#the monster in the ruins of ship five

[enyaliang]

Hello, yes, more giant feathery kibby content?

Check this out! And yes you will read it :3

fic written by @beesinspades

cw below: blood and injury, and maybe some spoilers?

Inspired by ch6 but not that accurate, anyways, angy protective feather fluff

[lara-prism-light]

LONG RANT(TW: HOMOPHOBIA!)

honestly, i'm part of communities with a huge lgbt fanbase (myself included) and it's more normal and comforting to find people being civil and ok with lgbt ships than complaining about their mere existence! seriously, not even shows with lgbt representation are safe from this type of discrimination!

it happened with Monster High simply because two characters seemed to like each other but it wasn't the ship the fans wanted! it infuriated me to see this kind of thing because the creator of monster high is a gay man and always wanted to represent lgbt people in his series! and now that the reboot has Frankie and Cleo as a queer couple (with Frankie even being non-binary which also gets a lot of negative reaction) there are people complaining that they are canon because it wasn't the ship they wanted!

THIS IS A REBOOT!!! it blows my mind that there are anti lgbt people in the monster high community, a franchise that is all about being yourself despite your flaws and differences and being unique even when others don't understand you! it's a franchise about diversity and acceptance, it's literally the mantra of the franchise!!

it's not just ships, any emphasis on a character being lgbt is taken as an offense even when the media the character came from is lgbt friendly!! I've seen it with Nimona, with people insisting that the character isn't gender fluid even after the creator has already confirmed that she is! people getting mad at headcanons just for being lgbt, even the owl house suffers from that!

there are people from the The Owl House community that hate that Willow is pan and Hunter is bi!! I think the worst thing is the fnaf community after ruin came out, and a bunch of people interpret Freddy's poster for Bonnie as romantic and start saying that the game implies they were a couple, people just saying it's "disgusting" and throwing the word "woke" all over the place with ship fanart, which to begin with, HAS BEEN POPULAR SINCE THE ORIGINAL GAME RELEASED!!!

this is why i hate ship shaming! it's very annoying and sometimes very disrespectful to a fan who just wants to have fun and do something harmless! proship is the real problem, when someone ships something illegal, immoral or toxic, then yes, you must point out that it is not right, but saying that a ship is bad and you should be ashamed of it just for being lgbt is ridiculous and prejudiced!!

I literally posted a short video on my channel of a vine with some of the ships I like with the vine ending with a "fuck you" (it's the one with the drinks that ends with that line) just so you can see that I don't care about my ships they are not to your liking, at least I don't ship toxic, immoral or illegal couples!!

TLDR: don't be ashamed of liking an lgbt ship, as long as it's not proship, your ships are valid! crack ships, au ships, selfinsert ships, do what you want with your ships as long as you respect others and what is canon! ship is ok as long as it's not weird or against what the character creator wants for their characters.

thank you for coming to my tad talk.

Sometimes, I see takes from the Futurama fandom that people are crazy or weird for shipping and liking Frender. Or they get upset it’s a thing at all. You guys really want to die on this hill? This is the most basic friends to lovers ship between two characters that have nice chemistry and you’re shocked that people ship them? What the fuck? 

I’m tired of seeing this in almost every fandom I’ve ever engaged with. Literally people going “this ship exists?! That’s disgusting! Childhood RUINED!” It’s almost always a queer ship. Every single time, it’s a femslash ship or a slash ship and I hate it so much. How long have you been on the Internet? Two seconds? If you hate a ship, just block, filter the ship out, and ignore the shippers. 

Another take I see is that shipping Fry and Bender ruins their beautiful friendship. First of all, their friendship is toxic af in canon. Second of all, they can still be best buddies and boyfriends/lovers. Finally, fanon and shipping isn’t going to change canon at all, so why does this bother you? I will always despise the way people put male friendship on this weird pedestal and then dehumanize romantic and sexual relationships between men. 

This post is not an invitation to start hating on m/f ships either. I mainly wanted to get these feelings off my chest for a while. I probably need to grow a backbone, but it is genuinely hurtful to see the way so many people talk about same sex ships. And I don’t see many people talk about this due to the rise of popularity of same sex ships within fandom, but it’s still a problem. 

[tsaritza-mika]

Sorry not Sorry guys...

I respect all your inter-companion romance ships, and I hope they bring you joy and endless inspiration, but I have a primal need for something different. I don't need my companions dating each other.

I need them to be the most dysfunctional yet supportive found family they can be

I need Karlach to be literal 'Mama K' and grab Shadowheart and Lae'zel by the scruff and put them on coat hangers, telling them that if they can't say anything nice, then shut the fuck up for five minutes and if they can do that, then she'll come and let them down

I need Astarion and Gale to get into such a spat that all dignity and posh goes out the fucking window, and they devolve into two grown-ass men having a 13-year-old style slap fight while calling each other the harshest of obscenities, but if anyone from the outside tries calling either of them less than fabulous, they join forces and fuck them up

I need Wyll, Shadowheart, and Lae'zel to do each other's hair while discussing all the ways they've taken down various opponents and monsters, and how they would have done things better

I need Jaheira just smacking everyone upside the head whenever they say or do something stupid. Because gods dammit why is she always the only one who can see trouble from a hundred miles away, only to have her perception check fail and stumble right into a trap Halsin had set up to catch food for dinner

I need Astarion to embroider offensive cross stitch into every other companion's tents when he's left behind at camp, for no other reason than he's feeling salty that day

I need Halsin to wildshape into a bear just so he can surprise Karlach with an actual bear and Clive having a tea party with flower crowns and drawings of the horrible ways Gortash will be killed

I need Shadowheart being a petty bitch and letting anyone who was being especially stupid in a fight get a little too close to death as punishment before finally healing them. Because that's just what healers do

I need Gale pranking people with his spells. Use mage hand to yank the rug out from under Lae'zel after she insisted that he was too squishy to fight properly. Casting 'create water' over Shadowheart to ruin her makeup in retaliation for saying last night's stew was a bit bland. Use Telekinesis to fling Astarion off in some random direction because dammit Gale just woke up, and the man needs his coffee before he can properly deal with all of that first thing in the damn morning

I need Lae'zel to take pillow fights just a little too seriously

I need Wyll begging Halsin and Jaheira if they can wildshape into a bear and a shark just so he can ride both of them through the Chionthar while recklessly casting Fireball and Lightning Bolt at the sky, because just think of how cool he would look doing it

[commander-goo]

youu WILL read the monster in the ruins of ship five by @beesinspades NOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[maxislvt]

helloo, first off i love your work ! second, this may or may not be a request but- imagine dark!wanda x spidey!reader, post no way home where r is one of the avengers sent to stop wanda on her rampage. r gets captured by wanda though and turns out wanda remembers r’s identity. she had a crush on r since civil war and now that she has r all to herself…😳

“i’m going to ruin you”

warnings: womb tattoos, coercion, manipulation, spiderperson typical quips in really bad situations, no smut

got a little carried away, whoops!

The last few months of your life have been awful.

Life had been pretty stable for the most part. Trying to balance college, being a superhero duo with your adoptive brother, and the newfound freedom of adulthood was a lot to say the least. Then some big alien freak came along and ruined everything. You and Peter left Aunt May behind for five years.

For better or for worse, you and Peter didn't age. Peter still had his senior year ahead of him and you were only 24. So you both tried to make the most of that.

You were supposed to chaperone your little brother's senior trip through Europe. All you wanted to do was help Peter enjoy the last few months of youth he had before being shipped off to college. Of course, fate had other plans and the trip was interrupted by another cataclysmic event. One unpredictable turn after another. Then suddenly everyone knew your secret identity.

Quentin Beck was a hero and you were half of the duo that killed him.

One edited video and suddenly the whole world was against you and your brother. It was a target on your back you had no way of getting off your back. The magical escape you thought you'd found was nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing. Universes nearly collided. Three versions of your brother. Two other versions of you. Villains the two of you tried and failed to rehabilitate. A moment of complete darkness for your brother A dead aunt. So much fighting. So much pain. All of it for nothing. At the end of it all, everyone was forced to forget about you and Peter. No more full rides to dream colleges and no more "Amazing Spider Kids". It was just the two of you in a shitty Downton apartment at a community college neither of you really wanted to attend, but that didn't stop you two from trying to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.

That need to protect everything and everyone seemed to get you in bigger trouble.

America Chavez. Barely 15 years old, alone in the multiverse, and no one to trust. Her powers and life experience were beyond you — you couldn't even take credit for defeating whatever monster that was chasing her — but you wanted her safe. You foolishly thought that it'd be as simple as finding a hero that could mentor her. Magic wasn't your strong suit. Yet, you still helped America try to escape the claws of the Scarlet Witch along with Doctor Strange.

In the midst of a heated chase, the witch's focus seemed to have shifted. Your mask was ripped by a piece of metal and you could feel the witch's eyes on you. Since you were more focused on protecting America, you decided to send The Scarlet Witch on a goose chase. You and a magical body double of the girl. Unfortunately, you could only run for so long. You didn't bother fighting when you were captured. All you could do was put on a brave face as you were somehow teleported back to your universe. You assumed the witch had gotten a decent portion of America's powers. That worried you, but unfortunately you had to prioritize your personal safety for a moment.

The witch must've known you were too weak to run away because she didn't even bother tying you down. She just stood over you and examined your face. You were nervous and confused to say the least. "So, uh, do you always stand over sacrificial young adults in such a compromising way or am I special?" You quipped. It was a real misfortune your mouth tended to run more when you were nervous. Your heart almost exploded when she reached out for your mask. "Hey, hey! Have some respect for a man's secret identity, will you?" You shouted, trying to push her hands away.

Automatic reflexes were nothing against magic and you were unmasked and it sent your spider senses spiraling.

"You remember me."

"Of course,I remember you. Do you not remember me?"

The airport. Tony had you and Peter flown out for a top secret field mission, that's what he told you at least. You weren't sure what you were fighting for, but you remember the battle clearly. Some guy had grown to a hundred feet tall. You fought some guy with a metal arm. Then someone suddenly started throwing cars. They had all missed you and went straight for Tony, but it was still scary. After the battle, you learned the name of all the people you fought. The weird one, as Tony described her, was named Wanda Maximoff. It's scary how your life had become so eventful that you'd forgotten that whole experience. Well, you couldn't blame yourself for not recognizing her considering the drastic change in her appearance.

"Yeah," You said bitterly, "you threw a car garage at my mentor."

"Your mentor made the bombs that destroyed my home country and had me jailed for powers I didn't ask for."

That was the first time a villain had left you truly speechless. Tony wasn't like that. Was he?It was a lot to process and that wasn't made any easier with the icy cold hand caressing your cheeks. "If you're going to drop an information bomb, can you at least give me a second to —" Your sentence was cut short by her thumb slipping into your mouth. Wanda had managed to slip past your spider senses. It was odd considering you were definitely not calm nor did you trust her.

"I figured he didn't bother telling you the whole truth," Wanda's voice had gotten low and seductive. Her thumb pressed down on your tongue as she continued to monologue. Your squirming didn't phase her at all. "I could hear your thoughts the moment you stepped foot in the airport. So loud and frantic, but nothing but innocence and desire for approval. It's a shame I wasn't able to see you again after that. I was lost in a hex of my own deepest desires and do you know what was there?" A smile spread across her lips as she felt you relax out of curiosity. "The two of us, happily married with two children, and living in New Jersey."

The statement made you jump and start fighting again. Married with kids was definitely not on your list of goals in the next few months, living in New Jersey just sounded dreadful. You managed to get her thumb out of your mouth just long enough to speak. "I'm sorry to hear about your crazy magic thing, I'm not ready to settle down yet. Maybe come back in six years once I've graduated, yeah?"

Wanda binded your wrists with magic. Her hand came down on your cheek with all the strength she had. Despite her frustration, she was happy to see you were still as witty and innocent as the day you two met. "I think I have a plan you'll like." She smirked as she summoned the darkhold. It opened on its own. The book turned towards you and translated itself so you could understand it. "Your innocence," she said before ripping you suit, "and your body in exchange for the girl's safety."

Your eyes nearly popped out of your head. It certainly wasn't a fair deal, even more unfair once you looked over the spell presented to you. A womb tattoo magically etched into your skin that would give Wanda complete control over your libido, orgasms, and a bunch of other depraved things you hadn't even heard of before. Wanda definitely wasn't the woman you imagined would take your virginity, but it wasn't an offer you could refuse. Strange wasn't strong enough to defeat Wanda and letting America die wasn't an option in your mind.

You put on as brave a face as you could before speaking, "If you so much as lay a finger on that girl, the deal is off." Your voice faltered at the feeling of Wanda's lips pressed against your neck. A moan nearly escaped your lips when Wanda's hands began exploring your body. The skin of your lower stomach began to tingle. This was it. This was how you lost your virginity.

Wanda's lips curled into a smile. A real one that showed off her perfectly white bunny teeth. She was no longer concerned with America. You were all she needed now.

"I'm going to ruin you," She whispered, "and you're going to enjoy every moment of it."

You wanted her to be wrong. You wanted so badly to hate the way her hands felt against your bruised skin and the softness of her lips on your neck, but you couldn't. Months without affection left your body desperate for any form of human touch. It is shameful and almost disgusting.

"Shh, I'll treat you right. Just be good for me."

[beesinspades]

finally finished this piece inspired by my creature vash (vashwood) fic, the monster in the ruins of ship five, which is now complete! 💜

close-up on the eepy sleepies:

[madam-o]

Re the weird divide in the Beetlejuice fandom, which I really don't get

Fandom is so strange. Just liking Beetlejuice himself as a character has invited all manner of unusual kinks and personal interests into the fandom, and hey, the more the merrier. Beetlefans and netherlings are an assembly of interesting weirdos, so like, you do you. And obviously, this means that you should try not to judge or make assumptions about others based on your own feelings about their interests. Riiiight?

So, Beetlebabes as a ship has been around since the beginning of the fandom, and it certainly seems likely not to be going anywhere with the sequel. Now, my own personal stance on the pairing lies straight in the middle. I think Lydia and Beej have a beautiful friendship in the animated series and musical. They're such a great comedic duo and there's something very pure and sweet about this girl and her bug-man. Their relationship in the musical IS colored by the fact that they're both using and tricking each other a lot of the time, but they seem to have a mutual respect on this point and don't let it ruin their friendship, well until the topic of moms comes up, anyway.

In the movie, it's more complicated. BJ is motivated primarily by his desire to be free and couldn't care less about Lydia's problems. He also gets just a tad creepy with Lydia, though he's not over the top about it. He claims that he thinks that she "really understands me", which is a frickin weird thing to say about a kid who you talked to for like five minutes. But the pervy implications are kept to a minimum so as not to drive the movie into darker territory. His motivations are still kept as primarily a green card thing, although the viewer is still pretty grossed out by the forced, child-bride marriage.

Re BJ, I don't see him as a human or someone who really follows human rules. He's a supernatural creature who has a vague, outsider's understanding of what being human means. Even interpreting him as a ghost and not a demon, he's too different from a human to remember what being one is like. In the musical and cartoon, he relates to Lydia from a child's pov, but tries to behave like an adult with the Maitlands. He's neither, though. He's an unliving, essentially immortal Thing. And while Lydia clearly has a lot of affection for "her monster", she's not exactly into this gross, stinky, creepy old guy. As for BJ, he's very attached to Lydia, perhaps unhealthily so, but he's not being a sexual predator with her.

However, as a Beetlefan, I've seen that it's pretty natural to pair the two up romantically. I certainly shipped them as a kid. And yeah, it's kind of a weird ship, but Beetlejuice as a concept is just weird, period. Weirdness and age gaps are hardly anything new or unique in any part of the internet. Teen fans ship characters their own age with much older characters all the time, and it's not usually frowned upon. But in the Beetlejuice fandom, there appears to be a lot of ship-shaming and accusations of p3d0ph1lia when it comes to this teen/ancient monster pairing, which I'm guessing is a lot more of an internet drama thing than about the actual pairing itself.

Now to be clear, I don't ship teen Lydia with anyone, but I also acknowledge that she's not gonna stay a kid and that things could change between them.

Personally I like the idea of Lydia and BJ being reunited after spending several years apart and things being super weird and tense based on their history. I've become primarily a fan of the relationship dynamic they have in the musical, so I see them as being distrustful of each other and competitive about getting one over the other. But they still gel in a unique way, and they can't help but enjoy their messed-up frenemy thing. And I think the awkwardness of the teen bride thing should be leaned into rather than forgotten or brushed away.

Lydia (to BJ): You really fucked me up, you know. I was just a sad kid who you manipulated. You fuckin creep.

BJ (to Lydia): Yeah but at least I didn't literally STAB YOU THROUGH THE HEART, so...point to me, there.

This type of prickly, antagonistic relationship is like catnip to me, honestly. So it's pretty disappointing and sad that all this fandom drama crap can and probably will affect my ability to share and enjoy beetlebabes content because "beetlebabes dni" appears on so many profiles and posts. It's the kinda thing that makes fandom culture such a double-edged freaking sword. Why can't people ever just let people enjoy the thing they like and try to be respectful of each other, ya know?

[chuckeroo777]

Dungeon Meshi Volume 7 Part 3

Finishing up tonight's liveblog! Let's traumatize some dwarfs!

So... is it ever explained why there is all this gold? Did Thistle just think it would be funny to make "golden country" literal?

Interesting that even this early, Senshi may have been considering teaming up with the orcs. If the orcs can survive, why can't we?

Later, Senshi states that hippogriff soup is his favorite food. At the time, I interpreted this as Senshi really really liking the flavor, adding another layer to his trauma, that he might actually like being a cannibal. But I guess it's just his favorite because of the relief it brought.

That's neat. He managed to reverse engineer the dwarven navigation code all by himself.

Uh, no Laios. He left out ~70 years that occured where he lived around the island not eating monsters. He's like, 45 in tall-man years.

While I do like Chilchuck trying to look out for Senshi, I do like the anime cutting this bit. Leaving it ambiguous for the audience to figure out almost makes it more horrifying to consider.

Rocs are so cool. So many times you see them reduced to a more reasonable size, but sometimes you just need a really big freaking monster.

Fools! He's been five steps ahead of you the whole time!

Wait, if you knew hippogriffs are native to this dungeon, then why was your initial Falin imposter guess a griffin?

Sooo... how do you know it's hippogriff meat? What if it turned to pegasus? Or normal giant eagle?

A precious image. I think this is part of why I have trouble shipping anyone in this manga. Everyone is too goddamn wholesome. Also fittingly, this marks the halfway point of the manga, with the crew reaffirming their bond.

I used to think self-driving cars were the coolest thing. Then capitalism ruined it.

Yeah, but then you have to deal with the awkward mid-length phase where he looks like Falin.

Eww. Another good reason not to start that familiar cookbook.

I'm not giving you context. You can't make me. Also, why does the low-rez minotaur have completely different mammary anatomy than the high-rez one?

Is this worth checking out? Curious that I haven't heard a wink about it despite how deep in the meshi hole I am.

And that was volume 7! Join me next time as I venture into the forbidden world of post-anime chapters!

[susandsnell]

For the character ask game 4; 8; 21 for Daniel Molloy and 10; 20 for Madeleine Eparvier? If that's too many, just pick which ones you're most interested in obviously :)

Hi anon! Finally sitting down to do these. Thank you for your patience with this, and double thank you for being the first person to ask me things about that old man and that spectacular queen. Let's go! I'll put it under the cut because boy I'm about to get long-winded -- I blame you for giving me so much to work with!

CHARACTER ASK GAME!!! 💫

Daniel Molloy

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

You do not want to know the crossovers I've envisioned for this old man. Because of his meta role as the narrator, the messenger, and the archivist of the story, he fits surprisingly well into so many other pieces of media with the premise "what if he was the one investigating/interviewing the survivor". There are many other vampires I'd like him to interview (especially the ones from Tanz Der Vampire), and I'd love to see how a younger Daniel would fare in Fright Night (we all know how The Lost Boys would end for him..). But mostly, final girl that he is, I think he'd rock it in other horror media; the thing that has plagued him and enthralled him all his life. The thing he has begged for and run from. I wonder if The Ring's Rachel Keller was a former student or colleague of his, and if she'd enlist his help with respect to breaking the story on cursed video tapes. I want to see him in a Se7en or Longlegs type of neonoir slasher, sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, and yet coming through when it counts. I think that I would want to personally beat him to death myself for the things he'd say to Dani Ardor (Dan to Dan communication), but he's actually proven himself to be solid at deprogramming someone subjected to intense gaslighting (and very good at ruining relationships, including those that aren't his own!), and if he can keep the insanely misogynistic comments to a minimum for more than five minutes, he might've been able to get her away from the Harga by talking sense.

And finally, in what must make me the greatest parody of myself fathomable, yes, I think Daniel Molloy should investigate and probably write the retrospective on the Black Prom of Stephen King's Carrie. I've frequently joked that for all the addiction trouble, marital and familial trouble, and insanely out of pocket offensive comments, he's a Stephen King author avatar guesting at Manderley or perhaps Wuthering Heights.

But all seriousness, you have Sue Snell, who wrote her own autobiography of the horrific and targic events for which she wound up both scapegoated and disbelieved. Given his nose for the supernatural/preternatural, Daniel would follow where that thread leads and maybe help her find some peace in the process. The two certainly have a lot in common; both did fucking horrible things as a teenager for which they later faced an insanely disproportionate retribution, both have curly hair (usually in Sue's case), both are heavily coded to be repressing queerness leading them to unfulfilling heteronormative relationships/plans for unhappy family life, both take the role of the archivist and messenger to shape the horrors they lived into a narrative - their narrative - before the world will make of it what it will. Both fell in love with their monster(s). Both are fucking SURVIVORS.

(I kind of want to write this now...)

8. What’s something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Honestly, I don't want to rehash bad discourse from twitter, so I'll just say exaggerating his very apparent flaws to thoughtlessly trigger people in the interest of winning a morality contest in this of all franchises. On the flipside of that, reducing him to his ship with Armand -- I've been very vocal regarding how much I despise the Armand Is Alice theory, and so long as it persists I'll continue. Not because of this or that headcanon, but it's phenomenally misogynistic to erase women we haven't even seen onscreen yet for slash because eewwww no girls allowed. Like what in the circa 2007 misogynistic yaoi livejournal, TJLC ass theory are we doing here. But also because it would be terrible writing. The emotional impact of old Maniel as a character concept is that he's lived a full life, accomplished incredible things, and had relationships that were meaningful and that he also destroyed. He has these things because of Louis' rescue of him and Louis' words, and when they see each other again in 2022, the tangible impact of his great deed are written in every line on Daniel's face. I don't mind 'the Chase happened' truthers at all, but my God, you undercut everything when you suggest that it's Oops, All Armand, meaning Daniel never had a life fully lived and failings and triumphs he carries with him. You also ironically make DM less interesting by making him the only person in Daniel's life of any significance. Just. Take the character as we got him, my god.

21. If you’re a fic writer and have written for this character, what’s your favorite thing to do when you’re writing for this character? What’s something you don’t like?

I have a whole Thing about how I'm a strident feminist who somehow hitched her wagon to this geriatric misogynist, but it is a part of his very distinctive voice, so I do like to dig deep with "what's the thing a man could say that would piss me off the most", and then I run it through the canon content (since his character voice is very particular and distinct), plus some meta works with Eric Bogosian, to see if it fits, sprinkle in some Freak Shit, and bada bing bada boom, we've got our favourite asshole. It's weirdly cathartic in a way? Exorcising demons of shitty men I've dealt with or known of I guess lmao. I would say in sappier moods I like looking for the gentleness and the silver lining underneath the ten layers of Having No Limits, and when I hit on what's tender but still plausible, aka my favourite Daniel moments? No better feeling.

The flipside of this, being what I don't like, is that keeping that voice up is hard and it is a challenge to stay as sharp and ten steps ahead as he is. Need to brush up on some Columbo, I think...

Madeleine Éparvier

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

My heart would really, really, really love to say yes, but my gut and my brain say a definitive no. For one thing, while they make it very, very clear she's not a Collaborator or antisemitic in the slightest, the way her wartime affair came about and her later actions betrays an amorality in those circumstances that I probably wouldn't be able to look past, outsiders though we both may be. I'm also one for obsessive morality-related thoughts in general, so I don't think this would jell especially well with her survivalist mentality. I'm also fluent in French but it's not my first language, so that would likely get on her nerves. And while we'd share an interest in fashion and I'd commend her for her tastes in both clothes and women, I feel like she'd see me as a bootlicker for my legal education lolol.

And most importantly - Madeleine is incredibly mean. It's hot, it's funny, it's sexy, but I am profoundly oversensitive, and she would absolutely make me cry several times lmao. I don't really know if there's any character on this show I'd be able to get along with because everyone is so delightfully awful and also, you know, murderous. But that's why it's fun!

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn’t matter?

Well, Claudia is her companion and soulmate, so that's the easy answer; they complete each other in a way that no one ever quite has. Two outcasts, two people brutally mistreated in societies to which they were supposed to belong, two women carrying pain and humour and brutality and softness, and growing flowers over the corpses they leave in their wake. She is the X at the end of Claudia's long journey, the reason she doesn't leap in the fire who did not think twice about burning at her side; she is the only one who reads Claudia's diaries with permission. Claudia is her window to the wider world, her rescuer twice-over, and the only person who meets her where she is, in strangeness and violence and joy, in sucking the marrow from the bones you leave behind you.

So...'best friend' is probably a very light way of putting it lolol.

But also? I genuinely think she'd get along with Daniel. Two unapologetic amoral assholes who defiantly faced their past trauma to sacrifice themselves for the one they loved. And they both bully Armand, too!

Thank you so much for this! Apologies again for the length.

[simplegenius042]

Late OCs as Horror Themes/Tropes, Ships as Tarot Cards, and 15 Lines or Less Tag

Tagged by @nightbloodbix @aceghosts @inafieldofdaisies @voidika @direwombat and @g0dspeeed

Tagging @socially-awkward-skeleton @softtidesworld @strafethesesinners @strangefable @adelaidedrubman @wrathfulrook @corvosattano @cassietrn @derelictheretic @shellibisshe @florbelles @cloudofbutterflies92 @starsandskies @onehornedbeast @josephslittledeputy @josephseedismyfather @afarcryfrommymain @megraen @turbo-virgins @minilev @carlosoliveiraa @shallow-gravy @titiagls @thewanderer-000 @snake-in-the-garden @purplehairsecretlair @chazz-anova @ladyoriza @la-grosse-patate @skoll-sun-eater @yokobai @bitchofedensgate @deputyash @ec-10 @foofygoldfish @gaeadene @henbased @vampireninjabunnies-blog and @trashcatsnark

You can find the OCs as Horror Themes/Tropes quiz here and the Ships as Tarot Cards quiz here. One OC for the first quiz, Two Ships for the second quiz, and three OCs for five lines each for the 15. The results and lines are below the cut:

DISCORD, THE MAD KIN OF CARNAGE (A Radioactive Calamity Of Love, Bombs & Gore and the Unnamed Original Works Trilogy)

Discord was a second-generation reality bender (or more commonly known as "Kin"), and one of the most devastatingly powerful as well. His very presence was capable of reverting anything and everything around him back to its basic essential form/s (until it became rusted, rotten, and/or dust and eventually nothing at all). Had technically been killed during the Extermination Purge War, however, Arcane Urias' Chapter of the Occult, a group of warlocks, liches and dark magic users that aimed to preserve ancient magic (regardless if it was forbidden or destructive) and bring back the Old Kin (which mostly consist of the extinct first, second and third generations, as well as some fourth) to rule over the Multiverse once again, had found a way to bring back Discord, in a universe where Earth had been ravaged by nuclear war. NOTE: This result kind of describes how Discord's second death more-or-less is like.

THE BAPTIST AND THE QUOKKA [JOHN SEED X NADI SINCLAIR] (Far Cry The Silver Chronicles)

While Nadi and John have this "loyally serving the other while yearning for each others love but beating around the bush due to bad timings and stuff and still caring and possessive of the other to an obsessively unhealthy degree"... I will have to say that Nadi's affection isn't John's only priority; Joseph and his family plus the project is John's focus and is probably what he would choose over Nadi. Nadi though views John as the person who gave her something to believe in again, to put her skill and faith in (especially after losing faith in the military and governments after the events of Call To Arms), so to her, Eden's Gate' faith is personified by John. But if either lose each one another, it will greatly impact the other's life.

HAOYU ANABUKI X ICARUS GALATOS (Life, Despair & Monsters)

Ah yes, another main LGBTQ+ couple I made to add to my collection alongside Sonya and Jennifer. Haoyu (Non-Binary, 25) and Icarus (Male, 23) fit each other well. At first both thought the other was a jerk. However, both got to know each other, related about their experiences with distant, long-lost and/or found family (Haoyu with their father, mother and Monika plus the Literature Club, and Icarus with his parents, siblings, alters and the Dupain-Cheng Family), coming to terms with their personal lives (Haoyu with their ability to open portals and travel through reality breaches, and Icarus plus his alters with the ability to switch dimensions with this magic fungus dude named Hatter whom one of the alters had eaten inadvertently on a dare), as well as near-death experiences (Haoyu with the Ruins of the Midnight Rise, and Icarus with Evermond Scowlzka trying to dissect him and his alters to get Hatter) plus their encounters with Sir Enigma Malvolio (Haoyu is Malvolio's foil and therefore targeted as a rival, and Icarus, while never meeting Malvolio until much later, had seen the aftereffects of Malvolio putting the essence of the Court King into a close friend of his, Marinette Dupain-Cheng). They also manage to work through each other's flaws; Icarus was reserved and arrogant but self-sacrificing (hence the requirement for his alters, Hatsukami Hinode and Xavier Tulip), and Haoyu was bold and selfish yet unambitious. Icarus teaches Haoyu how to be driven, pointing them towards a goal beneficial to not only them, but everyone, while Haoyu taught Icarus how to listen and take care of himself more, as well as be open-minded. Wherever they end up after the fight with the Ruins of the Midnight Rise, know that they're both at least together.

15 LINES, 5 EACH FOR 3 OCS IN THE UNTITLEDVERSE

Calvin Darling (The Perfect Storm saga)

"Ah, back in this shit again?" He grumbles, getting up.

"Haven't you learned by now? "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall"," Calvin quoted, "Try to checkmate that, you pompous dick."

"I need a drink," Calvin pauses, reminding himself of another task, "But first I shall pray."

"Mario! I'm a cartoonist, not a mechanic."

"...I'm simultaneously impressed by how smart you can be but also disappointed in how stupid you are."

Rick Thompson (The Omniscience Rule saga and The Ender saga)

6. "I don't remember hunting down clowns to be part of the initiative...?" 7. "My dream came true Ma... I am IN a Musical." 8. "Ms Darling, if I may compliment outside of regulations, you're stunning beauty is increased tenfold by the stellar addition of grime and demons blood." 9. "I may be an agent, but I'm no where near professional." 10. "Ian Graveheart is the kind of man Pa described as the worst combination you can give a loaded weapon without safety on... legs and batshit insanity."

Urijah Calaghan (The UnTitled Stories (from The Omniscience Rule saga) and The UnTitled Ventures saga)

11. "You don't matter. Nothing matters. Nothing except this mission." 12. "How cruel are our lives where we must live out a path hostile to our treading feet as the unknown entities above and beyond mock and degrade us? And what fate awaits us then? Release? Freedom? Death? A second round for your soul to enter the world again and go right back into the cosmic mechanism that grinds us down again and again and again like a broken carousel? Or a decrepit record stuck spinning on the same tune? But that's only if you're lucky enough to die." 13. "My mission is to release us, painlessly and mercifully, from the one who holds onto us; the Hand at Fate's Table, one abhorrently callous and cruel enough to take pleasure in the suffering he puts us through." 14. "You must find this tiring. For a man to commit himself against an endless stream of challenges for what is ultimately a short speck of time in our universes must come at a great unnecessary cost to your body. Do you not wish to rest, Joaquin? Wouldn't it be best to live the final minutes of your life resting? Taking a moment to hold your family one last time before our Peace?" Urijah softly questioned. 15. "That doesn't matter," Urijah softly breathes out with a smile, hot air colliding against the cold breeze as the countdown reaches its conclusion.

[holycatsandrabbits]

From OTP to OC’s: How to scrub your favorite fandom couple into original characters

Plot out a completely new story that you are dying to write—because all your favorite stuff is still there.

If you’re a fanfiction writer, you probably have at least one OTP (One True Pairing, meaning your favorite fictional romantic couple). You might have written them a beautiful story (or thirty) on AO3.

But at some point, you may want to take your OTP out of fandom and into the world of original fiction. Possibly because it makes your writing accessible to people who aren’t part of your fandom, and possibly (probably) because unlike fanfic, for original fiction, you can actually get paid.

So how on earth do you take other people’s characters and make them your own, without getting rid of the fire that sparks your muse?

In my journey from fanfic to original fic, I started by writing AUs (alternate universes) of my first OTP, Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens. In an AU, you are making big changes to the source material, but leaving in most of what your fandom loves about the characters. In a Good Omens AU, Aziraphale and Crowley are often human instead of angel and demon, but the basic enemies-to-lovers trope usually remains, along with the personalities of the characters, and as many similarities to the original story as you can fit in.

Scrubbing (that really is the technical term) fandom all the way to original is the same process, it just goes farther. When you’re done scrubbing, the only things left about your OTP will be the pieces you as a writer can’t live without.

So what are those pieces? Well, it’s entirely subjective. But you can follow these five steps to find them:

1. List your characters’ traits

We’re going to take as example an OTP I am currently scrubbing, which is just as cringy as all of your OTP’s: Link and Sidon from The Legend of Zelda Nintendo games. You don’t need to have any idea who that is to follow this article. But here are their character traits, the good and the flaws:

Link: human (or elf?) male, great hero of legend, very good at fighting, quiet, private, helpful, mischievous, possibly in love with someone he doesn’t remember (Princess Zelda), guilty, and haunted by past failures.

Sidon: 7-foot-tall shark man, gregarious, ridiculously optimistic and complimentary, charming, nerdy, sometimes over-confident, a good fighter, ages slowly compared to humans (or elves), and oh yeah, he’s a prince. 

Note that these don’t have to be the traits the fandom at large assigns to these characters. This is the way you see them.

2. List your ship’s tropes

“Ship” is short for relationship, in this case our romance. So for these dudes, we have: human/nonhuman or human/monster, royal/commoner, long lifespan/short lifespan, and size difference.

3. List your plot’s main points

In the two games that have Sidon (Link’s in all the games), Link has to go to four different places and help four different peoples (leaving Sidon behind), then beat a bad guy in a castle, and save the world.

4. Scrub in

Now we’re ready for the operation. You’re going to go through everything you listed and start throwing things out. As you do, ask yourself this question: Does my heart still race? 

If you take out a piece and your muse is still humming for this OTP, then let it go. But if the absence of that part ruins the whole thing for you, then leave it in. Remember, you don’t want people to recognize this as a certain fandom or ship, so take out everything you possibly can.

So for the Link/Sidon ship, I’m asking myself, Does it matter (to me) that one is royalty? Does it matter that they age differently? Does it matter that one’s two feet taller? Does it matter that one is a monster? Do I still need to have a save-the-world plot? Do I still need them to be separated sometimes during the story? And so on. Again, this is entirely subjective: leave in only what floats your personal boat.

5. Make it weird

You have your list! Congrats! Now it’s time to change every other detail you can, because you want to make your story as different from the original as possible.

Let’s say I decide I really want to keep my monster character. Then it definitely shouldn’t be a shark man like Sidon. So I’m asking myself the same kinds of questions: Does it matter (to me) that he’s seven feet tall? Does it matter that he has sharp teeth? Does it matter that he can breathe underwater? And so on. 

Perhaps the only thing I really care about is my monster’s size. In that case, I need to come up with a large humanoid creature that’s as different from a shark as possible: maybe a centaur, bear shapeshifter, giant alien bird person, or scientist that had an accident in the cloning lab. 

Let character and plot shape each other into a completely new story that you are dying to write—because all your favorite stuff is still there.

Here are two original stories I wrote based on fandom ships:

You Don’t Say: When two fake psychic con men who secretly pine for each other are forced to work together to solve a disappearance, they discover that one of them is actually psychic. But which one? This is Aziraphale and Crowley, with the tropes of enemies-to-lovers, dorkiness, and bickerflirting preserved, along with elements of magic. Turns out those were the only pieces I couldn’t let go, and the resulting story is nothing like Good Omens, but was really fun to write.

Bloom: A shy older man with magical abilities becomes the muse of a beautiful young male artist. This comes from one of my OTPs from the 2018 TV show The Terror: John Bridgens and Henry Peglar, an older man/younger man, teacher/student ship. I left in the age difference (toned down quite a bit), and kept the outgoing/shy trope, but changed the teacher into an artist’s muse with a gift of magic. This story has very little in common with a horror show about Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1840’s arctic expedition—except the few parts I couldn’t live without.

There is one major disadvantage for a fanfic writer moving to original fiction: you will not get nearly as many readers for original fic. But remember, readers in your fandom are there because they love the same character traits and tropes you do, some of which will be preserved in your story. You may not have as many readers, but you will get some fans of your own! And maybe even some sales.

Thanks for reading! Speaking of sales—here’s how I do it: How to publish a short story

Looking for more inspiration? Get some weird writing prompts. 

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Resources for Writers

Image credit

[teddymoon06]

Close to the edge

Chapter Five: Shadows of Survival

The streets of Seoul were a graveyard of the past, once filled with life but now coated in the eerie silence of death. Every step Y/N and Yeonghu took felt heavier, the weight of their losses making each moment seem fragile. The night air was cold, a biting reminder that the world they knew was long gone, replaced by a brutal landscape of monsters and fear.

The only sounds were the occasional rustle of debris caught in the wind, and the quiet shuffle of their footsteps. Y/N's leg burned with pain, but she forced herself to keep moving. The bandage Yeonghu had wrapped around her side was tight, but the ache in her body reminded her just how close she had come to losing everything.

Yeonghu moved ahead, his gaze constantly shifting, scanning the dark streets for any sign of danger. He had always been protective, even more so now that the world was overrun with these monstrous creatures. Despite his strength and resilience, there was an unspoken burden in his eyes—Ji-su's death had hit him hard. But he kept going, the same way they all had to.

"We’ll head west," Yeonghu said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. "There’s an old storage facility near the river. We can hole up there for the night."

Y/N nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line. The adrenaline from their earlier escape had worn off, leaving only the cold reality of their situation. They were on their own, and each day seemed more impossible than the last.

They moved through the city’s labyrinth of ruined streets, passing abandoned vehicles and toppled streetlights. Shadows danced in the corners of her vision, and every sound made Y/N jump, expecting another attack at any moment. But for now, the streets seemed mercifully empty.

"You think the others are okay?" Y/N asked, breaking the silence. Her voice wavered slightly, betraying her worry.

Yeonghu’s jaw tightened as he stared straight ahead. "We have to believe they are," he replied, though the uncertainty in his voice was hard to miss. "If anyone can survive out there, it’s them. We’ll find them."

Y/N wanted to believe him, but doubt gnawed at her insides. Every day the monsters grew more relentless, more dangerous. They had lost so much already. How many more times could they narrowly escape death before it finally caught up with them?

As they turned the corner, the storage facility came into view—a squat, unassuming building on the outskirts of the city. Its windows were dark, and the metal gate that surrounded it was rusted and bent in places, but it was better than nothing.

"Let’s check it out first," Yeonghu said, his voice low as he signaled for her to stay behind him. He approached the gate cautiously, pushing it open with a slow, measured movement. The creak of the metal echoed in the still night, making Y/N’s heart race.

The yard was littered with old crates and shipping containers, the perfect hiding spots for any lurking creatures. Y/N’s grip on her pipe tightened as she followed Yeonghu inside, her nerves on edge.

The main entrance to the building was partially open, the heavy metal door hanging crooked on its hinges. Yeonghu stepped inside first, his bat at the ready. Y/N followed closely behind, her breath catching in her throat as they entered the dark, empty space.

The interior was just as abandoned as the outside. Rows of old storage units lined the walls, their doors mostly shut. A few had been forced open, revealing piles of debris and forgotten possessions. The air was musty, thick with the scent of rust and mildew.

"Clear for now," Yeonghu said, after checking the immediate area. "We’ll take the corner unit over there. It looks secure enough."

Y/N nodded and followed him to the far end of the room, where an old metal storage unit sat. Yeonghu pulled the door open, revealing a small, enclosed space. It wasn’t much, but it would provide them with cover for the night.

They stepped inside, and Yeonghu pulled the door shut, leaving just a crack for them to see outside. The silence that followed was deafening.

Y/N sat down on the cold floor, her back against the wall as she exhaled a long, shaky breath. The pain in her leg was throbbing now, the earlier burst of adrenaline completely gone.

"You alright?" Yeonghu asked, his voice softer now that they were out of immediate danger. He glanced at her leg, concern flickering in his eyes.

"Yeah," Y/N lied, not wanting to seem weak. "Just tired."

Yeonghu didn’t press her, but his gaze lingered on her for a moment longer before he sat down across from her, resting his bat against the wall. The dim light that filtered through the crack in the door cast long shadows on the floor, making the small space feel even more suffocating.

For a while, neither of them spoke. The weight of everything they had gone through pressed down on them like a heavy fog. The silence felt suffocating, but Y/N didn’t know what to say. Every word seemed meaningless compared to the enormity of the world they had lost.

"Do you think it’ll ever get better?" Y/N asked quietly, breaking the silence. She wasn’t even sure what she meant by that question—better could mean so many things now.

Yeonghu leaned his head back against the wall, staring at the ceiling. "I don’t know," he said after a long pause. "I used to think there was a way to fix this. To rebuild. But now…"

His voice trailed off, and Y/N could hear the weariness in it—the same weariness that had settled deep inside her. The world wasn’t just broken anymore; it was shattered, and no amount of hope could change that.

"We just have to keep surviving," Yeonghu added, his voice barely above a whisper. "That’s all we can do now."

Y/N nodded, though her heart ached at the thought. Surviving wasn’t the same as living. Not anymore. But maybe that was all they had left.

As the night dragged on, the weight of exhaustion finally began to pull at Y/N’s eyelids. The pain in her leg dulled into a constant throb, and her body ached from the strain of their escape. She curled up against the cold wall, her mind drifting in and out of uneasy sleep.

The last thing she saw before sleep claimed her was Yeonghu, sitting quietly in the dark, his eyes scanning the shadows outside.

Hours passed, and the cold night wore on. Y/N woke to the faint sound of movement outside, her heart instantly racing. She sat up, blinking groggily as her senses sharpened.

Yeonghu was already awake, his body tense as he crouched by the door, peering through the small crack. His hand gripped his bat tightly, his muscles coiled and ready for action.

Y/N crawled over to him, her pulse quickening. "What is it?" she whispered, her voice barely audible.

"Something’s out there," he replied, his voice low. "Stay quiet."

Y/N pressed herself against the wall, her breath shallow as she listened. At first, all she could hear was the wind rustling through the debris outside, but then—there. A faint shuffle, followed by the soft crunch of footsteps on gravel.

It wasn’t the monsters. The movements were too deliberate, too careful.

Someone was out there.

Yeonghu’s eyes narrowed as he listened, his posture rigid. "We need to move. Now," he whispered, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the back of the unit. He gestured toward a small, broken vent in the wall. It was narrow, but they could squeeze through if they were careful.

Y/N’s heart pounded as she followed Yeonghu’s lead, crawling through the vent as quietly as possible. The cold air stung her skin as they emerged into the alleyway behind the building. They crouched low, hiding in the shadows.

Footsteps approached the front of the storage facility, and Y/N held her breath. Whoever was out there was getting closer.

Yeonghu motioned for her to stay low, his hand tightening around his bat. They couldn’t afford to be found—not here, not like this.

As the footsteps grew louder, Y/N’s mind raced. Were they friend or foe? Either way, it didn’t matter. Trust was a luxury they couldn’t afford anymore.

Not in this world.

The footsteps grew louder and more distinct as they approached the entrance of the storage facility. Y/N’s breath caught in her throat as she and Yeonghu crouched in the shadows of the alleyway, their bodies pressed close to the cold, damp brick wall. The sounds of movement were deliberate and steady, and they seemed to belong to someone who knew exactly where they were going.

Yeonghu's eyes remained fixed on the entrance, his grip on the bat so tight his knuckles had gone white. Y/N could feel her heart pounding in her chest, each beat echoing louder than the approaching footsteps. She wanted to ask Yeonghu what the plan was, but now was not the time for questions.

From their hidden vantage point, Y/N saw a figure emerge into the narrow beam of light cast by a flickering streetlamp. The person was tall, dressed in dark clothing that seemed to blend seamlessly with the surrounding gloom. Their movements were cautious, yet purposeful, and they carried an old backpack slung over one shoulder.

Yeonghu tensed beside her, his body coiled and ready. He glanced at Y/N, his eyes conveying a mix of urgency and caution. She nodded slightly, her eyes fixed on the newcomer. If this person was a threat, they needed to be ready.

The stranger stopped at the door of the storage facility, pausing to listen. The footsteps had stopped, but the stranger's demeanor suggested they weren’t alone. They seemed to be waiting, their head swiveling to scan the area.

Y/N held her breath, the tension in the air almost tangible. Yeonghu slowly reached into his bag, pulling out a knife he had kept hidden. He offered a silent nod to Y/N, who took a deep breath and prepared herself.

Just as the stranger was about to push open the door, they froze, their head snapping toward the alley. Y/N's heart leapt into her throat as she realized the stranger had heard something—perhaps their quiet breathing or the faint sound of movement.

Yeonghu raised a hand, signaling for Y/N to stay put, and he slowly moved forward, his footsteps light and deliberate. He intended to get close enough to assess the situation without being noticed. Y/N remained hidden, her eyes never leaving the stranger.

The stranger turned their body toward the alley, the dim light revealing a face partially obscured by a hood. For a moment, Y/N couldn’t see clearly—only the sense of unease that gripped her. Then, the figure spoke, their voice low and cautious.

“Is someone there?”

The voice was calm but carried an edge of authority. It was neither threatening nor friendly, but it was clear the stranger was prepared for trouble. Y/N's grip on her weapon tightened.

Yeonghu stepped into the faint light, holding his knife in a non-threatening manner. “We don’t want any trouble,” he said, his voice steady. “Just trying to stay alive like everyone else.”

The stranger’s eyes narrowed as they studied Yeonghu, and then Y/N, who remained in the shadows. They seemed to weigh their options carefully before speaking again. “I could say the same. But you’ve picked a bad place to hide if you’re not prepared.”

Yeonghu raised an eyebrow, his gaze unwavering. “We’ve been through a lot tonight. We’re not looking for a fight.”

The stranger seemed to consider this for a moment, their eyes flicking over Yeonghu’s face and then to Y/N. “I’m not looking for a fight either,” they said finally. “But this place is far from secure. You’d be better off moving on.”

Y/N shifted slightly, trying to get a better look at the stranger’s face, but the shadows and the hood obscured much of it. She noticed the backpack they carried was worn but appeared to be well-stocked. The stranger’s tone suggested experience, and Y/N couldn’t help but wonder what their intentions were.

“Who are you?” Yeonghu asked, his voice guarded.

The stranger tilted their head slightly, as if assessing whether to reveal anything further. “Names don’t matter much these days. You can call me Alex. I know this city well and can offer some advice, but I don’t stick around long.”

Yeonghu frowned. “Advice?”

Alex nodded. “The area’s crawling with scavengers and worse. If you’re looking for a safe place, you need to avoid the usual routes. There’s a safe house a few miles from here, but it’s well-hidden. I can show you if you’re willing to trust me.”

Yeonghu hesitated, his eyes shifting to Y/N. She could see the indecision in his expression. Trust was a luxury, but it was also necessary. They were running low on options and energy.

“We don’t have much choice,” Y/N said softly, voicing the thought that had been on both of their minds. “If there’s a chance for safety, we should take it.”

Yeonghu met her gaze and nodded, finally turning back to Alex. “Alright. We’ll follow you.”

Alex nodded, giving a small, approving smile. “Good choice. Follow me, and keep quiet.”

They moved cautiously, with Alex leading the way through a series of darkened streets and alleys. The moon was their only source of light, casting long shadows that danced around them. The journey was tense, with each sound making them more alert, but Alex seemed to know the safest paths to avoid any unnecessary encounters.

After what felt like hours of winding through the deserted cityscape, they arrived at an old, abandoned warehouse that was hidden behind a maze of overgrown foliage. The place looked decrepit, but Alex led them inside with a practiced ease, revealing a surprisingly well-maintained interior.

Inside, the warehouse was spacious and clean, with a few makeshift beds and supplies neatly organized in various corners. There were also several maps and plans pinned to the walls, indicating a level of preparation that was both reassuring and intimidating.

“This is where I lay low when things get too hot,” Alex said, setting down the backpack and turning to face them. “It’s not perfect, but it’s secure.”

Yeonghu took a moment to look around, then nodded appreciatively. “Thanks for bringing us here. We needed this.”

Alex shrugged slightly. “Don’t mention it. Just remember, the city’s not safe. There are more of those creatures, and scavengers are always a threat. Be careful.”

Y/N could see the seriousness in Alex’s eyes. They clearly understood the dangers of this new world, and while their offer of help was a lifeline, it came with its own risks.

“We will,” Yeonghu said. “We’ve lost too much to take unnecessary chances.”

Alex gave a curt nod. “Get some rest. I’ll keep watch for a while. It’s best to be cautious.”

Y/N and Yeonghu settled into the makeshift beds, the exhaustion from the night’s events weighing heavily on them. As Y/N lay down, she stared at the ceiling, her mind racing with thoughts of what lay ahead. The loss of Ji-su, their narrow escape, and the uncertainty of their situation all mingled together in a jumble of anxiety.

Yeonghu lay beside her, his face hidden in the shadows but his presence a comforting reminder that she wasn’t alone. Despite everything, there was still a glimmer of hope—a small, flickering flame that they might find their way through this darkness.

As sleep finally claimed her, Y/N tried to push away the fears and doubts that plagued her mind. The world had changed beyond recognition, but as long as they fought to survive, there was still a chance. And for now, that was enough.

The night was long and restless, but the safety of the warehouse provided a temporary reprieve from the horrors of the outside world. Y/N and Yeonghu slept fitfully, their dreams haunted by the faces they had lost and the dangers that still lurked in the shadows.

As dawn broke, the first light of day crept through the grime-covered windows of the warehouse, casting a soft glow over the room. Y/N awoke to find Yeonghu already up, his silhouette against the light as he studied the maps on the wall.

“Morning,” she murmured, her voice still groggy from sleep.

Yeonghu looked up, his expression a mix of concern and determination. “Morning. We need to figure out our next move. Alex mentioned a safe house, and we should check it out as soon as we can.”

Y/N nodded, pushing herself up and wincing slightly at the pain in her leg. “Agreed. But we should also take some time to rest and regroup. We can’t keep pushing ourselves like this.”

Yeonghu’s gaze softened. “I know. We’ll take it slow, make sure we’re ready.”

As they prepared to leave the warehouse, Y/N couldn’t shake the feeling that their journey was far from over. The world was full of threats, and each step they took seemed to bring them closer to a new challenge. But as long as they had each other, there was hope. And in this new world, hope was a precious commodity.

They met Alex outside, who had prepared some supplies for them—food, water, and a few basic weapons. The stranger’s knowledge of the city and its dangers would be invaluable, and Y/N hoped that, despite the uncertain trust, they could navigate this chaotic world together.

With renewed determination, they set out toward the safe house, ready to face whatever lay ahead. The road was uncertain, but they were not alone. And sometimes, that was enough to keep moving forward.

Next | Previous

[marcmarcmomarc]

Miraculous

Chapter 11: Lila’s Evildoing

(In Paris, Lila stares out her window. Mrs. Rossi comes in.)

MRS. ROSSI: Hey, Lila.

(Lila doesn’t look at her.)

MRS. ROSSI: I know you’ve been dishonest with me about so much. And I think it’s important that we talk about it.

LILA: I suppose, but not now.

MRS. ROSSI: I see. I’ve gotta go. Ciao, mi bella.

(Mrs. Rossi leaves. Lila glances back, then smirks. She jumps out of her window to the street right outside her house. Later, she arrives at an alley.)

LILA: Alright. Whoever you guys are, you can come out now.

(Evelyn Deavor, Morag, Smek, Velvet, Shelbourne, Henry J. Waternoose, Randall Boggs, Johnny Worthington, Victor “Vector” Perkins, Eduardo “El Macho” Perez, Balthazar Bratt, Scarlet and Herb Overkill, the Vicious Six, and Bela step out of the shadows.)

LILA: Ah, fellow villains, I see?

EVELYN: I’m Evelyn Deavor. My do-good brother created DEVTech and brought Supers back into the light. I attempted to keep them illegal by making them look bad with hypnotism. My alter-ego was the Screenslaver.

MORAG: I’m Morag. I was the rightful ruler of Scotland, and then the Loud family ruined it for me!

SMEK: I am Smek. I was captain of the Boov race until Oh became the first Boov to run toward the danger, toward a Gorg ship, and took over.

VELVET: I’m Velvet. My brother and I were music stars who used Trolls to boost our singing, until that little scab Queen Poppy and her boyfriend exposed us and got us arrested!

SHELBOURNE: I’m Shelbourne. I was the mayor of Swallow Falls. But then Flint Lockwood and his food machine saved the town.

WATERNOOSE: I’m Henry J. Waternoose. I was the CEO of Monsters, Incorporated, before James P. Sullivan exposed that I would kidnap a thousand children and extract their screams to keep Monstropolis’ power running before I’d let the company die.

RANDALL: I’m Randall Boggs. The second-best Scarer in the business. So close behind Sullivan. I also made the Scream Extractor to assist Waternoose’s scheme.

JOHNNY: I am Johnny Worthington III, president of Roar Omega Roar. Boggs and I attempted to work together to make Laugh Power look bad to stick it to Sullivan. Unfortunately, my assistant ratted us out.

VECTOR: I’m Victor Perkins. I call myself Vector. After I stole the Pyramid of Giza, Gru tried to one-up me by stealing the moon.

EL MACHO: Yo soy Eduardo Perez, aka El Macho. I once worked with Agent Gru’s scientist to make indestructible killing machines out of his Minions.

BRATT: I’m Balthazar Bratt. I was a star on an 80’s TV show, Evil Bratt. But then Hollywood rejected me once I hit puberty and had a growth spurt.

MAXIME: I am Maxime Le Mal. I’ve wanted to get my revenge on Gru since he upstaged me at the school talent show.

VALENTINA: I’m his girlfriend, Valentina.

SCARLET: I am Scarlet Overkill, the world’s first female supervillain. I wanted to overthrow England and have the crown for myself, but the Minions betrayed me.

HERB: I’m Scarlet’s husband and master of gadgetry, Herb.

BELLE: I’m Belle Bottom. Leader of the Vicious Six.

JEAN-CLAWED: Jean-Clawed.

SVENGEANCE: Svengeance.

STRONGHOLD: Stronghold.

NUN-CHUCK: And Nun-Chuck.

LILA: Isn’t that only five of you?

BELLE: Wild Knuckles. He was our leader, before we abandoned him.

BELA: I am Bela. Normally, I don’t work with humans, but any enemy of Dupain-Cheng is an ally of mine.

AUSTIN: And I’m Austin Holden, aka ASLB247. I once tried to reveal Ladybug and Cat Noir’s identities at a panel and was humiliated by them for it.

(Meanwhile, Hawk Moth’s lair window opens.)

HAWK MOTH: Ooh. An embarrassed fan who wishes to reveal Ladybug and Cat Noir? Easy akuma prey.

(A white butterfly lands in his open hand. He turns it into an akuma and sends it out.)

HAWK MOTH: Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize him!

(The akuma flutters over the city and eventually reaches Austin’s sword.)

LILA: Check it out, Austin. An akuma.

AUSTIN: Hawk Moth, I am Austin Holden. Ladybug and Cat Noir’s Miraculous you want? Their Miraculous you’ll get.

HAWK MOTH: And you will be able to track them down as The Huntsman.

(The purple akuma smoke engulfs him, then dissipates, revealing him now wearing his Huntsman cosplay.)

LILA: Ooh, cool look. Villains, round out!

(The villains surround Lila, having elected her as their undisputed leader.)

LILA: We are gonna fight hard for this territory and it’s ours. But with these mouth-breathing fools serving as cover, we won’t get it.

SMEK: As of now, Adrien and his group have already tried one attempt to get Marinette back. They are in the midst of making another, but no matter how much they try, she’ll never be convinced.

LILA: Nice. Meanwhile, we’re here about to make this city our own. Small turf, I know, but it’s all we’ve got. I wanna hold this city like we always held it. With skin! I say I want us evil folk to sail, to hold the sky!

VECTOR: Then rev us off. Voom-va voom!

VELVET: Chung-chung!

RANDALL: Cracko, jacko!

EVELYN: Pam-pam!

BRATT: Riga-diga-dum!

LILA: OK, fellas, we’re taking this city!

LILA: (SINGING) When you’re evil, you’re evil all the way From your first felony ‘till your last dying day When you’re evil, let them do what they can You’ve got brothers around, you’re a family man You’re never alone, you’re never disconnected You’re home with your own when company’s expected, you’re well protected Then you are set with a capital V Which you’ll never forget, like the birds and the bees When you’re evil, you stay evil

LILA: Now, contrary to Smek, I’m taking a wild step in the dark that Marinette will be back eventually, but by then, we’ll have taken over. Too late for them.

SHELBOURNE: Of course.

EL MACHO: So what is your idea?

VELVET: It won’t be easy taking this city over.

LILA: No sweat. You guys are some of the strongest villains in the multiverse, and these guys give in to anything. Just scare them and you’re on top.

HUNTSMAN: Great!

MORAG: Then this will be good.

BRATT: Operation Take Over Paris begins!

VECTOR: Oh, yeah!

RANDALL: When you’re evil, you are most feared in town You’re the gold medal champ with a heavyweight crown

EVELYN: When you’re evil, you’re the swingin’-est thing Little boy, you’re a man, little man, you’re a king

VILLAINS: The villains are in gear, our cylinders are clicking Those freaks will steer clear, ‘cause every Parisian’s a lousy chicken

(They walk through the city, scaring civilians as they go.)

VILLAINS: Here come the villains, like a bat out of Hell Someone gets in our way, someone don’t feel so well We are villains, little world, step aside Better go underground, better run, better hide We’re drawing the line, so keep your noses hidden We’re hanging a sign, says, “Visitors forbidden”, and we ain’t kidding Here come the villains, and we’re gonna beat every last peasant on these dirty bugging streets Each peasant on these dirty bugging streets

LILA: Alright, villains, let’s get to work!

[podcastenthusiast]

BG3 (Astarion centric) Fic Recs

It's that time again. First, a shamless promo for my fics. Now onward to the real gems.

Reflecting Endless Down the Hall by Asidian

If he turns to watch as Cazador gulps down the meal, Astarion will have to think about it. If he thinks about it, he'll have to acknowledge the smell. If he acknowledges the smell, strong and rich and intoxicating, he'll have to think about how much he wants it. How much his stomach has tied itself into knots at even the thought of a taste. How his teeth ache, and saliva floods his mouth, and how if he could wrench back even the barest scrap of control, he could bend down and lap at some of the precious liquid drying on his own hand. He can't, of course. So he swallows, and he forces down the endless hollow ache inside him, and he does his very best not to look as Cazador takes his time over a young woman who had been, up until three hours hence, a vapid, lovely young thing in a ruffled dress with quite a knack for dancing. -

A series of vignettes that will parallel Astarion's past life with Cazador versus the the way he finds himself living after awakening on the beach in the sunlight.

sunrise, with hope its arrogant rider by edelgarfield

Astarion stares down his nose with that familiar haughty glare. “I suppose that makes us even, now.”

You search his face, trying to find the missing piece that will make the puzzle take shape. You think of what little he’s told you about his life before this strange journey of yours. A cruel master that delighted in his pain and two hundred years of being brought to heel.

It comes to you in a dizzying rush. “You think I left you there as punishment.”

Astarion accidentally, kinda-sorta drains your blood and leaves you for dead. Three weeks later, you drop a monastery on him. You refuse to let the story end there.

bloodlust by KathrynShadow

Liar, blazing across her mind, the first clear thought she’s had so far. It’s almost a relief to be so certain of something, so she lets it go.

Bourbon, Blood, and Backward Glances by GreyscaleCourier

“Lovely.” Your master smiles with teeth. “Astarion, will you be joining us?”   You keep your eyes on the floor but you have been addressed and you will answer. There is only one answer. “I would be honored. Thank you, Master.”   or, Astarion brings groceries home and feels bad about it. Not bad enough to risk solitary confinement again, but kinda bad :/

Casual Banter by death_frisbee

A party like this one is bound to result in some interesting conversations.

The Dawnbringer and the Day Walker by LunaristicTides

A vampire and a cleric of Lathander fall in love until one decision ruins everything. Five years later, she's called upon to face the biggest regret of her life and she'll stop at nothing to fix it, but it might just shatter the rest of the world.

Silver-Tongue by starkraving

Astarion fast-talks an abnormal number of enemies into killing themselves in the shadow-cursed lands and the team makes idle (then less idle) conversation about it. It’s completely fine and doesn’t bother him at all and it absolutely doesn’t draw additional questions about why he does what he does for the team... and what they in turn would do for him. IE: Origin-run Astarion fic because its interesting to me how the party reacts to their vampire buddy if he doesn’t have Tav to be a social buffer for him. Act 2 content and spoilers.

Strange Smile by starkraving

Wyll, Karlach, and Lae’zel speak with a Gur monster hunter in a bog and Astarion happens to be there. It’s a very awkward way to get outted as a vampire to your (mostly) unsuspecting teammates. AKA: Tav-less party jumps the team rogue and holds him down for questioning. It's fine.

Echo by miraculan

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Astarion dropped his arm with a huff despite his surprise, wondering where he might have crossed paths with him before the ship. Maybe a regular at some city tavern that watched him vanish for more than a day or two and assumed the worst. Maybe a sword for hire that took jobs from Cazador that saw him get hauled off by Godey. Definitely not anyone Astarion spent an evening with, or he wouldn't be standing here to ask stupid questions.

"I'm trying to ambush you and you're making it harder than it needs to be." He sighed, not letting the words sink in before drawing his knife and pivoting, only for it to be harmlessly swatted out of his hand and into the sand by the stranger's off-hand scimitar quicker than he heard it being drawn. Fuck. This entire encounter was going badly. Embarrassingly so.

Like Stones, floatingvon Water by Cirrocumulus

He watches, his thoughts a jumbled mess of malice and mirth, as the poor vendor sweats and stammers.

Every needle and thread he ever owned he did unspeakable acts for, just to keep the clothes on his back from fraying, from flaying the way his skin so often did.

He sees as his companion lowballs the merchant and yet the trade is made, and the fine satin fabric is hers for the taking.

She gifts it to him with a smile, and he knows not how to react.  ~*~ Or: Five times Astarion is reminded of owning nothing, and five times his traveling companion gifts him trinkets to change that.

A Little Mishap by Asidian

When the dust clears – and it is a frightful amount of dust, all told – Astarion is marginally surprised to see that no one has been left a bloody smear on the cave floor.

Really, he can't be blamed for assuming the worst. The boulder is the size of the tunnel, nearly, the sort of impending doom that ranks with gale-force winds and approaching dragons on the list of things that might inspire a man to pray to any gods kind enough to lend an ear. Astarion isn't that sort – any god who might have granted him a boon has had centuries of prayers they might have chosen to answer before this, after all – and yet here they stand, miraculously intact, as though some deity just so happened to have glanced their way at just this moment.

Perhaps Wyll is a religious man

Liberty and Her Ghosts by timeboundpythia

"They do insist on asking me how I feel."

Seducere by Tlon

Astarion doesn’t need a reflection to know himself – two hundred years of servitude has shown him exactly what he’s good for. Odd that his new partner seems to disagree.

Or, five times Astarion regretted being seen over the past centuries, and one time he didn’t.

Broken Mechanism by laquearia

He’s the prickly sort, their resident rogue—sharper than any briar patch and twice as vicious. His words can carve deeper than his daggers despite their feigned placidity, all honey-sweet syllables and lengthy non-answers that often mean nothing at all. He darlings and my dears them, and sometimes he’s almost convincing enough to fool them into thinking they’ve had a real conversation when the only thing he’s shared is how bland the weather’s been and that he enjoys red wine over white.

Most of the group has given up trying to wheedle anything substantial out of him. Nothing more than a waste of time and energy, Shadowheart told Tav a few days prior. He’s never serious about anything, and even if he was, I doubt he’d tell us.

Astarion’s words echo in Tav’s mind, all cut glass consonants and pure, unbridled desperation: don’t touch me.

This time is different.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Nebulad

He didn't know how long he stayed down there. He didn't need air, but he needed blood. His hunger went from a static hum in the back of is head to a roaring thunder, pounding against the back of his eyes and making drool run down his jaw and uncomfortably into the neck of the stiff formal wear he was wearing. He hadn't been dressed particularly finely that night in the manor: who had changed his clothes? Where was he?

His brain rejected the answer on the tip of his tongue.

kindred by aevallare

And it's then, with his fingers buried inside her and her back scraping against the bark of the tree, that she looks into his eyes and sees –

Nothing. Like he isn't even there.

"Stop," she says, breath ragged with pleasure that feels like poison.

He might be the most beautiful creature that she's ever seen, bathed in this moonlight, and the wicked smirk he puts on only strengthens his case. "What, darling? That close already?"

“You don't want this,” she says simply, still out of breath, and for the first time since she’s met him, Astarion seems speechless. -

auri knows people, and that's how she can tell; astarion is deeply, deeply fucked up.

no one will love me like you again by FlowerCitti

Karlach smiles at him as the sun begins to set, her eyes softening around the corners, a nervous look flickering over her features. And Astarion is already expecting what comes next, but it still feels like shards of ice blooming behind his ribs.

“Do you think I can sleep in your tent tonight? Now that I can’t hurt you or set the damn thing on fire.” She asks with a breathy chuckle, an uncharacteristic anxiety making her shift on her feet, her bottom lip caught under her teeth. He has no disillusions on what her words could mean. She’s not likely looking to do much sleeping when she is free to touch him now.   (Or, Karlach can freely touch the people she loves now. Astarion makes a few wrong assumptions.)

innocence died screaming by FlowerCitti

Astarion feels like a starving fox released into a pen of chickens.

His lean fingers pick at his cravat, easing out invisible wrinkles, his tongue tracing along his own fangs. His eyes dart over the street, his head full of new scents and sounds, pounding at the back of his skull. He can taste the pulses of the people that pass him by, can smell the blood that rushes through their veins, intoxicating in its temptation.

He feels like a ravenous animal, a stalking predator just barely blending in amongst a sea of prey. But whoever he finds, Cazador had instructed for them to still be breathing by the time Astarion brings them back. He can’t rip the throat from the first thing he sees, no matter how much he finds himself aching to. There’s an impossible emptiness inside of him now, a growing abyss, and he finds himself wanting.   (Or, Astarion and the prince who swept him off his feet after he had already given up on happy endings.)

suck the rot right out of my bloodstream by FlowerCitti

Astarion moves his legs just slightly to press against Casmir’s broad shoulder, a teasing point of contact. The tiefling doesn’t shift away.

But his hands still haven’t moved to tend to Astarion’s wound.

“Can I touch you?”

Astarion stares at them for a few moments, meeting that burning gaze, fanned by thick lashes. People don’t often ask him that—they just do. It didn’t matter whether he wanted them to or not, only that he was a pretty thing they wanted to get their hands on.

He shakes his head before he can fade away into bad memories, blinking several times. He smirks instead, slipping into flirtation easily, eyes lidded and something like revulsion at himself bubbling in his gut, “As much as you’d like, my dear.”   (Or, Astarion has had his consent revoked for over two centuries. Then he meets Casmir.)

where the light won't find you by AndyAO3

Rather like a frog being slowly brought to a boil, by the time Astarion realizes he's doomed himself, it's already too late.

sating the hunger by Velwyn

He wanted to know more about him – he needed to. He wasn’t sure if it was the charm or the mysterious air Astarion played up that peaked his interest more, but Gale was eager to pry him open – to get past that book cover and discover what secret knowledge he would uncover in those pages.

Pretending to be People by Fr0g_king

The night was going off without a hitch; hunted someone down, brought them back, headed for the dorms. And then Cazador requested he join him for dinner, and, well, nothing was ever pain-free with Cazador.

I'm Up, I'm Up by baozisdragon

People don't expect Karlach to be very observant.

the bitter darkness, the flickering illusion by arenathesia

“Straight or serrated?” Godey can barely speak, his misshapen jaw swallowing half his words and his glee drowning out the other half. Astarion understands him though, as easily as breathing, and Cazador is no different.

“No need to make it easy for ourselves,” his master responds.

(Just when he thinks he understands his master, has seen the furthest depths of his cruelty, Astarion is grabbed by the throat and dragged deeper in.)

Butterfly Caught by myristica

Right. Get the moonlantern, kill some cultists. Cultists that are completely evil and not people driven by circumstance to try to find some sense of belonging. Don’t think too hard about it. *** Trauma-bonding with the sad spiderboi and sad biteyboi.

Scorch by 1Ced0Ateram1

Astarion and Karlach try to unwind after a difficult day on the road. Burnt flesh and charred clothes might just be a fair trade for a kiss.

one of thousands by nachttour

A contemplation about living with someone who has a hard time saying no, who has a hard time accepting 'safe' touch from others that he is not directly in charge of; and a larger contemplation about what it is like to love someone who will never move along in time with you.

A small story considering how one Tav out of many Tavs in many worlds acclimates to living with Asterion after the events of BG3.

Will add more as I read more!

The Light of The Seven by Verelia

Cazador Szarr calls his home a palace. Cazador Szarr calls himself a father.

The palace is a prison. The father is a cruel master to the seven spawn he sired. And the siblings--

They were each others' brothers, sisters, enemies, tormentors, victims, shoulders to cry on, hands to hold, eyes to blacken, and yet--the only ones who understood.

Quick Step by starkraving

As more and more people join the party – all of them adventurers of some repute or renown – Astarion becomes all that more disposable in comparison. He endeavors to keep up or be left behind. (Because of course they will leave him behind. Right?) AKA: Act 1 Astarion’s race from a true level one character to team rogue and the rest of the team's reactions to that.

cause my love (is mine, all mine) by mahoushoujochan

After the Nautiloid crash, it feels like everyone has gone their own way, though there’s still so much to do to help the city. But even more importantly: there’s so much that Tav must do to help her friends.

In which Tav and Astarion look to heal a sun allergy, a recovering city, seven thousand bloodthirsty vampires, and maybe themselves along the way. Except there are no shortcuts to healing or learning how to love.

[vladdyissues]

Hi, it’s me, the asker who was so curious about Danny at school ✨

I got three things to say, silly thing first, 1. I’m so curious about what Danny’s diet is gonna be. I was rereading that chapter, and if Vlad has to eat meat to stoke the flames, does that mean Danny has to go vegetarian? That would be so fucking funny, I’m ngl 😂 but also sad, bc then he’d be thinking about Sam all the time 🥺 anyways, I’m just interested to see what you do with it 👀

2. You got me thinking about enemies to lovers, hardcore. And I realized, when I enjoy that kind of ship, I’m not here to see them become all lovey-dovey and domestic. I’m here to see the pain, and the toxicity, and the deep codependency of it all. The ‘I hate you, but I can’t leave you’, and the ‘you might kill me one day, and I embrace that.’ If you’ve watched Hannibal, you know exactly what I mean 😂 For Vlad and Danny, I don’t really give a fuck if it’s pompep or badgercereal, i just want angst and codependency 😈 I think that’s part of what I like about your story so much, is that it’s toeing the line between the two relationships. Halfway parental, and halfway toxic/romantic love.

3. You’ve fucking ruined me for other fanfiction rn 😭😂 I can’t read anything else for more than five minutes 🥲 Partially bc I’m so invested in the story, but also bc your writing style IS SO FUCKING GOOD. YOU SHOULD BE WRITING ACTUAL BOOKS, LIKE WTF. Anywayyysss, I’ll just curl up into a little ball of boredom on the floor till you update again 😂💕

Sending much looooove, 😘 I hope the brain to fanfic pipeline is working out for you 🤌

Hello and holy shit! What an ego-bloating kind and generous ask this is! Let me jump right in:

1. I don't want to spoil the plot too much, but Danny's diet is going to be key in unraveling a very important part of Vlad's enigma, and I cannot wait to get to that point. I've been sprinkling crumbs of information throughout the story thus far, laying down a foundation upon which to build this Big Thing, and the next chapter (14) will—or should, anyway—finally begin to deliver on it.

2. My friend, you've just given me an epiphany: it's not so much Enemies to Lovers that we adore, I suspect, as it is Enemies and Lovers. That's exactly the tag I'd use to describe Hannigram, and it's such a different and exciting dynamic. I've never quite—well, scratch that—okay, I've never written Enemies and Lovers in such depth as I am with Familiar. There's something darkly satisfying about letting lovers remain ugly; the notion that deep, abiding affection can exist in tandem with fear and disgust; that even monsters—in the very act of being monstrous, or perhaps because they are monstrous and not in spite of their monstrosity—are capable of loving and being loved.

3. Frhgahrglahrglahg I'm going to print and frame this one and hang it on my wall for days when I feel utterly inept. I've been writing fanfiction for a while now, and I've written volumes of silly, embarrassing, poorly-executed tripe, so if I haven't at least gotten a little bit good at what I'm doing, I doubt I ever will 😆 That said, I'm putting a lot of effort into Familiar, I mean pulling out every stop and employing every nut and bolt in my mental toolbox to craft a good story (and reading. Always reading), partly as a challenge to myself and partly out of sheer love for this great ship and its fandom. Everyone here is so nice and welcoming and awesome. I only hope my tiny contribution continues to entertain.

Speaking of which, the wait for this next chapter shouldn't be long. The feedback I've been receiving is phenomenal, and it's definitely helped to fuel me along when my mania wavers. I'm incredibly grateful to you and everyone reading enjoying this story. Thank you thank you ♥

[camels-pen]

a gift (not a burden)

Ao3 Link | Chapter 1 | Chapter 3

Chapter 2: Stay with me to the end

Alabasta came and went. It felt like they’d been there months, though it was nowhere near that long. Vivi and Carue stayed behind, a predictable if saddening outcome. Robin, a scary woman that could snap Usopp’s neck in his sleep, was allowed to join with hardly a thought as was typical with this crew. 

And, worst of all, now that the danger had passed and Vivi’s country was saved, they were left with plenty of down time as they sailed to the next island. 

Plenty of time for all those pesky feelings and thoughts to rear their ugly heads from the depths that Usopp shoved them in. Plenty of time for Sanji to—

Usopp frantically shook his head.

No—No, it was fine. Great, even! He needed the rest from all these dangerous adventures; they were terrible for his heart. That’s why he finished his breakfast in a flash and took over morning watch, afterall. He needed time to himself, away from the crazy monsters on the ship. He wasn’t running from anyone in particular, no, he just needed to… regroup! Yes, that was it. Usopp just needed to regroup. Refocus his strategy. Re-establish his plan.

Usopp stared at the empty notebook in his hand. A seagull cried in the distance.

Okay, so he never did have a plan for this, but how was he supposed to know that Sanji would ever find out?! Usopp had a system! A perfect system! A (mostly) Luffy-proof system!

And it was ruined! All because Sanji had to have magical fingers that made Usopp putty in his hands.

If Usopp weren’t avoiding—er, regrouping, he would give Sanji a piece of his mind for ruining his system. Stupid, beautiful, kindhearted Sanji. Always ruining his carefully concocted plans.

He pressed a hand to his chest, drawing circles in his overalls.

Stupid Sanji.

A cleared throat made Usopp jump, nearly sending his notebook flying out of the crow’s nest.

“Cook’s being insufferable,” Zoro said, taking a seat with his arms behind his head. 

“R-Really?” Usopp laughed, the sound strained. “Well, you’re more than welcome to hide up here with me! Ah, not that I’m hiding. Why would I be hiding? I’ve got nothing to hide, Zoro, what are you talking about? Ha ha ha.”

Zoro gave a deadpan stare. “Like peas in a pod.”

“Hey—”

He settled back against the mast, closing his eyes. “You two just need to talk about your soulmarks and you’ll be fine. ‘Course he’s too busy twisting himself in knots worrying about something new every five minutes.”

Usopp had a moment to feel surprised—to feel utterly shocked at the fact that Sanji was acting like Usopp himself usually did—before shouting, “Wait, did he tell—?!”

“Anyone with common sense could figure it out. Cook just doesn’t have any.”

Usopp sat back, breathing a big sigh of relief. He would’ve rather Zoro didn’t notice—nor anyone else, for that matter—but as long as Sanji stayed ignorant…

Ah, but that ship had sailed, hadn’t it?

Usopp slumped back against the wall. “The whole reason he’s being ‘insufferable’ is because he saw my mark.” He laughed, the sound a bitter, shaky thing. “I’m pretty sure he’d kill me if I tried to talk to him about how his precious woman-loving self was stuck with a man for a life partner.” His hands grabbed a fistful of his pants. “And even if he could get over being soulmates with a man, he’d still have to accept being stuck with someone like me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Usopp’s hands tightened their grip. “Usopp, you’ve got it twisted. You’re too good for him, not the other way around.”

“You’re just saying that because you don’t like him.”

“Usopp.”

“It’s true!” He dragged his bandana down over his eyes and whined. “He’s probably kicking holes in the wall just thinking about it and I’m gonna be next!” Oh, how Usopp yearned for Sanji to get knocked out so hard that he forgot everything that happened a couple weeks ago. It wasn’t likely to happen before Usopp got murdered in the near future, but a man can dream.

“Then how about this: if you talk to him and he tries to kick you,”—Zoro flicked part of his sword out of its sheath—“I’ll kill him.”

Usopp slowly put his head in his hands. “Thanks, Zoro. That is so very helpful.”

“I mean it.”

“Yes, yes, you’re always willing to try and kill Sanji.”

“No, I mean,”—Usopp looked up, catching Zoro’s steady gaze—“you need to talk to him.”

A lie sat on the tip of his tongue. Easy and automatic. It was so very tempting, to complain of never before seen illnesses and fantastical wonders. Obstacles so bizarre and impossible to overcome that Zoro would have to let Usopp run away from it all as much as he’d like.

It was right there. Waiting for him.

Zoro still stared.

Usopp sighed, hanging his head. 

—

He didn’t have the time to dwell on it, what with saving Vivi’s country, saying farewell, and welcoming the lovely Miss Robin on their ship. Now that they were back to sailing the Grand Line, however, it all came back full force.

It had to have been Sanji’s mark. It had to be, right? Right. It had to. It had to.

But then, why hide it? Why not tell him from the start? They could’ve talked about it. Could’ve swapped discovery stories. Sanji would’ve showed off his own mark more clearly, let Usopp touch and hold and examine it as much as he wanted.

Did Usopp not… not want him? Think him inadequate somehow? 

Was he disgusted by the fact he was paired with a man? Of course he was, who was Sanji kidding; anyone would be disgusted by that. Men weren’t supposed to be with other men, weren’t supposed to be dainty, weren’t supposed to be homosexual.

Why did the world have to work this way? Why did Sanji have to work this way? To be so tempted by women and men at every turn. To be so disgusting as to infect even his soulmate with such a disgraceful thing. 

Was it just another failure written into his DNA? Something that would follow him for the rest of his life? It was already unbearable before, unacceptable, but now it was suffocating, filling up his lungs as if—

“Sanji, the pot.”

He jumped, cursing as he quickly pulled the smoking pot off the stove, then cursing again as his wrist bumped the burning metal. The pot dropped to the counter with a CLANG as Sanji shook his hand out, quickly moving to run it under cold water.

“Sorry—sorry Robin, dear,” he mumbled, the rushing water nearly drowning him out. He grimaced at the acrid smell filling the galley as he rubbed his wrist under the spray. “Did you want a refill?”

“No thank you, Mr. Cook.” Her eyes flicked once to the countertop, then back to him. “Something on your mind?”

He followed her gaze, a little embarrassed at his rookie mistake, when he noticed a cigarette teetering on the edge of the counter. 

Did he pull one from his box? 

He tapped his breast pocket and found it empty. 

On the edge of his vision, an arm sprouted from the wall, picking up the familiar cardboard from a spot behind the burnt pot. 

Huh. So he did.

He stared at the crushed little thing. 

Unlit and unusable. 

Unwanted and unloved.

A hand found his shoulder. “Mr. Cook?”

He swallowed heavily. “Not… not using my name, like earlier?”

“You didn’t answer the first few times I spoke.”

Sanji hung his head. “Ah, I see. I didn’t mean to ignore you, my dear, I was just…”

A silence fell over them. The hand vanished with the smell of fallen petals.

“Would you like help?”

Sanji stiffened. He should accept—it wouldn’t do to refuse a lady, but—

“With the pot, I mean.”

Sanji breathed a sigh of relief. “No need to worry, I can handle that myself. I had to do it a lot when I was younger. I’m used to it.”

With that, he grabbed a sponge and set himself upon the task. Pot first, spiraling thoughts later.

Pot first. Pot first. Pot first.

“Mr. Cook.”

Just put everything else in a little box like you always do—just shove it in there, ignore it, put it away.

The pot clanged against the counter once more, wobbling back and forth as he registered a strong grip around his wrists, holding them in the air. There were arms sprouted from his elbows, holding each wrist with a tea towel. Belatedly, Sanji registered an itchy burning on his knuckles.

A new hand caught the pot handle. The sponge slipped from Sanji’s grasp with a plop.

“I believe it should cool off first, Mr. Cook,” Robin said. “We don’t want you harming your hands.”

The butter and garlic were a stark, crackling black on an otherwise pristine pot. A mar—a flaw so stark and obvious that anyone could see it despite its vain attempts to hide behind thin metal walls.

“You know, I’ve been told I’m quite good at keeping secrets.”

Patethically thin metal walls. The kind of cookware that ended up with several irreparable cracks and holes when used in a specific environment. 

One of them being polite conversation with a prying lady.

“I’m also skilled with a knife.”

The tension sapped from his body, leaving him nearly limp with relief. He made to refuse again, but paused as that same itchy heat prickled up his hand. 

Robin took up a cutting board.

—

“Okay, just go up and tell him. Just get it over with, get threatened, and then scream for Zoro when he tries to kill you,” Usopp whispered to himself, pacing back and forth in front of the galley door. “You stared down a guy who called himself a god; this is nothing! Just a few words, one mean look, and you’re gone! Outta there. Donezo. Nothing else required.”

He slowly turned his gaze to the door. A glimpse of blond hair had him ducking with a pounding heart.

“O-Or I could forget about all this, pretend it never happened, and hope Sanji eventually moves on from wanting to maim me.” He nodded to himself. “Yes, solid plan Captain Usopp. We’ll tell Zoro it was a valiant effort, but—”

“Tell Zoro what was a valiant effort?”

Usopp froze. Mechanically, he turned just enough to see Sanji’s face and check that the galley door was, indeed, open. “Oh. Hi, Sanji. I did not see you there. I was just doing Zoro a favour with my new dials.” He swiftly turned to leave. “I will stop bothering you now—”

A heavy hand clapped his shoulder. “Hold it.”

Usopp did his best not to squeak. The weight on his shoulder lightened with a sigh. “I’m not going to fillet you, just… come inside. We need to talk.”

Usopp laughed robotically. “Well, you see. Sanji. I really need to finish up that favour for Zoro. So. We will have to talk some other time.”

He was ready to make a break for it then, take advantage of Sanji’s loosening grip to pull out his patented Usopp Dash and cower in the boys’ dorm—hell, maybe even pay up a handful of berri to hide in the girls’ dorm—but then…

“Please?”

Even before seeing his matching mark, Usopp had never been able to turn down one of Sanji’s requests.

He followed Sanji inside, head hung and dragging his feet as if he were off to the gallows. He might as well be, with the fate that was awaiting him the moment he opened his mouth.

Sanji waited for him to close the door before whirling around and tightly gripping his shoulders. Usopp braced himself to get knee’d in the face. 

“I’m a burnt pot.”

A what? “A what?”

“A burnt pot.”

Usopp stared at Sanji. 

Sanji stared back.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“The walls are thin, Usopp.”

“Are you worried someone’s gonna listen in on us?”

“No, I—” Sanji groaned, pulling away to drag a hand down his face. “Look, I’m like a crumpled cigarette.”

Usopp put the back of his hand to Sanji’s forehead. “It doesn’t feel like a fever.”

Sanji slapped his hand away, a scowl on his face. “Will you cut that shit out? I’m trying to be sincere here.”

“Are you?” The words slipped from his mouth without a thought, but Usopp already knew the answer. He saw it written in the deep bags under Sanji’s eyes, the empty mugs and fresh coffee stains on the tablecloth, the way his hands jittered. “Did you sleep at all—?”

“I’m sorry.”

Usopp blinked. “You’re… sorry?”

Sanji looked away. “I must’ve scared you off that time in the bath, right? I get it… and I’m sorry.”

Usopp furrowed his brow. He didn’t remember anything beside his overwhelming panic at the time. “Your face didn’t scare me off, if that’s what you mean.”

“No, it’s—” He made a noise of frustration. “I fucked you up.”

Usopp inched a foot backwards. “Did you kick me so hard I forgot about it?”

“I didn’t kicked you! God,”—Sanji ran a hand down his face—“don’t make me spell it out.”

“If you’re gonna keep talking nonsense, then yes, please spell out whatever you’re trying to say.”

Sanji whined. Honest to god whined. 

Usopp held up his hands. “If it’s that bad, you don’t have to tell me, in fact we can just pretend this never happened and—”

“I’m sorry I turned you gay.”

A slow, rolling anger started to well up inside Usopp. In a low, dangerous voice, he said, “Excuse me?”

“I’ve been like this for as long as I can remember,” Sanji quickly added. “Don’t know when it started, but I’d been doing pretty good ignoring it or at least making sure other people didn’t notice. Everything was going pretty great until you guys showed up at the Baratie. Then all of a sudden it got worse and—and I kept it quiet, no one noticed, but…”

Usopp didn’t want to try to parse what he was saying. He wanted to give him a piece of his mind, tear into him. He wanted to—

Sanji sniffled. He looked about ready to cry.

Usopp deflated with a sigh.

“I’ve never really cared about who I crushed on.” Usopp took a seat at the table, suddenly tired down to his bones. “Guys, girls, people who were neither. The outside never really mattered.” He put his cheek in his hand and circled the edge of an empty mug with the tip of his finger. “You didn’t ‘infect me’ or anything, I’ve been like this the whole time. Besides, weren’t you given the soulmate shtick too?”

“Shtick?”

“You know,”—Usopp waved a hand—“how they’re supposed to be really important to you or really similar or whatever. People love to say it’s all about romance, but it doesn’t have to be, if you don’t want that.”

“What if I do want it?” Sanji blurted.

“Bold words from someone who was just apologizing for ‘turning me gay’.”

“I’m serious, I…” He knelt at Usopp’s side. “Usopp, please look at me.”

He sighed, but obliged. “Don’t see how this is going… to…” Usopp trailed off, surprise filling him at the tear tracks staining Sanji’s cheeks, the hopeful look in his eye.

“When I woke up next to you in the galley the other day and saw burns matching mine—when I finally got to the top of that shitty flying ship and you were covered in new burns and that fucking ‘god’ ruined your escape, I…” He reached out a hand, pausing to leave it hovering between them. Usopp didn’t move. Sanji gently cradled his cheek.. “I was terrified. I thought I’d lose the chance to tell you before I’d figured things out.” 

His eyes pinched. “No. More than that, I was just terrified to lose you, Usopp. I’d live the rest of my life just being your friend if it meant I could still spend every day of it by your side.” He rubbed his thumb over Usopp’s cheek. Softly, tenderly. “But I want to be more than that, if you’ll let me.”

“You haven’t slept.” Usopp put his hand over Sanji’s own. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

Sanji brought his free hand up to Usopp’s other cheek. “Usopp, I know it’ll be hard for you to trust me—hell, I wouldn’t trust me—but please, give me a chance.”

He was forcing himself. He had to be. He was so caught up with the idea of soulmates that he didn’t care who or what he was matched with. He just wanted to blindly follow whatever the universe and adults told him growing up. 

Usopp swallowed around the lump in his throat. “We have time.” Sanji’s brow furrowed and Usopp rushed to add, “Y-You don’t have to force yourself into this just because of a mark. Take your time and think it over.” 

“But… but we’re supposed to—”

There it is, Usopp thought as he plastered on a smile. “We’re already good friends, isn’t that enough?” It had to be enough. “And I’m not telling you to forget about it, just make sure that it’s what you really want.”

A pause. Not long, but long enough. “What about you?”

Usopp waved a hand, laughing like his heart wasn’t splitting in two. “I’ve never believed in all that soulmate stuff. Sure I was curious who had my mark, but that was it.” He shook his head with a sigh, forcing his voice steady. “Don’t know why everyone’s always so caught up on forcing it to be romantic.”

“I… I suppose it’s… possible to have a friend as a soulmate….”

“That settles it.” Usopp pushed himself up from the table and went for the door. “Good talk, Sanji! Let me know when you’ve got an answer.” Please please, let that be never. “I’m going to enjoy the sunshine while it’s still around. Oh, Luffy might barge in the moment I open the door though, he was complaining about being hungry earlier—”

—

“Wait.”

Usopp turned around, still wearing that fake ass smile. Fuck. 

He clenched his fist. “Usopp, if you—”

“Tell anyone I’ll meet the business end of your shoe? I know that much, Sanji.”

Sanji’s lips thinned. “You didn’t answer my question.”

He shrugged. Sanji saw the tremble in his shoulders. “You’ve gotta know what you want—what you really want—before asking me that, Sanji.”

What he wanted? He wanted to be with his soulmate. To—To finally find the soul he was meant to be with, the person who he could love and cherish and dote on as much as he’d like. To find his other half. 

“I know you like the idea of soulmates,” Usopp said. “I get it, I do. But do you like the idea of me?”

Sanji reared back, as if struck. “Usopp, you have my mark—”

“There, see?” His facade cracked at the edges. “You’re not in it for me. You only see your mark on my chest.”

That—no, Sanji wasn’t—he cared about Usopp. They were best friends! Crewmates! Sanji would do anything to see him safe and happy and well fed! What was wrong with exploring things further? With taking a chance at making good times even better? It had nothing to do with marks and soulmates and following a pre-determined destiny.

Sanji wanted to speak those words—or any number of others that would get Usopp to understand, to listen, to wait—but it all dried up on the tip of his tongue, insincere and insensitive.

Usopp’s shoulders sagged, his eyes falling downcast. “Just. Think about it, okay?”

Still knelt in front of the table, Sanji watched as Usopp quietly left the galley, a swell of guilt in his chest and knowing exactly where he went wrong.