#the guy is obviously projecting himself as human (almost)

[endress-knight-the-drokain]

I think the reason gman is so inconsistent throughout the half life series is because he suffers from the same problems artists do when trying to draw their oc multiple times.

[pilot-boi]

Could you see Jaune having trouble with meat going forward because he just spent decades where everything was potentially human levels of sentience.

Jaune is poking at his food.

Which Yang knows isn’t THAT strange, he’s never been good at feeding himself when he’s down (a certain week at Beacon with a certain asshole who shall remain unnamed comes to mind) and Jaune certainly has more than enough reason to be out of sorts these days. Being young then old then young again would do that to a guy.

But this is different than his normal lack of appetite. He’s not just pushing his food around; he’s actively picking over pieces of it, almost putting them in his mouth, and then putting the food back on the plate. There’s a certain green around the gills look on her friend’s face that Yang’s come to associate with airship travel.

Not that she can blame him. The food in Vacuo isn’t what she’d call normal or appetizing, but with supplies limited they can’t turn up their noses, especially since they didn’t exactly give Vacuo time to prepare for an influx of refuges.

Still, eating worms, bats, and lizards has taken some getting used to.

“Are you gonna invite me to sit down, or do I have to keep lurking?” Yang quips, plopping down next to her fellow blonde. He jumps, predictably, but his startle instinct is less than it was a week ago. Baby steps.

“Oh! Yeah uh… hey.” He smiles sideways at her. “Did you need something?”

“Nah, not really,” she shrugs. “Just saw you sitting all by your lonesome and thought I’d join you.” She pokes at his food. “You gonna eat that?”

Jaune drops his gaze back to his plate, and once again his expression turns queasy. Like a toddler faced with a plate full of vegetables. Strange, Yang never took Jaune for a picky eater, but then again he did eat almost exclusively dinosaur chicken nuggets back at Beacon.

“It’s looking at me,” he groans, poking at the side of a roasted lizard. It flops over and he shudders.

“So do fish,” Yang says bluntly, dropping an arm around his shoulders. “And I’ve seen Blake eat those heads and all.”

“You know shockingly you’re not helping.”

“Come on, this can’t be the weirdest thing you’ve eaten.” She leans in conspiratorially, lowers her voice. “I mean I was only in the Ever After for a day or two but that parfait-” Yang is fully about to launch into a tirade on the pros and cons of growgurt parfait, but something makes her pause.

The fork is rattling in his grip. Her eyes narrow. That’s not just nausea. A glass dropped in a kitchen miles away comes to mind.

“Jaune…” Yang trails off. Are you alright? What’s wrong? Do you need to talk? She can probably guess the answers to all three questions, but none really feel appropriate in the middle of a cafeteria.

So she draws on the only other well of experience she has. Being a big sister to a very picky eater.

“What’s wrong with the food?” Blunt, but sometimes it’s best to cut to the heart of the issue. “Is there something else you’d rather have?”

“Not meat,” Jaune replies without hesitation, and Yang is admittedly taken aback. He’s never been a carnivore by any means, but his aforementioned love of dino nuggets barred him from vegetarianism.

Yang looks back down at his plate. The lizard is still looking at them, and Jaune is very determinately not making eye contact. “If this is still about the eyes, I’m sure that-”

“No. No it’s not,” Jaune cuts her off, shaking his head. “Well I mean, a little bit, but.” He plops his head down in his hand. Glances sideways at her, and then away again. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

Yang is almost offended that he thinks SHE of all people might laugh at him for what is obviously a trauma response. Friendly negging, sure, but never laughter. She wouldn’t do that to anyone, let alone him. But then a certain magenta and cyan cat with a wicked grin and sharp tongue comes to mind, and she’s reminded that laughter in the face of pain is probably all he’s known for years.

She hates that fucking cat.

“I promise, Jaune. I won’t laugh.”

He studies her for more than a moment, searching her face for any hint of insincerity. Of course finding none, he sighs. “You remember Little?”

Yang blinks. Not where she thought this was going. Roll with the punches. “Yeah. Kinda hard to forget a talking mouse.”

“Right. Yeah, of course.” Jaune laughs weakly, running a hand through his hair. He scratches at the back of his neck, reaching for a ponytail that isn’t there. “Stupid of me.”

Yang grabs his hand, and he starts. “Hey. None of that,” she reprimands, stopping his downward spiral before it has time to start. Her thumb rubs a circle in his palm, and she can feel him untense. “What about Little?”

“They’re why I don’t wanna eat meat,” he admits. He's speaking quickly, like the words are being drawn out of him.

No laughing, not now, but Yang can’t help her skeptical look. Little, by their own admission, had never been away from home. And sure, Jaune was there for decades, but he didn’t seem to know the mouse.

Jaune sees her look and clarifies. “Well not them specifically, but like… the Afterans. Everything there was so… alive, they could talk, think for themselves. Everything. The mice, rabbits, deer, birds…”

His grip tightens on her hand. “I didn’t have a choice in the beginning. It wasn’t fun, but what else could I do? I had to eat, and after the clock fruit I didn’t trust the plants, so the animals…” Jaune swallows thickly. “The animals seemed like the safest bet.”

If her hand was flesh, she’s sure his nails would be biting into her skin. As it is, she can feel the way his hand is gripping hers like it’s the only thing keeping him from running. And it’s horrible, because Yang thinks she can see the end of the tunnel, the destination this story is going to.

“I knew how to do it. Hunt animals, I mean,” he says, his voice horribly detached. “I used to go hunting with my mom when the food stores were low. And in Mistral, with Ruby and Ren and Nora. So I knew how to catch an animal and skin it and cook it.”

Jaune laughs again. “It wasn’t pretty, Ren could definitely do a better job. So cooking and cleaning it wasn’t the worst part. The worst part…” He swallows thickly. “The worst part was killing it. It was alive, Yang. It was alive, and it was staring at me, and it didn’t want to die.” He stares down at the lizard on his plate. It stares back at him, accusing almost.

“How… how do you know it didn’t want to die?” Yang asks tentatively, even though she’s pretty sure she knows the answer.

“It told me.” His voice is horrible, wretched. The green is back in his cheeks and Yang hates that she now knows the reason why. “It told me! And I still killed it, and cooked it, and ate-” Jaune’s voice chokes off. The words seem to catch in his throat. “It was like… it was like eating…”

“Like eating a person,” Yang finishes, the train now having reached the horrible station. Jaune nods, horror stricken, and Yang trades which hand is holding his so she can rub circles into his back. He’s still just staring at his food. “Gods Jaune I… That’s so fucked, I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“I had to eat, or I’d die. And I couldn’t die because I had to wait for you all to arrive. So I had to eat.” The way he says it, so matter-of-fact, Yang can’t help but wonder what else he’s internalized as being what he had to do, no matter the harm it caused him.

She doesn’t know what to say. Picky eating, she could handle. Trauma, she could handle that, too. At least, to an extent. But sometimes it was just too much.

“How long?” Yang asks eventually. “You weren’t eating meat while we were there, how long did you have to do that?”

“A week. I think,” he responds. “Time was difficult.” And isn’t that the understatement of a century. “Once I found the Hunter Mice they showed me which plants were safe to eat. Some of them were hit and miss, but I was good from then on. Especially when I made it to the Market.”

The lizard stares up at them both. Yang glares back at it, as if the dead desert dweller was the one who sent Jaune back in time and made him so desperate to live that he was forced to… do that.

“So… no meat?”

“No meat,” Jaune confirms. “I could probably choke it down if needs must, but…”

“Not even dino nuggies?” she grins.

He barks out a laugh. “My only weakness. No, not yet.” Not yet. That was better than she was expecting. His cheeks are still a little green, but he’s not shaking anymore at least. “Maybe at some point, but not now. No meat.” He grimaces, poking at the lizard. “And especially none with eyes.”

“Well in that case, come on.” Yang stands. He finally pulls his eyes away from the plate, and blinks up at her. “Let’s go!”

“Go where?”

“To find you something to eat!” Hand still firmly clasped around his, she hauls him up and scoops the unwanted plate up in the other. “I’m sure Sun knows someplace around here that serves vegetarian options.”

“Oh you don’t have to do that,” Jaune protests. “I already ruined your whole lunch with this.” He gestures vaguely between himself and the plate.

“No way, you didn’t do anything.” Yang jabs a finger in his chest. “If you need an ear to listen, I’m happy to be there. You’re not imposing, you’re not too much, I’ve got you.” She doesn’t tell people that enough. A tea cup and a wooden tomb. She needs to tell people that more. “I’m buying you lunch. Veggies. Fruits. You name it, you get it.”

“You really don’t have to do that.”

“Oh, I really think I do.”

“I’m not going to change your mind about this, am I?” he smiled, allowing Yang to drag him from the cafeteria.

“No-sir-ee bob,” she said, swinging his hand back and forth. “You are not leaving my side until we get some desert fresh veggies in your stomach.” She passed the uneaten plate to a volunteer by the door. “My treat.”

[cakerybakery]

Lucifer as a blue whale merman is currently my brain.

Adam is no contact with his religious parents and his twin, Lilith ran away as a teenage because of their abusive parents. So he’s been lying to his parents to for years to get them to pay for his expenses while he’s “in college” to become a marine biologist. In reality he’s been working and saving up to buy a boat to live on.

He’s been fucked off on his boat for years now. Dives and fishes for most of his income, but does odd jobs like taking people out to the islands for research projects.

Has a friend that’s studying this one blue whale that tends to stick close to the bay. Local ledge saying he’s lived for hundreds of years.

As Adam fairies the researchers out to study the whale, he starts to notice this guy he’s seen rarely in town more and more.

Most people don’t know this strange guy in the small community, but he’s not a tourist and he’s unique looking with his nearly white skin and particularly rosy cheeks. He just shows up in town, never talks to anyone, never buys anything. Some people think he’s a ghost, others figure he’s a hermit and lives somewhere out in the forests that line the coast. He’s not dressed particularly well. More like an approximation of what people wear.

Then one day after Adam brings the researchers back in, having lost track of the whale once more. The guy is suddenly there.

He doesn’t talk but points with a curious look and Adam gets it. Adam explains they’re trying to more about the local blue whale. His age and habits, that sort of thing.

Adam figures the guy is just mute or something and that’s why he doesn’t talk to people. The guy mimics a stabbing motion and points to the researchers again. For a moment Adam is worried the guy wants to kill them but then he wiggles his hand and points to the ocean and Adam realizes he’s asking if they’re going to hurt the whale with the tracker they want to put on him.

It’s just a sucker tracker and the guy is pleased as Adam explains what that is and that’s how they see where the whale goes and what he does.

The next time Adam takes the team out, the whale doesn’t run. Rather he comes up to them and allows them to stick the tracker on.

The researchers start to notice that the whale seems to almost follow Adam at times. Adam notices it too.

Perhaps once a week. Otherwise he seems to do normal whale things. The only other oddity is that the tracker glitches at times. Putting the whale in much too shallow water or in town.

Adam starts to find he has a new friend in the town ghost hermit. He pops up and Adam nicknames him Lucifer as the guy offers no name of his own. Not so much as even pointing to something to indicate Adam can call him that.

One night, Adam notices as Lucifer is walking away that he has an odd lump on his back, under his sweater.

He’s curious about the guy and follows Lucifer. Only to watch him wade into the ocean and swim away out of sight.

Adam is worried but Lucifer shows back up a week later.

The researchers mention they’re going to try switching out the tag because it’s busted. Obviously, the whale wasn’t on the docks the night before. Or a week ago, or any of the times Adam had seen Lucifer.

He doesn’t believe in magic or mermaids anymore but Adam’s mind jumps to it anyway.

Next time he sees Lucifer he confronts him, pulling at the sweater and revealing the tracker. He’s proud of himself for being right but Lucifer runs off and he no longer sees his friend.

Adam feels guilty for upsetting his friend but Lucifer stays away until there’s a bad storm and Adam’s boat capsizes. He’s rescued by Lucifer.

He gets a chance to apologize and Lucifer takes him to shore where he transforms into the human Adam knows.

The apology seems to be acceptable as Lucifer starts coming to town again. Adam has good insurance and few expenses so he gets a new boat in a few weeks. He keeps his mouth shut about Lucifer being the whale cause he’s not stupid. No one will believe him anyway.

They continue their odd friendship until Lucifer points to a couple kissing on the docks in a way that Adam has come to understand as wanting him to explain. So he tells Lucifer it’s what couple do.

The next thing he knows his arms are full of Lucifer and he’s being kissed. Sparks fly and Lucifer spends the night in Adam’s bunk.

Adam is left reeling, he got railed by a whale and wanted more.

Their meetings are no longer platonic. And Lucifer learns to speak a bit, doesn’t really like it though.

Eventually, Adam’s parents find him. Being rescued by a whale made it into the news and eventually to his old home town.

So he does what he does best. Packs up and leaves. He docks off one of the nearby deserted islands, wades into the ocean and gets picked up by his boyfriend, the blue whale.

Adam knocks the tracker off. And figures they’ll lay low for a week until his parents give up.

Lucifer takes him to a special place though. A small hidden bay he found when he was only a calf, hundreds of years ago. Chased there by whalers, the place is usually void of life as animals don’t like the vibes of the bay. It gave him the ability to turn human. The whalers found themselves transformed as well into whales but they had less favourable fates than Lucifer.

Some were able to transform back into humans but couldn’t swim or make it to shore, too panicked to become whales. Others couldn’t figure out how to be whales and nature took its course. Still others were hunted by their fellow whalers.

He learned to eat foods from the shore. Filling his belly even though there was little krill for him in the waters. He grew up, but stopped aging. Lucifer protects the hidden bay.

Adam is transform into a blue whale like Lucifer. Lucifer teaches Adam how to swim and eat, how to talk like a whale.

Of course, Adam has grown out of his fantasy of being a mermaid and running away from all things human. He likes his life. So the two are content to meet in the middle.

Adam mainly lives his life as a human. His folks had to go back home and every now and then they show up but no one in town will let them stay there and Adam just secures his boat off an island and hangs out as a whale until they leave again.

Lucifer mainly lives as a whale. Keeping the bay hidden from humans. He joins Adam in the evenings and at night.

And they live happily ever after

[n1ghteeea]

hi feel free to ignore this but……..do you have any egon/egon-centric polybusters headcanons….perchance………..i absolutely adore your headcanons :)

Ohhh, you asked the right person, buddy 💪

Cw: cheesy at times. Also long. Sorry!!

Sometimes Egon goes days without rest and proper food / water intake due to hyperfocusing on his work and research. The guys obviously worry because he literally exhausts himself, and often isn’t able to tell that he physically needs to stop. So they have no choice but to take on the mission of dragging him out of the lab for his own sake. Words and logic never help because he easily fights them with his own, so they use something he isn’t so good at: affection 💪

They don’t even have to do much: one of them comes to him from the back, hugs him, rests their head on his shoulder and just says nice relaxing things in a soft tone - and it works every single time. He acts like he hates it, but he’s actually very thankful to them for not letting him crash out in the lab. This method might be a bit embarrassing, but hey - if it works, it works!!

Also sometimes Peter abuses it, but what did you expect, it’s Peter 🤷 Egon can never be mad anyway, not really.

Overall, I imagine that Egon isn’t very affectionate. Physical touch is definitely not his love language, but when he does feel like it, soft stuff works best on him. Teasing is fun and all, but gentle hugs, caresses and words melt him on spot (and the others know it all too well).

Another thing (super basic, sorry) is that Egon has low blood pressure and consequently constantly cold hands (projecting? maybe). During winter they get really, really bad, so whenever they have some relaxing group activities, for example, movie nights, Ray or Winston hold his hands in theirs to heat them up (they are human heaters, trust me on this one).

Another vision I have is that Egon is shortsighted and sometimes gets visually overwhelmed, especially after multiple days without proper rest. Basically, his eyes wander around uncontrollably, taking everything in, thinking, analysing and overwhelming his mind. In order to calm him down the guys take off his glasses, forcing him to only see their faces in close proximity, so his mind has no choice but to shut up (Ray came up with that in college when Egon would grade papers throughout the day and then stay in the lab till the dead of night).

Oh yes, college!! Based on an unconfirmed wiki trivia fact, I hc that when Ray, Peter and Egon met in university Egon was a physics instructor, even though they were the same age. Ray and him bonded over their love for supernatural and eventually became friends, starting with doing research together and growing closer with time. Peter, on the other hand, was a dickhead to Egon the entire semester he had to take physics bc he hated the class and was pissed off at the fact that Egon wanted him to study instead of barely passing (who was this guy, same age as him, telling him what to do??)

But with time all of them became friends and eventually roommates, working on their doctorates together 🫶

Some more random ideas:

I hc that Egon uses unscented soap and shampoo, but the others swear it smells like pistachio ice cream. Egon doesn’t believe them, but they genuinely love it.

Egon likes lukewarm showers, though switches to hot ones later in life when his body starts cramping with age. It gets especially bad during cold weather.

The guys almost never see him in the morning because he wakes up first, but sometimes they do get him to sleep in and morning Egon is their favourite sight in the world. They also share morning cuddles ☝️

Egon thinks ufology is a pseudoscience that focuses on something that clearly doesn’t have enough proof to be worth researching, but still watches UFO documentaries for fun with Ray.

He loves Frank Sinatra. Ppl always say he’s a classical music guy, but I think he’d love smooth jazz and even smooth 80’s music, too. Let him be fun!!

Egon is quite sensitive to food texture and whenever someone else cooks dinner they always take that into consideration, and either make something all of them can enjoy, or do a little portion of his safe food so he can be comfortable eating.

All the guys absolutely adore Egon’s science talk even if they have no idea what he’s talking about most of the time. Sometimes he randomly goes on rants and they just sit there and listen to him with lovestruck expressions.

Obligatory EGB hc: the guys ADORE his long hair. And if you’re unfamiliar, it’s LONG long. It reaches his shoulder blades. It’s longer than Janine’s. I imagine it would take him a while to start leaving it down around them just because after so many years of living alone and being a teacher and a mentor he’d mold himself into this ideal always-stoic version of himself , and it would definitely take a lot of time and effort for him to learn to be open and vulnerable again.

To sum up, Egon Spengler is a great guy who loves and is loved!!

[d-criss-news]

Actor Darren Criss Discusses Bringing ‘Maybe Happy Ending’ To Broadway

[UHQ] Darren Criss attends the "Maybe Happy Ending" Broadway photo call at Tempo by Hilton New York Times Square on September 16, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

“An original, new musical on Broadway - can you believe that?”

That is the excitement that Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Darren Criss brought to our new conversation this week about his Maybe Happy Endingproduction coming to Broadway, with previews starting October 16 and its opening night set for November 12.

Previously known for his memorable performances on hit television series like Glee and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, as well as his previous involvement in celebrated live theatre productions including American Buffalo, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Little Shop of Horrors, Criss, 37, is now preparing to play Oliver on-stage, a robot referred to as a Helperbot 3 that has been long retired and is considered obsolete, now spending his days in isolation in his one-room apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, South Korea. That all changes when Oliver forms an unlikely connection with a fellow Helperbot neighbor named Claire (played by Helen J Shen).

I sat down with Criss in New York City, New York, just down the street from his Maybe Happy Ending’s upcoming Belasco Theatre venue, wondering first how this production and his interest in this rather unique character of Oliver initially got on his radar.

Criss said, “Two men that I’m very grateful for in my life, Mr. Jeffrey Richards, whose the lead producer of the show, who I have had a long standing relationship, as far as doing theatre on Broadway is concerned. We came in contact more than a decade ago when we were doing a reading of American Buffalo, which I would do basically a decade later with him. He’s always sent me cool things and cool projects. Separately, Michael Arden has been a friend for a very long day. He has been in sort of more my friends circle than my professional circle - I went to college with his husband. I’ve seen almost every single thing he’s ever directed - I think I missed one thing. These are two guys that I have always admired and appreciated, as far as their output was in the theatre community. The Venn diagrams became one circle when Jeffrey sent me an email about this several years ago. Michael was a part of it and wherever Michael is, I run!”

Being a musical set in Asia and Criss being half-Filipino himself, with several other Asian artists working alongside him on this project, I was curious if Criss takes extra pride in being able to tell a story like Maybe Happy Ending live on on-stage and soon get to share it with our world.

“Of course, I do,” Criss said. “There’s obviously a huge amount of personal ‘woo-hoo’ to the idea that this is predominantly an Asian, Asian-American company - on-stage and off-stage - but I’m always weary to categorize this as an Asian show or an Asian story. This production happens to celebrate and represent Asian-ness to a really fun degree, but there’s so much universal-ness to it and accessibility to the story that I hope in perpetuity, this is something that can be done anywhere, with anyone, at any time. I don’t think I’m trying to say that to be inclusive of all things and people. It’s me being pragmatic - this is a story about a future world - about sentient robots that really doesn’t have any particular cultural background, other than the cultural background of technology, which is based in the human experience.”

Criss added with his Maybe Happy Ending collaborators in mind: “I think all of us enjoy sharing our sort of Asian heritage with each other, and obviously, that’s a large spectrum - that’s not one thing. So, there’s already an eclecticism between all of our Asian experiences that’s fun to bring to the table. Yes, it does take place in Seoul, it is from South Korea, but this show has already had great success in Korea, Japan and China - which while all Asian, make no mistake - are very different cultures. So, if that’s any indication of the ability for this show to resonate with all people, then I think we’re in good shape.”

He is not the only person on this production embracing this collective experience. Shen says of interactions so far with co-star Criss, “I think he’s been really generous with his energy and his time. As a person who, I can sometimes feel a little young in this space, I feel like I’m new to this. I’m making my Broadway debut - there’s a lot of imposter syndrome and words of doubt that can be flooding my brain. He is always the first person to say, ‘You belong here. You deserve to be here. You’ve worked very hard - and just breathe and take up space.’ That has been so invaluable to have somebody understand what this feeling can be, of how scary and overwhelming it can be, and be like, ‘This is an exciting moment! We’re present here - let’s soak it in!’ He’s been such a champion of that.”

Arden, who is the director of Maybe Happy Ending, said of Criss, “Darren is so incredible. He can do everything - it’s really somewhat annoying. He understands things from the inside out and the outside in - and so, to meet him and the rest of this company, honestly, in the process, it just means that we get to kind of like create this thing together. It’s not like my vision upon them - it’s something that we can all create together.”

Hue Park and Will Aronson, who have led the way with the music and lyrics in Maybe Happy Ending, have nothing but respect and admiration to say about Criss.

Park said, “I think he’s just perfect for the role - his sense of humor, his acting skills, his sensibility creating this character based on our text and music. It’s just so exciting to see.”

Aronson added of Criss: “He has a boyish innocence, which really is perfect for this show - and his creativity. The great thing about live theatre is that it’s already true in the rehearsal room - it’ll be true in the theatre, once it’s running - that the actors are creating it every time they perform it, meaning that the jokes are different every time, even if the text is the same. The chemistry is different, depending on what the actors are creating in their scene together. The cast is just incredible, so of course, they’re finding that and they’re creating that.”

Dez Duron, who plays Gil in Maybe Happy Ending, said of Criss’s character and his performance so far, “Oliver is a really big role - he’s on-stage pretty much the whole time. I’ve been loving watching him tackle this role, and explore it and discover it. I’ve been a part of this project for five years, so watching [Criss] kind of like get into the script and the changes he’s bringing to it and the new life he’s breathing into it has been really inspiring to watch.”

Marcus Choi, who plays James in the new musical, said of his co-star, “So, Darren Criss has always been on my radar - we’re all very familiar with his body of work. He’s been incredible for so long, but when I got a chance to go to Elsie Fest last weekend, I really got to see him shine. He is just such a force on-stage and just oozes charisma. I mean, I’ve always been a fan but I just have a deep appreciation for him now and just how hard he works.”

Even though this can be perceived as a sci-fi production, being that it centers around robots that are no longer seen of use in the world, I asked Criss if he sees the parallels towards humanity within our real world with this story about love and still finding connection.

Darren said, “Yes! The Helperbots in our show are somewhere between servants, pets and children - and old folks. If we did a show about old folks in a home, it might hit a little too close to home - it might be a little too on the nose. I think some of the most human themes that I’ve been taken with are stories about cartoon animals or toys - things that represent the human experience in a way that I actually am more likely to internalize and pick up on. So, I think that’s what one of the great devices of the show is - to sort of displace the human experience through that of a sentient robot. Yes, we all - surprise, surprise - we all have a shelf life. We are all at some point going to be, in the eyes of society, obsolete in some respect. We all have a battery life. This is less talking about the idea of mortality and concept of transience, and the idea that we can only spend our battery life on so much, thinking about What are you going to spend your battery life on? So yes, that is going to hit audiences, hopefully, in a profound way.”

As I concluded my conversation with Criss about his Maybe Happy Ending Broadway production, I wondered what Criss would want to say to Oliver, after embodying him so far in rehearsals, continuing to better understand the character and preparing to share his compassionate story with our world throughout the fall season and beyond.

Criss said, “The same thing that I think hopefully the show will posit, which is - It’ll be okay. It’ll always be okay.”

[chil-aglia]

𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 |ROTTMNT| (Leo X Male OC)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭

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Swift and quiet, the motto of a ninja. Blend in with the crowds, don’t be discovered. Adriaen kept these in mind, but Donnie on the other end was the opposite, sure he wore his purple hoodie to blend in with the humans, but he was also making a scene, creepily watching the humans before zipping on over to the next crowd he sees.

Adriaen groans, shaking his head lightly as he observed the building. April’s school.

Without drawing much attention to himself, he followed after Donatello, who snuck his way into the building as well, laughing to himself mirthfully, he always did dream of going to a normal high school.

”Donnie, can you stop and just act normal?” Adriaen hissed at him in a hushed whisper, managing to grab him by the sleeve and pull him back as he almost crashed into a group of jocks. ”I am being normal! See, totally normal.” He proudly claims, moving around and checking over people's shoulders to stare at their phones, obviously earning some wary gazes towards him.

”Oh for the love of…!” Adriaen grumbled, grabbing Donnie once more and leading him to the computer lab room. He knew that’s where April had to be, considering she told everyone her schedule in the group chat. Donnie climbed up to the ceilings, using the lights to climb around as Adriaen just walked in. The teacher was sleeping in his chair, and the students were all preoccupied by their work to notice someone else entering the room.

Adriaen spots April who stared at her computer in both boredom and concentration. Adriaen gazed up to see Donnie quickly throwing three ninja stars, all three striking at the desk with each word saying, "I'm here!".

“Psst April."

April looked up in bewilderment before she widens her eyes when Donnie slipped off the ceiling lights and falls down, but he managed to land into one of the chairs. Adriaen quickly made his way over, “Sorry, Donnie here got too excited.” He apologised, giving the purple masked turtle a scolding look. April smiled at the two, gesturing for Adriaen to take a seat, but he shook his head gently, preferring to stand as he leaned against the desk.

“Hi guys. Thanks for coming." April whispered lightly, the last part more directed to Donnie, “No probbles. I love this place.” He grins before spinning around and standing up to observe the other students, taking a whiff of the air.

”Smells like learning and puberty. So, what do you need help with?” 

He sits back down on the chair and eyed April who was putting some sort of coding into the computer, “My computer science project. Just need you to check the code to make sure I haven’t missed anything." She informs, moving out the way as Donatello got in front of the computer and started typing.

April turned her gaze to Adriaen, confused. “Why are you here Adriaen? Not that I’m complaining. But I didn’t know you were a computer nerd.” She muses lightly at the last part of her sentence. Adriaen stuffed his hands into his pockets on his black hoodie.

”Raph didn’t trust Donnie on going alone to a human school, so he asked me to come with and keep an eye on him.”

”Which is completely unreasonable. I don’t need a babysitter.” Donnie huffed, puffing his chest out confidently, Adriaen crossed his arms and eyed the mutant turtle.

”You almost collided with a bunch of jocks earlier. Had to be dragged away from peeking over the shoulders of other students and fell down from the ceiling.”

”All true, but I was fine and nothing bad happened.”

Yeah, cause I was there to prevent anything from happening. Well except the last part, but the teacher is a deep sleeper apparently and the students are all occupied with their own work.

Donnie exhaled and turned to April briefly, "You don’t know how lucky you are to be in school, April. Surrounded by true intellectuals. Scholars after my own heart, resplendent in gorgeous purple satin jackets—Wait! What?!" Donnie began to list off the good qualities of school before getting distracted by purple jackets.

Adriaen blinked and looked over to see an area in the classroom that had a sign that read ‘Dragons Only’. Two other students were hung up by their underwear on the cardboard box pillars.

What the...?

“Purple satin jackets? The shimmering sheen, the exquisite violet hue, the silkiness of the fabric! It has everything I love, and even things I didn’t know I loved yet—“

Adriaen lightly flicked Donnie in the back of his head, snapping him out of his trance as he drooled a bit. “Donnie, if you drool in here, something’s gonna short circuit." April advised with Adriaen nodding in agreement with her.

”That and you look like a weirdo if you’re drooling over a couple of jackets.”

Donnie shakes his head to focus back on the present, "They must be the kings and queens of high school." He smiles eagerly at the three students who seemed to be running some sort of VR experiment. “The Purple Dragons Tech Club? Yeah, if by kings and queens you mean stuck up jerks, who think they’re smarter than everyone else." April rolls her eyes at the group, “There’s a group like that for techy people?” Adriaen mumbled under his breath.

He always thought that sort of stereotype was for jocks and preppy people.

"Oh, that’s what I was hoping you’d say!" Donnie squeals, spinning happily in the chair which Adriaen had to grab hold onto to stop Donatello from flying off. Adriaen gazed back at the Purple Dragons club when he heard what sounded like fearful yelling. He saw one of them with the VR headset fell down, yelling something about dogs attacking him. 

The other two members, an asian girl and a larger dark-skinned man, laugh before doing some kind of strange high five. "Oh, my gosh, did you see that?!" Donnie gasps in awe, to which April and Adriaen couldn’t help but give the other a brief glance of uncertainty and inscrutableness.

"What? That whack high five?"

”What about it?”

Donnie chuckled and shook his head at the two, “Nay, fair April and Adriaen. A secret five, evocative of the golden ratios of the cosmos. Superior minds, glorious jackets. Guys I’m joining this club." Donnie exclaims before swaying himself closer to the tech club.

“You're what now?"

”Donnie, wait—“

Adriaen was too late once Donnie entered the Purple Dragons area before he made himself known. "Greetings, tech enthusiasts. I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of your club. Wait for it. Here he comes. It's me." Donnie introduces himself dramatically, as the only female of the club was busy trying to take the VR headset off the other guy who screamed earlier.

However, upon noticing Donnie she stopped and let go of the headset, letting it slap back against the other member who winced and fell back.

"Uh huh. April, that’s your name, right?" 

“You've known me since kindergarten, Kendra."

Kendra. Okay, so that’s her name. Noted.

"Uh huh. Who’s this guy and why does he look like mold? Actually, why do both of these guys have weird, coloured skin?” Kendra questioned, noticing Adriaen hanging out in the back, leaning against the desk. April sighs before going about to introduce everyone to each other. “Jeremy, Jason, Kendra, these are my friends, Adriaen and Don—“ She was rudely cut off by Donnie who stepped in front of her.

“Othello Von Ryan! Maker. Coder. Artisan. I am ready to join your esteem collective.” Donnie exclaims, giving them a false alias as he eagerly went over and started feeling the jacket that Kendra was wearing.

”And with regard to purple jackets I am a medium.”

Kendra clearly annoyed steps onto Donnie’s foot, making the mutant turtle yelp and jump back, hopping on one foot for a minute out of pain.

Well that was to be expected really.

"Sorry Von Ryan, but to join this group, you gotta bring something to the table, so, buh bye."

Donnie smirks before he suddenly pulls out his tech-bō. "Prepare to be Von Ryan'd!" He announces, pointing his staff towards the three members who marvel at it. 

"Wow! It’s the granddaddy of all multi tools!"

Kendra huffs and pushes it away, still not fully convinced, “Okay. It’s not bad. What else ya got?" She praised briefly before asking to see more. April rolls her eyes and crosses her arms together, "Come on. You don’t have to impress these fools.” She stated the obvious, Adriaen walking over to Donnie and placing a hand on his shoulder.

”Donnie, did you forget that we can’t be joining human clubs?”

Donnie chuckled and gently shoved Adriaen’s hand off his shoulder, “That’s what people say when they don’t have anything impressive. Like this!" He smirks in pride, pushing a button on the side of his goggles. Adriaen stepped back, knowing that the button that was pressed was a signal for Donnie to activate his battle shells back at lair.

It didn’t take long before the tech arrived through the window, even pushing Kendra out the way making her fall over. "Sweet! So how did these things communicate? Is it a microwave transceiver?" The larger male member asks, observing all the tech, Kendra had stood back up to also observe.

“With class C encryption protocol." Donnie informs, not even noticing how everyone else in the classroom stopped what they were doing and stared in shock at the advanced technology.

"Oh. My. Fave! I know Class C inside and out."

Kendra pulls back Jeremy, scoffing. "Can the bromance. Von Ryan…” She announces, pointing over at Donatello who stared at her in puzzlement.

”You’re in.”

Oh great.

He noticed how Jase was silently smiling and jumping up and down delightful at their new member. “Quit smiling Jase. You’re still low man on the totem pole." Kendra snapped before forcibly removing Jase’s jacket and throws it to Donnie, the fabric landing on his outstretch arm.

Instantly the latter became ecstatic and immediately puts it on.

“Yes! Be honest, you two. Do I look fantastic or superbly fantastic?"

April stared with a deadpan look, as did Adriaen. "You look like you dropped a juice box in the laundry." She replied, Adriaen giving a soft hum, “Yeah, what she said.” He added before shaking his head and grabbing Donnie by the back of the jacket.

”Come on, let’s go home.”

”What? But what about my new club?!”

Adriaen rolled his eyes, dragging him away. “You can survive time away from it.” He added, pausing when Kendra suddenly called out to them, but her stare was directed at Adriaen.

”You’re not interested in joining? All you have to do is show us whatever tech you got.”

Adriaen looked back before taking out his phone, sarcastically waving it in his hand. 

“This is all the tech I got. Besides, purple isn’t my colour.” 

With that he leaves the room, dragging a whining Donnie behind him as they made it to the sewers. After some walking in the direction of home, Donnie’s demeanour changed from pouty to cool, calm and collected once arriving home.

The two made their way to the others who were each doing their own activities. Raph was living a weight, Leo reading his comics and Mikey balancing himself on his skateboard. "Oh, hey guys. What’s the haps?” Donnie cooly greeted his brothers, Raph being the first to glance in his direction, but no one seemed to comment on the obvious new jacket that Donnie refused to take off.

”Huh? Oh, oh this? I didn’t realize I had it on. This is my sweet new purple satin jacket.” Donnie calmly grins, walking past his brothers who continued doing their own thing.

"Yep.”

"Got it from being a bit of a tech wiz."

“That’s nice."

“Purple Dragons. Members only. No big deal.”

”Mm-hm.”

Donnie suddenly pointed at everyone in pride, “Well, you better grab some toast, fellas, 'cause you are all jelly!" He exclaims, taunting his brothers as he exits the atrium. Adriaen sighed and pulled down his hood, eyeing the brothers as he expected them all to be more annoyed about the jacket.

”Huh, you guys don’t actually care about the—“

Once they heard the door shut, they all yell in frustration. Causing Adriaen to impassively stare at their unnecessary reactions.

Ah I spoke too soon.

"The nerve of that guy!"

"Who brings something that beautiful into a place like this?"

“I would give up every red bandana to feel the silky smoothness of that purple satin on my skin."

Leo made his way over to Adriaen groaning loudly and leaning against the mutant turtle. “Adriaen why didn’t you get us an awesome jacket?” He lightly scolded, only for his crush to push him away for some personal space.

”Next time you can go along with Donnie then.”

”Ugh, but that’s boring.”

”Then don’t complain. Besides, it’s for techy people only.” Adriaen informs, crossing his arms as he made his way over a black beanbag, settling down in it, crossing one leg over the other and taking his phone out to scroll around on social media. ”You’re not going to remove your hoodie?” Leo tilted his head at him as Adriaen without looking up from his phone hums in reply before saying the next sentence without really much thinking about it.

”Take it off yourself if you so badly don’t want me wearing it.”

Leo of course felt his face turn red as he could feel the gears in his head malfunctioning, unable to say a proper sentence, he walks away instead in a robotic manner. Adriaen breathes out softly and leaned back into the beanbag, it was too comfortable that he could easily sleep in this. Taking this peace and quiet that he rarely gets, he closed his eyes.

A short nap won’t hurt…

Seconds, turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. The sun had set, and New York was met with the night life. No one had come to wake up Adriaen who had fallen asleep peacefully on the beanbag chair, his phone resting inside the pockets of his hoodie that he still wore from earlier this morning.

Adriaen himself was occupied with a dream. A dream that was so vivid.

He stood alone in a black room, looking around in puzzlement as he called out to anyone nearby. “Hello? Where is everyone? Leo…?” His voice bounced off the black walls, it was eerie and unsettling from how quiet it was.

What is this place? Why am I here alone?

He started walking around, maybe he could get a clue on his whereabouts if he kept moving. His eyes narrow ahead when he spots something in the distance. A white door with a sign above that read;

‘Who Are You?’

Adriaen felt his fingers twitch, as he stared at the unmoving door that seemed to be taunting him. 

Who am I? Wait…is this the answer to what I’ve been trying to find out about myself? 

His feet instantly walked over, but after a few seconds he noticed that the door wasn’t getting closer and he himself was getting further and further away.

No…come on, it’s right there! Move you stupid legs!

He started running but this time the door was moving further, and Adriaen was just stuck on the spot. He reached his hand out in hopes to reach for the handle of the white door, but he was awoken when someone was shaking him.

”…aen.”

”Adri…”

”Adriaen!”

Adriaen gasped and sat up sharply, panting as though he ran a marathon as he looked around with wide eyes, taking in his surroundings. He was in the lair; in the same beanbag he fell asleep in.

No black room.

No white door with creepy sign.

Just a dream…

He looked up to see Donnie was the one who shook him awake, he seemed a bit taken back when Adriaen woke up looking startled, but he reverted back to his usual self.

”Come on, those satin purple jerks stole my tech and now are stealing all kinds of technology.”

”…What now?”

Donnie didn’t have time to repeat all that as he grabs Adriaen’s arm and yanked him out the beanbag, dragging him along to the topside to meet up with April. By the time they did, Donnie filled him in on the situation.

Donnie remained inside the basket that was clipped onto the front of the bicycle that April was riding, Adriaen sat behind their human friend. "I...warned you about those guys!" April panted out, scolding Donnie who scoffed lightly, “You said they were full of themselves, not that they were criminal masterminds. So, in a small sense, this is entirely your fault." Donnie defended himself, as Adriaen raised his eyes at him.

"Seriously?”

”First of all, no. And second, what kind of criminal masterminds just rob electronic stores?" April added in, giving a brief glare at the tech savvy turtle before asking the real question that weighed on her mind.

"Maybe they just need equipment for a bigger job." Adriaen suggested, it sounds reasonable enough for a bunch of tech club students to do. “Like the one they were practicing on that VR simulator?  The Nakamura vault?" April asks to which Donnie groans in realisation upon hearing the familiar name.

"Aw, that’s a real company! Nakamura computer chips are in, like, every computer in the country! Let’s go."

April pedaled faster to reach the destination of the Nakamura facility. Luckily, they were close enough to the building that it didn’t take long to reach their final destination.

However, with no way inside and no doubt the Purple Dragons must be inside the building already thanks to Donatello’s tech, the trio were stuck outside. "How are we gonna get up there with no tech?" April inquired, looking around to get any ideas flowing to her head. Adriaen was also looking around, but nothing came to mind.

"Old school. Jazz hands!" Donnie announces, holding up a pair of metal claws that were used in ancient times for warriors to scale the walls.

“Wait, Donnie those aren’t going to help us—“

Adriaen’s words fell into deaf ears as Donnie jumps up onto the window but didn’t get far, slamming against the glass and sliding down.

“It’s glass Donnie, these claws are made for tougher terrain.”

"Come on, Plan B." April assured, grabbing Donnie by his foot and sliding him along the window, Adriaen running along beside her, the trio find a back door that didn’t seem to be locked, lucky for them, and ran in.

They were unfortunately met with staircase after staircase, but with pure determination they run up, all panting from exhaustion and legs aching, April briefly paused to check what floor they were at, only to see they were at the fifty-third floor.

“Oh, come on!"

”Keep moving April.” Adriaen encouraged, his mouth a little dry but he powered through it. Eventually the trio made it to the top floor, all panting to catch their breaths as Donnie growls lightly and pointed over at the Purple Dragons who were hacking away in the computer room.

"Okay, nerds, I want my stuff back!"

"I got the code! Let’s go!" Jeremy exclaims, making a break for it with the other two members, in an instant the two mutant turtles and April five chase. Donnie slipped when he tried to round a sharp turn, but thinking on his feet he grabs a roll of cable and throws it

“End of the line, buddy-o! April, Adriaen, heads up!"

April catches the cable holding onto one end and throwing the other end to Adriaen who easily catches it, he speeds up and managed to get ahead of Jase and Jeremy, holding up the wire as did April on her end and the two trip the hackers over.

Jase throws the laptop to Kendra, “The code!” Jeremy announces as Kendra caught it before it could hit the ground. 

"Got it!"

April, Adriaen and Donnie stood over Jase and Jeremy, tying them up together so they couldn’t escape. "Never betray…Othello Von Ryan! Grab the tech! I’ll tether myself to your jetpack!" Donnie instructed the three grabbing the tech off of Jeremy and Jase.

April was the one who wore the jet pack, much to her shock and dismay.

“Wait, what?!"

Kendra jumps out of the facility, Donnie and April follow with Donnie's jet pack shell on her back. Because there was only two tech that they took from the hackers from inside the building, Donnie grabbed Adriaen securely and held him close as he attached himself to April who screams as she tried to fly.

"How do you fly this thing?"

“Everyone’s got their own style. Just do what comes natural."

“What comes natural is not flying!"

Adriaen being the only one without tech and had to rely on Donatello to hold him or else he’d fall down from the sky, well…it was nerve wracking for anyone in his position.

”Donnie if you drop me, I promise you I’m going to haunt you forever.”

It honestly felt like a roller coaster, screaming as April loops around in the sky to pursue Kendra who seemed to be a natural. Kendra took shots at them with Donnie’s bō to fire them out the sky. The jetpack fired again and they flew straight at Kendra.

Due to the speed and April’s uncoordinated flying, the bō staff smashed right into Donnie's head. Adriaen naturally lowered his own head into his shell to avoid getting hit. Kendra blasted at them with the bō staff once more, laughing evilly and comes in close with the bō in mallet form and takes out April’s jetpack, sending her, Adriaen and Donnie plummeting into an alley.

The trio crash landed onto some trash to cushion their fall, but it still hurt none the less. Adriaen groans and poked his head out of his shell, rubbing his head as April sat up.

"I think I broke your jetpack."

Donnie stood up, seemingly unhurt and unfazed by the situation, the battle shell he wore had his mechanical arms springing out.

”No probbles, I go this!"

Kendra flies down slightly to them, grinning. "Not so fast, Von Ryan." She muses, typing away something in the computer she held. Managing to take control of the shell Donnie is wearing, the mechanical arms began attacking Donatello, gripping at his throat.

"Oh! Hey! No! Stop! Override! Override! Alpha Bootyyyshaker9000! Three Y's!" Donnie panicked, rolling around on the floor as Adriaen became alert and pounced onto battle shell, struggling momentarily to get it off Donnie’s back.

"Well, Von Ryan, looks like you’re out of luck. I’d love to spend all night beating you up with your own tech, but I’ve got a global bank to hack. Buh-bye." Kendra taunted, floating back up into the air to leave. Adriaen successfully managed to rip off the hacked battle shell, but it was still set on targeting Donnie who gulped and curled up slightly, hands on his head to protect himself since he was basically vulnerable in this state.

Adriaen naturally stood in front of a Donatello to protect him, even though he didn’t have his kama’s with him, he wasn’t going to let Donnie get hurt on his watch.

"Heads up, guys!" 

April managed to jump in with a wooden bat in her grasp, swinging the mechanical arms away before she battled with the tech as she rolled around on the floor with it.

Huh, okay then. Not sure where she got the bat but who am I to complain.

“Thanks April.” Adriaen sighs in relief that she pushed back the tech away from Donnie. "Those rotors! The reason I never wear a jacket is that I'm terrified it would get caught in them." Donnie proclaimed, keeping his gaze on the rotors that Kendra was flying up in.

"How ‘bout using a jacket to block those rotors?" April sassed out, to which Donnie hums and nods in agreement, “Exactly. Give me yours or Adriaen’s.” He held his hand out for either of them to put their jackets and hoodie in. “What? No!” Adriaen slapped his hand down, as April paused her fight with the battle shell, “Use your own jacket!" She hissed at him, reverting back to fighting against the hacked tech.

“Gah! You know, even though this whole thing was your fault, April, I guess it is up to me to solve it."

April once again paused her fight and glared lightly at Donnie, "Ooh, we're gonna have a talk." She grumbled at him, Adriaen sighed and walked over to April to help her out.

”Don’t bother. He’s too proud to admit that it’s his fault.”

He looks around and found an old rusty pipe, he picks it up and shrugs his shoulders as he goes ahead to smash at the tech that tried to choke out April. He was successful, but now he just hoped that Donnie wouldn’t get mad at him for destroying his tech.

"Fare thee well, my synthetic darling. I hardly knew ye, but parting is such sweet—“ 

Adriaen and April had enough of the dramatics from Donnie who had took off the Purple Dragons jacket, bunching it into a ball to throw.

"Just do it!”

The two order at Donnie who sighs but didn’t fight or argue back, "Okay." He sadly mumbled as he reels back his arm and throws the jacket at Kendra who laughs, unaware of the flying jacket coming at her until it was too late.

The jacket clogs Kendra’s rotors, sending her crashing back into the alley, dropping the computer that had the Nakamura code in it, she reached out for the device only for April to smash it with her foot. “Sorry, Kendra. Looks like your computer’s—wait for it. Wait for it…crashed! Bam! I should write for the news!" April taunted, proud of her Leo-like pun. Adriaen softly sighed at her, mostly just relieved that this was over, and they can head home.

Suddenly he was distracted when purple cloth came raining down over them, the fabric being of the purple jacket that was unmistakably ruined. Donnie stood in the middle of alleyway, looking up at the night sky as he held his hand out for the fabric pieces to fall into.

“Alas, a classic tale of a well meaning loner who just couldn’t fit in with a band of well dressed crooks."

April and Adriaen made their way over to him, the two putting their hands on Donnie’s shoulders.

“That’s okay, Donnie. You’ll always be in the April O’Neil Dorky Pals for Life Club. We also got one other member in it already. Ain’t that right Adriaen?”

”Heh, guess I wouldn’t mind joining this club.”

Donnie smiled at the two, exhaling to relieve any tension in his body. “Thanks guys." He mumbled quietly but also in appreciation.

"No matter how stupid you dress."

Adriaen snorted lightly at the last sentence from April, before he perked up when police sirens were inching closer to the alley they were in. "Hey, you wanna help me get this stuff back to the lair?" Donnie quickly begged the two, picking up one of his techs in his arms. April and Adriaen do the same, each grabbing a tech that was stolen from the lair and running off with it.

“I say yes to you way too often."

”Tell me about it.”

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

A/N: I APOLOGISE FOR ANY GRAMMAR MISTAKES THAT WERE MADE, I TYPE REALLY FAST AND OFTEN DON'T SEE THEM UNTIL I ACTUALLY PUBLISH THE CHAPTER.   

BOOM! Enjoy some Donnie and Adriaen content because I see them as being like best friends, since Adriaen is like the only one who sorta listens to Donnie whenever he goes on his usual rambles and whatnot.

First Chapter here

Next Chapter here

[until-another-one-comes]

HI I WAS ACTUALLY DISCUSSING THIS WITH MY FRIEND THE OTHER DAY. Not all of them fit super cleanly and they are almost entirely based off the Nightmare neighbors jobs but. You know. Also I did base some stuff off personal headcanons but. In reality we don't have much to go off lol.

Roman -> Soul eater could tie to the fact he's an accountant, a job tied to people's livelihoods and wellbeing as he directs when money is given out. He is helping the system suck out people's souls. (This is actually fairly far off the mark, he's definitely not a bad person he's just trying to live.)

Lois -> Nightmare Designer could tie into her being a huge gossip, and very mouthy. She makes the lives of the people around her a nightmare due to her getting in everyone's buisness/being a bitch (Pretty on the mark, but it's ignoring her more soft side. She's only a bitch to people she doesn't like.)

Robertsky and Albertsky -> Putting them together because my explanations for their things are. The same. Both are blunt, mostly standoffish men who don't talk much and seem awfully distant to people. Human Hunter and Torturer are how people see them because someone like that must be a violent freak (So far off the mark. They want to do their job then go home)

Angus -> I see him being a mutilater as more like. He doesn't care about other people. He wants a spectacle, and he will rip through anyone to get that. He wants all eyes on him. (Wow that is just Angus)

Selenne and Elenois -> These two are also together, just because. They are twins with very similar jobs, witch and summoner. I do think his is more like the idea that powerful people (women in particular) have sold their souls for beauty and fame, or that anyone that beautiful must be in convent with the devil (??? They are normal ladies???)

Arnold and Gloria -> Occultist and gravedigger huh. That kinda sounds like. That kinda sounds like you know. Black Magic. And what you do after killing someone. Both things tied to putting down a certain race particularly in the USA (It is the 1950s these two are going to have a horrible time out there. They are good people? Leave them alone?)

Izaack -> As soon as I saw his job as being a ritualist it gave me pause because. Like above. That job can be tied to things used against a certain group of people. And with him being a reporter, you know, controlling the news, yeah. Yeah. (Can we leave this guy alone? Please?)

Margarette -> Causes famine huh. *Checks notes* applied to specifically a larger woman. Huh. Huh. (??? What is with this floor and people suffering from bigotry???)

Francis -> Vampirism. You know, being a bloodsucker. Or a drain on other people. Sucking the joy out of their day by just being there. (Yeah no this one's accurate)

Anastacha -> I really hate to say it but sometimes a child can bring misery to their parents, and while I totally don't think it's Anastacha's fault you could see how her existence could be brought up in arguments. (She is fine??? She is a baby. Leave her alone.)

Afton -> Stealing skins seems just. Really interesting to me in a game about things that steal identity. But he also like never puts himself on the list, is obviously really suspicious, and is tied to the dopplegangers through the project. He also says he's a physicist and is working on a team researching dopples???? (He isn't a dopple but.)

Mia -> Princess of Death. First off they did NOT need to go so hard for her but unfortunately I think the only thing that could tie her to that is the fact she also doesn't put herself on the list, like she wants the dopples to get in and kill everyone. (Idk...suspicious...)

Nacha -> Brings pests. This can be tied to Anastacha because if Anastacha causes misfortune and Nacha brings pests...lyou know, blaming her for having a child. (A lot of these people are just getting bullied huh)

Steven and Mclooy -> These are the only two where I bring their designs in lol. They look so different because they both have a dissociative disorder from being soldiers (with Steven's medals we can imply he was a fighter, and since most family members have the same jobs we can infer they are both a) pilots and b) soldiers) but yeah. They are seen as violent monsters because of them being former soldiers (Steven is fine, he's generally peaceful. I think. Mclooy isn't as nice.)

Alf -> Soul Scarecrow could be seen as him being a sort of strawman. Like, yes you have a lawyer. You have a chance! (You don't. You are going to lose his case) But you know. False hope to the people relying on him (I dunno about this one is he a good lawyer??)

Rafttellyn -> Deforms faces could be taken metaphorically, like destroying people's public image. Since she is both a housewife who is a gossip and is married to a lawyer that might give rise to that idea (I don't think she does this)

This is all my opinion and none of the notes I make here are any digs against the creators, I think exploring period relevant bigotry is a good idea, especially in a game where the main idea is you can't trust your neighbour.

Damn no one can catch a break lmao. These bitches keep CATCHING STRAYS

OKAY OKAY but the reason why I'm really interested in the twins nightmare intrepretation is because its the most obvious to me. Like, they're models which means they're beautiful and desirable and even in game their designs/expressions give them a 'haughty' look. And while I don't think they are haughty or prideful (or at least, not as bad as some people might think), their position definitely means a lot of people (especially men) thinking the worse of them, definitely for shitty reasons. Its not out there to think that their jobs causes a lot of bad faith look to them like them being seducers or whatever when they're just tryna do their jobs.

Oh shit I did not think about that with Roman. Do you think maybe its less about his job or more with how he looks cuz he definitely looks scary and I wouldn't be surprised if people thinks he's some scary guy with a violent past.

The Peachman brothers and Angus's explanation is sending me oh my Lord. (especially Angus. Oh yeah his nightmare version is just him but more fucked up lmaoooooo)

Arnold and Gloria, oh man... I didn't know those were tied to black magic :(. (also Arnold's nightmare version being the only outwardly animal looking monster makes my heart hurt. NOT DIRECTED TO NACHO SAMA cuz I don't think thats intentional but with this intrepretation that definitely kind of hurt and does not look good)

I more prefer the 'Izaack's nightmare version is a reflection on how he sees himself' theory but I also dig how you see it. Reporters usually do get a bad rep of being nosy or life ruining so it does make sense that Izaack might have that reputation and looking like a worm.

Margarette... NOOOO thats so fucked :(((. She is a nice warm person who would definitely feed you cookies and tea when you come to visit and make sure you eat well because 'you look too skinny!!' like a doting aunt.

I can't believe rhe joke of Afton beinf sus cuz 'haha purple guy' is semi canon. What is this guy's deal.

I just thought kf this but I think Francis's nightmare version (bloodsucker) is maybeeee tied to the era's joke/common thing where 'the milkman/mailman seduces housewives' or something?? Cuz I can def see that being the common perception on him and that he's a homewrecker (he is not he just wants to go home and sleep)

The Nacha and Anastacha one... ow. Why do you do this to me/j

THE ALF AND STEVEN ONE YESSS. Alf's job as a lawyer I can definitely see that!! Same with Steven- Slipknot reference aside I LOVE how his nightmare mode job is Annihilator when his real job is a military pilot/soldier. The few residents where the nightmare/real job have an almost direct connection.

TYSM for sharing these AHHH THEY'RE SO INTERESTING AND I LOVE READING OTHER PPLS THEORIES/ANALYSIS ON THIS MODE

[oh-hell-help-me]

Day 9: Shell

It was something straight out of a storybook, to see their efforts actually work.

Reports have come through daily, compiled from sections of industrial plants, mines, and -most importantly- the agricultural industry.

It wasn’t that it didn’t exist before, per say, but the limitations of living on and near an active volcano have essentially funded projects and ‘solutions’ via war confiscations.

But with The Plan?

It opened up occupations ranging from greenhouse manufacturing, pipe construction, electronics manufacturing (in which he’s heard that Iggy collaborated with budding inventors for), and the overall selection process for what Luigi knew as ‘High-Yielding Variety’ crops.

It doesn’t hurt that diplomatic negotiations have also opened up trade.

Unemployment rates dropped to 13% by the second day -AND the only reason it wasn’t lower was due to the process of training the kingdom’s workforce for what is essentially new production procedures.

He would have gone to see the training himself, maybe even suggested ways to streamline it, but…

Since he apparently couldn’t be trusted to keep himself safe, Bowser and his brother have come to a rare agreement:

Luigi, Ambassador of the Mushroom Kingdom, Ghost Hunter, Thrice Defeater of King Boo, and one of the Mario Brothers… is now to be babysat by the Koopa King.

In the first two days in Bowser’s possession, Luigi had only been let down when he had either needed to go to the bathroom, or if his brother and Peach were visiting.

Not even the presence of snickering diplomats deterred him.

Bowser’s plastron (unless they call it something different…?) was surprisingly velvety to the touch, although experimental pokes showed it to be just as hard as his shell.

And no, he was NOT feeling the Koopa up! That would’ve been rude!… But boredom was universal for those of the confined, and Luigi was adamant about not staring at Bowser’s face OR falling asleep!

Hence, his investigations.

“Something on my face?”

And just like that, Luigi is snapped from his reverie -blushing when he realizes he’s been staring at Bowser’s face.

'Luigi, you fool! You thoughtless fool!'

He’s internally screaming, but the Koopa only shows amusement as Luigi burrows into his green sweater.

“I know I’m a handsome Koopa, but you don’t have to stare~.”

Luigi could only whine.

With a snort, he taps Luigi’s hat over his eyes “Really, though. What’s got your head in the clouds?”

Righting his hat -really, the nerve of this guy- Luigi shoots him a half-hearted glare. “N-nothing!”

“Oh?” Bowser obviously doesn’t believe him. “My devastatingly gorgeous looks are nothing to you?”

“No! I mean-“ Luigi knows that his face is as red as his brother’s hat, but that’s the least of his worries. “Stop twisting my words!”

Bowser bursts into guffaws that have Luigi bounce on his plastron, having the mind to have a paw out to prevent the human from bouncing out of his grasp.

“A-and 'no-thing' m-eans-s noth-ing!”

The guffaws eventually abate, but the crap-eating grin Bowser wore was nearly unbearable. "And your expression means that it's not 'nothing'! So cough it out!"

Bowser was enjoying the way Luigi seemed to get more and more flustered, noting the way his blush spreads from his cheeks, to his ears, and then down to his neck. It almost makes him curious to see-

Ahem.

He focuses back on the Green Bean, realizing that he resorted to burrowing his face into his plastron. He could barely feel the pressure from it- almost like having a bowl of grapes rest on him.

"Would you rather have Mario to talk to? I'm sure he has some spare time-"

"NO!"

He jolts in his seat, not expecting the shy human to actually shout.

...It's almost impressive, for him to have those kind of pipes.

"sorry." Bowser barely hears it, but it's enough to lead him back to the topic.

"Then let it out Greenie. It's not like I get offended easily."

Luigi mutters something that almost sounds passive-aggressive, but he isn't given time to guess before Luigi blurts out:

"What do you call it?"

He's.... stumped. "It?"

"Um." The blush is back, but the human seems determined to elaborate. "The hard thing on your stomach. What is it called?"

Bowser smirks, but simply replies, "A plastron."

This time, he KNOWS he hears a 'knew it' from Luigi, and Bowser's smirk is slowly growing wider.

"And-and those?" The man touches the tips of his fingers, gesturing at the sharp edges. "Do you call them claws -or talons, or...?"

"Claws." Bowser resembles a particularly toothy alligator now. "I was joking about the staring, but I didn't realize I'm so fascinating to you."

"You are!"

And now he's sure he looks shocked stupid.

"N-NOT LIKE THAT! I mEAN-" Luigi is panicking, clearly. "I- just wanted to know because I wasn't sure? I- never really saw a Koopa outside battle, and- and you guys look really interesting!"

He is so, utterly glad that Koopas can't blush.

Still, he does his best to look nonchalant. "Well- why didn't you say so? The Royal Library has a bunch of books about our impressive anatomy! I can 'supervise' while you read your tiny heart out!"

"...YOU HAVE A LIBRARY?! AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!"

THAT is only answered with a laugh as Bowser starts to lumber down a hall, not caring as the human starts to sputter.

Honestly? He's glad to have Luigi as a friend. But the human?

He's adorable ridiculous.

[mocha-gladiator]

Thought I might post a story bit, since I like this scene. I realize I've kept almost all of this project a secret since it began and I would like to share some with you.

it's short, just a thousand words, and takes place in the middle of the story.

Ivy has discovered that she is a human with magic: a witch, and wants to be rid of her fiery hands before her family and town find out and report her to the king be executed. She met a kind fae years ago and goes into the forest to seek his help.

here they are coming to the magic gate back to her home. They have the old witch's book that they hope will have the key to extract the fire magic.

obviously, there are spoilers ahead, but who knows how long it will be before I can release the finished product?

When they got back to the gate, Morad lagged behind as he had in the library, five paces away. “What are you waiting for?” Ivy called back. “Don’t tell me you’re scared.”

He was silent. His eye was still swollen, and his neck still bleeding, but at least his thigh had stopped. “It…will have been five years since I have been…home.”

“Home?”

The fae stayed at a distance. His tail swirled behind him like ripples in a pond. “Home.” He agreed. “Or the closest to it that I might know. My old home was…destroyed. The people fled to Whythiecomb.” He hugged the tome. “I wonder if the air smells different.”

Ivy snorted and came back to him. She held out her hand and touched his elbow. “Afraid you might turn to dust?”

“No.” He cast a glare down at her, but yielded to her touch, allowing himself to be led towards the gate. “That doesn’t happen. Even to dryads.”

“Oh, it doesn’t?” Ivy teased. She stuck her free hand through the portal first, but her other slipped from his arm as he pulled back. She laughed. “Come on, big guy.” She took a firmer grip on his arm and tugged him with her.

“Byngkk—” The faun’s face soured and his eyes shut.

Night had fallen on the other side. Summer bugs thrummed in the trees, and the heat clung to their clothes. “…Well.” Ivy said. Her head tipped up to the moon. She had to keep him from using this as an excuse to leave. “Not the best for reading, I suppose. But I’m not giving up. I’ll light a fire and we’ll read until we find something…Morad?”

The faun’s head had tipped up as well. The trees rustled with a warm breeze as it came, brushed through his silver hair, and then moved on past them. His eyes had turned black as the night itself. The stars must have mistaken those black pools for their own sky, as they had fallen into his gaze, too. His lids flicked, then slowly closed as he drank in the night air. Ivy watched his chest rise, then fall, and the way his hair flowed like water over his shoulders. “It is different,” he sighed. Then she realized she still had his arm in her grip, and released it to hug herself. And the stars came down to look at her.

“…What?” she said.

The stars smiled. “Nothing—”

Something changed, and despite the darkness, his pupils shrank. She felt it, too. Something that made the hairs raise on her arms and the back of her neck. A chill in the summer air. Morad stepped between her and the portal. Even the hair of his tail and the thin mane along his back had stood on end. Black sand rose from the earth and arched over his skin in swirling tattoos as it had when he had shifted. Magic. As his arm reached back to guide her away, she touched one of the tattoos, but it felt no different from his usual skin. There was something in him this time, something that the unicorn had not brought out in him.

Fear.

A night mare came from the portal, her eyes orange and black as glowing coals that ever changed in their pits. Smoke blew from her nostrils, and her mane blew in wind that was not there. The horse’s black coat was crusted and matted with something spilled down the shoulder. The rider’s head sat upon the brow of the saddle, severed. His eyes glowed with the same fire, and roved about in their skull like a lighthouse. The rider’s body was clothed in a tight vest of black, with a cape that flowed down his shoulders and over the horse’s rump, stained with the same reddish crust as the horse.

“Back!” Morad spat. Roots shot from the earth in a wall of spines between them. His teeth glinted in the dark, and she could almost swear she felt his chest shiver with some kind of growl. “Go back where you came! You have no place here!”

When the rider spoke, his mouth and all that within it glowed with the same candlelight as his eyes. “Peace. I do not come to take souls.” His voice sounded oddly normal for one whose head was not attached. In fact, the accent sounded a bit…familiar. The body held out a letter, its seal a very purposeful color of red. “My master requires your attendance. Your counterpart has been alerted as well.”

Morad stomped his hoof, and a root shot up to pierce the letter from the hand. “Who is your master? I want no dealings with Black Donald.”

The head smirked. “Rich, coming from one with Decay magic. But no, I do not serve that particular devil. It is from His Grace Cernunnos, god of Wild Places and All Things Within, and Keeper of the Great Wilder Tree.”

Decay magic? Ivy wondered.

“The eldest god?” Morad rasped. “What does he want?”

The shoulders shrugged. The ghost horse pawed the ground, and more smoke roiled from its mouth and nostrils like a dragon. It’s teeth, for once, were flat. “I am only a messenger.”

The faun was quiet for a beat. Ivy could tell the skull’s eyes had settled on him. Slowly, Morad stood up tall. “Do I know you?”

The rider’s eyes cast down. His hair was a soft brown, and there were creases on the sides of his mouth that, years ago, might have held a smile. “I wish you did not.”

Morad’s shoulders fell, and the roots crawled back to their beds. “No…no, what happened to you?” The black tattoos drained back to the earth, leaving his silver skin behind.

“Morad?” Ivy whispered. She touched his shoulder. “Morad, what is it?”

The devil horse began to dissolve into smoke, head first. “Accept your invitation. I will see you at the Din.”

The faun flew after him, hand outstretched. “Wait!” he called. But by the time he got there, the dullahan had gone.

[rebouks]

Having read/reread Somnium this past week/two-ish... I have some theories about Wyatt.

Every character we create has a bit of us, our experiences, and our biases. On that same note, I think every persona Wyatt has projected contained a bit of truth, but also a fair bit of fabrication. Of all the characters in Somnium, I think he had the worst childhood. It's really a miracle he's alive and not completely batshit crazy. And it's understandable why he learned to shut down emotions from a tiny age.

But Wyatt is AND isn't who we've seen. That nerdy, awkward doofus Courtney got to know, there a bit of truth there. But he exaggerated it for her. The absolute psycho that everyone shied away from... There's a bit of truth there, but I think also a fair amount of embellishment. If you're gonna be surrounded by homicidal thugs, then by all means, be the craziest one in the room. The one person that everyone is wary of. When he had his years alone in Mt. Komo (aka his purgatory), it was the first time his survival didn't depend on acting FOR someone else. He could just BE.

Wyatt says he isn't wired right and that he's emotionally faulty. But is he really as bad off as he thinks or is that what he's always been told? Obviously empathy is not his strong suit, but we've seen him: jealous/envious (others' relationships), selfless (letting Darien & Brynn go), appreciative (Oscar's help), petrified (to the point of throwing up), kind (to Ichiro, Mayo, and Brynn), and managed to (while sweating) mumble an ILY. All of which are normal emotions. He tried to make amends where he could. He adopted a cat ffs. A street cat that now has the poshest looking cat bed I've seen lol And the last time he choked someone was out of passion and (somewhat righteous) anger, not emotionless calculation.

I think who Wyatt was (and thought he was) is fading away, however damaged his past left him. I don't think he'll ever be a soft guy/touch to the world at large. Only a select few will be privy to that side if him. But I think his true nature is finally being revealed. Or am I reading him wrong? Enlighten me, Becca!

Ohhh you've read him remarkably well indeed! I truly love Wyatt's character, he's so complex and he really did have a nasty childhood.. on the surface I'm sure it looked like he had everything he ever wanted, but that's faaar from the truth.

I think he's only just realised that he's not actually a psychopath at all, he just kinda learnt how to be one as a coping mechanism when he was very young, so young that it almost seemed like reality in the end, even to other people! (There's a reason it seemed so genuine ⚆_⚆) I suppose in a way he lied to himself for so long it became reality. Ask Bruno.. he's still convinced he's a psycho! 😅

I rlly think smth shifted the moment he became suspicious of Oscar tho, and whilst at first he was intent on protecting the "family" and doing the "right" thing, the more he thought about it, the more he realised how done he was. No one listened to him, no one respected him, but he knew he was right! It was like he realised he'd never progressed from being a small child, pushed out of the way and ignored, even when they're begging to tell you something important! Arturo wasn't interested, so instead.. he had to pay. Wyatt didn't want to be loyal to him anymore! At the time, he didn't help Oscar n' co. just to do the right thing, he wanted to fuck his father over more than anything, so.. still pretty self-serving in a way but he's had a loooot of time to think since then and it's been so intriguing watching the slow shift in his mindset.

He's everything he's ever been, pretended to be and everything he never was, all bundled up into a ball that he buried deep inside; only when he was free did it all start to unravel.

I adore the examples of humanity you've picked up on tho, all those tiny hints we got that maybe he's not completely devoid of emotion after all... He's still Wyatt, but he's also Kaito too.. he's intelligent, he CAN be kind - to the right people, tho he definitely struggles with empathy - he's jealous, possessive, ambitious, confident, not confident at all 😆 he doesn't know, actually.. maybe we should check back in on him in a little while lmao

Hurray for the truly grey man!

Also.. I kinda started putting together a lil timeline of posts/moments that I thought were pivotal to his slow lil journey but this is long af as is so I'll work on that and post it separately 👀

[nonbino-chaos-fox]

Do I Fascinate You?

Damian did not know how he did not notice the child climbing up the fire escape until he was standing on the edge of the roof, awkwardly staring at him. /or, the meeting of Damian and Duke in my batkids age reversal fic

Words: 1,504 - no archive warnings apply - batkids age reversal AU

Damian did not know how he did not notice the child climbing up the fire escape until he was standing on the edge of the roof, awkwardly staring at him. The child was scruffy, obviously a street kid at first glance: his clothing was old and battered and he had a heavy jacket that was several sizes too big for him. There was a few-day-old bruise on his jaw that blended in against his dark skin and his hair was growing out messily from a buzz cut. The child picked at the edges of his nail, glancing up at Damian every couple of seconds although he avoided making direct eye contact. He could not have been more than eleven or twelve and he shuffled from foot to foot, body turned partially away from Damian and towards the fire escape.

“Child. What are you doing here?” Damian pushed himself up from his crouch, taking a step towards the child who took a half-step back in turn. Pausing, Damian studied the child closer. In addition to the bruise there was a scab on the ridge of his cheek and almost faded bruises on his neck and left wrist. He lent heavily on his right leg and muffled a wince each time he put weight on his left side. Damian figured it was most likely his hip that was injured with how he avoided bending his leg at the joint. He was small with hollow cheeks and deep-set eyes. He had been living on the streets for at least a year, possibly more. “Child,” he repeated, “What are you doing here?”

The child stared at him for a few moments, finally making eye contact. His eyes were dark brown but seemed to have a slight golden glint to them. “Saw you were watching the long barrel.” He indicated his head towards the seedy, down-trodden bar that Damian was in fact keeping watch over. “Thought I had some info you’d like.”

“What kind of information are you speaking of?” Damian held his level gaze on the child who was now returning the same sharp eye contact. “And most critically; how did you see me?”

He shrugged; it was loose and listless. “Just saw ya.” He picked at the edge of the scab with his right hand, his pinky and ring fingers only curled in partially to his palm: slight fine mobility issues, possibly from a past injury or nerve damage. He shrugged again, breaking eye contact and looked back towards the fire escape. He was hiding something, not telling the whole truth. He had turned further towards the fire escape, almost standing at a right angle towards Damian. It was his right side he had pointed towards him, most likely the side he favoured.

Damian clicked his tongue; he was probably not going to get much personal information from the child, time to move to more important subjects. “What information do you have on The Long Barrel Bar?”

“I know it’s where some low-level goons hang out.” He continued to pick at the edge of his scab. At that point he was most likely going to end up with a scar there. “Big chunk of ‘em are Two-Face’s guys, there’s a couple of people who work for Scarecrow too. Place’s owned by the Falcones, they let goons stay there in return for info or favours.”

“How do you know all of this?” Damian narrowed his eyes at the child who glared back like he could see the change in Damian’s expression. Like he could see through Damian’s mask and to his actual face.

The child shrugged, yet again. “I’m good at not being noticed, I guess.” His voice shook slightly and he broke eye contact again. Another moment of hiding the full truth. The child could possibly be a meta-human, but Damian needed more information to work off to prove that theory correct. “And I thought that if I ever met you or the Bat that’d you might need info.”

Damian took a long stride towards the child; that time he did not flinch or take a step back. “Child. What I and the Batman do is a dangerous job. It is not something suited for a child such as yourself. And furthermore, we do not require help from citizens nor do we want to accept help if it would put them in danger.” He crossed his arms and glared down at the child who jutted his chin up at him in response.

“Says the guy who went around fighting crime as a literal ten-year-old.” The child nodded upwards sharply to emphasise the point. Bakr had only been on the scene for two years, both of which Damian had been practically an adult for. The child smiled, wide and sharp. “Don’t pretend that you weren’t Ghoul.”

“Ghul,” Damian corrected him, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his noise in annoyance. “It is pronounced Ghul , not ‘ghoul’. That name was a cruel mockery of the legacy of which I fought for.”

“You were still a literal ten-year-old when you were Ghul, I’m almost thirteen! If you’re really worried about me being in danger then I’ll stop going to find info at the long barrel—” He continued to glare up at Damian, “—but let me at least tell you what I’ve got so far.”

Clicking his tongue again, Damian stepped back from the child and returned to his position overlooking the bar. “Come here,” he said without needing to look back at the child to know he would follow. When the child crouched down beside him - with a slight wince when he bent down - he pointed towards one of the windows of the apartments above the bar. “I have suspicions that a member of the Falcone crime family is currently in hiding within those apartments connected to The Long Barrel Bar. His name is Stuart Jones and I have been tracking him down for the past several days. Do you have any information about him or whether or not he is hiding out in the apartments?”

The child hummed and tilted his head to the side, eyes narrowing as he lent in and rested one arm on the parapet of the roof. “What’s he look like?”

Damian turned silently to face the child who was staring across the road with a strange intensity. That slight golden glint to his eyes had intensified to a golden shine that covered his entire eye including the sclera. Almost certainly a meta-human. “He had blue eyes and dark brown hair, he wears it short with the sides shaved down.”

Another short hum. “Does he have a scar under his right eye? A real thin one.”

“Yes, he does.”

“He’s been there.” The child squinted and focused for a few seconds where it seemed as if he did not take a single breath. “I can’t tell if he’s there now, but he was a couple days ago. I couldn’t see him leave so he might still be there.”

The glow disappeared from the child’s eyes and they returned to the dark brown they were originally. The golden glint to them seemed to me more pronounced, appearing as small flecks of gold in his eyes. The child turned to face Damian, blinking a few times to fully clear his eyes from the last traces of gold.

“That is all I need from you.” He dismissed the child with a small downward nod and slow blink; while it was hidden behind his mask, he knew the child would see it anyways. “Please, habibi, keep out of danger and stay away from The Long Barrel Bar.”

The child nodded in reply and turned to descend the fire escape. Resting his hand on the edge of the metal fencing, he looked back at Damian once last time. “Bakr?” Damian inclined his head. “If you want me to stay safe, you should really be looking into the shelter on Robinson Park. The one that takes in street kids and runaways.” He paused, going back to pick at the edge of his nail, his vision focused on the ground in front of him. He was nervous, unsure. He was telling the truth and something about the truth distressed him. “Some people I know have gone there for help. I haven’t seen them since, none of us have.”

“I will look into it.” The child nodded again; his shoulders slumped slightly and he breathed deeply, the worry and stress that he had been holding finally released. After one last look at Damian, the child disappeared down the fire escape as silently as he had scaled it.

Damian lingered for a few moments, perched on the edge of the roof as he tried to track down where the child had gone. But he couldn’t find the child - he had disappeared thoroughly and entirely. Standing up in one long movement, he looked down at the apartments where Jones was hiding out in.

Enough distractions for one night. He had work to finish.

[oscurascout]

Bad Sanses Adventures

Paint War (Cross only)

Note - I know it says "Horror only" or "Cross only" but what I mean is the other members of the gang aren't in the story so yeah just wanted to clarify that. Also I know I suck at introductions.

Masterlist

Cross was with Epic, but he had ditched his mission a long time ago. Now, they were both at a crafts and arts convention. Cross was making some drawings with macarons when he felt someone sit next to him.

Yan!Blue - *happy* “Hi! Do you still remember me?”

Cross - *thinks for a bit then smiles* “Yeah! How have you been?”

Yan!Blue - *sighs, pouts* “Not too good. The other two didn’t want to come with me.”

Epic - “Hey, bruh!”

Yan - “Oh, Epic! Good to see you too!”

Cross - “You two know each other? How?”

Epic and Yan looked away, embarrassment on their faces.

Cross - “What happened?”

Epic & Yan - “It was Fresh's fault.”

Cross just chuckled, and they continued talking. As Cross was almost finished painting his hand, he saw something coming at him. He turned to look, and suddenly half of his face got splashed with purple paint. He heard the two skeletons chuckle, smirked, quickly dipped his brush in white paint, and swatted at both of them.

Yan let out a startled scream while Epic just chuckled and tried to cover himself. And that's how a paint war started, with others joining in.

The only thing that could be seen was both monster and human children, some adults, and the three culprits throwing paint at each other. Cross threw white paint at Yan, but in the process, he got hit by a splash of purple, while Epic got splashed with blue.

They continued enjoying themselves until their paint ran out. Unfortunately, due to their paint war, they were asked to leave. They were about to go to Epic's home to clean up when Cross had an amazing idea.

Cross - “Guys, wait! How about we go through the AUs painting everything in purple, white, and blue?”

They all smiled and quickly went to the store to get more paint. Thus, they started their little adventure. From one AU to another, they painted everything, even splashing some unfortunate residents.

Fell Sans was resting when suddenly he felt something hit his face. He quickly stood up and touched the liquid, realizing it was purple paint.

Fell - *confused* “What the?”

When he heard laughter, he looked up and saw the three skeletons quickly running away, leaving Fell to curse them out.

Sans was just lying down in his booth when he opened his eye and saw that his booth was now painted.

Sans - *looks around* “Huh?”

From the corner of his sockets, he saw the three skeletons running away while laughing. He just chuckled and lay back down.

While the skeletons were passing through the AUs, they stopped when they saw a big wall. They looked at each other, nodded, took out their brushes, and started creating art. They obviously didn't know how to paint very well, but they were having the time of their lives. As Yan was painting a little flower, he noticed someone next to him. He looked and saw a little kid who was also painting with their tiny hands.

Yan looked around and saw that many humans and monsters were either watching them or had decided to join in on the little painting project. Cross and Epic didn’t mind and just continued drawing a bunch of memes.

They had finally finished. Not only had they painted every corner of every AU, but they also completed their wall art, which made them really happy.

As they were walking through their gallery, Cross stopped. He noticed a place where a lot of monsters and people were gathered. He looked through the window and saw it was a gaming competition. He smiled and was about to enter when Epic grabbed his hand and dragged him somewhere else. Now, they were going to paint some stands at the nearby festival.

[sillyname30]

Actor Darren Criss Discusses Bringing ‘Maybe Happy Ending’ To Broadway

Jeff Conway

Senior Contributor

Conducting refreshingly engaging interviews with top Hollywood stars.

“An original, new musical on Broadway - can you believe that?”

That is the excitement that Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Darren Criss brought to our new conversation this week about his Maybe Happy Endingproduction coming to Broadway, with previews starting October 16 and its opening night set for November 12.

Previously known for his memorable performances on hit television series like Glee and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, as well as his previous involvement in celebrated live theatre productions including American Buffalo, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Little Shop of Horrors, Criss, 37, is now preparing to play Oliver on-stage, a robot referred to as a Helperbot 3 that has been long retired and is considered obsolete, now spending his days in isolation in his one-room apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, South Korea. That all changes when Oliver forms an unlikely connection with a fellow Helperbot neighbor named Claire (played by Helen J Shen).

I sat down with Criss in New York City, New York, just down the street from his Maybe Happy Ending’s upcoming Belasco Theatre venue, wondering first how this production and his interest in this rather unique character of Oliver initially got on his radar.

Criss said, “Two men that I’m very grateful for in my life, Mr. Jeffrey Richards, whose the lead producer of the show, who I have had a long standing relationship, as far as doing theatre on Broadway is concerned. We came in contact more than a decade ago when we were doing a reading of American Buffalo, which I would do basically a decade later with him. He’s always sent me cool things and cool projects. Separately, Michael Arden has been a friend for a very long day. He has been in sort of more my friends circle than my professional circle - I went to college with his husband. I’ve seen almost every single thing he’s ever directed - I think I missed one thing. These are two guys that I have always admired and appreciated, as far as their output was in the theatre community. The Venn diagrams became one circle when Jeffrey sent me an email about this several years ago. Michael was a part of it and wherever Michael is, I run!”

Being a musical set in Asia and Criss being half-Filipino himself, with several other Asian artists working alongside him on this project, I was curious if Criss takes extra pride in being able to tell a story like Maybe Happy Ending live on on-stage and soon get to share it with our world.

“Of course, I do,” Criss said. “There’s obviously a huge amount of personal ‘woo-hoo’ to the idea that this is predominantly an Asian, Asian-American company - on-stage and off-stage - but I’m always weary to categorize this as an Asian show or an Asian story. This production happens to celebrate and represent Asian-ness to a really fun degree, but there’s so much universal-ness to it and accessibility to the story that I hope in perpetuity, this is something that can be done anywhere, with anyone, at any time. I don’t think I’m trying to say that to be inclusive of all things and people. It’s me being pragmatic - this is a story about a future world - about sentient robots that really doesn’t have any particular cultural background, other than the cultural background of technology, which is based in the human experience.”

Criss added with his Maybe Happy Ending collaborators in mind: “I think all of us enjoy sharing our sort of Asian heritage with each other, and obviously, that’s a large spectrum - that’s not one thing. So, there’s already an eclecticism between all of our Asian experiences that’s fun to bring to the table. Yes, it does take place in Seoul, it is from South Korea, but this show has already had great success in Korea, Japan and China - which while all Asian, make no mistake - are very different cultures. So, if that’s any indication of the ability for this show to resonate with all people, then I think we’re in good shape.”

He is not the only person on this production embracing this collective experience. Shen says of interactions so far with co-star Criss, “I think he’s been really generous with his energy and his time. As a person who, I can sometimes feel a little young in this space, I feel like I’m new to this. I’m making my Broadway debut - there’s a lot of imposter syndrome and words of doubt that can be flooding my brain. He is always the first person to say, ‘You belong here. You deserve to be here. You’ve worked very hard - and just breathe and take up space.’ That has been so invaluable to have somebody understand what this feeling can be, of how scary and overwhelming it can be, and be like, ‘This is an exciting moment! We’re present here - let’s soak it in!’ He’s been such a champion of that.”

Arden, who is the director of Maybe Happy Ending, said of Criss, “Darren is so incredible. He can do everything - it’s really somewhat annoying. He understands things from the inside out and the outside in - and so, to meet him and the rest of this company, honestly, in the process, it just means that we get to kind of like create this thing together. It’s not like my vision upon them - it’s something that we can all create together.”

Hue Park and Will Aronson, who have led the way with the music and lyrics in Maybe Happy Ending, have nothing but respect and admiration to say about Criss.

Park said, “I think he’s just perfect for the role - his sense of humor, his acting skills, his sensibility creating this character based on our text and music. It’s just so exciting to see.

Aronson added of Criss: “He has a boyish innocence, which really is perfect for this show - and his creativity. The great thing about live theatre is that it’s already true in the rehearsal room - it’ll be true in the theatre, once it’s running - that the actors are creating it every time they perform it, meaning that the jokes are different every time, even if the text is the same. The chemistry is different, depending on what the actors are creating in their scene together. The cast is just incredible, so of course, they’re finding that and they’re creating that.”

Dez Duron, who plays Gil in Maybe Happy Ending, said of Criss’s character and his performance so far, “Oliver is a really big role - he’s on-stage pretty much the whole time. I’ve been loving watching him tackle this role, and explore it and discover it. I’ve been a part of this project for five years, so watching [Criss] kind of like get into the script and the changes he’s bringing to it and the new life he’s breathing into it has been really inspiring to watch.”

Marcus Choi, who plays James in the new musical, said of his co-star, “So, Darren Criss has always been on my radar - we’re all very familiar with his body of work. He’s been incredible for so long, but when I got a chance to go to Elsie Fest last weekend, I really got to see him shine. He is just such a force on-stage and just oozes charisma. I mean, I’ve always been a fan but I just have a deep appreciation for him now and just how hard he works.”

Even though this can be perceived as a sci-fi production, being that it centers around robots that are no longer seen of use in the world, I asked Criss if he sees the parallels towards humanity within our real world with this story about love and still finding connection.

Darren said, “Yes! The Helperbots in our show are somewhere between servants, pets and children - and old folks. If we did a show about old folks in a home, it might hit a little too close to home - it might be a little too on the nose. I think some of the most human themes that I’ve been taken with are stories about cartoon animals or toys - things that represent the human experience in a way that I actually am more likely to internalize and pick up on. So, I think that’s what one of the great devices of the show is - to sort of displace the human experience through that of a sentient robot. Yes, we all - surprise, surprise - we all have a shelf life. We are all at some point going to be, in the eyes of society, obsolete in some respect. We all have a battery life. This is less talking about the idea of mortality and concept of transience, and the idea that we can only spend our battery life on so much, thinking about What are you going to spend your battery life on? So yes, that is going to hit audiences, hopefully, in a profound way.”

As I concluded my conversation with Criss about his Maybe Happy Ending Broadway production, I wondered what Criss would want to say to Oliver, after embodying him so far in rehearsals, continuing to better understand the character and preparing to share his compassionate story with our world throughout the fall season and beyond

Criss said, “The same thing that I think hopefully the show will posit, which is - It’ll be okay. It’ll always be okay.”

[howtowhumpyourhiccup]

Hooked

Summary: Written for AI-less Whumptober 2023 Day 29. Set in a Modern-ish AU. After a storm, Eret spends his time finding the merman who saved him from drowning.

Warning: /

Rating: General

Characters: Eret

Pairing: Minor Eretcup

Words: 823

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Prompt: “The easy way or the hard way?”

Whumpee: Eret

Author’s Notes: I originally had a different idea for this one, one that was way more intense and was actually Hiccstrid instead of Eretcup. But this is the fourth year in a row that my (AI-less) Whumptober time did not go as planned because of things entirely out of my control. This month is cursed. :)

So I had to keep that (relatively long) idea for a different day and come up with a shorter idea.

And thus this AU was born!

I honestly only got to write it because I FINALLY got the time to.

Enjoy!

@ailesswhumptober

XOXOX

Today, just like many days, Eret finds himself staring at the sea. Leaning on the edge of his fishing boat, he stares down into the water. He should be paying attention, he should be casting his nets for today's catch, but instead he's wasting his time staring into the abyss.

About a month ago to the day, Eret's boat got caught in a terrible storm. He knew it was coming, but he still went out anyway, figuring he would be back in time. So instead of the catch of the day, he landed himself in trouble. The waves were wild and merciless, throwing his boat around until it capsized and he found himself in the dark depths he’s now staring into.

It was impossible to tread water, he couldn’t even reach the surface. Legs kicking, arms swinging, lungs burning. He found himself in the exact kind of position no one swimming in a large body of water wants to be in. Desperately reaching for the surface and yet not gaining an inch towards air.

Needless to say, Eret thought he was going to die.

Until…

A shape.

It was almost impossible to see in water so dark, but he could vaguely see it moving. He could’ve sworn it was shaped like a man, yet swam as fluid as a fish.

The last thing Eret remembered were the hands that grabbed him and the eyes that they belonged to. They were distinctly human and yet the pupils said something different. They were too large and they were that way to soak up what little light there was.

The next thing Eret remembers is when two paramedics loaded him into an ambulance to be taken to the local hospital. Obviously he made it or he wouldn’t be here today. But it’s the story behind his survival that adds another layer of weirdness.

Eret was found on a beach. There was a lot of junk left on that beach after the storm, Eret didn’t stand out even a little bit, yet he was found with ease.

Because apparently, someone approached a passerby, led her straight to him and that’s how the paramedics were called.

And now, a month later, Eret still searches for him. The one who saved his life, the owner of the hands that pulled him from the depths and those strange eyes.

Minutes pass by as Eret stares down into the dark water, minutes of seeing nothing below. Whatever or whoever he saw that day, they haven’t been seen since.

He sighs and straightens. Eyes closing, he conjures up the mental image he has of his savior. He can’t help it, they’ve been on his mind for the past month now.

According to the descriptions given to him when he asked around , he was a guy. A tall guy, a lean guy. With a head of auburn hair and striking green eyes. All of that and that he wasn’t wearing too much. A jacket, Eret’s, and that’s it. It was as if he'd “stepped right out of the ocean” as he was told. But there is one part that always seemed to stand out to people; how striking those eyes are.

It’s strange. While Eret’s muddled memory doesn’t allow him to remember every second of his rescue, he doesn’t remember seeing any green.

He just remember his pupils, his hands, and that odd fish-like movement.

He’s been left with questions and a lot of them. He tried to find him on land, he wanted to thank him. While he has no idea what he would be doing swimming in the ocean in the middle of a storm, Eret is grateful.

But it didn’t matter who he asked, he couldn’t find a sign of him. Not on the mainland and not online, a place he doesn’t traverse much anyway.

Or maybe he hadn’t tried hard enough, because there was a part of him that kept telling him that he was just not looking in the right place.

So every day following his last search, Eret took to the sea with his boat- it’s a rental until he can afford a new secondhand one- to catch fish to sell and instead he spends his time staring down into the water. Not for fish, but for something more mystical.

A mermaid. Or merman, he supposes.

The thought almost sounds too crazy, but dragons are real, so why not merfolk? Those who come from a sailor lineage like him know they were real once.

Eret walks over to the wheel and grabs it, planning on moving on. For days on end, he’s been posted in the general area he almost drowned in, hoping to get a glimpse of the one who saved him.

He’s not ready to give up. Whether the easy way or the hard way, Eret will find him somehow.

In a weird way, though he’s the fisherman, he’s also the one who’s been hooked.

[vampireeddie]

Steddie Week - Day 3: Rescued

Prompt by @steddie-week: Discover

Merman AU, Hawkins as a coastal town AU

Steve goes to check out Dustin’s claims of seeing a monster near the beach, and quickly finds himself face to face with said ‘monster.’

Doubles as a MerMay fic!!

-

Steve’s status as unintentional older brother to half of Hawkins high had put him in some weird situations before, but this was one of the weirdest. He was currently walking along the ocean pier at almost midnight, carrying a smelly bucket of fish he’d gotten from the market, and tossing them into the water between the docked boats to see if anything came for them.

He knew it was ridiculous. When Dustin had insisted he’d seen some monster in the water out by the pier, Steve had hoped he was imagining things. They’d fought monsters before, but a sea monster? That was way out of his league. But Dustin had insisted someone check things out, and since Steve didn’t want a 14-year-old going monster hunting at night, here he was, alone, bat strapped to his back, tossing slimy fish into the water.

Steve let out a sigh as he dropped another fish off the side of the pier. “This is so stupid,” Steve breathed. “No way there’s anything in here, the gate’s closed.”

He tossed another out on the dark water, glancing around to make sure no one was watching. He knew he must look insane.

That was when he heard something behind him. He whirled around, startled. The water was rippling, for sure. But whatever it was was gone.

Steve swallowed, slowly grabbing his bat. He set the bucket down, took another fish in his hand, and tossed it into the water near the edge of the pier.

Steve expected it to sink. But the moment it hit the water, two hands emerged from the depths and grabbed it, before a human head broke the surface.

“What the hell?!” Steve shouted.

The man looked up at Steve, long brown hair clinging to his face, eyes wide with surprise as he clutched the fish. Oh good, it wasn’t a monster, just a crazy person, he thought bitterly.

“Dude, what the hell are you doing swimming around grabbing raw fish?? You scared my friend yesterday!”

The man’s eyes were still wide as he dove back under the water. But instead of a pair of legs following him, Steve saw a long, black tale ending in a fin.

“What the hell?!” Steve took a step forward to look closer, only he’d forgotten about the bucket. He collided with it immediately, the bat falling out of his hand as he stumbled off the pier, and smacked his head hard on one of the boats on his way down.

The moment he did, everything went black.

 

When Steve came to, he was on his back, staring up at the stars, noticeably not dead. He gasped, sitting up, eyes wide remembering what had just happened, his head still throbbing with pain. “ Fuck  that hurt.”

“You okay man?”

Steve looked up. He was on an unfamiliar part of the beach, and a few feet into the water, everything but his head and shoulders submerged, was the man from a moment before.

“You!” He stared wide-eyed. “You… what are you?!”

The man raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean? Just a friendly swimmer who helped you out and wanted to make sure you woke up.”

“No,” Steve narrowed his eyes. “No, I saw you! You have a tail!”

He smiled. “You hit your head hard, guy. You’re imagining things. Anyway, I should be going…”

“I saw it!” Steve said. “It had a fin and scales…”

The man pressed his lips together, giving Steve a questioning look. “Mmmno, doesn’t sound like me.” He stretched his arms above his head, giving an obviously fake yawn. “Well, it’s late, I should get back over to my human home with my human family that I have. Thank you for not dying, fellow human, have a nice life.”

Steve gave him a look. “Dude, you have scales on your arms.”

The man looked down at his elbows, which each had a black translucent webbing. “ Shit .” He looked back at Steve. “Look, you owe me for saving your life, so you can’t tell anyone, okay??”

“I won’t,” Steve said, still in shock.

The creature swam up to the shore, and once it did, shimmied awkwardly on its elbows and tail up to near where Steve was sitting, before settling on his stomach, elbows on the ground.

“What… are you??”

The creature narrowed his eyes. “Isn’t it obvious?” He pointed at his tail “Mer,” then his torso “man?” He smiled. “You can call me Eddie though.”

Steve stared, still shocked. “How do you exist??”

Eddie tilted his head. “Well, it all started when my dad fucked a fish.” He smiled expectantly with his sharp teeth. Steve didn’t laugh. “I’m messing with you, dude.” He shrugged. “I dunno. We always have. I just… have a bad habit of going a little closer to shore than I’m supposed to. Don’t tell my uncle.” He flipped his tail up, then back down again. Steve stared at him in wonder.

“Okay, someone slipped me drugs for sure,” Steve said.

Eddie perched his chin in his hand, pouting his lips. “And you didn’t save any for me? Rude.”

Steve narrowed his eyes. “What… happened?”

Eddie smirked. “Well, you saw me, and then you got all startled, and then you fell in the water like a dumbass.” He smiled. “Woulda been funny, but then you smacked your head and it was suddenly way less funny.”

“You saved my life.”

Eddie sat up on the sand, which looked like it took some effort. “Sure did! So… do I get your name??”

“Oh, right. Sorry. It’s Steve.” He rubbed the bump on the back of his head. “Shit that hurts.”

“Yeah, you’re lucky you didn’t crack your skull. You humans are so breakable.”

Steve eyes lingered on the black tail before him. The scales reflected the pale starlight, complete with translucent webbed fins both sides that flapped gently sometimes when he moved. And a beautiful human-like chest, which Steve also couldn’t help admiring, that turned into black scales at his hips. And on both sides of his waist, three slits. Gills.

“It’s rude to stare, dude.”

“Sorry! Sorry,” Steve said, refocusing on Eddie’s dark eyes. “I’ve never met a mermaid before.”

“Merman, technically,” Eddie leaned back on his elbows. “Though you humans are more attached to gender than we are. I don’t really mind either term.”

He looked down at Steve’s soaked jeans. “Gosh, I’ve never seen a human up close. Your legs are so little!” He looked at Steve, his expression serious. “Is that why you fell over?”

Steve felt heat rose in his cheeks. “No! And they are not.”

Eddie smiled at Steve’s obvious annoyance. “But they’re so thin! Not like a tail.” He flapped his tail up again. “How do you get around anywhere??”

Steve glared. “Well, we don’t have water resistance to deal with, for one thing.”

“Ohhh, that makes sense.” Eddie lifted his hand, waving it back and forth slowly. “Must be easier moving through just the air.” He blinked. “Thanks for dinner, by the way.”

Steve narrowed his eyes. “Dinner?”

Eddie pointed behind him. Sitting on the sand was a pile of fish bones and heads. Steve grimaced. “Gross. So you do eat raw fish?”

He gave Steve a look. “I live in the ocean, Steve. What else would I eat?”

Steve shrugged. “I dunno. Kelp?”

“Kelp,” he rolled his eyes. “So, look… you seriously cannot tell anyone about me.”

“‘Course I won’t,” Steve said casually.

Eddie narrowed his eyes. “Really?” Steve nodded. “You just… discover a new species, and you’re not gonna go blabbing?”

Steve shrugged. “I’ve seen some freaky shit over the last few years in Hawkins.” He pulled his shirt off, and began wringing out the soaked garment as he spoke. “Believe it or not, merpeople are not the freakiest thing. Also apparently a lot of shitty scientists hang out in this town, and you don’t need that.” He didn’t catch how Eddie’s eyes lingered on his chest as well. “Besides, I’ve seen too much sci-fi working at the video store.” He set the shirt on his lap and looked back to Eddie, who quickly brought his gaze back to Steve’s eyes. “Wouldn’t want you to get… dissected or something.”

Eddie’s eyes traveled back down to Steve’s waist, and his eyebrows furrowed.

“What?”

Eddie reached out, and touched Steve’s bare waist. “You’re missing your gills.”

Steve smiled. “We don’t have gills.”

“Damn. No wonder you guys never spend much time underwater.” He took his hand back and looked back up at Steve. “Guess I really did save your life.”

Steve smiled. “You’re also the reason I got scared and fell, to be fair.”

Steve looked down at the ridges on Eddie’s waist. “Can I…”

“Go for it.” Eddie leaned in slightly closer.

Steve reached out, gently letting his fingers travel down the flaps in Eddie’s waist. “Woah. That’s crazy.” He pulled his hand back, forcing himself to look back up at Eddie’s eyes.

A chill went down Steve’s back. He shifted his legs. “Shit these pants are cold.”

“That’s what happens when you take a nighttime dip.” Eddie looked out over the water. “This part of the beach is super secluded, that’s why I should be good to be up here. I hunt here all the time, the humans never come over here.” He looked over at Steve. “No one’ll see if you wanna take them off. It’s warm out.”

Steve grimaced. “Yeeeeah, humans aren’t so big on the nudity thing.”

Eddie glanced down at Steve’s hips, then back at his eyes, a flirty smile crossing his features. “That’s a shame.”

Steve looked away from him. Heat rose in his cheeks rapidly.

“Are you okay??”

Steve looked back at the merman, who had a concerned look on his face.

“What?”

Eddie reached out and took Steve’s cheeks in between his thumb and pointer fingers. “Your face! It’s all red all the sudden!”

Steve laughed. “Oh. I’m blushing. That’s normal.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes. “Really? It looks like your cheeks got injured.”

Steve smiled as the merman released his face. “So…” he tilted his head. “…Do I get to reward my rescuer with a kiss?”

Eddie grinned, his tail flipping excitedly. “I suppose so.”

Steve cupped Eddie’s face in his hand, and pressed a long, slow kiss to his lips. Then another, enjoying his soft and salty lips. Finally he pulled back, staring at Eddie’s warm brown eyes.

“These pants are… pretty cold.”

Eddie grinned. “We better get them off you then, huh?”

Steve kissed him again. “I guess so.”

[wisecrackingeric-2]

Reposting some fics for @serennedyweek that would’ve worked for Day 1 but I opted to go for fanart instead!!!!

Day 1: Domestic!!

Summary:

Set ten years after the events of Resident Evil 4; Luis and Leon have been in a long-term relationship and finally decided to have a Son.

Only Luis finds out that being a Father reminds him of his a Grandfather more than he was expecting.

So one night when their Son wakes up crying, Luis decides to take it upon himself to comfort both himself his baby.

Fic under Cut!!

Luis wasn’t usually a light sleeper.

At least, he didn’t think he was. Not until he had his own child, that is.

Most nights nowadays were spent sandwiched against Leon or Chris- Whoever was home at the time- With his back facing their chests, and their arms draped protectively over his shoulders. Usually accompanied by one or the others’ legs being entangled between Luis’, too.

The two of them usually came home late, and if Luis wasn’t awake, they’d slip under the covers with him wordlessly- Knowing that they’d probably be forced to wake up earlier than their boyfriend in the morning, anyways.

But Luis didn’t mind. He never minded; Putting up with their grouchy, sleep-deprived attitudes and their constant old-married-couple back and forth banter was more than reasonable for him. Especially after everything.

August 2004 felt like a lifetime ago now. So much had changed and so many years passed that it was impossible for Luis to look back and feel any connection towards the man he once was.

He remembered- extremely vividly- lying on that cold, hard concrete and practically begging for Leon to tell him he was a good person during what he was convinced were his final moments. His mouth was full of blood and he could hardly keep a cigarette between his lips, let alone light it.

He’d asked Leon, in an act of desperation, ‘ What do you think, Leon? People can change, right?’

It was a desperate plea for forgiveness. He wanted to change so badly yet he always still retraced those same habits that got him in that position in the first place. He thought back to his Grandfather in his ‘dying’ moments; And he wondered if he’d be ashamed or proud.

But Leon had saved him regardless. In every way a person could be saved. Not only did he literally shove some kind of miscellaneous herb into his mouth and pick him up to drape his bloody body over his shoulders- But once they’d arrived back in the USA, Leon did everything in his power to make sure Luis didn’t slip into that self-deprecating cycle of guilt and self-pity he seemed to be oh-so familiar with.

Leon proved to Luis that people could change. And not only that, but people were deserving of love regardless of what they have done.

Luis loved Leon in a way that was so undeniably human and raw and vulnerable it almost hurt at times.

The pair of them couldn’t keep their eyes- or hands- off of each other.

Then Luis was introduced to Chris Redfield; Big, friendly, puppydog-like Chris Redfield who so painfully obviously had the biggest crush on Leon it made Luis feel like he was going insane. The two of them would stammer and blush and shift their weight awkwardly every single time they were alone; And, hell, Luis would be lying if he said he didn’t find the guy attractive as all hell. So they approached him about the possibility of Polyamory;

And here they all were, ten years later, so ingrained and fixed in each other's lives that they practically couldn’t be seen apart from one another. Their day-to-day was so domestic- so routine- And Luis wouldn’t have had it any other way.

If you had asked him ten years ago where he thought he’d be in life, his answer would probably be dead.

Past-Luis probably couldn’t have even fathomed being so unabashedly loved, so unashamedly domestic and genuinely happy.

Was he always happy? No, far from it, in fact. There were plenty of nights where he still felt the ghost of Krauser's knife holed in his spine, or the squirming Plagas inside of his chest like a ghost limb. Sometimes his face still grew hot from the memories of his Grandfather burning alive in his childhood home. He found it hard to fall asleep by himself sometimes- So Leon and Chris would always make an effort to comfort him. One of them would be pressed up against his back, and the other laying across his chest. Reminding him with their physical bodies that he was Ok.

Tonight was exactly one of those nights; Luis had been tossing and turning in his sleep relentlessly since he got home and shed himself of his usual Lab coat. Although the agreement with the US government was that he’d tag along with Leon on missions, he found himself working in the Labs with Rebecca more often than not- And of course, that eventually turned into a full-time job after Leon had finally retired.

Still, though, Luis came home later than expected. And the days stress weighing down on him seemed to trigger some deep-seeded memories from his childhood that he’d rather not forget.

That seemed to usually be his brain's go-to trauma response, at least; ‘Flash some memories of your Grandfather while you try to sleep and you’ll be A-OK’.

Luis couldn’t remember when he had made it to his bed- Nor could he remember when Leon had slipped under the sheets beside him- But he hardly slept regardless. He tried counting sheep and snuggling into his partner's embrace; but nothing helped. There wasn’t even anything specific that was causing this lack of sleep. He just.. Couldn’t. He just had to let his brain replay memories of his childhood with his Grandfather like an awfully cruel movie.

So when the sound of his Son’s crying filled the air in an ear-piercing scream, Luis was already prepared and sitting up on his elbows before Leon had even stirred awake.

“ I’ll go get the baby,”

Luis whispered, leaning over to kiss Leon on the temple of his head before forcing himself up straight.

His voice was husky and gravelly, and despite having been awake for at least a few hours his limbs were all still too stiff to avoid a popping noise when they stretched.

Leon responded with a quiet ‘ hhhhrmmphhh’ before he shuffled back down under the covers, pressing the ends of his blanket up to his ears in an attempt to drown out the baby’s crying.

Luis just huffed a laugh at the sorry sight of his tired partner and got up on his feet with a groan.

Standing up to exit their shared bedroom, Luis did his best to tie up his long, graying salt-and-pepper hair in a messy half-ponytail with the hair tie he always insisted on having wrapped around his wrists. Years ago, Luis had insisted to Leon that ‘He wasn’t trying to grow his hair out, he just didn't trust the barbers’.

But ten years later with his hair reaching his mid-back at this point, that was obviously a lie. Besides, Luis liked it like this; From what he could remember, his Grandfather always kept his hair long, so it was sentimental in a weird way.

“ Loooeeeeesss….”

Leon reached an arm out from beneath the blankets to grab at his’, blue eyes blinking slowly to try and adjust to the light.

“ Mwhere are you goin’ love…?”

“I just told you,” Luis chuckled, “I’m gonna go put Matteo back to sleep”

Leon made a noise of protest and tried to sit up from underneath his sheets, pulling Luis in closer by the arm.

“ Nonono, don’ get up, I can go get him..”

“ Sssshhhh, just go back to bed mí amor,”

Luis gently pushed Leon back down onto his pillow with one hand, leaning over to press a sleepy kiss against his lips.

“I was already up. You just go back to sleep, sí?”

The blonde huffed a reluctant sigh but still sunk back under the covers regardless. His lips were pursed in a little pout as he let go of Luis’ hand.

“But you’re always up to get him. Y’know I’m happy to do it once ‘n a while, right?”

Luis paused for a moment, biting his lip as he tried to figure out how he should respond. Leon was half-asleep, a quarter of the way to being absolutely dead to the world; but he was still right.

Luis was always the one to go put Matteo back to bed when he woke up screaming like this.

He always insisted that Chris or Leon stay in bed, go back to sleep; And tonight was no exception. But being faced with the question he suddenly found that he couldn’t actually figure out why.

Luis always just assumed that it was the least he could do in return. Chris and Leon, despite being ‘retired’, were still constantly called into the office or on smaller Ops- Sometimes for days at a time, even. And while Luis had his day job with Rebecca in the labs, they were much more forgiving when it came to time off.

His two lovers had given him the entire world, in his mind. They’d given him a space to live and to grow as a person and they’d given him more love than any other human being had ever shown him; and most importantly, they gave him the opportunity to be a Father. They all were.

He got the opportunity of a lifetime to look after someone just as his Grandfather had looked after him.

So maybe Luis just wanted to repay them in some way.

They always insisted he didn’t need to do that; that him just being there was more than enough.

But that nagging voice in the back of his head never left, no matter how hard he tried.

“I know…”

Was all Luis could respond with, his voice a little deflated in defeat.

“Just… Just let me do this for you, just this once. ¿Ok, cariño?”

“Okay…” Leon yawned, his voice still slightly reluctant as he snuggled his face further into the pillow. And like a light, he was out within seconds.

Luis smiled and huffed a breath of air through his nose at the sight of his sleepy partner. With one final ruffle of his blonde hair, Luis was snapped back to reality when he heard his Son wailing once more from upstairs.

Luis made his way up to the second floor with a slouched posture and dragging feet; he slipped his reading glasses on somewhere half-way up, and was thoroughly greeted by the high-pitched cries of his baby the second the door creaked open.

Matteo’s room was simple; It didn’t need to be very big, after all (And even so, it was bigger than Luis’ old childhood room with his Grandfather.)

The walls were covered in pastel blue-and-pink flowers painted on courtesy of Ashley one weekend, and the roof was littered in pale blue, glow-in-the-dark stars.

Matteo's cot sat tucked up against the wall, and stuffed toys littering the floor where they must’ve slipped off and landed in a maze-like heap. Luis could just barely make out his Son’s silhouette against the bars of the cot;

And Luis’ heart promptly shattered into a million pieces when he saw Matteo reach out his little baby-arms into the sky at the sound of his entering the room.

Luis skilfully stepped over the pile of toys laying across his floor, before pressing a gentle hand against the wooden bars of Matteo’s cot.

Just as expected, the baby had kicked his blankets off- Probably the cause of his screaming- And had his tiny hands balled up in even tinier fists as big, fat tears fell down his chubby cheeks.

Luis cooed in an attempt to keep himself from crying.

“ Ssssshhhhh… ¿ver? Estoy aquí, Teo…”

His words were more for soothing himself rather than the baby as he felt his voice grow wobbly at the sight. Ever since ‘Teo’ was born, Luis became an absolute crybaby- Chris and Leon teased him about it constantly, but never in a mean-spirited way.

Seeing his Son in any kind of discomfort felt worse than any knife to the back ever could; His heart squeezed and all he wanted to do was wipe away those tears forever and never let go of his little boy until he was smiling and laughing again. He wanted to hold and cradle him every second of the day- and if he could, he would.

‘ You’re always hogging our son’, Leon had teased one day, watching Luis bounce their kid against his hip. From beside him, Chris reached over to give Matteo a kiss on the cheek.

‘ Yeah, you never let us hold him’

‘¡Tu idiotas! You can hold him if you want!’ Luis had responded, feeling a little guilty. But his partner's laughter confirmed it was only a joke.

‘ Ignore us, Luis. Teo likes it more when you hold him anyways’

‘He likes it more when you guys tuck him into bed’, Luis had offered, earning laughter from Leon, whose index finger was being held tightly by Teo’s little hands.

Luis was promptly broken out of his trip down memory lane by another sharp, high-pitched scream out of Matteo’s mouth, and although Luis did his best to soothe his Son by rubbing the pads of his thumb across his reddened and tear-stained chubby cheeks- It was no use. Matteo kept screaming and grabbing his hands out into the air, trying to reach for Luis’ long locks.

Through the screaming, Luis couldn’t help but chuckle a little; Teo was always grabbing onto his hair one way or another. He figured it must’ve been some kind of self-comforting baby thing, so he just let him. Matteo hardly ever pulled at it, anyways. He just kinda… held on.

No matter how hard Luis tried to sway his baby boy back to sleep from above the cot, it was all for naught. He just kept crying and wailing, and the longer it went on, the more Luis couldn’t handle seeing his Son in tears like this.

So against his better judgment, Luis cupped his hands underneath his small back and lifted him up with a small ‘ There we go…’, cupping the baby’s head inbetween his hand and elbow, firmly grasping onto his leg with the other.

Luis had very quickly figured out that the usual bouncing and ‘there-there’s did not work on his Son. The motion only served to make his crying worse generally, so the brunette resorted to- extremely softly- rocking Matteo back and forth in his arms.

That only worked for a couple moments before Teo was back to wailing again. This time slightly quieter, Luis noted to himself victoriously. He silently wondered if he ever cried as much when his Grandfather took care of him.

He couldn’t tell if he was just tired and therefor had his emotions dialed up to 100 (You know what they say; Never trust your brain past 10:00 PM) Or if he was genuinely upset by his Son’s crying, but Luis felt practically desperate to get him to stop. He didn’t even care about the noise; Just seeing his little bundle of joy’s face all scrunched up and wet from big, fat tears rolling down his face was infinitely more worrying to him than the noise.

So, as gently as possible, Luis bought Matteo up to his face, and after pressing his delicate little forehead against his, Luis started to place feather-light kisses against his baby’s skin. He placed them so tenderly that his own skin tingled from the sensation. As if Matteo was made from porcelain.

And to Luis, he may as well have been.

Every tiny action, every small breath was met with internal cringing- Luis was so self-conscious of just how unfathomably small Matteo was that even just brushing his nose up against the baby’s was enough to make his heart squeeze in worry.

But, at least there was one bright side; Matteo was slowly starting to quieten down his wailing. Every pillowy kiss against his plush skin forced Matteo to stop howling until eventually his voice was broken down to cracked sobs.

But even that seemed to come with it’s own price; Matteo never stopped crying. Screams were replaced with wobbly little whimpers and whines, and his bottom lip quivered every time those big tears of his fell down his chin.

Luis didn’t even know it was possible for his heart to ache with empathy more than it already had, and he secretly wished Matteo would just start screaming again so he didn’t have to see his beautiful boy sobbing silently like this.

“ Nonononono, no llores niño hermoso, no llores…”

Luis pressed his forehead up against Matteo’s and squeezed his eyes shut, dipping him just a tiny bit so that his long, curly hair would fall over Teo’s head like a curtain; engulfing the baby in darkness even further. He pressed kisses against Matteo’s small nose and wiped away the tears with his own- At least he tried to with his fast they were falling.

“ Deja de llorar por mí, sí? Deja de llorar… Deja de llorar…”

Luis tried to hum in between his words of encouragement, and even though Matteo probably couldn’t understand him- It seemed to be working regardless.

“ ¿Ver? Ahí tienes, no llores nena, lo estás haciendo tan bien… Tan bueno para mí, Teo”

All Luis could do was let his words of encouragement and comfort sink into his Son's skin, even if he couldn’t fully understand them. He hoped that somehow the message got through regardless of their language barrier, that by some miracle, Matteo understood what Luis was trying to tell him and took it to heart.

“ Te amo, Teo. ¿Tú lo sabes? Te amo mucho más de lo que podrías saber. Te amaré pase lo que pase”

Luis couldn’t tell who he was talking to at this point; Matteo or himself. But it didn’t matter either way. His words rung truer than anything that had ever come out of his mouth.

Luis had spent so much of his life lying. He’d spent so much of it running and selling his soul to the highest bidder that he’d almost forgotten what it was like to be so open and vulnerable with someone.

His Grandfather’s cottage, Valdelobos, Umbrella, Los Illuminados; The names blended together in his mind at this point.

He’d spent too long running.

He found out what a true chance at life looked like and it looked like Leon, Chris and Matteo.

Every stereotype and throwaway comment that Luis heard about how staring at your baby is like ‘Love at first sight’ was so unbelievably true; Luis just wished he could express his love in a way his beautiful boy could understand.

But Matteo still remained awake. His tears had almost come to a complete halt with Luis’ soft words, but he was still staring up at his dad with those big, sleepless, curious brown eyes; it made Luis chuckle.

“ No puedo dormir, ¿Oye? Yo tampoco puedo…”

Luis hummed thoughtfully for a moment, methodically running his thumb across Matteo’s soft, thin brown hair before coming up with an idea. He smiled at the thought alone, and almost felt his heart leap out of his throat when Matteo half-smiled back.

Luis began to rock Matteo back and forth as he began to sing a song he just barely remembered his Grandfather singing to him when he was just a boy;

“ Duérmete mí niño, duérmete mí amor,

Duérmete pedazo de mí corazón,”

Luis smiled as Matteo began to quietly babble in response, holding him even closer.

“ Este niño mío que nació de noche

Quiere que lo lleve a pasear en coche.”

Matteo reached out his tiny hands to grasp at Luis’ stubble, running his fingers over the hair as his little eyes began to droop lower and lower. It took all of Luis’ energy not to grab his face and squeeze him with a million kisses right then and there.

“ Este niño mío que nació de día quiere que lo lleve a la dulcería,”

Luis let his eyes flutter shut as Matteo yawned and lulled his head to the side. Tiny even breaths let the brunette know that his Son had fallen asleep- Yet he kept singing, determined to finish the song. Just like his Grandfather always would.

“ Duérmete mí niño, duérmete mí amor,

Duérmete pedazo de mí corazón.”

Once the lullaby had softly ended, Luis just stood there. Cradling Matteo in his arms silently. The only light source being from the small, glow-in-the-dark star stickers on the ceiling. Not a single creak could be heard, in sharp comparison to just a moment ago. The loudest noise in that room were Matteo’s tiny breaths.

Luis didn’t want to let go. Leon and Chris teased him about it all the time, but he truly, truly didn’t want to part with his beautiful boy. He didn’t want this moment to end. A moment that felt so precious and so loving that Luis knew he was bound to remember it for years to come.

Luis wanted to protect Matteo with his whole world- he knew it was unrealistic, and that eventually, his Son would grow up to be his very own person- but that didn’t mean the need wasn’t still there. Luis had seen things that no single human being should have ever experienced, and yet his own baby crying was somehow worse than all of that combined. He never wanted to see Matteo cry again. He wanted to hold him and kiss him and shelter him from anything that could ever hurt him.

Just like his Grandfather had for Luis all those years ago.

That was almost entirely the reason Luis had approached Leon and Chris about the idea of having a child in the first place;

He wanted to be just like his Grandfather.

It was strange. The older he got, the less he remembered of the man- yet the more he missed him like a child. Luis thought about him quite often. And even more so now that he was a father himself.

In retrospect, his Grandfather was hardly there in his life for a very long time. He was only ten- maybe twelve at the most- years old when he had died. Yet Luis remembered as clear as day the way his knees trembled and his fists balled up hard enough for his fingernails to be imprinted onto his palms when he watched his childhood home burst into flames. He stared at that fire until it was nothing but ashes in the morning, quite literally.

Luis had gone through all the stages of grief a million times over. He used to be mad at his Grandfather for hiding that wolf’s bite that inevitably lead him to becoming sick; he used to resent him, in fact, insisting that his work as a biologist would be enough to reprimand it.

Luis used to beg for his Grandfather to come back- and, hell, he still sometimes did. He still cried like the grief was fresh, and he still found constant solace and comfort in Leon and Chris’ arms.

Luis remembered nothing but good things about his Grandfather.

He remembered how the two of them would go fishing on warm afternoons.

How he’d make him tomato soup every night after dinner.

He remembered how wise and intricate his words seemed to seven-year-old-Luis, when in actuality, he was just speaking fancy English.

He remembered how his Grandfather still encouraged his Trans identity and love for Biology despite their circumstances.

He remembered how he’d encouraged Luis’ fantasies surrounding Don Quixote- how he’d recreate the fantastical scenes and read him every version of the books under the sun back-to-front just so he could fall asleep.

Hell, Luis still kept an old copy of Don Quixote in Matteo’s room just for good luck; him and his two partners had even agreed on the name for their baby after seeing the name ‘Matteo ’ in the credits of a Don Quixote adaptation and finding it stuck. Luis hoped someday he’d be able to read his favorite book ever to Teo and he’d enjoy just as much as he did.

When Luis said he wanted to be a father;

What he really meant was he wanted to be like his Grandfather.

He wanted to give that same undying love and affection to another person. He wanted to be his Son’s hero and somebody who could protect him from anything.

He wanted to be there for Matteo in a way his Grandfather never could before he died;

He wanted to watch Matteo grow up and live a full life.

Just like how his Grandfather always wanted.

Luis wanted to be there for Matteo right until the very end.

Luis wanted to be just like his Grandfather for Matteo. He wanted to make him proud.

“ Te quiero mucho, Teo. También habrías amado a mí Abuelo.”

Luis hadn't even noticed he’d begun crying, let alone the quiet footsteps from behind him until a small knock on the door allerted him to another presence in the room. He was forced out of his forehead-touching position with Matteo to look around and see Leon leaning against the doorframe; his appearance tired and disheveled with a soft smile still on his face.

“How’s Teo?”

“He’s good,” Luis smiled, whispering lightly.

“I just got him back to sleep.”

Leon made his way to Luis’ side and cupped his Son’s head with one hand, leaning down to press a gentle, cautious kiss on his head.

Luis’ eyes never broke away from Teo’s face, even as Leon leaned his head against his shoulder. The brunette reciprocated, feeling his partner let out a sigh of relief.

“Where’s Chris?”

Luis broke the silence, desperate for some conversation. He felt like he was about to burst into tears if he didn’t talk soon.

“He’s staying with the Winter’s tonight, remember?”

The brunette just hummed at Leon’s response. Ethan Winters; the name sounded familiar. He was pretty sure they were expecting a child soon, too. Chris seemed to be very protective over him; Which seemed deserved after what he heard they’d been through. Luis hoped he’d get to meet them someday.

Another beat of silence.

“…Luis?”

Leon finally spoke up, his voice soft; as if their tender moment was made of porcelain.

“…Are you Ok?”

“I’m fine.” Luis was quick to answer. Too quick. Leon gave him that look and his partner was forced to relent, shaking his head slightly with a small smile. If he wasn’t smiling, he’d probably be crying.

“I will be fine,”

Luis corrected himself. Leon always knew when something was up, and Luis didn’t have the heart (or the energy) to try to lie. He wore his heart on his sleeve in his old age.

“I’m just… I don’t know. Difícul de explicar. Words don’t seem to cut it.”

“I understand.” Was all Leon said in response, snuggling further into the crook of his neck as his hand remained on Teo’s head.

Luis was grateful Leon didn’t try to pry further.

The silence between them, however, was too much for Luis to bear. To keep himself from breaking down and potentially waking Matteo up, he gave his Son one last kiss on the forehead- letting it linger for a couple moments- before slipping him back into his cot and pulling the up blankets over him.

‘ Buenes noches, niño hermoso”

He whispered, running the pad of his thumb against his cheeks for a beat before he reluctantly pried himself away from his sleeping Son.

The second he turned around to face Leon, it was like all of the night's anxieties and grief caught up to him in an instant; his body suddenly felt like lead and his eyes stung with tears.

He could barely make out Leon’s expression in the darkness, but he knew from gut instinct alone that it was one of sympathy.

“ L-Leon…?”

Luis whimpered, his lips quivering as his eyes welled up.

“ D-Do you think my Grandfather w-would be proud of me…?”

Leon’s posture softened in an instant.

“ Oh, Luis…”

Luis couldn’t hold it together much longer; he collapsed into Leon’s arms in an instant, feeling awfully small and vulnerable as he cried silently into his partner's shoulder. He could hear Leon murmur some reassuring words from above him, but he couldn’t make them out; the blondes chin rested atop his head as his arms squeezed him tight, rocking Luis back-and-fourth in an attempt to soothe him.

Luis, ironically, felt a little bit like how Teo must’ve been feeling just a moment ago.

“You wanna know something, Luis?”

Leon finally said loud enough for him to hear, pulling away just slightly so he could cup Luis’ face in his hands; wiping away the tears from his cheeks.

“Your Grandfather would be so, so proud of you. I know that for a fact. He would be over the moon for you”

“B-but w-w-what if I’m n-not doing e-enough for T-Teo? I-I j-just w-wanna be like m-mí A-Abuelo..-“

“You’re doing more than enough, Luis. You’re going so above and beyond you have no idea. Listen to me,”

Leon grabbed his chin and forced him to make eye contact.

“You’re not alone. You understand? You have us. And if your Grandfather were still alive, he would be by your side and telling you what an incredible job you’re doing. You are the best Father, understood? Your Grandfather would be so proud of you.”

That was enough for Luis to break down into tired, open-mouthed sobs against Leon’s chest. The two of them had to return to their own bedroom to keep Matteo from waking up; But it was worth it.

Luis stayed curled up against Leon for the entire night, having his hair combed through by his partner's hands as he cried against his shirt.

Luis eventually fell asleep. And for the first time in quite a while, he actually had a decent night's sleep.

He had Leon. He had Chris, and he had Matteo.

He promised to himself that he would make his Grandfather proud.

He would be a good Father to Teo. He would do anything for his beautiful boy.

And nothing in the world could ever change that.