#they were also free because someone at some point in my family picked them up somewhere and then they were not being used

[larchraven]

everyone at the skii shops wants my wooden skis carnally

[what-even-is-thiss]

I worry sometimes about the beautiful fantasy that certain conservative stay at home moms are selling on places like tiktok and Instagram. A lot of them are acting like stay at home moms should never work or do finances or something and that’s just not right.

Both of my grandmothers were stay at home moms but neither of my grandfathers forced them into it. My dad’s mom helped run the family construction business and did some freelance architecture design on the side and my mom’s mom just hated working and worked part time as a teller on and off during times they needed more money. And both of my grandfathers knew how to cook. They didn’t cook most of the time but sometimes the wife is sick or off visiting her parents so you’ve gotta know how to whip up some corn chowder or something for the kids after work.

A lot of “stay at home spouses” or “homemakers” work actually. Including those trad wife influencers or even occasional house husband influencers you see on Instagram and tiktok. Their job ironically enough is being a homemaker influencer. The second that person turns on a camera for money they’re no longer solely working as a homemaker.

The idea that there’s some perfect life you can live where all you do is clean and cook and have perfect little babies is a fantasy. Parenthood involves vomit. Relationships involve disagreements. Most households necessitate having two incomes at some point, especially if your main source of income is a business. Businesses are inconsistent sources of money. Freelance work is an inconsistent source of money. It’s also important to have your own means of financial support in case your spouse decides to stop being a good person someday. It might not happen to you but there’s also no guarantee that it won’t. And a decent person won’t feel threatened by you wanting to have your own means of income because if they’re a good person then generally they shouldn’t have to financially trap you in order to get you to stay with them.

Thankfully neither of my grandfathers turned out to be total pieces of shit but in case they did one of my grandmothers had her investments and architecture and drafting skills to fall back on and the other had years of experience as a bank teller that could’ve gotten her a full time job in most places. And both of these women ended up raising daughters that grew up to have careers.

My mother was also a part time teacher that spent a good amount of her time raising my brother and I when she was alive. But she had her own money and could have left at any time if she needed to and when she died my dad still had all the skills needed to raise us and teach my brother and I how to do basic household tasks.

If your life’s dream is to be a stay at home parent I’m not going to tell you that’s a stupid dream. What I am going to tell you is a) it’s not glamorous and stress-free and you should not expect it to be like that, b) have an escape plan just in case and fully understand what you’re getting into financially, and c) pick someone as your partner who knows how to do basic household tasks even if they won’t be doing them most of the time because you will get sick, you will get tired, you will visit your friends or family and you want someone who can get your kids dressed and cook them dinner in the event that you can’t.

[ynbabe]

LOGAN FIC REQ!! (i love your messages au smmm btw THEYRE SO GOOD AHH) ok anywayssss

can you pls do logan x super super famous!reader.(preferably an actress but i don't mind any) so both of them are dating but are trying to keep it a secret since they've only been dating for a short amount of time. one night they decide to go on a date but paparazzi was there and it was going VIRAL. reader regrets not double checking if there would be any paps. sooo then everyone starts investigating on logan as the internet does and since everyone doesn't watch f1, they only see logan crashing and blah blah blah so they see him as a "bad driver" and he starts getting A LOT of hate because people think reader deserves better. they also start comparing him to reader's "more better and famous ex". reader and logan take time off social media and people think they broke up until reader releases an instagram post defending him and yeah a lot of fluff and hurt/comfort.

idk if this made sense but pls feel free to change anything!! again i love your work sm 💕‼️

Hiiii, omg thank you so much! Love love LOVE the fic idea and without any further ado- here's the fic, it isn't exactly as the prompt but I hope you love it-

Keep my wife's name OUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH ୨୧ Logan Sargeant x famous! reader

As a celebrity, you don’t often have the privilege of privacy. The cameras seemed to follow you everywhere, from outside your house to the restaurants you ate at and even to private celebrations with your friends and family.

Your last relationship had gone south exactly because of the paparazzi, making assumptions about the seriousness of your relationship and even spreading pregnancy and marriage rumours, scaring the man away.

You had wanted to take it slow, heart broken from your previous relationship but then you met Logan and for the first time in a long time you felt like you could breath, like you could do what you wanted without being judged.

You knew who he was and he knew who you were and that was perfect.

The both of you had spent a perfect week in your villa in Bali, it had been risky but no one caught on, surprisingly.

You thought your luck would continue and you threw causation to the wind, not asking your assistant to check for paparazzi at the sushi restaurant you were going to in Shanghai.

Unfortunately, you were caught just as you were leaving the restaurants waking up to a host of notifications, some good and some gut-wrenching.

Logan on the other hand tried not to throw up, his eyes wide, you could tell he was scared. Would his team drop him? No, no. Why would they? Right? Oh God.

"Logan, Logs, baby are you okay?" You called out, dropping to your knees and cradling his face in your palms.

f1waglife

f1waglife Y/n nation how are we feeling tonight? Logang? How are we? This was definitely not the couple we expected but is this the couple we deserve?

Username OH HELL NAW- WHY IS THIS FLORIDA MAN DATING QUEEN Y/N?????

Username Y/n come home the kids miss you

Username Omg mans is in love

Username Get someone to look at you the way Logan looks at Y/n

You saw some of the comments and while some made you smile, some made you want to slap a bitch, unfortunately, a scandal would not help, so you called up your PR manager, and the post was gone within a minute.

Logan's race had gone sour, with him getting an unfair penalty and points on his licence. The already poor start to your day had turned even worse when you saw Logan tiredly storm into the room collapsing on the bed, burying his face in his pillow.

"What... the..... fuck?" He screamed into the pillow making you smile a little. The small habit he'd picked up from you, screaming into the pillows as a way to think, one that you had picked up from one of the characters you played a long time ago.

"Why do people even care about who's dating who? That's so stupid." He rolled his eyes.

"Don't we binge Keeping Up with the Kardashians every Monday?" You asked.

"That's not the same though-" He paused and switched his phone off, he already didn't have access to his own Instagram, having given access to his manager a long time ago, he now didn't even want to talk to his friends or colleagues many of whom just wanted an autograph from you along with an explanation how he could be with you.

He turned around, pulling the blanket on him, tired from the day.

You pulled up Twitter as a habit but were greeted with a terrible chain of tweets judging every aspect of your relationship and even worse criticizing Logan without even knowing anything about the sport.

"What the fuck-" You cursed out loud, you knew your fanbase was slightly (an underestimation) larger than your boyfriends but how could they call themselves your fans, when you have been a fan of Logan's since his first season in f1? All your co-stars American or not knew your borderline obsession for the man, every race week you'd be posting Williams on your story, how could they still hate on him?

You looked next to you, where your boyfriend was sleeping a small scowl on his pretty face.

PR be damned, he didn't deserve this.

y/nl/nofficial

y/nl/nofficial To anyone who calls themselves my fans and talks shit about my lovely boyfriend, UNFOLLOW ME ASAP. Logan is the kindest, sweetest, most talented man I've had the pleasure to know and he deserves better than the bullshit he gets from some assholes who don't know anything about him. To quote my friend Will: KEEP MY WIFES NAME OUT YOUR DAMN MOUTHS-

username oop sis snapped

username you tell em girl

username LOVE a gf whos rabidly in love with her bf

username now why would y'all try and shame Mother's boyfriend when all she does is post about him for race weekends??

username fr shes been a logan fan before logan fans have been logan fans

Williams We stan a protective gf 😮‍💨

username admin you'll always be famous y/nl/nofficial Cant help it he looks really pretty in blue 🥰 username oh she in love love

username shall we start calling him Father?

The way I was struggling to write this fic cause I had to write bad things about Pookie Bear Logie is insane. But- I hope yall like it, please do let me know in the comments or reblogs!!!

[temtamtom]

Please ignore the fact I accidentally posted this and then deleted it okay anyways

These two have had a myriad of personal conflicts over the years. They had a difficult relationship as children and then spent the rest of their adolescence and early adulthood separately. They interacted, of course, and they saw each other as brothers, but that was it. We are related by blood, but I don’t see you as FAMILY family. If that makes sense. But if I had to pick their biggest fight, it would be:

Tl;Dr: Emotions were running high and unchecked after Italian unification, leading to a blow-out fight when Romano announced that he was moving to America for a little while.

I need to provide some context and explain my headcanons, so this might be a long one kjdfgk I hope it makes sense! Also, a warning because my Feli isn't all that canon-compliant ;; but I think he's a bit more accurate to the northern attitudes of the time

There's a common headcanon within the fandom that Romano was entirely against unification and resisted it from the start. I think this is a bit of an inaccurate and an over-simplified perspective. By the early and mid 1800s, there were many instances of uprisings against absolutism in Southern Italy, which strove for more liberal ideals. The revolutionaries wanted a constitutional monarchy, or even a republic. Through their uprisings and the creation of a secret, revolutionary network across the peninsula, revolutionary ideals began to spread throughout and inspire others.

This is of course a gross oversimplification of the history, but I’m bringing this all up to illustrate the idea that Romano was starting to grow tired of the “status quo”, and was desperate for a change. Unification wasn’t necessarily what he had in mind at first, especially when we consider that he and Feliciano were pretty distant at this point in time. However he soon got swept up in the fervor and optimism of the patriots, and he began to believe in their vision. He believed in a future where he could finally be truly independent- free to call the shots and live his life freely without the worry of being tossed around and claimed by other European powers. He believed in a future where, maybe, he could have a family again. To fix what was broken between him and Feliciano. Romano may come across as quite crude, but he’s a very passionate man. Someone who loves and craves so deeply, to the point where his heart/imagination can far outrun him.

So imagine the betrayal felt when he realized that unification wasn’t working in his favour. He was practically discarded, and seen as “lesser than” his northern brother. His brother, who treated him as an oddity, and had an air of moral superiority over Romano. They kept each other at arm's length, as though they were roommates forced to endure the other, rather than two brothers sharing a home. Disillusioned and hurt, Romano felt like a fool for believing in a dream that didn’t come true. 

Feliciano struggled with many emotional grievances, which Romano wasn’t privy to. He lost his long-time husband/partner just a few decades prior, and instead of taking the time to confront the grief, he picked himself back up and turned his attention towards independence and unification. He threw himself head first into uprisings, wars, political negotiations, and rallies- all to achieve this patriotic goal of forming “Italy”, and perhaps to distract himself from the loss (though he won’t admit it). He also thought, maybe foolishly, that his life would get better after unifying with his brother. That he would have a family again, that he wouldn’t feel so alone, that he would love and be loved and they could hold hands and skip happily into a field of sunshine and rainbows and everything would be okay– 

What should have brought them together, they both realized, seemed to drive a deeper wedge between them. The reality was that they were incompatible. They couldn’t stand each other. To Feliciano, Romano was nothing but an uncivilized brute who only complained and never wanted to work, and lived to insult him every day. To Romano, Feliciano was a pompous, stuck-up elite asshole who refused to acknowledge the very real pain and disillusionment of his new, southern citizens. Both brothers felt as though everything- all the blood, sweat, and tears- was just a massive waste.

As you can imagine, it was a VERY tense and unhappy household for many reasons. They began to argue. A LOT. Fights that were far uglier than the scraps they had as children. It got to a point where they couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as each other.

It all came to a head, however, when Romano announced that he was leaving. He had his motives, reasonable ones too, but Feliciano didn’t see that. All he saw was his no-good, lazy brother abandoning him and their country after all the effort they put into creating it, leaving him with all the stress and work while he galavants off to America. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The announcement devolved into an explosive fight. Things were said that, to this day, haven’t been fully forgiven. With all the anger and tension, they probably threw in a few good punches as well. Romano eventually left, and Feliciano thought to himself “Good riddance”. However as time wore on, they couldn’t help but think about the other, wonder how they were doing, and reflect on how they parted ways. 

Things were still a bit tense when Romano returned, and they didn’t acknowledge the fight for a while. However, they began putting a bit more effort into rekindling their relationship. It took some time, and it wasn’t an easy journey, but they’re in a much healthier place now than before. They’re glued at the hip, they share everything, they know every little quirk and detail about the other, and they’ve begun to love each other as family (though teasing and head-butting is a common occurrence). 

If you asked them back then if they would go through unification, they would be incredibly iffy. But if you asked them now, they would likely say yes. They wouldn't trade their brother for anything in the world.

[vigilskeep]

It's my birthday & I want all your thoughts/your ultimate dreams for a possible Fereldan chantry secession pls & thank u 💖

the topics at hand are:

orlais’ stranglehold on the sunburst throne. fereldan-orlesian tensions would blow up as soon as any divine attempted to hold authority over the fereldan crown. which with a divine who attempts to restore the circles would happen almost immediately, due to:

ferelden’s support for the mage rebellion. in dragon age origins it has an active, fairly brazen community of apostates across the nation. in dragon age 2 the fereldan crown is sheltering fleeing apostates from kirkwall and, under certain circumstances, attempting to defy the chantry by freeing its circle prior to any rebellion. in dragon age inquisition, the fereldan crown harbours the entire mage rebellion until the alexius debacle. it is the most mage-friendly power in the south and it resisting the restoration of the circles—which would require the orlesian divine to march in new forces to do so—is not hard to believe

broader/more historically, ferelden has a better claim to andraste’s legacy than orlais does. ferelden is the birthplace of andraste and where her ashes returned, whereas orlais is merely the birthplace of the fallible chantry made in her name. you can get a lot of religious mileage out of that and there are probably scholars and clerics who have been thinking about this for ages and would kill to be writing the 1500s style religious pamphlets involved in making it a movement

personally i find a cassandra / leliana split the most logical here. on the one hand, you have a brash, militaristic divine with the title hero of orlais and a more traditional viewpoint, and lacking in the political acumen to make concessions and prevent the secession. on the other, you have an idealistic woman willing to make bold, drastic sacrifices for second chances at history, someone who considers herself fereldan and is sensitive to the mages’ plight, and who is ultimately desperate to believe the maker gave her a grand purpose.

it’s a great loss to sacrifice divine vivienne, who is so interesting, but i just find unconvincing as a rallying point for traditionalists in the event of a schism? because no matter what she does she’ll never not be a mage. idk i could be convinced. however, vivienne would still be absolutely central to the conflict as the grand enchanter of the circle, playing a very dangerous game probably operating as cassandra’s right hand while vying for power with the anti-mage extremists likely flocking to back orlais who naturally see her as an internal threat

eventually an exalted march would be called or some kind of religious war would take place. you can’t declare yourself divine without expecting that kind of backlash. what would really have to happen for ferelden to survive is for somewhere else to also break from the orlesian chantry. your best bet is nevarra and the free marches, who are already often at odds with orlais historically and likely have also long resented getting excommunicated every five seconds whenever they have to defend their borders. one imagines the mortalitasi also prefer leliana’s way of thinking. you wouldn’t get all the free marches at the same time, largely because they’re all cripplingly individual and probably would just pick the other side to the neighbout they most hate. but nevarra is the big deal because orlais’ chronic problem historically is that they can’t afford a war in the north and in the east at the same time, so nevarra always fucks up their fereldan expansions and vice versa

the problem here is that cassandra is a pentaghast. however, she’s a pentaghast who wants nothing to do with nevarra, would absolutely not have given them any rewards or privileges for being family, and whose parents were executed rebels. i think they’d already be mad and could easily cut their losses. (i don’t think nevarra would answer to leliana and the hypothetical chantry of ferelden, to be clear, which i would imagine to be quite localised. i think they’d start doing something independently. idk if they’d declare their own divine or answer to no divine or idk do something nevarran and delightful like say the legitimate divine is whichever one they have buried in the necropolis and she says fuck orlais.)

as a note i think it’s really funny if both cass and leli go by divine victoria, both claiming to stand on the shoulders of the inquisition’s victory. likely nonsense to happen. that or something deeply on the nose like divine victoria and divine liberata or whatever. i’d expect leliana to be labelled the red divine in common terms (against the orlesian white divine and tevinter black divine)

[imasoftieforbarb]

Hi! This had been on my mind for some time and im wondering if u can write it? Clay with a fiancee that unlike like most trolls is an introvert? And doesn't go out much. She looks tired, like messy hair and sleepy eyes.

It's because she has 4 older brothers of whom the oldest has a sickness which makes him bedridden, so she takes care of him. The other brothers have gone their seperate ways- only visiting once every 5 months or so. And could you also do brozones reaction to this? Take your time and thank you!

Clay x Introvert Fiancé Reader

He knew your family situation was sorta like his

He just didn’t know the extent of it

The way you guys met was through Viva

She introduced him to you cause you were pretty low key and he was too tired for upbeat-ness

When he asked you to be his fiancé you sat him down (after you said yes with the biggest smile ever) and explained the full story behind your family

The reason you leave Putt Putt Village every month? To look after your older brother who’s seriously ill

Your other brothers? You have no idea where they are

He comforts you through it all- he gets special permission from Viva to leave with you to look after your brother together

No way in hell is he gonna let you go through that alone

On your journey to where your oldest brother lives, he explains his family situation

And you both talk about it- a heart to heart

You definitely both start crying

I like to hc Clay as someone who likes to read to his S/O

So he reads to you to help you calm down and sleep

He meets your older brother who is absolutely ecstatic to meet ‘the famous Clay who’s got my little sister swooning’

You glare at him playfully from behind Clay

Clay enjoys spending time with your brother, who tells him that he’s happy you’ve got someone to lean on now

Clay sees how hard you work to make sure your brother has everything and is comfortable

Clay also meets the nanny (who apparently has a crush on your brother)

When you leave, your brother demands that he gets to come to the wedding and tells Clay to take extra good care of you

When he meets his brothers again, he introduces you but makes sure they don’t encroach on your personal space

Explains that you’re an introvert

They all go “aaaaaaaah gotcha” then start bombardons you with questions from a safe distance

They didn’t get the hint

You don’t go with them- Clay insists you stay in the village, he doesn’t want you in danger

You have a heartfelt hug and kiss before you run off to delay viva from finding out

“You gotta promise me you’ll be safe”

He presses a final kiss to your lips before softly resting his forehead on yours

“I promise”

It takes everything in Bruce to not cry

You do join in the journey with viva- you wanna make sure he’s alright

You end up being the one to free him from the shoulder pads and you have a quick hug through the diamond before they leave to trip Velvet

You stay with Viva and Poppy whilst the brothers cry for Floyd

Clay introduces you to Floyd as soon as possible

You end up getting along pretty well-

Then one day, when Brozone, Poppy and King Peppy are visiting Putt Putt Village to pick up Viva but also see the full extent of it

Your three other brothers show up

By this point your wedding is approaching and you’re stressing out a little bit

But you’ve also told Clay, and the others about your relationship with your other brothers

And even Poppy can see that the bond can’t be fixed

So when they show up?

They’re met with an angry Clay refusing to let them see you knowing how much it hurts when they turn up just to leave

Disappointed Bruce and Floyd who just look on with deadpan expressions, shaking their heads

JD runs to get you- letting you know that you have a choice and you don’t have to see them

You end up seeing them, holding Clays hand for comfort as you do the bare minimum of introducing them to everyone

Asking your brothers what they want now, only rolling your eyes when they tell you they need various things from you

You kick them out of the village, telling them the only way they can come to your wedding is if your older brother lets them come

They all pale cause there’s no way that’s happening

Clay holds you whilst you have a little cry

100/10 husband material

Let me know if I should do a PT2 the wedding!

[fortunapre]

𝐀/𝐍𖧞 oh my gosh??!? an update that’s semi on time?!? anyways enjoy tbis because it sure gets interesting… and someone pls give me another word for “skimpy” that’s not derogatory 🤓

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𖧞 16+ (series rating and swearing), sister mention, alcohol, wlw mention, use on y/n

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𖧞 oscar piastri x fem!reader

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𖧞 (scene vi) 3.2k

Go back?? (scene v) Click Here!

𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𖧞 scene vi 𖧞 (𝐒𝐞𝐭 𝐈𝐭 𝐔𝐩)

try telling me someone didn’t read winter affairs and immediately type this up 👇🔽

Monday, December 17th

You know what they say: “Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t accept rides from strangers. Never tell a man that you’re interested in Formula One.”

Because if you do, you could end up in a most unwanted dilemma like death or, you know, being asked “Oh yeah? Name the 2009 WDC?”

Both are equally horrible.

However, less than four hours ago, my sister and I did exactly what we were told not to do.

Not tell a man about F1, God that’d be horrible, of course not!

No, we met some strangers downtown while shopping this afternoon, and let them drive us to a party.

Four Hours Earlier…

My sister and I decided to go back downtown in search of fresh baked wintertime desserts to take back to the family for lunch. We walked into a cozy bakery where pottery and art lined the walls.

“This place looks promising.” I wished, walking towards the front of the store in search of the baked goods. In clear cases were delicious looking cakes, tarts, and pastries- Jackpot.

I pointed at the largest desert there, a tall cherry tart.

My sister nodded her head and also pointed to another sweet that had caught her eye. We silently agreed on the items and looked away from the case, trying to find someone to help us. The store had only a few customers, and one lady standing in line at a cash register, but no cashier.

“How long have you been standing here? Is there someone working?” I asked the lady, whose hands were filled with a dark blue vase that looked hand crafted, probably from one of the shelves in here.

“Not long, actually.” She replied, looking towards a door to our left. “The young man who was helping me earlier will be right back, he’s just grabbing something for me, sorry.” She looked around my mothers age but with lighter features. While talking to us she attempted to point towards the door, but her grip on the vase only let one finger slightly move. She tried to free her hand to show us exactly, but the vase began slipping. I moved my hands quickly, positioning them under, so that if it were to fall I could catch it.

“Woah careful, Mrs. Petersen.” A voice said from our left. Out from the door emerged a young man, around our age, with an apron and beaming smile. “Don’t let that slip, you're making the poor girl stressed.”

He was acknowledging that I still had my hands in the same position, worried the fragile pottery might slip again. I noticed the woman, I now knew as Mrs. Petersen, had a better grip, so I retracted my hands quickly and shoved them into my pockets.

The young man, who I assumed worked here, had a small box in his hand and walked towards the cash register.

He spoke to Mrs. Petersen with a kind smile before helping wrap her vase and sending her out the door. After he finished helping her, he turned to us with an expectant look.

“You two lookin’ at something specific?” He asked motioning towards the case of goodies my sister and I were marveling at, moments before.

“Yes actually. Could we get the whole cherry tart and a pack of those apple crumb bars, please?” I answered, pointing as I talked.

He just nodded and carefully picked both desserts for us, boxing them, bagging them, and ringing us up.

As I was paying, I noticed him looking at us with interest. I tried not to make eye contact with him, suddenly not wanting his attention.

My sister, however, met his gaze more than once, no doubt checking him out.

“Hey, so wait…” He spoke as we started walking away.

We both turned, waiting for him to speak.

“You two… wouldn’t be interested in a party tonight, would you?” He finally said.

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Of course not, why would we want to go to a random part-

“Oooh, sounds fun! We’ll totally be there!” My sister answered for the both of us. I tried to pinch her elbow to get her to look at me, but she kept her eyes on the guy.

“Oh, no way, alright. Well let me pull up the information..” he trailed off while digging in his pocket for his phone. “Hold on, I left my phone in the back but I’ll get it for you. Just a sec.” He disappeared behind the door, like earlier. As soon as he was out of sight, I turned towards my sister.

“What?! There’s no way I am going to a strangers party.” I whispered through my teeth, looking around at the other customers, hoping not to cause a scene.

“Y/n, yes you are. We need to do something fun outside of the cabin. We can only add so many new rules to Uno before it gets boring.”

“What? I thought you liked Go-Fish-Charades-No-Takesy-Backsey-Uno?”

“I did! But now it’s lame and a party is just what we neeedddd.” She pouted her lips and looked like she desperately wanted this. I immediately caved and shrugged my shoulders looking away. “Look, how about this?” My sister began, trying to make me feel better. “We’ll bring our brother and Oscar.”

She let a smirk show at her idea.

“I already agreed. Oscar doesn’t have to come.” I fought.

“Ok, even if you agreed, I think Oscar should still come. He’s fun at parties.” She tried. “Come onnnnnnn. Just let loose for one night”

I looked at her, saw the look in her eyes, and walked away before I kept agreeing to whatever she said. Sometimes it’s hard to disagree when she looks so deeply, like she really cares about you. So before I agreed to wearing frisky outfits and dancing on a table, I got away.

From behind me, I heard the young man approach my sister and give her the details for tonight.

Maybe a night out could be good, we’ll see.

Now…

My eyes are drooping, closing for seconds of relief, and then opening again. Everytime I blink, the comfortable silence fills my brain and I could almost drift to sleep standing right here. I can feel my mouth getting dry and my eyes burning with the need to shut. However tempting sleep may be, I need to stay awake.

I’m basically swaying in my spot, desperate to topple over and cuddle on the floor. The hold I have on the drink in my hand Is all that my brain is working on. My mind is fuzzy with however many cups of this ‘magic jingle juice,’ as the party host called it. Anyone in this room could look at me and think “Man, she’s wasted.” But, really, I’m staying quiet and having trouble standing upright because of how exhausted I am. Sure, I drank someeeee but I can easily say the worst I am, is a little tipsy. I shut my eyes tight, to stop the burning. Once I tried opening my eyes again, a squint was all I could hold.

What time is it? Is she ready to go home yet? I started thinking about how we even got her in the first place: some strangers' Christmas party.

People around me were laughing and swaying. Some were in costumes, but most of the people looked like they only came for the alcohol, dressed in casual clothing. At one point, I think I saw some women in matching skimpy reindeer costumes. Hope they’re having fun. I hope my siblings are having fun too.

If they’re not, and this was just a waste of time, I might strangle them.

After a nap. I don’t think I could lift my arms if I tried.

Home, Nap, Strangle. Ok, good plan.

Suddenly, sleepiness drained from my face as I caught sight of something interesting happening near a couch in the center of the room.

As I walked over, my interest piqued. I recognized my brother and sister, sitting on the floor, and a face I haven’t seen since the beginning of the party- Oscar.

He was sitting two people away from my sister in what looked like a circle. Everyone was talking and sipping on their drinks. However, what caught my eye in the first place was a girl standing in the middle of the people-circle. She was wearing a bright red dress that fit her nicely, and a santa hat on top of her curled hair. In her hands was another Santa hat. She held it upside down and open, walking around the circle. I was confused, because instead of collecting pieces of paper, or trash, people were dropping personal items in the hat. I watched as my sister put in her bracelet.

I made eye contact with her as the Santa girl walked away. Her eyes widened and she smiled a goofy grin. She looked sober at least.

I tilted my head, making a show that I was confused at what was going on. She just smiled and watched the Santa girl turn towards my brother.

He took a look around the circle of people and then back to the girl. He then took off a ring and dropped it into the hat.

I was even more confused, why are they giving her their jewelry?

I walked over after throwing away my drink. I crouched down next to my sister on the ground and got close to talk to her.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

She let out a quiet giggle while whispering close to my ear. “Oh! Good timing, we haven’t started yet, you can still join.”

Before I could ask for more information, my sister grabbed my wrist and slipped off a beaded bracelet I was wearing. She motioned the Santa girl over and put my bracelet in the hat. The santa girl gave a look to my sister then to me, nodding like she approved.

“Hey! I liked that bracelet, why would you just-” I got a little annoyed. Instead of taking me seriously, my sister tugged on my arm again, making me plop onto the floor in between her and my brother.

“Relax, you’ll get it back at the end, or if you get chosen.” She tried to assure me, but my mind was just whirling with questions.

“If im CHOSen? What is this, a cult initiation?”

“Oh my god, Y/n, no it's just a party game. Apparently it’s a local game they play here every year.” She didn’t elaborate until I quirked a brow and shook my head.

“Which is…..?” I asked.

“Oh, I have no idea. I just wanted to do something and this seemed like fun. Plus I got Oscar and our brother to join so it should be fine.”

I was bewildered at this information. I looked away from my sister to the other side of me. My brother looked relaxed and met my gaze. He just shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his drink, seemingly unbothered. I scoffed and looked around the room. looking for a clue to what I was getting myself into.

My gaze latched on to the Santa girl, holding her hat in front of Oscar. He looked at her, confused. Then I’m guessing she started to explain to him what was going on. From where I was, I couldn't hear anything but saw her lips moving quickly and her point around the circle of people. Once she finished talking, Oscar’s face turned to one of shock, his brows shooting up. He stayed frozen before he nodded and looked down to his cup.

In less than a second he downed the rest of its contents.

When the Santa girl shook the hat in front of him, it made a sound of metals clinging together, no doubt filled with random belongings. I'm guessing she was asking for him to give up an offering or sacrifice a personal item, for whatever reason it was necessary to this ‘game.’ Oscar nodded to the girl and started taking off his watch. He undid the metal band quickly and dropped it into the hat.

As soon as the girl walked away, Oscar’s eyes darted to me. I was already watching the encounter so we made eye contact. Instead of looking away, he kept looking. I don’t know what he was looking for but his gaze made me start to feel achingly sober.

I was one of the many people dressed in casual clothes, not bothering to go all out for a stranger’s party. As I looked away from Oscar's piercing gaze; my eyes traveled away and down his attire. He was wearing a white tee-shirt (one that actually fits him). A tee shirt shouldn’t be anything special, but something’s wrong with my mind tonight. Maybe it’s the alcohol.

I traced down his body to the nice-fitting dark jeans he was wearing. Then back up to the shirt. He was looking away from me now, talking to my brother. As he used his hands while he talked, I watched his form- more specifically his arms. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. When did he get so…

Yep. Definitely the alcohol.

Santa-girl stepped back into the circle, breaking my thoughts and bringing everyone’s attention to her.

“Alright!” She had an annoyingly cheery voice. “Let’s get started. To those who don’t know, we’re playing 7 minutes in heaven.”

Oh my god.

My sister didn’t know what 7 MINUTES IN HEAVEN was?

I looked around trying to find away out of the game, but people had already gathered around and It’d be embarrassing to leave.

“What kind of party is this?” I asked my sister. “A middle schooler’s dream experience surely.”

“I agree… But it’s either this or a monopoly with the skimpy reindeer over there.” She used a thumb to point to behind her where some skimpy reindeer were in fact, playing monopoly.

I rubbed a hand down my face and huffed.

Who doesn’t know what 7 minutes in heaven is!?

Santa-girl was, I'm guessing, the host of this childish game, walking around the circle. She stopped in front of my sister, to my surprise and held the hat in front of her.

“Oh and I hear you three are siblings, so either throw their item back in the hat or give it to somebody else.” She added on with a smile and held open the hat to my sister.

Slowly, with anxious eyes, she stuck her hand in her hand and dug around. She carefully took out her hand, a sparkly pink lipgloss in her grip. She turned towards me quickly, and smirked, obviously interested. She held up the item proudly and waited for someone to claim it.

In seconds, my sister sat up and walked with someone to a room with a candy cane taped to the door. Everybody clapped as they left.

“There’s the first couple!” The santa girl clapped her hands together, then went on her phone, supposedly waiting for their time to be up. I talked to my brother for 7 minutes, trying to guess how my sister will be once she walks out.

To neither of our surprise, she walked out a mess, matching the lucky lady next to her. She didn’t bother fixing her makeup or hair, wearing a big grin. I laughed at her appearance as she quickly sat back down next to me.

A couple more rounds passed, and I was yet to have been picked. My brother went in with a girl earlier and came back with what I swear was the dictionary definition of “awestruck.”

Oscar’s also been chosen. The girl that grabbed his watch looked way too eager to get him alone. The whole time they were gone my mind was reeling. When they came out the girl had the same expression but neither of them looked messed up like my sister had.

I felt something deep inside me that sort of felt like relief.

Santa-girl walked around the circle. Other than me there were a few others, so I was praying she chose one of them, and not me. She was about to walk to a guy next to me, but all of a sudden, my sister grabbed her arm and lightly steered her back, In my direction.

“Here you are…” My sister whispered to me.

I cleared my throat and tried to laugh to ease the stress building in my throat.

Now that she stood in front of me with an eager look that matched the rest of the room’s stares, I panicked. I sat still until my sister spoke up.

“Y/n, you don’t have to, i just thought you wa-” My sister tried.

“I DO!” I shot back, a little too quickly. “I mean,” I cleared my throat and spoke quieter. “I’ll do it, I'm fine.”

But even after announcing i’d do it, my hands didnt move towards the hat.

My sister looked at me, like she was making a decision, and then asked me quietly, so only I could hear her.

“How ‘bout this? I’ll pick for you.”

“Yeah, umm. Sure yeah you pick for me.” The santa girl heard my reply and nodded in approval, she turned the hat towards my left and my sister immediately dove in.

She dug in the hat for a bit. It must have been 30 seconds before she stopped digging. Her hand was still in the hat, and she turned to me with the biggest smile I’d seen tonight.

To my horror, she pulled out a familiar looking item, shining in the firelight.

“Ah.” She held it up to the circle with confidence and then turned to drop in in my hand. I looked down at the silver watchface, taunting me.

She’d picked Oscar’s watch for me, and I know she’d been purposely looking for it too.

I looked at her again, then when she didn't say anything but smile, I closed my eyes tight again. I took a deep breath out of annoyance and stood up. Everyone’s eyes watched my stand and held out the watch.

I didn’t need to wait for anyone to claim it. Instead I looked straight at Oscar. He was already looking at me, his eyes were dark and trained on my own.

From the side of me, I heard someone ask my brother “no way, do they have, like, tension or something?” the person wasn’t’t being as quiet as they thought they were.

My brother replied “apparently…”

My sister joined in the conversation. “Tension? These two have had tension since elementary school.”

“Ooh childhood romance.” the stranger acknowledged.

“More like childhood rivals.” My brother whispered. I didn’t turn to them to show I heard their entire conversation, and instead kept looking at Oscar.

He moved his legs to stand and wiped down his pants, smoothing the ripples from sitting.

Instead of looking back at me, he beelined for the candy cane room, not bothering to turn and see if I was following…

NEXT PART HERE!!!!!!!!!! ASHDJFJSNJDKDNDJDNDNDJDNDJF WOOOOOOOOOOOOO CLICK HEREEE!

[canadaxed]

Lucy is an Ancient!.... theory.

you might like this if you: really like the idea of eldritch beings falling in love with some normal ass dude who is totally unaware.

I also posted this all on the Klei forums, which might be easier to read for some people. Click here for that version.

A while ago I posted: "someone remind me to make a post on my theory about Lucy being an Ancient" and I finally got around to it! Feel free to read. It's a long one, but the main timeline for the idea is in the last paragraphs if you want to skip ahead.

Here's the theory now:

Hey gang, I figured I'd post this theory I have. I dunno if anyone else has picked up on it, I didn't find anything myself. I'm gonna try my best to explain why I believe Lucy the Axe could be..... an Ancient!! Like the spirit of the Shadow Maul or Reaper. 

First things first, lets start with Woodie, the scraps of lore we have for him, and what Lucy means to him.

We know that the survivors entering the Constant (at least in the DS era) have a pattern of wanting something, or being emotionally vulnerable- and this is typically what Maxwell preyed on to get them into the Constant. 

In Walter's short, we get a glimpse of Woodie's cabin. He has references to his family being from Scotland in it, various stereotypical Canadian British Columbian Guy decor, two very conspicuous chairs in the main room.... and "Lucy's" outside.

That's right... Woodie never took the physical "Lucy" with him. I put Lucy in quotation marks because we don't know if Lucy was always his axe... or if she was the person that second chair in his home belonged to.

The guy went deep into an uninhabited forest to get away from people, why would he have two chairs in his home right next to each other? Pair this with with how he leaves his red "Lucy" axe outside, rather than having left her on the chair or something like one might if they were romantically invested in something.

Keep this in mind too when considering whether Lucy could’ve been a real person or was always an axe.

Now, putting the pieces we have so far together, one could follow this story pretty easily:  Woodie lost his wife and was reminiscing on memories of her while listening to the radio, which was the prime moment for Maxwell to swoop in with the promise of reuniting them.

Don't Starve fans might be skeptical for a few reasons: DS fans are split pretty evenly between wanting Woodie to be "just some funny guy" and also desperately wanting more information on this mysterious Lumberjack. When you put this theory into perspective, it all feels too easy; or it just feels wrong to completely blow open a huge point in Woodie's lore that is otherwise kept close to Klei's chest. 

Secondly, somewhat related to the first point: Klei's got plans in motion for their lore. The idea of even the gameplay of the world is that you start out knowing nothing, and slowly, SLOWLY, you gain more information. Even then, though, the game becomes more complex and deep. Essentially the team's been doing the same thing with their lore. Whether they only had a loose idea at the beginning and are now really hitting the road running with the direction they want to go in terms of lore, or if they always had an idea for it: they've been giving us glimpses of it over the past... 12 years? We've never gotten the full picture even after all this time, all these shorts and expansions. And each new bit of lore that gets revealed, there's another complexity added to it. Again, people might be thinking "this is just too easy a conclusion to come to, I could've thought of that." 

They might just really be banking on Woodie's general obscurity in relation to the main story as a way to give him a lot of interesting tidbits that people won't immediately dissect.

Thirdly: I'm just one person posting something on the internet. I could just be way too much of a fan of Woodie and reading too much into all this. And I could totally be wrong or be wrong about some things and right about others. Either way, I don't anticipate getting any answers from Klei for a long time if at all, which only adds to skepticism. 

(If you ask me, Don't Starve and its short animations/puzzles/lore drops are begging to be nitpicked.)

So lets back-track a little and talk about why Klei might've decided to drop so much potential, very vital Woodie lore in this one short. (AKA: the Woodie Tangent part of this theory thread, cus I love him)

If you've seen the short animations on Youtube, you might go to the comment sections here and there to get a general community consensus on them or the character. The comments are overwhelmingly positive and a lot praise how the lore is being handled. 

Then you get to Woodie's very own animated short.... 

If you've seen it, you know it's a silly animation where Woodie , in the Constant (unlike other shorts til then), is chopping trees and gets attacked by a tree guard. He uses his three wereforms to fight it, and overall its a pretty fun time. The comments are mostly positive, but a lot expressed disappointment in not getting any more lore about Woodie. He's a very mysterious character, even despite having one of the longer character bios in the game. 

So, eventually Walter comes along. A young boy from Canada, part of a boy scouts troop, really into monsters. If the developers didn't have Woodie in mind when making Walter, they ended up becoming very intertwined character and story-wise anyway. Klei being the cheeky devils they are, decided that if people wanted Woodie lore so bad, they'd get it.... via Walter's short. We only get a few glimpses at background things (we might've even got a hint that Woodie lives on vancouver island) but to Klei, that's enough. Clearly we've gotta do something with what we got. 

But even Walter's short didn't give us enough for full answers to anything.

Let's move on and get to the real stuff: Lucy, Maxwell, and the Ancients.

The Ancients in Don't Starve lore refers to a powerful society of bug people that existed in the Constant long, long ago. They went extinct because of their over-reliance on nightmare fuel, which brought them from famine and gave them great magic and technology that allowed them to live in a bustling utopia, for a while.

We see an ancient in the metaphysical "flesh" in Hamlet as the Ancient Herald. We also know that the spirits that embody such weapons as the Shadow Maul or Shadow Reaper were once ancients, and their souls were probably in the pure horror/dark tatters used to create those items. 

Anyway, the reason why they matter in this instance is because the only other living, talking tools we know about in the game are the Shadow Maul and Shadow Reaper, who both happen to have special dialogue for Woodie. They’re possessive over him, and jealous of and particularly spiteful towards Lucy. They’re also made with dark magic, unsurprisingly, and that’ll come into play later in terms of my theory for Lucy’s existence. I’m noting now that the Shadow Reaper/Maul and Lucy all have a nonchalance about them and are eager to be used. Also, that they all feature red prominently in their designs.

As fun as I find all these personality similarities though, we won’t talk about them much. Here are these comparisons for the hell of it:

Shadow Reaper quote:   "We make a good team, no matter how you ssssslice it." Lucy quote:   “We make a good team!"

Shadow Maul quote:   "Ch- cho- chop. CHOP!"   "Ch- chop tree... CHOP TREE!"   "CHOP! CHOP! CHOP!" Lucy quote:   "Chop chop chop. Heh."   "Chop, c-c-chop!"

Also on this point of Lucy being a magical item, remember how she will always disappear in the world if Woodie’s gone too long and be replaced by a normal axe. If Woodie tries to use any normal axe that isn’t her, she immediately disappears from where she was last dropped and poofs right into Woodie’s hands in place of that axe.

Alongside this, typically you can only carry/have one Lucy at a time, and she does have special dialogue if you can somehow hold another one.

So, we’ve established the similarity between the talking items. Keep in mind that its established now that inhabitants of the Constant can summon the souls of the Ancients to be used as objects with dark magic.

Moving on…

Its safe to say Maxwell couldn’t manipulate too much beyond the confines of the Constant and his portals and the radios, like we see with him needing Willow and Wilson’s help.

He also can’t seem to drag anyone into the Constant whose name doesnt start with W. Also, whenever Maxwell “fulfills a wish” in order to get a survivor into the Constant, it always comes with a twist. (If Woodie didnt want anything new or different from his current life, he wouldn’t have been lured in. If Woodie just wanted his axe to actually talk to him, he wouldn’t just be given that no strings attached. If Woodie wanted someone back and was promised they’d be in the Constant, why not turn them into his axe, which as a lumberjack he’s metaphorically married to?)

The possibility of Maxwell dragging Lucy’s spirit into the world alongside Woodie is feasible, considering Wendy and Abigail’s situation. But if that were the case, then why not let her stay as a spirit attached to Woodie, rather than having to construct an entirely new form of axe? Because remember, Woodie didn’t bring his real axe into the Constant with him.

You could argue: “because he’s bored. Lol.” and to that i say….. Yeah true lol. Work with me here! 

Here’s another potential point towards Lucy’s spirit being brought in with Woodie: Wendy’s quotes for Woodie often refer to Lucy, and how Abigail favours her. 

But keep in mind that this (Wendy/Abigail recognising a spirit in Lucy) only tells us that there IS a presence in Lucy. Also, considering Winona’s short, I think it’s safe to assume that Abigail might only be able to exist in the Constant because of her flower somehow being tethered to its magic. Lucy wouldn’t have had that.

Alongside that, Maxwell’s quote for examining Lucy:   "Ah. How have you been, Lucy?"

He knows there IS something in the axe and appears familiar with her

So…

Let’s rule out a few other ideas for Lucy’s existence real quick (just in terms of this theory… because i still love these interpretations): 

Lucy being purely in woodie’s mind: then other characters wouldn’t think much about her, Maxwell wouldn’t speak to her so familiarly or as a real person. Even if the magic going into the DST world made her able to speak, Maxwell would be more likely to show surprise at her sentience (its something new that happened after his reign) 

Lucy only existing because Woodie willed her into existence on arrival into the Constant: See above, Maxwell wouldn’t be so familiar with her. Plus, putting together the pieces of woodie having left his real-world fire axe outside his house while he was spending his down time inside, we can assume that woodie in the real world didnt have the same deep connection to his axe. If he could will something into existence, why not have it be the real person he was missing that he wouldve shared that chair with?

Lets start wrapping this up.. Cus I’m no good at writing coherently in long-form.

Here’s what I think could be the potential timeline of events for this theory, putting all the pieces together: 

Maxwell needs to lure a depressed, possibly mourning Woodie into the Constant and promises him he’ll reunite him with his partner, Lucy. Her spirit’s not tethered to the real world anymore (because unlike Abigail, she didn’t have that odd flower) and Maxwell can’t manipulate the world outside of the Constant to that degree- but he has a lot of power inside of the Constant. He calls upon the spirit of an Ancient, seemingly the only spirits that can be returned to a level of sapience, with dark magic of which he’s especially adept, and forges its spirit into that of a special axe.

Then, either he imbues the axe with Woodie’s memories or the axe/eldritch powers-that-be gain them in their own way (think Maria from Silent Hill,) and upon Woodie’s passage to The Constant, he receives her. 

As far as Woodie’s concerned, he’s gotten everything he needs, and takes his existence in The Constant without much disdain. As for Lucy, her old Ancient spirit is happy to be alive again and feeding off living beings (trees). It takes getting used-to to be an entirely new “person”, but she gets the hang of it. She’s clingy and codependent because he’s her source of fuel, but quickly forms a bond with him and ends up caring about his wellbeing, to the point of helping his survival in the DST era. Woodie is blissfully unaware and thriving.

....

Alright, thanks for reading! I know it was a lot. Feel free to discuss. I love Woodie and Lucy. I'm sure I missed a few things, like maybe how Lucy knows about Woodie's wereform cycle with the moons and when his beaverness gets low (the moon thing could be a reference to how the Ancients worshipped "Alter"/Them, and the beaverness thing could just be her dark magic picking up on his curse) ... or how Lucy is very picky with other survivors and very sure of herself/forward/brash like the other sentient items, but those are more of a stretch.

[gatitties]

Hey! If it’s alright, may I request a sort of part two to that Dad!Sanzu x teen!daughter!reader (platonic) you did a bit ago where it delves into sanzu repairing his relationship with his daughter (or more rather how he tries to spend more time with her, like indoor activities, shopping at the mall etc.), and maybe reader working towards healing from her ed since its probably something thats going to take a long while to recover from. Oh! And maybe for decibe the relationship between reader and the rest of boten?

─Dad!Sanzu x teen!daughter!reader

─ Summary: Step by step, everything seems to be going much better, enjoying every moment you can while you slowly finish recovering just like your father.

─ Warnings: none

Part one

Wow, I didn't think it would take me so long to come back, although I don't know how to manage my time rn, I'm sorry for being gone for so long, but my life was making some changes, sorry for so many delayed request :( I promise I'll end all of them

─ Without a doubt your life had taken a great change for the better, all the accumulated stress, bad routines and meals had almost completely disappeared, making you the healthiest version of yourself.

─ Sanzu followed you by quitting alcoholism, although it was more difficult with tobacco, he was still working on it, just like you, it was not easy to go back to eating at least three times a day, or to deprive yourself of sudden binges.

─ Both of you supported each other as a way of improving, although time with Sanzu still had its limits, you could not complain now that your lives were healthier.

─ Even his coworkers (with whom you already had a relationship, but it had become closer due to Sanzu's desperation to neglect you) saw you as a part of their lives, a niece and family.

─ Usually Kakucho and Takeomi are the ones who spend the most time with you since they are the most responsible among the others, they will be much more attentive to your needs whenever your father is absent.

─ Sanzu made sure that you were never alone unless you wanted it that way, otherwise you will always be surrounded by Bonten's men, in a way, also for your safety.

─ The Haitani brothers were always there when you feel too encapsulated at home, when tasks overwhelm you, those two idiots, despite not taking you to the safest or most appropriate place for someone so young (their brothels), provide the mental rest you need.

─ Shion and Mochizuki usually have the role of bodyguards rather than babysitters, if Sanzu can't accompany you, drop you off or pick you up from your classes, those two are the ones who will take care of doing the work, they will listen attentively to you chatter about your day to tell your father about it later.

─ Mikey may be the one you see the least, he's quite busy and he doesn't really like having to take care of a brat, but if he has some free time he'll let you accompany him to get takoyaki, you'll be able to buy anything you want too on the condition that Sanzu doesn't find out that you're eating 'harmful' things on the sly.

─ Your father has become very cautious with things that cause you stress and discomfort, although sometimes it is a bit annoying not to be able to eat a couple more sweets, you understand his position, because you were like that when he was at his lowest point.

[spectrechosts]

Better Off Alone

The first chapter of my first longform story, posted in nine parts totalling 24,000 words. It's an 18+ story of an ill-tempered princess falling for her transfem knight while trying to rewrite her fate. If you follow this account you're going to be seeing a LOT of these two.

Full Series

Lunaeris was a princess, the youngest of six princesses of the Elven Kingdom, and she was very displeased with her life.

She lived in comfort, yes, all her needs were attended to- but she had no freedom. Her duty by birth was to be a political bargaining chip, and not even a particularly appealing one. She existed to be shopped around to the least impressive princes of other kingdoms, every royal family on the continent playing the shittiest game of matchmaker ever seen in the name of making some diplomatic gain off of their weakest heirs and heiresses.

It was, to put it lightly, pathetic. It made her feel like an object. So, when she got word that her father once again had someone for her to meet, she did what she did best.

She meandered.

She was years deep in an elaborate game of seeing exactly how far she could sabotage her own love life without being called on it, and she was very skilled. Spend far too long getting ready when she's been summoned? Why, she just had to be sure she looked absolutely perfect for her prince. Clothes painstakingly picked out of and put back into her closet, long white hair brushed over and over, to make the best possible impression. If they got off on the wrong foot because he was annoyed at waiting, well it just wasn't meant to be.

She sat in front of her mirror and began applying black makeup to her eyes. While she did style herself this way because she liked how it looked, she also liked that it made some of her particularly stuck-up suitors describe her as "dreary", "kind of off-putting", and- and this one was her favorite- "probably some kind of vile witch". Her father had only attempted to convince her not to do this once, and was easily persuaded otherwise when she pointed out that having a princess using their wares encouraged trade with the dark elves. Frankly, it was the most she had improved relations with another kingdom in her life, and she didn't even have to get married to do it.

Once she was dressed and ready, she strode out in search of more delays. At this time of day, she could swing by the gardens and waste at least fifteen more minutes.

Or at least she could have, had the king not intercepted her in the hallway.

"Ah, there you are! Come, we must hurry." He said, and Lunaeris begrudgingly followed.

"Is my suitor so impatient you had to collect me yourself?" She asked, and he shook his head.

"No suitors today I'm afraid. The sages have brought a prophecy."

"Oh." Lunaeris said, already uninterested. Her father loved prophecies, but she had always found them a bit finicky. Raised a lot of questions about free will- were the gods controlling everything they all did? Were they only *sometimes* doing so, and had now chosen to blight her specifically by removing any remaining shred of agency she had? She wasn't a fan.

"Oh yes, and it's a doozy. The demon king plans to kill you."

"….Oh." She wouldn't describe that as 'a doozy', exactly.

"Yes, but don't fret! the prophecy says he fails. A hero will arrive in your hour of need and slay him with a blade of purest sunlight! And then you and the hero are to be wed! All will work out fine in the end."

"Hm."

She also wouldn't describe that as 'working out fine'.

"But I know you have misgivings about prophecies, and I wouldn't want my daughter living in fear. And that's why I sent for a bodyguard to accompany you and keep you safe until the threat has passed."

"What?"

"You know the half-giants? From the mountains? One of their best paladins is already here to make sure no harm befalls you."

"Father, I hardly need-" Lunaeris tried to protest. This prophecy was already dreadful, she did not need a babysitter on top of it.

"I know, I know, you don't want a bodyguard, but this is for the best. Give it a week, you'll hardly even notice anything's changed."

"I'll hardly notice the half-giant stalking me in full plate?"

"It's amazing what you can grow accustomed to, given time." Her father paused as they reached the throne room. "Now, you've delayed long enough. I understand there is some degree of ceremony involved, a swearing of an oath, and then you may waste time as you see fit. With your new guard."

"Very well. Since they're already here."

They entered, and the king sat on his throne and gestured for Lunaeris to stand in the center of the room, next to the largest woman she had ever seen. Her bodyguard-to-be had to be almost eight feet tall, and as broad as an ox. She looked immovable in her armor, a monument of steel adorned with a cape of white satin over her shield arm.

"I hope we haven't kept you waiting too long. My daughter has a habit of getting lost in these twisting halls."

"Not at all, your majesty." The knight said, her voice rumbling out from her great helm.

"Excellent. Please, begin whenever you're ready."

The knight knelt before her on one knee (Gods, she still came up to chest height, how big were full giants?) and removed her helmet. Lunaeris looked upon her face, and found it strikingly handsome.

"If I may have your hand, princess?" She said, holding out a gauntleted palm which Lunaeris gently took.

Finding her new knight handsome was, obviously, unacceptable. She had long since accepted that love was not for her, and did not need to be thinking about kissing anyone's beautiful square jawline or tousling their short-hewn hair.

The paladin had already gotten started on some lengthy rehearsed speech while the Princess was otherwise distracted. Paladins loved their ceremonies. Despite this, she continued to not pay attention, instead focusing on the fact that what she had thought was more cape covering the paladin's back was actually a pair of white-feathered wings. She had heard some paladins had those, but couldn't imagine they could possibly lift her into the air. They did however, look very soft.

Perhaps she would let her touch them if she asked.

"-Holy Knight of the Seventh Monastery, do swear my undying loyalty to you-"

Shit, had she missed her name? It wasn't like her to get carried away in her imagination like this.

"-your burdens shall be my burdens, your sorrows my sorrows-"

It didn't help that whatever this oath was, it sounded not entirely unlike marriage vows. Not that she had heard many other kinds of vows to compare them to. It made her ears redden to think about it.

"-for as long as I draw breath, no harm shall come to you."

She waited for the knight to continue, but she had apparently tuned in towards the end of the speech. The king clapped his hands together and stood.

"Marvelous!" He said. "Don't you feel safer already?"

"Yes, much." Lunaeris lied, and hurried back to her room, paladin in tow. She hesitated at her door.

"These are my private chambers-"

"Of course, Princess. I shall remain out here, should you need me." The knight said, her voice once again muffled by the helmet she had at some point put back on.

At least that distraction was gone.

She shut her door and flung herself onto her bed.

"Fuck. Shit. Gods damn me."

Her heart was a fortress, constructed over years to be completely inaccessible to any who dared approach.

She did not get crushes. Especially not on giant bodyguards she didn't even want around. Especially especially not when she was now prophecised to-

She cracked her door open.

"Paladin."

"Princess?"

"Your sword, is it magical?"

"No, my lady."

"Do you cast magic on it? Some kind of sunlight enchantment?"

"No, my lady. I hold no magic beyond the power of my oaths."

"Very well. Carry on."

She nodded curtly and closed the door.

-prophecised to marry someone else entirely. It was unthinkable. It would ruin her. She would simply insist to her father that she didn't need a guard, or at least not this specific one.

She cracked her door open again.

"…Could you remind me what your name was, my knight?"

"Kallixenia, Princess."

"May I call you Kallie?"

"If that pleases you, my lady."

She shut the door again.

This meant nothing, of course. She could call Kallie 'her knight' and give her nicknames, she was still getting rid of her.

Tomorrow.

If she got around to it.

Fuck.

[rustedleopard]

My summary/breakdown of Staroba's dynamic (in reference to this post).

Note that I'm going to be working off memory for most of this so if someone has some additional input they wanna chime in with, feel free to. This is also going to be a train of thought/rambley sorta post so it's gonna be a bit disorderly (though, when have I ever been orderly with my posts :p)...

I like Staroba. A lot. And it's such a shame that there are people out there who look at this ship and just see "they're both bisexual, she's girlboss, he's malewife, and she pegs him" because there's SO MUCH more to their dynamic/that isn't even what their dynamic is.

They're childhood friends. We don't know how far back their friendship extends but I'm willing to venture that it's been since elementary school/early middle school at the absolute latest. And at the point in canon when Clover meets them, they're both likely in their late-twenties to mid-thirties in age. That's a long time to know someone, enough to be there through all the cringey, messy phases in life. These two know each other better than anyone else through sheer proximity and time spent together (more on this later).

Starlo has also been nursing a massive crush on Ceroba since they were kids. You can see this in the picture that's in Starlo's house: she's holding him and doing a peace sign at the camera, meanwhile Starlo is clearly flustered and hover-handing her (this was likely back when the Dunes were still the Meadows, judging by what appears to be a pine tree in the background).

That might have you think: "Ah, Rusty, you're so lame. This is a 'the guy gets the girl' scenario. I'm gonna chuck tomatoes at you!" And to that I say: hold your tomatoes! Ceroba did have some interest in Starlo as well! Exclusively in the Pacifist Run, if Clover TALKs to Ceroba two times in the reception area in the Steamworks (immediately after entering the door where the path through the Steamworks branches off from the Neutral/No Mercy Route), Ceroba will initially start off talking about how she met Chujin and how she'll never find someone as wonderful as him in her life, which prompts Clover to mention Starlo. Ceroba gets a bit flustered but states that she did consider getting into a romantic relationship with him once upon a time but he wasn't ready to grow up like she was (8:18 in this video). So there was mutual potential for them to get together when they were younger, but the things they wanted out of life at that point weren't compatible with each other. Like two ships in the night, they passed each other by.

Ceroba fell in love with Chujin, who was ready to have a family and settle down and be mature, which is what Ceroba wanted from a romantic relationship. And when Ceroba got engaged to Chujin, what did Starlo do? Did he get jealous and throw a fit? Shovel-talk Chujin? Try to convince Ceroba to take him instead? Nope. According to Crestina, he got so depressed that he locked himself in his room for days. As hurt as he was by the person he loved not picking him, he didn't make his feelings Ceroba's problem. Starlo was the one who lacked the initiative to ask her out and I get the sense that he knew that deep down; he couldn't just expect Ceroba to magically know his feelings for her and then they get married and ride off into the sunset together. Instead, he respects Ceroba's relationship. They remain good friends. He lets Ceroba and Kanako, the child that the love of his life had with Chujin, come over to his town and goof off. He may not like Chujin as a person because of his own petty feelings but he also respects for the man (seen in his dialogue about Chujin after defeating Ceroba in True Pacifist) and he's aware that his gripes with Chujin are personal.

Then Chujin passes away and Kanako falls down and gets sent to the Lab. While Chujin's death is well-known, nobody else in town seems to know what happened to Kanako besides Starlo (though, without the specifics) and the Feisty Four (who Starlo likely broke the news to). Starlo is Ceroba's sole confidant. With Chujin permanently out of the picture, this could be Starlo's chance to try to charm Ceroba. But he's respectful enough to know that she's in this deeply vulnerable state and so he does the right thing and helps her. Approaches the situation as her best friend. Let her crash in the Feisty Five's shack rent-free because staying at home is too painful for her. Invents his whole "North Star" persona to try to entertain her and distract her from her pain because that's what strikes him as the best thing to do. Pulls Ceroba into his shenanigans to take her mind off her problems. It doesn't exactly work because her problems run deeper than that but an attempt is made to make things easier for her.

On Ceroba's side of things, she may not understand Starlo's whole cowboy LARPing deal but she knows that it makes him happy. She doesn't look down on it or belittle him for having a passion that is so nerdy that it practically pastes a "Kick me" sign on his back. She may not want to be involved in the Feisty Five, but she's entertained by them and lets herself get dragged into their roleplays from time to time (see Ceroba getting involved in the Trolley Problem Mission, wooden actor that she is). In a Neutral Run, if Starlo is spared, Ceroba will throw a party for him to celebrate him reuniting with the rest of the Feisty Five because she wants him to be happy. Despite how different they are in terms of stuff like personality and interests, they both like and respect each other a lot.

They also have so many parallels despite their differences and know each other so well. Clover shows up and Starlo falls too deeply into the persona he invented and becomes a reckless, selfish jerk. He drives away his friends, he nearly kills Clover and there is nothing that Clover can do to snap him out of it (yes, Clover can Surrender in the end, but that only makes him hesitate. And if Clover does anything but Surrender or FIGHT him on the final turn, Starlo will nearly pull the trigger on Clover until Ceroba interferes). Ceroba is the one to call him out on his behavior and make him remember his conscience: he's not this selfish jerk he built himself up to be, he's not a killer. In the Pacifist Run, Starlo goes after Ceroba once he realizes the truth of why she's accompanying Clover to Hotland. It's not solely to protect Clover, though that's a massive factor (if this was the case, he'd accompany Clover back to the Wild East instead of going after Ceroba); he wants to protect Ceroba's heart: she's not the sort to murder an innocent child, she's not a killer. You can especially see this mindset that Starlo has when he calls Clover out in the Flawed Pacifist ending: while the law and everyone else may see Clover killing Ceroba as the equivalent of putting a dangerous murderer down, to him, they killed a desperate mother pushed to an extreme. Unforgivable in his eyes.

There's also how Clover can only say the same responses to killing either Starlo or Ceroba ("..." or "I'm sorry."), depending on the run. As well as how only Starlo or Ceroba can be fought in Flowey's mindscape in a Neutral Run, depending on how the Neutral Run is done. Never both. Could mean nothing, but I like pointing it out.

They're also pretty damn patient with each other despite being impatient people overall. You can see Starlo's impatience with how eager he is to push Clover into being a deputy and how dismissive he acts about the rest of the Feisty Five when they bring up complaints/try to get him to slow down. But when Ceroba wallops him then he gets back up in the True Pacifist ending, then it's a "Well, I guess I deserved that :D." Not a lick of anger for being knocked unconscious. Likewise, when Clover was in the Wild East in a Pacifist Run, Ceroba is likely straining at the bit to get Clover to the Royal Laboratory as soon as possible. But she also knows that having a human in the town that Starlo made to imitate the Surface means a lot to him, so she lets him have his fun with them until he's ready to let them go.

Starlo's and Ceroba's dynamic is founded on a deep understanding of who each party is at their core, mutual respect and kindness for one another, and patience. They're best friends with each other but that relationship also has the potential to evolve into a romantic relationship just as much as it can withstand remaining purely platonic. There is no "this one is the boss of the relationship and this one is the one that defers to the other" dynamic in the relationship because both sides are equals who are willing to listen to each other (Ceroba and Chujin's relationship more closely adheres to that dynamic actually, with Ceroba deferring to Chujin because she sees him as this perfect, untouchable character. You can see this with Ceroba hesitating to kill Clover because she genuinely likes the kid but because Chujin asked her to reap an innocent human SOUL for his serum, she goes all-out to accomplish this). They love each other a lot platonically and I can see the opportunity for some romantic attraction to crop up as Ceroba starts to move on from Chujin and Starlo starts being more responsible post-True Pacifist. They would be two people who mutually grow into the best versions of themselves and also love each other.

[seobnity]

⚉ characters: keeho x fem!reader

⤷(with rest of P1Harmony)

⚉ wc: 3,1k

⚉ genre: slice of life, angst, comfort, found family(?), family drama

⚉ theme: stepbrother!keeho, stepsister!reader

⚉ warnings: discussion of grief and loss (death of a parent), family abandonment themes, mention of nursing home and mobility problems

⚉ a/n: welcome or welcome back! This one was little tough to write but still very fun. I also need to say thank you to my friend who helped me with this story because I had some struggles. And also thank you so much for reading, leaving a heart or even reblogging - it means a lot to me! If you see any mistakes, please feel free to kindly correct me ♡

"So... what did he say?" Your gaze remained fixed on the phone your step brother now held in his hand, having just picked it up from the table when a notification appeared.

Keeho didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he read the message from his father—a response you both had been anticipating, though you already knew exactly what it would say. Keeho's silence only confirmed your suspicions.

"I can’t come, right?" You lowered your eyes to your cup of coffee, your voice trembling slightly, betraying the emotions you were struggling to suppress.

"It’s not... that." At last, Keeho spoke, though his voice lacked conviction.

"No?" You raised an eyebrow, meeting his gaze. "Then what is it? What’s the reason I can’t come with you?" Before Keeho could answer, you cut him off. "Let me guess," you said, pausing for effect, your tone edging on bitter. "The place where you’re supposed to meet isn’t ‘appropriate’ for someone like me. Am I right?"

"Y/N," 

"Keeho, don’t." You shook your head, a small sigh escaping your lips. You were so tired of his father’s behavior, always acting like you were never truly part of the family. "I’m just... It makes me sad, you know? It’s like I never mattered to him. Which doesn’t make any sense after everything he has done for me and my mom." You paused, taking a moment to collect your thoughts.

This whole... situation that began after your mom passed away left you angry, sad, and confused. You felt many emotions at once—overwhelmed, like a battle raging within you, where every feeling fought for dominance. It always ended with you in tears, wondering how things had spiraled to this point.

"I think it’s just funny how Mom always said he treated me like his own daughter. But now? He tells me we’ll practically be complete strangers after she’s gone. I mean, he has a point, but c'mon? How can you say that to someone you basically raised?" Your frustration spilled over as your voice broke slightly. "He was my father figure, my dad, for over a decade. And now? Now he’s acting like all those years never even happened. Like he's completely fine with calling me a stranger. It hurts. It seriously hurts," you looked up, trying to hold in your tears. You promised yourself not to cry about this again, yet, it always ends up like this.

Keeho watched you sadly, but more importantly, he listened. He didn’t excuse his father like others did with sentences such as, “Not everyone can handle that. You’re lucky he took care of you for this long,” or, “Oh, he’s still a young man. He needs to go out and find someone.” Comments like these only made you feel like a burden. But Keeho was the only one who truly understood your point of view, and for that, you were always grateful.

Once you calmed down a bit, you continued your rant. All those bottled-up emotions came rushing out in waves. Knowing yourself, you’d probably feel bad later for making Keeho sit through all of this—but that was a problem for future you.

"And let’s not forget that he found some chick not even two months after Mom died and married her five months into the relationship." You shook your head in disbelief.

Even though the words had come from your own mouth, you still couldn’t believe them. He and your mom had been in a happy marriage—everyone saw that. It was obvious, even to strangers. People could see how healthy their relationship was; it was almost sickening how sweet they were to each other. They had known each other since childhood, so their bond wasn’t just romantic—it was also built on a strong friendship. They always had each other’s backs, always went the extra mile for one another. And yet, with your mom’s death, all of that just... disappeared?

That didn’t sit right with you. And you had a theory about why that could have happened—a theory that, sadly, felt too accurate. You knew Keeho thought the same thing as you, though neither of you wanted to say it out loud because it wouldn’t change a thing.

You hunched over the table once again and took a sip of your coffee, which had already gone cold. Keeho, on the other hand, didn’t have to deal with this problem; his coffee was long gone—a complete contrast to you as a slow drinker, him being a quick one.

"Look, Y/N, I promise that as soon as I save enough money to buy a proper house, I’ll take you out of this nursing home." Finally, it was Keeho’s turn to speak. "I know you don’t deserve this. I know you don’t deserve to live... here." He eyed the room you were both in, and you did the same, even though you were here 24/7 and knew the room like the back of your hand.

Plain white walls with one small window overlooking empty fields and plain white furniture (two chairs were actually gray) that you had to buy yourself because this nursing home didn’t provide furniture for the rooms. And that was completely fine; you could at least make it to your liking. But buying furniture, even for one room, could get pretty expensive. You didn’t have money to throw around, especially when your stepdad—or ex-step dad—didn’t help with anything. He was the one who made you find a nursing home for yourself, in the first place.

To be honest, you were forced to find one because he casually told you that you had four months to get out of the house because he couldn’t take care of you anymore. Which you knew was total bullshit, but everyone around him bought it and actually praised him for doing it for so long. They never asked you about your opinion or how you felt. Only Keeho did.

"You get used to it," you shrugged. "I plan to put up some posters on the walls. I don’t know how I'll do it yet, but I’ll figure something out," you added, still eyeing the somehow depressing white walls.

"That doesn’t change the fact that you don’t deserve to live like this. To live here, in the middle of nowhere," Keeho insisted. "Have you ever been outside since you got here? No, right? Because there’s nowhere to go, and all around you are just old people you can’t have a proper conversation with." He looked you in the eyes, and the two of you held the gaze for a moment before you turned your attention back to your coffee, gripping the cup tightly.

"You know what?" Keeho said, pulling out his phone, which he had pocketed after receiving his father’s text earlier. "I won’t go. I know he’ll actually be happier being alone with his chick rather than having me around," he muttered while typing. "And... done." He set his phone down after a moment, having apparently responded to a few other messages as well.

"Are you sure about this?" You raised your eyebrows, not entirely convinced he was making the right decision. "I mean... I don’t want to hold you back from spending time with your dad," you admitted honestly.

Yes, Keeho and his dad didn’t have the best relationship, but he was still Keeho’s father, after all. You also knew Keeho rarely visited him unless it was something important—which it never was. His dad only invited him over for food or to "hang out" to get credit and admiration from others, pretending to care about his son when it suited him.

Keeho gave you a look of disbelief, as if wondering how you could even say such a thing. "I’d much rather be here with you, my little sister, than with my dad."

You searched his face, trying to see if he was lying, but his sincerity shone through, and his words warmed your heart. "You meant stepsister," you corrected him, even though you knew this term, after your mom's death, wasn’t also accurate anymore.

"Nope, I meant sister," he said firmly. "My dad may see you as a stranger now, but to me, you’ll always be my little sister."

Thanks to his sincerity, a small smile tugged at your lips. "Can you stop calling me little? I’m twenty-one already," you teased, shifting the topic slightly to avoid getting emotional again.

"But you’re still younger than me, lil’ sis," he said with a sweet, teasing smile.

To be honest? You weren’t complaining. That teasing was exactly what you needed—a distraction from all the heavy emotions swirling in your mind.

Suddenly, Keeho’s phone buzzed again with another notification. This time, you paid it no attention, focusing instead on your coffee, which was growing even colder in your hands. It was probably his dad pretending to be disappointed that Keeho wasn’t coming over, but honestly? You didn’t care.

"Do you want to stay overnight at my flat?" Keeho asked, catching you completely off guard.

"What?" You furrowed your eyebrows, unsure if you’d heard him correctly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I said," he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Do you want to stay overnight at my flat? It shouldn’t be a problem if I take you out, right?" A playful smile appeared on his lips.

"Well, no," you said, shaking your head. "It’s a little sudden, but I just need to tell the caregivers here that I’ll be leaving and coming back tomorrow. That’s all," you explained.

"Perfect." He smacked the table with his hand, signaling it was time to go. "Just grab a jacket and whatever else you need. You still have everything at my place from the last sleepover forever ago," he reminded you, and you nodded.

"Could you please put the cups in the sink?" you asked. Keeho nodded, stood up, grabbed both cups, and placed them in the sink as you requested.

The kitchen was part of your room, so it only took him a few steps to complete the task. While Keeho waited, you released the brakes on your wheelchair and moved towards the drawers where you kept your belongings. You pulled out a light jacket (just in case it got chilly outside) and your backpack, which held your essentials. You also grabbed your phone and charger—items you never left behind.

"Ready?" Keeho asked, taking your backpack and jacket for you to keep your hands free.

"Yes." You nodded with a small smile, already feeling happy about leaving this place, even if it was just for a night. The two of you exited your room, you locked the door, and headed towards the elevator. Keeho pressed the button, and you waited.

"Which floor are the caregivers on?" he asked as the elevator doors closed once you were inside.

"The first one," you replied, and he pressed the button. "You can wait in your car while I talk to them, okay? It won’t take long, but they’ll probably have some questions," you added with a small chuckle.

"Okay, if you say so."

When the elevator dinged, signaling it had reached the first floor, you wheeled yourself out while Keeho continued to the ground floor. You made your way to the caregivers’ office, hoping someone would be there. Fortunately, luck was on your side—it was one of your favorite caregivers.

You explained your plans to her, and she was genuinely thrilled to hear about them. Her excitement warmed your heart. She asked a few questions, mostly out of curiosity about where you were going and who you’d be with, since you rarely left your room. In fact, you never left. There was simply nothing to do, either in the nursing home or outside, so you didn’t see the point in going out.

Once that was done, you made your way back to the elevator, went to the ground floor, and found Keeho waiting for you, leaning casually against his car.

"How does it feel to be outside?" Keeho asked smugly, grinning as he opened the passenger door for you.

"Boring," you shrugged as you moved from your wheelchair into the car seat. You were never much of an outdoors person anyway.

"Oh, come on. Can you try being a little positive?" he teased, shaking his head in mock exasperation before closing the door.

He walked to the trunk, loaded your wheelchair inside, and finally settled into the driver’s seat. Keeho started the car and pulled away from the nursing home. As the building vanished behind you, you felt a huge sense of relief — it felt like something heavy had finally been lifted from your chest, even if it was just for a few hours. It was interesting how much lighter and happier you already felt, knowing you wouldn’t be there for at least a little while.

The ride to Keeho’s flat took about an hour. Yeah, you could say it’s not that far; you could travel that by yourself, but it takes an hour by car. If you wanted to take the bus, it would take at least two hours, and from the nursing home, there’s only one bus that runs twice a day. You didn’t want to stress about that, nor were you exactly thrilled about traveling for that long, both there and back. Plus, the bus tickets weren’t exactly cheap either.

During the drive, the two of you talked about random topics to pass the time and even had a mini singing session to the songs playing on the radio.

When you arrived at the apartment complex where Keeho lived, he unloaded your wheelchair from the trunk while you unfastened your seatbelt and opened the door. Once you were back in your wheelchair, Keeho grabbed your backpack and jacket from the car, locked it, and the two of you headed inside the building.

When you reached the door to his flat, Keeho unlocked it and let you in first. You were immediately hit by the familiar smell of apple and cinnamon — Keeho’s favorite candle scent. 

To avoid being in Keeho’s way, you moved into the living room, where a big surprise awaited you. At first, it gave you a bit of a heart attack, but you quickly realized it was just Keeho’s dumb friends, who had gradually become your friends too, and you cherished them dearly.

"Y/N!" five boys shouted in cheerful unison the moment they saw you. All of them rushed over to greet you, each giving you a warm hug.

Well, except for Theo, who was also very excited to see you after a long time, but he was smart enough to wait for his turn to hug you, so he wouldn’t get squished by his friends while they were trying to group-hug you.

You didn’t even have time to properly take a look at the living room, which had been turned into a cozy haven by the boys, but there would surely be time to appreciate it later.

"Hi, guys," you said, still a little in shock (though, of course, you hugged them back), happy to see them regardless. "What are you all doing here?" you asked, curious.

"Keeho texted us that you’d be here overnight, so we decided to organize a proper sleepover," Jiung answered enthusiastically. "We got loads of movies, especially horror ones, fluffy blankets, and tons of snacks and drinks," he added with a big grin, clearly proud of what they’d pulled together while you and Keeho were on your way.

You looked up to see Keeho entering the living room, which was way too small for all of you, but no one seemed to care. After all, it was about having a good time with your friends, not about how small Keeho’s flat was. Keeho glanced at you with a small smile; no words were needed. Yet, you wanted to say thank you, to somehow show him your gratitude, but you couldn’t, because you were suddenly lifted into the air.

"What the—" you looked around and quickly spotted the culprit who had picked you up from your wheelchair. "Intak! What did I tell you about randomly picking me up? You can’t just do that!" you scolded him in a nagging tone but couldn’t hide the smile creeping onto your face.

"I know, I know," he acknowledged with a nod as he carried you towards the couch. "But you have to understand, I missed you way too much and just couldn’t resist holding you in my arms." He flashed you a sweet smile, complete with puppy eyes that always worked on you. That’s why whenever the boys wanted something from you (or did something that might have made you mad), they would use Intak and his puppy eyes to soften you up and get their way.

"Sure," you said, playfully rolling your eyes, though you couldn’t help letting out a chuckle, which made Intak smile even wider. "What a romantic you are."

"Me? Always." As soon as he said it, you heard fake gagging noises from the other boys, especially the younger ones, which only made you laugh; how much you’d missed this.

By the time your conversation ended, Intak had already reached the couch and carefully set you down. You ended up right in the middle, with the best view and easy access to all the snacks and drinks the boys had brought.

"Hey, I was supposed to be the one sitting on one of her sides!" Intak complained, frowning when he noticed Soul and Jongseob, the two youngest of the group, already sitting on either side of you with a big blanket draped over all of you.

"Hm, yikes," said Jongseob, barely paying attention to Intak’s whining as he grabbed some chips from the table. "Sounds like a you problem," he looked at Intak with a triumphant grin, and Soul quickly nodded in agreement.

"These kids, really," Intak muttered to himself, turning toward the armchair right next to the couch. "Seriously?" he said, frustration kicking in.

Theo was already lounging in the armchair, his legs draped over one armrest and a bowl of popcorn balanced in his lap. Without a word, Theo simply shrugged, clearly having no intention of moving. Intak groaned and turned back towards the couch, ready to claim a spot near your legs, only to find Jiung and Keeho already seated there.

"This is impossible," he sighed dramatically, collapsing in defeat on the floor in front of the table — the only space left for him to occupy.

All of you (except for Intak, of course) burst into small fits of laughter at his misfortune. But the moment passed quickly as Jiung pressed play on the TV remote, starting the first of many movies for the night.

With Soul and Jongseob snuggled up on either side of you, your arms wrapped protectively around them under the blanket, you let out a slow exhale through your nose. A wave of contentment washed over you as you relaxed into the moment, savoring it to the fullest.

[backlogbooks]

Backlogbooks Bingo Challenge - Horror Recommendations (part 1)

To the surprise of no one, I'm starting off my challenge recommendations with horror! I'm getting the publication dates off of storygraph, so if I'm wrong, I take no responsibility <3

60s

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson -- Shirley Jackson! The queen! This one is such a combination of horror and humor and then horror again, about two sisters who live alone, ostracized by their town because of their family's dark past.

70s

Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon -- A very creepy folk horror novel about a family who leaves The City to come to a Small Town in new england, getting Close to Nature. Naturally, the townspeople have some dark secrets. I loved the atmosphere in this one--the slow building of dread, and trying to piece together exactly what the Dark Secret at the center of the harvest home festival is.

Jaws by Peter Benchley -- Okay, I don't know if I can actually recommend this, because to be honest with you, the movie is so much better. But also, if you're a shark movie fiend, this is a Piece Of History. Feel free to reply and argue with me if you love this book!

Carrie by Stephen King -- This book is about Carrie, a perpetually bullied girl who has the chance to go to the prom. I'm sure you know how it goes from there--but even if you do, I recommend reading the book. It's a heartbreaking horror novel, and I really enjoyed (slash hated) the way the tension mounts as you get closer and closer to The Bad Thing

The Shining by Stephen King -- Jack Torrance has a big new job as the caretaker at the Overlook Hotel during the off-season, and there's some evil afoot! Again, I feel like you know how it goes from there, but King is really so good at building dread and tension.

80s

A Nest of Nightmares by Lisa Tuttle -- Recently rereleased in the Paperbacks from Hell line, this is a collection of horror short stories that mostly center on women, with horrors both mundane and paranormal (but an emphasis on the paranormal). These stories were so creepy to me, and I really enjoyed the way that mood built. TW for rape (I can tell you which story for sure if you want! I'll just need to double check my copy to make sure I'm not misremembering)

Misery by Stephen King - He's back again! This is actually my favorite Stephen King novel (setting aside the dark tower series to make it a fair fight). Paul Sheldon, a bestselling novelist, is taken captive by his biggest fan, Annie Wilkes. Annie is like, my favorite villain I think. I've been wanting to reread this book for years because of her <3

2000

House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski -- Okay recommending this book does feel a little like trying to trap someone, but I love it. So! Will Navidson's house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside; Johnny Truant is obsessed with a book by a blind man about a film that Navidson made that doesn't exist; everyone is lost in the labyrinth, including you. Please join me in this bonkers book. Conspiracy board supplies are not included, but you're encouraged to gather them up yourself as you go.

Uzumaki by Junji Ito -- Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is haunted by spirals. This is not as metaphorical as I imagined it would be when I first picked it up! The body horror in this book is insanely good, and there are some lines/images that are going to live in my head Forever. Highly recommend if you like horror manga.

2003

Come Closer by Sara Gran -- This is a fantastic possession book--it keeps you right in her point of view as she spirals down, trying to figure out if she is in fact possessed or if there's some other break with reality. I loved the "are you possessed" quiz as a guiding structure.

2006

The Ruins by Scott Smith -- Trapped in the jungle, far from home and with no way to get help, a group of friends face an inhuman horror. This had some of the most skin crawling body horror I've seen, and I loved the development of the antagonist (don't wanna say more because spoilers!). Great survival horror. What a terrible group of people to be trapped with.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks -- If you love yourself some worldbuilding and zombies, check out this book! World War Z gives you vignettes about different areas of the world, and different aspects of life during a zombie apocalypse. It was a slow read for me, but I really enjoyed the details.

2007

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill -- An old rock star buys a ghost online, because he's a dumbass (aka because he "has a thing for the macabre"), and has to go through hell to get rid of it. It's been years, but I remember being deeply creeped out by this book!

2010

Feed by Mira Grant -- More zombies! This one set twenty years after the zombie apocalypse, following two bloggers who are working to uncover a conspiracy behind the Infected. This had political thriller vibes mixed in with the horror, which kept a fast pace, and I loved the main characters. Eventually I may even finish the series!

2011

The Ritual by Adam Nevill -- Four old friends try to push aside old and new tensions for a reunion hiking trip. Since that's not working, they try to take a shortcut and end up very, very lost--and very deep in woods that have more than just animals to worry about. I held my breath through a lot of the first half of this book. Good for folk horror fans or people who want to be very afraid of every forest they walk into.

2013

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson -- Shirley Jackson again! This one is a collection of short stories, including "The Summer People" and "Louisa, Please Come Home," which are some of my favorites. Creeping dread, domestic horror, and the question of what happens when your life takes a sudden, unexplainable turn. Definitely recommend the edition with an introduction by Ottessa Moshfegh!

2014

Through the Woods by E.M. Carroll -- A collection of short horror comics, with dark fairy tale vibes. I want to eat E.M. Carroll's art style, or at least cover my house with prints from this book.

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix -- Have you ever had a nightmare about being trapped in an ikea? Or, sorry, Definitely Not Ikea (So We Don't Get Sued)? Are you tired of your retail job? This is the book for you! Haunted ikea: much more terrifying than I expected it to be.

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn -- This is a quick, 64 page story about a young woman who pretends to be a psychic to get by, and ends up being pulled deeper and deeper into a family's dysfunction when she promises to help rid their home of ghosts or other powerful forces.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer -- Horror science fiction about Area X, an unexplained phenomenon where earth is returning to "pristine nature" with a horrific twist (or many of them). Our main character, the biologist, is one of my favorite characters I've ever read. I'm actually a little insane about her. Join me!

This is really long so I'm splitting it in two! Stay tuned for 2015-2019 recommendations next week :-)

And please recommend your favorite horror books for this challenge too!

[queenofallimagines]

Meguru Bachira with a black s/o

LISTEN!! I picked up the 2 volume of the manga on accident when I went to target and I’m in love w him the man of my dreams!! Not taking blue lock right now bc besides Isagi and kunigami i don’t remember any other characters name or anything about them😅 feel free to talk to me about him tho I have SO many thoughts👀

** can you tell this is just me rambling 💀

Megaru💕:

- this pic gives me butterflies holy shit

- WHEW this man has huge unhinged sunshine energy

- Like giggling and kicking my feet how he’s the happy go lucky character trope (I.e hinata) but they make sure you remember he’s not “soft”

- Like the way y’all be uwuing hinata that is a grown man😐 he was throwing fists the WHOLE SERIES but he don’t know about sex? Bffr

- Anyway he’s definitely a switch but kinda leaning more top? he definitely just wants to fuck he don’t care who’s on top

- He’s so cuddly it’s adorable

- Getting neon yellow nails to match his hair>>>

- Definitely would like to match fits w you when y’all step out

- WOULD GET YOU AN ANKLE BRACELET W HIS INITIALS ON IT SO HE CAN KISS YOUR ANKLE WHEN HE PUTS YOUR LEGS OVER HIS SHOULDERS!!

- Most fashionable couple FR

- Always has to be touching you in some way

- Holding your hand, arm around you, hand in your pockets

- Wants to make sure you’re there and won’t slip away from him

- Imagining him going to meet your family and he’s SWEATING like he knows he’s not everyone’s cup of tea and really doesn’t want to start anything

- “You are good at soccer so you have like + 100 points right now”(watching Latino people watch the football on the Olympics is so scary 😫)

- Imagine your family watching his games😭 embarrassing bc now I’m imagining a room full of dads and uncles glued to the tv and cheering him on like he can hear it💀💀

- “You so skinny you need to eat more!”

- He’s charming your aunties to steal plates from your house

- You get in the car and he has like 3 Tupperwares full of left overs

- Great with kids because they think he’s cool

- he’s breaking they ankles in soccer tho he’s not gunna play nice w kids

- If “play where it’s safe cuz it’s NOT over here” was a person

- Like he can go 0-100 in a millisecond so if someone tries him

- Very “who’s gon beat my ass about it??” Type beat

- People think y’all are so cute bc he’s so smiley and sweet to you

- DEFINITELY says filthy shit in your ear too

- Like he’s cuddly w everyone he likes so you’d be no different but he’s slipping his hands up your shirt

- Number one hype man when you get your hair done

- So extra

- “My baby so cute🥹🥹”

- Box braids are his favorite bc he can put charms and stuff in your hair

- also medium long locs bc imagining him walking up to you and pushing them out your face to see your eyes🥺

- Freak

- Probably sends you links to sex toys and is like

- “👀👀??”

-“I’m a visual learner btw”

- The MOST unserious character in this whole series so far

- His song is rodeo but just the flo Milli verse i WILL NOT ELABORATE!!

- Once he get to doing that thing where he lower his voice just call in sick bc you probably not walking

- Not that he doesn’t care about your pleasure it’s more he’s fucking until HE taps out so your brains can be soup but he’s not done so,,,,hold on?

- If you like me and a few inches shorter than him will be smug about it

- His personality is big enough to count as a size kink but being a little taller makes him get a big head

- Talks you through it the whole time

- Switching back and fourth between degrading and praise so fast it makes your head spin

- “Hm? Don’t tell me my little slut is tapping out? You were begging me so nicely earlier”

- only one who can say babygirl and it not be cringe 🤭

- “be a good boy and spread your legs for me, hm?”

- Really sloppy kisser during sex too

- Will tell you to stick your tongue out for him

- On the rougher side of kinky stuff

- Fucks you like it’s the last time he ever will every time

- Don’t care about getting caught bc either way he’s not stopping

- Probably how you’d end up sleeping w him and Isagi I fear

- Isagi is so sweet and megaru is MEAN

- Isagi trying to go slow and be gentle and Megaru over here pulling your hair calling you a pretty whore

- this man In grey sweatpants would end me

- APART OF THE SHORT KING BIG DICK CREW

- he’s tall by Japanese standards but juuuuust 3cm above average in American height

- he already walks out the shower naked w NO care in the world

- probably walks around the house like that too Ngl

- “I am returning to the natural state of my birth” I will glue your clothes to your body sir :/

- feel like he’s more girth than length like don’t get me wrong he def has a third leg but he’s gunna have to work you open

- “ Oh don’t worry, I’ll make sure it fits”

- Act right dick™️ so don’t push him too far in public

- Definitely a bad influence!! You’re trying to be normal in public and he gives you a look

- Next thing you know he’s on his knees for you in a bathroom or an empty hallway🙄

- In the locker room so many times the rest of his friends already know, and when you two disappear they not stepping foot in there

- Buys you lingerie because he’s your biggest hype man

- When you feel confident you’re the most sexy

- “Mmm you look so good in that cute outfit, you won’t be too mad if I tear it off right?”

- Spreads your legs wide and will make you look in the mirror and watch as he fingers you open

- The type of man who fucks you so good you would get his name tatted on your ass

- Your family actually is probably like “don’t you go corrupting that sweet boy”

- And behind closed doors he’s got his hand holding your hair in a tight fist as he makes himself comfy in your throat

- “Let me hold your hair up for you💕”

- L$D- asap Rocky is also his song

[twstjam]

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TWST BOOK 7 CHAPTER 5

Lilia's love for Meleanor and Revan: Romantic, Platonic, or Familial?

Short answer: ALL of them. ANY of them. A secret third thing. Take your pick!!

Long answer because even though some people have explained it already I haven't felt like anyone has NOT come off as aggressive towards shippers so I thought I could help get the message across?:

So there's been some dispute in the fandom about Lilia romantically loving Meleanor and Revan because Meleanor said that Lilia loves her and Revan, but the actual kanji used by her is a lot less simple than just "love" as explained by @/ventique18 in this post. (which I suggest that you read first before this one so that you understand the true and full picture if you haven't!!)

(here's a few screenshots to sum up what she said though for the sake of this post)

That clears it up, but there's more to this conversation I'd like to point out. As a Briar Throuple shipper I'm making this post to explain or at least shed some light on:

Why people read Meleanor's words as romantic and why they ship Lilia, Meleanor, and Revan

Now, I'm not saying that Lilia having romantic feelings for his friends is the one and only correct view (if you do think that, did you even read the rest of this post?). I'm saying that people viewing it as romantic have a very valid reason and it's not just people shipping because they like to ship when they see the word "love". People shipping Lilia, Meleanor, and Revan are not automatically disregarding any familial and platonic interpretations of their relationship. (or at least not all of them are and I am asking you to not assume.)

Translators are free to mention it if this translation I found is incorrect BUT STILL—

Okay so, if you'll notice, in the conversation between Meleanor and Lilia, after saying that Lilia loves her, she specifically brings up the time he proposed to her 200 years ago. Right after that, she says that Lilia and Revan, her husband, spent more time together than a married couple.

There are a lot of valid arguments that are against these things being proof of Lilia having romantic attraction, like: Lilia and Meleanor were just kids playing house, Lilia and Revan spending a lot of time together is normal because they're besties, and also Lilia himself says that he was just a stupid kid which can imply that it was just an old crush and he doesn't feel the same anymore.

But look at the big picture!! Look at the words Meleanor specifically used!! The kanji used for "love" is indeed for pure, platonic, and familial love, but immediately after saying it Meleanor mentions things specific to romantic love: Proposal. Marriage.

She could have easily used a different example of Lilia's love for him. She could have easily compared Lilia's time spent with Revan with literally anything else, but she didn't!!! She mentioned a marriage proposal from when they were kids. Even if it might not be valid anymore she still mentioned it out of anything else!! And she compared Lilia and Revan to a married couple!!

The words used in this conversation, like the kanji for "love" and the specific romantically-associated words, both point to Lilia's love being either romantic or platonic/familial. The kanji says specifically pure love, but Meleanor's argument and comparison has romantic tone. It's either. It's both. Anything you want it to be. A secret third thing.

That concludes my ramble folks <3 Shippers are not disregarding platonic and familial love, please don't just assume they are. Not to mention, most of the people doing it are DIASOMNIA FANS. THE platonic/familial love enjoyers of the fandom!! Why have I seen people have such bad faith in them? Just because someone says one thing doesn't mean they don't also enjoy another thing!!

Still though, translators helping to explain the wording correctly is still very much appreciated, but it doesn't disregard romantic views nonetheless nor does shipping disregard platonic and familial ones.

Although, I do understand why some people are a bit frustrated seeing as romance IS more prevalent in media and is often wrongly seen as "higher" than other forms of love, which is a valid frustration, but it still frustrated me a bit how I've seen some people be so quick to be aggressive to shippers.

[inawearyworld]

free if you truly wish to be: chapter iii

plots are half revealed, and willy "mr accidentally steal yo girl" wonka gets his sorry ass saved by a woman wearing one of those "oh no my husband mysteriously floated away died" robes you see all over pinterest. (now there's a sentence i never thought i'd write.)

2023!wonka x oc, this chapter ~2.5k

i would like to thank mr mathew baynton in that one bts interview for those bits and pieces of fickelgruber analysis that will totally now be used here. and also for being generally wonderful. thanks mat ilysm

also i thought it would be sort of funny for at least someone in this world revolving around chocolate to be lactose intolerant and then of course i had to turn it into something sad and poetic bc of Who I Am As A Person

enjoy!! and thank you for all the support on this fic so far!!

part two fic masterlist part four

She had a lot to think about that night.

Felix hadn’t returned home yet, and she started to worry that the fateful flying chocolates weren’t quite as harmless as advertised. The young man who’d made them, too, was swirling about her mind in a haze of schoolgirl blushes and piercing guilt.

Florence Fickelgruber had chosen her lot when she agreed to take on that name. Who was she to imagine a freer life, one of candy-coated dreams and a clear conscience, of gazes and banter with someone her own age, of running her hand through curls that weren’t slick with expensive gel? Who was she to foolishly wish for anything different, when so many people were counting on her?

She missed her home, her family, and it hadn’t been lost on her that Felix had never told her about his own background. Their wedding was attended mainly by those surrounding the Fickelgruber business, as well as another flood of press. She’d had to blink so much that day, unused to being in front of cameras after a youth spent on the stage, but her new husband had preened next to her as if this focus on appearance was where he felt most at home. She remembered the crowd’s polite cheers fading in her mind as he had slowly lifted her chin while she accepted a forkful of the most extraordinarily decadent chocolate cake.

For that day, she had allowed the feeling of his hand on her face to eclipse that of the too-rich frosting stuck in her throat.

Then he came through the door, humming a jaunty tune, and she blinked, torn out of the memory that she felt an entirely different kind of guilt for indulging in.

“Felix? Darling, where have you been?”

“Oh, don’t you worry your pretty auburn head, my songbird. The boy’s finished, absolutely finished. No one will be flying about the Galeries Gourmet if the police have anything to say about it.”

“What-what do you mean?”

“He’s disturbed the peace, made a commotion, even encouraged the-the-the unfortunate to disgrace our sacred sanctuary of chocolate. And the Chief is none too happy about it.”

“Is he?” she said suspiciously, stepping in front of him-because, up until this point, he hadn’t looked her in the eye.

Felix was silent for a moment, cacao eyes darting. His wife’s gaze was strong and unyielding-don’t lie to me again, I can’t take it-but her head tilted innocently to the side, a sort of plausible deniability.

A sort of protection.

“Yes,” he breathed with a curt nod, and took her hands in his. “I promise you, it was a solemn thing.”

“Then what were you singing as you came in?”

The chocolatier blinked again, falling into an absolutely done sort of expression, and Florence’s head tilted to the other side.

“You’ve had another musical number without me.”

“I’m terribly sorry, pet.”

“You know you can’t hide from me, Felix,” she said, something that would have been playfully teasing but held an edge of desperation that he refused to pick up on.

“It of course wasn’t the same without you,” he drawled in that ever-dramatic way, bringing her into their living room. “We’ll make it up now. Dance with me, Florence.”

He snapped his fingers, and some unseen yet attentive servant placed a needle on a record. A crooning melody started to crackle and bounce across the high golden ceilings, and Felix spun his wife into him, twirling her about with a smirk that she could only imagine to be the result of a monopoly saved.

She swayed to and fro in his arms, trying desperately to sink into the music, unable to focus on anything but the wrenching pull of her battling guilts.

~

Florence spent much of the next day in a state of ping-ponging worry. She’d looked intently out of the mansion’s sprawling windows over the town square, wondering whether her forbidden new friend had taken her advice.

“Just…don’t give up.”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

And who knows what they’ll do to him now?

The hours had passed in a blur, and then she was laid limp, unable to sleep, and mentally exhausted, next to her husband and his piccolo snore.

She had screwed her eyes shut and burrowed into him, trying to force herself to feel as secure as she did two years ago; then, the slight sound of a little girl’s singing voice lifted itself into her consciousness, followed by the blare of a police car.

Puzzled, Florence carefully got out of bed and went to the window once more. The girl she’d heard was the one with the sweet smile that she’d seen in the Galeria yesterday, and Willy Wonka was next to her, warning her to run. The Chief of Police and Officer Affable faced them, but this wasn’t to last-the former seemed to tell the latter to leave, and the latter obeyed.

It wasn’t as if a switch flipped at that moment.

More like…

An extinguished candle was finally relit.

Before she could overthink herself into inaction, Wren was grabbing her robe and slippers and bolting downstairs, the snore that echoed after her serving as reassurance that she wouldn’t be found out. In her haste, she had the passing realization that this would be the first time she’d leave the house with her hair down and uncoiffed in over two years.

Through this rush, she heard the plunge of something in the town square’s fountain along with the shouts of the Chief, and she ran faster, throwing open the door just in time to see him about to club a drenched Willy over the head.

��OFFICER!”

Both men turned to her in an instant. She let out the breath she’d been holding since first hearing the girl’s voice, rolled her shoulders back, dropped into the character she’d played for the past two years, and stepped forward.

“What on earth is going on?”

They stared, each with a different kind of shock, as she walked toward the fountain. The Chief returned his nightstick to its holster.

“Mrs. Fickelgruber,” he stammered, “I thought you would have thought-well, I guess he didn’t tell-you aren’t-”

“No, I’m not thrilled about you clobbering this poor young man in the middle of the night,” she said, placing a hand on Willy’s shoulder. He looked at her, still touched with the fear of the past minutes but now grateful, and she tried not to be struck by the freckles she saw behind his water-plastered curls.

“Who said anything about clobbering?” the Chief laughed somewhat nervously. “We were just having a chat. An impactful, memorable chat. Right, Mr. Wonka?”

Willy dragged his eyes to him and held them there, a bit speechless.

What was probably three seconds but felt like an eternity of strange silence passed.

“Memorable indeed.”

“Right, then,” the Chief said. “You’ll do good to continue to remember it. Goodnight, Mrs. Fickelgruber.”

With that, he entered his car and drove away, his tail lights fading in the distance as the remaining pair stood, a little shell-shocked, her hand still on his shoulder.

“Thank you,” he said after a while, his gaze still trailing the receding police car.

“You’re welcome,” she replied, giving his shoulder an awkward pat, which made her realize just how cold he was due to the impromptu fountain bath. “Oh, God, you’re freezing. Let me…”

As he turned towards her, she looked up, trying to see through her window in the dark. She could barely make out the shape of a sound-asleep Felix, still in bed.

“Come to the office, I’ve got the key. There’s a fireplace there; you can stay as long as you need to to warm up.”

“Are you sure?”

His eyes moved up the same way, then back to her, and she shook her head as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Of course.”

~

“Do you want anything to drink? Water, tea? Hot chocolate?”

She hadn’t turned on most of the lights so as not to draw attention, but she’d started a beautiful fire, which Willy sat by in a plush emerald-green chair. She’d rattled off the drinks on habit, but she turned to him upon saying the third, sharing his smile.

“The last one, please. But I’ll make it.”

“No, you need to rest-”

“I insist,” he said, moving to join her by the small bar in the office and searching through ingredients. “Unless that’s some sort of corporate sacrilege.”

“Making chocolate in enemy territory?”

He took a small jar of powder from his sleeve and shook it into two mugs, considering this, and his smile faltered a bit.

“Is it really that bad?” he asked. “That they’d…that they’d send the police after me? That business rivalry is thought of like a war?”

She pursed her lips and nodded solemnly.

“They…feel threatened,” she said slowly, “and, despite how professional they seem, they can’t be mature or rational about it. Apparently, you really do have the best chocolate in town.”

He neither confirmed nor denied, but gave half of a smile as he looked down at the drinks he was stirring.

“And I, for one, am quite looking forward to trying it.”

“Here, then,” he said, pulling something out of a coat pocket that had managed to escape the frozen flush. “Nothing too dangerous about this one. Just some good old Wonka magic.”

He opened his hand to her, revealing a small, wrapped treat, and she sighed.

“I’d love to, but I really shouldn’t. Not even the drinks.”

“Why not?” came the stunned reply, and she nearly laughed at just how sweetly scandalized the boy seemed to be at the idea of anyone denying themselves that pleasure.

“Milk has never really…agreed with me. Bad for the throat, and I’m a singer besides, as you know-I mean, I-well, it’s just…”

PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER.

“I shouldn’t.”

He took a moment, and she watched his eyes widen as he processed the shocking injustice of being genetically predisposed against chocolate.

“Does your husband know about this?”

“He does, but he doesn’t care. Says I’ll ‘grow out of it with time’, which I haven’t.”

“So he’s…”

“Essentially poisoning me, yes.”

They laughed a little, because, surrounded by echoes of Fickelgruber’s power, it was the only thing they could do.

Willy stared at the table for a moment, then pulled another vial, this one containing a liquid, from yet another pocket.

“Lucky for you, then, I’ve got milk made from the product of the finest almond trees on the islands of Seychelles,” he said as he deftly poured the liquid into her glass. “Guaranteed to go down sweetly, both on the taste buds and after.”

“...Thank you,” she murmured, touched by the gesture.

With a final flick of the wrist, he deemed the hot chocolate finished, and they each carried their mug to the fire.

“Wren,” he said thoughtfully as they sat down.

“Hm?”

She was instinctively flooded with warmth in the same way she was yesterday, though whether it was due to the stunningly perfect cocoa or hearing her name in his voice she wasn’t sure.

“Is it a nickname? Songbird, right?”

She saw in the fireglow that his face darkened a bit upon the memory of how Felix had always referred to her in the press, taking that potentially sweet title and spinning it in an almost dehumanizing manner. So someone did notice.

“Well…sort of. That was what my parents intended. They say a wren sang when I was born, so they gave me that name, and I loved it. But Felix assumed it was a nickname and suggested I should expand it; to sound more sophisticated in my performances, he said, but I knew half the reason was to fit with the alliteration. He’s always valued aesthetics above anything else.”

They were silent for a while, and the massive painting seemed to stare down at them, making the Fickelgrubers look almost menacing in the fireglow.

“That’s you?”

A moment passed.

“No. No, that’s not really me.”

Her voice was quiet, but decisive. Willy looked at her, really looked at her, and she felt more seen than she had in years.

“I want to help you,” she said.

“Hm?”

His head tilted to the side, a little stunned, and she nearly giggled as his now-drying curls flopped in front of his face.

How could anyone want to hurt him?

“I don’t know exactly what Felix and the rest have planned against you, but I know there’s something. He never really tells me anything, but I’ll…I’ll try to find out what I can, to distract him when needed. I don’t want you to be alone in this.”

“I’m not,” he said. “The others where I’m staying right now, we’re all in a rather precarious situation together, and I’ve got a few ideas, but…”

She watched the wheels turn in his mind, and after a few moments, he looked back up at her, for once lost for words.

“But thank you. Again. I’d…I appreciate it.”

“Thank you. For bringing some much-needed heart into this place.”

“I think you’ve done that rather well yourself.”

This was news to her often-guilt-wracked brain.

“...Really?”

“Well, of course. You clearly care, Wren…you’re kind, you’re poetic and talented, and far smarter than it seems they give you credit for. It’s in your eyes, too, I think. You can always tell the truth by a person’s eyes.”

Her heart had nearly stopped.

Somehow, though, she could tell that he was unaware of the full effect he had on her.

“Mr. Wonka-ah, Willy, I mean…”

“Forgive me if-I didn’t intend to-”

The clocks around the city chimed the hour, interrupting the two just as they had the day before, and the young man’s expression went from its dazed dawning to a startled realization.

“They’ll need me. Back where I’m staying, I mean.”

“Of-of course,” she said a bit awkwardly as they both stood up.

His hair had dried by now, falling in perfectly imperfect swoops around his face. He’d undone his necktie to keep its cold away from his neck, and his jacket was folded over his arm, and he was looking at her as if he hadn’t had a conversation quite like that with someone in a very, very long time.

And neither had I.

Or…ever, I suppose.

Until now.

“Thank you. Again.”

“You’re welcome. Again.”

She took a breath, let it out, and folded him into a hug, which he returned in an instant.

After two years of jutting angles and sharply possessive grasps, it was remarkable to simply, softly, hold and be held.

They bid a last goodnight before parting ways, and as she took her time walking back to the mansion, the moon seemed brighter than ever before.