#originally this was made for a friend because he's insane and gifted me something but I wanted to post it as well :]

[skullzy20]

Yes I want to see him smile more and I'm gonna do something about it

[rainychaoloveshack]

AAAAA—

I’ve been searching for Sonic x reader req’s…

can I ask for a Shadow x reader where both were experiments for Maria’s cure? Where Shadow had a slight hatred and annoyance towards them because at times Maria would give time for them to hang out. Then blah blah blah after her death and the fall of the ark. He sees them again where they have a flower shop now, then finally after years Shadow gives in to apologize as he realizes he’s not the only one who mourns for Maria.

ﾟ ⋆ ﾟ ☂︎ ⋆ ﾟ 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐠.

it’s been years since you saw his face, and even longer since you’ve seen hers.

⋆°•☁︎ content . shadow x gn!reader, angst, so so so many mentiona of the word “flower” (it’ll drive you insane) warning. brief mentions of vomit.

☂︎ wc. 1.8k ☂︎ a/n. huehehe flowers go brrrrr. i got kinddd of experimental with this one and tried to branch out more emotionally. i hope you like it ^^ wouldve wrote in some more but i didnt want it to be too long… my fault :( i just love angst lol

likes, reblogs, and especially comments are extremely appreciated!!! (i like chatting to you guys!)

“[Name], ah, this is really, really cool!” Her fingers weave the stems together like a beautiful melody, overlapping with one another to form a gorgeous pattern in her palms. “When you were learning this at first, you should’ve told me! I could’ve learned it with you!” She gives you a fake little pout, soon to be replaced by her ever-shining smile. “Now I can make you and Grandpa flower crowns all the time! Though, I don't think he’ll wear them…”

And you can’t wait for the moment that she hands you one of her own, one made on her own time, with no assistance from your end. A true testament of her love for you; one you would never doubt, gift or not.

Paired with your hydrangeas and carnations, roses and daffodils. Every little flower at your fingertips; ones you thought she would adore. Put and grown with love right on the Ark, with the help of Professor Gerald. The fact that you had decided to cultivate life on the Ark caught his attention, and it might’ve not been possible without his assistance with your little hobby. Your garden wasn’t just that, though. It wasn’t a simple piece of eye candy for passersbys; they weren’t allowed to take a single step in it.

It was for flower crowns; something you had learned just to impress her. A secret hobby, just for the two of you to play around with. No one else.

Not even Shadow.

“Oh, and I can make some for Shadow too!” Her fingers graze over the petals on her newly made crown, a mixture of light blue flowers and red ones, along with your favorite color. Three colors mingled into one beautiful piece.

Shadow… You haven’t seen him for a while.

Even if you didn’t want to admit it, you two had always been competing for her attention, her love, but she had managed to share it between the two of you. Was it greedy of both of you to ask that from her? Her saccharine self? It’s not like you’ll ever know the answer now.

You’ve never gotten along with Shadow, despite you two coming from the same origin. Natural competitors. But neither of you had ever engaged in any sort of conflict directly, maybe a snide remark or two from him but that would be all. Most of the hatred was from him. Deep down, you know you wouldn’t be opposed to being his friend.

So why does he look at you so harshly?

… It doesn’t matter. As long as you can act as her medicine, her cure, helping her heal from both her illness and what bothers her, that's good enough for you.

It’s been fifty years. Fifty years. You don’t want to remember the specifics, but it’s been more than that now. A couple of years of change, you’re sure.

Your left hand clasps over your right, your fingertips rubbing over your knuckles slowly. Everywhere you look, it’s her. Every flower in your shop; it’s almost like you can see a glimpse of her figure and face through the petals.

Hydrangeas. Carnations. Roses. Daffodils. Every little flower at your fingertips; ones you knew she adored. Grown with your everlasting love for that girl clad in blue; remembering the click of her heels as she would run over to you with a new crown in hand. You wish you could’ve kept each one she gave you, even if they would’ve all wilted by now. Wilted flowers have their own kind of beauty in a way, but maybe it’s only you who sees it.

Remembrance is an aching feeling. Swirling around in your stomach, at times even threatening to spill out of your mouth in the form of vomit and puke. Pouring itself out of your body through tears and bile. And no matter how hard you try, it seems to stay present. Even after all these years.

Before that emotion fills your mouth again, the sound of the bell rips you from your thoughts, the door swinging open. You swirl your body around, putting on a smile to greet your new customer. It’ll be another day, just like the last one.

… What?

“It’s you.” He says, clearly in disbelief at the person he’s seeing, just over the counter. “Hmph. So that idiot was right.”

Is… Is that him? Him?

Shadow?

“Are you in shock that I’m still alive?” Not at all, no. But the words don’t pour out of your mouth, instead letting out shaky breaths as he looks around your humble flower shop; similar to how one would gaze at a picture frame of an old family member. Solemn. Melancholic. 

“I’m not here for some stupid greeting. I came for… A bouquet.” He almost seems uncertain about his reasoning. Even after seeing you, he doesn’t look angry. Not even surprised. Curious? You had heard his name throughout the years, but to meet him not anywhere else, but here, now.

Remembrance is an aching feeling.

“Those.” He points to a bunch of delphinium together, a light, bright blue. “And these.” His fingers graze over a dark red bunch of roses, his ear twitching at the sound of your immediate shuffling, going for the delphinium first. Something’s telling you in your heart to not get so close to him. It’s the aching; you’re sure of it.

Naturally you would question why he would need such a bouquet, but it’s not your place to wonder in that manner, especially now. Just do your job and go.

Shadow stares at a certain flower you keep away from the door, away from prying eyes, but still on sale for people to take.

You keep it away on purpose.; those kinds of flowers are your favorite ones. Sometimes if work is slow for a peculiar day, you’ll get lost within the petals, tracing over every groove of the plant, and even the stem itself, taking note of the way they feel under your fingertips.

“These too.” His footsteps almost echo through the store; or is it your imagination weighing heavy on you? Your head turns to see he’s going up to your favorite flower, picking one up by its stem to twirl it over between his fingertips, before dropping it back down. As you make your way over, he seems to notice and backs away from you, retreating to the counter. So even he doesn’t want to chat.

Fine with you. If he hadn’t bothered to come by all of these years, why did you expect him to care? But there’s a back thought in your head, telling you you’re lying about those statements of yours.

No matter.

As you pick up your favorites from its spot, settling a couple into the growing bouquet, you finally notice the mixture of flowers. How important they all are.

Delphinium. Roses. Your favorite.

These are the ones Maria always made flower crowns with.

You hesitate on looking his way, already noticing his gaze stuck on your back, so you keep picking the flowers up, settling them snugly into the bouquet in a sort of pattern.

“I’d like some bits of chrysanthemums in there too.” He suddenly mutters, and you comply with his request, making your way back over to the counter afterward.

The chrysanthemums are a bright yellow, reminding you of the way her blonde hair flowed, mingled with the colors of whatever crown you had made her at the time. You wouldn’t be surprised if she had begged Professor Gerald for a way to preserve them. Thinking about such a thing is so melancholic.

 You take the time to wrap a red ribbon around the neck of the bouquet, securing it with a bow to make it more presentable, but knowing Shadow, if he’s any bit of the man he used to be all those years ago, you assume that these blossoms would be going into a vase anyway. He’s not the type of person to leave a bouquet out, is he?

While you mutter the price under your breath, Shadow slips out the exact amount onto the counter, his motions swift. He outstretches his hands, not a single change in expression as he accepts the flowers, then settles them into his arm, hugging it close to his torso. He wants to get this over with; you can tell.

The silence between you two is unbearable. Would it cause that much harm to ask about his flower choices? Why the ones she-

“Yes, Maria liked these ones.” Shadow utters, his fingers brushing across the delphinium. His brows furrow, remembering bits and pieces of both of your pasts together. “She always made those flower crowns with you.”

Of course, he will mention her; how could you be so stupid? 

“She made some with me a handful of times.” Shadow says plainly, clearly not enjoying looking back on those memories. Not that he would mind if it was just him and Maria, but that activity was plagued with you. His own thoughts of you. After all of these years. “I think she preferred to make them with you.” He scoffs. “Said it was your special hobby together. I never cared for your hobby.”

You bite your tongue but decide not to say anything as the seconds pass with silence. Suddenly, a deep sigh leaves his lips, your little flower shop falling still with his sudden change in demeanor. The way his shoulders fall, with his head hung low, not daring to look you in the eyes with a small flick of his ear in your direction.

“I’m sorry.” Shadow murmurs. “For all this time I thought of you as just a nuisance.” He shakes his head, pushing up against the counter with his free hand. “But she wouldn’t want me to think of you that way… I don’t want that for myself either.” 

Shadow tosses a crisp fifty on the counter along with his still-present payment; clearly overspending for his single bouquet. “Goodbye.”

Your fingers press nervously into the table, nails scratching at wood, eyes plastered onto his distancing figure as he walks away, bouquet in his arm.

Say something. Anything.

His footsteps slowly die out, turning around slightly to meet your eye. “What was that?” Shadow cocks his head to the side, eyes widened slightly, clearly in shock at your goodbye. 

It’s customary for business owners to want their customers to come back. Repeated business means more profit. More money to tend to your shop. More happy customers. More smiles. More flowers. Her flowers. A way to remember her by.

Maria.

So it’s as simple as that.

Please come again.

A small grumble rises from his throat as he turns away from you. “I’m gonna ask for the same thing next time, okay? Remember it.” Shadow doesn’t let you get another word out, as the bell chimes above him, pushing open the door to leave you standing there in awe.

That remembrance doesn’t ache as bad anymore.

[gh0st-t0wn3]

Lmk ss edits + headcanons, Part 6 (Azure Lion, Peng, Yellowtusk)

(I originally made my own design of Azure and Yellowtusk but wasn't quite happy with how they turned out so I scrapped them, the designs for those two I used in these edits were made by @/erraday_ on twt, with a few minor changes, but Peng's design is my own :) )

- He/Him

- Pansexual

- Snores so loud, it's insane, Yellowtusk once thought there was an earthquake

- Feels bad whenever he's steps on a ladybug, butterfly etc

- Gives everyone and everything giant bear hugs because he thinks if Yellowtusk can take it, so can everyone else (They cannot)

- Mei once gave him catnip as a joke and he went fucking feral, he's not allowed near catnip anymore

- His hair/fur is actually very soft and curly

- Thought he saw an old friend while out in public and hugged them, it was a stranger

- Wakes up Yellowtusk in the middle of the night to ask stupid questions

- The Brotherhood asked to hear his roar but he got really nervous last second and it ended up being really meek, they never let him forget it

- Coughed up a hairball once and Peng refuses to let him live it down

- Has eaten cat food before and would do it again

- Cannot do the splits and is too scared to try

- Gets really confused by modern slang, MK and Mei abuse the hell out of it because it's funny

- Whenever he's rough housing with people he accidentally hits a bit too hard

- Whenever he walks past anyone playing a game that involves a ball (football, basketball, netball, etc) he somehow always ends up getting hit in the head with it

- If he wasn't sealed away and got a chance to babysit Redson as a kid he wouldn't know what the fuck to do and would be really awkward cause he doesn't know how to interact with children, he'd be able to bond with Redson better when he becomes a teenager though

- No one gossips with him because he always ends up unintentionally outing someone about something

- Ate moldy food once by accident and freaked out, he was absolutely disgusted

- Hates horror movies but loves slashers

- Drinks mouthwash

- Smells like catnip (trust me guys)

- Love language is words of affirmation

- Has horrible bed head, his mane gets tangled really easily and he tosses around a lot at night so his mane takes hours to brush out

- Absolutely refuses to wear shoes, they hurt his feet (paws?)

- The type of person to cry over a movie about a dog getting lost and then finding its owner at the end

- Can somehow eat an entire goddamn buffet and not gain a single pound

- His face always scrunches up when he smiles

- Lost his balance on a hill and fell down like a tumbleweed once, Peng still brings it up

- They/He (Canon, Peng uses They/Them in the show but is exclusively referred to w/ He/Him in the sets)

- Nonbinary (Canon)

- Starts squaking when he laughs too much

- If you throw a blanket over their head he'll immediately fall asleep

- "look behind you but don't make it obvious" Looks behind him in the most exaggerated, obvious way known to mankind

- Stole food from Wukong's private stash for several months when the Brotherhood was all still together, Wukong still doesn't know

- Wukong gave them cooked chicken once as a joke but he actually liked it

- Constantly argues with Wukong about Macaque not being able to hold his own, yes it got physical

- Their wings have a bunch of scars from the amount of weapons and shit they block with them. Has to consistently clean their wings in order to keep them from getting too damaged, yes this includes softening and preening his feathers

- If they weren't sealed away and got a chance to babysit Redson as a kid they would tape him to the wall like that one meme and call it a day

- Bit off a person's finger once just to see if they could

- Doesn't shop, just steals

- "I hate you so fucking much" as he's handing the person a gift

-  Tried to draw on Wukong's face once but got wacked with his tail

- Absolutely HATES beetroot, will actually gag if he smells it

- Kicks over kids sand castles at the beach

- Can't stand small buzzing sounds

- "I'm not that competitive" is that competitive

- Claims you can trust them with anything but will snitch the second they know it will benefit them

- Probably threatened to eat someone's baby once

- Goes to playgrounds to trip kids

- Smells like Lavender, it just feels right

- Love language is words of affirmation and acts of service

- Has tried sleeping upside down like a bat multiple times

- Hardcore wine aunt vibes

- Had a bunch of ducklings accidently imprinted to him and they followed Peng for hours

- You'd have to pin this bird down to get them to eat collyflower

- Jokingly pushed Azure off a cliff once then remembered they're the only member of the Camel Ridge Trio that can fly

- They have full on concerts at like 3 am, has woken up Azure on multiple occasions

- He/Him

- AroAce

- Is the calmest one in the Brotherhood

- He uses Peng's head as an armrest sometimes

- He and DBK were actually quite close, he knew and accepted that DBK was in love with a celestial but was very surprised to see they ended up having a child

- Very poor eyesight but doesn't like wearing his glasses because Peng made a joke about them once saying he looked like a grandma

- Uses ":3" and ":D"

- Loves soap opera's

- Hates seafood

- Peng once tricked him into eating fish nuggets once and he still hasn't fully forgiven them

- If he wasn't sealed away and got a chance to babysit Redson as a kid he would definitely be the most responsible one, and probably Redson's favourite uncle

- Eats a snack then forgets he ate it and will bet frustrated when he can't find it

- The therapist of the Camel Ridge Trio, and probably of the whole Brotherhood in the past as well

- Was the only one who felt bad about imprisoning the Demon Bull Family since he and DBK were very close

- He also reprimanded Peng for when they pinned and scratched Redson with their claws after they left the Demon Bull Palace (he's the protective uncle, trust me guys)

- Hates getting hiccups, he despises the feeling and it gives him heartburn

- Wakes up at ungodly hours just to raid the fridge

- Heard a story about a bug crawling in someone's ear while they slept and has worn earplugs to bed ever since

- Loves apples

- Smells like Lilies

- Love language is gift giving

- Is really big on safety, would be the type of person to make sure everyone is wearing their seat belts before the car is even turned on

- Actually really good at cooking

- Makes the best chocolate chip pancakes ever

- Is the kind of person who assumes everyone tells eachother everything and accidently exposes someone because he thought everyone else knew about it already

- Always hears things wrong but doesn't wanna ask anyone to repeat themselves

- Has the most elegant ass handwriting you will ever see, somehow

- The peacemaker of the Brotherhood,  they all would've disbanded way sooner if it wasn't for him

- Uses his trunk as a snorkle when swimming or sleeping underwater (elephants actually do this irl, I just thought it was cute)

[acoraxia]

been meaning to tell you how much I genuinely love your takes, designs, and overall everything relating to the LMK series,JTTW and other related topics and shows. I'll be honest as much as I love the goofiness and silliness of the fandom, as much as I love reading the ship stuff. it's nice to also look at and indulge in content that sticks more to the original lore and focuses less on romantic relationships. not many people especially in the fandom do that so it's very grounding for me if that makes sense the shipping is fun but I have other interests, I wanna see different takes for the same character ya know? broaden my understanding of them, their thoughts, and their actions. I want a diverse list of hcs that may apply universally or be dependent on whatever personal AU is playing on repeat in my skull while I pace around my room maladaptive daydreaming with a fitting Spotify playlist.

your stuff defiantly helps that, I loved reading boy savior, and I fucking LOVE blind justice I really wanna look up more about Erlang now. I'm excited to read more of your aus, relationship dynamics, character analysis, and hell your insane ramblings. watching you go feral is an experience.

I hope you're getting some decent downtime and your health doesn't take a nosedive again. As soon as things calm down money-wise, I hope to send something other than emotional support for your work. not expecting an answer to this I just wanted to express my thoughts and thanks for the times your posts and art made my days a little less shit this year and send positive vibes back.

I actually got a physical copy of Journey to the West from a friend of mine as a christmas gift and I’ll be rereading it during a small one-week hiatus (for the sake of my health and for the sake of my mental exhaustion, LMK is good but it sucks to have no one to talk to about it because of holidays) and I remember thinking at some point if I was being too.. edgy? Or too emotionally damaging in my content

I say this and I know JTTW has moments that are traumatizingly horrifying such as SWK crying when smoke got in his eyes and reliving trauma from the furnace he was locked into for days. But, still, the fandom is so goofy and silly and has.. some takes. And I thought people wouldn’t like my content because of how different it was.

Thank you for the comment and I honestly hope you have fun with whatever AU your head lets you play around with! It’s very fun when stuff like that happens, it’s actually how I started thinking about Boy Savior.

And as I am typing this I might be a little sick again ngl but here’s to hoping for a speedy recovery

[aita-blorbos]

Am I the asshole for calling out my friend extremely publically for personal problems?

Title sounds bad but hear me out. So I (39m) have had this friend, F (39m), for a very long time. Like most of our lives long. We went to high school together, never lost touch, ended up moving in together while we were both in college, yada yada yada. I was a writing major at a pretty prestigious university, and F was a music major at an INSANELY prestigious music conservatory. F spent two years in the military right after high school, so I had already been in New York City, where both of our schools were, for two years by the time he got there, but as soon as he was released from service he moved in. Pretty soon after that, we decided to combine our talents and turn to writing musicals. I did the scripts and lyrics, and F composed the music.

He has a gift. He's truly the greatest, most insanely talented composer I've ever heard. When F writes music, it's like he'd distilling emotion and humanity down into something that can be heard. When we started to work together, we were working on a passion project that started as a draft of a play I had written that had inspired him so much he pitched turning it into a musical. We spent years on this thing, writing and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. We auditioned it for a few producers and never got anywhere, but we refused to give up on it.

After a few years of that, we were "discovered," I guess you could say, by a big Broadway producer, J, who liked our music but not our show. He and his wife, G, had an idea for a different show they wanted us to do the music for, specifically so that G could have her big break and become a Broadway star. F was immediately all for it, but I took a lot more convincing. He did eventually convince me, partially because, at that point, I had a wife and a kid and another kid on the way, and I needed the money, and partially because I trusted F. It also helped that our other best friend, M, agreed that doing one show for J and G to get our careers off the ground was a good idea. So we did it. And it was a massive success, the kind of success that I still have savings from ten years later. J told us on opening night that if we wrote another musical, he would produce it. The catch was that it had to be another musical like this one, all flash and spectacle and no substance. I agreed to do one more, but then I wanted to go back to writing passion projects, creating art I actually cared about.

That was where the problems started between F and me. I watched from the sidelines as he brushed me off, constantly, and made so many poor decisions it was excruciating to be his friend. He cheated on his wonderful wife with G, did such a bad job of hiding it that we all had to convince him that he should just give up custody of his kid and accept the child support agreement because otherwise he would have lost (somehow) even more in the divorce. M and I could see that G was terrible for him, but every time we thought we'd gotten through to him how much she was using him for fame and how miserable she was making him, she'd pop back up and reel him back in. F slowly became more and more like her, wanting nothing more than fame and fortune and getting less and less subtle about it. G left J for F, which destroyed J's life (last I heard the divorce left him so penniless and depressed he was calling G to beg for money on a semi-regular basis), and F and G got married.

That brings us to the situation where I think I might be an asshole. I swear it wasn't on purpose, I truly think I had some kind of mental breakdown, but I called F out on everything going on with him extremely publically. Like national television publically. M had arranged an interview with us on NBC to talk about the project we were still (theoretically) working on, the original music that used to mean to much to both of us and now was starting to feel like a solo project. M's idea was that if I could get F to commit to the musical publically, he wouldn't be able to back out, and we'd be able to use that commitment to spend more time with him again and get him to see our side of what was going on. Instead, I found out literally seconds before going live on camera that, without talking to me about despite the fact we were supposedly still writing partners, F had signed a three-movie deal as a Hollywood producer, which would take him out of NYC for months at a time. Honestly, it wasn't even the fact that he signed the deal that got to me so badly, though I was pretty upset about it. It was that I found out because the person interviewing us already knew. And I didn't. From the person who was supposed to be not only my business partner but also my oldest, dearest, and closest friend. A man who all four of my kids call uncle. A man who has had a key to every place I've lived since I was 20 years old. A man who knows me better than absolutely anyone save maybe my wife and M. And a newcaster knew about this massive personal and professional development before I did.

So I kind of lost it. Honestly, I barely remember half of what I said. I think the first question I answered was something along the lines of "how do you two work together" and suddenly I was ranting about how working with him means constant interruptions and barely any work, and then I was getting emotional and talking about how I feel like he's completely abandoned our friendship, not even mentioning how I feel about the potential he's throwing away by giving up on music, and I ended it all by pretty much just saying that I thought he cared about money more than anything else in the world. And you know what? I don't think I was lying or wrong about any of it. I wish I had said it all in a much more private conversation, sure, but I don't think I would take most of it back. Maybe word it a little better. I don't know.

So, AITA?

[i-write-hurt-not-comfort]

To all the DL fanfish readers, I get you, all of us gathered here want new chapters, new attention-grabbing stories, or even in general some new content or some other DL-themed post. Unfortunately, however, this fandom, like it or not, is dying a little less, fighting for survival absolutely every day. So we should be truly grateful to people, blogs and writers for continuing to "fight" and keep the fandom alive to this day. Thanks to them, to the fact that they give part of their free time, even part of their life, to make us happy is a real gift in itself.

So please respect those who do all this for us and give them as much time as they need, don't push and be patient and most of all grateful for everything so far. Yes, I want new chapters too, I check almost every week for an update, if there is any sign that one is coming soon, yes, I'm dying but I'll keep waiting, no matter how hard it is. The writer has his own life , is currently in its heyday, but despite this, it is not giving up on us. She has been writing for DL ​​for years now, it's normal for the attraction to wane and go at some point. And recently she even admitted to us that there is already another series that has occupied a place in her mind, but despite that she still writes about DL, yes things are happening at a slow pace, but I know that the story will have an end for sure. Think about it, the more you insist, the more you pressure her and force her to write just to please us, which in turn will lead to significantly shorter chapters with a more rushed plot, which will reduce the quality of the story , and the most interesting part is just beginning. If a writer writes because he is driven by force, without passion or emotion, this will result in significantly worse material. Remember patience pays off sweetest!

P.S. I apologize for all the nonsense I just scribbled. If you consider this to be rude or unnecessary you are free NOT to post it. I just wanted to support you, just you reading this is enough for me.

good afternoon anon, i'm going to assume this ask was prompted by this post. don't worry, you aren't rude to me or anything!

when i received the original ask, i was trying not to say anything cuz i'm sure it had good intentions, but uh, yeah, i was kinda thinking something along the same lines. i know there's people really into that fic and it's been almost 3 months since i updated the basketball diaries, but there's a reason for that.

like you said, firstly, if i'm forcing myself to write for something i'm not insanely hyperfixated on, it's not gonna be as good. i'll always deeply love diabolik lovers and i 100% intend to finish the basketball diaries. but i did notice a pattern where the series i write insanely for seems to go in 2 year cycles. of course a part of me is sad i'm not writing as much for DL considering i earned myself a following, but i had the same for pandora hearts and then vanitas no carte when i started writing more for DL in 2022. and i'll always love the series deeply and keep my friends i made through it.

on top of that, part of the reason i put the basketball diaries on hiatus was because i was writing for the fengqing gotcha for gaza, which is a charity event. people donated to the people of palestine who needed humanitarian support and submitted prompts, and i ended up writing a total of 17 fics in 2 months, a total of 70,978 words. so naturally i prioritised that, and i'm genuinely proud of my contribution to that.

so yeah, i did leave the basketball diaries on hiatus, but it was for a good cause, yknow? hence people asking when i'm going to update it, and i got multiple comments on the fic asking me this as well, it left a bit of a bad taste. repeatedly being asked when i'm going to update it without saying anything else makes me not wanna update it, because it makes me feel like my readers are forgetting that i'm a person too and that i have other obligations.

i started my full time job 2 weeks ago too, so i've got at MOST 2 hours of spare time during the week, but i posted my final fengqing gotcha fic today, so yes, i am going to start the basketball diaries chapter 12 next.

having said that, i generally write 2 long fics at the same time to keep myself occupied, so i'm Begging people not to ask me to update it between chapters. of course i'm grateful for my readers and i know what it's like to desperately want a fic to update, but sometimes it's best to hold back and be patient for the writer's sake as well.

so thank you for your ask, you said everything i'd wanted to say but didn't know how asksjfkdf.

[abigail]

nooooo I’m so scared of my postman actually. like.. ok someone tell me if I’m being insane or if you’d be a bit freaked out too

ok so.. I moved into my new place in late spring time and since living there I’ve had a few different posties but recently this past like.. idk month or two I’ve mainly just had this one guy, I’d say he’s around 40-50 y/o.. at first he was just idk. normal lol ?? like didn’t say much just got on with his job etc. after a few times he’d start just.. commenting on stuff I guess ? like I’d answer the door in my pyjamas and he’d be like ‘oh hehe sorry for waking you up’ and idk.. ur a post man surely you’re greeted at the door of lots of people in pyjamas ??? (especially because it was like 8am on a saturday idk anyway). he then started saying my name a lot which.. he obviously knows from my mail, but he’d say ‘abi’ and I never get post with my nickname delivered so he just decided himself to use my nickname (which I find odd because.. personally I don’t really use a nickname for someone unless they tell me it’s their name or I hear other people using it or obvs if we’re close etc but maybe that’s just me !!)

then the other week I answered the door and he.. paused to hand over my mail.. to tell me he saw me by the charity shop in the main area of the town I live, I just said oh yeah they have good stuff sometimes and he just then asked if I work there ??? I said no … so he asked if I work around there.. I said no I work ‘in the city’ (the town I live in is like wedged in between two cities and I didn’t specify which one) and he just quietly repeated ‘in the city’ back to himself while handing me my mail ???? I told this to my friends and they agreed it was weird behaviour btw

so anyway.. with it being this time of year I’ve ordered more stuff online than usual because I’ve been buying christmas gifts and I’ve had a few friends mail me gifts for me so I’ve had to answer the door to him more frequently and idk each time he has something to say … like recently he said “oh that one looks interesting what’s in that” with a little smirky face and I’m like oh .. uh.. it’s a gift ????? like.. idk it’s just a bit weird considering the previous stuff ??? or is it just me ???

but yeah what caused me to write this is what just happened.. I’m waiting at the bus stop into the city and I see the post van drive past but then slow down.. it takes me a second to think oh shit is it him so I awkwardly turn to look away and then the van reverses back to the stop even slower until the window is in line with where I’m stood so I have no choice but to notice.. he shouts ‘abi’ and then asks what I want to do with this parcel he’s got in the back.. I’m like ??? uh.. my partner is home rn until midday or something ????? because well.. they are. and like he must know I have a partner because he would’ve seen their name on the mail he delivers and he probably has had my partner answer the door to him a few times too so idk why wouldn’t he think that like ???? and for him to recognise me while I’m at the bus stop and stuff ????? idk man it made me feel so yucky !!! anyway he asks then if I’m heading to work … I say yeah (so now he knows which city I work in ough) and he’s like hmm. ok see you soon and then does a full u turn to where I live .. I assume to deliver my mail but like.. surely he’s got a route he’s meant to follow like he was originally going in the opposite direction ???

yeah idk.. I might just be overthinking it like he’s probably harmless he just seems like some guy but considering it all and it’s the fact he obviously knows where I live because he’s my postie just makes me feel so…. idk. it creeps me out tbh like the vibes are off lmao

edit to add - also consider the fact the area I live in isn’t tiny like.. it’s not a city or whatever but there’s lots of houses and sure he’ll only be doing mail for one section of the town (I assume) but stillll he’ll be seeing so many people daily why is he always recognising me like. I’m not even wearing an outfit that makes me stand out today how did he instantly spot me.. ALSO the second I posted this I got an email saying my parcel was delivered so yeah he literally did do a u turn to my house to deliver my mail rather than do his normal route uhuhhhhhhhh…….. like thanks but ??? why am I getting special treatment lol

[always-coffee]

The Kind That Might Drown a Man

I have a piece of art that I love. It’s a siren, clearing drowning a man. It was painted by an artist who I considered a friend, who I spoke to nearly every day for three years. He used a rather artsy photo I had taken as a reference photo, with permission. (If we are mutuals, you may ask to see it.)

I was elated when he wanted to use my photo, to make art out of a piece of art (photos are art) I was proud of. I said yes, immediately. He was going to do a series of mythological characters, and I'd be the perfect siren.

When he showed me a photo of the finished piece and also when he posted it, I was happy. Then, he sent the original painting to me as a gift. I was over the moon. It felt cool. I felt cool. Seen, valued. It did something to combat an old wound of mine.

In the past, artists—people who I thought were friends, but who were only ever actually interested in getting into my pants (nooooope)—had asked to paint me. Reference photos were even sent. But the interest quickly fizzled when they realized that what was on offer was only friendship. It wasn't good enough, so those connections faded like sun-seared fog. No one is required to make art of someone, but when something flattering turns out to be wildly disappointing it is, at best, weird. At worst, it’s dehumanizing.

But back to the point: my friend made gorgeous art out of a photo I dearly loved of myself. It felt good, and I felt special. Fast-forward to years later, and I have severed that friendship. It turns out that, despite all the conversation and all the camaraderie and even the co-working we did together, he was a liar.

There were things he casually and purposefully lied about for no discernible reason. And when I discovered the truth, it gutted me. It felt worse than a romantic breakup in a lot of ways. I don’t like being lied to. At all. Tell me the awful truth, and I’ll deal with it. But purposefully, repeatedly, and knowingly abuse my trust? Absolutely unforgiveable.

I’ve spoken elsewhere on the internet about the details of the lies—the utter pointlessness of them. (Imagine, for instance, lying about who redid the landscaping in your backyard.) It was during the pandemic where we began talking in earnest, having entered each other’s orbit through a mutual friend in the art world. He seemed safe. We shared good news with each other, vented about the insanity of the world, swapped cute animal photos and funny memes. But the context of it all was impossibly and completely different than what I was told. The curated image I was given was a lie. Things were deliberately kept from me, information was twisted and distorted—and the kicker was that he lied to other people about me.

Again, for no reason. We’d done professional work together, and it was very public! And very fun at the time. But he apparently claimed we weren’t friends. The moment things started to feel wrong between us was easy to brush aside. Easy to explain away. Easy to understand. He was stressed, job hunting. I was dealing with myriad stresses of my own. No relationship is unmarred by life’s more than occasional weirdness. It’s easy to shrug things off. To ascribe to something banal, innocent.

Then, the truth came out. And honestly, I’m still sifting through the ramifications. The ways the deceit stuns me, even now, not just in the moment. How it felt peculiar to suddenly and wildly not know someone.

In the moment, I took the piece down. I put it away. I didn’t want to look at it. I couldn’t. It was too big of a reminder. It felt like mockery. Because what was it all about? What was the point of any of it? (These are questions that will never have answers.) I was—and still am—angry. Angry at the broken trust. The carelessness of it all. The cruelty too, so unnecessary in its articulations.

But what do I do with the art? Initially, I thought I’d burn it dramatically like Sylvia Plath and the letters. Or chuck it in the trash, as symbolic gesture of getting rid of it all, of closure. (Because there is none of that here, and that is fine. I do not want it. Nothing said could fix or mend or ease.) Getting rid of it, however, feels wrong.

It’s still beautiful. It’s still art. It’s still me.

But for now, it won’t hang where I can see it. It will not be a reminder of heartbreak and betrayal. It will not sit a monument to a lost friend, who was such a small, sad creature in the end. Because to act with such malice—and there was malice in the threads of it—is not the act of a kind or good heart. And I do not have space in my life for anything other than warmth and genuineness.

Someday—I don’t know when—I’ll put it out of the dark and either hang it up or give it away. Someday, maybe someone I love will want it, and I will want to give it to them. A moment of captured beauty, the kind that might drown a man—offered with love.

I’m glad I didn’t burn it, even as I am glad to have burnt that bridge.

[suffersinfandom]

confession time

Okay, so. I've mentioned having some sympathy for Izzy fans before because I too loved a secondary character who died, yeah? (I mean, I wouldn't directly compare Felix Gaeta and Izzy Hands because those are very different characters, but.)

There's another reason: I was a Kylo Ren fan.

I've always been more of a Star Trek person than a Star Wars person. Star Wars is more of a fun popcorn thing for me; it doesn't get its hooks in me like Trek does, but I grew up watching the original trilogy and I have some nostalgia for the prequel trilogy, which came out when I was exactly the right age to love it (that is, eleven).

So I saw The Force Awakens when it hit theaters in 2015 and thought it was pretty okay. I went in with extremely low hopes (my last encounter with J.J. Abrams was Star Trek: Into Darkness -- the only Star Trek movie I genuinely hate, thank you) and, even though it felt derivative, those low hopes were exceeded. I liked the cast, and I thought it was neat that we had a female lead and POC in primary roles.

And I was genuinely surprised by Kylo Ren. I hadn't thought that Disney's Star Wars would dare to make the legacy character a villain, and I definitely didn't think that villain would straight-up murder fan favorite Han Solo, his father. That was interesting! I thought that there was real potential to say something about that common villain we encounter today: violent, extremist white men.

Plus, Kylo Ren was fun. He was a petulant idiot who loved LARPing as his grandfather. He idolized Vader but apparently lacked the critical thinking skills to understand his story. He was the family disappointment, the gifted child who turned into a fucking awful adult, and emo in the way that I was emo when I was in middle school. Like, the Space Fascists really looked at that guy -- a magical space wizard with the maturity and self control of a toddler -- and made him leadership. That's scathing political commentary, right? Right?

Long story short, I mostly ignored Star Wars again until Last Jedi came out and was, in my opinion, actually a pretty good movie.

I ended up on Star Wars Tumblr (as one does) and quickly realized that the Kylo Ren I found interesting was not the Kylo Ren that people were talking about. There were two camps: people who loved Kylo Ren and thought he was a much better person than he ever was, and people who hated Kylo Ren and often, by extension, anyone who liked him.

I didn't fit in with the pro-Kylo people. Most Kylo fans were big shippers, and the two main ships were Reylo and Kylux. The only thing I shipped Kylo with was therapy and at least a decade alone to think about his mistakes Luke-style; I didn't think anyone deserved to be saddled with him, and Hux was a one-note space fascist with zero personality. (Also? The Hux woobification was even worse than the Kylo woobification, if you can believe that.) Even when Kylo fans weren't shipping, they were writing meta about a character that just... didn't exist in the movie? I was perplexed.

On the other hand, I was afraid of the people who hated Kylo. There were posts that boiled down to "people who like Kylo Ren more than Finn are racist" and "Kylo Ren sympathizers are fascists." I saw several nasty anon messages sent to Kylo fans. At least one person was doxxed.

So I was quiet. I never posted anything but some dumb memes I'd edited. I barely reblogged things (aside from some Rose Tico content). I wondered if I was racist or just completely insane and enjoying a Kylo Ren I'd made up in my head. The only time I had any fun with Star Wars was when I was off of Tumblr and enjoying it with my friends, so I slowly drifted away from online fandom.

I stopped engaging with Tumblr Star Wars content when I saw several posts about how Kylo Ren is super marginalized (femme-coded, mentally ill, etc) and deserves infinite grace. I stopped engaging with Star Wars content full stop after Rise of Skywalker came out and it was just... fucking awful, and destroyed my hope that the trilogy was getting at something relevant and meaningful.

(I did laugh at two points in the movie, though: first when Hux was shot dead, second when Ben Solo dropped dead. Those moments were edited like comedy beats, I swear to god. I also really like Babu Frik. That guy's cute.)

There are a lot of parallels to draw between Kylo Ren fandom and Izzy Hands fandom. The characters themselves aren't that similar and the canons are completely different (like, OFMD is so much better than the sequel trilogy as a whole that I feel bad even putting the two in the same post), but, as many people have said before, there's plenty of room for comparison. It's a fandom springing up around a white villain -- not bad in itself, but huge chunks of that fandom turn that villain into a different guy and deem him more sympathetic and more important than the main (not male, not white, not gender-conforming) characters.

I don't regret being a Kylo Ren fan. I still have and like a few Kylo knick knacks that my friends gave me, and if I could bring myself to watch any of the sequel trilogy movies again, I'm pretty sure I'd still find him more interesting to chew on than the other characters. Rey and Finn and Poe are great and I'm glad they were (set up to be) the stars, but I don't really find them any more compelling than all of the other Star Wars characters that I enjoy in passing (and yeah, that does include the original trilogy trio, put me in fan jail).

I'm not getting at anything with this. I probably won't even tag it because none of it matters, but I wanted to confess just in case anyone following me doesn't want to trust someone who paddled around in the shallows of Kylo Ren fandom. I also feel like there are a lot of interesting comparisons to make between Kylo Ren and Izzy Hands and their respective fandoms, and I can't really make those comparisons in the future without admitting that I was there, can I?

Anyway, it's half past four in the morning and the edible kicked in several paragraphs ago, so peace and love if you read this <3

[disaster-vampire]

pls talk about the shelf

i was desperately hoping someone would ask me to rant abt it akehdjshd i'm kissing you sweetly on the forehead anon

okay so if anyone sees this out of context: i have a shelf in my bookcase dedicated to hannibal. yes it's kind of like a weird little shrine but leave me alone.

be warned this is going get LONG.

so, it has the obvious: the hannibal books, the tv show box set, the tv show's cookbook, my fancy copies of the divine comedy (they're hardcover with gorgeous sleeves that have art printed on them to match each book), and i also have the iliad and the odissey in there in a single big book that i bought on a whim when out once and then after buying it i found out it also had the original greek alongside the italian translation and i lost my mind. i've never felt such pure joy and i can't even read greek. yet.

as for decorations, as of right now there's a piece of driftwood that is kinda shaped like an L so it stands up on its own and it also kinda resembles an antler.

there's this fuckin box, i don't even remember how i got it, but it's made of bones. it's shaped kinda like a stereotypical treasure chest but it's literally made of bones. the inside is lined with red velvet.

i'm not sure what else to decorate with? i've put in a seashell but it can't even be seen because the shelf has glass doors but the shell is covered by the frame (might move everything to another shelf where the frame is not in the way tbh just so i can decorate with tiny things at the front).

i just moved this whole thing from my other bookcase (i just got this new one today because i have too many books and in my first bookcase the shelves are literally bending with the weight of the books piled up on them) and when it was there i also had a teacup in there along with a lighbox that says "bone saw time! 🖤" but this new shelf feels very elegant and there's also not enough space for the lightbox. i also had a bust of dionysus there but i'm going to move it to my dionysus altar.

i've got an old scalpel somewhere too and i'll try to find a visible spot to put it. i also have 3 tiny japanese plates that were all given to me as gifts and some souvenirs from japan from a friend too but idk if i wanna put japanese stuff in there. like it's fitting but at the same time idk if it's disrespectful or not.

if i had money and more space i'd make this whole thing bigger and get like. a little frame with fly fishing lures like the ones will made in the show and maybe something like some ethically sourced taxidermy. a snake skeleton and a mongoose skull would be really cool. maybe i could print out a little something with lures instead of buying real ones and like. a fake death's head hawkmoth taxidermy. i'd need some of those shadowbox frames and i'd make it so the pictures stand out a bit from the back so it looks like they have shadows. bc like i'm fairly certain real death's head hawkmoths cannot be ethically sourced at this point in time because ever since silence of the lambs came out people have started going insane over them.

i think my grandpa has this framed thing somewhere with sailing knots made with actual ropes in it rather than just pictures. haven't seen it in ages so i'm not sure anymore if it was my grandpa's or someone else's. probably my grandpa since he was in the marines when military service was mandatory in italy but idk maybe i saw it somewhere else. i could print out a small picture with various illustrations of sailing knots.

i also have these cards that my aunt gave me at one point that have prints of a lot of famous paintings with descriptions in the back and i THINK one was the primavera. it was either that or the birth of venus i'll have to check but either way there's at least one botticelli in there. i don't like botticelli much tho so 🤷

i plan at some point to also get physical copies of all the movies but idk when that'll be since i've found a different box set for the tv show with gorgeous covers that i plan to buy as well. also of the ones i currently own i think one of the dvds stopped working bc it got scratched while inside my pc because i was pausing and rewinding/forwarding too much. we'll see i guess.

now for the rest of the books. i have a medical book in there called the abc of the human body. i think the title is kind of hilarious for a hannibal shelf. i just found out today while moving books back and forth from one bookshelf to the other that i actually have two copies of this book and one of them was owned by a doctor that died i think like 15 to 20 years ago. i have a few other medical books that said doctor also owned on the shelf above. he also owned the scalpel i mentioned before.

there's the book skulls by simon winchester, which is a collection of pictures of skulls from one of the biggest skull collections in the world, along with a few inserts on biology if i remember correctly? i originally bought it for art references and i LOVE the cover so i made sure it was facing forward in the shelf.

there's the resurrectionist, which is a sci-fi/fantasy book kind of in a frankenstein-esque vein where the main character is this made up doctor who manages to make some mythological creatures through surgery & digging up dead bodies and i won't spoil it any further. the second half of the book is a whole bunch of medical/biology style illustrations of said creatures, their skeletons, their muscles, how certain parts of their bodies would function (for example i believe it goes into explaining the lungs for both mermaids and harpies). i don't think it quite fits thematically with hannibal but i think it's got The Vibe so i put it in there.

there's a book on saint lucy, who is the patron saint of sight. i have it because i was born with my skull being asymmetrical and the doctors immediately told my family it would likely cause problems with my eyes, and so instead of, you know, starting to take me to eye doctors from a young age, they swore me to saint lucy and left it at that. i'm likely going to go blind on my left eye at some point in my life btw lmao thanks st lucy <3 i do like her though. i like her iconography a lot, she's always portrayed as holding a plate with her eyes on it.

there's damien by hermann hesse, which is one of my all time favourite books. it's written in first person and it starts with emil sinclair's childhood, explaining that he sees the world in a very black and white way, and does so very literally because he speaks of the world of light and the world of darkness, which are kind of meant as good and evil. but then something happens to him that starts blurring the clear line he thought was between the two, which sends him into a moral panic until he meets max demian, who starts to make him see that there's more to both sides. the story as he grows up follows his "corruption" into someone who is neither good nor evil. it has a lot of implied homoeroticism, as it was written i think either in the 20s or the late 1800s so it couldn't be explicit but it is very much there and is expressed mostly through demian's mother. there's also a weird cult thing going on and the ending is a bit ??? and honestly i need to read it again because for such a short book SO much happens that i'm having a hard time summarising it accurately.

the only other books i remember being there rn (it's 1am i'm not turning the lights on again) are dracula, because cannibal/vampire count with a big castle, the butchering art, and les fleurs du mal, plus two other books written in french that i haven’t read yet because my french isn't the best, whose titles i don't remember rn, and one in italian that i've found at a used books stall once but i believe it's from a local author and i've never seen it in a bookstore nor online so there's definitely no english translation of it. i still haven't read this one either and i don't even remember what it's about, it might be a poetry book? not quite sure. but yeah these few ones i haven’t read are there like. on trial. if i read them and find them fitting they'll stay otherwise they go to another shelf. i also haven’t read les fleurs du mal nor the butchering art yet, so the same applies to them. i think that's all of them? i plan to put my art history books and regular history books on the shelf above as well next to the medical books to kind of carry the theme over lol.

i would like to maybe someday get some of the books that we've glimpsed from the bookshelves on the show but this is it for now!

anyway. tysm for asking me about it dear anon. you said but a few words yet they meant the world to me <3

[loosesodamarble]

A Double Enchanted Tale

Here's my contribution to the Disney crossover event from @vs-redemption.

This is Disney’s Enchanted (with some plot changes) featuring Nacht x Josele (my oc) and Finral x Mallory (@sailor-muno's oc). Cameo from the ZorAcy ship (from @faewraithsworld). And not to worry I'm using my friends' ocs with permission~!

Cast -Josele as Giselle -Nacht as Robert -Finral as Prince Edward -Mallory as Nancy -Sterling as Morgan (Robert’s daughter) -Yuno as Pip the Chipmunk (but a more character appropriate bird here) -Liliane Vaude as Queen Narissa -Alecdora as Nathaniel (the queen’s lackey) -Zora and Acylla as Phoebe and Ethan (the couple that almost gets divorced but doesn't)

Putting this under a cut because it got loooooooooooooong. Lots of little headcanon notes as well as some drabbles for scenes in narrative format (not my best prose writing but I think I would've gone insane trying to do it all in headcanon format).

..........

As with the original film, this story begins with Josele waxing poetic and singing about True Love’s Kiss. She imagines her True Love™ with pitch black hair and sparkling blue eyes.

Yuno, Josele’s little songbird friend, helps put together the statue of Josele’s True Love™.

Josele’s song attracts the attention of a troll. When it tries to take her away, she fights back.

Elsewhere in the forest, Prince Finral is returning from a diplomacy mission in another kingdom, attended by Alecdora, Queen Liliane’s henchman.

Liliane keeps sending Finral away as a foreign ambassador to keep him distracted from romance. So long as he doesn’t find a bride, she can remain on the throne.

Finral isn’t a fighter but he’s always concerned about people who might need help so he rides into the woods, following Josele’s (kinda wretched) screams.

Alecdora attempts to follow but is left behind as he’s without a horse. He can only grumble that Liliane should try to have Finral killed and not just distracted. He’s fed up with the guy too.

Finral is chasing after Josele’s voice. Josele is fighting for her life.

Josele is up in the trees, trying to smack away the troll with tree branches. Yuno is desperately pecking at the troll.

.....

Finral followed the shouts of a woman’s voice through the forest until he happened upon a troll the size of a house, reaching into the trees.

“Leave me alone already!” Finral looked up to where the voice emanated from and saw a lady with brown hair. “There’s no way I’m going anywhere with you!” She had a tree branch held in both hands and used it to smack at the troll’s fingers when it got too close to reaching her. Finral also barely made out the flittering movements of a bird flying at the troll’s hands one in a while.

“Ahem!” Finral forcibly cleared his throat then projected his voice. “Sir Troll! I know I just arrived but it’s clear to me that you’re bothering that lady. She has no interest in you so I suggest you be on your way.”

The troll didn’t look at Finral and instead just grunted and continued to reach up.

Finral groaned but went on, “If you seek the attention of a fair lady, you must do better than this. Attempt a more gentlemanly approach. Give your name and offer a small gift in greeting, like flowers or even a particularly lovely stone.”

Granted, Finral had no clue if those strategies worked. He had always wanted to attend balls and other events in search of his True Love™. But he was so busy helping his mother establish friendly relations with other lands that he never had the time for romantic socialization.

“Love isn’t something you can force. It’s something you build through mutual efforts.”

“Would you be quiet?!” the troll snapped at Finral, finally giving the prince attention.

“Ah… Well…” Finral uttered.

“Or how about you leave?!”

The lady in the trees jumped down and swung her branch down on the spot between the troll’s eyes, the weak spot of those creatures. With a pained roar, the troll held its face and ran off into the woods. Finral wished he’d been able to do more. But he couldn’t not feel glad that the monster was driven away and that the lady in the trees was safe.

Speaking of…

Finral watched the woman land on a lower branch of a tree and lean against the trunk, probably letting out a sigh of relief. He got a better look at her. Brown hair that shined like varnished wood, a fair complexion, and arms that showed more muscle than Finral had ever seen on a woman.

“Excuse me, miss! You’re alright, yes?” Finral called up to the woman.

She turned her face to Finral and his breath was taken away by the beautiful depth of her brown eyes.

“Me?” She gestured to herself. “Yes, I’m oka—”

All of a sudden, her foot slipped and she was falling to the ground. Finral spurred his horse forward. And not a moment too soon as Finral caught the woman in his arms.

For a moment, the two of them stared into each other’s eyes.

“Hello…” the lady whispered, her face now colored a rosy hue. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Prince Finral,” he managed to say despite the tenseness of his throat and the heat in his face. “And you are?”

“Josele.”

“A name that’s as lovely as you are brave.” Finral’s heart thumped in his chest. He’d never had such a reaction to a woman. Did that mean that Josele was… his True Love™? “Would you… marry me?”

“Y-yes! Yes of course!” Josele blurted out, giggles bubbling in her voice.

“Then it’s settled, we’ll be married in the morning!” Finral exclaimed with glee.

As Finral and Josele rode into the sunset, singing refrains that came to them as naturally as breathing, the little bird that had been around earlier watched them leave. The bird was Yuno, Josele’s faithful companion.

“But he doesn’t even look like the True Love™ from your dreams, Josele!” Yuno yelled while flying after them.

.....

In New York City, Nacht and his daughter Sterling are on their way home in a taxi.

Nacht brings up to Sterling that he’s going to propose to his girlfriend, Mallory Demiscura.

Sterling: Her name sounds like an evil stepmother's name. Nacht: That’s not nice to say, Sterling. Mallory is a fine woman. And what’s more, she looks like she could actually be your mother. Sterling: Is that why you’re thinking of marrying her? Nacht: … Maybe.

Sterling frowns at the lame reasoning. It’s so unromantic. She wants her dad to marry someone he loves, not someone to be her mom.

As Sterling pouts and stares out the window, she spots a lady in an elaborate wedding dress climbing up a telephone pole.

Sterling hurries out of the car to investigate and Nacht of course follows.

Sterling: Aren’t you afraid of falling from there, miss? Josele: Not to worry! I’m used to being in high places! Nacht: So she’s a drug addict… Sterling: Or she climbs stuff often. Jeez dad, no need to be judgy. Nacht: Lady, I think you should get down from there! It’s not safe! Josele: Nah, I’ll be fi— (slips and falls) WAH!

Nacht instinctively goes to catch Josele because of course. Nacht is hurt more by the collision than Josele is. Sterling’s jaw drops at how durable and muscular Josele is.

Sterling: How did you get like that, miss? Josele: Get like what? So disheveled and dirty? Heh, well I’ve been wandering around, completely lost, all day. But I’ll be fine, I just need— (wobbles and collapses on top of Nacht again) To rest. Nacht: Uh, well, uh… We can take you in for the night? Sterling: (pumps her fists in victory) We’re bringing a princess home!

.....

Nacht pinched the bridge of his nose after pushing all of the rats, pigeons, and roaches out of the apartment. First a lady climbing in a wedding dress and now a vermin-led housecleaning job. Maybe he was hallucinating. He was pulled from his thoughts by Sterling tugging on his shirt.

“Do we have to wash the dishes again? Because the rats touched them?”

“Use the disposable ones for now. Please,” Nacht groaned.

“Okay.”

After Sterling left his side, Nacht noticed a sing-song voice coming from the bathroom. It had to be Josele. Nacht approached slowly, taking in the sound of Josele’s voice. Admittedly, she had a lovely voice. There was then a pang in Nacht’s heart as he remembered how Morgen used to sing.

Morgen probably would’ve loved a weirdo like her, Nacht thought with a scoff. He couldn’t help but smile though. Nacht stopped in front of the door but before he even knocked, Josele opened the door.

“Good morning,” Josele said with a grin. Such a blithe and innocent look. Like she hadn’t nearly fallen to her death—or at least a broken bone—last night. “You’re looking well, Nacht.”

“Uh…” Nacht glanced down before hurriedly locking eyes with Josele. Holy hell, she is ripped! “Morning. So uh… you…”

“The shower is absolutely lovely,” remarked Josele, glancing back into the room. “I’m used to bathing in rivers but that was a whole new experience!”

“In rivers?” Nacht repeated. Did she grow up in the wilderness or something? “Right. So look, the thing is—”

“Nacht? Who’s that?”

Nacht’s head whipped in the direction of another woman’s voice. Mallory stood a few feet away, jaw dropped and eyes wide in a look of confusion and hurt.

Mallory was there. Seeing Nacht talk with Josele. While Josele was only in a towel.

“Oh hello there! I’m Josele!” She strode up to Mallory without a second thought and began to shake the redhead’s hand. “It’s so nice to meet you! What’s your name?”

“Mallory…”

“Oh that’s a gorgeous name!”

“Thanks?” Mallory pulled back a bit. Her face twisted, looking more horrified by the millisecond. “Uh, what are you doing here?”

“I was on my way to the castle to be married—”

Nacht hurried to the women and stepped between them.

“Mallory, please listen,” Nacht started while holding Mallory’s shoulders and moving her away from Josele. “She and I, we’re not— You have to understand.”

“Understand what, Nacht? That you’ve finally decided that I’m not good enough for you?” Mallory choked out. Tears had already formed in her eyes. “I thought we were just taking it slow because of Sterling and…” Mallory quickly rubbed her eyes. “And we have our careers to worry about too! But I guess the real reason was—!”

“That’s not it at all!”

Mallory pulled away from Nacht and stormed towards the exit. “I’ll go! If she makes you happy, I won’t get in your way!”

“Are you leaving already?” Josele asked, stepping in the way of Mallory’s exit. “But you just arrived.”

The question made Mallory pause. “You don’t want me to leave?”

Josele and Mallory stared into each other’s eyes for a moment. Both seemed confused. And Nacht had to step in.

“Ladies, please, I can explain everything,” Nacht said as he got between them.

“Okay then…” Mallory nodded for a moment then looked Nacht dead in the eyes. “Explain.”

.....

Nacht explains to Mallory the situation with Josele. And she listens.

Mallory is baffled to say the least but considering Josele’s behavior, it seems to be the most believable explanation.

Nacht asks Mallory if Josele could stay with her only for Mallory to say her apartment is getting renovated and she’s already sharing a space with her three sisters.

But Mallory promises to help look for leads about how to get Josele home.

The situation still puts a strain on the relationship since Nacht will be focusing his attention on Josele until she returns to Andalasia.

Mallory is jealous of Josele’s hopeless romanticism and optimism. She was once a romantic herself but lost her spark. She ended up with Nacht because of proximity and convenience.

Nacht takes Josele to his workplace. He hands Josele over to his coworker, Secre, hoping she can help locate Josele’s home.

Meanwhile, Nacht tries to help move along the divorce proceedings for Acylla and Zora. In Nacht’s opinion, they had to split sooner rather than later.

.....

Josele approached Acylla with a wide-eyed, almost awestruck smile.

“Your eyes…” she whispered sweetly. “They’re gorgeous with that little sparkle in them. And your presence is so calm and graceful.”

“I, well…” Acylla flushed at the forward compliments being given to her. “Thank you, miss.”

“The person who holds your heart is a very lucky individual,” Josele commented as she took Acylla’s hands.

And those words made Acylla’s shy grin drop into a deep frown instantly. “He may have held it before but he dropped it like a hot potato.” The words made Josele reel back. Acylla only continued, “And believe me, I doubt he feels lucky to know me at this moment.”

“I don’t understand…” Josele whispered as she shook her head. She glanced at Zora who scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Aren’t you two in love?”

“Read the room, lady,” snapped Zora. “We’re sick of each other.”

Nacht buried his face in his hands and groaned. First his personal life. And now his professional life was being torn asunder by a woman who made a dress out of his curtains before skipping away, without shame or guilt.

When he raised his head, Nacht had every intention of snapping at Josele to keep her nose out of Zora and Acylla’s business. But then he saw them, the tears in her eyes. Soft and real, truly broken up by something most people would brush off as an unfortunate but unextraordinary event. So Nacht ended up pulling Josele aside and quietly letting her know that she didn’t have to worry since the divorce was what the former couple wanted.

“But they’re losing the love of their lives, Nacht,” Josele whimpered as her tears fell. “I can’t imagine loving someone one day and then… not loving them the next…”

“That’s just how the world works,” Nacht said. He almost included an “I’m sorry.” But what did he have to be sorry for?

When Nacht glanced past Josele’s shoulder, he saw Zora staring at Acylla. Not with annoyance as he had been earlier. But rather, he looked curious, as though examining Acylla for the first time. As for Acylla, she was red-faced and avoiding Zora’s eyes.

The air between the two had changed. Nacht didn’t know how but it had…

.....

Mallory is still on her own commute to work. On the way, she spies a man in an elaborate medieval style tunic standing in front of a bus.

Finral: Be still you beast of steel! Those poor civilians in your belly don’t deserve to be eaten! Bus Driver: (honks aggressively) GET OUTTA THE STREET! Mallory: Oh no. That man’s gonna get himself run over. (runs over and grabs Finral out of the street) Finral: Hey hey! Wait wait wait! I was helping those people! Mallory: You were causing a traffic jam! (brushes Finral down because he looks like a mess) You good, man? Finral: I am a good man, yes. Or I’d like to think so. Mallory: Um… Yeah I don’t think you’re doing so hot, sir. (thinking) He does look hot though…

Mallory and Finral get to talking once they get some distance between themselves and the street.

Finral goes on and on about finding his “precious doe” and “other half.” But he doesn’t mention Josele by name.

Still, Mallory gets a weird feeling that Finral’s fairy tale dreamy attitude is familiar…

Alecdora runs up from out of nowhere and grabs Finral away, saying he knows where to find Finral’s love.

“Lead the way, Alecdora!” Finral exclaims as he and Alecdora run off.

“Alec-darrel? What kind of name is that?!” Mallory asks. She tries to chase them for a moment but she’s not fit to keep up.

And then, a little songbird (Yuno), lands on her shoulder and seems to glare at Alecdora.

“What’s your story, little guy?” Mallory asks sarcastically. “I’m actually thinking of chasing after Prince Charming there.”

Yuno chirps aggressively at Mallory and directs her to follow Finral. So she does!

At some point, Alecdora makes his first attempt to kill Josele with a poison apple provided by Liliane. Only to fail.

.....

“That’s how you know~!”

Josele’s melodious voice rang through the air.

“That’s how you know~!”

Came the harmonious echo of what felt like half of New York City, somehow knowing the song that Josele had begun.

Nacht had thought he was dreaming. Honestly, he’d thought that since he first met Josele. Yet sitting in an open carriage as everyone from street musicians to newlyweds performed in Central Park felt strangely real. Every smile on the people’s faces was wide and genuine. The clouds from the morning had parted and the afternoon sun made the colors around Nacht brighter.

And the brightest person there was Josele.

The song and dance had concluded. But people were lingering, mingling amongst themselves or approaching Josele as she stood within the carriage with Nacht.

Nacht blinked a few more times. But he couldn’t take his eyes off of Josele as she spoke with the people who complimented her song or thanked her for the experience. And she replied with a “no, thank you for joining” and such.

How did she manage to be so kind and genuine? Okay, Nacht knew why: fairy tale princess turned real. The question still lingered in his mind. He wondered if the kind of magic Josele exuded was something everyone had a little of, and that’s what made everything happen.

.....

With Mallory, she’s caught up with Finral who is separated from Alecdora thankfully. As they’re walking, she tries to get across that she knows where Finral’s “other half” is.

As she tries to explain, she gets a text from one of her sisters.

[Is he cheating?] The question is accompanied by a picture of Nacht and Josele, sitting in a carriage and surrounded by… a lot. [Check social media. They’re there.]

Mallory looks up what’s trending and finds pictures and videos of some chaotic flash mob. With Josele and Nacht seeming to lead it.

The doubt in Mallory’s heart starts to come back. She and Nacht had never done anything like dance or sing together, especially not in public. And yet with Josele…

.....

“Is something the matter, Miss Mallory?” Finral asked gently, breaking Mallory out of her gloom.

“Oh! Uh…” Mallory slid her phone into her purse, making her chest tight with guilt at hiding Josele’s location from Finral. But perhaps their reunion could wait an hour or two? “I’m… fine?” She shook her head. “It’s just that the man I love…” The words felt so heavy in her mouth that she trailed off and had to take a breath. “He’s not all that good at being loving.”

Finral blinked then stared wide-eyed at Mallory. “But how can that be? A fine woman such as yourself is surely easy to love. Why, I can already name several things that make you splendid!”

“L-like what?”

“Well for one, your hair! It’s the loveliest shade of red I’ve ever laid my eyes on!” Finral exclaimed with a wide grin. “I bet if you were to give a twirl, it’d fan out so beautifully that the crowd would stop and stare.”

“I don’t think I could do something like that!” Mallory squeaked, feeling herself warm up as people were already eyeing her and Finral because of his loud voice. “But, um, thanks for the compliment.”

“And I have more to give, still!” Finral quickly followed up. “Your smile. It shines as bright as the sun. Surely, that smile alone has made the day of your sweetheart.”

Mallory shrugged, not wanting to admit that she’d never seen Nacht smile. Not truly. Only ever the empty, cordial smile he used at work.

“There’s also your heart, so full of kindness. We only passed by each other this morning and yet you’ve returned to aid me.” Finral went on waxing poetic. It was incredible how genuine he sounded. Not a hint of irony to him. “Your lover, whoever he may be, should be ashamed for not treasuring you the way you should be!”

Mallory pursed her lips and nodded a little. She did want for a love that was… more. But she was never brave enough to ask that of Nacht.

Raising her head, Mallory locked eyes with Finral. His warm grin and the way his eyes looked at her with gentleness. The deepest parts of her heart wanted that.

Mallory wanted the bold and free love that Finral was offering.

It’s just that he wasn’t offering it to her��

.....

Finral breaks out into song. Let’s call it “With All Your Heart.”

I’m not writing the whole thing out (not a lyricist here), but the gist of the song is Finral explaining his belief that love should be expressed boldly and being proud of one’s love will make them happier. It’s why he’s so forward.

Finral’s song number gets the crowd going as much as “That’s How You Know” did. Mallory is in absolute awe of the literal magic in front of her eyes and excitedly runs alongside Finral as he encourages other couples to loudly proclaim their love for each other.

Yuno is following along the whole time and is picking up on the vibes with this pair.

When the song ends, a pair of doves fly up to Mallory. They give her a wreath of flowers and tickets to a ball happening later that week, addressed from Nacht.

And now she’s thinking of Nacht again and her heart hurts realizing that she’s already smitten with another man, a taken man.

Finral hears of the ball and excitedly thinks of taking Josele there before returning home.

Mallory agrees to help him get tickets. She wasn’t just going to give up the tickets for her and Nacht, but she’d at least help Josele and Finral’s love.

Alecdora finds Mallory and Finral and takes away the prince saying he has a lead on where Josele is. Mallory tries to argue that she knows but Alecdora ignores her.

Yuno comforts Mallory for a moment then chirps, as if to reassure her that he’ll get Finral back.

.....

Nacht blinked a few times, not quite believing what he was hearing.

“Can you say that again?”

“We don’t see any reason to divorce,” Zora repeated with a smile. He looked at Acylla who grinned back. “That lady from yesterday, she was so right. Acylla’s eyes have a beautiful sparkle to them. It was the first thing I noticed. I really am lucky to have fallen for her.”

“But just the other day you two were having problems,” Nacht pointed out, to which the couple snickered.

“Everyone has problems, Mr. Faust.” Acylla’s hold on Zora’s hand tightened. “But should we really allow the bad things in life to outweigh the good ones?”

Nacht raised a brow. “You’re really going to try again after a chance encounter with—”

“Have you considered that it wasn’t merely chance?” Acylla posed. “Maybe we were meant to meet that lady and she would remind us of what really mattered.”

“Like how sweet you are when I’m not bothering you,” Zora joked. The couple laughed again before sharing a brief kiss. “Yeah, I could get used to this all over again.”

Nacht fell silent. His mouth snapped shut as he had nothing to say.

There it was again. That strange magic that Josele’s presence exuded. At work again in Nacht’s life.

Nacht guided Acylla and Zora out of the office while reassuring them that Josele would hear of their gratitude towards her. There was no doubt in his mind that Josele would be overjoyed to know that the couple’s marriage had been saved.

“What a peculiar woman,” Nacht muttered, feeling a smile come to his face just thinking of everything Josele had done in only two days. “What else could possibly happen now?”

.....

The timeline of events does get extended. There’s an extra two or three days of shenanigans.

Mallory keeps on putting off telling Nacht that she’s met Finral because 1) Alecdora keeps dragging Finral off and Mallory would rather not say “I’ve seen him but I’m currently not with him” due to the inconvenience, and 2) she just wants more time with Finral herself.

So Nacht and Josele have their misadventures while Finral and Mallory have theirs.

Josele and Nacht’s misadventures include: 1) taking Sterling to an archery range since the kid is interested and when Josele tries her hand at the bow, she cuts her fingers on the fletching, 2) Josele helping some kids find their lost pets with her little animal summoning ability, and 3) Josele decorating a statue with flower wreaths and teaching Nacht and Sterling how to weave flowers together during that time.

Mallory and Finral’s misadventures include 1) getting caught up in a dance off on the streets which Finral absolutely flops since its break dancing and not ballroom, 2) coming across a runaway teen and talking things out with them (Mallory gives more grounded advice like finding a shelter while Finral’s advice is optimistic but helpful in keeping the teen’s spirits up), and 3) meeting Mallory’s sister Athena and her boyfriend, during which Finral convinces the boyfriend to go ahead with proposing.

Meanwhile, Yuno is fighting for his life against Alecdora, trying to separate him from Finral so Finral can meet up with Mallory again. Alecdora has tried clipping his wings, selling him to a pet store, and even threw him into a bird of prey exhibit at the zoo. It’s crazy.

Nacht eventually takes Josele and Sterling out for dinner, during which Nacht reveals the story behind Sterling’s lack of mother.

Sterling is Nacht’s adopted kid, but she wasn’t meant to be. She was supposed to be adopted by Morgen, Nacht’s brother.

Years ago, Morgen’s apartment building caught fire. Something about a stove being left on.

Instead of escaping immediately, Morgen went to every room he could to help others get to safety.

He eventually found a woman with one of her legs pinned under debris and a baby in her arms. The woman insisted that Morgen take her baby and leave her to die. If her baby lived, that’s what mattered.

Morgen carried the baby girl out, using his own body to protect her from the smoke and flames.

Morgen and the baby escaped, but he sustained some bad injuries.

While in the hospital, Morgen said he wanted to adopt the baby girl, named Sterling, once he was recovered. However, he wasn’t getting better, only worse.

With his dying breath, Morgen asked Nacht to take care of Sterling. “I know you have no attachment to her, brother. But please, watch over her. Don’t let the hope that lives in that child die.”

And so Sterling became Nacht’s child.

Alecdora makes a second attempt with a poison apple and Yuno saves Josele from this one.

Alecdora and Yuno face off. It ends with Alecdora “killing” Yuno.

After they return to the Faust apartment and Josele comforts Sterling, Nacht talks to Josele about staying in New York.

.....

“It’s been nearly a week since you’ve arrived, Josele. And if he hasn’t come by now, I just don’t think your so-called prince is coming at all,” Nacht whispered, trying to be gentle with the woman’s feelings.

“But he is,” Josele insisted once more. “I believe in him.”

“And maybe that belief is misplaced. You can’t hope for the impossible.”

At Nacht’s words, Josele’s expression twisted into a frown. A look which Nacht hadn’t seen since Josele had cried over Acylla and Zora’s situation days earlier. But the current frown she wore was markedly different.

“What’s with you, Nacht? Why can’t you have a little hope?” Josele asked as she leaned forward, closer to Nacht, more aggressive than she’d ever been before. “Why is it always ‘let’s stop now’ or ‘it won’t work’ or ‘it’s a waste of time’? Why are you always so gloomy?”

“I’m not gloomy, I’m realistic.” Nacht felt his chest grow tight as Josele’s eyes narrowed and she let out a sharp exhale. “You can’t always get your hopes up. Otherwise, you’ll get disappointed a lot.”

“So I should be like you and never get my hopes up?” Josele shot to her feet as she yelled.

“That’s not what I said!” Nacht rose to his feet too. “I’m just saying that hoping for the impossible will never work out!”

All Nacht has wanted to do was to spare Josele from the heartbreak of someone giving up on her. He didn’t intend to get Josele fired up, to cause her to come to the defense of her own hopes and desires.

“Well at least I have hope! Unlike you!” Josele jabbed Nacht in the shoulder, as if to emphasize. “You’re so afraid to try new things! You’re afraid to open your heart! Sometimes you’re so kind and sometimes you’re like this!” So caught up in her emotions, Josele started to pace back and forth. “And it just—! I don’t know—! All of it makes me so—! You make me so—!”

“I make you what?” Nacht pressed, leaning in close without really thinking.

“You make me so angry!” Josele snapped. “I’m angry with you, Nacht Faust!” The fierce scowl on Josele’s face was blinked away, and then she grinned. “I’m angry! Oh my gosh, I’m angry!” Her laugh, like a chime, echoed for a moment. And then, “Wait, I’m angry.”

Josele frowned again and then punched Nacht square in the stomach. The impact sent Nacht to the floor—it still shocked him how surprisingly muscular she was. Nacht groaned and held his aching torso.

“I’m sorry! Oh I’m so sorry!” Josele yelped while kneeling on the floor beside Nacht. “I didn’t think—!”

“You’re good, Josele. It’s fi—” Nacht paused when he felt Josele pick up his head and then rest it on her lap. “Josele?”

“I’m still angry, you know,” she whispered. Her fingers stroked through Nacht’s hair. “Just because not everything is as good as I want it to be, doesn’t mean I should resign myself to the bad, right?”

Nacht held his tongue for a moment. As refreshing as it had been to see Josele upset, he wasn’t going to risk a second bruise to the stomach.

“I still don’t know if your prince is coming. But… I guess we can give it a few more days.”

“Thank you, Nacht.”

It was then that Nacht dared to look up at Josele. The look on her face was… She wasn’t beaming the way she normally did. But she wasn’t scowling either. She looked… impassive. Yet peaceful. As if she was lost in thought. Something about Josele in that moment was… beautiful.

“Josele?” Nacht reached up and touched her cheek with the back of his hand.

“Hm?” Her eyes drifted down to meet Nacht’s gaze.

“We should get to sleep now. So we’re not exhausted in the morning.”

“Y-yeah…”

The silence that followed was heavy. Not even a “goodnight” was shared, only quick and quiet nods of acknowledgement.

When Josele sat back down on the couch, she noticed how fast her heart was racing. And she knew that the thought of Nacht, of standing so close to him, was the reason. But that couldn’t be right. Her True Love™ was Finral. Right?

When Nacht sat on his bed, he buried his face in his hands, feeling how warm he’d become. Seeing Josele and the new sides of her brought on by conflict, however small, had him wanting more. But she was not his to love.

Rest wouldn’t come easy to either of them that night.

.....

The morning before the ball, Mallory finally is able to get Finral away from Alecdora for good (taking Finral to her sisters’ place ensured that the man wouldn’t come knocking).

And Mallory is finally able to explain to Finral that she knows where Josele is.

Nacht receives a call from Mallory and she explains everything to him.

Mallory brings Finral over to Nacht’s apartment for the reunion.

Finral tries to prompt Josele into song but it’s Mallory who picks up on it and tries to feed Josele the words.

Still, everyone (except Sterling) agrees that Finral and Josele should return to Andalasia together. But not before a date in New York and some time at the ball that evening.

While Josele and Finral head out for their date, Nacht and Mallory sit down and chat.

Mallory: Sorry I couldn’t bring Finral by sooner. Nacht: Mallory, it’s fine. You were probably busy with work so it makes sense that— Mallory: No no, I wasn’t putting it off. I literally couldn’t bring him because some other guy kept dragging him off! He was super weird and really rude too. Even his name is weird: Alec-darrel. Nacht: That can’t be his real name. Mallory: That’s what it sounded like to me. Also, this bird kept on finding its way to me and it acted a lot smarter than the birds I usually meet. I haven’t seen him in a couple days though. Nacht: That must be the Yuno bird Josele told me about. Mallory: The bird’s name is Yuno? Not something like “Cheep” or “Chirpy”?

When Josele comes back from the date, she’s very worried about going to the ball. Mallory and Sterling immediately volunteer to help.

.....

The time came for the ladies to pick out dresses to wear to the ball.

“If you really want to get… to get Nacht’s attention, try wearing complementary colors,” Josele remarked while eyeing the rows of dresses.

Her chest ached as she thought about how lucky Mallory was to have Nacht’s attention on her. To be the one to make him stop and stare in awe. But why? Josele had Finral so why did she want Nacht to see her, to admire her?

“S-since your hair is such a lovely shade of red, you would look good in green.”

“Yeah! Daddy says green makes my hair look extra pretty too!” Sterling piped up. “I’ll go find something for Mallory! Just you wait and see!”

“Hmm.” Mallory pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side. “But isn’t Finral’s tunic green? It’d look weird if he and I… matched.”

The suggestion of which actually made Mallory’s heart flutter. She knew how silly her thoughts were but she couldn’t help it. The days spent beside Finral repeated in her mind and she wanted to remain beside him, even knowing they were both promising themselves to others.

Josele gave a weak laugh and shook her head before saying, “Oh no, it’s fine if you two matched.” She shrugged. “You two already do a fine job of matching energies so matching appearances isn’t out of the question.” She blinked and caught herself. “N-not that you and Nacht don’t also get along well! You’re both intelligent and understanding of me and Finral’s… peculiarities. A-and you, uh…”

“Sele, it’s okay.” Mallory took Josele’s hands in her own then patted the back of them. “I know Nacht and I aren’t two peas in a pod, but we’ve managed.” With a reassuring smile, she stepped back. “Now, let’s think about what you’ll wear. You ought to look like a princess for… for Finral, huh?”

A sickening jealousy twisted Mallory’s stomach. There had to be something wrong with her for wanting to be with Finral despite Josele being his True Love™. So she pushed down the wish for Finral to serenade her as his love.

“Let’s think about what you’ll wear now.” Mallory approached the dress rack. “Black goes with everything. And I know you’re more for blue but I personally think purple works better with black.”

“Yes, they make quite a pair…” Josele muttered, immediately imagining Nacht in the black suit and purple dress shirt she’d seen him wear the night they met. It was a dark and elegant look. Nacht looked…

“Oh right! Nacht!” Mallory yelped. “Maybe you shouldn’t wear black or purple because then you’d kinda be wearing Nacht’s colors! Not that it’d be bad if you did. It’d actually be good. More than good! Great even!” Mallory paced the boutique floor and gesticulated wildly as she spoke. It was quite cute, how animated and lively she was.

Smiling as she watched, Josele recalled when she first met Mallory. The red-haired woman seemed like she had been trying to restrain her feelings that fateful morning. But now, her fluster was on full display. It was cute. And she seemed more like herself.

“Because you two honestly look great together in my opinion. NOT THAT YOU’RE TOGETHER! WE CLEARED UP THAT CONFUSION ALREADY!” Mallory laughed in a way that sounded painfully forced. She then turned to Josele. “What I’m trying to say is that you’ve done each other good! I mean, you’ve brought Nacht out of his shell and he’s really gotten you adapted to New York!”

Josele blinked. “Finral hasn’t gotten used to New York?”

“Not really?” Mallory replied while giving a shrug. “He’s not talking to buses anymore but… It’s just not the place for him.”

“Well I quite like it,” Josele admitted. “It’s not as pretty as the forest I grew up in, but there’s so many people and so much to do. Each new day is an adventure.”

“There sure is a lot. Though I personally would want adventures like fighting a troll,” Mallory joked and earned a giggle from Josele as well.

The laughter between Josele and Mallory died down however. Though neither said it out loud and neither recognized how the other felt, there was a sad tension shared between them. The lives that they initially saw for themselves were no longer what they wanted.

“Mallory!” Sterling piped up, finally returning from her search. “I found the perfect dress for you!” She looked between the women. “Did I come back at a bad time?”

“No no no, Sterling!” Josele quickly knelt down by the girl. “Thank you for coming back.”

“You said you had a dress for me?” Mallory asked, hoping to dissipate the earlier atmosphere.

Sterling glanced between them again. She may have only been six, but even she knew that something was wrong.

.....

The ball scene! AAAAAHHHHH!

Finral would try to profess his love for Josele but he’d fumble it, so unlike his usual eloquent self. He’s got Mal on the mind.

Josele does her best to compliment Mallory and Nacht as a couple but Mallory points out that she looks sickly when trying to speak.

Mallory and Nacht can barely look each other in the eyes because they know they love Finral and Josele. But they stubbornly think they should stick with how things are.

Finral dances with Mallory. Nacht dances with Josele. Both men hold the women as close as they can in the dance because no one wants to let goooooo!

Still, Finral guides Josele away so they can return to Anadalasia. And when he goes to get Josele’s cloak, Liliane (disguised as a hag) comes and offers Josele the poison apple.

Finral only tries True Love’s Kiss with Josele once. After one try, he knows it’s not gonna work.

When Nacht tries to deny that his kiss might save her, Mallory snaps at him, “Don’t you dare give up. Josele needs you!”

Josele’s fight against Liliane is much bloodier, actually drawing blood from the evil queen.

But it’s Yuno pecking Liliane directly in the eyes which makes her fall to her doom.

Once the dust settles, the four adults finally speak honestly.

Mallory and Nacht officially break up and wish each other the best with their new loves.

Finral and Josele bid each other goodbye and hope for one another’s happily ever afters.

Mallory takes to the fairy tale world well, evening singing her own song on her first day.

After a year of dating, Mallory and Finral have their full fairy tale wedding.

Josele gets herself established in the real world, working some odd jobs before being able to establish her own boutique.

While Nacht does propose early on, they still take a couple of years to date and plan.

.....

“And they all lived happily ever after. The End,” Sterling stated with finality. “So? What do you think?”

Sterling’s younger siblings—Dawn, Dusk, Sirius, Merel, and Vivian—stared in awe.

“It explains why Mommy’s so good with animals,” commented Dusk.

“Mommy was gonna be a princess?!” Dawn gasped.

“But she married a lame lawyer instead…” Merel grumbled.

“Daddy’s job isn’t lame!” Sirius retorted.

“Daddy’s kinda lame for being kidnapped by a dragon though,” Vivian muttered.

“Kids, it’s time for bed!” Josele said before poking her head into the living room.

Nacht leaned his head into the door frame too. “And what was that about me being lame?”

“Sorry Daddy,” Vivian whispered.

Together, Nacht and Josele tucked in the kids before going to their own bed.

“Are we living happily ever after, Josele?” Nacht whispered as he stroked her hair.

“I’d like to think so…” she whispered back, smiling.

[phoenixtakaramono]

Hi! I feel a bit bad asking this as I know you are focused on TNotG, but I'm still feeling too feral over Truce (and was trying to find previews here and couldn't), but how is that going? Ah, I also read your twitter threads, and loved both the Fix-it AU and the Sugar Baby AU (both are so good, so in character, and the way it's written from HL's POV makes it so intriguing, his choices, how he thinks about Billy, how he pretty much obsesses (which is very true for him!) Sorry for the ramble

Hullo, hullo~! With all your usernames, I'm not sure which one to use, dear reader, so since this was sent over on tumblr with this account, I shall refer to you with this moniker ☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜) but feel free to let me know if you prefer something else!

Chapter Previews for Truce

So fun fact regarding previews of ch3 (and ch4) from Truce: you're right; they don't exist here on tumblr. This was before I'd realized the butch/lander community is also active here on this platform as well, so under that mentality I'd mostly just tweeted screenshots of ch3 (and 1 tweet about ch4) over on my Twitter account. Because it's awhile back, they're buried under my 300+ tweets (especially with the daily/weekly updates from the three threadfics of then) but I believe you can still find them on Twitter if you search for "Truce ch3" and "Truce ch4" and sort them by Latest tweets. You can also find a few sneak peek snippets in the ch2 Comments section of Truce that I gifted a couple readers as thanks for their comments~.

Truce Ch3 Status

At the time I was juggling three threadfics and Truce all in one go. A lot of ch3 was written even before ch2, but it was the beginning scene and the last scene that stumped me. What happened essentially since was I had a conversation with two moots based on a NS/FW drawing planned for ch3 and ended up changing the location, so that scene has to be changed.

Then what was left was the beginning scene I had to first tackle, and I made the decision to go waaaaaaaay outside the box that no one has written before—which is the subtle romantic parody of Superman and Lois Lane in outerspace. A reader of mine tweeted under my tweet of me airing out that idea, and they essentially sent me a thread of questioning the logistics of how that'd work and how dumb it'd be essentially on HL's part (because, y'know, space and exposed human eyeballs and the human body, lack of oxygen/ inability to breath in space, and then there's the question about how Billy's and Homelander's bodies are gonna be able to withstand the heat of re-entering Earth's atmosphere even with their nigh "invulnerable" bodies)—and that fired me up to commit to the outerspace idea as the dramatic first scene because I'm a stubborn writer (/lh). The more you tell me an idea is dumb or cannot be done, the more I feel compelled to do it to prove the person wrong. (Mind you, though, we're good friends on Twitter; this is not meant as shade or anything, haha. They know I joke about how I'm a "stubborn writer" like a certain main character from one of my fics and how their thread fired me up to dig my heels in and give this insane idea a shot.)

After TNotG ch1 is posted to AO3, I'll go back to resuming the writing of Truce ch3. Originally I was thinking of maybe waiting for The Boys (TV) S4 to air so I can bring in Firecracker and Sister Sage and keep true to their canon show personalities instead of me making it up, but then I saw someone tweet that Erin Moriarty doesn't think post production of S4 will be done till 2024. So I think, as long as I'm not gripped by TNoTG ch2 feels, I'm probably going to jump ship briefly and finish Truce ch3 first after TNoTG ch1.

Fix-it AU and the Sugar Baby AU

I'm glad you're enjoying them! Presently as I'm writing TNotG ch1 (and later Truce ch3), I'm putting them on a short pause so I can focus on them individually and not have my wires crossed. HL's POV is always entertaining to write, and there is a certain type of Homelander that I very much enjoy in both my readings and writings. I have a soft spot for reading about a vain, clingy, narcissistic obsessive/ possessive manipulative psychopath HL who is codependent on his partner and wanting them so much he lets himself be dommed—and, after experiencing an earth-shattering revelation and bliss, he now expects to be catered to and pampered like a pillow princess and having Billy's attention revolve around him 24/7 (bc ofc). It's delightful to read about in the fictional sphere where we can play with such an unhinged character, and I like sharing that with my readers.

I'm still thinking maybe after Truce is completed and we just have TNotG in my AO3 portfolio left, that maybe I can migrate these threadfics over as part of my Butchlander Twitter Threadfics series—but obviously polish them up and change a few story decisions and, eventually, finish them. Right now these threadfics only exist on Twitter—and so they shall remain there until I'm ready to begin the migration.

I see you have two more Asks sent to my Inbox. I'm gonna answer them one by one. :) Thank you for sending me the Asks! I swear I cannot stop smiling reading through them.

[winderlylandchime]

Okay so i did explain to him that the uk version was the original and his comment to that was a very simple ‘not to be a bitch to the tea people but Brian is better’ and then I told him that Charlie Hunnam aka the hot guy from Sons of Anarchy was actually in it and i wish you could see his face! Literally jaw on the floor/wide eyed and he sat like that for a good minute. But that lead to him then going on a 5-10 minute rambling about how Charlie and Aiden worked together in the movie King Arthur so now Gale and Randy have to reunite as well. And i fully agree with him.

Listen, it’s been days since he found out about Gale being straight and he’s still shocked. We did watch the Prom episode and he literally paused on him and went ‘come on..he can’t…man’ he’s literally having a similar reaction as Mikey did to Hunter. It’s kinda funny ngl. As for his ‘i think’ moment, I honestly have no clue what Gale did to him. Our uncle did say to our mom that if this is how he comes to a certain type of realization that he will never let him live it down because my brother made fun of him for realizing he was gay due to young Hugh Grant. So i think out of everyone, my uncle is the only one who is actually hoping my brother had an awakening through Gale.

I have a love hate relationship with the proposal (my brother only has like 2% love for it, the rest is hate but whatever) but the ‘my prince’ thing started a fight in the house when we watched it. Cause to me it was a cute moment but for some reason is felt a little awkward to me. I think cause the whole thing felt out of character, idk how to explain it. But my brother while having an ‘awww’ type of reaction, swears that Brian would never and that the reason for Brian’s expression afterwards is because Gale was trying not to laugh. So his hatred for the proposal is insane.

As for the B99, both of us have seen in multiple times and he put it on last Saturday because he wanted to watch some comfort shows. And then on Wednesday we were watching the Halloween II episode and when the episode ended with Holt winning the heist that’s when my brother got a text from his friend about Andre. It was the worst timing ever. So for the past few days B99 is the only thing we’ve watched.

Btw our family has this tradition where for Christmas we give each other 3 presents. 2 that are good/useful and 1 that’s something random/weird/sometimes bad. And last year he gave me 2 different photos of himself as a present and the 3rd one was a box of condoms (that was his ‘bad gift cause lesbian ha ha and photos of him are always a good gift duuh’- this was his actual explanation). So I’m genuinely considering giving him your blog and the knowledge of the fandom/what i did :/ as the 3rd gift. I told my uncle and cousins and they all think this is a great idea, which leads me to believe its a bad idea BUT i guess we will find out. He does know fandom exists because he’s been watching edits but he doesn’t know about fics and tumblr. So I’m going to slowly let him him know this week. Wish me luck even though i think he’ll handle it okay…ish

UH YES GALE AND RANDY NEED TO REUNITE IN A FILM. Your brother is so wise about this.

I’m lmao literally about his reaction to Gale being straight is Mikey’s reaction to Hunter being straight. So he’s being half drag queen half Italian about the news.

Your uncle realized he was gay to a young Hugh Grant? I’m dyinggggg! My spouse came out to their parents in their bedroom which was papered floor to ceiling with magazine cutouts of Sandra Bullock. And I had Jennifer Anniston all over my room. I guess my point is, we all have the celebrity that makes us go Oh. Oh.

I do think Gale was trying not to laugh, I mean he really looks like he’s about to crack up. The for my prince line is the worst. And if I was Justin — well a lot of things if I was Justin, but I would say no on the basis of that line alone and make Brian go get assessed for a stroke or something.

I watched Halloween II the night I found out about Andre! I watch B99 every night as I’m falling asleep. ACAB and all that but it is my comfort show.

One year my in-laws did a white elephant gift exchange and my BIL thought we were all doing gag gifts so he got boxer briefs and socks printed with his face on them. My spouse “won” them and they’re now in our sock and underwear drawer. All this to say, I think your brother gets to learn about his tumblr fame for Christmas. This year is an in-laws year for Christmas (we alternate, my parents are still salty about 2020 being their year) so if you want to send me updates, I will welcome the distraction. I love my in-laws (and especially my niblings) but I am an only child and my parents are quiet and visiting my in-laws is 8 adults, 3 children, and one dog under one roof and no one is quiet and it is A LOT for me.

I think he’ll handle it okay. Just make sure he doesn’t let the fame go to his head.

Also, Brother Anon if you’re reading this because your sister revealed that she’s been sharing your reactions with the internet - HELLO! YOU ARE VERY POPULAR IN A TEENY TINY FANDOM ON TUMBLR WHICH IS A VERY PARTICULAR TYPE OF FAME.

[lanaevyssmoved]

8, 23, 50 afhiri . hand em over

8. Do they collect anything? If so what and why?

pre-game and during the game, no, but she is the type to pick up pretty rocks and keep them (or give them away to her friends.. please look after them!) HOWEVER after the events of the game during Domestic Life Time TM with gale, he starts to gift her with flutes. lots. of flutes. every flute he finds that he thinks she will like, the most beautifully carved, ones painted in bright shades, some custom made with custom engravings. she still prefers to play the infamous Flute 2 (the flute gale bought her at the start of their adventures together after her childhood flute went Missing.. it died), so the flutes end up in beautiful display cases in his tower .....

23. How would they want to die?

this is the most insane thing u could have asked me and is literally why i just Got out of Bed to respond . i am insane. you are insane. ANyway

before the events of the game if you asked afhiri this they'd look at you like you just spoke infernal. that girl hadn't even considered death to be a concept. you'd get the type of empty stare with a plastered on smile that makes u walk away slowly. and then quickly

this maintains until act 2 when gale gets told to off himself by god, or something, she doesn't really get it but she knows it means no more gale and, unhinged, that means no more afhiri, obviously. how can there possibly be an afhiri if there's no more gale? this clown fully intends to die with him be that at the heart of the absolute or in the depths of the underdark

post game unfortunately gale and afhiri are both insane in their lil verse and they seek immortality so they never have to be apart. originally gale was to extend his lifespan with their consent so they dont have to live without him, but he had the genius idea that they could just live for eternity together and then their love will never have to end!!! so, tldr, afhiri isn't going to die. this clown will live forever (omnious)

50. What is your favourite thing about them?

ohohoh. ok, to be honest, afhiri is incredibly healing for me. she was literally made in the wake of something quite rough for me, and i turned her into a character that could survive any hardship with a smile on her face because that's what i needed to delve into for my own wellbeing. my favourite thing about afhiri is how much she is helping me. i am a better person with them honking in my skull

IN A LESS EMOTIONAL RESPONSE my favourite thing about them is that they are so unashamed to do and say whatever the fuck they want whenever they want even if they get looked at like a total weirdo and freak (they are). this tief does not care if you think negatively about them because boy what theyre doing is working if youre paying attention and that shits cool. if afhiri was in modern day theyd have a youtube account where they dress as a clown and talk about the most pointless shit and people are so mad about that and its great.

[ginnsbaker]

Hi chapter thoughts here I probably will still break this up tho :)

First vision. I think his plan is probably to “expose” wanda and reader to yelena or something maybe take a picture of them together. But to be honest I don’t think it’s gonna have the desired effect because i think the two of them genuinely will end up together anyway so trying to hurt reader by breaking their current relationship is more like a blessing in disguise. (Started with this cos it was quick and we all know everything else is super long so get ready)

I already touched on it briefly but once again Wanda’s character growth and maturity. The way you write her development especially the therapy sessions continues to amaze me. Its not rushed to fit the pace of anything else its completely raw and i just love what you’ve done with it.

The sex thing. Oh boy. “You can tell its been longer than yelena inteded” thats just so awkward. I kinda feel bad for her but was also slightly amused by the situation if not a little second hand embarrassment but yeah I mean i get it you had a dream of a top 10 experience with your ex wife who had lots of time to learn what you like and stuff and then woke up and its the wrong person uh down there.

Past Wanda’s present. If thats not the sweetest god damn thing. Correct me if i got this wrong but she managed to track down the actual one from readers past not a new copy but the original one. The time and effort that must have taken is insane like I genuinely can’t put into words the feels i got from this part (where can i find me a wanda). And its such an amazing gift not only for the sentimental value and what it means to reader but it shows how much she truly loves them and also actually listens to what they say and pay attention. Very sweet 10/10 loved it.

THANK YOU CLINT. Im so happy he mentioned seeing wanda having been to a therapist and a substance abuse specialist. I hope it plants seeds in readers mind even though they immediately denied it (i see them protecting her reputation they care) im hoping they connect the dots because agatha was dropping hints earlier and they had to bring her home when she was drunk but i have a feeling they’re gonna be oblivious 💀.

Yikes Yelena dropping reader in it by saying they’ve seen Wanda recently in front of Nat. She knows what shes doing. The talk with Nat went about as well as I expected and its a very sucky thing to happen on your birthday (thanks yelena). I do see Nat’s point and if I was her I would probably act the same way but if I was reader (which I guess i am?) i would be slightly frustrated because she’s not considering it from reader’s perspective shes seeing it from the point of Yelena’s big sister which I completely understand but she’s supposed to be reader’s best friend. Sometimes our friends make decisions we don’t agree with but all you can do is advise them and support whatever decision they make. It seems that Nat is giving the advice but isn’t willing to give the support if a different decision is made which i completely understand it is her sister its still a bit sad. Its true what they say sometimes friendship breakups or fights hurt way more than romantic ones.

Agatha is still such a good friend and a great character we love her.

Okay so I thought i would cover everything i wanted in 2 posts but it might be more so up next reader and their mom, reader and yelena, the present, yelenas speech and of course reader and wanda

-🧃

Vision - It's got nothing to do with Yelena. And he's got everything to gain from it. Chapter 14 will immediately get to that.

The sex thing - I think I write awkward sex better than normal sex lol. I actually had fun writing that scene.

Past Wanda’s present. If thats not the sweetest god damn thing. Correct me if i got this wrong but she managed to track down the actual one from readers past not a new copy but the original one. - Yes. She tracked the original, the one that R's mom accidentally donated away. While Yelena got her a fresh copy of the same puzzle because she thought the one framed is worn down.

Natasha - She's very anti "getting back with your ex wife". I think she's looking at it from her own experience. Her own thing with Bruce never worked out. They were very on and off, and she finally managed to crawl out of that cycle and thinks that it's a similar situation with R and she can be strong enough to do the same.

Keep them coming :D

It's going to be a week before I post chapter 14.. but who knows.. so better send them all in before then lol

[takeeachdayonebookatatime]

Why did you elbow me? 178

Achilles Castle part 80

Lemonade and lies PART 23

Liv: pov Jet says so Kate you worked with Elliot on the same case as Liv back in the day. Because the other day it seemed like you didn't know each other. No he was actually injured during that case and no Dana Lewis was not involved. Muncy and Jet ask who Dana Lewis is. You really don't want to know she used to be FBI before she got sent to jail for murder.

Jet: pov she went to jail for murder no way. Liv says yes. And every time she was around Elliot got injured. Usually it was her accidentally shooting him and one time it was a bomb that injured him. That woman sounds insane, Liv says she was and she was my friend. Kate mentions a psychic one time mentioned to her that an Alexander would save her life. This was before her shooting and guess what Castle's real name is Richard Alexander Rodgers and he tried to shove her out of the way. The food arrives and Kate pays for it and Liv helps her carry it to the dining room table.

Kate: pov as Liv opens her food I notice it has mushrooms on it I can't pass up a good mushroom pun/joke. Hey Liv can you even have mushrooms wouldn't want you talking all crazy about the fungi. Jet then asks if Liv is allergic to mushrooms making the situation even more awkward. Liv says no, Muncy says didn't you say once that you got poisoned by some mushrooms the guy was cooking them on the stove or something and you started talking crazy. Liv says yes Muncy thanks for bringing it up, i actually don't remember much of it since i fainted during that Case.

Muncy: pov have you ever had a case that triggered your PTSD Kate says yes it was a sniper case a few weeks after I was shot before i was diagnosed. Woman was shot in the chest and she died instantly. There were 3 victims in total. I made a stupid choice to go out and get a bottle of alcohol knowing my dad was an alcoholic and I couldn't drink with my meds and heart issues but I didn't care, the case was becoming too much for me. I got home and poured some alcohol and started drinking, I heard a noise outside and started to freak out. Closing the curtains and everything. In my panic state I was having some bad flashbacks and palpitations. I knocked over the bottle of alcohol and broke the glass all over the floor. In my panic I cut my right arm on the glass. Thankfully Castle was knocking at my door checking to see if I was okay, he used the spare key I gave him for emergencies. He saw me on the floor bleeding and hyperventilating. He found my meds and injected them in me and cleaned my cut and bandaged it. After talking He helped me to my bed and spent the night on my couch. I learned my lesson and haven't drank since.

Jet: pov why did you buy the alcohol that night. Kate says I have no idea, but when you hit bottom the only way is up. I got diagnosed with PTSD after that day and it started to make sense all of the symptoms I had that night fit. I’m glad you are doing better. Muncy wants to know if Liv or Kate have made any mistakes on the job. Liv says in 2004 I interrogated a man for 9 hours after Fin and Munch talked to the guy trying to get a confession out of him. He eventually confessed to using the green scarf in the crime, poured acid in the victim's eyes, tied her up, cut and assaulted her, which the file mentioned. The victim ID him, he had her credit cards on him and 6 people saw him in the bar. He wound up getting I think 300 years in prison for the crime.

Liv: pov a few years later in 2012 we got a case with a similar motive. But Omar Pena was in jail so we thought it was possibly a copycat. We were getting nowhere on the case so Cragen told me to re-interview the original victim and she said she would never wear red again because of what happened to her. Her mother gave her that red scarf as a gift.

Muncy: pov hold up I thought the scarf was green, you said green earlier. Jet agrees with me that Liv said green. Liv says so did me, Fin and Munch turns out it was red the guy who bagged it was color blind early symptoms of ms. No way so the wrong man sat in prison for 8 years. Jet is also shocked by this.

Liv: pov yep and I felt very guilty. Muncy ordered the orange chicken with vegetable rice and egg rolls, Jet ordered the teriyaki stick white rice and dumplings. Kate ordered some healthy chicken with brown rice and vegetables. I ordered my usual lo mein noodles, sweet and sour chicken with stir fry vegetables on the side. We chat some more while we eat. Plus I almost lost my job because of my half brother, Muncy says didn't you say once you had the same father different mothers yep.

Jet: pov so Kate what Is your favorite Taylor swift song. Kate says actually Alexis is the fan. I know a few of her songs but I'm more into Duran Duran and Celine dion. Liv says well I guess we need to play some Taylor swift to get you ready for tonight. Our bracelets are coming out so cute.

Kate: pov after putting the dirty dishes in the sink I get back to the bracelet making. I tell Muncy and Jet where the bathroom is so they can change. I think It would be weird for them to change in front of Liv who is their boss. Me and Kate are friends and both have scars so we have no problem changing in front of each other. Castle made me a custom shirt, Liv is going to wear her 1989 shirt. Muncy and Jet are both wearing cute dresses.

Muncy: pov hey Jet what if we curl our hair. Kate what do you use to get your hair so curly Kate replies with nothing. I have curly hair. I just straighten It when I want to. To be continued. ……….