#might draw her at some point and flesh her out a bit more

[strawberrisoulmate]

employee id —> on the ship

name: hannah age: 27 occupation: tulpar ship's steward

picrew

sooooo what if i made a mouthwashing s/i…

[whereispearlescentmoon]

A ficlet based on the idea that the snails just hang around after the end of the session and also reflect their respective players true feelings. (yes I saw the one someone made earlier about Pearl’s snail with Gem but I had this written already and I’m not gonna not post it just because someone else posted the idea first.)

Pearl was, frankly, sick and tired of the snails. She kept checking the seams of their new base to ensure that nothing can get in. Her fingernails had bits of debris caught underneath them from each time she ran them over the corners, over the grout holding the cobblestone walls together, over everything. Grian said the snails won’t want to kill them anymore, but Pearl wasn’t taking any chances. Cleo and Scott seemed content to have theirs hanging around, and even Impulse wasn’t as wary, but while she thought they were cute at first, it’s a little less cute when they’ve killed you twice.

“Aw look at it! It loves Scott!” Cleo cooed happily. Pearl was actually trying very hard NOT to look at Cleo’s especially. Like Cleo, it was stitched together of green undead flesh. But unlike Cleo, Pearl had no affection for it and thus her disgust overpowered anything else. When she did take a glance at her teammates, Scott was happily patting ZombieSnail’s shell as it snuggled into him. Snailjor was similarly content to curl up against Cleo, who was petting it almost like a cat.

Impulse was reacting a bit more normally in Pearl’s opinion. ISnail was following him around as he changed into a more comfortable set of clothes to sleep in (cargo shorts are very practical, but not very soft), occasionally nudging at Impulse’s ankle. It made Pearl ache to be back on Hermitcraft, with Olive getting in her way as she tidied up. They had to stay the normal length of the session though, even if they had cut the killing short. It would be a few more days before anyone could go anywhere.

Then there was Pearl’s own snail. It was, frankly, nowhere to be seen. It seemed to want as little to do with her as she did with it. Oh well. Another soul bound (that is what Grian had called them, right? It seemed like he was making things up to torment Pearl specifically at this point) rejecting her. Whatever.

Maybe she had spoken too soon, she thought, as a light rustling came from outside the walls. It was followed by the sound of those stupid propellers the things had been using to fly around all session.

“I’m not in the mood, dude,” Pearl called out, as she, like Impulse, searched their chests for the sleep shorts she had brought. As her back was turned, she could hear the snail still approaching, and sighed as its cold and slimy body nudged against her leg. “Seriously, can you just-“

Her words caught in her throat as she looked down at the snail. Instead of the brown shell, navy blue jacket, and oddly long hair that she had been running from all session, there was a light orange shell and little set of overalls. Gem’s then. Pearl crouched beside it, eying it suspiciously. She still really didn’t get why Gem was so angry at her, but it couldn’t be a good sign that her murder snail was here.

“What’s up little Gem?” Pearl asked, putting her hand out. The snail, predictably, bit her, drawing blood with its oddly sharp teeth. Pearl drew back with a yelp, curling the hand into her jacket. “Dang it! Jeez Louise Gem, if you wanted to kill me outside of session time, wait till we’re back home at least,”

And home had been odd, frankly. It seemed like Gem might have been avoiding her on Hermitcraft. The Life Series wasn’t normally like that. It got kind of fuzzy when you weren’t in the server proper. Only a couple of weeks after Pearl had slaughtered them both in Double Life, she had been planning with Impulse and laughing with Cleo. She had done some clean up for Scar the same week she had put up a wall between her and the Clockers. Hell, even right after Secret Life her and Gem had hung out like nothing was the matter, chatting about the series casually. Something about being back here had dug up feelings Gem had clearly chosen not to address with her, and could Pearl really be blamed for that? No, she decided, and she wouldn’t take Gem’s snail letting out those feelings like this either.

“Whoa, what happened?” Scott had come rushing over at Pearl’s yelp. She sighed, gesturing with her now bleeding finger. Scott hissed through his teeth, “Woof, that’s nasty. What did you do to tick off Gem’s snail?”

Pearl growled, frustrating welling up. “The same thing I’ve done to Gem! Nothing! It came up to me to bite me! I literally didn’t do anything!”

Scott put his hands up, looking for all the world like he didn’t believe her.

“Alright, alright, let me look at that finger then, don’t want it to get infected. You’ve already lost more lives than you can afford.” His tone was joking, but Pearl couldn’t help but be a little hurt. She wasn’t trying to lose lives! Really! She didn’t want to win, but she didn’t want to go out first. It was just hard with the wild cards to find her normal footing.

Usually in these games her biggest strength was the ability to hide and outlast her opponents, but the twists had made that impossible. She was a good fighter, could hold her own when inevitably there was only a handful of people left and she had to fight, but she usually avoided getting involved until then. Now, she might be dead before those final bloodbath days, when the whole server was red and all was going to hell, even happened.

While Scott took the time to properly clean out the cut, the snail nudged at Pearl’s ankle again. She shook it off with a frustrated huff.

“See what I mean? It’s trying to come up to me! What am I supposed to do about that?” Scott finished wrapping her finger and looked down at the snail, which seemed frankly uninterested in him, beady green eyes fixated on Pearl alone.

“Maybe it’s like an abused cat,” he proposed, “It wants to show you affection but when you do it back, it starts hissing and biting. You’ve just got to let it come to you and pretend you don’t even notice it,”

“Or, we could leave it outside the base and hope it goes back to Gem?” She suggested, hopefully. Scott gave her an exasperated look.

“Didn’t it fly over the wall to get her in the first place?” Pearl pouted and huffed, crossing her arms.

She titled her head to get a good look at the snail. Her right eye had gone red tinted and it made it harder to see out of, forcing her to crane her neck at odd angles to see with the left. The Gem snail had come crawling back and was circling the log Pearl had sat down on. Every subsequent circle, it got closer and closer, until it was brushing Pearl’s leg. Finally, as Pearl sat still so as to not provoke another attack, it settled on the log beside her, leaning its weight against her thigh. Pearl ignored it pointedly, holding back a shudder at the weird feeling of its slug-like body.

It wasn’t until the next morning that the Gem snail finally left. Pearl had barely been able to sleep, halfway between comforted and afraid of the thing snoozing beside her. She didn’t want to provoke it. She hadn’t wanted to provoke Gem. Maybe she was doing all of this wrong. Or maybe Gem was. Either way, she just wanted to go home and have things be normal again.

Somewhere, in the forest, Pearlescentsnail found a tree and climbed up it to sleep. She looked around, making sure there was no one else there, sank into her shell, and stayed there until the session ended. She went out alone.

[lu-is-not-ok]

o mighty hong lu master, the autism i have of him bowing down to you in your honor, i must ask a question relating to his family...

so when dante is overheating in the yield flesh intervallo and they start saying things about the ego and such, hong lu says "they're starting to sound like my grandfather!"

see i dont think hong lu's the type to compare anybody rambling to unrelated rambling so i was wondering if like. there could be any potential meaning in What his grandpa was saying relating to ego or other more crazy stuff!!

since the jia family has had super huge connections ive had maybe the idea of like. i dunno they had some insider knowledge in the past and they sent hong lu out specifically to find out more about what the more unnatural parts of the city entail since limbus as a company is secretive about that stuff. so they want to understand it proper... but that does feel a Bit out there. what do you think :3c

There is some interesting things in this ask that I wanna discuss. However, you might find some of my answers... a little bit disappointing in places. I'm gonna try to take these things point by point.

Canto 7 spoilers onward.

Hong Lu's Grandfather

There are exactly two mentions of Hong Lu's Grandfather in the game as of now iirc. The scene you mention, where Hong Lu compares Dante's ramblings to his grandfather, and another mention in the Observation Logs for Pink Shoes, where Hong Lu brings up the fact that his Grandfather would scold him and pester him into keeping a diary, something he claims he used to hate but is now not so averse to.

The most interesting thing about Hong Lu's Grandfather is that there is no living grandfather figure in Dream of The Red Chamber. Baoyu is only ever mentioned to have a grandmother. This already puts some intrigue on him, as he's a complete wildcard adaptation-wise. There is no real way for us to predict what his deal is based on DOTRC.

That means that the fact that Hong Lu compares Dante's ramblings about ego and sin to how his Grandfather talks is something to note for sure. However... well, I'll get to it.

The Knowledge the Jia Family has

Canto 7 came with some major reveals about the Jia Family due to Xichun's presence and her interactions with Hong Lu. More specifically, we know roughly what kind of esoteric knowlege the Jia Family possesses, and what they're looking for.

Xichun, and by extension the rest of the Family, are aware of the existence of the Rivers - one of which being the River of Oblivion that was introduced in Canto 7, as well as, very likely, the very same River that Lobcorp would draw from using Cogito. So yes, it's not unlikely for the Jia Family to have some awareness of the more supernatural side that the human subconscious possesses. Hell, Xichun herself outright states she, in some way, can sense Bari's past presence, who need I remind you is also the Bookhunter from one of the bad endings in Library of Ruina.

However, that's not all! Xichun also reveals what exactly the Family is looking for, and what they sent out the current candidates for becoming the next Family Head for - a River that can grant immortality. Specifically, "the immortality of the mind", which Hong Lu himself describes as "to be free from aging and death".

So, hey, case closed right? We know exactly why Hong Lu was sent out now, don't we?

Well... it's not that simple. Because, unfortunately, there's some things I want to correct you on before I conclude this.

Hong Lu's Comparisons

Here's the thing with Hong Lu. Unlike what you say, he is absolutely the type to compare different unrelated things with each other. In fact, one of his major MOs during conversations is using tangentially related anecdotes to steer conversations - see how he brought up his sibling cheating at a game in response to Heathcliff doing a jab at rich people in Canto 2, or how on the empty party ship in Canto 5 he goes off on a tangent about a spooky story that's barely related to the situation at hand.

Deflection and distraction is something Hong Lu does a lot, especially right after he says things that are concerning or otherwise don't get a positive reaction out of others. His comparisons of things going on to his home is one of those kinds of deflections/distractions. In fact, I'd say it's a lot more common for him to compare things that aren't That related rather than compare things that are Actually related.

So while I do think it is something to note that Hong Lu compares Dante's ramblings to those of his Grandfather, I really don't think the connection here is nearly as strong as you posit.

Yes, we know the Jias have knowledge that most common folk in the City don't have access to, among which is the knowledge of the Rivers. It's also very likely that this is the kind of thing Hong Lu's Grandfather could go on tangents on, especially with how many of the Rivers we currently know of having effects that affect specifically the mind.

That being said, since this is Hong Lu we're talking about, I doubt the connection is as direct as his Grandfather literally rambling about the exact same topic. Again, we're talking about the guy who, upon hearing the mention of shareholders, shares an anecdote about a sibling trying to get a specific color of passport as justification for asking about whether Vergilius specifically knows the shareholder of H Corp. The connections he makes aren't usually all that strong, and that's kind of the point.

Which is where I have to talk about the elephant in the room.

Hong Lu almost definitely lied about why he left the Jia Household

See, in TKT Hong Lu shares that he was sent out by his elders to "see and experience as much of the world as possible before he returns", but... isn't it kind of strange?

That doesn't match what Xichun said about what the Family Head Candiates were sent out into the worl for. They're meant to be looking for immortality specifically, not fucking around and learning as much as they can.

And, in fact, this isn't the only thing Xichun says that clashes with Hong Lu's version of events. In fact, I'd argue it outright proves that he lied about it - she shares that the Jias are actively looking for him. If Hong Lu was really sent out to gather as many experiences and knowledge as possible, why would they want to cut that short by finding him and bringing him back by force?

That's not all in fact. This exact same story is what Hong Lu tells in his Wing IDs, the ones where it's confirmed he directly got the positions because of nepotism. But, again, that's strange. If he's meant to be experiencing the world and learning new things, why would the Jias put him in jobs that require he stays in a single specific place most of the time? K Corp Hong Lu's Uptie story outright draws attention to this, pointing out how odd it is for someone whose job involves being put in stasis in some vat for extended periods of time until they need to do some killing to have been given that job to "experience more of the world".

So, if Hong Lu is lying about why he left his home... what actually happened? Do we have any hints?

Turns out... yes. A very, very major hint in fact. Because you see, this is the Corrosion line Hong Lu says in his newly released Lasso E.G.O.

This is the only time anything Rose Hunter related calls the subject avoiding their fate a fugitive and makes a direct reference to running away. I don't think it's a coincidence.

Because if this line is a direct reference to Hong Lu, to him literally running away from his fate and escaping the Jia household, it would certainly explain some things.

Why would the Jias be out actively looking for him? Because he's not actually supposed to be out like this.

Why would his Wing Identities be put in environments where Hong Lu is primarily confined to specific locations? Because the Jias don't want him out of their sight.

Why would his claim that he's looking forward to going back home be so contradictory to how he acts and tries to prolong his time outside of the household? Because he's lying, either to himself or others, and doesn't actually want to go back.

Hell, it would even provide some context to certain other oddities about him.

Why would he know not just how effective a rich household's security system is at killing people, but also how to safely get past it (based on what he says about Wuthering Heights in Canto 6)? Because he might have had to do so himself to escape.

Why would his ID picture, likely taken right after he was found by Limbus Company, have him in a very plain tracksuit, completely unlike the traditional and fancy clothing the rest of his Family is seen wearing? Because dressing plainly would help him blend in once he got out of there.

So, yes, the Jia Family is sending out its young members to search for something supernatural within the City. However, I believe Hong Lu is an exception and wasn't supposed to be out at all.

[snezus-christ-risen]

Insult to Injury

Agatha/Rio - 4.1k words - Illness (Agatha)

Debuting what I hope is the first of many AAA fanfics. I had so much fun writing these two and I’ll probably do a second part to this story. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I’ve enjoyed reading all of the fantastic work ya’ll have been putting out! It’s a little messy and there are some NSFW elements. Minors DNI.

~~~

There was something off about the air on that otherwise fresh spring day. It was driving Rio to madness, not knowing what it was or why it was affecting her so strongly. All she knew was that some primal heat drove her forward through the woods, the smell growing stronger with every step she took towards the cottage that stood just beyond the edge of the forest. After spending days apart from her lover, excitement fluttered in her chest at the thought of what state she might find her in upon their reunion. Nevertheless, Rio chose to remain on the scenic route, choosing anticipation over the instant gratification that came with ripping open the fabric of reality and using it as a shortcut.

After a few more steps the scent of sickness snapped into focus, honeyed and intoxicating like an aged brandy. Absent was the heady tang of bloodshed (boo) or the cloying rot of old age; it was something altogether unique and pleasant, drawing her towards the dwelling the same way instinct compelled a bee to the flower fields. Rio took a moment, upon reaching the front door, to shake her body like a dog, hoping to dispel some of the giddiness that had built up during her walk.

Take it easy, she told herself. She will be delicate.

Occasionally Rio needed to remind herself that even at her healthiest, and regardless of her powers, Agatha was still flesh and bone. Just thinking about the delicate nature of her mortal lover was getting her all worked up again, which was the opposite of what she was trying to accomplish. Taking a deep breath, Rio let it out slowly and knocked on the door. She surmised, from the lack of response, that the occupant within was unconscious. Certainly not dead; she would have known if that were the case. Directing a breeze to push the door open, she stepped inside.

There was a bit of a chill in the air, and Rio soon saw why; one of the windows was half-opened, its tattered curtains rippling in the breeze. Though it was technically spring, they had just had a snowfall last week, and the day outside was brisk. Buzzing with anticipation (and a little annoyance at the window situation), Rio crept across the threshold with the quiet energy of an owl readying its talons for a mouse.

She could see a figure sprawled across the bed. Rio closed the space between the doorway and the bedside in just a few strides, eager to investigate the scene. Agatha lay there in a tangle of damp sheets and disheveled hair, breathing noisily through parted lips. Her nose was tinged red and glistening around the nostrils, the skin chapped from rough and repetitive contact. Her skin, flushed pink with fever, peeked through the bindings of her bedding, inviting Rio to touch. But she wouldn’t… not yet…

Grinning devilishly, Rio produced a bushel of baby’s breath in her upturned palm. Her smile faded when she remembered that Agatha was allergic; she didn’t want to kill the woman, at least not before she could have some fun with her. She waved the little white flowers out through the open window before conjuring up an unassuming yarrow. Giving her newest creation an once-over, she identified the perfect leaf… there… and plucked it. It looked tickly enough to get the job done without triggering an allergic reaction. Agatha would already be miserable about taking ill, without the added burden of having to contend with her allergies. Rio didn’t see the point of adding insult to injury.

Twirling the leaf between her thumb and forefinger, she tested it along a naked stretch of thigh. Her leg hairs rose in response to the stimulation, a reminder that, as much as Rio craved her death, there was so much she enjoyed about the complex simplicity of her living flesh - its heat, its softness, the way it reacted when she touched it like this. She continued dragging the leaf along Agatha’s leg, scaling over a twisted hump of blanket before sliding down the exposed curve of her hip. After working her way up inch by inch, over sections of bedsheets and skin, Rio finally settled the frond against Agatha’s throat like a knife.

It was here that she finally stirred, her hand moving just enough to call Rio’s attention to the lace handkerchief she was clutching like a security blanket. Her eyes lit up at this delightful observation as she lifted the leaf from her skin, holding completely still until Agatha settled again with a sigh. Then Rio sat down on the edge of the bed, moving slowly to avoid disturbing her. Disturbing her was still on the agenda, of course, but for that she had something more fun in mind. Leaning in with the concentration of an artist putting the finishing touches on her work, Rio swept the tip of the leaf up the length of Agatha’s nose and back down again. As soon as she got to the reddened rims of her nostrils they twitched, the feather-light touch tickling just enough to make Agatha scrunch her nose. She made a weak attempt to swat away the source of her irritation, brow furrowing as she turned her face into her pillow.

Rio was considering her next course of action when Agatha lifted her head slightly, eyes still closed, lips parted and quivering, and eyebrows raised expectantly. Mesmerized, she watched as Agatha panted softly before plunging her face back into the pillow. The bed rocked gently as she muffled two sneezes - “ih’TSHh!-h’TSHhh’uh” - followed by a long, congested moan.

It was Rio’s laughter, more than the sneezing, that boosted Agatha past the threshold of semi-consciousness. She was still working on opening her eyes all the way, but had the wherewithal to bring her handkerchief up to cover her nose when she turned to look up at Rio. The latter flashed her a cunning grin as she actively fought against the urge to straddle her.

“Bless you,” she purred, tapping her forehead with the tip of the leaf. “What do you have brewing in here?”

She would have stroked it down the length of her nose again if Agatha didn’t grab it immediately, her reflexes surprisingly sharp for someone still waking up in a fever haze. They both held onto it for a moment before Rio released it, hands and eyebrows raised in mock surrender. Agatha immediately tossed it aside, but it didn’t go far, landing on the edge of the bed next to Rio, who brushed it onto the floor. After a brief and unsuccessful struggle to sit up, Agatha settled for propping herself against her pillows, where she proceeded to stare at Rio in a state of mild delirium.

“I think I have a fever,” she said, unexpectedly forthcoming.

Rio opened her mouth in a silent gasp, feigning surprise. Leaning forward, she cupped one hand against Agatha’s cheek, using the other to gently pry her hand away from her nose. With the handkerchief out of the way, she could inspect it to her satisfaction. How much abuse had it taken before she arrived? It seemed to be running relentlessly, the skin around her nostrils painfully raw from all the wiping. Agatha was always so rough with her nose, like she was punishing it for daring to act according to its nature. More than happy to provide the tender loving care it was missing, Rio gave it a kiss before using the pad of her thumb to gently swipe the mess from her upper lip. Agatha shivered as she squinted up at her in silent indignation, too lethargic to object to her fussing.

“My love,” Rio cooed, unable to mask her delight. “You’ve caught a chill.”

“Don’t sound so excited,” Agatha deadpanned, wincing as her voice grated against her throat.

“I can’t help it,” she said, smirking when Agatha jerked to the side to cough before burying her nose in her handkerchief. “Just look at you, you’re pathetic. It’s beautiful.”

Agatha stopped blowing her nose to glare at her. She started to say something but quickly changed course, the catch in her breath and her crumpling expression announcing a more pressing need. It was terrible timing, having just been called pathetic; her ego didn’t want her to back down without a fight, but Agatha knew she didn’t stand a chance against this tickle. Waving her handkerchief like a flag of surrender, she brought it back to her face just in time to smother an itchy-sounding “hiih‘ISHHhyoo!”

Rio watched hungrily as her chest rose and fell, attending to every little snag and pitch change in her breath. Agatha had the tendency to sneeze in pairs, but sometimes the second one needed a little more time to come to fruition, which drove both of them crazy in different ways. When she finally managed to draw a solid breath she held it, nostrils flickering expectantly, before releasing it in an aggravated huff. Rio hummed with sympathy, knowing how much she hated losing a sneeze once it got started. Agatha finished blowing her nose, the crackling rush of loosened congestion quickly giving way to airy, unproductive blows. When she tried to breathe through her nose again, Rio could hear the air squeaking as it struggled through inflamed passageways. Rising from the bed, she padded over to the kitchen, stopping to make a show of closing the open window along the way.

“Where are you going?” came Agatha’s voice, meek and plaintive, from behind her.

“Not far,” she said, infuriatingly vague.

Agatha sank back against her pillows, too tired to pry any further, and watched with drowsy indifference as Rio staged a hostile takeover of her kitchen. Filling the kettle with water, Rio placed it on the trivet before surveying the items on the shelves. She trailed her nails along a row of jars as she contemplated her selection, and every now and then she would make a comment and laugh to herself. When she found what she needed she sat down at the table to prepare her ingredients. Periodically she found her gaze wandering over to check on Agatha, who was drifting in and out of sleep.

As soon as the kettle began whistling Rio removed it from the stove, pouring the water over the satchel of fresh herbs and letting it steep. Agatha was snoring steadily now, which helped Rio to feel a little less guilty about waking her up earlier. She got so distracted watching her that she almost forgot about the concoction cooling on the counter. Rio knew it would be bitter, so she added a generous amount of honey to help with the taste. She took a sip before recoiling with a full-bodied shudder; it was definitely sweet enough, but it was also a whole bunch of other things that Agatha was going to hate.

Rio was finishing up in the kitchen when Agatha woke up again, looking confused as she wiped her mouth, then her nose with the back of her hand. She had managed to glean enough energy from her short nap to sit upright, but that was as far as her body would allow her to go. Her sinuses adjusted quickly to the change in altitude, congestion softening and shifting and - “h’heh!” - tickling. Grabbing a clean handkerchief from the nightstand, Agatha tried to nip it in the bud with a series of forceful blows. While it left her feeling woozy, it also managed to scratch at the deep, quivering itch in the center of her face, reducing it to a mild annoyance. Just in time for her other mild annoyance to return.

“What do you have there?” she asked as Rio strolled over, sucking honey off her fingers one by one.

“Poison.” She gave her most menacing grin, short of showing her true face. “To put you out of your misery.”

She handed the cup to Agatha with a wink, her smile softening as she rejoined her on the bed. Agatha stared into the murky amber contents of her cup before glancing back up at Rio, expression unsure. Snorting out a laugh, Rio gave her a nod of encouragement.

“Drink,” she insisted. “It shouldn’t kill you, but it might help you feel better. I make no guarantees either way.”

Agatha hesitated before bringing the cup to her lips, testing the temperature of the liquid. Finding it suitable, she took a sip, closing her eyes tightly and screwing up her face as she swallowed. Not only was her throat raw, but the drink had a pungent, peppery aftertaste that made her sinuses prickle. Shaking her head, she tried to return the cup, but Rio resisted, folding her arms and leaving Agatha with no choice but to hold it.

“I know, it’s awful,” Rio sympathized, misreading the situation. “But I think it might help with the-”

“Would you just t-take it, please…”

As soon as Agatha spoke, Rio realized her mistake. Her voice only ever sounded that breathy and desperate for two reasons, and Rio was almost certain she could rule out one of them. Moving quickly, she took the cup from Agatha, who managed a wobbly look of gratitude before steepling her hands over her nose. Her shoulders scrunched up with the first palm-drenching release and Rio shivered, finding herself, as she often did, envious of her lover’s hands.

“hih’tCHSHh!-u… h’hiih!” The tickle teased her for a bit, making her breath flutter indecisively, before culminating in a spraying conclusion. “hihh’YSHHhhieu!”

With how messy those sneezes had been, Agatha was in no hurry to lower her hands. She kept them locked in place, attempting to rein in the persistent flow of congestion with slow, careful sniffles as she cast about for a handkerchief. Spotting the lacy white square crumbled up between the bedsheets, she reached for it, keeping one hand cupped protectively over her nose. Rio beat her to it, seizing the handkerchief with a victorious cackle.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, dangling it in front of Agatha, just out of reach. “Bit of a mess on your hands?”

Rio knew she was poking the bruises of an already wounded ego, but it didn’t stop her from looking aggrieved when Agatha leaned forward to yank the handkerchief from her hand. Clutching at her nose through the fabric, Agatha pressed her other hand against her lover’s inner thigh. Rio gasped at the unexpected pressure, then froze as she dragged it down her leg, wiping off the fluids that coated her hand.

“Consolation prize,” Agatha said, giving Rio a knowing look. “I don’t want you feeling left out.”

Then she started blowing her nose, loudly, using so much force that she had to secure the handkerchief in place with both hands. It was a classic Agatha move, an obnoxious attempt to secure the last word, but for once, Rio was speechless. Not only was she flustered, but there were so many distractions vying for her attention, scents and sounds and sensations swirling around her like leaves in an autumn breeze. Agatha was right - she was jealous, longing to switch places with the cloth that covered her mouth and nose. Rio closed her eyes, held her breath, and stroked her own leg, probing at the slightly damp spots in the fabric as she tried (and failed) to ground herself.

When she opened her eyes again, it was because Agatha sniffled and it sounded so close. There she was, taking her cup back from Rio with the dexterity of a natural thief, her careful efforts to avoid detection thwarted by her own reflexes. When she caught Rio watching her she smiled coyly, lifting the cup in a mock toast instead of pitching its contents to the floor as she had originally planned. Then she placed it amongst the clutter on the bedside table, where it would most likely sit, forgotten, for a while.

Before Rio could voice her disapproval Agatha was intercepting her lips, slamming against her body like a wall of pure heat. She needed a moment to process this pleasant surprise, but once she found her bearings Rio kissed back, threading her fingers through dark tresses and using them to tug Agatha closer. Hands that had known nothing but restraint since she first arrived were free to wander the fevered landscape of her body. It was a bit distracting how much skinnier Agatha felt since the last time they touched like this. How long had she been unwell for? Had she been eating enough — or at all? Questions she wished she had asked when she first arrived kept popping into her head, making it difficult to focus on the task at hand.

Whatever surge of energy compelled Agatha into her arms seemed to dissolve as quickly as it came. Unfortunately, being sick didn’t make her any less stubborn. She refused to listen to what her body was trying to tell her, choosing instead to push through the discomfort. Even with the blankets and their combined body heat Agatha couldn’t stop shivering, and she kept whirling away to cough, catch her breath, or swipe impatiently at her nose. Rio always welcomed her lips back with enthusiasm, but she was starting to question her ability to handle what this was building towards. Things between them had the tendency to burn out of control pretty quickly, and even if they were capable of practicing restraint, neither of them wanted to. As much as she wanted to keep going, Rio decided it was time to call a moratorium on their activities after the next interruption.

It happened sooner than she hoped, but not as soon as she expected. Agatha gradually disengaged from the kiss, turning away not with a flourish like all the other times but with slow, hazy uncertainty. One of her hands migrated up Rio’s body, reemerging from her clothing to hover near her nose. Rio removed her other hand from the side of her face and held it as if it were a small, injured animal, rubbing her thumb against her palm as she watched and waited. The handkerchiefs were lost to the bed sheets again, but Rio couldn’t tear her focus away long enough to look for one, and Agatha didn’t even bother trying. She was starting to resent her growing reliance on them, and while her hand was hardly a suitable alternative, she was a few degrees Fahrenheit past the point of caring.

The first sneeze tore out of her - “ET’SHhhiew!” - with unexpected force, carrying with it the weight of her building frustration. It left her hand soaked and her head reeling, and in pursuit of something solid to hold onto she reached instinctively for Rio. Agatha turned into her shoulder with a jagged inhale, releasing a shamelessly desperate “ihy’EESHhew!” that sent shivers through her body.

“Salud,” Rio said, somehow sounding both impressed and apologetic as Agatha slumped back against the headboard in a daze. She didn’t get sick in the same way mortals did, so while she found the process captivating (and arousing), it was hard not to experience something akin to survivor’s guilt in situations like this. “You know, sweetheart, we don’t have to keep going.”

Agatha didn’t respond, nor did she tend to her nose right away, choosing instead to let it trickle down to her lips while she waited for the dizziness to pass. Finally managing to make herself useful, Rio fished a clean handkerchief out of the sea of miscellaneous items on the nightstand. She used it to pat gingerly at the mess on her upper lip, cleaning up what she could before Agatha took over control of the cloth. As always, her touch was a lot rougher, impatient even, and she gave her nose a hasty blow before tossing the handkerchief aside. Despite her obvious misery, or perhaps because of it, she was determined to pick up from where they left off. When she leaned back in for a kiss Rio stopped her, pressing her hand to her chest with a gentle look. Agatha sat back, looking confused and a little hurt; it was rare for Rio to rebuff her advances.

“What do you say we take a break and get you into some warm clothing, hm?” Rio suggested, softly stroking the hair that spilled over her shoulders. “Maybe have a bath, or something to eat?”

Though Agatha chose not to answer, the increasingly complex mosaic of emotions on her face said plenty. Rio realized, too late, that she failed to explain the reasoning for her rejection. She didn’t want Agatha getting the wrong idea and thinking she was disgusted by her symptoms. It wasn’t that Rio kept her interests a secret; even if she hadn’t stated them explicitly and repeatedly, she would have thought the way she clung to Agatha during allergy season or whenever she got sick spoke volumes. While it wasn’t her intention, her dedication to transparency only seemed to make Agatha feel more self-conscious. She valued her power and control, so to willingly surrender both in order to make a mess of herself in front of her girlfriend was something she was still getting used to. Hoping to prove just how unbothered she was, Rio leaned in to give her a kiss, but it landed on her cheek as Agatha turned her head, redirecting a tearful glare meant for Rio towards the nightstand.

“Sweetheart,” Rio sighed. “Please don’t be like that. You know how much I want this - want you, but my love… you’re aren’t well. I don’t want to hurt you while you’re all–”

“Pathetic?” Agatha spat, still refusing to look at her.

“… sick,” she finished, frowning. “Agatha, you are burning up with fever, and I don’t think this isn’t helping.”

“Oh, please.” The other witch waved dismissively before folding her arms across her chest. “You know I run hot.”

“Not this hot,” Rio said, but Agatha was making it clear through her increasingly defensive body language that she was finished with this conversation. Rio sighed, anticipating more resistance as she returned to the topic of dinner. “Sick or not, you still need to eat. Do you have an appetite for anything besides me?”

She hoped the joke would lighten the tension, but if the hard set of her jaw was any indication, Agatha was not amused. An uncomfortable mixture of emotions was simmering just below the surface, but instead of taking time to process them she defaulted to anger, her comfort zone. She turned to glower at Rio, who could tell from the look in her eyes that she was about to say something hurtful.

“Did you come here to fuck me or take care of me?” she asked, her venomous tone undercut by the tremor in her voice. “Because you’re doing a terrible job of both.”

Rio felt her heart sink, but tried her best not to show it. Given how miserable Agatha was feeling, she was trying to be understanding, but her patience was starting to wane. Her gaze flickered over to the drink she had made, cold and abandoned on the nightstand, as she considered her next move. She could retaliate verbally, but she was afraid of what might come out of her mouth if she opened it. She could just fucking leave, if that was how the ungrateful witch felt - but she knew it wasn’t, not really. Besides, Rio didn’t want to leave. What she wanted was to stay and take care of her ill (and ill-tempered) girlfriend, but she decided that first she would go for a walk. Whatever was happening between them right now felt heavy and menacing and charged, like the air before a thunderstorm, and Rio feared what might happen if they stayed in the same space together for much longer.

It all dissipated in a dizzying rush the moment she stood up and started walking towards the door. She barely made it three steps before Agatha was scrambling to disentangle herself from her blankets.

“Wait!” she squeaked, stumbling out of bed to trail Rio in a misty-eyed panic. “I didn’t mean it, my love. Please, don’t go.”

It was the genuine desperation in her voice that made Rio turn around, just in time to catch Agatha as her legs gave out. Rio held her in a secure embrace, supporting her full weight until she stopped shaking. Then she half-carried her back to the bed, peppering Agatha with soft kisses and words of reassurance as she helped her lie back down. As soon as Rio crawled into bed beside her Agatha burrowed into her chest, her tears seeping through her clothing as they started flowing in earnest. Every now and then she would whimper something, but with her voice failing and her congestion worsening by the second, Rio could only guess at what she was saying and respond accordingly.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Rio said, holding Agatha close. “I’m not going anywhere.”

[lumilasi]

Ask the crew

So, since it's been a while I've done something like this, I decided why not! Would help me fleshing them out some more, AND kind of a fun way to see if my inbox works properly now? I had to turn it off a while back bc it seemed to just keep eating majority of asks I got. Since I haven't gotten much anything I'm still not sure if it works properly again or not?

Asks can be just about them, or relating to the MW crew, since I've been drawing them interacting with the Tulpar group. (my crew has their own story, but since I had ideas, I ended up drawing them interacting with the Tulpars lol)

You can learn more about them checking the #Stargazer crew tag I made for them, but in regards to the MW 'crossover' side of things, I can list coupla important notes here as well:

Cherry knows Anya from medical school, is the one primarily spending time with her

Tulpars do not know about Illya initially, and won't physically interact with him - however, they may see glimpses of his "ghost" occasionally, and overhear the group talk about him. (They might even see his body in cryo at some point)

Stefan had to kill Jimmy before the Tulpars were brought to their ship - there is an actual story reason for this that relates to Stargazer crew's own story, rather than me just not liking Jimmy & not wanting to draw him personally (which TBF is also true, but I wanted to give a proper reason for why he didn't make it, as they could've put him in their cell block)

Anya is initially scared of Stefan because she saw him kill Jimmy due to how things went down, but overtime concludes he's not a bad person and is quite caring in his own way (just reaaallllly tired most of the time)

Mara hangs out with Daisuke a lot, often they play videogames together, or Daisuke offers to help her with whatever work he can

Stefan CAN get a bit harsh and hostile towards Curly, but tends to try and keep it in check as he knows its not really helpful in any way.

Ava and Alix weren't present during the rescue, they get introduced to the four later.

Anya helps Cherry with her medic duties, since when they were rescued the SG-ship was somewhat damaged due to an "incident," and Stefan is still repairing some damage, causing Cherry to be bit more overloaded with work than normal.

[bidisaster-peanut-romano]

soo hi everyone!! i'm back on my bully essay/meta/something writing!! sort of. i did this.

anyways anyone who's been on this page for some time know how from time to time i have insistently mentioned the parallels between lola and peanut, right?

welp! that was a joke but the time has finally come!! a super-pretentious essay just for the fun of it!! (and also bc i haven't been writing actually argumentative texts in like months perhaps a year, so. yikes, i really need to practice again)

word count: 2.2k WOAH. IM SORRY

i, in my corner, with my monstrous needs. �� susan sontag, as consciousness is harnessed to flesh

take this quote both as a title and an anticipation of what is to come. the essay will be distributed analyzing first the dependence of each of them on johnny, to then draw comparisons. i'll make sure to steer as away from headcanons as possible, sticking closely to the source text. obviously, some things' interpretation might be ambiguous, but, you know. your usual occupation hazard.

also, a disclaimer before we start: while they are psychologically complex and there is always a mimetic intention in developing them, these are fictional characters, and, as such, their primary function is to be vessels for different themes, questions and so forth. therefore, i will prioritize meaning and themes over moral implications and similar elements.

i. peanut

for how much i can adore talking about him, the way peanut depends on johnny is very much on the nose; worn on his sleeve, even. in 11:11 minutes of voice lines, he mentions johnny 30 times.

many interpret this as the caricature of a boy crush, but i have reasons to believe it is much less cute than that.

the problem is that, really, more than trying to identify specific situations... peanut seems to rely on johnny for a significant part of what he does. when he does good at dodgeball:

Look at me, Johnny, look at me!

almost like a child calling for his parent's attention to be praised. he calls johnny's name when he's going through hardships, when he's scared or when he's sad.

more than someone he just loves, johnny is a point of reference. whenever there's something going on, whenever he does or has to do something, his first thought goes to johnny; vice versa, what johnny asks of him is his priority.

I gotta tell Johnny! No time. I gotta see Johnny now. Gotta help Johnny. What can I do next to please Johnny? I mean Lola! I mean…

(this also goes in a "negative" direction, envy being the other side of the medal to adoration. especially because, in some way, this reliance on johnny might be felt by him as emasculating, and, being johnny his model of masculinity, adding it to the napoleon complex thing, it's not hard to guess why it can be so unpleasant. we can see this manifest through some of the things he expresses in regards to lola- not as much an interest he has towards her, but the interest he wishes to have from her- which are a bit more different than it might seem at a first glance. but this is a mouseketool we'll need later. still:

Last time I saw her, Lola made eyes at me, not Johnny!

do we really need this part? heh. i'm not sure, but it's always good to point out)

(also, just because, for the purpose of this analysis, it might be useful to specify: while these sentiments are very much implied in peanut's canon quotes, we have no evidence in canon in what measure they are reciprocated by johnny. the fandom has universally agreed that johnny also views peanut as his Best Friend In The World; while in some measure, they must be at least a bit close, i think it is even safe to say, given the caricaturist nature of bully's characterizations, that johnny holds peanut in less consideration that peanut deludes himself into believing. quoting another post of mine, the kids who show some level of obsession towards their leader mention him on average ten or less times (gord mentions derby eight times, parker six times, kirby mentions ted five times). the leaders don't usually make names at all, that much is true; however, peanut mentions johnny 30 times, and, even in front of this proportion, johnny mentions peanut 0 times. just to make that clear)

overall, what undeniably shines through his voice lines is a feeling of general inadequacy, whether about his height, or his strength in front of a bigger adversary. the audios in which he tries to show off range from being disingenuous, to straight up improbable.

crossing what we have until now said, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that he really tries to make up, to fill this empty feeling of inadequacy by taking pride in his role as johnny's second in command.

while i am a big fan of bully's characteristic of having left much content out of the main game, leaving the gamers to dig it up for themselves, i do believe that scrapping some of the stuff that was prepared for peanut is a loss. we have a number of voice lines coming from chapter 3, in which it was heavily implied how important peanut's role as johnny's right hand man was.

for example, much like... all other seconds in command, really, he was to be followed and then fought in the rumble, before you could get to johnny, with the specific duty to cover his back. even his very first scene, the opening cutscene of chapter 3, i believe, is not to be underestimated. most of the other people, as far as i recall, call you when they need it in person; johnny, however, sends peanut. making him, de facto, an extension of himself, almost.

again, you choose the motivation. what is important, from a narrative point of view, is that peanut clings to johnny through these acts of service, almost making it the foundation of his personhood.

basically, he makes it so that, if he can't be of help to johnny, his whole self is fundamentally annihilated, giving himself completely to johnny.

ii. lola

with lola, reading between the lines gets a bit more difficult; first of all, because lola is much less transparent than peanut, her insincerity being a supporting beam of the whole chapter 3. secondly, whether she was done dirty by the creators or not, it is undoubted that being the perspective that of a teenage boy (namely, jimmy, but we certainly, as viewers, are brought to sympathize more with johnny than with lola) with all the prejudices it can bring with itself.

however, it doesn't mean that there isn't anything to work with- quite the contrary, actually. the issue with lola is that there is a certain amount of layers to get through before gaining a satisfying perception of her as a character. still, we're here to try our best, aren't we!

even behind the muddiness of her intentions and the manipulation she shows herself a master at, it is clear from the second we first meet her that what she does is in function of johnny.

to get through this mess with order, we'll start from an easy, measurable numeric information: lola mentions johnny in her audio files 19 times. which, we're assessed, IS a considerable amount.

we have extensively talked about the way her cheating patterns are a strategy not to succumb to the passive role of the girl in the heteronormative, patriarchal prototypical couple (there's a post here breaking down a lot of this stuff, if any of you is interested!!), so, instead of this, i want to focus on what lies beneath that behavior.

ultimately, the whole point is that lola expects and wants johnny to fight for her. whether is it because she feels taken for granted, or just because he can't perceive it if not through grandiose gestures like the rumble- your interpretation will work; she wants to see johnny fighting nail and teeth not to lose her, she wants him to show her that he wants her.

she's all about that attention, and she knows exactly what and how to do to get it. and i think this is especially clear when you compare the moments in which she knows there's no advantage she could go for; when she has understood that jimmy won't fall for her manipulation, when algie and chad leave her unsatisfied, when norton openly accuses her and antagonizes her - she loses her temper, lets go of that sweetened and/or flirtatious voice tone, abandons that specific kind of gesturing. she doesn't care anymore about obtaining something. she was actually angry, and she was actually upset that johnny had disappeared.

in some of her audios, she references johnny with some amount of fondness, as well:

Johnny and I were on the best date ever.

(there is also a voice line in which she says "He told me he likes me because of my personality. Isn't that sweet?"; due to it being a general chatter and not exclusive to one chapter, i assume it is relatively safe to assume she is quoting johnny. however, as i said at the beginning, we're trying to stay as close to canon material as possible, so, do your thing- and i'm open to arguments!!)

a considerable amount of audio files, however (which will lead us to our final point) is about her... calling for help for johnny, or stating, confidently, that he will come save her, or avenge her later.

Someone get Johnny! Johnny's gonna get you for this. Johnny is gonna kill you!

but wait... i have some sense of déjà vu...

You're gonna be sorry when Johnny finds out!

iii. two faces of the same medal

if i had to pick an effective image for a metaphor, i'd say that the thing about lola and peanut is that they are both dogs looking for someone to take their leash; we’re talking here about an exclusive relationship with someone they can rely totally on, someone we’ll call the Other (with a capital o, distinguished from just other. yes it is unnecessarily complicated i’m sorry).

for what my professor would call accidents of history, it happened that both of them found that Other in johnny.

each of them attempts at creating an exclusive relationship with the Other, one foolproof and fundamentally… perfect. perfect in the way that everything works like oiled gears, in the way that every next move is predictable, in the way that any accident will not break the created equilibrium. (even if, in the general sense of the term, lola and johnny's relationship is everything but perfect, it is in the connotation that we have established here. lola is aware that, no matter what she does, johnny will come back around. hell, the very thing that she does is aimed at keeping that balance; specifically, keeping him a bit on the edge, pushing him into a corner where he has to actively make an effort to keep her close.)

they both hide something they are ashamed of, regulating not only their actions and reactions but their very way of existing in the world, in order to keep that gear working, in order to remain in johnny's hand. lola hides that craving for a genuine and stable affection, dissimulating it with the cheating and the fatuous physical demonstrations of closeness; peanut hides his sense of inadequacy and complex of inferiority, by being the tough and reliable second in command.

basically, what they mean to achieve is a sense of security, the safety of not really being the one to lead but, at the same time, finding a purpose, other than a shield from the outside world that they are not willing to concede themselves to. like a... symbiotic relationship?? i was going to say parasitic, but, yknow. the Other does get some advantages, which are, respectively, peanut's acts of service and lola's capacity to boost johnny's pride.

now, of course, johnny is not aware of either of their play. which makes it even better, since, as we already said, both of their approach to the relationship needs some degree of insincerity.

like, i don't deny that johnny might be a good friend, or a loyal one. but he is an oblivious, prideful fuck who can't see past his own nose; he's got a tendency to make it all about himself - which of course goes perfectly with what we said about both peanut and lola making the Other their center, taking up, in a certain way, a passive role in the relationship.

this way, both of them aim at creating with johnny a relationship that is, in a way, codependant and conditional, in which the do ut des (their respective "service" ↔ johnny's guarantee of stability) creates the foundation of the very relationship.

this, of course, brings up the problem of exclusivity; on which, however, i prefer not to delve into too much, as this would bring us to the topic of their antagonism which... isn't really what i wanted to go for, at least not here. (it would risk bringing us a bit too close to my subjective interpretation and too far away from the canon, which i PROMISED i wouldn't do. however, someday i might elaborate on that??? idk , please do lmk if someone's interested around here)

i will, however, show you a diagram (it looks like a triangle- i guess it is, but it is VERY important that it is a pyramid, with a top and a larger foundation) and a quote, to wrap this up bc i think it is already WAY too long and ramble-y lmao. let me know what you think anyway, my ask box is always open <3

it almost feels like a joke to play out a part when you are not the starring role in someone else's heart you know i'd rather walk alone (i'd rather walk alone) than play a supporting role if i can't get the starring role -- starring role, marina and the diamonds

[chaifootsteps]

Regarding the anon's question about Hazbin getting rebooted in the future and hoping someone does... that's actually one of my personal goals.

Eventually. A few decades down the line when a reboot becomes feasible, plus after I hopefully launch one of the three main series I'm working on pitching (one of which is Hazbin-inspired, the other two drawing elements from other things I love).

Can't say for sure if it will ever come to that point, but in the hypothetical scenario that it ever does get to that point I have a few plans I'm swearing by if that does happen in the future:

Get as many of the original pilot cast as possible, providing they want to be part of the reboot and can still do the voices. If for some reason studio heads deem I can only pick two from the original pilot, Michael and Ed. If for some reason only one, Ed at the bare minimum and I will fight tooth-and-nail for that.

Make sure every character talks differently. Of the main cast, limit the swears to Husk and Angel as regular parts of their vernacular (Husk moreso than Angel, Angel gets the sex jokes). Have Charlie swear on a few occasions but be a bit nervous when she does except when the chips are down. Have Alastor only swear when the chips are down. And give him 1920's/30's slang (mostly 20's since if I recall he died in 1933).

Give Charlie her pilot spine back.

Depending on the episode length, have 1 song per episode, except on the scant few episodes that are musical episodes in themselves (think the A Canterlot Wedding 2-parter in Friendship is Magic). And only have the songs when the characters' emotions are at the height, for good or bad.

Properly showcase the worldbuilding. Make the hierarchy and the nature of contracts clear. Give Lucifer a bit of his "powerful King of Hell" persona back. Showcase the contrast between Heaven and Hell. Make them feel like fleshed-out places.

Don't have Hell just look like LA but red. It's a place that combines sinners from all different locations, times, and backgrounds with eldritch horrors who live there. Lean into that, have fun!

Slow down the pacing. Have the redemption plotline not be rushed. Take time to get to know the characters. While it would suck if the story was cancelled due to not having later season's greenlit, it's infinitely better for a series' longevity with its fandom to have them wanting more rather than looking back at a show and thinking the pacing was incredibly rushed. Don't ruin what you can tell because you worry about what you might not be able to.

That's an awesome goal. My crusty old ass will be watching eagerly!

[yukidragon]

I wonder if Barbie was a singer and a performer in the AU, would the story go differently or the same? Would Bo be Barbie's "biggest fan" aka the classic crazy obsessed fan?

I assume you mean in the Mafia AU? That would be an intriguing alternative to their story. Of course, the life of a singer and performer is a busy one, which would probably be too much for Barbie to juggle with her crusade against the Blouin family to free her big sister from being contracted to them.

But hey, I made variants of AUs before, and the initial idea did come before I fleshed out more about the King family, and it does seem a shame to not involve them with the fun of living in St. Valen's... Why don't I explore a version of the story where they have a little family run business of their own in this city of sin and vice?

Content Warnings: This AU talks about dark subject matter like criminal violence, human trafficking, emotional abuse, child abuse, weaponized religion, cults, religious trauma, childhood trauma, excessive drinking, drug usage, yandere obsession, and of course sex. Chances are one or more of these topics will pop up as I ramble on. I'll try not to be terribly graphic when these subjects appear... unless I get inspired by some self-indulgent OTP smut ideas.

I might also use some artwork drawn by the awesome Sauce to illustrate a point or two, so I'm going to do a quick plug for the SnaccPop Patreon. Signing up not only gives you access to a lot of special works of art and audio dramas, but you'll be supporting the team. They deserve lots of love for working so hard on Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack, DachaBo, and Aphrodesia. This AU that blends the three together wouldn't be possible without them.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps

With all that out of the way, let's play with some slightly different circumstances for Bo to meet his puppy in this crime-ridden universe, and Jack to get a little bit of sunshine in his life.

Not too much will change on Jack and Bo's end in this variant of the AU. I love the idea of Jack suffering from a form of haphephobia too much to drop it, but the way he'll be touched by sunshine for the first time will be a bit different.

The Royal Garden

The King family set up shop in the City of St. Valen's as a literal mom and pop joint known as the Royal Garden. Mama Lycoris has an eye for cultivating talent, and her beautiful husband is a well known singer with many years of experience. Together they set up a rather well to do entertainment venue that draws in a lot of up and coming talent in the area.

Of course, being the crime-riddled city of St. Valen's, they needed to occasionally get rough with the local thugs that tried to shake the business down for money. Lycoris might not be part of any mafia organization, but she knows how to take care of trouble and how to get rid of a body if necessary. You wouldn't think she was so formidable from her small stature and warm, motherly aura, so she catches people off guard when they try something funny with her. She makes sure the security in the garden is second to none, so nothing will happen to her family, anyone who works their, or her customers while they're on the premises.

For the most part, the talent at the club comes from the family. Since the Royal Garden opened, the star of the show has always been its lead singer, Ambrose King, who as given the nickname the White Rose of the Royal Garden. He's also been called the White King or the White Queen. He was very well known for his beauty and singing talent long before they ever met Lycoris, and he's unintentionally stolen many a heart over the years. Still, no matter how many people look their way, his heart belongs to his beloved wife.

On that note, I'd like to proudly proclaim that I finally gave Papa King a name - Ambrose! It felt very fitting to me after I decided that Lycoris insisted that all their children have the middle name of "Rose" in honor of their love story. She, being a flower lover, plucked the "rose" from his name and that flower has been the symbol of her love for them ever since.

I also gave Ambrose a bit of a makeover in picrew since I don't think the dadwear cardigan look he sports in the regular continuity would fit an alluring club singer living in a city full of sin and vice. I couldn't get the look exactly how I wanted, but here's something a little bit closer to the sultry look he might sport in this AU.

Alas, picrews are a bit limited when trying to capture the Aphrodesia style. Maybe someday I'll be able to draw Ambrose in a proper sexy outfit fit for this sort of setting. There are many people who have fallen for this beautiful singer.

Of course, since Papa King has gotten a bit of a picrew makeover for this AU, I should do the same thing for Mama King.

Whether she's called the Red Queen of the Royal Garden or its gardener, Lycoris runs the show, both figuratively and literally. Sadly, with the limitations of picrew I can't show her as dolled up and decked out in jewelry as I'd like, but she's a very classy dame.

While I'm at it, I think I'll see if I can get picrew to makeover for the three oldest siblings to be a bit more fitting for this AU. I know I already drew Alice in this AU, but with her backstory changed, she's going to have quite a different appearance. She can't perform on stage wearing second-hand clothes from a thrift store after all. Fortunately for her, there's no need for her to wear a Phantom of the Opera mask in this version of the AU.

Again picrew limitations confound me, but I think this gives a good gist of how this version of Alice fared a bit better than her sniper counterpart in this sort of setting. Just imagine this dress being a lot more glittery all over with some more jewelry accents, perfect for putting on a show.

Alice has grown up on the stage. Though she did face some bullying due to her weight while growing up, and even today she'll receive the occasional awful comment, as she does in the regular continuity and virtually every AU, the praise she received for performances since she was a child helped boost her confidence. She's a wonderful singer, just like her papa, and she's also surprisingly light on her feet, having been a dancer on stage before she started singing.

Despite the family business, Alice and her siblings were never pushed to perform if they didn't want to. It was always their choice on what they wanted for their own futures. Alice was always enamored by how magical and sparkly her father and the other performers were on the stage.

Even in this AU, Alice had issues with being nonverbal when she was very young. It took her a while to overcome those issues, even with therapy and using a puppet like Honey Bunny to help her find her voice. What helped her find her voice was the encouragement of her family, especially her younger siblings, who also have a talent for singing.

The Royal Garden is a very classy club that has two faces. During the day it's a fine dining experience with live entertainment that is suitable for all ages, though it caters to an adult clientele. The atmosphere is chill, pleasantly lit, and relaxing a place to stop and unwind for breakfast, lunch, or an early dinner.

Once night falls, the club is exclusively for the adult crowd, with neon lights, an open dance floor, a wide array of alcoholic beverages to partake, and acts that can get rather suggestive. Of course, the more racy acts are clearly labeled and scheduled so customers can choose to opt in or not on watching a far more adult show. The vibe of these acts is of sophisticated seductive elegance.

When the King kids were old enough to handle performing before a crowd, it was only to the daytime side of the club until they became adults. They all learned quickly that sneaking out to get a peek at the club at night was a bad idea and brought major punishments with it. Adults only means adults only!

Initially, Alice and Barbie were a duet, but over time they became solo acts in their own right. It was duetting with Barbie that helped Alice open up and enjoy singing on stage. Alice preferred to stick with performing in the day club, but Barbie switched to nights as soon as she was of drinking age and got permission from their parents.

Sadly the picrew that I used for Barbie doesn't have much in the way of jewelry or sparkly club outfits, but at least it can help convey that she cares a bit more about her appearance in this universe.

Both girls, as you can see, have slightly different hairstyles from normal. Alice has allowed her hair to grow much longer, and she often has it styled in fancy ways for her shows. Barbie stuck with the same short length, but gave her hair a blue-fade much like how her heterochromia fades from brown to blue. The dye intentionally matches her eye color.

Despite knowing how to play to a crowd, Barbie is still very much a misanthrope. She just learned how much fun it was to toy with people while on the stage. She can entice the crowd, tease and titillate with suggestive looks and moves that have given many a patron the wrong impression. Fortunately, security is there to remind the patrons that they can look and listen, but they can't touch. She gets a kick out of taunting people with something that they can never have and how desperately she can make her audience lust after her in vain.

Many a poor soul has tried to shoot their shot with the King siblings, but Lycoris is a very protective mama bear in this crime-riddled city. She strictly enforced stranger danger into her children and made sure they knew how to defend themselves both unarmed and with a gun. Among the security at the club are trusted bodyguards whose job it is to keep the King family safe.

The Kings are pretty well off in this universe. The Royal Garden caters to a pretty wealthy clientele, being a very upscale club during the day or night. There's a pretty hefty cover charge at the door, especially at night. Of course, the money patrons spend at the club tends to be from questionable places, but what person isn't dealing with dirty money even indirectly in the city of St. Valen's? Lycoris and Ambrose have certainly participated in a shady deal or two in their time, regardless of their feelings about it.

What happens in the VIP rooms, stays in the VIP rooms.

It's fortunate that Barbie has no inclination to date, especially not any of her lustful fans, or the overprotectiveness of her parents might be suffocating. Of course, things are going to change for her in ways she never expected in the future.

That overprotectiveness certainly got in the way of Alice and Ian getting closer romantically, or at least it didn't help the issues that got between them. Though more on him and his rocky relationship with Alice later, since I want to get through the rest of the King family first, and Ian deserves to have his new background fleshed out a bit as well.

While I didn't originally intend to use Elias at all in this AU, it'd be a shame to leave Coraline out, or for her to never meet her ghostly groom. I might save him for another post though, as I'm still considering what background would best suit him in this AU. I can stay that he'll be a fair bit more corporeal like Jack gets to be.

Really, when I think about Elias and his family, they'd probably fit right in to a criminal-infested city. Probably a family-run business with shady dealings and sleazy connections that Elias is trying in vain to clean up despite his chronic illness and the way his family treats him.

I can't help but think back to the conversation MC has with Elias in the game, where he laments his health problems and asks if medicine has advanced enough since his death that a cure was found. Multiple Sclerosis' symptoms can be managed with modern medicine, so he wouldn't be bedridden in this AU.

Now that gives me an image of Elias in a spiffy modern-ish suit with a cane looking dignified as he comes to see Coraline perform at the club. Maybe he'll look something like this dashing picture Shroomaz over on twitter drew.

It's kind of romantic to think about, with Elias managing to visit the Royal Garden during one of Coraline's rare performances. At first he felt kinship when he heard of her suffering from an incurable chronic illness like he does, yet she, like him, tries to live life. From there, he can't help but fall in love. It's as if fate drew them together.

Oh, and on that note, use this picrew to give Coraline a pretty outfit to perform in.

Coraline's acts are a rarity at the Royal Garden due to her poor health. Her specialty is more somber songs that speak of loss, heartache, and death, which never fails to move members of her audience. Though she does occasionally switch it up with much more silly yet still very morbid songs, which can be a bit of mood whiplash. She's earned the nickname of the Mourning Glory of the Royal Garden for her tendency to dress in black and choose such dark topics to sing about. This preference, plus her odd hours, means she exclusively performs during the nighttime hours. Still, she has very devoted fans, and one gentleman in particular never misses a single show.

Unlike Alice and Barbie, Coraline didn't perform when she was a child, though she did inherit Ambrose's talent for singing as well. It was only when her health became relatively more stable in her adulthood that she was able to sing before a crowd. She did practice with her siblings when they were younger, however.

Speaking of siblings, I shall now unveil the fourth King child thanks to this picrew. I've been toying with this character off and on for a while, including whether I should stop at 3 siblings. Still, this stubborn 18-year-old persisted and insisted on expanding the roster. May I present you with the dazzling Jem Rose King!

Jem would like to inform you that they are just as fabulous in the regular continuity as they are in the Mafia AU. They have an eye for fashion and love experimenting with their style.

Fun fact for this AU and the regular continuity - Jem coming out to their family and explaining what it meant to be non-binary and their feelings on their identity were what helped Ambrose realize that his gender was a little more fluid than they realized as well. Though still masc-leaning, Ambrose uses he/him and they/them pronouns interchangeably.

Another fun fact: Unlike their older sisters, Jem doesn't have a love interest from any current or future SnaccPop game. The love interests for SnaccPop average around mid-twenties, and if I choose to ship them with anyone, I would prefer it be someone a bit closer to their age.

That won't stop Jem from having fun though. They're quite the mischief maker, often playing pranks on their siblings and friends. I won't go too deep into regular continuity Jem here, as that's best saved for another post, but in the Mafia AU, they also perform during the daytime hours of the club like Alice. They would prefer to join Barbie and Coraline in the night side of things, but Lycoris is insisting that they wait until they reach drinking age. Jem finds their mom's overprotectiveness quite frustrating at times, especially since they're finally a legal adult, and the two of them occasionally get into arguments over it.

Still, Jem has their ways of getting info about the juicier things happening at the Royal Garden, and in the city of St. Valen's as a whole. Aside from their obvious family connections, they're very social, making friends easily with the non-family talent, regular patrons, and their peers. They learned quite a lot from watching Lycoris over the years and might be better suited for the business side of things rather than the stage. However, they just can't give up the allure of the spotlight and all eyes watching them shine.

Jem being a bit reckless worries her family at times, especially Alice. The oldest child has to watch out for the younger ones after all, which makes Alice feel responsible for the safety of all her younger siblings. Jem was the one most often caught sneaking into the nightclub while they were children despite Alice's best efforts to be the responsible one and curb such mischief from her siblings.

I haven't fleshed out the remaining siblings quite yet, though I am still inclined for there to be 7 of them in total. I'm letting the ideas develop slowly over time, as that usually makes them fit in quite naturally into the stories like Barbie, Coraline, and now Jem. It's also possible that I might eventually choose to stop at 4 siblings total. Regardless, I'm going to let these ideas simmer on the stove a bit more as I develop the family's story.

Religion in a City of Sin

As one might expect, it's not easy to raise a family in a city that is rife with crime. It can lead parents to potentially become overbearing and overprotective, especially if they've experienced hardship.

Lycoris and Ambrose are more prone to jumping the gun when it comes to their children's safety in this AU compared to the regular continuity, especially Lycoris. They're not the only parents who are overprotective, as Ian's mother is even more of a helicopter mom.

Ian's mother is deeply religious, as we've seen in the afterlife story. She is so obsessed with things being sinful that she's emotionally abused Ian, leaving him questioning whether his perfectly healthy feelings and urges are sinful. She will send her flying monkeys after him if he tries to leave her. And this is in the normal setting, just an average town in the USA, not a mafia setting where crime and violence is a lot more visible all around them.

Given that Aphrodesia has a bit of a religious undertone to it, what with cherubs, angels, priests, etc. I think that Ian's mom would fit the role of the hypocritical religious figure that is trying to seize control in the city of sin under the justification of having the moral "right" to do so, even if that means hurting others for the sake of her faith. It might be a role similar to Vaticus Arch, in a way - a shepherd overlooking a flock of faithful devotees. She certainly has a way of influencing others if she's able to send people to go after Ian in the regular continuity.

Admittedly, I still know very little about the lore behind the angels, cherubs/etc. of Aphrodesia, so I probably shouldn't tie her too deeply into this aspect, or at least not go too deep into that part of the lore. I mean, imagine Ian's mother as an angel with wings like Vaticus. That'd make her feel even more justified in weaponizing her faith against others.

Of course I say that, and now I'm imagining Ian with angel wings and how much pressure those wings and his mother's faith would put on him, especially in a city filled with sin.

I mean, in this AU we still have people with supernatural traits to them. If Bo can be part dog with special abilities, and Jack can have natural blue hair, then perhaps Ian could have angel wings.

Credit as always goes to the awesome Sauce for inspiring me and many others with this AU.

Aw heck with it, let's give Ian a pair of angel wings. Is he a descendent of angels? His mother insists that's the case. It's a mystery if she's lying about that, deluding herself, or telling some twisted version of the truth. The Duff family is divine and holy, as these wings prove, according to her.

Religion has been beaten into Ian's head since he was born, as was subservience to his mother, who wants control over every aspect of his life. Unfortunately, since she has more power and more followers in this AU, it's harder for Ian to escape her clutches or conditioning. Her influence as a mother and religious leader would be even stronger too with angel wings giving her this air of heavenly importance and divine righteousness.

This made things difficult for Ian to make friends. His mother was very watchful of everything he did and thought. In fact, the only time Ian really got a break was when he was attending Catholic school. Sure, the teachers there could be strict, but it was far less suffocating than his mother's clutches. As long as he didn't get into trouble and did his homework properly, he could actually enjoy something close to a normal childhood thanks to his school.

The King family isn't very religious, but the private school was a secure place with a good reputation, which was a must in a city filled with crime. A school with security detail was a must to protect their children.

Much like in regular continuity, Alice and Ian met at school when they were very young. Alice had a lot more experience with performing, showmanship, and taking charge in the Mafia AU, while Ian was even more of a wallflower. He was his mother and God's obedient follower, taught to do as he was told and to police even his own thoughts. Alice took him under her wing, and they became friends, with Ian following her lead most of the time.

Interestingly enough, Ian probably would be more popular in a religious school with angel wings than he would be in the regular continuity. Or at least he'd get more attention, though whether or not that's a good thing is up for debate. Kids can choose anything as a reason to bully someone, especially if they're someone meek who has already been conditioned to take abuse.

I can imagine overall the bullying Alice and Ian faced at school was less in this AU compared to regular continuity. Ian's wings and being a pastor's son would give him a mixture of admiration and resentment. Alice would be more prepared to fight back despite her kind nature when it was drilled into her since she could talk how dangerous the city can be. She wasn't afraid to stand up to anyone who bullied Ian either.

Unfortunately, it was difficult for the pair to hang out after school. Ian was afraid that his mother would forbid him from seeing Alice if she knew that they were friends. Alice didn't make it a secret that her family owned one of the most popular clubs in the city, and that was one of many, many places that his mother deemed as a den of sin, full of harlots and demons addicted to drugs.

Ian did worry about Alice living in that sort of place. Being a child so controlled by his mother, he did believe much of what his mother told him. Some cults even go as far as to teach their kids to proselytize the religion and convert their peers into believers, otherwise they can't play with them. Ian did try to do what his mother wanted, but he was always too shy to pull off converting anyone to his mother's brand of faith. Every time he mustered up the courage to try with Alice, she would shut down the topic and switch to something else so they could just enjoy playing like normal children instead.

It wasn't easy for Ian to sneak away from his mother's watchful eye outside of school, but he did manage to visit the Royal Garden a number of times over the years. He only ever saw the club during the day, bright and clean, totally the opposite of what he was supposed to expect of such a place. There were no drugs, no sex, nothing untoward, just delicious food, a comfortable atmosphere, and entertainment.

It did leave Ian questioning his mom's teachings in spite of his indoctrination. He tried not to think too hard about it because such doubts were "sinful," but his friendship with Alice and her family helped expand his world.

For a place supposedly made for sin, the Royal Garden felt far more welcoming and relaxing than his own home. Ian especially adored the shows that performed at there. It was amazing! There were singers, musicians, magicians, actors, dancers, and all sorts of performances that rotated through day after day. It enchanted him, and the way all eyes looked at the performers with admiration, but not that crazed desperate zeal like at home or the church... it made him envious in spite of himself.

It was on a day when Alice performed while Ian was there that he fell in love with her. She always shone brightly to him, being his hero at school against all the bullies, but on the stage she was truly a star. Her voice was magical, and he was spellbound.

Lycoris and Ambrose were warm and welcoming to their children's friends, but also wary behind their smiles. They were aware of Ian's mother and the cult she was steadily growing. Granted, her group were no worse than some of the other patrons that visited on the regular, but the pair were cautious with whoever their children interacted with.

Still... Ian's meek, beaten down personality did win the hearts of the King family. He was like a wounded puppy left out in the rain. Lycoris and Ambrose helped in what ways they could, giving Ian an open invitation to the day club to allow him a reprieve from his overbearing mother for a while.

Unfortunately, dating was something of an issue. Ian couldn't go out on a date publicly, not even to a school dance, unless it was with someone his mother approved of. With her strict criteria, such a person probably didn't even exist. Alice was someone his mother would never approve of, especially if his mother knew that Alice also performed at the club. It's guilty until proven innocent in his mother's eyes, and only she defines what is pure and innocent in her world.

As we've seen from afterlife mode, Ian was taught by his mother that lustful thoughts are sinful. No doubt this got especially ground into him when he hit puberty, and doubly so when she realized that he was close to someone. Hell, she might have even realized Ian had a crush on MC and that fueled her manipulation.

Naturally, in this sort of setting where Ian's mother is even more controlling and oppressive with her religious teachings, with a following of people fueling her power trip, if she caught wind that her son had a crush on someone, she's going to start beating that bible over his head harder than ever. It doesn't matter if he's a child in puppy love who innocently thinks that couples kiss and nothing more. Such desires are still sinful in her eyes.

Given how little Ian's mother cares about his boundaries, his privacy is virtually nonexistent. Once her boy hits puberty, she's prying into his relationships, who his friends are, and who is tempting her boy to sin. When she identifies Alice as Ian's friend and figures out who the King family is... well, she's not going to approve, to say the least.

Man, imagine if Ian crushed on a MC who was tied to a crime family, and maybe even actively participated in criminal activities. His mother's head would probably explode!

As it is, a club like the Royal Garden is a den of sin, and it's up to the truly faithful to save those lost lambs from sin, according to his mother and her congregation. The Kings aren't necessarily outside the realm of being saved, and perhaps their popularity could be useful to bring more wayward souls to the church if they could be properly converted.

Ian is pressured even harder to proselytize to anyone whose faith is weak in his mother's eyes, especially Alice and her family. Clearly the catholic school wasn't as good as she believed it was if it was allowing non-believers to remain unfaithful even within its halls. His mother used her connections to the school and its church to put a more watchful eye over Ian, stripping away more of what little freedom he had by pushing the teachers to be stricter with him too.

It would be tragic if Ian never fully escaped his mother's grasp in this universe, his thoughts only growing more warped by her teachings as he grew older. He could even serve as an interesting antagonist to criminals like Jack. Still, not without hope of breaking free of his mother's chains.

The relationship between Ian and Alice became more strained the older they got. He was pressured more and more to not think "sinful" thoughts and to make sure he only surrounded himself with those who were truly faithful. Being with Alice created a complicated push and pull in his mind, as her friendship was important to him, too important for him to let go of, but he felt guilty for his feelings towards her and for being friends with someone who didn't share his faith.

The potential push and pull could be even more complicated and twisted if MC was intentionally trying to tempt and "corrupt" Ian. Not to get too lost in the weeds here of different MC possibilities, but I can see this being an opportunity for some MCs to have a very spicy antagonistic enemies who are lovers relationship that leads Ian to feel guilty afterwards, but also lustful and loving on MC.

Alice had strong feelings for Ian that she hadn't quite realized had crossed the line from friendship into crush. Unfortunately, things would never develop to allow her to realize or act on these feelings. She can only open up to someone romantically if she feels like she can trust that person. It doesn't help that her overprotective parents steer her away from dating, especially someone who is as troubled as Ian is.

Still, Alice sympathizes that Ian is in a bad situation with a toxic home life, even if he couldn't accept that as the truth due to the conditioning from his mother that his life is "good." Alice wanted to help him as much as she could, even though their friendship was very stressful on her. She couldn't bring herself to just give up on a friend.

Unfortunately for Ian's mother, Alice wasn't going to convert to the faith. On Ian's urging, Alice did attend church with him once, to give it a chance for his sake, but she was incredibly uncomfortable the entire time. The teachings of brimstone and damnation, the urging to confess sins, and the oppressive atmosphere were bad enough, but his mother made a spectacle of her in a way that was very unlike the stage shows. It was with the intent to pressure her to convert, to be baptized and accept their teachings in front of an entire congregation of devout followers. It was a pretty scary experience for a young teen.

Fortunately for Alice, Lycoris wasn't about to let her daughter go there alone or let her daughter be pressured into joining any cult. Both mothers clashed in the middle of the church with verbal barbs. Ian's mother veiled her attacks beneath a righteous air of saving ignorant sinners from salvation. Lycoris was civil at first, but soon was direct with her disdain for the pastor, throwing many choice words with very colorful language before ending the interaction by calling Ian's mother a psycho bitch as she took Alice home despite the pressure from the congregation.

Depending on how zealous the church is in St. Valens, things might have escalated beyond words in some way. I'll have to look more into Aphrodesia's lore on this point to get more ideas on how to go deeper. Regardless, the congregation was certainly not on Lycoris or Alice's side, and the entire situation was very hostile.

Needless to say, this incident didn't earn Alice any points with Ian's mother.

In the regular continuity, the relationship between Lycoris and Ian's mother is civil enough, though with the occasional subtle snipe. In the Mafia AU, it became openly antagonistic from that incident onward.

Ian's mother felt that she had been humiliated in front of her congregation. Even though she spun it as entirely the fault of the "sinners they tried to save," it was a blow to her ego. She would make it a habit to harass the King family and the Royal Garden whenever possible, most often by having devotees try to redirect potential customers to the church instead of the club. Of course, the Kings won't just take this interference lightly and chase away these nut jobs whenever they show their mouthy faces.

After that, Ian was forbidden from being friends with Alice until she was a true believer in their faith, just like him. His mother's tighter control over Ian prevented him from ever acting on his romantic feelings in this AU, even feeling guilty for having them. Ian is still struggling with following his heart and his mother's teachings at the same time, even though they conflict with one another. Alice's compassion in reaching out to help him has led to her getting burned more than once, with Ian constantly apologizing both to her and his mother for never doing anything right.

Now as adults, Ian has a bit more freedom, but only because he's shown himself to be a devout follower of his mother. It leads to some pretty unpleasant confrontations between him and the "sinners" of St. Valen's.

Man, I did not realize I would go on such a long tangent about Ian's backstory in this version of the AU. Shows where rambling takes me, huh? Hahahaha. Anyway, let's move on to the next character shall we?

Cat Papa and Baby

I mentioned way back in the initial AU ramble that I imagined Shaun as the owner of a cat-themed night club. I considered changing it in this variant of the AU, as it might be redundant, but then I realized that it'd be interesting that he's in charge of a rival business. This one is purely a nightclub, with raves, a goth theme, and very sexy acts. There are stripper shows and other type of spicy things that make it exclusively an adults only club.

I will change the idea that it was a family-run business though. Shaun created it all himself from the ground up, though he did inherit money that he used to get the business started from his late parents. His very religious uncle Abraham greatly disapproves of Shaun's line of work in this universe as well, and often claims his parents are rolling in their graves because of it.

Shaun hates that he's at odds with his uncle. Fortunately he has friends like Olivia to support him. He also has his baby girl Moon Pie who is just a little less fuzzy in this universe.

Yup, I had to use this absolutely adorable human version of Moon Pie that Sauce drew in this AU. Bo gets to have his fuzzy ears and tail outside of a computer screen, so Moon Pie gets to have opposable thumbs and can talk to her papa.

I imagine her adoption was something entirely accidental. Moon Pie was an orphan just surviving on the streets, when she ran into Shaun. Shaun, of course, couldn't just leave this blind little baby to fend for herself all alone in such a cruel city. They came across one another not too long after Shaun lost his parents to gang violence, and it seemed Moon Pie lost her parents in a similarly sudden and violent manner. It was a shared pain they bonded over, which eventually led to them forming their own family.

Moon Pie doesn't talk much about her past before meeting Shaun, as she was fairly young when he found her and a lot of those memories were suppressed. Initially a shy and uncertain child, she grew more confident and flourished under Shaun's care. When she called him papa, his heart melted, and he realized that this little girl would now and forever always have him wrapped around her little finger. He's the proudest papa in the world if you ask him, and he brags about his little baby every chance he gets.

Like Bo, Moon Pie is the result of scientific experiments mixing human and animal DNA to make obedient "pets" of sort to work for some pretty heinous criminals. It's unknown if she escaped the lab with the help of her bio-parents, if she was born after they escaped, or some other similarly dark scenario. In a way, it's a good thing that Moon Pie doesn't remember much.

Moon Pie's senses are exceptional, save for her eyes. She's not completely blind, as she can detect some light, but for the most part the world is as gray and fuzzy as the fur on her adorable ears and tail. She is surprisingly good at handling the world around her thanks to her other finely tuned senses, though she is pretty sensitive around exceptionally strong sounds and smells. More than once she's expressed her displeasure at her papa smelling weird after a night out at the club.

Of course, Moon Pie knows next to nothing about what goes on at the club, just that her papa has to go out most nights to work. She has a very nice nanny to watch her during those nights, and Shaun makes sure she's happy, healthy, and even a little bit spoiled by his doting on her.

Shaun loves Moon Pie more than anyone else in the world, and if anyone hurt her he would make them pay. He loves her so much that when thinking of names for his club, he was inspired by her and how much her presence brightened up his life. The Blind Feline seemed to be a purrfect tribute to his love for his daughter, even if she's way too young to ever set one paw in the place.

Admittedly, I might wind up changing the name of the club if I come up with something I like better, but there's no way it isn't cat themed. Also, I really like the idea that Moon Pie helped Shaun choose and/or inspired the name in some way.

Anyway, before Shaun started the club or adopted Moon Pie, he went to various clubs around the city to get a sense of what he needed to start his own club. He even worked at a couple of them. Really, he's been going to clubs since he was a teenager because he loves the vibes and the fun he has. He's been to the Royal Garden both during the day and the night, and although he prefers the night time action, he did wind up making a friend in the day club.

Shaun got a job at the Royal Garden for a short stint, not as an entertainer but doing various jobs ranging from clean up to serving meals. This allowed him to interact with the entertainers and make some connections that he hoped would entice them to do shows at his club when he finally set it up.

In the process of this, Shaun and Alice got to interact. They hit it off right away and became good friends, with Shaun soon developing a crush on Alice. Watching her perform in a gorgeous outfit with a beautiful singing voice left him smitten. He did admit to her his dream of starting up a night club and "jokingly" asked her to be his headline act. It was a pretty clumsy ask, with lots of fumbling, so Alice didn't take it all that seriously, especially since he was already aware of how much value Alice put in her family. She playfully turned down the offer of being the star of his club and they laughed the whole thing off. Though it was disappointing for Shaun, he understood her decision, especially when he suddenly gained a family of his own.

Still, Alice does perform at Shaun's club on occasion, particularly in the beginning to help him get his business off the ground. Her family isn't going to stop her from making friends, connections, and living her life. Performing at the Blind Feline was a totally different experience than the Royal Garden, even at night, and the more sexually charged atmosphere made her feel uneasy being the center of attention. Fortunately, Shaun always went out of his way to make sure she would be safe at the club and never feel pressured to do or see anything that made her uncomfortable. Thanks to him she was able to enjoy her time there helping out a friend. Naturally, Shaun insisted to pay her for every show she performed.

Of course, a more overtly sexual club would be seen even more unfavorably by the local religious organizations. Ian wouldn't have grown up with Shaun, so his feelings are less conflicted than they are with Alice and her family. Ian wouldn't even think about that club at all for fear of corruption if he didn't find out about Alice performing there. It made him fearful that Shaun was tempting her down the path of sin and debauchery, which led to more than one altercation between the two men. Alice would have to play peacekeeper, though it would always be an uneasy peace.

Needless to say, Shaun and Ian are anything but friends in this AU.

Shaun still occasionally stops by the Royal Garden, but during the day when Alice is performing. It's a great opportunity for him to have some daddy-daughter bonding by bringing Moon Pie along. He also gets to show off just how adorable his little girl is.

The Blind Feline becomes pretty popular for its distinct style and at times very spicy acts. A couple performers even made a name for themselves there, which included Nick.

Alluring Nights

Yes, Nick is a dom by night in this universe too. The Blind Feline offered him his first big break that got him a lot of positive attention from a very devoted following. His performances get very explicit, but he's always in control.

Of course, behind the scenes Nick is a lot more shy than the front he puts up before the crowd. It's almost like he's two people sometimes. He became good friends with Shaun over time, and of course he wound up meeting Alice there on a night when she was performing.

Poor guy can control a thirsty crowd but gets tongue tied in front of the cute lady with the sweet smile and beautiful voice. He's barely managed a few awkward interactions with her that haven't yet left an impression with her beyond the thought that he seems nice.

Nick wasn't the only one who became aware of Alice because of her occasional performances at the Blind Feline.

Jack isn't one to go out to clubs all that often, or public spaces in general outside of business meetings and public appearances. When the touch of other human beings feels like bugs crawling underneath one's skin, a person will usually try to avoid people.

Still, Jack can appreciate a good show, and there are times when certain business partners insist on having their business meetings take place somewhere with a crowd around. It was one such instance that brought Jack to the Blind Feline that night when Alice performed.

Her voice enchanted Jack, as it had many others. He assumed what drew him to Alice was mere intrigue, a random whim that kept drawing his thoughts back to her even after her performance ended. The person he was doing business with was also interested in Alice... but for far more blatantly carnal reasons.

The business partner appreciated Alice's singing and appearance, but was disappointed in her performance style to say the least. All the acts at this club had some spice to them, showed skin and offered the possibility of more personal attention to the customers if the price was right. Alice's performances are far more tame and modest by comparison. It was almost like a tease in and of itself that this person took as a challenge.

Jack was aware of how this person's "interest" could be dangerous for someone. It didn't sit right with him to do nothing, especially when it involved someone who caught his attention like Alice did, but he also had to keep in mind that politics in St. Valens could be delicate and lead to a lot of blood being shed. This partner was still someone the Blouin family needed for business, regardless of their hobbies. It certainly wasn't the first time he had to work with unsavory characters, and won't be the last.

When the partner insisted on going to see Alice personally, Jack cheerfully came along to ensure things didn't go out of hand.

Alice wasn't a stranger to being hit on, especially after a show. She had plenty of experience in turning people down. It was at least funny for Jack to see the partner grow more and more flustered by such flat refusal from Alice. Jack found himself more and more entertained by Alice as time went on, but he did try to deescalate the situation.

The business partner's continued persistence made Alice feel unsafe and uncomfortable. She tried to excuse herself, but the business partner just got more forceful, offended by her refusal, which was Jack's cue to cut in.

Unfortunately, Jack underestimated just how worked up this particular business partner would get, and it led to a mild scuffle that led to Alice falling into Jack's arms.

Jack didn't want to actually touch Alice, or anyone. He never intended to let things get this far. Alice had grabbed onto his exposed wrist with her bare hand to stop herself from falling and...

Alice was warm. Her touch wasn't cold, slimy, and crawly. It didn't feel like his nerves were distorting into static until Jack felt like tearing his skin off to escape the sensation. In fact, her hand was delicate, soft and sensual, and he found himself reeling from the sensation even after she got back up on her feet and scampered away from them both.

Jack was stunned, but he couldn't be still for long, as the partner was raging, and probably a bit tipsy. Security of course was starting to sniff around, which made things incredibly complicated. Jack was forced to deescalate things and leave, rather than risk violence breaking out. Though he could handle his own easily, especially with his right hand Bo waiting for his signal, but he didn't want to risk Alice getting caught in the crossfire should bullets start flying.

Jack was obsessed with Alice after that. He had Bo tail her, find out all about her, where she lived, her family, friends, schedule etc. He found out about the Royal Garden, and made sure to start paying the day club a visit on a regular basis whenever she was scheduled to perform.

Before Jack became a regular at the Royal Garden, Bo made sure to scope out the club, both its daytime face and its nighttime sides. While Jack would only be interested in a certain show during the dayclub, it was what Bo found at the nightclub that drew him in.

Clubs like the Blind Feline were the type of scene Bo liked, hot, spicy, and stinking of sex. He loved to watch strippers and get lap dances. He visited virtually every club in the city that had a very adult night life and had his fair share of trysts with adult entertainers.

Bo had visited the Royal Garden's nightclub in the past, though briefly. The spicy acts at this club were far too mild for a wild dog like him, and other places had a lot more heat to feed his lustful desires.

That changed when Bo saw Barbie perform. She had a fire in her eyes and a commanding presence that made it impossible to look away from her. Her scent enticed him and her voice was beautiful. Her sensual movements and provocative poses enticed him a way that no other performer ever had even without their clothes.

Even after Bo's job of casing the club was done, he kept coming back to see Barbie. Bo had scoffed at Jack falling for a singer, since Alice wasn't special to him. Bo had always been certain that he would never fall like his lovesick boss, but he underestimated Barbie.

Barbie doesn't do dom performances in the traditional sense, but she has a commanding presence. Audience members who act up get put in their place and denied any chance to feel anything but the bottom of her heel as she stomps on them. She's got a powerful, intimidating personality that demands obedience from her audience, and Bo found himself wanting to roll over and expose his belly to her even if it meant he'd get stomped for it.

It'd be worth it to Bo if he could be the only person Barbie paid attention to.

Naturally, our two criminal yanderes quickly become absolutely obsessed with their respective singer of choice.

Unlike in the original version of this AU, Jack can't arrange it so Alice spends every day with him as his assistant. Oh, he'll try to hire her under some excuse or another, but she politely turns down his offers. She's quite happy to work with her family and occasionally her friends, and that's more important to her than whatever obscene paycheck he offers.

Jack pivots his plans to focus on befriending Alice, figuring out her schedule so that he can "accidentally" run into her in more casual settings, striking up friendly conversations and show that he's a good person worth knowing. His shining reputation in the community helps in this regard. He even offers to be her escort when going to and from her performances at the Blind Feline. Shaun has tried to act as an escort for her before, but since he's so busy running the place and raising a child, he doesn't have a lot of free time. Funny enough, Jack always manages to have his schedule free whenever she needs it!

By appearing so friendly, kind, and harmless, Alice starts growing closer to Jack. Of course, this leads to some jealousy from the other men who are also hoping to grow intimately close with Alice.

Bo does try befriending Barbie as well, but his method is a bit rougher. He's a lot more overly eager, which pushes Barbie to bring him to heel more than once. Though she finds him annoying, she also finds it fun to make this dog who barks so big whimper and beg her for her approval. Over time she starts intentionally goading him, getting a thrill out of leaving him a pathetic mess with only some blue balls to show for it at the end of the night.

Without the whole human trafficking angle or Alice being stuck with the crime family, Barbie doesn't have a reason to hate Bo and the Blouin family right out the gate. Oh, she'll be wary for sure, but when she learns how dangerous Bo is, she finds it actually adds to her thrill of humbling him. This big bad hunting dog is a weak whimpering puppy before her. She starts seeing how far she can push him, tame him, and soon she realizes he'll do anything for her.

Barbie has all the power in their relationship, and she quickly grows addicted to it.

Bo is different than the other customers Barbie has put in their place over time. The more time they spend together, the more she looks forward to his company. Soon things escalate during a performance. At the climax of the song, as she's done before, she pulled Bo in close by his collar. She would feign as if she might kiss him, as she had teased him and other patrons with in the past, only to shove them off the edge of the stage to assert her total control over her audience and their lust for her.

This time Barbie decided to cross the line. Bo had made it clear in the past he wanted to kiss her and so much more, so she took that as an invitation to steal a kiss from him at the end of her act, much to the shock of him and her regular audience. He melted into her, wanting to hold onto her and never let go... only to be shoved off the stage like usual.

Barbie ended her performance like normal, asserting her dominance before the crowd and her untouchable aura, but her cheeks were rosier that night.

Much like in regular continuity, Barbie is the one in charge of their relationship. She sets the pace between them, which Bo is only too happy with as long as she keeps him on her leash and pulls him closer. He always scoffed at the idea of being whipped by anyone. Even his servitude to Jack was a begrudging one. He was a lone wolf, doing what he wanted, fucking who he wanted, killing who he wanted. But in front of Barbie he was as weak as a newborn pup. He found himself willing to do anything as long as he didn't lose her.

Barbie sees Bo as an enticing toy at the start, but over time he draws her in and she starts to see his human side. She starts finding herself wanting someone for the first time. She doesn't like very many people aside from her family, but Bo slowly starts to grow on her. She finds herself desiring someone for the first time, both sexually and emotionally. Before she realizes it, she's getting jealous over attention others give Bo.

One night when Barbie catches Bo exchanging banter with someone else who clearly has the hots for him, she interrupts them.

...

Bo caught her scent even before he felt her warm touch, her finger slipping underneath his collar in that familiar way to pull him back. He twisted around to face his beloved Barbie, his tail wagging with happiness at the sight of her. "Puppy!"

Barbie's brown and blue eyes burned with a fire that could burn down a city, but that look only enticed Bo further. "Bo," she said in a low, dangerous tone as her long nails dragged across the tender skin beneath the collar. "Tell me. Who do you belong to?"

Bo shivered at the sensation, a whimper escaping him in spite of his pride and the people around them watching him. He felt weak under that burning gaze of hers that made his blood sizzle and his pants tight. "You, puppy, only you."

Barbie smirked, pleased by the pleading in his eyes and tone. "Good boy," she crooned before claiming his lips.

It was her most lewd performance yet, a kiss blatantly with tongue. Bo was only too eager to join in, drinking deep of his puppy in a way she had yet to permit him before. He was addicted to her flavor, and he whined when she finally pulled back, leaving them both breathless and panting.

Barbie held Bo back when he chased after her lips for yet another kiss, her smile smug and satisfied. She savored that yearning for her, how desperate he was with need for her that left him practically on his knees before her.

Almost lazily Barbie slid her gaze to the interloper that tried to steal what was hers. "You can go now," Barbie she dismissively, her smile taking on a cruel curve. "My boyfriend and I have plans."

While the other person seethed, Bo lit up, his tail wagging so hard he generated a small breeze. "Boyfriend? Me?" He sounded pathetic, he knew. If the person he was only a few months ago could see him now, he would hardly recognize himself, but he was too elated to care.

"That's right," Barbie practically purred as she turned her burning gaze back to Bo. "You're my boyfriend as long as you keep one thing in mind... I don't share."

"Whatever you want, puppy," Bo said as he clasped her hands in his. "Anything you want, it's yours. I'm all yours."

When his gaze slid back to his companion, all trace of pathetic subservience disappeared along with his earlier friendly attitude for this person who was now only an obstacle. Bo was a predator, ready to rip out anyone's throat at his master's beck and call. "You heard her. Leave. Before they have to carry you out in a body bag."

...

Needless to say, Barbie quite enjoys being Bo's new master. He certainly enjoys following her orders far more than Jack's.

Although Barbie is pretty forceful and dominating, over time she does start showing Bo more and more of her softer side.

Of course, that doesn't mean Bo isn't still going to be following Jack's orders. I figure their relationship is a bit more complicated than he would like, and one he just can't sever whenever he wants.

Speaking of Jack, I can imagine it'll take him quite a bit more time to get closer to Alice in this variant of the AU, though not for a lack of trying on his part. There's just going to be a lot more rivals and variables in play. Still, you know me. Eventually my ship has got to sail, which will make some guys pretty unhappy. At least her family would be less worried about Alice and Jack getting together in this version of the AU.

Well, as long as they never realize that Jack is the head of the most dangerous crime family in all of St. Valen's. Let's see how long Jack can keep that innocent squeaky clean image in place while he's trying to win Alice's heart and keep some pesky rivals at bay.

Really, this version of the AU would be an even bigger tease for Jack. As his assistant, he could come up with so many excuses to get Alice to hold his hand, help him change his gloves, help him put his suit on as an excuse to touch him, etc. Alice as a performer keeps a more polite distance from people until she really grows to know and trust them.

Heck, even in Sunshine in Hell, Jack had more opportunities to touch Alice when he needed it. Not to mention the connection between their souls means they're technically always touching in a way. That bond they made is quite the cheat mod.

Man, poor touch starved mafia boss Jack is going to go crazy waiting for Alice to be comfortable enough around him to want to touch him. The man is so touch starved, and she's the only person who he can stand to touch. He might wind up just as pathetically needy as Bo is with Barbie by the time they finally get together. At least Alice isn't intentionally teasing him like her sister!

Well... at least not yet. Once they get together, I'm sure Alice wouldn't be opposed to teasing her boyfriend a little. All in good fun of course~

After all, I imagine their first time was quite memorable thanks to how maddeningly pent up Jack was. No doubt Alice didn't get any sleep that entire night, and they would've made quite a mess of the bed. Once he finally has her in his arms, he's never going to let her go and make her feel so good she'll never want him to.

Can you really blame Alice for wanting to wind up her boyfriend a little to encourage a repeat of such an intense wet and wild night of passion and love~?

On that delightfully spicy note, I think I'm going to wrap things up here for now. This ramble has gone on way longer than I intended (25 pages last I counted,) and I got a weeeeeee bit off topic for most of it. Haha, sorry about that. I hope it was entertaining despite taking so long to get to answering the actual questions at least!

I have a feeling I'll play with this more musical version of the Mafia AU again in the future. Maybe I'll mix the two versions together somehow, or come up with yet another variation. There are no limits in AUs after all!

Huh. Now that I think about it, with Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack being inspired by the Phantom of the Opera, an AU where his sunshine is a singer who enchants him is pretty fitting. Sure, he's not a mysterious phantom guiding Alice to become the star of a famous opera house like the Phantom of Sunny Day Jack, but he's certainly going to make his sunshine sing for him.

Yes, I mean that both literally and suggestively. ;3

Jack might have become smitten with Alice after seeing her sing on stage, shining like a star for all to see, but nothing compares to her private performances with him in bed~

On that extra note of spice, I better wrap up before I make this ramble even longer. I hope you enjoyed the many unexpected directions my rambling took me. Please let me know what you think of this and any of my other ideas/writing. Thank you for reading!

[scribbled-anecdotes]

Kill the Mood - MDZS Slasher AU

Did anyone else read MDZS and think woah you know what this campy, murder-filled series needs: an AU set in a '80s campy teen Slasher? Because I did!

Synopsis:

Meng Yao is in the final year of high school. Between his shitty parents, his shitty after-school job, and his shitty social life, graduation cannot come quick enough. With stressful university admissions and a long-held crush on one of the most popular guys in school, Meng Yao couldn't imagine things could get any more chaotic. That is until he comes home to find he has another half-brother, Xue Yang, who seems a bit ... off. Things quickly spiral when Meng Yao realizes that he might have more in common with this new-found half-brother, who might just be a teen serial killer.

Relationships: XiYao; established Xuanli and in future chapters: SongXiao, Wangxian (background), and XiaoXue (if you see things from Xue Yang's point of view, that is)

CW: canon-typical abuse, suicide mention, mild gore and child death.

Also shoutout to the darling @prinzsorgenfrei for not only aiding and abetting this by beta reading it and drawing very pretty character designs, but for also workshopping scenes with me and for co-writing some XiYao.

This is my first MDZS fic, so please do let me know y'all's thoughts.

New York, 1986

“Jesus Christ.”

A pair of firefighters scanned flashlights over the charred remains of what had once been a nursery: rows of cribs and toddler cots reduced to pyres. Little bodies, burned beyond recognition, curled up.

At least they had been asleep.

There was always something particularly horrid when such innocent lives were caught up in accidents like these. Faulty wiring in the old boys’ group home was the immediate suspect. The fire had started in the basement, where wires that hadn’t been updated since before the war knotted and choked each other out. They had found the Headmaster’s body—well his presumed body; it was too big to be that of a child—curled outside his rooms. Smoke inhalation was the immediate suspect, there. What a pitiful and painful way to go.

But the thing about burnt bodies, the particular thing about burnt bodies unassumingly crisped in an old house that was practically begging to go up in flames, was that no one would think to look for further injuries. Feet fall off when temperatures get too hot, after the body curls up as the muscles contract and bulge in the inferno. What does it matter when the Achilles Tendon snaps? Or is snapped, rather. What would it matter how bruised and cut up the now charred flesh is? And of course, the uniform scorch marks took care of any pesky, incriminating blood stains.

When the fire department finally made it on the scene, all they saw was a tragedy, with one small miracle in the form of a delinquent with a record and a habit of sneaking away at night, including this one. One who had smelt smoke while hopping the fence back onto the grounds and had bravely run for help, but the fire had burned too long. Thus he became the lone survivor of a tragic house fire.

…

“13 people, most of them minors, are reported to be dead after a house fire broke out in a Queens boys’ home. Authorities arrived on scene at the Chang Group Home for Boys at around 1:47 this morning.”

Meng Yao heard the news report from his basement bedroom and bit his cheek knowing that Mrs. Jin had yet to leave for her hair appointment. It was barely the third day of school and she would already have ample opportunity to chastise him for being late. It didn’t matter that it was barely the third day of school and he was still working what was meant to be a summer job at the local video store. He’d been up until 2 am and his alarm had gone off no later than 6:30. Who could blame him for hitting snooze and begging his younger brother, Xuanyu, to wake him at 7:00 am? Regardless, he hadn’t, and now Meng Yao was perched at the base of the stairwell waiting for Mrs. Jin to finish her coffee and leave for her appointment or at least get up for long enough to let Meng Yao sneak into the bathroom to brush his teeth. He was stuck listening to the news and Mrs. Jin’s snide commentary for another 3 minutes.

“After their preliminary investigation, the Fire Department of New York has declared the fire accidental, citing out-of-date electrical wiring and a faulty air conditioning system.” They played a brief clip of the Fire Chief expressing his condolences for the tremendous loss of life and explaining what the news anchor had already confirmed. “Our hearts here at the NYFD are with the surviving child,” he added bittersweetly before the broadcast presumably cut back to the station. “This youth is reported to be in state care until other arrangements can be made.” Meng Yao heard Mrs. Jin huff. “In other news—.”

“City’s gone to shit,” Mrs. Jin said, before flicking the channel to one of those morning talk shows stay-at-home wives liked. Stuff about new recipes and the best back-to-school buys. Mrs. Jin was the type of woman who would make others wait. It was her appointment after all, shouldn’t it be about her? If Meng Yao kept it up he’d be late anyway without the guarantee that he’d go unnoticed.

He trotted up the stairs, darting around the corner into the bathroom to no avail. “You’re still here? You’re already going to be late on the first week?” While Mrs. Jin certainly would not hold back with her words most days, today it was all in her tone. You’re still here was loaded with years of resentment and anticipation for the moment she would not have to see the reminder of her husband’s infidelity.

There was really no use explaining himself and even though an apology wouldn’t get him very far either, Meng Yao said sorry as he rushed into the kitchen to find an apple. That could be both breakfast and lunch, right?

“Morning,” he said routinely when Zixuan walked into the kitchen. It would be hard to tell that they spent their mornings rushing around the same kitchen. Where Zixuan was well-dressed, Meng Yao swum in awkwardly-fitting hand-me-downs Zixuan hadn’t touched since the 9th Grade. Where Meng Yao would try in vain to style the remnants of a bad bowl cut for three seconds in the mirror before giving up, Zixuan had the privilege of spending the morning in the shower to achieve his seemingly effortlessly coiffed hair. Zixuan flashed him a smile, more focused on packing his bag. The smile, momentarily lighting up his eyes, made Meng Yao conscious of his own bleary ones, a trait his step-mother was convinced he inherited from his mother. “Zixuan doesn’t look so lifeless” and whatnot when posing for photos. Maybe he had gotten that from his mother; a little way to assure everyone that perfect Zixuan and the inconvenient Meng Yao were only half-brothers.

“Hey,” he hesitated, noticing Zixuan was halfway out the kitchen. “Would you mind giving me a ride to school? I just, um, woke up late.” Zixuan’s brows furrowed and those bright eyes softened. “I won’t ask again,” he tried to assure with an awkward half-smile.

“I’m picking up Yanli,” Zixuan responded matter-of-factly.

Of course. Though he hadn’t said no, he was picking up his girlfriend. It was stupid to ask, Meng Yao realized. Who would want to pick up their girlfriend with their brother in the car? So sexy, right? “You know what, never mind. I can figure it out.”

Zixuan’s brows remained furrowed, “Yeah, whatever you want.” He walked out the door.

It wasn’t the worst situation Meng Yao had been in, not by a long shot. He remembered the three weeks in foster care between his mother’s death and being dropped at his estranged father’s doorstep: his things in a trashbag, loud dormitories where it was impossible to sleep, being nearly a month behind in school work even though the year had just started, nearly choking to death trying not to cry himself to sleep. Not that any of this went away when he arrived in the quiet new-build suburb in upstate New York with a fading tan from the Nevada sun, like he’d been on vacation, and his mom’s ashes precariously in his 13 year old arms. Who would blame Madam Jin for turning up her nose?

Xuanyu, who was just 8 when Meng Yao had arrived, was the only one who seemed excited to have him, and that was mostly because he would not have to sleep alone in the basement anymore. Meng Yao remembered the pit in his stomach, seeing that scrawny little boy eager to show him around and explaining that he didn’t need to be afraid anymore since his older half-brother was here now and could protect him from the monsters that undoubtedly hid in the shadows of the dimly lit storage-room-turned-bedroom. In hindsight, it should have been a warning sign when Xuanyu innocently, almost pathologically naively, explained that the Jin couple kept ‘forgetting’ to buy him a nightlight. But at the time, it didn’t matter to Meng Yao. He was a few months shy of his 14th birthday and didn’t plan on staying long, especially once he got his first New York job at the local thrift store. About three weeks into that, the best he’d gotten to show for his hard work was a much-appreciated nightlight for his new little brother and an empty shoebox which he labelled “College Fund.” His mother would want him to go to college, rather than become a 14-year-old high school dropout working some shitty job for the rest of his life.

Three years later, and he was walking to his last year of high school, dreaming of college admissions. Years of working and stashing away half of every paycheque had brought him close to his goal and, according to the guidance counselor, he had the grades to get a decent scholarship, so long as he kept up the hard work and the extra curriculars. And oh did he: a full time table, staying later after school for the last 3 years; Mondays and Wednesdays for Student Council and Fridays for Model UN, Thursday mornings for Debate club. “No sports though,” the guidance counselor had told him last year, face screwed like it was a crime to have asthma. “Lots of scholarships in sports, you know.” Meng Yao had just rolled his eyes. Regardless, when would he have the time for a sport? Meng Yao wondered if he could squeeze something else in as he walked to school. This was his last year after all. Maybe Drama club, or... His thoughts trailed of, exhausted. Who was he kidding, how on Earth would he keep going like this? Working nights and weekends, falling onto his bed after a long day of classes and extra curriculars and mind numbingly boring shifts at Video World, just to get up a few hours later to do it all again.

But there were things about his life that he had actually come to enjoy.

“Morning,” Meng Yao whispered as he plopped down beside Lan Xichen.

Math class wasn’t all that bad. For one, Meng Yao was quite good at it. Maybe Mathletes would round out his college application. The senior math teacher had been overjoyed when he heard that Meng Yao planned on majoring in Finance and becoming an accountant, so he probably would be overjoyed to have Meng Yao on the team this year. Or anyone on the team for that matter.

“Did you sleep in?” Xichen whispered under the lesson on Functions, even though he had a near-pathological fear of being rude.

“Yeah.”

Xichen held out a granola bar. “You didn’t eat, did you?”

Meng Yao took the bar in response. No. He gave Xichen a familiar half-smile in thanks and got one in return.

Eating in class was technically frowned upon, but fainting in class would mean certain social death, so Meng Yao decided to nibble on small pieces of granola whenever the teacher was turning towards the board. When he had finally finished the granola and rubbed his fingers against each other to get rid of the sticky film of leftover honey, Xichen handed him a perfectly clean cloth handkerchief. Sometimes it was hard to forget that the uncle Xichen was living with was old, rich, and as traditionalist as it got.

“Thanks again,” whispered Meng Yao, and, with a bat of his eyelashes, added: “How lucky I am to have befriended such a perfect gentleman. Should I iron it before I give it back?”

“That would be much appreciated,” answered Xichen with an expression so serious it could only be mocking, “For if my uncle were to find out I bequeathed this to anyone but a fiancée or a wife he would surely lock me in the attic for the rest of the semester.”

Meng Yao hid his laugh with a cough and their teacher turned around.

“Anything to share with the class, Mr. Meng? Mr. Lan?”

“Nothing of note, I apologize,” said Meng Yao before Xichen could feel guilty, “I’m having some issues with my contacts and asked Xichen to help me read the last equation. I did not mean to disturb the lesson.”

The teacher gave his favourite student a reproachful look but continued his lesson without another hitch. Xichen looked at Meng Yao with an amused twitch to his lips.

“I did not know your perfect vision had worsened.”

“Do keep my secret.”

They turned their focus back to the lesson and before long the bell ended the most pleasant ninety minutes of Meng Yao’s day.

“Will I see you at lunch?”

If he imagined a hopeful undertone in Xichen’s voice that was nobody’s business.

“I’ll be present.”

He would decidedly not sit with Xichen and Nie Mingjue, but he would be present. It had its perks. He was less easily distracted from his actual food intake.

“Could I talk to you about homecoming then? There are some things we need to figure out and I would really like your opinion on them. We’ll decorate later this week, but I know you’re busy, so I’d like to run it by you during school hours.”

“Um, yeah, of course.” Meng Yao tried not to sound overexcited, it was just homecoming after all. But it was a welcomed distraction. He fondly remembered when they were on prom committee last year, even though they didn’t attend. Tossing streamers into the bag and then at each other while they swept up the gymnasium. There was something so liberating about being alone with Xichen, their laughter echoing off the walls as they ate leftover finger foods and talked about their summer plans. “I can meet you in the library after class on Friday, if that works?”

“That would be lovely.” Xichen smiled and headed down the hall toward English class.

—

Model UN was fine. They spent most of the hour preparing for the next conference, pouring over books about Nuclear Warfare and Treaty Rights. Truth be told, Meng Yao was only half listening while he took notes on the school typewriter. He was about halfway through mindlessly typing “excellent work, gang. Have a nice weekend” before he realized they were breaking.

Xichen was in the library as promised, happily getting ahead on his Physics homework. “Sorry,” Meng Yao apologized.

“What for?”

“I’m late.”

“Hardly.” Xichen produced an apple from his bag. “It’s really fine, I know that you have Model UN and all.”

“Thanks,” Meng Yao accepted the apple.

“Plus, Wangji has volleyball practice tonight anyway and he needs a ride home.” Xichen produced a binder of details and Meng Yao practically swooned when he saw the colour-coding. It was a system they had devised together: Green for finances, blue for food and drink, red for legal things—forms and whatnot—and so forth. “So, decorations. I revised the budget and we can free up some extra money. We need a theme, no? For the dance portion.”

“Yes. And if we’re doing spirit week—do we have spirit days picked out?”

Xichen flipped a few pages ahead, mumbling to himself, “School colours, Flashback Day, PJ Day, Beach Day, Jersey Day.”

Meng Yao screwed up his face at the disjointed roster. God, didn’t their co-council members have any idea about cohesion? “Well, we have to keep Jersey Day for Game Night, but we can build up to the home-coming dance theme with each spirit day, no?”

Xichen gleefully crossed out PJ Day and Beach Day and Meng Yao swore he looked relieved. “What about doing Americana? Its the school’s 75th anniversary this year, we can keep the School Colours, the jersey and the flashback and substitute Beach Day and PJ Day for something a little more New York or at least closer to New Hoenderloo High history.”

“Gangster Day?” Meng Yao suggested.

Xichen scoffed. “What does New Hoenderloo have to do with the mob?”

“I don’t know, our prime export is corn and varsity jocks. But we’re so close to New York that I’m sure people won’t bat an eye.”

Xichen nodded and added Gangster Day to the agenda. He supposed it was better than Farm Day or something.

“And, um, we can do a classic American Day? Red, White, and Blue and that junk. Founding fathers.”

“Would work.”

“And we can decorate the homecoming dance with American Classics, a jukebox instead of a DJ, we can serve milkshakes, and do ‘50s Diner lighting?”

Xichen laughed. He loved Meng Yao’s big ambitions. “Remember, I said, some money was freed up. We’re hardly Studio 54.”

“Let me see that budget.” Meng Yao poured over the numbers, looking for missed unnecessary spending. “A jukebox is way cheaper than a DJ, you know. That saves us a couple hundred bucks easy. Plus, if we raise the ticket prices by a few dollars, we can make up the difference. That’s not even including fundraisers like the Football Team Charity Car Wash or the Meat Raffle.” Meng Yao wrote out all the numbers neatly so that Xichen would have something to show the rest of the committee on how to really throw a great home-coming.

“See, this is why we need you to be vice-president!”

Meng Yao blushed. “Really? Little ol’ me?”

He suddenly became less playful when he saw Lan Wangji appear in the library. Wangji was, of course, polite, like his older brother, and, of course, also socially awkward, drastically unlike his older brother. So, he would wait stoically in the library entry until his brother would notice him, rather than interrupting them and risking making small talk with Meng Yao. “Your brother is done with practice, I think.”

Xichen waved and asked Wangji a bunch of questions: How was practice? When is the next game? Would he need something to eat? And Wangji replied simply: “Good. Tuesday. No. Can’t spoil dinner.”

“Ready to go home?”

“Yes.”

Meng Yao packed his things up alongside Xichen, happily chattering about how much progress they made in just a half hour. “It’s really coming together,” he added as he went to turn left to catch the bus.

“Would you like a ride home?” Xichen offered.

“It wouldn’t be too much trouble, would it?”

“You live a couple blocks away from us. It would be far more convenient.”

Meng Yao’s lips curled softly, gratefully. “Then, I would love a ride. Thank you.”

—

“Looks like you have guests,” Xichen observed, trying to make pleasant conversation as always. Meng Yao recognized that car. God, he wondered if that social worker worked on commission, a little extra for every traumatized child she dragged to Jin Guanshan. God knows there were probably enough bastards to make up an entire career. Meng Yao’s tired sigh turned into an airy half-laugh, mostly at his own joke. But Xichen smiled. “Have a lovely visit,” he added when he pulled into the driveway and let Meng Yao out of the car.

“Thanks. And thanks again for the ride home, I really appreciate it.”

“Anytime, A-Yao.”

Mrs. Jin had put out tea and coffee, even a tray of baked goods. Her gentle sips and small, delicate bites quickly hardened into a tight frown. Meng Yao felt like he did three years ago. Mrs. Jin was consistent; she wore the same tired, expectant face and flashed her cold, irritated gaze at Meng Yao when he froze in the living room. “A-Yao, our other son.” Meng Yao almost rolled his eyes at how much Mrs. Jin visibly struggled to call him ‘our son.’ “You must remember him?” Her voice was pleasant enough when talking to the social worker.

“I do. How are you? How is school? Still playing soccer?”

“Good. And good.” Meng Yao had never played soccer in his life, but he played along and told her that he might even be getting a scholarship for it. No one knew enough to correct him, anyway.

She gave him a well-rehearsed polite smile, before turning her attention back toward Mrs. Jin. “I trust you know the drill. If there are any problems, please do not hesitate to call. Though you should know.” She trailed off and Meng Yao could see her thinking through what to say next. “You know, he has had some problems in his group homes, but those situations are volatile for any child. A stable, loving home like this one will probably do him good.”

            Meng Yao’s attention turned to the muffled conversation Xuanyu was having with someone in the basement.

So he had a new brother now, he supposed. And a new roommate.

            “And this is Meng Yao!” He heard Xuanyu say before he was even halfway down the stairs. Really, who else could it have been? Who else would want to go down into their creepy, damp basement bedroom? Meng Yao forced his most welcoming smile. He remembered how shy he felt when he first came to New York. Shy and lonely and so, so angry at the world. A smile and a polite, calm introduction was the least he could do.

            The boy, who couldn’t have been much younger than he was, gave him a full smile. “Hi.” There was something so juvenile about that smile that it unnerved Meng Yao. It wasn’t innocent like Xuanyu’s, happy regardless of his circumstances. No, this was boyish in a hedonistic way, sharp and carefree; all pointed canines and no baby teeth.

            “Xue Yang.” He said, bobbing his chin and widening his smile to an almost wolfish state.

            “Nice to meet you, Xue Yang.” Meng Yao could thankfully recover the conversation quite quickly. He welcomed first years all the time, and even though Xue Yang was going into Junior year and would hardly be as intimated of him as a 13-year-old, he was sure the faltering of his welcoming tone would go unthought of. “I can’t imagine your coming here was brought on by good circumstances, so—”

            “Oh no, asshole cardboard suburbanites were my childhood dream.” Meng Yao quickly learned that Xue Yang liked to laugh at his own obnoxious sarcasm. A lot. And Xuanyu, ecstatic at yet another older brother, also liked to laugh.

            “So, if you want to talk about it,” he continued, trying to move on from Xue Yang’s instant dislike of the situation, “I would be more than happy to.” It really was not Meng Yao’s place to judge him for it. If his childhood was anything like his own, filled with promises of a dad who was just coming back, always just coming back someday, then Xue Yang was likely utterly disappointed by the dad who had just relegated him to the basement and was headed back to work after making his wife do all the talking. No fancy house and fully-stock fridge could make up for that.

            “Meng Yao is really good at talking,” Xuanyu assured. “My mom slit her wrists when I was five.”

            Xue Yang scoffed at his candour, a cheeky grin spreading. “You really just say whatever the hell you want, eh?” Xuanyu nodded, just happy to get someone’s attention. Xue Yang loved it when kids were stupid.

            “And my aunt always told me it was my fault. But Yao-gege said its not and he always tells me that when I have nightmares. So, he can make you feel better.”

            “Xuanyu.” Meng Yao gave him a gentle pat on the back of his head, dropping his voice to a whisper. “remember, we don’t have to tell everyone everything, okay?”

            “Why not? We’re brothers!”

            “Yeah,” Xue Yang turned back to his trashbag-suitcases and began to take over the bottom bunk. “We’re brothers, aren’t we, Yaoyao?”

            My bed…, Meng Yao thought about explaining Xue Yang could have the clearly unused top bunk but thought against it. What was the difference anyway?

[onepiece-oc-archives]

Heyy, any tips for dressing OCs? I struggle a lot coming up with outfits that look unique while looking like it fits in with the rest of the characters and the world.

Hi, thanks so much for your ask! Boy oh boy do I have tips for you, so buckle up! I'll try to keep this as straightforward as possible, but if you get lost on the way, I'll give examples at the bottom of the post.

First of all, it's important to have a feel for the character's personal style. One of the first things I do for every new OC I create is usually to hop onto Pinterest and make an aesthetic board for them because it just helps with so many things. Sometimes, you'll just stumble across the main design detail of your OC on accident! For example, my OC Aurelia's signature claws just showed up when I searched "gold aesthetic", and I decided that this was the way to go.

But let's go back: How do I even know what to search for? Well, you might want to have a basic concept for your character. What are their inspirations? What is their background? Do they prefer clothes that are more practical or more stylish? Do they have any signature colors? How do they come off in the eyes of other people and does that match their fashion sense? How rich are they?

The last point may be helpful to get a basic idea but, in the end, it doesn't have to be the deciding factor. Let's take the Straw Hats, for example. At the start of the story, they're not exactly rich. Still, both Sanji and Nami are walking around with nice clothes. Nami steals her clothes or bargains with (or threatens) the vendor until they give her a huge discount. Sanji, meanwhile, probably had a good bit of money before he left Baratie since it was a fairly successful restaurant, and I'm willing to bet that he probably only has one or two good jackets, so he might look high-end, but he's actually not very rich at all.

What I'm trying to say is: Knowing how your OC acquires your clothes can be a huge help both for their character design and for fleshing out their story.

Otherwise, just throw anything about your OC you can think of into Pinterest's search bar, glue "outfit" or "aesthetic" to it, and you'll probably find some good inspo for your OC's clothing style.

Now that you have an idea of their fashion sense, time to make it fit in!

I'll be the first to admit, the early animanga art style doesn't really leave a lot open for detailed character design, but once you get further into the story, you can practically go completely wild.

The first thing I'd think about is: What's your OC's place in the world? Are they a Marine? Great! You can draw them in uniform! A noble? What culture is their kingdom inspired by? A pirate? What are their crewmates dressed like? After all, some crews practically have their own version of a uniform or at least a theme.

In the end, someone's clothes "fitting in" probably isn't as much of an issue as you think. Yes, the Straw Hats' outfits look pretty simple in the early animanga episodes, but... take one look at OPLA or even try imagining their outfits in real life and you'll figure out at that isn't necessarily the case. They're just simply drawn because it's a simple art style. One Piece is such a diverse world that almost anything goes. You can go surprisingly far into sci-fi or steampunk or historical, whatever you like, if you play around with it a little.

A thing that I like to do is to take inspiration from the characters that my OC is close to. The Straw Hats are especially great here because, for a lot of story arcs, their clothes collectively have a theme, but they still manage to be individual and unique. How?

The details. It's all in the details. Even if your OC is a Marine, you can make them unique through the details. Think about Coby! How is Coby unique? Pink hair and those signature glasses! Most of the Straw Hats have one design detail that carries on throughout pretty much all of their outfits, be it an accessory, a color scheme, a pattern... Luffy has his straw hat, obviously. Zoro has his swords, earrings and bandana. Nami has circles and stripes. Usopp loves himself some overalls and, in the animanga, his goggles. Sanji almost always wears a suit or at least a dress shirt and, if he doesn't, the outfit is most likely blue. Think about how this works for your OC. What's the one detail that carries on throughout all of their outfits? That's what makes them unique and recognizable.

But details can also help tie your OC into the greater world. Remember that you are an artist making character design and you're free to throw in as many easter eggs as you want. They can really add to an outfit. Adopt an accessory from a character that your OC is close to! Make the pattern of their clothes a nod to someone or something or someplace else! That's what brings your OC to life because it's what people do. We steal each other's clothes, we buy matching outfits, we unintentionally and subconsciously pick up on or play off of other people's sense of style... It's a natural process, maybe even a sign of love, and it's one of my favourite things to see in art or character design.

To maybe put this all into perspective, let me walk you through how I came up with the outfits for two of my OCs, from two different backgrounds and parts of the world.

OC no. 1 is my beloved Akaito Coraline. Cora is a tailor of considerable fame throughout the East Blue and ends up joining the Straw Hats because she's childhood friends with Sanji. Finally, she ends up dating both Sanji and Zoro.

Practically the first design detail I had about her was a nod to her family, because her family and their tailoring tradition is a very important part of Cora's character. So, it was decided that she would have a sewing needle pierced through her ear. Her profession as a tailor also made it pretty self-explanatory to me that she would prefer clothes that are, well, tailored, and she most likely makes all of her clothes herself. So, she could wear fitted blouses and other fairly intricate or expensive stuff without actually being rich or being able to go shopping often because she can sew those clothes herself - which is also a lot cheaper. It also occurred to me that Cora would have a love of fashion and would probably put fashion over functionality in her outfits. Because of her backstory, I also knew that she would keep her back covered. Lastly, as a pirate, she would have to have some kind of weapon, and I decided on a rapier, because it's elegant, feminine, fashionable, and long and pointed like a sewing needle.

In the end, I threw all of those things together, picked reference images from Pinterest, slapped them into my drawing program, and, through trial and error, came up with this:

Base by Hevis-Swan on DeviantArt by the way - use and credit bases, kids, it really helps!

We've got the sewing needle through the ear and one of Zoro's earrings to link her to him. We've got a form-fitted blouse and vest where I made sure to actually draw the different panels so you could have an idea of the sewing process. The black things on her sleeves are sleeve garters, which are meant to hold your sleeves up while you work, and I figured Cora might wear them as one of the few things she wears for practicality's sake - but they're also made of lace because she loves her fashion. The idea to have her wear pants was more of an afterthought because I absolutely wanted the holster for her scissors, but the pants are based off a pair that I own myself! The belt is based off of historically accurate belts used to hold rapiers in the 16th and 17th century. Those boot covers are extremely impractical to button up, showing Cora's "fashion over function" principle. Finally, she wears heels because she's short and likes the extra height, and the anklet is a gift from Sanji, hence the blue and silver.

On a different note, we have OC no. 2: Dracule Aurelia, the wife of Dracule Mihawk. If you've ever seen Mihawk, you know that he's one fancy man, and the same applies for Aurelia. She is rich, filthy rich, and she's an incredibly powerful pirate. Her vibe is that of a mafia boss, a femme fatale, of power and deadliness through beauty. Her epithet is "Black Widow" because all of her lovers keep dying one way or another. Either by her hand or through other mysterious circumstances.

With those things in mind, I was already pretty sure of how I wanted to draw Aurelia and what clothes she should wear. "Aurelia" roughly means "the golden one" and, combined with her incredible wealth, that already guaranteed that she'd be wearing a lot of gold. Secondly, I knew her clothes had to be sexy. There's no other way to put it; she had to be turning heads. She also needed to be able to kick people in the nose. And lastly, I wanted it to be easy to see that her and Mihawk were married, so I took a lot of inspiration from him.

Bases by Fluffy-foxgirl and Alex-Hime on DeviantArt

This outfit is essentially one big easter egg hunt. The flower symbol is found on Mihawk's sleeve, the long coat is inspired by Mihawk and the collar is both a reference to him and Aurelia's father (whom I will not name here for spoiler reasons), she wears crosses just like Mihawk, the feathers on her headpiece are a nod to the feathers on Mihawk's hat, the petal-like sleeves are a nod to the island she's from... But the outfit is still 100% her! The way everything is very revealing, the gold chains, the claws, the high slit, the dagger with the spider in its pommel...

So yeah! I hope this helped at least a little. Hope you're having a wonderful day! ^^

[twistedminutia]

Hello! Happy anniversary!! For the ask game, what does Cater think of Gray, specially following chapter 22. Since he was the only one not there for the scar reveal, it could be fun to get a glimpse into his thoughts here :D

Hm, so it's a little hard to write out exactly what Cater was thinking in the aftermath of that whole thing... so in honor of this being the last ask of the event, I'll write out the actual scene where Cater found out. Spoilers for chapter 22 of A Million and One Minutia.

"So why'd we take Gray to the infirmary anyway?" Cater asks. He's standing just outside the room itself, leaning against the doorway. Ace is on the other side, arms folded, kicking absently at the floor. "She wasn't super chatty on the way here. Did she get herself with a knife or something?"

"Nah," Ace says. Cater narrows his eyes. Ace is behaving a little odd. Usually there's a sort of looseness about him, an easy carelessness. And there still is, but now it's more affected. Ace is tense, but trying not to look it.

"Did something happen?" Cater presses. "Riddle seemed weird." His faces were always easier to read than he intended. He tried for a stern look, and often succeeded, but sometimes he couldn't quite hide the way his mouth wobbled with worry, or how his eyes could be just a bit too wide and frantic.

Ace doesn't say anything for a moment. Then he glances through the doorway. After a moment of consideration, he moves closer to Cater. "Dunno if I should really be telling you this, but you'll probably find out eventually. Gray's got this weird stiffness in one of her shoulders. You might've noticed before." Cater had, but he hadn't given it much thought. "Riddle found out, made her show him what was going on. She's got these scars..."

"Scars," Cater repeats. "How bad?"

Ace draws lines along his left shoulder. Loops, like he's wrapping a rope under his armpit. "Like this."

Cater frowns. "How'd she get those?"

Ace shakes his head. "She doesn't know. Or she knows and she doesn't want to tell us."

Cater nods. The latter explanation strikes him as more likely. It's hard to imagine getting scars that significant and not knowing where they're from. And Gray... they're not friends, but he feels like he should understand her. She's like him. Transient. She'll be going home someday. He'll be leaving at the end of this year. Why tell anyone anything? Why trust? You know it'll all just go away in the end.

Ace peers into the infirmary again. He always acts unaffected, but he's worried. He doesn't hide it as well as he wants to, or thinks he does. It's kind of cute.

He must know that Gray is leaving. They don't know exactly when, but at some point, she'll leave. But he's still attached, even if he wouldn't admit it. Gray doesn't make as much of an effort to keep people distant as Cater does. She still makes some effort, of course. But he's noticed how she brushes off concern, dodges questions about herself when she can. She'll answer questions, but the personal stuff gets shoved away. It's not an obvious mask, but it's there.

And yet... Grim practically clings to her. Deuce keeps an eye out for anyone who might push her around for being magicless. Ace stares into the infirmary with restless, nervous energy. She can dodge connection all she wants, but it doesn't stop people from getting attached.

Cater deliberately does not self-reflect on that. But he does think about the scars Ace indicated wrapping around Gray's shoulder, like something grabbed her and burned deep into her flesh.

What makes a scar like that?

[froggy-anon]

Eone- intro

Name: Eone (Qu’lyvianne the Sanguineous pre tadpole) Nicknames: Viv/Vianne (Gortash), kid (Jehira, Halsin), Birth: he just spawned in at some point 30-something years ago Sexuality/gender: pansexual, reverse demisexual??, “whatever is more fitting” (genderfluid, intersex) Pronouns: he/they/she Status: durge, deceased (main timeline); tav, alive (flipped! timeline) Eyes colour: aberrated red, whatever colour is Volo’s eye Hair colour: raven blue with blood red highlights Nationality: Baldurian Height: 1,85m/6’2 Marks: I’ll just post he drawing of all his scars later because it’s a lot. Also the eye from Volo and golder garments on his horns. Class: Oathbraker Paladin Timeline: Dalereconing (DR)

Likes: Cats, reading history books, sweet wine, Karlach and Minthy deserve to be here, being tall, forests, potatoes in any way shape or form, roasted dwarf Dislikes: being reminded about what happened on Bhaal's altar Background: loud noises, nosy people, kids, having his top surgery still unhealed and botched, fish Personality: Very straight forward- Eone is very direct and often speaks before he thinks. With little to no thoughts inside his abused brain, he often comes off as funny without trying. He’s reckless and likes to do stupid things just to get that Serotonin going. On the inside, he is deeply insecure and lonely. With memories gone and dysphoria of living in a body that is not his, he often feels scared and  Relatives: Bhaal (father), Sarevok Anchev (brother), Helena Anchev (niece), Orin the Red (niece), unknown mother (???) Relationships: He might have had a short fling with Astarion before they realized that this was too unhealthy and they’re better off as best friends. He quickly became best friends with Shadowheart and Gale, same with Karlach tho he developed a small crush on her at some point. With Gortash it’s still a little bit complicated; for ten years they were building a somewhat trusting relationship only for Orin to come in and rearrange Eone’s brain. He taught him grace and how to get around with people (since in the temple he didn’t have a chance to develop actual social skills), he helped him discover his taste in music and books, they really grow close even though none of these things happened on purpose. And now he doesn’t remember any of it, even if his heart does. It’s like they made two steps forward only to go 20 backwards, but they did get together after Eone and the gang got to Baldur’s Gate, after the brain was defeated they moved out of the Gate and continued to build their relationship, free of the burden of leading cults.

Trivia:  He is a changeling but after Orin tries to empty his skull like we do with eggs before Easter, he loses his ability to change shape and is stuck in a body he was in when happened what happened. First two acts he is developing his morals from nothing and values deeply other’s opinion. His mother, Amelie, was Ilmater’s paladin before the indoctrination- in contrast, Eone was Bhaals paladin before Orin decided to make their brain a slushie. He also broke his oath (that no one knows what it was) the very same day the natuloid crashed Severe mommy issues, developed a short crush on Karlach and Minthy because of that, didn’t get a chance to get with either of them tho. Got lobotomized by Volo for funsies, got a cool eye in return Remember the mother? Yeah no, there was no mother. Eone IS delusional and wholeheartedly believes that he was built out of Amelie’s flesh instead of Bhaal’s. At some point in his early childhood, he started believing that at some point he had a mother and that she cared for him, for closure. He only continued to spiral more.

[quibbs126]

So some days ago, I was trying to draw/redraw these guys, and today I got around to drawing the rest of the page. Mostly while waiting for my first class to start, and then after that

Anyways, so if you remember, these guys (above) are these guys (below)

Mercury, Venus and Saturn are all siblings, Ariel and Salt are their parents, and then there’s their uncle Erik, who’s mostly just here because Ariel’s albino, so you can’t really tell what colors she’s passing down

I will admit, I’ve considered the possibility of cutting out the middle man and just having Salt and Erik be yaoi together, but also the kids get their weird powers from their mom, not him, and also he has his own kid, so I’m not sure. But I can maybe try to have more gay pairings this time around, considering I originally made these characters when I was 12 and didn’t understand how gay people worked at the time

Anyways, their hair was my main concern this time around, since I think by the latter two of these old sketches I figured out how I wanted to draw their hair. And yeah, I think they look much better here. Ariel might need a bit more tweaking on her hair though

Admittedly, I did just slap on some outfits, especially with the latter three I drew today, but I also don’t think they look entirely bad. I do need to at some point finalize their designs though

I also need to flesh out the details of their world. Like, I say Ariel and the kids have weird powers, by which I originally meant psychic but with some added non-specified weirdness, but I also don’t know how weird psychic powers should be in this world. Originally everyone had elemental powers, but I don’t know if I should continue that. Like, magic still exists, but does everyone just naturally have it? Are they elemental or just random? Also what’s the country they’re living in, and what government is Mercury working for? Because I don’t really want to keep my old ideas for it. Also do they have last names? What do I do for those?

I’m gonna need to figure out proper worldbuilding again. Well, I’m not sure how much I knew it prior, but still

But anyways yeah, have these guys

[last-of-the-lot]

Alright it is still gnawing at my brain stem, the vengeance saga is still swirling in my brain, and I am avoiding work, so I am going to flesh out Critical Role/Epic the musical AU. Working name; Shadowed Dawn AU.

I'll come up with something more witty as I write more.

For anyone who has no idea what the hell I am talking about, go read this post.

So! First and foremost I am going to take all my ramblings out of the tags and put them in this post and give more context to them.

What does Percy make and unmake during the night? He creates and melts down parts for an intricately carved pocket watch.

In the Odyssey, Penelope is weaving something. It escapes me if it is a mourning shroud for Odysseus or for his father, but I know that it is something important enough to stay the hands of the suitors. In this version, Percy was commissioned to create a pocket watch or something mechanically beautiful, and elves with their understanding of art and all that respect the time he is taking. To a point.

Why is Percy being passive? Well he married Vex and moved to Syngorn of course.

Going by campaign canon, Syngorn sucks for non-elves. The books expand on it, but I think that Percy could get by but not outwardly go against the system that is in place. He also has a daughter to think about here and despite his family being willing to help him out, they can't just mess with a line of succession.

Where has Vex been for twenty years? Trying to get back from putting down an ancient dragon and every other monster that got in her way.

I like to imagine that this sort of a No Briarwood/ an Arranged Marriage AU. Not a no Orthax AU, that is important. (Or will be later.)

Vex and Percy married youngish. They had known each other for even longer. Right now I'm thinking they met when Percy was ten and Vex was fourteen. (Vex had already been training with The Dawnfather for four years, yes this will be explained later.) They got married in their twenties around the age they would have been during the first campaign. Vex leaned into society dealings more, and Syldor saw that as having a use. Hence arranged marriage.

Instead of a dragon the monster might turn into a city killing aberration, as The Dawnfather has an issue with those. Maybe he sent our his champion to go deal with that and didn't anticipate how badly it would go.

What is the Bow? Feanthras obviously.

In the odyssey the reason that stringing and drawing the bow was such a challenge was because the thing was made for Odysseus specifically, who was the descendant of a god. In this, I think that it has more to deal with the life Vex led as an elven ranger trained by The Dawnfather than anything to do with relations to a god. Reasoning being if she continued to do the same things that she always did while pregnant with Vesper, then a bit of what made Vex special made Vesper special as well. Sort of how a few people like to headcanon Vesper as an aasimar.

Why did Vex not take it with her? Same reasoning that Odysseus didn't take his bow to Troy.

Despite not going to war, Vex still went to go kill some stuff on the opposite end of the world. She left her bow because it was a symbol of strength and maybe because she trusted herself to get the job done without it.

Why is Vex in a position of power? Because Syldor died (of mysterious circumstances) and Velora was too young.

Yes I think someone merced his ass. Probably not Vex, despite what everyone believes. Syldor died right before the marriage was supposed to be completed but not in time for it to be called off. Vex didn't look unhappy but people talk. No one would outright say it, but it would further explain why she is respected. Why didn't Velora's mother take over in Syldor's place? Line of succession and Syldor had no written grips about Vex, so she got the job.

The Dawnfather is Athena and Vesper is Telemachus

Okay a lot of this part is just going to be rambling, but this dynamic is something I need everyone to walk with me on. Take Luke Holt's voice, and imagine it coming from the faceless, burning power of the SUN. Now imagine the Sun kicking your ass. This is the dynamic the Dawnfather brings to the table. And we know from Downfall that he can care, he can care so much.

The Dawnfather would move a lot in avatars. Not so much a smaller version of himself or even anything human looking. I think he would favor appearing as a mouse when he needs to whisper into the ears of his chosen, and a dragon when tearing people apart. In wider canon, Pelor is often the god of time, so I feel alright giving him some form of quick thought even if that isn't his 'God Move' as they are known in Epic. It is just him exercising his power of his domain. What would his 'God Move' be? Good question, I'll get back to you on that.

Vesper is a bit like Telemachus and also presents a more refined appearance. Elven ideals and all that. But she is a vicious thing when pressed. I like to imagine she has sword training from both her father and Dawnfather, and also a bit of magic that no one can explain. It's god given. (Might have been a group effort.)

In my head Percy is draped in a mourning veil and tasteful symbols of both the Archheart and Dawnfather while making the challenge because he is mourning both his autonomy and hopefully the suitors while making a plea to both the god of his new home and the god of his childhood to protect his daughter.

Okay this one is a bit big but let's see if I can condense it. Vex began to read up on the Dawnfather as a way to connect with Percy, as it would be something that she knew he would learn as he got older. The Dawnfather took an interest in her before it even got to that point, and trained her for ten years before sending her off on a fight. He continued through this AU's version of the Cyclops incident, before leaving for reasons I will flesh out later. The Dawnfather is aware of his wayward De Rolo and the prayers being sent, but the Archeart is having too much fun with the scenario to really let him do anything beyond mentor Vesper.

I feel as if the Archheart is taking the place of Hermes here in personality more that role. But I can see them making sense for helping out Vex in multiple ways. The Archeart did create elves, so that does make Vex a descendant of theirs in a way. Plus I feel like they would love a show.

The veil itself is inspired by the veils that the priestesses of the Matron of Ravens wear as well as the act of being a dead man walking and covered in the sheet that would one day cover his dead body. He knows that he would probably not be buried the Whitestone way, and this is his way of making peace with that. The symbols are calls to the gods a last ditch hope that their attention will turn in his direction. I think that Percy at this point would be as much of an atheist as he could get away with. Not as much as he was one in the campaign, and I will NOT be getting into Exandrian religion and what atheism means in a world where you have tangible proof of the gods in this post, but in context of this AU and Percy I think he still has a spot of hope in him. Yes Vesper still gets into a Little Wolf like fight and yes she would have eventually strung Fenthras like Telemachus almost strung Odysseus' bow

I touched on the second part of this earlier, but now to expand on the first part. Vesper is properly educated and trained as Syngorn children are, but she is more human than Vex ever was and Vex had issues with elves.

So she gets in fights a few times. Her magic manifests around her thirteenth birthday to literally everyone's surprise but the Archheart who is too busy laughing their butt off and running from a pissed off Dawnfather to really explain shit for a few years. Percy ( rightfully ) takes this to mean that his daughter has the blessing of the god of their home despite being more human than elf, and incorporates the Archeart into his daily prayers. The suitors started really pressing the issue of Percy's remarriage and the control of the Vessar estate and power seat around her seventeenth birthday, and the little wolf fight is her going up against a blade singer mage maybe a century or two her senior.

This is when The Dawnfather comes back to support her, and the Archheart goes off to find out where that darn champion of The Dawnfather's went. Maybe if he had her back, he'd leave them alone about the amount of magic they gave the younger champion.

That is a lot of my thoughts on the Percy side of things. There are still more, like what role Orthax plays in this, but that is for when I form all my thoughts together.

Next post will probably be about the crew Vex has on her journey home.

[affiesque]

As promised, here’s the second half of my random thoughts and observations about Desire Catcher now that I’ve finished my latest rewatch (links aren’t working for me right now, but if you want to read the first half just click on one of the tags on this post and it should come up easily). The entire series is 24 episodes, most of which are somewhere between 35 and 45 minutes long - so, depending on what types of shows you usually watch, it might be a bit of a commitment. But I definitely think it’s worth it.

OK, time to brace yourself, as there’s a lot going on in this second part…

At the halfway mark the relationship between Luo Fei and Lu Fengping is starting to fray (oh look, it's my good friend angst again) - essentially, Lu Fengping is frustrated that his mom’s murder remains unsolved and Luo Fei hasn’t given him much in the way of clues like he was supposed to. Lu Fengping ends up working with the main villain (Bai Ya Xing), who is behind all of the crimes/murders that have been happening, to find his mom’s killer and get revenge. (I won’t spoil the details, but I will say that this particular storyline could probably have used some fleshing out, as the details and motivations don’t quite come together in the end. As I’ve noted before, the real draw with Desire Catcher is the relationships, so you can kind of wave those plot holes away - unless that sort of thing really bothers you, which I totally get.)

There’s a bit of a cat-and-mouse game going on throughout the middle episodes, with Lu Fengping getting more cagey and Luo Fei chasing after him a bit, attempting to figure out what he’s hiding. You get Luo Fei trying to casually inquire with multiple people as to Lu Fengping’s whereabouts when he’s gone for no more than a couple of hours at a time (we get it bro, you’re obsessed), not to mention lurking in the shadows near his apartment at night (yikes, dude). During this period there are definitely times when Lu Fengping looks almost guilty for pulling away and for what he’s planning to do, like he wants to confide in Luo Fei but he can’t - there’s a particular wistfulness to his expressions that’s so on point and gets me every time.

One nice little touch throughout is the many dinner dates the two leads go on - granted, one ends with Luo Fei leaving before they even eat anything, and another has him answering Lu Fengping’s question “Does everyone look like a suspect to you?” with “Yes - you look like one too,” so not exactly the most romantic situations (social skills are not Luo Fei’s strong point). But I am a sucker for those little intimate moments - misty evenings with blurry streetlights, tables piled high with steaming dishes and clinking glasses, the muted conversations of the people around them - and of course the sharing food = love symbolism.

Speaking of tropes, if you’re a fan of jealousy, then DC has got you covered. Again, no big plot spoilers here but Luo Fei finds out Lu Fengping has brought a girl home one night - not for the reason he (or anyone else) thinks, but you can tell he’s in his feelings about it (and Lu Fengping, I love you, but maybe in the future do not kidnap a stranger - even if you had your reasons and you were sort of helping her in the moment). He ends up getting arrested (twice!) for the abduction and when Luo Fei fails to help him, their “big breakup” begins in earnest - Lu Fengping saying “I shouldn’t have counted on you right from the start” got me right in the heart, ngl.

*Books as symbolism alert* - we get just one shot of some books strewn around Lu Fengping’s apartment in the second half, but I did find it interesting that the subtitles call out two of them specifically, which feels important. Those are “The Sea, The Sea” by Iris Murdoch and “It Takes More Than A Carrot And A Stick” by Wess Roberts. The former is about love and loss and romantic ideals by an author known for writing about morality and the power of the unconscious - things that seem relevant to a hypnotist, I would think. The latter actually made me laugh audibly when I noticed the subtitle: “Practical Ways Of Getting Along With People You Can’t Avoid At Work.” Sounds about right for them.

Here’s another alert - BIG GIANT SPOILERS AHEAD!! Click below with caution…

OK, so the big event of the second half is Lu Fengping faking his death(!!) in order to give him the time and space away from Luo Fei/the police to move ahead with his revenge plan. Long story short, Luo Fei thinks Lu Fengping has blown himself up, goes through the five stages of grief, figures out he’s still alive and somehow manages to be like, “Hey, thought you were dead but no biggie - let’s not even hug it out and instead just go right back to teasing each other and solving crimes - it’s all good.” Honestly, I’m glossing over a lot here - how absolutely devastated Luo Fei (and everyone else, for that matter) is when he thinks Lu Fengping is dead, how they finally yell a bit about their feelings and come clean about certain things when they reunite, how the OST rips your heart out again and again in these moments (“Did we meet just to be torn apart?” - I mean, come on), how relieved Lu Fengping looks when he realizes that Luo Fei doesn’t hate him for what he did, how Luo Fei suddenly can’t stop smiling (you’ve come a long way, baby). I think these are probably some of the strongest scenes in the entire show, but I must admit that the way they don’t truly address the fallout of something this intense still bugs me (stay tuned for a fic I’m writing on that very topic, in case that sort of thing interests you - and @thinkonce-acttwice, I ✨promise✨ I’m actually working on it!).

I know I haven’t mentioned Liang Yin in this second-half review yet - what happened/happens to her still plays a major role in the story of Lu Fengping’s mom’s death. I won’t give the details here, but do note that there are some flashback scenes of her getting attacked that might be rough for some viewers - so please keep that in mind. However, aside from a couple of moments where the men in her life feel the need to protect/shelter her despite her being quite capable of handling things herself, I will say that the story gives her back some agency, and it does feel as if by the end she’s come to terms with her past and is in a good place overall. And the relationship between her, Luo Fei, and Lu Fengping gets a really nice resolution - a sort of found family thing that brings them all together.

There’s lots of plot movement as we work our way through the final episodes - the big bad villain is vilaining, there’s an evil nurse who’s in on the shenanigans, poor Professor Ling (Lu Fengping’s mentor and fellow hypnotist) gets accused of being a fraud and ends up in the hospital, Lu Fengping almost stabs himself in the heart while hypnotized by Bai Ya Xing (though of course Luo Fei shows up in the nick of time to save him - I swear, despite knowing that this is just a “bromance” show, every time I watch that scene there’s one split second where it seems like they’re about to lean in and kiss - oof), poor Liang Yin gets kidnapped by the big bad villain (unfortunately, more “man pain”). I tell you, this show is a roller coaster ride every freaking episode.

I won’t spoil the final ending too much, but rest assured Liang Yin is fine. Stuff happens, Lu Fengping ends up in prison - though he sort of puts himself there on purpose, sacrificing himself for Luo Fei, even if he doesn’t come out and say that’s what he’s doing. And he basically gets a form of justice for his mom’s death. The very last bit sees him return from prison on parole - he reunites with the police team and Luo Fei in a slightly cheesy but rather touching moment, though, again, even just a quick hug would’ve been nice…

Bottom line, I love all of them, your honor, and will probably never be over this show - there’s so much to unpack in terms of the role of fate in our lives, how broken people can find something in each other to live for, how to forgive others and, importantly, yourself.

OK, again, this one got away from me, and I know I’m probably forgetting like a million little things, but hopefully I’ve managed to entertain at least one other person with my ramblings. And if anything here has sounded intriguing, please check this little show out so it gets the love it deserves! 🖤

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Also shorter ones today… mostly related to our previous replies and posts!

Anonymous asked:

After seeing Eel Floyd with Riddle

AND THOSE BITE MARKS 👀👀👀👀

I gotta know -

Did Floyd slip and slide in Riddle?

Or

Also

Did Riddle magically goldfish form and the two had merman sex???

Honestly I wasn’t thinking about Riddle also becoming a merman, but they absolutely have to have merman sex at some point, otherwise it just isn’t fair (to me) lol

And to answer your first question, yes, there might have been some slipping and sliding in Riddle involved~

Anonymous asked:

re: the gaslighting Jade ask. I randomly stumbled on your blog from other ones, and I literally blocked you because shroudcest triggers me. Ultimately, we are responsible for our own safety. As long as it’s properly marked for (which yours clearly is since I blocked you the second I made a tumblr), really all we can do is filter the things that hurt us out.

(im agreeing with you btw. draw what you want i cant stop you. just feel like i in particular make a point worth mentioning from seeing that. you can answer this or not bc obviously i probably wont see it anyway)

Anon! Whether you see this reply or not, thank you very much for writing this despite having us blocked lol

You really are making a good point, and I am glad that you are taking care of yourself and avoiding uncomfortable stuff. I really encourage it. Thank you for understanding and for approaching this issue with respect.

Have a good day.

Anonymous asked:

Gaslighting IS Jade’s love language. Also mushrooms.

Facts, Anon <3 He doesn’t waste his gaslighting and mushrooms on those he doesn’t find entertaining love!

Anonymous asked:

Honestly I can totally see Cater as the kind of guy that now and then buys a random manga just because the cover looks aesthetically pleasing, although if they are BL they are probably more oriented towards shonen-ai than explicit content. But also he wouldn't really read them because he finds the stories and characters a bit ridiculous (is he a bitter anti-romantic? or maybe his sisters used to collect shojo manga and he associates the love story genre with them?). I bet when he had roommates he had fun leaving one of his manga lying around, just to see people's reaction and go "aw, shoot, you saw it? that's sooo embarassing..." or something like that

To be honest, I can see that too. Cater seems like someone who isn’t all that into anime and manga, but is aware of it enough to recognise that the cover is pretty and that there is something gay inside (he might figure out the latter thing later as he looks inside the book lol). His sisters really could be into it though, so I can see him having certain associations.

lol Cater’s roommates “finding” his manga though… Don’t act so coy, Cater 😭

Anonymous asked:

Goddammit! Idia, you cannot escape me for long, one way or another, your chest will be licked! *shakes fist at the sky*

I love how this is turning into a Looney Tunes cartoon…

Anonymous asked:

Idia doesn’t have nipples. He accidentally shaved them off. Tragic 😔 L in the chat for his nipples.

Damn. I’m afraid I have bad news for the previous Anon.

Anonymous asked:

Do you have any HCs for Neige and/or Chenya?

We do have HCs about Neige/Vil and Chenya/Riddle (1,2)!

Anonymous asked:

It is I, 🐩 anon,

So I got a friend into twst and tell me why her favorite character is goddamn Crowley? I'm currently trying to convert her to Divus supremacy. Enough about this. Let me ask my silly little question.

Is there anything about TWST's story plot that you dislike or wished it was worked on more? Or character you wish were more fleshed out? 

Your friend has quite the taste… She is probably a genius of sorts 😔🙏

I feel like I was pretty vocal about it, so I am sorry for talking about it again, but I really didn’t enjoy how Ch2 was handled and Leona in general, to be honest. I wrote a post about my grievances a whole year ago, but my stance didn’t really change. We’ve rewatched the majority of the main story since then, and I thought that maybe with fresh minds and fresh eyes we would enjoy Leona at least to some degree, but unfortunately it didn’t really help. The events don’t really help either…

There might be some other things, but this is the one I think about every time when we talk about the flaws of TWST writing.

Anonymous asked:

what is your notp?

A bunch of Leona ships come to mind, i.e. Leona/Malleus, Leona/Vil, Leona/Idia 🤔 But also a bunch of Trey ships, like Trey/Jade or Rook/Trey…

Anonymous asked:

if you had to go on a date with one of the twst boys who are you picking? i'm picking idia

Idia is a great option, Anon; he would be so uncomfortable and awkward, getting nervous about the smallest inconveniences and whispering “thank god” every time you don’t force him to do something… I would pick him to, but my second option would be Jamil. I think he’s pretty chill.

Katsu would've picked Jade because of course, this is the best pick.

Anonymous asked:

any old fandoms that you feel out of love with?

Can’t think of any, Anon… I feel like we never fall completely out of love with anything, just move on, but there is always an opportunity that we’ll come back at some point. Things like Homestuck are still on our minds constantly lol

There are some titles that we kind of started watching, but then stopped because it wasn’t fully out yet, and since then we kind of lost interest for this thing. And with some of these titles it’s very unlikely that we’ll ever go back, but it’s never 1000% impossible. But then again, it’s not like we loved these titles…

Anonymous asked:

Funfact: The crowley that crowley is named after used to perform sex based magic with men

Damn I hope this is what our Crowley also does. This is his dark secret that is very poorly hidden

Anonymous asked:

I think Riddle would be a really good teacher's pet

Oh he would <3 He is a teacher’s pet.

Ironically, I feel like this makes him a bit boring for Crewel…although it depends…🤔

Anonymous asked:

What is a ship you rarely draw but you love

I don’t draw any of them enough, I love them all! Waaaaah :(

I feel like I don’t draw Sebek/Silver nearly enough for how much we love them, Rook/Epel is also a rare one but we love it, Sebek/Idia could use more love, anything with Jamil too…

Anonymous asked:

Please share with us a full list of the preference of the TWST boys? Top or bottom? I typed up a list for you to use!

Anon, we have a list in our pinned post! But since you’ve typed up a list, I’ll go through the list again :) We also have a post in which we explain our reasoning for each choice, so you can read it too if you’re interested.

Oh! And if you meant some other types of preferences, please let me know. In that case though, we have a list of the boys’ kinks, which isn’t the same thing, but pretty close; so you can read this one too if you want <3

Riddle – bottom

Ace – top

Deuce – bottom

Trey – top

Cater – top

Leona – bottom

Ruggie – top

Jack  - top

Azul – top

Floyd – top

Jade – top

Kalim – top

Jamil – bottom

Vil – bottom

Rook – top

Epel – bottom

Idia – bottom

Ortho  – top

Malleus– bottom

Sebek  – top

Lilia  – top

Silver– bottom