#like hooray for finding out but oh man. oh man.

[skyfallscotland]

Quicksilver, by Callie Hart 🦋

She is moonlight. The mist that shrouds the mountains. The bite of electricity in the air before a storm.

Ohh boy. Personally I think she is none of those things, but that's me getting ahead of myself. God, I feel so anxious posting a book reaction after the Onyx Storm Debacle, but here we are, with a book I didn't love...again.

So...I started this one with a running commentary again (Throne of Glass style) but I couldn't quite commit. We will however approach it chronologically, because that's an easier way to show my thoughts as they evolved.

Would I recommend this book? No. And I’ll tell you why, but there are spoilers ahead so be aware of that.

Friends...I did not enjoy this one and I'm starting to feel like a crazy person. Is this just a massive reading slump? Or am I weird? Because everyone seems to think these books are the best thing since sliced bread and I've not liked a single one of them 😭

My first impressions? Saeris is so cliché. Like oh we're starving and can barely survive, you can see my ribs, but actually I can scale a giant wall and fight all these fully trained guards and win...ok, sure. It's giving 00's YA vibes but alright, I'm rolling with it.

I had no understanding of what it was I was doing, but if this was a world-ending gift, then good. Fuck this city and fuck this world. My family was already doomed, and what did I care for anyone else?

Bit dramatic, but whatever, I'll still ride with you. Who am I to judge? I did write Remi.

“I wear pants. Shirts. Things I can move easily in. So I can run, and climb, and—” Kill people.

"So cliché." I mutter to myself as I put the book down. Then pick it up again. Then put it down again and use the audiobook instead.

At some point, Layne would accept that I just didn't eat that much, and she'd stop loading up my plate with so much food. She'd slip an apple into her pocket for me or something.

*Deep breaths* Saeris would absolutely fit in on mid 2000's tumblr. Babe, this is such a weird flex to include when you’ve already made it very clear she was a starving orphan, ok?

We also met the infamous Carrion—more on that later—and her brother...who sucks. No two ways about it. I hated him immediately. Are there any decent book-brothers out there? Or just...no? I thought from the way he was acting he was going to be fourteen but no, he's like TWENTY, what the fuck 😭

So anyway, hooray! We've fallen through a portal to a new world and that's the stage set—then we meet Kingfisher. Oh man. Kingfisher.

Firstly:

This is a kingfisher. I just want y’all to know that. I know it’s not his ‘real’ name but it’s still what she’s crying out in rapture ok, a choice was made and it wasn’t a good one.

Anyway, surprise surprise, he's an asshole, but here’s the rub: he doesn't seem redemptive.

My jaw was screaming, I was clenching my teeth so hard. “Fuck—you—” “There you go again. Hungry, needy little bitch in heat, begging to be fucked…” he taunted. “Let. Go!”

I’m ok with enemies to lovers, but there has to be a hint at least that the ‘bad guy’ can be a decent person. There has to be something that hooks me about him—his entire personality can’t just be ‘asshole’, and above all, despite the fact he doesn’t like the FMC (even loathes her for all I care) he has to at least have some basic respect for her, otherwise I’m not down. That’s just my personal take, you don’t have to agree, but it makes me uncomfortable otherwise.

“I don't hate your kind. I'm just disappointed by how breakable you are. If I held you down and fucked you the way I'm imagining fucking you right now, I doubt that you’d survive it.”

Like that? That’s not cute or arousing in any way.

“That your body is betraying you in other ways. That I can smell you, Little Osha, and I'm thinking about drinking the sweet nectar you're making for me straight from the fucking cup.”

I do also think the smut was just not for me in this book, as a general rule, I did find it very cringe. Case in point ^

A FUNNY INTERLUDE:

—a look of rye amusement on his irritatingly handsome face.

LMAO this was meant to be wry, I assume? There were a few instances like this throughout the book, as well as typos and missing punctuation. Which, we’re all human, I get it, but it kind of annoys me a little when this was picked up for trad pub, pulled from KU (I bought it—twice!) and has since gotten a million dollar Netflix deal. Please, if we’re going to be doing that, the publishing house needs to edit the damn book. Honestly? I think it could have done with 200-300 less pages. A developmental edit was needed, let alone a final edit.

Anyway. Onwards.

So they make a blood pact, in which she agrees to basically do whatever the fuck he says, which is...tired. I'm tired. The book is tired. We're all a little tired here.

Kingfisher held out his hand and pulled me to my feet, making a derisive sound when he saw the cut I'd inflicted upon myself. “Baby.”

It’s just...this utter derision he has for her, his supposed (spoiler alert!) fated mate, that just gives me the ick.

Then there's this:

Kingfisher stunned me to silence when he dropped to his knees and started picking up the shards of broken cup. “It's all right, Archer. Hush, it's all right.”

Ok, this here is the first indication we get that he can be a decent person, and it’s not with her, it’s with some random character we’ve just met. Do I grow to like Archer? Sure, but right now I don’t know him from Adam, all this scene tells me is that Fisher is capable of respect and kindness, just not with Saeris. Be so for fucking real right now, that does not make you want to root for them. If this were your bestie you’d be screaming for them to run. This is the crux of it all. We had to get like 300 pages into this book for there to be a single hint of redemption in him and to me that's bad technique.

Clearly everyone else disagrees since they're out there praising it, but I've nearly DNF'd so many times by now, because you're 👏 not 👏 giving 👏 me 👏 crumbs. Please, give the reader something! It's all well and good for people to be out here going "well he's like that for a reason" (spoiler alert: the reason sucks, it's just the cliché 'I wanted to push her away for her own safety) but his reasoning means shit if people lose interest and don't get far enough to find out what it even is.

Note: by 'people' I mean the rest of the internet, not anyone here specifically, but since a few of you have said the same, just know that's a generalisation and I still love you! But I fear my point stands, his change of heart/any indication of kindness comes too late in the game for it to be an effective character arc (more on this later!!)

Anywho—

I shouldn't have moaned. I definitely shouldn't have told him that I wanted him. For the love of all the gods in all the heavens, why had I said that? I was going to throw up.

Same babe. Why did you? Why do you?

I couldn't believe we'd finally arrived here.

Me either!! 56% of the way in! We've basically done absolutely nothing but wander around and talk about how hot and mean he is for 300 pages but finally you're...doing things...with him 😬

Every part of me wanted to scramble from the bed and bolt for the door, but I knew that would be folly. Just like a hell cat, Fisher would give chase.

So terrified every part of you wants to bolt for the door...charming. Very hot. Love that for you.

“I could probably use a sho—” “Do not fucking dare finish that sentence,” he snarled. “I don't want a mouthful of soap and perfume. I want to taste you.”

Shower. She was going to say shower.

Another note, because I'm incapable of not shouting this from the rooftops when the occasion arises—vaginas are self-cleaning, there should be no soap or perfume going in there! You would have tasted her anyway you dumbass. You'd think he'd know that, given he's supposedly been in more of them than your local gynaecologist.

“And we can’t lie.”

*deep breaths* since WHEN? And that only makes it worse??

I'd imagined the words. Fabricated them out of thin air and somehow played them aloud in my own head in his voice.

Oh, hey Violet, how did you get here?

So anyway, then we enter the final conflict? Confrontation? Where she needs to go and save her newfound mate from under the mountain the bad guy's place! (oh and there's vampires, did I mention that before? No? Well there is now).

Anyway, turns out Rhysand Kingfisher was trapped there for 110 years with big bad Malcolm, who it's implied sexually assaulted him during that time, but we never address that. Why? Well this is romantasy and we only have six-hundred pages, why would we? Just throw traumatic experiences in there for the sake of it, why not?

Anyway—

“That's right. Fifty-five. He spent the next eight years trying to find the coin once he reached the center, didn't you, my love?”

I'm?????

55+8=63... what happened to the other 47 years? Guys? I'm????

Whatever, who cares about math! We're on the escape until—WOAH.

“It can't see or hear you. It tracks movement.”

Don't panic, don't panic, we all know how to defeat the middengard wyrm whatever that thing is! And we do. But not really, because everything in this maze regenerates, just like romantasy plotlines.

More fighting, more evil villain monologuing, etc.

THEN Saeris has to go and find a coin to break the blood oath Kingfisher made with big-bad, even though big-bad said he broke it himself five minutes ago during his evil monologue in order to make Fishie confess to...things.

“I release you from your oath to us, Kingfisher, Bane of Gillethrye. Now, go on. Tell your friends all about the deal you struck with us all those years ago.”

But no matter, we're off to find a coin and no worries, we've got that down! Of course in the process Feyre Saeris dies and gets brought back to life again as an all powerful fae/vampire queen hybrid. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT?

Not me, even I couldn't have predicted that double-doozy. Probably this guy though:

Zareth. God of Chaos.

Which? NO. Nope. No. Too late. FAR too late in the game for this. I'm out.

The way we went through so many boring pages of nothingness to this in the last 20% is truly something.

OK! SIDE CHARACTERS:

Danya was a complete and total waste of everyone's time, she existed only to be the bitchy, elitist mean girl side character who was mean to poor Saeris and occassionally made her jealous. This one-dimensional treatment of female characters grinds my gears. Even Everlayne, Kingfisher's sister was entirely useless, making Saeris the special female unicorn. Pretty sure this book fails the Bechdel test.

Ren was nice, I liked him, poor long-suffering man that he was.

Lorreth. Man, y'all can't shut up about Carrion and you're really sleeping on Lorreth. This man saved me from DNF'ing, he was fantastic. Put some respect on his name! 10/10 no notes. The guy you'd actually want to get with if this book were real.

He'd still looked dumbstruck as he headed off in the direction of his tent, cradling Avisiéth like a baby in his arms.

Carrion. CARRION. Ok straight up...is that really a word we want to be using as a name? Really? Is it relevant? Like did we do that on purpose because he somehow reflects roadkill? I figured we'd find out, but NOPE 💀

Who fucking knows at this point though whether it is his name. I doubt it, given Kingfisher's name is apparently not Kingfisher either. Personally though I still think that should have been addressed in the book. It's over 200k words, you can tell us why certain nicknames exist.

The thief held up his hands. “You're right. I apologize. I'm just a little on edge right now. I'm not my best self.”

Hilarious, there to cause trouble most of the time, 10/10, almost no notes.

“Are you going to tell me about my parents, or are you going to start undressing each other? Because I can leave. I don't have to, but I can,” Carrion said.

Except the part where he turns out to be a thousand-year-old fae too and a secret, mystery, vampire-killing-prince dude or whatever, there's a note about that and how it's kinda unnecessary to drop in the final 5%. Was it foreshadowed? Not effectively, no. Also Carrion Daianthus? Roadkill, crows, and...pink flowers? Yeah. That's him. That's the one 💀

Onyx. Token wild animal taken in as pet/familiar trope. She can have this one. He's cute.

Elroy. Dude's definitely going to become important again. How much do we wanna bet he's Fisher's dad? Anyone?

Anyway, this was wildly chaotic and I don't really feel bad about it because so was this book. It started out well in the first 5-10%. It was a slog to read between the 10% mark and 60%. Honestly, it only got better once they'd fucked for the first time, which was because Kingfisher's character did a 180 overnight with a big fat handwavey motion, like our FMC's magic coochie cured him of his violent tendencies. Like not to be crude, but I'm not sure there's any other way of putting it.

I think it's just not a great book, which I also think is a shame because the world is interesting, I loved the parts of alchemy we got (which weren't enough, imo) and the swords, the magic, the portals, the quicksilver, etc. I think it had so much potential and that's ultimately why it also bothers me so much as well. It feels squandered through a lack of refinement and editing.

Will I read the next one? Maybe. I'll let someone else take the hit first and see if it's any better paced this.

This has gone on long enough lmao, so I'll just leave you with one last quote that I think really sums up this book so, so much:

“Not that. The brother part,” she said in a loud whisper. “That’s not common knowledge?” “Well, yes. And no. It's just not spoken about. And it's very, very complicated.”

Yeah...

[puppetmastery]

im just thinking about that shit now. like i was the one making all the money for that house despite not being on the lease and working at a mcdonalds for 11 bucks an hour. he had too many animals. 2 cats, a quail in a tank, like 4 different bird species in a cage sized for a single bird, a snake (that was mine for a bit), two pigeons on the porch, and a tank full of guppies. the birds were loud constantly and it made it hard to sleep. there were fursuit scraps and all kinds of colorful junk everywhere. things were dirty unless i cleaned them. i had to walk or bike everywhere for miles in 110+ weather, including to get groceries usually. coming home from a busy mcdonalds closing shift to a loud dirty house in an apartment where i didnt even have a bedroom for the first several months. no wonder my shit cracked like an egg for a while there

[leatherbookmark]

(in which the caption is a picture)

bonus (my girlfriend):

[sockmeat]

angel dust x protective male reader???

                                                        𓆩♡𓆪

✼__________________________________________________________✼

𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 -- 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐃𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒/𝐎... (𝑯𝒂𝒛𝒃𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍)

(𝐰𝐜): 342

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: Angel Dust would absolutely thrive with a protective man.

(𝐀/𝐍): i finally have an eye appointment yippee hooray

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠(𝐬): angel loves his boyfriend (gone wrong) (gone sexual.....)

                                                        𓆩♡𓆪

♡ Oh, he fucking lives for it

♡ The very first time it happened was when you two were out shopping and a stranger approached him

♡ They recognized Angel and tried to pick him up for a night, even insisting when he already declined

♡ So, naturally, you made that demon bite the curb

♡ And Angel fucking *swooned*

♡ He never imagined anyone would want to do that for him so willingly, but you didn't even think twice

♡ He tried to make out with you over the body but you were able to pull him away (you are literally the only one of you that cares about his image atp)

♡ Ever since then, he's been itching to see it any time the opportunity arises

♡ His favorite thing to do when somebody's flirting with him is run and hide behind you

♡ He knows you won't hesitate to knock them down a few pegs in any way you need to

♡ He thinks it's hot how quick you are to defend him, but he also finds it makes him flustered and goopy

♡ You like him that much?

♡ Catch him kicking his feet and giggling late at night over this shit

♡ However, he gets a little nervous when you turn your attention to Valentino instead of random demons

♡ He has a lot of fear harbored toward Valentino because of everything that he's done over the years

♡ This is literally the only time he will not want you to go batshit on somebody

♡ However, I believe in self care, so I'm saying that you can overpower Valentino

♡ You don't kill him, you don't know if that would hurt Angel considering their contract, you just rough him up and threaten him a bit

♡ Now Angel is back to swooning

♡ Swear to God doing that is virtually on the same level as proposing

♡ It's also great foreplay

♡ In short, Angel never feels more loved than when you beat people up <3

[kairiscorner]

the man, the myth, the legend himself dr ratio veritas ... is now made public !!

fyi . . . i have a bot request form you guys can send requests to !! updates are slow, i apologize (⁠｡⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠) but i'll try my best to get through them, and i will only do requests that fall within my comfort zone !!

DR. VERITAS RATIO

“if one day your brain shows symptoms

of dullness, then please

give the doctor a call.”

ᯓ★ catching a glimpse of him working out.

you couldn't, for the life of you, tolerate such an arrogant and narcissistic smartass like veritas ratio... but oh, you wouldn't mind seeing those muscles and that handsome face of his again, even if he himself pissed you off. luckily (or unluckily) for you, your little trip of seeing him at the gym to hand over some important documents gave you quite a good view of this egotistical man.

ᯓ★ he couldn't understand you.

to dr ratio, nobody in that damned guild really lived up to the vision he hoped; none of them shared the same sentiment or kind of intellect he possessed, and it made him frustrated and somewhat... lonely.

that was, until he met you. he had acknowledged nobody before as a genius, nobody but himself, until there was you. but there was one thing this genius couldn't decipher about you... and it was the fact you did not seek to eradicate the plague of ignorance with him in the intelligentsia guild.

why, oh why, did you reject his offer to expand the universe's knowledge with the greats... only to be a humble servant for others?

ᯓ★ your academic rival.

veritas ratio prided himself on the fact that nobody could come close to his achievements and intellect at his university, he was just that good at everything he did.

however... you ruined his peace of mind and decided to give him a run for his money by taking his spot as the top student last semester by a few points.

though, as much as you both had a mutual distaste and rivalry for each other going on... you two were paired together for an important project. and of course... you had to work together. hooray.

ᯓ★ nobody thought he would be a family man.

not a single soul that knew dr ratio ever had the feeling that he would settle down with someone he would love more than himself, than his books, theses, and knowledge–let alone have a child with them.

however, you and your child with him are living proof that even a man as cold and critical as him are capable of loving and finding their purpose as not only a scholar, a professor, a doctor... but as a parent.

ᯓ★ your ex husband.

after being married to dr veritas ratio for three years and ending your union with him after such a fruitless and one-sided relationship... you had felt so liberated, as if all those years with him were just a bad memory for you.

however, when you went out to dinner at a high-end classy restaurant, the very last thing on your mind that time was the chance of you seeing your ex husband again... only for that one slim chance to come to fruition, with you being face to face with the man who seemed to never love you when you two were together.

his amber eyes gazed back at yours with a hint of longing in them, of endless nights of longing for you, his ex spouse...

ᯓ★ he wants to be your only one.

dr veritas ratio is a universal level problem solver; capable of engineering such helpful devices that saves planets and star systems across the galaxy, delegating on important issues for the good of humanity, and an important doctor that alleviates the malady of ignorance... with 8 PhDs to his very famous and well-known name.

...it shouldn't bother him this much that you're so obsessed and giggly about a bunch of pixels across your screen that utter binary code that translates into words you comprehend... right?

then why is it that as he tries to relax in his bathtub that he can't seem to get that release he's seeking from the pent-up frustration he gets when a character from your favorite game compliments you, gives you gifts, or... says they want you to be theirs. surely, he can find a solution to this finicky problem he has to make you his again, no...?

[little-sleepy-owl]

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫,

who is a virgin and wants him to be their first. gender neutral, not so much explicit, but still smutty, as usual. Alastor is his own warning. kinda.

this one took me a while for several reasons. mostly because life is a bitch, but also because it was a really hard piece to write. I'm asexual myself and this is heavily self-indulgent. I wanted to maintain this treat of his, but still explore the sexual aspect of the relationship and the way asexual people might participate in it. so... yeah. proceed with understanding of this.

oh? so, you're just like him.

the only one who is not surprised whatsoever. isn't it supposed to be that way?

though there are a lot of vulgar people around. he might even praise you for keeping your chastity for so long.

but… becoming your first?

“Truly, my dear? That's quite the favor to ask a gentleman!”

it's less about being repulsed by the idea of intimacy (it doesn't sound bad if it's with you) and more about not wanting to step into a completely uncharted territory.

that's a first for him too, after all.

give him time. he needs to research some things before he's ready to try.

a week or two later he suddenly appears out of the shadows in your room with loud static noises, scaring the shit out of you, and announces that he would be very pleased to take the offer!!

hooray..? (please come out from under the bed, darling.)

now, just like Husk, he is an old-fashioned man. for him, this could only happen after a nice date.

he prefers a simple stroll around the city arm in arm, and having some coffee with you.

you can sense that he's a tad nervous, but also deeply thrilled. his posture is a little stiff while walking, ears, usually unmoving, twitch slightly here and there. it's cute.

you also notice he's more physically intimate with you today than usual. sitting a bit closer to you and leaning in subtly, so you can feel his warmth. gently covering your hand with his own. reaching to fix your hair, touch feather-like and making your heart pound in your chest.

none of it is sexual in any way, but the difference in his demeanor doesn't let you forget your plans for the night even for a moment.

judging by the sly curve of his smile and very attentive gaze, this is one hundred percent intentional.

inclined to take you into his own room after the date. if you're not against the living forest in the background.

(I suggest you accept the offer. fireflies would be a very romantic addition to your night.)

he needs to talk things out first.

“Let's discuss some rules of our… little arrangement.”

the rules are quite simple, although you might find them odd.

he will not take all his clothes off. especially not the lower part. pants stay on no matter what.

his hands, his mouth? all for your pleasure, darling. no limitations here.

and maybe, if you behave yourself and ask nicely… his shadows, too, can participate.

he merrily refuses to elaborate on what “behaving” means for him exactly. it's simply more fun that way, isn't it?

jacket tossed inside, sleeves rolled up. honestly speaking, it already feels too revealing. you don't think you ever saw so much of his arms or his neck before.

he is in a white shirt today, clean and pure, like the snow on the mountaintop. pristine even.

you never saw this, either.

he follows your gaze and his smile turns a little unsettling. you shiver, suddenly feeling like you are the one who's exposed here, even though you haven't taken off anything yet.

“No blood to stain it today, my dear,” he coos, adjusting the shirt slightly. oh, so usually he wears red for–

you don't want to continue this thought right now.

he's very insistent on undressing you by himself.

he uncovers you like you're his birthday cake in a cute present box. slowly removing every ribbon, carefully taking off the wrapping, anticipating what's underneath.

his hands are cold, but his eyes are heated, even somewhat hungry. and so, so intent.

he drinks on your every shiver, on the way your lips parts ever so slightly to let out a small gasp, on the goosebumps that run on your skin, when he leans in to nibble on your pretty neck, right beside the quicked throbbing of your pulse.

he hums an old tune, seemingly lost in exploration of your body and the way you respond to his touch.

he's eager to learn and very observant. he changes the pace the moment he notices you feeling uncomfortable. he discovers what makes you respond well and uses the knowledge without any shame.

but he also does very much love you telling him what you want him to do with that cute trembling voice of yours.

that's what eventually earns you the shadows taking part in the whole fun. if this is something you desire.

if you weren't satisfied before, you most certainly are now.

expect him to restrain you. he likes to see you squirming under his touch, unable to set the pace. he does everything deliberately slow, so you would beg him to give you more and do it faster.

he's very controlling in general, and although he takes into account what you want, he will also act on his own whim.

it honestly seems that he likes teasing and tormenting you to see your reactions much more than the physical aspect of it all.

humor him, and he will reward you accordingly.

but don't let him get too lost in it. he has a tendency to forget that you're not merely a toy to play with.

set some boundaries and you'll be alright.

once you both decide it's enough, he's a thoughtful gentleman again, bringing a glass of water for you, and helping you clean yourself up.

will let you rest your head on his lap, gentle light of fireflies surrounding you.

he sings a shooting melody, letting you peacefully drift off to sleep.

[rinxelea]

alleyway secrets. | toji fushiguro

wc. 1.1k

tags. pwp, friends with benefits (kind of?), public sex, breeding kink, size kink, choking, dacryphilia, no aftercare, unresolved feelings, use of afab terms. toji dies in the end canon-wise but the reader doesn't know lols.

preview. you had one rule for yourself: no going back to toji fushiguro. so why were you here again, in a dirty alleyway with your legs wrapped around his waist, your hands slung around his neck, his cock deep inside your hungry cunt?

"oh my god," soft, breathy moans are punched out of you as toji feeds his length into your aching cunt, muffled slightly as his hand covered your mouth. "shit, toji, slow the fuck down—"

toji clicks his tongue, letting out a low chuckle underneath his breath. his cock is thick, pressing up against your gummy walls and reaching places you didn't know existed. his grip on your waist tightens as he meets resistance, his brows furrowing. "fuck, girl. you're even tighter than i remember."

"that's why you need to slow down, you—oh, oh, fuck." your whines echoed through the alleyway as toji withdrew his cock only to push it inside again with renewed fervor. you watch with lidded eyes as his gaze remains locked on your cunt swallowing him, stretching and straining against his length. the brick wall he has you up against rub uncomfortably against your skin, but the way pleasure sings with every touch of his makes you forget about it.

"there you are," he murmurs, a lazy grin on his face as he bottoms out. he turns his eyes towards you, pride rearing its ugly head inside him as your mouth falls open on a silent moan, your head thrown back. when he speaks, there's an undertone of condescension in his voice. "oh, good girl."

"fuck you." you shouldn't be here. your bag of groceries from the nearby convenience store sits forgotten on the ground. your apartment is a five minute walk away, the orange hues of the sunset already making way for the hues of indigo. you had a mental whiteboard with the words: 3 weeks without fucking the strange old man who used to be your neighbor, hooray! written in red ink. you had one rule for yourself: no going back to toji fushiguro. so why were you here again, in a dirty alleyway with your legs wrapped around his waist, your hands slung around his neck, his cock deep inside your hungry cunt?

"oh, but i am." toji grins, moving his hips in shallow thrusts as you get used to his size again. your cheeks burn as you hear how wet you are, how eager you are to take his stupid fucking cock. "hah. missed me?"

it doesn't take long before he's speeding up, his deep, fast thrusts taking the wind out of you and have your hands scrambling for purchase. he's long given up trying to muffle your pretty noises; he prefers to hear them, anyway. and if anybody walks in on the two of you, that's your problem.

"toji, toji—" you gasp as he hits that spot inside of you that make you see stars. your fingernails dig into his shoulder from how hard your gripping them. "i can't, fuck—"

toji hums, adjusting your position so your legs sat on his shoulders and he's closer than ever before. his face is so close to you that you can feel the warmth of his breath, his eyes trained on yours. then without warning, he's thrusting up into you again, his cock going deeper than you thought possible.

"oh, god!" your eyes roll to the back of your head as the head of his cock brush up against tbe deepest parts of you. loud, unbidden moans fall from your lips effortlessly, unable to bite them back now that he's fucking you like this. it's so good it hurts, but with toji you find that you quite like the pain of it, too.

it isn't long before you're babbling, murmuring incoherent words as toji fucked you against the wall. it only illicits a chuckle from him, but you relish in the fact that he sounds as breathless as you feel.

"can't get enough of this cunt." he presses his thumb on your clit, grinning boyishly as you yelp and try to get away from him. "shit, you're still so sensitive." he rubs your clit and watches as little beads of tears collect in the corner of your eyes, falling down when you close them. he presses his cheek against yours, licking up the salty stream of your tears with a groan. "can't get enough of this cock, too, huh?"

"you're a freak." you manage to say, straining to look at him. toji raises his brow, his hand letting go of your waist before travelling up to your neck, holding it there loosely. his touch makes your shiver.

"oh, yeah?" toji tightens his grip, and your cunt tightens around him in turn. he laughs. "yeah, right."

the coil in your belly is threatening to burst. you're so close, you can taste it, and by the way toji's thrusts are getting sloppier and harder with each turn tells you that he's close, too.

"kiss me." it rushes out of you like a gasp. "fuck, toji, please. kiss me."

there's a look of surprise on his face before he chuckles. he indulges you, kissing you slowly as he pulls out almost the entirety of his cock, the head of it kissing your greedy pussy, before pistoning in again, your legs shaking as it swallows up his entire length. once, twice, thrice - then he's cumming inside of you, his groan muffled against your lips. your orgasm crashes into you the same time his does, your moans swallowed by his mouth on yours. the warmth pooling inside you as he fills you with his seed makes your chest flutter with want despite yourself. god, he's going to be the death of you.

you catch your breath in silence. in tbe afterglow, you finally get a good look at him. he looks the same as he always does, but there's something different you can't quite place.

"i told you, toji." you say, and you hate the way you still sound breathless. you meet his eyes, subconsciously trying to memorize the planes of his face, the way sweat coats his tanned skin, the way his hair stuck to his forehead, that scar on his lip. "no more of this."

"alright." for the first time since you've known him, toji smiles. it isn't kind, but it isn't mocking, either. something in your stomach twists. "no more of this. got it."

when he sets you down, you try to ignore the way your legs wobble and shake. you busy yourself with straightening up your dress and picking up your bag of groceries, mind woefully still in a high from his - ahem - generous fucking. when you look up and try to find him, he's gone. if it weren't for the sticky cum dripping down your thighs, you would have thought that he was a product of your imagination.

you sigh and start to walk to your apartment. it's no use, trying to get a hold of a man no better than ghost that appears and disappears whenever it pleases. yet, you can't deny that some part of you feels disappointed that this was your goodbye.

...

perhaps a ghost was quite right.

after that, you never see him again.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Flufftober prompt 1: First kiss (Caine x Reader)

using this list as a reference! I'm actually currently writing this in mid may, but i got too excited to wait for october and due to my desire to make most of the prompts short fics, and my chronic issue of getting burnt out... im starting early! hooray! plot: the reader realizes that they have never kissed their boyfriend, Caine, and they want to change that! notes: reader is gn, established relationship, short fic, not proof read we die like gummigoo, possible OOC due to admin not being used to writing dialogue and caine is... caine word count: 764 cws: none

Much to the shock to many of the circus members, you and the ringmaster had become an item at some point in your stay in the digital world. Common questions you are are "Why?" or "What do you see in him?" and sometimes even "For all we know this could all be his fault... doesn't that bother you?"

You won't lie, the theories did get under your skin every once in a while, but it was never enough to make you step back from your partner. Asides from the chaotic in house adventure, he never really gave you a reason to distrust him or keep your distance. He spoiled you whenever he was given the chance, sometimes he would craft the adventures with you in mind. He never once intentionally put you down, really only making you feel bad on accident due to him not fully understanding human nature and emotions.

He planned dates, he gave you gifts, and he loved up on you whenever you gave the green light. Hand holding, hugging, cuddling, or just generally clinging onto you. Though, it's now as you sit across from him that it strikes you: of all the interactions you two shared, he's yet to kiss you. How can he when he's just teeth?

He sat there, chattering away. The way his jaws morphed and shifted gave the impression that they weren't... stiff...

You wave your hand to get his attention, and he stares at you; teeth parted enough to look at you. "Did you have an idea for your next adventure, tomorrow?" He propped his elbows on the dinner table and leaned towards you. Was that what he was talking about?

You chewed your lip, and stared at the curves of his jaws. "I was thinking about something, just not that," You said, and as expected he focused all of his attention on you- at least more than he already had. He leaned in closer, "Well don't keep a man waiting!" He perked his "chin" on his hands as he stared right into your soul. A little unnerving, but you had gotten used to that look.

You ran your teeth long your lips, sucking them in slightly before releasing. "Well," you began, and his eyes seemed to widen. "Well I was wondering if I could have.. a kiss?" You pulled a nervous smile across your face in a meek attempt to make the line feel less awkward in the air. He seemed to freeze a little, attempting to speak before stopping himself as the first syllable came out. You thought you had said something wrong, but the tension was quickly shattered as Caine began his chatter.

"Oh I thought you'd never ask! I was waiting for you to make a move, you know!" He chuckled before pulling out a bottle breath spray, sticking his tongue out and spraying it a few times. You vaguely wondered if it made his eyes sting. It didn't even cross your mind to wonder if he had the bottle on him at all times... or had he just pulled it into his existence with his powers?

He planted his hands on the table and leaned in close to your face. Almost to your horror, he "puckered up" or at least the closest he could get given his anatomy. His jaws formed a similar shape lips would make, the teeth sticking forward just a bit as he waited for you. You rose up to meet him, eyes darting across his teeth to find out where exactly to kiss. You settled on kissing between his top front teeth.

You were barely able to keep your lips to his teeth before he seemed to explode into a flurry of emotions. His eyes blue screened between his teeth, white text flashing across them. Star like sparks flew into the air followed by a thick billow of steam from his top hat. Never had you seen such a reaction from the ringmaster, and you were beginning to worry that you had somehow broken him. Within seconds he would regain his composure, before fanning himself. For such a small action, it seemed to really stick him in a bunch. The steam and sparks dissipate as he melts into his hands, jaws slack to look at you.

"Not bad for a newbie," He teased, and readjusted his hat. "Perhaps sometime I could give you a pep talk, come on what was the hold up for? Where was the confidence?" He continued.

This would only serve as the beginning to a new era of growth in your relationship.

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

Heyy, how would the main 10 skeletons react if their S/O dislocated their knee? I legit just dislocated my knee and it hurts so bad 😭

Undertale Sans - He immobilizes your leg with blue magic so it hurts less and he teleports straight to the hospital. He stays calm externally and jokes with you to keep you calm, but man, he is screaming inside. That's a sight he for sure didn't need to see. It's haunting him.

Undertale Papyrus - He doesn't know what to do about that? If it was his knee, he would just pop it right into place but he's a little scared he might make things worse with how strong he is. But seeing you whine on the floor makes him act anyway, he can't let you like this. I have two news for you though. Your knee is back in place, hooray! ... But he broke your ankle trying to pull hard lol. Papyrus feels horrible and won't even look at you in the eyes even if you keep telling him you're not mad at him.

Underswap Sans - It's happening all the time with his brother so he randomly screams "LOOK A TIGER!" and as you turn to look at whatever he's pointing, he grabs your knee and pops it back into place. Uh. Well. That was something. You hated the sound it made though. He calls an ambulance after that, as he's scared your dislocation is not exactly the same as the skeletons could have, and he was quite right.

Underswap Papyrus - That's his worst nightmare. Honey already hates it when it's happening to him because his knees are quite fragile, but seeing it on someone else, it's... It's too much. You scream as you see him start to faint but can't do anything to prevent him from passing out next to you lol. You know he'll probably be out for a few hours and the phone is far away. Welp. I hope you're not in a hurry because you're not moving from there before Blue returns from his shift at the police station.

Underfell Sans - He's panicking as you're crying and rolling on the floor. The hell you want him to do? Use words! He has no idea what to do, he needs instructions and simple comprehensible words to act! He's pretty sure you're dying for now and he just wants to cry. Help him to help you god dammit!

Underfell Papyrus - He sighs as you cry on the floor, takes all the time in the world to get up from the couch, pushes you on your side with his foot, stomps hard on your knee, making you scream in agony but popping the knee back to place, calls you a drama queen and goes back to sit in the couch. Wow. You've never felt so insulted by someone saving your life. You're the one calling the ambulance lol. He's stubborn and still thinks you're acting.

Horrortale Sans - He runs to ask for help to Willow, but when Willow asks him what's wrong, he just blinks. Uh. What's going on again? Oh well, if he forgot that was probably not that important. Maybe he's tired, he's going to nap. Meanwhile, you are in the chicken coop, screaming in agony. You're going to wait for a very long time... Willow finds you a few hours later crying and hugging a chicken to comfort yourself lol. Oak is so going to hide from you for a few days, scared you're mad at him forever.

Horrortale Papyrus - He stays calm and gently helps you to relax as he talks to you about random things. You don't notice his hands slowly getting close to your knee and can only gasp as your knee suddenly snaps back into place. Willow keeps talking to keep you calm as he starts to use healing magic on your leg and call an ambulance. He's kinda used to this by now. Because his growth was all wrong, it happens quite often to him. He's so in pain all the time he barely feels it anymore, which is... Uh. Concerning, actually.

Swapfell Sans - He stares at your knee with a disgusted expression as you scream at him to stop staring and do something. What the hell do you want him to do? He's a soldier, not a doctor, and he's definitely not touching the alien egg in your leg that you claim is your knee simply not in the right place. He calls an ambulance and then grabs a broom to keep you at safe distance from him. You're so offended. You can't wait to be able to walk again to hit him in the face.

Swapfell Papyrus - He's a bit freaking out right now, not knowing what to do. He tried to touch it, but you screamed in agony and now he doesn't want to touch it again, scared he's going to hurt you. He calls an ambulance and simply tries to distract you with jokes as he anxiously waits for help. He's kinda relieved when the doctors say it's not that serious and that you'll be better already in a few hours.

Fellswap Gold Sans - He picks you up with his magic and carries you above his head to the hospital. The doctor said you can't move while you're waiting for a doctor so he keeps you above his head the entire time lol. Everyone is staring at you and you're so embarrassed, but Wine doesn't really care. At least, his magic is easing the pain, so you're holding on.

Fellswap Gold Papyrus - You're screaming. He's screaming. Everyone is screaming. Coffee is horrified and has no idea what he can do to help. He's already in the middle of a panic attack and now you have to deal both with your knee and Coffee not being able to breathe. You manage to convince him to give you his phone and you manage to call an ambulance. That's not a very good day lol.

[midnightshindig]

allen x human reader hc’s?

Allen x Reader hcs

Probably my last one for today, apologies if it's a bit short!

I love this prompt and I love Allen ughhgfdaofjdgfof shout out s3e4 for literally having me foaming at the mouth

No S3 spoilers for this one!

He's surprisingly normal for an alien

Like, he brushes his teeth, showers, goes on dates, etc

but there's some cool things you get to introduce him to:

Concerts, are a big one, live entertainment isn't really feasible where he's from

But he looooves movies, and shows you all the best alien movies he grew up on

If you're a superhero, he loves training with you

We know Allen, he likes em strong

if not, he probably joins you on your preferred mode of exercise, if you do a sport or something, he'll get into it

You guys take couples boxing lessons together, and he picks it up really quickly

Now that he's on Earth and doesn't have to worry about a fear of PDA, and so he's alllll over that shit

he likes to hold your hand all the time like literally all the time HOLD THIS MANS HAND

that being said, he's also very gestural, so he's holding your hand with one hand and gesturing as he speaks with the other

it works fine enough for him

He loves to carry you, you humans are so lightweight!

Doesn't matter how big you are this guy is just throwing you around for fun

super sad to find out you can't breathe in space

so he settles for taking you flying within Earths limits

He's a big cuddler

takes up like your entire bed and has you lay on top of him

he enjoys it very much

likes to kiss the top of your head as you rest on him

there's something about your rythymic breathing that lulls his own body to sleep

Lots of human stuff is intriguing to him, like, for example: you dream?

He's never known another species to dream

And when you ask, you can't really explain why you dream, just that you do

So he gets like, really into dreams

he wants to analyze them and predict things with them he finds them FASCINATING

in the same way no Viltrumite would think of flying as a superpower- it's just how all Viltrumites work-- Humans don't think of dreaming as a power, just as a bodily function.

and he's sooooo intruiged

maybe a little jealous

so you start making up dreams and narrating them to him while he lays with his eyes closed, head in your lap

It's difficult to look good in photos with him

you know, because he's orange?

But you guys find good color combos and make it work

You guys look great <3

Meeting your parents is hilariously unhinged

Your mom is a little worried about the.... logistics.... of it all

while your dad tries so hard to treat him like a normal human it loops back into being rude

"So.... Allen.... have you considered how you'll have children?"

"MOMWHATTHEFUCK"

Allen can literally only laugh and cover his face with a hand in embarrassment "I mean- Unopans are compatible with a lot of species, I think if that's what Y/n and I wanna do, then it'll be fine"

oh my god this is so embarrassing

and your dad just gives Allen shrimp with the tail on, not explaining you have to take the tail off-

or maybe not bc he's just crunching those fuckers up oh my god

and everyone's a little grossed out

but it goes well, and they like him, and you guys have their approval

hooray

Allen sometimes feels bad that you plan all the dates (you don't mind, really) so he tries to plan you a date

back with the confederation, he was a pretty good cook

so he picks a recipe off the internet and makes it for you

But like. He can kind of eat anything

and it doesn't occur to him that eating raw meat could be.... bad for you?

So he gives you food poisoning and you have to go to the ER

but it's okayyyy you're alright, he feels terrible about it though

You guys are all in all a pretty low-key couple

You go to lunch at a diner together, stay home and see a movie, big cuddling people for sure

Allen Is SO Funny

but in that casual way where he cracks you up while folding laundry

like who cares that he's an alien this is peak domestic bliss

and he wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world

[bengiyo]

Century of Love Ep 1 Stray Thoughts

Daou and Offroad are back on my screens. Pond Ponlawit is here. I’m ready.

Hey, Daou looks great.

Oh shit he can fight! The sound effects are killing me.

This woman is very pretty.

I really hope we see this little boy later on as a jaded caretaker of Daou’s character after decades of putting up with him.

This bullet-be-gone rock is so powerful.

Wow, this show is giving us the lore upfront. That’s refreshing.

Pond is playing a villain?!?

Bro, you ain’t get her no good shoes for running, or a proper change of clothes? Y’all gonna try to escape in her wedding dress?

Wow this guy speed ran ruining Vad’s life.

Damn, this Savant guy must really love Vad to give up the special stone for San.

100 years of chronic pain to find the one you love? I do love fantastical romance sometimes.

Thank you, show, for giving me adult Pao and then his memorial. I hope someone "does well in the interview" in this show.

It works really well that San is stuck on where Vaf died.

I know War Jirawat is probably having fun treating San like he's much older than him.

Oof, and he's fussing at people like an old man out of touch.

Wow. Very fucked up that he feels every wound he's ever healed from like this. At least they softened it by taking San's shirt off again, because it doesn't seem like he's built up any tolerance to it.

They were so sensible about protecting this stone. I'm now worried about how it inevitably gets stolen.

Goddamn how tall is Daou?? This girl San saved looked kinda tall.

Wow. Crashed into each other underneath a large red cloth.

Wow, Offroad is still so pretty.

A RED STRING!!!!!!!

I wonder who Vee lives with.

Oh my god is this the same store from Love in Translation?? I'm going to scream. I hope it's still a worker-owned cooperative.

Vee lives alone? Why the extra bed?

I do like the reaction shots from the goddess statue.

Wow, and now they're giving us a Vee shower scene. Hooray for us.

I like how flirty Vee feels. Haven't seen this from Offroad since Our Days.

WOW. FIRST EPISODE KISS??

Oh, that exhale sound was excellent. You could feel something being let go.

I see. It was just a dream. Still, I like them giving us that in the first episode!

Hey, so that was a really great first episode! We got all the backstory we needed, established the rules, set our time limit, and met a great cast of characters. I'm excited to see who Pond reincarnated as in this timeframe. There's a good mix of drama, comedy, action, and tragedy in this that I find really compelling. Everyone is also putting in constant effort into each scene. Also, Offroad has never been prettier, my goodness.

[twilightmalachite]

Esu Sagiri - Idol Story 2

Author: Akira

Characters: Esu, Subaru

Translator: Mika Enstars

"Hehehe… But you know, even though I was crying like an idiot just by watching… You were smiling up until the very end and did your job perfectly as an idol, Senpai."

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Season: Spring

Location: Cemetery

Second year of ES’ establishment. At a secret cemetery somewhere in Tokyo…

Subaru: (Dad.)

(I’m sorry I visited you so late this year as well.)

(I’m getting busier and busier year after year, you know? Although in Trickstar’s case, it’s more like there’s no leisure for the poor...)

(You wouldn't angry at that, would you though, Dad? ‘Cause you were much busier than I was, day in and day out.)

(Nothing could be done about that, though. You were a super idol who carried the industry on his shoulders, after all.)

(You never gave up, though. You never complained, and on holidays you would even be sure to come back home with a smile on your face just to make your family happy.)

(You sure are amazing, Dad. I’ve always admired you. And I’m now in the same position as you—I’ve become an idol.)

(As time passes, I’ve slowly realized more and more just how amazing a person you were.)

(It made me happy. It made me happy to be able to understand you, Dad.)

(Hey, Dad, I wonder if I’ve become an idol worthy of your praise.)

(If possible, I’d like to have you say “Wow, you’re amazing, Subaru!” if you were alive.)

(And I wish you could ruffle up my hair like I was a dog, just like you used to too, but…)

Esu: NwaaAAAAAAH!?

(thunk)

Subaru: …?

Hmm? Umm, are… you okay…?

Esu: Ah, It's okay, do not mind me! My arms are just outta shape, as it’s been a while since I’ve climbed! I bit off more than I could chew!

I took a dangerous route to get away from this creepy guy, and accidentally slipped from somewhere high—

Esu: —Wait, you’re Akehoshi SubaruuUUU!

Subaru: Yup. Huh, are you a fan of mine?

(This isn’t good. I didn’t really want my fans to know where my dad’s grave was.)

(Although his reputation’s been restored to an extent, there’s still a lot of anti-fans who believe those rumors and consider him the worst idol ever…)

(I don’t want that. What if his grave gets vandalized or something?)

Esu: Oh, no no! It’d be presumptuous for someone like myself to call myself a fan!

Presem… Presim, prisum… Huh, is “presumptuous” correct?!

Subaru: Yep, that’s it.

Esu: Was I right? Got it! Good, good, hip-hooray! I mean, that was very kind of you! This debt of gratitude will not be forgotten even if I am reborn seventeen times over!

Subaru: Seventeen times over, huh? What’s with that oddly specific number?

You’re a strange kid.

Esu: Huh, you think so? I find myself to be normal, though! Maybe I’ve become a little out of touch with the world after having been cooped up for a while?

If I do anything that feels off, do feel free to point anything out! I’ll correct it!

Subaru: Alright. Well to start, it’s looked down upon to cause a ruckus at gravesites.

Esu: You’re right~! My bad! I’ll quiet down! I’m a man who has often been told “You’re so cute when you keep your mouth shut, Esu-kun!” by his inconsiderate classmates!

Subaru: So your name’s Esu, huh?

Esu: Yes! I am Sagiri Esu! My name’s pretty tough to read, or excessively sparkly rather, so it’s okay if you don’t remember all of it![1]

You’re free to just call me something like “Ecchan” or “Sacchan”!

Subaru: Ecchan reminds me of Eichi-senpai. Sagiri—I feel like I might’ve heard “Sagiri” somewhere before…

Esu: Oh, so you recognize it? My father used to be real popular! He was even called a super idol at a point!

Subaru: Ah, that’s right! There was a super idol who showed up sometime between the times of Hokke~Papa—Hidaka Seiya-san and my dad, right?

His name was Sagiri. My dad said that he looked up to him, so I remember.

Esu: Ahaha~, although it was all downhill for him once the next super idol, Akehoshi-senpai’s father, made his appearance.

Subaru: Well, my dad did become the talk of the town for many things, both good and bad… Those from around that time aren’t talked about as much anymore, with Hokke~Papa being an exception.

It’s like it’s all been balled together as a dark past to be forgotten, thanks to all that’s happened.

So I dunno how things are now, but, umm you—Sacchan, what’s your father doing now?

He’s not active anymore… right? I feel I’d know about him if he were active.

Esu: Oh, my father died.

Subaru: …Is that so? Sorry, I didn’t know…

Esu: Nah, if you didn’t know, you didn’t know! He passed away three years ago, and by the time he’d already turned over a new leaf as just an ordinary man.

Just an ordinary man, just with a bit of a nice-looking face.

Could at least look ugly… Wouldn't have to be followed around by that pervert then…

Subaru: Pervert? Had your father been targeted by some weird stalker or something, like mine was…?

Esu: No, no, this pervert has nothing to do with my father’s death. Sorry if I’m being difficult to follow! My communication skills aren’t all too great, after all! Just terrible!

My father died in a plane accident. Just a common—well, it’s not common, but an ordinary accident with nothing to do with idols or anything like that.

I was involved in the accident too, and although I managed to survive, I’ve been in the hospital up until recently. So, I've been in the process of rehabilitation for about six months, as of now.

Subaru: Is that so… I probably wouldn’t have even known three years ago. In the period before I entered high school, I would shut myself away from any and all information.

All of the information that would drift my way… I wouldn’t wanna hear any of it.

Esu: I totally get you~. It feels like anything and everything is an attack on you when your heart is weak, doesn’t it?

Even though nobody in the world probably spares a single thought about you.

Ah, but you’re an idol, Akehoshi-senpai, so tons and tons of people pay attention to you, of course! I was really moved by the SS from two years back![2]

It was like—and sorry if this sounds disrespectful—but your father also passed away… I felt like I could relate with you in some ways.

Like, “Ahh, this person, he’s me.”

Subaru: … …

Esu: At the time, I understood the expression on your face, your voice, everything, as if they were my own—I empathized! I was no longer able to distinguish between you and I!

I was in the hospital, lying in bed watching your performance, and I cried so hard that even the nurses became seriously worried about me.

Esu: Hehehe… But you know, even though I was crying like an idiot just by watching…

You were smiling up until the very end and did your job perfectly as an idol, Senpai. So, I thought you were real amazing—

Esu: Ahh, I can’t find the right words! Hang in there, my vocabulary!

Subaru: It’s okay. I understand you.

Thank you. For watching my performance.

You cried in place of me, didn’t you? Maybe that’s why I didn’t have to show a shameful sight like that upon such an important stage.

So… I know it sounds weird, but thank you. Really.

Esu: Oh no no, I seriously didn’t do anything! I don’t know what to do being shown gratitude like this?!

Oh, shoot!? I hear Fuyume’s voice! He hates exercise and isn’t all that good at it either, but caught up to me through sheer determination…!

I-I’m so sorry, but I gotta go now! It’s over for me if I’m caught!

Subaru: It kinda feels like you’re in danger… Do you need me to hide you?

Esu: Ah, that’s very kind of you, but I’m alright! This is a problem I gotta resolve on my own…!

But if you’d like, do offer some incense at the grave over there, the one decorated with cutesy goods.

That one’s my father’s grave.

Subaru: Right. This cemetery is for those in the industry that need to be kept secret from the general public. Both your father and my dad rest here.

It was through some sort of fate I was able to meet you, and hear your words that made me happy, so… Yeah, I’ll be sure to offer some incense.

Esu: Thanks! I’m sure our fathers are happy too! It doesn’t seem like they were on good terms when they were alive, but everyone becomes a Buddha when they die, right?[3]

I’m sure all those concerns and karma have been thoroughly purified!

—Eek, his voice is getting closer! Maaan, I wanted to have a nice and quiet visit to his grave after all this time!

But, well, I also caused a ruckus for no reason, and disturbed Akehoshi-senpai’s visit to his grave! That makes it sort of a mutual karmic retribution, right!—kinda?

Subaru: It’s fine. My dad always liked it when things were lively.

I’m sure he’s standing beside your father, watching over with a smile on their faces—over us.

[ ☆ ]

story directory

A sparkly name (キラキラネーム) is a term that refers to a recent phenomenon of giving names that are over-extravagant and notably very difficult to read. Esu's name is written with the kanji 笑主, which is both very unrecognizable as a name (it uses the kanji for laugh/smile + the kanji for lord/master), the reading is also very unnatural. The phenomenon is similar to the one where people will name their babies stuff like "Mhackenzeigh" or "Lakynn". Since knowing that 笑主 is read as "Esu" doesn't come instinctively, it would be difficult to remember; hence Esu saying there's no need to remember it all.

Referring to the SS where Trickstar won, back in ! era. If you aren’t aware of what happens to Subaru and Trickstar during the event, I highly recommend reading SS - Friendship 14 until the end of the event story, else this entire scene won’t make as much sense.

Esu uses a lot of Buddhist terminology here. If you’re familiar with the idea of reaching enlightenment, once you reach enlightenment, you let go of all worldly possessions, realizations, attainments, and achievements. This is what is referred to when one becomes a Buddha.

[shentheauthor]

🎵prima-donna-girl

Was anyone going to tell me emperor Jietong was gay as hell? Or was I supposed to find that out myself?

💪 forged-in-agony

EXCUSE ME? THE FUCK?

🎵prima-donna-girl

Yeah I’m reading his poems and he was yearning super hard for some guy

👤yanlao

Young lady, you had better stop speculating about the intimate lives of your elders! How dare you?! This is not appropriate in the slightest!

🎵prima-donna-girl

Nobody asked you old man

🔮unseeing-seer

Haha! What an interesting speculation. Would you care to elaborate?

🎵prima-donna-girl

Listen to this shit

“Deflowered and dethroned, I wither”

What the fuck was he on?

💪forged-in-agony

Oh my god yeah

👤yanlao

You are all disgusting! Historical figures are to be respected! You of all people should not be speculating this sort of thing, Jiequan!

🌿farmers-anonymous

You’re not supposed to use real names, old man 😒

🎵prima-donna-girl

@all-i-ever-wanted-was-the-world you believe me!

🎶all-i-ever-wanted-was-the-world

Oh 100%, he was gay

🌿farmers-anonymous

I object to his vote, he always agrees with her

🧪medicine-pipe-dreams

Seconded

🌿farmers-anonymous

Never mind I don’t want to be on the same page as this guy

⚒️hammer-of-new-kunlun

@medicine-pipe-dreams don’t go over there, it’s not worth it

🎶all-i-ever-wanted-was-the-world

lol

🎵prima-donna-girl

lmao

🔮unseeing-seer

As the kids say, “rofl”

💪forged-in-agony

Never say that again guoshi

🌿farmers-anonymous

I’m going to kill this short little freak. Who wants to watch

👤yanlao

Aren’t you all meant to be working? Get off of the tumbler!

🧪medicine-pipe-dreams

@farmers-anonymous I’d like to see you try

🌺ethereal-eternity

Please don’t????

🎵prima-donna-girl

Um don’t derail my post? Assholes. Anyway, gay rights, I guess.

🔮unseeing-seer

How wonderful! Gay rights, indeed. :)

🎵prima-donna-girl

I’m gonna ignore that ominous smiley face and go to rehearsal now

🎶all-i-ever-wanted-was-the-world

Hooray for gay people

Bonus:

💪forged-in-agony

@farmers-anonymous how was the fight

🌿farmers-anonymous

I got my ass kicked, I’m not posting that

[differenteagletragedy]

hi! just wanna tell you i literally read all of your fics and omg i usually avoid angsty fics because i know it will rip me apart but i read all of yours and i somehow crave more 🥺 but perhaps if your requests are still open, i wanna request something sweet or fluff (rather self indulgent) how about the olba boys' reactions when they realised mc has been really focused for days about something to find out that mc was creating the sims version of them and the boys while making a good hoyse for their sims selves to live in (you can do individual or poly!) I've been playing sims 4 lately and made step 1 cove and mc with their families fjfjfh totally brain still rotting over olba even though its officially over 🥹

-- Let's do poly so everyone can be together for this experience :)

-- You're on your computer for a while, which was fine, but you got zoned out enough that the boys decided to check in.

-- You'd been making your dream house for you and your boys' sim selves!

-- Cove is moved. He doesn't know a lot about the game, but the gist is pretty easy to grasp and he thinks this is so so sweet that you would use your free time and your game to do something like this.

-- Derek knows about The Sims and thinks it's cool you want to play like this. He wants to watch!

-- Baxter wants to see you make his sim now please.

-- Lol if you don't have all the expansions/packs, Baxter needs you to get some because the base game fashion options are atrocious.

-- Derek gets the Big Happy Family aspiration, hooray! Baxter gets the Soulmate aspiration, so sweet! Cove gets something random, whatever you click.

Cove: *pouting* Why didn't I get something special?

You: Hold on just a minute ...

*ten minutes into gameplay*

Cove: My aspiration in life is about grilled cheese?!??!!?!?!

-- Derek takes note of how you've built the house. Maybe if you really like something he can incorporate it into your own house -- like if you build a sunroom and talk about how you like it, a big porch, something like that. He'll remember!

-- Cove wants to see the interactions between the sims. If you make your sim declare your undying love for his then he will die.

-- Baxter, well, is still Baxter.

Cove: Put me in the swimming pool!

Baxter: Try removing the ladder after he climbs in.

Cove: But then I wouldn't be able to get out ...

Baxter: *smirk*

-- Derek is going to want to get this game to play for himself.

-- If you try to plan a wedding for your sims, Baxter is going to trash talk it to death. Just an endless rant of how dumb it is and how everyone is being so rude and nothing is working right.

Baxter: Why is the best man inside the home playing video games during the ceremony? Did the mother of the bride just set fire to the kitchen? The caterer just didn't show up at all?!

-- If you make it to the elderly life stage then Cove is going to be emotional just seeing little sim versions of his family being all old and cute.

Also Cove: Oh look, a vending machine! Let me get some candy!

You: It's stuck, what do you want to do?

Cove: Get it out!

*one minute later*

Cove: THAT'S HOW I DIE?!

[zalrb]

PLL 2x23 Review - As Per Anon Request

Jenna. In Black?

Oh, Toby's back. Hooray.

And now he has a fuck boy haircut.

Why is Hanna wearing this dress?

I don't understand this

Matching!

They really should've just made them in love.

Emily, if Maya texted you why would you look around to see if she was around. Why are you the way you are?

You know, Spencer low-key has crazy eyes. It just works for her.

"Just the one eye?" The DELIVERY. I am cracking up.

"Besides, she's my sister." "Step sister." So if it was his actual sister and she abused him, his sense of obligation to her would make more sense, Spencer?

Toby trying so hard to emote.

"I've been thinking a lot about us." You were making out with Wren.

I know Jenna is terrible but I just feel like she owes Hanna a slap.

"We have a winner. So where is she?" Dead. "Dead".

Funhouse Matt

"She disappeared Labour Day Weekend." "Disappeared? What happened?" SHE DISAPPEARED. Oh my God, go find Emily.

"You're the writer. The one who keeps journals." How did you reach that conclusion?

"He was all torn up when I told him she was dead, he couldn't have been faking that."

I like how Aria wearing this shirt and having pink hair once means she's supposed to be the edgy one

but Hanna crashed her ex boyfriend's car and shoplifted.

"Wait, what's going on?" "I don't know." "Why are they talking to the fire department?" THEY DON'T KNOW. NONE OF YOU KNOW.

Spencer is SO dramatic. You and Toby had a tense conversation, not even an argument, and now you think he's talking shit about you to the fire department?

Wren, you're literally a doctor and mixed up in teen drama.

Honestly, considering that it's not even like Toby SAW Spencer kiss Wren or anything, his reaction seems disproportionate. She needed to crush him, idk. I need drama in my drama.

Oh look, it's Hair.

His hair isn't hairing today.

I see paper on a table. It's going to be Ezra.

Ugh.

Stop putting him in this position

it's an insult to Paul.

You. are. a Serial. Killer.

"It does actually matter what you think of me." Don't be a predator then, the fuck.

Like, what am I supposed to do with this

"But she poached [Christmas] from me AND she did it blind!" LOL Mona.

Everyone on this show is so aggressive, lmao.

Why would they let Aria go alone? Look at the box stuff in a car while Aria goes off with another shady ass man.

Because now look. She's in a plane.

"She'd sit in this seat and I could just see her face change." Could you see that she was fourteen?

You got jack shit being in this plane, Aria.

Like, why are you serial killer?

Why is Spencer's family even a family? For what purpose. They're not a legacy name. They clearly don't love each other. Just split up.

Hanna knowing what Michelle Obama wore two years ago (because she tries to dress like her, thanks, anon) is incredible but the fact that they use that to pinpoint the dates on the newspapers and she and SPENCER actually figure shit out is hilarious.

And Aria is just ... in a plane with a stranger.

I'm just saying if this was TVD, and Elena and Caroline saw, I don't know, Damon in a burning house and they dragged him out, Elena would slap an unconscious Damon and be like, 'IS STEFAN IN THE HOUSE?' even if it wasn't his house or would like, run to go check and Caroline would have to stop her. Because that show wrote romance (for a while anyway).

Are there no other doctors in this hospital?

You're a medical professional in a love triangle with two teenagers, Wren.

"Are you all right?" in the flattest fucking voice. Don't piss me off, Toby.

[skyward-floored]

Whumptober Day 8: Outnumbered, (alt) Betrayal

I originally gave up on today’s prompts because they were annoying but after I’d written this whole fic I realized outnumbered kind of works actually so! Regular prompt and an alt were used today ✌️

Read on ao3

Warnings: oh boy. Uh, mildly suggestive, dehumanization sort of..? Kind of human-trafficking vibes, but it doesn’t exactly occur. There’s some alcohol. Also a bit of being drugged. And mistreatment of fairies. ...I think that’s it.

————————————————————

A faint pink glow guided Hyrule, Warriors, and Time’s steps through a town in the captain’s time, a jingling that Hyrule knew was born out of nervousness accompanying the light.

The fairy led them all through the town, further and further away from the center and towards the unlit stores and quiet docks. The night only seemed to grow darker, and Hyrule found himself keeping closer to the other’s sides, a feeling of apprehension he couldn’t ignore making his stomach clench.

Right as he was about to ask if the fairy really knew where she was leading them, she zipped down a side street, sparkles trailing behind her, and finally bobbed to a stop.

Hyrule looked up, and grimaced.

The fairy had led them to a building with its windows still lit despite the late hour, her dark pink light catching on a crude portrait of a great fairy holding an overflowing flagon of ale. Faint laughter filtered through the cracks in the door, and Hyrule thought he caught a whiff of alcohol.

Oh hooray, a tavern.

Hyrule gave the picture on the sign a look of distaste, but before he could say anything, the door abruptly swung open. Two men walked out, and the three heroes, ducked around a corner so as not to be seen. A hiccuping laugh came from the one man, and the other slapped him on the back as they stumbled away, neither walking straight.

“So this is where you saw the men take Proxi?” Warriors whispered as the revelers disappeared from sight. The fairy jingled an affirmative as she poked her head out from his scarf, practically shaking with fear.

“Mm-hm. Th-they put her in a tiny bag, one way too small!” she squeaked, sounding terrified. “And she’s not the only one, they had lots of other fairies! I followed them here, but I couldn’t find anywhere to get inside without being seen, and... and I didn’t want to get caught as well.”

She sniffled, and Warriors gave her a gentle smile from where she’d perched on his shoulder.

“It’s alright, we’ll get her and the others back,” he assured, but the fairy still seemed nervous, her wings fluttering anxiously.

“You should get somewhere safe, if these people want fairies you’ll be in danger here,” Time warned, and the fairy quivered in fear. “We don’t want anyone else getting caught. Who knows what they’re doing in there.”

He glanced at Hyrule as he spoke, and Hyrule sighed, knowing the older hero was wondering if he should stay back or not. Time and Warriors were both aware he had fairy blood, and Hyrule could see why they would be concerned, but he wasn’t going to stay back just because of that.

“They won’t know I have fairy blood, and I’m not planning on telling them,” Hyrule said quietly, and glared back at the sign. “And I’m not sitting this out.”

Time nodded with a sigh, and Hyrule thought he caught a flicker of worry in his eye before he turned back to the fairy.

“What’s your decision, little one?”

“I-I’ll stay hidden with you,” the fairy replied quickly, and Hyrule could tell she wasn’t keen on leaving the three of them. She obviously felt safer around the heroes, and Hyrule couldn’t blame her.

Fairies being kidnapped was never a sign of anything good.

“All right, well, looks like we’re going in,” Warriors sighed, and Time nodded, straightening.

“Looks like it. We may want to split up though, I believe we’ll attract less attention that way,” Time said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. “Perhaps I can go in, and you two can follow together?”

Hyrule and Warriors nodded. He didn’t really think it mattered much, but if Time thought that was best, then who was he to argue?

Warriors suddenly raised a hand and began to muss his hair up a bit, making it look more scruffy. Hyrule stared as the captain then kicked some dirt off his boots, running it through his hair and making his blond seem more of a sandy color. Then he tucked his scarf inside his bag, and pulled out a cloak instead, nicely made, but in a dark enough weave so as not to attract attention.

“I’m the local hero, Traveler,” he said at Hyrule’s confounded look, “I don’t exactly blend in.”

“Oh! Right,” Hyrule said sheepishly, feeling foolish for not realizing what the captain was doing. He thought he’d... well, he’d honestly had no clue what he was doing.

Time hid a smile as he left their hiding spot and casually strolled into the tavern. A small burst of sound leaked into the alley with the opening of the door, then was silent again.

“You should be fine,” Warriors directed at Hyrule as he made sure their fairy was tucked safely out of sight in his cloak. “I would be shocked if anyone recognized you or Time... but if you have a cloak you might want to put it on.”

Hyrule nodded as the captain finished off his disguising, and pulled his own cloak tight around himself, looking at the tavern with no small trepidation. It didn’t seem like the sort of place he wanted to hang around, especially based on the drunken laughter that occasionally filtered through the cracks in the door.

He’d had very few good experiences in bars, and had a funny feeling this one would be no different.

They waited a few minutes to distance themselves from Time a bit more, and then Warriors walked over to the door, Hyrule following resignedly.

“Well here we go,” he grumbled, and pushed open the door before Warriors could, the captain following him into the noisy place.

Hyrule tensed, half expecting all sorts of horrible things as they entered, but... nothing seemed out of place. There was a strong smell of alcohol, sweat, and water damage from the nearby docks. The seats were mostly filled despite the late hour, and barely a head turned when Warriors and Hyrule walked in. The large woman manning the bar did glance at them, but then went back to wiping her counter, glaring at a man who spilled a few drops of his drink.

It just seemed like... a normal bar.

“Are we sure this is the place?” Hyrule muttered, and Warriors shrugged, looking around.

“If they’re keeping fairies for some reason, they wouldn’t do it in the open,” he murmured back, then plastered a casual smile on his face. “Let’s see what we can find out.”

They shoved their way to a clear table, Warriors easily blending in with the atmosphere. Hyrule followed suit, and they weren’t bothered as they ordered some drinks and sat down. Hyrule spotted Time across the room from them at a different table, but Hyrule knew better then to stare at him too long and attract attention, and he kept his gaze away.

Instead he studied the atmosphere of the tavern, wincing a little whenever the general noisiness upturned for whatever reason. The place wasn’t as rowdy as some places Hyrule had ended up inside, but it certainly wasn’t quiet, and uneasiness was still churning in his stomach.

He wasn’t sure if it was merely worry over the captured fairies, or something else... but something about this place was making the hair on his neck prickle.

“The men at the table next to you,” their fairy friend suddenly spoke up, just loud enough for Warriors and Hyrule to hear, “they’re the ones who took Proxi, I recognize their faces!”

Warriors nodded, and casually looked around the room while Hyrule flicked his eyes over at the men the fairy had indicated. They were a group of four, with varying appearances, but all of them looked shifty to Hyrule, covered in scars with weapons at their hips.

They were discussing something in low voices, and Hyrule casually leaned over, straining his ears.

“...thing bit me,” one man was saying, looking mad as he rubbed his hand. Hyrule could see bandages peeking from under his sleeve. “And it smarts too, this better have been worth it.”

“It will be, she says the buyer pays extra for the blues. It was lucky we found that one earlier,” a thin man said in a calming voice. “Though even just the pinks we’ve got in the back’ll be enough to set us up for life.”

The others seated at the table grinned, and Hyrule glanced at Warriors, looking to see if he’d heard. By the grave expression on his face, it was clear he had.

“I wonder what the buyer does with them anyway,” the first man said as he sipped at his drink. “Who’d want a bunch of fairies?“

Hyrule felt a flicker of indignation.

“Sells ‘em to doctors or something probably, who cares?” another drawled, taking a large draught of his beverage. “‘S long as we get paid.”

“Ah, but have you ever taken a good look at some of them? If they were a bit bigger, I think I’d want a few,” a man with scars all over his arms said. He smirked. “I saw a Great once, and if the little ones are anything like that... well, sign me up.”

The table burst into laughter, and anger rose in Hyrule’s chest as they began arguing about what the most attractive feature they’d seen on a fairy was, growing more and more descriptive— and crude— as they went.

One of them said something particularly lewd, and they roared with drunken laughter, Hyrule’s face growing hot with fury.

He was about to leap to his feet, but Warriors put a hand on his arm, keeping him from getting up. Hyrule nearly threw him off as he heard another one of them laugh again, feeling himself begin to shake with rage.

How dare they?

“Traveler, fighting these men won’t help us figure out what’s going on,” Warriors said in a low voice, and pulled Hyrule back down. “We need to be patient.”

“I’m not going to sit here and let them talk about fairies like— like that,” Hyrule hissed, but Warriors didn’t move. “Captain let me up, don’t you care—”

“It won’t change anything to confront them. They obviously don’t have the fairies with them, and fighting them might wreck any chance we have of getting them back,” Warriors said firmly, something sharp in his voice.

Hyrule finally looked at Warriors’ face, and realized the captain was just as angry as he was, blue eyes cold with rage. Somehow knowing that Warriors was equally outraged by the discussion made his own anger cool a bit, and he stopped trying to pull out of his hold, slumping in his seat.

“Fine. Then what’s the plan?” he asked, hunching his shoulders when the men at the table next to them laughed again.

“I’ll try and get some more information from our... friends, here, while you see if you can get in there,” Warriors explained quietly, tilting his head towards a curtained off doorway. “They said they had the fairies in the back, I’d assume that’s where they meant.”

“I saw them through the window earlier, they definitely went back there,” their fairy peeped from Warriors’ cloak, sounding even more scared.

“Fine. Good luck,” Hyrule murmured, and slipped into the crowd before Warriors could reply.

He made his way over to a shadowy spot next to the door, jostled and bumped nearly the entire way. Squeezing past a particularly large man, Hyrule tucked himself in the corner and waited patiently for an opportunity to slip through the door. He glanced over at Time while he waited, and saw that he was chatting rather amiably with the woman at the bar, an easy-going smile on his face.

Well hopefully he’s doing something useful, Hyrule thought to himself, still angry at the conversation he’d overheard. He knew Warriors was right about not fighting yet, but listening to them discuss fairies like that had lit a rage in him that wouldn’t be going away any time soon.

It’s no wonder fairies tend to hide from Hylians.

A barmaid finally walked past him into the back room, and Hyrule silently followed her past the curtain, finding himself in a dark storage room.

It appeared to be mostly kitchen items, extra food and barrels of what Hyrule assumed was alcohol of some kind. There were no fairies in sight, and Hyrule frowned as the barmaid left, looking around the room. It seemed like every other storage-type room he’d seen of this kind; messy, somewhat dirty, and no sign of anything illegal.

Well... not obvious ones anyway.

Hyrule began combing the room, his heart thudding in his chest. The bad feeling he had was even more intense now, and it made it difficult to focus on finding anything out of the ordinary. He kept having to hide when the barmaid returned multiple times, but he continued to look, aware that the longer he was back here, the more likely it was he’d be caught.

He was nearly on the verge of leaving and seeing if Warriors had had better luck, when suddenly he realized the crates in the corner were stacked oddly, like nobody ever actually wanted what was inside them.

Hyrule quickly went over to the stack, and noticed the faint outline of a door behind the crates, so similar to the wall it was nearly impossible to see unless you knew it was there.

Ah-hah.

Hyrule pushed the crates aside as quietly as possible, wincing at the creaking they made, then carefully turned the knob and slipped inside.

And nearly fell to his knees.

The room had no windows, but it didn’t need them, the inside lit by the countless jars lining the walls, all crammed to the brim with fairies. Several of them had at least three in one jar, a few filled tight with even more, and Hyrule couldn’t do anything but stare at them all in horror for a moment.

Most of the fairies were fluttering around in the jars, some swirling in more panicked circles, but some were lying worryingly still at the bottoms, their glows faint. The distressed magic from all of them was enough to make Hyrule’s head spin, chimes ringing in his ears, and he nearly tripped when he finally stepped forward.

How could someone do this?

“Traveler?”

He turned around at the whisper, and saw Warriors slip inside behind him, looking grim.

“Those men didn’t have anything to say to me, they must have thought I just wanted in on the money. I don’t think... oh. Farore preserve us,” he whispered as he looked around, and Hyrule swallowed.

He felt sick to his stomach all of a sudden, and barely noticed as Warriors stepped fully into the room, looking around in horror. The fairies noticed their presences then, and the chiming in the room grew even louder, frantic and hopeful as they realized who they were.

”Is that Link?”

“No, it’s his friend! Brother!”

“It’s Link and his friend!”

“Brother! Fairy kin!”

“Are you here to get us out?!”

“Brother please save us!”

“Brother!”

“Link!”

“Everybody quiet! Are you trying to bring the enemy in here?!”

At the bossy chime, the other fairies quieted down, and Hyrule looked around for the familiar voice that had spoken. One of the few blue glows in the room caught his eye, and Warriors perked up.

“Proxi!”

“Link!” she said with a happy jingle, and Hyrule smiled as Warriors reached up to gently take the bottle she was trapped in. “You’re here to save us?”

“We are,” Warriors assured, cradling the bottle. Hyrule swallowed back his nausea and joined his side, frowning at the sight. Three other fairies were pressed inside of the bottle with Proxi, and she herself was near the bottom, her blue glow dim.

“...Are you okay?” Hyrule asked in concern, and Proxi hesitated.

“She got hurt when they captured us,” another fairy said quietly.

“You’re hurt?” Warriors said sharply, and Proxi let out a dismissive jingle.

“Oh I’m fine, can you get us out?” Proxi asked a little impatiently, and Warriors sighed, then nodded, tugging at the cork.

It didn’t budge though, and no matter what Warriors did it refused to come out. Hyrule tried then, but he didn’t have any luck either, and they looked at each other in dismay.

They didn’t want to hurt the fairies, so they couldn’t try breaking the glass. Melting it or using anything heavy was out of the question as well, as were most methods Hyrule could think of, but how were they going to free all of the fairies if they couldn’t even open the jars?

“I think they must be magically sealed,” Hyrule said morosely after they’d tried everything they could think of. “There’s no way this cork is this strong without some help.”

“I don’t like what that means for this whole operation,” Warriors murmured, still carefully holding the bottle. “If they have enough resources to get so many magically sealed jars... this might be bigger than we thought.”

Hyrule swallowed, his stomach still unsettled.

“So what do we do?”

“Fetch Time, I suppose,” Warriors sighed. “See if he has any ideas. We need to tell him we found the fairies anyway, and I don’t see us figuring anything out any time soon.”

“He probably has an item or something that just opens bottles,” Hyrule said with a faint smile. “Or a mask.”

Warriors almost smiled back. “I wouldn’t put it past him.”

“Someone’s coming!” a fairy by the door suddenly squealed, her voice shrill with alarm. Warriors carefully set the jar containing Proxi and the other fairies back on the shelf, then dove behind a discarded crate with Hyrule, the both of them ducking down as much as possible as the door slid open.

“...saw someone by the storage room, and those guards were in earlier. We better start shipping out tonight,” a voice said, and footsteps tromped into the room. “...Ugh, this place always makes my head hurt when we’re full.”

Hyrule pressed tighter against Warriors’ side as the voice drew near, trying to make himself smaller. The crate really wasn’t a good hiding spot, but there was nothing else in the room big enough to shelter behind.

Multiple sets of footsteps moved over to their side of the room, right next to the crate they were behind, and Hyrule nearly stopped breathing, forcing himself to stay still. Warriors swallowed, and Hyrule could feel his heart thudding where his head had ended up on his chest.

“Well you won’t have to deal with it much longer,” a different voice drawled, and Hyrule recognized it as one of the men who’d been at the table. “Once we load these in the hold you’ll be fine.”

It was silent for a minute, and Hyrule found himself holding his breath.

“Besides, we have other business to take care of.”

The crate Warriors and Hyrule were tucked behind suddenly lit up like a flare, a pink so dark it was nearly red flashing above them.

Hyrule was nearly blinded by the light, but when he looked up in shock, he saw the fairy that had guided them to the tavern chiming and flashing a deafening alarm, showing exactly where they were hidden.

Before Hyrule could even reach for his sword, he and Warriors were yanked out from behind the crate and restrained, unable to escape. They both kicked out and struggled, Hyrule even trying to bite the men that had grabbed him, but they were grossly outnumbered, and quickly subdued.

Both were tied up and shoved against the wall, but Hyrule only had eyes for the fairy who had come to them in tears earlier because she’d seen Proxi be kidnapped. She was floating right next to one of the men who they’d overheard at the table earlier, and a sickening feeling rolled through Hyrule.

“How could you?” he asked, anger and disbelief warring inside of him. How could a fairy fall so far to betray her own kind like that?

The fairy’s glow dimmed.

“They said they would hurt my sister,” she whimpered, and Hyrule felt a brief stab of pity.

“If you’d told us the truth, we could have helped you,” Warriors cut in with a grave look, and the fairy turned away.

The other fairies on the walls had been chiming frantically throughout all of this, Proxi’s voice shouting the loudest of them all, and making a truly deafening racket that only grew when Hyrule and Warriors were tied up. The men were obviously growing sick of it, and the one with the scarred arms abruptly drew a knife and pressed it to Hyrule’s neck, then looked around at the fairies.

“Shut up now, or he loses his life.”

The fairies went dead quiet.

The scarred man waited a second, then withdrew his dagger, placing it back into a holder at his waist. “Thank you. I would’ve hated to get blood on the floor.”

“Have you no shame?” Warriors snapped. “What you’re doing here is cruel, you can’t put that many fairies in one bottle without endangering their lives!”

The men laughed, and one looked Warriors up and down.

“Great, a knight with morals. Do we kill him?”

“Nah, look at his face, he’s a handsome one,” someone else spoke up. “Bet we could get good money for him downriver.”

Warriors slightly paled, but his cold expression didn’t change.

“What about the kid?”

“I’m not a kid,” Hyrule said, and didn’t flinch from the scarred man’s gaze when he strode up to him. “And you’re going to regret every single thing you’ve done here today.”

The man chuckled. “The only thing I’m going to regret today is that I didn’t make more money then I’m already going to.”

He leaned right up into Hyrule’s face, and the traveler still glared at him despite how his heart was thumping. His eyes trailed across his face, pausing when they got to his eyes, and he studied them in silence for longer then was normal.

“...Take them both. We can figure out what to do with them after we’re on our way,” he said as he leaned back, a deceptively easy-going smile on his face. “I think there’s more to them then meets the eye.”

He looked directly at Hyrule when he spoke, and the traveler’s blood ran cold.

He knows.

Warriors gave him a wide-eyed look, but then cloths were shoved over both of their noses, a sickly smell coming off of them. Hyrule struggled not to breathe, knowing it would be bad if he did, but he hadn’t had a chance to take a deep breath.

Time had better notice we’re gone soon, he thought desperately, watching as Warriors began to slump next to him. Or we’re going to be in serious trouble.

Something struck his chest, and Hyrule gasped in spite of himself, breathing deeply of the sweet smell of the cloth. His head immediately began to swim, and he took in another breath without thinking. A voice said something above him, and Hyrule slumped against Warriors’ side as his senses began to leave him, one last flicker of desperation fighting to keep him awake.

He couldn’t let them do this he... he couldn’t...

Hyrule’s vision swirled into a black void, and he fell limp against Warriors’ shoulder, totally unconscious.

Time was their only hope now.