#someone tell me if this was never stated anywhere tho

[kimbapisnotsushi]

me, who was born and raised in southern california, who has heard people talking about the UCs my whole life, who knows the mascots of each and every one by heart, who has friends at UCs across the state, @-ing furudate to ask why he made fucking POLAR BEARS the UCI mascot —

[v3nusxsky]

I can’t lose you

*Authors note~ absolutely loving these prompts you guys are requesting. Loving conversing with all and learning more about how my writing is helping you all. It's my own therapy so I'm just glad it can at least bring joy to someone else. Read on my doves*

Tw~ self harm,Depression, Anxiety, trauma response

Prompt< prompt 1 (please talk to me) and prompt 72 (she's at the hospital. I don't know what happened) requested by the lovely idkaname666666 wattpad

It was bad again. You knew that. You should be happy now you know that too, but this dark cloud won't go away. You may get a small break in the clouded cover but it will always remain. Some days it would be light and opaque others it would be dark and thick. Today was the dark clouds. Thankfully you'd managed to survive your classes today, only now it was hitting you like a train. Which is how you were now curled up in front of the fire, skin exposed just numb. The scaring old and new littered your arms all in the different stages of healing. It seemed as if you were running out of skin that hadn't been marked by your own hand. Not only was it your arms , no it was your thighs and stomach too. Years of struggling tattooed on your body in a painful reminder. The dark days always with you.

Tears flowing freely yet no sound escaping you, your hands shook looking at what you had done. You really didn't mean to do so much. It was only meant to be just one. You always told yourself it was just one. But one turns into two and two into four. A never ending pattern. Even when you tried to stop, your body craves it. The stinging sensations present, reminding you of your subconscious need. Craving release that only could be sought from that action.

It's only the knock at your door that snaps you from your own thoughts. Fuck! How could you hide this? Who would be looking for you now? The school day ended over three hours ago. "Just one moment" you called out in a shaky voice quickly covering all your exposed skin. With a quick once over in the mirror and a wipe of any stray tears that still remained. You quickly opened the door just a crack and peaked through the gap. "L-la-Rissa?" You stuttered. She was the last person you thought would be looking for you. "May I?" She gestured to the door with her hand and you nodded moving aside numbly letting her in. You quickly shut the door and led her to sit in front of the dancing flames once more.

"Darling, I've noticed recently you seem a little low recently" you could tell by the worried glint in her eyes. "I'm fine Larissa" you mumbled looking anywhere but her eyes. "Y/n ? Please talk to me. I know something is wrong, even your students do darling." Tears clouded your eyes, your students knew? How? God you thought you'd done so well with hiding this. Apparently not tho.

Maybe it was a good thing that this happened, after all you finally got the chance to open up. Larissa was lovely. She sat and listened as you explained just what was happening. Held you as you cried. Her hands stroking through your hair, soothing words cocooning around you. Maybe just maybe you could see some light breaking through the cloud. Exhausted from your bad day you started to drift off in the taller women's strong embrace. Feeling safe and content for the first time in a long time.  You were gently carried to your room and placed into your bed which caused you to stir slightly at the movement. A whimper escaping your exhausted body when you lost the physical contact. "Hush my darling you're okay go back to sleep, just rest." She hummed out and you could've sworn you felt her lips ghosting your forehead. But maybe you imagined it in your exhausted state.

That was a few nights ago. And you'd had some good days following it. The good feelings lingering from the principals comforting actions. She hadn't mentioned it to you since that night, lingering gazes and gentle brushes of her hand against you as she passed you in the halls but no awkwardness at all. Something in her gaze had changed but you couldn't quite pinpoint it. Of course you'd wanted to talk to her about it, say thank you for comforting you through your bad day but you just couldn't bring yourself to doing it. Maybe that's why when it got bad again you couldn't go to her.

No instead you were once again on your own, back to your old comforting methods of coping. The comfort from the familiar pain grounding you. Numbing out the pain in your heart. Although this time, you'd gone too far. You didn't mean to of course. Normally you could control it. But not today. You were unable to stop yourself now. Tears flowing, mind running rampant as you  started slowly losing consciousness. Maybe just maybe this would be it. Your forever darkness.

Coach Vlad was a close friend of yours, and weekly you'd spend the evening catching up. After all you were still quite new to Nevermore, and you found it hard to make new friends. You and Vlad had been friends for years due to your families knowing eachother. He knew of your depression and anxiety. He knew you took medication to manage it. He also knew of your other coping mechanisms. Not ones he encouraged you to explore, but he also understood you couldn't stop. An addictive habit like that is extremely hard to control. But never in all the years of friendship you shared had he found you like this. Bleeding out, unconscious on the floor with tear stained cheeks. Instantly, his first aid training kicked in, checking for your breathing. It was there slow and shallow but there. On instinct he called it in, putting pressure on the self inflicted wounds waiting for the paramedics to arrive. Once they did and he handed you over to their care, he immediately left to find the one person he knew you'd want at your bedside. After all you had let on to him your feelings for the tall blonde, and she had let him in on her feelings. Neither of you brave enough to tell the other.

Rapid knocks hammered against the heavy mahogany doors, "Larissa , it's y/n!" He explained the emotion thick in his voice. After all his best friend had just been carted off bleeding out in front of his very eyes. "Y/n? Vlad what happened?" The concern and fear anchoring every word. "She's at the hospital. I don't know what happened. She's normally in control of it. She must have gone to far this time" the tears now plucking at his eyes. That was all it took for Larissa to rush past him like a hurricane intent on finding you.

Driving faster than she was sure was legal, Larissa made her way to the hospital. Panic causing her to function on adrenaline. What had Vlad meant gone to far? Why didn't you come to her. Why would you do this to your beautiful self? So many questions left unanswered as she burst into the hospital. "Y/n y/l where is she" her voiced boomed out startling the receptionist. "Room 37, principle Weems" she stuttered out at the blonde women's retreating form. Not even allowing the women to finish she stalked her way to room 37, driven by the pure need to just lay eyes on you.

Finding the room easily she peaked in at your unconscious form, arms bandaged up, monitors steadily beating. You were alive. Thank god. She entered the room quietly taking in the sight of you hooked up to many different machines. The rhythmic beating providing her with some reassurance. She came to your bed side and sank down in the chair. Only now processing what she'd been feeling, only now she knew you were at least alive. "Oh Y/n, my darling why didn't you come to me. I could've helped, I can't stand that you feel like this alone to the point you feel the need to do this. My darling I can't stand to see you this way." Her emotions causing the words to sound strangled as she whispered them to what she thought was your unconscious form. "I must confess I can't tell you when your awake, maybe I did you wouldn't be here now, but darling I well I love you. I can't lose you. So you must heal okay? Heal and come back to me so maybe I can spend the rest of my days showing you, you'll always have me" the tears falling from her eyes landing on your now joint hands. Her head dropped to rest against your hands just happy to feel your warmth, being extremely cautious of your bandages.

It was the weak squeeze you gave that had her upright in seconds, "Y/n? Your awake? Are you in any pain!? What can I do?" She panicked not sure what to do for the best. "Sit down Larissa" you tried to demand but it came out weak, causing you to cringe at your voice. How much blood had you lost this time? Your vision was blurry and you assumed the stinging in your arm was the fluid being pushed into your intervene-us drip. You were shocked when she did as asked. "I Larissa I'm sorry" you mumbled dumbly. Nothing you could say would help ease the pain you could see in her eyes. "Oh darling don't be sorry, it's okay. Just please come to me when you feel so low." You could tell by her voice she was sincere. "I'm sorry Rissa I didn't want to bother you..." you trailed off avoiding her gaze. You caused her so much pain it almost made you wish you'd not woken.

"Darling, I need you to really hear these words." She stated and you nodded in acknowledgment, "you aren't ever a bother to me, I promise you. I gosh this is harder than I thought, I love you Y/n..." this time it was Larissa avoiding your gaze, missing how the tears flowed down your cheeks. "You what?" You murmured quietly. "I love you Y/n I thought you'd died on me." The pain evident once more. "I I love you too" you whimpered out through your sobs. "Oh darling don't cry please don't cry" she faltered wishing to gather you in her arms but not wanting to hurt you. You shifted creating a space so she could curl around your broken body. She did so willingly stroking through your curls and dropping sweet little kisses to your head. Your body still exhausted from the ordeal it had suffered, you lay there blinking away the sleep that her ministrations we causing. "Hush darling just rest now, I have you Y/n. I love you darling please rest for me. I'll be here with you when you awake." She reassured you as you finally gave into the exhaustion.

Word count~ 1943

*Authors note~ this was very therapeutic but hard to write I tired to avoid too much detail but I hope I did the prompt some justice, filler post*

[waterparksdrama]

Sorry this is a long one, but I wanted to get all of my thoughts out there, and this is probably the best place where I can do it anonymously and won't get HOUNDED for it.

I'm ngl I'm a little concerned for the longevity of Waterparks going forwards. Even back when they switched from Hopeless to 300ent I was worried bc (from what we know) Hopeless have probably been the most helpful and nicest when it came to what parx did both under them and also after they left (I'm mostly talking abt how Fandom was promoted, the sold out shows, Fandom live, and the Turbulent and IMHS single cd's that were sold, like, last month).

I remember that there was a lot of mix ups/overselling (I think) of the different varients of the GH cd's, when those happened, so I can see why they left. But the fact that they were able to make GH2024 means they're still on good terms with 300ent (unlike EVR with Ent19 and DD19)

Even with FBR, that label is (from what I can tell) the ideal record lable to be signed to, for a band LIKE Waterparks. Which was why I was so shocked when they left it. I mean, I can understand if it's bc they wanted to cancel IP2 but FBR still wanted them to release it, but I can't think of any other reason why.

(I keep saying "they" as in the band, but I also feel like Awsten is making a lot of the decisions idk).

And now that they're also not under MDDN managment, I'm a little scared. Because, yes whilst it's good that parx are completely independent and they can do what they want, they're also gonna be limited in those things (mostly due to monitary reasons and connections I think).

Also this is also gonna sound a little selfish, but I'm worried that when they tour next, it'll only be in the states. I'm in the UK, which always has a decent amount of shows anyways (except last tour when they didn't actually come to my city even tho it's one of the major ones and they usually do), but I have a feeling they won't be coming back here, or performing ANYWHERE outside of the USA, for the next album cycle.

(also I meant to write this when the news of them breaking from MDDN came out, but I forgot and then apparently today a bunch of songs off Fandom have been removed from usage on instagram so that got me even more concerned).

i mean parx was never gonna last long especially at this point where they're approaching their mid 30s and even if hopeless was good to them, awsten wanted bigger things outside the pop punk bubble that literally no one else wanted to give them because they don't fit into the mainstream consciousness either whether it's for awsten's sponsor unfriendly social media presence or the fact that parx's music has become so stale either because awsten keeps vying for that mainstream #relatability or that zakk cervini does not know what to do anymore with them that he hasn't already done with other artists.

and parx was always bound to leave fbr. that's like a death sentence to sign there nowadays and even awsten didn't look all too thrilled when he was there signing the contract anyways. i don't think fbr wanted to cancel ip2 necessarily i feel like they wanted another album that wasn't just a double album extension when they already dragged out the single releases in the first place and would just release different versions of singles again is uh. not a good idea in general and once parx left even though they already released their first single via fbr, it was never going to end pretty unless they struck up some sort of agreement (and that was literally never going to happen)

and as for touring i do suspect they'll have to downsize how much they can tour (if the state of their merch and zero management is anything to go by), but they'll probably still be available for shorter events like festivals and stuff because to my understanding they got booking agents and no managers so either awsten is gonna go completely diy starting from scratch or he's gonna find someone probably more evil to manage (most of) what he can't carry - iz

[karlachgale95]

Hearts of the Multiverse: Chapter Nineteen: Unknown Phantom

              He sank deeper into a place that was all shadow; not a trace of light could be seen anywhere. Suddenly, images began to play out. He was back home. Not the Hikawa Shrine, but his home, in Italy. The leather chair he sat in did little to comfort him. The last thing he remembered; he had been poisoned by that Liv woman. This was obviously a trap. He needed to get out of here.

              “Giorno?”

              Miles was sitting opposite him, on the other side of the desk. He looked just as confused as Giorno felt.

              “Did…did we get captured? Is this a trick?” Giorno asked.

              Miles shook his head. “No, Trunks helped us get you back to the shrine.”

              “I’m guessing Trunks is Mr. Energy Guy, right?”

              Miles nodded. “Do you know where this is?”

              “Italy,” Giorno said. “My home.”

              “This is where you live?” Miles asked. It was a relief when he smiled. “Dude, this place is awesome.”

              “I’m glad you like it.”

              It surprised him when Miles got up and got closer, almost hesitantly. “I’m sorry. I never meant for you to get hurt.”

              “That wasn’t your fault, Miles,” Giorno said. “If it hadn’t been that woman, it would’ve been my father, Alastor, or some other boogeyman.”

              “But Doc Ock is my villain, and there’s like a lot of other bad guys out there who probably want revenge. I should’ve thought of that!”

              He brought up a good point; no, not blaming himself, but other villains being reanimated and placed here. It had crossed his mind that Squadra and perhaps even Diavolo had ended up here. If they knew he was here, he could be putting a big target on the reinvigorated Passione, himself, and Miles. Still, they were on his territory. This was his home, and he’d be damned if anyone tried to hurt him or anyone he cared about here.

              “…Would you stay here with me for now?” Giorno asked. He glanced out the window. Nothing seemed to be amiss. Still, it didn’t hurt to be careful. “I don’t want you getting hurt if my old enemies are out there.”

              Miles was quiet for a second before he said, “So, you’ve got some people who are probably against you, too, huh?”

              “That’s an understatement…But don’t worry about them.”

              They could still be dead. Hopefully they were still dead.

              “You know, I’ve never really been outside of the states before,” Miles said. “Well, except that time I accidently traveled to Pav’s world—Mumbattan.”

              Giorno blinked. “Never heard of it.”

              “It’s like Mumbai, I think,” Miles explained. “Huge place. Wish I could’ve gotten to explore it more. I might be able to—once we finish helping Kaiba with this project.”

              “Right,” Giorno said with a snort. “How’s working with him going?”

              “Well, he is a jerk, but he knows what he’s talking about. I think we’re making real progress in getting everyone home. However, Kaiba wants to take it a step further. He wants to keep in contact with some of us because he thinks we’d be good for helping him break through more barriers.”

              “And what do you think?” Giorno asked.

              Miles was quiet for a second and sighed. “I need to break through time. If everything resets, and I’m not there to stop it, my dad could die. If I can get the machine to travel through time and dimensions, I can travel to a specific point to make sure nothing happens.”

              “It’d be good for anyone who might want to go back or forwards in time to visit someone they met here,” Giorno said.

              “An obvious perk,” Miles said with a small smirk.

              Was he…? Giorno shook his head. He couldn’t tell.

              A sharp jab to his chest knocked him to the floor and the air out of his lungs. Good to know wherever they were, he could still feel pain. He had to get up, though.

              “Giorno!”

              Miles stooped down beside him; it was embarrassing to show so much weakness, even in front of, no, especially in front of him. He grabbed onto the edge of the desk behind him and casually (or at least what he thought was casually) began to prop himself up.

              “I’m fine,” Giorno assured him. “It’s probably just a lingering symptom. No need to panic.”

              “And if it isn’t?”

              “I’ll figure it out, Miles.”

              He was being shorter than he wanted to be, but he didn’t see any other way to do this without talking in short spans. He couldn’t allow to show any more weakness. This whole new world was just one setback after another, and he was running out of patience with the obstacles he kept encountering.

              “Hello?” a voice spoke up. It was unfamiliar—young—male. “Whoever is out there—this ability is very new and very fragile. I’ve tried to reach you in a place you’d feel safe.”

              Slowly, a translucent, gray, humanoid figure appeared before them. “Blast it all. I thought I might be able to project myself into this shared dream.”

              “Who are you?” Miles asked.

              The figure’s hands quickly went to its ears. “One at a time, please. I know you can’t see each other, but I’ve connected to a lot of you. I can hear you.”

              “I’m sorry I couldn’t get my body or face to show, but, like I said, it is a new ability. I’m here to help. I’ve received some distressing visions of the future. However, I think I’ve found a way to counter them. I just need the help of everyone who is seeing me; no one else. Every time we try to involve others, it ends in tragedy. I can’t see any other way around it, and I’m sorry. But, I’ve tried playing out different scenarios, and they don’t work. We’re going to need to work together.”

              His voice sounded familiar. Not to anyone he had met in real life, maybe in passing. Perhaps he was an enemy stand user.

              The vision of the person began to fade away. “Meet me at the secret library! I’ll explain everything!”

              Everything around them began to fade. Giorno shook his head. “Should’ve known this was just an illusion.”

              “We’ll get home,” Miles said. “I promise.”

              “When you say it, it seems possible,” Giorno said.

              Giorno woke up and took in a sharp breath of air. He was back in the Hikawa Shrine. His head pounded and his body ached, more than likely side effects of the venom. Still, he wasn’t dead. The octopus woman probably hadn’t accounted for that, but there was no doubt she would try again.

              Behind him, apparently having slept there, were Miles and Jotaro starting to wake up. They seemed surprised to be surrounded by blankets and pillows. Kakyoin was laid out very nearby—a two-to-three-foot distance beside him. Most of the windows in this room were shut up, as if no light was allowed to seep into it. He wondered, for a moment, if his father was there.

              However, a smug voice piped up, “How unlucky for a child of a god to be cursed so many times.”

              It was that vampire-spawn, Astarion. Jotaro glanced at him then at Kakyoin, who was still sleeping. Jotaro mumbled, “And what do you want?”

              “I came all this way, during the day, only to be treated so coldly? I’ve a surprise for Giorno,” Astarion mused. He walked to the door, “Mr. Bronze and Brash, your son is awake.”

              “You invited him here?” Jotaro demanded, standing on his feet immediately.

              “Calm down,” Astarion said. “You’re thinking of the wrong father.”

              “Wait, what are you—?”

              A man with dark raven hair, built body, ragged clothes, and a sword strapped to his back walked into the room. It was the man from Mista’s reports: Jonathan Joestar—his other biological father.

              “No way.”

              “You’re Jonathan Joestar,” Giorno said aloud.

              The man nodded. “Yes. And you’re Giorno Giovanna.”

              “I assume Astarion told you about me,” Giorno said with a pointed glare to the vampire spawn, who merely smirked in response.

              “He did, but I think it’s for the best,” Jonathan said. “After all, it seems there’s a myriad of family here I never would have…had a chance to know.”

              “Jiji told me how DIO ended up with your body,” Jotaro said. He glanced to Astarion. “I’m guessing he told you as much.”

              “Don’t blame me for keeping track of useful information. It could save your life…or more importantly—mine.”

              “Yeah, but how did you know about—?” Miles began.

              “Where do you think?” Jotaro asked. “Your ‘saviors’ during the Kaolinite incident. That priest is connected to DIO, isn’t he?”

              “Not just connected,” Astarion said. “Lolth herself couldn’t weave a fate so cruel and determined as those two share.”

              “Then why bother being a turncoat, if you suspect them to be so powerful?”

              “Because no one should have that kind of power, especially not with what they’re planning,” Astarion said.

              “Wait,” Jonathan interrupted. “You knew they have some sort of plan—what is this plan?”

              “I overheard it in whispers—pillow talk,” Astarion mused. Everyone groaned. Astarion’s face darkened. “He needs something from every single Joestar. His working theory is that if Giorno joins him in immortality, he won’t need what he’ll be taking from him. The rest of you—well—he hardly cares what happens to you.”

              “What does he want?” Jotaro asked, standing.

              “It’s the priest. He knows there’s something lurking within your souls—something powerful—something that will help them achieve control of the heavens and gods themselves!”

              Astarion paused. “Of course, I don’t know much beyond that. All I know is it will be a complete onslaught, should you allow them to continue.”

              “Then we’ll just have to beat him before he can enact anything,” Giorno said, standing up. He would not allow himself to become a husk for his ‘father’s’ bidding.

              “It may not be that simple,” Jonathan said. “Dio is dangerous, merciless, even. We need to be careful and come up with a plan to counter any arsenal he may command. When we fought, he had a horde of undead soldiers working for him.”

              “It’s stand users now,” Jotaro said. “Willing and unwilling.”

              “The priest looks pretty willing.”

              Another groan.

              “You’re all no fun.”

              “In any case,” Jonathan resumed, turning to Giorno. “I wanted to meet you. I know this is an awkward situation to say the least, but…”

              His voice trailed off, and he seemed to be getting emotional. This degree of sentimentality from someone who might’ve been a father figure in another life was unsettling. Giorno took a step backwards. “Whatever you know about me, you shouldn’t concern yourself with. I’m fine. I can handle this alone.”

              “Because that’s going so well,” Astarion commented. He openly scoffed. “Your father could offer you so much help and you’re just—refusing?”

              “I lived without a father for fifteen years; I don’t need one now,” Giorno said, trying not to sound bitter. He straightened out his jacket and started toward the door. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got a library to go to.”

              “I actually received that dream, too,” Jonathan said. “The woman who runs the secret library, Setsuna is very kind. Astarion, you should go return the books your host stole.”

              “And get tossed out like yesterday’s rubbish? No, no, no! I won’t be doing that, thank-you-very-much!”

              “Kaiba probably would throw him out,” Miles interjected.

              Great. They were stuck with him, it seemed. No. He could probably get out of this.

              There was a sudden commotion in the main hall of the shrine. Thank goodness for small miracles.

              …

              “What do you mean you hired someone new?” Rei demanded from her grandpa.

              Yugi wasn’t sure what to make of her sudden flare of anger that had consumed the red sailor guardian. She was probably just stressed by all the people who were already staying here. In any case, the blond guy standing beside her grandfather gave them a small, almost hopeful smile. He’d already been given blue shrine clothes.

Everyone else was still asleep. Yugi had woken up early due to their dream visitor. He had spoken to both himself and the Pharoah. Apparently, they needed to go to the library and there were others who needed to do the same.

              “Don’t worry, this young lad is awfully good at predicting the future! He’s like you, Rei!”

              “Is that so?” Rei questioned, her lips turning into a sneer. “We’ll see what happens there.”

              “Well, that’s good enough for me!” Mr. Hino said, leaving the room while humming some popular song from the 90’s.

              Rei shoved a finger into the guy’s chest pointedly. “If you’ve come here to cause trouble, just know it won’t go over well for you.”

              “I haven’t,” the guy said. His voice was…familiar. “I’m here to help.”

              “It’s the man from our vision,” the Pharoah murmured. “The blank figure. Ask him his name, Yugi.”

              “Um, excuse me,” Yugi piped up. “What’s your name?”

              “Hello Yugi Muto,” the man said with a small smile. “I am—!”

              He was cut off as Luz rushed into the room. “Luke Skywalker!”

              The man raised an eyebrow and turned to Luz. “You know, usually, I’m the one who scares people by knowing who they are first.”

              “Heh. Sorry,” Luz said, rubbing the back of her neck. “It’s just that you’re an icon in the nerd community.”

              “I still don’t trust you,” Rei said.

              Luke held up his hands defensively. “I understand. Trust is earned. And I’ll do my best to earn yours, Miss Hino.”

              “What are you doing here?” Luz asked. “If you wanted us to meet in the library, why not just go straight there?”

              Luke frowned. “I’m not sure why, but one moment, I was celebrating with my friends after the death of the tyrant, Palpatine. And I started receiving visions of people. No, not just people: titles, voices, and events that could, have, and will happen. I was pulled into this world by an entity, a kindly spirit. She told me I needed to prevent tragedy from falling upon those she protects.”

              Perhaps the spirit could be related to the Millenium items, but the Pharoah shook his head. “No. Not one who would bring him here to protect us.”

              Luke glanced at them, but he didn’t say anything. Could he see the Pharoah?

              “Rei! You’ll never believe what I just dreamt…about…” Usagi’s frantic run into the shrine was cut short by her seeing Luke. “Rei, did your grandfather hire someone new?”

              “Yes,” Rei said. “This is Luke, apparently.”

              He gave her a small wave. “Hello Miss Tsukino.”

              “Whoa! You know my name? Also…you’re that guy from my dream!” Usagi bowed up and crossed her arms. “I was having a very good dream about me and Mamo being married and living together before you interrupted it!”

              “I’m sorry, but it is important that I talk to everyone today,” Luke said. His face darkened. “I’ve got a feeling something bad is coming this way soon.”

              “Like what?”

              In walked Jotaro, Giorno, Miles, Mr. Joestar, and Mr. Ancunin.

              “Where’s Kakyoin?” Yugi asked.

              “Still sleeping,” Jotaro said. “Katara offered to keep an eye on him.”

              “Morlun must’ve affected him more than we originally thought,” Rei said. She turned to Jotaro. “We’ll need to make sure he’s not able to attack anyone else again. If you and Zuko hadn’t stopped him, it might’ve been too late.”

              Jotaro didn’t say anything, but the scowl on his face said it all.

              “…Is no one gonna talk about how the world’s most famous jedi is here?” Miles asked.

              “I did!” Luz said.

              “He’s also the dream visitor,” Giorno noted. “I recognized your voice. Also, Star Wars is pretty well-known.”

              “I don’t care who he is,” Jotaro said. He turned to Luke. “Why should we trust you?”

              “I know things seem bad, and you have every right to be weary of me,” Luke began. “However, I want to help—I was sent here to help. I think part of my mission is to gather everyone so that we’ll know who we can count on—who needs to be prepared for the final battle.”

              “Against the witches?” Miles asked. “Against Morlun? You’ve gotta be more specific.”

              “I will,” Luke assured him. “As soon as we’re altogether. It’s everyone or nothing, it seems.”

              “How do you know?” Jotaro asked.

              “Because I’ve seen the end of this timeline if we fail,” Luke said. “It’s not…good. Not for us, not for the multiverse, and certainly not for the balance of…everything.”

              They sat in silence for a second. It was broken by Usagi. “I think we need to at least give him a chance. I…feel like we should trust him.”

              “Plus, he’s Luke Skywalker,” Luz said. “Hero with one of the purest hearts? If he’s here, he’s really putting himself on the line.”

              “I mean, unless you count the sequels,” Miles said.

              “There are sequels to Star Wars?” Giorno asked.

              “And prequels,” Luz said.

              Yugi had no idea what they were talking about. It seemed pop culture in his universe differed from their universes. Maybe Luz or Miles could fill him, Joey, and Kaiba in later. It might give him a better idea as to who Luke was.

              “Fine,” Jotaro said. He stopped slouching and glared at the possible hero. It was super intimidating. “If you hurt anyone here, I will end you.”

              Luke matched his gaze; although, he remained calm. “I would never hurt the innocent. Ever. I took up an oath; as a jedi, it is my duty to protect the world, to protect people, and to protect balance.”

              Jotaro stared at him for a second and then shook his head. “Fine.”

              He walked off, leaving everyone to chatter amongst themselves. The awkward tension couldn’t be cut with a knife…or by a legendary knight. Was joking at a time like this bad? Yugi decided in a room full of fire and ice, the best idea was to keep to himself, which, after a lot of years of practice, he was good at doing.

              He walked into an adjacent room and sat down, turning on the news. Meta News was on; the host went on about some sort of gala happening soon. The anchorman switched to discussing the tragedy at the festival yesterday—how the central park was still under reconstruction from the daimon attacks. Yugi had no clue if they knew Doc Ock, Morlun, Lysandre, Kikimora, and Terra Snapdragon had played a part in yesterday’s excitement.

              The Pharoah appeared beside him, glancing at the screen. “At least he’s not as vapid as Vox.”

              “What do you think we should make of Luke, Pharoah?” Yugi asked. “Do you think he’s being honest.”

              “It’s hard to say, but Luz, Usagi, and Miles seem to trust him. Even Giorno didn’t seem to be too against him. Jotaro is the only one who seems especially weary. However, considering how hurt Kakyoin was, it’s hardly fair to blame him.”

              “True,” Yugi agreed. “I’m just not sure, you know? I mean, sometimes even the greatest heroes have turned out to be jerks.”

              “That’s what the Boulder was like when we first met him!”

              Yugi and the Pharoah turned to see Aang and Danny had joined them.

              “Oh, hi Danny, hi Aang,” Yugi said. “Do you guys need anything?”

              “Well, we kind of wanted to talk to you,” Aang said. He paused and bounced, further than anyone else could, on the back of his feet. “Listen, as the avatar, I am the official connection between the human and spirit world.”

              Uh oh.

              “So…then…”

              “So, he knows about the pharaoh,” Danny said. He chuckled. “And being half-ghost, I do, too. Look, we just wanted to see if, well, your spirit was friendly.”

              “Or if we could talk to him,” Aang said. “I mean, usually I need to be in the avatar state to commune with spirits, but for some reason I can see him. He looks like you!”

              They were able to see the pharaoh. Yugi tugged on his jacket. “…so you heard our conversation. Or…probably a lot of them.”

              “We didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” Aang said defensively.

              “Yeah!” Danny agreed with a nod. “We just didn’t know how to approach you about it. Plus, you’re always with everyone else, and if we accuse you of having a spirit attached to you, the others might get the wrong idea. A lot of people, where I’m from, they don’t exactly love the idea of Danny Phantom, you know.”

              “Considering how everyone reacted to Giorno’s pact for the longest time without understanding the circumstances,” the Pharaoh began. “You may have a point, Danny.”

              “So…are you just the Pharaoh?” Danny asked. “Is it like with that Doctor-guy? You know, you’re just named what you were? I mean, that’s cool. I know a spirit who’s literally called the Box Ghost.”

              “I do not remember my name,” the Pharaoh explained. “It’s been part of my mission to find it.”

              “Well—maybe we can help,” Aang suggested. “I’ve found things spirits have lost before.”

              “Same,” Danny said.

              “Don’t worry,” Yugi said with a small smile. “We’ve got this covered! I promised I’d help the pharaoh. Although, I guess being stuck in another world doesn’t really help our situation.”

              “I’m pretty good at finding the gap between the spiritual world and the physical world,” Aang said. “If you ever need help, well, looks like I’ll be here for a while. This whole multiple-worlds-thing is a mess. Saving one was hard enough.”

              “It’s actually not that bad,” Danny said.

              “Have you done this before?” Yugi asked.

              Danny nodded. “You meet some interesting people in the multiverse. Biggest surprise was that Ji…” he stopped himself. “Well, let’s just say that I was surprised to not see some familiar faces. Still, it’s like it’s always been: a big baddie is causing havoc and messing with multiple worlds. We’ll stop them, and if Plasmius shows his face, you leave him to me.”

              “Who’s Plasmius?” Yugi asked.

              “Just some jerk,” Danny said, waving his hand as if swatting at a fly. “We’ve got enough to worry about without worrying about him. So, if he is here, we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it. I mean, as long as he isn’t here, it’s probably best not to will him into existence. He’s kind of like Beetlejuice. Don’t even say his name.”

              “We’ll take your word for it,” the pharaoh mused.

              They were interrupted by Miles, who knocked on the wall of the doorway. “Hey, we’re gonna head out. If…you need to go to the library, you can come with us.”

              “Yeah, I think we all kind of got an invite,” Danny said. “Seriously, I can’t believe Star Wars is real.”

              “Witches, ghosts, monsters, and demons are real,” the Pharaoh said. “Why be surprised by whatever a Star Wars is?”

              Danny laughed, causing Miles some confusion. He stared at them for a moment, probably wondering if Danny had laughed at his own joke. Poor Danny. He turned to Yugi. “I seriously can’t believe you don’t know what Star Wars is. We’ll have to marathon the movies.”

              “Yeah, later,” Miles said. “We gotta go.”

              He turned and left, pulling his hoodie over his head.

              “Geez, dramatic much?” Danny asked.

              “He’s probably worried about his friend,” Yugi said. “If Joey or any of my other friends were in trouble, I’d probably want to get going, too.”

              “Yugi is right,” Aang said. “Besides, we can always watch movies later tonight! It’ll be a good reward, like Katara used to say after training.”

              “Responsibility it is, then,” Danny said.

              The Pharaoh turned to the door. “Then, let’s go.”

              …

              N leaned back against the wall of the large building. The dragon statues were a nice touch, but it needed to be more…fun. During his reign as king of Team Plasma, he’d decorated his room however he wanted; he’d even had a skating rink in the middle of his room. Of course, there wasn’t much time for fun with Ghetsis’s guidance.

              Mr. Wright kept thanking Karlach, Miss Clawthorne (and her owl friend), Miss Fey, Mr. Dekarios, Professor Sycamore, and Mr. Halsin for looking after the kids since most everyone was going to be in a meeting. Mr. Wright had a meeting, and Mr. Edgeworth had another. Word was from the tiny Kaiba that his brother would be in a meeting with some executives. N had come with the express interest of finding his friend. After Hilbert defeated Ghetsis, he’d gone missing, sent on some quest to expose others like Ghetsis by that incompetent man, Looker.

              The eldest Kaiba, along with some of the others from differing universes, were working on a device that could open rifts back into their worlds. Surely, if they could build something the legendaries themselves could do, then he might be able to help him find Hilbert.

              N snuck past the others and took the familiar elevator up. He was reluctant to pull the ‘I helped saved your brother that one time’ card, but to be fair, Seto Kaiba had only done Leone Abbachio a favor—not him.

              The upper levels of the building seemed higher than any height he’d traversed with Reshiram. He could’ve sworn he could touch the clouds up here. He stood across the hall—opposite from Kaiba’s office. The brunette security guard glared at him and wandered over to him.

              “I thought Mr. Kaiba designated you to help the attorneys in solving who stole his technology.”

              “Perhaps,” N admitted. “However, I think that request was more so made to Mr. Abbachio, as it was his friend who asked him to help. I’m here for another reason entirely.”

              “If you’re here to cause trouble,” the guard began. “I’ll deal with you here and now.”

              “Is that so?” N asked. He shook his head. “No offense, but I doubt you could. Not that I want to cause trouble. I just want help in finding a friend. I think Seto could help do that.”

              “Mr. Kaiba,” the guard corrected. “And he’s far too busy to help with something so mundane.”

              “Fine,” N said. “I’ll just ask his brother and Karlach. They’re just downstairs.”

              He never knew how to deal with people, but he’d seen Ghetsis argue to get what he wanted. Maybe it was bad to imitate him, but he needed to know where his first real friend was. If he even…

              “Wait,” the guard said with a sigh. “I’ll let Mr. Kaiba know why you’re here.”

              “Thank you,” N said with a nod.

              He sat back and watched as the guard walked into Kaiba’s office. N guessed his meeting was over, otherwise that guard would be fired. He heard him tell Kaiba him how ‘the creepy, soulless-looking kid staring through the doorway is asking for a favor.’ It wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to hearing, but somehow, it did manage to strike a nerve. Ghetsis had called him a freak without a soul. The man who had raised him, made him believe in the dream of a world where Pokémon were free from horrible people, where he could do good turned out to be nothing more than a pathetic, lying human.

              He didn’t even have ‘his’ Pokémon anymore. He freed his team before fighting Hilbert. The only Pokémon he traveled with now was Reshiram, and that’s because Reshiram agreed with him. He hadn’t forced the legendary to go anywhere.

              Kaiba looked up from the papers scattered on his desk and eyed N. He shook his head and gestured for him to sit down in the chair in front of his desk. N did so.

              “What?”

              “My friend Hilbert has been missing for a few months now. I can’t trust the police or other humans. I need to find him, or at least try and save him from where he may unfortunately have been before he went missing. I’ve overheard some of the others talking about how they’re helping you build that multiversal device that manipulates time and space. I need your help to find him.”

              Kaiba laughed in his face. That was to be expected. “And why should I use my resources to help you?”

              “Because I helped you,” N said. “I’m sure Mokuba would agree with me.”

              Kaiba scowled. “You know, using my brother against me didn’t exactly help the last man who tried to do it.”

              “So I’ve heard,” N said. He leaned in. “Look, we’re not exactly too different. The Pokémon that guards you tell stories, and other Pokémon hear them.”

              When Kaiba raised an eyebrow and tried to talk, N raised a hand to stop him. “Don’t blame them. Most people can’t understand what Pokémon are saying, not even Hilbert could. I’m just…different.”

              N leaned back a little. “I’m not good with most humans. The man who raised and manipulated me into becoming a king took advantage of that. For the longest time, the only thing I understood was how cruel humans could be. I did what I thought was right. Hilbert did what he thought was right. We went on different paths, but there was no one I respect more than him. He was my first real friend. I need to find him!”

              N only now realized that he was standing up. He murmured a quick apology and sat back down. Cheren had said he got too impassioned and talked too quickly; he needed to keep that in mind.

              “I’ll ask you a question,” Kaiba said. “If it was between finding your friend and going home, which would you choose?”

              “Him,” N said quickly.

              “That was quick,” Kaiba said with a chuckle. “Well, what would he choose?”

              “Huh?”

              “Would he choose to stay here?” Kaiba asked. “There’s no guarantee this machine would work more than once. So, you two could get stuck here. And if he’s stuck here, with no way to get back, would he be happy here?”

              “Being stuck here is better than being dead!” N blurted out.

              It was quiet for a moment before N spoke up again, allowing himself to bury his face in his hands. “Could you imagine if the one person you cared about, the only person who made you feel like you weren’t a freak, like you weren’t some soulless husk was murdered by the man who manipulated you your whole life? I’ve been looking for Hilbert for so long, but I can’t find him. I think…I think Ghetsis found him first.”

              N looked up at Kaiba and continued. “I can’t just leave him for dead.”

              Kaiba rubbed his temples and sighed. “Look, I make no promises, and most of my team is out today. I’ll consider it, but only because I hate being indebted to anyone.”

              Kaiba got up and picked up his phone, typing something quickly, a message, maybe. “I suppose it’s good you’re here, anyway. I was going to call a meeting—an emergency action plan for those of us who aren’t geezers too set in their ways. We need new ideas, and since most of my team is in a meeting at a library, I thought it would be good to at least get some details from others on the ins and outs of their universes. The more I know, the more likely all of this is to succeed.”

              Although he was trying to downplay it, there was a certain gleam in Kaiba’s eyes. This project was more than altruistic; he had some sort of personal stake in it. As to what, N didn’t know. He wondered if he should be concerned.

              No. Not if it brought Hilbert back.

              Kaiba could take over whatever business he wanted so long as he helped N.

              …

              Since the others were gone, Student Council girl, Sokka, Sasha Waybright, and the new guy, Bow decided to try and make plans with everyone else on how to find the Deathbusters hideout. The other sailor senshi had come around to try and help. Try was the keyword. Ami was disappointed in the lack of studying and kept cracking open math books during the meeting, Minako kept flirting with the other new guy—Yukito—to no effect, Rei yelled at everyone to shut up, causing more mayhem than was already happening, and Makoto seemed lost in thought, staring out the windows.

              And that was just the sailor guardians. Joey was trying to flirt with Minako, but she was oblivious to it. Hunter kept glancing around nervously while Willow and Gus tried to talk to him. Katara was watching over Kakyoin, so she wasn’t even in the room. Okuyasu kept bugging Polnareff and Avdol with questions about Egypt. The only people who were paying attention were Starfire, Zuko, Suki, and Amity.

              Even Arven was out of the loop. Although he’d told everyone he’d moved past losing his parents to their research, he couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of loneliness. And it felt like no one cared. Juliana wasn’t here, Nemona was fixated on battling, and Penny was so isolated, it was hard to know whether she was his friend or not.

              This place: the witches, the vampire, and the arsenal of never-ending boogeyman that sprang up out of nowhere creeped him out. And he wasn’t letting anyone or anything hurting Mabosstiff again.

              He got up, stretched, and went into the kitchen. Might as well do some food prep while everyone was being so chaotic. He wasn’t about all the noise. He could make ramen today. It was quick and efficient, although he preferred sandwiches.

              Arven took a few packages of instant noodles Yuichiro bought the other day and placed them on the counter, then swept over to the cabin, and dug out a pot to put on boil. He began chopping up a few veggies to add to the flavor. It was nice to have some quiet time to himself, and cooking kept him busy.

              And that’s when someone decided to walk into the kitchen. Light footsteps patted down the floors. Arven turned and saw Mako glancing at the pot of ramen.

              “Hey, sorry,” Mako said apologetically. “It was getting loud in there. Okuyasu accidentally made one of the whiteboards Sokka was mapping his plans onto disappear when he went to write something. So, now everyone’s fighting.”

              Arven rubbed his temples, starting to hear echoes of shouting down the hallway. “Of course they are.”

              “Nemona said they should have a Pokémon battle to settle it,” Mako said with a slight grin.

              “Of course she did,” Arven said, trying to keep his laughter to himself. “Feel free to stick in here if you want to avoid the drama.”

              “I’ll take you up on that,” Mako said. She paused. “Hey, how’d you get so good at cooking?”

              “Not having parents kind of pushes you to get better at it,” Arven said, his smile faltering.

              “Right…I’m sorry I brought it up,” Mako said. “I know how that is. I lost my parents when I was pretty young.”

              Arven turned to look at her. “Really?”

              Mako nodded. “They died when I was twelve. I didn’t want to go into foster care, so I elected to take care of myself. I get what I need to get by, but it’s hard. I miss them so much.”

              “I’m…I’m not sure if I miss my parents,” Arven murmured. “I barely knew them. They were always wrapped up in their work; they never had time for me. How can you miss someone you never knew?”

              He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t even care about going back home. There’s nothing and no one to go back to. As long as Mabosstiff is here with me, I’m alright.”

              “Surely you have friends, I mean, Nemona always talks highly of you,” Mako said.

              “She does?” Arven questioned.

              Mako nodded. “Yeah! She says that you’ve been through a lot and that you’re still tough, despite it all.”

              Mako walked over to him and started putting the veggies in different bowls. “Furthermore, even though everyone out there is chaotic, I can’t help but think we could all be good friends…if we stop destroying each other’s battle plans.”

              Arven laughed a little. “Maybe so. Who knows? Juliana and I became friends, even if I wasn’t very nice or social when we first met.”

              “A lot of people here weren’t very nice and social when they first got here,” Mako pointed out. She glanced towards the doorway. Slightly visible was Bow and Amity trying to piece together some of Sokka’s missing notes as said boy moped in silence. “But, it doesn’t have to stay that way. People learn to get along, we learn each other’s situations, and we get to know each other just a little better.”

              “Yeah…” Arven’s voice trailed off. “But eventually this has to end, too, ya know?”

              “If you have no vision.”

              They heard Sokka and Joey audibly groan as the translucent image of Kaiba flickered to life from their wristwatches.

              “So much for your feeble notions on friendship,” Kaiba mused.

              “C’mon,” Mako said, rolling her eyes. “We should join the others.”

              Arven nodded and shut off the ramen. He’d call everyone into the kitchen when they finished up with whatever Kaiba wanted to bother them with. When they got there, they saw a drowsy-looking Kakyoin and Katara standing in the corner of the room. At least they were up.

              “What do you want?” Sokka huffed.

              “To talk,” Kaiba said. “I’ve been doing some…research.”

              “And where would you have acquired this ‘research?’” Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow.

              “The library, obviously,” Kaiba answered swiftly. “Are you so feeble-minded that you’ve already forgotten about it?”

              “I don’t buy it,” Sokka said. He crossed his arms, the faintest hint of a smirk on his face. “Unless you had some proof.”

              Kaiba feigned shock. “Are you suggesting I have books on my person? Books we are not allowed to take home? How scandalous. Honestly, that’s more your style, rune-thief.”

              “I told you I borrowed those runes from Gale!”

              “One: he’s never getting them back. Two: I’ve confirmed with one blood-thirsty source that Gale doesn’t like sharing, as I suspected. Three: None of this matters. We both got what we needed from the library; However, I’ve got information you’ll want to hear.”

              “What kind of information?” Mista questioned.

              “The kind that can’t be discussed over a phone call,” Kaiba said. “While a lot of the others are away, I thought it might be fruitful to have a meeting amongst ourselves. What I’ve found…it could change everything.”

              “For better or worse?” Arven asked.

              “Depends on how you look at things.”

              “Why do you have to be so vague, Rich Boy?” Joey asked. “Afraid someone’s hacked into your brilliant technology?”

              Virtual Kaiba glared at him. “At least I’m being cautious. That’s more than I can say for fools like you, Wheeler.”

              Before anyone could argue, Zuko spoke up. “We’ll be there.”

              Kaiba nodded before the call was cut. Sokka shrugged. “So much for ‘goodbye.’”

              “That’s Kaiba,” Joey said.

              “Well, then we better get going,” Bow said. “Don’t wanna be late.”

              “We’ll get there when we get there,” Joey grumbled.

              “Sounds like you should get going,” the vampire man, Astarion’s, voice called from the other room. “We have a meeting of our own to attend to. As soon as it gets dark.”

              That’s right. Mrs. Noceda called a meeting for some of the older people to form ideas on how to progress in this weird situation. Miles’s parents were on board.

              “Mr. Astarion,” Amity spoke up. “I can block out the sun in this room, if you need to come in here.”

              “Thank you, darling,” Astarion half-yelled. “But I’ll be alright in here. Now, off you all go! We’ve got business of our own to attend to.”

              “Alright then,” Amity said. She pointed to the door. “Our friends could be in trouble. Like him or not, Kaiba might have something important to tell us, and I’m not going to pass him up on that. So, let’s go.”

              She said it with such authority, it almost sounded like she was much older than them. There was a grumble among everyone in the room as they got up and headed to the door.

              …

              They got to the library without incident. Although, Miles could’ve sworn they were being watched—probably by multiple unknown phantoms. Two guys stood at the entrance. One was an older guy with longer hair, kind of greasy. He had a detective’s badge hanging loosely from his shirt pocket. A younger man with slicked back brown hair stood beside him. He was more formally dressed than the other guy. Maybe they were on a case.

              “Hey, what are you kids up to?” the older man asked.

              “Oh, we’re having a meeting in the library,” Luz said.

              “’S that so?” the man questioned. “Seems to be a common trend today.”

              They glanced at Luke for guidance on how to proceed. He shook his head. “What are you two doing here today?”

              “We are here to make sure the safety of civilians and those in our community stay safe,” the other man said, almost robotically.

              “Say kid,” the older man interjected. “You look familiar. You an actor or something?”

              “No, but I was a pilot,” Luke said with a smile. “And I’m the one who called for this meeting, Detective Anderson. Connor.”

              “You’re the one who asked Markus and the others to come here today?” the younger man, Connor asked. “For what purpose?”

              “For solutions,” Luke said. “Please, we need to get through, into the library.”

              “Like hell we’re just gonna let you walk in there without some proof,” the detective said with a snort. “You’re going to answer a few of our questions first.”

              Luke sighed. He looked at the two with an intense stare and waved his hand. “We need to get through. You will let us pass.”

              The two stared at him for a moment before parting from the front of the door, allowing them to get inside.

              “What did you just do?” Yugi asked.

              “I used the Force to…persuade them into letting us in,” Luke explained.

              “You manipulated their wills,” Aang said, almost accusingly.

              “That isn’t right,” Yugi agreed.

              “To be fair,” Danny spoke up. “Sometimes I have to possess people to get them out of trouble. I think it’s kind of the same principle here.”

              “Still,” Aang said. “Maybe we could’ve let them ask their questions.”

              “You heard them,” Luke said. “There are people already waiting on us. I can’t let them think they’ve been abandoned or led into some sort of trap.”

              “Fair point,” Virgil said. “Still, let’s not make a habit of it. Messing with peoples’ minds is low.”

              “Agreed,” Yugi and Aang said simultaneously.

              Everyone filed into the library, passing Director Clavell, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing. The Doctor, Mr. Wright, Tav, Steven, Madoka, Sakura, and Miss Morningstar were already there, chatting at a table. Sakura was the first to notice them—or rather notice Ash and Frisk.

              “Thank goodness you two are here!” Sakura cheered. She glanced around nervously. “They keep using all these scienc-y terms. I can’t keep up.”

              “Hope you’re not expecting us to be able to translate,” Ash said, rubbing the back of his neck.

              Frisk kept quiet. They were usually a quiet kid, but their frown spoke more than a thousand words.

              “I’m beginning to wonder if this is even the right library,” a disgruntled voice murmured in another section of the stacks. The voice paused. He got no response, but he continued. “Yeah, I know Markus said, but what if he’s wrong? …Androids can totally be wrong. That’s why I’ve got Apple products.”

              Miles deftly wondered closer to the voice. In one row of the books stood a boy, probably around his age, if not like a year older. He had curly, brunette hair, wore a t-shirt, blue hoodie, and jeans. There wasn’t anything unremarkable about him other than he was talking to thin air. Miles’s spider senses made him tense up. There was someone else here, maybe someone he couldn’t see.

              Suddenly, the boy whipped his head in Miles’s direction. For a minute, Miles thought he saw the guy’s eyes glowing blue. Miles raised his hands defensively. “What’s up?”

              “Who are you?” the boy asked.

              “Miles Morales. You?”

              The boy studied him for a second and said, “William Kaplan. Are you…going to the meeting, Miles?”

              Miles nodded. “Yeah. So, you got roped into this, too?”

              William nodded. “A friend told me it could be good for me to go to this.”

              “Hey, if we can beat those witches, then, yeah. It’ll be worth our time.”

              William seemed offended by the remark. “Witches aren’t the problem. Those aren’t real witches.”

              “Could be a different type of witch, dimensionally speaking,” Miles said.

              William shook his head. “No, see, I’ve studied witches from different dimensions. They all have pretty recurring and inherently magical abilities. What those people are doing isn’t a regular witches magic.”

              “Sounds like you know your stuff,” Miles said.

              William grinned. “You could say that.” He peered over his Miles’s shoulder. “Oh, um, hello.”

              At this point, Giorno had walked over and looked over William’s shoulder with a sort of disapproving glare. “Hello.”

              To Giorno’s credit, William did look a bit nervous now. But he couldn’t be an enemy. Luke wouldn’t have asked him here if he was, right? Jedi powers should be able to prove that much!

              “Dude, you’ve gotta stop sneaking up on people,” Miles said with a small smile. No reason for things to get tense. “Giorno, this is William. William, this is Giorno.”

              “Buonasera,” Giorno spoke coolly.

              William either didn’t notice or pretended not to notice. “Is—is that Luke Skywalker? I thought I heard Mark Hammill’s voice in that dream! All my friends think Harrison Ford is hotter, but Mark Hammill is just so much better; he’s also super outspoken about his support for the community.”

              He stopped. “I can’t believe you’re working with him. Maybe you can learn how to be a Jedi from him.”

              “I think I’m set for now,” Miles said. “I’ve seen the movies. I don’t want to have to carry around Yoda in a swampy trench all day.”

              “You make a good point, Miles,” William said. “Still, no reason to reject the opportunity if it arises. It could be good for both of you. Especially if you’re so worried…”

              His voice trailed off, and he shook his head. “Never mind.”

              “If you had something to say,” Giorno said, narrowing his eyes at William. “Why don’t you say it?”

              William looked around and leaned in. “Not here. You’re better off not hearing it at all.”

              “Why?” Miles asked.

              “You never know who’s listening,” William said. “Or who’s watching you.”

              “What do you know about us?” Giorno asked, or more-so, demanded.

              “Not any more than what you’ve told me,” William said.

              “Hey William, who’re your new friends there?”

              Three people joined him—all of them looked like they were in high school: two girls and one boy. The boy was shorter than the girls. He wore black clothes that resembled a uniform and a red cloak with a strange symbol on it. He had longer blond hair tied into a ponytail, and he kept one of his hands hidden with a glove. The taller girl wore a bulky grayish-green jacket, jeans, and kept her long blond hair underneath a black ballcap. The last was a girl with shorter, auburn-brown hair. She wore a simple outfit: pink blouse, gray jacket, and jeans. She had a pricey camera hanging from her neck.

              “Hey guys,” William said. “Guys, these two are Miles and Giorno. And these are my group. We’ve been staying at a hotel down the road for the past three weeks.”

              “Wait, you’ve only been here three weeks?” Miles asked.

              Camera girl nodded and shook both their hands. “What’s up? I’m Max. Max Caulfield.”

              “Rose Winters,” the other girl said nonchalantly.

              The other guy was immersed in a book. He didn’t pay them any mind. Max spoke up for him. “And the rude guy is Edward.”

              “Well, excuse me if our ticket home might be riding on me keeping my focus,” Edward said, not tearing his eyes from the book.

              “How long have you guys been stuck here?” Max asked.

              “A few months now,” Miles answered. “And we’ve seen a lot.”

              “Including the witches?” Max asked with a small smirk.

              “They’re not witches!” William argued. “They’re like…genetically designed monsters.”

              Rose scoffed and rolled her eyes.

              William shrank back. “Sorry, Rose.”

              “Alright everyone,” Luke’s voice echoed through his mind. “We need to go to the secret room.”

              Miles rubbed at his ears, the sensation of someone echoing in his mind was unpleasant, even if he was an ally.

              “Why is he so loud?” William complained. “Uncalled for.”

              “Kind of sounded muffled to me,” Rose said.

              “In any case,” the Edward guy said, his tone stiff and annoyed. “We should get going.”

              Keeping his book in his face, he started ahead down the secret passageway.

              “What’s that guy’s deal?” Miles asked.

              “He’s trying to get back to his brother, plus the only other person who came here from his reality is a jerk,” Max explained. “Apparently, there’s something wrong with his brother. So, he wants to get back as soon as possible to fix it.”

              “I understand that,” Miles said.

              And he did. Even when they got home, he’d still need to find a way to help his parents survive. Perhaps he and Edward could help each other.

              …

              Darius Deamonne was no stranger to worry: starting a secret rebellion with Eber and Raine, trying to stop Belos’s Day of Unity, trying to remove coven sigils with Alador (of all people), and now being stuck in a world where his son’s life was on the line was quite a lot. He merely wished they were back in the Boiling Isles and everyone else was—wherever they needed to be.

              They were using a dark room in the Hikawa Shrine to conduct their meeting today. Seems like he wasn’t the only concerned parent in the room. Luz’s mother was there, so were Edalyn, Raine, Lilith, and the ridiculous bird tube. Unfortunately, Alador was also here.

              “Too bad Wyll and Karlach couldn’t be here today,” Astarion mused. He leaned over to Lae’zel and Shadowheart. “You sure you trust those two with your little…egg?”

              “Xan can handle himself in battle,” Lae’zel said. “I’ve taught him self-defense.”

              “And I provided some of the more advanced lessons in being a cleric,” Shadowheart said. She smiled softly. “Besides, it seems Wyll and Karlach are well-suited to parenting.”

              “I only jest,” Astarion said. “It’s almost too saccharine that they would be such good parents.”

              Gale closed the copy of The Good Witch Azura that Luz had lent him. Across the room Eda scowled. Darius was surprised she wasn’t lime-green with jealousy. “We’ll have to tell them what we discuss today.”

              “Where to start,” Stolas commented sardonically. “The vampire? The witches? There are just so many great options.”

              “Bet that vampire guy wouldn’t be a problem if I were around when he tried to do something,” Lucifer chimed in. He crossed his arms. “That’s probably why I’ve never seen him. He’d be ashes in seconds.”

              “With all respect that is due to a devil,” Astarion quipped. “You’re quite the shut-in. Not even Mizora would be afraid of you.”

              “I don’t know who that is,” Lucifer said, straightening his coat. “But I’m sure it’s an insult.”

              Gale gave him a nod.

              “Who cares?” Mrs. Morales demanded. “What we need to be focusing on right now is how to get rid of those guys so our kids can be safe!”

              “Rio is right,” Camila agreed. “And that may mean stepping outside to try and find a way to deal with this vampire guy. He’s after a lot of our babies, including Luz.”

              “Not to mention the witches,” Darius added. “Hunter—our kids are strong—however—these witches keep finding new ways to try and collect these supposed talismans from everyone. And now Kikimora is working with them. She knows Hunter has one, and given old grudges…”

              “Not to mention Terra,” Raine interjected. “She’ll do whatever it takes to get ahead. If these witches are an organization, as they are presenting themselves to be, well, there’s no corporate ladder Terra won’t try to climb.”

              “That’s for sure,” Darius agreed. It was as though there was a heavy boulder in the pit of his stomach now.

              “Seems like your rugrats have thrown rocks at multiple wasps nests,” Astarion remarked. “So, here’s the question: what kind of pest control do we use to solve our problem?”

              “The vampire is allergic to radiation,” Gale said. “Not very shocking for a vampire. And ambition can easily be undone. If there’s anything I should understand, it’s that. Perhaps we can ruin them with their own ambition. Our radiant magic may not be as strong as Dame Aylin’s, but given enough time, we may be able to use the spells I’ve studied combined with some of the runes I’ve been studying through the Boiling Isles history books.”

              “Are you suggesting we trap them like they trapped you?” Raine asked. “I don’t think I like where this is going.”

              “Just hear me out,” Gale said. “I’ve been reading some books on plausible futures. It seems the more power an individual has, the more they place a target on their back.”

              “So what are you suggesting?” Mr. Morales asked, his eyes narrowing upon the wizard of Waterdeep. “That we try and get our kids to show off as some sort of bait? Are you crazy?”

              “Not the children,” Gale said, taken aback. “Gods no! I was talking about us!”

              “That would make a lot more sense,” Alador said. “Although, as I’ve began to notice, our kids have a rebellious streak. They might try to get involved.”

              “Then we don’t let them know we’re doing it,” Mr. Edgeworth spoke up.

              “Yes, well,” Gale continued. “Considering only some of us have a vast quantity of magic, perhaps we should be the ones to put on a display?”

              “But what if one of us…” Shadowheart’s voice trailed off.

              “It’s a risk we’ll have to take,” Eda said. “Look, our kids are in danger, if we can help them, then, well, we should. No matter what the cost.”

              “I agree with the Owl Lady,” the older Peter Parker said with a nod. “Besides, I can distract both the witches and Morlun.”

              “Then all we need is a place big enough to set off a giant, radiant glyph-spell,” Gale said.

              “We can use the stadium,” Champion Leon said. “It should be large enough to make sure we get them all.”

              “Then we can be done with this,” Lae’zel said.

              “Alright,” Gale said. “Miss Clawthorne, I’ve been told you’re great at finding magical ingredients. May inquire your help in this mission?”

              Eda scoffed and shriveled up her nose at the wizard. However, Raine gripped her hand. Darius could overhear them whisper. “Think of Luz and King.”

              “All of this is well and good,” the silver-haired man in the tight clothing said. “But you’re still not thinking about a pertinent issue.”

              “What’s that?” Gale asked.

              “DIO,” the man beside Mr. Tight Clothes said. “If we get rid of all the other monsters, he’ll still be a huge threat to us all. I’m sure, for whatever reason he’s been brought back, that he plans to kill the Joestars and any of their allies.”

              “Actually,” Astarion spoke up. “He fancies himself a god. When we were at that dingy hotel—.”

              “Watch it,” Lucifer warned, his fingertips sparking with little embers.

              “Lovely hotel,” Astarion corrected, straightening his shirt. “He went on about how he’d use whatever power he collected from this universe to reset the timeline. Given that this world seems to run on the souls of the past and passed, how the priest can mess with souls or remove them entirely, and how, as we’ve been discussing, there are plenty of powerful souls here, Brawn and Beauty and his sexy soothsayer are right.”

              “This would’ve been important information months ago!” Lucifer said. “You know, when you were staying at the hotel? Charlie and I could’ve done something!”

              “I’m not so sure,” Astarion said, leaning back against the wall. “You’re powerful, sure. But he’s clever.”

              “And that’s to say I’m not?” there were flames dancing in the devil’s eyes.

              “It’s not a matter of not having intelligence, Darling. I’m sure you’re…capable in that department. However, this man is dangerous. And I worry over the limited amount of scheming I saw. If he’s so sure he can reset everything, if he’s beaten and killed so many, we should at least be weary and emotionally mature on our chances of beating him.”

              “We beat Cazador,” Shadowheart said. “We defeated a Master Vampire once; we can do it again.”

              “Who can stop time,” Astarion said. “We’ve got to be careful, Shadowheart. I’m sure he has no qualms over a few dead children. He doesn’t even care if his son…not really, anyways.”

              “Don’t tell me you’re starting to worry over people other than yourself? Not truly our pale elf?” Gale teased.

              “No one should be controlled, especially not by their own father,” Astarion said. “It was bad enough with a bastard like Cazador.”

              Astarion looked up at everyone. “If he’s willing to hurt his own child just to get what he wants. What do you think he’ll do to yours?”

              There was a quiet amongst the room. The odds were overwhelming, horrifying, and never-ending. Still…

              “I don’t care what it takes,” Darius spoke up, standing from his seat. “I’ll use whatever magic I have to in order to keep my son safe. And you all should, too. What’s one more monster? If their destruction means the safety of our children, then I’ll find whatever I need to make it happen.”

              “It’s going to be hard work,” Avdol said. “It wasn’t even easy to find him when we last tried. I died during the process. There are going to be a lot of risks, perhaps even some casualties.”

              He stood up. “Do not feel pressured to join immediately. But I’m going to start tracking where he may be. We’re going to stop him once and for all this time.”

              It was quiet for a second before Lucifer also stood. “I guess that’s meeting adjourned. We sort of have a plan. And I can help with the stupid, overpowered vampire. Would’ve been nice if someone mentioned him EARLIER!”

              “Well, I didn’t know exactly how evil he was, did I?” Astarion said.

              As the group began to argue amongst itself, Darius sensed someone standing behind him. Much to his annoyance, it was Alador.

              “Yes?”

              “I know you’re stressed over Hunter’s safety. I just wanted to let you know…you’re not alone. I’ve been working on a new design for an abomaton that tracks daimons. I’m trying to make its speed faster so it could be there in mere moments of an attack. Would you like to join me on this project?”

              Darius blinked. Sure, Alador was annoying. However, he had a good heart. And it was nice to see him taking initiative to become better and more involved.

              “I suppose I would be up for this,” Darius said. “But you buy the work snacks.”

              Alador cracked a smile. “Then let’s get to work.”

              …

              Walking into Kaiba’s monster of a building somehow annoyed him more than he already was with all this monster hunting. Not to mention Okuyasu had erased his most recent chapter on possible daimon weaknesses. Zuko and Katara both argued garlic was probably not one of them. Still, he’d worked hard on that list of possibilities.

              As Sokka walked through the lobby towards the elevators, he heard someone call out. “Hey! Where’s Twinkletoes?”

              Toph walked over to them. She was followed by a couple of the kids: Chibiusa, Mokuba, Wally, King, and the Collector.

              “Let me guess?” Sokka mused. “Babysitter left you to another babysitter.”

              “It’s fine,” Toph said. “I’d rather be here learning from Karlach and Wyll. They’re so cool. Although, Wyll blabbers on about sword safety way too much.”

              “It’s pertinent!” Bow objected.

              “Just don’t go too crazy, Toph,” Katara said. “You don’t want to end up hurting yourself.”

              Toph scoffed. “Yes, Mom.”

              “Take the elevator to the top,” Mokuba instructed. “Big brother will be waiting for you there.”

              “Thank you, Mokuba,” Katara said with a smile.

              “No problem!”

              The group followed his instructions and took the elevator. Almost the entire floor was an office space dedicated to one person: Kaiba. Some people were already there: Connie, Gwen, Gladion, Via, Raven, Koichi, Mami, and Pav.

              Pav waved and smiled at them. “Hi guys!”

              Kaiba eyed them. Sokka felt like sticking out his tongue, but Katara would probably rattle on about immaturity. “Take a seat.”

              There were numerous chairs. Suki grinned and pulled him along to the front with her. She whispered in his ear. “Let’s see how great this intel really is.”

              Sokka nodded. “It’s probably nothing important.”

              Kaiba walked up to the front and clicked something on his watch. A large building appeared on the screen next to him. There colorful, prismatic pictures in place of windows in the building. Kaiba gestured to the building. “I was reading the history of Eudial in the library this weekend. Apparently, this is where it all ends with her, and there’s several ways it can play out.”

              Okay, this was decent information.

              “It was a little vague on the location,” Kaiba said. “Until it mentioned one of the stain glass windows depicted the Mother Mary in an entire purple hue. So, I did my research. There was an abandoned church an American minister abandoned—something about tax fraud and secret occultism. More to the point, I finally found it!”

              “So, what do we do with this?” Via asked.

              “Yeah,” Joey interjected. “Just because we have the place, doesn’t mean we got a plan.”

              “I was getting to that. If you just paid attention for longer than a millisecond, I wouldn’t have to constantly keep pausing just so you can catch up.”

              Joey grumbled something, but Sokka couldn’t hear him. Sokka decided to speak up. “Okay then, what’s your brilliant plan?”

              “There’s a multitude of options,” Kaiba droned on. “We could just destroy the church. There can’t be a cataclysm if the event has nowhere to take place.”

              “Logical fallacy,” Gwen interjected. “Just because a place a tragedy occurs is destroyed, doesn’t mean the event won’t happen. We tried to stop Spot by getting ahead of him, but he ended up gaining powers from our attempts to counter him.”

              “Plan B, then,” Kaiba said. “We figure out who holds a talisman and hide them until necessary precautions are taken and the threat is eliminated.”

              Sokka shook his head. “There’s no way for us to tell without the witches attacking first. And from what Giorno told us, that Pucci guy isn’t going to help us out again unless Giorno joins his dad. And that’s a no-go. Besides, holding a bunch of people hostage in the same place isn’t healthy or a good idea. Even if you had the best technology in the world, they always seem to have something better, something that can help them locate and get to pure hearts. So, it’d be really convenient for them to have them all in the same place. Besides, hiding out while everyone else is fighting monsters is reductive. Everyone else might now have enough man-power to beat whatever it is that’s going to happen in the future.”

              Kaiba after a few moments of silence sighed. “What do you suggest?”

              “Training,” Sokka said. “If you’ve got a specific date this is going to happen, then we’ll need that, too.”

              “Training? Really? That’s your answer?” Kaiba questioned.

              “Just tell me when this is supposed to happen,” Sokka said.

              “Two weeks from now.”

              “Two weeks?! Can’t you read through your stolen books faster?” Sokka asked. “This would’ve been valuable information earlier!”

              “It…was the last book in the pile,” Kaiba said. “Out of the ones I just recently borrowed.”

              “How many books have you taken from the library?” Katara asked. “We were supposed to keep them there!”

              “Like your brother is any better than me,” Kaiba said. “Although, it’s foolish to not see the value in the information. We needed them.”

              “You’re hypocrites!” Katara argued. She turned to Sokka. “What happened to Mr. Stealing is Bad?”

              “I needed to know how to protect everyone,” Sokka said lamely. “And I found out how Gale does his magic. I helped everyone in the woods. Also, I’m on a breakthrough of finding their weaknesses; I know it!”

              “I just thought you would’ve learned something from the lost library,” Katara shot back. She glared at both him and Kaiba. “You should return those books as soon as possible.”

              “These books are safe here,” Kaiba said. He picked a book from the pile and handed it to her. “This book is on us. Everyone in this room has a chapter or two dedicated to them. Your entry is pretty vast, Katara. By the way, bloodbending seems fascinating.”

              That was the worst thing he could’ve said. They all heard the slap before they saw Katara’s hand make contact with Kaiba’s face. Her nostrils flared before she spoke up again. “Don’t you ever bring that up with anyone else. Ever. You have no idea what you’re meddling in. If you really are as smart as you claim to be, you’ll take that book back to the library and forget anything you learned.”

              Zuko got up and crossed his arms. “You two need to listen to her. I’m going to go talk to her.”

              With that, the firelord left, leaving an awkward silence in the room. No one dared to say a word. Even Kaiba seemed to be lost as to what to say.

With that, she stormed out. Kaiba rubbed his face and shook his head. “No wonder you won your war.”

              “She can get scarier,” Sokka said. “Seriously, never bring that up again. That was really stupid.”

              Kaiba seemed stunned still. He cleared his throat and straightened his jacket. “Noted. Perhaps…she has a point about the books. However, I don’t trust that library. If a faux evil villain can just access those books without so much as a second glance, then, who else can? And there’s stuff in here about my brother—about all of us.”

              “I get where you’re coming from,” Sokka said sympathetically. “I want to protect my family, too. But, honestly, there’s just so much derision right now.”

              “If you two would just listen to Katara like Zuko said,” Suki interjected. “You know, maybe we wouldn’t get into these petty arguments. That means no incessant picking, no looking through other people’s business, and no general hostility. It’s like I told you in the very beginning, Sokka. You’ve gotta use your opponent’s strength against them. And right now, their hugest strength is their unity. That’s something we don’t necessarily have.”

              She turned to Kaiba. “We probably need to try this again, and next time, you better not insult my best friend, otherwise, you’ll be getting worse than slapped.”

              Kaiba sighed. “That all sounds like something Yugi would try to sell me on.”

              “Have you ever considered he might be right?” Ami asked. “No matter how smart you think you are, you can only improve when you get to know others and try to understand where they’re coming from. If we’re going to be a team, we need to build trust and comradery.” She smiled. “We could all be friends. This isn’t a fight we need to face individually or alone.”

              Kaiba simply nodded.

              …

              As Ash and Sakura chatted amongst themselves, Frisk was internally panicking. Huge chunks of their memory were missing. This timeline had more people than last time. Who was this new William guy? He wasn’t in the last timeline. And why were there so many timelines? Who had been resetting them?

              They couldn’t touch this timeline. They’d tried to rewind things several times, and nothing had come of it. It scared them—not knowing what was coming, going, or how they could change it.

              To add onto all this worry, Frisk had a vague idea that something bad was coming up soon. If only they could remember what.

              Luke’s voice snapped them out of their introspection. “You may be wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today.”

              “Concerned, wondering, it’s all the same, really,” Miles said.

              “Hear me out,” Luke said. “I gathered everyone here with a purpose. The spirits who sent me here told me that there were distinct champions from every universe who would need to defeat an evil set in stone. With every reset, it’s been getting stronger; that’s why more people have been revived and thrown into this situation. These layered timelines can’t take much more stress. I’ve been told this is probably our last chance to get it right. However, the reason why I’ve summoned you all specifically is rather…important.”

              “Let me guess,” Jotaro said. “We get to play champion for a bunch of ‘spirits’ who can’t be bothered to help us out.”

              “Spirits generally can’t interact with the human world,” Aang explained. “If they do, it makes them vulnerable. We almost lost the moon once because Tui was murdered in their physical form by Admiral Zhao. I can’t say I blame them for not wanting to add more stress onto us.”

              “I know it’s a heavy burden,” Luke said. “But I think we’re this nexus’s last hope. If we don’t fix things this time, everything could end. They chose us for a reason. And…unfortunately…I think we’re the only ones who can do it.”

              “Well, this all sounds like a bunch of fate and destiny fairytales,” the Doctor interjected. “It’s all well and good for a story that follows the Hero’s Journey, but it’s a bit loony and ungrounded.”

              “You have to believe me,” Luke said. “I know it may seem farfetched, but I was told the only way we win this is by all of us uniting at the end.”

              “And how do we do that?” Edward asked. “I’m on long-coat’s side here. There’s absolutely no scientific evidence for any of this.”

              Voices began to talk amongst one another. The sound was becoming almost overwhelming. Frisk covered their ears to try and block out some of the noise. That’s when a man they’d never seen before stooped down in front of them. Generally, Frisk didn’t like other human adults. Most of them were…cruel.

              He had dark hair, wore an expensive suit, and was super huge. “Are you alright?”

              Frisk shook their head. Another man came up to them. He was just as huge, wore a tan coat, white t-shirt, and jeans, but he had blonde hair. Great. There were more of them.

              “Maybe we can get you out of here,” Sakura suggested.

              “I don’t see how a child should be involved in this, Bruce,” the blonde man said.

              “I don’t either, Steve.” The dark-haired man sighed. “Dick is here, too, as I suspected. He and Virgil are keeping a distance, for the same purpose, I guess.”

              “If this resistance is made up of children, it’s probably for the best we’re here,” Steve countered. He smiled at Frisk. “Don’t worry, kid. We’ve got your back.”

              “We won’t let anything bad happen to anyone here,” Bruce agreed.

              “What are you guys?” Ash asked.

              “Just people looking out for the future,” Steve said. “You can trust us.”

              “Everyone,” a voice just in front of them called out. It was another man. He had bright, blue eyes, wore a sort of cream, oversized coat, and gray clothes. “My name is Markus. I know how scary all of this sounds. Some of you are very young, just beginning to find out what you want to do. Everything is on the line, and that’s scary. But I promise you, if we work together, we can prevent casualties. We can protect our loved ones, the places and things we care about. This isn’t a time for fear. No, this is a time for unity. And I look forward to being able to work with you. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep the family I’ve found safe; you can, too. Being chosen, being unordinary, being special doesn’t have to be bad. We’ve just got to fight for a better future.”

              “Guy is pretty good at inspiration, isn’t he?” Steve asked.

              Bruce nodded. “There’s something…uncanny about him.”

              “I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Steve said.

              “I think you’re right. I probably will,” Bruce said.

              …

              Chosen ones. It was so cliché, it was funny. To Giorno, it was just one more problem. Not to mention Miles had wondered off somewhere with Luz and Usagi.

              And now that William kid was standing in front of him with the strange, murder-encouraging ghost hovering over his shoulder. She wasn’t a stand. Just a regular person. She looked like she could be an evil version of the Owl Lady. Most of the other ‘chosen ones’ had elected to leave, having gotten all the information they needed. Luz and Miles had wanted to stay behind to see if they could find anything else that could help them.

              “Look, Giorno,” William began. “I’m not trying to start anything, and I think you can see Agatha.”

              “And hear her,” Giorno said. “Is she going to stop suggesting you murder all of us?”

              The witch, Agatha grinned. “All I’m saying is he could really get a power-boost from some of you. Especially you, kiddo.”

              “Agatha,” William muttered, almost in warning.

              “So…how’d you end up with a murder ghost?” Giorno asked.

              “You’re strangely calm about this.”

              “I can kick your ass if you try anything,” Giorno said with a shrug.

              “Feisty,” Agatha said, imitating a cat for emphasis.

              “You can’t get rid of her?”

              “He could,” Agatha said. “But Little Billy would miss me.”

              Billy? Probably a nickname. Probably. Not the right detail to be focusing on.

              “Ahem.”

              The two turned to see two men. One had silver hair pulled into a ponytail. He wore a suit and flats. The other was a man in white button-up shirt, red-striped vest, slacks, and nice shoes. He wore glasses and a wide smile. Something about that smile was…distressing.

              “Hello!” the man with silver-hair said. “You must be Giorno Giovanna, correct?”

              “Ignored, rude,” Agatha said.

              “That depends; who the hell are you?” Giorno asked.

              “I’m a friend, I assure you,” the man said. He was holding something. Giorno preemptively summoned G.E. The man drew out a book. “This is a list of names. The names are of people who possess talismans. Perhaps there are even methods of keeping them safe. It could be of real value to you.”

              The man looked pointedly to Miles who was laughing with Usagi at something Luz had said. No. No. No. No. Not him. On top of everything else?!

              “I can give you this book,” the man said. “We can shake on it and make it happen.”

              He held out his hand and so did the other man who had been strangely quiet this whole time. Wait. A handshake. That’s how he…

              “Which one of you is Alastor?” Giorno asked.

              “And I was so confident you’d be desperate enough to ignore that,” the man in the vest spoke up. Yep. Definitely Alastor. “Still, it doesn’t really matter if you know who I am. More so that what’s in this book is true. After all, we got it from this library. And if my understanding is correct, everything recorded here has already happen. He has a real chance of dying, you know? It’d be a shame if you’d known there was something you could’ve done to prevent it.”

              “And who are you?” Giorno asked the other man, trying not to lose his composure. He had to keep collected.

              “My name is Vlad. That’s all you need to know about me.”

              “Why are you helping Alastor?” Giorno asked.

              “Because I wanted to see how these deals work,” Vlad said. “If this one is successful, perhaps I can make my own with young Daniel.”

              “Danny? What’s he got to do with this?”

              “Oh, it’s nothing that concerns you,” Vlad said. He waved the book in front of Giorno’s face. “So, what do you say? Are you just going to let this opportunity pass you by?”

              He held a small purple fire in one hand and dangled the book in the other. “This could be your only way to save your friend.”

              “Don’t take his deal,” William warned. “It’s true that book contains a lot of important information, but there’s one thing he hasn’t accounted for.”

              “Oh? And what’s that?” Vlad asked smugly.

              “I’ve never been in a single one of these timelines before. You’ve got next to no information on me.”

              Vlad’s hand was able to move two inches closer to the flame before he froze entirely. Giorno looked over at William. His eyes were glowing a bright blue. In one swift jerk, he flung both Alastor and Vlad in opposite directions, while pulling the book into his own hand.

              “Hey, Danny!” William called out. “I think this guy’s your friend!”

              Danny glanced up from his conversation with Aang and Yugi. He caught eye of Vlad and clenched his fists. “You!”

              “What?” Vlad questioned with a smirk. “Not hiding your true identity here, Daniel? You’ve gotten sloppy!”

              “You’re the one who’s sloppy, if you think you’re getting away!”

              Vlad grinned, morphed into some sort of grandiose, green-skinned, vampire-looking, cape-wearing phantom and flew through the library. Danny did the same and went in the same direction. Giorno looked at Alastor. “A bit dramatic, even for you, isn’t he?”

              “I suppose you win this time,” Alastor said. He leaned in. “Giorno. You need to read his chapter. Read the possibilities. You need to understand how your choices will affect everyone.”

              “He just wants you to read so you think you’ll have to take his deal,” William said.

              “A mind reader?” Alastor raised an eyebrow. “That’s what you are, isn’t it?”

              Before he could ask anything else, a straight shot of purple energy jolted him across the room, making him resume his true form. Agatha smirked. “Hey, I’ve still got some of my purple. Hey, scrawny prick, I know you can hear me. Leave the boy alone. I’ve got claim over haunting him for the rest of his life first.”

              Alastor looked from her to the rest of the room. “Remember what I’ve told you, Giorno. You’ve still got time to change things.”

              “He’s not selling you his soul!” Miles said, rushing over to where they were. “Now, you can either leave, or I’ll fight you. But if you choose the latter, you’re gonna lose.”

              Alastor shook his head. “How adorable.”

              With that, he faded into the shadows and probably out of the library.

              “What an asshole,” Miles murmured.

              Jotaro and Josuke walked over to them. Jotaro was the first to speak up. “You alright, kid?”

              “I’m only two years younger than you,” Giorno objected.

              “Question still stands.”

              “I’m fine. Don’t worry, I’m not making any deals with Alastor…or others…if that’s what you’re worried about,” Giorno assured him. Or none that he would admit to now.

              However, what concerned him most was Alastor wasn’t even upset over losing the book. He wanted Giorno to have that book. Why? How many ways could he lose the person he cared about most? He felt tempted to open the book now.

              William put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t. I’ll check over it tonight for curses. We can go over it together.”

              “What are you?” Giorno questioned.

              “I’m a witch,” William said.

              “Pretty sure you’re like the tenth witch we’ve met,” Josuke said. “So, does every witch have different…witch abilities?”

              “I can see he’s the brain trust,” Agatha commented.

              “We can hear you,” Jotaro said.

              Williams stepped in quickly. “Let’s not say anything untoward. Let’s just cool it. Alright?”

              “I didn’t say anything,” Jotaro said.

              “Your thoughts said everything,” William said. “Please, I’m begging you, for your own sake, keep your snarky remarks to yourself.”

              “You’re not going to let Little Billy censor you, are you?” Agatha pressed.

              “Shut up,” William said with a shoosh.

              “Did you just shoosh me?”

              “I did because you’re trying to start something!”

              “Me? I’d never!”

              “Giorno,” Miles spoke up. “Are you okay? Did Alastor do anything?”

              Giorno shook his head. “No. I’m fine. Trust me, Miles.”

              “Well, that’s good,” Josuke said. “I’d knock him down for you, great-grand uncle.”

              “Our family tree is fucked,” Jotaro muttered, with a small grin.

              “Hah!” Josuke laughed. “I got you to smile.”

              As they droned on, the temptation to open the book was overwhelming. No. He knew William was right in this case. It could be full of traps or tricks, especially considering the source. He needed to wait. For now.

              Luz and Usagi had rejoined Miles; Luz started a conversation with William. They began to prattle on about their individual experiences with being witches. Usagi and Miles started their own conversation; the two of them were in danger. Both had pure hearts that no doubt Eudial would try to steal. He had to figure out when and how. There had to be a way to prevent it. He wouldn’t allow either of them to become fodder for some grand scheme.

              …

              Joseph watched from one of the balconies. Chris Redfield was worried about the Rose Winters kid. Apparently, she was some sort of biological weapon for the government he’d been taking care of. As he put it, “I failed to save her father, but maybe I can make sure she stays safe.”

              It seemed more to Joseph that the government just wanted to control her. While the Speedwagon Foundation kept tabs on stand users, removing them from their mothers, putting them though military training was just…abysmal. The girl couldn’t be any older than sixteen. Leon S. Kennedy, if he had any thoughts about the situation, kept them to himself. The three had been called by a mysterious voice to hear some message on being ‘chosen ones.’ If he were forty years younger, he would’ve loved the adventure. Now? Not so much. Adventures like this came with a cost. There was always a cost.

              To top it all off, the kid that was supposed to ruin the multiverse now seemed pretty close with his grandson and Dio’s kid. But at least he knew where Jotaro was now. He appeared safe but looks could be deceiving. Did Jotaro know he was in the company of a DIO/Grandfather Jonathan hybrid? Was it fair for him to have judged this Giorno Giovanna so quickly? He was so bent on stopping DIO again, and he feared Miguel may have used that as ammunition to fuel his own agenda.

              Speaking of, a lot of cracks were beginning to appear in Miguel’s story. If Miles were so dangerous, why hadn’t he instantly joined DIO after that night? Was this child truly destined to end the multiverse? No. There had to be more to the story, especially if Jotaro had aligned himself with him. If nothing else, his grandson was a great judge of character.

              Joseph ran his fleshy fingers through his hair. Too many questions; too little time. They were running out of time to save those who could be saved, and he needed to decide.

              Would he help Miguel? Or would he help Miles?

[hypnoneghoul]

would you write more about rain having eds and pots? maybe something with them having issues while touring?

oooo i do have a lot of thoughts about that, thank you for the ask. under the cut!

I feel like they are barely even there most of the tour. First week, maybe two, is decent, but later? Nuh-uh, Rain is holding up on iced coffee and cuddles alone.

Being exhausted is their constant state of being on a daily basis, with pots, but with how little low quality sleep they are getting on tour and the driving, flying, rehearsing and playing and all that? Dead ghoul walking, dizzy and nauseous ALL the time. You try to talk to them and they aren't looking at you? Yeah, they can't see you because the world is black and spinning constantly. That's why on tour Rain never goes anywhere alone, stumbling over their own feet, missing the door walking into a wall or just trying to go through it closed. Situations where they're chatting with someone and they are just like "yeah, i think- THUMP" and Rain's casually on the floor.

Usually they still sleep the most, in the makeshift nest on the back of a bus, a privilege they and Mountain (he doesn't fit into the bunks) have, even when the rest of the ghouls is up and running around. They wake Rain up only for the show and basically drag them onto the stage. We all know how Rain is on it, getting cockier with every show, seemingly having all the energy they need and more but its just the adrenaline and fear of disappointing the fans. During bows they fully rely on Swiss by their side to not pass out with the movement of bending in half. As soon as Rain steps foot on the backstage their knees buckle and they just fold, passing out immediately. Usually Swiss or Mountain is there to catch them, scoop them up and tuck away into the safety of their bus.

Regarding eds, I feel like they are totally overworked, joints locking and popping out twenty times a day. Rain is basically covered in kinesiology tape, tho it barely makes any difference. Their surviving on tour fully depends on Aether with his massages and quintessence. There isn't much to say about how they're doing during the shows in general, we all see knees locking and buckling, ankles overbending, constant tripping, 'subtle' massaging their joints on breaks, etc.

Rain is a wreck by the time they get back to the ministry, and then they sleep. Basically 24/7 for two weeks, getting out only to go the bathroom, usually not even on their own feet but carried. With how much they love bass, they can't even look at it for weeks, hands so overworked from the months of shows.

@ominousposting (tagging you as usual in eds/pots stuff, tho please tell me if you don't like when I do that)

[dorokora]

Chapter 14 Episode 6 Part 2:

We start more Barong backstory, Shangri-La's Transient Barong. A dancer who dedicates dances to "God" who is not of this world. When he exercises his "rule," the fur that covers his whole body changes to murmured gold. That is proof that Barong has entered what is called a "trance state". It is believed that it is a ritual to let go of one's ego and reach a state of offering oneself to a "god". There is no doubt about its role. There is only boundless joy. Only one thing, if it were to come true, Barong wanted to see it with his own eyes before that happened. He wanted to see the smiles of the audience enjoying his performance more than anyone else. We cut to Christine. The Entertainers has always been behind this Tokyo 'game'. A loop that has been repeated countless times. Among them, the spotlight never hits them. Still, we played behind the scenes. All along, the only one who could do it was us. Because there was someone who has been watching us behind the scenes of this "game" for a long time. We cut to Barong who has entered his traced state. He said It's hard to be on stage without an audience. We actors just can't stand it. But even if it's just one person. If there was someone who could see me, not anyone else. We entertainers can play any role. The joy of someone watching. If only I had it. That's all we can do.

We cut to Motosumi who noticed the exception’s presence but it’s not fully there. It somewhat similar to how Tianzun feels there but not at the same time. We cut to Tianzun who says there are several types of people who “can't stay in Tokyo long” like him and Quantum. The first is those like him , who are bigger than the finite world. then the second is “Those who cannot prove that they live in the world”. People like Quntum who don't even know if they're alive or not, cannot exist without being observed by someone else. If there’s someone who saw her for the first time, and she can finally go to Tokyo. Another type is those who are "omniscience and omnipotence". A person who knows everything in the world, or a person who makes it possible. If “omniscient and omnipotent = 1” as “the totality of the world = 1”, the existence of others who observe it contradicts itself. Therefore, even if someone who is "omniscient and omnipotent" can be summoned to a finite world, they will not be observed stably. if the observer were able to set their ego to “zero” or can stabilize its existence with "denial of omniscience and omnipotence", saying that, Tianzun made an expression that could not be described as sympathetic or sad. He made an expression as if he understood the feelings of both sides of the conflict.

We cut to Barong, who offered himself to the Zero Exception and allowed it to absorbed him. The Wanderers can sense something bad is coming. If it really is a dead end. If there is nowhere to escape, there is no escape. A helpless, suffocating impasse with no chance gaps. It feels like a bottomless terror is approaching them, like the bottom of a black hole from which not even light can escape. Barguest tells them they need to run away now. Nyarl and Boogeyman show up to stop them from leaving.

After the fight, Barguest tells Q’ursha and Gurangatch to run but he realized he’s stranded with no escape. Barguest thinks about Kenta and grasped the keychain on his waist as he slowly sink in a black hole. Boogeyman notice the keychain and ask him if it’s from his child. Boogeyman said children are cute. This baffles Barguest because it sounded it came straight from the heart. Boogeyman said a crying child alone in the distance shouldn't go anywhere. That's why I'm standing here. No matter what the role is. Barguest sinks into the black hole to the other dimension. Around the same time elsewhere, MC gets in between Yuma’s and Amduscias’ attack to stop them from fighting. And MC takes the hit from both of them. We cut to Ahura who tells Nobumichi he knows the words Nobumichi always say “Only those with power are allowed to make peace”. A powerless person cannot create peace. Ahura Mazda, the supreme judge, knows this better than anyone else. Back to MC, who was blow away by the attack. Yuma and Amduscias were both taken by a black hole. Maria sees a injured MC and tries to go help them but Nyarl stops her. She knows that Nyarl even if he wears a mask. Same actor different role. She knows that same look in his eyes. The eyes that are looking for someone who’s not in this world (Azathoth). Nyarl always do thing to make Azathoth laugh. Since Maria received past loop memories from Jacob she ask Nyarl a question. The actions of the Entertainers actions started when they got their hands on a reserve World Rep (Bigfoot). The Entertainer are a guild from behind the scene and doesn’t have a World Rep of their own but it was decided that Bigfoot would act as a World Rep for the Great Spirit. Gaining both front and back perspective of the game. Nyarl just laugh off her reasoning and tells her she’ll disappear too. No, Maria promise she’ll return to Tokyo. And Maria then gets absorbed by the black hole. Nyarl just calls Maria crazy and leaves without saying a word. Everyone including the Gurus are getting absorbed by the black hole one by one. MC wakes up to see that they’re all alone and standing in front of them is Ahura who tells MC to stand up, with darkness in his eyes.

[rowanisawriter]

… and I’m back haha, I’d love to know more about this passage from nothing day, I love the way it feels like summer and falling for someone for the first time again!! especially with how insidious the rest of the story feels:

She doesn't want to go back to the owner so she just strips down to her underwear and jumps into the water. It's a little cool. She sinks to the very bottom of the deepest part of the pool and looks up in time to see that he's jumped in after her in his underwear too.

He sinks down beside her. For a moment, they just look at each other, and her eyes move over his body, trying to see if anything has changed since the last time she saw him like this, but through the water she can't tell. She swims back up to the surface to catch her breath. He's right behind her, and their heads burst through the water at the same time.

"I almost forgot how to swim," he says, blinking water out of his eyes.

"Me too."

He sinks back below the surface. She follows him down to the bottom of the pool again. This time, when their eyes meet, he takes her hand and pulls her closer. When they surface, he takes a breath and kisses her.

There are so many reasons not to let him. The thought of tomorrow presses on her like the weight of the water around them. But she doesn't want to fight anymore. Let her pretend everything is okay, just this once.

yesss let me get on my little soapbox here so i can rant about nothing day, it might be my favorite story

ask me for a director’s commentary on my dumb ass stories

you know i love time loop, i love repetition in writing and how it flows when you’re reading it, and the second chance nature of time loops. but also the horror and dread of waking up again, and this mixed with the general aura of dread of mass effect 3 felt so right to me, it’s a story i’ve always wanted to write. i have many many time loop ideas but never wrote another one before or since. nothing day took me a whole year to write even tho it’s like less than 15k words.

this scene has a few purposes, mainly it’s there to show shepard kinda resigning to her fate just a little, she’s seeing what it could be like to just give up and stay in the loop, just to be normal. in my head the kaidan in the loop is a projection of her own mental state at that particular time, this one is playful and easy, some iterations are more sinister, but this little swimming break from reality is drawing her further into the loop. i also needed something that would linger on the senses so it could persist in memory through the loop as the different versions of herself and of kaidan collided as the story went on. i used food for this, the taste of tomato sauce, and decided on chlorine too. One of my favorite scenes in this story is when she starts seeing through the loop and looks at kaidan in the middle of the ship and he’s just soaking wet despite there being no water anywhere near them as the different iterations of the day started to collide.

i needed the pool scene because it was sweet, a calm little break from the chaos but the darkness of the loop still loomed over it, and it lingered over the rest of the story like a promise of what shepard could have if she just submitted instead of trying to break out of the loop 🔁

ahhh thank you for asking i love this story so much 😭

[hurtramblings]

Comet- What are you currently frustrated about? That I'm not in a position to just drop what I'm doing and leave town for a week or two weeks and just go somewhere else and just take time for me to reset, reflect, and heal myself.

Black Hole- What are you most afraid of? I've only shared this with one other person... I'm a Christian and I have been saved by Christ, so I do believe there is a heaven after our time on this planet is finished... What if there isn't and we just cease to exist? What if all that we become is memories and nothing more? A friend of mine has told me that he passed away during a surgery and that when he woke up, he was in what he could only describe as Heaven. He spent a brief time there before he was brought back but he said it's some so surreal that it's hard to describe without giving too much away. 

Galaxy- Do you have any nicknames? What are they? I'm sure that people have nicknames for me, I don't remember what any of them are right now tho. 

Star- What song(s) do you feel describes you? I gravitate toward Indie, Alternative, and songs that tell real stories.

Moon- Are you currently reading any books? If so, what book(s)? Re-reading or rather listening to Twilight for the first time in a very long time.

Planets- If you could go anywhere, where would you go? I would like to find a natural hot spring, somewhere in the United States and I would like to also go to a log cabin in the winter time preferably with someone that I love and just get lost in each other and whatever is happening in the world be damned. 

Mercury- Describe your aesthetic. Let's leave a bit of mystery here... DM me and let's have a conversation. If I feel comfortable enough talking to you then I will let you see what I look like. 

Venus- What’s your favorite tv show? I have too many to list and the list is about as different than my Spotify playlist. 

Earth- If you could be anyone else for a day, who would you want to be? Someone that is smarter with their money.

Mars- If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change? I would give myself the ability to manage my own finances on my own without anyone having to put safe guards in place so that I don't spend every dime I have. 

Jupiter- If you had to pick one color to use for an entire week, what color would you choose? My favorite color: Deep, dark, royal purple. 

Saturn- How far would you go for those you care about? To the ends of the Earth and more, eight million times over. 

Uranus- What would you say is your greatest achievement? Graduating college and having the second highest GPA in my degree program. 

Neptune- Describe yourself in one sentence. The mystery you'll never figure out. 

Pluto- If you could meet anyone, alive or dead, who would you meet? There is only one person I would like to meet for the second time... My Father. 

Constellations- If you could have one talent, what would you want it to be? (can be magical or not) Increased metabolism, that way I could eat anything I want and never gain weight.

Asteroid- When you die, what do you want to be done with your body? I'm not sure yet.

Aquarius- What’s a topic you enjoy learning about? New technology. 

Aquila- Do you prefer to read books or watch movies? Watch movies, but I also enjoy reading books.

Aries- What is something you enjoy doing? Spending time with my son.

Auriga- If you had to pick one villain from any media, who would you rather have to face and why? Oh boy, this one is tough... I don't know, if anyone decides to read this comment below your answer.

Bootes- If you could have any animal, wild or not, fake or not, which would you want? A wolf.

Cancer- How do you want to be remembered? I don't have a specific way, I would just like to be remembered by those whose life I have made an impact on. 

Canis Major- How many friends do you have? This is a silly question, I don't count the number of friends I have. I just have them and that's good enough for me. 

Capricornus- What’s a song lyric that you relate to?  Pass... I'm really not sure.

Cassiopeia- What’s your favorite quote? "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." 

Cygnus- If you could go back to any time period for a couple days, when/where would you want to go? Any year in the 1980's.

Gemini- Do you have any siblings? How many? I do, I have a younger brother.

Leo- If you could change the way any movie was made, which movie would you change? I'm not going to answer this question because I really have no idea... I would just like to say tho that Leo is the name of my best friend and the way we bond is over Film/TV so the fact that this question is related is so fitting.

Libra- If you could talk to your past self, what would you tell yourself? You are going to make many mistakes but you are also going to come back from them wiser than you were when you made them.

Lyra- Would you rather be feared or loved? Loved, being feared is not something I believe anyone would enjoy.

Orion- What’s your favorite type of weather? I'm usually only happy when it's dark, there's a thunderstorm and it's raining outside.

Pegasus- What’s your favorite music genre? I have several, sorry I can't just pick one. 

Perseus- What’s your favorite movie genre? Like my music, I have entirely too many and it would be too difficult to choose a favorite.

Pisces- Describe someone you love without saying their name. I can't say love but someone that I'm fond of... She has long hair, is brunette, big beautiful brown eyes, and amazing cheeks (Both above and below, lol), She has the pinkest lips I have seen on a woman. Her smile changes the mood of the day from downright awful to not-so-bad. She doesn't think her boobs are that great but I haven't seen anything I don't like yet. Her skin is tanned and kissed by the sun, I hope one day it will be kissed by me... She has gorgeous legs and thighs that I would love to spend time worshiping.

Sagittarius- What do you do when you don’t feel well? What do you eat/drink? Think about ways to get out of working, lol! I'm a really bad sick person, I don't drink or eat anything but if I did I would say "Hot and Sour" soup from a Chinese restaurant. 

Scorpius- If you had to pick someone to betray you, who would you pick? I'm not even sure why this is a question but if you must know, she's already done it.

Taurus- What makes you feel comfortable? Someone taking an interest in me.

Ursa Major- If you had to pick any job to have, what job would you want? Executive Producer/Showrunner for Drama or Sci-Fi series. 

Virgo- What do you value the most- artistic ability/creativity, musical ability, athletic ability, intellect, or work ethic? 1.) Intellect 2.) Artistic Ability 3.) Creativity

Neutron- Are you more of a leader or a follower? I've been known to take the lead on more than one occasion. So I would say leader.

Supernova- How do you feel about yourself? At one time, I had a very negative opinion of myself. It was brought to my attention by my two best friends that the way I view myself is so inaccurate... Talking with my therapist via Talkspace, I have also learned that I'm a much better person than I gave myself credit for. 

Supergiant- What’s something you like about yourself? My intelligence. 

Red Giant- Would you get into a debate/argument with someone if you heard them saying something you disagree with or know to be wrong, or would you stay silent? It would depend on how well versed I was in the subject matter of the argument or the debate.

Red Dwarf- What’s your favorite smell? What smell makes you feel most comfortable? Perfume on a beautiful woman. 

Protostar- Give a random fact about yourself. In the early 2000's myself and my family, along with at least one or two other families were the subjects of an article in "People Magazine" and if memory services the article was published in 2005.  

Space Asks

Comet- What are you currently frustrated about?

Black Hole- What are you most afraid of? 

Galaxy- Do you have any nicknames? What are they? 

Star- What song(s) do you feel describes you?

Moon- Are you currently reading any books? If so, what book(s)?

Planets- If you could go anywhere, where would you go? 

Mercury- Describe your aesthetic. 

Venus- What’s your favorite tv show? 

Earth- If you could be anyone else for a day, who would you want to be?

Mars- If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change? 

Jupiter- If you had to pick one color to use for an entire week, what color would you choose? 

Saturn- How far would you go for those you care about? 

Uranus- What would you say is your greatest achievement? 

Neptune- Describe yourself in one sentence. 

Pluto- If you could meet anyone, alive or dead, who would you meet? 

Constellations- If you could have one talent, what would you want it to be? (can be magical or not)

Asteroid- When you die, what do you want to be done with your body?

Aquarius- What’s a topic you enjoy learning about? 

Aquila- Do you prefer to read books or watch movies?

Aries- What is something you enjoy doing?

Auriga- If you had to pick one villain from any media, who would you rather have to face and why?

Bootes- If you could have any animal, wild or not, fake or not, which would you want?

Cancer- How do you want to be remembered? 

Canis Major- How many friends do you have? 

Capricornus- What’s a song lyric that you relate to? 

Cassiopeia- What’s your favorite quote? 

Cygnus- If you could go back to any time period for a couple days, when/where would you want to go?

Gemini- Do you have any siblings? How many?

Leo- If you could change the way any movie was made, which movie would you change?

Libra- If you could talk to your past self, what would you tell yourself?

Lyra- Would you rather be feared or loved?

Orion- What’s your favorite type of weather?

Pegasus- What’s your favorite music genre? 

Perseus- What’s your favorite movie genre?

Pisces- Describe someone you love without saying their name.

Sagittarius- What do you do when you don’t feel well? What do you eat/drink? 

Scorpius- If you had to pick someone to betray you, who would you pick?

Taurus- What makes you feel comfortable?

Ursa Major- If you had to pick any job to have, what job would you want? 

Virgo- What do you value the most- artistic ability/creativity, musical ability, athletic ability, intellect, or work ethic?

Neutron- Are you more of a leader or a follower?

Supernova- How do you feel about yourself? 

Supergiant- What’s something you like about yourself? 

Red Giant- Would you get into a debate/argument with someone if you heard them saying something you disagree with or know to be wrong, or would you stay silent?

Red Dwarf- What’s your favorite smell? What smell makes you feel most comfortable? 

Protostar- Give a random fact about yourself.  

[rippeds0cks]

6/13/2023

Good evening absolutely no one. Today's pics are from me after swimming for a while cause I am currently on a half weights half swimming split cause I need to improve my cardio and also not be so fat. I don't like these pics but I had to take something yknow. Today was pretty bad. Started off sucking by me waking up to someone thirsting over my pics on twitter and my gay friend decided it was their initiative to very grossly "claim" me and objectify me hard as hell. At first I was just gonna ignore it but it kept bothering me so I just dm'ed them and told them to never do some shit like that again. I should've known that they would make it about them and how they were "so distraught they made me uncomfortable" and literally tried making me console them at one point. I basically just told them to get over themselves. Shit like this really reassures my belief that I'll never be in love or a relationship again. People just disgust me honestly. Especially adding to how gross this was is that I had told them how I disliked that it's really difficult for me to ever make any kind of genuine connection with anyone cause most people just see me as an object or piece of meat. Anyways. I been pretty dead set on moving back to America. I don't know if anything could really change my mind at this point. Life out here just kinda sucks especially with school n everything. It's impossible to meet people and when you do it's all very surface level no one really wants to know each other. Don't get me wrong I recognize that I'm a fucking loser but still. The main two places I'm considering moving to are La and New York. I don't really wanna move anywhere else at the moment. There's plenty of positives and negatives to both but I just don't know. New York is more expensive and I wouldn't get paid as much to firefight but supposedly the people are more down to earth and it's easier to meet people. La is cheaper and I would be paid more to firefight but I would absolutely need a car no question and apparently, the people are more self-absorbed which makes sense cause LA is where you go to get famous. First thing I gotta do once I get there is get my driver's license since I need that to begin fire school. Might live in Arizona with bubbles while I do that, might live with my parents idk. My mental state is slowly slipping again it is very concerning to me. The first thing I need to do when I get back to the States is go to therapy I'll tell you that much. Same old "I'm a failure/ex gf/death race/loser" depression bullshit. Whatever I guess. Doesn't help that I can't rest. Im sleeping but I keep waking up like 3-4x throughout the night and I wake up feeling just as tired. I mean hey at least I'm not dreaming of my ex again. Knock on wood tho cause with how my mental state is it's just a matter of time. Anyways

[weaselbeaselpants]

Deepest apologies to OP as their baseline argument is true and I think a general rule to follow. Real, actual people > fictional blorbos and the feelings you attach onto them. Good. Good post.

But man oh man the replies...I'm sorry but this got me going on both sides of the "accept media criticism/stop using criticism as absolutism" thing.

Just a lot of assuming no media literacy for every situation ever whenever someone gets heated about media and how people react to it.

I'm gonna just leave out that "never trust someone who tells you to police ur thoughts thing and simply reply with this convo from the otherside of that coin to explain how "kill the cop in your head" is a bad mandate to sign onto, especially for people who are suseptible to being taken advantage of.

((tbf, I don't completely agree w this argument either. before you say anything the artist replying here is an nsfw artist tho))

I'm more hopped up on the 'classic' "why are you reading/watching/listening to this thing if it bothers you" claim. Like, NO DUH if I'm reading Lolita or some shit and getting disturbed that's on me hun ur right. OBVIOUSLY, fiction and media is meant to make you feel uncomfortable sometimes or challenge you somehow. What you're missing is the fact that I AM just sticking to my fandoms and comfortzones and my problem is when sinister shit is being said and done in front of me, it's being ignored because of these excuses. I've had this problem since my Brony days. It's NOT that any kind of fictional act = bad/endorsing irl bad behavior. Or at least, it shouldn't be that way in media comprehension. It's that other people within these spaces are using these arguments to get away with their own bad behavior that may be predatory and/or bigoted...and the rest of the community aren't willing to stand up to it because they think stating the obvious is a "call out" on them as a whole.

Again, sorry OP. Again, your statement is correct about fictional characters should not mean more than real people. In the sense of judging other people's fantastes and being "traumatized" cuz someone hated on their blorbo which means they 'endorse abuse' or some shit, yeah that tracks. My issue is how this attitude is extended beyond to just any kind of fandom interaction and media analysis EVER, and how any attempt to be critical of harmful behavior MUST be an attempt at policing others, and not, you know, saying that something makes you uncomfortable on your own damn blog on your own damn time.

Looking at Lolita again, there you have a fictional story that is meant to make you think and consider real life situations; and which has unfortunately been used by people reading it who don't get the point to abuse real-life people --most media, even stuff that's meant to be constructed but still enojoyed (Avatar, Disney, Marvel and DC) isn't anywhere near that extreme and media literacy is being used to bully other people into submission, or ''cop'', their personal wants.

---

I'm sorry to people reading this and trying to make sense of my word salad clippings. I'm just really put off by the unironic use of "purity", "police" and "pedophile" to refer to people bullying others about fandom. Bullying sucks. It's not fair to do even if you have a reason to be mad. But at best, ur conflating your fan-tiffs of small potatoes with some really dangerous shit.

Annoying Anti whining about how Reylo destroyed their life because reasons =/= purity culture and puritans

Someone shipping aged-up characters or adults with age gaps/uneven dynamics =/= pedophile

Someone telling you to think of other people in your fandom who aren't you =/= policing your thoughts or the thoughts of others.

I feel like you'll know for sure when those things happen and when someone if honestly using purity, predatory or police tactics to shut up/keep others in line. I feel like this bitching that I'm now taking part in is just keeping us fighting rather than actually calling out the nasties around us who are getting away with their heinous shit with our own in-context reasonable alibis....and I'm tired. Tired of other hurt people putting up walls of DNI to protect their emotional selves but obstensibly lash out at other people while they do so. Tired of conflating people you dislike with legit people. Tired.

I will say though, I think the og point can be a "rules for thee but not for me"-thing. Like, no shit people will value fictional characters and the emotions grafted to them over people they don't know. That's what happens when fandoms have this "x character is me"-view on representation and kinning ur fav. That's something literally everyone does ever. You can be removed from it and practical and point out that these aren't real people, but it's impossible to completely remove urself from that mindset.

There's no B-all end-all argument to all of this, only to certain ethics which we then try to apply to this discussion.

I really think everyone needs to truly internalize this:

Fictional characters are objects.

They are not people. You cannot "objectify" them, because they have no personhood to be deprived of. They have no humanity to be erased. You cannot "disrespect" them, because they are not real.

[sandraharissa]

So I haven’t been in this fandom for YEARS but I just came across smth that always bugged me so ig I’m venting.

So the fandom has always been very critical of Odin but I always found it to be to a fault. I’ll generally see very exaggerated, not canonically supported takes on Odin that paint everything he ever did in the worst light possible. To the point where it’s just extremely boring to me. Odin being pure evil is infinitely less interesting than him being gray flawed-but-loving parent. Now I realise a huge chunk of the fandom would love a ‘Loki realizes Odin will never love him and gets over him’ narrative but I find it 1) personally extremely emotionally unsatisfying 2) waaaaay beyond a story that could ever be handled well and with enough nuance by the mcu 3) a bit too not complaint with the first movie and in general with the framing in all of these movies to truly stick the landing.

For example, ppl would often try to turn the information that was stated in canon that ‘Loki got adopted’ into ‘Loki got kidnapped’. The problem with that is that it’s solely based on headcanon. From a Watsonian perspective you can try to argue that Odin could be lying but from a Doylist perspective this is the only time we’re given information on that matter, and if the truth on such a crucial aspect of the story was different then it’d be extremely important to reveal the real truth to the audience at some point, but the writers never do that. Actually there’s a deleted scene found in the script where Loki reveals to Laufey that he’s his son, where Laufey explicitly agrees that he abandoned Loki, calls him weak and ‘a bastard son’. Now this is a deleted scene so it’s not canon, ig we could say it’s soft canon, but either way it gives us insight into the writers’ original intent behind writing the whole script including the vault scene and it presents the more fleshed out version of the story, where such a crucial information as Loki’s origin is indeed double-checked by Loki with the ‘original source’.

Next matter, the writers never thought through the story nearly as much as the fans do. The worldbuilding, history and lore of this world are next to non-existent. We don’t know anything about the Jotun culture, so who knows maybe leaving someone of royal blood in a temple was done for their own protection or maybe it was a sacrifice to their gods or smth, or maybe it has no meaning at all and he was simply left behind anywhere when others were fleeing. Similarly we don’t know anything about Asgardian customs so maybe the party at the end of the movie was smth disrespectful toward Loki’s recent presumed death or maybe it was exactly how they do it. We’re just left to either take the framing at face value even tho the framing is sometimes noticeably faulty or come up with headcanons.

And speaking of that party scene, along with weird assumptions about Asgardian culture I’ve also seen weird reading of Odin’s behavior. Now Anthony Hopkins clearly never cared about this role and in most scenes he barely even moves so I know that probs doesn’t help the perception that Odin the character doesn’t care about what’s happening around him, but we also do get some things out of him like this:

He's shown alone and isolated from the rest, staring blankly at the Bifrost where everybody thinks Loki died and it seems he can barely speak, but that somehow translates into ultimate proof that he’s happy/indifferent that Loki is gone, like ??? Absolutely bizarre takes. I would often see ppl scrutinize Odin’s behavior like this like they’re body language/human behavior “experts” or whatever, as tho it’s not the case that all the characters often appear to be underacting/underreacting when intercut with Loki’s drastic and often very realistic looking displays of emotion. And even with that in mind there’s always enough obvious cinematic language used in those scenes that you can clearly tell the authorial intent. Like you’d think somber music and sad faces and staying away from the party, in contrast to all the partying guests, would make it clear enough that Loki’s family is mourning. But ig they’re not mourning visibly enough for some ppl’s liking.

There’s more scenes like that that really convey the love between all the different family members, but then we also get these confusing scenes like ‘your birthright was to die’ or ‘am I not your mother’ or ‘That hope no longer exists to protect you. You betray me and I will kill you.’ that just kinda happen but then nothing ever gets explained or resolved. Unfortunately it’s likely the writers just think there’s nothing wrong with this kind of behavior and that the characters were justified/right in saying those things. So the fandom’s stuck not being able to just ignore the worst of it, and for me also not being able to ignore all the framing and writing that conveys real love within the family that I want to root for.

In broader strokes I would say the first movie is the most defining for the franchise and the characters and that’s the one that has me rooting for Odin and Loki’s relationship. Then came TDW and it was the real beginning of the end, not TR. This movie was the first that tried to simply sweep under the rug all the interesting drama the previous movies built. They find a way to get rid of Frigga, they get rid of Odin and rush his arc to its end (originally with no intention to bring him back ever again, according to interviews) and they also tried to get rid of Loki for good and rush his arc to its end. Leaving Thor free from having to deal with all the family drama ever again that ig powers that be decided no one wanted to see, until changes were made. With the third movie continuing to axe everything that’s left from the Thor franchise and continuing the task of writing out Thor’s family members, bringing Odin and Loki back, giving them both more flattering conclusions and then killing them off again. And what a pity cos the bones for great arcs for these characters are all there. If only there was a single cohesive vision for the franchise that allowed for continuous cohesive arcs throughout the trilogy.

Anyway, ig I still had some mourning to do for all that development that never happened and that at this point we’re way beyond ever getting.

[animeomegas]

you ask for headcanons? i will deliver, lol. so in all your writing, sasuke has hated to show his more vulnerable sides. at the end of the pregnancy, he's probably about to snap too; i imagine there's more than once where he happened to accidentally kick a nurse or smt, shinobi reflexes and all. and that when the s/o has to leave the room (idk, maybe they have to pee) he literally clings to them. maybe itachi too, but itachi feels like he'd be in more pain so he'd cling in a more whiny way, if that makes sense? both of them would absolutely let nobody hold the child except for the s/o though, i think,,, or maybe itachi would let shisui and sasuke hold them for a sec before wanting them back in his arms lol (in a non-massacre au tho... otherwise not even sasuke would be allowed)

those were just some thoughts, hope you can enjoy them!

(I love this so much, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me! I'll separate it out a little for coherency!)

Sasuke -

By the end of his pregnancy, Sasuke's mental state is fluctuating wildly. He's actually induced early because he's getting so bad that the mednin are worried he'll hurt himself and his pup during a panicked episode.

So, no one is surprised when he starts lashing out at the mednin while in labour. The mednin tell you that you are not to leave his side for even a moment unless you have to, because there's no way of predicting how he'll react in this mental state. He's obviously very unsettled.

But you really have to pee... So you try to explain that to him, but all Sasuke hears is that you're leaving him. You're leaving him when he needs you to protect him the most. He won't let that happen. He can't cope if you're not there.

He latches himself onto his alpha as best as he can and starts begging them not to leave. He'll say anything he can think of to get them to stay with him. You've never seen Sasuke let go of all his pride so readily.

But of course, you have to go and use the toilet. It's attached to the room, so you run as fast as you can, leaving the door open a crack so that he can still hear you talking to him.

But it's not enough.

Sasuke freaks out badly. His scent is so panicked, it draws all the mednin into the room which only makes him more upset because he has all these unknown people with him while he's too vulnerable to protect himself and his pup, and his alpha has abandoned him.

By this point, you rush back to him, having only been gone for a minute at most, and Sasuke loops his arms around your neck and locks his fingers. He's babbling incoherently, torn between thanking you for coming back and begging you not to leave again.

The mednin try and drug him a little to get him to relax but he growls them all away. He's in self-defence mode, so he won't allow any medical personnel anywhere near him.

It makes everything a lot more difficult, but as Sasuke's pain level starts to mount, he focuses on that and starts to calm down little by little, and eventually he lets the mednin assist him.

.

"You came back!" Sasuke's sobs, entirely hysterical and latching himself firmly around your neck. "I'm sorry- don't- please- I'll die if y-you leave, I'll-I'll do anything, I'll be good, don't leave!"

"I didn't leave baby, I'm right here," you promise, frantically trying to soothe him by keeping him pressed firmly against your chest. "You're perfect, you didn't do anything wrong, I'll never leave you, I promise."

Sasuke didn't respond, but didn't loosen his grip either. This is going to be your first and final pup, there's no way you would ever put Sasuke through something like this again.

.

As far as letting other people hold the pup, Sasuke is very possessive, you're right. At first, it's a case of instincts gone wild, but once he's calmed down, he just doesn't trust anyone enough to let them hold his pup. They'll probably drop them or something. He's sort of okay with medical personnel touching and handling his pup, but only up until a certain point.

Some omegas can get possessive to the point where they don't let their mates hold the pup (although that's usually a sign of an unstable bond) but Sasuke is more than happy to have his mate hold their pup. I mean, they're basically holding Sasuke up at the moment, he trusts them explicitly.

Itachi -

Itachi is clingy, but not too much more so than an average omega. You're right, he's in a lot of pain, so he automatically reaches for his alpha to help soothe him.

He's also terrified that he'll die without ever getting to meet his pup and his alpha is keeping him grounded and focused on the job he's supposed to be doing.

Itachi likes his alpha to sit behind him while he's in labour. It feel like he's protected, and also it's very comforting to be fully in his alpha's embrace.

However, Itachi is a lot more possessive over his pup than Sasuke. It was almost lucky that Itachi passed out after giving birth because he would have fought every mednin that tried to take his child out of his arms, no matter what the reason.

But because he did collapse, he instead wakes up to his alpha sitting beside him, holding their son, and Itachi is so in love that he never wants to let anyone else even look at his child.

He lets Shisui and Sasuke and his mother sort of play with the newborn by touching his hands and stuff, but Itachi holds him the whole time.

It takes months before Itachi lets someone else other than him and his mate hold his pup, in fact, after giving birth, Itachi doesn't even leave his nest for about a fortnight because he wants to keep his pup hidden and safe.

..

"But, what if they want to hold him?" Itachi asks, voice quiet and weak after his traumatic birth. It had been a few hours since he had woken up and his family were now here to visit him and see the new addition to the family. "I don't think I want that yet, but would it be rude to say no to my own parents?"

You smile and scoot a bit closer to him.

"Here, I have an idea," you reach over and pull his shirt off of one of his shoulders, exposing that side of his chest. "He must be getting hungry now, let's see if we can get him to latch again."

Almost immediately, your pup latches on and starts to feed.

"There," you coo. "He's a natural. Now they can't ask to hold him, because he's feeding."

Itachi laughs softly at your plan, but its obviously feeling more at ease now. You pick up a very thin blanket and lay it over Itachi's chest to give him some privacy and then you go and fetch his family.

[malfoysstilinski]

four a.m | DRACO MALFOY

MASTERLIST

PAIRING: Draco Malfoy x Reader (non specified house)

WORD COUNT: 1.2k

SUMMARY: draco wakes y/n up for cereal at four in the morning. y/n pushes the real reason out of him.

WARNINGS: none?? draco’s soft and a bit sad tho

A/N: did i mention i love soft!draco ??

“Y/N.”

The voice is familiar and warm, matching the way you feel. Everything feels so comfortable. The pillow is cool and fluffy beneath your head, as if it had been freshly fluffed, and you’re the perfect temperature, the duvet wrapped around your body like a cocoon.

You’re still sleepy, in fact, you’re not sure you’re even awake. Your eyes remain shut and you shuffle on the mattress, sighing contently when you land on an even comfier part of the pillow. You’re in bed heaven. You never want to leave.

“Y/N?”

This time you know you definitely heard your name, but you muzzle deeper into the pillow, thinking maybe whoever it is will just give up and leave you alone to fall back into the deep state of sleep you were slowly being dragged away from.

It dawns on you after a few seconds that it wouldn’t be any of your roommates; you were no longer in your teens sharing a dormitory with four other girls. Sometimes you still lurched awake in a panic, thinking you’d slept through your first period or forgetting where you’d put your house tie.

It’s been four years since you left Hogwarts and the only possible culprit for disrupting your sleep is your boyfriend, Draco Malfoy.

The realisation drags you further away from your needed dream land.

“Y/N?” Draco repeats, voice soft when he realises that you’re actually waking up now.

“Ymm,” you try to mutter a ‘yes’ but you can’t even part your lips, eyes still clamped shut.

You hope it’s a quick question or something so you can fall back asleep in the exact spot you’ve discovered.

“Do you want cereal?”

You frown, utterly confused as you force your eyes to squint open. Your brows are knitted together as you peer at Draco in the darkness of your shared bedroom, finding him leaning on his side and looking right at you. He smiles sheepishly when he sees you’re paying more attention.

“Wha-” you’re disorientated, glancing around for a few seconds. “What time’s it?”

Draco is silent for a second as he rolls over to check the clock on his side of the bed. He rolls back to face you.

“It’s four in the morning,” he replies.

You groan loudly, burying your face into the pillow. “It’s not time for breakfast yet, Draco.”

You’re speaking to him as if he’s a toddler and it makes you nearly laugh. However, you’re awake now. Instead of waiting for your boyfriend to reply, you shuffle and bury your head in his chest.

Draco coos, burying his slender fingers in your hair and gently gliding it through. His other hand holds your arm so you’re kept close to him, thumb rubbing soothing circles against your bare skin.

“Sleepy baby,” he mumbles. “M’sorry for waking you.”

“No, no,” you push yourself away from him and sit up, rubbing your eyes. “You want cereal?”

“I thought we could have some together,” Draco beams, shuffling out of the bed.

Your home you share with Draco is still dark but it’s warm as you both pad down into the kitchen. He dimly lights up the room and then heads to the fridge for the milk whilst you grab the Cheerios out of the pantry cupboard.

He grabs bowls next and makes you both some cereal whilst you sit at the breakfast bar, watching tiredly. He can tell you’re trying hard not to fall asleep again, your head that rests on your hand slipping down a little too far every now and then.

He sits beside you and places one hand on your leg, the other feeding himself spoonfuls of Cheerios. You do the same, a little less enthusiastically and with larger gaps between. Your spare hand reaches down and you grab his hand on your leg, intertwining your fingers.

“Are you gonna tell me what made you fancy Cheerios at four in the morning?” You send him a small, teasing smile, but you are sort of worried.

Since the war, Draco’s had nightmares on and off. Normally he can go back to sleep back after, but sometimes they’re so bad he has to wake you up, or his whimpers and cries wake you first.

You have a feeling that his out of character action has something to do with his sleep terrors. He’s been warmer since the war, he opens up to you and doesn’t bottle things up like he did before, and has generally become a better person. You hate that he still has to suffer the consequences of the choices that had been forced upon him.

You had noticed that he was off during your sixth year, but Draco had a way of distracting you with his kisses or his silver pools, stopping you from questioning him too much. When you found him in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom after you heard Harry Potter’s yells, you’d seen the Dark Mark on his arm mixed against all of the blood.

So much blood.

You hadn’t even given it a second thought at the time, far too focused on Snape getting Draco to Madam Pomfrey and making sure your boyfriend would be okay. When he woke you had a long and very tearful conversation. You made it apparent to Draco there and then that he couldn’t keep secrets from you anymore; you were a team.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Draco admits somewhat embarrassed, avoiding your eyes. “I had a feeling. You know, that one where I keep feeling like someone’s going to take you from me... I wanted to stay awake to make sure nothing happened but I couldn’t sit around anymore.”

Your face softens. His sixth year, not only had he been worried about Dumbledore and the Cabinet and his family, but he’d been worried about you. He was paranoid Voldemort would discover his relationship with you and snatch you away to make sure he worked faster, or maybe somebody would hurt you to get to him.

“I’m fine, baby,” you whisper, standing up off of the stool to stand between his legs. You cup his face in your hands. “I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I promise you.”

Draco manages a small smile, still embarrassed. You lean across and kiss the top of his nose and then peck his lips before you place your forehead against his. He knows what you’re doing when you pull away and guide one of his hands to your chest.

He feels the steady beating of your heart beneath his finger tips and it calms him enormously.

“I love you,” he whispers. “I’m sorry I’m so... so weird.”

“You’re not weird,” you protest. “I’m in love with you, Draco. You never have to apologise for how you feel or things you can’t control. I’m here to help you. We’re a team, remember?”

Draco nods, curling his hand around yours.

“Come on,” you tug at his hand and guide him from his seat. “Let’s have Cheerios at a more conventional time. For now, you need some sleep, Malfoy.”

Draco smiles. “What would I do without you, Y/N?”

He falls asleep to you brushing your fingers through his blond silk hair, his head on your chest as he listens to the soft thumps of your heart. The very sound he literally lives for.

..

:)

[whorefordazai]

Hey rai I hope your doing better than me 😃

My aunt just died in the hospital and I wish I could’ve seen her in Cali before then...

So idk if requests are open but when they are

I was wondering if you can do fluff Dazai and Chuuya headcanons comforting a s/o who just lost a family member

Take your time cuz Ik u probably have so many requests in your inbox

Thank you tho

-🎸

I’m really sorry for your loss. I saw this as a comfort request so I got to it as quick as I could 💗

comforting his s/o who lost a loved one

ft. dazai | chuuya x gn! reader

genre: fluff, comfort

warnings: mentions of loss and depressive episodes

Dazai

he knows loss all too well—so he’ll understand and accept any reaction you choose to give. whether it’s crying, being numb, or distracting yourself with things...he’ll be there every step of the way with you.

at first he’ll be a little hesitant, because he’s not sure how you’ll react. he doesn’t want to lose you—he knows death can sometimes change a person forever. but when he sees that all you need is him next to you, he’ll immediately be at your side.

If you need to cry it out, he’ll hold you in his arms with your face buried in his chest. he’ll stay quiet and mumble words like “it’s okay babe, you can cry” or “I’m right here, it’s okay I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere”

telling someone he’s not going anywhere is a huge advancement for him, but he truly means it when he sees you in your state of mind. not because of pity—more like he can finally empathize with someone.

If you decide to go about your normal day, he’ll agree but look out for you all the time. If he sees you about to break down in public, he’ll carefully wrap an arm around your shoulder and guide the both of you to a room or corner where he’ll hug you tightly and let you express any emotions.

If you say stuff like “you don’t have to be here for me” or “you don’t have to do this, I’m troubling you a lot.”

he’ll immediately lift your chin, place his hands on your cheeks and kiss your lips. wrapping his arms around your waist he’d say, “but I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to be the one here for you.”

If you’re feeling numb or want to distract yourself with things, he’ll gladly take you places and try to cheer you up. it would be different tho—not his usual jokes that seem insensitive and careless. more like paying attention to what would make you laugh or smile. he just doesn’t want you to fall into a dark hole all by yourself.

If he sees you moping around or having depressive episodes, he’ll be a little hesitant on what to say. after a while, he’ll just come lay next to you and rest your chest on his chest.

pressing soft kisses on your hair and gently rubbing small circles on your back, he’d say, “you know...time doesn’t always heal. but after a while, when their face flashes across your mind—instead of remembering the sad things, you’ll remember the happy things.”

Chuuya

he’ll be a little unsure on what to do at first. not because he doesn’t understand (it’s quite the opposite, he does understand) but more like he’s never had to or wanted to comfort somebody so bad. he wants to do it the right way.

the moment he heard about the death, he raised his eyebrows and glanced at you. he immediately wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you close to him. his face was buried in your neck and if you cried, he held you anyway.

he’ll let you cry as much as you want. chuuya would even wipe your tears and keep a box of tissues on hand if you can’t stop crying.

If you’re numb, he’ll understand that too. but he won’t let you get to the point where you don’t care about your life or your health. if he sees you always pretending to be happy, he’ll get a little pissed off (but only because he knows how much you’re hurting inside)

he’ll gently grab your face and kiss your forehead. he’ll say, “it’s okay. you don’t have to pretend when you’re with me. I can take your feelings. In fact, I want to know your feelings. I’ll be here with you.”

if you’re having a depressive episode and he sees you not eating, drinking water, or taking showers—he’ll definitely encourage you to take care of yourself. or more like, he’ll take care of you.

“alright, it’s time to get up.” he said, gently grabbing your arms to lift you off the bed.

“w-what?”

“what do you mean, what? I’m going to take a bath with you, and then we’re going to eat dinner, and then you’re going to brush your teeth and fall asleep in my arms.”

and he stays true to his words. in the bath, your back would pressed against his chest and he’ll be concentrating on massaging shampoo into your hair. he’ll wash your hair and massage your shoulders, wrapping his arms around you.

“we can do this more often, if you’d like.” he’d mumble, kissing your neck. he knows how hard it is for you to get up from bed and wake up in the morning.

“yeah, I’d like that...thanks chu.”

he’ll let you take a break from work, and he’ll take a break too, just to stay with you. he doesn’t pity you—he thinks you’re strong for making it this far and still being able to function.

he won’t let you fall into a deep dark hole, he wants to be there for you. but if you choose to spend some time alone—he’ll respect that too.

at the end of the day, when your in each other’s arms in bed, he’ll try doing your hair. It’s a silly thought that came across his mind—since he loves it so much when you play with his hair, he thought you’d like the action returned.

tag list: @uwu-monster101 @14th-century-homosexual-spirit @dai-tsukki-desu @i4gumi @cross-crye @starglow-xx @ranposlover @bsdwhore @arimakii @malewifegirlboss @shadyteacup @smadhuman @knjksj0301 @neighborhoodfriendlysimp @rirk-ke @mushroomplantasia @luftdum @pickleisrandom @3-am-depression @its-chuuya-bitch @mars-bakery-shop @nagitoshopehoe @ijustwantfreenetflix @fashionablyfailing12 @dazailiones @atsushisgf @coveringthebiconissue @the-wholesome-ranpo

[kast43]

[May contain angst, contains mild violence, a total fake scenario because DIOVOLO WOULD NEVER ALLOW this to happen]

For a few weeks now, some witches were giving MC a hard time. MC didn't quite understand why, but if they had to guess it was because of their living arrangement. MC never paid it any mind until one night when they were walking to the House of Lamentation after some errands alone. MC was jumped by 3 of them and roughed up a bit. One witch was so annoyed with MC's demeanor that they went too far and broke MC's arm. MC, not wanting any more trouble would decide to go to Purgatory Hall and ask for help.

💋Lucifer💋

-He got a phone call from Simeon, stating that they had to take MC for medical care for a broken arm.

-Didnt even give an explanation where he was going, but he rushed out of the house to be with MC.

-Was a composed mess; he was worried, angry and protective of MC.

-when questioned about how it happened, MC lied and he knew it.

-"Oh I just tripped and fell on my arm is all." Was not the explanation he believed.

-why would MC lie about this? He had to know.

-he would ask maybe a few more times then left MC alone. He knew he could find out more on his own anyways.

-as far as aiding MC, a perfect gentleman.

-Opens doors, holds bags, even does MC's chores if they were struggling.

-He felt so guilty for this that he would not leave MC's side for a minute...but it would be more comforting than overstepping.

-would be the one to make sure MC did everything they had to heal.

-"Don't forget to take your medicine. Do you need some water? Let me get it."

-"You are not suppose to prop anything on that arm...let me hold it."

-Would stop the brothers dead in their tracks if they tried to do anything that would require MC to do anything physical.

-He would be the type to not actually sign MC's cast, but he would wait until they were alone and draw a little heart in a place only MC could see

-He also low key had been suspicious about what happened and follows MC around to "observe".

-When he does find out what happens....well let's just say those who wronged MC will regret it deeply.

💰Mammon💰

-He might have been out gambling or something when he got the call about MC.

-run boy run

-His first reaction would be frustration of course

-"How could you let this happen??? Humans are too fragile and you need to be more careful!"

-would have never crossed his mind that MC lied about it.

-MC falls a lot, story checks out in his mind.

-Feral Protection Goblin.

-He refused to leave MC's side even for a second.

-He would carry bags and open doors, but Mammon being himself would do it in a very feral goblin way

-VERY protective. Like, No one was allowed to even look at MC without himself shooting a glare back.

-more worried about MC than what was going on around him.

-Absolutly the one to forget about meds

-signs his name IN BIG LETTERS on MC's cast

-May God have mercy on those witches that did this to MC when Mammon finds out what really happened.

🎮Leviathan🎮

-Most likely ignored Simeon's call, but would read his text.

-He does not like to leave his room often, but he will go to pick MC up with little hesitation.

-he will asked what happened, but ultimately he does not care since he can't stop it now.

-poor thing would be too scared to touch MC TBH.

-this reminds him how delicate humans were and he didn't want to make things worse.

-he would be more clingy without making contact.

-for the most part he did anything MC asked, only if they asked tho.

-was actually stoked that MC could actually spend time playing games or watching anime with him since they could not do too much physical labor.

-he would enjoy having quality time like this, but be upset it had to be this way.

-"It's annoying that you can only play games with me when you break a bone. You can come anytime you want you know."

-He would be the first one to sign the cast. Who knows, he might just doodle all over it

-lets say he overheard someone bragging about what they did to MC [since he is the quiet one no demon suspects him to be listening]

-he finds out what really happened...big mad

-seconds from summoning Lotan in the school

-then he finds out *who* did it

-pays each witch involved a visit and summons Lotan in each home

📚Satan📚

•he was simply reading when he got the call

•there he go, faster than light

•he would greet MC with in interrogation

•"MC what happened?"

•"Did someone do this to you?"

•"Where/when did this happen?"

•"You are FAR from 'okay'!"

•MC would just dodge any question regarding what had happened...MC knew that Satan was too smart to fall for one of their lies

•Satan does not know much about broken human bones...but by the next morning he  became an expert.

•He would go about this a lot like Lucifer, but in a more emotional way.

•Satan had become more protective of MC and refused to let them do anything too physical.

•he would follow MC around, making sure they did all the right things, carry bags, open doors, ya know the whole deal.

•took extra time with MC during study time and bed time.

•"I brought your meds...here is some water as well."

•med police

•would draw a cat on their cast

•He loves to read to MC as they fall asleep.

•if he were to find out what actually happened [which he would a lot faster than Lucifer btw] oh no

•oh no

•oh no no no no no

•might as well write those witches obituaries cuz THEY GONE

💋Asmodeus💋

•Picks the phone with Simeon and starts to flirt first off

•as mush as Simeon would love to entertain this, he let's Asmo know that MC had to be taken to get medical care

•Asmodeus rushes to go collect MC.

•he would understand MC was hurt, and at first he would play it off as shit just happens

•especially when MC lied about how it happened

•Honestly he would be low key scared and high key protective

•The one he loved the most [other than himself] was hurt!

•Obsessed with taking good care of MC.

•other than Lucifer, would be the best at making sure MC was taking good care of themselves to heal 🌟Beautifully🌟

•"MC~♡ let's take a break. Come and sit for a while"

•"use this lotion where you can reach, your skin will get dry under the cast"

•"don't forget your meds love, the sooner you heal the sooner we can be naughty~ 😈"

•this brother would be the most clingy out of all of them, but works out for MC.

•goes above and beyond holding doors and carrying bags...would escourt MC everywhere

•He does not only signs the cast, he glues a picture of himself on it

•MC would eventually tell Asmo what really happened...thinking they could trust Asmo not to loose his shit

•He looses his shit, but holds it together in front of MC

•the second he knows MC is asleep...he goes hunting for some naughty witches.

🍔Beelzebub🍔

•he was at practice when it happened, and missed the call

•MC ended in meeting him halfway home

•poor thing does not know what to do

•So sorry he missed the call

•the fact of the matter is, he trusts MC in what MC says happened.

•he was use to injuries with his workouts and sports...but MC was far too fragile...

•he would be the 'scary dog privilege' for MC

•He respects MC enough to give them space...but also watches MC like a hawk

•carries things for MC and refuses to take no for an anwser

•made sure MC was fed at ALL times.

•"Food always makes me feel better, so maybe you will get better if you eat"

•MC attaches themselves to Beelz instead of the other way around

•He would sign the cast, plain and simple. Mc would explain that he could add more if he wanted. [As evident from Mammon signing a new spot every day] so he would most likely draw food or something later on

•When Beelz finds out what truly happened, he would get upset...but not enough to do anything super harmful.

•he could go and eat all their food...or their homes. He would decide in the car.

🥱Belphagor🥱

•Again, Belphie is smarter than he lets on

•he would be aware of the bullies, but not the extent of what they would do

•most likely was asleep during the call

•would notice MC's long absence, then when MC did show up he was shocked.

•asking the usual questions, who what when where...MC would dodge them all.

•Belphie was suspicious

•Would be the most protective of MC, always be by MC's side

•but much like Beelz he would respect MC's space

•until he was sleepy that is

•would rest on MC anywhere and anytime

•would also be MC's 'scary dog' privilege, but shows dominance by laying in MC's lap

•MC didn't mind, they would play with Belphie's hair anyways

•he would doodle all over the cast, and if anything would sign his name under Mammon's every time he signed

•thrilled to bits at all the naps MC and him now have since MC was not allowed to do much.

•"Where do you want to nap today?"

•"MC why don't we go to the attic today, I happen to know Mammon is going get yelled at today...it won't be quiet for long"

•when he finally finds out what happened, and he will find out, he will not hold back

•where his twin would be passive, he would be aggressive...we can leave it at that

[dianagj-art]

MIPHA! MIPHA! MIPHA!

I tried to do more of the screenshot/cinematic kinds look but I gave up and just bullshited the backgrounds bc I didn't wanted to look so plain but I also didn't want to do a background

anyways Mipha is here! it's Mipha time!

(Friendly remainder that what's bellow is just copy paste from my draft and there's probably a lot of typos and gramar mistakes)

More of Yiga Link AU

<Previous / next>

A group of young Zoras finds Link's body sinking on the river, south of the Minish Woods. They take him out to land and check on him, he is barely alive and they quickly take him all the way to Zora's domain. They send the fastest of them first to inform the princess and she meets them halfway.

Link's wounds are bad, but she still can heal him, they take him to the domain to keep an eye on him, besides he is still uncouncious. They set him up on that little area for other species when they visit, and Mipha had other healers take a proper look at him.

The princess buys him clothes from a merchant since his are barely existent with so many cuts. The zora recognize those cuts, they know the boy was on a Yiga attack and unfortunately, they find his tattoo behind his neck.

They are not idiots and they fear the boy might be a spy and all was just a set up, the princess still wants to talk to him. Mipha was no fool and she wasn't as naive as most people outside the Domain may think, but she was curious, and there was a feeling in her chest that told her there was more to know about this boy.

Link wakes up in unknown clothes, he has no idea of where he is but soon finds out as he started to look around. He remembers what happened and a hand grips his chest. He knows he shouldn't be alive.

"That was terrible wound you had there," The voice startled him and he instantly stood up to go into combat mode. "Don't stand, you are not fully healed yet." he really didn't have another option, there wasn't a part of his body that did't hurt and the pain brough him down to the bed again.

He looked up to see 3 zoras, two tall ones dressed in armor flanquing a smaller one in shinny red scales and dressed in zora jewerly. The princess.

"Don't be sacred" she said and gestured to her guards to stay put as she walked to him, "I just came to look on your wounds"

Link frowned at that, the princess? Coming here to check on a stanger's wounds? Yeah sure. Link remembers his tattoo and quickly hides it with a simple illution spell that wouldn't take that much of his stenght.

"Dont you have healers for that?" he asked coldly.

The princess laughed lightly "Yes," she admitted and stood by his bed, her amrs behind her body, holding her spear "and they know more about hylian anathomy than I do, but they can't do what i can. Your wounds were bad enough to require my assistance."

Link frowned again, "what does that mean?"

Mipha smiled and gestured at the bed, "Can I?" Link recoiled his legs, leting her space to sit down, the princess did, leaving her spead resting on the bed besides her, she extended her hand to him, "give me your arm" she said softly.

Link hessitaded but he rested his arm on her hand. She carefully took off his bandages and let exposed a deep cut on his forearm, the boy winced at the sight.

The princess then put her other hand above the wound and closed her eyes. Her palm started to glow and link gasped loudly. His arm started to feel cold and a bit numb, but the pain was gone, and soon the same sensation washed over his body. It was nice.

Mipha was focused on the wound but she looked up for a moment to catch his expresion, she smiled lightly and looked down again.

The light coming from her palm dimmed until it was gone and his exposed wound wasn't there anymore. Slowly, the pain came back to the rest of his body. Mipha let go off his hand and he lifted his arm to his eye level, twisting it one way and another, trying to see the trick but no, the wound was really gone.

"You... You really have healing powers..." he had herd the rumors but no yiga had actually seen it, just heard things from other people.

Mipha hummed a laugh, catching link's atention, "Outsiders are always so surprissed to see it" she stood up, taking the spear again, "I have other things to attend, but i'll come back to heal the rest of your wounds latter."

She leaves with her guards, a few minutes latter another group of zoras show up. Two of them check on his wounds and tell him to rest while the other two just guarded the entrance. He had a bad feeling, whenever he peeked an eye to the other room he saw a guard. He didn't know if that was normal or if it was because of him.

He rests, too tired to try and transport, and fully knowing that in this state he wouldn't be able to fight. He starts trying to form a plan to get out of there. Taking a swim was not an option, anywhere near water he would be an at disadvantage. He had to make it to the montains that sorrounded Zora's Domain, he could take a run for it once he were back to his feet, he had no idea if zoras were fast runners but they had short legs, he was sure he could outrun them. Once close to the montains he could teletrasnport himself to a higher place and away from them.

Tho he didn't know where to go from there. It's not like he could go back to the Hideout.

Mipha comes back that evening and heals two more of his wounds before leaving. Link is starting to think that maybe her healing magic tires him as much as illutions and trasportation tires him. It takes a few days for him to be fully healed, all the time he is forced to stay on the rooms to "rest"

All the time he feels uncomfortable, he feels watched. It gets worse when he is fully healed and the princess wants to give him a little tour around the domain, everyone always stares at him, or maybe they are looking at their princess and he was just being paranoid.

He had never been to Zora's domain, to be honest, he hadn't seen that much of Hyrule, and he was intrigued to see and learn more.

As they start to walk around the Domain a little red-scaled Zora runs to her and hugs her leg "Sidon!"

"I'm sorry princess," another Zora runs to her, "he's been running away the whole day, he doesn't wan't to do the jump"

"If you don't jump how am I going to teach you to climb waterfalls?" Mipha asked him and he just hugged her tighter, hiding behind her from his instructor.

Link quickly put two and two together and figures out he must be the young Zora Prince, but he was most concerned with the idea forming on his mind. Would they follow him if he jumped? He eyed an opening on the level they were on, and without really thinking about the heigh he kneeled down

"If I jump would you jump?" he asked Siron, "I can't swim as well as a zora would, so if i can make that jump I guess a zora prince would have no trouble doing it, right?"

Siron thinks for a moment then nods. Link walks to the edge and looks down to the long drop. "Having second thoughts?" Sidon's instructor asked him. Link just frowns at him, and takes a few steps back, he took off his shirt and dropped it before sprinting and jumping.

He hits the water gracefully and as he sinks he prapares to transport, but sees a lot of Zoras around him. He sees that at the bottom of the lake there's a whole underwater town that probably outstretched fartest of what he could see. He goes out to the surface and finds it quite hard to not let the current take him away, even when he was under their castle as there were underwater walls shielding him from the strong current of the main water fall of the domain. A few zora heads pop out, looking at him curious. Some heads look younger, maybe teens? And look at him impressed and exited

"SIDON!" Link lifts his gaze and sees someone had jump and the tiny zora splashed in the water. He looks around but the zora prince doesnt come out.

"OW!" something bites his toes and a tiny shark head pops out, sidon smiles with sharp teeth and giggles until the current starts to drag him out. Link lets him, surely other people would help their prince. But they dont they just look, and as much as the tiny zora tried the current kept draging him.

Link reaches out a hand and takes him, wraping his scaly hands around his neck as he swims to the base of the castle structure. He leaves sidon on the rock and climbs up too.

Mipha's head pops out behind him, "you swim quite well for a hylian" Link jumps in surprise, when had she jump? he didnt even see or hear her splash, "You are bleeding," she said and he lifted his feet off the water to see quite a deep bite. "SIDON!" mipha screams distressed, "how many times do i have to tell you it's impropper to bite others!" she lifted herself to the place they were sitting and patted the space between link and her, he puts there his feet and she healed him. As always he stared at her hand facinated.

"I have to thank you, for not letting the curent carry Sidon" she said, "you shouldn't have to, he is 23, he should be strong enough to be able to withstand it." link looks at sidon as he jumps into the water again swiming closer to the rocks. 23? "but I would have done the same" "and thank you for jumping, her instructor had been trying to make him jump all week"

Link looks at his foot and thinks of all the other wounds he had, all the wounds the yiga had made. "I should thank you," he said, "I should be dead. You saved me."

"those wounds were no accident, were they?" she asked, "the yiga were sent to kill you" Link nods, "but why?" he sruggs.

"I have to leave," he said softly, "but i'll hate to leave without paying back what you have done for me,"

Mipha smiles, "I'm sure we'll think of somehting," she stands up, "I know a place you can stay meanwhile. Sidon! Lets go!" he swims to them, his little back fin braking the surface, he jumps towards Link, mouth open. Link backs up but Mipha catches him on the air and hums a laugh. "I'll meet you at the top," she said to link and pointed over his shoulder "you can use the leadder to climb up."

Mipha swims up the waterfall they just jumped from with sidon on her back. They meet at the top and Mipha leaves sidon with his instructor. He runs to link when he shows up and tries to bite his leg, "My prince, dont do that!" the instructor pulls him away before he can do damage and sidon smiles with his spiky teeth.

"I have to apologyze for his behavior," Mipha said tho she is trying not to laugh, "His new teeth just came out and he has a need to bite eveything."

They walk to a village at the top of the mountain overseeing zora's Domain. Mipha pays him a night to stay and tells him good bye. Link is bafled that she has so much trust in him, he plans on just leaving, but he has a chance. He now knew and gained the trust of two zora royals. He knew they were the only heirs of the zora domain and since the king didn't had a mate... He could make a move. And maybe, he could be allowed back with his people.