#me? doing Too Much? being Extra(TM) over Nothing?

[evilminji]

You know what would be both Cool(tm) AND Pants Shittingly Terrifying? Eldritch Space Whale Danny!

Except NOT! Because he's not a whale! Just snoozing and Giganto-Fuck-Off HUGE!

Imagine it! Danny. Joint Custody Child of The Ancients Of Time And Space. Space is SALTY AF because their BITCH OF AN EX has used his FUCKING POWERS, AGAIN, to CHEAT. Clockwork how DARE YOU.

You knew he'd be our Son in advance!

YOU SNUCK IN AND STARTING BONDING WITH OUR CHILD BEHIND MY BACK!

YOU [REDACTED]!

Danny? Sitting off to the Side as a Sentient Everything and Nothing made of galaxies and starlight, howls expletives at their Ex, who is being... REALLY snippy back? WOW, Clockwork. I mean, JESUS, man. Danny's from "oh bless their heart" Nowhere, Midwest. And even HE thinks that last one was both backhanded and cold af.

......he should take notes. *continues to eat his popcorn*

Anyway! APPARENTLY, Space Parent has taken him in the divorce. With much huffing. Tucked under their arm Like The Football(tm). And honestly? This is kinda hilarious, so he's cool with it. Byyyyyy~ Clock Dad! See you on weekends~☆!

*Exasperated Time Noises*

It's pretty cool! He learns a lot. Learns he's probably? Gonna be SOME variation of Space Ghost. Might even take over Space's... well, EVERYTHING, should the unforeseeable occur. So obviously, gonna have to learn The Family Business, as it were!

Which?

UNSPEAKABLY HYPED, YES PLEASE.

SPACE AND STAR STUFF! HECK YEAH!

Unfortunately? Still a Halfa. Bleh, squishy need to eat and sleep. Why they get in the way of Hyperfixation? Why no more space dust? Nooooo, don't drag him away from the controls! He can still learn! Sleep is for quitters! Cowards! *whining in Give Me Back My Blorbos, You Monsters*

But, no. He apparently has to "take care of his body" and "not burn out". Eat "real food". A protein bar counts! He probably ate one of those! Give him back his STARS! He doesn't CARE if he sounds like a toddler! That's DIRECT ACCESS TO THE SECRETS OF SPACE ITSELF! He'll BITE, so HELP HIM-! *Is scruffed like a cranky infant being carried off to beddy bye*

Injustice! D:<

But, none the less, body's require sleep. He shovles down his food, washes up, and flops down in his bed. In the nice lil cozy "Safe For My Half Apprentice Who Is Also My Adopted Son" corner. He passes out in that corner. Starts to float, as he has done countless times before, when agitated before bed. Floats OUT of that corner.

That Safe Little Corner.

IN THE CENTER, THE BEATING HEART OF SPACE.

You know... the place ALL OF SPACE connects too. Where Universe Form and Die. The Grand Recycler. Dust to Dust, from the ashes of old, to the creation of new. Where PORTALS are randomly assigned. So that the Omniversal Ectoplasmic Levels may always be balanced at near to perfect levels, allowing free flow of Souls through the various Reincarnation cycles.

Space, of course, doesn't MANAGE the Ectoplasm itself. Nor the Souls! Different Ancient for THAT, but they DO manage the PORTALS. We live in a SYSTEM after all. Everyone has their "departments" as it were. So really, it's quiet... Danny? Honey? Awful quiet back there! You, uh, fallen asleep, Starlight?

*empty room*

(O.O)

*inhale* AAAAAAAAAAA-!!!!!!!

Meanwhile! He be Snoozin'! And Ghostin'! Ghost Snoozin'! Is extra comfy, cause he weightless and got not booooones~☆!

But! He? Is not a child anymore! Has learned to... for lack of a better term, Let Go. To finally ACCEPT his Death. His inhumanity. His Amortality. Death no longer holds him, can no longer let him go. He is... not immortal. He is disowned, by his own doing and his own choice, at his timeless moment of Ending.

When Life let go of his hand and Death kindly offered theirs, he did not take it.

And that's okay.

It took awhile. Talking to older ghosts. Most vague and vast, near formless. Because it's... it's scary. And it's all you know. All, really, you've EVER known. Inherent to your identity, even after you leave that part you behind.

You are "human". "Martian" or "Xy'xeruian", something else, and you never question it. Even when you've left behind everything ELSE. Your name, your eyes, your history and skin. Yet you fly around and pretend. Still alive, still human.

But is that YOU?

Or just the form you found your start in?

And like? It's okay if it IS! Sometimes, yeah, you ARE. You look down deep and find a "don't know what you were expecting, buddy" sign stapled to a mirror. But more often? It's that last hurdle. The final step in Letting Go.

Everyone mourns at their own pace.

And they are the ghosts of who they were.

It helped. Mourning for the kid he was. Who was fourteen and wanted to be an astronaut. Who died and will never have a grave. The longer he exsists, for he can't technically be called Alive, the more painfully young that child seems.

It was okay.

To cry for Danny Fenton.

Then? To let him go. Let his memory, be memory. And his Past be the grave that child rests in. Loved dearly and remembered, but no longer binding his soul.

He doesn't have to wear that face anymore.

No tributes to the Dead.

He got? Kinda... BIG. Like REALLY big. Spiraling, serpentine, cracking ice, and burning galaxies. Like a fourth dimensional dragon, of ice and stars, somehow forcing its way into a three dimensional space. Atop it all, between two vast, impossible horns? Made of glacial ice coating the warping hearts of black holes, who's shape themselves seem to shift in unknowable ways? There burns, like comet trails, with super novas, compressed to decorative gems beneath glittering morning frost, a Terrible Crown.

He? Thinks? He MIGHT have wings.

He can't tell.

Because APPARENTLY he's a fuckin tesseract! Oh, no, sorry. He might me a Zone DAMNED PENTERACT!!! Is THIS what he gets for hanging out with Clockwork all the time? He just liked the quiet! Now his "true form" is PHYSICALLY PAINFUL for most people to look at!

Clock Dad WHAT THE HELL?!

(You see, now, why Space broke up with him? An ASSHOLE)

So! Danny stays, usually at least, in his "Hi, yes, I am Normal Human Man" Ghost form. But NOW? Now it PINCHS. Because it's TOO SMALL. But hey, that's fine! It's not like he has an ingrained habit of transforming when super tired and stressed! To float sleep for Maximum Restfulness(tm).

Ha ha!

Why does that feel like foreshadowing?

BECAUSE IT IS!

Danny? Snoozing! Space? Has LOST THE BABY! Portals? Have done a Jood Gob in Portalling, something they are vaguely sure they are supposed to be doing! Yay them! They have no brain cells but still enjoy helping! They moved a thing! That's helpful right? Yay! Probably!

And on DC's planet Earth?

They? Just choked on their fuckin coffee. One moment? La dee daa~ oooh~ look! Stars! Deep space! Oh, hiiii~ Watchtower! The NEXT? *every alarm in the building starts LOSING ITS SHIT* Giant World OBLITERATING SHAPE completely takes up the screen.

From near PLUTO.

There are NO WORDS TO DISCRIBE HOW FUCK OFF BIG THIS THING IS, MR. PRESIDENT. It will eat our nukes and LAUGH. Call! EVERYBODY!!!

Obviously? Superman. I mean really, OF COURSE Superman. Frankly, all the Supers. Because we would like to KEEP having a planet, thanks. Only? The more reports that come in? The more everyone is getting "oh fuck. This is a Workd Eater" vibes.

A massive, massive, Sleeping Titan of a Planet Destroying World Eater.

That MIGHT BE MAGIC.

*highly stressed Everyone noises*

And WORSE? Superman? Can't TOUCH it! Oh sure, at FIRST he could! But then he apparently pushed too hard in just one spot! And it felt POKED AT. So now, after flicking superman HALFWAY BACK TO EARTH to make him stop? No one can physically touch it!

But! There is hope!

Because? The creature is GREEN. Bright, luminous, Lantern Green! And Earth's Lanterns have already sent for back up. Combined? The were able to move a... hand? Paw? Something. But! With the combine forces of several nearby sectors of Lanterns? They promise the power to either relocate the creature or at least hold it in orbit until FURTHER forces can be deployed!

They refuse to harm the creature until it proves actively hostile, as it could have been seeking a place to nap and chosen one inconvenient to established planetary life. Frankly? Earth doesn't CARE where you relocate the giant Eldritch Space Dragon. Just NOT IN OUR BACKYARD, PLEASE.

....YES WE ARE SURE! We don't CARE if the scientific community of our planet is begging you to set up an area for them to place an "observation satellite"! No giant Eldritch Space Dragons in our solar system! It might WAKE UP!

Naturally, about half way THROUGH this Highly Delicate Operation?

Danny Wakes Up.

@hypewinter @hdgnj @lolottes @babbling-babull @nerdpoe @the-witchhunter @mutable-manifestation

[bugmomwrites]

29 Sugawara Headcanons but they gradually get more unhinged

My fave turns 29 today (it's still technically the 13th here) and this is what I'm doing with my time instead of yardwork or algebra homework. Happy birthday to the OG setter and king of chaos himself. There are some time-skip spoilers in here, references to drinking, smoking, and generally just getting into trouble. Hope you guys like it.

Floating around on the internet somewhere is a video of him at Tanaka and Kiyoko's wedding, dancing on a table and knocking the intricate centerpiece over. Nishinoya, the best man, is behind the camera laughing as his upperclassman nearly goes tumbling down a couple times over the blaring music.

He gets a pet and either names it after some random object like “cement mixer” or “armpit” or he gives it a human name like “Gregory”. Complains about his day to them like they're a little person like "That bitch Patrice stole my parking spot this morning...I know right?!"

Has one of those “women want me fish fear me” caps, and wears it proudly.

Has used Asahi to be able to take part in the “kids eat free” promotions at local chain restaurants. Is Sugawara bummed that most of his underclassmen are taller than him? Sure. Does it mean he gets free food when his close friend looks like a grown ass man with a mortgage? Absolutely.

Probably drives a little white mom van hybrid (maybe a Subaru or Prius). It has a bumper sticker that says “HONK IF YOU LOVE MILFS”

Plays with his kids at recess, but when someone starts to get cocky during Four Square or some other game, that Setter Sleeper Agent TM comes out and he has no issue spiking the rubber ball towards the little shit in question to knock them down a few pegs.

Will make the weirdest food combos, and get offended if you question him. What do you MEAN marshmallow fluff doesn’t go with pickles and shredded cheese??? Shame on you.

Some people say they “listen to all kinds of music”, but very few actually mean it. Sugawara is one of those people. You will hear Nikki Minaj, the monsters inc theme, commercial jingles from the 90’s-2000’s, all back to back. It’s enough to give anyone whiplash, and that’s exactly what he’s going for.

Suga didn’t always love extra spicy food, at least not as much as he does now. It started as a way to protect his leftovers from a hungry Daichi. Armed with nothing but a bottle of hot sauce, he eventually found the sweet spot of too spicy for his captain, but not so spicy that it wasn’t enjoyable.

After Kageyama arrived, demoting him, Sugawara found little moments of joy in shoplifting from Ukai’s store. Made awkward eye contact with Nishinoya as he was shoveling spicy chips into his school bag, worried about being caught red handed until his junior gleefully opened his jacket to reveal an unholy amount of popsicles lining the inside. A mutual understanding was made that day. Gave a few to Kageyama as an olive branch, but when Ukai recognized the packaging as the specific snack that keeps disappearing without payment, the poor guy is framed right then and there.

Sneaks into hotels and gyms to use amenities. Who cares if the pool says members only, a little confidence goes a long way.

Went to use the tennis courts, and the back of his shorts say “public enemy number one” in sparkly lettering. Some middle aged guy tried to argue with him and instead of hearing him out, he wordlessly hit the ball into his groin, with perfect aim.

Road rage but it comes out in the form of speeding and cutting people off instead of screaming out the window. But you can definitely hear him grumbling curses now and then.

Not too afraid of getting pulled over, most of the time it’s Daichi anyway. And even when it’s not, he calls him up and begs him to tell his coworker to “reconsider”.

Puts Bill Nye on the projector every Friday for his class so he can sleep at his desk, but sometimes does Kahoot! when he has more energy. Encourages the kids to come up with wild names, giving out prizes not just for highest score, but wildest shit on the board. May or may not be where he got inspiration for his cat's name.

Got on the good side of a lot of PTA moms, sometimes they have him over for dinner. Gets a bit silly after 2-3 glasses of wine though. Don't give him the nuclear codes.

Because lips are looser on nights like those, he has all the dirt on everyone. Not above blackmail if push ever comes to shove. Sure, he won't tell your husband about that affair you mentioned to the ladies over dinner- if you give him your famous cheesecake recipe, that is.

I like to think he orchestrated a fight club in his earlier years and that’s how he’s able to punch so hard.

His Twitter acc is apeshit, likes to make a game out of how quickly he can get famous people to block him. Collects them like Pokémon cards and laughs about it to his friends. Has a "hit list" except it's just which celebrity he wants to piss off next.

Also posted a video of him taking a fat bong rip, and tagged Daichi (a literal cop) before setting his phone to do not disturb.

In high school after having to play against what was probably the most unsportsmanlike team they've encountered, it was Suga’s idea to prank them with a few of his teammates. They got caught about 20 minutes in when Daichi went looking for Hinata and caught him red handed with his arms full of eggs, toilet paper rolls, and the guiltiest look on his face.

You know that cross eyed thing Pennywise from the movie It does, that turned out to not be cgi but a very real trick actor Bill Skarsgård pulled on set? Sugawara can do that too, scared the shit out of his teammates and other schools with it. Even their coach is unsettled.

The 3rd years went to a haunted house at one point after graduation, and then stopped for lunch somewhere. Daichi left to go get a couple beers for everyone, and, because the whole thing was Suga’s idea, tried to sneak up behind him when he came back. Instead of scream though, he clocked him in the face out of reflex, making Daichi drop the tray. Asahi is frantically trying to apologize to the waitress through tears for the mess of beer, blood and glass, Daichi is holding a bloody nose, and Sugawara is going red from trying not to laugh. They get their pictures taken and end up on a board that says DO NOT SERVE.

Vodka in coffee mugs have gotten him through the day on more than one occasion.

Puts his mugshot on Christmas cards, has it hung up in his house in a nice frame. Gifted one to all his friends that year. Many were horrified, some laughed, and one of them told him to hang tight while they got his gift- a mugshot of their own as well (it was probably Nishinoya).

Since his birthday is in June, when he was a kid his family was able to celebrate outside in the beautiful weather. His 15th fell on a Saturday, so they were able to have a much bigger celebration. Unfortunately, that year his older cousin brought her new boyfriend to the family barbecue, and he did NOT pass the vibe check. Maybe it was the speedo, or the douche-y attitude, but one minute Suga was grabbing the hot metal spatula off the grill, and the next thing the guy knew, there was a nasty burn mark branded onto his left ass cheek.

Skipped practice one day to look after his sick little brother, but instead of making soup and taking temperatures, they spent the whole evening playing Minecraft. Everyone is wondering where the hell their setter is, as the two of them lose track of time between building castles and fighting the wonder dragon. It wasn’t until it got dark outside and their mom came home before he realized he forgot to text the group chat. 

When it’s time for the DARE program at his school, he’s thrilled to see Daichi again, and constantly tries to distract him as he and a few other cops are trying to explain the dangers of drugs. He pretends to nod along and take everything in, like he doesn’t smoke pot every other week.

Was asked to babysit his nephew last minute, much to the relief of his brother. This would be very short lived though- a few hours later, he’s on tiktok and fretted with a clip of his older brother yeeting a slice of Kraft cheese at his son’s face. 

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

Hey there! From the OC ship asks: 6, 14, 62, and/or 97 for whatever ships you'd like!

[ask game]

Hi, thank you for the ask! :] I'll just. Answer for all where an answer comes to mind xd

6. Who would ask the "would you love me if I were a worm?" question? How would their S/O answer?

Merrill would totally ask this when tipsy. The three of them would then get into a drunk sort-of-philosophical discussion about ethics and the intricacies of being a worm

Liam would ask it as a bit, Fenris would play into it, and Liam would have some silly punchline lol

Kala would ask it of the blue with no context, apparently 100% serious (probably??) Alistair would be totally stumped by the question and Kala would not elaborate on it or anything

June would ask this randomly too and Cullen would start sweating and frowning and asking why she is asking. No for real June why are asking WHAT are you planning?? She shrugs and says it's nothing (it was literally just a random thought said out loud)

14. What is something they argue about constantly? Is it a deep-seated issue or something small?

For Kala and Alistair one more serious disagreement that comes up now and then is about the Grey Wardens, since Kala doesn't feel much attachment or loyalty towards them and Ali, well, does. It never fully escalates but it's something they don't quite see eye to eye on.

Fenris and Liam occasionally have tension because of both of their overprotectiveness, which makes the other nervous, and gets Really Bad in the time after leaving Kirkwall for a while. They also have plenty less serious recurring arguments like how many pillows should be on the bed or whose turn it is to bathe the dog

Ari and Josephine sometimes get caught in a loop of "no you" of trying to get the other to take it easy, which sometimes gets both riled up, but at least when it comes to that they are both forced to admit that they are over-strained lol. Also post Trespasser they start disagreeing about Inquisition (?) (however that's called then) matters more often which uh. may or may not stem from disagreeing on more fundamental levels more often as well.

They do also love bonding by having tiny ridiculous argument about trivial things xd

June and Cullen start out arguing constantly about. practically everything lol. Even once they get civil-to-friendly they still argue about a lot of the same things, only now they're actually Getting Somewhere and Working Through Shit.

Later, one recurring argument is about June saying Cullen doesn't trust her enough vs. Cullen saying June is being too inconsiderate re: her tendency to get into Situations TM. He's overly anxious, June is quick to feel caged, it's something they gotta figure out together.

62. How would outside characters describe their relationship?

answered here :]

97. How do they wake their S/O up? Is it difficult to rouse them?

Liam has a habit of opening the windows in the morning which does wake Fenris up but does not make him get out of bed (cold! blankets nice and cozy!). By the time he's back from walking Skip though Fenris's had enough time to Actually Wake Up. With Liam the problem tends to be that he wakes up too easily rather than the other way round, and has trouble getting back to sleep once he's awake.

Lilian is a terrible morning grump but if you wake her after breakfast is ready then she will only be grumpy a little bit and will even do the dishes after (nothing like food to get you in a good mood u.u). If she's being extra crotchety or refuses to get up though then a cold wet cloth thrown in the face also works 👍It's rare that Lilian gets up first but when she does she usually doesn't wake Bela up.

June isn't easy to get out of bed but not too hard to wake up. a "good morning" and a lil shake on the shoulder will suffice but she Will need 3-5 business days (~20-40min) to actually get out of bed. The other way round, June likes getting one of the dogs to wake up Cullen lol. It's the quickest and the least likely to result in Lasting Grumpiness

Ari and Josephine are used to working on a schedule, so when they have time to sleep in they won't wake the other. But when they have trouble getting up cos they're sore or exhausted then Ari likes to bring Josie coffee (and pastries) to bed and Josie will sometimes give Ari shoulder massages

[acoolka]

I now have a Euclidian sona to project onto because I am obsessed with how their anatomy is

So this is the ref and an extra explanation of how it works

This is all i could draw today due to circumstances-TM

This is an angel-demon thing due to being inspired by angel bill art:

INFODUMP BIG LORE WARNING TEXT

Their story is that instead of destroying euclidia - while bill was in the process of “freeing them” - he miscalculted and what happened instead was he was pouring his life force into turning euclidians into 3d beings. Obviously, rewiring the whole being of, like, millions of shapes took much more energy than he expected; which he only realized about quater way in. Which was already way too late to change anything as he was being torn asunder into thousands of pieces.

The result of that was about a thousand of mildly empowered and very disoriented euclidians floating in the middle of space-nowhere, with only, like, a couple of them knowing vaguely what happened (due to listening to bill’s crazy public rants).

It took the survivors an unknown amount of time to gather together and compile a comprehensive picture of what happened and what to do next. [Insert massive timeskip here]

Billions of years down the line the now re-established euclidian society knows of the The Catalyst Event as such:

The legend goes: Once upon a time, when we lived in a world much more simple and pleasant. Sometimes - a shape with mystical powers was born. Some had unnatural strength - to lift things much bigger then themselves, some could bend light to their whims. Such things were very rare, and Cipher was one such shape. His ability most unusual of the rest: he could see into another world. Built so unlike our own - that it was impossible to conceive, nevermind describe. In our native world - the concepts he brought up - such as stars and “up” were considered immensely absurd; And thus he was known as the crazy councilman’s son.

We do not know much of the in-between time, but those who saw it say: “For long he talked about made-up things in the middle of the street, most of us thought he’d been on drugs. However we hoped he might’ve calmed down after not being seen for some time. And the next thing I know - the image of him is superimposed all over my vision. It was everywhere. I could not look away. I think i understood in that moment what he meant by “up”, and yet at the same time it was incomprehensible. Everything swam, but everything was on fire. Blue fire that flowed like the ground and like the people around me. Their organs dripping out of their body through the holes that arent there. Their screaming was all I could hear, but mine too, joining them in the neverending chorus… And through all of it, him, the crazy councilmans kid, he was in “the up”, screaming with us, breaking into pieces. I was more, I was cold, I was burning alive. There was something inside of me that was foreign, it was taking up the space that I didn’t have, too much, too much. I couldnt handle it, i screamed and screamed, for that was all I could do, hoping that would be enough, that if I flailed a bit more - the visions would take pity on me. But I was too numb, I couldnt think, I couldnt bear to move, praying to the unmerciful triangle that his apparition kills me sooner than later… And I woke up. My vision hurt, however strange that sounds. Couldnt feel anything in my body other than that. Only me that did not feel like me anymore, And an infinite void, sparkling with something, and my thoughts. It hurt to think too, for a while.”

Needless to say, we dont tell this part to kids.

After The Event - those of us who survived (and kept most of their mind intact) - did their best to find each other. We found almost a thousand, if there are more - they would be very lucky to be found in this infinity. We did our best to organize ourselves and make plans to rebuild whatever we have left. Nothing good came out of that mind you, travelling together as a monolith kind of group was unsustainable at best and a horrid idea in general; And we had no base to build anything anywhere, as our memories and bodies were all we had left. We were also all different people, too different, and keeping any sort of communication is impossible out here, with nothing to make, and the only way to communicate being face to face - to the disappointment of many - the only way we could progress and survive is either in small groups, or alone. Going to explore the nothing for any news and help at all, hoping we will find each other and reconvene once again in some future.

And so it went. The multiverse became familiar with a new nomadic species - weird flat shapes with stick-like limbs, that had various magical abilities: some more powerful than others. They were categorised, and labeled a bland name, “Shape demons”, for how they are shapes, for their disturbing shared ability to be summoned as if corporeal spirits, and for being able to forming binding magical contracts. Each of those creatures has an different affinities and power, so it would be wise not to mess with them and be specific when negotiating.

It is happy that some were able to come across and pass on a terms of infinity communication; so while not all, a lot of us formed a sort of disjointed community at last. A social media for the lost; Looking if there is a place to make a home.

So much time passes, none alive could measure it. And yet we live and we remember. Searching for nobody knows what. However only but three human centuries ago, just one square, certainly smarter than most for sure, found a place to rest on a plane inhabited with very complicated and gross creatures. But only after a bit discovered that they couldn’t leave a small village, prevented by a barrier. Of course, asking the locals proved futile as neither understood each other, and the creatures with houses were either fearful or hostile, never-mind the aggressive fauna and flora! The smart square was very fortunate to have found one resident that is quite reasonable, and it was smart too! Together, the genius minds taught the other their language, and worked towards many great things. The pair built a portal into the multiverse for easy access to resources and contact with other shapes, then, with other found alien minds to weigh in, they figured out how to break the wretched barrier. It was not considered, then, that such action would also let out the hostile and difficult to handle flora/fauna - that, as it turns out, did not exist on the rest of the planet! That was a mess and a half to handle, thats for sure.

In “modern” times however, humans have worked hard to acclimate to the onslaught of the supernatural. A shaky truce was established in the last 50-or-so years; non sentient creatures handled by a special task-force, the sentient ones have forced through a negotiation of “human” rights (they worked, and still work, for freedom alongside the marginalised and dehumanised groups of humans. Who surprisingly, for the most part accepted their aid). Shapes that have decided to settle on Earth of this universe are… very few. It is a rarity to see one, usually an occasion of seeing a shape demands a selfie and a blog post at least.

As for Euan, their story is not complicated.

A travelling Shape demon couple had an unintentional offspring. They travel a lot, and frankly - care not for wasting time and energy on raising a whole new person. Earth-08356 came up on their radar, a fine place to look for any bleeding-heart creature who longs for a young of their own. A spiritual human was recommended a ritual by a friend of a friend, for a guardian spirit - that, for a price, can grant any wish. The woman couldnt carry one of her own, as a miscarriage too many made it too dangerous. She partook to many religions in search of an answer, a cure, but despite the supernatural and the weird now permeating the planet - there were none. The ritual was supposed to be one of many, yet it became a solution. The shape couple answered the summons, ‘perfect, just what is needed’. The never yet mother begs for a magical cure, for fertility and health to carry a small one to spread her love and want that she could not contain. The Demons respond, ‘ you will recieve a young all of your own, to love and raise, and it will love you in return. We will not demand payment, yet for a neglect of some of your wish. The child will not be of your blood. It will not bleed red, nor be a human child at all. Your want is of a mother yearning for a helpless little person to love without condition. So the deal is such: You will gain an offspring of your very own, it will love you eternally, you shall teach it all you know; But can your love be pure? To love still, an alien so far removed from any creature you have seen? It will love you for as long as you love it, yet it will be hard, many do not like that which is different. Will you accept it? Can you protect it?… Will you? ‘

And thus a human gains a child. It is cute, it loves, and it is loved. The demons did not lie, Euan was a challenge after challenge. In fact, the challenges do not seem to stop. It is hard, and very taxing on every resource she has. The child is good and full of warmth, but by the infinity do they not fit into human society, no matter how hard they try or what is done - the only saving grace is that mental illness is similar in such different beings.

—

That is all lore-talk for now, now onto more technical stuff:

Their parents’ ability is to make ones body into liquid, and the other ones is to fall apart into smaller copies of themself/ or grow when enough energy is consumed. Euan, thus, can usually shapeshift their body like a constructor of two triangles, and manipulate their facial features and limbs to a disturbing degree. Yet they’ve always felt dysphoric for… something.

I have not yet figured a way to do this, but I planned for them to somehow get infused with a copious amount of energy (like, idk, spontaneous wormhole be upon ye) - and unlock like, near infinite shapeshifting. Or something along the lines of danny phantom aka unhealthy amounts of multiverse magic radiation exploded with them in the middle and now they can walk throughwalls disappear andfly- take any form and rip space matter apart due to being everywhere and everything all at once.

-

Extra ref with the infinity bag and some glitches?? not sure where I was going with this…

[sarroora]

I shall indulge in your request because I also ain't been feeling too hot so 💃

Sort of akin to what you just asked me, what do you think gets the boys feeling down and what do they do to console themselves/what do they do to console another member of the gang?

(also have you got any extra Fancy headcanons cos I feel like nobody talks about him)

(I know the feelin bruh, you’re not alone, my mental state is very bad these days but I’m trying. Hang in there)

Long post ahead -

*T.C.’s pretty well-attuned to what every member of the gang needs in terms of comfort. He knows Benny and Choo-Choo’s love language is physical touch and so that’s the kind of comfort he’ll provide, but it can’t be in public view of other gangs (more on that later).

Spook is normally chill, but sometimes even he gets overwhelmed by concerns over their state and that of the world around them, and so he and T.C. will talk deeply for hours and hours if need be, until the green cat has some clarity.

Brain gets the blues and goes through periods of silence, but isn’t always able to articulate why; it’s actually him remembering some pretty bad times from his childhood, which was pretty lonely. Brain’s fears are actually the ones T.C. relates to the most, and goes out of his way on days like those to affirm with Brain that the gang is forever and no cat gets left behind.

Fancy has a massive weakness when it comes to women - and has his own inner demons about keeping promises, and commitment. He’s terrified his vices might lead to one of the guys getting hurt one day (lol that sounds familiar), but T.C.’s the one who keeps reminding him of the lengths he went to in order to protect them when things got rough. The fact that Top Cat trusts him means everything to Fancy, and gives him a boost of self-confidence.

*Top Cat’s worst fear is loneliness, not poverty. And across all media T.C.‘s shown to be really at his most content when the gang is happy around him.

*If you think about it, a lot of T.C.’s decisions as a leader are fueled by emotion, not pragmatism. There’s this story that I never got around to writing and there’ll probably never be a chance in CGaL…but T.C. taking in Brain was a big deal when the news spread amongst the cat gangs in Manhattan.

Almost everyone thought he was crazy; cat leaders typically have to be very pragmatic about who they allow to join them - life on the streets is brutal, and a ‘gang is only as strong as its weakest link.’

Cats that live alone in Manhattan are much more likely to starve or perish (see tags), so it’s a matter of survival for cats to form groups to help each other get food. No one wants to take a risk on a cat with a disability in such a brutal city, because they’d be jeopardizing the well-being and chances of the entire group. But T.C. took him in and made it work and told everyone to shove it (and it was during these events btw that Chooch realized he absolutely adored and idolized him.)

*T.C. needs to keep a certain image as a cat gang leader in front of others but in reality he has no problem with physical touch at all, especially with the gang. They’re a tight-knit group, they love to catpile, cuddle, hug, everything. Humans, however, are a different story.

Very few people - namely Tony and Patrick - are Blessed(TM) and have Permission(TM) to hug and pet him..but with a few rules. Dibble’s a bit more complicated, because of what he represents and the power dynamic, but ultimately, he’s in the Accepted team. Then there are humans that aren’t allowed anywhere near the cats.

*Last HC: fr when Fancy first joined the gang everyone made fun of him for ‘smelling like a house cat’, after a short stint staying with some humans. He knew they meant well but the comment was still a bit mortifying for a street cat. Easy though - nothing a nice warm session of catpile won’t fix.

[yeehawbvby]

Falling Away With You | Ch. 44*

Sebastian x F!Reader and M. Rasmodius x F!Reader

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Chapter Summary: Magnus... prepares you for your date.. I guess.

Author’s Note: WE’RE BACK BABYYYYYY

Thanks so much to everyone for being so patient during my hiatus!! I definitely needed some time to just slow down a bit (and to reiterate from my recent update, things still will be slow! But the time off was nice), and I really appreciate the kindness and support in that decision :3 It means so much to me, I wish I could better express it to y’all.

I hope that this is a good chapter for jumping back into things! I did my best to recap the past few chapters a little bit for those of you who need a small refresher, as well as incorporate a small time skip (like, 2 weeks tops).

If you're not into that, I hope the smut makes up for it <3

As always, I hope you enjoy, and I’d love to hear your thoughts! x Also, please see the comments for another author's note once you finish reading this chapter ^^

Table of Contents + Work Summary

Check it out on ao3!

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Seb had first seen magic as something spooky and surreal. Nothing more than a new and weird thing that fuzzied up the lines between the fiction he took comfort in, and the burdens of reality. It was a completely understandable take for him to have felt that way, and I had been surprised that he was so chill about introducing it back into his life through me!��

That said, I thought he’d still keep it to a minimum. 

But!!!

Ever since our visit to Magnus a few weeks ago — again, a visit that held the intention of Seb merely becoming a little reacquainted with the arcane, as we’d both expected him to keep his involvement small — learning magic has morphed into a bit of a passion project for him. A means to become as badass as his magic-wielding OCs and shit. It’s rad as hell. Kinda hot too. I dunno what it is about magic, but it does things to me, dude.

When Seb isn’t programming, and we aren’t spending time alone together, he’s now enthusiastically re-familiarizing himself with his rusty arcane skill set as well as indulging in some new knowledge. And likewise, when I’m not farming, taking care of Cannoli, or spending time with either of my partners alone, I’m honing my rapidly-increasing skills as a mage.

The necklace Welwick gave me has been working wonders for my abilities. Like, I now have that sixth-sense Magnus vaguely talks about from time-to-time, for when something magical is nearby. That could just be a result of my growth as a mage in general, but I think it’s more fun to imagine this little trinket siphoning a bunch of cool shit into me.

Also, clairvoyance doesn’t come to me so randomly anymore, aside from the occasional flash of something in my head! It’s getting a bit easier to tell the difference between dreams and a distant reality during my sleep, too. Similarly to… well, fucking everything else related to magic, I guess, it’s sort of a gut-feeling above all else.

This nifty little thing has also allowed me to practice my psychicism in the way that Magnus always had to resort to. For him to predict the future, he must conduct a spell and perform a weird ritual of sorts. He saves it for when things feel “off,” like when I moved to Pelican town… and for when he gets eager, and wants to know something right then and there. Like when he predicted when I’d be coming over to drink that nasty-ass potion that all but confirmed I’m a mage.

The process requires copious amounts of mana – another reason why he so rarely does it. But because of the extra help from my necklace, as well as my seemingly natural talent as an oracle that I’m assuming Grandpa passed down to me in some way, it doesn’t drain me nearly as much as other spellcasters of my skill level. Even Magnus and Camilla seem to get a bit more nauseated by the process than I do.

Throughout all this, all things romantic have been settling in too; things have gotten much more cozy. At the start of this journey in a polycule of sorts, the concept of openly loving two people in the same room was nothing short of intimidating. Now, it’s as natural as breathing. And while I wouldn’t say it seems like Seb and Magnus are becoming intimate with one another, they’ve definitely been spending more time alone, which makes me happy. Reassures me a bit as well. It’s a nice reminder that I’m not some sort of… I dunno. A selfish hussy. Or something. This concept still feels novel to me in some ways.

Both of my lovers are vague about what happens during their one-on-one meetings. Can’t tell if something’s going on, or if they just know the concept intrigues me, and they agreed to fuck with me a bit. Y’know, get my imagination going, for funsies. I mean, Seb’s crush on the older wizard is still as strong as ever, so I’m secretly hoping that they’re preparing to do some canoodling of their own.

I wish I knew what was going on in those pretty heads of theirs… seems as though mind-reading just isn’t gonna be a thing for me.

Whatever. I’m not bitter.

(Yes I am.)

Speaking of canoodling – I’m headed to Magnus’ place in a few minutes. It’ll be the first time we’ve been alone together in our past few meetings, since Seb can’t make it until later. The poor, emo cave goblin was up working until early this morning. Magnus apparently wants to take me somewhere new today, so it kinda works out, I guess!

After my usual morning routine of farming (the pumpkins feel like they’re taking forever to grow in, but they’re almost there!) and eating, I quickly showered, dried my hair, tossed on some light makeup, and dressed myself. I went for an almost-ankle length, dark and rusty orange, pleated skirt; a cozy and thick, cream-colored, mock neck sweater; and a big, olive-green ribbon to thread around my half-up hairdo. It’s getting to the point in autumn where it basically feels like winter, so I should be safe from sweating too much in all this. 

Once I’ve grabbed my satchel and a jacket to complete the look, I make my way outside. The first thing I do upon exiting the building is remember that I haven’t checked the mail yet. I probably should, just in case Magnus or Lewis have anything important for me… ugh. 

Unable to resist, I go out of my way a bit first, stomping on some leaves that have blown over from all the trees surrounding my land. Cannoli, who has been outside most of the morning, runs over to join in. I scoop him up with an evil chuckle while he’s distracted. 

“Gotcha, punk.”

He meows at me, seemingly pissed, but then purrs after I pat a few smooches onto his head. I hold the little fella in both arms as I open my mailbox with outstretched fingertips. I grab its contents, nudge it shut with my elbow, and sit on the stoop to read what I’ve gotten, with Cannoli staying put in my lap.

“One from Lewis…” I rip it open. “S’just about Spirit’s Eve, nothing major,” I mumble to myself as I shuffle through the envelopes. “Some Joja shit… gross.” I scoff and tear that one in half as Cannoli abandons me, giving me some more space to work with. 

The next letter is in a bright blue envelope with deep purple stars outlining it, each twinkling as though electrically or magically lit. I would normally assume based on the fancy casing that this is from Magnus, but it isn’t labeled, which tells me otherwise. I don’t really sense anything, y’know, magicky about it either. Weird. 

I stand up and go inside, tossing the Joja ads in the trash and before plopping the rest of my mail onto the table. I sit down and cautiously open the blue one, not wanting to damage the pretty stationary too much. Now that it’s in my hand on its own, I can feel that there’s something other than writing inside of it.

The paper itself is blue, this one lighter and more vivid than the envelope. The ink is a deep indigo and the words look like they were written with a sparkly gel pen. And beneath it all is a tiny, gold-painted walnut, still in its shell.

That doesn’t seem very safe to eat. I toss it across the room to the small waste bin between my bedside table and the door, hoping I make the shot. It lands in with a satisfying plink. 

Alex Mullner could never ball like this. He’d weep – no, he’d propose – had he seen such skill!

…Gross. I don’t want that. 

After shimmying that thought away, I turn back to the azure note. It reads:

“We can do great things, you and I.

Forage a rainbow shell and leave it in the train station Lost and Found box if you’re interested. I’ll make it worth your while.

I’m counting on you, kid.”

It’s not even signed by anyone… This is ominous as hell. Part of me wants to ignore it, but I’m also kinda scared not to, y’know? What if something bad happens if I don’t comply or find a way to respond? I mean, this person knows where I live, and is likely keeping things anonymous for a reason. 

Or… it could be some sorta creepy jape by Sam or something, and I’m overthinking as per usual.

I’ll think about that more later… for now, I just wanna get to my purple-haired boyfriend.

I shuffle through the rest of the mail once more to double check that nothing is too urgent before heading back outside.

_______________

“Oy,” I call out as I enter Magnus’ tower, immediately turning my gaze toward the coat rack instead of looking for him. “Where—“ As I adjust my line of sight, I find Magnus just a few feet away, a cheeky glare on his face directed towards me as he waters his houseplants. “Oh.” I blush, embarrassed by how annoying my loud intrusion was. “Hi.”

Magnus doesn’t seem to mind. He chuckles, places down his watering can, and strides over to greet me. “Good morning, my heart.” 

That pet name never fails to get me all tingly, oh my goodness. 

Before I can tippy-toe to indicate that I wanna kiss him, he’s already bending down to my level and scooping my face into his hands. I match the action, cupping his rosy cheeks. Unexpectedly, Magnus kisses me hard, causing me to stumble back against the door. 

“Mmf!” I squeak into the kiss before meeting his intensity. Makes him smile. 

He doesn’t show any signs of wanting to stop, our teeth tapping together a bit as he continues to intertwine our lips and tongues while we find a compatible rhythm. Releasing a palm from my cheek, Magnus grips the door frame behind me before dragging his opposing palm further from my face, weaving his fingers in the hair near my nape. The action prompts a dreamy hum from me. 

Yoba. I want him. 

As the wizard begins to kiss down my jaw and onto what little neck I have showing, I breathily murmur, “What about those plans you had for us?”

“You needn’t worry about that,” he mumbles against my earlobe, taking his hand away from my hair to lower the collar of my sweater. “We have plenty of time.”

He eagerly dives back down, leaving light kisses and love bites on my neck. My hands weave into his amethyst tresses as I giggle. The sound comes out airy; in contrast, a syrupy laugh escapes Magnus and vibrates against my skin.

“Mag–” A harder suck that’ll definitely leave a darker mark just below my jaw cuts me off. “Ah~” 

Smirking against my skin, Magnus prompts, “Go on.” 

God, he sounds so smug. It’s so sexy. I subtly shake my head and roll my eyes, a smile never leaving my face. “Nevermind,” I whisper, bringing his mouth back to mine. 

Magnus lifts me up in one swift motion as he accepts my affection, carrying me away from the entrance bridal-style. I open one of my eyes to take a peek at where we’re going. As I do so, he pulls away to watch his step while we descend to the basement.

“What’re we doing down here?” I ask, knowing this could go one of two ways:

Either Magnus is teasing the shit out of me, and he’s taking me to his hall of portals so we can go… wherever; or, he simply decided he wanted to get frisky somewhere other than his bedroom.

“You’re a smart girl,” he answers as he nudges the door open with his foot. His irises are like rubies. “I’m sure you’ve pieced it together already.”

“Maybe I just want some confirmation.”

“Maybe you need to practice patience, my dear,” Magnus teases back.

“Maybe I’m just not a patient person, my dear.” Hm… feels weird to call him something other than Magnus or wizard. I don’t hate it, though.

I drown the tinglies in my tummy by hoisting myself a bit higher with the help of Magnus’ sturdy shoulders, leaving a few open-mouthed kisses on his neck. The action prompts goosebumps across his skin. 

“Heheh–” I begin to evilly laugh at his reaction, but Magnus releases me from his grip, scaring the everliving shit out of me. “Ack!” He catches me mid-air using magic, allowing me to settle myself down without getting hurt. I glare at him the entire time, pretending my heart isn’t beating a bajillion times per minute. “That wasn’t nice,” I chirp with my brows furrowed, barely above a whisper. 

It’s Magnus’ turn for a menacing chuckle as he leads me to the couch where I usually do my studies; the one closest to the western wall of the room.

“I thought you would enjoy the thrill.”

“Clearly you know nothing about me, wiz.” 

Magnus’ eyes — which had shifted to their natural maroon again by the end of our short journey — are crimson once more. As we slow to a halt in front of the sofa, the absolute skyscraper of a man cages me in, his hands clutching the purple back piece of the furniture and forcing me to stumble into a sitting position. Wide-eyed and with heat creeping between my thighs, I lean back and look up at my partner. 

Then, a sadistic, almost lazy grin creeps across his features while he leans down, moving his hands to grip my sides once his previous stance probably grew uncomfy. He’s almost entirely crouching to level with me. 

“I know more than you realize,” he points out. Ominous.

I fidget with my long sleeves as Magnus’ lips draw closer to my ear, his breath on my neck and face sending a shiver down my spine. 

His hands slide lower while he kisses just below my earlobe, before continuing, “How many people out there, at this very moment, can say they know precisely what makes you squirm?” His voice is low and gravelly, and he punctuates his sentence by squeezing my hips hard, pulling a sigh from me. Proving his point with ease.

This prick actually waits a moment for me to answer his question, his head still hovering closely next to mine. “Well?” 

It takes me a sec to register any form of language until I blink out of my horny fog and respond, “I mean… not many, I guess.” My brain has kinda just blocked out any sexual partners I had prior to Seb and Magnus, given none of them could hold a candle to these men.

The elemental grows quieter as he proceeds, “Alright. And how many can claim they’ve known you far prior to your present lifetime?” His hands drag off my hips, now resting on the red velvet cushions. 

The cockiness, greediness, and complete possessiveness of his follow-up makes me shudder. Has me choking back embarrassing sounds and stuff. Makes it hard to speak.

“J-just you.” 

“Veeery good.” Yoba, so much praise… my poor kinky heart can’t take this. “In that case–” Magnus brings his face to my view, and manually tilts my head by the chin. After drawing closer, he whispers against my quivering lips, “I’d say on the basis of those two factors alone that I know you better than most, wouldn’t you agree?”

I inhale shakily. He grins knowingly. “Yes…” I could barely hear my own voice. It’s as if Magnus has me under a spell… but he doesn’t this time. He’s just that captivating.

Mirroring my volume – fucking tease – he lilts, “Good girl.” Then, he pulls away, leaving me yearning for more kisses.

Fuck.

Standing upright, he puts out his palm for me to take. My head feels swimmy as I oblige without question, and he replaces my spot, urging me to try to straddle him. Doesn’t work. Skirt’s too long.

“Um… hold on…” 

I get up from the half-kneeling position I was in and simply remove the skirt altogether. Magnus chuckles as I struggle to find more words, feeling the hot redness of my cheeks spread down my neck. Why do I feel so shy right now? 

Beaming with his brows raised, he claims, “How bold of you.”

“What else was I gonna do?” I quip. It came out meeker than I’d wanted it to, but Magnus pays no mind to that. 

He shrugs, taking both my hands in his as I settle back onto his lap. His erection is apparent now that I’m sitting on it. Mmmmm. 

“I merely assumed you would roll up the fabric.” 

I close my eyes and lean forward further to rest in defeat against his silk, navy button-down, before copying his shrug. He has a good point. 

Magnus, sensing my unease, exhales jovially through his nose, before reassuring me, “Worry not, dear.” After unweaving our fingers, he wraps his arms around my waist. “Your haste is more than welcome.”

I grip the fabric of his shirt in both fists and groan into it. “T’still embarrassing though…” I complain, my voice muffled by the fabric.

Magnus moves his hands, now cupping my ass in each one. “Let me shift your mind away from that, then,” he purrs above my ear. 

I tilt my head so that my face isn’t being consumed by his chest anymore. “How the fuck are you so smooth?”

“I don’t necessarily mean to be.”

It makes sense, I guess. He’s been around for a thousand – or two, or whatever it is – years. He’s had more than enough practice. “Of course not…” 

I sigh. Then, I slip just under his face, leaving featherlight pecks along his jawline. He giggles a bit. “That tickles…”

“Yeah?” 

My instinctive laughter comes out menacing and gremlin-like. I attack him with more little kisses, paired with ten wiggly fingers against his sides. And oh boy, I’ve never heard such high pitched or loud noises come from this man.

“C-cease yourself!” 

“Never!” I proclaim, nearly cackling at this point. I’ve never seen him laugh this hard, and god, it’s fucking adorable. 

I keep myself planted atop him and do my best to dodge his swats towards me as he lays himself down, keeling over. Magnus lets out a snort that puts down my guard for a moment, and before I know it, he’s finally grappling my wrists, taking claim of them on either side of his face. The action pulls me down, bumping my forehead into his.

Magnus winces while I let out a quick and half-assed “Ouch!” before laughing a little more. I rest my face in the crevice between his head and our arms to recuperate. I gotta breathe oh my god and my abs hurt. 

When I come back up, Magnus is giving me sort of a funny look. Like, he’s still blushing (eyes included) and smiling, but I feel like I’ve never seen this exact expression before. 

“What?”

His lips curl up further before shaking his head slightly and answering, “I… your laughter is so beautiful.” My eyes widen a little, as does my smile. “I love you so much. Come here.” 

As the words leave his mouth and before I have a chance to verbally return the sentiment, he’s removing his hold on my wrists and tugging me into a deep, slow, and much more passionate kiss than the almost-feral ones we shared upstairs. It still leaves my tummy fluttering and my heart racing just as hastily. 

Once we grow a little more heated, I find myself accidentally grinding against Magnus’ arousal a bit; and once Magnus realizes it as well, his hands find refuge on my butt again, aiding my movements.

Sucks how that weird potion I drank to become a mage made me more athletic and cardiovascularly healthy, but it didn’t actually fix any of my joint issues. Even just this gentle rocking with my legs spread out this wide is making my hips cramp up a bit.

“Sore?” My partner murmurs into the kiss.

“How’d you know?”

“T’was a gut feeling.”

“That sure is a fancy way of saying you were in my head again.”

“Damn.” He breaks, an amused huff escaping him. “I almost fooled you.”

I sit up and very lightly punch his chest a few times. Asserting my dominance, for sure. 

After a few hits, I glare down at him, palms pressed against his chest. Magnus glares up at me, thumbs tracing small circles against my sides. He scans my body as he gnaws his lower lip.

This is hot.

He eventually speaks up, his orbs red as can be. “Are you finished throwing your little tantrum?” His usually sweet tone was replaced by something still honeyed, but more gravelly and domineering.

That was hotter. Fuck.

I swallow thickly and nod, subconsciously stimming with one of the lower buttons on his top. “Yeah.” 

His eyes drink in my body again. “Perfect.” Next, Magnus tugs me by my hips, giving me a little lift to bypass his arms as he all but plants me on his fucking face.

“What are you–” He cuts me off with a bite to my inner thigh. A heady sigh leaves me. 

With his pupils blown wide, he suggests, “This is surely easier on your hips given how much less you need to stretch them, no?”

“I-I guess.” I hide the lower half of my face in some of my hair. I feel so vulnerable. In a good way, but still. I don’t think I’ve ever ridden someone’s face before. I voice this concern into his brain, too timid to say it out loud.

Magnus repositions our forms slightly, giving his neck more comfort as he lets his head lay down flat against the cushion, with a little room to spare between his scalp and the arm of the sofa. I peer back at his legs. His left is dangling off the opposite end of the couch and probably bumping into the bookshelf a bit, while the right is planted on the floor beneath us.

“Would you like to try?” The wizard finally asks as I bring my gaze back to his.

I take a sec to contemplate it. On one hand, I feel weird being so exposed. On the other… How is this really any different from being eaten out while I’m laying down? Some fingers of my left hand are twirling a soft strand of Magnus’ hair. Those on my right are still tangled in my own (h/c) tresses, which continue giving my mouth and chin some privacy. 

Despite the need to stim out my nerves, I still nod my answer to him.

After being given the OK, Magnus begins to softly kiss my inner thigh. In between, he orders, “If you want to stop, let me know.”

“‘Kay,” I smile. 

Gently, Magnus tugs my panties to the side and lowers me down. After a single, lingering kiss to my lower lips that’s already got my head feeling funny, he spreads me open and licks a gentle, pointed-tongued circle around my bud. I’m instantly turned to putty, it’s a little embarrassing actually. The small grip that I had on his hair tightens, and I rock slightly into Magnus’ proud hum, accidentally throwing him off-track. I shyly meet his view to apologize to him, but before I can say a word, he’s finding a better spot for his tongue. 

“Fuck,” I moan, my eyes fluttering shut. 

My fingers drop my hair and move to my mock-neck, using that to fidget instead. This feels so fucking good, but my anxieties over the positioning still haven’t died down yet. 

I abandon the clutch I had on the wizard’s hair and rest my hand on the arm of the couch behind his crown. With the way his nails are threatening to dig into the curves of my hips, I have just enough leverage to let him lick how he wants to while moving myself accordingly. 

The slight change in position startles him, I think — he telepathically checks in with me, “Are you doing alright?” 

“Yes, Magnus~” I verbally respond. The way he growls at my enthusiastic reply sends a palpable wave of excitement through me. 

With each swipe of Magnus’ tongue, I lose myself further. My hips grind with more confidence, and my sweater-filled hand starts drawing downward on its own, now leaving only my chin beneath my collar. I curse under my breath while he adds some more pressure, and let out a startlingly loud mewl as he repositions his left hand to nearly meet his lips, sliding two long digits inside of me. That can’t be comfortable for him by any means with the way his arm is contorting, but I’ll be lying if I try to claim that it doesn’t feel fucking incredible. 

“Holy shit,” I cry. 

He moans against my clit. It sends a vibration through me, and I moan as I lower myself a little more, pushing his fingers deeper inside of myself. Is this what people who are able to ride dick feel like?!  

“F-fuh–”

“Is it too much?” he nonverbally inquires.

“N-noh god, I love you, y-you’re perfect, Iloveyou.” Each word proves to be more of a struggle to get out as I feel myself beginning to peak. He chuckles beneath me, adding fuel to the fire. “God, Mag~”

I can’t physically move any faster – again, bad joints and all that jazz. He’s the captain now. There’s a subtle pounding in my ears, and I can’t tell if it’s my adrenaline, or blood flow, or whatever, or if it’s something else outside of myself entirely. I pay no mind to it, not caring what’s happening around me. Too fucked-out.

“So close,” I breathe. “Please, I–”

“Wait juuust a little longer, sweetheart.”

I whine in frustration. “W-why?” I ask, just barely above a whisper, looking down while complying by slowing myself to a halt. His eyes crinkle, indicating that he’s smiling, while continuing to lick my pussy and probe in and out of my cunt. 

He doesn’t give me an answer.

“Oh, wow.” 

Seb does?! 

Well, kinda.

I yelp, head bolting up and left towards the source. Standing near the entrance to this room is fucking Sebastian, his dark indigo eyes darker with want, and his grin just as shit-eating as ever. 

Magnus still hasn’t stopped. 

I look back and forth between Seb and Magnus a few times, my mind racing and chest heaving and throat dry as I can’t verbalize any of the confused thoughts that I’m having amidst what’s happening all around me.

Seb is slowly drawing closer to us. Magnus is working me even harder, as if he’s trying to pry my orgasm out of me now of all times. He can’t curl his fingers much from this position, but he can sure as hell fuck me with ‘em. I try to steady the slight bounce each thrust of his digits causes to no avail.

…Yoba above, did they fucking plan this?!

Magnus coaxes a moan out of me, but my eyes stay trained on Seb. His grin widens and a soft chuckle emits from him as he listens and watches in on the action. 

When Seb reaches the couch, he places a palm on the armrest before leaning forward to almost match my height. He then removes my hand from its hold on my sweater and takes my newly-exposed chin between his thumb and forefinger. In turn, I instinctively grasp his wrist, probably squeezing him a lil’ too hard while I try to prolong my pleasure as per Magnus’ orders.

“You said you were close, yeah?” Seb asks.

“Y-yeah,” It comes out whiney, and Magnus picks up his pace. “Fuck.” 

My eyes threaten to close, but I keep them locked into Seb’s. I don’t miss the way his view trails down to my tits, clearly a little enthralled by their slight jiggling underneath my sweater. My prior concern morphs into a breathy laugh. I look down to the wizard, and he’s still focused on my face. Reading my every reaction with those sparkly, red eyes. God. 

“Please Magnus, I—“

Seb’s grip on my chin strengthens, pulling my view back to meet his. “You wanna cum, yeah?”

“Yes, please, Seb~” Yoba, I sound so desperate. I don’t care anymore though.

“Be a dear and cum for him, then.” 

This is so absurd. 

Not in a bad way, by any means, but just… holy shit I wasn’t expecting this.

Near-immediately after Seb’s command, I clench around Magnus’ digits, grinding against his taste buds and urging him further inside of me. Probably smooshing his face a little bit with my thighs too. Sorry, dude.

Between his hasty pokes and the delicious alternation between licking and sucking, my high hits me like a fucking train. It makes me feel a bit lightheaded until Seb catches my lips with his own to ground me. 

After however many otherworldly seconds of whining against Seb’s tongue and probably suffocating poor Magnus, the feeling simmers away. Once he senses I’ve settled down a bit, Magnus repeats his earlier motion in the opposite direction — he softly repositions me away from his face and nearer to his lap, before wiping my excess wetness from his features.

Neither of them say anything. I look between the two of them, who are approvingly peering between each other and myself. 

When I find my voice again, I speak up. “So, like, what the fuck—” 

“Before you ask,” Seb starts, “this was mostly coincidental.”

I furrow my brows. “What?”

Magnus sits upright, and just when I’m about to shift some more to give him some room, he scoops me up and repositions himself so that his spine is against the back of the couch while my legs are draped across his lap. I cross my arms and lean my shoulder and head against his chest, waiting for more of an explanation. 

“He requested to borrow a book to assist him in falling asleep,” Magnus informs me.

Seb cuts in to add with a slight hand-raise, “Drank too much coffee overnight and figured my own books at home might just distract me too much.”

I nod subtly. “When did this happen?” I ask them both.

“When I got here,” Seb claims, “ready to just steal one anyway.” 

Seb and Magnus share a cheeky glare with one another. Seb’s is paired with a menacingly goofy smile. He then wraps around the front of the furniture so that he can sit next to Magnus and behind me. I crane my head so that I’m able to see him, albeit upside-down. 

Sebby continues on, while taking advantage of the angle of my throat to murmur against it. “But when I heard those pretty sounds of yours…” he trails off, planting an open-mouthed kiss against my goose-bumping skin. He knows I’ve gotten the gist of it by now.

This lil perv definitely asked Magnus outright if he could come down here to see me in action.

“I hope it hasn’t made you uncomfortable,” Magnus chimes in.

“No, I mean, it was surprising, but like…” I sigh, laying down, my upper body now splayed across Seb’s while my lower body remains on Magnus. I can’t bring myself to meet their eyes as I softly admit, “It was… god that was so cool.” 

Both of them chuckle, Magnus squeezing my thigh as Seb scruffs up my hair a bit. I do my best to flatten it back into place, then direct my attention towards the wizard, lazily pointing at him once a thought pops into my head.

“I’ve got a question for you.”

He cocks his head slightly. “What is good?” 

God, he’s trying so hard to be ~hip.~ He’s so cute. I do my best not to laugh at him.

“Are you straight?”

“I doubt it.” 

He seems to ponder the question further for a moment while I give Seb a sneaky thumbs up. As if to tell him, without a single word shared, “Maybe you have a chance with him too!” Seb rolls his eyes and nudges my hand away, a playful smirk on his face.

I draw my eyes back to Magnus once he continues, “I’ve predominantly had women as partners for as far back as I can recollect, but it’s not as though I’m opposed to relations with other genders.” I glimpse at Seb, unable to hide my mischievous grin. I could never be an actor. “Why do you ask?”

“Eh, just curious.” 

“That devilish smile you’re wearing tells me something else.” 

Damn, he saw right through me. Who woulda thunk it?

I completely dodge him.

“Don’t worry about it.” I pair the phrase with some finger guns.

“So,” Seb diverts the conversation, “would you mind if I just crash on a couch? That way I don’t have to worry about making the trip back here later.”

“Go right ahead,” Magnus smiles warmly at him. Then, he turns his attention to me. “Are you ready to go?”

I look down at my form. I’m still skirtless, and I’m probably fucking sopping given what just happened. Plus, there’s spit down there too now. Gross. 

“Uh. Lemme clean up real quick.” I shakily crawl off my partners and gather my skirt in my arms. “Should I meet you back down here, or..?”

Magnus shakes his head before answering verbally, “I’ll follow you in a moment.” 

“You got it.” I turn to Seb, scurrying over to give him a kiss. “See you later, nerd.”

“Yeah whatever.” Rolling his eyes and laughing, Seb pulls me back down with one finger hooked into my collar. After a soft peck, he says, “Love you. Have fun with the geezer.”

Magnus leers over at Seb. “Quiet, child.”

I snort at the exchange. “Love ya too, Sebby.” I part with a two-fingered salute before making my way upstairs.

[allthejoeks]

RWBY Chibi-esque antics I want out of Volume 10:

Ren, Nora, and Oscar having to navigate the emotions of 'Holy shit, our leader is back and alive, which is so great, but now he has even more trauma so we need to be extra good to him.' with the fact that he's now planning their daily schedules down to the minute and they need it to stop.

As RWBY's doing the rounds of introductions to all the important people, since they're the face of this whole thing, Yang introduces Ruby as 'our homophobic leader' every time.

Finally, they meet the Belladonnas, and Ruby just WON'T stop with horrifying and embarrassing stories. At one point, Yang drags her into another room, begging her to cut it out, and Ruby shrugs her shoulders. "I dunno, Yang, seems like it'd be out of character for a homophobe like me to let this go smoothly."

While the sisters are having an increasingly loud brawl in the other room. Blake's having an actual heartfelt conversation with her parents. Her dad admits that Yang still has made a better first impression that Sun did. A chair flies through the wall. "Barely."

Bumbleby showing off to the rest of their friends, we get ecstatic Nora, so on and so on, and Illia cracks an innocent joke about how she's cool with it only if she gets to be Blake's maid of honor, and Weiss, slightly less innocently and much less jokingly says, 'Obviously I'M going to be Blake's maid of honor." Which begins a season-long running gag of them trying to out-friend each other. Usually Illia wins these bouts because as everyone discovers, the magic words to make Weiss go away are 'Ruby seems lonely today, don't you think?'

A complete reversal of White Rose's dynamic. Ruby's trying to do important leader stuff a lot of the time, so Weiss (still a bit nervous from V9 Ruby) is trying to be the nonsensical bubbly one to take her mind off things. "Ruby, paperwork is such a drag, right? How about we *checks her Scroll* go... skiing with friends?" "In Vacuo." "We've done stranger!"

The Schnees, still trying to wriggle their way out of dysfunction junction, start thinking of Ruby as some sort of guru. Winter's partially jealous that Ruby's getting all of Weiss' attention, and they all wish to learn her secrets to having healthy family dynamics. She gets invited to dinner with them a lot. It is rarely fun.

Eventually Qrow starts inviting himself too just to piss off Winter, but he unironically hits it off with Willow as they bond over being recovering alcoholics and trying to be better family people. Which leads Winter into going absolutely insane trying to ensure that Qrow isn't sleeping with her mom.

There's a side plot the entire season where RWBY is trying to convince a local crime lord with a dedicated and loyal crime family to ally with them instead of Tyrian, and she's more than happy to, being dead is bad for business after all, but for some inexplicable reason Ruby just pisses her off, and the two remain cagey the entire season. Eventually, after Bonding(TM), she admits she loves lacey and colorful things, but it's just a little too girly for Vacuo's underground, and Ruby, finally connecting the dots, weakly suggests, "What about a parasol? Nothing wrong with keeping the sun off you." and the crime lord does a total 180, happy to work with Ruby and her great ideas while Ruby has a crisis of faith.

[typekiku]

thoughts on TYPE MOON stuff

well these are my the type moon stuff i have read or watched or whatever so far. this is my opinion only so its inherently correct argue with the wall or touch grass as the youth say SO here it goes drum roll

FATE EXTRA

boring as shit. no joke im sorry its just booty cheeks but of the not sexy kind. its beyond mid its so mid i cant even act like i enjoyed it. it has an interesting concept and world sure but everything else is doo doo butter.

only good part is nero being hot asf and ig whatever servant there is because i only used nero (lmao i aint playing it all over again) she was funny at times

see shes hilarious at times... im sure CCC will change my mind... right? it has sakura what am i saying its PEAK

also fuck them for including arcueid in this crap

GARDEN OF SINNERS

i honestly dont have much to say about this one it never really clicked with me nor did i ever feel anything about it... BESIDES TOUKO

TOUKO IS SO HOT OMG

clears throat

that aside yea i genuinely dont have any opinion on this series of movies good or bad besides movies 3 and 5 which were my favorites

maybe i need to rewatch em one day and really try to get into it

FATE STRANGE FAKE

my favorite spin off in the whole fate franchise. it has some of my absolute favorite characters and GIL like what else would one even want in life amirite

some of my favorites are:

Richard: the absolute goat and one of my fav servants ever

Enkidu: i want a spinoff of gil and enkidu... is that so hard to ask??

Flat: my son

Jack: my uhhh child ig

alcides: the closest we will get to archer herc but just pure cool regardless

hansa: cyborg priest. nothing gets cooler then that

and many more im already too ti- FILIA - red to mention

i've only read up to volume 7 so i gotta get to reading the rest soon

its just pure chaos and is fun while doing so despite being slow as shit

FATE GRAND ORDER

ok this is the most complicated series here in a way since its so incredibly mixed.

there are some of the highest peaks in fate and then some of the lowest lows so lets see

Highest peaks:

babylonia

Camelot

lb5 (YES olympus and atlantis im tired of acting like olympus isnt peak NO heian kyo its mid)

LB6

the rest of the lostbelts are good but not that good

goetia is an incredible villain

lowest lows:

first five singularities

solomon im sorry the stuff with goetia was peak but the rest was average

gameplay

gacha

serious lack of male summer servants like cmon i wanna see them abs

overall fgo is alright but some parts of it is straight up incredible HOWEVER all of it is seriously held back by being a gacha mobile game and has to work around that limitation

also it has barghest whom i absolutely adore

also fuck fgo for forgetting medea...

WITCH ON THE HOLY NIGHT

now this is peak. the most gorgeous tm work by far i have to say its simply an incredible read all around. even tsukire did not look or work or sound as good as mahoyo did even tho it came out almost ten(?) years after

on the story front i loved it too with a special shoutout to soujuuro being one of my favorite characters in TM (i say this often not my fault type moon keeps releasing bangers)

however mahoyo has two issues for me:

the story is clearly incomplete: i dont mean its just nonsense or whatever but when nasu said its the first of a trilogy you can just feel that in the story with alot of things being left in the air. this wouldnt be an issue really if mahoyo 2 wasnt basically dead....

i didnt vibe with the slice of life scenes as much as i usually do in nasu works: this isnt a flaw in the story more so i just didnt like em idk how else to word that

mahoyo is a great read however and i highly highly recommend you read it or else

it also has touko enough said

TSUKIHIME (original version)

Greatest of all time. Zenith of the medium. Hallmark of media. Gold standard of storytelling. Apogee of creativity. Vertex of invention. Crest of ingenuity. Acme of imagination. Pinnacle of innovation. Epic of epics. Legend among legends. Peak fiction

ok fr tho its actually incredible and you should read it right the fuck now

all of the characters are simply chefs kiss. while the visual novel is incredibly dated and the art is even worse you have to understand this is nasu and takeuchis first ever visual novel made on a barely existing budget.

boy do they make up for that.

the vn is split into two with a near side and far side.

while the near side is really good with arcueid and ciels route (ignore how ciel was actually really fucked over even in her own route its laughable and my girl deserved better) the far side is so much more better and really is where the soul of tsukihime and shiki the main character lies

i cba to review it properly besides saying PLEASE READ IT RN or ill cry and you dont wanna see that do you....

heres my ranking of the routes btw best to worse:

hisui

kohaku

akiha

arcueid

ciel

shoutout to satsuki you finally are gonna get the route you deserved

KAGETSU TOHYA

um it has some cool lore and some really good short stories and... yea thats about it...

dont have much else to add...

play it with a guide because the structure of the game is abysmal

FATE STAY NIGHT

what is there to be said about such a masterpiece? what else could be written about fsn that hasnt been written before? i am but an ant in the shadow of the giant that is FSN only seeking some crumbs to feed and live off of. idk what that means but it sounds cool.

FSN is simply tms best work all around. while i prefer tsuki over it and find the tsuki side of TM more interesting FSN overall is much stronger on most fronts but especially its main characters

Shirou emiya is simply the goat nothing else to be said tbh

heres my ranking of the routes:

issei route

heavens feel

ubw

fate

FATE ROUTE MUST BE REANIMATED RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SABER DESERVES TO HAVE A PROPER ADAPTATION RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

we need more medea and kuzuki holy shit are they cute

FATE HOLLOW ATARAXIA

thank you type moon for making a good kagetsu tohya. its actually impressive just how much better this is then KT like seriously what the fuck did they take to drop this banger of a vn

KT had such shit comedy i didnt even giggle throughout it but THIS

THIS is a emotional rollercoaster of a whole different kind.

introducing the third (arc and medea are first and second) love of my life Bazett and angra we go through an incredible main story intermingled with hilarious and wholesome slice of life scenes that never overstay their welcome

this vn completely changed my opinion on some characters especially illya who went from someone i was kinda 50/50 on to adoring her overall

ALSO MEDEA SCENES YES I WON MOTHERFUCKERS I WO- huh? whats that? fgo basically replaced her with medea lily?

one hour of sobbing later

if you have read fsn and not FHA then i must ask you.. wtf is wrong with you psycho? you like missing out on good things? that wouldnt be me is all im saying

read it.

(in case you're wondering yes there is someone i deliberately didnt mention because my opinion on them is too complicated)

TSUKIHIME REMAKE

im not a fan of remaking classics on the level of tsuki. with all its flaws i still find the original to be good enough to not need a remake...

UNTIL I READ THE REMAKE

this is how you do it folks. the story was elevated on nearly every level and if it was the complete story id say its the best ever in existence ever forever fr. its just that good.

there are three things i really want to point out:

while maybe goin overboard i really liked the buffs all the characters received and in general the whole worldbuilding is so much better now with idea bloods and principles and vampire hierarchies and arcueid inflation scenes (heh) its just epic

ciel got a so much better route that actually feels like a ciel route and not just arcueid route 2 electric bugaloo (and getting fucking cucked)

noel is peak

this is peak type moon and when red garden comes out it will be even BETTER especially with satsuki route because satsuki deserves it

there are some other short stories i havent mentioned like garden of avalon, notes, MAGNITUNING (look it up you wont regret it) its all great and worth the time of reading

eventually i wanna play CCC and read some other stuff like maybe prillya DDD, fgo jp like lb7 traum and whatnot

i just wrote this for fun so dont really take anything i say seriously except for the teeny little part where im inherently correct.

uh if you are reading like or share or whatever tf it was idk

ciao

[delphiniumarchangelmoon]

My pokemon hot takes (and an essay on ninjask getting done dirty)

Lopunny is for the girls and the gays and I’m tired of pretending its not

Me having a little crush on Mewtwo as a kid isn’t weird, what’s weird is that you DIDNT have a little crush on Mewtwo as a kid ok?

Swsh isn’t badly written you guys just completely ignore every non-required area and text box. You wouldn’t know environmental storytelling if it whacked you upside the head.

Paul was the best anime rival, no one stands up to him. His character arc was the best written, his battles had the highest stakes, and best of all he wasn’t fucking annoying!

Iris was the worst anime companion, by far. She did nothing but bully Ash the entire season despite being awful at her own chosen trainer path and it ruined it for me. Girl don’t sit around talking shit when you suck ass at everything!

Fairy should have been weak to bug. Fairy was introduced to be a balancing type by being weak to lesser used types and immune to the strongest type and then made bug WORSE? Fuck off. That makes no sense and it doesn’t even work that well in lore. It could go either way and make just as much sense.

Vanilluxe isn’t even ugly you guys are just haters for no reason AND I think it should get a really cool mega in Z-A based on a sundae and become extremely powerful and viable because FUCK YOU

The Machop line however IS ugly. You do not get to be mad about Incineroar or Meowscarada being too humanoid when that is literally just a man in his undies, and he’s not even cute. Machamp gets a half pass cause the extra arms make it less uncanny but the weird ring around the mouth needs to go, the shorts need to be better integrated into the design (I think gigantimax machamp does a good job of this by blending them down into the color of the legs) and the shinies of the entire line need to be literally any other color but puke green. Either make them all bright green like machamp or skip the green entirely and go dark red. Or a dark gray. Or blue!

Speaking of shinies, green shinies get too much hate. Espeon and teddiursa are cool. Meanwhile yellow shinies usually don’t look yellow at all they look chartreuse and sickly. Like Groudon! Groudon should have a goldenrod color not that abysmal eyesore.

Haxorous did NOT make the jump to 3D well. It just looks a little off and I can’t get over it.

And anyway here’s my regularly scheduled rant about some bullshit because I’m replaying Sword rn and tried to use more mobs I haven’t used before and came across some. Weird bullshit.

Did you know that in swsh ninjask doesn’t learn a single flying type move by level up once it evolves? What the fuck kind of decision was that???? give me SOMETHING I’m DYING OVER HERE.

It technically DOES get Aerial ace by level up but it’s one if those “level 1” moves that you have to get at the move reminder which I forgot was accessible from the start in this game. So I did a bunch of watt grinding yesterday to get a play rough TR for my Tsareena for my Bea fight for no reason and STILL nearly got swept?

And anyway why is that the only one it gets? Why is talking to an npc a requirement to get the ONLY flying move in this Pokémon’s level up moves. Why doesn’t it learn a flying type move upon evolving or in the levels directly after like any normal mon would upon gaining the flying type? It feels really weird and unnecessary. Just swap out the agility level up move for aerial ace, this mon has speed boost it doesn’t need agility.

And then in TM moves it only gets aerial ace (which it already has anyway) air slash (special aka useless on this mom) and acrobatics, Those are its only flying moves which is its better offensive typing! It learns DIG but not fly, peck, wing attack, or pluck?

And in BDSP it’s tm moves get kneecapped! It LOOSES acrobatics and air slash! WHY???? FOR WHAT REASON??? Like sure, it has ROOST and DEFOG now but those DONT DO DAMAGE????

It would have been better for the tms to be roost and acrobatics in the first place. Those are actually useful. But it doesn’t ever get both in gen 8. I could build a seriously annoying ninjask with a focus sash/a berry, roost, acrobatics, leech life, and aerial ace. Pop the sash or berry so acrobatics is increased, aerial ace never misses, leech life and roost heal me. Leech life alone makes it much less of a glass cannon, could you imagine if it got ALL of these moves at once? We were robbed. You can’t give us improved leech life and then not let us build the most annoying asshole bug ever!

And most of its sound based moves are relegated to tm only which is weird considering it’s a CICADA, the bug primarily known for being LOUD. Like they aren’t useful cause they’ve special moves but it should get bug buzz by level up at least. Having screech be its only sound based level up move is just a weird choice, lore wise.

Also its other level up moves are trash. Mind reader is made completely redundant by aerial ace, and doesn’t even make much sense lore wise, it gets like maybe 6 moves between evolving and its last move which ends up being one move every 10 levels or so which is mid at best, and its best bug stab is learned at level 64… or tm which you’ll almost always be doing instead.

Mind reader should be replaced by bug buzz, and there should be another move at around 38-40 that should probably be a coverage move like shadow claw or night slash. It has precedent for learning grass moves too so leaf blade is an option as well though it’s a little bit more powerful so I’d swap its placement with Slash at lv. 50

Anyway quit kneecapping otherwise usable pokemon with nonsensical movesets.

Anyway rant over. Justice for ninjask. Justice for bug types in general.

[dnangelic]

IM DONE WITH THE FIRST LN..... it was rlly cute and idk how much i trust my summarizing skills (or google translate wheelchairing me thru everything) but ill try, disclaimer that not all of this will necessarily be in perfect detail or order bc i'm horrible at that but it's a gist(tm). LNs take place really early on in the series so daisuke still likes risa and hasn't properly figured out he likes riku yet, dark is WAAAAY more of a creep, etc. also putting it under a read more because it's enormous. open at your own discretion, this is ~200 pages condensed into one post

first few chapters is mostly shenanigans/general chara introductions and setting up the fact daisuke's class is doing a sleeping beauty school play. risa's the princess, hiwatari's the prince, daisuke and riku are basically fairy extras, but daisuke is also the last fairy with important lines that basically help to wake up the princess in the end. in the midst of all this daisuke transforms a couple of times but mostly keeps control of his body, clumsy gap moe darksuke stuff ensues, dark in his head even tells dai to go have some fun and daisuke snaps back that fun for dark is either stealing or flirting with girls and he's NOT doing any of that. 😂

daisuke kind of huffs and mopes about what's going on between him and dark a bunch, with dark 'stealing' risa away from him and simultaneously taking over his entire life, to which emiko offers to listen but daiki tells her that 'a confrontation with dark is a confrontation with oneself' and 'there's nothing you can do.' there's also this very nice passage about dark and his relationship with the artworks that happens:

daisuke was looking at the weathervane spinning on the roof of a certain western-style building. there are many buildings like this, which have both a profound sense of history and delicate beauty in the area where daisuke lives. as his mother once said, the townscape was perfect for a gorgeous phantom thief. these are precious objects that survived an era when art in general was treated badly by the rapid development of science and technology, and the people who used it. as works of art and the techniques used to create them were lost, their rarity value and prices soared, and now they were treated with more respect than before. daisuke had heard stories like this from his grandfather and mother. most of what dark aims for is something imbued with that lost technique. however, these items are not sold and are still sleeping in the basement of the niwa family's house. high tech is progressing in areas that can't be seen, and efforts are being made to prevent intrusions by unscrupulous people. ironically, the same science and technology that eliminated traditional crafts and their techniques are now being used to protect what little beauty and skill that remains. for daisuke, who transformed into dark, breaking through multiple security devices and traps to steal wasn't difficult to do. but how to earn the heart of the one he loved?

daisuke also misses kosuke (his dad) a whole bunch cause he isn't home yet and is still on a trip (he doesn't even know what his dad is really doing,) cue this portion too about his personal anxieties. interesting bits about how daisuke's family doesn't mind how daisuke does at school/goes as long as he prioritizes his skills as a phantom thief because a certain level of educational mastery is needed. daisuke wonders to himself whether or not his mom and grandpa would 'cry again if he asked them to be sensible' lmao.

anyways, emiko pulls out a couple of date tickets to a newly built aquarium/museum called the aqua dome/deep blue, says she'll pick out a cute and cool outfit for daisuke, dark offers to go in daisuke's stead, daisuke tells both of them to shut up and says that he can do it all himself. 'i'll never let you go!' he tells dark. at the aquarium itself it turns out the two tickets that emiko gave him provides admittance for two people per single ticket, so even though he expected a solo date with risa, riku and saehara show up too.

riku actually gets a lot of character focus for being 'strong' and not 'cute' like risa. she's simultaneously insecure/jealous but considerate of risa while risa likewise complains that no matter what she does, she'll still be the younger one with an older sister, and that can't change. riku's sense of conflict over liking daisuke while daisuke (at this point) still likes risa is described as her feeling both a 'burning feeling' and also being 'cold and dark as ice,' which i liked, given the way dnangel usually handles that thematic.

everybody (riku, risa, daisuke, and saehara) goes to a haunted house attraction. daisuke is willing to go because he thinks it's a good chance to show off his cool side since he's a pro at walking in the dark. there's a mechanical 'killer' that chases anybody in the haunted house, which daisuke immediately figures out in regards to how it functions. riku and daisuke also have a sweet moment where in the pitch dark daisuke starts shaking because he's terrified he's suddenly transformed, (he didn't) and gets misunderstood for constantly looking at the emergency exit, but riku grabs his hand and tells him everything's okay in a big sister-ly way, even though she's actually really afraid of blood and is trying to act tough to comfort/encourage him. she tells him not to be afraid because she's with him, daisuke says thanks then grabs her hand back. 'her hands, still a little smaller than the small daisuke's, stopped shaking a little.' 😭😭😭

they leave the haunted house attraction and figure out that saehara has pretty much gone off on his own. saehara comes across satoshi in a fancy suit inside an area 'modeled after some traditional opera house' (POTO REF POG) and satoshi gets described as 'some rich guy's bonbon' LMAO. wiz is also there and starts 'playing tag' with a guard. around the actual aquarium daisuke's having a great time, risa calls a sea otter cute and daisuke can't bring himself to say 'you're cuter,' which he's sure that someone like dark could have said without any embarrassment. (MY SON'S HIDDEN RIZZ!!)

daisuke finally gets to see the mermaid's tears (an artwork/red gemstones) being showcased at the bottom of the attraction, has this crazy moment:

'the reason for the "please do not lean over" warning on this fence is because the 3d light that is projected from the floor covering the mermaid's tears doubles as a sensor to detect intruders. the security device activates when the light is blocked. daisuke carefully listened as a security guard gave an explanation to two young women who were trying to touch the 3d mermaid.

that means we have to do something about security first.

reflexively thinking that, daisuke scratched his head and said 'no way, are even my thoughts turning into dark's?! i'm not going to turn into dark anymore!'

he screams internally while risa gets lost in the daydream sauce, they go to the gift shop, the great phantom dark is a broke ass middleschooler moment. all of the sudden, riku starts shouting at someone to give back risa's wallet- it's a pickpocket. daisuke's legs start moving as soon as he sees riku get pushed away and the pickpocket starts running. daisuke reminds himself he can't cause a commotion only as he's already tackling the guy, who he had absolutely no trouble catching up to/keeping up with. only, he's too small and there's no way he can compete with a grown man in strength, so he gets flung away. he stays where he is 'suppressing the urge' to throw a punch, hiwatari shows up above him sending security to catch the pickpocket, but also softly compliments daisuke for a 'great performance' while lending him a hand to stand up. turns out daisuke had stolen risa's wallet right back and still had it in his hand.

'what? ah ... ah .... '

it's obvious, after all. daisuke, holding risa's wallet in hand, could only laugh.

in fact, the split second daisuke was clinging to [the pickpocket,] he slipped the wallet out of the [pickpocket's] pocket, and just before he was hit by an elbow, he let go and fell. what he miscalculated was that he couldn't slow down enough and fell on his face. and then there was hiwatari. without him, this "perfect crime" would have been completed.

daisuke immediately starts considering satoshi and his own's circumstances.

'i once heard that people with cold hands have warm hearts. hiwatari is always alone. but is that what he wants? just like saehara, who is always chasing scoops, and like his classmates who attend cram school with their future in mind, i wonder if hiwatari is also trying to do something, at the expense of a normal, enjoyable school life. i wonder why he's going to such lengths to pursue dark.

even though i'm being chased, i have no goals. even though i'm just desperately struggling to escape from dark.

turns out deep blue if not the entire aqua dome was built Specifically with dark in mind, and that's why the area where the mermaid's tears' are is called the special exhibition room. daisuke bursts out laughing at the fact and hiwatari briefly touches him to ask if he's okay. daisuke blurts out asking if he wants to have fun too and hiwatari basically declines with nothing more than a 'faint, gentle smile' and a thank you. risa and riku rush over and start to fret over daisuke because his face has gotten all messed up; he tries to laugh it off and say 'it's no big deal' until riku's expression darkens and she asks him 'why are you being so reckless?'

even if someone asked me why, i couldn't answer because my body moved without any time to think.

(MY SON'S HIDDEN PROTAG SYNDROME!!) risa gets her wallet back and calls dai manly, dai gets rocketed into heaven just from that sole compliment. they go to the artificial beach that's part of the area, daisuke has a moment over risa and starts to transform.

daisuke ran as fast as he could, interrupting the love stories of the couples scattered on the beach. no matter how far you run, no matter how hard you run, your shadow will follow you. the strong midsummer sun gives the shadows a sense of presence. there is a clear boundary between light and shadow, but this is the opposite. what is shining is not the owner of this body, but dark, who's supposed to be a shadow...

... i'm embarrassed, pathetic, and angry because i was so excited. daisuke is always there. it's my other self who effortlessly accomplishes the things i want to do but can't.

dark walks out of the banyan forest daisuke had dived into and onto the beach like he's hot shit. unfortunately for everybody involved he is because the very first thing he does is start flirting with an icecream lady, who gives him an icecream cone 'about three times the height' of a normal ice cream cone, calling it a service. dark offers to give a picture or something in return to her btw, but she declines and only asks him to come again. dark says 'of course, i'll come to see you,' and winks swaggering off. he immediately hands off the icecream to some other girls who cling to his arms and bring up that he looks like dark, to which he has a total tony hawk moment.

'i thought i've seen you somewhere before, but don't you look like dark?' 'they look alike, it's so cool!' 'oh, did you find out? actually, i came to steal the mermaid's tears.' dark grinned, and the girls gaped for a moment, then burst out laughing. 'i almost believed it!' 'it's the truth.'

dark and risa have a moment, daisuke starts to fall into total despair. riku appears and dark hauls ass to transform back. everyone starts to leave the aqua dome because it's getting late, and it's riku and not risa who notices that daisuke is suddenly intensely depressed. he says he's fine and gives a half-hearted smile that looks like it's about to burst into tears, they fall into silence. cue a lovely image of daisuke staring blankly at the nighttime scenery. 'the image reflected in the window glass overlaps with the pitch-black town. without realizing it, he was gradually becoming darker.... daisuke couldn't escape.'

later in bed daisuke wakes up in a lot of pain to turn on the lights. he's relieved because 'instead of the beautiful phantom thief who is said to be more popular than idol celebrities, he saw a very ordinary face that is sometimes said to be cute.' turns out his back's hurting for the past few days harshly enough that he's getting sleep deprived. after transforming back from dark he fell about two meters (6~7 feet) and insists that he could have broken one or two bones if he weren't trained. emiko had laughed saying it was a product of his training, but for daisuke it wasn't any sort of laughing matter.

the pain is similar to the pain that occurs when transforming into dark. it slowly melts out from the core of the body. ugh, it hurts. it was a pain that felt like something was trying to forcibly reshape daisuke's body.

the next day at school saehara and daisuke start doing a manzai routine over wiz being caught transforming on camera. there's an ominous note in the midst of it regarding change: 'even if it transforms, then like a chrysalis, it won't go back to normal.' daisukes goes into the art room to finish on the last piece for the school play.

a forest of thorns covers sleeping beauty's castle. countless fingers that obstruct those who try to break the curse. i layered many kinds of dark colors on that forest. on her 15th birthday, sleeping beauty's future is suddenly closed to her, and her sadness is midnight blue. the thorns that cause anxiety are spruce green. the feeling of trapping despair is the same as dark's wings.

the glue made a clear shadow of daisuke on the test paper. the shadow of the brush that was creating the deep forest suddenly stopped moving.

it won't go back to normal. the curse can't be erased. i can't get those words out of my head. the only girl who can erase the curse is, of course, the only one who can see the curse itself. will i continue to be myself and no longer myself without anyone knowing?

hiwatari puts a hand on daisuke's shoulder as he's going unsteady and daisuke immediately says that he's fine, just not getting enough sleep- but also he hasn't made any progress on his homework, he has to memorize his lines, and he's being swayed by saehara. dai finally brings up that he's never really thought abut the future, and he immediately berates himself for talking about something like it in front of satoshi, who had excellent grades and was already part of the police force. hiwatari surprises him by saying 'me too, i've never though about the future. i've lived my life thinking only about one thing.' no further elaboration is given as hiwatari offers to help out and immediately picks out daisuke's coloring as 'the color of despair.'

daisuke laughed. i tried my best, but i ended up slipping up quite a bit. it's like i painted myself. like sleeping beauty, everything is taken away from her. her love, her body, even her future... she becomes dark and may never be able to return to her former self.

this might be a serious passage but daisuke comparing himself to a fairy tale princess is so funny and on point for me. YOU CAN DO THIS CHRISTINE!!! later after school emiko shows up with the entire aqua dome's cutaway floor plan, and daisuke has NO idea how she managed to get it but starts planning the heist out. everything is practically set against him; darkness is prevented, there's only one vent that's' too small to get through, and there are hidden passages not shown in the drawings. daisuke reaaally wants to stop being dark, dark himself yells NO!!! and emiko and daiki also barge out from the hallway to immediately berate him. 'don't be selfish! if you don't do it, who will? even though mother wanted to be dark, dai-chan just throws away his chance! that's terrible!'

daisuke shuts them out until they finally relent and his mother leaves him with a few last words of apology and this.

daisuke, don't blame dark for things you can't control yourself. i don't want to hear anymore about dark. daisuke covered his ears. what you're worried about now is nothing special. although it's a little different from what everyone else is having. don't be afraid. everyone notices their own carvings that they didn't know before. i'm going to go... his mother's voice did not reach daisuke.

emiko reminisces about her own mother telling her that while dark was never caught by the police and was sure that he had stolen a beautiful jewel, it was actually dark himself who had always been caught but never realized it.

several years have passed since then, and the time has come for the girl who wnated to be dark to be glad to be a girl. she meets the young man who will become daisuke's father and falls in love... the jewel in her heart shines like it's on firer. just for one person. you've already found your true treasure, right? aim for it. she imagined her son alone, waiting for the moment to take off into the great sky.

daisuke himself in the meanwhile is going thru it. he considers how his father can't be dark and wouldn't know dark, and likewise would be able to listen to daisuke's woes.

but where are you? when i woke up, my father wasn't home. that doesn't mean there were any problems, and judging from my mother's reactions, it seems like they were still passionately in love with each other. i've heard that he moves around the world for work, but i don't really know what kind of work he does. i can't believe that my father was also a thief...

...this may be the first time i've felt my father's absence so much. my mother and grandfather were enough to care for me, and even more, they always played with me when i got home. hide and seek, tag, and dogeball. survival versions with traps. ah, now that i think about it, i can only think that it was meant to help me escape when i became dark. once, when he was caught in a trap and injured, daisuke asked his grandfather, 'why do i have to do this?' now is not the time. when the young boy complained in tears, his grandfather flatly told him, ' the time will come when you understand.'

baby daisuke calls his grandpa a shitty old man (kuso jiji/くそじじ) which he apparently picked up through imitation from saehara without knowing what it meant, absolutely flooring poor daiki for a second before he decides to give daisuke a hint: 'all of this is to steal the maiden's heart.' dark pops up and he and daisuke bicker a little, which is really more like dark keeps his casual, annoyingly playful attitude while daisuke gives him a cold shoulder.

'i don't know dark. i don't even know what's going to happen to me...' ---isn't it interesting? i'm excited to see what happens. daisuke didn't have anything better to say to dark, who kept his playful tone. 'anyway, dark is special. he can do anything and knows everything.' --- ah, i've been perfect since the moment i existed in this world. but that's also boring... i need to refresh myself by playing with a pretty lady.' 'that's just a hobby, isn't it?' ---'i wouldn't say so. an unapologetic, bright voice. daisuke felt silly worrying about something like this. why did i talk to someone like dark... well, it would have been understood even if we didn't talk. dark, who seems to have fun doing everything and never takes anything seriously. while concentrating on the conversation in his mind, daisuke forgot about the pain in his body and fell asleep. ---do you know what it means to never change? daisuke couldn't hear it. dark's voice was a little serious. big deal... if you really want to win against me, you should change it. our destiny.

emiko and daiki warmly send daisuke off to school with a sports bag containing dark's clothes and some other supplies, daisuke apologizes to them in his mind and swears to himself again that he wouldn't turn into dark, which is a goal he terrifically fails as soon as the day is up thanks to riku. dark heads off to the aqua dome to finally get the heist started. cue the cool heist stuff, which i'm too lazy to transcribe the majority of rn, but trust me it's pretty cool and wiz is once again not getting paid enough for all the shit dark and dai make him do. daisuke refuses to speak throughout about half of the heist until dark cracks a joke about how 'loved' he is, and daisuke finally snaps that it's not the time to be joking and he's worried about getting caught and how he has to go to school tomorrow. (daisuke...) dark grins and brings up that daisuke finally spoke, then he immediately gets waterboarded and sent off to a different area by a flash flood. they're now stuck outside the area of their plans, daisuke starts having another moment of doomspiralling before dark tells him to quit it -

'don't think so darkly. i won't get caught.' ---where does that confidence from from...? 'where is this?' with the thumb of his tight black glove, dark pointed to his chest. 'are you that worried that you're being hijacked?' dark laughed arrogantly. 'there's no way anyone would like something like that.' daisuke felt as if his chest had been sliced open. he should have been able to feel the pain in his body right now. even though it's not there, there's still an unbearable pain. if you like and love something so much that you can't accept the growing feelings, it might be easier if they just disappeared. after all, it was my fate to be swallowed up by dark...

some more running around, risa clings to wiz-dark, saehara's somewhere in here too, you kids are crazy. at some point dark and dai start having this conversation:

inside dark, daisuke was devastated and drenched with worries. i don't want to think about anything anymore. then i'll happily take over your body and your future, just as you wish,' happily spoke a deep voice. 'and the one you like.'

daisuke remembers riku and unconsciously calls out to dark, who tells him 'don't yell. it's too late now. if it's fate, you'll just follow it while crying the whole time.' daisuke hits back with 'you don't know that yet! i'll change it!' to which dark grins and eggs him on a little more with a 'you tell me.'

'keep going like that and get out of here. please, brother. (kyodai/兄弟) ---we're not brothers. however, it wasn't a complete denial. in truth, somewhere deep down he was enjoying stealing beautiful works of art and playing chase with the police. maybe it was just as my grandfather had said, or maybe i was just being dragged along by dark's heart. what daisuke hated was himself. i found myself being dragged along by a situation that was unexpectedly changing at a dizzying pace. daisuke laughed. perhaps only dark can see that expression. because right now, in reality, this body is not my own. this heart is the only thing that keeps it alive. that's why you can't use it unless you feel strong. even if no one can see you, even if no one can hear you, this is proof that you are definitely here. daisuke can't help but recognize dark's true strength. and for the first time, i called out to my other self from the bottom of my heart. ---we're accomplices, right? we're the only companions who share everything, including our bodies and memories. a phantom thief who violates a maiden's heart. however, i don't like how he's always one step ahead of me.

this cuts into daisuke looking through dark's eyes trying to figure out a way to escape from the area they're trapped in, and the hilarious description of 'the artificial beach where dark was picking up girls' being the location right above them. hiwatari shows up and pulls out the cuffs, daisuke can't do anything but watch as he and dark dodge and squabble. hiwtari pulls out the heartwrenching line 'how many sacrifices have been made for your existence!' at dark, and hiwatari's suffering and pain is described as 'something that daisuke also knew well.' even though daisuke in truth had been enjoying himself, he couldn't anymore with hiwatari like this.

but... now, while he's cornering dark, there's hiwatari who feels like he's been cornered himself. i don't want him to look at me like that anymore.

hiwatari slips after cuffing dark and daisuke freaks out for him, 'reaching out for him' despite not being the one in control of the body. satoshi's glasses break but dark catches their owner, while hiwatari himself looks up at dark 'as if he to ask why he helped him.'

'there's someone who wants to help you.'

dark pulls out a flare/lighter of sorts and sets off a fire alarm and lets him escape, he turns back into daisuke who ends up meeting up with riku and risa. daisuke thanks wiz for helping him and being willing to jump into water even though wiz hates water, daisuke goes home clutching the mermaid's tears, a red gem that 'shines like a flame.' hiwatari muses that dark is an opponent you have to be careful with and that if you let your guard down or get impatient even a little bit, he can easily escape. later daisuke heads off to school again and 'mobilizes all the gods and buddhas to pray at the last minute that he would not transform into dark' during the school performance. riku's trembling from stagefright and when the trade glances she says 'it doesn't matter, i don't have many lines,' to which daisuke says 'don't say things like that. everyone has a role to play. besides...' the stage is set, the lights go out, and in the darkness, daisuke holds hands with riku. 'i'm with you.'

sleeping beauty turns out to be a huge success, the kids pour soda water all over each other instead of champagne, and the daisuke from a while ago probably wouldn't have been able to enjoy that sort of nonsense.

'i'm soaking wet, i'm covered in bruises, all sorts of things happened... i don't know what's going to happen to me, but something is starting to move. daisuke thought it might be a good idea to let the wind blow around him, because the future can be repainted freely.'

the LN closes with emiko finding a picture of riku that daisuke can drawn into his sketchbook, the mermaid's tears beside it.

the light reflected by the jewel, which contains intense feelings that cannot be expressed in words, appears to be lighting a red flame on the chest of the girl in the painting. the flame of my heart burns brightly.

[mayonakano-archive]

Whoaa much enstars lore... and ruri is adorable wait ... also are there canon aliens in enstars??

Tell me more about leo's depression travel arc/alien abduction if you'd like ? I'm fascinated, he's just. He's justa. Liddle guy<3

OH YEAH RURI IS IMPLIED TO BE AN ALIEN AND THE ONE THAT PUT ENGIRLS INTO A TIMELOOP (Uhm, hold on *shuffling papers* okay! Strap in Kippy beloved, this is gonna take a bit!)

Okay. let me explain that whole "EnGirl is a timeloop thing". actually that's about all i know. Ruri (I think?) is implied to A) be an Alien and B) Have put the EnGirls timeline into a loop so it never ends. Why? Idk. I don't know much about EnGirls. Also EnGirls takes place at the same time as Enstars !!-Era so some people speculate !! is also stuck in a timeloop by virtue of that, since the two DO cross over with Ruka/Leo and Suzu/Mika being related.

Anyway! Onto the shut-in Leo arc aka my favorite Leo arc bc he's SUCH a fucked up little guy. So! So!!!! Okay. Okay. I don't know your baseline knowledge so I'm gonna assume you know Nothing and explain it all. Ummmm. Readmore'd for the sake of everyone's sanity bc I go Insane(tm) about Leo. Sorry for the essay kippy i love him so much

OKAY. A story in Three Parts. Part 1: i don't actually have a name for this part its just prelude and talking about the War mostly. I go on "tangents" throughout here that mostly just add extra context to certain things. IMPORTANT NOTES: There's mentions of ANIMAL ABUSE and BLOOD. Also just a lot of SAD STUFF. Thought I'd warn you!

So! Leo! Leader of the Mega unit - [TANGENT 1: MEGA UNITS. Before Units were split up into the 2-5 (Mama is an exception) that they are now, Units were MASSIVE and guild-like. There could be hundreds of people in one unit. One of the side effects of the War was the dissolution of Mega-units] - Chess, also known as "Backgammon" or "Orthello", but when Leo was put in charge he changed it back to Chess. It's heavily implied that Eichi was behind the former leader before Leo getting ousted from his position, allowing Leo to step into the leadership position.

NOW! This is where it gets MESSY. Leo, as you might well know, is a character who loves far too hard, far too fast, and far too much. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it contributes to his downfall. Once he's put into this leadership position, it's revealed that Chess is coming apart at the seams, more or less. Many members just ride off of Chess' good name, and slack on actually being an idol. [TANGENT 2: WHO'S PART OF CHESS (That we care about)? Primarily Ritsu, Leo and Izumi! Tsukasa has NOT entered Yumenosaki yet, Ritsu slacked a lot but still did occasionally go to practice, and Arashi... Tbh I'm wishy-washy on her position but she generally doesn't go to practice or doesn't care much about the unit so while she might be part of it, I don't tend to count her at this stage. Leo is the leader, and Izumi acts as his right-hand man and protector.] So, Leo is kind of also fraying apart at the seams because Chess is falling apart and threatening to splinter into sub-units, especially once Eichi introduces the new Live system; but Leo's ultimately incapable of holding them together and they fragment. Many of these sub-units take names inspired by Chess pieces - Knight was already taken, so Izumi suggests Knights. Leo and Izumi are the founding members of Knights. Sometime around here Leo talks to one of the splinter units he's meant to fight, and offers them a deal. They can be his friend, but never use his songs again; OR they can use his songs all they'd like, but they'd throw away any chance of friendship with him they add. Everyone chose to use his songs. So. After Knights is formed, Eichi starts using Leo (and his friendship with Leo) to destroy units he doesn't care for, and to eliminate the sub-units of Chess. Under the stress of destroying people he once cared for, realizing the members of Chess - who Leo'd do anything for and loved dearly - were only using him for his songs, and his relationship with Izumi getting messy, Leo cracks.

[TANGENT 3: LEO AND EICHI. Leo and Eichi met in the hospital. Leo had broken his arm protecting the cat Little John, who resides in the archery range. Delinquents often hung out in the archery range as it was far from the school, and once day decided to terrorize Little John by shooting her with arrows and trying to burn her. Leo protects her by picking her up and running around the range to keep her away from them, but this leads to him slipping, falling, protecting Little John, and breaking his arm. It's implied the break was bad, as Madara finds him via Little John's meowing in a pool of his own blood, composing with his blood, and saying the pain gave him inspiration as he's "Never felt such pain before" (A REAL QUOTE.) - Also Leo calls Eichi "Tenshi".]

PART 2: SHUT-IN ERA

So. Under all the weight of crushing people's dreams, Izumi's pressure on him, and everything else, Leo breaks and disappears. He becomes a shut-in, forcing himself to compose because he doesn't think anyone will love him if he can't compose. It's implied that he bites his hands till they bleed when he can't compose, and he generally just stops taking care of himself. In Lionheart Izumi visits the Tsukinaga household, and Ruka ends up crying while begging Izumi to talk to Leo, which prompts Leo to come out of his room to tell Izumi off for "making Ruka cry". It's noted by Izumi at this point that Leo can barely stand and looks terrible.

[TANGENT 4: LEO AND IZUMI. Leo and Izumi have been friends for A While, I don't really know how long tbh? Since they were first years, I think? And they're extremely close. Izumi is. Not A Great Person during this whole thing, and while Leo's giving Izumi nothing but love and praise Izumi scolds him and tells him to do better. Izumi himself notes that he made a mistake by being so harsh on Leo. Izumi's actually really hard on himself for his part in Leo breaking, but Leo constantly forgives him and even says during Next Door that "[Izumi] is the only one who thinks he did anything wrong." (Might not be the exact quote, but close enough) So. Leo's entirely forgiven him and thinks him blameless.]

So. Leo just kind of... Shuts himself away. Composes, or, tries to compose. He often says that he can hear melodies in his head, and during this era especially they've disappeared, which only add to his slump. Sometime during this, Madara decides enough is enough and sends Leo travelling. It's never outright stated where Leo goes, or what he does, but he was gone for most of his Second Year, between disappearing and shutting himself in his house. It's important to note that nobody but Madara knows what happened to Leo when he disappeared. (iirc) Madara does bring Leo back to the stage at one point in Concerto, where he manages to get Leo to perform with him. Izumi, I believe, says that Madara "saved Leo" but that Knights "brought him back to the sage" but. Zuzu. Bestie. He performed with Madara first before he rejoined Knights??? Anyway.

Leo shows up again around the start of his third year, sneaking around the school and trying to get a feel for Tsukasa. Tbh I forget exactly when Ritsu properly started joining in but I think that was during the War Era, and Arashi joined in around then, too? So Knights was a 3-person, then 4-person unit for a while. Izumi, Ritsu, Arashi, and Tsukasa. Leo then challenges them to a duel - Judgement. To determine if Knights is worthy of still existing. During Judgement Leo teams up with Eichi, Nazuna, and Kuro to form a temporary unit called "Knights Killers" while Knights is made up of the aforementioned members. Knights manages to tie the Judgement, and Leo realizes that he can't dissolve Knights, as they belong to the others just as much as their his unit. So. Leo rejoins Knights. Huzzah!

PART 3: WHAT'S HE DOIN NOW?

Leo Duels Tsukasa to see if he's worthy of the crown and title of ousama when he graduates. I'm gonna be real I don't remember a lot of this story but Tsukasa does get Leo's approval in the end. So. Leo and Izumi graduate, and Tsukasa takes over as the leader of Knights. Leo and Izumi live together in Italy (after Izumi says that he needs to keep an eye on Leo) and Izumi works as Leo's "manager" to make sure he's not spreading himself too thin.

[TANGENT 5: THAT WHOLE THING. In The DF debut event that I haven't read, Leo's revealed to be taking on a bunch of solo work and spreading himself super thin. The only reason Mama gets involved is because he's concerned about Leo. After this, in Next Door, Izumi says he needs to keep an eye on Leo and make sure he's not spreading himself too thin, hence letting Leo stay with him in Italy, and becoming his 'manager'.]

[thotsforvillainrights]

okok how about an Adult(tm) request for me and ur other dom-top followers- could we get the reader fingering/overstimming Shigaraki to help him forget how much pressure he's under? I know that man is under so much stress, he deserves to be taken care of <3

(ofc if ur not super comfortable with writing the action then maybe just a lead-up to it happening or taking care of him afterwards?)

(I’m totally ok with it but I’m definitely a little new when it comes to this one so please forgive me if I write it wrong! I might be easing into this one with a kinda short scenario but if it ends up not being enough then please feel free to ask for more when the box opens again. I’ll do my best!)

~Relax~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up

Curious scarlet eyes watched wearily through dampened, sweat soaked hair. His limbs sprawled out any which way on top of the bed covers while you prepared yourself for the next few minutes. When you’d caught glimpse of  him earlier in the day you could feel your heart sink at the sight. His posture had somehow gotten worse and you weren’t sure when’s the last time you saw him eat something that wasn’t just a quick snack.

Even with newly acquired funds, he didn’t take the time to fuel his body properly. 

Exhaustion was apparent by the way his eyes lazily looked over to you when you returned from your errand runs. He didn’t bother protesting you grabbing him and leading him to the room since he didn’t have the energy to really complain to you. He spoke few words when you’d pressed him to the bed and asked him to raise his legs for easy access. “What are you doing?” His voice rang out in genuine curiosity. “I’m taking care of you.” You quietly shushed him while removing the fabric barrier between the two of you. There wasn’t a complaint from him as he’d been down this road before with you. His head turned to the side and his vision settled on nothing in particular as he could feel you fondling around down there. He jerked from the sudden chill as your finger applied a gel type of lubricant with a gentle motion to him. He’d finally relaxed under the application when you began rubbing around and exploring. A small huff slipped past his lips as his impatience began to show.

His eyes caught glimpse of you through the hair covering his face just barely, wet with sweat. You smiled at him and reassured him through utter and complete silence. Your actions apparent in the way you took extra time to caress him. Finally he relaxed under you, still exhausted but turned on at the same time. When you finally slipped a single finger into him was when he felt the most at peace he’d felt all week. He could feel each and every care and concern melt from his being while you took perfect care of him. He allowed his hips to move ever so slightly to meet with your actions. When he began to moan quietly you’d decided to reward him by inserting a second finger. By now, all of his current worries and pressing issues seem to have faded away completely as he focused only on you and the pleasure you were giving to him. He started to sing praises to you. A cocktail mixture of your name and ‘I love you’ falling from his lips while chasing his orgasm through your actions. You watched with intent as his chest rapidly rose and fell, his breath picking up and becoming more and more out of erratic. His groaned when his eyes met yours.

Watery eyes begging you to keep going.

He came for you, calling out your name one last time and feeling his world spinning around him. You decided to keep it going, adding another finger and waiting to see if he would consent to the extra stretching. He looked at you with teary eyes and nodded only once to let you know he was ready. You replied by moving your fingers again. You kept this up for a little longer while he began getting louder for you. It was almost too much to handle but he loved it all the same. The sensitivity did nothing toward driving him away from your touch. He held it together until the very end...until he came for you once more and allowed you to see him at his most vulnerable. He only hoped you could see just how wild you drove him. He hoped you knew from his expressions just how much he loved you and how he cherished your company at his side. While you took time to take care of him, cleaning his skin and kissing along even the most damaged parts of him, he sat there admiring you silently.

[nulltune]

random question: do you think there could ever be an instance of moon girl being 'corrupted'? in a small, tiny dimension far away, could evil hakunon ever exist?

good question nonnie! an evil hakunon... what a concept 👀✨️ it's interesting because i think hakuno definitely fits the definition of a "good person". she has a very clear sense of right and wrong, strong morals, she greatly values the lives and wishes of others (no matter how "small" or "insignificant") and treasures the very important things like bonds and connections. i'd say it's almost like the natural course of her character development! in extra and ccc and even extella 🤢 even when starting out from zero as a nobody with nothing, we see that hakuno always finds these core values and humanity even in the worst circumstances.

that saiddd, did you know that hakuno herself admits to having pretty "twisted ideals" in the confrontation with extra's endgame antagonist? and she's always been the one to outright call herself evil too! for a good reason too actually 😳

here's a quick disclaimer though! i personally think hakuno's a very complex character that can be interpreted in many ways though i do know a big reason for that is also bc there are cowards who intend for that to be for self insert purposes rather than anything more nuanced 🗿, so this here's just my personal interpretation of her <3 this also got pretty long so i'll be putting the rest under the cut!

[side note, but i think it's Really Interesting to me how the fate/extra antagonists really parallel hakuno..... there was a scrapped extra ending of hakuno basically taking over as the second twice (though i will say i'm glad that idea was scrapped; cuz hakuno's already too far into her development for that to be a possibility but it's interesting to think about). as for bb-- oh man i can scream about the Potential these two have sm THEY'RE JUST SO GOOD UGH 😭😭 summing it up real quick, they're both just someone willing to give their all and become a hero/villain if that meant protecting the one they love. the former for hakuno and the latter for bb ! even kiara has similarities to hakuno, i don't know how much (due to lack of ccc translations </3) but i do know that they were simply living to their truest selves which had varying results]

i think these lines sum up her stance of things pretty nicely (they also reside in my head rent free 24/7 🛐) and really give you a good Insight(TM) on hakuno kishinami:

"If I could protect that which I hold most dear, then that should dictate the path I choose to walk."

"Hakuno Kishinami was someone who treasured herself, and the things she loved. The things I insist I want to protect are only those I see before me. …that’s the sort of shallow, greedy person Hakuno Kishinami was."

"I was just empty in the beginning, so if you say you're bad— then I will just dye myself in your colors."

it's safe to say that at her core, the most unbendable thing is that hakuno cares most about the people she loves, that's the key takeaway here thougg we also have other important hakuno traits like her lack of identity and her extreme devotion. i talked about this character trait of hers a widdle bit in this post, but yeah- for all her heroic qualities, traditionally heroic things like saving the world doesn't take priority for her.

hakuno's very direct when she says it in canon too. the state of the world has nothing to do with her (which is the cold rational truth considering her unique existence, to be fair), but she still wants to protect it because it's the world where the people she cares about live in; and that's the primary motivation for her. though i do think we have to take things with a grain of salt, because as harsh as her blunt words can sound, we can see from her reactions and inner monologue that just the thought of people dying is painful to her. so i think it's important to know that even if hakuno's first priority is the people close to her, she does think about others as well, i'd say that hakuno cares for just about anyone and everyone in some capacity. it's just that much stronger with someone she's emotionally bonded with.

now, hakuno genuinely is someone so kindhearted with only good intentions... which is a very important point 2 me!! she's not the type to damn the world for no reason and naturally dislikes the idea of anyone suffering. however, she can be scary determined to do what she must to accomplish her goal. it's only when push comes to shove and she's forced to make a choice where we'd really see this come into play methinks! we're entertaining what-ifs here and personally, i can really see hakuno take on a more,, morally questionable role ngl. hakuno's always acted in the way you'd expect a model person to be, but i think it's important to note that that comes out of her own personal values rather than a sense of justice or any chivalrous reasoning.

hakuno does want and try to operate within the scope of what is "good", but she wouldn't limit herself to it, if that makes sense. i'm not sure how to describe her morals, exactly, but hohhh boy it's super interesting to me! she's good at heart, but is willing to do something she views as evil if it meant the best for -insert name here- so when hakuno calls herself evil, it's because she has very clear and strong morals and a strong sense of good or evil, but at the end of the day, she's willing to discard anything and devote her everything to the things she loves.

that willingness to cross any line and discard her own morals, by definition, is immoral though. hakuno never does things without full awareness of her actions and the consequences that come with it, so she'd definitely be more than aware of that too. i think foxtail, which has that third line there "[...] so if you say you're bad— then I will just dye myself in your colors.", illustrates it so well..... it literally has hakuno staining herself with blood as she says that which- what more can i say!! it's just that undying devotion above all else <3 i have no doubt that she would be having a lot of complex feelings about it :uglycry:

i mentioned before that hakuno calls herself evil already, but it's best not to take her words at face value. she's a lot more complex than that!! she's a lot more complex than what even she gives herself credit for honestly!!!!! you gotta remember that even if hakuno seems cold/distant and claims to be a terrible person, she's repeatedly shown that she still cares about others no matter what and wants them to be happy. it's just that, again, she's willing to do a lot of things for that which is most important to her 💃🏻 tis just a matter of circumstance and priorities.... but yeah ! no matter the tiny universe, at her core she's still the same hakuno doing what she sincerely believes in and for what's most important to her.

it's very in line with hakuno actually! provided the proper circumstances, i can really see it happening 😳 we've seen hakuno in canon call herself "a failure as a master" because she cares more for her servant than the holy grail, so i can see her similarly condemn herself for prioritizing the well-being of an individual over,, literally everything else. i imagine it playing out like her choice to do what was necessary to survive in the holy grail war. she's absolutely firm in chasing after her goal, it's a decision she won't back out on, but she has a lot of difficult feelings about it too. it's not at all easy for her, and it would just add onto her already horrendous view of herself and her self-loathing :,)

I FEEL LIKE I DIDN'T REALLY ANSWER YOUR QUESTION .... 😳 but i think there's no easy answer to it tbh! hakuno has a tendency of simplifying things (for better or worse) but i think things are much more complex than that. so whether she's evil or good, that really depends on what we choose to think,,, if that makes sense,,, 🫠

as for a "corrupted" hakuno-- i'm not really sure what you mean by that?? if you're still out there nonnie 🥺 pls feel free to clarify! <3 i'm a fake fate writer lol so if it's corruption from the holy grail or something, then i have no idea how to answer because nasu lore eludes me 🗿 but i don't think that would be the case! hakuno's character is definitely influenced by others around her, but she's always the one actively trying to find and better understand herself and a reason to fight for. part of what makes her compelling is her immense resolve to do what she fully believes in — which is why all i've rambled about above there. knowing the full weight of her actions and her feelings about it is what makes hakuno so compelling imo!!

OUGHHH BUT (me, coming back after googling up the exact definition of corruption: 🤯) if we look at this in the scope of canon, this is a form of corruption actually ?? !!! remember: love was never intended and is actually mistaken for artificial intelligence made by the moon cell like bb and hakuno (: to go against their intended purpose of serving humanity as a whole in favor of an individual they've come to love is peak "corruption" for them, but we've seen how they both rather go against anything and everything rather than lose that precious feeling. I WISH THEY FOCUSED ON THAT CONCEPT IN CANON TBH 😭😭 JUST IMAGINE!!!! i wish they focused more on hakuno in general tbh </3

[honeylikewords]

okay so now that we have a good understanding of who Benny is, do u got some of those good good hcs for him? let all those benny emotions out my frond

thank u for enabling me, i need enabling

for anyone curious, here is the post talking about and explaining who Benny is! also, here’s a link to the trailer for the movie he’s from! now, without further ado, let’s play a game called “K Gets Self-Indulgent And Cries A Lot About A VERY Unheard-Of Character From A Largely Unknown Body Of Work!”

hfjdkjf okay so here we go

Benny is actually really good at doing internal, rapid calculations. He learned to go quick calculations in his head while doing football in order to tally scores and to do the math on how many (and what kind) of goals his team would need to score, how far down the field they’d have to move, etc. He’s also got a bit of a natural gift for statistics and they come to him easily. However, he doesn’t consider himself very smart, so he never talks about it, and would HATE to be labelled as a number-crunching geek.

Benny can play guitar and enjoys it. He never studied, but learned from his dad and from trying to emulate records he’d play in his room. He had a band briefly during high school comprised of himself and a few of his friends. They were called the Rough Riders. They were terrible.

Benny gets skittish around cats but loves dogs. The only reason he didn’t have a dog with him on the streets is because he didn’t wanna subject a dog to his shitty lifestyle, and would prefer a dog be able to live in a comfortable home with regular food and a loving family rather than have to sleep on the streets with a smelly, weird loser. Growing up, he has a German Shepard named Yankee. Unfortunately, Yankee didn’t make it out of the house fire. Still, every time Benny sees a German Shepard, he thinks of Yankee, both with fondness and melancholy. If he were ever to get a dog again, he’d want to adopt a shelter dog or pound puppy, and if that dog just happened to be a Shepard-mix… all the better, he’d say.

Benny never has had an actual long-term girlfriend and doesn’t really know how relationships work. The only model he has for adult relationships were his parents (who were functional, kind, and loving), and what he sees on television, in movies, on billboards (although, truth be told, he doesn’t watch much TV anymore and he rarely goes to movies. He sneaks into some movies every now and then, but it’s not very often). As such, all he knows about relationships is a little warped. The only relationships he’s been remotely near as of late have been manipulative, exclusively sexual, and unfulfilling. He hasn’t really bothered to seek out a girlfriend, knowing he has nothing to provide. He’d be more of a burden than a romantic prospect, and he has severe self-hate problems that make is difficult for him to imagine himself as attractive. Plus, the layer of grime and stink doesn’t do him any favors…

Benny does not think of himself as handsome. He was very popular in high school, what with his quick wit, his handsome features, and his proficiency in sports. He’s got all the makings of a great, attractive man, but he just can’t see if for himself. The incident also severely impacted his ability to properly assess himself, and he’s now more confused than ever and full of more self-hate than before. But even in high school, he was hardly aware of his handsomeness. He always considered himself to have a messed up face and unattractive features, and to be rather unintelligent. 

Benny keeps up to date with sports, even on the streets. He would fish around in trash cans for newspapers, watch the TV is bars or in store windows, listen to the radio from outside doors or next to parked cars. Sometimes, if he was lucky, he could sneak into the stadiums and watch for himself. His favorite sport is, of course, football, but he also keeps up with baseball. His favorite team for baseball is the Yankees, and for football it’s the Giants.

Benny has harsh music taste and refuses to listen to “that new trash”. He likes rap (prefers old school), likes older, vintage rock and roll, and won’t hear anything electronic. He also likes country (Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, particularly). He likes to go to older, more low-key bars and watch young people play at open mics because it reminds him of when he used to play.

Benny often talks about how he needs to keep moving, but often fantasizes about getting out of New York and moving to a small town in the middle of nowhere where no one knows him and the cost of living is low. He’d buy a small house, get a dog, get a job. He’d prefer to work for himself, obviously, and is very independent, but he thinks it’d be nice. Before the fire, Benny’s biggest dream was to acquire enough money to set his parents and brother up comfortably, to go to school and graduate as a business major, and to own a sports team. Now that he’s aged and suffered, he’d be happy just to be on his own somewhere quiet, unbothered and allowed to have time to grow and heal.

Benny’s full name is Benjamin Alphonse Lambo. He’s half Italian and half Jewish. His father was an Italian Catholic and his mother was raised in the Jewish part of Brooklyn. He celebrated both religions and cultures; he is mostly religiously Catholic but culturally Jewish. He still celebrates Christmas and Hanukkah, even though both holidays remind him of his parents in a heart-aching way.

Benny’s favorite season is the transition between winter and spring, when things finally start to warm up. New York burns and sweats in the summer, and freezes in the winter. The falls can be bitter cold, but they’re usually bearable, but spring is best, even if it rains a lot. The seasons are harsh out there on the streets, but spring is often pleasant. The nights are cool and slightly damp, but in a refreshing way, and the days are sunny and warm without being overbearing. It’s the easiest season to endure, and also his favorite even aside from practicality; he likes the greenery of the trees and the blooming of the flowers. Everyone seems to be in a better mood with the return of the sun, and he feels more at ease. 

Benny has a terrible temper and is not patient at all. He will not sit through the trailers at the movies. He will not wait in lines. He always likes to try and find the fastest, most efficient way to do things. He has a bit of an instant-gratification problem, and hopefully can be balanced out by spending his time with someone who is patient and enduring instead of short-fused like him.

Benny used to want to be a father as good as his dad was, but now severely doubts his ability to be a good spouse or parent. He still, in the back of his mind, wishes he could be part of a family, but it’d take a very long time, a lot of therapy, and a lot of internal growth before he’d ever be ready to leap that hurdle.

Benny’s favorite foods are super simple, but he hasn’t had a good meal in years, so even the most basic meals are like haute cuisine for him. If he was ever able to eat a homecooked meal again, he might break down crying from joy. His old favorites used to be pizza, spaghetti, fried salmon, and anything grilled. His favorite fruits and vegetables are apples, peaches, strawberries, potatoes, peppers and carrots. He likes food that has a good, strong bite to it. He also is really fond of hard candies and likes to crunch them noisily.

Benny hates seeing kids homeless and will make a more concerted effort to get them to safety than he would ever make for himself. He knows he’s beyond saving, but he refuses to see young children or teenagers put into his situation. They deserve to go to school and have bright futures, safe futures, happy futures. He gets furious with the system that prevents them from getting what they need, and has been known to get off his ass and work to make sure they get processed properly. He will put up a huge stink to make sure of it.

Benny can’t draw and has terrible handwriting. His hands are kinda shaky and so he has trouble writing out clear and distinct characters. Semi-related, but he also has a strained gate and walk because of an injury he sustained to his leg several years ago. He limps and walks almost bow-leggedly now, and it’s quite the strut to behold.

Benny doesn’t read much “literature” but was really fond of comic books growing up, so he wants to see all the Marvel/DC movies. It’s kind of adorable to see how psyched he gets. Even if they’re not “good”, he doesn’t mind. His favorite heroes are Batman, Superman and Punisher and Iron Man. He also loves Spider-Man and Wolverine!

It’s been years since Benny ate ice cream, and he misses it sometimes. His favorite kind of ice cream was a Neapolitan sundae with hot fudge and a cherry on top, and he liked to eat them with his brother. It was kind of their thing to make sundaes and have competitions to see who could make a “better” sundae. He misses those days a lot.

I have a billion more but for now I will leave you with these because if I keep writing I won’t ever stop

[nat-20s]

Wonderful! Au Part 7! (also on ao3 here) another episode only installment, and obnoxiously fluffy! Have fun!

~*~

Martin, tired: Hello everybody! Welcome, or welcome back, to a very low energy episode. We have had, as the kids say, A Week Tm.

Jon, equally tired, but fond: Is that as the kids say?

Martin: I don't know, and perhaps worse, I don't really care. I guess I could ask Jeremiah next time he's over, but I'm not sure if that would actually help.

Jon: Shockingly, I don't think two year olds have their finger on the beating pulse of youth culture.

Martin: Hmm, maybe not. Speaking of Jeremiah, he's part of why the format of this episode is gonna be a bit different than our regular. On top of me dealing with a frankly obscene amount of inventory management, and Jon being swamped with grant writing-

Jon: I never want to look at proposal guidelines again-

Martin: we were on babysitting duty for our favourite neighborhood hellion-

Jon: Hey, Jeremiah is a very sweet kid! I know he's a toddler, but we shouldn't be slandering him anyway.

Martin: One, we're not even using his real name, I don't think that counts as slander, and two, exactly, he's a toddler, he's by default a hellion.

Jon, teasing: This coming from the person that actually wants one?

Martin: I..look, if anything, the last few days have shown we should not be permanent parents.

Jon: But?

Martin:...There's no but.

Jon: I don't believe you! Are you lying for my benefit or the audience's? Because someone spent the last five days wearing one of the largest grins I've ever seen, exhausted as it may have been.

Martin: Okay! Fine, I admit, I liked having a kid around. I still think it would be a bad idea to do it full time, but I dunno. I wish we weren't both only children or something. We would make such good uncles.

Jon: Should I should have taken that teaching job after all?

Martin: Perhaps. After all,

Martin, singsong: An English teacher, is really someone!

Jon and Martin, singing together: If only you, had be-come one!

Jon: Honestly, though, I was considerably underqualified. I'm much more suited to my current job, even if it doesn't have quite the same impact on the "shaping of the next generation" or whatnot.

Martin: Wait, you actually care about qualifications now? When did that change?

Jon: This coming from Mister "master's degree in parapsychology"? And it was probably around the time that the world ended from taking on a workload I was ill-suited for.

Jon:...

Jon: Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Martin: Oh, of course. Definitely nothing literally apocalyptic in our pasts, no siree, nothing to see or speculate about or make weirdly involved forums for here. Uh, anyway, long introduction not so short: Both of us have been averaging about 4 hours of sleep, so any sort of actual research was not on the table.

Jon: If any of you are wondering why we didn't just say that we're both very much worn out and thus we'll be taking a week off, it's because we're both deeply, deeply stubborn.

Martin: It's one of our best shared qualities that has never caused any conflict between us, ever.

Jon: In fairness, sheer stubbornness does account for, what, 75% of the reason that either of us are still alive? And it hasn't caused a major conflict between us in a good three years.

Martin: That's true. We've become a deeply boring, relatively conflict free couple. Which fucking rules, by the way. To all the couples out there: I highly recommend being boring. It is so nice. We've gotten to go to the farmer's market so many times.

Jon: You do love the farmer's market. I would say that it's the access to fresh produce, but I think you just like the attention that one yarn seller gives you. Can't believe you would take advantage of a crush to get discounts on wool. How did I marry such an opportunist?

Martin: Ollie does not have a crush on me. They're just friendly to everyone.

Jon: Bullshit. I certainly never get an extra skein or stitch markers or delicate fabric cleaner tossed in my bag. Actually, I think I've been charged more for committing the crime of having married you before they could.

Martin: I'm..70% sure that's not true, but every sentence we speak, we stray further from even pretending to be on topic. So, to everybody listening, this is the itty bitty episode! Basically, we're only doing small wonders and user submissions. If you want details or backstory for things we like, too bad, come back next week. Jon, I believe you're first this week?

Jon: Oh, right. My first small wonder is cat names.

Martin: Delightful, but unsurprising. Though, I would've expected either more or less specificity. Why cat names as opposed to pet's names in general, or, like, military title names?

Jon: Well that's simple enough. I've simply never met a misnamed cat, even if the name itself wasn't to my personal tastes, and I think that speaks to the wonderful universality of cats.

Martin: This, of course, implies that you have met animals that were misnamed.

Jon: Oh, I have. I once met a papillion dog named Meatball.

Martin: Now I know you don't like food names in general for pets, but are you sure that Meatball didn't suit the dogs personality? I've known some "Meatballs" in my lifetime.

Jon, only half-mock offended: Of course it didn't fit, Martin. She was a lady. A nervous, jittery lady, but a lady nonetheless.

Martin, laughing: And what, you've never met a dignified cat with an undignified name, or vice versa? Would you be okay with our cat being named Meatball?

Jon: I would be upset if our cat was named Meatball, because we named her and we're above that sort of thing, but, technically speaking, she could have been Meatball in another lifetime and it wouldn't have been wrong. You see, all cats are a mix of both extremely austere and little baby idiot.

Martin: Oh, is that the scientific terminology?

Jon: It is. Now, while there's probably some amount of, er, normative determinism or confirmation bias or something that results in a cat with a more dignified name seeming to possess more of that austerity, as all cats have both, any name can, potentially, fit. Hence why it's wonderful.

Martin: I..accept your proposal for now, but I think more research needs to be done. Maybe we should visit the shelter this weekend and test your hypothesis.

Jon: Hmm. I think we may need to visit multiple shelters, actually. A large sample size is necessary for any sort of veracity, obviously.

Martin, imitating Jon tone: Obviously.

Jon: Glad you agree. What's your first small wonder?

Martin: Tofu!

Jon: I..didn't realize you liked that much?

Martin: Well, I don't get it very often since I know you can't stand the texture, even though it is not like 'worse scrambled eggs', and you're a horrible food thief-

Jon: Lies and slander. We readily share. If I'm a horrible food thief, you have committed the exact same, if not worse, crime as myself.

Martin: Well, we are thick as thieves.

Jon, groaning: You're thick as something alright

Martin: Rude! My beloved husband-

Jon: -uh huh-

Martin: whom I love and trust with my most tender of hearts-

Jon: -an oddly cannibalistic turn of phrase-

Martin, badly suppressing laughter: Oh, my god. I want a divorce, then I can put tofu in as many dishes as I like. I'll triple my protein intake.

Jon: It'd never go through. I'll burn the papers. No, wait, I'll burn down the legal offices where the papers are kept.

Martin: Hmm. While my experiences with it have been, uh, varied to say the least, I do have to admit that arson is one of the more attractive crimes of passion. I suppose I'll take you back.

Jon, flat: I'm so very grateful.

Jon, genuine: You do have yet to actually tell me why you think tofu is wonderful, love.

Martin: It's just a good food! It's neutral enough that you can toss it in pretty much anything with a sauce, you can bake it, you can fry it, whatever. Plus it's what? two? Three quid? I spent many years of my life living off the cheapest, saltiest approximation of noodles you could imagine, and half a pack of tofu, a little bit of sesame oil, and some green onions went a long way to both making it more filling and less sad. 

Martin: Plus, I feel like it often gets decried for being something it's not? It's so often viewed as a meat substitute or the vegan alternative option, and so when people try it, they often go in with a false preconceived notion of what it's going to be like, and then end up disappointed. They're all like, 'ugh, this doesn't taste like turkey!' and yeah, of course it doesn't. It's the oatmeal raisin cookie of the protein world, a perfectly good and tasty treat on its own, but if you want chocolate chip, it's not gonna work.

Jon: Martin you don't even like oatmeal raisin. I'm the only one that ever eats them out of the multipacks.

Martin: Well, yeah, but I don't like oatmeal raisin because of its flavor, not because I think it should be chocolate chip and fails. It illustrates my point. Also, just for balance, is your next small wonder oatmeal raisin cookies?

Jon: No, though, maybe one of these weeks. They are good. But no, um, my next small wonder is being married.

Martin, let out a high bark of a laugh: Being married is a small wonder?!

Jon: Small wonders doesn't mean a lack of importance! Or even significance in our lives. Half the time we even end up spending just as much time chattering on about them as the things we actually research. But, yes, I didn't feel like researching the concept of being married. For one, a lot of the history of it is depressing and patriarchal, and for two, it's not something I really feel any need to elaborate on. Being married. I very much enjoy it. I recommend it for anybody that's found someone that they want to marry, and who wants to marry them. I really recommend being married to Martin Blackwood, I think I would enjoy it significantly less if it was to anybody else, but one: we typically try to make the wonderful things in this show  applicable to more than just ourselves, and two: I got there first, so I believe the appropriate thing to say here would be; neener neener and/or everyone else can go suck it, Ollie.

Martin: Well...

Jon: Well, what?

Martin: Saying you got there first is technically not true-

Jon: What?!

Martin, laughing like a bastard: Sorry, sorry! Couldn't resist! Jon, you already know that you're my first real realationship, how would be married before fit that?

Jon: Hence my surprise at the notion! I cannot believe you! I give you my trust, my earnestness, and belief-

Martin [only laughs harder]

Jon: and you throw it in my face for a bit. I take back everything, being married is a nightmare, because sometimes your partner thinks he a fucking comedian and you just have to put up with him because you love him and want to live the rest of your life with him or some such nonsense. Not worth it, if you ask me. My turn to ask for the divorce.

Martin: Babe, hate to break it to you, but both of us are guilty of doing bits that the other doesn't like, it's an integral part of  a healthy marriage, and secondly, you knew who I was long before I proposed. You should've said no when you had the chance.

Jon: Hang on, you proposed?

Martin: Yeah? This isn't part of a bit, of course I proposed. I'm even pretty sure you were there. The whole visit back to Scotland trip? I finally made you a sweater and said it was because we would now be immune to the boyfriend curse?

Jon: No, no, I remember all that, but it wasn't the proposal. It was a reaffirmation of the proposal. We had already decided to get married.

Martin: Well, yeah,, I wasn't just gonna spring that on you, we had had conversations beforehand-

Jon:  No, I mean, I had already proposed. I asked you to marry me a good three years earlier, and you said yes, which is a proposal by any definition that I know.

Martin: Jon, love, darling, apple of my eye, fire of my soul, I mean this in the nicest way possible, what the everloving fuck are you talking about?

Jon: In the ambulance ride when we, uh, moved here. It was the thing I said to you the second I saw your eyes were open.

[An audible pause is left in the recording.]

Martin: That does not count.

Jon: How does it not count?! I asked you to marry me, you very emphatically said yes, that's the de facto definition of an accepted marriage proposal!

Martin: It doesn't count because you were half-delirious with blood-loss, and I had a traumatic brain injury that the hospital was very surprised I made a full recovery from. No court in the world would consider anything we said then more than pain driven ramblings, let alone, I dunno, contractually binding.

Jon: Well, I knew what I was saying well and clear. Just because it was desperate doesn't mean it wasn't sincere. I didn't realize that you weren't as cognizant when you accepted.

Martin, snorting: Yeah, didn't really need to be cognizant to say yes. I've wanted to marry you since the train ride to Scotland.

Jon: Wait, really? Martin, we hadn't even been on a date.

Martin: And yet we were on the lamb together, which I honestly think is more romantic than sitting in some restaurant somewhere trying to get through icebreakers. Also, back up, from your perspective we've been engaged since 2019? What did you think we were doing in the interim?

Jon: Uhh..

Martin: Yes?

Jon: There are people that have long engagement periods, and it's not exactly like we were in any sort of position to get married for awhile. Especially not that first year.

Martin: Okay? And?

Jon: And..I sort of thought you had changed your mind. For awhile. Was rather surprised that you kept living with me, considering that, on the worst nights, I was convinced you were going to storm off and leave me forever any minute now. Hence why your proposal was rather relieving.

Martin: Oh, Jon, love. That is so very ridiculous, and so very you, and so very close to many of my own fears and doubts. Do you have any idea how terrified I was to float the idea of marriage to you? Half the time I was convinced I was just meant to keep you company until you found someone better. And, Christ, we'd, from your perspective, been engaged the whole damn time. Fuck.

[Jon, after a beat, starts laughing. It has a slightly hysterical edge to it. Martin joins in. It takes a minute for the laughter to subside enough for them to speak again.]

Jon: I'm rapidly realizing that our entire romantic relationship would've been, if not more successful, a hell of a lot faster if we weren't both complete fools.

Martin: You're realizing that now? I think I've known that since the CV incident. I've definitely known it since the Lonely.

Jon, with a slightly tired chuckle:Yes, yes, something probably should've tipped me off earlier. Shockingly, observation of our own personal romantic trends is not always a strong suit of mine.

Jon: Anyway, please tell me you have another small wonder, this has gotten wildly of track.

Martin: Since we're talking about marriage anyway, I think my next small wonder is having a shared reference in your wedding vows. Our friends had "I have been, and always shall be, your friend" in theirs, and I made Jon cry with a slightly altered Lord of the Rings quote in ours.

Jon: First off, we were both openly weeping long before that point, secondly, I defy anybody to have been through half of what we have and then have the love of their life look them in the eyes and tell them "Leave you? I never intend to. I am going with you, if you climb to the moon" without at least tearing up.

Martin: There wasn't a dry eye in the audience, either. Granted, the audience was only 20 people, but that was also literally the only time I've seen Eloise show a strong emotion, so I'm pretty smug about it.

Martin, soft: I still feel exactly the same, you know. If you're climbing to the moon, I'll make sure the rope is strong enough for two.

Jon, soft: I know, love.

Jon: Though, to be fair, the moon is also significantly more pleasant than many places we've been.

Martin: God, I hate how much that's true. Look at this barren, oxygenless rock, at least it's not actively trying to kill us. Practically a honeymoon location.

[Martin sighs]

Martin: I am so tired. Let's do the user submissions then take a very long nap.

Jon: Please.

Martin: So, first submission is from Josie; They find it wonderful getting cards from their friends. They say they're lucky to have so much love in their life and have friends that care enough to send them things. That is wonderful Josie! We have a drawer in our house dedicated to every loving card we've ever received since the move, and they're always such a nice reminder of the people in our lives.

Jon: We should really organize that drawer, but, yes, agree with the sentiment. Even the cards from people that are no longer in our lives are lovely, I think. Those connections are very much meaningful for both of us, whether they're active or not.

Martin: That's very true.  Next submission is from Lys, who submits the sound of leaves crunching under your feet in the fall. Ah, that's a classic.

Jon: I just felt myself relax imagining it. I wish it was autumn.

Martin: Don't we all? Alright, for the last submissions, I'm grouping them together as they follow a similar theme. Jadwiga submits the feeling of waking up well into the morning with the sun shining through the window and your cat laying next to you, and Oran submits when a dog falls asleep with its head in your lap.

Jon: I can heartily recommend at least one of those, considering that's how we try to wake up most mornings. The Duchess is a dutiful darling girl who spends every night with us, and she's usually still there when us humans rise.

Martin: I bet you'll agree with the other when I finally convince you to get me a dog for my birthday.

Jon: It hasn't happened yet, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

Martin: But you don't even dislike dogs! You're just as happy to pet them when they pass by as I am.

Jon: Being fine with an animal isn't the same thing as wanting to adopt one for yourself! We don't even know if The Duchess would put up with a dog.

Martin: I bet she would. I bet we could get a big senior dog who's the calmest animal you've ever met with those soft eyes and a little grey on the muzzle and she would cuddle up in an instant. And we did say we should visit a shelter or three this weekend..

Jon: I think you're rather callously taking advantage of my exhausted state, but I suppose we can look. 

Martin: Hell fuckin yeah. So, I think that'll close out the episode, and as we always say at the end, uh, go take a nap and get a dog. Not necessarily in that order.

[crystalelemental]

Sync Grid Analysis - Glacia, Norman, Tate, Lucy, Raihan

Five new grid expansions!  Three commons, one five star, and one PokeFair hell expansion that demands 5/5, thanks guys.

Let's start with my excitement: Glacia.  She actually got an expansion!  With Focus Ground, TM: Durable, Healthy Buffer 5, and Synchro Healing 1.   This...is not helping.  In fact I'm not convinced you tried at all.   Realistically, you give up stuff for this, and that stuff is Team Toughen Up, or your Hostile Environments. Given that Healthy Buffer only works at full HP, and no amount of defense buffs will allow one use of Gradual Healing to bring you up to full, Glacia should probably drop Toughen Up for Ice Beam Hostile Environment, and aim to land 30% freeze chances in Gauntlet for fun and profit.  Also, fun fact: Healthy Buffer is what Lysandre has.  You know, the shitty rendition that doesn't help against sync nukes?  That one.  That's what they gave this suffering support in 2022, over three years into the game.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Norman! He got Standfast 3 and 5.  So immediate garbage.  Hostile Environment 2 is the only worthwhile thing on this entire grid.  Static Shock 5 is his only sync multiplier.  They Valerie'd him.  Seriously, I could do the calculations, but this effectively means 65% damage reduction.  Considering his HP is around 700, you’d need around 1100 in recoil damage, or about 4400 damage in one Double Edge, to kill him instantly with this.  There’s a reason everyone starts at Standfast 9 now.  It’s so you don’t just drop.  A 5 and a 3 don’t come anywhere near a basic 9.  Instead, he’s a glorified paralysis bot with a weak multiplier for his sync that can never be super effective.  They massacred this man.

Tate! All he needed was Haymaker!  And they went with Cakewalk!  Immediately bad!  He gets Cakewalk and Interference Sync 5 for good mutlipliers, but then can't reach Aggravation, which wasn't doing a ton but hey, flinch bot.  Nothing is great about this, but at least he’s Psychic type?

Lucy!  Actually, not bad.  Hostile Environment Poison Fang is what I wish BP Janine had, so this is solid. Stoic and Acumen are solid for Stall, with Wrap accuracy buffs and the potential for Pokey Trap 2.  On the flip side, two 50% sync multipliers she get up herself with guaranteed Toxic.  Lucy's...legitimately not bad at all.

Raihan's expansion requires 5/5 to fully unlock, which is just a delight.  I hate this.  Anyway, 4/5 gets Weathered Warrior 3 and Trip Twice 9.  30% multiplier for sandstorm which is great, and Trip Twice lowering speed of a foe by 2.  With Rock Slide, this makes Raihan one of the premiere speed debuffers in the game. Which is kinda like being king of shit mountain, but at least the rest of it's good. Cakewalk at 5/5 at least makes sense but is notably scummy, while Sand Sync lets him set his own sand after first sync, which is, again, really scummy.  They were not lying about these nodes being set up as the best a unit can offer. They're not strictly necessary, I've seen Raihan do fine in other contexts, but these are notably powerful upgrades.  I am scared for the future.  What astonishes me, and not in a good way, is cost.  Usually, expansion nodes are much cheaper, maybe half the cost.  Raihan's are listed as full cost.  You basically remove his old grid for the new nodes.  It's literally an entirely different build.  I had to go back and check this on Wally, but yeah, it's true of him too. Which means...these nodes are outright bad.  3/5 kits tend to be pretty well optimized in most cases, and the entire benefit of a grid expansion was reduced cost for units who desperately needed some extra oomph due to older structures.  But this? This is giving up 40 energy for these four new nodes. That's an entirely different playstyle!  You'd be going 5/5 for maybe one or two in most scenarios!  I...don't like it.  This has some seriously negative implications. Cynthia may have won out after all.