept them and step aside to let him in. “What is this for…?”

“Thought you’d want something nice to add to the kitchen. You and Mav need to work on decorations,” he said. “Why? Do you not like them?”

“No…I’m…how’d you know these were my favorite, anyway?”

“I heard you talking on the phone to Phoenix about them six months ago,” Rooster explained, taking his jacket off and hanging it over the couch. “I pride myself on being observant like that. Also…I woke up early to cook you that pasta you always go nuts over when we drive to LA.”

“Oh.” Your heart twinged as you glanced over—that damn pasta was your favorite thing on the entire planet. You claimed that nobody could make it as well as the diner in Newport did, except Bradley himself. (He didn’t tell you how many times it took to get it just right, though. He didn’t want you freaking out over that. And besides, Maverick’s pots and pans that he borrowed had already paid the price.)

He paused for a moment after setting the container down on the counter. “I noticed you went home early today. Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine,” you lied as you put the flowers in a vase. But that was no use; he could see right through your monotone response. “Didn’t sleep enough last night.”

Bradley sees your hands tremble slightly. “Sweetheart.”

That’s all he needs to say before you step forward and lean your head against his chest. One arm finds its way around your waist to pull you close, while his free hand smoothes your hair out. A cracked sob escapes your lips and you squeeze your eyes shut in the hopes that if you kept them closed long enough and prayed hard enough, a guardian angel would swoop in and save you.

“I’m here, it’s okay, you’ll be okay,” he murmurs. “You’ll be okay.”

“Please don’t go, Bradshaw,” you begged, voice hoarse. “Don’t leave me.”

“I’m right here, don’t worry,” he reminds you, his hand moving down to rub your back. “I’ll be here whenever you need me, I promise.”

You reach your pinky out a bit, and the two of you link your fingers together.

You’re never letting go, and neither is he.

epilogue—soul ties

“I’m trying to shake them off. They won’t let up—shit, I’m hit—”

His panicked voice cuts through the buzz of static and you can feel your whole body go numb. What if he doesn’t make it back… The thought alone is too much to bear.

He curses under his breath and you hear something like that of a whispered prayer and several mentions of Please let me come home to her. Your heart clenches in your chest and you feel like you’re going to puke. Noticing your sudden uneasiness, Maverick grips your hand to keep you steady.

“Bradshaw, what the hell is going on there?” Coyote nervously rubs at his forehead as he looks up at the screen. “If you die, we’re all going to kill you.”

“Left engine’s completely blown out. I have two bogeys on my tail.”

You bite the inside of your cheek until the tangy, metallic taste of blood fills your mouth. This couldn’t be happening. There already was a ghost amongst the skies, and Rooster could not afford to become the second…

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit, I’m going down, guys—” Rooster curses again, and the earsplitting sound of a large blast interrupts him before he can say much else.

“Bradley!” you shrieked as you watched his radar signal slowly fade off the screen. “No—”

Silence punctures the air and you finally lose balance, succumbing to the black void of nothingness.

—

10 hours later, you sit outside the hospital room in the cold hallway, a thin, tear-stained blanket wrapped around your shoulders. Hangman and Phoenix had long since given up on getting you to move, so they took turns sitting with you.

“You should try eating. There’s In-N-Out nearby, I’ll get something for you if you want,” Jake offered.

You shake your head.

“Come on. It’s been all day.”

“No.”

“You’re really that worried about him, aren’t you.”

“No,” you muttered bitterly.

“You claim to not care, yet you’ve been sitting here for the past ten hours.”

“I don’t care. This is me looking out for him in the same way any colleague or teammate of his would. This is what I’m supposed to do. What we’re all supposed to do.”

“Y/N.” Jake sounds a bit more serious this time, and this makes you stop trying to bury yourself within your thoughts. “Listen to me.”

“What,” you exhaled.

"The fact of the matter here is,” he cleared this throat, “Bradshaw cares about you…a lot. Not in a simple and innocent ‘friendly’ way. And if you keep pushing him away like you always do, all 'cause you're scared, you're gonna lose him for good. Losing a good man out of fear is never worth the cost."

Your heart stops.

Every hug, every word and cheesy pickup line, every lingering glance and touch and intertwined set of fingers—he'd fallen first long ago, and pulled you down with him. But you let him, and you'll walk to the ends of the earth if it means he'll hold your hand along the way. And that's when everything hits all at once—the realization comes crashing down like a waterfall.

You were hopelessly in love with him, the man who brings you flowers every Friday night. In love with the man who holds the door open for you, gives you his favorite jackets, and stays up late or wakes up early to learn your favorite comfort meal (even if it means failing 17 times in the process and ruining Maverick's kitchen), the man who serenades you to classic rock ballads with the taste of rum on his lips.

This was Rooster Bradshaw, and he was your soulmate.

“But I already lost him,” your voice falters as you struggle to find the right words to say, “I can’t.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. That man is going to stay waiting for you until the day his body is buried six feet underground. Deny it all you want, but he’ll keep waiting long after he takes his last breath.”

You let out a long sigh and stood up. “Okay.”

You’re hesitant as you step inside the small hospital room. He’s asleep, but he must’ve sensed your presence and his eyes flutter open.

“Sweetheart…”

“Bradley.” He moves over a bit for you, and you sit down next to him. “You’re alive.”

“Sorry for not dying. That must’ve disappointed you,” he jokes. If he’s in any sort of pain, he manages to mask it behind a soft smile. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

“I waited ten hours.”

“You should’ve gone home and slept.”

Closing your eyes, you rest your head against his chest. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing that you weren’t okay.”

He hums some tune against the crook of your neck; lips brushing over your skin. “But I came back, like I promised. I’m okay, because you are.”

Helovesmehelovesmehelovesme.

As if he could read your mind, he leans in just that bit closer. You look up at him and your heart somersaults in your chest.

When your lips meet, everything clicks into place and it’s like you finally found the missing puzzle piece you’d been searching for. He was here all along; it made so much sense. Everything else fades away into the background as you get lost in the feeling of him and him alone. You knew from the moment he stuck out his hand and told you with a million-dollar smile “I’m Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw, and I can make a mean lasagna or anything else you want,” that choosing him would be the single best thing you ever could’ve done.

And you were most certainly right about that now.

“I kept it, you know.” he murmurs as you eventually break away, “I didn’t think it would last as long as it did, but here it is.”

“What…what are you talking about?”

He fingers dip below the scoop of his T-shirt and he brings out the glittering charm, laying it in his hand. “You gave it to me ages ago. It was a while ago but I still remember the exact time and place. August 5th, 2010, 2:26 a.m. We were both on the verge of falling asleep.”

Your heart grows warmer. “Roos…”

Rooster opens the locket, and inside is a picture of you beaming as you wrapped your arms around him from behind. So young and so in love, but not yet knowing how you felt about each other.

“I think this is what kept me alive up there. I was in the air long enough to think about and reflect on the fact that I was dying, but I knew I had to come home to you. I was dying, Y/N, but you saved me. If you didn’t come into my life right when you did then I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be telling you that I love you.”

He has you at a loss for words yet again. It didn’t matter that you’d known each other for years because he would always find a way to steal your breath. The once-tiny caterpillars crawling in your stomach had morphed into giant butterflies that never stopped fluttering when he came too close.

He leans in and he’s kissing you again; this time it’s like you’re his sole source of oxygen and he’s in desperate need of fresh air. Your grip on his hand tightens as he deepens the kiss, and you pray to God that your heart won’t explode into a million pieces like it did when you thought you wouldn’t see him again.

I’ve died and come back to life twice now, Rooster tells himself.

And both of those times, you’re the angel that magically appears to save him from a certain, unfortunate fate.

tags, including people who may be interested (sorry if this list seems off, it hasn't been updated in a while hahah): @sarcastic-sourwolf @totomoshi @sebastianstangirl01 @purelyfiction @lunamoonbby @hazelgirl355 @multifandom-fangirl4 @paintballkid711 @buckysbeloved @lyn-lc @spawn0fsatan @milestomaverick @teacactusworld @cherry-waved @ellabellabus07 @vitanileon @lam-ila @criminalyetminimal @whatlovegattado @queenbbarnes @yeehawnana @t-stark35 @thesunsetphantoms @danirose-0420 @callalily2000 @the-untamed-soul @shizzybarnaclee @bananaa @luvfurdogs @shalaniela @unordinare @and-claudia @lgg5989 @katiemcrae @elenavampire21 @joyfullyswimmingface @nyx2021 @cosm1cfae @ellabellabus07 @vane28282 @bittergomez @littlebadariell @tallrock35 @whotfatemywaffles @hoedameronsworld @aerangi @julia-marshal @uwiuwi

(also if you filled out the general taglist form/top gun taglist form and you're not on here, that means i couldn't tag you for some reason)

#top gun #top gun: maverick #bradley bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw fanfic #top gun fanfic #top gun fic #rooster x reader #bradley bradshaw imagine #rooster bradshaw x reader #miles teller #bradley bradshaw fluff #bradley bradshaw x y/n #top gun maverick fic #top gun fanfiction #bradley bradshaw x you

2K notes · View notes

naddiesflower · 1 year

Text

Calling him by his name and not by a term of endearment

another one in the drafts that needed to see the light of day

Characters: Todoroki Shoto and Bakugo Katsuki

Shoto

You truly didn't mean to do it

You honestly just straight up forgot one day

You would always greet each other outside of class before school started

Like clockwork, you would give each other a small hug and you would always say “hi baby” or something similar, but you would always call him baby…..except for today

“Morning Shoto,” you pull away from the hug, and he has a frown on his face that looks different from the one he usually has

“You okay?”

He’s quick to shake it off, “Yeah, come on, we’re going to be late for class.”

You guys were actually early, but you just brush it off as him wanting to be punctual

Shoto really wants to question you

But he doesn’t

Not outwardly at least

He’s thinking, “are they mad at me?”, “Did I do something to make them mad at me??”

He would do everything possible EXCEPT ask you what was wrong

The both of you walk inside the class and Shoto goes to your seat before you do and pulls out your chair for you

You’re surprised, it’s not like he’s never nice to you (though he doesn’t look it, he’s really nice) but you are perfectly capable of doing menial tasks for yourself

So you never expected him to do that, but you appreciated it nevertheless

“Oh, thanks Sho!”

His eyebrows crease

He hums in affirmation and gives a kiss to the top of your head before walking over to his seat

That’s when you know something is wrong

He wasn’t too keen on PDA

So for him to nonchalantly kiss you on the head in class….was kinda fishy

Shoto can’t concentrate all that well in class now

Poor dude is wracking through his brain as to why you just called him Sho

WHY SHO AND WHY NOT BABY???

And now he’s pouting for the entirety of the class

Every time you look over at him he’s like >:/

ngl it’s really cute

You don’t ask Shoto what’s wrong until lunchtime rolls around

Well

You try to

When the lunch bell rings Shoto is like a man on a mission

He beelines toward you

If you hadn’t known what his quirk you would have thought it was super speed

Iida who?

Some of your classmates look at him weird

This is just the image I get in my head lolol

Shoto: 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️

Classmates:🤨

But he gets to you in like .5 seconds and he holds his hand out to you

He doesn’t even say anything to you, so you assume he wants to hold your hand

You place your hand in his but he surprises you when he pulls you into a hug

Thankfully everyone had already filed out of the class or else you would have been a burning bundle of embarrassment

“Call me baby please.”

His mouth was right next to your ear and you could feel his lips move against it

Your knees would have surely given out had you not come to a conclusion

You hadn’t called him baby the entire day and he was now clearly perturbed about it

There was one thing you really loved about Shoto, it was pretty easy to fluster him

And you see a perfect opportunity open itself up

Grabbing his face between your hands you pull him away from your ear and smush his cheeks together

“Oh my poor baby, I'm so sorry my baaaaby.”

A blush was quickly creeping its way up his neck

Which only encourages you more

Maybe he shouldn’t have reminded you

“Ok that’s enough….”

“But I haven’t called you baby enough times.”

“I’m going to eat by myself.”

“Wait!”

Bakugo

You did call Bakugo terms of endearment like babe, sweetheart, and the one you use the most, honey

Bakugo claimed to dislike your nicknames, but he secretly really liked them

One day you and Bakugo get into a petty argument

I totally feel like you and he would fight over the smallest shit lmao

And you’re not hanging around his desk before class like you normally do

You’re at Ashido’s desk obviously ignoring him

Which irks him, but that’s fine, he can ignore you too

But he can’t help but eavesdrop on yalls conversation

because Ashido’s desk is very close and totally not because he wants to hear your voice because he already misses it

“Why aren't you at his desk by the way?”

“Hmm, Bakugo’s?”

Oh this catches his immediate attention

He doesn’t even bother hiding his blatant staring at you from across the room

Since the both of you started dating not once have you called him Bakugo

It’s always been your cute gushy nicknames or variations of his first name

Mina already knows what’s up and wants all the details now

She’s huddling closer to you, almost practically on top of your desk

But you never get to spill tea because the bell is ringing

But i assure you that Bakugou is giving you a hard side eye

Cuz he still needs to focus in class (he’s still a good student!!)

Lunchtime rolls around and he very discreetly walks next to you

“Hey”

You turn to look at him and just smile at him with your stupid cute face

He’s happy you’re not outright ignoring him

But he was at least expecting a, “c’mon Tsuki, i wanna get a good table!”

He brushes his pinkie against yours hoping you’d get the hint and hold his hand but nope

You pick up your pace and he sees you wrap your hands around Ashido’s arm, the both of you now animatedly talking

He would have found it cute if you weren’t hanging off of Ashido

That should be me by justin bieber starts playing

Bakugo is now internally raging inside at the lunch table

You would normally sit next to him but you're sitting across from him in between Sero and Kirishima

Man’s is literally stabbing into his food

everyone is now staring at his dramatic ass

buy you're the only one who ends up making a comment about it

"the food is already dead, i don't think you need to do that Bakugo."

he stops murdering his food

he's had enough

He stands up forms his seat, goes over to a very confused you

Very gently, takes a hold of your wrist and starts dragging you up to the school’s rooftop

You’re questioning him the entire time

When you finally get to the rooftop Bakugo lets go of your wrist and just kind of stares at you

He’s silent for a couple of minutes looking like he’s going through a mental battle

Until he finally says something

Something that you can barely make out because he’s turned his head away from you and is grumbling

You: https://youtu.be/Y_3vk411ALE

“Bakugo what?”

There you go calling him by his last name again

“I said I’m sorry, don’t make me repeat myself!”

“Sorry for what??”

You can’t be serious

“For our argument this morning, the reason you’re calling me by my last name.”

“Oh.”

Oh?

JUST OH??

“I thought you were still mad at me so i wanted to give you space, i forgot about our argument way before school started.”

……

ATTENTION: TWO IDIOTS IN LOVE❗❗❗

Bakugo just sighs

He’s too tired to even get frustrated and just wants your attention

So he pulls you into a hug and buries his face into your neck

“Don’t ever do that again.”

You can practically hear the pout in his voice

“I'm sorry honey, i just wanted to give you space.”

“I don’t care about space.”

#mha x you #mha x reader #mha scenarios #mha imagines #mha headcanons #bakugo imagine #bakugo x reader #bakugo katuski #shoto x y/n #shoto x reader #shoto imagine #shoto torodoki #bnha imagines #bnha x you #bnha x reader #bnha scenarios

3K notes · View notes

junowritings · 9 months

Note

hi there ! i love your writing! could i request floyd with reader who genuinely cant tell if someone is being platonic or romantic to them; maybe them finally realizing floyd's affections towards them aren't just platonic? ty!!

Oooh all I can say is my condolences to poor reader lmao. Had so much fun imagining how this would pan out this was a cute idea! I'm glad you enjoy my stuff - hope you enjoy~ 🧡

=======

♡ Oh, well this is going to be so much fun for Floyd.

♡ Floyd recognizes a crush when he sees one. You’re a good match - you keep him entertained, and have the uncanny knack to get him to actually do things he’d usually get too bored of and ditch at a moment’s notice (Azul’s been trying to figure out how you manage that with no success because you have no idea why he listens to you either). Not to mention all of those cute little quirks and things that you do which the eel just can’t get enough of.

♡ And of course there’s your reactions too. The way your lips quirk when you smile, the sound of your laugh and the noises of surprise you make when he swoops in when you’re least expecting him. The way that you squirm when he pulls you into those notorious squeezes of his, thankfully nowhere near as bone crushingly tight as the ones that he’s subjected some poor unfortunate souls to. Floyd adores getting any kind of response out of you.

♡ It is glaringly obvious that he’s interested in you, at least to everyone else, and Floyd’s got no problem making it known either. The only issue is that you haven’t noticed yet. It would get on his nerves a little knowing that you have no idea that his affection isn’t just platonic, but that quickly fades once he realizes how fun this has the potential of being. Just how far can he push that obviousness until you finally realize he’s interested in ya?

♡ It’s light teasing at first. Well, as light as it can be coming from a Leech twin. Floyd’s already naturally pretty casual with acts of intimacy, always throwing an arm over your shoulder or leaning up against you whenever he’s in the nearby vicinity. So why should you assume anything’s up when that arm on your shoulder squeezes you close against his side, and lingers a little longer than normal? Or that he's just a little bit clingier than usual, resting his head atop yours or on your shoulder and looping an arm or two around your side whenever you’re near each other?

♡ But then come the little gifts. Little things that have caught his eye and he doesn’t think twice about dropping into your hands the second that he sees you. Gifts from Floyd can really be anything, from things he’s found and borrowed but ‘forgot’ to give back, to things he’s gotten from trips back home and practically shoved into your hands the second he’s back. You start to question the reason behind his gifts, and start to notice other signs too.

♡ When you come to the Monstro lounge Floyd will take food from the kitchen and add them on as freebies whenever he feels like it. He doesn’t bother telling Azul or Jade, but they’re already well aware and aren’t entirely inclined to stop him since getting you to spend time at the lounge means Floyd’s a lot easier to manage.

♡ Gets upset if you share it with your other friends though - it’s for you, and he’ll say as much when he pushes the treat closer towards you, making sure to keep it out of your friend’s reach. Ace complained once about all the freebies you’re getting, trying to prod you to find out what you did to get the Leech twin in such a good mood and if he could convince you to get him in the eel’s good books, all the while trying to steal a bite from the free dessert you’re picking at with your fork. That is until he catches Floyd looking at him from at the bar; he’s grinning but there’s not a hint of the fondness like when he looks at you. The message is clear - hands off, and you’ve never seen Ace give up on stealing your food so fast in your life as he almost shoves the dish into your blazer pushing it back to you.

♡ You’ve always struggled to discern platonic from romantic feelings, not wanting to immediately assume one and get it wrong only to make things awkward afterwards. So even once you suspect that something’s up, it’s hard to work up the courage to actually approach it. You doubt Floyd would make things awkward if you were wrong, but you doubt your pride could handle the relentless poking and prodding he’d subject your feelings to if you were wrong about him liking you. Staying quiet about it and just enjoying these little moments seems like the safest bet, right?

♡ You made the mistake of asking his brother once, but that was no help at all. If anything it left you feeling even more confused because do you really think that Jade will break the surprise so soon? Floyd isn’t the only one getting a kick out of watching you struggle to put the pieces together, and Jade is thoroughly entertained learning how oblivious you can be to what Floyd’s actually trying to do. Those little gifts of his aren’t just for show - they’re telltale signs of a merfolk’s interest to date you. Oh dear, it really is such a shame that he forgot to mention that little tidbit to you, isn’t it?

♡ There is a point where things get serious. The moment that Floyd decides that he’s fed up toying around and running circles around these feelings. Gets a little miffed realizing that you still haven’t figured out that these little gestures aren’t just something he’s doing for the hell of it - sure, they’re entertaining, but his patience wavers quickly at the best of times. Eventually, Floyd’s going to get tired of this game. Playing games with you is fun, and he loooooves teasing his lil Shrimpy and watching your face turn into all different funny expressions while you try to figure out what exactly his angle is. But there are better things to play, and this back and forth is coming to an end sooner rather than later.

♡ Doesn’t care where it is or who’s around to notice, as soon as he sees you after deciding he’s done messing about you barely have enough time to greet him and ask what he’s doing before you are quite literally swept off of your feet with the force of his hug. His arms are tight around you as he hugs you close, and it’s just tight enough that you have a sinking feeling that he’s going to squeeze you like you’ve seen him do to the people who break Azul’s contracts. You’re trying to wrack your brain to figure out what perceived slight you did to earn the backbreaking squeeze you’re sure he’s about to give you, maybe even mentally leaving Grim all of Ramshackle’s tuna in your imaginary will. Then he stops, chin hooking over your shoulder and that one dark strand of his hair tickling your face as he presses his cheek against yours with

♡ “Hey, Shrimpy~ ya know, you got to be real dense to miss that I really like you. Maybe I gotta prove it~?”

♡ The whole time he’s saying this, Floyd is dangerously close to giving you a nibble or two. Your only saving grace is that he’s much too interested in the reaction that you give him once you realize what he’s said. His mismatched eyes rake in every detail; the way your eyes widen almost comically, mouth dropping open like a fish trying to sputter your way through some kind of response to what was basically a confession. It’s so funny! This is the reaction he’d been waiting for, and he’s not gonna relent until you really understand that this is way more than simply liking you.

♡ Let’s just hope you don’t mind the squeezes, because that’s not letting up either. Why would he let his shrimpy go when it’s better to just keep em right by his side? Especially when he wants to hear what you’ve got to say now that you don’t have to stress your silly little head over if he likes you or not~

#twst #twst imagines #twst headcanons #twisted wonderland imagines #floyd x reader #twst floyd #floyd leech #floyd leech x reader #twisted wonderland headcanons #twisted wonderland #twst x reader

296 notes · View notes

ohimsummer · 7 months

Note

omg so. idk if you keep getting these ads all over snapchat and stuff like i have, but i keep seeing those ads for these lil thongs that have ur man’s name along the back. and every time i see them, my FIRST thought is imagine wearing those for satoru or suguru lmao

— minors dni, geto x afab! reader, pet names (sugar, darling), light degradation, suguru possession kink going brrrr, mentions of biting/marking/creampie, established relationship :3

⭑ ࣪ ˖ sum’z notes.ᐟ i went w/ suguru bc i like writing about speedrunning through breaking that man’s composure 🤭 and also satoru’s was sounding repetitive but I think HE’D buy them for you to begin with😭

“darling, have you seen my–“

the question is a dying ember in suguru’s throat, and his silence prompts your curious gaze at him through the reflection. you’re tilted over his bathroom sink to get a closer look at yourself in the mirror, finishing up your nightly routine.

“seen your what, sugar?”

your boyfriend doesn’t answer the question. instead he eyes the bottom of your ass that peeks out from beneath your (his) shirt. surely you haven’t been prancing your pretty self around his apartment in just a shirt?

his hand approaches the hem of the top. “uhm, what are you–“ and you squeak out an ‘oop!’ as geto lifts the fabric to expose your behind. a huff seeps from your lips, faux annoyance as you massage face wash into your cheeks. “jeez, babe, at least take me to dinner, first.”

after getting no response, you prod at him further. “okay, suguru, i know the view back there is amazing but for real, what did you come in here for again?” still no answer. you pout at him through the mirror, though geto never sees your expression as his eyes are tangled in the words branded on your underwear.

‘why are you wearing these?’

‘where did you get them?’

‘you’re teasing me with this, aren’t you?’

all questions that die on his tongue, because how could he possibly get his thoughts together with all this blood rushing to the wrong head?

“oh, do you like my new thong? ordered it online, just for you.”

and god, you and that playful taunt, wiggling your ass as you giggle so nonchalantly. like this sexy little thong with suguru’s name on the band isn’t sending all his composure straight out the window. fist balled up in the t-shirt, it’s taking everything in him not to rip these damned panties off you. no, no, he needed them perfect and intact for the pictures he wanted to take later, after he’s done stuffing your slutty ass with cock and cum and painting your pussy white.

“you do these things just to get a rise out of me, don’t you?” geto finally sighs, pulling at the thin excuse for underwear right where his title resides; he tugs it back, gets a good eyeful of his name and it almost makes his brain go haywire. it elicits the same feeling as when he sees day-old hickeys on your neck—a ‘she’s mine’ so everyone knows the most gorgeous girl in the world is already spoken for. geto loves showing off that you’re his in all kinds of ways: you in his clothes, with his teeth indentations on your body, or bruises from his lips, hands clutching at your hips or an arm around your waist.

“suguru,” you set down your towel, face fully dry and you back up to press yourself against his front. “i’ve no idea what you’re on about.” your giggles and the knowing grin on your face say otherwise. “but i’m assuming you do like them, yeah? it’s like our own little secret.” and you grind your ass against the growing bulge in his pants, just a little something to send his heart racing even faster.

and, oh, he likes them alright. anything that says you’re his and suguru’s down for it. and if that includes having his cum drooling from every hole in your body, so be it.

tagz: @anthoosies

#geto x reader #geto suguru smut #suguru geto drabble #jjk imagine #suguru geto imagine #jjk x reader #suguru x reader #Jjk drabble #.𖥔 summy answerz .ᐟ ๋࣭ ⭑#⋆｡ﾟ☁︎ summy is thinking . . . ｡⋆#anon! ‎♡‧₊˚

233 notes · View notes

dystopyx-blog · 2 months

Note

what do you think of yandere azul?

I think his yandere typing is a mix of possessive and manipulative. Like manipulative should be pretty obvious. Mr. Contract Man. Absolutely the type to pull some shady underhanded deals if that’s what it takes to get you close to him. Because, as I’ve said, he’s also possessive. You are HIS.

you two probably have a bit of a slow burn. No love at first sight for him. In fact, he really doesn’t think much of you at all. All he’s focused on is how you can benefit him. Eventually, during the events of octavinelle, he starts to realize how much he underestimated you, how smart you are. He assumed you’d be as dumb as the idiots you surround yourself with (Ace, Deuce, Grim). But you’re not. You’re probably more on the level with Azul himself. In fact, the only thing holding you back (in his opinion) is your emotions. He decides he’ll help you. Help you realize your friends are beneath you and you could be doing something much more with your life. Like helping him. Afterall, he owes you after the overblot, right? He has the tweels follow you around when he can’t. And not just stalking (if only it were just that), they get up close and personal. The whole point is to seperate you from your other “undeserving” friends, right? So they get involved. One tweel on either side. Floyd scares off most folks, but if someone does get too close, Jade handles it from there. I’m sure you quickly get sick of it. You confront the tweels, but they insinuate (cuz of course they don’t give it to you easy) that they’re just taking orders. So you march your fine self straight to Azul and…

He finds you utterly adorable. You want the tweels off your back? Okay. Then spend more time with Azul. You’re scheming and planning, meanwhile Azul is trying to remember why he’s doing this?

He’s been slowly developing his yandere-ness, but it’s in spending time with you where his romantic attraction actually amps up. He can see why those fools in Heartslabyul are so fond of you now. With each forced hangout, he insists on more and more. And each one gets more and more date-like. Until he’s straight up calling them dates and brushing you off if you try to say anything about it. You two are practically already dating, right? The rest of the school certainly thinks so! (Thanks to the help from some well placed rumors by the tweels)

I mentioned he’s possessive, yeah? No longer will the tweels accompany you, he does it himself. Hand in hand. if you won’t take his hand, fine, he’ll sling his coat over your shoulders so everyone knows :). He views you on par with his precious contracts! Really, you should feel honored. If he could keep you locked up he would! (He’s working on it.) You are HIS little angelfish, he’s really just trying to find the perfect tank to show you off in tbh.

Deuce: you never hang out with us anymore :( Ace: yeah, you’re different now that you have a boyfriend. You: I DO NOT HAVE A BOYFRIEND

Oh, how you wound Azul with your words! Clearly someone needs a few more dates to realize who they belong to ❤️

editing now that I’ve been awake longer (this was one of the first things I did after waking up lmao)

He’s interested at you at first for your brains, becomes more interested because of your heart, gets obsessed because of your kindness, even to him. The possession comes from how fucking nice you are to him, even as he does manipulate you. Sure, you give him sass and snark (fuel for the flames tbh), but you’re honest and open with compliments. Reassuring him he’s beautiful, somehow always at the exact times he needs it most. You make all three hearts thump.

#Yandere #yandere asks #yandere twst #yandere twisted wonderland #yandere azul ashengrotto #yandere azul x reader

79 notes · View notes

i-cant-sing · 2 months

Note

tt au

ok so im just gonna write notes as i read,

Baris is always starting shit. that mf. starting off the chapter with him roasting tf outta reader, like ok my guy. u must think you’re all that and a bag of chips.

mihirmah MAKING READER CRY? or like , maybe all of them calling her ugly and how lowly she is , is finally catching up to her. that’s so sad :/

awe damn. my girl just got cornered, i hope she’s legally able to beat their asses w/o dying 😭

YES SHE SLAPPED HER ASS, STUPID FUCKING HOE GOT WHAT SHE DESERVED

awe damn, not the scone to the face. this bitch crazy.

reader is TRAUMATIZED by baldwins attack , i think that’s another reason why people should STOP WISHING FOR HIM TO COME BACK!! that dude ruined her life and almost killed her.

Ibrahim asking y/n how he’s a slave? idk that is giving lovesick fool , cos? why u so interested 😏 u really listening to every word i’m saying and want to hear more 😉

Why is baris telling everyone we got attacked? TMZ much??

mihirmah and y/n scene, where y/n is all 🙄 ,,, ok sultana 😄 and mihirmah is like, that’s not my name 🥹 is so gay. that shit is so gay.

why r the moms calling for their sons? i feel really stupid. what’s happening ?

oh they both visited y/n ? OH I GET IT NOW!!! it’s cos they want their son to be the one married to y/n , since suleiman is so important and he likes y/n!!!

oh got dayum. y/n is getting her own personal chambers , she’s getting awfully close to the royal family 😏

ho-em-gee, Hurrem wants to murder y/n just cos of these rumors and doesn’t want her as her daughter in law??? at least Mahidevran is ok with y/n living. for that, i’m on mustafa’s side. just for rn, only cos i don’t want y/n in a bad situation

nawt y/n & baris actually fighting each other like sibilings 😭 i like how he clocked her on Ibrahim, 🤷🏽‍♀️ that’s all imma say about that

why mustafa say “finally” when y/n said she read all the books in their library? he like himself some nerdy girls 👹

omg brother and sister duo gonna get the girl? but for who 😏 cos that girl is Gay. she’s Gay.

ykw , it was wrong of me to assume mihirmah was going to be a good wing-woman , she’s laying it on THICK to y/n lmao

wow. i did not expect mehmed to be so romantical! “moon,” too cute! idk who i’m rooting for anymore!!

oh damn. mihirmah starting shit , and mahidevran is mad. bruh. when will y/n catch a break. also who is baris reporting to? hurrem?

i loved this chapter tho!! i feel like yandere vibes r already here with mehmed! mihirmah, is giving a close second. i just feel like mihirmah is giving some little gay vibes! or maybe she’s just a platonic yandere ? ugh watch me be wrong. that’s so embarrassing 😭 thank u for the chapter! it was scrumptious!!

i LOVED THIS REVIEW OMG BHFEBKWAHEHF TOO GOOD!!!!1

"Ibrahim asking y/n how he’s a slave? idk that is giving lovesick fool , cos? why u so interested 😏 u really listening to every word i’m saying and want to hear more 😉" AHAHAHHAAHAHA DEAD 😭

"why mustafa say “finally” when y/n said she read all the books in their library? he like himself some nerdy girls 👹" no no, he thought "finally, she spared me a look/gave me her attention"

"ykw , it was wrong of me to assume mihirmah was going to be a good wing-woman , she’s laying it on THICK to y/n lmao" girl she does not know how to be discreet because she's never needed to- what she demands, she gets. and she wants u to be Mehmed's girl rn 😠

#THIS IS HOW EVERYONE SHOULD GIVE A REVIEW!#I WANNA KNOW YALLS THOUGTS AS U READ!

61 notes · View notes

ironunderstands · 3 months

Text

I decided to take notes while I played through 2.3… so here they are

First Scene

-stellaron sealed when we were asleep apparently

-was Sunday the one to tailor everyone’s dreams?

-dreamscape itself exists???

-march’s memories are weird as normal, tentacle tried to reach into her brain but found SOMETHING???

-we were asleep when this all happened and we woke up and immediately asked if it was a dream so something is already up oh boy

Second Scene

-firefly and silverwolf yay

-firefly is still on the wanted list, as Firefly this time

-it was a missing part of her life she got back

-Silverwolf helps her out with not being able to move freely, giving her a way out of dreaming ig??? Helps her navigate through unbothered ?

-idk the mechanics of it if you can’t tell

-Miss Samuel as a fake name lmao

-GENIUS SOCIETY IS HERE?? WHYYY?? HUHHH

-firefly’s script isn’t over yet (third death I assume?)

-“didn’t bring you back to hear an answer like that,” did SW think she already experienced the third death? On her second death was SW the one to revive her, as it seemed like she did that on her own in 2.2?

-yeah she hasn’t done 3rd death yet, and I assume the “unforgettable reward,” is *sighs* time with the Trailblazer

-“How will I know if I don’t try?” Hmmm this confuses me

-SW says she’s already made up her mind

-ooh Kafka asks for some gifts LMAOO, fashionable as always

-to Oti mall I guess, isn’t that one of the people who expressed disappointment in Sunday?

-BLADE ADVICE? telling her to not get tempted, tempted by what?

-YAY SHE GETS NORMAL GIRL TIME THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED

-oat cakes for SW or Kafka or Blade? Aww Stellaron Hunter family bonding

-oh is she trying to defy the script?

-adding new footnotes to her destiny, hmm

Third Scene

-TOPAZ POV

-I DIED OMGNDNAKDJKWJDD

-were are on the Radiant Felddpar ship

-Family is there but “Big Boss” isn’t, I assume that’s Jade

-there’s music notes in the air? Robin?

-Topaz points out how weird this choice of location is

-ship belongs to Alfalfa Family

-npc we are talking to also thinks it should have been held in a more secretive area (Moment of Morning Dew)

-not serious enough atmosphere

-something’s up definitely

-Topaz thinks conference is just a prelude- whatever Family organizer wanted to assess the IPC’s stance beforehand

-she thinks they either have their own ambitions and want a preliminary agreement, or want to make the IPC back off, we shall see ig

-Big Boss is a her (definitely Jade), Topaz complimented, saying others must be cautious of her

-tells subordinate Thomas to just tell the rest of her employees to stay focused on the task ahead

-yeah it’s Jade, act shocked, also she’d get mad if he called her that 😭😭

-walking around time

-there is music all around the ship

-not very important but there are paper birds here too

-none of the important figures have arrived to the meeting room yet, so let’s look around

This is just from looking around:

-why are there dream pools on the ship? I thought we were already in the dream?

-the torment eagle things are here too

-and nightingale paintings

-Sparkles bombs, delightful

-why is there a room on the ship that looks like Mishas room in the dream

-it seems like the Family is already aware of the bombs and is looking for them based on the dialogue of the NPCs

-there’s a lost kid on the ship?

-so many doors are closed off

-absurdist clock fun

-the quest is titled “All About Eve” like Eve from the Bible? Is that referring to Jade?

-exhibit that hasn’t been delivered yet

-Robin has instructed them to prepare some things but it seems like the Family isn’t ready yet?

Ok I’m gonna talk to the workers now

-ok talked to the one by Sparkles bombs and Sparkle started talking

-Numby can hear her I think, I don’t think Topaz did

-yeah Topaz doesn’t know they are bombs that Sparkle hands out, apparently she was disguised as man- maybe Sampo?, uh no all the Buttons are in one place

-somehow nobody pressed a button, I don’t believe that, the NPC also says that all guests are terrified of death, but like, how did nobody press it?

-yep we are in the dream bc she wants to feed Numby and questions the food quality in a dream

-Numby does not like Oat Cake Rolls

-Topaz will give them a better meal in reality

-so why is there a dreamscape pool in the dream

-asks more about Radiant Feldspar, which is also owned by Oti Alfalfa, just like the store Firefly wanted to go to

-built an Amber Era ago, it sails across all 12 hours- so they are connected you just have to cross them I guess? Or like does it slip through dimensions

-Topaz recognizes Old Oti, however what’s weird is that despite how she points out how well decorated it is, there seems to be a lot of stuff missing + Robin thing from earlier

-only prestigious guests are invited, so how did that Pepeshi get lost?

-Ship had been sailing since it was built but was halted due to the recent reverberation

-reverberation aka whatever the fuck just happened in 2.2

-Family attendant repeats that everything has been resolved and the Charmony Festival had to be temporarily postponed

-so it’s gonna happen on the ship now, and will also resume the ships voyage, so I guess that’s why Robin ordered some things and everything is a bit out of place

-However, why are they gathering Sparkles Bombs onto the celebration + meeting ship? Why not anywhere else?

-Talent Motivation Department mention

-ppl still coming after Topaz for Jarilo I will kill them <3

-poor girl can’t get a break, JADE IS HERE

CUTSCENE SO MUCH HAPPENED

-Numby does not trust or like Jade at all

-Topaz is fucking star struck on her knees dying down bad gay gay gay

-Jade commends her for the Jarilo project, saying the Express’s favor is far more valuable than the planet itself

-Jade says Topaz can tell her anything, then holds out her Cornerstone as if Topaz would talk to it???

-hmmm

-“you can always tell me anything, remember?” Ah so they are close, and Topaz seems to trust her and vice versa, however I (and Numby) do not trust Jade so there is something sinister going on

Alright cutscene yapping over

-Jade says to drop the title, that they are equals

-Topaz calls her a senior, but I think she just means in rank

-Jade wants Topaz to be at her best- upcoming negotiations leave no room for error

-true purpose of conference: Oti testing limits of 2 stonehearts before offical negotiations can commence, works in their favor bc it will cause future negotiations to go smoother if they can reach an agreement (this is obvious benefit)

-hidden benefit: demonstrates the Family isn’t all that united bc he’s meeting w them first on his own territory + taking control of Charmony Festival too

-they aren’t entirely influenced by the Harmony so their personal desires shine through, influential figures haven’t suppressed their own

-with the Dreammaster gone, the Family has begun to fall apart slowly, seems like after 2.2 Oti took over

-Jade taught her to Listen, test and strike, Jade teases her that she changed the order on Jarilo- Topaz’s personal experience caused this (her seeing her past/trauma in Belabog)

-meeting time!

-meeting esteemed “supporting actor” hmm

-goal is to create an opportunity for IPC to enter Penacony- Aventurine made a small hole for them to enter, and they are going to tear it wide open

Some more looking around

-the bombs/buttons are gone 😨 and so is that guard

-was there a projector in that room (with the dream pool) before?

-diff family attendant at that spot before

Ok back to plot time

-oh this is the place where the divergent universe takes place (I started it a bit yesterday lol, oops), seems like that’s what the Genius Society will get a hold of at the end of this?

-Oti is a Pepeshi, and I really like his character model, he seems welcoming?

Looking around time again

-the mechanism they use for the Divergent Universe is already there- did Ratio and Screwllum meet with Oti beforehand? Is that how he figured out Dormancy?

-some more locked doors

-Whales outside the window.. (Childe flashbacks)

-let’s talk to Jade before we see Oti

-oh we can’t it just makes us walk beside her

Conversation time

-Oti is hospitable, asks them to forgive him for the wait

-Oti is such a businessman that the Strategic Investment Department makes it a requirement to read his biography

-she’s trying to flatter him but I think Jade is also warning him that she and the rest of the department know everything about him and who he is

-Topaz doesn’t seem to notice that though and praises him for single handedly building Penacony economy

-Oti noticed Jade’s tactics I think

-he gets straight to the point- future of Penacony

-Oti questions wtf Aventurine was doing and why 😭, almost getting killed and for what?

-oh he figured them out LMAOO, yup that was for an opportunity

-haha Jade says “fuck he figured us out” nicely

-she puts the pressure back on him, asking Oti how he would respond

-he first admires her composure at being called out

-“Oti won’t sit idly by when faced with a greedy wolf,” is he referring to the IPC, Aventurine or both?

-offscreen negotiation

-seems he said something that offended Topaz and Jade, Jade says she’s all ears

-Oti says he requested this meeting to dissuade the SID from trying to lay a finger on Penacony

-asks them to back off before they lose face in the future

-Topaz points out their fuck ups- Aventurine almost getting murdered and the Charmony Festival fuck up, that there are plenty of real issues plaguing the area

-Oti says they need to be more creative in the land of dreams

-“My actions will help Penacony take a significant step forward by “self-listing” and going public!” What does that mean

-Jade asks if he’s gonna bypass the IPC and go public on a universal scale (still don’t know what that means)

-rather than letting the IPC take hold, he’s gonna open the sweet dream to everyone in the universe- which is worded REALLY sinister if you ask me- is he gonna try and make everyone in it dream?

-he redirects and says that from today, anyone can become a shareholder in the Land of Dreams, and that’s the Path of Harmony he chooses

-Oti was aware of the Oaks family’s entanglement with the Order, calls them blockheads who prevented this from happening sooner

-Oti is thankful that the “reverberation” (Sunday and Order’s downfall) has allowed for the obstacle between him and his reforms to be eliminated

-publicize their finances so the universe still has faith in them + the Family remains confident in its future

-neither Jade nor Topaz seem happy about this, seems like they don’t feel as if they are on equal footing

-Jade asks Oti if he’s being waiting for Penacony to regain the spotlight, so if the IPC does anything, their actions will be scrutinized by trillions of people

-asks them to consider their next moves carefully

-Jade suggests they conclude the first half of their conference, and that they will respond on the behalf of the IPC later

-he just tells them to take their time (Oti is confident he is in control)

Scene 4- Trailblazer POV

-seems that meeting has concluded as Dan Heng asks if the Alfalfa Family had a meeting with the IPC

-Aventurine told them that to “return the favor”

-I wonder what happened in the meantime to get us here

-Welt points out that Penacony hasn’t changed much since the prison era, suggests that Penacony would rather invite the IPC to the table- on the surface to cooperate- but in reality to secure their own survival

-which is why the Astral Express are now mediators, and Dan Heng doesn’t know who to stand behind

-Welt doesn’t trust the followers of the Harmony to be as innocent as they presume they are

-if either the Family or the IPC were to take control of Penacony, the efforts of the previous nameless to free it from that illusory hedonism would go to waste

-we were in a deep sleep apparently (uh oh)

-one of the dialogue options says that TB felt like they were in a really long dream

-another asks where Himeko is

-Welt says their adventure in Penacony is reaching its conclusion

-After Ena’s dream shattered, Montour System’s branch of the Family took control of the situation, most members of the Oak Family fell unconscious? But their lives weren’t in danger

-Gopher Wood, the previous Dreamaster was confirmed to be the mastermind behind everything, however we know that Sunday killed him. But didn’t he kill him in the dream? So how did gopher wood die in reality? Or did like, the power of the Order that Sunday must have used on him cause that, or did he step outside the dream to face Gopher, then go back in?

-Sunday will face a trial: the Family won’t disclose any further details

-public perceived incident as an attack by evil forces targeting the Charmony festival, believing the Family had failed to safeguard the sweet dream which eroded their credibility significantly

-at least it has the least impact? Even if it’s far from what really went down

-SIOBHAN IS BACK

-she says they will get over it

-“you don’t know who’s awake and who’s pretending to be asleep”- another ominous line

-gives them a toast

-trailblazer asks why she’s there again, Siobhan is just confused

-asks when they will leave Penacony

-Welt says they will stay a bit longer, just not too long

-she says this farewell is missing something

-“maybe a special drink to honor those who are not here” oh yeah Gallagher is gone GONE

-To the Nameless resting in peace… and to Gallagher, oh he’s so gone

Walking around time again

-everyone but Himeko is here

Ok taking this many notes is exhausting and is lowkey killing my enjoyment 😭 so I’ll just leave the REALLY important stuff from now on

-The Family claims the Oak Family used the stellaron to help sink everyone into Ena’s dream

-others had their own delusional dreams

-DH says the hidden dangers of the Order have always been within the Harmony, an issue that has persisted in the Family from the very beginning

-more awareness makes this complicated

-March has a button now too, says she was told the buttons will explode Penacony if pressed

-himeko’s been up to something lately she will tell us at the festival

-Siobhan gives us another drink, saying it will “bring back the flavors of Penacony” which makes me believe it will help us get back here somehow

-Welt is sure it will leave a lasting impression, hmmm

-she says if we happen to find Gallagher, to let him have a sip

Scene 5: Jade POV

-Oti is tricky but there is still hope

-Jade asked Topaz to make a phone call offscreen, presumably to the express who agreed

-talking in code

-Jade asks Topaz if she thinks Penacony is worth it

-Topaz says yes

-Jade questions if this project is too bland for her

-Topaz says she would be here if it weren’t for Aventurine

-Jade pointed out she entrusted him with a cornerstone, which is as precious as life itself to finish this gamble

-however Topaz points at out that Jade’s stone couldn’t have made it in without either of their cornerstones: and that the Jade stone allows Jade to see all desires that flow through the dreams to gain a bargaining chip in the negotiations: this must be the “harvest” Jade was referring to in 2.1, seems like this is her Cornerstone’s ability

-Perhaps that’s why she held it up earlier? To allow Topaz to vent her feelings into the Jade stone?

-Topaz actually staked her Topaz’s stone for Jade’s sake, not Aventurine’s

-Jade is greatful Aven is alive, saying it’s the best outcome, Topaz immediately says they have strayed off topic

-Jade says she will go alone, instructs Topaz to meet “honored guest”- likely the Nameless

-Jade spots Robin

-turns out we were actually in the previously locked off rooms in the back of where we met Oti, he’s still there, and he’s wearing glasses? Was he before? We can’t talk to him tho

-ah this also unlocked some more doors- it’s where the ship is captained, but the captains room is locked

-Robin is preparing for Charmony Festival

-Jade lies saying she’s on her way to meet Oti really she’s just here for info before meeting him

-Robins never met him, she says Alfalfa is respectable when it comes to business, but not necessarily in other respects

-Jade asks where Robin thinks Penacony is heading, Robin is hopeful, thinks Harmony needs new direction

-“no permanent allies or everlasting enemies,”

-2nd half of negotiations- no Topaz this time

-Jade is gonna be meaner bc Topaz isn’t here you go manipulative queen

-says Oti is not the only merchant who has seen the changes in the cosmic market over the past ten Amber Eras

-Jade declares that Penacony has no way of sidestepping the IPC and going public, that they can’t stop the IPC, the IPC will tear down and rebuild as they see fit

-tells Oti that if he doesn’t want to be a laughingstock and have everyone after him, he better drop his “pie-in-the-sky-plan” perhaps he was planning on using Sparkles bombs to take out the IPC ambassadors now that the protection of not being able to die in the dream is no longer there- or at least he has control over it

-Jade reminds him IPC controls more than half the news in the universe

-says trillions of customers will receive a, “The Family’s protection for Penacony has expired. Any mishaps in the Dreamscape could result in permanent brain death,” message from the IPC if Penacony decides to go public

-threatens to make his entire currency worthless with how many contingencies the IPC has, Jade is confident she can pull it off, even from Pier Point

-she promises that the IPC won’t jeopardize the interests of the Family heads under Oti’s leadership if he gives up the plan to go public

-they (IPC) want allies in Asdana, Jade says they can assist Penacony with financing, will acquire 30% equity shares from the Family, and in exchange will also help rebuild Penacony

-Oti thinks it’s too much, and worried about the future

-Jade happily says there are no guarentees- this is based on mutual respect- but the board of directors will consider the interests of the Family heads to some extent

-she points out this would be beneficial for the Family, and for him, if they both take a step back, also points out this will attract more customers like he wanted

-as the head of the Alfalfa family, Oti accepts, seeing no reason to refuse, but as THEIR (Xipe’s) chosen one, he still needs one final answer (hmmm this is an interesting detail)

-talks about the rise of Xipe and fall of Ena, he asks why the IPC seeks to collaborate with the Family (Harmony) rather than the Order, who is far closer in ideals (Preservation)

-Jade says it’s about credit, saying that through the Preservation, the IPC can perpetually ensure credits value, meaning they have no need for the Order, as they have made their own, with Qilpoths “credit” being the heart of everything

-Oti understands this will eventually lead to the IPC taking control over everything

-“this universe doesn’t need two types of Order” (Preservation and the Order)

-Oti says he’s convinced

-code words from before come back in (shit I should have written them down, it was poison something, sweet dew, and apple something, sweet dew shows up this time per Topaz’s invite)

-unsurprisingly, it’s one of the Nameless: Himeko

-Astral Express will be shareholders? Perhaps this is so they can guarantee the future the Nameless wanted like Welt mentioned

-IPC gets 30%, gives 5% to the express to “honor the sacrifices and contributions made by the former Nameless to the Land of the Dreams,” which is A) true B) the real honor is the express now having a foot in the door to prevent Penacony from being like it was before

-Himeko is a member for the board of directors- what board? One in the IPC, or for Penacony, the Family?

-crew agreed to assist in reconstruction of Penacony, and commit to bringing the dreams of Penacony to other worlds

-However, they really wish for the Harmony to not be distorted again, that tragedy must never occur again

-negotiations end, we (as Jade) will go to meet up w Topaz again

-Jade believes the family heads will soon realize the situation, and that Oti’s agreement didn’t just represent their agreement, but the followers of the Harmony in general (this last part is only implied though)

-Topaz says she will handle the arrangements for formal negotiations

-Jade allows her to- gives Topaz a sense of control OOOH THE MANIPULATIONNNNN

-Topaz is shocked bc big responsibility, but Jade interrupts

-she says that Aventurine initiated this case and Topaz was his project partner, but since he overplayed his hand (taking on a case he couldn’t handle on his own?) Jade got pushed to the forefront

-OOH MORE MANIPULATION, Jade says she came here to help Topaz sort out the toughest issues, saying “I trust you’ll be able to wrap things up quite nicely, little Jelena,”

-Topaz’s objections immediately get pushed aside bc of Jades words, and asks Jade to give Diamond her assurance

-Jade tells her to not worry, Diamond has always trusted them, and Jade will put in a good word for her, and Topaz will get her position (P45) back in no time

-Jade claims her business is done so she’s gonna indulge in her own little hobby (I’m scared)

-which is opening a Bonajade Exchange branch on this ship, whatever that is, Jade believes the guests on this ship had or a wealth of valuable treasures tho

-it’s a pawnshop, and Jade says she will leave, saying she’ll “see you around Topaz”

-Topaz has one more question, Jade gladly lets her ask, she asks about the dose of “bitter poison”, wondering how Jade got it (I’m guessing her Cornerstone), it wasn’t her cornerstone, a “lady concerned with the future of the Harmony” told her (maybe this is Robin? But it seems like that was their first meeting? Hmm)

-Jade says she agreed to help her with something later (which makes me think this was Sparkle now haha), and that they can deal with it after they leave Penacony

-“that’s what ‘investment’ is all about”- the seeds of opportunity have already been soon and Jade simply gives them a little bit of nourishment for them to take root, afterwards all they (her and Topaz) need to do is wait patiently

-like right now, and Jade’s final “guest” boarded the ship

I’m insane about this actually yall. TOPAZ CENTRIC STORY??? WHAT IF I DIED. Also I love the way Jade was written in this, they made her as manipulative as I wanted her to be, so yeah I love her THEY COMMITED TO THE BIT I PRAYED FOR TIMES LIKE THIS

Scene 6: Firefly POV

-she boards (rather sneaks onto) the ship, so I assume she’s Jade’s final guest

-oh she’s heading to the pawnshop that grants wishes (it’s definitely Jade’s), perhaps to get those gifts she wanted earlier, or defy her destiny like she wanted to earlier?

-hey those closed off areas are unlocked W

-she spots TB, Robin is also there

-there’s a nice banquet table for people in that room, we got a shot of it earlier during Topaz, Jade and Oti’s meeting, idk what line of dialogue it was for tho

-Firefly overhears Robin saying that she will, “present a gift to the Astral Express on behalf of The Family as a token of gratitude for the Nameless’ contributions to Penacony”, asking for the staff to help her w the arrangements

-Firefly then asks how to get to the pawnshop, yup it’s Jade’s spot, she gets the directions

-Silverwolf was gonna meet w the Genius Society? Why? Also apparently she mentioned Jade’s stuff earlier, I don’t remember that though, maybe I forgot to write it down

-we can look for the TB so I’m going to

-TB is being a dumbass as ever and Firefly is amused

-she wants to talk to us but Firefly wants to meet Jade first

-we can’t go over there even if we want to

-Jade made her exchange in the dream pool room for some reason

-asks Jade to call her Samuel

-Firefly says she wants to give up living, and that she’s willing to give up everything she has

-even Jade is gagged

-Firefly is like yup! Everything!

-Jade says she should turn around bc she’s not familiar with the term, “pawn” aka she’s betting quite literally EVERYTHING

-Jade says she doesn’t have anything of equal value to offer her

-Firefly is upset, says this shop must just be a marketing gimmick

-Jade says she will help Firefly understand what she means, telling her to go and talk to the other customers, when she understands what “pawn” really means

-we see the TB being stupid again, this time w Dan Heng tagging along

-again she plans on catching up w them later

-first person she meets, Stacy, finally won a gamble w the blessing of Lady Bonajade

-there also seems to be way more guests on the ship

-second person she meets, a Pepeshi named Dell, gets his crush named Dorothy to go out with him, implied that he wished for her to say yes

-ppl seem to be gossiping about a grey haired person, either Firefly or TB

-yup it’s TB

-someone has been hiding in the Moment of Sol in Penacony under a fake identity, proposing as a professor at Paperfold academy, apparently this intellatron (Walker) found him (idk who him is) with the help of an influential figure

-ah this is unimportant this was just the wishes of the third person

-Firefly still doesn’t get it, but their wishes did seem to come true

-Jade said it was just to show the exchange was genuine, how she shows how all three of them gave up so much in exchange for their wishes, so yeah, glorified drug dealer, but it is an equal exchange, and Jade only encourages these people’s delusions, giving with the power of her Cornerstone for a hefty price

-uses their endless cycle of desires to get what Jade desires from their whirlpool of horrific decision making

-Jade knows Firefly’s identity, and she asks Firefly if she’s really willing to give up everything, Firefly isn’t surprised though

-Entropy Loss Syndrome was thrust upon all of the Iron Calvary in order to keep them fighting for Glamoth, and from falling into the wrong hands

-Firmament Front is gone so those who know the secret and could cure the disease are nowhere to be found, but Firefly still wishes to continue her existence

-Firefly asks if the IPC has a remedy

-Jade just says there might be a silver lining and leaves it at that

-Firefly realizes that she can’t provide anything of equal value bc nothing she owns has any meaning

-asks Jade if she’s gonna ask her to restrain the other Stellaron Hunters for her survival

-that’s not the case though, Jade acknowledges how remarkable close the Stellaron Hunters are, compares them to the Stonehearts, OOOHH LORE DROP

-Jade says like how the Stoneheart follow Diamond, the Stellaron Hunters are, “Traveling on the Path of Finality but struggling against your destiny, attempting to move in the opposite direction?”

-Firefly remains silent

-Jade hopes all of them will visit her pawnshop one day

-Firefly asks if she can see this as an invitation from Diamond to the Stellaron hunters behind the IPC’s back

-Jade says to consider it a person offer, not representing the IPC or SID

-Firefly says she will pass on the offer, but she has a question

-Firefly points out that SW could let the entirety of Pier Point know of this in seconds, so why would Jade ask this

-Jade says it’s because she believes her and Firefly are the same

OH MY GOD STONEHEART PICTURE

-she believes the Stonehearts band together to get what they want, and have been invited by Diamond to join them whilst on their own journeys

-Jade says all stonehearts carry a void (ambition) that can only be filled from the outside

-also omg Topaz and Aven look GOOOODD GRERRAAAA TOPAZ LOOOS SO FINE EEJFHJEJAKSKWS RAAAAA AVENNNNNNTURJEJNWKAND AAAA

-so Diamond promised them something, he divided the power of the Emanator of Preservation into ten pieces (for the ten stonehearts) and gave each of us a Cornerstone to fill that void

-“Mortal flesh is fragile, yet my heart is unyielding like the monolith. For without this resolve, the way of the Preservation would fade into oblivion.”

-Jade says this pledge goes beyond a mere oath, it’s their collateral in exchange for the Stonehearts desires, and their future

-whatever they gain from it will make the Stonehearts stronger, allowing them to achieve the great cause of the Preservation (what Diamond wants) when the war among the Aeons eventually comes (HUHH WHAT NOWW I MEAN WERE GETTING THEIR GOALS AT LEAST?!!)

-Jade tells Firefly to take her time

-Firefly says she will, and says it’s shame that the pawnshop won’t give her what she wants, as her last attempt (death?) will end with “hope”

-Walker comes to give her his memories

Scene 7: Trailblazer

-he points out how the meeting went smoother than expected

-Charmony festival opening ceremony is starting soon

-AVENTURINE AND BOOTHILL?!!?

-Boothill threatening Aven jokingly but not jokingly, Aven brushes it off

-seems like they came to an agreement off screen

-he notices us + typical flattery, Boothill gives a normal greeting

-Aventurine admits his words are nothing more than flattery and not genuine (at least due to the option I picked)

-Boothill says to set aside the under the table stuff as to not spoil the mood

-Aven gives congratulations bc he can’t be there personally (he’s a hologram) to witness the crew getting celebrated

-Aven says his job was just to give the IPC an opening, which he achieved (even if it was a mess

-Aven says he wouldn’t have been able to dig up such dirty information without the help of a “knowledgeable friend” HMMM IS THAT RATIO???

-Acheron still fucked him up though, and he admits this would have gone smoother had she not injured him

-we thank Boothill, he’s like it’s nothing I’m a galaxy ranger it’s part of our duty, he’s happy Galaxy Rangers are making a comeback and asks the TB to pass on his regards to any Hunt followers he meets

-BOOTHILL STRAIGHT UP ADMITS THAT AVENTURINE IS GONNA HELP HIM FIND OSWALDO SCHNEIDER WHO HE HAS A SCORE TO SETTLE WITH??? HE ADMITS THAT!!? HUHHH, I mean he did say he’s not one to beat around the bush but still

-Aventurine also talks about the feud between the Marketing Development Department (Oswaldo) and Strategic Investment Department (Diamond) is fairly well on wok, but he didn’t expect the Galaxy Rangers to get involved

-he thinks things are gonna get spicy

-I wonder if the IPC knows about this deal between him and Boothill, I doubt it though, and I think Aven might be hiding this from everyone

-this reminds me that he was deliberately acting like he hadn’t grown around Jade during their conversation in 2.2, which makes me think he’s planning to do something beyond just whatever he is gonna do with Boothill, or at the very least Aven wants to make things easier for himself by acting as if Penacony didnt change him

-they wish the TB well, Avens hologram disappears

RATIO.

EVERYONE PAUSSEEE

-he’s standing where the now activated Divergent Universe thing is AAAA

-it’s all over the screen/hj

-OK CALM DOWN BE SERIOUS

-OFF THE BAT TSUNDERE - “your performance at Herta’s space station was… adequate, I suppose,” thats high praise coming from you hehehhehe

-“Hm, no wonder the gambler likes you so much.” HUHHH??! Can’t keep AVENS NAME OUT UR DAMN MOUTH FOR MORE THAN 5 SECONDS??? We didn’t even bring him up

-“This individual is my responsibility during the trip. Hmph, nothing more than an errand from the Office of Academic Affairs,” the who of what now? Not the “hmph” and downplaying

-tells the Trailblazer to take advantage of the opportunity the Charmony Festival provides

-TB asks Ratio how he rates Aventurine, Ratio says that the IPC and Guild position them as strategic partners; but Ratio sees himself as a teacher, and like everyone in Ratio’s life, Aventurine as a student, Aven isn’t an ideal student, but not utterly obtuse. He remarks that the void inside of him (which could be referring to either the one mentioned as being filled by the Stonehearts or just Aven’s general lack of a will to live) cannot be filled by talent and knowledge. Ratio hopes he doesn’t turn into a philosophical zombie. Which I like that up, and it’s basically someone who behaves like a person but does not have a conscious experience. What I think Ratio is suggesting is that what Aventurine is missing isn’t talent or knowledge, but genuine connections with other people, goals, desires, a purpose, things that aren’t so material

-TB teases Ratio, saying they thought he would make them get their act together, Ratio says that saying such a thing means we haven’t grasped the essence of learning, OH MY GOD HE SAYS EXACLTY HOW I BELIEVE HIM TO VIEW KNOWLEDGE SOMEONE SEDATE ME

“Acquiring knowledge aims to enhance living” I KNOW THIS IS A SIMPLE LINE BUT ITS LIKE AT THE CORE OF RATIOS PHILOSOPHY, HE WANTS TO SPREAD KNOWLEDGE TO HELP OTHERS GROW AND PICK THEMSELVES UP

oh my god, that’s why Aventurine isnt his typical student, to improve Aventurine’s life, he DOESNT need knowledge or talent, so Ratio has to try other methods…

Forgive me for the person I’m about to become I fear

-we say good by to him 😭😭😭😭

-“I detest noisy gatherings, as they intrude upon my thoughts.. What a waste of time” AUTISM!! BRO IS OVERSTIMULATED LEAAVE GO ELSEWHERE WHY ARE YOU HERE UR CLEARLY HAVING A BAD TIMEEEE

Alright bye Ratio onto the next one

-TOPAZ AND NUMBY??!?

-Topaz eco ship mention??

-ooh we ask her about her Cornerstone and if she can transform herself like Aven

-her ability isn’t as “visual”? So it’s not a transformation

-LORE DROP; abilities of Ten Stonehearts are all different, some can even read thoughts and grasp desires (Jade), she warns us to be careful

-Topaz is greatful for the timing in Belabog bc it let her and Bronya be friends

-Jade convo next!

-I picked Sundays name and she went “not a bad name, just lacking in virtue,”

-she does her deal shtick, I’m gonna ask to revive Akivili

-poor girl is dumbfounded, but she accepts 😭

-she asks for the tail of an animal and I think she asks for the tail of the cat in the stellaron hunters 😭

-sorry Akivili you aren’t returning

-ARGENTI

-his lines aren’t voiced unfortunately

-he’s talking about the beauty as always, saying we are already walking that path due to our virtue

-apparently if an admirer of Beauty gets lost in the pursuit of power, they risk descending into “the Omen of Evil” a form that’s neither human nor beast

-he compares this to Sunday; whose actions argenti believes were no different from the Omen of Evil, and that he lost his way along the path of righteousness

-he wasn’t there at the final battle because Ena’s dream was too realistic and he couldn’t bid farewell to a fallen friend who had turned into a beast, so Argenti stayed within the dream for a while

-he blames himself for not passing the trial of Beauty this time, and for hesitating, wishing to become more determined that ever

-him and Sunday competing for who has more religous trauma LMAOO

Alright I’m done talking let’s wait for the opening now

-Firefly is here!

-we go over how wack the plot has been

-she asks if we will be leaving again

-I picked the idk option and Firefly says not to worry bc we are on the path of the Trailblaze

-Elio told Firefly that her journey will tell her how to live on and the rest is up for her to find out, and she will hunt for leads everywhere, including Penacony

-TB says that no wonder she was investigating the Watchmaker, but even if she didn’t get what she wanted, Firefly says she get a deal from Jade

-we warn her not to make deals w the IPC bc they are shady

-Firefly is like no dw I didn’t do anything stupid or get anyone involved

-she apologies for lying to us earlier about being from the Iris Family

-I accept it bc I’m not a cunt but I’m glad they allow you to turn her down

-OOH FIREFLY’S STRUGGLE AT EXPRESSING HER EMOTIONS YESS HOYOVERSE THIS IS WHAT I WANTED GRRRRR

-uh oh bloodhound family is here

-Firefly is sad and like “I guess we have to say our goodbyes”

-but she’s hopeful bc her “script” hasn’t ended yet- so they will meet again

-TB is worried but figures she will be fine, we decide to check on her later after we attend the festival

-we get a message from Firefly, saying she handled everything but she’s sad she won’t get to see Robin perform

-Ceremony begins and Robin shows up

-March is fangirling

-Robin is eating as always

-she’s like “yeah this has been crazy but hey we’re doing it now!”

-thanks Oti Alfalfa for his dedication

-she’s like thank god it’s over

-oh she brings up the Watchmaker

-she gives a tribute to Misha/ Mikhal Char Legwork for laying the foundations of Penacony

-thanks him for allowing the Dreamscape to exist, that Penacony’s success is rooted in the Trailblaze that the Watchmaker brought with him and only by honoring that spirit can harmony be spread

-everything is back on track, and Penacony’s family give the Nameless a token of appreciation

-They give the ship to the Astral Express?!!? That’s a fun one, I think Robin pulled some strings for that one to screw over Oti for throwing Sunday under the bus

-she toasts the Harmony, the Trailblaze, the future of Penacony and the universe, and the generous Alfalfa Family Head, Mr. Oti Alfalfa

CUTSCENE TIME

-Oti is amused by Robins cunning

-he’s SPARKLE TIME

-she put a bomb in the ship and we got 10 minutes to find it oh boy

Cutscene over

-she gave us a map at least

-HASTIEST GROUP CHAT IN EXISTENCE TO FIX THIS

-LMAOO

-this is great it’s bomb hunting time

-because the hounds are stupid and gathered everything spending 48 system hours to press all her buttons

-it’s hidden among 999 dolls and the challenge is to find where the real one is hidden

-Robin asks everyone not to panic and that they will prepare for evacuating

-however the Oak Family has relied on the power of the Order for the guarantee that you can’t die in dreams, but since the Order’s blessings are lost, this bomb might actually kill people

-everyone agrees to help

-Aventurine isn’t taking it seriously likely because he isn’t actually there, he’s like “Wanna bet who will survive this?” and Ratio’s like “k” bc he’s done w Aven’s shit and higher priorities

-Black Swan finds 131 fake bombs, area gets evacuated

-Boothill finds 217 of them with the help of the hounds and Ratio wearing his alabaster head, nobodies found it yet but nobody seems too concerned

-Argenti finds 145 bombs but again, duds

-IPC found 329, but again, nothing

-last one is in the cockpit

-Sparkle rickrolls us

-it’s a bomb

-they found the remaining dolls but nothing

-Sparkle gives the coordinates of the last, true bomb, and everyone agrees to gather there

-TB finds Firefly standing by Sparkle’s bomb

-Sweet Dream no longer has the Order’s protection and if it were to blow up there could be bad consequences

-she says the design is unique and as if it’s been locked by some mysterious Path force

-nobody knows how to deactivate it

-Firefly doesn’t think anybody there can fix it

-she says Black Swan might be able to teleport it, but Firefly found a note inside the doll

-a note that’s complete nonsense and says it contains a virus very dangerous to Memetic entities like BS plus a bunch of Bananas for some reason? It’s all very unserious

-Firefly reminds us that she has three “deaths” in the Land of Dreams

-so this is the third time

-we’re like nah ur not dying

-Firefly says she’s not in the dream like normal people, she has a Stellaron Hunters special method (Silver Wolf) that let her to be in here , and it lets Firefly perform feats others can’t

-as long as she can bear the pain of the memoria pressure, she will be able to dive into the primal Memory Zone and extend a lifeline to the Radiant Feldspar

-she’s gonna try and take it into the depths of the Dreamscape (Primordial Memory Zone) so nobody will get hurt

-Firefly tells us not to worry and that SAM will allow her to get back safely if she lucky

-determined to give this story a happy ending

-Firefly reminds us of Acheron’s words, “The so-called impossible is merely something that has yet to happen..”

-the moment that could disprove the “impossibilities” hasn’t arrived yet

-Firefly has so many choices to make before her “death” in whatever form it takes, and she believes that when the moment arrives for us to make a choice, the answer to our end will already be in our hearts

-“it is not destiny that shapes us, but we who shape destiny,”

CUTSCENE

Compare astral express and stellaron hunters like light and shadow and tied together

-OH BOY SO MUCH HAPPENS

-Sparkle detonates the bomb early but it’s actually fireworks

-she then bops us off the edge of the ship but Firefly catches and saves us

-it’s really cute tbh

-she reaffirms what we said, both that destiny is ours to choose and that the reason why life slumbers is because one day we will wake up

-there’s a little procession of scenes of everyone so far

-highlights being Ratio leaving and Boothill pulling out a gun due to Argentis yapping

-and Aven reminiscing in the place where he found himself again

-we also get a little peak at what Acheron is doing

-she put three flowers on the graves of the Nameless, officially saying by to them

Cutscene over

Scene 8; Acheron (although still from TB perspective)

-child wanted to put flowers down for the Nameless? I don’t really understand her first line in this

-oh the child is Mikhail and the flowers are for the other two Nameless, and when he’s gone someone placed one for him

-she says “your wishes will always be remembered by someone,” likely talking not just to Mikhail, but the audience

-Now Penacony has finally welcomed the dawn after the long dark night, even if the path ahead won’t be easy

-“Tiernan, you can now go home”

-the Nameless are also preparing for our next stop

-we say goodbye to the old Nameless, Gallagher and Acheron

-“in the Land of the Dreams, anything is indeed possible,” - March

-“History may not remember the names of the dead, but the stars will attest to their journeys, the first glimmer of light in the prolonged night often illuminates little, as it is fleeting and the darkness too vast. But because of this, people will remember: As long as something shines in the night sky, then when the first star falls.. countless more will follow, streaking across the horizon.” - Dan Heng, I loved his speech so I had to write it

-they give a toast to the fallen Nameless

-“A toast to history that no longer remains silent, the passionate and courage’s pursuit, and a voyage that traverses the stars,”- Dan Heng ur COOKING

-we can talk to Acheron, and she calls it a fitting end to our story

-we say bye to Gallagher, who we don’t even know if he was a “living person”, callback to the 13 thing, an “enigmatic” character for sure

-at least our journey and his love for Penacony was real

-we toast him too, and using the drink that Siobhan made for him

-“to all lies, and the singular truth,”- March

-she also asks him to not speak in riddles if they ever meet again

-we say bye to Micah, Welt apologizes for only now speaking to him, Welt asks what the people of Dreamflux Reef do now, many will continue to live there, and “those accustomed to being away will mostly have a hard time getting used to a life of darkness with their eyes closed,” Micah will also watch over the primal Memory Zone as the Order has faded

-“Penacony’s nights are long, and there are many who are still far from a good nights sleep,”

-they still manage without the Sweet Dream

-toast to the ppl in Dreamflux Reef and their tenacity

-we finally say goodbye to Mikhail, it started from the moment we met him and it ends by saying goodbye to him

-“just like a clock’s hands that turn round and round, the start and end of each day will always land on twelve o’clock- the advent of time moving forward,” - Himeko, it really is over isn’t it, honestly I wonder now is just what that dream pool and projector were for

-the entire adventure started bc of Mikhail and it’s ending because of him

-“And then, a new page will be turned.”

-“To Penacony’s past, present, future… and the child’s unwavering dream unto death,”- Himeko

—“the Trailblaze can illuminate the way, but ultimately, the future of a world belongs to those who live in it,” - Dan Heng, just like Belabog and the Luofu huh

-March has a strange feeling that she had a few stops ago that’s really strong this time, she talks about how many stories these three Nameless have experienced, and she compares them to the current Nameless and their own adventures, and that they lived the “every day” we do now

-but it’s all in the past, and TB says to her that we should live in the present, but that’s what March can’t get out of her mind

-she’s upset at that the Nameless then didn’t get their happy ending, but the TB now shouldn’t live through them, however since us (especially March) has witnessed their lives, their are special to us now, so she hopes their story gets a good ending when it comes

-but what if those Nameless and us now aren’t special, and we won’t get a good ending?

-if Mikhail might not have had no regrets, how can we know we won’t?

-“Then, what is this regret we feel in our hearts right now…?”

-Himeko assured that all of them are searching for the answer to this question, that against the backdrop of a cosmos, our lives are fleeting

-however, even if the universe doesn’t remember the never ending Trailblaze, but people, and those who travel along the silver rail themselves will

-“As long as we remember, their stories (The Trailblaze) will never end,” OH MY GOD THIS MIRRORS WHAT BS SAID IN THE ONE TRAILER WHERE WE WILL CARRY OUR WISHES TO COUNTLESS STARS AAAA

-Mikhail answered this question himself, dying with a smile on his face even after his complicated life

-its meaning will be interpreted by those who come after us

-it’s not the answer that’s important, but what we can learn from others answers

-“This is what Trailblazing is”

-March tells DH to tell a dad joke to lighten the mood

-he won’t

-it’s never a bad thing to reflect

-we got a long way ahead of us WHOOO

-so it’s time to tell PomPom what we saw

-then prepare for the next stop

-time to say final goodbye to Acheron

-she asks if we remember our first meeting

-we reminded her of an acquaintance

-because of the Self-Annihilators curse, what she thought was a familiar meeting was merely an illusion, attributing her feelings of that old friend to us the TB

-however you can ask if it wasn’t an illusion

-Acheron says it’s improbable we ever met before, and there’s nothing left to retrace but Nihility

-I can keep pushing

-she doubles down, said this me and your memory of her aren’t the same person

Red Text oh my god

-“But some things will never change,”

-she just laughs in response

-oh my god she’s talking about her past companions oh no her Kiana her Bronya noooooo NOOOOOOOOOO

-they didn’t achieve the outcome they wanted, but our sheer stupidity makes it feel like they never even left

-she talks about how things can seem so similar yet so different

-Acheron has wandered alone, encountering “acquaintances” who’s silhouettes overlap with her past

-she asks us what we think her “Deja vu” means

-im going with “the wish to return to the past”

-she says all of our possible answers are incomplete

-it’s something that’s not external, but something that’s within us, an emotion spanning across time from a certain moment in our past to reach us

-every time we reminisce, we notice both the tiny but unforgettable things we leave behind, and the other things that remain constant throughout

-that’s the summary of our lives, the proof of our shared path

-within those small moments, those tiny regrets, we glimpse our own essence, and truly “exist”

-Acheron says to “set forth on your voyage without hesitation, Nameless, on the path of the Trailblaze”

-even if our ending has been predetermined (OOH CALLBACK TO 2.1 and 2.2 AAA) there are countless things humans cannot change

-but before that, there are still many things we can do

SHES WORD FOR WORD REPEATING THINGS

-“And because of this, the “end” will thus reveal a completely different meaning”

-“this is the meaning of ‘journey’”

I AM INSANE ABOUT THIS ACTUALLY AAAAAAAAA

THE CALLBAKCS THE REFERNEFES I WAS RIGHT I WAS RIGHT FUCK ALL OF YOU I LOVR YOU ACHERONNNN

-“all those things, beautiful before, are still do now. And I believe… It will still bloom at the end of the Nihility, until we meet again beneath the sun’s rays,” OH MY GOD SHE HAS HER HORNS AND OLD OUTFIT SHES SO BEAUTIFUL

AND WE ARE GONNA MEET AGAIN AT THE END OF THE STORY AAAAAAAA

Back at the Express

-Pom Pom is crying

-Dan and March bickering

-Pom-Pom started crying over the adventure, March has never seen them so sad before

-now they are angry

-we caused so much chaos and threw the time-table off and if we keep acting like this the Express is gonna run out of fuel

-well not really they are just masking their sadness

-we take a break in the next car while Himeko comforts Pom Pom

-we chat a bit, those three Nameless must have meant a lot to them

-we don’t know shit about Pom Pom’s past lmao, but their emotions haven’t become dulled by the grind of time, and they still value every journey

-we might actually run out of fuel bc due to our existence Pom Pom has had to delay the warp jump schedule

-the express converts every “Trailblaze” into the energy it needs to run, like a perpetual motion machine

-we are using up fuel much faster than expected, and can only pull off two more warp jumps at most

-which means we must consider our next destination carefully

-the two worlds nearest to us are the oceanic planet of Lushaka and the Agate World Melustanin

-we still need to vote

-BLACK SWAN SHOWS UP

-Welts like ‘alright give us the juice’

-she overheard how the express obtains fuel

-her suggestion could be the lifeline that saves everyone

-OH ITS THE DH = DF LINES YESS

-“those mired memories of yours”

-if the express needs a special trailblazing expedition to recharge its engine, then they should go to a world that even Akivili never even reached, and the express will never have to worry about energy again

-March is like “is that possible?!!”

-a world many don’t even know exists, hidden away by outside observation, only revealed by the light from the monitor of the Garden of Recollection

-fettered by three Paths, its destiny hanging in the balance

-“The Eternal Land, Amphoreus”

NO THIS IS CRAZY THIS IS CRAZY BECAUSE THAT IS RATIOS HOMELAND SO HOW DID HE GET OUT FROM THERE, A PLACE NOT EVEN AKAVILI HAS BEEN ?!:!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAA

JADE SCENE?!!

YOOOOO

-she calls Sunday a child

-it seems like he tried to escape and got caught

-he thinks he’s gonna die

-his fate is entirely in Jade’s hands

-he wants the pretenses to be over and to just have time to talk

-she’s glad he’s still a cunt

-she came to fulfill Robin’s wishes, to offer a trade if he’s willing to accept

-she talks about his oath between him and Robin of building a haven where everyone can attain peace

-she asks if he would be willing to speak to her if there was a chance to fulfill that vow

-Jade sets him free, tells him to see the world for himself

-Sunday doesn’t want to accept it though

-however the trade is still up, and Jade is willing the wait for his answer

-she gives him a word of warning

-“Life is too short to miss out on golden opportunities”

And it’s over

Wow that was great

OK! I will definitely not be doing this again because oh my god this made the quest take like 10 hours (most of the time was just typing it tbh 😭) made it far less fun than it could have been, however it also really helped me understand what was going on a lot; and I’ll look back on this if I want to remember the plot in 2.3

Overall I think it’s a really satisfying conclusion for Penacony, and any of the things I thought were weird kinda dissipated because they are minor nitpicks at best, and we did say Penacony would have to figure itself out from here

if you somehow decided to read all of these, I admire your patience lmao, and I hope you enjoyed all of the parts in which I started absolutely losing it

I recommend you don’t do this lmao, it’s more fun to just play through and look at the wiki later imo, maybe take more overarching ones after you have already completed a scene? This was certainly a learning experience at least

#hsr #honkai star rail #dr ratio #aventurine #jade hsr #topaz hsr #boothill #argenti #firefly hsr #caelus #stelle #2.3 spoilers #this was definitely a decision I made #Hey at least it will be nice to look back on #I hope this somehow ends up being helpful LMAOO

71 notes · View notes

devilsrecreation · 4 months

Text

Skink personality headcanons

Inspired by/adding onto @spinnysocks ‘s post

Nyeusi:

-Along with being the stealthiest skink, he’s also the quietest of the bunch. While Ed and Neema don’t talk but still communicate through sounds, Nyeusi prefers to stay absolutely silent. When he does make noises like hissing or flicking his tongue, it’s only around the skinks (and Ushari when he was alive). Only time where he hisses or flicks his tongue at someone else is to insult them

-While he doesn’t have anger issues like Kenge does, it’s not that hard to piss him off. All you have to do is shove him aside and he’s already plotting revenge against you

-The skinks sometimes forget he’s there. They’ll be talking, Nyeusi suddenly flicks his tongue to comment on something, and Njano would be like “Have you been here the whole time?”

-Romance repulsed aroace; you can go do your thing with your partner, he’ll just he over by his favorite rock trying not to puke

Nyata:

-She’s one of the least likely to get mad other than Njano. She gets more amused if anything

-She’s very sassy and quick-witted. She can come up with the best comebacks on the spot and it never ceases to amuse Shupavu

-She’s definitely very smug, often mocking Nyeusi after beating him in a race. She’s competitive like that

-Honestly has a little respect for Kinyonga. Not everyone can outrun her. I like to think after Kinyonga escaped her and Nyeusi, she went “Huh…respect” before getting up to go after her. I’m not saying she likes being beaten, but she’s a good sport lol

Green female skink (who my friend has named Nyororo):

-I have a feeling she’s the flirty one, managing to sweet-talk her way into getting what she wants. All she has to do is bat her eyelashes, maybe tickle someone with her tail, and she’s getting her way no matter what. It’s only until after she’s long gone when you’d realize you’ve been tricked

-She always knows exactly what to say in every situation in order to trick someone, it’s actually kinda scary

-She’s actually known Shupavu for a while, about as long as Njano has. Maybe even longer. They’ll tell each other everything and it’s the one time Nyororo’s sweetness isn’t a trick. It’s why she sometimes joins Shupavu and Njano on missions

-You could definitely beat her at her own game by flirting with/complimenting her back. It’s not super easy though. You have to have a certain trick up your sleeve and that trick is being a girl. She can handle guys, but if it’s a girl flirting with her, she’ll get all flustered

Waza:

-Waza’s the mediator and the most chill of the group. When two skinks are arguing, he’s the one to step in and resolve it either by talking to them or by slapping them with his tail (whichever is easier at the moment lol)

-I like to think his keen eye is…inconvenient at times. He notices when someone tries to sneak away or catches someone doing weird stuff when they think they’re alone, yet he couldn’t see where Kinyonga went when the skinks were chasing her. Waza wasn’t paying attention when someone does something suspicious but somehow knows all the cutesy nicknames Reirei calls Goigoi when she thinks she’s alone

-He’s sometimes quick to assume

-Has a plan for everything cuz he comes up with all kinds of scenarios in his head

Orange skink, who that same friend has called Hasira (anger):

-You know those grumpy, sometimes old characters who get annoyed by just about everything the main character does? Yeah, that’s Hasira

-He’s definitely the eldest in the group, about middle-aged in skink years

-He’s seen it all, but not in a “wise mentor” kind of way. It’s more like “I’ve been through a lot of bullshit and I’m just done” lmao

-He’s also kind of a reluctant babysitter to everyone. Shupavu may be the leader, but he’s the one making sure no one actually dies hfhfgfg

#finally got around to doing this #i love making headcanons for background characters #it’s pretty fun #nyeusi’s my favorite background skink #but all of their designs are really great #skinks #tlg outlanders #the lion guard

61 notes · View notes

petrichormore · 1 year

Text

(This is kind of an analysis on Q!BBH (in relation to Q!Forever’s trust issues). All of the following is about the character, not the CC)

One thing about yesterday’s stream, I know people are sad that 4halo (still don’t have a duo name) had a minor fight/falling-out due to Forever’s (JUSTIFIED) paranoia. But. I want to make one thing clear as a BBH main:

Bad did NOT mean to withhold any information from Forever. To my knowledge, he has never purposefully refused an opportunity to share important information with Forever, not even when he was worried about Forever’s mental health in the aftermath of Cellbit’s betrayal (he never got the chance to withhold anything lmao).

The problem here is not that Bad is keeping secrets from Forever, he really isn’t. Forever is being trusted more than I think he’s aware of, because he doesn’t realize that everyone else other than him knows next to nothing about Bad (with the exception of Foolish). Forever was the only person that - at least in spirit - had full, unrestrained access to Bad’s secret-est secret base up until Foolish also gained permission to enter recently. And he’s still the only person that Bad has ever allowed into Dapper’s private enderpearl stasis chamber room. Now I know that Bad broke the waystone pillar and therefore Forever lost his ability to enter, but he didn’t do it on purpose!

Bad is distracted, Bad is busy, Bad is constantly being pulled in a lot of different directions by a lot of different people a lot of the time. The only reason Forever doesn’t currently have access to Bad’s home is because he just hasn’t had a solid chance to take him there; and when he does have a chance, he doesn’t remember. Because, again, he’s kind of dealing with a lot right now please leave a message he’ll get back to you later and also did I mention he’s raising a child (and several other peoples’ children sometimes) all by himself?

Same issue today: Bad knows almost everything about almost everyone. And while part of that is because he’s prone to spying - an undeniably large part of it is also because almost everyone on the server trusts him enough to constantly drag him into lore whenever he appears. If you don’t watch Bad’s streams, you maybe wouldn’t know it - but some days it’s a fairly constant stream of “Hey Bad, can you come here?”

“Bad, we need to talk”

“Bad, I need you for something.”

“Bad, can we meet somewhere private? I have an extremely lore-heavy secret that I want to tell you - but you can’t tell anyone else or I will hate you eternally and kill you and curse your bloodline and never trust you again. Thanks, say hi to Dapper for me!” <- (that might be an exaggeration but you get my point)

Like. It’s a lot to stay on top of for one man, and sometimes Bad is gonna slip. Sometimes he’s not going to remember what information he needs to tell everyone, and what information he needs to take to his grave. Sometimes he’s gonna assume Forever already knows about a semi-well-known bit of important information. And, yes, sometimes his assumptions will be wrong; but he is being as open as he possibly can be with Forever.

Not to mention, just like Forever, Bad is also famously paranoid. He also has trust issues. It’s not exactly easy for him, either. But he’s trying, he really is trying. And Forever has a right to get upset about not being told information, but that doesn’t mean he’s right about Bad withholding information on purpose.

This is to say: Bad and Forever have a lot in common in terms of what they’ve been through and I don’t think they realize how much they trust each other.

TLDR; RIP to my man Q!Forever but Q!BBH has not done a single thing wrong in his entire life.

#qsmp #q!badboyhalo #q!bbh #q!forever #4halo #i guess?#WHAT IS THEIR DUO NAME?#q!bbh character analysis

330 notes · View notes

thecorvidforest · 1 year

Note

I have had a situation recently, and I would like your advice on it. I run a gaming discord server, with private servers for a few games. A streamer joined who claimed to have DID. They seemed to flaunt it all over their streams, seemingly very attention seeking. This, to me, seems likely to be fake, but I am unsure. Can you give any input? I don't want to have someone who makes up mental illnesses, discrediting those who actually have them, around, but I also don't want to falsely accuse someone.

sure, i’m happy to give my input, but it might not be what you’re looking for. you seem to have good intentions and this isn’t meant to bully or shame you at all, i just want to gently push back on this a little bit.

i personally believe there is never a good enough reason to accuse someone of faking a mental illness, especially something like DID/OSDD. there is no reliable way to spot a faker, and accusing people of lying does far more to hurt the community than faking does. let me explain.

some systems like to talk about their experiences, some don’t. same goes for anyone with any condition. talking about one’s plurality frequently is not automatically them flaunting it, and it’s certainly not grounds to assume they’re faking. plurality informs one’s entire life, we should be allowed to talk about it without having to worry if we’re being perceived as attention seeking.

here’s the thing. it’s wonderful that you want to help protect people who have DID/OSDD from people who might be faking it and i don’t doubt for a second that your intentions are genuine, but accusing someone of faking based on how you perceive them will do far more to discredit them than someone who’s actually faking it.

because here’s what’s going to happen if you remove them from your space because you think they’re faking: everyone around you who may be a closeted system - or even just anyone with a highly stigmatized disorder - is going to know that your acceptance of them isn’t based on their self-report, it’s based on your own perception of their symptoms. they will no longer feel free to be themselves, because showing their symptoms comes with the risk of being kicked out. you’ll have effectively made your space less safe for people with stigmatized conditions. and for the accused person, you’ll have removed them from a space that’s meant to be safe and completely invalidated their lived experience based on them choosing to speak about said experience.

on the flipside, let’s say they are faking and you do nothing. most likely scenario, they’re attention seeking and using DID to get the attention they want. what ends up happening most of the time is the person faking it eventually gets tired of the harassment and of having to keep all their lies straight and they stop.

of course lying about an already stigmatized condition for attention is an awful thing to do, and i’m not defending people who do it. what i am saying is that it is far less harmful to accidentally include a liar than it is to exclude someone who may or may not be lying with no way to know for sure if they are.

TLDR: whether they’re faking or not, them talking about it isn’t a reason to assume they are. and regardless, it’s always better to assume they’re telling the truth.

i hope this helps! we had a few switches in the middle of writing this so i’m sorry if the phrasing doesn’t flow well lmao

#corvidforest asks #dissociative identity disorder #did system #osdd #other specified dissociative disorder #osdd 1a #osdd 1b

141 notes · View notes

grimfurbybitch · 4 months

Note

What if. What if... Sir Pentious, while at the Hotel, receives a mysterious letter in front of everyone and everyone is confused because Pentious is nervous and doesn’t want to show/tell them who it is from and what it is. Despite the fact that Pentious worriedly makes excuses that this is personal, this causes a negative reaction among the hotel residents because this happens at a time when they have not yet fully begun to trust him. Especially Angel Dust, after that experience, you know. Not trusting Pentious more than anyone else and feeling something was wrong, he snatches the letter from him under the protests of the snake and reads that the letter is from Zestial. Alastor naturally recognizes the name and tells the others, and oh no, poor Pentious is trapped due to a miscommunication! Everyone just immediately thought that he was spying on them AGAIN just for another overlord LOL

Sir Pentious constantly gets into funny situations, I think this could very well happen to him. He will panic and blush at the same time, because ah uh erm well, how is he supposed to tell them all that he has actually been dating the oldest overlord in Hell for a hundred years???

related text post

Angel Dust can't actually read the letter, not due to Zestial's magic or anything like that, he just can't read Zestial's handwriting or understand his Shakespearian speech

Honestly most of the hotel probably can't read it (Zestial has some INTENSE cursive handwriting, it took Sir Pentious years to figure out how to read it) except Alastor but he's just stirring the pot more (he absolutely read it already but it's funnier to claim he's a traitor)

they definitely ganged up on him when Charlie wasn't there because they were worried she'll give him another chance and clearly he can't be trusted!

the letter says something like "why are you staying at that hotel? It fucking sucks, please come stay with me 🥺 I would treat you right" mixed with poetry about how much Zestial loves Sir Pentious, truly pouring his heart out on this paper

So something that isn't betrayal (or well at least it isn't selling them out) but still definitely something he wouldn't want to show the others

Charlie gets back in the middle of them yelling at him and is devastated at the idea of Sir Pentious betraying her again so she talks to him herself

And like two minutes into her "I'm not mad I'm disappointed" talk he confesses to dating Zestial

Which backfires on him because they assume it has to be some serious shit if he's that scared of talking (although it's Zestial, anybody would rather double die then double cross him), so they try to interrogate him to figure out exactly what he's been telling Zestial and why Zestial even wants a spy in this hotel in the first place.

Or the letter's asking him to "join Zestial in his bedchambers~( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)" and Sir Pentious lets them kill him because that's straight up better than explaining the contents of letter

Alastor tried to read it out loud, realized what it actually said, and then fucking dipped immediately lmao

(this took so long because I got distracted lmao)

#hazbin hotel #sir pentious #zestial #zestious #sir pentious x zestial #zestial x sir pentious #sirzest #slitherweb #cobrasilk #cobra silk #snakespeare

40 notes · View notes

billdenbrough · 2 months

Text

cannot possibly express enough how strange this one is. ok. @naturecalls111 prompted me (technically for microfic monday, but it was quickly determined to be untenable) kevaaron + frogs. there was an additional, informal element to the prompt she wanted that rocketed it from 488w (already egregious) to 1.6k (don't look at me), but i'm already wrestling with my psyche enough abt this one lmao. we'll leave that part to be a surprise so i don't have to think about it anymore HAHA. i guess. anyway. kevaaron + frogs, for mina.

“This is your fault,” Aaron says.

Kevin is affronted. “How could this be my fault!”

“Nobody cares enough about what I do to curse me,” Aaron points out, huffy. As huffy as a frog can be, anyway. “But you? Absolutely. You’re also really annoying.”

Kevin sulks.

“How sure are you?” Neil asks, following Nicky into the room. “I mean. Frogs?”

Nicky gives him an incredulous look, then snatches Kevin off the desk. Kevin makes the world’s most indignant croak, which everyone rudely ignores, except Aaron, who rolls his eyes.

“He has a queen mark,” Nicky exclaims, brandishing Kevin at Neil. “What kind of frog has a tattoo?”

Neil stares at it, then sighs. “Okay. Sure. Why not. So it’s Kevin. How do you know it’s Aaron with him?”

“Kevin wouldn’t leave without him, so it had to be one of us,” Nicky explains. Kevin thinks this is an optimistic reading of his character. “Which already probably meant Aaron, but I’ve confirmed he’s the only one also missing. So.”

“How did this happen?” Neil muses, sitting down on Kevin’s bed. His bed is right there. Kevin strongly considers kicking him. Except he doesn’t have the right feet.

Almost immediately after he has that thought, his mouth opens—without his express permission—and his tongue goes flying, a projectile aimed right at Neil’s face.

Neil barely manages to dodge, throwing up his arms and falling backwards quickly enough that Kevin’s tongue narrowly misses his skin. (Thank God.)

Nicky squawks, dropping Kevin, who thankfully lands on the desk. Aaron is watching Neil with interest. And Kevin—

Kevin is just pleased his aim and ability to forcibly correct Neil’s behaviour is still intact.

“Oh, gross,” Nicky complains. Neil looks relatively unruffled, though he shoots Kevin a slight glare before moving to his own bed. Thank you.

“Yep, that’s Kevin,” Neil mutters. “I wonder how Aaron got wrapped up in this.”

Nicky cocks his head.

“Assuming turning people into frogs is a real thing—which, okay, yeah—then I have to assume it doesn’t happen randomly,” Neil says. “And as annoying as Aaron can be—” Aaron rolls his eyes. Again. “—It’s gotta be Kevin, right? The reason?”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” Nicky says immediately. Which is so rude.

“Maybe they were together?” Neil muses aloud.

“Or it’s like a fairytale,” Nicky says. At Neil’s confused—and slightly judgemental—look, he elaborates, “You know, like, The Frog Prince! Or The Frog Princess! Or—that movie coming out, the Princess and the Frog!”

“This is too many frogs,” Neil mutters, but looks attentive. “So what’s the common theme? Other than frogs.”

“You know, normal fairytale stuff,” Nicky says, waving his hands through the air. On the desk beside Kevin, Aaron has gone still. It’s weird that Kevin can tell—it’s not like Aaron was especially mobile in the moments prior, after all—but paying attention to Aaron isn’t that big of a surprise, these days. “True love’s kiss, all that.”

Neil goes still too.

Aaron is looking at Kevin, gaze watchful, eyes intent.

Kevin looks away. Unfortunately, this means he’s looking at Neil, who is observing him with a calculating expression. At least Neil can’t expect a response, Kevin thinks. Small victories.

“Well,” Neil says. Kevin assumes he’s talking to Nicky—as strange as Neil is, conversing with a frog is probably out of even his realm of behaviour—but he’s still looking at Kevin. Ugh. “That might explain it.”

“Huh?” Nicky asks.

Kevin cannot look at Neil anymore.

Aaron is still looking at him.

“Neil frequently has bad ideas,” Kevin says, a pre-emptive defence.

“I don’t disagree,” Aaron says. It’s fucking weird. He’s a frog. Green and disproportionate legs—maybe he should try keep those when they get back to normal, Kevin thinks, suddenly daydreaming of a genuinely tall defence line; and then his thoughts shift a little to the left, Aaron’s knobbly knees but now they’re green and his calves are endless, pressing against Kevin, and wow, okay, Kevin is shelving that one before he gets too anatomically-confused, what the fuck—but still so Aaron. It still feels the same, him looking at Kevin, and now there’s something in Kevin’s throat to swallow past. He’s not even sure if he still has a throat, technically.

Neil and Nicky are still talking in the background, a buzzing noise that Kevin can’t focus on.

“Fairytales aren’t real,” Kevin says.

“We are frogs,” Aaron enunciates. Which is a reasonable counterpoint.

“This is ridiculous,” Kevin mutters.

“Kevin,” Aaron says. This is going to do something insane to Kevin’s dreams, he thinks, dismayed. Aaron croaking his name, and it being completely understandable. Life is so hard.

“Ugh,” Kevin says. His tongue goes flying past, apparently the frog equivalent of throwing one’s arms up in exasperation.

Aaron watches it go past, then looks at Kevin. If they were normal, he thinks Aaron’s eyebrow would be raised, or face tilted to the side, or something to that effect. People don’t think of either twin as especially expressive, but Kevin knows Aaron’s face, has mapped all its mountains and shifting planes. He misses it, suddenly, fiercely. More than the consistent pulse of exasperation and disbelief at their situation, the underlying desire to get back to normal. It’s an active, immediate thing: he wants to see Aaron’s face again, a deep-seated ache.

“Careful,” Aaron says. “If you keep throwing that tongue around, I won’t let you put it in my mouth.”

Kevin chokes. His tongue tangles itself on the way back into his mouth, his eyes bulge, and he makes a sputtering noise. Neil and Nicky don’t even pause their discussion.

If there’s a way for a frog to look calm in the wake of their friend (?)—also a frog—almost dying in response to an implication of flirtation, Aaron does.

“Aaron,” Kevin wheezes, once he’s got his tongue safely back inside his mouth and has reminded himself how to be a person.

“Kevin,” Aaron returns. He sounds so calm. So sure. And Kevin still knows him, down to his bones, but in this body, he can’t figure out his tells as easily. He can’t watch the movement of his knee, the furrow of his brows, the curling of his fingers into a fist. There’s no jaw to tighten, no hair to run his hands through, and while he still has eyes, they’re not ones that Kevin has memorised the way they soften.

“Is that a joke?” Kevin asks.

“We’re frogs,” Aaron reminds him. “We’re already the joke.” Before Kevin can decide how he feels about that, Aaron says, “Kissing you? Sure. Why not. Worth a shot.”

“Why not,” Kevin echoes. “Worth a shot.”

Aaron looks at him again. Kevin thinks maybe this is what it looks like for a frog’s eyes to soften, but who knows? Maybe he’s just looking for what he wants to see.

God, this whole thing is fucking ridiculous, but maybe the most unsettling part has been realising how much he misses seeing Aaron’s face. He’s gone longer without seeing it, obviously, it’s just—he’s never had to look at Aaron without it being Aaron. He can’t explain it better than that.

“Maybe I wouldn’t mind,” Aaron says suddenly, “if it were a fairytale.”

Kevin blinks. (Oh, that was weird.) He thinks that over.

“Oh,” he says, then smiles. He thinks he smiles. He’s not really sure what his mouth is doing. It’s unnervingly large in relation to the rest of his body.

“Oh,” Aaron echoes, but he hops closer. One hop. Two. His legs are very strong, Kevin notes, but then he stops thinking about it, because Aaron is really close.

Kevin cannot believe he’s maybe—probably—almost certainly—about to kiss Aaron for the first time. And they’re fucking frogs.

Kevin hops that last step, moving in closer.

“Hi,” he says.

“Hi,” Aaron says, rolling his eyes again. Kevin has never seen a frog do that before, though jury’s out as to whether that’s because normal frogs can’t, or because Aaron Minyard brings a level of exasperation previously unknown amongst the species.

Kevin leans in, and kisses him. It’s the weirdest sensation he’s ever had—their bodies are approximately 30% mouth right now, which is a lot to deal with—but then Aaron’s mouth is open a little, and Kevin’s weird, powerful tongue darts in and tangles with Aaron’s.

This is fucking insane, Kevin thinks, and then there’s a sudden whoosh of air through the room, and suddenly the desk crashes and he and Aaron are sprawled across each other on the floor.

Human.

And naked.

“Oh my god,” Nicky says. “You’re back!” And then, tilting his head at Kevin, “And naked.”

“We’re leaving,” Neil announces, grabbing Nicky by the elbow and tugging him out of the room. His expression is dismayed. “I don’t want to see you today,” he says over his shoulder, which Kevin would like to apply to Aaron, but probably mostly means him.

Aaron is beneath Kevin, which luckily means his modesty is protected, given his usual hangups (Aaron and Neil often tell Kevin that it’s not that everyone else has hangups, but that Kevin is entirely too open with nudity; Kevin largely ignores this); unfortunately, it does mean Kevin landed on him, and now he’s groaning.

Kevin gets off him, then looks at him. At his face. God. He missed that face.

“Why are you staring at me?” Aaron grumbles.

“After everything that just happened, that’s your question?” Kevin asks, incredulous. Fucking fond, because of course it is.

“Everything else has a root cause of you being annoying,” Aaron says. “This—”

Kevin leans in, cupping Aaron’s jaw with one hand.

Aaron shuts up.

“Take a guess,” Kevin says. His voice is – soft. Too soft to hide behind.

There’s so much going on Aaron’s face, eyes quick, expressive, roving all over Kevin’s, taking him in, figuring him out. Then his expression clears.

“You’re so annoying,” Aaron says, and then he surges up and kisses Kevin.

It’s much better, Kevin thinks, getting to do this as them.

#kevin day #kevaaron #aaron minyard #aftg #aftg fic #aaron grabs a pillow off kevin's bed to cover himself once his brain catches up and kevin SQUAWKS #he's like. how dare u. that's MY pillow. and then his brain catches up to what it's covering and he gets blushy and a little smug about it #aaron calls him a weirdo but kevin is unruffled. he kissed the boy! isn't a frog anymore! berated neil even in a new body! wins all around #crack treated seriously #i . guess #frog mention //#this goes in my duelling mina tag #this isn't her art but it is her fault. so. it feels appropriate. but i will reconsider later #poor nicky is SO stressed this whole time and does not want to involve andrew. understandably #kevin keeps stealing his snacks to throw them away but nicky doesn't want him to die for turning andrew's brother into a frog. ykwim #the girl who cursed him a) was correct to do so but b) was less fairytale dramatics and more Transform And Kiss Your Crush about it #punishing kevin for being annoying and rude by way of like minor embarrassment (theoretically) not Intense Fairytale Curses #omg these tags look RIDICULOUS. i will cease now. unbelievable #jane writes sometimes #jane kevaaron #jane ficlets #jane kvar ficlets

27 notes · View notes

troperrific · 3 days

Text

/ekuoto chapter 74 spoilers/

IT’S HEREEEEE!! AT LAAAAAST!

FAILMARRIAGE FAILMARRIAGE FAILMARRIAGE FAILMARRIAGE FAILMARRIAGE FAILMARRIAGE FAILMARRIAGE

Ahem.

Pardon my outburst.

Actual chapter commentary below.

Although the main event of this chapter was the beginning of Belphegor’s darkness flashback of his marriage, there are a few things I’d like to note beforehand:

Belphegor and Imuri continue to play tug-of-war with Priest in the middle. And just like the factions of the Church and the Witches, they both claim to know what’s best for Priest, each considering themselves to be the key to Priest’s happiness.

The callbacks to previous arcs via Imuri’s drawings are cool, but they ring a bit hollow, due to various reasons. Still, I don’t care about that, because it essentially gave us these panels:

“Loli version”… maybe it’s a good thing that Leah didn’t come with Imuri after all, who knows what we would hear then lol

I must admit, I found this way funnier than I probably should’ve. “Loli version” lmao, this walking garbage of a man!!

Funnier still is that this comment has double the effect to Imuri because that’s essentially her mom he’s talking about… poor Imuri lol.

Also, I quite like that Bel’s summonings (?) have been getting steadily scarier. The angry bear with edgy mallets was cute and silly, but this time we got a cute but slightly creepy clown with scissors.

We are getting there! Maybe. I trust you Bel, may your flashbacks bring forth your inner horror film abilities!

Belphegor is such an edgelord. I love that the author manages to take issues such as depression seriously, but they can also poke fun at this sort of… exaggerated, teenage-like mindset of “you don’t understand meeee!”

Also, don’t mock the power of love, jerk! Don’t you know the sort of manga you’re in??

Ironically, by declaring that there’s such a thing as “true suffering”, ergo establishing a hierarchy for pain, and assuming that Imuri does not meet his arbitrary criteria of “true pain and darkness” he’s being dismissive himself, as careless and callous as he accuses her to be.

But on the other hand…

Imuri has actually shown herself to be rather callous and dismissive about other people’s suffering. Constantly. There are a few examples throughout the manga.

Some are more obvious. For example, when she both trivialized and sexualized Leah’s emotional vulnerability and pain back in Part 2, caring more about her own jealousy than Leah’s feelings.

Or, more subtly, how she has consistently prioritized her own feelings and pride as Gehenna’s Femme Fatale over Priest’s laundry list of traumas. Feeling more irritated and humiliated that she “lost” to Asmodeus as Aria, and that this messed things up for her quest to romance him, rather than that Priest had gotten hurt again. Or even in this arc!

This isn’t to say that Imuri doesn’t care about Priest at all. She does, and a lot. But she can be just as insensitive as the Demon Lords, when it comes to minding other people’s feelings.

Despite this, Imuri has a lot of good points herself. Truly, just about everyone that has lived has probably thought “ah, fuck this shitty world”, and that’s simply no excuse to give anyone the means to do it. Even if she’s a bit callous in her wording (and about Priest’s feelings).

I loved her comment to Belphegor that it essentially “takes two to tango”, very true. However… Is this the first instance that the Virgin Mary was actually referenced in the story? Because I’m still wondering about Priest’s mom…

ALSO:

I called it!

Of course the reason women are “evil” is that they give birth to beings he considers to exist only to suffer. Of course he solely blames them, considering his immaturity!

What I didn’t expect, though, was for him to have been a father! Just… the context, that he and his wife gave birth to a nephilim, which Belphegor should’ve known better… makes this so, so much worse, thank you Aruma-sensei, I love it already.

Speaking of which… SPEAKING OF WHICH…!!

HI ONESTA!! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU!!

We’re finally getting ekuoto’s adaptation of Belfagor arcidiavolo!!

I do like and find it interesting that Belphegor went to prove that no such thing as a happy marriage existed apparently for Satan’s sake. I guess him and the other Demon Lords were getting a little too creeped out by his habit of going to Cocytus to talk to his frozen wife…

It’s quite telling, about Belphegor’s childishness, that he believes that just by “proving” to Satan that his marriage is doomed, he can get the poor snake man to stop feeling like he does for his wife.

But for all the bullshit that Belphegor spiels about marriage…

He sure changed his mind quickly!!

I like how, despite his mention of her big boobs, the paneling and framing don’t really drag the reader’s focus to them, unlike with how he sees Imuri. Here, all of Onesta is displayed equally (with sparkles!!), with perhaps a bit more attention to her face.

And I love how… judging by Onesta’s expression and her getting flustered before Belphegor even said anything, it seems she got as instantly smitten as he did.

I mean, I know all the Demon Lords are supposed to be incredibly good-looking in-universe, likely because they’re former angels and/or blessed by God, rather divine beings themselves, but…

Belphegor still retained his messy hair, eye bags and gloomy and clumsy disposition.

And yet, it apparently still was love at first for Onesta too!

It tracks though. Sarah considered the extra eyes scattered along Asmodeus’ arm to be beautiful; as a child, Leah seemed charmed and endeared by Beelzebub’s weirdness; and Tachibana is loyal to Mammon to the bone despite seeing his man child tendencies up close.

My dear girlies with innately horrible taste… I love them very much…

Curiously, this version of Onesta seems nothing like the one described in the novella (which I was very much expecting, given its rather misogynistic tone), who was a vain, arrogant, demanding and cruel woman, but that is what makes me fear for what’s coming even more…

You see, way back, when Part 5 had just started, I theorized that we would see some sort of mental illness portrayed through Onesta, as this seems to be a central theme in Sloth.

What I didn’t consider, however, was the possibility of Belphegor and Onesta having a child. A bit silly, now that I think about it, considering Belphegor’s obsession with childhood.

This, combined with the brief flashback we got from Golem, where he noted that his mother is always crying…

I think, there’s a non-zero possibility we’ll be getting some kind of depiction of postpartum depression through Onesta, or any other sort of mental illness related to childbirth.

I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case. It would certainly explain if she were suddenly to change her current personality to one closer to the novella’s…

Also, now I’m convinced that these two:

Might just be one and the same!

Seems like Belphegor’s been projecting his family issues onto Priest pretty hard, huh?

Next chapter is gonna be hell…

#troperrific talks #ekuoto tag #make the exorcist fall in love #ekuoto #I’m not ready for the next chapter… I’m scared…#the failmarriage is finally here but at what cost??#also congrats to bel for marrying and sleeping w the girl he likes #asmo could never #incel in spirit but not in practice

22 notes · View notes

moralesmilesanhour · 8 months

Text

what you're searching for.

summary: Margo goes to a shitty poetry slam and gets more out of it than she expects. wc: 4.9k warnings: alcohol consumption, and it's like very VERY lightly implied that they had an Adult Sleepover if you get my meaning. Nothing really too suggestive in here I promise. One singular reference to a tiktok. a/n: this took me a whole ass week but I'm very proud of where my writing style is going! somewhat inspired by the film 'Love Jones'. If you enjoyed this pls feel free to leave your thoughts or your favorite line if you have one! EDIT: OH MY GOD I FORGOT TO ADD: the first poem is actually taken from the Junior novel 'Miles Morales: Suspended' by Jason Reynolds! The poem at the end is mine though lmao I'm not the best poet

Margo can’t stand poetry.

Someone gets up in front of you with a piece of paper clutched in their hands, and recites what is simultaneously the most vague and the most painfully obvious string of fragmented sentences you’ve ever heard as if they’d just touched your soul.

It’s not rapping, not preaching, but the ugly middle child standing between them. Some odd bastardization of music for people who thought they were too smart for either of the first two, but weren't brave enough to just give speeches.

Speeches, at least, are coherent, specific, and can be scrutinized.

So far, sitting in the front row of the bar that her classmate Zoe had invited her to for poetry night, no one has changed her mind.

Tonight’s performances consisted of an assembly line of men (and a couple of women) in vintage sweaters ranting about their exes to the rhythm of bongo drums, or some mildly relevant social issue that none had the lexicon to really say anything in stanzas that hasn’t already been said. She had heard nothing yet that sounded much more profound than an Instagram post.

Although, one girl had come up and recited a short poem about her late mother that Margo thought was quite sweet, and the least tortuous to sit through.

The crowd erupted in snaps again for a poet with long braided dreads and an ankh tattoo whose words she had tuned out. The host took the mic and announced the final (thank god) participant:

“Now this next one I had to practically drag over here to get him to share his beautiful poetry with us tonight. Everyone, please give a warm welcome to one of my close friends and colleagues, Miles Morales!”

A lanky young man–Margo suspects about six feet even, given the way he’s towering over the host–awkwardly shuffles over to the center of the stage, offering the crowd a tight-lipped smile.

He’s in a plain green sweater with the sleeves hastily rolled up to his elbows and a bomber jacket tied around his waist. As soon as he’s handed the microphone, it seems to dawn on him that there’s no turning back, and his body visibly tenses.

He clearly just got here, and for once Margo doesn’t know what to expect.

Squinting beneath the bright spotlight, he clears his throat and speaks into the mic.

“Um, hi.”

A few scattered ‘hi’s from the crowd.

There’s something bright and sweet in the tone of his voice that makes him sound a little boyish, and she wonders what he could possibly have under his sleeve that warranted him getting dragged up here last minute.

He takes a deep breath.

“It’s said

That nobody

Is ever more

Than ten feet

From a spider.”

Miles began the poem carefully, like he was confessing something.

“They be everywhere you and me are.”

A few members of the crowd laugh, others shudder at the thought and frown.

“And even though

We see them only

When they big enough to see, or when

They move,

Like a cursor

Across the blank white

Page of a wall…”

His voice loses some of its airiness in exchange for confidence as he recites the rest of the poem, and Margo realizes that he isn’t reading off of anything.

Either he’s improvising, or he has it entirely memorized.

“Or when we trip

The web-like wire

Of a booby trap

Or when they

Fang our flesh

We should probably

Assume most

Just be right there…”

Miles paused and looked somewhere far beyond the crowd, lifting his arm to point to the back of the room. Then he repeated:

“Right there,

Right here,”

He gestures toward the front row, where his eyes land directly on Margo. It’s not so close to the stage that she can tell for sure, but she thinks she sees a hint of a smile cross his lips.

“Looking at us,

Looking over them.”

Silence.

His arm falls limply to his side as his eyes frantically scan the audience, searching for some kind of response.

Then, someone begins to clap. Then another. Then another. WIthin moments, the entire room erupts in applause, causing a shy smile to spread across the young man’s face.

“Uh, thank you!” he says, surprised at the positive reception, before shrinking into himself again and leaving the stage the same way he came.

The host returns and takes the mic from him.

“Miles Morales, everybody!”

After the poetry slam, Margo insisted that Zoe take her to the sushi place across the street. It had a bar sitting off to the side, one with significantly less poets. The decorative lights hung directly above the shelf filled with glass bottles and shrouded them in cherry red.

Zoe takes a sip of her sherry and leans in.

“Sooo, how was it?”

“It was a’ight.”

The light-skinned girl’s lips pull into a pout. “Seriously?”

“Hey, I told you poetry wasn’t my thing,” Margo pauses, then amends, “I liked the last guy, though. Breath of fuckin’ fresh air.”

“Right? His style really caught my attention, subtle.”

“Glad you liked it.”

Zoe’s eyes widened as she glanced just beyond Margo’s shoulder.

When Margo turned towards the familiar voice and froze.

The poet in question was standing just inches away, a friendly smile gracing his features. His jacket is no longer around his waist, neatly folded over his arm like an expensive coat. He is with the excitable darker-skinned man who’d just hosted the event, and a man the shade of sandalwood standing just behind him.

They’re both wearing the same type of muted cardigan as Miles, but they’ve got actual coats.

“Y’all were in the front, right?” Miles asks the both of them, though he’s only looking at Margo.

She nods wordlessly. Zoe picks up the slack.

“M-hm, you were great up there! You’ve really never shown anyone your work ‘till tonight?”

Miles snorts at the wording of the phrase. ‘His work’.

“I wrote that poem in high school,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Wasn’t supposed to be anything serious, but my roommate…”

He gives the dark-skinned man a dirty look.

“...swiped my journal and found it. Told me I should read it out loud somewhere.”

Margo examines Miles’ face and imagines him as a baby-faced high-schooler, sitting in the back of the classroom with a protective arm around the beat-up red composition notebook he’s writing in. He stuffs it in his bag as soon as he’s done, because he has just poured his heart out onto that page, and his crush’s name is in there. Maybe there are tiny doodles of her in the margins.

“Yo,” the sandalwood-colored man claps Miles on the shoulder. “We about to hit up Tiff’s place, you coming?”

“Yeah, in a minute,” Miles nods dismissively. “I’ll catch up with y’all.”

The two other men give each other a knowing look before brushing past him.

“Alright man, catch you later then.”

Once she finally regains the ability to speak, Margo remarks, “You were the only performance I really liked, if I’m being honest.”

“Is that so?”

“Oh yeah, this one hates poetry,” Zoe places a hand on Margo’s shoulder and laughs. “Tried to change her mind by bringing her over here, but no dice.”

Miles raised an eyebrow. “What made mine so different?”

“Hm, I dunno…” Margo’s eyes float over his form before making their way back up to his face. “Your delivery, I guess.”

Safe to say, he looks amusedly unconvinced.

“My…delivery.”

She catches herself and quickly adds, “I-I mean, it also kinda felt like everyone else was trying too hard. So.”

He tilts his head at the remark.

“Are you just saying that to flatter me?”

.“I don’t flatter people. Too close to lying.”

“That sounds like half a poem already. Maybe you should go up there next week.”

She gives him a lopsided smile.

“Only if you’re there. I need something to actually look forward to.”

His tongue darts out and passes over his lips.

“What’s your name?”

“Margo.”

Miles hums, softly repeating the name before inching his way over to the counter where he leans his hip on it.

“Pretty. Can I buy you a drink, Margo?”

She doesn’t think her name is all that pretty, but he makes it sound that way.

“Knock yourself out.”

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Zoe teases as she rises from her seat. “I’m gonna go order us some sushi.”

Miles takes the stool to Margo’s left as he waits on their drinks, his long legs never needing to leave the ground to do so.

He has a funny way of sitting, hands folded neatly in front of him with his back just a few degrees off from being perfectly straight. As if you needed to look distinguished at a sushi bar.

Church boy, Margo guessed. That, or his daddy’s a military man.

It’s adorable either way.

“You in school?” she asked.

“Yup. Princeton.”

Her eyes lit up.

“Oh shit, me too! I’ve never seen you on campus, though. What’s your major?”

“Physics. You?”

“Comp Sci. Been coding since I was in middle school, so…”

Margo remembers the echoing ‘click-clack’ of her keyboard as she sat in an empty computer lab for hours on end after school because she preferred it to her parents’ house.

The bartender hands Miles two glasses of white wine, and he sets the second glass in front of Margo, his warm eyes still focused on her.

She’s intrigued by how clear they are - no trace of suspicion or calculation behind them. Just the warmth.

“So, where you from? My folks are over in Brooklyn.”

“Georgia.”

Miles’ brows jump to his hairline.

“Damn. What brought you all the way up here?”

To get as far away as possible.

“Well, it’s Princeton,” she says beneath a forced laugh.

“Yeah, but you got, like, eight different HBCUs over there. How’d Princeton win you over?”

Margo breaks eye contact to stare into her drink.

“Needed a change of pace.”

When she looks up to gauge Miles’ reaction, skepticism is written all over his face. But he doesn’t push it further.

“That’s fair. Princeton’s got a cutting-edge quantum physics program that I’m aiming for. Had to beg my parents to come here,” he grins proudly, “but here I am.”

Margo is silent for a moment.

“Can I tell you something?” she asks suddenly, beckoning Miles to lean in.

“Yeah?”

Grinning, she half-whispers, “I’m actually here on a scholarship.”

He gives her an odd look.

“Why’d you say it like that? Nothin’ wrong with getting a full ride. The opposite, actually.”

“Some people might feel otherwise. You’re like, the second person I’ve told other than my parents.”

“And why me?” Miles chuckles. “My poetry was just that good?”

“I just…Hm.”

Margo leans back and takes a contemplative sip of her wine, watching him over the rim of her glass.

Why did she just tell him that?

“I guess I just sorta felt like telling you.”

Margo cautiously sets the wine back down. She figures if she’s not careful, he’ll have her full government name and social security number by the end of the night.

“Y’know, I actually get that a lot,” Miles laughs. “One time, I had this lady I was standing in line with at Target turn around and just start telling me stories about her dead son and how much she misses him. And it’s like, I’m sorry for your loss, but we’re in Target right now and I literally do not know you.”

“Wait, people just go up to you and…tell you shit?”

“Yup. There was this other time at church, too. Just as service ends and I’m about to get up and leave, this short old dude–Dominican, I think–stops me and starts telling me about his entire life. I’m talking start to finish! Apparently I reminded him of his nephew that died in the military or something.”

“Jesus.”

A crease forms between Margo’s brows. She wishes she could say she didn’t understand the old man at church or the lady at Target, but she does. No, it’s not the poetry. It’s got nothing to do with words.

It’s the way that Miles looks at people.

Like he already knows all of your secrets, but you’re not worried because they’re safe with him, so might as well tell them. It’s a merciful sort of gaze; you get the impression that he won’t judge you. You might even tell him more after his friendly ‘boy-next-door’ voice coaxes them out of you. The thought unsettles her because she had done just that.

“You ever had a girlfriend before?” She asks, all of a sudden.

Miles shrugs, “Yeah, in tenth grade, then again freshman year. Didn’t really work out.”

“Why not?”

His brows furrow gently for just a second, as if he’s still trying to figure out the answer to that.

“I…don’t know, actually. It goes well the first few months and then…”

“It fizzles out?”

“I get ghosted. Something about how they’re ‘not ready’. Understandable, I guess, but you don’t have to ghost me, y’know?”

He awkwardly examines his fingers, then his glass.

Margo feels a bit guilty for suddenly bringing up his exes when they’d just met. Would they end up the same way? She saw herself there too, being in a relationship for six months before his weird pastor’s eyes get to be a bit too much and she takes off.

“Yikes, sorry I asked.”

“It’s no problem,” a smile starts to return to his face. “Onto better things, right?”

“Right.”

“And you?”

“Huh?”

“You ever been in a relationship before?”

Margo smiles awkwardly and messes with one of her fingernails.

“Well…not exactly.”

Miles’ eyes widen.

“Never?”

“I mean, guys offer, and then we talk for a little bit, but then…”

“They flake out on you.”

“Pretty much.”

“Damn shame,” he says with a bit of sharpness to his voice. “Not even a first date?”

“Nope, just ‘Read at 4:15’.”

“You know what I think it is?”

Just as he asks this, his knee brushes against her thigh. Margo isn’t sure if it’s an accident, but it distracts her nonetheless.

“What?”

“You’re too smart for them, I can tell. It scares ‘em.” But it doesn’t scare me, is the suggestion.

He smiles then, the kind that shows the whiteness of his teeth on every vowel. It’s wide enough that a dimple comes out of hiding on his left cheek, and she suddenly wants to tell him everything again. She takes another sip of wine.

“So! What’d I miss?”

Zoe finally returns from ordering their sushi at the front with an expectant grin. Miles still hasn’t taken his eyes off of her friend, while she is staring at him like a string of code, which, if you know Margo, is better than nothing.

“You didn’t miss much,” says Margo. “We were just talkin’ about our majors. School stuff.”

Miles checks his phone and lets out a low whistle.

“Well, it was lovely meeting y’all, but I gotta bounce. After getting dragged onstage, I get to be dragged over to a house party, too.”

Just as he rises from his seat, he stops and points at her.

“Before I go, though, d’you mind giving me your digits? I’d love to talk about, uh…computer science…over lunch.”

She snorts, “Who still says ‘digits’?” but hands him her phone anyway.

It couldn’t hurt to try.

“Sure.”

His eyes light up as if he wasn’t expecting her to say yes as he saves his number as ‘poetry slam guy’ in her phone, then hands it back.

“Cool,” Miles begins his walk towards the entrance backwards, holding eye contact for just a little longer before turning around. “G’night!”

“Goodnight!” the two women call out in unison as he leaves.

Margo looks to her left at the now-empty bar stool. The glass of wine Miles left on the counter is full, completely untouched.

It’s still on her mind as she's sitting in her single dorm room, re-writing her lecture notes on cyber security in a meticulous neat print that could almost pass for a font.

Every few minutes her pen stops because she’s distracted by the sound of clinking glass in boxes downstairs, or because she pauses to stare at the white wall in front of her that brings to mind one of the lines of Miles’ poem.

There might be a spider that I can’t see sitting ten feet away from me right this second, she muses to herself. The thought gives her an idea, and the perfect excuse to call him without seeming too desperate.

Margo unlocks her phone and scrolls through her contacts. She smiles to herself at the contact name Miles chose. Did he think she’d forget his name that easily?

His voice soon filters through the speaker.

“Hey, you didn’t throw out my number!”

“Yup, lucky you.” she replies. “I wanted to ask you a question? About your poem the other night.”

“What about it?”

“See, I was thinking about that first line. Are we really never more than ten feet away from a spider? Like, at any given moment?”

There��s a moment of silence from Miles before he asks:

“You…called me just to ask me that?”

“What? It’s a very pressing issue! There’s probably one in the corner of my room as we speak!”

“Alright, I’ll humor you,” Miles laughs. “That’s actually a myth from the 90s. Your distance from the nearest spider really depends on where you’re at, so if you’re in a spot with hella bugs, you’re more likely to see one. You’re probably fine.”

“Now wait just a minute!” Margo gasps dramatically. “So you lied to all those poor folks in there?”

“Sure did. Played ‘em all like a fiddle.”

“Terrible.”

“So, why’d you really call? You don’t sound as concerned about spiders as you say you are, if I’m being honest.”

So much for an excuse.

“Don’t nothing get past you, huh?”

This earns a burst of laughter from Miles’ end.

“You’re a worse liar than me, I wouldn’t recommend making it a habit.”

“Ugh, fine,” Margo admits, “I just wanted to hear your voice.”

“You could hear my voice in real life, you know. Offer’s still on the table, and I’m free today.”

Their second conversation, and already a lunch date? But as she’s reminded of what his voice sounds like, she quickly realizes that just the voice is not enough.

Still, she tries to sound casual and makes a non-committal noise.

“Better than being cooped up in my room all day.”

“Great! Where you wanna go?”

Margo shrugs as if he can see her on the other end.

“Wherever you wanna go.”

“Ah, the ‘wherever you wanna go’ paradox,” he chuckles. “Okay, well–lemme ask you this then. Do you like eating with or without music?”

There’s a beat of silence as she considers.

“Hm…is the music good?”

“I’d never subject anyone to a place that plays shit music. Promise.”

“Music, then.”

“Cool, what time works for you?”

“How does two sound? I’ll catch you in front of the Engineering Library.”

“Bet. See you in an hour, then!”

The place Miles chose had a live band playing at the front.

A bass player, a keyboard pianist, a saxophonist, and a few background vocalists on occasion. All are propelled forward by the rapid-fire snare of the drummer. It’s jazz - the easy, conversational kind you hear in the background of 90s romantic comedies where the love interest wears nothing but dark lip liner and filled-in brows with a bit of smokey eyeshadow in the crease.

This is the look that Margo has decided to go for as she sits across from Miles at a mahogany table positioned ideally by the window.

It was all she could do other than frantically adjust the braided 'fro-hawk sitting atop her head and spin around in a mist of ‘Champagne Toast’ before bolting out the door.

She doubts he can even smell it right now through the curry and garlic.

“Figured out what you want yet?” Miles asks as he looks over his menu at Margo.

“Eh, I dunno,” she replies, running her index finger down her own menu. “I’m tryin’ not to blow half my paycheck on pasta right now.”

Miles gives her a strange look, then it clicks.

“Oh! Lunch is on me,” he laughs. “Your bank account’s safe for now.”

Her head snaps up.

“You should’ve mentioned that! I thought we were going half and half this whole time, I had my whole budget for the week planned out.”

Margo has to hold back an ugly cackle at the look of horror on Miles’ face right after she says this.

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just say that.”

With this new information in mind, she orders a bowl of chicken alfredo with a glass of lemonade that she sips on as the band seamlessly transitions into a cover of Solange’s ‘Cranes in the Sky’.

“So, Margo,” Miles rests his chin on his knuckles and squints his eyes comically.

“If that is your real name.”

Margo giggles, and plays along.

“It’s not, it’s my alter-ego for when I go on top-secret missions.”

“Is it short for something? Or just Margo?”

“Hm,” she puts on an affected, ‘action movie’ voice, “If I tell you, I might have to kill you.”

“It’s worse ways to die out there.”

Margo looks around her as if to make sure no one’s listening, then leans in.

“It’s short for Marguerite.”

Miles snaps his fingers.

“I knew it!”

“What? You think I look like a Marguerite? Seriously?”

“No, but you got a lil’ country twang in your voice. Ain’t no way in hell Margo wasn’t short for something.”

“Man, alright,” she laughed.

“Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that,” he winked, “I like ‘em country.”

“Boy, don’t give me that! You look like you’d pass out at the sight of a jar of pig’s feet.”

“Hey now, I got family in South Carolina. I used to go down there and see about ten of those every summer.”

“Fine, but you were still raised a Northerner. I could hear the Brooklyn from a mile away.”

Miles removed his hand from under his chin to clutch his chest.

“Ugh, I feel like I’m caught between two worlds!”

The reference to one of the more choice lines from the poetry slam makes Margo snort and let out a loud guffaw, which she quickly muffles with the palm of her hand.

“Why would you remind me of that!”

Miles is soon infected by the fit of laughter and has to put all his strength into not doubling over at the table and drawing attention.

“This nigga said,” he wheezed, “ ‘I keep doing the Achy Breaky to Suavemente!’ “

“I thought I was the only one who thought that shit sucked,” Margo sighed as she wiped a tear from her eye. “But I didn’t wanna be mean ‘cuz I’m not like, half Puerto Rican, or anything like that.”

“Well I am, and that whole poem felt like a microaggression. And I knew that guy!” He starts gesturing wildly with his hands at the outrage, which Margo finds hilarious.

“He's like, one-eighth Boricua. His last name is fuckin’ Schwartz!” Miles scoffs, “He don’t know shit about no damn ‘Suavemente’. Bet he looked it up.”

“You should write your own poem, then. ‘Take up space’, as they say.”

“Hell no,” he said. “I left that behind in high school. The other night was an exception, remember?”

“Look, I’m not one to encourage more people to become poets, but you never know. Something might inspire you.”

Miles calms down and gives her a meaningful look.

“Maybe.”

The rest of the conversation saw Miles slyly gathering intel through bites of roasted chicken. He’d quickly learned from their meeting at the bar that his line of questioning with Margo ought to be less direct.

He even hit her with the ‘what’s your sign’ question, though Biggie would’ve advised against it (Margo was a Libra, he was a Leo). He didn’t actually care for astrology, but Margo wasted no time in proclaiming that she couldn’t stand Scorpios because they were ‘too nosy’.

Miles’ only error was asking if she’d ever dated–correction–spoken to one, and her eyes hardened with suspicion again. He quickly elected to change the subject.

“Okay, totally random question, but humor me. How do you like your eggs?”

Margo blinks twice.

“What?”

“You heard me. You can tell a lot about a person by what kinda eggs they like, true shit.”

“Alright, fine. I like ‘em fried, with the crispy edges. What that say about me?”

“I dunno, but when I find out it’ll all make sense.”

Margo laughs.

“Okay, well, how do you like your eggs?”

“Scrambled, fluffy,” A childish grin spread across Miles’ lips. “And seasoned with Adobo to make ‘em all orange.”

“Never had ‘em like that before.”

“Maybe I could make some for you sometime, if you’d let me.”

“Maybe.”

She remembers his promise a month later when she wakes up to the aroma of the seasoning and hears the pop of frying oil, letting out a sigh of relief at the realization that Miles is still there.

His back is facing her when she enters the kitchen, the morning light illuminating a tattoo she had never seen before.

It’s a spider with sprawling legs that cascade all the way down the expanse of skin, the movement of his shoulder blades bringing them partially to life. She hadn’t noticed it in the dark, and he was not one to walk around in anything revealing enough for it to have ever seen daylight. It’s faded, which means he’s likely had it for years.

He’s only twenty-one, she thinks. Did he get it in high school?

Amusement creeps onto Margo’s face at the image of Miles sneaking around the house, darting in and out of the bathroom to clean it without his hawk-eyed mother or straight-edged father taking notice. Picturing this, it’s suddenly much easier to believe that their son would have to beg and plead for them to send him a measly forty-six miles away for school, even for an Ivy League.

Miles doesn’t turn around yet, but Margo catches the way he stops, tilting his head playfully and placing a hand on his hip.

“Man, I can’t believe I’mma have to eat this whole thing of scrambled eggs all by myself, with the ones I just fried! How sad.” “You’re not very funny,” Margo says with a smile, pulling out a chair from beneath the dining table.

He switches the stove off, then does a dramatic spin to face her with fake surprise on his face.

“Oh! Where’d you come from? I didn’t see you there.”

He turns back around to grab two plates–ceramic ones, not the stack of styrofoam ones–from one of the cupboards to serve the eggs in, starting with fried.

Margo watches him silently. The tiny, squint-or-you-might-miss-it gold chain around his neck catches the light as he moves, and she remembers feeling the cold metal brush across her lips.

“The fried ones, are they–”

“Crispy at the edges?” he finishes, with a smile in his voice. “Yes ma’am!”

“You could really be a detective, can’t get nothing past you.”

“You’ve said that before.”

“See?”

The two burst into laughter, and the ink on Miles’ back does also. His poem was accurate, in a way. For the past five weeks, Margo has been no more than ten feet away from a spider.

They have a brief and quiet breakfast, wherein Margo finally asks to try the scrambled eggs and is delighted by the burst of flavor added by the Adobo. They aren’t too dry or too soggy the way they tend to be in restaurants - just fluffy, as promised. She thinks it might be time to finally start taking Miles at his word as she watches his back again while he’s washing dishes.

Once he is fully dressed and about to leave, Miles stops suddenly, as if he’s forgotten something. He reaches into the left pocket of his jacket and pulls out a neatly-folded sheet of paper, nervously running his other hand through the short dreads sitting atop his head.

“Before I leave, I, uh…I took your advice and wrote a lil’ something.”

He hands it to Margo, who takes it gingerly.

“Well, good for you.”

“It’s been a while, so it’s kinda rough, but hopefully the sentiment is there.”

Miles plants a quick kiss on her cheek, and she smiles easily for once as opposed to the usual raised eyebrow.

“I’ll be sure to let you know if it is.”

Some time after he leaves, she finally sits down to read it while sipping on a cup of tea, because coffee wreaks havoc on her nerves. His handwriting is strange, overly graphic as if it’s the title card of a cartoon, but she reads it.

I know you don't like poetry

but you said you liked mine,

and the way you sip your wine

has set my pen to paper,

so I hope

you'll make another exception.

You've already claimed

half of my sketchbook

because I just can't get your eyes right.

I always make ‘em too soft,

or too round.

They don't pierce through me,

like they did when

you stared at me over your glass,

eyes narrowed.

When you search my face

and pick me apart,

I'd like to know what it is

you're always searching for.

#miles morales fic #margo kess #flowerbyte #cybershock #cyberflower #atsv fic #atsv fanfiction #moralesanhour

66 notes · View notes