#no fancy name colors in this one i cannot be bothered

[milogreer]

the thing about morgan and obscura is that i want obscura to feel like the most treasured person on earth and i know he would treat them that way. because for all that morgan is guiding them through learning how to live with their sight, obscura is the one leading the dance - they choose the time/place, they set the pace, and he meets them exactly where they're comfortable. a real slow burn with them would be so rewarding and i want it so badlyyy

i've talked before about the intimacy of "time is a song" and i am not an essay writer, i am a rambler, so if this is repeating points from that post, that's life! i just wanna talk about them again, more so this time in the context of "consulting with a seer" and how morgan sets the tone for their following relationship right off the bat

You don’t have to answer any of my questions, you don’t have to ask any of your own, this meeting is what you want it to be. But—you’re the one who reached out to the Department. Not the other way around. Clearly you wanted… something. No one’s keeping you here, you can leave at any time, you can tell the Department to go kick rocks and never speak to them again. But you’re the one who asked to meet with another Seer. And now you’re saying… nothing. Is it me? The Department asked that I be the one to speak with you given that we’re the only two Seer Obscura in existence right now, but if anything about me personally is offputting, I’ll gladly ask that a different Seer be the one to help you. Getting you whatever support you’re looking for is the only goal of all this. If someone else would do that better, then that’s what I want for you.

the consistent reassurance that obscura can dip whenever they want to. like from minute one his top priority is making sure they're as comfortable as possible because he knows the anxiety that comes with being a seer obscura

To be Obscura is incredibly rare. To be a Seer Obscura is unheard of. The chance of you or I existing at all is infinitesimal. The chance of us existing at the same time is unfathomable. But we're here.

it's hard to even find the words for how this makes me feel LMFAO it's .... it's the inherent soulmateism of being the only two people alive experiencing the same thing. and the fact that it involves someone who maybe not even necessarily believes in "fate" if i'm understanding ?? like he hates the term "Known Outcome" because he doesn't believe the future is fixed and totally knowable, but he acknowledges how insane it is that they've been brought together despite the chance of it being literally unheard of. ykwim. am i talking nonsense

You and I have a unique circumstance that we face. One that no one else can really understand. [...] It’s just you and me. That said, nothing about that fact is an obligation. Being the only two Seer Obscura doesn’t mean we need to be friends, or even have a relationship at all. It’s your life to live as you choose. If you want guidance, understanding of a shared experience, maybe even friendship eventually from me… then I would like to get to know you. To help you where I can. But if you don’t want those things, if you came here for an answer, and you got it, and you want to go back to what you know, I completely understand. You don’t owe anyone anything by virtue of being who you are.

and back to the gentle insistence that nothing is expected of them - if obscura wants to turn and run, pretend this never happened and continue suppressing their sight, they can. it's entirely their choice. but he's also giving them the reassurance that they aren't alone if they don't want to be.

like. i think what really gets me about all of this is that it's so genuinely selfless of him? because imagine meeting the one person who could truly understand you on a level no one else ever will, someone who by all accounts should not even exist in the same space as you, and then completely sincerely telling them that if they have no interest in sticking around, that's okay. you know? like i imagine the majority of us would at least try convincing them to stay. but he doesn't. he puts all the cards in their hands and lets them choose how to proceed, and he doesn't hound them when they vanish for a while after this meeting. everything happens on obscura's time; there's no pushing them towards anything they don't want

i think obscura is ... fragile, perhaps? and i think they need careful hands and a patient heart and morgan could be everything they need. i want them falling asleep on his couch after a late night talking and i want him to gaze at them fondly before putting a blanket over them. i want brief hand touches when they pass him something and to hear his breath catch in his throat at the contact. i want more instances of that tense pause before "...i want to know you." i want him to make silly jokes just to make them laugh and then to get starry-eyed when it works, and when they try to cover their mouth to hide their smile, i want him to tell them they have a beautiful smile (without telling them not to hide it). i want them to almost kiss but be interrupted by someone's phone going off or otherwise interrupted so they turn away, flushed and awkward, and they don't talk about it again. i want them to kiss in the rain, soaked and shivering but not caring about anything but the way they feel on each other.

sigh. where the hell was i going with this. i don't know. i just think they have so much potential for a life changing slow burn. i cannot believe they make me feel so strongly when they've only had three audios

[germhammy]

“Pilgrim World”

Kent: wow. I’ve never seen this place so crowded

Divina: hey, there’s Lucas and Bianca

Kent, Divina, Yoko and Ajax walk over to them.

Lucas: hi! Did you have any trouble getting in?

Yoko: none. Thanks for the invite.

Ajax: everything smells so good. Better than whatever is cooking at Nevermore

Lucas: -hands the four of them unlimited snack passes and special event tote bags- here you go. Word of advice. Get the free snacks. But don’t go eating them all. Go for the snack sizes if they are meant to be eaten warm.With the unlimited pass you can get snacks from all the stations but only once. You get a discount if you want to buy more. You can get one snack and full size. Don’t fill yourself up on the snacks before the feast

Divina: Bianca, are you guys eating here?

Bianca: no. Lucas’ mother is just overseeing some last minute things. And picking up some food. Then we are headed for the house.

Ajax: Yo. Enid just texted me. She says Wednesday’s family are nuts. Her Aunt Ophelia make her look dull. No wonder Wednesday is allergic to color - shows picture-

Yoko: whoa. Is that a Lion?

Divina: that bald guy looks creepy

Yoko: Divina. Are your parents all right? With the hurricane?

Divina: they are prepared and safe In shelter. They say it’s unbelievable how many tourists arrived.

Kent: -snickering showing the message he just got- Wednesday just sent this

It was a screenshots of an exchange with Xavier

- how is the beach? Having a great time on the shore?

Very funny

What is wrong? I thought you wanted to lounge on the beach?

The shore is off limits right now. We are isolated in various places on the ground floor of the hotel

:picture of various food on the table:

There is more cooking. It smells so good in the house. What does your dinner spread look like? Fancy resort hotel must have some great food, right?

You’re enjoying this aren’t you? This is why you didn’t come with me!

No. I told you Lurch was coming to take me home. It’s not my fault your father cannot be bothered with a simple weather report to see that a category 5 hurricane was on the way

You could have invited me! Instead you mock me!

Perhaps next time. I can introduce you to Carmen Miranda

Who is that?

My boa constrictor. Putting this phone away now. Enid wants to take a photo for her Lock Screen -

Bianca: did that bozo really go to the Caribbean with a category 5 approaching?

Yoko: are we just gonna gloss over that there was a lion in Enid’s pic and Wednesday nonchalantly mentioned she has a boa constrictor named Carmen Miranda?

Bianca: it is the Addams family. Why are you so surprised?

Mrs Walker returned

Mrs Walker: ready? Oh. Your friends. Have a nice time today. Enjoy the Thanksgiving festivities

[hardly-an-escape]

Square: B1 - Dehydration

Title: "dehydration"

Rating: T

Ship: Dream/Hob

Warnings: No archive warnings apply

Additional Tags: retired Dream of the Endless, established relationship, heat wave, temperature play, implied sexual content

Summary: Sleepless and uncomfortable in the midst of a summer heatwave, a retired Dream of the Endless finds an unconventional way to cool off with the help of his lover.

Link to AO3.

my first fill for @dreamlingbingo 2024! (yes, I know it's almost the end of October...)

The nights were the worst.

The irony was not lost on Morpheus – the night had ere been his home. Dreams belong in the dark, after all; belong to the dark. They are born in those middling nowhere hours between sunset and sunrise, and then too had Dream been born – or if not strictly born, at the very least come into existence.

Even the Dreaming, despite its riots of color and flights of fancy, had been greatly comprised of darkness. Of midnights, and of the dim corners of bedrooms, and the unseen things that lurk in them.

But Morpheus was Dream no longer, and the Dreaming was not his. He was human, not dreamstuff, and possessed of the same human foibles and weaknesses as all the other humans who were lying awake in the dark, oppressive heat of London at the height of summer; namely, a physical body, and all the glands that went along with it.

It was so hot.

Morpheus tossed and turned, seeking a cool patch of pillow. He was so sweaty. The top sheet, despite its lightness, stuck to his skin – but if he pushed it down, the breeze from the fan Hob had propped in the corner made his skin prickle uncomfortably, even as it brought momentary relief from the heat. The thin fabric of his underwear felt burdensome and restrictive – even his eyelids, even the inside of his skull felt sweaty.

He rolled over again and genuinely could not help the pitiful-sounding sigh that escaped him.

“Still awake, darling?” Hob’s voice was sleepy.

“Yes,” sniffed Morpheus. “I am. So uncomfortable. I cannot sleep.”

“I know, neither can I. It’s bad this summer.” One broad fingertip ghosted across Morpheus’s collarbone. It felt just slightly wet. Morpheus did not think his body should be able to make itself wet. “Can I do anything for you, love?”

“Yes. No. Yes. The fan is bothering me.”

Hob levered himself out of bed with a soft grunt and switched the fan off, then came back and kissed Morpheus lightly on the forehead.

“Want a little treat?” he asked. “I got something at the shops earlier that I think you’ll like.”

“I have already brushed my teeth.”

“You get special dispensation for cold treats in bed. I decided. On account of how it’s a million degrees even though it’s bloody midnight.”

Hob padded out to the kitchen and Morpheus heard the freezer open and shut. Something clinked against ceramic and then Hob returned, plopping down on the bed by Morpheus’s knees. Morpheus pushed himself up to a sitting position and kicked the sheet down around his feet.

The treat Hob handed him was bright red, even in the darkened bedroom. Morpheus took the wooden stick delicately between his finger and thumb and gave it a tentative lick.

“Cherry,” offered Hob. “Or at least that’s what it said on the label. I imagine it mostly tastes like sugar, really.”

“It is good. And more importantly, it is cold.”

Morpheus nibbled a chunk off the end of the popsicle and let it melt on his tongue. He closed his eyes, the better to savor the experience, to focus on the soothing interplay between sweet and frozen, and thus missed the sight of Hob fishing an ice cube from the small bowl he was holding and rubbing it gently against his mouth. He was surprised into a gasp, eyes flying open, when Hob pressed a chilly, open-mouthed kiss to the inside of one knee.

“Hob – what –”

“Shhh,” Hob said, and placed another kiss, a little higher. “Eat your popsicle.”

Obediently, Morpheus bit off another small piece of the frozen treat. It almost immediately disintegrated into little shards of cherry-flavored ice, sharp and sweet. He felt the chill as it slid down his throat, but barely tasted the popsicle; the whole of his attention was fixed on Hob, on his eyes, wide in the dim room, and on the fresh ice cube he was practically caressing with his lips.

The third kiss was to the thin, soft skin of Morpheus’s inner thigh. The fourth just below his navel. By the time the seventh deliciously chilly brush of Hob’s lips was dropped next to his Adam’s apple, Morpheus’s pulse was racing and the popsicle was drooping dangerously near the sheets, practically forgotten.

Hob, of course, noticed.

“Whoops, love,” he said, reaching over and wrapping his hand around Morpheus’s. “Don’t want that getting on the sheets.”

“No,” Morpheus responded faintly. He was having trouble concentrating.

Hob smirked. He lifted Morpheus’s hand, popsicle and all, and suddenly the whole thing was in his mouth, his lips brushing against Morpheus’s fingers. He made a show of pulling the stained wooden stick out obscenely slowly, of dramatically swallowing, of licking his lips. Then he brought Morpheus’s hand to his mouth again and deliberately kissed each one of his fingertips.

“Why don’t you lie back, love,” Hob said, voice low. “And I’ll see if I can’t find another way to get your mind off the heat.”

read on AO3 >>>

this was expanded from this ficlet, but I added well over 100 words to meet the minimum requirements!

[murmurmurl]

long time no H♡L info??!??!?!?!?

I did mention that Toshiro and Seina both have siblings. WELL. I made up my mind about them. Neither has a name yet, but I have a whole leftover name list from when I was naming all of Helianthus. Toshiro has an older brother and Seina has a younger sibling. And uhm. So remember how I ALSO mentioned that I accidentally started thinking about another fan unit. That's because of them. These siblings are in another unit together. I actually already have a general theme and even their sekai in mind????? Somehow??????? All I'm gonna say for now is that it's space-themed. Because of course it is. At this point I might as well make a billion units for each of my interests (/nsrs), but uh ANYWAYS. Yeah. I'll try to design said siblings today, ALTHOUGH. I have like,, 3(??) other H♡L wips, but I just CANNOT stop, my brain is full of ideas and these guys are genuinely one of the only things keeping me going???? Along with my sister??????? Can you tell I'm super excited, did any of that even make sense, idc, I just wanted to say it.

AND. To not make this just me saying some random general stuff, I'll also share what's the idea for H♡L's sekai is FOR NOW. It can change because I. Am painfully inconsistent. Just a heads up – I'm not he best with descriptions, and I'm also not gonna really bother making it sound good right now, it's just to give whatever few ppl care about these sillies an idea of what it'll probably look like. (As I'm writing this, I realized I actually *am* trying to make it sound nice, but if it sounds weird. Hush. /lh)

I mentioned that I call it the overgrown sekai. Because it's, well, overgrown. As you could hopefully guess. The main part of it is an old stone structure, with some intricate carvings still remaining visible and even discernable, although everything does look like it's at least.. a few centuries old, no less. However, taking into account that it's a sekai, it probably isn't that ancient. Almost everything is pretty much overrun by plants – ivy spreading across the grey stone walls, grass (and most importantly flowers) breaking their way through the floor that seems to be made of marble, but it's too old, overgrown and at times dirty to be completely sure. The said flowers are a strange mix of forget-me-nots and sunflowers that may not quite make sense, but it *is* a whole ass other dimension, after all. There's plenty of light, despite practically no windows in sight, save for a few small ones. The reason for that being the roof, shaped like a dome, with holes in it that clearly weren't here by the first design, having appeared because of the stone collapsing over time. Unsurprisingly, the flowers are concentrated in the areas where the most light seeps through those holes. And speaking of light, the time here is always the same – late afternoon, with the season always remaining a comfortable sunny summer.

There's some furniture in the building, mostly along the walls, with the center looking almost like a flowerbed. That furniture seems to represent each of the owners of the sekai – an old desk made of dark wood with a quil and some paper thrown around it, almost giving it an impression that the owner left in a hurry. The paper has become a light yellow color over what may or may not be a rather long amount of time. Next to it – a somewhat fancy wooden chair. There are mirrors hung around this part of the space – some broken, some have the glass taken out entirely. Just a little further – a shelf and an armchair. Both items' materials and overall look fit that of nearly very other piece of furniture here. The shelf is filled with items that seem to have some spiritualistic significance – amulets, crystals and stones, all of them hand-made and hand-carved, yet seeming to lack in accuracy and having been made in a hurry. The armchair strangely has a few long chains hanging on its back. One of the more noticeable pieces of furniture is... a fish tank. It has no fish. In fact, it doesn't even have water, though it's probably not intended to be that way – the tank is spacious and has pretty much almost everything a fish would need to be happy and content in captivity. But it's old and worn out – the driftwood rotting away, whatever plants used to be inside have withered and everything is covered in a thin layer of... dust..? The tank itself stands on top of something of a dresser. If you care to open its doors, you will see rows upon rows of books – as many as could fit in the little space there is inside. Most of them have to do with marine life, but there are also some journals full of incomprehensible messy writing, as if whoever was filling them either didn't have much time, or was feeling too much emotion to care. Perhaps the strangest item in the building is a cage. It's designed just like one of those small restricting bird cages, glistening with gold in the light from above, but for some reason, the cage could easily fit a human. If you decide to step in, you might notice an unexpected aroma. It's vague and subtle, but... it almost seems like fresh black coffee mixed with something citrusy. Outside, the building is surrounded by a dense forest. The light can't penetrate the abundance of trees, but somehow, it doesn't feel eerie or threatening. It feels familiar in an unexplainable way. Have you already seen these woods somewhere..?

WOOOOO I THINK THAT'S ALL. I think. I hope I didn't miss anything. Uhm. I also hope it's not too,, out there, idk. There's also another area I have in mind, BUT. that is some world link territory, where I don't rlly wanna go rn,,,,, RAGHHHH I hope all of that sounds alright. Again, if it doesn't,,,,, I'm not a writer by any means, I just. Felt silly.

[juicezone]

1, 7, 8, 37, C, D?

1: What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do? Ward can sit still for like.. five or ten minutes unless he's super focused on his work, and half the time he works standing anyway (in which case thats.. not nothing to do so Cooper can sit still for a decent while! He used to pride himself on sitting so quietly people forgot he was there when they were younger and he's not very successful in breaking that habit. probably around the 20-30 minute mark Rory can definitely sit still for a long time, and usually cherishes the chance to because he's so busy on the farm. WILL probably fall asleep though! Sometimes just zones out, especially after a long day or if hanging out with farm babies

7: What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling? Ward: listening to rain on umbrellas and weather reports specifically for his hometown! Also, kids science cartoons. Yeah, he likes the feeling of nostalgia, though mostly when he's not regressed (when he's little, he's too active to sit and appreciate nostalgia lol) Cooper: Books about ducklings + rubber duckies, gumballs (esp the like 25 cent ones), and sleeping bags! They don't dislike the feeling of nostalgia, but they can only take so much before it starts bringing him down Rory: Juice boxes! Fruit salad skewers, and blowing on dandelions. Not too bothered either way about nostalgia, honestly

8: What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child Ward: START READING. if it wasnt a science related book, ward could not care less about it. genuinely, English classes were a misery for all parties involved! Stop going outside without a raincoat, and dang it, stop going outside in the middle of huge storms! Cooper: Would get told he needed to start speaking up for himself if he wanted things, and then would get told to stop being so demanding :/ "You need to start letting your siblings play with you!" "If you dont want them to touch your things, you need to stop leaving them out" <- older sibling never wins moments Rory: Please stop falling asleep in the sheep pen, we cannot find you. PLEASE. (POV: you are capri and you cant find your regressor in the sheep herd and the sheep totally know and wont help you)

37: Do they have a system for remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order (like anagrams, putting things to melodies, etc)?  Ward: Does not even bother, honestly. Basic memorization and simple frequency of usage is enough for him! ( but he's the kind of person to ask why you have color coded folders). Otherwise his work organization is entirely just.. related to the topic lol. Weather science - Non-weather science, but no fancy tricks! Cooper: Is the sort of person to mumble "Righty tighty, left loosey" under their breath! More likely to use anagrams, prefers things reasonably color coded (red engineering/security, blue science/medical, gold command). is the type to get stressed by trying to create ways to remember that are too specific, so they end up getting stress Rory: Color coding, usually! Nothing super complex, he doesnt have a lot he really needs to specifically remember

C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story? <- not at all embarrassed to admit my (agere) ocs are pretty much self indulgent first, story second D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look? Definitely edited for rory! At first he was more human and like. with horns and non-human ears and then i went "hmmm. you know what? lets have more fun with that" (also lowkey embarrassing bc i used to specifically try and like.. idk simplify? baby-fy? whatever my art style instead of just like. drawing like usual lol

[athenacodes]

Custom Colors

Please keep in mind this was originally created in 2018, and is being moved as is from Caution as it closes. That said, feel free to read it below.

As a note: This was pre-variable codding, so... Cut me some slack.

Okay everyone this is going to be as easy a tutorial as I can manage because that's just how I roll but I'm going to go through three things in it. The first - how to make things automatically show in your member group colors with minimum effort. The second - how to make the first one even easier. The third - how to make all tags show up in that person's member group colors. Let's jump right in.

The First

First things first, go into your style sheets and let's mess with some css. By mess with, I mean use this:

membergroup { color: #HEXCODE; }

Throw that somewhere in your stylesheets, edit the membergroup to be the member group name as you want it to work. What this means is if your member group is wecode you would use <wecode>stuff in the color</wecode>. So choose accordingly! Next edit the hex code with your member group color. You can add font styling in there too but for this tutorial I'm just touching color so edit that, click save, and you'll be good to go. Now you can use it at your heart's delight.

The Second

But honestly, that's not easy enough. <wecode></wecode> needs dohtml and we really cannot be bothered to do that all the time. What if I want to just use it, without html enabled or outside of a fancy template? No, we work smart not hard, and we're going to make this easier. How? By making a bbcode for each of our colors. So, that's step one - go add a bbcode, name it the member group name (i.e. wecode would become [wecode]text in that color[/wecode]), set it as 1 param and use this:

<membergroup>(PARAM1)</membergroup>

Now, just hit save. When you go use your [membergroup][/membergroup] on site everything will come up in that color. So easy, and you don't even have to do the work of enabling dohtml - it'll work with or without it enabled.

The Third

Now for the final part of this... Honestly, this is so basic. So, in the css where you added your other colors, do it again. This time though, do it like this:

a.user-tagged.mgroup-# { color: #HEXCODE; }

Now, you can add styling. You can make it bold, a certain font, you can do all of that - but it's your choice. You just want it to come out in the right color? There you go. That's really all it is. To find the number, it'll be listed where you see your user groups.

[roci-wolf]

ROCI IM SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO REPLY I FORGOT 😭😭😭

but okay lemme go one by one by what i remember from what you said

i’m so sorry you’ve been going through a hard time. it isn’t easy when you feel like your mental health is failing. i know firsthand how hard it can be. but i’m so so proud of you for working on yourself and your mental health. and i’m glad you decided to take a break for yourself. i hope the break has been fruitful!

and gosh i’m so sorry about your bunny :( it can’t be easy. my cats go play around away from the garden for a bit and i freak out when i don’t see them around. so i can’t imagine how terrible it must be.

but AHHHHH NEW KITTYYYYYY!!!! so excited!!! did you get the kitty already? what’d you name it? what kind of cat is it??? heheh i love cats and i’m so excited for you!!

i’m proud you’re working on your self esteem and i get that sometimes the stuff we want comfort from most tend to become the most stressful because we’re in a bad place and the magic and comfort just doesn’t feel the same and it just… ultimately feels worse cause it feels like you lost something very important to you :(

but i hope slowly you can return. i miss seeing you on here and i miss your lil asks and your opinions on my random posts jshdjsjdjsk but no pressure! take your time and i hope you feel better soon 💛💛💛 and i’ll be here~ with a bunch of comfort fics if you wanna ever read em hehe

nooo don't worry, i don't frequently check my notifs anyway so i didn't notice 😭

yeah, my biggest problem was getting out of survival mode, i am the avoidant type of person so it's very hard for me to deal with anything in my life that's out of my comfort zone, but i finally stepped up and started to figure things out. ofc it's still hard and because i've been focusing solely on survival for so long i don't really know what i want from life anymore?? but i am proud i can at least relax a bit more and i can give time to myself to think and reflect. thank you for the words~ you're so kind

yeah, i kinda got used to the idea that i'll never see my bunny again and i'm consoling myself with the thought that she's in a much better place now and that she's hopping happily without my cat bothering her lol 💗

unfortunately smth came up so i can't pick up the cat yet. i'm actually getting him from my friend bcs her cat gave birth a few month ago and she's giving me one of her kitties, but i have to wait 2 more weeks till i can finally get him. also, because i'm getting it from my friend, i actually don't know its breed 🤣 my friend doesn't know the exact breed of her cat and the dad is unknown (lol), so i can't tell for sure, but the mom is a combination of a tabby with some other fancy breed that i cannot recognise. it has many orange spots of her coat mixed with the regular tabby colors, does that make sense?? but he kitty i'm adopting has a dark coat with no orange spots at all. it looks like a tabby, but much darker than usual, idek how to explain 😭

ALSO i actually SUCK at giving pets names 😭😭 i always get overwhelmed bcs it feels like such a big responsibility to me so i always collect ideas from other people. sooo if you have any cool male cat names in mind 👀👀 i'm more than glad to hear

yeah, that's exactly how it feels with comfort places 😭😭 that's why i got away from tumblr a little bit, i didn't want it to start feeling like a 'responsibility' or like something i needed to do, i tend to do that with my hobbies sometimes and it makes them unenjoyable. i also stopped writing for a while and opening tumblr was reminding me about that and it made me feel a little guilty haha

but! it's summer vacation now and things are moving in the right direction (in my opinion at least) so who knows.

aw, THANK YOU, TI, you're so sweet 🥹🥹 i miss sending asks and answering on random stuff too 😭 i am glad i was not an annoyance with those lol

and!!! i actually do want to read what you've been posting since i disappeared 👀 is there anything you'd recommend me to read first??

[perilousxrealm]

On her way back to her cabin, Valkyrie's mind drifts to the stranger and her own reason she was back on Asgard. The two cannot be a coincidence, she thinks once the door of her cabin closes and separates her from the rest of the realm, feeling more sober than she is comfortable with.

It does not help that the fancy silks of her own await her on the bed, courtesy of no other but Thor Odinson, practically begging her to join the festivities. Just this morning she had no inclination to do so, settling for grabbing a barrel of ale and returning here. But, the space has been a lonely place, lonelier than ever now the half of the universe was gone, and having the woman cross her mind more than once on her way here is a sign enough to perhaps be social one more time; before she gathers her bearings and heads back to Sakaar.

Emotion catches in the throat as she recognizes the colors interwoven in the fabric; and the garment is a modified version of the Valkyries' honorary robes, not worn by anyone in an age; and possibly rotting away in a museum somewhere on Asgard. And yet, the regalia fits her like a glove when she puts it on, even though she regrettably sees that her tattoo is visible for any curious eyes that would bother looking for it.

--------

The palace is bustling with life after the feast, and it is an easy feat to disappear into the crowd if one so wishes; so the Valkyrie is happy to sit in the corner bar for a while, ordering an entire bottle of Asgardian finest whiskey and keeping to herself. Still, it is apparent that her attention switches to the remainder of the room every now and then, looking for a specific head of blonde hair and a dress she had the pleasure of seeing earlier. And, once she finally walks into the room, heads turn and the reactions in the room make the Scrapper chuckle.

She soon finds out, from the onlookers nearby, that the stranger has a name, or rather a title: Captain Marvel— someone quite famous among several realms out in the universe. Her fame and the interest of everyone in the room unsurprising, considering how she carries herself, her proud yet casual air makes Valkyrie want be in her presence that much more.

And yet, she waits, downing another glass of chilled whiskey and turning down her own proposals for a dance and watching the others indulge themselves in the festivities instead. It's how the blonde finds her, leaned back on a wall with a glass in her hand, and it's almost ridiculous how a smile creeps upon the Valkyrie's face before she can hold it back. "I'd be honored, Captain."

The teasing twinkle in the dark brown eyes is back as they walk to the dance podium, so large that its borders are not visible from where they stood. Seeing the surprised expression on the other face, Valkyrie chuckles. "You're quite the talk of the place." An explanation followed by a shrug, as her hand, now bare, takes Carol's and the other rests on her hip, stepping forward. Up close, she can see the glowing hues of the palace reflecting in the warm brown eyes and for a moment she's certain that Captain Marvel must be a sorceress.

"So, do I win my wager? Or have you left someone more gifted behind to come dance with me?"

A breath fell from her lips the moment the other left the room. With the flurry of maidens distracted, the blonde found the time to collect herself, running through the interaction over and over in her head. She almost regretted not accepting the woman's invitation to join her in attending the feast, but the level of interaction Carol Danvers had over the last few decades was low and even if she had accepted, she likely would have fumbled her way into not even outwardly accepting it anyway — somehow, she barely managed to hold herself together during the interaction as it was.

Eventually, she was able to find Thor and contrary to what the prior Asgardian had said, there weren't a crowd of people waiting to ask her to the feast outside of the door, but she did turn a few heads as she skirted about in fancy Asgardian silks accented with a few bright golden stars on the soft navy material. She wasn’t surprised, she likely looked as out of place in them as she felt.

Finding Thor again led to her learning that the woman who interrupted her fitting, the same woman who immediately captured her attention from the moment she walked in the door, the close presence of which had made her feel so much weaker than she had in decades, was the same woman they came to Asgard to recruit. The last remaining Valkyrie, the taller man thundered loudly in the privacy of the room, voice tinted with the ale he’d consumed while she was being poked and prodded. Of course, his proclamation was followed up with the fact that Valkyrie had said no. Many times. A fact that surprised Carol, since it seemed like the other woman enjoyed a good challenge.

The feast happened in a flurry and didn’t give her much of a chance to think about the other or the information Thor had given her and Rocket, the aforementioned Valkyrie not in her sights until the dancing started. Oh god, the dancing. She’d been warned about it, but it was only when she had to tell the fifth Asgardian ‘no thank you’ and make a false claim that she wasn’t a good dancer anyway did she believe the guest in her fitting room. New blood was exciting, she supposed, because she definitely didn’t feel like she gave off ‘willing to dance and swoon with anyone’ vibes. Even the advice from Thor to lighten up and relax was taken with a grain of salt. Instead, she found herself looking past everyone who asked her to dance in favor of searching for a particular set of dark brown hues.

Unaware of what the other would be wearing, it was as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack until her gaze finally landed on the woman on the far side of the hall. Filled with golden statues and joyful people, it had nothing on the natural glow that seemed to surround the Valkyrie and she found herself drawn to the other, fists full of the silks she donned as she skirted around those dancing and talking and laughing until she finally made it to her destination.

“Dance with me?” Carol boldly questioned as soon as she was in earshot of the brunette, the denial that Thor told them about echoing loudly in her thoughts, and she wasn’t quite sure what her motive was as she asked the other to dance. “You do have some pretty big words to back up, after all.”

[multiples-fandomswontkillme]

~Metal Family headcanons~

These are like my... general hcs)? which means I didn't include my main hc that Glam, Ches and Vicky are polyamorous, married and started dating after Glam met Vicky, and absolutely everything that implies for the kids and the relationships between each member of the fam. Maybe I'll make a separate post for that or maybe not! Who knows lkfwnlfqnf

Glam

Bisexual

Glam has constant nightmares and ocasional night terrors ever since he ran away home and is an active sleep walker. Ches helped him through the worse ones when they were younger, and learned how to deal with them, always preferring not to wake him up but being with him until the episode passed. Vicky has learned how to deal with them, though she normally asks Ches for advice with it cuz she comes out short sometimes.

He has PTSD. I bet it's diagnosed too, he takes medication and goes to therapy, it doesn't mean he still doesn't have his bad days anyway. He's trying to get better.

Glam has talked to Vicky about his past, his father and his family. This is a direct contradiction of Alina's confirmation that Glam doesn't talk about it with anyone but man FUCK THAT. We love good communication in this house, Vicky tries her best to help him, but there's only so much she can do to help.

Glam enjoys gardening, cooking and making models, he also likes doing his make up, painting his nails and dressing up in fancy, extravagant clothes even if he has nowhere important to go.

He likes taking care of everyone's hair, and constantly helps Vicky brush her hair cuz there's so much of it, Dee when he gets stressed over how tangled it can get, buys Ches hair products so he actually takes care of it, and chases Heavy so the kid actually washes, untangles and brushes his hair.

This one is kind of weird, but I refuse to think any adult in the family is unarmed at any time. Glam owns a taser and pepper spray. They're bright pink and sparkly.

This man cried his eyes out while watching Coco. He's hell to watch movies with cuz he talks and predicts what's gonna happen during the movie, judges them with scores at the end and all.

Vicky

Also bisexual!

Vicky's the one who does everyone's laundry most of the time. She prefers it that way since she's the only one that knows how to wash their black clothes so the colors stay vibrant. (This is based on my gf shaming everyone but Vicky cuz their black clothes always look so muted and almost gray, but Vicky's whole outfit is always the same vibrant black colors, so we decided that neither Glam or the kids know how to wash dark clothes)

She has anger issues, if it isn't obvious. I think she also has PTSD, mainly survivor's guilt due to her surviving the accident her brother died in. She blames herself and cannot bear to talk about it, in some sort of deep denial. If she can't remember, it can't hurt as much, right?

She has scars on the right side of her back and her hip, from the road rash she got on her brother's accident, she never treated it due to grief and it scarred badly. Apart from that, the scar of the caesarean section from Heavy's birth. She doesn't really mind both of them, they happened, nothing to do about them.

She likes watching boxing competitions, brawling matches and motorcycle repairing on TV. Loves doing BBQ's and going to the pool. Also an enjoyer of teasing her kids, kissing and loving her husband at random times, spending time drinking and bonding with Ches and bragging about her family and punching anyone who thinks they're not that cool.

Not particularly a fan of make up, skirts and dresses or any traditionally femenine-perceived stuff. But has been making exceptions due to Glam and Ches being unashamed of being seen as femenine, and actually rocking the looks. The internalized misogyny is kind of slowly dissapearing.

Apart from the guns she carries in each arm (I mean her biceps, have you looked at the size of those?? She strong) she has brass knuckles on her at all times. Glam gifts her new ones sometimes, she loves having multiple choices to punch people teeth in.

Loves horror, thrillers and action movies. Falls asleep during rom-coms and dramas. Ironically, loves gossip and talking shit about people. Enjoys hearing Ches talks about the gossip going on in the nursery home even if she doesn't know who the hell he's talking about.

Rest of the family under the cut!

Heavy

Heavy is a trans boy! He doesn't know his sexuality yet though, he's still figuring himself out. When he's older, i think he definitely dated some men but had better luck with girls.

Heavy has had innocent crushes on some girls on his class before, but they never turn into anything more cuz he's not the best at expressing himself. He follows the bother-the-girl-to-death-until-she-hates-you gimmick, and unsurprisingly, it doesn't work.

I'm sorry to break this to u but Heavy totally had an among us phase, and uses so much reddit and twitch slang... You know he does.

Likes bullying and teasing his brother to death. You know that when Dee had his first romance, Heavy was ALL up in his business being a tease and a bad attempt at a wingman. He means well tho.

He's not squeamish at all. Also has great pain resistance. This kid has picked cockroaches with his bare hands and loves cats, of course the cats have scratched him. He's tough!

Grows up to be the charming himbo he was always destined to be.

Dee

I hc him as demisexual. Kind of inherited his dad's tastes for the takes no crap, intimidating but pretty kind of people.

Can't cook. He tries but he can only do basics like rice, cereal, chicken nuggets or eggs. Complicated meals always burn or don't taste like anything at all. It drives him crazy.

Dee was a quiet and very well behaved toddler before Heavy was born. He never threw tantrums or got whims. After Heavy was born though, and despite the fact he understood his brother was small and needed special care, he started craving attention often and cried and got mad at little things. Typical jealousy of the oldest sibling.

The first time Dee fell in love with someone, he didn't recognize it was love at first. He just thought his interest on the person was born out of curiosity and aesthetic attraction, but as soon as he realized he seeked validation and companionship, that he liked seeing them smile, that he wanted to protect them, that he yearned for more time alone with them and that he wanted more than what just a simple friendship implied, it was an instant 'oh hell no'. He wanted those feelings to get the hell away, but unfortunately, they were there to stay.

Canonically likes MLP, psychological and horror anime like Death note and Hellsing, so I'm deciding he also watched Death Parade, had a FNAF phase, is very into The Walten Files. This guy enjoys any kind of specially dark ARG's and knows a ton of lore of real crime, unsolved cases, ghost appearances and other stuff. Doesn't believe in the supernatural, but sure is entertained by it.

He's a mess at romance. Flirting? His attempts at compliments are hardly flattering. Giving gifts? The best he can manage is jewelry and you can kind of tell he asked his dad for help. Dates? He's so nervous he's silent for most of it, but begins getting comfortable and having fun if his partner really knows how to get him down from his negativity cloud.

Ches

Pansexual.

He's very good with kids. He has the patience of a saint and he's laid-back, chill and fun but still is an authority figure who knows how to put limits. Sure, he's gonna let the kids light up a house on fire BUT hey, now they know everything about fire precautions, burns and how to treat them AND how to get away with arson. What an educational evening, am I right?

Due to certain info from the "Goodbye" official comic, I headcanon Ches as depressed. I don't want to elaborate a lot 'cuz of spoilers, but... God, everything related to his mom fucking hurts, man. How did he deal with all that?

Ches has been Dee and Heavy's babysitter so many times he cannot count them with all his fingers. He learned how to put those kids to sleep almost immediately (Sing Bon Jovi's "This ain't a love song" and any cheesy love song in a slow lullaby style and they're out), which movie were their favorite as kids (Heavy loved 'Monsters Inc.' and Dee never looked away during 'Meet the Robinsons'), how to console them after nightmares (Heavy needed reassurance, sweet words, and to be with someone until he fell asleep again. Dee just had to be tucked in, get his nightlight turned on and kissed in the forehead). He practically raised those kids along with Vicky and Glam.

More than once, Dee and Heavy have slipped and called Ches "Dad". Ches immediately gets his shit eating grin on and answers "Yes, son?" and does a couple of dad jokes just to mess and embarrass them. He's actually very flattered and surprised at how proud of himself he is for being a father figure to both kids.

Has a scar on the left side of his forehead due to a bottle his mom threw at him when he was younger, around the time he met Glam. He hates the scar with passion, it's a permanent reminder of the fact she never cared, that's why he always keeps it covered with his headband. Gets sad about it sometimes.

Ches likes to spend his time with a group of grannies of the nearby nursing home. He genuinely considers them his friends and gossips and hangs out with all of them on weekends. Bingo, billiards, walks in the park, soap opera marathons, you name it. I even designed them, gave them names and backstories... God, i just love the concept too much. I'll make some art about Ches and his granny gang FOR SURE, you're NOT ready for them.

Carries a pocket knife on him at all times. This man grew up on a bad neighborhood and absolutely knows how to defend himself, he can be intimidating when he wants to be and will pose a threat if needed. He's fucking terrifying when genuinely mad. Just cause he looks harmless doesn't mean he is, darling.

That would be all!

[idrellegames]

So I had a coding question that I've been trying to find the answer for, for a while. I've tried searching up information online and such but haven't been able to find anything.

I was wondering though how exactly someone would go about creating a main menu screen with the whole being able to create a new game, load one or change the settings? Like I said I've tried searching it up but haven't been able to find anything except for information on creating a transition screen.

You’re going to need an understanding of CSS for this, but I’ll do my best to walk you through it, alongside some basic functions of the UIBar and UI APIs. Also, like pretty much anything to do with coding, there is more than one way to do something (and there may be a more efficient/effective way than mine).

Like all of my tutorials, this is written for SugarCube 2.34.1. Since this one mainly deals with CSS, I’m sure you could adapt it to another format, but I’m not familiar enough with Harlowe, Snowman and Chapbook to add specifics.

Additionally, I use the Twine 2 editor version 2.2.1. This tutorial can be used with later versions; some of my example images may look not look exactly like what you have because later versions of the editor launch test files in your default browser (the 2.2.1 version creates its own mini-browser).

Making a Main Menu Page

Step 1: Hiding the UI Bar

If you want a clear main menu page without the UI bar, you can hide it in several ways.

<<run UIBar.destroy();>>

This will remove the UI bar completely from your game. Not recommended unless you have an alternative way of adding access to the Save, Settings and Restart functions.

<<run UIBar.stow();>>

This stows the UI bar. It will still be partially visible on the side and the player can interact with it to open it. The UI bar can be unstowed manually (without needing the player to do it themselves) on the next passage with:

<<run UIBar.unstow();>>

If you don’t want the UI bar to show up on your main menu, but you want to have access to it later, you can use:

<<run UIBar.hide();>>

To bring it back, you will have to use the following on the passage where you want the player to have access to it.

<<UIBar.show();>>

You may want to use the stow/hide and unstow/show functions together. Hiding the UI bar only makes it invisible; it will still take up space on the left-hand side of your game. Stowing and hiding it makes it a little more even.

To use them together, you can do this:

On the passage you don’t want the UI bar:

<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>>

On the passage you where you want to restore the UI bar:

<<run UIBar.unstow();>><<run UIBar.show();>>

TIP 1: Using <<run UIBar.stow (true)>> gets rid of the slide animation as the UI bar collapses/restores, so you may want to use this so you don’t have any weird animations when you menu passage loads.

TIP 2: If you main menu is the first passage of your game, you can run the scripts for storing and hiding the UI bar in your StoryInit passage and it will run it when your game loads.

TIP 3: You can also use the Config API to have the menu bar be stowed automatically when your game starts.

Pop this code into your Javascript:

Config.ui.stowBarInitially = true;

However, if you have any links that navigate back to the main menu without restarting the game, the UI bar will be in whatever state the player left it in last. If you can only access the main menu by launching the game or hitting restart, don't worry about this.

If you want to double-check the SugarCube documentation for these functions, see here.

Step 2: Tagged Stylesheets

If you want to create a menu page that has a different appearance to your game’s default look, you can do so by using a tagged stylesheets. When using a tagged stylesheet, every passage with the same tag will have its appearance overridden to match what you’ve adjusted in your Story Stylesheet.

Let’s make one called main-menu. You can tag passages like so:

You can also tag the passage a different colour to make it special passages like this one stand out.

Step 3: Adding CSS

Now that the passage is tagged, you need to add a new CSS class to your stylesheet to change its appearance.

To change the appearance, you need to decide which selectors to target and what about them you want to change. Every default SugarCube game has the same set of selectors (you can find them here in the documentation). The most important ones are:

body – the body of the page. You can use this to change the foreground and background colours.

.passages – the element that contains your game’s main text. This is where you can change things like the colour that displays behind your game’s text, the font family, line height, letter spacing, all that stuff.

For the sake of this example, I am going to use the default SugarCube stylesheet and edit it from the ground up. You can find the code for SugarCube’s built-in stylesheets here.

In your stylesheet, you will want to use the tag you created earlier as the new class name.

.main-menu

Put this with the selectors you are going to change.

Let’s start with the body.

body.main-menu { color: #fff; background-color: #000; overflow: auto; }

The color property controls the colour of the font. Here I’ve set it to the hex code #fff and the background-color #000.

So now I have a black page when I start the main menu passage, and thanks to the code for the UI bar I put in earlier, the UI bar is gone.

Adding a Background

Now, we might want to spice up the background with an image to make it more interesting.

To add an image to the background, you need to use the background-image property.

body.main-menu { color: #fff; background-color: #000; background-image: url("images/main-menu.jpg"); background-attachment: fixed; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; -webkit-background-size: cover; -moz-background-size: cover; -o-background-size: cover; background-position: center center; overflow: auto; }

You can read more about the different background properties and what they do here on W3Schools, but the code above will center your background image in the middle of the page and also make sure that it covers the entire container.

IMPORTANT: If you intend to upload your game as a ZIP file containing a .index HTML file (this is recommended if you have a lot of image assets or don’t want to link to an outside host, like imgur), you will need to use relative paths with any image URLs in your game.

Relative paths mean that the file is relative to the directory it’s in. In the example above, you can see that the background URL is "images/main-menu.jpg". This means that when the file is uploaded to itch.io, it will find the file—main-menu.jpg—inside the images folder, regardless of where the images folder is located.

For reference, this is what my game assets folder looks like for Wayfarer:

Relative paths are different than an absolute path, which begins with the drive letter. For example, the main-menu.png may be stored on my personal computer in a path like this one: C:/game/images/main-menu.jpg.

If I use this absolute path in the game, the image asset will not show up for players once it’s uploaded to itch because the image is not hosted on the player’s device in C:/game/images/main-menu.jpg.

This can cause some finnicky issues with the Twine 2 editor because the editor cannot find and display images from relative paths (unless you’ve put the editor in the same directory as the one you’re storing your assets in; I haven’t bothered to try this, so I’m not sure).

While working on your game in the Twine editor, you may need to use an absolute path to see what your asset looks like while you're editing. When it comes time to publish, make sure you switch it back to a relative path, otherwise the image will not load for players.

Step 4: Adding & Styling Links

Now that we have a background, we’ll want to tackle the links themselves.

Adding Links

You can link to the starting passage of your game using your preferred method—the [[ ]] link markup, the <<link>> macro, etc.

But for Saves and Settings (and also a Resume Game link, if you’re using the autosave feature), you’ll need to manually call the functions for accessing those dialogs. You can do that with this code here:

This will add a Load Game link that opens the Saves dialog when clicked.

<<link 'LOAD GAME'>><<run UI.saves();>><</link>>

This will add a Settings link that opens the Settings dialog when clicked.

<<link 'SETTINGS'>><<run UI.settings();>><</link>>

This will add a Resume Game link that loads the player’s last autosave.

<<link 'RESUME GAME'>><<run Save.autosave.load()>><</link>>

TIP: To enable autosaves on your game, add this code to your Story Javascript:

Config.saves.autosave = true;

This will autosave on every passage.

Config.saves.autosave = ["bookmark", "autosave"];

This will autosave on passages tagged bookmark or autosave.

Styling Your Game Title & Links

So this is where you can get get fancy with your CSS. For now, we’re going to keep everything within the .passage element (which is where any text inputting into the editor goes), but I will show you how to move the links and title to wherever you want further down.

Importing Fonts

First, go font shopping.

Google fonts has a very large library of free-to-use fonts that you can import directly into your game via your Story Stylesheet. After you browser Google fonts for the fonts you want to use, scroll down to the Use on Web section and click @import. Google will automatically generate the code you need to import the fonts you want to use.

Ignore the <style> </style> and copy everything else inside it and paste it in the top of your Story Stylesheet.

For this example, mine looks like this:

@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Almendra+Display&family=Nova+Cut&display=swap');

TIP: If you are importing fonts that a bold weight and italics available and intend to use bold and italics, make sure you import the bold weight and the italic versions of the font as well as the regular one. This will stop your fonts from having weird printing issues when you use bold and italics (especially on non-Chromium browsers like Firefox).

Below the import button, Google will show you the CSS rules for each font family. Keep these in mind, you’ll need them later. Mine, for this example, are like this:

font-family: 'Almendra Display', cursive; font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive;

Basic Styling

In your stylesheet, you’ll want to target the .passage element with the .main-menu class.

.passage.main-menu { background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive; font-size: 3.5em; text-align: center; }

Make sure there isn’t a space between .passage and .main-menu, otherwise it won’t work!

Here, I’ve changed a few properties.

font-family – this changes the font to Nova Cut

font-size – this changes the font size. I’ve used the unit em, which is relative to the element size (you can read more about CSS Units here)

text-align – this centers the text to the middle of the .passage element

I have also added:

background-color: transparent;

This makes the passage background transparent so you can see the background image. This is only necessary if you’ve added a background-color to your default passages.

Now, for the links.

Links have their own separate selector.

a means is the link as it usually displays

a:hover is the link when the player hovers their cursor over it.

It's generally a good idea to use different colours on the links—one for the normal display, one for the hover—so the player can visually see that they are hovering over a clickable link. If you don't want to use different colours, you should consider using some other visual cue to make that differentiation.

.passage.main-menu a { font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive; color: #C57C25; text-decoration: none; }

.passage.main-menu a:hover { font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive; color: #dcb07c; text-decoration: none; }

I’ve added an additional property here:

text-decoration: none.

This gets rid of the underline that happens on all default links in the default SugarCube stylesheet. Currently, this only targets the links on passages tagged main-menu; if you want to get rid of the text-decoration on all links, you can change the styling of your links like so:

a:hover { text-decoration: none; }

Choosing Colours

If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to picking hex codes, color-hex.com is a really helpful site. It gives you related tints and shades of for every hex code, which makes it a lot easier to find colours that are slightly darker or slightly lighter than your base hex code.

For choosing colours initially, there are plenty of hex code colour palette generators available online. One of my favourites is the one on Canva, which lets you upload an image and then it creates a colour palette from there. You might not want to use the exact colours it pulls, but checking the colours on color-hex can help you narrow down something that works for your aesthetics.

This is what our template now looks like:

Giving the Title a Unique Style

Right now, the title is styled by the .passage.main-menu selector and it’s default font size and font type is the same as the links below it.

If you want to style it differently, you can make a new class for it. In this case, I’m going to drop the .passage.main-menu and make a class called .game-title.

.game-title { font-family: 'Almendra Display', cursive; color: #ca893a; line-height: 1.0; font-size: 1.8em; text-shadow: 1px 1px #dcb07c; }

Because the font I selected didn’t come with a bold version, I cheated a bit a used the text-shadow property to bulk it up. I also had to adjust the line height. SugarCube’s default .passage styling gives everything a line height of 1.75 and there was too much space once the new font family and font size were applied.

To add this styling to your title, go into your main menu passage and wrap your game’s title in a span, like so:

<span class="game-title">GENERIC FANTASY GAME</span>

It now appears like this:

TIP: If you want to play around with your appearance, you can use your browser’s Inspect tool to see the page’s CSS and play around/edit it. Either right click and hit Inspect or hit CTRL + SHIFT + I to open the Inspect tool. Once opened, you can go in and adjust things. If you make and a change and like it, remember to copy the code over to your stylesheet before you close the inspect tool.

Placing a Title & Links Outside the .passage element

If you want your game title and menu links to be elsewhere on the page, you’re going to need re-write some of your CSS and add some additional CSS.

The first thing is that you’ll want to remove the styling from .passage.main-menu. I’ve left background-color to transparent, but you’re not going to be using this to style your game title and menu links.

.passage.main-menu { background-color: transparent; }

For the title:

I’ve created two elements, one called .main-title and one called .main-title-item.

.main-title creates a container that will hold the title. This is what I use to tell it where on the page to appear.

.main-title { display: block; justify-content: space-evenly; position: absolute; top: 10%; left: 4%; }

.main-title-item styles the actual text.

.main-title-item { font-family: 'Almendra Display', cursive; text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: normal; font-size: 6.5em; line-height: 1.0; text-align: left; color: #cf944d; text-shadow: 1px 1px #cf944d; }

To apply this to the game title, go back to the main menu passage and apply your new elements to the game’s title:

<div class="main-title"><span class="main-title-item">GENERIC FANTASY GAME</span></div>

For the menu links:

Here, we’ll do something really similar—a container to hold the links and a separate element to style them.

.subtitle { display: block; flex-wrap: wrap; flex-direction: column; width: 60%; justify-content: space-evenly; position: absolute; top: 46%; left: 8%; }

.subtitle-item a { font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive; font-weight: normal; font-size: 3.5em; text-align: left; color: #cf944d; line-height: 1.3em; }

.subtitle-item a:hover { font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive; font-weight: normal; font-size: 3.5em; text-align: left; color: #dcb07c; text-decoration: none; }

Go back to your main menu passage and apply the elements. Because all of the menu links will be in the same box, you only need to open/close the .subtitle element once.

<div class="subtitle"><span class="subtitle-item">[[NEW GAME]]</span>

<span class="subtitle-item"><<link 'LOAD GAME'>><<run UI.saves();>><</link>></span>

<span class="subtitle-item"><<link 'RESUME GAME'>><<run Save.autosave.load()>><</link>></span>

<span class="subtitle-item"><<link 'SETTINGS'>><<run UI.settings();>><</link>></span></div>

If you want to change where the title and menu links appear, you can use the Inspect tool to figure out different percentages and spacing until you find something that works for you.

There are a lot more things you can add (like animations that appear when you hover your cursor on the link), but I’ll leave it there for now.

Additionally, if you intend to make your game mobile compatible, you’ll want to read up on media queries and learn how to adjust font sizes and any other units of measurement for different viewports. This is how you shrink things appropriate to fit on small screens.

I hope this helps! If you have any questions, please let me know. I’m still a newbie at CSS (so I’m sure there are ways of doing things more effectively), but these are some of the things that I have helped me along the way.

[lovee-infected]

hello! may i please request NSFW headcanons of Lilia, Rook, Chenya (if you write for him), and Floyd dating a f!mc who is a brat in bed? thank you! (ps, i love your work so much, you deserve more attention and love!!!💖💖💖💖💖)

Feeling spicy tonight, aren't we?~

Warning(s): Nsfw, Bdsm, Orgasm denial, Dirty talk, Cum play

Spice will remain undercut!

He loves to have you explore his body. You little koebi sure are pretty curious, aren't you? He's a brat all the time nonetheless of how you're going to play, but watching your enthusiasm to challenge him and his big dick energy in bed makes him wants to take a step back and watch how far you may go.

He can pin you down within a second but if you wanna top, go on. It's your chance to show him how entertaining you can be, though it won't last all night. He'd just lend your body for you to play until you no longer can. But in case that you'd prefer to have him top you instead he won't be as kind.

Floyd has literally got no mercy when he tops, and having you continuing to tease him although you're well aware of what his immense thirst can do to you can only have one meaning: You want more. You look so cute when you get nasty in bed, so adorable. He loves in so much when you, his naughty baby, squirm under his rough touch like a tiny fish begging for water.

You won't need to tell him to go any harder or faster, he already knows how to turn the bed into a jungle. All he needs is you going along with his rough pace and driving him even crazier than usual.

Be careful not to go too far though, he's got his own limits. You're free to do whatever you want as long as he hasn't reached his orgasm but note that if you keep on teasing him afterwards even Floyd can be bothered. Better slow down with a slower pace or softer actions like kisses on tip of his cock or softly licking him so he can enjoy his orgasm.

Instead of getting to the point of causing him too much pain or making him ask you to stop, try teasing him. If he ejaculates in your mouth, instead of immediately swallowing it, keep it in your mouth and play with it. He'd surely be turned on even more if you go kinkier, you can open your mouth and use your fingers to play with his warm, sticky load. Making satisfying sounds or just gently humming "Mmmmm" as if you're so hungry for him to feed you his seed is another way of making it more erotic for both of you.

Go as kinky as you want to, but don't be fascinated if he decides to punish you when you're done. He'll force you to wear your underwear without cleaning after sex so you'll have to keep his seed on all the time. No need to mention that he'd probably leave a mess of markings and bites on you especially on places that are hard to hide, even your cheek.

You may be a brat in bed but remember that Floyd would continue to be a brat even after you're done, so when you're playing around in bed, better be prepared for the consequences coming after wards.

You know what they say: “Treat her like a Queen, fuck her like a whore.” Doesn't matter how much of a gentleman Rook is in the daylight, when the night comes, he's just the animal and you're the pray, watch him eat you.

Not that Rook is always one to go that wild during sex since he's still pretty considering toward his darling's emotions and limitations; he doesn't want to be the one enjoying your lovely time after all. He is more into love making than just having sex for fun, but he'd prefer it with more, well, excitement.

Why of course he doesn't mind you being a brat at all since it's nothing different from receiving your permission to go wild. Wanna play? Let's play.

You may end up being the one topping him at first because he is probably... intrigued. He likes to see whether your actions are as tough as your words when you ride him or not. Remember: He's got the stamina. He'll patiently wait until you can't take it anymore then pin you back and have his own turn. See how the tables are turned-? He can go for long, tiring rounds all night leaving you both in a mess of sweat and each other's juices as you'd still have to take in his huge cock.

When he tops, there's no stop until he makes you scream. He'd love to see how you'd go from a insubordinate brat to a helpless bottom hoe begging for mercy. So pittyful and needy, isn't that just beautiful?

Though he's quite the opposite as a bottom. He can see your growing excitement and nasty thoughts through your eyes so he doesn't mind giving you the chance to take advantage of him. He'll give his body to you with pleasure so you can play with him as you wish.

Other than getting to have his perfectly masculine body and sexy abs, remember etter that that soft, thicc and squishy butt of this man is an absolute treasure on its own so you better not lose the chance of getting to eat mister Hunt. You can get him to lie on his chest while still on knees so he is pushing his ass into the air, giving you the best advantage to have your meal.

You can do whatever you'd like to then, show how much you can do with that mouth of yours. Even give him a rim job in case you're into it. Use lots of saliva to make more enjoyable as you kiss or lick, he'd absolutely love it. Best part would be... biting. That squishy flesh of ass of his is softer than you'd ever imagine so better take the chance to eat him. In contrast to many men Rook doesn't mind you leaving some of those savage markings on his ass and you'd even get to hear him letting out some deep, sensual moans to the pillow when you're having his butt. It'd surely drown him in pleasure.

Got a kink you wanna try? Go on and throw it at him. He doesn't mind trying new things on you but often decides to let you be the one choosing them. Mostly because of the high possibility of his choices being too much for you, he doesn't want it to be that merciless. Be careful not to give him too much power though, try not to bring in any dangerous kinks otherwise it cannot be guaranteed if Rook can hold himself back or not.

Beware, Rook is a gentleman who knows when not to be gentle...

Oh lord, is he being underestimated? No matter how much of a brat you are, when Vanrouge's in the mood it's far beyond your limits to have a chance against a this pink gremlin in bed.

Better be into bdsm: Chains? Whips? Collars? Gags? Ropes? Butt plugs? Bring it on baby!

He actually does already keep quite a few of bdsm toys and matetials in his room, somewhere no one else can find but him of course. He allows you to choose your favorite color what he's going to use on you and when it's the time, he allows you to choose them for him.

Tie him up and make him your bottom slave, he doesn't mind at all~ People are quite predictable and uninteresting these days so, he likes to see how you may surprise him. Go nasty, go feral, go wild. Make him seriously cum after all these years with his uncool sleeping mates.

He may not seem to but he's quite hard to satisfy, especially as a bottom. Doesn't matter how much he's enjoying himself between your legs, it isn't going to hold him back from trying to piss you off.

"My my, Is that all you've got...? And I thought you were going to bring me some fun..."

He has a thing for humiliating you and watch how far you can go to prove him wrong. Top brat x bottom rat= Ultimate freaky cycle.

Regardless of how much of a bottom he can be, better be prepared for the times he tops. Both of you are freaks in bed but there's a difference: He's got the power. He'll definitely make you cry even if he has to use another of those orgasm spells on you.

As a top he'd want total dominance over his darling but he sure does want it to be hard to achieve. He wants to have to push you back in bed. Tease him so he can tease you even more, that's how it works.

Is into into inflicting pain through both physical side( Biting, chewing, nailing) and the erotic side. Leaving Markings behind and bloodplay may be his simplest kinks but he's also got a thing for playing with your body and mind.

Misbehave and you'd be punished; he can easily dig his long fingers inside you and have his long nail mercilessly crumb your walls before pulling out right as you're about to cum, leaving you in a painful mess inside your stomach wanting to cum so badly.

He's such a freak ass for edging, he'd get you to the brink of orgasm then backs off. He'd repeat this over and over as long as he likes to play before giving you an explosive orgasm. To bring you even more pain, he'd come up with one of his secret orgasmic spells to make you even needier that'll make you cry in pain. Ah yes, he is being a bitch and he doesn't mind at all. You would often end up screaming as you beg Lilia to let you cum, as if he's going to give in this easily. He's going to make sure that you'd learn your lesson.

"N-gah sugar. You gotta be punished for your veeeerrry poor manners tonight. My pet must learn to behave,"

Were you looking for that one pink neko who also happens to be a bottom bitch? Here he is! So get on top of him and kitty-play with him all night because it's all both you and him are asking for.

He isn't even going to fight back, things are much easier and better when someone else is in charge of the game, he can just lay back and enjoy the show. You have no idea how much fun you bring him everytime you pin him to the bed and tell him what a fuckable furry he is.

Chenya as well has got a little bratty side in him which can also be seen in bed; but it usually won't go any further than either make specific parts of his body invisible right at the moment you aren't expecting him to (Especially when you're giving him a hand job / blow job and suddenly his cock fades away-) or giving you nicknames. He isn't really into cursing or calling his partner names in bed but sure does have a thing for them having nicknames; especially those that radiate top energy. He'd actually come up with lots of fancy nicknames for you: Poison cookie, Marsh Mallow, Juicy lips, Majesty, Mama, Sexy witch,...

He's lowkey into bdsm as well so go get him some pink collars and gags, maybe some ropes tie him to bed as well- Note that he really enjoys getting o your nerves and having you punish him after wards. The harder, the better.

Chenya is more than ready to be your pet in bed so don't be surprised when he calls you mama; he's your pink naughty bitch so go on and would love it if you punish him for being such a nasty kitten.

He literally wants you to treat him like your bitch so the brattier you get, the more he'll love it. One of his favorites would be when yo give him one of those wild rides as you savagely pull the chain connecting to the tight collar you've put around his neck, lowkey choking him everytime you pull it up.

He loves watching you play with his cock, even thinking about that seductive sight between his legs as you take his length in makes him want to cum.

As he leaves most of the play-thing and decisions to his darling you won't get to see him doing much more than breathlessly smirking through his moans and dirty talking, telling you to either discipline him like a slut or keep him tied up forever and use him as your personal sex toy.

In case that you want to use him even more, know that he's an absolutely cute one to be pegged, his ass is more than ready for you to make him cry.

Feel free to sit oon his face cause he'd gladly command your order. While being a bottom hoe, he still knows how to put that mouth of his into use to satisfy his owner. his long togue would sharpy dance through your clit making you all wet in your magical juice like heck, he's really got something speak in that filthy tongue that'll make you want to force him to eat you out over and over.

He'd be recklessly laughing through his moans as if he's mistaken having sex with a free visit to the circus. He sometimes rambles nonsense as well; asking you unrelated questions using fancy nicknames he has given you. He mainly means to get on your nerves through it so you'd go even wilder.

See he loves having you punish him, bad kitties need a lesson.

[zawazawanightmares]

Equius Zahhak & Boyfriend

You, Equius Zahhak, are connected to Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin] Your partner selected the Roleplay server. Please keep the chat clean. Your partner has a starter. Type /starter or tap here to see it.

Equius Zahhak: /starter

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: 19M https://imgur.com/a/FIt4odq

Equius Zahhak: D --> Good evening.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Beep bop, hey there!

Equius Zahhak: D --> Why do you make such noises?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Oh! I like them, mostly. They let me let energy out bebe bop. Does it bother you?

Equius Zahhak: D --> No...it's odd but I can contend with it. It reminds me of a friend of mine...

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: In a good way? Beep, since you said your friend!!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I like your ... umm....

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I know what it's called, I just forgot. The blue thing.

Equius Zahhak: D --> ...My sweat?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: No! Well. If you like that about yourself then I like it too I guess... boop beep. I meant your- the shirt thing!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: The blue sign.

Equius Zahhak: D --> Ah, my caste symbol. It signals my position among my species.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Is it a good position? Blue is a REALLY good colour!

Equius Zahhak: *grins* D --> It is quite lofty...although, there are three b100d castes above me.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Well, I don't care about that! Blue is the better one.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: My hair's blue!

Equius Zahhak: D --> I've noticed. I did not know that was a human hair color.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: It's not. Beep! But it's natural! All my family has blue hair, it's just unique to us. Boop boop, even my eyebrows are blue!

Equius Zahhak: D --> I see. Perhaps you are the ne%t step in your species' evolution.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I'm not sure what that means, but I like it a lot! After all blue's a handsome colour for a couple a handsome guys ehhh! Hahahaha!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: What's your name? Can I ask?

Equius Zahhak: *smiles* D --> Equius. Equius Zahhak. And yours?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Oh so fancy! Beep bop. Usually I make everybody call me Boyfriend, it's my singers alias. But, beep, since we're both blue and I like that about you, I'll be formal too!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: My name's Kare Hatsune.

Equius Zahhak: D --> Kare Hatsune...hm, my morrail is a fan of someone with your last name.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Is that so?

Equius Zahhak: D --> Yes, I believe her name was...Miku.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Ahh!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: That's my big sister.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: She's like a billionaire!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Super famous popstar.

Equius Zahhak: D --> Really? Sister...those are a member of the human "family" unit that I heard so much about?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Yes, we grew up together in the same house! Same parents-- umm. Genetic doners?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I'm the youngest, there's my big sister, my big brother and our oldest brother.

Equius Zahhak: D --> I see. You all came from the same ancestor.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Yes! 100% the same.

Equius Zahhak: D --> And you cannot breed together for it makes your offspring weaker.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Oh my gosh.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: That's like illegal!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: It would make them like, genetically sick, and stupid.

Equius Zahhak: D --> Ah, so that girl with the glasses was not misleading me.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Met a human before? Beep bop.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: But yeah, that's like, uh, a crime? You have to be like, a certain percentage of not having the same exact dna to like, breed. Haha I sound kinda smarty...

Equius Zahhak: D --> Yes, I have met humans before. It's a rather long story...hm, I did not know it was a crime.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I am almost positive it's a crime, they don't want bad things to happen to anybody, including like, future offspring I guess. Bebop.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I've met lots of not humans before!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Some aliens ... one alien scared me a lot.

Equius Zahhak: D --> Really? Was the alien wearing make-up, had strange hair and wielded a bow of some sort?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: A bow ...?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Well, she did have strange hair, and had make-up.

Equius Zahhak: D --> Hm...a purple b100d? Perhaps one of the new members of the species? This requires further investigation...

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: No, her theme wasn't purple.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Her theme was red and black.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: ... She kind of looked a little like you from what I was told, but different?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I only saw one of her forms. But my ex saw her true form.

Equius Zahhak: D --> I see...a possible mutant?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I'm not sure, I can try to describe what I know better? Is it okay if I just explain concepts in case you don't know them? I'm not trying to like insult your intelligence, I'm not smart but it's easier to get on it first.

Equius Zahhak: D --> Hmm...you may proceed.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Okay, thanks! Beep.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: So, when I was in highschool-- this is a couple years ago, highschool's like a government program where all the little kids go and learn together and stuff, an adult teaches us things. Uh I wasn't good at school but that's not the point- it's a place where lots of kids are.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: There was this new girl! She had red hair, horns .. but it wasn't horns like you, it was like, her hair. Her eyes were red and slitted, but she looked ... like me! A human.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Her name was Cassandra.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: And ... she lived with us for years, learned with us, made human friends.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: And she brainwashed them into joining her side, and one day she killed almost everybody.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Lots of kids gone, even her friends! She made them kill other humans and then they died too.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: And my ex- he saw her REAL form.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Black fur, black hair, big yellow eyes, spikes and horns and claws.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: ... It actually reminds me of you! But like, if you were fuzzier?

Equius Zahhak: D --> ...Uh-huh.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: But honestly.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: You're TOO small!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Way too small!

Equius Zahhak: D --> By human standards, I believed I was somewhat, if not overly, tall.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: You are, I'm very small below average! But I meant to be the same species as her.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Her human form was average, maybe between me and you.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: But her real form was ...

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Pico described it as "she could crush a human with one finger".

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Pico would know better than I would, he's my ex. He said something like she could transform into whatever species or shape or form she wanted to blend in, to, like, um, take them out from the inside?... I'm kind of glad he killed her, but I wish it never happened, we could've all been friends.

Equius Zahhak: D --> Ah. A grown member of the higher castes should have been able to match her then.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Ooh! So fancy!!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Maybe you are a related species. I don't know, I'm stupid so I don't care.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Beep beep bop!

Equius Zahhak: D --> You sounded rather erudite for a supposed duller member of your species.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Erudite..?

Equius Zahhak: D --> Wise.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Ohhhh.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I don't know, I was just repeating information I was told.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I did really badly at school.

Equius Zahhak: D --> I see...well, my morrail told me that intelligence in of itself is not everything.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Can I ask what's a morrail? Is it like your partner? Like romantically?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Sorry if it's too invasive, I just don't know.

Equius Zahhak: D --> No, it's a reasonable question. I have had some time to compare morrailegience to your Earth relationships and I've come up with this:

Equius Zahhak: D --> While regarded as a form of romance on my planet, here it is simply comparable to a STRONG form of comradeship where one partner is responsible for keeping the other partner's flaws in check. It can be considered a form of friendship which is predicated more upon trust than commonality.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: So like ...

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: You're not breeding, but you're like, important to eachother? Companions? But significantly more than, um, like, friends.

Equius Zahhak: D --> E%actly. It is considered just as important as the other three romances.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: That is so cute.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I am SO happy for you!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: There's three more romances?? That sounds complicated.

Equius Zahhak: D --> You should see Leprechaun romances.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Leprechaun? Jeez, I'm already so confused!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Human romances don't really have like um. Differences? They have like, tiers.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Tiers is levels, right?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: So you start off dating, then you're like, committed, then you go up to fiances, then you go up to marriage.

Equius Zahhak: D --> I see...and this goes for even enemies?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Enemies???

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Enemies...

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I mean, I've found people I hate hot before, but like, there's no real difference in terms of legality and stuff.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: To put it simply, hatefuck exists but it's not like a real- like there's no hate marriage, it's kind of weird actually and sad.

Equius Zahhak: D --> Ah...and in the case of those types of couples, how does the law recognize the auspice?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I'm not sure what it is, I'm sorry!

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: What does it do?

Equius Zahhak: D --> Oh, an auspice helps to stablize one of the other three romances, kismesisitude. Kismesistude is when two enemies or rivals form a mutual attraction to each other. Auspices help to make sure that kismesistudes do not turn to%ic.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: ...mmm...

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: That sounds weird to me. Beep bap skebop. Very foreign concept, I think meybe-- maybe, ummm.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Trying to think about it reasonably ... temporary auspices might spur up out of nowhere if the need arises.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Like if you're fighting too violently or getting toxic, someone might step up temporarily to help?

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: But other than that I don't think it exists.

Equius Zahhak: D --> I see. It could not hurt to add a system like that.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Maybe it'll be a social fad! All it takes is one celebrity doing it and everyone's gonna follow. Hehehe bebebebep.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I like talking with you! You don't make me feel stupid.

Equius Zahhak: D --> I have been told that I have a tendency to talk down to others due to absorbing pre-e%isting societal prejudices so...I've been working on that.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Well, you made a lot of progress, I didn't feel talked down to.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: Good for you!!

Equius Zahhak: *smiles* D --> Thank you. I have to go but I enjoyed our talk.

Boyfriend [Friday Night Funkin]: I enjoyed it too! Beep. If you see me again say hi, bop boop. See ya!

Equius Zahhak: D --> I will.

You left the chat

[voidcat]

— fangs dipped in wine

characters: chuuya nakahara, you

info: vampire au, lowkey suggestive, 2.3k

a/n: let's all pretend for a hot second bram stoker was an actual author in bsd and that instead of abilities, there are vampires<3 I'll probably do a p2 to this in a timeskip way so itll b more fun yay,,

Several days ago, it was just an idea. A laughing matter. A ‘what-if’ to build scenarios on and giggle.

Several days ago, it was night time too, the taste of alcohol fresh, her laugh right beneath your ear, it was warm, and bubbly and there was a sense of direction, a certainty.

Several days ago your friend hadn’t suddenly announced dropping out and moving out of the shared apartment you two had yet. Maybe she had been considering for a while now but in that very moment, it hadn’t happened yet, your world wasn’t upside down.

“Just imagine!-“ her breath fawned over your ear, glasses clinking against one another. “So I’m talking to this guy, right? Like music stuff, and movies, and all. No feelings whatsoever,” you found it hard not to roll your eyes and was met with a shove. “Not like that!” she protested. “He tells me about his boyfriend, I even helped him plan a surprise party once.”

“You cannot know if he’s faking…” you remember saying, in that knowing tone, smooth like silk and lecturing. “Yea whatever. Anyways! Get this:” placing the glass down in concentration that was foreign to her, you were intrigued.

“They don’t have vampires.”

“No way.” Slowing taking another sip from your drink, it sounded like a fantasy almost. Sure, there were rumors of not every country having vampires but it was numbered, there were so little, and the vampires? They were ever present.

“So he says: ‘Hey, aren’t they all rich peeps always wanting fresh blood? What if you have lots of blood already, and make a deal? You can trick them to pay you loads for it and you’d not even have to have them near your neck!’-“ she paused to let out a bark, you’re sure she’s been doing it since she first saw the message.

“And-“ another pause, to shed a tear, “and he says, ‘and if the vampire is hot? Bonus points! They got those fancy houses, you’d no longer pay rent either.’” The mocking of the voice comes to an end. “Can you believe? A deal, with a Vampire of all people! And he says rent fixed!”

You had to admit, for someone who claims to not met any vampires, it sounded charming on paper, but in Yokahoma?, not so much. At a moment of weakness, you looked at one another, daring, and next, breaking into a fit of laughter and downing the glass in one gulp.

How many days has it been since that night? Five? Maybe seven? It was long enough to miss her presence now, but too short to be threatened by the landlord.

One night you’re at your favorite pub with your dearest friend downing drink after drink. You can remember the stars in the sky that night, you thought it was just your brain imagining it, as well as the crescent moon hanging so delicately.

And next thing you know, you’ve just left this bar, despite the temperature it was cold on your bones, and here stands the redhead, his breath fawning over your neck, mouth open, but not to tell a story for the laughs.

He didn’t bother to hide the fangs and you didn’t bother to leave the place.

An idea you called stupid few nights ago just happened to make sense in that sad sulking state. And then he had to appear, with a glass of expensive wine, locks covering his face just fine, a vest that fits his body perfectly and fangs shining under the dim lights of the bar.

“Oh-kay, that’s enough.” You push his face off with your palm in one go. The ‘thump’ of his hat falling on the floor and the yelp coming from his lips fill the air.

“You’re no fun.” he pouts as he picks up his hat.

“So, how we’re doing this? And no, you cannot drink straight from my neck!” you finish before he can raise a finger.

A moment of silence follows the two of you, it’s a nice place. Expensive looking furniture though it’s more like a house from a catalogue than a home. Still, impressive –he, ‘what was his name again?’, definitely has a taste. The empty crystal glasses sit on the table, next to the bottle, a candle close to burning out completely flickers its flame lazily as your eyes wander.

Your gaze moves onto his sapphire eyes then, watching your every move and breath carefully, but not patiently. You can hear him vibrate with every molecule in his body, trying so hard not to lunge forward or speak up, maybe grab your arm and pull you back towards his chest.

“So? Hello?..” you drag the the ‘o’ and wave a hand in front of his face, “Anyone home?”

Like someone hypnotized stepping out of a trance at a snap of fingers, he jolts, pupils narrow, then widen and focus on your face. “Ah, sorry-“ he starts walking away.

Then he fakes a cough, as if you didn’t catch him staring already… Just how the hell did you find this guy in a city filled with vampires?

He stops, turns back, reaches for your hand and you let him. “Did you drink the wine?” he walks a step ahead, still hand in hand.

“If you ask me one more time, I’ll start suspecting you added some sort of drug.” This seems to get to him, obvious from the way he almost trips on his foot and turns back in a hurry, both hands up in defense and shaking his head like crazy.

“Wh- No- No, no no! It’s nothing like that- I-“ if he didn’t look so embarrassed, you’d even say he looks flustered. His rambling stops when you snort and decide to take pity on the guy.

“Relax I was just joking.” His shoulder drop in relief. “Besides, if you put anything, it’d have kicked in by now.”

“Ah, yeah, right…” he looks down, to his right, and that’s when you see the velvet couch there. He extends his hand, in an offering manner and follows you right after.

Reaching for a pocket in his vest, he whispers to himself, you barely hear. “I just like the taste of wine in blood...”

“Weird, not what I expected, but could be worse. I’ll take it.”

Another silence follows, he avoids your gaze while your eyes never leave his eyes fumbling with his vest and cape. Maybe it’s like one of those cape like jackets, certainly matches the vibe he carries.

Under the shivering candle light, he looks so different from the bold smug suave guy who brimmed with confidence, flashed his teeth like nothing, as if the world belongs to him and anything that does not care for him simply does not exist.

And now with the same face, sits besides you someone else, eyes cast down, hands fumbling, there’s comfort in knowing this is as awkward for you as for him.

(You wonder for a second if there’s something you can do to clear the atmosphere.)

“Maybe you should be having another glass instead of asking me.” You try to say nonchalantly and it takes him a second to get what you mean. Then he smiles, and the hint of a small giggle comes out and his body seems to calm down.

“Give me your hand.” He holds out his, the palm facing the ceiling. “Well? This is the easiest way to do it without leaving permanent marks.” He sounds irritated.

“Or noticeable.” You say and he repeats, a little impatient.

Giving him your less dominant hand, you eye the dagger for as long as you can. When the cold blade meets your palm, you can barely feel its weight.

“Okay, I’ll be honest here.” He stops midway, the dagger in the air. You raise an eyebrow, signaling him to continue. “I’ve never done… this before.”

“So- uh- whatever’s the standart payment, or the whole, you know,” he waves the hand holding the dagger in the air “etiquette for this.” He sounds to be relaxing with each word. And with him, so do you. Then comes back that familiar confidence from the earlier, decorated with a hint of threat and a dare. “Just- Don’t ever try to scam or fool me.”

And goes away the determined face, replaced with surprise, as you start laughing loud, one hand over your stomach.

“Look, listen-“ you stop as you’ve begun. “Chuuya.” He fills the gap for you.

“Listen, Chuuya.” You test his name on your lips. “I’m a broke college student who can get kicked out of their flat any day now. Crossing a vampire is the last thing on my list, trust me.”

Eyes soften, a genuine smile blooms and the silence to follow isn’t heavy anymore.

When he slashes the dagger over your hand, it doesn’t sting. The blood soon reaches the surface, red thick liquid glistening in the candle’s flame, ‘life’ it says.

This is what they want, why they want it, drink it, kill for it.

Hidden in the blood, is life, with all it has seen and will see, warm, moving, trusting.

You watch in a daze as he brings your hand to his mouth. Cold lips make content with your skin, how cold and lifeless they feel against you, you see in clear contrast. The sinking of teeth doesn’t come, you don’t flinch. You can tell he’s making an effort not to bite too hard into your giving hand. Drinking the blood slowly, trying to contain himself from getting greedy, there’s no sound in the air except for your loud heartbeat, echoing in your ear and fastening with each move of his back.

The glimpse of a smile you catch in this scene before you tells, he can hear it too, and probably relish in it.

With each flicker of the flame, his lips start to feel warmer and soon he straightens up. Not a single speck of blood on his frame, he offers you the same smug smile from earlier.

Blood makes place for itself on his face, like roses blooming under the sun. His skin gains color, you didn’t notice just how dull and gray he was up until now. Life spreads so fast in his limbs, soon you can feel his warmth near you, in the air, in your hand, on the spot your knees touch. Once the base color is done, pink decorates his cheeks faintly, most likely an after effect of all that wine.

Maybe if he intervened his fingers with yours, it’d feel warmer, and in a weird way, safer.

Watching your eyes on him with amusement in his crystal ones, he seems to enjoy this, that is until his eyes focus on a spot of yours and cannot stop examining every other spot, every single pore, mark, hair and color you have, memories you carry.

The flicker of the light blends in, the warmth pulls the two of you in, time feels gone, like it never existed, maybe nothing every existed except for the two of you sitting before each other.

A sudden crash, from the outside and the magic is gone with a snap.

Noticing your hands, you pull it back to your chest fast.

His goes back to his head and he looks away, anther shy smile on his face.

“What- How should we proceed next?” he breaks the silence first, attempting to gather back a sense of seriousness to his voice. In a way, he should too, this is technically business, isn’t it?

Glancing at your palm, you open and close it few times. Not a speck of pain is there.

“Once every week maybe? If that’s alright. Although we may cancel few weeks, you never know what comes up last minute.”

The dagger nowhere in sight, probably returned to a pocket of his already, he looks pleased with your reply. “Sounds good to me.”

Without further ado, you get up to look for the door you first walked in.

“Wait!-“ he follows in a hurry, almost slipping, again, and trying to find something in his jacket.

Go you! For forgetting why you agreed to a vampire’s house in the first place. “Is- uh- is this alright? Or is it so little? We never discussed payment, y’know.” He holds out a lot more than you expected, but then again, vampires live for thousands of years. He must have quite the amount lying around somewhere after all.

Unsure what to do with the money he slips into your hand, you meet his eyes. “That’s… more than enough actually. Thanks.”

He rests one hand on hip, taking in your surprised face. “Don’t mention it. I’ve got plenty.” Touching your elbow lightly, he guides you to the door, dragging his feet. By the time you reach the door, he makes no move to open it, not that it was ever locked in the first place.

Turning of the knob, you take a step ahead, motions limited on both sides; dragging, waiting for something to happen, something to be said, for the air to be broken.

By the time you’re one foot outside, he clears his throat with a fake cough, covering his mouth. “Same time, same place, next week?” his gaze cast on the floor, stealing glances to see what you will do next.

You turn to him with a smile. “Works for me.” And tilt your head “but what if one of us cannot find the other?”

“Oh I’ll find you alright.” He chuckles with a grin. Truly a sight to sell the whole vampire image he got going, even if he hadn’t been one.

Feet standing next to each other, you’re out now, furrowing your eyebrows with a look of disapproval to match his grin, unimpressed.

“You sound like a creep. Don’t do it again.”

And with it, you turn your back to him, already on your way. The ginger left behind, an unfinished “okay” hanging on his lips, eyes focused on your form, swallowed by the shadows, waiting for the next night to be spent with you, already impatient.

[plainlo-inthemorning]

A little written-in-the-middle-of-the-night Loki fic snippet that just grew another leg. TVA Loki + Lokane. Rating T.

(First part is here)

Shine a Light, part II

The tempad feels hot and slippery in his palm as he stalks down the hallway, quickly putting distance between himself and the hunter he left unconscious amidst overturned chairs and tables in the canteen.

The mess had already been there, leftovers from workers rushing panicked to man their stations. He had simply added one more touch.

Tiny droplets of sweat bead his brow and blood has started seeping though the tear in his crumbled shirt.

The fabric is clinging wetly to his bicep, but in the mayhem unfolding around him, nobody gives him a second glance.

For the first time, he is thankful at least to be wearing the anonymous uniform dictated by the oppressors.

He reaches the kill me kind of room again and shuts the door behind him.

You were meant to cause suffering and death.

You’re a cosmic mistake.

You were meant to die at the hands of the mad titan.

Lies.

All lies.

Still projected on the wall is the paused image of a lost memory of his unfulfilled fate.

He sees himself, Thor and her on the barren planet with the black soil. The man he never became is lying on the ground, Thor cradling him.

She watches them both in shock.

It resonates in his bones. He has to go there.

He has to reach his brother at this precise, excruciatingly rare moment of heroism. His act of heroism.

Before the scheming and deceit poison their bond once more in an endless loop of disappointment.

In this moment, all is forgiven. Thor will listen and help. A different path will branch.

And he has to go to her.

It is ludicrous, this riddle, yet the truth of it presses hard on his chest.

On the grainy roll of film, he saved her life and her eyes bore into his with such intensity, his acute need still reverberates like an echo between the walls of the kill me kind of room.

The smell of lilacs lingers.

What will happen when he faces his own self on the timeline, he can’t imagine. Also, he gives it little thought at this late stage with universal logic already suspended as it is. Hopefully he can reason with the man he was meant to be.

He has had quite enough of being his own past, present and future selves’ worst enemy.

And so he pushes the buttons on the tempad.

//

Something is very wrong.

The sky is too blue, the distant sound of waves lapping calmly at a shore is misplaced.

He has emerged from the door onto a quiet gravel road lined with tall grass and low pines. A single, white wooden house stands to his left, surrounded by a lawn dotted with wildflowers. The sun is warm on his back.

This is Midgard, he is sure of it.

How could he shoot past his destination so spectacularly?

He is about to scroll down the list of numbers and names on the tiny screen of the tempad when he notices a man approaching. Old, walking leisurely with a round, short-legged dog much the same white color as the mortal’s own wispy hair.

The latter starts a little when he spots Loki.

And then he does the most unexpected thing and speaks his name.

Loki’s name.

He almost drops the tempad (no! Not again) and the old one grins good-naturedly. “Hold on to your fancy phone there. Far away, were we?”

Loki only just about stops himself from shaking the man by his shoulders. His fists clench uncontrollably.

“What year is this?! How do you know my name?”

His voice sounds shrill, feverish, and unsurprisingly the eyes in the lined face before him go wide with puzzlement and … something else.

“Loki, what on Earth? Are you quite alright?”

Shock washing over him, Loki staggers back. H-how?

But the man is closing the gap between them, oozing concern. “Have you - are you drunk?” he asks incredulously.

He reaches out.

What is happening?

Loki shies away from the touch, his mind spinning.

Forcibly gathering his composure, he straightens and wills his words to come out steady. “No, I’m okay. Apologies. A bad joke”.

He smiles reassuringly. It takes more effort than parting an ocean.

The dog is sniffing insistently at his ankles.

The man looks him over with suspicion but the worry is subsiding. “Okay, then… no harm, no foul. You know, sometimes these peculiar ‘jokes’ of yours can make a neighbor all kinds of slightly worried”.

Neighbor?

“Most understandably, won’t happen again. Sorry to have bothered you”. Loki cuts him off smoothly. “Have a nice day”. He nods and turns before hysteria can creep into his voice.

“In case you need it for your punchline, the year is 2016”, the man calls over his shoulder as he shuffles away, pulling the reluctant dog after him.

Loki’s blood runs cold. 2016. Oh, this is so wrong. Three years wrong.

Did he hit another button at the last minute? He had been clutching the tempad so hard the edges cut into his fingers.

He curses his own impatience. Tech savvy indeed.

Holding up the blasted piece of TVA wizardry, he tries to enter a new series of numbers when his name rings out again.

And again, he almost jumps. But this time, his heart stays in his throat.

//

“Loki? What are you doing out here? I’ve been looking all over for you”.

Her voice reaches him from the porch of the white house. She is skipping lightly down the steps, the screen doors left open behind her. Music drifts into the garden from somewhere inside.

She is crossing the lawn. He is no longer breathing.

Her long auburn hair is tied back in a ponytail, and she is wearing a light blue summer dress. Her feet are bare.

Absurdly, he notes that she looks more tanned than the last time he saw her through the visor of the destroyer in the desert. A year and a lifetime ago. To him.

His grip on whatever reality he’s been clinging to since New York is seriously faltering.

She is beaming. He cannot move a muscle.

She comes all the way up to him and without pause wraps her slender arms around his neck. He can feel the warmth of her body through his shirt, smell the perfume of her skin. She smells of … -

“Where did you go, handsome?” She smiles playfully.

“Pepper called earlier to say that she actually got Tony out of the door on time, if you can believe it, so they’ll be here any minute. And her and I agreed that you two hotheads are going to play nice tonight, okay?”

She is teasing him but he hardly understands the words she’s saying. It makes no sense.

And then, before he can begin to form a response, she stands on tiptoes and kisses him and the world falls away.

Reflexively, he puts his arms around her, drawing her close to him. She moans happily. He leans into the kiss, not knowing what he’s doing other than that he never wants to stop.

Her mouth is soft and warm and new and familiar all at the same time, and the way her fingers curl in his hair sends electricity shooting down his spine.

It should be all anguish and tragic confusion, like before in the castle beyond time, but it is not.

It feels more right that anything he can remember since before his fall from the Bifrost, more real and yet more magical than his recent journeys into mystery.

Then it’s over all too soon and she draws away.

His arms are suddenly much too empty and he almost reaches for her again, craving her touch.

For a fleeting heartbeat, his soul had no longer felt torn apart to the point of forgetting he’d ever been whole.

The chaos had crumbled in on itself like a bad dream.

He is surprised he still knows what peace of mind feels like after what has happened to him since arriving at the TVA.

But now she looks at him with alarm in those beautiful brown eyes and he is crudely reminded that he is an intruder in her reality.

What she thought she saw, she clearly no longer recognizes.

It takes him all of three stupidly long seconds to remember that she said his name. That he’s wearing his own face and not a disguise.

That she knew him immediately, just like the old man.

She kissed him.

Too many impossible possibilities and the thunderous sound of his own heartbeat (surely she can hear it too) blur his vision.

He’s only vaguely aware that he is stepping towards her, trying to say something without the faintest idea of what’s going to come out of his mouth.

If it’ll even be words.

Her eyes dart over his clothes, his face.

“Loki, what - Why are you dressed like that? Have you been gone? Is that … blood?”

She retreats further, fear building.

“Jane, I-“

Her name rolls of his tongue with a sweet-tasting intimacy like he has said it a thousand times before.

But he doesn’t get to dwell on this, nor gather his thoughts to say anything else before something abruptly lifts him off the ground and hurls his body across the road.

“How dare you touch her, beast?!”

Immediately as his back connects with the rough gravel, someone is there, a knee pushing him down, fingers closing around his throat. A sharp object presses against his chin.

There is a dangerous, unhinged growl as his attacker breathes hotly in his ear. “You will die for this!”

The man is strong and somehow blocking Loki’s own magic, but he still manages to twist his head -

And looks right up into his own eyes, nearly black with rage.

//

“Speak! What are you??”

The man with a face exactly like his presses the tip of his blade closer to Loki’s left eye. “You will show yourself right now or -“

Gathering his magic tightly around him (focus!), Loki pushes back, hard.

With a surge of energy, their bodies are separated, and the other version of him lands heavily in the middle of the road some meters away.

Both of them are on their feet with the fluid movements of two panthers ready to pounce, the other now in full armor.

He has to leave, right now, even if means leaving her which is a catastrophe that might either kill him or make him try to kill his other self if he stays here another minute.

This timeline is clearly not his own.

It cannot be.

Arm outstretched to ward off his furious twin with a shield of magic, he tries to work the tempad with one hand.

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

A booming voice above their heads.

“You know, when Jane pressed the panic button just now, I thought we had an actual emergency. Not that you were preparing a little dinner show for us, Reindeer Games. Gotta be honest though, this doppelgänger stunt was never my favorite -“

“Stark!”

The variant - for he must be a variant - angrily interrupts the man in the metal suit hovering in the air.

Of course, Loki remembers him all too clearly.

What has it been, less than a week since he threw him, or a version of him, out the window of the glass tower?

“This is not my creation”, the variant hisses with venom dripping from every word. “I caught him assaulting Jane. Kissing her”.

“What?!”

Stark focuses all his attention (and one of his iron fists) on Loki. A metallic humming rises steadily from inside the suit.

“A man on a suicide mission then. Boy, did you smooch the wrong wizard’s baby-mama. He may look all domesticated and cute now, but I assure you he’s still all kinds of crazy. In fact-”.

“Hey!”

“What?”

“I know it’s asking a lot, of you in particular, Stark, but could we possibly save the personal insults till we have dealt with this right here?”

Wait, just wait.

Damn it, he can’t tap in the destination on the tempad without looking at it.

Green smoke is swirling around the hands of his other self. He knows what’s coming.

“This is your last warning, devil! I will not have you hiding behind my face as I -“

“This is my face! I’m you, you fool! Bigger things are at large here and-“ Loki falters, his silver tongue failing once more with rising predictability within what seems a disconcertingly short period of time.

Although he honestly can’t tell anymore.

“Please, take a minute -“

He can’t help but shout, sounding hopelessly desperate.

In another life, he might have felt humiliated, but letting pride dictate his emotions is no longer a luxury he can afford to indulge.

Still, the silence that follows his outburst is not nearly as long as he needs it to be.

The variant stares blankly at him, mouth slightly ajar, but Stark recovers easily, his voice now icy.

“Yeah, dude, that one might have worked better if you’d put on a clean shirt. Time to fess up real quick or we’ll have to-“

Drawing what might become his last breath, Loki looks away and down at the tempad. He presses the button. No more time to double check.

“What the?!”

Both Stark and the variant visibly flinch as the door appears.

He quickly makes for it. “I - I’m sorry. Truly, I am”. He looks to their stunned faces before turning to his exit.

Out of the corner of his eye, he registers the variant move (he has to be a variant). His mouth twists in an ugly snarl and two familiar daggers are appearing by his sides.

Before the door snaps completely shut, Loki sees Jane run up to the man and grab his arm.

“Love, no, don’t!”

He sees the slight bump under her dress that he didn’t notice before.

And then the scene disappears and he’s gone.

Part III

[secret-engima]

Tomorrow is looking up to be - absolutely terrible. Can I beg you for some RWBY or FFXV snippets, please?

Of course! I know it is the "tomorrow" you speak of but lemme see what I can dig up-

Team Gremlin:

There was silence for a long, long time. Nothing but Ruby’s sobbing and Yang’s pounding heart and the fear that pressed down on them from all around. Formless, but not nameless. Then she heard the stairs creak and for one moment Yang was sure that “Salem” was coming upstairs to get Ruby.

But then the door opened and Yang saw Dad’s boots, “Girls? It’s okay. Come on out.” Yang didn’t move, Ruby just sobbed a little louder and clung tighter to her. Dad sighed and bent down to peer at them, “You heard all that didn’t you.” He looked … not mad, but stressed. Maybe scared, and that made the fear worse for Yang. Yang clung to Ruby, her precious baby sister with silver eyes that no monster should be able to get to, and nodded. Dad’s face pinched, then he gave a smile that even she could tell was fake, “Come on out, girls. It’s okay. I promise. That was all just- that was adult talk okay? You don’t need to worry about that until you’re older-.”

“Ruby’s eyes,” Yang bit out, “R-ruby has Mom’s e-eyes.”

“It’s okay, Yang, Ruby, I promise. We’ll take care of it-.”

A creak of wood behind Dad and he frowned before straightening up and turning to face whoever was there, “I’ll be down in a minute, just let me-.”

“Taiyang,” Professor Ozpin sounded weirdly calm, more calm than Dad did, “may I speak to them?”

“…I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

A sigh, “I am well aware of your opinion on this matter, Taiyang, and I respect it. But they have already heard enough to be terrified. Telling them to forget it now is not only impossible but potentially worse than talking to them. You made your stance on this matter very clear, but that does not apply to your children if it will put them in danger.” Professor Ozpin’s voice softened, “Either I speak with them or Qrow does, but please. Let one of us help.”

Dad didn’t move for a long time, then his boots made for the door, “Fine. But don’t drag them into this more than you have to.” A deep breath, “Girls? I’m going downstairs to check on your mother, if you need anything, just shout, okay? Professor Ozpin is going to talk to you for a little bit. He’ll be very nice.” The last bit was said in the same voice he used when warning Zwei not to dig holes in the yard.

Dad’s boots disappeared and fancy black shoes came closer. There was a pause, then, “Would you prefer to stay under the bed?” Ruby whined and Yang glared without a word. She didn’t know what was going on, but Dad seemed mad at Professor Ozpin and everything was scary and so yes, she wanted to stay under the bed. The tip of his fancy cane tapped the floorboards a few times, then there was a hiss and a whirr of gears like from her parents’ gear and the tip disappeared. With a grunt, he knelt down and then lay down on his stomach like even Mom rarely did. He pillowed his chin on his crossed arms and it was so strange seeing a fancy, famous person lying on his belly on the floor of Ruby’s room that Yang snorted despite herself.

Professor Ozpin’s face crinkled into a faint smile and it looked real and warm, “Hello there. You must be Yang and Ruby. I am Professor Ozpin, I’m a friend of your uncle and your mother. Can I safely assume you heard the most important parts of that conversation? The Grimm and the silver eyes and,” the briefest hesitation, “Salem?”

Ruby finally pulled her face away from Yang’s shoulder to whimper, “I-is she gonna take Mom away and m-make her a Grimm? Is she gonna t-take me?”

“Ah. You have silver eyes,” Professor Ozpin murmured, then his face fell back into that faint, warm smile, “Your mother is alright now, and now that we know what is going on, we will be much more careful. I promise, I will do everything in my power to keep your mother and you safe. But to do that … I would like to tell you a story, and you must both promise me to never tell it to anyone. For the safety of you and your mother.” They nodded, hesitantly, even though Yang certainly didn’t want to hear anymore scary things today. But if it would help keep Ruby and Mom safe-.

Professor Ozpin’s smile faded, but his eyes were still warm, “Once upon a time,” he began, and they listened intently as the man with white hair slowly outlined a story that sounded right out of a fairy tail.

...

Always I Dreamed verse:

Summer had no idea what Professor Ozpin had been thinking, making her the leader of Team STRQ. Then again, the only other real option would have been Taiyang, and as much as she enjoyed his company and was coming to think of him as a good friend and teammate, he wouldn’t have been able to handle the Branwen twins.

Not that Summer was much better at handling the Branwen twins.

They hadn’t done anything to get the team in trouble, but she didn’t know how to deal with them. Taiyang made sense, even if he had a few oddly adorable hangups on things like “modesty” —they were two guys and two girls living in the same room, she didn’t really see what modesty had to do with anything when they weren’t out in public—. Taiyang understood her when she tried to … bond with the team, tried to get them to be more than just four strangers living under the same roof and tackling the same assignments in class. Raven and Qrow on the other hand…

Every time she suggested a group activity, they watched her like she was going to bite. Like they couldn’t fathom the point of learning more about or bonding with anyone outside themselves. Taiyang had suggested it was an out of kingdom thing, but Summer had lived outside the kingdoms until five years ago, and she had never acted like that. Her family hadn’t either. That feral behavior, wary distrust and eerie staring in the middle of the night like even the room wasn’t safe to sleep in without a watch wasn’t anything like what Summer and her family or neighbors had grown up with. The only ones who had acted even similar had been-.

Oh.

Now that’s an idea.

...

Blood of My Blood verse:

The next one was a whole month after Grandma Crepera had first appeared and only a week after the scary man with the mace, but three times was enough for Dionysus to be able to immediately tell what was happening when he blinked his way to awareness in a dream. He looked around uneasily, afraid of being yelled at by someone again, but … there was no one scary nearby. He was in a small little building inside a big, unfamiliar garden. The building was just a roof and little pillars holding it up and a stone floor to stand on with a little table inside and-.

A woman.

She was sitting at the table, working on something, but instead of it being paperwork like Grandpa or taking care of a sword like Uncle Cor, she was … spinning mud? She was making mud spin and pulling at it with her hands, changing its shape with her fingers, and Dionysus hadn’t realized he’d drifted into the gazebo to watch her in awe until she glanced up from her work and smiled at him. She went back to watching her mud, and when she spoke, her voice wasn’t echoing and scary, “Hello. Would you like to join me? I have enough for both of us to use if you like.”

Dionysus watched the spinning-spinning-spinning in awe, but shook his head and tucked his hands behind his back, “Iggy says I can’t play in the mud cause I’ll get dirty an’ it’s unb- unbe- bad for a prince.” He blinked up at her, “How come you’re playing in the mud? Iggy says old people don’ like mud.”

The spinning slowed to a stop as she stared at him and he wondered if she was going to get mad. But then she started laughing, an old, deep sound that felt nice, all the way to his bones, “This is not mud, Cheeky Prince, this is clay. People use it to make things like mugs and teapots and vases. Come, come sit and I will show you how.” She waved her muddy hand and set down a chair next to hers in a flash of magical rosy-blue sparks. So she was family, just like the last ones had been. Dionysus hadn’t known he had so much family before. Then again, he was pretty sure they were all dead, and that’s why they were talking to him in dreams rather than when he was awake —and a part of him wondered if that should scare him, but it didn’t, so as long as they didn’t act scary, he didn’t bother trying—.

Dionysus climbed onto the chair and watched her in curiosity. It still looked a lot like mud to him, but it was a different color from mud, so he supposed it could be something else. The woman was spinning her clay again, fingers deftly shaping and pinching and rubbing, “My name is Nyssia, though some once called me the Just.”

Dionysus thought of the Hall of Arts and all the pictures and statues in it, including some of Grandma Crepera, and wondered if she was one of the pictures in the Hall, “Just like Grandma Crepera?”

An amused twitch of her lips, “Yes, I am like Crepera. We are both related to you, but we are older than King Regis.”

He tilted his head, partially mesmerized by what she was doing with the spinning clay, but curious despite himself about other things. She was like Grandma Crepera and the others, but she hadn’t used a scary voice at all, “How come?”

She hummed without looking away from her work, “How come what, Cheeky Prince? I cannot read your mind.”

Dionysus pouted at her, because wasn’t it obvious what he was asking? But then he said, “You don’ have a scary voice like they do.”

Now she did glance up at him with a look like Grandpa had when he said something silly, “Oh, don’t I?” Dionysus jolted in his seat, startled, but not … scared. Her voice had echoed just now, deep and layered like when Grandma Crepera or Leon had spoken, but it didn’t make him feel like he needed to go hide. It reminded him oddly of the big, booming bells that hung from old church in his favorite movie, loud but mellow. He kind of liked it, but he was still glad when her voice went back to normal as she shrugged, “I merely thought you would not like it if I used that voice. So I did not.”

[cosmiclatte28]

The Wall(Jaemin story)

Hello, this was a super quick writing I did. I lowkey spent 45 minutes of free writing. This comes up after reading the first part of the book Five (I had to read this for a class) and this keeps bothering my mind. So, now I warn you Jaemin is a rich guy here who is nice but the other members are a bit snobby and ignorant like rich people in the past. I just want to idk remind people that history once showed how two separate society tier destroyed lots of people and that actually at the moment, it is still happening somewhere out there. We can make changes. Idk i just wanna try to write again and I hope this is either inspiring or make sense Warning : poor girl, (y/n) is a laundry girl, snobby members, rich and poor mentioned explicitly. rough hand (?) but yeah it's not a romance a/n : i am just trying to write again, i'm taking my writing to fiction class and i am so nervous coz everyone looks so good but i will try and keep practicing. thank you for staying..

His younger self cannot understand how the social tier works, nor does his current young mature self. Jaemin smooths his hair back and tightens his neck tie while he watches his proportionally healthy reflection of himself in the mirror. His mind keeps running to the wall that separated the people of the west and the east. As much as he remembers, his father only brought him once there because he wanted to show him about what’s beyond the wall and how he should be grateful he lives in the East side, where all the riches party and shower in luxuries. Jaemin was seven when he witnessed a young dirty lad pick up moldy bread from the trash and popped it into his mouth with gleeful eyes. Until this day, his fifteen year old self cannot get the idea of why social status barred two different lives. Moreover, why the rich cannot help the poor by raising them to be their wife or adopted family.

“Your tie will choke you if you keep tightening it Jaem,” his older brother pops his head into the room. Jaemin smiles and takes his arms down. “What’s so special about dinner?” he questions his brother who is once again fixing his appearance.

Renjun sighs, “We need to present ourselves clean and tidy or we are just like the,” Renjun gives his eyebrow some wiggles and Jaemin blurts out the words “The West people?” Renjun nods “The commoners and poors.”

Jaemin rolls his eyes “You mean the humans living on the other side of the walls.”

“Why are we always talking about this?” Renjun finally shoots a questioning look to the taller guy.

Jaemin shrugs his shoulders “I don’t know why we, the rich, cannot share and make the poor live equally like us.”

“That is because you are too young to understand that.” his oldest brother, Doyoung, appears in the reflection.

“But we can share, we tone down our living style, give this money to the poor and make them slowly have a better life.” Jaemin still stands still despite seeing how Renjun and Doyoung are both already rushing to use their shoes and checking the clock. Their two brothers sigh “And if we do that, won’t that make us poorer?” Both of them ask the youngest, and Jaemin almost talks back but he doesn’t feel like arguing against two of them, so he internally thanks the gods when Doyoung cuts him off.

“We’ll be late if you don’t stop questioning and wear your shoes now. Quick Jaemin, time is expensive.” Doyoung pauses midway to toss the younger a pair of socks and rushes down the hallway.

On the ride to the fancy restaurant his father booked for a regular Friday, Jaemin keeps thinking alone.

It has always been in his mind how can he understand this society level thing and how can he make a change. He didn’t know it was about time he will meet a special someone who really moves his heart and makes him very motivated to make changes for the society.

--

Jaemin is eighteen when he accidentally sees you working in his best friend’s washing room. He was lost in his thought when looking for the bathroom. Despite knowing Jeno’s (his bestfriend) house by heart he somehow that day stumbles into you.

His heart skips a beat the moment he sees you looking graceful while pouring your energy and emotion into washing the clothes.

“Oh, sorry. I am afraid you missed the bathroom.” you blurt and secretly whisper that you shouldn’t have done that and now your job is in danger. However, Jaemin shakes his head. You are surprised that he doesn’t get mad!

“What are you doing here?” he asks, while his eyes wander along the tubs of clothes, all separated by colors, some soaked in soap water, some in water only.

“I am working as you can see,” you continue doing your task, “Washing the laundry of the Lee family.”

“And how much are you paid?” Jaemin clasps his mouth when he sees your face turn surprised. “I am sorry, I shouldn't have asked that.” he turns super red and you only smile weakly “It’s okay, I should answer all questions a man proposed to me.” you bitterly smile.

Jaemin must have seen how uncomfortable you are so he changes his question and upon seeing your figure he questions,“Forget that, but does Mr. Lee give you food?”

You almost laugh out loud but you just stay silent. “Judging by your cleanliness and your clothes, you sure are a nobel too. Mayhaps a friend of the young master, but you sure don’t know much stuff.”

If this is any other rich man, you are fired right now, but to Jaemin, your answers spark curiosity.

“Then explain to me young lady, what’s your name?” he reaches out his hand and you look at it confusedly. Gingerly you wipe your wet hands into your working gown and shakingly you take his hand into yours. “(y/n) young lord.” He makes a firm grip and shakes your hand, making an internal note at how rough your hand is. “Jaemin.” You gasp in your heart at how soft his hand is, must be a man who never works in his life.

“I’m afraid I must continue to work.” your eyes grow wide when you hear footsteps coming to your place. Jaemin is still shocked from the whole thing and he freezes.

“Jaem? What are you doing in the laundry room, our restroom is not even here.” A deep voice, he believes belongs to Jaehyun or Jeno’s brother, echoes.

“Oh, I’m sorry.I was just lost in my head.” Jaemin quickly turns his head away, his other hand leaves a wave to you and you feel your heart warms a little. Not all rich men are annoying!

---

After his play date at Jeno's house, Jaemin is back seated in his room. His head is trying to remember if he ever hears anything about working as a laundry girl. To no avail, none of his classes mentioned it. He just brings his mind back to how frail you look, how tiring it must be to wash loads of dirty clothes every day, takes them out to the drying room in the attic and hangs the big sheets over strong strings.

“Doyoung, have you ever tried washing your clothes?” Jaemin pops his head inside Doyoung’s study room and the oldest just shakes his head, not even sparing a glance.

“Does the lady doing our laundry get proper food and wages?”

His brother looks up and sadly shakes his head “Proper wages are only for people who run their own company. Those labor workers, they only have enough to pay for their food for one day and maybe rent a bed for sleeping. Why?”

Jaemin clenches his fist, “Then why can’t dad pay them better? Give them food from our tables.”

Renjun shows up upon hearing the commotion from his room, “It’s because society is selfish.”

“Then we need to stop it.”

The two big brothers laugh “You’re too naive and too young. Why don’t you go back and finish your reading? History needs your attention and stop thinking about the poor.”

The youngest feels ridiculed by the answer. No, he is not too naive or too young. He just wants what is best and equal for everyone, especially for (y/n). He needs to know if she can read or if she has someone else to help her raise money for surviving, he wants that rough hand to be soft like his or maybe his soft hand can be a little bit rough. He finds out from the kind laundry lady their family has that their hands become rough from the strong detergent they have to deal with every day.

The young man is more than determined to find a way to live their life and understand how hard it is to be a less rich person. He needs to make changes and he knows exactly how to do it.

He is sad Jeno’s house is far from his, he cannot sneak his way to give you some foods or help you wash but every time he makes a visit to Jeno’s house he used to say he needs to take some fresh air alone, and what he did was secretly come to you and helps you hang the laundry. You forbid him from washing it because you know his rough hand will be a question to his family. But the effort of hanging heavy wet clothes is enough to actually make Jaemin skip his morning classes the next day. When his brothers ask him why, he slides it off as he is feeling sick. Yes he is sick of how society works, and as the future law maker of the town. Since Doyoung is assigned to be the king and Renjun is next in line but he chooses to just be the advisor, Jaemin will take part as the law maker. All he needs to do is fix the law, propose it to his brothers and he believes with enough evidence and proper explanation he can make the poor lives better.

It is still a long and tough journey, but because he keeps learning secretly, he can edit and fix his law one by one.

He wants equity and equalism, he doesn’t want to see a wall anymore and he doesn’t want to hide behind the comfort of being born as the rich.

All thanks to you, (y/n), the laundry girl he shook hands with.

end

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