#it means they think we'll lose and they're placing bets

[cascadianights]

Honestly waited my whole life to have queer star trek instead of just queercoded star trek, and they came out with a completely straight and cis star trek mainly reenacting old episode ideas????????????

Fucking. Disappointment.

[mischiefprincess]

Being on lokius tt was fun for some time

So, when Loki s2 came out I was hanging out w some lokius shippers bc I thought some of them had some cool analysis about the show and about Loki as a character, however as time passes I realize they're getting more and more lost in their own interpretations and their own headcanons that they consider to be canon at this point, I'm being honest, I have nothing against lokius but let's face reality: they're just not happening, it'll never be canon and that's okay, the timing for Loki to find a romantic partner is gone, if it was going to happen it had to be on his show bc I don't think marvel will use their avengers movies to focus on any romance between any characters, let alone lokius that it's not even a thing in canon lol

But the thing is, they seem really convinced that not only lokius is already canon (yeah, some of them are just like that) but they also think their reunion is a big thing that marvel is building up to, and i'm not saying Loki and Mobius will never see each other again but if they do it won't be this big thing they're expecting it to be, the brodinsons reunion is way more expected and I'm not even sure we'll get it lol

And i'm really not trying to be mean to lokius shippers but I feel they're going down the same path the sylkis went after s1, they got what they wanted from their ship (lokius not so much but still) and then they started to get more and more deep into their analysis and hcs and started to forget what's canon and what's not, when the next movies drop and Mobius doesn't show up in it and when Loki shows up and has a plot that has nothing to do with romance they'll lose it, they'll act just like the sylkis did with s2 and they'll say marvel ruined the greatest love story they ever made (lol), they'll say they don't care about Loki and Mobius separately and they just want them back if they get together in the end, they'll say marvel did a MASSIVE build up after s2 just to throw it all away as if it was nothing simply bc they are just too deep into their hcs and can't separate canon from fanon anymore and they'll say marvel ruined their lives and also ruined their only source of happiness ever, they're developing a toxic dependance on their ship and when things don't go the way they want they'll freak out and hell will break lose on their side of twitter

I really wish people would just interact normally with the stuff they consume, but it seems like everyone who likes a ship suddenly loses all senses and can only see things from the perspective of the ship and every little interaction between the two characters is read through the shipping lenses, it goes to a point where if Mobius doesn't lie to Loki about timeslipping being terrible is not because Mobius as a character just has no reason to lie to his friend at that point, not to mention he was trying to calm Loki down from his anxiety attack, ofc he wouldn't just say right to Loki's face how bad timeslipping really was at first, but no, Mobius didn't lie because they're on a point in their relationship where they simply can't lie to each other anymore bc their love is so strong and pure (lmao), it may sound like i'm nitpicking but really, it starts with these little things and slowly they start to live in their own bubble where everything must be analysed with the shipping glasses on and then the characters are reduced to being half of a ship and nothing more

Not to mention how they're placing all their bets on a tva spin-off that probably is just the comic they announced last week or so, again, I'm not trying to be mean but who the hell would watch a show about the tva and only the tva????????? What else is there to tell about them? They're going to show them working in their little cubicles and eating pie in the automat? If Kang was still the big bad I could see them expanding more on the tva but with him gone I don't think there's that much to explore about the tva anymore, I don't see them having that much protagonism in this saga and if they appear it will just be something small and in the background like Deadpool and Wolverine, watching them recruit heroes to fight the multiversal war seems pointless now that there won't be one (I know Doom will be a threat but I don't see him inheriting the multiversal saga plot from Kang, they'll give him his own thing imo) anyway, I think the tva is likely to stay irrelevant in this saga (and that doesn't mean that Loki will be irrelevant, some people think that somehow Loki depends on the tva to stay relevant but lol, just no) and if they appear it will just be something small but they're getting their hopes so high for this hipotetical spin-off that I fear how their reactions will be when they realize it's just not happening (but idk, marvel could announce it in d23 and surprise everyone, still, I doubt it)

All this to say that it really seems like shippers can't enjoy things normally, they have to make everything be about their ship (hipotetical or not) and they slowly loose grip on what's canon and what's fanon, they isolate themselves in their bubbles where they only get positive reinforcement thanks to their delusions and sooner than they realize they have a whole made up version of the characters and the show in their heads that doesn't align with what the show was in the first place, sadly the tendence is for them to only get worse and I really wish that wasn't the case but now they even seem to think that everyone involved in the making of s2 including Tom Hiddleston himself is a lokius shipper (???????????????????) And that lokius was confirmed canon in what they call the og s2 ep5 that was scrapped early in filming or so, the fact that they stalked the crew and their likes when s2 was airing only made them more certain of it, if Rafael Casal likes a post talking about Brad it's not bc he's happy they're talking about his character, no, is bc he endorses their view on the show and he's validating them and their interpretations, same thing as Eric Martin or some random editor that liked what people were talking about the episode he worked in, to them a like equals validation bc they desperately want to cling to any crumbs they can get of it

I'm not making this post to say people should stop shipping lokius or anything, I just wish the shippers could separate canon from fanon and that they would stop reducing a show that had so many themes to being a love story that didn't even happen in the first place, I still enjoy lokius and read fics of them every once in a while, I'm not here to police what people ship or not, I just wanted to write this bc some of these thoughts have been stuck in my chest for months now and I really needed to let them out.

At the end of the day I wish the Loki fandom in twitter wasn't split between those two ships and was more focused on Loki himself but unfortunately that's not the case, I can only hope that when Loki shows up again they don't find a way to reduce him to being part of a ship bc he always was and always will be so much more than that.

[deadprompts]

𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙰𝙻𝙺𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙳𝙴𝙰𝙳 𝚂𝙴𝙰𝚂𝙾𝙽 𝟽 𝙿����𝙾𝙼𝙿𝚃𝚂.

content warning applies. change any pronouns / wording if necessary.

you're either with us or you ain't.

you do the same damn stink eye as your dad

i'm not saving you anymore.

you should be dead.

i love a gal that takes me to dinner and doesn’t expect me to put out.

you're sitting over there talking outside both sides of your mouth.

i know i had to make a pretty strong first impression.

you’re lucky. don’t forget.

i just bent over backwards to show you how reasonable i am.

it's gonna be dark soon.

did you just threaten me?

you see, now i just think you're lying.

kid. i ain't gonna lie. you scare the shit out of me.

are you kiddin' me?

do soy sauce packets count as food?

i'm dealing in certainties, and i'm doing my part to give them what they want.

what'd he have? a knife?

i get why you did it.

i would not have messed with that guy!

hot diggity dog! this place is magnificent!

i don’t give a shit if you think you’ve found the secret to life.

if you keep thinking everyone's an enemy, then enemies are all you're gonna find.

let me give you some advice.

you should go before you find out how dangerous we really are.

that takes guts... and then there's you.

people want someone to follow.

same goes for you too right?

little pig, little pig, let me in!

i want you to think about what could've happened, think about what happened, and think about what can still happen.

don’t pretend you don’t know the score.

anyone wanna finish the game? come on! i was winning!

it ain’t just about getting by here. it’s about getting it all.

people can try and you set you in the right direction, but they can’t show you the way.

listen, i like you, so i don't want to go hard proving a point here.

we'll win. but we need to wait for the right moment.

i hear your concern. i'm not insensitive to it.

people say i have an expressive face.

i always found it hard getting close to anyone.

that remind you of anyone you know?

if you knew us, if you knew anything, you would kill us.

well pardon me.

look, just put it down...

we need to talk.

hope you're not trying to hide stuff from us 'cause that generally doesn't go over very well.

i feel like i ought to give you a signing bonus.

you bunch of pussies!

nobody's evil. they just decide to forget who they are.

i think i've made my position very clear.

i'm serious. do you want me to prove how serious?

bet you thought you were all gonna grow old together.

whatever you had going for you... that is over now.

what's about to happen is gonna be hard to watch.

if you're having problems of that nature, come to see me.

some people are evil. i've seen it.

i was gifted these pickles.

how about a "thank you?"

i can't be the only one to notice that you got a fat lady in charge of keeping track of rations, can i?

he's an idiot.

you'll get yourself killed.

you should know, there is no door number four. this is it. this is the only way.

speak when you're spoken too.

in case you haven't caught on, i just slipped my dick down your throat, and you thanked me for it.

i can see this is hard on you guys.

we provide security for others. we bring civilization back to this world.

you guys have a barbecue or something and not invite us?

i'll find you.

you were thinking about someone else.

my apologies for leaving the place a bit of a mess, but we got a litany of other shit to attend to!

you like ice cream? we have ice cream.

me? i ain't doing shit.

you got your friend killed.

not making a decision is a big decision.

drink from the well, replenish the well.

suck my nuts.

he's a coward. they're more dangerous.

don't be rude.

this must be hard for you right?

no matter how things go down, i got your back.

we'll crack open some tequila, we'll talk, we'll work it out.

you don't have to do this.

your people are making me lose my voice doing all this yelling.

i'd like to take it back to awkward silence now.

i mean, you have been king shit for so long.

we made it. we can make it. we can.

you're not me.

it’s because you got no guts.

was the joke that bad?

is that you? underneath all that man bush?

thanks for saving my life before. and other time. oh, and the other time.

get on your knees.

you really want to see all these people die? you will.

i am indeed a smarty pants.

what the hell, man?

we're the ones who live.

don't wander around here on your own.

[mdhwrites]

Device IX Has No Interest in Nihilists

The Path of Nihility in Honkai Star Rail is fascinating to me because none of its pathstriders, those that follow the aeon in some way, are nihilists. In contrast, most of the other paths do want people who are actually affiliated to their keyword in some way, such as the straightforwardness of Hunters, leaders for the members of the Harmony, etc. like that. Now, I want to be clear here: I'm actually going by gameplay paths, not like what sort of organization they're affiliated to. This is because most will split allegiances with this and I consider their gameplay path to be the actual path they are a part of. Jing Yuan might be a member of the Xianshou who are affiliated with Lan but he himself looks at the world in a skewed, academic lens, which makes him a great tactician and a member of the Erudition more than of the Hunt. That to me just makes more sense and honestly is just FAR more interesting to examine.

Why do I say Device Ix isn't interested in Nihilists then? Well, it's because all of the Nihility characters we have right now in some way are both in conversation and reject Nihilism in some way. If Nihilism can be boiled down to "Everything sucks, we'll all succumb to entropy, why bother doing anything?" then why does Black Swan record dead planets? What is there to learn from something that has already succumbed? Guiniafen and Luka both have suffered SEVERE losses that have shaped who they are but also both became performers with new goals in life and desires to be aspirational for those around them. Silver Wolf sees life as a game but she also cares about winning that game or else she wouldn't get so upset when she loses. The Nihility branch is filled with this stuff.

But the best example? Well, let's actually wait on talking about Acheron to talk about the outlier because the game was actually pretty clear about this. It's the whole point of 2.1 after all.

Aventurine the Nihilist versus Acheron, the woman who wants to kill Nihility itself. One is an Emanator of Preservation while the other an Emanator of Nihility itself. But... Not the ones you would assume immediately.

Aventurine is fascinating in that one could argue he is only Nihilistic to himself but it's still more genuinely Nihilistic than almost any of the actual Nihility characters. He genuinely believes he does not matter. He is the most worthless chip in the game and so he will bet that chip over and over and over again. But... What is he also doing with those bets? It's not just that he accrues wealth and status but accrues a theoretical proof to his worth as someone who should exist. The hole within him that the Cornerstone arguably fills is that of a need to be able to say he matters and the best way he can do that is with firm, physical objects. That's why his power is creation because in theory, a limitless amount of credits would mean limitless proof that he deserves to exist. Now if only depression actually worked that way. However, this also translates into how he'll put himself below all others, prioritizing their safety and preservation, thus the path he his actually a pathstrider of. After all, much like Luka and Guigui, he has lost a lot and I think he would do ANYTHING never to lose that which he cares about again. He will preserve it at all costs, the tragedy being that he does not actually care about himself.

Meanwhile, Acheron barely has a self to lose. Of any character in the game, Acheron has lost the most. She has lost her world, her people, much of her self identity, her memory, her sense of place, etc. etc. IX is CONSTANTLY taking from her... Yet she never wavers because she confronts Nihility with its opposite conclusion. If we are all destined to die, for our efforts to be wiped away, ALL of our actions matter because if the moment is all that can be relied upon, why choose to waste it? Why choose to wallow and suffer and hurt others when you can try to do better? Why let yourself be consumed by entropy when you can live the one life you have to the best it can be? It doesn't matter if you screw up after all, what's important is that you tried because it's what you believed in. This is why Acheron wishes to kill the Nihility. It actively tries to trap Pathstriders in despair until they admit that who they are is indeed worthless and should just wither away. It's what Acheron and Aventurine talk about at the end of 2.1. That Aventurine's path was going to lead to his destruction because he wouldn't have bothered taking Argenti's hand once in the clutches of IX. After all, his actions didn't matter and his job would have been done. Why bother keep trying? But Acheron rejects that because even if she may never remember the connections she makes, the people she helps, she would rather have had them at all then to simply sit and do nothing.

And she is the emanator of IX. The one who pulls people away from his grip and reminds their souls of who they are so they may pass on happy and whole rather than rotted, decayed and faceless. If IX were interested in Nihilists, he would have nothing to do with Acheron. He would have never looked at her and certainly never blessed her. Instead, she is his emanator.

Which brings an interesting question we don't have an answer to: Is the giant space blob looking to be proven wrong and given a reason to care about the universe, or are they looking to be proven right and empowers those who are foolish enough to challenge the natural trudge towards entropy? We genuinely don't know. The most recent SU stuff actually even illustrates that both answers could be correct. After all, Nous empowered both Herta and Polka despite the fact that they both will act upon his dominion over knowledge in opposite ways. It may just be that Device IX sees these people as those exploring Nihility, rather than simply accepting it, and doesn't even care about if they prove them wrong or not.

But regardless, it still makes it a fascinating question. How do you get on the radar of something that is supposed to believe the universe doesn't matter? That nothing does? Because right now it seems to be by giving it double middle fingers and shouting, "FIGHT ME FUCKER!" And I love these debilitating daredevils for it. See you next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[palmtreesx3]

Act 1 - Foreplay

Aphrodisiac (Robin's Chapter)

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Summary: (6.8K) The pair are settling in at The Hideout but not without some bumps in the road, and are exploring the city and sampling a bit of all that it has to offer. Steve is trying hard to find things that he likes to do and he's totally baffled to see Robin so effortlessly spreading her wings. Robin's got a date. A real legitimate, public date and she quickly gets fixated. Meanwhile Steve's got another lonely evening by himself. The pair - well maybe just Robin - gets in the mood in this Robin-centric installment of Act 1. 

Warnings: it's a sex shop and generally just NSFW so 18+. Sex toys and self-exploration, female masturbation, shop talk, fluffy affection, LGBTQ acceptance (which isn't much of a warning, it's a goddamn right), self-loathing, mild depression and *you* make your first appearance.

Almost-July, 1993

What Robin failed to consider when wagering a digital pet bet with Steve Harrington is that this boy was born and raised competitive. She forgot that in the Harrington household "lose" wasn't in their vocabulary. She also forgot just how forgetful she is. Ironic. So it should have been no surprise that in the last 24 hours, her Tamagotchi has been sick three times and was always beeping incessantly. 

"Rob, you're a horrible mother. You're gonna owe me 5 drinks before we even get our first paycheck." Steve gloats, tucking his healthy, happy, bouncing pet into his pocket before sitting down to lace up his sneakers. 

Meanwhile, Robin who is shoving her feet unceremoniously into her Chucks ignores the shit talking and dishes out some of her own. "Dude, we have to do something about this." She kicks her chin in his direction as he smooths out his clothes. 

"What?" Steve snaps back.

"I can't believe you still dress like that. Honestly. 1984 called, they want their Sears Catalog back." 

"Ok Robin, sorry I didn't know you also got a job as the fuckin fashion police."

"I'm just saying, small town Indiana polo fashion ain't gonna cut it in the big city, boy. You wanna keep bagging hotties like you did the other weekend, we'll have to do something. You don't have to dress for mommy anymore." And as she says the last bit she immediately winces "Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean … "

"No it's okay, Rob. I know what you're trying to say. Maybe. Maybe once we have some extra money I'll get something new. You can help me. Deal?"

After a few weeks of exploring, Robin and Steve have zeroed in on quite a few of their own places. A bench they prefer in the nearby park, nestled in the shade of a swaying willow tree; a greasy corner store that sells the best breakfasts to sop up what's left of an evening out; an arcade that makes them nostalgic and think of the kids at home and gives them something to talk about when they call; and this place - a nice little coffee shop tucked in between towering complexes and quaint stores just one block over from their place. There are always records playing of the baristas favorite bands, the coffee is good and strong and cheap and they're always open when they need it. 

Steve and Robin have gone to the coffee shop almost daily since they found it. But this time Robin was out on an errand herself so she popped in on her own to grab two cups to-go and bring back to the apartment, where Steve, no doubt, was still sleeping. Perusing the wall of records in rotation while she waits for her order, Robin is startled by a quiet voice beside her, whispering closer in her ear than she's used to from a stranger. "This week it's good stuff, huh? I'm loving The Smashing Pumpkins new one." the voice says. 

Robin's eyes dart to her left and quickly back up to the wall of vinyls, the stranger's proximity and attention making her squirm just a bit. "My last .. girlfriend. She was into all the pop stuff. Not really my vibe, ya know." And at that, Robin's eyes rise to meet the womans who is standing next to her. There's not much that can actually shut Robin Buckley up, but here's a few: a really fuckin' beautiful girl, eye contact and someone casually talking about their sexuality. It was the perfect storm. 

Robin bit her plump, pink lips and nodded at the stranger, feeling a little ridiculous at the interaction so far. What is she supposed to say? Do I ask her about her ex- GIRLFRIEND? Do people really talk that openly here in the city? I don't even know her name! Robin's voice may be silent but her brain is going a mile a minute.

"Alex." The stranger says. Just as the barista shouts Robin! Your order is up! in the background. 

As Robin reaches across the counter for the two steaming cups, Alex counters "And I'm assuming you, are in fact Robin." with a grin. "No boyfriend today?" She says, and as Robin's eyes twist in confusion, she pipes up again "No no, I'm sorry, I'm not being weird I swear. I just come here a lot and I've seen you guys. Nothing freaky I promise."

"No." Is all Robin awkwardly says, totally deadpan. 

Alex waits for more, but nothing comes. After a moment she chuckles, picking up her own cup of tea and raising it to her lips to take a sip, but not before whispering out "No, what?" in a question. 

"Ha. No. No he's not my boyfriend." Robin says as she plays with the hem of her denim cutoff shorts. 

"Ah, too bad. He's a hottie." Alex shrugs and Robin stands confused. It's happening before she knows it started and Robin's dumpster fire of a brain starts rambling. 

"Wait. What? No he's not my boyfriend he's my roommate and yeah we come here, we're still kinda new in town. We're actually from a small town - Hawkins - but what… I'm sorry I thought you said your ex-girlfriend liked pop music so… "

"Yeah. That's what I said." Alex takes another nonchalant sip of her steaming mug. 

" So .. but Steve. He's… " Robin stutters out. 

"Well he is hot isn't he?" The woman counters. 

"I mean, yeah I guess. He has no trouble with the ladies if that's what you mean. Always Mr god-damned Popular cause he has perfect fuckin' hair but I swear they should see him in the morning, it's not all rainbows and butterflies then!" and the words just keep spouting out of her mouth uncontrollably. 

Alex looks on at her, almost endearingly, as she lets her go and spit it all out. "You done?" She asks. 

Robin nods, mutters an apology for her rambling and starts to head towards the door "I should go. Nice to meet you, Alex."

She shuffles her steps quickly in an attempt to bolt as far away as she can from the pretty girl who she just made a fool of herself in front of. God, I'm gonna have to tell Steve we need to find a new coffee place. Shit. 

"Wait! Wait, sorry. I can be intense." Alex muses, kicking her feet at the chair next to where they stand, before looking back at Robin's flushing face. "Yes, I did say ex-girlfriend. I also said your whatever he is is hot. I'm not stalking you, I just must get my tea when you guys get your coffee and, I hope I don't make you totally run off in terror when I say this next part, but I'm gonna anyway - I have just been distracted by you guys. I thought you were both pretty hot and I was distracted by the coffee shop couple every time I'm here. You were solo today so I thought I'd break the ice. Sorry. I hope I'm not making this weird "

Robin's mouth is absolutely hanging open right now. 

"Yeah, so the tables turned pretty quickly and I'm thinking I'm the one that should be embarrassed right now so, hopefully I see hot coffee shop couple around and I didn't totally scare you away from this place. " 

"Oh God, no. The coffee is too good and too cheap for us to stop coming here. He's not my boyfriend. Steve is 100% my roommate and that's it, no coffee shop couple here. Yeah, he's hot but don't you ever tell him that. Christ, he doesn't need a bigger ego. And the last time I talked to a girl like you I think I peed my pants, so excuse me I'm going to go hurl myself off the Willis Tower, if that's okay with you?"

Alex lets out a deep laugh. A genuine one. She reaches out to touch Robin's forearm, to keep her there… or ground her, she's not sure which. "Please don't. I can't have you falling if it's not for me." and at that Robin's eyes go wide as saucers. "Are you free tomorrow? Maybe we could get dinner? Downtown. Meet here so it's not weird and sketchy first…that is, if your hot roommate doesn't mind I borrow you for a bit?"

She's stunned. Robin has never been asked out on a date before. Is this a date? Holy shit.

She musters up every ounce of courage she has to smile and nod. "I get off work at 6, so can we make it 7?" Only to be interrupted in that moment by the shrill chirping on her keychain signifying yet another dead digital pet. 

A wide, sparkling smile spreads on Alex's face as she starts to head out the door, turning back to shout out "7:00, meet you here. Can't wait! "

And as soon as the bell on the door dings and she's sure it's shut, her brain starts catching up and Robin drops both cups of coffee on the floor. 

Today, Murray is not entertained by Steve. Usually the banter between the pair has remained humorous and for the most part, friendly. Today Steve is just pissing him off. 

First Steve dropped an entire shipping box of condoms, spilling single wrapped rubbers all over the floor. It took him an hour and twenty three minutes and three side-eyeing customers stepping over him to clean them all up. Then Steve knocked over the mannequins like dominoes after he struggled with the BDSM display Murray assigned to him for the second part of their shift. Robin snickered as Murray delegated the task to Steve, knowing damn well it was just to make the boy suffer. Robin watched gleefully, sitting at the register, resting her chin in her hand as Steve grumbled through the entire task. At one point, he was fumbling so much with all of the straps and buckles and ties that before he knew it the head of the mannequin he was attempting to gag toppled off its shoulders and knocked three other mannequins down in its wake. All Steve could do in response was throw the ball gag to the side as he stormed off, yelling back "Tell that asshole I took my 15! I'll deal with the bondage when I get back!" 

As he marches off in anger, Murray does in fact slide over and lean down next to Robin. "How's Casanova doing? BDSM not his thing, I see?" He chuckles. Robin cocks a sideways grin at him shaking her head. "He doesn't even know what his thing is, Murray. He's just a lost little puppy."

"What about you, Red. You doing good?"

"Yeah, yeah I am. I think he's stressed because he's not really finding his thing. He's used to things coming easy for him and they're just… not here."

"What does Mr Hometown Heroes' emotional journey have to do with how you're doing, huh?"

"A lot, actually. He's absolutely a bumbling fucking idiot, but he is the kindest person I've ever known. He has a weird way of showing it, but that's because his parents are Grade A assholes. He's been more supportive to me than anyone on this planet and I am trying so hard to help him but I don't know how." 

"Well, Red, this is a journey of lifelong self-discovery. Ya gotta learn to love thyself before you can love another. That goes for both of you, ya know?" and with that, he pushes off the glass countertop and saunters back to his office while humming an indistinguishable tune. 

When Steve returns from his break Robin recognizes the look on his face. It's the one that comes back ready with his head in the game after an excruciatingly awkward pep talk he gave himself - out loud. If anything, all those years of organized sports at least gave him a method to get himself back on track. 

That's why it was so abysmal to watch as he confidently tried to help a young customer, flowing brunette hair curled and brushed out into bouncy ringlets, asking in a tiny voice behind batting eyes to be pointed in the direction of the Ben Wa. 

"Oh yeah, I got you covered on this! Haven't been here long and I never heard of those before our manager got one for us and just the other day I stopped in at this place that looked interesting… "

The customer's eyes narrow, not sure where Steve is going with this conversation just as Murray joins in next to Robin to watch the drama unfold. He brought popcorn this time and was audibly chomping on it with an open mouth behind a gaping smile. "I gotta see where he's going with this." Tilting the bag towards Robin in an offering as they watch. 

"Yeah, so if you just go down the block a few more streets you'll see a place on the corner. It actually says Ben Wa on the window, so you will definitely see it when you get there. I was surprised at how much I liked it!" Steve says to the miffed young lady as she is heading for the door. "Have a great day! Enjoy!" Steve yells after her.

"What the hell man! Where'd you send the good paying customer!" Murray outstretched his arm towards the door before reaching into his bag to throw a kernel of popcorn right square into Steve's forehead. 

"What the fuck, Murray. She wanted to know where to get a fuckin sandwich. Last time I checked we don't sell sandwiches!" He yells as he spins his outstretched arms from left to right, showing off the wares inside the shop. 

"A sandwich? You fuckin' small town nincompoop, no! Ben Wa. Ben Wa balls. She wanted to put 'em up her coochie you idiot!"

Beet red from holding back, Robin finally lets out a cackle that fills the entire store. "Oh my God, someone get me a white board! You gotta be shitting me. This is better than watching him sink at Scoops, hands down."

"Wa-what are you talking about? Ben Wa - like the sandwich from that Korean place? You got it for us for lunch three days ago!"

"Oh for the love of God. You're pretty but you're dumb. BAHN MI. Say it with me BAAHHHN MEEEE" he overemphasized.

"I-i… well.. what… what the fuck man! I don't know!" 

Meanwhile, Robin is on the floor with tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. 

After Robin gets her shit together and Steve returns to his normal shade of sun kissed peach, ever the educator, Murray fills the pair in on what the customer was actually looking for. Pulling them over to a display case in the rear, a menagerie of colorful metallic, glass and silicone balls are laid out for viewing. All the sizes as big as or smaller than an egg, Murray explains both their practical use as well as how they can be used for pleasure. 

"See some ladies come looking for these after they have a baby, nothing to do with getting off… for now at least … everything to do with tightening things back up again. Just a run of the mill afternoon at the vaginal gym shesh." Steve grimaces as the analogy but nods in understanding. "Girls …or guys - might use them to stretch themselves out a bit and train their holes." Robin looks on, fully engaged and taking all the information in earnest. "They have little weights inside though, so if you're wearing them for a while or they're jostling around there's a whole lotta movement in there if you know what I mean. A few tugs on those strings and you got yourself a party." 

The rest of the day goes off without a hitch, but gnawing at the back of Robin's mind are a bright red pair of Ben Wa balls from the display case, round and smooth and silicone, shaped like two cherries on a lime green stem. She's never owned a toy before, and she's feeling kind of intrigued, so while Steve is in the employee room gathering his things and clocking out, Robin seizes the opportunity to pull the toy from the case and ring it up quickly. She rings up the amount, and hastily keys in her employee discount before slipping them into her satchel just before Steve returns to the floor. 

Robin has increasingly spent her free time idling around town and making her own discoveries. She finds herself often at a community park enjoying some local outdoor music that pops up regularly on the weekends and has stumbled upon a vintage bookshop a few doors down from the coffee place that she has made a comfortable home in their reading nook a few days a week while also making fast friends with the laid back cashier there on the weekends. 

Meanwhile Steve has failed at any attempt to casually find something he likes to do on his own and, as evident today at work, there's something that's got him stressed and Robin thinks this is it. He tried to join her at the community park, but he has yet to get into any of the music they're playing and he joined her once at the bookstore when she excitedly wanted to share her big find with her friend, but he just didn't get the hype after sitting there thumbing through a book he had no interest in actually reading. The apartment doesn't have any cable, and there's only so much coffee shop and Tamagotchi a guy pushing 30 can handle. Needless to say, city life isn't coming as naturally for Steve as it is for Robin and that is throwing him for an absolute loop. 

After a long talk on the fire escape over a cigarette, Robin actually had some wise insight into Steve's problem. "Dude, it's because you don't have any hobbies! Tell me one thing you've ever done because you chose to do it?"

"Robs, I played sports for years! Of course I have hobbies!" 

"No. That's not what I mean. Who signed you up for those? Who made sure you made the varsity team your first year? Who told you to run laps? Do you still play them now? Just cause you convinced yourself you liked it, doesn't mean you actually did."

And that resonated with Steve. He thought about why he actually liked all the baseball, all the nights on the basketball court and all the swim meets - it wasn't because he actually liked the sports, he liked how it made him feel to win. For his dad to give a shit every once in a while. For his teammates to need him. So Steve stayed up late that night, gazing at the stars on that fire escape and thinking long and hard about how he has spent his time - team sports that his dad got him into that eventually made himself feel useful, dialing up radio stations that played music he heard at other people's parties and cassette tapes of other people's favorite songs in his glove compartment, cooking meals that he has to or else he wouldn't be fed. 

The only damn thing he ever chose to do himself was watch out for those godforsaken kids back home and even through all his griping about them, it was always worth it. But driving a bunch of preteens around doesn't constitute an interest. "Fuck man, I don't even know myself." He muses into the late night sky, taking one last long drag before closing the window behind himself and idling off to bed. 

The next day, the two had a late start at The Hideout, and Robin threw her satchel over her shoulder while yelling out to Steve "Dingus, I'm going out to the bookshop for a bit. Need anything while I'm out?" 

"Nah Robs, I'm good."

"Kay - don't miss me while I'm out and you're home sulking!" She pokes, and the door clicks shut behind her leaving him in the quiet. Steve reaches for the radio and as he dials the station over to filter out the static and he's immediately back to thinking about last night. Why am I even putting on this station? I don't even think I like these songs, do I? He thinks to himself. So Steve sets out that morning to try and figure something out about himself. 

Inspired by the records displayed every week at the coffee shop, Steve finds himself fingering through bins of Vinyls at a record shop he found as he walked about the neighborhood. "Anything we can help you with, man?" the employee asks as he approaches. 

" Uh yeah. Actually I think…I mean, I think I want to get some records."

" Oh bud, happy to help! What are you into and what kind of player do you have?"

Steve stares at the man, stubble on his jawline, in a fitted yellow Queen T Shirt that looks worn and soft coupled with his ripped denim. A man that looks like he knows what he likes. Steve's stare is blank and he's absolutely at a loss. "I'm sorry, I have no idea. I should go."

"My brother, music is for everyone. Let me hook you up and we'll figure it out. No need to stress."

The man spends the next hour showing Steve how to use a basic model record player. They try out a few different vinyls to see what he might like. After a while, the pair have a stack piled up next to the record player - Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Tears for Fears, Red Hot Chili Peppers and a few others littered with popular music and rock artists he didn't really know by name before - and Steve is checking out. 

As he's getting ready to hand over a stack of cash to the man that helped him discover what kind of music he likes, they're interrupted by a deep hum, "Now that's a nice stack you got there." Steve turns around and is a little taken aback by what he sees. It's you…and you're standing there all casual and comfortable, looking very at ease in the record shop. "Hey Brian. What's up?" You nod in the kind man's direction.

"Hey hot stuff, I got what you came for back here. Just let me finish up with this guy and I'll get you taken care of. "

"Hi" Steve waves in your direction. "I'm sorry." No one quite sure what he's actually apologizing for in the least.

"No need to be sorry, you were here first. I just came to pick up the new Pearl Jam record and I am in absolutely no rush."

"Pearl Jam?" Steve questions. 

"Yeah man. Eddie Vedder? You might actually like it, all things considered." The man named Brian motions to the eclectic stack Steve has accumulated during his visit. 

Looking back at you standing there, not impatiently, just smiling brighter than the sun, he mutters "Yeah cool. Yeah I mean, if you have another can I add that? I'll give it a try."

And as Steve loads up his wares in his arms and turns to leave, your charismatic smile finds him one last time, " I hope you like it… ." You draw out waiting for him to fill in the blank. 

"Steve." He finishes for you.

You nod, "I hope you like it, Steve"

The next night at the apartment, Robin is gearing up for her date and she is absolutely in her head about it. She has asked Steve one hundred times today if he's sure this is a date. "But Stevie's she .. I really think she might just want to hang out and be friends." 

"Robin, I swear to Christ if you don't just STOP this." Steve sucks in a clipped breath before continuing on. "It's a date. I'm one hundred percent sure this girl asked you on a date and you're going. Relax, please! Fuck, you're stressing me out and I have nothing to do with any of this!" Steve shouts for the last time tonight, leaving Robin in the bathroom doorway, staring at herself in the mirror trying to make herself presentable.

Through the damp hair falling into her vision and the steam still speckling on the mirror after her shower, the girl is trying desperately to hype herself up and get ready to spend time with Alex. But Robin is not a confident creature. She's starting to feel herself crawl back inside the cave forged deep in her personality and carved into the bedrock of Hawkins, Indiana. "I gotta fuckin' snap out of this." She says to her reflection, splashing water on her face and retreating back to her bedroom. 

She hears the new and welcome sound of vinyl scratching from Steve's bedroom, before the reverberation of Fleetwood Mac's The Chain blares loudly through the walls. She sighs, sitting there still wrapped in her towel from after her shower, mind wandering to Alex and her tall, thin frame. Still not sure how a girl like that was referring to her as the hot one, Robin's thoughts drift to the deep black of the woman's mascara, fanning her eyelashes out and emphasizing her deep green eyes. She thinks about how she was too much of a spaz to appreciate the curve of her cupid's bow and she's still not sure if she was imagining the softness of the swell of her hips or not. 

Mixed up in thought, Robin's forearms graze the front of her towel and the rough material scratches at her exposed nipples underneath. She lets out a wispy gasp, not realizing just how turned on she was until that second. Her mind is racing. She looks at the clock and sees she has 20 minutes until she needs to head downstairs to the shop to meet Alex. Immediately she eyes her bedside table, knowing those deep red, cherry Ben Wa balls are sitting just inside. She thinks about what Murray has been saying and all of his preaching about “loving thyself before you can love another, Red!" and with one last racing thought of the woman who actually wants to take her on a date… out in public, she's clamoring for the drawer. 

She has never been more grateful that Steve has picked up a new interest, and that it was a loud one, because as she lets the towel draping her body loosen while she's leaning back into her soft cotton pillowcases she lets out a soft whimper before she's even touched herself once. Robin tentatively lets her soft hands and glossy nails trace the outline of her slit, delicately rubbing and pressing on where she needs it most and experimentally flicking the hood of her clit. After considering things one last time, she purses her eyes closed tight and holds her breath as she guides one of the cherry balls inside her opening. 

The gasp that leaves her throat this time isn't soft and quiet and she finds herself gyrating and writhing as she rubs and tugs at the cherry stems attached to her toy. The weights inside are rolling and undulating just like Murray said they would, sending vibrations up and back down her body. Robin feels filthy, thinking about Alex as she uses her free hand to rub at her clit while still pressing in and tugging at the ball with her other, but not filthy enough to deny how much she is enjoying this game she is playing with herself. 

Robin's eyes are rolled back in her head as her orgasm rushes over her, the weights of the ball continuing to move and rattle inside coax her through her comedown. Thighs shaking and breath stuttering, she lets out a deep sigh "Holy fuckin' shit. I love my job." 

Fumbling and running late after her little self-love session, Robin bounds through the doors of the coffee shop a little dramatically. As part of her grand entrance, she knocks her hip into the chair of the two-top situated right inside the entryway and doubles over at the pain. "Shit." She means to whisper, but instead says at a volume loud enough to reach the back of the shop, and if the entrance alone didn't alert Alex to her arrival, she certainly would have heard that.  

The barista greets Robin cheerfully by name just as Alex walks up to greet her with her hand outstretched, coffee cup there as an offering to break the ice. "I thought you might need a pick me up after work. She hooked me up with your usual order, so… "

Robin feels her freckles burn at the gesture, like they do after a day at the lake in the sun. She catches Alex's eyes scanning her body and she feels her chest flush, no doubt accentuated by the emerald green satin tank that's cut a bit lower than she usually ventures. The deep color making her hair, her eyes and her fair skin pop, covered by a cropped denim jacket DIY frayed at the edges has definitely caught her date's eye. 

"I wanted to pop into this Gallery I really love, if you don't mind indulging my creative side tonight? It's a great spot and… there's a graphic artist showing there now I just gotta check out before it's gone. It's this amazing social commentary on pregnancy as a lesbian. Like a totally butch lesbian decides to get pregnant with her partner, so what now? It's just… I gotta see it. The diversity at this place is phenomenal."

Robin's wide eyes are not white in astonishment this time, but instead they're with pure intrigue and reverence. Knowing that not only are there people like her in this city, but enough people that feel the same or respect it enough to go to an art gallery to check out doodles about a pregnant butch lesbian and it's not the butt of a homophobic joke is… enthralling to her. She nods vehemently "Hell yeah, that sounds…  really amazing. I mean… I'm not used to that kind of transparency, so, yeah. Let's do it."

And as they turn to leave the shop, coffee and tea in respective hands, Robin feels the tickle of a finger brushing her open palm. Barely registering what is happening, she finds herself in a brief yet unnecessary panic as she feels Alex's hand settle in, intertwined with hers. She can't help but scan her surroundings for passerby oggling the two women holding hands and walking down the sidewalk, but she saw not one the whole walk down the block to the train platform. The thrill of holding a pretty lady's hand out in public is sending tingles up her spine, or maybe it's the gentle, internal humming of the Ben Wa balls she opted to keep inside for the evening, but Robin could definitely get used to this. She smirks at herself as they ascend the steps towards the incoming train and asks curiously,"So tell me, what's this artist's name?

Meanwhile, Robin just missed Steve on the same platform not 10 minutes earlier. Shortly after Robin finally headed out, Steve found himself standing in the kitchen staring at a barren refrigerator - nothing more than a carton of milk, some OJ and a row of eggs left in there for him to choose from. He tries not to be irritated at his current situation, but he can't help the groan he lets out as he reaches for the phone, readying himself to order way too much pizza for one lonely guy on his couch late at night. 

Before he finishes dialing he shakes his head, thinking about how he doesn't have to keep himself cooped up here. He has done so much on his own, but all of that was such a… necessity. Is it really that crazy to go off and do something alone without it being totally pitiful? "I mean, Robin goes places by herself all the time." He muses to himself. 

So that's how he found himself hopping off the train downtown and wandering into the first restaurant that looked reasonable and …  good. Not just food but something he might actually enjoy tasting. It's a quaint Italian place. Authentic, by the looks of it. Walls lined with corked bottles of olive oil and limoncello, twinkle lights strewn over the white lattice work ceiling, the unmistakable smell of carbohydrates and garlic. 

This is yet another something he hasn’t ever done before. Not just a quick bite or a fast food, but instead going out to a proper restaurant and sitting down for a real meal. Solo. Alone. Alone but NOT lonely, he thinks. In the past 24 hours since Robin pointed out that he never does anything for himself that he enjoys, he has done a lot of introspection and has made it a point to seek out new experiences hoping something will stick. Sitting at the cozy little restaurant place downtown adorned with faux plants, and filled with tables of other guests, he finds himself so grateful to have Robin’s perspective and support. So instead of worrying about how he's not sharing the table with a date, or Robin or anyone else for that matter, he's toasting to her, in absentia.  

On the other side of town, Robin and Alex find themselves tucked into a booth at a dimly lit, definitely more trendy than she’s ever experienced before in her life, kind of bar. Alex has the table filled with an assortment of bites to eat and has ordered up all of the bartender's signature drinks on a mission to get Robin to broaden her horizons and shake that small town dust off of her coattails. “Ok, so, we have to find something here that you’re into. You can’t just tell me warm beer or straight shots are your drinks of choice - every city girl’s gotta have their go-to cocktail.” 

Robin first confidently grabs at the Manhattan from the selections laid out in front of hrr, recognizing the deep amber of the liquid and the familiar smell of whiskey that reminds her of Steve. It is quickly after she brings it to her lips that she sputters it back out, spraying the cocktail over her hand and most likely, her date. Alex says nothing about it, eyeing the ruby red blush on Robin’s cheeks and chest, but she stifles a small laugh before she says “Got it. No whiskey cocktails. Check. Here, here…cleanse your palate.” She says, handing her a small plate filled with creamy green, roasted artichokes splayed out like a lotus flower. “They’re the best in the city. Stuffed artichokes - ya know? They’re my favorite. Doesn’t hurt that they’re an aphrodisiac, huh?”

And if Robin hadn’t already spit out that whiskey drink, she definitely would have at that. So bold. So brazen. Dumbfounded that even at how blatant Alex has been with her flirting all night, it didn’t prepare her for that comment and the implications it held behind her eyes. And when Robin didn’t move to immediately grab a bite, Alex instead responded by picking up a delicate stuffed petal and holding it out to Robin’s pillowy lips, urging her to open up. She tentatively parted those lips and took a bite, wide-eyed at the flavor and simultaneously at the way Alex’s eyes remained locked on hers. 

Before the end of the date, Robin had successfully spilled a cup of water, knocked over the salt shaker and tried sips of 6 different cocktails before she settled in with a bright orange and red drink in a highball glass, lips wrapped around the straw and playing with the stem of the cherry hanging over the side of her glass. “This one is definitely a winner.” She grins, as she turns to look at Alex, excited to have found something that she likes while simultaneously excited that she finds she doesn’t really care that she did no less than 10 embarrassing things on this date anymore. She doesn’t feel embarrassed in the least and that is still a pretty new feeling for her.

“Why am I not surprised? I should have known.” Alex laughs out.

Robin shrugs, a questioning look in her eye as she sucks down the last of the drink, rattling the ice as the straw drains the cup of the last of it, loud enough to turn a head in the booth next to theirs when she forgets she’s someplace a certain level of chic that Hawkins must repel just by its sheer podunk nature.

Alex leans in close, right next to Robin’s ear to whisper, but makes sure she pulls back just as quickly to watch the flush spread over her freckled face like she knew it would “I should have known you’d like Sex on the Beach.” Sealed with a wink. 

And with that, the ice wasn’t the only thing rattling anymore, as Robin is keenly reminded as she feels the shudder travel up and down her spine that she chose to keep those Ben Wa balls.

"And she said what to you? Oh yeah, your date wants to get in your pants. For SURE.” Steve said as the cool edge of a frosted mug hit his tongue. It was a long day at The Hideout and they barely had time to shoot the shit between odd jobs and a colorful group of customers, and Robin got in so late last night that he didn’t even get to grill her about her date when she rolled in. Disregard the fact that Steve was tucked soundly in his bed after a nice warm belly full of pasta and red wines (who knew, he liked red wine? He sure didn’t). After such a long day, and the bet hanging in the air, the pair stumbled upon a local dive bar on their walk home and that’s where they find themselves now - unwinding and finding themselves totally relaxed in the warm, dimly lit and unceremonious Benny’s Taproom.

“God, Steve, I don’t want to talk about it!”

“What do you mean, you don’t want to talk about it? You owe me three drinks and you’ve gotta spill your guts, Robbie.” 

“Ahhh, I don’t want to hear about the bet, Steve! I’ve been a little distracted. My keychain has been the least of my worries, genius.”

“Excuses, excuses.” he winks, the beer tasting even better knowing it was his prize for caring for his tamagotchi much better than his friends, just as he suspected. Robin cycled through three whole pets so far, while Steve’s has grown into a thriving, young thing and he gloats about it every moment he can. “Now, spill it. I need to know the details about your date, Robin. Stop avoiding this.”

As they sit there arguing over digital pets and sharing (or avoiding) stories of their night prior, a gravely ahem comes from over the bar as the gruff, stone faced and bearded man behind it places his hands wide on the counter in front of the two friends. “If you’re in my bar, drinking my drinks, then you gotta share, missy. This place is boring lately, and you guys are fresh meat, so please…entertain us with your stories. I gotta live for something around here.” he sternly says to the two, before he smiles wide and says “If you’re here, you’re family, so listen to your friend and give us the scoop, for God sakes!” 

Robin tells them about her first date - about all of the coy flirting, about all of the embarrassing things that didn’t feel so terribly embarrassing in front of her date, about all of the appetizers and cocktail tastings, about the menu items spread out on their table with double entendres and that Alex kept ordering things she kept referring to as Aphrodisiacs “I swear I thought aphrodisiac was another word for Oysters, and then I thought that it meant something sexual just because … oysters. They’re like…ya know.” as she blinks her eyes downwards to her lap.

“Oh honey, he is into you.” Jim breathes out as he adjusts to lean back against the sink with his arms crossed.

Maybe it was Robin’s tight-lipped smile in response to that, or maybe it was how Steve gargled his last sip of beer right back into the mug before setting it down on the ratty old, stained coaster on the bar, but Jim’s eyes flitted between the pair looking for the information he must certainly be missing. 

“Ah!” He claps his hands together as he takes Steve’s mug, swirls it around eyeing the backwash, throws it in the sink and fetches another one. He immediately moves over to the tap to refill it while noting “Alex…. He’s a she…isn’t she?” 

Jim leans over the bar, braced on his elbows and spends the next twenty minutes telling her that she's just had a taste of what the city has to offer. .. a taste of dating. A taste of Alex. And if she's feeling like that - if one taste is making her feel so so good, it's worth embracing it and diving right in.

TAGLIST: @livsters @katie-tibo @johnricharddeacy @angywritesstuff @k-k0129 @tisthedamnseason69 @middle-of-the-earth @thebrazilianatheist  @mochminnie @micheledawn1975 @falling-throughthe-hourglass @rafaaoli @ash5monster01 @gabessock @onyxslayss

The artist referenced in this Chapter is A.K. Summers who did, in fact host an exhibit at a Chicago Gallery in 1993. See her work Pregnant Butch here

[lords-of-mayhem]

Lords Of Chaos Ships Playlist

A playlist of songs for various LOC ships. (Only one per ship this time <3)

Blackthorn x Varg // I Bet On Losing Dogs

I bet on losing dogs. I know they're losing and I pay for my place by the ring where I'll be looking in their eyes when they're down. I'll be there on their side, I'm losing by their side.

Dead x Euronymous // Heaven Iowa

I've unspooled on the floor, I feel so A Star Is Born. Kiss my cheek, baby, please. Would you read my eulogy? I will never ask you for anything except to dream sweet of me.

Tell me when the party ends, will you still love who I am? Scar crossed lovers, forever. I'm checking myself out forever. Save your breath, half your life you've been hooked on death.

Faust x Varg // Cigarette Daydreams

Did you stand there all alone? Oh, I cannot explain what's going down. You sigh, look away. I can see it clear as day. Close your eyes, so afraid, hide behind that baby face.

Funny how it seems like yesterday. As I recall, you were looking out of place. Cigarette daydream, you were only seventeen. Soft speak with a mean streak, nearly brought me to my knees.

Dead x Euronymous x Hellhammer x Necrobutcher // Remember When

You were the first, so was I. Made love and then you cried, remember when? We lived and learned, life threw curves. There was joy and there was hurt. Life was changed, disassembled, rearranged. We came together, fell apart, and broke each other's hearts.

Faust x Occultus // Francesca

Do you think I'd give up, that this might've shook the love from me? How could you think, darling, I'd scare so easily? If someone asked me at the end, I'd tell them put me back in.

I would do it again. If I could hold you for a minute, darling, I'd do it again. I could find you, darling, in any life.

Euronymous x Varg // Hum Hallelujah

I thought I loved you, it was just how you looked in the light. A teenage vow in a parking lot, 'til tonight do us part. I sing the blues and swallow them too.

My words are my faith, to hell with our good name. Remix of your guts, your insides x-rayed. And one day, we'll get nostalgic for disaster.

Blackthorn x Faust // We Fell In Love In October

Smoking cigarettes on the roof, you look so pretty and I love this view. We fell in love in October, that's why I love fall. Looking at the stars, admiring from afar.

Faust x Fenriz // Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes

Doc, that's a hole where something was. Put him in the back of a squad car, restrain that man. He needs his head put in a CAT scan. Oh, I'm a loose bolt of a complete machine.

What a match, I'm half-doomed and you're semi-sweet. Imperfect boys with their perfect ploys, nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy.

Metalion x Ann-Marit // Apocalypse

You leapt from crumbling bridges, watching cityscapes turn to dust. Filming helicopters in the ocean from way above. Got the music in you, baby. Kisses on the foreheads of lovers, wrapped in your arms.

You've been hiding them in hollowed out pianos, left in the dark. Sharing all your secrets with each other since you were kids. Sleeping soundly with the locket that she gave you clutched in your fist.

Euronymous x Faust x Varg // I Love You Like An Alcoholic

Cast that first glance. Your smile, my veins at maximum capacity, blood pumping so fast. My girl, if looks gave heart attacks. Some handsome dark stranger, you were standing there on the corner.

Kissed that first night and then the rain opened up the sky. You had those compelling magnetized eyes you must've lost when you got older. You laughed, but seemed a little sad. One last kiss, I love you like an alcoholic.

[kinokoshoujoart]

SOS:AWL NPC gossip / trivia from the child’s gossip dialogue file - part 4

prev: part 1 (bachelorettes) / part 2 (bachelors) / part 3 (takakura, villa, townhouses residents)

Gary / Galen

“secret"

Mr. Gary isn't afraid of graves at all! That's amazing! (ch. 3 naughty son)

Graves can be a little spooky, but Mr. Gary isn't scared at all! (ch. 3 naughty daughter)

I heard that Mr. Gary's wife made that hat thingy he wears. (ch. 3 normal son)

You know Mr. Gary's hat thingy? He said his wife knit it for him. (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Mr. Gary takes such good care of his bonsai. I guess he thinks of it like his wife. (ch. 4 naughty/normal son)

Mr. Gary is determined to take real good care of his bonsai. He looks after it like it's his wife. (ch. 4 naughty/normal daughter)

Gary says that sometimes, when he sees Dr. Baddoch's bonsai, he feels like he's lost. But he can't admit it out loud, or he really WOULD lose. Something like that. It's silly, right? (ch. 5/6 naughty/normal son)

Gary says that he often feels like he's already lost to Dr. Baddoch when he sees his bonsai. But if he actually admitted that out loud, then he really would lose. Or something. I think it's kind of funny. (ch. 5/6 naughty/normal daughter)

"personal"

Mr. Gary loved his wife a whole ton, huh? (chapter 3 son/daughter)

"comment"

How does Mr. Gary's hat thingy stay on? (ch. 3 normal son)

How does Mr. Gary's hat thingy not fall off? (ch. 3 normal daughter)

I wanna hear stories from when Mr. Gary was young. (ch. 3 shy son/daughter)

Nina (no secrets, just FoMT bio)

Daryl

“secret"

Mr. Daryl's always got a machine hidden in his pocket! But what KIND of machine...? (ch. 3 naughty son)

Mr. Daryl's always got some kinda machine hidden in his pocket! I wonder what he's got in there today...? (ch. 3 naughty daughter)

I heard Mr. Daryl's interested in our farm. (ch. 3 normal son)

Know what? I heard Mr. Daryl's real interested in our farm. (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Apparently Mr. Daryl's place has a basement. (ch. 4 naughty/normal son)

Mr. Daryl's place has a basement. I've never seen it, though. (ch. 4 naughty/normal daughter)

Daryl says the one thing he doesn't understand is women... You know that means he's got a special someone. (ch. 5/6 naughty son)

Daryl says the one thing he doesn't understand is women. I bet he has someone he likes. (ch. 5/6 naughty daughter)

Daryl says the one thing he doesn't understand is women. (ch. 5/6 normal son/daughter)

"personal"

Mr. Daryl is funny. He says the weirdest stuff every time I see him. (chapter 3 son)

Mr. Daryl is so funny. He says the strangest stuff every time I see him. (chapter 3 daughter)

"comment"

Mr. Daryl smells like smoke. I wonder what kind of experiments he does. (ch. 3 normal son)

Mr. Daryl smells all smokey. What kind of experiments does he do? (ch. 3 normal daughter)

What kind of experiments does Mr. Daryl do? (ch. 3 shy son/daughter)

Charlie / Kassey

“secret"

Mr. Charlie and Mr. Cole are "joined at the hip"! But...I don't really know what that means. (ch. 3 naughty son)

Mr. Charlie and Mr. Cole are, like...the same person! Maybe they read each other's minds... (ch. 3 naughty daughter)

I heard Mr. Charlie really hates to lose. (ch. 3 normal son)

Wanna know what I heard? Mr. Charlie REALLY hates losing! (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Mr. Charlie and Mr. Cole said they're making a really amazing firework. I wonder if we'll get to see it at the next Fireworks Festival. (ch. 4 naughty son)

I wonder when Mr. Charlie'll set his firework off. I wanna see it. (ch. 4 normal son)

Mr. Charlie and Mr. Cole said they're making their next really amazing firework. Maybe we'll get to see it at the Fireworks Festival. (ch. 4 naughty daughter)

I wonder when Mr. Charlie's gonna set his new firework off. It sounds cool. I wanna see it. (ch. 4 normal daughter)

Ugh, what's Charlie cooking up this time? (ch. 5/6 naughty son/daughter)

*(originally: this old guy is having the lewdest thoughts again)

"personal"

Mr. Charlie and Mr. Cole look exactly the same, but they act totally different! (chapter 3 son)

Mr. Charlie and Mr. Cole look exactly the same. But they sure don't act the same. Not one bit! (chapter 3 daughter)

"comment"

Is Mr. Charlie popular with ladies? (ch. 3 normal son/daughter)

Mr. Charlie is a little scary, but I kinda want to know more about him. (ch. 3 shy son)

Mr. Charlie might be a little scary, but he's fun to hang out with. (ch. 3 shy daughter)

Cole / Patrick

“secret"

I heard Mr. Cole has more hair than Mr. Charlie! But not by much. (ch. 3 naughty son)

I heard Mr. Cole has more hair than Mr. Charlie! But it's not really that big of a difference... (ch. 3 naughty daughter)

I heard that Mr. Cole actually likes Mr. Charlie's clothes better, but he's gotta wear what he wears 'cause he lost a game. (ch. 3 normal son)

Mr. Cole actually likes Mr. Charlie's clothes better than his, but he's gotta wear what he's got 'cause he lost a game. (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Apparently, Cole has athlete's foot. (ch. 4 naughty/normal son)

Uh, apparently Cole has...athlete's foot. (ch. 4 naughty/normal daughter)

Cole is really serious about his work, but all Charlie cares about is women... Just goes to show you that twins aren't totally identical. (ch. 5/6 naughty son)*

*(..."but [Charlie] is just lewd")

Twins aren't necessarily identical in all things. Sometimes they're polar opposites. (ch. 5/6 naughty son)

Cole is really serious about his work, but all Charlie cares about is women. (ch. 5/6 naughty daughter)

"personal"

I can always tell that it's Mr. Cole, even if he's not wearing his usual overalls! (chapter 3 son)

I can tell Cole apart even without looking at his clothes! (chapter 3 daughter)

"comment"

Mr. Cole's hair is really unique! (ch. 3 normal son)

Mr. Cole's hair isn't like anybody else's! (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Mr. Cole is easier to talk to than Mr. Charlie. (ch. 3 shy son/daughter)

Pui / Murray

“secret"

Mr. Pui isn't used to money 'cause he grew up in Popo Valley, where everyone lives all naturally! (ch. 3 naughty son)*

Mr. Pui doesn't know what to do with money 'cause he grew up in Popo Valley, and I guess they don't got something like that? (ch. 3 naughty daughter)

*(originally was that he "doesn't really want to go back home to his village")

I heard that Popo Valley, where Mr. Pui came from, is really hot. (ch. 3 normal son)

I heard the place Mr. Pui's from, Popo Valley, is really hot. (ch. 3 normal daughter)

I heard that Mr. Pui has a son back in his hometown. (ch. 4 naughty/normal son)

I heard that Mr. Pui has a son back home. (ch. 4 naughty/normal daughter)

*(used to be about his wife being beautiful)

Pui said that sometimes he gets Pete and Claire mixed up. (ch. 5/6 naughty son/daughter)

"personal"

I hope Mr. Pui gets to go to Coco Island soon. I'll miss him when he leaves, though. (chapter 3 son)

I hope Mr. Pui gets to go to Coco Island real soon! Oh, but...if he does, then I probably won't see him again, huh? (chapter 3 daughter)

"comment"

Mr. Pui's a nice guy. (ch. 3 normal son/daughter)

The butterflies flying around Mr. Pui are his friends, he says. (ch. 3 shy son)

You know those butterflies flying around Mr. Pui? He says they're his friends. (ch. 3 shy daughter)

Tei / Tim

“secret"

I heard Mr. Tei used to have a lot of ladies hanging off him. He must be really strong! (ch. 3 naughty son/daughter)*

*weirdly, natsume had changed this to "used to be a comedian" in awl and completely deleted it in anwl, but this secret was basically the same in the GC jp version ("I heard Mr. Tei used to be a "playboy". I wonder if he'd teach me how to play, too?")

Mr. Tei really cares about his wife. (ch. 3 normal son)

Someone told me that Mr. Tei dotes on Ms. Lou. What does that mean? (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Mr. Tei always wears a hat, right? I wonder why. (ch. 4 naughty/normal son)*

I've never seen Mr. Tei without a hat. I wonder why that is. (ch. 4 naughty/normal daughter)

*(original adds "I heard it's cause he's balding!")

I hear Tei doesn't plan on having Rock inherit the Lei-Over Inn. (ch. 5/6 naughty son)

Tei doesn't plan on having Rock inherit the Lei-Over Inn. (ch. 5/6 naughty daughter)

"personal"

Mr. Tei was telling me all about his travels. (chapter 3 son)

Mr. Tei was telling me all about the trips he went on. (chapter 3 daughter)

"comment"

Mr. Tei and Ms. Lou act a lot alike. (ch. 3 normal son/daughter)

Who's better at cooking, Mr. Tei or Ms. Lou? (ch. 3 shy son/daughter)

Lou / Ruby

"secret"

Mr. Tei said that Ms. Lou used to be really skinny! (ch. 3 naughty son)

Mr. Tei said that Ms. Lou used to be a beanpole! (ch. 3 naughty daughter)

Ms. Lou has a secret stash of money. (ch. 3 normal son)

Ms. Lou has this secret stash of money... (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Ms. Lou is good at sewing, too. (ch. 4 naughty/normal son)

Did you know that Ms. Lou is good at sewing, too? (ch. 4 naughty/normal daughter)

Lou's so good at cooking because she's tried all kinds of delicious foods. (ch. 5/6 naughty son)

Lou got good at cooking because she was able to taste lots of good food. (ch. 5/6 naughty daughter)

"personal"

I dunno why, but Ms. Lou kinda smells like home. Y'know? (chapter 3 son)

Ms. Lou kinda smells like home. Hehe! (chapter 3 daughter)

"comment"

Mr. Tei and Ms. Lou act a lot alike. (ch. 3 normal son/daughter)

Ms. Lou's such a warm person. (ch. 3 shy son/daughter)

Gavin / Griffin

“secret"

They say Mr. Gavin got his guitar when he was on TV once! (ch. 3 naughty son)

Mr. Gavin got his guitar when he went on TV one time! (ch. 3 naughty daughter)

I heard that Mr. Gavin's guitar isn't something you can buy anywhere. (ch. 3 normal son)

I heard that Mr. Gavin's guitar is so special, you can't buy it anywhere. (ch. 3 normal daughter)

Gavin started playing guitar when he was my age 'cause he wanted to be popular with the ladies. (ch. 4 naughty/normal son)

Gavin started playing guitar when he was about my age to get girls to think he's cool. (ch. 4 naughty/normal daughter)

"personal"

I wanna hurry and grow up so I can try Mr. Gavin's coffee. (chapter 3 son/daughter)

"comment"

I wanna hear Mr. Gavin play guitar! (ch. 3 normal son/daughter)

Do I have to wait until I grow up to hear Mr. Gavin's concerts? (ch. 3 shy son/daughter)

[tdoong15]

a toddler dubchaeng request incoming for the heart, dubs and chaeng go to the park with there mommies (2yeong) but end up getting distracted and go bug catching with a tiny plastic bag chae had weridly in her back pocket and when they end up showing it to there mommys all proud and stuff nayeon starts screaming and hiding while jeong tells them they need to release them back to there homes because its not nice to kidnap bugs from there familys/homes

This is so wholesome I love it so much!!! Also sorry for the late response I've been busy with college and work

Little!DubChaeng. Cg!2yeon

Warnings: none

Collecting bugs

Dahyun and Chaeyoung were both at the door, jumping up and down excitedly as well as rattling the door handle to indicate that they wanted to leave. “Mama, Mommy! Come on, we wanna go to the park!” Chaeyoung complains because of the fact that Jeongyeon and Nayeon were taking a long time to get ready. “We'll be there soon, Mama is just being fussy over what jacket she wants to wear.” Jeongyeon replies which earned her a scowl coming from Nayeon.

Dahyun was not pleased with the fact that her mama was taking way too long picking out a jacket, especially since it was eating into her park time, so she took it upon herself to march over to where her mommy and mama stood and she had a very serious look on her face. “Mama, yous being wayyyy too picky and dats not nice for me and Chae.” Dahyun put extra emphasis on the word ‘way’ to show how diabolical she thought Nayeon was being.

Jeongyeon stifles a snicker and she nudges Nayeon. “Well that's your warning.” She whispers to the older girl. Nayeon stood there in complete shock that she got told off by Dahyun, but she listened to her by grabbing a random jacket even if it was one that she didn't feel like matched her outfit.

When the three of them made it to the door, Chaeyoung was impatiently looking at them whilst tapping her foot on the ground. “FINALLY! I was gonna leave without you guys.” Chaeyoung sighs heavily and she shakes her head in disappointment. Both Nayeon and Jeongyeon tried to apologize but they found it hard to take it seriously, thankfully they were able to control their laughter and they gave a short yet sincere apology to the two regressed girls.

Once the door was unlocked by Jeongyeon, Dahyun and Chaeyoung ran outside and straight to the park because they really wanted to have fun at the park. Nayeon and Jeongyeon quickly followed since they wanted nothing bad to happen to the girls since they're both very protective over them.

When they reached the park, Dahyun was already busy with the slide by going up and down on it via the slide itself instead of using the steps to go up, Chaeyoung was busy with making sandcastles with a random bucket and spade she found in the sand pit. Dahyun eventually got bored with the slide and Chaeyoung did with making sandcastles, so Dahyun organized a meeting with Chaeyoung, underneath the slide.

“Do you wanna go on the swings, Chae?” Dahyun questions which makes Chaeyoung think for a second and as soon as she was going to say yes, she spot something next to them. “Dubs, look! It's an ant.” Chaeyoung points at the bug on the floor. Dahyun gasps loudly and she grins. “Dat means there is more bugs around here!” Dahyun concluded. So with that in mind the original swing idea went out of the window and it was now replaced with a hunt for the small creatures.

There was one specific spot that the duo had found which was basically a hotel for bugs of all shapes and sizes. Chaeyoung then whipped out two plastic bags from her coat pocket and she hands one over to Dahyun, who looked surprised yet thankful. “Who just carries plastic baggies in their coat?” Dahyun questions while she picks up a beatle and places it in her bag. “Me, duh.” Chaeyoung counteracts, thankfully it didn't escalate since they were too focused on collecting the bugs.

“What do you have, Dubs?” Chaeyoung asks since both of their bags were around halfway full. Dahyun clears her throat before listing them off. “I've got like a lot of spiders, a dis one which I dunno what it's called but I will say dat it is a weird bug, and… and I have a beatle!” Dahyun smiles widely at her collection before continuing “What do you have, Chae?” Dahyun waits eagerly to see what Chaeyoung caught. “Well, ahem, I got a stick-bug, beatles, some ants and spiders.” Chaeyoung lists them off proudly.

After 10 minutes, Nayeon went over to check up on the regressed girls. “Oooo, what are you two doing over here?” Nayeon's voice was full of warmth and happiness while she moved closer. “We've got bugs, mama!” Dahyun and Chaeyoung yelled loudly out of pure joy, they even showed Nayeon the bags of bugs that they had.

Nayeon's face quickly changed from a smile to one of fear, she quickly ran as far away from the bugs as possible whilst screaming loudly in the process. Meanwhile, Dahyun and Chaeyoung found it hilarious, in fact they decided to chase their mama around the park until she slipped and ended up behind Jeongyeon, who was now confused on why Nayeon was running away from DubChaeng.

“Woah! What's going on here?” Jeongyeon controls the situation so everyone is somewhat calm, mainly Nayeon though since Dahyun and Chaeyoung looked at their mommy with the most innocent look on their faces. “Nothing, mommy. Me and dubs just showed mama our bugs.” Chaeyoung says casually, she and Dahyun then both showed their bug bags to Jeongyeon.

Nayeon glared at Jeongyeon as if to say ‘Do something about it because I'm not having bugs in our house.’ Jeongyeon nodded and she looked back at DubChaeng. “Okay, I know that the bugs look really cool, but these guys have their homes to get to and they don't want to be away from their family.” Jeongyeon says softly so she wouldn't get a negative response from the littles.

Dahyun and Chaeyoung thought for a second before they gasped loudly at what they had done. “We're gonna take dem back to their families now, mommy!” Dahyun and Chaeyoung then ran to where the spot was and they dumped out the contents of the bags and placed the bugs with their respective families. They then scurried back to 2yeon where the four of them walked home peacefully without any bugs to scare Nayeon.

Hello, I hope everyone has a good day/evening/night. And I hope that you guys enjoyed reading.

[artsycervidae]

Moksha: Chapter 15, Danno Intermission Pt 1

A flashback chapter: Jin, Junko, and Nobutoshi set off on a quest to defeat one of the Twelve Kizuki.

Word Count: 6.2k

Be sure to check the trigger list.

FIVE YEARS AGO

     The saltwater wind stung Nobutoshi's face as he stared out towards the sea barge, the ghost town behind him. He saw a storm brewing on the horizon beyond the artificial island, and it rumbled as it headed their way. Seventeen-year-old Junko waded out a couple strides into the water, raising a hand to obscure the light glinting off its surface. "How do the ships look?" she asked.

     "Almost all of them are sunk," he told her, "but not all. It's the smaller ones." Just their luck: the Kakushi brigade already loathed inefficiency in demonic lairs. Nothing made them huffier than repetitive, unnecessary trips.

     The barge existed as a perfect square mirage in the water, never moving closer nor further, never losing itself to the current. Nobutoshi saw the island as a black hole sucking in at the space and time all around it, the color and shape of the ocean swirling around an unnatural drain. The corpses of sea crafts hung from it like morbid charms on a necklace.

   "It looks like we'll have to split up into three groups," she went on, "in the boats we have on our side. There's only a couple more for the Kakushi, and they're nowhere big enough to carry back the dead and injured."

    Nobutoshi grimaced. "Well... I suppose multiple small boats is better than sharing the three." And then, for his own sanity, he asked, "Can you sense it, too?"

     "I can." Junko sloshed her way back to land, standing in front of him. "That tugging feeling behind the naval. That's killing intent, alright... have you ever felt it call like this?"

     "Never." No wonder ships had been sent to the floating enigma, loaded with resources and explorers who figured that the trip back would take the same amount of time. "The surviving crows reported that the vessels made it out there, but that they were either attacked or sank before they returned to the mainland," Nobutoshi remembered. "The boats nearly made it halfway before the sun fell on them."

     "There's time or space distortion at work, or so it appears... I bet you that's a passive Blood Art, of the highest tier. I wonder why they didn't turn back at that point," Junko murmured. "Either way there was going to be a bloodbath. At least on the barge they had a fighting chance."

     "Maybe." The messenger birds had returned with a variety of stories: Entire nocturnal vessels would vanish, as if an angry god had simply picked it out of the water. Sometimes the ships were destroyed in the water by a single missile piercing the hull, leaving humans to sink or swim, but ultimately to drown, unable to outpace the demon's draw. Not that the battles in the village were any less gruesome...

     The two stared at the anomaly, and Nobutoshi resisted the urge to reach for her hand, somehow sensing her nerves. He worried over it too. "Do you think that they went with the first expedition team?"

     "They could have," Junko hesitated. "Maybe they went with the second team. Either way, that's thirty Slayers' worth of blood. And the demon doesn't even need to come to land for it." She sighed heavily and added, "We're only twelve Slayers, and while that includes two Hashira, morale is still pretty low. It takes time to get the people we need down here, and the damn monster has been using it like a buffet line." She muttered under her breath and slogged herself back towards town. Nobutoshi cast another glance to their destination before turning his back on it, following the woman he loved through the empty town.

   Whether the doors and windows were devastated or not, every single home was scraped empty. The only evidence that people had once inhabited this place were the belongings and blood left behind... as well as the remnants that nobody else could glimpse: the shades that wandered and meandered, lost between worlds. Nobutoshi had already seen enough during their initial inspection: now he kept his eyes down so that he couldn't recognize the fingernails glimmering like foil confetti within gauge marks, the half-eaten intestines haphazardly stretched across streets like morbid banners, the smears of bloody tracks where bodies had been picked at and dragged. He blatantly ignored the heavy atmosphere wafting from each and every building, drenched with the handprints belonging to the dead. There wasn't anything he could do about it now.

     He tried not to think of Hinata, who would have wandered into the houses for forensic reasons, who would inevitably feel attached to the house and its former inhabitants. They would have taken it personally and tried to figure out what kind of demon would do things the way they did. 'They would have been whispering it all in Junko's ear,' Nobutoshi dismissed, 'distracting her.' He kept his eyes on the Foliage Hashira's back.

     The worst part was knowing that not everyone taken had been dead, and that ships were set off in the morning to rescue stranded hostages. No matter how early sailors left, how the weather favored, or how swiftly the current carried, they would not return before the sun set. The funeral parade would all begin again. And all the Slayer Corps could do was send more people and hope their surviving crows went on to seek help, until today.

     As pitifully small as their force was, they were the reinforcements. It had to stop here, before things got worse.

     The two neared the building that had been appropriated as temporary shelter, other Slayers walking around, trading reports, checking the houses for survivors, or standing by. They bowed and nodded to the Hashira and tsuguko, their conversations trailing or softening for the superior officers to pass them by through the open doors. It was just the two of them in the war room. A map had been spread out on the table during their last meeting and it awaited them, already pinned down with little tiles and flags that decorated Japan in intricate chess patterns-- the movement of the Demon Corps, tactically investigating and eliminating potential demon hot spots. Trying to sniff out the trail of Kibutsuji Muzan: when he had been here, whether it was him or a subordinate, and where he would go next.

   Junko sat first, exhaling as she rotated her joints and rolled her head along her shoulders. Her company, meanwhile, stopped in front of the open window that framed the floating demon den. Nobutoshi could keep up appearances, but gruesome thoughts kept spilling to the forefront of his mind, filling his mind with uncertainy. So he had to ask. "Do you think--" and he caught those words behind his teeth, just barely changing his mind. 

     "Do I think what?" Junko urged, eyes lazily following him, and Nobutoshi decided to come out with it. 

     "Do you think Hinata is dead?" He dared to wonder, as unthinkable such a future would be. His heart trembled at the possibility made real; he couldn't stop thinking of the decision he made a week ago to send Hinata to the barge in place or Junko. Seven whole days. Five to four of which they had been on the barge, maybe. It felt naive not to assume the worst. The battle hadn't even begun, but the bleak fate of their friend hung over him.

     "Oniinata? Dead?" Junko cracked a smile then, as if they hadn't seen all the signs in town. "Not a chance." The lightness of their nickname made her declaration genuine, as though the third wheel were only down the road rather than missing in that isolated lair.

     "Can you feel them?"

     "No," she said carefully, "but they know better than to die on us. I'd kill them if they even considered it."

     Nobutoshi appreciated her attempts to make him laugh, but he wasn't in as malleable a mood. He settled his weight next to her and tried again for comfort. His hand reached to hers in her lap, and she turned her palm upward for him to grasp. He scooted closer so that their legs touched, tempted to graze his cheek against hers, but resisted that urge. "When we find them again, we should tell them," he suggested. "About us."

     "Maybe," she said less warmly than before. "Maybe we wait until they're in their hospital bed, so that we can outrun them if they get jealous."

     "As if they've never been jealous over you before," Nobutoshi said, and Junko looked at him as though he had missed the point entirely.

     "You can be so obtuse and cruel sometimes," she said, "and it's hard to tell if you do that intentionally."

     Before clarifications could be exchanged, the two felt an atmospheric change and drew back into their respective personal space. Hinata hadn't been told about the blossoming relationship between their peers; so it went without saying that Jin also went uninformed. The Mist Hashira rolled into the room, silent as foreboding fog, and the two were careful to seem as though they had only been waiting for him, feigning interest with much less distracting things such as the battle ahead of them.

     "No survivors," he confirmed. "We're on our own."

     "Is it that bad?" Junko asked. "Do we have any time to wait for reinforcements?"

     "Doubt it," the man said, taking his own place at the head of the table. With excruciating consideration, he went on, "Our best hope is that survivors remain on the barge." That was not what Nobutoshi wanted to hear. It wasn't what he wanted to imagine for Hinata and so many others who fought valiantly to be useful, whose final moments had to mean something. He did not want to see their bloated remains-- if anything did remain-- when he closed his eyes at night. None of this was shared with his father, who may have looked on such weakness with reconsideration. Nobu kept his mouth shut and his eyes on the map.

     "Report?" Jin asked, sighing as if the lack of living bodies were more an inconvenience than a massacre.

     "There are a handful of boats remaining," Nobutoshi informed. "Enough for us to cross and a couple more for when the second wave arrives. We've determined that there are multiple Demon Arts at work on the barge, meaning a potential Kizuki among them."

     Jin looked at Junko for this confirmation, to Nobutoshi's disappointment. But the Foliage Hashira was looking out the window to that far-off speck. Nobutoshi went on. "From the witness accounts and evidence, this is what we know: there's at least one demon with aquatic abilities capable of sinking ships. There's another that controls the demonic seabirds and destroys ships; it is probably the culprit behind the nightly raids." He glanced to Junko, still distracted, and added, "Junko thinks that the pull everyone is feeling is another Blood Demon Art. Something that changes the space between here and there, likely altering time within its reach as well. It makes it so that people are drawn in with no means of escape."

     "And what does that determine?" Jin asked, more to test Nobu's knowledge than for clarity.

    Nobutoshi didn't know what else he was supposed to say. "All signs point to Kizuki activity," he admitted, hindsight adding salt to his wounded confidence.

Jin watched Nobutoshi with an indispensable judgment. "And?"

Another nervous glance to the distracted Junko. Nobutoshi chewed the inside of his cheek in thought-- but whatever he was meant to conclude was left unsaid. His father sighed, disappointed. "Status on the storm?" Jin asked, bored with his son's assessment, but accepting it for what it was.

     "It's coming," Nobutoshi said, bereft in the mounting bad news. "If we leave now, the storm will hit us while we're out there facing the demons. But if we put off the attack, the darkness will extend night by a couple hours, ultimately giving the enemy the advantage." 

     Jin folded his arms and closed his eyes in thought. Nobutoshi tried not to read too far into this gesture: it was the typical body language of an old-timer, but he couldn't unsee the image of his father's immense dissatisfaction. If only Nobutoshi had made the right call a week ago, none of those Slayers would have died and the situation wouldn't look so bleary. 

      "Hashimoto?" Jin asked. 

      "Uh huh," Junko said, as if that were a sensible reply. "Uh huh!" She stood suddenly, looking wildly around before her eyes fell upon Nobutoshi. She reached for his sleeve almost breathlessly. "I need you."

     Both Ishikawa men sat, blinking in mutual stunned silence for a moment. Perhaps Nobu would have responded positively, "I reciprocate this sentiment, but this isn't the time, Junko," if she wasn't already pulling him to his feet, nearly stumbling over her own in that haste to drag him to the window. She pointed out and asked, "Do you see that?"

     Nobutoshi glanced to her erratically gesturing finger before he abided. He squinted and shook his head. "I don't--"

     And there, against the harsh orange sunset, was a flickering light of some reflective surface.

     "It's them." It took him seconds to realize what she meant. The pinging off of one another, a transmitter and a receiver. "It's them! Quick! Translate it, I'll write it down," she commanded, disappearing from his peripheral vision to find something to record with. 

     "Translate?" Nobutoshi echoed, just as the pattern of light struck some familiar note. An insomniac memory resurfaced to his mind.

     Jin had followed after them, a wrinkled brow and pursed lips displaying his distaste. He watched Junko as Junko watched Nobu as Nobu watched a single light stare back at them. He squinted and focused and strained. The light winked a messy, half-asleep cypher of slumber party nights; so minute a detail and from so far away. Only his family's Sight could have found it, and only a loved one could have parsed the intimate edges of its pointed message.

     "It's fast," he told her. "Really fast. I don't know if I can get it right."

     "Just give me everything," Junko requested and Nobutoshi obliged. The rhythm was like a dying heartbeat, repeating itself multiple times in rapid succession. Nobutoshi read aloud until the sun fell behind the buildings, extinguishing most of their available light. Overall, it couldn't have been more than two minutes. The message may as well have been lost in a rip tide. 

     By the time Nobutoshi turned back to the dim room, rubbing the ache away from his eyes, Junko had slapped the paper down on the table. In her messy handwriting, the message was scrawled and scratched and puzzled out. "I've got most of it!" She declared as both Jin and Nobutoshi leaned over each of her shoulders to read her work.

     Little-One. Fight. Tonight. Little-One. Four into One. Danger. Many Danger. One-many, mashed together like its own word, One Water. Big-Eat, mushed together again, Two Air. Crows die. No crows. One Island. Metal-Glass, another created word, Four into Little-One. Belly. Kill Four. Kill Little-One. Fight. Tonight, and then the message repeated until it had flickered out.

     Both Mist Breathers looked to Junko, who only stared longingly across the water. "We've kept Oniinata waiting long enough," she declared. "It's time we go help them." 

     "What does it mean?" Jin asked, unimpressed with the limited vocabulary and its repetition. Or maybe just testing them.

     "It's a report," Junko explained deliriously. "They're still alive. They've stayed alive somehow to spy on the demons! And now we have our intel. We know what's coming."

     Junko, though half the Mist Hashira's age, didn't look to him for approval or permission. She was the one who led them out to the other nine Slayers, all hopeful faces turning to their leaders. She announced the night raid: the Corps was looking for five demons total, not including the minions. "The amemasu and the flock leader are our biggest concerns," she said, seemingly pulling this information from thin air. "The sea monster will attack our boats and there are two airborne demons-- one of them being the commander of the flock. We expect they'll attack us while we're out at sea, right before the storm hits. If they slow us down, then we'll also be at the mercy of nature. But if we can force our way to the barge, we can weather out the storm while fighting the remaining demons. There's a sentry there, which makes for four lesser demons.

     "And the final demon," she concluded, "is the Lower Rank One." Many Slayers went rigid and a couple stifled noises into their hands. At this point in the body count, it was only confirmation. "We can find it at the center of the barge, furthest from sunlight. On the boats, we will be split up into three groups and reorganize once we've arrived at the barge, where our informant will better explain the situation.

     "Any questions?"

     A hand rose, belonging to a stern-faced girl with an underbite. One of the few who hadn't immediately despaired. One of the many who had a shadow clinging to her arm and a chip on her shoulder. "You just said informant," she pointed out. "What does that mean?"

     "We have a survivor on the barge," Junko stated. "All this information we have received from a trustworthy source."

     "From the barge?" the girl asked with disbelief, her obsidian eyes sharpening. "How do you know this isn't a trap?" This concern rippled through the small group. 

     "Because it's from someone I would stake my life on," Junko declared. "I would know them in this life and the next. They risked dying to get us this information, and I'll die if it means trusting them."

     The Slayers looked to Nobutoshi and his Hashira. They offered no corrections and no contradictions. Silence announced their decision: to trust the available information, though the concept chilled their followers to the bone. The enemy was powerful, gorged on The Demon King's blood, but it was a threat that one of their own kind-- a mere human-- could evade for days. Someone who their leaders would rely upon so steadily. It wasn't morale, per se, but it was a mild comfort at the very least. 

     The Hashira duo led the group to the ocean with Nobutoshi humbly taking up the caboose, all three helping organize the groups and taking position at the bow of their assigned boats. It was his father's vessel that advanced into the chopping waters first. The sky darkened as they drew closer, their only lights the glowing lanterns that one Slayer on each boat held. The stars and moon were blanketed by the coming squall, the moisture sticking just above the water and obscuring them with its hazy reach. The storm clapped its thunder in merry entertainment at the carnage to come.

     During this timeless sailing, it almost seemed that the tension was unwarranted. Every jostle of the boat was due to the sea, every bump coming from an arm or leg meant to stabilize. Nobutoshi hadn't sensed the leviathan until it breached the black, glassy surface of the water with an earth-shattering wham! closing its massive sword-toothed mouth around his father's boat and diving into the darkness. For that crystal clear moment, the Mist tsuguko saw it-- eel-like, with a long body that rippled soundlessly in the water. Where the smooth ridge of its head ought to be was an entire human torso, bare save for scales and gills, effeminate and otherworldly-- morbidly beautiful. It twisted, armless and desperate, trapped beneath its own rubbery skin. The demon's main mouth stretched across the human-esque figure's lower half, as if its narrow pelvis bones naturally transitioned into the cruel sharp-toothed maw. Then it was gone, diving into the water, spiraling and curling into inky depths.

      Jin landed soundly behind Nobutoshi in a whoosh! of mist, apparently having narrowly abandoned ship on time to save himself. Their boat rocked and swayed; Junko prevented hers from tipping by slamming her foot down on its other side, her passengers emitting a simultaneous "woah!" As expected, she jumped into action and swept her arm out, sword glistening forest-floor green. "Everyone, stay calm, be ready to defend," she announced, "Two members overboard! Coming on the port side-- you two, get off your asses, haul them out of the water before it comes back! I'll protect us!"

     On cue, two heads broke the surface of the water, reaching for their friends who provided safety. 

    "Now! Devour them! Eat them all!" a grating, crackling voice split the air. From the barge arose a swarm, which rapidly grew into a flock of demonic seabirds. Parodic gulls, pelicans, herons-- a variety of unimaginable creatures, aviary yet alien, flying faster than the wind itself, descended on the sailors. 

    Junko watched them come as a cloud of bat-like fangs, claws, and stingers. Her sword cut the atmosphere.

     "Foliage Breathing Third Form," she inhaled. In a gasping moment, Junko wove a path through and between the birds, her sword singing, thwip, shnk, shwa, thnk!, and she was suddenly on the boat again, legs akimbo to balance herself on the narrow ledge. "Falling Leaf Storm." And a good number of the minions simply fell apart into chunks and plummeted into the water. 

    Her reach, however, was still limited to her boat's proximity, and the sea beast's attack had pushed her further from her companions. The swarm fell upon the Mist boat, yanking soldiers overboard before beating and harassing their heads below the surface. Nobutoshi sliced through the demonic creatures, but the numbers of their foes never slowed. Even with his father's sword snipping past his face now and again, they were struggling. The boats were splintering from the strain of so many people moving and adjusting-- more Slayers being picked away, losing their balance and falling. Overboard victims pawed for safety, and others tried to scoop them up between assaults before any further damage could be done.

     Nobutoshi saw the sleek gliding of something far bigger behind the flittering nuisances, making out its distinctive silhouette against the night sky and estimating its height. 'Their controller.' He raised his sword to it with a flourish.

     "I see it," Jin announced. And he directed his sword down to the water. "With me. Hashimoto! The sky."

     Nobutoshi didn't need to be told what to do. It was obvious, there was no other way to reach the barge. "Keep your shit together! Direct our boat to the island," Junko bellowed as Nobutoshi rotated the sword grip in his hands. The amemasu was still coming-- he could see it circling, preparing, and then arching itself to missile up into their numbers again. As he moved into the Fifth Form, he felt his power multiply and disperse, a single powerful mass of vapor that exploded out with a single breath. His father moved in a mirror image on the other side of the bow. The beast came for them-- practically served itself on a platter. 

     The creature hefted from the water to destroy their boat and sank either side of its mouth right into their blades. Their parallel Sea of Clouds and Haze neatly sheared through its blubberous armor and stalwart bones. The demon had little opportunity to regret its mistake as it sank back into the water, its massive shadow easing into darkness. 

     At that same time, the demon-birds hailed down onto the boats, diving into the natural and artificial mist. Junko's swordplay forced another mass extinction, their ribboned bodies falling in wet plops and smacks. But their master had stayed back, and Junko landed soundly onto the boat again as the demon screeched, and though Nobu couldn't be sure, it sounded a lot like "Unagiko!" Without all the distracting bird-servants, Nobutoshi could make out the demon, even against the blackened sky. It looked significantly more human than the leviathan: its arms were feathered, its cheeks and jowls saggy as though its face had been stretched out. While its legs appeared human-like, the joints were inverted, and its toes raked the air as talons. It was as though someone made a human out of clay, and tried to turn that human into a pelican.

     "Damn cockroaches! Pests!" The pelican screeched at them as it retreated, sensing the turning tides. 

     Though the swordsmen had survived the initial assault, there was no victory to be felt. The two remaining boats docked at the barge at a steeper cost than anticipated. Three had been lost to the beast and another three to drowning. Only two of the bodies had been retrieved. Down to half their forces, with all three subordinates injured, Nobutoshi did his best to manage their pain and damage. Ever since the Final Selection, he had made a point to bring first aid and always listened to Kakushi when they diagnosed and treated; but he was by no means an alternative to proper care. He had to avert his eyes from a particular warrior-- the skeptical girl, whose sword was an electric yellow, her half-pecked eye dangled from a delicate cord. There was no saving the organ and there were no screams pried from her lips when Nobutoshi amputated it, caring for her the best he could under these circumstances. 

     "The storm is rolling in," Junko hollered over the howling. "Yuri, you should stay back and guard the bodies."

     The one-eyed skeptic-- Yuri-- jutted out her chin, further pronouncing her underbite. "With all due respect, Hashira, there is no way I'm hanging behind." And although the pain had to be excruciating and persistent, she stood with her head high. "Where's this informant?"

     An odd number of eyes settled on Junko. She didn't waver, "There's still three demons left. We haven't seen the other flying one, and there's the sentry to worry about. Our helper is probably initiating combat as we speak."

     "On their own?" Yuri voiced her doubt.

     "Yes," Junko asserted.

     Leading the charge as an untouchable beacon felt different than Nobutoshi expected. He had always revered Junko for how incredible she seemed, how she heralded victories and gratitudes and fables. But now, looking at the battered Slayers in their care, glimpsing the bodies hidden beneath a scavenged tarp... he could see the chasm that naturally existed between the common folk and the elite. He could see them hesitate and recognize how the piles of bodies gave their superiors a foot-up in the overall war. And all it would cost was their short, miserable life. 

     Junko must have sensed Nobu's apprehension: her hand pressed into the center of his back, nails digging a gentle circle of comfort. 'We can do this,' she seemed to remind him with a flickering, dampened smile. They had no choice but to continue; there was no way back, after all.

     "The maze is dangerous," Jin interrupted. "Pair up. Spread out. Watch each other's backs." Nails extracted from Nobu's back like removing shrapnel-- he wanted her to stay, but she had that jaw set, that hand cupped on her katana, and her eyes on the indigo clouds overhead. Instead, she strayed over to one of their subordinates. Jin had already selected his Slayer and set off, his nameless partner scuttling after him, leaving all others to their devices. Nobutoshi drifted toward Yuri, her remaining eye glazed with fatigue.

     "What's your name?" he asked her. 

     "Takahashi Yuri," bless her steady and formal tone. 

     "Alright, Takahashi. Let's look for survivors and those last three demons."

     They found no evidence of survivors. Not even bodies. That was the horrifying thing about a seasoned demon's territory: the simultaneous excess and lack of death. New demons left behind carcasses and bones, their newfound appetite still rudimentary if maddening. Meanwhile, the splintered corridors and rusted tunnels were littered only with shells, wharf insects, roaming crustaceans, and the occasional rat scurrying for safety. Jin had called the place a maze. Indeed, the barge seemed to hold numerous tunnels, catwalks, and metal panels. These structures held no practical importance. The tunnels fed into each other, out into the open water, and into dead ends. The catwalks were precarious, rotting, and noisy. The metal panels were bizarre, nonsensical landmarks. The walls reached up to six meters tall, and there were few routes to safely climb them. It was less a barge and more a demented vivarium, something pretending to be a barge.

     Nobutoshi paused at a fork that split into three different directions, examining the dents and scratches at about eye level on the nearest turn, recognizing it as a pattern. He wondered if anyone else had noticed it... he glanced back to Yuri, who raised an eyebrow when he gestured to their left. "This way."

     As they explored, the rain fell on them in sheets, preceded by a stampede of fat droplets sweeping overhead. Yuri grumbled, readjusting her hold on her katana. "Can't see a damn thing in this rain."

     "I can. Keep following me."

     "You're reading the walls, aren't you? Why? What's on there?"

     "I don't know." It wasn't a total lie. The markings weren't of any alphabet, but held intelligent significance to him. An arrow was too obvious a sign-- it had been Junko's idea to create a coded marking to help reinforcements from getting lost, a lesson learned in previous missions. A mindless scribble, at first glance, but it actually mapped out a path. Nobutoshi's careful eye had seen the pattern of the scratched wall, determining his way. Nobutoshi couldn't imagine Hinata broadcasting their activity so openly-- not unless they had intended for this to somehow help others. Nobutoshi didn't know where the map led... yet.

     The duo turned a corner and Nobutoshi froze. The sensation that struck him still was not unfamiliar, but manifested as a churning of the guts. Yuri bumped into his back and her free arm propped itself on him to right herself. "Wh--"

     "Stay back," Nobutoshi whispered, first pushing her gently before thumbing his sword and from its sheath again. Lightning cracked overhead, and she could see it then. The light reflected off the metal floor and wall panels-- a shadow had been cast that, if nothing were truly there, wouldn't have existed. He unsheathed his blade, Yuri followed suit--

     The creature jerked its body, charging them down and closing the distance in a fractal second. Nobutoshi warily put himself between the monster and Yuri, uncertain of her depth perception, but Yuri had been faster. 

     "Thunder Breathing First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!"

     C-CRACK!

     The hall exploded with blinding brilliance, Yuri suddenly on the other side of the demon, her sword instantaneously split in two a few centimeters from the handle. Flabbergasted, she looked back with her mouth agape as the yellow nichirin spiraled through the darkness, bouncing off the wall and rattling to a rest. The demon paused and laughed at this, and it was a horribly human sound. As it stood between them, raising itself to a whopping three meter height, Nobutoshi tried to assess their foe.

     The scales that reflected its surroundings served as camouflage and armor-- it was armor, he realized, when the demon turned its helmeted head this way and that. It looked strange and moved stiffly as if there were limited flexibility above the shoulders. The dō-maru was old yet new, like a giant warrior had stepped out of the early Edo period and into their time. When the creature slouched, the armor moved with it like skin. Its claws nearly touched the ground, their hands twisted into three long naginata-like ends. These 'fingers' raked through the ground, tearing through the metal sheet like it was merely paper. 

    "I can't believe you killed Unagiko with something as weak as that," the demon bellowed, voice competing with the raging storm. "Who are we supposed to replace her with now? Some pathetic cockroaches?" It hadn't stopped watching them-- deciding whether to kill the unarmed or to handle the only remaining threat. "Hmmm... I pick... you!"

     Then the demon charged, Nobutoshi as a target. It dropped to all fours in the grotesque mimicry of a bloodthirsty pangolin, and the screeching of its claws destroying the walkway could have burst his eardrums. Nobu defended himself-- trying not to allow his sword to be hit in some unsavory angle, desperate to reunite with the Slayer he was responsible for. 

     The thing was covered in those scales, even the helmet had flap-like layers covering its neck, apparently too powerful for the likes of Yuri to behead. Nobu could try, but if he failed, that would spell their doom. He took too long to consider. The demon was pushing him back, closing in-- 

     It reared, preparing for a brutal blow, and through the onslaught of reflecting raindrops, Nobutoshi discerned the irregular dots across the demon's bust. As if something had been smudged over the skin, or imbedded through its neck and face. He recognized the shape and size of these marks. 'Nichirin swords, broken off into its head,' he realized with horror. Perhaps there was no way of slicing the demon's head off, but the armor could still be punctured. 

    And so Nobutoshi struck true with his First Form, impaling the demon right as it dared to fall on him-- through its throat, past the collarbone, into its ribcage. The beast howled, gurgling incoherent fury, and thrashed. Nobutoshi held on for all his worth-- tried to yank the sword free, but the demon suddenly barreled away. Right towards Yuri, but thankfully, she had the sense to throw herself to the side. The beast didn't slow for her and Nobutoshi lost sight of her mid-recovery, scrambling to her feet to give chase. She fell behind the endless corners as Nobutoshi held on for dear life, his vulnerable body bouncing between the floor and the demon's unyielding chest.

    The rushing rainfall numbed his face. He felt bones fracture and muscles bruise, tried to minimize the hurt by becoming weightless in his movements; his body recalled how it was to fight something much stronger and faster than him: 'Junko was right. I have such noodle arms compared to hers.' The soft recollection of her lectures struck a tonal dissonance, a warmth in the face of death by dragging. 

    The pangolin-demon screamed, energized by seemingly nothing at all. That 'nothing' struck from above and ahead, and Nobutoshi's body was nearly crushed beneath the demon's mass, saved only by instinct. He threw himself, skidding through shallow water, his drenched haori heavy on his shoulders. The abandoned sword and an anguished holler projected from the demon's neck, but its mysterious assailant had evaded its parrying jabs and slashes, leaping and skipping out of reach.

     "You," the demon accused, "Aguri! Get lost, you runt!"

     Aguri never ceased to be a blur, triangle-leaping out of reach even when the antique samurai reared up and rammed those naginata nails into their predicted path. The bipedal 'runt' landed on the demon's shoulders instead, raised a nichirin blade, and pierced it down into the creature's open mouth to the hilt. With a yank, they snapped their blade off into the creature's face.

     But then they were caught-- swiped by another wild swing of those claws. Their body flew, slammed into the wall, and slid to the ground, legs twitching, stunned. The demon stomped toward their unmoving form. "Die for me already," the samurai commanded almost fondly, its mouth healing around the imbedded blade.

     'You're the cockroach,' Nobutoshi thought. The spiteful reply brought him back to his body, which had gotten up from its sprawled position and run to assist his savior, leaning into the mist, his footfalls evanescent. With a hard jump, he flew under the demon's raised arm, snatched the protruding sword handle, and sliced hard-- the imbedded blades perforating the insides of the demon's massive throat twisted, jostled, and fell to the floor in a gush of gore. The demon collapsed, the metal walkway thrumming as the rain washed its remains away. Nobutoshi rolled away and found his footing, lifting his head to this 'Aguri'--

     -- finding the broken end of their nichirin sword pressed against his throat. Nobutoshi looked at them.

     Hinata's unfocused eyes stared back into Nobutoshi's dark face with equal disbelief, their shoulders and head twitching in shock as they waited for the full-body tremors of ego death to subside. It wasn't until Nobutoshi was eye-to-eye with them that he realized he had not really believed he would see them again: invoking their name to Junko had been akin to praying to the deceased. But here they were, a revenant, armed with broken-bladed handles tucked and tied into their uniform with strips of some scavenged cloth. They had made artificial spikes as an extra deterrent for hungry demons. The makeshift dagger in their hand certainly wasn't theirs-- it glimmered black against Nobutoshi's skin, leering and not trusting anyone but its wielder. 

    "Hinata," Nobu murmured, throat moving against the cold metal.

    The spell had broken. Hinata's mercurial eyes flashed and they exhaled, a life brought back to them by virtue of a name. They shivered again-- this time letting their wounds get the better of them, their arms fell and they leaned back against the wall to favor their left leg. "Nobu," they breathed, "It's you. It's really you."

[the-gayest-show]

“The End” (2-21) (8:30-9:00 p.m. EST) A flood of lost memories forces Scratch to make big decisions about his afterlife."

Oh BOOOOIIIIIII

the absolute mind boggling face i made when i saw this synopsis i can't describe the feeling i felt seeing that.

like DUDE. this is LORE CENTRAL. this is literally scratch getting lots of memories back, likely (im 99% sure) by way of some trigger that brings it back...

a bunch of theories my brain brained:

Jinx will gaslight gatekeep and girlboss her way using this situation as a crutch. Bro is obviously gonna see scratch (defo stressed/retraumatized/confused) in this state of Knowing More and somehow twist her words in such a way that scratch gives up the chairman cloak. For the pathetic ass mf she is I believe she's HIGHLY capable of spinning some words.

Scratch gets his memories back because Jinx accidentally triggers it. Whether they're led into some place of familiarity or whatever, something somewhere happens. And BOOM. (Note: The showrunners have said iirc that we;ll see how he died, aka i believe this trigger might be something so deeply related to his past life, like a grave or a house. Maybe it's Ollie's house. We haven't seen the inside of that fucker, ever. Maybe something in there will fuck with his brain and it'll do a thing. I mean there's a chance this was either Adia's house or even where Scratch lived

The decision Scratch makes is probably whether he should essentially live in the past (assuming by all means that adia isnt dead) and whether to live with the mcgees. I think this would close off his arc of his past and also reiterate the bond between him and the mcgees. It makes sense plot wise, i mean bro's been living in being unsure of his past before he met molly and drank the soda. But now he Knows All. What does he do? Maybe his first instinct is to be attached to Adia (again, if that mf aint dead) because she could tell him everything. If we find out more about her (which is a given if scratch gets a big memory burst) then he might attach himself to adia as a coping mechanism. Maybe molly has an argument or something to scratch about this and then suddenly they split up (picture what happened in the dance with some-ollie episode). This makes it infinitely harder to fight Jinx (no chairman? what's a human gonna do now?). Maybe Molly summons everyone but scratch bc they're in an argument about this. Including the Chens, because in everyone's opinion they're SUPER last resort. They (to molly and the friend group) seem like the people to not only defeat jinx but capture innocent ghosts too, so ofc this is the most drastic "we're losing time and we're out of resources fr fr" situation

I bet we'll find out a bit about his home life, lots of stuff/other theories ive seen imply his life may have been... prety bad. I do believe in that. As well, we'll probably get confirmation of whether the "scratch is todd's wraith" theory holds up. I doubt it's true but I'd like to see it myself. Same goes with the "adia is jinx" theory.

Scratch corrupts theory seems to be more true and more truer the more we go farther in the series I'm going to sob if that happens

ANYwho im so excited!

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 - Disc 7

There's a mysterious tamer/partner on the inside of the cover of this one. Will there be another crossover omake or are those just new characters...?

Ch. 41

-Neo really reminds me of Yami Bakura with his heavy eye liner and white hair. (Except he's less interesting cuz he was rotten from the start).

(God, Yu-Gi-Oh! could get ugly...)

-Omegamon powering up via the "power of hope" and then the other side characters conveniently being like "we still have things to do here, so we can't go with you, Hideto" felt pretty contrived. I guess whoever wrote this likes to handle a small amount of characters at once and I can respect that.

-Yaoi anatomy spotted. Neo's waist is literally slimmer than his neck. What is this Winx Club!?

Ch. 42

-I stand corrected, we're now cutting back and forth between Hideto and Taichi and the rest of the gang. I like this, keeps the pace quick and the plot interesting.

-Neo's henchmen (Neo Devimon) beating up Omegamon when he was already half dead felt pretty dark. Are they called Neo Devimon because of Neo or is that just an awkward coincidence? lol

Ch. 43

-Jijimon kinda looks like a little furry penis lol. In black and white it's hard to distinguish where his head ends and his body begins.

-What was Birdramon there for (next to Jijimon)? Literally served zero purpose...

-Suddenly they threw all these new digimon at me at once! I had to look up where Callismon's name comes from and apparently it's supposed to be a reference to Callisto. All the new digis are boring to me because they're the buff, robo-cop-esque variety. Meh. (This is why I prefer Pokemon designs, more animal-like and cute compared to digimon's human-like and manly)

Ch. 44

-Whelp, that explains why I've never seen Callismon before, Neo created him! Whenever they introduce these man-made digis, I wonder what their fate will be in terms of reappearances. Will we never see Callismon in another part of the franchise since Neo wouldn't be around? Guess we'll see...

-Not much happened this chapter, just some predictable battling -yawn- a lot of padding in this manga.

Ch. 45

-Boring end to a boring battle. Once again, this just felt like padding.

-Demon's castle looks more like a factory plant than a castle. Ooglay

-Neo is such a sore loser. Every time his minions lose he's like "no, you see, I MEANT to do that. All according to keikaku."

-Digimon Frontier Generation Omake

-This volume ends with a one-shot Frontier cross-over omake. Why did they just skip over Tamers? Oh well...I've never seen Frontier so this is my first exposure to it. Feels backwards...

-What time period is this supposed to take place in? Taichi and Takuya just get yanked out of their own adventures and into a new one. Realistically, shouldn't they be like "uh, I'm kinda busy!" Especially Taichi who was on his way to Demon's castle lol. Maybe time freezes when you go to a parallel world tho...

-So Frontier has humans digivolving? Do they all digivolve into human-like digimon? I hope not...that sounds boring. Also, I guess that means way less characters and higher stakes for the kids? I think I would miss the digimon-human relationships...(Edit: apparently they have a human form and a beast form, but the beast form looked pretty human-like to me so meh).

-So is Babamon parallel world Jijimon or does Babamon also exist in Taichi's world? I bet we'll see them paired up at some point lol

-They really said "I know, brown hair and goggles!" for Tamers' protagonist. -sigh- groundbreaking...

-Zero uses Dragon Impulse, but wasn't that the attack he was supposed to never use again? Fuck his lifespan I guess...

-This manga had some kind of barcode gimmick that I can't use without a toy. Wonder what they do lol...I do think it's a clever gimmick that I would have enjoyed as a kid. It'd probably be a QR code nowadays.

This felt very similar to the Digimon Adventure 02 collab. Fluffy little filler omake where two worlds collide and the kids learn to respect their differences. I'll always enjoy a crossover, even if they are kinda low effort.

[lynxalon]

Lynx!!! tell me a story when you're free, pal!!! about anything you want, i like reading the things you write!! :D

During Windtide

There is something surreal about seeing Times Square as it was before, lit up and populated and vintage looking. The tacky smooth, sleek cars of the age were frozen in a moment in time behind the large red words detailing whatever magazine they were and what current events were happening in "the modern" world. There was nothing modern about them, as every present moment of every second of humanity has been the most modern that it gets. Even now, with our advanced technology and ideals, we will become obsolete also.

It's a beautiful thing to reach for the stars, but everything is more beautiful when you have something to reach to. The stars are too well known now; not one being has wished on one in so long. The wind picked up, and my grip tightens on the worn leather-bound journal. It's led me this far and if I lose it to a storm I'll lose that bet.

The windtide is rising again.

I open up comms and listen to the Earthling's chatter. Most of them don't have to worry about windtide right now—they're not crazy enough to be out exploring like this—so they talk about their finds, speak aloud hypotheses they have, and detail their movements. It's relaxing to hear them especially when you're the only ones on planet Earth. We now total twenty-seven; Pygmy went off planet nearly a fortnight ago and we all know what that really means.

Dory thinks they never left Earth. Doe is the only veteran researcher who's been stationed here before, but that was under different jurisdiction. Sometimes, after a bad find, doe tells us of how different this time is. No locators. No grouping. No signals.

Nothing reaches us here.

We only have comms, but Dory says we'll be lucky if those don't lose power. I'm inclined to agree with doe. But then again, I'm the only one who goes out during low windtide. I've seen the old graffiti, read the diaries, connected the dots between the lives of our ancestors. Whatever is left to salvage; whatever has stuck around after the storms. I see it all. I want to see it all.

Dory says I remind doe of doeself. Before, that is. We don't talk about it, but this used to be more exciting when it wasn't basically a researchers worst nightmare. Stranded. Soon to become history like everything else here.

We're not the first researchers sent down. The first few missions got lost at high windtide. I've learned from their mistakes and mastered my storm safety measures, drilling my chains down during low windtide and waiting them out. The currents get so strong that it wipes away almost everything; multiple times I've had to search miles for my bags and there was that memorable event when the straps twisted around my arm and dislocated my shoulder. Not the worst by far, but certainly the most aggravating.

I unmute my end once the wind picks up again, waiting a beat before muting it. Comms used to be a lot quieter before Dory, but doe's implemented many rules. For our safety and our sanity. After one too many months without a check in from me, back when I was in the gulf storm, doe set the most recent rule of indicating when high tide is. It interrupts everyone's murmurings, but ultimately has been the most helpful rule. At first, I didn't get it, until Dory visited the islands; I worried at my lips till they bled, then.

The horizon turns crimson as the storm sets in, wind whipping past. It's the one good thing about windtide, it's the only place the heat can't reach. I check and pull at my straps, cranking each until they lie firmly against my halehide. The sun bursts for a bright, brilliant moment, and I'm reminded of how scared I was when I came here. How I never left the safety of my designated region.

When I studied for this, I was told I shouldn't try and be a survivalist. I should stick to theoretical research. Stick to the known planets. It annoyed me to no end, but now I can't remember why I applied for this mission. Maybe it was an act of rebellion or spite but I only remember feeling resigned. Like this was the only path for me.

Life has a way of saving us, I think, though I'm not sure younger me would agree. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have stepped anywhere near the academy. Young me would have turned heel, and been worse for it. I know I'm braver than I began, kinder than I knew I could be, more loved than I ever imagined.

I know I'm a better person. When the sun lights up the sky I think that this was all worth it.

Even though I'm never going home.

[gayahithwen]

Yes, their core sense of self is a huge problem. But. We can do a lot with one specific move here - we can punch them HARD by pointing out how worthless every one of their accomplishments are as long as we don't live in a true meritocracy. Your children don't attend public school? Why not? Because public schools are unsafe and provide dismal standards of education? Well, then you're proving that you believe your children need more help than others kids do, in order to learn and succeed. Private schools or homeschooling means you're robbing them of a chance to prove themselves the most adept in an equal environment. (So, you know, go pay your taxes and vote to make public schools GOOD until you feel safe with your children attending them, no matter where you live. Make sure all kids get an equal chance to succeed, and we'll be impressed when your kids do well.) Your child attended a for-profit college? The same one you attended? They were a ~legacy~? How precious. So what you're saying is, your child got in through nepotism, into a school people can only attend if they have a certain amount of money (or are so ACTUALLY exceptional that they can get scholarships, or they're willing to bet on whether the future job market will pay for their student loans or not), and you expect us to act like that's exceptional, and proves how they're more talented than others? Nah. Their excellence is predicated on your ability to pay for it. That's not a meritocracy. Only if they attend a school that is competitive because of their rigorous selection standards, rather than their parents' ability to pay. Like. This should come across as a DARE to these people. Are you truly so exceptional that you don't fear a meritocratic democracy? Are you so truly exceptional that you don't need to cheat on behalf of your children? If you truly believe you are exceptional, then you have nothing to fear by accepting this dare by paying your taxes and voting progressive. If on some level you fear that you might fall behind in such a world - then that fear is something you should probably consider. And then you should consider that maybe the cheapest solution is actually just to build the safety nets that won't allow people to fall behind too far, so that even if you lose all your wealth, you'll live in comfort in your old age. Even if you don't have children who'll take care of you because you personally provided so much for them. Like, hit them with the meritocracy aspect of the world they're building, and you can get some amazing results. And, the long-term effect is one where we actually move towards that cross-social equality those crazy Dutch and Nordic and New Zealanders people seem to be so weirdly happily, healthily cool about, and that the world actually becomes a better place. Like. That's a personal self-interest point of view that I wish I could get across to more rich/upper-class people. (The kind who have the money to visit Amsterdam and are so amazed by how they make it so easy to get around on just a bike! And they're cool about pot, too!) Like. From a personal self interest point of view, fighting for a meritocratic democracy that actually creates an educated population leads directly to just... everyone chilling back down again. No matter what you think it'll do to your TAX CODE, voting for the progressive people, giving them the political mandate to shift the flow of money towards the wildflowers in the lawn might create something actually truly beautiful... like, take that hit, my fellow human. Build the social safety nets that we all need to survive falling through the cracks. Please.

one of the things that's the most fucking frustrating for me about arguing with climate change deniers is the sheer fucking scope of how much it matters. sweating in my father's car, thinking about how it's the "hottest summer so far," every summer. and there's this deep, roiling rage that comes over me, every time.

the stakes are wrong, is the thing. that's part of what makes it not an actual debate: the other side isn't coming to the table with anything to fucking lose.

like okay. i am obviously pro gun control. but there is a basic human part of me that can understand and empathize with someone who says, "i'm worried that would lead to the law-abiding citizens being punished while criminals now essentially have a superpower." i don't agree, but i can tell the stakes for them are also very high.

but let's say the science is wrong and i'm wrong and the visible reality is wrong and every climate disaster refugee is wrong. let's say you're right, humans aren't causing it or it's not happening or whatever else. let's just say that, for fun.

so we spend hundreds of millions of dollars making the earth cleaner, and then it turns out we didn't need to do that. oops! we cleaned the earth. our children grow up with skies full of more butterflies and bees. lawns are taken over with rich local biodiversity. we don't cry over our electric bills anymore. and, if you're staunchly capitalist and i need to speak ROI with you - we've created so many jobs in developing sectors and we have exciting new investment opportunities.

i am reminded of kodak, and how they did not make "the switch" to digital photography; how within 20 years kodak was no longer a household brand. do we, as a nation, feel comfortable watching as the world makes "the switch" while we ride the laurels of oil? this boggles me. i have heard so much propaganda about how america cannot "fall behind" other countries, but in this crucial sector - the one that could actually influence our own monopolies - suddenly we turn the other cheek. but maybe you're right! maybe it will collapse like just another silicone valley dream. but isn't that the crux of capitalism? that some economies will peter out eventually?

but let's say you're right, and i'm wrong, and we stopped fracking for no good reason. that they re-seed quarries. that we tear down unused corporate-owned buildings or at least repurpose them for communities. that we make an effort, and that effort doesn't really help. what happens then? what are the stakes. what have we lost, and what have we gained?

sometimes we take our cars through a car wash and then later, it rains. "oh," we laugh to ourselves. we gripe about it over coffee with our coworkers. what a shame! but we are also aware: the car is cleaner. is that what you are worried about? that you'll make the effort but things will resolve naturally? that it will just be "a waste"?

and what i'm right. what if we're already seeing people lose their houses and their lives. what if it is happening everywhere, not just in coastal towns or equatorial countries you don't care about. what if i'm right and you're wrong but you're yelling and rich and powerful. so we ignore all of the bellwethers and all of the indicators and all of the sirens. what if we say - well, if it happens, it's fate.

nevermind. you wouldn't even wear a mask, anyway. i know what happens when you see disaster. you think the disaster will flinch if you just shout louder. that you can toss enough lives into the storm for the storm to recognize your sacrifice and balk. you argue because it feels good to stand up against "the liberals" even when the situation should not be political. you are busy crying for jesus with a bullhorn while i am trying to usher people into a shelter. you've already locked the doors, even on the church.

the stakes are skewed. you think this is some intellectual "debate" to win, some funny banter. you fuel up your huge unmuddied truck and say suck it to every citizen of that shitbird state california. serves them right for voting blue!

and the rest of us are terrified of the entire fucking environment collapsing.

[the-firebird69]

Yo Gotti - Rake It Up ft. Nicki Minaj

So you said those front porch stoops the first step is a trick step and they said it is and we fall over a little and a son started doing little skits then falling over almost and catching himself on the railing and slowly climbing up so it's not to touch the ground. There was laughter around here and it show the girls one of them fell flat on her face Nicki Minaj falls over kind of awkwardly like kind of bends a heel a little her legs are up all over the place and she's yelling and screaming sway demanding to know who swearing and it was kind of a comedy and it says is that Max money and it says you bet any of these little houses they built a little neighborhood for their convenience they said and it's the whole family of Slipknot and they are down there sometimes soon with the money from the house it's Max and they're throwing it all over the place thinking nobody's afternoon and they they go inside then they have to come out and collect more and all of a sudden the police come by and they just take the money and I mean it it's so dumb they're so stupid but really he's out of here soon and he knows it and he's just trying to kidnap our son and daughter and he wants to bring the fleet over there she's going to try for our son first and if you can't get him he's going to try for her and that's not true I'll research says he's going to try for her first it'll be a surprise and use her to grab him then he'll have a complete set to make a second set of giants to infiltrate and take over the big project cuz he's a big man. He's going to proceed shortly and his fleet will get repelled by a massive number of ships other things will develop quickly as the clones are approaching Mars they will fight the pseudo empire and both will suffer in the clothes will lose their fleet it's almost out anyways and this ship will be pushed off as they'll find out they have to and it's going on that way that they don't detect stuff now there's going to be a big issue with this guy Trump and everyone is kind of missing it but when he goes after her he's going to try and grab our son but not until he's back so he's going to try to go back and forth and he won't be able to and he'll fail then he's going to try and come to Earth and he will fail but people will be trying to get him up there of his and their heinous and they're going to go fast and the stashes and captions we'll go fast we're putting the alert out now that from now until the time he's gone that he has to be shot on sight and that they are going to be red hot and I'm sending it out right now on our channels

Thor Freya

Olympus

And here it's one of ours but we made an our only channel

Hera

[seharbeewriting]

malyk and ro'a: the playlist

so this is love :

"so this is love / so this is what makes life divine / i'm all aglow,"

the avatar's love

can't imagine :

"i can't imagine what a world would be / without you / all the birds would stop their songs / without you / all the things right would feel so wrong"

we'll never have sex :

"oh, you kissed me just to kiss me / not to make me cry / it was simple, you are sweetness / let's just sit a while"

valentine, texas :

"let's drive out to where dust devils are made / by dancing ghosts as they kick up clouds of sand"

as the world caves in :

"and as the earth burns to the ground / oh boy, it's you that i lie with"

skyfall :

"where you go, i go / what you see, i see / i know i'd never be me / without the security / of your loving arms / keeping me from harm"

two slow dancers :

"it would be a hundred times easier / if we were young again / but as it is / and it is / we're just two slow dancers, last ones out

wasteland, baby! :

"and the day that we'll watch the death of the sun / that the cloud and the cold and those jeans i have on / then you'll gaze unafraid as they sob from the city roofs / wasteland. baby / i'm in love / i'm in love with you"

lonesome love :

"why am i lonely for lonesome love?"

cherry wine :

"oh but she loves / lie sleep to the freezing / sweet and right and merciful / i'm all but washed / in the tide of her breathing / and it's worth it, it's divine / i have this some of the time"

first love/late spring :

"so please hurry leave me / i can't breathe / please don't say you love me / 胸がはち切れそうで / one word from you and i would / jump off of this / ledge i'm on / baby / tell me don't / so i can / crawl back in"

i bet on losing dogs :

"i know they're losing and i'll pay for my place / by the ring / where i'll be looking in their eyes when they're down / i wanna feel it / i bet on losing dogs / i always want you when i'm finally fine"

nine lives :

"cats have nine lives, i have three / i gave all to you, saved none for me / it's true, it's true / screw the timeline, i lost track / was it really me who had my bags all packed up first? / guess i'm giving up again"

bag of bones :

"mercy on me, would you please spare me tonight? / i'm tired of this searching, would you let me go? / and i can take a little bit more / let's shake this poet out of the beast"

it's over isn't it :

"Isn't it over? / you won, and she chose you / and she loves you and she's gone / it's over, isn't it? / why can't i move on?"

nothings new :

"and won't you please call it, if our time is through? / 'cause i know that we fall apart, when nothing's new / nothing's new"

tongues & teeth :

"and when you come in quick to steal a kiss / my teeth will only cut your lips, my dear / and i know that you mean so well / but i am not a vessel for your good intent"

star :

"that love is like a star / it's gone, we just see it shinin' / it's traveled very far, i'll / keep a leftover light / burnin' so you can keep lookin' up / isn't that worth holdin' on? / you know i'd always been alone / 'til you taught me / to live for somebody"

ultimately :

"i think i'm better when i'm with you / but i worry when you're gone / i think i need to learn to love myself / i must learn to be strong / so for now we'll say goodbye / although it pains me in my heart"

never love an anchor :

"on some level, i think i always understood / that a ship could never really love an anchor. / so, i did the only thing that i could / and severed the rope to set you sailing from my harbor”

night shift :

“now bite your tongue, it's too dangerous to fall so young / take back what you said / can't lose what you never had / i feel no need to forgive but i might as well / but let me kiss your lips so i know how it felt”

easier :

"if you woke and i was gone / from the house that we made our home / would it bend you, break you, overtake your heart / like it did my own? / and if i were someplace else, would this be easier?"

absence :

“if i just vanished, do you think you'd manage? / or would you disappear right beside me? / do you think you're ready when/ i go unsteady? / lover, please prepare for my absence”

thick skull :

“only i know where all the bodies are buried / thought by now i'd find 'em just a little less scary / might get easier but you don't get used to it / keep on autopilot, hey, hey / what's the body count up to now, captain?”

the moon will sing :

"the moon will sing a song for me / i loved you like the sun / bore the shadows that you made / with no light of my own / i shine only with the light you gave me"

i'm your man :

"i'm sorry i'm the one you love / no one will ever love me like you again / so, when you leave me, i should die / i deserve it, don't i?"

learning to hate you as a self defense mechanism :

"but when i saw you both, with your shoulders touching / sitting so close/ i knew i'd hold on to this feeling / i'd hold on to anything at all / was it my fault? / because i easily confused you / for someone who would hold my hand / when things got hard, when things got dark"

cornerstone :

"i'm worried i'll forget your face / and i've asked everyone / i'm beginning to think i imagined you all along / i elongated my lift home / yeah, i let him go the long way 'round / i smelt your scent on the seatbelt / and kept my shortcuts to myself”

love is a laserquest :

"and do you look into the mirror to remind yourself you're there? / or have somebody's goodnight kisses got that covered? / when i'm not being honest, i pretend that you were just some lover / now i can't think of there without thinking of you / i doubt that comes as a surprise"

once more to see you :

"if you would let me give you pinky promise kisses / then i wouldn't have to scream your name / atop of every roof in the city of my heart / if i could see you / once more to see you”

cellophane :

“didn't i do it for you? / why don't i do it for you? / why won't you do it for me? / when all i do is for you?”

all i wanted :

“i could follow you to the beginning / just to relive the start / and maybe then we'd remember to slow down / at all of our favorite parts / all i wanted was you”

i don't smoke :

“i'm what's left of when we / swam under the moon / now the rest of my days are just / waiting for when / you come down and tell me / i was meant for you, baby"

moon song :

"so i will wait for the next time you want me / like a dog with a bird at your door"

francis forever :

"i don't think i could stand to be / where you don't see me / on sunny days i go out walking / i end up on a tree-lined street / i look up at the gaps of sunlight / i miss you more than anything”

the deal :

"i want someone to take this soul / i can't bear to keep it, i'd give it just to give / and all i will take are the consequences / will somebody take this soul?"

i want you :

“you're coming back / and it's the end of the world / we're starting over and i love you darlin' / and i am done, dear”

ribs :

"the dark doesn't frighten me / i chose to close my eyes / it is mine, it is mine / the night doesn't frighten me / i chose to let it thrive / it is mine, it is mine"

pink in the night :

“i could stare at your back all day / and i know i've kissed you before, but / i didn't do it right / can i try again, try again, try again”

a night to remember :

"underneath the sheets / you enchanted me / and whispered sweet nothings in my ear / i shivered beneath you / all wrapped up in embers / it was a night to remember"

heaven :

"and the dark awaits us / all around the corner / but here in our place / we havе for the day / can we stay awhile and listеn for / heaven”

bewitched :

"you bewitch me / every damn second you're with me / i try to think straight but i'm falling so badly"

nocturne (interlude)

always been you :

"it's always been you / and you've seen all my darkest fears / like you've known me for a thousand years / the boy who's really underneath / all the scars and insecurities, baby / i swear that you've been sent to save me / you're the only one my heart keeps coming back to”

my love mine all mine :

"nothing in the world belongs to me / but my love, mine, all mine, all mine / my baby here on earth showed me what my heart was worth"

unraveling :

"but now my love is gone / and i am left unraveling / unraveling"

[giorno-plays-piano]

Queen's Rule

Part I

Pairing: soft!yandere!mha boys x reader (Bakugo, Izuku, Kirishima, Shoto, Dabi & Shigaraki)

Warnings: soft!yandere, otome, suggestive themes, personal insecurities, fluff for now, may get darker as the story progresses.

Words: 2.3k

Summary: It made sense why every girl wanted to be the Queen - you couldn't even imagine what ego boost they were getting with guys having duels to win them over, especially since the Queen was also treated better by the teachers and student council. You heard Mina saying the Queen was nearly untouchable.

P.S. Yes, I read too much shoujo manga, I know.

___________

"I can't believe she gave this to us willingly," you whispered, staring wide-eyed at the magnificent vintage porcelain service that was gifted to the college by Countess Uwabami last week. "I mean, it's probably the most beautiful set I've ever seen in my life."

"No kidding," Mina agreed, walking around the table where the service was placed. "I think if anyone breaks a cup, the Principal's gonna behead them."

Sighing, you hid your hands in the pockets of your skirt. It only meant the service would stand somewhere behind the glass, away from prying eyes of college students.

Ochako's happy voice cut through the silence, "Nope! The Countess' only condition was the set should be constantly in use. If she wanted it to just stand somewhere, she'd given it to some museum, she said."

"Wow, she's something."

"But what will we use it for?" You wondered, following Mina as you, too, started circling the table, watching how the gold-painted parts of porcelain cups reflected sunlight. "If we allow everyone to just come and take it when needed, we're going to lose it by the end of the week."

Chuckling, Mina suddenly stopped, making you almost bump into her.

"We'll use it for special occasions!" She exclaimed, excited. "Like, some fancy tea party!"

"Oh, we could ask Aoyama to bring us that tea he has been talking about for the past two weeks!"

"And I'll bake something nice!" Dancing with girls around the table like some preschoolers, you kept laughing, dreaming of the tea parties you were going to have in the Room of the Queen.

You had no doubts the Principal was going to accept your proposal - in the end, he cared deeply for old traditions that were slowly disappearing with every year, and tea parties would certainly warm him heart. The man was terribly old-fashioned.

It was probably the reason he still kept this Rule of The Queen thing, a tradition established in times when the old Queen built the college to help educating young men and women. In her honour, every three years students chose one girl to represent their own queen, a young lady who would then be involved in all those ceremonies, meeting a Board of Trustees and other important visitors, helping to prepare charity ball, and other super important things. It sounded pretty boring, but every girl wanted to be the Queen, regardless of the list of responsibilities attached to the title, because the Queen was recognized as the most beautiful girl in college, and she had the right to have her suitors fight for her.

Of course, it sounded kinda insane - maybe back in the 50s guys were really fighting for a girl they liked, but in modern era it was... weird. That's what you thought before Ochako proudly presented you photos of previous queen's suitors fighting for her attention: they played chess, basketball, football, or whatever sports to prove who was the strongest. Why the hell they did it, you asked, surprised. Of course, the previous Queen was really pretty, but going so far to win her over seemed very medieval to you.

"First, it's a tradition," the girl explained to you. "Second, you know boys. It's just one more way for them to prove they're better than anyone else, even if they aren't in love with the Queen. Look at Bakugo! I bet he'd be duelling anyone just so that the whole school knew he's the only champion."

Well, yeah, it made sense. It also made sense why every girl wanted to be the Queen - you couldn't even imagine what ego boost they were getting with guys having duels to win them over, especially since the Queen was also treated better by the teachers and student council. You heard Mina saying the Queen was nearly untouchable.

But now you also understood why so many girls were going against this tradition, claiming the elections were rigged and that the rules were unfair. Why only first-year students could be the candidates? With so much pressure coming from the students, the Principal agreed to change the rules, and that's how the elections turned into a random selection.

That's also how you became the Queen for the next three years.

Sadly, with a girl chosen not by the majority of students, your role quickly became more of Principal's assistant rather than the Queen in traditional sense. Guys weren't fighting for you, and you weren't called the most beautiful girl either.

Well, maybe it was for the best. Other Queens used to get lots of hate from other girls, including ripped clothes, drugged tea, and other pretty nasty stuff. With you acting like an assistant to the school management, even the older students didn't mind the new Queen being chosen among freshmen again. The Board of Trustees called it the beginning of a new era: finally, a woman could be taken seriously without a queue of suitors. They welcomed the changes - the school needed some fresh air, they said, and they hoped you were going to change lota of things for the better.

Nevertheless, regardless of their words, you still felt a little sad.

"Woah, Aoyama gave us some very nice herbal tea, what do you think we should do for dessert?" Mina wondered as you two stared at a colorful package smelling like summer flowers.

"Brownies will be nice, I think," you took a step back to grab an old notebook from your table. "I have my grandmother's recipe, and she's the queen of baking, I'm telling you. If I don't mix anything up, it should be alright."

Your friend bursted out laughing, "You? Mixing anything up? Todoroki is less of a control freak than you are."

"Hey! I still do mistakes sometimes!"

"Yeah, and every time you're having an emotional breakdown afterwards."

_________________

It was Friday when the first tea party was held: since nobody was allowed outside of college until Saturday morning, there wasn't much to do while everyone still wanted to have some fun after studying the whole week. Tea party sounded like a great option to spend time together while enjoying something sweet and fresh - it wasn't too hard to organize it, but it allowed girls to dress up and have some nice tea paired with delicious chocolate brownies you prepared. You were very proud of yourself, seeing others eating food you cooked. All the girls were complimenting you on the choice of a dessert and your baking skills.

Aoyama who was invited too - it was partly thanks to him the party was organized - mentioned he'd be happy to bring some other kinds of tea if you agreed to have more tea parties. In the end, why not? Everyone enjoyed just sitting together in the Room of the Queen for an hour and chatting, drinking tea from fantastically beautiful vintage cups and sharing brownies. It was as if there were a certain atmosphere, something that made you all feel like you were aristocrats or royals, and all of you agreed you'd love attending tea parties like this one.

So, it was decided. You were organizing tea parties on Fridays. Next week Ayoama brought you a wonderful green tea, and, figuring out no one has any special allergies, you were going to bake delicate sugar cookies - you found an old "Tea and Dessert Pairings" book dating 1952 with recommendations and recipes in the library, so now it all depended entirely on your cooking skills.

"Hey, I've heard you girls are having a tea party with cakes this Friday?" You turned your head only to see Kirishima with a smile a mile wide. "Can we join you?"

You knew well he had a sweet tooth, but it was a big surprise to see Bakugo standing behind him impatiently.

"Oh, o-of course, you're free to join us. I will need a list of those who will be coming and their food allergies, please," you felt your cheeks heating up when you realized you finally did something others got interested in.

"No problem!"

"And don't forget to wear some decent clothes," Momo who was reading beside you snorted. "We don't allow anyone wearing sports uniform."

Bakugo was definitely going to bark something about her behaving like a snob, but his friend immediately dragged him away, happy they were allowed to come. Watching him whispering something to Katsuki, you rubbed your forehead, both excited and a little nervous other people were joining your little event. Before it was just you and your friends, mind Aoyama who had the ability to be everywhere at once. Was everything gonna be alright?

"Don't worry, it's just gonna be two or three more people," patting you on the shoulder, Momo assured you. "We'll be just fine."

Actually, it's five more people - you're looking at the list with wide eyes, seeing Iida's, Todoroki's, and Midoriya's names written on paper, too. Oh dear, you didn't expect to see Shoto among people joining you. President of the student council coming to some silly tea party? Damn, you needed to work hard on those cookies of yours. What if he didn't like it, and then everybody would know you're not good at baking at all? Shoto definitely had very high standards.

Mixing the flower with eggs in the largest bowl you found in the kitchen, Mina grinned at you, "Don't sweat it, girl. I bet he's coming just because the Principal asked him to. You know, the Queen hosting her own tea parties, and the president doesn't even show up there. Nezu would go mad!"

Ah yes, they're calling it Queen's tea party now, every time making you both proud and ashamed. In the end, it was Mina who offered it, right? But it's you who's cooking, placing the service on the table, cleaning it afterwards, watching so that everyone enjoyed their time... It's fair to call it your tea party, Mina says. In fact, you're doing so many things all by yourself other girls come to your help, preparing the room and the service while you're baking in the kitchen with Mina.

It has to be perfect, you repeated in your mind as you were choosing a dress for the evening in a rush - you'd take something casual if you were to meet up with your girls only, but the presence of so many boys was making worried. What if they wouldn't like your cookies? You weren't popular from the start, regardless of your catchy title, so if they collectively decided you couldn't even bake, you thought you were going to transfer somewhere else. You definitely wouldn’t bear the humiliation.

"Woah, everything looks so fancy!"

It was the first thing Kirishima said, staring at the big table of dark wood and pretty chairs with light blue satin upholstery - all this was pulled out from somewhere by the Principal's order who loved the tea party thing the second he heard about it. You were even encouraged to put a patterned tablecloth that was also donated by some noblewoman, so Momo had personally instructed everyone not to spill anything on it - the head of a disciplinary committee, she could make even someone like Bakugo behave properly.

"It tastes... heavenly," Iida muttered, taking another cookie. "And this tea is certainly something too."

"That's because our Aoyama supplies us with the best tea from his parents' store," Mina chimmed in, and the boy on the other side of the table started positively glowing - everybody knew Ayoama was a sucker for praise.

"Cookies taste very nice," someone's voice said shyly, and you saw Izuku blushing furiously.

What, he liked them, too?

You felt like you were going to explode from happiness, your face so hot you thought you'd burn your hand if you touched it. Everybody seemed to enjoy the evening as they drank tea, talked, laughed and ate your cookies till nothing was left - nothing at all despite you baking four trays of them. It took you more than two hours to do them, but now you knew it was worth it. Damn, everyone loved what you did!

It was probably the happiest day of your life until Kirishima and Bakugo started arguing about what you should bake next.

"I'm telling you, there's nothing better than a strawberry shortcake!" The red-haired one was yelling at the top of his voice, struggling to be louder than Katsuki.

His friend who probably never agreed to anyone in his entire life was screaming in return, "Are you joking?! Who the Hell cares about some shortcake when we could eat Delicious Death!"

While Shoto looked at Ochako sitting next to him questioningly, she whispered to him it was a special kind of chocolate cake, the one that was very hard to cook, but its taste was rumoured to be exquisite.

"Maybe you could do two for the next week?" Someone asked you, but before you had a chance to reply, Momo rose from the table with a fearsome expression on her face.

"Are you joking? Does any of you have an idea how much time and efforts cooking for so many people take? She will only make one dessert, and that's final."

Well, actually, you were grateful to her. You'd have to spend the whole night cooking to give the both of them what they wanted. It was too much even for you, honestly.

The guys didn't look too happy, but then Kirishima exclaimed, "Hey, I know what to do!"

"I'm not eating your stupid strawberry shortcake!"

"Then we're gonna have a duel! Beat me, and you'll have your chocolate death or whatever this thing is called next week!"