#if they're not making up a funny name for it they're naming the blade itself

[callahanisms]

all you need is more radaway

save a horse. ride a cowboy. ;)

anyways i really loved the tv show and i love the game. and ghouls are just chef's kiss. or maybe that's because i love monsters. sad that i finished it so quickly. :(

perhaps i can put what i learned in my western class to good use lol

character: cooper howard aka. the ghoul

it's never easy surviving the wasteland. you don't know how you managed to survive for this long. perhaps because you seemed to have been blessed with incredible luck.

and building up endurance, of course.

you felt little to no side effects from the radiation of the food you were eating. which just meant you had a lot of radaway and rad-x stocked up.

to make ends meet, though, you had to start hunting. scavenging and scrapping by wasn't enough. you needed the extra caps.

thus your rivalry with another bounty hunter was born.

"well, well. aren't you far from home, sweetheart?"

you were used to comments about your outfit. a vault suit. yes, you came from one. you had been exiled after your father was revealed to be managing the experiment behind it. the child pays for the sins of the father always.

"you're not the first and you won't be the last." you pull the head off the body as clean as possible.

"now i don't know if you should do that."

"and why not?"

a bullet flies past you and burrows itself into the ground. you finally look up. a cowboy hat. the face of a ghoul. his gun pointing right at you.

but you weren't afraid.

"because he's my target." he pulls out a piece of paper. "and he's mine."

"seems unfair if i did all the work. and you just collect his head and the prize." you pull out the same piece of paper. yours is a little more worn out though. and covered in dried blood.

"that's the way of the wasteland sweetheart."

"if you believe so."

your hands were fast. two bullets lodged into his right left and when he looks up, you're gone.

of course, you learned from the best: western holotapes. you really liked them when you were growing up. claimed to want to be a lone hero.

in some ways, you were. the wasteland was just a new version of the wild west, wasn't it?

"spaghetti? like...the pasta?"

more like spaghetti western. he knew that, of course. but no one in the wasteland knew what a spaghetti western was. they were remnants of a past long gone and one only accessible by holotapes in the vaults.

"that's their name." the person says. "why? you have business with them?"

"perhaps." the ghoul was looking to return a favor.

"don't even try. they're far more formidable than you think."

"we'll see about that."

your rivalry was an exchange of bullets, more often than not. thankfully, you always stocked up on bloodbags and could make a stimpack from your heavy (but useful) travel chemistry kit. you were smart like that.

surprisingly, it became something to look forward. mostly because the ghoul preferred if he tried killing you, so he managed to get you out of a tough situation by killing the other people trying to kill you.

and you returned the favor. there was something satisfying about lodging a bullet into him again.

unfortunately, this left you two stuck on a job once. captured by raiders. you had been knocked out with a drug. and he had collapsed from...something.

"fuck." you mutter, pulling at the ropes binding you. your luck had run out for the day it seems, because your arms were tied to the ghoul's around this godforsaken pole. the metal was also uncomfortably rubbing up against your skin.

"you got a knife or anything sharp?" he looks over at you. it's rare to see him without his cowboy hat. his head was rather smooth.

you chuckle a little.

"something funny?" the ghoul asks.

"nothing. you're just...shaped like an egg."

"very funny."

"let me guess. your answer is no?"

"i don't have a knife up my sleeve, sadly. think they took it."

"shame." the ghoul shimmies something out of his own sleeve. he flicks the blade out and begins sawing at the rope. "watch your fingers."

you keep your fingers tucked in. eventually, the rope on your wrists comes undone and one arm soon after. the rest comes off and you rub your skin. "fuck these guys. always hated raiders."

"well, we both got sold out. we need to find that thing now. or else we'll be dead by sunrise." he tugs on the door of the jail cell and clicks his tongue.

"i don't have sharp objects. but i do have these." you pull out the bobby pin taped on the inside of your sleeve, alongside a mini screwdriver.

the lock wasn't very complicated, so you picked it with ease.

as you both are grabbing your equipment, you hear footsteps up above. light ones and heavier ones. and the sound of a muffled, altered, robotic voice.

the brotherhood of steel was worse than raiders, honestly.

"you go left, i go right. how does that sound?"

"i don't usually like taking orders from my rivals." he reloads his gun. "but for you? sure."

the event left the both of you soaked in the blood of your enemies. on the other hand, you guys left with plenty of loot and an idea of where your target was: dead. at the bottom of a lake.

it was a journey to get there, wherein you learned the details of each other's lives. you didn't think he was paying much attention to your sentences. after all, you came from a vault.

and yet, you saw a hint of sympathy in his eyes.

he seemed less keen on sharing details about his life, aside from his former name. cooper howard.

undeniably, as a fan of westerns, you recognized his names. from the holotapes.

"they had those?" cooper shakes his head, taking sips of water. "no way."

"yes way! it's where i learned to shoot."

"from watching my movies?"

"yes!"

"that is...a pleasant surprise." cooper leans back.

"that also makes you over 200 years old."

"that it does. something wrong with that?"

"no. the wasteland changes people." you maintain your attention to your suit, sewing a tear up. "just...you're looking for something, aren't you? everyone's always looking for something up here."

"are you looking for something?" his voice hardens and he sits up straight.

"i was. and then i found it. and i stopped." you tie the thread to seal the stitch and then tear the thread with your teeth. "i hope you find what you're looking for though."

"well, that's awfully kind of you, sweetheart."

"i have a name, you know."

"what is it?"

"(y/n)."

getting personal in the wasteland was something cooper wasn't adamant about. but the circumstances seems to call for it.

"guess we're even now."

the body of water was daunting. it was murky and dark. you pursed your lips and dumped your bag. "well. guess we have no choice."

cooper looks over at you then quickly turns around when he sees what you're doing: taking off your suit and going down to your underwear. "what are you doing?"

"i'm going to go get that head. that's how we get paid, right? easy three thousand caps. 15 hundred split evenly." you stretch.

"i think you might die."

"i'll be fine. i've done it before." Aquaperson perk.

"i can also swim, you know."

"i'll be fine cooper." you pop a rad-x pill just in case. "be back in a bit."

you dive like a swan, making minimal splash into the water. your form disappears beneath the darkness.

you're gone beneath the water for over an hour. cooper's heart was beating against his rib cage. you should be out by now. it should not be that hard. did something get you? things lurked beneath the murky waters always.

"fuck!"

he drops his equipment and begins stripping down, until he is just in his pants. he would need to dive after you. if you were dead, then so be it. it was fun while it lasted.

suddenly, you emerge. you take in the oxygen of the surface and hold the head up high. "got 'em." you swim over to the shore and walk out of the water.

there was something about how...wet you were that got him feeling hot and bothered.

"something happen down there?"

"couple of mirelurks. no big deal. which reminds me." you set the head on the ground and go back into the water. within minutes, you're pulling out the bodies of the mirelurks you had killed. "dinner."

while cutting the mirelurks open, you observe the way he walks around you. his muscles bulging a little as he cuts a mirelurk open and takes the meat. he was kind of...attractive?

"were you going to come after me?" he stops cutting hearing your question. "in the water, i mean."

"so what if i did?" cooper averts his eyes.

"that's sweet of you. i didn't know you had a soft spot for me."

"i don't."

"sure." you can tell he was lying through his teeth.

dinner was a nice, cozy meal. it was delicious. a nice surprise considering the nature of the wasteland.

cooper notices the way you're looking at him. and he looks at you the same way.

though how does this work exactly?

"do you want to..." you try to find a decent way to say this. fuck is a good term. but it felt a little vulgar in the moment.

cooper already knows what you're asking. "absolutely. if you can handle it." he smirks.

it's so cute when he smirks.

you glance over at your bag, looking at your stash of radaway. you had plenty. plus your stash of rad-x too.

"i absolutely can."

[bitter-me]

Shanti

Blade | M. Reader

----------

"I’ve got the perfect job for you, so come and follow me."

----------

Blade remembers the day he officially joined the Stellaron Hunters all too clear.

It was a day he could never forget.

"Oh? a new merchandise?"

The man said with his head slightly tilted. He looks at Blade with full interest in his eyes like someone eyeing an item at an auction, a "merchandise" he said.

The man welcomed him with open arms.

There never was an instance where he would lash out in frustration or annoyance. He always has a confident smile on his face, he never voices any of his negative emotions as if he's someone who's working in an industry. A customer service smile always plastered on his face. Day in day out.

After a few days, Blade would rather call him a merchant rather than a Stellaron Hunter. His behavior speaks for itself. He even speaks with merchants as if he's one of them and is sharing stories and advice he learned in his journey.

That got him wondering.

How could this "merchant" be a Stellaron Hunter? It confuses him to no end, someone so warm like that doing something like this? It's quite questionable. That is... Until he was partnered with the man on a mission.

That man... That once merchant-like man who always has a confident smile.. Shows his true colors...

He sees everyone and everything as nothing but items. He showed it repeatedly like how he said. "If it's alive, it’s a customer. If it's dead, it's merchandise."

He didn't even bother to call them with a more fitting word. He just straight up calls them "it." They're all nothing but customers and merchandise to him.

"No flaws, no waste, it’s a business of buying and selling." He said with a wide grin on his face. 'It's merely business. So no hard feelings right?' That's probably what crosses his mind every time he is given a mission by Elio. People are nothing but items in an auction to him as he raised the bid, it just goes to show how valuable you are to him as an item. The higher the bid.. the more valuable you are to him..

"Night in Aurum Alley never sleeps. It's all my turf!"

"So you’re selling blood, makes sense."

"Shut up and sit down. Punch them. Tie them up. Dismember them."

Such words are said with the sweetest and softest voice you'll ever hear, it's like honey, and you can't help but do what he says.

It works like a charm.

How could a man like this posses such a honey-like voice? Such a cursed man...

.

.

"Oh Bladie~"

"What."

[Name] only smiles at Blade's response, aside from Kafka, he is the only one that can call him "Bladie" and the man clearly took pride in it. "Oh nothing~" The man looks at Blade and eyed him up and down as he opens his mouth to say something Blade already cut him off. "No." "But I haven't say anything!"

Blade glances at the other as if he's silently judging him. "You've asked the question many times already."

"Which is?"

"Come work for me."

[Name] groans at Blade's response, that was so not him! He didn't just say it like that, who did he think he is? A barbarian? Where's all the other sweet honeyed words? "I did not say that."

"It's the point of it." "How harsh~"

Blade remain silent as [Name] continues to pester him. This is an everyday thing to him. If not for the fact that [Name] is a valuable member he might have killed him long ago.

----------

"Hello Mr. [Name], I see you got a new "merchandise"... is it---" "My apologies, but he's not for sale."

"He's a merchandise meant for me and me alone~ and I don't like customers who takes what's not theirs~ do anything funny and you'll be my next merchandise."

"Don't worry~ I heard a coat rack out of bones sells well in an auction~"

[kaakelymaakely]

pushing it down and praying' WIP

Klance Superheroes and Soulmates AU

Soulmates meet in dreams—fleeting glimpses in a world without names, without faces, where the only thing that stays the same is the way they make you feel. Lance has been meeting the same person night after night. He doesn’t know their name. Doesn’t know what they look like. But it’s the only place he feels safe.

Which is ironic, considering he spends his waking life getting punched in the face by supervillains. Love was supposed to be the easy part.

Lance is perched on the edge of a rooftop, his ass uncomfortably scraping against the rough surface of the cement. His legs dangle carelessly over the ledge, swinging-- back and forth, back and forth. He feels small again, taken back to a time when he’d be propped up on the kitchen stool, his feet unable to touch the ground. He can practically hear his mom coo, can feel her affectionately rub the divot between his shoulder blades, as he’d point his toes and sink in his chair until the soles of his socks would graze the tiled floor.

He stretches through the arch of his foot now, slowly curling his toes until they point down, down past the skyscraper's windows, all the way to the pavement below. For a split second, he swears his shoes scrape the ground.

Dreams are funny like that.

Suddenly, the air shifts, and Lance is alone no longer. A warm body presses into his side, just like he had been waiting for. The heat of them prickles across his skin, settling in his stomach and curling in on itself, like a cat resting idly in the sun. Lance chews the flesh of his cheek, biting back a love-sick grin, even though he knows they couldn't make out the slope of it, and playfully nudges his shoulder against theirs. 

They turn to look at Lance, waist twisting to face him straight, but he can't make out any of their features; their face, their hair, hell-- even their skin tone. It's a muddled mess, like ripples against the surface, or a portrait, tactfully smudged with an artist's thumbprint. Lance has the familiar desire to reach forward, cup their face and see if he can map out their features, say 'fuck you' to the rules and trace the bridge of their nose, the shape of their eyes-- see if he could carve them into memory and then into clay, see if he can recreate the feeling of their face into the most beautiful sculpture. If Lance was a better man, he’d try. Instead, he keeps his arms pinned to his sides.

"You okay?" they ask. Their voice is warbled, reminding Lance of his time spent wading in the beach's tides, dunking himself under the cold water and straining to decipher what his siblings were saying, words bubbling up to the surface. It reminds him of summers, speaking in hushed voices across the bonfire, flames crackling over his friends' inflections as his brain fills in the gaps of their voices. 

Lance mulls over the question. Am I okay? His ribcage is still bruised from the last villain-of-the-week, swirls of purples and yellows blooming over his side like a pretty aster flower, its petals spanning all the way across his chest. He’s also pretty sure his shoulder is still out of socket from where Lotor had struck him the other day. At the prompt, he expects to feel his clavicle ache and throb, but it doesn't. Here, in this dream sequence, tucked into his fated Soulmate's side, Lance is safe. 

"Yes," he answers, perfectly honest. "Are you?"

They hum, the noise breaking off into a quiet sigh. "Could be better."

"What's wrong?" Lance asks. There's a part of him that aches for them to finally be honest.  It screams and yells and claws at his pounding heart, ripping through the muscle tissue until all that's left is a vulnerable little boy, desperate to love and be loved. 

"It's just been a long week." They respond. That part of him withers. It aches and takes root in his veins, spreading into his bloodstream until Lance is pumped full of that painful sensation. He wants to know what made their week long, what they're feeling, what they're thinking. How is he ever supposed to find them if he never gets to find out who they are?

"It helps seeing you though." They continue. He swallows down that gnawing throb, lets it slide down his throat and into his stomach, hoping that it gets digested. The acid doesn't seem to dissolve it though, just makes it feel that it's eating him from the inside out. Lance ignores it.

"Yeah?"

He thinks they smile. "Yeah."

[karliahs]

Chihiro and Kunishige for the character ask game!!

thank you liza!! chihiro answered here

favourite thing about them:

rich with fun contrasts...serious mode and silly mode (very fun to write!). most competent swordsmith of all time who can canonically, by his own admission, "barely" do dishes. caused so much bloodshed and loves his kid so so so much. haunting the narrative in a goofy slogan t-shirt. I truly love...kunishige rokuhira...

least favourite thing about them:

part of me thinking about pre-canon era a borderline unhealthy amount is I have spent infinitely too much time overthinking the security precautions the rokuhiras are actually taking (on the one hand they are canonically In Hiding with a big magic barrier, on the other hand kunishige is casually going pet fish shopping???)

so may I just say that it makes me feel insane that he has a fucking sign on his workshop with his name on it.

I recognise that the location of the workshop is a secret, and they have a barrier, and that if anyone gets in there they're kind of already cooked but. he is In Hiding. and he has a SIGN. on his WORKSHOP. with his NAME on it.

favourite line:

kunishige was clearly an imperfect person and an imperfect parent, but I just adore this line as such a...parenting green flag. not just being able to see your child as a separate person to you, who will want things and do things differently to you, but celebrating that.

I can just imagine him saying chihiro's name here with so much love in his voice. how maybe he always said it like that.

brotp/platonic relationships I like for them:

lmao can you call a father-son relationship a brotp...I am obviously obsessed with them and devour every flashback scene

also hungry to see more of his relationship with shiba & azami & all the enchanted blade bearers

OTP/romantic relationships I like for them:

kunishiba good both in itself and also because you know that thing where the relationships in the household you grow up in kind of set the tone for how you think about relationships in general? I think it's so funny if chihiro's one template is whatever the fuck his dad and shiba had going on. everything is being parsed through the prism of repressed war veteran situationship

random headcanon:

this may well get contradicted someday, but I imagine kunishige being in a pretty bad place after the war and surviving that partly because of chihiro. hard to give up on the world when you have this tiny helpless perfect little being in your arms who needs you so so badly.

also I think it's fun as an inverse to samura, whose guilt prompted him to push iori away

unpopular opinion:

I have no idea what the popular opinions are! I will say we have almost exclusively seen kunishige through the adoring eyes of his son, and it seems like there is probably a lotttt of stuff that doesn't capture. so I am willing to accept a lot of bad things about him, as long as I am never expected to believe that he didn't love chihiro with his whole entire heart. that is load-bearing for me. for personal reasons,,

song I associate with them:

thanks one of @trans-hakuri's friends for by proxy introducing me to bullets by tunng as a seitei war song:

They split the secret up six ways Before they gave it to us just before dawn And now we don't remember

favourite picture of them:

this incredible art! the second image especially

[junkyardisles]

I would love to hear bout your Swap Force thing!!! I’m really curious about what you’ll do w/ the swappers and bosses :)

ok so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as an overview with both i can go more in detail abt specific aspects swappers are no longer ""all male because it's gender neutral" cause that's a load of crap but i also don't wanna deal with hmm how would a snake and a potoo swap halves SO instead they swap powers.

fire kraken and freeze blade are the main two cause i like their designs the most but doom stone and trap shadow are also pretty relevant they're all from the cloudbreak isles and specifically protected the cloudbreak isles, meaning they were not under eon. smthn i'm toying around with is maybe the chieftess' predecessor being their portal master? or the chieftess herself?? yaugh anyway their ability to swap powers didn't come right when they got sent to earth, instead maybe they all came in contact w/ a stone or smthn idk i'm working it out. what determines what attributed will be swapped is a per individual thing, freeze blade gives others ice but if he swaps w/ rattle shake he won't necessarily lose his ice sorta thing. it means there's no toy aspect but uhhhhhhh i didn't ever use the swap mechanic LOL i felt it kinda screwed up play styles at times. swappers also have slight redone movesets but i haven't given it thought cause my FIFTY EIGHT FANLANDERS need them more, fire kraken def gets combos tho cause she should have them

bosses get a big overhaul cause i do not like sf bosses. so here's each one evil glumshanks > evil glumshanks + the unnamed tech guardian (she/they). their whole shtick is that [pending] is lazy and oversees the dig site, but she claims she's doing sooo muuuch wooooork so kaos sends glumshanks in with them. except she orders him around and since he's evilised (rename tba) he's more aggressive with them. their boss fight has an on rails phase cause the grind rails got underused mesmeralda > design is now specifically more arachnid, she's also one of the only non evilised bosses. i like her fight so it stays the same, idk maybe kaos' mom hired her to decorate her castle, seems like she'd be good at that fire viper > the fire viper kaos yoinked up to ensure his operations in the barrens went well. it eats petrified darkness and is a weird hot gummy worm thing with skeletal armour to protect itself. also it's before motleyville now, in iron jaw gulch (which is towards the end of the game) evilised whiskers > stays the same baron von shellshock > um i haven't thought how to make his fight less of a pushover yet lawl EVILISED TERRASQUID LET'S GOOOO :D so the terrasquid is referred to as 'bossearth' as an internal name in the prototype so she gets evilised and u gotta fight her. i know the frosthound has the concept in the strata book but i like the terrasquid. also third last boss kaos' mom > kalamity. she's a life element sorceress cause that's funny, i like the gauntlet aspect from the game but idk i need to do more thinking super evil kaos > petrified darkness kaos who's essentially just purple kaos but for most of the fight he's got cool crystal armour and i'm still trying to figure stuff out I HATE SUPER EVIL KAOS D: bosses still have the solely 3 phase rule unique to sf but they're (hypothetically) a bit more varied and are less of a 'ok do the thing then do the other thing then attack during this window!!' cause i thought it made them rlly boring

[overflowchute]

tron's deck in ygo zexal is heraldic beast. it's not one i feel super strongly about, but i appreciate it as a deck theme nonetheless. there's no extremely strong conceptual core to how the deck plays, but i like that it provides a nicely delineated idea. i think the deck choice is meant to fit to a few things

tron is unique in ygo at this point b/c his main role in that he's an abusive patriarch whose whole family duels. a major aspect of his arc and zexal 1 in general is the father-son relationship, his deck represents affinity. the arclight family is tragic because tron himself was actually a pretty good dad, but after going through the experiences he does before the story he gets warped into a horrible creature that uses his family's pre-existing love for his own goals.

when he comes back, he grants his family the power of his "crest", which seems to give them terrible power that ultimately exhausts and damages them if they ever lose or use it too much. so the choice to make his deck revolve around heraldry directly mirrors that ofc

i like the emptiness of the association - heraldry is the symbol of nobility, not the things that make it a family itself.

anyway, this is all an elaborate set-up so i could talk about tron's signature monster, genome-heritage. gh is a very odd looking guy, i think its art is framed poorly

but you know, there's actually a lot i like about this thing, especially seeing it in the context of the show. it has that princess mononoke "weird-ass noble beast" energy to it, where it scans like a deer but really not at all like one if you look closely. in the anime, genom-heritage uses its strange antler hair as a sort of feeding tentacles, wrapping them around the targeted monsters to steal their effects and form, but it keeps its face...

which leads me to consider that, the white nearly mask-like face is probably directly meant to mirror tron himself. really the entire creature - both of them are empty shells of a family symbol that steal people's memories. indeed, its japanese name is genome-HERITOR.

honestly the more i look at it the more i like aspects of its shape. the not-hair not-antlers. the garish colors and odd shapes do call to mind overly designed coats of arms and noble ostentation. i think my favorite element is the bizarre blade-like hooves?

the way it wears clothes with human-like arm shape design on its front legs disturbs me for some reason. it doesn't look like a beast, it looks like the idea of a beast, which is perhaps the point! and indeed, it is a Psychic monster, not a beast itself

so overall id say i like heraldic beast, they're a very middle of the road archetype, but the anime context combined with a reasonable attempt to make them do Something Specific in the game creates a perfectly ok set of weirdos

one last side note. a unique element of genome-heritor in the anime is that it doesn't just copy name, it STEALS the name from things, deleting the original monster's name. this is really funny to me and also kind of cool. they avoid doing this in game for various reasons though. there are very few cards that let you change the name of monsters willy nilly in ygo, mostly just ones that let a single monster copy the name of another. in the anime this is actually integral to how heritor wins one duel, so it's a bit sad it can't do that in the game. still, there's something i love about that conceptually: it's just a weirdly petty thing, that it takes your identity from you completely. an interesting creature to imagine in a fantasy context, wouldn't you say?

i suppose there really is a king of beasts...

[beaningeneraldenial]

Grian meets a guy, a bad guy

The rift spit him our in the middle of a park, in the middle of the night. Enclosed, shady, unprotected park with more than a few shady people walking around. He can already smell trouble in the air before he sees it.

Sadly, he sees it soon enough.

After getting his bearings and looking over his shoulder multiple times, Grian decides to leave his impromptu hiding spot behind some hedges and walk on the main path of the park. It's empty enough to warranty a safe place for him to rest and look for his friends after.

This small... inhibition, per se, of the rift –splitting them up and throwing them gods know where– has made this mission quite troublesome for him. While he could reach for his powers, tucked away in a metaphorical coffet, Grian likes a good challenge.

Finding Mumbo is a challenge in and of itself.

In the corner of his mind, he knows that he's being followed or at the very least, watched. No, he isn't paranoid. He just caught a glimpse of someone walking behind him at some point and when he turned to see –to ask for directions too– there was no one there.

He shrugs and continues walking. The entrance of the park is just up ahead, he'll probably make it without issue.

Aaaand that is where he is proven wrong, apparently, because he is shoved towards a tree trunk face-first, his back hitting the bark of it when he is spun around at the last second. The back of his head bangs against it, too, and goodness, he hopes there aren't any splinters in his head now.

His wings have been awkwardly caught between him and the tree. They're in a position where he can't flap them without risking all sorts of injuries that he can't heal. The rift took away all his equipment, inconveniently, meaning that he has no health potions on him and no weapon to strike back with when the cold blade of a knife is pressed to his throat.

He looks at his assailant, who is close enough to obscure everything from the neck down– Brown hair, gray, shining eyes, black mask pulled over his mouth and nose. Grian huffs a chuckle because this guy thinks his identity can be hidden that easily from him, which he finds funny. The guy, obviously, lacks a sense of humor. The blade is pressed firmer against his skin.

Granted, this is a stranger and there is no way some random guy would know that Grian has weird ways of knowing things but...

"Waffles or pancakes?"

That– That question leaves Grian at a loss.

"I– what..."

You'd think a man who has a knife to your throat would be demanding your bag or mugging you at this point.

"Waffles...", the guy insists, "or pancakes"

"Waffles?"

"Hmmm..."

For a second, Grian panics. Did he answer wrong? Was the answer neither "waffles" nor "pancakes"?

And then the guy pushes himself off of him and Grian subconsciously rubs his throat. Thankfully, the knife didn't do any damage there. That's good.

"Parker", the guy says, extending a hand to Grian. Is that his name? Grian doubts that it is. He shakes his hand anyways –if only to establish contact and leave a mark on him.

"That was really unnecessary", he tells Parker.

He takes the offered distance as a chance to examine the rest of him. Blue and yellow bomber jacket that has definitely seen better days and a simple pair of jeans. Grian wonders how many pockets the jacket has.

"Oh, it was completely necessary", Parker responds, stuffing his hands in his pockets, having out the knife away a second ago. "Waffles are superior to pancakes"

"Oookay, then", he hums to himself, unsure what to make of that. "Have you seen anyone who fell out of the sky by any chance?"

But he may as well use this guy as a way to find his friends, regroup and finally find Mumbo.

"Uh... no?"

Or maybe he can skip the first part of that list.

Oh and sure, Parker can look at him like he is the crazy one out of the two of them. That makes sense.

[yunkiwii]

~23:46~ {hongjoongxgn!reader, fluff, slice of life, tattoos, wc:700}

"why did you get tattoos on your back?", you ask quietly, not worried about how dumb this kind of questions might sound anymore.

hongjoong shrugged his shoulders chuckling at your very random question. he was laying on his stomach right next to you, as you sat with your back against the headboard of his bed with his right arm resting on your thighs. the book in your hands was long forgotten as you got distracted by the black lines that drew mesmerising designs on your boyfriend’s back.

"which one is your favourite?", he retorted at you, turning his head to face you with a cheeky smile as he supported himself on his left elbow.

you let the book fall open on your lap to caress his hair, still half-wet, and with said movement a scent of sweet almonds invaded your senses.

"hm, let me look closer at them", you let your hand rest at the back of his head as he lets himself fall down on the mattress again.

"you've seen them plenty of times, jagi", hongjoong chuckles once more, his right hand tapping your hip lightely before resting there.

you, on the other hand, slid down on the bed just a little to become closer to him. your fingers tracing his skin from the back of his neck to the middle of his back, following the abstract lines that created an irregular path. you loved the unorganised organisation of that path, stopping right above his last rib, as if it was made to tell you he liked to be kissed there.

but as much as you loved the thicker lines, your eyes always diverted to the finer ones on both his shoulder blades.

"the cherubs. the cherubs are my favourites."

"and why's that?", hongjoong pulls you closer to him, placing a soft kiss on your bare shoulder.

"the design itself is very pretty, but the fact they are facing each other in such a perfectly symmetrical way, it's like the lines in the middle work as a mirror. the whole thing is very pleasing to look at."

"glad to know im also pretty from behind", your boyfriend laughs into your neck, his hot breath tickling and sending shivers down your spine.

"oh, so that's the reason why you did them!", you look down at him with a faked surprise before pouting, "cute..."

you both fall into a quiet laughter once more, partly because you found yourselves funny like that, but mostly because you felt the most content with each other.

hongjoong took the book from your lap, placing it on the nightstand only to lay his head there instead, beginning to drift in and out of sleep.

after a while, with your restless mind still hung up on his marked skin, you called his name through a whisper, almost inaudible, "hongjoongie..."

"hm.. yes?", you bite your lip at the sound of his raspy voice, mentally slapping your forehead for waking him up.

"uh, nothing... nevermind, sorry i woke you up baby.", you take his hand in yours, bringing it to your lips as he turned to face you, eyebrows furrowed and sleepy eyes.

"no, what is it? is everything okay?"

"it's kinda stupid joongie..."

"it's okay, you can say it. it's just me", hongjoong sits up, resting his back against the headboard and pulling you into his embrace.

"the cherubs aren't my favourites just for being pleasing to look at...", you hesitate a little, hiding your face in the crook of his neck, too shy to look him in the eye, "i also like to think they're there to protect you when i can't"

with the lack of verbal response, hongjoong simply holding you a little tighter and chuckling lowly, you felt your cheeks heating up.

"i told you it was stupid! its embarrassing!"

"no, no, its not! trust me, it's not stupid or embarrassing.", hongjoong lifts your chin and your eyes are met with the ones of a smiling man, one who cups your cheek before pecking the tip of your nose, "it makes me very happy to hear that. i just made them because they looked cool, but now i will forever associate them with you."

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[mcsdiamonds]

More Choices opinions

Troy is actually not that bad. I am not a VIP player, so my latest chapter was 10 Another World, and it's honestly taken me until his diamond scene in this chapter to warm up to him.

To me he fell into PBs flirtatious goofball archetype, which I never find myself attracted to. They're never smooth enough to overcome the goofiness, even when PB tries to give them some tragic backstory. But something about Troy's diamond scene was written juuuuuust well enough to square that circle of "being the comic relief" and "being a viable love interest."

In particular I kind of compare him to Mal from Blades and Maxwell from TRR, but there's so many like "funny best friend who is also your LI" characters that the role has kind of become an instant no for me. Maxwell has his place in my heart for various reasons (I should make a Maxwell post.....❤️), but by the time Mal came around I was burnt out on the trope because, as I said, the circles never squared. If you're a goofball dork whose only function is to make pop culture references, in what context should I find you sexy?

Troy's diamond scene made me see his character different. If I hadn't played it, I would still see him as just another one of those archetypes, a character whose whole spot in the narrative hinges on having known you before the plot took off and whose actions barely justify being present. And someone whose humor is said to be covering up for something but for whom there's not really a dark enough background to be covering up for?? Idk, I feel like there's a lot of those.

But actually, everyone has lost someone in this apocalypse, so the humor is a good mask for coping. And actually Troy noticed something was up way before you did and was planning to leave the Tower the same night you did regardless of your plot unfolding.

(I sat there while playing through his explanation and thought, hey wait, that's actually interesting. Why didn't they have him leave before us and then we got in trouble for being close to a deserter and that's when our sister saw our name on the list, why did they write it to be so coincidental, why were we put on that list for such a bullshit unrealistic reason. You could have met him on the outside, either having found Eli first or just surviving on his own and having to explain himself to you, it could have even been like 1 or 2 chapters difference so it didn't seem so drawn out and it would have made him a way more interesting character off the bat and fixed the "mc is a dumbass" vibe, because the current problem of "wow even the comic relief saw it coming" solves itself. It makes him more cunning and us more Innocent instead of circumstance making us both look Dumb. Why does PB have such loose writing when things could be done so tightly with more grip jfc.)

And yeah, that makes him seem a lot more sly than he did before. In my version of things he comes off as even more resourceful, but you know, Pixelberry isn't perfect because they don't have me on their staff :) But, all things considered, he was at least way more aware than I gave him credit for because the original scene where he pops up on you in the woods like hours after you escape was just eye-rollingly coincidental. Of course you survived, I was able to romance you, you weren't going anywhere and I question why you just weren't part of the escaping group in the first place. Loose writing, very loose writing.

What wasn't loose writing was how he didn't miss a beat when you told him he didn't have to deflect everything with humor. He said something to the effect of "I don't know what you're talking about 🙃", which, okay. Mal from Blades had this moment too, but I honestly don't feel like Mal thought his situation was shit. Maxwell has also had a moment or two like this, but he's much more like Lily from Blood Bound where it's like, no this is just how they are? There is no mask they are just happy people, it's possible to be happy people. (Maxwell could have been more mask-y, but honestly the writing is just not behind it. When I rewrite TRR it will be there, but in canon it's much more his personality than a mask.) But Troy knows his situation is shit. It made me realize just how many dangerous situations he has been in and why he had that mask in the first place. I think it's because it's balanced out by a seriousness here, the ever-present danger and constantly fearing for your life, like just being in this abandoned park felt like a risk (seriously why were there no zombies im this loud as fuck park, the whole thing felt so suspicious), so of course he is going to try to keep up group cohesion with humor, he needs that cohesion to SURVIVE. Like these kind of characters need to be shown being serious about SOMETHING, and that was well on display here.

Honestly, the whole book is elevated by the setting, it's why I hate how many modern-era books they make. PB, you know your fantasy series are in a completely different league, can you stop pussyfooting around and actually commit to quality over quantity already. Oh what's that, your only fantasy series in now on hiatus and the most anticipated sequel has been pushed back ANOTHER year? Oh okay, guess you DON'T want my money.

Back to Troy: So in addition to being a lot more cunning and deep than I previously gave him credit for, he was actually SMOOTH in this chapter! He so far has not been super flirtatious with me as I have this thing about picking dialogue that I actually feel a human being would say, and shoehorning in how hot you find someone every conversation is definitely not how normal human beings talk. This chapter was my first or second romance decision with him, and I chose, "you're lucky you're pretty" because that's how I felt a friend would actually mock you if you have nasty taste in food. Because of this I feel like he's been pretty subdued; the game assumes if I am not throwing myself at him I am not interested, which is fine. I went into his diamond choice expecting to choose all the friend options and be done with it but he surprised me and the moment was written as such that I actually felt it was right to kiss him despite not choosing romance options for him in the past.

He also does that wall lean over you at one point and says something flirty, but also like relevant to the situation at hand, and I felt my mcs brain short circuit. That's hot. Why don't more choices characters act more subtly hot, why is it always extremely aggressive flirting, have PB staff never been flirted with before? Usually if a character is to suavely lean over you they'll give you the dialogue equivalent of "Are you from Tennessee? ;)" and you're supposed to act like that was a natural conversation progression and not just virgins writing pickup lines or harried clean up writers desperately trying to get the scene to work. Whoever wrote this scene actually knows what successful come ons actually entail, because this was it.

And it's really sad that I might have missed this if I hadn't been buying all the scenes for the Sanctuary bonuses. Regular people should know that Troy is actually hot!! It's totally unfair. Do you hear me, regular people??? He's hot!! He's HO—

[aki-draws-things]

Hi Aki~ I know you prefer to hurt Tybalt, but for BTHB "Dying in their arms" how about hurting Mercutio instead? (T could still be the focus). In a Tycutio way I reckon that would hurt T a lot anyway. Maybe M is protecting T against someone (lord C?), or they're fighting someone together. And then when the situation is resolved M doesn't realise he's been hurt - until Tybalt looks at him, horrified (cue angst, blood, and tears).

You asked for angst, You’ll have angst. Also written in a single sitting, which is a very good thing.

Prompt: Dying in their armsFandom: Romeo et JulietteShip: Tycutio

@badthingshappenbingo

Tybalt didn’t hate Romeo, why should he? He was his cousin’s husband, Juliet loved him so much she challenged death itself for him. - Maybe he could hate him a bit for that. Just a tiny little bit. - In the end he didn’t hate him, not really, not as everyone believed. But he did hate Lord Montague, and he had every reason for that, his hate was justified, the Prince would even allow him to hate him even more.

“What are you doing here?” The voice reminded Tybalt so much of his own uncle and unconsciously he took a step back, just a bit farther from his reach, in case he decided – But that was not Lord Capulet. - And yet that fear settled on his chest and refused to leave, a cold hold around his heart and a too deep instinct to cower. He hated himself so much for such a childish reaction. -

“I need to speak with Juliet.” He finally said looking back up. “No need to be afraid, Tybalt. You’re not a child, don’t act like one.” He thought.

“No.”

Tybalt blinked confused for a moment. No? Was he – Was he refusing him to see his cousin? That made no sense.

“No Capulets here. You may want to leave before I call a guard. Or worse.”

He noticed how the hand slipped to the hilt of the rapier at his side. Were really his uncle and this man so similar? Hands and swords always quicker than words? He had been the same, he couldn’t deny it, but he was younger, he could learn, and he did learn not to let anger lead his hand. Those men were the one supposed to teach them that. Instead here he was, threatening him for such a simple request.

“I just need Juliet for a second, I –”

“I thought I had been clear.” Tybalt took another step back as the blade shone catching a ray of sun. He wasn’t scared, not really. - He simply valued his life. -

“I won’t even get inside, please, I –” He almost tripped on the two steps behind him when Lord Montague stepped forward. He wasn’t scared, Tybalt tried to convince himself, he wasn’t. He still preferred to be far from his reach and from his hand, scared or not.

He left without even see his cousin, let alone speak to her. It wasn’t like he had to ask her much, it was only a little proposal. Extremely little. He needed a witness with him, only for a moment, some minutes, not even long, and of all the people he knew she was the only one who cared enough for him to accept. The only one who would understand. - The one who would be overjoyed for him. -

“How did it went, love?” Tybalt muttered something sitting on the couch and curling against Mercutio’s side like an overgrown cat.

“I didn’t ask her.” He revealed after a while.

“Why?”

Tybalt almost lied. It’ wouldn’t be fair of course, he promised to be honest, he wanted to be honest, but Mercutio was also so close to the Montague’s family that for a moment he feared he wouldn’t believe him.

“I didn’t see her.” Small steps toward the truth, maybe it would be easier that way.

“Was she out? You could have waited for her a little longer. You don’t have a curfew.” Tybalt didn’t move from his position against him. He wanted to lie, he couldn’t risk to break something Mercutio held so dear like his friendship and association with the Montagues. “Tybalt? My good Tybalt, what’s wrong with you today? What happened?” He inquired worriedly turning and taking Tybalt’s face in his hands. He so wanted to lie. And yet he couldn’t.

“Lord Montague didn’t let me see her.”

“He what?”

“I could have insisted, I know, but he put a hand on his rapier and I…” Mercutio was looking at him in shock and Tybalt lowered his eyes in shame. He was supposed to be fearless, he was supposed to be the best swordsman of the Capulets, of all of Verona. He used to be one of the best. -He still was if he wanted. - Instead he backed away once a man put the hand on the rapier, like a child. Scared and trembling. - He had every reason. His uncle’s actions made him fear sudden movements like those. He raised his rapier against him in the “good name of a lesson”, he would say. -

“How could he?” Shock turned into rage. “How dare he?!” Rage turned into fury. Tybalt took his hands in his and held them tight.

“It doesn’t matter. I can write her a letter and –”

“No. - Mercutio stood and held a hand to him. - We’ll go there and he will let you see Juliet. Right now.”

Making him change his mind was almost impossible, Tybalt had learned it long ago, before they eve started to be something more than just enemies, or friends, or occasional lovers. Mercutio was a hurricane, unstoppable once he set his mind on something.

- Never like in that moment he wished he could have changed his mind. It would have saved them much pain and tears and – It was too late now. -

Tybalt almost remained on the door of the Montague palace when a servant opened the door and gestured them to enter, so used to Mercutio’s presence around the place.

“Come. - He said taking his hand. - You have nothing to fear with me, I promise.”

He felt a bit stupid for a moment, acting so much like a scared child, letting Mercutio protect him, shield him. He should be the one protecting the future Prince, not the other way around, it was absurd.

What was absurd for Mercutio, on the other hand, was how Lord Montague shot up from his seat at their sight and pointed a finger at Tybalt.

“I said no Capulet here. You’re testing my patience here.”

“Funny coming from you and then taking in a Capulet. Go ahead, go to her.” He mouthed a quick “My love” that in another moment would have made him blush. Tybalt moved to Juliet just a bit but as soon as he stepped away from Mercutio Lord Montague stepped forward, rapier already in hand.

Everything blurred for a moment, someone moved, someone screamed, people stood from their seats. It was all almost surreal.

“You really are a fool.” Mercutio said and it was his voice that cleared Tybalt’s mind from that fog. - He wished it didn’t. - You are the fool, he wanted to say, biggest fool of all.

When Mercutio turned Tybalt’s eyes were wide, tears already forming and fear, so much fear painted on his face that made Mercutio want to reach out. Instead he fell in his arms with a groan, blood seeping through his doublet, through Tybalt’s desperate hands, dripping on the floor beneath them.

“Oh… closer than expected.” He muttered, more blood coming from his lips. Tybalt’s hands slipped slightly as he tried to hold him against himself, Mercutio laid his head against Tybalt’s chest. “Don’t cry, love. - He brushed a hand on his cheek drying the tears for a moment. - You know you’re so much prettier when you smile. And you said you would keep tears for the big day, didn’t you?”

If possible that brought more tears from his eyes, he clutched at his doublet and a sob escaped his throat.

“It’s all right. I’m here, in your arms, what better place?” Mercutio covered a hand with his, caressed gently his knuckles before letting it slip down at his side, too weak to keep it there. “That’s my favorite place to be, you know? - Tybalt wanted to nod, of course he knew, Mercutio always said it. But it wasn’t fair, not right now. Who gave him the right to say it now? He caressed his cheek drying the tears that in the end fell from Mercutio’s eyes. Everything around them was still, like the world stopped for a moment to give them time. A little more time. Just a little more. - I wouldn’t change it.”

Tears turned into sobs, something Juliet never heard before coming from a person, something almost unnatural, even more coming from her cousin.

The world started to spin around them again, faster than before, to make up for the lost time. Guards in neutral colors came forward and took the blade from Lord Montague’s hands, they dragged him away and no one dared to stop them. Two of them knelt by Mercutio and Tybalt, they whispered something and Tybalt almost pushed them away, but they were kind, they understood, he knew them, and in the end he let one of them take Mercutio’s body from his arms. - He promised, profusely, to be careful as he carried him away. - The other, younger one waited for him, kneeling on one knee by his side, never touching him but close enough, until Tybalt took his hand as a support to stand.

“I’m –” Romeo’s voice was broken as Tybalt walked out of the palace.

“Don’t. His sins are his alone. You are guiltless. Don’t apologize.” Apologies, he thought as he walked to the Escalus palace in a sort of daze, won’t bring him back to me.

The Prince was waiting by the door when he arrived, the young guard made a quick bow and left swiftly, Tybalt kept his eyes on the ground, too scared to look up and see that man he could have called uncle blame him. Because of course he would blame him for Mercutio, he blamed himself. He was the one who should have changed his mind, the one who was supposed to protect him, the one –

The Prince walked closer, stopped right in front of him and raised a hand. Instinctively Tybalt flinched and screwed shut his eyes. The hand touched his cheek, slipped behind his head, under the hair and pulled him closer until he was resting against him, his other arm wrapped around the shoulders and held him close.

“Come, nephew, - He said after some minutes, when he heard the sobs slow down a bit. - let’s get you inside.”