#if neo would look up to me like this *me faints*

[warangs]

The Eclipse | EP 12 dir. Golf Tanwarin Sukkhapisit

[poweringthroughthis]

fever dream | nakamoto yuta

nsfw, mdni

pair: yuta x male reader

desc: Being an avid NCTzen for a while now, you can't believe the events that transpire once you finally get to attend the NCT concert in your country, and meet your biggest bias.

warnings: dirty talk, oral, anal s*x

It was most definitely a fever dream. Korean fans are truly lucky with how often they get opportunities to see their favorite artists perform live. The rest of us, on the other hand, check whether the name of our country has been included in the artist's list for the latest world tour, while we happily cheer them on from the confines of our homes. But as they say, good things shall come to those who wait. You never thought such a day would actually come but it has, and here you are, standing at the entrance of the stadium that NCT was set to perform at today!

For obvious reasons, your nerves were all over the place. You couldn't get rid of the giddiness no matter how much you tried to normalize the day mentally. In fact, the idea of soothing your nerves was what brought you here, at the venue.....four hours in advance. The entry gates were closed and security had barely begun overseeing the arrangements. As you took in the surroundings, two or three vans came to a halt in front of the gate. It didn't take much of a genius to guess the Neos had arrived. Your heart started ringing in your eardrums. You were about to see them in the flesh.

They were surrounded by bodyguards from all directions but you could see a comparatively relaxed formation of their security since no fans were here yet. You were admiring the boys from a distance as they came out of the vans in sweats, not wishing to misuse this opportunity and get in their personal space. Then you saw him, and your heart stopped for a second. Your bias, Nakamoto Yuta. He was absolutely ethereal. You almost missed his brief glance at you, chalking it up to your delusions. But it was hard not to faint when he asked the security guard something, pointing discreetly in your direction before he went in, trailing the other members.

The guard gestured you over but you were still somewhat confused. "Hey, you! You're here for the concert, aren't you? Mr. Yuta said you can wait backstage if you want to." Your eyes widened comically. Did you hear that right? You were afraid you were going to need CPR, this was a little too surreal for a random Saturday.

"um, but can I ask why?" you managed to croak out.

"Kid, do I look like I know that? Get in if you want to, or keep standing in the heat. I have work to do." he replied gruffly and you quickly entered the premises.

Finding the green rooms wasn't much of a hassle, with the halls being void of anyone and a door reading 'NCT 127' in ginormous font. The rooms must be divided based on subunits, you figured. The door made a creaking noise as you you shakily opened it and peeked inside.

Only one person was present, you couldn't see their face since they had their back towards you but it was easy to confirm by their hair color. It was Yuta. He seemed to be busy, either doing vocal warm ups or texting, but you had to clear this misunderstanding. "Hi? Um, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting but-"

"No, it's fine. You can come in." he turned around, smiling at you. He had a smile so radiant, you wondered how many hearts he had already captured with that smile alone. "I told the security to let you in."

"Uh, thanks? I think there has been a huge misunderstanding, I don't know you personally but you're free to correct me if I'm wrong." you replied, slightly more nervous now. He raised his eyebrow at that and motioned you to go on. "But, you're like a celebrity and I'm a nobody. I just want to make sure you're not mistaking me for someone else and you aren't in trouble or anything. It's okay if you need me to leave."

"Well, I've never met a 'nobody' before." he grinned, "You are very attractive, if I'm being honest. And you're welcome to stay as long as you want."

"T-thank you"

He was sitting on the sofa, the one closest to the door and he patted the space beside him, motioning you to sit down. You were unsure if that was appropriate, considering you had met the guy not even five minutes ago but it didn't feel right to deny.

"What's your name, cutie?"

"Uh, it's y/n"

"That's cute. Do you have any social media?"

"Y-yes."

"Let me follow you then, I don't really post but I'd like seeing pictures of you."

"Um, okay. If you want to, I mean." you were a stuttering mess, you couldn't believe this was happening. He followed your instagram handle, liking a few posts before following and you had never felt more self conscious in your life. You wanted to hide, you knew the pictures he was liking were all your cringey photos and selfies from your rare confidence boosts.

"Hey, are you shy around me?"

"Y-yes...sorry, this is really overwhelming. I've just been such a big fan for the longest-"

"A fan, huh? Tell me, is it a big turn off if I kissed you right now?"

You stared at him incredulously. "Um, well...I'm not sure if you're asking for my opinion."

"Oh, but I am." he smirked, moving closer. He had a hand placed on your thigh and his face was mere inches away. "What's the verdict?"

"No, not a turn off. Not at all." you said, barely above a whisper.

"Great. You're a sweet little thing if I've ever seen one." he said before closing the gap and capturing your lips in a gentle kiss. It was slow and sensual. He tasted like strawberry, probably because of the lip balm you thought.

Your hands went up to caress his face, and he placed his hands on your waist, bringing you even closer. You couldn't tell how much time had passed, the two of you were completely engrossed in each other. His hand trailed down to your ass and gave it a squeeze, eliciting a surprised gasp. You didn't want to, but you broke the kiss and stared at him.

"I'm not going to push you if you don't want this, I'd like to have your consent."

"I want it."

"Are you sure? We're complete strangers, you have no reason to trust me."

"I know, but I've had a crush on you for a long time. You can do whatever you want, honestly"

"Fuck, that's hot. I don't know how I'm gonna control myself, but I'm willing to try."

With that, he went back to kissing you. He started getting a little more aggressive with his movements, sucking your lower lip. He slowly trailed his tongue on your bottom lip, asking for entrance and you opened your mouth slightly, letting his tongue in. He was so experienced, you could only melt in his arms. You tried your best to keep up but were mostly overwhelmed. It was..your first steamy encounter, after all.

You broke the kiss, a string of saliva still connecting your mouths. Yuta stared at you with lust filled eyes, a smirk plastered on his face. "You're doing so good for me, kitten."

"I am?"

"Yeah, I'm going to make you feel good, so good." He got up and locked the door, turning back towards you and you realized that this was happening. He went back to sit next to you, bringing his lips back onto yours, his hands going under your shirt. You moaned softly as his fingers grazed your nipple. "You're so sensitive."

You broke the kiss. "Yuta, I'm a virgin."

He groaned and kissed your neck. "I can't believe I get to pop your cherry." He continued trailing kisses down your neck, his hands squeezing your nipples. Your hands roamed his back and shoulders, enjoying the way his muscles rippled under your touch.

"Take your shirt off, baby." He removed his own shirt, exposing his well built upper body. You felt yourself grow wetter just by looking at him. His body was truly godlike, his toned muscles glistening. You couldn't help but stare.

"You're so beautiful" he whispered. "You're going to look even more beautiful once I'm done with you." He started unbuttoning your shirt, taking it off completely and throwing it away. Your breath hitched, your body was exposed and Yuta was staring at it like a starved animal. He bent his head down and captured a nipple between his lips, licking and sucking, his fingers teasing the other. You were a moaning mess, the feeling was too much.

"Does it feel good?"

"Yes, god yes"

"Good. Tell me, have you ever touched yourself, baby?"

"Y-yes"

"And what were you thinking about when you did it?"

"You"

He groaned at that and pulled down your pants, along with your underwear. He kissed his way down from your chest to your thighs. His mouth was hovering over your dick and he looked up at you with a devilish smirk, "I'm going to suck you off, is that alright?"

"Please, I've never felt anyone's mouth down there"

"Good." He started by giving a tentative lick and you whimpered. He smirked and licked the underside, swirling his tongue around the tip. He slowly took the whole thing in his mouth and you threw your head back, moaning.

"F-fuck, feels so good"

He was bobbing his head, his tongue swirling around your dick, his cheeks hollowed. The feeling was incredible, you had never felt anything like it. You were bucking your hips and gripping his hair, trying not to cum.

"Cum in my mouth, baby"

And you were a goner. This was the craziest day ever. Yuta just said that to you. You wished you could replay the sound of that a hundred times over.

You came in his mouth, and he swallowed it all, moaning. He stood up and licked his lips. You were a panting mess, coming down from your high.

"You're such a good boy for me"

"M-more"

"Don't worry, we're not done yet"

He started undoing his belt, taking his pants off and throwing them aside. He was wearing a pair of black boxers, and his erection was evident. He pulled them down, his dick springing free and you were in awe. It was big, and thick, and you couldn't help but stare. He chuckled, "Like what you see?"

"Yes, it's so big"

"And it's all yours, baby." He stroked himself a few times, his precum leaking. "Are you ready, kitten?"

"Yes"

"Get on your knees." You obediently got down on your knees, facing away from him. He lined his dick with your entrance, rubbing it against your hole. You nodded. He slowly pushed the tip in, and it felt like your whole body was on fire.

"Fuck, you're so tight"

He grabbed your hips, and started thrusting, slowly. You were moaning and whimpering, the feeling was so intense. You had never felt anything like it. You were being stretched open, your hole being filled to the brim.

"Y-Yuta, faster"

"You like that, huh? You like my cock?"

"Y-yes, I love it"

He picked up the pace, his thrusts becoming faster. "Thought you were innocent, baby. Who would have guessed you'd turn out to be such a slut."

"Fuck, Yuta!"

"That's right, say my name."

You were being pounded into the floor, and you were loving every second of it. He was fucking you so good, his cock hitting your sweet spot. You were moaning and whimpering, unable to hold back.

"Fuck, you're so sexy. I'm close."

He chuckled. "My sweet little angel, you can't get enough of me."

You were close to climaxing, the pleasure was so intense, you could barely think straight. You were a moaning mess, Yuta was grunting and breathing heavily. He was pounding into you, his thrusts becoming more erratic.

"After today, I'll make sure you keep coming back for more. Make you feel good, just like this. Gonna ruin you for anyone else. You'll be begging for my cock, and only my cock."

"Fuck, Yuta!" You cried out, nearing your orgasm, his dirty talk sending you over the edge. You could tell you wouldn't last much longer.

"I'll turn you into a dumb cock slut. I'll train you to take my dick in your ass every day. I'll fuck you so hard, you won't be able to walk."

"Please, fuck me harder. Make me yours."

"You'll be walking to the concert ground funny. You'll be so fucked out, you won't be able to function. I'll make sure of that."

"F-fuck, Yuta!"

With that, you were both pushed over the edge, and you came, hard. Your vision went white, and your body was wracked with pleasure. You could feel him filling you up, his warm seed filling your ass as he pulled your head back towards him, neck straining as he sloppily kissed you.

You were both panting and spent. You had just had sex with the man of your dreams. He was still inside of you, and he was still kissing you. It was a passionate kiss, and you could feel his adoration for you. You were so lucky.

"You did so good for me, baby." He whispered. "Such a good boy for me."

You were too blissed out to reply. Your brain was not cooperating with the rest of your body, still in a state of euphoria.

"Let's get you cleaned up."

Yuta picked you up bridal style, taking you to the bathroom, your head resting on his chest. You had never felt so loved.

"Give me your number? I promise we can sneak off to a date whenever I'm off schedules. It won't be that easy, I know."

"I'd like that."

"It's a date then. I hope I didn't disappoint" he smirked.

"I should be asking that. I was a virgin."

"Baby, I'm happy you chose me. And if I may add, you were amazing. If not for the security standing outside, I'd have kept fucking you throughout the night."

"Oh god, please don't make me blush"

"I'll make it up to you."

And he did. The next concert stop, you found yourself on his bed, naked, being ravaged by him. And the day after that, and the day after that. Soon the two of you were something more, and neither person could have asked for more.

Maybe reaching the concert venue too early wasn't as stupid as you'd thought.

[whslnc]

— Brat

nsfw mdni :3 | dom!brat tamer!bsf!vernon x fem!reader | 1.1k

!! overstimulation, brat reader, slightly controlling, loud moaning(f), fingering, doggy, petname (babe), dirty talking, maybe others but it should be fine lemme know if you care !!

- this came to me in a dream not vernon but this lol, vernon seemed perfect for the role, written at 4 am in the morning don’t even worry about it. neo culture technology

Finally, the day had come for your monthly movie night with Vernon, you had a whole system you operated so it could be a fun experience for both of you. Picking out of a box filled with movies titles you had both submitted throughout the past few months, you both picked a movie then decided which one out of the two you would see that night, sometimes going for both.

This night was no different, you had decided on a movie for the night together, sitting on your respective sides of the couch. You let your legs lounge on his lap, resting your back against the arm rest, not paying mind to his playful poking on your thighs as the movie begun.

Most of the first hour, you sat in silence just throwing in a funny remark here and there for giggles, then came the scenes. After watching so many movies the sex scenes, bothered you less and less, you’d usually take the opportunity to say something dumb about it but your focus was elsewhere. The touch was delicate, faint almost, his fingers running up your thighs, it was hard to think coherently with the uncensored scenes in front of you.

“No one is screaming that loud, that’s hilarious” you force the words out trying to get your mind off the soft touches, your voice caught his attention and his roaming hand stopped.

“Some people get really loud to be honest” he says, nodding to himself before turning to you, you narrow your eyes at him trying to figure out if he was talking from experience or just generally.

“Like you’ve had someone screaming in bed?” he laughs at your confused expression answering your question with a nod, amused by the fact that you find it impossible.

“I’m sure you do” there was no way, you had never experienced it so it didn’t seem probable to you, simply agreeing reluctantly to your friend’s baseless claims.

He looks at you closer brows furrowed as he leans in, his hands perfectly wrapped around your thighs sliding further up, stopping inches away from your bulging lips.

“You think I’m lying?” a soft laugh of disbelief escapes his mouth, his eyes scan your face genuinely curious, watching you blink away before speaking up.

“I’m just saying any one can fake pleasure” you finally say looking back at him, a hint of shock under his smile, his lips twitching as he lets out a scoff.

“Fuck, I didn’t know you were such a brat”

One glance down between your legs, it was so obvious how badly you wanted it, for his hand to move closer to press against your aching clit just begging to be stimulated. That didn’t matter, he watched as your breaths grew bigger, your hips moving closer subconsciously drawn to the touch of his hand just resting on your thigh.

“Nonie… please” that was all he needed, your whole body begging for him to make you lose your voice to his touch. The sudden pressure sends a jolt to your spine making you arch your back, just from his fingers rubbing through your thin panties. The sound of his laugh mocking you only adding to your pleasure, letting him pull down your shirt’s neck for your pretty breasts to fall out, you really were all talk so easily letting yourself get used.

You couldn’t keep your eyes off him, his thumb brushing against your nipple before pinching the sensitive skin sliding down to the base holding onto it as his lips met your pebbled nipples, his wet tongue pressing on it making you suck in air from the feeling. So distracted by his kisses, the feeling of his fingers slipping inside your wet skin caught you off guard, a soft moan leaving your lips.

“Don’t fake it for me, I know you can take more than this” his hot breath against your ear as he spoke, placing a soft kiss on your jawline, pulling his fingers out completely covered with your juices bringing them to your lips, pulling down your jaw to open your mouth for him.

You find yourself moaning on his fingers as you suck on them, enjoying your taste on his soft fingers. His smirk as he takes out his fingers makes you weaker than you already were, rolling over on your belly ready let him take your pussy.

Getting rid of all your bottom clothing, you bend over his legs keeping your ass up for him to use to his content. A light smack against your ass the feeling tingling to your desperate pussy, he slides his fingers back in fucking your tight pussy sliding in a third finger as he quickens the pace, your noises are barely quiet as his fingers rub swiftly against your spot, hitting you so perfectly you have to dig your head into the couch to mute your pleading.

“I want you to hear yourself,” you feel his hand grab around your jaw lifting your head up, as he places his fingers against your clit stimulating it with fast back and forths making you legs grow weak, trembling uncontrollably, weak taps against his wrists for him to stop only for him to push you further.

Your pleading becomes more desperate as you near your release point, he can feel you tensing so hungrily around his fingers, loving how easily you crumble, cussing out his name as you pour out on his fingers. He wastes no time making you kneel on the couch, spreading your legs out so he can get a better view of your throbbing pussy, standing right behind you.

“You’re so fucking hot baby, I’m gonna make you scream my name tonight” It was a promise, the sound of him taking out his cock made your pussy beg, missing the hot feeling of being fucked by a rock hard shaft.

Your hands grab each side of your ass pulling them apart for him to see how desperate your pussy was for him to fill it up, the scoff that escaped his lips was so telling. In a heartbeat you feel him thrust deep inside you making your back arch, his hand wrapping around your throat as his thrusts continued.

“Fuck… talk to me baby” with every thrust you feel you body grow weaker, the only sounds able to leave your lips are desperate wails from the overstimulating pleasure, his cock hitting harder against you repeatedly in only a second.

Your words are inarticulate, you can’t even tell how loud you’re screaming till he gags you with his fingers, muting your cries as you cum your whole body stiffening around him, grabbing your ass and squeezing it against his dick filling up your used hole.

You let your body relax on the couch completely disheveled, watching him take his seat beside you, pressing play on the remote to resume the movie.

“Let’s finish the movie now”

[teriri-sayes]

Reactions to Crazier Bastard's Chapter 311

Brief summary: No one still fights Rasheel. Neo used another magic again. Cale's group becomes semi-NPCs. Cale reveals himself as the hidden final boss.

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Rasheel was funny as always. 🤣🤣🤣

Mila: Rasheel. Rasheel: Why, why? Mila: Taunt them better. Rasheel: Huh? Mila: Just spit out lots of curses. Rasheel: Huh? Mila: What, don't you want to do it? Rasheel: N-Not that! Is that really okay? Mila: Yes. Do it. Rasheel: *brightly smiles as he swears excitedly at the dragons* %f$$c@$#k@!!!! HD: Hoh. There's a way to fight like that.

Hopefully, an enemy dragon bites the bait or else I'll feel sorry for Rasheel.🤣🤣🤣 But HD, why were you impressed with Rasheel's cursing? Did you want to imitate that?

Rosalyn seemed to have found a way to detect if Neo used magic, so she discussed it with Sheritt. Meanwhile, Exion's group arrived at their destination, and Tang Yu was excited to spread poison in the enemy camp.

Back to Cale's group, his scam was a success and he got more info from the Dark Bear. To summarize:

All Aipotu residents would become NPCs in the new area "Land of Time"

NPCs couldn't log out, and automatically became Neo's slaves, unable to escape the game

But for dragons and other special people, a position between a user and an NPC was created, the semi-NPC

Semi-NPCs could log out of the game

Cale's group was registered as semi-NPCs, and when it was Cale's turn to register, he stabbed Dark Bear in the back.

Cale: *hits the nape of Dark Bear to make him faint* CH: *also hits the nape of the Dark Bear* CH: I thought that Cale-nim's strength was not be enough. Cale: *smiles* Okay… Dark Bear: W-Why… *about to faint*

CH, why? 😂😂😂 Then again, Cale was weak, so CH had to make sure that the enemy fainted properly. And the funny part got better when Dark Bear woke up.

Dark Bear: *wakes up to find himself tied up* Cale: *introduces himself* I am the hidden final boss of the 3rd Evil, Cale Henituse. Dark Bear: *trembles in fear and looks at Cale's NPC name displayed above his head* Cale's NPC name: [Cale Henituse, a half-demon who inherited cursed blood, Hidden Boss of the 100th floor of the hidden Hell of Darkness, and the true ruler of the 3rd Evil] Dark Bear: H-Half demon! Ack- *faints again* Cale: What's wrong with him? Raon: Human, why is your name like that? Cale: Huh? *confused because everyone else but him could see his NPC name*

Why was Cale's NPC name so looooooong? 🤣🤣🤣 Everything about it screams chuunibyou to me. 😂😂😂 Half-demon? Cursed blood? Hidden boss of the Hell of Darkness? True ruler of the 3rd Evil? It's soooo chuunibyou~! 🤣🤣🤣

As for why Cale's NPC name suddenly popped out above his head, this was because of the game's rule that if the NPC introduced themselves properly, their NPC name would appear to reflect it.

But what was with that cursed blood? And were half-demons so scary that Dark Bear trembled and even fainted in fear? And what exactly was Cale's status in the game? Was he a full-time NPC or a semi-NPC? If he was an NPC, he wouldn't be able to log out, right? But he was able to do so, so did that mean that NPC bosses were an exception? After all, Neo the Dragon Lord could also log out.

Ending Remarks Lots of funny moments today with some info drop. Next chapter would be Cale interrogating Dark Bear about the location of the control point. I'm also excited to see the reactions of Cale's group about his NPC hidden boss status and how Cale would explain it to them.

[telomeke]

10 (or So) BL Boys I Want Carnally (Plus a Couple of Girls Too)

I was tagged by @neuroticbookworm at this post here and @waitmyturtles at this post here. Thank you dearies! ��

Now here's the thing before I get on with the post: after a certain time I think sexual attraction is a phenomenon more intellectual than physical.

So the beautiful people I'm listing below are ones whom I think fit the list in my head as examples of those genetically blessed with sexual desirability. But it's not as though I'm really feeling a carnal stirring in the loins for them. No fantasied jumping of bones (or boners) here; I would probably run a mile in the opposite direction if any of them actually presented themselves naked and available to me, you get my drift?

Still, since the malls are open I do like to look (even if it's only window shopping through binoculars 🤣). So, in no particular order, with tongue firmly in cheek and more admiration in my head (for the obvious hard work at the gym) than lust in my heart (or anywhere else) – here goes: 😍

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1. Nonkul Chanon

I know Nong Non looked like a little ball of Koreanesque sunshine in I Feel You Linger in the Air (really channeling 2PM's Wooyoung for me), but Mistah Santinatornkul used to be beefier and apparently lost weight to look all sweet and wispy for the role of Jom in IFYLITA.

Dunno bout you, but I miss the beef. (And if you do too, I urge you to click on the YouTube link above. 😁) Also, Nonkul had four lead roles in 2023; I think his star is on the ascendant, so keep an eye out for this one (he seems to have an international presence that most other Thai stars don't, though it beams eastwards). 🤩

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2. Ohm Pawat

I prefer him hunkier and chunkier like he was during his Bad Buddy Pat Napat days (he's too shredded and gangly beanstalk now for me) but I've actually met Ohm in real life and (I've said this before) his smile is supernova dazzling. Like everything else in the room simply fades to a blank whiteness. (Or maybe it was just me feeling faint. 🤣) Supremely photogenic (I don't think he has any bad angles), this boy definitely has the X factor and after Bad Buddy I will always be a diehard fan.

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3. MaxTul

The original kings of BL who never shied away and just went for it when it counted. I rue the loss of Tul to business or real estate or whatever it is he's focusing on now, but this coupling will always be legendary so I'm putting them together as one on my list.

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4. Gap Jakarin

You may be noticing a trend here, but I do like a bit of meat with my two veg. 😜🍆🥩🥬🍴🤣 Anyway I'm all goo-goo eyed at lovable himbo Yai in The Sign, especially when we see how smitten he is with his beautiful girlfriend Sand (who's canon transgender in the show, as Yoshi Rinrada is in real life too 💖). And that's carried over to my appreciation of Gap Jakarin in all his meaty meathead glory offscreen as well.

Plus when he was in the bulking phase (or maybe it was for a role?) Gap was also carrying a fair bit of baby fat in the following photo on his Instagram, and somehow that just makes him even more teddybeardorable in my eyes: 🧸😍

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5. Neo Trai

Always the boy you remember in roles you'd rather forget. I've liked his look (neck up) for a long time now; in his current gym bunny phase the rest of Neo is looking more buff by the day and I approve, aesthetically speaking. More to love. 😘

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6. Force Jiratchapong

Nice to look at. Only just about makes up for his roles and acting though. I'm not hurrying to watch anything he's in, unless it's for a photoshoot like the one in the YouTube video above. 😮

7. Pavel Naret

It appears he's had a little surgical tweaking recently, but the doctors did a fine job and Pavel is always looking like he's some sort of walking sex buffet, dishing out sass and overflowing sex appeal at every turn. Still not enough to make me wanna watch Pit Babe though. 🤣

8. KaowOat Supasin

Apologies for the fuzziness of this screencap but I can almost feel non-existent ovaries swelling within me when I look at KaowOat's pensive buttcrack and delicately-placed fingers here. Almost makes me want to watch Playboyy The Series. Almost.

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9. Net Siraphop

I'm also on board with everybody's carnal favorite Net, even though I've not watched a single thing he's been in (Uea's kitty ears in Bed Friend did a good job warding me off, like garlic and crucifixes to a vampire so well done James Van Helsing). Nonetheless all the screenshots and GIFs were more than enough to leave me a little breathless at Net's honey-toned beauty. Those eyes telling of mysterious depths! That handsome jawline! That teasing glimpse of buttcheek with no tanline! When upon a time will we finally get Love Upon a Time? I'll be watching, if James can keep his furry ears out of frame.‌

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10. Kao Noppakao

Oh he of the excellent cheekbones and Cupid's Bow lips! Always looking so icy and unavailable, yet Kao utterly charmed his way into my heart in Lovely Writer (and then shattered it within the first few minutes of Until We Meet Again). Like Ohm he literally cannot take a bad photo; it's all Blue Steel and high fashion with this one.

BONUS 1 (because I am no respecter of limits):

Great Sapol is on here because he filled out his tight policeman's uniform so well in Manner of Death (and has me vibrating with pins and needles waiting for Wandee Goodday). And Taylor Zakhar Perez just because he was such a menace in Red, White & Royal Blue (that full frontal above is from Minx though). 😜 Plus TZP's name always gives me the giggles because zakar in a number of countries quite literally means what that eggplant is hiding. 🤣

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BONUS 2 (because these girls have made me feel something):

Zorzo Nathanan (formerly Zorzo Natharuetai)

Ever since she roared up and flicked those lovely long locks (and legs) on her motorcycle in Lovely Writer, I've been going weak at the knees for the ravishing confection that is Zorzo. Supposedly queer in real life too; just adds to the appeal. 🤩

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Namtan Tipnaree

Absolutely radiant and glowing in Last Twilight even though makeup and wardrobe have Namtan totally frumped out for the character of Porjai. If you can look this good with perpetual bedhead and a shapeless gray t-shirt, there's some kind of sexual sorcery going on and there's a part of me that wants whatever it is she's got. 💖

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I always tag too many people so I'm going to buck my brand and tag just one: @non-binarypal7. But consider yourself tagged if you've read this far and would like to play too – I just love reading other people's takes in tag games! ��

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[vecnawrites]

A Slimy Perversion, Chapter 2: Harriet's Possession

Harriet Bree was out and about, and unfortunately, she managed to catch the attention of a certain slime...

Harriet Bree was steaming. She hated her job at times, working for the Schnee Family. Okay, the mother and two daughters weren’t too bad, but the father and son...the less said, the better, to be honest.

That didn’t mean it was all sunshine and rainbows, though, since Weiss, the middle child of the Schnee family, had asked her to go and pick up something that she had neglected to earlier in the day, and it was too late for her to be out.

Leaving Harriet walking in a rage. Sure, she wasn’t at any risk of being attacked with her training, but that didn’t mean that she wanted to be going around and fucking about in this part of town at this time of night!

“I don’t know why the hell do I have to come out to this part of town, at this hour, simply because little miss full of herself can’t be bothered to do it herself or, I don’t know, ask someone to go earlier in the day!?” she growled out in a rage as she headed for the small little bookshop that the girl had ordered some risque novels from.

She wasn’t shaming the girl, she had a vibrator and several web pages secretly bookmarked on her scroll for her own enjoyment, but Harriet did not appreciate being made to come out near nine at night to go and pick up porn novels for a repressed white haired heiress!

As she stalked down the street, she was so angry that she failed to notice the figure peeking out of the alleyway next to her, looking at her, their form radiating interest.

~

Neo followed her new prey, seeing how stuck up and no nonsense the woman seemed to be, making her perfect for her next meal~

Creeping along behind her, she found her target walking into a bookstore, making her pause, knowing that her newest vessel would be coming out soon enough. She knew that the stores would be closing soon enough. So she settled into wait.

It wasn’t long before the mocha skinned woman came out, still scowling as she held a wrapped package underneath her arm as she walked down the street, leaving her to follow slowly and carefully behind her.

~

After some time, she watched as her prey stop at a health food store and pull buy one of those disgustingly healthy shakes that athletes and health nuts drank, bringing it out and sitting down, cracking it open and taking a deep drink.

Neo smirked. Perfect. Now she just needed her distracted for a few moments…

Brrrrriiiinnnnggg!

As though the very world itself was on her side, the woman’s scroll rang, making her set her drink down with an agitated look as she pulled it out, her face pinching in anger as she opened it.

“Hello?” she asked, her voice tense, meaning that it was Neo’s time to shine. She crept forwards, hearing faint chatter through the scroll, hearing the woman growl as she collapsed her form and slipped closer, moving up and slipping up and into her half empty drink, compressing herself as she absorbed the liquid and allowed herself to meld with it, going completely invisible to the naked eye.

~

Harriet sighed angrily, rubbing her nose and pinching it between her fingers. “Yes, princess, I picked up your raunchy books on time. I’m on my way back now.” she half listened to the sputtered excuses, before she sighed. “Give me twenty minutes and I’ll be back and you can read these and rub yourself silly as you go to sleep. Be back soon.” huffing, Harriet closed her scroll, knowing that she’d likely get ‘threatened’ when she saw the heiress next, though she knew that it wouldn’t be serious.

Sighing, she knew that she better hurry, so she grabbed her protein shake and knocked it back, throat bobbing as she swallowed the thick mixture, a small part of her thinking that it seemed thicker than normal, but passed it off as stress.

Standing, she tossed the empty container into the trash next to her and grabbed the package of books before she started making her way back to the Schnee family manor, completely unaware of what now rested in her belly...what was slowly working it’s way through her stomach lining and into the rest of her body.

~

After getting a cute ‘threat’ from a flustered and highly embarrassed Weiss, one that Harriet was highly amused by, the mocha skinned woman made her way back to her room and started changing for an early night. She was feeling rather hot for some reason, and forwent her pajamas, standing in her room in only her cotton panties, showing off her lithe, slim body to the nonexistent eyes in her room.

Falling back onto her bed, Harriet smirked a bit as her tits jiggled lightly, wondering why she felt so warm.

She debated getting under her blanket, but the mere thought of being underneath it made her cringe as she lay back, closing her eyes and doing her best to fall asleep. Everyone knew better than to come into her bedroom unannounced, so it wasn’t like she was going to give anyone a show.

~

Harriet Bree’s nearly nude body tossed and turned on her bed, her brow furrowed as she sweat profusely, her body shining with sweat under the dim light of the moon.

As the clock struck midnight, Harriet’s eyes opened, her eyes having changed, one of the a lighter shade of pink than normal, the other a chocolate brown, her lips pulling up in a wicked smirk as she hopped up off the bed, amused at the lack of jiggle her body had.

Strutting over to the mirror that was placed by the closet, Neo looked over her newest vessel with a critical eye, frowning at how small her tits were, how flat and muscled her ass was. And the less said about her style of undergarments, the better! Gray cotton? Outrageous!

But her looks could easily be rectified with a little help from her. Focusing, she started using her powers, breaking muscle fibers back down into fat and starting to move it around to help the body become something that people would lose their cool over!

Slowly, her vessel’s ass went from firm and toned to soft, plump, and jiggly, the panties that had been modestly cupped to it now visibly straining to hold the new bulk contained within, even being somewhat visible from the front.

Pushing her vessel’s chest out, possessed lips pulled into a smirk as her breasts began to swell, the small mounds ballooning outwards, getting fatter and more plump, growing several cup sizes in mere minutes, the mass filling them taken from her previously toned abdominal muscles and the excess fat attached to her sides, giving her body a noticeable hourglass figure.

A final touch was her lips plumping out, becoming much more prominent, kissable...cock sucking worthy.

Taking a new look over her vessel’s body, Neo smirked as she groped the woman’s brand new fat tits, smiling as she shuddered at the sensitivity, before glancing further down between her legs.

Seeing the unflattering panties stretched tightly against her mound, her face scrunched up in distaste as she reached down and ripped them clean off her body, tossing the offending garment away, giving her plump bare pussy an appraising look before turning around and sticking her new ass towards the mirror, giving it a wiggle and a shake, before popping her hips, smirking as the fat cheeks clapped against one another with the sound of a gunshot in the small bedroom.

Standing, she nodded to herself; her new vessel was to her satisfaction. But now? Her lips twisted into a devious smirk. Now it was time for her vessel to make a name for herself~

Opening her closet, she was annoyed that the woman had very little in what amounted to ‘sexy’ wear. Multiple versions of the outfit she had been wearing when she had gotten into her were hanging up in the closet, leaving her scowling as she looked at the row of identical clothes.

Opening her dresser, she was similarly disgusted at the lack of sexy underwear. Sports bras and cotton granny panties? She huffed, shutting the drawers in disgust.

She’d have to modify...her eyebrows shot upwards as she saw an outfit that was outright casual in the back. A tank top, suspenders, and miniskirt. It looked perfectly adequate and covering...if her vessel had it’s old proportions.

With a wicked smirk, she snagged it and began to dress. No underwear of course, if she had wanted underwear, she should have been like her last vessel and kept some sexy and slutty underwear in stock! But since all she had was annoying and boring ‘modest’ ones, she was going to give a lot of lucky people a wonderful show!

Taking a look at herself again in the mirror, Neo grinned. The entire underside of her vessel’s new tits were out, as well as the underside of her areola, the darker shade of brown teasingly visible, along with the whole of her trim belly and perfect hourglass figure.

The miniskirt was barely hanging on to her wide hips, a bountiful shelf of ass visible, the skirt itself barely covering half her ass cheeks, and anyone barely glancing down would see the entirety of her pussy visible to their eyes.

Striking a sexy pose, Neo blew a kiss to the mirror and turned around and walked towards the door, swinging her hips, opening it and stepping out, ready to make sure that Harriet Bree would be very well known by morning!

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic Cyber Revolution, Entry 63: Mission Dark

''Get out your guns, battle's begun! Are you a saint, or a sinner? If love's a fight, than I shall die, with my heart on a trigger!''

– Angel With a Shotgun by The Cab

xXxXxXx

Sonic felt waves of agony washing over his body, as if he was being pricked by thousands of tiny needles. He didn't want to even open his eyes, wishing to just fall asleep again and embrace the dark void, but the voices he was hearing in his head kept him awake. At least, he thought those voices were just in his head.

''Sonic? Sonic, wake up?''

''Lu… cas…''

The familiar voice Sonic picked up among the noise caused him to stir, slowly opening his eyes. His vision was blurry, but he had managed to take note that he was lying on a bed and that he was surrounded by people, Lucas being the most prominent one. Sonic blinked tiredly, trying to ignore the pounding in his head and tried to sit up, but was gently pushed down on the pillows by Lucas.

''You're not going anywhere,'' Lucas said in a firm tone, reaching for his hand and giving him a look of concern. ''Do you think you can perform Chaos Surge? It'll help you heal.''

''I… I think so…'' Sonic said, feeling the warm energy that developed between them, quickly absorbing it as he felt another wave of energy, this one soothing as it spread through his body, like a spring breeze. Sonic felt his body relax, focusing on the sense of relief that pushed the pain back. The moment was fleeting, however, as Lucas was forced to cut the supply of the energy to avoid hurting himself. Despite knowing that this was necessary for his partner's safety, his body still demanded more of that soothing energy.

''This should help you.'' Sensing Sonic's pain, Lucas gave him a glass of water and a painkiller pill, hoping that this would be enough for the meantime.

''Thanks,'' Sonic said, returning the glass and trying to breathe normally, only to feel pain in his chest. He winced, noting how how his chest was wrapped in bandages, with a plaster covering the cut on his cheek, as well as bandages also being carefully wrapped around his head and quills, even though he had no idea how he ended up with a head injury. He could see faint bruises underneath his peach and blue fur, but they weren't as visible on the first glance.

''Sonic, are you okay?''

''How do you feel?''

''Does it hurt a lot?''

''We thought you had died!''

Sonic finally turned his attention to the rest of his friends, with Tails, Amy, Silver and Knuckles surrounding him, while Warren, Minami, Makoto, Lily and Touka stood in the back. Touka was turned to the hallway, talking with someone Sonic couldn't see.

''I'm sorry for making you guys worry so much.'' Sonic flashed an assuring smile, his friends feeling relieved to see him being back to his usual self, but they still remained a little concerned. As for Sonic, he felt his heart sink a little when he realized that Shadow was missing. Despite that empty sensation, he still kept a positive attitude. ''This isn't anything that a chili dog can't fix.''

''Unfortunately for you, this isn't fixable with just food. You're lucky Lucas and Touka knew how to patch you up,'' Knuckles told him. Sonic gave both of them a thankful look, with Lucas nodding and Touka just waving back in acknowledgement.

''What had happened to you? We know you've been attacked by Neo Metal Sonic, but how did he end up injuring you so much?'' Tails asked.

''I… I don't really know…'' Sonic admitted, the memories of the battle flashing in the back of his mind. ''I remember him using my, Shadow and Silver's powers, along with some powerful lightning power.''

''Neo Metal Sonic is capable of copying your bio-data, which is how he was able to use all of your powers,'' Minami explained, with Sonic nodding in response.

''What surprises me is how you're still alive,'' Lily said. ''I thought Neo Metal Sonic would end your life for good.''

''That surprised me too. He told me it was an act of mercy,'' Sonic replied.

''He probably wants to fight you again later on,'' Knuckles said, with Sonic agreeing with that sentiment. He gave him a determined smile.

''If that's so, then this time, I will be ready to kick his ass,'' Sonic said.

''However, for now, you're not going anywhere,'' Lucas said. ''I know that the Chaos Surge had probably healed the worst of your injuries, but you'll still have to stay in bed and recover properly.''

This appeared to be the cue for everyone to leave, with the team wishing Sonic good luck recovering and promising too keep an eye out for Metal Sonic in case he decides to cause more trouble. Sonic was glad to have his friends' support, but that sense of emptiness still lingered in his chest… at least, until he heard someone entering the room. Sonic's eyes grew wide in disbelief.

''Shadow?'' he muttered, still stunned, only to smile, feeling a sense of relief. ''I should've figured that you wouldn't go down so easily.''

Shadow was silent, only to walk up to Sonic with a serious expression, leaving the azure hedgehog slightly puzzled. Shadow's crimson eyes flicked slightly to the side, feeling slightly anxious, and then inhaled sharply, gazing at Sonic. ''I apologize for what had happened with Neo Metal Sonic.''

''What?'' Sonic stared at the dark hedgehog, completely bewildered. ''Shadow, what happened is not-''

Shadow shook his head, his eyes narrowing as he took a more aggressive stance. ''If I had reacted just a little faster, we could've fought Neo Metal Sonic together and you wouldn't have gotten injured like this.'' He lowered his head, his fists clenched tightly, his voice heavy. ''It was… horrible seeing you in such state.''

''Shadow…'' Sonic understood well how Shadow felt, despite doing his best to keep his emotions under control. He had seen him how he acted whenever Touka was in serious danger or back when he thought that she was dead because of him, and considering how he and Shadow were now in a relationship, with Shadow willingly opening his heart to him, it wasn't surprising that his reaction to him getting hurt would be like this. Sonic could see the guilt in his eyes, and knew that the dark hedgehog would continue blaming himself for his boyfriend's condition. Sonic sighed, propping himself on his elbows in a sitting position, leaving Shadow alarmed.

''Hey, you shouldn't be moving in this condition!'' Shadow tried to help him when Sonic suddenly felt a wave of pain in his chest, leaving him wondering whether he ended up with a bruised rib. Still, he managed to lean into the pillows in a sitting position. Shadow shot Sonic a glare when he saw Sonic grinning back cheekily.

''Don't worry, I'll sleep it off,'' Sonic told him, trying to lighten the mood, with Shadow sighing.

''You could've gotten an arm ripped off and you would still call it a scratch,'' Shadow grumbled, causing Sonic to give him a half-lidded, teasing look.

''I'm sure that you would react the same way,'' Sonic told him, only for his expression to change to a more serious one, something Shadow caught on. ''You don't have to be all broody and feel guilty for Neo Metal Sonic catching you off guard. We had no idea that this would happen, and you can bet that next time, I won't let him beat me again.''

Shadow had to admit that there was something inspiring in Sonic's perpetual optimism, confidence and determination, and while he admired his positive attitude, he also had keep reminding himself that whenever the azure hedgehog got carried away, he would end up in trouble.

''I hope that in that case, you have a plan on how to take him down,'' Shadow said, only to see Sonic's expression fall, only for a sheepish smile to creep up.

''Uh, yeah! I totally have a plan,'' he said nervously.

''Let me guess; it's rushing into a battle blindly and hope for the best,'' Shadow responded in a deadpan tone. Sonic kept smiling, despite knowing that he got caught.

''I'm sure I'll come up with something eventually,'' Sonic said, with Shadow just giving him a grumpy look, arms folded across his chest. ''But, hey, I'm glad to see that you're back to your usual self, instead of kicking yourself down for what happened.'' Shadow remained silent, his gaze softening, with Sonic patting the free space on the bed, wanting him to sit down. Shadow did as motioned, with Sonic continuing, ''You know, I also thought I lost you there…''

Shadow's eyes widened and his ears drooped, realizing he completely forgot about how Sonic felt when he saw him getting hit by that lightning blast and thrown off the warship. ''Sonic…''

''It's fine, though,'' Sonic added, flashing a bright smile as he placed his gloved hand over Shadow's and squeezed it lightly. ''You're here now, and that's all that matters. In fact, I'm looking forward to our next race.''

Shadow couldn't help but smile softly. If this was months before, when they weren't as close as they were now, he probably would've been baffled by Sonic's reaction and have a hard time understanding why he acted like this. However, now he simply felt exasperated whenever Sonic made such comments and just went along with it, well aware that this was simply who Sonic was. Shadow then leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss on Sonic's temple, Sonic's ear flicking as he appreciated the sign of affection.

''You better stay and recover,'' Shadow told him, only for Sonic to pout in response.

''I'm sure I'll be fine by tomorrow,'' Sonic said, only to feel a several stings of pain piercing his body when Shadow lightly pressed his hand against his bandaged chest, causing his rival to recoil and grimace due to the aching sensation.

''I sincerely doubt it,'' Shadow said, showing only mild irritation, his voice returning back to the usual matter-of-fact tone. ''Don't do anything stupid.''

''Mmmm, but I feel like doing something stupid,'' Sonic replied, grinning cheekily, while Shadow rolled his eyes. ''Hey, don't give me that look. If I do something stupid now, I probably won't try it later.''

''Then, what do you want to do?'' Shadow asked, figuring that he could indulge a little longer. Suddenly, Sonic leaned towards him, planting a deep kiss on Shadow's lips, with Shadow reciprocating. However, it the kiss didn't last long because Sonic couldn't anymore ignore the pain in his chest and quickly pulled back, slumping back into the pillows, hurt, but satisfied. Shadow just gave him an exasperated look. ''Indeed, this is your brand of stupid.''

''It was worth it,'' Sonic replied, still grinning as he watched Shadow leave the room.

xXx

Lucas was with Touka in the living room, both of them talking about what had transpired, as well as figuring that they should give the two hedgehogs some privacy. Their attention was drawn to Shadow as he approached them.

''How is Sonic doing?'' Lucas asked.

''Good luck on keeping Sonic resting for a longer period of time. He'll bolt the moment he gets an opportunity,'' Shadow told him, with Lucas sighing.

''I'll talk to him,'' he muttered, glancing at the two. ''I suppose using Chaos Surge repeatedly would help in his healing.''

''You'll have to be careful with it and not use it recklessly,'' Touka said, giving Shadow a pointed look, her eyes narrowed. Shadow stubbornly avoided her gaze, feeling a little anxious as he knew what she meant. Lucas felt a little sorry for the dark hedgehog.

''I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for your help,'' Lucas replied, watching the two leave and quickly walking over to Sonic's bedroom, furrowing a brow when he saw Sonic attempts to get up. The moment the hedgehog saw the annoyed teenager, he quickly lied down, acting as if nothing has happened.

''Oh, hey Lucas!'' Sonic gave him an innocent smile, trying not to show how much the movement hurt him. Lucas shot him a glare, but then shook his head.

''I won't be scolding you for trying to get out of bed, but if you don't want to get yourself hurt even more and spend weeks recovering instead of a couple of days, I sincerely recommend you to just stay put,'' Lucas told him in a firm tone, with Sonic understanding that he as still in trouble and that he shouldn't challenge Lucas. He might be The Fastest Thing Alive, but he had a feeling that Lucas would somehow catch him and drag him back to rest.

''Fine, I'll stay in bed,'' Sonic said, realizing that he shouldn't fight this. There were a few things he was curious about. ''How long have I been out?''

''For a few of hours,'' Lucas replied, sitting down on the bed, figuring he should fill Sonic in on what had happened. ''The Chaotix, Rouge, Omega, Cream and Big were fighting with us against Ferra and her army of Badniks inside the Grand Metropolis AR Field, while you and Shadow, from what I understood, were stuck at Final Fortress and confronted by Neo Metal Sonic. Once you were beaten and sent to our location, Shadow had used Chaos Control to immediately warp us to our home, so Touka and I could patch you up.''

''I'm surprised that Shadow had enough energy left for using Chaos Control,'' Sonic said.

''Touka did use Chaos Surge to heal him, but the moment he saw just how bad your condition was, he became quite distraught and channelled all of that energy into Chaos Control, and then collapsed. He was actually resting on the couch in the living room with Rouge and Omega watching over him while Touka and I tended to you,'' Lucas explained. ''To say that Touka was furious at him for using all of his energy to warp everyone to Eas would be an understatement, even if she did agree to use Chaos Control to get you here. Shadow did respond how he only wanted to warp you to somewhere where you could get medical assistance, and the rest of the group just got caught in it, resulting in him depleting almost all of his energy.''

''Heh, and he calls me reckless…'' Sonic smirked.

''The Chaotix, Cream and Cheese, Big, Rouge and Omega left once we made sure that you were fine, so we waited until you woke up and could use Chaos Surge consciously instead of draining my BioEnergy instinctively, because your body did react like that while trying to heal itself from its injuries,'' Lucas added, humming in thought. ''I suppose that, even if you're an Irregular not actively going after BioEnergy, your body still recognizes it and tries to absorb it when placed in a dire situation. Speaking of which, I'm still a little tired, but I'm planning on to use Chaos Surge again to help you heal faster, so don't worry, you'll only be confined to the bed for a day or two.''

''Even that's too long,'' Sonic snarked back, his expression changing to a nervous one, followed by a sweatdrop when he saw Lucas' annoyed expression. ''I promise, this was my last quip. I'll stay put. In fact, I'll go to sleep right now.''

''Okay,'' Lucas said, standing up. ''If you need anything, just call me.''

Sonic nodded, trying to shift into a comfortable position that would help him fall asleep easier despite the aching sensation. It was a bit difficult to find a good position, as he either felt as if he was punched in the ribs or pricked by thousand needles. Even the painkiller could only do so much in numbing his senses, with Sonic deciding to let his mind wander to not think about the pain, landing eventually on the image of Neo Metal Sonic.

I wasn't strong nor fast enough to defeat him, but I'm not going to let him bring me down. That would be the moment I would be truly defeated, and I refuse for that to happen. So, as long as I can get up again, I will continue to fight.

He nuzzled his pillow, the image of Neo Metal Sonic fading away and, as Sonic nuzzled the pillow, the image of black and white fur forming in his mind. Sonic whined into his pillow, having to admit that he wished Shadow was by his side and that they could cuddle. He missed his warmth, the soft scent of lavender mixed with the bitter taste of coffee, the deep, purring voice that made his heart flutter. While he had fun messing around with Shadow whenever he was his aloof and serious self, he also loved his gentle, caring and protective side. He chuckled lightly, noting how anxious he was initially about confronting his own feelings in regards to Shadow, and now he genuinely wanted to spend time with him like this.

But, that will have to wait.

xXx

Rouge smiled contently as she observed the three people she had called to her club. Omega was already working there as the bouncer, while Shadow had recovered quickly despite the events that had happened the day before, mostly thanks to his healing factor and the fact that Touka was keeping a close eye on him to make sure that he'd be fully rested for this, even adding Chaos Surge to speed up his own recovery. After all, there was a reason Rouge and Omega appeared at Solar Stadium when Ferra and Neo Metal Sonic sent out the Badniks, and this distraction cut any conversation they had planned short. Therefore, they decided to resume it the next day at Club Rouge.

''I will cut to the chase, since none of you is interested in long conversations,'' Rouge said. ''I got a call from a client who had asked me to go on a special mission to retrieve a valuable item, and I had figured that I could bring back Team Dark for this mission.''

''Why?'' Shadow asked. ''You claim that you're the world's greatest spy, so why would you ask for help?''

''The same reason you, The Ultimate Lifeform, are willing to work together with others instead of always being on your own,'' Rouge said, smirking slyly when Shadow frowned, avoiding eye-contact with her and not responding. She then turned to Touka and Omega. ''What about you two? Do you want to join?''

''Will there be Eggman robots to destroy?'' Omega asked. Rouge put a finger on her lips as she thought about it.

''I'm not completely sure about it, but it is possible that we might come across a few robots,'' she replied.

''1% chance of encountering Eggman robots is still 1% of me getting the chance to destroy them,'' Omega said, with Rouge knowing that he agreed with the mission.

''Where are going to? What are we even supposed to retrieve?'' Touka asked, giving Rouge a questioning look. ''I need more details.''

''I was just getting to it. My client, who is working for CyExLabs, had told me that someone stole the prototype for a directed-energy generator they were working on. To put it in simple terms, the device was initially supposed to be used as a part of a new secret weapon for ARMS, but after that fiasco, my client started having second thoughts about it. The information then got leaked, and a few days later, it was gone,'' Rouge explained. ''I have spent most of my time trying to track it down, and eventually found a warehouse outside Souto posing as an auction house for so-called high-class clientele. Unfortunately, I couldn't get inside as it appears to be invitation-only and the Irregulars guarding it weren't exactly a jolly bunch. That's when I realized that I would need proper back-up.''

''How do you know that the device wasn't sold to someone by now?'' Shadow asked.

''Do you really think that I don't do my homework thoroughly, especially when I'm being offered a generous reward for completing it?'' Rouge countered, giving him a teasing smile. Shadow huffed, figuring this was less about returning a stolen item to its owner and more about getting paid in gems.

''I apologize for even asking,'' he responded in a deadpan tone. Rouge just kept smiling, well aware that he was just being grumpy, and gave the whole group a confident look.

''So, I take it that Team Dark is back in action?'' she asked. There was a firm nod from all three of her teammates, agreeing to the mission.

xXx

''Hm.'' Rouge tapped on her AR Visor eye-piece, having used the binoculars feature, having been observing the two Irregulars standing at the entrance to the warehouse. It was nighttime, and they were at an area just a bit outside Souto that was filled with various warehouses, some still in use, some abandoned. Not many people came here, and even if they did, they only minded their own business, so it was a perfect place for those with less-than-honorable intentions to do whatever they wanted. ''It seems like there are only two guards, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are more inside it.''

''It shouldn't be too difficult to knock them out without raising any alarm,'' Shadow said, pulling his own AR Visor goggles back on the top of his head. He and Rouge were crouching on top of a different warehouse, hidden from the guards as they observed the situation. As for Touka and Omega, they were on the ground, remaining hidden behind the building and waiting for the two to form their plan.

''I suppose we'll rely on your speed and combat skills for that,'' Rouge said.

''It depends on whether you want them to get knocked out or blown up. If it's the latter, I believe that Omega would be happy to contribute,'' Shadow replied. Rouge giggled at the response, with the two leaping off the building and relying the information they gathered to Touka and Omega.

''We got two guards outside, no patrols,'' Rouge told them. ''Unfortunately, we don't know whether there is anyone inside the warehouse, since no one entered or exited the building, but the light is on.''

''There are probably guards inside,'' Touka said, arms folded across her chest. ''I suppose we'll have to sneak inside. Sorry, Omega.''

''There is still 1% chance for complete destruction. There is always 1% chance for complete destruction,'' Omega replied.

''Nice to see your optimism,'' Rouge commented, placing her hand on her hip. ''I haven't seen a back entrance, but some of the windows are shattered, so we have two ways of getting inside. Touka, you're with me. Shadow and Omega, you'll take the front entrance. Don't use excessive violence unless necessary. We want to keep things clean, boys.''

Both Shadow and Omega gave her an annoyed look, while Rouge and Touka countered with a knowing look. They certainly knew their teammates well enough. After performing Chaos Surge, Rouge motioned Touka to follow her, the latter using her hoverboard to keep up with the bat. Meanwhile, Shadow and Omega were rushing towards the front entrance, keeping a close eye on the two rather burly Irregulars. Neither of them could even react when they got knocked out via a kick to the head by a dark figure who appeared out of nowhere. This was followed by Shadow and Omega dragging their unconscious bodies behind several boxes and covering them in tarp so no one would find them and get suspicious. The two then entered the warehouse.

''I know this is a warehouse, but this…'' Shadow muttered, a bit surprised by what he saw.

''It looks like a hoarder house,'' Omega finished his thought.

The two were met by mounds and mounds of clutter; robot parts, all kinds of scrap, boxes of who-knows-what, items of value like jewelry, broken household appliances, and even what appeared to be a black gun case right at the entrance. Shadow sincerely hoped that it was empty. It was a neat freak's worst nightmare, looking like whatever was brought here was just dumped without any thought, turning the whole warehouse into a maze.

''Let's start searching. If we come across someone, we'll take them down non-lethally,'' Shadow told Omega.

''What if they decide to use lethal force?'' Omega asked.

''I don't think any kind of lethal force will be enough to take the two of us down,'' Shadow told him, with Omega making a sound of disappointment. ''But, I suppose if it comes to that, lethal force is approved.''

This immediately caused Omega to perk up, with the two resuming their mission.

xXx

''Called it,'' Touka muttered when she and Rouge spotted a guard walking between the mounds of clutter. The two had entered through the broken window and landed on the catwalk, with Touka slotting her hoverboard back in the bag she was wearing on her back so it wouldn't get in her way. ''Any idea where we should start? The device could be anywhere.''

''I wouldn't be so sure about it,'' Rouge said, pointing at the mounds. ''It looks chaotic, but that mound is solely scrap metal. I think that, despite the lack of organization, certain items go on certain mounds.''

''Now that you mentioned it, yeah, I agree…'' Touka followed Rouge as they swiftly walked over the catwalk, making sure to keep as low as possible so they wouldn't be seen and making sure they didn't make any noise. The two then stopped when they saw a guard right below them, with Touka pressing a finger on her lips to make it clear to Rouge that they couldn't talk and motioning for her to stand still. Their hearts raced as the guard stopped for a moment, looking around, and then continued to walk, not noticing the two above him. Rouge and Touka quickly made their way over to the other end of the building, keeping an eye on the clutter to see whether the device was anywhere close to them as, fortunately, Rouge's client also provided them with the blueprints of the device so they at least had an idea what it looked like.

''This is like searching for a needle in a haystack,'' Touka whispered to Rouge when they reached the other end.

''Fortunately, you're with the world's greatest treasure hunter,'' Rouge replied.

BOOM!

Both Touka and Rouge recoiled when they heard an explosion from where the entrance was, their eyes wide and glancing at each other in disbelief, with Rouge muttering, ''So much for keeping a low profile…''

''I'm sure they'll be fine. Let's go!'' Touka said, grabbing Rouge's hand, with the two running across another catwalk, being ignored by the guard who rushed towards where Omega and Shadow were, not noticing the two above them.

xXx

Shadow had to admit that he was planning on sticking to the plan of not alerting anyone to their presence, but that was a bit difficult due to a partially rebuilt Badnik suddenly waking up just as they passed by, resulting in battle between the three, with Omega gleefully firing at the Badnik. While they had managed to take it down easily, it seemed that this Badnik alerted another one, which was also partially rebuilt. Shadow decided to let Omega deal with it, while he fought off the guards that came running to their location. Some of them were armed with recycled cannons taken from the Badniks, but Shadow was too fast for them, skating between them and punching them right in the face. He could hear someone shout, followed by a blast of energy, and quickly vanished in a flash of light, appearing above his attacker and knocking him down with a swift kick. He grabbed the guard by his neck, lifting him up.

''Where is the directed-energy generator?'' Shadow growled menacingly, with the guard flailing, looking rather frightened.

''I ain't got any clue man, I was just hired to guard this place! I don't do inventory!'' the guard responded in panic. Realizing that he wasn't going to get any answer from him, Shadow threw him into a mound, the latter getting knocked out due to the impact. He turned to Omega.

''Let's find someone who can give us a proper answer,'' he said, with Omega agreeing. The two then sped through the warehouse, fighting anyone who came across them, only to come across a giant polar bear Badnik. While Shadow decided not to question the presence of Badniks inside the warehouse, he did have to wonder whether Dr. Eggman had something to do with it, but part of him doubted it. As for Omega, he didn't care, pointing his cannon arms at it, firing a missile at it and damaging its chest. Shadow wanted to help him, but he was suddenly grabbed by what appeared to be a mini-mecha, tossing him right across the warehouse. The Irregular inside the mini-mecha leapt across the mounds of clutter, landing right in front of the dark hedgehog.

''Not so tough, are we?!'' The guard grinned maliciously, with Shadow getting on his feet. Chaos Energy crackling between his fingers, he rushed towards the mini-mech, avoiding the blade that popped out of its arm and damaging the leg via a summoned Chaos Spear. His AR Visor suddenly buzzed, a small holographic screen popping next to him.

''Shadow, we secured the device,'' Rouge said. ''We're going to get you and Omega.''

''No. Go get Omega and leave this place. I'll find my own way out,'' Shadow replied in a curt tone, hearing a sigh of exasperation, with the screen closing. He turned back to the mini-mech, avoiding another swing of the blade, and spin-dashing right into the chest of the mini-mech, knocking it down. The mini-mech started to spark, with the alarmed Irregular quickly abandoning it as there was a small explosion that caused permanent damage to it. Shadow then scanned his surroundings, wondering if he could find something that would point him towards an exit, only to see some kind of vehicle partially covered by a tarp. He walked up to it and removed the tarp, his eyes widening in surprise at what he saw.

He then smirked.

xXx

Omega was grappling with the polar bear Badnik, the latter having gotten too close for his long-range attacks to properly work. Fortunately for him, a white and pink explosive got dropped on the Badniks head, alongside a Chaos Spear, causing the Badnik to stumble around and Omega firing another missile to finish it off.

''We need to leave now.'' Rouge flew up to him, holding a bag with the device inside it, followed by Touka on the hoverboard, whose eyes were now glowing orange.

''Where is Shadow?'' Omega inquired, following the two to the front entrance.

''He said he'd find his own way out. Hurry up!'' Rouge replied. They suddenly heard an alarm going off, feeling a chill running down their spine when they saw the steel door slowly pulling down. Touka pressed the accelerator on her hoverboard, grabbing Rouge's arm and speeding up, with Omega being just behind them as he used his twin jets to go faster. They managed to reach the entrance just in time, getting outside the warehouse, with the steel door closing behind them.

''I really hope that Shadow made it out,'' Touka said, worried for her brother.

However, before either of them could even say or do anything, they heard an explosion from the side of the building and ran over to it, noting how part of the wall was broken. Suddenly, they heard a mechanical noise of a growling engine, with a Shadow on a black and red motorcycle leaping out of the smoke and rubble, performing a sliding bike stop as he landed on the ground, sparks flying as the metal came in contact with the asphalt.

Touka and Rouge dropped their jaws, completely baffled by this entrance, while Omega was rather impressed. Shadow, on the other hand, had a self-satisfied smirk on his lips, looking incredibly proud of himself.

''You really couldn't help yourself…'' Touka snarked after snapping out of her stunned state. Shadow revved up the bike.

''If we're done here, we should leave now,'' Shadow said, still smirking. The rest of his team could only agree, following Shadow's lead.

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#Sonic Cyber Revolution (Masterlist)

[97keanu]

Neo x goth hacker!reader

***read the revised edition here

Premise: The year is 1999, you are a hacker who has been keeping up with another local hacker in the area called "Neo". He's been stealing all your clients lately, and thats a no go for you. As you dig deeper you begin to be interested in the work he does, so you decide to reach out and see if you can meet up. Cue Neo being a nerdy, but somehow cocky, computer hacker who's never had a girlfriend and finds himself being nervous to meet a pretty girl online. (No matrix, Pre First Movie AU where the events of the matrix never happened.)

Tags: small enemies to lovers, red string of fate, themes of loneliness/touch starved(especially Neo), slow burn, multichapter, goth!reader, nerdy!Neo, virgin!Neo. Eventual Smut in coming will contain: aggressive sex, age difference (23/35), aftercare, dominance and submission, restraints, potentially bdsm/choking/slapping/spanking.

A/N: This took so long y'all, please let me know if you like it! It would mean a lot :)

Read part two here! Read part three here!

You sit in your bedroom, your computers basking you in a green glow. You are wearing very little, it's a hot summer night for Chicago, and the window and fan you have running do little to help. It's late, well past midnight. You should be sleeping but something has been bothering you lately.

Your typical clients, who come to you for illegal information that you've hacked from the government, haven't been coming in. In fact, you're getting more small time stuff than ever, faked ID requests, fake official reports for god knows what with these people, and the last straw was today, when you were asked if you could illegally pirate a DVD for some teen.

"Really? Back to burned DVDS?" You had thought to yourself. It was almost laughable if it wasn't for the fact that without the bigger time jobs your rent wasn't getting paid. And there was no way you were going to get a real corporate job like the rest of the early 20 somethings your age.

You had asked your closest client over IM earlier tonight. And what he gave back to you, was a name.

[Neo] The screen had read back to you, as if taunting you with the existence him.

Well...if this "Neo" guy was taking all your clientele, then you were going to look into him. You worked too hard for your hacker prestige to be brought back down to pirating soft core porn for any local sleeze ball. No...you were going to find this guy and confront him.

So that's why you've been working tirelessly these past four hours, hunting down any trace of "Neo" online. You haven't found much yet, but you can feel yourself getting closer. The more false leads you eliminate, the more the real one will stick out when you see it. You rub your eyes until you see inky little stars and after you pull up your long black hair into a pony tail so that it's off your neck in this heat. That's one thing you hated about summer the most. The heat. It left you little black options to wear, and that consisted of your entire wardrobe being almost unbearable. No, right now you were stuck with a black tank top and no pants just to survive.

You take a moment to gaze out your small apartment window, just to get away from the glow of the computers for a second. The Chicago skyline greets you as you open up the window enough to straddle a leg out of it. The night air helps, and a cool breeze blows on your sweaty skin. You need this. Just a moment to yourself before you get back to it. You pull out a cigarette and light up the end with a faint red glow.

As you gaze out, you see other little apartments in the area. Your apartment is high enough up that you have a great view of all the dazzling lights of the city. One perk of the shithole you live in. You sigh out a puff of smoke, and think of all the tiny white flecks of windows. Some of the closer ones you can see into better. You can see from here a kitchen window of an older couple making dinner, someone's living room with a blue gash of flickering images passing by. Your eye catches on an apartment somewhat like your own, a greem glow with their own computers, the owner sleeping softly at their desk. You wonder where all their lives will go when you look away. Do they cease to exist because your gaze does not fall upon them...? No...you know logically it doesn't work like that, but it sure does feel like it. You don't think you've known a true friend that you've kept up with in years. Just you and your computers...

You finish your cigarette break, and find your way back inside your bedroom, popping Wish by The Cure into your walkman, ready to plug back in and search for the fucker stealing all your jobs.

It's a few hours still till you find it. There it is, a sloppy job this 'Neo' must have done at some point. He left behind some evidence and here you are finding it like a fingerprint at a crime seen. After you find something Neo must have gotten his hands onto, and see it there. His IP address was left behind. Now it's time to have some fun...

You begin to run your own home grown line of code. Its intricate, a bit unstable, but it will do. You get access to a lot of his computer files, but most importanty the IM app he uses to message. You're also surprised to find a photo of him as youre searching around. Or what you assume is his face. You can't help it, but when you see him, you think he looks sort of cute. A part of you curdles at the thought of finding the enemy cute, but its the truth. He has big brown puppy dog eyes, you've always been a sucker for eyes like his. You catch yourself blushing and force your mind to stay on task, not all the features that make his face soft.

You get back to working with your program. If this works correctly it would give you an in to talk to him. You can use this program to help you hack right into Neo's friend list and send him an IM. You grab a coke from your mini fridge and get to work, the cool, bubbly liquid waking you up enough to finish the task.

Finally, after what seems like ages, you're in. You send Neo a message, leaving your typical dorky screen name on. Its not your real name anyways so it doesn't matter.

[NightShade]: I hear you've been stealing all my clients, Neo...

You think for a moment, wondering what exactly you should say first, but this seems good as anything. You're worried because he was so hard to find, he might just ignore or block you. Doesn't hurt to try, so you press send and lean back in your chair, somewhat proud of the night you've had.

As you wait, you begin to think the other hacker is likely asleep. You sigh, sleep coming to claim your eyes just as well, so you decide to get up and take a shower. It'll help with how hot it is too, you determine with a nod of self assurance as you hop up out of your chair.

You are attending to a bit of self care in the cool shower, when you hear a ping! You don't think you've ever scrambled out of the shower so fast.

You attempt not to slip on the titles as you rush out, and find yourself padding with wet hair to computer chair in nothing but a black towel. You feel too nervous to look, what if he doesn't want to talk to you? You did come on strong with your first message, accusing him of stealing your clients and all...

[Neo]: Who are you? How did you message me?

The computer reads you as sit, wondering how to respond. It is a strange predicament in general, you suppose, but you're not backing down now. You pause and consider how to reply, but a part of your heart beats with happiness that he responded at all.

[NightShade]: You're not the only hacker in town you know, and word is that most of my return customers have been coming to you lately.

You sit back and bite your lip, you know you're confronting him and all, but really, what is the end goal...is it just to say you tried? Is it to win him over? Beg him to stay out your side of the business...you're not sure. You feel this strange pull to him regardless.

[Neo]: So, in retaliation you've taken it upon yourself to contact me and complain?

He's right, maybe this whole thing is childish. Maybe you're childish, despite being 23 and trying to make it as a big time hacker like the rest of them. You can't help as the late night anxiety whittles on...

[NightShade]: Well, if I could find you within the night, who's to say the government couldn't? Why don't we create something here that helps us both...

You're not even sure what you're getting at, but you don't want him to log off. You watch, waiting for him to type again...

[Neo]: And what would you suggest?

"Shit..." You mumble to yourself and find your hand is nervously rubbing at your thin eyebrow hair. You've been trying to quit that, but nervous ticks are hard to kick.

"Alright, we gotta be smart here. If we propose something stupid he's going to realize I'm just a young, dumb girl who knows a bit of hacking. Nothing special..." You often find yourself speaking out plans, there's no one better to talk to at your disposal so might as well.

You consider your options. Should you ask him to divide up turf? Divide up clients? You highly doubt that would impress or please him. No, but maybe you could offer something else...

You begin working on the computer, and checking Neo's connection. He was terribly hard to find for those few hours but honestly, it wouldn't take the government long to find him if you could. Not to mention, as you look, he has all sorts of back doors to controlling his computer. You browse a few files and find yourself nodding and smirking as you see a folder full of goth girl porn. Seems he has type...you aren't sure if it helps or hurts that you dress similar to the cyber girls in his computer.

Ultimately, he might be good at getting the info for the clients, but he is shoddy at best at keeping his own ass covered. You get back to the IM window and type...

[NightShade]: I know you must obviously be good at getting info for clients, or else they wouldn't leave me to come to you. However, you don't keep yourself safe enough out here. Like I said, I found you in a few hours. And I can clearly see into your files you have hidden right now, such as some extremely saucy pictures of girls in black leather...I can help you fix that...If you're willing.

You hit send and feel a chill run down your back despite the heat. Will he be receptive? You have no idea. Maybe you shouldn't have mentioned finding his porn folder so easily.

Quite a few minutes pass before you hear a response, and you were starting to believe he was surely beginning to block you. That sweet sound of your computer pinging steps you out of your thoughts quickly.

[Neo]: So...you found my weakness...and you propose to help. What's in it for you?

"Yes!" You think, feeling like pumping the air. "He didn't say no!"

[NightShade]: We stop splitting clients, we work on the hacks together and I keep your ass from ending up being tracked down again. Divide the profits accordingly.

This time, you get no response. In fact, you sit at your computer for another hour before dragging your tired body to you tiny, disheveled bed. You leave your computer on, awaiting the signature ping just incase. As you lie in bed, you turn so you can see outside the large window beside your dark enclave of a mattress that holds you. As you gaze out at the city once more, you can't help but feel drawn to that other apartment. It's green glow blinks every so often, as it the sleeping stranger was stirring before the window. Pacing, perhaps like your mind does as you drift off.

✧✧✧

Thomas Anderson, better known as 'Neo' to most of the world he gets little socialization with, is half drooling on his desk when he hears that persistent ping! of his computer. Groggy and tired he opens his eyes, the green glow of his computer the only source of light in his tiny dark room. As his eyes adjust, he let's his pale hands rub sleep from his eyes just to solidify that he's awoken. A light layer of sweat glistens from the computer light, and tries to wipe some of that too, not that it helps.

He groans a little as he pulls up the nagging chat window that's blinking for attention. Probably some client that wants this or that, ASAP as always with these people.

His sharp brows furrow as he sees a name he doesn't recognize.

"NightShade?" He talks aloud to himself, only his ears around to hear anyways in his little apartment. He is surprised this person was able to get onto his friend list, he thought he ran a pretty tight ship over here, but maybe the extra shifts at his day job were making him sloppy. He finds himself sitting in a bit of disbelief before responding to their claim of "client stealing" as they put it.

"I mean, who does this person think they are?" He scoffs into the dark, humid night air. His sweaty fingers tap along a response questioning who the identity of this 'NightShade' character is. He's surprised when they respond almost immediately, claiming to be a fellow hacker.

"Sure..." He rolls his eyes to no one as he takes the situation in. "Probably some petty kid mad that their clients found a real hacker for their needs." He reaches over and pulls a cigarette out of a discarded box on his messy desk. He pops it loosely into his mouth, half for the comfort at the moment. He's not ready to light up, just yet.

The other hacker responds, supposedly finding Neo's IP and computer just within a few hours. He'll double that for their sake, not really believing his rig is THAT easily infiltrated. But they do make a good point...if he is seeing this message at all, who's to say who else could get in?

Neo is intrigued to say the least, he wipes his sweaty palms on his dark sweatpants and responds, asking what the other party has in mind then.

"This should be interesting..." His voice is husky with sleep and an overall tiredness that seems to permeate his entirety. The other hacker takes a moment to respond, so Neo rolls his desk chair to the nearby window. He cracks it and light his cigarette finally, looking out to the cityscape.

He watches a plane lazily draw across the sky like a star blinking in and out of existence, and he wonders how despite his business of being a hacker having been so solitary he has found himself seemingly intrigued by this supposed other hacker. His eyes drift across the city apartments, and he doesn't notice his pause on another green glowing apartment across the way at first. He let's a long drag of smoke billow out the window as he focuses on it more.

From here he can see a tiny form of a girl, and he actually blushes as he realizes they're in nothing but a towel. He hasn't seen a real life woman in such a vulnerable state in a while. He takes another drag as he sighs out the smoke to the thought that he's been more than a while...

He doesn't take his eyes away though, he knows he's safe for looking at this distance anyways, so he watches as the young woman is seemingly typing on her own computer. Its not uncommon as a pass time anymore, more and more people are starting to use this new 'internet' thing, after all.

Still, he wonders for a moment how she feels. Is she as lonely as he is in his tiny room, typing, typing away all night long. Does she like the people she types to? Neo rarely does.

He watches her until he hears another ping, tearing his eyes away and stubbing out the cigarette on the window sill.

He rotates back to his computer to see the other hackers message, and laughs out loud at the fact that they seemingly found his porn folder. Its less unnerving than the other party probably thinks, its likely they believe Neo to be had in this scenario. In a strange turn of events, he's finding himself feeling a rush over the whole thing, with a twinge of nerves since they do after all, seem to be able to see into his whole system here.

Its a strange feeling for him, he hasn't felt so naked in such a way for so long. Its as if someone has walked into his room while he was undressing, but instead of fear, he feels a rush of endorphins. Its almost voyeuristic, and he has to laugh at that thought too.

"Alright, so they can see into my computer," he speaks, as his mind begins to race, considering all the possibilities here. He might as well see what they have in mind to do about this, so he responds.

He is utterly surprised at their proposal for teamwork, however. Somehow this makes him recoil. The thought of working with another in such away. He has been alone in this for as long as he can remember...

He bites his lip as he considers how much they've seen of him so far. Its only fair that he can take a look as well...

Neo disregards the other hackers message for now and immediately goes to work. Since they've been messaging him and all, its pretty easy for him to worm his way into finding their computer. The hard part is getting in. It actually takes him much longer than he expects and when he does get in, its very tip of the iceberg. In fact, he's utterly surprised that all he can find at first is normie information like what movies this guy watches and some music tastes. He ends up down the rabbit hole for a few hours before he sees something that freezes him.

A profile picture for an online goth community. He can only assume its the other hacker, and what he knows now is that NightShade is a woman, an exceptionally attractive woman at that.

He can't explain it, but seeing her image has struck him. Something about her is absolutely engrossing. He finds himself leaning closer to the screen, until he can pick out the pixels beginning to form. His heart skips a beat or two as he realizes he's enamored...

He pulls back, looks away.

"Get a hold of yourself, its just some girl, you could see another on the street whenever you want." he speaks in a whisper as he leaves his chair and begins to pace his tiny room.

Why? Why is knowing she's a beautiful woman, who's exactly his type, complicating this? Is he really that touch starved that he's like some highschool boy after seeing his crush in the hallway. No...he's a 35 year old man here, he should be having these strange feelings.

And with this surge of emotion out of him plus his penance for working alone, he can't seem to find anyway of a team effort working out between them. He starts a few times from pacing to go back to his desk and reply that he is uninterested, but he can't seem to finish the task.

Neo finds himself sitting on this thought all night and more, your face left in a browser on his computer...

✧✧✧

It's been a week since you messaged Neo, and after the first day or so, your heart felt heavy. You know it really isn't that deep, but the rejection took a hit on you. You started agreeing to CD burns and mix tapes on the fourth day, you feel so down and strapped for cash. You actively seek out reasons to leave your room because it beats sitting around for a reply that won't come, as well as all the lack of work you've been having.

Tonight, you drag home some Chinese take out, walking up the steps of your apartment building as if your legs are made of sludge. By the time you throw yourself into your apartment, you can barely muster the energy to eat. You store most of the food away for tomorrow, but keep the crab rangoons, those don't heat up very nice after all.

You set up at your desk, working on getting ahold of some test answers for some highschool when it happens. The noise startles you enough that the crab rangoon hanging out of your mouth hits your desk. You quickly change tabs and can't even stop yourself from looking immediately.

[Neo]: I'm in. But I think we should meet in person to go over this.

You have no idea if you should fake that you've seen it, or reply straight away. You know that he might think you were waiting on him this whole time if you reply too fast, so you force yourself to finish eating while you sit and stare at the green glow of the screen with a fervor to reply.

Just when you think you can't finish the last bite fast enough, you thrust your greasy fingers to the keys.

[NightShade]: Alright, but I say when and where.

You're so much cooler through the computer, he has no idea that you're over here gushing because you know he's cute and likes to hack too. It's ridiculous, you find yourself ridiculing inwards.

[Neo]: Deal, your choice.

You think for a moment, in disbelief that he really means it. You decide to point him to the local goth club you frequent, Club Hel. You are a member there, so you have a private booth you two can talk in. You let him know where to go and who to ask for. You decide, fuck it, tomorrow can't come soon enough so might as well do it then. You go over the details and the two of you are seemingly on the same page. You stop replying this time first to get the upper hand, even though you're pretty sure the concept is childish in nature.

It's been a long day so you plop on a Deftones tee and hop into bed. Strangely enough, your dreams are filled with soft brown eyes and computer code...

✧✧✧

[yourkimjaejin]

Dizzying Thoughts

In Osaka

“Unnie-yah, You ate right? I didn’t see you grab anything.” Juno sat down with her full plate in catering. The younger barely missed the leader's wince. Moxy’s face snapped back into a neutral position when Juno looked up. 

“Yeah I had some food earlier.” 

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

In Madrid

“Migyeong-ah, I didn’t see you eat today. You’ve had something right?” Soonjae asked her charge while Moxy adjusted her mic.

“I ate a granola bar Unnie. You know how my stomach is before a show. I promise to eat after.” Before Soonjae could respond, The stage director started rehearsal.

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

In Paris

“What did you order last night, Gyeongie?” Hannah luckily was lounging on one of the beds in Moxy’s room while the aforementioned leader was finishing up her skincare in the bathroom. It’s lucky cause Hannah missed the flash of panic that racked thru older’s body while she thought of an answer. 

“Uhh…..I got a……burger?” 

“Really?” Hannah sat up, “I got one too but Kenji-oppa never mentioned getting you one too.” 

“He must have gotten mine earlier than you.” Moxy walked out the bathroom, praying her face didn’t betray her.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The members of AG and their tour crew were crowded around two long tables with piles of food lining each one. The group was celebrating ending the European leg of AG’s tour with a final show in London tonight. While her members and staff sat around talking jovially and devouring the food laid out for them, Moxy sat hunched over. Moving the food around on her plate, illuding that she was eating. But Moxy had been doing quite the opposite for a while now. 

See, our precious leader has an anxious stomach. Sometimes things get so severe that the sight of food nauseates her. Leading to the rapper going on stage with nothing for her body to feed off of for three hours of vigorous dancing and exhausting singing. Nervousness mostly affects her before big moments in her career. Her first stage of Limitless. The first time she sang You Don’t Know Me. Her first recording session for Something Like A Party. You get the point.

It was never something she couldn’t manage. Once her worries were disproven, she’d take the time to eat and everything would be right with the world. Noone would be none the wiser. The first time it got real bad was during 127’s tour, Neo City - The Origin. Moxy was so nervous. Anxious over how each crowd would receive her. Everytime the boys offered her food she shrugged it off, promising to eat later at the hotel. Then she’d there and a whole new batch of fearful thoughts crept into her brain, taking her appetite with them. 

This went on for a weeks. Regretfully, all of 127 were just starting to get along. So the boys weren’t tuned into Moxy behavior until it was too late. After the group's show in Phoenix, Moxy collapsed as soon as she made it backstage. Nobody had a clue what was wrong so Soonjae made the decision to call an ambulance. She was diagnosed with low blood sugar and was forced to spend the night for observation. The managers knew they had to get to Houston. They all could tell getting them to leave would be like pulling teeth so they rebooked flights. Migyeong got the scolding of her life from Johnny when she came to. She proceeded to get smothered within an inch of her life between the arms of Doyoung and Taeyong. 

127 had a serious talk about what Moxy had been going through after the next show. Jaehyun and Doyoung paired up on ways to help the rapper get past her nerves before they got on stage and it worked. As the tour went forward, with her members help, Moxy was able to stomach small meals and snacks before performing. Anytime another attack came, she knew her members would be right there to help even when Moxy had to fly back to Korea for AG’s debut.

Before AG left for their tour, Johnny talked to her about keeping up with meals. 

“I’m seriously Migyeong-ah. I do not want to hear about you fainting while I’m here and you’re across the country.” Moxy grabbed Johnny’s hand. She felt the same concerns but she was better now. 

“It won’t get to that point and if it does I’ll tell Hannah. You know she doesn’t play with any of our health.” Moxy continued to pack. She missed her oppa’s concerned gaze. 

Now almost a month later and it was worse. Moxy was lucky to fly under Hannah's radar while the second oldest fretted over Aurora and her healing burn. As she looked around at the others happily shoveling food into their mouths, it nauseated her even further. Moxy pushed her plate away, ready to escape the stuffy restaurant into the sweet silence of her hotel room. But her actions caught the attention of her dongsaeng. 

“Unnie have you even eaten anything? Your plate still looks full.” Juno stole a piece of the elders chicken. The leader had to fight off the look of disgust. Then the question registered in her brain. If Moxy was in an anime, that one sweat drop would be right next to her forehead. 

“Oh! That's just because….. I grabbed more food than I can handle. Don’t wanna be too bloated before tomorrow.” She rubbed her stomach to sell the lie. 

“Are you girls excited?” Soonjae interrupted, “The crowd last night was crazy. I swear they’re the loudest we’ve heard so far.” 

Hannah snorted, “Yeah lets hope we don’t get another crying session courtesy of Aurora.” Aurora reached out to smack Hannah’s shoulder but the elder ducked out of the way. “YAH! I told you that was because my nanan was in the crowd.” Happy to have the attention off of her, Moxy slumped down in her chair.. The nauseous feeling dulling down. Maybe once she gets to the hotel, she’d be up to eating something. 

Yeah, she could do that. Just make it to the hotel. 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

That hotel meal didn’t happen. After dinner finished, Moxy had every intention of ordering something small but the girls were called to the venue to do some testing and last minute rehearsals. They didn’t finish until 3am. By that time, food was the furthest thing from the leader’s mind. She crashed as soon as her body hit the bed. 

Breakfast and lunch didn’t cross Moxy’s mind either. Even after a flawless show yesterday, Moxy woke up worried. She didn’t want to underperform especially when their fans had paid money to see them at their best. The leader went through the motions all day. Time passing in a daze of anxiety. She blinked and the group were being ushered to their places. During the entire opening, Moxy fought off several bouts of blurriness. The rapper was lucky her spots were drilled into her brain. She could find a formation blindfolded. 

Nobody questioned if something was wrong……at least until the dizzy spells started. 

Come on….not now… Moxy thought as another wave of dizziness washed over her after the girl group cover section. The results of her mistake had been growing and growing all night. Honestly, the stories of adrenaline doing crazy things to the human body was a fact to her now. Moxy had no idea how she made it through this much of the concert with passing out. 

She couldn’t wait until the show was over so she could finally eat. 

In the middle of the cordi noona’s helping her change for the next stage, Moxy felt her legs give out for a moment before she caught herself. The noona’s around her shared a look but Moxy waved them off. “Just lost my balance.” reassuring everyone

Come on girl……two sets then you’re home free. 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Everything was moving in slow motion. Every step felt like it took minutes. Moxy barley felt the hands ripping clothes off and replacing them with the ones she needed for the encore. 

The noise around her turned into sludge. The rapper was incapable of distinguishing what anyone was saying around her. She didn’t even notice when her members surrounded her. 

“Noona?”

“Moxy..can…..you…..hear……”

“Is…..-thing…..on.” 

The world around her felt far away. Like she was floating into a dark abyss. The arena’s backstage a small box as she lifted off. 

Moxy didn’t even register when she hit the ground. 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Her eyes opened to the concerned eyes of Soonjae. 

Moxy’s brain caught up before her body. The memories of the night coming like photos in her brain. Skipping meals. Feeling sluggish just as the concert started. The dark spots in her vision as she looked out at the thousands of fans. The dizziness giving way to exhaustion finally taking her out. Confusion, recognition then panic rattled through her. She sat up but another sudden wave of dizziness almost sent her back down. Soonjae tried to push her back but Moxy twisted away. 

The director ran in, “I don’t know how much longer we can stall.” 

Hannah’s eyes snapped over, anger blasing, “You better find time. Migyeong’s not awake yet but when she does there's no way she’s going on stage yet.”

“Actually look who's joined us.” At Soonjae’s voice, three faces snap to Moxy’s place on the couch. All wearing different expressions: one pissed, one of concern and another of relief. They crowded around the leader but instead of assuring them she was ok. Moxy went against Hannah’s words. 

“Yes….I am.” Moxy was finally able to say after the dizziness faded. She tried getting up but Hannah pinned her with a dark look. 

“Moxy you just passed out. No way are we performing the encore.” Hannah was ready to argue back but Moxy glared. 

“Good thing you're not the leader.” Four pairs of arms reached out as Moxy stood up, wobbling a bit in place but quickly steadying herself, “I was only out for a couple minutes. We’re going out there and finishing this show.” Everyone tried to object but Moxy just held her hand up. “I’ll take it easy but we are going out there and that’s final.” Nobody said anything. Well nobody had the courage to. 

Hannah, Juno and Aurora worried over the leader's condition but they all knew she wouldn’t change her mind. Slowly everyone resumed their tasks. Three women surrounded Moxy to fix her makeup and clothes. Practically erasing the past four minutes from reality. 

The girls ran to reenter the stage while the music started up for Our Time Is Here. Several mangers followed behind the eldest, making sure she made it to the stage safely. Before Moxy walked out, Soonjae grabbed her hand. 

“Answer me one thing? Have you been eating?” Moxy’s silence was answer enough. She couldn’t even look Soonjae in the eye. 

If looks could kill, Moxy wouldn’t be walking into a stadium full of cheers from the crowd. She’d be in for an earful when they got back to the hotel.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Moxy stayed back to get checked by the doctor while her other members left for the hotel. Maybe I won’t get chewed out tonight Moxy though as the car pulled into the hotel's parking lot. The dread built as she walked through the lobby to the elevators. The leader dragged her body down the hall, feet sliding on the carpeted floor. She swayed on her feet, fumbling with the key to unlock her door. 

She could feel the embrace of her bed close by but instead of a blissfully cold bed, there sat Hannah with a full bag of food and holding a phone, Moxy sighed knowing what she was in for.

“Oppa’s on the phone for you.” Hannah held the phone out for the leader to take.

“Taeyong-oppa?” She said, hopeful. 

“No…..Johnny-oppa.”

“Shit…” Hope’s shattered, Moxy plopped down on the chair across from Hannah. The dancer focused on taking out the food while Moxy braced herself for a pissed off Johnny.

“Yeobeoseyo?”

“........Thea Marie Thompson.” 

“Oppa before you start—” 

“Don’t even try it, Thea.” Moxy’s mouth snapped shut. She could feel Johnny's anger through the phone. 

“I can’t believe I’m talking to you about this. You promised me we would not repeat what happened during Regular promotions. You promised me you’d eat, Thea. But now not only am I getting calls from Soonjae but from Hannah about you passing out and still going back on stage.” Hearing Johnny’s retelling of what happened tonight made Moxy feel worse than she already did. Maybe things had gotten bad and she just didn’t want to acknowledge it. 

“I did and it wasn’t going that far. At least I didn’t think it was. I…I was only skipping food before the show. I tried to eat after..…but things got hectic. And that's on me. My nerves have been getting to me and I felt like I couldn’t stomach anything. So I kept going because I had to” Both sides of the line were quiet. “I’m sorry for not calling for help.”

“Tell me why I shouldn’t fly out to make sure you’re eating before every show.” 

“Hannah’s already got food sitting in front me.” Moxy looked out at the impressive spread Hannah was able to put together between the ending of the show and the car ride to the hotel. 

“You should have told Hannah beforehand.” 

“I thought I could handle it okay! I’m not some little kid Johnny. I’m a young adult who made a mistake and went past her limits” She heard Johnny sigh on the other end.

“You’re right…..You’re right you are an adult. But can you blame me for being concerned? Last time this happened, you landed in hospital with no one knowing what was wrong. I never want any of us to go through that again.” Moxy didn’t like to think about her last stretch of not eating. All of her memories revolved around the worried looks of the 127 members as they surrounded her hospital bed. 

“I’m sorry Johnny. I promise to keep a closer watch on my food intake.” 

“And I promise to help her.” Hannah chimed in, making Johnny and Moxy laugh. “Don’t worry oppa, we’ll get our leader back on track.” Hannah placed a container of food in front of Moxy and a fork. Before he hung up, Johnny told Hannah to take photo evidence of Moxy eating and send it to him. To ease his worries. 

Moxy finally dug into the delicious food Hannah had ordered. It’s not weird to cry over really good food, right?

“So what happens?” Hannah asked between bites. 

“What do you mean?” 

“When it feels like you can’t eat. What runs through your head.” Moxy blew a raspberry trying to think of how to answer that.

“I guess….I overthink about everything. The performance and my vocals. I want everything to be perfect for the fans. I don’t want to disappoint them. Those thoughts…..they run through my brain like a hamster wheel. I get overwhelmed then my stomach gets queasy. You know what happens next.” Moxy took another bite of her food. 

The members of 127 set up a code word to help Moxy through these anxious moments. Code: Underwater. Anytime her emotions took over, Moxy could text one of the members at any time. They in turn would help calm her down and get a couple bites of food down in Moxy’s system. The more she thought about it. The more the truth behind her regression became apparent. She was AG’s leader. Calling her older members for help with her anxiety felt like she was being a baby. Someone that wasn’t fit to lead a team, especially when they were away from home. 

“Now, you got me to help. And anytime you feel nervous like that I’ll remind you that you’re a beast and one of the best leaders around.” Hannah shook her shoulders, getting a smile on her face. 

Luckily, she has the greatest members on the planet. Who would never think less of her for having anxieties. 

“Even if you made a mistake you could never disappoint anyone. Not us and much less the fans, okay?” Moxy nodded. It would be difficult reaching out at first. But she never wanted to worry her members again. Not when it can be stopped beforehand. Taking Hannah’s words to heart, The oldest began to eat with earnest, savoring every bite. 

As they ate, Aurora and Juno joined them with their own food. The four of them crowded around the small table, sharing what they had between them. Moxy knew the younger two wanted to be close after she scared them today. 

The members decided to screw bedtime and just stay up. They scrolled through instagram, played music, danced and even caught up with some of the members. They all needed a night like this. After all, the tour just started. AG had a long way to go. 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Next up for tour angst.....Hannah ~ Author Izzy

[itsclydebitches]

IM SCREAMING, THEY SAW RUBY COMMIT MAGICAL SUICIDE AND JUST WENT ON THEIR MERRY WAY. WHAT IS WITH THIS SHOW AND REFUSING TO SHOW CHARACTERS EXPERIENCING EMOTIONAL REACTIONS TO THINGS HELP. The only emotions we get are Ruby's little fit and Jaune's paper thin depiction of PTSD. I'm gonna scream!

I think I'm in shock about it? I cannot stress enough that while I was prepared for the mess of Ruby's suicide attempt getting framed by the narrative in a positive light (this leads them to the way out, she gets some new ability, etc.) I still thought the GROUP would react appropriately. They just watched Ruby have a complete meltdown, she's already fainted once this Volume due to grief over Penny, they now understand the "hints" of depression Ruby has been displaying the last 24 hours (like her avoiding Crescent Rose), she runs away from them, is caught by Neo, gets the shit kicked out of her, and then looks them in the eye while drinking the Permanently Changes You And Erases Your Memories Tea while a fake Roman waxes on about how the world would be better off without her.

...and they're all just okay with that?

I was fully expecting Yang to go on a Super Saiyan rampage. I was prepared to write about how it's too little, too late now that Yang has revealed her supposedly-always-there love for Ruby after ignoring herfor most of the Volume. Regardless of how badly she's treated her little sister this season, it was oh-so-obvious to me that Yang was going to break, be inconsolable, go feral in an attempt to hunt down the Cat/Neo for revenge. I was expecting to see a frantic Blake and a near catatonic Weiss, horrified that she just lost someone else after her entire Kingdom was destroyed. I was waiting for Jaune's furious and annoyingly justified "I told you so!" after the Cat revealed their true colors and the tree - which he's said was evil this whole time - dragged Ruby away after she rolls over, 'dead' from its leaves that Neo gave her in an attempt to kill her.

Side note: for anyone who is seriously trying to argue that this wasn't a suicide attempt, if you consider nothing else, consider Neo. She does not want Ruby to be cured of her depression, or get a power-up, or take the supposedly magical medicine that will help her work through her problems. Why in the world would Neo give Ruby something harmless, let alone beneficial? Neo wants her dead. She gave her the tea to destroy Ruby once and for all and, when Ruby drank it, Neo believed she'd succeeded, becoming hollow as a result. She would not have been capable of being possessed if she believed that Ruby would survive and her revenge was incomplete. The whole reason the Cat was able to get to her was because Neo thought Ruby was gone for good and even the Cat themselves is surprised to find Ruby in the cocoon. Ruby, meanwhile, is drinking to escape the horrors of her own life that she can no longer face. That was a murder attempt turned suicide attempt.

So we've got [gestures] all of this and instead of reacting with anything like human emotions Blake is smiling as she tells Yang that this is a great thing for Ruby and Weiss is pulling a Volume 8 Yang by announcing that their mistakes don't matter because they were brave about it and Jaune is staring at these gem strangers that don't know him anymore right after watching the Cat horrifically possess Neo and announces that they were right about the tree? Seriously why is the surprise villain of the Volume positioned as the morally trustworthy source? Even Ironwood wasn't granted that.

Forget Ever After, I feel like I've fallen into a parallel universe. Not to be ~dramatic~ about it, but am I being pranked? Did someone sneak a RWBY parody onto Crunchyroll? Is RT pulling a Rebecca Welton and trying to tank their own show due to some personal grudge? I am legitimately trying to understand how we went from this

to this?

(Also, friendly reminder that the screenshot of Ruby is right after Little was murdered. I mean, I don't care about them and clearly Ruby herself should be the concern, but I just want to point out that no one acknowledges Little either. An ally has just been killed, brutally crushed during Ruby's torture session, so how do the characters react to this? They don't. They leave Little's body there and don't even mention them. Look at Yang's massive grin, Blake's satisfied smile, Weiss' (possibly romantic?) hug. Their leader just attempted suicide and a coded-as-a-child friend was just murdered... and this is how they're acting in the immediate aftermath.)

(Second friendly reminder that the group was already not reacting to the entirety of the Atlas fiasco and in the wake of the last three episodes I find myself frequently forgetting that. Yang thinking she'd died, Blake thinking she'd died, Weiss losing her entire Kingdom, not knowing which of her family members made it out, Salem getting two Relics, Jaune and Weiss still not revealing that he killed Penny... none of it is being dealt with and that was before we threw 'The group ignores Ruby trying to die' into the mix.')

[kalina-moonbride]

Mundane Tasks

Context: A non-canonical side jaunt, somewhere mid Endwalker--later than level 84, before the level 88 quest "Hither and Yarns". Spoilers: Patch 2.5 and level 84 main scenario quests. Warnings: Some crude sexual language. Challenge: @ffxivpolyamoryweek! Details here.

White sand got into everything. Showed up everywhere. Came from everything. It came in on people's shoes, sure, but also anywhere the Loporrits had cut, sanded, caulked, or otherwise fabricated building material rather than simply wishing it into being with creation magicks, it drifted around as sawdust. The accommodations for the people of Etheirys, then, remodeled in great haste without any time to fuss about cleanup, were positively caked in it. It reminded Kalina of the Copied Factory, which in turn made her shudder.

The Loporrits had revised the Ancient-sized bedrooms down to something more like lodging at the Carline Canopy or the Forgotten Knight, or perhaps even a Scholasticate dormitory cell: right over the line from “cozy” into “cramped”.

It was certainly too small for three people.

A magicked broom swept white sand into piles near the open door. Kalina then attempted, by way of practice on her mediocre conjury, to use Aero to blow these piles out into a greater accumulation in the corridor outside. She'd made some progress, but all else equal, letting the broom handle the whole operation would have done a better job. On the bed, its clothes clean and free from moon-flour, G'raha and Y'shtola sat taking a break. Or rather, G'raha sat, his back to the wall and legs half folded; Y'shtola lay down, with her head on his thigh. Raha idly pet her shoulder.

“There's something I've been wondering about, Kalina,” said G'raha.

His voice was as calm and even as ever, but Moonbride shot him a look of faint suspicion. “Oh?”

“Is it awkward at all, being here on the moon, with the name you've chosen?”

“Tread lightly, Raha,” said Y'shtola with a smirk. “You may convince her to change it. Again.”

Kalina's Aero dispersed in a whoosh, blowing white sand in all directions, most of them still within the room. The broom began correcting the failure, uncomplaining. She groaned. “I chose it because of the night sky! For the Night's Blessed and the Warrior of Darkness and all! I didn't know we'd be going to the moon, or thinking about living there.”

Despite her words of caution, Y'shtola couldn't resist joining in. “Does the moon know and condone that her Bride has taken other lovers?”

“I'm not fucking the moon!”

“That part's not a problem, I'm sure,” said G'raha lazily. “You're not fucking me, either, and yet all is well.”

Kalina sank down onto a neo-Amaurotine chair still smudged with white dirt. She sat backward on it, resting her chin on its head, pouting with eyes closed. “Maybe I will change it…”

Y'shtola hopped down from the bed and crossed the brief space to her side. She lay a hand on top of the Warrior of Light's head, and caressed down to cup her cheek. “We tease out of love, Kalina ser Moonbride. By any name you choose, you remain ours.”

“Well said.” A guilty look settled onto G'raha's face. “It's unkind of us to make fun of the name of a friend who's passed, besides.”

“Ah, that is fair.” Y'shtola withdrew her hand from Kalina to form a fist and bow her head, sending her thoughts heavensward. “Moenbryda Wilfsunnwyn, I beg your forgiveness. As all faults dissolve in the sunless sea, may my error trouble you not.”

Kalina regarded the two of them with skepticism. “It's not her name exactly. I did go by 'Moenbryda' for a while, like Y'shtola was 'Master Matoya'. But when we returned from the First, I went with something that sounds alike, yet more my own.”

Y'shtola and G'raha stared at her for a silent moment. Then looked at one another. At last Y'shtola turned to her with an expression of perfect gentleness, holding back laughter. “Kalina, my love. In the Roegadyn tongue, 'Moenbryda' means 'Moon's Bride.'”

“What?!” She reflexively tried to sit upright, but with the way her weight had shifted in her awkward configuration to the chair, her chin immediately came back down onto the chair back. “Ow!”

“I'd thought it was intentional.” Y'shtola shook her head. “I should have asked.”

G'raha descended from the bed. “Let's go for a stroll, shall we? Get some air, let the broom do its work, come to terms with personal revelations.” He led the way with Y'shtola, giving Kalina a moment.

“I will have to change it again,” she said mournfully, to the broom.

[hamliet]

Hi! Do you think RWBY as a story is inconsistent in tone? It is a criticism I keep seeing around? But what exactly means to have tonal inconsistency? Can you give me an example?

Nope.

I'm actually surprised to read this. Maybe because I'm on the outskirts of the fandom, but I really would not have put "tonal inconsistency" in like, a top 10 list of things I thought people might label a flaw of RWBY's. It had honestly never occurred to me.

I'd actually call RWBY extremely tonally consistent, which is hard to maintain over 9 volumes and counting.

I'm curious if these posts elaborated at all about how or what makes it feel tonally inconsistent--are there examples? Because I can't think of one. Since I don't know, I'm going to have to speculate.

Is it about fairy tale stories dealing with death? Because every fairy tale deals with death; that's kind of the central core of the vast majority of fairy tales.

Is it because this volume certainly contained RWBY's darkest episode ever? Because it did, but the descent to the underworld and meeting with the goddess is a part of the heroine's journey. Stories always get darker before they get better. Plus, I don't see how anyone could think that the volume wouldn't get very dark considering we just tackled genocide and the sunshine character died.

I also think that Volume 9 has been extremely clear since the first teaser way back in 2021 that it would deal with Ruby's mental health. The opening line is "you should never have been born." Ruby then has a literal panic attack. She faints in horror when she's told about her friend dying.

That's just episode 1.

I guess people might be thrown by the juxtaposition of simplified life, which is the essence of the Ever After, with a complex topic like mental health? But I actually think that's quite brilliant. When you're extremely mentally unwell, which I have been before, things do seem to paradoxically become simpler even as the complexity overwhelms you. Things can seem black and white. Good and bad. And you? You're bad.

Idk, no one's experience is exactly the same, but to me it rang honest. It's fine if others felt differently.

Was it about mixing humor and dark topics? But like most stories do that. I mean, going back to damn Shakespeare, at likes 45% of each of his tragedies are dick jokes. The Bard loved a dick joke. It did not even have to be a good dick joke for the Bard to love it and include it in literature to be read by billions. I mean, I'm slightly hyperbolizing about the percentages, but you literally have Hamlet lamenting about going insane and contemplating suicide in one of the most haunting soliloquies in the English language (Act 3 scene 1's "To Be or Not To Be..." ) and then making numerous dick jokes in the very next scene (Act 3 scene 2). Even when it's all gone to the grave (heh) in Act 5, Hamlet takes time to hold up a jester's skull and joke about "alas, poor Yorick."

Like, yes, there are jarring ways to incorporate humor with tragedy. I don't think RWBY is doing that, though. The last episode had some genuinely heartwarming moments of realization (the paper pleasers) and tension, and then we had Cat!Neo still being a complete cat and lolling about like "Oh HEY GUYS." (The cat is hilarious, and they've always been like this.)

The entirety of Volume 9 has dealt with grief. Even the fight with the Red Prince is the prince throwing a tantrum mingled with grief.

Idk, stories do generally progress. They go from good to bad to good to bad to worse to how is this even worser to okay there's some hope to catharsis. If you can't connect the dots and see the progression, that's tonal inconsistency. If you can, and you absolutely can with RWBY not just in Volume 9 but the entire show as a whole, then... it's not tonally inconsistent.

The theme of identity has been present from the beginning of the show. Ruby looking at a grave and hence dealing with grief is one of the founding images of the entire series. To fully explore death, characters generally have to potentially end up there at some point. That Ruby would wonder whether or not she should have been born is obvious from the first minute of this season. Her spiral has gotten worse and worse, but if you paid attention, you could see it happening.

Again, the show began as a boarding school story with some pretty dark themes (abusive relationships, parental abandonment, parental death). That the darker stuff becomes explored more fully is pretty par for the course. Even like, again, Harry Potter gets progressively more dark. So do the Avengers movies. It's like, normal.

Idk, to me saying RWBY is tonally inconsistent for any of these reasons sounds like saying, I don't know, Othello is tonally inconsistent because the first scene has Othello and Desdemona standing up against bigotry for their love and their marriage is not annulled; therefore the play should end in the defeat of racism and love conquering all. Things change. The seeds of what will happen, the ugliness of racism and the limits of love and reality of misogyny are all present even in that opening scene, and unfortunately they consume the characters.

When I think tonal inconsistency, I think of, I don't know, the ending of Tokyo Ghoul, which thematically contradicted the entire 200+ chapters and 1.5 mangas leading up to it. Things that were framed as negative were suddenly framed as positive. I also think of BNHA, which, while I do think maintains its optimistic/hopeful superhero tone, does sometimes switch the framing and tone around certain characters (Hawks, Endeavor).

So yeah. RWBY has flaws for sure, but I just don't think this is one of them.

[mixoloveseveryone]

RWBY VOL9X10 SPOILERS(?)

It felt like torture to watch. Torture to look upon the scene all over again. Grimm flying around the ship, and seeing Neopolitan herself fly off the ship. She watches carefully, her eyes growing sadder at how heartbroken the man in front of her looks.

"Neo!"

He reached his hand out to try to capture her in an impossibly long distance, almost as if that'd help. But it didn't. Of course it didn't. Neo tenses, her eyes growing sad as she sees Ruby climb back up onto the ship.

"I don't care what you say! We will stop them, and I will stop you! Bet on that!"

Neo doesn't do anything, watching Ruby dash towards Roman as an attempt to fight him. But Roman kept fighting back. But not in the way he was before. Did he really think that would kill her? She couldn't stand the thought of him being so broken over her flying over the airship. But then again, she couldn't stand the thought of anyone catching the two of them beforehand. But even so, fate decided to part the two.

Neo watches, her eyes puzzled. Was this truly going to be the last she sees of him? Before she... Changes? Before she... Ascends? Neo watches him yell in anger, his feelings bleeding with rage, and something only Neo could sense. Fear. Fear for her safety.

Neo doesn't do anything, her fists clenching. Before finally, Roman jumps away.

"As for me, I'll do what I do best... Lie..."

He raises one of his fingers, gritting his teeth.

"Steal..."

He slowly begins to step closer to Ruby, who slowly regains her balance, her body aching. She looked at Roman with narrowed eyes. Neo watched with sadness.

"Cheat..."

Roman finally raises his third finger, before his face contorted into a sinister grin. He brings his free hand to his cane, raising it up to hit Ruby. One. Final. Time.

"And survi--!"

She half expected to see him hit Ruby, before her eyes widen upon seeing the Grimm swoop onto the airship, shaking it slightly. Neo instinctively tries to run towards the man as the teeth of the Grimm sink into him and swallow him whole.

Neo tries to run towards him, tries to catch him, tries to scream out his name as a poor attempt to capture his ankle, or anything just to save him. But the fate ends the same. He falls into the creature of darkness, and Ruby kicks the Grimm backwards and slams into the airship. Then, Ruby makes her way off the ship.

Neo shuts her eyelids tightly, before sucking in a sharp breath.

'Oh, Roman...'

She thinks to herself, before opening her eyes. She's back in the dark void with the souls traveling around her. Neo looks around, almost surprised by the sudden shift in the atmosphere. There isn't faint sounds of Grimm screeching or the ship rumbling, only the silence, before the woman speaking to her softly.

"You have been led astray..." The woman speaks softly, before Neo turns, looking at the Blacksmith into her shadowy eyes, which somehow still gave a bit of kindness. A kindness that her aching heart feel it needs.

-

(This was based off of the interpretation of the tree showing Ruby a vision of her mother to somewhat explain a mystery Ruby has always wanted to know within, and that Neo would finally know what happened to Roman.)

[miss-writes-a-lot]

Ozqrow Week 2023 Day 4: Stranded Together

(DAY 4! Give it up for Day 4 of @ozqrowweek 2023! We might actually make it all 7 days. Crazy, right? This is an Ozpin lives au that takes place after the Fall of Atlas and our heroines into the Ever After. Content warnings for mentions violence, death and explosions. Without further ado, here we go!)

Ozqrow Week 2023 Day 4: Stranded Together (Aka the ‘Ozpin Lives and falls into the Ever After Au)

Qrow’s eyes burned from the direct sunlight hitting his face when he first opened them, but that mild annoyance was just a precursor to the aches and burning pain that seared his skin and muscle when he fully regained consciousness.

He felt like one giant walking bruise, with each minor flex or movement of any part of his body sending shocks through his entire nervous system. He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself to sit up despite being racked with pain and fatigue. He propped himself up onto an elbow and sat up.

He blinked the sun’s sting and some sand out of his eyes and started to look around. 

And once he did, he realized that he definitely wasn’t in Atlas anymore. From the looks of it, he wasn’t in Vacuo either. 

In front of him was the ocean - or, an ocean - blue and tinted yellow like the oddly tinted sky above him. To his left and behind him was a lush forest of tall green trees and a rainbow of other colors drawn throughout, both things that the aforementioned kingdoms did not have. He scooped up a handful of sand, letting it slowly fall between his fingers as he tried to recall how he came to this unfamiliar place.

Through a pulsing headache behind his eyes, he could recall a bridge.

That’s right; Ruby and her friends got the Relic of Creation from the Vault while the rest either went to stop Jimmy Ironwood or gather the citizens of both cities and get them to safety. They made portals and bridges to Vacuo, but then-

Then they showed up.

Cinder and that girl - Neo? - they got the jump on them and Yang, she-

She was the first to fall.

She got knocked off the edge and disappeared into gold, into that darkness. And then everything else went to shit from there.

Fire from the explosions, people being knocked off the edge from the ensuing conflict. One by one, the remaining members of Team RWBY were all tossed away into the darkness. 

He remembered going back for them. 

He had to - They were his nieces, the closest things to daughters he would ever get, of course he had to go back for them. Someone told him to stop, tried to reason with him. 

He’d fall too, they said. He’d fall and he would probably never come back.

That only pushed him further toward the screaming.

He did fall - how, he doesn’t really remember - he just did and whoever was trying to talk him down fell with him.

Yang, Blake, Ruby, Weiss, he thinks that kid Jaune, him….someone in green.

Green. Dark green, forest green, the deepest shade that green could possibly appear in -

Ozpin.

With new urgency, he shot up on his feet and scanned the rest of the beach.

“Oz!”  he shouted, searching wildly, “Oz! Ruby! Yang! Can anybody hear me?”

He ran along the shoreline, shoes submerged in water and pins and needles in his feet. He ran while his head spun like a top for signs of someone. Someone alive from the fall. Someone or all of them, he just needed to find them.

He turned a corner along some of the rocky cliff sides and spotted Long Memory stabbed into the sand, and only a few feet away from it being taken by the tide was its unconscious owner. Qrow dove to save him, dragging the silver haired man out of the water and tossing him onto the sand.

He felt his neck for a pulse, sighing when he found one - a faint one - pushing against his two fingers. He put his hands to the center of Ozpin’s chest and started compressions, counting 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4.

“C’mon, Ozzy. C’mon,” he muttered.

After a few more sets of counting fours, he pinched Ozpin’s nose, tilted his head back, and blew air into his mouth, counting again 1, 2, 3, 4-

Ozpin coughed. Qrow pulled away, letting out an audible sigh of relief as Ozpin turned onto his side and hacked up sand and sea water. Qrow patted his back to help get the rest out.

“Easy, Ozzy. I gotcha. I gotcha.”

“Qrow?” Ozpin wheezed, “It’s...you’re-”

“-Okay, Oz. I’m okay!”

“Oh, Qrow!”

Ozpin lunged at him, wrapping him up in a bone-crushing hug. Qrow almost started crying as he grabbed onto his shirt for dear life in fear that the world would crumble underneath them and they would fall again. 

Qrow pulled away, checking over his companion. “Are you okay? You hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine. A few bumps and bruises, but nothing I can’t handle. And you?”

“I should be good right now.”

“I’m glad.”

Qrow searched behind him, looking for any signs that someone else might have been in the same spot. Still nothing.

“You remember what happened? Back in Atlas?” Qrow asked.

Ozpin’s face fell. He tilted his head down and turned it away, “We were running away when the others...it was after Ruby and Blake fell. You went after Cinder and the Neapolitan girl, and you tried to go after them too. I tried to stop you, but you were inconsolable. So I went with you instead. Cinder stole the staff and the bridge started to collapse and-”

“And we fell.”

Ozpin bit his lip, “I’m sorry. I should have been with them. I could have stopped them from-”

“Hey,” Qrow grabbed his shoulders, “Let’s not focus on that right now, okay? I’m here, you’re here, and if we fell down and came out mostly alright, then the others too, right?”

Ozpin nodded slowly.

“So, all we have to do is find the others and find our way out of here. That is,” he turned his head up to the forest hanging over the cliffside in front of them, “-If we can find out where here even is…”

“I may have an idea, but you’re not going to like it.”

Qrow raised a brow, “What is it?”

Ozpin gave him a knowing glance, “Do you remember the tale of The Girl Who Fell Through THe World?”

Qrow frowned, a heavy sigh escaping his nose. “‘Course it’s another one of your fairytales. Alright-”

He pushed himself onto his feet, turned to Ozpin, and stretched out a hand.

“Guess that means you lead the way then.”

[bridgyrose]

AU Cinder and Neo used to hate each other in high school,now they're adults meeting again during a party at the Schnee Manor,their flirting turns into play fighting and eventually they make out and have sex in of the rooms, while the music is banging

(I'm still not all that great with smut, and I may have missed the play fighting, but I think this still catches the spirit of it all)

Cinder slowly made her way through the halls of Schnee Manor, regretting stepping foot back in Atlas already as she watched a few of her former classmates mingle around. Once again, she found herself feeling out of place and keeping to herself as she avoided everyone, slinking away into one of the side rooms. She paused as she found the familiar sight of an old rival, leaning against the doorway. “Neo, what are you doing here?” 

Neo gave a playful smile as she took a sip from her wine, her eyes locked on Cinder’s as she motioned for her to join her. 

Cinder closed the door and made her way to the couch, picking up the bottle of wine from the side table and taking a swig from it. “Didnt expect to see you here. Figured I saw the last of you after we graduated and you went back to Vale, continued the cushy life of a councilman’s daughter.” 

“Vale was too boring,” Neo typed out in response, her fingers pausing between words as cleared out her sentences and retyped them. “And my parents were… not great. Ran away from home at sixteen, never looked back.” 

“Sounds like we have that in common,” Cinder said as she placed a hand to her neck, tracing the faint scarring. “What brought you back here? You never seemed to like anyone here anyway, so I cant imagine that you came to catch up with anyone.” 

Neo shrugged then looked around the room. “The Schnees wont miss anything that goes missing.” 

A small giggle escaped Cinder’s lips. “I guess that’s one way to make a living.” 

“What about you? Why did you come here?” 

Cinder’s giggle faded as she re-read the words on Neo’s scroll, the same question rolling through her mind. Why did she accept the invite to this party? It wasnt like anyone here was a friend. Weiss was… tolerable, different from the other Atlesian that showed up to the party, but still not what she would consider a friend. The only reason she could think of it was the ties she had to the Madam and the hotel she ran, but even then, she hadnt been part of that for years. “I… I dont know. Maybe… maybe I thought things would be different.” 

Neo looked up at her, confused. “Different?” 

“Look, it was a mistake to be here.” Cinder stood up, keeping the wine bottle in hand as she made her way to the door, only stopping when she felt Neo’s hand grab her wrist. She slowly looked over at the girl, frozen in her steps. “And… you dont want me to.” 

Neo shook her head and pulled Cinder back to the couch, finger spelling with her free hand for a moment. “I want you here.” 

“Why?” 

“This party hasnt exactly been… fun. And I was hoping that maybe we could-” Neo paused with her signs, blushing a bit as she looked away from Cinder. “-catch up more.” 

Cinder cautiously sat back down. “Why? We hated each other at school. You tormented me until we graduated.” 

Neo sighed and stared at her scroll for a moment as she began to type, slowly trying to type out the words she wanted to say as she cleared out the words and retyped her thoughts, fingers trembling. “You… were different from the others and I didnt know how to treat you.” 

“So you decided to make school hell for me?”

“Not… on purpose.” 

“Then why?” Cinder asked angrily. “You tormented me for years-”

“Because I didnt know any better!” Neo interrupted, signing quickly. She lowered her hands and let out a quiet sigh as she began to type again. “You were the only person who wasnt an imitation and I didnt know how to handle that. Growing up, you learn people like the Schnees, the kids of councilmen and those who grew up with money are nothing but imitations, fakes who will do anything to get what they want. But you… you werent like that and I didnt know how to handle that. You have no idea what its like to love someone that you dont understand.” 

Cinder went quiet, mulling over what she read from Neo. After minutes of silence, she punched Neo’s shoulder. “You could’ve just told me.” 

“I wanted to, but I didnt know how.” 

Cinder nodded, feeling her cock start to strain against her pants as she looked over Neo. “Then… why dont you show me?” 

Neo looked at her, confused. 

Cinder smirked as she heard the music outside the room start to grow louder, the pictures on the wall starting to move. “I dont think anyone’s going to notice.” 

Neo nodded and gently placed a hand at Cinder’s crotch, giving it a small squeeze before unzipping her pants and freeing the erect cock. She licked her lips as she stared at it, gently stroking it and thumbing the tip. 

Cinder moaned and leaned, her cock starting to twitch as she felt Neo’s lips wrap around it. A small gasp escaped her lips as she felt Neo go down on her cock, not expecting how eager the girl was. Her hips started to thrust gently as Neo bobbed up and down, her cock twitching more as it went deeper and deeper down Neo’s throat. 

Neo pulled back and smirked a bit, getting up onto Cinder’s lap and gently rubbing against her. “Bigger than I expected.” 

Cinder grinned and lifted Neo’s skirt, blushing a bit when she noticed a lack of panties and slipped her cock inside of Neo. Her hips thrust as she pinned Neo to her back, pressing into her for a kiss. Her blush deepened as she felt Neo kiss back and felt her hands on her back, moans escaping her lips as she pulled back to breathe, feeling Neo’s nails dig into her back with each thrust. As she broke the kiss and pulled away, she could feel Neo’s breath on her neck, the way her body seemed to twitch in pleasure with each deep thrust. 

She bit down on Neo’s shoulder, relishing in the way she gasped and how her back arched, pressing her into her. A free hand gently moved her shirt out of the way and groped a breast, gently pinching and pulling at a nipple, using the way Neo moved to help guide her to please the woman in front of her. Each quiet, gasping moan another invitation to bring her deeper and deeper into pleasure. For the first time in a long time, she felt peace at being vulnerable, at being  close to someone. And she loved every minute of it.

[galactic-knightmare]

got in the mood to make a... ref? bio? for Goldie. it was... also kinda an excuse to see how she'd look with my usual full-shading artstyle instead of the sketchy kinda style I've been going with recently.

(also yes ik the one-third inkling should be one-fourth. I'll fix it later lmao)

(lots) more info under cut!

When I was first drawing her, she was going to have purple tentacles, but then I noticed the faint rings on the octolings, which reminded me of blue-ring octopi, and it slowly just. started spiraling from there lmao. She started as just a random doodle of my own octoling and just. became an oc. She's still mildly my octoling, but like, with extra pizazz I guess? idk.

Aaaanyway, Goldie! Also known as New (Neo?) Agent Three! She's a lil chaos gremlin with farrr too much energy sometimes. When she first ran into Cuttlefish in the crater, she didn't recognize him from Octavio's stories, so she only realized what she'd gotten into when the DJ himself showed up. (She just saw the whole thing as a fun training exercise with her fellow Octarians, tho she did find it weird that they looked so fuzzy). The fight with the Octobot however, was actually a training exercise kinda. (DJ was going easy on her and Goldie had been asking if she could try fighting the Octobot, so why not put on a show for Cuttlefish?) She did however, recognize Captain Three, as they had met briefly after the events of Splatoon 1. Despite her issues with Squidbeak shoving her Grandpa in a snowglobe (among other things), she does respect the captain and look up to them.

That did not save them from being bitten by her though. Goldie has a habit of biting people she has issues with. At least now that she's older. When she was younger, she bit everyone, regardless of if she liked them or not. She bit DJ Octavio so many times that he actually developed an immunity to her venom.

Other things :

When she was younger, she had a plush Horrorboros she named "Mr. Fishy" that she would drag absolutely everywhere. Mr.Fishy currently sits on a shelf at the apartment she's been staying at in Splatsville.

Also when she was younger, she would constantly state that she's poisonous, while the DJ repeatedly said she isn't. One day she decided to bite one of the Elite octolings, which resulted in someone having to go grab the antivenom (this was before they started keeping it everywhere). One of the others asked the DJ why he keeps telling her she's not poisonous when clearly she is, and he just deadpanned and said "She's not poisonous. She's venomous. There's a difference"

She got banned from asking DJ Octavio questions before he's fully woken up, as she once took advantage of his half-asleep state to get him to say yes to her borrowing the Octobot King.

Her best friend is a Smallfry she's nicknamed "Nyoom". He gets zoomies at 5 pm everyday, no exceptions. There is also not a single coddamned thought in that head.

She has an extra tentacle compared to other Octolings, due to being partially Inkling. She also has the teeth, eyes, and pointed ears of one. No one knows who her Inkling Grandparent is.

Her Parents died when investigating what turned out to be a faulty dome section, so she ended up being raised almost entirely by her grandfather. As a result, it was not uncommon for her to be sat next to DJ Octavio during meetings, usually just playing with Mr.Fishy while occasionally trying to bite whoever was closest to her (usually the DJ, occasionally one of the Elite Octoling guards)

When she was even younger, she used to try and convince the DJ to adopt Marina so that she can have her as a big sister. She was convinced (and still is) that Marina was the coolest person ever, Second only to her Grandpa.