#there is a nonzero chance I will be away for a bit again

[patternedlantern]

tuesday again……….. no problem……….. (picrew if ya wanna)

[awkwardgtace]

In The Crystarium

Ok here is my ff14 fanfic. There is a nonzero chance I write more of this one day I just lost myself to endwalker pretty much after I finished this. Honestly I did have more ideas for ff14 gt fanfic after this soo who knows.

Do Not Read This If You Have Not Completed Shadowbringer and intend to play the game

Taglist: @giant-tinygoodtimes

In The Crystarium

I don’t remember when I fell asleep or how, but I woke up and the big beings were gone. I was able to get to my tunnels without a problem, so much of the design in this weird tower helped me. I started off looking for home, it was exactly how I left it. Something about that felt strange, the only thing gone were my food stores. I gripped the strap of my bag and heaved a sigh.

I started looking for the beings that were always here working. It was quiet, I never liked the quiet. That was how I wound up here, following the noisy beings. I couldn’t hear a single sound. There wasn’t even the hum of technology. I went straight to the center of the tower.

I poked my head out by their weird image display. The room was mostly empty except for a new statue. It was sitting in the corner with an arm made of crystal. I made my way close to the statue. It seemed too alive, parts of it were modeled to look eerily close to skin. As I neared the feet of it I realized it was wearing clothing. It wasn’t part of the model. I grabbed a bit of the fabric in awe.

“This is softer than they usually wear,” I murmured. I reached into my bag and pulled out the only sharp tool I owned. I started to cut some free from below the visible portion. “They won’t notice this is gone.”

I finished cutting out the portions I knew wouldn’t be noticed. I had grown used to talking to myself living here. The beings were always noisy enough that I could. I stuffed the soft cloth in my bag and started towards the strange crystal hand. It looked too real, like something those beings would have made me make if they found me. I shuddered at the thought, a number of my friends had been found by them.

I touched one of the crystal fingers, it felt warm. I looked up at the face that had a hood covering it. It had a bunch of golden decorations on the hood, it was tempting to climb up and grab some. The warmth left me reluctant. I closed my eyes and leaned on the hand, it was nice. I hadn’t been near anyone else since I started living here.

I knew I shouldn’t, but I climbed onto the palm. It was warm and reminded me of people I would never see again. I closed my eyes. It was the safest I’d felt in a long time. The silence made sure I’d hear if any of those beings came into the room. My eyes felt heavier than I expected after just waking up. I started to fall asleep in the palm of the statue.

A loud noise made me wake up. I heard footsteps clacking on the floor nearby. I rushed out of the palm, shivering once away from the heat. As the door opened I made my way into the walls. A person with bunny ears ran in, I’d never seen someone like that before. 

��My lord?” the bunny person asked. I ran through my tunnels to get away. It’s better not to stick around when those beings are around. “There you are.”

It was a few weeks before I made my way back to that central room. There were more strange beings that had shown up. Ones with more features of tigers than just cats. I heard a voice a few times, people calling them my lord, but never saw a single person. The strange statue was still there, a bit of a relief. I made my way to it again.

“Guess those new beings don’t care enough to move you,” I smiled. I patted the hand I was near. The weird warmth was still there. I climbed in the palm and relaxed. “Hope you don’t mind. I’m just going to rest here for a bit.”

I pressed my back against the curled up fingers. I thought I felt them tense, but I knew this was a statue. It felt nice though, like a hug. I had snuck out of the building one day, but the world was filled with a bright light I didn’t recognize. I wasn’t sure there was anyone else like me around. A few tears started to slip out. I didn’t catch them before they landed on the crystal palm. I froze when I thought I heard a gasp.

After a few hours I climbed off the palm. I didn’t hear anything similar to a giant again. It was nice to feel like someone was close to me again. I ran my hands over the fingers near me. I never got to see the fingers of giants closely and safely. It was similar to mine in so many ways, just made out of crystal. It was pretty amazing how real the parts that weren’t crystal felt.

“Hope you don’t mind if I grab some more fabric, it was really useful the last time,” I whispered. I made some new pillows out of it. I just needed some for clothes now. I hadn’t made any in a long time. I cut some free, the spots from last time were still there. I shoved more in my bag than the last time. “Thanks for all of this.”

I ran off once I was done cutting fabric. Over the next few weeks I would slip back in once people were gone to visit the statue. It was always in the same spot and pose, I knew it wasn’t alive. A part of me almost wanted it to be. I heard them talking sometimes now, about the ancient people who made this tower. The Crystal Tower they called it. It seemed like I was asleep for a long time somehow. 

One night I had nightmares of those old giants. They were hunting me down, breaking through the walls. I needed to get away, to be safe. Suddenly one of those hands was around me and I woke up screaming. I ran through the tunnels, desperate for a feeling of safety. The statue was where it always was. I tripped over my own feet as I ran.

I was panting as I reached the warm crystal hand. Tears streamed down my face, the fear of being found brought too far forward. I kept thinking of the times I’d lost people. The times I was almost captured from one wrong choice. I ran to the edge of the clothes, laughing when I found the same missing sections. I fell to my knees.

“You’re just a statue, I don’t have to be scared,” I said. I climbed to my feet shakily and made my way to the palm I’d been visiting. I climbed up, curling into a ball in the shadow of the massive fingers. “I thought the giants found me. The creatures from when I was living here before. They were awful… I don’t know why I keep talking to you, you aren’t even real. They made you, I shouldn’t trust you. It’s just… Your hand is so warm it feels like you’re alive.”

I curled up as much as I could. Pressing my back against those still fingers my body shook as I breathed in and out. I started sobbing again. I hadn’t felt this scared when there was noise all the time. It was probably because I was able to pretend back then. I could act like I was safe and if I was found I knew what was in store for me. I don’t know how long I cried until I finally started to feel tired again.

“It was easier when I knew what would happen, but these giants are different. I haven’t even found that lord they keep talking about. Crystal Exarch or something,” I sobbed.

A part of me wanted the fingers to curl over me. A bit of comfort in this new place. I knew I wouldn’t ever have that. If a giant’s fingers found me I would be dead or used like the others. I let my heavy eyes close with those thoughts plaguing my mind. After some rest I wouldn’t think like this anymore. I would be able to go back to the life I usually live.

I woke up when something behind me moved. My eyes snapped open once I remembered where I had fallen asleep. All my fears were realized as those crystal fingers curled over me. I was trapped in darkness as they clinked on the palm in front of me. I started to push against them, but nothing was working. A new wave of tears burned in my eyes.

“No, no, no,” I whispered. The hand holding me began to move. It was all some trap this whole time. A statue to grab my kind and it finally triggered. I was shaking as I banged against the fingers.

“Quiet, my friend,” a voice said. I froze, it sounded familiar. It almost seemed like the Exarch person.

“My lord,” the rabbit person said. I was almost positive her name was Lyna. “I’ve asked you before to use your bed. If anyone in the Crystarium saw you like this they would worry.”

“Pray forgive me Lyna. I had been distracted watching how events were unfolding elsewhere. I will avoid the floor next time.” 

The laugh and voice were too close to me. My mind blanked when the statue holding me moved again. I felt my stomach drop as I was lifted with the statue as it stood. I was begging for a malfunction before it handed me over. Instead I was moved lower, the fingers tightened slightly. I could just barely see the floor through a little bit of space in between the crystal fingers.

“Of course my lord. The guard took out a few sin eaters nearby again, but nothing to worry about yet. There were a few more arrivals from Ahm Aerang today,” Lyna said. The hand holding me loosened a bit, I almost screamed as the space increased.

“Very good, help them get settled then. I’m sure they’ll be helpful with crafters. They were miners, yes?” the lord asked. It had to be the Crystal Exarch. The statue had to stay silent until both of them left.

“Yes, I’ll make sure they check there.”

I heard the clacking of footsteps on the crystal floor. I waited for another set to follow, but they didn’t. Instead the hand holding me tightened its grip again. It moved as my stomach dropped and brought itself to a stop. I started to shake again as the palm flattened beneath me. Slowly the fingers around me uncurled until I was looking up to the hooded face I’d started to feel solace around. I couldn’t stop shaking.

“I apologize for the deception my friend, I assumed you wouldn’t like Lyna to find you. I admit I had hoped you’d stay asleep until I’d returned to my usual spot,” the statue said. The statue wasn’t a statue, it was the Exarch. The title he lived with made sense now as I sat in his warm crystal hand. I was captured and it was my own fault. So many years and I’m finally in a giant’s palm.

I knew the giant was playing with me. I wasn’t going to talk anymore, or offer anything else about myself. I had made my mistakes and this was enough. I wanted to go back to when I first saw this giant and assumed he was a statue. The crystal fingers around me curled over, but I wouldn’t give him the pleasure of my reactions. He started to move his hand again, I hated it. He brought me right up to his face.

“Pray tell me how you arrived here. I don’t believe I’ve met anyone else like you in the Crystarium,” he said. 

I heard wonder in his voice and it made me shiver. Slowly I climbed to my feet, the crystal made it easy to stand. I stared up at the hooded giant’s face, I couldn’t see his eyes. I took a deep breath and dashed to the side, jumping from his hand. I wouldn’t be used like the others had been. I wouldn’t become some part of an experiment or tool. I closed my eyes as I accepted my fate.

My body froze in the air. I snapped my eyes open and stared at the ground that was so close to me. Slowly turning my head, I saw the light from the staff I hadn’t realized was on the Exarch’s back. He wasn’t just a giant, he was a mage of some kind. I struggled in the invisible hold, I had to get away. I hadn’t met mages myself, but I’d been told they were some of the most dangerous. Too studious to truly consider us equal. I had to shake away the images of their experiments.

I heard the shifting of fabric before I saw the giant move. I stared in fear as the massive being kneeled next to me. He brought the hand that wasn’t crystal below me. I saw bits of my tears hit the fingers as they approached. He froze, but it didn’t matter. I knew he could find me. The hand started to move again and wrapped his fingers around me. I didn’t bother fighting this time.

“Be at peace friend, you’re in no danger from me. Usually I wouldn’t permit someone to live within the tower walls, but I won’t force you from your home,” he murmured. I closed my eyes and curled up in a ball.

“I’m no fool. You’ll just let someone else use me. All of you giants are like that, even back when the tower hummed,” I spat the words. The normal fingers around me tensed before I was brought up to the man’s chest. I struggled for a moment before going limp again.

I listened as his footsteps clicked against the floor. I heard the sound of a door unlocking and the creak of it opening. I moved my hands to cover my eyes, I didn’t want to let him see me like this. A part of me still wanted that kindness I dreamt up when I spent my days with the statue. That hand was always so warm, maybe this was better. If he hadn’t seen anyone like me there may not be anyone left.

The door creaked as it closed. I flinched when it slammed. I felt a finger rub my back, it was probably meant to be calming. I just pulled away as best I could. There was less clicking of footsteps in this room. When he finally stopped I wasn’t sure what to expect. The hand started to move again, it was slower this time. It came to a stop and I sighed. I opened my own eyes slowly.

I watched curled fingers pull away. I was left on a flat palm in the open air. I didn’t expect that much trust again, but he could stop me. I didn’t get to try and stand, his hand tilted sliding me off. I fell onto a table that seemed to be up to his chest. He crouched so I was staring directly into the darkness of his hood.

“My friend… Perhaps I shouldn’t be calling you that. It seems I am the only one who feels that way. Were you alive during the time of Allag?” he asked. Honestly I had no idea, I shrugged my shoulders. His mouth thinned to a line and I tensed again. “Pray tell me how you arrived at the tower.”

“I…” I sighed, hiding didn’t matter anymore. “I was running, someone had almost found me. The merchant I hid with came here. It was loud with tons of people, I had the easiest time to hide… until now.”

“You were here while the tower was active?” I watched as he raised his hands up. I knew it, I was just going to become a living tool now. I looked away, but the hands passed by me. He grabbed the edges of his hood. Slowly he pulled it back until I saw ruby eyes staring at me. I remembered the ones with those eyes, the leaders that ordered for them to hunt us.

I screamed and backed away. He was going to keep me, he was going to do the worst things. The twitch of ears on his head, cat ears that the others didn’t have, didn’t help. I scrambled to my feet and tried to run. His hands surrounded me before I made much progress. I just wanted to live my life, I never should have stayed here after I woke up.

His hands covered me, but I reached in my bag for my knife. The only thing I could use to escape. I veered towards the hand with skin and slashed with all my might. He hissed just like a cat, it sent my heart racing. He didn’t move his hand though, he still blocked me. I fell to my knees all the fight leaving me. His crystal hand closed in and I waited for the pain. Instead I just felt one of those fingers on my back.

“Calm my friend, you’re safe here. I am a descendant of Allag yes, but I mean you no harm. I won’t be keeping you here. My name is G’raha Tia. I am afraid we’re both very far from home, a world away really. Come to me if there’s anything you need, but outside of this room I implore you to refer to me as Exarch. I pray you will see me as a friend one day,”  he smiled. 

The way he spoke sounded sad. I looked at him a bit differently. His hands were pulled away from me and I was left on my own. He stood back to his full height and started to walk away. I saw now the clicking of footsteps stopped because of a rug in the room. He stopped near the door and pulled his hood back up. He stopped with a hand on it, the crystal one holding his staff.

“Before I forget, I am the only one allowed in this room. Use it as you will,” he smiled and left.

I watched him leave. I was sitting alone, he didn’t even complain about my stealing some fabric from his clothes. I grabbed my knife and set it back in my bag before running to the edge of the table. I found a way down just as he came back in.

“My friend,” his voice was quiet. “I realized I left you rather high, can you get down on your own safely?”

I was out of sight, I knew I was. A part of me knew I should keep going. I didn’t need to do this, I didn’t need to let him know about me. I heard the door shut and poked my head around the thing hiding me. He stood in the room, I couldn’t tell if he was searching for me. I knew about those cat people, but not enough. I barely knew the names of any of the giant races.

I stepped out in the open. The hood made it hard to know if he found me. I heard a small gasp and saw a bit of shock on what I could see of his face. He switched to a soft smile and walked towards me. He left his hood up, but I couldn’t blame him. There was no reason to take it off around me. He stopped more than one of his arm’s lengths away and reached up to his hood. He pulled it off and crouched a bit.

“I suppose I hadn’t thought my leaving through all the way, shall I help you?” he asked. There was that strange sound of hope in his voice again.

“I… I can normally get down on my own, but I didn’t take more than my bag when I ran out earlier… Safest would be getting help,” I said. It wasn’t entirely a lie. I would be safer having someone help me down. His face lit up and my heart raced. I didn’t expect him to look so excited at me accepting help. He came close quickly and started to wrap his fingers around me. I closed my eyes and tensed, but the feeling of warmth around me disappeared. I opened my eyes to the crystal palm set at the edge of the table.

“I don’t suppose you enjoy being grabbed. I apologize for that. Pray climb on my palm and I’ll help you down.”

I nodded and started a stiff walk forward. I just had to think of his palm as a statue still. The red eyes, moving red ears, and red hair that ended in white were not important. I was a bit curious about his tail, they always had one with those ears. I set one foot on the palm, it was still hard like crystal and warm. I took a few steps and then stood staring up at those eyes. I nodded to signal I was ready, his face lit up again. Slowly he lowered his hand, just slow enough I could stay standing.

Almost at the ground I hopped off and bolted. He didn’t reach out for me, didn’t even call out. Once I was hidden I turned back to watch him. He continued to move slowly, standing up and pulling his hood over his head again. He walked out and the door slammed again. I knew he didn’t make it slam, all the doors here did. I made my way home and just collapsed. 

I stayed hidden for a few days, but there was a commotion. Someone snuck in and there was some kind of an attack. The wall with my home suffered damage, things I’d had were lost. I was lost once I saw the aftermath. If I hadn’t gone to see where the Exarch was I would have been there. He was the only one to survey the damages. I didn’t stay to watch him wave it all away. I had seen him fix other things, my home was gone for good. I found a secluded area and started working on a new one.

I heard the clacking of footsteps back and forth while working. I had to stop each time they came through. It was getting annoying. I was almost tempted to go to that chamber the Exarch showed me. I knew I couldn’t do that, if he found out my home was gone I’d be trapped. He’d keep me trapped for my ‘safety’.

“My friend,” the Exarch called. I shivered, there was no way he knew I was here. “Are you here? Pray give me a sign.”

I set my things down and snuck down to an opening on the floor. The building was smooth in most places, but the larger beings rarely checked this low. I saw the Exarch without his hood looking around frantically. I stepped out to watch him, he looked worn out. His gaze flew past me, but he quickly realized I was there. His ruby eyes locked on me and made me shiver.

I watched the flick of his ears as he realized I wasn’t running. He stepped forward, knocking me off my feet. He frowned, but stepped closer again. He kneeled down in front of me. I hadn’t been on the ground this close to one of the giants before. It felt like he’d become my entire world. He brought his hands down to surround me. He stopped just before his fingers touched me.

“My friend, I am filled with relief to see you again,” he whispered. I started shaking, the way he looked at me felt wrong. It felt like he was relieved to find a possession. He didn’t move his hands any closer, but did hang his head. I jumped at the tears that fell from him. “I apologize, this is quite unbecoming of me. I had feared you died when I found what I assume to be your home destroyed. We had yet to truly become acquainted, but I had hoped to be able to protect you while myself and the tower remain.”

“Why…” I mumbled. I couldn’t even understand the idea behind his words. Protecting me didn’t matter. He sighed, the gust of wind reminding me of our differences.

“Pray accompany me to the Umbilicus where we can talk more freely.” I stared at his hands, the way to accompany him would be in those. I had spent so much time in the crystal one. He’d never bothered to hurt me, there wasn’t anyone I was protecting by hiding anymore.

“...I will.” His ears perked up once I answered. He set his crystal hand down beside me. I knew I was still shaking, but the fact he decided against grabbing me gave me a little hope.

“Pray, take your time. I have no trouble waiting for you to accompany me comfortably. Would you rather make your way on your own? I assume you have a way to traverse the Crystal Tower.”

“You trust I’d show up?” I knew how stupid it was to ask that question. It opened his mind to the fact I might not. The red ears on his head drooped.

“I… am aware that you have little reason to trust me. I did deceive you for quite some time. I merely hope to give you aid however I can. The things you would most likely wish to hear I unfortunately must say in a place of complete privacy. Should you choose not to return with me then I shall only hope to protect you as I am able while you remain out of sight.”

I nodded, I wished I believed him. I took a deep breath before climbing into the crystal palm. It had felt so comforting, now it was foreboding. I just wanted to survive this. Nothing was how I knew it to be. There were races that didn’t make sense and words I’d never heard. At least this would be normal, a giant keeping me captive because I made a mistake.

I sat on the palm just waiting for it to move. Slowly I curled up into a ball. The crystal fingers I once wished would cover me slowly did just that. I thought he mumbled something, but I didn’t care. One day I’d come to accept all of this. My life how this giant would make it. Some of them sounded nice, maybe it would just be that I'm a pet. I heard from others that it was a better option out of the ones available. Especially with mages.

“Don’t cry my friend, I promise you will remain free as long as I am in this tower,” he whispered. I listened to the footsteps clacking on the floor. I wished I could believe him. I heard another one running somewhere nearby. I started to shake, it had probably been a trick that he was searching alone.

“My lord, this is where you’ve been,” Lyna said. I panicked as the crystal hand moved. This is where the lies fell apart. “Did you find something concerning the attacker? I can alert the guard.”

“Do not worry Lyna. I didn’t find anything worth worrying over. Merely a piece of the tower I must take care of. Was there something you needed?” I heard her sigh, stiffening at the suspicion in her voice.

“I know better than to question your secrets. I had come to report no one had seen the intruder around the Crystarium. It was as if they appeared from thin air.”

“I see. Thank you for the report Lyna. I will continue looking into this. Please ensure everyone that I’m fine as is the tower. There is nothing to fret over.”

“Understood, my lord.”

The footsteps ran off before the hand moved again. The crystal fingers continued to hold me firmly. When the hand stopped I wasn’t sure what to expect. Tilting and holding me against soft fabric certainly wasn’t it. The warmth below the fabric mixed with the warmth of the hand felt nice. I almost wanted to accept this, if I’d get this nice feeling. At least he kept me hidden.

I didn’t know how long I was left in his hold. It felt like hours, but I wasn’t particularly bothered. Now and then he’d stop and I felt something strange come over me. I heard giants talking when he did this, but they didn’t stop to speak with him. When I heard a door open I was a little upset, the daydream that I was safe was about to end. The doors closed, but nothing else changed. 

“My friend, are you awake?” Exarch asked. I fidgeted, the idea of falling asleep in this hand while I knew it was alive sounded insane. I felt him chuckle around me. “I fear I had hoped for too much then. I believe we have much to discuss, if you would do me the honor of trusting me.”

“I’m here,” I murmured. 

Exarch made a noise of agreement. His hand was pulled from against the soft cloth at his chest. I was kept wrapped in crystal fingers, unable to see the world around me. I resigned myself to the cage I’d be dropped in. Slowly the hand lowered until my feet reached a solid surface. The fingers around me uncurled letting me see my surroundings. The giant hand was pulled away, but I couldn’t stop from looking around.

“This isn’t a cage,” I said. The exarch made a shocked noise that drew my attention to him. He had his hands up to pull down his hood, but the part of his face I could see looked pained.

“My small friend, I would never trap you. Had I known that was a fear of yours I would have tried to assuage that the best I am able,” he said. I looked up at him, he slowly pulled his hood off. I couldn’t remember the last time someone looked at me like that.

“What did you want me here for?” I couldn’t just trust him blindly, even with eyes that seemed to see me like an equal. He looked older than I first thought as he settled into a chair in front of me. He pulled some things from somewhere I hadn’t noticed, food that he was sharing with me.

“I wanted to tell you how we’ve come to this world. One far from home for both of us, and the tragedy that befell our world.”

I sat down, grabbing a bit of food and motioned for him to talk. He went into a long story about wars and death. His role to try and save the world we came from. He called our world the source and the one we were in the first. He told me about the flood, a horrible event of destruction. He told me about black rose and the disarray of the world. It was horrifying.

“I am here to prevent that. I can not guarantee you will stay here once I have changed the past. I do know I have no intent to leave the tower behind. Would you allow me to aid you in finding a new home?” he finished. I just sat there and tried to take it all in. Our world was a mess, we were in the past, and good chance I’d disappear once we saved this place. He didn’t push me, just let me think.

“Can I help?” I asked. The giant face above me went from shock to awe to excitement. The glimmer in the ruby eyes made me blush.

“I would welcome any aid you would provide. It has been admittedly lonely on this journey. You are the only one who I have been able to reveal my goals to since I arrived.” I stood up and held out a hand, his ears twitched before a giant hand came forward. He pinched my hand between two fingers and moved it up and down. I smiled at him, maybe this giant wasn’t so bad.

I spent the next few years helping him. I would make my way into parts of the tower that seemed locked, finding secret ways to open it. I learned I had some skill with magicks as well. It seemed the tower knew me, my kind at least. It was amazing to experience not having to hide. He continued to protect me, never once mentioning my existence to the other giants. He told me the names of each kind too, although he said they were different in the first.

It wasn’t long before the Exarch said it was time to summon the hero. It was what we’d been preparing for, finding all the solutions possible. I wasn’t quite ready to lose my freedom here, but I had agreed to this. I started to remove my things from the Umbilicus, most of my things stayed there while we worked on preparing for the warrior of light. The Exarch had been busy recently, I would miss the time we spent together. I didn’t want to bother him as I returned to the walls. It was best to stay hidden when more people would start wandering the tower.

I was in the middle of moving my things from a shelf the Exarch had cleared out for me when the doors opened. I dove behind some books stacked on the desk. I heard a sigh that I had grown used to, the Exarch was back. I nodded to myself as I started back out in the open. He was probably just checking a book, one to make sure he grabs the hero from the right time.

“Oh no…” he whispered. I tensed, that couldn’t be good. I felt his steps through the desk as he rushed over to me. I had almost forgotten the way he could feel to me when he didn’t care. I heard the crash of things, the proximity meant it was my things. I covered my mouth to hide a yelp when the heavy things were moved with ease. “My friend, pray reveal yourself. Were you hurt? Did something happen?”

I didn’t move, I was terrified to see what he’d do if he found me. He sounded almost angry. It was years where I proved how useful I was here. He could easily have decided to keep me now. I jumped as a new tremor came through the desk. I snuck forward, looking out from my hiding place. If he wanted to find me he could look.

“I suppose I deserve this, I’ve been too distracted. I pray you have gone to safety my friend, I’d hoped to see this through with you,” he mumbled. I watched as a single tear fell from him. I felt foolish, rushing out to see the Exarch as he turned away. His hood had fallen off as he moved, his ears were pressed against his head.

“I was moving my things!” I called out. His ears perked up before he turned. The glimmer in his eyes gave me that feeling of being seen again. He was in front of me, crouching so I was even with his eyes. I almost felt guilty for hiding. “I… I thought it best I had my things gone before you summoned the hero. So you wouldn’t have to keep them from this room.”

His hands came around me, a silent question. I nodded and they surrounded me until I fell into his palm. He always kept me in his crystal palm. He stared at me in a way I almost wanted to run from. He brought me close to his face, pressing his nose into me. The ruby eyes went cross to stare at me. I laughed, the strange face managed to make me laugh each time.

“My friend, I had hoped we could see this through. We have wandered the Crystarium together, the summoning should be no different. The warrior of light will not be entering here unless I have failed in my duties. At that point I hope you would aid them where I failed.” He pulled me away to smile down at me.

“How could I help one of you giants? Besides, trusting you is hard enough.” 

“Then at least trust me my friend. This is your home, as long as I’m alive you shall be free. Your home here in the Umbilicus or the walls shall remain your own. You shall be free.”

“How long until you summon them…”

“A few days.”

“We’ll see once you’re prepared to start then…”

He nodded, it was a solemn movement. Over the next few days I went back and forth a lot still. I stayed out of sight, focusing on my own work. I would leave my mark if this went south. I fixed all my tunnels that had gone out of use. I worked on leaving warnings and notes for others of my kind. If I truly joined him in this, I would have no choice. I wouldn’t be returning to a quiet life and I wouldn’t be able to remove the tower like he planned.

It was finally time, he’d been staring at that weird portal for hours. I slipped out of the walls and started towards him. I haven’t been on the ground near him since that day he told me of the past I didn’t know. The Exarch sighed and started to turn. I expected to stay undetected. He saw me, he always seemed to be looking for me. Without a pause he crouched offering a hand to me. I ran up climbing on it, it was the crystal palm like always. 

He curled those fingers up around me. The motion was always stiff on this palm. One day I’d see what his other hand felt like, but I wasn’t ready for that. Even after years with him. He held me up to his face, a smile played on his lips. One of hope. I saw the question he wanted to ask. I held up a hand to stop him. I stood on the palm and pointed towards his shoulder. The smile grew.

He moved his hand to his shoulder. I jumped off and climbed under the hood. He’d let me add a spot to hide in a long time ago. I climbed in, making sure I could still see out. I could feel him relax with me there. I was happy he felt calm with me.

“Are you ready my friend?”  he asked. I ran down my mental checklist. I’d done everything, there was no one waiting for me other than Exarch. I was happy to be here, to be part of something important.

“As I’ll ever be,” I answered.

[angelictyphoon]

Vash stutters as Wolfwood’s dancing fingers descend upon him. “Ack! Heehee– ah, nooo!” 

Through several half-hearted attempts to keep the assault at bay, Vash laughs with tears in his eyes and huffs of ‘Mercy, please! Help!’ and ‘Oh God, it tickles.’ Holding onto the concept of shape, of wings that look like wings and feathery feather tendrils, as it turns out, is exceedingly difficult when he is being tickled with a vengeance.

If Nicholas is an angry worm, then Vash is a wriggling, fuzzed out, fluffy with random feathers poking out of his face kind of worm. Somehow, he manages in the breathless chaos to swap the ring of his temporary limb and to his right hand.

As the world reorients itself on the pillow of Wolfwood’s bosom and Vash has room to breathe again, he exhales a long, content sigh and nuzzles into Wolfwood’s with his cheeks like a cat with a bag of catnip. 

“Whatever,” Vash grumbles with a brief squint, clearly unimpressed by Nicholas’s apparent lack of impetus while simultaneously mollified by an impromptu lower back massage on the floor.

The twin suns have not yet reached their zeniths. The day is still plenty young and there are no imminent disasters threatening action. 

They have time.

Their room is as unremarkable as any past accommodations they've had the pleasure of sharing. From here he can see that dust bunnies have made a warren beneath the bed, the fabricated wood flooring has been stained dark by oils and dirt and there are grains of sand caught between the floorboards. The wallpaper is starting to peel away at the seams and the curtains are worm-eaten. 

It smells like sun-baked leather with a hint of earthiness from dust motes and stale sheets, though the scents are less noticeable when he's face-first into Wolfwood's pectorals, and Vash has no qualms about scenting Wolfwood with a few audible sniffs. Sweat and sex and worm spiced cloves and suddenly they might benefit from waiting a little longer on that shower. 

If they miss checkout time, they’ll automatically incur a late fee. Then again, there is a nonzero chance that they will earn the hotelier’s wrath anyway by skimping on additional charges and paying only the original fare before booking it out of town.

A calculated risk.

What better way to get back on the open road than by stirring up a bit of trouble?

Vash murmurs an ‘I love you,’ against Nicholas’s sternum, then kisses a path up past his collarbone with a hungry promise in his eyes when their mouths meet.  

Wolfwood cannot help but laugh at Vash's pout.

It is so much. There is so much feeling, when he'd spent years compartmentalizing, crushing it all down to a condensed core and convincing himself that it didn't matter anyway. Impossible to maintain, and here and now it is nearly overwhelming. He feels fit to burst and there must be a pressure valve. It is, at the moment, a chuckle, warm and full and breathless. The fact that his own cheeks are wet has nothing to do with it.

Nope.

And the red rimming his eyes, the puffiness, that's irrelevant. Totally. It's not a thing in the slightest.

When Vash catches him by the jaw, Nicholas resists just a little, craning to squish nose to nose, pinching the out-poked curve of Vash's lower lip with his teeth. Gently, gently, because he's still sniffle-chuff-snickering, laughing, letting his hands wander as they will underneath the tousled and half-crumpled sheets, because he craves the warmth. Skin to skin, it is a tether, and sure, sure, perhaps the reality of it will strike him sometime, but for the moment he feels.

What a wonder it is to be able to feel. To be cognizant of it. To drown in it and still be able to breathe.

Dreamlike.

"Pfft. What, you don't wanna look like you're allergic to somethin'? Worried 'bout bein' unrecogniz—ack!"

He really ought to be more prepared for gravity-assisted shenanigans like this by now, but a combination of Vash's weight and the tangle of sheets around their legs both hobble him and send him slip-sliding off of the mattress, landing hard. Hard enough to rattle the dresser alongside the bed, hard enough to topple their boots over where they'd been haphazardly discarded the night before.

He isn't stunned, not by a long shot, hooking an ankle over what he thinks is Vash's knee and darting his hands down to pinch-pinch-tickle at scarred flanks and sides, all with a growing growl abuzz in his throat.

"—I'll give you an angry worm!"

That sounds—it sounds...

It sounds so stupid that he pikes his hips and grapples into a wrestling death-roll, flopping around and mashing them both into the fallen rumpled bedclothes while using his forearms and torso to shield Vash from impact. Somewhat.

Maybe he more means to squash Vash's face into his chest.

Of course with that note of amusement he flops just a touch too far and ends up sprawled on his back, eyes crossed as he sports a stupid, stupid grin.

"Yeah alright fine, fine."

Because it is such a bother to go clean up. Clearly. So what if he's kneading wherever his hands rest?

[superlativesamsara]

@nemxricultrix replied:

Good question! Complicated answer.

Because I do share her memories and I definitely share her attachment but I'm not a hundred percent sure I wanna go for it given that...

Okay have you got any experience with shared souls? Like, more than one unique "person" but they're still the same person, with just one soul between them?

Like, not the same thing as an alt self, each alt has their "own" soul, even if they're all ultimately drawn from the same pattern.

I'm making this over complicated aren't I?

Okay let me try again: I'm a splinter of Rose's collective oversoul that she can't reconcile as being part of her because she finds it hard to accept my experiences into the metaphysical concept of herself in the grand scheme of things. Because I'm a her who had a very different experience both growing up and in The Game, one lacking in the betrayals that to some extent defined hers, be that the perceived (but imagined) betrayals of our mother to the all too real betrayal of our siblings.

And so rather than integrating my personality and whatnot into hers like she does with essentially every other us she loops in as, I'm like... stuck? I guess?

Here let me

>A gif is attatched, that almost seems to show a large, spherical gem, until it zooms in and shows that in fact, it's a gem with what looks like infinitely many facets. This gem is very helpfully labeled "Rose's Soul". Except, as it pans back out, there's two notable fragments that are split off from it, still touching but clearly cracked away. These are also labeled "Rose's Soul", one of which additionally labeled "(me)" in smaller text. As the animation continues, some of the cracks for the "me" fragment seal up and fuse a bit, not all, but definitely some.

As this handy diagram I totally didn't just throw together indicates, I'm part of her that she's been up to now unable to reconcile with the remaining whole of her experiences. Evidently, something, somehow, has happened to change that, but whatever it was also seems to have put her somewhat out of action, and so, you have me here instead.

I don't know if anything I just said makes any sense because I'm bad at explaining things but like, ask away with your questions.

But essentially I have all of her experiences and feelings towards you but I'm not entirely sure if I should act on them since there's a nonzero chance that if she continues to figure out how to understand and accept my experiences into the whole I might cease to exist as a separate entity from her and then things would be *weird*.

Then again I'm pretty sure I'm overthinking that too.

[gondowan]

Communal Property

Pairings: Din Djarin x f!Reader, allusions to Paz Viszla x f!Reader, Boba Fett x f!Reader, other Mandalorians x f!Reader, big gangbang vibes here lads. 

“I hear you Mandos like to share your women anyway.”

Tags/Warnings: NC-17. Explicit sexual content. Established relationship. Verbal humiliation.  Dom/sub. Choking. Lots of finnnngerrring (vaginal/anal). Canon-typical violence (Din stabs a rando). Soup, but make it sexy. Daddy kink (ehe). Suggestions of a threesome, gangbang, public use, bondage, breeding, double penetration (if I missed anything please let me know), its fluffy at the end :D

Word Count: 4,709

Notes: <:3c please don’t read if you’re not comfortable with anything listed above lol. Seriously though. 

---

It was getting late, and the only clientele left at the dingy cantina were either drunk and rowdy or on their way to out. Which was fine, it was rare for the two of you to have some time together and you relished every second you could get. Din had just bagged a large bounty for Karga, enough that he could be persuaded to take a short break. It had been far too long since the two of you could spend some time together without a bounty puck hanging over your head or fears of Imperials looking for the Child.

Besides, Sorgan was as quiet as it got, and with all the planet-hopping and close calls in the last few cycles, the two of you really hadn’t had any time to yourselves and you were getting a little...tense from the lack of release. 

It wasn’t that Din ignored your needs, but rather you were both so caught up with everything that there was barely any time to sleep, let alone indulge in a long scene. There just weren’t enough hours in the day to both take care of the Crest, the Child, and yourselves while on the run. You could tell he too was tense from the lack of physical connection; from the moment you stepped planetside, he was constantly touching you, either guiding you with a hand on the small of your back or  

Din was in a mood. 

“What will it be?” the barkeep had asked when you both walked in. 

Before you could open your mouth, Din replied “Some stew and cider for her please, nothing for me,” he said in a clipped tone, not bothering to look at you or even ask what you might want. 

As the barkeep walked away, he turned his helmeted gaze towards you. “Any objections sweet girl?”

You felt your face get hot. “No,” you murmured. 

He cocked his head to the side, waiting. He was in that kind of mood tonight. Out of the corner of your eye you could see the barkeep coming back to your table. 

“No...daddy,” you mumbled, dropping your gaze away from him right as the barkeep put down your drinks. 

“Let me know if you all need anything else!” she said cheerfully as she set your plate of food and drink in front of you, oblivious to what had just occurred. 

“That’ll be all, thank you.” Din said, not even bothering to look at the barkeep. She must’ve thought you were mute or the two of you had an argument or something, the air between the two of you felt so charged. You hadn’t spoken a word since you two stepped in, and this armor-clad Mandalorian was basically bossing you around. 

She walked away, and you reached for the soup. 

“No.” 

You blinked at him in confusion. 

“I’m going to feed it to you,”. 

If you weren’t embarrassed before, you were now. Although the two of you had conversations about taking your dynamic outside the bedroom, Din hadn’t tried anything outside the ship just yet. The two of you were constantly surrounded by others anyway (Cara, Mayfeld, Boba, etc),  so there wasn’t much of a chance to be naughty in public.

Except now, you suppose. You should’ve known. 

“Mando, we’re in public,” you hissed, looking around the cantina. It was crowded and loud, and you were in a corner booth, but there was still a nonzero chance that someone might glance over.

His vocoder crackled, “Just the first spoonful,” he said, dipping the spoon into the soup and raising it towards you. You knew better than to say no, not if you valued the ability to sit down comfortably tomorrow. If you were really uncomfortable, all you had to do was blurt out your safeword, and you knew he would stop. 

You licked your lips, “Just the one.” You prop your forearms on the table and lean towards him, parting your lips, fervently hoping that no one would look towards your table. Din carefully tips the soup into your mouth, watching intently as you swallow.  

“Good?”

You lick your lips, despite the (admittedly delicious) soup, your mouth feels dry, “Y-yeah,”. 

“Finish it and we can leave,” to do what it is we really want to do, is the unspoken statement hanging in the air. He pushes the bowl towards you; you hastily grab the spoon, not even tasting it anymore.  Din watches you eat, unmoving save for an impatient drum of his fingers on the table. 

You relax a little, and ramble at Din about this-that-and-the-other to fill in the silence as you move onto polishing off your cider. Din says little in return but traces circles at your thigh, gloved fingers leaving a burning trial in its wake. Right as you are about to finish, a drunken man saunters over. You can smell the stench of alcohol rolling off of him. So much for a quiet night. 

“What’s a pretty lady like you doing with a tin can like that?” the drunkard giggles, pointing at Din. “Come with me instead, I can show you a great time, and you can see my face!”.

You sigh, so much for a quiet night, “I’m not interested, thank you,” you say with a clipped smile, turning away, hoping to the maker that he’d leave. 

Unfortunately this idiot can’t read the room, “Awww, don’t be like that, I can-”.

“She’s not interested.” Din said, voice flat, gaze still directed at you, not even bothering to give the drunkard the luxury of his full attention.

The man scowls, throwing up his hands. “Whatever, she’s probably all used up. I hear you Mandos like to share your women anyway.” 

The air got deathly still. Before you can turn to stop him, Din’s vibroblade is sticking out of this man’s shoulder. He screams, sobering up instantly, as Din twists the blade. 

In a flash, the barkeep shows up, blaster in hand, “OUT! All three of you!”, she yells, “Sa’al, I told you if you were going to get in trouble for this shit one day. Don’t let me catch any of you back here again.”

You throw down a fat wad of credits at the table, face apologetic as Din pulls his knife out of Sa’al’s shoulder, returning it to his boot. Sa’al collapses and scurries away in pain, clutching his shoulder. Din calmly stands up, takes your hand in his and leads you towards the exit. You mouth apologies at the barkeep before stepping out into the cool night air. Sorry, my partner is...touchy tonight have a good night so sorry I’m so sorry. 

You shiver, not looking forward to the long walk back to the Crest. Surprisingly, Din turns you in the opposite direction, marching you towards the inn. 

“Don’t want to wait,” he says. “Besides, it’s getting cold, and I know you don’t like that,” he drapes his cloak over your shoulders, and despite the reaction he had at the bar, your heart feels warm, and you lean into him. 

---

The inn is quiet, and you were lucky to get a larger room at the end of the hall. A bath would be nice, the refresher aboard the Crest did its job, but five minute showers really didn’t leave any time for luxuriating. Maybe you could MacGyver some bubbles and really indulge with Din. 

Din however, has other ideas. He all but shoves you into the room, closing the door behind him and quickly doing his usual checks for cameras and recording bugs. Old habits die hard. Once he’s satisfied, he sits at the edge of the bed. He pats at his lap, gesturing for you to sit. This had become a bit of a ritual for the two of you, he would often decompress by holding you as you sat there, either in the cockpit or the sleeping quarters. You amble over, planting a kiss on his helmet, and sit down.

Din doesn’t say anything at first, just lays his head on your shoulder. You reach in between his armor to rub at the tense muscles on his back, and for a few moments, it’s just the two of you and the sound of his breathing out of the vocoder. 

“You didn’t have to go so hard on the poor man you know,” you murmur as you massage the back of his neck. Din doesn’t move, just continues to hold you on his lap, head on your shoulder as he scoffs. 

 “I’m getting soft. Before I met you, old me would’ve killed him,”  the voice underneath the helmet is deadly. He releases his hold on your waist and takes off his helmet, immediately peppering kisses along your mouth. You knew he wasn’t lying, he had done worse--for less. “No one talks to my girl like that,”. 

“It’s fine, you dealt with him. My honor remains intact, I swear.” you giggle as his lips reach a particularly sensitive spot behind your ear. Except the idea was enticing. Maybe you could bring it up another time, when Din wasn’t fresh out of nearly killing someone for saying that. The idea of being sandwiched between two Mandalorians was...tempting. You squeeze your thighs together, willing the thought away as you card your fingers through his hair. For someone who routinely kept it covered, it was so, so soft, and one of your favorite parts about him. Din still kept his helmet on more often than not, so you relished every chance you could get. 

His mouth wanders to your collarbones, hand reaching into your shirt, fingers smoothing over your nipple. 

“Although Din--ah,” your breath hitched as he rolled your nipple between his fingers, “What was that with the soup?”

“You didn’t like it?” his voice is muffled as he sucks a bruise onto your shoulder. 

You loved it actually. 

“Need to make sure babygirl has enough energy for Daddy,”. He continues to play with your nipple as you fuss around his lap.“Although...you averted your eyes earlier sweet girl,”. 

You whimper, body tensing. Shit. That had one been one of the rules he had laid out for you at the very beginning. Eye contact whenever you were playing. Din loved it because it made you embarrassed to have to admit to your desires to his face and it put you in an almost automatic submissive mindset. 

“Are you ashamed of being my baby girl?” he murmured, catching your chin with his hand, tilting your face to meet his. You knew it was a trick question, you could never be ashamed of the relationship the two of you shared. It had grown from just business to more, and despite the near-constant danger, you never wanted to be away from him, and you knew Din felt the same. 

“Of course not,” you sigh. You could never be anything but happy to be his. 

“Then why did you look away from me?” he asked, keeping your chin in a gentle grip, looking at you fondly, a smile of wicked pleasure gracing his handsome features. His voice was calm, and he maintained an innocent demeanor even as his other hand drifted away from your breast onto your thigh, squeezing gently. 

“I was just caught off-guard, we were in public,”. You braced yourself for what you knew was coming-- punishment. 

The other hand that had been trailing along your thigh paused, prompting you to freeze. “Well, it looks like you need to be taught a lesson. Always be ready for me, kitten.” 

“I think five is good,” he releases your face, hands roaming to your bottom, groping as you let out a shuddering breath, “Remember to count them”. 

You burrow your face into his shoulder, holding on tight. Din keeps his gloves on, knowing that you have a special fondness for being spanked while he was wearing them. The leather just adds that extra touch. 

The first hit takes you by surprise, and you buck into him, feeling the sting of his hand. 

“O-one.”

The second and third hit right next to the first, causing you to moan into his neck. 

Din rubbed the growing warm spot on your asscheek, “You should be in a museum kitten, your body is a masterpiece,” he growled, “Almost makes me feel sorry to hurt you.”. He lifts his hand away and you close your eyes, bracing yourself.

“But not quite,”. The next hit has you whimpering.

“Four.” you manage between clenched teeth.

He murmurs, “Last one okay? You’re doing so well.” You steel yourself, knowing that this one will be the most painful. You loved it when he was cold and domineering, playing with your body, inflicting both pain and pleasure at his desire, extracting whatever he needed out of you. 

Din’s hand comes down, hard. You cry out, shifting forward with the force, but are caught by his chestplate. 

“Five!” you call out, relieved. “T-Thank you Daddy,”.  

Din kisses your cheek, phrases of adoration and love filling your ear. He moves you off his thigh, pushing you onto the bed in one swift motion. You land with a soft ‘oof’, getting up on the back of your forearms to look at him. 

Din hurriedly takes off the rest of his armor and looms over you on the bed, arousal rolling off his body in waves. His palm reaches down between your legs. “Babygirl...you’ve already made a mess.” Din pulls at the crotch of your panties, feeling the wetness that has seeped through. He yanks them off, making a big show out of sniffing them, all the while maintaining eye contact with you as you squirm under him.  

“Is this all for me sweet girl?”. You nod feverishly and Din groans, as he inhales deeply again, your ruined panties pressed right against his nose, “It’s too good--I should just keep your pussy under lock and key.”  

“Did the spanking get you all riled up?” he asks, the curve of his cock visible even through his pants, making your mouth water. 

“Or…” his voice drops precipitously, “Were you thinking about being passed around?” 

Damn, of course he’d know. Your eyes widen and you swallow, stomach twisting. 

Din grins as he continues to let his hands caress your hip, “Was that it? Is that what you want? Passed around and used up by a bunch of Mandalorians?”

You whine, biting your lip, refusing to give him the pleasure of confirmation.

A sharp slap across your nipple brings you back to reality. “Answer me.”

You nod, lips parting, unable to answer as Din pushes a finger into your mouth and across your tongue. You lap at his finger, pleased at the subtle shiver that goes through him. He adds a second finger, reaching deep into your mouth, making you gag as you garble out an affirmation. 

Din grins ferally. “You know I could call up Paz and Boba, let them take turns on you”. You shudder, the thought of sucking Boba’s cock while Paz worked your pussy was hot. You hadn’t done more than exchange a few conversations with the two of them, but you knew that Din would trust them with his life, they were his vod. Paz was the biggest one and you knew he wouldn’t take it easy on you. Boba, however, would be brutal, possibly even more so than Din.  

“Although I don’t know babygirl, I’m not sure I can share your pussy-- maybe I’ll keep my cock in your pussy and the others can take turns on your ass and mouth, keep you airtight and so full. Would you like that baby? Be stuffed full of cock?” Din hums as he pulls his fingers out of your mouth. The image he’s painting in your mind is disgusting and oh so good, you imagine yourself straddling Din as his cock fills your pussy, holding on for dear life while Paz eases himself into your other tight hole and you choke around Boba’s length, utterly debauched. 

Din pets your cheek, soft gesture contrasting sharply with the utter filth coming out of his mouth. His hand finally reaches down towards the apex of your thighs, knuckle grazing up and down your folds. “We better train your asshole then, don’t want Paz or Boba to hurt you,” your heart flutters, filthy images of you on your knees plugged up making your blood pound.  

“That’s Daddy’s job after all.” he says absentmindedly, eyes laser focused on your pussy as he briefly dips his finger even lower, just barely skimming across your other hole.    

“Look at you,” he says, admiring the way you shudder as he inserts his fingers into your pussy, you’re so turned on you can hear the squelch as he pushes in. “Knew you were a greedy slut since the first day I set eyes on you.”

You keen under his touch, mind flying high, pussy throbbing as you move your hips into his hand. “I’m your greedy slut Daddy,” 

“Yeah you are, sweet girl.” Din says fondly. You wonder how it is that you’re already this close even though he’s barely started to finger you.  

“Can I kiss you? Please?” you whimper, reaching for him. Din hums and puts a knee on the bed, leaning over, chest pressed against yours, pressing a kiss to the underside of your jaw. You pull him closer, needy for more of him as you wordlessly beg for more. He nips at your bottom lip and you open your mouth to let him in, never minding the mess of saliva. 

 “Never thought you were that much of a whore,” he hisses against your neck, teething grazing along the line of your skin as you tilt your head back to allow him better access. His fingers continue to work their magic on your slick folds, and you’re pretty sure you’ve made a mess on the bed already, and dear maker, he hadn’t even made you cum yet. 

“Alternatively…”. Din stands up, mouth leaving yours and withdrawing his fingers as well. You whine at the loss of sensation. He nips at your breast before reaching down to pull his pants down. You swallow, chest heaving as you part your legs further for him. Din rubs the head of his cock on your clit, 

“Spread yourself,” he orders with a sharp smack to your inner thigh. You scramble, reaching down to give him better access. Din lets out a moan at the sight of your dripping pussy and your debauched dreamy expression, fresh bruises adorning your neck and chest, all his doing. He loved the way you folded under his touch as if you were made for him, always so sweet and anticipatory of his needs. A beautiful complement to his twisted desires. The thought of it made his heart swell. He was never going to let you go.  

Din makes an appreciative noise as you follow his command, lining himself up with your wet hole. You’re breathing so hard in anticipation that you feel light-headed, “Or...I could take you back to the Covert, let everyone else have a turn at you,”

Before you can fully register what he said, he pushes deep into you with one fluid motion of his hips. You squeeze down on him, grateful for the pressure and the way he fills you up every time like he was made for you.  

“We could get your implant taken out, make you take all of our loads in your pussy. All of our cum mixing together.” You moan, head dropping back, shuddering as he continues to thrust, bottoming out, not giving you any time to breathe let alone think. 

“Would you like that babygirl? Naked in the middle of the Covert for all to see?” you scramble to hold on to his arm, legs circling around his back. You squeeze around his length, getting close, but you don’t dare to cum without his permission. 

“D-daddy…” is about all you can muster out, eyes looking at his face but unseeing as he continues. You pull at the arm he’s been using to brace himself against the bed, gesturing at him to put his hand around your neck. He obliges with a small laugh, the span of his palm encompassing your neck, lightly resting his hand there and not squeezing, yet. 

“Close baby?” 

You tremble, “Y-yes Daddy fuck, please may I--” 

His hand returns to your clit and he presses down, taunting you, “You’re close already? If you cum, you acknowledge that you’re a filthy slut who needs Daddy to keep them in check. Is that what you are? A whore for Daddy?”. The hand on your throat squeezes just right and you can’t hold on any longer.  

“Always Daddy f-fuck.” you cry out as you curse, feeling your release overtake you as Din fucks you through your orgasm. 

“What do you say,” he snarls, ignoring your attempts to scramble away from the overstimulation of his cock and fingers. 

You blink and take a deep breath, “Thank you for letting me cum Daddy.” You’re past the point of embarrassment at this point, he has you wrapped around his finger, all mental filters long gone. 

You can see Din’s jaw clench before he pulls out quickly and you whimper at the loss of sensation. He flips you over and pulls your hips up. He huffs out as he pushes himself back in, chasing his own pleasure this time, nailing you to the bed and all you can do is continue to take it.  Your mind swims as you let out a sob; you’re so deep in a trance that you barely register his finger at the edge of your asshole again. He pushes in slowly, first knuckle breaching the tight ring of muscles as you tense up around his thick finger. 

“I knew you would love being the Covert slut; you always need so much to be satisfied,” he sneers, voice dropping even lower as he continues to mock you as his thick cock continues to work your hole and his finger fully breaches your asshole. “Maybe we won’t stop until we’re sure you get pregnant huh? You won’t ever know who the father will be since you won’t ever see their faces.”

 You’re nonverbal at this point, your litany of ‘yes Daddy’ and ‘more please’ muffled by the pillow.

“I guess we’ll just have to hope it looks like me huh?”. You groan, too overcome to do anything but moan.  

“Gonna give us warriors babygirl?”. Din snaps his hips particularly hard, you’ll be feeling the smack of his thighs against yours in the morning. 

You can feel yourself getting closer, the combination of the obscene image he had planted in your mind coupled with the press of his cock at your back and the fullness of his finger in your asshole was getting to be too much. You grip the sheets in a vice grip, mind falling into the web Din painted, of you on your knees, collar tied to a post, all your holes dripping with cum while the other Mandalorians all take a turn at you. So filthy, and you love it. You know nothing would please Din more than your complete and utter submission, and if that involves the entire covert or Paz and Boba, so be it. 

Din’s hand comes back up to your throat, and squeezes, playing with your breath right as his other hand inserts a second finger inside your asshole. You clutch at the hand wrapped around your neck, feeling your head swim, closing your eyes as you bounce up and down on his cock.   

He growls, biting into the shell of your ear, “Aww baby are you drooling?” he smears your spit across your cheek with his thumb. “Look at you, you’ve only cum once, and all of this is already making you cockdumb. Might have to call Paz and Boba in after all.”

You could only mewl in affirmation, mind floating, body only anchored by the points of contact made by Din’s hand on your throat, his cock in your pussy, and his fingers in your ass. You feel so good being used like this.  

“I love it when you’re like this babygirl, so helpless for Daddy,” Din growls in your ear. His eyes are hooded as he chases his own orgasm, the rhythm of his hips becoming more erratic. 

“I-I--” your tears break free, running down your cheeks as you struggle to form coherent words. 

Din is unaffected, unrelenting in his thrusts against your walls. “Tears aren’t your safeword babygirl. You can do better than that.”

You manage a moan, barely registering his words, cries reverberating around the room as he knocks the breath out of your lungs with each thrust. “Tell Daddy you love this.” he hisses. 

“I-I fuck, oh, oh, iloveitdaddypleaseplease,” you struggle to find enough breath to answer him, mouth dry from all your panting, Din’s hand unrelenting across your throat. 

“I know you do baby. Is it getting hard to breathe? It’s okay, Daddy’s got you,” his voice full of pride as he rails you, splitting you open, filling the room with nothing but the sound of his cock moving in and out, his hips slapping against your ass. “So good for Daddy fuck-- I’m gonna-- this pussy is too good--such a good girl for me.”

His words fill you with warmth, and you squeeze your pussy against him right as he pulls out. Din moans, his hand letting go of your throat, looking for more leverage as he gets closer to his own completion. “Make a mess all over me babygirl, it’s o-okay I got you,”. You wail and sob as he pushes you over the edge again. All you can hear is your garbled ‘thank you Daddy thank you’ as you thank him devotedly over and over again.  All the tension drains out of you, leaving you boneless on the bed, only held up by the fingers still in your ass and his cock. 

“S-shit. You made a mess all over me f-fuck, oh fuck.” Din groans as he finishes inside you, filling you with warm cum. He pulls his fingers out and collapses on top of you. Din places his head against yours, peppering kisses all over you as he pulls out, his cum oozing out of you. It’s quiet as you both catch your breath. 

You open your eyes blearily, “Fuck.” is about all you can manage before giggling, the endorphins making you feel so good. You can feel Din smile as he lifts himself up, pushing you back on your back. He looks ethereal, hair sticking to his forehead, sweat dripping down his body as he gazes at you fondly. You reach up and caress his face and he leans into your touch. 

“How do you feel?” he murmurs, warm brown eyes on yours, laying a kiss on the back of your hand; ever the gentleman when he wasn’t busy degrading you at your request. 

You stretch languidly, a little sore, but no more than usual. “I feel great actually. And you?”

Din smiles softly as he caresses your face, “Never better,”. You love all these aspects of him, the bounty hunter, the Mandalorian, your lover. Nothing made you happier than getting to share these moments with him. The two of you lay there for what feels like eternity, happy, sated, no concerns, just kissing each other softly, coming down together. You feel your eyelids close.

His voice brings you back from the edge of sleep. “Sweet girl...we need to clean up,”.

You blink at him blearily, “Ah right...I made a mess,”.

“We made a mess,” he chuckles, pulling you up into his arms (how did he still have all that energy?) before depositing you in the tub and turning on the warm water. Right as the water covers your shoulders, he gets up. 

“Where are you going? The water is niiiiice.” you say as you make a big show of sinking into the bath. “Although not as nice as your ass.”

He smirks, “I need to send a message to Paz and Boba. Got exciting news for them,” he says as he turns towards his discarded armor. 

Your eyes widen. Wait what? 

--- 

I regret nothing lmfao. This is 100% me procrastinating from the fact that I have six months to finish writing my dissertation nbd. The line “you should be in museums” and “pussy under lock and key” is from Megan thee Stallion’s Sex Talk and Dance respectively. As always, comments/reblogs/keysmashes are always appreciated and give me much serotonin :)

Might do a part two with actual Boba and Paz but there are only so many euphemisms for cock that I know of ahaha. 

[911-ls-whats-your-emergency]

we're going down, down

carlos/tk, 2.9k, 1/?

“It’s a meal. Not a collar, TK.”

Or the dom/sub AU that no one asked for. Inspired almost entirely by the way TK/Ronen put his hands above his head in the first hookup scene, just begging to be held down at the wrists (so blame him).

~~~~~~

TK still isn’t really sure about Austin, but he’s gotta say the team seems pretty cool so far and he’s excited to be doing this with his dad. What he’s not so excited about though, is this bar they’re in. What is this music? Alright so it’s pretty entertaining to see his dad doing some ridiculous line dancing moves, but he wouldn’t be caught dead out there and usually he loves to dance. Just not like this.

He’s laughing at a particularly ridiculous spin that everyone on the floor seems to be having trouble with, when he feels someone come up behind his left shoulder.

“Do you wanna dance?”

He twists around, fully planning to turn down whoever thinks they’re gonna be able to drag him out to that floor, when he registers who it is. Oh god, not only is it that hot cop from the car crash scene earlier, but he’s no longer covered in rain-proof layers. Instead, his muscle-bound torso is positively bursting out of a tight t-shirt and as if that wasn’t enough, he absolutely exudes Dom energy from every pore. TK’s always been a sucker for Doms who don’t have to use any of the fashion norms to indicate their status because it’s so obvious just by looking at them. TK himself will sport the occasional earring to mark his Sub status and tonight he’s rocking the cuffed sleeves typical of his dynamic ‒ although at this point, he mostly just likes how it looks.

TK swallows down his original response because there’s no way he’s turning down this perfect specimen of a Dom for anything, even though he’s gonna have no idea what he’s doing out there. But he hasn’t gone down properly in months ‒ not since the incident-that-shall-not-be-named ‒ and while he’s definitely not ready for a collar or even a cuff anytime soon, he definitely wouldn’t be opposed to a little scening with a Dom as fine as this one.

“Yeah.”

Well that came out a little more emphatic than he was planning. Guess that’s his chance at seeming chill out the window. But hey, he really only wants one thing out of this guy, so what’s the harm in making that obvious up front? In the back of his mind, TK has a passing thought that maybe a colleague who he’s already run into during his first major call isn’t the best candidate for a one-night-scene, but he’s never been known for his great decision-making, so he sees no reason to start now.

“It’s TK, right?” The Dom asks him as they start moving towards the dance floor. TK notices an arm make an aborted gesture towards his lower back which is….interesting. Seems like a possessive guiding hand might be the Dom’s natural inclination, but he’s also polite enough not to take liberties with a Sub who he’s just met, which is promising on both counts. TK finally registers the question and the potential meaning behind it. Yeah it’s possible the guy caught his name from TK’s turnout coat, but most people see the initials and ask him what it stands for, not realizing it’s the sum total of his preferred name. So there’s a nonzero chance this guy has asked around about him ‒ interesting again.

“Yeah that’s right. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name at the scene earlier?”

“Nothing to be sorry about ‒ things were a little bit hectic out there.” Understatement. “I probably would’ve introduced myself as Officer Reyes on the job anyway, but cute dance partners can definitely call me Carlos.” The accompanying grin of that last statement threatens to make TK weak in the knees.

“So, TK, ever been line dancing before?”

“That would be a definite no.” He’s under no illusion that his general demeanor doesn’t scream city boy, so he’d rather just lean into it. “Guess you’ll just have to tell me what to do.” TK tries to put forth his best coy face, but it’s been awhile since he’s done this without even the slight buffer of alcohol, so he’s not sure how well it works out.

Judging by the heat in Carlos’ eyes at his words, he doesn’t think he’s doing too badly. Still got it. They’ve finally reached a fairly open spot on the floor, so Carlos immediately starts giving him directions.

“Start out facing me.”

“Copy what I do exactly, which means we’ll be moving towards opposite sides and not mirror images.”

“Take my hand and I’ll spin you back into the line so we’re all facing the same way.”

TK’s doing his best to follow the directions and not make a fool of himself ‒ and he’d like to think he’s doing a decent job of it ‒ so it takes him a while to notice. At first, he’s sure it’s something else. If he were drinking, he’d say that the alcohol was just going to his head a bit, making him feel a little warm and floaty, but he’s pretty sure mineral water doesn’t have that effect.

TK’s always gone into subspace easier than most Subs ‒ definitely both a blessing and a curse ‒ but he’s never started to descend based on something as tame as this. A couple of commands and a firm hand correcting his movements here and there should not be getting this reaction.

Then again it’s been awhile since he’s relied solely on his dad and their platonic scenes for maintenance, without either the drugs or a partner / regular hookup to supplement. But they’ve been so busy with the logistics of the move since his overdose and it’s not like he doesn’t have plenty of opportunities to kneel for his dad since they live together, so he thought he’d be fine.

Apparently not.

Ideally he’d go get his dad and they could go home and take care of it, then figure out a better long term plan. But his dad is having the most fun TK’s seen him have since TK ruined his life and made him move cross country, so the last thing he wants to do is drag him away from something else to make him take care of his wayward son. TK’s sure that he can control it, now that he knows what’s happening.

The song changes then and TK desperately hopes for a new distraction that will snap him out of it before he has to cut the night short.

“I’m guessing you’ve also never tried two-stepping?”

TK has not, but it sounds complicated and just the thing he needs to shift his focus from the commanding energy coming off of every word out of Carlos’ mouth, even innocent questions like that one. He doesn’t tell Carlos that exactly, but he must somehow indicate that he’s willing to give it a shot, because he gets another grin for his trouble. TK is just about to move to the left side of Carlos again ‒ and of course his subby brain had turned him fully towards Carlos in the break between songs ‒ when Carlos stops him. And then ‒ oh. oh no ‒ he’s being gathered up into Carlos’ arms almost as if they’re about to ballroom dance.

If TK were smart, he would make an excuse right now and run to the bathroom before this goes any further. But TK’s always been his own worst enemy, so of course he doesn’t do that, and instead he gets to feel Carlos directing every part of TK’s body using just changes in pressure where they’re connected at the hands and TK’s lower back. It feels absolutely divine and a small part of TK is glad he didn’t miss this, but a slightly larger part recognizes that the situation has just gone from ‘not ideal’ to ‘FUBAR’ in very short order. Unfortunately for him, neither of these parts represent the majority of his consciousness, which has gone from feeling two-beer-tipsy and floaty to something more like the source material for the artificial high that got him addicted to pills in the first place. He decides he’s way too deep to pull himself out of it now, so instead he just...surrenders.

Read the rest of Chapter 1 on AO3

[purkinje-effect]

The Anatomy of Melancholy, 66: Baggage

Table of Contents. Second Instar, Chapter 33. Go to previous. Go to next. TWs: Body horror, joint trauma, nudity, disability-related deprecation/catastrophization. How we carry ourselves.

________________

The last of the suds fizzled, leaving ‘Choly submerged in cold opalescent bathwater. A similar surfactant quality popped his daze, and he shifted in an attempt to sit up in the tub. The fluid’s inertia instead sloshed him further back against the enameled iron. He grunted with a squint as some water got up his nose. When he opened his eyes again, he saw the real trouble hindering his exit. His joints had fallen as slack as his lucidity. He felt like a marionette without a yoke. His stomach shuddered for him, as the slow continued sway of the water, once more settling, tugged at his arms half afloat.

So it was possible, after all, to relax too much.

He lay there for some time longer, barely able to string together the thought to devise some plan. His state left him reeling beyond the rationality that he might call out for help. Angel would worry itself apart to see him like this, and Sticks might very well toss him out in the Merrimack, beyond salvage. Besides, they hadn’t come to his rescue when he fell hours earlier, and he managed to get himself to the dinner table and back up here with nearly a nonzero amount of assistance. He could do this himself. He needed to learn how to do it himself--for his own safety, in the event something estranged others from coming to his aid.

He prayed this whatever-was-happening wouldn’t endure. But at least, he could in the moment assess his limitations.

His musculature and tendons remained connected and functioning, but necessitated an entirely other manner of physiological prescience: to not simply manage his own proprioception, but to apply it forward like some telekinetic mess of connective tissue cat’s cradle. It took every scrape of mental faculty to process and focus to where he could grasp himself by the wrists, by the elbows, by the shoulders, and so on, to grip each errant joint in turn, and to administer the force and torsion necessary to right the dysfunction. The bangs and bruises from the citywide chaos of the day before only served to compound how his throbbing body resisted total exhaustion.

He pushed himself up by both hands off the side of the tub, to stand. Instead, he spilled over the side and across the concrete flooring of the balcony. Flat on his back and defeated, he flopped back with a wheeze and stared up into the joints of the patio cover. The string lights burned a reverse image in his eyelids when he shut them.

He could hear rummaging inside through the open door yards away. His Stygian eyes fluttered open. The sight of twin mounted radstag heads hanging over the balcony door choked him.

“--Angel?”

The appellation came out far weaker and more broken than he expected.

When Angel didn’t respond, he bristled, and once more underwent the slow, quiet, deliberate process of summoning himself together. He found the Mister Handy had set out on the workhorse nearest to the tub for him a towel, his robe, and his glasses. He managed the loosest sense of drying off, and draped the towel around his neck and shoulders; then, he put on his glasses, and tied off the robe. Unsure exactly whom had come upstairs, let alone what--or whom--they sought, he grabbed an awl from the workbench and edged nearer the door frame on bated breath.

In the dark of the upstairs room, he could only make out the edges of lime split lighting in contrast to the figure’s lit Pip-Boy screen. He shivered at a prickle of draft. The white uniform with black apron. Symmetrical, if not keloid-riddled, features. Sticks rifled through the secretary as though it didn’t belong to him. Unsure how to even begin to ask what the ghoul could’ve needed, 'Choly meekly closed the door behind himself.

“Need more light?”

Sticks jerked up to look at him.

“...Of course, of course.” He loosed a rumbling, agitated chuckle. “It’s all right, pal, that you, ah. Sealed that negotiation for me like that. It’s all right, because... because we’re partners. Isn’t that right? Partners.”

The ghoul rose to flip the switch for the three overhead lamps strung across the roof beams. Right off, ‘Choly noticed the ghoul’s black eye, and a ripped dishevelment marred with bits of fresh blood. ‘Choly chewed at his lower lip.

“Partners... Yeah.” He swallowed, and rubbed at his forearm with his free hand. He’d only been trying to help. “Are you okay? Could we-- talk? We need to talk. If-- if that’s all right.”

The juxtaposition of the encounter startled Sticks to a cautious desperation.

“Everything’s all right between us, right?”

“Of course. It’s not that. ...I need to sit.” He walked over to the secretary and took the desk chair for himself. Sticks sat on the corner of the bed. “I know I fucked up a lot yesterday, but I think I may have fucked up something else.”

He set the awl down on the desk, and swiveled to face Sticks. Picking what he felt he could afford to potentially damage further, he took hold of his left calf and knee, and purposefully loosed it again with a hollow chain of cartilaginous pops. His breath stuttered as he dangled his leg by the foot, but he kept his cool as he gave the ghoul a sardonic glance.

Sticks looked to him agape, with unfiltered, nauseated fascination.

“The cryogenic chemicals damaged my joints and skin, but I’ve managed for months until today. This is... something completely else.” He worked at resetting his knee as he continued, stifling jolts of revulsion. “I mean, even if it is the condition progressing, why all at once? And why-- this? It would be too much of a coincidence if the X-Cell Squared weren’t related... or the inhaler. That fucking inhaler.” He seethed, cupping his face in hand. “I was so tired when she handed me that stuff last night and told me it was Addictol. Fuck me, I’m stupid--”

“--You’re not stupid. She just knows how to trick people. ...Do you really suppose she gave you something that wasn’t Addictol?”

“I checked my Pip-Boy’s health diagnostics earlier. I’m still in withdrawals from chems I took prior to her giving me the inhaler. I could show you, if I-- if I knew where it was.”

“Hey now. I’m sure it’s safe. It’s just you, me, and the robot now.”

‘Choly toweled at his hair again, only to swivel around and look in the secretary for himself. He produced the Walden Drugs catalogue from one slot, and thumbed through it in search of specific pages.

“My current set of orthotics aren’t doing it. The officer’s gloves help, but that’s just my hands. The ankle and wrist braces, the postural corset--they’re just for sprains and such, not full dislocations. Neither you nor Angel seemed to notice earlier, but I fell down the stairs. I’m struggling to put one foot in front of the other. I’m a liability as I am. You called me wet cardboard the other day, and it just keeps feeling more true.“ He slapped the catalogue down in his lap, and shut his eyes to rub at them under his glasses with thumb and forefinger. “Look, I’m bad at asking for help. So: This is me asking for help. I know you don’t have to help me and that it’s probably prudent to ditch me... but I hope having me in your life means more to you than that.”

He held out the booklet turned to the relevant page. Sticks leaned to take it, and looked it over, uncurling the front half to inspect the cover, then back to the items. He face slacked in earnest as he flipped over to a locations listing.

“The closest one was Nashua, you said? Lexington didn’t have them?”

“I lived in the Lexington Walden’s stock room for months before it went up in flames. What I’ve got is the best I could find. Only the warehouses that stocked hospitals would have what’s on that page. They’re surgical grade. ...The Merrimack swallowed up the Lowell General Hospital, didn’t it?“ He slumped, unable to recall the building in the skyline as they’d passed through Downtown Historic. “You have no idea how badly I want to stay put. I love it here, with the bathtub, with the bed, with the you... But...” The idea of it eroded him to trembling. “I know it’s a long way. Especially on foot. But I can’t do it with just Angel. Especially since it’s out of ammo.”

“No, no. If you need this, then we need this. We needed a good reason to blow this place for a while. The Unfolded may seem to want to continue respecting the history this place has, Glenn Johnny’s included... But Lowell as a whole? They weren’t out here on exterminator duty, Mindy. They were doing recon on the locks and channels equipment. For the General.”

That nearly knocked ‘Choly out of the chair. When it clicked, he paled numb.

“The fuck do they want to-- Oh. Oh no.”

“Yeah. I’m not happy about it, either. Bare minimum, it’s gonna be like when a company puts a new building in. Except you and I both know that wont just be, what was it? Skunks? But worst case scenario? I don’t even want to begin to speculate what they plan to do with the river.” Weary, Sticks circled back to the catalogue. “Have you got a time estimate for this little recon? How long you think it’ll take to get there, and how long you intend to stick around?”

“I’m not sure. Does it matter much? We’re in agreement that a change of scenery’s desirable.”

Sticks traced at the details on the page, distant and in deep thought.

“It’s not just a change of scenery, is the thing. It’s a change of climate. I don’t know if you realize this, but Lowell’s on the southern threshold of the Hinter... and we’re coming up on Nor’easter season. Sure, the wildlife has got all big and wild, but so’s the weather. I’ll be mostly all right up there, being a ghoul, provided our shelter’s sound. But you? And the Handy?” The ghoul waved off his own train of thought. “You know what. Don’t sweat it. We’ll manage this. My experience, your grey matter.”

“Nor’easters? You’re worried over a chance there’s one this year? I’ve weathered dozens of ice storms in my life. Even a few hurricanes. And you’re a native Yankee, so you’ve got to have, too. We’ll be fine.” Denial wheezed from his nostrils, his lips pressed together tight. “I know it will put us even further from New Hampshire, but I do have one obligation first. I have to go to Billerica, to escort someone to the Concord suburbs. I should’ve taken them to safety before getting here, but I also didn’t know what I was getting myself into. They’ve been waiting for the Lowell conflict to blow over, and like me, they’re the last survivor of their location. I would have had to go check on them soon even if we stayed here.”

The ghoul squinted at him.

“Hazarding you’re confident they couldn’t just travel there themselves.”

“It shouldn’t take long at all!” ‘Choly threw his hands up. “One day, tops. We just need to get from here to there to Sanctuary Hills. It’s a Mister Handy. I couldn’t have brought it to Lowell and just left it. And it just feels too many kinds of wrong to just leave it all alone there, when it could be among some normal people again for once.”

Sticks weighed the various aspects about the proposition that didn’t sit well.

“If you’re having trouble just walking, do you suppose you’ll be in any condition to ride Angel down?”

“I, I don’t know.” 'Choly wilted into begging that left his companion too tongue-tied to object all the while. “We’ll figure that out, too! And you know what? This trip to Nashua isn’t just for me. Partners. I meant it, that we’re in this together. The long haul. The Lexington Walden was a smaller location, and even it had a sizable chem lab arrangement, with a large cache of stock. The Nashua Walden was classified as a full regional warehouse: it shipped to a dozen locations in the New England Commonwealth. Olivia gave me all those military chem formulas. That is what you were looking for just now, weren’t you? I’m as interested as you, to see what all I can make from a chem cookbook culminated from two hundred years of research.”

Sticks sat up at once and looked to him knowingly. He swatted his knee with the catalogue.

“Now that, I like to hear! What initiative! We’ll start out for all this tomorrow. You hear me? Let’s get to gathering things up tonight. We can do a once-over in the morning to make sure we’re not leaving anything important behind.”

“You’re not exhausted after all that stuff downstairs? After cooking for thirty?”

‘Choly felt even more pathetic than he sounded. He hadn’t even lifted a finger with a thing, yet was this worn out.

“We’ll go until we pass out, at least. We’ll sleep better that way. Hey Angel!” Sticks called out for the robot. “Set down that broom and dustpan for a bit and help us out up here!” He chortled excitedly. “Ohh, bless it all. You want to cook chems for me. And you want to wear this for me. I could kiss you.”

Something between a grimace and a grin tore ‘Choly’s face.

“You... you could kiss me, you know.”

“You’re not wrong.” Sticks swept him up in both arms and plopped him back on the freshly made bed, only narrowly taking the care to be delicate with him. He leaned down over the top of him, a hand to each side of ‘Choly’s shoulders, to smooch him. “We’re great together. You know that, right?”

‘Choly squinted awkwardly, and reached to turn off the screen light on Sticks’s Pip-Boy. He pulled him into another kiss, and looked him in the eye with adoration.

“Always have been.”

“I’ll have you know I’ve no intention of leaving this place without first cleaning up after such horrid house guests.” Angel scoffed in frustration as it appeared upstairs, oblivious to the pair making out on the bed. “And I hate to be the bearer of such information, but if I’m to carry Mister Carey, we must pack as light as possible. It’s not to guilt you, Sir, but even with the refinements you’ve made to my hydraulics, the added weight does result in a higher fuel expenditure. My ammunition isn’t the only thing running low after this week.”

“So we’ll make more frequent refueling pit stops for you, buddy,” Sticks mumbled over his shoulder, still pecking all over ‘Choly’s face and neck and shoulders where he could get at it. The little creep soaked it all up, squirming like it tickled. “You just worry about carrying Carey here. Anything heavy I need to bring, I’ll carry myself.”

‘Choly grabbed his face to get his attention.

“Hey. Maybe Angel could carry all the supplies, and you carry me? I’ve got to weigh less than that Flamer did, and you hefted that thing all over town without hardly ever setting it down.”

The ghoul melted into dopey chuff.

“Mindy. Babe. You do not weigh less than a Flamer.” He smiled, heavy lidded. “You’re on something, though. Sounds like it might work. I can guarantee you, that everything I’m bringing totally weighs less than you. So if I carry you, and Angel carries everything I’m bringing, that’s less strain on its flame.”

“Can I entrust you with my most precious cargo, Mister Hawthorne?”

He planted one more forceful smooch on ‘Choly before meeting gazes in a dreamy determination.

“He’s my prize, too, ya know.”

Go to Next »»»

[ngame989]

SVTFOE 4A Prediction/Analysis Master Post

So we just had the first two episodes come out, and overall I enjoyed them. There’s been a lot of mixed reactions to the details, from myself included, so let’s dive in a bit. Apologies for when this becomes a giant wall of text in the back half, I'm not digging through promos for images.

Butterfly Follies

In the first episode, 98% of it is focused on Star feeling like shit because Moon is missing and nothing she does to try and find her works, and other people keep telling her she is screwing it up. Yeah, many of us thought this theme of “Star screwing up” would extend a bit more concretely to stuff with Marco and Tom, and it was present but only a tiny bit as a reminder. Her interaction with Tom was basically just a reminder that the situation from after Booth Buddies hadn’t budged - Star still was barely paying attention to him, Tom was still not really a companion to her at all, it just isn’t working, but they haven’t talked about it yet.

Tomstar has always had the candy coating of a romantic relationship (nicknames, handholding, occasional smooching, gossip and drama, etc) with virtually nothing underneath. We see this over and over - Demoncism has a genuine emotional connection between them in that moment, but once their relationship starts up again, it takes until Is Another Mystery for even a hint of true, genuine support between them, and it still doesn’t extend to either of them considering the other as a life companion at all. Most of it is going through the motions for both of them. When everyone’s lives were on the line, Tom stepped up, but this doesn’t immediately make him Marco 2 - the issues that existed before, the lack of commitment and drive between them (still candy-coated by nicknames and whatnot) is as present as ever, and arguably more so, now that Star has the events of the end of S3 dwelling somewhere in the recesses of her mind. Plus we get a moment of Tom checking in with Marco about Star’s comment, showing once again that Marco is the one Tom actually turns to for genuine support.

Contrast that with Starco in these episodes. Yes, it’s not magically perfect, there’s still lots of stuff to resolve and many people (myself included) have felt that it was a bit “off” (more on that soon). But there’s still a genuine sense of progression, where Marco is comfortable being close with Star again, being emotional support, even if he doesn’t always know how to help.

As predicted, Eclipsa’s style of ruling has mostly been “make disliking monsters entirely illegal because that’s Equality™” and it’s not working out so well for true social change. I expect this to be a major plot point moving forward.

Honestly, I dunno what all to make of the details of Glossy’s lines here. Considering the situation with Toffee was pretty explicitly Glossaryck’s intentional method of teaching Star how to do things her own way, this definitely isn’t literal. Maybe he’s playing 4D chess, and Star questioning whether Glossaryck was misleading her is all part of how he leads her. There’s a... nonzero chance, I suppose, that there is some more direct connection here and trying to fix past mistakes (since time travel is brought up very shortly) but I’d be incredibly shocked and largely appalled if that’s where things actually head.

(Skipping around on photos a bit here to just get the point across)

So let’s talk about this for a moment, shall we? I’ve seen a lot of talk about this photo and how it’s really sketchy that Star apparently knew it was from the future the whole time, given its past importance in Starcrushed. Granted, we don’t know exactly how it’s going to pay off yet, but I’ll take a strong educated guess - it’s basically a gag because the writers thought it would be fun. A relevant gag and kind of an asspull, yes, but still just a gag. Yes, the photo is now factually from the future and will be relevant again in that capacity, but I’m entirely convinced that the point of it wasn’t to intentionally retcon something about Starcrushed or anything like that - a meaningful photo of Star and Marco was used in Season 2 to generically remind her of their “good times” and their relationship as a whole, and that same photo was used here as a promise of happiness to come, and the primary purpose of the photo in each case is how it was written for that case.

I know it’s not a satisfying explanation, but it is entirely consistent with this show to have details occur that are largely arbitrary and inconsistent, and there’s a consistency to that inconsistency. Adult Marco is another example, Janna implying Kelly maybe had feelings for Marco in Stump Day is another, any time Star yeeted a high school student into some pit of horrors is another. All of these are situations where, if you examine them thoroughly as a whole and consider all the possible implications, they get kind of sketchy really fast. Yes, it is frustrating at times, but I think you just have to roll with it - Marco has memories of a 30 year old when the boarders want to make a cool reference before Marco does a bunch of fancy weapon tricks, but it never affects his normal existence unless it’s needed for a joke/reference. Janna says something that implies complicated romance drama incoming when the boarders want girly banter to accompany dudes fighting, but it doesn’t go anywhere beyond that. Star has a body count on Earth but she’s not a wanted criminal, probably. The consistency here is that if the show kind of glosses over some sort of possible implication and plays it off for a gag, then that’s what you should take it as.

Again, I don’t know exactly how this will pay itself off, but I have an incredibly strong suspicion that the answer to “what were the boarders thinking when they did this??? It screws up a core moment in Starcrushed!!!” is that they weren’t thinking about that. COULD they actually do something more in-depth with the time travel aspect? I guess, but “throwing organic core moments of character/relationship growth under the bus for the sake of wacky over-the-top plot” sounds like the opposite of this show. I’ll cover more about how I think this might actually work later.

A lot of people said Star and Marco felt like acquaintances this episode, and not best friends. I understand where they’re coming from - there weren’t all kinds of hugs and affection flying around, their talks were awkward. But this honestly makes a lot of sense for where we’re at now. We’re completely over the hump where they they're hesitant to even think of themselves as best buddies, where they’re struggling with their feelings just to spend time with the other. Marco is back to making all attempts to be her close friend and companion and support, Star is comfortable around him... but, there’s still some lingering “OK we moved forward from here, what now?” We saw in Divide that a simple hug between them brought out strong feelings for both of them. I think a lot of the awkwardness remaining could be attributed to the strong sour mood of the situation overall, but part of it could also be a subconscious “OK, Marco confessing his feelings made things better, and we’re OK being close, but...” lingering, waiting to be addressed. And given pancake and cereal clips, it will be soon.

Escape from the Pie Folk

I have less to say about this episode, it was fairly straightforward, honestly. It was 22 minutes of adventure and fights while trying to find and steal away Moon - lot of really fun and well-executed humor, it definitely was a strong showing for pretty much all the parts of the show besides “focus on the relationship growth of Star and Marco”.

More Marco trying to be constantly supportive, but still maybe having a bit of lingering tension in the how.

And sweet family moments.

Overall, a very isolated situation, honestly. The actions and interactions of the characters were put in a very specific, very focused situation where “finding Moon” overrode anything else, and didn’t allow for much other special elements to shine through. I liked the episodes, but some part of me was disappointed that most developments besides Moon were put on pause for the premiere. Still, resolving this in its entirety straight away sets up for some pretty strong coverage of the rest...

INTERMISSION

Let’s take a moment to talk about compartmentalization and the rules of TV pacing. I love Star vs the Forces of Evil, and I’m sure many of you do, even if its infuriating and painful at times. A lot of times. But I definitely think the show is special and does things differently than many others, to an extent. And that extent is key - I like to think of it as content vs structure. Content-wise, it is rather different from what you might expect (especially with character/relationship development). Characters come first, always, and there isn’t a sense of outside drama pushing characters around like ragdolls, changing their relationships and emotions in ways that they aren’t already naturally primed to at that moment. Romance isn’t handled as a drama-fest love triangle, with Star and Jackie or Tom and Marco directly vying for the affection of their love interest, nor do those love triangles ever damage the development of the main dynamic, Starco. Basically every shift in Star and Marco’s relationship, the ebbs and flows of it, can be entirely explained by just the two of them. Yes, seeing the other be romantic with someone else was a partial catalyst to individual moments of growth, but by and large Star and Marco themselves have been their own biggest obstacles, their own insecurities and missteps guiding the path of Starco 1000x more than Jarco or Tomstar or plot.

However, this doesn’t mean the show is magically free of the confines of episodic story pacing, and that’s where people often find faults in it. Many, including myself, went into the premiere thinking/hoping that it would include some relationship payoff, or skip some steps and just have Tom and Star break it off right away. And while anyone is free to disagree with the general concept of the premiere being entirely focused on Moon and plot setup, it’s completely logical for the show to take its development in concrete, compartmentalized chunks. An episode dedicating itself to a theme, to a concrete piece of plot, is likely going to focus on that. And this can be nuanced - I don’t think it was wrong of people to think that Follies could have had a theme of “Star confronted with her screwups” in a broader way that included multiple aspects of that, but it doubled down on Moon and it’s totally understandable that she didn’t take time during her hunt to figure out her feelings, etc. Still, it included reminders of the current situation, and we’ll see those pay off very soon. It’s not so reasonable to expect the show to bend over backwards to steamroll through Starco development right away, but it’s also unreasonable to expect no chunks of development at all, or for them to stop randomly. 

More specifically, the way the episodic structure handles these chunks is to follow up underlying buildup with inevitable realizations. It’s very, very rare for an episode that confronts a character with a specific question (e.g. “How do I feel about my Earth life” - Marco in Sophomore Slump, or “How do I feel about Marco” - Star in Starcrushed) to actually have the emotional development required to understand it occur within that episode. Star isn’t confronted with her crush on Marco until it’s developed enough to be ready to burst out. Marco isn’t confronted with his priorities in life until he’s experience enough of a bold, adventurous life with Star that his heart has already decided, and in both cases it’s a matter of a climactic wake-up call to what’s already there. On that note, onto predictions.

Moon Remembers

Well, I dunno much specific to say about this. Seems like this will be the episode dedicated to trying to get Moon her memory back - we have scenes from the promos of them riding warnicorns and Eclipsa playing guitar with her, maybe just trying to jog it. Could lead to some type of plot revelation (”I remember something big I saw in the Realm of Magic!” etc) but who knows. Seems likely that it’s entirely plot/Moon-focused, maybe with some more tie-ins to magic lore.

Swim Suit

This is a big one. So from the synopsis, we know that this is when Star and Marco attempt to have their beach day (which we now know is a celebration of things being “back to normal”, with Moon being back) but get interrupted by Eclipsa. I don’t know specifics of it, but in general, I think this is going to be the episode where Star truly settles in to an understanding of how she feels.

Quick tangent about the photo and how I think it’ll be used: in Follies, it was primarily encouragement for finding her mom. It’s still definitely interesting, and intentional, that the particular reminder of future happiness is a time with Marco, but it wasn’t relevant immediately - I think it will be used that way moving forward. Basically like this - “I kept this photo as encouragement to think positively and know I’d find my Mom. We found Mom, so now I can be happy like in the photo. It feels really good being happy with Marco like I am in the photo. Huh, I wonder why it is that my ideal of happiness is having fun with Marco...” Clearly the underlying feelings are already there, this is just bringing them to the forefront, actually giving Star a chance to reflect on how her heart feels after recent weeks/months and big events. As for specifics, I think they won’t actually take the photo here. They’ll try to have a beach day, get interrupted, and throughout the course of Eclipsa shenanigans, the episodic plot will tie in towards thinking about her feelings, with the end result being a “well, we didn’t achieve Beach Happiness™, but it was still nice.” We already know that an Earth beach is in episode 16, so maybe the photo comes full circle then (and at that point, they’re completely together already, and the photo is spontaneous). Or maybe I’m wrong, but who knows, this is a level of specificity I can’t predict with any confidence.

Also note here that, provided animation studio order stays consistent as expected, the cereal/pancake/babysitting Meteora scenes aren’t actually from Swim Suit, so who knows where those end up.

Overall, my general expectations for this episode are to set the stage for Starco developments, to start the ball rolling on payoff from last season and to start characters recognizing those changes and truly moving forward. Of course Tomstar is likely not going away officially until Lake House Fever, so I don’t exactly expect Star and Marco to talk about their feelings in depth here, but it’ll still be an important episode for Starco regardless.

Ransomgram

Alright, let’s just make something clear here. Yes, we already know Star is going to be fawning over adult Marco’s hot bod here, and very likely before breaking up with Tom. I know a lot of people are gonna find that sketchy, and I don’t entirely disagree, but adult Marco (and Star thirsting after hot dudes in general) has always been a gag never treated with any real serious weight. Both Jarco and Tomstar overall, but especially Tomstar, never really ever are treated with any true weight in the story. Like, yes, it’s acknowledged that Marco and Star kissing while she’s dating Tom are bad, but none of the moments of Marco abandoning Jackie to be with Star, or Star ignoring Tom to be with Marco, or Tom being a really unhelpful/unsupportive boyfriend, are ever treated with any real gravity. In the real world, perhaps these would be frowned upon much more even in weaker relationships, but in the show, “Star and Tom are dating” is taken as a given in the background, and none of the actions that characters take are really ever truly treated seriously as hurtful. So yes, on some level it’s weird and questionable that Star will be drooling over Marco (again) while STILL not talking to Tom, but Compartmentalization™ and the general lack of concern for treating the possible implications of situations like this seriously add up to explain it. Feel however you want about it, but this is how I expect it to work, because it’s how it’s worked in the past.

MHC is gonna come back here, and there might be a connection to the monster side of the plot, figuring out where the old guard fits in with the new regime and how politics are moving forward. Also, as far as Starco goes, I think this will be a sort of emotional payoff to Swim Suit. Not that anything tangible will result within the episode, but showing the differences in how Star acts around Marco when she’s actually admitting to herself that she loves him. Just like how Marco Jr., for instance, showed a very clear and different Starco interaction than 3A episodes, as a result of the concrete development moments in Deep Dive. Or how their interactions in Divide were very clearly the result of changes in Booth Buddies. So on and so forth.

All of this, then, leads into...

Lake House Fever

So this is where Tomstar finally rots. We have all-but-confirmation from animation studios, hints in the title, and background/SFX “leaks” that this is where the Tom and Star clips in the promos are from. So how exactly might this work? I can’t even say for sure, but I think it’s going to follow the usual trend of Tomstar episodes and basically be a vehicle for Tom development. Let’s face it, Star basically got nothing out of Tomstar besides a general passive armor against having to contemplate heartbreak/feelings since Tom filled the checkbox of “romance” in her life. She initially at least did truly fulfill the role of “normal teenage girlfriend” by spending time with him, dates, etc, but that started to wane after Lava Lake Beach and kept doing so more and more, and it’s now basically at the point of Tomstar being a couple in name only, with 0 effort between either of them put into actually... being anything. 

Let’s compare to Sophomore Slump for a minute, shall we? So in that episode, we had Marco who had undergone a ton of previous developments in how much he cared about adventure and a greater purpose in life and Star, and his heart had already basically made up its mind (Scent of a Hoodie’s ending and wearing the cape in Rest in Pudding, as clear signs of this). Sophomore Slump was the direct reality check, the final piece of the puzzle slotting into place, at least with regards to specifically “where he’d rather be” (even if the why still needed a bit more). So we could say, in effect, that Marco had fully developed everything underneath to answer the question of what mattered more to him, the old safe kid Marco’s ideal Earth life, or the new Marco’s life, and the breakup was simply everything that was already there clicking into place - he moves to Mewni immediately afterwards.

So how does this fit into Lake House Fever? I think the positioning of the episode is going to revolve around Star’s “growth” from it to work like Marco’s. In the Jarco case, the breakup wasn’t about Starco specifically, but Marco’s overall goals and focuses in life (Star was a part of that too, of course). It’s fairly clear that the Tomstar breakup will be different - the tension in their relationship is FAR more directly related to Starco itself (and also a much greater overall dysfunction within Tomstar compared to Jarco). It’s not a case of “this is a perfectly working relationship but it’ll eventually have issues, so let’s end it before we both become miserable”, it’s “this relationship isn’t working at all right now, for multiple reasons, among which are that Star prioritizes/loves someone else, but also general incompatibilities between them for committed companionship”. 

I think on Star’s end of things, we’re going to enter the episode with her knowing, very close to the surface if not on the surface already, that she has feelings for Marco and they need to talk, but will just have the one last hesitation holding her back. Not a “I genuinely don’t know who I like/whether I want to keep going longterm with Tom”, but a “this overall situation needs resolved and I just don’t know exactly how to handle it”. From the very limited info we have from the title/promo (no synopsis yet), it seems like Star might be helping Tom with something - he kind of looked ill in the promos. Regardless, I still sort of predict a semi-arbitrary episodic plot leads them to meet up in the episode. Give em a reason to interact that isn’t directly related to awkward and complex feelings, and let the handling of those naturally evolve from there. 

So as for Tom, I think the bulk of the change in this episode will be on his end. I think he’s going to sort of have an attitude not too dissimilar to Star - knowing they should talk at some point, but not really knowing how. I think the bulk of the episode’s plot, whatever it may be, will lead up towards Tom getting the wakeup call that it 100% won’t work and that he needs to pull the trigger on it. It would give Tom a really solid moment to follow up on some of his initial moments in Season 3, would give him some critical agency when he honestly hasn’t had much of it for a while (Starco developments just kind of happen around him, although of course his general lack of presence in Star’s life contributes to this as well - Star’s a fairly absentee girlfriend, but Tom’s no angel either). Getting over that initial hump of awkwardness would still accomplish things for both of them, but Tom being the one to first make the leap of faith into starting the uncomfortable conversation would fit best imo.

As for afterwards, much like how I said Jarco was the final puzzle piece for Marco decisively figuring out his priorities, I think this will be the same for Star’s feelings. She’ll be aware, nearly-consciously, that she has feelings for Marco ahead of time, but will just be stuck on inaction, not being confident enough to take a bold step forward on her own. So I think the breakup for Star’s feelings will do what the breakup did for Marco’s sense of accomplishment - the final domino will not only help her realize that she has feelings for Marco, but prime her to actually act on them.

Now if this breakup occurred earlier, I’d say it could have a major impact on Star’s own growth and understanding, and it still could, but I don’t think it’ll be so likely. There are certainly situations where the breakup would serve as a shakeup for her to consider her feelings, which would then take some more time afterwards to solidify, but I can’t help but assume that’s what the purpose of multiple Starco episodes beforehand is. The situation is too much of a powderkeg for Star to have any downtime with either of them that doesn’t start turning the gears in her brain. Anyway, that’s all for this.

Eps 5-7

Yada Yada Berries/Down by the River

The Ponyhead Show!/Surviving the Spiderbites

Out of Business/Kelly’s World

These, I have no clue on specifics, to be honest. There’s an RDK Ludo episode coming up, so that would be part of episode 5 most likely. Second half of that seems like a River episode contender, but who knows. The first half of episode 6 is some type of variety show involving Eclipsa in part - this may be part of the plot of Eclipsa trying to find her place as Queen. Spiderbites is a possible contender for the babysitting Meteora clip, the first half of episode 7 is Quest Buy with the Ocrams, and Kelly’s World is something with Marco and Kelly. We’ll circle back to these, but let’s look at broader strokes first.

Curse of the Blood Moon

I’m entirely confident that by the end of this episode (at the latest) Starco will be 100% canon, ready to move forward into Season 4 as a couple, romantic uncertainties behind them. It’s the only possible next “big” step in their development, one that was set up very directly in Booth Buddies with the idea that things were different now and they could no longer ignore their friendship meaning more than friendship. I’m sure it will be tied in to Starco relationship progress, but as I’ve said many times before, it’s entirely out of the realm of how this show handles development as a whole to actually prioritize plot over characters and obstruct character development with plot. The “Curse”, whatever it may be, could very well be activated by Starco itself, but it’s entirely out of line with everything the show has ever done with characterization to actually claim plot is “forcing” feelings, capisce?

Now how could this be accomplished? Well, given the pacing of the show in general, concrete chunks of development along the way seem most likely. And Star and Marco acknowledging the stronger nature of their relationship and stepping over the edge towards mutual romance, to me, seems like a different piece of the puzzle than something so strong as becoming 100% canon forever. After all, Bonbon for Jarco still had a Naysaya before it, a setup with clear and direct Jarco moments nudging it over the edge of romantic before going the whole way. Similarly, Tomstar had Demoncism before they officially confirmed they were a couple a few episodes later. 

Curse is definitely going to be a big episode, but I don’t see it being very likely that we entire the episode with the entire prospect of Star and Marco talking about their feelings still completely looming over them. Another major reason I have to believe this, which is in some ways related to the above point, is that the show doesn’t overly fetishize romance. It’s all-too-common in media, especially family-friendly/kid media with romance, to warp the whole concept and make the “confession + big kiss + happily ever after” one monolithic moment at the very end, as the pinnacle of romance, often going so far as to delay natural developments and put roadblocks of misunderstanding in the way to keep the pair apart until both could have this moment. SVTFOE, on the other hand, historically hasn’t done this. It has always, thus far, recognized the ebbs and flows and slower progression of natural relationships, with steps in between “I guess we might like each other” to “yup we’re 100% dating”. So I can’t guarantee anything about the specific pacing along the way, but I’d wager that Starco has already crossed the threshold into mutual romance before Curse begins.

I have genuinely no idea what the plot will be here overall. We have a shot from the promo which is a newly animated version of the Blood Moon Waltz... flashback? Recreating the event? Time travel? I hope not the last one, but I have no clue.

So circling back around, we have the cereal, pancake, and babysitting Meteora scenes which (as far as I can tell, assuming animation studio order holds) are unaccounted for. There’s... I suppose a nonzero chance for a huge curveball, with some of them being Lake House Fever? Star wears the new S4 outfit in cereal/pancake as well as then, and they’re all Sugarcube. Another option I’d been considering was for Surviving the Spiderbites to be their attempt to spend time together, either resulting in feelingstalk or being the result of feelingstalk and tiptoeing into romance, with the cereal/pancake scenes being about trying to have a good “date” but getting interrupted... which is now the plot of Swim Suit, so I don’t know. Quest Buy has always, historically, involved heavy Starco importance, so perhaps that episode is a leadin to Curse on that front. Note that either everyone actually thinking Kelly’s World (and their baking scene in Ponyhead Show) is actually implying more love triangles is wrong, or the writers officially gave up and we can all go home.

As a note, I’m of course not really making any bold claims of confidence in the minutiae of these predictions: there’s so many options for curveballs that I can’t say anything for sure! But I think, in a general sense, the path of Starco buildup towards and through Curse is a sure thing, one way or another, because there’s basically nothing else meaningful that could happen!

Hope you enjoyed the read, and stay tuned for any new updates we get on future episodes.

[cyb-by-lang]

Shell Game (8/?)

Kei tries her hand at being nice, with mixed results.

There was, thankfully, no school the next day.

Obito went back to Konoha for a bit, both to restock his eyedrops and probably take a break. Kei sat in the apartment for an annoying amount of time, staring blankly into her closet while she tried to decide if it was worth going out or not. Schools in Japan also ran a half-day of classes on Saturdays, so this was still squarely in the middle of the week.

It was a nice day out.

Fuck it.

Kei changed into street clothes and decided that today, like many of the days before term, was a day to wander town like a stray cat. She did have a list of things to buy (such as a hairbrush), but those were afterthoughts compared to the raw need to just not be in the dinky apartment anymore. To this end, she hopped on a train to some other town, to see if the stores were any different.

Two incidents in two days involving villains, Isobu commented as Kei waited for a crosswalk to change indicators. The word “villain” sat strangely on his tongue. And four incidents in four days in which you have been pulled from class to speak with administration, teachers, and the school’s healer.

Sounds right. Kei crossed the street with the crowd, headed for a shopping district.

I do not think I have ever heard of another human, even across every one of your memories, who has managed to attract so much extracurricular interference in their first week of school. Congratulations.

It’d be fucking amazing if anybody ever had. Kei checked her phone as she waited for the next crosswalk. No messages, other than the news update talking about the attack on the USJ. Nobody was dead, but Facepalm-kun and Kurogiri had gotten away. Kei couldn’t help but think that if she’d been allowed to use lethal force, she’d probably have killed Nōmu. She’d never seen anybody parade around with a weak point in full view like that.

You are assuming that Nōmu needed his brain. With that kind of regeneration speed, I do not know if he was even kept down by the injuries you dealt him.

Kei shrugged. Maybe. Maybe not. But it was a tried and true zombie disposal method, if nothing else.

Kei eventually found her way to a combini, glancing through the shelves for anything she needed back at the apartment. A cell phone card would be nice, just in case she needed to pester Obito sometime this month without invoking every emergency service known to humanity. Thus far, she only had his number and the school’s, but there was a nonzero chance that could change later.

Also, snacks. So many snacks.

Sure, most of the snacks wouldn’t survive Hayate’s next visit, but few ever did.

She was still pondering onigiri vs. dorayaki when a somewhat familiar voice said, “You again?”

Kei looked up from her vital decision and spotted a classmate looking a little surprised to see her. It was Purple Kid, but not the one from the USJ. The tall one from her class, who always looked a little less sleep-deprived than Aizawa-sensei. He was carrying a multipack of pencils and pens, along with two notebooks and a box of bandages.

“Yo,” Kei said, though he didn’t exactly look happy to see her. “I, uh, forgot your name. Sorry.”

“Shinsō,” was his dry reply. “Gekkō-san, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Kei paused. “Nice to see you outside of school, I guess? I didn’t realize we lived anywhere near each other.”

“We probably don’t,” Shinsō said, already turning away to go and search the rest of the store for whatever.

What a riveting conversationalist, Kei thought, and promptly went back to her snack debate. She ended up not deciding and bought one of everything, so she could see her brother’s face when he tried some of the really weird ones. Ramune bottles would give him a hilarious headache. Obito too, since he couldn’t just teleport the marble out.

“You’re going to eat all of those yourself?” Shinsō again, of course. Right as she was walking out of the store with heavy “grocery” bags slung over her arm.

Kei considered being sarcastic, then decided she did enough of that in her head. “Nope. My brother and my best friend visit a lot, so I’m gonna stay up late and watch weird American movies with them.”

If she had a TV, anyway. That was another thing she probably ought to look into.

“…I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not.”

“Sometimes I can’t either.” Kei glanced at her phone, noting two messages about more USJ articles. Obito still wasn’t back yet, or else he would have already texted her about being bored. “Did you have something to ask me?”

Shinsō took a few seconds to put his thoughts in order. “A couple of things.”

“I’m listening,” Kei said, as the two of them fell into step.

“What’s your Quirk again?” he asked, rather than just getting right to the point.

“Tsunami,” Kei said, because it was easier to remember than the other names she’d tried out. “Why?”

Shinsō didn’t answer immediately. Then, “That’s…a really powerful Quirk for General Studies. Almost enough for the Hero department.”

“I guess. I killed a bunch of the villain ‘bots in the test.” Kei shrugged.

“Then why aren’t you with 1-A or 1-B?” Shinsō pressed, which made Kei think they were starting to get to the root of the problem.

“My test scores sucked.” Kei readjusted her grip on her store bags. “I know it’s really early in the year and things could change later, but I think I failed every topic besides science, math, and English.” Actually, she’d probably failed math, too.

“So you basically got in on the strength of your Quirk alone.” Shinsō’s expression was a little pinched.

“I guess. What about your entrance exam thing?”

Shinsō scowled. “You can’t brainwash robots. They don’t have organic brains and they don’t exactly talk back.”

Kei stared at him. “Your Quirk is brainwashing? Or mind control, maybe?”

“Yeah, it… Wait, you didn’t know?” Shinsō’s normally half-lidded eyes were wide.

“I got back to class at the end of introductions,” Kei reminded him. “And basically nobody in that class talks to me because they’re afraid of me. Or maybe they’re afraid whatever keeps getting me in trouble will rub off on them.”

“They think you’re dangerous,” Shinsō told her bluntly. At Kei’s blank look, he added, “Like me.”

“Okay, I can understand me, since I’m the ‘Gen Studies trouble child’ and everyone knows it,” Kei said, air-quoting Aizawa-sensei’s blunt assessment. She lowered her arms. “But I don’t remember you ever using your Quirk on anyone.”

“The part they care about is that I could. I just need someone to respond to me,” Shinsō told her. “Most people just stop talking to me once they realize that’s how it works.”

“So, basically, you could’ve done it fifteen times since the start of this conversation.” When Shinsō nodded, Kei shrugged again. “Okay. You clearly haven’t. Case closed.”

Shinsō stared at her. “…That’s it? No big deal?”

“I have weirder friends.” Kei smiled a little crookedly.

The list starts with me and goes around the planet, twice.

Thanks, Isobu.

It also starts with you.

…Thanks, buddy.

Shinsō didn’t appear to know what to say to this. He looked away, and then his phone buzzed. After checking the messages, he said, “I… I’ll see you tomorrow, Gekkō-san. I’ve got to go home.”

“Bye, Shinsō-san,” Kei said amiably, and waved as he left. Then she checked her own phone.

Cyclops: im back

Cyclops: and bored

Cyclops: also

Cyclops: how do u change names on this

Kei smiled and set out for the apartment again, the day’s good deed completed.

That meant the day’s somewhat less-good deed (laughing at Obito’s attempt to get the marble-blocked soda open) was neatly balanced out.

[mostfacinorous]

Whumptober 14th

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

CW: medical torture

Torture They came for them before the sun had even risen, or… at least, Steve thought so. His internal clock was screwy from his lack of sleep and the lack of light, but it seemed they were taking no chances with them escaping.

In fact, it seemed risky to even keep them together. It made no sense at all… until he realized that they wanted something from each of them, and they planned to use them as leverage against one another.

And so Steve was electrocuted, again, and then left weak and helpless to do anything but watch as they poured boiling water over Loki’s left arm-- just to see what would happen. He screamed, and as horrible as the sound would have been in a human voice, in the voice of whatever he was now, it was awful. It made Steve nauseous, and clearly the men inflicting the pain on Loki agreed; one smacked him across the face with a baton to shut him up.

It worked, though Steve surged forward, fighting to try and stop them from harming him any further. “What do you know about your monster friend in this skin, Captain Rogers? Do you know he can burn flesh?” That, Steve thought, had to be Doom. No one else could sound so pleased with themselves and so condescending at the same time. “I know he’ll freeze what’s left of your face, if you get close enough to him.” Steve returned, and was rewarded with a kick to his stomach. He hoped Doom gave Loki the chance.

“We wonder whether we can replicate him-- his blood being so different to ours, his anatomy based on entirely different plans,” Doom continued, as if nothing had happened. “But you should pose a good deal less risk. It isn’t that you are inhuman, only that you are human and then some. Extra Human. You will only be a fun puzzle to undo.” Steve felt his heart sink-- he couldn’t let them get to the serum. Couldn’t let them have his blood.

He thrashed, trying to fight, and Loki snarled, obviously realizing that there was some threat there that he didn’t fully understand. “If you want more like me, there is an entire world of them. Release the Captain, and I will lead you there.”

Steve turned to look at Loki, gobsmacked.

He wasn’t worth an entire world of… of whatever Loki was at the moment.

“And how would you do that,” Doom asked, his attention temporarily devoted to Loki. “When you can barely so much as fight your way free of this skin you seem to loathe so much? How would you travel-- or transport my army?”

Steve pulled free of the men holding him and lunged for Doom, only to be stopped by a wave of electricity that hit the base of his spine.

“Well. I was undecided about which of you to work with today, but I think the Captain has volunteered. Loki, I don’t suppose you’d be interested in watching?” Steve didn’t see or hear Loki’s reaction, but he imagined it was the cause of whatever violence followed, because when he raised his head again, Loki was bleeding from the mouth and glaring.

“Take The Captain to the operating theater-- and put Loki in the plexi cage overlooking the proceedings. We wouldn’t want him to miss any of it.” Steve tried to summon the strength to fight it, but he didn’t make it far before another stun baton was shoved roughly against his ribs and triggered.  

He thought he might have slipped in and out of consciousness, because the next thing he knew, he was chained to a table, and there was a collar around his neck.

Doom had removed his cape and donned a pair of rubber gloves, in lieu of his usual dress gloves. But they were black-- Steve couldn’t see through them, couldn’t see even the slightest hint of humanity. It was nearly as chilling as the metal table he lay on.

He tried to speak, but they had stuffed his mouth with cotton in front of his teeth, what felt like another leather bit between them, and taped over his lips. Which seemed odd-- he could see where Loki was in a clear cage, just being forced to watch. Though it seemed to him that it would bother loki more to hear him scream. But they seemed more worried about him potentially damaging his teeth-- and he didn’t know why that of all things made him shudder.

“Oh, you’re back-- hello Captain. As you can see, we made a few withdrawals while you were out-” Doom gestured to a small glass front refrigerator, where Steve could make out a dozen or more vials of blood. His blood. He’d already failed, and he wouldn’t even have the memory of it. “Interesting thing-- you, like your monstrous friend, have a healing ability. Though I assume you already know as much. The moment we took out the needle, your little wound was gone. So I thought that next, we might explore what it would do to a bigger wound-- but first…” Doom pressed a button and a buzzer sounded. Steve tensed up, but no shock accompanied it. Instead, a stream of Doctors-- or Doombots-- or both-- came in, to fill the seats.

“This is to be a very educational day for us.” Doom said, and raised his scalpel.

Steve’s eyes flicked past him to see Loki, who seemed to be trying to break through the plexiglass, but wasn’t making much headway. Steve’s eyes licked back to Doom as he sliced into Steve’s torso, like he was a dead body in a morgue. Only he wasn’t-- he was living, and breathing, and-- god, if he was sick and got vomit in himself-- He tore his eyes away and looked back at Loki, stifling the noises that Doom was drawing out of him. He daren’t move or so much as breathe hard-- though he was having a hell of a time trying to stop himself from hyperventilating. If Doom’s knife slipped-- No. He focused on Loki, who he had come to save. And if there was one small mercy, he wasn’t the one on the table. This time.

Through the pain and fear and panic, another thought surfaced. If they were protecting his teeth, his face-- but didn’t care if they tore up his body, there was a nonzero chance that in the not too distant future, the Avengers would be receiving his head. He felt his eyes filling with tears at the thought of that-- Nat would blame herself for letting him do this-- as if she could have stopped him. Clint’s last memory of him would be him finding out about the sleeping pills he’d slipped Loki. And Bruce, and Tony-- God, they all deserved better. And then Loki would be left here again, alone, to suffer. Because whatever Doom wanted from him, he hadn’t managed to get yet, despite having had him for days. Steve, on the other hand, hadn’t even been here for twelve hours before they had gotten what they wanted out of him. He doubted he had long.

And… for all this was supposed to be about testing his healing, he had a sneaking suspicion Doom didn’t actually care. That he wouldn’t make it off this table alive. That Loki was being forced to watch him die.

All of this was such an alarming clarity, he didn’t realize immediately that Doom had stopped.

It hurt, everything hurt, and his heartbeat felt sluggish, but strong-- too strong. Each pulse felt like a hammer being taken to the inside of his ribs. He bit down on the leather in his mouth as he felt his body fighting to stop the bleeding, to heal itself, and finally-- thank God-- he passed out.

[cosmosogler]

hi guys. today i Took The Day Off.

i woke up at like 10. i was having dark, disorienting dreams. i dreamed that a man came into my apartment and when i woke up i genuinely could not figure out if that was real or not for like twenty minutes. i’m pretty sure it wasn’t... it wasn’t even the last thing i dreamed about.

i bummed around on the internet for a long time. then i showered, then i tried to have lunch. then i biked over to gamestop and picked up a xerneas. the guy gave me a second one so i’ll pass it on to harrison. i poked at the stuffed pokemon dolls but when i saw they cost like 35 dollars i practically physically recoiled. i chatted with the guy behind the counter for a few minutes and then i biked home.

i worked on some stuff for the comic... i’m tired. i drew something i really, really like though, and that will post in two weeks. and i drew a kind of “recap” thing after i described it to harrison and he said it would be helpful. 

i need a beta reader. an actual one. i dunno.

i should really join the creative writing club. i don’t think they run during the summer. i just don’t have the energy to meet new people and make it to two-hour meetings every friday during the semester though. especially this semester coming up, if i’m even allowed to stay here and be a student any more.

i made myself some dinner and then i worked on a short story for the comic. i tried to give myself a drawing break and write something instead. i like it well enough but i always worry about the “point” of a scene like that. i think i know where i’m going with it though.

my keyboard is breaking. my t key keeps coming loose and falling off. i’ve had to wedge it back in place twice now and i can feel it popping out again already.

i realize that i only interacted with one person face to face today, and it was just a one-minute talk. other than that i stayed pretty quiet... i tried messaging keegan but he stopped responding after a bit, as usual. i’m still conflicted about whether or not to remind him that i’m drawing a comic and i’d like it if he read it. i do not want to pester him. but there’s a nonzero chance that he did just forget about it. and he might like it... might not... i’m not sure.

i don’t feel as unstuck from reality right now as i usually would when i don’t see people all day. i can feel it creeping up around the edges of my thinking, but that’s usually an early-afternoon feeling that gets bad by the evening. tomorrow i gotta go talk to the group therapists to prepare for that all starting up. and i gotta take snoopy to her grooming appointment. i caught her ripping out her fur again. i think she will feel better after a shave.

maybe not right away, but, after she gets used to the mats being gone.

but yeah i gotta make a 20-25 minute bike ride before 9:30 am tomorrow ha ha ha ha ha. i got up after 9:30 today, let alone being ready to go anywhere. 

i think, i hope, today was a good rest day to start the “week.” i picked out a volunteer organization to check out nearby, that i can bike to easily. it’s a food bank. we’ll see if they take one-time volunteers. i’ll call tomorrow i guess.

ehhhh i feel like garbage and i know i didn’t keep busy enough today. i feel better than i did yesterday, i guess. and i was out on my bike for almost a full hour. i’ve gotten recommendations to start watching a new show or read a new book. and i know that might help me feel more engaged again, but i also want to keep working on my story. i don’t want to be drawing it forever and i want to get to more fun story twists and character moments and stuff. i just want to tell all of it! right now!! gotta go fast!!!

i wish i wasn’t so shy about it.

[phantomdrabbles]

Any chance we could any headcanons on how the PT girls would be in a makeout session? You can add the guys too, if you'd like.

((eyyyyyy ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°) i think i’ll be doing the boys for this one, since the girls were the first ones i wrote for! but if you want to submit your request again, i’ll do the girls ;)))

Akira:

He’s an infuriatingly good kisser (don’t fight me on this). If he initiates a more heated session, he’ll likely bite down on his partner’s lip and sneak his tongue in once they’re surprised. If his partner initiates it, his eyes will probably widen for just a second before he’s smiling back against their lips. 

He won’t be satisfied unless his partner is practically gasping for air by the time their lips part, so if you get caught with him, be prepared to be under him for... a while.

One thing his partner could do to surprise him is to tug on his hair or take off his glasses (if he hasn’t already). But then he’ll just smirk and want to get back at them later. “punishment” as he calls it

The positioning of his hands would probably be one behind his partner’s head, and the other on their waist or arm. He won’t say much since kissing is in itself a way of communicating his emotions, but it’s likely he’d pull away to study his partner’s face for a minute before saying some cheeky remark like “You’re cute.” but we all love his smugness anyway so who’s the real winner here

Ryuji:

An absolute bundle of nerves. He’s just so happy, so excited to be so close and intimate with his partner like this that his lips would probably be everywhere he could reach. Their lips, nose, cheeks, forehead, neck; nowhere is safe when Ryuji is feeling affectionate. His enthusiasm might even be too much for his partner to keep up with and they’ll just end up getting showered in kisses for a few solid minutes until he calms down a bit.

He doesn’t really feel okay with getting any more intense without asking his partner, so if he initiates it, he’ll probably flush red and ask, “So, uh... is it okay for me to... y’know. Do what I want here?” even though he could easily be won over in like ten seconds if his partner initiates by wrapping their arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss.

His arms probably end up on either side of his partner while they’re kissing. but honestly having their chests pressed together is enough to sate his need for physical contact

If you touch his face while you’re kissing, there is a nonzero chance that he’ll melt from absolute happiness. Also tell him you love him to really get the waterworks going.

Yusuke:

As an artist, his touch is delicate and precise. However, it can get more than a little clumsy when it comes to intimacy with his partner. His hands will shake, his breathing will go a bit ragged, and sometimes all he can do is stare at them in admiration... but also in complete silence. 

He’s not quite confident in his abilities to communicate his feelings through intimate actions, so oftentimes he has to ask for reassurance before doing anything. “You... love me, yes? So... would it be odd for me to kiss you? Is that... is that alright?”

His hands will be tracing over every part of his partner he can reach, trying his absolute best to commit every sensation to memory. Their breathing, their heartbeat, the way they move under him; everything is so perfect, and he never wants to forget the feeling. One hand is likely to stay in their hair, though, brushing and occasionally tugging it lightly. The feeling of their hair running through his fingers is extremely calming to him.

Once he’s thoroughly in a groove, he might get a bit overeager, kissing them deeper and deeper and grasping at any part of them until they have to be the one to break away and breathe. He stares at their flushed face for a long time, memorizing it, until he says softly: “I adore you.”

Akechi:

He gets surprisingly emotional when it comes to intimate moments with his partner, since the feelings that come over him are very much out of touch with how he’s lived most of his life. Before anything starts, it’s likely he’ll just hold his partner in his arms and reach for one of their hands to put against his cheek. Listen to their breathing. Ask them to tell him they love him. He needs a bit of this emotional preparation before actually proceeding; to confirm that his partner’s feelings for him are genuine before letting them in fully. 

His favorite position is one in which he’s on top of his partner with their hands laced together beside their head. The feeling of control he gets from it is vital to the pleasure he feels. 

He’s quite greedy from the get-go and makes sure to let them know it. He’ll kiss his partner breathless while whispering to them in between: “It seems like you’re enjoying this too.” “Your face right now is beyond words.” “I’m the only one who can see you like this... right?”

Warning: if you tell Akechi you love him or praise him, he will 100% kiss you ten times harder as a way of yearning for more praise. Be careful when using this ultra-move.

[arodrwho]

Some Thoughts Re: The Influx Of Fic Of Nott Comforting Caleb Post Ep. 48 And Also The Few Bits I’ve Seen Of The Reverse

the thing, here, is that as much as i want nott & caleb to have comfort in the aftermath of What Happened, & as much as i want them to talk about What Happened, i really don’t think those 2 things should happen at the same time

that is to say. i don’t think caleb should be the one comforting nott, & vice versa i do not think nott should be the one comforting caleb. yes, caleb is the one with the clearest understanding of the sort of danger nott’s family is in, and yes, nott lashed out at caleb, and yes, they need to talk about that, and yes, there’s comfort potential in those conversations--but i feel like they should not be the immediate source of comfort. like. absolutely not. no thanks. let’s avoid that if possible maybe thanks? thanks

bc just. it doesn’t seem like it’s healthy, for one thing. i think--as much as it pains me to say so, as much as i want them to work this out & patch things up right away--i think they need a break from each other first. not a long one, just. some time. a little bit of time apart to think, to calm down, to get their words in order, before they try to talk again and patch things up. a few hours, at least, after the big backstory reveals. maybe the whole night through,maybe some of the next day. personally i hope it’s not much longer than that, bc i would absolutely die, and tbh i don’t think caleb could take it at this point--but at least some seems necessary

there’s also, just. i don’t think nott should be obligated to go comfort caleb when she’s in the middle of a crisis herself. she loves him, and she always tries her best to lift him up and put him first both physically and emotionally, and that’s very kind--but she shouldn’t have to, not at her own expense, and especially not when she’s hurting this much

(and especially especially when--even though it’s absolutely not his fault and he is in no way responsible--her current crisis involves his past trauma. comforting him re: that trauma in the immediate aftermath of getting the news she’s gotten does not seem, uh. ideal. for the whole I Am Panicked Abt Yeza dealio, bc hey! this is the kind of damage ikithon does! this is what he could be doing to yeza right now!! --fuckin uhhhh yikes dude no thanks)

and likewise--as much as i feel for nott rn and want her to get the comfort she deserves--i really, really don’t think caleb should be the one to give it right now. not for either of their sakes, honestly. for nott, because of the aforementioned thing above, and also because--given that she is the way that she is--there is a nonzero chance that she might try to switch over to comforting caleb instead, and she doesn’t need to be doing that right now. and for caleb--well. to be frank, as much as i love nott & as much as i feel for her & understand why she lashed out like that--she still did very much lash out. that is objectively a thing that happened, and i don’t think he should have to comfort her after it. that feels pretty fucked

(like hey, hi, your closest friend just took your preexisting panic attack & dialed it up even further by partially airing out your trauma against your wishes & lumping you in with your abuser in one fell swoop! now, while you’re still completely submerged in the fucking trauma zone, you get to go make them feel better about that same abuser hurting them, which is the very thing you’ve been afraid of for so long!! --fucking terrible, no thanks.)

 in conclusion. i require a fic where other party members comfort these 2 separately, and then Afterward they find each other & talk to each other & patch things up as best they can & do some comforting of their own

& if i do not come across a fic like this. i will perhaps attempt to write it myself