#sapphire updates

[sapphire-writes]

update

hey y’all so much bf and I just broke up so I probably won’t post anything for a little bit but honestly might because writing really helps me so idk I just wanted to share in case I don’t post so you know I haven’t disappeared! ily lots

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

Sugar Crash Void Bash: The Fanfic!

CWs: Parents arguing, drug mention, anxiety mention, childhood trauma mention

chapter 1 chapter 2

Chapter Three: Licorice Laced Lies

chapter 4 chapter 5 chapter 6 chapter 7 chapter 8

“Hm?” Ramón jolts awake. The teenager rubs his head, scratching gently at his scalp. His fingers get caught a bit in the little pink curls resting upon his head. His mouth feels uncomfortably dry and chalky, lightly rubbing his tongue against the roof of his mouth. 

“Why do I always get so thirsty at night?” He mumbles, lazily rolling out of bed and climbing down the ladder.

He sneakily opens his bedroom door so as to not wake his fathers, suddenly he sees the light is on in the kitchen and shadows moving around. He gets startled and glitches into the void, just in case they might see him up so late.

“Vanilla, stop it.” Tippy sounds exasperated.

“I’m not kidding around.” Vanilla speaks with irritation, “We hardly have enough money as it is to keep ourselves alive, let alone live in this house.” He rubs his forehead and rests his other hand on the center island. Ramón listens in, feeling anxious… My fathers don’t fight… do they?

“Vans, seriously. I can pick up some extra hours at the studio and-”

“God damn it, no.” Vanilla’s voice isn’t raised, but his tone is harsh, “You work yourself to the bone and you have no energy to spend time with your family. I’ve seen you burn out so badly that you sobbed hysterically on your knees after work. I don’t want you to be in that state again, Tippy.”

“It’s either that or you and I could skip dinner. We’ll just tell Ramón that we already ate before he gets home from school.” Tippy tells him.

“We don’t need to go that far, you’re going overboard. We just need to save money in every way we possibly can.” 

“Then stop buying every single thing our son asks for. He doesn’t need all of that stuff anyway!” Tippy argues.

“No. I’m not going to neglect my kid, I want him to have a better childhood than I ever did. You know that. I had nothing growing up.” Ice gulps, “I had nothing… I want him to have everything.” Ice pushes back. “I grew up without a family, without anyone to look to or lean on, and I’ll be damned if my own child grows up feeling unloved and neglected.”

“What the hell does that have to do with you buying him all this useless shit?! You’re not neglecting him by telling him, ‘No, we can’t afford that right now.’ You need to set basic boundaries with our kid.” Tippy tries not to raise zeir voice, but there’s still venom.

“There’s no point in you arguing with me. I’m not changing my mind. I’ll give him whatever he wants. I’ll pick up a second job if I have to.” Vanilla speaks.

“No! You will not do either of those things!” Tippy hisses.

Ramón’s heart races as he listens to his parents argue. This is all my fault… Papa does everything I say… he probably didn’t even tell dad about how I slammed the car door or called him by his first name.

“This is ridiculous. I’m not fighting with you, Gratuity.” Vanilla uses Tippy’s full first name… Tippy’s brows frown, giving a completely distraught look as ze stays silent. The brunette man walks over to one of the cabinets and rummages around.

“Where is it?” Ice mumbles.

“What are you looking for?”

Vanilla gives Tippy a desperate look and his shoulders drop. Tippy analyzes Vanilla’s expression for a moment then quickly speaks,

“Oh no. No, you can’t be serious. You said we’re not about that life anymore, Vans.”

“We have no other choice, Tippy… we’re stuck.” Ice sighs and looks around, “Where did you put it?”

Ramón trembles, his heart pounding and adrenaline shoots into his veins, are they going to do drugs!? What is happening?! 

Ice looks around through drawers and cabinets until finally he rests his hand on the very thing he was searching for. He is about to take the object out until,

“Vanilla, wait…” Tippy touches zeir husband’s arm. Ice relaxes and looks into his husband’s eyes. “We don’t have to do this…”

The brunette keeps his hand on the object for a while… he retracts his hand and wraps Tippy up into a hug, 

“You’re right… we’ll get through this together. We’ve been through a lot worse… but…” He looks back to the drawer, “Think about it. Really think about it, sweetie.”

Tippy is silent for a few moments. Ze looks at the drawer for a while then speaks,

“Okay, big fella… Y-you’re probably right.”

Ramón is very relieved to know that his fathers are no longer arguing… although this entire argument seems rather strange in the first place. What else is going on?

A few days later

“Yeah, they’ve just been acting really weird lately.” Ramón is on a video call with his friends. Jared speaks up,

“What happened exactly? I uh, didn’t understand any of that.”

“That’s the thing, I have no idea. The fact that night my papa was reaching for something in one of the kitchen drawers really freaked me out.”

“Did you ever find out what it was?” Alex asks, getting closer to the screen.

“I tried to. But I guess whatever it was, Vanilla or daddo must’ve moved it or already taken it out before I could get to it.” Ramón plays with his hair, “On top of that, whenever I walk into the room while they’re talking… they immediately stop and pretend like they weren’t talking at all.”

"V-Vanilla?" Alex stutters quietly. She is ignored.

“Well, that’s freaking weird.” Jared snickers. “Oh, hey, did you hear about what happened to Ryan?”

“No, but I noticed he hasn’t been messing with me anymore. What happened to him?”

“Let’s just say he apparently got drunk one day and started texting everyone really weird stuff!” Jared laughs, “He even emailed the headmaster something like, ‘SUCK MY BUTT CHEEKS, OLD LADY’! Oh my god, it was awesome. I’m surprised nobody’s told you yet.”

“Huh…” Ramón remembers the fact that his papa had given his dad Ryan’s cell phone. He realizes that his fathers most likely destroyed Ryan’s reputation so badly that it caused him to finally get in trouble, and go silent.

“Karma, am I right?” Jared chuckles. Alex speaks up,

“It’s about time! Now you don’t have to get into fights anymore!” She snort laughs. “Oh yeah, and Cobie was worried about you the whole entire time.” Ramón sits up,

“They were?”

“Yeah!” Alex says. “They were sticking up for you with us, obviously.”

“But to be honest, they were probably the one to be the most defensive.”

“Wow…” Ramón lies down on the floor, feeling his cheeks heat up and his heart skip a beat.

“I legit think they like-like you, Ramón.” Jared tells him.

“Haha… yeah…” Ramón sits up and looks at his friends, “Y’know, maybe I don’t really have that much to worry about after all.”

Suddenly his door opens.

Ramón is startled, sits up in the criss-cross position, and turns around to see his fathers at the door, both smiling but looking nervous at the same time.

“Sorry! Sorry.” Tippy waves zeir hands around and chuckles awkwardly. Ice clears his throat,

“Uh, Foofy. May we speak with you for a moment?”

“Hm?!” Ramón looks to his friends on the video call. Jared immediately hangs up and Alex nervously goes,

“Uuuuuhhh, hi! Uuuhhh… bye!” Then hangs up. Ramón gives his fathers a confused and worried look,

“So… what’s up?”

“Foofy,” Ice approaches the boy and smiles warmly at him, “Your dad and I are so very proud of you.”

“It’s true, mi hijo.” Tippy tells him.

“So… we decided to get you a little gift.” Vanilla hands Ramón 3 tickets, “We should have given these to you sooner, but now is better than never.” The teenage boy gasps and takes them,

“W-what?! Are these tickets to Die-Saccharide?!” Ramón looks up at his fathers with wide, excited eyes, “Th-this is my favorite band of all time! Y-you guys remembered?! Oh my god, thank you!”

Vanilla and Tippy hug their son, then gently help him up and push him to the door.

“Wait…” Ramón looks at the tickets and his heart skips a beat, “Guys, these tickets say the show starts at 8pm… tonight.”

“That’s right!” Vanilla chuckles nervously, “So you better get going, Foofy. Go tell your friends and get a move on.”

The teenager can’t help but feel suspicious. Everything about this interaction is… off.

“But wait… right now? There’s no way Jared and Alex’s parents would let them come with me, especially not this late at night.” Ramón tells his fathers, looking a little worried. Vanilla and Tippy glance at each other then look back at their son. Ice smiles and rubs his son’s head,

“Don’t worry. We already had it taken care of, Foofs.”

“But- wait- what? How did you-? What do you mean–?”

Tippy presses Ramón’s back and Vanilla hands him his shoes,

“Please be safe and call us if you need anything, mi hijito.”

“W-wait. But-but how will I know–?” Ramón looks back and forth between his parents with startled confusion. Tippy and Vanilla look around outside, presumably for someone. The sun is starting to set, sending strands of light rays across the sky over the magenta clouds and bright orange sky. This reminds Ramón of rainbow sherbet. They send their boy off. He looks back at his fathers, then hops into the glitchy void with Sugar Crash, texting his friends on the way to the bus stop.

At the concert

Alex sips her drink and fidgets with her concert wristband, “So your fathers somehow just randomly got these tickets, huh?”

“Yes, Alex, I told you six times!” Ramón tells her. Alex continues sipping her drink,

“Maybe they didn’t realize it was for tonight! I’m just lucky my mom let me join even though it was on such short notice!” She giggles.

Jared chuckles and raises his eyebrows up and down,

“Or they probably wanted to keep you out of the house tonight so they can get it on.”

“Ewwww! No! Shut up!” Ramón gags and shakes his hands around, “Never say that again, Jared!” The tall teenager just laughs and rests his arm on top of Ramón’s head. 

The concert starts, thousands of people yell, “Die-Saccharide!” and cheer when the emo clad band members appear on stage. The lead singer, a person with short hot pink hair and heavy eyeliner lean into the mic and speak,

“Are you sugar fiends ready to get sickly sweet?”

Ramón, his friends, and the rest of the crowd scream in excitement. The electric guitarist strikes a heavy chord, then the song starts playing,

“Laughing nasty, talking back, I’m addictive like cigarettes,

Breaking bones, fighting back … I’m addictive like sugar crack.

I have your heart wrapped around my finger,

I’ll put your sugar skull right through the ringer,

To your elegy I’m the lead singer…

Take one step closer I’ll pull the trigger

You! Can’t resist my candy venom.

You! Get strangled by my serpent charm.

You! Like the way I do you harm.

You! Have fallen for my diamond eyes and you… keep clinging to my scaly lies.

It's irresistible, the taste of my cherry cola conscience

It is just terrible, how you fall for my candy coated nonsense

Be careful not to choke on my diabolical… candy venom.”

Meanwhile

Ice is pacing back and forth in the kitchen, fidgeting with his left bang and biting the inside of his cheek. Tippy nibbles on the skin around his nails, but zeir husband takes his hand gently,

“Don’t do that, sweetie.” 

The brunette moves the three wine glasses around on the table, then reads the label of red wine. He moves it around the kitchen island a little bit.

“So, uh… why is he taking so long, Vans?” Tippy asks.

“I don’t know…” Vanilla looks out one of the kitchen windows facing the road, “but he had better get here before Ramón comes back.” He shakes his head slowly.

Two Hours Later

The crowd is going bonkers. The lead singer, their eye makeup running down their face from sweat, speaks breathlessly into the mic,

“That was syrupy sweet, sugar fiends… You have been a great audience! Goodnight!” 

Ramón and his friends, exhausted but still wired from having seen their favorite band, cheer loudly. The three of them take a bus back to their neighborhood, say their goodbyes and all head back to their respective houses using their stands for safety. 

Ramón dips into Sugar Crash’s void with his head poking out, and floats back to his home.

“Huh?” Ramón pauses Sugar Crash. “W-why is there a hearse here?” Something isn’t sitting right with the teen. He sneakily glitches inside of the house, careful to be extra silent. A voice that sounds strikingly familiar rings in the air,

“Once again, my deepest apologies for showing up so late. You know how it is with the ultraviolets and my complexion.” 

Ice watches the man take a drink of his wine and nods,

“Indeed.”

Ramón can only see the back of the man’s head. Silky, golden locks cascade down the back of a pasty, alabaster skinned man. This man is sickly pale, almost translucent, as if he were a reanimated cadaver. Ramón narrows his eyes while glitched in between the wall’s existence and Sugar Crash’s void. The blonde man speaks,

“I’m thrilled that you two have decided to contact me during this time." He pauses for a moment, "I'm also happy to note that the little spell book I've gifted you has managed to work, even after all these years. Supernatural communication is quite the convenience, hm?" The man chuckles,

"What a delightful coincidence that we both needed help from one another, yes? Let’s make a deal, shall we?” He swirls the glass of wine around a bit, “I am more than willing to pay you as much money as you need, plus a bonus if you get rid of somebody for me.” He pauses for a moment.

Ramón listens closer, trembling a bit from anxiety. The young boy can’t put his finger on it but, yet again he gets this strange sense of familiarity when he hears this man’s voice. The blonde man continues after a sip of wine,

“It won’t be a team of morons like last time. It’ll be just,” He puts his finger up, “One. Person.” 

With that, he stands up and walks around the kitchen island and goes to the fridge. The man’s face is still obscured by the long strands of blonde hair. He fiddles with the fridge magnets a bit,

“Oh, that’s cute…”

Suddenly he turns and seemingly faces Ramón. Even though Ramón knows he is hidden, this makes the teenage boy’s heart stop for a moment. The man’s face is eerily familiar, which sends chills down his spine and a strike of adrenaline into his heart. It looks as if this man is staring directly into Ramón’s eyes. The blonde man smirks,

“What a lovely little family you all are.” He reaches up on the wall and takes off the picture that was hanging. The blonde walks over to Vanilla and Tippy,

“He’s… 15 now?”

“That is correct.” Ice nods. The man lazily sets the family portrait in the middle of the island counter and walks around to the couple. He gets uncomfortably close to Ice, nothing malicious, it’s as if he simply doesn’t understand the concept of personal space,

“Does he have a stand?”

It’s very tense and silent. 

“Why do you ask?” Vanilla replies.

“I think you know why I ask, Mr Ice…” Dio tells him, “He does, doesn’t he?”

The man holds his glass out to Vanilla expecting him to fill it, to which Vanilla reluctantly does. With a chuckle, the blonde looks at his drink and speaks,

“I will allow you to stay in my manor once again. It’ll be an easy task for you two to fight on my behalf and take care of this… ‘little problem’ of mine.” He takes a sip, “After all, I know how much you both have been struggling financially. Consider everything paid for, your flight, your housing, food, and other necessities. All it takes is for you to get rid of this little pest.” He sets the glass down and continues,

“Bring your son along. He can think of it as a um… oh what’s the word…? A little ‘field trip’. He’ll get a glimpse of yet another part of his fathers’ cultural background.” 

Ice lightly touches Tippy’s back, gently giving zem a reassuring rub. Tippy does the same right back to zeir husband. The blonde man sighs dreamily and looks at the wine glass, admiring his own reflection,

“It’s my understanding that your son has been to Mexico to see Gratuity’s relatives, hm? So it won’t be his first time flying in an airplane, correct?”

“Yes, Dio… that is correct.” Ice tells him.

“Grand.” Dio smirks and takes another drink of wine, “I certainly hope he has an easier time than I do when flying. I much prefer to cruise on a ship. But perhaps that’s just my age showing.” Dio chuckles and glances over at Tippy. The blue haired one nods,

“You don’t look a day over 21, Dio.”

“Ohohohoho! You’re such a lamb.” Dio grins, showing his sharp, pearly white canines. He finishes his wine and hands the glass to Ice. The blonde grabs his bag, and walks to the front door,

“I knew I could count on you two once again… although,” He looks off into the distance, “Last time your little antics cost me my head!” He cackles, “Or better yet… my entire body.” He flips his hair over his shoulder and looks at the couple, “I must go. I don’t want to keep my chauffeur waiting. You all have one week to get everything ready. I’ll meet you at my manor… don’t dawdle.” 

Dio makes his departure and leaves the couple in their home. Ramón waits a little while before sneaking back onto the front porch and opening the door with his spare key. Ice and Tippy are seated in the living room, they both jolt when they hear their son open the door.

“Ramón! You’re back already, pequeño?” Tippy asks. Vanilla makes his way over to his son,

“How was the concert, Foofy?”

“O-oh! It was awesome! Alex got so excited, she screamed so much that she lost her voice, haha!”

His fathers chuckle and nod. Ice gently touches his son’s shoulder and looks down at him with a sweet smile,

“Hey, little one… how would you like to…” He glances over at Tippy then back at Ramón, “Take a little vacation and learn about your papa’s heritage this time?”

To be continued…

[emilyshiba]

a wonderful little sapphire and a shitpost

[mourningcttlfsh]

this is dj spookyswag she was born two seconds ago in a dark alleyway i found her drinking sewage and i hope she explodes

[soulthesimmer]

meet sapphire @.shephire

lotus met sapphire when she was signed to new tastemakers where sapphire worked as an a&r. after learning that the label was dropping lotus for not producing new music quickly enough, sapphire resigned, leaving her career as an a&r behind to become lotus' manager as an independent artist.

sapphire couldn't continue to work for a company with unrealistic expectations and lack of creative vision.

she knows how rare a talent like lotus is and wants to see her become as big as she knows she can be.

cheers to a dream team in the making. 🥂

[babygirlwolverine]

had a casual lil interview today and got to dress up a lil pretty in a dress and cowboy boots (which the doctor said he loved my texan cowboy boots vibes) instead of my daily scrubs and it made me very happy 🩵

[futurelabs]

melissa has now two friends 🥰

[saphstories]

BLUE MYOSOTIS AU HAS A SOUNDTRACK GANG!!

[lozriftsintime]

The Royal Group: Chapter 1

Ruby, Sapphire, Alex, and Iolite were having an alright day so far. It was barely midday and they had already managed to finish a sword and a number of more mundane objects to sell at the market at the end of the week. Ruby had even completed a fairly complicated special-ordered necklace for one of the local nobles to give to her wife for her birthday. All in all a good day.

But all that work getting done did mean that they had been in the house, working around the forges for several hours straight. So it was probably past time for them to take a break and go outside for a little while. Sapphire would certainly appreciate moving away from the heat for a bit as well.

Gathering up their swords, they touched them together, forming into Link once more before heading out. 

It was annoying sometimes, always merging before going out, or only going out one at a time, but they weren’t really comfortable being honest about who they were with any of the locals of this era. Outside of Zelda, of course. The princess of this time had done more for them than they could properly express and they trusted her nearly as much as they had Dot. She took after her who-knows-how-many-greats grandmother, that was for sure.

But as for the rest of the townfolk? Well. Link interacted with them when they needed to, but they were well aware of how the locals thought of them. And honestly had no desire to try and fix the impression that they had made. If people wanted to judge them for how they had acted when they were freshly re-merged and in a new era far from home. Well. That was on them. Link had no time for people like that. They would deal with them in business matters, but nothing else.

Which, unfortunately, meant they keeping up the charade of being one person. Oh well. It wasn’t like they minded being merged. Not really. It was nice, in a way, sharing a body with each other. Ruby often compared it to a nice hug, or cuddle pile. And the others couldn’t really disagree.  So there wasn’t any real harm done. They just had to be careful not to talk to each other out loud while in town.

But that wasn’t a problem out here in the forest. Out here they could just be themselves. And if that meant talking to ‘themself’ out loud then that was fine. There was no one around to see.

Or. At least there usually wasn’t. But the two voices they could hear coming from not far away put paid to the idea that they were alone today. Unfamiliar voices at that.

A small frown worked its way onto their face as they adjusted their path to start in the direction of the people talking. There were two voices. No. Three. And all of them were unfamiliar. Link’s curiosity meant there was no way they weren’t going to investigate these voices, but their caution meant they made their way towards the sounds with quiet steps. 

Following the voices led Link to where a small clearing broke up the thick array of trees and brush that made up this particular area of the forest. Link was fairly familiar with this area, so it was child’s play to make their way to a thicker part of the underbrush and peer out at the three people standing in the clearing.

/They look like a set of steps,/ Sapphire’s dry humor cut through their thoughts before any of them could do more than start to take in the people in front of them.

/Sapphire!/ Ruby’s tone was clearly trying to be scolding, but the amusement he was feeling made it hard to take it seriously. 

/What?/ Sapphire drawled, amused. /I’m right and you know it./ And, to be fair, she really was. There was a fairly distinct height difference between the three figures. 

The shortest stood facing away from them and was maybe a foot taller than Link did, so fairly average in height. And they had long, curly, blond hair with what looked like a pink tint to it. Their tunic was a bright red with a green undershirt and their hat was purple with a blue edge. Needless to say Link approved of their color scheme. Even if the blue was far too light a shade. Though Link could do without the multiple gold adornments they were wearing. From wrist bracers to shoulder pauldrons this person was clearly not ashamed of their wealth. Strangely enough, they didn’t appear to be wearing any pants, despite the fact their tunic only went down to just above their knees. 

The next tallest, standing over a foot taller than the first, had short, messy, brown hair and bright blue eyes. Unlike the other two, this person was wearing something that was far more obviously built for protection. Grey leather crossed most of their chest and covered their wrists. All of which sat on top of a blue-green tunic and grey long-sleeve undershirt. Unlike the first person, this one was, in fact, wearing pants. And they matched the shade of the tunic exactly. The whole thing seemed very put together, like it was a set. Well. Almost the whole thing. The only thing that stood out as different was a well-worn red, cloth belt that was wrapped around their waists, under their belts.

The other main thing of note about the second individual were the dark markings they could see lining their face. They were unusual, to say the least. They were too straight and distinct to be scars, but they didn’t look like tattoos either. How odd. 

The final figure was another good half a foot or so taller than the second, leaving them towering over the first. Their clothes were of a far different style than the other two, made up entirely of a light and loose-fitting jacket and pair of pants. Both of the articles of clothing were black with intricate designs embroidered on them. Flowers mostly, but Link was fairly sure they caught sight of the symbol of Din on the jacket too. The clothes weren’t anything like Link had ever seen Hyrulians wear before. And if you paired that with the bright red hair and golden eyes that this figure was sporting. Well. There was really only one conclusion.

/She’s Gerudo,/ Iolite noted with interest. /I’m surprised one of the desert people is this far from the desert./

/How do you know they’re a she?/ Ruby asked curiously.

/According to the books I found Gerudo only have one male born every hundred years,/ Iolite explained. /And we’ve already met the male from this century./ Link frowned, mind drifting momentarily to Ganondorf before they mentally shook the thought away

/So most likely she, then,/ Alex acknowledged as they watched the three figures talk.

All three people were clearly armed, with two of them wearing a shield and a sword and the Gerudo woman having what looked like a spear strapped to her back along with her shield. They all held themselves like fighters too, for all they didn’t appear to be currently gearing up to fight. These weren’t people Link wanted to tangle with if they didn’t have—wait.

Read the rest Here

[sapphire-writes]

and we're back baby 🤭 coming soon:

Under The Mistletoe: A Down In Flames Story

[best-underrated-anime]

Group K Round 1 winners are out!

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

Sugar Crash Void Bash: The Fanfic!

CWs: Familial arguing, teen angst, misunderstandings, heartbreak

chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 4 chapter 5

Chapter 6: Cupcake Heartbreak

chapter 7 chapter 8

“OW! UNGH!!!” Ramón gets smacked up against the wall by Cream’s arm. Sugar Crash is frantically zipping around back and forth, glitching around and causing Cream to growl and cover his eyes. Vanilla pops out of Cream’s mouth,

“Ramón.”

“What?!” The pink haired boy hisses at his papa. Sugar Crash glitches behind him, helping his master up by going through the wall. Vanilla pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs with annoyance,

“Look, instead of irritating the hell out of poor Cream,” Cream regurgitates his master and rubs his eyes making whines akin to that of an injured dog, “Try taking my advice.”

“Tch, well, if what I’m doing works then why change it?” Ramón scoffs and stands up. Vanilla bites his teeth and his eyes widen, further getting agitated by his own child. He puffs out his cheeks and exhales slowly,

“There will come a time where this little ‘snake charming light show’ won’t work. You are going to have to start fighting back properly.”

“Yeah, I have fought back ‘properly’, Vanilla.” Ramón crosses his arms and looks away, venom in his voice at that last word. Ice shakes his head with irritation at the disrespect, and adjusts his hair bun. My god, this child reminds me a little too much of how Tippy used to act. 

“Then please,” Ice cools down a bit, “By all means, child, fight back. Right now. Let’s go.” He snaps. Ramón glares at his papa and refuses to listen. “Did you hear me? Come here! You need to train your stand.”

“Why are we doing this anyway?” The teen sneers, Sugar Crash tilts his head robotically. 

“Because…” Ice thinks for a moment, I don’t know whether to tell him or just make something up. Dio told us to keep things a secret for the time being. I need to think of something, fast! The brunette looks to his upper right, “This will help you maintain control of your stand. Sugar Crash is very unstable.”

“So?” Ramón scoffs.

“So,” Ice grits his teeth, takes a deep breath and sighs, “So, you can stop getting in so much trouble. I know it’s not your fault, Foofy. Your stand–”

“Dad’s stand isn’t all that stable either. He still disappears when he gets scared,” Ramón interrupts Vanilla, “It’s not like your stand is any better. And what kind of stupid name is ‘Cream’ anyway? Shouldn’t that thing be named something like ‘Void Master’ or ‘Soul Executioner’? Or maybe ‘The Reaper’ or some shit?”

“Watch your language, first of all.” Vanilla stomps to his son, actually intimidating Ramón a little bit. Ice doesn’t normally get angry, especially not at Ramón, which surprises the teen very much. His voice isn’t raised, but he is still very stern,

“I will not tolerate this disrespectful attitude, young man. I don’t know where this sudden attitude even came from, but you need to knock it off.”

Ramón looks up into his papa’s eyes, both of them getting even more infuriated by the second. The teenager decides to test the waters and push his papa’s buttons,

“Whatever you say, Vanilla.”

Ice clenches his fist, squeezes his eyes shut and grunts with frustrations,

“Fine! Let’s just… take a break for now.”

“It’s about time.” Ramón walks away. Cream looks down at Sugar Crash and speaks in his low, beastly voice,

“That could’ve gone better.”

Later on

Tippy is reading the spellbook, studying the fusion spell on the page. He analyzes the magic scripture deeply,

“Well, there’s no doubt about it,” Tippy looks up at Emmanuel, “There is a way to do a quick-fuse without reciting the whole spell.”

“That’s amazing!” Emi nods and curiously takes a look at the page, “So uh… what do you do exactly?”

“Vanilla and I will have to enchant ourselves. It’s kinda hard to explain, but lemme try,”

Tippy paces around the room, very animated, 

“So, he and I will have to enchant ourselves– I said that already. Anyway, we douse ourselves in the magic, we create our own quick-fuse spell with a gesture and a magic word.”

“Cool!” Emi chuckles and swings his arms back and forth.

“I think we could go like this!” Tippy makes a heart shape with his hands and shouts, “HEART!” he smiles, “Then if we wanted to unfuse and not wait 12 hours, we could yell, ‘APART!’ as Razz.”

“Razz, huh? Is that what you two are called while you’re fused?” Emi smirks.

“Yep! I– well, Mr Dio came up with the name. ‘Razz’ is actually short for ‘Blue Raspberry… Slushy’ or something like that. It’s like a–, well, from what I can remember, the name is based on a dessert that’s blue raspberry shaved ice with vanilla ice cream on top.” Tippy explains.

“Sounds tasty.” Emmanuel grins, imagining what the frozen treat tastes like.

Ice and Ramón walk into the room, both clearly very peeved with each other as if they were both cats with their backs arched and hackles raised.

“Hey, cous’! Hey, little man!” Emi waves at his two relatives, very pleased to see them. The father and son calm down a bit, shake off their irritation a little, and greet their relative.

“Good afternoon, Emmanuel.” Vanilla cordially responds. Ramón waves,

“What’s up?”

“Tip and I were discussing some pretty interesting information.” Emi pats Tippy’s back, “Looks like you two are going to have to practice being fused together again.” Ice gets a wave of realization and remembrance. He looks to his lower left then back at Emmanuel,

“It’s been so long since we’ve done that,” Ice looks at his husband and gives a warm smile, “It was quite the experience, wasn’t it sweetie?”

“Yeah! I mean… I agree that it was fun and cool, but… our stands when they’re both fused are just...” Tippy looks concerned. Before Ice can say anything, Dio appears in a chair, startling the group,

“I told you not to worry about that mess, Gratuity.” Everyone turns to him as he’s filing his sharp, black, talons. The vampire swiftly blows air from his pursed lips, dusting off the nail particles from his fingertips,

“As I have stated previously, Razz will need to use Volatile Amethyst, rather than keep him hidden. By all means, let that unpredictable stand be unpredictable. He’ll probably know how to–” Dio stops as soon as he notices Ramón, unsure of whether or not to reveal the true reason everyone is here in the first place, “how to… learn and maintain obedience.”

Vanilla senses Tippy’s hesitance and resistance to fusing again, so he makes his way over to zem. Ice wraps his arm over Tippy’s shoulders and gives zem a warm smile,

“Don’t worry, my sweet darling… Amethyst will be the least of our worries.” He leans down and gives his beloved a delicate kiss on the head, “Besides… being Razz was such a beautiful experience. I remember it fondly. I believe that fusing is quite possibly the most intimate thing you could do with another person.”

Tippy chuckles and leans against Vanilla, nuzzling zeir head into his chest. Dio scoffs and makes a remark,

“Are you sure about that, Ice?” The blonde smirks and winks at him. Vanilla gives Dio a scolding look, his eyes darting back and forth from Dio to Ramón,

“There is a child present.”

Emmanuel laughs. Ramón rolls his eyes,

“Yeah, well. I already know what you all are talking about. I’m not a ‘child’, I’m 15.” Ice turns his attention to his son,

“You don’t know that much and you’re way too young to be listening in on these adult conversations anyway.”

“Tch, I know way more than you think I know.” Ramón crosses his arms and looks away, very infuriated with his papa. Tippy grimaces, Emmanuel stands there uncomfortably, and Dio is amused and staying silent. Ice’s eye twitches,

“Excuse me?”

“You’re excused, Vanilla.” Ramón sasses. Tippy gasps, bewildered,

“Ramón!”

Dio smirks to himself, enjoying the familial drama unfolding in front of him. Emmanuel is very uncomfortable and has no idea how to respond. He awkwardly fidgets with his ponytail and watches. Ice is very embarrassed and appalled at his child’s behavior,

“What has gotten into you, child?!”

“I am not a child.” Ramón grits his teeth and blurts out. He stomps away furiously, passing Emmanuel. Ice’s brows furrow and he follows after his son,

“Is that any way to behave?!”

Tippy holds onto Vanilla’s arm and pulls him back, 

“Vans, Vans!” Vanilla turns to face his partner. Tippy gives his husband a sorrowful look, “Just… let him cool off.” Vanilla looks back at the empty doorway, very ashamed of the way his own son has been acting in front of others.

Outside

On the steps leading up to the front door, Ramón is sitting on the stoop with his knees tucked into his chin, stewing in his thoughts. He hears somebody walking behind him, but refuses to look.

“Hey, little man.” Emi’s voice fills Ramón’s ears, much to both his surprise and his relief. The teenager moves his head away from the sound of his second cousin’s voice. Emmanuel sits down next to Ramón with a little grunt and sigh, joints popping a little, 

“Not going to lie, that wasn’t very cool of you back there.”

Ramón’s brows furrow with frustration, ignoring the adult next to him. He curls in on himself even more, clenching at the fabric of his tights. Emmanuel notices this, closes his eyes, inhales through his nose calmly, and leans in a little more, putting on a more empathetic tone,

“And I think you know that.”

Ramón’s face softens a bit, and his shoulders noticeably relax, but he still refuses to look at his relative. Emi tilts his head and continues,

“Look,” He rubs his eye a little bit, “I’m not going to be all preachy or… act all high and mighty and tell you that you need to march your behind back in there and apologize to everyone. Although, that would be nice.” He smiles and inhales, “It’s up to you after all.”

He leans back and rests his arm on one of the steps, waiting for the teen to respond. Ramón’s stubbornness takes hold and it’s quite a while before he replies. The pink haired boy turns towards Emi slightly,

“Why are you even out here with me anyway, Em?”

“I just figured you might need somebody to talk to.” Emmanuel gives a warm smile to his second cousin, “Eh, but what would I know? I’m just a 43 year old man.” He pops his back and grunts, “Hell, I still don’t even know what I want to be when I grow up.” Emi smirks. Ramón looks up at his second cousin with a playfully incredulous look with a small smile. Emmanuel laughs heartily, making Ramón chuckle and relax even more. The two relatives sit next to one another and look out at the mansion’s yard, viewing the scenery. Emi leans in a little to Ramón,

“It’s kind of… dry out here, don’t you think?”

“Pffft, well duh, Em, it’s a desert.” Ramón teases. They both chuckle. 

“You know something, Ramón?”

“What’s that?”

“I think you have a lot of potential, not just with your stand but… in general. Don’t be discouraged by the obstacles that come your way.” Emi turns to his family member with a proud smile.

The Next Day

“Are you ready, you two?” Dio looks up from the spellbook. Tippy nods and gets into a ready stance. Ice nods and puts one leg behind him, also ready and waiting.

“Get in position. Get set… GO!” Dio shouts, signaling the two gentlemen to run into each other. They both make a heart shape with their hands, but unfortunately end up crashing into each other and falling on their behinds. The vampire face palms with an annoyed grunt,

“Let’s try this again… and this time,” He points to either direction with his manicured talon, “start from further away, you imbeciles.”

“Hmph!” Tippy rubs his nose and pouts. Ice rubs his chest, stands, then holds his hand out to help up his beloved. Tippy smiles and is pulled up by Vanilla,

“Thanks, babe.”

The couple head back to their previous places, take a few steps back, get in position… then rush towards each other. They both make a heart shape with their hands against their chests,

“HEART!” the two yell and crash into each other. Only this time, instead of smashing their bodies together and falling on the ground, they clash into a ball of white light. Fusing together in a magical veil of golden white light… Vanilla and Tippy are revealed to be…

Blue Raspberry Slush Float!

Razz flips the brown side of his hair over his right shoulder. He looks down at Dio, Emi, and Jonathan. Emi rubs his right eye, and pretends to rub his eye patch in a joking manner, looking up at Razz in disbelief. He gasps, absolutely in awe,

“Well, I have to admit, I have never ever seen a man this tall in my life!” he sways around, getting a better look at Razz, “Nor have I ever seen anyone fuse together before for that matter.”

“Hmhm, quite,” Dio dismissively waves his hand, “Now then… it’s a pleasure to see you yet again… Razz.” 

Razz raises an eyebrow, lids hooded, glancing around the room with his knuckles resting against his hips. He gives a soft scoff, his voice very sultry and smooth, not quite Vanilla’s and not quite Tippy’s,

“Long time, no see, Brando.”

“Mhm,” Dio gives a half scowl half smirk, “Watch it, boy, don’t forget who you work for.” he drums his talons on the spellbook then clears his throat, “Now then, break away back into two.”

Razz crosses his arms and looks at Dio past his nose,

“What’s the point of showing up if I just have to leave again?”

“He’s got a point.” Emmanuel nods. Dio gives an exasperated sigh and points his finger up at the 7 foot tall man,

“Just break away to show me that you are able to, then you can go back to being yourself for as long as you want.”

“Pffft,” Razz blows a lock of blue hair out of his face before holding his hands in a heart shape over his chest, “APART!” he “breaks” the heart hand gesture apart. He is engulfed in a shroud of magical white light, breaking apart into two separate people once again. Vanilla and Tippy fall on their behinds onto the floor. Dio chuckles,

“Excellent. Alright, very well. Now you two can fuse once again. Just… get it out of your system so I don’t have to deal with a bratty fusion later.”

Ice and Tippy shake off their dizziness, wobble a bit while standing back up, then attempt to fuse again,

“HEART!”

Only this time, neither of them fuse together. They both look confused and pause for a moment,

“Uh… HEART!” 

Still nothing.

The two gentlemen look over at Dio, Tippy tilts his head with confusion while Vanilla scratches his scalp with a raised eyebrow. Emi turns to Dio,

“I uh,” Dio turns to Emi to listen, “don’t think it’s gonna work this time, pal.”

Dio sighs, touches his forehead, and shakes his head. He walks over to the couple and gives them each a glance. The vampire flicks out his reading glasses and squints at the spellbook while adjusting the glasses on his face,

“Yes, yes… it appears to me that the 12 hour rule still stands, even with the ‘quick-fuse’ spell.”

“Well, that’s not fair!” Tippy pouts. Vanilla’s brows furrow and he sighs,

“There has to be some way to bypass that rule.”

“Mmmm, I’m afraid not, dear.” Dio closes the book, “It looks like you two will have to allow the spell to cool down, and use that ‘un-fuse’ technique only when absolutely necessary.” The blonde points his finger at the two. 

Emi chuckles and crosses his arms,

“Now there’s an offer you can’t ‘re-fuse’! Ahahaha!” 

The three gentlemen look over at Emmanuel, which causes his cheeks to heat up from feeling awkward,

“Er…” He rubs his neck and smiles sheepishly, “That joke sounded funnier in my head. Eheh.”

That Night

“No kidding?” Tippy looks up at Emi while they both walk down the hallway. 

“I swear it!” Emmanuel enthusiastically raises his hands, “I thought those men were for sure going to end my life at that very moment. Luckily, Slick Shadow was there to aid me.”

Tippy tilts zeir head and zeir eyes are completely awestricken,

“Wow! You must’ve been terrified…”

“Oh, I was. It was awful,” Emi looks at his hands, “My palms were sweaty, my knees were weak, my arms were heavy–”

The two in-laws meet Ice in the kitchen. Emi points at the pot on the stove that his cousin is tending to,

“Are we having spaghetti already?”

Vanilla turns to see his cousin and husband in the archway,

“Hm? Oh, yes. I figured I would make Italian food tonight. How are things?” Emi pulls out a chair for Tippy to sit, patting zeir back. The blue haired one is a little surprised but flattered nonetheless,

“Gosh, I guess being a gentleman runs in the family.”

Ice squints and gives Emi a vicious side eye while clutching the pasta ladle in his fist. Emmanuel grimaces nervously and steps aside,

“Yeah! Uh, ahem,” He awkwardly makes his way over to his cousin, looking up at him with a grin, “So, how did training go with the little man, cous’?”

Vanilla’s face twists into an exasperated look. After a defeated sigh and a glance at his family member,

“All I have to say is, he definitely is his daddy’s son, that much is for certain.” He points with his eyes at Tippy. It takes a few seconds for zem to realize he’s talking about zem,

“Wha–? Hey!” Ze puts zeir hands on zeir hips, “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

Emi and Ice chuckle, giving Tippy adoring looks. Emi looks up at his cousin,

“In all seriousness, cous’, don’t worry about it. Your kid’ll get a better understanding of his powers soon.”

“I can only hope so.” Ice sighs and stops stirring the pot for a moment, knocking the pasta ladle against it to get the excess water off, “It’s not just his stand I’m worried about though.” Tippy leans over the table and speaks,

“I know, baby, but you have to remember that he’s still a kid–”

“Don’t let him hear you say that, he’ll throw a fit.” Ice’s words slip out, coated in venom. This makes zem worry when ze hears Vanilla speak in such a manner, “I can’t even punish him properly, he just– he just won’t listen to me, Tippy. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

“You’re not doing anything wrong, Vans.” Tippy stands up and walks over to Ice. Ze touches his bicep gently and looks up at him, “Ramón’s just going through his rebellious phase. It’ll pass.”

“Well, I wish it would pass sooner. Our lives are on the line and we need this money.” Vanilla rubs his forehead, “I don’t understand why L– why DIO… why Dio even wanted us to keep this entire ordeal a secret from our son in the first place. It makes no sense, it’s not like it would make a difference, considering the fact that undead bastard wants Ramón to join us in battle.”

“I have no idea.” Tippy shakes zeir head, “It just seemed like kind of a useless–”

“I did it so he wouldn’t refuse to come with you.” Dio’s voice fills the room, startling the three and sending a sprinkle of adrenaline into their chests. He steps out from the shadows, eyes glowing yellow, “That child of yours is a smart one, however. It appears to me, plain as day, that he may have already caught on. Perhaps he may even have known from the beginning.”

Dio looks around the room, scanning the faces of the gentlemen in front of him,

“I’ve been observing that boy closely. I will admit, it was quite unintelligent of me to ask such a silly task of you two,” He inhales, placing his hands behind his back and pacing, “However… Ice, I need you to be more bold with him. You’re bigger than him, older, wiser. You need to get that boy to listen to you and get control of his stand.” 

“I-I have been trying, sire,” Vanilla speaks, not even realizing what he just called Dio.

“Mmm, obviously not enough. Don’t think I can’t hear you two bicker incessantly each and every time you both so much as glance at one another the wrong way.” The blonde raises an eyebrow, “I mean it, Ice. Get control of that son of yours, so he can get control of his stand… and eventually his attitude.” He walks out of the kitchen without another word. 

Vanilla sighs, once again feeling defeated and humiliated.

“Hey, cous’?”

“Not now, Emmanuel, nothing you can say will make me feel better.”

“Uh… I was just going to say that the spaghetti is boiling over.” Emi points to the pot, overflowing with scalding hot pasta foam. Vanilla scrambles to turn down the stove. He carefully yet frantically places the pot on the adjacent burner to allow the food to simmer down. 

3:25 am

Ramón sneakily opens the door to his room, looking around cautiously just in case anyone were to catch him being awake at this hour. The pink haired teen glitches out with Sugar Crash, further adding to his stealth. 

Carefully, the young boy glitches into the kitchen for a midnight snack. As soon as he lands on the linoleum floor, he hears a sharp gasp. Ramón gasps as well and steps back a bit. Emmanuel blinks his right eye quickly, holding a spoon and a tub of strawberry ice cream. Ramón scans Emi’s face, noticing that his left eye is a slightly closed empty socket, which makes the teen instinctively back away even further. 

Emmanuel’s brows frown. He gives a nervous chuckle, with slightly hurt feelings,

“Uh… hey.”

“H-hey.” Ramón grins awkwardly. Emi slowly puts a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, still keeping eye contact with his second cousin. 

“So… what are you doing up, little man?” 

“Just wanted a snack is all.” Ramón makes his way to the fridge. He looks inside of the refrigerator, pushing aside a few items, including a jar that appears to have a blonde woman’s head inside, “Yeesh.” Ramón mumbles and grimaces at the sight. The head pouts with narrowed eyes as she is pushed aside in favor of a hidden candy bar,

“Hmph.”

The teen unwraps the candy bar and takes a bite, leaving the fridge door open as he speaks to Emi,

“I just–” He chews and swallow, pointing the candy bar at his relative, “I just don’t get it. Why do parents have to be so weird?”

“Tell me about it, kid.” Emi takes another mouthful of ice cream.

“I mean, Vanilla is just too overbearing. It’s like he’s always constantly looking over my shoulder.” Ramón takes another bite of candy, “And my dad. He’s like the exact opposite! He’s like, hardly ever there to begin with. Dad’s always working on something, but when he does come home, he essentially just treats me like a roommate rather than a son.” Ramón sighs and leans up against the freezer-side door of the refrigerator, “It’s like I’m either treated like a three year old by my papa, or a total stranger by my dad…” Ramón takes another bite.

Emmanuel is silent for a few moments. He looks down to his lower right for a second, then speaks,

“That sounds tough… If it was up to you, what would you want to happen differently?” 

Ramón sighs, leaning his head back on the freezer door,

“I just… I just want my fathers to maybe,” he waves his half eaten candy bar around a little, “meet in the middle and stop being so weird when it comes to everything.”

“Weird?” Emmanuel leans up against the counter next to Ramón.

“Yeah, weird. I mean, my papa hardly knows about my life outside of home, other than I’ve been being bullied by some stupid jerk.” He rolls his eyes, “If he were to find out about my crush, he would freak out. It would turn into a lecture about how,” he mocks his papa’s voice, “I’m ‘much too young, Foofy. You should be thinking about your studies instead of relationships’. Pleh…” Ramón grabs a soda from the fridge.

“That sounds pretty lame.” Emi chuckles and allows the teenager to continue,

“Not only that but whenever I talk to my dad about my relationship problems, he always goes off on a tangent about all of his failed relationships back when he was a teenage girl.” 

“Ah… so two completely different parenting styles, eh?”

“Oh, you just figured it out?” Ramón speaks sarcastically. He slams back his soda, gulping, then letting out a belch.

“Whoa, excuse you.”

“Yeah, sorry, sorry.” Ramón rubs his neck. Emi belches even louder then laughs. Ramón gives him a bewildered look, then chuckles. The teen inhales, a little more at ease, and looks down at his soda can for a bit before continuing, “I guess I’m just frustrated is all… Papa keeps trying to hug and kiss me even though I keep telling him not to. Meanwhile, my dad avoids any kind of physical contact with me like I have the freaking plague.”

“Jeez.” Emi replies, letting his family member know he’s listening attentively. The teen looks down,

“Well… okay, maybe that isn’t entirely true.” He pauses for a moment, “Papa is trying to stop smothering me, and daddo does hug me back when I initiate hugs anyway. It’s not like they’re not trying.” The pink haired young man takes another sip of his soda, “I dunno, Em.”

“Hey, you’re just a bit stressed out right now, little man.” Emmanuel gives him a warm smile, brushing his long, dark brown hair over his shoulder, “Not only are you thousands of miles from home, but you’re dealing with both external and internal issues that you feel like nobody else understands.”

Ramón nods,

“Y-yeah. Yeah, exactly!” He points his finger, while holding the soda can. He takes another sip, “Ah… I don’t really know what to do, Em. My papa keeps shoving this stupid stand training down my throat. Every time he talks to me, it’s like he’s looking down on me.”

“Well, he is over 200 centimeters tall.” Emi cracks a joke. Ramón raises an eyebrow at his family member, “Sorry, sorry.” Emi rubs his neck.

“It’s like he doesn’t even see me as anything but a little kid. I’ll be, like, 21 and he’d still treat me like his ‘little Foofy’, ugh.” Ramón shudders and cringes. Emmanuel gives his relative an empathetic smile,

“I think that’s true though.”

“What?” Ramón has a very offended look on his face.

“No no no, hear me out,” Emi sets down the ice cream tub and spoon, “Look, look… he’s your parent, of course he doesn’t want to believe that you’re growing up. In his eyes, you’ll always be his little boy.”

“Tch, you sound like my dad.” Ramón looks down, dejected.

“I mean, he’s right, isn’t he?” Emi leans in a little closer to his relative, “It may not seem like it now, but one day you’re going to look back on times like this and wish you could go back. I told you this once but I’ll go ahead and say it again,” Emi nods, “Cherish each moment you have with the family you have.”

“Ugh! Would you stop doing that?!” Ramón snaps, “No amount of stupid sappy, ‘friendship and love’ talk is going to make anything better!”

“Jeez, sor-ry, little man. I was just trying to…” His voice trails off. Emi picks up the spoon and tub of strawberry ice cream, which is far too melted, and continues,

“Ah, get some rest, little man.” 

Ramón moves out of the way so Emi can put away the treat. The teenager leans up against the open fridge door. 

“Ahem hem.” A smooth, delicate woman’s voice fills the room. The two family members look inside the fridge,

“If… I may interject,” She looks back and forth between each gentleman, “I’d say that there appears to be quite the lack of communication in your family. Now, now, not just with you, darling, but your entire family.” 

Ramón and Emi look at each other in shared awe, then back at the speaking head in a jar as she carries on,

“Yes, it is quite unfortunate, the lack of social connection amongst you three.” She shakes herself lightly, giving Ramón a pitied expression, “I certainly believe that you lot could benefit from speaking with one another. Just tell your parents directly how you are feeling. I’m sure they would be open to adjusting their behaviors in order to fit your comfort better.”

Ramón forlornly looks down into her sparkling emerald eyes. The teen sighs,

“I wish it was that easy…” he looks up at Emmanuel, then back at the woman’s head, “Thanks for the advice though, ma’am. Hope you have a good night.”

“Any time, young man, any time.” She smiles and closes her eyes as Ramón gently shuts the fridge door.

Emmanuel brushes his fingers through his dark brown hair as he walks besides Ramón. The man looks down at his second cousin with bafflement,

“What the hell just happened?”

“I have no idea.” Ramón shrugs with slightly wide eyes.

The Next Day

SCREEEEEEEEEAUGH!!! Cream shrieks. Sugar Crash glitches out of the way of Cream’s arm, swooping around to the back of the zombie-like stand. Cream turns around, quicker than a bolt of lightning, back-hand smacking the small robotic stand up against the wall. This sends Ramón flying up against a wall too. Ice lets out a short, exasperated sigh. He walks over to his son with his hands on his hips. Ice says nothing, just shakes his head in disappointment.

“Don’t.” Ramón hisses, standing up. 

“You need to treat Sugar Crash as if you are him. Yes, your stand is a tool to work with, but they are also extensions of your soul.” Vanilla explains to his child.

“I have been doing that!” Ramón bites his teeth.

“Then try to land a hit on me!” 

“I would, but you’re using your full weight and power. You don’t get it, Vanilla, I’m trying my damndest and you keep showing off, then acting like I’m not doing anything right!” Ramón yells.

“You need to watch your mouth, boy,” Vanilla’s eyes darken as he makes his way over to the teen, “I have absolutely had it with your disrespect, Ramón. Give me your phone.”

“What?! No way!”

“Give me your phone. Now.” 

Ramón reaches into his skirt pocket and angrily hands Ice his phone.

“Thank you. You can have it back when we get home.”

“That’s not fair! What the hell?!” Ramón complains, “You can’t do that!”

“I can and I will. I am your father and you will obey me.” Ice points at his son, “Now then. Here’s what I want you to do,” The brunette gestures to Cream, “You are going to use your ‘glitch out’ power to stealthily sneak up behind Cream and strike him.”

“Um, I have been trying to do that, Vanilla.” Ramón speaks snarkily. Ice’s abs tense up and his eye twitches,

“You need to stop referring to me by my first name, young man.” Ice gets into a fighting stance, Cream is mirroring his position, “Now, please. Do as I say.”

For about an hour and a half, every single time, no matter what Ramón does, Vanilla is able to defeat him or disarm him. The teenager gets more and more incensed, thus making his attacks less accurate and more frantic. Cream ends up pinning Ramón and Sugar Crash onto the ground. Sugar Crash glitches out, causing both Ramón and Cream to glitch around as well. Cream whimpers and releases the teen and his stand. Ice clutches his chest, realizing that the feeling of glitching out like a corrupted video game character, is very jarring.

Ice’s heart flutters in his chest, making him cough and tremble a bit. The glitching subsides and Ramón rubs his head, still lying on the ground while watching his papa.

“You are not following my orders!” Vanilla’s patience has worn thin, “Ramón, you have to listen to me. This is serious. You can’t just disregard my advice each and every time and expect to win against me.” Ramón ignores him with a scowl. The teen stands up, dusts himself off, and starts stalking away.

“I am your father, and you should take my advice!”

Ramón rolls his eyes and continues to walk away with his hands in his skirt pockets. Ice calls over to the teen,

“You never listen to me! What have I ever done to you, child?”

 Ramón becomes furious. The teenager whips around and shouts, 

“I have only had Sugar Crash for a year and a half, and you put way too much pressure on me!” Ramón steps closer to Vanilla,

“You get in my private business, you embarrass me in public, you smother me, you are always looming over my shoulder just waiting for me to fuck up so you can give me a 6 hour lecture.”

“I-I don’t do that–” Ice tries to defend himself. Ramón is having none of it,

“You freak out every time I so much as look at another person in my class with attraction, you treat me like a toddler, and you constantly question my intelligence!” Ramón screams, tears stinging his eyes. He gulps and continues, holding back angry tears, “I shouldn’t even have to listen to you in the first place because you’re not even my real father, ‘Ezekiel’, and neither is Gratuity!” 

Vanilla’s heart shatters and can’t even speak. His honey cocoa eyes are wide with grief. Hearing what slips out of his own son’s mouth, destroys Ice from the inside out. They both look at each other completely speechless. The silence is deafening. The painful pounding in Ice’s chest, beats in his eardrums. When Ramón sees tears in his papa’s eyes and the absolutely anguished look on his face, he goes from angry to regretful and shakes his head, 

“W-wait…” 

Vanilla’s face goes from hurt to cold and blank. His chest feels like it’s filled with shards of glass shredding his heart to bits. He swallows his feelings and doesn’t look at Ramón. Vanilla’s voice is filled with dejection,

“I’m sorry…” 

“I-I–” Ramón stutters but can’t seem to find his voice. Vanilla speaks for him,

“It’s time we turn in for the night.” Ice walks away. Ramón is terrified. He has never seen his papa act like this before. 

An hour later

Ramón’s conscience is wracked with guilt. The pink haired teen paces down the hallways, fidgeting nervously. The argument and his outburst replays in his head. Every little thing that he said just hammers into his brain. He knows that he needs to reconcile with his papa. Em was right… that woman’s head in the jar was right too. I need to fix this and I need to fix it now. He inhales and heads to his fathers’ bedroom to apologize.

Something crosses his ears that stops him dead in his tracks.

The eerie sound is… Vanilla sniffling and sobbing hysterically and telling Tippy what happened. 

Ramón has never seen nor heard his papa cry in his life. He has seen and heard Tippy cry many times before, but Vanilla has always been the voice of reason. He was always the one who would comfort Ramón and Tippy. He was always the protector. 

Yet, here Vanilla is, sobbing his eyes out from heartbreak. Vanilla speaks through breathless, mournful sobs, 

“I-I know he doesn't understand the magnitude of what he said." Ice sniffles, "It hurts, Tippy, it hurts so damn bad. Hearing my own son… the child I saved, held in my arms… the child I-I raised… the child I love so dearly, curse at me with the name I lay to rest…” Ice doesn’t finish his sentence, he buries his face into the soft space of Tippy’s chest and shoulder, wailing from grief. Ice is usually very soft spoken, gentlemanly, poised, and hardly ever gets truly angry or sad… hearing Ice bawl like this sends a twisting, wrenching pain through Ramón’s ribcage.

Ramón’s cheeks drip from tears as he covers his mouth. He wants to apologize but he can’t bring himself to, 

“Papa…”

To be continued…

[groupalpha]

Hello!

Just some general information to know!

•Characters available for Asks (All these character links will take you to their toyhouse pages) The Collector (TC) Collector's Campaign takes place between Gourmand and Survivor Endless Beyond (EB, Beyond) Thirteen Elder Stories (13ES, Stories) Twelve Far Away Dreams (12FAD, Dreams) Extracted Prism Sunsets (EPS, Prism) Ruby Skies by Sapphire Shores (RSbSS, Ruby) Last String of Life (LSoL, String) Eight Crashing Tides (8CT, Tides) Sunrise Solar and Starlight Lunar (SS, Solar. SL, Lunar)

•Current story/objective Destroy the "communication" towers of group alpha, and meet the other iterators along the journey. Destroying Unkempt Forest's tower •This blog will get serious at certain times. It will also have rain world and downpour spoilers, and hc's about cannon events! •If you want to know the lore so far, here's this lore masterpost I made!

•Blog info • Asks are in Communication Towers, while submissions are in Pearl Messages •Please don't do anything to break official rain world lore, or try to break my lore.

^Don't mess with the communications or anything please! ^Don't put any iterator ocs near group alpha's territory! ^ Specific mods like mouse drag and such are fine. Custom creatures, custom regions, and etc are not. • OC interactions, and such are allowed! Make sure to place the blog in the ask! ^Asks are sent through radio waves unless specified. ^Magic anons are allowed. Just don’t spam them please! •Wednesdays and Thursdays are going to be almost no ask days as I have work and college. Tuesdays I have off. I'll be inactive around 3 pm to 9/10pm est most days.

Tags, other blogs, and unrevealed characters links under cut!

• Tag Info • #ga comic + #ga lore = Lore and Comics. Important info for story. If you want to look at it in order, go here! • #ga world building + #ga regions + #ga fauna and flora = Info about Group Alpha's territory. (If you'd want to see the maps better, they can be found here!) • #ga broadcast = Group Alpha Broadcasts • #dust reblogs + #dust rp + #dusts art + #ga gifts + #dust talks = Misc things that are semi related to blogs, updates, gifts for me, ga related art, and other fun stuff!

•If you ask me questions, make sure it's blog related! If you want to ask me something non blog, go to one of these blogs: @dustyfandomtrashbin (main) , @dustballdrawsartwork (Art), or @disclosed-spire (Rain World side blog).

Group Alpha discord server post!

Threats of Ongoing Loops (ToOL, Loops)

Forecasts of Forgotten Truths (FoFT, Truths)

Outsourced Onslaught Precision (OOP, Precision)

The Savior (TS)

The Crossroader (TCR) The Amalgamation (TA, Starglider) [CAMPAIGN OVER]

[stargazer-sims]

About the Emergency Patch (24 March 2023)

For anyone who was unaware of it…

[fox-kin]

Went to a con today was extremely fun got the lines done tomorrow posting the piece see you then

[duckapus]

An old drawing of Frenzy, Crown and Twister, just to get a general idea across of what they look like. Ignore that Frenzy is called "Hyper" in this, please. Again, it's an old drawing and I'll probably update their designs at some point.