#she really said 'i can be your angle or yuor devil'

[wazzappp]

Watched the Madoka Magica movie.

Jesus fucking christ

[ask-tiff]

She really said that she can be both your angle and yuor devil 🤩/pos

funny you should mention that. i once dressed like this. i thought it would be funny.

[misscammiedawn]

Hypno Asks Answered 1/5

Hi everyone.

I've been laid up recovering from a dental surgery and decided to type a bunch of words replying to an old Tumblr hypno ask meme which can be found here: https://at.tumblr.com/kallie-den/hypnosis-kink-asks/jzca6c5z6ke7 Post split into 5 for formatting reasons. I encourage asks, anon or otherwise. Feel free to probe if any answers intrigue.

With that said... let's go!

1. How long have you been into hypnosis?

Since I was a teenager at least. I used to fantasize about hypnotherapists taking me deep and asking me the truth to questions which were too emotionally complex for me to untangle myself. I used to stare out of windows and think of pendulums and grandfather clocks. I got into the hypnosis community when I was about 19 via Yahoo Groups and kinda followed the growth and pilgramage from platform to platform.

I guess I did kind of get the therapist honesty thing happen to me one time, but that's another story and you'll have to ask for it specifically.

2. Describe your first experience with hypnosis

I remember when I was young I couldn't really move my computer or stretch audio cables, so I needed to make a little cot for myself in the corner of the room. I was awful in my early days. Just listened to files without care for my safety. I just wanted an escape. I bought 45 minute files. I recall one framed like a bank heist with pink mist seeping into the vault of my brain to change things. Predated Inception, even. I was always scared neighbors would hear so I put the speakers on the ground and pulled headphones in and just slept away. I had tons of rituals in the early days, scented candles, boiling baths, anything to try and make it work better. I was AMAZING at visualizing back in those days. I would just get absorbed in the fantasy.

My first interactive partner was an RP buddy on Yahoo Groups who became my first Master. He kept me for about 5 years. I adored him. Did everything he wanted. Even to my own detriment. He was an awful human. I am ashamed I followed him.

My first IRL session was with the woman I married. There was the golden glow of an American sunset pouring through her window as the heaviness of a 12 hour journey across the planet to see her was catching up with me. Her parents were going to drop me off at the hotel to sleep. She thought she could keep me there with her if I fell asleep. She stroked my brow. Cooed for me to just relax. I sank into her lap. It was pure peace and serenity. She tells me she snuck in our first kiss while I was under.

3. Are there any TV shows/movies/books you liked when you were younger that you think got you into hypnosis?

There was like a Magic Block on TV when I was growing up. Masked Magician SECRETS UNVEALED, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna. I watched every week and was fascinated. I loved magic as a child. But it was all the mystic allure and not real. At least until one of my mum's friends was telling her about being on the McKenna show, a show where they hypnotize people in the audience and do skits. British Broadcast Standards do not allow the airing of any hypnosis so they always made it seem secret and taboo, hidden behind a blurry screen and mum's friend had THE SECRETS. So I listened (she had a Pepsi that night so couldn't go on stage) and was just fascinated. It was not just real magic, it was something that could work on anyone. That real person who was in my life had witnessed it and could have "gone under". I remember my obsession was born in the childish awe of that story.

4. Are you primarily a hypnotist or a subject?

My mood dictates. Some days I am the subbiest little kitten the world has ever seen, capable of flopping and eye rolling and swooning into deep hypnosis at the drop of a hat--- some days I am the most seductive creature alive and will tease and tantalize until my partner is a whimpering wreck pleading for my words.

I can be your angle or yuor devil.

5. Are you primarily a dom/me or a sub?

I am a collared sub and that does not change, no matter what mood I am in. @ladyruetha owns me. At present I do not own anyone and doubt that will change. But heavens when I make them mine, even for a brief moment, I'm sure they'd refer to me as a stunning domme.

6. What do you love about being hypnotised?

Oh so very much. The sweet tantalizing seductive allure, the way your senses are played with until you succumb to a wave of bliss, relaxation and sometimes euphoria. I love losing myself and finding a safety and disconnect from my own mind, I like finding a powerful connection in my trance partner, I love feeling cared for and controlled and kept. The way that the words stir things within my heart, change me, alter me, guide me. The way I can forget on command or rise on command or have my heart plucked and pulled. It's the extremes with none of the extreme. No danger. Just enticement. Pure and utter enticement.

7. What do you love about hypnotising people?

Yet more still… Ah, I can see each of my words or gestures being absorbed by them. I command their attention, control their perceptions, the push and pull is intoxicating. I love making a partner rigidly stiffen at my signal or collapse into a puddle at a whisper. I like my words causing trembling shudders and longing whimpers. I love feeling the dance and play between two people, building on a scene together and finding brilliant new inspirations and see just how they are received… especially when they decide how it could be improved. Hypnotizing people is so fun.

8. How do you feel when hypnotised?

It's a pleasant dissociation. When I dissociate because of environmental factors there's stress, there's a thin skinned feeling of every sense in my environment threatening my composure, there's a dangerous sense of being adrift and lost and what I would describe as a panic but with no emotion or urgency, to pull myself back and feeling incapable of doing so. It's like being knocked away from the spaceship of my mind and drifting out into the void with no tether, no aid and no way back. Somatically it feels like my brain is being pushed outside of my eyeballs, like my perception is a like charged magnet pressed against my eyeballs and pushing it outside of me. Hypnosis is--- surprisingly--- a lot like that. But it's calm and controlled. The external stressors fade away. There's a tether. There's a rope to my brain. There's a guide with me the entire way whether pre-recorded or live. It feels controlled, peaceful, serene. I ADORE that feeling. More than any feeling in the world.

9. How do you feel when you hypnotise someone else?

Electric. I simply cannot think of a better way to put it. My words are electric, my movements are electric, my energy is electric. I enter a flow state. A mini-trance of my own as I just allow my training and skill to take over and slide into the role of Miss Dawn like it was who I was the whole time and my life outside of these moments was just a playful act of pretend. I just feel in tune with the moment and let it propel me. I adore it.

[starbvrns]

Happy Birthday Patricia!

˗ˋ ❖；"Fate" Enchantress icons

[inkdemonapologist]

Tfw it’s like 6am and your penpal shows up at your hotel room but he’s like partially a demon and also won’t stop smiling????

Hi again Allison we’re all Very Normal

[BatIM Call of Cthulhu Masterpost]

ANYWAY HAVE SOME, OUT-OF-CONTEXT QUOTES for Session 6!!

[Sammy is played by me, Joey is played by Boo (inkyvendingmachine), Henry is played by Maf (inkcryptid), Jack is played by Mochi (whatyouwantedmetosee) and Thren (haunted-hijinxer) is our GM!]

[GM] You said you were there for... inSPECTION?? [Jack] In hindsight, that must've been a HECK of a Fast Talk considering half the group is in pyjamas.

[Henry] It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to sacrifice Henry.

[GM] *about Sammy's sacrifice attempts* He was very polite about it. [Sammy] Yeah, he was! [Henry] He was very polite, he gets points for politeness. [GM] And then he got yelled at, so unfairly! By someone. [Sammy] And then melted! So everyone was on the whole very rude about it. It's your own fault he's like this now.

[GM] We'll say it's ajar, how about that? [Joey] Oh, I thought it was a door.

[Sammy] You can spend Luck!! [Jack] Do I want to use Luck points, though? Here's the problem, I'm the person who finishes the JRPG with twelve thousand healing items, and has used TWO. [Sammy] Here's my counterargument: if your Luck gets really low, you start failing Luck checks, and bad things happen to your character. [Jack] ...that's a perfect counterargument, I'm going to do it.

[GM] You both spot the hat with the press card! Lying on the floor, over by one corner of the sliding doors. [Jack] Oh that's BETTER than taking sanity damage! [Sammy] EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!

[Joey] There's another jug of space juice. [Sammy] I don't want space juice!! I WANT PAINT.

[Henry] *tired* Hey, Sam. [Sammy] What providence, my little sheep! [Henry] ...Good to see you too.

[Sammy] Go into the other room and introduce yourself! [Joey] With two hats on. [Sammy] ASSERT DOMINANCE!

[Jack] Jack is going to take the hat. He's going to have, uh, at least one emotion. [Jack] Maybe more [Jack] Imagine

[Joey] Joey is immediately going to clamp his hand onto Sammy's shoulder, and ask him if he can feel it. [Sammy] UHHH? His... hand...? [Joey] Not-- No, the stone. [Sammy] OH

[Jack] Jack, how are you going to communicate this if one of your hands is taken up by a hat? [Joey] Interpretative dance! [Sammy] Put hat in elbow while writing, you can juggle stuff, [Henry] Put the hat on. Over your other hat.

[Sammy] Sammy will scurry with or without the sheep, but they are his navigation system, so,

[Joey] That is a place we are known to be by the people who tried to... murder us?? Or something. Snake us??????? [Jack] (Snurder.) [Joey] Snurder us.

[Henry] We're just gonna grab our stuff and head out and... let you finish dealing with the sNAKE, I guess!! [Jack] (the snake has already been dealt with!) [Henry] Okay, but the aftermath of the snake! The snaftermath.

[Sammy] In case we get grabbed by an Angel [Sammy] the much less well-liked sequel to Touched by an Angel,

[Sammy] You traitorous sheep, this is not what I asked you for! [Joey] Do you want to die. Is that what you’re interested in?! Just, sacrificing yourself, without doing the proper rituals, not getting anything done--?! [Sammy] What do you know of proper rituals?! [GM] (....quite a lot, actually,) [Joey] Yeah! Much more than you do! And I will make an intimidation roll! [Jack] Boys,... you’re both pretty,... it’s okay....

[Joey] We’re pretty sure there’s Angels.... does she know how to kill them. [Jack] What a first thing to—! No pleasantries, no “please excuse the fact that I’m grinning and have weird eyes and also Sammy has weird eyes and also I have a tail,”

[GM, speaking for Allison] She would like to know what all this is about! [Joey] We’re having problems— [Sammy] He tried to contain something that should not be contained!! [Joey] Shut up, Sammy! We’re having problems!

[Joey] Joey is just going to quickly explain that he.................... [Joey] *mumbling to himself* how do you explain this???

[Joey] Um... I guess he’s going to mentally ping Bendy and ask him how he would describe himself? Like... what was his job, I guess?? Security??? [GM] Bendy says that he’s an eldritch construct that was defending a cult... and now he is something else! That he doesn’t have a word for. [Jack] !! He’s a FRIEND now!!! [GM] He’s friend-shaped! But not at the moment. [Joey] No, right now he’s Joey-shaped.

[Sammy] I mean the whole body is garbage but you apparently want Sammy to wear clothes, so whatever.

[GM] Allison adds that she thinks she might have a connection to get you guys in to the party, if you need that -- [Joey] Wouldn't hurt! [GM] -- so long as you don't mind pretending to be the help! [Joey] ...hm,,,

[Joey] Admittedly, having two angles would be better than one. [GM] Two angels, what? [Sammy] There's an "I can be your angle or yuor devil" joke somewhere in this campaign...

[Sammy] Well, we've learned how to bind an angel, [Jack] Gotta teach the angel proper binding techniques!

[Sammy] Sammy will thank Allison for her help. [Joey] Oh god, there IS something wrong with him!

[Joey] Let's go get Norman tied up in this more! So we can hire him later!!

[Sammy] Jack over there like "I hope it doesn't taste bad" meanwhile Sammy's been grimacing as he swallows paint for the last two hours, [GM] Ink is much better, didn't you know! [Sammy] Ink is better... this tastes wrong... [Joey] I just really love the idea of Sammy longingly looking at Joey's flask like, "aw, you have the good medicine, mine tastes like the terrible cherry crap!"

[GM] So you all have shots with Allison! Space juice shots. [Jack] What a way to start the morning!

[Jack] These boys are gonna heckin' pass out! [GM] They got, what, maybe 3 hours of sleep? [Jack] And all of Jack's sleep last night was sat upright in bed, with his glasses on, surrounded by notes, [Henry] sounds like college [Jack] You're exactly right, Jack's sleep was exactly like college! He was stressed, he didn't sleep for very long, he was surrounded by notes, Pete was there,

[Joey] *saying farewell to Allison* Keep yourself safe; don't go out where we're going. [Joey] Unless we don't return, then pLEASE COME OUT AND FIND US,

[GM] Norman says, "Oh, I see you're back with your friends, Smiley." [Jack] I love the concept of Norman calling Sammy "Smiley," and then Prophet Sammy, in response to this, smiles, and Norman has no idea if this is like, weird? or some kind of strange power move to assert dominance.

[GM, as Norman] When I said I saw things happening on the 2nd, you're the one that went pale! [Joey] How's Prophet Sammy's cONCEPT OF TIME, [Sammy] Not great!!!! [Sammy] I don't think he... knows when the 2nd was.

[Sammy] Forgive my memory. That doesn’t ring a bell! [Joey] He's... a little affected right now. [Norman] ...you don't say...

[Joey] Listen. I have $75 here for you, to take us out to the lake, as soon as possible. [a couple minutes of googling later] [Jack] That's equivalent to $1,464. Joey. [Sammy] CAN YOU IMAGINE?? "We need you to take us to the lake please" "Alright, but explain to me what's going on?" "SORRY, the guy who said that is clearly HIGH OUT OF HIS MIND, here's A THOUSAND DOLLARS, take us to the lake please!" [Jack] its a trip to the lake, what could it cost, $75 [Joey] *laughing* I should've looked up how much money I was saying before I was saying it, [Sammy] No, no, I think this is accurate to JOEY DREW

[Henry] Henry is just watching everything happening... [Sammy] Henry is waiting for the next video game breadcrumb trail to show up. [Henry] YEAH, [Jack] “Oh! Looks like I need to put three gears in this thing!”

[Sammy] I'm so angry on Sammy's behalf that you've made him meet two different people like this.

[Joey] If he does ask for money later, Joey's going to give it to him, because he has no concept of.... money.... [Sammy] No concept of GIVING OUT ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS [Jack] Can Joey Drew meet me, in real life, please? [Joey] I don't know if you want that to happen,, that might be more of a curse,,, [Jack] I'll take a curse! Gimme money! [Sammy] vOICE OF EVERY JDS EMPLOYEE

[GM] And you've got suits, and dress shoes...... [Sammy] We are not dressed for this. [Sammy] ...We are more dressed for it than we were earlier. I promise you, Norman, this is a step up, believe it or not.

[Sammy] Probably making a face because it tastes bad. [Henry] Tastes like paint! [GM] The cab driver might just wonder if that's a new drink this year. [Sammy] If nobody jumped on top of Sammy to stop him from using his mouth, he would probably say something with vibes of "this is beyond your comprehension" [Joey] Joey might try to stop that, and instead just be like, “Yes. It is.” [Henry] He's high. Don't worry about it. [Jack] Driver's just like "oh, I should try some of that when I get off work, seems like a good time!" [Sammy] You should! It'll open your eyes! [Sammy] (I'll stop evangelising the cab driver now.)

[Henry] Henry is: Sims Tense Moodlet.

[Joey] Joey instantly does not like this, and it is apparent on his face, if Sammy can see it in the mist. [Sammy] Probably not! [Jack] You could say he mist it!

[Henry] We need to hurry—! [Sammy] *screaming* THATS WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING!!!!!!

[Sammy] Sammy will be, sort of... whispering reassurance? I don't know how reassuring it actually is, [Henry] I'm sorry Sam, nothing about you is reassuring right now. [Sammy] Just kind of like, hush hush, come my sheep, that sort of thing, [Joey] Prophet ASMR Channel! [Jack] I'm sure Jack would appreciate this actually, it's a shame he's not the one getting this, [Joey] No, he's getting whatever comfort Joey can offer, which, uh, [Sammy] Well, and I will say, he's not like, whispering it in Henry's ear, like-- [Jack] I don't think Sammy in any form is capable of whispering. [Sammy] ...y'know [Sammy] that's fair

[Sammy] Well everyone's doing alright! We're doing great, it's going great! [Jack] Nooooo! No going great! I want more insanities! [Jack] ...I can stop at any time, I swear.

[Sammy] We can hold Norman's hand if you want, like, that's up to you. [Joey] Roll for gay, Norman! [Henry] Take him to dinner first,

[Sammy] This is such a bad idea that we're having.

[Joey] Joey is probably at this point holding onto someone else to guide him, and more in his head than not. [Sammy] Sammy's out of hands at this point, Joey, so you'll just have to figure this out. [Sammy] Got his hands full of sheep.

[Joey] Did Norman drink the juice. [GM] Did he...? Did he...... I think he was convinced enough by “this drink will save your life” that he does take a drink! [Joey] I'll roll intimidation if that helps! [GM] Yeah, you can roll to see how quickly he does it, or if he drinks enough of it. [Joey] *rolls* That's an EXTREME SUCCESS. [GM] Well, there we go; there's a preview, Norman, of your work environment!

[sparrellow]

i can be ur angle or yuor devil

“I literally called you sexy. I winked at you. Then you sat on me and gave me a boner.”

It just so happens that the company's plans to revive Rin's failing idol status brings her closer to her previous partner-in-crime.

rating: T+ genre: romance/humor ships: rin/len word count:  6,974

Life in the idol world was tough.

Rin knew as much, because she, unfortunately, was an idol.

She wasn’t even sure how she got herself into this mess, but she was talent scouted at an age too young by Western standards, probably, and then forced into a duet with some bratty kid called Len.

The whole farce was that they looked almost exactly the same, and were the same age, and ‘had the same family name’ (they didn’t, but that was a long story). So, they were marketed as like, twins-by-chance-not-blood or mirror-images or gender-bend-friends or whatever.

That worked for a while, until Len went through puberty and became way too hot to duet with Rin, and his own popularity sky-rocketed so much that they were basically forced to be their own pop stars.

Alas, Rin was kind of just too damn average to go solo. Especially with more appealing talents in the charts, like Japan’s darling idol Miku Hatsune, or just, Len himself, she had no chance. All that could be concluded from this was that Rin was just too ugly and untalented.

After Meiko had heard Rin’s internal woes, she patted her roughly on the back and sighed.

“Oh, Rin. You’re not ugly or bad at singing. You wouldn’t have gotten this far if you were.”

Rin sniffled, and blew her ugly face into her handkerchief. Of course she’d started crying during the whole monologue, which made her sound and look even more ridiculous than before. “But I’m literally sucking. Even the manager has called an emergency meeting about my lack of popularity.”

That was true. Earlier that day, the manager had sent a text into the Vocaloid Idol Group Chat™ calling for an emergency meeting to save a certain idol’s plunging fanbase. Even if he didn’t name her directly, literally everyone in the group chat knew it was about her.

How embarrassing. Even Miku and Len saw it. She wanted to die.

Meiko tutted, shaking her head. “You know, you’ve been a duet with Len for almost your whole career. Everyone knows you as part of a duet. So, of course your image might suffer a little with such a sudden change as you go into solo careers. The manager just needs to figure out how to market you in a way that shows idol fans how truly spectacular you are as a solo idol. That’s all.”

Rin wailed. “That’s the thing. I’m not spectacular as a solo idol. I’m just painfully average.”

“Lies!” her companion said. “Rin, you are so cute. Like, you can take anything and make it cute. And your voice is unique, like Len’s. It doesn’t have to be like Miku’s to be special, it’s already special as is.”

She dabbed at her tears and sniffled again. Her stupid idol makeup was running down her face, making her look like she’d just crawled out of a TV set showing a horror movie. Even Miku would still look painfully beautiful crying, and not like some unfortunate Halloween-costume-gone-wrong.

“Thanks Meiko,” Rin said. “I don’t believe a word you said but thanks for trying to comfort me anyway.”

Meiko rolled her eyes, giving her another rough pat on the back. “Would you believe me if I was Len telling you all that stuff?”

The mention of Len made her ears turn pink. “Hmm,” she said, knowing the point her senior idol was making.

Meiko smirked. “That’s right.”

The brunette then left Rin to cry like a baby by herself in the private idol lobby of their record company building. To be honest, it would be humiliating if anyone else saw her like this, but she couldn’t bring herself to move somewhere more private to cry. Besides, everyone knew her career was going down the toilet.

Perhaps she would’ve been able to bounce back more if things were different, but a certain Blonde Boy with a Very Attractive Face made it all the more complicated.

Here was the catch: Rin was totally enamored of Len.

It was a bit sad, really. And it hadn’t always been so cliched-romance-story, with her pining after his very nicely shaped ass. In the beginning, they actually sort of hated each other, with her wanting to kick his ass to the moon.

He was the most self-absorbed dingus at first, and he would play pranks on her constantly. They weren’t even good pranks—like, once he put a whoopee cushion on her seat during a meeting and found that hilarious.

Of course, with time, they grew on each other and actually became very good friends. They had secret jokes with each other, they played pranks on other idols, they watched horror movies until dawn and then slept on the couch together for the rest of the week because they were too scared to sleep in their own beds.

It couldn’t be helped that Rin eventually fell for Len. Daring, mischievous, but charming Len. He always knew how to make her smile (or tear her hair out with frustration).

But for the sake of professionalism, she never dared uttering her true feelings to him—only confiding in Meiko from time to time, since she was the only Vocaloid she could trust. It sucked, but she couldn’t risk ruining the relationship between them, thus ruining their career had Len demanded they should go solo.

Of course, then they grew up. Len’s voice changed, as well as his appearance, and soon his own popularity outgrew the popularity of the duet itself. The manager made the wise choice to break them up. He went solo, with much success.

Rin, however, flopped like a suffocating fish out of water.

With his success, he moved on to doing occasional collaborations with Miku Hatsune, the record company’s most popular idol. She was, by definition, probably a global superstar at this stage. She toured internationally. She had fans of all nationalities, ages, genders, so have it. She was beautiful and cute and talented, and Len had finally made it far enough to sing with her.

It made Rin’s blood boil, because she was petty and jealous. She was also worried. Miku was just so perfect. It was inevitable that Len would fall for her, right? They were perfect for each other. Perfect people love other perfect people.

Rin blew her nose noisily and sunk back into the lounge chair. This sucked. This sucked.

Gumi appeared, having heard her meltdown, and offered some makeup wipes to fix her face. 

Rin took them graciously.

“Is this about the text from the manager in the group chat?” she asked, handing her another wipe after Rin had used up the other one.

Rin just looked at her and said nothing. There was no need to say anything.

Gumi didn’t press and fell silent. She was a nice idol. She wasn’t nearly as successful as the others, but she was quite popular in her own way. At least she was kind enough to not nag about the matter.

Another sad thing about popularity was that Len soon became distant once they parted ways. They used to be so close, but now Rin felt like she couldn’t even approach him unless approached herself. Of course they talked, but only occasionally. Their careers had drifted so far apart they barely saw each other anyway.

Had their friendship only survived because they were a duet? Was Len glad to be a solo artist now and not having to deal with her anymore? It was sad to think about.

Gumi squeezed Rin’s shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. “It’ll all work out, Rin,” she said. Then she handed her her pack of makeup wipes. “You can keep them. I have plenty of extras anyway. Take care of yourself, okay?”

“Thank you,” Rin said, watching as she jumped up from the couch and skipped off. (Probably to do better things than comfort a failing idol.)

.

Soon came the time for the not-so long-awaited yet very-muchly-apprehended emergency meeting to fix Rin’s poor career. 

She didn’t want to go. She’d rather be curled up in her room, stuffing her face with chocolate and crying over poorly-written teen romance on Netflix. But Meiko had practically dragged her to the meeting room, makeup-less and in her go-to comfort clothes: a stained, baggy sweater and yoga pants.

Rin had already been humiliated enough as is, so showing up in this state couldn’t be any worse.

Supposedly.

Like fate itself had it in for her, Len also showed up in the elevator on the way to the meeting. He did a double take when he saw her.

“Oh, Rin! I almost didn’t recognise you.”

Rin then promptly burst into tears. 

Len blinked at her in confusion and panic. “I, uh, didn’t mean that in a bad way—”

Meiko just put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. She’s just being fragile.”

He looked at Rin with an eye of concern, but said nothing more.

They filed into the meeting room in silence, and Len took a seat at a distance from her. Much to her further dismay, Miku took the seat right next to him, and they started chatting and showing each other things on their phones.

Rin didn’t know if she was going to have a tantrum or a breakdown.

The meeting began with the manager going over sales-related information, and just general, boring business things. About half-an-hour into the meeting, though, he set aside his stacks of paper, clasped his hands in front of him and leaned forward; a look that meant serious business.

Oh boy.

“I’ve discussed with both the marketing and sales department leaders as to where to go next with Vocaloid’s image. As you know, the idol market is ever-changing and in demand of fresh concepts. We’ve decided on a new image for some idols, and we appreciate everyone’s understanding and cooperation with this change.”

Translation: Rin’s career is going down the toilet, so we need to make her more interesting or something.

“Miku and Len,” the manager addressed. The pair straightened up with serious expressions. “I want you two to have a new image. You’re both our most successful idols, and your fanbase is very supportive of your every move. This is why we feel it’s best for you to take on an image of innocence and purity. You will become Vocaloid’s angels.”

Rin was already sinking down into her seat. This was going so terribly awful. Miku and Len? Angels? Together? She couldn’t even see where this was going for her.

Unfortunately, she’d find out very, very soon, as the manager then fixated his gaze on her.

“Rin. Ever since going solo, your fanbase has been dwindling and sales for both your albums, new singles, and lives, have been suffering.” Oof. “The marketing department has acknowledged this is a fault of their own, for not better marketing your image as something new and fresh after splitting from your duet with Len. We didn’t anticipate Len’s popularity to skyrocket so much that it would overshadow your own success.”

Everyone’s eyes were on her. Including Len’s.

“Your image has always been cute and innocent, and while you fit it quite well, the market is flooded too much with idols like you. That’s why we decided, you will become our devil.”

Rin almost fell out of her chair. Her entire face lit up red like a traffic light.

A devil. A devil. They were going to make Miku and Len innocent and pure, and her evil and chaotic like Satan? Wow. Wow. Rin never wanted to die more than now.

“A devil may sound bad, but we want to combine your current cute image with something mischievous, cheeky, alluring. The current idol market lacks that sort of appeal, and we believe people would become quite attracted to it. You’ll be cute, but with a twist of something dark. We think this new image will suit you quite well.”

Okay, so, Rin representing evil was like a match made in heaven? Did she radiate chaotic evil energy or something? She literally couldn’t even kill a fly without wanting to cry with guilt.

“Any questions or concerns about our decisions?” the manager asked the group.

The room was silent.

“Good,” he said with a smile. “Miku, Rin, Len. Please stay for further discussion about our next campaign. The rest of you are free to leave.”

Meiko shot Rin a sympathetic look before leaving, and once the room emptied out, the manager motioned for the trio to move closer.

“First, do you three have anything you would like to say regarding these changes?” he asked them, sorting through his paperwork to find his notes.

It was quiet a moment, before Len slowly put up his hand.

“Yes?”

“Why are Miku and I involved with this image chance if we’re fine in terms of sales and popularity?”

Big oof. But, honestly, it was a question on Rin’s mind, too. Why were they involved with this miserable attempt at reviving her career?

“While you two are both doing very well, the sales department has noticed that you two have both, er, capped for your sales, and they're no longer increasing. They predicted that it could decrease as people become bored with your current images, so in order to prevent that, we wanted to take a different approach.”

It was Miku and Len’s turn to blush.

“Besides, your popularity will help promote Rin to a larger audience, which is why your next campaign will be together.”

Rin wanted to hide under the table.

“Any other questions?”

Everyone shook their heads, so the manager moved on. “As I said, your next campaign will be together. We were thinking of doing a photoshoot to promote a popular brand of clothing, and using that as a base of your new image. Respectively, Len and Miku promoting a more soft, pure style of clothing, and Rin, promoting a more gothic look.”

Rin? Gothic? Was she going to have to change her stage name to Darkness or Elvira or Raven Way to suit her image, too?

“We’ll see how this goes. If the campaign gains enough popularity, we’ll keep moving forward, perhaps on to new songs and collaborations with each other.”

The manager then relayed the information for the photoshoot, asked for any more questions, and after receiving no further response, dismissed them.

Miku said nothing much once they left the meeting room, simply excusing herself as 'she had business to get to'. Len stayed behind, staring at the carpet between him and Rin.

“So, uh, what do you think?” he asked.

Rin looked at him. “I’m so sorry you two have to get involved with me.”

Len snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. We don’t care about that. But you care, right?”

“I guess I don’t really want to be Satan, but…” she said in a low voice.

He chuckled, and Rin’s face grew warm. “Yeah. I can understand it. But, not saying you’re evil or anything, I feel like some cute devil image would totally suit you.”

“Excuse me?”

Len dodged her elbow, stepping back. “I mean, you’re already cute. Putting angel wings on you would be boring. But you with some devil wings? I can see the appeal—”

Rin didn’t know whether to be flattered or offended. She stepped on his foot to stop him mid-sentence. “Don’t mock it!”

“I’m not,” he said with a grin. “I’m just saying, it’ll be interesting to see what they’ll do with your image.”

She flushed. “Yeah, well, I wonder what they’ll do with yours.”

He laughed and turned away, starting off down the hall. “Don’t knock it until we’ve tried it, Rin,” he said over his shoulder.

Rin sighed. He had a point… but.

Still.

 . 

She had tried it, and was ready to knock it.

Rin stared at her reflection in complete and utter mortification. Her wardrobe for the photoshoot was something she'd only be caught dead in. One outfit was a long, black dress that made her look a bit like a nun. The other outfit—her current one—consisted of leather shorts, a black corset top, fishnet tights, and lots of unnecessary ribbons.

Oh, and platform boots, but they were kind of cool.

She grimaced at the stupid devil accessories she had to wear. Seriously? A tail? Wings? Little horns? This was a nightmare.

Meanwhile, Miku could wear this pretty, floral dress and cute, frilly overall skirt. She looked so soft and fluffy and it made Rin want to throw herself into piranha-infested waters.

Len appeared behind her reflection in the mirror. He had matching overall pants to Miku’s skirt, and a frilly, white button-up shirt with a ribbon at the neck. Rin never knew she needed to see him in soft, feminine clothing until now.

“I told you it’d suit you,” he said with a shit-eating grin.

“I look like I just walked out of a 90s vampire-romance manga.”

Len snickered. “Yeah, well, you would fit in really well with the kids in Harajuku,” he said. “Anyway, you’re totally giving off cute-sexy vibes.”

“How can one be cute and sexy?” Rin asked, not sure to take what he said seriously, let alone as a compliment.

He began playing with her tail, using it to hit her in the legs. “I don’t know. But you somehow do it.”

Her face burst into flames. Thank god her makeup was thick enough to hide that (though her ears were giving away the secret).

Len then walked off, as if nothing ever happened, but that was basically his signature move. The guy was really good at making her melt and not noticing it at all.

The first shoot was with Miku, and the photographer seemed to be really into making it weirdly intimate, so it felt rather homoerotic. Not that Rin cared, because, well, even she felt slightly gay for Miku.

That aside, it was pretty uneventful. Miku was polite, and laughed when her tail kept knocking the set pieces over. 

Next was Miku and Len. Since they were ‘angels’, they did, like, angel-ly things or whatever. Looking beautiful, eating grapes and watching humans make fools of themselves. (That was what the photographer said.)

Of course, some poses made Rin’s blood curdle with jealousy as she stood to the side watching, in between the makeup and hair artist fussing about her appearance. But her prayers were soon answered as Miku was sent off set and Rin called up to start her shoot with Len.

“So, you two were partners, right?” the photographer asked, as he set them up for the first pose.

“A duet, yes,” Rin said.

“Hmm,” the photographer said, in a way that was slightly concerning.

The first few poses were fairly tame. Rin being evil, Len being good. “Steal his grapes,” the photographer ordered. “Okay, good, now look sad because she stole your grapes.”

Why were grapes even a part of this weird shoot? What did they have to do with heaven and hell, or whatever the theme was?

“So, now, Len, I want you to look sad for your partner. She’s become evil.”

Rin frowned at the directions, and Len burst out laughing in her face. “Sorry, I’m sorry,” he apologised to the photographer.

“Rin, you want to lure Len over to the dark side.”

Len snickered again, his expression faltering just for a moment. Rin rolled her eyes, and followed the directions for how she should pose.

She placed a hand on his cheek, leaning over him and pressing a finger to her lips. He looked up at her with wide eyes, and for a moment she thought it was his actual expression, before she remembered the context of the photo and yada yada yada.

The photographer repositioned them a few times, telling Rin to play with his hair and Len to act as if he was pushing her away.

The whole time, Rin could only think about how bright red her ears were, and how the photo editor would probably have to photoshop them back to a human colour.

Eventually it came to the last photo of them together.

“Okay. Len, you have given in. Your devil has lured you to the dark side.”

Rin wanted to face-palm. Len raised his eyebrows at her and winked. 

“Creep,” she muttered to him.

“Hey, you’re the one dressed in leather right now,” he said.

“Yeah, and it’s giving me a massive wedgie.”

Len snorted. “TMI, Rin.”

The photographer began unbuttoning Len’s shirt somewhat. “Rin, hold his collar and motion like you’re trying to take off his shirt.”

“Why,” she said without thinking, and the photographer stopped to look at her questioningly. Len was laughing into his hand. She cleared her throat. “Sorry, I was kidding.”

As if wanting revenge, the photographer then instructed, “Also, I want you to sit on his lap, so that you’re both facing each other.”

Len stopped laughing, checking to see if the photographer was serious. (He was.)

Rin, with the very last remaining bit of courage, reluctantly sat down so that she was straddling Len. Their eyes met, and they pretty much communicated silent apologies to each other.

She held onto his shirt as per instruction, pretending that she was unbuttoning it. A hint of his bare stomach peaked through at her, and she almost screamed.

Len was told to hold her waist. The poor boy seemed humiliated. 

Imagine having to shoot something this grossly intimate with someone you’re incredibly not attracted to, Rin thought. That was probably what was going through his brain.

After being repositioned a few times, the photoshoot between them was finally over, and Rin leapt off his legs like she had been sitting on flames the whole time.

“I’m sorry,” she said to him, and Len looked at her with surprise.

“Why are you sorry?”

“Oh, just. That pose was a bit… Uh.”

He shook his head and patted her shoulder. “No need to apologise, Rin. It’s part of the job.”

Right. Right.

It’s part of the job.

She didn’t know why those words stung as much as they did.

The rest of the shoot was fairly tame. Perhaps the photographer sensed their discomfort with that one position, but he didn’t really force them into any intimate positions after that. Thank god (but Rin was also a little disappointed, you know, because …).

Once they wrapped up the shoot and returned to regular human form, Miku suggested that they order pizza and chill out at her apartment. 

As they headed there in a taxi, Len nudged Rin and gave her this pouty expression.

“I’m so sad they didn’t let you keep the devil wings and stuff,” he said.

“Why, did you want to wear them?” Rin asked.

“No!” Len exclaimed, looking flustered at such a suggestion. “I—I—”

Miku chuckled at them from the front seat. “You two are really close, aren’t you?”

“What?” Rin said.

Miku and Len both looked at her, surprised by her response.

“I mean, we barely even talk anymore.”

A strange expression crossed Len’s face, and he opened his mouth to say something, before snapping it shut and turning away to stare out the window. Miku watched this, before looking back at Rin.

“Really?” she said. “It doesn’t seem that way to me.”

Then Miku turned back to face the front.

Rin was silent. Had she said something wrong? She thought Len would laugh about it or agree, but… 

She sighed and turned to stare out the window as well. She could tell pizza was going to be awkward.

 .

As expected, pizza was pretty awkward.

Len was very strangely serious with everything, and Miku tried desperately to lighten the mood. Eventually, Rin gave up and made some excuse about needing to get home so she could call her parents. 

She stared at her long-untouched LINE chat with Len while waiting at the station for the next train home. It was only the truth, though; what she’d said. They'd used to talk every day, whether it be in person or through text. But then one day, he'd just stopped, and so did she.

Was it her fault, or something? She had tried initiating conversation before, but they’d died rather quickly. To be honest, today’s photoshoot was the first time they’d talked that much in like, a year or so.

So why was Len so upset about what she said?

He seemed to ignore her after that, or avoided her as much as possible. Even in the followup meetings between him, Miku, her and the manager, he avoided her gaze entirely.

The manager gave them some pictures from the shoot at their last meeting, saying their photos would be in the next volume of Sara, a pretty popular alternative fashion magazine. 

One of the photos he’d given them happened to be that pose.

Rin stared at it. It felt incredibly unnatural and awkward at the time, but as a photo, it looked peaceful and natural, and the expression on Len’s face was something different, almost as if he truly was captivated by her or something. Had they mysteriously photoshopped all their humiliation out of the picture?

When she got home from work, she stuck it on the wall above her bed, alongside other photos from their many escapades in the years before. It hadn’t grown much since they went solo, so it was nice to have a new addition.

Rin still felt miserable about it all. She didn’t know if she should message him an apology, or try talking to him about it, because she just didn’t understand.

She pulled out her phone and called Meiko.

Meiko picked up on the third ring. “What can I help you with, Little Miss Devil?”

“Oh no. Let me guess. You saw the photos?”

“Of course. Miku and Len were showing everyone in the lobby. Your butt looked really nice in those pants.”

“Please don’t remind me of my trauma,” Rin moaned, thinking back to her killer wedgie. She was pretty sure she got chafing from those shorts.

“So, what’s up? You don’t just call me for small talk.”

Rin winced, realising she’d kind of used Meiko as a bit of a therapist lately.

Nevertheless.

“It… it’s Len.”

“Len, huh? What did he do?”

“It’s not what he did, more so what I did.”

Meiko was silent for a moment. “Hmm.”

Rin hesitated. “What?”

“I think I know what you did. Miku told me about what happened a few weeks ago, and was asking for context or whatever.”

“What did you tell her?”

“Nothing,” Meiko said smoothly. “Anyway, I was waiting for you to talk to me about it, because I only have one thing to tell you: Talk to him about it.”

Rin clenched her jaw. “Talk to him about it? Why?”

“Because I’m not Len and I can’t tell you what his problem is.”

“Wait,” she said. “Has Len told you about this?”

Meiko hummed. “Not specifically, but I know some things.”

Rin began to tug at her hair, anxious. “Wait. What. What does that mean?”

“Rin,” Meiko said in a firm voice. “From one experienced adult to a less-experienced adult: communication is key.”

Not letting her get another word of protest in, the woman hung up.

Rin stared at her phone in her hand. She was mentally pooping herself. What was going on? What terrible, awful thing was going to happen next?

Reluctantly, she opened her LINE chat with Len and began writing a message to him.

 .

Much to her surprise, Len agreed to meet up at a cafe on their day off. It was one of those hole-in-the-wall cafes, so not really busy anyway, and they took a seat in the far back corner of the shop, where it was more private for a serious discussion.

He was very quiet the whole time, until they’d settled into their seats. He looked up at her, sitting back in his chair. “So, what did you want to talk about?” he asked, straight to the point.

Rin hadn’t elaborated the reason for the talk or anything, let alone even thought about how she would broach the topic. “Uh, um…” she said, staring down at the menu in front of her. Did she want milk tea, or something herbal? She wasn’t sure how pleasant the conversation was going to be, and if shit were to hit the fan somehow, maybe she should avoid dairy in case her (anxious) shit were to also, figuratively, hit the fan.

Len raised an eyebrow at her. 

“About… the day of the photoshoot,” Rin finally said, settling on just getting straight to the point. “I’m sorry about what I said. I didn’t realise it was going to upset you. It�� I didn’t say it to hurt you, or be mean, or anything.”

He shifted in his chair, picking up his menu to read. “You don’t need to apologise for it. I know what you meant. And it’s true.”

Rin bit her lip. “But I still upset you.”

Len looked at her over the top of the menu. “I’m not looking for your apology,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t want it.”

“Oh.” Ouch.

He put his menu down. “Have you decided what you want, yet?”

“Yeah."

“What do you want?”

Rin blinked at him a few times, before acknowledging he wasn’t going to move on before she gave an answer. “Er, I’ll just get some yuzu tea.”

“No food?” he asked, pointing at the cake and sweets menu.

She shook her head, and he stood from his chair. Was he going to leave?

Then he pulled his wallet out from his pocket. “Well, I’ll get you something anyway,” he said, and left to order the food before she could protest.

Rin stared down at her knees, tears stinging the corners of her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and willed herself not to cry in front of him. Again. 

What did he mean about not apologising? What did he want, then? Was he just really, really mad at her?

She glanced over her shoulder to check he hadn’t just run away, but he was at the counter, making their order.

Right. She needed to pay him back for this, too. She pulled out her purse and checked she had enough change to give him.

“How much?” she asked when he sat down.

“No,” he said, eyes narrowing in on her purse.

Rin ignored his response, counting out her coins to give him. Before she could hand them over, he reached out and pushed her hand back to her.

“Really, Rin,” Len insisted. “You don’t have to pay me back.”

Sulking, she dropped the coins back into her purse and put it away.

They both fell into silence until their order came. Len had gotten honey toast for them to share.

It was like old times; when they used to always hang out together, when they would order something crazy like a giant parfait meant for four people and try to finish it all without making themselves sick.

Rin couldn’t help but frown.

Len paused when handing her a spoon. “Do you not like honey toast?”

“Huh?” she said, glancing up at him. “Oh, no. It’s fine.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

Rin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, digging the spoon into the dessert. “It’s just nostalgic, that’s all.”

Len gazed at her. 

She looked away from him, embarrassed by the very intense-and-direct eye contact he was giving her. 

He then said, “Rin, I know we’ve gone our own ways and fallen out of contact, but you do know I consider you one of my closest friends, right? Just because we don’t talk as much as we used to, or see each other that much anymore, doesn’t mean I don’t think of you as someone special to me.”

Rin flushed. She set down her spoon on the table, losing her appetite. “So, you are mad at me about what I said.”

Len opened his mouth, like he was about to protest, but then he hung his head. “It’s… not…” he said, before sighing in defeat. “It’s more so, I’m sad that… that’s how you think. I’m sad that things made you feel like we weren’t good friends anymore.”

She wanted to cry again, but held her breath in an attempt to stop the tears. “Mmmmmmm,” was all she could say.

He then rested his head in his hand, playing with his spoon in the other. “I guess maybe I’ve been a bit careless about it all and I haven’t really… thought about how you’ve been feeling. And what you said made me realise that.”

“It’s my fault,” Rin began to blubber. “I should’ve talked about it sooner rather than just making the assumption you weren’t interested in me anymore.”

Len glanced up at her, noticing her ugly crying face, and reached for a napkin to hand to her. She hid behind it, trying to silence her loud sobs.

“Rin, we worked together for so long. I couldn’t just throw away our friendship after that,” he said with a pained expression. 

Rin wiped her face and sighed. “I know. I’m being unreasonable. But… seeing you with Miku and everything, it just…”

Len snorted. “Miku and I, we’re friends, well, more like colleagues, but we don’t, you know, click like you and I do. Sure, we hang out and talk and stuff, but with you… I can just be me. You laugh at all my jokes. With Miku, it’s not like that. It’s not always fun and easy and natural like it is with you.”

Her ears began to burn. “Len…” she said. God. Just rip out her heart right there. He was saying all these nice things about them being friends, and she didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. Well, of course she was happy, but… she wished it was more than just. Friendship.

Maybe it was time she just. Laid it flat on the table. Killed two birds with one stone. Set the whole kitchen on fire and just get it all out.

Len looked at her from across the table, spoon in hand, waiting expectantly for her to continue with what she wanted to say.

Rin sucked in a breath, pushed back her tears and smacked her hands on the table, making both herself and Len jump, and also everyone else within earshot.

He blinked. “Rin—”

“Len,” she said, before realising she had no idea what she wanted to say next. She’d stood from her seat and was leaning across the table, staring at him. Her face grew warm as panic began to set in. Okay, okay, just say something at least, because this was getting awkward. “Len.”

Len gulped. “Yes?”

Rin sucked in a shaky breath. Okay. Here we go. Here we go—

“Marry me please,” she blurted.

Len dropped his spoon on the floor.

 .

Rin had never run so fast to the bathroom in her life. She didn’t even stick around to hear his response (nor see his reaction). She just high-tailed it to somewhere where she could emergency call Meiko for advice.

“I just proposed to Len,” she cried as soon as Meiko answered the phone.

There was a moment of silence, before she said, “Congratulations?”

“I’m serious,” Rin said. “I literally told him to marry me.”

“Good for you.”

“Meiko! What do I do? I can’t go back out there and face him after that!”

Meiko sighed. “Where are you?”

“In the bathroom.”

She snorted. “So you just left him there after that? Did you even wait for his answer?”

“No! Of course not! Why would I wait for rejection?!”

“How do you know he was going to reject you? Did you see the future, or something, Rin?”

“Well, no , but—”

“Rin,” Meiko said, her tone suddenly very serious. “I’m not your fairy godmother. I can’t help you out of this situation. Go back out there and talk to him. Len is your friend, isn’t he? Do you think he’d completely destroy you as a rejection? Does that sound like him? Think about it.”

Rin did think about it. “Well… no… maybe…”

“So, what are you doing? Don’t leave him there by himself to wonder what the hell is going on.”

She closed her eyes, leaned back against the back of the toilet and pinched the bridge of her nose. A few beats of silence passed, before she let out an exhale. “Okay. Okay. I’ll do it.”

“Good. Now, get your ass out of the bathroom, you disgusting creature.”

“R-right! Thank you Meiko!”

Rin hung up, sat on the toilet for a moment longer, before getting up to check her reflection in the mirror and emerge with caution from the bathroom. A part of her felt relief seeing Len still at their table, another part felt pure and utter terror.

He was on his phone with a serious expression, and she had no idea how to decipher that.

Without a word, she took her seat across from him and had a mouthful of her citrus tea (which had long gone cold).

Len glanced up, looking surprised, and just stared at her with wide eyes.

Okay.

Damage control.

Okay.

Rin took a breath. “So, um, I panicked…” she began to explain.

Len cocked an eyebrow. 

“The truth is,” she said, staring down hard at the barely-touched honey toast in front of them. “The truth is that you’re really hot.”

Oh boy. This was going south really fast.

“Thank… you?” Len said, confused.

Rin smacked her forehead. “Yeah, like, so, um, I’m, you know…”

He tilted his head. “I don’t know.”

She sucked in a sharp breath, and it all began pouring out of her mouth like vomit.

“I’ve been really attracted to you for like ever and it’s been eating me up inside and everything just feels a lot worse because I really like you and I don’t know how to handle it but you know I’m happy to just be friends if that’s not reciprocated because I never really wanted to confess my feelings to you anyway and I know it’s not professional or anything but please don’t hate me just because I like you like way more than a friend because I also like being friends with you please don’t hate me.”

Len blinked several times, processing that flood of information, before opening his mouth to speak.

Rin clapped her hands over her ears and cried, “It’s okay! You don’t need to answer! I just wanted to get that off my chest! Let’s forget this ever happened and move on.”

He shook his head at her. “No.”

She lowered her hands. No? That’s it? Just no?

Well, okay then. Alright. Cool cool cool.

Rin sat back in her chair, dazed and uncertain how to take in such a completely cold rejection.

“No, I don’t want to forget this happened,” he continued. Wait. What? He averted his gaze to the table, rubbing his hands together. “I don’t really understand why you think I’d hate you or something.”

She gawked at him. “Wh… what do you mean…?”

Len dug a hand into his hair, scrunching up his fringe in his fist. He looked up at her from under his dark lashes. “Rin, I literally flirted with you the entire photoshoot.”

Rin almost choked on her own saliva. “You—wh—huh. ”

He pressed his palms together, using his thumbs to massage the space between his eyebrows. “I literally called you sexy. I winked at you. Then you sat on me and gave me a boner.”

Her soul left her body. It just upped and left. See you later, humanity. I’m outta here.

Rin slid down in her chair, looking up at the ceiling. “I didn’t even notice,” she said, feeling like the world’s biggest clown.

“I’m surprised you didn’t even notice,” he continued. “That thing was like rock hard. I was shitting myself. I was praying so hard no one else would notice. I never felt so close to death in my entire life.”

“Not the boner, Len,” she said. “I mean, I didn’t notice that either but—the flirting. I meant the flirting.”

“Oh.”

“I just thought your pants were really stiff or something.”

“Aha… well.”

Rin smacked her palm against her forehead again. “I can’t believe it. I just thought you were teasing me for having to be a devil or whatever.”

“While that is quite hilarious, I was way too turned on by you at the photoshoot to mock the fact that we were dressed like the occult.”

She was defeated. That’s it? She’d been panicking over this for… nothing?

Wait. Wait a minute.

Meiko… Meiko had totally pushed her to do this, despite the chance of her getting rejected. Which meant…

Meiko totally knew Len felt the same way.

That… evil…!

“So, like, does this mean we’re dating, or…?” Len asked.

Rin turned beet red at the mention of dating. Dating Len. Wow. Wow. Just wow. Big fat wow.

“Y-yes?” she squeaked.

He grinned at her, a mischievous glint in his eye. “So, does that mean I can have you sit on me again?”

“Never mind I changed my mind—”

“Noooo—”

Rin smiled and sat forward, leaning across the table. She remembered the look on his face from the photoshoot, with his wide eyes staring up at her as she had leaned over him, playing with his hair. She wanted to see that look. She wanted to see it again.

Len gazed at her as she reached out and grabbed the collar of his shirt. She brought her face close to his. “Only if we go to your apartment after this. I haven’t cleaned mine for a month.”

“That’s disgusting,” he said into her face. “Sounds good.”

Then she kissed him on the lips.

It was awesome.

[quizzical-paradox]

OC LORE TIME. YOU WANTED IT, YOU GOT IT

this is the clunkiest fuckin story i've ever made but here y'go i guess lol

basically, a bunch of aliens looked at the government on their planet (planet is called Vylda btw) and went "fuck this we're gonna overthrow the government and RULE THE WORLD"

the catch is, they're arguably the most disorganized group of revolutionaries to ever walk the planet. they spend most of their time listening to their world's equivalent of Lemon Demon, being vigilantes, and talking about how much they cant afford therapy.

eventually the leader went "hey wouldnt it be cool if i used Weird Science to give us all world-altering powers" and then she did that. so now they all have powers and have gained the upper hand in the revolution. but then Shit Happens, which i'll go into later.

said teenagers are:

MORGAN WILDING (16, female, homosexual)

-closet emo kid

-"hey guys, im really sad"

-please go to therapy

-switches between Depression Mode and Chaos Mode

-wields a sword in battle. umbrakinetic. leader of the revolution.

CECIL KODA (16, male, asexual)

-mom friend

-paranoid AF. probably has abandonment issues

-tries so hard to be cheery

-local dib kinnie paranormal investigator

-wields an energy scythe. assorted ghostly medium powers. telekinetic. very good pilot.

CODY MORROW (17, male, bisexual)

-Off The Shits

-"i can be yuor angle...or your devil"

-smiles a lot. sometimes it's intimidating, most of the time it's just slightly concerning

-surprisingly protective, despite only being a year older than the rest of the revolutionaries

-wields a battleaxe in combat. electrokinetic. technologically proficient.

QUINN QUARTZ (15, he/him enby, pansexual)

-local scene kid

-name ailiteration go brrrr

-secretly really sad but is too Chaotic to care

-definitely a Jevil kinnie

-wields a large stick in battle. has rubberhose limbs a-la Spinel. [insert distraction dance here]

JANIS WILDING (25 y/o, female, bisexual)

-oh fuck someone here has actual social skills

-kinda of a control freak

-Morgan's older sister who practically raised her. At first she means well but eventually she turns Absolutely Awful because of her newfound powers

-local fashionista

-doesnt really fight. mostly there to observe and be a getaway driver since noone else can drive properly. shapeshifting powers.

Later on we get introduced to some new characters:

ZEENA VRYCHEK (16 y/o, female, bisexual)

-oh my god PLEASE GO TO THERAPY

-nervous overall. has social anxiety

-lived alone on Earth for most of her life disguised as a human until the revolutionaries found her and brought her back to their homeworld

-really good at baking

-wields a magickal staff in battle. aquakinetic.

SIMON CHARAN (17, trans male, asexual)

-a being from the Void. Morgan stumbled upon him in there and yeeted him into their world

-became the revolutionaries' group therapist

-really chill. has the braincell 50% of the time

-please stop crying all i did was correct your grammar

-thinks of Morgan as a sister

-wields his preexisting voidbending powers in combat

[MIGHT EXPAND ON THESE DISASTERS LATER]

tag urself (jk dont)

[eyecicles]

I love that Virgo and Pisces are literally opposite signs in the zodiac (Near is a Virgo and Light is a Pisces)

Yes! I absolutely love this too. Astrology and DN both are among my special interests and it’s really nice that the characters mostly fit their zodiac signs, or at least the themes of their signs. I have no idea how much of this happened by accident, or how much Ohba (or people from SJ) know about astrology, but I’m going to 100% ignore this and the validity of astrology (because I don’t actually “believe” in it) for a moment. Please do the same if you want to read on.

Traditionally, the opposite signs are meant to be the “mirror” of each other. Pisces are associated with intuition, detachment, inspiration, unity, (self-)deception & delusion, seclusion, complexity, the subconscious, etc. While Virgos are associated with reality, the senses, lucidity, plainness, facts, the analytical, details, duty & responsibility, etc. (They do come together as the “healers” among the signs and via themes like austerity, spirituality and idealism, but that’s not really relevant here)

And while Near doesn’t exactly manage to rid Light of his… delusions, it’s still him who forces him to confess, to stop his lies and tell everyone (well, everyone who was at the warehouse) what he really thinks and feels. It’s quite beautiful. (And quite different from the Pisces & Scorpio interactions between Light and L, despite L’s and Near’s almost identical roles in the story.)

(more irrelevant ramblings about Pisces and Virgos under the cut - and with pictures too!:)

(Also, I’m Pisces myself, so don’t feel attacked if I say something bad about us. I know us. We are all locked in our ivory tower &very peculiar when it comes to our world views, but that’s not always a bad thing!)

(”Truly safe and ideal world” - that’s something that mainly exists in the head of Pisces, tbh)

(Pisces are also associated with selfishness, which, imo, is a weird thing to call Light with all his “God of the New World” talk, but I really do think that sees his “mission” as a form of self-sacrifice too)

(Harm “his world” is probably something he should have said - and what an extremely typical point of view this is for a Pisces, lol)

(Yeah, that’s pure manipulation, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t believe this himself) (Pisces are full of contradictions - did you know that the Pisces symbol ->♓ 

(I can be your angle….or yuor devil) (No, for me this symbolises his gradually divorce from reality too, which is very relatable, tbh)

(Classic Virgo here, not just what he says, or how he physically isolated himself from people while still being a team player - but also that he’s basically married to the ground)

(Bear with me, but Ryuk absolutely symbolises his detachment from reality here too, if you want to. *cough* (I admit that I mainly just like that some weird, supernatural being with wings, who can float and physically disappear/reappear, is the reason for everything that happens to him) Light tries so hard to change the world, the reality, with something that absolutely doesn’t belong in this world - with something spiritual. (And well, Pisces usually try really hard to be anywhere else but in the real world too) (And it’s also not unusual for us to use everything and - maybe - anyone which/who might not be from this world to “cope”)

(That’s just a joke, I know, but I still find this hilarious - the “flying” Pisces and the “I-want-to-become-one-with-the-earth-and-ground” Virgo - it’s just… perfect)

(Fun fact: Virgo is a Mercury sign and people strongly influenced by Mercury often stay child-like, or youthful longer than most people)

(Every Pisces needs a Virgo in their life to tell them how it is, tbh)

(Damn)

(Brutal, yeah, but a typical Virgo/Pisces interaction - just a bit extreme, usually it’s just something like my (Virgo) grandma telling me that I absolutely can’t walk home alone, with nothing more than a thin jacket, in the middle of winter and that, no, “just ignoring the cold” won’t help) (or that I need to face my problems & a very good therapist to help me deal with all of them) (bless you, grandma)

(

(If Pisces & Virgos do believe in something though - then very fiercely indeed)

(Yeah, crush him, Near)

[olympus-summit]

Adieu to This Lovely Graveyard | Setsuna | Punishment Reaction

Setsuna didn’t feel the need to say anything in response before the inevitable punishment. Her spine was perfectly alright, and it wasn’t her own feelings she was worried about. It wasn’t as if she didn’t care - she liked Evren well enough - but from the moment they announced capital punishment, she’d accepted that someone was going to die. But if nobody died, then she supposed that there was no reason for anyone to face capital punishment for it. It wasn’t as unforgivable for someone to seek pain, but she saw no reason to voice that now.

She waves and smiles when Evren leaves through the door with Charon as if bidding him a friendly farewell. That may legitimately be how she feels - he’s going to be right back, so there’s no need for any sort of formality around it.

Of course, she would still watch every moment of everything Evren went through, expression uncharacteristically neutral all the way through. A lot of it doesn’t make sense to her. Yes, Evren was bleeding, but other than that it wasn’t entirely clear to her how the rest of this was meant to be a punishment. These people looked kind of like him. Something went crack and boom and even if she’d never seen an explosion, really, she could deduce what was happening. The man died. Perhaps the others did too. Evren, by all accounts, should have as well. They said it wouldn’t be permanent, though, did they not? What a surprise!

Equally surprising would be when he was rolled back in, fit as a fiddle. Or, well, physically. He was definitely not dead. Setsuna wasn’t disappointed or anything like that, despite her relative lack of reaction to the goings-on. It wasn’t like she particularly wanted any of her new buddies to kick the bucket. That wouldn’t be very nice! She was just pretty sure what they saw should have killed him, but it didn’t so she guessed that was that on that. Adelina calls the physically strong to action, and that seems to snap her out of it - oh! She was strong! She finally stands, with a much more characteristic smile on her face (although perhaps that’s off-putting, considering the way she was acting not five minutes ago…) Hangyu seems to be taking the initiative on that front, but it’d only be polite to offer.

“I can help too, if you want.”

... It even seems like she'd be happy to. she can be yuor angle or your devil

[amaranthkick]

Fusion Confusion, Part 4

(Part 1), (AO3) 

Shiro shifted around on the bed, the light music filling his ears. The soft covers, sleepwear, and bedding felt really nice. He relaxed into the comforting warmth surrounding him. Shiro smiled at memory this warmth reminded him of, Lance wanting to help him in any way he can by listening to his needs and coaxing him to speak up more if he wanted something. They were sharing a body and Lance made it clear that they could do things he asked for too instead of Lance dragging both of them around doing whatever the younger wanted.

All of a sudden the warmth was sapped away by scared, chilling ice.

“S--Shiro, I can't see! I don't think I can move my body either!” Shiro sat up quickly tearing off the headphones at Lance's frightened tone.

“Lance!? Lance, what's wrong?” He looked around quickly trying to find the younger teen. There was no one beside him. “Where--?”

It hit him like a truck, he was able to move his body. No scratch that, it was still their body covered in Lance's sleepwear. But now Shiro was in control of it.

Lance was also connecting the dots as the chill vanished. Sight returned to him when Shiro opened their eyes.

“Was this what it was like for you? Dude, you should've said something! If I had known, I would have asked you what you wanted to do more often.” Lance seemed to be calming down, though only to get upset on his behalf.

“Lance, it's fine really.” Shiro could hear him sigh but didn't push further.

“But Lance, what about you? Are you ok with this?” He was freaking out earlier but not being able to see or move suddenly would startle anyone.

“Aww Shiro, it's alright. I basically dragged you around everywhere yesterday. It's only fair you get a turn.”

Shiro rolled his eyes bemused then turned to their clothes on the table. He'll have to get them ready for today. He supposed he would use his casual clothes for now even if it might be looser on his smaller body. Their body might stretch out Lance's clothes…

Weren’t there two piles of clothes? Why was there only one? He gingerly held out the topmost article of clothing revealing it to be a vest. But it wasn't his vest, the color and other additions were similar to...

“My jacket!” Lance howled in agony as if he was completely betrayed. “What happened to it!? Shiro fix this!”

He sighed exasperated. “Lance, you know I have no idea how.” He could feel Lance pouting.

The mood quickly became dark clouds and rain. Lance was sad. “Lance, are you alright? The crystal must have fused our clothes too. So if the fusion ends, they would go back to normal too.” He tried to explain that it wasn't lost forever.

“I guess… it's just, it was a gift from my older brother, it used to be his. It really means alot to me and I don't want anything to happen to it if I can help it. That jacket one of few things I have that reminds me of home… Sorry! Sorry, I didn't-- I'll just--” The rain, the clouds, and the ocean felt like they were retreating as if to keep his sadness and homesickness away from Shiro. He didn't want to burden him with those feelings.

“Lance… stop. It’s alright, there's nothing wrong with cherishing something or missing home. You don't have to keep your emotions bottled up to keep me from feeling them, I don't mind, really. We'll figure something out and get us unfused. Don't worry, Lance.” He spoke softly. He didn't want Lance to close himself off. As they are now, feeling his emotions was his main way to know if he was alright.

He smiled as he felt the ocean roll back onto the shore hesitant but happy. “Yeah… thanks Shiro.” He nodded to himself. Shiro looked at their hybrid vest gently swiping his thumb over the fabric. If it meant so much to Lance, of course he'll do his best to take care of it. It probably held lots of precious memories for him and now it has a new, albeit strange memory to tell.

---

After Shiro peeled off the mask and washed their face he stared sadly at their reflection. He knew that he looks different because he and Lance fused but he couldn't shake dread dropping into his stomach like a heavy stone. Every time he looks in the mirror reminds him of how he's changed, been changed by the Galra. He looked so radically different from who he was before the Kerberos mission. Sometimes he wondered if the same young man was still inside him or--

“Shiro… this is your conscience speaking… your totally amazing and handsome conscience.” Lance interrupted in an obviously fake ghostly voice. He somehow gave Shiro the impression that he was winking and showing off a million dollar smile.

Shiro snorted. “Really, Lance?”

“Hey, you missed out on some good opportunities right here.” He got the feeling Shiro was thinking too loud and thought he could use a distraction.

“Oh and by the way, as your conscience, I received a message from our stomach that we should eat some breakfast. So make us a sandwich, chop chop, you heard your conscience.” Lance playfully joked around.

As if to agree with his ‘conscience’, their empty stomach growled. Shiro burst out laughing. His eyes were closed but Lance could feel Shiro smiling wide, he was inwardly very happy to have cheered him up. When he finally calmed down, he wiped away a stray tear and said, “Heh, ok, fine. Just don't let all this power go to your head Lance.”

“Me!? Never!”

As he started to walk away from the bathroom, Shiro took one last look in the mirror and smiled warmly. He could almost see Lance genuinely beaming at him.

As Shiro was walking to the kitchen, a thought occurred to Lance. “Hey Shiro? You ever see those shoulder angel and devil things in those old cartoons?”

Shiro raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Yeah, why?”

Lance gasped in delight. “I could be like that for you! Since I'm a voice in your head and all. Oh my gosh, I could be your angle or yuor devil!” He snickered to himself.

Shiro tried to hid his laughter behind his hand but it was all in vain what with being fused to someone.

Lance let out an excited squeal. “Shiro! You're laughing and you didn't correct me! Oh! You know it, don't you!? You know the meme. You like memes, don't you!?”

Ah! Shiro was quick to deny it, he might never hear the end of it from Lance. He coughed to force down his snickering and tried to keep his voice steady and stern. “Lance, I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“Sure, Shiro. Sure.” He's sure Lance would be side-eyeing him right now if he could, complete with a Cheshire cat grin.

Shiro just noticed that he was already in the kitchen. Over near the counter were Hunk and Keith looking at him like he's grown another head. Oh, now that he thought about it talking to Lance must seem like he's muttering to himself. It probably seemed weird to the others. Or wait! He said Lance’s name, whereas if Lance was still in control he would refer to Shiro when talking with him.

“Shiro?” Keith walked up to him wide eyed. Hunk was right behind him.

He laid a hand on Keith’s shoulder face softening, and confirmed gently. “Yeah, I'm here.” Shiro nodded at Hunk. “And Lance is alright too. He's taking full advantage of being a voice only I can hear.”

“Hey!” Lance’s voice chimed in playfully. “Oh! It just occurred to me but I could totally hum fitting background music for you. Or belt out some nice songs.”

“Please don't, Lance.”

Hunk looked closely at them cocking an eyebrow. “Did you get new clothes or are those..?”

Shiro sighed, “Yes, Hunk. When we woke up, we found that the crystal fused our clothes too. I mean, how else can we explain this.” He gestured to his clothes that fit perfectly on their person.

Their stomach let out another grumble reminding them they still haven't had breakfast. Hunk smiled and was kind enough to prepare something more tasty than food goo for them. Afterwards, Keith and Hunk were leading them to the training room. Allura had asked yesterday if she could see their fused body’s combat skills to see how else this fusion could have affected them. Lance and Shiro didn't mind so they scheduled it for today after some needed rest.

Hunk told them that Pidge was with Coran helping him sort through the similar matches to “fusion” in the database. But they'll have a break soon to see the fused body in action as they were curious as well.

---

Everyone was in the training room as expected. Allura had already planned a series of tests specifically with Lance in mind as he was in control the last time she'd seen them. She didn’t take into account the switch either.

Pidge took it in stride though jotting down notes on anything they learned about fusion. She asked to him activate his prosthetic hand as a start. Everyone looked on in awe when his plasma hand glowed in its usual purple but had hints of blue streaking at the edges of his wrist too. Lance's quintessence, perhaps?

“Shiro? How did you gain control of your fused body?” Everyone stared at him for an answer.

He did not have an answer. “We woke up like this. ...Really! That's it.”

Pidge hummed at him adjusting her glasses and suggested they try to voluntarily switch places to see if could be done.

Shiro nodded and closed his eyes. He asked Lance to try and take control while he ‘stepped back’. A few minutes of difficult concentration passed… but nothing happened. Shiro opened one eye after the other and lifted a hand in front of his face. Yup, he was still in control. They tried several more times but nothing changed.

Allura decided they shouldn't linger on failed attempts and try something new. She set Shiro up against a low level gladiator as a warm up exercise for close combat. She explained that next they would test his ranged skills with target practice to find if he had access to some of Lance's skills from the fusion. She would have had them do the opposite if Lance was still in control.

This was supposed to be easy, Shiro's been through this countless time. But his muscles started locking in place. Dread and fear started to overwhelm him just like the first time they tried to fight the gladiator. He was back in a dark hallway lit with purple lights, galra drones closing in on him trying to capture him. He gritted his teeth, he could push this down, he had to, come on-

Lance wasn't spared from the onslaught of Shiro’s strong emotions. They manifested as sudden turbulent gales and threatened to throw him around like a rag doll. In their mindscape Lance dug his heels into the ground leaning forward to fight against the winds.

“Shiro!” He called out unsure whether Shiro could hear him or if he was drowned out by the howling winds. But he wasn't going to give up. Lance kept calling out to him.

Shiro inhaled sharply the moment Lance's voice reached him rapidly blinking back into reality. The world slowed down and he could see clearly that the gladiator was only a second away from landing an attack with its staff.

He managed a quick parry and blocked the attack with his metal arm. Shiro side-stepped the gladiator and easily slashed it in half at the torso with a diagonal cut. It disintegrated in a burst of pixels. He stood up taking deep breaths trying to calm his heart and settle the lingering anxiety hanging over him. The calming waves he felt from Lance helped soothed down his nerves too. He whispered a quiet ‘thank you’ to Lance.

Lance quietly sighed in relief as the winds slowly tapered off to the usual, reassuring breeze.

Keith rushed up to them, he could tell something bothered Shiro. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I'm fine Keith.” When it looked like Keith didn't believe him, Shiro hastily changed the subject. “Let’s move on to target practice, shall we?”

The blue bayard formed Lance's gun. Shiro didn't know what he was expecting but of course it would still form Lance's weapon of choice since the blue paladin was right here after all.

Shiro slowly breathed in and out as he aimed carefully for the center of the bullseye. Thankfully, Lance had apparently explained to Coran one day what earth targets look like. From what Coran was talking about Altean targets seemed really complicated, with flashy stripes and occasionally disappearing tendencies.

Shiro thought he would miss sometimes, not having practiced that much with a ranged weapon but all his shots were going dead center. Their fused body really must have compounded their skills. He could have sworn sometimes just right before he fired a shot, his hands would instinctively readjust the alignment of the bayard a few degrees and probably correcting the trajectory to get an accurate shot.

“Alright, let's try a little something more of Lance's speed, hmm?” Coran asked in his usual cheerful manner.

“Coran!” Lance hissed. Shiro was surprised at that. It seemed Lance didn't want Coran to continue with what he wanted to show. Shiro was about to question him when the new targets appeared.

Three round practice drones flew out of a wall to the opposite side of the room where the static targets were. They sped through a predetermined route, a simple circle. But the most important feature were that they were insanely small. Shiro supposed it was to make it seem like they were farther away in a room with a fixed distance. But how could anyone hit those things while they moved around in a blur?

Lance sighed but then attempted to relax Shiro with a reassuring tone. “Don't worry Shiro, this is easy as pie.”

Shiro grumbled under his breath, “says the guy who sniped that bandit in the leg while he was running away.”

Lance had the gall to chuckle. “Easy, Shiro. Just breath and calm down. You're not even trying to follow their movements. They're moving in a circle so you just have to aim at the space just ahead of them, where they will be.”

Lance sounded strangely knowledgeable about this. Did he practice with Coran before? How come he's never seen Lance do this exercise before?

“Take your time and follow one of them with your eyes.” Shiro smiled at Lance’s soft, encouraging voice.

The shape of a drone became clearer as he focused on it, his eyes easily keeping up. Shiro picked a spot where he would fire and waited till the drone was in the right position and then..! Blam! Shiro didn't bother to hide the elated pride he felt (and that he was sure Lance could feel) as he successfully shot down a drone.

“Awesome, Shiro!” Lance crowed and Shiro grinned matching his infectious excitement and energy. He readied his next shot. The next two drones going down as easy as the the first.

---

After the usual paladin training exercises, everyone was down at the dining area eating dinner and discussing what they learned. Pidge and Allura determined that if Shiro had Lance's skill at handling a laser gun then Lance should be able to handle Shiro’s level of close combat or at the very least have access to his muscle memory.

Shiro huffed in amusement when Lance started to make fighting noises. There was a ‘hyah!’ here and a ‘pow!’ there, he was imagining himself taking down a decent leveled gladiator with their bare hands.

During their discussion Coran was stroking his mustache deep in thought trying to coax the vague memory of someone mentioning fusion to surface. It was close.

He yelled as soon as it hit him scaring everyone at the table. “Ah! I remember now! Mutari. That's the planet rumored to have had an ancient civilization that possessed the power to fuse things. The people would fuse with technology to gain better control for building and the like. They would fuse with animals for their guards to gain various strengths.”

Shiro nodded to Coran. “What about people? Would a person fuse with another?”

Coran's face fell at that. “Well… Someone said they discovered ancient ruins on the planet and decoded some of the writings on the wall that held some information on fusion such as what I said earlier but I don't remember anything about a person fusing with another sentient being. Ah! But it could just be because some records were lost to time is all. No reason to look so glum, this is a lead as good as any!”

Shiro nodded returning a small smile. “Alright, set a course for Mutari.” He turned the rest of his team. “We’ll find and search the ruins then go on from there.” Everyone made a noise of assent.

The ocean splashed with excitement. “Ooh, do you think that's where the crystals came from? The bandits said they found it in the cargo ship they stole.” It would be nice to make sure but the bandits destroyed any records on the ship in an effort to cover their tracks but this idea made sense.

Shiro hummed fondly as he felt the younger’s growing hope for the situation. Hopefully they'll find a way to end the fusion before the Galra attacks and they need Voltron.

---

Shiro was heading back to Lance's room. He asked him if he could continue his skin care routine since he can't put it on himself which of course he would agree. What were friends for?

He began to wonder about when Coran slipped in those other targets certain that Lance's skill could carry him through it and that Lance didn't seem to want anyone to know about. Did he train secretly?

It's late though, he would ask tomorrow. Right now he was busy listening to Lance who was teaching him how to apply the face mask correctly. And telling him the different kinds of music he had stored so Shiro could listen to his own choice of music through the headphones when they sleep.

(Part 5)