#i should really say more about here be monsters but i don't want to spoil it. i don't know

[thechekhov]

As an autistic person (who is, to be honest also pretty immature) I also really related to Izutsumi. I understand that my pickiness is unreasonable but that wouldn't stop me from rather not eat that try something I don't like or not know, or that looks bad.

I think maybe we misunderstood each other a bit here.

I don't think the issue is Izutsumi not eating things.

If she simply said "I'm not eating that, I'm going to out and hunt for my own food" that would be completely understandable. Hell, even Marcille refuses to eat some of the things Senshi cooks. Not Eating Monsters is a very relatable part of this story. Most people who the party meets refuse to do that. Senshi and the guys - THEY'RE the weird ones.

In fact, in this panel, Laios is being a jerk on purpose and I'm surprised he got away with only scratches.

I joked about her eating the weird little man, but honestly? If she doesn't want to, why pester her? He was just being Laios.

And in the flashback, Izutsumi dealt with things pretty normally - just give what you don't want to eat to Tade.

No dramatics necessary! Everyone wins. She's a cat, she doesn't need leeks anyway.

But the point at which she kinda crosses a line is specifically this:

She yells at Laios about her limits - fine. A bit unnecessary, given that he's just trying to explain their situation, but whatever.

But she then puts the party in danger by going for the Barometz AND then walks away after initiating a battle, because it doesn't suit her.

The difference between what happened with the Ice Golem and now is consideration. Thinking about how your actions impact the safety of others. While Chilchuck and Izutsumi worked together to fell the golem, the others (Marcille and Senshi and Laios) didn't just wander off to look for NEW problems. They stayed nearby, presumably ready to jump in.

They also didn't split the party, forcing Marcille to give chase in order to assure Izutsumi didn't die. (Marcille is also kinda in the wrong here for leaving others, because she also endangered them, but she did it out of concern for Izutsumi.) (Also, Izutsumi would have died if Marcille hadn't followed her, so it's a fair concern.)

The issue isn't that Izutsumi cares about her own needs. That's a healthy thing that everyone should do!

The issue is that Izutsumi doesn't care about the needs of others, to the point of endangering them for very little reward to herself.

She makes no effort to....make an effort? She yells at the party when things don't go her way and demands they make unreasonable adjustments for her. It's not about when she threw away the mushrooms - like, that was funny and partially expected after Senshi got used to the others eating whatever. Though it IS wasteful....

When I say Izutsumi comes across as spoiled to me - that's NOT because of having personal preferences. She can eat whatever she wants, forever. That's a human right.

But I do think she's selfish for demanding that the world and other characters bend (unreasonably) to her will (because they're in a DUNGEON with limited resources) and make it easier for HER specifically, even though attempting to do so endangers them.

But also, as many of you have pointed out: She's not even an adult, she's 17. I assumed she was like, mid-20s, so her behavior makes a lot more sense now.

[hanaruri-tunes]

Spoiling Belphie rotten (then Beel joins in because he can) Belphie x reader

⚠️MDNI⚠️

Hiii I'm back and here are the warnings (?): Degradation, praise, mommy kink, breast sucking, mention of lactation, breeding kink, yandere belphie, threesome, bj

Sorry if I forgot something, I'm still not used to tumblr's "smut culture" ajfhzhufude putting on those warnings feels more like I'm just tagging my smut. (But I guess that's ultimately the point?) Reader/MC is cisfemale in this one.

I still have no idea what I'm doing, in case you hadn't noticed. Hopefully I'm not making a fool of myself too bad aaaaaaa. Here goes.

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You were the only one who had the ability to wake Belphie up with ease. As soon as he heard your voice, his consciousness would spring back up. When you touched him, gently shaking him, his eyes would open on the spot. Although there was no magical or scientific explanation behind this, Belphie's brothers and even Belphie himself had now given you the task of waking him up everyday. Since you were the only one capable of such a feat.

But when it came to matters Belphegor wasn't interested in… he would give a hard time to you as well.

"Hnngh don't wannaa. If it's not for school what's the use?"

"Are you serious? Diavolo invited us for dinner, that's not something we get everyday. Also, we warned you not to sleep during the day today in order to avoid this exact scenario..."

"Hnnnghhhh."

Even YOU were at a loss on what to do now. Maybe you should really go without him… No. Lucifer had tasked you with this and you didn't want to disappoint.

"Come on, make just a little effort. If you do, I'll give you a reward after we come back."

Although you couldn't see it because Belphie was facing the wall, at that moment his eyes shot wide open. He took a moment to recollect his thoughts.

"Hmm… what kind of reward?"

Not really having anything particular in mind, you give him a standard answer. The kind that will inevitably become a big mistake later.

"Anything you want. You can decide- Oh but something that is in my power obviously aha."

You said that while sitting on the side of his bed. Belphie would always wonder how you could so casually just invade his space like this and not expect any retribution. A small smirk appeared on his face before he shifted sides and turned towards you, facing you.

"You're really oblivious and reckless, how cute."

He says with his cute little head laying on the pillow. Does he realize how painful it is for you to wake him up everyday when he looks so peaceful? So comfy in his bed that you sometimes get the urge to join him and go back to sleep.

"Wow, rude. Come on sleeping beauty, Lucifer will get mad if you don't hurry it up."

As expected, from there things go fairly smoothly. As soon as you all arrive at the castle, Barbatos takes you to the dining hall where Diavolo was waiting. He then shares some of the future projects he has in mind for the devildom hoping for the brothers' help as well as your own. You weren't really worried about what Belphie would ask you after you made it back home but the question did stay in the back of your mind throughout the entirety of the evening. Looking back, you really should've asked instead of brushing him off.

Well, wherever. Making your way back to the house of lamentation, all of you were carrying "leftovers" from the dinner but really, it was mostly just a gift for Beel. Diavolo knew how big of an eater he is and there's no way even a royal dinner would satiate this monster of a stomach he has. As you all left the food in the kitchen and let Beel devour it all, everyone started making their way back to their rooms. Everyone except Belphie.

"You're coming with me, right?"

"For?"

"The reward. Don't tell me you forgot?"

"Ah well, sure? I mean- I just didn't think that we necessarily needed to be in your room for you to ask something from me."

Belphie chuckles. Somehow it kind of gets on your nerves as you feel like he's mocking you. Well, no matter. Making your way up there, Belphie invites you to sit on his bed. Your back against the headboard.

"Um. Thank you?"

You feel your cheeks heating up. You always feel like you have to keep an "attitude" with him just as he does with you, but seeing how he has quite literally invited you into his bed, you're starting to have some *thoughts* you wish you weren't having right now. It wasn't like doing dirty things to him never crossed your mind but you weren't 100% sure if he ever had ideas like these as well. Unsure, you would never lay your hands on him more than necessary, worried that it might be too much too soon. Well, you were about to find out that this was never a concern of his.

He joins you, laying his back on your thighs.

"Could you cradle me Y/N?"

You blink.

"Uh, like, a baby?"

"Hmm not exactly. But I'll call you mommy if that's what you want."

You almost choke on your own spit.

"W-wha?? Did you really just say that?"

Annoyed, Belphie himself places your left hand over his shoulders while he's still laying down on you. He then places his head on your chest, rubbing against your breasts like a spoiled little brat.

"It's truly so cute how you're still trying to stay guarded and dignified in a moment like this. Do you really think I would invite just anyone into my bed?"

Your heart rate picks up at the insinuation and you're pretty sure Belphie can hear it.

"Ooohh~ So you do get it. Can you take your top off?"

This was the twins' room. Beel might be busy right now but once he's back… How would he react if he saw what the two of you were doing?

…

Ahhgh. Fuck it.

You take your top off and your bra, Belphie's face lights up with a shit-eating grin. The really thrilled kind that pisses you off for some reason.

"We've got a real pervert here. I only asked you to take your top off yet you went all the way. Oh nooo~, I unknowingly invited an indecent person into my bed, whatever shall I dooo~"

You flick his forehead.

"Shut it, you're the one who's… A-anyway, why am I the only one taking layers off? Shouldn't you do the same?"

Belphie snuggles against your bare chest, hugging you. Then he leaves a kiss on one of your pink tips.

"Well I'd like to unbuckle my pants but my hands are too busy holding you~ Please do it for me?"

Frustrated by how he's obviously babying himself up for you, and yet he still manages to look cute while being obvious, you follow his "suggestion" and unbuckle his pants. Revealing that he's already quite hard. Well at least that part of him isn't lying…

As you wrap your soft fingers around his length with your right hand, your left arm is still cradling him against your chest as he starts to kiss, lick and pull on your sweet spots. He smiles as he sees how pleased his touch makes you feel.

"Mommy~ why is your chest not dripping with milk? Is it broken?"

"G-God shut the fuck up…"

You try to keep your focus on your right hand, the one that is stroking and pumping him, desperately trying to make him feel as good as you feel right now. You don't want to be mocked for not being able to perform as well as he can. In fact, isn't this already what he's doing?

Noticing your worry, Belphie makes an effort to reach for your lips, kissing them lovingly.

"Calm down honey, you're too tense. I'll show you what makes me feel good."

Unwrapping one of his arms from you, he reaches out for your right hand, putting his hand around yours. As he does, you notice how much bigger his hand is compared to your small, soft hand. Yet he's supposed to be the youngest of his brothers.

Belphie still suckles on you, but in between his devious tongue doing god's work, he's also mumbling a bit as he guides your hand.

"No need to be hasty… I like it slow and gentle at the beginning… Just grip it more forcefully when I'll be close to cumming, I'll take care of the pace."

You keep doing this for a couple more minutes, from time to time you kiss him on the head or on the forehead to which he responds with a soft "mommy" against your breasts. You're starting to like being called like this. To return the favor you also call him baby a couple of times to which he responds with a long suckle on your breasts.

He's just so cute… The only problem is that you're starting to get unbearably wet.

"B-Baby?"

"Mh-hm?"

"Um, c-can we hurry it up? Sorry but I- ugh. I-I need some help down there unless you want me to stain your bed…"

Suddenly, Belphie's dick leaks with precum.

"S-Shit."

His hand's grip on yours tightens up and you understand just how strong he really is, he quickens the pace but it's not enough. The air around him darkens as he unconsciously changes to his demon form.

"Agghh this won't do."

He makes you let go of him and he stands up on the bed, pushing his dick in front of your face with a scarily tense expression. He's extremely turned on, looking down on you. That's when you know this baby-mommy nonsense is over. Belphie places his right hand on your head while pumping his dick with the other. You can tell it's taking him an immeasurable amount of self-restraint to not yank your head and shove his cock down your throat, humping it until he releases himself in you.

"Y/N, say ahh~"

Obediently, you grab into his thighs and open up your pretty mouth for him. He cums all over your face and tongue. When he's done, he closely watches you tasting him and wiping your face off with your hands that are now covered in his seed. Funnily enough, his tastes like condensed milk… it really fits him.

Calming himself down a bit, he sits back down in front of you then grabs you.

"Belphie?"

You have no idea how he does it so quickly, but before you have even realized what's about to happen, you were on your hands and knees with your skirt and underwear down. Your ass facing him as he's already brushing the tip of his cock on your wet cunt. He whistles.

"You weren't kidding. It's a mess down there."

"Ah- H-Hold on, what if Beel comes in?"

He gently places his big hand on your back, pushing you down slowly onto the bed, as if he's taming you. Your face is now on his pillow while your ass is prettily in the air, giving him a good view of your privates.

"Ssshhh. Don't think about that. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing baby."

As if your roles were switched, he was the one calling you baby now.

Not that it mattered anymore to you. You let go of all of your worries to be in the moment. The moment in which Belphie is about to enter you and make an even bigger mess of your insides. With one hand firmly on your waist, he uses his other hand to slowly open you, pushing his dick inside as gently and slowly as he can.

As you feel his length entering you, you realize just how hot a demon's dick is. You thought your insides were warm but his might be even warmer. You squirm under him, calling his name. Almost unknowingly, you reach out for his hand on your waist, placing yours on top of his as he had done earlier to guide you. Except in your case it wasn't for guidance, you just wanted to caress his hand that was so satisfyingly wrapped on your body.

"Belphie… Y-You're so good… Ungh."

Belphie chuckles.

Then you sense some sort of unfamiliar danger emanating from him. The kind that strangely excites you. As you notice that "danger", Belphie leans in over you, wrapping your entire body under his, then he whispers.

"You dumb little bitch♡ You still don't get that I'm about to breed you, huh? I'll fill every nook and cranny of your tight cunt while you'll be helplessly whimpering and calling my name. How cute is that?"

You've always tried really hard to keep up with Belphie. His sloth aside, he always had a nasty attitude, not in a "violent" way but it was like he would look down on you from a place of infatuation. You knew he found you cute and adorable but you never truly understood what it would mean for the long run. Thus you would also keep your guard up with him, trying to "not be looked down on" from his sadistic love for you. Well, now it was clear that you had failed and honestly? Being defiled like this felt embarrassingly good.

He started pounding into you from behind, his weight all over your back as you let yourself lose. Even going as far as drooling all over his pillow.

"That's it! That's the face I've wanted to see all this time! Isn't it annoying to always pretend to be responsible? To always try to meet everyone's shitty expectations of you? This is it. Let yourself sink. Aaahh you're so slutty and adorable, IloveyouIloveyou-"

As you felt like you were about to completely lose yourself to pleasure, the door of the room flung open.

"Belphie, do you know where Y/N… is…"

Beel was done with the leftovers. And now you two were done for too. You were about to panic but Belphie caressed your head, calming you down.

"Sssshhh I got this."

With a calm smile, Belphie turned over to face Beel.

"Ah Beel, yeah sorry. Could you close the door and come here for a sec? Oh- And keep this a secret from the others please."

Beel silently does as he's told, then in disbelief, he sits on his bed across from Belphie's.

"Uh. So. Isn't it better for me to leave?"

Belphie laughs, all carefree. As if he wasn't just calling you a slut and pounding into you like a dog in heat a second ago.

"Leave? We're just starting. In fact we were waiting for you!"

…

What?

You manage to fight off the embarrassment and lift your face up from the pillow. Shooting daggers at Belphie.

"You see, Y/N here reaaaally wants us to fuck her raw but since she's too shy and reserved to admit that, I took matters into my own hands. Would you care to help us?"

"Help with…"

Beel looks at you and the state you're in, then looks away in embarrassment. He's fidgeting with his hands, a bit lost.

"O-Only if Y/N is fine with it. If she tells me I can, I'll do it."

You should've seen this coming. Belphie shares absolutely everything with Beel and vice-versa. So even going as far as sharing a "partner"... well it was always in the realm of possibility.

The twins look at you, you can tell they're begging you to say yes through their eyes. Their gazes full of hope. You sigh. Well… If you're going to whore yourself out… You are going all the way.

"You can join us Beel. But please show at least a little bit of restraint when needed. I don't want it to hurt…"

Beel smiles gently and nods. Belphie smiles deviously and hugs you.

"That's our Y/N! ♡"

Well at the very least, you feel like you can trust Beel to monitor Belphie's behavior in bed… Nervously, Beel gets up from his bed, making his way towards you.

"Uh so, how can I help?"

Belphie looks over at his pillow still covered with a bit of your drool and he chuckles.

"Hmm. Well you see… Y/N has trouble keeping her mouth closed when I fuck her. She needs something to fill her mouth with or else she'll make a mess on my pillow. Not that I mind but I suppose Y/N is quite embarrassed about it…"

The little shit was right. You can't even look back at the pillow, too scared to see just how much you've left behind. Before you can even understand what's happening, Beel was already standing in front of the bed, his waist lining up perfectly with you. He starts to unbuckle his belt before Belphie stops him.

"Ah, wait Beel. Y/N likes doing this part, let her unbuckle it."

This fucker was right again. How does he understand your secret wishes so well? Scary. Without complaining, you gently move Beel's hands away from his front. He blushes at the sight of you unbuckling then unzipping his pants. So much so that his length is already half ready to make his way into your mouth.

You stare at it a bit, observing its size and shape then looking up at Beel who's too shy to look at you directly for longer than 2 seconds. How is he genuinely so cute while Belphie is so not?

But nothing gets past Belphie.

"Y/N~ You just thought something quite rude right now, didn't you?"

Placing his hand behind your head, he pushes you towards Beel's dick.

"Come on. Since you like Beel so much better than me, why aren't you sucking him off yet?"

You hit Belphie's arm as Beel also tells him off, warning him not to be too pushy with you. Well, no matter. You start off by gently kissing Beel's tip, making him grit his teeth at how cute and kind you are to start off so politely. Then you take him in slowly, a bit clumsily. Not sure on how to keep your teeth from touching his shaft, hoping that you're not doing a lousy job… Especially since Belphie is looking at you doing it so closely. Probably regretting that moment from earlier, when he decided against shoving his dick into your throat.

A bit frustrated. He goes back to where he stopped before Beel walked in. He enters you as slowly as the first time, making sure you get used to him being inside you again… Yet you just can't, feeling him fucking you from behind while having to pay attention to how you're taking care of Beel is quite difficult. Belphie and Beel notice your discomfort right away. Beel tells you not to worry about getting everything right while Belphie comments on how cute it is that you're trying so hard to please them, that in on itself is already pleasing.

As the three of you pick up the pace and get lost into the act, the twins' true colors resurface. Or rather, the way they express their love for you becomes very clear. Whenever Belphie spanks you or thrusts into you too hard, Beel warns him to be careful and to make sure he's not hurting you. Belphie retorts that you actually like it when it hurts a little bit which ticks you off because his observation is right.

As you carefully suck him off, Beel keeps petting you and caressing your cheek, praising you. Telling you how good of a job you're doing and how adorable you look. To contrast that, Belphie takes any excuse possible to mock you. Telling you how perverted your mind and body are. Degrading you satisfyingly.

"Everytime Beel calls you a good girl I can feel you tighten up. So you're the kind of whore who likes to be praised for being filthy, hm?"

Beel takes over and reassures you.

"He's just teasing you Y/N. You're so cute and pretty right now that it's hard for him not to pick on you. Please forgive him."

This constant cycle of mockery then praise and praise then mockery makes you shudder from pleasure. Being called a dirty slut from behind, treated roughly. Meanwhile your mouth and head are being treated so kindly, Beel caressing you and calling you cute, smart and pretty. It didn't take long for you to break. You could feel them getting close to release as well and as soon as they called out to you at the same time, it was over.

"Good girl."

"Pervy bitch."

As expected of twins, they managed to sync their climax not only between each other but with you as well. Belphie's load was even hotter than his cock, filling you entirely, you could feel the juices leak embarrassingly from your hole once he pulled out. As for Beel, his seed tasted like thick honey. You drank it as best as you could, making sure that Beel knew how delicious he tastes.

Utterly exhausted, you collapsed on your back, facing the ceiling. Completely fucked out. They joined you, hugging you from each side. Belphie was back to acting like a spoiled little fucker, rubbing his cheek on your breasts.

"Beel~ Join in, it's so soft."

Beel shoots a glance at your chest, then at you.

"Can I?"

You nod, your mind so blank that you don't even take the trouble of uttering a simple "yes." And so Beel follows Belphie's lead, softly laying his cheek on your other breast."

"Beel~ Once Y/N is pregnant her breasts will lactate and we'll be able to drink her milk. Imagine how good it'll taste."

Beel's eyes light up. Oh no.

"Y/N's… milk…"

He lifts his head up, looking at your nipples, then starts sucking on them. You worriedly call out to him.

"Beel! Nothing will come out y-you know?!"

"But still, just imagining it feels good."

"Doesn't it?"

Belphie agrees then joins in on the licking and sucking. You're done for. Two cute boys are treating you like their mommy and chances are, they'll have a second go at you in a few minutes once they notice how wet you've gotten from feeling their tongues all over your chest…

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Wegh that was a long one. As always don't hesitate to leave a comment, even a keyboardsmash is greatly appreciated!! Share how you've lost your mind 🫰

[unknownperson246]

Make Chapter 3 of A Monster

ignore the inbox thing it was a reminder to myself to make a chapter 3 😭

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

A Monster chapter 3

Words: 1,385

Warnings: *angst* *slight smut* *killing* *vampire slash* *blood* *gore* *crime* *horror?* *pregnancy* *evil slash* *cruel slash* *cussing* *traumatic experience* *flashbacks* *drugging* *traumatic flashbacks* *toxic slash* *vampire killer*

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You were lying in bed with sharp pain in your abdomen. After a couple of hours, you felt way better. It was midnight and Slash was next to you asleep on his side of the bed. You still felt a bit sick from the nausea you had but it was the least of your problems. You were roaming around the bedroom very anxious about how your baby was doing. You were scared since there were no vampire doctors who existed near you. You were tired from your wedding so you head back to your bed and fall asleep. Slash could hear your footsteps but he didnt want you to know he was listening so he pretended to be asleep. In the morning you were feeling a lot better. You felt way stronger and your morning sickness was gone. You were still worried about your baby. You think something is very wrong because if you were feeling no morning sickness like you usually do and the pain from last night was gone in a short amount of time something could be happening to your and Slash’s child. You shake Slash awake. “Slash!. I think somethings wrong” You look him in his eyes.

“Is it the pain again? Is it back?” Slash asks you while rubbing your belly.

“It's the fact that I'm not sick and that I don't feel pain.” You tell Slash.

“The baby is fine. I feel the kid. Our kid is safe. It's resilient.” He tells you while smirking.

“I’m going to take your word for it.” You tell Slash trusting him. 

“Where should we go on our honeymoon?” Slash asks you knowing you both should have planned your honeymoon before the wedding.

“I want to go somewhere spooky since I’m a vampire now. I want to explore Romania and look at vampire lore.”  You tell Slash.

“How about New York?.” Slash suggests.

“Sure. New York is fun” You say while playing with his hair.

You get another fun idea.

“I have a better idea. Let's ditch our honeymoon and since no one is bothering us in our huge mansion, we can have some fun here in our very own bedroom.” You smirk while climbing on top of Slash while his back is lying on the bed. Your legs are spread while climbing on him.

He smirks and his hands attach themselves to your hips. You forget your annoyance towards Slash because you have heavy lust in your eyes for him. In the heat of the moment, you rip his pants off with your vampire strength. Slash is surprised.

“Y/N I know you want it really bad right now but you need to slow down babe. I don't think we should do it while you're pregnant.” Slash says.

You turn away like a toddler and you pout. Your back is turned on him. 

“But I want it right now,” You say, sounding like a spoiled brat.

“I know but we can't do it right now so stop acting like a spoiled brat please,” He says while flipping you back to face him.  

“Whatever Slash,” You say, rolling your eyes and sitting back on the bed.

Slash grabs another pair of jeans and he walks out of the room. After a while, you hear weird noises coming from downstairs and it's Slash drinking the blood of a maid. You walked down the stairs and appeared in front of them. The maid's blood was everywhere. It was on his mouth and a couple of splashes coat your silky white nightgown. You were fascinated with him doing this at first as you thought he was just hungry and he was going to let her live after he fed from her neck. Slash wasn't an evil vampire but he wasn't necessarily a saint. He only does what he does to live. He got more aggressive and you can see the bloodlust in his eyes.  Slash holds the maid by her neck and he starts gulping all of her blood. He puts his cold hands on her neck and turns her head to the other side. He breaks her neck and leaves her dead on the ground after he finishes draining her blood. You were terrified. This is the first time you have seen him kill someone. You thought he was just going to make her forget that he fed on her but he killed the maid. 

“We're going to need a new maid,” He laughs and chuckles like he hadn't just taken the life of an innocent human after he catches you staring at him.

Watching him kill an innocent human made you sick to your stomach. You were terrified. You were wondering how he treats everyone else in the house who works for him. You held your stomach thinking how he was going to treat the baby once it arrived. Is he really evil? You ask yourself over and over again.  You stare at him while holding your belly. You were trying to protect it from Slash. You turn around on the stairs, you say nothing and you slowly walk up the stairs to your bedroom. Once you are in the bedroom you finally process what happened and you're in shock. You have flashbacks of when you and Slash did it when you were a human. You remember how Slash invited you to his hotel room and how he drank your blood. It just hit you how he could have killed you but he technically already did. You are a cold dead being who doesn't age. It made you sob for hours. Slash comes upstairs to check on if you are okay.

“Why did you kill her?” You ask Slash.

“For fun,” Slash says amused at your trauma.

“For fun?.” You say while you're traumatized You feel like dragging a wooden stake through his dead heart.

“You're fucked up. You're a fucking psycho. You're a fucking monster. You're sick. I am fucking carrying a monster’s baby” You sob while the splashes of the maid's blood are on your white silky nightgown. “Look at what you did” You sob even harder after noticing the blood.

“Carrying a monster's baby?” He asks amused. His eyes are still red and he laughs as he watches you cry after he kills the maid. “There there calm down. It's not good for our child for you to be crying this hard. There is no such thing as a monster’s baby,” He says while tapping your belly. He jabs and prods at it until he eventually gently runs his hands over your flat stomach. He tries to soothe the baby. He can feel it in distress.

You push his hand off and you start to shake fearing that he was going to hurt you. “Here I have a present.” He says handing you a cup of the maid's blood. He says it in a taunting manner.

You look at him in pain.

“I know you want it” He waves the glass in your face so you get a whiff of the fresh blood. He laughs cruelly. You knock the blood out of his hands and you grab the wooden stake you made earlier. You stab it against his chest. “Your fucking evil you bastard.” You yell at him while the stake is in his heart.

He shoves the stake out of his chest and he grabs it while it’s in your hand . It’s all bloody and he grabs it and puts it at your chest to threaten you. “Don't be such a pain in the ass and join me. Let's have fun killing people” Slash whispers in your face. 

You smack the stake out of his hand. 

“You evil bastard.” You yell at him.

“Ow.” You cry hitting the floor with your body. Your hand is glued to your lower abdomen.

“What's wrong?” Slash asks you.

“Stay away from me.” You yell at Slash.

He picks you up and lays you down on the bed. His hand goes through your hair. He has an evil look in his eyes. He shoves something in your mouth. He forces some of the maid's blood into your mouth and makes you swallow it. You feel dizzy and everything in your sight starts to droop. You fall asleep after he gives you some sort of pill.

[ckret2]

Your goldilocks cipher stuff gives me an unreal amount of dopamine (maybe i just like bill a lot idk) do you have any fun tidbits and details about the au that wouldn’t be too spoilery?

Thank you!! Here's a bunch of random trivia:

The (English) name of Bill's language's written script is Plaintext. Like, y'know, plaintext:

In cryptography, plaintext usually means unencrypted information pending input into cryptographic algorithms, usually encryption algorithms. This usually refers to data that is transmitted or stored unencrypted.

Which is ironic, since Bill's the ONLY person to whom the text is unencrypted. But then, from his perspective, it's the only "unencrypted" text he ever actually sees—all the languages he uses in day-to-day life are foreign languages to him.

In the Bill Cipher AMA, somebody asks Bill what he thinks about all the fangirls he has, and Bill says they should all go to the Nevada desert and assemble a throne to wait for him. In fic, I've decided it'd be funny to give him a women-only cult in Nevada. The leader of the cult is named Mary and the underling most often referenced is Sue, because—and I say this with love and affection—if "fangirl who's put in a fic so she can meet her favorite tumblr sexyman" ISN'T a textbook Mary Sue, I don't know what is.

Bill really likes monster trucks. He's convinced himself that he'd be a TERRIFIC monster truck driver, because he can see the future, so obviously he'd know how to avoid any car crashes. He's probably wrong about this. It's a more physically taxing job than you'd think, and a human body is more easily taxed than he's used to.

Current favorite human food is nachos with sprinkles on top. Gotta be triangular nachos. If the chips are circular or rectangular it will legit depress him. Also plain old cheese is boring, give it some texture, it's gotta have peppers hot enough to kill a toddler.

Sometimes Bill talks to Waddles as if he's speaking to the Temporarily Genius Waddles and expects him to understand what Bill's saying.

If Bill's watching a show/movie and doesn't want to spoil the ending for himself he has to fight NOT to glance into the future to see what happens. Imagine if every time you read a comic book, all of the pages automatically separated and spread out across the table so you could see every page at once, and you had to keep resisting the urge to glance at the last page to see what happens. That's what trying not to glance forward is like for Bill.

Nobody's commented on this yet, so idk if anyone's caught it, but in chapter 2:

He carefully positioned himself directly in front of the trio, glancing down at the floor as if looking for the right mark to step on,

and in chapter 3:

Mabel considered his feet thoughtfully before spray painting an X where she estimated he’d been standing before.

“You got lucky—” he cast a dirty look at the X spray painted on the ground, “—but luck changes.”

In chapter 2 Bill saw the X on the floor in the future, and assumed he was going to leave it for himself so he'd know where he should stand for his big dramatic moment—which means he deliberately planted himself RIGHT on the mark where the twins were set up to tackle. (Even though he can see into the future, his time vision is pretty near-sighted.)

Bill NEARLY invaded the M Dimension mentioned in Journal 3—he was playing "muse" to a whole bunch of scientists and governmental types who were all collaborating, everybody liked him, nobody suspected anything, they were thrilled by the idea of opening up interdimensional travel to his totally-harmless-and-not-at-all-nightmarish realm so their muse could visit... the only reason he hasn't already conquered the M Dimension is because everything there, even the laws of physics, are based on the letter M, and for the life of him he couldn't find a way to adapt the portal blueprints to work there. The math's impossible.

Bill's the only member of the Henchmaniacs who's unable to leave the Nightmare Realm. (As in, physically can't leave. Legally, most of them are pretty trapped there for lack of another safe place to go; but like they could leave if they chose to.) Sometimes he sends his Henchmaniacs on errands for him to other dimensions; and sometimes they go on day trips outside the Nightmare Realm without him. When they leave he tends to sulk and insist he isn't sulking.

Nobody in the shack knows about Ford's embarrassing neck tattoo. (And it was REALLY hard keeping that secret on a boat.) Nobody, that is, except for Bill, who spent last summer stalking everyone in the shack and who can see through walls, seeing through a turtleneck is nothing. Someday he's gonna start casually humming All Star and strike terror into Ford's heart.

There's a handful of human languages Bill can't speak because the speakers cursed him to be unable to speak them. I don't know which languages yet, I'd probably need to do a lot of digging to find languages about which there's already "demons/monsters/etc can't speak/understand this language" folklore I can slap on him. But it's a joke I'm prepared to use if I find a language that fits.

Bill thinks it's weird that humans want their hands and hair to smell like food, but then don't even want to eat them. What's the point of strawberry-scented shampoo???

[realian]

fuck it I know constantly complaining about the Silent Hill 2 remake makes it look like I'm just searching for things to complain about, but there really is so much wrong with the SH2 redesign even on its face. despite my vehement belief that Silent Hill 2 does not need a remake - what it needs is a digital rerelease and proper remaster (although the Silent Hill 2 Enhanced Edition takes care of 90% of that - the only thing needed is upscaled textures) I am willing to admit that for the most part, the new characters look Fine. I have issues with the cinematography and the way the designers clearly Do Not understand the artistry of the cinematography (see Exhibit A) but generally the character models look good. and I don't just mean graphically speaking - I mean if someone said "hey here's my interpretation of what the Silent Hill characters would look like in a more modern, realistic game style/based on different actors" I would say wow, yeah! that's pretty spot on! (though I do think James looks way too put-together and conventionally attractive, but it's not the worst redesign in the world.) and then there's Maria.

Maria is supposed to be a very unsettling character who is instantly in James' face about how much she wants to be with him. she's clingy and dramatic and as far as we (and James) know, it's for no apparent reason - I mean, she just met him, right? it's only in Born from a Wish that we get a more sympathetic look at her character and realize why she acts the way she does. that, holy shit, this isn't a monster, this is a literal person that was created by Silent Hill and who has nothing except the memory of James and that she loves him. that's it. it's supposed to come as a surprise and make us feel uncomfortable because her entire situation is fucked up. on the surface though, throughout the main game, she acts seductive, confident, and catty. she's not outwardly likeable. tons of people found her to be annoying and that's the response you're meant to have initially. because you don't know that under the surface she's a scared, lonely woman who doesn't want to die but has no way to truly live.

I could continue to talk about how the remake spoils her entire character because she comes across meek and frightened or how they took away her iconic tacky cheetah skirt and crop top and heavier makeup and replaced it with an extremely normal, not uncanny face, and put her in a decidedly more modest evening gown and leather jacket for some reason but I know I'm gonna just have people shouting that the game isn't even out yet so I should totally trust the people who wrote The Medium to write good female characters... nobody ever learns a thing. peace.

[mermaidsirennikita]

I watched Pretty Woman when I was around 12. Which, first of all, my mom let me watch and read anything.

It pretty much encoded in my brain. It also played an important role in my fascination with older men with silver hair. And I love everything about it. I know it's problematic and stuff. But it's so good. Everything is perfect, casting, music, story, acting, cinematography. Romantic movies don't commit like this. I miss the beautiful, curly hair and the romantic ballads. It feels as if Hollywood is allergic to romance now.

I'm suffering from lack of good romantic movies. Please recommend some good movies.

If it makes you feel any better, I was probably younger than 12 when my mom like MADE me watch it with her lmao

And I agree so much with everything you have to say about it. Pretty Woman is, to me, the Iconique romance movie. It feels more like a romance novel, to me, than most movies. And it's sooooo sexy.

For other romantic movies, I'd recommend:

Brown Sugar (2002). This one is really fun because both of the protagonists make really bad choices sometimes! He marries the wrong person, she gets with the wrong person, it's friends to lovers the way it should be done (ie with a lot of angst). But you still root for them to get together! Also, Taye Diggs gives an absolutely perfect line delivery (like several) in this clip.

(We gonna celebrate--what? *clink clink* MY DIVOOOOOORCE!)

Always Be My Maybe (2019). Another example of friends to lovers done right, though it's really one of the things I love in books too, which is "childhood friends to strangers to lovers". So good. Also, the single best usage of a celebrating playing themselves ever with Keanu Reeves.

Imagine Me and You (2005). A sweet sapphic romcom with a bit of a moral quandary in the premise... A woman is walking down the aisle to her husband, looks over, sees florist Lena Headey, and understandably falls in love with florist Lena Headey. But like, she didn't even know she was bi, let alone that florist Lena Headey existed, so--what now? Cheesy in a very sweet way. Actually plays with infidelity in a manner that movies kinda don't as much at the moment (Brown Sugar does as well). Yet it remains heartwarming.

Faraway (2023). Nobody ever talks about this movie, even though it has so many things we always say we want—like a woman over 40 who isn't stick thin falling in love with a man over 40 who also doesn't have this insanely ripped body (and he remains hot, to be clear). In this one, a woman finds out her husband is PROBABLY cheating on her on the day of her mother's funeral. She also finds out that her mom had a secret house in Croatia! And when she goes to that house to get away from her family, there's Some Guy squatting there! And now she's kind of in a love triangle with Some Guy and a younger real estate developer who wants to buy the property...? It's delightful. I need to rewatch it.

Hit Man (2023 though let's be real it's a 2024 movie). Anyone who hasn't seen this yet--it's a romcom. It's a whole romcom. With sex in it. It's very funny, it made me attracted to Glen Powell against my will, he eats this girl out a kitchen island (and she thinks he's a hit man she almost hired to kill her husband). It's definitely got a touch of darkness, but everyone who suffers deserves to because they're like, abusive husbands and racist predatory cops. Hell yeah.

Amelie (2001). I'm sure everyone has seen Amelie by now, but if you haven't, watch Amelie. It's everything it's cracked up to be.

Argylle (2024). YEAH. YEAH. I'M PUTTING THIS ON HERE. Everyone shat all over Argylle, and I was like oh shit, what even is Argylle??? I don't wanna spoil too much, but did you know that Argylle pretty much ends on two people making out as they speed away from whimsical chaos??? Did you know that Argylle has like.. AN AMNESIA ROMANCE PLOT??? It's goofy as fuck and it is delightful.

Lisa Frankenstein (2024). Another recent one that is actually so romantic. And the monster uses a giant Hitachi magic wand on Lisa Frankenstein. Good for her.

The Through My Window trilogy I will always cite as Euroteen romance movie excellence. Like, the second movie is kinda rough, but the third makes up for it completely. It is soapy, it is ridiculous, it is EVERYTHING a good Wattpad movie should be except there's also like, an actual earnest heart to it. Ares is a king among men. Raquel is batshit insane but gets away with it because she is That Girl. I love it.

Anyway, this is far from a complete list, but try these for like, the heart feelings.

[danmeiconfession]

See. The thing with SJ is he's a lot more closely related to the other MXTX main characters than SY himself. SJ worst deeds to the people really were all rumors or misunderstandings because those deeds specifically were him trying to do good and the world sort of fucked him over. When it comes to the cycle of abuse I don't factor SY in at all because why I should I he's essentializing an outsider roleplaying a character he got everyone to fall backwards for. He isn't in the equations he didn't do the abuse SJ did. Personally, I think it's a low bar to compare SY and SJ simply because one is obsessed and the other unbothered and uninterested. I mean that SY doesn't view these as genuine real people as he sees only himself and Binghe his idol as important and the rest as fodders. He views himself sorta like he wants plotpoint in PIDIW to happen only he not be taken center stage as the villain. Let's be real for a second, any person in the modern world have better ethics and morals than in PIDIW altogether because of the setting they live in why should we compare Shen Yuan who is lower than average when it comes to being good to Shen jiu in a setting where it normal to whip your disciples and not be called out for it as abuse because it's the norm.

Like what praise is there when it's a low bar to start with.

 SJ was a victim of harassment, physical assault, and social and verbal bullying for years when he was a disciple in CQ. LQG was compliant in letting his fellow disciples physically attack SJ throughout their disciple years, YQY was an enabler to both SJ and the others who spread rumors about him, SJ himself was isolated on Qing Jing, and both Qi Qingqi and Liu Qingge did not give SJ the respect he, as their senior, deserved. Also, the previous Peak Lords were enablers as well, considering they never set anyone straight about their behavior.

You all can easily say what SJ did wasn't right I'd fucking agree but look where they live do they have proper services for victims like him. He is a highly scarred trauma victim reacting and acting like a traumatized individual who never received treatment, received only continual stigma and abuse, was gaslit and isolated by everyone around him, and condemned as sinister, scheming, evil, lecherous, and immoral largely because he wasn't acting nice enough by their standards (again, trauma victim displaying traumatized behavior). Does he not deserve compassion because he acts like a real trauma victim rather than a fictionalized fantasy version of a trauma victim who is just sad and timid instead of realistically angry and defensive?

This poor man life was utter shit what peace did he get it. It sucks he took it out on created a bigger monster but damn I'd fucking blacken and kill myself for even less if I lived even a part of that life.

I'm not surprised they like SY more and it's funny because a lot of the shit they accuse him of being a rich spoiled it's SY right here. Like it kind of fit the memo SJ didn't really belong in the upperclass because he can't hide from his past he can't hide his scars and the way he fights dirty to survive because it's a part of him. But SY can he fits the bill well because he was a rich millennial kid with no additional baggage why wouldn't they choose him am I right (sarcastic) ?

.

[blemiria]

that one line in lone trail

hello welcome to "she promised she was gonna go tl some fic but then got sidetracked thinking about lonetrail again and is now here" I want to go ahead and do a more comprehensive post talking about the three's relationship in detail with what happened in lone trail but uhh

I don't have that kind of time to reread it because I forgot which stories contain the parts that I need lol. So without further ado, lets spoil CW-ST-4

The title is "Pushing open future's door" and serves as the epilogue of lonetrail. Unlike most events, lonetrail actually has two post mission stories! CW-ST-3 is unlocked after CW-10 so you know this event is insanely long (iirc this is around the same character count as chapter 8, which is insane. This event is gonna be a monster to read through when it comes to global, I look forward to seeing what translation decisions they make so I have stuff to talk about haha). Also we get to see a hint at a professional relationship between Nastja(no I am not calling her nasti/nasty, I'm fairly certain they were going with a Russian name and Nastja was the closest)

Most of this epilogue is centered around Kirsten, now alone having won in her ideals and preparing to go to sleep. It's a very touching moment where her electronic system goes through her entire ship shutting off each room one by one, until she is left in her room where she is going to hibernate, given a couple minutes before that room will activate she records a log.

It's relatively simple, probably the most direct we will get from her talking about her philosophy and thoughts on society, wanting people to understand themselves, others, society, and where they are in the universe in order to determine how they should move on.

In the last minute she goes a bit more personal which is really what I care about. She comments on how the plants are still alive to her surprise, and laments being unable to give Muelsyse the data on them. It's a nice touch! She stayed with control, helping her the entire way, and it's clear that Kirsten means a lot to Muelsyse too given how close they were in the past between all three of them.

The very last things she says are directly to Saria.

In Kirsten's whole life, there were only two times where she felt truly alive. The first time, Saria, was when I took you back home, and on that hill I told you the start of everything. The second time, is now, when I have completed my parent's dreams. The seeds of what happens next, is only the beginning. On a clear night, find an open field and set up a telescope, there will be a star in the sky twinkling for you.

Then, goodnight, the sirs and madams of Terra.

goodnight, universe.

yeah just stab me will ya. I don't think there is any really other way to read this other than a goodbye letter to Saria, one that she will tragically never really get to hear (I think?). The long relationship they shared, the last line about the star twinkling for her is just so strong of an indication of just how deep they were intertwined together.

Actually, lets spoil CW-10 end too, just to see how even after Saria left Kirsten knew she could rely on Saria in the ways that it counted:

Saria... You always wanted me to take a good, clear look at this vast land. I saw it. It is also...very beautiful. You will take care of it and nurture it's people in my stead. I always knew this. Same as before, same as always. As for me... I was not really the type to lead people forward step by step. I was just a pair of eyes. A pair... to look up at the deep space in place of the people of these lands

It's probably the only way she knew how to move forward into the future, especially after she met Friston and had those conversations. Funnily enough after seeing the same kind of behaviour in some of the tech circles I am in... This kind of "I don't think I'm suited for leadership yet here I am" problem is real, and quite prevalent amongst the science types who just want to do their thing unfortunately. It's shocking almost how well this trope was written for Kirsten though I feel like I'm staring at a picture of some people I know of irl who are in the same situation.

Kills me how close Kirsten puts those in her heart yet keeps them pretty far away at the same time tbh

[phoenix-and-found-family]

Hello people who found this craziness entertaining!

I made this blog because I was bored and wanted a place to lore dump about my ocs without bothering the few normal people that come across my main blog

‼️DISCLAIMER: THE ART IN THE HEADER ISN'T MINE! I got it from this picrew: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1473879‼️

You can ask my characters anything you want, just be aware I won't answer asks I'm not comfortable answering/are about upcoming lore that I don't want to spoil before I write it

Just state who the question is for, and if you don't I'll assume the question is for me and answer accordingly

Basic blog things:

Sorry Phoenix x Juniper shippers, my blog doesn't do that because I personally don't see it. But I support if you ship them and love to see stuff like that! I do ship Prism x Reginald though, and Prism x Fabby...

Basically I ship her with everyone except Phoenix and maybe John.

Also, I have no drawing skills at all, so please don't expect me to draw them doing anything 😭 (edit: I have a couple drawing skills now and plan to use all of them for this >:3)

My Phoenix!!!

Name: [REDACTED]

Codename: Agent Phoenix

Age: 22

Pronouns: They/Them

Height: 5'2" No fuck that I'm totally 6'3" and have large muscles

Joined the agency at: 18

Favorite color(s): Red and Black

Disability(s): Agent Phoenix is missing their right leg from a horrible car crash that claimed the lives of their parents at 14, forcing them to live on the streets for two years until they eventually got scouted by the agency. Miraculously, even though they've been in far worse danger and experienced far worse pain, they have not sustained any other lasting injuries.

Personality: Imagine if the Norse god Loki and a can of Monster Energy drink had a child who likes to commit arson as a hobby.

Random facts: Phoenix can read, write, and speak fluent English, Spanish, and Japanese because their parents moved around all the time and barely stayed in one place for more than a month. They're also pretty good at Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, and Galic, but have absolutely no understanding of Italian.

They can do some basic martial arts, but they mainly excel at accidental stealth and all-out brawl style fights, for they are very fast and good at analyzing how exactly to take an enemy out.

They are diagnosed with autism and auditory schizophrenia, although they believe that they may also have ADHD because of how much stimulation they need to get their job done.

Lore posts

Here are the links (Oldest to Youngest by when I posted them) to posts that give you more lore about my versions of these characters

The Home Argument (Handler's perspective)

The Home Argument (Phoenix's perspective)

The Agency can Wait

Random Headcannons (self h@rm mention)

What became of Solaris (Radio transmission #1)

The Call

A Phoenix burns hottest when it's Born Again (Part 1)

The Most Perfect Name

I know I'm pathetic (angst)

Incident report 067 (more angst)

Can't cage a Phoenix arc

Brothers of the Stars (long ass RP chain with @the-one-and-only-043 )

Who's Trevor? (slightly angsty)

The most painful way to say goodbye (even longer RP chain with @the-one-and-only-043 and @wyvchard (sorry for the tags))

The Victim of a Basilisk (Part 1)

Agency file: The Basilisk & Dr. Vadas

The Victim of a Basilisk (Part 2)

Dream Cast ( @wyvchard version)

Dream Cast ( @the-one-and-only-043 version)

Screen Cast (right after the other two, some Agent Circuit lore)

OC's

Agent Ombre (profile)

Agent Circuit Board (image)

Rants (that may or may not contain lore)

Reginald Crane is a professional

John Juniper is known for his lies

A Reversal of Roles (ieytd au)

Random lore (doesn't really have a name)

Operation: Deluge (ieytd au)

How do you kill a Phoenix? (announcement post)

Random things you should probably know beforehand

Prologue: The Death of a Phoenix (This takes you directly to the Ao3 chapter, heads up)

Unconditional Love (Roxanix fic thingy, full of angst)

Part one (Prism's Perspective)

Part one (Phoenix's Perspective)

Part two (Reginald's Perspective)

Part two (Phoenix's Perspective)

A trip to the past (fic idea by @kayssweetdreams , thank you!)

Part one

Random ask things

Phoenix's text will be red

Reginald's text will be orange

Juniper's text will be green

Prism's text will be blue

Fabricator's text will be purple

We've also got Hivemind and his text is pink

(this does not apply to lore posts(usually(sometimes I add this system in because it's hard to tell who's talking)))

Thanks for reading! That's all for now :3

[hopewriteszstuff]

Chapter 2: The Borrower and The Monster

First chapter here:

Tags: @the-ellia-west

I look up at the big human who found me, He can't be talking to me now, can he? Then I realize that there's nobody else but me and him.

The big human's name is Lumen, I think it's a weird name for a human, but it's also very nice.

The other human was really scary, and mean too.

Mr. Lumen's eyes were grey, like when the sky is cloudy before it rains, and also like cement, it makes me nervous that he is looking at me, But it also feels safe. Like someone was making sure I won't get hurt?

He looked weird, his face was wrapped, like a mummy, I don't remember anything but his eyes and face.

"Let's begin with something simple first, What's your name?"

His voice was all around me, I thought for a while if I should answer or not.

A borrower shouldn't reveal themselves, I already did but I shouldn't reveal more than that..right?

I don't trust you yet, you can't have my name.

I take steps away from the human, then I realize there is a wall behind me, so I hug myself and look away.

================

She is being uncooperative, I wonder what Arsen did to her.

I stand up and walk around the room, trying to get my thoughts in order, until I was able to figure out something.

Perhaps if I fed her, she might talk? The more I think about it the more I feel that I'm interrogating a mouse or a feral kitten.

Regardless, I don't have any better ideas, so I walk to the kitchen cabinet and rummage through it, seeing what I can find.

My hands hit a carton box, and the familiar, lovely noise of plastic wrappers crinkles under my grip.

Chocolate cookies, my beloved.

I snatch one packet from the back and try to hide the box again, Arsen will fume at the idea of bringing such an unhealthy, sugar-packed snack to our apartment, but I deserve to satisfy my sweet tooth now and then.

I walk back to the glass cage, and I open the packet.

The little one perked up immediately at the noise, so I take one cookie and break a small piece for her, emptying the rest of the packet into my mouth. I made sure that no crumbs fell or stayed on my fingers.

================

He..he ate the whole thing! Just like that!! His mouth is big..his teeth are so..sharp.. huge.

His fangs are as tall as me! Are all humans like that?! He...

He could eat me if he wanted to, I could fit right there and it won't take him a second.

I stay as far as I could from his hands.

He..did share with me though, he had so many chances to hurt me and he didn't, maybe he is just big like that? Maybe?

My heart and my brain are confused and are fighting, my brain says that I should run away or I will be hurt Or killed.

But my heart says that if he had this many chances to hurt me..eat me even..and he didn't, why would he now?

He also ate the whole thing, so it's probably not poisoned Or spoiled.

I take a mouthful of the thing he gave me.

Chocolate! I never get to eat it! The only time I ever had this was when papa brought it home once.

Mama..papa.

I miss them...

"May I have your name now, little miss?"

I look at him and I answer with my mouth full.

"Hmmm....Navarra!"

"Navarra?" He repeats.

"Yes! My name is Navarra!"

I see him smiling, a small smile but it's still a smile!

I did a good thing, right? He looks happy, so it means I did a good thing!

"You have a beautiful name, Navarra"

He said my name is beautiful! Maybe he IS a nice person if he is so polite to me.

"Where is your family? Your home?"

Oh..family.

I..I was with them this morning, and then..they came...they took away everyone.

My eyes hurt now, it hurts to remember, I want to cry, I shouldn't cry, I can't cry in front of a stranger..no..not now.

I try eating more, but I feel sick, And it hurts.

================

I should have not asked that, I should have stayed quiet, now the poor girl is crying because of me.

"Oh dear, I apologize if it's something you don't want to talk about."

But it was too late, she already broke into tears, what shall I do? What do I do?

I tap my foot as I think of how do I calm the borrower down. I don't want to get too close so I won't scare her.

But she is so small, and fragile, and the urge to just keep her close to my heart and protect her was overwhelming me. She surely must prefer being somewhere warm instead of being in a cold hamster cage, right?

I open the cage and reach inside it, leaving my palm open for the little one to climb on.

================

No!! No!! Stay away! Stay away from me!!

Wait...why isn't he grabbing me? His hand is just open.

He was wearing gloves, his hands were big, and his fingers were thin and long...Like spider legs. Creepy!

I look at his eyes, I forgot how nice they were, and he nods at me like he was telling me it's alright to get in, so I give him the crumb I was eating, and I climb too.

================

Here she is, in my hand, leaning on my thumb for support.

I finally understand what being gentle truly means, I have to be strong so I can offer safety to this little one, and be her protector and shelter.

I am holding a very precious creature, and I hope from the bottom of my unbeating heart that I am worthy of this little creature's trust.

As soon as I feel the impossibly tiny hands on my own, I smell blood from her. A powerful urge comes over me. At first, it was as if I wanted to hug the little one and absorb her.

Then it became more monstrous, thoughts that weren't my own. I try my best to ignore it as it pooled inside my guts.

If I can just, put the little creature in my mouth, and swallow her, she will never feel any of this pain again, and if I was as big as a house to her, then I should act as one, she is such a small creature that it wouldn't take a second. Come on, Lumen, you haven't eaten anything in a while, isn't she just so cute you could just scoop her and eat her? Don't you just want to keep her as close as you can? She already went through too much, she doesn't deserve to suffer more, she deserves for you to love her, make her a part of you, embrace her, and cherish her.

These blasted thoughts, that damned beast inside me, Shut it! Zip it!

I shake my head and try to ignore it, instead, I focus entirely on the girl in my hand, Navarra.

I bring her closer, and only silence was heard for a moment.

"Don't hesitate to tell me if you aren't comfortable or if you are scared."

I remind her, and she nods understandingly, although she refused to continue eating, only looking upwards at me.

I look into her innocent, trustful eyes. But I didn't dare to keep looking, I don't deserve to be looked at with such hope, the most innocent and hopeful look I have ever seen, it was...

..wrong.

"Dunno where my family is.." She breaks the silence.

"I think they are... far away now"

"Where am I anyways?"

"New York, A very big city"

"And this is me and my brother's apartment, it's where we live.. and for now, it will be where you live too."

The girl looked around her when she was told she will live there.

"But..but_"

"I know you would prefer to be home now, but like you just said, home is far away now."

"I promise I will try my best to bring you back home, or at least find you another."

She sulks and I can feel the weight of her emotions on me as she just refused to speak further. She lets out a sigh and lays down, to which I tense at first, but then I allowed myself to relax for her sake.

I still wonder why is she so comfortable with me, especially that she was frightened at first.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you."

"It's ok, don't be, it wasn't your fault."

A little hand is gently touching my fingers as if reassuring me.

Bless her, she has a beautiful heart.

"You seem unsure of what to do next." I try to start a conversation.

"I dunno what to do. I was always with my family, this is my first time being alone."

"And it hurts, it really hurts. I just wanna go home again."

I sigh deeply, I want to tell her that was nearly impossible to go back to her family. There was a lot I can't help but think about, like how I probably shouldn't be holding her in my hand like this.

But do I want her to go through that?

At the end of my thought stream, I finally decided that we will cross these bridges when we get to them and that for now, I should focus on learning more about her.

"You speak well, Navarra," I tell her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well.."

I shove the plastic wrapper that I promptly forgot about into my pocket, then I point at the book next to me.

"It says here that your kind speaks a language that humans can't hear, yet you can speak to me as I speak to you, in perfect, clear English."

"...Papa taught me to speak human."

"He said that we don't hate humans, we learn from them, we are a part of their lives just like they make our lives.."

"But humans won't get it..and it's why we hide from them."

She pauses a bit.

"..Mister, Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead, little one."

"Why..why do you and the other mister look different from other humans?"

"That is..not an easy question to answer."

Fuck, I knew this was coming, but it still hurts to hear her from her mouth.

This will be quite tricky to explain.

[shipcestuous]

If people are looking for a good, incestuous webcomic about Greek Mythology, I can't recommend Theia Mania by A-gnosis enough. It's kind of an anthology series, with different stories about different gods, but it's currently in it's Hymn to Demeter arc, so right now there's a lot of focus on the Hades/Persephone relationship going on.

I love it because it's very well-thought-out and well researched, and the author's love for Ancient Greek literature, and history shines through every page. Plus, in it the gods are a big, messy family where everyone's flawed but (while I do have my preferences and it's easy for me to like/sympathize with some characters but not others) no one is a complete monster or a one-dimensional caricature of a villain. There is some incest-negative talk here and there, granted, but I feel it's always very justified by who's saying what and in which circumstances.

At one point, Athena fears (though that's not actually what's happening) that Zeus is going to try and come onto her because... well, I don't want to spoil it because I think the way the author went about the whole "Zeus ate Metis and then Athena came out of his head" thing is really interesting. But anyway, to me that moment feels like it's more about "I thought we were becoming close because you genuinely cared about me as a person and a family member, but now I think you might just you see me as a way to get my mom back, like I don't matter and only she does" or even "I thought you really respected me and cared about me in the platonic way I care about you, but now I suspect for you I might just be another woman to seduce and either discard or keep as a dirty little secret," plus Athena is asexual in a culture where she doesn't really have any tools or resources to help her understand what that means, so at times she's just generally uncomfortable with the way most other gods seem (from her perspective) to be constantly going on about sex and doing crazy, stupid things to get it.

Later on, Persephone is also outraged and upset with Zeus for seducing her and says that's just proof of how fucked-up their family really is... but, again trying not to spoil anything, Zeus deceived her by hiding his identity, thus taking away from her the choice of having sex with *him* or not, and then he kept disrespecting her autonomy and her ability to make her own decisions even while putting her in a very, very tough spot. Which is clearly something that has overall a bigger impact on Persephone than just the idea of having had sex with her dad.

And that's it, really, at least from what I remember. So, in conclusion, the problem is not incest so much as... Zeus.

... okay, no, that was just a joke. XD Zeus does have his good sides, too, and it's not like he's completely incapable of caring about other people, in the end. But the problem is not incest so much as men who treat women like objects, lie to them and hide things from them then expect their trust anyway, think that just because women are open about liking sex or otherwise "not respectable" in some way then they should also be "available" to them specifically, or otherwise disrespect their right to make their own decisions. Which is a point I think the entire comics makes really well, as it doesn't shy away from the problems that come with being a woman in an historical setting like this while at the same time also having plenty of nuanced, flawed female characters who never feel like they're supposed to be perfect little victims just there to show how tragic their suffering is and never have a moment of happiness or fun.

And honestly, I think that's part of what makes A-gnosis' version of Hades/Persephone just so good and engaging. They're uncle and niece, but Persephone isn't uncomfortable with that (unlike with the whole thing with Zeus) because she gets along really well with Hades, they get each other and also each other's perspectives on life, and they respect each other both when it comes to sex (which is also an interesting element on its own, as Persephone is allosexual with a high libido and generally just loves doing it, and feeling sexy, too, while Hades is demisexual and has struggled with understanding what that means to him while feeling like the odd one out among his siblings) and other things. Hades abducts her to take her as his wife after asking permission from Zeus but not her and Demeter, but he doesn't actually want to force her into anything and has a hidden motivation that he discloses right away to Persephone because it involves something that's happening to her that they have previously discussed and they're both worried about, but she's also rightfully angry at him for a bit and bluntly points out to him that he could have tried to find a better way to bring her to the Underworld and work on the problem without other people sticking their noses in their business. They have their own problems but they work through them as two people who care for and are coming to love each other, and on top of that they have very compatible personalities and even sense of humor, and it's so good to see!

Also, he's a grumpy nerd who usually gets along better with the dead (whom he's actually fiercely protective of and cares a great deal about) than the living (who he often doesn't understand, leading him to act dismissive, overly strict, or unapproachable towards them, and who don't usually offer him much understanding and compassion in return) and she's a loner with a noncomformist streak and a punk vibes. Which is an interpretation I'd never really seen before (well, not punk loner Persephone, at least) but now I'm in love with it!

Uh, and also, have you ever wished for an Hades/Persephone romance that treats Demeter as a good mother who dearly loves her daughter instead of an harpy who purposefully keeps her isolated and naive and prevents her from spreading her wings for her own gain? Well, Theia Mania's Demeter is amazing. The comic doesn't go to the opposite extreme of making her the Perfect Mom whose only personality trait is being a mother, either (if I had a nickel for every time I've seen anti Hades/Persephone people clamoring for that while somehow thinking themselves so much more progressive than the Demeter bashers... let's just say, I'd have way more than just two nickels, lol!) and so she ends up as one of the most sympathetic characters in it. She has issues and flaws and she's traumatized (and not just by the Poseidon thing I mentioned above) and, as much as she loves her, she doesn't always really get her daughter, but she's never just an annoying obstacle on the road to Hades/Persephone realizing they want to stay together, she has her own story going on that obviously intersects with theirs but is very much about her. And I just want her to clear up all the misunderstandings between her and Persephone, hopefully reconcile with Hades (she's not okay with him right now both because of his recent actions and because of something else that happened between them in the past), and be happy with her girlfriend (and I mean that in the canonical sense, btw) Hekate!

Sorry for the rant but Theia Mania is the best modern adaptation of Greek Mythology I've read in a while, and I couldn't help but spread the love!!

... er, Theia Mania anon, here again! Just realized I accidentally erase da line in my ask and forgot to rewrite it before sending! I wanted to say there's also a flashback Poseidon/Demeter thing that could maybe also be interpreted as incest-negative, as he... well, let's just say he really doesn't care about her consent, and leave it at that. She understandably feels very violated by this, but because there was a certain chemistry between them at the time and *he* interpreted it as romantic/sexual, he claims she was leading him on/only saying no out loud to protect her honor as an unmarried woman while "really" she wanted him to go on. But again, the point there is not that they're brother and sister, even if personally I got the vibe she *only* saw him as a brother she got along very well with. The point is still that he shouldn't have just taken what he wanted, he should have actually treated her as an equal and respected her wishes, without making up excuses about "what women do" and "what women really think." So, yeah, that's what I was referencing in my comment about Demeter!

How exciting to have something well written to enjoy! I love the sound of all of the nuanced characters and the complicated relationships.

Thanks so much for this detailed rec.

[vladdyissues]

Hi, it’s me, the asker who was so curious about Danny at school ✨

I got three things to say, silly thing first, 1. I’m so curious about what Danny’s diet is gonna be. I was rereading that chapter, and if Vlad has to eat meat to stoke the flames, does that mean Danny has to go vegetarian? That would be so fucking funny, I’m ngl 😂 but also sad, bc then he’d be thinking about Sam all the time 🥺 anyways, I’m just interested to see what you do with it 👀

2. You got me thinking about enemies to lovers, hardcore. And I realized, when I enjoy that kind of ship, I’m not here to see them become all lovey-dovey and domestic. I’m here to see the pain, and the toxicity, and the deep codependency of it all. The ‘I hate you, but I can’t leave you’, and the ‘you might kill me one day, and I embrace that.’ If you’ve watched Hannibal, you know exactly what I mean 😂 For Vlad and Danny, I don’t really give a fuck if it’s pompep or badgercereal, i just want angst and codependency 😈 I think that’s part of what I like about your story so much, is that it’s toeing the line between the two relationships. Halfway parental, and halfway toxic/romantic love.

3. You’ve fucking ruined me for other fanfiction rn 😭😂 I can’t read anything else for more than five minutes 🥲 Partially bc I’m so invested in the story, but also bc your writing style IS SO FUCKING GOOD. YOU SHOULD BE WRITING ACTUAL BOOKS, LIKE WTF. Anywayyysss, I’ll just curl up into a little ball of boredom on the floor till you update again 😂💕

Sending much looooove, 😘 I hope the brain to fanfic pipeline is working out for you 🤌

Hello and holy shit! What an ego-bloating kind and generous ask this is! Let me jump right in:

1. I don't want to spoil the plot too much, but Danny's diet is going to be key in unraveling a very important part of Vlad's enigma, and I cannot wait to get to that point. I've been sprinkling crumbs of information throughout the story thus far, laying down a foundation upon which to build this Big Thing, and the next chapter (14) will—or should, anyway—finally begin to deliver on it.

2. My friend, you've just given me an epiphany: it's not so much Enemies to Lovers that we adore, I suspect, as it is Enemies and Lovers. That's exactly the tag I'd use to describe Hannigram, and it's such a different and exciting dynamic. I've never quite—well, scratch that—okay, I've never written Enemies and Lovers in such depth as I am with Familiar. There's something darkly satisfying about letting lovers remain ugly; the notion that deep, abiding affection can exist in tandem with fear and disgust; that even monsters—in the very act of being monstrous, or perhaps because they are monstrous and not in spite of their monstrosity—are capable of loving and being loved.

3. Frhgahrglahrglahg I'm going to print and frame this one and hang it on my wall for days when I feel utterly inept. I've been writing fanfiction for a while now, and I've written volumes of silly, embarrassing, poorly-executed tripe, so if I haven't at least gotten a little bit good at what I'm doing, I doubt I ever will 😆 That said, I'm putting a lot of effort into Familiar, I mean pulling out every stop and employing every nut and bolt in my mental toolbox to craft a good story (and reading. Always reading), partly as a challenge to myself and partly out of sheer love for this great ship and its fandom. Everyone here is so nice and welcoming and awesome. I only hope my tiny contribution continues to entertain.

Speaking of which, the wait for this next chapter shouldn't be long. The feedback I've been receiving is phenomenal, and it's definitely helped to fuel me along when my mania wavers. I'm incredibly grateful to you and everyone reading enjoying this story. Thank you thank you ♥

[afarcryfrommymain]

Having far cry new dawn feelings but Ethan Seeds Soul boss look very... Team Ico, if you know what I'm saying. In both Shadow of the Colossus and Ico (wonderful games you should play if you haven't already), there are these shadow beings that are vaguely implied to be souls. I'm gonna spoil both of these games and tangentially relate it to New Dawn's final boss and theory crafting so you've been warned. Just know that the design similarities are fascinating to me, and I think there was an Ico fan on the design team.

If you haven't seen the boss and decided to move forward anyway or have seen it and need a side-by-side, here he is.

Yeah it's uncanny and startled the fuck outta me. I am now going to ramble about Team Ico games lore like a normal person.

SotC is a prequel to Ico. The reason Ico happens is because you, a horned boy, are being sacrificed because the horns make you inherently evil. The reason for this is because the big scary voice that guides you to kill the 17 colossai, Dormin, tricks your character into releasing him in exchange for reviving his girlfriend. The protagonist, Wander, starts very normal. But when you kill a colossus, these black, semi-opaque ribbons come from where you killed it, shoot into his chest, and he passes out. When the camera fades and the game loads up th cutscene for killing the monster, before Wander wakes up the image above, I showed of the people surrounding him happen. There's a new one for every colossus you kill.

This seems to slowly corrupt your character over time. Small black spider-webs crack from his eyes and he looks more sickly as you go on. Eventually at the end of the game when you've beaten the final boss and the preists (monks? Sages?) have come to try and stop you it's too late.

The eyes are deeply reminiscent if the Collosai and your skin has changed entirely, early PS2 graphics aside this is genuinely freaky to see. Especially the horns that have grown finally. You transform, fully corrupted by Dormin, into

Look familiar?

So where am I going with this?

Ethans soul was most certainly inspired by, if not the ico creatures with their distorted wings and fucked up anatomy, then Sotc true final Colossus had to have contributed. And I really want to be right because these games hold a special place in my heart.

Both characters are corrupted by want- and in the end die. (Well- wander sort of is revived????? It's complicated, but it's why the boy in Ico has horns) Wander wanted to cheat death and was used as a vessel for and uncaring God, Ethan wants to prove he's better than his father and in turn destroys himself on a fundamental level and dies.

It's so fucked

Ethan didn't do everything right but he was doing it because life kept giving him shit- he ate a forbidden fruit and warped and Wander went to do the most heroic thing he could do despite being warned the ritual was forbidden and was warped.

I don't entirely know how to express the emotion it makes me feel but something is so insane to me that the two are related in such a close way at all that I can't not point it out.

Final thought is also: Ethan Seed lives with weird corrupted Wander like features. Grey skin and orangey-red eyes. Hair goes straight black rather than the brown that matches his father's.

[utilitycaster]

re: your actual play post, apart from critrole are there other actual plays that are doing the whole "bad guys/neutral but not up to the mark" that you mentioned?

for cr, it's interesting and i guess kind of inevitable that we've gone from traditional heros -> reluctant heros -> neutral heros(?) caught up in the storm

i don't watch a lot of actual plays other than the popular ones, but it is very interesting to see the general trajectory the actual play space is moving in

I feel like the Mighty Nein are not really part of this trend - they're not as publicly acknowledged as Vox Machina, and they do take an unorthodox "not up to the task" (or more accurately "too traumatized right now for the task, we need to work through some shit first") route for a while, but they are pretty unambiguously working towards a heroic cause by the midlevels (and VM started off pretty scrappy too; we just didn't see them until they got respectable). Bells Hells do feel a little closer to this, though still leaning heavily towards the heroic. I think it's possible for them to decide to pull the ripcord, as they said, after their current mission; but I doubt they will, so they flirt with the theme but I don't think will go all the way. Which to be clear is the norm.

I mentioned a few things in my tags, so:

Candela Obscura chapters 2 and 3 flirt with this. In 2 the circle other than Sean is imo heroic, but also working a little outside the lines. Sean does make a turn that I don't think makes him the bad guy - it's pretty clear it's an act of misery and desperation - but does position him in a place that a lot of TTRPGs won't go. Chapter 3 is complicated because to be honest we don't really see the logic of Candela's actions in the final episode and some don't entirely follow for me, but Rajan and Elsie's discussions do cover this territory: as monsters, what side are they on? I think Candela Obscura is a game that really supports this should someone wish to push it there.

Trinyvale (side campaign for NADDPod) explores this in that the characters eventually develop into absolutely toxic assholes while still saving the world; however, this is a very very silly campaign in general so it's played for the humor.

Similarly, in Burnt Cookbook Party (spoilers - I'm not totally caught up but this spoils a pretty major aspect of the show that comes up pretty early), two of the characters go fully evil and the party fractures. HOWEVER, this campaign is set in a time loop, and so the consequences are lessened since we know the results aren't permanent (and indeed the big PvP moment is when the time loop restarts).

I feel this is something that Burrow's End (D20) sort of wanted to explore, but Last Bast was so obviously a police state that it was pretty clear the characters' desire to disrupt an existing stable society was in fact good.

This is all really speculative on my part - I watch/listen to a lot of actual play but there are plenty of major shows and infinite minor ones I don't follow at all or even know about. Obviously Critical Role or D20 are going to have more a footprint here than, say, BCBP. But I think people are trying to tell stories that interrogate whether, just because you met in a tavern or whatever, you should be tasked with saving the world, either because you're not actually that great of people or because you're not sufficiently competent in this particular situation, and that's really interesting to me. I think the reason I don't have any terribly clear answers is because it's really hard to do this and then find what that party should do instead.

[fivedollarfred]

I saw the ask post with all your wips and two of them had me curious; Tornado Warning and Psychosis!

(Tbh, all of them intrigue me, but I don't want to ask too many questions lol)

Thanks for the ask! I would have answered it yesterday but it was sent right when I had to go to bed.

First, I'll say that the ones you asked about are tf2 fanfic WIPs, so bear that in mind. But I'm glad someone asked about them, since I like talking about the ideas I have! Tornado Warning is the WIP I'm currently working on and is the direct sequel to my first published fanfic It Came With The Rain that takes places a few months after the first story, and could be seen as this fic/AU's version of MvM(Mann Vs. Machine). Don't know if I should go into spoilers because I'd have to spoil ICWTR's main plot points and reveals, but if you want me to go in depth of TW's plot and how it relates to ICWTR, I'd be more than happy to. It's definitely more of a drama than the first story, as the first is a mix between a thriller mystery and drama with a lot of horror elements(which were really fun to write)

Here's a paragraph from the chapter I'm currently working on:

"The second Scout silently stepped through the door frame, a sharp, chilling feeling shot through his system like a blaring siren. The feeling that he shouldn’t be here. That whatever he’d been planning on doing could wait another day. That he had stumbled into no man’s land; a minefield where one wrong move would set things in motion the runner couldn’t hope to alleviate. 

He took another step."

As for Psychosis, that is a placeholder name for what would be a crossover between Silent Hill and tf2 if I ever get the time to write it. I got inspired by an already existing crossover fic about tf2 and Silent Hill, and while I liked it well enough, it was more based around the first Silent Hill's lore and not the second's, and the second is the one with all the symbolism and psychology in play. So I spent around a week or two thinking about what each merc's own SH experience, and their own "Pyramid Head", would be. I can't go over all my notes and thoughts and ideas, otherwise I would be here typing for hours, so I'll just mention who has a clear environment and personal monster and who doesn't, and if you're interested in the details, I can talk more in depth when I get the time. Scout: has both a clear monster and environment to deal with. Soldier: has a clear environment, not so much a clear monster, but I have some ideas. Pyro: clear environment and monster, but I think they could be more fine tuned. Demo: clear monster, but no environment yet. Heavy: clear monster, had environment that needs fine tuning. Engie: very clear environment, can very much picture where he'd be located, but monster not so much. Medic: neither but that's more intentional as he'll experience things different than the others. Sniper: Very clear environment, and the clearest monster. Couldn't imagine him dealing with anything else. Spy: clear environment, monster is slightly foggy and needs more thought. That's about all I can say for now. Like I said, if you want more details I'd be happy to give them, I just don't have a lot of time to get them all out right now. And don't worry about asking too many questions; I like getting them and answering!

[symbioticsimplicity]

I just remembered Billy Hargrove existed and I'm about to make it everyone's problem.

Okay, so first of all, I've only seen like bits and pieces of season 2 and none of season 1 so if I get things wrong, that's why. (I'll fix it eventually when I'm less sick and miserable.)

But Billy struck me as a lot of wasted potential. He was a foil for Steve, I get that, but I feel like they could have kept that up while still bringing him back around instead of killing him off.

Like yeah, he's got anger issues like a motherfucker, but they could have kept that while just giving him something to take it out on. Give me this big, pretty, asshole seeing his sister in danger (the sister he claims not to like and isn't very good to) from a nightmare monster, realizing his endless reserves of rage could save a life instead of take one.

Give the Party a goddamn berserker.

Like sure, he's not soft and motherly like Steve and none of them would ever go to him for life advice, but hes sure as shit made sure they didn't die often enough for them to at least tollerate him. Maybe he's even maimed a monster in a cool enough way for one of the kids to give him props for it. Imagine if that was the first time someone told him he'd done something worth being proud of.

The praise becomes the thing he lives for, even if its from a bunch of dumb kids. The kids who are all a lot smarter than anyone really wants them to be, who take notice of this. So they start praising him more.

They might not know what happens to him at home, but they know that kind of rage doesn't come from nowhere. Or, most of them don't know. Will and Jonathan who both survived an abusive father, clock him immediately.

Billy doesn't take kindly to pity though and he's too hurt and raw to really get close to. So they don't address it directly, they just keep giving him what they can and he keeps protecting them when its go time.

Billy and Steve have probably the weirdest relationship out of all of them. Steve is too mouthy to keep all of his thoughts to himself and he won't just let Billy be mean to the kids either. They nearly get into it whenever they're nearby each other if there isn't an immediate threat. Billy thinks Steve is spoiled and too soft and will take any excuse to throw hands with him. They're a mess.

It becomes common Party knowledge not to leave them alone together, which works right up until they get stuck together during a plan gone wrong.

They bitch at each other the whole time because it isnt the time or place to fist fight. Some harsh words get thrown around until a dig hits a little too close to home and forces some emotional honest out of Steve first. He snaps about how his life isn't the happy place people assume it should be, would he even be here if it was? He rants about how the only truly good thing he has going for him, the only real love he gets, is from those kids. That’s why he's still there, why he always will be, and why he'd die to protect them.

And Billy who's slowly been tamed down by their kindness and weird affection, he gets that at least. He doesn't say it, can't, his throat closes up whenever a real feeling comes over him, but he gets it.

After that he's not as hostile as he used to be. He's still sharp around the edges and he's still hurt, but he doesn’t want to cut every single person who touches him.

By the time season 3 comes around, he's the Party's big attack dog. Can be pet only by Party members and if anyone so much as looks at them wrong, he's ready to throw down.

He makes an effort with Max too. Tries to be more like a brother, and he finds out that he actually likes Max beneath the resentment for their circumstances. He figures out he wasn't really mad at her, but everything else. They bond over surprisingly similar interests and personalities. He loves her sharp wit and envies her ability to say things that could turn a person to ash on the spot. She's kind of a bitch and he can respect that.

When he gets possessed, the Party focus more on fixing him than just defeating him. El uses their own connection to help lend Billy the strength to fight back when she goes into his mind. He remembers that his life isn't a hopeless void anymore, that he has people to protect, people hes come to love as loathe as he is to admit it.

He fights with everything he has and frees himself from possession. It was hard on him and he passes out, spends a few days in the hospital unconscious, but he pulls through.

The kids are there to meet him when he wakes up. Max cries and hugs him and for the first time he feels like maybe he's worth a shit, like maybe he's worth loving.