#like almost 100% of the time the other bat kid wins

[mrmanbat]

Bro I love Tim- okay- I am not hating on Tim.

Keep that in mind while I say this:

Some of you are grasping at straws for his trauma.

Like shits happen sure, but for vigilante/superhero standards? He’s doing damn pretty good.

Bro is surprisingly self actualized. He can recognize when he ain’t doing too hot and always seeks help. He’s relatively good at not taking on too much. Tim is (again, I say relatively) in tune with his body and feelings.

I love Red Robin okay? But yall took this marvelous crash out and made it his whole personality. Can’t a man (try to) take down two assassin organizations to search for a man Tim’s convinced himself to believe isn’t dead without being labeled as unstable?

[roseglazedlens]

Hi Rose 🤍 My baby fever is off the charts rn!!! So can I get a hc of any of the RE characters as a baby/toddler in a daycare pls?

Ps: Ik I said any but Chris fs was a FAT baby and Leon was a mama’s boy (thinking about that one audio rn and im sobbing 🥹)

⦑ 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 ⦒

characters: leon s. kennedy, ashley graham, ethan winters, ada wong, chris redfield, claire redfield, carlos oliveira a/n: thank you maya for requesting bby!! my queen!!! also look at me getting too into this, i love these characters so so much! check out re character's reaction & their s/o's dog ! « masterlist┇reblogs appreciated! »

LEON S. KENNEDY

You are right! He is a mama's boy!!

On his first few weeks of daycare, Leon would cry the longest every time he's been dropped off.

Has a hard time adjusting to daycare, but gets used to it after making a few friends (notably chris & luis)!

He is always telling his friends and teachers in daycare about how his mama did this... mama did that... Leon is super proud of her.

Also Leon's the kind of kid who plays with cars, crashes them together and starts clapping (Not much different from the present)

ASHLEY GRAHAM

Teacher's pet just because she's always respectful, and sharing toys with her classmates.

Oftentimes, kids take advantage of that and take her toys.

Because of that, I think she's often neglected by her teachers since the other troublemaker kids need more attention, so to speak.

She would be friends with Claire as Claire would not hesitate to snitch on other kid's bad behaviour to the teacher.

Ashley loves little Sylvanian Families and play-doh - I see this developing into a slime making hobby as an adult!

ETHAN WINTERS

I'm getting the quiet, nerdy kid vibe for Ethan.

Toddler Ethan loves to collect trading cards, he doesn't necessarily know how to play the game, he just likes the glossy look of them.

I feel like he'll have trouble making friends in class because they don't understand what the cards mean to him.

Poor kid just wants someone to talk about Pokemon with.

Gets very excited about dinosaurs and will play the game "Who can name the most dinosaurs?" knowing he'll always win.

ADA WONG

Don't mess with Ada, or she'll have you regret it.

Even as a toddler, she would always get her way. Always be the first on swings.

Ada, even as a kid, enjoys her solitude and hates for that to be broken. She enjoys playing LEGO uninterrupted.

I can see her hating loud kids like Chris (And that's totally not because Chris trampled her LEGO town one time and she'd held that grudge for life)

Younger Ada teaches the other kids bad words, but somehow she is never caught, and never gotten in trouble.

CHRIS REDFIELD

Fat baby (he's just built this way)

'Accidentally' steals Claire's NERF guns, and feigns ignorance when he's confronted.

Big troublemaker at daycare. Teachers are always chasing him down but toddler Chris runs really fast.

100% Captain America enthusiast. He admires the act of serving his country, and that lead him to choose a career in military.

NERFs guns for life - I see him messing around and shooting the dart at other kids (especially Claire, usually to get back at her for snitching on him to mum)

CLAIRE REDFIELD

Younger Claire, who also inherited the Redfield attitude, takes no shit from anyone.

If Chris shoves her, Claire would shove back. And that may have resulted in a lot of sibling fights.

Strong believer of justice - Will pick fights with anyone, even big kids and adults, if she sees injustice.

Brutally honest kid - when someone asks for a compliment, she would say "That shirt makes you look fat" without batting an eye.

Alike Chris, she loves NERF guns (they often like the same guns, so it almost always turns into a brawl at the toy section)

CARLOS OLIVEIRA

Carlos, is the number one reason of all teacher's migraines in his daycare.

He is the class clown, so anything he says gets a reaction from the other kids in class (often disrupting them)

So the moment Carlos speaks (he is still focusing on whatever he's doing), the class erupts in laughter.

Toddler Carlos is the kid who mashes the music button on a toy repeatedly. A cheeky smile on his face, very entertained by it.

Also I see toddler Carlos on the trampoline a lot, often trying to jump as high as he can. Even though he is most definitely too young to be on the trampoline.

thanks for reading! come check out my other works. —yours truly, rose. tags: @valsthea @sporeghost @httpsuguru @emilzke @daydreamrot @navstuffs @custard0nut @ovaryacted © roseglazedlens — please do not repost, plagiarise, or feed to ai.

[august-anon]

I've got a hc that Bruce has really good control, this man is batman after all, so he can just Choose not to be ticklish, and it works every spot but one. Ears. Bc it is a more unusual spot and also it is cute and fits in my mind and no one can stop me. And the more he laughs the harder it is to maintain said control.

Everytime he gets a new kid and finds out they're ticklish he goes full tickle monster mode bc he Needs to find out how to most efficiently take them apart. It is his God given right. The first time was Alfred letting it slip to baby Dick when he was complaining about it to him. (he doesnt mind but that man is a menace and cannot be stopped) and so everytime the information spreads to someone new everyone starts plotting to get him back.

Conveniently. Every time this happens they seem to get one freebie each time before it becomes almost impossible to exact revenge even with excessive planning and strategizing. Every kid has one and they keep chasing that high of revenge even if it means getting destroyed over and over again. And who is Bruce to deny an easy opportunity and excuse to get his kids back.

-❤️

I'm gonna pair these two asks of yours together since theyre related, even if they were sent several hours apart with other asks in between lol

when i got the first ask i was like "HEART ANON MY BELOVED WE ARE SO ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH" and then after all your amazing headcanons you realized that i was the author of that fic (which i was gonna link to you when i answered the ask in case you hadn't seen, to make sure you get some content on the same wavelength as your HC lol) and i was like "YYEAAHHH"

but yes, Bruce can 100% turn it off. except for There. because he never expects it and its such a weird spot for someone to randomly tickle, and tbh his ears and his neck are probably his worst spot(s). no matter how much meditation or training he does, he just cant do it, so he just keeps quiet about it. Alfred, unfortunately for him, doesn't

I love love love your idea that Bruce lets each kid have one (1) freebie, and then makes sure they can never achieve it again lol. the competitive spirit of the bats doesnt allow them to quit trying though, which is fine with Bruce because it means he has a free excuse to go all tickle monster lol (and not letting them win again leads to team ups like the one in my Training Montage fic so that they CAN win ksjdhfdf) (or, on their own with no freebies left, like Marked Improvement, where Dick tries to go for him and gets thoroughly thwarted)

but bestie. i love YOU. i'm obsessed with YOU. you sent me so many amazing, stellar, showstopping headcanons today thank you so much sjdfhsdkjfh (which i might slightly spread out the posting of over the next day or two, so as to not spam-post them all tonight lol)

[desklamper]

Wicker basket has the most potential from all of gpo to become a legendary slasher/serial killer.

Her go-to would be an axe.

Late night thoughts, ocs (gpo, dat girl dynamite and jellfyfishlight) edition

Tw/Suicides, death, and other unfortunate events!!

The ace from prism's dimension would probably bully and troment ace gpo if they ever met.

Ace's mom is now a jack-o-lantern after going to hell (used to be queen of hearts)

Ace cant handle much spice

Ace likes to keep himself well groomed, and spends a lot on hair care products.

Ace often stims when really exited.

Ace actually likes fruitcake

Prism never visits his "parents" because it feels wrong.

Prism hates being called names

Prism genuinely hates himself and has contemplated suicide during his time in Zeeverse

Prism used to have a therapist, but they died mid session from a seizure. Prism now thinks he causes bad luck.

Prism also has a secret affirmation mode in the simulator room

Og prism misses his parents.

Og prism genuinely thinks Abyss is cute in a conventional way.

Og prism wants to feel loved (don't we all)

Og prism was actually a good person before his death!

Og prism differs from prism in a few major ways

1.) He never burned down his family home

2.) He was praised for his inventiveness as a kid

3.) He never messed around with crime as a kid2

Wicker basket has some really **really** bad intrusive thoughts. Im suprised she hasn't enacted any of them out yet.

Wicker basket has contimplated disappearing to france, never to be seen again.

Wicker basket can't take it anymore. (someone help her please :[ )

Andreus dose NOT LIKE physical contact of any kind. It makes him VERY uncomfortable.

Andreus has autism. 100%

Andrues is also talented at the piano

Andreus wants people to like him but often overdoes it.

Ace gpo most likey has autisim. Most likely.

Briefcase could be one of the only neurotypical ones in gpo.

Briefcase used to gamble a lot until she lost a horse race bet because the horse she bet on stopped mid track to take a shit.

Rapier is cowardly. (Duh)

Mic still thinks skibidi toilet is funny, despite what it seems.

Mic also tries to visit, but leaves before doing so due to being very nervous about what prism would think of his new form.

Mic helps velle with philosophical questions that mortals ask them

Velle isnt assigned anything to be god of yet.

This is because almost everything that velle wanted to be the god of was taken already.

Velle works in the "Universal Irregularities" department in the otherworld

Velle Is immune to all drugs, minus acid. No one is immune to acid.

Velle can't remember their mortal life despite dying relativley recently... (around 100-200 years)

Velle died young, around their mid to late 20s

They were assasinated by someone close to them

Despite what it seems, velle isnt really flirty with mic ,because they think mic wont like it (mic doesn't mind, but forgot to tell them)

Depsite everything, mic is loyal to Velle, not prism anymore.

Mic heard of what happened to og prism and prism because velle explained it to him when he was revived.

Dynamite really has no clue on how to be unironically romantic.

Dynamite oncce asked bat how to be romantic, but thar confused her even more.

Dynamite Is quite knowledgeable on rocks and rock formations.

Despite what it seems, dynamite actually values platinum over gems, as she finds gems "useless"

Dynamite has a platinum minifridge, where she keeps her monster energy drinks.

Dynamite hates eggs. She just hates them. The taste, the smell, everything.

She once claimed that she would rather slap jeff bezos on his bald head as hard as she could over learning calculus.

Dynamite sometimes plays roblox with bat when she's bored. They play dress to impress and modded natural disaster suirvival games.

Dynamite is genuinely terrifying to play against in Clue/Cludeo. She consistently wins in less than 4 turns.

Baseball bat majored theater and literature in colledge. He had a minor in software development.

Bat has also beaten the record of most toilet paper rolls set on fire at his faternity (24)

Baseball bat's parents are dead :(

Baseball bat is a relatively shy person in general.

Baseball bat thinks that he's not interesting at all, and dynamite often tries to convince him that he is.

Baseball bat generally likes kasper

Baseball bat is also intimidated by kasper

He feels weak and fragile compared to him

Baseball bat feels worthless.

Dynamite is one of the only reasons Baseball bat is alive now.

If it weren't for her, he would've probably died in a car accident or to himself

Dynamite tries her best to emotionally support her boyfriends.

Dynamite is sad acid wont talk to her anymore.

She thinks acid is adorable

She thinks of acid as a close friend, the kind you tell your social security number to.

Dynamite wants to spin globe's head for fun.

Dynamite once stole a book from quill and scroll's library. She is afraid to go back there ever since then.

Dynamite is canonically trans(m->f)! Here are a few more characters that are too!

Velle (male-> genderfluid)

Mic (nonbinary [cuz robot] ->male)

God is in his 20s. He was born from the "divine essence"

By born, he just materialzed one day, knowing everything allready.

He likes checkers, but sucks at it.

He speaks in a rather nuetral tone, it kind of sounds likes hes bored.

He can stare at you. When he does, you can feel it.

God can blind you if he felt like it

God can heal people too and alter their forms if needed.

God is obligated to hold heaven raffles so that citizens of heaven and the otherworld can recove prizes every 2 weeks.

The prizes include

Weighted cloud blankets

A heaven mansion

A mystical orb

A wizard servant

A wizard butler (trained)

Children (he'll just materialze a kid for you)

Heaven phone 1

Heaven phone 2

Heaven phone 3 Ultra

Heaven phone 4 pro

Heaven phone 5 Pro Gx

HEAVEN PHON 5 PRO GX limited edition (has exclusive call god app)

God thinks its funny that Christianity exists, because christ himself never wanted to be worshipped.

God likes tennis. Hes in a team with Sunny.

God teaches sunny some cool devine skills on the weekends.

Thats all for 2 night!! Tak care friends!! Uhh yeahh

[quinloki]

I hate to see that ur Friday eve is going blergh and I’m over here buying cute shit for my cats birthday tmmrw🥲(it’s like he knows) I don’t know how to distract u or entertain u, but I sure as hell know that reading takes off my stress from work and school. 😔

well, enough about me….I read earlier from your asks about how u wouldn’t mind writing about Lucci or Kaku (Lucci and Kaku x s/o if your willing). So off the bat, at the tippity top of your flamborgeous, gorgeous head, how damn kinky are these men??????? Ignore my ask if it’s too much to ask for your kindness, just know I am thankful of how talented you are to keep me off the cashier and reading blorbos. 💕

\lol/ Awwww Thank you - also happy birthday to your furry gremlin. Please pat them affectionately on my behalf.

Oh Kaku and Lucci are KINKY. I'd almost say they're the CP9/0 version of Kid and Killer.

Almost.

I don't think Lucci is nearly as open or adventurous as the others, but Kaku is. That boy-next-door Golly-gosh-willickers mask he's perfected is hiding layers of whips and chains.

I don't necessarily think Kaku/Lucci's relationship would be strictly "Healthy" either. I mean, I don't think either would say that they're in a bad relationship or that there's any abuse, but I also don't think these two are working with safe words, and I'm sure sometimes fights for dominance can turn into actual fights.

Which Kaku wins a surprising number of. (I don't think you'll get Lucci to admit he enjoys being a bottom OR a sub, but I think he does, and that's why the fights go in Kaku's favor more than you'd expect).

In a three-way relationship, the s/o / reader would be the sub 100% of the time. Lucci and Kaku would team up to nearly ensure it.

I can see them being a lot kinder to a non-CP style S/O and probably just as competitive with a CP-styled S/O. At the end of the day though, i think there would be a legit caring/loving vibe. Even if no one else understood it or could see it.

But as a kind of wrap up - I imagine it would be some of kinkiest sex around. Even if the most of the kinks revolve around power dynamic struggles and competition XD

[awhphooey]

Glee Hybrid AU headcanons/thoughts for the whole one person who asked 😼

Gonna try to keep it short but trust me I have SO many thoughts on hybrid aus

Species wise, Kurt is a cat (a brown spiral tabby), Finn is a Labrador retriever (black lab), Rachel is a beagle, Mercedes is an elk, Artie is a rat, Tina is a fruit bat, Quinn is a lion, Puck is a raccoon, Santana is a cat (black cat), Brittany is a dog (tan (?red?) border collie mistaken for a corgi), Sam is an otter, Mike is a snow leopard, Blaine is a curly coated retriever. I have reasonings for most of these, but I'll just keep it at this.

Headcanon time (the best part):

- cat hybrid's hair sticks up when they're pissed or spooked. Kurt tends to brush his hair down obsessively because he's almost always one or the other and doesn't want it to show. Santana liked her cheerio ponytail because it kept her hair in place when she was mad.

- Rachel tries to harmonize with just about anything that makes noise, much to everyone's annoyance, but she blames her beagle side (its just her)

- Tina spent the same amount of time lying about her stutter lying about being a bat that drinks blood to keep people from picking on her and Artie. the stutter keeps teachers off her back, but that keeps bullies away

- Puck steals things almost habitually, but he also cleans them the same. it's more of an issue with food

- they dont all lean into animalistic traits as much as others, but Finn is definitely one to. it's why he loves sports with balls he can chase and hoard. Burt isn't a dog but he doesn't mind tossing a ball around for Finn.

- Puck has made jokes several times about putting a bell on Kurt or Santana and has gotten hissed at. they're just naturally light on their feet, though, and tend to spook the others

- Kurt likes to sit with his legs tucked underneath him whenever possible, like a cat loafing, but it's only when he feels safe- so mostly at home. similarly, he also keeps his tail pretty close to himself to avoid it being stepped on, grabbed or crushed between things. Santana on the other hand likes to sprawl out, usually with her legs on Britt's lap or a chair. her tail tends to lash around freely, and she considers it a win if it hits someone

- a lot of the glee kids w long tails tend to have better balance than those without, esp Mike, who uses it to his advantage while dancing. their tails are proportional to their bodies in the same ratio as the animal, which means Mike has a nearly 6ft long tail 😭

- Sam likes to hold hands. like very much so. even with his friends. it's another thing Finn had to warn him against when he first arrived bc it would be seen as 'gay'. he holds his little siblings hands while they sleep, though.

- the cats can all purr, Santana very VERY rarely does, even in private. Kurt has a few times around the glee club, but it's more common around his dad. Mike purrs the most, almost every single time he's dancing. he's a bit embarrassed about it because he cant really help it. Quinn cant quite purr, but she rumbles in a very "unladylike" way, according to her.

- Finn's tail barely stops moving, he had a bad case of 'happy tail' as a kid and his mom had to put a pool noodle on it so he'd stop getting hurt. it's a bit like a metronome, always bouncing back and forth. really the only time it's still is when he's scared and it's between his legs.

- hybrid genetics are a very fickle thing and it's a bit hard to tell whether a child will be born a hybrid or not, let alone what species. both parents being hybrids heightens the chances of having a hybrid baby, but it's never 100%. similarly, both parents being the same species doesn't always result in a baby of the same species. when that does happen, it's considered admirable on the part of the parents in certain circles. most Dalton students that are hybrids are from families like this, that favor the hybrids that 'fit' the family.

Blaine's family is not, his father is a wolf but his mother is a human. that combination is not the reason he and Cooper were both born as domestic dogs, but his father is pretty convinced that's why. though Cooper being a husky is easier to pass off as a wolf than Blaine, which doesn't work very well in Blaine's favor.

- Kurt and Quinn are both born to the same species parents. Burt and Elizabeth were both cats, just as Kurt is, and Quinn's parents are both lions. Kurt's parents didn't really care if he was a hybrid or a cat, but Quinn's family takes pride (ha) in the fact they're all such a 'regal' species, and this adds onto Quinn's stress about being perfect.

- some of the kids, like Tina and Sam, are the first hybrid in their families, or the first of their species in the family, which tends to mean they don't behave as animalistic as others. Finn and Carole are both very much dogs, it's obvious in the way they behave. Finn was raised to embrace the things that made him a hybrid. on the other hand, Kurt was not raised that way. when his mom was alive the three of them would purr, or chirp, or groom each other, but when she died, he and Burt didn't as often. it's not that he's ashamed of it or anything, it's just not a big part of his identity like it is for Finn or some of the others

- generally hybrids aren't as rare or odd to see as people might think. it really depends on where in the world you are, but hybrids are about 1/4 of the population. no species is more or less common than any other, not really, but some traits are easier to hide

This is not actually important but I was writing a little fic where the Warblers are discussing their families and wanted to share the species for the main birdies mentioned in it (plot twist they're NOT birds): Wes is an Akita, David is a bear, Trent is a Moscow watchdog, Thad is a mountain lion.

If anyone has questions or wants me to elaborate on anything or whatever please please pleasseeee send me an ask im literally begging i love yapping

Forgot I was gonna share these oops

[thecoolertails]

did anyone else play ultimate tag as a kid? it's like normal tag but every player is '"it" and when you're tagged you sit down and can't tag anyone, until the person who tagged you got tagged and then you can get back in the game. there were a few years in elementary school where during every recess almost everyone out there (it was kind of a small school, probably between 100-150 in the whole thing and there were two different recesses so it was probably around 40-60 kids?) would play one big game of ultimate tag together in the field.

people would make alliances with their friends to not tag each other, get each other up when they were down, and work together to tag other players. some kids opposed this and thought it went against the spirit of the game but most people did it (because usually you're not going to want to tag your friends anyway and obviously you're going to want to hang out with them during recess -- also, it really didn't offer an unfair advantage, and the best players were all lone wolves). obviously some kids were faster and better at the game and would get more people down than others, but this was balanced out by the fact that the more people a single player has tagged, the bigger a target they became for the other remaining players on the field. the goal of that was in part to get their friends back in the game, but also for the glory of being the one to take them down.

cheering for people to tag the person who tagged you gave you something to do while you were waiting to get back in, but other than that you'd still usually just be hanging out with your friends in the grass and watching the game which was still fun. and if you got bored you could always just go do something else. since most people were playing ultimate tag, it usually meant that the swings and structures weren't crowded (side note: god i miss swings. swinging was so fun)

since it was recess rather than gym class and the game was self-governed, and each player was the one holding themselves accountable for following the rules, there would occasionally be cheaters who would get up when the one who tagged them still hadn't been tagged, but this really didn't happen that often. i can only remember like, one kid ever doing that, and i feel like she didn't keep playing the game for very long because people aren't going to want to go after someone who isn't playing by the rules, and if someone's supposed to be down and tags you the general response was to just keep playing because their tagging is invalid by nature of the game anyway.

there were other game fads (like kickball) but none of them were as widely played together by so many of the kids as ultimate tag was. idk how common kickball is as a game but if you don't know it, it's basically baseball but instead of using a baseball and a bat it's a dodgeball and your foot. the main problem with kickball is that it had a higher skill and learning curve, and it was a LOT more competitive. the fact that you had to rely on your teammates being good at the game to win made the atmosphere a lot more negative and a lot less fun. another fad was four-square, but the problem with that was only four kids are actually able to play at a time, while everyone else waits in line.

the best thing about ultimate tag is it wasn't about winning at all. the only way you could feasibly "win" ultimate tag would be if one person managed to tag every single other participant in the game, which just never happened. doing that wasn't even the goal, anyway. the goal was just to play the game. there was no limit on the amount of players so people weren't excluded based on popularity or skill, and being out wasn't so bad because for all you know, you could get back in at any moment -- rather than having to just stand around and wait for your turn. nobody had a reason to care if you were bad at it, either. and even if you were, you could still have fun. plus, less people would be targeting you if you had gotten less people down, so it kind of had a natural scaling difficulty.

idk. it was a good game

[lemonandlime22]

I just found your bites child Yuu, and IM IN LOVE! How do you think Neige and Chenya would take to them? I feel Yuu would either adore Neige or hate him

Naige and Chenya with a scrawny and bitey Child!Yuu

Warning(s): cussing

A/N: I didn't mean to but neige's is way longer then chenya's lol. Ty for requesting I hope you like it!

[Bitey child!Yuu Masterlist]

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

Neige LeBlanche

You met Neige on the main road, in book 5, like in canon,

Trey and Riddle were free so they decided to show you around the festival a little bit

by now they've basically excepted their roles as your parents

than you see the dwarfs get picked on and yatta yatta it goes about the same.

Neige wasn't very surprised to see a child here, he thought you might have been a student's little sibling at first

he was very friendly to you, after thanking Riddle and Trey, he kneeled down to your level,

behind Riddle's legs,

and thanked you as well for helping out his friends.

and you hummed back in acknowledge, burying your face into Riddle's leg more

"Huh? Yuu? What are you doing...?"

"Oh..? strange, their usually not this shy"

"heh, that's alright, is that your name? Yuu? It's nice to meet you, my name's Neige."

Neige is one of the few people that you almost instantly like, he was very nice

when he went to see Vil and the rest of the NRC group before the SDC, he tried to make conversation with you as well

and you actually replied! you rarely ever did that, even with the people closest to you

everyone was quite shocked

and when he was about to leave, he patted your head to which you giggled and hugged him!!

The only time Vil wanted you to bite someone, and you fucking loved him

Ace and Grim were appalled

"What the hell Yuu?! that's our enemy! You aren't supposed to hug the enemy!!"

"Yeah! What the heck Yuu!?"

Rook was about to pass out from how "beautiful" the scene was

Kalim, Epel, and Deuce thought it was rly sweet

Jamil was just glad you didn't bite another stranger.

The reason you like Neige so much right off the bat, is the same reason as to why you liked Kalim right off the bat

they both have very good wholesome vibes that make you feel happy and safe around them.

Overall, he thinks your adorable and makes sure to visit you when he stops by NRC for any reason. People tried to warn him about your biting, but he believes that it's all just rumors.

Che'nya

Your first meeting with Chenya is actually rly funny

It the same as in canon but instead of being scared jump scared

you try to catch his head after being jump scared

he thought it was hilarious and cute how you tried you catch him. so he played along and kept disappearing and reappearing random parts of his body for you to confusingly try to catch.

Chenya nearly dies laughing when he finds out you call Riddle and Trey, mom and dad

100% encourages it

he's a lil bit like Crowley where he'll hold out his hand for you to cling onto and bite when you please

but only if your able to win your little game of chase.

He just thought you were some random ass kid that liked to bite ppl and never thought otherwise

you are pure entertainment to him when he sees you biting other people.

Riddle and/or Trey will often have Chenya entertain you when they have to prepare for unbirthday parties

after he finds out what you Riddle and Trey, he encourages you to call him uncle Chenya.

Overall, he thinks your hilarious and likes your company. He doesn't care much about how or why you started biting ppl.

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

[ibelongto-tylergalpin]

steve Harrington being protective hc..?

 Stop i would die is Steve Harrington was protective of me like i would just melt into the earth and stay there never to be seen or heard from again 

Also I keep forgetting to put the titles so here’s me remembering :D

Steve Harrington Being Protective....

GOD THIS GIF JUST- UGHHBHBCJDBCKJ

~Okay so its safe to say the Steve is hella fckn protective over you and the kids, but mostly you

~Tbh he gets protective over anything

~If someones being an ass to you he will 100% step in, even though he knows you can handle it yourself

~A lot of people think Steve can’t fight cause hes always getting his ass beat, but think about it for a second. Theres no way he can’t fight. Like have you seen him and the punches he throws. I think the problem is that hes fighting monsters and Billy Hargrove. Idc who you are, but you can’t beat Billy Hargrove in a fight like thats damn near impossible. As for when he fought Jonathan... yeah I can’t help you there Steve, sorry

~Anyways, yeah no if you ever get like harassed he will 100% fight them and he might win, he might lose. The chances are 70-30 with him tbh

~If someone tries to hit on you, he’ll let you handle it yourself cause he finds it so endearing, but if they don’t back down even though you’ve made it perfectly clear, he’ll get pissed and tell them to back off

~When it comes to fighting in the upside down he will always make sure you’re out of danger

~In season 2, you went in the tunnels with him and the kids and the entire time he was holding your hand and making sure you were behind him

~Same thing when you guys were in the junkyard. He pushed you behind him and hit the demodogs with his bat (lord help me)

~In season 3 when you guys were taken by the Russians he yelled and screamed at the guards when they slapped you to get information

~And in season 4, you were almost killed by Vecna because your anxiety and depression was acting up

~Luckily for them, you never went anywhere without your walkman (me but with my beats)

~Steve was full on crying when you lifted off the ground, trying his hardest to get you back to reality

~When you fell, he caught you and you both fell onto the floor and the two of you just cried in each others arms

~When you guys went to the upside down through watergate he was upset at first because he didn’t want you in danger so he just kept you near him at all times and never let go of your hand

~Him protecting you from anything and everything and even though you tell him you can take care of yourself, you find it adorable

[rason-rodd]

Snowmen and Assassins - Older!Damian Wayne x Fem!Reader

Summary: This is Y/N’s first Christmas among the League of Assassins but a monastery of deadly assassins is maybe not the right place to celebrate this winter tradition. 

Author’s note: Bat-Christmas Day 12 ;-) Damian in this story is highly inspired by Batman beyond! Damian as he took his grandfather’s place as leader of the League of Assassins. And I will fight anyone who doesn’t believe Adult Damian will be the most devoted boyfriend to ever exist. (#assassinprincecharming)

Tagged: 100% Fluff

Sitting at the candlelit desk that used to belong to his grandfather, working on a personal project that could not wait, Damian Wayne could hear the unclear yet outraged groans and growls of his counsellor – whose name was Zeh-Ro - echoing outside of the door. He was clearly angry but it was nothing new or surprising.     Lately, and especially since Damian’s reconciliation with his father and your arrival in the Himalayan monastery, the old white-haired man had taken the rude habit to question Damian’s every decision as leader of the League of Assassin in ways that were highly inappropriate for a man of his status. Of course this misplaced attitude was never welcomed or tolerated by the young leader, and each tantrums had all encountered either a stone-cold stoicism or a burning rage. A type of reaction Damian had inherited from his father, Bruce.             “This is highly unacceptable!” Damian sighed, fully aware that his bodyguard, Koru, would not be able to prevent Zeh-Ro from entering his private quarters any longer. “Let me see him!” The heavy wooden door suddenly burst open, making all the soft dancing flames shudder, almost in panic, as if they were aware of the incoming wrath. “What is wrong, Zeh-Ro?”   “This woman … This woman is a disgrace! How dares she?!” The red of his angry face was clashing with the whiteness of his dishevelled hair, a scarlet colour only Y/N and her light-hearted shenanigans could give him. “I’m sure whatever Y/N did it is not that terrible.” Damian declared with a discreet amused smirk. “Not that terrible? Not that terrible?” The old man repeated almost out of breath. “That woman has a knack of bringing shame to herself … and to ourselves … and to our cause. To you. She is a foreign child who knows nothing of our culture, nothing of our traditions. I said it before and I say it again. Her place is not here!” Damian put what he was doing in the drawer of his desk that he slammed almost violently and stood up. But not even his menacing eyes or his towering stature seemed to frighten Zeh-Ro who kept mumbling his anger at him. “Your grandfather would have never approved of her! The league does not approve of her! This silly infatuation needs to end and it needs to end now!”   “No.” Zeh-ro eyes widened suddenly. He had expected more that a single word. He had expected more consideration, even more anger. “No?” Damian didn’t bother to repeat and smoothly close the gap between him and his counsellor in an attempt to establish his undeniable authority on him.           “And from now on I would not tolerate you interfere in my privacy. My love life is none of your concern Zeh-ro, nor is Y/N.”           “But she…” Damian cut him short, tired of hearing and seeing the man. “I will hear no more. Now leave.” Fortunately, he beat a retreat and exited the room while muttering insults in Arabic that Damian chose to ignore. He had other matters to take care of.           Only when the man finally was out of sight, did the leader of the league choose to relax and lose his aggressive austerity. “Will he ever learn?” He asked Koru who almost allowed himself to smile. “I’m afraid not, master.” Damian sighed again and put on his long green kimono that he carelessly knotted around his strong waist. “What has Y/N done again?”     “ I believe it is better for you to see it, master.”

***

In spite of the cashmere gloves you were wearing, your hands were red and freezing just as your cheeks and the tip of your nose. Unsurprising since you had been spending the afternoon playing in the snow with the few children of the league who had been bold enough to follow you in your shenanigans.     Not that it had been your goal all along. In fact, you had never thought about asking anyone to follow you in your “Not so top-secret Christmas mission ” as you had named it when the little rascals had found you baking Christmas cookies in the kitchen this morning and curiously asked what you were up to.           Before that, you had just planned to bake for your lover and decorate a Christmas tree in your shared quarters, away from prying eyes, perfectly aware of the fuss your silly little actions would cause if anyone caught you trying to celebrate Christmas.         But then, the children had simply said, “We’ve never celebrated Christmas.” with their little eyes shining with sadness.      

And so here you were. Building snowmen right under the noses of mighty assassins glaring at you as if you were committing the most awful crime in the world.   Their reactions had hurt you at first, just as many other things they had done – or hadn’t done- since your arrival in the monastery in spite of all your relentless attempts at fitting in. But then you had realised that they should not matter and that you should focus only on the magic, on the happiness of the children by your side occasionally fighting with snowballs and acting - maybe for the first time of their life - as who they truly were, kids.

“Beloved?” You slightly jumped and dropped the small little stone carefully chosen to be the left eye of your snowman on the ground. “Damian.” You didn’t know how to react. Usually, Damian was always there to defend you, finding excuses to all the times your attitude wasn’t appreciated or approved by the league. But there was a difference between forgetting to remove your shoes at the entrance of Ra’s Al Ghul’s temple and celebrating an occidental tradition in a monastery of assassins. Maybe had you gone too far this time. “What are you doing?”         “Look… I know this looks bad. But it’s my first winter here, my first Christmas away from my family and I thought …”           “That you could celebrate it here.” He looked so serious you couldn’t tell if he was mad at you or if he simply was tired of you not being “the right paramour” for him – a term Damian’s counsellor had spit to your face quite a few times. “I get that I might have gone too far this time. I can stop if that’s what you want.”

Damian knelt to pick the little black stone you had dropped and suddenly, much to your surprise and to those around you, placed it on your snowman’s face. “By all means, continue.” And with a gentle timid smile, he turned around to where he came from. You blinked quite a couple of times; unable to believe what you had just seen or to demonstrate all the happiness this small action had given you.           But then you gasped as a huge snowball hit Damian right in the back of his head. “God damn …” He cursed more out of surprise than out of pain and turned back around with a glare you had never seen. Your eyes widened and you looked at the terrorised children who were all pointing at the culprit. Guess boldness and courage had their limits. “How dare you throw a snowball at the Demon’s Head? And behind his back?” He growled, definitely angry and the poor children looked down, petrified. “I guess someone has to teach you how to play fairly.”  

And then a snowball hit your shoulder, making you scream loudly. “Ahhh” But then you saw that Damian was laughing like you had never heard him laugh before. And goodness, how contagious it was. “You’re going to pay for this!” You harrumphed trying to remove the snow from inside your coat. “Choose your partners, kids. This battle is to death.”

***

“I let you win.” Damian declared as he removed his thick leather boots once in your quarters. “Plus you had better partners. Mine were all incompetent. I scored all the points myself.”       “Of course, Dami. Of Course.” You smiled and removed your wool coat to place it by the fireplace where you chose to stay a little to enjoy its welcome warmth after this cold afternoon outside.       “You know. You’re starting to show, beloved.” Damian said as he approached you to lovingly hug you from behind and kiss your neck, his strong hands on your slightly round belly that were keep a four-months little secret no one knew about yet. “Yeah. We won’t be able to keep hiding it for too long.” You put your hands on Damian’s, adoring his sudden proximity and his devotion to you and to your little one growing inside of you. “I guess that’s gonna make some people boil over.”           “Who cares?” He kissed your temple and let his soft lips remain on your skin just to smell its perfume. You let go in his embrace, wondering how this loving man could be the leader of such a deadly organisation. Speaking of deadly organisation …   “By the way, thank you for this afternoon, for defending me again. I know it often undermines you especially in Zeh-Ro’s eyes.” You heard Damian sigh and tense a little before turning you around to face him. “Beloved, when will you realise I do not care about what Zeh-Ro thinks, about what anyone thinks? I’m happy to defend you. At least it shows them that I am not my grandfather and that they can’t expect me to be him.” “ But …” You tried to protest and he gestured you to be quiet with a finger on your lips. “No buts. I love all the things you do here. I love all the love you bring to this place, to me. And I want out child to experience it. I don’t want him to live the joyless loveless childhood I lived.” You smiled at his words but your eyes reflected the sadness he had in his. You knew about his past, about Talia and Ra’s and all the things they made him go through, the exhausting relentless and abusive trainings and the heavy burden they had placed on his young shoulders when he was just a little boy. And so you cupped his cheek and softly kissed him in on tiptoe, keeping his broad body against yours that seemed so tiny and fragile in comparison to his. Though, the most fragile person in this room right now was him.               “I have something for you, beloved.” Damian said as he slowly let go of you for a moment to take something he had left in his desk. “I hope you’ll like it.”

You slightly shook the box he had just given you, curious to know what’s inside. “You know it’s not Christmas yet.”   “I know. It’s not really a Christmas gift” You narrowed your eyes trying to read in his what he was hiding from you. “Just open it.” He chuckled and you grinned, your hands already tearing the wrapping up. It was a wooden small box. “You’re not asking me to marry you, are you?” You asked cheekily and Damian laughed. “Not yet.” He smirked but you chose to ignore it for now, too excited to know what was in the box.

It was a beautiful Christmas tree star, certainly made of crystal judging by how fragile and translucent it looked, and definitely very ancient. “Damian, it’s beautiful.” “You like it?” “I love it!” You corrected as you delicately touched it with your fingertips. “Good. Cause there’s a Christmas tree in the main hall that is waiting for it.” He looked at your eyes brighten instantly and as beautifully and brightly as the star you were holding, glad he could finally make you feel at home as much as you could make him feel at home. “Merry Christmas, beloved.”   “Merry Christmas, Damian.”           Merry Christmas, indeed. 

[excelsi-or]

your type (pt. 8)

w.c. 3.3k (yeah it’s a long one. sorry! :D)

pairing: jihoon x OC/reader

pt. 1; pt. 2; pt. 3; pt. 4; pt. 5; pt. 6; pt. 7

Jihoon loses track of time and only realizes the hour when she’s knocking on the door. Over his shoulder, he finds her standing in the doorway. She’s dressed in a white maxi dress, which she hadn’t been wearing when they’d talked earlier. He would never say it about anyone else, or out loud, but she looks like an angel.

Her hair is a little crimped from having it up, but she’s clearly run her hand through it, because it’s flipped in that way he likes. Her face is flushed from walking across campus to meet him.

She laughs. “You’re staring.”

Jihoon shakes his head and waves her inside. “Are you ready?”

She drops her bag on the couch and practically collapses into the spare chair. She sighs in relief.

“Been on your feet all day?” She’s complained about how the bench tops are too high for her to sit comfortably and work.

“Just a lot of walking back and forth.” She waves her hand dismissively. “But I’m here to listen to your music.”

Jihoon passes her the headphones as she settles back in the seat. Her eyes fall closed and Jihoon plays her the first song. As she’s here for critiquing purposes, she says what she’s thinking aloud and Jihoon notes it all down.

She finds herself swaying to a lot of the music and Jihoon finds himself enjoying watching her. The studio can get pretty dull for other people. The grey of the soundboards, the computer screens, the large speakers, and the black couch. It’s all pretty monochromatic, and she stands out in her white dress. As an observer of people, particularly women, Jihoon can’t help but notice.

“Last one’s a little romantic, don’t you think?” She drops the headphones around her neck.

“The topic was supposed to be about love. I can’t remember the actual prompt.” He begins shutting down the computer. “Should we go for dinner?”

She turns to look at him, the back of her head never leaving the head rest. “I’m so sleepy. Do we have to go out?”

Jihoon tilts his head. “The boys are having dinner at my place if you don’t mind seeing them.”

She closes her eyes. “Have you told them about our arrangement already?”

“That you agreed to date me?” he chuckles.

“Test it out,” she emphasizes.

Even though her eyes are still closed, he can’t help but smirk. “No.”

“So, it would be really weird if I came over without my friends.”

“No.”

This makes her laugh and her eyes open again. He can see how tired she is. “Yeah. Right.”

“They’ll only be annoying for a little while,” he promises.

“Is that better than going out?” She rests her cheek in her palm. “I don’t know.”

“You have until we get out of the building to decide.”

She sighs and pushes herself to standing. She stretches her arms over her head and then bends over to touch her toes. They both hear the crack of her spine. “I’m broken.”

Jihoon laughs as she straightens again. “You’re tired and need to rest.”

“Maybe it’s better to eat in.”

Jihoon quickly messages the group chat as she slings her backpack on. The onslaught of responses at varying degrees of excitement sets his phone off. He doesn’t bother to read them.

On the walk back to his apartment, Jihoon is highly aware of her knuckles brushing against his. The boundaries are blurred for him, and he’s unsure if she’ll react poorly to him holding her hand.

“Commit to it. My god.” She slips her hand into his, intertwining their fingers. He can feel the calluses on her palm. They must be from the gym and bouldering, some interests that she’s mentioned in passing. When she starts swinging their hands back and forth, he wonders if she even notices.

“Can I ask you something?”

“If it has to do with my ex,” she sighs, “then you know my answer already.”

“No, something else.”

She glances over at him. “Shoot.”

“What’s something that you wish your previous boyfriends had done?”

She tilts her head. Her lips purse in that cute way of hers when she’s thinking. “I’ll have to get back to you on that one. I don’t know.”

“Really?” Jihoon tugs her hand to pull her closer to him. “Girls usually have an answer for that one.” After a stranger walks past, she puts a bit more distance between them again.

Lifting her eyebrows, she asks, “Like what?”

“Usually something either sexual or romantic.” He shrugs. “It usually insinuates that they want me to do it ASAP.”

She laughs. “You have a lot of moves. What’s one that always works for you?”

Jihoon pretends as if he needs to think about it before tugging her towards him, his forehead leaning down to touch hers. “This tends to work,” he whispers, “better when I can kiss you.”

She grins up at him and his stomach drops. “Guess your moves aren’t 100% fool proof,” she whispers back. She pulls away first, leading the way to his place.

Jihoon doesn’t mind letting her lead. Chuckling, he says, “I’ll find a move that works on you. But that one usually gets girls pretty good.”

“I can see how it would work,” she glances back at him, “proximity.”

He gives a small pull on her hand and she’s back at his side. “What’s a move that you used to do that always worked?”

“I didn’t really have any moves.”

“Can we please stop pretending like Sejeong didn’t tell everyone that you were once the ace of the dating game?” Jihoon squeezes her hand. “Come on. I won’t be offended that you’ve used the moves on other men before.”

She rolls her eyes. Exasperation looks good on her. Exasperation with him is even better.

“I’m asking as your potential boyfriend. What’s a move I gotta watch out for?”

“That’s gonna make you fall for me?” she laughs. She slows and looks both ways. Nobody else is around in this back alley, so she stops and turns to face him. He indulges her and does the same, eyebrows raised as he waits.

She runs her tongue along her teeth, debating if this is worth it. Then she steps towards him. Her fingertips trail up his arm and she gazes up at him, batting eyelashes that he hadn’t noticed until this very movement. Jihoon can feel her moving closer, her body flush against his. He already has a hand on her waist.

Lightly, she pokes his Adam’s apple, pulling him back to the present. Her cheeky smile eases the flush in his face. “There’s usually a kiss involved, but not today.” Then she steps away from him, taking her warmth with her.

Jihoon swallows hard. “That…” He clears his throat. “That one works.”

Naturally, their hands intertwine again, and they continue to the end of the alley, Jihoon’s apartment at the corner. “It was pretty effective to get us into the bedroom or out of a bad date.”

“Those are two very different scenarios.”

“It’s like… a stun gun. Gives me a few seconds to escape or take over.”

As soon as they enter Jihoon’s apartment, he enters first and makes a point of glaring at everyone to shut up and not make a big deal about it.

Once inside, she slips out of her shoes and laughs when Soonyoung takes her backpack from her.

“Do you want more water, noona?” Seungkwan asks.

“Yes, please.”

Soonyoung passes her water bottle over.

Seungkwan rolls his eyes. “Don’t go through her bag.”

Jihoon lets go of her hand, so she can wander into the living room. He joins a few of them in the kitchen. He can hear Hansol and Seokmin greeting her.

“So? How did it go?” Mingyu asks from the stove.

Jihoon shrugs, accepting the Coke can that Seungcheol hands him before grabbing another one to take to Hansol. “We’re testing it out.”

“That is the best news I’ve heard in the last 4 and a half months,” Seungcheol says as he returns to the living room.

They feed her and they pepper her with questions. All the boys are under strict instruction not to say anything about her and Jihoon’s almost-but-not-quite relationship. She sits between his legs after dinner as they chat. Jihoon’s hands laze around her shoulders, his thumbs resting on the sides of her neck. He gently massages the tendons in the back of her neck.

Talks about future dates and women fly around the room, as the boys update each other on the various people they’re seeing. Jihoon can actually feel her head going limp in his hands as she dozes off.

He leans forward and whispers in her ear. “Do you want to nap in my room for a while?”

She tips her head back, resting her head in his forearms. “You won’t take advantage of the fact that I’m in your bed?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Her struggle to keep her eyes open endears him.

“Then yes, I want to nap in your room.

Jihoon nods. He steals a quick kiss on her forehead and her eyes widen in surprise, but she doesn’t protest. Helping her to her feet, he leads her to his bedroom.

It’s her first time in his room and she stands in the doorway trying to process everything in her foggy brain.

Her eyes land on his dark grey sheets. “Should I be concerned that your sheets are dirty?”

“From what?” Jihoon knows where her mind’s gone. “I wash my sheets every time a girl leaves in the morning. And Jiwoo and I were in the living room anyway.”

She’d already flopped onto his bed when he said he washed them every time a girl left. Jihoon watches her stretch, her back arching before curling around a pillow. She falls asleep almost immediately. He finds a light blanket in the hallway closet and rests it over her legs that have become exposed from the slit in her dress. Jihoon leaves the door ajar and rejoins the others in the living room.

“Wow, we thought you were already going in with all of us here,” Minghao snorts.

Chan pulls a face. “God. Please don’t ever do that.”

“That’s only happened once and it was Cheol,” Jihoon snorts. He collapses back onto the couch. “She’s been in the lab all day, so she’s wiped.”

There’s a beat of silence before Jun laughs. “Mingyu wasn’t kidding.”

“What?”

“You actually like her,” Seokmin says. “Hyung, never thought we’d see the day.”

Jihoon rolls his eyes.

“Come on. We saw your face,” Seungkwan teases. “We might actually win this bet if you fall in love with her first.”

Jihoon shakes his head. “No way. I think after today I actually have a decent chance of winning.”

She wiggles around, stretching all her limbs. She tips her head back, looking out the window behind her. The sky is indigo, fire red at the horizon line as the sun disappears. She realizes that she hadn’t even laid down on the bed properly, dozing off horizontally across it instead. When she looks to her right at the wall across from the bed, she stares at her reflection. There’s a mirror on the wall, easily reflecting the pillows and anyone entangled in the sheets.

She can’t help but snort at that decoration. In the dark, she glances around Jihoon’s room. It’s pretty bare of any personality. Besides the mirror, there’s nothing up on the walls. The bedside tables have nothing on them except for a notebook and pen on the right table.

With the blanket around her shoulders, she steps out of the room. It takes her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the light, but she can hear the boys talking. When they catch sight of her, Hansol’s face breaks out into a smile.

“Noona! You’re awake!”

Immediately, the volume picks up.

“Were you guys being quiet for me?” she asks when Seungkwan pulls her onto the smaller couch between him and Wonwoo.

“Hyung kept saying you were tired and that we needed to shut up,” Chan informs her.

She glances at Jihoon, but he’s on his phone. “I should really be getting home.”

“You just woke up, noona!” Seokmin exclaims. “Play some games first!”

Wonwoo catches her eye and nods.

“Okay,” she leans forward on her elbows, “what are we playing?”

It’s a lot later than she was anticipating when the boys start to knock out. She glances at the clock for the third time in ten minutes. She’s already texted Jihyo that she’s at Jihoon’s place. She has ignored all subsequent messages from her roommate.

“You wanna head home?” Jihoon was apparently watching her.

“You fine to walk me home?”

Jihoon nods. “Come on.” He helps her move out from under Soonyoung’s head and replaces her legs with a pillow. She passes him the blanket, which he takes back to his room. He reemerges with a hoodie on.

“Are you going to be cold?”

“I—” Before she can affirm or deny, Jihoon puts a cardigan of his around her shoulders.

“You can just give it back tomorrow.”

“It’s the weekend; I’m not going to campus tomorrow.”

“I know.” Jihoon opens the door.

She gives him a little nudge. When she’s about to pick up her backpack, Jihoon slings it over his shoulder first. “Someone’s going a little overboard.”

“Well, do you want to carry it?”

“Not if you’re offering,” she laughs.

Jihoon closes the door behind him and finds her hand easily. He watches her yawn and can’t help but smile a little.

They’re quiet for most of the walk. The streets are also quieting with the late hour, restaurants closing down for the night, couples and friends heading home. She watches everyone around her, and Jihoon wonders what she sees.

“Are you going to be able to sleep tonight?” Jihoon asks.

She shrugs. “Probably not.”

“Do you wanna go for a walk then?” He knows there’s a park near her place. When he gauges her expression, he adds, “It’s well lit.”

Smirking, she nods. “Yeah, okay. As long as you don’t mind getting home late.”

They turn down a different street and she can see the park at the end, just before the road curves left.

“What were you guys talking about?”

“When you got up?” The boys had been in deep conversation about something, their heads leaned together, talking in hurried low voices. “Seungcheol and Jihyo.”

“Ah.”

“Do you think Jihyo’s settling?”

“For Seungcheol?” She looks to Jihoon. “Do you guys think Cheol’s settling?”

Jihoon hums.

“I think we’re both too loyal to say yes or no,” she muses.

“I guess you’re right. Well, that’s what we were talking about.”

She mulls this over, but decides to change the subject.

“How did you guys meet?”

“Who? Cheol and me?”

She nods.

“We were sleeping with the same girl,” Jihoon says simply.

Her laugh is genuine. “You’re serious.”

He smiles. “Yeah. I’m serious. She’d double booked us without realizing. I knocked at her door and she sent Cheol because she thought it was their food.”

“Did you stop seeing her?”

“I didn’t. Cheol did. He’s all for sleeping around, but apparently he felt like it was some slap in the face that she got our dates mixed up.” Jihoon adjusts the backpack on his shoulder. “We wound up in the same music theory class that semester. I needed a roommate, and he was the only person I knew in the class.”

According to her, she and Jihyo had met in a second-year biology lab. Jihyo needed a new roommate because her old one was moving out to move in with her boyfriend.

“Jihyo’s actually the one who introduced Jungkook and me.” She sees a set of swings and leads him over to it. She begins pumping her legs and Jihoon watches her swing higher.

“You must really care about him if you’re still friends.”

“Jungkook was good to me, and he was still exploring his sexuality at the time. I told him that he was free to do so, but not with me as his girlfriend. So, we ended things. It took us a while, but we’re good now.” She soars up into the air. “And I like Taehyung.”

The skirt of her dress splits from the slit in it and Jihoon admires the muscle in her legs. It’s not typically something he notices about a girl. But then again, he doesn’t tend to have such a drawn out period of time between finding a girl attractive and having her in his bed.

“You seem like a good judge of character. Jungkook has a good reputation.”

She hears the underlying taunt. Jihoon’s reputation is less than remarkable. “I used to think so; my friends still think so. But Byunggu made me question my abilities.”

“Sometimes people are good at disguising their intentions,” Jihoon calls up to her.

“Yeah.” She swings back high. “He fooled me.”

This is the most she’s ever said about Byunggu. It’s the first time she’s ever said his name.

The late night seems to be loosening her tongue. “We met at a party and he was just a different person under the influence. Made it easy to hide.” She stops pumping her legs and lets the momentum slow.

“So, when he asked you…”

“Well, I thought my judge of character was still good then. I said yes.”

“And?”

She looks down at him, her dark hair frames her face. She’s up in the sky, so he almost misses what she says. “God, I fell so hard for him.”

Jihoon feels his chest clench at the words. He twists in the swing, spinning rather than swinging. He stops when her sneakers drag through the gravel.

“But knowing his type better has made me wary about dating people. On campus especially.”

“Yes, you made it hard to learn anything.”

She lifts an eyebrow. The sound of the chains is grating as she turns to face him. “You background checking me?”

“You background checked me, didn’t you?”

“Not intentionally.”

Jihoon moves his swing closer. “I’m assuming that people have intentionally said awful things about me.”

She nods. “They have.”

“And yet, you’re still here.”

Her eyes narrow, but he can see something akin to a twinkle in them. “Don’t ruin it.”

Jihoon thinks she’ll let him kiss her, but he has to know one thing. “How do you know I won’t hurt you like Byunggu?”

Her exhale is long. “I don’t.”

“But…?”

“I have no buts here,” she murmurs. Her eyes flick back and forth, studying his face. He can tell she’s thinking a million things at once, but she doesn’t share any of them. “You either prove me wrong, or you’re exactly what everyone said you were.”

Jihoon can feel her breath on his skin. She smells like a mix of the summer air and clean laundry. “It’s after midnight.”

“I know,” she responds, clearly caught off guard by his mentioning of the time. “It’s 3.”

“You said you wouldn’t let me kiss you yesterday.”

Realization dawns on her, but she says nothing and doesn’t move towards him.

He plays it safe and catches her cheek with his lips. When she still doesn’t move, he brushes her nose with his and can feel the warmth of her lips on his. He closes the distance and she doesn’t react right away. Jihoon has time to cup her face and adjust his angle before she kisses him back.

Her kiss is gentle and Jihoon’s worried that if he’s too forceful, she’ll stop. So, he lets her lead, and he lets her pull away first.

“Do you always blush when you kiss someone?” she asks.

He doesn’t respond. Jihoon admits only to himself that no one’s every kissed him like that before.

[pi-cat000]

BNHA: something sad (Resentment)

Summary: The last time Katsuki sees Izuku alive the other boy is rushing to save him.  A ‘the Sludge Villain incident gone wrong’ aka Izuku dies.

Characters:  Katsuki Bakugo

Fandom: My Hero Academia

WARNINGS! Major Character death, swearing, heavy angst, graphic descriptions of violence

Other parts in this AU: (Something Sad),  (Anger), (Grief) 

This is the direct sequel to (Implosion)

......

“Not many people get hit with a concussive blast of this strength and walk away will so few injuries.” Is what the paramedic that looks Katsuki over says, hand glowing a faint blue as he uses some sort of diagnostic quirk.

“It looks like you have a few cuts, bruising, strained muscles and sprained wrist from what I can see. I’d recommend getting a proper examination at the hospital but there’s nothing life-threatening here.” The medic continues.

The emergency doctor at the hospital confirms the diagnosis and shakes his head in disapproval, adding, “…bruising on your ribs and a fractured finger. No concussion, thankfully, but you’ll have a nasty bump on the back of your head. If your quirk didn’t make you naturally resistant to these sorts of shock-based blasts, you would be dead..”

…

After that, everyone is practically falling over each other to lecture him on how irresponsible and reckless he is.

..

His mum arrives and there is a lot of shouting which just pisses him off.

“HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO REACT WHEN I GET WOKEN UP AT ONE IN THE MORNING BY POLICE TELLING ME THAT MY IDIOT SON, WHO SHOULD BE ASLEEP, IS IN HOSPITAL!!”

 “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!

Then there is the quiet disappointment he gets from his father when his mum is done yelling which only fuels his resentment.  

“I don’t understand why you did it son. Did you want to get into that fight? Or was it a mistake? Please. We can’t help if we don’t know what’s going on.”

Eventually, he finally snaps, “I fucking felt like it! That’s why I did it! And you know what, I’d do it again.”

It wasn’t like he could or even wanted to explain that he’d jumped out his window to wander the streets at midnight because he had had a bad dream and his All Might poster had looked at him funny. That the rage and anger were preferable to that sinking empty feeling that had turned his every waking moment into a pointless repeat of everyday routines and useless interactions.  That every time he let himself pause and reflect, Deku’s stupid smiling face was mocking him from the afterlife.

Next, he spends an hour with Senior Officer Watanabe recounting every possible detail from his stroll through the streets to his climactic fight with Lanky, Tiny and Grease-Hair.

“Well, you definitely don’t do things in half measures kid. So far we have private and public property damage, unlicensed quirk usage, quirk usage with the intent to harm, vigilantly activity, assault...”

“Assault! Why the hell is that on the list. Those bastards started it.”

“You can’t go around beating people up no matter how good your intentions are!”

“So, you wanted me to just watch!”

“Yes!” A long breath, “I know it can be hard but you need to wait for the pros. You got lucky this time but what if things had been different? You had misread the situation. What if you had been badly injured? What if you had accidentally injured the victim or killed someone? There is a reason we make people get a license for Hero work. Seison Masuyama is a B-rank villain.”

“B rank? He wasn’t that strong.”

 “His quirk, Kinetic-Force, collects kinetic energy and releases it in one overpowered attack. It’s deadly to most people. You were lucky he had already used it once that day and that you were resilient enough to withstand it."

After multiple repeats of the ‘you’re lucky you’re not dead,’ with a side order of ‘it’s a good thing you’re still a minor because you could go to jail for this,’ he gets to go home.

It is three in the morning by the time he arrives back at the apartment, two exhausted parents in tow, having been issued an ‘official warning,’ an order to complete 100 hours of community service and instructions to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. He has never felt angrier or more resentful.

A days later and he is back at school, wasting his time watching clocks and avoiding classmates. 

Nothing had changed.

…

…

…

The car screeches to a stop at the school gates, throwing Katsuki forward in his seat. His mum turns to fix him with a stern glare, eyes narrow.

“If you’re not waiting right here by the gate when I come to pick you up or so help me I’ll be escorting you to and from your classroom from the rest of your school life,” she threatens.

“Lay off you old bat,” Katsuki snaps as was becoming routine since his mum had started driving him the short distance to school, “I got it the first million times.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.”  A finger is pointed at his nose, waving in an almost menacing fashion. “Remember. Here. School Gates. 4:00pm. Don’t you dare think about ditching again.”

 Katsuki sneers and kicks open the car door, turning to slams it shut with as much force as possible in retaliation. He stalks through the gates, shouldering his way through a group of loitering students.  They all scatter when they recognise him. In some ways, he prefers dealing with the anger and yelling of his mum than his father’s quiet disappointment. That doesn’t stop it from being annoying as hell.

A spike of pain runs through his hand from where he must have used a little too much force on the door. Maybe he should take his father up on those kickboxing classes. Sure, he had practised punching after reading a bunch of online guides, but reading and solo practice were completely different when compared with real actual fighting.  That was assuming he was going to be getting into more real fights.  He opens and closes his bandaged fist, feeling a slight sting in his wrist and fingers. He glares. Four days on and he can still feel the echo of adrenalin.  The thrill of righteous anger had been so much more satisfying than the directionless rage he was accustomed to. It had rekindled some of that fire that drove him to be the best, to win, chasing away the sickening emptiness which had been dogging his every waking step.

He wants to feel that again…He wants to do something other than listlessly go through the same daily motions as he drifts towards his now uncertain future. 

“Hey Bakugō!” 

He keeps walking, ignoring whatever loser classmates wanted to talk to him.

“HEY!”

A hand lands on his shoulder and Katsuki twitches, a hairs breath away from spinning and firing a blast point-blank into the pest’s face. Instead, he stops and deliberately turns to glower at the pathetic piece of trash behind him. Murata Taheiji from his homeroom is standing there, one hand on his hip, flanked by two other boys he doesn’t know the names of. Two more appear to stand in front of him, blocking his way. They are all puffed up like they think they’re hot shit. Katsuki scoffs. Are these failures really trying to bully him? HIM!? 

“How about you get the fuck out of my way and go find a first year to pick on. You know, someone more on your level.”

That gets him an irritated scowl that transforms into a patronising grin, “You were always such a stuck up prick Bakago…Acting so high and mighty all the time. Not anymore, I know the truth. You’re just like the rest of us.”

“Huh?” he drawls, dragging out the sound, turning so he is facing the boy, “What the fuck are you on about.”

“My dad works for Musutafu police dispatch and he told me something real interesting yesterday.” A dramatic pause, “He said that you got arrested a few nights ago.” There is a laugh that is echoed by the four surrounding him. By now the confrontation has garnered the attention of several onlookers, who are slowly drifting closer.

“All that shit about being a Hero and you got arrested. What’d you do? Steal some candy from a convenience store? We all know you don’t have money.”

Around them, the growing audience is eyeing him with varying levels of eager anticipation like they think he’ll break down and start crying because of some dumb-ass insults. Damn, if that doesn’t just piss him off. How dare these losers think him that weak.

“Don’t compare me to your loser selves,” he dismisses aggressively, making to turn and forcefully elbow his way past. He is stopped by Murata’s hand which is still on this shoulder.

“You know what I think. I think you’re all talk.”

Katsuki stills, letting the words sink and curdle in his stomach. In one short move, he turns and steps in close to Murata so they are almost nose to nose.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” he warns.  The other boy tenses, looking like he wants to say something else equally stupid. If he remembers correctly Murata has some sort of muscle-enhancer, reflex quirk. One of the only worthwhile quirks in the school.

Katsuki jerks his elbow up and around in a quick jab. It smacks into the loser’s face. Crack. Guess having fast reflexes didn’t make a difference when you never saw the blow coming.

There is a cry of surprised pain and shouts of alarm from the peanut gallery. The other boy falls back, tripping over his own feet. It is ridiculously simple to lift a leg and deliver a kick to the stomach, not even a strong kick, so his failed bully thuds onto the ground, tossing up a small puff of sand. Unlike the fight in the ally, there is no rush of excitement, no spike of anger or adrenaline. No exhilaration. He is just irritated and maybe a bit disappointed. That’s what he gets for expecting anything out of the pathetic losers that went Aldera Middle School. They were more annoying than anything else.  

Murata rolls around in the dirt, wheezing, trying to draw breath. He can almost imagine Deku running up to complain about his violent tendencies or sprout some shit about Hero’s needing to protect people like Murata didn’t ask for it when he decided to try his luck bullying someone obviously stronger than him.

The reminder of Deku sours his already shitty mood.

“Ah…you broke my nose. YOU BOKE IT…ah…it hurts. Do something!” The idiot calls to his equally idiotic friends as he tries to stop blood from pouring down his face.

Katsuki gazes coolly at the boy before directing his attention at the four other ‘bullies’ standing frozen around him.

“You extras got something else to add to that?” With Murata out of the game, the rest of the pathetic group shuffles about uncertainly.

“Ah…we’re good,” The tallest one says nervously, “Sorry about that Bakugō. No hard feelings right?”

He scoffs.

One of the boys moves forward to pull Murata upright, kneeling and pulling out a tissue to help stem the flow of blood. “Crap. I…I think Murata needs to go to the nurse. This looks serious.” There are a few more apprehensive glances in his direction like the other boys think he’ll insist on continuing the ‘fight’-ha! like this has been anything near a fight- until they are all bloody messes on the ground. Kaksuki rolls his eyes. As if he has the patience to deal with any more of these losers.

“Cowards,” he mutters, shoving past. The crowd of students who had gathered to watch the failed confrontation, scramble to get out of his way. A strong breeze rushes through the school’s courtyard, drawing attention to how quiet it has suddenly gotten. Barely audible whispers follow in his wake and he can feel many sets of eyes on his back, watching.

“He always did have a bad attitude.” They murmur.

“Guess he’s a real delinquent now.”

“…did you hear what Murata said. Do you think Bakugō actually got arrested?”

“That’s got to be fake right? Murata is full of hot air.”

“No way. I believe it. You don’t have to share a class with him, I’m telling you, Bakugō’s gone nuts.”

“Kind of scary when you think about it. With a quirk like that...”

He doesn’t know why they’re all so shocked. This isn’t the first fight he has gotten into on school grounds. Okay, so maybe he’d held off doing any real harm before now, well aware that U.A. would probably check his school record. It had never mattered to him because there was no point in beating up weaklings when he was obviously superior. Except for Deku…the only person he had ever really hurt, the only person he could get away with hurting without repercussions. And now he feels like extra shit. God, what a huge farce it had all been. Kaksuki clenches his fist and growls, wondering if it isn’t too late to ditch and go find somewhere secluded to blow off steam. Anything to escape this feeling of frustration.

 He doesn’t have time to make a proper decision because news of his ‘fight’ had obviously spread to the staffroom. One of the second year homeroom teachers comes barrelling out of the school’s front entrance, eyes immediately landing on him.

“What happened!” Their eyes move past him to the bloody Murata, “Go wait in the principles office. Now.”

Well, he didn’t want to deal with his annoying classmates anyway. He stalks away, the sounds of the teacher fussing over Murata growing fainter behind him. When he arrives, the principal’s office is empty and he flings himself down into one of the comfy couches, irritated. The bell for homeroom goes off and Kaksuki remains sprawled across the couch, arm across his face to block out the light and his view of the clock slowly ticking away.  

Just as he begins to contemplate leaving, Principle Fukuhara comes strolling into the room. 

“ Bakugō,” the man lets out an exasperated sigh, “Sit up please.”

Katsuki moves his arm to peek out and glare at the man, deliberately ignoring the instruction.

“I just finished talking to Ms Yuki and the school’s nurse.  You broke Murata Taheiji’s nose. I hope you realise how serious this situation is and that there will be major consequences. Aldera Middle School does not tolerate this sort of violence on its grounds.”

Silence. That was a fucking lie. Slowly, Katsuki pulls himself upright, meeting the man’s hard stare with his own. 

“Well, do you have anything to say for yourself and your disgraceful behaviour..”

Katsuki narrows his eyes, “The idiot was asking for it.”

Obviously, it's the wrong response going by how the skin tightens around the man’s eyes, “I see...I’m sorry you feel that way. Up until now, our school has been more than lenient. We have overlooked your shameful behaviour these last few weeks because we wanted to give you time to settle after going through such as tragic incident. However, I am afraid that this time you have gone too far. Your parents will be notified. You’ll see the school councillor. You will be staying back for after school detention. Since this is your first major incident we…”

“First?” He cuts the man off. He is sick of hearing the moron’s voice. “Hahaha and people say you don’t have a sense of humour.” He laughs an unpleasant laugh which increases in volume until he is almost shouting.

 “What sort of shit hole are you running? Three years I’ve been beating up the dumb idiots that come here and now you decide to care. Why is that huh? Is it because I’m no longer going to put this shitty place on the map and become a famous hero! HA!”

He lets his voice quieten, sneering “I’ll never be a hero so you’re shit out of luck.” Finally saying it out loud is like throwing a bucket of water over the embers of an already struggling fire. It hurts deep in his chest. The expression of shocked disbelief is almost worth it.

“Thanks for proving what a worthless profession it is,” he finishes with another hash laugh, rage simmering under his skin. When he tries to stand and leave a hand lands on his shoulder, pushing him back down.

The principal, who still looks somewhat stunned at his sudden outburst, orders, “Sit back down Bakugō! I am far from finished.”

Why do people always feel the need to grab him. He is so fucking sick of everyone pulling and tugging on him, trying to control him and hold him down. Katsuki turns slowly, that simmering rage pulsing, running down his limbs. Pop pop pop go his hands. He feels as explosive fire gathering in behind his eyes and in his shadowy stare. It is not the dramatic, adrenaline-induced anger he had felt when preparing for the ally fight. No, this is a dark burning rage, fuelled by his growing resentment.

“Touch me again,” he growls, low and intimidating, “and I’ll kill you.”

The principal snatches his hand back like he has just been burnt. A poignant silence follows in the wake of his threat.

“Suspension,” the man says, swallowing,  “You’re suspended. I’m calling your parents right now.” And is it just him or does he look genuinely worried? There is even a hint of fear in his wrinkled face. Katsuki takes vindictive joy in the achievement. Finally…finally the worthless morons are seeing him, truly seeing him and not whatever Bakugō -delusion they’d all cooked up in their heads.

[athenadcvell]

The Bats playing Among Us Headcanon:

Because I’m bored and failing school, so why not imagine how chaotic it would be if the Bats started playing everyone’s new favorite game?

Duke was the first to introduce the family to it

He mentioned the game to Tim on patrol, and came home to a set up of computers in the Bat Cave

It started off just being Tim, Duke, Dick, and Steph playing with random people, but eventually, the rest of the fam joined

It is no longer a game. It is war

Bruce:

When his kids first mentioned it, he immediately knew this would be another chaotic video game that has his children at each other’s throat

Mario Kart and Monopoly got banned from the Manor for this exact reason

He still caves and plays, though

Does not understand the game whatsoever

“Why is my name red on the screen?”

Pretends to not be okay with the killing “I don’t see why I can’t just tie people up and put them in the vents?”

But everyone sees the small smile he has when he kills someone

It’s slightly alarming

Mostly just there so Damian and Jason don’t attack anyone

Dick:

Only one who genuinely just enjoys the game and gets no stress from it

Horrible imposter

Like so so bad

Kills someone then struggles to get into a vent

Not to mention he starts giggling when someone reports one of his bodies

A good teammate though

A little too trusting

Jason: “Hey, Dick, come watch me do a scan?” Dick: “Sure!” [five min later] Tim: *reports Dick’s body in med bay*

This incident happens almost every round Jason is imposter and Dick falls for it every time, without fail

Babs:

Pretends to think the game is stupid, but secretly loves it

If she keeps getting crewmate, she proceeds to hack the game

It annoys the crap out of everyone, but they let it slide anyways

Really good at tasks

“How did you already finish all your tasks?! I’m still trying to swipe!”

She’s okay at killing people, but a little too good at sabotages

The second she gets kicked off the ship for being imposter, no one is getting anything done

It’s constant melt downs and locked doors

Jason

It’s a hit or miss when Jason is imposter

Either he’s too good, or it’s just maniacal laughing as he kills all his siblings

Once spent an entire game just chasing Bruce around

When he got kicked off, he ended up being a crewmate, but just wanted to “fuck with him”

Accuses EVERYONE

If he’s a crewmate, just spends the entire game following everyone around to catch them in the act

You know he got killed when he starts cussing out the computer and screaming in the ghost chat

Not a snitch though, so he keeps his mouth shut

It’s absolute hell when he gets imposter with Damian. No one stands a chance

Stephanie:

Steph gets very passionate about Among Us

She takes the game extremely seriously

100% will scream at someone if they get killed

“YOU ARE THE REASON WE ARE LOSING! ARE YOU HAPPY?! HUH?”

If the other imposter doesn’t back her up, she’ll rat em out

“If I can’t win, neither can you, bitch.”

Has got kicked off the game for doing this, but still does it

Tim:

He knows

He always knows

No one can understand how he’s able to tell who the imposter is so quickly

“It’s Jason.” “The game just started-” “Just trust me on this one. It’s Jason.” “Goddammit Tim.”

Makes a pretty good imposter, unless he gets paired up with Damian

Then all hell breaks loose

“Hey Damian, why’s your name red?” 

A fight 100% will break out between them

Cass:

Literally the silent killer

No one ever suspects her, and she uses it to her advantage

If she’s imposter, the game will last, like, five min

Her and Damian got paired up once

It was the quickest game they’ve ever played

They are no longer allowed to be the imposter at the same time, one of them has to fess up

If she’s a crewmate, she literally only focuses on her tasks

“Cass, did you just walk past a body?” “Yup.” “Why?” “I didn’t care about it.”

Doesn’t play all the time, but enjoys watching everyone else play instead

Duke:

Was under the impression that this would be a peaceful, fun game to play with his family

He has never been so wrong

But he adapts quickly

Very good at deceiving the rest of the family

Like Cass, no one expects it to be him

Will literally never admit to being imposter

“Duke, you literally vented right in front of us.” “No I didn’t.” “Dude, we saw you-” “Sounds like something an imposter would say.”

The crewmate who yells at everyone to finish their tasks

Damian:

This child is a little too good at being imposter

Keeps a poker face the entire time

WAY too good with his kills and sabs

Even if he’s not the imposter, Jason and Tim gang up and start accusing him during the meetings, just to get on his nerves

This is why he kills them first

Pretends to think the game is childish

Secretly plays by himself, like, all the time

100% bullies people in the ghost chat

Alfred:

Alfred does not do video games, but Cass managed to convince him to play, just once

No one knows what happened

The game barely started, and all of a sudden, everyone was dead and Alfred won

He didn’t hack it either, so no one knows how he managed to do that

To this day, it remains a mystery

The game ends up getting banned from the Manor after Jason and Damian arrange a “Real Life Version of Among Us”, and they’re the imposters, except they didn’t tell anyone about it. Let’s just say Tim almost did not make it out alive

[popculturebuffet]

The Owl House: Enchanting Grom Fright: Happy Valentine’s Gays

Happy Valentine’s Day owl ladies, gentleman and non-binary folks! It’s time to finish off this holiday in proper style with a LONG overdue review of enchanting Grom Fright and even longer overdue coverage of the Owl House.  The Owl House was one of the best debuts of last year if not THE best, only in contention because Close Enough also started last year and looks to surpass regular show in terms of quality. But with stunning animation, tons of representation, and colossal worldbuilding. And given how i’m on record for thinking Star Vs went so far down the tubes they bumped into where Cthulu is sleeping, it’s nice to have another magic based show that seems to be on the right track: carefully building i’ts world, supporting cast and for today’s topic main romance. It also rather than just obliquely hint one character was bi and the other pan, actually goes out of it’s way to have a bisexual protaginst with a gay love intrest. As my good friend @jess-the-vampire has brought up quite a bit, star had plnety of options. .but no willingness to actually campaign for any queer rep, the way Gravity Falls head Alex Hirsch tried to, he still gets credit for trying, and Owl House creator Dana Terrace gets full credit for. 

Terrace got her start working on Gravity Falls in line production before working her way up to directing for ducktales, being instrumental in how Webby was animated and how she moves and acts, and being the director for several classic season one episodes including “Woo-Hoo!”, “The Spear of Selene” , “Day of the Only Child!” which was one of my faviorites from season 1 and “The Beagle Birthday Massacre!”. And while I can’t 100% confirm she’s the only part responsible for starting Weblena, given she was director on an episode where a lot of the romantic subtext was in the visuals, she certainly helped so thank you Dana. Thank you a lot. Their adorable. Point is she’s a talented lady and wasn’t satisfied with directing, so she pitched her own show, combining tons of ides and stuff including of all things, Pokemon Red. I checked the article wikipedia had sourced, it was one of her happy childhood memories as it was one of the last things her dad gave her. Awwwwwww. That’s as sweet as it is painful. She’s also currently dating Alex Hirsch, something I was entirely unaware of but find also adorable. Point is i’m glad I looked into her as she’s a very nice person, and very much my kind of weirdo and i’m happy for her sucess and her singuarly weird show that sprung from that sucess. 

Now that part of it’s out of the way the episode itself was an uphill battle as you’d expect. As anyone familiar with this blog is aware, but just in case your new, you tend to hear me bitching about Disney’s handling of queer represntation a LOT

For the most part Disney’s pretty bad at it: There was the string of “FIRST GAY CHARACTER IN AN X” they had going for a while.. that consisted of a character I dind’t realize was gay, a kiss I didn’t see, and a talk with a character who I honestly wouldn’t of been looking for had disney not patted themselves on the back with some giant sized hands because htey saved some pym particles for that occasion. Ducktales was unable to have Penumbra come out as gay more clearly because I don’t know Ducks can’t be day.. but they can be IMPLIED to be gay or pansexual as hard as the crew possibly can so they win anyway. Pixar was able to have a gay lead character for one of it’s sparks shorts out and even focused on him coming out of the closet and it’s very good and something I WILL give Pixar credit for... but not Disney Plus who go out of their way to not mention the lead being gay.. despite the fact the short opens with a gay space cat riding a gay space dog out of a rainbow and then it being revaled our lead is in a relationship not long into the short. My point is the idiots who won’t watch this for having gay characters are just going to turn it off, who cares what they think, why are you like this Disney. They need to do better, and be better and i’m getting tired of this shit.

That being said... this episode is a step in the right directoin as despite having to get past one obstructive asshole, not her words but damn if it isn’t the truth, as the rest of hte execs were fine with having a gay character, Terrace fought hard for it and WON, having a clearly gay character, and a clear road to a gay romace as the lead one, all because she wanted some representation in her works. So to honor this, I present this review in honor of love, effort and saying screw you to not having represntation because money. Join me under the cut and allt hat. 

We open in the owl house, in the owl house, duck dodge push and shove, it’s how we show our love in the.. you get the point. Luz is learning yet another Rune, this time plant runes.. and already something I love about the series pops up: the fact Luz’s rise in skill is gradual but noticable. Each spell noticably improves in potency with time,  going from simple lights to shaping them into simple constructs, and learning to control or time her spells and glpyhs so they launch she she says so, with each one getting more powerful the more she learns. And on top of that osmething I just noticed on rewatch of this episode is her tecnique in finding them evolved, something I dind’t notice the first time because I hadn’t fully caught up and checked this one out to see if Disney would actually let them go through with it.. and they did. Point is her first spell is found by accident, her second by realizing how her magic works fundemntally, both require skilled deduction and on the fly thinking and casting, so she’s already pretty skilled.. but now sh’es ACTIVELY seeking out a new spell here for the first time. She knows how she gets them, she knows each school is tied to a form, and she likely got the plant from williow since that’s her thing and she’s a saint. A demon but also a saint. They can have those too. It’s what I assume relicor is. 

I miss that goblin demon bat man. Point is it shows an evolution in Luz’s thinking: while it’s a subtle thing she took a more proactive approach this time even if it took a lot of practice.. and it pay soff as by the time of her next rune, while it’s once again sorta handed to her she has less time to learn it, almost none, and finds it singed onto a ball.. and learns it effortlessly to the point where by the next episode it’s a crucial plot point. IT’s subtle but clever character progression, and stuff I really enjoy, showing our hero going from a bit inept but not helpless or incomptient.. to a force to be reckconed with and far more clever and strategic than yo’ud expect given her sometimes reckless and almost always happy go lucky attitude. 

Luz worries teaching King about the internet was a bad idea because he gets excited about a literal cat fight which .. yeah... it was a bad idea but not because of that.. but because next he finds someone saying the earth is flat and she wisely yanks it away. It’s.. very sad that the absolutley maddening and easily debunked flat earth theory is still RELATIVLEY more sane than the stuff we’ve had pop up during the trump era and the cornoavirus pandemic. 

But one of the main conlficts of the episode pops up as Luz’s mom messages her and Luz can’t bring herself to tell her anything and just sends a thumbs up.  I do think this episode helps even things from the pilot a bit as it was a bit lopsided: While I got that Camillia was genuinely struggling with how to deal with Luz, and was offered an out and had to take it... the fact she sees NO problem with the normalcy camp, which comes off intentioanlly or not a sa parallel to conversion camps or camps to make autistic kids “Normal”. And as someone whose both bisexual and autistic, I naturally relate to luz way more as someone whose intrests sometimes just don’t quite fit with everyone else, and who dosen’t get how bad some of their actions were.  THat’s why this episode feels like a necessary course correction: Luz is shown to genuinely love her mama and feel guilty.. but we see camilia genuinlely loves and supports her daughter a bit more. While it was clear from the pilot this shows it more, with her genuinely just wanting to know her daughter’s okay and checking up on her, and giving me the feeling that possible consequences or no if something bad WAS happening or she didn’t hear from her for a long time, she would’ve drove up there to get her. It feels like the writers realized the implications they accidently created and wanted to fix it, though I can’t say for certain. But if so good on you for course correcting, not every show does that. 

But King encourages her, telling her she’s doing the right thing by lying and to “trust the demon on your shoulder”. Keep this in mind for later, but that joke is great on it’s own. But soon i’ts time for school and Hooty.. barfs out Luz’s books for her. 

I haven’t been this disturbed since.. (Looks at the clock) About 2 maybe three hours ago when I watched a man have, if apparently shorter than the oriiginal cut as I wanted to see everyone else’s reactions dammit, sex with hiis car which was possesed by the mad ghost of his dead wife. Because that’s the kind of stuff i’m into when i’m not reviewing stuff. And before that Tinky.. just everything about tinky. 

I do not have enough time to get into TInky here or why he exestially horrifies me. Or why Jeff blim is a living god. I will save that for a proper review if I have the time tomorrow. Point is I saw a lot today and that still tops it. Willow and Gus are likewise grossed out and want to leave. 

Cut to school where Luz wonders what’s with all the decorations.. that remind me of this honestly

And frankly given the whole state of the boiling isles it REALLY wouldn’t surprise me if the decorations were indeed well cooked faces. But i’ts Grom time, which means elaborate gromposals (Some Dude asks Skara out with a beating heart and an elaborate medical proposal.. which.. points for effort. And for using an actual heart. Couldn’t get one for mine. ), dancing and someone being chosen for Grom Queen. WHich Willow hints isn’t as nice as that sounds. Before we can get into that though Amity bumps into them and gets into a tizzy before meekly greeting “Luz.. and Co”. which.. not going to lie.. is my faviorite gag of the season. Just htw way she adds them and just the way Willow and Guz both smile widely at it as if to say “That’s us!”. Amity drops a note and snatches it back. This will be important later, you all know why, point is Amity becomes Grom Queen.. and is heavily depressed with Luz following her to find out why.  At the gym.. she does indeed ifnd out why: Turns out Grom is not some mutation of an earthname but is based around a horrifying entity lurking beneath the isles, Gromethious the Fear Bringer, who emerges from his slumber once a year and must be fought back and brings out his target’s greatest fears. Just like groundhog day only with less time loops and rodent abuse. Amity is scared of hers, and i’ll obviously get into this more later, and Luz simply suggests asking bump to opt out and Amity appricates the support. Awwww. 

Luz heads home and we find out Eda is chaperoning and King is mcing. Eda is also rocking a suit. Just damn girl, damn. But Luz considers taking her place.. and gets laughed at, with Eda assuming she’ll have to save her and King just being kind of a dick. I mean he’s a loveable thoroughly cuddly dick but he’s still a dick... just more like a stuffed plushie of one.  So basically exactly like Tinky. Look I mention him more than once in this review he dosen’t put me in the bastard box. It’s a great system.  Naturally this makes Luz more determined than ever to prove herself and she finds Amity in the night, with Amity having been unable to get out of it.. and Bumps a resonable guy, he just wants a substitute and no one wants the job.. except Luz who galdly volunteers and insists ntohing scares her before the giant spider on the back of her head proves otherwise. Because of course it does, spiders are fucking terrifying. Kill then all.. except the pokemon ones. Galvaltula are sweethearts. As are Ariadoses. Sweethearts who can elctorcute or poison you but still. 

So the next way Luz begins preparing.. and by that I mean it’s time for training. Sadly we don’t get an episode of Luz and Amity getting trapped in an 80′s fashion montage... I mean yes Rise of the TMNT also did that plot the same year, but we had two diffrent plots about someone getting trapped in an eldtrich sitcom and a THIRD this year, all entertaingly unique. Though we do get Luz pulling out an otter suit that’s adorable and she sadly still hasn’t worn yet. “This one says i’m an otter, with a dark side”. She also got thrown out of a school dance for.. wearing an otter suit. Okay the other things we saw in the pilot were understandable but htis is just.. baffling. Who cares what you wear to a dance as long as it isn’t horribly racist of nothing at all. 

Damn you flanders and your glorious ass. Point is Amity shows up and threatens hooty’s life because.. he’s hooty. The fact he isn’t dead already is a testiment to how badass he is and how much money he’d cost Eda to replace. Owl Tubes don’t come out of a stygian hole in the unvierse every day you know. That’s only every three years. It’s basic styigan owl tube science. 

But Amity wants her to be ready and that she’ll have to face her greatest fear.. and cue hooty popping up, poking amity in the face and asking if she wants to know her greatest fear. Really he can clearly hear everything in the house given he heard that, so he heard the death threat he just chose to ignore it. That.. was a mistake. And by mistake I mean we get a hilarious cut to the outside of the house as Luz tries to stop her love intrest from murdering her second mom’s tube monster. The result is some bandages and an eyepatch. To be fair that last one was just flaring up from a  previous beating. 

For this solem task of training, Amity has brought in her local disaster bisexuals.. aka her twin siblgins Eldric and Elmyra, whose greatest fears are dying alone and being stuck with Eldric. Both understandable. They conjur luz’s greatest fears which are.. some of the funniest shit I heard all year.. and also very relatable. Human souls in cat bodies, which is genuinely terrifying good job Luz, Jerks on the internet who mansplain things, relatable, and soy milk. 

But Amity knows this is just the openign act. it needs to be something deeper.. so while Luz dosen’t realize it’s probably her mom issues she brings up her issues with her other mom: that Eda dosen’t think she can do this. Hence we get a giant eda putting Luz in a babychair. Before we can unpack how wrong that sentence sounded, Eda comes out, and marvels at how hot giant her is. But she’s quickly distracted from sex with a giant version of herself, which is not an easy feat, by the relization “Wait Luz is going to fight grom isn’t she.. fuck i’m going to have to save her”, though Luz holds firm on doing it to prove she’s fine and dosen’t need to be saved constantly. it’s a good conflict. Eda IS right that Luz is not ready for this alone, that she’s overcompensating and that Eda would, in normal circumstances be the one to rescue her. As we’ll see it’s not her who does it but still, were this any other foe she probably would be. But Luz’s motivations are equally understandable: She wants to help her friend not have to do this and she wants to prove she can do it. She just wants her mentor, the only person in her life up to meeting her that GNEUINELY supported her in magic to respect her. To have faith in her and actually see how far she’s come. And given how her own mother writes off her dreams, if not unrealistically, and before this she had no friends or support system to speak of outside her mom, it’s easy to see why this is so improtant to Luz: she just wants to make the one person in her life whose ever support her actually think it was worth it when in truth Eda already thinks it does and just dosen’t want her to die. 

She’s just not good with talking to her or not condescending to her as her own ego is stacked sky high, probably because the whole curse thing meant Eda was an outcast by default and the system wants to either chain her to one form of magic and one only or shackle her to them as a hired goon. Her ego, while justified, is also a defense mechanism: a way to shield herself from the fact almost no one cares about her and one of the few people who DOES, dosen’t care what she wants or needs. Once the curse happened she lost just about everything and had to rebuild and thus build up walls around herself and kept everyone else at arms length till Luz changed her for the better. It’s just a tragic clash of two wills both with similar problems but both unwilling to talk about them. 

But with time up, our heroes need to get to the diggity dance. So they indeed do and we get some fun sight gags, Willow makes corsages,  that one girl with the cresent head somehow ended up with Mathomule and is not happy, as anyone who ends up with him should. And it’s time for Luz to face her destiny.. in a tux with a tutu because of course, and Amity likes it because also of course. 

IT’s time to rumble, with King getting nervous due to eda’s prodding about mcing since his co-mc gus is really good at it, and introducing our champion.

No wait sorry he’s still trapped in Mojoworld. no it’s still Luz who shows off a seasons worth of skill by easily dispatching the first few fears and saying to grom let’s finish it.. before grom puts a tentacle on her head. 

It’s to downlaod her fear.. which is Camillia. Granted we could all see it coming but still Luz obviously can’t fight her own mother or her own overwhelming guilt.. her mom did hurt her.. but she gets why and just loves her and wants her to be proud but dosen’t know what to do: tell her the trutha nd possibly loose a happy and fufilling life or wait until it all blows up. It’s a painful choice. So luz and king end up running. King runs first because he can’t handle it and Gus talks him back into the groove while Luz runs away because she can’t fight her own mom, understandable, and Gus encourages king to lead the crowd which he does. Amity and Eda follow Luz. 

So Luz is backed down, facing down a monster tha’ts going to go on to everyone else next if she fails... and Eda prepares to interfere.. but it’s AMITY who faces her fear and dives in. And we find out just what her fear was as grom turns into a humanoid shape and rips the letter in half.. it was a grom invitation. Though conviently the who it’s adressed to was ripped out. 

And yeah not going to save this one: It’s Luz. You know it I know it I didn’t even hide it in the intro. Even before the reveal in a bit it was obvious. But it also makes perfect sense. I’ve avoided talking about her character arc up to this point because I was waiting for now. Amity’s growth is the third major arc of the season behind Luz’s slow learning of magic and eventually induction into hexside and eda’s curse, which I lump in with Lilith chasing her since both were mildly entertwined and then entirely are once the reveal hits in the finale. When we meet her she’s an outright bully.. but we slowly see there’s more there. That she’s not really HAPPY or content, is contstantly under pressure by her family name, is outright bullied by her own siblings who don’t understand her. So Luz coming in, seemingly only being intrested in magic because i’ts neat.. understandably bothers her. She’s not a great person, bullying her old best friend because tha’ts what’s expected and being close with outright bullies because of that.. but it’s through Luz she starts to grow, realizing Luz is genuinely nice and genuinely sorry for any trouble she caused Amity, and evne then both cases were causaed by Amity’s own dickishness and outside forces, so it’s easy to see why she defrosts faster. Her siblings realize they’ve genuinely hurt her, and actually try to be good siblings from then on and help her, and slowly Amity learns to truth luz, trust in her, and accept her... and thus accept her feelings for her. There are gradual hints she’s growing attracted to her.. but her walls had to come down first, and it wouldn’t of worked from the outset. The show cleverly has the two build a genuine friendship, two opposities who work well together, so when feelings do happen it feels natural. It’s not “I’m in love with this person because I have to because you can’t be friends with someone your attracted to” bullshit or anything like that, cough star vs cough, it’s just well built catching feelings. I’ts how this kind of thing SHOULD go: niether went in intending for this to happen.. it’s just happening. 

And Amity’s reluctance is painfully understandable, as Luz is the ONLY friend and support she has. Sure she and willow are patching things up, but WIllow would understandably choose luz over her and she’s terrified of loosing the one good thing in her life. Of course Luz would either say yes, and probably will some day, or let her down gently, she’s nice.. but it’s also understandable to be afraid that someone won’t take the reveal well. I’ve been there trust me, it’s easier when you let it out even if you get rejected, but I get it being hard to let out because you don’t want to loose a friend. I did not, and niether would she, but I can see why she wouldn’t want ot take the plunge. At least not yet. We’ll see this summer hopefully. 

But we do get a shiptastic, gorgeously aniamted scene of the two dancing an fightin gin perfect synch, combinging luz’s new use of plant magic with amity’s mastery of abominations resulting in the two utterly decimating grom, likely in part because with two fast moving targets he can’t get a lock on and likely nees more fear and mass to attack multiple targets at once. Or just more tendrils. it’s a quick, beautful sequence that’s utterly glorious, being framed as romantic as any hetero scene of the type and rightfully so. A triumph and well deserving of this praise. 

Our heros have won, get crowns, and King gets praise. All is well.. except Luz drops the crown once she gets home because she feels like she failed and feels lost about her mom.. though at least king gets it “I’m king and queen, best of both things!”. You tell em sister. 

So we end with Luz genuinely responding to her mom, with some montage stuff as we see Gus and Willow poke a fear blob, willow fears bugs, understandable and Gus fears clowns... 

Also understandable. Though I didn’t put up a bug picture because

And Amity looks out folornly into the night. Camilla responds to Luz.. and mentions letters.. which while Luz brushes those off.. we see someone sent them. And by someone I probably mean king since we now know only eda and him had acess to the portal, and given he was actively encouraging her to lie.. yeah i’m supscious. But we’ll see next season. For now this episode is fan fucking tastic, showing off tons of character development, being representative and sweet as all hell.. and being really funny. Tons of great gags in this one including the turtle guy from an earlier episode being forced to be adisco ball.  This is easily the series best so far and if you haven’t checked it out, please do it’s fantastic as is this show. Check both out. Until the next rainbow i’ts been a pleasure. Tommorow more disney shenanigans this time with pete. And also more of this possibly we’ll see what I get done. 

Goodnight everybody!

[adarlingwrites]

Dormouse

Summary:

After playing a game with two of The Beach's most dangerous members, the dormouse gets her tail caught by a tiger's paw.

He’ll make a wildcat out of her.

CW/TW: Non-con elements courtesy of Niragi

II

I never promised you an open heart or charity / I never wanted to abuse your imagination / I come with knives

“Game Start!”

Yamane shoves Sato behind a pillar, looking over her shoulder.

“Stay here and don’t move until I get back,” she instructs the younger girl, and Sato vehemently shakes her head.

“No! Don’t leave me, I don’t want to die,” she wails, and Yamane covers her mouth with her hand.

“They’ll hear you if you keep whining like that!” Yamane scolds her, panic rousing in her gut. She knows she’s being selfish; the kid is dead weight at this point. “We can’t stay together. If someone with a gun finds the two of us in the same spot, we’ll both die.”

Tears are streaming down the preteen’s face. Yamane’s expression softens, but she remains firm. “You have to trust me. Our chances of survival is higher this way. Stay hidden, and wait for the thirty minutes to run out. I’ll look for my own spot to hide in. Let those three take care of the other team. If the enemy finds you, don’t hesitate to fight back.”

With a reluctant nod, Sato finally relents. Yamane takes off her shades and places them in Sato’s shirt pocket.

“These are my lucky shades. I’ve gotten out of sticky situations while I had these on me. Hold on to them.”

Looking somewhat reassured, Sato wipes her tears away and nods. Turning her back on the preteen, Yamane slinks away to find a spot of her own. She quietly thanked herself for wearing dark clothes all the time. It makes it easier for her to blend in the dark. The only source of illumination in the arena are the futuristic neon lights.

“You’re being selfish,” a voice in her head berates her, but she presses on. Her survival comes first.

“Twenty minutes remaining.”

Loud shots reverberated in the enclosed space. The man with the rifle was randomly firing, making his presence known where he goes, almost daring the enemy team to seek him out. He sounds like he’s having fun and Yamane’s stomach turns. He’s enjoying the hunt.

On the scoreboard, one of the delinquents’ images got crossed out with a red X. At that point, Yamane felt relieved to be sorted with the dangerous men. She wouldn’t want to be in their line of fire.

“Team A has four players remaining.”

Then, Yamane hears the voices of the remaining delinquents.

“Man, that guy is a psycho! We have no chance against him and those other two crazy sons of bitches. We have to look for the girls,” one of them whispers, the trembling in his voice making his fear apparent.

“Shit, you’re right. They’re the weakest links, especially the kid.”

“Are we really okay with killing girls and kids?”

“Idiot. It’s either us, or them. We should take them out, then take out the weakest of the three. Then let’s hide from the two remaining psychos. As long as there are more of us than them at the end, we would survive.”

Yamane curses internally. They’re actively seeking her and Sato out now. She needs to find the men with the bracelets and rely on them for protection. That’s the only way for her and Sato to survive. Her street smarts can only get her so far.

“Fifteen minutes remaining.”

Waiting for the boys to pass, Yamane crouches and quietly moves from cover to cover, following the sound of gunfire. She makes a turn right, and comes face to face with one of the three men.

“You,” she whispers. “Hey, the boys are planning to target-”

With a loud bang, the man falls from a gunshot to the back, revealing the middle-aged man holding the smoking gun. On the scoreboard, the man’s face gets crossed out with a red X.

“Team B has four players remaining.”

“Shit!”

Yamane rolls to her side, narrowly avoiding being shot herself. Her bruised shoulder collides with one of the walls, and she holds back a curse, whimpering from the pain. Crawling, she rolls and sees the fallen man’s pistol, and she makes a mad scramble to grab it before hiding behind cover again.

As she crawled to cover, her wallet falls out of her skirt’s pocket.

Listening for the middle-aged man’s footsteps, Yamane leans against the cover, and when he’s near enough, she gets out of cover to fire, only for the gun to emit a soft click instead of a gunshot. The magazine is empty.

Instincts kicking in, Yamane yells as she tackles the man before he can fire his gun to her face. Still holding the empty pistol, she bashes the man in the head, over and over, until it was a bloody, unrecognizable mess. Hands shaking, Yamane puts the pistol down, and covers her mouth with her blood-stained fingers, looking at the corpse in disbelief.

Yamane killed someone.

The middle-aged man’s portrait gets struck. “Team A has three players remaining.”

Footsteps approaches from behind and she hears a laugh that seems to mock her.

“My my, looks like the mouse knows how to fight back after all,” the man with the facial piercings comments, stopping to admire Yamane’s handiwork.

Before she can retort, she hears Sato’s cries.

“Oneesan! Help!” the preteen sobbed, voice strained.

“Ten minutes remaining.”

As fast as her feet can take her, Yamane sprints towards the sound, taking her daggers out of their holsters. Desperate, she cries for Sato’s name, not caring if she gave away her position anymore.

While Yamane looks for the other girl in a frenzy, the man with the piercing notices the small black square near one of the pillars. He picks it up, and opens the wallet up. A few 100 yen bills and coins are nestled in it, along with Yamane’s IDs, one of which is her My Number card.

On it is some of her personal details. Minami Yamane. Born March 3, 1998.

And below that is her full address.

“Fumiko!” Yamane calls out.

“Oneesan!”

“Fumiko where are you?!”

“Please, save me!”

“Fumiko! Fumiko?”

There was no answer.

“Team B has three players remaining.”

Feet skidding as she turned a corner, Yamane saw the back of the delinquent boy, his bat, and Sato’s lifeless body on the ground, her neck twisted into an unnatural angle. Yamane didn’t have to look at the scoreboard to know that she’s dead.

“Five minutes remaining.”

“Well, that was easy,” the delinquent boy muttered, no hint of remorse in his voice. “One of the weak links is gone. Now for the other girl.”

Yamane didn’t know what came over her. She only knew this girl for a day, and she didn’t even want to keep her around, but hearing what that boy said about the two of them made her body shake with indignation. Then, something echoes in her mind, a memory from the decrepit pits of her childhood.

“Minami, you’re always the weakest link in this family.”

Screaming, Yamane charges at the boy and jumps on his back, her twin daggers sinking into his chest. With a strangled cry, the boy tries to shake her off, but Yamane holds on for dear life.

“Weak link’s right here, you piece of shit!”

“Three minutes remaining.”

Crying out in agony, the boy tries to shake Yamane off of his back, to no avail. Trying to dislodge at least one of the daggers, Yamane needed to finish him off so they could win. It doesn’t budge.

Then, she hears the gunshots and the slice of a blade, accompanied with screams of terror. Simultaneously, the other two delinquents’ portraits get struck.

“Team A has one player left.”

Relief flooding through her, Yamane will just have to wait this out. Or so she thought.

The struggling boy punches her injured shoulder, and Yamane lets out a cry, letting go of one of the daggers. In a last-ditch attempt to take her with him, the boy rams himself backward, bashing Yamane against the wall.

The mouse screws her eyes shut and endures the pain. They’re guaranteed to win now. She just needs to hold on. With another thump, Yamane crashes against the wall again, her bad shoulder colliding with it, pain blooming in the area once more, and she lets out a blood-curdling wail.

“Give it up, you bastard! Your team’s lost anyway,” she screams, pushing the dagger further into the boy’s chest.

“One minute remaining.”

“All my friends are dead, you stupid bitch! They’re dead! They’re fucking dead and I’ll be dead! But I’m taking you with me!”

Before the boy can crash against the wall again, slender fingers pull his hair, forcing him into a bow, and a katana slices through the boy’s neck, decapitating him. The blade misses Yamane’s forehead by mere inches; strands of her hair fell from her face.

Blood spurts everywhere, painting everything in the vicinity red, including Yamane’s face.

Holding the sword is the tattooed man, looking at Yamane with an intensity that halted her breath.

“Team A has no players remaining. Team B wins! Game clear. Congratulations!”

Pulling his blade back with little effort, the tall man didn’t say anything as the delinquent’s body slumped to the floor, taking Yamane with him. Pushing the dead weight off, Yamane retrieves the daggers from his chest with difficulty due to her trembling fingers and injured shoulder. She tucks them in her holsters, and shakily gets to her feet, looking at the severed head in horror.

Yamane tears her eyes away from the corpse, and turns to the person responsible for killing the delinquent. “Thank you,” she whispers to the tattooed man. He doesn’t utter a word to her. Yamane then gives him a deep bow, and limps away. She can feel his gaze burning her back once again.

On the scoreboard, a tally of their score was shown. The synthetic voice crackles over the speaker, announcing their score.

“Suguru Niragi. Two kills. Last Boss. Two kills. Minami Yamane. One kill, one kill assist.”

“Not bad.”

Yamane turns to who spoke, and it was the guy with the facial piercings, his lips almost touching the shell of Yamane’s right ear. She looks to her left, and the man with the tattoos is standing there too, sizing her up.

A warm tongue drags against her cheek, coupled with the cold sensation of a barbell piercing. This man just licked her. This man just licked blood off of her face.

“See you soon, mousy,” Niragi whispers, and smirks.

Paralyzed, Yamane could only tremble in her spot as she watched them walk away. The one with the piercings is toting his gun over his shoulder once again, striding confidently away from the arena, but the one with the hooded cloak and sword looks back at her, inscrutable.

“Last Boss, let’s go,” the one with the gun calls out to his companion, and Last Boss turns his back on Yamane, shuffling to the exit.

“What the fuck just happened,” Yamane whimpers to herself.

Taking tentative steps, she goes over to Sato’s corpse. The poor girl died with her eyes open. Gently, Yamane closed her eyes with her palm, and tears were threatening to escape her own. Then, her eyes wander to the shades she gave her. She picks those up, and begins to walk out of the arena.

If she were being honest with herself, Yamane is lonely, and having Sato around even just for a brief moment helped quell the loneliness.

With Sato’s dead, she’s all alone once again.

“You’re not lucky at all,” Yamane sneers, throwing the shades down the sidewalk and crushing it with her boot. Then, she starts the miserable trek home.

Exhausted, she pushes her apartment door open, and sees her reflection in the mirror as she removes her boots on the genkan. Bloody, bruised, and a total disaster, Yamane wanted to shatter her reflection on the glass, though her body is too tired to act on the impulse.

Stripping to her underwear, Yamane tossed her bloody clothes aside. “The blood is going to be a bitch to wash off,” she thinks. Cleaning herself off as much as she can, the mouse crashes on the couch, groaning as her injured shoulder bumped against the ear. She gives it a quick rub, looking for something to ease the pain, and she sees the box dye on the table.

Memories of the previous day move her to tears.

Sato was a stranger. She shouldn’t be shedding tears for her. It’s the harsh reality of this world: anyone can die. Yamane did the best she could to keep her safe, and she wasn’t even obligated to protect her in the first place.

Still, Yamane finds herself questioning if this girl’s death is her fault.

Sniffling, Yamane chokes on some painkillers and pulls the blanket over her head, which still smells like Sato’s cologne, too tired to move to her bed. She drifted to sleep with tears in her eyes.

Yamane is alive, and that’s all that matters. She’ll take what she can get.

There were no nightmares about the hellish things she had seen today, thankfully.

A sharp pain in her shoulder forces Yamane awake the next morning. In a hurry, she goes to the bathroom and sees it, the large purple bruise, tender to the touch, and her bone popping out of her shoulder socket.

The adrenaline from last night must’ve made her numb to her dislocated shoulder. It’s worse than she thought.

Though the previous game had given her extra days for her to rest, Yamane isn’t sure if she could heal completely before the next one. Even worse, a dislocated shoulder needs to be popped back into place. Though the injured one is her left shoulder, her non-dominant one, her mobility will still be affected.

Perhaps a trip to the pharmacy for more painkillers would help. Yamane made a mental note to look for the strong prescription drugs as well.

In the middle of getting dressed, she heard footsteps outside her apartment.

“Oh mousy! I know you’re in there!”

That voice belonged to the man with the piercings, Niragi.

“Holy shit, how did he find me?! What does he want?!”

Sweat is starting to form on Yamane’s brow, and she takes a quick note of her surroundings. Attempting to fight him might get her killed. Hiding in the bathroom would get her cornered. Her only escape would be the balcony fire exit. Yamane didn’t even bother finishing getting dressed and hauled her bag over her good shoulder, slinking as quietly as possible to the balcony as the pounding on her door grew louder.

The mouse came face to face with the tip of a sword.

Last Boss is standing on her balcony, and Yamane stumbled backward as he advanced. Behind her, she heard gunshots and the door being kicked open. The other man must’ve shot the lock.

A rat in a cage once again, Yamane found herself cornered at the edge of her bedroom by the men.

“Niragi, what should we do with the mouse?”

That was the first time Yamane heard Last Boss say anything. Niragi only snickers in response.

“How did you two find me?” Yamane asks, knees almost bucking from fear.

Retrieving something from his pocket, Last Boss takes out a black square. Yamane recognizes it as her wallet, eyes widening. The man opens it and takes out Yamane’s ID, before tossing the wallet aside.

“We didn’t expect that you’ll kill anyone yesterday, mousy,” Niragi taunts, pointing the barrel of his gun to Yamane’s chest. “Too bad you’re too slow to save your little sister. Who’ll watch your back now?”

Eyes widening in disbelief, Yamane gives him a cold glare.

“You’re making a lot of assumptions. She’s not my sister, and I can take care of myself, as I’ve shown you yesterday,” she replies, boldly, though her knees are shaking.

“Look at her, putting a brave face for us. How cute,” Niragi comments, turning to the tattooed man.

While Niragi was looking at his companion, Yamane bolted, but spindly fingers caught her and gave her injured shoulder a painful squeeze. Last Boss forces the mouse to her knees, and she stifles a broken cry. Niragi squeezes her jaw and makes her look at him.

“You are going to do as we say if you want to live,” Niragi hisses, dragging his tongue against Yamane’s cheek. “Stand up.”

Yamane doesn’t need to be told twice, with a sword and a gun pointed at her. “What do you want from me?”

“We want you,” Last Boss speaks up, pointing the sword to Yamane’s chin, and tilting it.

Yamane blinks a few times, and terror settles into her gut. Fighting would be futile, and so is fleeing. Freezing might only provoke them further. So Yamane does what she does best: fawn. Try to please them to avoid conflict and further trauma, just like she used to do long ago.

“Just as I thought. Men don’t change, even in this strange world, it seems.”

Taking a deep breath, Yamane reaches behind her back to unclasp her bra, and sheds the black skirt around her waist, leaving the two men staring in disbelief.

“Take what you want and get out of my apartment, then.”

While Niragi bursts out laughing and paces the room, Last Boss freezes, looking at her from head to toe with his mouth open. Bare and vulnerable, Yamane dared to raise her head, looking the tattooed man in the eye.

“Just do what you want to me then leave me alone!”

“Hold on, hold on,” Niragi almost wheezes, patting Last Boss’ back.

“Baby, if you want a good fucking, we certainly wouldn’t mind,” Niragi croons, his hand moving to fondle one of Yamane’s breasts. “But we’re not here for that yet. We’re taking you someplace nice.”

Furrowing her brow, Yamane covers her chest with her hands. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“After that stunt you pulled yesterday, we think the chief would like to have you onboard.”

“And what if I refuse?”

“You can’t refuse,” Niragi croons, his breath puffing against her cheek. That damned tongue flicks out of his mouth again, like a snake. The pattern on his shirt made Yamane associate him with the treacherous creature further. Niragi cocks his gun and points it to the woman’s chin. “Not with your injuries, you can’t. So what will it be, mousy?”

Looking at the two men back and forth, and weighing her options one last time in her head, Yamane gives them a relenting sigh. “Fuck. Fine. Let me get dressed. I don’t have a choice, don’t I?”

Pulling his rifle back, Niragi smirks. “Good girl. Watch her. We wouldn’t want our mouse to get away.”

As Niragi exits the room, the other man keeps his sword pointed at Yamane at all times as she picks up her clothes, his eyes not leaving her, but they roam at the expanse of skin. Yamane isn’t oblivious, and she’s not a virgin either; she knows where his eyes are going. Though he’s eccentric, or maybe outright insane, Yamane had seen that look before on faces of inexperienced boys she toyed with in high school.

“You could at least pretend that this isn’t your first time seeing a real woman naked, you know,” Yamane dares to chide him as she struggled to put her bra on. As she pulls her skirt up, cold, slender fingers close around the back of her neck, and Yamane tenses up, like a rodent trapped under a tiger’s paw.

“If you want to stay conscious, keep quiet.”

The grip he has on her neck is enough to make Yamane light-headed. Giving him two short nods, Yamane does as she’s told, and the pressure on her neck dissipates.

The mouse had decided that she’ll no longer attempt to piss this tiger off.

Sword pointed at her back, she descended the stairs, and Last Boss tosses her in the back of a car; a working car, to Yamane’s surprise. Niragi sits in the passenger’s seat, while a woman Yamane had never seen before is behind the steering wheel.

The woman looks at her through the rearview mirror and scoffs. “This is the thing you want to bring back to the boss? She looks like a wimp who raided a Harajuku goth store.”

Niragi chuckles, and from the corner of Yamane’s eyes, Last Boss is giving her one of his blank, wide-eyed stares.

“Just shut up and drive, Saiko. She’s our new pet mouse. That piece of shit that died in the game yesterday needs a replacement anyway. I think she has potential.”

“You can’t even refer to me by my name,” Yamane spits, making Saiko raise an eyebrow in amusement. “What makes you think that you have that dominion over me?”

“What a feisty pet you have,” Saiko comments offhandedly, eyes on the road.

All it took is Last Boss pointing his katana at her again for her to hold her tongue. Resentment roils in her gut at his power over her. Giving him a dirty look, the mouse crosses her arms and sulks in her seat.

“See what I mean?” Niragi chuckles. “We have her under a leash.”

“So, what’s your name?” Saiko asks her.

“...Yamane. Minami Yamane.”

Head bowed, Yamane grits her teeth as Niragi laughs. “See? Calling her a mouse is appropriate,” Niragi exclaims, placing his hands behind his head and leaning against the car seat. “Such a cute little dormouse, all trembling and afraid even after she beat a guy to death.”

Yamane didn’t say anything about his teasing, or ask him anything stupid, instead shooting for the important questions.

“Where are you even taking me?”

“The Beach.”

[smalltragedy]

* natalia dyer, nonbinary + she/they | you know philomena carmichael, right? they’re twenty, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, a day? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to the leanover by life without buildings like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole wind whipping around your hair, the gentleness of decomposition, a naked blur dancing around the flames of an everlasting fire thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is april 20th, so they’re a taurus, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( james, 22, est, they/them )

hi thank u all fr being so patient w me as i rapidly switch out muses n figure out wht the fuck im doing atm <3 also sry fr my rare presence work hs been kicking my ass like lets jst say i deserve 2 b smbdy’s housewife (misogny wins this time sry) so i nvr hv to work in my life <3 DFSLKSDHKGLFSHLKAGHLKAHLKSG this is a joke 2 clarify. anyways. this is philly she’s old bt she’s one of my very favorites ever. this intro is also old sry its nt in my usual. style. LKDFKHGLKGF

CANCER, TRAUMA, DEPERSONALIZATION / DEREALIZATION, DEATH, GRAPHIC MENTION OF DECAY, INSECTS MENTION TW.

mini playlist.

the girl who stole my tamagotchi ;; hot sugar / i dropped out ;; and the kids / pork soda ;; glass animals / wonderfully bizarre ;; bendigo fletcher / (dream) ;; salvia palth / alien blues ;; yundabar / dust in your pocket ;; glass animals / warm honey ;; willow / bela lugosi’s dead ;; bauhaus / gecgecgec ;; 100 gecs / blinding ;; florence and the machine / nantes ;; beirut / cherry-coloured funk ;; cocteau twins / not allowed ;; tv girl / oblivion ;; grimes / space song ;; beach house / dog food ;; 100 gecs / the leanover life ;; life without buildings.

statistics.

full name: philomena brontë carmichael

nickname(s): philly, phil, mena, etc.

birthday: april 20th, 2000. 

zodiac: taurus sun, scorpio moon, aries ascending.

mbti & temperament: infp & improvisor / phlegmatic. 

label: the halycon.

sexuality: demisexual.

pinterest.

biography.

a middle child belonging to christopher and imogen carmichael - two stanford professors. christopher specialized in british literature whilst imogen specialized in the classics. hence the name.

the order of siblings goes as such: lysander, elektra, juno, philomena, and twins orion & valora. the deal was that everybody had a greek (or in juno’s case, roman) first name and a middle name inspired by a piece of british literature circa 1800s and under. a family of nerds, if you will.

so, clearly - right off the bat, their parents are … eccentric. they’re both in love with their respected topic, and with each other, and with their kids. the carmichael family is a happy family.

they each have their own quirks and whatnot - though philly’s always been particularly dreamy - even as a child, she’d spend hours watching clouds or caterpillars or the leaves blow in the wind rather than play with other kids. she wasn’t a shy kid - she just had her own interests.

hardship doesn’t hit the family until philomena is five and starts having splitting headaches. they’re slow at first - but as soon as she’s seeing spots and unable to walk in a straight line, doctor appointments are made.

cancer tw // it doesn’t take long for them to discover the tumor, though the official diagnosis of malignant ependymoma comes a month later.

it’s grade ii but slow-moving, small enough to not be as much of a threat as worried, but big enough where removal is necessary. philomena earns a scar and brings it in for show-and-tell. for two months afterwards, philly’s at radiotherapy monday through friday.

they’re lucky - philomena’s considered cancer-free by the next year. she’s babied at first - handled delicately, as if she could break if touched - but with five other children … it doesn’t last for too long. end of cancer tw //

and life continues as normal.

her personality doesn’t shift much over the next few years - she’s awfully independent for a kid, and awfully quiet - when she speaks it’s about faeries and bigfoot, about how the sky is so blue and if you listen quietly, you can hear the leaves whisper their secrets to each other. this is not odd.

she’s close to all her siblings, but she idolizes her older sister - elektra. elektra’s six years older and dyes her hair whatever colors she wants. elektra bought a knife off a seedy guy downtown. elektra threw away all of her heels and renounced god. elektra is god. her music is loud but it’s not heavy - it’s florence and the machine.

they’re opposites - elektra’s boisterous and feels loudly, philomena’s softer and feels…less. when elektra sneaks out, philomena keeps watch. they are a duo.

philomena is smart - but she’s fifteen and hates school. hates sitting inside all day. hates the same routine - day after day - it’s all the same. her parents’ routine is the same, philly feels contained and she wants to live.

elektra’s twenty-one and just bought a brand new spanking (used but not falling apart) 19-something volkswagen … van - using her entire savings account. she says she’s tired of routine, she’s leaving the next day.

naturally, philomena stows away in the back and isn’t discovered until they’re two states away and she’s got to pee. elektra nearly crashes the van in shock.

it’s an argument - philomena vs. elektra, then them vs. their parents, then their parents vs. the school, the state - it’s an ordeal. philomena switches to an online program in the end.

it hurts christopher and imogen - lysander’s not having any of their nonsense, juno’s betrayed and alone - the twins are twins. in the end, it’s alright. the carmichael family is a happy family.

philomena and elektra take their time - it’s not a road trip, it’s their new life, permanently on the road. they stop and explore often - they do odd jobs in whatever town they settle in. they dine-n-dash, they shoplift. they survive in their own way.

during particularly desperate times, they two resorted to identity theft & credit fraud - getting away with it only by ditching the cards once they’ve made it out of state.

she drops out of high school officially when she’s seventeen - they have to drive all the way back to california to deal with the wrath of their parents and to deal with paperwork, but it’s done. philomena doesn’t know what path she wants in life - but it’s not that.

depersonalization / derealization tw // it’s during this time that the episodes occur - philomena’s outside her body, philomena’s wrapped in cotton, her memories are not her own. she’s looking in the mirror and she doesn’t recognize herself. they take shelter in a city for six months, long enough for her brand spankin’ new therapist to figure out what’s wrong with her. she’s diagnosed with depersonalization / derealization disorder - they think it’s stress. philomena doesn’t get stressed. they think it’s trauma. she laughs - she never laughs. depersonalization / derealization end of tw //

death, decay. maggots tw // there is trauma though, deep-rooted but somewhere inside - you just have to look for it.

you. just. have. to. look. for. it. look for it. look for it. look for it look for it look -

you were ten and she was thirteen, an off-trail hike in familiar woods in a familiar town, safe and familiar. it was your idea, to stray from the carved out paths, down creeks and up hills and round, and round again. you’re the one who spotted the scarf first, sticking up from the dirt and dancing in the wind like the beginning of reincarnation. it was not reincarnation, it was discovery. it was ruin. with curiosity drawn, you skidded down - with compliance, followed juno, followed your sister - clumsy in her steps and tumbling down quicker than you. you saw the corpse, but juno felt it. decaying flesh and maggot. end of death, decay, maggots tw //

and she left juno, just like that - just five years later, when juno had finally gone to the end of her wits. philly up and left. abandoned her.

philomena and elektra leave the city after that therapy session. they do not return. she’s always been good at hiding her secrets.

after ending up with warrants from their arrest in florida (after running from the law in texas), philly and elektra have wound up at irving <3 partially hiding from the law and partially bcos their trusty van’s broken down and they haven’t got the money to fix her up yet. 

personality & facts.

she’s quiet but she’s confident - her voice sounds like rustling leaves, if leaves smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.

often underestimated - philly’s petite and looks like she’d fall over if a plastic bag blew too close to her. she’s independent - for the most part. elektra is the only person philly takes orders from.

has always been considered odd - weird, strange. still talks about the trees as if they’re listening, as if they’re old friends. she’s vague and doesn’t elaborate on the things she says.

believes in pretty much any superstition you throw her way. luck is very important to her. if you ask her if the earth is flat, she’ll say probably. believes strongly in bigfoot and the lochness monster. has personally seen aliens, and loves ghosts almost more than herself.

she can be amusing - whether you ‘get’ her or not, her outlook is often bright - she talks about the negatives the same way she talks about the positives. can be seen as naive or gullible, but she’s plenty smart. even if half of her education has come directly from google.

philly doesn’t laugh. a smile, yes - often, in fact - not always reaching her ears, or bearing teeth - but these are not indicators of her happiness. philly is consistently content. she thinks many things are funny - she still will not laugh.

her voice is often monotonous - she doesn’t sound dreary, she sounds far-away. her voice carries. her emotions are often unknown to others.

is apathetic in most situations. she’s hard to bother - she’s incredibly patient and enjoys the company of most - tolerates them at the very least. it’s hard for her to express her emotions, because she feels them so little that it’s very nearly not worth it. her affection is not verbal - it’s small touches and gestures of kindness, love in her own way.

is a fan of knock-knock jokes and bad puns. she won’t crack a smile while telling you them, nor does she expect you to laugh. she just enjoys them.

she owns a motorola razr covered in puffy stickers - hasn’t ever had a smartphone. she’s a fan of emoticons. her favorite is :o)

has a lot of bruises and scratches and scars - she’s often getting herself into pickles. there are always, at the very minimum, three bandaids on each hand.

she has insomnia, so she’s awake often. is often seen wandering town - even when she shouldn’t be, even when it might be dangerous. her intuition is delayed. when she does sleep - her dreams are vivid and fantastical.

keeps a box of memories - sentimental bits and pieces she’s picked up over the last few years. there are a lot of buttons and postcards, but any teeny tiny object will do.

her style changes every week - most, if not all, of her clothes are thrifted. one week she’s baby spice and the next she’s lydia deetz. she combines pieces from different styles often - she looks like a barbie clothed by a child. she feels most comfortable like this.

will either patch-up the clothes that get too worn or reuse them in some way. sometimes donates the clothes she gets tired off - isn’t minimalistic, but she’s learned to keep only a small amount of possessions.

the only consistency is her lucky ribbon - it’s pastel yellow and silky and as thin as a shoelace. she ties it onto her outfit of the day, everyday. if she loses it, she’s lost. elektra has a matching ribbon.

has no problem with minor theft - she only takes bare minimum, puts herself and elektra first and that’s how it’s always been.

currently living in florence, their van, with her sister elektra <3 currently residing in lilac ridge.

they used to live in motels on the occasion, the cheapest room, and more often than not they’d both go home with strangers for a comfier bed and a hotter shower.

it was a common occurrence - she didn’t sleep with them - but somehow, she weaseled her way into their homes anyway. has come out mostly unscathed, on most occasions. this has been a practice ever since they’ve been on the road.

really, truly - has not slept with anybody, had her first kiss at thirteen with a frog. this doesn’t bother her. (smirks at leo)

will consume anything you put in front of her - isn’t picky.

listens to whatever they’ve picked up along the way but she likes instrumentals the best. her second favorite genre is 1990′s and 2000′s top hits. they’re nostalgic for her. third favorites? florence, of course. fleetwood mac. the bird and the bee.

loves storms - will go out in the rain and will risk her life for it.

owns a pair of roller-skates and is often skating rather than walking. unless she’s on grass - then she’s walking barefoot.

has many hobbies, and gets bored of them often. her favorite hobby is welding. she’s not certified.

also, juggling.

also, accordion.

the kind of girl who’ll do any job you give her. odd jobs are her favorite jobs. babysitting is her least favorite - but she does it anyway. has lost children before. have they ever been found? not by philly.

dyes her hair blonde often and cuts her own hair - bangs included - finds it cathartic, likes the itchiness of bleach.

everything she does is often in pursuit of feeling free, alive, and meaningful.

( like her frequent visits to the woods, late at night when the moon is high and full. it’s freeing to dance around a fire, stark naked in the cold. builds immunity )

comes and goes wherever she pleases, nothing & nobody can stop her (besides elektra).

has a certain knack for getting animals to like her. has too many ‘pet’ rats that reside with her, alongside a baby raccoon & a few crow pals. has a new animal companion everyday, but she doesn’t contain them or force them to stay.

wanted plots.

speaking through my third eye ... ;; philly is new in town n shes very strange. constantly lives in a state in which she does not exist (at least on the same plane). this is her harassing the locals. this is her slipping thru their fingertips as they attempt 2 understand her. they get close smtms bt philly jst. whisks herself away.

hollows of our eyelids ... ;; perhaps there is smbdy jst as strange as philly. i’m out here calling fr all the weirdos. lets be friends. lets hv philly n co go on adventures n discover horrible sites n uncover ancient secrets tht lie deep below irving. mayb nt tht. bt im jst saying. this is fr the dreamers. da weirdos. the jugheads. LHKDSHFSADLKGFHLSKADG fr those who also feel as if they r not real.

bills n aches n blues... ;; ya this is my call fr all negative plots. bills (catching philly be a thief and a fraud), aches (mayb heartache? unrecruited feelings or w/e theyre called?), n blues (ooooh so sad... so sad ... angst ...) obviously i am a genius. i wldnt say tht philly is here 2 make enemies bc philly doesnt care much abt ppl bt perhaps tht cld b an issue. tht she doesnt care much abt others. mayb ur muse is jst like. cn u pls care. n philly is like. i am incapable. sry. sucks.

n also ,, ;; like. anything i’ll. take anything. philly is weird lets come up w surreal plots tht verge on the edge of like. nt being correct fr this verse. suddenly theres vampires? or so they think ... smirks. anyways. shes been 2 jail n been in the circus (shoutout 2 kirby) n dances naked in the woods n hoards animals n treasures. we hv a lot to work with here obv.