#it used to force itself off me because it didn’t fit right

[furgirlfriend]

🤤😮‍💨

[lilacxquartz]

your body is my temple (and i will worship you);

incubus male oc x human fem!reader

w.c: 2.1k

summary: you and midnight take it to the next level and satisfy a mutual curiosity.

themes: smut, demon x human, porn with plot, size difference, one shot, reader insert, oc/ original character, biting, first person pov

~~~

Slowly but surely, it has been getting easier with having Midnight around. I became used to his presence over time, no matter how unsettling he seemed to be.

As it turned out, demons weren’t too different from humans after all.

At least not by that much.

For the most part, he tried to approach me in a way that he thought to be human in nature. That was my interpretation at least. He tried minimise my fear by getting to know me personally, taking interest in what I like as a means to find a common ground so that we could both get along.

This was going well. Or as well as it possibly could have been given the circumstances because who truly expects an incubus to show up in their life, just like that? Still, just for him alone, I fitted my apartment with blackout curtains so that he could move around comfortably as he pleased.

Slowly, I became used to his presence and before long, we were finally comfortable with one another.

Which led Midnight to want more than what we already had.

(Considering that he was an incubus, I was mostly just surprised that he didn’t bring it up sooner.)

Just as I finished up on my dinner, he followed me back to the bedroom with a certain sort of glint in his eye.

Personally, I wanted to get some more reading done but I could already tell that Midnight had more than just relaxation in mind.

“How interesting,” he observed as his pointed fingers trailed along my flesh, “I don’t have to kiss you for you to stop feeling afraid anymore.”

I nodded, thinking that he had a point. Usually, I would shudder at his touch because Midnight, regardless of how gentle he acted, was still a demon—a monster—there was nothing calming about him at all.

With a featherlight touch, he brushed his fingers down to my chin, pointing my jaw up at him, murmuring on and off in a slur, “You are so… intoxicating… when you’re not afraid.”

Midnight then leaned over me, making my back land flat against my mattress. His body hovered over mine as he dipped his face down with breath like ashen fire, smoking against my skin; daring me to reciprocate.

“I can’t resist, at least not forever,” he admitted, pressing his body right up against mine. The shadows that enveloped his body in void-like fire didn’t do much to his excitement as I could feel it, pushing up right against me with want and even need.

Sinking somehow even further into the mattress, I retracted myself with a cautious tone behind my words, “But, you’re not a forceful incubus …are you?”

Midnight froze in his pursuit, retracting ever so slightly as he lifted his lips off of mine. His blank eyes screwing shut as though he pushed any dark thought back into the murky depths of his mind.

(The part that he didn’t dare let surface, for your own sake.)

“I’m not,” he soothed.

I exhaled a deep breath and tried to get up from bed, but he still kept me locked in; caging my frame with his arms as his palms sank into the mattress.

“But it’s just… certain things,” he began, his voice almost growling as he spoke, “from the way that you breathe to the way your skin goosebumps when it brushes against mine, I’m starting to understand fate a little better, is all,” he paused before continuing, “don’t you feel at least… a little bit similar?”

Admittedly, I did feel something. I just wasn’t sure what. I harboured some sort of curiosity given that he was an incubus and at times, my mind explored such a possibility. To experience something more intense, perhaps even dangerous; the very thing that his kind was known for.

As my mind internally conflicted with itself, he tried to comfort me even if he didn’t let me go, “It’s not your fault, I know. It’s not even personal; humans were designed to fear the unknown.”

“It’s just…” I trailed off as I truly began to consider it. I wasn’t against it, that wasn’t the issue. It was the logistical side of things that threw me off; his height and therefore his potential size was an issue.

He tilted his head off to the side, giving me a moment to think.

“It’s just,” I continued from where I left off, “wouldn’t it hurt if we were to…?”

Midnight eased into a slowly relaxing smile, the glimpse of sharp teeth playing into his expression. Slowly, his body relaxed as he began to understand exactly why I felt so on the fence about things, “I’d work you into it, of course, but also, incubi and even succubi have evolved with human anatomy in mind. It can hurt, but it won’t kill you.”

My eyes flickered off to the ceiling, avoiding his gaze. Despite him lacking irises, I somehow always knew when he was making eye contact with me.

“Let me help you ease into it,” he offered, sweeping his hands around my body; his touch so rough yet so gentle at the same time as worshipping my very own skin.

His hands then moved down as he worked me into it, my eyes widening as his protruding claws grazed against my inner thigh. Black pointed nails spearing from his greyed fingertips.

Pausing, Midnight retracted his hand and balled it into a fist to reel in the claws and assume the length of normal fingernails.

“…My mistake,” he murmured, almost seeming embarrassed.

“W-weird…” I whispered in response, my voice dripping with fascination.

He didn’t reply however, choosing to push the with the task in mind instead. Peeling my sweat shorts down, he dipped his index finger into my sex before retracting it ever so slightly.

“I’ll work you into it,” he promised as he continued to stare at me, as though searching for a certain type of reaction, “I won’t hurt you… too much.”

My thighs squeezed involuntarily as he slid his digit back and forth while his thumb rubbed circles over my clit, lulling me into a gradually relaxed state. It took a couple of minutes at best, but soon enough I was flushed, my cheeks burning with anticipation as he leaned in over me.

Pulling his hand away from me, he moved ever so slightly back to rest both hands against my hips before brushing down to meet parallel with my knees. Curiously, he tented up my legs with a steady grip, hovering his body over mine, positioning the tip of his cock right against my entrance.

Noticing my unease, Midnight continued to take things slowly with as much reassurance as possible, “Relax with me.”

I tried to nod, feeling him ease slowly into my core, wincing as he gradually filled me out completely. I writhed just a little bit underneath his slowly flattening body, his length completely enveloped by my walls in all directions as he finally moved in as far deep as he could possibly go.

Midnight released a low guttural moan in a satisfied tone, seeming pleased as he took a hot minute to fully appreciate the sensation.

“Feeling okay?” he asked as he checked in.

“K-kinda,” I replied in a slightly strained tone.

With a tight nod, he pushed himself back ever so slightly to take the pressure off of you just a little bit, “We’ll go as slow as we need to, then.”

“O-okay,” I murmured in response, feeling him slowly retract his hips and then steadily push back inside.

His movements felt almost calculated as he rolled his hips against mine. With each thrust, no matter how gentle; my breath fluttered upon his impact, my eyes close to watering from the building intensity.

My whines turned into cries as I adjusted to his size, my legs widening as I struggled to take him in. My back arching as a means to accommodate him. As a means of seeking comfort, my fingers desperately clawed at the sheets, grabbing heaped bunches of linen as my toes curled on queue.

It was gradual, but he picked up the pace over time as it became easier for him to both move inside of me as well as my body finally starting to relax, somehow. In a way, I was actually extremely turned on and my heat, so slick and glistening wet, gave away just how I truly felt. My body softened at his touch, allowing him to adopt a quicker pace.

I gasped again as he positioned himself closer over me, continuing to keep me confined within his arms. His arms relaxed over the bed, keeping himself comfortably propped up against his elbows while his head dipped over mine, his lips so desperate to connect with my own.

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around his neck in an attempt to pull him closer, seeking comfort within his touch which he then leaned into, taking up the pace a notch in response; so feverishly keen.

Midnight grunted as he now pounded into me, rutting his hips at an almost feral pace as I whined in slight protest. To counter my complaints, he finally kissed me to ease the discomfort, spilling whatever magic he held onto inside, slowly tranquilising—numbing the soreness, soothing the unrelenting pain inflicted by his touch.

“Still doing good?” he whispered into my lips, despite not slowing down at all.

“I-I’m good,” I confirmed, just barely hearing him over the heavy breathing and the sound of slapping skin, “I’m good, I’m good…”

Midnight smiled as he revealed his razor sharp teeth that reflected in the spilling moonlight, planting his lips right against my own as his tongue couldn’t help but invade and explore, taking the lead within my mouth as I just barely wrestled it back. Getting too ahead of himself, he couldn’t help but pluck a taste either, sinking his teeth into my lips.

However, upon feeling my body protest to such a sudden and sharp pain, he reeled himself back ever so slightly, offering only a half apologetic whisper, “Sorry ‘bout that.”

His breathing grew gradually heavier as he struggled to retain his composure; his body shaking as I struggled to maintain a secure hold around him. His hips almost trembled—quaked rather as his pace became rougher, his groans morphed into growls as he truly lost himself in my body. I could feel as he subtly accelerated and as his teeth grazed on occasion over my shoulder, grazing against such soft tissue in comparison to his hardened skin. He wasn’t truly apologetic, but he did mutter out hasty apologies whenever I squirmed in heated protest.

I held on either way, feeling as his claws spilled from his fingertips—piercing the bed in a lapse of dwindling control. His body almost vibrated as he purred in deep satisfaction, continuing to slam his monstrous length into my cunt.

“Almost,” he promised as he fucked himself into me, “almost, almost—!”

With a steady push that followed after his words, I could feel as his cock throbbed and twitched inside of me, releasing a surge of warmth within my walls in an almost demanding release. I gasped as he slammed himself inside a final time, painfully emptying himself into me with such pressure and overflowing passion that it couldn’t help but spill onto the bedding as he slowly pulled himself out of my spent body.

I shook ever so slightly as my legs quivered, feeling as Midnight soothed me with another kiss before completely rolling off of me, “To numb the pain.”

I nodded as I did my best to recover, panting as I did so, recollecting my breath while my body glistened with sweat. It took a while, but slowly my body relaxed a second time; my legs squeezing shut once more as my hips wound down.

“Don’t worry about the mess,” Midnight said, “I’ll be your bed for tonight.”

I didn’t protest too much, if at all as I felt him pull my body over his own. He was surprisingly comfortable and perfectly warm; the shadows that wisped from his body tickled against my skin in a gentle warmth, providing a soothing effect to lessen the remaining tension that I still held onto.

Feeling my eyelids droop shut, I couldn’t stay awake for a second longer anymore and drifted off to what seemed to be a much needed sleep.

All the while thinking that perhaps that giving into Midnight was the light I needed, because maybe, just maybe, fate wasn’t wrong in bonding me with him after all.

~~~

more original works • and if fanfics are your thing 🖤

[bigtreefest]

Through My Eyes

Pairing: Husband! Jake Jensen x Wife! Reader (Newlyweds)

Summary: Despite everything going on around you, you’re Jake’s first priority

Word count: 2,167

Content/warnings: MINORS DNI, 18+ ONLY, smut, oral sex (f receiving), fingering, nipple play, kissing, misty eyes and sniffles, angst, newlyweds and such, Jake and his glasses and his hair and his beefy body and his everything, body image issues and exhaustion, use of pet names

A/N: um, I’m going through a bit of a rough time, but I started this fic even before that. It’s not my best, but I think it’s what I, and many others might need right now. Please enjoy and let me know what you think through a comment, ask, or reblog. Partially inspired by this.

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Today was… a lot. Too much, in fact. Like three separate days, hitting you all at once with the force of a train, and your body felt like a defenseless balloon against it. That was fitting, too, considering how bloated and lethargic you felt, hardly able to make your way home. So much had gone wrong today that you felt terrible mentally and most definitely physically, so yeah, you tried to muster up what strength you had left to drift home, not dissimilar to the way a half-deflated balloon meanders through the sky.

After you parked in the garage, you shuffled inside and directly to the couch, weaving through the labyrinth of boxes that were a product of you and Jake moving into your new, shared house. Luckily, the couch was one of the few spaces set up amongst the stacks of cardboard that surrounded. All you wanted to do was curl up in a blanket and hide from the world, but those were packed up, too. There were only throw pillows that had come out of a random box and a select few clothing items that you and Jake had unpacked already and hung in the walk-in closet of the master bedroom.

So before you heaved yourself onto the cushions, you tiptoed on the cool floors of the hallway on the way to the bedroom closet. Instantly, you shucked off your work clothes and left them in the corner. You grabbed a pair of fuzzy socks in a sparse dresser drawer and slipped them on before sifting through the dozen or so hangers of Jake’s until you came upon what you really wanted: your favorite hoodie of his. It was just oversized enough to reach your mid thigh, stretched and worn throughout the years to become unbelievably soft. And of course, you knew Jake had just worn it the previous night to bed since actual pajamas were somewhere buried deep in the mess and the two of you hadn’t picked out bedding for the new king bed yet.

It was perfect as you slipped it over your head, enveloping you in his comforting scent, and just the thought that this was the next best thing to him holding you, even though you really didn’t want anything to be around, seeing you in this state. The brief satisfaction was enough to get you back to the couch to cuddle up and prop yourself up in the pillows as you brought the hood over your head and nestled in.

It was like the action itself summoned your husband, because as soon as you got settled, the sound of the garage door opening echoed throughout the unfurnished house like the sunlight that bounced off the white walls, unblocked from the lack of blinds. From your little hideaway with your face pressed into the pile of throw pillows, you couldn’t see him, but you could hear his gentle footsteps and the jingle of his keys being tossed onto the kitchen counter.

“Love, I’m home. Where are you?”

You let out a groan from your spot on the couch and Jake’s body immediately followed the sound, coming to kneel on the area rug under the furniture.

His hand gently rubbed your back, the other warm palm resting on the side of your bare knee, coaxing you to turn over and look at him, but it didn’t work. You just stayed as curled in on yourself as you could be.

“You gonna turn over?”

You shook your head, your muffled voice emerging from the fabric.

“No. I don’t want you to see me like this.”

Jake lightly chuckled, but couldn’t help the way worry traced his features. Were you injured? In pain?

“See you like what, Lovey? Are you okay? Did something happen?”

You sighed and shook your head again.

“No….well, sort of.” You let out an exasperated groan. “Nothing specifically happened, but also everything happened and there’s just so much to do and I don’t wanna do it and I just feel so blah.”

Jake cocked his head to the side, and hummed sympathetically.

“Feeling blah, huh?

Another nod.

“How so?”

“I’m just so exhausted. Tired and bloated and it all just makes me feel horrible about myself. Why can’t I push through, why do I hate everything about this so much?”

Jake worried as he heard the way your voice began to shake. You finally turned over to look at him, a hand reaching out for his cheek as you sniffled.

“I’m sorry. I know you didn’t sign up for this. I’m so gross.”

Jake’s brow furrowed in light offense, hurt that you were doing so poorly that it caused that negative self-talk. He wanted you to know feelings were valid, but sometimes the pessimistic voices were too loud over the logical, loving ones without justification.

“First off, my sweet, wonderful wife, I signed up for every single day for the rest of my life to be by your side. If this is the worst you think you’ve got for me, I’d say we’re living pretty well.”

A soft smile at the kindness that filled every cell of this man’s body tweaked the corner of your lips.

“And secondly, you’re gross because why? You’re a little tired from trying to live a full life? A little bloated? I’m sure it’s not nearly bad as you think it is. Will you let me see?”

You huffed out a breath and nodded, reaching for the hem of the sweatshirt and lifting it to expose your bare belly to your husband. Since the material was up over your face, you couldn’t see him, but you could hear him blow out a low whistle before placing a kiss just below your belly button, giggling right after. You instantly threw your hands back down, trapping Jake under the soft fabric. He gently pulled his head out, hair in an adorable mess, causing the other side of your mouth to curve upward.

“What was that about, you goof?”

Jake was laughing now as he shrugged. “I can’t believe you fell for that. You look so good. Always have, always will to me. Perfection.”

Your cheeks grew warm in bashfulness as your hands, covered in the long sleeves of the hoodie, covered your face. Except, you were giggling, too, as Jake gently moved your arms and you were met with his smiling face.

“I’m serious. I’ll love you forever, no matter what. I know I can’t fix the day you had, but can I do something to make it better? Here, take my phone and order dinner. Whatever you want. And in the meantime, I wanna try a little something to help you relax. Does that sound good?”

You nodded and bit your lip, grabbing Jake’s phone out of his hand and opening the food delivery app. Distracted by the screen, you didn’t see him go for a grab on your hips, but suddenly, your body was flipped right-side-up to face him and you were scooted to the edge of of the couch with a squeal.

From his place between your legs, Jake looked up at you, your confusion met by a cheesy smirk.

“Go on, Love Dove. You do your job, I’ll do mine. Just be sure to check the delivery confirmation so I know how much time I have.”

His head dipped to the side and he began to kiss up your inner thigh from your knee. A shiver ran through you as his nose lightly brushed against the cotton of the panties you were wearing under his hoodie which had ridden up. Jake gently kissed over your clothed clit before you felt the faint pressure of his wet tongue tracing your slit, soaking the gusset more.

He looked up at you expectantly, voice lightly muffled by the way he was pushed up against you. “The quicker you put the order in, the quicker all we have to focus on is each other.”

You nodded, a whine spilling from your lips as you fought throwing your head back against the couch cushions.

To give you a light reprieve, Jake backed away, starting to kiss upwards from your other knee. It gave you just enough time to select the first decent-looking restaurant you could, pick a few dishes you knew you and Jake would like, and hit submit before throwing the phone to the side.

“Twenty minutes.”

Jake nodded, reaching for the sides of your panties as you lifted your hips to help him shimmy them down your legs. He groaned as your glistening heat was exposed to him, eager to dive right in.

As you looked down at him, his eyes flickered between you and the glimpse of heaven in front of him. He leaned forward, giving a gentle lick to your clit, delighted with the gasp that left your lips. And then Jake latched on, his eyes not leaving yours as you felt the strong muscle his tongue flicking back and forth paired with delicious suction. Your hands found his hair, bleached locks peeking out from between your fingers as your breath started getting heavy.

His lips kissed their way down the crease of one thigh and up the other, circling where he went next, his tongue licking a firm stripe up your slit before entering you. Another whine left your body as he warmed you up, your pelvis grinding upwards, seeking stimulation for your neglected nub.

Jake hummed, sensing what you needed, and moving back upwards, his facial hair scratching the sensitive skin as he did. He wrapped his arms around your thighs, biceps bulging, fingertips of one hand putting delightful pressure on your lower stomach, the other digging into the plush flesh of your hip as he willed himself closer to you.

His glasses began to fog up from the hot breath emerging from his nose against your mound, his eyes sparkling up at you as he suckled your clit. It was all so much, and all so good.

Your whines turned into little squeaks and wails, increasing in pitch as you neared your peak not just from your husband’s expertise in the way he strummed your body, but the way he took care of you, took action with only you in mind.

Your flat palms turned to fists in his hair, earning another groan that was enough to tip you over the edge, your legs shaking and eyes squeezing shut, just like your thighs around his head. Jake kept going, though, a finger entering your convulsing pussy that squeezed his thrusts tight. Jake’s other hand snaked up your side, pushing the sweatshirt with it to reveal a hardened nipple that he began to pinch and tweak. The combined sensation coaxed another orgasm from you and you keened.

Jake finally backed off a little, gently licking your dripping arousal from your entrance and his fingers, letting you down from your high. Your chest rose and fell as you caught your breath, eyes still closed and ears ringing to the point where you hadn’t heard Jake get up to grab a wet paper towel from the kitchen to clean you up and a pair of his boxers from the bedroom. You just winced slightly as he gingerly wiped between your legs and pressed a kiss to your dewy forehead before sliding the underwear on and taking a spot next to you on the couch.

On instinct you curled into him and Jake cradled your body in his arms.

“You feel better?”

You nodded, your head tucked into his neck.

“Yeah. Like jell-o. Thank you for that, Jakey.”

He smiled as he rubbed your back.

“Any time, Lovey Dovey.”

You pulled away, looking up at him, smiling at the sweet nickname, but in his gaze, you felt as if you saw something else.

“Do you want me t-“

He cut you off, “Absolutely not. I did that for you, not because I wanted anything else in return. If anything, it was a treat for me. And before you say you feel like you owe me, no you don’t. That’s what marriage is. We take care of each other.”

You smiled, simply nodding in understanding. “Okay.”

Jake pulled you in tighter again for an extra squeeze that made you laugh against his chest. You spoke up with your smushed cheek, a smirk rising.

“And then after dinner maybe we can watch a movie on the laptop and break in the jacuzzi tub?”

Jake leaned down and pressed a kiss to your lips, his nose nudging against yours lovingly as the doorbell rang and he began to stand up.

“That sounds wonderful. Whatever you want, Mrs. J.”

You beamed at him and watched as he grabbed the food and returned, the two of you settling by a cardboard box you’d been using as a makeshift dining table.

Your meal, and the rest of the night was filled with laughter, and lots and lots of love, like you knew your relationship would be from beginning to end.

Bonus A/N: I hope you enjoyed this episode of sweet hubby Jake and his Love Dove. Thank you to my friends who helped me brainstorm nicknames for this sweet, sweet couple. And thank you to all of those who have been there for me. I love you.

Taglist: @hawkeyes-queen @ronearoundblindly @mercurial-chuckles @steviebbboi

[saphronethaleph]

Backpack Bnuuy

“Your training,” Yoda warned. “You must complete your training!”

“The whole point is-” Luke began, biting off the words. “Look, I know it’s a trap, but my friends are in trouble! The reason why it’s a good trap is that it’s going to work, and it’s going to work because I won’t abandon my friends. I don’t want to be someone who would abandon my friends.”

Yoda looked thoughtful.

“A good point, you make,” he conceded. “Still. Face Vader alone, you must not.”

“I don’t have a choice,” Luke objected.

“A choice, there always is,” Yoda chided. “A good choice, less often. However…”

His cane swung up to point at Luke. “Wait there.”

Luke stood there as instructed, confused, then glanced at Ben’s spirit.

“Do you know what this means?” he asked. “Was he always this odd?”

“Not really, no,” Ben replied. “He’s really been able to focus in the last few months.”

Yoda came back out of his hut, holding a fuzzy animal.

“Here,” he said, putting it down. “A travel sized Jedi Master, this is.”

“I wish you wouldn’t call me that, Master,” the animal replied, shaking out his long ears. “Good day. I am Master Ikrit.”

“Small enough to fit in your ship, he is!” Yoda said, with a nod. “A pacifist, he also is.”

“I can explain myself, Master,” Ikrit replied.

“...have you been there all along?” Luke asked.

“I was actually on Yavin Four,” Ikrit said. “Meditating on the Force. I… lost track of time a bit.”

“Missing for four hundred years, you were,” Yoda pointed out.

“I said I was sorry, Master,” Ikrit replied. “I did skip the whole… massacre thing, though.”

His tail flicked slightly, then he launched himself in a Force-guided leap that placed him neatly on Luke’s shoulders.

“As my old teacher says, I am a pacifist,” the lapine-feline Jedi Master said. “Fortunately, the World Between Worlds does not involve violence. Do you have a backpack?”

Luke blinked, confused.

“...a backpack?” he repeated, carefully.

“I will be your emergency evacuation mechanism,” Ikrit told him. “Through my four hundred years of meditation on the Force, I became aware of the ways in which distance itself is an illusion. A very persistent illusion, to be sure, but I can take you from one place to another in an instant.”

His ear bounced. “...so long as I already know the destination, that is. Distance is an illusion, but getting lost is not. I only got here by following my padawan bond with Master Yoda.”

Luke still felt confused.

“What’s a padawan?” he asked.

“An old term, it is,” Yoda supplied. “A Jedi term. A term for the one who learns while a Knight or Master teaches.”

Around a day later, Yoda was humming to himself and cooking when there was a thump outside.

“Master?” Ikrit called. “Do you know how to heal? I’ve got Luke and his hand, but… there’s an and there.”

“Always rushing around, young kids these days are,” Yoda grumbled, taking his cane and stumping out of the house. “Lost, you did?”

“I don’t think so,” Luke replied, staring at the stump of his hand, then winced as Yoda began making passes over the gap and lifted his severed hand to intersect with the stump. “I lost the fight, but… Leia and the others escaped. I can feel it. I won.”

“Good,” Yoda said. “You did learn the lesson.”

“...does that whole process of going from world to world involve hallucinations?” Luke asked, looking at Ikrit and away from the healing process going on with his missing hand. “Because I swear I saw a really big wolf.”

“Oh, that’s Dume,” Ikrit said. “I’m… not really sure what’s up with him. He’s nice but I’ve not spoken to him much. I think he used to be human?”

His ears flicked. “Sorry I didn’t catch the lightsaber.”

“All right, that is,” Yoda said, firmly. “Make a new one, we will.”

He pointed his stick at Ikrit. “And then, take him to Yavin, you will. Get in touch with his friends from there, he should. Visitors, I do not want.”

[dreamlessimp]

— forehead

mikage reo x reader | 0.7k

he gets a bruise during a game an expects a kiss as compensation

you'd been busy with homework, and so you hadn't been able to go to, or even watch your boyfriends game. you'd tried to listen, but every time reo's name was called, you'd lose focus. needless to say, for the sake of your project, you were forced to turn it off.

you had made an impressive amount of progress before you heard the door click open, and the sounds of your boyfriend walking in. you smiled and began for where you knew he'd be removing his cleats.

upon reaching him, you were surprised to see a mark on his forehead. it was an impressive shade of red and looked to be a bit swollen.

a grin expanded across his face as he saw you. "hi," he then pointed at his forehead. "soccer ball."

you laughed at the mark, considering it was practically square in between his eyebrows. "hey, that's definitely going to bruise, you know?" your voice was quiet, but teasing enough that it was obvious to him.

he scoffed while pulling down his hair, letting its tips reach his shoulders once again.

“you’ll kiss it better though?” he thoughtfully suggested. “right?”

“is this how you ask for a kiss?” you raised an eyebrow and your voice remained just slightly teasing. “a forehead kiss, even worse.” you had a lot of talk in you for someone who wanted to kiss him very badly indeed. this teasing came from a need to not be alone in your suffering.

joining you in on your apparent mission against him and his forehead, reo didn’t want to be left behind. “you don’t want to kiss your wonderful boyfriend’s painfully throbbing battle wound?” if he couldn’t over exaggerate, he figured there would be no point.

not entirely fooled, you only half believed him. “battle wound? didn’t it come from a soccer ball, of all places?” you spoke, quoting his own words though made less dramatic.

“the soccer field is a battlefield in it of itself.” he retorted intelligently.

neither of you were quite sure how you ended up speaking this way, but the annoying pain in reo’s forehead had not yet subsided and instead seemed to hurt even more, and now he just wanted his wholly expected welcome back kiss. he walked closer to you in order to wrap his arms around you, but in anticipation, you turned your head to the side.

you were even less sure how you ended up so many times rejecting him a kiss, but you were partially curious as to the end result. this was even more overwhelmed though, by your enjoyment of your usual routine with him of a welcome home kiss.

reo didn’t at all want this game to continue, and by the way he felt relief at the way you were staring at his only slightly embarrassing bruise, he was right in thinking you didn’t either.

“kiss me, please?” reo asked, a smirk forming on his face. 

you weren’t exactly pleased at his confidence, but did as requested and pressed your lips against his, still purposefully ignoring his forehead so that he’d be forced to ask yet again.

you unfortunately noticed though that his cheeks were reddened  from either smiling, or your kiss, and upon the realization you took the loss and kissed his forehead as well.

“you’re lucky you’re cute, ya’ know” you murmured under your breath, quiet enough that reo was just barely able to catch your soft words

this time, his already red-tinted smirk was just a bit more flustered, and that much more pleasing to look at. “you are too though.” 

eventually, curious as to how he ended up with the bruise, you watched his game. you were used to him arriving home with bruises on his arms and legs, sometimes even on his face. still, they were usually in the middle of his forehead rather than in between his purple eyebrows.

surprise, surprise, it originated from him jumping up to block a goal. it seemed he miscalculated however, because the look on his face as the roughly kicked ball made its contact was one that did not fit your standard of cute.

you laughed at his obviously shocked reaction before turning your face to his own, right where the ball hit.

the annoyed look on his face at your laughter became that of one quickly placated by the kiss you so kindly gave. anyone’s standard of cute.

a/n: back from the dead, here to revive my account with reo magic

[extrastranszanepropaganda]

OKAY SO!

Diares Rewrite - Divine Relics And Their Warriors

I (added one) AND REDESIGNED THE DIVINE RELICS!!!

This was mainly done for one because I don’t really like the many of the original designs tbh- AND TWO! I wanted to put effort into the symbolism behind the shapes and gems, because symbolism makes me happy, and I like over analyzing things 😌

This one is going to be a long one, so I’m gonna go ahead and put a cut here, lol

FIRST OFF!

Irene (Aphmau)- Purple Diamond

Irene’s relic is based off of the purple diamond! One of the most rare gemstones and a sign for nobility. Irene, being the head of the warriors, slides into this role, as well as the theming of pride and spirituality, for, obvious reasons.

This one didn’t really get a redesign since it’s so iconic

Enki (Travis) - Lapis

Besides wisdom being a key tenant of Enki’s divinity, I thought this worked a lot with Travis and the storyline I’m planning to put him through.

From someone who flirts to hide their their own feelings and thoughts, to someone who is more open and an advisor of sorts. I view Travis as someone who is genuinely very smart and always listening and adapting his actions and words to what people want. The conclusion to his story would be to put a focus on him learning to do what he wants, and to being more genuine and open. To learn that his not just what he can do for others, he’s not just his fathers jailer. That these things are great and all, but that him just being himself is all that really matters

I kept this pretty much the same as the old design again since it looks cool and also I think having the two little gems bracketed leans into the “keeper” title. Especially with the people of their line being all about keeping the demon warlock/evil forces sealed away.

Shad (Aaron) - Ruby

Lets be soooo for real, the story tells itself. From the past hurts, to martyrdom, all the way to being protective of family and having a distorted veiw of one’s self. Shad and Aaron both fit all of these to a T

Annnndddd for the shape I took inspiration from this Slavic symbol!

Like…. Fire…… war……… going through shit….….. also the whole “child” thing!? What started his whole downfall was his daughter being turned into a relic. This relic. To be exact.

I get to be a little devious. As a treat >:3c

Esmund (Garroth) - Pink Garnet

Ok so, the name obviously matches but omg I swear I didn’t realize until much later XDDD

Funny coincidences aside, I thought the themes of loyalty, devotion, consistency, etc. really match him and the stability that he brings to those around him. Not to mention the whole “used to ward off evil“ blah blah blah. AS WELL AS the part where it says that it’s believed through being cut and polished (put through hard times) are when a garnets ability truly shines through. Showing how before he was nothing but a cog in his father’s wheel until he went through adversity and re made himself!

I wanted this to have the general shape shield as well as include the reoccurring shape I put in Garroth’s redesign!

AND I CANT PUT MORE THEN 10 PICTURES PER POST SO ILL REBLOG WITH THE REST RIGHT HERE

[viccharine]

do you guys ever listen to a band so much that you end up making fake merch for it?

(reblogs greatly appreciated!!!!)

close ups and commentary under the cut!

about the poster itself: do you guys know how hard it is to make art for a band that hasn’t been active in 13 years? the answer is HARD (yes, i probably could done research and looked for old interviews for inspiration but who has time for that)

—> the icons related to “take a vacation!” are inspired by lyrics from the song “take a vacation!” (haha, did you see what I did there?) specifically, the lines “we’ll leave the waves at the ocean” and “we’ll leave the sand in a suitcase”

—> the Jon Walker and Ryan Ross icons are taken directly from the album cover (it took ten years off my life trying to figure out how to get them on here w/ the color palette—graphic design may be my passion but I never said i was GOOD at it)

—> the heart imagery comes from the fact that the band’s called “the young VEINS”—although it annoys me IMMENSELY that i technically drew more arteries than veins in the icons (my anatomy teacher would be so disappointed, but alas, anatomical accuracy had to be sacrificed to make it. yknow. look nice)

—> i did hand-lettering for all the text except for everything that’s in Helvetica (i did THAT in canva). the art program i use has a basically unusable text tool so I was forced to draw all of it, so I choose to believe that the reason why it doesn’t look. the best. is because of the caffeine shakes

some extra commentary: am I the only one who’s genuinely REALLY bad at listening to music? i don’t really get into bands as much as i just find songs that sound nice—to illustrate the extent of this issue: i did NOT know that Brendon Urie was a part of Panic! At the Disco. I’m not even kidding, I thought the artist who made Death of a Bachelor and the artist who made A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out were completely different and just. didn’t bother to check if I was right.

also, I’m not the type of person to be interested in band lore???? I rarely know the names of band members if even I’ve listened to the band for years (I really couldn’t care less in most situations)

case in point, i did not know who the FUCK Ryan Ross was!!! i knew he was in p!atd but that’s literally about it—before a couple of days ago if you asked to me pick out either Ryan Ross or Jon Walker from a line up I would not be able to get even CLOSE

anyway, my friend/manager is really into band lore, so I basically got a crash-course in all things “early to late 2000s emo band” and subsequently found out about the Young Veins (i was also extremely disappointed when I found out they only had one album and hadn’t been active in over a decade) THEN I realized that decade old, inactive bands don’t usually have merch, so I made my own! “merch” used lightly—i don’t think this is actually fit to sell lol

anyway that’s all k thanks byeee :D!! (and go stream the young veins!!)

[lyssophobiaa]

You're so much like your mother. Luis sera

The lab was colder than usual, but Luis hardly noticed.

He was hunched over his workstation, the steady scratching of his pen filling the air as he added another line to his notes. He should’ve stopped hours ago, but the stillness of the lab felt better than the restlessness in his mind. He told himself the work was for the greater good—always for the greater good—but lately, that belief was starting to feel thin, like a thread fraying under too much strain.

“Still at it, eh?”

Luis glanced up, startled. Dr. Salinas leaned against the doorframe, his cigarette smoldering between two fingers. The older man’s sunken eyes gleamed in the low light, always watching, always prying. He had a knack for showing up at the worst times.

“Work doesn’t do itself, viejo,” Luis replied, forcing his usual smirk. “And you? Shouldn’t you be off somewhere making everyone else miserable?”

Salinas chuckled, stepping into the room with his uneven gait. “You’ve got some mouth on you, boy. Just like your mother.”

Luis’s pen froze mid-stroke. He stared at Salinas, his chest tightening. “What did you say?”

Salinas exhaled a plume of smoke, the corners of his mouth curling upward. “I said you’re just like her. Sharp. Ambitious. Always chasing some grand idea.” He stepped closer, tapping the ash off his cigarette into a nearby tray. “You didn’t know, did you?”

Luis set his pen down slowly, his heart pounding in his ears. “Know what?”

Salinas smirked, leaning casually against the edge of the workstation. “Your mother. She worked with us—well, before you came along, that is. She was one of the brightest minds in her field. Passionate, too. Thought she was saving the world.”

Luis’s stomach turned. “That’s not true,” he said, shaking his head. “My mother—she wasn’t part of this madness. She was a good person.”

“Oh, she was good,” Salinas said, almost mockingly. “Had a heart so big it blinded her. Thought the work we were doing here would save lives, make the world a better place. Always talking about ‘helping people.’” He snorted, taking another drag from his cigarette. “But we both know where good intentions lead, don’t we?”

Luis stood abruptly, his chair scraping loudly against the floor. “You’re lying,” he said, his voice sharp.

Salinas shrugged, unbothered by the sudden outburst. “Believe what you want. But the way you throw yourself into your work, the way you need to fix things…that’s her, right down to your bones. Makes me wonder—how long before you realize it’s all for nothing, like she did?”

Luis’s fists clenched, his pulse pounding in his temples. “Why are you telling me this?”

Salinas smiled thinly, extinguishing his cigarette in the tray. “Because it’s true. And because the truth has a funny way of eating at you, doesn’t it?”

With that, Salinas turned and walked out, leaving Luis alone with the quiet hum of the lab equipment and the sound of his own ragged breathing.

He stood there for what felt like an eternity, staring blankly at the sketches of the Las Plagas parasite in front of him. His mother—his mother—had been part of this? The idea felt impossible, wrong, like it didn’t fit with the few scraps he had of her in his memory.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he didn’t really know her at all. She’d died when he was a baby, leaving behind nothing but a handful of photographs and vague, warm recollections from his grandfather.

Was it true? Could it be true?

Luis sat back down, his hands trembling as he flipped to a blank page in his notebook. He didn’t know the answer, and maybe he never would. But one thing was clear—whatever choices his mother had made, whatever good she had tried to do, they hadn’t stopped this nightmare from growing.

He wouldn’t make the same mistake.

He couldn’t.

[lostintransist]

In And Of Itself | Part 2

Part 1 | AO3

CW: HEAVY WARNING PLEASE READ: Mentions of dead bodies, dead children, references to 09 canon death of Simon's family, sitting with guilt from PTSD

Simon hated the nondescript government building he had to visit for weekly sessions in his own head. He always scheduled half a day to be here. After having his mental cages rattled he would receive a snack and a break before unpacking anything that had been brought up in his mental session with his real-life therapist.

New nurse today, this one didn’t want to chat and barely spoke beyond the introductions and the confirmation that he knew who and where he was. No skin off his nose, the AI in his head did more than enough chatting. He had decided female pronouns were fine to use, if only for the ease of mentally referencing.

The anesthesiologist came by, popping a mask over Simon’s nose and mouth. Within three breaths his eyes had slipped shut. When they opened you walked amongst the dead.

This memory triggered deep feelings, so tangled they only presented as nausea and a need to flee. The multicolored Christmas lights cast shades of shadows over his mother, brother, sister-in-law, and their two small children. Their bodies had been laid out before the front window. The angel atop the tree watched over them, a weak facsimile to what Simon hoped his family had found beyond the passage of death. You are humming a Christmas tune he is not familiar with, the cadence slow and haunting. Fitting.

You walked the length of his mother before turning and looping up the small space between Tommy and Beth. Reaching their heads you repeat this process. Simon can do nothing but ache as he watches you kneel beside Joseph. The gentle knuckle you run down his nephew’s small face pricked at his pain. Lifting his small body you stand and settle him between his parents before turning back for his niece.

She didn’t have a name when she died, life support suspended when the bullet entered Beth’s brain. You lift her, body fitting neatly in your hands. Simon can taste the salt of his tears filling the seams of his lips. His niece is settled on Beth’s stomach. When that is done you look at him, sorrow cracking your professional demeanor as you rise from your knees.

“This wasn’t your fault Simon.”

The sound of your voice draws his attention to the silence. No hum of electricity nor wind sliding through the street between row houses broke the graveyard sensation.

“It is,” he chokes out past his tears.

“Did you put the bullet in their skulls?” Your head tilts ever so slightly, reminding him of the birds of prey that spanned the globe.

“I might as well have. This only happened because of me. I tried to take down Sparks and Washington and if I hadn’t failed they would still be breathing.” Simon is hyperventilating now, heart thrashing in his chest.

The hands on his face are cool. The chill of arctic air entering his lungs forcing them to convulse twice before he could breathe fully again. When his eyes could focus again he found you, hands bracketing his cheeks and eyes flicking between his own.

“That is the PTSD talking. One important thing no one talks about PTSD is the misplaced guilt. Unless you pulled the trigger you can butterfly affect yourself into believing anything could be your fault.”

He glanced away, toward the dead. You jerked his head down, back to you.

“Leave the dead to their peace, Simon. Look at me. How long can you sit with that feeling? The feeling of the guilt?”

It sparked in his chest, a star exuding heat from its nuclear fusion. Anything beyond that agony became lost to him. The small taps to his cheeks brought him back.

Left pointer.

Right pointer.

One finger at a time you tapped away on his scars.

Left middle.

Right middle.

Agony released, a charlie horse of his emotions leaving him with only the memory of its talons.

Left ring.

Right ring.

You were humming again, a different Christmas song. Beyond you were the screams of the damned. The humming got a bit louder.

Left pinky.

Right pinky.

These were religious songs, not one of the commercialized tunes that dominated the airwaves.

Left thumb.

Right thumb.

Simon lets you tap and hum. Your gaze is distant as it sits against his collar.

Left pointer.

Right pointer.

The pattern repeats.

When the screaming drifts into no more than a gentle brush of air against sleeping trees you blink. Looking up you find Simon already staring at you.

“It’s nothing like getting black-out drunk, but expect a hangover in the morning,” you shrug as you step back, fingers sweeping paths down his face.

Simon narrowed his eyes, “I don’t get hangovers.”

You wiggle your head back and forth as if trying to decide how to argue the point.

“Not anymore, but you have. Expect that level of exhaustion and be tender with yourself this week,” you pat his arm twice before turning and walking away.

When he looked down in the place of the bodies lay a photo that had been taken shortly after Joseph had come home from the hospital. Everyone smiled in the colored memory, even him.

The dream wobbles in the edges of his vision when he looks up. The hills of Scotland hold him as he ends the session.

Session Notes: Patient experiences PTSD in regard to the loss of family members. Provided techniques to address, will revisit to confirm level of healing.

In and Of Itself Masterlist | Masterlist | AO3

Shout out to the spectacular @ms-sasa for going back and forth with me on how to outline/plot this fic!

[jjkamochoso]

The Perfect Fit

Overview: Levi Ackerman begrudgingly finds himself falling in love with the Survey Corps’ seamstress. Will they be able to own up to their feelings for each other? Or is their love doomed to fail before they discover the truths of each other’s hearts? This slow burn reader insert story will be filled with angst, yearning, and a bit of mystery as we slowly unravel the truths behind Y/N’s past… and explore her and Levi’s future!

Chapter 13

Series Masterlist

Chapter 12 linked here

Chapter 14 linked here

Levi Ackerman x female reader

Warnings: kidnapping, violence, mentions of blood, allusions to prostitution and mentions of being in a brothel

This is hopefully long enough to make up for being away for so many months! I hope you guys like where the story is going :) this part’s pretty dark but it’s nothing out of the ordinary for AOT itself! I promise we’ll get to some fluffy goodness soon!!

Where we left off…

You scooted closer to Levi, an uneasy feeling settling over you the further you got away from the safety of the lit up house you were previously in. The houses in the next neighborhood were all but abandoned, no sign of living beings inhabiting the dilapidated buildings surrounding you. Levi took charge, leading you through the shortest route toward the inn you’d be staying at. He was moving so quickly that you grasped the back of his jacket so you didn’t get left behind. In the blink of an eye, he shoved you into a doorway as you spotted the glint of a blade barely miss you; it would’ve sliced your neck if he hadn’t moved so fast. You were stunned by the force of hitting the wooden door but quickly recovered when you saw a group of men with various knives and guns surrounding you and Levi. The latter bared his teeth, gripping a knife he had tucked in his belt, as he began slicing his way through the group, dodging bullets and cutting necks. While they were occupied with Levi, you took the chance to run. You knew of his superhuman strength; there was no way you could match it and you being there would hinder his ability to take them all down. You weaved through streets, the labyrinth of houses becoming more convoluted as you sprinted, but you at least remembered the general direction of the inn. You knew you couldn’t afford to stop moving at top speed but your lungs were ready to give out from exertion. You pulled yourself into a vacated building, panting as quietly as possible. When your heart no longer felt like it was going to burst, you opened the door to make a run for it when all of a sudden, you felt a knife prick the skin on your throat and heard the click of a gun.

“You’re comin’ with us, darling.”

“What do you want from me? I’m just a charity worker,” you pleaded as the man who spoke to you harshly grabbed your upper arm and began dragging you away, the knife now tucked away in his pocket. You hated the idea of being brought to a secondary location because the chances of you being found before something terrible happened were slim to none. You desperately tried to stall as much as you could, hoping they would distract themselves with a monologue to your questions long enough for Levi to catch up to you.

“Charity worker? Yeah, right,” he sneered, making his other, taller buddy snort sarcastically as he holstered the gun that was previously shoved in your back. “We know who you are and what family you’re from. You’re worth a lot of money, you know.”

“Really, you have the wrong girl,” you told them, but unfortunately their intel was too good for you to fool them.

“You’re Y/n L/n, now drop the act. It ain’t cute,” the other man, equally as nasty looking as the first, spoke up.

“Neither are you,” you grumbled under your breath, crinkling your nose in disgust at the dirty men manhandling you. You were feeling braver without them brandishing their weapons.

“Why you little-”

The taller man slapped you across the cheek, the sting rippling across your skin doing nothing but angering you.

“You call that a slap? My grandfather can hit harder than that and he’s been dead for years,” you jeered, the same man snarling at you now. He angrily grabbed the front of your shirt, the ribbon bow adorning your collar falling onto the grimy ground.

“You listen here, girl. The only reason you’re not lying dead in the street right now is because we want the ransom money from your parents. Don’t push your luck.”

As you felt his grip release, a thought struck you. With their weapons hidden away and nobody holding onto you for the brief moment, would it be wise to run? If need be, could you fight your way out of this?

A few months ago…

“Those moves are so cool. I wish I was taught to fight,” you had said to Hange, hanging out with them as they oversaw soldier training.

“Don’t tell me you don’t even know how to throw a punch?” they asked in a half concerned, half curious tone.

“…I don’t,” you answered sheepishly.

“Tch. I’ll teach you,” Levi had said, joining the conversation. “It’s stupid to walk around nowadays without being able to protect yourself.”

And teach you he did. You had met with him every day for a few weeks at the training grounds after hours, showing you how to properly shape your fist and use your body weight to your advantage in a fight. He was a scrappy fighter, quick with his evading movements and even faster on the offensive, and you were eager to learn as much as you could from him, soaking up each tidbit of knowledge he passed along to you.

“I hope you’ll never have to use these skills,” he had said on the last day of your training, “but I’m glad you can defend yourself if needed.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you, Levi. Thanks for being a great teacher.”

He nodded and turned away from you, the tiniest, satisfied smile resting on his lips.

You prayed to whatever heavenly body decided to listen at that moment that your lessons weren’t in vain. Without a second thought, you punched the man square in the nose with all of your might and immediately started running. You didn’t dare slow down or look back, afraid of what you might see if you did. You were sure that the other guy would be hot on your trail at any second and you couldn’t afford to be in this part of town by yourself any longer. You heard the gravel fly up from underneath your quick feet, crackling as the tiny stones settled behind you. If you could just reach past the next big building in front of you, you’d be closer to the city center and more apt to find help. You couldn’t slow down, had to keep pushing-

You cried out as a searing pain split through your right leg, causing you to stumble. The sound of a gunshot registered in your frenzied brain after you felt the steady stream of blood pour out of your new wound, soaking your sock. You tried to keep running, not wanting to risk getting caught, but to no avail.

“No more runnin’. I won’t say it again or next time I’ll aim for your head.”

The shorter man pushed you to the ground, one hand pointing the gun toward your body, ready to take your life, while the other dug through his pocket.

“Here.” He threw a roll of gauze that landed limp in your lap. “Bandage that and make it quick. I’m not missin’ my chance at money ‘cuz you bled out.”

You angrily obliged, not wanting to risk an infection in your open wound. Surely Levi heard all this commotion; at least the one good thing about being shot was that it could hopefully lead him straight to you. When your leg was wrapped, the bullet having only scraped the side, you were yanked off the ground and kept in a vice grip with the gun shoved into your back as you were forced back into the proximity of the second man.

“I’m gonna kill her!” the tall man shouted, blood still gushing from his nostrils.

“I want to as well but we can’t make another permanent mark on her body. It’ll lower her price.”

Lower my price? You thought. Wouldn’t that make my parents raise the ransom to avoid more harm coming to me? Unless…

Oh no.

“Looks like she finally understood what’s happening here,” the short man laughed as he saw your eyes widened from fear. “Either your parents pay ransom in the next 6 hours or we’re dumping you in the Underground.”

You tried to keep calm, but it was impossible with the very real threat of being sold in the Underground looming over you. Your parents would pay the ransom, they had to. They weren’t so far gone morally as to allow their daughter to be taken by these disgusting creatures. They weren’t corrupt and greedy enough to let you rot in the most horrendous conditions possible. They loved you.

Right?

“Wait, I have money of my own to pay you with. However much you want,” you said, trying to reason with the men who were leading you to your doom. Unfortunately, they either saw through your lie or didn’t care to deal with your bargaining, opting to laugh in your face once more as the entrance to the Underground came into view.

“What happened to waiting for the ransom? Why are we here already?” you asked incredulously.

“We decided to skip a few steps. If we don’t get the ransom money, you’ll already be down there without causing any more trouble.”

The tall man smiled at you devilishly, looking eerily similar to the cold blooded expression of a titan.

“Please, please, I’ll give you anything you want. Just let me go, please!” you begged as the lantern above the entrance to the Underground steps became visible in the dark of the night.

“You have nothin’ we want. You certainly don’t have all that money on you right now and we like our payday instant.”

It was now or never if you were to escape your certain demise. Once you were forced Underground, there was likely no way of anyone finding you.

“No! No! Levi! Help me!” You pulled against the tight grasps on your forearm, hoping to break free, but your injured leg was causing you to be in a weakened state and unable to loosen yourself from your captors. “Anyone, please! I’ve been kidnapped! Help, please!”

Again, the men just chuckled. This was truly evil personified. You’d much rather take on titans than these heartless monsters. By the time you reached the Underground stairs, you were in a frenzied state. Where were the police officers who were supposed to keep you safe? The concerned citizens who had to have heard your yells or the gunshot? Did everyone leave their humanity behind when the sun went down? You screamed and thrashed around, clawing the men and trying to bite them, anything to make them let go of you for even a second, but nothing worked.

“Shut her up or the MPs are gonna catch wind of this and make us give ‘em a cut of the deal,” the guard at the steps said.

“Happy to do so,” smirked the tall kidnapper, giving you a swift punch to the stomach. With the wind knocked out of you, you were rendered speechless as the shorter guy pulled out his knife and sliced a large strip of fabric from the bottom hem of your shirt. While you were trying to catch your breath, the makeshift gag was forced into your mouth. You looked at the guard, wide eyed and trying to convey your distress as well as you could in one last feeble attempt at getting help.

“Sorry,” he shrugged, “money rules everything and I’ve got a good operation going here. Who knows, you make enough down there and maybe you can pay your way up to see me.”

The wink he sent you was the last sight you had above ground before rough hands shoved you into the abyss below.

As you made your reluctant descent, you were reminded why you did your work to help the people who hailed from here. The world under Mitras was an incredible feat, there was no debate about that. However, the condition it was in certainly left much to be desired. The stale, acrid air hit your nostrils and made you want to puke. You never thought a trip down here could get more dismal than your previous ones, but you had never been at night. The city was alive with criminals and creeps galore, hungry eyes and dangerous grins making you cower as you were paraded to a destination unknown. You were being weaved through copious amounts of foot traffic, the Underground citizens seemingly more active at night. Actually, you realized they probably didn’t care if it was day or night since it was about the same amount of light streaming through the cracks—none. With every person you passed, you tried to gain their attention and let out muffled pleads for help, but most didn’t dare to look you in the eye and those who did just sneered at you. You realized you really were alone in this giant city, filling you with a sense of dread and despair you had never known before. You were steered into a dilapidated building, your heart rate quickening at what horrors you would meet inside. You yelped as you were pushed into a small, windowless room, a broken bed with a singular stained sheet as the only furniture.

“Time to see if mommy’s and daddy’s pockets are as deep as they claim,” said the short man.

“Who knows, we might just take the ransom and leave you here anyway. Double the pay,” chimed in the taller one, both men cackling at your misfortune. You untied the gag from your mouth but the men were already long gone before you could scream at them. You decided now would be a good time to figure out exactly where you were so you could start planning your escape. You exited the cramped room, taking in your surroundings. Outside was a long hallway, doorways lining both sides of it with one end being a dead end and the other opening to another bigger room. As you walked down the hallway toward the bigger room, you were hit with a nauseous feeling and it wasn’t just from the lingering smell of uncleanliness. You had been here before, dropping off clothes for the women and the latest unfortunate newborn who was a result of their work.

You were in a brothel.

Emotion swept over you in an instant with the severity of the situation making itself abundantly clear. You slid down in defeat, hugging your knees to your chest as you cried in the empty hallway. You were grateful for the lack of clients coming and going so you could sob in peace. Too enraptured in your own suffering, you didn’t notice someone approaching you until you felt a finger tapping your shoulder. Your head shot up in an instant, afraid of who it might be. Your tensed body immediately relaxed when you were met with a worried face of a kind looking woman. To your surprise, her outfit wasn’t in tatters and her hair looked clean, free from lice; she looked too put together to be employed here.

“Are you alright, my dear?” she asked, looking at your injuries and bleary eyes.

“Not at all,” you confessed, telling her the traumatic events you were experiencing. “I got kidnapped from above and I’m being held for ransom. Not to mention I’m probably getting sold here in a few hours and no offense but I’m not ecstatic about that.”

“I’m so sorry,” she soothed, letting her hand rest on your shoulder to comfort you. “What’s your name?”

“Y/n,” you croaked out, feeling a fresh wave of tears threaten to spill out.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up in recognition. “Wait, I know that name. You work with Mrs. Reimann, don’t you?”

“How… how did you know that?”

“You helped me. Many years ago,” she explained. “You brought clothes for me and my child. Without them, we wouldn’t have made it through the winter. It’s because of you that we survived. We were able to escape and now I work with Mrs. Reimann to pass along that same blessing to others like me.”

You used your last bit of strength to stand up once more, but you had to lean against the wall so you didn’t fall over. You needed medical attention for your leg and it was only going to get worse the longer you were down here in such unsanitary conditions.

“It’s my turn to help you like you helped me,” the mystery woman said, eyeing your weary body. “Tell me what you need and I’ll do it.”

“Thank you,” you told her sincerely, wondering how you got so lucky. “What’s your name?”

“Mina.”

“Okay, Mina. I need you to find someone for me.”

Levi hated to see you run out from under his watchful eye but it was a smart move on your part to get away from the group of attackers and let him handle it. What he didn’t expect was the two men who broke off from the group early on in the fight. At first he thought they were cowards, scared of meeting their end with his blade. It was too late by the time he realized why they ran and when he finally disposed of the never ending men attacking him, you were gone, leaving no trace but your discarded ribbon on the ground. The gunshot that rang out was a huge red flag to him but your body wasn’t there and the men wouldn’t have had time to dispose of it that quickly, meaning you were alive. Keeping a cool head, Levi wracked his brain thinking of what those men could’ve wanted with you. You never mentioned your background and for all he knew, you could've been from the city. You were aware of the luxury of breakfast in bed which meant you must’ve had a wealthy upbringing. Levi sighed; you were most likely being held for ransom. Were the L/n’s a high profile family? He hadn’t a clue. But he knew someone who did.

Levi ran as fast as he could back to Mrs. Reimann’s, clutching the ribbon in his hand and rubbing the soft texture nervously between his thumb and forefinger. He never expected something like this to happen, especially not with him being your supposed protector. He was upset with himself at letting you get hurt and he was upset at having to be back in this shitty city in the first place. Nothing good ever happens here, whether it be above or below ground. Having you by his side made it less painful to be so close to where most of his worst memories took place, but with you missing, your life in grave danger, he now felt as lost as you were. Slamming open the door to the shelter, Levi surprised the older woman heading up the stairs to get some rest.

"Y/n's missing," he said as plainly as he could, not wanting any emotion to come through his voice. "I need you to tell me if there's people here who want to hurt her."

Mrs. Reimann halted her steps but stayed silent.

"Answer me," he urged, his desperation slowly seeping through. "Tell me about her family. Her upbringing. Everything you know."

The salt and peppered haired woman turned toward him, sadness etching over her features. "I can’t believe they actually went through with it.”

His eyes narrowed, waiting for her to continue.

"She’s been taken for ransom. By who, I don’t know. I heard rumblings but I didn’t think it would actually happen,” she explained, making Levi’s heart pound in his chest in anger. “She comes from a wealthy family and you know how it is—everybody wants their hands on money.”

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” he seethed.

“Because there’s threats like that for people like her all of the time,” she replied. “I didn’t expect anything to come of it.”

Levi, raging on the inside, pried for more information. “Where do you think they’re holding her?”

“I don’t know. If I were to guess? A place where no one cares about you or your status. Somewhere someone could be easily lost and never found.”

A chill ran down Levi’s spine as he uttered the name of his next destination.

“The Underground.”

Chapter 14

Taglist: @blueeclipsepaperstudent @raginginferno267 @come-away-with-me87

[snaplight-anxiety]

Okay so here’s my piece on the lighting in alex rider

Alright. So s1e7 happens, you think everything went well and it’s all wrapped up. But at the end of it, they shows alex still in the school, looking roughed up and we realize that he ALSO had a clone (which, though hinted at through the episodes, I at least had forgotten about bc come on! everything is good now!) and you realize that you can’t tell, of the two (one left at the school, one taken home) who is the clone and who is the original.

What I found really fascinating was how they portrayed the two to play up that confusion. The one left at the school is consistently shown in well lit scenes. I'm pretty sure he’s always in bright lighting or at least with no obvious shadows. In the sequence where he goes from the rubble to the study, inside the school itself, there aren’t any ominous shadows or shots that stand out to me. Instead, there are big windows with lots of light from outside. It just feels eerie in the fact that he’s alone and all the evil inhabitants are gone (presumably). When he gets outside, he wears a bright yellow coat and the snow is bright white and makes the scenes themselves even lighter.

On the other hand, the Alex they brought home is shown consistently in darkness. In e7, he looks at the helicopter that comes to save them with a blank, confused and almost cynical look. When he gets back home Jack and Tom are there to greet him, but he ignores them, goes to his room, and closes the door in their faces. He is consistently facing away from the camera, or his face is entirely in shadow so you can’t see his expression.

It makes my brain go a little wild and I think it was a pretty ingenious thing to do, because one, if there hadn’t been a clone, it would be a pretty smart and realistic way to convey the idea of Alex coming home and not being able reconcile his old life and what he’s lived through bc they’re so conflicting and he has trauma and it’s like this veil has been lifted; everything about him is different but everyone expects him to go back to normal and he can’t.

But because there is a clone, because of the double that was left behind, those lighting choices cast doubt over whether or not that’s the real Alex. Is he acting closed off and different because he’s a different person metaphorically or literally?

Especially because we know the clones are evil, the choice to put one in darkness and not show his face and the other in bright scenes and colors (along with the scene where Tom informs Alex about the dance and the fact that generally the clone plot twist implies that the character you’ve mostly been watching isn’t who you thought he was), it adds up to making you think they got switched and Alex (good guy, well lit) has been left behind. The clone (dark, shadowy, motive unclear) has been taken in in his place.

But then you see the one who was left behind bash someone on the head with a rock and steal his car (still in the brightly lit shots) and you realize that you really cannot tell who is who. Because the storytelling of the lighting and shot angles is telling you one thing, but the actions are telling you something completely different. It forces you to confront the idea that maybe you didn’t really know Alex at all and maybe he always had that in him, because the one in England is obviously the evil one right? But Alex is the protagonist, he couldn’t have done that. And yet….

I go wild for the use of lighting as a physical plot device, because it isn’t really something I’ve seen before. Usually lighting in film (from what I’ve seen) only implies things about characters (dark=evil, unclear faces=hiding thoughts) or places (not well lit=bad things will happen/jumpscares/hiding things from the audience and characters) the way the music does. It’s all in the background. It isn’t particularly noticeable, because it generally fits with the direction the atory is taking. But the way it is used here as a purposeful misdirection is fascinating. Somebody thought we could use this and they did and it paid off. It’s a very masterful way to take advantage of the type of media they’re using to convey the story. Actually, I think that’s really it. It’s a brilliant adaptation of book to tv, because it conveys the same confusion in a new format in ways you don’t usually see in book adaptations.

Usually adaptations have trouble going from words to a screen because they’re two separate kinds of media and very different ways to communicate. They’re basically two separate languages. A lot of times, trying to get the book’s message through to film doesn’t work out because in books, you can read the actual thoughts and feelings of the characters. On tv, you have to figure out a way to convey that through pictures and dialogue. And this segment specifically of the alex rider show did it brilliantly, because they saw the options at their disposal and figured out a way to translate writing to film with specific components of film that make it make sense in a visual context.

[nerves-nebula]

a gift i made in like an hour don’t judge it too harshly it’s like midnight and i’m procrastinating studying for my finals 🙏

⚠️TW⚠️: CSA, incest, child abuse

*throws this and runs away*

the day started badly.

it was warm, and for the first time in a while there was some food in the fridge, leo wasn’t throwing a bitch-fit and the lair should still be clean from his duties last night.

but none of that mattered.

because dad was upset.

and when dad was upset, everyone was upset.

he tried to ignore it, tried to let the droning, mindless creature take control of his body, take control of his mind so he didn’t have to, so he could relax. but he couldn’t. every time the man’s footsteps dragged across the cool concrete floors, raph’s shoulders would tense.

his ears would tune in to any move, any noise that would clue splinter into a sudden rage so he could be a step ahead of him. the presence would drag him back to consciousness every time.

just another thing he’s forced to do.

the steam from the pot below him warmed his cold hands, defrosted the ice buried in the grooves of his fingers as he added ingredients and stirred with precision so natural, it might as well have been mechanical.

twice left.

once right.

the liquid boiled beneath him, softly bubbling against the confines of the walls the pot held it in. the heat pricked his fingers uncomfortably.

twice left.

once right.

someone was making noise. voices. the familiar words from his siblings were muffled behind the lairs doors.

mikey and leo. donnie wouldn't be out of his room yet.

twice left.

once right.

a heart beat quickly in the chest he resided in, pumping adrenaline through his veins. the voices were getting louder. they’d be yelling soon.

twice left.

…

how many times right?

green hands shook around the wooden spoon, no longer circling the pot. the soup bubbled fiercely beneath him, hypnotic to his eyes as he stared at the concoction.

one.

two.

pop.

the corners of his vision flickered hazily to static. his gaze didn’t move.

one.

two.

pop.

“-god, you can be such a dick sometimes!”

“don’t get upset because i take training more seriously than you!”

one.

two.

pop.

“training? you think this is about training?”

“what else would it be about? it’s not like you can contribute anything else of worth to this clan!”

one.

two.

pop.

“maybe i don’t wanna be a part of the clan! maybe i should just take MY brothers and leave!”

one.

“oh, cause that worked so well last time! i know you have the IQ of a goldfish, mikey, but don’t you remember you got caught?”

two.

“because you don’t want us to leave, but you don’t want us around either! leo, what the fuck do you want us to do? it’s not our fault you’re fucking psychotic! if you weren’t such an asshole then-”

“can you two SHUT UP!”

pop.

silence fell in the sewer. the air was still, charged with a current of anticipated anxiety. his breath left him in pants, hands shaking under the white knuckle grip against the lip of the counter.

his veins flooded with ice, jolting through his fingers and toes, melting down the nerves of his legs. his face was flushed red earth radiated from his cheeks.

he heard a door close somewhere in the house.

his breath caught in his throat, a quiet, struggled whine leaving his lips instead as the oxygen cut itself off.

a pair of footsteps dragged slowly closer, agonizingly slow. patient, like he had all the time in the world, like no matter how long he took, what he was looking for would still be there when he arrived.

he would. he knew he wouldn’t run even if he could. his feet stayed planted against the concrete.

“red.”

his blood went cold.

“follow me.”

he could see leo and mikey in the corner of his vision, peaking around the corner of the door frame. mikey’s breathing was strained and subtle, watching with panicked eyes.

leo was silent.

he desperately tried to wrangle a breath into his constrained lungs, as he turned off the heated stove with shaky hands. splinters back was to him. somehow that made everything more demeaning.

he lowered his gaze to scowl at the ground. splinter walked casually, almost nonchalantly towards the dojo, and raph felt his heart freeze again.

the door slid open with a creaking ‘whoosh’, and raph obediently closed it behind him, much to his dismay.

splinter walked to the head of the room, his usual place in front of a faded mural depicting the hamato clan through the ages. the paint was dull and chipping, the faces too worn down to make out anything other than initial basic features.

it still made him feel watched.

“kneel.”

raph knelt at his father's feet, face hot with rage and shame boiling under the surface of his skin.

he tried to let the parasitic creature in his mind dig it’s claws into his frontal lobe, stabbing a razor sharp tail into his hippocampus to blind his memory from whatever was about to happen.

he stayed in control.

“what,” splinters voice was low and dangerous, a facade of calm masking the brewing storm beneath the words. “was so important, you had to disturb me with your pointless whining?”

was raph supposed to speak? was that his cue? was this a trick question?

he opened his mouth to stumble over a useless explanation, but he was cut off sharply before anything could leave his beak.

“well? i’m waiting!”

“i just- mikey and leo were- “

a sigh quieted him instantly, his mouth snapping shit with an audible ‘click’.

“red, you understand you’re lucky, yes?”

“…yes sensei.”

“do you know what my father would have done to me if i did the same stunt you just pulled?”

trick question.

“he would have been much crueler with his punishment, sensei.”

“good.”

a thin, clawed hand landed on his shoulder, the grimy fur felt rough against his skin.

the hand rubbed gently, back and forth on his scales, and he cut his airway off, closing his throat to stop the anxious, distressed churr from leaving his mouth.

“red. you’re a good student.”

…

what?

“you’re strong, you have potential to serve this clan well. you could be a ferocious ninja one day.”

raph stayed silent. there was no manual for how to navigate this.

“do you know why i’m so hard on you?”

“…no sensei..?”

like a switch, the clawed hand dug into his flesh, and a whimper bubbled in his throat. he fought it down, along with the vomit churning in his stomach.

“it’s because while you have physical qualities the hamato clan prides themselves in, you are a disaster mentally.”

i wonder who’s fault that is.

“you are disobedient, your self control lacks anything of worth, you’re too quick to anger, and you are nothing this clan stands by. why haven’t you fixed this yet? why do you cling to the resolve of your flaws so desperately?”

“…sensei i- “

“and that’s another one of your issues! you’re impatient and disrespectful.” the grip on his shoulder loosened a fraction, sharp claws retracting from his skin. a shallow breath escaped his lips.

“look at me.”

the hand trailed lower.

no.

ice clotted in his veins, his muscles tensed under pale, flushed skin.

“dad i don’t- “

“that’s your problem,” the rat hissed through his teeth, eyes narrow and daring. “you think you get a say.”

his claws hit the ridge of his plastron, and he lightly trailed his hand along the ledge.

raph was gonna puke.

he couldn’t do this again.

“you think you’re in control of things you can’t even comprehend,” splinter seethed, running his finger through the dip down the middle of his front, roughly where his chest would have been.

acid green eyes stayed locked on the ground, and he prayed splinter couldn’t feel the frantic drum of his heart in his chest. the man shifted, crouch down closer to the ground.

“tell me,” he demanded. “tell me who’s in control.”

…

“you, sensei.”

“tell me who you owe your life to; who gave you a roof over your head and food on your table, who you would be dead without?”

“you sensei.”

“and yet you act so ungrateful. all i want is one day of peace and quiet, but you can’t go one minute without whining and complaining, can you?”

“…”

“i asked you a question!”

he angrily blinked the tears out of his eyes, face flushing in shame and humiliation as his body lit a distressed fire through his skin, the furry hand landing roughly on the skin of his thigh.

“…no sensei,” he whispered. his voice broke pathetically as he futility attempted to steady his trembling breath.

his eyes caught sight of his other hand in his peripheral vision, before it settled on his chin, aggressively ripping his chin up, forcing their gazes to meet.

“i’m feeling generous today. you get one more chance.” his breath was hot and acidic where it hit leathered green skin. “don’t waste it. if you pull shit like this again, i’m going to pull you back in here, and show you who really has the poser here. is that what you want?”

he fought desperately to keep his eyes dry and connected with his fathers, pitifully steadying his shaking breath.

“no, sensei.”

“yeah, that’s what i thought. are you going to be good?”

“yes sensei.”

all at once, the hands left him, and his lungs took a greedy breath of grateful, relieved air.

splinter didn’t give him the time of day, casually walking towards the doors of the dojo. “i expect dinner on the table when i get back out there. you have five minutes.”

the door shut, locking the room in an oppressive silence.

his feet were shaky and unsteady beneath him as he stumbled back onto his legs, patting towards the door.

mikey didn’t meet his eyes when he saw him on his way towards the kitchen, but the sight of tears glistening along the path they dropped off his face set in an emotion raph couldn’t name a light in his chest.

leo glanced at him from the couch, expression blank and untelling. he said nothing, just pursing his lips and looking away from him, a fleeting, subtle look of guilt flashing through his eyes.

the soup was already dished out when he got to the kitchen. the dishes were drying on the rack.

he could have sworn his bowl was more full than it should have been.

he didn’t take the time to linger on the thought as the skittering sound of footsteps hitting the concrete floor bounced off the walls.

the rest of the night passed in a haze. only blurry images whipping through his mind at any chance of recollection he attempted to take.

the mattress under him was ratty and old, but the cotton inside of it provided a familiar comfort as he lay in the dip his body had worn over time.

the day started badly. the lair was warm with sunlight; the food was fresh in the fridge.

but the feeling of grime under his skin was just as present, and it would last far longer than some fucking food.

i don’t know how to write splinter man, all i know is that he’s a piece of shit who craves control cause he lost the control of his own life 😭

uh. ur welcome?

HEY. HEY. LOOK AT ME. WHEN I FINISHED THIS I SAT BACK AND ACTUALLY SCREAMED "AAAH. FUCKK" OUT LOUD. THIS IS. THIS MAKES ME FEEL. AUGHSAUGHAH ??? I HAD TO ILLUSTRATE HOW THIS MADE ME FEEL CAUSE THERE WAS NO BETTER WAY TO DO IT I. I. AUGHHHHHH.

[berryhobii]

Hi there! First of all, I wanted to say how much I like your work!! As a black woman myself, its is so nice to see other women creating work that represents us and is so well written!

I saw you are accepting requests, and I wanted to ask if you could write about how the LateForWork!Couple met. Like how everything progressed and they fell in love with each other.

Thank you in advance and keep up with the amazing work beautiful <3

Wow! Thank you so much for your kind words!🤧it makes me feel so good knowing that black women are feeling represented in works of fiction. I’ll continue to do my best to represent every black woman out there.

And thanks for the request! I think the LFW couple would meet kind of through Taehyung/Jimin at a company meal. Jungkook’s more of an introvert here with reader/OC being naturally flirty and knowing exactly what they want.

I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you like it!

~

Jungkook didn’t know how he kept letting Taehyung drag him to these meet ups. He didn’t know any of Taehyung’s coworkers or other friends outside of Jimin so he felt really awkward sitting at this table. He’d much rather be at home right now, maybe live streaming Little Nightmares 2 or cracking open the new Resident Evil game he had just received through pre order.

All Taehyung had to do was bribe him with promises of expensive beef and fancy desserts for him to leave the comfort of his home. Taehyung even managed to force him into a loose button up shirt just as Jungkook was about to throw on his signature hoodie. Goodness, that man was strong when he had a goal. At least Jungkook would get some free food today and maybe a sweet to take home so tonight wouldn’t be a total waste.

His face was practically glued to his phone, focus on clearing all of the jelly on this level of Candy Crush. He was down to 1 move and one more jelly square but there were no moves in that area that could help him! Urgh! And he didn’t want to uselessly use any of his power ups. Should he just lose his streak?

Just as he was about to move the candy, a hand came out of nowhere and did it for him. That move created a power up that triggered itself thus clearing the jelly and causing him to win the level. When the happy music played along with that little girl popping up to tell him he won, he couldn’t fight the smile on his face.

Then he realized that he didn’t make that move. Turning around, he was expecting to see Taehyung or Jimin but his mouth dropped at the sight of the person.

You were……what words could he use?

Beautiful? Gorgeous? Majestic? Attractive? Stunning? All of the above?

Your skin was dewy and effervescent, even the lights that lit up the restaurant paled in comparison to your glistening and dark skin. You looked like earth personified—graceful and cool and he just knew you sparkled when the sun hit you.

Your hair was in a half up half down style, claw clip holding it up, 2 locks of hair framed your face and were curled at the end. Your lashes were long and your full lips were shiny with gloss.

He couldn’t take his eyes off you, it was hard to look away when such a gem was standing before him. Could someone even be that exquisite in real life?

And when you smiled, he swore he heard angels singing in his ears.

“I hate when there’s only one move left yet nothing around it. I just know my FBI agent sees me throw a fit over it every day.”

His brain short circuited for a moment. Were you initiating conversation with him? About a game? Willingly? Oh god, is he getting pranked right now? He thought Ashton Kutcher was dead. Is he?

Stop thinking about possibly dead actors! There’s a pretty girl in front of you!

He cleared his throat. “Yeah. They must be concerned I’m having a mental breakdown because they advertised a therapist to me.” He actually shocked himself a little from how easily those words flowed out. Small talk with a stranger was not a specialty of his.

Your laugh was loud and a little goofy but so endearing, it made him chuckle as well.

“Candy Crush will do that to you. I wouldn’t be surprised if the creators opened a rehab for us.”

“It’ll just be us having group discussions on how bringing hazelnuts to the bottom has been affecting our ability to form positive relationships.”

He couldn’t believe how easy conversation was flowing between you two. For some reason, he didn’t feel pressured or nervous speaking to you. You just seemed so open and kind.

Who were you?

“Jungkook! I see you met one of my coworkers. She’s super hot, isn’t she? I told her to let me make her a model but she insists on staying in PR. Boring.” Jimin appeared out of nowhere like a jump scare, draping an arm over your shoulders. Jungkook’s face faltered a little. Jimin was the biggest flirt known to mankind. He could probably charm the pants off a dead person if he wanted to. If you knew him, and more importantly if you worked with him, you must have been on the opposite side of his flirting. Was it a possibility that you two were closer than coworkers?

But instead, you just rolled your eyes, moving his arm off of you.

“Save that talk for your next spread, Park. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you still haven’t submitted your portfolio.”

Jimin’s smile never dropped despite your slightly cold attitude. He could tell you were just poking fun at him.

“Anyway, Jungkook, this is y/n. y/n, this is Jungkook.”

“I can introduce myself, thank you.” You said before pulling out the chair next to Jungkook and sitting down. That movement caused your perfume to flutter all around him—it was light but sweet like some kind of dessert.

Once you were settled, you turned your body to Jungkook, propping your elbow on the table to lean your cheek against it.

And the way your hooded eyes stared at him sent a harsh shiver from the top of his head all the way to his toes. He didn’t even notice Jimin’s smirk or how the man tip toed away to gossip to his favorite buddy.

“I’m y/n.”

He opened his mouth but no sound came out. He didn’t know why his throat felt dry all of a sudden.

Oh great, he could chat with you about mobile games and FBI agents but getting his name out was difficult?

Clearing his throat, he forced out his name, voice cracking a little at the end. Embarrassment rushed through his body, heat rising to his ears and he was grateful his hair was long enough to cover them.

You must think he was a dork now.

You giggled, your eyelashes fluttering and making his heart weak.

“Nice to meet you.”

He shyly nodded. “You too.”

“Sorry about Jimin. He’s like that at work too.”

Jungkook pushed his hair back with one hand, not noticing how your eyes followed the motion. “At least you only have to work with him. Imagine knowing him since childhood.”

You pressed your hand against your chest in faux distress. “How awful. I could only imagine the pain you endure daily.”

Wow. You were so easy to talk to. He had completely forgotten about his phone, tucking it into his pocket to finally have a rest.

Eventually, food and drinks began flowing. Taehyung and Jimin joined you two at the table but not even they could pop the bubble that you’ve formed.

Jungkook could barely focus on his food. You had his full attention, holding onto every word and laugh that fell from your lips. He found you to be witty but also humble, not afraid to poke a little fun at Taehyung and Jimin who just laughed right along with you.

You were mesmerizing. He almost hated blinking if it meant your beautiful face left his sight.

And when you would turn your attention back to him, not realizing that you’ve never left his, you’d send him a flirty wink and coy smile that would send his blood pressure through the roof from how his heart would stutter and race. If a doctor was listening with a stethoscope right now, they’d think the organ was giving out on him.

“So how’d you end up here?” You asked after taking a sip of your drink.

He sighed, eyes going over to the other side of the table where Taehyung was showing Jimin something on his phone but the man was so drunk that he was holding it upside down. And Jimin probably didn’t even notice, laughing as if he could understand the upside down photo. “Taehyung dragged me here. Said I need to start getting out more and I can’t waste my youth playing games all day. He keeps pushing me to date but I’m not that interested right now.”

Well, that was before. Now, however, he was starting to change that view.

You hummed, using your chopsticks to eat a piece of meat, chewing carefully and swallowing before speaking again.

“Does it make you happy?”

That was a question he didn’t hear people ask him often. Well, in a genuine way. He’d normally hear it rhetorically. He’s heard it come from his parents more times than he could count, followed by a lecture that he’d drown out.

He blinked a few times. Gaming did make him happy. He appreciated the hard work creators put into each frame, the adrenaline he got from jump scares, and the accomplishment from completing one. “Yeah….it does.”

“Then that’s what matters. Who cares if someone else feels like you’re wasting your life? It’s yours. You can’t be focused too much on what others want for you. You’ll only neglect your own self.”

Wow.

“Then again, we should thank Taehyung from forcing you out tonight.”

He tilted his head. He would absolutely never do that but he was intrigued by your suggestion. “Really? Why?”

You didn’t say anything, just gazed at him with those captivating eyes and he knew exactly what you meant.

Maybe he should thank Taehyung.

As the night came to a close, he helped escort Taehyung to his car. Jimin had left a little earlier with a person you identified as one of the newest members of management. Apparently, they were kind of resistant to Jimin’s flirting at first but had crumbled after about 4 months of Jimin trying and trying. Jungkook recalls Jimin speaking about this person, claiming he was in love with them and would respectfully shoot his shot whenever possible.

That left Jungkook with a drunk Taehyung and you were helping your coworker who lived in the same apartment building as you.

Jungkook didn’t just want to see you walk away. Who knows if he’d ever see you again? And he refused to ask Jimin or Taehyung for your number. The teasing would never end.

“Hey…..wait.” He called out to you after practically dumping Taehyung in the back seat. You had parked right in front of his car and were buckling your roommate’s seatbelt who was slumped over asleep.

You turned to him after closing the passenger door, your eyes locking in with his.

There was that nervousness again but he swallowed it down. He couldn’t chicken out now! Not when you’d been getting along so well this evening.

“Um…..look, if you don’t mind, could I have your number? Maybe we can hang out sometime.”

You eyed him up and down but not in a checking him out kind of way. It was like you were analyzing him, finding every little crack in his personality that you could.

He honestly felt a little vulnerable. Why weren’t you speaking? Hadn’t tonight gone well? Was he just trying his luck and you’re already dating someone? Oh god, were you just being nice and he took it as you flirting with him?! Assumptions really were dangerous.

He was about to apologize and roll under his car to stay there until the end of time before you finally spoke.

“I’m not a maybe type of woman, Jungkook.” You spoke bluntly.

His mouth dropped a little in shock. Not necessarily because of your blunt tone but because you were just his fucking type. You knew what you wanted and that was his cup of tea.

You didn’t wait for him to respond, rounding your car to open the driver’s side. He just watched you with doe eyes and a funny feeling swirling in his tummy.

However, before you got in, you said,

“I don’t wait around.”

And on his drive home with a snoring Taehyung in the back, he thought one thing….

~

When you arrived at work Monday morning, it was to a bunch of people surrounding your desk. That wasn’t really out of the ordinary since people often got their assignments of the day from you.

What was out the ordinary though?

The huge bouquet of flowers that sat just in the middle of your desk, the colors vivid and the arrangement looking larger than your desk.

Your coworkers chatted excitedly about the flowers as you approached but you ignored them. Instead, you reached for the little card on a plastic stand just nestled between the blooms.

You had to bite your lip to fight your smile but you couldn’t fight the feeling that was rising in your chest.

I don’t either.

[bornspellcaster]

Little Firefly - 1

(When the time pool closes before she reaches it and Luz finds herself hopelessly stuck in ancient times, an incident forces her to work together with her enemy to ensure their survival. In the midst of it, Luz learns there may be more than meets the eye to the frigid Puritan, and discovers the real secret to saving The Boiling Isles may just lie in reuniting an estranged family…)

Next

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She didn’t think she had to look behind her. The Boiling Isles should have honed her instincts better. She should have known! Perhaps she’d gotten too cocky, too confident, too assured that she would find her way back home without a problem. Surely she couldn’t get stuck away from home, away from home!

She’d just been about to leap into the rippling, and closing pool when her arm was harshly seized. “Hey!”

“Luz!” Lilith cried, her heterochromatic eyes widening with horror right as the ripples in the sand stilled.

“I followed you, you know,” Philip began casually as he yanked the child away. “And it didn’t occur to me to ask you—mostly because I was too busy nursing my broken FACE—but I have a series of questions for you, little wench. What has your kind been doing infiltrating the human world in the first place?”

“I-“ Luz struggled as she reached out towards the sand. “Let go of me!” 

“And I heard you talking with your aunt, you’re trying to make a door. Do you have some ingredients needed already? What are they and where are they?!” he growled. “And where does that pool even lead?”

“I don’t have any! The only portal I made collapsed in on itself!” Luz ripped herself out of his grip, her hands desperately scrambling through the sand, and shoveling up grains with her hands. She felt her anxiety climb with every inch deeper she dug, no pool in sight.

He scoffed as he straightened himself and got up, clearly paying no mind to the teen increasingly on the edge of a mental break down as she kicked and dug sand like a dog, all but shoving her face into the dirt.

“Clearly I have no use left for you then,” Philip said coldly as he left the teen to her own devices. She didn’t even hear him leave, too busy shoving her face in different parts of the beach, in a vain attempt to find another pool to take her home..

It hadn’t taken long to find him after that, his boot prints leaving their tracks along the sand and up a path leading to a cave. Luz was sure her own shoe prints were sizzling into the earth. The boiling anger seething within her rivaled the temperature of the seas.

So this is where he lived, huh? Fitting. Smelly. Old looking and alone. Cold. …Empty. She’d seen prison cells that had more furnishing.  It looked like his bed was a stone slab. There was a worn old table that he’d probably stolen from someone, and on it, a simple fishing rod and what looked like a badly whittled spear.

And there he was with his back turned.

“YOU!” Luz roared.

Philip barely had time to register the events, of vitriol spat curses in a tongue he hadn’t heard in quite some time, the man looking over in time to see a blur of colors, and being sent crashing hard to the ground.

Luz pettily clung to the back of his jacket, her hands ripping fistfuls of his beard, electing enraged shrieks of pain as the scraggly man grappled with the girl, until he’d finally ripped the brat off of him by the scruff of her collar.

“You detestable little wench!” the man seethed through tightly clenched teeth. He hurled her to the ground. “How DARE you lay a hand on me, you beastly little creature!”

Luz sneered through emotionally and physically pained tears. “Ohoho I’ll show you beastly, you smelly old dirt bag!” She reached into her satchel and pulled out a crumpled parchment, and Philip’s eyes widened as he barely had a chance to barrel roll out of the way of a crackling fireball.

“You wish to throw fire, do you?” Philip reached into his pocket and pulled out his own set of parchments, malice crackling as brightly as the flames as he clapped together two different glyphs, and Luz quickly deflected the hot bolt of electricity with a wall of vines.

“Thanks to you I’m STUCK HERE!” Luz roared, trying to lunge at his ankles with a string of tightly constricting vines. “You kept me back, away from my aunt and the time pool closed before I went through!” she shouted.

“Well perhaps you should have just stayed in your own time then.” Ducking away from needle sharp shards of ice, he bared his teeth. “Oh I’ve had just about enough of you, you little barbarian!”

“Yeah?? How about you come back to the beach with me? I’ve dug a few holes, one big enough to be YOUR GRAVE!” She tried to hurtle a ball of fire at the man, but his vines whipped out like a scourge.

Luz yelped loudly in pain as the spiked vines seized her around the waist, and hurled her against the rock side of the cave. Finally unable to withstand anymore abuse today, her helmet, dented from the battle, could no longer even grip onto her head.

Philip watched the gladiator helmet fall to the ground, and his shoulders fell slack in shock. “…You’re a human?”

Before Luz could respond, the cave….began to rumble.  Both gasped in horror as it began to collapse in on itself. Boulders crashed to the ground, sending shards of gravel and clouds of dust billowing into the air. It was hard to see. It was hard to hear over the roaring.

“Damnit, look what you’ve done!” Philip shouted at the child. She didn’t have time to snip back at him, as just then, another several rocks fell in front of the entrance, plunging them into deeper darkness. There was barely a sliver of light remaining.

Philip looked frantically back at the entrance he knew they couldn’t risk using as an exit. There were too many rocks falling. One by one, falling like a child’s wooden blocks, and soon they would reach them.

“This way!” Philip growled as he started to run further into his cave. “Well? If you don’t want to become a flapjack then come on! Makes no difference to me!”

Luz didn’t hesitate a moment longer before quickly following Philip. “It’s a dead end!”

“No. It only seems like it is!” He shoved the girl aside as he reached a strange part of the wall. Clapping a glyph combination onto the rocks, Luz was nearly blown back by the force of the sudden blast. The stack of rocks tumbled downward to reveal another passage that twisted further into the ever darkening cave.

“Ahhhhh!” An ear piercing shriek that came from the man made Luz spin around in shock. She gasped when she saw Philip, pinned to the ground by the leg by a bowling ball sized rock. Ichor spilled and stained the cave floor and Luz could already see a sizeable gash from here. 

For one mean moment, she considered turning back around…but that moment didn’t last. Gritting her teeth with a groan, Luz rushed back quickly to Philip. The man’s cerulean eyes followed her in confusion as she whipped out her vines and looped one end around the boulder, and the other part of the vine she reeled around both of her wrists.

“What are you-“

“Just help me!” Luz snarled, as Philip began pushing at the boulder as well. Once free, Luz looped the vines around his midsection and her arms under his, dragging his limp leg through the passageway, and leaving a long dark trail of blood as she did.

Philip tried to tuck them into the crevice as much as he could, and he winced with the child as the roaring got louder. Luz squeezed up close to him and shut her eyes.

They were plunged into total darkness. ….The roaring stopped and the only sounds that could be heard were the remaining small pebbles tumbling down the decrepit walls. The cloud of dust still had a chokehold around their throats, forcing them to cough into the fabric of their clothes.

Both panted in terror and Luz looked around her. The cave was so black she couldn’t even see her own hand now. The chaos having settled for a moment, she was aware of a nauseating stickiness covering her hands that stunk of copper. She knew what it was, and she didn’t know if it was from her or him.

“Ugh….” Him, definitely him.

Luz reached into her pockets with slippery hands and pulled out one of her glyphs. Activating it, an orb of light illuminated their surroundings, and the blood coating her fingers. …And Philip. Luz’s stomach sunk. He was getting pale.

“We’ve gotta stop the bleeding.” She glared at him and pulled the bandage he’d been nursing his fake injury with earlier, none too gently. “Look at that, pretend to be hurt and then you actually get hurt. Karma is a B, huh? At least you have use for this bandage now!”

Philip glowered at her through half lidded eyes, but even in the limited light Luz saw something that she hadn’t seen from the scruffy old scholar since meeting him. Genuine confusion…and almost bewilderment. Like someone had never shown him genuine kindness before…despite how she had willingly done so when they met and that’s how this mess began.

“Why did you save me?”

Luz sighed as she grimaced trying to stretch in the little, cramped space they had. “Because I’m not like you. I don’t just let other people die, even if I don’t like them.” She tilted her head wryly. “And you’re the only one that knows the way out of this cave. Now come on, lean on me,” she sighed.

He looked uncertainly at her hand that she offered out, and scowling, he grimaced and groaned as he stumbled into a limp, pointedly refusing her hand.

Luz scoffed and started walking through the small passage. “Whatever.” She instead looked around her, trying to assess the passage and just how long it might be. It twisted and turned into different stretches going down, seeming to be surprisingly deep. “It’s a labyrinth . Geez, it looked shallow until I actually got a deeper look!”

“It’s always been fairly deep,” Philip agreed, wincing as he used his splint/shovel from earlier as a cane, and stumbling his way down the dark path. “I got an infestation of those blasted spider bats and sealed off most of the other paths. I made it one tiny room, but with enough chipping away, we’ll be able to safely destroy the rocks blocking the openings.”

Luz nodded hopefully and brought to life another bright beaming glyph, shining like a small beacon to illuminate the path that lay beyond.

“Why didn’t you…tell me you were human?” Philip asked conversationally as they walked. He tried to sound as casual as he could, but inside he was reeling. Another human, here? A human CHILD, no less? By the titan, the little girl looked nearly the same age he was when he came here.

He felt for her, despite everything. He couldn’t imagine how terrifying this wretched place was for someone her age.

Luz scoffed. “Well initially it’s because me being human has led to more people than not trying to kill me at first meeting, but it seems if you get a jerk big enough like you that doesn’t matter.”

“I wouldn’t have used you as a sacrifice if I knew you were a human child!” he exclaimed angrily.

“And that makes it better? You would still kill my aunt.”

He made a face of derision. “ If you’re a human child, you don’t have a witch aunt. What are you doing fraternizing with these savages anyway?”

Luz whirled right around, and the light glowed about as hot as the rage in her almond shaped eyes. “Say that again and I’ll give you a punch in the jaw to match your broken nose.” She wasn’t sure if she could though, purely because of the injury he was currently nursing. It felt a bit like overkill and was probably making him suffer enough.

Speaking of… She glanced down at his leg and her eyebrows shot up in concern. Already a dark stain of red was soaking through the linen and starting to trickle down his leg. Judging by the way he was beginning to sway, blood loss was beginning to affect him.

“Save your bigotry for when you have more strength, how about?” Luz said dryly. “We’ve got to figure out how to stop the bleeding because this bandage isn’t working. I need to get a better look into this wound.”

“And I’m supposed to trust your expertise on medical knowledge?” Philip snipped, and Luz nearly shoved him to the ground.

“You will if you want to live, my dude! Your choice! Besides, my Mom is a vet, and she’s taught me a few things.”

Luz sighed as she looked at the glowing orb still hovering in her palm. It was barely enough to let her see his leering blue eyes, let alone the full extent of a potentially severe wound. 

“I need more light.” She grappled around in the near darkness until she found a shard of rock, one she could possibly use to scratch engravings onto the ground. “Just hold on tight, alright?” 

It was difficult in such a cramped space, but Luz managed to slowly turn a circle, the shard of rock dragging across the ground with hideous scraping sounds, drawing a much larger light glyph. She slapped her foot down and Philip winced at the blinding flash, opening one eye and staring at a much brighter ball of light that bounced its glowing rays down the tunnels.

“Alright, let’s see what we’re working with. Oh yikes, you’ve lost a shade of your complexion in the past five minutes.” Luz winced as she looked at the woozy man. 

Cautiously Luz unwrapped the wound, and she inhaled sharply. It was worse than she thought. It wasn’t deadly, but left to its own devices it may be. It was bleeding, bubbling up froth and dirt and the bleeding needed to be stopped. “I don’t have a needle and thread on me…so you’re going to have to bear with me.”

Philip looked at her uncertainly. “What does that mean?”

Cleaning away the gravel and grime from the gash, Luz bit her lip and sketched a small fire glyph. Immediately Philip’s eyes bulged out. “No! Don’t you think it!” he cried.

“Look it either has to be sewn or cauterized or this could go from something serious to deadly!” Luz snapped. “I’ll be as gentle as I can be, even though you don’t deserve gentle.”

“Gentle. With fire?! How does that work?!” he snapped, eyes wide in obvious terror. He’d lost more color but Luz had a feeling that wasn’t blood loss.

“I-I don’t know!” she spluttered. “It’s our only shot right now though.” Grimacing, Luz tore off a piece of her shirt and shoveled it in the man’s mouth. Huh, she should have done that long ago…

The girl searched around for an object she could heat up, finding her options limited. In the end, she went for the tip of his shovel and nervously ignited a fire glyph. She held the flame against the metal for a good minute, and tried not to feel pity when she saw the fear in his expression. 

“Deep breath, okay?” Luz asked gently. She prayed she knew what she was doing and she pressed the red hot metal against his wound. The sizzling crackled from his skin and the stench of burning flesh stung her nostrils. His raw screams of anguish, even muffled, were the next to permeate her senses.

Philip shrieked and tried to keep still, his hand spasming around and looking for something to grip onto for leverage. He panted and heaved, nearly vomiting into the rag in his mouth. Sweat streamed down the sides of his face and tears threatened his eyes.

Luz pulled away. “It’s over,” she reassured, pleased to see the wound had clotted, the flame siphoning off the leaking vessel. “Are, uh, you okay?” Even with everything he’d done, she took no pleasure in that.

Philip was struggling to get his bearings, but nodded shakily as he stumbled to his feet. “I-I’m fine,” he said begrudgingly as he stood. “We need to keep moving before we lose oxygen.” His legs shook, nearly sending him into the rock face. 

“How long might that be?” Luz bit her lip.

“Soon if we don’t hurry.” 

Eventually they reached another twist in the long rocky passage and a stack of well placed rocks. In such a narrow tunnel, these might be harder to destroy without further injury…or trapping.

Still, Philip extracted his shovel, the shovel head glinting in their bright golden light source. He struck down, putting weight on it with his good leg, and attempting to maneuver the metal underneath one of the small boulders. “Damnit,” he cursed. “It’s wedged tighter than I…” He grunted and with a final yank, there was the sound of a snap. …It had broken as effortlessly as a toothpick.

Two parchments glowed green as vines sprouted around Luz’s arms once more, looping around the rocks. Try as she might to yank at them, it was to no avail. They were wedged, and tightly it seemed. “Geez, how tight did you stack these things?”

“It didn’t seem to be that much!” he grunted.

“We’re so close to the other side too,” Luz sighed as she slumped against the boulders. With her ear pressed against cold granite she could hear all the sounds of the cave. Distant, dripping stalactites, the sound of stray pebbles tumbling down. And…

“Breathing…” The child’s eyes widened in horror as she slowly backed up, already preparing to reach into her pocket and snatched glyphs from her pockets. Her stash was starting to run low. It was difficult to flex her blood encrusted fingers. “Oh no…oh, it smells the blood!”

“What does?!” Philip backed up quickly, ready to limp into the other direction as fast as he could and leave the child to be consumed.

“I don’t know!” Luz veered from side to side, holding up her light glyph. The glow illuminated a bright and pale yellow eye peering through the cracks. The teenager grit her teeth as she held up a ball of flames threateningly, but whatever their predator was pursued anyway and Luz gulped as the rocks started to jostle from their positions. “Well, at least it’s moving the rocks…”

The creature let off a horrible screech and Luz backpedaled onto the cave floor, her palms scraping the rocks as she attempted to put as much distance from the creature as she could. Just in time it seemed, as the rocks tumbled down right where she’d been standing.

“It’s broken through! Hey!” Luz gaped as she whirled around. She shouldn’t be surprised, but somehow it still stung seeing Philip limping in the other direction. “Get back here!”

The creature screeched again, confusingly softer this time. Luz looked up, and she saw the friendly face of the stonesleeper, whom she had affectionately nicknamed Pancake. Its large beak twitched curiously. “Pancake!” she laughed. “Did you follow us here?” Excitedly, she ran forward and clambered the rough stone of its body to reach its back. “I’m so happy to see you!” She scratched behind the creature’s long horns.

Luz tossed a cold glare at Philip standing, or more so wobbling, about five feet away from them now. The small amount of pity she’d formed for him in the last few minutes had dissipated like a puff of smoke. “I should leave you here. I should drop another friggin boulder on your leg, you jerk!”

“I didn’t know what that beast was at first! And I don’t know how in the titan’s name you’ve managed to tame it.” He narrowed his eyes at the ancient monster that didn’t look overly enthused to see him.

“I’m just that awesome,’ Luz had to preen, strutting her chest like a proud peacock. She reached a hand down to seize one of his grimy ones. He seemed to be glaring at the beast with utter distaste and it was all she could keep from losing her temper and telling Pancake to trample him.

“Your hands are all crusty.”

This bitch… “Yes with YOUR blood, and it’s about to be more if you don’t get. on. the stonesleeper,” she spoke, through bared teeth. He got the message.

With its two passengers aboard, Pancake lifted its head, stone horns rearing up for momentum, and swinging down into the rest of any rocks that made this narrow squeeze a tight fit. Luz could feel a refreshing cool breeze touch her skin. It was a welcome change to the humid and stale air of the cave. There wasn’t very much light however.

“It’s night,” Luz realized as they finally reached the opening. She could see a canvas of sparkling stars stretch across the night sky. 

Astute observation,” Philip said dryly as he nearly shoved away from the stonesleeper in disgust, despite doing so leading to him landing hard on his injured leg.

“I hope you have nothing really important inside that cave, because whoo boy…” Luz whistled as she looked at the fallen rock structure. Philip’s face fell slightly.

“Anything of significance I have with me,” he said, patting his satchel. “…However, all of my food and equipment is in there, and now I’ll have to start fresh.” He turned to look at Luz. “Well I appreciate your assistance, child. Now it seems we’re free to part ways!”

Luz whirled to the asshole, her eyes blazing at the sheer, thoughtless audacity. Just when she thought he couldn’t get any worse, honestly. “Free to part ways??” she shouted at him. “Because of you I’m stuck here! Nuh uh, you dirtbag! You are going to tell me how to get home or I am going to cauterize the rest of you!” she threatened.

He called her out on her bluff, with the most satisfied smirk. “Clearly you’re far too ‘nice’ to act on that threat.”

“You’re really that much of a psychopath to leave a kid out here alone??” She rolled her eyes. “A ‘human’ kid?”

Philip scoffed as he turned to start down the dirt path, turning mostly so Luz didn’t see the micro flash of turmoil as ‘human’ touched his ears. “I think you’ve proven you’re more than a helpless human child, Luzura. You can survive on your own.”

He took a few steps and cried out. Sharp burning daggers shot up his injured leg and fell him like a ton of bricks.

Luz watched apathetically as he groaned. “You can’t.” She smirked as she moseyed along behind him, triumphant at his glare. “Besides, if you don’t help me I’ll just follow along on Pancake and bug the crap out of you until you do, and make things more difficult for you. Oh, that’s if you haven’t fallen down a cliff or gotten eaten because you can’t outrun anything…” Her evil grin widened as his glare darkened.

“…Fine,” Philip finally growled. “I’ll take you to a place that may be able to help you, and may be able to get information on how to create another time pool. It’s a few towns over. Consider it my repayment for your…kindness.” He almost stumbled out the last word, like it was so rare in his vocabulary he didn’t know how to say it.

“Good then. I guess for tonight we should try to find somewhere to sleep. And it’s Luz by the way.” Luz yanked him back up on the stonesleeper’s back. “Now get on Pancake, shut up, and let’s get going.”

“Why ever did you name it Pancake...?”

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(And at last after two years the first chapter of Little Firefly is finally up! This is a fic I’ve wanted to write and have written and role played on and off for a while, but it was the uncertainty of canon and the ever changing plot and how it might conflict even more with my decision making that prevented me from writing this.

Now that the show is done I am more than confident with how I plan to twist some canon into my au and write my slightly more ‘neutered’ Philip Wittebane. This fic is highly Wittebro centric with a bit of a different take on some events, and of course one of the biggest focuses is on Philip and Luz. So I hope you all enjoy my take on ‘what if Luz got stuck in time and found herself back with the Wittebro-Clawthorne ancestors? c:)

[markerofthemidnight]

Chonny Jash Design Details And Other Headcanons (Until I’m Comfortable Enough Sharing My Designs)

So funny story: I’m only now thinking about the fact that I’ve never shown you guys my HMS designs. I’ve turned them into bugs- twice- and incomprehensible abominations, but I’ve not shown you my normal designs for how they look.

So until I feel confident enough to show you all the designs, here’s some visualisation!

Also, today marks the first anniversary for me coming up with these designs (although I’ve polished them since)! So… yeah!

Heart

Basic Design

My Heart design is honestly pretty simple

Mainly because the first “lore-heavy” CCCC video I watched (and continued to watch for like a day) was The Mind Electric, and Heart was the one we saw the most of

He’s got all the things people think of when they think “Heart design”: the blindfold, the white sweater, the wings with purple tips, etc

However, the sweater is covered in noticeable purple patches that tend to get brighter in certain places

This is because, when he’s injured in battle and it gets torn, the sweater starts repairing itself, but the scarred places always come back in a light shade of purple

The brighter the colour, the more times it’s been scarred

Speaking of which, there are long, thin purple marks running down his cheeks, starting where his eyes would be

Are they scars? Are they tear marks? Who knows?

Oh, and underneath his blindfold, his face is heavily covered in purple scars

And as for the eyes themselves… they’re just not there. Just giant black holes in his face

He also has tail feathers. and his neck works off of owl logic

His wings change depending on his emotions: they shimmer and start glowing when he’s happy, lose their colours when he’s sad, and when he’s angry they light on FIRE (PURPLE fire) and become big enough for him to actually fly

Extra Details + Headcanons

Stims by flapping his wings!!!

Is actually a whole lot more capable than the others seem to act like he is… but honestly, I didn’t need to tell you that

For example, him being blind means he needs to focus more on hearing to get around: memorising audial cues in his friends’ voices and such

With this in mind, it’s possible he’s actually the most perceptive of the three

Also: despite how much he cares about being treated fairly by the other two, he loves self-depreciating humour

In fact, the only reason why Mind and Soul are so comfortable making blind jokes around him is because he’s the one who does it the most

Also likes warmth. His room has little sources of light- and therefore also heat- so he needs all the warmth he can get

Mind

Basic Design

Mind is an android. I feel like I have to get this out of the way first

He wears a skinsuit which conceals this mostly, but it’s removed around his hands and upper head, revealing the mechanical features beneath

He wears a wig since his actual fake hair was torn off by Heart in a particularly nasty fight, as well as most of his forehead area

(the wig was actually a very recent addition on my half: without it I felt like he stood out too much, him having a wig fit the lore I have for him, and also if I showed you guys a design of him without hair you’d probably just call him a boiled egg)

He wears a suit, and generally his dress sense has a pretty “sophisticated yet casual” vibe

He has four-fingered claws and an electric watch permanently fused to his right wrist

Well, he calls it a watch, but really it’s more like a phone

It has a whole variety of functions, though it’s mostly used for note-taking, and also contains his charge plug

Extra Details + Headcanons

HOO BOY DO I HAVE A LOT OF THOSE FOR THIS MAN.

First of all, I feel like I need to go more into the charging thing: Heart and Soul can sleep, although they don’t necessarily need to, but he charges instead

He can go for a whole week without needing to recharge, and low battery only starts to affect him at 5%

He acts tired for a little while whilst basically forcing himself to go as long as possible without charging, only deciding to go back and recharge at 1%

Whilst doing so, he basically acts surprisingly nice and polite and almost kinda drunk for a few minutes before passing out, only waking up when he hits EXACTLY 100%

He’s well aware of how “submissive” he is when he’s charging, so that’s why he avoids it like the plague

Anyways, he is- as we all know- an absolute jackass, but he’s immediately impressed by you if you can tell him things even he doesn’t know

The man hoards trivia like a dragon. The more practical uses the information has, the more valuable it is to him

This means he’s a very good hacker, because what information would a robot find more valuable than coding?

He also likes gaming in what little spare time he allows himself to have, but he does NOT let Heart and Soul find out

He inwardly panics at the presence of all genuine emotion, especially big overpowering ones

And now for my favourite headcanon about Mind: he doesn’t let it show, but he is incredibly self-conscious about being a robot

He’s pretty much incapable of interacting with strangers, since he only exists in Soul’s head, but if he was, he would go to all lengths necessary to conceal his face and hands

The reasoning behind this? Well, when he and Heart were first born, they had no identities besides Soul’s and had to figure out who they were for themselves

In other words: it took Mind weeks of existing in the Headspace to even figure out that he was a robot.

He had his suspicions that something was wrong the second he mysteriously passed out whilst charging his “watch” and woke up just as it hit 100%, but he didn’t really figure it out until a particularly bad fight with Heart revealed one of his eyes was actually mechanical

As for the not needing to eat or sleep, or the four fingers, or the fact that he couldn’t take off his watch no matter how hard he tried? He just blamed that on the Headspace being weird. It’s surprising how many leaps in logic the brain is willing to take in order to ignore the truth.

It’s been long enough since then that he’s been able to mostly fight off the existential dread, but he’s still uncomfortable with it

After all, he used to be human. He knows that- he has memories of being human, even if those memories are rightfully Soul/Whole’s.

He knows he’s not a robot, yet his body tells a different story. Wouldn’t you feel the same about that?

Soul

Basic Design

For the most part, his design’s pretty simple

Hypnotic, pure red eyes with white pupils (as seen on the right side of my Abstracted Soul design)

He wears a light brown cloak complete with a hood that, when pulled over his face, obscures his whole face except for his eyes

He also has fangs, pointy ears and a snake tongue >:3

His fingers become red and start glowing near the tips: he also has claws

he has chicken slippers. this is the most important piece of information.

If he was REALLY being serious on that particular day though he’d probably change to something more threatening…

imagine like armour or something? Idk I need to polish that part of the design out more

OH AND ALSO. The trident has a sheath: his head. It literally phases into his hair when he’s not using it and you can see its tips poking out like a little crown.

Extra Details + Headcanons

He’s the only one who (usually) takes control of the real body, only coming to the Headspace while asleep: hence why Heart and Mind are able to fight so often

Actually doesn’t like Monster as much as people think.

He only drinks it so much because he needs a good source of caffeine and he doesn’t like coffee

After all, this man has absolutely NO internal clock, especially inside the headspace

There are certain moments where he’ll just… pass out, for no reason… so most of the time Heart and Mind can tell when he’s asleep because like:

*CRASH. CLATTER. BANG.*

”Oh, Soul’s asleep again.”

However: he does like chickens. He has no Darrel in my version but he’s still a big fan of birds, flightless ones specifically

He thinks flightless birds are the coolest things ever: because honestly, who doesn’t?

Favourite song from CCCC, assuming he’s aware of it in this universe or whatever, is Mucka Blucka because it combines his two favourite things: music and chickens

(though he likes the OG Mucka Blucka better, because that’s just the same song except he doesn’t also have to deal with Heart and Mind)

His power stems from all the raw magic inside the Headspace. With the Trident, he can harness this magic (although he can’t do EVERYTHING)

He likes to refer to himself as a warlock, because that really suits his style

He’s pretty bad at hiding how love-hate his relationship with those two is. It’s like 15% love and 85% hate, though.

As I discussed in an earlier post, his problem- at core- is the fact that he’s so obsessed with trying to bring back the past that he doesn’t realise the problems he’s causing

HE is actually the reason why the three can’t stay Whole: and he’s so focused on his goals that this possibility hasn’t even crossed his mind

(or the other’s minds, for that matter. Which says a lot about Heart’s confidence, and Mind’s resentment towards his emotional half).

At the end of the day, I fully believe that the story will only be resolved once he finally figures out that, after all the heartbreak they’ve been through trying to become Whole… maybe it’d be easier for all of them to just stay split.

And that’s all!

[hotchocolatefanfics]

My Thoughts on Hazbin Hotel

I don’t think there’s much about Harbin Hotel that hasn’t already been said but here’s my two cents on it. Please note that I am only discussing the show’s plot and maybe a little of the characters! Also feel free to share your own thoughts if you’d like!

Let me start off with the setting itself: 

Hazbin Hotel is one of only two shows I know of that takes place in heaven and hell and actually expands those two worlds (or the ‘afterlife’ world). I actually really like the way the show introduces us to heaven and hell and how it uses some characters from the bible but is open ended and doesn’t force religion down your throat. 

I am a littler disappointed that the show doesn’t really explore Hell beyond Charlie’s hotel or doesn’t play with the concepts of good and evil or who is truly deserving of a second chance and what can and can’t be forgiven though. I say this because the show, mostly, takes place in LITERAL Hell! 

Like, ok, put all the characters in the show aside for a moment; this is the place where people like serial killers, SA’ers, dictators and all the worlds worst of the worst, most evil and disgusting individuals go to when they die. People who have done things that are so heinous, so terrible that not even Charlie (I don’t think) would want anything to do with.

(Speaking of Charlie for a second, I found her to be very naive but innocent in a weird way? I don’t know, it’s like she knows she’s in Hell and that the people around her are technically ‘sinners’ but she never stops to think about what they might have done in life to end up in Hell? Seeing the good in others is great and all, but where’s the critical thinking here?)

Another thing that kind of bothers me is the whole show starts off with Hell being overpopulated as a problem (yes I will get to the extermination day in a second here) but it’s never said WHY that is. 

The show (and only other TV show I know of that’s similar to Hazbin Hotel) ‘The Good Place” does tackle a similar problem to this by having the rules of Heaven being so black and white and not recognizing the complexity of how the living world changes that no one can make it to Heaven because they do not fit the out dated requirements. 

Seeing as the Angels themselves don’t know how a soul can get into Heaven, I don’t see how or if they could do anything to allow more souls into Heaven if this is the case but I can’t understand why they didn’t consider that before deciding to exterminate the sinners in Hell. Like, seriously? That was your first option? You’re so concerned about going to war with Hell that you give them a reason to go to war with you? (Yeah, I think the Angels are stupid here).

Side note, I kind like that the show portrays ‘Adam’ as a spoiled brat who thinks he owns Heaven because he’s the ‘first human man to come to Heaven’ and blah, blah, blah. I just thought it was an ironic and hilarious take on the guy lol. 

Now then, here’s what I think should have happened in the show:

Charlie’s hotel is actually her private castle. A property that was given to her by her father but she has since converted it into a safe house for anyone who survived Extermination Day or trying to escape the darker sides of Hell (this would have worked for Angel, as a p*rn star whose trying to get out of an abusive situation and for Vaggie, a former Exorcist whose also wanted for betraying the Angels). 

Redemption isn’t the goal of the hotel until Charlie finds an old loop hole in the laws of Heaven and Hell and then she tries to redeem the Sinners around her but when the Angel rejects her like they did in the show, then the war and fighting begins.

I get that the show only had eight episodes but surely something like that could have been accomplished with that many episodes, right? 

But all that being said, here’s my quick list of things I didn’t like about the show:

- No one really feels that evil and the ones who do (Val, Vox, Velvet, and Adam) aren’t utilized enough. 

Velvet could have been used to fan the flames of war and Vox seemed to control the media and news of Hell. Maybe he could have spread propaganda about Heaven? And also, how much power and liberty did Adam have as the ‘golden boy’ of Heaven? I mean, if he was allowed to suggest and lead the exterminations, what else was he allowed to do? 

I’m not saying Adam wasn’t ‘evil enough’ here, he just didn’t feel like a real threat to Charlie and the others until the last three episodes of the show.

- Too much tell and not enough showing. 

I’m mainly talking about Angel and episode 4 here but this applies to the whole show too. Now I admit that Angel Dust and the Poison music video are kind of the main reasons I got curious about the show but, honestly, the song scene felt very jarring in the show and, worse than that, the show never truly acknowledges the abuse again and it never feels completely resolved either.

This whole episode and (kind of) backstory also makes the other characters seem kind of dull and underdeveloped as episode 4 is the only episode (thus far) that is mostly dedicated to one character’s issues. Wheres that level of context for Niffty or Sir Pentious? Yes we get a little bit of Husk’s issues in it but the ‘Loser Baby’ song scene kind of ruins it for me.

There’s a million other things I can add about this episode but, for the sake of not making this any longer than it already is, I’m just gonna move on to my last issues with the show.

- Over usage of ‘fuck’ variations.

This doesn’t really bother me too much but that’s only because the characters curse so many times in the show that I stoped hearing it. Lucifer saying he’ll “f*ck Adam’ and forgot the ‘up’ part and everyone stared at him got me giggling though and that was mainly because I didn’t expect Lucifer to be unfamiliar with that variation and thought it was funny and unintentionally charming lol!

And lastly and my most controversial take, 

- The singing didn’t have to be there. 

Yes I’m being biased here (I find it very difficult to follow musical movies) but please hear me out! I’m not saying the songs are bad or anything like that, it’s just they don’t do much to move the plot along and considering there are 16 of them in the show and all together they’re 38 minutes, I can’t help but feel some of them could have been shorter or cut from the show.

Or! The musical numbers themselves could have been changed or re-used but used differently. Songs like Happy Day in Heaven, Stayed Gone, or Poison could have stayed the same but what if Hell is Forever were changed to a sadder song about hope despite feeling defeated? Maybe It Starts With Sorry could have been about Sir Pentious reflecting on how and why he agreed to spy for Vox (or how he ended up in hell to begin with) and, instead of Loser Baby, what if a slow instrumental version of Poison played in the background while Husk and Angel talked? 

Changes like this would have also build on what the character went through or thought in an episode and/or set in the events of said episode. Slower and sad songs tend to give us a moment to breathe and sit on whatever happened before that whereas faster songs feel more in the moment. 

For example: If the song Hell is Forever were a lullaby that Lilith sang to Charlie when she was little and Charlie recited it to herself after her meeting with Adam, it might have highlighted the hopelessness and disappointment Charlie felt in that moment (assuming the lyrics of the song were something like: Hush now my dearest one, dry your eyes and dry your tears. Hell is forever but so is love. And as long as there is Hell, I will love you) (I know, I’m not good at song writing lol). 

I have other thoughts and questions but I’ll post them separately. 

TLDR, I like the idea of Hazbin Hotel but I not so much the plot itself.