#ot4: original characters

[polyamships]

Title: Lost Content Type: Original Writing Creator: wallwalker Characters/Relationship: Original characters (M/M/F/F) Rating: T Word Count: 1128 Content notes: None. Creator notes: Crossposted to rainbowfic, link here. Summary: A trip through a long, apparently featureless grassland was causing one of the squad's members to worry.

[ryukang1995]

Comparisons between certain characters, ships and dynamics of AUs for Mortal Kombat and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure by me and my gf

Some interesting comparisons between my works based on Mortal Kombat, and the works based on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure by my gf Haley.

To an extent, this also applies to the canon.

Liu Kang is the main character of both the MK canon and my MKAU. Jotaro Kujo is arguably one of the most popular main characters within JoJo, and Haley's favorite character.

While Jotaro is more aloof than Liu Kang, they both are still gentlemen heroes deep inside, and my MKAU does depict Liu Kang as a rebel before he matures.

Haley also has Jotaro look up to Liu Kang as a father figure in our roleplay.

Liu Kang's greatest friend and ally is Kung Lao while Jotaro's player 2 (or JoBro, if you will) is Noriaki Kakyoin. In the roleplay, Kakyoin does look up to Kung Lao as his father, and they even adopted a dog named Hector.

In the MK canon, Liu Kang's love interest is Kitana. In my MKAU, Liu Kang's love interest is Sonya Blade.

While Jotaro did get married in the JoJo canon, the role of his love interest in Haley's JoJo works has been applied to an OC named Marita Larochelle Kujo, who is actually based on Gracia from Samurai Warriors.

Personality-wise and in terms of dynamics, Marita is closer to Kitana, and her relationship with Jotaro sort of mirrors Liu Kang and Kitana's relationship.

Marita is a half-mermaid orphan from an Ocean world, and she ends up falling for Jotaro, especially with him being a marine biologist. It's similar to how Kitana is the princess of Edenia, and ends up falling for Liu Kang after she defects from Shao Kahn, who murdered her father Jerrod and drove her mother Sindel to suicide.

Interestingly, Marita looks up to Sonya as her mother figure in our roleplay.

In Haley's works based on JoJo, Kakyoin's primary love interest is an OC named Annegret Conley, who is actually supposed to be an alternate older version of Anne. Kakyoin and Annegret's relationship is actually closer to Sonya's relationship with Johnny Cage.

Kakyoin isn't overly cocky or comedic like Johnny normally is, but he can indeed be incredibly suave, especially towards Annegret, who often has a stubborn and hard-as-nails personality, but ultimately warms up to him.

While Annegret's personality is indeed closer to Sonya's, she ultimately looks up to Kitana as her mother figure.

While Marita is Jotaro's main love interest, and Annegret is Kakyoin's, Haley and I often do ship the four with each other as an OT4/quartet, meaning that we also ship Jotaro with Annegret, and Kakyoin with Marita.

Similarly, not only does my MKAU have Liu Kang x Sonya, but also Johnny Cage x Kitana, and we do indeed ship the four with each other in our roleplay.

As for Kung Lao, I actually ship him with Li Mei.

I created this post, mostly for fun, and to show both the similarities and differences between the MK and JoJo OT4s by me and Haley.

That's all for now.

[fischerfrey]

OT4 + HOTD AU? Who's team green and who's team black? What house are they in? Are they active in the dance or keep a safe distance? How would they personalities change? 👀

the ot4: house of the dragon au

this kind of spiraled out of control and would obviously need a shitton of work to smooth everything out but here's what i (and annie) put together quickly. a lot is inspired by the book and show but a lot had to be changed around to make this work. also the hp canon titles and social statuses are waaay different in this one.

“then the storm broke, and the dragons danced.”

when king aegar I targaryen names his second son his heir instead of his eldest, the seeds of civil war are sown. aegar's choice is heavily influenced by a prophecy passed down in his family since the days of old valyria, and all signs point to his younger son being the prince that was promised. or so aegar believes...

prince elyan grew up as the prince of dragonstone, destined to one day rule over westeros. but his father deemed him too rash, too unpredictable to ever sit the iron throne, so he named elyan's little brother theodric as his heir on his sixteenth nameday. theo has no taste for ruling but he wanted to make his father happy so he obliged. when king aegar dies only a few short months later, the realm is torn asunder. many lords and ladies still deem elyan the rightful heir, while some, such as the hightowers, lannisters, and baratheons support theodric's claim (maybe because they respect aegar, maybe because they think theo will be easier to control than his brother...)

elyan is a formidable warrior and commands the loyalty of many, especially men of the city watch in king's landing, whom he personally oversaw for a time. he's charismatic and politically savvy but also vicious and cruel, often jumping headfirst into danger. theo, on the other hand, is studious and prefers to keep to himself. his father believes him to be the one of whom the prophecy spoke of and it could be argued that he has a calmer demeanor than his brother, but in truth, theodric can be just as fearsome and unpredictable.

henry hightower grew up in king's landing, where his father thomas served as the hand of the king for both king elyris I targaryen, and king aegar I targaryen. he's not a renowned warrior and prefers books to swords. he loves riding though, and is an exceptional horseman. when war erupts, henry ends up on the opposing side to elyan, with whom he has been in love with for years. he has to choose between duty and love as he finds himself increasingly friendless in the city he once called home.

malcolm stark is the new lord of winterfell after the sudden death of his father. though he is young, he's determined to look after his people as winter approaches. in the middle of preparations, king aegar dies and war starts brewing in the south. malcolm's father alexander once swore an oath of loyalty to king aegar and his then-heir, prince elyan but now the succession has been changed. malcolm must decide whether to march his men south to defend prince elyan's rightful claim or to stay in the north and face the oncoming winter.

lady primrose baratheon is the only surviving child of lord vincent gray and lady victoria baratheon. she stands to inherit her mother's claim to storm's end but lady victoria's claim was contested on many fronts already, and she only held onto it because she was already married and with child at the time of her brother's death. the lords of the stormlands were hoping she would have a son and put such foolish things as women inheriting storm's end to rest. when, despite years of effort, primrose remained the only living child of her parents, tensions in the stormlands started to brew again. prim's position is precarious and now she has a war to navigate. house baratheon is sworn to defend king theodric but elyan is one of primrose's oldest friends. when her mother dies a few weeks into the war, primrose technically has the power to shift her house's allegiance, but can she convince her lords to follow her lead?

"we are as the gods made us. strong and weak, good and bad, cruel and kind, heroic and selfish. know that if you would rule over the kingdom of men."

elyan, theo, henry, and prim all spent a considerable amount of time together in king's landing

there would definitely be pressure from the councils of both sides to put the other to sword so the war doesn't rear its head again but do the brothers actually want to kill each other?

elyan and henry are gay and in love and take romantic flights on dragonback over the crownlands until the war tears them apart :( the whole affair was doomed from the start but now it's EXTRA doomed

eventually malcolm and prim join the war and meet and fall in love BUT there's a huge issue because primrose has to marry some suitable minor lord from the stormlands (who preferrably has older brothers so he doesn't have the pressure of carrying on the family name) and not the frigging lord of winterfell, warden of the north!!! her liege lords don't want some stark bossing them around. if the two manage to make it work and get married then who's gonna inherit storm's end? who's gonna inherit winterfell? we just won't know...

estelle is The Stark At Winterfell while mal is off to war

lots more dragons would be involved than what is mentioned here. theo has a dragon called scrambles called something metal like bloodfyre i'm sure

the other houses like the velaryons and the lannisters would also be involved heavily but i decided to not go as far as to start assigning other characters or i'd never be able to get this out lol

although the slytherins might be velaryons in this, so kerina is a velaryon, and the current lord of driftmark is either kerina's dad or brother

i have no idea who would eventually win although the odds are stacked against theo pretty hard at the minute, poor guy...

feel free to offer your thoughts!🐉⚔

this isn't like a simple elian = rhaenyra (obvs he's more like daemon anyway), theo = aegon II, henry = alicent etc thing. while some characters do fill the roles of actual characters from hotd, it isn't exactly a working comparison. that being said, i love the ottohightowerification of thomas of alderly.

[mejomonster]

I finished final fantasy vii rebirth and. Some mixed opinions.

The main good points: as a Sequel to original FF7? Its good. The women are all written well (which was a concern considering Kairi and Lunafreya in past games), and everyone was in character just fleshed out more (with 2 slight exceptions). What the game did best was accomplish an open world game, world spanning adventure, stick fairly well to some main highlights from original ff7 (which is what people wanted for ages) and with new stuff thats fun if you like the world, very little wasting of player time (so much better than ff7 remake). It did open world well, pacing well, side quests and mini games well, characters well, combat well, and overall gave the feel of what square enix was maybe Hoping and Wishing to successfully accomplish in a mainline game for years but either hasnt been able to achieve on a technical level or fumbled in the past. (So no time wasting dungeons like ff7 remake, fleshed out open world with stuff you enjoy doing so more than ff15, open world so more than ff13, and combat that feels like things theyve learned and improved on well). How it feels to play? Great, fast paced, no dead time, all enjoyable game you came to play. (With the exception maybe of Cait Siths box mandatory mini game and the aerith in ancient temple magic platforms thing but they both werent too difficult to push through if you dont enjoy them).

The bad? Mostly... if you treat Rebirth as a SEQUEL to original ff7, these arent major issues. They just annoy me as a player of the original ff7 game. Because i know plenty of people will ONLY play ff7 Remake and Rebirth etc, and never know the original characterizations. So 2 characters were slightly unlike their original ff7 selves, and instead more like their Advent Children (and general non ff7 appearances) selves: aerith and sephiroth. Sephiroth's character being NOT like ff7 originals is more irritating personally. Because yeah... i get it. As a sequel to original ff7, this Remake/Rebirth Sephiroth might be from the future (so he is Advent Children esque version of himself), hes had time post losing his way to really get all mysterious and hyperfocus on cloud and be a looming vague pest. But the thing is... in the original ff7 the reason we learn hes used to be a SOLDIER war hero, is so the cast and you are confused why he kills Shinra people. Then you and the casy figure: well cloud remembers sephiroth finding out hes a monster cause of shinra, justifiable for sephiroth to hate shinra. Unflrtunately Sephiroth also decided to hate ALL HUMANS. Then you later find out maybe Jenovas controlling Sephiroth/one with him etc. But the key here is you find out at some point in original ff7 that sephiroths goal is mainly Destroy World because Hes not Human. Rebirth... does not clarify this very important and very BASIC point ever. Maybe it assumes its so basic that as a ff7 fan you should know.. but plenty of new players wont. Rebirth clarifies yes sephiroth may be Jenovas kid... but the whole MOM, im an ancient like Jenova! Oh Jenova isnt an ancient oh well fuck humans anyway! Either way fuck humans ill kill them all! None of those Very basic sephiroth motives are clarified much. I felt Rebirth did good explaining the Gi and the black materia. But to make Sephiroths motives so vague, why he wants to end the world SO VAGUE, why hes in clouds head (the black robes are everywhere but the game HINTS theure sephiroth clones but never actually spells it out eevn though its a BASIC KEY DETAIL). Now... because Rebirth is a sequel, it makes sense... if hes Advent Children Sephiroth he already knows he isnt an ancient, knows hes Jenovas kid, knows he wants to fuck with Cloud specifically now and the world generally but not necessarily so singlemindedly desperate to just kill all humans. So yes, Sephiroth is in character for his future self... but i feel like even with him less SINGLE MINDED and freshly with Jenova, clarifying some basics of his Original old timeline motives... would be helpful to new fans. So it annoyed me. I think the biggest Not Good writing decision in Rebirth was to never fucking clarify Sephiroths original basic goal: im not human like mom, hate humans, kill world. I suspect the writers either thought players KNEW so hinted instead of being on the nose (but to new players theyll just be CONFUSED), or they plan to explain those basic things in game 3. Which seems stupid to me and shouldve been explained earlier.

And Aerith. As a sequel? She remembered the other timeline which explained some moments she was calmer than original ff7. She forgot, then toward the end of Rebirth she seems to have remembered the other timeline again and that she needs to die and X happens etc. So her being calmer based on the plot they wrote for Rebirth? Makes sense. However... i deeply miss her Original FF7 personality where as an Ancient she freaks out a bit LIKE sephiroth, paralleling him, that shes not human, a freak, that it all rests on her as only one ancient left. Their overwhelm parallels each other. Aerith is more scared in original ff7 of being the only ancient, of what it means, of finding out more. That fear is slightly there in Rebirth but WAY LESS. its only a little in cosmo canyon and almost gone in the Ancient Temple. In ff7 expanded universe theyve changed her character over time to a calmer wiser goddess type like in Advent Children, and so yes in Rebirth when she remembers the alrernate timeline it makes sense she'd be calmer like her future self. However... i miss original ff7 aerith. I miss her initial shock, loneliness, fear of the weight on her shoulders, not being sure what to do. Her and Sephiroth, because of Rebirth writing them to know more, act more like their future selves and so. While it is in character and logical to the Rebirth plot. Its also sad to me that anyone who only plays Remake and Rebirth simply wont see what they were like WHEN these revelations were brand new shocks to them, forcing them to react and grow and fear. I dont think Aerith is written bad, i just think because this game is in reality is a Sequel im just personally mourning that it didnt have that as much of the original Aerith's personality who was afraid and discovering. Mostly her Rebirth personality is similar to original ff7s. But in some high tension moments shes way calmer and wiser than in the original. I miss getting to see some of that before to after character growth.

Oh and. The aerith dies scene. Does it make sense in context of Rebirth written as a sequel? Sure. Is it impactful? Not as much as the original. In Rebirth, theres a scene where Cloud is losing control and listening to Sephiroth and attacks Tifa, causing Tifa to fall into mako. That scene is high stakes and emotional and lands WELL. Later in Rebirth, when Aerith actually dies, Cloud has not lost control and isnt the one who killed her. Its fine, as a sequel to ff7 i get the choice to make him able to stop himself from hurting her. But it does make the scene less impactful: now cloud will NOT be blaming himself for her death, will not be struggling with the guilt and fear, and will not be as terrified of losing control again. Since he wasnt the one who attacked her. And since he saw her ghost/something post death, hes not even sad or grieving her. He thinks shes fine. These 2 things will result in a WILDLY DIFFERENT cloud moving forward than the original ff7 one who very much was distraught and horrified he did that. So like... as a sequel its fine these changes were made. But death wise... i wouldve prefered like, cloud drops her from up high qhile struggling with whispers, or doesnt get to her in time and sephiroth stabs her when shes too far away. The way Rebirth did it, cloud was near her, she gets stabbed anyway. It seemed to me almost like the writing was trying to vaguely or softly kill her, like somehow making it vague would make it hurt less. Yeah it did hurt less... but id rather if a character i love dies that its a Worthy Scene for them to die in. A strong meaningful scene that makes me cry, that felt like the loss it is. The Rebirth scene... couldve done its plot as intended and just make Cloud farther away or something and it wouldve been better to me. Maybe the writing point was Cloud thinks its fine, and its still not, and he cant even feel distaught because he cant tell if she died or if things are fine? Thats the only angle i can see where maybe the death scene did what the writers wanted? Anyway. Aeriths moms death made me sob, Aeriths death did not. It is what it is. I feel like Tifa, crying in my heart off screen, the game acting like Cloud like its fine and it looks fine to him but im confused like Tifa aa to why hes (the game) treating it that way. Lol.

Overall? Um 4/5. 8/10? Really solid square enix game, Amazing as far as final fantasy 7 SEQUELS go. It has one main weak spot in treating Sephiroth fully mysterious when a few clarifying details could help the game stand on its own Better (and make Sephiroth a stronger enemy character instead of a vaguer one). The other weak spots are more my personal preference and mourning the parts of ff7 original i miss and had wished were in this, but as this is a Sequel in a parallel timeline i dont feel the parts effect Rebirth on its own merit. It IS the best Square Enix game ive played in ages, at least since Final Fantasy X or XII. I thought it was better than FF13, FF15, definitely better than ff7 remake (i hate time wasting dungeons and bad pacing its a dealbreaker), and than kh3 (although kh3 was quite good for a kh sequel). I get to play FF16 next, which will hopefully be as good as Rebirth or better! Since its also on the PS5 and clearly from Rebirth, the square enix main team can do excellent combat, open world, level design, mini games, side quests, and good pacing now. So i'll just have to see if ff16's story is better. And i am guessing it hopefully will be, since Rebirth as an ff7 sequel has some weirdness to its plot quite typical of ff7 extended universe stories like Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus. Whereas ff16 is a brand new plot, so they have nothing preventing them from a tight excellent written story except themselves. I am curious how BIG ff16s world will be though. Because ff7 Rebirths world was MASSIVE and very full of stuff, tons of mini games, cool stuff to find or do or little character side quests. If ff16 also takes me 60 hours to beat the main story its gonna be thw longest final fantasy main title ive ever played.

Rebirth is very replayable if you enjoyed it. I will probably replay ff7 original soon.

[arcadia-of-pluto]

Twist of Fate; Chapter Four

Pairings; LADS OT4 x reader

Word count; 2,588

Themes; isekai, eventual smut

Rating; 18+ for swearing and some mature themes

Notes; I swear these chapters feel longer on the word doc. Anyways, I was too excited to leave it at just three chapters so here's an extra fourth one for today 🎉

Prev || Next

Masterlist

It's been a few weeks since you went to Snowcrest with Zayne. In that time, you played a few rounds of kitty cards with Xavier- not having the heart to bring Rafayel to the café since you knew he was afraid of cats, played the claw machine with Rafayel and took him to see the aurora in Snowcrest. You also got the painting Rafayel sent you and hung it up on the wall behind your couch, the fox plushie Xavier got you sitting on a miniature bookshelf underneath it. You put the pins got from the Meow's café tokens up on the bookshelf as well, a set of antique books you got from your original time period, a few antique gaming consoles like the Gamerboy and Ninyendo ds- it hurts to call those antique and your wallet definitely hurt after buying them. 

You got the Waystation NX as a way to pass the time besides when you were working. Honestly being a hunter paid well and once you got used to it, the work wasn't even that bad. 

Now, a few days before you assume your mission with Rafayel is, you decide it's time to get a friend. You were torn between a dog or a cat but since every single character loves cats besides Rafayel…you decide on a cat. You put on your yellow dress since all your other clothes were darker in tone and you didn't want to get cat hair all over them and head out after putting your shoes on. 

Stopping by Meow's Café first would be a good idea. Since they were a cat café then maybe some of their cats would be up for adoption and if not, you could always ask if an employee could point you in the direction of a shelter. 

Today was just a nice day to be on your own. 

At least that's what you thought but the moment you step foot in Meow's Café, you spot a few different things. Your gaze lingers on a white haired man that was sitting in the corner, cats all around him as he slept during the day but that wasn't Xavier. He seemed a bit familiar but you brush that feeling off and walk over to the actual Xavier. “What're you doing here without inviting me?” You tease with a playful pout. 

Xavier, who was dozing off, tiredly looks at you before a small smile appears on his lips. He yawns, covering his mouth with one hand. “I would've invited you if I knew you were awake.” “Don't worry about it.” You ruffle his hair before looking over all the cats. “I'm looking for a friend today.” 

“Are you talking about an actual person this time or another plushie?” 

“Neither. I'm looking for a pet.” You admit, rubbing the back of your neck. “I'm going to see if any of these cats are up for adoption and if not, I'll go look at some shelters nearby.” “Do you want me to come with you?” He asks, unable to hold back another yawn and you shake your head, “While I appreciate the offer, you should go home and take a nap. You look like you're about to pass out at any moment.” You pat his shoulder before heading to the counter to ask about the cats and order a drink. 

You settle on just a basic sweet tea and also buy some cat treats and the employee tells you that the cats here are sponsored by the local shelter but urges you to go to the shelter in person since the older cats are kept there. 

It would probably be better to get an older animal than a younger one since most people prefer the babies so you take her up on her offer. You take a sip of your tea, turning to wave goodbye to Xavier as you put the location of the shelter in your gps and start your walk. 

As you stand in front of the homey looking building, an employee peeks behind the gate. “Welcome to Paws animal sanctuary!” 

“Are you open today?” You ask, checking the time on your phone worriedly. “We just opened so we're cleaning up a bit but feel free to come inside! We had to open a tad earlier today since our sponsor stopped by.” The lady smiles at you and waits for you to follow as she walks toward the front doors. “Sponsor?” You echo, looking around at the interior as you step inside. Hardwood floors, cream wallpaper with different coloured paw prints- probably the paws of the actual inhabitants of the shelter. 

“Yeah, Mr S sponsors all of the shelters in Linkon City! It's thanks to him that we can take better care of our animals and give them the lives they deserve even if they're unable to be adopted.” The employee smiles before pausing, “oh my, I just realized I didn't tell you my name! That's so rude of me. My name is Raven.” 

“You're fine. I'm Y/n.” You smile back, holding your hands together. “I don't mind listening to you speak, you really seem to care about the animals you have here.” “We all do, it used to be so sad working at shelters in the past but now, oh- Mephi!” She laughs as a black bird flies over to land on her head. 

“Aww, she's a pretty bird. Is she a raven or…?” “She's a crow.” Raven says, letting the little bird perch on her finger. “She's actually mostly robotic since she got hurt in an accident. She was Mr S's pet before that but once Mephi got too injured, he surrendered her here and she's been living her best life ever since!” Raven scratches the crow under the chin before she heads behind the counter. “Anyway, What're you looking for today?” 

“Ah…I was looking for a cat? Possibly an older one or one who's been here for pretty long. My apartment has felt really lonely as of late and I feel like a pet would really help liven up the atmosphere and make me a bit happier.” You say, lightly drumming on the counter as Raven types in everything on a computer. “Perfect, we have about…four cats that match that! Well, we have five but..” 

“But what?” You lean forward, suddenly curious. 

“She's a bit of a handful. She's slightly younger than the rest and she's been returned multiple times. She's been here for about four years and she has a disability.” Raven says, running a hand through her hair. “Do you want me to add her to the walk through?”

“It wouldn't hurt to meet her. What's her name?” 

“Well…each home she's been to never gave her one so we've been calling her Estelle, you'll know when you see her.” Raven grabs her clipboard and leads you to the back with Mephi on her shoulder. You follow behind, looking at the window through each door as you pass before Raven stops at a room in the very back.

“This is Caesar, Spork, and Freya.” Raven says as she opens the door, pointing at the older orange cat that laid splayed out and the calico munchkin cat that was bopping the diluted calico ragdoll on the head. “Though Spork and Freya are a bonded pair so it would be hard to get just one.” She marks those two off of her list. “Where's…oh, there's Dino.” She crouches down on the floor. “Dino is the old tabby hiding under there. He's a bit nervous when it comes to new people.” 

None of the cats were catching your eye. Sure, they were definitely cute but none seemed to care about you specifically. 

“I guess you want to go see Estelle?” Raven questions after fixing her hair that Mephi was busy ratting up. “I think so, sorry.” You whisper your apology to the cats before you both leave the room. “Estelle is in a room by herself. She prefers to be alone and she's a bit moody.” Raven comments as you head to the next room a few doors down. “And here she is.” 

Raven opens the door and you both step inside. She quickly closes the door behind her as heavy paw steps thundered toward the door. An audible thump being heard as the cat hits the door. 

“Keep in mind, she's a runner.” Raven seems a bit out of breath. “We've had to chase her around the whole building before.” The woman steps to the side to reveal a large silver tabby mainecoon. “She's a mainecoon so she's a big cat and her coat is a rare colour. It's really uncommon to see a silver or gold maincoon.” 

The cat in question turns her head to look up at Raven before she notices someone else is in the room. The cat's fur bristles but she fully stops her movements the moment she made eye contact with you. A soft meow comes from her before she walks up to you and rubs against your leg. 

"Oh uhm-” Raven quickly flips through her clipboard, “She's never reacted like that before. I guess she likes you.”

You crouch down to run your fingers across her back. She sort of reminded you of Pie with her stature and how soft her fur was. “I'll take her.” You said, scratching her under her chin as she purrs. “I can pick up a body harness and walk her home. I think that's what she wants.” 

“Do you want to try picking her up as we head back to the front desk? Be careful she's heav-” Before Raven can finish her sentence, you've already picked the big cat up. “Nevermind.” Raven laughs, letting you follow her back to the front office. 

“So for Estelle, she gets a bit of a discount just because of her temperament and since you'll have to cover the cost of any more prosthetics she needs.” “Prosthetics?” You're suddenly confused and look at the cat in your arms. She didn't seem like she had any on. 

“Ah, Estelle was brought here with a really bad infection in her right front paw so they had to amputate. She only recently got a state of the art prosthetic with the help of Mr S. You can't even tell the difference and I think she's a lot happier with it.” Raven says, smiling at the cat in your arms who lets out a raspy meow. “But right so I'll add a harness, leash, and cat food to your bill and some vitamins for joint health and that'll be…”

She tells you the price and you gladly pay. You crouch down to put the purple body harness on Estelle and hook up the leash. The food and other stuff would be at your apartment before the end of the day. “Thank you for everything!” You wave to Raven and even Mephi caws as you leave. 

“Hey there pretty girl.” You say with a smile as Estelle looks up at you as you walk. 

With you being distracted, you don't notice a person walking next to you until you bump into your shoulder. You stumble back at the contact and quickly turn around in order to tell them off but a faint black and red smoke is the only thing left where the person should be. You hear the caw of a crow and look up, noticing a black crow perched on top of the light pole. 

“Weird..” you murmur, rubbing your temples and Estelle meows at you as if to tell you to keep walking. “Alright, alright.” You laugh, “I'm moving.” 

Once back at your apartment, you set Estelle's cat food bag down next to your island in the kitchen, putting her other canned food in the cabinets alongside her vitamins and some cat treats. Then, you hear a knock on your door. You head over to the door, Estelle trotting alongside you and she meows as the door opens. 

“Oh Xavier, what're you doing here?” You question, raising a brow but he holds up a bag. “I brought some stuff for the cat.” He says, a smile in his voice before he peeks around the door to see Estelle. “Woah.”

“Her name's Estelle.” You say, letting him in and taking the bag from him. “Estelle, you've got a bed now!” You cheer, going to put her bed in your bedroom. “Ooh and a food and water dish. Thanks Xavier, I didn't have a chance to pick anything like this up just yet.” You turn to look at him and he points at the bag, “One more thing.” 

You reach back in and there's a rod, you pull it out and notice it's one of those fishing rod cat toys but this one has a star at the end of the wire. “Here,” you hand it to him with a smile, “You came over here to play with the cat, didn't you?” 

“That wasn't my only reason.” He chuckles, sitting down on the couch as he plays with Estelle. “I wanted to hear about your plans going forward.” 

“Oh right.” You completely forgot about that. You sit down next to him, ready to explain. “I'm planning on getting some information from the Nest about an aether core being sold at the protocore auction in the N109 Zone. So I need an invitation for Hunting day. I'm…already working on getting an invitation but my problem lies with getting into the N109 Zone itself.” 

“You,” Xavier sighs, shaking his head, “You really are searching for trouble. I don't think you should go but I don't think anything I say will stop you..but since you have Estelle now, you at least have a reason to come back alive.” 

“Well, if I do die, take care of Estelle for me.” You joke with a smile but Xavier turns toward you with a straight face, “Don't joke about that, Y/n.” “Ah, sorry.” You clear your throat, looking down, “I am a bit nervous, if I'm honest but I know I'll be able to do it so if I go missing for a few days, make sure to feed her. I'll give you my spare key.” 

“I'll hold you to it.” Xavier takes the key from you and puts it in his pocket. “I'll figure something out if you go missing.” 

The mood wasn't as happy as before, that was clear to see so instead you nudge him with your elbow. “So at the shelter, they have this really cool sponsor who helped every single shelter in Linkon City. He had this pet crow that he surrendered because she got injured and he paid for Estelle's prosthetic.” 

“She has a prosthetic?” Xavier raises a brow, allowing you to push past the last conversation with ease. “Yeah, it's on her right paw.” You lean forward to tap said paw, your cheek brushing against Xavier's knee and he clears his throat. He shifts to the side on the couch to move his knee away from you. “Ah, I can see it now.” It's Xavier's turn now to lean forward and look. “That's really cool. It almost makes me want to get a cat.” 

“There's some really sweet ones at the shelter. Like Spork and Freya are a bonded pair!” “...Spork?” “Don't laugh, I think it's a cute name!” 

It's late by the time Xavier finally leaves to go back to his apartment, you say your goodbyes and get ready for bed with Estelle curled up next to you.

---------------------------------------------------

I guess 2k is the standard for every chapter so far. By the time chapter 10 hits, they should get longer so I hope you guys don't mind the shorter chapters for a bit! It's so odd though because on Google docs I feel like I'm writing so much and I need to end the chapter or else it'll be too long, and turns out...I've only written 2k- Edit: I just checked and they do get a bit longer but 3k and 4k aren't exactly at lot. If yall stick around until twenty then I'll make sure it's longer than 4k!! I feel so bad posting such short chapters.

Also, hope you enjoy the Sylus crumbs ✨️

[asukaskerian]

monthly word count - october

TOTAL: 1 247... damn... jeeze... frick

POSTED: nothin!

IN PROGRESS -cherry wine - madatobiizu ABO (555 words, half of it edits. fight scene bad.) -svsss - cosplay fic (663 words, half of it edits. fight scene worse.) -bleach suburban ot4 (29 words, all edits. sigh.)

only a teaser for svsss, everything else is too fragmented :(

... Aaand now his sword was at the other end of the room, clanging against the wall, and he was pretty sure it was dented. 

[Item: Cheap Gilded Sword: 3/4 durability remaining!]

Holy shit it was cheap.

And out of his reach.

He pulled out a fistful of talismans. "No core!"

"Wha-- golden core?!"

"These people were prejudiced as fuck!"

[OOC violation: Original character JIN-XIONG is sleazy, not vulgar!]

Shen Yuan almost compounded the violation by swearing a blue streak at his tamagotchi. 'I created him! He can be anything I want!'

[u_u Once he is registered, he cannot. u_u] [While there is a possibility of flexibility and evolution, Host may only work within the bounds of the established personality.]

'He's evolving! He's never been through such a shitshow before!'

[>_> Host should not resort to the lazy way out. <_<]

'... If you were bound to a toaster, I would dunk you in the Marianas trench. No bathtub would suffice.'

[^o^ Much better! ^o^]

[9_9 Too fancy now though. 6_6]

[disgruntledkittenface]

if i'm being honest | Must Be Love | Niall Horan

Narry, 22.2k, Explicit, Girl Direction, Original Cat Character, Butch/Femme, Falling in Love, Explicit Sexual Content

flicker | Flicker | Niall Horan

Ziall, 5.6k, Not Rated, Canon Compliant, Post-Breakup, Angst, Closure, No Smut

This Town | This Town | Niall Horan

Ziall, 12.4k, Not Rated, Canon Compliant, Post-Breakup, Angst, OT4 Friendship, No Smut

too into you | Cinema | Harry Styles

Harry/Chris Pine, 11k, Explicit, Coffeeshop AU, First Date, Dancing, Recreational Drug Use, Spit Kink

something to dream about | Daydreaming | Harry Styles

Larry, 100 words, Mature, Girl Direction, Drabble, Established Relationship, Implied Sexual Content

when we're finished saying nothing | Written All Over Your Face | Louis Tomlinson

Larry, 3.3k, Mature, Girl Direction, Alpha/Alpha, Established Relationship, Nesting, Knotting

face to face at the kitchen table | Too Young | Louis Tomlinson

Larry, 2k, Not Rated, Exes to Lovers, Hopeful Ending, No Smut

this cookie's baking | Wild Thoughts | DJ Khaled feat. Rihanna

Gryles, 8.1k, Mature, Girl Direction, Canon Compliant, Friends to Lovers, Smut

i'm going out tonight | Bejeweled | Taylor Swift

Larry, 3.8k, Mature, Established Relationship, Karaoke, Dancing, Semi-Public Sex

Red | Red (Taylor's Version) | Taylor Swift

Larry, 4.3k, Explicit, Exes to Lovers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Swiftie Louis, Explicit Sexual Content

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Aporia for the ask meme!

LOVE OF MY LIFEEEEEE

Why I like them/why I don’t: ive made 32482389 posts about him but Aporia is just genuinely such a fantastic character and NOBODY GIVES A FUCK ABOUT HIM BECAUSE HE'S WAY IN THE BACK OF 5DS AND HALF OF HIS DUELS DIDNT GET DUBBED!! GAAAAHHH hes my wife my babygirl i will be the CEO of Aporia if no one else will this angelic werelion robot is so cool and so sad and just such a stellar baddie. he's sexy also. who said that.

What I like about their appearance: he truly has one of the most batshit bonkers yugioh character designs and it RULES!! HE'S GOT BIG OL WEREWOLF CLAWS AND FANGS AND A SICK METAL HALO AND NOBODY CARES BUT I DO. I DO!!!!!!!!!!! i need to make my dissertation post about Why I Think Aporia Looks Like That cuz i have my theories. but also monster robot cool as hell

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?: it's the same in both and i like a lot <3 i do think i like the Emperors' dub names a smidge more though. Primo as a name is just. so perfect.

OTP: accidentally fucked around and because the guy who has An Associated Nicheship but the sun could be swallowing up the earth and i would still be shrieking and howling about zoneporia. i love divorce.

NOTP: why is aporia/leo a ship on the 5ds shipping list. im going to kill you.

OT3: more like OT4!!!! ILIASTER PEEPAW POLYCULE OLD FRIENDS SENIOR APOCALYPSE SURVIVOR SANCTUARY REAL AND TRUE TO MEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

Favourite card they use: IT'S SO HARD TO PICKKKKKK I LOVE MY MEKLORDS. chaos infinity as like. a Card mechanics-wise kind of sucks but i love it a lot, i need a site where i use chaosinfinity as my username. I also really like Afterglow of course, and Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk <3 Fucked Up Weird Wyrm <33

Favourite moment they were in: The Afterglow Gambit (of course), but especially right before that, when Aporia slowly moved all of his normal sized cards to his graveyard one at a time in his fuckoff big claws. THE "oh i think i might be obsessed with this guy" moment of all time for me

Least favourite moment: the dub's "ending" where aporia just CRASHES INTO THE OCEAN AND DIES AND THAT'S IT!!!! SHOW'S OVER!!!! *punching the floor getting mad about my favorite 5ds duels not getting dubbed again*

Something I associate with the character: mythical lions, especially of the 'composite animal' variety (sphinxes, manticores, chimeras especially)

Would I fuck, marry or kill them: coughs. ok i will leave this question in just for this one. since aporia is 50 or 80 or 38323 years old. anyway last month was the 2nd anniversary of the night something happened to me and i became inflicted with lust for an anime man. god bless

[fangfeatherandfin-moonystash]

@polyamships

Home

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters

Ship: Atem/Malik/Yugi/OC

Prompt: Feeling at home

Summary: Malik feels confuse having to travel between Japan and Egypt and not knowing where and if he wants to settle. Atem tries to reassure him.

Malik was conflicted. It was difficult for him to live so far away from his partners. Their contact was mostly made of phone calls and messages, and even these were somewhat difficult on an international scale.

He really loved when they could travel and spend moments together. Like that Valentine’s morning, cuddling in the makeshift bed with his sleeping boyfriends at their girlfriend’s house - although he wished their girlfriend had stayed with them, instead of waking up earlier, but soon she would be back with breakfast in bed for the four of them, and she was the best cook among them, so he wouldn’t complain much - Malik felt at peace.

On the other hand, after everything that had happened, he wasn’t ready to be apart from his siblings for long, either, and he felt equally comfortable in Japan or Egypt, like it didn’t matter where he lived. Despite either bringing him memories of the past everyone insisted he’d better forget.

He thought of getting up and joining Amy in the kitchen to get away from his thoughts of the past, but it was hard to get himself out of the tangle of limbs that the three of them had ended up into without waking his boyfriends. Malik had barely moved when he felt the one at his back stir.

“Did Amy wake you?” Malik shivered upon hearing Atem’s husky voice by his ear.

Malik tried to turn around to face his boyfriend, but Yugi’s hold on him tightened. Atem chuckled.

“No. I woke up before her. Did I wake you?”

“I have been half awake since she left. What is bothering you?”

“Why do you think something is bothering me?”

“Because we never saw you wake up so early on your own when we’re together. Is it because you’re going back home tomorrow?”

At first Malik didn’t want to talk about it. But Atem would understand, right? He was, not only from another country, but from another time. And although most would argue he had no family to go back to because of that, he had been returned to them once, only to be brought back again but, after that, he made no effort to return again, and sometimes Malik had wondered if Atem resented Kaiba for prompting the accident that brought him back to life.

“Malik?” Atem called softly when the silence stretched, loosening his hold to prop himself up on one arm and peek at Malik’s face.

“Do you feel at home here?”

“Of course I do. Wherever I’m with someone I love, I am at home. Yugi taught me that. Do you feel at home?”

“I don’t know. I always felt the same, no matter where I was. In the beginning, everywhere bothered me, but it doesn’t anymore. But even though I’m comfortable everywhere, I’m never fully satisfied, would not only because I have to travel because I miss someone, I’m never satisfied with the place. Do you ever feel like this?”

“Sometimes, especially with the climate. I’m still not used to Domino’s winters. Maybe it is because I haven’t been here for more than a couple of years, at least in my own body, but sometimes I think I’ll never get used to it. There are also different customs of each country that I’m not used to either. But to me, Egypt isn’t very different from a foreign country either, because it is not the place it was in my time anymore.” Atem shifted back to lie down and embrace Malik from behind. “For now, it is okay for you to travel when you feel too bothered, though.”

“But I’ll have to choose, sometime.”

“And when that time comes, the four of us will do so together. And no matter what we chose, we are each other’s home, so we’ll be okay. Don’t you feel at home with us?”

Malik stayed in silence for a moment, not because he doubted his answer, but to enjoy the feeling of both his boyfriends’ holding him.

“There is no place I feel more at home.” He finally said, one hand holding Yugi closer, the other intertwining with one of Atem’s. “But…”

“You have another home with your siblings. That’s fine. We have as many homes as there are people we love. Sometimes we choose one to spend more time with, but that doesn’t invalidate the others.” Atem kissed the back of his neck. “Do you feel better?”

“A little. But I don’t have to worry about it right now. Amy will be here at any moment, and I just want to spend the day with you right now.”

Atem hummed in response, kissing him again. Before it could go too far, though, the door was pushed open and Amy came in, balancing a couple of trays with food.

“Boys, breakfast!” She called, cheerfully.

Yugi just grunted something in response, snuggling against Malik’s chest. Atem sat up and shook him.

“Yugi! Are you planning on sleeping all through Valentine’s?”

“But I’m comfortable here.” Yugi mumbled.

The other three laughed. Nothing unusual for a morning spent together. And Malik hoped these little things would never change.

[taikouvember]

Taikouvember 2024 - Rules & FAQ

Even though most of the general rules for the week were already written down in the Event Announcement Post, we would still like to specify some of our Do’s and Don’t’s to make sure Taikouvember will turn out amazingly for everyone involved!

Do's & Recommendations

The event goes from November 4th to November 10th. There are prompts for every single day - this time, they refer to the Crests of the other Chosen Children.

Interpret the prompts as you like, you can find some helpful tips in our Prompt Guideline. You may submit as many entries for each prompt as you like.

If this year's prompts are not to your liking, feel free to use the prompts used for the 2022 and 2023 events as well.

Every kind of entry will be allowed: Fanfiction, Drabbles, Poems, Fanart, Comics, Sketches, Doodles, Music, Playlists, Music Videos, Picture Sets, Edits, Gifsets, Meta, etc.

You can of course decide which series or medium you want to focus on: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02, all corresponding movies, Digimon Adventure Tri, Digimon Adventure Last Evolution: Kizuna, Digimon Adventure 02 The Beginning, Digimon Adventure: The 2020 Reboot, games, manhuas, audio dramas, novels, the stageplay, etc.

You are free to choose how to interpret the relationship of Taikou - whether that's romantic or platonic is completely up to you!

Other canon characters are allowed to be included, as long as the entries contain the original ship Taikou, the original characters, Taichi Yagami and Koushiro Izumi, and/or in extension, their partners, Agumon and Tentomon. You can also include multi-/polyships, OT3s, OT4s, etc. as long as they contain Taikou.

Crossovers, Alternate Universes (AUs) or Own Characters (OCs) are allowed, as long as the entries contain the original ship.

When posting your entries, please make sure to @ us directly as @taikouvember in the entry post or use the following tags: #taikouvember2024, #taikouvember 2024, #taikouvember. You can also submit your posts directly to our blog.

We will search the different ship tags (#taikou, #koutai, #taishiro, #taishirou, #taichi x koushiro, #taichi x koushirou) for your entries too, so regardless of what spelling you use, we will try our best to find it. Late entries beyond Taikouvember are perfectly fine, we will search the ship tags until at least the end of November. If we missed your entry, please contact us directly!

Old content may be reblogged by using our handle @taikouvember, so we can find it or you can send us content you would like us to reblog for consideration. We highly encourage creating new content though!

Don't's & Restrictions

Do not post any ship or character bashing/hate concerning any other Digimon ships/characters. It will not be reblogged.

Only post your own content, art theft etc. will not be tolerated. This includes the use of AI technology. AI art may only be reblogged if it is tagged/marked explicitly as such and doesn't blatantly copy other people's work.

Not Safe For Work (NSFW) content may be submitted in moderation and in line with tumblr's guidelines, but only if it is hidden under "Read Mores". Any kind of adult themes and triggers need to be tagged accordingly. Please understand that we may not reblog explicit, disturbing or any kind of discriminating content.

We're excited to see what you'll have in mind. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us directly! Have fun!

[platypuslappy]

hellooo i was wondering if you could share the ot4 relationship template you used for polysho? i tried searching online for it but i couldn't find it ;-;

Here :)!

You weren‘t able to find it online because I edited the original version (only two characters) myself, but you don’t need to give me credit when using it, have fun !

[polyamships]

Original fiction Title: Misplaced Author: Wallwalker | @theoreticalconstruct Word Count: 700 Rating: T Content notes: Polyamory, discussion of internal confusion/guilt, alcoholism, maternal death. Summary: It is the presence of his guilt, and not what he has done to cause it, that bothers him.

Written for @rainbowfic.

[ryukang1995]

Since I ship Liu Kang x Sonya Blade, I guess it only makes sense that I also kinda ship Johnny Cage x Kitana.

Admittedly, I was curious about this pairing ever since I started shipping KangBlade. However, what truly made Johnny x Kitana gain some attention among the fanbase were their interactions and scenes together in Mortal Kombat 1 (both in the base story, and their intro dialogues).

While some scoff at the idea, others actually don't mind it. I can indeed see a version of the story where these two end up together (likely the same version where Liu Kang and Sonya hook up).

It's definitely the classic idea of a rogue swashbuckling-type hero getting with the more haughty and higher class princess. You could also say the same thing about Kitana with Liu Kang, to a lesser extent.

I can see Kitana being much more tolerant of Johnny's charm and personality than Sonya usually is, though this is not me saying it's better than the CageBlade relationship at all.

It's also worth noting that both characters were definitely intended to be somewhat in the forefront during the development stages of the first game.

Ed Boon and John Tobias originally had the idea of doing a video game with Jean-Claude Van Damme, but when that idea fell through, they modeled Johnny after him, and he was the first character they created for the game (he is even featured prominently in the cabinet art for the arcade version), even though Tobias always intended for Liu Kang to be the main hero.

Also, Tobias originally had plans for Kitana to be in said game as a background NPC named Kitsune. She was cut from the game early on, but Sonya was eventually included after both a test group and Midway felt that the game needed a female fighter. Eventually, Kitana made her debut as a playable fighter in MK2.

As a side note, I usually feel that Johnny and Kitana get the worst depictions in recent incarnations of MK, mainly the Legends animated films. In some ways, this is my way of redeeming them after how badly said incarnations handle them as well as their canonical relationships with Sonya and Liu Kang (to me, at least).

But even with that in mind, I truly have nothing against Liutana or CageBlade. Hell, I even made all four of them an OT4, which says a lot. I just think the idea of KangBlade and Kitohnny is nice and has potential.

If you disagree, it's all good.

[thomas-sanders-shipname-glossary]

Thomas Sanders Shipname Glossary Masterpost

A collection of all the shipnames of Characters associated with Thomas Sanders projects and series.

This is still being built up, if you have any shipnames or characters to contribute, please feel free to send an ask or submission!

Sanders Sides

OTP list | OT3 list | OT4 list | OT5 list | OT6 list | OT7+ list

Thomas Sanders Shorts

to be added

Cartoon Therapy

to be added

Roleslaying With Roman

to be added

Sources:

[sporkandpringles]

✨Hello! T'Mina, here! ✨ I'm a queer, third-generation trekkie who loves Vulcans and Romulans. Welcome to my Star Trek Blog! About Me: she/they | 29 | AuDHD | Bi-oriented Aegosexual Aro-Ace* *subject to change. The gender and sexuality crisis has been ongoing since 2014. Star Trek Favorites: Favorite Episode: DIS 1x06 "Lethe" Favorite Series To Watch: Voyager Favorite Series to Write About: A tie between AOS and DISCO Favorite Captain: Kathryn Janeway Favorite Main Character: Michael Burnham Star Trek Ships: Kirk/Spock (Spirk, K/S) Sarek/Amanda Grayson Solkar/Zefram Cochrane Bochra/Geordi La Forge Michael Burnham/T'Pring Benjamin Sisko/Solok Kirk/Spock/Uhura, Kirk/Spock/Uhura/Gaila (my AOS OT4) Nyota Uhura/Gaila, Beckett Mariner/T'Lyn Christine Chapel/T'Pring Tuvok/T'Pel/Janeway Kira Nerys/Kimara Cretak (...and many, many more) More About Me: Multishipper | Sarek Apologist | Jack Crusher Hater - Canon-Divergence/Fix-It Enthusiast - I Didn't Say it Was Good I Said I Liked It - I enjoy nitpicking things I like. It's fun for me. Block the #gripes tag if you don't want to see that. Links:

Original Posts | Blog Lore | Art Blog | Ao3

End Notes: Feel free to DM me or send me asks! I love talking about Star Trek.

[arcadia-of-pluto]

Twist of Fate; Chapter Seven

Pairings; LADS OT4 X reader

Word Count; 2,876

Themes; isekai, eventual smut

Rating; 18+ for swearing and some mature context

Notes; you have a slight existential crisis, a kiss (but it doesn't get too intense unfortunately), another Xavier-centric chapter with a small cliffhanger, also a reminder that 💛 is Xavier! Also, I accidentally posted this so I guess y'all are getting this chapter early 🤷🏻‍♀️

Prev || Next

Masterlist

I would also like to mention, once more, that the reader isn't aware of anything relating to Sylus. Just his looks, the appearance of his evol, and all of that. Think of her as all of us during Sylus's trailer release! Even though she doesn't know anything, the story will go as it does in the original story. I'm definitely not creative enough to change any of that, but there will be major differences after we finish the final chapter (in-game, chapter eight)!

You have one more day of freedom before you enter the Nest as bait. How will you spend it?

You woke up a bit later than usual, wanting to spend as much time with Estelle in bed as possible before you had to leave her for an unspecified amount of time. You hope she remembers you. After you make yourself something to eat and give Estelle her food, you check up on your flowers. The bluish pink flowers sat in a vase you had made at a pottery class with Zayne. Your thumbprints in the shape of a heart and the vase was glazed in the colour arctic blue, which was a beautiful light blue. The vase was sitting next to the fox Xavier got you and the painting Rafayel made for you.

You decide to lounge around the apartment today, unwilling to go outside and do anything since you knew today would be your last day of freedom. You were honestly worried, after tomorrow you were in the dark on what comes next. Your gaze flitting across the notes you made of the past and near future, hoping to come up with a nice game plan for your next decisions. You could tell the other guys you know about your past lives, but if you don't know everything then what's the point? You knew Rafayel would throw a fit if you didn't remember everything. Zayne doesn't really remember or, at least, you're not sure. Most of Zayne's past life you're in the dark about since you never got his cards. For Rafayel, you know two specific instances of past lives but the bigger one where he was the god of the sea? You only know part of it. You never got those cards either. With Xavier, you know of both lives- one more so than the other. You know he's Lumiere, the man who saved the main character as a child and protected Linkon during the Chronorift Catastrophe..you also know he's quite jealous of himself. Any time Lumiere is mentioned, he gets jealous.

But Sylus? Nope, you know nothing. Besides his looks, that he's the leader of Onychinus, and what his evol looks like. That's all you know. And you think you remember a crow, but you could be mistaken because of meeting Mephi at the animal shelter.

You know you need the aether core at the auction, but you don't recall why. Maybe to help your heart? You don't dare ask because it would look weird if you were intent on finding something, but forgot why you needed it. And after that? You assume winning Sylus’ heart like you have with the others. So he can't be a real bad guy if he's a love interest. You've read theories that the Ever corporation, which is the biggest company in the world- branching from biotech to aerospace to evol energy and even international trade- might be evil or working with Onychinus, but that's the only lead you have. You'll just have to figure it out as you go along.

You put on the TV and laze around with Estelle for most of the day until you step outside to sit on your balcony to watch the sun set.

Your phone buzzes and you look down to check it, seeing a text from Xavier.

💛 :”whatre u doing outside this late?”

A smile tugs at your lips and you tell him that you're watching the sunset to which he doesn't respond. Instead his response comes in the form of a figure hopping down from the floor above you and grabbing onto the concrete wall of the balcony. “Watching it together would be better than watching alone.” He says, reaching out toward you and you grab his hand, tugging him fully onto your balcony.

“You scared the hell out of me, Xavier.” I say, looking up at the sky. “Give me a warning next time, please?” “I'll try my best.” He smiles, propping his arm up on your shoulder. “Aren't you nervous about tomorrow?”

“Ah…a little bit.” You look down at your feet with a small sigh and decide to sit down in a chair. “I'm nervous, but also anxious, but also I don't know what to expect. I have a plan and I know it'll work, but I'm unsure of where to go from there.”

“Well instead of worrying about it, how about you just go with the flow?” He crouches down next to you since you only had one chair, he rests his chin on your knee as he looks up at you. “Don't stress about what hasn't happened, just focus on right now and you can worry about the future when it comes.” You rest your hand in his hair and smile, tilting your head back to look up at the sky. “You know, you talk like an old man.” Your thumb brushes against his forehead, “but…I don't mind it.”

“Besides watching the sunset, I know of another way to calm down. Do you want to hear about it?” Xavier asks, his hand reaching up to cup your cheek. His thumb gently brushes against your fully healed scar and your eyes flutter closed for a moment. “Have you tried it with other people and that's how you know it works?” You tease with a raise of your brow. “How do you know it'll work, huh?”

“Well… you won't know unless we try.” He stands back up, resting one hand on the armrest of your chair. His other still on your right cheek as he leans forward to rest his forehead against yours. “May I?” He asks and you go to nod, but remember before that he told you to speak. “Yes,” you say before adding softly under your breath, “please.”

Xavier's eyes close as he closes the distance between you, his lips gently brushing against yours before fully connecting. He doesn't try to deepen the kiss, leaving it as a soft, yet intimate moment between you both. After a few moments, he breaks from the kiss and leaves a few scattered kisses across your face. His final stop was at your scar, his lips brushing along the scar from the top of your eyebrow all the way to your cheekbone. Your body immediately jerks in surprise at the touch since you realized your scar was rather sensitive. “Better?” He whispers, going back to resting his forehead against yours. His ears as red as yours probably were.

“Thank you.” You say softly, cupping his cheek and you rub your thumb back and forth across his cheekbone. A loud meow coming from behind you both finally breaks the moment and allows Xavier to pull away from you. “It seems like Estelle was jealous.” He chuckles, picking up the large cat with ease. “It looks like she's worried about her mommy.”

“She'll be fine because she'll have her daddy looking after her while I'm gone.” You say nonchalantly, not noticing the blush that spread across Xavier's cheeks or the way he buried his red face into Estelle's fur. “You really have a way with words.” He chuckles, shaking his head.

“We missed the sunset!” You realize, quickly standing up as you whine. “Damn it.”

“We might've missed the sunset but didn't we make a better memory in place of it?” Xavier muses, glancing over at you with a soft smile. “I guess we did.” You reach over to pet Estelle behind the ears and Xavier takes the chance to say, “Be safe tomorrow. Promise me.”

“I can't make any promises, Xav. You know that.” You sigh, hugging both him and Estelle. “But just know I'll do my best to come back in one piece. I can promise that. I'm not going anywhere any time soon.” You murmur into his chest and rest your forehead against it.

“That's…” Xavier lets out a heavy sigh and gives you a forced smile before he nods, “That’s enough for now.”

D-Day

Finally, it's Hunting day. Your last day of knowing what comes next. You spent most of the night tossing and turning, mulling over what would happen and worrying over getting hurt, but you felt a bit better now. Especially as you changed into your clothes for the day. In the game, the main character showed up at the Nest in her uniform and while that would be the best kind of bait, it seemed impractical. If you're trying to be bait, wouldn't being obvious bait deter people? If you're too on the nose, people might think it's a trap. So instead, you opted to put on a strappy, red ruffled shirt that was tucked into a white skirt. You added a belt and you set your red low heels by the door. You spray some perfume and spend a few minutes getting ready to look your best.

A stylish outfit is a good weapon for a woman. That and your actual weapon in its holster under your skirt. You shrug on an expensive black jacket, one of the only things you own that wasn't in game, to hide your obvious weapon. You weren't sure when the right time would be to leave so you decided to have your last meal. Well, it wouldn't be your last meal but it definitely felt like it. After you ate, you'd leave for the Nest to meet up with Rafayel. Your last message to him being ‘Meet me at the Nest and show me how to fish.’ to which he replied that ‘the biggest fish come out at night.’ So you assume 10-11pm would be an appropriate time to leave?

You still have time today so what were you going to do?

You took a few more notes on what to expect after and made sure the tiny tranquilizer was in your pocket. The antidote vial sitting on your kitchen island ready to take before you leave. You double, no triple, no quadruple checked that you have everything and spent a few hours anxiously pacing back and forth and petting Estelle. You were never good at waiting, especially when you were anticipating something.

You decide to leave at 10pm, giving you an hour to get to the Nest, which makes sense since you'd be walking. You down the vial, tossing it in the garbage as you head toward the door. You slip your shoes on and lock the door behind you after feeding Estelle for the night.

Honestly with all this walking, you should probably just bite the bullet and learn how to drive since you already have a license in this world. But driving is scary and you have bigger issues to deal with right now so that'll have to come later.

As you walk through Azure Square, you pin your ‘family’ crest to your jacket, trying to make sure that not all of Jeremiah's hard work went to waste and even though you have your hunter's watch on, it is covered by your jacket sleeves so you assume it'll be fine. A pretty bait is what you're planning to be tonight, no need to go too overboard with it. You enter the Nest and it just looks like your average nightclub. People were standing and drinking, some slightly dancing to some music or talking amongst themselves, not many people were at the bar though, besides the bartender.

As you look around, your vision is blocked by someone stepping in front of you. “Hey there,” the man’s eyes glance at your crest as he continues, “Actually-”

“Isn't it a bit weird to do business with newcomers?” Rafayel steps into frame, practically shoving the other man out of the way as he fixes his sleeves, not even sparing the man another glance. “Come.” He loops a finger with yours as he pulls you up to the bar. “So…do you have your bait ready?” He asks, leaning his chin onto his hand.

“Mmh, I'll play their game and allow myself to be caught. Act like a clueless little worm on a tackle.” You say, nonchalantly. Not mentioning the N109 Zone since you didn't want to catch others' attention just yet. “You'll still need to cast your line though…that should be easy enough.” Rafayel drums his fingers against the bar counter before he hands the bartender a coin. He picks up an embossed card, sliding the blank side over to you. “Go ahead. Write down what you're looking for.”

You take a deep breath, nodding your head as you grab the black feathered pen that was sitting in a nearby cup. You write down ‘aether core’ and the ink disappears a few moments later. Rafayel scoops up the card to hand it to the bartender who nods and disappears into the back. “Who's he going to tell?” You ask, turning your body to face the well dressed artist. “Doesn't matter. If they're interested, you'll know.” He muses, moving his hand over to trace random shapes on the back of your hand.

“Rafayel?” He's still silent before he takes your hand, kissing the back of it. “Now, we wait for the fish to bite.” “How long?” You ask after he lets go of your hand. “Hmm..not long. The Nest lives up to its name, you know? An underground intelligence network that's well known to match supply and demand.” As Rafayel finishes his sentence, the bartender comes back with a shot glass. He places it in front of you before stepping away once more.

“And this?” You ask before assuming this means a fish has taken a bite so you reach out for it and Rafayel suddenly grabs your wrist. “Think about it first. The glass is black, that means you'll have to pay a high price and if it doesn't go smoothly, you'll be the payment instead.”

“Well, being the payment is better than sitting here and doing nothing.” You shrug, downing the shot in one go. “Since you've made up your mind, I won't stop you.” Rafayel chuckles, placing his hand on top of your head to ruffle your hair. “I hope you find the answers you seek.” He stands up from the barstool and doesn't look back as he walks away, just puts his hand up as he waves.

“Alright, I guess let's look around until the hunting starts.” You murmur to yourself, rising to your feet as you walk around the bar. You notice a board off to the side, a wanted board. You see a head shot of Lumiere who looks obviously like Xavier except with a white mask and an outfit you've never seen before. A small chuckle leaving your lips before you notice how much he's wanted for. “100 million? Geez, what did he do?” You step a bit closer to look at the other wanted posters and you only catch a glimpse of purple hair on another poster before someone runs into you.

“It's starting, it's starting.” The drunken man excitedly mumbles to himself as he walks further into the crowd.

The lights suddenly shut off and a modified OTTO patrol bot rose up from a podium in the center of the room. The circular robot flies high until a voice booms from it, “There's a price to pay when a wish is granted! Will you be the hunter or the hunted tonight?” The robotic screen was a deep shade of red, the camera on it shaped like an eye. “Hunting day will now…commence.”

As your gaze lands on the eye, you feel your blood run cold. This…this reminded you of the red eye from your nightmares but you couldn't put your finger on how. You decide to play it safe and try to find a place to hide but honestly, where can you hide? You're in an unfamiliar, crowded place so you're not even sure where the bathrooms are and why would you hide if the plan is to be caught in the first place?

Your thoughts are cut short as the voice says one last thing. “Now.” It's red gaze lands on you, effectively spotlighting you to everyone in the crowd. “Shit.” You mutter to yourself as a few people in the crowd walk toward you.

“There she is…we've been looking for you.” One person says and another one chimes in, “This is the prey.”

You're a tad bit overwhelmed as people close in on you and as you try to dip out of the crowd, you feel your breath leave you as you're hit in the back and your knees hit the ground hard. “Hey-” you say, trying to turn toward the person and elbow them in the gut but they grab you by your hair and hold a vial in front of your face. “C-003, a neurotoxin. If you're smart, you won't put up a fight.”

You sigh, head hanging down and your hair covers your face to hide your smile. At least everything still went according to plan. Now what comes next is a complete mystery. Your smile leaves your lips as you feel the butt of a gun hit your head and you fall to the ground.

I'm keeping the extra spaces in this chapter to show a comparison, so just let me know which you prefer and I'll keep doing it for the up-coming chapters! Also, this won't be a cliffhanger for long since I'll also be posting chapter eight today. I decided to spoil y'all 🩷

I do want to add that I change up mc's dialogue compared to what she says in-game sometimes because I don't like how it's worded or I don't like specific actions she does (like shaking Mephisto, you'll see). I also make comments on her stupid actions- like her trying to hide in the original chapter or wear her hunter's uniform as if she wants to scream to the Nest, "I'm a hunter!! Please, take me!" Instead of being more low-key and under the radar.

Taglist; @orphicmeliora