#like 'ah this guy might be a problem' and note it for later

[bam-monsterhospital]

Verner Vogel thoughts...

verner vogel is such a great villain. like yes, a good character in general, but agh what a fantastic villain.  let me try and parse it into words and coherent sentences hang on.  (obviously, spoilers for the game “Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One” below)

I think what struck me first about him, realizing his danger, is that he is competent.

He’s an art snob that waxes poetic about philosophy-

Wait come back, i see you rolling your eyes and getting up from your chairs, hold on though.

He’s an art snob that waxes poetic about philosophy, and he actually knows his shit.  I’m not talking just art-shit, techniques and people and style and all that, but the sociopolitical movements behind the art; y’know, the world-feelings art reflects and inspires.  He curates art, he paints, he has a vast collection of pieces and network of people he knows in and around the industry.  He fulfills every vapid (no shade, i myself am also a visual artist) norm and requirement for involvement in the art world... but there is substance underneath.  The aesthetics, the surface-level existence of the art world hollows out a person; it cares only for what is shown up front but fails to delve deeper. It does not care about ‘deeper’, has no use for ‘deeper’.  As much as individual creators might want their works to inspire further critical thought and introspection, at the end of the day art is most valued for its ability to entertain.  All flash, no substance.

Of course, Verner knows this, seems to have made that discovery a LONG while ago (the air he carries feels tired and familiar with his world) while passing through the jaded artist phase that tends to result right after, and has taken to this superficial existence like wildfire, embracing the decadence of it all.  And yeah here we get into an actual artistic, literary, and as such technically philosophical movement that happened in the real world with its own critiques that people to this day continue to misinterpret (even the word ‘decadent’ itself is grossly misused. constantly), so go wiki the decadent movement as i’m trying to hold back writing a gaddamn novel, adhd-brain-spiraling out of control about it.

Verner delights in rot and decay.  Verner embodies rot and decay, but specifically the parasitic rot and decay of those who abuse their power: he is (yes i know he’s german) british colonialism and how it has left cordona, he is the waste from kurt manchios’ excessive parties as manchios’ son starves, the culture of (white, cismale, british) entitlement that led to the rape of a refugee woman with no consequences, the apathy towards an animal’s suffering at human hands, and so on and so forth.  Verner is a representative of this rot and also a curator of it, literally AND figuratively.  He is self-aware.  As I’ve said before, Verner is not mindless, he’s not a fool.  He’s competent.  Unlike most willingly and inadvertently partaking in a decadent lifestyle, Verner knows full well what’s left in the wake of such excess.  He’s not horrified by it; it might at first seem like he doesn’t care at all --like most who partake in it-- and just hopes to gain small glints of fulfillment from a shallow wasteful lifestyle.  But as i already said, he does care: the process fascinates him.

And i’m not just talking physical degradation. I’m not even talking just about waste.  Vogel also delights in corruption; in the rot one person can influence in another psychologically.  This what his relationship with Sherlock boils down to: Verner Vogel wants to know how far he can push and nudge and influence a psychological breakdown.  He wants to take the shiny surface of a person that is barely keeping back turbulant waters underneath, and poke some holes, allowing gradual leaking and eventual overflow.  The historic tie between Vogel and Holmes’ families being a poetic bonus.

I’m gonna stop there, because i wanted to go into the thematic counterbalance Verner provides against Sherlock’s worldview and relationship with ‘truth/reality/information’, but things are long enough and this has sat in my drafts for way too long as is.  Maybe I’ll do a part-2 or something later.

[ncis-yp]

may i request sugar daddy!gibbs? <3

Money, Money, Money (Sugar Daddy! Gibbs x Reader)

Late night, black coffee, handsome man, all alone. Third time this week, 5th week in a row you’ve seen him. You flirted often fishing for bigger tips, trying to pay bills you couldn’t even afford to have. You lived on your own. 18 years old, last 2 months of high school, and barely a plan and money to plan life with.

“See you’re here again!” You say happily topping him off.

“Hey! Rough week” he sighed, eyeing you gently.

“You work at… don’t tell me” you say trying to remember. “NCIS!” You exclaim.

“Good memory” he smiles. “How are you (y/n)?” He asks.

“Ah I’m alright. Just trying to get off work as soon as possible, you know” you shrug. “Later it gets the scarier it is outside.”

“Well, what time do you get off?” Gibbs asks.

“12” you sigh, looking towards the clock. Only 9:45. “Got about 2 hours left”

“Yeah, remember the goal kid.” Gibbs smiled. “Say, what college do you plan on attending? I remember you saying you were a senior and it’s almost the end of the year.”

“Oh, college.” You say quietly. “I can’t afford it, so I won’t be going. Maybe in the future” his phone began ringing. He clicked it silent before turning to you,

“Ah I see… well (y/n) have a good night. I’ve gotta get back to work” he stands.

“See ya around, Jet” you saluted him.

“Jet…” he said thoughtfully. “I like that!!”

Time skip~

The clock hit 12 and your shift was over. You walked out to see a familiar face leaning against a car. You smiled as he approached you.

“Hey Jet! What’re you still doin out?”

“Driving you home” he shakes his keys. “Scary out here” you can see a smirk.

“Coming from a guy who’s packing” you roll your eyes as you approach the car. You were gonna let yourself get a ride with a man who had a gun… a lot safer than walking an hour without a gun. That was how you justified getting into that car.

“Oh shut up” he opened the door and you got in.

When you arrived at your shitty apartment that you could barely afford you saw Gibbs eyes search the perimeter.

“I’ll walk you in… I don’t like the looks of that guy on the corner” he motions with his head.

“It’s really alright. Thank you for the ride!” You say opening your door. Jethro reached across and shut it before you could step out. Silently he got out and walked around the car. Opening it.

“Let’s go” he grinned sweetly. You caved and bring him up. His eyes fell on your small apartment. Clean, organized, your life could fit in a box. He made notes of things to buy you.

“Well since you’re up here” you say as you take off your coat. “Coffee? Tea? Might actually have a bottle of soda in the fridge…” you trail as you thought about it.

“Coffee’s great, yeah” he accepts. The two of you stayed up talking late into the night before he left. Your insecurity of what you could afford present in the back of your mind.

A few days later~

You woke up to a knock on your front door. You opened it to see a delivery guy at your door.

“Delivery for a…” he looked at his clipboard. “(Y/n)(l/n)”

“Yeah, yeah that’s me” you say. “What is this?” The man shrugged.

“A car? If you didn’t order it, not my problem. I can’t take it back.” He said as you signed the paper. He handed you the keys. “Beautiful car by the way” he walked away. You closed the door behind you, walking downstairs. Outside you eagerly clicked the key, looking around for the car, your eyes finally settling on the black dodge challenger sitting in a parking spot a few meters down.

“Oh my god” you say nearly in tears. You ran back upstairs and hurriedly got dressed for work, hoping to see Jethro there. And sure enough when you pulled up in your new car, there was Jethro, leaning on his car again.

“You fucking bastard” you run and hug him, you cry happily into his shoulder. He laughed as you did so.

“Wait wait, I get you a car and you call me Bastard!!!” He exclaimed. “I got something else for you…” he digs his hand into his pocket, another key coming out on his finger.

“Jethro…” you say looking at it as a bright green address tag danced in your eyes.

“Coffee first. Key later” you nodded as you lead him inside.

Time skip~

You ended your shift early to go with Jethro. You blindly tailed him into a nicer apartment complex in a better part of Quatico. Your heart began to flutter as you parked.

You walked into a nice apartment on the 3rd floor. Beautiful black granite kitchen tops, newly installed appliances.

“So…” he says. “What furniture were you thinking you wanted for your new apartment?” He says handing you magazines.

“Holy shit.” You whisper. “This is mine?” He nodded. “This place is mine?” You gasp.

“All paid off. So is the car. And so is your degree.”

“Degree?” You ask. “No you didn’t”

“Yes. I did” he smiled.

“Shut up” you tear up as he passes you a folder. The big words ‘WELCOME TO VIRGINIA TECH’ inscribed. “How did you-“

“Pulled some strings… I think your 1560 SAT score and perfect GPA helped a lot…” he said.

“Oh my god” you cry out jumping into his arms. “I will pay it all back” you say.

“Nope. No need. Just keep being a good girl and I will give you the world” he says.

“Thank you so much!!”

“Of course! You deserve it” he winked. “Now pick out some furniture. It’s your reward for getting into Virginia Tech” you kisses your cheek.

[imaredshirt]

Post Weirdmageddon, Stanley continues to recover his memories. It's a gradual process, one that he sometimes gets frustrated with, but he's surrounded with a support system of friends and family that are more than happy to help.

Every so often, Stanford checks in with Fiddleford, who's a few steps ahead of Stanley in the memory recovery process and is an invaluable resource of knowledge and helpful tips. The fact that he invented the memory gun also helps, of course, and although he won't ever rebuild the thing, he has been studying the old one and just how it affects the mind.

During these calls between old friends/colleagues, Fiddleford will casually ask after Stanley's progress and general wellbeing, and Stanford will relay a summary of Stanley's most recent recovered memories.

One day over the phone, Fiddleford says, "So we know Stanley's recovered much of his childhood memories, some of his early twenties, and he's able to recall quite a bit of the past several years. Has he, ah, mentioned anything 'bout his time in the '80s? When he first started runnin the Mystery Shack and workin on the portal?"

"Not that I know of," Stanford answers. "I'll ask the kids. If he's mentioned anything to them, then Dipper's already added it to his notes." He frowns. "Should we be worried that he hasn't recalled anything from that period in his life, yet?"

"No, no," Fiddleford says. "At least, I don't think so. This all seems to be a sort of non-linear recovery process. Sorta like a stack o' cards that's fallen on the floor all mixed up and on top of each other, and he's pickin up the ones on the top layer, completely outta order. For all we know, this could be the card he picks up last." He pauses and clears his throat. "But if he does start mentioning anythin from that time - anythin at all from events to sensory memories or, uh, people - you be sure to let me know. I'd like to add it to my notes."

He sounds almost too casual. Stanford doesn't want to doubt his friend after all this time, but he vividly remembers what Fiddleford sounds like when he's trying to be sneaky, and he sounds like it right now. So much as he doesn't want to be, Stanford's suspicious.

He's just not quite sure what to be suspicious of.

He files the suspicion away for later. "You got it, old buddy."

"Well alrighty then! I'll call again tomorrow to check on today's progress. And why don't you order him an egg and sausage omelet from Greasy's? The one with all that cheese on top - but no mushrooms. He hates those. His favorite foods might jog his memories a bit."

Stanford blinks. "We were actually thinking of doing that. But how do you -?"

Fiddleford hangs up.

Stanford's still blinking at the phone, frowning, when Stanley walks up behind him.

"Hey, who was that?" Stanley asks. "Why do you look like someone just gave you a math problem you can't solve?"

"There are very few of those left in the universe," Stanford says, only half joking, and smiles when Stanley rolls his eyes, chuckling.

"Yeah, yeah, my brother the genius - whatever. Look, since you're on the phone already, why dontcha call up Fidds and tell him to pick up some pizza. If the kids are hungry, then you know I'm starving."

"Alright, but no broccoli pizza this time, I --" Stanford freezes. "Wait. Fidds?"

"Yeah, he's not in the shack or out back, so he's gotta be out in town, right?"

There's only one person that "Fidds" can be, but Stanford hasn't heard anyone use Fiddleford's nickname since college. He raises an eyebrow at Stanley, who's relaxing back in his recliner.

"Fidds, Stanley?"

"Yeah," Stanley says, raising an eyebrow back at his brother. "You know, your nerdy buddy? Scrawny guy with an accent? Helped me out with the portal right after you got stuck in it--"

"What?" Stanford's never heard about this. From either of them.

Stanley goes on, "Can't fight off a gnome to save his life but builds a giant crazy gnome robot anyway - whaat? Why're you looking at me like that?" Stanley sits up and his confusion becomes anger, almost startling Stanford out of his shocked state. "What, now that I'm getting all these memories back, you're uncomfortable?"

Stanford has no idea what he's talking about. "What? Uncomfortable with what?"

"With your college buddy shacking up with your twin brother," Stanley snaps. "We've been together for years. Maybe you should get over it, huh?"

"Get over it?" Stanford's reeling. Fiddleford's strangeness suddenly makes sense. "Stanley, I would never - I would accept you however you - I'm not straight, either, you know, and - wait." He holds up one hand and pinches the bridge of his nose with the other. "Before we even get into that - WHAT?"

Stanley blinks. "What??"

"You - you and - when did you-" Stanford throws his hands in the air. "He doesn't live here!"

"What?" Stanley snorts. "Yeah he does. I told him to move in."

"When?"

"Back in the '80s," Stanley says. "I just started remembering this morning. Where's be been, anyway? Why hasn't he been doing nerdy shit with you in the lab lately?"

Stanford's leaning against the sofa's armrest, mind racing. He answers distractedly, "We haven't been in the lab together since before you came to Gravity Falls, Stanley."

"Bull. You expect me to believe you two aren't cooking up some science project already?"

"Stanley..."

"What," Stanley says. Then he grins. "Are you the one with messed up memories now or what? Jeez, I got a better memory than my genius brother - and I've been hit with the memory gun twice!"

"Twice?" Stanford turns a sharp look on his brother. "What do you mean, twice?"

"Yeah. That one time when you used it on me, and then back in the '90s when Fidds . . ."

Stanley trails off. He blinks and then frowns, gaze falling to the floor as he mutters, "Back when Fidds . . . when he used it on me the first time, and. . ."

Realization dawns on them both at once, and Stanley looks at Stanford with an odd mix of emotions.

"Stanley," Stanford says in an effort to calm him. "What exactly do you remember of-"

"Who cares!" Stanley jumps to his feet, hands clenched into fists at his sides. "He used that thing on me! When I told him not to - when I asked - begged -" Stanley punches the wall and glares at the splinters littering his knuckles. His voice is shaking. "After everything we went through - he just took off 'cause he was, what, scared? Do you have any idea how much I've forgotten? Who knows if I'm gonna remember any of it? I didn't want him to leave! And after he did and used the gun, I - I was so broken and angry I didn't know why, couldn't remember why--"

With a growl, Stanley grabs the car keys from the little bowl by the TV and stomps towards the front door. "Get in the car. I've got a bone to pick with your old college buddy."

Stanford grabs his journal and hurries after his brother, calling for the kids as they head to the car. They're all likely going to be at Fiddleford's new mansion for some time.

He certainly has a bit of explaining to do.

[mysteryshoptls]

SR Grim - Apprentice Chef Vignette

"Let's keep on doing aaallll these fun things together"

[Kitchen]

Grim: It's… It's…

Grim: IT'S DONEEEE!!

Grim: Look, [Yuu]! My super special awesome cake's finished!

The cake looks like a tuna can…

Grim: Yeah! I made it look like the most delicious thing in the world. See how even the word "tuna" looks good?

Grim: As for what I put inside the cake… That's a surprise for when we eat it! MYAHA!

Grim: I bet this is gonna be the bestest thing on the table. We gotta hurry and get it back to Ramshackle!

[Ramshackle Dorm – Anniversary Party]

Grim: Slowly… Slowly…

Grim: Gently, gently… Careful…

We're almost back to the dorm, you got this!

Grim: Gah, carrying a cake so it doesn't collapse is so hard…!

Grim: …But all the guys we passed on the way here from the cafeteria said it totally looked tasty, yeah?

Grim: Y'know, maybe my genius ain't just in eatin' food, but makin' em, too.

Grim: Back when you and me took the Master Chef course, I thought all this work was a pain, but…

Grim: Now I'm thinkin' that it was good we did it. 'Cause now tasty things can be made into even tastier things!

Grim: Myahaha! Thanks to this cake, today's party's gonna be the cat's meow!

Grim: Ah! But that annoying guy Trein is gonna be there… He might get mad if I get too excited.

Grim: Maaan, he's always findin' things to nag me about. Like the other day, he tried scolding in me when I was runnin' in the halls.

Grim: It pissed me off, so I tried pokin' fun at him, but then he just came at me!

Grim: Obviously I ran, but that old man is faster than he looks…

Grim: And then he just caught me in no time, I wasn't expecting that. Just nabbed me by the neck.

Grim: "Try to be a bit more like Lucius," he said… But I ain't a cat, y'know!

Grim: Don't know if Trein snitched on me or what, but even Crewel got mad at me, saying "Stop causing problems."

Grim: But then Crewel whispered later, "If you're going to tease Trein-sensei, make sure you don't get caught."

Grim: Myahaha! Crewel might be a teacher, but sometimes he's got a wicked side. He gets me.

Grim: …Though, he can be a huge stickler if ya mess around in class or get bad grades.

Grim: I remember the other day was pretty scary. He had us all lined up in a row, and was grilling everyone on who spilled the chemicals on the table…

Grim: No one fessed up, and Ace and Deuce were silently keepin' their heads down, so I stayed quiet too.

Well, we all got held responsible, in the end.

Grim: Tch. Trein and Crewel are both way too strict!

Grim: I like Vargas's class the best. 'Cause I don't need to take difficult notes in his class!

Grim: Like the other day, he started going on and on, saying, "If you want to be a great mage, then you need to have muscles as rippling as mine!" or whatever…

Grim: I was just nodding along, and then class ended with just him talkin' about his own muscles. Myahaha, waaaay too easy～

Grim: …Hm? Wait a mo'.

Grim: Do you think… The reason that Vargas showed up here randomly one morning a few days ago to go exercise together…

Grim: DID HE THINK I WANTED TO TRAIN WITH HIM BECAUSE I WAS NODDING DURING ALL HIS BOASTING!?

Grim: The sun wasn't even up, it was still dark, so that was a real pain!!

Grim: …Man, I think I might like Crewel or Trein better after all, ‘cause they don't cause me problems.

[Ramshackle Dorm – Anniversary Party]

Grim: Y'know, now that I think about it, all the profs here are really strange… Is this school really alright?

Grim: Oh. But I think the strangest guy ain't one of the teachers, but Sam. I'm sure of it!

Grim: And that's cause… Remember the other day when I lost at rock-paper-scissors and I had to go buy snacks by myself?

Grim: Before I even got inside the store, I heard Sam talkin' with someone inside.

Grim: But… When I got inside, he was all alone.

Grim: When I asked who he was chattin' with, he said his "friends on the other side," but… WHAT DOES HE MEAN FRIENDS ON THE OTHER SIDE!?

Grim: He wouldn't tell me no matter how many times I asked. It's so eerie. But man, he's got a ton of cool stuff for sale, so I keep going back.

Grim: I remember then, too, before I could say what I wanted, he already had out the perfect number of snacks I had money for.

Grim: Oh yeah, and Crowley came in the shop right after me. Looks like he's always shoppin' at the Mystery Shop, too.

Grim: He started braggin' to me that he gets to order whatever he wants.

Grim: So I told him I wanted some special tuna cans then, and he says, "This privilege is for teachers only!"

Grim: He just kept on bragging, he's the worst! Crowley's so useless!

We should be thankful, since he let us attend here.

Grim: THANKFUL!? He should be thanking me for gracing this school with my genius!

Grim: And I bet Crowley'd gobble down the whole feast we got prepped if I take my eye off him for even a second…

Grim: No way I'm gonna give him a single bite. This time I'll make sure he's jealous of me.

Grim: Hey, [Yuu]. You 'n me're gonna protect this cake with our lives!

Grim: I might not be able to rely on you to do everythin' yourself, so good things we also got those ghosts.

Grim: If all us Ramshackle folk work together, we could even take on two Crowleys. We'll stun him silent!

Grim: I bet the ghosts're feelin' real alive right now. They were really getting' excited for Founding Day.

Grim: They were all, "It's so wonderful everyone is throwing a party here at Ramshackle～"

Grim: They also said that everything's getting' amped up 'cause we came to Ramshackle.

Grim: Myahaha. So that means… All the fun and happy times are all thanks to me!

1. Exactly!

Grim: Yeah. So you just keep on following me, no worries. Grim: As the boss, it's my job to take care of my henchie!

2. I think you're going a little overboard there.

Grim: Myah!? Y-You… You don't get how good I am to ya, huh!? Grim: I'm always pushin' myself hard doin' things for ya. Like, uh… Uh… ALL SORTS OF THINGS!

Grim: So let's keep on doing aaallll these fun things together!

Grim: Ah. Looks like everyone's here.

Grim: Hey, [Yuu], open the gate. We gotta bring the cake in quick!

Grim: I bet everyone'll be so surprised and happy. Myahaha. I can't wait～!

Requested by @butterflyremix.

[nonclassyparty]

pretty on the outside [masterlist + preview]

summary:

just take off that disguise, everyone knows that you're only pretty on the outside

It's not a secret that you like to get around despite the trail of broken hearts you leave behind. Jeong Yunho, the sweetest prudish frat boy in the history of frat boys, is supposed to be just another guy you'd discard after you grew bored of him. Very soon, you realize you bit off more than you can chew and that Jeong Yunho might not be so easy to handle.

pairing: jeong yunho x reader, choi san x reader, mentions of past jung wooyoung x reader

status: work in progress

notes: *evil giggles* hello! enjoy the little preview of my new series that i'm working on (i will be using this post as a masterlist for it) and it won't be posted until i'm done with soot. it will have nine parts, if you'd like to be added to the taglist for it just reply below &lt;3

my main masterlist // playlist // moodboard // click to donate to Palestine

first chapter preview;

In his earliest surviving work of dramatic theory Poetics, Aristotle wrote, “A whole story is what has a beginning and middle and end.” This is not only fundamental to storytelling, it’s the closest reflection of an entire life cycle. It can be applied to anything in this life. Everything has a beginning, middle and end.

Which is why when San introduces you to his new girlfriend, you try not to be too bothered. Not only because it's his seventh new girlfriend this year but because, as all relationships, just like it had it's beginning and middle - it will have an end too.

Her name is Mijoo, her bleached hair is curled and looks slightly fried and the only thing that you've learned since she sat down with you is that her interests include pilates and taking care of her Instagram feed. They met at a frat party two weekends ago and hooked up in a stuffy room on the second floor, as romantic as it sounds.

San eats his lunch next to her while she scrolls through her phone and plays with her water bottle, looking absolutely unbothered that he barely knows his new girlfriend and seems like he has no intention of getting to know her better either. Hongjoong and you share a knowing look.

You can already tell that this is one of San's relationships where he calls it a relationship just so neither one of the parties participating feel like whores.

Still, the fact that he'd be in a relationship with just about anyone manages to leave a bitter taste in your mouth as you swallow down the last bite of your sandwich and clean your hands with a napkin.

You clear your throat, "I have to go. Have class in ten minutes."

San's head lifts up from the screen of his phone that he held in one hand as he ate, "You didn't answer if you're going to Vortex with us tonight?"

By 'us' he probably means him and his girlfriend and some of his other sleazy friends that he managed to make ever since he started going to the gym freshman year. It's definitely not Hongjoong because Hongjoong wouldn't be caught dead in a nightclub for college students that could only be classified as a dump.

You deadpanned, "It's a Wednesday."

San stares at you like he's not seeing the problem as Hongjoong snorts from next to you, "Like that's stopped you before."

You roll your eyes at him before looking back at San, trying not to dwell on the way his soft hair falls over his forehead. "I have my first midterm on Friday, so no."

"Ah, sucks." He says with a scrunched up nose and you look away quickly as you plaster on a smile that definitely looks sarcastic and a little sour.

"Well, see you guys later." You say, standing up and throwing your bag over your shoulder, "Bye."

San's new girlfriend gives you a sweet smile that makes you hate her.

You think about her and your own hypocrisy as you make your way to class. You barely spoke to her, she's done nothing to you and it's unfair to dislike her simply because she temporarily has...maybe the only person that you ever truly wanted but will never have.

You sigh as you pass through the door of the classroom that's already fairly filled out. The board stationed in the front filled out with a list of students attending the class, stops you in your tracks.

Partners assigned for Lab Exercise 1-3. is written in big bold letters at the top of the board.

You refrain yourself from rolling your eyes as you curse your professor who suggested this as an elective class. He said this class was a breeze to go through. Anything that has lab exercises is not a breeze.

Your eyes sweep over the list before they land on your own name. Y/L Y/N - Jeong Yunho, table 6.

Never heard of him, you think to yourself which isn't much of a surprise. The campus is huge, you'll always meet someone new.

Alas, you make your way to your designated table and are satisfied to find it empty which means you can slide to the seat near the window and hopefully make it know that it's your spot from now on.

You sit for the next ten minutes, scrolling down your phone and checking for your partner because almost all of the seats in the classroom are occupied by now and class is supposed to begin in two minutes. You'll be pissed if you have to do the first lab exercise alone.

Soon enough, a tall guy walking through the door a minute before the professor is supposed to show up catches your attention. He walks to the board, eyes roaming over it, he turns around and skims the classroom before his eyes stop on table labeled with a big number six and he makes eye contact with you.

You immediately look away through the window, trying to hide your grimace.

The guy, Jeong Yunho, even without ever meeting him before, looks undoubtedly like a frat boy.

A dark blue cap turned backwards sits on his head and his backpack hangs off of one shoulder. He's handsome in a boy-next-door type of way and tall. Definitely plays a sport of some sort (maybe soccer) judging by his broad shoulders and fit build. Frat boy and a jock. How boring.

"Hi." He greets you with a small smile that you return quietly with a squeamish smile as he sits down next to you. The smell of his cologne is instantly overwhelming. It's a smell that you can't describe as anything else except male and you feel like this is about to be the longest three weeks of your life. "I'm Yunho."

"Y/N." You say politely, again making eye contact with him that he tries his hardest to hold as he leans on the table by his elbows and his mouth quirks up. Oh God, here we go.

"I don't think I've ever seen you around, are you a Chemistry major as well and just new or is this your elective?" You blink at the question.

"Ah, yeah, this is an elective." You respond, glancing at the door again to see if the professor will show up soon. 

He hums, "The Chem branch is a really small circle here so everybody knows everybody by now, that's why I asked."

"Right." You blink at him again, observing this Jeong Yunho as he starts pulling out a notebook, calculator and a wide array of pens out of his backpack. The last frat boy you knew, Bangchan or Chris as they like to call him because his real name isn't sleazy enough, came to class with a pen and a folded piece of paper tucked in his back pocket.

So, maybe you're a little judgmental. Who isn't these days?

The class starts and Jeong Yunho continues to make you hide your surprise at him as he actively participates in the discussions. From what you can tell, he's very articulate and smart. 

That does absolutely nothing for you but still, it's a little surprising. 

Not because you think all frat boys and jocks are stupid or something (even though most are, you know from experience) but because the way he speaks and carries himself is nothing but respectful and nice and it just does not fit the stereotype. An hour in, you expected at least a crude joke during the presentation but it never came. Hm.

Since you were extremely competitive, you wanted nothing more than to beat him to answering the professor's questions but you knew jackshit about polymer chemistry so all you could do is sit, faintly annoyed, watching someone be better than you.

After class is done and you're packing your stuff while texting Yeosang, Yunho gently touches your elbow with his fingers to get your attention. You turn to him and he quickly withdraws his hand.

"Would you like to...uh, go work on the exercise at a coffee shop nearby? I think it would be good to get a head start since we're not yet busy with out other, actually important, classes." He chuckles before checking the watch around his wrist, "I have free time now."

You bite your lip, thinking it would probably be the smart thing to do but you were texting Yeosang. Making plans to see him. Scratch that, making plans to fuck him.

"Uh, how long would it take exactly? Just so I can organize the rest of my day-"

"Oh, well, I have practice at six-thirty so I was thinking until six." He shrugs, his backpack hanging over one shoulder and making him look like a poster for golden college boys. "Does that work for you?"

It works better than having to work on the exercises on other days of the week. It just means seeing Jeong Yunho more than necessary, one day a week is perfectly enough in his presence.

You bite your lip again, glancing at your screen one last time before texting Yeosang that you'll see him at seven. "Yeah, let's go."

Yunho leads you to a coffee shop near campus that you've never heard of. Hidden deep between buildings and almost entirely empty, there's no regular customers let alone anyone from campus.

"I study here sometimes if the library is full. Nobody comes here." He chuckles, holding the door open for you and motioning for you to go in. He almost seems shy to let you know that he goes to the library. It's, unfortunately, kind of cute.

After you both order and make yourself comfortable in the small booth you've picked out, you start to work on the assignment. Yunho leads the way, as a Chemistry major, he's much more well versed in this subject. You, a future engineer, are completely lost so you just scribble down whatever he does and keep quiet.

He likes to talk a lot, you notice, after every done question, he makes sure to ask about you, your interests, hobbies, whatever and you shut it down every time with a dry response.

It's not that you dislike him, really it's not. It's not even that he's a frat boy and a jock that bothers you anymore because it's obvious that he's a little bit of a nerd as well. It's that, in the hour and a half that you've spent sitting here with him, you realized just how much he reminds you of San.

And that's enough to make you keep your distance from him. You don't want him, you don't want anyone like San.

The corny jokes, shy smiles, a blush that spreads all the way to his ears when he gets flustered, attempts to be cocky but then growing absolutely embarrassed by it that it ends up being endearing - it's all very San-like. And it's a version of San that not many people know. 

Once it starts nearing six and you both start packing up your things, Yunho clears his throat next to you.

"So, uh, would you be interested in getting a cup of coffee sometime, like, in a non polymer chemistry related way?" He nervously stutters out, ears already burning red. You slow down the action of pulling your jacket on as your phone is in one hand, the chat with Yeosang opened.

Maybe you should've seen this coming. 

He wasn't shy about the fact that he found you attractive since the moment he sat down next to you. You just didn't expect for this to happen so soon. Geez, how awkward will the next three weeks be after today.

You sigh, pulling your dark red hair from under your jacket. "No offense Yunho, you seem nice and all but you're not my type."

He seems almost offended by that as he chuckles, "You barely even know me?"

You give him a once over.

The matter of fact was that you did not, under any circumstance, date anyone or get into relationships. You had hook-ups, one night stands and no strings attached agreements.

If there was any way to describe your mindset it would be pretty simple - men, women, people you were attracted to - you treat them like horderves served in front of you. You'll take a bite (might save some for later) but that's about it, you make sure not to get full because there's way too many flavors, too many of them to try, taste, pick apart...

And if someone really managed to impress you, maybe you'd pick another plate up.

But that didn't happen often and when it did, it usually didn't last.

Jeong Yunho, in every single way, reeked of romance and good intentions.

 The typical boy next door type. He seemed like a momma's boy that wanted a proper and traditional relationship, brought flowers and texted you 'good night' and 'good morning' religiously and had extremely romantic but bland missionary sex. The type to want you to wear his jersey to his games so he could take cheesy photos with you in it and, if he was religious, maybe he'd want you to go to church with him on Sundays. He was the last thing you needed.

If Hongjoong and Seonghwa found you with someone like him, they'd never let you live it down.

You open your mouth to respond to him but your phone rings and you look at it - a photo of Yeosang lighting up the screen. He's always so impatient. You told him at seven, why is he calling already?

You wave your phone in front of Yunho's face, pointing out Yeosang's photo that you took one drunken night while the two of you were messing around after leaving the club and that you've been using as his contact photo ever since where he's in all black, long hair tucked behind his ear as he lights up a cigarette, "My type."

Yunho blinks at the photo before looking at you again resembling a kicked puppy, you sigh feeling only slightly bad but still you have to say something more out of courtesy. "I have to go, I'm sorry if I seemed rude or something, it wasn't intentional and nothing against you but I'm not interested. I hope we do well on the lab exercise though."

He opens his mouth to say something else but you're already standing up and walking towards the entrance of the small, dingy coffee shop.

The discomfort you feel is only temporary because, once again, everything has its beginning, middle and end. This 'partnership' with Yunho will end soon so why bother yourself by feeling guilty.

[legostars]

DOGDAY X READER

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Note from Author: Well, I made this At 4:00 Am early in the morning. And also, you're a female y/n and I'm tired of calling them/they/blah blah.

I'm still figuring out how to colour my texts, so you guys are stuck with non colour ones, yay...

Just a quick reminder that I barely post like tomorrow or next week, it depends if I get busy at school. Welp, that's all. Enjoy the story, and I might make it longer by time. ENJOY MY LITTLE LEGO STARS!

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"Well, that's the end of the tour!"

"Thanks, dogday. I was expecting that the other employees would be the ones to give me a tour... But, I guess they were busy." Nope. They weren't busy. They were lazy. "Oh, hahaha! Well, I get that a lot too, angel." He laughs and then you hear him calling you an angel again.. strange, nobody called you that. "Um, can I ask a question?" "Hm? Sure!" You were getting embarrassed of the question but you pulled it off. "Why do you.. keep calling me angel? I mean I have a name." Dogday was quiet for a moment, you felt awkward for asking that question and you can barely feel your face getting warm from the embarrassment. "You know what! Never mind... Haha..." Dogday laughs seeing you getting all nervous. "No need to be nervous, besides. The reason I called you angel, is because i- uh- like calling you that. Yeah!" Awkward. Y/N looks around to find a change of subject. The only thing that comes to her mind is the statues of the smiling critters. "Oh, Uh.. can you tell me more about yourself.. and the other smiling critters?"

Dogday's tail wags a little from excitement. "Well, I don't mind! As you heard from Tiffany. I'm dogday! The leader of the smiling critters! And you probably can meet the others and they might introduce themselves properly to you!" Dogday was very cheerful about it as you can tell by his tail wagging. "Okay! I'm y/n and I'm 22 years old, my favourite colour is red. And I love to eat cookies!" Dogday smiled at you. "Well, the introduction has been confirmed to both of us. And also, you have to keep your eyes with the others to see no one is getting any Problems." You nodded as he began to point at your office.

"Okay, keep a watch at the others and do my job. Got it!" Dogday smiled as he patted your head.

"I know you can do it, angel!" You felt a flutter in your heart.. what.. what is this feeling? Am I sick?

(Girl you stupid).

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––It's been a week since you started working there. You met three smiling critters along the way, craftycorn, picky piggy, and hoppy hopscotch. The others are you haven't quite met yet. Day by day, the children loved how caring and loving you are, they even started to call you mama. You're not used to it but you tried. Dogday got even close to you, every time he gets a chance he would come and hang out with you. (Ah, young love. 🤭)

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––After you arrive in playcare at 5:00 Am, since you woke up Prettyyy early in the morning. You went to your office and sat down, you stretched your body and yawned. "Man... I woke up so early I couldn't even go back to sleep... I want some coffee now.." you groan and sighed. And then you noticed a clipboard on your side of the desk, you picked it up and read it. Your first task was to give the smiling critters baths, your second task was to wake the children up and the others are for later. "Hm... A bath- oh. Dogs hates water... The others might enjoy but for catnap... Ugh... This is going to a lot more harder..." You groan as you rubbed your face with both of your hands. And then you thought for a second.. then realised that you might meet the other critters. "I should probably get started.. since it's 5:26 am.." you got up from your chair and started to walk to where the smiling critters are sleeping. You felt kinda nervous tho, you don't like disturbing people from their sleep. At their room of where they sleep, you noticed below the door that the lights are turned on. You knocked on the door 3 times but no answers, strange you knock again but 6 times, yet no answers.. you open the door a little and take a peek, then.. someone pulled you in to make and it made you caught off guard. "Oof!" You landed on the floor and immediately got up. "Holy mother of cookies from heaven. I almost got a heart attack." You look up, and saw all of the smiling critters except for catnap. Dogday was in front. "Angel?" "Okay, why on earth did you pull me and almost give me a heart attack?" The other smiling critters chuckles and laughs a little. "S-sorry angel.. we thought you were some sort of a bad guy.." You sighed looking up at him. "You did hear me knocking 3 to 6 times, right? You know what, never mind.. come on now all of you.. I have to give each of you all a bath.." Dogday flinched and started to back away. "U-um dogday?" The craftycorn was confused seeing dogday backing away. "Hm? What's wrong dogday?" "I... I don't like baths..." Dogday claims himself scared of baths. And kickin chickin starts to laughs. "Don't be such a coward, dogday! It ain't gonna be that bad!" As kickin keeps laughing bobby bearhug pinched kickin. "Ow! Ow! BB! Stop!" "Stop being such a bully to dogday, kickin." You sighed and went over to dogday. "Dogday, what's wrong? You can tell me, and I'll try a way to make you feel less scared." Dogday thought about it for a moment. Before dogday was the one who was going to speak, picky piggy was the one who speaks first. "It's probably because of how the other employees bathe us..." She said, you tilted my head from confused as bubba bubbaphant came in front to tell the other details. "Well, they put us in a cage... And just spray water on us like were some kind of a... Animal..." (*LE GASP* HOW DARE THEY>:0)

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After knowing and understanding the situation, I sighed and walked over to hoppy. "Do you have a pillow that I can borrow?" Hoppy was confused but she gave you a pillow, you took the pillow and shoved it to your face and screamed in anger making the other smiling critters confused.. you were done screaming your anger out and gave back the pillow. "Ahem. I'm fine, I'm not mad at your situation. I am mad at those employees for treating you all like some animals.." the smiling critters were surprised about that including dogday. "You guys deserved better than being an animal in a cage... I can even relate how that feels..." Craftycorn then asked. "What do you mean... By that?" You stayed quiet... Staring at the floor... "It's... Nothing... We should probably get you all some baths before the playcare opens..." The smiling critters can feel that something is wrong but they didn't want to ask and just nodded. (Time skips in the bathroom) At the bathroom you told the smiling critters to take off their pendants and put them somewhere, and you also told them that dogday will be last. The smiling critters understand and follow your orders. During giving a bath from each smiling critter you ask them how their day was, it was awkward at first but they eventually told you. There laughing and chuckling curing gave them each a bath, it took 20 minutes or more. After the others are down with baths and drying, dogday was the last. He took a peek at the door, while you were busy getting the giant tub ready for him. He was hesitant but what he had heard from the others, by saying she's kind,caring, and loving it made him feel confident to trust you. "Dogday! You can come in now." Dogday slowly walked in and sat in the tub. You started to spray water on him it took 3 minutes to get him wet. (Just like my dog) you then put vanilla shampoo on him and started to scrub with a big brush. "So, dogday.. since we have known each other for a week now, tell me... How was your day." "It.. was fun.. you get to play with children seeing them laugh together and chasing each other and seeing them enjoy themselves." I smiled giving him a scratch on his head. "You're such a good boy, dogday. You really are." Dogday's tail wags happily. After 30 minutes of laughter and giving a bath to dogday, it's finally time to dry him up with a blow dryer. "You're such a good boy, dogday! You look more handsome and cute!" Dogday blushes slightly and wags his tail. "Thank you, angel."

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After getting all the smiling critters except for catnap a bath. It was time for the playcare to open up. But, you have been thinking... Where is catnap?

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PART 3?

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Note from Author: Well... In part 3 I might put the dark backstory of Y/N, for fun of course. But also, if your wondering Is dogday in this story a human version of him or is dogday in this story is in his original version? It depends on you and your imagination. And also! I recommend seeing @sinnersweets Stories! They are very heart beating Stories (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) Well, see you in part 3! Toodles my Little Lego star devils! (⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠)⁠♥

(This is kinda short..)

[leilani-lily]

~Oh Deer~ (Chapter 9)

A thousand apologies my dearest does and bucks ｡°(°.◜ᯅ◝°)°｡

This took much longer than anticipated; I hit a bit of a wall, and time escaped from me. But we're here! We trekkin' on! The story continues \( ᐖ)/

.... And we're actually splitting this into 3 rather than 2 because over 6k later and we're still not done yet so ahaha! Whoopsies~ (´∀｀);

｡°⚠︎°｡ Final note. This is a WARNING that this chapter includes mention of VIOLENCE, GORE, and SEXUAL ASSAULT so please read with caution if this is a trigger for you!! ｡°⚠︎°｡

Thank you all for your love and support, honestly ꨄ I've been feeling down lately and re-reading comments has really helped to boost my spirits and push me to keep going! I love y'all dearly ( •̯́ v •̯̀)♡

OK! Without further ado~ SYNOPSIS: AroAce! Alastor x Chef!Singer! Reader. You venture off on your own to grab Alastor's gift, unaware of the dangers to follow... Word Count: 6.2k Chapter under the cut! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Your feet pounded on the pavement below you and you jogged towards the coffee stall. Your eyes were sharp and alert and your grip on Alastor’s microphone tight. You knew you had to be quick and extra careful now being on your own. But surprisingly enough, you weren’t afraid. Your blood was pumping with adrenaline, and with Alastor’s staff, you felt more powerful than you ever had in your entire life. It was exhilarating, to say the least.

Dodging in between sinners and recognizing landmarks, you were able to find the vendor in question without any problems. You breathed a sigh of relief, coming to a stop in front of the display table and taking a moment to catch your breath. A large, older imp with a white goatee raised an eyebrow at you questioningly from behind the counter. Finally, you stand up straight and give him a quick smile before your eyes flickered over everything he had to offer. 

As much as you enjoyed some of the quirky mugs on display, you knew in your heart what you really wanted. The problem is, you only knew the bare basics about coffee; you had no idea what made a good machine or not. You glanced around at all of the modern tech and felt your shoulders sag. Alastor would hate all of these; you needed something from his time; something more classical. 

“Somethin’ ya looking fer in pa’ticular dollface?”

You lifted your head to the imp across from you. He was leaning against the table with his other hand on his hip, his eyes tired and dull. You gave him a sheepish grin, clearing your throat quickly. 

“Ah, yes please…” you start, “This might sound weird. I’m looking for something from the 30’s that helps to brew coffee.” a thought crossed your mind, and you could feel yourself beginning to sweat, “I… uh. Actually. I don’t even know what they used back then… A kettle? Or some sort of special press…?” Your eyes drifted down awkwardly. Satan’s Ass, you have no idea what the Hell you’re looking for. This guy’s gonna think you’re an idiot. 

To your relief the imp said nothing, but you could tell he was judging you hard. He looked you up and down before simply shrugging off the table and turning on the spot. He began to shuffle through the shelving unit behind him, tea kettles and mugs clattering as he searched. The imp spoke to you over his shoulder.

“Ehhh, I don’ know girlie. I know I had somethin’ a while ago, but might’ve been snatched already.” he shuffled some more, “Antiques like dat are hard ta find, n’ when ya do, dey sell pretty quickly. Humans n’ nostalgia n’ all ‘at.” 

You could feel your fingers fidgeting nervously; you really hoped you didn’t just risk your safety for nothing. The excitement from earlier was beginning to fizzle out with the thought of not being successful. Maybe you could get him a nice mug instead? Or maybe one of those cute, little stirring spoons…

“Well I’ll be blessed th’n damned again…”

You looked up to the seller to see him turn around, a crooked smile on his face as he held what looked like two glass pots connected like an hour-glass. Your eyes widened in amazement at the strange looking contraption. 

“Called a ‘Silex Vacuum Siphon’. D’know what year it’s from, but ya ain't gonna find something more vintage den dis, I can guarantee.”

You tucked Alastor’s mike under your arm as you carefully took the glass contraption in your hands. It was definitely used, and could use a good cleaning. But there were no cracks or chips to be seen, no major damage that could affect its ability to brew. Given it was nearly a century old, it was in fairly good condition.

“It’s perfect.” you breathed, thumb grazing over the glass tenderly as your heart pittered excitedly. Alastor would absolutely love this, you just knew it. You had to get it for him, it was like it was destiny. Your head whipped up to the seller.

“How much?”

Said imp looked you up and down for a moment before his eyes landed near your arm. A sly smile crept up his mouth as his pupils flicked back up to your face.

“How ‘bout that fancy lookin’ cane o’ yours?”

Immediately you placed the siphon back down and clutched the microphone close to your chest, shooting daggers at the creature in front of you. “Absolutely not.”

To your relief, the imp just smiled and shrugged his shoulders, “Eh. Was woith a shot.” he chuckled, helping your tense shoulders to slowly relax. His eyes darted between you and the siphon, clearly deep in thought before crossing his arms.

“400”

You felt your breath catch in your throat. For fuck sakes, you figured it would be expensive, but this was highway robbery. And you knew very well that he knew that too; he was totally upping the price knowing how desperate you are. And as much as you needed it, you didn’t have enough on you. A thought crossed your mind, something you had observed when you explored the market. With as much confidence as you could muster, you laid your hands flat on the table and leaned in, giving him a very serious look.

“200”

The imp’s smile creaked up to his ears. “375”

You had to stop yourself from smiling and breaking the facade. It was working. Thank God, he seemed like the type who enjoyed a little haggling. If you could just get him down a little more, maybe you could actually pull this off.

“250”

“350”

“300” You finally declare, before quickly adding, “And! you wrap it up nicely for me.” you stare him down, leaning back up and crossing your arms in front of you. “That’s my final offer.”

The background noise of the market droned on as you both glared at each other across the booth. Eventually, the imp’s lips curled up devilishly before giving a sigh and shaking his head.

“Ya drive a hard bargain toots. Deal.” He cocked an eyebrow and reached a clawed hand out. You shook his hand coolly, but it was so hard to contain the excitement bouncing around in your chest. There was something exhilarating about negotiating prices; you could see why some demons got such a high off of coming to markets like these. Of course, this purchase was still going to drain you of all your cash, but it was well worth it. 

While he got to work bubble wrapping the siphon, you basically dumped your purse out and gave him every cent you had. He made sure to cushion the glass carefully and even found an empty box to place it in for double security. You honestly didn’t know how this interaction would've gone; you were initially worried he would’ve robbed you blind or threatened you. But as he handed you the bag with the goods and gave a final nod, you were beyond relieved to find that he actually seemed to be a decent guy. Maybe this market wasn’t completely full of thieves and swindlers like you had thought. 

You were practically skipping down the alley, one hand tight around Alastor’s microphone and the other holding your precious gift (but careful not to swing it around too much). You couldn’t wait to give this to him. You could feel your whole body tingling with anticipation. You really hoped that it did make a good cup of coffee; it would be a shame if it didn’t. Even so, it was such a funky looking thing, at the very least it could make for a cool decoration and hopefully bring back fond memories… You wondered how much of a difference there was between drinking coffee from a coffee machine or a siphon. You’d have to brew a pot with him tomorrow morning and-!

Your daydreaming was instantly snatched away as you were quickly dragged into the darkness of the ally beside you.

You went to scream but a large paw had clamped around your mouth before you could utter a sound. The bag slipped from your grasp and fell to the ground with a clatter, but thankfully you kept your grip on the staff tight. You immediately went to swing your arms, but both your wrists were grabbed, looking like mere toothpicks in the claws of the Hell Hounds that pulled you in. You kicked your feet up in protest as your yells were muffled, but you were no match for the sheer strength these creatures had as they dragged you further into the darkness and away from the crowds. They hauled you backwards until you felt your heels no longer dragged, indicating you had stopped, but you were barely aware of your surroundings. You continue to thrash your shoulders around and kick your feet up, desperately trying to escape like a caged wild animal. 

“Now now, there’s no reason to cause such a ruckus.”

Your eyes flash open and whip to the deep voice ahead of you. Your eyes fall onto a large silhouette leaning against the wall to your right, the brightness of the market ahead of you shading your captor’s full appearance. But as he pushed off and stepped closer, your eyes adjusted and were finally able to take in the finer details. Dripped in a rugged leather jacket and ripped jeans, the wolf looking Hell Hound sauntered towards you. His grin was fierce, and neon-yellow eyes practically glowed in the darkness. You could feel your mouth go dry and your legs turn to jelly. 

Your initial frenzied shock subsiding, you took a moment to look up at your two captors holding you back, One seemed to be a tall, muscular Mastiff with a slobbery snarl, his paws holding your right wrist and shoulder. The other was a Doberman type with cropped ears and sharp eyes, gripping tightly to your mouth and other wrist. You mumble out a pathetic plea and shimmy your shoulders again, trying to get their attention and hope that they take pity, but they pay you no mind, focusing instead on their alpha. 

“Don’t even bother chickie,” the silver dog snarked, making you turn your attention back to him, “We Hounds are very loyal to our pack; they’ll only listen to me.” Your eyes narrowed into angry slits, shooting daggers at the alpha. He merely snickered in reply. 

“You’re probably wondering who we are,” he mused, putting his hands behind his back and calmly pacing in front of you.  “Wondering what we want, why you’re here, ‘yadda yadda ya…” the dog babbled, making a yapping motion with his claws. He turned to you and gave you a cocky grin. “You should know that we don’t usually do this kind of thing… we’re actually nice guys once you get to know us!”

The two dogs behind you chuckle darkly, not at all making you feel reassured. 

“We’re nothing but humble thieves,” the wolf continued, sauntering back over to you, “Steal enough to make a humble living. Only take what we need. Provide for the pack. Today was supposed to be like any other…” 

The alpha’s yellow eyes suddenly grew dull, his smug smile slowly falling to a sneer as he stopped in front of you. The look on his face made a nervous shudder crawl down your spine. 

“... Until that ugly ass, bob-cut bastard stepped in.”

Bob-cut…? What in the Hell is he-

“Tyrion was so sneaky about it too, I was sure the wallet was as good as ours.” the wolf continued, his voice a mix of sorrow and venom. “But then that red-clad fucker saw him and…” you noticed his paws clench into tight fists, his eyes narrowing angrily. 

Red-clad… Oh god… could he mean?

“I saw it with my own eyes. That mad-man butchered him like a pig. Didn’t even give him a chance to apologize or make amends.” His nose was scrunched up in rage before it softened, his eyes holding the tiniest bit of horror, “But I think what was the most haunting was the way that creep smiled the entire time. Almost as if he was enjoying it.”

… God fucking damnit Alastor. 

“You seemed like such an easy target too.” the alpha’s neon eyes flicked up to you. “We didn’t realize what kind of monster you had on a leash.”

You felt your heart sink into your stomach as you recalled that wild look in Alastor's eyes earlier, the way his smile seemed sharper... Damnit, you felt so stupid now. How did you not notice? Dear God, how many others had died today by Alastor’s hands? It was clear that this ‘Tyrian’ was trying to steal from you, but did that really warrant death? You felt a twinge of guilt settling in your stomach. 

“So when my boy’s noticed you gallivanting on your own, I couldn’t believe our luck.” the wolf chuckled, leaning in closer until you were face to face, “You seriously made our job so much easier.”

Your cast-down gaze immediately scrunched into one of distrust, feeling your body become on-edge as you focused back on your captor. The wolf smirked at your helplessness, eyeing you up and down before his gaze fell to your left hand. His eyebrows shot up in interest.

“And look at this!” He taunted, leaning back up and reaching for Alastor’s staff, “You even brought us an apology gift! What a nice little girl~”

Your eyes widened in horror, trying to jerk your hand away from the wolf’s grasp. But the Doberman held your wrist tight, making it near impossible for you to do anything as the alpha grabbed hold of the microphone and ripped it from your grasp. You let out a whimper of despair as it left your hand, to which the silver dog’s ears perked, and turned to give you a hungry look.

“Hmmm, what a pretty sound. Almost makes me want to hear it again~”

You could feel your blood boiling at his words, and in a fit of rage, you kick your feet up aggressively. To your dismay, the leader jumped out of the way in time, a joyous laugh escaping his muzzle as he hopped to the side. The two dogs holding you immediately tightened their grip on you, pulling you back and holding you more securely. You huffed through your nose like an angry bull, shooting the wolf a venomous glare as he howled and dusted off his jacket. 

“Wooh! And feisty too. Gotta admit, that just turns me on more~” he grinned, showcasing his sharp fangs and blackened gums. His pupils flicked between his friends, “Do me a favor boys, secure those legs of hers so she doesn’t do that again.” 

Almost immediately, the two henchmen each step on your feet with their large paws, pinning your feet underneath theirs. You try to lift your legs up and away to test your mobility, but sure enough, your feet were locked in place. Panic started to settle now realizing just how much trouble you were in, and instinctively, you jut your shoulders out aggressively to try and once again escape. The wolf snickered at your struggles, slowly moving closer to you. 

“Now originally, we were just going to kill you and leave it at that.” the alpha hummed, eyes slowly grazing your body, “But hey, why stop there? Why waste a perfectly good meal without getting the chance to have a bite~”

Faster than lightning, his free paw came up and slashed at your chest, making you cry out in pure agony underneath the Doberman's paw. White specs blotted your sight as your mind froze in shock. You didn’t have to look to know; you could feel what he had done. Your body felt both cold and hot, from where your dress was torn and your body exposed to the air, and from where you could feel your blood begin to soak into what remained of your dress. You tried so hard to not make too many noises after the wolf's disgusting words, but the way your skin was burning, it was hard not to. Your eyes were beginning to water as you focused your attention back on the leader. Guilt be damned, you didn’t feel a thing for these bastards anymore. You wanted to make them hurt the way they hurt you. 

Outrage helped you find the strength to thrash around again, desperately trying to free your limbs so you could land a punch, a kick, anything. The Hell Hound took a step back to avoid your violent thrashing, chuckling at your display and licking his lips.

“Calm down now Sheila, don’t make this harder than it needs to be. It will be over before you know it…” He began his advance again, and you could feel your skin begin to prickle with panic. You continue your thrashing, lifting your legs and pulling at your arms, hoping that something would give way before it was too late.

And by the grace of God above, you felt your left shoe loosen under the paw of the Doberman.

An opportunity.

You spring into action, giving your left knee one final thrust upwards, making your foot pop out of your shoe and free from its confinement. Without even thinking, you slam it down hard into the Doberman’s bottom foot, making sure to dig your heel in deep. The skinny dog howled in agony, his grip on your arm and mouth loosened, giving you the chance you needed to act. As he bends over to grab at his tender paw, you bring your left arm across your chest and swiftly ram your elbow right into his muzzle. The force, along with his now injured foot, is enough to send him toppling over and slamming onto the ground, clutching his now bloodied nose.

Not wasting a precious second, you take the momentum from your left elbow and swing it over to your right, turning your body and socking the Mastif right in the face. He too yelps in pain, letting go of your right arm and freeing your other foot. As he steps back, distracted by the punch you landed, you grab him by the shoulders and lunge your left knee square into his groin. The Hell Hound let out a pathetic squeak as he immediately crumpled to the ground, curling into fetal position as he cradled his tenders.

Two down. One to go.

“Oh you BITCH!”

Right as you turn to face the wolf, his arm was already raised and ready to strike, swiftly bringing it down and backhanding your cheek. You cry out in pain, the sheer strength knocking you off your feet and making you fall harshly on your backside, cracking your head on the pavement. Your bun had come undone, your hair curtaining your glassy gaze as you watched the alpha throw the microphone to the side and stomp towards you. Too dazed by the blow, you felt him come down on you and straddle your hips, bringing his paws down over your throat.

“You think you’re tough shit girlie?” he snarled, his grip on your neck tightening, “Let’s see how tough you are once you beg for mercy.” 

You gasped for air desperately, your hands clawing at his paws and legs kicking out behind him. Your heart was racing anxiously, eyes darting all around you to see if there was anything around that could help you. A shimmer of light catches your eye, and you're just able to turn your head ever so slightly to your right. Your silver hair pin glistened in the light beside you, like a gift from God himself. 

You turn your attention back to the wolf, not wanting to reveal your plan to him. You could feel your vision begin to spot from lack of oxygen, but you stretch out your right arm, desperately trying to reach the pin without making it obvious. You felt the cool metal suddenly come in contact with your fingertips, rolling it closer to you into it finally was tight in your fist. With as much strength as you could muster, you swing your arm up and over, stabbing your assaulter right where his shoulders met his neck.

The wolf immediately howled in pain, rolling to his side and off you to grasp at the makeshift weapon lodged in his neck. You gasped for breath, feeling your blurry vision slowly speckle back as you choked in air. Exhaustion was taking over at this point; your head felt heavy from all the blows, and you could feel your body becoming numb from the blood-loss. Your eyes lazily scanned the area until they locked on Alastor’s mike, and you knew this would be your last chance if you wanted to survive this. 

You force your weak body to move, crawling on the ground as quick as you could towards the staff, scratching your arms and stomach as you went. You whimpered in agony, wishing to just give up and let sleep take over. But Alastor was waiting for you. Your friends back at the hotel were waiting. You couldn’t give up, not after coming this far.

Finally, you manage to stretch out and grab the mike, pulling it close to your mouth and taking a big breath.

“ALAS-!”

A fuzzy hand gripped your ankle and yanked you whole body away, making you cry out in fear as your plea was cut off. Your body scrapped painfully on the ground, dirt and tiny rocks grating against your open wounds. You whip your body around, cane still tight in hand and flinging it over to strike your opponent. But the wolf caught it skillfully in his paw, his pupils constricted and baring his fangs, the fur on his neck now sticky and tainted red. 

“Enough of this shit.”

The hound threw the staff out of your grasp and to the side, straddling you once again, but this time pinning both your arms over your head with one arm and leaning over you dangerously. You sobbed out in agony, your mind desperately telling your body to fight, but too exhausted to react. The alpha sneered down at you, panting and eyes wild with fury.

“Believe me when I say I find no pleasure in killing.” he growled, his hot breath hitting your face and making you whine out in dread. “But now…” The dog began to raise his free arm high in the air, his claws extracting with a sharp sound. 

“I’m gonna enjoy watching you bleed out.” 

A sob escaped your throat, tears streaming down your face in thick streams. This was it. This was going to be how you died. You had never actually died in Hell yet, and a part of you was scared. How long until you came back to life? Would you remember any of this… Fuck, would you remember anything at all? You couldn’t imagine a life outside of the hotel, not now. Not without the friends you've made. Certainly not without Alastor. The thought was unbearable. 

His arm came down swiftly, and you cried out in terror, shutting your eyes tight and turning your head, trying to block out the nightmare in front of you. You heard a slash of skin being torn and felt your whole body tense at the sound. You waited for the searing pain, for the blood to gush out from you until you became numb. 

But oddly enough, you didn’t feel anything.

You dared to peek up at the wolf on top of you, a peculiar look on his face as he was frozen in mid swing. His eyelid twitched, mouth partially open before his top half suddenly began to … slide?

“Funny you should say that, I was thinking ₮ⱧɆ ɆӾ₳₵₮ ₴₳₥Ɇ ₮Ⱨł₦₲.” 

Before you could comprehend where the voice came from, the wolf's upper body slid clean off his waist, toppling to the side and beside you on the ground. You slowly sat up, unable to speak as blood began to pool around you, both from his severed chest and his hips and legs. A large black tentacle came up from behind you and grabbed onto one of the wolf's ankles, picking up the severed lower section and flinging it off of your body. You blink in recognition, feeling your  initial shock subside and your chest tighten with hope. You turned around towards your saviour, but had to hold in your gasp at the creature behind you.

Microphone once again tight in his grasp, this demon was as tall as the buildings surrounding you; body barely able to fit between the narrow alleyway as he bent over you. Horns tripled in size and much more resembled deer antlers, black tentacles splayed from his back and writhing around, huge hands and talons sharp, eyes black as night and scarlet pupils in the shape of  dials, and a red ‘x’ on his forehead burning brightly. 

You had never seen Alastor in this state; in his true demonic form. You almost didn’t believe it was him. But his characteristic smile was ever present, your skin feeling that familiar buzz of electricity from his sound waves. You knew just how powerful he was, but to witness him at his full potential, it truly was a sight to behold. 

The giant form was watching you this whole time, dials flickering over your tiny body below him. From your face, to your torn chest and dress, to your bloodied legs, and back up to you. You felt a chill crawl down your spine as you locked eyes, your breath catching in your throat. Any other person would have been terrified looking up at such a creature, but oddly enough, you felt the safest you had ever been. Though you could feel the outrage that was emanating from his very body, you could sense the recognition in his eyes, the kindness deep within those haunting eyes.

The clatter of a loose can snapped you both out of your gaze, Alastor whipping his giant head up and forward, once again sharp and on alert. You heard a whimper of fright and manage to notice the Mastiff tumble out from the shadows and begin to run, yelling like a child and scrambling to get as far away as possible. There was a sudden buzz in the air, the Radio Demon’s smile curling up on his face and drooling blood. A chilling laugh escaped his throat, his jaw practically unhinging like a snake. 

“Well that was not a wise decision on your part…” Alastor growled, his voice deeper and booming as the sound practically shook the ground beneath you. His large body began to move forward, crawling like an animal and the screeching of static ringing out in the air.

“Don’t you know a hunter ⱤɆⱠł₴ⱧɆ₴ ł₦ ₳ ₲ØØĐ ₵Ⱨ₳₴Ɇ??”

The Overlord pounds forward, surprisingly fast for his size as the Hell Hound screeches in horror, sprinting further into the darkness of the alleyway ahead. You sat in the pool of the alpha’s blood, still stunned at the events of this afternoon and unable to do anything other than sit and stare. You numbly look over to the severed wolf beside you, his eyes already glossy and deprived of any life.

One.

You look back up to the large lanky demon stomping forward, laughing maniacally as whimpered screams of the Mastiff could be heard bouncing off the brick walls.

Two.

You blinked for a moment, your brain slow to process, but eventually catching up to the current events and what seemed wrong about this picture.

Fuck. 

Where was the Doberman. 

You heard some shuffling from behind a dumpster and whip your head over, your previous question instantly being answered. The skinny dog limped forward, eyes locked on Alastor and unaware of you watching him. He limped forward, his right paw still sore from you stomping on it. But his arm was tucked into his jacket suspiciously, and you felt your eyes narrow dubiously. A soft click snapped from inside the cloth, and the Doberman pulled out what appeared to be a gun, pointing it right at Alastor’s back. 

But there was something about this weapon that made you feel uneasy. The silver finishes that swirled around it, the way it practically radiated light in the darkness. There was something about this weapon that felt unnatural; like it didn’t belong in this world.

It seemed almost… Holy… 

You felt your blood run cold. 

It was all a blur. Rage and fear had taken full control of your body. Whatever exhaustion you had felt earlier was forgotten, whatever aches and pains slowing you down were no longer a hindrance. Completely fuelled with adrenaline and desperation, you scramble forward, bending over and grabbing your hair pin splayed on the ground. You sprint at a speed in which you never had before, screeching out Alastor’s name in warning before leaping onto the hound from behind.

The Doberman shouted in protest, raising his arms in defense and misfiring. The sound ricocheted off the walls, causing the Radio Demon to whip his head around, mouth half full of the Mastiff to a sight truly unbeheld. 

Your legs tight around the Dobermans waist, your one hand gripped at his head while the other continuously stabbed him in the neck. The dog clawed away at your arms desperately, howling out in pain as blood began to gush from his throat. But his screams were nothing compared to yours. Like a wild animal, you shrieked in fury, holding him tight and eyes feral as you punctured his neck again and again. The Doberman’s eyes eventually rolled to the back of his head, falling to his knees and landing face first on the ground. But as you went down with him, you continued your assault, kneeling over him with both arms overhead and slamming the hair pin into his back again and again and again.

Alastor watched from afar, jaw hanging open and the Mastiff’s carcass falling out from between his razor teeth. Never had he imagined he would see a spectacle such as this, certainly not from the likes of you. Not the girl who sang jazz in the kitchen, laughed at his horrendous puns, and slept so peacefully in his presence. He was convinced you were an angel in disguise, too pure for this damned world. 

And yet.

Here you were, stabbing and slashing and drenched in another's blood.

And he got to witness it.

Your furious screams started sputtering into sobs, and Alastor immediately snapped out of his thoughts. He immediately shifted into the shadows, slithering to you at lightning speed and emerging beside you, back to his regular appearance and hesitating a moment before gently placing both his hands on your shoulders.

“Y/n,” he spoke tenderly, “Y/n, darling. It’s ok. He’s gone. You’re safe.”

The sound of his voice made you whip your head up to him, snapping you out of your daze. Your eyes were wide with horror making Alastor flinch, unsure how you were going to react. Immediately, you turn your upper body to him, grabbing onto his cheeks with bloodied hands and inspecting his face all over.

“Are you ok??” you sob, eyes panicked and looking all over his body, “you didn’t get hit, did you?? God please tell me you’re ok!”

Alastor blinked back his confusion, his eyebrows furrowing at your words. “Of course I’m alright my dear, whatever do you-!”

A glimmer of light caught his eye, and his gaze was momentarily pulled away from your frantic face. Upon laying eyes over the peculiar weapon, he felt his eyes widen in recognition. There was no mistaking the silver swirls decorating the gun. He had heard rumours of such weapons, not yet having the pleasure of seeing anything of the like in real life. 

He had heard the gunshot earlier, and was worried you were on the other end of the rifle which had triggered him to turn. But he hadn’t considered that the bullet was intended for him. Of course, a regular bullet wound was of no concern to him, he had survived much worse. 

But a bullet from an angelic weapon? 

As he formed the picture in his head, you calling out his name desperately and your sudden panic for his well being, it didn’t take him long to put the pieces together. 

You didn’t kill out of self defense.

You had killed to protect him.

You had killed for him. 

His mind was tumbling with this new wave of information and emotions, something that he didn’t often struggle with. But he felt your hands slip away from his face, causing him to focus back on you. Your head was bent down, hair draping over and covering your face, and soon your shoulders began to tremble. The distinct sound of you crying caused a jolt to shoot up Alastor’s spine, and immediately he lowered a hand under your chin to tilt your head up towards him. Sure enough, big salty tears were streaming down your face. But what caught him the most off guard was the weepy smile spread across your face. 

“Thank God.” you wept, your voice so soft he almost didn’t hear it, “I-I was so worried… I couldn’t live with myself if…” your lip trembled as you burst into tears. Whether they were tears of relief or fear, he wasn’t sure, but one thing was for certain.

Alastor had never seen someone so shaken at the thought of him dying.

And that made him feel… something. 

But he didn’t have time to delve into that. Not right now. He had to address this situation before he could dissect his thoughts. He knelt beside you, truly taking in your state of dress and being. Your dress was torn to shreds and blood-soaked, your chest bearing deep claw marks, the side of your head had dried blood spilling from your hairline, cheek swollen, scrapped stomach and legs, and bruises scattered all over your body. 

Rage swelled up in his body. Furious at the hounds who did this to you. Bitter at you for thinking that going off on your own was a good idea. And most of all, outraged at himself for allowing this to have happened in the first place. And when that last thought trickled into his brain, he felt something else slither in his mind to replace that anger. An ancient feeling he hadn’t felt in a very long time; ever since he was alive. 

Guilt.

What a terrible emotion. He hated it with every fiber of his being. He never felt regret or sorrow for the actions he took since descending to Hell. Why would he when dealing with demons and creatures alike that he saw as mere obstacles in his way? But as he looked down at your crumpled form, his usual sunny sparrow clipped of her wings and trembling before him. Knowing that he had broken his promise of protecting you… 

His eyebrows furrowed, ears falling flat on his head as his jaw clenched tightly. 

Of course, you weren’t at all aware of the torment currently happening in Alastor’s mind. You were just so damn relieved he was ok, and that you were alive to tell the tale. Your choked sobs were slowly lessening, trying to focus on your breathing and just so freaking grateful to still have oxygen in your lungs. As you took deep breaths to calm your racing heart, you could feel your eyes growing tired, body slowly relaxing finally knowing the horror was over. The aches and pains were coming back to life, your chest especially burning painfully and your dress sticky with blood. Whatever adrenaline that was pumping through your veins was fastly subsiding, blood loss making your head heavy and limbs numb. 

You didn’t even realize you were falling over until you felt long arms catch you, holding you up so you didn’t hit the ground. You could hear the familiar buzz of Alastor’s radio-like voice speaking to you, but your head was swimming, and your ears weren’t able to pick up what he was saying. You tried to look up at him, but your vision was so blurred, he was just a red fuzz in your eyes. You were so tired; you just wanted to sleep. And Alastor’s body was so warm and familiar, it was like a comforting blanket. You leaned in closer to his body, desperate for that feeling after such a harrowing event.  

You could feel yourself fading fast, and a single thought emerged that made you panic a moment. The bag. The present. You can’t leave that damned thing behind. You reached out a hand and lazily padded at Alastor’s chest, mumbling out a string of words that you prayed made sense. The red blob tilted to the side, and you knew he was confused, but you couldn’t fully explain yourself. He was smart, you knew he would figure it out. And you knew he would take care of you; you were in safe hands now. 

You could finally allow yourself to sleep. 

Your vision was quickly dimming, darkness beginning to surround you until eventually your eyelids fell shut and you blacked out completely.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

FIRST PREVIOUS NEXT

My beautiful does and bucks: @saccharine-nectarine @doowopshewop @mysterypotatoink @wendds @crispybelieverworld @raicomme ((WE GOT MORE BEAUTIFUL SINNERS YAY ꨄ ))

[rustedleopard]

My summary/breakdown of Staroba's dynamic (in reference to this post).

Note that I'm going to be working off memory for most of this so if someone has some additional input they wanna chime in with, feel free to. This is also going to be a train of thought/rambley sorta post so it's gonna be a bit disorderly (though, when have I ever been orderly with my posts :p)...

I like Staroba. A lot. And it's such a shame that there are people out there who look at this ship and just see "they're both bisexual, she's girlboss, he's malewife, and she pegs him" because there's SO MUCH more to their dynamic/that isn't even what their dynamic is.

They're childhood friends. We don't know how far back their friendship extends but I'm willing to venture that it's been since elementary school/early middle school at the absolute latest. And at the point in canon when Clover meets them, they're both likely in their late-twenties to mid-thirties in age. That's a long time to know someone, enough to be there through all the cringey, messy phases in life. These two know each other better than anyone else through sheer proximity and time spent together (more on this later).

Starlo has also been nursing a massive crush on Ceroba since they were kids. You can see this in the picture that's in Starlo's house: she's holding him and doing a peace sign at the camera, meanwhile Starlo is clearly flustered and hover-handing her (this was likely back when the Dunes were still the Meadows, judging by what appears to be a pine tree in the background).

That might have you think: "Ah, Rusty, you're so lame. This is a 'the guy gets the girl' scenario. I'm gonna chuck tomatoes at you!" And to that I say: hold your tomatoes! Ceroba did have some interest in Starlo as well! Exclusively in the Pacifist Run, if Clover TALKs to Ceroba two times in the reception area in the Steamworks (immediately after entering the door where the path through the Steamworks branches off from the Neutral/No Mercy Route), Ceroba will initially start off talking about how she met Chujin and how she'll never find someone as wonderful as him in her life, which prompts Clover to mention Starlo. Ceroba gets a bit flustered but states that she did consider getting into a romantic relationship with him once upon a time but he wasn't ready to grow up like she was (8:18 in this video). So there was mutual potential for them to get together when they were younger, but the things they wanted out of life at that point weren't compatible with each other. Like two ships in the night, they passed each other by.

Ceroba fell in love with Chujin, who was ready to have a family and settle down and be mature, which is what Ceroba wanted from a romantic relationship. And when Ceroba got engaged to Chujin, what did Starlo do? Did he get jealous and throw a fit? Shovel-talk Chujin? Try to convince Ceroba to take him instead? Nope. According to Crestina, he got so depressed that he locked himself in his room for days. As hurt as he was by the person he loved not picking him, he didn't make his feelings Ceroba's problem. Starlo was the one who lacked the initiative to ask her out and I get the sense that he knew that deep down; he couldn't just expect Ceroba to magically know his feelings for her and then they get married and ride off into the sunset together. Instead, he respects Ceroba's relationship. They remain good friends. He lets Ceroba and Kanako, the child that the love of his life had with Chujin, come over to his town and goof off. He may not like Chujin as a person because of his own petty feelings but he also respects for the man (seen in his dialogue about Chujin after defeating Ceroba in True Pacifist) and he's aware that his gripes with Chujin are personal.

Then Chujin passes away and Kanako falls down and gets sent to the Lab. While Chujin's death is well-known, nobody else in town seems to know what happened to Kanako besides Starlo (though, without the specifics) and the Feisty Four (who Starlo likely broke the news to). Starlo is Ceroba's sole confidant. With Chujin permanently out of the picture, this could be Starlo's chance to try to charm Ceroba. But he's respectful enough to know that she's in this deeply vulnerable state and so he does the right thing and helps her. Approaches the situation as her best friend. Let her crash in the Feisty Five's shack rent-free because staying at home is too painful for her. Invents his whole "North Star" persona to try to entertain her and distract her from her pain because that's what strikes him as the best thing to do. Pulls Ceroba into his shenanigans to take her mind off her problems. It doesn't exactly work because her problems run deeper than that but an attempt is made to make things easier for her.

On Ceroba's side of things, she may not understand Starlo's whole cowboy LARPing deal but she knows that it makes him happy. She doesn't look down on it or belittle him for having a passion that is so nerdy that it practically pastes a "Kick me" sign on his back. She may not want to be involved in the Feisty Five, but she's entertained by them and lets herself get dragged into their roleplays from time to time (see Ceroba getting involved in the Trolley Problem Mission, wooden actor that she is). In a Neutral Run, if Starlo is spared, Ceroba will throw a party for him to celebrate him reuniting with the rest of the Feisty Five because she wants him to be happy. Despite how different they are in terms of stuff like personality and interests, they both like and respect each other a lot.

They also have so many parallels despite their differences and know each other so well. Clover shows up and Starlo falls too deeply into the persona he invented and becomes a reckless, selfish jerk. He drives away his friends, he nearly kills Clover and there is nothing that Clover can do to snap him out of it (yes, Clover can Surrender in the end, but that only makes him hesitate. And if Clover does anything but Surrender or FIGHT him on the final turn, Starlo will nearly pull the trigger on Clover until Ceroba interferes). Ceroba is the one to call him out on his behavior and make him remember his conscience: he's not this selfish jerk he built himself up to be, he's not a killer. In the Pacifist Run, Starlo goes after Ceroba once he realizes the truth of why she's accompanying Clover to Hotland. It's not solely to protect Clover, though that's a massive factor (if this was the case, he'd accompany Clover back to the Wild East instead of going after Ceroba); he wants to protect Ceroba's heart: she's not the sort to murder an innocent child, she's not a killer. You can especially see this mindset that Starlo has when he calls Clover out in the Flawed Pacifist ending: while the law and everyone else may see Clover killing Ceroba as the equivalent of putting a dangerous murderer down, to him, they killed a desperate mother pushed to an extreme. Unforgivable in his eyes.

There's also how Clover can only say the same responses to killing either Starlo or Ceroba ("..." or "I'm sorry."), depending on the run. As well as how only Starlo or Ceroba can be fought in Flowey's mindscape in a Neutral Run, depending on how the Neutral Run is done. Never both. Could mean nothing, but I like pointing it out.

They're also pretty damn patient with each other despite being impatient people overall. You can see Starlo's impatience with how eager he is to push Clover into being a deputy and how dismissive he acts about the rest of the Feisty Five when they bring up complaints/try to get him to slow down. But when Ceroba wallops him then he gets back up in the True Pacifist ending, then it's a "Well, I guess I deserved that :D." Not a lick of anger for being knocked unconscious. Likewise, when Clover was in the Wild East in a Pacifist Run, Ceroba is likely straining at the bit to get Clover to the Royal Laboratory as soon as possible. But she also knows that having a human in the town that Starlo made to imitate the Surface means a lot to him, so she lets him have his fun with them until he's ready to let them go.

Starlo's and Ceroba's dynamic is founded on a deep understanding of who each party is at their core, mutual respect and kindness for one another, and patience. They're best friends with each other but that relationship also has the potential to evolve into a romantic relationship just as much as it can withstand remaining purely platonic. There is no "this one is the boss of the relationship and this one is the one that defers to the other" dynamic in the relationship because both sides are equals who are willing to listen to each other (Ceroba and Chujin's relationship more closely adheres to that dynamic actually, with Ceroba deferring to Chujin because she sees him as this perfect, untouchable character. You can see this with Ceroba hesitating to kill Clover because she genuinely likes the kid but because Chujin asked her to reap an innocent human SOUL for his serum, she goes all-out to accomplish this). They love each other a lot platonically and I can see the opportunity for some romantic attraction to crop up as Ceroba starts to move on from Chujin and Starlo starts being more responsible post-True Pacifist. They would be two people who mutually grow into the best versions of themselves and also love each other.

[kfkr1ze]

[002-A16] Scissor Words

Summary — ✈︎ The egg that suddenly grew legs managed to escape Kiroku’s grasp and ran away. Kiroku chases it, but he quickly loses sight of it…

Characters— ✈︎ Kiroku, Akuta, Muneuji, Nanaki, Sakujiro

Location: Youkai Art Museum in Shodoshima

Kiroku: …………

Egg: ………

Kiroku: …… Ah…… there’s legs.

Egg: ………

Kiroku: ……Ah!

W-Wait……!

Kaede: (It’s around the time we agreed to meet up. 

… I wonder if Kiroku-kun had fun.)

Hm?

Kaede: Wow, what’s this? There’s an egg-like object with legs. Is it a youkai? Having something like this displayed at the entrance… It’s creepy but cute too!

I wanna take a picture. Where’s the camera app…

Kiroku: Hah, hah……!

Kaede: Wah!

Kiroku: Gh……!

Kaede: You surprised me…!

Why are you in such a hurry, Kiroku-kun?

Egg: ………

Kiroku: (Moving side to side) …………!

Kaede: (He’s panicking while trying to see what’s behind me…?)

Kiroku: Ah, wah…… Mn……!

(Please don’t look… over there……!)

Kaede: Eh? What is it?

Egg: ………

Kiroku: Uh……!

Kaede: … He ran away.

Huuh!? The egg-like object isn’t here anymore…!

Location: Maze Town in Shodoshima

Kiroku: Hah…… Hah…… Hah……!

(…I lost it… What do I do……)

(I have to tell everyone on the walkie talkie app……)

Dewawa: You sure you wanna tell?

You wanna be the one who tells everyone that you lost the egg that everyone tried so hard to take care of?

Kiroku: ………

Dewawa: They’re already gonna be upset won’t they?

And on top of that, you haven’t made any progress with the lantern art right?

Pinfu: Right～

They might think you’re so pathetic since you can’t do anything at all〜

Kiroku: …………

Rouzel: That’s not true! You should just contact them! I’m sure that everyone would be worried!

Ripris: It… doesn’t matter what you do…

Both chasing the egg… and contacting everyone… is such a pain… ZZZ.

KB: Personally, I believe the best solution would be to contact the rest of themーー

What will you do, Kiroku?

Kiroku: ………

……I’m not…… telling them.

Location: Otomari Chuuzaemon Inn in Shodoshima

Akuta: This olive soumen is SUPER good! I can munch on it as much as I want! Endless munching!

Muneuji: The fried soumen from the other day was good, but this soumen is good as well.

Nanaki: Is Chief here?

Akuta: Oh, nah he’s not here right now.

Muneuji: I believe he went out with Kinugawa earlier.

Nanaki: Yeah? Then I guess later will be fine. 

Akuta: By the way Nanaki, are you in a good mood? You’ve been all smiley lately. Did something happen?

Nanaki: Oh actually, I was just working on the song for the encore of the summer festival. The one that’s supposed to match the BPM of the fireworks, 

I just wanted to show it to the chief a little since I finished it. 

Akuta: EH!? Nanaki, you can make music!?

Nanaki: Well. Yeah I can.

Akuta: REALLY～～～～?! I also challenged myself to make music before, but I couldn’t do it y’know～～～～!

Man, I can’t even read sheet music. The notes just look like tadpoles dancing…

I really respect people who can make songs〜!

Meaning I really respect you, Nanaki～～～！

Nanaki: You’re going way too hard on the praise.

Akuta: You don’t gotta be humble! Actually, I really wanna make a song one day, so you gotta help me!

Nanaki: If I feel like it.

Akuta: Yayy!

I gotta make a plan to get you to feel like it soon～～～！

Muneuji: … By the way. 

Yesterday, Kinugawa was the one who got the egg, wasn't he? 

But I haven’t seen his face at all today.

In other words, that would mean he still has the egg.

Nanaki: Now that you mention it, you’re probably right about that.

Muneuji: And he hasn’t come online on the walkie talkie app at all today… If I’m being honest, I’m a bit worried.

Nanaki: You think something bad happened?

Akuta: Nahh I’m sure he’s all good! I mean that guy looks like he’s strong!

Muneuji: No… He could’ve been abducted by an alien. 

Nanaki: I-I’m not too sure about that.

Muneuji: I don’t think it’ll be a problem since Chief is also with him, but just in case, I’m going to look for him outside.

Nanaki: No, I’m pretty sure you’re getting too anxious. You should calm down. 

Muneuji: If he got abducted, it’d be too late to save him…! (Quickly runs away)

Akuta: Huh?

Kiroku: …… I finally…… found it.

(But… I think it got scared of a crow… and started clinging to the branch of a tree……)

Egg: …………

Kiroku: …… You can’t …… get off?

Egg: …………

Kiroku: (If I spread out my shirt… it can act like a trampoline.)

…… Come here.

Egg: …………!

Kiroku: …… You did it. That’s great.

Egg: …………!

Kiroku: (…Cute… Okay I have to… hurry and bring the egg to everyone……)

(But.)

(Looks around.)

Kiroku: (I don't know where this is…… And it’s getting dark. I should talk to the kids[1]… Ah.)

I… don’t have the finger puppets……

(No, before I look for them, I have to hand the egg over to the next person…)

(I’m getting a lot of notifications on the walkie talkie app… I should respond to everyone … No, but)

Dewawa: They’re already gonna be upset won’t they?

And on top of that, you haven’t made any progress with the lantern art right?

Pinfu: Right～

They might think you’re so pathetic since you can’t do anything at all〜

Kiroku: (I definitely can’t…… I need to do this… on my own.

I have to hurry and bring the egg home…!)

(But, I also can’t just leave those kids behind……

Especially on a trip to a place I might never come back to……)

(We’ve been together for practically my whole life……

Those kidsーー)

Ah……

Kaede: Kiroku-kun! Thank goodness…!

Sakujiro: So you were in a place like this.

Kaede: You did have a GPS with you, but I was really worried when you just up and left like that!

Kiroku: I… I’m… sorry……

Kaede: No, it’s fine. I’m just glad that you’re safe. But next time, don’t run around so much that you end up getting lost.

Also… Here.

Kiroku: ……Ah……!

Kaede: I found them on the side of the road. They’re yours, right Kiroku-kun?

Kiroku: …… Yes…… They’re… my friends……

Kaede: I thought so. Be careful not to drop them next time.

Okay, let’s go back to the inn!

Kiroku: …………

Kaede: ………

(Kiroku-kun… He’s been looking uncomfortable this whole time…

Almost like he wants to say something, but can’t.)

(Kiroku-kun is quieter than most people, but that doesn’t mean he’s not interested in his surroundings.)

(In fact, it feels like he’s more considerate about his surroundings than most people are. 

That’s whyーー)

(If only I could find a way to get him more comfortable…)

Oh right!

Kiroku-kun. Let’s use PeChat.

Kiroku: Eh……?

Kaede: If it’s hard for you to put something into words, maybe it’d be easier for you to put it down in writing. We can give it a try.

Kiroku: ……

Kiroku: ………

……My next message.

…… Is going to be…… a little longer……

Kaede: Got it. I’ll wait for you.

-

-

-

-

Kiroku: ………

(I’ll… open the walkie talkie app.)

Akuta: “Ahー Ahー Mic test! Testing, testing, one two three. 

Is Kiroku-san thereee? Go ahead.”

Kiroku: Ah……! He…llo…… Go …… ahead.

Akuta: “I’m glad we finally got in contact with you! Muneuji was really worried about you, y'know. He jumped up and ran out of the inn. Copy.

Kiroku: …… Co ……

Akuta: “So, so? How are things on your end? You still on planet Earth?”

Kiroku: I’m… I’m coming back…… Copy.

Previous — ✈︎ Masterlist — ✈︎ Next

Notes — ✈︎

“Those kids” referring to the finger puppets.

[veras1ne]

“My Angel”

Summary ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Senator-Jedi gatherings weren’t your idea of a night out and an opportunity to let go, but being accompanied by your Jedi knight was one you simply couldn’t say no to.

🫧Pairing ☆‧₊˚ Anakin Skywalker/Reader ˗ˏˋGender Neutral! As always 🫶🏻 ´ˎ˗

🦢WARNINGS || THIS IS AN 18+ FIC. You have been warned for the following: Explicit Smut, Degradation, slight Dumbification, Objectification, Spoken Consent, Fingering, Aftercare, Spit As Lube; NO piv! Testing the waters with writing smut!

Thank you my stars for the absolute love you guys have been giving me on my most recent posts I’m so thankful for all the notes, comments and reblogs!! 🫶🏻 if you like this post you may like my others and you can find them here on my masterlist. Kisses to all 🫶🏻

This’ll make sense later in the fic but a side note/translation here, Ma Schutta can be translated to “My Slut” LMAO you’ll know it when you see it❤️

Gatherings amongst the Senate were a common occurrence; however, for you to attend them, it was not.

Due to your duties as both a member of the Senate and a mentor for the Legislative Youth Program, it was safe to say your hands were overflowing with tasks to be completed, and while some might have called your schedule hectic, your responsibilities didn’t stop you from doing your job perfectly well, as much as anyone else in their right mind would. You could be sitting on your bed, reading some of the essays that had been left at your office, or practicing your speech for the next vote. But you weren’t complaining because your work had presented you with many new opportunities within your life and career, including meeting General Anakin Skywalker, yet even your work, newly combined with his, meant you practically only saw him on special occasions, leading to stolen kisses and rushed goodbyes.

Despire all, the senator gatherings, closely watched by the Jedi council and many other Jedi who were not on missions or just needed a night out, were close to heaven, where many both politicians and Jedi were attempting to get intoxicated to forget their problems and duties with a night of boring conversations and dancing in the gathering hall. On one of these nights, you found yourself converging with many new faces, welcoming Jedi and newly appointed politicians who had quickly gotten caught up in the overstimulatingly new environment and fast-paced politics. While getting lost in conversation and comforting smiles, you failed to acknowledge the wandering eyes and lustful glances from your partner himself. Fortunately for you, neither of you could stay away from each other for long, and you knew he simply couldn't contain his desire for you for much longer.

Truthfully, you couldn't wait to chat with your lover in a scene deemed both convenient and, above all, inconspicuous, but every once in a while, a loving game of cat and mouse was just what both of you needed.

Senator Alavar was a common face, dressed in a dark blue gown and vibrant makeup. It was undeniable that her demeanor was confident and demanding, and yet your simple conversations had not lacked either of those things. Even her poise in the way she gallantly trudged and made her way through the crowd to greet you had not presented itself in anything other than prestige. "Ah! Senator, how lovely it is to see your face! It's absolutely wonderful to know those younglings in the Legislative Program haven't worn you down yet!" She playfully poked you, nudging you with her shoulder. Although you would love to spend a night away from your duties, you're swiftly brought back to reality as her chuckles filled her ears, laughing at her own joke. "Oh, Alavar," You sighed, smiling, and said, "I could never get sick of them. After all, they're the ones to fill our shoes." You joked, alerting her that her efforts to make you laugh had not fallen on deaf ears. Her guard being let down after you joined in conversation, Oh, of course. Some of these younglings have some rather large clown shoes to fill as well.” She took a moment to smile and let out a small sigh. "But enough chit-chat, yes? I don't mean to step over any boundaries, but if I didn't know any better, I would think that General Skywalker had eyes for you." She smirked playfully, teasing You spared her a smile, shaking your head and saying, Oh, hardly senator! Everyone knows Jedi are forbidden to form attatchments; besides, what Jedi Skywalker chooses as his personal affairs doesn't quite retain me." Your eyes shifted around discreetly, as if trying to confirm if someone had heard your words.

She smiled at you, nodding to your words: "Well, my apologies, you just can never be too curious, yes?" She raised the glass she held in her left hand as a toast to her own words. "Absolutely, but just remember that curiosity killed the cat." You beamed at her, swirling circles around your own forgotten glass, before she began to speak once again: "It has been a lovely night chatting with you, Senator, but I must go. I do hope to see you soon." Her dress flowed, guided by the movements of her gracious bow.

As you made your way through the crowd, you felt your cheeks warm up slightly, as if you had picked up a choco-droid. "So, Senator Alavar, huh?" Anakin snuck from behind you, the familiar bass of his voice taking you by surprise. "Just chit-chat. She had asked about you, though." His deep laughter rang through your ears. "I'm truly not surprised. She's always been one for gossip. Besides, it's charming to watch you try to look good in front of your little politician friends," He whispered in your ear, his warm breath fanning against your colder body before he once again continued,

"If only they knew what a slut you were behind closed doors."

His body was now pressed tightly against your back, his large arms not-so-discreetly wrapping themselves around your waist. You groaned as he chuckled, "I could show them how much of a slut you can really be. His tongue ran along the shell of your ear, causing you to squirm. Your body shivered as your breathing quickened, but you still forced yourself to remain composed and calm as you said, "Anakin, we're in a public area." He paused, moving slowly from your side and looking at you curiously. "And it looks like the only thing that's stopping us is you." You took his hands off of your waist, pushing him away as his flirting became dangerously more intimate. "Come on, Let me show you how much fun we can have, angel." His open hand took yours, guiding you up a flight of stairs and quickly entering the first empty room. Your lips were swiftly captured by Anakin's, his hands resting lightly at the sides of your neck. His mouth trailed kisses from your mouth down to your jawline.

One of his hands trailed down your back, cupping your ass, before he slid his fingers between the thin material and your skin, feeling your flesh and heat underneath. You moaned into the night as he spoke harshly, "Stars, do you understand how hard it was for me to stand and watch you all night? I wanted to take you right there in front of all your little friends and let them know that you're mine." His thumb softly rubbed against your hip bone.

Your hips buckled forward, and a gasp left your lips. "Please Ani-" "Patience, angel. We don't need to rush, not tonight." His voice sounded hoarse and raspy. You looked up, searching his eyes, wishing this night wouldn't ever end and remembering that everything would have to go back to normal after you left the hall. His eyes, once filled with lust, were turned to caution. "Are you sure this is what you want, baby?" You nodded slowly, biting your lip, wanting nothing more than for this to continue. "I need my whore to speak. Nothing but a cheap, pathetic whore for me to use; I can't even get the right words out." His words spit venom, yet you wanted nothing more than for him to take what belonged to him. You were now growing restless as he fiddled with the formal wear you had donned in preparation for that night. "Please use me, Ani; I'm yours. All I want is you." You begged. He groaned at your pleas, making short work of your clothes as he grabbed at your hips, dipping a hand in between your thighs. His face was visible under the moonlight that dimly lit up the room. You looked up at him with tears threatening to fall as you writhed underneath his large hands that had held your now naked body down. "You look so pathetic when you cry, but maybe we can put this little whore to use. Spit," He commanded, and as inelegantly as possible, you complied, leaving a string of hot spit between your mouth and his fingers. "Such a pretty bitch, you know that? So loyal, doing anything that I ask of you." His fingers prodded at your tight hole, which was slowly being worked open by his thick extremities.

You gasped at the sensation spreading across your whole torso until you were shaking, tears forming in your eyes. The sounds escaping your lips were arguably sickly, as strings of praise and degradation mixed together left his mouth accompanied by Huttese insults. "Maker, every time I fuck you, you just fall apart. Fucked out and whining, just like the disgusting slut you are. Ma Schutta." You could barely breathe as he pumped into you, taking in your nipple with his free hand, the cool metal pinching at your nerves. Your whole body felt as if it were being taken apart and reassembled in front of his watchful eyes, as if you were some sick toy for him to play with whenever he pleased, and yet you wouldn't have it any other way. You loved him, and he loved you in a way that nobody else would understand—in a way that you didn't even understand. The knot in your lower stomach began to tighten, your stretched hole twitching and begging for release. "Let go, baby; I know my bitch wants to cum." You squirmed as you bit harshly on his shoulder, muffling your nauseating moans, your body beginning to twitch. "I love you, Ani." You panted, pulling at his hair roughly and pulling yourself closer to the edge of sanity as his touch grew more rough, forcing the last of your energy to slip past your swollen lips as you came. As your back collapsed onto the bed, he removed his hands from your body with an awful squelch. "Such a good whore for me." His voice had an undeniable sneer, reminding you that you belong to him and he belongs to you. "Thank you, Ani." you breathed out, your voice weak and tired. Your appreciation fell on deaf ears as Anakin walked towards the bathroom, fetching a cool towel to wipe the sweat and fluids from your body. "No matter where we are or what we do, I'll never get over how beautiful you look." A blush coated your cheeks, instantly forgetting the vulnerable position you were just in. Cupping his face, the eye contact you had made was not lustful or filled with desire, but love and passion. "I love you so much, Anakin Skywalker," you whispered to him as if you were the only people in the world and time had stopped for the two of you.

"I love you too, my angel."

[odyssean-flower]

The Winding Path of Fate Chapter 4 - Spring: Moving In

Masterpost Pairing: Neuvillette x Female Reader Summary: You move into Neuvillette's (surprisingly modest) house Warnings: None except for restrictive gender roles, also for some reason Fontaine’s regency england (sort of) now? Note: I update this story on AO3 first so please subscribe to the fic there if you’d like to read it faster Note 2: If you want to be on the taglist for this fic, please make a reply to this post, send a message or send a private ask

Have a pic of neuvillette standing on the skull of the guy who failed to prevent his birth (or something like that)

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Neuvillette had a busy schedule today, so he couldn’t accompany you to his house. So, he had the Melusine Liath show you the way. Come to think of it, it was kind of funny how you didn’t even know where he lived even though you were married to him now.

“I have to go back home to get my things first,” you told Liath.

“Sure thing, Madame Neuvillette,” Liath said cheerfully, dropping her voice lower when she called you Madame. Madame Neuvillette. Those words gave you a sense of vertigo. Better get used to it for the foreseeable future.

Liath had been quiet during the earlier ordeal, but now she was humming and skipping alongside you.

“Congratulations on your marriage! I do wish that there could be a grander ceremony, though, and that all my sisters could be there as well. Hehe, they were so jealous when I told them that Monsieur Neuvillette asked me to be the witness.”

“Ah...sorry about that,” you said. “It must have been very dull and underwhelming for you.”

“No, it’s fine. I know how busy Monsieur Neuvillette is. I don’t think he would hold an extravagant ceremony even if he did have time. He prefers to stay out of the spotlight, you know?”

You thought about the first time you met him and your subsequent run-ins with him and had to agree. It was a strange quirk for someone with such a high-profile job, but perhaps he simply wanted to avoid the public gaze after spending most of his time being at the center of it. But why take such a job, then?

“Yes, I can tell,” you said. “I can relate to that.”

You and Liath went down the elevator and headed for the direction of your boarding house. No one looked or paid much attention to you at all. You had half-expected a giant spotlight to shine down on you as soon as you left the Palais Mermonia or a loudspeaker to announce that you were Neuvillette’s new wife. The world hadn’t changed after your marriage, even though the new ring on your finger felt like a shining beacon.

Of course, you weren’t so naïve as to assume that this would remain the case for the rest of your marriage. It would certainly get out sooner or later. You had no idea what you would do when that time came but opted to leave that aside for now.

“You know, Madame, I’ve seen you at the Palais many times before. To tell you the truth, I was a bit afraid to say hello to you because you always had that scary look on your face, but now I can see that you’re not like that at all. You’re a bit like Monsieur Neuvillette in that way. Humans are always too intimidated to approach him, but he is really very friendly.”

This wasn’t the first time you were told that you had a face that put people off. You honestly didn’t understand what they were talking about. As far as you knew, your expression was just how you always looked. But it might be a problem when it comes time to teach children. You made a mental note to work on it later.

“He is certainly more approachable than I expected,” you nodded, slowing down a little bit so that Liath wouldn’t be left behind. “And thoughtful to boot.”

Liath beamed. “Ah, that’s just what I’d expect from Monsieur Neuvillette’s wife! You really do understand him well!”

I wouldn’t go that far, you thought, but said nothing. You knew that the Melusines were close to Neuvillette, but how much did they really know about the truth behind this marriage? Should you try to find out what Liath knew?

But before you could say anything, you had arrived at your boarding house. It was a small, old building that housed twenty or so young women at any given time, and it had been your home for more than a year.

You asked Liath to wait outside and went in. You had already paid the remainder of your rent to the landlady, so all that was left to do was to get your already packed suitcase and sign out. Most of the other girls were out at work during this time, so you thankfully didn’t have to worry about running into anyone and having to make awkward conversation about why you were leaving.

A respectable young lady of a noble family technically should have found lodging with another family of similar rank. But you didn’t have any connections in the city that could take you in, and though you would never admit it, it was kind of fun having to live on your own and being responsible only for your own needs. Having to scrimp and be frugal wasn’t the most pleasant thing in the world, but that feeling of freedom, of having to assert yourself? It was like breathing in cold air after spending a long time being suffocated.

To think you wouldn’t be able to experience that feeling again for a long time, now that you were married to the most powerful man in the nation (a fact that you still couldn’t wrap your head around). And even after this marriage was over, your job as a governess meant that you’d be at the mercy of whatever family you were assigned to.

Don’t think about it too much, you told yourself. Just keep looking at what’s in front of you and keep moving.

Your room was small and cramped, with most of the space dominated by the bed, closet, and desk. But it at least had a window, which made you more fortunate than some of the other boarders. Plus, you didn’t need to share it with anyone.

Your belongings were packed into your battered leather suitcase. You hadn’t brought much with you when you moved here, and you hadn’t bought many new things either. You wouldn’t need help carrying your suitcase, at the very least.

Picking up your suitcase, you turned back to look at your room one last time. The covers were neatly tucked under the mattress, the floor was swept clean, and everything you owned was in your hands. It looked just like how it was when you first moved in here, like there was never anyone living here at all. It probably wouldn’t be long before someone else moved in.

There was a weightless, hollow feeling in your chest as you walked down the narrow hallway that led to the front door. You felt like a ghost haunting the place where you once lived, like your existence had already been erased. This was a familiar feeling, one that you had felt at balls, dinners, and other social gatherings. A feeling that was your constant companion when you studied alone in your room while everyone else was out. You suspected that you would become even more acquainted with this feeling in the coming days and months.

Stop being so dramatic, you shook your head to get rid of this mood. You knew what you were signing up for. Just grit your teeth and get through it like you’ve always done.

Just then, you ran into a girl who was coming out of her room. “Oh, hey,” she said, then took a better look at you. “Wow, you’re dressed nicely today. And you’re moving out too. What’s the occasion?”

You weren’t exactly friends with this girl, but you had gone out with her and some other boarders for desserts from time to time, and it was fun listening to them gossip about the latest trends or scandals, even if you barely contributed. You wonder if she’d remember you for long after you leave.

A ready excuse was on your tongue, but you hesitated. The hollow feeling welled up inside you once again. But for some reason, you somewhat felt like defying it.

You looked the girl straight in the eye and said, “I got married.”

Liath was chattering away as you two walked to Neuvillette’s house, but you couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying. Your heart was beating too quickly as you finally came to terms with what you had done today.

I’m actually married. I’m actually married to the Chief Justice of Fontaine.

You snuck one quick glance back at the receding boarding house. A surge of sudden homesickness welled up within you. You shook your head to clear it away and tried to think about something else.

At least you could enjoy the nice weather today. For the past week before your marriage, it had been cloudy and downcast, which hadn’t really helped your mood or nerves. You closed your eyes and tilted your head towards the sun, basking in the warmth.

The scenery around you gradually changed from familiar and welcoming shopfronts and apartment buildings to the stately and gated mansions of the Fontainian elites as you ascended towards the upper part of the city. The houses here weren’t as big as the country homes outside the city where the nobles spent most of the year, but they were still impressive. You tried not to gawk at all the finery around you, but it was difficult not to make comparisons to your small family home, located in a sleepy village just outside of the city.

I’m Madame Neuvillette now, you told yourself. Act more like it.

You straightened your back and stared directly ahead.

“We’re here!” Liath said, stopping in front of a wrought iron gate. “This is where Monsieur Neuvillette lives!”

There was a long white gravel path that disappeared up ahead, lined on both sides by trees. Neuvillette’s house was more isolated than you imagined.

Liath took out a key from her pocket and inserted it into a small door set into the gate that you hadn’t noticed until now. It was just the right size for a Melusine. Did Neuvillette have that installed for them? That’s really sweet, you thought with a surprising rush of warmth.

“I’ll run ahead and tell Ms. Marie that you’re here,” Liath told you. “She’s the housekeeper.”

“Okay,” you nodded, and watched as Liath ran down the path.

Left alone, you sat down on your suitcase. It was quiet here. All you could hear was the chirping of birds and the hum of bees. You had already gotten used to having the chatter of your boarding house neighbors and the sounds of activity outside your window as your daily background noise. This silence was discomfiting.

I want to run away.

That thought suddenly appeared in your mind. It wasn’t the first time.

You tapped your feet on your ground, trying to reason yourself to calmness. There’s nowhere for me to go. I can’t return home, especially after this whole affair, and I don’t have the money to find another place to live.

I want to run away.

“Shut up,” you growled to yourself. “You can’t change anything now.”

“Pardon me, Madame?” A woman’s voice came from behind you.

“Ah...” you jump up and spun around. Liath was back, accompanied by a middle-aged woman with brown hair and a friendly-looking face. “Hello,” you greeted her. “I’m--”

“I already know who you are, Madame Neuvillette,” the woman interrupted with a smile. Then, before your amazed eyes, she curtsied deeply. “I am Marie, Monsieur Neuvillette’s housekeeper. Welcome to your new home.”

She unlocked the gate and let you inside.

“I’ll be taking my leave now. I must get back to my post,” Liath announced.

You felt a jolt of shock upon hearing those words. You hardly knew Liath, but with her departure, you would truly be left all alone. There would be no going back.

The feeling of distress was so acute that it must have shown on your face, because Liath smiled at you reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Madame. Ms. Marie is really nice, and Monsieur Neuvillette’s house is incredibly comfortable. You’ll settle in quickly, I’m sure. And I think Monsieur Neuvillette would try his best to come home early today.”

Take me with you! You wanted to shout, but instead you plastered on a smile and said, “Thank you, Miss Liath. Have a safe trip back.”

“Bye!” Liath waved, then skipped off.

Marie closed the gate, then said, “Shall we go, then?” She picked up your suitcase and started walking back down the road. You hurried after her.

The white gravel road was somewhat dark due to the shade of the tall verdant trees on both sides. However, dappled sunlight still shined down through the leaves. It would be a calming, peaceful walk under any other circumstances, but you were a bundle of nerves. You should probably be asking Marie a million questions right now or at least making friendly conversation, like a proper lady, but try as you might, you couldn’t get the words out. Funny, you hadn’t felt this nervous when you moved to the city by yourself for the first time, or even during your marriage ceremony.

Marie didn’t seem to find your silence strange, though. She simply looked back and gave you friendly smiles every now and then and didn’t attempt to strike up a conversation. Perhaps she could tell how tense you were, which made you feel worse. The ability to maintain a veneer of calmness was one of your strengths.

Eventually, the road reached its end. Before you stood an elegant two-story mansion, yellow-bricked and blue-roofed. It had a wraparound porch that looked out onto a prettily arranged flowerbed, as well as a birdbath. The mansion was encircled by trees that cast their shade over it, giving it a somewhat gloomy appearance.

All in all, it was certainly a stately mansion, if a bit plainer than what one would expect for the residence of the Iudex.

“Huh...” a breath slipped out of you.

“Not what you were expecting, Madame?” Marie laughed.

You felt your face turn red. “No, no! It’s just that...I assumed that there would be more floors, and columns, and such...” you cleared your throat. “There must not be very many servants working here, then.”

“Not at all. It’s just me, and occasionally some hired help for the garden.”

“Just you?” you exclaimed.

“Yes. Monsieur Neuvillette prefers a solitary lifestyle, and he does not stay at home for very long due to his busy schedule, so there is no need for a lot of hands here. Ah, perhaps that will change now that you are here.”

“Oh, no, I doubt it. I can take care of myself just fine. There’s no need to change anything just for me.”

It was true, even back home, your family only had a single elderly housekeeper who had been around since your grandfather’s time, so you were already used to cooking for yourself and doing household chores. The thought of having to manage servants gave you a headache, so this came as a relief.

“You’re a lot like him, so humble and self-effacing. I can see why Monsieur Neuvillette took such a liking to you,” Marie said.

You smiled awkwardly but said nothing. This was the second time so you had been told something like that to you today. Does Marie know the truth about this marriage? I need to ask Monsieur Neuvillette about this later.

There were too many unknowns here for your liking.

You followed Marie inside the house. The interior was tastefully decorated but not ostentatious like the mansion that held the ball you attended last month. For someone with such a complicated outfit, his taste in fashion does not seem to extend elsewhere, you thought.

“I’ll bring your suitcase to your room, and then I will show you around the house, if that’s all right with you, Madame?”

“Yes, that sounds good, Marie,” you nodded.

You climbed the wooden staircase to the second floor. There was a set of double doors at the far left end, which you presumed to be the master bedroom. But to your surprise, Marie headed to the right and opened a door at the end.

“This is your room, Madame,” she announced, setting your suitcase down on the end of the queen-sized bed.

The room was much bigger than your old room at the boarding house. It consisted of a large bed with a floral bedspread, a wooden desk, an empty bookshelf, a vanity, and a closet. There was a closed door in the corner. You caught a glimpse of a window seat behind lacy curtains. Everything looked elegant and little-used.

It suddenly struck you. You had been so preoccupied with the marriage of convenience itself that the fact that you would have to sleep in the same room as your husband never occurred to you. But you supposed that you didn’t have to worry about that now.

“Monsieur Neuvillette wished for you to be comfortable during your stay here, so he had this guest room prepared for you,” Marie said, as though reading your thoughts. “I’m glad to see it getting used now.”

The word “stay” caught your attention. Stay implied temporality. Did Marie know everything? Before you could ask her, she gestured towards the closed door. “That’s where the bathroom is.”

Marie went on to show you around the house. As you guessed, Neuvillette’s private quarters, including his bedroom and study, were in the left wing. The drawing room, kitchen, dining room, and Marie’s room were all downstairs. There was also a garden in the back.

After the tour was done, Marie told you that lunch would be ready in a few hours. You decided to rest in your room. You were suddenly feeling exhausted.

Once you got to your room, you closed the door behind you and flopped onto the bed. It was incredibly soft and comfortable. It felt like you could sink down into it forever.

Is this what it’s like to stay in a hotel? You thought. You had never had that experience, but you thought that this was what it would be like, this mixture of giddiness from being in a new environment and the distant acceptance that you wouldn’t be here for long.

After lying on the bed for a few minutes, you decide to unpack your things and look around. The closet was far too big for your few articles of clothing, which looked tragically out of place inside the mahogany interior. You placed your books, including your beloved Remurian history books, on the bookshelf. You went into the bathroom to put away your toiletries and was greeted with the sight of a large, claw-footed bathtub, neatly arranged shelves of bath products, and a wide marble sink.

You closed the door firmly behind you and flopped back down onto the bed. The thought of moving again sounded like torture.

How did things turn out this way? You thought. I’m completely out of my element here.

The hollow feeling returned, stronger than ever. You buried your face in your pillow.

It would be one thing if you were brought here to work. But being a wife? Such aspirations, if they ever existed, had died out long ago within you. You weren’t sure you could even pretend to be one anymore.

It was funny how fate, seemingly so straightforward for you, could take this unexpected turn. You devoted yourself to becoming a governess out of the belief that you would never marry, and yet here you were, married to the Chief Justice himself (albeit temporarily). All the uncertainties and anxieties about the situation whirled through your mind. What would happen if people found out? Would you ever get hired by a family after this was over? Neuvillette said he would keep this marriage a secret as much as possible, but considering how it was the Hydro Archon who ordered him to get married, that would mean that you would have to meet her one day, as well as whatever high-society friends you had. Not to mention the fact that when all of this would inevitably come out, how would you deal with all that attention?

You buried your head in your pillow. It felt like you had dug yourself into a deeper hole.

Something your mother said came back to you. It had been during one of your arguments over giving up your future, when you had tried to explain that it was your destiny to become a spinster.

“Fate isn’t something so set in stone, my dear. Anything can drive it off course.”

You weren’t sure you believed that. In your opinion, some people were just destined to serve certain roles in life.

Role...

Yes, being Neuvillette’s wife was just another role. You needed to just think of this as a side path to your true goal. Sometimes, you had to go through temporary obstacles to achieve something. One year wasn’t so long, after all. Perhaps whatever you gained from this side path could help you in the future. You could try to make connections with the upper-class people in Neuvillette's circle, securing a good placement for yourself after this was all over. Or at least this could make for a funny story to tell people much later in life.

You sat up on the bed. Just like how you brute-forced your way into mastering all that a governess needed to know, you could brute-force your way into learning how to act as the wife of the Chief Justice. You wouldn’t be like Remus, panicking after something unexpected happened and making the worst possible decisions, leading to his downfall.

No, you would prepare as best as you could and keep moving forward. There was no other way.

The pile of paperwork on Neuvillette’s desk didn’t decrease in any way, which was to be expected even after his marriage this morning.

Neuvillette methodically made his way through them. After a few hundred years of doing this, it had almost become second nature for him. What was different this time was that he found his mind wandering more often than not, and not towards the usual subjects.

Well, it is only natural for someone to be distracted when they got married a short time ago, he mused.

Neuvillette had been invited to many weddings in his time and even officiated some, so he knew that this one wasn’t particularly standard. But he thought that it was a pleasant one that suited the tastes of everyone involved. If possible, he would have liked to have the ceremony near a nice, quiet body of water, preferably in the shade, but there was no point in regretting things now.

The image of Miss [Name]--no, his wife—flashed through his mind. He hadn’t told her at the time, because he sensed that it would only make her even more uncomfortable, but he thought that blue brought out the color of her eyes and cheeks, giving her a more cheerful and sprightly air. She should wear brighter colors more often, he thought, but suspected that she would only give him that dead-eyed stare again.

It only occurred to him now that she might have chosen to wear blue today to match him. That made him feel pleased. It meant that she was going into this marriage with no hard feelings. There was something else to that feeling of pleasure as well, but Neuvillette couldn’t quite pin it down. That wasn’t anything new, though. Perhaps he would identify this feeling sometime later.

As Neuvillette signed more documents, he could keenly feel the weight of his ring on his hand, even though it was plain and simple enough that his glove could fit over it without issue. He had the rings made a short while ago and was glad that they were a good fit.

He could still remember the sensation of his wife’s hand against his own skin and the focused look on her face as she put the ring on him. How long had it been since someone had touched his skin? It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, though.

That was a good way to describe this whole affair. Not unpleasant.

He wondered how she was doing right now. He hoped she was settling in well. Though he had no doubt that she would get along well with Marie, he still couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. Did the room suit her taste? Should he have consulted with her beforehand? There was still so much he didn’t know about her.

For example, part of the reason why he had chosen her to be his wife was because she seemed to be a person of little emotional ups and downs. In his line of work, he often had to deal with intense emotions, something that could still overwhelm him at times. However, after getting to know her better, he learned that she wasn’t as calm and placid as he expected. There was a raging turmoil underneath that seemingly tranquil surface.

But it wasn’t all negative. He smiled slightly as he recalled her spirited speech about Remuria. There was something so charming about seeing a serious person lighting up in that way.

Neuvillette moved on to the next document, which wasn’t a document at all but a note. He sighed, recognizing the handwriting. It was from Furina.

He skimmed it before putting it aside. He already knew its contents before opening it. It seems that she wishes to continue her daily harassment of me even in writing, he suppressed a sigh. Furina had a packed schedule for this month, so she probably couldn’t find the time to storm into his office, hence the note. But eventually, he would have to tell her about his marriage and most likely introduce his wife.

He decided to put such thoughts aside for now. There was no use in worrying about possibilities.

At the very least, I hope I can look forward to a peaceful time at home today.

Previous | Next

Taglist: @just-simping-over-genshin, @xalphafox, @jqnehr, @favficdump

[mera-k1]

Hii!! Can we get a first kiss hcs with TCW and/or AKYR, please? Whether its cute giggly ones or the slow and steady,,,🤲🌹

(((I actually sent an anon ask on this but i got a notif that something went wrong with it lol, but lmk if it actually slides into your inbox:0)))

Have a nice one!

it never did come into my inbox but dw!! hope you enjoy the fluff~ later note: GOT WAY TOO LONG... PUTTING AKYR IN A SEP POST!!

First Kiss

TCW x gn!reader

-fluff, idk u guys kiss 😱, not rlly in order so here's order i wrote in -> yohei, shiki, ryu, saimon

having to watch your boyfriend clean counters and sweep the floor wasn't the most exciting thing in the world. but.. he didn't look half bad while doing it. with the sleeves of his bartender 'uniform' rolled up and his focused expression, you couldn't help but admire him. well, okay.. you hadn't been dating that long but the crush you had on yohei was... you've had to for a little longer than you'd like to admit. so when he accepted your confession, you were extremely surprised that the cold-fronted man had actually accepted.

besides that, you really just had wanted to spend some time with him lately. after all, he'd been working so much! why not take some time off and spend some time with you? that's what you had proposed but-

"i needa finish cleaning, babe."

"oh.."

those were the only words that had been spoken since you had gotten here. letting out a dramatic sigh, you slumped down onto the bar counter that he had just finished cleaning. the damp, cool counter smelled of cleaning supplies and you wrinkled your nose at the sudden strong smell and lifted your head back up to wipe your now wet cheek.

"what're you sighing for?" he looked over after you had let out the dramatic sigh, cloth in hand as he wiped down the opposite end of the counter from you.

"i just wanna spend time with you!" you put your elbow onto the counter, leaning your face into your hand as you stared at him. yohei returned your sigh with one of his own as he shook his head.

"i told you i've-"

"i know what you told me!" you huffed out at him, a pout forming on your face as he walked over to you.

"tell you what," he started, looking at your pouty face. yeah... there was no way he could say no to you now. he was being a little mean, wasn't he? he briefly leaned down, planting a quick peck on your lips before walking back over to the previously abandoned cloth he had been using to clean. "we'll go out somewhere once--" you didn't hear the rest as your face turned pink as you suddenly shot up, shock evident on your face.

"y-you kissed me!" you covered your mouth, half from shock and the other half... you weren't really sure. "that was the first time you've ever kissed me!" he looked over at you, a faint pink color appearing on his cheeks.

"...mh. i- i guess i did."

okay so.. maybe it was a little bit awkward, eating lunch with your boyfriend. or well... new boyfriend. not like you've ever had one before but it felt awkward to sit by him during lunch uninvited. but... it's kind of an unspoken thing that you're allowed to do that, right? you had been friends beforehand but... this whole relationship thing was kinda hard... especially with your shy boyfriend.

"uh- uhm- th-thank you for eating with me, (name)..." shiki mumbled, shyly. his face growing pink with blush. you weren't sure if he was flustered by you unexpectedly sitting by him or if he had just remembered that you two were technically dating after that mess of a confession from you. god, you didn't even want to think about it right now...

"no problem!" you gave him a content smile which seemed to make his face go redder. even though it hadn't been long, you were happy that this sweetheart of a guy was your boyfriend. he might be timid but you still loved him!

"ah.. (name)?" he looked over at you, a hesitant expression on his face. it was almost impossible to tell what he was about to ask you with that expression. it almost looked like pity, but you knew it wasn't- but it also looked like shyness? but he was shy about a whole lot of things!

"what's up?" you asked, trying to keep the conversation casual and not think about the possible question.

"w- would you like to go somewhere after school?" he mumbled, looking down shyly. "ah-! with- with me! if that's okay..." he quickly added. as if it wasn't obvious enough! of course you would love to go on a little date with him!

"of course! why wouldn't it be okay, shiki?" you gave him a smile as he almost immediately brightened up too.

"really?!" you nodded happily in response, getting up from your spot on the bench beside him and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before taking your bag and rushing off as the bell rang.

"i'll meet you outside your class after school, okay?!" you called as you jogged away, leaving him an embarrassed and blushing mess as he stared at you disappear in shock.

some days, you weren't sure if you should regret asking ryu out. deep down you knew you didn't regret it, of course, but times when ryu was running around the room in a dino onesie, pretending to be a dinosaur made you wonder what you had really gotten yourself into when you asked him out.

"ROARR!! i'm gonna get ya, (name)!!" he made a scary face as he ran over to where you were sitting with his arms outstretched, ready to grab you. you couldn't help but laugh at his childishness when he tackled you down onto the carpet. "iiii... got you!!!"

you both became a fit of giggles after ryu tackled you down, cuddling in closer to you as if being on the floor was a normal occurrence for the two of you. "okay, okay.. it's time to actually get up and ready, ryu." you patted his head as he childishly wrapped his arms around you and shook his head with a pout.

"not yet! just a little longer, 'kay? and then we will blast off, captain!!" he declared, suddenly an astronaut instead of a dinosaur now. you couldn't hold back the laughter that bubbled up inside of you.

"from dinosaur to astronaut? what a drastic switch!" you playfully teased him before he suddenly jumped up, pointing up towards the ceiling (which you assumed he was pointing towards the sky) and brought his finger back down to point at you on the floor.

"yes! we will be blasting off to the moon! astronaut ryu and (name) are making it to the moon!" he declared loudly as you got up from your spot on the ground and walked over to his excited face.

"i'm sure we will, ryu, but it's time to get ready, okay?" you smiled at him before he sighed, seemingly accepting the fact that he couldn't sit and have fun with you all day in his room.

"one thing before we blast off!" he gave a determined look, his hands on his hips. you raised your eyebrows at him as a silent 'go ahead'. "astronaut ryu needs a kiss before he gets ready!" you would have been flustered by his sudden request but seeing him so determined made you forget the blush that had burned onto your face when he said it. leaning in, you gave him a kiss on his smiling face before he cheered leaving you to look at him with a content smile on your face. yeah, he was definitely the one for you.

"you don't have to force yourself, love," the deep, comforting voice of saimon sounded beside you as you both sat on his bed. you wanted to take your relationship a little farther and sleep beside him instead of sleeping in another room whenever you visited him. "take your time."

"no, no it's alright. i trust you and stuff, but i'm just nervous..." you sighed, nerves getting the better of you as you fiddled with your hands in your lap. his hand lifted from its spot behind you and rubbed your back, gently nudging you closer to him.

"you don't have to rush anything, love. i'll wait for you to be ready." he assured you as he rubbed your back, leaning down to kiss your temple.

your hand reached up to touch his face gently, leaning up to reach his face as well now and kiss him. for real this time. although it was your first real kiss with him, it felt so natural and comfortable as his hand held yours, thumb rubbing over your knuckles as you both held the kiss for what felt like minutes till you had to pull away for air.

"...sorry! i should have asked before doing that-" he had a soft smile on his face as you rambled on, flustered that you had done that without even asking him beforehand.

"it's alright, i enjoyed it just as much as you did. nothing to fret over, my love." god... this man would be the death of you without even trying..

[choccyhearts]

Clogged Drain (Eddie Munson x Reader) (18+)

Note: I've had this idea buzzing around my head for a while ^_^ not sure when part 2 will be posted tho

CW: 18+!! Oral sex (m & f), recorded sex, talk of pornos, looots of dirty talk/innuendos, fem!/afab!reader

You and Eddie have always had a healthy sex life. Always willing to try anything, you guys have discovered things about each other you didn't know were there!

A few years into marriage, you anticipated the inevitable dry spell to happen, but it never did. You both came up with spicy ideas to keep things interesting.

So, one day you came up with an interesting fantasy that Eddie immediately got on board with.

A sex tape.

You joked about how silly, but also really hot, it would be to film a sex tape. Eddie thought it was a great idea, but you wanted to take it a little further. You told him you wanted to shoot it like a real trashy porno movie -- a stupid plot, bad acting, euphemisms and innuendos aplenty, and a variety of camera angles.

Eddie was a little skeptical, worried you wanted to film an actual film in front of people, but you reassured him the two of you could pull it off.

You already owned a video camera and some tapes, so your fantasy wasn't too hard to create. All you had left to do was get some costumes and a basic outline for a script and you were set.

And that's how you ended up standing in the kitchen wearing a skimpy dress and an apron with heels pretending to wash dishes. The video camera was pointed at you as it sat on the counter behind you.

Eddie walks in wearing an unbuttoned shirt with a white tank top underneath, a pair of old jeans, his pair of work boots and clutched in his hand is his tool box.

"'Scuse me ma'am," Eddie drawls.

You turn and face him surprised.

"Oh! Hello! You must be the plumber!" He nods.

"Yes ma'am. Sorry I let myself in, door was open", his eyes scan your body.

"Oh it's no problem at all!" You stop "washing the dishes" and take off your rubber gloves.

"So, what seems to be the problem?"

"Well", you bend over and open the cabinet under the sink. "This has been having trouble draining, I think it's clogged." You turn to him and innocently bat your eyes.

Eddie stares at your ass as it peaks out from under your dress. Already, he's sporting a semi just from looking at his beautiful wife.

He clears his throat," Clogged drain? That's an easy fix. Shouldn't take me too long..."

You move out of the way and let him kneel down to inspect under the sink.

"That's so good to hear! I guess it must've been a while since I had my...drain snaked. I would do it myself but...I think other people do it best." You twirl your hair as you gaze down at Eddie. He looks up at you, a smirk on his face.

"Of course, ma'am. Sometimes it takes a new set of hands to reach the right spot." Eddie winks and you walk over to the camera to turn it off.

Immediately, you both burst into giggles. Eddie waves for you to come over to him but you shake your head.

"Mm-mm, save it for the video."

"Ahh, baby, please. I need to touch my wife", Eddie pouts.

"And you will", you begin to set up the camera in a different angle. "Later."

Once the camera is ready, Eddie lies under the sink on his back. You press record before bringing over a glass of lemonade.

"Here you go, sir. Thought you might be thirsty from working so hard."

Eddie crawls out from under the sink and takes the lemonade.

"Ah, thank you ma'am." He takes a swig and smiles. "So sweet. Ya know, I love tasting...sweet things."

You giggle in character which makes Eddie almost break. You take the glass away from him and kneel down beside him.

"So, have you made any progress?"

"Almost. This clog seems to be a big one. Must've been a real long time since you had it fixed, huh?"

"Yes sir", you blush.

"Well, in the future, you should call me. Don't want it getting to the point of frustration, would we?"

"No sir", you shake your head. You feel your pussy throb as you begin to get turned on. It was hard not to, honestly. In this shot, Eddie now has his button-up off and a little grease on his face.

You feel ready to pounce on him but decide to wait it out just a liiitle longer.

Eddie goes back under the sink and pretends to work. You begin to play with the collar of your dress and eye Eddie's body.

"So, do you work out for the job or is that something you do for fun?"

Eddie chuckles, hearing the way your voice wavers a bit. He can tell you're slowly getting needier and needier.

"Actually, I don't work out at all. The job keeps me in shape enough."

You sigh dreamily and gently place your hand on his stomach.

"Wow, your wife must be happy."

"Nah, don't got a wife."

"Oh...a girlfriend?"

"Nope, no girl in my life."

You hum and rub his stomach softly.

"What about you, ma'am? Pretty little thing like you's got to have a man who'd kill me if he saw me alone with you."

You giggle and slowly lift his shirt up, admiring his torso. Eddie wasn't ripped or toned, but he still looked reaaal good. He had a nice stomach with enough pudge to show he definitely ate his fair share of your cooking. He also had a gorgeous happy trail that always made you feel flushed when you saw it.

"Nope, I don't have a man. I'm all alone here...that's why I needed to call you to fix my drain."

"Aw, that's quite a shame. Bet'cha if you had a man, you'd know how to treat him right, huh?"

You notice how his bulge grows larger. You delicately run your fingers along the outline, biting your finger on your other hand.

"Yes sir. I would keep him very happy." You press down on his bulge with more pressure and he shifts his hips, wanting to just ravage you immediately.

"Hmm...seems this drain issue is bigger than I thought. It might take longer than expected. That okay?"

You nod, "Yes sir."

You go back to rubbing his dick through his jeans as he tries his best focus on not moaning just yet.

"Is there anything I can do for you while you work?"

"Mmm", he hums. "I think you know what you could do."

You smile and begin to undo his belt. Eddie feel excitement pool into his stomach. He knows what's about to happen, I mean of course he does, but for whatever reason this time is even more exciting.

You undo his pants and slide them off, leaving his underwear on. You palm him through the thin fabric and feel a wet spot soaking through.

"Wanna show me how you would keep a man happy?"

"Yes, sir."

You pull down his underwear and gasp at his size. While he knows you're doing it for the camera, Eddie can't help how much his ego swells. You slowly begin to pump his cock,face shocked by the size.

"That's a good girl", Eddie mutters.

You speed up your pace, rubbing your thumb over the tip. You can't help but marvel at Eddie. This is definitely not your first time, but just getting to sit back and really get a look at him makes you truly drink in his beauty.

"Think you could suck it?"

"Mmm, yes, sir."

You let a glob of spit fall on to the head of his cock, using your hand to lubricate his size. You slowly lean your head down before sitting back up.

"Wait!"

"What's wrong?", Eddie struggles to quickly get out from under the sink.

"Need to change the angle!" You get up and stop recording. You take the camera off of the tripod and hold it out for Eddie. "Here!"

"You want me to...?"

"Yeah, it'll be interesting, like 'POV'!""

"Alright, as long as I'm the only one who sees this 'POV'." You giggle and nudge Eddie before sitting back on the floor.

Eddie leans his back against the cabinet and begins recording.

You wrap your hand around his cock again and slowly lower your head down. You kiss the tip before opening your mouth and taking him in. Eddie sucks his teeth as he watches you.

He's seen you do this countless amount of times but seeing it through the viewfinder makes it feel sexier.

He gently sets a hand in your hair.

"Ooh, such a good girl. Mmm, you suck it so nice."

You hum in acknowledgement and continue hollowing your cheeks around him. Eddie brushes your hair away from your face and strokes your cheek. You continue stroking the length you can't fit in your mouth, your other arm propped up on his legs for balance.

"Oh, christ. Your mouth feels so good, baby." Eddie is usually a dirty talker during sex, so this isn't much different than your usual times together. However, since it's now on camera, recorded forever, you think his dirty talk is hotter. Despite the fact that this tape will never see the light of day, if someone were to see it, they'd know how good you take care of Eddie. How quickly you can turn him into putty in your hands.

After a few more minutes, Eddie begins to get antsy.

"You're such a good girl, lemme show that pussy of yours some lovin'".

He turns off the camera and sets it down. You sit up and try to fix your hair but Eddie pulls you by the throat into a kiss.

"Mmm, shit, you're so hot. I just need to fuck you now", he moans into the kiss.

"Mhm...not yet." You pull away and Eddie tucks himself back into his boxers before picking up the camera.

He presses record just as you begin to untie your apron. You pull it off and throw it far away from you.

"Such a sexy body, I need to see what's under that dress."

You blush and slowly pull the dress over your head, tossing it over to the apron. Now you're sat in a new set of lingerie, bought specifically for this occasion. Eddie nearly drools at the sight.

"Oh ffffuck, that's so sexy." You slowly pull down your panties and toss them at him. With the camera, he looks down at the panties in front of him. "Oh, sugar, they're so damp."

He lifts them up to his nose and sniffs them offscreen.

"Eddie!", you whisper shout to him, breaking character.

"What, I can't have some fun?", he says before tucking the panties in his back pocket. He points the camera back at you and you spread your legs wide open for him.

"I know you said you like sweet things, so why don't you come here and give me a taste?"

Eddie dives into your pussy, setting the camera on your stomach. You quickly hold it and angle it towards him as he eats you like a starved man.

"Oh! God!" He leans away and spits on your clit before going back in, tongue twirling around. He gently nudges his index finger against your entrance, checking if it's safe to enter. "Please, sir."

He chuckles and slips his finger inside. The wet squelches and obscene squeaks are a bit embarrassing, but honestly you couldn't even pretend to care. If there's anything Eddie's amazing at, it's eating pussy.

Your hands shake as you try to hold the camera steady. Eddie glances up at it occasionally, smirking into the lens. He'll stare straight into the camera and over enthusiastically lick your pussy, as if making sure the imaginary audience understands that this is his territory and only he gets to be down there.

After Eddie has slipped a second finger into you you're ready to hit your climax. He doesn't slow down, instead keeping a steady pace, ready for your sweet juices.

"Oooh, fuck! I'm gonna cum! Fuck, I'm gonna cum, sir!"

"Yeah, that's it, sugar. Cum for me. Cum on my fingers."

You do just that, tensly holding on to the camera while Eddie helps guide you along. Once you come down he pulls out his fingers and pops them into his mouth.

"So fucking sweet, baby. I need to get a drink from the source." He leans down and sticks his tongue inside your pussy. You whine and pull at his hair, overstimulated but loving his touch.

He slurps and kisses your pussy, eyes closed happily.

"So delicious. If I was your man, I'd have to eat you up every morning for breakfast." He sits up and licks his lips.

You smile up at him and mouth "I love you". He winks at you, letting you know he means it back.

"Well", he pulls off his tank top. "Looks like we've made some progress in that clogged drain. However, I think I need to get deeper in there to help."

"How deep, sir?", you say innocently. Eddie has to hold back a grin so he doesn't break character.

"All the way, darling."

(Part 2)

Stopping this here for a breather ^_^

[fantomette22]

Prom Night, goes wrong! (Part 2!)

Alright so it would have been too long to put it in my last post about some Lady Maria headcanons (part 1&2) so I will answer @heraldofcrow last question in a separate post here!

What about the prom night beast incident?

Ah yes one of the famous things I wish to write for my fic one! That i began to explain a while ago after doing a fan art for it (see the link below!). Now let’s explain in detail and very quickly (that's a like I wrote 2.7k works) what exactly happened that day!

(Need to remade a better poster for it one day...)

Alright so we have Maria & co (other students) at the end of their 2nd university year, i think? Could be winter ball too but it’s easier that way I think (for Charles & Damian it’s like their 3rd year) (Not sure exactly when I am going to put the shadow of Yharnam encounter & fight in the woods too. Maybe a few months before XD) 

So, this is during the end of the year ball/prom night. Everyone is having fun, dressed very pretty, dancing, everything is great! What could possibly go wrong? 🙃

At some point in the evening Caryll decided to take a lil pause from all the noise etc of the party by going into a small walk into the adjacent corridors of the school. After walking for a while and loose in thoughts they look around and realize they are somewhere they don't recognize. 

They were a bit confused and then they heard some weird sound. Not the party… it’s coming from a room next to them. The door is closed or slightly open.

They open the door and it looks like a little study room? with a couple of bookcases.  And there’s a weird looking man crouching down in a corner. (Basically, looks like a huntsman from the main game).

Caryll is a bit scared at first but they think that it's some kind of patient of the medical wing who might have got lost. They try to get close to speak to the man but the guy doesn't seem to understand and mumble incomprehensible things. Then he became aggressive and almost attacked or threw something next to Caryll who decided to go back, close the door and run us as fast as they could from where they came from.

Once out of there at the end of the corridor, Caryll realized that place is one the forbidden areas of the college. Some corridors and buildings are forbidden to students & to some scholars & staff. Only a few are allowed in… Caryll was shock how they could have accidentally come here?! The door leading to the area was completely open when it should have been closed and locked and it wasn't. 

They didn't know what to do now. Didn’t want to have problems but the weird man worried them so they did the only thing reasonable to do!

Ask Maria for help XD (what a genius. Not the best idea but Caryll trust Maria with that kind of thing and she’s not part of the school staff)

Then, they came back into the ballroom and gestured to Maria. She thought Caryll wanted to dance with her or something so they began doing that 😂

Then Caryll explained the situation, a bit panicked while the others looking at them were like: wtf happen? Maria understands and they both go from where Caryll came from.

And freaking Micolash follow them lmao.

A few minutes later Caryll came back and gestured to the others to follow.

Ludwig, Rom, Damian and Charles (Cainhurst OC, future king anyway love this bastard but it’s another story) joined the team! 

They arrived in front of the forbidden corridor door with Maria & Micolash deep in thought and trying to understand what’s going on. Speaking about what would be the best thing to do. Then they all discussed what happened and Caryll re tell them what they just witnessed. 

There’re different ideas they speak off doing:

-Some think they should just close the door back and tell noting

-We can’t leave just that guy here!

-Some think they should warn someone that a sick/hurt guy is there and apologize & that the door was open anyway

-Others think that it could be a unique occasion to investigate and maybe learn a thing or two about the secrets of Byrgenwerth… What could happen hmm? 😅

(they ask lil questions to Rom for example, if she knew smt about it but she knew nothing besides what they already know).

They decided to brave the interdiction and go into that part of the building. 

They go in front of the door where Caryll saw the odd poor sick man and decide to go in, slowly opening the door & see the man crouching in a corner, holding his head. They try talking to him, saying they’re going to take him back to his room, help him. He either ignores them or starts to be aggressive and attacks them! They think that maybe he could be rabid?! 

Then there’s 2 possibilities (I’m still not 100% sure about all the details of this chapter):

-              Either they close the door to the man and wait for everything to calm down and continue to explore 

-              Or they fight with the guy and make a bookcase fall on him* 💀 (he’s fine just he’s not going to come after them of knock out) and then they close the door and continue 😭

There's a lot of secrets and rumors about Byrgenwerth after all… so they keep exploring, all the other doors are locked it seems and what’s inside isn’t probably very interesting. (They might have read a couple of papers in the last room but weren’t sure what it means) anyway they ended up in front of a closed door at the very end of the corridor. Apparently, it would lead into some basement.

They stayed in front of it for a while. Should they open it? Lead by their curiosity? Whatever they would discover would probably change everything…

Maria put her hand on the doorknob, turned it and…. It’s lock ^^

Well time to go back and discuss what they should do now! Aka maybe advise a competent adult XD

Lost in thoughts they heard a loud growl. They turn around and listen. Then scratches are heard from the locked door. Then like something is kicking it. The growl grew louder and the door began to break. An enormous, clawed hand burst from it. It’s a beast! (scourge beast type). It’s trying to tear the rest of the door apart! They panicked like you can imagine! They run and try to lock themselves up! In the room with the half-transformed guy of course… (only place they can go too).

And well either the man is already knock out or * That's where they fight him and incapacitate him. Now what should they do? Stay here in silence almost in complete darkness, putting a bookcase against the door hoping the beast goes away and the man isn’t going to attack them anymore? 

Still, it seems the safest thing to do for now. But then they realize, if they do nothing and let that thing wander around (the beast) it will probably go into the other corridors right? There are students in the hallways. And what if it burst in the ballroom?! Before the staff could react, evacuate everyone and kill the beast, that monster could kill so many people! They can’t just let that happen! So, they figure a kick plan to go warn the others and that such a tragedy doesn’t happen!

They safely open the door and try to locate the beast not far. They tasked Micolash to take Rom & Caryll and run as far as they can and to get some help! In preference of a discreet manner so not everyone in the school panicked 💀 (hoping no one lock the door behind them too). While Maria, Ludwig, Damian and Charles are trying to fight the beast & gain time.

They throw everything they could find to distract it: candelabra, furniture, books etc

The corridor isn’t that large too and maybe Damian got hurt a bit + time passed (for them it seems so long) so they ask Damian to make sure the others are good and get help. He would prefer not to let them alone but they are skilled in combat so he agrees and goes.

They punch it and stuff and the beast is really trying to hurt them now. It managed to injured Ludwig’s arm. So, Maria & Charles ask him, beg him to go and that they will deal with it. He reluctantly agrees and leaves, holding his arm.

It’s just Maria & Charles now. Considering the characterization I plan on doing, you would expect Charles to have been in the first ones to go & propose to get help! But instead, even terrified, he tried to help and fight! What a true knight would do! It’s huge from him! But still… Even with the biggest effort of our 2 protags, the beast doesn’t stop trying to attack them and Charles gets badly injured. One of its claws got his forehead and he fall on the ground. 

Maria managed to push the beast away and look at the state of her friend. He’s not far from fainting but he holds on. His vision is troubled, & he doesn’t hear & is in shock. His head hurt so much he asks her if his brain is bursting out or smt. “NO, YOU’RE FINE IT’S JUST A SCRATCH YOU’RE NOT GONNA DIE!” Well, she can actually see the white of his skull in the cut … but hey it’s not crack open so it’s fine…💀

It's really a very bad situation. He can barely stand up. Maria knows she won’t be able to hold long. She has no weapons. That would make the difference. She got a bit hurt too, cuts, scratches and her dress is completely ruined too… she wait for the worst or a miracle… But then… *drum roll* LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OUR HERO FINALLY ARRIVED! Gehrman is here!!!! *applauds* 

So, he jumps in between her and the beast and shoots at it so it would take some step back. Bro only got like a lantern and a very shitty and small revolver or smt (it’s the first thing he could find, it’s not even the special quicksilver bullet they developed again such treats!)

He asks Maria to take Charles and go. The poor lad can barely stand and Maria doesn't want to leave Gehrman to a certain death! The groundskeeper thinks quickly and might have got an idea. It’s highly risky, he never tried before but he read about it and it’s their only chance so he goes for it! (he can’t just kill it with a very small gun).

The hallway has gone completely dark in front of them. Only the white and luminous eyes of the beast can be seen. Gehrman rolls on the ground one of the broken lanterns and waits. The gun in his left hand and contracting strongly his right hand at his sides. He prepared himself; the beast approached, growing closer and closer… it stands up, ready to attack and… PAN! He shoots it, destabilizing the beast. Then quickly hit it in the thoracic cage. No, he plunged his hand under its skin and ripped out its aorta! Half the man's face and body are instantly covered in blood. The beast falls on the bloodied ground with a spasm, dead… 

That's how Gehrman made its first visceral attack! 

Well Maria and Charles, were of course completely shocked by what just happened. 😨 They had received mainly droplet of blood too. Still, they were very impressed and admirative too 🤩?!  Gehrman turned around to them and began to shout “ARE YOU COMPLETELY CRAZY?! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!” He’s rambling like crazy and Maria never saw him like that. Then Laurence & co arrived and things calmed down.

Of course, Laurence looks at Charles immediately and he tell him that despite seeing his skull he will be fine and they’re going to fix that up 😅 Of course the poor lad faint afterwards.

So, everyone calms down, gets patched up, and explains what happened. The guy under the bookcase is also hm… they deal with it…

I made those drawings of the aftermath yeah! 🥳

(Poor Damian as already enough of their bullshit Shenanigans XD... my poor boy you're still going to follow them in worst thing until the end!)

Yeah, Willem ask the ones who got in direct contact with the beast & man to get some rabies shot XD (actually the beasts didn't had rabies... I think).

I know it’s supposed to be created in like 1885 but shhhhhhh it’s Bloodborne. (Like Molotov cocktails that appeared in the Spanish war of 1936-39 so like?!) 

(Also I don’t have all the details planned out yet but this is the draft I had in my head since well a huge while. For example, idk if more people should be aware that this mess happened? Because like they could close the entire place down, I think if that’s the case? Also maybe having two beasts would be more drama and maybe cool too? Like one does get into the ballroom but everyone has been evacuated so it’s just a fight with Gehrman, Dores, Gatekeeper & prospectors? Idk maybe too much. And last thing I don’t have a clear answer from why the door was open and where this thing came from. Close basement & experience? Manage to get inside the school? Underground passage to the labyrinth? Who knows hehe)

So, they all go to the principal office! For um big discussion… of course they broke the rules and they were very clear you could get expelled for going into such a forbidden place…

Big stress for Maria who thought that it's over she will get back forever at Cainhurst and her family will surely remind her how bad she failed… (even poor Rom start to get panicked of the idea… dear you LIVE HERE! You can’t get kick out of the entire place just some building 💀)

But! But, even if they shouldn’t have gone there they agree the open door wasn’t normal and by doing what they did they save lives! (and eventually the school & it’s reputation too!) so no they won’t get expelled ^^ But to some conditions:

-They can’t of course shoot on the rooftops what happen or take actions against the school

-Even if it’s the end of the year they will leave the campus as fast as possible (normally students stay a couple of weeks before returning home + master degree students aren’t finished normally + if you screw exams you maybe retake some parts. Now they need to return home quickly for the ones who don’t leave here XD no I stayed to chill here and go at the library…forbidden to go in some places for now)

-They will return a few weeks during the summer vacation to help & work at the campus (assists scholars in labs, clean up or even cut grass or smt yes Gehrman supervise Maria & Ludwig to cut grass with scythe lmao)

-A letter sends to their parents to well explain that but with very minimum details cough cough

Caryll tries to take the blame at first but they almost all argue with each others and they all take the same thing.

So, Maria and Charles return to Cainhurst. Maria thinks her mother is going to kill her because her dress is completely ruined and the letter and all but actually no. She’s just a bit confused about what happened, glad she’s ok and tell her she would get a new dress for the end of the year or her birthday lmao. Man, Charles too omg this man (I mean he have an excuse he almost dies and isn’t feeling great) but he’s getting pamper by so many people and girls XD

So Cainhurst pushed them to explain what exactly went down. And they are actually delighted to learn they tried to learn a secret from Byrgenwerth so they don’t have to worry for anything they won’t get reprimanded more. Charles is like I know right? They had some weird things going on. And Maria is like: What?! 💀 (why would Cainhurst be happy to know they are breaking rules and trying to learn stuff?!… oh poor Maria… you have no idea of the big surprise you’ll get in 2-3 years when Cainhurst would get interested in some hm “forbidden blood” Byrgenwerth got their hands on…”

[patibato]

[Bitter Sweet Sixteen] 002-A16 - Scissor Words

Kiroku: … …

Egg: …

Kiroku: …L…legs.

Egg: ……

Kiroku: …Ah!

*shlap shlap shlap*

Kiroku: W-wait…!

Momiji: (It's about time for us to meet. …I wonder if Kiroku-kun had fun.)

Hm?

Woah, what's this piece? An egg yokai that's sprouted legs? Decorating the entrance with this is so creepy-cute!

I've gotta take a photo. Camera, camera…

*click*

Kiroku: Haa, haa… …!

Momiji: Wah!

Kiroku: -…!

Momiji: You surprised me…! What are you in a rush for, Kiroku-kun?

Kiroku: …

… …!

Momiji: (He's agitatedly looking behind me…?)

Kiroku: Ah, wha… ah…! (Don't look over there…!)

Momiji: Huh? What is it?

Egg: …

*shlap shlap shlap*

Kiroku: -…!

*footsteps*

Momiji: …He left.

Huh!? The egg piece disappeared…!

Kiroku: Haa… haa… haa…!

(…I've lost it, what do I do…)

(I'll contact everyone on the app…)

*bwing*

Dewawa: You seriously gonna tell 'em? Say the egg that's so important to them all ran away~?

Kiroku: …

Dewawa: They gonna be shocked? Your lantern art hasn't progressed either, yeah?

Pinfu: Yeah~ Might think you're so~ shameful~

Kiroku: ……

Rouzel: That's not it! It'd be best to joindre them! Tout le monde is surely worried!

Ripris: S'fine… either way… contacting and chasing… are both a pain… zzz.

KB: Nay, I believe getting in contact to be the optimal solution - what say you, Kiroku?

Kiroku: …

…I…… won't contact them.

Akuta: This olive somen is SOOO GOOOOOOD! I could munch on it forever! Infinite munching!

Muneuji: The fried somen from the other day was excellent, but this too is wonderful.

*door opens*

Nanaki: Is Chief here?

Akuta: Ooh, not riiight now.

Muneuji: I'm fairly certain they went out with Kinugawa.

Nanaki: Ah. I'll leave it for later then.

Akuta: Anyway, you doing good, Nanaki? You're all smiley. Something happen?

Nanaki: Nah, though I did manage to make a song with a BPM to match the encore fireworks.

Since it's done, I kinda want to show it to Chief.

Akuta: Eh!? You can make music and stuff!?

Nanaki: Well. Yeah.

Akuta: For real~~~~!? I've tried making songs before, but it was impossible, y'know~~~~!

First of all, I can't read sheet music. Can't see the notes as anything other than dancing tadpoles.

I really respect guys who can do it~! In other words, I really respect YOU, Nanaki~~~!

Nanaki: You're exaggerating.

Akuta: This is no time to be modest! I wanna make a song someday too, so help me out!

Nanaki: If I feel like it.

Akuta: Yippee! I'll work out a strategy to make you feel like it~~~!

Muneuji: …Incidentally.

The one on egg duty yesterday was Kinugawa. Yet despite the date change, he's yet to show himself today.

That is to say, he's still in possession of the egg.

Nanaki: Now that you mention it, you're right.

Muneuji: He hasn't been online, either… I'm a tad concerned.

Nanaki: Think he's in trouble?

Akuta: Nah, I'm sure he's fine. That guy's huge! Gotta be strong too!

Muneuji: No… …he may have been abducted by aliens.

Nanaki: I-I wonder about that.

Muneuji: I suppose there's no problem, as he should be with Chief, but just to be sure, I shall scout around outside.

Nanaki: No no, I think you're a bit too concerned about that. Calm down.

Muneuji: It'll be too late by the time he gets taken…!

*running*

Akuta: What?

Kiroku: … Finally… found it.

(But, the crows scared it, and now it's clinging to a tree branch…)

Egg: ……

Kiroku: …Can you not… get down?

Egg: …

Kiroku: (I'll hold out my shirt to make a trampoline.)

…Here.

Egg: …!

*rustle*

Kiroku: … Thank goodness.

Egg: …!

Kiroku: (… Cute… I need to take it to the others quickly…)

(But.)

(Where am I… everything's dark. I'll consult those kids… ah.)

My puppets are… gone…

(No, before I search for them, I need to hand the egg over to the next person…)

(There's a lot of notifications on the walkie-talkie app… I'll contact every… no, but.)

---

Dewawa: They gonna be shocked? Your lantern art hasn't progressed either, yeah?

Pinfu: Yeah~ Might think you're so~ shameful~

---

Kiroku: (It really is no good… I've gotta do something myself. I need to take the egg back quickly…!)

(But, I can't just leave those kids… Not somewhere I may never come back to…)

(We've always been together… They're-)

*car pulls up*

Kiroku: Ah…

Momiji: Kiroku-kun! Thank goodness…!

Sakujiro: So this is where you were.

Momiji: We had the GPS, but I was worrying about what suddenly happened!

Kiroku: I… I'm… sorry…

Momiji: No, as long as you're alright. But don't run around so much that you get lost, okay?

And… here.

Kiroku: …Ah…!

Momiji: They'd fallen by the side of the road. They're yours, right?

Kiroku: …Yeah… they're my… friends…

Momiji: I thought so. Try not to drop them next time, yeah?

Alright, let's head back to the inn!

Kiroku: ……

Momiji: …

(Kiroku-kun's been making an awkward face this whole time… Like he wants to say something, but can't.)

(Kiroku-kun's a lot more taciturn than others, but that doesn't necessarily mean he isn't interested in those around him.)

(Rather, it looks like it makes him more attentive to his surroundings than most. That's why-)

(If I could do something to console his heart…)

I know. Kiroku-kun, how about we use PeChat?

Kiroku: Eh…?

Momiji: Using words is difficult, but maybe you can spell it out. Let's give it a go.

Kiroku: …

Momiji: Don't worry about what happened today

I know you're truly a considerate person

Kiroku: Sorry for bothering you so much

Momiji: It's fine, I understand you've always got a lot on your mind

Kiroku: ……

…This might.

…Take a bit… to type…

Momiji: Got it. I'll wait.

*blip*

Kiroku: I'll tell you. Why I'm like this. Why I became bad at talking

I accidentally hurt a friend of mine with my words when I was in elementary school. Even though they were such a precious friend

I thought a lot after that. And decided it'd be best if I didn't use words

So I became bad at getting words out

I've not made any progress on the lantern art either, I'm sorry

Even though I can draw properly when nobody else knows. I feel that expressing myself may hurt someone. And it might come back around to hurt me

So I got scared. Sorry

Momiji: No need to apologise. It's incredibly brave of you to express that

There will be times you can't get your thoughts across and end up hurting something

But if you ask me, it's really important to communicate, even if there are times you clash and fight with each other

Face it with courage, and if you're wrong, you can take it back. It's fine to try your best until you can get yourself across properly

That way, won't you be able to build up your relationship with someone?

Words and art are the same. As long as you fear expressing yourself, you'll never understand each other

If you can face them with courage, I'm sure they'll accept you

Kiroku: …

(I'll… start up the walkie-talkie app.)

*beep*

Akuta: "Aah aah, testing the mic now. Is that Kiroku-san? Hey there."

Kiroku: -…! He-hello… Hey… there.

Akuta: "Finally connected! Muneuji was real worried about you, flew right out of the inn. Copy."

Kiroku: …Co …

Akuta: "Anyway anyway, how ya doin'? Still on earth?"

Kiroku: I… …I'm on my way back… …copy.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Masterlist

[persephoneprice]

Re: "i’ve been thinking of a scenario where felix ravinstill contracts sickness from dill but he gets cured almost instantly by capitol doctors and that’s what radicalizes him."

I do think this is so plausible, because every time I think about how Felix could turn on the Capitol it involves him being forced to see the unfairness of his own privilege.

I do struggle with how to get him their though... (me and the new Artemisia AU I've been playing around with in my head)

In this scenario, perhaps, he is also being quarantined near Clemensia, or even if he never sees her, he begins noting how people are condemning Dill for getting him sick but they'd never do the same thing about a Capitol student another Capitol student sick (well, actually, people might. Depends on the student's prestige and wealth, I assume)

We all know I have a Ravinstill problem, so I'm going to cut my musings off. Do you have any more thoughts on that scenario?

ah, my delight at getting to elaborate on my nonsense thoughts!

i think that he’s blinded to the major issues of injustice within panem. he’s so used to those big, obvious things that it never even occurs to him to question them. it isn’t until he’s confronted with this smaller issue that it starts to click in his brain and he begins questioning things.

once he’s confronted with this smaller, more personal issue then he’s forced to start seeing the inequalities in treated for the district kids vs the capitol kids.

he sees himself get fussed over and cured nearly instantly by the capitol doctors while dill is suffering in a cage in extreme temperatures and left to rot essentially. and it just starts to become something he can’t reconcile in his mind- are his family really the good guys if children are dying from diseases they could easily cure? if people are starving while they have plenty? if these kids are fighting for their lives in a death match while his peers place bets and cheer them on?

and then it just snowballs until he can’t control his rebellious thoughts. i don’t really know what he could do from there once he had these thoughts. realistically, probably nothing would occur but it’s been fun thinking of little au possibilities for what could happen.

i’ll put those little ideas under the cut:

i like the idea of felix slowly starting to spread information to people he can trust. his great uncle is the president so you know he has to know some decent information. he shares it with the likes of lysistrata or clemensia or even hilarius (a way to tie felix’s narrative until plutarch and the full rebellion we see maybe?).

it’s dark, but i also like the idea of felix teaming up with clemensia and realizing something needs to be done about coriolanus because he and his ideas are making things worse. they take care of him by poisoning or something.

i’ll also share my silly, completely self-serving idea that i like to think about— felix teams up with festus and persephone and information gets passed on that way. felix tells them all the information and persephone shares it with like mags and later finnick and that’s how they sit the rebellion.

i really like your idea of him getting quarantined near clemensia- i think that could be a great start to them teaming up against coriolanus together lol