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0perfectimperfections0 · 8 months ago

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Part 5 of shell shocked.

Okay, with my alternative idea for this series, I'm debating on either incorporating the ideas into this work or eventually into my novel on Wattpad "Blind Stitch" so long as it works.

BUT, I have a ways to go in both this series and in my novel before I have to worry about coming to that decision. So, here is FINALLY part 5! This one is gonna be a little shorter.

____

The wind still whipped around terribly. Nolan made the decision for them to stay close to the entrance of the office building. It wasn’t safe enough for them to walk back to his house, nor was it a good idea to bring Lou into the crowd of dolls in the mental state he was in. Nolan rested on his knees, Lou still in his arms, and did what he could to calm him down. The building trembled violently and Nolan worried that the infrastructure would collapse on them.

The Uglies stayed quiet. Ox, Wage, and LuckyBat sat on the far side of the hallway, backs against the wall and silent since Nolan rushed in to grab Lou. Mandy kneeled beside Nolan, firmly rubbing down Lou’s gloved-again hands, starting at the fingertips and moving down in some hope of consoling him. Moxy stayed with them on the opposite side of the hallway. There was already a division forming amongst them. Babo and UglyDog paced around the middle of the hall, not sure which side they would subconsciously side with by sitting with them.

“There won’t any other option,” Ox mumbled, eye still trained on the floor. The wind that buffeted against the double doors nearly drowned out his words.

“There were plenty of other options besides subjecting him to mental warfare,” Nolan shot back, passive-aggressively.

“You make it sound worse than it was—”

“Solitary confinement. Does that work better for you? Might as well put him in a straight jacket and toss him in a padded cell.”

Wage finally stood as her anger rose. “Maybe we should! Nothin’ else has worked so far and I don’t see you comin’ up with any ideas! Maybe we oughtta just keep ‘im from blowin’ out the whole Institute!”

Nolan grit his teeth, misinterpreting the heat growing on his skin to be from his own anger. “You can’t possibly be sadistic enough to try that.”

“Unless you’ve got a better idea–”

“Stop talking,” Lou growled. His eyes were squeezed shut. That electricity was building up again, not only from his own emotions but from the arguing going back and forth. He put a hand to his temple where a headache was forming. The shaking started to cease and the wind quieted down now that he couldn’t focus on anything other than the headache. "If all you're going to do is argue, then get out."

Nolan was surprised when Lou forced himself off of the brunette's lap, albeit shakily, but he forced himself to stand. Ox stood up as well. "And leave you alone? Yeah, right, that ain't happenin'."

"Really? Cause you didn't have a problem with it when you shoved me into that room by myself."

Ox cowered slightly, but he was still defensive. "Alright, that ain't been my smartest choice today, but we can try--"

"No," Lou's breathing was labored, his eyes seeing dots from the migraine. "I'm done with these...these experiments. I'm sick of it."

Ox was silent for a moment, watching Lou carefully. "I ain't takin' you to the recycle."

Lou laughed dryly. "Don't worry, I can walk myself there, thanks."

Now the bunny was growing frustrated. "You're a coward, ya know that?" Lou bristled at that, looking at Ox with a mixture of surprise and fury. "The Lou I knew didn't give up no matter what he faced."

The blond towered over the bunny, but Ox didn't cower back. "A lot changes in...what, 7 years?" Lou bared his teeth, glaring down. "Don't think you know me, because you don't. Not anymore."

"Uh, guys?" The dolls turned to see Babo at the front door, peering through the glass window beside it. "We have a slight problem." He pinched his fingers in the air with a nervous look.

Wage grumbled and walked toward the door. "Compared to Sparky over there, anything is a slight problem." She peered through the window, eyes widening when she saw the fleet of robots outside at the bottom of the steps leading to the mansion. "Oh..."

Ox opened the door and stepped out first, Moxy following behind him. The others stayed inside, for no other reason than to ensure that Lou didn't get out of control again. Ox didn't go down the stairs, though. After seeing these things torture his former best friend, he wanted to be on higher ground. "What's all this about?"

They all looked the same, but one of them spoke up. "Mr Everett has sent for Prototype Model 12. Prototype is declared defective and in need of repair."

"Uh huh." Ox didn't believe that garbage for a second. "What kinda repair?"

"Compliance is necessary for the functioning of the Institute. Any hindrance will be eliminated promptly."

That...sounded threatening.

"I ain't gonna hand 'im over to ya, if that's what you expect me to do." Ox stood his ground. Lou could talk about change all he wanted to, but gosh darn it, that was still his best friend.

Moxy wrung her hands together nervously, whispering. "Ox...maybe we should just let them take care of Lou."

Ox stared down the robots, thinking, before shaking his head slowly. "Somethin' tells me that everyone will be a lot safer if he stays out of their hands. Especially if his Creator gets a hold of 'im."

The robot lifted its arm, pointing it towards Ox, transfiguring it to make its hand vanish, leaving a gaping tunnel. "You have twenty seconds to bring out the Prototype Model 12."

Ox stared at the barrel-like arm. "Yeah? And if I don't?"

"Hindrance will be eliminated."

Moxy gulped, hiding behind Ox as he formulated a plan. "Alright, fine, relax. We'll bring 'im out." Ox gently guided Moxy by the shoulders and led her back inside. He kept an eye on the robots as he closed the front door. "Alright, ya'll, new plan." Ox turned to face his friends… “Where’s Lou?”

Nolan jerked a thumb behind him. “He’s right–” No one.

Wage pulled at her ears in frustration. “Where’d he go!? I thought you were watching him!?” She pointed at Nolan.

The brunette held up his hands defensively, eyes wide. “I swear he was right behind me a second ago!”

Banging erupted against the door and Ox instinctively slammed his back against it as the knob started turning. “Alright, new plan number 2: run.”

The gang wasted no time in bolting it down the hall. The front door broke down and the robots flooded in, scanning the area before chasing them down the hall. Moxy looked at Ox who was running beside her. “What was plan number 1?”

Ox’s ears were flapping behind him in almost a humorous way if it wasn’t for the metal deaths chasing them. “Also run, but with Lou.”

They shot through the back door of the mansion, skidding around the corner of the building to do a loop around back to the front. If they could get to the main square, maybe they could at least run through the portal. But they didn’t stand a chance of outrunning something that didn’t have lungs. Other dolls in the Institute took notice of the fleet of robots chasing the gang and exchanged concerned glances with each other. Ox flailed his arms, screaming at them. “Everyone get inside! Hide!”

For dolls who no longer had to practice proper training in how to hide, it was a difficult order to follow, in their defense. They ended up panicking and running into each other before running towards the center of the Institute where Ox and his friends were going.

The group skid to a halt as the other dolls had nowhere else to go. “The portal is closed!” One of the dolls panicked.

The robots formed a line in front of the crowd of dolls, armed and ready to fire. Babo rummaged through his pockets for anything that could be useful, but all he found that could be of any use was a slingshot.

Wage snatched it from his hand. “Gimme that!” She picked up a rock and aimed it at the tin cans. The rock didn’t have enough momentum and thudded unceremoniously against one of their heads. She tossed the slingshot at them and glared at Babo. “Don’t you have anything useful in those pockets!?”

“Everything has a time and place! It’s not my fault this is the wrong time and wrong place for it!”

The robots closed in. One of the robots’ arms began to make a high-pitched whirring noise and it shot out an explosive from its arm. Ox closed his eye.

It froze mid-air.

Ox slowly opened his eye and dolls began to murmur in the dead silence of the Institute. The robots’ eyes blinked red in confusion.

The lights in the Institute began to flicker. Electricity sparked around the outside of the explosive from where it levitated. Mandy watched the darkened clouds above spark with lightning, flashing shades of blue. “Lou…”

The gang stepped back as the crowd parted, dolls backing up quickly in fear as Lou walked through them, illuminated eyes trained on the robots. His hands sparked, blue light glowing up his arms like veins. The explosive began to creak under some sort of weight until it landed on the ground, bent and dented. Lou walked past the dolls, stopping just shy of the outskirts of the crowd.

One of the robots’ eyes blinked red. “Prototype Model 12. Stand down.”

“Or what?” Lou growled back.

It set its sights on the blond, arm ready to fire. “Or elimination.”

Lou stared at the robot, lowering his gaze to its arm. “I choose elimination.”

Electricity traveled down his hands, through his feet, and shot out like vines on the ground. The robots had barely any time to react before they were engulfed by it. Their eyes glitched between blue and red, bodies jerking in every direction until they collapsed on the ground. Smoke rose from their bodies and the glowing orbs of their eyes dimmed to gray.

#lou #uglydolls #writing #fanfiction #ox #hurt/comfort #fighting #part 5 #Shell-Shock series

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solarishashernoseinabook · 4 months ago

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What are some major YA series you have read and did you enjoy them? Or was the Hungergames beef big enough to bleed over in other ya series

I'm afraid "major" is the sticking point here. When I was growing up, the "major" YA series were twilight/its major knock-offs (house of night, fallen, etc.) and THG/its knock-offs (divergent, etc.). You had some odd one-offs that weren't really knock-offs of either (Mortal Instruments is one - though you could very easily argue that was a boy wizard knock-off instead (also i never picked them up)), but it's truly difficult to express how much those series completely dominated the teen section when I was growing up and how everything was influenced by them. You genuinely had to hunt for books that weren't related to them in some way.

If you're curious, though, check below the cut for some random YA recommendations - though be warned that some of them wouldn't be so easy to get your hands on now, as they're fairly old at this point

Okay, I lied. Before we get to the recommendations, we're gonna have a talk about what counts as "YA". Allow me to digress heavily here

When I was growing up - basically until somewhere in my 20s - "YA" as we know it was not a category. The Canadian bookselling market is dominated by one major chain (Indigo - then called Chapters Indigo), and back then, they organised their books thusly:

Babies - board books - you'd get ones that listed colours, or shapes, or animals, etc

Children's books - picture books. They overwhelmingly star young children as the protagonists

Early Readers - very short chapter books, typically under 50 pages. These books would be a kid's first transition into novels, had larger text that was more widely-spaced, some illustrations, and typically had main characters who were in their early childhood and going to school

Young Readers - longer chapter books. This is where the boy wizard series or Percy Jackson started out. They were longer chapter books with slightly older child protagonists, more complex plots and characters, and more similar to adult novels in design

Teen - similar to Young Reader, but they had a teenage protagonist

Adult fiction - anything with an adult protagonist. This "section" really just means "the rest of the book store", because everything for adults was subdivided into actual genres. Meanwhile, if you were looking for a teen book, you'd get a mundane high school romance on the same shelf as an action-packed thriller, a high fantasy epic, and a dark story of abuse. Yeah, if you were a kid or teen who liked one particular genre, it wasn't easy having to look through the entire kid or teen section just to find it

Nowadays, "YA" as a category is much different. It mainly seems to refer to "book staring a teenage girl with a heavy focus on romance", because a lot of books that do star teenage protagonists but don't have a romance focus get classified as either Young Readers, if they're more light-hearted on their subject matter (see Once There Was by Kiyash Monseff, filed with children's fiction despite its MC being 16) or more heavy (see To Shape A Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose, filed with adult fiction despite its MC being 15). Even when I was growing up, the age categories could be a little wonky (Ranger's Apprentice was always filed with Young Readers, even though Will starts off 15 and ages into adulthood), but it seems like YA as a category now is distinct from the "teen" section I grew up with. So, for the purposes of these recommendations, "YA" is "anything with a teen protagonist".

Congratulations, Solaris, for writing 447 words just to say "I'm gonna recommend books with teenagers in them", that was very necessary

Okay! Onto my recommendations (some of which I've recommended before but go with it):

Patricia C. Wrede - Some good fantasy books here! I like "A Matter of Magic" (it's actually a two-book series that was published in one volume when I discovered it), about a girl named Kim who starts off as a street rat and thief and gets apprenticed to a magician, and the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, about a princess named Cimorene who decides to live with a dragon instead of dealing with the mundanities of castle life. To be fully honest, I found the quality of EFC a little spotty - it's a four-book series, and I liked books 1 and 3 (they have female protagonists - Cimorene in book 1 and a witch in book 3), but books 2 and 4, which have princes as their MCs, were more boring, slightly derailed Cimorene's character (she's back to normal in book 3, though), and I generally skip them on rereads. But book 1 is a good enough stand-alone that you can read it as-is if you like

Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells - a cool dragon fantasy about a girl going off to save her girlfriend. I know there were sequels, but I only read the first one (though i did enjoy it)

The Oathbreaker's Shadow by Amy McCullough - this one had a super cool concept. In this world, promises have magical weight behind them - breaking one results in a magical cloud following you and marking you as an oathbreaker. For kids, this is temporary, but once you're an adult, the cloud is permanent. Also, important to note, promises can be passed down from one person to another, so someone might be bound to a promise generations old. Our MC is one of these people who inherited a promise, but he doesn't know what it is. He's friends with the future khan of his people, and makes an oath to protect him...and, in doing so, breaks the oath he inherited. And it's got sequels!

The Knight and Rogue series by Hilari Bell - I mentioned this one in a previous post, so I won't go too into it again, but it's a knight errant named Michael who takes convicted criminal Fisk to be his squire, and they go around solving crimes. It's also got a fun magical system and cool banter between the MCs

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose - another one I mentioned previously, but basically: PEAK dragon fantasy, absolutely masterful

Once There Was by Kiyash Monseff - another one I talked about before. A girl becomes a vet to magical creatures. Actually the thought put into these creatures was really interesting to read, and our MC is complex and flawed

Margaret Rogerson - I first read A Sorcery of Thorns and really enjoyed it! It's about a librarian who deals with demonic books, and has really interesting magic. Tho my favourite book by the author is actually her next one, Vespertine - it's about a world where people who die get resurrected as spirits unless they're properly blessed by a nun, and our MC is one such nun who binds an extremely powerful spirit to herself to protect the world from someone trying to wield armies of such spirits. Again, super cool worldbuilding and a very interesting MC, and I've got some theories about it that I keep itching to share with people

Naomi Novik - she's written a couple books with teen protagonists (tho they're not classified as YA because one has an explicit sex scene) - Uprooted and Spinning Silver. Uprooted is about a girl who lives in a village, surrounded by a malevolent forest, who gets taken in by the mage guarding her town and becomes his apprentice. Spinning Silver is a Jewish retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, also featuring demons and elves

D: A Tale of Two Worlds, by Michel Faber - this one had a super cool concept. In this world, the letter D disappears, and our MC is the only one who remembers it exists. The text can get a little difficult to read, as the letter D completely disappears from dialogue (for example, instead of saying "I didn't do it", a character would say "I in't o it"), but I thought this was a super cool portal fantasy

Dragon Seer by Janet McNaughton - early-medieval Celtic fantasy where a girl becomes the new dragon seer of her people and protects them from Viking attacks. Again, it's got sequels!

Flight or Fight by Diane Haynes - realistic fiction about a girl in a small town who notices a bird who got caught in an oil spill and rescues it. She becomes involved in animal rescue after that and fights for justice in her town

Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon - okay so this one is YA dystopia, mixed with steampunk. My dad got it for me for my birthday, and despite it not quite being my genre, I did like the steampunk aspects, so give it a try if you like that sort of thing!

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor - Afro-futurism, where a girl with the power to kill anyone she touches and disable any technology she comes across travels Ghana looking for answers about herself and her past. Full disclosure, I'm not smart enough to fully understand the ending, but I enjoyed reading it

Hope you enjoy :D

#asks #book recs

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mrhaitch · 5 months ago

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Hellooo Mr. Haitch!

Since you're a former literature prof., which is what I happen to be studying, I was wondering what books you like recommending to people? Genre doesn't matter, just interested in what your literary tastes are (^-^ )

What a dangerous question. I'll focus on the books that profoundly affected me and a few reasons why.

Red Shift/The Owl Service by Alan Garner

I lump these two together a lot, because they're thematically linked. The Owl Service is an easier read, being an early YA novel but there's a feeling to it that's profoundly disturbing - three young people in rural Wales forced to play out a love triangle from Welsh mythology that typically ends in betrayal and murder. Red Shift is also concerned with time but it yanks you back and forth through large stretches of history, and in each episode a young man tries desperately to be loved and understood. It's weird, sometimes challenging to follow, and overwhelmingly sad at times.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin

Jemisin's impact on fantasy cannot be overstated, and this book is where that impact was most keenly felt. She dumps out the inherited tropes of fantasy and inspects each in turn, destroying what is no longer helpful, and cherishing those of enduring value. An, ostensibly, white powerful monarchy has enslaved the gods - leaving the world paralysed beneath their heel. Love it

The Daevabad Trilogy by SA Chakraborty

Picking up where Jemisin left off, Chakraborty's trilogy about djinn and daeva locked in a (initially) cold civil war in a holy city is fundamentally about intergenerational trauma and our place within messy historical contexts. Complex, sometimes harrowing, but endlessly brilliant.

Finders Keepers by Stephen King

I didn't get along with the rest of the Mr Mercedes trilogy, and there are better King novels out there but none that I love as much as Finders Keepers. It's a love letter to literature about the transformativel power of stories, as well as the dangers of obsession.

Slaughterhouse 5/God Bless You Dr Kevorkian by Kurt Vonnegut

I love Vonnegut's work, his voice, his outlook, and I find it hard to choose between these two. Slaughterhouse 5 is, on the one hand, a novel about WWII, but it's also about time travel, death, and looking for meaning. God Bless You Dr Kevorkian is just lovely. No other word for it - it's lovely, a hug in a book where everyone is embraced with love and humour.

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

A lot of people wrote this book off when Oprah and her ilk praised and elevated it, but I know they missed the point - because nothing changed. Put simply it's about a jaded environmentalist receiving history lessons from an intelligent and telepathic gorilla, who teaches him an alternate history to the world - history according to gorillas. There's a lot of ruminations about the nature of stories and culture here and it is WELL WORTH YOUR TIME, although you might not be the same person once you've finished reading it.

(Non fiction now)

Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher

Mark Fisher was brilliant, in spite of the transphobic nonsense he embraced towards the end of his life. Capitalist Realism is often the book I suggest to people when they're overwhelmed by a fundamental feeling of wrongness, that there's just something bad in the world that they can't put their finger on. Fisher hits most, if not all of the key points you might need to understand why. His The Weird and the Eerie is also fantastic.

We Need New Stories by Nesrine Malik

A book about prevailing cultural and political narratives, with a good deal of depth without getting stuck in the weeds. This helped me unpack a lot of my own thinking when I was doing my own PHD and I'd strongly recommend it.

American Holocaust by David Stannard

MASSIVE CONTENT WARNING: I recommend this whole heartedly but it is a graphic detailing of the horrors of European colonialism in the Americas. It will challenge and uproot a great many beliefs or suppositions you might have about history, but it will leave its scars. Necessary but painful.

The Human Planet by Lewis and Maslin

The anthropocene is at the heart of my work, and this is probably the definitive book in my mind that's accessible to the general reader. Persuasive and detailed but also accessible.

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

This book should be essential reading for every creative writing class. Read it and you'll see why.

[I'll stop there as I could go on endlessly]

#mr.haitch #mr haitch #mrhaitch #mrhaitch answers you too #pseudowho

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thetypedwriter · 7 months ago

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The Bear the Nightingale Book Review

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden Book Review

This book is so different from what I would normally read.

I was browsing the shelves at Barnes and Noble as I’m prone to do when I picked up a YA book with a beautiful cover.

I don’t recall what the book was, but I decided to check out the reviews for it on Goodreads to determine whether I should purchase it or not.

On Goodreads, the overwhelming statement being made about this forgotten YA book was that it was the poor man’s version of The Bear and the Nightingale.

Intrigued, I wandered a shelf or two over until I found The Bear and the Nightingale itself and decided to buy it. The Bear and the Nightingale at its core is a novel steeped in Russian folklore.

It tells the story of Vasilisa Petrovna, a young girl with the powers to see spirits and otherworldly creatures.

Starting from Vasya’s birth up until she’s on the brink of womanhood, you learn about Vasya’s mother Marina, who dies in childbirth, all of Vasya’s siblings, her father, Pyotr, and their small Russian village on the outskirts of metropolitan cities like Moscow and Vladimir.

The plot revolves around Vasya’s deep connection with the spirits and guardians that live in and around her home and the disturbance that shakes them and the village with the arrival of a priest, Konstantin Nikonovich.

Father Konstantin thinks that Vasya’s village is backwards for their savage reverence towards the old gods and sets the village and its people on a path of devoted fear and cruel judgment.

Soon enough, everyone thinks Vasya is a cursed witch and the people who once loved her now cast her aside, both out of cowardice and obedience from Father Konstantin.

However, the person who hates Vasya the most is her stepmother, a righteous, pious woman who is the only other person in the village who can see the spirits.

Unlike Vasya, who sees the creatures as guardians, Anna sees the creatures as devils out to damn her and her daughter, a curse she has borne to bear and has never been able to get rid of.

As the village falls away from the old, traditional times, the spirits grow weak and infirm. From this fragility and vulnerability, the devil, Medved the Bear, grows stronger.

\With his newfound power, he turns the dead into upyrs, brings about bitterly freezing winters, dry summers, and poor harvests, cursing the people of the village slowly but surely.

The only one who can stop Medved is his brother, Morozko, the winter king known as death himself. Teaming up with Morozko, Vasya must fight back against the evil that threatens her village, putting herself and her loved ones in perilous danger.

I feel like there’s more to this plot and yet, this is the best summary I can come up with. At its core, The Bear and the Nightingale is a retelling of the Russian fairytale of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon.

In the fairytale (which Vasya’s nurse Dunya tells her at the beginning of the story) a witch-girl from the village comes across Morozko, who is so taken with her beauty and courage that he gives her a bountiful dowry upon her return home.

Arden takes this classic fairytale and turns Vasya from a beautiful damsel into a fierce witch that refuses to marry, be sent off to a convent, or be shackled in any way to God or to man.

The most astounding part of this book for me was the Russian folklore influence. Folk stories of any kind have always been fascinating and it’s always so intriguing to learn about myths and stories from other cultures.

I’ve never heard of the Frost demon and while Arden turns the story contemporary with Vasya being an independent woman, the rest of the story is steeped in Russian lore, language, and history.

The way that Arden wrote this book reads like a fairytale. With a lot less focus on dialogue and traditional methods of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution, the book rises and falls like a fairytale would.

It was a lot of telling not showing, which I’m usually fiercely opposed to, but in this case, it was inherently intentional. It’s as if, Dunya, Vasya’s nurse, was telling the story the whole time, from start to finish.

It reads in a lyrical, poetic way, very different from other novels and a breath of fresh air for pure ingenuity.

The characters themselves were also good. Just like in a fairytale, they don’t have the deepest of characterizations, but that’s also not the point. They’re archetypes, lessons for young ears to hear and heed.

I find it a bit strange that Vasya had the mentality of a young woman growing up in the year 2024, but it’s also forgivable. Arden wasn’t trying to create a fully functioning fairytale that’s wholly accurate.

There are some other critiques I have, especially towards the ending. It felt like the climax came out of nowhere, with not much of a build to hit the ground running as a reader, and the death of a certain character was inexplicably vague and unimportant.

But Arden’s decision to base Vasya’s story on a fairytale, twist it with modern sensibilities, and sprinkle in some magic and poetry—is a concoction that clearly worked as the book is a national bestseller.

Recommendation: Overall, I enjoyed The Bear and the Nightingale. While it’s not something I would usually read, as stated at the beginning, I liked the reset. Every once in a while it’s refreshing (and needed) to get away from the typical YA love triangle or slow-burn romance, from the humdrum fantasies and the summer flings.

It deepens my appreciation for literature, expands my horizons, and teaches me something new, which—isn’t that what we’re always looking for as readers?

Score: 7/10

#book blog #the bear and the nightingale #katherine arden #favorite books #book review #book #book reflection #book recommendations #book rec #popular books #top books #popular fiction #book reccs #fairy tales #russian literature #russian folklore #7/10

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firadessa · 1 month ago

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1 Year Blog (Return) Anniversary- and thank you

It's been a while, huh?

Fly with you! I'm five days too late, but I reopened this blog on Oct 13, 2023. I wanted to celebrate here! You can read the rest of my thanks below (light cw mental health discussion)

I was dealing with my own personal stressors at the time when I closed the blog. I had shut it down because I wanted to focus on school- to keep it lighthearted. When I made the blog private, I wanted to wait for what felt like the "right time" to come back. I wouldn't say I came back at "the right time" for myself, but I am very happy to come back!

I impulse opened the blog cause I found an amazing surprise- many weeks later I came to find around 2000 notes combined on some of the special things I found on Archive. for some reason I was always embarrassed of myself of doing, of trying to find DF stuff on Archive oddly enough. But it payed off! And now, I don't really feel that way anymore, seeing how preservation is important and how many memories I helped you secure again. One year to the date IA is having an unprecedented DDOS attack to which I hope is resolved very soon...

I started the blog at 17 years old, and now I'm 22. But it hardly feels like it has been that long for me, as many world and personal events had shook up my life so to speak. In a way, this blog and Pixieblr (we can workshop that) has a very special place in my heart.

Thanks to artofdisneyfairies, ranibell (formerly Ask the Never Fairies), Darleen Enchanted/Plumwillow Pixie, Disney Fairies 2005-2007, Katzoo12/Disneyfairiesparadise, nabbing-nibs, zigazone, pixiehollovv (Mary). (sorry if there's more I missed) I feel like your blogs paved the way to where the community is today- and I'm glad there even is a Disney Fairies community to reminisce and enjoy. It's genuinely such a well crafted series, and I'm glad it gets some sort of attention and even had a sort of nostalgia lookback a few years back. Small but mighty pixies!

Year in review:

I shared some prototype drawings of Disney Fairies I found on a Japanese promotional site. Additionally, I secured a lot of notes with some pictures I found on the site XD

I archived around 5 Disney Fairies promotional disks

I found a PC version of the Create a Fairy game on one of these disks, a pink one sold around 2007

I found some interesting pictures and footage of early Pixie Hollow in a video by one of the companies that collaborated (Silvertree Media)

I started a Youtube archival channel and an extra archival blog!

Disney found the hype (or was just getting desperate) and is releasing new books, one middle grade series next month and a YA SOTW novel about Clarion and Milori in Feb 2025.

There's a ride at Fantasy Springs in Tokyo Disney Sea centered around the Tinker Bell franchise.

Anyway guys, thanks so much for a great year!

#disney fairies #1 year anniversary #dessa's thoughts #firadessa blog 1yr #media preservation #cw mental health

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scottishgremlin · 2 years ago

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*Spoilers for The Toll by Neal Shusterman*

so i don’t know if this is intentional or not, but something i realised in my last reread was that for the majority of female characters, their ending consists of taking back their agency, having their own narratives.

i.e. :

scythe rand - kills goddard, becomes more than a footnote in his story

astrid - sister astrid becomes mother astrid; no longer serving the toll, off to build her own community

munira - "no *i’ll* make sure"

citra is helpless and a bit dead of course, but it's a good contrast to how much drive and agency she has in the rest of the series. she's spent the entire time saving other people, now she's being saved (ish).

the scene of rowan standing next to her dead body on the ship is also so important bc he's always been willing to sacrifice himself but in that moment he realises that she wouldn't want that, he needs to learn how to not sacrifice and instead focus that energy into something else (being captain of the ship, in cirrus’ opinion).

rowan doesn't know how to be powerful and citra doesn't know how to be helpless so this shows that leaving earth and the scythedom behind is giving them character growth because finally, they are freed from the roles they’ve played since the start of book 1- rowan the damned, citra the saviour.

again, i don’t know if this is intentional but it feels like a subversion/reversal of traditional gender roles (think “damsel in distress”). this is something that other ya dystopian novels have also done (i.e. the hunger games by suzanne collins; katniss is more traditionally “masculine” and peeta is more traditionally “feminine”), so it may be something of the trope? not that scythe is a dystopian novel but you get what i mean.

this post was inspired by a conversation with the amazing @thetonethetollandthethunder

#arc of a scythe #aoas #scythe book #scythe analysis #literary analysis #ya dystopia #neal shusterman #murder rambles

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televinita · 5 months ago

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Reading Triage

Well it's been almost a month since the last (library) one, so off we go; lots to be immediately excited about!

1. Hurricane Summer - Asha Bromfield: current read, roughly 50% in. It's painful how awful some of her relatives are, and I'm baffled that she gets so upset about her aunt calling her a slut for super innocent behaviors only to...immediately get frisky with the first boy who charms her?? Truly not beating the allegations here -- but it's also incredibly beautiful writing about a setting and culture I truly don't think I've read before (Jamaica, especially from the perspective of a Canadian citizen).

[edit: loved it]

2. Even If It Breaks Your Heart - Erin Hahn: 60% done but I've been working on this one for 3 solid weeks now, struggling thru first audio and then ebook on phone, then learned that county next door FINALLY bought a physical copy after all. Part of the struggle is formatting, but the rest is that it wants and deserves to be 4 stars so bad, but the You'd Be Mine-levels of jackhole in this love interest are dragging it down.

[edit: it did not get better but I finished]

3. Queen of Junk Island - Alexandra Mae Jones: so damned pretty that I'm reading it despite the fact that it's literally just a mid-2000s queer YA novel that had to wait until its author was old enough to publish it in 2022, in terms of both being set then and having its entire focus on becoming aware of/coming to terms with her non-straight sexuality. Which was absolutely never the kind of book I looked for. But I REALLY want the story of them cleaning up the family cottage from all the trash a previous renter left there. (side note: how did I manage to randomly pick two Canadian authors from my shelf browsing??).

[edit: worst book of the year with zero competition]

4. The Wishing Game - Meg Schaffer: I kicked it back unread last time but my request in the county next door has just come through. I really hope I love this one. Everyone I trust does, and it really seems up my alley, but I'm so terrified of reading this at the Wrong Time and it coming up short that I'm actually scared to start.

[edit: it was really lovely! glad I got to it]

5. Liar's Beach - Katie Cotugno: seems like a good summer YA thriller, and it has a sequel (companion book?) coming out in August.

[edit: I have read so many YA horror/thrillers this summer but I didn't quite get to this one. Later!]

6. The Dare - Natasha Preston: I'm expecting even less from this one than The Haunting, but it was available so what the hell. And at least this one actually takes place in summer.

[edit: least interesting of the 4 I've read from her, and an I Know What You Did Last Summer knockoff, but still worth it]

7. Between You, Me & the Honeybees - Amelia Diane Coombs: I don't like "our families are business rivals" stories, but I DO like stories about teens who would rather stay home and work for the family business than go to college, and this cover is so pretty that I'm ready to give it a shot.

[edit: the rivalry wasn't even an issue for me, and though I did have other things that weren't my favorite, this was an incredible YA contemporary]

8. The Spellshop - Sarah Beth Durst: releases in 2 days and will be bumped to IMMEDIATELY NEXT in the queue as soon as my library makes it available (I'm first in line). I'm trying to contain my excitement and moderate my hype levels but it's too pretty!!!!

[edit: five solid stars, everything I hoped for and more, one of the best books of the year]

9. (MAYBE) The Middle of the Night - Riley Sager: I don't think I'm high enough up in the request line to get this by the end of the month, but if it does happen to come in, this is the other book I'll drop everything for to read ASAP. My interest in this is mostly FOMO, and I'm kind of annoyed to have been caught up in it because EVERYONE reads his books immediately upon release, but I do generally enjoy them.

[edit: didn't arrive in time but definitely coming in August]

10. (MAYBE) Out On A Limb - Hannah Bonam-Young: I have read surprisingly little straightforward adult romance this year and I'm kind of missing it. I've had this hold paused for a bit but I might be ready to un-pause it soon.

[author's note: but then I wasn't!]

BONUS: AUDIOBOOKS

The Hundred and One Dalmatians - Dodie Smith (it is so hard not to shorten the title to 101!): a reread of a book I remember surprisingly little from for something I put on my "Top 100 Books Of All Time" list at age 19, but still remember fondly, because I got desperate & squirrelly for something to help me fall asleep.

[edit: not sure it would still make the list now but still really enjoyed]

2. Marvel's What If... Loki Was Worthy - Madeleine Roux: library doesn't have a physical copy, which is annoying because I hate reading on my phone but I also don't know if I can tolerate an audiobook that doesn't have the Correct Voices (though I really liked the 5 minutes of sample I heard), so I've been having to juggle this one until I can get both formats at the same time on Libby, to switch between them.

TBQH, my excitement for this has died down a little since I found out about in December (didn't release until April), but at this point I've been waiting long enough that I just kind of Want To Know.

[edit: what a fun cracky time, recommended]

#reading triage

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whimsy-of-the-stars · 1 year ago

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whimsy-of-the-stars: a writeblr (re) intro

hi there! this post is here because I can't edit the old one on desktop bc I reblogged it! :( Anyway i’m whimsy-of-the-stars! the only name i really go by is my actual one, but i’m hesitant to share it online. some info about me:

relatively new to tumblr

currently in high school

i aspire to be an author, as well as a poet and musician

I enjoy cartoons, comics, fiction podcasts and novels

Currently, I'm foraying into the world of itch.io, so you might see me working on Twine games or ttrpgs too!

Learning languages is fun! my main focus right now is Spanish!

I’m in the LGBTQIAP+ community

I like to read (YA): fantasy, sci-fi, fluffy romance, some mysteries

I like to write (YA): fantasy, sci-fi, fluffy romance, superhero

oh and I kinda have an original poetry tag within my posts! It’s “whimsy of the poetry” lol. there you’ll find my 1 (one) poem posted so far!

I’m really bad at coming up with names so most of my projects are untitled. now onto mini WIP intros!!!

unnamed apocalypse story

status: roughly halfway thru the first draft

genre: uhh queer apocalyptic mg/ya

this one is new-ish! ok, not really. It's from April 2023 Camp Nano, and I never finished it. I'm hoping to resume writing soon, probably for July Camp Nano. I'll make a WIP intro soon!! | SWEAR! (casually has never made one before)

Anyway, it centers around a bunch of teens who get lost in the huge forest right before the plant-centered apocalypse hits. They have to survive in unfamiliar woods as this freakishly fast-growing plant continues to creep closer and closer, releasing dangerous pollen; not to mention they've gotta get along with each other. featured in this wip are: silly diary entries, hand-drawn maps, new friends, and questionable poetry!

The Quest for Calamint (a Twine game)

status: jam version (aka simpler, more bare-bones version) available now here! better, cooler version coming in or after July, probably, along with full intro post!

genre: Wholesome fantasy interactive fiction :)

Go on a quest to get your best friend, a little goat named Calamint, back from the faeries who stole him and the rest of the dairy animals on your family's farm. Navigate the forest, talk to the right faeries, and solve the ex-queen's puzzle to get him back!

Side Projects

currently, I'm slowly working on a few small tabletop roleplaying games!! There's one about wizard girls, one about a seaside vacation where you become a delivery kid, and one about summoning a ghost with your friends! however I’m also thinking about a bunch of other things as well for the One Page RPG Jam of 2023 hosted on itch!

#writeblr intro #writeblr #twine game #writing #bro this is so overdue I swear !!!#writeblr intro archive

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angelofbenignmalevolence · 1 year ago

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3 and 11 :D

3) What book(s) are you impatiently waiting for?

I am currently awaiting most impatiently The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake, The Marble Queen by Anna Kopp and illustrated by Gabrielle Kari, and Masters of Death also by Olivie Blake.

I read the first two books in the Atlas Trilogy last year (well, read them on audiobook on my 45 commute to work) last year and OMG the audiobook was so good. I loved the narration and it helped to immerse me in the world and it was so well written and the characters just jumped off the page (regardless of whether I loved or hated them). The Atlas Complex is the last book in the trilogy and I'm desperate for it but it doesn't come out until January 2024. 😣

While searching for the preorder for The Atlas Complex during a preorder sale from my local major book retailer, I came across the preorders for more of her books, including Masters of Death. When I read the premise it just sounded so amazing. It's coming out in early August as far as I know, so I'm very excited about that.

The Marble Queen is a YA sapphic graphic novel that a coworker mentioned to me as one she was excited for and I checked it out and it sounds so interesting! A good graphic novel is hard to come by!

11) If you could only read three authors for the rest of your life, who would you choose?

Whooooooo. This was a bit difficult to narrow down.

I would say Olivie Blake is a given at this point. She has novels across all kinds of genres. Everything I have read by her has been very well done and incredible. I'm working my way through her catalog of books now.

The next one that immediately jumped into my mind was Markus Zusak, mainly because The Book Thief is one of the only books where I have gotten to the end of the book and my whole worldview was tipped on its head. It was like I was seeing the world differently. I Am the Messenger was also a very good book and was also one to make me think, so I think I would say he solidly belongs in my three author list.

I would say the other would be J.R. Ward. Back in the day, I went through a romance novel reading phase and I picked up the first book of her Fallen Angels series and got hooked on it. I dabbled a bit in her Black Dagger Brotherhood series and got to a book I just couldn't get through because I didn't like the character that was the focus of that book. I loved her Bourbon Kings trilogy and I started her Firefighters books before I went through a very tumultuous move so I have to go back to that one but I would say her writing is good enough that I would keep it on the list of three authors I could read for the rest of my life. (Honorable mention here for Kresley Cole's Arcana Series and Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series, who got me through my voracious romance reading phase alongside J.R. Ward and I could probably read them forever too.)

Thank you so much for the question!! If anyone else is curious about answers to the book list of questions, check them out here and join the fun!

#answered asks #make new friends #books to read

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diaryofanangrybitch · 9 months ago

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I’m not crying, you are.

February 2024

I haven't been doing well. I've been struggling to get up in the morning and struggling to complete everyday tasks. I've been crying – a lot. I cry on my way to work and on my way back. I cry in bed and in the shower, in the kitchen and on the couch. Every day I wake up, and an overwhelming sense of dread seeps into every crevice of my body. I carry it with me for the rest of the day. It's heavy. My head weighs a tonne and my shoulders slump. Holding myself up is exhausting. I'm tired. So fucking tired. With all my energy spent on just getting through the day, there's none left to help me enjoy it. Everything is a chore.

How I ended up here is complicated, with a multitude of minor obstacles building up into one giant jungle gym. It's a maze with booby traps, loopholes, and jump-scares. I fucking hate jump-scares.

First and foremost, the environment where I spend majority of my time has changed – my workplace. Typically, I enjoy my work. It's complex, fast-paced, challenging and entirely conducive to my ideals. However, at the moment, it's entirely unstable, and I don't function well without a solid base. It's reached the extent now that I dread going to work in the mornings. This isn't uncommon for me. I go through clear ups-and-downs with work, but this down is pervasive.

Work and I have a complicated relationship. The entire concept of having to engage in wage labour in order to access basic human necessities. like shelter and food is absolutely absurd. We aren’t given much of a choice but to adhere to and/or enforce capitalist structures. That’s bad enough in itself (and I have no doubt I’ll be writing more about this in the future), but the fact that work takes me away from what I actually want to be doing is just the cherry on top.

Writing is what I truly want to be doing. I want to write books and novels, both fiction and non-fiction. I want to write about my fantasies and my daydreams, my critiques of theories and rallying cries to activism. I want to write my thoughts and opinions and imaginative worlds to fuel my need for sweet, sweet escapism. Unfortunately, writing doesn't pay the bills, and I'm therefore forced to squander my creativity and become a cog in the capitalist machine, ironically in a role dedicated to fixing the disasters it causes.

I've been trying to tailor my writing to be more marketable, more attractive to the everyday consumer and appealing to publishers, but that's not as fun as writing what I actually want to. I'm used to writing heavy, traumatic literary fiction about young women overcoming trauma, and balancing this with some YA fiction and cheesy romance. My stories are always set in other countries, never Australia. It feels too real to me, too close to home. But, I've decided to give it a go. It probably isn't the right time to challenge myself emotionally in this way, but I've been wanting to do it for quite a while and never had the guts to. If I have them now, I don't want to wait.

On top of that, I've been writing about my own experiences of trauma. I've been recapping all my experiences of violence, detailing exactly what happened to me, from the injuries they caused to the look in my perpetrator's eyes. This was going to be triggering for me. I knew that. It had been fine right up until the point of my involvement in mental health services, and the systems injustices that followed. It's been so upsetting to me, I've needed to take a break. I haven't been able to get through it. It's made me angry.

Now, I'm struggling to write both fiction and non-fiction, leaving me in a state of frustration. My usual outlets aren't as available as they were before. I'm being harsh on myself, too. I could take a break from writing an Australian novel and focus on some Americanised romance, but that feels like a cop out. It also won't fix the problem. I'm already half-way up the mountain. I'd be stupid to back down now.

Life doesn’t consider these things. It doesn't stop. It doesn't give you a break. Your responsibilities at home don't ease off when you're struggling emotionally, or when you're having a rough time at work. It doesn’t care if you're having an existential crisis or trying to overcome trauma. The world around you keeps on spinning. At home, there's always something to do, whether it's doing the dishes, changing the sheets, or vacuuming the carpet. A certain part of my brain is always dedicated solely to what needs to be done at home – what groceries need to be done and what bills need to be paid.

My physical health isn't great at the moment, either. I've been having some pain around my spleen, where I had surgery last year. The doctors don't think it's anything major, but it still needs to be followed up and will still need to be monitored. More things to organize and be mindful of.

When I was catching the train to work, these responsibilities were more manageable. I had nothing to do but sit and wait to arrive, so I could easily make a to-do list, order the groceries, or make appointments. That's not an option anymore. The trains are down, so I'm driving 45-60 minutes each way just to get to work. That's almost two hours a day gone.

It was my car that sent me over the edge this week. I was driving home from work when a rock hit my windscreen and chipped the glass. I called my insurance to lodge a claim, but it wasn't confirmed the first time so I had to go through the claim again. They sent some guys out to fix it, but it wasn't done properly. Now I need to follow it all up again. It's nothing major, but in conjunction with everything else, it was too much. It's another setback – another thing requiring space in my brain. It pushed me over the edge.

It's the way the situation just doesn't seem to let up that's bothering me. It's things not going to plan, and consistently going wrong, despite my efforts to fix them. If just one thing could go smoothly, that would be great.

I feel like a bad girlfriend. Liam hasn't had the easiest time lately either, but he hasn't once complained about my sour mood or lack of emotional presence. He's kept things stable and consistent. He's been on the rollercoaster with me, giving me love when I need it and space when I don't.

This can't last much longer. I want to do better and be better. Something has got to give. Either things ease off, or I learn to manage it better. Both sound impossible.

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semper-legens · 1 year ago

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100. The Inmate, by Freida McFadden

Owned: No, library Page count: 385 My summary: Brooke’s not having a great life. She survived a horrific attack as a teen, gave birth to her attacker’s child, and moved away to New York. But now she’s back in town, after her parents died and she has inherited their house. Too bad the only work she can get is in the same penitentiary where her attacker is imprisoned. As Brooke goes about her work, however, doubts are niggling at her mind. Is Sean as guilty as she had assumed? What really happened that night, ten years ago? My rating: 1/5 My commentary:

Okay, look. Sometimes, I totally judge a book by its cover. What, it's a legitimate thing to do! Book covers can tell you a lot about genre and themes of the book, and if you add the blurb (if a book actually has a blurb, grumble grumble) you can get a decent impression of the book. And this one seemed interesting enough. Thrillers aren't my usual genre, but it's not like I hate the trappings of thrillers or anything, they're just not usually what I go for. And reader, I was burned so bad by this one. It was just writing by numbers. There was nothing interesting or unique going on here, it was just bland, bland, bland, unsurprising plot twist, bland. I only finished it out of a vague sense of inertia and, honestly, it wasn't even worth the tiny amount of effort I put in.

Our protagonist, Brooke, is kind of nothing. She's torn between Sean, her ex who tried to murder her (maybe) and Tim, the friend next door who's had a crush on her for forever, and may also be a murderer. It's first person present tense, and Brooke's voice sounds like it belongs in a bad YA novel. Children are more mature than she is. She seems like she can't focus on more than one thing at a time, oscillating between 'Sean is evil!' 'Sean is sweet!' 'I'm in danger!' 'How does my hair look?' on a dime. She's just vapid, and I really don't want to use that word, because it's a common criticism for female characters, but she is. She doesn't have any real character. She's just a vessel for the plot. I don't know what she likes and dislikes, what her goals are, what she wants and dreams, just her backstory and how she feels about it. She was the most developed character, and I can't tell you a single character trait she had.

But like...the whole thing was just so boring. None of the characters had any depth, they were just filling out vague archetypes at best, and at worst I couldn't even identify that much. There were so many assumptions and shortcuts made - like, the mystery of who the killer was rested entirely between Sean and Tim in the flashbacks, despite the fact that at that point, any of the girls could have been guilty. Brooke gets pregnant after sleeping with Sean exactly once, despite how unlikely that is. The police and courts apparently convict and acquit people based entirely on Brooke's say-so, and are okay with slamming some guy into jail, then releasing him and imprisoning some other guy, without any other evidence? If the evidence to convict Sean is solely Brooke's testimony where she admits she couldn't see his face or be entirely sure, wouldn't she be ripped apart in cross-examination? Was there no DNA evidence or anything else that could be taken from the scene?

Brooke is also allowed to work at the same penitentiary where a man her testimony got locked up is, which feels like something that would have come up during the hiring process. I know part of the point is that the prison isn't well-funded and the administration doesn't care, but that seems to be a ludicrous breach of safeguarding. And also, you know, she shouldn't be allowed to interact with inmates 1:1, I feel like? She's told not to share personal information and then breaks that immediately. I get what McFadden was going for with the prison, that rights for people who are incarcerated are basically nil, but the prison itself seemed straight out of a stereotype and the two inmates we get to see in any detail are terrible murderers. So, you know, that point was kind of undercut. It was just so...stereotypical. There was nothing to distinguish it from a load of bland tropes with no extra flavour. Avoid at all costs!

Next up, a group of demigods are chosen to participate in a set of trials...which only one will survive.

#The Inmate #Freida McFadden #bookblr #book blog #book blogging #1

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mercityart · 2 years ago

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TW: Mentions of alcohol and weed consumption!! Also mentions bl00d, dy8ng, body parts and gruesome art!!

-----------------FIRST DATE---------------

Toby- Toby isn't exactly the fancy type when it comes to romance and relationships. Honestly? He would much rather just not go on dates at all. He does love you very much, truly! It's just he doesn't really care too awful much when it comes to things like that.

He does eventually give in though, he started to notice how mushy you'd get whenever you would see couples on dates; even if you try to hide such feelings that sigh you make tells all.

Now, Toby isn't going to do anything extremely extravagant, but it will be sweet and has a lot of thought put into it.

One morning when you were out at work or school he had decided to put a plan into action. Toby had spent weeks looking at Pinterest boards and romance movies, even reading novels and fanfiction to really get an idea.

He spent the entire day sneaking around, putting up decorations, cooking and baking; with a bit of help from Tim and Brian of course just to make sure that he stayed on track. Due to his ADHD and autism he struggles to focus properly on things he doesn't necessarily enjoy, plus he gets distracted very easily and can forget when things are in the oven.

When you finally came home from a rough day your handsome lover was waiting for you. He was incredibly anxious to see your reaction to what he had done, and seeing you so miserable only fueled that feeling more. He wants to make you feel happy and loved!

When you arrive at Toby's place you sluggishly made your way to the front door; as you stepped a few feet away from the door it opened up to show a tired but happy Tobias.

"Hm? Toby baby, is everything ok?" He usually waits inside the door waiting for you to enter, this isn't typical behavior for him and that makes you a little bit worried.

"Yep! C'mere, follow me." He envelopes your hand in his, leading you around the cabin. "Toby honey, what are we doing? I have to make us dinner, ya know, inside?"

"Not tonight you don't! I have something for you, here, close em." You're tugged in front of him and he plants his hands over your face to cover your eyes.

"Toby, I need to see to walk!" This only makes him laugh. He presses his body to your back and guides you delicately to where he wants you, then without warning to prepare yourself your sight is freed from the darkness to be greeted by a lovely surprise that makes you gasp in awe.

There before you was a gorgeous display. There was a platform hanging between a couple of trees to hover above the ground with a soft plush bed on top for comfort. There are a array of pillows and blankets decorating the scene and in the middle is trays of what looked to be food but from your angle you couldn't see what kind yet. Flower petals decorated the path leading to it, a few candles lit and delicately placed on the mushrooms that grew from the trees, fairy lights in the shape of stars lighting the surroundings.

"Do you like it..?" You are snapped out of your shock by the voice of your lover, quickly whipping around to face him as you practically tackle him in an embrace.

"You did this?! Toby it's- it's beautiful! But- I- I thought you weren't interested in this stuff?? Why-" The man simply laughs and peppers sweet kisses along your cheeks.

"I wanted to make you happy. I wanted to show you how much you mean to me and that I value you.. I want to spoil you a bit, can I?" He was blushing a bit, face turned downward a bit in embarrassment but he peaks up at you with his soft amber eyes.

"Oh my love.. thank you. You are too good to me." You kiss the bridge of his nose and press your forehead to his, and he wraps his arms around your thighs, hoisting you up to hold you as he swayed slightly, it is incredibly soothing.

You two spent the rest of the night laughing and smiling as you ate dinner and enjoyed gazing up at the stars in each other's company, kisses littering every inch of you.

Tim- Oh goodness. Man is not the best when it comes to romance but he tries, he really does! He can be incredibly soft despite his rugged demeanor.

Tim probably had been speeding down some back road after an argument with you or after a bad day or just something stressful when he made the decision to take you out for a date.

He knows he's not the easiest to handle, and he knows he's not there for you as much as he wishes he was, work is work after all and to keep as stable of a life as possible that's what he has to do.

Now, he also is not the most elegant with things so to avoid having to go through the formalities of asking you to go on a date, he probably asks you to go on a drive with him. That isn't unusual behavior after all.

It's not uncommon for you to go on late night drives with him, music blaring with the windows down, air rushing past you as you were guided by only the trucks headlights and the starry night sky.

You of course are more than happy to go on these drives with him, it's his way of destressing and who are you to deny that. You feel happy to be included, to be next to him when he's vulnerable and be the one he trusts like that. Of course if he decides to vent to to you, you will willingly hold him tight and let him let it out.

This time though, it was different. It was almost dinner time when he had walked into the living room and asked the question. "(Y/n), I'm goin for a drive if ya wanna come along."

"Well of course I'll come, let me get my shoes on." You don't ask any questions, but you are confused. Tim never goes for drives until it's dark usually, and he's wearing one of his best flannels too. Did- didn't he just get out of the shower too? Not to mention you could easily smell his cologne. It's odd to you. Something is clearly up.

You can't help but wonder what is going on, but you put on your shoes without any question, you had gotten home just a few minutes ago so you were still dressed nice.

Once you are ready you meet Tim at the front door. He was leaning in the doorway, cigarette in hand as he blows out a puff of smoke into the freshly turning autumn air, turning to look at you when he heard your footsteps behind him, "Ready, darlin?" He rattles his keys as he twirls them around his fingers.

"Ready as I'll ever be; c'mon handsome, let's go." You walk past him, smirking as he watches you, eyes trailing all over you. Now you knew something was definitely up.

Once in Tim's truck you take off down the winding roads of the forest, eyes watching contently at your surroundings, that is until you take a turn into a different path.

This was not your usual path, this was the one to lead into town. What is Tim doing? "Sweetheart? Where are we going?"

"What d'ya mean? We're drivin."

"Well, yeah, but- we're on the path to town?" You pout a bit when all you get in response is a hum from the gruff man. Though this pouting changed when he put the truck in park outside of a restaurant.

"Well? Are you going to join me?" He raised a brow at you, standing in the driver side door as you were sitting there confused. You are quick to unbuckle and exit the truck, closing it behind you as you find your place at Tim's side.

The burly man smiles slightly before returning to his usual resting bitch face, wrapping a arm around your shoulder as you both walk in. The people there thankfully are able to seat the both of you rather quickly, though that may be because of your lover staring down the workers with his death stare.

You look up at Tim when you figure out what you want to order. "See anything that looks good to you pumpkin?"

"Yeah, you. Wait- ! You meant the menu didn't you..?" You laugh light heartily at the him.

"No the weather, yes the food you goofball." He rolls his eyes at your sarcasm but gives you a lop sided grin, his deep dark chocolate colored eyes softening as he gazes at you.

You spend the night joking around a bit as you enjoy your meal and desert of course.

Afterwards Tim drives you both out to the top of a hill to gaze at the stars in the bed of his truck, tangled up in each other's limbs, snuggled up contently in the arms of your lover.

Brian- Brian Thomas, your lover, a man once known for his cheerful demeanor, always having helped out and went to college for nursing and psychiatry.

After what happened with the operator the man changed quite a bit, of course he still showed his old self from time to time but he is much more wary and cold now. A true beast of a man who could snap someone in half without a second thought.

He still is the same old southern boy at heart though, and he shows this in certain things, such as dates.

You may think that the man would do picnics or late night walks; while he isn't against it he does have a far different style.

Your first ever date, Brian has been acting a bit odd the past couple of days ever since he asked you out on a date. He told you it's nothing fancy, and to wear clothes you wouldn't mind getting a little messy which of course made you confused.

Tonight is the night, you stand in your bathroom gazing at yourself in the mirror. A T-shirt under a flannel with some blue jeans to match. You feel kinda cute in this whether or not it's your style is for you to decide though.

Soon there's a knock at the door and you are quick to answer it. There he is, your handsome knight in shining armor.

Brian's eyes practically shine when he sees you, what a breathtaking view for him. He steps forward and wraps his strong arms around your waist. "You look breathtakin darlin."

You laugh and lightly hit his shoulder, "You really think so?"

"Mm, absolutely." He buries his face in your neck, breathing deeply. "And you smell good too. Just get outta the shower?"

Nodding, you try and escape his grasp to which he not so happily releases you to go and put on some shoes. "Hope your prepared, I got a feeling you might have a bit of fun."

Oh now you're really curious. "What is it you got planned Mr.Secretive?"

"You'll see." He coos, giving you a toothy grin, damn him and his gap toothed smile, it gets you every time. You simply roll your eyes and exit your humble abode, walking over to his truck and hopping up into the passenger seat.

Brian follows along and soon you both take off down the road, air rushing by you. Brian glances over at you and gods, you are absolutely breathtaking to him. The way the street lights hit your skin has him breathless.

After a bit you find yourselves in a wide open field next time large home surrounded by a fence that had signs all over the place.

Brian exits the truck that he parked behind a group of trees and walks over to the fence, signaling for you to follow.

You shoot him a curious glance and follow him, mud slapping up on your shoes when you hop down from the tall vehicle.

Brian jumps up and climbs over the fence, grabbing your hand to pull you up with him, careful of any sharp spots. Once he made sure you are stable he jumps down to the muddy ground.

Oh good gods, is this really happening? Here you are, climbing over a fence onto private property with your lover. What are you thinking?! Fuck fuck fuck. You shake your head and hop down not so gracefully.

As soon as your feet hit the ground you are practically knocked over as your usually serious lover tackles you, lifting you up in his arms making you squeal.

You look at your lover, heart hammering in your chest when you see him laughing. He was genuinely laughing out loud, smiling wide up at you. He was never this open and oh fuck how you wish you could see this side much more often, he's perfect.

He swings you around a little bit before trapping you in his arms, a devious smirk on his face as he strides over to a large puddle of fresh wet mud.

"Babe? Brian?? Oh no, no no no no, don't you even think about it!" He pretends to drop you but catches you quick just to make you scream.

You think it's just a joke when he turns around away from the mud only to soon find yourself being shipped back around and met with mud all up your backside, staring up at him in shocked betrayal as he practically doubles over in laughter.

"Oh that's funny huh? I'll show you funny!" You jump forward and grab onto one of his legs throwing your body back to drag him to the ground, watching the man teeter and almost face plant into the mud to which he is then met with your delighted laughter of revenge.

You quickly shut up though when you see the look in his eyes. There's fire in his gaze, smirking at you mischievously. "Baby? Sweetheart? Hey! We can talk this out, c- come in! We can be civil can't w-"

You can't even finish your sentence when the large man throws himself at you, knocking you to the ground as he straddles your waist. Soon you two are in a playful wrestling match, becoming a absolute mess.

You enjoy playing around and acting like kids again for quite a while before Brian leads you to a place nearby, a little pond to wash off at, thankfully Brian had brought a pack of extra clothes for the two of you.

You two wash up in separate areas behind bushes washing your muddy clothes of the excess mud just to try and avoid staining and make it easier to clean later.

When done you call to Brian for clothes to which he hands you them. You hadn't been sure of what he packed for you but you are happy with the results.

Your sneaky lover had packed your favorite comfy sweatpants and gave you one of his hoodies for you to wear to your delight. You are comfy, warm, happy and feel so loved.

You step from behind the area only to run into the behemoth of a man who smiles down at you. "How's a nice home cooked meal at my place sound, hm?" He rests his forehead against yours.

"That sounds perfect." Sighing happily you lean into him, letting him hold you close and sway soothingly.

Of course you two are interrupted by loud yelling and a gun shot. Oh shit, the owners found you out! You two make a run for it, laughing all the while and jump the fence as quick as you can, narrowly escaping the home owner.

You rush to the truck, not even opening the door just diving through the open window as Brian puts the truck into gear, the two of you panting and losing your mind with laughter at what you two just did.

You two drive back to his place and he makes you your favorite meal, snuggled up on his bed and watching movies, enjoying the calm between you two after a long night of play.

Jeff- Jeff is a hopeless romantic in all honesty. Xe will try it's hardest to try and look like a big tough guy but xe can't help but let his soft side show through when it comes to you.

Jeffery may be a hopeless romantic but he's also hiding from the government so it's kinda hard to live a completely normal life. He can of course get jobs and stuff, it's easier when it has to wear a mask. Xe just lays as low as possible for fear of the government coming after xem again like all those years ago.

Please be nice to him, he really does try to make everything special for you, but he can't take you somewhere fancy as much as it wishes xe could, cause he really does wish it could. This man would give you the world if xe was able.

Tonight though is very special. Xe was feeling a bit confident and decided you deserve something extra special, could be the romance novels talking though in all honesty.

Jeff had called you earlier that day asking you to wear something special tonight and it is going to pick you up later that night.

So here you are standing in front of the bathroom mirror making sure you look perfect, curiosity getting to you, and you wonder if you are maybe overdressed, after all Jeff never told you where you two are heading tonight.

You lean in close to your reflection, lightly wiping away a spec of dirt you somehow got on your cheek. "Te ves hermoso Cariño."

You jump and whip around to a grinning Jeff leaning in the doorway watching you. "Grrr! You jerk, you scared the fuck outta me!" You scold it but xe seems too distracted by you to really care.

"Sorry mi vida, I just couldn't not tell you how perfect you look. You are breathtaking." Jeff stands straight, hands finding their way to your waist as xe pulls you close, swaying side to side, burying his face in your neck to pepper gentle kisses.

"Jeff," whining you lightly push on his shoulders. "C'mon now you softy, you're hair needs a brush down."

Xe sighs and backs up. "Ok, gimme the brush." He rolls his eyes waiting but you push him to straddle the toilet seat and grab the brush.

"Um, what are you doing? ¿Cariño?" It tries to turn to look back at you but you simply ignored xem and gently brush through his hair, the white roots are growing in strong. His hair is surprisingly very soft and smooth, though you guess it shouldn't be too much of a surprise considering his mom also had very luxurious hair in the photos you'd seen, mainly from her quinceañera when pregnant with Jeff and his brothers.

"Mi vida that feels so nice." He relaxes significantly, leaning his head back. You eventually finish and kiss his forehead.

"Alright handsome man, I think you're all set!" Patting it's back xe gets up.

"You ready then?" He twirls it's keys around his finger and guides you to the front door and out into the night air.

You two drive to a lovely restaurant to which you are quite confused, passing a curious glance at your dearest lover who simply smirks at you, getting out of the vehicle over to your door, helping you out like a gentleman.

The both of you walk hand in hand into the restaurant where you both are seated very quickly to your surprise. You sit at a table that is draped with a red cloth, candles decorating the middle elegantly.

"I hope this is alright mi amor, I know we haven't done anything like this before... Quería que esto fuera especial, te lo mereces." He fidgets in his seat, adjusting his shirt nervously.

"Oh my darling sweet boy, everything you do is always special and perfect to me." You take his hand in your own, softening your gaze lovingly at the man as he melts beneath your touch, absolutely smitten with you.

You spend the rest of the night enjoying a nice meal with Jeff before heading home and falling asleep snuggled up together in bed.

Liu- Liu already loves absolutely spoiling the fuck outta you, however, due to his asocial behavior they don't really take you out on dates.

Don't expect to be taken out on some extravagant date, he's less likely to do that than his brothers. Liu does however have a rather romantic side to themself that you bring out.

On this day you have been busy all day long and Liu had actually found time away from work surprisingly. They spend the day trying to make your place as comfortable as physically possible for when you come home.

They take their time cooking and baking a delicious meal for you to come home to, a meal that brought him comfort growing up.

When you finally arrive home you walk into quite the surprise.

There in your living room is a fort of pillows, blankets, and all things soft with a laptop set up with what looks like your favorite films.

You remove your shoes and walk further into the home, walking towards the kitchen where you can hear what sounds like the pitter patter of feet.

Peaking into the kitchen you see Liu standing at the counter messing around with something, you don't know what but gods it smells delicious in there, you can't help but hum happily, this felt like a home.

Liu turns towards you wearing a sweater and a light purple apron. "Ah! ¡Mi cariño! Bienvenido a casa."

They set down his utensils and walk over to you, embracing you gently. "Liu, baby, what is all this? It smells delicious in here!"

He chuckles and moves you backwards towards the living room. "Go relax and I'll bring dinner."

You can only oblige with their request and find your way into the first he seemed to have made,that is incredibly comfortable actually, while you wait.

It's not long till they join you, handing you a plate of Birria Quesatacos and tamales which makes your mouth water from the smell.

"Well don't just stare, go ahead, ¡Comete!" He chuckles as they did into their own play of food happily. "If you don't eat this you don't get desert" he teases.

You don't hesitate to dig in any longer, happily devouring the delicacies that Liu had made. They watch you smiling.

"Easy there, don't go choking on it now!"

"Ish sho gud doe!" You try to communicate with a mouth full of food.

You two relax as you eat, putting on a film but neither of you pay much attention, talking to one another about each other's day and other random stuff.

Once done with dinner Liu brings out desert, you were going to deny it for late from being so full but you guess you have a little room left in your tummy for it.

Liu had made sopapillas! You eat it slowly, savoring the yummy treat as you are snuggled up in your lovers side, his arm draped around you and his hand traces intricate patterns over your clothes.

You spend the rest of the night in a peaceful quiet with Liu, eventually falling asleep in their arms to which he brings you to bed, climbing in beside you and curling up to your form as he falls asleep into their own blissful slumber.

Sully- Sully is different from his brothers that's for certain however, he still isn't one big on dates.

He's already stated before he's not big on the whole club scene anymore, but, this is the place he's most likely to take you.

They simply send you a text that day asking you out for a drink later.

By the time night rolls around you are all dressed in comfortable yet fashionable clothing ready for a night out on the town.

You are currently searching aroung for your phone, looking everywhere but it's nowhere in sight! You put your hand on your hips, huffing in irritation.

A arm slithers around your waist making you whip around quickly with a screech before gripping the wall with one hand and your heart with another.

There standing before you is none other than Sully, eyes glinting mischievously despite the flat expression on his face.

"Oh you- your-!! Gods dammit Sully, make noise when you walk would ya?! Fuckin- aaaaagh!"

"Oh my bad, I just thought you were looking for," they bring out a hand from his coat pocket and wiggle your phone just above your face. "This?"

Gasping you try and snatch your phone back but he pulls it back towards themself. "Well, I mean, since you don't seem to actually want it..."

"Sully, c'mon give it back!" You try and reach past him as he extends their arms away.

"Mm, no I don't think you actually want it that bad. You didn't even say thank you, (y/n)." He pouts their bottom lip at you. You know he's teasing you but gods dammit why must he look at you like that.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry. Please, Sully? May I please have my phone back?"

"I suppose you may." They grin and hand you it delicately, you return his humored gaze with a roll of your eyes but can't help they slight upturn of your lips at his smile.

He takes your hand in his own, "you ready coriño?"

With a nod of your head you two are off into the cool night air, deciding to walk to your destination. You know exactly where you are as soon as you see those neon lights and the smell of booze, weed, and smoke.

Entering the place you're greeted with bright neon lights on the dance floor accompanied by a pulsing bass as people dance and grind.

Sully and you take a seat up at the bar, ordering two drinks while you chat for a bit about your day, passing flirtatious comments between each other.

After a bit Sully gets up and grasps your hand, tugging you lightly towards the dance floor, giving you a playful smirk and pulling you in close to the point you were basically flush to him.

They move to the bass with you, it is honestly quite intense being so close to your lover in such a crowded space, neon lights flashing up the dance floor, the music reverberating in your chest and head.

Eventually you two leave the dance floor, getting a couple drinks in before heading out back into the chilly midnight air.

You both laugh a bit, tipsy from the alcohol and maybe a bit of weed. You lean against a tree for a moment to calm down and Sully plants a hand on either side of your head.

"You are so perfect... You know that (y/n)?" He looks at you throw a lidded gaze, his muscles relaxing and his hair messily shade his eyes a bit.

"Your drunk baby, I'm flattered though."

They scoff and roll their eyes. "Then I'll just have to repeat myself tomorrow now won't I coriño?"

He leans in close and kisses you slow and tender, resting his forehead against yours for a moment before you two head home and go to bed.

Helen- Helen is incredibly romantic and loves to take you on dates despite her reclusive and asocial personality.

Prior to asking you on a date she will talk about all sorts of different dates, some big and extravagant whilst others are rather small and sweet.

Helen has quite a lot of money they aren't going to lie and it just makes it easier to spoil you, well so they thought, after all you are your own person and like your independence at times.

He gets commissioned rather frequently, some big peices, some small. Some of her art is displayed in museums and galleries for the public eye, and others are more private, especially their special art.

Helen is known for painting with blood yes, but as far as the public is aware it's all ethically sourced and all he does.

They are wrong. Helen is known for doing underground peices as well, taxidermy of sorts, turning human bodies or parts into furniture, decor, tools, and more.

Helen had gotten a masquerade party by one of his more private commissioners and so she had invited you along with.

You were given full access to her wardrobe to choose items you thought best and had a special outfit tailored especially to fit your tastes and comfort.

Tonight is the night of the party and you sit on the edge of Helen's bed waiting for them.

Finally she walks out in a black suit with crimson red accents. It really makes his pale skin and gorgeous baby blue eyes pop. "Хорошо ли я выгляжу?"

He catches you staring, a smile adorned her features as she asks. "You look beautiful Helen, you're breathtaking."

Chuckling he leads you out to his vehicle and begins heading to the party, all the while briefing you on what to expect as she handed you a mask that matches your attire.

"This client, is a very special client. You may notice some interesting decor choices, don't mention them, it's best not to question such things unless you are wishing to be targeted. It is a rather large place золотце. Try and stick with me, I don't want you to be wisked away."

They continue the entire ride giving you warnings on what to avoid, clearly this client is no ordinary client after all.

The point is driven further when you two park in front of the large mansion that had carved depictions of naked people in sad displays of dying.

You are certain to stay close to Helen as you both are escorted to a large open room full of people, food and drinks plenty and a unique and chaotic display of fashion from the crowd.

Helen walks down the stairs, hand in yours and the crowds attention is drawn to your lovely significant other and they whisper amongst themselves.

Upon reaching the bottom of the steps a tall women with dark chocolate colored skin, a red dress, and gorgeous butterfly locks put up into a bun like style greats them with open arms.

"My dear Bloody Painter! What a joy to see you." Her voice is smooth and in charge, hands placed gently on your lovers cheeks.

"I'm glad to be here madam Violette." Helen speaks, but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears as her attention was directed towards you suddenly.

"My my, painter. Who night be this succulent little flower be?" She circles you, inspecting you up and down.

"You may call them Angel. My Perfect lover." He coos lovingly, giving Violette a warning glance.

"Oh! Well how sweet. Please, Painter, Angel, enjoy the party! Its not every day our darling Painter brings friends, nevermind lovers, such a special occasion."

And with that she leaves and you relax slightly. "That was Madam Violette, my client and owner of this mansion. Come, let's get drinks."

She leads you to the tables that line the wall, filling a glass for herself with a unknown dark red liquid while you get yourself some coffee.

You walk together out of the room and down a hall where Helen leads you to a empty library like room where you two sit in a love seat.

"Are you alright, милый?" Her hands lightly rub at your sides soothingly.

"I'm ok darling, I promise. I'm just a little overwhelmed I suppose?"

She nods slightly and tugs you to lean on them as he traces invisible patterns on your back. "Relax and enjoy yourself моя роза. When we get home I will spoil you."

And so you do just that, being formal and nice whilst at the party but as soon as you are home you are kicking off your uncomfortable shoes.

Helen chuckles and moves to help you undress a bit before leaving you to finish, going to draw the both of you a relaxing bath where the two of you snuggle for a bit before heading to bed.

Jack(EJ)- Your dearest darling behemoth of a lover is incredibly sweet and loves you to the moon and back, truly!

There is an issue in the romance department though. He struggles in showing you how much he loves you and you make him happy.

Also, kinda hard to take you out in a date when he has gray skin, big huge canines, dark claws, no eyes, a tail and oh you know the whole being taller than every doorway.

He does want to do things with you, but he just doesn't know what, that is until after a conversation with his friendly neighborhood proxies.

Jack had been acting strange as of resent, sneaking around, being secretive and anxious around you.

You have no idea what is going on, why on Earth would your literal daemonic lover have to hide from you? He eats organs, he performs surgical procedures frequently, and has fought wild animals and other entities to the death.

What's he so nervous about? You have proven you aren't going to judge him right?

Tonight you decide to confront Jack about this. Around 03:15am you greet Jack at the doorway much to his surprise.

"(Y/n)? What are you still doing up?" His ears flatten back slightly and his body tensed, tail flicking from side to side.

"Jack, I need to talk to you."

"Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

"No, it can't. We need to talk, Jack. Now." Crossing your arms you step towards the living room and nod your head for him to sit.

He huffs and ducks under the doorway and sits carefully on the couch as he fidgets ever so slightly, only those who know him able to pick up on the change in behavior as he is incredibly stoic.

As you sit beside him you gently place your hand atop his. "I'm worried about you, Jack."

This makes him sit up straight and tense significantly, eyebrows scrunched as he scrutinized your claim. "Aren't I strong enough? Am I not trustworthy enough, (y/n)? Little rabbit, I am a perfectly capable being. What reason have you to worry for me?"

"You've been acting off! You aren't around as much, you're sneaking around and hiding things from me, Jack! Did I do something?"

Jack immediately softens his gaze, his hands coming to cup your cheeks. "Oh little flower, no you have done nothing wrong, you're perfect!"

"Then why are you hiding from me...?"

He sighs and leans down, head resting against your shoulder. "I suppose it's ready enough, I will show you tomorrow, I promise you, (y/n). Please, get some rest."

The man lifts you up with ease and carries you to your room, placing you in bed and climbs beside you to curl around your smaller form.

Slowly you fell asleep to the sound of his deep purring and his breathing, letting yourself trust him.

The next day goes how it usually does, however this time Jack arrives at your door holding a wooden basket just as it was getting close to sunset.

"Jack? What are you-" He doesn't let you finish, grasping your hand and tugs you to follow him, allowing you merely to lock the door before quickly walking to his destination.

You follow blindly, listening to the leaves crunch beneath your feet. Eventually you find the two of you in a open field off the abandoned path from the college.

The field is rather large and filled with a large array of flowers, at the edge of the field is a cave-like formation and that's exactly where Jack leads you.

You expect to enter the cave, but instead he helps you climb up the side to the very top where you are met with a gorgeous view.

There you can gaze out near the top of the trees and watch the sun setting, setting the sky into a cotton candy wonderland of colors and texture.

You stare in awe but are brought to attention by Jack taking your hand and bringing you over to a spot covered in soft blankets and pillows, almost like a nest.

You sit down in the designated area and your lover sits beside you, tail wrapping gently around your waist and he takes out the contents of the basket.

There he has brought a delicious spaghetti dinner, lava cake, and a few other goodies. What surprises you the most is when he takes out a small box.

Jack opens it to reveal two necklaces, one a rabbit and the other a wolf. The rabbit necklace has a flower charm whilst the wolf necklace seems to have a sharp wolf tooth.

He takes the wolf one and moves closer, carefully clasping it around your neck with a bit of difficulty due to his giant hands being too big for the small latch.

"This way you know I'm always with you. For everyone to know that you are mine and I yours."

This makes you tear up and hug the beast of a man, taking the rabbit necklace and putting it on him, which he seemed to wear proudly.

"Jack, thank you, this is, all of this, it's so perfect."

Jack's body visibly relaxes significantly. "Oh thank goodness. I'm glad you like it my little rabbit."

"This is what you were so nervous about?" You chuckle softly and he mumbles incoherently, nodding his head and his ears flatten down a bit.

"Jack, I love you so much."

And with that you two enjoy the sunset, watching the stars come out and enjoy your food, snuggled together comfortably.

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moemoemammon · 3 years ago

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im so sorry i dont know how to format this but could i request hcs of mc walking into one of the brothers rooms in the middle of the night and being like “um i had a nightmare.. can i stay with you”🧍if not its okay though!! :]

I Had a Nightmare...

(Feat. GN!MC and the Demon Bros)

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Lucifer

Lucifer always keeps his door locked when he's asleep, so you took a gamble in choosing to come to him for your post-nightmare comfort. Luckily, the eldest is a night owl so he's awake.

He looks up when you enter his bedroom, currently sitting on his bed and reading a book. He's about to scold you when he sees the face you're making.

You don't even have to tell him something's wrong, because he can tell. He sets his book aside and gestures to the empty side of his bed.

Once you climb in, Lucifer shifts slightly, just so your arm is pressed against his own. It's like an invitation for you to lean in if you want, and should you choose to, he'll wrap you in his arms and carefully rub your back.

"A nightmare, hm? It's interesting to think that there are things that can scare you, considering where you are right now. But there's nothing for you to be afraid of. After all, I have no intention of letting anything bad happen to you, so long as I live."

Mammon

Mammon startles awake the moment you enter his room, nearly toppling out of his bed in the process. Grrr, he could've seriously gotten hurt! What're you trying to pull, suddenly barging into his room like th-

Oh. Oh.... He takes one look at your face and all that anger of his fizzles out into nothing. He's a little self conscious being shirtless and all, so he awkwardly tugs on a tshirt that's been tossed to the floor, and makes his way over to you

What happened? Did someone do something?? Ah.. a nightmare, huh? Mammon's big brother instincts are taking over, and he's pulling you into a tight hug, squeezing out all your worries.

And when he's finished, he ruffles your hair and gestures to his bed. A human like you still needs to get their rest, so you should try to sleep some more. But if you really can't, he's not against the idea of the two of you bundling up and watching a movie or something.

"You're like a little kid, ya know? But don't worry, the Great Mammon's gonna chase away those bad dreams o' yours, no problem! ...Hah? Whatdya mean 'that's cheesy'?? I'm being serious here!"

Levi

Levi's definitely awake when you enter his room, but he doesn't notice you. His computer monitor has his undivided attention, and his headphone are drowning out the sound of your entry.

So it takes you tapping his shoulder for him to react, and boy does he react. Levi nearly has a heart attack and only calms down when he realizes it's only you. Did you come to play games? You should've texted him and he’d set everything up! But wait... that's not it?

You had a nightmare and of all the places you could go, you came to HIM?? Levi's having a hard time pushing down the grin on his face, but he collects himself for your sake. Now's no time to be feeling giddy when his best friend is in need!

He might not be great at comforting people, but he knows what helps him when he has nightmares. So he wraps you up in a blanket and pulls up a chair for you to use so you can watch him game. This is better than thinking about that other stuff, right?

"I'll turn down the screen brightness, and- UWAH! W-wait! Um... no, it's fine. I don't mind if you lean against me like that. You're tired, so it's probably more comfortable like that. I'll keep still, okay..?"

Satan

Nightmares aren't something Satan experiences often, being born of rage and the only pure demon in the house. He reads enough horror novels that he's practically become immune to anything scary.

But that doesn't mean he never has bad dreams, so when you come into his room to tell him about yours, his expression softens up. You caught him in the middle of reading, but you're more important than any silly book.

Satan gives you that warm look he reserves only for you (and cats), and gestures for you to come closer. He's got the second comfiest bed in the house, the first being Belphie's. Topped with warm quilts and plenty of pillows to support him as he reads, you're wrapped up in warm comfort once you join him.

Especially when he wraps an arm around you, giving you a curious look. He can be a little too curious at times, so he immediately asks what your nightmare was about.

"If you're interested, I have a guidebook for dream interpretations. I could try to find out the root of your worries, or... you could spend the night here instead? I wouldn't mind having you by my side until morning."

Asmo

Asmo is VERY invested in his beauty sleep. Even a slight deviation in his schedule could be disastrous for his complexion! His brothers know better than to disturb him lest they feel like dying, but you? You're the only exception... Lucky, huh? ❤️

When you touch him, he barely stirs. It takes a couple of shakes to get him to wake up, and then he's whining and grumbling until he realizes who's there. How could he be upset when he gets to wake up to your gorgeous face?

But right now.. your expression isn't bright and sunny at all. You look distressed, and he soon learns it because a pesky nightmare has been harassing you all night. He couldn't be happier that you chose HIM of all people for your comfort!

While there are many things he could do to help you forget about your bad dream, he opts for carefully guiding you into his bed, cooing sweet nothings until he's got you in his arms. You're enveloped in the smell of his sweet body lotion while he presses kiss after gentle kiss across your temple and down the bridge of your nose.

"There there, love. To think a nightmare has put you in such a state.. It's unforgivable! I'll get rid of all those worries so you can spend the rest of the night dreaming about my beauty! Or... about you and I. Wouldn't that be the perfect dream?"

Beel

Beel sleeps almost as soundly as Belphie does, and his monstrously loud snoring drowns out most sound, including your quiet knocking on his bedroom door.

But when you come in and tug on his sleeve, Beel's eyes blink open and he lets out a confused grunt, letting his eyes focus on the darkness around him. Where did that mountain of rainbow pizza go?? He wasn't even halfway done, and- Oh. MC.

You had a nightmare?? Beel stands up immediately and wears a look of worry, pulling you into a gentle hug. You look like you need one.

He's not the best when it comes to comforting words, but he can just show you how he feels. That's good too, isn't it? Maybe if he hugs you for long enough, you won't remember your nightmare.

"Do you want to take my bed? I'll sleep on the sofa, so- ah. Together? ...That's fine, too. I'll hold you close, so you don't have to be afraid anymore."

Belphie

The heaviest sleeper in the entire Devildom, it's a literal miracle that you managed to wake him up. Still, he's only half awake, and staring blankly at you while you explain why you're there.

A nightmare, huh? He's had plenty of those. If that's all it is, then just climb into bed with him. Belphie lazily pulls back his blankets and opens his arms for you, gesturing expectantly.

And once you're nice and cozy, he pulls you even closer until the gap between you is closed, and all you can feel is his warmth. He buries his face into your neck, tickling your skin with his breath.

His slow, heavy breathing makes you wonder if he's fallen back to sleep just like that, but he gives your side a reassuring squeeze and lets his eyes open slightly to look into yours.

"Must've been pretty scary if you came all the way here. No matter how many bad dreams you have, I'll be right here when you wake up. It feels better to wake up in my arms, doesn't it?"

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