#redrew it about five times lol

[yeagrave]

wear sunscreen people

[jazlynriddle]

Welcome to your life - Pt 2:

Acting On Your Best Behaviour Ch 16:

Summary:

They'd seen it in their fellow orphans often enough to recognise the pattern and were now forced to admit, despite their hopes to the contrary, that Isidora had likely suffered similar side effects.

No… they'd always known she had. The Keeper had just wanted the power that Ranrok had, enough to convince themselves that they would be able to handle it better than that naive woman.

With the start of the Keeper’s sixth-year in Hogwarts, comes a whole slew of headache-inducing challenges from the most unexpected of places. Between insignificant pests throwing wrenches into their plans and tedious teenage drama, that the Keeper is entirely unprepared for, they wonder if they'll make it to their NEWTs without losing their sanity.

Or worse, Ominis or Sebastian.

Warnings: This chapter contains smut! And violence. But not violent smut, don't worry xD

Warnings: Sebastian x MC x Ominis! Drug Addiction! Spoilers! Slow-burn corruption! Dark content! Fucked up 1800s orphanages! MC has no love for Anne or Solomon! Dubious happy ending (it's happy for MC, Seb and Ominis at least).

You can also read on AO3! (chapter specific warnings below)

Notes:

Warnings: Graphic descriptions of injuries! Canon-typical violence! Not exactly torture, but kinda torture? And of course, the SMUT you're all here for! Finally-

Also, I spent like 40hrs+ drawing the map for this chapter x') I redrew the lake like five times and the mountains four times before I was satisfied OTL I am so tired- I really don't know how I managed to finish drawing the map by hand and a 5k+ chapter in time lol

Anyway, feel free to speed scroll down to reference the map when the characters look at it or save it to look at after reading! I've uploaded two variations of the map, the original map, as well as the map that the characters have made notes and drawings on.

You can also view the artwork in HD for free on my Patreon page!

Also here’s a cool site I found that *ahem* might be helpful for the map :3 https://abcbraille.com/braille

"How is she?" The Keeper asked as soon as Sepulchria's feet touched the ground.

Tynx, who had come to greet them as always, bowed slightly as he replied. "Master's… guest, has given in to hunger, after refusing to eat for two days, and is currently consuming the food that Tibsy brought her. She has also been demanding that she be released or be allowed to speak with her captor."

"Ignore her demands, she'll see me again soon enough." The Keeper chuckled, holding the thestral in place while Sebastian dismounted first.

"How long will we wait before going after her?" Sebastian asked, offering them a hand to dismount.

Taking the offered hand, the Keeper hopped off the thestral, landing with a soft grunt. "With the anti-apparition ward, I'd give her a generous minimum of six hours to reach the borders of our territory, so we can wait in the gatehouse for about an hour before going after her."

The Keeper patted Sepulchria's flank, tucking the beast back into their Nab-sack, before turning to Tynx and passing him a small vial of invisibility potion. "I want you tailing her through the entire test. If she comes within reach of escaping, and restraining her is not an option, you have permission to kill her."

"Yes Master." Tynx dipped his head without hesitation, tucking the vial away in one of his coat pockets.

"Good, you can leave her cell door unlocked after clearing away the dishes." The Keeper nodded, gesturing for Sebastian to begin heading into the gatehouse and adding with a wry smile. "Try to make it look like an accident."

"Of course, happy hunting, Master." Tynx bobbed his head and popped away.

The Keeper snorted lightly as they turned to follow Sebastian up the stairs to the gatehouse.

"Are you sure we can't start experimenting with your power on her?" Sebastian asked, frowning as they fell in step with him. "The sooner we find a way to safely extract pain, the sooner we can cure my sister."

"I understand your impatience." The Keeper soothed, placing a hand on his arm. "But we can't properly prepare our defences if I accidentally damage her emotions."

Reaching the upper floor, the Keeper pushed the door open and entered the gatehouse as they continued. "Fear is a powerful motivator. Without emotions, she likely wouldn't attempt an escape and surely you remember what happened the last time you gambled on succeeding at complex magic on your first try."

Sebastian winced as he followed with a sigh, leaning against the wall. "You're right, sorry. I just-"

"I know." The Keeper murmured, closing the door and cupping a hand against his face, placing a soft kiss on his lips. "We'll save her, but we must be patient and smart about this or we'll never get there."

"Yeah, we will." Sebastian breathed, moving forward to capture their lips more firmly and placing his hands on their hips.

The Keeper allowed him to hold them for a few moments, before pulling away gently with a chuckle. "Let's not get distracted."

Sebastian huffed lightly but dropped his hands and the Keeper moved over to the map that lay on the table, the only piece of furniture they'd bothered to place in the gatehouse for the time being. The late morning rays streamed through the window and illuminated the large parchment.

"We can assume that this woman has some familiarity with the terrain of this region, having lived just east of Dìon for most of her life." The Keeper placed their hands on the table. Not noticing the way Sebastian's eyes lingered on their behind before he shook himself, dragged his brain out of the gutter, and joined them at the table.

Sebastian cleared his throat before nodding. "She probably knows the lake at least, it's a good source of freshwater and the far end of it is relatively near her home."

"Indeed, it is likely that she'll attempt to travel in that direction when she gets her bearings. The blood potion Tibsy added to her food should make it easy for us to track her through our territory." The Keeper nodded. "I doubt she'll make it to the red zone but we'll see."

"Hopefully she will, I'm eager to see if the runes we drew work." Sebastian grinned with all the mischievous energy of a hyperactive kitten.

The Keeper chuckled. "I'm more curious to see how the prototype Guardians we constructed will perform."

At that moment, the Keeper felt the fine hairs on their skin raise as the cell breach alarm rippled through their wards. Their mental visualisation of their environment now held a distinct point in space that they could sense even from a distance.

"Well, the detection wards on the cells work." Sebastian grinned, having long since been keyed into said wards as well.

"And the tracking potion works, are you getting it too?" The Keeper asked as they 'watched' the woman move upwards through the underground floors.

Sebastian nodded. "Yeah, feels weird, but it looks like I was right, mixing both our blood into the Indago blood-magic potion allows both of us to track the target."

"Excellent." The Keeper nodded, they were off to a good start.

Moving to the windows, the Keeper watched the tent covering the underground entrance carefully as they swished their wand. "Tempus."

Sebastian joined them and several minutes passed while they waited, before the tent flap was pushed open and the haggard looking woman peeked out of it, her wand gripped firmly in her hand.

"Not bad, she found the wand that we left for her in the elves' quarters." Sebastian chuckled.

"Twenty minutes to reach the ground floor with her wand, we'll see how far we can push that with obstacles." The Keeper muttered as they noted down the time on the journal they'd extracted from their satchel.

Seeing that the courtyard was empty, the woman sprinted for the castle gates. As she neared the gate, guarded by two simple clay statues on either side of the arch, designed in an approximate resemblance to the Elder Keepers' Guardians, the two statues came to life and attacked her.

The Keeper watched the statues' movements with avid interest as the startled woman dodged four consecutive sword strikes with unexpected agility, considering her condition. Perhaps her father had trained her to defend herself in the event that they were pursued.

However, another two attacks later, the statues' movements slowed, grinded to a halt, and then crumbled into a cloud of fine clay powder.

"Tch, only five minutes of active time for so much Ancient magic?" The Keeper kissed their teeth in annoyance. "I guess I'll have to perform the Leyline Binding ritual, before they are viable, after all."

While she seemed uncertain about the remains of the statues, the woman wasted no time and waved her wand, casting Alohomora on the gate's lock and sprinting through the gates the moment they were open. The woman sprinted to the other side, and the Keeper and Sebastian moved to another window to continue monitoring her.

She surveyed the environment, taking advantage of the castle's position atop a hill to get a good look around, before she took off downhill at a brisk pace. The Keeper watched impassively, trusting that Tynx was trailing after the woman at a distance under the invisibility potion.

"Well then, whatever shall we do while we wait?" Sebastian whispered, resting his chin on the Keeper's shoulder.

"You rest up for the hunt, while I take a hit." The Keeper chuckled and pulled out a jar from their satchel while Sebastian pouted.

Tynx watched carefully from his perch atop a tree as the woman finally finished winding her way down the hill after thirty minutes. He had been concerned when the statues crumbled at the gates, but he would simply continue following his master's orders until instructed otherwise.

In truth, he hadn't been particularly surprised when the Keeper brought an unconscious and bound woman to be kept in the dungeons. The design of the underground levels made their use obvious to him from the start. He'd done his best to minimise Tibsy's interaction with the prisoner to give her time to adjust, but this was something the young house elf would have to come to terms with.

As long as it wasn’t him or Tibsy being used to test their master's security, it wasn’t their place to say what their master could or couldn't do. It was more than enough that he wasn't the one stepping into a bear trap cunningly placed amongst the grass covering the long strip of field between the hill and the forest.

The loud crunch of her bone and the woman's shrill scream were jarring but Tynx simply swallowed and tried his best not to think about it. He'd tolerated far worse without a single complaint.

The woman lay on the ground, whimpering in pain for several minutes, before she pulled herself together and raised her wand shakily to sever the spring holding the trap closed. She then tore off a strip of her skirt and tied it firmly around her knee.

Her breaths became frenzied as she pried the teeth open, gasping in agony as the sharp metal slid free from her flesh, before choking out a Vitulus Emendo charm through her sobs and groaning in pain as her calf bone mended.

To her credit, she seemed to understand that she couldn't afford to rest for very long, and hurriedly cast a Ferula charm on her leg, causing bandages to coil around her leg in a neat splint. A sound concern, as the moment that she managed to get to her feet, the Keeper and Sebastian arrived on Sepulchria's back, landing a few meters behind her.

Propelled by fear and adrenaline, the woman began to sprint for the forest line as Sebastian flung a Confringo at her from the thestral's back. Laughing when she barely ducked in time, the cloth covering her shoulder catching on fire, stumbling as she cast Aguamenti on herself to put it out.

Tynx watched as Sebastian dropped from Sepulchria's back, chasing after the woman with a wide grin, while the Keeper followed at a more leisurely pace, gesturing for the thestral to circle overhead.

Sebastian threw an Expulso that the woman neatly dodged, throwing a Stupefy back at him, which he countered, as she ran in zigzags to avoid getting hit by the Keeper's Diffindo.

As the woman entered the treeline of the large forest surrounding the lake, Tynx popped over to another tree, tracking her progress through the thicket from amongst the high branches. Carefully making his way from branch to branch rather than travelling on the ground, specifically to avoid-

The woman shrieked in pain as she ran face first into a web of thin and barely visible wires strung up from the low hanging branches of one tree to the next. The thin and sharp wires at head level sliced into the woman's face, just taut enough to leave deep and painful cuts without threatening to cause more severe damage.

Jumping back, the woman placed a hand against her bleeding cheeks, gaping at the mesh of wires that were now adorned with small beads of red along the strands. Perhaps now understanding exactly how sadistic her captors were, that she had just entered an arena designed not to kill or even capture, but to cause as much pain as possible.

"Are you sure you have the luxury of gawping?" The taunting voice made the woman jump and she spun around to see the Keeper emerge from the shadows with a wicked smirk stretched across their lips, followed closely by Sebastian, a vicious light in his eyes.

At the sight of their sinister figures, she began running once more, followed closely by another Confringo from Sebastian, his voice filled with anticipation as he called out after her. "Come now, give us some fight, it's more fun that way!"

"Careful not to fall into one of our own traps, love." The Keeper chuckled as Sebastian leaped forward in pursuit.

"I know, I know." Sebastian called back distractedly, ducking under the wires, and throwing a Diffindo after the woman, who countered it with a Protego this time, throwing a Bombarda back at him.

The Keeper sighed as Sebastian dodged and tripped over a root with a yelp. Without missing a beat, they poured their ancient magic into their feet to sprint to his side, throwing up a shield to defend him from the explosive heat.

"Aha ha… thanks." Sebastian cleared his throat and laughed sheepishly as they helped him up.

They could feel his pulse thrum in their firm grip, the heat of his excitement felt almost scalding where their hands grasped. The Keeper allowed themselves to partake of Sebastian's feverish eagerness, fueling their own energy with it.

"Don't get carried away." The Keeper smirked knowingly, releasing his hand as he got to his feet, giving him time to collect himself.

"Sorry, I- well, it's just been so long since we got to fight together-" Sebastian explained breathlessly, brushing the dirt from his clothing.

"I know, but you needn't rush. This is different from our battles last year, we've got plenty of time to enjoy the hunt." The Keeper purred with a sharp smirk as they turned to follow the woman, offering him their hand again.

Sebastian felt their low voice resonate through him, reigniting the fire in his veins as he took their hand, feeling almost as though he had somehow become intoxicated. A wide grin stretched across his face and his eyes gleamed with elation as he followed the Keeper’s lead, weaving through the trees to catch up with their prey.

Meanwhile, Tynx had continued to keep the woman within his sight. His master was strong enough that he wasn't particularly concerned about their safety, a monster like them would probably melt a blade the moment it touched their skin.

The woman stumbled through the forest frantically, casting an Episkey on her face to close the gashes and doing her best to cover her tracks by rearranging the foliage behind her, to no avail of course.

Tynx shook his head as she wasted time and effort on a futile endeavour, though she couldn't possibly know that she was being tracked or that she wouldn't be leaving this forest regardless. Summoning a swirl of air to part the foliage woman examined the ground carefully as she continued walking, avoiding several bear traps this way.

As she reached a fork, she spotted several darker wires along the floor, perhaps thinking that her captors had made a mistake when trying to camouflage the wires, making them visible instead, she smiled and lifted her foot to step over them.

Only for her shin to press against a barely visible strip of wire placed right above the black ones. It dug into her skin, leaving a deep gash that burned as she fell forwards and over onto a mesh of wires, feeling the net sitting an inch over the floor cut into her palms.

The woman trembled, in such pain that she could barely breathe, nor did she really want to, as every breath made her weight shift and thus sliding the wires in her flesh. Holding her breath, she overcame the pain and forced her hands to apply pressure to the wires so she could leverage herself off the net cutting into her hands and knees.

Rolling off onto the soil, she curled up into a ball, gasping in pain. Her hands trembled, blood oozing from the multitudes of paper-thin gashes lining her palms and knees, as she cast another Episkey charm to close her new injuries.

Struggling to her feet, she pushed past her pain and continued stumbling through the forest for several minutes before the soil beneath her feet gave way and, with a yelp, she found herself falling into a pit filled with bright red ants. The fire ants went into a frenzy, climbing up her arms and legs, biting into her flesh angrily and the woman brandished her wand, crying out in panic. "Incendio!"

Tynx winced, she'd acted exactly as his master had predicted. The flames from her wand rolled over the ants, burning them to cinders, and unfortunately, igniting the oil covered wood that lined the bottom of the pit.

The woman coughed through the heat, desperately struggling to climb out of the pit. Unaware that the Keeper had designed this pitfall with a small tunnel dug out through the side that ensured that the fire would always have oxygen once started and the heat would build endlessly until she cooked alive.

Tynx hovered uncertainly, his master had not instructed him to save her life if she seemed in legitimate danger of dying and he wasn't sure if he should intervene.

However, while he was hesitating, the woman resolved his dilemma by managing to cast a non-verbal jet of Aguamenti, dousing the fire but also causing an explosion of hot steam and scalding water that probably would have wrung another scream from her if her raw throat were able to produce sound at this point.

The woman's hands scrabbled against the dirt around the rim of the pit, struggling to find traction in the loose soil as she dragged herself out of the boiling water. Her hands shook as she cast Aguamenti again on herself, whimpering in relief as the cool water soothed her burnt and boil-covered skin.

Tynx relaxed, at least he no longer had to guess what his master would prefer he do. He returned to his surveillance and was admittedly impressed when the woman dragged herself to her feet after barely fifteen minutes of rest.

"...found you…" The Keeper's lightly singsong voice was almost eerie as it cut through the woman's laboured breathing.

Immediately, she waved her wand, pulling the still boiling water from the pit and flung it in the direction of the terrifying voice. Without looking back, the woman began sprinting again as a Diffindo sliced into the bark of a tree just centimetres from her.

Sebastian grinned from behind a wall of ice, having cast Glacius, after the Keeper's Diffindo, to defend against the scalding water. Their prey had some fight in her, this was so much more fun than he'd hoped. Honestly, Sebastian had been looking forward to releasing his pent-up frustration from how awful this school year had been and this was exactly what he'd needed.

The Keeper slashed their wand, shattering the ice and the two of them shot forward as one, the Keeper lassoing a boulder with their ancient magic. With a grunt they launched it towards the woman while Sebastian cast a Levitation charm at her to prevent her from dodging it.

The boulder hit its mark with a satisfying crunch, shattering the arm she'd raised to defend herself and the stubborn woman crumpled to the floor. With her uninjured wand arm, she shot a non-verbal Bombarda at them and forced herself to her feet to continue running.

Shielding against the blast, the Keeper waved their wand to dispel the smoke from the explosion and flung another Diffindo at her. The spell clipped her on the leg, slicing open one of her boils and making her limp as the two of them continued the chase.

As they ran, Sebastian spotted the lake through the trees just off to the right and a thrill rushed through him when he realised their location. They were almost at the red zone, placed halfway between the castle and the border of their territory. A glance at the steely glint in his lover's eyes confirmed that they'd noticed too, and his excitement spiked.

The two threw themselves into their pursuit with renewed vigour, doing their best to keep the woman within their sights as she ran across a clearing, until…

The woman's left foot landed squarely on an inconspicuous patch of grass and in an instant, sharp spikes stabbed upwards through her shoes, into her sole and burst out through the top of her foot with a spray of blood.

Her mouth opened in a soundless scream, and she dropped to a knee. Her blood seeped into the soil and all of a sudden, runes began appearing in glowing red letters over her body and across the floor in two directions. The woman finally passed out from the pain, exertion and magic of the runes, unbeknownst to her, the red line of runes were now cutting through the forest in a long red strip.

Seeing the glow as they stopped several meters away from the woman, the Keeper grinned, and Sebastian let out a shout of triumph. Their hard work had paid off, three whole days of tedious rune-work and trap setting across the entire strip of forest between Dìon and the border.

Drunk on their success, Sebastian moved without thinking and the next moment his hands were pulling his partner into his arms. Their lips were electric against his own and he moaned in excitement as their bodies pressed flush against each other.

He wanted and wanted, and he didn't know exactly how to say what he wanted, but he really really did.

The Keeper smirked against Sebastian’s lips as his hands gripped their hips tightly, not particularly surprised that Sebastian's excitement had hit its peak here.

They couldn't deny their own joy and desire either, this was a victory that they weren't sure they'd achieve, there were so many ways that the blood magic could fail, but they'd succeeded at creating a powerful protective barrier over the most vulnerable entry to their lands with blood magic. One that would trap anything whose veins ran with blood, paralysing them and gradually draining their life and magical energy.

The mountains around their territory were mostly stone, incredibly steep and prone to landslides, making them a natural barrier that was treacherous to scale. So, they didn't need to guard against that direction very strongly, but the forest and long lake presented more of an opening to a ground invasion or escape on foot.

With this, the only thing that remained was the lake, but they could work on that later, the Keeper mused as their fingers worked their way under Sebastian's tunic to caress his heated skin. He whimpered into their mouth as he pressed against them with more urgency, and the Keeper chuckled as they pulled away, disregarding his noise of complaint.

"Let's take this elsewhere." The Keeper purred, whistling for Sepulchria and lifting their eyes, spotting an unnaturally weighed down branch along the canopy. "Tynx, get her back into her cell and pour this down her throat."

Tynx startled when their eyes lingered on him for a split second, could they see him?

"Yes, Master." Swallowing uncomfortably, he popped to the floor, catching the vial of wiggenweld that the Keeper tossed in his general direction as the red light of the runes faded from the floor. The runes were still on the woman's body, draining her magic and strength.

Until Tynx snapped his fingers and lifted the unconscious woman by her clothes, dropping her over the back of the thestral that had landed a few steps away from him. The moment the woman was back on the side of the red zone that she'd entered from, the runes' light faded and ceased its drain.

The elf then climbed into Sepulchria's back and the thestral began flying them back to the castle.

That settled, the Keeper took Sebastian by the hand and began to tug him towards the lake. Weaving through the trees and traps, the shimmering surface of the water that soon came into their view, took their breath away.

Letting Sebastian's hand go as they passed the treeline, and stepped into the sunlight, the Keeper tugged their shirt off, tossing it onto the light brown sand as they ran across the shore. Sebastian grinned as he got the idea and began divesting himself of his clothes as they reached the lakeside.

Kicking off their shoes, the Keeper paused to strip their socks before splashing into the shallow water in their undergarments, stopping only to watch Sebastian nearly trip on his pants and laughing as they waded deeper into the water. Enjoying the spring breeze, the warm afternoon sun and the refreshingly clear water, the Keeper happily dipped down into the water to wash off the sweat from their chase.

Sebastian had a hard time dragging his eyes away to tug off his sock, entranced by the sight of his lover's cheeks, still flushed from their chase, and the lake water sparkling in the sunlight as the droplets trickled down their torso. The simmering want in his heart resurged when they flashed him an inviting smirk.

Ripping the stubborn fabric off and flinging it off somewhere behind him, Sebastian waded through the waist high water towards them, sputtering when they playfully splashed water in his face. With a grin, he made a grab for them, and they ducked, weaving around him, before hiding behind a large half submerged boulder.

Chasing them around the boulder, Sebastian ducked a splash, catching them by the wrist and pinning them against the stone, its surface smooth from years of erosion. The Keeper laughed at the victorious grin on Sebastian's face as he braced a hand against the rock, holding them still with his body, drops of water dripping from his wavy brown hair as his heated breaths warmed their cheek.

Rewarding his hard work, the Keeper tilted their head to the side and pressed their lips together, allowing him to coax them open as he released their wrist to palm their side, groaning into their mouth. His pressing need pressed against them, the warmth of their chest against his own causing arousal to curl in his abdomen.

Sebastian could barely think past the heat pounding through his ears, the feeling of their wet skin against his own, reminding him of that night in the prefects' bath.

Eager to re-experience the sensation of cotial bliss with his lover, he urged them into a better position, where he could press himself against their arousal and grounded his hips against them, releasing an involuntary moan of relief at the stimulation. The muffled groan that they bit back at the same time was tantalising and he rocked against them once more, seeking to draw as many sounds as he could from his conservative lover.

The gentle lapping of water, rippling against the boulder with every thrust, was strangely hypnotic and he gasped as their nails dug into his shoulders, ecstatic that he could draw such carnal reactions from them. Peeling his lips from theirs, he moved down along their neck, tasting their skin and sucking the moisture from it like a man in the desert.

Sebastian could feel that he wouldn't last very long, so tightly coiled he yet was from their invigorating chase, but he wanted them to reach their peak together this time. So, he doubled his efforts, running his hands over their body desperately as he rocked his hips against them, determined to hold out until they came.

The Keeper's breath caught at the delicious way his body moved against theirs, feeling how powerful all their time spent working and fighting together had made him, both physically and magically. How far he'd come, how far they'd come. They had so much power now, this land, this lake, this boy. It was all theirs, and while they couldn't share this joy of hunting with Ominis, he was theirs too.

They gasped as Sebastian rubbed a thumb over their hardened nipple, feeling his muscles shift under his shoulder blade with every thrust that slid them along the smooth surface of the rock against their back. Loving the way his breath shook with every movement, his eyes glassy as though it was taking everything in him to hold them so.

Like they were worth it.

This thought and the building pleasure between them made the Keeper's grip tighten around Sebastian's shoulders as they felt euphoria sing through their veins and pulse through their body like fire. Groaning his name through clenched teeth, their body tightened and that swelling bubble of bliss exploded into pure ecstasy.

The sound of his name and the heated breath against his ear made Sebastian's brain sizzle and melt. A moan escaped his lips, feeling his grip slip and the dam burst, that incredible surge of pleasure crashing over him like a wave.

His hips ground against them a few more times, feeling their body jolt from the overstimulation, before he came to a stop with a sigh of satisfaction. His breaths were heavy and shaky, his legs trembling, as the two of them slumped against the boulder, panting from the high they'd reached, the cloth between their cores warm and sticky as their fluids dissolved into the water.

Regaining their footing, the Keeper removed their nails from Sebastian's skin and slipped their arms under his, supporting him as they slowly slid down the boulder to sit, letting the water's buoyancy carry some of their weight while the two of them recovered their strength.

Settling down beside the Keeper, Sebastian leaned back, resting his head against theirs and basking in the comfortable silence, the gentle sway of the lake water soothing against his skin.

"Our home really is quite wonderful." The Keeper murmured contentedly as their breathing settled.

"Yeah." Sebastian agreed with a soft smile. Home. He hadn't truly felt any particular place as "home" since his parents died. After that, home came to mean wherever Anne was, and then it changed to wherever his lovers were. In time, he could see this place feeling like home too.

"Anywhere we're together is wonderful." Sebastian took their hand in his as he spoke his heart.

"How sweet." The Keeper chuckled, turning to give him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "It is so to me as well, there's nowhere else I'd rather be than home with you."

Sebastian's eyes moistened, love swelling in his heart, and he knew that it didn't matter what trials or tribulations lay in their future, because he'd be by their side. He didn't care who had to suffer for it, he would protect what they had. He could face anything, as long as he was with the Keeper and Ominis.

Never one to stay still for very long, the Keeper eventually got to their feet and surveyed their beautiful lake. "Since we're here…"

Sebastian blinked as the Keeper seemed to spot something moving under the surface through the clear water and abruptly made a beeline for the deeper end.

With a fond smile, Sebastian got up to follow as the Keeper dived in and disappeared under the short waves. A few steps later, Sebastian felt the floor drop out from under him and, taking a deep breath, sank into the water as well.

The sun's late afternoon light shone through the water in multihued streams, and he turned his head around, searching for them for several moments, before he felt arms drape around his shoulders from behind.

Sebastian smiled like a loon as the Keeper's chest pressed against his back and he felt a soft kiss on his cheek. Before they released him and swam around him, offering him a hand, while the other seemed to be clutched around something.

Without hesitation, he took it, and they swam to the surface together, emerging close enough to the shore to stand. Breaking through the water, Sebastian only spared a second to breathe before he pulled them in for a proper kiss. He could taste the sweet lake water on their lips as he held them close, his heart melting in the heat of his affection.

The Keeper huffed a breathless laugh as he broke away to breathe. "You really only think of one thing, don't you."

Sebastian frowned indignantly. "No, I don't."

The Keeper chuckled as they ran a hand down his bare chest to palm his rapidly hardening length through the cloth. "Sure."

"That is extremely unfair." Sebastian protested, his cheeks reddening.

"It's barely been thirty minutes." The Keeper laughed, shaking their head.

"Now see here, you can't blame me for reacting when you're constantly riling me up." Sebastian argued.

"Am I?" The Keeper smirked knowingly, and Sebastian groaned as his heart rate spiked immediately.

"You absolutely are, bloody demon." He growled in frustration, knowing that there was no way he could win this one, he settled for covering their grinning mouth with his own.

Notes:

Sebastian: I'd kill for my lovers. *turns to the Keeper and Ominis* Please ask me to kill for you. The Keeper: Sure! Ominis: Absolutely not! Don't encourage him! — Were the Keeper's legs wrapped around Sebastian's waist so he could grind against their clit or were their feet on the ground and Sebastian was grinding their lengths together? Well, that depends on which assigned gender you prefer ;)

There's also going to be another smut scene between the Keeper and Ominis, because I want to be fair to both boys haha x3

Also, the traps in this chapter are actually based off Vietnam war tactics during the Vietnam War of 1955-1975, let's just say they had quite insane strategies.

Vietnam traps are designed to hurt, to make the soldiers who step onto a pressure plate and have their legs pierced with twenty thin spikes, scream as loud as possible to scare and demoralise their own comrades. They even threw naked women onto the field, surrounded by traps, to lure in American soldiers who would try to rescue these women and evacuate them or, well, possibly other reasons I suppose.

So, of course, our Keeper gonna use those kinda strats xP Also, the fire ant pitfall is made with a Dakota Fire Hole design, it's actually a rather brilliant way to create an oven in the wild. My partner came up with that one haha... we're both fucked up- x')

Also, I wonder if an Alohomora charm would open a bear trap, I mean, technically it's forcing open something after all xP

[aviocs]

What would Asya, Abaddon and one character of your choice wear to Pride?

IM GLAD YOU ASKED i know it's july. but it's always time 4 pride

asya:

asya is a performer and i can see her doing some singing at a pride event! and if she's performing, she's dressing up. for the outfit itself, gotta have a few bits of the classic rainbow, but mostly she's got a lesbian flag theme going on in a coordinated outfit. spends months before the event getting the perfect pieces in the right colors. might've even gotten the bustle shorts custom made.

if she was just attending pride without getting on stage she'd probably dress more like she normally does, tie some flannel around her waist and put on some pins or other accessories.

abaddon:

thinking of her in gta au for this which implies los santos has a pride event, which i can get behind lol

abaddon's got a much more casual look! spent an afternoon finding some rainbow pieces and called it a day. for someone who primarily wears red and black it's more colorful than her usual looks and she'd enjoy that for a day. she's also someone more likely to just throw on a couple rainbows vs looking to coordinate stuff/get pins in her more specific flags (trans, nonbinary, bi, demisexual, demiromantic) because the specific labels are less important to her than the queer umbrella. doesn't need to call out everything, the rainbow works just fine.

also gave her a water bottle and backpack because gotta stay hydrated out in the summer heat, especially if this IS gta au and it takes place in the gta version of california. the backpack is for more water bottles and the wallets/phones of her friends who might be more dressed up with less pocket space so they don't ruin their aesthetic with bags. abaddon's a team player.

jt:

jt's not queer herself but she's got two dads who absoLUTELY have been taking her to pride since she was an infant. she'll go with them as she grows up, too, but always love an excuse to draw her as a kid. she didn't necessarily pick out her outfit here, dads had to coordinate for her, but they do care a lot about her having a say in this sort of thing and got each piece jt-approved. she was particularly excited about the sparkly tutu.

as a teen and adult she gets different 'i love my dads' shirts to wear every year. probably doesn't wear too many rainbows herself outside of the shirt

bonus! cian:

cian is the allocishet guy in the friend group and someone who gets mistaken for also being queer a non-zero amount. it doesn't bother him and he mostly just corrects people if it's relevant. when the Bi Wife Energy tiktok came out he got like 5+ people sending it to him, 100%, thus the shirt, also since a lot of the women he dates/gets interested in end up being bi. cian is just a good guy and a safe guy and the queers flock to him, and also they invite him to pride with them and of COURSE he'll go.

(i think his design fluctuates every time i draw him. his hair looks pretty normal, i tend to make the... spikes? rounded for him and actually remembered to do that this time. it's the goatee that moves around a bit, finally remembered this time that usually goatees come with mustaches instead of only slapping the chin bit on him)

a couple more bonuses under the cut that don't fit the art styles

actually drew this abaddon before all the others, but struggled to draw any others in the same style. i wanted this post to be a bit more unified so i redrew her once i actually started having some luck with asya's piece, but i like how this turned out so i'm posting it damn it lmao i forget her undereye circles so often though, f

this piece is five years old now oh my god. ANYWAY sergey taking val to their first pride! sergey would either wear minimal actual pride gear - some beads he got at the event and a trans wristband - with otherwise normal clothes (accounting for the heat) or some kind of meme shirt on top of that. val also has minimal pride gear here mostly because they're looking to buy more at the event. sergey checks in on them frequently throughout the even to make sure they're not overheating in that binder. he remembers how fucking hot and sweaty those things get.

[spaghetticat3899]

The Sona Selection

This post is just gonna be me rambling about my sonas and shite, if you’re interested, look under the cut. Some in the image above are no longer used, I just am too lazy to make a new drawing of them all. Toyhouse pages are linked of you’re also curious enough to look at those for some reason, lol.

Skullcandy (she/her)

The edgelord herself. As can be obviously deduced (probably), I made her when I was 12-ish, and for whatever reason I’ve never been able to get unattached to her, no matter how many times I’ve tried to replace her. I guess she’s here to stay, lol.

She’s an “irradiated raptor”, which is some sort of radioactive creature that might’ve been a ferret at one point. Her head was based off a ball python’s, just because I find their faces cute. The rest was made up on the fly. In earlier designs, she used to have tiny crystal wings for some reason, but they’re no longer in use. She’s incapable of dying via physical injury, a blessing or curse depending on who you ask (mostly just an excuse for gore art).

Loid Bimac (he/they)

This little octo dude I can’t stop drawing. Sleep-deprived, always moving, might be a little feral. I made him sometime in 2022, originally starting out as a xeno design I scribbled down once in class. Eventually I redrew it and started using him regularly. Before his creation, I used Hachikō in place of myself a lot. He’s a California two-spot octopus, having little eyespots on his shoulders he’s kinda insecure about. His earlier design had more suction cups on his hair which I got rid of for ease and simplicity, which is why some older art of him has five suckers on his front tentacles instead of three. The finger color gradient is completely optional and I add it whenever I feel like it, it’s never consistent. His beak is weird because my teeth are kinda like that (albeit, a lot less noticeably.

Kid (any/it)

This weird goat chimera that took way too long to finalize a design for. They’re a bizarre thing, usually around a little jackalope by the name of Kit (a friend’s sona I designed for them). Their scales and horns are iridescent, based off an emerald jewel wasp. Their arms can become bat-like wings for absolutely no reason other than I said so. The innermost toe can twist back and forth and behave like a foot-thumb, the two other toes forming a hoof. The maw is based off thylacoleo, just because the teeth are funky. The tail has a stinger hidden in the fluff just because. Honestly a lot of their design is “just because”.

Saturn (she/they/he)

I wish I had a higher quality image of them because this is from an Aggie/magma canvas so it’s very fuzzy. Just a little hyena sona vaguely based off the planet, Saturn. Nothing much to them.

Dani (she/her)

A sona I made sophomore year of high school I use every once in awhile. She’s an opossum, not a rat. Not much behind her either, she’s just here, lol.

—————————————————————————

Alright, that’s all, here’s a picture of Sunny my sister took awhile ago.

[freebooter4ever]

#soooo obsessed w how u draw him op

Thank you! So much! Really!

But also - thinking of what that one anon asked about learning art. Whenever i finish a doodle i look at it, and look at my reference, and think 'well i fucking fucked that one up but the next one will be better'. And then sometimes the next one IS better (and sometimes it isnt and i just think 'well ok but the NEXT one will be better). And this continues forever \o/ When i was younger this thought process used to stop me - i was so scared of getting things wrong i didnt even want to start. But now in between doodles i do little throw away scribbles that i tell myself is just practice and wont ever be seen and doesnt matter - and that takes the pressure off so i can get loose again, which then usually results in more interesting artwork (sometimes 'better'). You can tell which part of this one i got frustrated with. I think i drew and redrew his eyes at least five times and eventually gave up and left it lol. Cause the next one will be better ;)

Sorry, sorry i'll shut up now, the teacher in me sometimes escapes.

finished cleaning my house so now i get to ‘study’

[deniigi]

my supervisor fucked me over with all my other coworkers present. can I request a one shot from you to cheer me up featuring Sammy?

Did I give y’all the fic about the hotpot?

Well if I didn’t, I’m giving it to you now.

Title: hotpot

Summary: Ganke checks the comments for the Blindspot comic daily and there’s this one asshole anon who keeps talking shit about BT.

--

The Blindspot comic went live in the fall and Ganke couldn’t stop checking the hit count every five seconds. All night there had only been ten hits.

He told himself not to be disappointed. The only person who really mattered had read and loved the comic.

Miles said that BT had even forced everyone on the team to read an abridged version of Journey to the West, and had gone as far as to make a quiz to determine everyone’s character.

Miles refused to disclose who he’d gotten.

BT had clearly rigged the game to make himself Sun Wukong and Ganke was proud of him.

That kind of enthusiasm was exactly what he’d been hoping for, anything else now was just icing on the cake.

Even though it would be cool if it wasn’t just BT reading his own comics.

That would be pretty cool, right? Like. If people online all started reading BT’s comic. That would be sort of amazing.

Kind of excellent.

Definitely worthy of an A+ and double pats on the back.

Right?

The hit counter didn’t think so. But hey, five more people had opened the page since last night. That was something, wasn’t it?

 MM: dude why not just ask Sam to tweet out the link?

 How dare you, Miles Morales.

How dare you waltz into this place with logical thought.

GL: I can’t do that. That’s like. Idk. Inflating the views.

MM: okay yeah explain to me how appealing to the person in control of the largest part of his own fandom is inflating the views

GL: I see your logic and I’m banishing it

MM: I’m messaging him

GL: DON’T

MM: too late

MM: he says ‘gimme link’

GL: asdksjsjdks

--

 @blindspot: hi I know y’all can’t get enough of me to the point of asking shockingly invasive questions and for you I say good news! Some amazing folks have gone through the trouble of making a Blindspot comic. it’s good guys check it out [link]

--

 It helped.

A lot.

It helped a lot.

--

 People, on the whole, had great things to say. The panels were screenshotted and tagged and sent all over social media and even though Miles was pretending to be chill and aloof about the whole thing, Ganke could imagine him smiling big and bright and white at his phone non-stop.

Mom and Auntie saw a few of the bits on Twitter and tittered over them in the kitchen like pigeons.

The pride rose like a wave. Ganke kept waiting for the crash.

--

 It came two days later in the form of a comment that read ‘Christ, look at all this fuss. BT is fine. I hate his brother.’

It felt like someone punching the wind out of Ganke’s lungs.

He took comfort in the handful of people who leapt in to shout down the commenter. They emphasized that if the anonymous commenter didn’t like the story or the characters, then they didn’t have to read it and they, especially, didn’t have to say anything about it.

Ganke appreciated those guys. He got the feeling that a lot of the people on there knew that the whole thing had been done but a couple of kids.

Not that Anon cared.

Anon replied to all these comments ‘No, I’m gonna keep reading, thanks. Anyways, the brother is lame. The smart part is cool, but why’s it always gotta be a guy?’

The part that haunted Ganke even after he’d shut his laptop and had gone to stick his head out the window for some big breaths of cleansing air was that Anon was kind of right.

--

 GL: should we have made Guotin’s brother a sister?

MM: no

GL: why not?

MM: cause BT’s always wanted a brother

 Oh.

Okay. Then it was fine?

 MM: yeah man ignore them. it’s chill.

GL: k thanks my ego is huge and fragile

MM: trust me I know

 Asshole. Fine, moving right along.

--

 It didn’t stop. Anon commented on every page. Every. Single. Page.

Ganke didn’t know what to do or say. On the one hand, clearly this person was dedicated and deeply engaged with the comic, on the other hand, they needed a Rude Alert button. Ganke wondered if Ned could code one for them and them only.

The latest of their fury was directed at the big reveal in the second issue—BT’s face.

Having now met Sam, BT, Blindspot, Ganke’s whole image of him had changed.

He was not conventionally attractive as far as like, K-Pop idols and famous Chinese dudes went. His eyes were puffy and narrow and his face was round everywhere but the jaw. He leaned more towards ‘cute’ than ‘sexy,’ which Ganke sort of loved about him.

He was friendly. Stressed and grumpy and feisty as hell, yeah, but first and foremost friendly.

Miles claimed that he called it his ‘number one asset in employability.’ Which was wild because hello, Blindspot.

Obviously, BT couldn’t help his face. But Miles and Ganke could help Guotin’s.

Ganke had sent Miles about fifteen different images of Chinese celebrities and had told him to do his worst. They’d reviewed the final few drafts and had picked one that was most like a young Chen Kun. His face was more oval-shaped than BT’s. His chin and lips were slimmer but more defined. He was pretty, but not so pretty as to be called ‘feminine,’ which Ganke thought was a solid compromise between ‘handsome as sin’ and ‘looks like he’s got a quirky sense of humor.’

Anon hated him.

Anon thought that he looked like an idol, and they were not here for it.

They told ‘the artist’ to give him a mole or something, anything to make him look ‘less pristine. God, I can smell him from here and he smells like Dior and staph habitat.’

Ganke had to look up what a staph infection was. He regretted it. He asked Miles if they should censor Anon.

Miles said ‘mmmmm, idk it’s not like they aren’t saying anything that isn’t true.’

Ganke resented that. Clearly this was defamation of BT. This person hated him and was taking their feeling out on the comic.

 MM: I mean yeah but it’s not like they’re talking about the comic, man. They’re talking about the style and like, thinking about it, a mole or smth to help you tell him apart from other folks would kind of be helpful. Like, especially if we ever put him in a crowd, you know?

 HHHHHH.

Fine.

Anon could stay. But they were on thin ice.

--

 It was hard not to be bitter about Anon’s comments, especially when they arrived daily, as though Anon knew exactly what they were doing and which page they’d left off at. They couldn’t possibly be reading the comic one page at a time, this was intentional.

Ganke’s jaw hurt from all the tooth grinding he’d endured as of late.

This latest one read ‘yo, has BT ever mentioned fighting with a sword? I don’t recall him mentioning. Someone should take that thing away from him before someone loses an eye—or maybe even two.’

That felt like a pointed jibe.

That turned the churning irritation in Ganke’s gut into something much, much colder.

Did Anon know about BT’s black and blue eyes? How could they know? Was it a coincidence? It seemed to be more than a coincidence.

The pile of critiques was growing bigger and bigger, and now that Ganke thought about it, they all seemed to take issue with things that didn’t match the real Blindspot’s personality.

It was as if they knew him.

 GL: miles did you read the new comment from AnonTheAsshole?

MM: lol yeah

GL: tell me if I’m talking out my ass or whatever but like

GL: you don’t think they could be Muse, could they?

 Silence.

 MM: oh no

 Yeah. Fuck.

 MM: chances are low.

GL: they know so much tho??

MM: might be stalker? Maybe someone who’s over-invested in BT’s social media pages?

GL: maybe.

MM: hold on let me ask Spidey to screen it

GL: does he know Muse?

MM: no, but he’s paranoid and he’ll get Wade to be paranoid with him, and then they can decide whether its worth giving to DD for verification. He knows Muse.

 Ganke’s head was spinning. His fingers shook with guilt and the thought of Muse’s pale body hunched over a secret, cracked cell phone in a high security prison who knew where.

In Ganke’s head, he smiled wider and wider, until the skin on his cheeks cracked. He dug out scraps of paper and redrew Blindspot—Sam—with gaping holes for eyes and a screaming mouth and he drew dismembered corpses in black lakes and he laughed.

He just kept laughing.

 MM: hey ganke

MM: it’s going to be okay. It’s just a comic. I’m sure AnonTheAsshole is a stalker. They’re not threatening anyone.

MM: Sam can deal with a stalker. And we can too, okay?

 There was a reason that Miles was a hero. Ganke wiped at his eyes and swallowed.

 GL: okay. Thanks for doing that.

MM: 👍���

--

 It took a few hours because Spidey and Deadpool had lives outside of being Spidey and Deadpool, but not so long that Ganke ran out of nails to chew.

Miles messaged him back and said that Spidey had read through everything and ‘escalated it.’ This meant that whatever he’d seen had caused him enough concern to take it to DP.

Miles said that he’d get back to Ganke with DP’s verdict as soon as he had it. In the meantime, he’d run the comments by the other Spideypeople and they thought that it most likely wasn’t malevolent but was maybe something to keep an eye on in the meantime. He tacked onto all, somewhat stiltedly, that he had a weird feeling all of the sudden. The pink Spidey’s tone had changed. She’d shut down and gone cagey, which allegedly wasn’t like her at all. Then she’d told the taller guy to DM her and they’d vanished from the chat. Miles wasn’t sure what was going on there or if maybe they knew something about stuff going on that he didn’t, but he wasn’t super comfortable with it.

 GL: crossing my fingers its nothing?

MM: same man, same.

--

 DP escalated it.

Ganke couldn’t stay still in his room. There was no comfortable place to sit or stand or lay. There was nothing to do that would make him stop thinking about everything.

 MM: It’s gonna be fine, man, DD always knows what to do.

 Miles kept saying that for every step of the way, and yet here they were. Double escalated. Ganke wasn’t so sure he even knew what was happening anymore.

That was scary. Miles was supposed to be part of the in-crowd.

 MM: Wade doesn’t think it’s anything that can’t be nipped in the bud.

 That was easy for a contract assassin to say, wasn’t it?

 MM: he says that you and I are fine. Doesn’t see any links there. Waiting on DD for confirmation of tone.

 Hurry up, Daredevil. Your apprentice’s life might be about to take a nosedive into a heap of trash.

--

 Two hours. One text.

 MM: >:/

 Ganke couldn’t contain the bubble of laughter.

 GL: good news?

MM: [image]

 He opened it.

 SC: HANNAH YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE. STOP BEING A BITCH ON MAIN

HC: You can’t tell me what to do

SC: I CAN

HC: Mom he’s being MEAN

SC: Mom she’s scaring children online

HC: I scare children everywhere I go why are these ones special???

SC: Because I said so

HC: that doesn’t fucking work Samuel you’re not her

SC: I am your older brother

SC: your ELDEST brother

HC: YOU AINT SHIT

SC: THEY DON’T COUNT

SC: HALFSIES COUNT

 What.

 MM: so.

MM: she’s not Muse.

MM: Red’s laughing his ass off at all of us for taking this to a level three

GL: wait I don’t understand

MM: Hannah is Sam’s little sister. She’s found a new hobby in our website.

 Blindspot’s little sister was reading the comic??? Holy shit.

 GL: she hates him?

MM: no I’ve been informed that they would literally commit murder for each other but this is how they express love.

 No way. Siblings were wild.

 GL: so we’re good?

MM: [image]

  SC: apologize 🔪

HC: eat my ass

SC: apologize or else

HC: or else what? You gonna come in here and sit on me? Huh? Huh????

SC: I know your email password. All 3 you cycle through. What was his name? Uuuuuuuuuh Jing?

HC: you fucking bastard

SC: Hi Jing, it’s me, Hannah. I’ve been in mad crush with you since sophomore year. Please notice me senpai 😖

HC: Die

SC: kill me

HC: I will.

 The giggles that came this time were a mix of relief and genuine intrigue. This lady read the comic every day. She took the time to scroll through pictures of her brother being an absolute lunatic and fighting with a huge monkey. Then she hopped into that comment box and took him—not Miles, not Ganke, specifically Blindspot--down a peg.

She must miss him a lot. Ganke wondered if this was her way of keeping him in her thoughts.

 MM: I don’t think we’re getting a sorry, man. DD says Sam’s been at this all morning and has been tricked into apologizing himself twice

GL: so you’re saying that she’s an evil genius

MM: idk but she’s def Sam’s main nemesis. I always thought that older siblings got like, rights or something over younger ones, but idk anymore. Angel says this is normal.

GL: do you think she misses him?

 Miles took a long time to respond.

 MM: yeah

 Yeah, Ganke thought so, too.

 GL: should we change Guo tin’s brother’s name to ‘hamish?’

MM: ASDLDSDSFKdsjf

MM: one moment.

MM: sam says yes. Hannah says that she thinks our comic is shit and we need to draw everything uglier

GL: she’s kind of funny

MM: 👀perhaps she would like to be a consultant?

GL: 👀👀👀👀

MM: brb asking

MM: sam says no. Hannah says she’s got better things to do than proofread comics on the internet. She’s also not sorry. She wants that to be clear. DD says that the conversation has moved from English to Chinese and to maybe duck and cover for now. He says all is good tho. Thanks for checking in.

MM: Muse doesn’t use punctuation and talks in riddles, so if we get any of that, we’re supposed to send it to DP right away.

 Oh, nice. That was a relief.

 MM: oh

MM: sam wants to put us in a chat. Can I give him your number?

 Uh, only if he wanted Ganke to hyperventilate.

 GL: sure

 --

  [GL has been added to a Secure Chat]

 It was a page of characters and emojis that were somehow more menacing than Ganke had ever seen them before. Miles popped a little waving hand into the fray, as though testing the waters, but the characters just carried on scrawling around it.

Ganke wasn’t quite sure what to do.

 GL: hi? Are y’all okay?

 There was finally a pause. Then a few shorter lines of characters. And then finally, Blindspot switched from Chinese to English.

 SC: yes we’re FINE. We’re GREAT. Aren’t we, sibling from hell?

HC: who’re you? Why are you in our family chat? This is a family only zone, can’t you read?

SC: God Hannah he’s Korean don’t be a dick

HC: I can’t not be I learned it from you

SC: fair but pretend in the face of company

HC: okay fine. Hello losers.

MM: adksadfadsdfldfsldf

MM: hi

GL: hi?

SC: go on

HC: UGH

HC: fine

HC: I didn’t mean to shit talk your creation. Only my brother.

SC: also a sin, we’ll get to that later

HC: no one cares about you Samuel, stop spreading lies

SC: you first. We both know this is no lie, my white dad cares about me a whole lot

HC: well we can’t all have white dads now can we

SC: don’t be jealous

MM: lol you really call Matt your white dad??

HC: who is this person and how do they know our mutual parent’s name?

SC: this is not a mutual parent situation how many times have we been through this. He’s mine. Get your own.

MM: hi! 👋🏾I’m Bitsy! Spidey no. 4

GL: I’m his friend. He draws the comic. I write it.

HC: oh. nerd children x2

HC: anyways yeah Matt is our dad

SC: ffs

MM: he’s sort of dadly ig.

HC: ?? oho

SC: mind your face. Think about your face. Think about how much you like your face.

HC: little spider, did you not hear?

SC: kay everyone out. We’re done here

MM: hear what?

HC: lol Sammy you didn’t tell them about how Matthew Mcconaughey adopted you in all ways but paperwork?

 Ganke held his phone away from his face as far as it would go.

 MM: …wait are you for real?

SC: no. okay out.

HC: awwww Sammy so shy now. What are you embarrassed about? It’s cute.

SC: Hannah literally shut up I’m not playing

HC: damn okay sorry

MM: can I be honest?

SC: no

MM: I’m going to be anyways: I think we all sorta knew.

SC: …

HC: right?

SC: what does that even mean?

MM: idk, it just felt right, you know? You two are always fussing at each other and red lost his shit that time you got shot. He doesn’t treat you the way he treats the rest of us and we’re his teammates. He doesn’t even treat spidey like he treats you. So like, yeah. It fits.

MM: I’m really happy for you guys.

MM: is there a reason it’s a secret?

 Ganke eased himself back down onto the mattress. This was real. This was like, actual, real information. Something that he and like, four other people in the world now knew.

He kind of wanted to forget it. It didn’t feel right to know.

 SC: I dunno.

HC: if sam has an honest emotion towards anything he has to calculate its weight so he can make space for it in his collection of satellites.

MM: wh

SC: you’re so not funny.

HC: it’s called emotional repression, darling. It’s all the rage in this family.  

MM: oh

MM: so that’s why you and Red get on so well

SC: HHHHHHH

HC: HA

SC: okay but listen his is different, I’ve only seen him cry at his wedding. I cry at least 4 times a week. Obviously under the bed, but that can’t be emotional repression. That’s expression. That’s clearly expression

HC: I can make the old man cry watch me

SC: please don’t I’ll die

MM: awwwww

SC: shut up it doesn’t even matter.

MM: AWWWWWW

SC: LEAVE ALREADY

MM: no I like it here. I want to hear you talk about how much you love your white dad

SC: I don’t. He loves me. I’m fine with this because it results in food, shelter, and continued employment.

HC: uh huh

SC: I’m using him

HC: yeah because you’re like the most manipulative person I know.

SC: thank you

HC: /sarcasm

SC: I know I ignored it.

MM: so wait why do you actually pretend like you hate him tho?

SC: wh

SC: what the fuck am I supposed to do? Just go on up for a cuddle? Have you met Matt? The second someone starts crying, he finds trash to take out to the bins. Hell no. Life is easier for everyone if I stab him with a stick and he kicks my ass in training. It’s fine.

HC: Sam is learning how to be a Manly Man. This is step one.

SC: I’m plenty manly

HC: you’re what mom imagined as manly

SC: which is perfect. That’s all I need.

HC: mama’s boy

SC: must suck to suck, no one’s kid.

 Wow. Ganke had never been more glad that he didn’t have a sister.

 GL: That’s kind of cool, though.

GL: that you and DD are close like that I mean.

GL: Its different from all the other mentor/mentee superheroes we see who like, sort of hate each other.

SC: wh

SC: OH. you mean Peter and Kate. Peter doesn’t actually hate Stark, fyi. And Kate calls Hawkeye the Old bi-weekly to make sure he’s still breathing. It’s actually pretty normal.

MM: he doesn’t mean like that Sam. I mean, like those guys don’t associate with their Olds now that they’re grown up and stuff, but you and DD stick together. It’s like you’re family.

MM: and that’s super cool. Idk if Spidey would ever consider me family. I don’t think he wants that for us.

SC: I?

SC: oh shit

HC: CLARITY ON THIS FINE DAY. What was your name again, tiny spider?

MM: miles

HC: PRAISE BE TO MILES

HC: AN EMOTION WAS HAD

SC: get fucked

HC: An epiphany was obtained!

SC: would you shut up

HC: Something has finally permeated that non-porous, two-inch thick skull of my esteemed eldest brother

SC: I’m your only brother

HC: you’re not

SC: they don’t fucking count

HC: now will you FINALLY invite our mutual dad to hotpot?

SC: Hannah he doesn’t want to come to hot pot we’ve talked about this. it’s too spicy for him.

HC: I’ll make it 1/3 less spicy

SC: that’s still too spicy

HC: I’ll make it 2/5 less spicy

SC: 3/5

HC: listen

HC: I have all this fucking equipment that SOMEONE left here callously

MM: what’s hotpot?

SC: 👀

HC: 👀

GL: 👀

SC: well fuck

HC: EYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

GL: have we never taken you with us for hotpot???

MM: no?? is this the sticks?

HC: can be. Where do you live?

SC: Hannah no

HC: Hannah yes. We’ll make one here. You’ll make one there.

SC: do you know how much shit I’ll have to buy? Where are we gonna put it?

HC: this wouldn’t be a problem if you’d taken your goddamn inheritance with you to SF

SC: HHHHHH

MM: you guys are actually being serious?

HC: I am. I am here all on my lonesome. Abandoned by my only kin. I require enrichment.

SC: try doing your fucking homework

HC: did anyone hear something?

MM: lololololol I like you

HC: 😊

SC: wh

SC: oh no. No no no.

SC: you two don’t get to be friends

HC: come here bb pspspspspspsps

MM: I’m here

HC: got ‘im. Let’s have hotpot. Sammy send me resippy. We’ll do it together over video so I don’t fuck it up.

SC: I’ve got to go. This has been traumatizing.

HC: byeeeeeeeeeeee

HC: is he gone? Hell yeah, he’s gone.

HC: hey thanks for making that comic thing. It’s hella rad. He loves it. Mom used to call him Monkey when he was little.

GL: omg aw

HC: ikr? P cute. He misses her a lot so I think it brought back good memories. Anyways, I’m actually going to make hotpot. Come over and have some with me, it’s more fun with more people.

MM: you’re not joking

HC: nope, it’s been ages since your whole team has gotten together, right? Ask them to do it. I’m a shit cook, but Sam’ll show us how not to screw it up. And he’s playin’, he’s totally down to hang out with us. We never had more than three people. It’ll be new. Exciting. Enriching even.

MM: are you secretly a nice person, Hannah?

HC: the fuck do you mean ‘secret’??? I’m a delight.

MM: Okay I’ll ask the team and my mom

MM: ganke?

HC: 👀

 That—

Sounded kind of nice?

 GL: I’ll ask my mom.

HC: nice. You can tell them that it’s a friends dinner or whatever. Idc. I promise I’m not going to kidnap and murder you. I’ve got like, class and work and shit. I don’t have time for that.

MM: 👍🏾

GL: 👍🏼

HC: great here I’ll message you my number. This is legit our sibs chat so Sam’ll freak if you’re still here when he gets back.

MM: thank you! And sorry for thinking you were muse!!

GL: yeah that too

HC: lol np ttyl                                    

 That…had really just happened, hadn’t it?

Ganke needed to sit down even though he was already sitting down.

 GL: they’re so nice???

MM: ikr?

GL: are you actually going to ask your mom?

MM: Im gonna ask BT if its cool first. Then yeah. Why not? Our team really hasn’t gotten together in a minute. Everyone’s been super busy. It would be a nice change of pace, and if everyone brings smth then Hannah doesn’t have to pay for anything.

MM: ah, Sam says it’s okay. He says sorry his sister is weird and that he’ll make sure she doesn’t poison us.

GL: I kind of love her

MM: same

MM: okay will check in with the others. Talk to you later.

GL: yeah see you later

 Damn, at this rate, Ganke’s family was going to triple in size, and all thanks to a comic.

Before he left for downstairs, he made a note to make Guo tin’s brother snarkier.

[fanartfunart]

@broadwaytheanimatedseries​ said: Wait @fanartfunart YOU HAVE PONY OCS??? MAY I SEE THEM PLEASE (mentioned on my Sides as Ponies art)

Love how you enable me. I redrew them just for you.

[Image ID: 6 original characters in the style of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. From left to right- Day Tricker, a masculine orange pegasus with green eyes. He has a short black mane and long tail with yellow and green jaggedly striped through the middle. His cutie mark is the happy/sad theater mask. He is flying slightly above the others, looking towards them with a smile. Lotus, a masculine brown unicorn with a white diamond on his nose, a spot on his rear, and freckles, and silver hoofs framed with fluff. His eyes are purple, and he wears a purple scarf. His hair is short and white fading into black. He looks up at Day Tricker with a relatively neutral expression despite the blush on his cheek. His cutie mark is a purple lotus flower. OraVez, a white feminine alicorn (unicorn-pegasus) with a long dirty blond mane and tail, with white stripe in the center. She has golden eyes and is looking to the right with a contemplative expression. She is sitting front and center, one front hoof crossed over the other. Her cutie mark is a hourglass with flourishes on one side, mirrored top and bottom. Kiya, a feminine zebra with predominantly grey fur and dark gray stripes and belly. She has golden eyes, and wears a set of gold rings over the base of her tail. Her mane is braided up to the end of her neck, where it is long, falling over in a bob style. Her cutie mark is an african adinkra symbol Nokore, which is a pair of diamond shapes separated by two dots and surrounded by oval shapes. She is looking towards the right with a smile, one hoof gesturing. Star Chaser, a feminine blue pegasus with purple wings and underbelly and silver hooves. She has pink eyes, and a purple mane and tail with pink stripes. Her mane is short on the neck, and tied into a long ponytail at the start of the back of her head. Her tail is tied into a braid. Her cutie mark is a pink diamond with white wings. She is flying above the 6th pony, Blue Leaf, and looking towards the rest of the group with a smile. Blue Leaf, a purple earth pony with blue eyes. She has a long dark blue mane and tail with a light blue stripe. She is laying on the ground looking up towards Kiya and Star Chaser, one hoof curled under her, framing a blue flower. Her cutie mark is a red heart-shaped leaf with a blue swirl-like shape inside. The background is a simple flat colored grassy scene with mountains in the background. End ID]

As stated in the Image ID, their names are Day Tricker (a play on Day Tripper), Lotus, OraVez (basically Time Time in two different languages), Kiya, Star Chaser, and Blue Leaf.

I shall ramble about who exactly they all are/their story in the read more now. :P

So to start off, I will say I created these guys like... 2014, so their story very much reflects that lol.

OraVez is the older sister of Celestia and Luna. We first see her as a filly (her super old design was literally an inverse of the current one lol).

[Image ID: OraVez as a filly, traced over one of the show’s Cutie Mark Crusaders template art. However, she has light gold fur and a white mane and tail with a light gold stripe and blue eyes. End ID]

She ran away from home (in the old castle), wrapped in a cloak to hide her wings, and finds herself in the modern-day ponyville, having time-traveled there without realizing it. Ponyville is entirely new to her, and she quite literally crashes into the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They assume she’s the normal kind of new to town, and take it upon themselves to show her around town. Eventually they find out she’s an alicorn when she looses her cloak (I think I had her use it to save one of them from something.) BUT instead of ya know, focusing on the fact that she’s an alicorn and probably royalty, they notice she has no cutie mark, and think “OH that’s why she had that cloak on, she was embarrassed she didn’t have a cutie mark yet!” She accepts this idea readily.

They eventually drag her into Finding Cutie Mark montage, which includes visiting the Mane 6 to help them find things for her to try out (while she hides her wings from them all once again). Last they go to Twilight, who, with her obsession with lore, recognizes OraVez (mostly by name). Twilight is obviously is excited and confused, and goes on a rant about how OraVez was the missing princess from so many hundreds of years ago, and that no one knew what had happened to her. Twilight and the CMC prompt her for explanation, to which she explains he didn’t ever want the responsibility of being a Princess and eventual ruler of Equestria, and so she ran away. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell then ask “what about your sisters?” and OraVez realizes she’d be sad without them, and resolves to go home. After this, they all try to figure out ways to reactivate whatever magic made her come forward in time. Eventually, they try casting a spell Twilight refined while diving in the air, which Rainbow Dash helps coach. OraVez does a Sonic Rainboom as she time travels back to her original time, and Rainbow and Twilight realize that’s probably where the legend of the Sonic Rainboom came from, which makes Rainbow very happy that she’s probably the actual inventor of the maneuver. OraVez, back in her time, finds she now has her cutie mark.

The CMC wonder if she went back in time then why doesn’t she exist now, while lamenting the loss of their new friend. Although she occasionally returns, now getting the hang of time travel.

OraVez, as an teenager/adult fought a evil being (which I remember less) and eventually somewhere in there, like Discord, was turned to stone as a way to insure she can protect the fabric of time. (this would be where it becomes very Not current mlp timeline, because.... there’d already be a protector keeping the timeline in check with her there lol)

Eventually she is released, and has to adjust to life in the current time. Finding she doesn’t have to help Celestia and Luna rule Equestria, and technically no longer the oldest as she’s spent years in stasis, she’s a little lost for what to do with herself. Twilight suggests she finds some friends. However, in the background, the evil she’s been holding back awakens as well.

She happens upon Blue Leaf and Lotus, co-owners of a flower shop. They have been fighting about something that OraVez realizes she can fix with her time-magic (reverting something back to the way it was) and they become friends. The rest of the group had known each other before, but either never got to actually becoming friends, or something had fractured their relationship.

Star Chaser is a night flier weather pony and occasional delivery pony, Day Tricker is a comedian and theater pony, and I don’t remember what Kiya did. Star Chaser and Lotus used to be friends but their relationship fractured for reasons I forgot. Lotus has a crush on Day Tricker, but never Really talked to him, and pretends to be aloof. Random fact, Day Tricker has a younger sister named Spindrift (a turquoise unicorn who I swear I had art of but can’t seem to find), who is relevant somehow, but I also forgot that. Kiya is relatively new to town, and keeps coming to Blue Leaf and Lotus’s shop, but hasn’t really talked to either of them outside of buying more plants than she probably needs.

They reflect the Elements of Harmony, Day Tricker- Laughter, Blue Leaf- Loyalty, Kiya- Honesty, Star Chaser- Kindness, Lotus- Generosity. Moreso as a symbol of them having the potential to be a similar friend group to the mane 6 than anything. (although I think I have them eventually take up the mantle at some point, temporarily) They and OraVez learn to be friends, and they help her with her time-keeping duty.

-

I also have these two, Imperis (one in armor) and Neit (one laughing) (again, before later episodes)

[Image ID: Two MLP style changelings, grey with blue wings. One has blue armor on, walking towards the other with a glare, and the other is laughing, flying in the air. End ID]

[Image ID: A feminine orange unicorn with a short blue mane and a grey masculine pegasus with a short black mane with a white stripe. The unicorn’s cutie mark is a pair of fencing swords crossed over each other. She has one grey eye and one gold eye, and is glaring at the pegasus. The pegasus is smiling, flying on his side next to her, eyes closed. End ID]

Imperis is a scout for Queen Chrysalis who takes the form of the unicorn, a famous fencer who is touring Equestria. Neit chose to ‘mix and match’ his appearance, and choose a cat-in-the-box cutie mark. The pair of them were supposed to find a good place to invade, but, Neit’s inability to focus and sit still for five seconds and Imperis’s uptight nature works against them. Eventually, they learn to become friends, and learn basically the same lesson that the changelings learn in later episodes, that love as friendship is something they can make themselves.

...and yea, that’s basically all my mlp ocs.

[resetting37]

My characters throughout the story: arc by arc

I realize there’s not much of a point in showcasing my art as is when most of it relies on context, so I’d rather upload my art and give the story behind it. 

But okay big reveal ! I redrew my character lineup ! My original was in 2018, and I sorta gave away a lot of character details without any explanation, so I’m sure I left a lot of people like ??? Why is that character dressed like that ?

This time around I’m tired of keeping secrets, time for explanation ! Despite the differences in outfits I made, there aren’t any story changes since then.

I’m gonna give context behind what’s going on in the story in each story arc. The outfit I gave the characters don’t always dictate the point they are in regarding development, so I don’t dive in all the looks. 

Arc One:

Their staple outfits ! At least their staple styles. Sure they go through character development within this arc, but not enough to change what they wear. Avery likes neutral colors and dresses, Katsumi with quirky cuts and bright colors, Audrey likes black and edgier jewelry, Advik loves baggy clothes and layers, Zack likes black and gray with minimal detail. Of course they can each break away from their comfort zones, but this is what showcases their characters best.

Arc Two:

The summarizations of these styles is basically arc one: part two ! Confusing, I’m sorry, but there’s no real evolution in their styles. And that’s okay ! They’re in the same predicaments as the first chapter (with the exception of Advik, who’s taken on a new internship in the lab, but that’s not gonna reflect on what he wears.) The biggest change, of course, is the introduction of two new characters ! 

That’s right, Morgan and Sean are finally in the story. Sean’s style changes a lot, he’s still trying to find what he likes most. After all, he spent the years before wear laboratory jumpers and never really had an independent style until he’s been introduced to the rest of the world. He just copies what he sees everyone else wearing.

Morgan’s sense of style isn’t as thoughtful, she just wears what’s comfortable and makes her look good. She nails it. 

Arc Three:

Arc three is where ~*things happen*~. Sean’s had enough time in the real world to get a sense of what he wants to wear. I put Avery into pants because I think she should go around wearing something comfortable given she and Zack spend a portion of this chapter outside Evelow and in some dangerous situations in Recom. 

Another notable change is Audrey is wearing more colors ! She’s getting a taste of the elite life of Evelow, given she’s friends with Aurora and her brother Nathan is given respect amongst the lawmakers. So she’s shedding her “mystery alchemist”-persona for a moment. 

Arc Four:

Advik takes his first drastic change in style. He’s being taken seriously as a possible contender of a leadership position, and he doesn’t want to give this up. He wants to keep his prime class identity to look out for his friends Avery and Zack who aren’t doing so after after the previous chapter’s events. Speaking of them, they look a bit more formal due to being welcomed into their family’s lives, who are also prime class. 

Advik has also regained his memory of who he was before his defunding (aka being stripped of his assets and relocating to the outskirts of town, where he was at the start of the story) so redeeming himself is a priority. 

Audrey is dressed down, she left to her old hometown of Dile and spends a great amount of arc four on the desolate island. She left on her own terms so she purposely dressed comfortably. Drab colors to contrast her bright colors from the previous chapter. 

Katsumi’s alter ego “GLOSS” makes her debut in arc four ! No one knows of her identity except for Morgan (eventually she tells the rest, but it’s kept a secret for the most part) but GLOSS is a player in the Hadler Arena, meaning she battles other players (not to the death don’t worry lol) and even sometimes genetically engineered monsters. 

Arc Five:

And so the corruption begins ! Sean’s god complex is getting to him as he realizes he can essentially get away with anything, and so he does. With the help of his new right hand man Zack, the two of them look for ways to take down Evelow from the inside out. That’s why they’re dressed a little rough (Well Sean still manages to make it work lol)

 And perfect timing since Advik has officially gained a position amongst the council ! He now has to pit himself against them. Doesn't help that he already has to deal with Avery’s newfound organization the natural mass. And she absolutely has to dress in her best for this, it’s what she’s always wanted.

 I may have changed the design of Audrey’s “corrupted patient” look, but it’s the same concept. Being in Dile back in arc four sure did some strange things to her. 

Arc Six:

This is essentially the aftermath of the previous chapter’s events. Aurora managed to win the fight, at least so long as it's over. With corrupted packets within the city and imprisoned characters, it’s reflected in their outfits. 

Sean, due to Aurora’s love for him, has been let free, but must stay in hiding or else she won’t hesitate to hurt him. So in solitude Sean stays, in a fancy complex, mourning the loss of his friends. He blames himself for the downfall.

Avery and Zack were captured. Avery was imprisoned in Aurora’s own palace, and Zack at the medical center (the end of arc five left him in a rough condition), hence the difference in their outfits. 

Advik was banished in a toxic district, and Kat is in hiding, so they battle the wastelandic environment to reunite. Advik ends up getting infected by a mutated fly trap, so he needs to do something about that hand of his. 

Morgan struck a deal with Evelow’s elite: They cured her mutation, so long as she hunts down the rest of the projects for them. They’re not too pleased that Aurora let Sean escape but can’t really reprehend her for it. 

Aaaaaand Audrey’s final form ! She’s embraced becoming a host (and bright colors again) and I think she’d resort to her natural hair color. She’s ready to take on the final boss and help her friends restore Evelow. 

[sailorspazz]

This update brings me life!! After all these years, our idiot Shinyas are finally making some progress. So proud of them.

The visuals were gorgeous, as always (not to mention the men). The summary was quite short compared to the number of pages simply because there were multiple spreads and detailed backgrounds that weren't dense on dialogue...I mean, the first five pages were shared on Twitter and could basically be summed up as "Suzuki runs to the studio" lol. It can be agonizing to wait for the updates, but when they come out you can definitely see the care that goes into drawing them.

I love the subtle comedy of the couple of panels of the old women. Suzuki is so sexy the old man passes out! He just like me fr fr. Those ladies previously said that their Shinya was much sexier (and xrayed the hell out of his ass, which, also, same), but I think they all enjoyed the little view they caught.

Suzuki very boldly interrupts a class because he just has to talk to Sugiki right away. I wonder if the students were thinking, "bro, this could've been a text" lol. I love the visual of the other characters blurring into the background, showing how intensely focused these two are on each other. And the moment with Fusako was nice, I didn't know she shared her partner's ability of psychic communication with Suzuki haha. But she has been channeling his spirit for her Latin practice, maybe that gives her a stronger sense of connection with him.

It's definitely interesting to see the two Shinyas meeting in front of onlookers, including Sugiki’s mother. This is the second time she's seen him come to the school, I wonder if she suspects anything? Of course, depending on what happens in the next update, she could outright see something happening if she hasn't left yet. Funny that she caught him coming around the day they broke up, and now is also around for their reunion.

I took the moment where he said "Sugiki...Shinya" as wanting to specify that he wasn't talking to Mrs. Sugiki. But I also am curious if the way they refer to each other will change with an actual relationship. They both grew up in countries where calling people by first names is the norm, so it's not like it's too jarring for either of them to be addressed as just "Shinya". I do wonder if having the same name will result in one (or both?) using a nickname instead. I just want to find out what their solution is! At the very least, Sugiki should drop the "-sensei" honorific he always attaches to Suzuki's name once they're proper boyfriends.

Though Sugiki keeps looking aloof in this chapter as he continues his lessons, his hands still sparkle as he feels Suzuki nearby, and his mind is swirling with anxiety over why Suzuki came to see him, including flashbacks to their breakup. She even redrew a couple of the panels, so instead of how chapter 28 originally ended with their lips just about to touch and Suzuki's tears just about to fall, in this chapter we see their lips connected and tears streaming down his face. So sad and pretty. And Sugiki worries about being rejected again, like how can that happen when you're not even together? You think Suzuki came to double dump you lol. Or maybe he was thinking about their heartfelt kiss and embrace backstage, and that Suzuki might be coming to say they shouldn't have done that. Well, lucky for him (and us), that's not why he's there at all!

I like how Sugiki comes to the door in his slightly dressed down state, taking off his tie and vest, unbuttoning those top buttons of his shirt, like he's getting ready for a practice session with Suzuki. He's displaying annoyance at having to wait and wonder all this time about why Suzuki is there, he's so cute when he's snippy. And then Suzuki makes his epic declaration, a simple request of "please be mine" that's still so impactful. Then he follows it up with some desperation, saying he'll do anything Sugiki wants, including going along with the delusion of being a god and becoming one with him. We're left on this cliffhanger before Sugiki gives a response, though he has a bit of a raised eyebrow at that last part. I imagine he'll say something along the lines of he doesn't want Suzuki to do that, and only wants to know and love his true self. Whatever happens next, I'm salivating at the thought of the next update, and I hope that since it's a second part rather than an entirely new chapter that it'll come in a shorter time frame (usually 4-6 weeks based on past updates). Inoue has said that this volume would see them going down the road to happiness, and we're finally so close to that goal!

10 Dance - chapter 42, part 1 summary

Suzuki rushes to Sugiki's studio so the two can talk about their relationship. What will he say once they finally reunite?

Full summary and highlight images under the cut

Chapter 42, part 1: 好きにならずにはいられない (Can't Help Falling in Love)

Published online on July 12th, 2024, available to purchase on Comic Days, or rent for ten days on Yanmaga.

Suzuki runs through the streets of Ginza on his way to Sugiki's studio. He thinks about how he needs to see him right away so they can discuss their future together. He enters the building and notices that the first floor is a shop selling dance goods, which he'd never seen before since he's only been there late at night. He passes by the group of elderly students who were seen ogling his sexy magazine ad in an earlier chapter. The women blush and sweat, as the husband of one of them faints. Suzuki heads to the classroom, where Sugiki and his mother are giving instruction. Sugiki looks stunned as he catches sight of him, and the two focus intensely on each other, visualized by the other characters blurring into the background.

Fusako sees Suzuki and happily runs up to him, grabbing his hand and thinking that she's missed him. He appears to hear her unspoken communication and thinks back, "Me, too," before giving her a playful tap and turning his attention back to Sugiki. He states that he needs to talk to him, to which Sugiki replies that he's giving a lesson right now, and is pretty booked up for the rest of the day. Unfazed, Suzuki says he'll wait until he's finished. Sugiki sighs and says that someone canceled their lesson later on, so he'll come see him during that time. Suzuki says that he'll be outside and leaves the buidling, staring up at Sugiki's classroom as he waits. 

As he continues giving lessons, Sugiki is distracted by thoughts about what might be happening. He wonders what Suzuki could have come here to say to him after he previously told him things were over between them and they promised to not see each other anymore. He thinks of the day they called things off, when Suzuki stated that Sugiki's obsession with him was not love, and Sugiki realized he was not the god he had imagined him to be. Even so, his yearning still remains, and he doesn't think he could handle being rejected by Suzuki again. He wonders if he himself might have changed a bit, and if he's capable of seeing Suzuki for his true self now.

Sugiki finally gets a chance to leave the classroom. He cracks open the main door and accuses Suzuki of being selfish, complaining that he's had to stop himself from coming to see him this whole time. Slightly intimidated by his attitude, Suzuki asks him to come outside. Once they're together on the sidewalk, Suzuki bows his head and says, "Please be mine." He pleads and says that he'll do anything, even be the god Sugiki saw in him, and merge into one single being with him as he wished.

Previous chapter: #41 part 2

Next chapter: There is currently no information on the next release date.

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 154

August 12

LOL my computer won't show me my pin login screen unless I press the soft boot keys first, that's not a bad sign, is it? 

Anyway, another day of entirely kittens! Three hour feeds means breakfast starts at 6am, bright and early! Second breakfast rolls out around 9, just in time for a nice lunch at noon. Second lunch is at 3pm, followed by early bird dinner at six. Fashionably late dinner (attended by all the same diners, of course) is at 9pm, then we all have a midnight snack that is in fact a full meal. A 3am top-up finishes the day's menu, and everybody gets one more nap before breakfast. Whew! In the middle of this, the weanlings also get fed on their own, slightly less rigid schedule consisting of "We have finished the food, human! What the hell are you playing at?" 

The good news is that eight daily feedings are paying off in terms of baby weight gain. All of the teenies are up by at least 20g over yesterday, which is an excellent daily gain equivalent to the weight of about four US quarters. Given that they were very underweight to start with, rapid gain and good suckling are very encouraging signs. Orphan kittens always have a tough row to hoe and things could go wrong, but it's a great start. They also have names nowI I ran the two sets of names by the coordinator and she okayed the Harper Hall set, woo-hoo! Without further ado (or photo editing to make these pics smaller because I am exhausted), meet the Harpers! 

First off is Menolly, of course. She is white and black with a mostly white body and a white blaze on her face (her first given name for my notebook was "Stripe"). Menolly is the smallest of the kittens by just a few grams and earned her name by being the loudest and most energetic yeller by an order of magnitude. She always gets fed first, because she is apparently always STARVING. Menolly was also the first kitten to escape her bin; I found her snuggled up next to Audiva this morning and had to put binder clips on the towel cover. 

Next is Audiva, the other female, and much less obvious of a naming choice. If she'd been bigger or louder she might have been Silvinia, but she's pretty laid back and mostly enjoys snuggling in with her stuffed puppy fake mama and sleeping on her back. (She was "Dot" to start with, because she has one black spot on her back and the white stripe on her face wraps around her ear to make the black spot a round dot.) 

Sebell has facial markings that are not dissimilar from Menolly's, but where her body is mostly white, his is tuxie black. (He was "Blaze" to start with becausse of the white blaze up his face and chest.) Sebell just about gave me a goddamned heart attack this afternoon by not only slipping out of his bin but leaving the bins entirely and going a few feet away to a place where I could easily have stepped on him. I like to think I would've noticed him before I did, but luckily the kiddo was with me and quickly pointed out the wanderer. Yikes! There is such a thing as living up too much to your name, journeyman. 

The final kitten is Robinton, the biggest and most distinguished of the kittens thanks to his handsome white mustache! (He was "Stashy" in the book for obvious reasons.) Robinton is possibly the most businesslike kitten I have ever encountered. When I pick him up he pees and usually poos as well, lets himself be wiped up, then latches onto the bottle like it's going out of style. He's gained 30g already and has a handsome portly tummy to go with his handsome face.

  The little kittens did well today, but Zuko lost some weight and I'm not sure why. I'm hoping the tick we pulled off him isn't making him sick a few days later. I penned him up with some food to make sure he'd get enough, but all he did was cry, so I pulled him out, snuggled him, and then syringe fed him meat mush through a luer lock with no tip in it. It was messy work, but he ate some! I'm going to keep on keeping an eye on him, but he's certainly been very active. The others are all gaining well and eating well. The kiddo has been spending a lot of time taking Aang into his room and playing with him whenever I say he can. It's probably just as well if these kittens depart this weekend; we cannot get another cat if we want to keep fostering and I don't want him to get his little heart broken when it's time to say goodbye. 

In non-heartbreaking news, I proved my Minecraft chops and general motherly acumen today when I fixed the kiddo's bugged game by successfully typing /gamemode creative into the text window in the very few seconds between respawn and death after the kiddo accidentally redrew the borders of the world to exclude the place where he was. He'd been getting a little wound up worrying about it but all's well that ends well, and I showed him how to back up his game to prevent future disasters from being ruinous. It's funny because I remember back when he was maybe two or three years old and my motion sickness wasn't so acute, he'd like to sit on the arm of my recliner and watch me play Minecraft. It was fun, but it added difficulty because he unconditionally refused to let me kill the cute animals for food or materials. Suffice it to say he has gotten over that qualm and is now a first rate hunter and farmer. 

The only other real thing of note today was our trip to the thrift store. The thrift store was closed for many months during the pandemic, and we've only been back a couple times since they opened despite it being one of my favorite places. Today's trip was ostensibly for the purpose of acquiring suitable fake mama animals for when the teenies inevitably pee or poop on the ones they have, but we found many other goodies as well. They put all their pet, garden and summer stuff on half price sale, so I got a Topsy Turvy planter for a buck, a couple of blue ice cooler packs for less than a dollar each, and a really startlingly nice crate-style cage for small animals for just three dollars. I am betting it was probably 40 at the store and it looked new, so I'm very pleased. We're always looking for crates for transfering kittens or friendly ferals without taking up our scarce box traps! I also got six or seven appropriately sized stuffed animals for the non-hypothetical kittens. 

The kiddo got into a bin of 50 cent electronics toys with no batteries, sold take-your-chances style, and got a little ray gun, two Perry the Platypus walkie-talkies, and a bluetooth speaker. Everything but the gun worked, so it was a heck of a good deal even though he did wind up getting his finger stuck in the ray gun while disassembling it and needing a good spritz of cooking spray to release him. My best find was probably the nonstick Pampered Chef two-handled skillet in great shape for five bucks. I couldn't find the exact pan online because it's probably older, but I don't think PC sells any pans for less than like 100 bucks, so I was quite pleased. It's a great size for omelettes, stir fry, eggs, whatever. Every time I move, I have to go through and get rid of most of my pans, and every time I settle down again, I rebuild my collection. It's the circle of life! 

[doedipus]

LP D&D: Tumble in the Tundra

It’s like the Rumble in the Jungle, except not in central Africa.

Something about the concept of magic items really tickles my fancy, moreso than a lot of other fantasy tropes. Stuff like the Moonlight Greatsword from the Dark Souls games, Link’s heaping arsenal of hyper-specialized tools, and Guts’ berserker suit and robot hand strike me as being super cool. If I had to rationalize it, I guess it comes down to gadget-based heroes being more fundamentally human in my mind than someone with the innate ability to light things on fire with their brain, and in the context of tabletop games, magic items can provide some more flavor to combat and river crossing puzzles than a party of totally mundane humans. Like, the time when Coy ended the battle at the late Lord Hier’s dinner party by crashing the airship through clever use of the teleport hat was wayyy cooler than the dozens of other encounters the party just brute forced their way through.

One of these days, I really want to run a campaign in a low-genre game like Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green or something, and use quadcopters or smartphones the same way our DM in this game uses the helm of teleportation or the cloak of the bat.

I’m bringing all this up because the map the party had been carting around this whole time is basically a smartphone. As usual, content under the break.

Teller redrew the map

While he was drawing, a woman’s face appears in the map and speaks to the party

Her name is Natalie

She’s the map

Of Amarak //The last empire to control western Faerun

Natalie is having none of our berk questions

Connie asks about the sisters, Natalie gives an info-dump

They were anti-imperialist

Minnia formed a pact with some demons

Amarak successfully repelled them, and recorded their strategies in Natalie

Lucas asks about Minnia’s location

Apparently she was split into 5 pieces, and her remains scattered

One near Luskan and Syrup Leaf

One near Calimport

One near Shulk

One near Amathar

One in Winterkeep

One in Candlekeep

Natalie can give the party more detailed advice as we get close

“You seem kind of full of yourself. I like that. I’m also kind of full of myself”-Lucas

Coy asks Natalie what she knows about what’s-her-name

My responses are limited. You must ask the right question.

Max works through his headache and remembers names

Natalie has an image of her on file

Graham realizes something is off about the map

Coy and Graham take a closer look

The kingdom of Demara was apparently bigger in the past

It was slightly smaller than Amarak, and its ally

Graham puts his ear to the map

Natalie recommends he clean his ears

He does. On Natalie.

Natalie is violated

Lucas tries to concuss Graham, but he’s doing the dance of his people

Natalie dislikes being called “Map”

Coy recommends the party go check out the giblets at Syrup Leaf

Lucas is confus. What’s a syrup leaf?

Coy attempts to explain

Natalie wants to map out a relationship chart for the party

Esmeralda is a lady

no srs guys

Telepathy sex dungeon //from Sigil trip one

Lucas denies any knowledge of this “Rolen” //Rich also denies any knowledge of this “Rolen.”

He literally has no knowledge of Rolen

Or the drow attack on Amnswater

Graham reveals he’s never learned anyone else’s name

Coy considers storage options for Natalie

Can we laminate her?

Can she survive in a bag of holding?

Natalie the smartphone can keep track of our quests. How convenient! //Not like we tend to think in terms of “quests” anyway. We mostly just bumble around and then things happen

Connie asks about the Sigil portal

The ruins of the Sigil-Amarak trade hub is nearby

It’s by the crags

Graham has a question for Map

Where’s Catarina?

There isn’t one lol

It’s recently independent obvs

What’s the dog to milk ratio?

It’s 3:1, Rap

Coy asks for a brief overview of the war

Amarak allied with nearby kingdoms

They cornered Minnia in Beydale and dismembered her

There was also a golem army, which Natalie can activate

Escrima asks about extraplanar creatures

They came out through the underchasm

He asks about mother

Apparently, she patroned a few generals during the war

Callie Thorngage, Nedda Brushgather, and Escrima Smith

Natalie shows images of said generals

They bear a striking resemblance to Graham, Connie, and Escrima Smith, respectively

//From what little we know so far, Callie Thorngage was ostensibly a cis woman. The implication is pretty clearly that the members of the current party are reincarnations of these other three folks, with Escrima being the Gordon Freeman to MOTHER’s G-man. So like, why would Graham’s previous incarnation be a cis girl? Wouldn’t it make more sense if the old Graham was also a dude, and the trans thing happened because he was literally a dude dumped into a girl’s body? I swear, cis folk have no idea how to write this sort of thing.

They made it out of the war okay, and joined mother in the ether

Escrima accuses Natalie of tripping balls

She is a map. She does not trip

Amarak awarded mother some sort of reward for its assistance

Other team photos are revealed

There’s doppelgangers of Greg and Eva too.

Greg’s clone being the son of Theodin, King of Amarak

In a painting of the dicing of Minnia, a soldier uses The Cleaver to cut up Minnia’s body

The Cleaver is stored near the Sea of Fallen Stars, in a vault

Vaults are scattered around the continent, full of puzzles and treasure

Well ain’t that somethin’!

Graham and Escrima develop a plan to shoulder check the sisters and the bits of Minnia into the ocean, and then burn down the ocean. They will play their victory jingle on a triangle made of snakes

The hammer is also a snake

Coy accidentally lets slip that she has a soft stummy

Graham wants to touch it

Coy tries to be intimidating, but fails

Lucas prays to Oghma to try and figure out all that Rolen nonsense

All his memories are starting to get fuzzy, come to think of it

Eva’s are getting pretty strong, though

Lucas decides to take a look

She kept a Lucas shrine back in Candlekeep

She reduced it down to a drawing of Lucas, hidden in her cape

Lucas finds the picture. It’s of the two of them getting married.

The gang interrupts Lucas’ meditation session

He’s crying a bit, so he tries to use thaumaturgy to cover it

He makes flames come out of his eyes (by accident?)

Coy throws a potion of healing in his face

He feels very healthy

Coy explains to Lucas about the information the gang gleaned from the map

Lucas would rather Natalie just give him the information herself

Natalie recalls MOTHER as the “entity of dreams”  

Lucas wants to know if it’s good or evil.

Natalie gives him a cryptic answer

It’s a force of stability more than anything

Lucas asks Natalie if the Escrimas are the same

The one in the painting was 23 at the time of the war

Escrima always assumed he was 18

Natalie displays the group portrait with the generals, not-Greg, and not-Eva

not-Greg was named “Silifrey”

not-Eva was named “Merla Terlef,” and was married to Silifrey

Coy is irritated she doesn’t have a double

Lucas Explains Proskur to the party

He regrets getting involved, and blames himself for Eva’s pseudo death

Lucas goes to bed, as does Coy

Connie goes to the bathhouse

There’s a human man and an elf woman in the bath already

They’re married. Damn.

They’re here to open their business selling devices, gadgets and things

It’s a clock, but portable. Astounding!

Escrima wants to talk to Natalie

Coy opens the map, and prudently decides not to let Escrima touch it

Escrima asks about the generals

They were adventurers before joining the war

Lots of dragons killed, innocents saved, etc.

He wants to know about Callie Thorngage

She was a lady knight in the army of Amarak

Part of the agreement between Theodin V and mother was for the three to become generals

He asks to see the stats of the sister’s army

Several million gnolls, orcs, drow, and, oddly, fiends

The sister’s army had some generals too

They’re doubles of Lucas and legacy edition Coy. what?

//Again, why would Coy’s past-self-apparent be a dude? Grumble grumgle grumble

not-Coy was named “KUNG” in all-caps. Most dragonborn were on the sisters’ side. KUNG was killed in battle

not-Lucas’ name was Cefrey, who was the lead mage in their army. He was a necromancer who led a legion of undead

He looks like edgiest Lucas

Escrima and Coy go show Lucas

Lucas is appalled at Cefrey’s fashion sense

Lucas contemplates joining Minnia

The trio contemplate soul recycling, and realize it’s totally possible

Something or other did this intentionally

Natalie points the gang towards the planes

Lucas asks Natalie who put her in the box

It looks like Rocky. It’s probably Rocky.

Torix resumes control

Zerander heads for the bathhouse

The gang manages to sleep soundly for once

Lucas dreams about spiders

Connie has her recurring dream again

The next morning, Lucas goes to the scroll place. He spends the day copying spells

Zerander visits the blacksmith

He wants to get a silver zweihander

The smith agrees to make it out of the silver the gang sold to the armorer

Connie wants to take Nat 20 to the library

She tracks down Coy, and retrieves Natalie

She makes her way to the library in the main castle

Nat 20 has limited space, and can only absorb like 50 books

Connie feeds her a bunch of atlases and encyclopedias

She takes a bit too much pleasure from absorbing books

Zerander and Coy continue shopping

He visits an apothecary looking for alchemist’s fire

Coy bought all the fire in town

Graham goes looking for a way to upgrade grey matter //His hammer

Most of the people he asks are kids for some reason

He ends up at the blacksmith anyway

The smith upgrades it a dice class

In order to reduce the price, he spends the day working under the smith

Zerander goes looking for firearms

A shop sells old-timey hand cannons

The cannon and five rounds are 650gp

1d12 + 6 blunt damage!

Zerander talks the shopkeeper down to 600

He also goes to buy some basic supplies

He gets some holy water from the temple of Oghma

The priests want a donation of knowledge as payment

Zerander tells them about the time he fought a bear

Escrima spent the day swimming in the boiling hot river

He finds 5gp

He also finds a constitution saving throw

The water he drank is... not great

His goal was to get all wrinkly, and counts that as a success

During the night, Graham goes to check on Escrima

There’s puke everywhere. It smells disgusting

A maid tries to clean it up

Escrima asks Graham how he’s handling Nat 20’s info dump

Graham can barely understand a ham sandwich 

Escrima suggests they go to the bathhouse and turn it into puke water

They instead decide to try to become frogs

For some reason, they are unsuccessful

They’re not even green

Mother tells Escrima that she has more things to do

Escrima feels rebellious. He wants a piercing.

Graham considers having the blacksmith make Escrima a lily pad-shaped helmet

Lucas tries to relax in the hot spring

Distracted by current events, he fails to notice Coy and Zerander in the springs when he got in

Zerander explains the boomstick

Lucas doesn’t pay attention, and is instead transfixed by Zerander’s giant dong

It’s like, the size of his leg

“Eyes up here!”

Lucas comments that Coy looked better when she was a guy //Damn it, Rich

Lucas and Zerander fail their diversity training courses miserably

//Specifically, Zerander calls Coy “it.” Of all the shitty things to call a trans or intersex person, “it” stings the most in my mind. We’re human too, damn it. I’m still a bit sore about this whole interaction, but I guess this is the sort of thing that happens when you hang out with cis people in stealth. Since opening up to the players about being trans, it really hasn’t been an issue.

The gang goes to retrieve the items they ordered

Graham also has the lily pad hat made

He dubs Escrima “Sir Escrima of the Lotus Helm”

He tries to remove the hat, and fails

Lucas is informed of the frog plan, and polymorphs him into one

Graham kisses frogscrima, returning him to normal

Lucas turns him back in the middle of this

Lucas then polymorphs Graham

Graham attempts to pee on Lucas

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Coy buys a crossbow that she can fire grappling hooks out of

Zerander goes to find a boxing ring

He meets a half-orc boxer named “GGrumsh”

GGrumsh wants to fight. The organizer sets up a match for that night

The whole of Neverwinter will be there

Connie asks Nat 20 about airships

Invented by dorfs on the continent of shulk

Big business in Neverwinter

Denyr’s Mechanical Marvels

The gang heads over to the shipyard to check things out

Their couches are okay

The boss mentions that they’re manufacturing ships for the sisters of dawn

Coy remarks that the sister’s ship was poorly made, having had firsthand experience

Coy has Connie message Rocky about the appraisal of the diamond

Janice, Rocky’s secretary answers back, which is odd

It was worth 1,125,000

The gang asks about types of construction

They gravitate towards rune-fueled, heavier than air flight

They pass a few of the sister’s ships on the way out

As Lucas wraps up, he hears some murmurs about the fight between GGrumsh and a foreigner. It’s starting soon!

The gang goes to watch the fight

Zerander strips down to boxing gear

The crowd cheers for GGrumsh

They boo Zerander as he enters. He flips them off

Graham bets on Zerander, and Lucas bets on Zerander’s dick

Battle against Ultraheavyweight GGrumsh of Neverwinter

Zerander pulls a “Well! What is it!” to try and goad his opponent into attacking

...which he does.

Zerander trips GGrumsh

GGrumsh regains his balance and attacks

He calls his attacks like a true monk

Zerander tries to trip him again, but sneak attacks only work once!

He then tries to grapple GGrumsh, and again fails

GGrumsh releases a flurry of blows, wounding Zerander

Zerander pins GGrumsh to the ground and slugs him several times

GGrumsh tries to get up, but is unable to get out from under the goliath

Zerander continues to pummel GGrumsh

GGrumsh manages to land a solid hit from his compromised position

He continues to try to escape the grapple, but fails

Zerander continues to pulverize GGrumsh

Zerander pulls out an elbow drop!

GGrumsh yields to nobody

Zerander picks him up, and slams him into the ground, knocking him unconscious

Zerander is awarded a belt adorned with the crest of Neverwinter

It grants +1 CHA

Also 250gp

Graham won 80gp on the fight

Escrima christened him “Dong, Champion of the Crucible”

The crowd begins calling him that, angering Zerander

The next day, Zerander goes to the smith, and asks about melding it into his armor

You can’t do that

Coy has pancakes

The gang heads to the old trade hub

It’s abandoned

They venture deeper into the castle, and find a courtyard

The castle is covered in seals of Amarak and other kingdoms

The party is curious as to why the castle was abandoned, and consult Nat 20

It has teleportation circles to Calimport and Baldur’s Gate

Lucas asks Natalie whether or not we could easily travel back and forth from Calimport

Probably, if the return portal is still active

Escrima expresses distress at the idea of going back to Calimshan

The temple Escrima was living in was ransacked, and the perpetrators are likely still there

He fled with another acolyte from Calimport to Candlekeep

“Now I gotta go take a shit in that bush”

Lucas opens the door to the portal rooms

There are a number of safety measures in the complex designed to brutally murder invaders

DAE acid?

As they go deeper, they hear a deep moaning noise coming from the portal room

Lucas uses an arcane eye to see into the portal room

There’s a beholder in there!

END