#may be the only halloween post i have aha!

[verthu]

u run into them at 12am wyd

ft. sevennnnnnn by @sadnesshotline

[kisakis-boyfriend]

🎃

Not the Shinichiro anon but omg I loved that post!! Could I request more Shin, possibly ftm!Shinichiro?

With size kink juice and a bigger werewolf reader?? Getting hunted on Halloween full moon perhaps? 👀

Author's Note: Of course, of course! The premise for this is that reader and Shin agreed to the whole 'hunting Shin down in the woods to have sex' thing. And Shin is basically all "oh noooo, please don't fuck me Mr. Werewolf! You're so sexy aha 😩". Ya know? XD

Pairings: Shinichiro x male reader

Warnings: Male werewolf!reader, dom/top!reader, sub/bottom/trans!Shinichiro, prior consent, size kink, prey/predator play, scratching, mentions of knotting, Shin is a massive slut

Heart pounding in his ears and leg muscles burning; Shinichiro sprints at full speed, dodging large trees left and right. The sun has officially set, and now that it's dark out, it's difficult to see at all. Only the full moon—tinted a bright yellow—illuminates the area Shinichiro has found himself in.

He swerves to the side, ducking behind a particularly massive tree, and clamps a hand over his trembling lips.

Coast clear, he thinks. Until something snarls not too far from his position.

Shinichiro freezes — digging his nails into the tree bark as he attempts to stay hidden.

He squeezes his eyes shut, waiting. Listening.

Silence.

…

…

…

Tap tap

Something taps on Shinichiro's shoulder; something sharp, though it doesn't pierce the skin.

“Nice try, human.” a low, jagged voice says.

Shin's breath hitches, and he opens his eyes — his heart skips a beat once he takes in the beast before him; an imposing, towering wolfman with eyes that practically glow like the moon, dangerously sharp claws, and thick fur covering every inch of its body.

—

He's so fuckin' cute when he's scared.

You lean over, caging the human in with your massive hands and body. “Caught ya — now you're all mine~”

His legs shake at the sound of your voice. Shinichiro opens his mouth to speak, but no sound will come out as you push closer and nuzzle your cold, wet nose into his cheek. It leaves a slight wet streak as you trail down his jawline, down to his neck, and settle there. You hum against his skin, licking at the flesh — a layer of sweat leaves a salty taste on your tongue.

“Please–” Shin pleads, his voice airy and quivering. “what are you gonna do to me?”

A clawed hand traces down his arm, ghosting across his abdomen until it reaches the waistline of his jeans. “I need what's in here.” your fingers curl under the fabric and tug as you say this. The human visibly shudders.

“Wh-huh? Wait–!” the harsh sound of jeans tearing interrupts Shinichiro's pleading, and he frantically grasps your wrist. His scent hits you all at once, and you fall to your knees, licking your lips (snout?) as you picture the treasure that awaits just beyond the last barrier on his person — just a pair of gray boxers left, and then–

Your wet tongue glides along the space between Shinichiro's legs. A hint of the human's essence penetrates through the fabric and onto your tongue — and it damn near drives you mad. Shin winces as your claws dig into his hips, too impatient to hold back any longer. His boxers are yanked down to his ankles, and your mouth is on him in seconds, lapping away happily at his pussy.

The ambient sounds of owls hooting, crickets chirping, and other woodland creatures barely mask the slurping noises as you thoroughly eat your captured human out.

With one leg now thrown over your sturdy shoulder, your tongue dances around Shinichiro's pussy — teasing more of that delicious juice out until he's completely dripping. Then, you prod around inside, extending your tongue so you may reach every crevice within the human's warm, inviting walls.

Above you, Shinichiro is panting and moaning in confused tones. One hand grips the fur on your head — his fingers flex and curl repeatedly, unsure of what exactly to do with himself.

This isn't right. I shouldn't enjoy this, but… this thing's makin' me feel good… that tongue alone–

“O-oh… oooohh~ th-there! Right there!” he directs when you brush over his clit. You chuckle, sucking on it while your human's voice goes up an octave. His thighs shake as a lustful orgasm hits him, and his essence gushes out all over your face.

The sticky juices cling to your fur, dribbling down your chin when you pull away. You meet Shinichiro's half-lidded gaze, and he chuckles as his chest heaves from that tiring activity.

“Wow… haha, that actually felt amazing. Whew…” the human admits, placing a hand on his chest as he steadies his breathing. He uses his other hand to, seemingly, pet you as if you were a dog. Affectionately, too.

After allowing him a second to breathe, you tug his body towards you, correcting “I'm not finished with you yet, little human.” you push yourself up, extending until you're taller than him once again. “Mhm, I need–” you lift Shinichiro's body up and pin him to the tree, “–more. So much more.”

The human protests as you press your hips between his legs, forcing him to wrap them around you unless he wants to fall. His back suddenly arches and he chokes on a moan — he definitely feels it. The growing erection between your legs, the one that's pressing into his still wet cunt. There are no clothes to separate your body from his, so the head of your cock is fully pressing against Shinichiro's entrance. His pussy clenches and unclenches periodically, becoming wet again even as just the tip rests in between his folds.

“Can't we… talk about this?” Shin breathes.

Puuuush–

Too late — in a, somewhat, gentle manner, you ease your wolf cock into his little cunt. The noises that come out of him are frantic, yet there's a pleasurable undertone to them as well.

“Oooaaahh?! Mm big– mmMmMMm~” the human bites his bottom lip, grabbing your biceps for support and grounding. You push inside, inching in deeper so you won't literally split the human in half, and stay there a moment.

It's stretching his insides so, soooo good. Shinichiro involuntarily clenches his pussy around your dick, and you nearly howl at the new tightness. That's enough to get you rutting into him with hunger — grabbing his waist and moving him at your desired pace.

“Ow ow ow ow!” Shin winces.

“Am I going too fast, human?”

He shakes his head 'no', then corrects “The tree… digging into my shoulder blade…”

Ah. Whoops.

You think for a moment before pulling away from the tree and crouching down, carefully laying the human down on the ground covered in dead leaves — using your keen eyesight to avoid putting him on any sticks or rocks lying around.

All the while, you're still buried in his guts, and, in your new position, you manage to nudge in deeper, until the base of your growing knot is resting against his skin.

“Remove this…” you mumble, pulling at the bottom of Shinichiro's white t-shirt. He's hesitant, so you just yank it off for him.

The human gasps, covering his chest and avoiding your gaze. So adorably shy.

You have to pry his arms away and pin them above his head, then you admire his pretty chest before groping one side with your warm, furry hand. Beginning to thrust into his hole once more, you keep a steady rhythm while your tongue descends upon Shin's nipple. He squirms under your overwhelming stimulation, but there's nowhere to go with his arms—and whole body—stuck here. He can only gradually accept your lavish appreciation of his body parts.

The other side of his chest is next, receiving an equal amount of attention from your tongue and teeth — meanwhile, his pussy is almost squirting with every drag of your cock. In and out, in and out, roughly in, then sloooowly out– repeating similar patterns as you hit so far inside you're almost hitting his cervix.

“Haah- can't take… anymore…” he pants. “You'll break my pussy if you– aaahh~ if we keep going–”

You snort, “And you'd probably like that, wouldn't ya? Little whore.”

Shinichiro grumbles, but the blush on his face is too prominent to hide. As if his cunt didn't happily suck in your cock the moment you pressed against it, too.

“Besides, what about this–” you groan as your knot incessantly pushes closer to his gaping hole. It's swollen to three times the size it was earlier, and it feels much, much heavier than before.

The human panics, eyes wide and voice shrill as he exclaims; “Nononono hang on! I can't take your kn–ooooooohhhh fuck—!! Oooohh~”

[skullygraves]

"What's this? What's this? There's color everywhere!"

Hello there, I'm Skully J. Graves! It sure is lovely to meet you, lovely person~ Tell me, have you heard of Halloween?

"What's this? What's this? There's something very wrong!"

INTRODUCTION:

It is so wonderful to be able to meet someone as lovely as yourself, dear! However, I should tell you about myself! And we must set some ground rules...

I, Skully, will be the one typically speaking!! You may even see me use a replycon image like this:

Lovely, yes? There is a...ghost here too. That ghost helps run and watch over this account. No, I cannot get rid of them, nothing seems to work on them! Nonetheless, if you do ask the ghost a question, they will answer with an image like this:

They are quite fond of Zero's image...Not that I blame them, Zero is Jack-sama's lovely, wonderful pet!

About myself, let's see... I come from a small town! And I quite adore Jack Skellington and all of the tales surrounding him and Halloween! And Halloween is the greatest holiday of all! It should be dark, lovely, modest, and- Yes, I know there's orange everywhere, I didn't put it there, it was that...ghost. Nonetheless, I hope you and I get along, lovely!

Ah, right, we do have to set some rules, I'll let the ghost handle that. Farewell, for now~

RULES:

// Hello there, I am the Ghost. Also the admin of this account, you may refer to me however you want. Here are some basic ground rules.

Please do not interact if you fall under the basic DNI criteria, thank you.

No NSFW. Skully is 16 years old, therefore a minor.

If you want to ask Ghost, the admin, a question instead of Skully make so very clear. Typically, Skully will be the one speaking most of the time.

This blog is a sideblog, and the main blog will remain a mystery*, so I can't directly follow and/or like post from here, apologies.

I tend to miss rb's a lot, I'm very sorry! If you would like to continue you can always @ me.

Also, I only use this tumblr account on desktop, so I am not online all of the time, which means some of Skully's responses might be late. I'm sorry, please try to be patient. Thank you!

*Just kidding. My main blog is @octavinelles. Though, I do not use it.

Aha, Now the ghost is gone! It's just you and me, lovely! And, well, Ghost is still somewhere but no matter! Let's have fun, okay? And let's all appreciate the great, lovely, Halloween~

[beepboop358]

Hey! im the anon about Mike telling the others about Will's episode, I get your point and I agree on that, but I was actually talking about the scene in episode 4 that season, where Mike tells them that Will saw a shadow in the sky, that's wha tI meant wth Mike telling the others. But I guess it has a similar reason to the one in episode 3.

Thank you again ♡

Hey again anon!

whoops, I'm sorry! Here's the scene you originally meant :) I guess this will be like a part 2 to the other post aha <3

So at this point Will has already been possessed by the mindflayer, and Lucas and Dustin are aware he possibly has true sight. After his "episode" on the field, where he gets possessed, Will doesn't show up to school the next day, which worries Mike.

Mike feels like he needs to say something to Lucas and Dustin about the shadow, in order to figure out if Will is in danger, or if anything bad has happened to Will already.

Dustin then goes on to explain that in D&D having true sight can't let someone interact with the other plane, just see into it. And Mike worries that this may be different, and that Will is in real danger.

In this scene, Mike still doesn't reveal details about the episode on halloween. He doesn't mention everything Will tells him, such as that the shadow was alive and Will felt like it was coming for him:

That information stays between them, which shows that Mike is committed to honoring Will's wishes, and doesn't share more than absolutely necessary, and he only shares the necessary information out of genuine concern for Will.

thanks again for the ask! I hope you're well xx <3

[noonaishere]

Work of Art [J.JH] - thirty-four | the salon is open

“The salon is open!” You held your gloved hands up and shook them. Taeyong and Eunji did the same. “You didn’t have to copy me.”

“I wanted to,” Eunji said like a little kid who was just spoken to sternly.

“I wanted to too,” Taeyong nodded.

“Oh, well…” you did it again and they both did the same. “Anyway. Eunji, I think we’ll start with you so the bleach can sit since you have *so much* hair.”

“Okay,” she smiled.

A few moments later you were carefully applying bleach to Eunji’s hair - quite a lot of it, because it was so long - and Taeyong sat at the table playing Animal Crossing. 

“Won’t Jack look a little weird with long, bubblegum pink hair?” You asked.

Eunji  laughed and played with the hairdresser's cape. “I’m going to get a wig for it.”

“Aha,” you nodded. “Is Jungwoo wearing a dress?”

“Of course. I’m going to make him the prettiest girl any of you have ever seen.”

You smiled and went back to her hair.

“If you don’t fall in love, I’ll be offended.”

You laughed.

“Oh,” Taeyong paused his game and sat up. “Can I put us all into a group chat together?”

“A salon group chat?” You asked with a wry smile.

“Well, so we can organize next time we want to ask you to do our hair. Then we can all hang out at the same time again.”

“I might have to start charging for my time, then.” You laughed.

“Aww,” Eunji pouted.

You laughed.

“I just mean, it’d make it easier to organize a day.” Taeyong explained.

“Yeah, it’s a good idea. Go ahead and put me in it,” you said, wiping bleach off of Eunji’s ear.

“I really like this green,” you said, painting it onto Taeyong’s hair. He was now in the cape and Eunji was playing Animal Crossing with your account on Jaehyun’s Switch, cape still on and her hair in a showercap as the bleach pulled the color out of her hair.

Taeyong nodded happily and you pulled the dye brush away for a moment so he couldn’t accuse you of getting any on his ear this time. “I think it’s a good punk Frankenstein color.”

“Mhm,” you said as you went back to painting.

“Would it be really hard to get it out after?”

“After what?”

“After Halloween.”

“You want to change it right after?”

“Maybe not right after…”

You laughed softly. “Well, we can wait until most of it washes out and then try a bleach bath to get the rest, but green stains really well in my experience. So you may or may not need a haircut at some point. Or a color that can cover it.”

“Hmmm…” He trailed off as he thought.

“What do you want to do next?”

“Oh, I saw a picture someone posted to instagram of a two-tone look their stylist did, and I wanted to do something similar.”

“What colors?”

“I was thinking pink and purple?”

You stood in front of him and narrowed your eyes for a moment as you imagined it. He looked at you expectantly.

“You might have to go blue then purple then pink to get rid of the green, but I think I know what we’re going to do.”

“You know?”

“Mhm.”

You went back to putting the green on for him.

The door opened. “Why does it smell like--” 

Jaehyun looked into the dorm to see Taeyong and Eunji, both with dye on their head, playing Animal Crossing together at the table, and you lying on the floor on your back.

“...Okay.”

You looked over. “Hi.”

“Why are you on the floor?”

“My neck hurt from all the…” you gestured the idea of putting bleach and dye on hair “...looking down from bleaching and dying, so I’m laying down to straighten it out.” You lay your head back.

He nodded and looked at Taeyong and then at Eunji. “Is that my Switch?”

“Sorry, y/n said I could use it.”

You looked up again. “Sorry, I’ll take it back if you don’t want her to.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s fine.” He laughed, “Is she playing your character?”

You nodded and laid back.

“You’ve outsourced your labor?”

You laughed. “Only by accident.”

He nodded and smiled. “Okay, I’m going to my room, then.”

You nodded back. “Nice seeing you.”

“You too.”

Jaehyun walked around you and went to his room.

The alarm you had set went off and you sat up. “Ooof. Okay, who wants to get washed first?”

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Tag list: @tansyfleurwhisper​, @sista7-7​, @hey-thatslove

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[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #361

“the world is a vampire, sent to drain”

Have you ever been through a phase of thinking emo guys were hot? A phase? Hunny, they're still hot lmao. Have you ever dated someone that could play an instrument? Yeah. Juan could play guitar, and Girt played I think the tuba in band. What’s so horrible about wearing leggings like pants? I've actually never understood why people freak about this. Like so long as they're not sheer and fit you fine, why exactly is this a problem...? Weirdest picture you’ve ever taken of yourself? Oh dear. When someone claims to be suicidal, do you take them seriously? FUCK you if you don't. Honest to god, fuck you. This is NOT something you just don't even blink at. Even if it's surprising to hear from that person, you take that shit seriously and try to talk to them about it. Ever been kicked out of anywhere? Colleen's house. Ever had Skittles vodka? No, but that shit sounds good. Ever punched someone in the face? No. If you haven’t, do you want to now? Uh, I'll pass. Do you truly HATE anyone? No one I know personally, but people like rapists, pedophiles, etc., I sure as hell do hate them. Most historical/famous landmark/building you’ve been to in your country? No clue. Favorite flavor for most things? Strawberry, watermelon, or blue raspberry, depending on what the thing is. Ever taken pictures in a photobooth? Who with? Yeah: Summer, Jason, and I'm pretty sure Sara and I did? What is the closest book to you? It's a full collection of Poe's poetry that Mom got me. Are you reading it or someone else? I'm not right now. I may eventually. Milkshakes or Sundaes? Hm, I gotta go with milkshakes. Do you like watermelons more or cherries? I'm not a fan of either, but I'd definitely pick watermelons over cherries. Who was the last person you ate with? My family and I went to Ichiban (a Japanese steakhouse that we have here where they cook directly in front of you) yesterday to celebrate Nicole's graduation. Do you prefer broccoli or asparagus? Broccoli. I hate asparagus. Do you have any bug bites? No. Do you have any flowers in your room? No. Do you know anyone that owns horses? Loosely, anyway. It's a family I took pictures for, and I still have the mother on Facebook. When you were little, did you ever go to feed the ducks? Yes, I LOVED doing that. Don't feed ducks bread, by the way. Have you seen any of the seven wonders of the world in person? No. Have you ever won anything out of one of those crane machines? Yeah. Can you remember being taught how to ride a bike? Was it hard for you? Yeah. I don't THINK it was too hard. Did you get carded the last time you ordered an alcoholic drink? No. Do you know anyone who uses medical marijuana? No, it's not legal here. Do you know anyone who’s died in childbirth? No. Which was the worst phase in your life? 2016 was. Towards the end of '15 was the breakup, and through aaaaaaall of 2016, I was just dead inside and totally useless. Every day I wanted to be dead. Can you remember your last dream? I had a nightmare some stupid kids were fucking with my snake Venus, so I was trying to protect her. Do you ever use Snapchat? No, I don't have one. What’s your favorite musical? I don't like musicals. What happened at the last party you went to? Summer prepared some little Halloween treat bags for us guests, we watched a horror movie, and everyone but me smoked some weed. Are you more comfortable sitting or lying down? I would assume everyone is more comfortable lying down... Have you ever been a fan of N*Sync? Yeah, as a kiddo. Favorite kind of cake: Red velvet, yum yum. What is your middle name? Marie. TV shows and anime you watch regularly: None. Do you want to have a big family in the future? Just a big family of pets with a spouse. What was the last thing you did that gave you a rush? Oh boy, I couldn't tell ya. Is Vegas one of your must-see places? No. Pet rat: yay or nay? YAY!! I've had many, but I don't think I'll get any more. I've just had bad luck with them, save for one that died of cancer at an old age. Would you call yourself a writer? Written any stories lately? Yeah. I haven't really written any big RP posts of the late, but I did recently write a poem. Are needles something that you’re afraid of? Okay, so this is super weird. Tattoos and piercings? No problem. Little prick, getting blood drawn, that sorta little stuff, no problem. I am, however, NOT a fan of big needles, which used to not be an issue. It's actually kinda recent, and it's why I'm nervous about my second Covid shot coming up, aha... What was the last unexpected hug you gave/received? I really haven't had an unexpected hug since Jason asked for one before he left my house after our final talk. Who was the last person you held hands with? Either my niece or nephew. Have you ever been in a parade before? If so, was it on TV? No. Do you have a fear of rollercoasters? If so, were you ever forced to go on one? If you don’t, what is your favorite rollercoaster? I have a big fear of them, yeah. Post a picture of you from a recent time. Don't feel like it. Who was the last person to give you some of their food? Miss Tobey let me try one of her dumplings yesterday when we were at Ichiban for dinner. The last person you met, what was your first impression of them? I actually didn't quite like her. Have you ever been to a football game? Yeah, because my sister was a cheerleader. Do you like the snow or rain better? Snowwww. Have you ever faked sick? Yeah. What is your blood-type? A-. Have you ever eaten a bug? Not knowingly. The last time you were in the fridge, what were you looking for? Salsa. Mom got these veggie chips at the store and they apparently taste better with salsa, which it did. They weren't great, though. Are you listening to anything at the moment? It's Gab Smolders' turn for me to watch her Resident Evil 8 upload, haha. I'm literally watching three different people (Mark, John Wolfe, and her) play it. Can you take a bra off with one hand? I haven't tried, I think? I doubt I could, given that I'm not exactly small. Do you have an innie or an outie bellybutton? Innie. Can you crack your neck? NOOOOO AND DO NOT DO IT AROUND ME YOURSELF. Are you donating your organs? Yeah; what am I gonna use 'em for? It just seems like a waste otherwise. They're just gonna decay. When was the last time you talked to you mom? Before she left with Tobey to go to the store. Do you like pumpkin pie? NO. I don't like pie, and I hate pumpkin. Do you own your own computer? Yeah. Did you ever have to share a room with one of your siblings? Yeah; growing up, my little sister and I did. Is there any piece of technology you want to buy? I REALLY want a PS4. Did you ever have a night light when you were a kid? Yeah. What TV show had you hooked from the very first episode? Meerkat Manor, 100%. I had to know that Shakespeare was okay. What is your least favorite Sour Patch Kids color? Orange or red, can't pick. Have you ever seen the movie Matilda? YES! I love that movie. What is the weirdest chant you have ever heard? Uh, idk. How are you feeling? Annoyed and hurt as fuck because shit Miss Tobey says without thinking for a single goddamn second. I'm honestly beyond sick of this woman. Do you know anyone with a unibrow? I don't think so. Doughy or saucy pizza? Doughy. Do you have anything that’s limited edition? Yeah. Do you have an air freshener in your bathroom? If so, what scent? I... think we do? If so though, I just don't notice it. The bathroom doesn't smell like anything in particular. Do you like Jalapeno Cheetos? Oh man, I forgot about those! Love 'em. Are you a fan of salads? Yeah, they're fine. I have to be in the mood for one, though. What’s one random thing that you don’t like? Uhhh carrots. What’s one random thing that you like? Shrimp. Do you like chicken noodle soup? I don't. Is it easy for you to accept loss? NOPE. I'm the absolute worst with it. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go? I really wanna see Sara, so take me to Illinois. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you? No, but a former best friend had her birthday the day before mine. Is there someone you just can’t imagine your life without? Not anymore, honestly. After Jason, I stopped that "I can't live without you" mindset. Truth is I'm going to lose people through life, and I'm not attaching my ability to happily exist to anyone. Are you wearing a ring? Two. Have your friends ever stopped by your house just to say hi? In the past, yeah. Do you like Chinese food? Not really. I only ever get pork fried rice and eggrolls from Chinese restaurants. Have you done any shopping for something in specific recently? No. Do you still live in your hometown? No. What was the reason behind the last time you stayed up all night? I don't recall, honestly. I haven't done that in a very long time. Have you ever had a UFO sighting or a sighting of strange lights in the sky? A very strange light, yes. Have you ever seen your mom or dad drunk? Yes to both. Seeing Mom drunk is very, very rare though. My dad was an alcoholic when I was growing up, so I saw him drunk plenty. Do your parents vote? Mom does, idk about Dad. Who’s the most romantic person you ever went out with? Jason. What restaurant has the best fries? Nowhere has anything on Bojangle's, y'all. Have you ever had a surprise party thrown for you? No.

[miguel-manbemel]

Thomas’ Spooky Halloween-y Date

It’s Halloween, and as I promised, here’s the Halloween one-off special Sanders Sides story I promised two weeks ago. It is out of the main narrative of the Aspects & Fanfics story, and it’s also formatted in regular prose instead of the habitual script format the main story follows. Before you read it, know that the plot is set two months after the latest Sanders Asides, “Flirting with Social Anxiety”, so if you haven’t watched it yet, don’t read any further until you watch it or you’ll get spoilered right from the first line. But it’s been more than two weeks, so I won’t be marking it as spoilers anymore. I hope you enjoy this spooky but romantic story and I’ll see you in two weeks, back to the regular posting schedule with the main story. Happy Halloween!

WARNINGS: It’s a romantic story featuring moments of drama and death mentions. It’s impossible to avoid them if we set the story on Halloween, though, and expect also mentions to ghosts and spooky creatures.

Thomas parked the car in front of Nico’s door. There were children everywhere, going from door to door with their trick-or-treat. He always loved that day of the year, ever since he was a child. He would always enjoy that day no matter what, but this year, it was his first Halloween since he started dating Nico, and the first Halloween he wouldn’t spend single since he had forgotten how long. He knew this year would be special. When Nico phoned him to come along for Halloween, he wouldn’t even hesitate. He always enjoyed his company and spending Halloween with him couldn’t be a better plan.

“I wonder if he’s prepared something for Halloween.” Thomas thought to himself “Nico is the most romantic guy I have ever met in my life and I’m sure he’s gonna make this day spookily fantastic. He loves Nightmare before Christmas, I’m sure he enjoys Halloween just as much as I do.”

“Of course he does, Thomas!” Roman said from the backseat.

“Oh, Roman, you startled me!”

“Sorry. But what are you waiting for inside your carriage, Thomas? Go to his door already and knock! Don’t keep him waiting!”

“Easy, Roman.” Virgil said, appearing next to him. “First, Thomas must check that he’s looking his best. You don’t want Linda to ruin his appearance in front of Nico, do you?”

“I checked myself already, Virgil. I combed my hair carefully and used gel so that Linda doesn’t visit us tonight. Wow, I made Linda sound as if she was the Oogie-Boogie Man.”

“She can be more terrifying, Thomas, especially in romantic occasions.” Virgil said “Are you sure you look okay? Check yourself again in the mirror.”

Thomas sighed and looked at himself in the driving mirror. There was no sign of cowlicks. At Roman’s suggestion, with the telephonic guidance and advice of Talyn, he had put a little dash of natural-looking makeup on his cheeks, and his face looked brighter and healthier than ever, with no visible trace of the ugly green pimple in the middle of the forehead he had woken up with that morning. Nope, he was looking his best and there was nothing to be worried about. Nico already liked is regular appearance, and tonight he was going to fall in love with him again.

“I look fine, Virge, please settle down, at least for tonight. I wanna have a calm and lovely Halloween date with Nico and I want everything to be perfect. Please, I beg you, grant me that wish, at least for tonight.”

“Okay, Thomas, I’ll try. You know I don’t work like that, but I’ll try for you.”

“Thanks, emo friend.” Thomas said, smiling at Virgil through the mirror. “Okay, my face and hair look fine, I just put on my best perfume, and I brought a little bag of Halloween candy that doesn’t include candy corn. What could go wrong?”

Thomas got out of the car and walked to the door. He rang the bell and waited there. He couldn’t help smiling when he noticed a bunch of creepy pumpkins next to the front window, full of cobwebs.

“He truly lives Halloween just as passionately as I do.” he thought “If soulmates do exist, I think he could be my own soulmate, or at least the closest to a soulmate I could ever get. We’ve been dating only for a couple of months and I’m feeling closer and closer to him each and everyday. I… I love him.”

The door opening interrupted his train of thought. Nico appeared there, with a skeleton makeup and a tattered black suit full of dust. The gloomy makeup couldn’t conceal the brightness of his smile. Thomas smiled back.

“Uh… trick or treat?” Thomas said, handing the bag of candy. “You should have warned me to come in a costume.”

“It’s okay,” Nico said “I wouldn’t have wanted you to come any other way. You look gorgeous as usual.”

Thomas smiled bashfully. He had forgotten the feeling of his appearance being complimented on a regular basis and Nico always knew how to boost his moral and make him feel like the handsomest man in the world. Since he had met him, he had started to forget the feeling of doubting his self worth. Nico always reminded him of how important he was, how much worthy of love he was and how much his presence in the world mattered, no matter what, and that’s what he loved the most about his boyfriend: that first and foremost, Nico reminded Thomas of all the reasons he had to love himself on a regular basis and pushed him to love himself above all else. Thomas felt really lucky to have met him at the mall. It was a chance in a million and Lady Luck, for once, had been generous with him.

“Thank you, I guess. You’re gonna make me blush.”

“I’m only saying the truth, Thomas. But don’t stay there, come in… if you dare…” he ended this phrase with a creepy voice and an over the top spooky laugh that made Thomas chortle.

“Of course…” Thomas said entering the house. “Did you have any plans for tonight?”

“First and foremost, dinner will be ready in no time. I made pizza rolls. Didn’t buy them, I made them from scratch. They’re in the oven right now.

“Homemade pizza rolls? That sounds delicious!”

“I know they’re your favorite food and since you’re now following healthy habits and you don’t eat them as often anymore, I wanted to make them just for you, for this special occasion. I just hope I haven’t messed up with the recipe and that I don’t end up burning them.”

“Gosh, Nico. You’re always thinking on me and on what’s best for me. I really feel so lucky to have you in my life.”

“I am the lucky one, Thomas. Your sunshiny disposition always makes my day a thousand times brighter. Of course I want you to have the best of the best, because you’re the best of the best for me.”

“I love you, so much.”

“Not as much as I love you.”

“Is this a competition about who loves who more? Because I intend to win it.”

“I won’t make it easy for you, honey.”

Nico kissed Thomas. Then they stared at each other for a couple of seconds, as if the world had stopped around them. Roman and Virgil, a couple of steps afar, watched the scene. Roman was crying out of emotion. Virgil’s eyeshadow couldn’t be shinier in purple.

“Gosh. Could he be any cuter?” Roman said, squealing.

“I really think Thomas’ life has only got better and better since we met him. I wonder if there’s a top for this turmoil of excitement he makes me feel every time Thomas is with him.”

“Glad to have you aboard the romance train, Virge. This wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for you, so thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Roman. I don’t regret that push at all, and…” suddenly Virgil became really serious and his eyeshadow suddenly turned black. “Wait, wait a second… What’s that?”

“What’s what?” Roman inquired.

“Don’t you sense that smell?” suddenly panicking “Something’s burning! Quickly, set the alarms! Everybody save yourselves! Thomas!”

Thomas’ suddenly perceived the smell too.

“Nico, something’s burning!”

“Oh, no!” Nico said, scared, running to the kitchen.

Thomas followed him. There was black smoke coming out of the oven. Nico quickly tried to open the oven, but in the rush, he forgot to wear a glove and burned his hand.

“Ouch, my hand!” he yelled, in pain.

“Be careful!” Thomas said, grabbing the glove on the counter next to the oven. Then he opened the oven and took the tray out. All the pizza rolls were completely charred and black. He left the tray in a safe place on the counter, coughing a little bit out of the smoke. Then he opened the window to let the smoke out and turned the oven temperature off.

“Aw, my hand…” Nico said, grimacing in pain. “This looks like a bad burn.”

“Let me see” Thomas said. There were blisters on Nico’s palm. “This doesn’t look good. Put your hand under the running tap. Cold water may be helpful to relieve the pain.”

Thomas opened the tap and Nico put his hand under the water stream.

“I’m so sorry, Thomas.” Nico said with a sad face, also grimacing in pain at times “I think I lost notion of time and I messed everything up…”

“It’s okay, Nico. It was an accident, and the most important thing for me is that you’re okay.”

After a couple of minutes, Thomas turned the water off and dried Nico’s hand carefully, then they both went to the living room. Logan appeared next to the couple and examined the wound.

“The burn doesn’t look bad enough to call 911, but it’ll need a little bit of care. Has Nico got some bandages?”

“Have you?” Thomas asked.

“Have I what?” Nico said, confused.

Thomas remembered that Nico couldn’t hear or see Logan as he was in his imagination.

“Oh, sorry, I was thinking to myself and forgot to speak aloud. I meant if you have some bandages.”

“Oh… Yes, in the medical kit, on that closet under the stairs.”

“Okay, you sit down at the table and I’ll go fetch the medical kit.”

“Do you have medical knowledge, Thomas?”

“Only the basics, you know, first aid assistance and all. I took a couple of courses when I was in college studying chemical engineering. Cause you never know, they could come in handy at any time. And see? The time has come.” Thomas got the medical kit from the closet and carried it to the table, then examined its contents. “Aha! Here are the bandages… and look, here’s some burn cream.”

“An aloe vera burning ointment… A wise choice to treat burns,” Logan said, “much better than the traditional oil-based burn ointment which can do more harm than good depending on the type of burn.”

“You really got this thought out, didn’t you, Nico?” Thomas said.

“Well,” Nico said, bashfully, “let’s just say that this is not the first time I burned myself while trying to cook. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone by trying to cook something for you but I messed everything up. I should have simply ordered a pizza, but I didn’t want to do something so dull for our Halloween date, I wanted it to be special.”

“Don’t worry, Nico. I’m not the best cook either and I appreciate the love you put into this… Okay, here I go. Are you ready? This might hurt a bit.”

“I’m ready.”

Thomas applied the burn cream, spreading it over the burn as gently as he could. Then, he started wrapping Nico’s hand with the bandage. Sometimes, Nico grimaced in pain, but most of the time, he just stared at Thomas with a loving glance. Thomas didn’t notice as he was focused on applying the bandage as painlessly as he could. When he was done, he tied the edge and secured the bandage.

“Done. You should see a doctor, though, as soon as you can so that they can advise better on that wound.”

Nico didn’t answer. He just leaned over and kissed Thomas on the cheek, staining the cheek with his white skeleton makeup.

“Thank you. Sorry I stained your face.”

“You’re welcome.” Thomas said, smiling back. “Well, it seems that we can’t eat these little pieces of coal in the kitchen. Do you want me to order some pizza?”

“I’d be glad. I’m sorry I can’t give you more.”

“For the last time, I don’t need you to give me more. I came here to spend time with you, not with your food. And besides, I adore pizza, I don’t mind at all to have it for dinner. So…”

Suddenly the sound of the oven bell ringing startled him.

“What was that?” Thomas said.

“That… that was the oven… the sign that I should take the pizza rolls out…”

“How much time did you program on the oven, Nico?”

“The time specified on the recipe. Look.”

Nico showed Thomas his phone and Thomas read something on the screen. Logan read the screen too.

“This doesn’t make any sense, Thomas.” Logan said, “The time specified on this recipe is totally safe. It would have been impossible that the pizza rolls had got burnt if they’ve been in the oven for this time only. If anything, it would have been the opposite, they would have come out a little raw and would have needed a little more time.”

“How is it possible that the pizza rolls got burnt when they spent so little time in the oven? Are you sure you didn’t introduce something wrong on the timer?” Thomas said.

“Yes, I’m sure, Thomas. I’m not the best cook, but I can read, and I double-checked that the timer was right.”

“Then, how could the pizza rolls get burnt? This doesn’t make any sense…”

Suddenly all the lights in the house turned off.

“What the…?” Nico started saying.

But he was interrupted by the sound of something made of glass crashing on the floor in another room followed by a creepy voice laughing and yelling with a squeaky voice: “Who broke this vase!? Hehehehehehe…”

“Okay…” Thomas said with a trembling voice “…if this is your idea of a creepy Halloween, I commend you for your creativity… but I beg you to stop right now, this is too scary for me…”

“I don’t have any part on this, Thomas…” Nico said with an equally trembling voice “I don’t know what is going on.”

Logan looked around.

“All of this has a strangely familiar look, just like that voice. I think I know that…”

Suddenly one light turned on in the middle of the table where Thomas and Nico were sitting. Remus was there, dressed as a zombie, with one eye hanging and blood all over his body.”

“AAAAAYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!” Remus screeched demonically.

Thomas screeched, scared, before he recognized Remus. Nico just stared at the apparition, and with the same gesture and no words coming out of his mouth, he flopped down on the table, unconscious.

“Nico!” Thomas yelled “Nico, are you all right?”

Thomas checked Nico. He had simply fainted.

“What is going on here!?” Thomas yelled.

“Hahahahaha! I surely scared the sh*t out of your boyfriend, didn’t I? Both of you in fact, you should have seen your faces! Hahahahaha!”

“Shut up, Remus! For starters, how in the world could Nico see you!? I thought you were just a figment of my imagination and that only I could see you!”

“Well, you thought wrong, Thomas! Not tonight at least! Tonight is the night where all nightmares become real, and tonight I’m your worst nightmare, Thomas!”

“Remus, will you stop these ridiculous antics!?” Logan said. “You could have killed Nico out of a heart attack! You know we’re not supposed to interact with other humans, it’s against the rules of Sides!”

Remus shifted back into his normal form.

“Oh, to the hell with rules! No rules can bind me, and you know it!”

“Wait, so all of you can become visible at will?” Thomas said “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You never asked.” Remus said with a mocking grin.

“It’s a little complicate, Thomas.” Virgil started saying, until he was interrupted.

“Nico, are you all right!?” Patton yelled after rising up, with a grimace of fear and an over the top concern “Please, talk to me!”

“Okay, okay, guys, enough is enough” Janus said, appearing “What will happen if now Nico starts seeing us? You’re endangering Thomas’ relationship, and bearing in mind his streak of luck, he’s not in a position of wasting relationships…”

“Yeah, I want to keep Nico as our final prize, I don’t want to lose him!

“Oh, brother, you don’t have to worry about anything. You, Light Sides, didn’t know it, but for us, Dark Sides, it was a secret common knowledge that if we never shared it with you, it was because Janus wouldn’t let us.” Remus said.

“What do you mean, Remus?” Roman said. Logan and Patton also looked at Remus, in confusion.

“Can I, Janus?” Remus inquired.

“Only if Thomas wants, Remus, you know the rules.” Janus said.

“Oh, I do want,” Thomas said “I want to know what Remus means.”

“Okay, go ahead Remus.” Janus said.

“Thank you, snake boy. If Nico can see us, then that means that…”

Suddenly, Nico rose his face from the table. Everyone stared at him in silence. The first thing he saw was Janus and his snake face.

“Hi, Mr. Floresssssss” Janus says, hissing with his forked tongue.

Nico immediately fainted again.

“Guys!” Roman yelled “Are you trying to make Thomas a widower before he even marries!?”

“Preposterous.” Logan said “To be a widower you need to be married beforehand, at least legally.”

“That’s the intention,” Roman said “if he reaches the altar alive, that is!”

“Enough!” Thomas yelled. “Everyone get out of sight, now, before he sees you again!”

The Sides shrugged and turned invisible for Thomas, all of them except Remus.

“You too, Remus, you’re the cause of all of this and I don’t want you here! Well, I never want you around but much less right now!”

“Aww, too bad that you’re not my boss, Tommy Boy! You can’t force me to do anything as you remember.”

Thomas sighed.

“At least, could you please become invisible for Nico? Please, he’s survived two strong impressions in a row. He has a young heart, but still, a third shock like that could be fatal for anyone!”

“Okay, I will. But only because I think Nico’s hot and I don’t want him to die yet, not at least before you two…” and he completed the phrase with a lot of… expressive words that this narrator is not willing to quote.

Thomas ignored Remus and started fanning Nico with his hand.

“Nico, are you all right? Wake up, please! Nico!”

Nico started waking up. At first he showed a face of confusion. Then he suddenly showed a face of fear and looked around, anxious.

“Where are they? Where are they!?”

“Uh… where are who?”

“That zombie on the table, and then the snake-man! I remember very well I saw them, and so did you!”

“Uh… well…” Thomas said with a stuttering nervous voice.

Nico looked at Thomas right in the eye, then he went serious and started speaking.

“You’re hiding something from me, Thomas. I can feel it. You always get into that nervous attitude when you’re trying to conceal something that bothers you. You’re not a very good liar, no matter how hard you try.”

Janus watched the scene a few steps behind, invisible for them, frowning at Nico with an offended face.

“Listen, I wouldn’t push you to tell me secrets you don’t want anyone to know, but if I know you, and in just two months I think I know you well already, you only put that face of remorse when you think I should know something but you don’t tell me because you’re afraid or ashamed. If that’s the case, please, open up to me.” Nico held Thomas’ hands “I love you. You don’t need to be afraid and your secret will always be safe with me, I promise. No one will know through my lips. Please, trust me.”

“I do trust you, Nico. And I don’t want to have secrets with you. It’s just that I never thought I would ever need to tell you this, to you or to anybody at all. And I never told you about this, because I feared that you would think you were dating a weirdo. What am I saying? I’m probably a weirdo anyway…”

Nico frowned at Thomas.

“Thomas, I forbid you to speak about yourself in these terms! You’re not a weirdo! You’re the sanest man I’ve ever met and I will physically fight you if you say otherwise!”

“Heh… physically fight me? It’s not the first time I heard someone say these words. And it’s only appropriate that you mentioned them just now. Maybe it’s true we are soulmates after all…”

“You’re diverting, Thomas. Please, tell me what’s bothering you.”

“Well… promise you won’t freak out or think I’m mad?”

“I’ve already promised. Go ahead, please.”

“You see, all of my life there’s been this exercise I made when I wanted to put my ideas in order, or I wanted to analyze my train of thoughts carefully to find solutions to the dilemmas I regularly face in my life. I imagined that the different aspects of my personality, you know, my morality, my logical thinking, my anxiety and my creativity and romanticism, where, like, different people. I visualized them in front of me and sustained conversations with them, and imagined that the thoughts in my head were actually words said by them. It helped me to externalize these thoughts and view them critically and as objectively as I could.”

Nico just looked at Thomas in silence.

“Well, up to a minute ago… I thought that all these people, who I called the Sanders Sides, you know the sides of my personality, were imaginary and only in my head. But Remus… that’s the name of my forbidden creativity, the thoughts I try to repress in my mind which show up as intrusive thoughts… decided to prank us… and showed up in the middle of the table dressed as a zombie. I thought only I could see him… until you fainted out of the impression. I never knew other people could see them if they wanted to. Heck, I don’t even understand how they can do it at all. I’m so sorry, I should have told you earlier. I’ll understand if you��re mad at me, and if you don’t want to date me anymore, it would kill me, because I love you with all my heart, but I’d accept your choice. Well? What do you say?”

Nico kept looking at Thomas. Slowly a face of surprise started appearing on his face. Thomas showed a face of fear.

“You have Lados too?”

“What?” Thomas said, stunned. He didn’t expect that answer at all.

“Yes, Lados. That’s how I call them, it’s the word in Spanish for Sides, which is what you call them. I… I thought I was the only one who had them!”

Roman, Logan and Patton stared at Nico, with their mouths wide open. Remus just smiled mockingly and said:

“That’s the secret I was trying to tell you before he woke up. If Nico could see me, that means he also has the ability to turn his thoughts into Sides, which means he has his own Sides too. Not all humans can see us, only those who have Sides can.”

“Wow, I should have known earlier, you know?” Thomas said, looking at Remus.

“I’m sorry I should have told you… Wait, who are you talking to?” Nico said, confused, noticing Thomas was staring at an empty space.

“Oh, I guess he’s still invisible to you now… I was talking to Remus, he’s over there, even if you don’t see him.”

“I see… That’s an expression, of course. Remus, wherever you are, that was a good prank, you really scared the crap out of me.”

“Thank you, Nico!” Remus said, startling Nico after suddenly becoming visible for him “I love that you’re a guy that can take pranks, unlike other people I know, and I’m not looking at anyone.” Remus said, looking at Thomas right in the eye.

“Yes, today Remus seems to be in a mood for pranks.” Thomas said “But, Remus, even though I know you never listen to me, you could be more careful, look at Nico’s hand, he burned it because of you.”

“Wait, what?” Remus said, confused “What are you talking about?”

“That joke with the oven, accelerating it and making the pizza rolls burn before they were made? You could have set the whole house on fire, and I would have never forgiven myself. Don’t do that again.”

“I recognize that would have been a very funny prank, Thomas…” Remus said, still confused “…but I didn’t take part in that.”

“What? You’re kidding me, right?”

“No, I’m not, Thomas. You know me well, you already know by experience that I would never hide anything to you. For once in a lifetime, I’m an innocent little lamb.”

“You wish.” Patton said.

“No, I don’t, daddy. Feeling innocent is disgusting and it’s not like me at all, you know? That’s more your thing, not mine. Me, I’m more of a guilty-pleasure addict.”

“I’d rather not think what you mean by that…” Patton said, uncomfortable.

Thomas looked at Remus, totally confused.

“But… if it wasn’t you… then who…?”

A demonic long screech started resounding all over the house, and the lights started flickering on and off.

“What is going on!?” Thomas said, scared, yelling over the screech to make himself heard. “Is it one of your Sides… of your Lados, by any chance, Nico!?”

“No, it isn’t, Thomas!” Nico also had to yell to make himself heard. “I don’t know where that screech is coming from!”

“Ugh, that screech is hurting my ears…” Remus said “I’m getting out of here.”

Remus sank down.

“Ugh… this is so horrible, not even Remus could stand it…” Thomas said “But then, what is going on?”

The screech stopped. Then, a demonic voice started speaking.

“You will regret coming into my house… Both of you… will pay… with blood!”

Thomas grabbed Nico, shaking from head to toe.

“Nico… I’m scared…” Thomas said.

“Me too…” Nico said, hugging Thomas.

Then, the lights went off. Roman’s female scream was heard.

“What was that!?” Nico yelled in horror.

“Roman, was that you!? Are you okay!?” Thomas said.

“Yes, it’s me, sorry, Thomas.” Roman said with his own voice “I still hate the dark…”

A demonic laugh startled everyone in the dark.

“A… a ghost… It’s a ghost!” Patton’s whining voice said in the dark.

“Okay, guys, everybody calm down.” Logan’s voice said “There has to be some logical explanation for all of this.”

“Don’t try to explain this rationally, Logan!” Roman said “For once, there’s something not even you can explain, so don’t pretend to know better, Teach!”

“There’s only one explanation” Virgil said “This house is haunted and there’s a ghost living here. Our only hope is to get out of this house, get in the car and drive as far away as the gas level allows us, and pray that the ghost doesn’t follow us to torment us for the rest of our lives.”

“I can’t just leave my house… whoever you are.” Nico said.

“He’s Virgil, my anxiety, always a source of positivity as you can see.” Thomas said, ironically.

“Have you ever experience this kind of… paranormal activity in your house, Nico? And my name is Logan, by the way, I’m Thomas’ logical thinking.”

“Well… no, Logan, I haven’t. Up until today, this house was perfectly normal, no sign of spirits meddling around in my life.”

“How long have you been living here, if I may ask?”

“Well… I moved to Gainesville at the end of last year. I got this job in the University of Florida, teaching Spanish, you know? I got this house around November, to start the semester in January, and I’ve been living here happily and peacefully, until now.”

“So you didn’t live here by Halloween last year, right?”

“Right. Back then, I still lived in Orlando, although I was already preparing to move to Gainesville and looking for cheap rent houses.”

“Then that explains it. The ghost that lives here only shows up on Halloween, for some reason.”

“I thought you were looking for a logical explanation, Logan.” Roman said. “Have you changed your mind about paranormal events?”

“I got a logical explanation. If you’re meaning a “rational explanation”, well, that’s a different story. This isn’t rational at all, but with the information I’ve got, I must bring up any possible theories, even if they go against the scientific method.”

“You do realize that doesn’t make any sense, right?”

“If it doesn’t, it’s because we lack information to understand this phenomenon, Roman. But to try and retrieve the missing data, we must explore any possibilities, no matter how mad they may sound.”

“So you’re saying that you need me to complete this theory, right? Thanks, Teach, I knew you wouldn’t resist my talent one day or another.”

“No, I…” Logan started saying, but then another demonic screech interrupted them.

“Guys” Thomas said “While you’re here theorizing, that demonic entity is still wreaking havoc. Stop trying to find out what it is and start looking for a solution to get rid of it!”

“Yes, even if it’s only for one night, or so you say, Logan, I don’t want an evil spirit on the loose in my house! I’d never sleep in peace at night ever again!” Nico said.

“My house!” the demonic voice said “This is my house and you are intruders! Go away!”

“I’ve already paid a good year of rent!” Nico said “This is my house until I can’t pay my landlady anymore!”

Another short screech was the only answer.

“Did your landlady ever tell you about this happening?” Thomas said.

“No, she didn’t. But Mrs. Howard is a very nice, old lady, she would never hide anything like this to me on purpose. I’m sure she doesn’t know anything about this.”

“Then tell her! I want her to come here!” the voice said. Except that this time it was the whining voice of a child.

“Wait a minute…” Thomas said “The ghost is… is a child?”

The lights turned on, and the couple and Sides saw a little boy dressed in 1960’s fashion. If it wasn’t for the paleness of his face and his anachronistic outfit, nothing would have distinguished him from any other boy like the many others doing trick-or-treat outside. Well, to be fair, he could have indeed blended in with these boys now that they were disguised as spooky creatures. The ghost child stared at them with sad eyes.

“I want her back… Why did she leave me behind?” he said.

“Who left you behind, kiddo?” Patton said.

“It’s weird to hear Patton using the word kiddo right for the first time…” Virgil said.

“My mom.” the ghost said “That Mrs. Howard he mentioned… She’s my mom.”

“My landlady is your mom?” Nico said, in shock. “Oh, my goodness!”

“She promised she would never leave my side. She promised she would always be with me until I got better… but she left me. Why? Why did she lie to me? Why didn’t she want me!? I feel so alone and lost…”

“Oh, gosh…” Virgil said, emotional. “He doesn’t know he died. His mom probably was by his side as she promised, until the kid passed away, but he doesn’t remember the moment when he left his body and he thinks his mother abandoned him. Oh, this is so sad…”

“Okay, kiddo, what’s your name?” Patton said, after concealing his tears, with his most tender fatherly voice.

“Patrick.”

“Nice to meet you, Patrick, I’m… Patton. And these are my friends. We’re sorry if we have bothered you. It wasn’t our intention. Could you accept our apologies, kiddo?”

“Stop calling me kiddo! I’m eight years old, I’m a strong grown up!”

“Of course you are, Patrick!” Patton said.

“Eight years old…” Thomas said, emotional “It isn’t fair, no one should die so young.”

“My mother needed me to be strong, because she’s all alone and has to take care of us, me, my little brother and my little sister, and I need to get better to help her. But where is she? How can I help her if I don’t know where she is?”

Patton looked at the others. He was clearly overwhelmed by the emotion and getting choked up. He silently begged the others for help since he couldn’t speak anymore. Janus decided to step forward.

“Listen, young man. Because as you said you’re a young man, correct? Your mom had to… get away from this house, you know? She had to move somewhere else to take care of your siblings.”

“Then why didn’t she take me with them? Didn’t they want me anymore, because I was sick and they thought I would be useless?”

“No, of course not! Uh… I’m sure your mom loved you with all her heart. It’s just that she couldn’t take you with her because… um… the place where she moved to only allowed two kids, and she had to choose… and she chose your two little siblings, because they were younger and more in need of her care… and you are a strong and capable man, aren’t you? She knew you could take care of yourself better on your own than your siblings, that’s why she left you here, because she also needed someone to help her take care of this house while she was out, you know? She loves and trusts you so much that she left you right here in this place to fulfill your duty. You should hold that trust she has on you with pride.”

“I… I guess… but why didn’t she tell me? And why doesn’t she ever come here, at least to visit me? I miss her so much.”

“She can’t right now, young man. But rest assure, she would love to visit you. And in due time, she’ll come for you, when you least expect it, and then she’ll release you from your duty and take you to a place where you’ll never be away from her ever again, and then she’ll give you all the love she couldn’t give you all these past years and more, you’ll see.”

“Dag nabbit…” Thomas said with tears in his eyes “This snake is making me cry.”

“Me too…” Nico said, also crying, with foggy glasses.

“I… I understand.” the little ghost said. “Will I have to wait for too long until she comes for me?”

“It may take her some time… but each year that goes by will be a year closer to her, so wait for that day with hope and one day, you’ll have your reward. You’ll see.”

“Okay… thank you sir.” the ghost spoke to Nico “I’m sorry for burning your food, sir, and also that you hurt your hand because of me. That was rude and I apologize.”

“It’s okay… totally okay, don’t worry.” Nico said with a trembling emotional voice.

“I feel so much peace now that I know that I’m going to see her again…” the ghost said while he started becoming translucent “I think I know where I truly need to go to wait for her… I think I remember it all now… Thank you so much, kind people. You listened to me when nobody else would and freed my soul. I’ll forever be grateful to you for that.” he smiled with a face of peace and happiness “I can see my dad! He’s there with open arms, calling me! I gotta go, I missed him so much too! Goodbye, everyone! Dad, I’m so happy to see you again! Are you proud of me?”

And with these words, the ghost disappeared. They all stood there looking at the empty space for a few seconds in a silence only broken by Thomas and Nico’s faint sobs.

“I don’t know if his dad will be proud of him, even though I believe he totally is…” Patton said “but I’m certain of who this dad, and I mean me, is proud of. I’m so proud of you, Janus.”

Janus snorted trying to act cold.

“I was only being me, telling the kid a bunch of lies to fool him and push him to the other side, where he wouldn’t bother us anymore, that’s all.”

Thomas smiled at Janus.

“You’re a liar…” he said “…but you’re my liar and I love you, liar and all.”

“Eh… whatever.” Janus said, with his human cheek blushing red and his human eye full of emotional tears.

Nico looked at Thomas with a tender smile.

“What is it, Nico?”

“It’s nothing” Nico said. “It’s just that I’m so thankful that you decided to overcome your fears and talk to me at the mall. Otherwise I would have missed knowing you.”

“Oh, well… I…” Thomas said. “Why are you saying this right now?”

“Your Sides are you, aren’t they? Just like my Lados are me. And your Sides are all so great, each and everyone of them, therefore so are you. I love you so much.”

Thomas got emotional and smiled lovingly at Nico.

“And I love you too, Nico.” he said.

And then they kissed. After the kiss, Thomas said:

“Speaking about your Sides… I mean, your Lados, when am I… are we going to meet them?”

“In time… but tonight, I want this night to be just for us, if that’s okay with you. We’re still on Halloween date, aren’t we, and I don’t have the intention of squandering it.”

“Okay with me?” Thomas said, blushing again “Being with you will always be okay with me. I wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else in the world ever again.”

They kissed again. Remus appeared rising his arms in triumph.

“Yes! Finally!” Remus yelled “I was beginning to lose hope that they two would…”

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, Remus.” Roman said. Now the couple couldn’t see or hear the Sides anymore. “I’m sure after so much agitation and horror today, not to mention Nico’s wound, their only plan for the night will be getting a well deserved romantic dinner and watching some Halloween light horror movies.”

“But after the dinner, there always comes the dessert, doesn’t it?” Remus said, wiggling his eyebrows. Then he sighed in frustration. “If only Thomas wasn’t so romantic-driven that he needs to feel that romance in order to go to the next base. It’s boring having to go through all that long process and waiting for him to be ready before we get to the juicy stuff.”

“Well, romance is also good for Thomas’ soul and well-being,” Roman said “and I know, deep inside, you also want what is best for Thomas, even if you try to get it through your gruesome ways. On the other hand, we are brothers and part of a whole, Remus. As much as it is a pain for us both, if we want Thomas to be happy with Nico, we’ll have to work as a team, and our task is to help Thomas find out when he’s ready to move forward in the relationship. And who knows, maybe working as a team will give us an opportunity to rebuild our relationship as brothers?”

“Don’t build your hopes too high, Roman.” Remus said “Right now you can consider yourself lucky that we can work together without me having to pull out my mace.”

Roman chuckled.

“It’s a first step.” Roman said “and all the best adventures always start with a first step. I wonder where this adventure will take us both, brother.”

“If you say so…” Remus said, shrugging. “…brother.”

Roman smiled while Remus pretended he didn’t care. Then they both sank down with the others back to the Mind Palace, giving the couple some well earned privacy while they started ordering a pizza and checking Nico’s collection of Blu-Rays to find the perfect movie for the night.

[opalai-pixel-witch]

Merry christmas pal! ^^

“the idea of War with a kitty companion is sooooo cute ;;u;;”

War usually works outside, so if she sees a kitty, she will pet it, it´s a very cute and weird image: a skeleton with weapons that was killing someone a few seconds ago, stops short and walks towards a kitty to pet it X3

“I don’t feel bad for him at all, he killed Ramsey and tortured Balder and tried to hurt my son so he gets no sympathy from me >:|”

He wanted us to dislike him, how dare you hurt our bois?! >:,v

“Aha, that makes sense >.> So maybe people are giving them to him less because he’s Death and more because he sucks at being Death? :P”

I wouldn´t say he sucks being Death, he doesn´t matter directly, you know, the working conditions are very bad, that is, no motivation to work, also that his work is boring, if Death would do his job well, almost never he would come out of hell since he only has to guide the lost souls in the Hell

“Oddly enough, I don’t think he has a scythe at all in MS…I wonder why :o”

I guess they wanted to get out of the stereotype of Death, Idk

“Once again, your drawings are absolutely amazing!!!! I looove the one with Balder and Ramsey, sooo cute >u> And it’s interesting to see Famine off-duty too o.o”

Thanks a lot! Your drawings are great too! I saw the one with Milky replacing Sam in the robotic suit and Death looks very cute, it makes me want to touch his face, but he has no face XD So I better hug him, he looks so cute! X3 I love this boi! I don’t think I show it XD

I really liked the Bjorn and Pesto dolls, and I loved the comic where Pesto rips off Bjorn’s arm and she doesn’t understand what happened and Bjorn is there like: “Not again… :T ”

And I love Pesto and Bjorn Halloween Hustle/Holiday Hustle drawing X3 ♥ ♥ ♥

And speaking about drawings (I noticed that you like Milky a lot (by the way, how many fictional boyfriends do you have? XD), and there is a drawing where I put him as the bad guy in the story, but it’s not that I don’t like him, but I see him wanting to avoid the apocalypse, and the only way to avoid the apocalypse is to eliminate the horsemen, and well, there came that scene that appears in Helluva Boss and it seemed perfect, weird things, I don’t know XD):

https://sta.sh/22aj2xyaqwj3?edit=1

“Sometimes I wish that Helheim Hassle had a more popular fandom

But then I think about all the absolutely cursed shit that could happen

And then I think “yeah, this is okay” ”

I also think it would be fun to see more Perfectly Paranormal fans and then I remember fandoms like Villainous, Invader Zim, Eddsworld, where there are so many people, that it´s extremely toxic and uncomfortable to be there, it’s like the most important thing there is the sexual orientation of the character and not its personality or its role in the story, I like what you do, which is more based on friendship and you respect the personality of the characters, I remember that once I found an user who said he had drawings +18 from HH, I’m glad he respected the rules and didn’t post them, I want to continue seeing my bois like cute little characters :3

--------

Helloooo! Thank you so much!! Same to you, my friend! ^___^ May today be a fantastic one for you!

Ahh, I see o: I kinda wanna draw War with a bunch of cats now, but I’m afraid I’m not too good with drawing animals ;;o;;

So not cool of him >A>

Ah yeah, that’s true, my apologies o.o That also makes sense, it probably didn’t go with the feel they were trying to achieve either?

I’m glad you liked them!! Yeah, I’m not sure what compelled me to make that one :P Death is to you what Bjørn is to me, it would seem |D

Thank you!! I was a bit worried that a PP/LBP crossover would be weird…LBP fans coming across those pics in the tags must be so confused at the whole arm-being-ripped-off thing >o>

Ahahahaha! I’ve made it quite obvious >///> (To answer your question…4 or 5 o///o)

That’s an interesting concept! A heroic antagonist Milky sounds super cool :o Honestly I’m really curious about what Milky’s deal is and I hope we’ll get more info on him in the next game!! And it would be cool if he discovered how the system in Hell really worked and maybe realized that the horsemen really aren’t inherently evil and are just trying to do their jobs (except maybe Famine, his intentions are…debatable >_>)

Big fandoms seem to be a blessing and a curse, it would seem o.o I’m more worried about the type of content that might come up if it became more popular, I don’t wanna find any fetishy NSFW fanfiction about it >A> But I’m really happy to hear that you like what I do! To be honest there are times where I feel like I don’t really fit in well with the fandom (like I don’t “belawng” if you will :P) so I’m glad that that’s probably not the case! I enjoy seeing what you make too, as well as talking and sharing headcannons and stuff with you ^_^

[gingerdrab]

Trick or Treat

Ship: Wonwoo x Reader Genre: Fluff, Halloween shit Word Count: 2.8k Summary: Wonu, a shy, quiet boy in your class, overhears you saying that you’ve never celebrated Halloween before. He makes it his mission to change that, since he loves Halloween, and just may have a thing for you… Writer’s Notes: breh I forgot to post this damn sorry lol, i got so super busy with work omgggg. also, I wrote this before the Halloween Vlive so wow thanks Minghao 4 wearing this costume and messing up my fic ugh lol jk ily anyways, hope u like it, this is my first ever Seventeen fic so yeah and it was rlly rushed tbh

-

“I can’t believe you’ve lived your entire life from childhood, into adulthood, without ever celebrating Halloween.”

Dara, the rather annoying, loud-mouthed girl who sat next to you in your poetry class, stared at you in utter disbelief after you had casually mentioned that little fact about yourself.

“I mean, it’s really not that big of a deal? It’s just not really a thing where I’m from and it’s my first year being an exchange student here so…”

She continued looking at you as if it were your fault that the entire season of Autumn chose not to exist where you grew up. Class had just ended and all the students were piling up behind you, eagerly trying to get through the doors and out into freedom. It was Friday, who could blame them? You cleared the door and tried to lose Dara in the crowd (lord forbid you’d have to listen to her drone on and on for another minute), walking quickly towards the library.

“Never celebrated Halloween…. Hmm….. But are you gonna celebrate this year, though?”

The question this time, belonged to a deep male voice. One you were sure you hadn’t heard before.

You stopped abruptly and spun around, causing a tall dark-haired figure to almost crash into you. You stared at him in surprise and mumbled an apology. He shook his head quickly, a small smile on his lips, and pushed his round glasses higher up his nose.

“You’re Y/N, right? I’m Wonu.” He introduced himself, his voice quiet and low.

“I…. didn’t know you talked to people” you replied, trying to remember when you’d ever seen him interact with anyone before. He usually sat in the back corner of class and almost always had his nose buried in a book.

“Well, I was curious. About your Halloween situation, I mean.”

“You know, I don’t see what the big deal is. But whatever, I have to go now anyways. Bye.”

You turned around and continued your quest, still a bit confused as to why the shyest boy in the world had chosen to talk to you about something he just randomly overheard.

As you walked onto the courtyard, you wiggled deeper into your scarf, the cold air biting at you. You noticed a shadow growing behind you.

“Are you following me?” You slowed down till you were walking side by side with Quiet Boy.

“I’m going to the library.” He said softly. “But you still haven’t answered my question, though. Are you gonna celebrate this year?”

You began walking up the library steps together. You felt most amused than annoyed by his persistence, so you continued to entertain him.

“I wasn’t planning to. Why are you so interested anyways? Are you the Pumpkin King or something?”

“Aha! So you do know Halloween things at least!” A look of almost victory playing across his face.

You both sat across from each other at an empty table at the end of the deserted library. You studied the boy as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a very worn out novel. You’d never seen him this friendly, or even happy. It looked good on him. He was a handsome guy, you supposed; with his short, messy raven locks, pretty lips, and dark, mysterious eyes. Really handsome, actually. You wondered why you’d never paid him much attention before now.

He looked up at you, your eyes meeting for a while.

“I just really like Halloween. And I think you’d like it too. You should go find some books about the history of it. I know you like that stuff.”

He quickly averted his eyes, blushing slightly from his oversharing.

“How could you possibly know what I like? We’ve literally never spoken before.”

His cheeks and ears turned a deeper shade of red. He looked into his book and replied, “I read your blog. And I always see you in here. You sit and research and write for hours.”

It was your turn to blush. “I-I didn’t think anyone I knew even read my stuff…” you muttered, heavily embarrassed.

He smiled again. “Well, to be fair, you didn’t really know me.”

“Wow, so you’re like a fan then?” you joked playfully. You both giggled, and you couldn’t help noticing how cute he looked.

You started thinking about what he had said. You actually knew quite a bit about Halloween, and you were totally willing to participate in some events. The problem was: you didn’t actually have any friends. Unless you counted Dara. (Which you totally didn’t.) This was only your fourth month here, and you’d been really focused on adjusting to school, and life in general, and hadn’t really had time to make friends. You knew a few people around campus, but not enough to call them friends. You wondered if Wonu had friends. What would he be like with them? Laughing and smiling? Funny? Serious? …..Cute?

Your phone buzzed in your pocket, forcing you out of your little daydream.

[4:01PM] Dara: I saw you talking to that creepy boy from class. Just be careful.

Creepy? You looked up at him, his eyes focused on the words in front of him, barely aware of what was happening around him. Creepy how? Yeah, he dressed all in black every single day and didn’t speak to anyone ever. But you definitely weren’t getting a creepy vibe from him. You ignored the text.

Wonu turned a page in his book, unaware that the way you were staring at him could probably bore a hole into his skull. You looked at the way his eyes flitted across the words, and how his tongue peeked out between his teeth. He was totally caught up in his own little world. It was adorable. You felt content, and finally reached into your bag for your laptop so you could write, thinking to yourself “ohmygod he reads my blog?!”

-

Somehow, your library visits together started becoming a regular thing. You’d both just ‘end up’ at the same table after class, him reading, and you writing, a comfortable silence between you two. It was a week after your initial meeting, and you both sat in your usual spots, this time, feeling just a bit too distracted to do any actual work.

“So you’ve never decorated for Halloween? Visited a pumpkin patch? Carved a pumpkin? Nothing?”

This again. You shook your head for each activity he mentioned.

“You’ve never been trick or treating?”

You laughed. “It’s not really a big deal! Besides, I’m too old for that one anyways.”

Wonu paused, looking at you incredulously. “Excuse me? Too old for dressing up in costumes and collecting candy? That’s the best part of Halloween! I can’t believe you’ve never done it before.”

You smiled at him and leaned your chin into your hand. “I guess I used to want to, when I was younger. But there was nowhere I could, and no one to do it with.”

The small smile growing on Wonu’s lips had a glint of mischievousness to it.

“Let’s go trick or treating, Y/N.”

He looked like an excited puppy. You, on the other hand, were simply confused.

“I’m serious! There’s gonna be a Halloween event on campus. We can dress up and walk around to the different departments… I think we’re all just trying to reconnect to our childhoods here, you know?”

“How do you even know about this?”

“I’m the Pumpkin King, remember?” he said with a smirk. “I’m kidding, my friends are the ones organizing it.”

So he did have friends.

-

Monday morning was fast approaching, your weekend had been a blur. You and Wonu had grown even closer via text, but you kinda wished you had gotten to see him over the weekend. You were simultaneously looking forward to your poetry class, and also dreading it. Dreading it, because there would be a randomly selected Haiku presentation, and you hated reading your work in front of anyone; but you were looking forward to sitting next to Wonu.

You got to class slightly earlier than usual and chose the seat next to the one he usually sat in. You knew it would be empty anyways. “Uh, Y/N? Why are you sitting there?”

It was Dara. Ugh. She looked from you to the door that Wonu had just started walking through and quickly got the picture. Quiet Boy reached his spot and stared at you, a faint blush rising on his cheeks.

“Mornin’” he whispered, while sitting next to you.

“Hi!” you replied, a bit too cheery, embarrassing yourself. Dammit, I seem too eager, don’t I? Your thoughts were racing. The majority of class passed with you sneaking looks to the boy next to you, constantly finding yourself blushing, and once or twice, catching his eye and seeing him turn slightly pinker. Your professor’s voice pierced the room suddenly, interrupting your sweet daydreams.

“Presentation time! Who’s going first?”

His eyes scanned the classroom, searching for either volunteers, or just someone unsuspecting to pick on. You kept your head lowered, anxiety wringing your insides, when you heard the seat next to yours creaking.

Wonu was standing up.

“Uh… I’ll try…”

You stared at him, a mixture of surprise and interest dawning on your face.

“This is… a, uh…. autumn-y thing, I wrote. Um, the theme was kinda open so… I just went with it-

In summer, I saw

Her in the sea of faces.

In autumn, I fell.”

-

Dara wouldn’t stop talking your ear off at lunch. She had heard about the Halloween event that would be taking place on campus and was gushing about what she was going to dress up as and who would be there and other boring things you tried not to take notice of.

“You should come with me! It’ll be your first Halloween thing! You can be something really cute and sexy!”

You turned to look at her, putting on your best annoyed expression.

“I’m already going. With Wonu.”

Dara faked a smile. “I thought you’d say that. Are you two dating or something?”

You sputtered, red tinting your cheeks already. “Wha- No. That’s – no – just stupid. Haha. No!

We’re friends. And he��s not creepy. He’s just… quiet.”

“Hmm. If you say so. I figured after that super obvious poem last class… Whatever.”

She walked away in a huff, much to your pleasure, leaving you to grow steadily more embarrassed just thinking of the poem and of dating Wonu. You’d be lying to yourself if you said you weren’t almost totally smitten by him. And even you had thought, or at least hoped, that the haiku he had written really was about you. Was he falling for you too? Did he even mean it like that? As if summoned by your thoughts, the Quiet Boy himself appeared at your side, taking a seat and grabbing some of your chips.

“Hey. I just got out of class.”

You almost choked on your drink. He was so friendly now, it made you both exhilarated and nervous.

“Hey! You nearly killed me, thanks.”

“Sorry,” he chuckled. “I wanted to ask you about the party.”

“Hm?”

“Did you.. have any ideas on what you wanted to dress up as?”

You definitely had at least 17 ideas. You’d never gotten to dress up for Halloween before, so you’d been toying with the idea of some classic costumes. But then, of course, there were the funny costumes. And memes. Would it be lame to try to make it cute or sexy? Stockings, mini skirt, and push up bra? Would it be weird to make it extra scary? Fake blood and gross scar makeup; the full works! You weren’t sure, but you knew whatever you picked, it had to be good.

“I don’t know yet. What about you?”

Wonu hesitated, shifting his gaze from your eyes and onto his hands. “I do. But it’s super cheesy.

It’s, uh, kind of a couple costume.”

You blushed a deep scarlet shade. You knew exactly what he was thinking.

-

Saturday evening found you standing in front of your mirror, applying blue makeup to your face. The costume Wonu had gotten for you was a perfect fit, and you couldn’t help getting more and more excited while you put yourself together. The doorbell to your apartment rang just as you were finished securing your long, red wig. The butterflies in your stomach became frantic with the realization that you were practically about to go on a date with your crush. (I mean, basically, come on)

You raced down the stairs and pulled open the door.

“Hey Sally”

Wonu stood in front of you with a smirk on his lips, looking absolutely handsome in his black and white striped suit and his face in matching paint.

“Hey Jack”

You giggled, feeling a bit ridiculous.

“Is this too much? We’re probably gonna get made fun of, aren’t we?” you questioned, locking your door and getting ready to head to campus with Wonu.

“Probably. But’s it’s definitely worth it. Don’t you think?”

You hummed in agreement, dropping into a synchronized walk with the tall guy.

You arrived on campus to see what could only be described as the Most Extra little Halloween village, complete with carved pumpkins everywhere, fairy lights strung from the trees, skeletons hanging on every corner and cute, spooky ghosts propped up against the walls. The place was crowded with college students mostly in costume, drinking, dancing to music, and just hanging around. A large number were making the trick or treating rounds, collecting candy (and sometimes shots of vodka lmao.) Wonu reached for your hand, and you felt your heartbeat quicken. You looked up at him to see him smiling, a soft blush rising on his cheeks.

“You look so excited. It’s way too adorable.”

He was right. You were the cutest right now, nearly bursting at the seams with delight, and now, even more so as he held on to your hand.

“Let’s go!” You both walked down the makeshift street, which was just the decorated hallway, stopping at each makeshift ‘house’, which were in actuality just classrooms. Each time you stopped, he let you be the one to knock and shout “Trick or Treat!” while almost erupting into laughter each time. At each of the ‘houses’, cute guys stood, giving out treats. They were introduced to you as Wonu’s friends, and without fail, they all teased him about the hand-holding thing. (And yet, he never let go.)

After visiting all the houses, and meeting all his friends, you settled on a bench at the end of the Halloween Street, already half-way through your third candy bar.

“So… I didn’t realize you were this popular. You’re so quiet all the time.”

He sat next to you, reaching over for some chocolate.

“Yeah, I just like to keep to myself. I mean, other than those guys you met, I don’t really talk to anyone else. I know most people from my classes think I’m some creepy guy.”

“I don’t think you’re creepy,” you said, smiling up at him.

“Even with the skeleton makeup?” he laughed.

“…it’s kinda sexy actually.” You felt your cheeks grow hot at your own boldness. Ohmygod, you actually said that.

You took a tentative look at Wonu next to you, who you were happy to note, was wearing a blush that matched yours exactly. He cleared his throat before fidgeting profusely and then said,

“So I … I hope you’ve figured out that this was a, um, date.”

You felt yourself growing braver and more playful at his returning shyness.

“A date? Well you never officially asked me, so I figured ─”

“Remember the haiku I read in class?” he cut you off. Your heart pounded a little harder, your previous glimmer of hope growing much larger in your mind.

“That was about you.”

Your heart practically stopped. In your head, you had turned into a teenage girl fist-pumping in exhilaration.

“Are you saying that you ─”

“I’ve been thinking about you since I started reading your blog. And since I started seeing you writing in the library.”

“Definitely a secret admirer then,” you smirked.

“Definitely. So can this be a date now then?” he questioned you, staring directly into your eyes, suddenly seeming braver than before.

You stared back at him, your gaze flickering briefly to his lips. He was close enough for you to feel his soft breath on your face. The makeup he wore over his eyes and cheeks honestly made him look hotter than usual, which was saying something. You nodded and were barely able to finish saying yes, when he moved forward, closing the space between you, and pressing his lips to yours. You leaned into the kiss, reaching your hand around his neck, and burying your fingers in his hair. You pulled apart from each other, after what felt like an eternity of innocent bliss, smiling widely.

“Good. Cause I really like you, Y/N” He stated, with the most confidence you’d ever seen from him since you started talking. He reached for your hand again, this time intertwining his fingers with yours.

You leaned forward slightly and pulled him in for another kiss. “I really like you too, Pumpkin King.”

[sorasunao]

~the Gazette - interview for Vif Music about the [NINTH]~part 3

- So, tell us, please, what has changed a lot, what were the biggest obstacles encountered?

AOI: As for guitars, before, both guitars used to sound in unison. This time we didn’t try to bring their lines to each other ideally. We gradually tried different instruments, even those that we don’t have, and thus brought melodies and their parts up to the most expressive progress. Until now, what will be the sound, was solved like this: "Uruha, what are we going to do with the sound?", but now I began to pay more attention to guitar phrases added by me,  deciding how they will sound better. Just when I was working on the sound, sometimes Uruha wasn’t around. Since time immemorial, we have always worked on this together, so I didn’t really understand how to do it.

REITA: Because there was no one at all.

AOI: I worried a lot. And Ruki was busy writing lyrics, so he didn’t come. I recorded with the thought: "It's not good. What will I do if I had to record something completely different?"

- You talked about "DOGMA" that guitars are off course for digital effectors (so-called "pedals") And what about the current album?

AOI: Oh, talking about things of two or three years ago... I'm the type of people who don’t look back (laughs).

RUKI: Just like a politician.

AOI: This time we used both analog and digital, as the case may be. But with "Falling" it was hard. With [Falling] we determined the further sounding of the album, and when we all together were going to do preproduction and start recording, it turned out that our initial idea of its sounding and its whole image definitely diverge. Couldn't decide the supply of the song... We discussed this and eventually decided, how it will sound better, but it took the most time. 

- When the issue with "Falling" was solved, the direction of the movement as a whole also emerged. 

AOI: Yes. And yet at first we make a lot of different treatments, and as a consequence - there are many unnecessary sounds of instruments. Much became clear only in the process of work, so at that moment I thought that we had finally moved on to the next stage.

URUHA: Approximately from the period of the last collection of ballads [TRACES VOL.2], I recorded everything through a virtual guitar processor almost without using real amplifier. Thanks to this there is a great deal of freedom of action, but since there are a lot of techniques I couldn’t decide: in my head everything sounded not good enough. The moment when I finally calmed down, there was a recording of [GUSH]. It was in the last quarter of the recording process. By that time we had already done a lot and made some mistakes. We rewrote already recorded parts, in which we missed purpose, and even after we finished recording [GUSH], again began to remodel something. It was difficult to cope with everything by having a virtual processor that I use. Everything rolled like a head, changing on the move, and we pretty much made trial and error. In the digital sphere there is a lot of everything, so after some time you want to try again, using some other options.      

- Uruha-san very much focuses on the sound quality, probably, because this part of the process was hard for you.

URUHA: Well, I end up achieving the style that truly reflects my idea, but it takes a lot of time. Honestly, when we were working with a ballad, I couldn’t understand the necessary sound. [NINTH] began, leaving behind unresolved issues, but to the stage of work with [GUSH] I realized that it was time to stop in my throwing.

REITA: I recorded in the studio till this time. And then, if possible, I tried to choose the sound until I understand that I'm on the right way. But in the studio there is always a sound engineer, who scans each audio track, and I, in any case, didn't polish my playing to the utmost satisfaction. But when you record alone, you have such an opportunity. In particular, if we talk about bass, then the volume of sound changes from the change of the strings. If you strongly distort the sound [by effectors], this is unlikely to catch your eye, but if the distortion is reduced to a certain level, it is very interesting to hear the difference in the volume of the sound. Therefore, you can experiment, recording the batch by raising and lowering the volume. I was able to do a filigree work, and on occasion, I want to repeat this next time.  

- Is this the first time that you have come so far into the work with sound?

REITA: Yes. If you do everything yourself, it turns out by itself. It takes a lot of time, but the ability to record everything in such a way as to remain completely content, plays a big role.

- Reita-san in social networks raised the question "What is a good bass sound?".

REITA: ... well, it was such a trifle.

URUHA: And what did he write there?

- "I thought that instead of the bass line sounding deafeningly powerful, it will be better if you can pleasantly feel low sounds. I want you not to hear, but to feel."

URUHA: AHAHAHA!

AOI: Are you sure you meant the bass?

REITA: It was a bot ... 

RUKI: I saw this post.

REITA: Stop it (laughs).

RUKI: But doesn't the bass have enough clear parts in the current album? Type of those where you use the bend* ? [* way of playing the guitar] Besides, I thought that you used to play that way often (laughs).

REITA: This varies from case to case! (laughing) If we talk about the orthodox style, then of course, this is my standard style of play, and depending on what kind of song, I use it. Is not it good !? (laughing)  

KAI: We had in mind that you shouldn't say such dubious things (laughs).

REITA: In moments of sudden insights, I begin to want to speculate. Just like an adult man (laughs).  

RUKI: Yeah (immediately responded).

REITA: So, now the adult man will speak. Abroad, this is not so, but in Japan, everyone who are in this sphere the bass of the middle setting is mainstream [*so-called "Mid bass" different from the high bass and lower bass] with a distinct sonorous batch. Among them I'm not like everyone else, that's what I wanted to say.

RUKI: For the moment when you think about it "And when did I become like this?", it's better not to say this? (laughing)

ALL: (laughing)

- And how did Kai-san go through the recording?

KAI: For [Falling] I was able to devote quite a lot of time. Until now, I almost didn't record on the real set in the studio, but I wanted to rethink the sound from scratch, and besides all of us together have decided to try everything, that we can, so I tried to record a batch of  drum-plates separately. Having done so, the groove [* rhythmic sensation in music, "swing"] turned out very good. Anyway, microphones are always aimed at the main drums, and when the plates come into play, the accent switches to the top [* the top plate in hi-hat], so at that moment there is such a sound breakdown. We had a conversation with a sound engineer that at such a time of entry [plates] it is somehow difficult to enter. So, I determinedly recorded separately the drums, separately the plates. I had experience of such a record earlier, but it didn’t turn out very well. And I thought that, based on that experience, this time I was lucky, and everything turned out.  

- Does this method of recording take a decent amount of time?  

KAI: Truly so. In conditions when there was no time, the drums were allowed a lot.

RUKI: If to think about it, the "Falling" took most of our time.

REITA: Aha. Perhaps even too much.

KAI: But if we didn't do all of the above, we wouldn't finish the album.

AOI: Uh-huh. Its creation was the point when we decided what we wanted to do, relying on the songs written earlier, so I'm sincerely glad that we made it.

◆ If only we could come up with something during the long tour to continue our activity (Kai)

- It's not surprising that we all look forward for the tour, because for the album we chose 12 songs, looking at the essence of the concerts. I heard that Aoi-san had a dream about the first day of the tour.

AOI: True, I saw it. Although the songs were not finished yet.

REITA: Such dreams are a typical problem for musicians. 

- And Reita-san had a dream about a video, where he was shot in a pose of a hanged man, right?

RUKI: He is the character who has such dreams (laughs).

AOI: Dreams about everything related to the group are harmful to the heart.

REITA: Moreover, the dream was so real. Although these are dreams, they are just like that.

RUKI: And I dreamed that I was terribly late for the concert in Toyosu.

REITA: It wasn't a dream! You were actually late (laughs).   

- Was it on Halloween? [*October’17]

REITA: Yes. And two days in a row.

AOI: You didn’t want to come? 

RUKI: I wanted to sleep (laughs). But I thought that if I was late, an incredible number of messages would come to me, but, despite the fact that it has already exceeded 13 o’clock, I only got two ones. I was such "What!?"... (laughs).

- So you fell asleep again.

RUKI:  No, I woke up (laughs). But in the first instants I didn’t understand what had happened.

- And what was Aoi-san's dream about the first day of the tour?

AOI: I told everyone: "I don't remember any batch!", but, despite this, the intro already sounded, and everyone stepped onto the stage. And I continued to ask: "Wait! Wait!.."(laughs)

RUKI: I often see such dreams. For example, that I didn’t have time to change the outfit.

URUHA: I also have such, about dressing up, when everything has begun on the stage.

REITA: And I once dreamed that I hadn’t put on my nose-bandage.

ALL: (laughing)

REITA: I thought in my dream: "The intro already sounds! Really!?", and didn’t see what happened next. Apparently, I woke up on this.

AOI: Also, there are dreams that the venue was moved.

REITA: Yes-yes, the place was moved, or when suddenly they say: "And this is a new song! Please listen to it! "

URUHA: And you just: "Whaaaat?! But I don't know how to play it!"

RUKI: Excuse me, but what "And this is a new song! Please listen to it! "?  (laughs) I would ask to leave it in a dream.

REITA: And let you will see these dreams by yourself (laughs). However, Kai doesn’t say what dreams he saw.

URUHA: Exactly, I didn’t hear a single story from him.

KAI: C'mon, I see them too.

RUKI: It's just that Kai has some other dreams.

REITA: For example, that he wasn’t paid. 

KAI: It sounds too real (laughs). In fact, I see the same dreams as you, just I don’t talk about them. Because I'm nervous most of all.

AOI: It's just that Kai is arid man. Because he is not such Kai, as everyone sees him (laughs).

ALL: (laughing)

- Unknown side of Kai has opened (laughs). By the way, the name of this tour «the GazettE Live Tour18 THE NINTH / PHASE #01-PHENOMENON-», but the title contains a number "01". Does it mean that it will be like with "DOGMA", when other activities followed after the tour?

RUKI: You asked this question, knowing perfectly well that the members won't answer for it (laughs). It seems to me that something will happen. But something concrete, as with "DOGMA", when the single was released after the album, no!

REITA: Forgive us for this.

RUKI: But, probably, on the second part of the tour Kai will quit. With the words: "I'll return to the third part" (laughs).

KAI: Ok, so we'll do it (laughs).

ALL: (laughing)

- The name "PHENOMENON" has a very wide range of meanings: phenomenon,  danger ...

RUKI: We meant the "phenomenon". Is not the phenomenon starting from the first concert day? Like, the very first concert of the tour can be considered as the specific phenomenon, which determines the whole tour.

- Usually your ideas coincide with reality?

URUHA: We have our own ideas, but that's what didn't confirm them, it's "DOGMA". If you imagine too much, it becomes difficult to match (laughs). We selected set list with such diligence, thinking: "Here is the ideology of Dogma!", but in fact it didn't fall into a heart.

REITA: Don't you think we a little bit overdid? Then the concert began immediately, without any introductions. We thought that it would spur the fans' mood, but they couldn't prepare for this. The next day, we immediately made an introduction.

KAI: And very quickly (laughs)!

REITA: We have an amazing ability to correct shortcomings (laughs). But this time I have no doubt that the concerts will be hot. In addition, the summer after all.

- Reita-san's bot, by the way, wrote that he wants the audience to start preparing their physical strength.

RUKI: And Reita often writes on Twitter "Rather kill me" (laughs).

AOI: He writes, writes!

RUKI: Always. "Kill me" or "I rather want to die at a concert" (laughs).

REITA: Ohhh, how awkward. I want to die, right now ~! ...  Maybe you will unfollow me?

ALL: (laughing)

RUKI: And "Kill me on the tour" does not write.

REITA: But I do not want to die seriously! (laughing) 

ALL: (out of laughing)

RUKI: Anyway, I want to make this tour fun. Something like one more memory, which can reshape the idea of our concerts. But when it starts, again, probably, it will turn out gloomier than I thought (laughs).

REITA: Surprisingly, there is such a feeling.

RUKI: Aha. Because with "DOGMA" there wasn't such impression. 

- I'm eager to know what this phenomenon will become.

KAI: That's for sure. As for some reason it seems to me that this tour will be long, there are also some doubts about the physical strength. In addition, after "DOGMA" 3 years have passed, and I, frankly, think that we have rested for too long. Of course, without forgetting what Ruki said: “I want to make this tour fun”, I hope that in the process of a long tour, we will think of something, what let us to continue our activity.

original on vif-music

translation from japanese to russian by haruurara-kazan on tumblr

translated from russian to english by me

as always thx for reading and sorry for mistakes ^^

[daimere]

Nanowrimo update

Here I am trying to write this update for the third time. Here we go! I don’t remember what my last update was about because a few days later, I got hit with the flu hard. At that point, I had written 17k words with no plot to be seen. Well, other than boy meets girl. Or monster meets girl. Or really girl meets monster. In the middle of the feverish haze, I was like, “wow, does this story suck? Should I be writing this? Maybe I just suck overall.” I still don’t know where else to take this novel. I have a few good scenes left. In my daydreaming, I haven’t came across a “aha moment” that will fuel the rest of this novel.

Side note: I have written an entire book with no main plot. I had the b and c plot because this was book 2 in a 4-5 book series. I have an idea what I actually wanted for the main plot. It would be Nice Guy (tm) gets rejected and joins up with Bad Woman to cause FMC to have The Struggles(tm) while dealing with plot b and c. I just didn’t know what to do to create all that stuff between the b/c plot.

Back to the Nanowrimo 2022: I really don’t know where to go from here. I really wanted to try to query this to someone that was specifically looking for a high heat monster romance under 75k.

Here’s the current WIP lineup with some ideas: Saved by the Pirate: I did write a bit on this one this week. They still haven’t boned. They are currently fighting over their feelings.

Hitting the Boss: Haven’t touched this one. I roughly edited it and then posted a new episode on Kindle vella for Monday.

Don’t go to Sleep: I need to edit and upload a new episode for tomorrow or Thursday. This one also was roughly edited last week while I had flu. Editing this one is harder because I am having to shift a lot of things. This is #nanowrimo 2010? story.

Hunting his Prey: This one I last wrote on a week ago. I think she may be filing a police report to another wolf as her mate finds her again. So ya know rage ensues.

Monster at the Haunt: I haven’t written more on this but I am not forgetting this story in case I get accepted into the monster anthology that I applied for. Fingers crossed!

Untitled Holiday Short story: Okay, I just thought of this a few days ago. I don’t have any holiday themed stories on vella. Since I was already thinking of doing a set of shorts to complete between bigger stories to make a bigger book in the end, this could go there. Idea is that a woman (supernatural or human, I am not sure) goes to a silly Halloween party in December party. She hooks up with a supernatural or monster of some kind. What monster? I don’t know! But falling in love ensues. Is this an awful idea?? I could probably do something with this in a week to start posting December 1st.

Monster under my bed: he just ate the guy. she told him to pay rent. And now I have to figure out what happens next.

The Alpha’s Demon: They also haven’t boned. I need to update inkitt/wattpad. I have gotten two reviews this week. I haven’t forgotten it. I just haven’t had a moment. And I am kind of lost. Like when will they bone? The sequel will be a why choose with Ruby. That will be a mmmff.

And I got my kindle vella bonus today and I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping for a little more than I got. I only made 4 dollars more than my first month. Then again, I didn’t get any crowns this month and I don’t know if I will ever get another crown. I don’t have a fandom yet.

[pudgy-puk]

all stormblood combat job AF ranked by how good drividot looks in them (1/2)

before we start:

1. all the af3 is in its default dye colors because jfc, NO, i refuse to unlock dyes on all of them. no.

2. non-combat af3 is not included because it’s a pain in the ass in to get and i already had my inventory and armory bursting at the seams to do this. maybe later.

3. i picked one backdrop and one /gpose setting and did all the af under those same conditions, this may distort the results because, y’know, different colors look different depending on lighting conditions. whatever.

here we go:

that is a dang good sword, shame about the shield though. i appreciate branching out from plate and mail, but i’m not sure about motif coherency on the ornamentation. color scheme mostly good for driv excepting the pinkish tinges (although careless gold and silver mixing is one of my least favorite things ever). i don’t know--it was super hype at first, but i think it outlived its novelty.

PLD: ⭐⭐1/2

well it’s the best war set on driv yet...? (that is not a high bar to clear). still appreciating the step away from full plate, but less confident that this works as well as pld’s tabard. mixing all the different colors and textures of metal here is a bold move, as is adding feathers. it could be worse.

WAR: ⭐⭐

ohhh, i am so very disappointed by this. the initial drk af was nearly perfect on drividot, so this had a long way to fall and well, fall it did. i wanted to like the purple half-tabard thing much more than i did, and this set’s departure from plate makes it look like a kid’s foam-padded batman halloween costume on drividot. it is at least consistent and coherent, though. the best thing about this set is the sword, as its three-dimensionality and asymmetry are genuinely fun and interesting.

DRK: 1/2⭐

this turned out much better than i was expecting--but honestly, most of that is the chestpiece. the gloves, trousers, and boots are all distinctly underwhelming, and i’m still confused about why the tiara introduces the glowing teal gems, a color that appears nowhere else in the entire set. as complements to an actually nice chestpiece, they are functional. and while i think aymur is a beautiful design for a white mage cane, it doesn’t go at all with the rest of the seventh heaven set--not remotely, not in feel, not in color, not in texture, or ornament. the seventh heaven chest piece is good, but it can’t carry the whole ensemble.

WHM: ⭐1/2

aha. now we are cooking with gas. this is much less daring than the above ensembles, true, but it pays off in consistent, solid good looks. the relatively limited palette avoids over-ornamentation and mixing trim colors, so everything comes together really nicely. the green even manages to look good on drividot, which is something i had worried about. and though there’s not much in the picture, the weapon is absolutely gorgeous, with so many little details and creative additions. i love it.

SCH: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

remember how i said that some of the pictures wound up suffering for my refusal to adjust backdrop and lighting (because if i fucked around to optimize for each one it would have taken hours and hours)? this is the first victim. this looks completely amazing on drividot in most situations, but alas, the colors don’t quite look right here. that aside, though, i love this entire set: intricate, good colors, highly aesthetic--the only demerits i really have for it are for how the orange sash doesn’t have a dye channel of its own, and the whole problems with AST af and gender changes that have been an issue since the job’s introduction. 

AST: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

in a reversal of the previous ensemble, i think that this set is actually being done quite a few favors by the lighting. as a whole, this set actually looks remarkably good on drividot, considering that it was optimized for character designs/aesthetics that are nothing like driv’s. it doesn’t clash horribly with his color scheme, and its flourishes and quirks (fur, fringes, asymmetrical elements) actually work in a way they didn’t with the various tank afs because they mesh well with and further the rough-and-tumble brawly-ness of MNK. also i adore magic-sigil fist weapons. can we have more of that? please?

MNK: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

the ultimate problem with all DRG af post-ARR is that they have to try and improve on the lvl50 DRG af, and that is really, really hard. and ultimately, this set doesn’t succeed at it, but strangely i find myself cheering for it all the same. the introduction of gold trim is very good, and it comes off as correctly spiky without being self-parodying. if drg af1 was the highest form of it, the peak, the fully parade-ready uniform of a knight dragoon, this af3 feels like a more “practical,” more “knight errant” on-the-road version of it. it honestly has grown on me since launch in a big way.

DRG: ⭐⭐⭐

hot DAMN. just. holy shit. there are some items in the game where i’m convinced the costume designers were thinking of red-headed dark grey duskwight boys when they designed them, this is the first time i’ve had that feeling about an entire set. from the color scheme to the cut to the slashing curves and points of the ornament, this straight-up looks like this was made for drividot.

NIN: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

this is another one that looks straight-up like they designed this for drividot--which was shocking for me, i wasn’t expecting to look good as a samurai. that being said, though, there are a couple things that disqualify this from a perfect score like ninja--most of all, that, like WHM, the chestpiece is doing 99% of the heavy lifting, with other pieces having only minimal presence. i really would like for the sandals and gloves to be better and more visible. and also i gotta say i hate the little chinstrap on the hat. (it’s petty, but i really really do).

SAM: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

[imaginefeawakening]

Thank you @tcongdraws so so so so much for drawing such a lovely cover art!!! It inspired me to give some love for the Hoshidan Princes and for our endearing Prince Chrom! Please check this post throughout Halloween for additions~ You may request prompts here or at @imaginefefates

Takumi: He spent hours being too self-conscious to even put his costume on. With a lot of puffing him up, she’d got him to shed his shyness and try it on. “Hey,” he turned around as he examined himself in the mirror. “Not bad.”

“See?” she puffed out her cheek and hugged him from behind. “You gave me a headache for no reason.”

“I’m a prince. I can’t go out looking like a fool.”

“Hasn’t stopped you before,” she grumbled under her breath. 

He pouted. “I heard that.” Thankfully, he was easily placated with a few kisses. “Well...shall we get going?”

“Yeah...hey, you didn’t tell me what you think of my outfit.” This time, Corrin was the one to pout. Takumi grinned and rest his hands on her shoulders. “You’re not so  bad yourself.”

“That’s all? Come on Takumi, we’ve been married this long, stop getting shy.”

“Fine,” his ears pinked. “You look really, really….hot.” She was expecting pretty, or cute. This was indeed out of left field.

“Takumi…” her ears were redder than his.

“What? We’ve been married this long, stop getting shy.” He had a shit-eating grin that tempted her to mess with his face. They continued ribbing and teasing each other until they’d arrived at the ‘haunted’ manor. It loomed tall and menacing, and it looked entirely too pointy, in his opinion. There was also a suspicious amount of fog around it for what was otherwise a clear night. Was he the only one that felt the intense sense of dread? Takumi gulped and looked at Corrin with unease. “Hey….I don’t think they’ve got candy here…”

“It’s Old Hallows Eve, Takumi. Don’t you want a little excitement? A spooky atmosphere would be perfect.”

“Haven't you had enough excitement for a lifetime? What with jumping down cliffs and all that…” He grumbled for a little while longer, until they’d reached the manor. “You know, I doubt it’s even open—“ His voice trailed off as she carelessly opened the door and pushed forward. The door groaned ominously, and Takumi swallowed.

“You can hold my hand if you’re scared…” Corrin grinned at him and patted his cheek.

His lips pushed into a pout, but he took her offer in the guise of holding it so she wouldn’t get scared. With that settled, they wandered further inside, to Takumi’s dismay. They strolled through the parlor and examined the dusty tomes. “Ooh these are interesting…” Corrin picked one up to show Takumi, who proceeded to begin sneezing.

“Ahh...ahh—choo!” He sneezed, and just then the fireplace came alight with life, albeit for a moment. “Wah!” He leapt and hugged Corrin with all his might. “Wh—what was that?!”

She cocked her head to the side. “What was what, Takumi?”

“The fireplace! It’s lit—huh?”

Just like that, it was dark and dusty, not even a single wisp of smoke remained. Takumi dared not look at her expression. “I swear…”

“You might be a little too spooked...let’s go somewhere else.”

He took “somewhere else” to mean somewhere outside and as freedom. He did not expect it to be even deeper into the mansion. Corrin sat down at a piano and began playing the piece on the left behind sheet music. “Ah this is a duet...can you play, Takumi?”

“‘Fraid not,” he mumbled as he looked around the room. He was poking around the room to keep his mind off how creepy it all was. Just act like it was an old part of the palace...yeah...he chuckled nervously and looked down at the ground. “Huh…” it looked different than from all the other tiles. He curiously nudged the center with his foot and was about to greatly regret doing so.

Corrin bit her lip as the piano harmonized with her. “How are the other notes playing...I think we should get out of here, Takumi.” She stood up and looked around for her husband. “Takumi? Takumi! Where are you?” She hurried around the room until she came upon a giant hole in the ground. “T—Takumi…?” He couldn’t possibly have….

“Don’t you want a little excitement?” He called out mockingly, though his voice was so wracked with terror that his sarcasm came out as weak whimper. “A spooky atmosphere would be perfect! Aha...ha…..ha…..sniffle…”

Oh dear. He’s lost it. “I’ll save you Takumi, hold on!”

“I’ll be here...in the dark...and cold…” He continued to whine as she ran around looking for some very, very long rope. She ran from one end to the manor to the other, with no such luck. Perhaps it would be better just to find where he was imprisoned and free him there. As the thought occurred to her, a white puppy with droopy ears nipped at her feet.

“Oh hello!” she knelt down to scratch behind its ear. “Do you know where I could find my husband?”

It barked in what she hoped was affirmation. With a wag of its tail, it lead her down into the basement to catacombs she didn’t think even existed. It was frightening but she had decided to trust the young canine. It was her biggest lead to finding Takumi after all.

They’d finally arrived at a row of jail cells, and sure enough, Takumi was gripping at the bars and shaking like a child. Corrin groped around in the dark for the keys, and freed him immediately. “Corrin!” he just about bawled and flung his arms around her neck. “I thought I was going to die in there.”

“I wouldn’t have let that happen..my poor dear, are you hurt?”

“My ass is completely sore…”

“You seem to be fine,” she sighed in relief. “Let’s go home now..” A faint grumbling from him signaled his assent and they went back upstairs. When they reached the landing Corrin had stopped to thank the pup, but it had vanished. She thought it better to not question it, and they made their way outside to the refreshing, crisp air.  

“Worst. Idea. Ever,” he complained as he cling to her arm.

“I’m sorry...what would you like to do instead.”

“Well...were all dressed up...you can, ahem, spoil me once we get home.” He nudged her shoulder with his, his crooked smile slowly returning.

“...Takumi…”

“Hey!” he huffed. “I nearly died back there!”

She smiled and kissed his cheeks, slightly darkened by soot.

“I know. I just wondered how you’ve got such a one-track-mind, dear.”

“I told you, you look hot in that,” he insisted, and grinned as she blushed once more. He recovered back to his usual sassy self by the time they went home, and wasted no time asking for kisses and special treatment once they made it to the safety of their bedroom.

Chrom: “Oh,” he looked down at himself with great amusement. “This is less...freeing as usual.”

“Bear with having both sleeves intact for a night,” Robin said with mirth. She’s careful to not poke at his fashion sense so much, but Chrom pouts anyway.

“Be nice. What am i, again?” he rubbed at the pointy teeth you’ve saddled him with, she swatted at his hand.

“Hey, it took a while to get those on. You’re a vampire, Chrom.”

“‘’Tis a strange beast indeed. Doesn’t look frightful other than how, erm, exposing it is.” The way he covered his arms was reminiscent of a maiden guarding her chastity, and she giggled at the resemblance. His collarbone was displayed handsomely, in your opinion, and she told him just that.

“Ah. What else could I have expected from you, Robin.” He laughed, and then examined her outfit. “Whoa there.” She smiled innocently, just as he finally took in what she was wearing. He swallowed hard, and his eyes widened comically. “W-well I see you’re showing a fair amount of skin yourself….” His eyes lingered at her cleavage until a flick on his forehead brought him back to his senses.

“Chrom. Relax.”

“But…”

“I’m yours, despite how deep my neckline plunges.”

“I...ahem, I see. And what exactly are you?”

“A devil.”

He mumbles something under his breath that probably earned a smack or two on the head. But she let it pass. “Now, shall we go, my vampire?”

“Yes, my little devil,” he said, his eyes back to her chest.

“Perhaps you’re the devil here,” she rolled her eyes, but allowed him to keep an arm around her waist.

“Maybe I’ll show you later.”

-

After a few hours of trick-or-treating with little Lucina (who was a little ladybug, courtesy of Frederick’s tailoring skills), her parents had dropped her back home to sleep so they could have a little more fun of their own.

“So...I’ve always been curious about these. But Frederick would never let me do this...he’d pull back me and Lissa by the ear and lecture us about the consequences of kidnapping.”

“I expect that his purse wouldn’t be able to afford your ransom. A test of courage, huh? I don’t recall ever doing one. This’ll be a first for the two of us.”

“Brave enough?”

“For the both of us,” said Robin airily as they went hand in hand to the spooky woods on the outskirts of Ylisse. It was eerie, and a very small shrine sat at the entrance. Chrom pointed to it with a hopeful look. It was then, that Robin realized, that he actually looked nervous.

“A shrine...that’s a good sign, yes?” He smiled confidently, but there was no hiding the sweat drops that dripped down his neck.

“Chrom, I doubt there’s any ghosts actually here.” She pulled him into the forest with no fear, his clammy hand wrapped tightly in hers. The first ‘test’ was a hollow pumpkin wrapped in white scraps of fabric and paper that swung around in circles by propulsion of the wind. Robin had to admit that she was startled, but Chrom, ever reliable, jumped in front of her and swung out his sword,  slicing the pumpkin in two. “I think that was one of the decorations…” Robin coughed, her hand on her heart still.

Chrom turned to look at her slowly, as he sheathed his sword. The now skewered pumpkin rolled around pathetically at their feet. They shared a nod and scuried forward before someone discovered that their hard work is now mush on the ground. Bits of pumpkin guts squelched beneath Chrom’s boots, and his nose wrinkled with distaste. Just as he opened his mouth to complain, something hit the back of his head. “What the?!” He turned on his heel to look for his assailant, but all he saw was darkness, and now a thing fog, for miles ahead. He looked up at the trees, and spotted no one either. Nonetheless, he tightened his hold on Robin, his jaw set and his feet rooted in a defensive stance.

“What is it Chrom?” Robin tilted her head to the side.

“Something just hit my head…” He picked up a pumpkin slice and showed it to her.

“Someone’s really mad at us huh...Maybe we should go ba--” Before she could finish her sentence, a large gust of wind blew over them, The crickets stopped chirping and a wolf howled in the distance.

“M-maybe just some elwind magic..?” Chrom offered hopefully.

“This is no work of a tome,” said an ominous voice from above.

“Ch-Chrom...was that you…” Robin clung to his side and looked upwards. She needn’t look at him to see the frightful shake of his head.

“There’s...no such thing. This is a prank. There’s no such thing, there’s no such--”

“What do you want, a new pumpkin? We’ll wrap it nicely for you if you leave us alone.” Another gust passed and they screamed. Chrom and Robin clung to each other for dear life, though he had taken out his sword again.

“You will do no harm to my wife! We’ve defeated a dragon, and we can take you on. That said--” He scooped up Robin rather dashingly, and ran at an inhumanely fast speed. “We’ll be taking our leave--”

“Just run, Chrom, run!”

They tried to run back to where they started, but a few more swinging pumpkins blocked their path and they had to backtrack. They returned to following the arrows to go out the other way but after a while of running they had realized they had passed the same moss covered rock about six times.

“It’s hopeless, Chrom. We should sit down and think of a plan…” She hopped down from his arms and kissed him gently to thank him for carrying her around the whole time.  

“Y-you want to stay here longer?!” His eyes darted nervously as though they were to be attacked at any moment.

“Well...we haven’t made much progress just running aimlessly….Let’s go find that stone again...perhaps we’ll find a way north out of here.” She took Chrom’s hand and they wandered aimlessly until they found their goal. Common sense was on their side finally, and they began seeing the light outside the forest.

“Finally, a way out of this hellish pls—AAARGH—“ Chrom scooped up Robin once more and least backwards, though he brandished with Falchion with a determined finesse. “H-Halt!” he said to a silhouette that was marching towards them.

Robin took out a pocket tome of thunder, and aimed it towards the spooky figure. “We’re not afraid to use this!” She spoke with a shaky bravado, and they heard an all too familiar sigh.

“Milady. Milord. It would do good not to dismember your knight.” It was a very, very weary Frederick who held Gaius and Henry by the ear. “I believe these two scoundrels have been harassing you?”

“You!!” Robin glared daggers at Gaius. “You’re the reason I lost years of my life? And what say you, Henry?”

“All the kiddies went home, so I couldn’t scare ‘me anymore.”

“And they stopped giving out candy...I got chased out with a rolling pin. So we got bored. And knew you were coming here.”

Frederick was the next to offer his explanation. “I pried it out of Lissa. Milord. I told you, you might get spirited away here. And did you listen? And you’ve endangered your wife too. You should be good examples for Lucina.”

“Never mind that...yet,” Chrom added hurriedly under the intensity of Frederick’s stare. “How did you find them..while we were running for our lives.”

“No one messes with Frederick,” Gaius said, still looking like a dog who’d gotten caught marking his territory on the furniture.

Robin glared at him again, with a look that said that he would regret messing with her. “Let’s...let’s just go home.”

“Agreed.” Chrom mumbled, holding his wife close to him. As the others nodded along, a strong gust of wind passed over them. The pair glanced at Henry who looked as perplexed as he did. “Cut it out with the elwin’s…”

“Nya ha! Elwind? I’m just the pumpkin decorating guy.”

Gaius claimed innocence as well.

“Wait then...the voice in the forest…”

A horrifying realization came to them, and it was then that they only had one option.

“RUUUUUUUUUUUN!”

Ryoma: After a long night out and about, the royal couple had just returned to their quarters. Ryoma, dressed as a Tengu, had begun to change out of his robes and discard his wings. But Corrin stopped him just as he’s exposed his torso.

“Wait...I like you like this.” She smiled and hugged his waist, and rest her cheek against his sculpted chest. “Stay dressed up a little longer?”

“Ah my cute witch...how can I deny such a request.” With warm eyes, he gazed at her. He slowly bent down to meet her height, and just as he cupped her chin for a kiss…

Bang! Went a noise outside their door.

“E—eek!” Corrin hid inside his robes. “Wh—what was that?”

“Let’s find out...ah, you’ll need to…” He gently pried her face away so he could tie his robes back. “Will you wait here?” She shook her head and held his hand. “Then we go together.” He squeezed it reassuringly as they slid open their bedroom door and ventured outside, each taking a weapon in hand on their way out.

On the floor was a grimly red splotch of red. “Blood…” Corrin whispered, her eyes wide.

“Mm...perhaps we’ve an assailant in our midst? Stay close to me, love.” He switched from holding her hand to keeping a protective arm around her, as they crept through the hallway.

“Do you think anyone’s…” She glanced back at the stain with worried eyes. Ryoma gave a quick squeeze of her shoulder to reassure her.

“It’s too light to have been anything too serious. don’t worry, everyone here is far too capable to be cut down.” He gently pecked her head and smiled st her, though she didn’t miss the slight strain in his eyes.

Another band came from just a little down the hallway, and the two broke into a sprint. Following that was some yelling and thumping noises that sank their stomachs.

There was another bang, and they discovered that these noises were resounding from Kana and Shiro’s room. They wasted no time and charged in, their swords ready to decapitate anyone who dared harm their children.

Instead they found Kana and Shiro shrieking and hugging each other, both staring into the ends of their parents swords. “Uncle, uncle!” Shiro shouts, pushing Kana behind him.

Ryoma and Corrin immediately lowered their swords and exhaled in relief, before proceeding to regard their children with stern stares. “Just what are the two of you up to? Do you know how scared we were? And why are you unprepared, should a real assassin have come you would be skewered in a matter of moments, is that any way to—“

“Easy,” Corrin put a hand on Ryoma’s chest to stop his tirade. “Children...do you have an explanation? What are those red stains, are you hurt?”

Kana bashfully showed a tray half full of raspberry tarts, some broken into crumbly pieces. “Sorry Mama...the firecrackers kept going off on our way here.”

“And we dropped our goods a few times,” Shiro pointed at their candy stashes.

“Well...all’s well that ends well...oh unfurrow that crease, Ryoma, it’s halloween.” Corrin stood on her tiptoe to smooth out the wrinkles on his brow. “And weren’t we going to have some fun, too?”

“Like what, mama?” piped up Kana and Shiro covered his ears, as the dutiful older brother he is.

“Never you mind. Now...good night then,” Shiro coughed awkwardly and kept holding on to Kana’s ears, Kana who wriggled around to free himself.

Ryoma and Corrin sighed in relief once more and returned to their room. They’d barely set foot in the room before Corrin returned to where they’d left off. “You should dress up like this more often, it suits you.”

“Would you prefer a tengu or a prince as your husband?”

“Why can’t I have both?” she smiled at him sweetly and slowly covered his jaw and neck with kisses. “This is my treat, for tonight.”

Fred: Frederick was adorably disgruntled. His brows furrowed together like usual, but this time with confusion rather than irritation. “Is this not a mere class change? Although you’ve...emphasized the sinister aspects.”

“Don’t you look dashing?” She messed with his pointy hood so it shadowed his face even more, and drew some whiskers on his face as a personal touch.

“I look like an evil sorcerer about to kidnap your first born and toss him into a cauldron. Boil, boil, toil and trouble,” he added in a deadpan.

“Then I’ll be sure to keep Morgan away from you, my scary husband.” Morgan was currently attending a small halloween party hosted by Lissa, who was in charge for taking care of everyone’s sprouts for the night.

“Do you think he’ll be fine? Should we go check on him?” Frederick’s worried ramblings began again, and she quickly hushed him with a soft kiss.

“Let him have his fun. He grew up well in one timeline already, no?” She smiled at him assuredly and kissed him once more. “Now then, shall we have a nice night in?”

They left out a bowl of candy to let the children help themselves to (little did they know that Gaius made off with the bowl when he stopped by their house). The lights were dark, and the only lighting that emanated windows were some well done jack-o-lanterns, carved courtesy of Frederick.

Robin and Frederick spend the evening huddled together under blankets, exchanging spooky tales. Some she’d heard from others, some Frederick had picked up over the years, and some that they spent a while crafting together. But the spookiest were most certainly Frederick’s. Before Chrom had seen any battles, Frederick quietly dealt with the horrors that had gone on in people’s lives. Scary occurrences with no explanation, ruthless monsters that murdered and tortured for fun. Just as Frederick finished his most frightening tale yet, it was time to go collect their little pumpkin from his patch. He stood up abruptly, as if on clockwork, and a high pitched yelp escaped Robin.

“S-sorry...I suppose I’m a bit jumpy…” She held a hand out so Frederick could help her on to her feet, though she still clung to his arm for balance.

“Good heavens,” he cupped her cheeks in his hands. “You look ghastly. I’m sorry...I didn’t think I would frighten you so much.” He stroked her hair gently, and carded through it until some color returned to her cheeks. Not wanting to appear childish, she smiled like her usual self, though it still wobbled a little bit when she remembered the more terrifying bits from his stories. “Perhaps I should get Morgan mysel--”

“No!” she yelled hard enough to make him flinch. “I--I mean, he’s expecting both of us, right? She clung to his arm and smiled nervously. “Can’t let him down.” Though it was apparent that she was frightened to be on her own, Frederick mercifully did not tease her one bit, and they strolled together in the dark. The children had mostly gone home, and there was a certain eeriness in the air, when surrounded by wooden goblins  and trolls. She was fidgety, despite how much Frederick rubbed her arm in reassuring circles. Mentally, he made the resolution to never scare her again, no matter how much she asked.

“Robin...are you…” Frederick had tried asking, when they heard a rustle.

She let out the loudest shriek when a cloaked figure moved in the bushes beside them. Frederick not missing a beat to protect his wife, clobbered the poor bastard who had chosen that unfortunate location to eat his goods. “H-hey ow! What the hell do you think you’re--?” Of course it was none other than Gaius, Gaius who still had the gall to hold the very bowl of candy he had snatched from their residence.

“Gaius! Why are you there?! And is that ours?”

“Candy break. And, nuh uh,” he said, quickly thrusting the bowl under his cloak.

“I carved our names into it. Hand it over.” He snatched back the wooden bowl that had become sticky from Gaius’s gorging. “Now go home, or I’ll have your wife hear about your mischief.” He gulped in response to that and quickly took his leave. Frederick’s shoulders slumped as he sighed, and rest his hand on Robin’s head. “Nothing scary. Just this idiot thief. Better now?”

She nodded and leant up for a kiss, and fisted her hand into Frederick’s pointy and ‘sinister’ collar. “Thank you, my brave wizard, for protecting me, What would I do without you?”

“Be an utter mess. But, my dear, I would be too. Let’s keep each other safe and collect the little one?”

“I’m at your side...happy halloween, Frederick.”

“And a Happy Halloween to you too...let’s ease up on the scary tales next year,” he suggested and cleared his throat. “As adorable as you were, clinging to my arm all night.” Though bashful and embarrassed, Robin agreed.

[swiftsgetawaycar]

NATIONAL PUMPKIN DAY FT. TAYLOR SWIFT’S PUMPKIN PATCH

So, apparently it’s national Pumpkin Day and in honour of that (and RFI’s MV coming out later one) I wanted to do The Pumpkins™ Explanation & Appreciation post. Starting noowwwwwwwww….!!

Okay, well, a while ago now, I was going about my daily Tumblr routine of reflagging and liking posts related to Her Majesty Queen @taylorswift when I stumbled upon a post about it be autumn and Red (2012) season. Being my fall-loving self, I reblogged the post with a comment and it then turned into something way bigger than mere Red appreciation. @spoookyswift whose post it was, messaged me and we very swiftly (wink wink) became friends. (Flora is my amazing pumpkin mama but we’ll come onto that in a bit!) She told me that she had just made a group chat and asked if I wanted to join, I jumped at the opportunity because I didn’t really have many swiftie friends, and after an annoying process trying to get a group me account, I was in!

Not long after I joined, we decided we needed a better name than “the group chat” because that’s not catchy at all and our girl @taylorswift would not appreciate our hook-less existence so we started talking about names and for a while it looking like it’d be #justiceformeredeth or 80% Gay Swifties (which we all still think is relevant tbh ahah) but THEN because we’re the people we are, we got into a heated discussion about whether The Nightmare before Christmas is indeed a Christmas movie or rather a halloween movie, our division led to Flora (our fearless leader) casually typing in “controversial pumpkins” and THAT WAS THE MOMENT I KNEW and I said “OMG THATS IT”. Then there were multiple more polls for voting on a name, my favourite of them all being ‘the gay pumpkins Meredith disapproved of, until we settled almost unanimously (there was one controversial pumpkin who voted against the name) on the Controversial Pumpkins™. Thus, the Pumpkin Patch was born and the 10 of us at the time quickly threw around “pumpkin” like Taylor uses “dude”.  So that’s how we got the name, but what the patch is and always has been even since it’s nameless days with only Meredith as our icon pic (what? It’s an ICONIC PICTURE OF MEREDITH!) is a place of love, joy and all-round positive vibes. It’s somewhere where we all can share stuff about ourselves free of judgement, a place where we can get advice about sticky situations we’ve stumbled into, somewhere safe enough for us to be honest and to know that there is a whole bunch of people with nothing but love and support for us. Yet, it’s also a place of endless joking around, meme-sharing and boy-hating. It’s a family of people from all across this crazy world who came together because of Taylor Alison Swift but have stayed together because of each other. I am so SO lucky to have these amazing people in my life, they bring me so much happiness and joy every single day and I have no clue what I’d do without them. In short, @spoookyswift, we owe you big time for choosing us to be a part of the secret session that is The Pumpkins™. Speaking of Flora……

Flora // @spoookyswift

My darling Flora, where do I even begin? Oh, wait, I know, with that time WE WERE BOTH IN TAYLOR SWIFT’S FUCKING LIVING ROOM LISTENING TO REPUTATION AND EATING COOKIES AND WE DID NOT KNOW WE WERE BOTH FUCKING THERE BECAUSE WE KEPT IT SO SECRET AND WERE STUPID PUMPKINS AND SO I’VE NEVER GOTTEN TO HUG YOUR PUMPKIN ASS?!?!?! (Yeah, I’m not still bitter or anything hhahahahhah) No, but seriously, you’re Mama Pumpkin and we have you to thank for The Pumpkins™, I will be forever grateful that you picked me to be a part of the patch and that ever since you’ve been the greatest friend a girl could ask for! You’re my snake buddy although you’re convinced you’re a bean we both know you’re just as snakes as I am!! YOUR TAYLOR’S PUMPKIN BITCH WHICH MAKES ME EXPLODE WITH JOY AS WELL AS KIND OF WANT TO HURT YOU BUT DW I WOULD NEVER! My weird heart loves you weird heart forever 💖

Ceci // @cats-and-wildest-dreams

CECI, YOU ARE THE LITERAL CUTEST! You went away for like 24hrs and I almost died from missing you!!! You are an absolutely GORGEOUS pumpkin and make me smile so hard on a regular basis. I know you think that Tay will never notice you but I promise that she loves you just as much as I do and you’ll get your moment with her even if I have to fly to Nashville myself and speak to Taylor Nation!!

Megan //  @sweetteaswift

My first memory of Megan is when she was chasing down a UPS truck in her Speak Now t-shirt to get a photo with it because it had Reputation on the side and my snap chatting her from the library where I was supposed to be studying advising her on how to get the girl the perfect shot. I think that basically describes our relationship since. Although, she’s the only pumpkin who has appreciated my dogs and I’m still waiting for her to get her Pumpkin butt on a plane to meet them!  SHE IS THE EXTRA PUMPKIN!

Nikki // @greysswifts

NIKKI IS MY GAY ASS AUNT AND IM NOT EVEN CLOSE TO SAD ABOUT IT!! Seriously, Nikki is our resident LGBT Pumpkin Queen and is always up for dragging boys like Taylor does in her songs, unapologetically and with all the dignity in the world. SHE HAS THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL and always brightens up the Pumpkin Patch. AND I WANT HER HANDLE COZ DAMN IT’S COOL! In short, I stan Nikki!

Aislinn // @theyhaventyet

Our lovely Canadian Pumpkin, Aislinn, WAS THE ORIGINAL CONTROVERSIAL PUMPKIN, I REPAT THE OG CONTROVERSIAL PUMPKIN WAS AISLINN!!!!! The first thing that comes to mind when I think of her is Thanksgiving and me talking to her about it because I LOVE CANADA and my boarding school experience happened there and that’s about me not her so back to Aislinn WHO IS THE BEST AND I LOVE HER SO MUCH AND I WIL FIGHT ANYONE WHO HURTS HER PURE LITTLE CLOUD OF JOY ASS!

Ozge // @wildestgiraffe

OZGE! MY TURKISH PUMPKIN FLOWER BUTTON BALL OF POSITIVITY AND JOY! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND YOU’RE SO SWEET TO ALL OF US AND YOU MAKE THE PATCH SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO BE A PART OF AND I KNOW THIS IS ALL IN CAPS WITH NO PUNCTUATION BUT I JUST AM EXPLODING WITH LOVE FOR YOU!

Yolanda // @sadbeautifultragicswift

This genius invented the Speak Now Pumpkin™ karaoke challenge which has blessed us with so much pure happiness and the cutest and most gorgeous voices ever so THANK YOU GENIUS GODESS FOR THAT! You’re always so incredibly lovely to all of us and I appreciate that more than you know! ALSO, YOU KNOW LIKE EVERYTHING and I love your messages because they make me laugh as well as feel inadequate for having the memory of a donut! AND YOU ARE THE CALENDAR PUMPKIN AND WE APPRECIATE YOUR SERVICE FOR OUR COUNTRY!! I still laugh over how you didn’t realise I went to the SS and told me I “DIED DED” LOVE YOU - DON’T EVER CHANGE OKAY?!?!

Katie // @these-sick-beats

You are the cutest and I love you like a lot and thank you for being such a supportive and wonderful pumpkin! Although we haven’t chatted much you’ve been nothing but nice and you’ve kept secret my secret if you know what I mean!

Janessa // @fifth-harmony

Although you stan not just Queen Taylor, you’re a swift through and through! YOU ARE SO FUNNY AND KIND AND WE MISS YOU ON THE CHAT COME BACK BE (T)HERE!!

Julia // @fragileswiftie13

JULIA BLESS YOUR CONTROVERSIAL PUMPKIN HEART!! You’re amazing drawings for whatever-the-fuck-science-of-cells-is-called class started the whole donuts vs nuclei debate which I am happy to report ended in a CLEAR victory for donuts (or as Flora says Dough-nuts) but seriously, you’re such an amazing person who I’m lucky to have met, YOU LOOK GORGEOUS WITH YOUR BRACES ON I’LL PUNCH WHOEVER SAYS DIFFERENT! Please don’t ever forget how wonderful you are!!

Laura // @swiftslastkiss

FIRSTLY YOUR PIC WITH TAYLOR IS THE ABSOLUTE GREATEST TO EVER EXIST YOU LUCKY PUMPKIN!!! You’re such an incredible friend and your heart is pure goodness and I cannot wait for the day I get to hug you because you’re the best and the Patch would not be the same without you, you make us all better pumpkins!

Lina // @confesswift

THE VIOLENT PUMPKIN OF THE PATCH AND THE

Sarah // @thatwasthenightthingschanged

GERMAN PUMPKIN, you sent the funniest messages and your Red poll was iconic! Not to mention how GORGEOUS of a person you are inside and out! Also, you’re my name twin pumpkin because although I’m Sara (SAH-RA) people call me Sarah so much it may as well be my name aha!  you dragging

Sammy // @theswiftreputation

Steve Irwin Pumpkin, I’m so glad I met your Aussie pumpkin ass - we’ll have to become Roos on January 26th ahah and show the Patch a real party!!  YOU ARE AN AMAZING BEAUTIFUL PUMPKIN WHO DESERVES ALL THE GOOD IN THE WORLD AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! YOUR LITTLE LAMBY IS THE CUTEST EVER I JUST WANNA SNUGLLE UP WITH HER!! All my fingers are crossed that your march order gets to you problem free aha

Talia // @locketswifts

TALIA BABE YOU’RE AMAZING AND I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR BEING YOUR BEAUTIFUL PUMPKIN SELF! I LOVE YOU - ENOUGH SAID! 

Safira // @acciothirteen

I’m so relieved you’re NOT a kiwi despite living in NZ otherwise there would’ve been some interesting sport related convos aha! BUT the minute your username came up in conversation I knew I’d like you and you haven’t proven me wrong! You’re sure sweet and smart and I LOVE HAVING YOU IN THE PACTH KIDDO!

Emily // @enchanteds

FAMOUS KERMIT GIRL TURNED INTO PUMPKIN YOU’VE BEEN IN THE CHAT FOR LIKE 3 DAYS AND I ALREADY ADORE YOU AND THINK YOU’RE THE BEST PERSON EVER! LONG LIVE YOUR KERMIT MEMES AND YOUR INCREDIBLE ICON

Dacia // @fifteenmp3

YOU ARE ALSO NEW BUT FABULOUS! YOU’VE MADE ME SMILE SO MUCH OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS, YOU FIT INTO THE PATCH PERFECTLY, IT’S LIKE YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN A PUMPKIN AND WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Thank you for existing!

Morgan // @teylors

ANOTHER NEW PUMPKIN WHO I LOVE AND WHO LOVES TREE!! YOU ARE ALSO FAMOUS TUMBLR THAT WE TRIED REALLY HARD TO ACT COOL FOR AND I’M SURE BY NOW YOU’VE REALISED ‘COOL’ ISN’T HOW MOST PEOPLE WOULD DESCRIBE US BUT WE’RE ALL COOL ASS PUMPKINS IN THE PATCH! YOUR KERMIT POSTS ALSO MAKE MY DAY AND I’M GLAD THAT YOU AND EMILY PROVIDE A LITTLE GREEN AMONGST ALL THE ORANGE!

Okay, I think that’s the whole patch and if not, I AM SO SORRY PUMPKIN I PROMISE IT’S NOT BECAUSE I DON’T LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU MY BRAIN IS JUST NON-FUNCTIONING A LOT OF THE TIME!!!

In conclusion, seeing as this has turned into an essay, these people make my day every day. I am so very lucky to have them in my life and everytime I see I have notifications from our chat I automatically smile. MY HEART IS FULL OF LOVE FOR MY PUMPKINS - IMMA SLUT FOR ALL OF YOU!! So, dear Pumpkins, thank you so very much for these past few months and for allowing me somewhere to be understood, laughed with not at and loved for my weird and wild ways. I LOVE YOU GUYS. THANK YOU ALSO TO OUR QUEEN, LORD AND SAVIOUR @taylorswift FOR OWNING ALL OUR ASSES IN THE FIRST PLACE AND THUS MAKING US FAMILY!

14 DAYS TILL THE PUMPKINS DIE BUT HEY, RIGHT NOW WE’RE THE LUCKY ONES!

LOVE FROM ALL MY PUMPKIN HEART,

Sar xxx

[moonraccoon-exe]

Ignis is seated at his desk when Gladio breezes in, planting his hand in the centre of it as he leans into Ignis’ space, all wolfish-grin and easy confidence. Eyes flicking from Gladio’s face down to the hand currently ruining the order of his reports, Ignis merely raises a brow before regarding Gladio coolly over the rim of his glasses in reprimand. Unfazed, Gladio grins wider. “Hey Iggy,” he says, leaning closer until they’re practically breathing the same air, “I got something for ‘ya.” [1/2]

Flour/Iridae!!!

First off, an apology. I said I’d answer yours when I’d wake up, but I wanted to reblog art first so your ask wouldn’t get thrown to the very bottom. But then I got very sick. And then I get into Halloween hype. 

I offer no excuses for the late reply, and I hope you understand and can forgive me.(o´▽`o)

Second, I WOKE UP TO A PART 3!!!  I was so hyped, Astrals above, I tried to give a quick check to my activity but found a part 3 and had to read it even when still all sleepy, and aaaaaaah!! It got so much better, and I liked it already!!!

Nono, Flour, Thank YOU, ohmygod astrals bless, thank YOU for sharing this little piece with me, hsjfngjfg

You, my friend, have this particular talent some of us don’t, myself probably number one of the list: to make a complete and very...complete* story in a few words. *By complete again I don’t mean as in “beginning middle end”, but rather, it’s round. It’s not just “John said bye then turned then left.” It’s “this happened like this, it felt like this, looked like this, then it turned into this other thing that felt this way and looks like this, and finished with this, which has this sensation and looks.”

It’s a fully complete (no redundance there) story, in such few words. And that, my friend, entirely points out to something very important; You’ve got skills. The tooth for this, if that’s a saying in english too.

You don’t need to make a “full” fanfic to make it work and have the same effect. What I write in 10k, others can in 500 words with the same impact on the readers. I think you’ve gotten that or something alike! This leaves me satisfied, feeling things, and with this sensation of completeess, and that points to a good writer!!

I want to applaud you so much, I feel so honored you submitted this in no other inbox than mine!! Such a ‘fully complete’ and warm and such an ADORABLE AND GOOD story, astrals in the realm, I feel so happy and honored!! Thank you so much!!

Hnfgnfgnmhg, where to begin, I LOVED IT ALL.

Gosh, I feel a bt shadowed now, ahahaha!! That’s super GOOD!

hNHNHHG, smug wolf-like grin Gladio. Y E S. Yesyesyes, ahaha, I love the mental image of Gladio just pacing around then like “Fuck it, I want to pamper my Iggy ヾ(`ヘ´)ﾉﾞ“ at a random moment, just going in all smug smiles not even caring where he puts the hand or anything. 

Gladio, Shield Charming, Amicitia. Gladio “I have a pretty darn good self-esteem” Amicitia doing it again, this flirty and romantic man. 

And then Ignis reacting all coldly to him at first? Ahahaha, this is so in character, I love it!! Ignis glancing from above his glasses and raising an eyebrow at him, unimpressed of Gladio’s attempts of romance, hmgfmfgmfgmf, that’s a weakness of mine HOW DID YOU KNOW

And then Gladio entirely ignoring him and just Got a gift for you ;)”, this is so canon, hngfgnfdgfmnhghfg, I’m LOVING THIS SO MUCH

I like the way Iggy joins into the little game his own way, all sass and class and staying in his role of unimpresed when really he wants this too and knows where this is going.  ♡

I really like the way you described/specified the softness and tenderness with which Gladio reaches for his face, and cups it. I really really really adore that “detail” because it’s not a detail, it’s an entire context in such few words; it talks on how despite the smug grin and the “Aha, I’m such a heartbreaker” attitude, Gladio’s really just this soft teddy bear that cares so much and loves Iggy so much, he subconsciously just treats him like that; all tender and soft

AND THEN YOU GAVE ME A PART 3 ♡♡♡♡♡♡

AND IT HAS SO MUCH CONTEXT TOO ♡♡♡♡

Gosh, this is such a jewel of a ficlet, ohmygod let me continue hhgfngnngnhfg

I adored, worshipped, LOVED the way Ignis ignored the faling papers. Because it’s an entire STACK OF THEM, not just a small post it paer or anything, an entire stack of papers falling, and not only does Ignis not care, he doesn’t even notice. That’s, agian, one of those “small” details that are not just small details; it just speaks so, so very dearly and much on how much Iggy loves Gladio back the same way, so much that one kiss shared between them has the entire absolute rest of the world disappear, and it’s only the two of them in their little bubble, their own world, just themlseves and their kisses.

Gladio showering all of Ignis’ face with kisses. Ohmygods I can’t- I need- *fans self* THIS IS SO ADORABLE, GLADIOLUS, THAT MAN IS A HOPELESS SOFT ROMANTIC AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND I LOVE HIM LOVING IGGY.

I adore the “detail” on Iggy holding him by the jacket “to keep him in place”. That caries so much context too, so much of it and I love it and it’s so good; it speaks a lot of how much Ignis loves him and loves that Gladio loves him, so much, he wants him to stay there. Gladio, the guy he was previously lecturing/nagging, and it’s so seet because then we understand Ignis really just pretends and even lies to himself on how much he tries to act like Gladio’s not his weakness-

-but he is

Because even though he wants to be angry for the hand on his papers and for his interruption, or etc., in the moment he’s just giving in and holding him in place.

“I don’t want you to leave”, says the pair of hands holding his jacket. “I love you. I love to be with you. I love it when we’re together. I love to kiss you, and that you kiss me. And I want to stay with you, and I want you to stay with me. Stay. Just stay”.

And Gladio just...stays :’3

When Gladio breaks apart and it’s specified it’s after a lingering kiss, such a very nice phrase, too! It makes me feel like Gladio didn’t want to pull apart, and forced himself to; that he wanted to stay there, because while it was his intention to “tease” Iggy, he really adores kissing him and now can’t get away. The devil traping himself in his own trap, hahaha. 

When Iggy tugs him back in. HHNNNNNGGGG *collapses* See, the entire “Stay” speech is there, in the little and not so little things. Now Ignis is literally keeping him there so he stays. 

“Allow me to return the favor”, ahHFNGFHFGN  y  e  s

agggggggh, iRIDAE, WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO ADD HERE, IT’S ALREADY A JEWEL!

I don’t have the same skill, on making something so so so so darn pretty in such few words! Besides, you’ve got quite a vast vocabulary and a very pretty way with words, they’ve got a nice rhythm, I lack that, too. Geeze, this is so gorgeous and my “review” which is really just myself fangasming and word vomiting on you has gotten too long, but aaah, it’s just such a precious little story!! I like it so much I STILL FEEL SO HONORED!

My, you gave me a very precious look into your writing. I feel I’m staring at the very tip of the tip itself of the iceberg, and so much more hides underneath. I don’t have a very sharp eye, but it doesn’t take one to notice when somebody’s got skills, and you are one of those people.

Flour, I don’t know what else I can tell you. Thank you so much again for sharing this with me, it’s short and beautiful, and I’m loving the mental images I’m having thanks to this.

I’m loving this so much precisely because it’s “just a scene”, but it’s not “just” a scene. To capture a scene with all its essence and feelings, ohmygod, that’s such a beautiful and wonderful thing to do, and I feel so proud about that in some way, because yo did it so wonderfully and I get to read it! It’s a small scene, but it’s full and complete, and it makes you feel things, and the fact that it makes you feel things, that’s what art is supposed to do. And when it makes you feel things, that’s when the creator has done a good job.

IRIDAE

I AM MADLY CLAPPING AT YOU LIKE KERMIT THE FROG FLAILING AROUND

I don’t know if you’ve posted anything before, or if you want to do it. Just know that if you did, it’d be a very pretty gem for the treasure that forms this fandom’s pretty art. Mama says (not really, but it’s a good way to start a phrase, lmao) that when somebody does something amazing, it’s a bit sad they keep it in the dark. The world likes (and sometimes needs) pretty things, for smaller, tiny as they may be. Can’t have a shore without sand, and sand wouldn’t be the same without every single of its grains, small or big, doesn’t matter.

*dreamy sigh*

I’m still not over your way of writing along the scene itself. Both are so pretty. 

You’ve got a very pretty way with words, and I feel both a little bad and super good this is currently in my inbox, only for me to see. But, I guess I kept it long enough, now it’s time to share with the world so they can see it too because it’d be a shame not to put this out in the light!! It’s SO worth it and more than that, so PRETTY!!

I don’t know if I’ve got anything to add to this, I don’t have the same pretty rhythm and way with words as you do. I use basic vocabulary, but this goes a knot up into it. I don’t think I’ve got anything to add, unless you want me to. The honor would be mine, tho it does scare me a bit; this feels so pretty, I fear I’d mess it!

I hope you enjoyed writing it as much, or at least half as much, as I did reading it. But I feel you did; one can feel the writer’s passion in their words, and when it’s not there, you notice and the words are just Eh. But this feels thought through and hugged before being delivered. Right? You liked it. I loved it.

If you ever wish to share more, my inbox is never closed, alright?

Iridae, thank you so much. Thank you, over and over.  ( ´ ▽ ` ).｡ｏ♡

Have a great day, and a happy  halloween!!

[gutspoken]

     First Follower Appreciation & Giveaway!!!

      Hey everyone! I want to thank you all so much for following Masumi. Each and everyone of you, even those who I’m not mutuals with (you enjoying her content that much means the world to me, and I’m so glad you’re staying around). I always hoped she’d be well received. Masumi has been the most fun and creative OC I’ve ever made in a very long time. I’m so happy to make such amazing friends with her, have wonderful roleplayers on my dash and reading all the threads and amazing writing, and interacting with other ocs and muses to build so many interesting relationships.

     My friend who helped encourage me to create Masumi and helped me with any questions I may have (and any in the future as well) isn’t active on tumblr right now, but I really couldn’t have done this without him. I was worried about the response creating a trans oc because of awful stories I’ve heard and seen about how roleplayers are treated when it comes to their imagination and headcanons, but I’m overwhelmed by the positive reception I have gotten. This all really wouldn’t have been possible without him, and I hope someday he will be able to go back to his muse that he headcanoned as trans himself. Hate is ugly in every and any form and no one should be harassed or made to feel weird for how they choose to headcanon a character, or when it comes to Masumi, creating a trans oc. If you ever see this, I love you very much. To others who may be feeling anxiety about their headcanons and developing ocs, I hope you overcome them and let your creativity flourish as it was always meant to.

     That’s it with the mushy stuff, aha. Under the cut is info about my giveaway. MAKE SURE YOU READ IT. 

     DO NOT REBLOG THIS POST, ONLY LIKES, THANK YOU.

     Halloween Icon Giveaway

     At first it was a little difficult deciding on what to do to celebrate my milestone, but I came across Haru Kitsu, an artist, on twitter who is doing icon commissions. They are willing to do Halloween-themed icons, but if you just want a regular one of your muse(or anyone else for that matter) just say the word!  Here’s their website if you want to check out their art. Here’s the commission page specifically.

     How this works:

There will be two winners. The prizes are 1 simple cel icon for each winner.  I would do more but I’m poor and want to tip them as well.

You will like this post (ONLY LIKE, DO NOT REBLOG) to enter and I will decide the winners with random.org. 

This is only for my current followers. I know who my current followers are.

Giveaway results will be announced Monday, OCT. 2nd at 9:00 PM EST. Short period of time because I want you to have the icon for most of October if a Halloween-theme is what you want! I will be reblogging this a lot but PLEASE REMEMBER do not reblog this yourself.

Please make sure to read their TOS which you can look at by clicking right here. Please have a costume in mind for the artist to draw! References are needed. I will be filling out the commission form myself cause of my paypal email, but from there on its just between you and them which while figure out the best way to do that for you specifically! The winners are allowed to ask me any other questions so there’s no confusions. I’ll be going over it with them anyway, haha. Good luck!