#i would write this but i can't write more that 200 words to save my life

[anavc25]

I got lost to far in the crocodad theory and do u know what i want

I want a fanfic that Crocodile discovers that he is Luffy's father, but not during their first meeting or during Marineford. He finds out after leaving Luffy to die in the desert, but BEFORE Luffy shows up again to save Vivi.

Maybe Robin talks to him about D. or he finds a letter from Dragon about their son. But imagine the panic that fills Crocodile heart and he thinks "i killed my own son"

He goes back to the desert to find the body but there is nothing there... maybe he survived? No, there is hundreds of animals in the desert who would make a feast and dont let any bone behind

So he goes back to the city and HE. IS. FURIOUS. With himself? yes, a lot, but also with this country and especially with Vivi. If the damn princess hadn't convinced his son to help her, none of this would have happened. So Crocodile continues his plan. he wants Pluto, and he will destroy the world trying, starting with Alabasta.

and then, luffy appears flying carrying a barrel of water and Crocodile is too stunned to speak. After that the story can go one of two ways:

Like cannon: Crocodile recovers from the shock and is happy, but decides to keep this secret to himself. What good would it do for him to stop the plan now when he's so close to achieving it. he intends to defeat his son in a less lethal way this time and then have a conversation between father and son that would really be necessary (but it doesn't happen because Luffy is Luffy and kick his ass and then he is send to Impel Down and LUFFY IS GROUNDED)

But my favorite way is like... Crocodile stops. he just stops. he looks at Luffy and nothing comes out. he receives punches without reacting. and obviously Luffy notices and gets pissed. "What are you doing Crocodile?!" and then... Crocodile just hugs Luffy. "What the hell is Dragon doing to leave you running around like that?". Confusion ensues. Let's save this country, I guess.

The end is Crocodile being like "You are NOT going to explore the Grand Line without your jacket learning Haki" and Luffy "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" "I'M YOUR FATHER YOU DO WHAT I SAY GET BACK HERE"

[namism]

their love languages

➳ categories: canonverse, gender neutral reader

➳ summary: Looking into everyone's top love language/s with Sanji, Nami, Law, Zoro, Kid, Koby, & Sabo.

➳ notes: thank you for 200 followers!! i don't write headcanons, but here's a special treat for everyone who's ever read, liked, and supported my fics! 🧡

Sanji: Words of Affirmation

Above everything, Sanji is a smooth talker.

He's incredibly good at romancing you through his words that it doesn't take long for you to completely fall head over heels for him.

Canonically, he calls people with different pet names. "Mellorine" is arguably the most creative. If he were with you (or were trying to flirt with you), he would definitely create a personal nickname that only he would call you.

That said, there is no defeating his terms of endearment. All of them are truly endearing.

Also, best believe that he's amazing at communication.

You know how couples need therapy because their communication sucks? Yeah, that's not happening in a relationship with Sanji.

If this man can flirt through words, then he can talk things out with you.

Overall, Sanji is a very romantic person, but he would work out the most with someone whose primary love language is words of affirmation.

Acts of service as second? Sure. Quality time as third? Sure, but overall, words of affirmation takes the cake.

His sweet talking is just something an ordinary person can't resist.

Nami: Quality time/Gift giving

Is this a hot take? Maybe, but Nami is definitely sweet to whoever she ends up falling for.

She values hanging out with her friends and the people she cares about, so it wouldn't be any different if it were with you, the person she's into. Something about spending time alone together is intimate for her.

On another note, Nami would totally be into giving gifts.

Being the treasurer of the ship apart from the navigator, everyone is aware that she's strict with where the Straw Hats' money goes. It's safe to say that this would be the case for her personal savings as well, even though she likes to treat herself every so often.

But being a shopaholic just means that she loves buying things not only for herself but also for you.

Nami would totally buy you gifts if she finds anything that reminds her of you, and you can imagine it playing out sweetly.

Who knew the frugal Nami would willingly spend money on someone she likes? It makes you feel incredibly special because she doesn't casually do that for other people.

Law: Quality time/Acts of service

If you were a member of Law's crew, he would definitely appreciate the one-on-one appointments with you whenever you needed a checkup or anything of the sort.

Call it unethical, but let's be serious—he's a pirate who happens to be a doctor (or is it the reverse?), his epithet is quite literally "Surgeon of Death," and above all else, he isn't doing anything malicious when you come to him.

Instead, it's all sweet and innocent. If Law were to like you, he initially wouldn't know how to act around you, so he's grateful for the quiet moments that you share together alone, no matter the circumstance.

He would enjoy your company and would totally think that being extra cautious and careful toward your health is a good way of subtly letting you know that he cares for you.

He would be the type to do things for you without being asked. Usually it would be medical related, but once he gets more comfortable about showing his feelings, best believe it would be more than just that.

Zoro: Acts of service

Zoro is the type to save people, so he would keep an eye on you every time danger arises.

While he would save any innocent person or civilian in danger, his decision to rescue you whenever you need rescuing comes from a more personal reason rather than simply playing a hero.

Newsflash: it's because he likes you.

He isn't the type to show his interest toward someone through other means anyway, so his best bet is showing it all through actions that you never asked for to begin with.

His feelings would become more obvious the more he does things for you without question, which he would be pleased by because it would mean that you're picking up on his signs.

He would work best with someone whose love language is servitude, especially if you're the type to appreciate the little things that people do out of genuine concern.

Kid: Physical touch/Words of affirmation

When it comes to Kid, he's heavy on physical touch if you already have an established relationship.

Of course, he wouldn't do anything if you guys aren't official yet—even though he's bolder at flirting than the average One Piece man, he wouldn't want to come off as creepy.

Hence, physical touch is the way to go once you're together. He would be the clingy type in his own unique fashion.

If you aren't together yet, he would show his love through words of affirmation.

However, it isn't anything like Sanji's sweet talking in a way that is straight out of a romance film. Kid has his own way of doing things, so he would affirm you through compliments that often have one or two cuss words in them, which end up sounding mean but isn't actually mean.

For example: "Great job, brat. You did a shitty job last time, so it's nice to see you outdoing yourself."

Kid is just that guy, but he can also be sweet if the moment calls for it

If you're into those kinds of things, then dating him would be no problem.

Koby: Acts of service

Koby wasn't dubbed "Koby the Hero" for nothing. This man is deemed a hero even outside of work because of what he does for you.

Koby would be the shy type in a relationship since he stutters as a habit, so he would comfortably express it through actions.

Similar to Zoro, if you need rescuing, then he will be there. He would do things for you out of kindness because he likes you.

His love for you would be innocent and sweet.

On that note, Koby would be the type to do the smallest things for you, so if you're the kind of person who would be driven insane by the smallest acts of kindness, then Koby's your guy.

He would hold the door for you, get a glass of water for you if you're thirsty, check up on you randomly, and ask you to continue speaking if you accidentally happen to talk over each other.

Koby does his best to express his feelings, so he hopes his actions are good enough.

Sabo: Acts of service

In a perfect world, Sabo would make an amazing Prince.

It would seem ironic given how he canonically hated the nobility (including his family) because of the way they looked down on the less fortunate, but if Sabo never left nobility, he would be a Disney Prince.

Sabo does things in service, so it would be no different for him to initiate acts of service toward you.

He would be the type to do things without expecting anything in return.

Similar to how he would drop everything should Luffy or Ace be in danger, he would immediately go out of his way to save you or tend to your needs if the situation calls for it.

It's his way of expressing that he cares for you, and he sure as hell would make sure that you know he's interested.

[httpiastri]

🍈 - could i request oscar and "already barely holding it together as they're getting their hand held but then they feel that reassuring squeeze and they just can't" from the touch starved promp list?

happy 3k! you are so deserving and there is so much more to come 🫶

🍈 – send me a driver and a prompt from this list of hugging prompts, these touch starved prompts, or these kiss prompts, and i will write a short blurb for you!!

author's note: getting closer and closer to that 200 word mark!! 😭 anywaysss thank you so much and thank u for requesting, hope u enjoy <3 (idk why my queue doesnt work sometimes 💔 this was scheduled for like 4 hours ago 💔)

3k celly !!

oscar finds you sitting on the floor right outside of the exam hall, your head in your hands. any other day, the sight would make him laugh or want to tease you – but he knows that this isn't the time and place for that.

his heart sinks in his chest when he walks closer, taking in your slumped shoulders and the way your body sags even further when he hears you sigh. he knows that this exam is important for you, and he knows how easily you become stressed over schoolwork, but he never would've thought it would affect you this much.

"hey," he starts, leaning against the wall next to you before sliding down it and sitting down on your left side. "you're not crying, are you?"

"not yet..."

oscar's gentle touch on your skin sends a shiver through your body, one you hope he doesn't notice when his fingers gently pry your hands away from your face. your right hand drops to your side, but he doesn't stop at removing your left one from your face; he traces his index finger along the length of your own, before letting it slip in between your fingers and intertwining them with his.

it takes you a few moments to realize the fact that he's actually holding your hand, but when you do, your breath hitches in your throat. you had been nervous to look over at him even before, but now? no way you can muster that much courage.

"you're going to do well, you know," he says, and your heart practically melts at the soft aussie accent seeping through ever so slightly in his words. "you've studied so hard."

you merely shrug, squeezing your eyes shut in hopes of forgetting that oscar piastri is holding your goddamn hand for just one second so that you can let some helpful thoughts into your mind. it doesn't work, however, leaving you speechless yet again.

"go in there and crush it."

and then, there it is – the action that makes your knees weak, your heart skip a few beats, and your mind spin all over again.

it's not a big gesture per se, and the delicate little squeeze of your hand in his has a much bigger effect than you'd hoped. you feel a bit embarrassed, frankly, because you're over here freaking out over some simple physical contact. all you can do is pray that oscar isn't noticing it.

he does, of course, notice it. however, contrary to what you think, he finds your reaction adorable. it makes him want to give you even more, to hug you, to cradle your pretty face in his hands and stare right into your eyes.

but he'll save that for another day.

[lesfir]

I headcanon that vampirism partly saved Astarion and gives him the ability to experience emotions. Because the hippocampus changes under stress. The amygdala changes on a physical level from severe trauma, like war veterans. After what he experienced there's a chance he wouldn't have had nearly the interest in life or anything else. Vampirism suggests that his brain state "froze" on a physical level exactly 200 years ago. In other words physically his nervous system, his brain, is identical to the Noble Magistarte who lived in the Upper City. So for him to recover and remove these roots of his pain would be easier, much easier than if he were mortal.

Okay there will come a time when I will portion out and make my thoughts more compact, but not today.

Anyway, I don't think Larian follows psychological, mental criteria when writing their characters, anyone. Although it is clear that he resonates with many real people and their personal experiences for different reasons and in different ways. It's on the level of making us believe in the reality of their characters, making them convincing. But Astarion's painful story… if you look at it through the prism of psychology of real people - then the “fun” part of the character, which is the core - will be perceived as a coping mechanism - hence no longer fun. It turns its core into something that doesn't exist because of fun. I'd say deceptive, a lie. And the core can't be a lie.

In my opinion, excessive immersion in reality to analyze the character of Astarion inevitably leads to contradictions.

So there is a contradiction, which, along with the fantasy nature of Astarion, he is a vampire elf, makes it easier to appreciate him more artistically and the symbolism of his image.

I remember the whole fandom saying: -Ascended Astarion is not free, never will be, and how tragic that he doesn't realize it himself. He locks himself in a disruptive perception of the world because no one has helped to heal his trauma, he is forever trapped in the world that Cazador has created. -Original script: He is free.

I assure you these two ideas don't connect, they have a different basis.

That's one example, for me the most glaring one. Or the thing that Astarion asexual for example. The ghosts of sadness in Lord Astarion's eyes in the animation at 00000.1 seconds if you look through the free camera.

A lot of noise from popspychology - zero objectivity.

[tidalfoam]

hey look, legitimate reference sheets for my Fates AU. Look at me, doing things i said i would. my art is always shaky and im bad at consistency so hopefully this helps me.

more Fates shit beloooow (spoilers for the fanfic) (warning for MASSIVE wall of text).

how dare you read spoilers instead of waiting for me to actually finish the next chapter (i am sobbing im stuuuuuck). anyways.

i forgot lambert's jewelry in the ref sheet fuuuuuUUUUCK.

Uhhh so Fates is a 2-part story. Currently writing/posting Fates Worse Than, which is Narinder's POV. Love Can't Save You From is part 2 (working title lmao) thats Lambert's POV.

Basically switch em. Nari is vessel Lamb is god of death. After Narinder inevitably defeats lambert, lambert dips for 200 yrs and is a hermit while the world changes and Nari founds the New Faith.

Pt 1 follows standard gameplay and is a lot shorter than pt 2 (though my word document begs to differ), its a lot more about what's going on in Narinder's mind and unpacking backstory.

After burning midas's bitch ass place down, the other areas on the map (save for midas's bitch ass place and ratau's shack) become towns of their own. The old cult grounds break down and a Temple of TOWW is built. Nari rescues the old Bishops from purgatory, they become his disciples, and three of them run the temples in towns as Disciples/New Bishops (sans powers, just gold skull necklaces) and Shamura keeps the Main Temple of death by themselves. NONE OF THIS i actually write its just explained during the story. Hah.

pt 2 basically is Lambert & Narinder regaining trust (narinder feels shitty for what he did to lambert and cares for them greatly.) And then theres a lot of trauma unpacking, sibling reconnection, and the two of them growing closer.

BIG SPOILERS NEXT

Ya so basically Nari doesn't fully have control of his godhood powers and folks start ressurecting randomly, but 9/10 of them are Cursed and this is Not Great. After consulting with Shamura and doing their own investigating basically aaaah Narinder either has to monitor the gateway or give Lamb the crown back.

They fight over this, obviously, like right after they finally hit the "lovers" part too. fun!

and so in the end they both agree that Narinder will sit in the Gateway, at least for probs a few centuries to maybe a millenia until he has full control over everything. He asks Lambert to lead the New Faith and keep tabs on everyone, thus coming full circle. Narinder is TOWW in the gateway, Lambert is his servant (but no crown, Nari keeps the crown). End of Spoilers.

Also just fun shit. They can't reproduce, gods of death can't create life. I will 10000% make non-canon shittens content tho because ITS FUN.

Lamb is They/Them

Shamura is actually one of the Old Gods, and slaughtered other gods to steal their crowns to give to their "siblings". They literally stole Kallamar as a child, didn't like how he turned out. Stole lamb as baby, loved them and was closest to them, so stole heket too and were meh about her. They were in the middle of slaughtering other gods and destroying crowns when Lambert and Heket found a baby worm in the woods. They begged shamura to keep their new baby brother. Shamura and Kallamar weren't happy but caved to their beloved baby siblings. That worm baby was Leshy. Then shamura drove chemench insane, the group finished slaughtering all other gods & crowns, and that was that.

Goat isn't canon but i did draw him once because it felt like fun and maybe one day jokingly i'll do an au to the au whoops

everyone calls ratau old but he's not that old Narinder & Lambert are just dicks lmao. I promise i do like Ratau i'm just writing in the POV of two assholes.

if you got this far... why? i'm extremely honored but holy hell WHY. I love you now. I love you dearly.

Please feel free to ask me anything i'm foaming at the mouth constantly for this, its my new Sole Purpose. I am absolutely not avoiding my actual fucking novel i'm supposed to be finishing l o l.

[lokisbiiiitch1993]

Thank you for the Request - I am sorry - it's been 200 years but to my excuse I had Writers Block for a while - and many other Requests - but I hope you still like it ❤️

The 200th Anniversary

Loki x Sigyn/Wife Reader

It's been a while since Loki joined the Avengers .

He is now a Part of the Team and spends the most time on Earth - Midgard.

You missed him and hoped he would come back to Asgard soon.

Days turned into Weeks and weeks turned into almost a month.

But today is our 200th Anniversary he will for sure show up and surprise me you thought excited.

After Breakfast you spend the next few hours on yourself - Hair and Make - Up

Next you put your favourite Dress on the one Loki bought for you many Anniversaries ago.

Remembering fondly Loki looked so thrilled the first time you wore it - the way he praised your beauty made you fall even more in love with him .

I am ready - you said to yourself - I can't wait to hug him and kiss him again .

A hour passed then the next - the more hours passed the more sad and angry you get .

It's Night and he still isn't here your Husband must have forgotten, you realized disappointed - crying yourself to sleep .

On the next Day you run into Thor by coincidence - he saw your red and swollen Eyes and asked what happened - you told him you are sad and mad that Loki forgot about the Anniversary .

"Maybe I should visit him soon and see for myself what's so important on Midgard that he forgets about me" - you said in a Threatening Tone .

Later Thor went back to the Avengers compound and told Loki that you are mad.

Brother how could you forget about the 200th Anniversary - Thor teased him.

To my Defense I didn't forget completely - Yesterday I had a feeling today is something but I couldn't figure out what - Loki tried to explain.

Thor laughed and wished his younger Brother good luck .

At first Loki was mad and disappointed in himself - how could he forget but then it turned into Panic because he knows his Wife will show up soon .

Hey Loki ,are you alright? What's going on with you? - someone asked but he just ignored it not wasting a moment to see who dared talking to him.

He devoted the next hours to finding the Prefect Anniversary Gifts .

Loki brought so many Bags with Presents back to the Compound -the others didn't know what to say - he bought the most beautiful Flowers Bouquet, different Chocolates , Jewelry,Shoes ,Bags and Clothes he knows you would like - he hopes that will calm you down.

Suddenly he had an Idea and went to his Room.

Two hours later you appeared at the Compound still visibly mad - everyone watched you

Tony was the first to ask "Who are you and what do you want" but before you had the Chance to answer Thor was by your Side answering instead happily "That's Loki's Wife - my Sister in Law ".

Meanwhile after many Attempts Loki finished writing a Love Letter -putting all his Feelings for his Wife into words.

After hearing all the noise he left his Room to see what's going on.

As he saw her standing in the living Room - he couldn't believe it- She is really here he thought .

Crossing her Arms ,she stared at him still angry and Loki looked at her with apologetic sad Eyes .

"My Darling Wife , please let us talk,I am really sorry for forgetting our Anniversary,please let me make it up to you " - he plead.

For the other Avengers in the Room he looks like a Lost Puppy - not threatening , scary or dangerous at all.

Some of the Team even smiled mockingly at him others were just shocked and speechless how different Loki is when his Wife is around.

Tony said teasing " So all we had to do to save New York,was bringing his Wife here ?"

"Looks like his Wife wears the Pants " another Avenger said

How funny Loki answered sarcastically,he took his Wife's hand and guided her to his Room.

He showed her everything he bought , gave her the Love Letter and apologized sincerely.

I only forgive you if you don't make me miss you so desperately all the time - I yearn for you - I need and love you - you confessed

"I promise,my Love,I missed you too and I love you so desperately"he replied with softly

You both spend the Night loving each other unable to get enough of the other.

My Masterlist

[frostycatblr-fandom-files]

Hi Frosty! Congratulations on your 200 followers 🥳 Very well deserved!

I didn't have anything specific in mind, so I'm going to do my request a little differently (if you're not a fan of this, feel free to ignore). I'll give you three things. You can write whatever you want, but it must contain all three!

1. Fireflies

2. Peanut butter

3. A goodnight kiss

For clones, you can choose from Fives, Wolffe, Tup, or Thorn. It could be fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, suggestive or not. It's up to you! Oh, and with a female reader, please!

I can't wait to see what you come up with 💚

Much love!

@the-bad-batch-baroness

Holidays in Hyperspace [Tup x Fem!Reader]

Warnings and Information: Having been friends for quite some time, Tup has grown incredibly fond of you and your company, and has been wondering how to take things to the next step. A unique opportunity presents itself when the 501st helps Ahsoka put together a party to liven things up and celebrate one of the many galactic holidays while on a long journey through hyperspace; Tup chooses the night of the party to make his affections clear. Will he pull it off without his (well-meaning) brothers meddling with his plans? 2nd Person POV, undescribed Fem!Reader (save for a costume). Fluff fic. Friends to lovers. Some fixing of each other's clothes costumes. Mando’a. Very minimal Star Wars and real-world swearing. Fictional and in-universe holidays. Narrative and stylistic use of italics. This fic doubles as a submission for @pinahallowsevecloneparty (permission was given by the requester); prompt sentence(s) for that event are in orange. 

Word count: 6,593

It was an early Taungsday morning, the Resolute flagship deep in the thralls of hyperspace. 

Though you should be used to it at this point in the war, you would occasionally find yourself struggling with the extended hyperspace journeys. The longer they were, these trips were capable of warping one’s internal sense of time without local day-night cycles to take one’s cues from. The unaccustomed and inexperienced had a much harder time dealing with these drawn-out travel periods, often oversleeping or undersleeping. 

Those who had grown wiser in time advised that if you were finding it difficult to sleep, it was best to find something productive to do until you were sufficiently worn out. So, around 03:30, you shuffled yourself down to one of the unofficial social centers—disused meeting or war rooms that had been converted to more inviting spaces-—and wondered who you would find. 

More often than not, you could expect to brush elbows with your fellow crew members, as well as the boys of bravest blue, troopers of the 501st Legion of the GAR.

In your time among the Resolute’s crew, you created more than a few unexpected friendships with the Clone soldiers, all of which you cherish deeply. 

Captain Rex, longtime leader of the 501st and right hand man to both General Skywalker and Commander Tano, often kept his mind sharp by devising battle strategies and studying intel on the Separatists. You’ve provided company (and caf) while he puzzles out new methods and attack algorithms with the limited downtime he has a handful of times in the past. He’s always been appreciative of how attentive you are as he painstakingly explains tricky terminology or tactics. Admirable ARCs such as Fives and Jesse enjoyed an easy conversation while working to keep their gear in perfect working order. They liked having someone to trade little jokes, someone to playfully pester with all the questions they had on galactic pop culture. 

And once you had the approval of the legion’s oldest soldiers, the affections of Torrent Company’s youngest weren’t far behind. They made regular efforts to invite you to join them at the long tables within the commissary time and time again. Generously shared their space with you because they knew you were kind and nothing but respectful, and that you could tolerate most of their boredom-borne antics. (As well as counting on you to talk them out of the riskier ones.)

You haven’t had the chance to confirm it with anyone, but you’re beginning to suspect you're one of their favorite crew members, too. 

As you step into one of these converted social centers, you find General Skywalker’s padawan and most of Torrent Company inside, the room in total disarray. Alerted by the door’s hydraulics hissing open, several turn to see who it is and greet you in excitement. Crates full of colorful bits and bobs are piled in the middle of the room, and the tables have been pushed against the interior walls to give everyone space to work. 

“Hey, come join us!” someone calls in a lively voice from the back of the group. “We were just helping Commander Tano choose some decorations!”

Interest piqued, you join the cluster in the center of the room to see what all the fuss is about. Clutching a datapad, the young Togruta is scrolling down a long file, face set in an expression of deep concentration. Loosely circled around her, the Clones waiting patiently take the opportunity to trade a few more greetings with you once you’ve drawn closer, choosing to stand beside a trooper with his hair styled in a topknot. 

“Hey there, Tup.”

Tup’s word of welcome is slightly teasing, but all in good humor. 

“Well good morning. Couldn’t sleep, burc’ya?”

Friend. 

You’ve picked up enough Mando’a in your time to recognize the word, sleepless as you are. Out of Torrent’s youngest soldiers, you and Tup are probably the best acquainted. It’s probably been a good few months since you’ve gotten to know one another properly after a few unfortunate trips to the medbay around the same time. 

He had sprained his ankle during a field exercise on the planet the Resolute had been stationed over at the time, and needed to pay the health center a visit. Just to make sure the injury wasn’t something more serious than what a bit of bacta and rest could take care of. You, on the other hand, found yourself catching your cabin-mate’s stubborn fever, so you went to see if there was something you could get to lessen the amount of time you would find yourself out of commission. No such luck. 

His kind demeanor and even kinder smile made your ailment more bearable when it became more severe, for a time. Tup was sure to visit you every day until you made a full recovery. You’ve been close ever since. 

“Something like that…” you reply with a mild chuckle. “What are we choosing decorations for, exactly?”

“Commander Tano was telling us about different, minor galactic holidays just a moment ago.” 

Your interest piques again. You knew of big ones, like Boonta Eve, named such in the honor of Boonta Hestilic Shad’ruu, a Hutt who ascended to godhood in Hutt lore. And the Wookie holiday, Life Day, that’s spread in popularity in recent years. But much like sleep, the knowledge of any minor holidays eluded you. 

“Oh? Anything interesting?”

Dogma, listening nearby, offers an example. “There’s the Weequay holy season called the Month of Plenty. Honors a lunar god.” It apparently involves open skylights in temples dedicated to the deity Quay on Sriluur to aid with tracking the moon’s position.

Ahsoka, continuing to comb through the file, explains why she’s trying to plan for a small party when you ask what brought this up. “Around this time of year, when I was a youngling, Masters at the Jedi Temple would teach us about the different cultural holidays around the galaxy. To help us expand our minds and form compassion for other lifeforms. I… started feeling a little homesick for the Temple once I remembered.” There’s a few that have looked promising so far, but there’s simply not enough time to prepare for some of them. 

Jesse, playfully elbowing Fives next to him, pipes up next. “That’s when we suggested we could find a holiday to celebrate before our next mission! It could be fun for everyone.” There had to be something that didn’t take a lot of planning or effort. Glancing at the datapad, he suggests one he sees at random. “Like… What about the Day of Breath, Commander?”

Ahsoka studies the information on the holiday for a moment, then shrugs. “Day of Breath is for celebrating the day someone was born. I can’t think of anyone who we could celebrate in the next two days before we’re out of hyperspace…” 

Fives strokes his goatee in thought before nodding in your direction. “The day she was born wasn’t that long ago. Maybe we could do a belated celebration of her’s?” There’s a murmur of agreement around you, as well as apologies from those who hadn’t realized or forgotten. 

“Wait,” Hardcase calls over his brothers’ voices, “what about this one?” He singles out a holiday listed in the middle of the screen just before Ahsoka scrolled on, one that’s celebrated around this time of the standard year.

The Night of Guises and Gourds. 

“That’s an odd name.” Ahsoka remarks. Regardless of the strange name, she thinks the holiday holds promise.

It entailed colorful decorations, the creation and gifting of simple, sugary snacks, and costumes. There weren’t many strict or rigid traditions for celebrants to observe, either. Following the end of many galactic harvest seasons, this marked a time to honor the departed, and revere the creatures and concepts of lesser—and sometimes frightening—understandings. (The padawan laughed seeing the Force listed as one of the examples of poorly understood subjects by the document.) Reading deeper into what caught Hardcase’s eye about the costumes explained that these clever guises had drawn inspiration from galactic folklore and mythos long ago, and expanded to iconic figures from pop culture in more recent years. 

And, they could be homemade. 

“What do you think, Commander? Could probably find things laying around the ship, same as the decorations.”

Ahsoka nods in agreement with Hardcase, grinning. 

“I think I already know where to look.” 

“We can get a start on the decorations while you’re gone,” you offer, knowing it would take time to rifle through everything collected. It would be doing Ahsoka a huge favor as well. 

“You wouldn’t mind supervising?” Ahsoka double-checks, handing over the datapad. You’d need it to best judge what decor crammed in the boxes in the middle of the room will fit the theme of the party while Fives and Jesse volunteer to go search with her. 

You smile, certain. “No, not at all! There’s enough of us here to get a good start.” Like the majority of the GAR, Torrent Company was full of hard-working men who had a talent for making the most monotonous of tasks an enjoyable experience. 

The padawan nods appreciatively. “Thanks. Dogma, would you mind helping her?”

Dogma meets Tup’s eye, and a strange expression crosses his face. He was never known to question or turn down orders, so to the surprise of both you and Ahsoka, Dogma attempts to shift responsibility. “I’m afraid I… h-have a headache. I should go see Kix for it, Commander. Perhaps Tup can help her in my stead?” Feigning an ache in his right temple, Dogma momentarily cradles the side of his head in hopes of better selling the lie. 

Concerned, Ahsoka apologizes for not noticing earlier. “I’m sorry, I had no idea. Go get taken care of. Have Kix let me know if it gets any worse.” She waits once Dogma has quietly excused himself from the room, oblivious to the subtle glances the troopers cast in one another’s direction before turning her attention to your friend standing beside you. 

There’s something slightly odd about those smiles coming from them when Tup says he’d be happy to help however you need while you set up for the party, but you try to pay it little mind. Maybe it’s just some form of Clone humor. You’ve seen plenty of it since joining the crew, and you’re sure to see more while you spend the next few days preparing for the Guises and Gourds party. 

Word of the party spreads quicker than anticipated. 

Plans to decorate one social center turned into multiple, before quickly changing to taking over the main cafeteria after late-meal in order to accommodate everyone interested in attending. As the volunteer team grows, problems disappear almost as quickly as they show up. 

An hour ago there wasn’t enough bunting to decorate the main snack and drink tables. Now there’s enough to line the walls of the commissary in an unbroken loop. A majority of the decorating will have to take place the day of the party, leaving plenty of time that can be devoted to figuring out the fun foodstuffs and costumes. 

Torrent Company continues to do most of the legwork, the troopers trading their armor for aprons as they work to make enough sugar cookies to feed an army, and then some. They’ve gotten a good head start while you have been busy with your respective tasks around the flagship. By your estimation, they must’ve made fifty trays or more so far, leaving some plain while others were decorated with icing and sprinkles.

You plan to join them once you’ve spent a little time off your feet. So snacking on a sample cookie given to you by Hardcase, you’ve taken to thumbing through a list of last-minute costume ideas on your datapad, looking for inspiration for the few who haven’t found something to wear. 

“Mm. That’s a really good cookie.”

Someone from the back of the kitchen tells Hardcase that it’s probably Tup who deserves the credit for the batch of cookies he gave you a sample of. “He figured out how to make ‘em really soft before he and Fives started experimenting on another recipe together.” Hardcase then laughs, adding, “Neither of them will tell us what it is, or accept any offers to help.”

That doesn’t come as much of a surprise to you. Since Tup joined the ranks of the 501st, he’s adopted a few mannerisms and formed close friendships with many of his brothers, namely Dogma, Hardcase, Jesse, Fives and the captain. Out of all of them, and apart from you, Tup’s perhaps closest with Fives. 

“Ooh, I bet Jesse hates that.” you reply with a mirthful grin.

Jesse, among the oldest of the company, had a sense of humor that often meshed well with that of his younger brothers’, leading him to keep a closer eye on them in an inadvertent manner. 

Sure enough, as he slides another tray laden with cookies out of the industrial ovens before setting them aside to cool, Jesse calls to Fives and Tup as they continue to work with their backs to the rest of the kitchen. Whatever it is they’re working on, they’re doing a splendid job of keeping it secret. 

“Are you sure you don’t want more help, Tup?”

“No, no, we got it.” Tup insists, likely not for the first time. “Don’t you still need to find a costume?”

Jesse laughs sheepishly, grateful for the reminder. “Oh damn, nearly forgot.” He’d been busy helping Captain Rex with official matters while most of Torrent had the opportunity to pick out their costumes.

Feeling bad he had missed out on that fun, you came prepared and put together a list of potential costume suggestions you thought he might like with the help of his brothers. “I gotcha covered, Jesse.” You invite him to grab something to sit on and pull up a spot beside you, pulling up those notes from the planning session. 

“Got some ideas for me, mesh’la?” He takes the ideas everyone had brainstormed, grinning like a nexu. 

You warn him with a playful roll of your eyes. “I had a little help from your brothers. So if you don’t like any of them, don’t be hasty to blame me.” 

“What’re you dressing up as?”

Consulting the short list, there was a ‘headless horseman’ suggestion that had been wisely scribbled out; that sounded like he was just begging to be haunted by Jango’s pissed-off spirit. Better safe than sorry. 

“A siren. It took a tiny bit of convincing from Tup.” you say. 

It had been the strangest thing. You had only mentioned it off-handedly, just a passing sort of comment while looking through the costume material Ahsoka had gathered up, finding a large bolt of shimmery sequin fabric in your favorite color. Like, a really large bolt; enough to make an elaborate (but probably very itchy) dress or two. It helped that it had a vaguely scale-like look to it as you showed the others. 

“Heh. Someone could make a really handsome merman using some of this. Whaddya think, boys?”

Tup hadn’t found a costume yet and was seemingly eager to get the process over with, so he jumped on your suggestion. While doing so, he dug out a bolt in a complimentary color to the sequins and offered it out to you. 

“Sounds good to me. Oh look! Maybe you could take some of this silk and use it with the sequins to make yourself a siren, burc’ya! You’d look really great.”

You agreed after a short moment of thought, hearing how sincerely he meant it. Tup would never purposely steer you wrong. Now the two of you would have a similar costume theme for the Guises and Gourds party.

It was hard for Jesse to contain his smile next to you. “Tup as a merman. And you’re matching with him? Sounds like you’ll be having a lot of fun.” Turning back to the list, he looked over everyone one last time before making a selection. 

“If no one’s taken the king’s costume, I’ll use it.”

“Sounds good then; I’ll ask Ahsoka since she’s keeping track of everything.” Taking back the datapad, you send a short message to Ahsoka, who confirms the costume is still up for grabs just a few minutes later. “Say, any idea if the captain’s able to make it to the party, or does he still think he’s gonna be busy?”

“No idea,” Jesse replies glumly. “Didn’t have a chance to ask.”

“That’s okay.” you say, trying to remain optimistic. 

There’s still time to find out, and no shortage of tasks to do before the night of the party.

The day of the party, not long before late-meal, you and Tup agree to meet up to take care of any alterations needed before getting ready for the Night of Guises and Gourds. 

It’s not going as smoothly as you hoped. For whatever reason, Tup’s hands are shaking like an under-caffeinated Corrie while he helps you strengthen the stitching holding the slippery folds of silk together. More than once, while wearing the skirt fashioned in place of an awkward and constricting mono-fin, the needle he’s holding has grazed you while piercing through the elastic waistband. 

“Ow.”

“S-sorry,” Tup apologizes with a stammer, checking for blood where he poked you.  

By the mercy of the Force, he finds none. 

“Just a couple more stitches. Unless, you’d rather not risk my help?”

With an assuring nod, you tell him to go ahead and finish. “It’s okay Tup. Just feeling nervous about the party?”

“Maybe a little,” he confesses, concentrating harder on making these last stitches as painless as possible. 

Tup’s grateful you’re not Force-sensitive like Commander Tano or General Skywalker right about now. Otherwise you might be able to sense, even hear, how fast his pulse pounds in the shell of his ear. How his heart races, skipping a beat when you say his name. The flush of fire that builds in his face when he thinks of you in fondness and in friendship; it burns hotter day by day. How could he be so lucky to have you for a friend? What cosmic force did he have to thank for putting someone so wholly kind and sweet in his life? 

And was he going to be able to pull this off tonight? 

If he didn’t… When would he get another chance? Before he plucked up the nerve again, someone else could come along. Maybe another, less cautious brother. Or rather than risking romantisms with someone only born and bred to die, you’d play it safe and date a fellow crewmate. Maybe… maybe he had you all wrong and you weren’t the sort interested in dating. 

Other than honest, loyal companionship, what could he even bring to a relationship? 

Tup honestly wasn’t sure. But blast it, he wanted to try. 

Stitching finished without further incident, Tup puts the sewing supplies aside. “That should do it. Give ‘er a spin, let’s see how I did.” 

Humoring him, you start slowly, performing little half-spins. You want to make sure the thread survives a warm-up, first. The fabric sways like grass reeds in the wind, silk swinging against sequin. Building up to higher speeds, bigger movements, the layered skirt now ripples and snaps like wind-battered masts on seafaring ships of old. Slowing again, the movement becomes hypnotic, almost mesmerizing. 

As you are now, you look fit for the sea with the long, layered skirt and borrowed bodysuit to give your upper body a slightly more ‘streamlined’ feeling. Your hair has been styled, careful hair gel application giving you a slightly damp, tidal-swept appearance. With more of Tup’s help, you would complete the look and truly fit the part of a siren for your guise. A bit of makeup here and there and a few faux pearls should be enough. 

He’s grateful this part doesn’t require a steady hand worthy of a surgeon; daubing brushfuls of shimmering eyeshadows into the scale stencil you’ve made comes a lot easier than grasping a thin needle. Creating patches of these false scales around your eyes, your neck, and the back of your hands takes no time at all. Everything gets sealed with a setting spray and given time to dry. 

You’ll leave adding any pearls for last. Now helping Tup, you take the same portion of fishnet stocking you sacrificed for a stencil and start at the collarbone and shoulders. Knowing it’s going to tickle, Tup asks you to save applying makeup on his face for last. 

Working quickly, you move the brush and stencil down a portion of his arms, and he begins to regret the amount of glitter building on his skin. 

“There’s so much glitter,” Tup remarks with a soft grimace. “We’re gonna be finding this stuff for years after tonight.” 

You chuckle sympathetically and try to keep the lilt in your voice playful. “You decided to be a shirtless merman, remember? I can add less scales than we initially planned, but you should make your peace with it now, Tup.” He only shrugs, fiddling with an errant strand of thread from his sequin pants while you brush in the scales. With the completion of his upper arms, all that’s left to work on is his face. 

The brush, combined with a feather-light touch proves rather ticklish for your friend. 

“Hold still, silly,” you chide him after his head ducks to the side once more. “Hard to do this when you’re squirmy.” You’re prepared to cup his face if necessary, just to make sure the facial pattern doesn’t become misaligned or smudged. He'll need a do-over otherwise. Taking him gingerly by the jaw for the moment, you guide Tup’s head where you need him and try to pick up where you left off. 

“Please look at me…”

Tup complies with your request, eager to follow instruction. The pair of you so close together like this, his soulful eyes are practically amber in the ambient light, wholly focused on you. Each time you need to lean in a little closer, carefully brushing in scale after scale, Tup’s smile seems to brighten. 

Look at you? Be this close to you? He’d be all too happy to do so. 

Once you’re finished, taking extra care to protect the scales with the setting spray, you surprise him with one final addition for his costume. Knowing you’ll have extra, you string together a row of the pearl beads meant to be finishing touches to your own costume with some of the thread from earlier and carefully wrap it around the base of his topknot. This way, it looks like his dark, curly hair has been secured by a string of pearls. 

You take a second to find a pocket mirror so he can see the final product before the two of you set off to join his brothers for a hurried late-meal. He admires your work for a moment before telling you he loves it in a soft, awed voice and helps you gather your things. 

“Mirdala, - ! I never would have thought of that.” 

The two of you walk down to the commissary together and find they’re serving stew tonight—something that provokes an excited “Hell yeah, soup!” from the back of the hall—before you have a chance to discreetly confer with your datapad under the table and find the meaning of the words. 

You find one means 'clever', but unfortunately, you hadn’t been able to properly make out the second word at the time. 

But that wouldn’t matter soon enough.

In all your time aboard the Jedi cruiser as a longtime member of the crew, you can’t remember a time you’ve seen the main mess hall this lively. Tech-savvy Clones compiled a setlist and mood lighting for tonight to really complete the atmosphere, giving the space a playful vibe. 

You’ve had a chance to sample some of the snacks, along with probably one of the best glasses of punch you’ve enjoyed in a long time. 

And the costumes! You’re relieved there’s no costume contest put in place for this Guises and Gourds party because it really takes the pressure off of those who feel their entry is in some way conditional. Attendees can come just as they are, if that’s what they desire, or, if plans change. 

Letting down her lekku for the night, Ahsoka traded her typical attire for a comfortable poncho set, only keeping the headdress and beaded markings of a padawan learner. You, Tup and the rest of Torrent Company couldn’t remember a time you’d seen her so relaxed, other than when she was meditating. Well, maybe relaxed isn’t the word for it. Happy is probably more appropriate. Carefree. 

Ahsoka gets to put her responsibilities behind her and act more like others her age, just for tonight. She’s been bouncing between groups of soldiers since the start of the party, complimenting everyone on their costumes, enjoying the food and the music. 

Around the same time she’s made it over to you and “your” little portion of Torrent friends, the 501st’s medic cuts his way through the crowd, surprising everyone. 

“Kix! You made it!” 

He had been expected to oversee the medbay tonight, but more than likely he cashed in a few favors in order to make an appearance. “Thought I’d see what all the fuss was about. Sorry I missed…” Kix trailed off, gesturing to the decorations and a few of his brother’s costumes. “All this. But you guys look great! What’s everyone supposed to be?” Going around in a circle, everyone explains their costume, or lack thereof. 

Dogma decided on a vampire costume because of its simplicity, settling for a red cape to accent his Republic blacks, though he wasn’t a fan of the false fangs. He wore them only for pictures, since they made it hard to talk. Fives had tried to pull off a lycanthrope look, but the adhesive was dodgy and he ended up looking like a Wookie with a very unfortunate case of mange. He had to settle for borrowing a non-Clone’s medical coat to dress up as a “Sexy Doctor” reminiscent of those medical holodramas. A glorious-looking king for all of fifteen minutes, Jesse successfully demoted himself to a fancy prince after he convinced Captain Rex to take the crown offered to him. Hardcase had wandered off to go talk to the captain about something shortly after and hadn’t yet returned, but he opted not to go in costume due to decision fatigue. He would much rather eliminate any stressors that would take away from the fun of spending time with his brothers. 

Tup explained he was a merman when Kix questioned if he wasn’t cold being shirtless, proudly showing off the shimming patches of scales and the string of pearls nestled in his hair. He gestured to you next before his brother got the chance to ask, obviously excited.

“And she’s a siren; similar theme!” 

Kix nodded to show his approval. “Rather impressive you two. And what about you, Commander? What’s your costume?”

Ahsoka shrugged. “Oh, I don’t have a costume.” 

“Your poncho has a hood,” you point out, carefully raising the blueish white pocket of fabric over her head when she asks. “There! Now you can be a ghost.” 

She gives you a beaming smile, grateful for your help. “Thanks! And thanks so much for all the help you’ve put into the party. Means a lot.” 

Her smile is returned with one of your own. 

“Any time, Ahsoka.” 

Before setting off to mingle with the other attendees once more, she leaves you with a kind embrace and a reminder to enjoy the rest of the party. Everyone else, she playfully instructs to behave. 

Kix assures her that they will. “It’s not every day we get to celebrate a holiday in hyperspace. Right, Tup?” He gently nudges the end of his elbow into the brother beside him currently looking a little lost in thought. Surprised, Tup turns to look at the medic, unsure what was asked. 

“Hmm?”

“You okay, Tup? You seem distracted.”

Assuring his brother, Tup tries to wave Kix’s concerns away. “Yeah, yeah- I’m fine. Just remembered that I forgot something for the party in our bunkroom. Erm, more than one thing, actually…” 

Without a moment of hesitation, or even knowing what it is that he’s forgotten, you offer to go with him. Surprisingly, none of his other brothers offer to lend a helping hand. That’s not like them at all. Each one of them merely smiles and says “Alright, we’ll see you two later.” before Tup disposes of your empty punch glass and leads the two of you out of the crowded mess hall. The lengthy corridors of the venator feel so empty by comparison, quieter than you ever remember them being. 

Tup’s pace down to his bunkroom is hurried, which you chalk up to distance. While the bunkroom isn’t too far away from the party, you still have a bit of ground to cover together. You expect to return to the party before long, unless whatever it is Tup forgot ended up being something heavy, or unwieldy. 

“Are you sure we don’t need your brothers’ help?”

“I’m sure. They keep offering, but I don’t need the help of my vode for this.” Tup replies cryptically. 

You find his answer a little strange, but you’ll know what he means soon enough. 

Opening the bunkroom door, Tup seems surprised that there’s no light on inside when the hydraulics quickly whip the door back. They were on when he left to help you fix your costume, and none of his brothers told him they had turned off the light, either. Nothing too weird about that, they must’ve just forgotten to mention it, excited about the Night of Guises and Gourds party. 

He’ll just turn on the light and- nothing. Was there a problem with the panel? Depressing the usual buttons a few times has no results on the room, save for turning the dim ‘sleeping’ light overhead on and off instead of the primaries. 

Great. More problems for the maintenance crew to sort out. 

Shaking his head, Tup suggests you both just forget it for now and go figure out where the stuff ended up. What you came for had originally been left by the door, but it looked like someone forgot why it was there and put everything away. It was likely going to be by his bunk or along the back wall, both of which were further back from the door. 

Guiding you through the semi-darkness, he takes your hand to help you navigate the room. 

It’s tidier than you expected, the only ‘mess’ to be seen are a few open foot lockers stacked at the foot of each bunk. “Watch your step. Wouldn’t want you to trip over anything.” As you venture deeper, the radius of the dim sleeping light fails to adequately light the way around, meaning in no time at all you’d be stumbling blindly without your friend’s help. 

You tighten the stitching of your interlocked fingers, an anchor of safety. In return, Tup squeezes your hand reassuringly; a promise you’ll be okay while your eyes adjust to the dark.

Coming up to the back of the room, Tup tells you to wait off to the side, offering to find a decent light-source for you so you have an easier time helping him ‘find’ everything. 

But he won’t be finding anything; this is all part of his plan. Removing the mattresses from the frame of the bunk, he lays each on the floor in front of you, throwing down a couple of spare pillows for good measure. Inviting you to get comfortable, he collects the box of rations and a small holo-projector previously hidden under the lower mattress. 

Humming to life, the projector begins to play a pre-selected recording once Tup has set it on the floor. 

Slowly, tiny spots of blue light wink into existence and fill the air around you, lazily drifting on a far-away breeze. In the bottom of the projection, thin stalks of tall grass sway and ripple, wave-like. This must have been recorded in a forest clearing, or grasslands of some kind. In it is a ‘sparkle’ of fireflies, climbing and bumbling through the air in a fascinating spectacle. 

It becomes pretty apparent what he’s trying to do. In your lifetime, you’ve seen more than enough holo-dramas and read just as many romance novels to puzzle out where this is going. Tup, your very good friend, has put together a picnic in the middle of hyperspace to the best of his ability in order to ask you a very important kind of question. 

“Tup… Is this what I think it is?”

By way of answering, Tup takes the hinged lid of the ration box and swings it back to show you what’s inside. Nestled in a crumpled layer of parchment paper lay peanut butter cookies, still looking just as soft and gooey from when they were baked. It’s an offering to share, or maybe a gift to you. 

Moving closer, he puts the box between you, waiting with bated breath and a nervous smile after you take the first cookie and break off a mouthful to sample. “Oh, Maker,” you moan near-sinfully after the first bite. “These are even better than the other cookies.” It’s decadent; rich and buttery smooth all at once. A lot of care must have been put into getting the recipe down for you. These had to be what he and Fives were working on in the kitchen the other day. 

“You made these for me?”

Tup nods, finding his voice. “I did. I wanted to make tonight special. Well, m-more special than it already was.”  Throat bobbing, he swallows down his nervousness with a bite of his own hard work, chewing slowly to think of something more to say. “I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while now… But I couldn’t find the right time to say it. Or the right thing to do.”

Half-eaten cookie in hand, he gestures to the holographic fireflies. “I wanted to take you stargazing. But we see stars all the time, especially in hyperspace. So Hardcase suggested fireflies instead. I-I dunno where he found the idea; I was running out of time.” 

“Well, even if he can be a tad… distractible, ‘Case is full of lots of good ideas. And fireflies are pretty.” you reply, breaking off another portion of your first cookie. “What were you running out of time for?”

In the dim light, he shrugs his shoulders, full lips set in a slight pout. “It doesn’t really matter, I guess. There was so much more I wanted to do and I only had a few days to do it.” The fact he did it at all was an accomplishment, too. It would probably be best to tell you that another time. 

Best not to spoil the moment when you move aside the repurposed cache full of cookies and slide closer to him, all with that sweet look on your face he grew so fond of. It didn’t matter that it had been half a year or less since getting to know you. Tup had grown so enamored with you for your kindness and a rare, genuine nature to you that he knew he’d be willing to risk making his heart vulnerable to you.

His brothers had his back. You practically had his heart; he just hoped to make it official. 

Trying to put himself at ease, Tup finds your hand and merely holds it for a time. Committing to memory as much as he can. The weight of your hand, the length of each digit. Where your hands are soft, or rough with the evidence of a storied life. How comforting it is to feel you squeeze his hand and rub your thumb over every scarred knuckle with the kind of tenderness he was never really afforded as a young cadet, or even as a tubie. 

He’s courageous, and competent, and capable of so many things… except finding the bravery in himself to utter three little words. 

“I… I want you to be more than just my friend. More than a vod’ika, too.” Tup tries explaining, using the Mando’a word that means more than just ‘sibling’, but also ‘dear friend’; both of which are always meant as endearing terms. He’s grateful you’re clever enough to read between the lines and know what his tongue cannot bring itself to tell. 

Utilizing your knowledge of the ungendered language, you search for the next closest words as you move to cradle the back of Tup’s head, smiling encouragingly. 

“What do you want me to be?” you ask. “Gar…?”

Voice soft, almost breathless, Tup answers your prompting. He sits forward. You do the same. 

“Mirdala cyar’ika.”  

Drawing him close, warm, silken lips take that first of shared gestures quickly—testing, even tempting deeper waters. Each of you face this depth, deciding to press on together. Warmth consumes the two of you as you each grow bolder, going forward with more confidence in swimming further out from safe harbors. Out of reach from the white caps of the cresting waves, together you take pause, seeming to recall where you are. 

For a moment, you felt almost adrift. Heads light, and the silk from your skirt pooling between you, slipping with every moment, had given you both the feeling that you were somewhere else. Somewhere lightyears beyond the Resolute racing through a hyperspace lane, bigger than this dim bunkroom and the middle of a projection of little, living stars swimming in an ocean made of oxygen. 

Basking in this euphoria, both of you first lean against the other, arms laced tight and catching your breath. Neither want to let go. Not when there’s a thousand unspoken I love you-s to perform, and a thousand more ways that are far more unique. 

“We can tell your brothers whenever you’re ready. This little bit of… ‘star gazing’ was a great idea… Thank you, ner cyare.”

Before the end of the night, it would not matter that he ended up missing the rest of the party with his brothers; Tup could now say with full confidence that his new favorite holiday was the Night of Guises and Gourds. 

Not when you could say the same thing. 

Thank you for making a fun request for this little event, Steph, and for allowing me to double-dip by fitting this into Pina's Monster/Halloween AU by making this a costume party. This ended up longer than I expected but it was so, so much fun to write; I hope you enjoyed! 🩷

Fic taglist: @dukeoftheblackstar @dystopicjumpsuit @msmeredithrose @lonely-day3636

[Masterlist] [TCW Masterlist] [Taglist] [Requests: OPEN]

[mystic-panda-4]

Fics For Gaza

Hello everyone! I'm super excited to announce that I've signed up to be a creator in the @ficsforgaza project! For those of you unfamiliar with the blog, ficsforgaza is a project that allows money to be raised for the people in need in Gaza, and for YOU to get fanfiction you want to read! There are two ways you can go about helping to raise money for a good cause, either by Sponsoring A WIP or Requesting A Fic

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[physics-of-one-piece]

Ok back at it again with random doffy thoughts. Doffy has either weird color eyes or heterochromia. He either has a widow peak or his hair will grow back if he has true loves kiss(think this is funny for the whole beauty and the beast angle. Hes a beauty but he acts like a beast). And do you think he's top heavy or bottom heavy 🐦‍⬛

I love these random Doffy thoughts, Crow Anon! 🩷

Yeh, 100% agree for weird colour eyes! Hang on, lemme just...

AHA!

See? See? His right eye is pink! Well, sorta, kinda? We can't be sure it's an actual pink bcs of the shading, the shading of the panel seems to be reddish so his eye could be brown for all we know and if his eyes actually turn out to be brown I am screwed because brown eyed men are my weak point.

The Art of Queen Sacrifice's Pirate!Doffy has brown eyes and I will not lie, that destroyed me, I was GOOONE, I had to put my phone down to SCREAM AN UNHOLY SCREAM after I imagined Doffy with brown eyes. Thanks for that, @oddmawd you made my dreams come true. I vaguely remember telling my friends on Discord in like February if Doffy has brown eyes I am GONE & DONE he can do whatever he wants, so thanks for delivering that.

It depends whether we want to base Doffy's eye colour of what we saw Cora's eye colour is - brown. If it is, it is so OVER for me.

Anyway, by the coloured manga and anime it's possible he has rosy pink eyes, or red ones! And yeh, I love the heterochromia take.

I will give Doffy a true love's kiss, anything to save his hair (no joke, I ADORE Doffy's short hair, okay? I fell in love with that short-haired menace man)

🐦‍⬛, do not tempt me into writing a fairytale AU, I'm drowning in Doffy WIPs as is! Oh, he def is "looks like a prince, acts like a beast" that is a great summary of Doffy.

Doffy fits Princess and the Frog fairytale the most, let's be real. Except instead of a frog, make him become a flamingo and voila.

Do you mean top heavy by weight?

Top heavy - disproportionately heavy at the top so as to be in danger of toppling.

Aha, okay, I see! I keep learning new English terms I never even heard of, I love it, I had no idea there was a word for that.

I think he could be top heavy. Look, both DQ brothers have long chicken legs, okay? They are lanky and I love that for them! They look so silly when you look at them from afar 🤣 Idk, all I know is Doffy weighs 200 kilograms, so good luck either way. His torso is muscular so it will def be heavy. I think when he falls he falls torso first so he probably is top heavy more?

If you meant this in a NSFW way...

I think he def likes being on top 90% of time, but if he trusts his partner, he WILL become a demanding pillow prince and I totally would spoil him.

Man is open to switching. He's a freak in the sheets.

[itsmistyeyedbi]

2024 writing roundup

Thank you for the tag @wayhavenots and @serenpedac! This was fun to do, especially since I genuinely forgot some of the things I wrote in 2024 lol.

words posted: 16 200

additional words written: 1 000 words of Zuri and Bobby finding a little comfort in each other after the events of book 3.

grand total of words: 17 200

fandoms: The Wayhaven Chronicles

highest kudos: the man in the mirror, the woman in the mask

highest hit oneshot: bare your teeth, blunt as they may be

*checking for these reminded me that I reminded me that I still need to post my Farah fics on there! Can't believe I forgot

new things I tried:

I wrote from Farah's point of view for the first time! Writing from Unit Bravo's point of view is always daunting to me. I can have plenty of thoughts on a character but when it comes to depicting in them in writing, I struggle - and that's without writing from their perspective. But I feel a little more confident about that now.

I tried writing a fight scene, though it's mostly Zuri being thrown around more than anything. It's not a bad start to writing more action scenes in my humble opinion.

I started writing in the present tense lol. I've written in past tense for so long and it somehow didn't occur to me that I haven't really tried anything else. Hopefully I get to shake of the rigidity I didn't realise I had about my writing.

fic I spent the most time on: bare your teeth, blunt as they may be if I'm remembering corretly

fic I spent the least time on: of plants and dresses, a little something I wrote for the happyhauvillebday event!

favourite thing I wrote: It's gotta be pulse - I haven't written smut in a long time, and I think I this was the perfect way to get back into it. I adore Farah and writing her thoughts throughout made me kinda giddy lol. Here's an excerpt (nsft):

She watches all of it the way she asked her to, even though she didn't need to. She didn't want to look at anything or anyone but her. She looked for her when she wasn't around and couldn't tear her eyes off her when she was. And she definitely isn't going to miss a second of this. Not when she's teetering on the edge again, trembling and barely coherent. Farah leans down until her forehead almost touches hers, biting her lip as her bare chest brushes against her and her breath fans her face. “You're so beautiful like this.” Zuri’s heart skips a beat before continuing its loud and frantic pace. Her lips curl into a small smile, eyes shifting away before meeting hers again, pupils blown. She still gets shy when she says that.

favourite thing(s) I read:

There's so many, but I think I'll try to stick with 6 for this post. I'll be showing my appreciation for a lot of people's writing throughout the year.

father's eyes, mother's rage by @/thelionheartedo3 - what a heavy hitting exploration of the relationship between Ely and Rebecca. I don't even have the words for how much I love this, just brilliant.

featherstone by @/serenpedac - this was published on my birthday and it absolutely made my day, the banter and the mounting tension between Adam and Nate? Whew.

come apart and sweet tooth by @/nat-seal-well - their writing is gorgeous, they capture the years between Ava and Nat so incredibly well! A master at writing yearning and longing for sure.

The Debutante's Guide to Saving a Spinster by @/wayhavenots - I love Jenny and Farah! You can really feel the pull between them. I can't wait to see where this goes, it's already such an interesting regency au!

Always For The First Time by @/serially-wayhaven - I adore the dynamic between Kat and Mason and Nate. You can feel the history there, the tension building and the feelings bubbling up, and they are all so filthy together I love it!

writing goals for 2025:

I want to try out writing something other than one shots. I would have ideas for long fics and never be able to get past the first chapter lmao. Hopefully I can do that this year.

new works:

the man in the mirror, the woman in the mask

bare your teeth, blunt as they may be

late night courage

of plants and dresses

pulse

[kikuism]

hi mariam!! how about you? any books you're looking forward to reading? ooh, or manga?? any shows or movies that you enjoyed recently? or new tasty meals or baked goods that you've been proud of? 💌 🥐📚

hi jenna! 🤎🤎🤎 ooh let's see

for books, there are a lot on my tbr, but i'm excited for lady macbeth by ava reid! i really love how lyrical her writing is and i always look forward to anything she writes. i'm also tentatively looking forward to the familiar by leigh bardugo — i've only read the six of crows duology and ninth house, but i love a historical setting so i think i might like this one more than ninth house. oh, another book i enjoyed whose sequel i'm eagerly waiting for is the art of prophecy, it's a martial arts fantasy and it's exactlyyyyy what i wanted to read for so long! i needed something to fill in the green bone saga hole left in my heart, and while this isn't exactly a serious epic family saga, it had just the right amount of martial arts and compelling characters to leave me satisfied. it's honestly like if fujimoto wrote a novel. none of these characters were taking themselves too seriously and the writing wasn't taking itself seriously but at the same time there were epic fights scenes and emotional scenes that packed a punch (no pun intended). i really enjoyed it, i loved how funny it was. the fact that the main characters are majority women and one pathetic chosen one warrior is sooooo fujimoto coded. this boy can't do a single thing right and it's up to one of the greatest martial arts legends, an old woman, to take him under her wing and make sure he lives up to the prophecy that's been foretold. included in the cast is the most cringe fail assassin i have ever read in my LIFEEEEE, she's soooo embarrassing when it comes to flirting with other girls it's crazy. she's an insane killer but can't pick up a date to save her life. and who's she trying to flirt with? the other main character, a stoic warrior who's fighting for her people's freedom, she's soooo 🫣 so it was hugely entertaining and i can't wait to get the sequel from the library. i honestly Need to read more fantasy books like this, it's so much fun.

oh, i also finished bel canto last night, and it was.....strange. it's about a mass hostage situation that eventually morphs into something surreal and romantic. yeah, i think romantic is definitely the word bc there is no way this would happen in real life, it was just so impossible to me that these high profile hostages, foreign dignitaries and ceos and whatnot bonding with their captors who want to start a revolution like 😭 in the end they all become a huge family which was equal parts charming and equal parts baffling. so i had to really suspend my disbelief. they were really under house arrest with their captors for 4.5 months, that's crazy. but eventually i stopped asking how they didn't push for negotiations more fiercely and how the police and crowds outside didn't just break in and deal with it and just enjoy the language. i think it's about how people can form impossible bonds in impossible circumstances and so from that aspect it was charming and surreal. i've read 3 books from ann patchett and there's no doubt she writes really beautifully. it's just that after about 100 pages i was like okay....i get it, really. do we really need 200 more pages of this? and the epilogue was stupid i'm sorry...so it was a strange experience.

for manga!! tbh it's been soooo hard for me to get into manga lately, i really think this is because as the years go by it's just harder and harder for me to read on my phone, it's just not a comfortable experience. but then on my laptop, the screen is too big 😭 BUT i did actually start an ongoing manga called firefly wedding, which is about an aristocratic girl with a chronic illness who ends up marrying an assassin for her safety after she's captured. the premise sounded really interesting, so i started reading, and i actually really loved the beginning. the girl really just wants to abide by her duties and marry someone respectable for the sake of her family (she's quite no-nonsense about it, which really reminded me of naomi....) during the course of the story she realizes that because of her condition, she doesn't have much time left, and wouldn't she want to spend it doing what she wants instead of what's expected of her? so what ends up being a marriage of convenience ends up becoming more complex as she starts developing feelings for the assassin. and the assassin, well, he's kind of insane 😭 he's a yandere and like ofc he's written like that, very possessive and toxic, and at times he can be a little too much for me. i really liked their dynamic at the beginning, when they were constantly trying to one-up each other in little sly ways—sooooo good. and obviously someone like him has never known love, so he's always testing her limits to see if she's really committed to him because in truth he also just wants someone to love and be loved in return. and he's really cocky which i really love, which made me really drawn to him....but i liked how she didn't take any shit from him and she made sure he knew it too. i really liked watching their feelings develop.

it's just, when she starts developing feelings in return, and their romance further develops, so does his possessiveness.....'the thought of you with another man is more agonizing than death' ummm 🧐🤔🤨 so like, moments like that made me go oh! is that supposed to be romantic? and i'll admit some parts i was like 'girl he's crazy!!!!! how can you be falling for him???' hgkshfjdj but i get it, he knows nothing of the world of people and relationships and he's learning slowly. he's obviously written like that on purpose, this is the only way he knows how to operate in the world, he doesn't know better. AND something else i really like is that during these scenes, she's visibly unsettled; she makes her discomfort clear to him, so i really appreciate that, and that takes him down several notches. i like how he listens to her that way.

they're slowly shaping each other's worldview, which i like. i like how they both learn from each other; she learns how to take chances, and he learns how to listen to others and take accountability.

plus the manga does this thing where it presents double meanings all the time and i just had to screenshot this moment, it's from a scene where she has to pretend to seduce a client in order to get something valuable from him, and he starts getting physical with her, and the assassin comes to the rescue, and obviously everyone outside can hear that something's going wrong but they won't intervene bc it's a brothel:

'we wouldn't want to be in the way of someone who is trying to make their beloved fall more deeply in love with them' hellooooo?????? i gasped.

she has a scar on her chest from a surgery she had to undergo because of her weak heart, and she's self conscious about it, but then the assassin shows her all of his scars and says there's nothing to worry about, it was really cute.

and then some time later her bodyguard shows up, and he's like 'im gonna take you back home no matter what! i can't believe you've been out here like this for so long' and i was like ohhhhh my god please don't make him an annoying overbearing love interest please please please BUT i was pleasantly surprised!!! he's concerned for her, of course, and he has feelings for her and they've known each other since childhood, but he also ends up coming to respect her wishes and autonomy and hes now cooperating with her and the assassin to make sure she can live out her own life. it's really sweet. i do roll my eyes at the rivalry he and the assassin have though, but i love how they're all working together and they both respect her, it's great. anddddd i'm obvious like this but like the bodyguard more hgjshfhf he's the nice one (and his name his kou!!!) and i've always liked the nice guys instead of the bad ones.

so yeah i'm enjoying this manga quite a bit. plus it takes place in the meiji period which i love. i just wish it was already completed, because it's very hard for me to consistently maintain an interest in ongoing manga bc it only takes a few missed chapters for me to end up abandoning it oops. and it's soooo funny that my main complaint is that the love interest is just too much of a yandere bc that's literally the whole point 😭😭😭 it's exactly what it says on the tin, but i have to share my truth....i'm just not used to it at all so it's a bit much at times. sometimes the scenes that are supposed to be romantic make me go oh 🤔 but i'm excited for him to meet her family.....

the art style is so nice too!!! i really love it

as for anime, i did watch two episodes of the apothecary diaries and i liked it, it didn't hook me, but i plan on continuing it eventually. i think maomao is an interesting protagonist! there's some new anime i want to watch, like windbreaker, it just looks really nice. and i need to catch up with dungeon meshi, i haven't watched the last 3 episodes oops. as for movies, i watched the sound of music recently (everybody clap, i watched an old movie) and i liked it, it was charming! too long, but it was cute and corny. i also watched the classic korean thriller old boy, which was crazyyyyyy....that's all i'm going to say. also watched midsommar, which was.....kind of....mid 😭 sorry. i think my expectations were too high, because hereditary scared the shit out of me. but this was just.....okay. it was too overt for my liking. florence pugh was great though. oh, and for shows, i want to watch shogun, bc i just can't believe it's as good as everyone says it is 😭 idk why, i just have to see it for myself to believe it.

no updates on baking and cooking, it's just been the same old...i'm actually trying to just perfect the basics. i want to make the tastiest eggs and the perfect pizza. lately i've been kneading dough by hand and it's so satisfying and i can actually feel when it's ready instead of relying solely on the mixer, and my pizza has been coming out fluffier and softer so i love that.

i'm also getting back into crochet (it's like an on and off relationship at this point) and i always think i've forgotten but i'm pleased to note that it's muscle memory now. i'm crocheting a basket and tbh i really love crocheting things like that. i don't know if i would wear crocheted clothes but i really love making baskets and bags and whatnot. i just wish this wasn't an expensive hobby.....for this basket i had to buy 4 skeins of yarn and a new hook which ended up costing $50 😭 so i think that's why i just don't do it as often as i want to. however, i really do want to get into tapestry crochet/intarsia, i did it when crocheting my kobo sleeve, but it was messy and i want to make another one and improve my technique, maybe even make some wall hangings.

sorry for this novel length response omg!!! are there any new books you're looking forward to jenna!!

[kayleighwildwrites]

Introduction:

Hi! My name is Kayleigh (she/her). I have an overactive imagination and (according to most people I know) weird interests! I write 1000-word stories when I'm supposed to write 200-word essays and can't draw to save my life. I am an Autism Ambassador and LGBTQ+ Ally and want this to be a safe space. I write fics and a few original stories. I write fantasy and modern fiction and am part of the Hermitcraft, Empires, Life Series and other similar fandoms.

Some Of My Writing:

Lost In The Underworld - A Limited Life Mafia AU

Limit City looks like any city you've seen before. (That's shaped like a pentagon that is.) If you stroll the streets nothing seems out of the ordinary, but be careful. Because before you know it you might find yourself lost in its criminal underworld. Limit City is run by five mafias and you don't want to get on their bad side. But what happens when a sixth tries to burrow into their midst?

Tales of Tavàri and Gabriel - An Original Story - Fantasy

His brain fully catches up with the rest of his body and his tone becomes angry, although his face shifts from shock to devoid of all emotion. "Why would you specifically create an illusion of the one thing I fear most after I entrusted you with that information?!" His companion's face also becomes more serious and she steps towards him. She stands almost right up against him, forcing him to look down to meet her eyes as she looks up at him. The fire in her eyes burns bright. "First of all, lately you seem to keep forgetting that I am not someone you should trust with valuable information about yourself. I was part of the Nine Lives Guild! We were notorious for using any information we could get on our targets to our advantage! Whether it be to assassinate them, rob them or use them for our gain in other ways. You may be used to the military ranks, where you can trust your fellow soldiers and all that bullshit, but that is not how it works out here. Secondly, if you make light of my fears, then I will use yours against you. Do I make myself clear?" Gabriel's expression remains incredulous. "Crystal." "Good!" Tavàri smiles sweetly, turning on her heel and walking back toward their camp.

Thank You For Checking Out My Tumblr!

[tamlinweek]

Tamlin Creator Appreciation: Fanfiction Authors

Thank you all for your submissions for your favorite Tamlin creators! In the lead up to Tamlin Week (June 18 - 24, click here for prompts and rules!), we wanted to take a minute to highlight some of the amazing authors who have written Tamlin stories in the past. Here are some of the submissions we received, listed by ship, with some honorable mentions:

Tamlin/Briar:

a quiet, distant treasure (when you rise) by @yourethehero​

Rating: Mature, Words: 12k (multichapter, ongoing)

Summary: The truth is - Tamlin knows he failed. He knows he  could beg, and plead until the sun burned its last flame, and it would  get him nowhere. There was only the future, the one he could build for his Court, and for this child.

“I love their fic! It's such a unique take on Tamlin's redemption arc and the interactions between Tamlin and his adoptive daughter are very heartwarming”

Tamlin/Briar Honorable Mentions:

A Dream of Roses by @isterofimias

A Court of Love and Healing by @readingwritingwatching​

Tamlin/Feyre:

I Will See You Again by @goforth-ladymidnight​

Rating: Teen, Words: 2k (oneshot, complete)

Summary: ACOTAR AU - Mere days before the seven times seven years are up, Tamlin decides to send Feyre back to the mortal lands. A glimpse at what might have happened if Feyre had opened her heart and said those three little words that held more magic than she thought possible.

“This creator is AMAZING, BRILLIANT and a great addition to the pro Tamlin community!”

Tamlin/Lucien:

lovely and lonely by @praetorqueenreyna​

Rating: Mature, Words: 24k (multichapter, ongoing)

Summary: "In hindsight, Lucien thinks he fell in love with Tamlin the moment he first laid eyes on him." *** Lucien Vanserra must come to terms with his sexuality, and his complicated feelings for High Lord Tamlin.

“My favorite takes of the characters and Tamlin specifically by far.”

Tamlin/Nesta:

My Sun Shines Upon Me by @toast-com​

Rating: N/A, Words: <200 (oneshot, complete), Summary: N/A

“Her creativity and descriptive writing.  Tamlin creators, I am high-fiving all of you.”

Tamlin/OC:

Hyacinth by @suckerpunchfemale​

Rating: Mature, Words: 90k (multichapter, complete)

Summary: Hyacinth, known as Cin, has seen the once thriving and prosperous Spring Court fall into ruin and lawlessness due to the absence of their High Lord, Tamlin. But after two years  of waiting and hoping, Cin has had enough. Can these two trauma survivors,  Cin and Tamlin, save each other and their home?

“I don't usually reach for fanfics with OCs, but you can't help but root  for Hyacinth (aka Cin) as she tries to fix the very broken Spring Court  in the wake of the war on Hybern. What I like about SPF’s portrayal of  Tamlin is how she doesn't shy away from showing his suffering, but she  doesn't let him wallow in his misery, either. He made mistakes, but he's  not the villain here. It's a good and proper redemption arc! :D”

Tamlin/Rhysand:

A Court of Lies and Resurrection by @ashintheairlikesnow

Rating: Explicit, Words: 193k (multichapter, complete)

Summary:  AU: Feyre is dead, torn apart by Amarantha when Tamlin did not send her away in time. Tamlin, forced to submit to Amarantha's terms, finds  himself looking for help (and finding affection) in places he never expected.

“IT IS THE TAMSAND MULTI CHAPTER FIC!!!!! Their fic actually opened my eyes to Rhys potential post Amarantha which I didn’t realize was POSSIBLE”

Thank you so much to everyone who participated! Look forward to more pro Tamlin content by our wonderful contributors in June!

[holdonunreal]

Chapter 5: Talentshow (Part 2)

Summary:

The Moment has come! The talent show begins and Y/N and Karasu have to make up their minds based on the performances. Then this group of friends enter: 𝗦𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, not only is it the best performance of all, no, 𝗗𝗼𝗴𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. And then finally comes the performance of Y/N and Karasu... Can they take first place and save Y/N from being kicked out of college?

Notes:

It took a damn, damn long time to write this chapter. 7K words and finally the story really gets going! Have fun reading!

Y/N Pov:

"Dear ladies and gentlemen"

Shit! So now it's really starting. The trembling in my legs. The sweating on my hands, it's only making things worse. The only light in the whole theater shines on, the upper platform. I don't know if I wasn't paying attention, 'Probably not because of the feeling that my stomach is about to rip apart'. But suddenly Miss Delight is standing at the top, her blonde hair literally poking through the dark auditorium. She stands up straight and runs a hand through her hair, and that's when it all begins.

"I am delighted to welcome you all to this year's Talent Show at our university. Students and parents alike. Tonight we will witness breathtaking talents that our students will present with passion and dedication. There will be a total of 200 students performing: Actors, singers and so much more...Good luck to all!

With that, she went to the left side, and suddenly the lights went out in the entire room.

"Hey, Karasu, when's our turn again?" I have to do something to distract myself from this nervousness.

"Boxy?" Shit, he doesn't even know himself.

"I Think you're at the end, last or something"

"You see Y/N? So we still have time" I can't see him 'Because of the darkness' but I'm sure he's got that dirty grin on his face. Which he always does when he's annoying or embarrassing me in some way.

"You can go ahead and watch your crush perfo-

“Be quiet up there!”   I don't recognize the voice, Karasu turns abruptly backwards, while I start to panic about what's going to happen now.

"Dude Shut the-

The lights come on at the front and the hall is very quiet. There's a group of girls on the platform, I've never seen them before but they all look the same in some way. The complete same uniform, consisting of an orange skirt and a top. I look at one of the girls, or rather the clothes. It says 'Playtime' in big letters on the front. 'weird'

"Wow Y/N Should probably have chosen sports more often after all"

I'm just about to reply to his stupid comment, but suddenly I hear some damn loud music. I honestly have no idea what song it is, 'Even though I always listen to music'. But it sounds like something a sports teacher would turn on in class to motivate the students.

I only get more nervous. 'People put so much work into this and we look like homeless people'. Shit, we still have to take first place. A voice is still talking on stage, but I'm not listening. HOW? We have to perform right away and I'm panicking just watching. I also have to concentrate and use telekinesis so that we don't embarrass ourselves in front of almost 3000 people. We're going to embarrass ourselves so damn much.

"Hey, DogDay?"

"Yes Karasu?"

"Would it be okay if we went to the dressing rooms right now? We still have a little bit to prepare for the show." 

"Of course!"

I feel as if my brain has somehow stopped. I barely notice it as I stand up, bag in hand, and walk through the darkness with Karasu. Until we finally reach a brown door. I turn around briefly before we finally leave this huge hall. You can hardly see the whole hall, it's so damn dark, only the seats are minimally visible. I can't see so well through the darkness, but the bright display of Boxy's phone is always visible. In a way, it takes away my nervousness that he doesn't care. 'I should try that too'

Karasu opens the door and pulls me in by the wrist. Lots of doors on both sides of the long, golden brown corridor. He's already moving on, even though I'm still standing at the now closed door. I can hear the music from the hall myself, 'How loud is it? I try to organize my thoughts in some way and walk quickly after him. My steps feel heavy and I feel like I can't control my eyes out of nervousness. I keep squinting at the right wall, looking at the numbers on the doors.

Suddenly Karasu stops, turns around and looks me straight in the face. I stop abruptly, well, if I can call it that. My legs wobble as if I'm about to fall over. I've been rubbing my hands on my sports bag ever since we left the hall.

"Try to stay relaxed, dude! We have to win right away, you have to have a clear head, so breathe calmly and slowly."   I didn't even know that Karasu could talk without insulting the other person. 'That almost sounded nice'.

He opens the door that was directly in front of him. He looks in my direction again and down the corridor. He goes in and I follow. It looks like one of those stage dressing rooms in the movies, a few cupboards on one side and chairs with mirrors on the other. The room was terribly bright, so I best put my hoodie right over my face.

"Dude! Now have a little self-confidence!"  I can just hear Karasu shouting, and suddenly that bright light shines in my eyes again. 'He knocked my hood off?

"You have to concentrate now Y/N, we have to get first place! So be better than every other person who performs. And it's all based on your strength, so pull yourself together"

Shit! That doesn't make it any better!

I feel tears slowly threatening to leak out of my eyes. Performing in front of 3000 people, using my telekinesis and not being an embarrassment. I don't think I'll even look at the audience.

And if I don't make it...Then that's it. No college, no job...And definitely no will to live.

"Man, come on now! We'll figure it out...somehow. The others won't be so blatant and because of your telekinesis-

"And now the Smilling Critters!"

The voice was loud, so loud that we could hear it in the changing rooms. 'Smilling critters?' Karasu turns abruptly to the door on the other side of the room. He walks quickly there in long strides and holds his hands out in my direction.

"Come here, let's see your girlfriend perform!"

What?

I don't notice that I'm already standing at the cabin door with Karasu and we're looking out together. Why should I? After all, she's standing there...DogDay. With her long blonde hair and perfect smile.

But she is not alone.

There were other people on stage, not only that, there were instruments there too.

A blue-haired boy with glasses and a turquoise-haired girl hiding behind him. The boy is wearing a turquoise hoodie, about the same color as the girl's hair next to him, but it says "Playtime Co. College" in big letters on the front. He's holding a triangle and the girl doesn't have an instrument. She grabs her hair and looks nervously at the floor. 'Is that the boy who looked at me so disgusted in the lab?

Further ahead of them stood a blond boy and a green-haired girl. The boy was standing as straight as I've ever seen him, literally looking down at the audience. Meanwhile, he was holding a yellow guitar in his hand, which he was holding in front of the girl next to him. The girl wasn't really looking at him though, she stuck her tongue out at him once and turned to the audience. She was sitting at a drum kit, well, she was standing and sitting down every second.

The two of them were teased by two other girls who were standing a little to their left. It didn't really look serious, more like a "don't Joke around". The two girls were dressed in happy colors, the smaller of the two was wearing a red dress. I can't see it very well from here, but I think she was dancing in circles like a ballerina the whole time. The other girl had an apple in her hand, stood still next to it and shoved her hands into her jeans pockets with the apple. In front of her, however, was a cymbal, bent against her legs. She had pink hair as far as I could see, and looked skeptically around the group.

And DogDay was standing at the front with a microphone. She really stood out from the group, but not as much as I thought. They were all somehow so different, like a bunch of people thrown together. A pretty colorful bunch, different hair colors, performance styles and instruments.

But when I look again, I notice something.

Someone was standing on the other side of the booths. I could barely see it, but it looked like a girl with black hair. She's literally hiding in the darkness behind the red curtains of the theater...Like me. Who is that?

"First of all, I want to thank everyone who came here today. Parents and students alike, truly fabulous!"

She thanks everyone...including me. Somehow my heart starts beating faster again as she smiles at the audience and people shout.

"The planning of the whole talent show went really perfectly, and I wanted to say a big thank you to all the people from the committee!"

The people cheered, but DogDay's fantastic voice still rose above everything. 'How does she manage to be so perfect?

"Since there are also parents here, we thought we'd play a song that appeals to everyone! So have fun listening to us Smilling Critters!"

The cheering only got louder, but it hadn't even started yet.

With four rhythmic beats on the drums and a long metallic note on the guitar, it started. All of them moved slightly at once. The boy with the glasses stood behind the two "rockers" and hit the triangle once. The turquoise-haired girl behind him followed him quickly, but continued to play nervously with her hair.

'I know this music from somewhere...

Holy shit

Is that?

Nirvana?

I don't know if I'm the last person in the whole theater to recognize the song. After all, Karasu keeps shooting his hands in the air and beating his imaginary drum kit as if he knows the notes by heart.

"Dude! Theyre Playing Smells like Teen Spirit! And as a group too!"

I don't know if I think that's good. The music is really like the real song. I don't know how many times I've heard it, but I think I know it by heart.

But when DogDay starts singing...I can no longer think clearly.

"Load up on guns, bring your friends"

What was that in her voice? It sounded like...like...I don't know...like something happy...something warm...and friendly and familiar...like a secret...or a Christmas present or something. And the eyes...how did she do it? How do you get the eyes to smile?

Stop, what am I doing? Do I really have a crush? Is Karasu right after all?  Shit, what am I doing here?

The metallic tones of the blonde boy's guitar and the beats of the drums of the girl next to him made the perfect instrumental lines for DogDay's perfect voice. The tall pink-haired girl also banged her cymbals together every few seconds, filling in the spaces between the notes. The little red-haired girl continued to stand next to her on the left side and literally danced in circles, hitting each note with a light kick of her high heels on the floor.

'We can't beat that'

The group was perfect, I felt like I was standing in the front row at a concert and could hear everything perfectly. I don't think we have a snowball's chance in hell of getting first place. Although the show has only just started, people are already talking amongst themselves, while me and Karasu are watching everything from the theater booths.

"Our little group it's always been And always will until the end"

This statement was just perfect for this group of people. They are so different, whether in appearance or appearance, but they are still a group.

Who picked out this song?

"Hmm So I see you're dropping out of college now Y/N?"   I'll kill you Karasu.

"Weeeeeelllllll a career as a rapper isn't so bad, you know?"

He turns to me and has this dirty grin on his face.

"Maybe we can rap as a duo?" He puts his hands in front of his face and mimes a scream. "Then we can throw the college together and-

"Shut up Karasu"

Silence. I can barely hear anything except my loud pounding heart and my ringing ears, but I know what to do. I don't know if I'm suddenly brave or just an idiot, beating the Smilling Critters is as good as impossible for the two of us...But...

"We'll get it now, we'll get first place now"

"I've been waiting for this dude! Come on Y/N...

It's showtime"

-----------

Third Perspective:

"Dear ladies and gentlemen, now as our last performance we have another magic show! Consisting of Karasu and-

"What's up guys!"

Whispers fill the theater, a few people even clap, but not even half as loud as during the performance of the Smilling Critters...Will that change?.

Karasu storms out of the left side of the stage, along the curtains and stands in the middle of the platform. He wears a black suit with a white tie and a black magician's top hat and stands straight with his jaw lifted in the direction of the audience. Next to him, on the platform, was a large box covered with a black sheet. On it were three small red balls and an energy drink.

"It really pleases me to welcome you all here to this magic show" Karasu spoke with an obvious tone of sarcasm in his voice, was it just for show? He waves his hands a little, his eyes always focusing on other areas of the audience in the theater. Sometimes his eyes wander to Boxy, who was sitting in the special performer's seat, and actually put down his phone. Then they went behind Boxy to the chairs where DogDay and her group of friends were sitting. Karasu actually knew them all, pretty much everyone knew them on campus, and now they are sort of known as Smilling Critters. Karasu tries to revisit the situation in her mind.

So, do some sick tricks with Y/N's telekinesis and impress his Crush: DogDay. Oh yes, he needs the money for the year class trip. Who knows, maybe he'll make it to DogDay's room and the two of them-

Dude! Karasu, pull yourself together!  You're still standing here in front of almost 3000 students! Many of them are here with their parents! If I embarrass myself and Y/N now, he'll be even more depressed than usual, come on!

He clears his throat and opens his mouth.

"AND PLEASE GIVE AN APLAUS FOR-

It is suddenly quiet. Too quiet. Not even a whisper from the audience as Karasu simply stops talking. He thought that if people heard his name and remembered that he was the only one to pass that chemistry exam, they would all hate him. Envy was a big issue here at the college, and Karasu wants and needs to get first place with Y/N...

"AN APLAUS FOR MY MAGIC ASSISTANT"

It's quiet again. A dark silhouette suddenly moves out of the darkness on the right side of the stage. The person is not as tall as Karasu, but you can recognize him because of the wizard costume with the large black top hat. He approaches a little closer to Karasu and stays a few meters away from him, while the person looks at the ground the whole time and you can barely see his face.

It was Y/N

There was no applause.

The silence was literally pressing on Y/N's lungs, it was like being at a funeral. Before, the theater was so loud, music was constantly playing and the audience was making comments, but now it was so quiet that he felt like the show was over. While it was just beginning

"Hey who's that?"

"I don't know, but I know Karasu!"

"Looks like a girl, Karasu's really got it, doesn't he?"

Then the lights on the stage, which were above Karasu and Y/N, came on, while the lights in the audience area went completely out.

Y/N now had a deck of cards in his hand, he took them out in the dark, and now in the light, he has them all in his hand. He carefully slid one hand over the cards and spread them out in the palm of his hand, forming a half circle. The audience was now expecting a standard magic trick, as from the other magic shows tonight. Y/N took a step forward, towards the audience. He was still standing quite far back, holding his head partially down on the floor.

Now he takes another step forward and turns to Karasu.

In the plan it was agreed that Y/N would give Karasu the cards and he would accidentally drop them.

But when he steps to the right towards Karasu...

Karasu trips him up

Y/N didn't see it and fell on his face in front of almost 3000 people. On the podium. On the stage, where everyone could see it. Everyone saw it. Nobody looked away. Even if hardly a bang appeared due to Y/N's light body. It was pure embarrassment. There's never been anything like it, and there's only one thought going through Y/N's head-

'That wasn't in the script Karasu! You Stupid bastard!'

The reactions were completely speechless. Many people opened their mouths and simply stared at the stage, where Y/N always lay. Cringing and desperate looks stared at his form lying on the floor. DogDay probably had the most worried look in the whole audience. She thought he might be injured, and she was the only one who thought so.

Y/N stood up slowly, almost dying of nervousness. A situation that wasn't supposed to happen, he had completely embarrassed himself in front of so many people, he just fell down in front of everyone. It was still completely silent, but with every second that passed, Y/N's heart beat even faster. His hands were sweating terribly and his eyes didn't even have the strength to look to the left, towards the audience. He could have sworn he heard the click of a camera app.

He is barely standing and Karasu is already standing in front of him. Y/N has tears in his eyes and Karasu wonders whether it was really a good idea to let him stumble.

They acted as if they were talking, Y/N stood there bent over and anxious, while Karasu let his arms wander through the air and made gestures as if they were actually talking.

"Go do it now, the cards!"  Karasu whispered incredibly quietly in the direction of Y/N, who was standing barely a meter in front of him.

Because that was exactly what mattered, the surprise element. Karasu knew he needed a good start to the show to get everyone's attention, and now Y/N's telekinesis must amaze everyone completely.

Y/N suddenly stands up straight and looks at the ground in front of him. The cards weren't really spread out much, he could see them all...and that's what counted, his view.

As if by reflex, Y/N holds out his hand as if Karasu wants to give him something. But what happened was different...

The cards magically float from the ground into the air and slide all together into a pack in Y/N's palm from where he lost them a few seconds ago.

The cheers rang out immediately. It was loud, much louder than either of them had expected. It was only the first trick of three, but the cheering was unbelievable. People screamed, people whistled, people clapped, a bottle of Coke knocked someone off their chair. To say that the applause literally changed Y/N's life was justified. So now the battle of the audience was on: The Smilling Critter vs. the Magic Show.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

"BRO WHAT?"

"RECORD IT! GO GET YOUR PHONE!"

"OH MY GOD"

"HOW DO THEY DO THAT?"

The reactions were perfect, the surprise element of Y/N's telekinesis would probably save everything after all.

Karasu stands at the edge, stands up straight and looks at the audience with his head held high. His eyes wandered along the entire rows of seats in the theater, seeing only impressed people, whether students, parents or teachers. But for him the most important thing was Y/N, well, rather the girl that Y/N can't get out of his head. His eyes focused on the colorful group one row behind Boxy in the attendee seats, who were talking in the group, seemingly impressed.

"W-what the?"  The turquoise-haired girl, who was seemingly always on edge.

"H-Hey, you saw that with the cards too, didn't you?" The blond, tall boy with his hair slicked back was already starting to stutter, but with the seemingly magical trick of the two of them, it was no wonder.

"Of course Kickin, but...Bubba how does this trick work?" The redhead and smallest member of the group, dressed in the red dress. She turned with the others to the tall blue-haired boy standing at the edge of the side row.

"I...I have no idea" 

The group was confused. After all, Bubba was one of the smartest students on campus. He had always grumbled at every performance of a magic show tonight, "That's fake, you can see the thread" or "It's quite simple, the card decks are specially made". But he had no idea how Karasu and Y/N could make the seemingly flying cards fly from the ground into his hand with some kind of trick.

His hands tightened, the memory from a few days ago came flooding back. Bubba had a good memory, he remembered well the little one of the two boys at the front of the stage. He was the one who took away his chance for an internship at Playtime Co. college.

And now the performance should continue

Karasu was still in front, only a few seconds had passed. He dramatically points his index finger in the air, signaling This was our first trick. He turns around and the cheering behind his back becomes quieter, so it should continue now. Y/N is still standing there, and hasn't moved a bit. Even the deck of cards was still in his hand, he sees Karasu's movements and quickly puts it in his pocket.

Karasu stops dramatically in front of the large box with the black sheet. The audience now sees what lies there, three small red balls. He doesn't wait long and grabs them, two in his right hand and one with a somewhat loose grip in his left. He turns back to the audience and steps forward, but not so far from where he tripped Y/N.

He has to apologize to Y/N for this later

the audience also seems to have forgotten that Y/N just tripped in front of nearly 3000 people, to Y/N's favor

He moves the balls slightly in his hand, swinging them from left to right. Then he seems to be ready, with a stomp on the ground he suddenly throws one of the balls into the air. But the others followed, he always threw one and caught the next one directly, which then went back into the other hand and so it went.

He juggled them perfectly, not a second interval between landing a ball on his hand and throwing the next ball. With perfect timing, he managed to throw the balls from the air with a little force sideways into the other palm.

Karasu was athletic, he also had a good physique. He was tall and sturdily built, no wonder it was easy for him. He has good hand-eye coordination, so it was no problem for him to juggle three small balls monotonously.

The audience went very quiet, something unbelievable must be happening again. So far the performance of Karasu and Y/N was already one of the best, but it gets even better.

Suddenly Karasu overdoes it and throws the ball, which he has just picked up again, high into the air. All eyes in the audience, REALLY ALL eyes, follow the movement of the ball. While Karasu continues to juggle the other two small red balls in his hands with a big grin.

That was the sign

Y/N sneaks up from the side and stands a little away from Karasu. The audience barely pays attention to him as he slowly raises his right arm. His wizard cloak falls in slow motion to his ribs. He now points to the ball that was still in the air.

The ball was barely a meter above Karasu...

And suddenly it remained in the air

"THAT! THAT CAN'T BE?!"

"HELL SHIT!"

"DUDE I HOPE YOU HAVE THIS ON VIDEO!"

"HOW DO THEY DO IT?"

"MUM! LOOK! GO!"

The reactions in the audience were exaggerated. People started shouting so loudly and admiring them that even the teachers didn't do anything. Although, the teachers were amazed too, Miss Delight was smiling even bigger than usual, she seemed to be really proud of Y/N and Karasu. Karasu thought that if people are already so loud now, then it's going to get even louder.

He started to grin, looking into the middle of the audience. He no longer needed to look at his hands to the balls, after all, Y/N was there.

This was followed by the second ball, which hovered over Karasu.

There was hardly anything left to say in the audience. Everyone started screaming as if Karasu had just conjured a rabbit out of Y/N's magic hat. People were taking pictures with their phones, the flash literally blinding the theater for a few seconds. Karasu's grin widened, he stood a little wider and looked further into the audience. He has the last ball in his hand and doesn't want to make Y/N wait that long, he's probably straining himself with his telekinesis right now. That Y/N actually manages to use his ability at all in front of the whole crowd Amazed Karasu

He moves his arm and throws it in the air.

And now the third ball was also floating.

All three balls floated motionless in the air above Karasu's head. Flashing lights lit up the stage and Karasu smiled for a good picture. Where Y/N tends to turn his back on the lightning, he stands with his robe facing the audience, where people can't really see his face. He has been using his telekinesis for twenty seconds, but has no complaints yet.

Karasu turns around and walks to the black box. As he walks, he turns slightly to Y/N and winks at him, indicating that he should continue with the next act.

Karasu stands across the box and reaches for the energy drink. He turns back to the audience and taps the opening. The people are astonished and confused at the same time; after all, the balls are still floating in the goddamn air, and Karasu acts as if it were a matter of course.

He starts to take a big sip with a grin. He stands in the middle of the stage, a little behind the still floating Red Balls. With the energy drink in front of his face, he glances at Y/N, who has been looking at him the whole time, slightly scared. 'He winked at him again, The sign!

Y/N slowly points his arm at Karasu, everyone in the audience suddenly pays attention to him. Nothing happens for a second, Y/N stands there like a madman pointing at Karasu.

Suddenly, the balls fly towards Karasu one after the other, as if someone had knocked them through the air.

Karasu holds his arms in front of his face as he chuckles lightly. It's rather playful, but it doesn't matter. The audience goes wild, a few people suddenly get up from their chairs as if Y/N had turned Karasu into a frog in front of all 3000 people. A few people also start laughing out loud, after all, it's not every day you see balls flying through the air and hitting a person.

Karasu waves his arms wildly in the air again as he runs towards Y/N. He quickly places the open Energy on the box again and simply leaves the balls on the ground next to him. Y/N smiles nervously, he really managed to use his ability in front of so many people. Even though the fear and nervousness feels like he's on a rollercoaster right now. As long as he didn't look straight into the audience, he would be fine, he only had a slight headache so far. However, so far he had only ever focused on the object he had to let fly.

But this will now be put to the test.

Not only is the next one not an object, but Karasu. He will have to hold Karasu in the air while he runs to the jury, which will take about 10 seconds. Will Y/N really make it? Only time will tell-

"Come on dude, time for the top performance!"

Karasu suddenly moved forward. Y/N was still standing and looked a little shocked, he now understood.

He has to look into the audience at Karasu, use his powers and at the same time not panic because of the thousands of people watching them

The realization hits Y/N really hard, but he barely has time to think. Karasu is already in front and threatens to take the first step. But he turns around again and looks at Y/N. The moment is brief, but Karasu's facial expression speaks for itself.

'You can do it'

With that, Karasu takes the First Step, well, not quite. He places his stage foot in the air at random, as if he is about to take the step. Y/N concentrates, he only sees Karasu's back and thinks quickly.

How exactly should I let him fly?  Shit! I can't carry him, I don't have that much strength. If I just lift his feet, how is he supposed to walk? God damn it! I need a solution and fast. He's already moving forward I need a solution fast! Damn...

Wait a minute...

Maybe I don't have to let him fly all the way

Y/N Seems to have found a solution, he remains just as nervous as before, but this time with a certain determination in his eyes. He simply concentrates on Karasu's lower body. As long as he manages to lift his legs, Karasu will definitely manage.

Yes, the idea was crazy, and for several reasons:

1. if Karasu doesn't understand directly, he would fall off the stage in front of 3000, which would not only be an incomprehensible embarrassment, but could also end dangerously.

2. there's still a chance that Karasu's lower body is so heavy that Y/N can't lift it. So far, Y/N has tended to lift small objects with his telekinesis, even if they were several at once.

3. he has just learned today to use his telekinesis with his eyes open. Of course he just levitated the cards and the red balls, but a human?

It was all an ultimate gamble, it could all go wrong. But even though Karasu knows it, he doesn't shy away, this is Y/N after all. He slowly raises his left foot in slow motion, so to speak.

People in the audience startle, the realization was now in front of everyone.

Karasu hovered in the air, his right leg in front and his left leg being set for the next step.

To say that the audience went completely berserk was a massive understatement. Normally teachers would stop them but they were all more than astonished too, astonished faces and people holding up their phones to film everything. People shouting and wondering-

"HOW THE HELL DOES HE DO THAT?"

"WHAT THE FUCKING-

"THAT CAN'T BE! SOMETHING MUST BE-

"I THINK I'M HALLUCINATING"

"IS THAT GUY FLYING?"

All the attention in the theater was focused on Karasu, he even liked it. He had a grin that showed arrogance and nervousness at the same time. As he slowly and carefully put one foot in front of the other. He felt like a superhuman, he felt so damn light and knew he would make it even further.

'Dude Y/N you are simply the best!'

Karasu made it clear to everyone what his goal was. He raised his arm in the air and pointed at the blonde woman sitting in the middle of the three-person jury. She was quite puzzled, and the whole audience wondered one thing...

Did this guy really intend to run through the air from up there to the jury?

The tension increased. And Karasu did not let himself be thrown off balance, right-left-right-left. His body walked on the air as if there was an invisible bridge on which he was walking. That was also what Y/N imagined at the same time, how Karasu's legs were standing on this invisible bridge the second they went down. Everything was focused on Karasu, phones, glances, even a livestream on Instagram.

At least nobody notices that Y/N is constantly wiping the blood running from his nose with the sleeve of the wizard's cloak in the background... apart from a black-haired girl sitting next to DogDay.

Karasu is about to arrive, he is barely 5 meters away from the jury table. The eyes of the people sitting there all widen, it was just incredible.

Karasu takes the penultimate step and the tension rises immeasurably. It has become quieter again and everyone is just waiting for the moment when Karasu finally arrives at the table.

The last step. His left leg in front of his right, Karasu floats slightly above the table, which was still slightly below him despite being raised. He had now reached his goal, but what now?

Silence.

Karasu very slowly pulls the magician's hat off his head and looks inside himself. As if he had forgotten that he was floating in the air in the theater. He quickly looks into the audience, people are on the verge of going mad from excitement.

"Hey, what's he got in his hat?"

"No idea"

"It seems to have something really cool in it.

"Shut up you in the front"

Karasu moves his arms abruptly, pulling out whatever was in the hat and holding it in front of the jury.

It was a Poppy Flower

A rose rising green and ending in blood red. It was beautiful and literally shone in the shining down light of the theater, the conclusion of the performance and the last act.

Karasu leans a little closer and the blonde woman from the jury accepts the Flower immediately. She has just picked it up and is looking at the colors when Karasu leaves again.

He literally saunters through the air, he runs much faster than before and is already back on stage next to Y/N in a few seconds. Y/N was breathing heavily, bent over, sweating slightly and had a headache like never before. It started slightly above his eyes and traveled along his skull, he tried not to let it show, which wasn't that hard since everyone was only paying attention to Karasu.

Karasu paid little attention to the audience and held out his right hand to Y/N, which he took after a few seconds. Now they were standing there, facing the audience, and Karasu threw his hands up in the air to signal that the magic show was over.

The applause came suddenly and completely unexpectedly. The first to clap were the people from the jury, one of them even whistled. This was followed by the teachers, who shouted Karasu's name, which most of the teachers probably knew from Karasu's nerves. The students took the applause to a whole new level, just shouting randomly. Most of the students stood up and somehow tried to figure out the last trick.

One of them was Bubba, he stood between the contestant seats and the stage and tried to see something like an invisible arrow in the air. But there was nothing to see, after all the trick was done a little differently.

With that, Karasu let go of Y/N's hand and they both disappeared behind the closing curtains, while Karasu waved a little to the audience.

And Y/N felt like he had accomplished something for the first time in his life

The jury immediately turned around and spoke through the microphone on the table.

"So, the jury will now decide tonight's winners"

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

"Dude, you were amazing!"

Karasu and Y/N had arrived back at the cabins, with Karasu's Y/N slapping his back jokingly the whole time.

"I...I feel like shit"  The headache got worse, and he remembered how he fell down in front of 3000 people.

"Yes, that's normal, but the fact that you were able to hold me is really cool!"

"Yeah, your lower body that is"    Y/N sounded a little depressed, maybe the whole thing didn't change as much as he thought it would.

"Dude what's going on?"

"I don't know, were we really better than the Smilling Critters?"

"Hmmmm So a music Show versus real magic that had everyone screaming? I think we were a thousand times-

Quiet Vibration

Karasu suddenly stopped talking. He looked down at his pants in amazement, 'Who would be texting him now? He slowly took his phone out of his pocket and looked at it.

It was a short message that fit on Karasu's lock screen.

You Guys won

"Ehm Y/N?"

Y/N had sat down by one of the show mirrors and was blowing his nose, after all, it still felt like he was bleeding. He had also changed back into his standard clothes, his gray hoodie and matching pants.

"Y-Yes?"   Apparently expecting bad news, he answered Karasu with a trembling voice.

"We won"

Y/N Doesn't even look at Karasu, he looks at the mirror. He sees himself in the reflection and tries to process Karasu's statement.

'We...won?'

He had made it? Him? He didn't really see himself as valuable, but no other people who interacted with him conveyed that feeling either. But he, he alone, had made it. Was that the reason why he suddenly developed this ability? Should he prove himself to people? Did he finally have the chance to change his life?

But that also meant that the Smilling Critters had lost. This thought slowly took over Y/N's mind, DogDay lost because of him. They were definitely in second place, but they really deserved first place. Actually, everyone deserved it more than Y/N...

It felt like he was cheating

"You still there?"

"Yes"

"If you want you can stay here for a moment, soooooo only if you want of course"

"I'll stay here"

"Sure dude! I'll go get the money and the applause!"

That's true again, Karasu did the show. Y/N only really took part at the beginning, even though he was actually the real magician. It's funny, every "trick" wouldn't have worked without Y/N...but it's Karasu who gets all the applause. But Y/N can live without it, he'd be too scared to be congratulated by strangers anyway.

"I was just joking! You're more important than the applause Bro!"

He is gone now. Y/N is alone in the cabin and continues to look into the reflection. He looked at his nose, there was no more blood flowing, but he better be careful with big or heavy things. He hadn't reached the limit of his telekinesis with Karasu in the air, but he was damn close.

Maybe it wasn't the right decision to perform here after all? If anyone finds out the truth behind the magic show...No.

'It's not a matter of making the right choice... I'll make it so the path I choose is the right one.'

Creak

Oh, shit

DogDay?

Y/N Pov:

Oh shit

Where did DogDay come from? I thought everyone was still sitting in the theater talking about all the performances. Karasu where are you? Come back!

"Ah, there you are! Congratulations on your first place!"

Shit! I don't dare look her in the face. Not when she looked so...perfect. With her orange sweater and the sun shining over her. Then her blonde hair.

"I-I'm sorry"  Wait, am I apologizing right now? And I'm stuttering in front of her too!

"Oh...no...you don't need to apologize you know?"

"N-no r-really i...you were better"  I notice how I'm getting quieter and quieter.

"Oh, I know that too!"

Did I say something wrong? Is she serious? Shit Is she serious?

"Oh, that was just irony...Y/N"

I can feel my face getting warmer and warmer, she says my name as if we've known each other for years. I want her to say my name again, please.

"Y-Yes...Of-Ofcourse...I...D-Doesent matter"   Shit My head feels like ice cream that's slowly melting!

"No...it's all right. We're in second place after all! And your magic show was really incredible! The beginning when you let the cards fly into your hand Wow!....

I hardly listen. How could I? The way she stands there, under the light. The way she had that permanent grin on again, it was all too much for me.

"But you'll have to tell me the secret behind the last trick sometime! My friends are already debating whether Karasu walked on some kind of rope or something"

If she knew the truth...

"But if you want to, you don't have to tell me, you know? I really do understand if you don't want to."

She's just too nice...and too perfect.

"Do you know him?"

What?

I turn back, the door to the stage was still open. It was Karasu. He was jumping around and pointing his fingers in my direction.

His mouth forms the words: You are awesome.

"No"  I quickly turn back and look at her again, I shouldn't have looked away, after all she looks even more perfect now than before.

"but you've just performed with him."  

I feel like an idiot, of course I've just performed with him! She was being sarcastic when she asked if I knew him. Shit, I have to do something to make the situation better.

"Oh that one... Yes, I know him"

"You seem to be really good friends!"  If only she knew.

"Unfortunately, yes"

"And what exactly is he doing there?"

I quickly turn back again. Karasu is strutting around and clutching his chest as if he's just been shot.

"It's difficult to explain"

"I can imagine that"

I've got it! I'll make a joke and then quickly go to Karasu!

"Unfortunately, he suffers from a rare disease of the brain"

"Really?"

"Yes, he doesn't have one"

It's all so slow all of a sudden. DogDay laughed, and I melted under the gaze of her beautiful bright eyes. How can such beautiful eyes perceive something like me?

"So...are you coming to the party at Bunzo's?"

What kind of party?

"Of course he's coming!"  Karasu suddenly bursts in and literally shouts at me. He stands behind me and puts his hands on my shoulders uncomfortably. 'I hate it when he does that'.

"Don't worry DogDay! We'll show up at the party!"

This is going to be a long night

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

"Hey John, don't you think the Smilling Critters' performance was better?"

"Huh?"

"Well, you gave your point for this magic show by the two boys. Is there perhaps some highly intellectual reason for this, after all, you are the Leading Scient-

"Yes, it has."

"And that would be?"

"I have no idea how they did these tricks, The two of them have done something... And I'm going to find out"

Notes:

Wow, Y/N and Karasu seem to have really rocked it! Not only the first place, no, DogDay also expects Y/N at a party! This is going to be exciting. The next update will be for the “Genius Story”. After all, a plot twist has just been revealed and it just has to go on now. I really thank everyone for reading this chapter! Check out my other stories, leave kudos and a comment!

[author-orchids]

~The Princess And The Dragon~

So sorry about the chapter not getting posted yesterday, I cannot stick to a schedule for the life of me and when I finally got to it, my laptop was dead. I was originally planning to post three chapters today to make up for it but I very quickly got very overwhelmed so what I am going to do instead is post one chapter today and I will post two more chapters before Saturday

When I use italics, it is usually to show a thought. But I also use Italics for two of the three chapters I'm posting this week to show that it takes place in the past. In those two chapters, the characters thoughts are shown with non-italicized text. Just pointing this out to avoid any confusion when y'all are reading

The part of the post where I go on and on mostly about what I'm thinking while I edit because I simultaneously can't take myself seriously and also take myself far too seriously v

I seem to be abysmal at writing fight scenes so chapter four as you're seeing it now will most definitely be very different from how it would be if/when I ever get to the point of publishing my work as an actual book

I hate coming up with time period appropriate clothing what do you mean hoodies weren't invented until the 1930's what am I supposed to put my guys in

^ why I like dragons better, I don't have to put them in clothes

^^ the words "trousers" and "tunic" save the day, my beloved

As much as I hat my own writing, I could never hat chapter four, because it introduces Orion. My blorbo. My scrunckly skrimblo. My favoriteest boy. My little guy.

^ "My little guy" the 200 year old, HEAVILY traumatized, 6 foot tall witch

~Chapter Four~

Fury beat her wings, flying farther and farther away from the island that the marrow tribe of bone dragons lived on in the north. She flew, the flat expanse of the green meadows only broken by a house she spied as she flew past. Fury didn't believe she was being followed, but she was scared and it was better safe than sorry.

She heard a thump in the distance. Fury turned back and saw one of those bone dragons had landed outside that little house. Fury pivoted and turned back. She recognised that dragon, Fang, and with her sharper mountain dragon sight she could see Fang standing over a person. Fury sped back and collided with Fang in a bone-shaking impact.

Fury took quick note of her surroundings. To her right was the side of the person’s house, with a tree and some garden beds. On her left the sun was just beginning to set, behind her that person was scrambling away, and standing in front of her was Fang.

“You really are the heroic type, aren't you?” Fang hissed, “You fled from training with us, but you attack me to save a little witch?”

“Unlike you, I believe in doing the right thing.” Fury said, getting into a fighting stance. Fang did not say anything more before she pounced.

Fury rolled with Fang, attempting to pin Fang underneath her. The witch had run away in time to not get crushed, Fang threw Fury off of her, Fury dug her claws into the ground, slowing her momentum in just enough time as to not destroy the wall of the house. Fury moved as if to take flight, Fang did the same and Fury then ran towards the bone-white dragon and slashed with her talons for the weak spot where her wing met the side of her body, now vulnerable with her raised wings. Fang hissed and bit her in the back. Fury jumped back, and dogged each attack made by Fang’s talons and teeth and tail. 

Fang pushed Fury farther and farther back. Fury did not have time to brace herself before Fang threw herself at Fury with full force, enough so to throw her backwards to collide with the tree. The thick, armor-like scales of Fury’s back were barely enough to protect against the impact. A loud crack sounded, thankfully not from her own back, but from the tree behind her. It fell backwards with a loud thud that shook the ground. Fury did not allow herself a moment of distraction as she shook off the impact and lunged for Fang.

Fury dodged attacks from Fang, both dragons moved with swiftness and efficiency. Fang had herself behind Fury, Fury swung her tail and it connected with the side of Fang’s face. In the split second that Fang was distracted by this, Fury turned around and lashed out with her claws, leaving long socrates on Fang’s chest that dribbled a stream of blood. Before Fang could react Fury threw her whole weight on Fang’s foot, there was a crunch sound that told her she was successful in breaking a bone.

“Don't fight a battle you can't win, Fang,” Fury said. And don't make me take your life, Fury thought. Fury wished to never take a life, even if it was Fang. But would it be so bad? To kill Fang? Maybe, maybe not. Fang took a step forward, and immediately cringed when she put weight upon the foot that was indeed broken. Blood still continuously flowed from the claw marks on Fang’s chest, as well as from the scratch on her side. Both dragons were peppered with smaller, far less significant cuts. Fury hissed at Fang, and Fang took off, her wingbeats rustled the grasses.

~

Fury had caught a rabbit, skinned it, and was roasting it over a fire when the witch finally woke up. Fury was no good at guessing the age of witches, but he looked like a human would in his early 30’s. His hair was silver, and his eyes were a sapphire blue. The witch wore black trousers and a long-sleeved tunic in a vibrant color that nearly matched his eyes. There was an unfortunate-looking wound on his arm, as a result of Fang’s attack, surely. Fury had tended to the wound as best she could with what she had, medicinal herbs foraged from both the Pale Island and from the forests of the continent- all things Fury made sure to have with her at all times. Fury had to be very careful as to not cause more damage with her large talons.

He had fainted when Fury and Fang fought. “Oh thank gods you’re alive!” Fury said when she saw him stir. “What happened? I remember that dragon attacking me, and then you showed up, and…” He said, looking beyond Fury to the area where the two dragons had fought, chunks of grass and dirt -and bits from his garden beds- lay torn up from the battle. “Well I tackled Fang- that's the name of the Bone dragon who attacked you- and you fainted not long after that.” Fury answered. “Why were either of you here?” He demanded. 

“It’s a long story…” Fury sighed,

“Then make it a shorter one.” He growled.

“Fang is of the marrow tribe, the fiercer of the two Bone dragon tribes. I am a traveler, I was at the Pale Island to learn from both tribes of the Bone dragons. The Marrow tribe wanted me to do some… some bad things to be titled as one of them. So-” Fury looked towards the sky and the setting sun, “-So when the sun had risen and they were all asleep, I left. I didn't know Fang was following me, and if I did, if I had any idea that this would happen that she would attack you, I would never have come anywhere near here.”

The rabbit Fury was roasting finished cooking, Fury sliced it in half with her claws and offered one half to the witch. He accepted both the explanation and the food.

“So dragon… your name?” He asked, they both began picking at their food. “Fury,” she said, “and you?” “Fury? I can't say that your name entirely matches who you seem to be,” he paused, “My name is Orion.”

~

“What are you doing?” Orion asked the next morning when he’d seen Fury poking around in the flower beds. He now wore a black shirt with long loose sleeves and dark gray pants. His hair that was previously shoulder length was cut short enough that now it barely grazed his ears.

“I’m fixing your garden, it's my fault this all got messed up after all.” Fury said, and paused as the witch stopped to look at her, how she put the torn up chunks of dirt and grass back into the ground to the best of her ability, the splintered wood borders of the garden beds she now inspected, “It's the least I could do.”

“What? No, no, you don't have to do that,” Orion said, shaking his head.

“It’s the least I could do,” Fury repeated, “I caused harm to you and to your property, it would be wrong to leave without righting that. I insist.”

“You also saved my life, there is nothing you owe me.”

“I wouldn't have had to save you if I hadn't put you in danger in the first place.”

Orion paused, “I… i- if you insist.”

~

“So, Fury, you mentioned you travel to learn about the dragon tribes that aren't your own right?” Orion asked Fury the next day. The day before the two had sparse chat, during which Orion had told Fury that if she really felt she had to help him, if she insisted on fixing things, she could use the wood from the felled tree to repair the borders of his garden beds.

Fury noded, while she pieced together what could be salvaged and what needed to be replaced. 

“What are the tribes like?”

“Well, the Desert Dragons are clever, they have to be in order to outwit the other beasts in the desert and the sun. They build beautiful towns on oasis and on the border between the desert and mountain kingdoms. I visited their tribe first when I left the Mountain Palace.”

“You lived in the Mountain Palace?”

“I'm not a princess if that's what you’re thinking,”

“Obviously.”

Fury rolled her eyes, “I worked there, so I had a room.”

“Can I ask what your job was?”

“I was captain of the royal guard, then the Mountain Queen’s personal guard.”

“And you left?”

“I preferred the life of a nomad, many of my tribe do. My Queen herself spent time as a traveler before she took the throne and even supported my decision to leave.” Fury answered, “Can I ask why you live alone in the middle of nowhere instead of being the head of a coven, your type are pretty rare.”

Orion fidgeted with his hair. The color of a witches hair was a signifier of their power, Orion’s silver hair placed him in the second most powerful category of witches. “I’m just not a big fan of other people really,” he said, “so often they are loud and annoying,” he looked at Fury, “You are pretty alright though,” he paused, “I- that was supposed to be a compliment.” Fury grinned, “Thanks, you are pretty alright yourself Orion.”

~

“How did you even do this?” The witch asked Fury later that day. He ran a hand along the carving Fury had started on the wood, intricate patterns of leaves and flowers and swirls. “Do you not like it? I'm sorry I- I can get rid of it if you don't-” Fury started, and was cut off when Orion said “No no, I love it this is beautiful. Amazing, actually. But how? These designs are smaller than your talons!” Fury gestured to the knife strapped to her front leg, “Just one of the many talents I acquired in my travels.”

~

That night Fury was staring up at the stars. Is he mad? Fury thought, does what I'm doing make up for me being the reason he was attacked? Does he hate me? If the situations were flipped I would hate me. Should I just leave? “I like watching the stars too.” Fury startled when she heard Orion suddenly beside her.

“How long have you been there?” Fury asked, unsure how she hadn't heard him. “Did I scare you? I didn't mean to.” He was sat down beside Fury, and they both sat in quiet silence and watched the stars.

~

The next day Fury told Orion about all the different dragon tribes. He first asked her about the Treehopper tribe, which was the second tribe she had ever visited. Then she told him about the other tribes, deciding to tell him in the order she had traveled to them, the sea dragons, the Featherwings, then finally the Bone dragons. They chatted like friends until Fury had left to catch something to eat.

When Fury returned, Orion was just staring at his garden beds with his arms crossed. With the short sleeves of his Purple tunic, Fury could see the real bandages with which he replaced the medicinal leaves Fury had used on the wound on his arm two days ago.

“Hey Or-” Fury had begun to say. “Leave.” Orion cut her off. “What's wrong Orion?” Fury asked. “Just go away.” Was all he said. “Orion, did something happen while I was gone?” 

“Just leave already. Go AWAY! Get out of my face, get off of my property. Get. Lost.” 

“Orion, what is wrong, what did I-”

“What did you do?” He waved his arms in a gesture to everything around him, “This!” He finally turned to face her. “ Everything! All of it! You're doing all this as if you owe me? It infuriates me! You are acting as if you owe me your life! But I’M the one with the life debt to YOU! You really think you owe me? Then do me a favor and fuck off. Go away and never come back unless you have something that can settle the life debt between us so I’ll never have to think of you again. Go. Away.”

Fury silently walked to where she had previously discarded her brown bag, put it back around her neck, and flew off. A few tears fell from Fury’s eyes as she flew away from the witch she had begun to consider a friend.

~

“And that Twigling, is when I flew here and met you.” Fury told Orchid. “I wonder why he snapped on you like that?” Orchid said. “S’pose I might find out soon enough.” Fury answered.

[luxxtuxx]

'Get Some Rest, My Little Rockstar'

Hobie + Child!Reader THIS WAS SO FUN TO WRITE, I also cried writing this (multiple times) TW: Character death ANYWAYS ENJOY!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was supposed to be a normal day in hobies universe swinging around doing patrol, then a villain struck tearing apart a building. He managed to save a lot of people, but something felt off when he was pulling the last man out of the rubble, his spidey senses were tingling. He followed them. The stronger they got, the more he could hear it. A baby sobbing and screaming. He pushed a large chunk of rubble away to find a little baby in a carrier thrashing around.

He picked up the baby and gently rocked it. "Hey, little rockstar. Dont cry, ill be okay I promise. Spider-Punk has got you" He picked up the carrier and carefully walked out of the rubble. The first thing he did was take you to the hospital to make sure that this little baby was okay. the hospital said that either hobie could keep you or register you into the foster system. Hobie took you with him, he took some cash he had stocked away out. He looked at you, you were gonna be the only thing in his life he wanted consistency of. "C'mon rock star! Let's go find you some punk clothes."

Now, hobie wasn't the type to enjoy dressing up, but finding little baby punk clothes to put you in warmed his heart. You were his pride and joy now. A few months later your first word was 'punk' and after learning a few more words, hobie was called 'papa punk'

You grew up like a chaotically smart devil. Hobie constantly encouraged you to try things, you weren’t a spider person, but HQ loved having you around. Hobie enjoyed watching you try everything, and not stand by and be a cookie-cutter kid. You were allowed to wear whatever you wanted and do what you wanted (Within reason)

By the time you were 8, you had earned a black belt in karate, you could play your mini electric guitar pretty well, had been kicked out of 3 different schools for starting fights, and you could read just under 200 words per minute, and you had a secret cat that Hobie hasn’t found out about for 2 months. People thought that hobies yes as much as possible method would you into a monster, but it didn't you were often extremely kind and well versed in etiquette.

Hobie loved rocking out with you, he enjoyed time with you. He was a classic dad at times, making fun of you in front of your friends, or trying to embarrass you in front of your crush. Watching you grow up was his favorite thing in the whole world... Until 4 years later, an anomaly villain reached his universe, you were doing as you normally did helping old people and little kids evacuate the area. Hobie and then the entire squad including Miguel were helping out. Then it happened, a torn-up pipe the villain had thrown slashed a large cut through your side. Hobie heard you scream and immediately ditched the group to run to you, run to his kid, his pride and joy.

You fell down not having the strength to stand, he caught you in time, "Hey kid, cmon keep them eyes open okay? Im gonna get you to HQ and the nurses are gonna heal you up. hold still." he tried to lift you carefully, he sat you back on the ground after he heard you scream in pain, "Kid, I can't lose you, Stay awake" you weakly pull his mask up, wanting to see his face one last time. "Papa punk, You lived 20 years without me, I'm sure you can do it again" Hobie teared up and hugged you close "Im not gonna let you die." "Hey Dad, can I ask you somethings before I go??" his heart shattered. "Yeah, kid, anything"... he pulled away and kissed your forehead "At any point, even for a second....Did I make you proud?" that question made hobies heart hurt so bad "Every single second of every day you were in my life I was proud of you." you nod. "I don't want to go to Valhalla looking like a loser.... can I borrow your leather jacket for a bit?" hobie took off the jacket and slipped it on you. "Papa punk?" he stares at you, "Smile, I'm your canon event. Events are meant to be fun. Smile once last time for me papa" Hobie forced a weak smile at his child's request, ignoring the tears slipping out of his eyes. "Papa don't cry... You'll ruin your eyeliner" You laugh weakly and hobie smiles a small bit at your laugh... "Im sure you are tired kiddo" he kissed your forehead again as the last breath slipped from your lips

"Get Some Rest, My Little RockStar"

Bonus: Hobie had you cremated and put your ashes in a bunch of resin art so he could walk around his boat and you'd be there with him. He keeps a necklace on him with your ashes inside, every mission he completes. he kisses the small vial and say 'we won'. He still plays the guitar, mostly your favorite songs with a guitar pick he had you paint him when you were little. He made sure you were never alone. He missed you so much, and on the anniversary of your death he didn't take any missions he just sat home and talked out loud about all the amazing things you've missed in the past year, in his mind believing you could hear him.