#they've been leaning more towards fantasy

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

There are so many deities now in Doctor Who that I'm expecting a Percy Jackson crossover episode.

[talaok]

The Mask

Pairing: Joel Miller x f!reader

Summary: You ask your husband Joel to buy a Ghostface mask to wear during your "alone time", and he’s more than happy to comply

Warnings: smut| mask kink, sir kink, degradation, threats of anal (but no actual anal), unprotected p in v sex, choking, Joel has a bit too much fun fulfilling your fantasy... but then also aftercare and soft husband!Joel cause ill always go back to my fluffy roots (also i don't specify it but obv they've talked about all their boundaries and everything, so they know each other's limits)

It had been such a stressful day that the last thing you had in mind was what had happened yesterday.

With Sarah wanting to change costume last minute because apparently she now hated the idea of being a princess and wanted to be a witch, with Molly's helicopter of a mom constantly calling you to make sure your daughter wouldn't get to the sleepover with lice or carrying a snack that god forbid had gluten in it... it had been such a hectic day that, once Joel finally managed to ride Sarah to her Halloween sleepover, all you wanted to do was lie in bed and hide under the covers... which is what you did...for twenty minutes, before you surrendered to the inevitable task of cleaning up the mess you'd made on the vanity from doing Sarah's makeup.

And it was then, as you were huffing and sighing loudly into what you thought was an empty house, that a figure appeared behind you, making your body run cold with fear, and your heart start to beat out of your chest.

You remained immobilized, frozen in your spot, watching from the mirror as the figure approached, backing away from where he was leaning on the door to walk towards you slowly...

And then you got it, your brain recovered from the scare and you pieced it together.

Such a quick conversation, such a quick decision you'd made as you shopped for Sarah's costume, that in all the chaos, it had managed to slip your mind.

"Ghostface?" he'd frowned once you handed him the mask "I don't think Sarah's even old enough to watch that movie"

And at that you had smiled, looking up at him with that devilish smile you got whenever you got a special idea.

"it's not for her"

his brows knitted in puzzlement again

God, for being such a smart man he sure was dense sometimes

"You wanna dress up too sweetheart?" he asked, making you inevitably snort.

"No" you'd laughed "it's for you"

"for me? what would I need to put this on f-"

And that was when he got it, watching you bite your bottom lip, as that particular spark lighted your eyes, then, he finally put it together.

"ohhh" he he breathed, a smirk making its way to his lips as soon as he realized "Oh yeah, we're definitely buying this"

And that's how you ended up here, watching your masked husband grab your waist to host you up so you were flashed against him, against his tight black t-shirt and black jeans.

You couldn't feel his breath, but you could hear him breathe heavily beside your neck, right against your ear, looking at you from the mirror and studying you as if you were a pray.

Now this wasn't the first time you'd asked him to do something... kinkier, you had made him buy a blindfold, you had your fair amount of toys locked in your bedside drawer, and you were sure some rope and one of those little leather whips you'd purchased once were still somewhere in your wardrobe, but this, the dressing up, the putting on a mask... this, you'd never done, this was all new...

And god were you excited.

"so..." he spoke, his voice huskier than usual, a giveaway of just how much he was enjoying this too already "You've got a boyfriend?"

Now if he got to play the part, so wanted you. 

What fun would this be otherwise?

"I've got a husband" you murmured, your voice faint, seemingly scared.

"mh..." he hummed, his head tilting downwards as if he was looking at you up and down "Lucky husband"

You wanted to say something, anything, but before you could even breathe he had turned you around, his strong, veiny hands gripping your waist.

"P-please" you shut your eyes "Please don't hurt me Mr. Ghostface"

A faint chuckle came from beside the mask

"It's sir" he corrected

Oh he knew you so fucking well

"I-I'm sorry... sir" you whimpered, trying to get used to not getting to look into his hazel eyes, but instead into two big black holes. 

"A-are you gonna hurt me, sir?"

His thick fingers caressed your sides, as he took his time answering you

"no" he finally said "Not if you behave" he explained, his grip tightening, a simple gesture, a simple threat "Are you gonna behave y/n?"

"y-yes" you nodded, actually believing it now, actually losing yourself in the fantasy.

He didn't need to say anything, all he did was tilt his head, and you had realized your mistake.

"yes, sir"

"good girl"

Just two words, and your panties were drenched.

He didn't speak, all he did was break away from you to walk backward until he could sit on the edge of the bed, watching you expectantly.

"go on"

that's all he said, and fuck but that's all you needed.

Your eyes remained on him as you took off every piece of your clothing. You started softly tugging your shirt off, listening to his breathing falter, then you got rid of your pants, then it was time to undo your bra, and then finally, finally you were shuffling your panties down your legs just to step out of them.

A whispered groan fled his lips at the sight, and he couldn't help but stand up to meet you.

His right palm landed on your asscheeks before you even realized what was happening, and a soft whimper escaped your throat in response

"real lucky husband" he growled

An hour ago, you were trying his daughter's Halloween costume on her in this exact room, and now there you were, naked, in front of your masked husband.

"please sir" you pleaded

"What?" he hushed "What do you want?"

He was slowly rounding you, bringing a hand around your torso with him, sending shivers everywhere they could be

"I-I"

"I want to hear you say it" he purred, right against your ear now "I want to hear you beg for my cock, beg for me to fuck you, I know you want it"

"I- Sir, I-"

"I want you to admit just how much of a slut you are" he murmured, now in front of you "I want you to admit just how much you want it"

“Please Sir-i need you”

“Mhh” he hummed, “what do you need?”

His left hand started a slow path down your belly, igniting shivers with his touch, until he was right there, and all he did was cup your pussy and he broke you completely

“You, I-inside of me” you whimpered

"is that right?" he taunted, tilting his head

"yes" you nodded "yes, please sir-"

But once again, he had turned you around like a doll, powerless to his strength, and stole your words from your tongue.

The table rutted from the impact once he pushed your back down on it, your head almost hitting the hardwood.

"Is this what you want?" 

His rough jeans and hard bulge were flashed against your bare ass, making you squirm.

"answer me" he demanded, gripping your hair to yank your head back so you could look at him from the mirror "I asked you a question"

"yes" you murmured "Yes please"

A snicker made its way to your ears as you heard the familiar sound of his zipper undoing.

"aren't you the little whore..." he growled, his insult only rendering you all the more desperate as he slapped his cock on your asscheeks "You'd let me put it anywhere I want?" he mocked, his tip infiltrating between your crack and probing at your other entrance "even in this pretty little hole?"

You gasped.

"I bet you would" he teased "I bet you'd let me do anything I want with you" his head tilted to the left, watching you biting your lip as you tried to keep a straight face, and failing miserably "you're just a poor slut that's desperate to be filled, you don't care in which hole, do you?" he asked now, "answer me"

"y-yes" you stuttered "I-I'm a slut, I'll take anything you'll give me sir, just please-"

"please what?"

"please put it in"

you couldn't see the smirk on his lips, but you sure as hell could hear it.

"Since you asked so nicely..."

And it was then, it was then that he trusted his whole length and girth inside of you with one single push, making you cry out into the thick air and forcing the whole table to shake just for him to not even wait a second, he didn't give you a moment to breathe, a moment to recover, no, he did the opposite... he started splitting you in fucking half.

All the remaining makeup on the vanity was tumbling down onto the floor one by one, but he didn't show signs of slowing down, or god forbid stopping.

The sound of his skin slapping with yours bounced off the walls with each merciless thrust, and you... you were fucking gone.

"look at that" his grip on your hair tightened as he forced your head back even more "I want you to see how much you like this" he groaned, his digits on your waist definitely leaving marks "How much of a slut you are" he spoke "how much you enjoy getting fucked by a stranger"

You wanted to say something, anything really, but as you watched your reflection, your eyes spilling tears, your cheeks wet and your mascara smudged all over... all your mouth could produce were moans, or whimpers, or curses not even belonging to the English language each time his dick hit that spot inside of you that made you want to scream.

"Look at that" Your scalp hurt as he fisted your hair more "Look at how fucking pathetic you look" he spit as you gasped for air and as you felt your belly tighten in that way it did before your release.

"you're gonna cum already?" he realized, his tone mocking "The slut likes it so much she's not even gonna last a minute?"

"Mh-mh" you hummed, "y-yes, I-it's too..." Your eyes rolled to the back of your head and you gripped the edge of the table until your knuckles went white as the orgasm unexpectantly overtook your whole body, only letting you moan out a "good" before you were back to a non-verbal state and cried in pleasure.

He let you ride out your high, but as soon as you came down he had manhandled you and threw you on the bed back down, not even giving you a moment to realize what was happening before he had slipped his cock inside you again.

His hand took hold of your arms and pinned them above your head as you arched your back at the feeling of this new angle. It wasn't as deep but the way his pelvis rutted against your clit with each movement of his hips, made it all just as breathtaking, and speaking of which...

His other hand sneaked up your chest, diverting a moment to grab at your boobs before he was wrapping his fingers around your throat, first gently and then applying more and more pressure, until you were completely in a sensory overload and all you could feel was pleasure in its purest form.

"fuck-look at that, you're so desperate for this cock that your pussy's sucking me back in"

He taunted, his thrusts remaining as unforgiving as ever. 

you had lost all touch with reality, this wasn't your husband, this wasn't you, this wasn't your bedroom this was- you didn't even know what it was, you just knew your brain had stopped working long ago, and you were on the verge of another mindblowing orgasm

"what would your husband think seeing you like this?" he purred as he forced your head to the mirror again, and this time, the image you were met with was only more of a mess, your cheeks red, your mascara nonexistent, and your mouth parted, desperately looking for air that it wasn't gonna find any time soon...

"drunk on another man's cock" he continued, his grip on your neck tightening to the point you were seeing black dots staining your vision "Not even able to speak anymore" he groaned "Look at yourself... such a fucking whore"

And then inevitably, as fucked up as that may be, those words sent you over the edge, your legs shaking and your walls tightening around him as you moaned louder than you'd ever had.

And at the feeling you were granting him, he couldn't help but follow suit, filling you up with a loud groan, until his juices and yours mixed as they ran down your thighs.

It took more than a moment for either of you to get back to reality, but as always, Joel managed to beat you to it, pulling out of you and taking his mask off, revealing his flushed and fucked out state as he whispered a low "fuck"

"sweetheart?" he called, stroking your cheek once you wouldn't open your eyes "Are you ok?" he asked "Did I go too far?"

"n-no" you murmured almost inaudibly as you shook your head "You were... perfect, I'm just" a yawn interrupted your words

Tired. 

he didn't need you to finish the sentence, all he did was pick you up and place you softly on your side of the bed, positioning your head gently on the pillow

"stay here, I'll clean you up"

As if there was any chance you'd get out of bed after that

And he did, he cleaned you between your thighs with a wet cloth, gave you a tall glass of water to drink, and then set you under the covers just to join you a moment later, watching you crawl closer to him until each part of your body was touching one of his.

"Better?" he asked, petting your hair as you looked up at him with your head on his chest 

"yes" you smiled "Thank you"

he stroked your back as he leaned down to kiss you "I love you" he promised

"I love you" you vowed back

He smiled too now as he leaned back on the headboard

"you wanna watch something?"

"sure"

"mhh" he hummed, pointing the remote at the tv "Got anything in mind?"

And there it was again, that dangerous dangerous grin

"How about Scream?"

[tlbodine]

Trans Horror Authors

My January reading challenge is to read a book by a trans author. Luckily, there are many out there to choose from! Here are some who write in the horror genre, because that's my area of expertise. If you know of others, whether in horror or other genres, reply with your recommendations!

In no particular order...

Caitlin R. Kiernan

A genderfluid Irish-American paleontologist who also writes spectacular cosmic horror, what's not to love? They've been repping queerness since the 80s and have a robust library to choose from, so you're bound to find something you'll like!

Poppy Z. Brite

Billy Martin, whose work is published under the name Poppy Z. Brite, was a big name in the Gothic horror scene of the 1990s and continues to be a frequently-recommended author, although he doesn't publish as much horror these days.

Julya Oui

A Malaysian trans woman and prolific short story author. She has several collections out that you can browse, if short stories are your speed! Maybe start with Taiping Tales of Terror, which draws heavily on her native folklore and influences.

Rivers Solomon

A nonbinary, intersex Black author now living in the U.K., Solomon has three books out and they all look spectacular. Their books lean more toward sci-fi/fantasy, but their newest title Sorrowland looks to be pretty solidly Gothic as well.

Gretchen Felker-Martin

Trans woman, film critic, and unapologetically outspoken. Her best-known book is Manhunt, a post-apocalyptic horror tale that doesn't pull any punches. She's got another new release slated for 2024 to keep an eye on.

Hailey Piper

One of the most prolific authors I can name off the top of my head, Hailey also has several novellas out in the world + a few novels. If the intersection of queer fiction, body horror, and cosmic horror sounds like your thing, you can find something in her backlist. Also she's here on tumblr, go learn more at @haileypiperfights

Eve Harms

A bit of a new player on the field, but well worth checking out. Eve is a Jewish trans woman. Her debut novel, Transmuted, is a breathless body horror romp. She also makes a bunch of handmade zines, which I just think are neat :)

Natalie Ironside

One of Tumblr's very own better-known names, Natalie is queer, disabled, trans, hilarious, and author to at least three novels I can think of plus some other stuff too - go scope her out on @natalieironside for the details.

.....I know I'm missing a ton of people but these were the first ones that came to mind. I have to get back to writing, but I hope this inspires y'all to pick up a book you haven't read yet, and to add to my list down in the notes.

Happy reading, y'all :)

[ratgrinders]

So I read this interview of Brennan Lee Mulligan post-Junior Year (really interesting btw, I recommend everyone check it out!!!!) but I wanted to talk about a couple questions that interested me in it regarding the Rat Grinders:

I love the Rat Grinders and how they're just this dichotomy...Talk to me about leaning into not just that they are the opposite of The Bad Kids, but their corruption, because they were really sweet as the High-Five Heroes before they followed Kipperlilly down this path. Brennan Lee Mulligan: There's an interesting question there. I think that for a lot of it, there were hints, and most of the things we've seen of their sweetness are contextual from bits of writing, little things, investigations. But I think that you can see… It's both. There are elements that they were not always like they are now, but the seeds of what they are now are there in the past. I think that when you look at the High-Five and then eventually becoming the Rat Grinders. There's an indication there of Kipperlilly's focus because yeah, the High-Five Heroes is sweet, but it's also sort of a indication that Kipperlilly is pushing them towards, for lack of a better word, do we have something that we're about? The Bad Kids get their name because they've all been given detention on the first day and it's connected to their story. Whereas you get the sense from the High-Five Heroes that it's not actually describing anything. It's like the person being like, "Our inside joke is going to be high-fives." And you're like, "Well, everyone high-fives." So there's an indication there, for me at least, that Kipperlily is trying to make a comradery right away that is not actually there. It's not based in something that happened to them.

So a confirmation that Kipperlilly naming them all the "High-Five Heroes" on the first day is her trying to "force" a sense of comradery, and also possibly an adventuring identity? Like how the Bad Kids already have this strong group cohesion and "story" because they were all given detention on the first day of classes, and Kipperlilly's trying to create something like that without it having a strong basis.

This seems indicative of a couple things to me, like Kipperlilly having a naturally strong, pushy personality that maybe overrides her other group members, or that she has a certain idea in her head about what makes an adventurer. She wants all the gimmicky stuff like a cool party name and inside jokes, but even then on the first day is trying to force it without having earned it. She's enamored with the idea of an adventurer in terms of them being the hero of their own story, and in her head how good of a "story" you have is directly linked to how good of an adventurer you are.

It also makes her opposing the name "Rat Grinders" later interesting, lol. Rat Grinders is obviously WAY more based in something unique to their party and an inside joke on what they actually do. Maybe it was just because she didn't appreciate her sense of control and her name being undermined.

How do you think they're going to diverge now that they don't have Kipperlilly leading them? Brennan Lee Mulligan: I think that the future of that group is very… I think I leave it to the players, but as you're saying with Kipperlilly, her leadership of that group to me, the moment that is the fundamental, very critical to the season and understanding it I think, is that killing of Lucy Frostblade. Where that is the moment where power and the opportunity for power is chosen over all else. The participation of everybody in that, that the other Rat Grinders came in and that they killed Lucy Frostblade, is the ultimate like, "Oh, we can understand wanting to have the status that The Bad Kids have. This was not worth that. It is not acceptable. Even if you really want to have something, you can't kill an innocent person who is also your best friend to get it. That is evil." And so I think that that's really the turning point for them.

And talking about Lucy being her best friend, and the killing of Lucy Frostblade as the point of no return. I imagine that after killing Lucy the Rat Grinders were deep in the sunk-cost fallacy, that "oh, we've just done this horrible thing, there's no turning back now". Like the text messages the Bad Kids found in Ruben's house.

Canon leaves it slightly unclear the order in which the Rat Grinders were shatter-starred, and just how culpable they are for their actions while under their influence. I'm going to assume that Kipperlilly was the first one, "willingly" taking one (for a given definition of "willingly", as I'd argue she had still be subjected to a year and a half of manipulation and grooming by Porter. She may have been sound of mind, but she never would've done this without Porter encouraging her or validating all her worst aspects). Then, she and Porter worked to kill the other Rat Grinders, an unwilling ritual that put them under the thrall of the rage god. Lucy was the last holdout, and was killed with the assumption that she would come back like they did, but she instead "stuck to her guns" and stayed dead.

I'm also going to interpret the shatter-star as an element of divine manipulation that drives people with rage to do actions they wouldn't do normally, but which are ultimately based on a kernel of truth. Think Adaine in the mall fight, "What would Adaine do if all she ever thought about was rage?" and Siobhan talking about the forest of Sylvaire being destroyed in the search for her mother. We know Adaine would never use such an excessive amount of destruction, but we see the underlying motivation to her actions.

So when the other Rat Grinders killed Lucy, they weren't exactly "sound of mind" as they were under the influence of the rage star, but they were still themselves, they still made the conscious choice to choose power over everything else. The rage star only elevated it to murderous heights; they never would've murdered her without its influence (in fact, I'd argue that the expectation she'd come back is why they did it in the first place), but the motivation still stemmed from a selfish want for power they all shared.

I think, too, that there's a thing with them, there's sort of a you can't have it both ways. The strategy that the Rat Grinders employ to get powerful is to do this grinding. Eventually, they get leveled up also by these powerful monsters that are being killed, they're allowed to join in with, but fundamentally it's like you can't have your cake and eat it too. Kipperlilly as a villain to me is very focused on, "Ooh, I can get by with the letter of the law and not the spirit. There's a better way to get powerful as an adventurer other than going on these important missions where you can probably die." That's the other thing, too, is you look at The Bad Kids, the Bad Kids run into that Corn Gremlin fight, and two of them die. They took a huge risk to save the school and stop something bad from happening, and the Rat Grinders never take that risk. So even as Kipperlilly is like, "Why aren't I getting what they're getting?" It's like, you're not making the choices they're making. Obviously grinding rats in the woods is a safer way to gain levels and the reward for doing it the safe way is you've never saved the world.

And with this last bit, Kipperlilly wanting the accolades of adventuring but without having to risk her life for it. It's interesting that Brennan mentions Kipperlilly avoiding "missions where you can probably die", because I've theorized before that part of the Rat Grinders' motivation for sticking to grinding is them not wanting to risk dying!

This is where genre conflict comes into play for me, because in a normal world I'd argue it's totally acceptable and fine for teenagers to do everything in their power to avoid Literally Dying. However, Spyre is not a normal world and runs on DnD conventions, where Aguefort trains them to be murderous "violent wanderers" who enact their will on the world, sometimes fatally. Death is also comparatively cheaper here when adventurers specifically have an easier time getting revived. The Rat Grinders may protest all they want about the standards of the genre that encourage crazy, violent, fatal behavior, but they're always going to be in the wrong genre and their protests are doomed to failure.

And "having your cake and eating it too". Her adventuring party never took those risks, so they don't get the rewards for saving the world.

[jealousveronya]

Would've, could've, should've - Chapter 1

Summary:

Everyone at the Spring Court always talked about how menacing and ruthless the High Lords were, especially the strongest High Lord, the High Lord of the Night Court. And Feyre did fear him, but when the entire world seemed set on reminding her how she needed to be protected, something even her husband couldn't accomplish without her sacrificing her freedom, she couldn't help but imagine a reality where he wasn't a threat, but the one she clung to breathlessly every night.

After all, if she needed to be protected, the company of the strongest should suffice.

However, that was just a fantasy Feyre created to escape to when she couldn't get out of bed. It meant nothing. She hadn't even met the lord of the night.

But what happens when she does and can't stop a blush from creeping onto her face as she finally puts a face to all her sensual fantasies?

Read Chapter 1 on: AO3 or continue reading

Seven thrones, crafted out of purest white marble, encircled a pond that shimmered in the daylight with lotuses gently drifting across its surface. The seven thrones were meant for the seven high lords, the rulers of Prythian. Six were occupied, but one remained empty, a truth no one dared to speak of yet, nor its implications.

It had been a considerable time since the high lords held a meeting, their mutual disdain apparent in the uneasy silence that hung over the gathering.

"For how long do you intend to keep us in the dark, Beron?" Tarquin asked, scratching his chin, a hint of mockery woven into his words.

"I have a court to attend to. Explain the reason for this meeting at once, or I'll return to it." Tarquin crossed his legs. A slight wave in the pond splashed Beron's leather boots, prompting a mischievous smirk to dance on the High Lord of Summer's face.

Beron, the high lord with auburn locks, exhaled as his fingers drummed against the throne. He behaved as if he were the father of five insolent brats he'd summoned for a lecture.

"I had honestly hoped someone else would be the first to admit it, but I see it all comes down to me. Very well." He leaned back in his throne.

"A spark of my power has vanished," he declared.

Whatever smug expression had been on Tarquin's face instantly evaporated into thin air.

In a world where even a spark could mean the difference between life and death, high lord or slave, the danger of this confession did not go unnoticed.

"Am I the only one?" Beron asked, looking at the other high lords with a narrowed gaze.

"Regretfully or fortunately, you are not the only one," Kallias began. "I noticed it too. I was at breakfast when I felt it just... leave. That was about two months ago."

"I have also experienced it," Tarquin added.

The other high lords followed with their agreements.

"It's just a spark now, but who is to say how much more will vanish, how much weaker we will get?" Beron balled his hands into fists, slamming them against the throne. "It's natural to suspect Hybern—perhaps they've found a way to drain us of our power slowly; Cauldron knows how much they'd want that. But we also can't dismiss," he looked toward the seventh throne, the empty one covered in dust,

"him."

Silence flooded the room.

The seventh throne was meant for the death incarnate, the strongest high lord, the High Lord of the Night Court, Rhysand—the only male in Prythian who could make all the other high lords take a step back, even if some wouldn't admit it.

"Well, shouldn't he be here then? So we can ask him? If he's responsible, he already knows—there's no point hiding it from him." Helion broke the silence. He had been avoiding Beron's gaze the entire meeting. Although the rumors of his affair with Beron's wife were old, the bitterness between the two males was still palpable.

"And if he isn't to blame and was somehow unaffected unlike us, do we need to let him know we have grown even weaker?" The high lord of the autumn court spat.

"I have to agree. We can always plan a second meeting with him, but perhaps we don't need to tell him everything from the beginning." Tarquin followed.

"So what would be the best way to handle this?" Kallias spoke as he leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. His power was leaking from him, so much that the part of the pond in front of him was slowly freezing.

"I recommend sending spies to the night court. We need to see if Rhysand is planning a war, and whether he is gathering armies. As strong as he is, if his goal is to weaken us so he can take over, he still won't try it without an army. If there is no army, we'll meet again to discuss what should be done further" Beron suggested.

Agreements could be heard from all sides of the hall, except for one. Beron's eyes followed the silence until they stopped at a male dressed in green, blonde strands of hair covering his already unreadable expression.

"You've been awfully quiet, Tamlin. Is there any reason for that?"

Tamlin hummed in dismissal before replying.

"No, you have just said it all. In fact, I volunteer one of my spies for the mission."

Upon the end of the meeting, Tamlin had winnowed back to his manor.

His hands were shaking slightly, his vision blurred, claws growing longer every second as the beast inside threatened to come out.

He had barely kept it inside during the discussion, gripping the armrests of the throne for dear life.

Since he'd gotten the letter from Beron that called for a meeting he had prayed to the Cauldron that this wasn't the topic. That no one had noticed the missing sparks of power. Or that if they had noticed, that they didn't care enough. They were just sparks after all. They were so insignificant compared to the entirety of a high lord's power, power capable of maintaining an entire court, keeping a season everlasting.

He took slow steps up the staircase. The weight of his secret was threatening to push him back down.

What was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to handle this? Right now they believed Rhysand or Hybern was to blame, but it's only a matter of time before they find out the truth.

The all-too-familiar scent hit his nostrils. It was the sweetest scent he had ever known. He relished in inhaling it before his feet followed its trace. 

Slowly opening the door, he peeked inside.

It was a moment to behold. Water was splashed everywhere, bubbles were spilling out of the tub. Light from the windows passing through the bubbles reflected rainbows on the marble floor. And inside the tub lay a female with golden wet hair framing her face and one leg lazily draped outside, swinging back and forth.

The sight of the female he held dear to his heart was a momentary reprieve, forcing the beast to retreat within the chamber of his soul as if her presence alone could pacify it.

As if for the first time ever, Tamlin exhaled, only for a second though  as the sight of her was also a reminder of the ever-looming threat.

The meeting had been a threat, a warning, because of who she was - because around her shoulders, that were peaking out of the water, tiny water wolves were frolicking - water wolves that she was creating. Her face wore a concentrated expression with furrowed brows as her delicate hands shaped water into wolves and gave them life.

Finally breaking her focus, taking notice of Tamlin, she looked up. Her blue orbs graced him with their sincerity as a smile found its way on her lips. Her skin started emitting a glow with intensity similar to one of the sun.

If he wasn't mesmerized he might have squinted to protect his vision.

And as the final punch to the gut, to remind him again of whaz she was, instead of speaking, she gently entered his mind.

"I missed you."

Tamlin could spend an eternity in that tub snuggled up against Feyre, kissing the nape of her neck, listening to the faintest of her moans, her fingers tangled in his hair, if the Cauldron only allowed it.

His teeth grazed her skin in between his kisses causing Feyre to shudder and pull on his hair harder.

The beast inside of him wanted him to mark her, to declare her as his as if that would protect her.

“Are you ready to talk about what happened?” Feyre asked using her daemati powers, trailing her nails against the inside of his mind. As much as he was settled inside her physically, she was inside him mentally.

He bit her neck eliciting a sharp gasp from her. It wasn’t enough to mark her, just enough for her to feel the sharpness of his canines and how easy it would be for him to pierce her skin.

“I prefer it when I hear your voice.” Tamlin pulled on her plump bottom lip with his claw. He wasn’t interested in containing his claws like he had been doing at the meeting. Not with her. With her he didn’t need to hide or fake control.

And the reality from who she had gotten her daemati spark wasn’t really allowing him to even try concealing them. The fact his magic was running through her veins now was eating at his heart, especially when she was so determined on using it so frequently.

Violet eyes flashed in his mind, but he quickly composed himself.

“Fine. Are you ready to talk about what happened?” Feyre asked audibly now, pink covering her freckled cheeks.

“No,” Tamlin murmured before shifting his hips. Feyre breathed out a song of pleasure as her eyes rolled back into her head. “Fuck, Tamlin.”

He licked the sensitive place he found above the collarbone. 

He’ll protect her.

He’ll protect her from everyone. 

No one will take her from him.

His jaw closed around the curve of her neck, this time with enough force to draw blood.

“Feyre,” Tamlin started as his tongue tasted her blood.

“Hmm,” Feyre moaned.

“You’ll cook us alive.”

At that Feyre noticed the rising temperature of the water, a consequence of her skin getting hotter and hotter, almost igniting fire.

“Cauldron, sorry.”

Tamlin’s chuckle echoed against his mark.

”I can’t- I don’t know how to stop it.”

At that Tamlin picked her up, her legs wrapping around his waist as he stepped out of the tub and headed towards Feyre’s bedroom. He made a point to step on one of the water wolves following them, turning it into a puddle.

“HEY!”

Tamlin only laughed in response.

“I need to practice. I need to get better at using my magic.” Feyre sounded disappointed.

“Nonsense,” Tamlin commented as he walked over to the bed, leaving a wet trail behind them.

“I could help you with the court, I could do so much.”

He lowered her onto the silky sheets. “You are already helping me.”

She looked to the side out of embarrassment.

“I could help you in other ways.”

“I am the high lord. I think I’ll manage. Besides, I want to take care of you. Not the other way around.” He kissed her breasts.

“Well, then I guess I’ll have to stop taking care of you.”

“That,” he warned “is an exception.”

His kisses started to get lower and lower. “Which we will get to later.”

“I just think that I should train, get better at using it.”

But Tamlin did not respond.

[follows-the-bees]

A scene that I think captures the whole feel and thesis of this show (and specifically season two) is when Archie and Jim first kiss.

We start with Jim and Archie in the hidey hole protecting Izzy. Frenchie, now in the first mate role, tells them to "start with his leg, see where it goes" to save Izzy from the infected gunshot wound, leaving to get the first-aid kit.

Archie and Jim do just that and proceed to sit down in front of a passed-out Izzy, tissues in nostrils to keep the stench away. Pointedly, Jim is still holding onto Izzy's leg and is inspecting it. We get comedy thrown in during and right after the amputation. Joking about which leg to amputate, stating that "oh, he's a gusher," and Jim casually inspecting the leg.

And that is followed immediately by a sweet speech. Jim tells about the good times of the ship, their time with the old crew and specifically Olu. They call Izzy "a dick, but he's their dick" claiming him as part of the crew, the community, and reinforcing that at the heart of it, all of these characters technically aren't "good people," they are pirates, survivors, they've done a lot of morally ambiguous things, but that doesn't mean that they are past saving, past loving, past living.

This part of the scene shows us the community that the crew has for each other, how they are hiding Izzy and trying to keep him alive. It also shows the violence of this way of life. Violence in the past season has always been there but more in a cartoony way — people recover from being gut-stabbed fairly quickly and mysteriously or to the clearly defined bad guys. This season is no longer the fantasy (Note the gusto!) of being a pirate, but the reality of it (Our characters can get fundamentally hurt.)

((And Izzy living from this wound still semi fits the cartoony part of S1 because in reality he would have died from it, but in the show he lives from the wound and recovers fairly quickly, but we don't shy away from the mental and physical trauma of it like S1 would have done.))

As the scene continues, Archie leans in to kiss Jim and when asked why, replies that she likes Jim's optimism. We see here how Archie is used to the real-life violence of pirate life. But Jim, who was raised to be a killer as to seek revenge, has changed into a softer person. One who will try to save the life of the person who was once not enemy but enemy-adjacent. Someone who now tells Fang stories, one who remembers and implements the ways of their old captain to find healing and community in this dark situation.

This moment between Jim and Archie is as sweet and romantic as it can get for two people covered in blood, holding an amputated leg, and noses stuffed with tissue.

The kiss abruptly ends when Frenchie returns with Blackbeard. The moment turns ominous as Blackbeard laughs at them and tells them to leave.

But even in this small scene, comedy still shines through. From Frenchie's lie about not knowing this place existed to Blackbeard's "take the fuckin' leg."

And the scene ends (or where I am ending it for this analysis) with Jim bravely telling Blackbeard that Izzy was his friend.

This whole sequence shows the softness and heart of the show and of these characters in the middle of dark and violent circumstances,

Jim is turned away from the violence and toward the community/romance/comedy while still holding onto the other side the reality/violence, while on the floor with Archie. They then take that evidence of violence turned community/heart with them, balancing all the tones.

This two minute scene truly encapsulates all the elements of the show: humor, romance, community, all forms of love, and the grit of injury and piracy. And I find it fascinating that such a short scene can do all that and why I think it's a perfect example of the themes of the show.

[nerves-nebula]

The loose stitches voiceboxes are infecting my brain. There is a massive breach of bodily autonomy, a forced on "cure" of being mute, all in the effort of enforcing a single method of communication

Thats why I hate the concept of a "common language" in fantasy stories- it implies that all these cultures and creatures just *happen* to speak a shared language. Like English is widely spoken but we don't fucking call it common. English only spread this far due to imperialism- so when I see one language being called common I wanna bite

Which is also why I like loose stitches take on it, there is one "common" language spoken but its not cause people just happen to speak it, its enforced- and its not just the spawnlings housed by the organisation who are forces into this, its the workers aswell- implying to me that this is enforced by some greater state

Thats not even getting into how these voiceboxes could be tamperd with, or even monitored- for all we know this voicebox could be keeping a record of what people are saying- but that's getting into conspiracy theory territory and implies that the state is more competent than it actually probably is

Tldr dotty is being gaslight into believing that these voiceboxes are just there to help and I'm getting so pissed on its behalf

HEHEEHEHEHEHEE <<33 im SOOO glad you've noticed this. when i first conceived of loose stitches i was like 14 and the world was supposed to kinda be utopian, i wanted it to be a story about being born into the best possible world that cares about you from day 1 and STILL not fitting in, and then y'know, finding your place in it or whatever.

but as i learned more about SOCIETIES and HISTORY and OPPRESSION i started picking at the threads of the world I built and realized there was a lot of room for discussions of other stuff that was important to me, like ableism, colonialism, and how my desire to find people "just like me" might be more counter productive and divisive than I'd originally thought.

under the cut for things that i don't consider spoilers but ARE world building facts that haven't been brought up in the comic yet, so if you dont wanna read that uhhh yea

funfact that im not sure i'll get around to addressing in canon but is relevant to you mentioning a "common" language: people spawn knowing an accumulation of various languages spoken near their spawn point, often times they lean heavily towards one language/culture or another. if someone spawned in an area an spoke a different language than the people who found them, or was more familiar with different customs, it was customary to just go "oh this one's not for us ok lets send them to the people nearby that they are clearly influenced by"

since spawnlings are basically this worlds children, it was seen as kind of EVIL to just... remove them from the culture they've been spawned into. that's basically like stealing a baby.

spawnlings speaking different languages doesn't happen nearly as much anymore as there are way fewer spoken languages now :)

it should also be noted that language in loose stitches is an expression of communication via magic. not everyone who can speak aloud has a functioning mouth and vice versa, so there aren't as many languages as there are in our world in the first place. regardless, there's way less of them now!

[saucyjothoughts]

Currently thinking about virgin!boo dating Kris and they've never really had access to someone else's body so one day Kris just lays there, letting boo undress him and feel his skin and look at him from different angles, just so they get used to it. One of the many baby steps leading up to the day they're ready. Oof might write something in the future but just needed to get this off my chest

This is the loveliest, cosiest, safest misli, darling Anonyboo. Would love to read this written by you if you ever do so.

(nsfw under the cut)

On his bed in the afternoon. You were going to take a drive today but the weather is shitty so you've just been hanging out at his place, just the two of you, building your shared playlist and making plans for a brighter day. It's kinda nice to have some peace actually; the freedom of cancelled plans. Your life has been so complicated recently but what you have with Kris is simple.

You're making out softly to one of your favourite songs (which very quickly also became one of his favourite songs). His lips are soft and warm and his kisses are punctuated by smiles and compliments and laughter. You're stroking a hand up and down his arm - hairier than your own - and he just lets you caress him, keeping his hands mostly to himself aside from playing in your hair a little, pulling you close intermittently.

"That feels wonderful," he sighs to you.

Maybe today would be a good time to...? You know he's done it before and trust that he'd look after you, that he wouldn't let it hurt. It's something you want, and something you want with him. Just maybe not... Maybe not...

He senses your hesitation.

"Wanna go put a movie on instead?" He gives you an out. But you really don't, you can't think of anywhere you'd rather be than here with him. You tell him so.

He kisses you again and soft rain against the window plays a backing track to your playlist.

Your hand snakes under his shirt and his breath hitches a moment as you run your palm across his torso. It isn't the first time - you've stolen touches like this before and even seen him topless a couple of times, occasions that have fed your fantasies over and over.

"Can I take this off?"

You're tugging at the bottom of his shirt and he gives you a nod. It's the first time you've had his bare torso so close, and all to yourself.

He lets you gaze over him, your hand running over the lines of him, broad shoulders and smooth flesh covering lean ribs and - when he flexes for you - firm abs. He waits patiently for you to drum up the courage to play with one of his nipples, and then the other, and rewards you by rolling towards you for a cuddle where you can feel all of the muscles of his bare back ripple under your touch. His body feels big next to yours but like this, he's not intimidating at all.

In fact, you feel so comfortable with him that your hands mirate southwards to squeeze his butt and his body shakes with laughter when he feels what you're doing.

"What's so funny?"

"You're being naughty."

"It's a nice butt," you shrug.

"Thank you."

A few more giggles and reassurances later, he's lying on his front in just his boxers. He looks comfortable, like he's waiting for a massage, and you take your time taking in the sight of his curves, your hands exploring the backs of his thighs and the dip of his spine and the little dimples above his butt, noting all of his freckles and where his hair grows.

There's a dreamy smile on his face, his eyes closed, letting you do what you want. And what you want is to straddle his thighs. You climb aboard and this time he doesn't laugh, just flashes you an encouraging smile. His ass right in front of you, between your legs. You're not brave enough to pull his boxers down - not yet - but he sighs gently as you knead your hands into the meat of his butt, slapping at him just enough to make a good noise.

When finally satisfied, you lie flush against his back for a moment, kissing his shoulder and tousling is hair before rolling away. He turns on his side to face you, cheeks a little more pink than usual and propping is chin up on his knuckles.

You can't help but look down at his body and there's a new bulge against the front of his boxers. Does he touch himself thinking about you, the same way that you touch yourself thinking about him? He looks so pretty in this light, his hair so soft and his eyes so warm. He's beautiful and you want to be close to him. Your heart thundering in your chest, you want to ask him if you can touch it, if he'll get it out for you, if he'll show you how to make him feel good.

But he interrupts your drifting imagination with a smooch on the lips.

"Let's go get snacks and put a movie on."

You don't want to; you want to stay here on his bed forever. But he's decided that this is enough for now. You lay in his embrace, listening to the rain, for a few minutes before getting up. You love cancelled plans.

[immortal-x-mortal-tourney]

Bonus Battle Couple Poll: Mod being self indulgent

I love battle couples but it wouldn't be fun if I nepotismed all of my faves into bracket (also they would've been swept and I would've been sad). So have a fun bonus poll! Also I infodump a little.

Voidblade (Cradle) VS Franticshipping (Pokémon Manga) VS Winterphoenix (My OCs)

Voidblade (don't think that's the widely accepted ship name but I saw it used once and I think it's cool)

Lindon and Yerin start out as strangers who team up due to circumstance, but they grow into friends and eventually, an incredible battle couple. Cradle's a progression fantasy series where everyone's trying to get stronger. Lindon starts out behind, but once he catches up he and Yerin complement each other in battle and fight to advance together.

A key moment in their relationship is when they're forced to face each other in an arena where they can't die and once Lindon gets over his reluctance to hurt Yerin, they absolutely enjoy the opportunity to fight each other without holding back. Yerin's fighting style leans more towards brute force, while Lindon literally has a spirit in his brain who helps him strategize to win fights before they begin. The two of them fight gods together. Upend the order of the world. Lindon gifted Yerin a sword forged from body of a dreadgod and immediately afterwards gave her a ring. Battle couple of all time.

Franticshipping

Ruby gave up battling because when they met as kids because the way he'd fought had scared Sapphire, but he fights again to protect her. Sapphire dedicated herself to growing stronger because she'd felt helpless that day and didn't want to be a burden again, wanted to be able to protect herself.

When they were on Mirage Island they trained to double battle with each other with Juan, Tate & Liza. Their Kirlias evolved (Ruby's into a Gardevoir, Sapphire's into a Gallade) at the same time. They rode Rayquaza into space to destroy the meteor and save the world together, and they did it while wearing contest outfits. I love them so much.

Winterphoenix

Okay I have barely written anything for them but I rotate them in my brain constantly. Holly's a superhero who never got to live a normal life because her father trained her since birth to take over his magical guardian of order duties, and when he died when she was fifteen she dedicated herself to protecting the world with barely any time for herself. Reid was a normal guy until he ended up kidnapped by a villain trying to exploit the powers Reid did not know he had.

Holly saved him, and after some reluctance Reid became a hero and together they took down the bad guys. Since then they've been a heroic duo, and Reid's eased Holly's burden – and ironically Reid, the fire guy, taught his gf with ice powers to chill. She showed him how to be a hero. He showed her how to be human.

[cosmicjoke]

I have just come to notice something about this fandom from seeing your comments and reblogs about the reactions to the discussion of bad boy as well as seeing other reblogs from other blogs. My realization is that some if not most self shippers are no different from some radical shippers out there. When you, cosmic, complain about the mischaracterization of Levi, I know it is from a genuine place because you have always only discussed canon Levi. I once thought that was the same about self shippers who come at and attack non self shippers for mischaracterizing Levi's character whenever he's put in a ship with other characters in the show, but after bad boy and their weird reactions to the discussion of Levi's trauma in bad boy because for whatever reason it somehow affects the way they always potray Levi as a walking sex God domineering 24/7, I have come to realize that their cry of mischaracterization was simply jealousy of the characters Levi is shipped with(which is crazy because imagine being jealous of cartoon characters) and not genuine dislike for mischaracterization of Levi's character like they use to hide behind and it's interesting to see such self exposure to say the least. Because why else are they so adverse to Levi's canon trauma if they are such champions of keeping Levi's character in the canon realm.

Yeah, it's interesting.

I'm sure it's a minority, just like with people who ship Levi with other characters. But, as always, it's a LOUD minority, and they give a bad name to the entire community in the process of acting the way they do.

But this is partly why I've never enjoyed shipping discourse, or talking about ships, whether that be self-shipping or shipping Levi with other characters. Because, outside of all of it, Levi isn't romantically involved with anyone, and in truth, shows no romantic leanings or inclinations toward anyone. He's one of the ONLY characters, in fact, who doesn't. Almost every other, major character is shown, at some point, showing some sort of romantic interest in someone, or having reference made to a past romantic interest.

But not Levi.

I can't think of a character, then, whom shipping discourse, of ANY kind, could apply to less.

It has literally zero bearing on his character.

And so I don't understand the obsession with placing Levi into romantic fantasies at all, or seeing him through the lens of romantic interest, or why these people insist on bringing their shipping fantasies into discussions revolving around Levi's ACTUAL canon character. There's no place for it there, at all.

If Levi's actual, canonically established character contradicts whatever version of him you've come up with in your head while shipping him with... whoever, then you need to be able to admit that Levi himself isn't who you're fantasizing about, whether that's with yourself, or another character.

And if you can't do that, and instead you rage against anyone for daring to discuss who Levi actually is in canon, and what he's been through in canon, because it disrupts your ability to envision him in your preferred ship, then you need to take a step back and engage in some self-reflection.

I get the feeling sometimes that shippers think Levi belongs exclusively to them, and so they can mold him into whatever they want him to be.

But Levi is a character completely separate from any of us. He exists in a fully established world, and is a fully developed person within that world.

People engage in so much projection, and it's incredibly irritating. They can't see past themselves, and often treat Levi as an avatar for their own thoughts and feelings. They think Levi should be whatever they are, or whatever they desire him to be. But, again, Levi isn't any of us. Levi is Levi.

If these people can't accept that, then maybe they need to move on to some other character that more closely resembles themselves, or whatever fantasy they've conjured in their heads about him.

[thewolvesof1998]

8, 9 & 12 for the fanfic asks 🥰

8. Bed sharing or roommates AU?

Ohhhhhh it's got to be bed sharing, maybe it's the fact that it's canon that they shared a bed during quarantine, but Buck and Eddie sharing a bed makes me feral, especially if it starts out platonic. In general, I love the one-bed trope. I really want to write a bed sharing fic, like there's only one bed on a road trip to El Paso or combining that with fake dating and they have to share a bed, maybe they're on holiday with Eddie's family and they're faking a relationship to get them off Eddie's back and there's only one bed...

Fic recs for bed sharing: Pillow Talk by Veronae if you say it with your hands by hammersmiths Drowning in Dreams (You're My Raft) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels between a scar and a heartbeat by withoutthetiger Weigh You Down, Lift Me Up by catwalksalone to be found by ZainClaw Home is where his bed is by LongConvolutedSimiles

9. Fake dating or arranged marriage?

For Buddie I love fake dating, I love those two idiots not really having to do much more to convince people that they're dating and then they realise that they're in love and they've practically been dating this whole time! or even better when one of them is pinning and in love and they agree to fake date the other to help and it's just full of Angst. In general, I probably lean towards the fake dating trope, though I'm not against the arranged marriage trope when it comes to fantasy. There might be a little bit on arranged marriage in my Mafia AU.

Fic recs for fake dating: The Best Lie is a Truth (My Best Mask is My Face) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels breathe out now and we fall back in by withoutthetiger trust me to take you home by heartbeatdiaz I Didn't Know I Was Lonely 'Til I Saw Your Face by HMSLusitania right in front of your eyes by rainbow_nerds Arm Candy by Princessfbi Take What You Need, Darling by allyasavedtheday hoping it gets to you by hammersmiths i'll call you mine by coupe_de_foudre

12. Friends with benefits or secret dating?

This one was hard, I love both of these but I think I lean more towards friends with benefits because I just love the angst. Especially when they realise they've fallen in love and think the other doesn't love them back. Secret dating is hot though and I might write a fic about them dating and fucking behind the team's back. But also secret dating in AU's ugh I love that.

Fic recs for friends with benefits: wishing to be the friction by ipretendtobesane Tripped and Fell into the Deep End (Wading is for Suckers) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels Kiss Me Before it's Over (If Only for a Minute) by Bob_loblaws_lawblog 

Fic recs for secret dating: baby, how'd we end up here? by withmeornotatall let me see them tan lines by 42hrb i (for)get you by withmeornotatall steppin' into fate by r_holland

Thank you for your asks 💖

fanfic asks

[therhythmafterthesummer]

ooooooo

can we talk about werewolves and sexuality????!!!! So we know Chris is Demi, prior to pretty what did he imagine during his ruts (either his own imagination to get him through it or simply what his alpha fixated on)? Was it like recent crushes, omegas in general? When/if he watched portion during it did he have a tendency to lean towards curvy to fat female bodied persons? Had he ever had gay thoughts?

we know bin can swing both ways, what were his rut pre ginger like? Did the body he prefer vary? Did gender ever matter??

Minho, our weird wolf. So we know he’s basically always been in love with kitten. Obvi love and physical attraction are two different things. Do you think those physical attraction feelings sprouted after he was turned or before? In my head, if he wasn’t a wolf he would 100% be ace. So still 100% infatuated with kitten, pretty repulsed by sexual contact but would eat her out to make her happy. Penetrative sex tho, hard pass

long story short: at what point dies the wolf “interfere” with the persons sexuality? Does it vary from person to person? Can the wild and person completely disagree with “suitable” partners? (These go for omegas too if you’ve thought about it!!!)))

yes yes YES WE CAN.

the wolf and the person are, ultimately, one. in this universe the wolf side of a werewolf wouldn't want something that the human side didn't already desire.

like, yeah we've seen Chris fight with himself over the thoughts he had towards his roommate (our prettiest), but it wasn't because he didn't feel that way, just that his animal side was just too real and unfiltered with himself and Chris wasn't ready to hear any of it lol. same with Minho and his thoughts about kitten when he went into rut.

so it's not like their inner wolf would push them to do something they didn't want. the inner wolf would only disagree with a partner chosen by the human side if that human part of them already had doubts of their own. the inner wolf just brings attention to that that is already consciously or subconsciously in a werewolf's mind, if that makes sense?

i can see any of our wolfies going like "anyone that tells you they've cheated because 'their inner wolf made them do it' is lying" or something LOL.

now, going into the other questions...

i don't think Chris imagined anyone in particular during his ruts. he probably had generic thoughts related to his needs (breeding, physical contact, etc) and his preferences (ahem, thighs......), but it was probably difficult to picture someone that he'd specifically would've wanted to experience this with. any fantasy he could've possibly had that might've involved another person was probably a completely faceless experience (until pretty). this applies to his rut, his regular "man" needs were probably a bit different in which he could picture someone that he'd been crushing on or someone he was dating (his rut-driven brain was incapable tho). about him and porn... you're probably right. whether he realised it or not, he probably gravitated towards people with that body type (subconscious foreshadowing ig lol) and when it comes to gay thoughts... yeah. i can never fully bring myself to formalise Chris' ex partners (as in how many, etc), but i'm sure that a man must've been involved at some point. even if it was someone he just dated for a bit or maybe someone he just experienced the wonders of a good snog and heavy petting with.

now, Bin... i don't think gender ever mattered to him (designation... maybe at some point). he just wanted a warm body there with him no matter the gender or values of the person attached to it lol. his ruts were probably pretty standard. unlike Chris, he could spend it with other people, and he could fantasise with specific people if he was on his own, it was probably normal for him so i don't think this was something he struggled with. with that being said... i feel like what he could have struggled with was his own needs. he's stubborn, and more than likely during his rut he was trying to force himself and negate thoughts that his inner wolf had. like... imagine being a person who subconsciously yearns to bottom and having to fight yourself during a time like your rut because you couldn't face those thoughts of "put it up my ass right now and breed me or i'll die" while trying to put up the Dominant Alpha Façade with the person you're spending it with lol. not only that but doing it while dealing with body aches and high temperatures and so on. sounds like a nightmare. so i can see his ruts not being exactly... enjoyable at all times. not that they were bad the entire time, but... you know. it was a mixed bag. i'm sure he's having a much better time now.

interesting take on Minho! i like it, even if it's different from what i think. he was really young when he was turned, so by default i think the physical attraction aspect happened much after, but it's probably just... the natural course of things. puberty and all that. i don't think he'd be sex repulsed if he hadn't been turned, but i do think he would've been much less interested in sex than he became afterwards. hell, maybe lycanthropy was what made him kinky, otherwise he might've been super vanilla and would have a hard time finding the clit lol. however, he would've 100% still be attracted to kitten even if he hadn't been turned. this concept of not feeling sexual attraction or feeling sex repulsed if they weren't a werewolf.... hold that thought somewhere in the back of your mind..... it'll be relevant eventually i think 👀

as for the omegas... i haven't thought about it in depth yet skdfjhhskjdf. it's something i'd like to explore, especially with Jisung.

thank you for asking these questions, i had a blast thinking about the answers. hope you enjoy them, too!

[huffle-dork]

Swap into the CrystalVerse Chapter 25: Inverted

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix 

Read Swapboys | Read Inverted | Read The InvertedSwap Crossover |AO3 Link

Prologue | Switch | Stitched | PNPT | Septicheroes | Fantasy Masks | Horror | Inverted

Taglist: @brokentimewatch @di-diwata  

"Are you holding up?" Anti asks. They've officially reached Mirygale by now, though they're just on the edge of the surrounding suburbs and not into the proper urban area. "Need anything?" Anti looks Alt up and down, assessing his condition after so much glitching.

Alt has slumped against the nearest building he can, blinking colored spots out of his eyes. He giggles a bit breathlessly as his vision dips and sways. “ha ha… m’fineee~! J’st dizzy…!”

"...that's not fine," Anti states. "I don't know if your glitching has changed in the past eleven months, but you're not supposed to be dizzy after it." He shakes his head. "Okay. We're here. We've arrived in the city. I can start looking at the CCTV cameras for signs of your Chase. While I do that, we can sit down and take a break." He glances around. "I'm pretty sure this is a safe area. And if it's not, we can handle it."

“S’fine-“ Alt mumbles, not wanting to look too weak in front of Anti. However, when he tries to glitch to be back by Anti, his vision tunnels for a second and his knees buckle. His eyes roll for just a second as he attempts to catch himself back on the side of the building.

"Whoa!" Anti glitches forward and grabs Alt. He doesn't keep hold of him for long, just long enough to right him. Then he steps back. "Like I said, that's not fine." He glances around. "Look. Bus stop. Has a bench. We'll sit down there. I promised I'd explain things, anyway, this is just giving me an opportunity to."

Alt leans against Anti for the second he’s righted and then he nods slowly, shaking out the spots again. “M’kay-“ He slurs, trying to keep his eyes open. “Sorry-“ Ugh he wished he had Chase’s backpack- he always had some kind of snacks on him. He starts to stumble towards the bus stop.

Anti walks next to Alt for a little bit, then sighs and reaches out to help support him. The poor guy is clearly having trouble on his own. They reach the bus stop together and sit down.

Alt doesn’t protest to being helped- even though he normally would. He slumps against the bench and shakes out his head again.

"Right, you need energy, don't you?" Anti mutters. "Food. Um..." He thinks about it, then reaches to the side. His hand disappears into an invisible pocket for a second, then returns holding a handful of chocolate bars. "There. If you... need anything more specific, uh, tell me, I guess? I'm getting these from a petrol station store that won't notice snacks going missing so keep to stuff that'd be found in there."

Alt blinks up at Anti reaching- and then his eyes widen and shine with hungry excitement at the sight of the chocolate bars. He quickly starts to tear into them, hardly chewing but he nods to Anti. “These are great but- anything with protein can help- something that’ll keep me energized for a long time- maybe an energy drink?“ He stuffs another chocolate bar into his mouth as he mutters, “I was also just like- tortured in a lab for a day and all it gave me was water so I’m starving-“ He says casually, now properly distracted by actually being able to eat.

Anti nods along, sealing this to memory, and then stops. "Wait what the fuck?"

Alt blinks at him, pausing in his chewing. “…what?” His eyes then widen and he quickly looks away, “Uh f-forget about that for now! I can.. e-explain later… probably-“

"What fucking universes did you go to?! Gods." Anti shakes his head. "Okay, fine. You don't have to explain now. Protein and energy. Okay." He does the same thing, now pulling back a bag of beef jerky and an energy drink. "Here. Gods. Fucking hell."

“Too many…” Alt mutters as he takes the food from Anti and doesn’t look at him. “We’ve been… jumping for a while.” He cracks open the energy drink and takes a long swig.

Anti sighs. "Can't imagine... I know they're out there, but I can't go to other worlds on my own. The most I can manage is the Space In-Between. And my home of course, but that's a pocket dimension, not a universe, it's different. It must've been just one thing after another, huh?"

Alt nods, taking another bite of his chocolate bar. Though he laughs slightly. “that’s funny… you seem so powerful… I always thought you could go to other places.” He takes a drink. “to be fair we had help- a device we got from a place called IRIS.”

He fishes out of his pocket and shows it to Anti. “It was broken in the world we found it in… but all it needs is some of my magic and… then we can go anywhere… anywhere but Home though, it seems.” He laughs bitterly. “…it’s been like.., 5 days? A week? Honestly I’ve… lost track of time…” He grabs some of the jerky and eats some before pointing a finger at Anti. “Tell you what- catch me up on all the shit going on here… and I’ll tell you about what we’ve seen. Equal information exchange~!” He smirks.

Anti stiffens slightly at the mention of IRIS. But then he nods and moves on. "Yeah. I said I'd do that, didn't I?" He takes a deep breath. He doesn't need to, but it's steadying.

"After you guys left, Marvin started looking into other worlds. I don't think he found much, but hit led to him diving even deeper into his fucking... black magic studies. And I guess he decided he had enough of most of the others.

"He and Jameson teamed up against the rest of them. Jameson got Schneep on their side with that watch of his and... You saw Jackie's scars. Those were from Marvin. He... The two of them always hated each other. It's just that Marvin made the first move. The three of them got the jump on him and... captured him, I suppose. Moved their base from the house to this hotel area. Kept Jackie in the basement there for Marvin to fuck with for fun. He got out eventually, as you can see, but... the other two weren't so lucky.

"Jameson used his powers on Chase and Jack. Put them both deep under, deeper than he did with Schneep. Chase is providing them with money and victims by..." Anti laughs. "...by pretending to be Jack on his YouTube channel. But Jack is... He's... H-he's..." Another breath. "He's not dead, cause I'm still here. A-and I think that must've been on purpose. I think... Jameson wanted me to... I-I don't know. Realize I'm... not powerful? Jack is... You know about him, from the time we shared memories. He's... very important to me. And they turned him into a fucking doll." Anti curls up a little bit. "Just... a blank, empty shell. Something you can display. I-I don't know what they did but I can't... reach him. And then they moved him away. Somewhere with no cameras or anything, because I have no idea... where he is." Anti's voice broke. "Sam misses him, too, a lot. They don't... leave home much nowadays. They rarely did, but even less now." Another breath. "But... I'm going to find him. I'm going to fix him."

Alt listens closely, politely staying quiet. But, it all hits him like a truck. He gapes at Anti, especially when his voice breaks. He never even thought Anti could cry- He swallow thickly and looks down, “…a hotel? …my friend- she mentioned once… that her friend got dragged into this world… and was hurt in a hotel. By your guys.” He shudders, remembering things Huffle had told him.

"Yeah... I think I know what you're talking about. I was there for that. Maybe I met your friend, there were a few people there."

“That’s… thats fucked up. Massively fucked up… I’m so sorry Anti…”

Anti is quiet for a moment. Then he nods. "Thanks," he whispers. He reaches up and adjusts his scarf, briefly showing the bloodstained bandages underneath. "I'm not going to give up. Ever. I can be very patient, especially against people who deserve it." Wrath flashes in his visible eye, darkening its sclera to black for a split second. "But... that hotel. If we can't find your brother outside, we need to check there."

Alt shudders more at this and grips at his arm. “…knowing our luck lately? ….I wouldn’t doubt that he’s there…” He swallows shakily and reaches to slow pick a bit more at his snacks.

“Yeah… How bad has your luck been?” Anti asks, looking at Alt. “It looks pretty bad. You mentioned… a lab? And… IRIS.”

Alt takes a shaky breath and laughs, “Right.” He grips the energy drink can in his hands as he starts. “It all started when Mag took me into a secret room under our own freaky organization’s headquarters- they’re called SCLERA but I think they’re like IRIS. Anyways- he took me and Chase managed to glitch with us- and he found… an archway. Just like the one in the museum that brought us here the first time. He figured out it just needed black magic and my glitches to work. So he.. corrupted me- made me activate it. Chase luckily managed to come with us…

“Then we ended up in- in a universe we hadn’t been to. But with versions of us we met before- oh yeah it’s… it’s the guys I tried to call you about… they have a freaky version of Chase called Distorter.” He shudders and digs his nails into the can.

“… long story short there- Distorter led all of us to an old Iris facility- where we found the device we’ve been using. The TRVLR. The only problem is- we cant tell which universe is which. They’re all just labeled by jumbled up numbers and letters. So we’ve been just… picking one and hoping it leads back home.

“Obviously- none of them have been home yet. The second one we went to… had some really messed up guys. Their chase had… strings in his skin- and their Anti. They were… they were literally two people stitched together by black magic.” He laughs a bit more, but it sounds scared. “…you mentioned Amp earlier… Something like Amp happened to me there too.. I.. I glitched- and I.. I merged with them.” Instinctual tears fall down his face as he chuckles hollowly. “It was… it was awful.”

Anti's eye widens. "What?" he breathes. "You... you got stuck with some... being made of black magic?" He pauses. "...Stitches. I know of him. That world is close to this one. Gods, Alt. I'm... I'm so sorry. If it was like Amp... gods." Their thoughts had merged together. The pain and hatred that Alt must have endured in that fusion...

Alt laughs, sounding a little unhinged. “That’s what he’s called? Ha… how fitting…” He grips at the can more, denting it and feeling the metal poke into his skin. “…I could feel them- Marvin and Jackie… they were tearing apart- they were… it was horrible. To see their- pain and hate combining to make… that world’s version of me.”

He blinks more tears out of his eyes and tries to hide his shaking. “Of course it didn’t end there… but Um… we did manage to find a kinda nice universe after that? They had um… kid versions of us. Met a sweet teenaged Jackie and… a little budding magician Marvin.” He smiles at the memory, touching the trans pin on his jacket. “The magic there was… strange though. They called it greenlight. But- we even managed to help out a younger Anti… I felt so bad for him… he just- didn’t understand. How humans worked but… I think he just wanted to play.”

"...wait a... greenlight?" Anti blinks. "I--huh. I wonder..." He shakes his head. "Nevermind. This isn't the time. Well, that sounded alright. Some risk, I'm assuming with Magnificent tagging along, but not as bad as Stitches' world. "

Alt shakes his head with a smile. “No it was… it was nice. I… I adored that Marvin kid.”

He then sighs and tries to remember what came next. “Then… oh! Chase loved the next one- it was full of supers. Like- all of us had superpowers. There was a league and Jackie was the main hero there- like Bro is ours. We had to save their chase and… oh yeah there was… a really freaky Anti there too. He… he knew about me and chase just from our phones but- he didn’t actually wanna hurt us. Said he just wanted to observe. He was a freaky bastard.”

“Oh but then! The next one was wild! We ended up in a like- fantasy world- I think they called it Glasuil- Mag got captured by their king who was… also freaky. He like- actually controlled Mag. But I~ kicked his ass~!” He grins, pointing to himself with his thumb before focusing back on his retelling.

“But… I think being away from tech messed with the TRVLR… so it must have clicked on the wrong universe because that’s… that’s where the.. freaky doctor thing found me. Called itself Notarzt…”

"You ended up in THAT fucking world?!" Anti shouts. What follows is a series of curses in Irish and Gaelic. "Gods, Alt! Holy shit. Again, never been there, but I definitely know of that one. No wonder you're so fucking hurt. Gods. Fuck." He shakes his head. "I'm glad you got out of there. I thought things were bad here, but it must seem like a picnic after that."

Alt flinches at Anti’s shout and grips at his bandaged arm, shaking slightly. He swallows thickly. “Yeah I-it really sucked… met another freaky Anti there too. … it took us a long time to realize that those… things were more versions of us…”

He then sighs and gestures at the space around them. “And now! We’re here~” He ends his recap by taking another bite of a chocolate bar with a loud crack.

Anti can probably see how exhausted Alt looks by his posture alone. “…but we keep going. That’s what Chase always says… we keep going.”

Anti nods. "We keep going," he repeats in a quiet voice, scanning the city skyline as if it holds the solution to all his problems.

"If it helps, Alt... I might be able to help you figure out which world is yours. I know a lot about universes... and about how IRIS would number things. Maybe I could identify what they called yours."

Alt looks back at Anti with wide eyes. “R-Really?” He then laughs quietly and looks relieved. “That… that would be amazing. I wanna go home so. bad.” He starts to finish up his snacks and ball up the trash, feeling his energy coming back. “…we just gotta find my brother first. Anddd also unfortunately Mag…”

"Right. Him." Alt can practically hear Anti's teeth grinding in anger. "I guess he needs to go back to your universe. To preserve your stories, or whatever the fuck They said."

“Unless you wanna take him- but I think you have enough problems,” Alt chuckles bitterly.

Anti forces himself to calm down--god he wants to kill Magnificent, even more after hearing he started Alt and Bro's journey of suffering. But he'll restrain himself.

"Well... I've been running a background process to check the camera footage, and either your brother is somewhere without cameras... or he's in the hotel. They put up wards to block external eyes so I'm blocked off from there. Not blocked off from going in, though."

Alt listens and then gets up, throwing away all the wrappers and stuff from his snacks then shaking himself out, body shuddering with glitches. His eyes glow with renewed power as he looks back at Anti. “well… guess we got a hotel to check into then-“

Anti laughs. “Yeah. I guess we do. Come on.” He stands up and glitches farther down the street, waiting on a corner for Alt to join.

Alt smirks and then glitches right after Anti.

——————

It’s completely dark in the room, which is really disconcerting. Marvin had dragged him down the stairs with complete confidence. And while Bro was still recovering from the pain that his magic was causing, he locked a pair of chains around each wrist, binding him to the wall. And after a slight pause, he locked one around his neck too. A collar with a very short leash.

Bro struggles against the chains and then chokes in surprise at the collar being put around his neck. “Uh… this seems kinda kinky-“ He mumbles.

Marvin pauses. “Oh, you’re a talker.” He doesn’t sound particularly happy about that. “Fine. I can work with that.” Another pause. “I have no interest in that stuff by the way.” The defensiveness in his voice would’ve been funny if it didn’t have that uncanny echo.

“Oh yeah of course not-“ Bro mutters. “That’s why you do it without a second thought-“

Bro can see Marvin’s eyes glowing in the darkness. He can hear him walking across the concrete floor of the room but he can’t see what he’s doing. “Hmmm…” Marvin hums. A bit of bright violet magic gathers in his hand and splatters to the ground, where it clusters together and forms the shape of a translucent glowing cat. The cat construct shakes itself and walks closer to Bro.

Bro looks down at the cat with confusion and then tries to push himself back. “Uhhhh n-nice kitty…?”

The cat walks closer. It tilts its head to the side, looking at him. Well it doesn’t have eyes, but it feels like it’s looking at him. Then it places one front paw on Bro’s leg. Followed by another. Alt has a cat so Bro is probably used to this behavior. He is not used to the burning feeling that pops up where the cat construct’s paws touch him.

Bro blinks at the cat and then yells out as it climbs onto him. He kicks out his legs to try to get it off.

The cat digs its claws in but a couple tries knocks it off. “Thaaaaat’s not very nice, Chase,” Marvin says. “I didn’t know you were ailurophobic. Don’t worry! It just wants to check you out.”

“That’s a big word!” Chase comments with rising panic. “But if it means what I think it means no! I’m not scared of cats! I’m wary of freaky ones that burn me though!”

The cat recovers and approaches Bro again. A normal cat would be cautious of someone who just kicked it away, but this is not a normal cat. It hops right onto Bro’s lap, the burning sensation coming with it as it sits and curls its tail around it.

Bro yells out as the cat sits on him and grits his teeth, trying to figure out how to get it off.

“Well you better get used to it,” Marvin says bluntly. “If you can’t handle this you’re not going to last very long.”

As Marvin talks, the cat gets up on its hind legs and presses its front paws against Bro’s chest. Its head moves closer to his face like it’s sniffing him, though it doesn’t have a nose. Then it lies down, resting its whole body across his chest. There’s a slight hissing sound coming from it. Not like how cats actually hiss. Like the sound of water hitting hot metal.

Bro squirms under the cat and bites back any yells or whimpers that want to escape him. He can’t let Marvin think he’s already winning- he’s stronger than this… this is nothing!

The cat stays there for maybe a minute, the burning just feeling worse the longer it goes on. Then it abruptly dissolves into violet magic, which drips down Bro's chest before fading away.

Bro gasps quietly as the cat leaves, taking in careful breaths to try to work through the pain.

"Interesting," Marvin says. There's the clink of glass, and then Marvin approaches Bro, crouching down next to him. "Did you know you have a very unique soul?" The light from Marvin's glowing eyes makes his grinning face into a ghoulish mask.

Bro flinches as Marvin crouches next to him and tries to move away. “Ha- well, my aunts did always tell me I was special~” He tries to joke.

"So sorry for you," Marvin says insincerely. Before Bro can wonder what that means, Marvin takes out a long needle--and pricks him with it. And 'prick' really is the right word. Despite the length of the needle it barely goes into Bro's skin before Marvin withdraws it. He puts the needle in a glass tube filled with some sort of clear liquid, then caps the tube, stands up, and walks away.

Bro yelps out in surprise and blinks at Marvin in confusion. “..the hell does that mean? Is that a comment about my soul or my aunts? are you being homophobic right now? Or ableist cuz that’s not what I meant by ‘special’!”

Chase can see Marvin's eyes rolling perfectly well because of their glow. "The fact that you think I would be either of those things when my only friend is Jameson is insulting," he says, mostly to himself.

“To be honest- don’t know much about the guy besides the fact that he hypnotized my brother and my friends- but good for him being gay I guess? Does that give him a ‘not-as-much-of-an-asshole-as-you-could-have-been award’?” Bro says dryly.

Marvin’s voice drops into a deeper mutter that Bro can barely hear with his super hearing. "This is what happens when I try to be sympathetic, why did I even try..." Then he turns back to him. "You know, I waaaas going to just leave you here while we wait for the taglock to settle, but I guessss you'd rather stay and chat some more."

Bro’s eyes furrow as he hears Marvin mutter. “I mean- I like talking but you clearly don’t. But, at least I can ask some questions. …why were you trying to be sympathetic? What’s a tag lock? The fuck are you planning to do to me?”

"Heh." Marvin grins. "I didn't mean it literally, but sure. Why not." He walks up to Bro and crouches down again. Nothing in his hands this time. "For the first one. IIII know what it's like to be called that. It's not pleasant. IIII thought we might have something in common. Guess I was wrong. And a taglock is the process one uses to extract a tiiiny portion of your soul power and distill it into essence. Don't worry. Your soul recharges most power over time, such a small amount won't make a difference. As for the last question... I think it's more fun if it's a surprise. Fun for me, of course."

Bro frowns and looks at Marvin with a mixed look. ….he didn’t really feel like he was seen too different until he got his powers. And even then- his powers were a good thing. It was hard to deal with at first but… he’s glad he has them. He did get made fun of for being ADHD but- that didn’t really bother him much. “Hm- I guess our definitions of ‘special’ are different. I don’t think I was ever at your level.” He spits darkly. But then he blinks and furrows his eyebrows together, “Soul power? The fuck is that??”

Marvin's expression darkens as Bro speaks. "Don't worry about it," he says. "Just know you'll get it back. You probably already have it back. Now." Suddenly, his hand shoots out and grabs Bro by the hair, slamming his head back against the wall. "I want to try something out."

Bro yells out as his vision flashes white for a second- his head hitting the wall with a loud thud. But, he bares his teeth at Marvin and he lets power shine in his eyes. "Whatcha gonna do? Burn me with more cats?"

Marvin grins. "That was just a probe. Not really an actual spell." He adjusts his grip, now holding Bro's head in both hands, forcing him to look him in the eyes. "Not like this." Marvin's eyes glow brighter.

Bro writhes and tries to push out of Marvin's grip, a mounting fear weighing down his chest. He doesn't like the look in Marvin's eyes so he closes his, trying to shrink away.

"Scared?" Marvin adjusts his grip, prying Bro's eyelids open again with his thumbs. "You should be."

Bro's vision starts to swim. Fuzzy shapes start to form, repeating fractals, looping like a kaleidoscope, like seeing the angles of a room degrade and then rebuild and then degrade again. He couldn't put a color to the shapes if he wanted to, nor a type, but they're undeniably there. His head starts to hurt.

Bro swallows shakily as his vision swims with confusing patterns. He blinks rapidly, trying to make sense of it. "W-What are you doing?"

Marvin lets go of Bro's head. It's too late now. The spell is already in motion, even if he closes his eyes he'll see the patterns.

"Have you ever had a geometric nightmare?" Marvin asks. "That's not what they're called officially, but you'd know if you had one. This is it. But worse."

The patterns are repeating, growing. They're getting closer--no, Bro is getting closer, he's falling, falling, falling but he can't get his body to respond in time to fly. The shapes fracture, a swirl of swooping hills and broken glass. The rest of the room is wavering. To an outside observer, it looks like Bro's eyes are filled with concentric purple circles. To him, he feels sick. His ears are ringing. His head is aching, a sharp pain like the world's worst migraine.

Bro slumps against the wall, his eyes wide as he tries to blink past the patterns. He can't tell what's up and what's down. He tries to push himself up but that only makes him feel sicker. He shuts his eyes to try to get rid of it but it only makes it worse. "h-hngh-!" His head is killing him- what is this??

Smiling, Marvin stands up. "Have fun with that. I'll be back in... thirty minutes or so to dispel that." And he turns and leaves the room. Bro can hear him go up the stairs but with the darkness and the spiraling fractal patterns he can't see anything.

Bro shakily tries to push up after him. "W-Wait-!" He then crashes to the floor, his chains going taut and his collar choking him. He whimpers and curls up, alleviating some pressure and trying to breathe through the pain. He's a hero- he's strong-! He can handle this.. right?

The patterns show no sign of stopping their dizzying display.

-----------

Being a cat wandering the city at night is very different than wandering it as a person. For one, it's slower. Mag feels like he's been walking forever and he's still in this run-down part of town filled with condemned, vandalized buildings. Or maybe the urban maintenance of this city is just that bad.

Mag growls to himself. It was also slow because he was stabbed multiple times. Just his fucking luck. He tries his best to get around though- looking for a source of magic. Though... hm. If he's back in the universe with that goody two-shoes Anti- then his friends were... a problem. Sure, he got the upper hand on their Marvin and almost won. But, he had been defeated. And trying to steal from those idiots again might get him killed... So- guess the main focus was to try to find his cub. Again... this was starting to get old. He missed having the upper hand.

As he turns the corner, he feels... something. Something familiar. Not a magician, but... some sort of talisman. There's a small alleyway in between two buildings with a large dumpster. A man is shoving garbage bags into it while a second man watches.

Magnificent pauses at the feeling. Huh... he knows that feeling. He slinks into the alley's shadows and prowls closer, trying to get a better look.

The man moving the garbage bags is a stranger, but the other is very familiar. Wearing a red vest and black tie, looking very out of place in this environment, is this world's Jameson Jackson. He must be supervising the disposal of... what is in those bags? Magnificent's enhanced cat nose detects blood and something that smells like death.

Magnificent can't help but hiss at both the sight of Jameson and the smell. He knew the Jackson here was fucked up like all the others- but what the hell was he doing?

Jameson tilts his head... and looks over, right at Magnificent. {That is not the mind of an animal.} The voice says in Magnificent's mind.

Magnificent stiffens and tries his best to keep his mind blank as he backs up and hisses more at Jameson.

Jameson narrows his eyes at the cat... then sighs and turns away. This isn't the time to focus on that. Someone could come across at any minute. He'll keep an eye on that probably-magician and address it after they're done.

  {Hurry up, please,} he tells... ah, he can never remember their names when they're new. But whoever it is, he does speed up on command.

Magnificent blinks almost comically. ... he did not expect that to work. But soon he curls up on the ground, watching with narrowed eyes, his tail flicking. ...if Jackson is up to something- maybe it'll lead him to wherever Alt would be. Plus... he can't help but be curious. This was the magic that held his own fools- he never really got to observe how to worked closely. He can't deny its fascinating.

It's not long before the man finishes putting the bags in the dumpster. Jameson nods, satisfied. Schneep used to be better at disposal, but now he can hardly remember to. A distasteful side effect of the control but one Jameson would have to live with.

{Follow,} he says to his man, and he two of them start walking down the alleyway towards Magnificent. Time to check that out.

Magnificent freezes and backs up more into the shadows- trying to keep his mind blank again. Act like a cat... he's surprisingly good at that. He hisses as they approach then tries to dart past them-

{Grab it,} Jameson commands, and the man scoops up the cat as it runs past, holding it up for Jameson to see. {I thought you might be that man who took Mr. Parker away, but I don't think he would find hypnotism fascinating. And yet there's something familiar about you...} Jameson narrows his eyes.

Magnificent yowls and tries to scratch at the man grabbing him. He hisses and narrows his eyes at Jameson- and as soon as they make eye contact Magnificent tries to send a flood of hypnotic power into him.

The man doesn't let go, seemingly unfazed by the cat scratching. But then Jameson makes eye contact. He staggers backwards from the force of the power. {Oh--I remember you now--} He shudders, closing his eyes, but it's too late. Magnificent has control... but it's not as complete as he would have wanted. Or as it was last time. It's like there's some sort of... slippery coating around Jameson's mind this time, letting him struggle against Mag's power.

Magnificent grins and shifts back into his human form to prowl around Jameson. “Well~! Jameson Jackson… we meet again~! How good it is to see you again, pet~” He hums in amusement. He goes to grab Jameson by the chin then slams him against the alley wall, baring his fangs. “Feels like you have some new tricks up your sleeves… perhaps you can enlighten me to what all you and your devious friends have been up to, hm?” While he still has control- he tries to pry and pick apart Jameson’s memories, seeing what he can learn.

Jameson gasps, a voiceless cry. He tries to hide his memories at first, and then suddenly stops resisting, as if letting Magnificent take them.

What follows is a rapid slideshow of a descent into madness. Marvin's descent into madness, to be specific. Studying with a fervor, taking people to try spells on, stealing and killing and doing anything to get more spells. Mag sees Marvin approach Jameson about controlling the others, something he easily agrees to. First, the spell on Schneep, twisting his mind's tendency for delusions inward. Then, the capture of Jackie, who isn't expecting Schneep's betrayal. The moving to the hotel. The screams from the basement. Chase and Jack's hypnotism, making one the other and forcing the other to listless life. Marvin's continued descent. There's an incident in there with a handful of teens and young adults, that's strange--but even stranger is the more recent memory of just a couple weeks ago. When a ripple of magic spread out from Marvin's apartment in the hotel. Jameson rushed over... and saw Marvin grinning at him with glowing purple eyes, hands full of black violet magic that, even in a memory, gives off this feeling of wrongness that makes the hair on Mag's neck stand up. "I've done it," the memory says. "This is it. This power... I can do anything."

Magnificent breaks the connection and staggers back a bit, processing the information. Then, he throws his head back and laughs, grinning at Jameson. “I see… my stupid doppelgänger has let himself be consumed, hm? How amusing… fascinating to see really~! Maybe I should observe up close…” He muses.

Jameson shudders. {Is it "letting" it happen if one jumps in headfirst...?} The thought drifts into Mag's head, then fades away as his control tightens again.

Magnificent chuckles, “Those of us with stronger will power know how to reach the edge but not fall in~” He sings with confidence. He turns to Jameson and smiles, “Jackson- would you be a dear and lead me to your base of operations?”

He resists for a moment before nodding jerkily. {We... walked here. It's not... too far.} He continues down the alleyway towards the street. The man he had hypnotized just stands there.

Magnificent hums with a smirk and then glances at the man. He makes a shooing motion at him. “We have no more use for you- get lost.” He then follows after Jameson.

Jameson nods, unwillingly agreeing with Magnificent. The hypnotized man wanders off. The other two head down the street, walking to the hotel.

-----------

Anti suddenly stops. "Wait. I forgot." They've reached a part of town surrounded by restaurants and short hotels. They all look fairly old, overtaken by urban decay. The hotel where the others are staying can't be too far now.

Alt pauses and turns to look at Anti, raising an eyebrow, “Forgot what?”

"Marvin." Anti looks at Alt with a serious expression. "Do you know what a Void is? Do they exist in your world? Well, the name might be different..."

Alt furrows his eyebrows and tries to think, “mmm… I feel like my mentor has mentioned something like that… something- consumed completely by black magic? If I had to guess-“

"Yes, that's it exactly." Anti nods. "A couple weeks ago I ran into Marvin while he was out looking for more magic. Or... what used to be Marvin. He's become a Void now. Which means that not only is he much, much more powerful, but he has even less impulse control than he used to and is pretty much running on straight emotion, not logic."

Alt shudders at the description of Marvin and swallows thickly. “Okay… sounds horrifying-“ He does hum in thought though, “…running on emotions- we can work with that though.”

Anti nods. He keeps walking as he talks--more proof that they're close. "We could. I'm sure he's just as easy to distract as he used to be, if not more so. But remember to be careful. That Void magic of his burns like acid."

Alt walks after Anti and shudders again at the mention of his magic. He grips at his bandages and nods. “noted… I would very much like to avoid that-“

"Oh shit, wait, something else." Anti's visible eye widens. "They have the whole place rigged up with a... what's the word? It disperses gas throughout the building. I forgot you breathe. We need a solution for if they decide to use that..."

“They fucking rigged the place with gas?!” Alt gasps. Then he curses and throws up his hands, “Of all the times it would have been nice to have my mask! But nooo Mag had to kidnap me from the comfort of my home where I don’t wear it! Fucking asshole-!” He grumbles.

Anti blinks. "It's like a bandanna, right? Here." He takes his scarf off and passes it over. "That should work."

Alt blinks in surprise and holds up his hands. “hey I can’t just… take your scarf- don’t you need it?”

Anti smiles sadly. "No, not really. Just to hide this." He gestures at the bandages around his neck. "People find it disturbing usually. I do like my scarf, so I'd like it back, but I think having you not pass out if they flood the halls with sedative is a higher priority."

“….I guess I can’t argue with that…” Alt mumbles. He looks at the scarf and then loops it around his neck. He’s not one of scarves usually but- it almost feels like his mask and it helps bring him a bit of comfort. “Heh- wonder if they’ll get us confused easier now.” He laughs.

"Heh. Probably." Anti smiles. "Now come on. We're almost there."

-----------

Bro lost track of time a while ago. The fractal shapes covering his vision haven't wavered once, nor has the pattern repeated. Or... has it? Maybe? The pain hasn't wavered either.

Bro is curled up as much as he can while being restrained. He gasps for breath, grunts in pain and is genuinely just trying to keep going. Keep going- keep going. He’s never felt so fucking sick and dizzy though- it’s like a screw is being drilled into his skull. Part of him is hoping he’ll pass out- but some part of him also whispers that he won’t be that lucky.

He's in too much pain to hear the footsteps coming down the concrete stairs. But he does notice the purple glow that cuts through the shapes, increasing until they burn away. The pain is gone, but its shadow remains.

Marvin is holding his head again, the same way he did to cast the spell in the first place. His eyes fade back to their faint glow as he smiles. "You don't look so good."

Bro cries out as he’s grabbed and then pants in Marvin’s grip. He glares at him and snorts. “J-Jeez- wonder what that is…? Not like I just had my head fucked up by s-shapes or anything-“

Marvin grins. "Noooo, of course not." He's being a little shit and he knows it. "Do you need a moment? Hmmm?" He conjures a handful of black-violet magic, casting a purple glow around the scene. He's holding something else in his other hand but Bro can't quite see it.

“Oh no by all means keep it coming, cat bitch.” Bro drawls out sarcastically. “Why even ask? I know you’re not going to-“

"Correct." Marvin holds up the item in his other hand. It's the glass tube from earlier, but now the liquid inside has turned from clear to opaque. It's hard to tell in the purple lighting, but it's a pastel orange color. "Can you guess what this is?"

Bro leans against the wall and raises an eyebrow at the tube. “Some magic bullshit- if I had to guess.” He snarks tiredly.

"Oh come ooooon, I told you about it earlier," Marvin goads. "Did you forget? I guess your memory isn't that great right now."

“No, I just don’t care-“ Bro tries to quip.

Marvin shakes the tube. "This is your soul essence, Chase." He popped the cap off. "Let's see..." He tilted the tube, sending a drop of the essence into the magic he's holding. Bro feels a sudden sharp pain in his chest. Right in the center.

Bro yells and doubles over, clawing at his chest with a choked gasp of pain.

"You should care," Marvin says. "I wiiiiill admit that the reaction you just had? Very strange. I've never done this before, but I'm sure the spells would list that." He pours a couple more droplets into the magic, Bro feeling the pain again every time, and then caps it. The color of his magic is different now. Very slightly, but it's a bit more red, a bit lighter in tone.

Bro screams out and braces his arm against the floor, bending on his elbow. The other hand clutches at his chest as he heaves through the pain. Bro struggles to lift up his head and then looks at Marvin’s magic with wide eyes. “Wha… what did you do?!”

"I've just infused my magic with your essence," Marvin says, grinning like a madman. "Normally this could mean I could heal you better, or find you easily with a tracking spell. But I want to see what else I can do." He puts the glass vial away and presses his handful of magic against Bro's chest.

“T-That’s insane why would you want to do-?” Bro protests before the magic gets put on his chest. During the awkward moment of silence Bro finally laughs nervously. “…can you not like- try to magic my tit…?”

Nothing happens. Marvin tilts his head, looking thoughtful. Then he stands up, slowly pulling his hand away. The magic stretches into a rope. As Marvin steps backwards away from Bro, he feels a strange pulling sensation in his chest, right where that pain was.

Bro regrets trying to joke as the strange pull makes him let out another choked gasp. He squirms and tries to back up. “Ew ew stop!! That feels fucking freaky!”

Marvin grins. "Does it?" He gives the magic rope a tug. The pulling increases to the point of near-pain.

Bro cries out as he's pulled. He tries not to show how much this is freaking him out. He knows next to nothing about magic- no matter how much Alt explains it to him it just doesn't click. So he's confused beyond all belief right now.

"I wonder... If I remember, your Anti can use electricity, right?" Marvin's free hand lights up with purple electricity. "Has he ever shocked you? Does it feel like this?" He grabs the magic rope with both hands. Violet magic races down it and into Bro.

Bro doesn't even get a chance to answer Marvin's questions before his body is flooded with electricity from the rope. He screams and spasms, crashing into the wall and craning his neck as his body writhes out of his control.

Marvin laughs. His grip on the rope slackens but he doesn't let go. He tilts his head, teeth bared in a smile, eyes alight. "What about this?" One hand crackles with icy power. Before Bro can recover, he sends that down the rope as well.

Bro yells again, now curling up and trying to claw at the burning cold invading his chest.

And he laughs again. "Oooone last try." The final magic is flame, burning violet. It races down the rope.

Bro crashes to the floor, screaming out in agony as he writhes on the ground, straining to try to get away from the burning pain.

Marvin drops the rope, waiting for Bro to calm down, watching with a smile.

Bro blinks pained tears out of his eyes as he heaves and tries to get his senses back. The room tilts and sways and he can hardly make Marvin out through the dizzying vision. "y-you... you bitch...!" He tries to snarl, but he's too wracked with pain to make it sound threatening.

"Not very creative, aaare yoouu?" Marvin says. "Just... impulsive. Like another do-gooder I knew." His face curls in disgust. "I hope the wounds killed him." He leans back against the wall. "Well, let me ask you a question, Chase. What would you prefer? To keep going like this? Or... I could hand you over to Schneep. He was really excited about this. Or maybe I could even hand you to Jameson. Now that I have your soul essence, he could put you under really... really... deep. In all honesty, that one's probably the least painful option for you. Dolls don't feel pain."

Chase struggles to push himself up on shaking arms. He bares his teeth at Marvin, blue trying to light up in his eyes. "Y-You don't s-scare me... W-Whatever you bastards do to me- it won't fucking stick. I won't become some doll or plaything or whatever you sick freaks have planned! Heroes don't get taken down- we keep going." He then laughs, sounding a bit unhinged. "And I know Alt is gonna find me. He probably will find your Anti too- and I know you fucks are scared of him. They'll kick your sorry asses!"

Marvin's eyes briefly flash brighter. "AFRAID of Anti? No, no. Never afraid. And even if we were, that was before. This is now. I've fought him with this new power and he ran like a bitch." He bares his teeth in a sharp grin. "As for your Anti, I'm sure Schneep will be excited for that, too."

Bro's eyes flash bright with blue power and he pushes himself up more, yelling in rage. "If you let that doctor bitch anywhere near Alt I swear to fuck I'll-!"

He stands up straight, moving around in the darkness. "Well, I offered you a choice and you threw it away. Though to be honest, I probably wouldn't have done what you asked anyway. So you're stuck here. With me. And with them."

He gathers magic in his hands and drops it to the ground--once, twice, three times. Each one splashes and forms another cat. Similar to the other one... but bigger. And these ones have claws and mouths with sharp, sharp teeth.

The hero cuts himself off as the new cats form and he slowly tries to back up. He growls and then tries to see if he can shoot Marvin with a concentrated electric blast.

Marvin sidesteps the blast, which cracks against the concrete wall, briefly illuminating the room. The walls are blackened and pitted like they were splashed with acid. Runes are drawn on the floor.

"Oh... I see then." His voice drips with venom. "Have the runes on those shackles worn off? Or does it simply not work on you? Either way, you've fucked yourself, Chase Brody."

And the three cat constructs pounce.

Bro yells out in rage- trying to pull against the shackles to go after Marvin. But, then, the cats pounce. And Chase screams, trying to pull them off or kick them or just- anything! But, soon enough he's back in a heap on the ground, crying out and curling up to try to protect himself.

Marvin leans back against the wall, watching with grim satisfaction.

-----------

The outside of the hotel blends in with the surrounding environment perfectly, not standing out at all. But Jameson walks up to it with certainty, stopping outside the front doors. {This is it,} he says reluctantly.

Magnificent smirks and then gestures towards the door, "Well, Jackson? Are you not going to show me around? I am a guest after all~" He grins.

Jameson grits his teeth and tries to resist, but doesn't quite manage to. He pulls a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocks the door, holding it open for Magnificent to walk inside.

Magnificent giggles and bows a bit to Jameson before striding in. He takes in the look of the lobby and whistles. "My! What a fancy place you all have found~!"

The lobby is empty. Schneep was in here earlier when Bro popped in, but not anymore. Jameson walks in behind Magnificent. {Where... do you want to see?} It's like the question is dragged out of him.

Magnificent hums and then grins at Jameson, “Why don’t you show me where Marvin learned all those interesting things, hm? Perhaps it can help me as well~”

Jameson nods jerkily. He heads around the long desk in the lobby towards a door behind it.

Then, suddenly, lunges for it, reaching under the desk for something--

But shortly after he grabs it he freezes again. A small knife clatters to the floor.

Magnificent yells and tries to stop Jameson- then he growls as he sees the knife fall. He throws out strings to wrap about Jameson as he walks towards him, tsking softly. "Jackson, Jackson, Jackson... must we play these games?"

Jameson stiffens as the strings wrap around him. He tries to struggle against them but Magnificent's power is still too strong. {Yes,} he says, giving him as much of a glare as he can muster. {I've lived too long to fall to an arrogant child like you without a token of resistance.}

Magnificent laughs and then kneels down by Jameson, pulling him up by his hair to grin wide in his face. "And yet, my age hasn't stopped me from overpowering you once again~ How is all that experience aiding you right now, old-timer?" He then throws Jameson's head down to the ground and whips out some magic to keep Jameson pinned. "If you're going to be so difficult- then I'll find all your secrets on my own. You can sit here and writhe for all I care." Mag snorts and then in a flicker of static he disappears behind the door Jameson was heading towards.

As he disappears, he doesn't see a small smile flicker across Jameson's face. He also doesn't notice the small button on the underside of the desk, right where Jameson pulled the knife from.

Behind the door are stacks and stacks of books, paper, manuscripts, and all sorts of writing. It's not very organized, but the sheer amount of knowledge is impressive.

Magnificent laughs quietly and starts to prowl through the stacks, looking for anything interesting.

The variety of these books and texts is also impressive. All very dark magic, of course, but it covers just about any subject. There is a particular emphasis on the body, mind, and soul of a person, and how to use it all to your advantage, how to manipulate it, causing pain. There are also a smattering of texts about other worlds. There is a diagram of the doorway that was used to take them here the first time.

This immediately peaks his interest and he heads over to the diagram- trying to see what Marvin has learned about the doorway... maybe it could help his future plans.

Not much, apparently. This diagram, handwritten in writing that is not Marvin's, talks about how the doorway is something that naturally appears in remote areas around the world. The runes on the stone side are in various runic languages, and some of them are unknown. The only one repeated is an angled spiral in the two top corners. All other known runes mean either "travel" or "world." The magicians have found that they cannot destroy the doorway with magic or conventional means, though there has been debate about doing something so drastic as dropping it in a volcano or putting it in the path of a powerful bomb.

Magnificent does find this interesting though- good to know they're naturally occurring... He could use that to his advantage some day. And them being hard to destroy is a good thing too. Satisfied with this he looks around to see what more there is about the other worlds-

Most of the materials about that are sparse, about theories on why there are other worlds and how to reach them. But there is a book--thin but there--that lists magicians' attempts to reach other worlds.

There is a faint hiss coming from somewhere in the room. But Magnificent is too engrossed in his search and studies to pay it much mind.

Magnificent hums slightly and leafs through the book, reading through the attempts. He doesn't suspect anything is wrong- the pull of knowledge got its hold on him.

Most of the attempts are nothing interesting, more listing what doesn't work than what does. Most often, people disappear in their attempts and never return. But there are a handful of methods that work. It's most reliable to scry into other nearby universes--though which universes are nearby will change, as it seems they tend to move around while still staying in the same general position. Interestingly, the stone doorway is listed as having the potential to send others to new worlds, but it activates rarely, seemingly on its own.

Magnificent finds this fascinating. And can't help but chuckle that he has found a way to power the doorway when whoever wrote this can't. It feels him with a sense of twisted pride. He only needs to learn to control it- or gain control of the device from Alt...

There is a white mist spreading across the floor.

The mad magician blinks and sees the mist spreading across the floor. He stumbles back, "What the?!" He tries to look for an exit.

The door behind him has closed. There is a sweet smell in the air that makes his head spin.

Magnificent staggers and fumbles to hold himself up against one of the stacks. He curses in Gaelic and tries to see if he can teleport out of here.

Can he concentrate enough to do that? Can he muster up the focus? Whatever this is, it's taking effect fast.

He can't concentrate enough- trying to teleport out of the room has him knocking into the wall on the other side of the room. He curses and then feels so dizzy, he crashes down to his knees. "Fucking Jackson-! I should have known...!" He growls angrily, trying to focus on staying awake.

The room continues to fill with sweet fog. Magnificent's head swims and concentrating becomes even more difficult, disconnected thoughts in a darkening mind.

It's not long before the fog overtakes the dark magician and he sinks heavily to the ground, passing out in the fog.

It takes a couple minutes for the fog to disperse. Then the door opens. Schneep leans in, pressing some cloth to his face just in case. Jameson is behind him, doing the same.

"Aha!" Schneep says. "I honestly was not sure that would work."

{He asked for knowledge, and his desire for it overtook him,} Jameson says. {Now then. What shall we do?}

"Marvin is using the practice for the other-universe Chase," Schneep says.

{Oh? He's here too?}

"Yes. I thought he was our Chase before and I was very concerned because he wanted to go outside. So I pressed the button."

{Good job.} Jameson reaches into his vest and touches his watch. {Chase is too sick to go outside.}

"He is," Schneep repeats dully. Then he blinks and is back to normal. "Well we will have to get Marvin for some magic restraints, but we can put him in the operating room for now. And switch out him for the other Chase when it is time."

{That's a great idea.} Jameson nods. {Let's do this now.}

[insomaniacat]

Asking you all of them from 1 to 20 ^^

OMG GLADLY

1. whos your favourite character

Kim Dokja 🫶 (fragment behavior)

2. what was your favourite arc?

Revolutionary arc my beloved

3. do you have a favourite quote?

Out of context would probably be "Even if there is an insurmountable wall between me and them, even if it isn't heard by the person beyond that wall, I can write something on the wall and at the very lease, the wall will change" from Jang Hayoung

In context would be when Jung Heewon said "I don't know anything about the future. However, I do know this. You said that you want to save this world? It's the same for me, too... That man is the world I wish to save" (that gave me goosebumps when I read that lol)

4. do you have any characters you wished interacted more?

Jung Heewon and Han Sooyoung! Han Sooyoung's relationship was basically the opposite of Yoo Sangah's with Jung Heewon. They developed quite a bit of beef with each other during the 3 year time skip while Kim Dokja was away, and it was really interesting seeing it get resolved due the Proof of the Stars scenario

5. if you could ask the authors any question, what would you ask them?

Probably if there's any experiences they've had that's contributed to orv's development

6. whats a headcanon you have that you absolutely believe is canon?

Han Sooyoung would've either a) gotten multiple degrees or b) attended lectures in various unrelated fields understand a topic before writing if the epilogues hadn't happened

7. conversely, whats a headcanon that youre just pulling out of your ass but you love anyway?

Not a very wild heacannon but Kim Dokja would've gotten into watching esports when he was a teenager but maybe after like two weeks of looking around at the major streamers he would've dropped it entirely because none of them looked like how he imagined Yoo Joonghyuk to look like

But he keeps up with esports news in a very casual way (probably the random news article here and there 💀)

8. whats your least favourite arc?

Peaceland arc 💀 I like all the arcs in orv but I felt like it dragged a lot. To be fair, I think a bunch of orv arcs drag on a bit, but Peaceland was so early on that it made me stop reading for a long time during my first read of orv

9. any popular thing in the fandom you love?

Not really a popular thing but more like a popular idea - that you can only take out as much meaning in a story as you are willing to. You can glean as little as you want from a piece of media or give it more meaning than what the author may have originally intended

10. any popular thing in the fandom you cant stand?

Not really

11. any character you wish we saw more of?

Lee Seolhwa or Jang Hayoung! They have so much relevance in twsa but not too much in orv, so I’m curious about them!

12. are you more of a reader, writer or protagonist?

I’m more of a reader. This kind of ties back to my kinship to Kim Dokja, because he lived to see the next chapter update of his favorite novel, which is something I did, too

13. if you could meet any character, which would you pick and what would you say?

Yoo Sangah. I’d just like to have a normal conversation with her tbh.

14. favourite theme in orv?

The broad theme has gotta be love. It’s been said before but you step into orv thinking its an isekai powercreep fantasy and it is quite literally Han Sooyoung with a metal chair LMAO

15. any characters you didnt love at first but grew to adore?

Jung Heewon. It's less of 'didn't like' and more 'neutral' at first. It was only during my reread that I came to appreciate her a lot more :)

16. what part in orv made you realise it was gonna be a favourite?

Honestly, everything going on in the Demon World.

17. any controversial takes?

Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung would've been fleshed out better if they had a relationship that foiled Kim Dokja's and Yoo Joonghyuk's (Life and Death companions, but where kdj and yjh lean more towards the 'death' part and jhw and lhs lean more towards the 'life' part) instead of romance

18. who would you choose as your sponser?

Probably Prisoner of the Golden Headband. I'd like to see more about his powers

19. whats your favourite duo?

Han Sooyoung + Kim Dokja

20. be honest - are you making it to the epilogue?

Absolutely not lol

[aphfanficwriters]

Every month we will pose a question and collate responses as a fun and informal little exercise in getting to know each other and spark discussion. This month's question is:

“What genre do you most enjoy writing?”

Tama / @delgumofics: I like to write horror and comedy. Both those things are fun and they really appeal to my interests. Generally when I'm watching movies I gravitate toward those genres as well.

Lacy: I shall categorise my favourite genre to write under the umbrella term of drama. My interests span across too much spectrum, however I notice that I enjoy writing characters narratives towards the scenarios I present in the stories. It is enjoyable, to act almost like a God, and they can act and be whatever I want them to.

Eru / @eruverse: I think I’ve not written under any genre but slice of life? I already love writing domestic situations but slice of life serves me well as it provides a neutral setting for me to explore characters and their interactions. Basically, my whole shtick is character building, and I find that you don’t really need complex plots to effectively do this. My characters are well rounded even in very simple mundane situations!

Mossman / @one-more-mossman: I never thought about it, but I think I usually write slice of life stories. Maybe with a dash of drama. They are small, so I guess, they can be called miniatures.

Didi / @teaedon: What I write the most tends to be Drama, Comedy, or both, with more focus in characters interiority over plots. Sometimes Angst, often Horror, other times Slapstick or straight up bizarre (Crack). Something violent or bloody will happen ;) (or immoral, that's what fiction is for)

Yukihitomi / @arthurhonda: My favorite thing to write tends to be Romance, slice of life, and comedy. I also enjoy writing tragedies on occasion, but I have to be in the right mood (or need the right music)

Ash / Lutz: My favorite genre to write is drama 💙 I like writing characters being forced to open up as the plot progresses, writing something where "the only way out is through". But then they get a happy ever after, even if it isn't one they started out wanting 💖

WhiteWings / @smuttyandabsurd: I was leaning towards romance and drama as, well… that’s what a shippy author like me writes lol But in recent years I find that I like adding a touch of the absurdist in my fics. It’s not particularly overt nor over-the-top. I just like grounding some of the more fanciful characteristics of the romance/drama genre with something a bit silly. I like comments that point out the slightly absurd moments in my fics, I feel like it has succeeded in standing out then.

Prush / @proosh: Erotica and horror are my passions, because I find they've got a not insigificant overlap. I love horror lurking in the background of eroticism, and I love the eroticism that comes with horror. Interpersonal intimacy is something intriguing and frightening in equal measure and sometimes the author needs to be the scalpel peeling back the narrative flesh to dissect it.

Fed / @fedpawstered: Disturbia, erotica.. usually the two meshed into one strange little amalgamation. I like freakay stuff what can I say

@folightening: Definitely fantasy. I've always loved fantasy, and I enjoy not having to worry about how realistic things are while I'm writing. My favorite thing to focus on is the characters and their relationship to each other but I'm not sure what exactly that falls under. And I've been very interested in trying to write horror recently.

Rui / @reodo: I think my favourite thing to write is probably slice of life? I like writing stories with ensemble casts and lots of drama. Separately, I also like writing Erotica! pwp is super fun to write (especially since I don't have to think too hard about it!)

Sicily: I'd say horror or 'crackfic' (i don't know if it is a genre), and its just fun to do like a horror story with aph Germany x Shrek, oh and erotica even if I'm not good!

[fountainpenguin]

🌗 Half Hidden AU 🌗

Hermitcraft SMP

An urban fantasy "Hermits avoiding humans" mob hybrid AU

#ridwork guides

More MCYT AUs

What Is Half Hidden AU?

No matter how deep into their mob parents' lands the hybrids go, human towns keep encroaching. Every hybrid's got some version of the same ol' story- "Too human" for one side of the family, "too monster" for the other.

Survival in the jungle isn't easy, but at least it's home... or was, for a while. How many more seasons can they relocate, rebuild... avoid the hate and cruelties that hybrids receive? From both sides of their families, sometimes...

AO3 Series

Blog tag - #Half Hidden AU

Tone

Mostly found family fluff, angst, and romance. Some drama and comedy mixed in.

Mysticism and intrigue regarding magic, nature, and the world.

Characters

- All the Hermits, but few people outside Hermitcraft SMP. Not sure how many of them will show up in stories since I'm early in the AU, but they're all here in my heart.

- All mobs are anthros

- Grian has several half-siblings and adopted children that parallel his alter egos and supposed children in the canon.

Half-siblings: NPC Grian (Pre-Hermitcraft); Robot Grian (Pre-H); Ariana Griande (S6); Villager Grian (S6) Foster/adopted kids: Grumbot (S7); Jrumbot (S7); SnifferMyFeet (One-off)

Scar's also looking after his nephew (PiglinMyNose) with some help from Jimmy. Does that make Boyguna Pig's dad? ... idk, maybe.

- Occasional appearances from Empires characters, but they're not a focus.

- Current story drafts focus largely on Grian and Joel with plans to expand in the future as inspiration arrives.

Ships

- Joel (Wolf hybrid) / Lizzie (Axolotl hybrid) - They helped raise a kid named Hermes who mostly lives with his human father

- Grian's married to a parrot mob who lives outside the Hermit commune. He doesn't talk about it much.

Some background ships. More details to come as the AU expands.

Setting

Hermitcraft-themed locations, with emphasis on jungles and the coastline. There are some impressive builds, but most of them on a small scale due to limited space.

A focus on survival with some folks pushing for freedom and fun.

Is It For Me?

- Tense biological family relationships, but kindhearted found family

- Long-term anxiety underscoring people's lives. A sense of never being able to settle or achieve safety

- Non-human humanoids & interspecies relationships

- All mobs are anthros, but there's still meat-eating in this world. It's most common when mobs hunt mobs, but it's not unheard of for humans to hunt mobs and hybrids.

-> I don't plan to depict hybrid meat. Also, culture generally leans towards "good, civilized humans" eating plants they've farmed rather than "hunting and foraging like the animals."

- A general sense of finding sweetness and joy despite the nature of a difficult world

Major Themes

Found family, community, compassion, acceptance, identity, trust, anxiety, culture, love

Plot Highlights

- Hermits moving and rebuilding

- Awkward mixed-family interactions. Joel's family aren't too keen on his marrying a hybrid rather than a wolf mob.

- Welcoming new friends; adapting to the first day of the rest of your life. Rescuing people!

- Embracing (or rejecting) culture and expectations

- Exploring human society (Sneaky, sneaky!)

Ongoing?

This series debuted in the Hermitcraft Guess the Author event of 2024. It's ongoing with unscheduled updates, but several WIPs already outlined.

This probably won't be a very long series as I'm less familiar with Hermitcraft than the Life Series, but the idea for this one has been sitting with me a while. I'm glad to explore it.

Warnings, notes, and explanations below so readers can learn more about this AU. Don't like? Don't read.

👀 Take a Peek

New here? You might like to start with these:

There's only one work in this series so far!

Start Reading

Recommended ways to get into the full AU

🌄 First Written - "Platypus Bird: Free to Good Home"

In which Grian and Joel, having saved a newborn sniffer hybrid from drowning, go through the basic motions of "What comes next?" - Like childproofing the floating foster home.

The first character and lore story completed for this AU. I've planned pieces both before and after this point in the SnifferMyFeet arc- this is just the one that came out first.

I tried to write it as an easy introduction to the lore without being too long or intense. It's a good place to start.

📅 Chronological Start - TBA

🗺️ Worldbuilding

- The vibe I started with was "Hermitcraft setting, but full of civilians." I expanded from that to having many towns and cities, some of which are more accepting towards mob and hybrid cultures than others.

- Close Hermitcraft parallels, though I'm only familiar with Seasons 6 to 10, and only from about 6 POVs.

- There's only one world. No servers- Everything exists within one and Hermits move to new areas instead of changing worlds.

- Mobs are both realistic and mystical. Hybrids may have some magic, but not as much as mobs, who have far more mastery of it. Mobs are looked on with some respect or fear.

- Mining, crafting, and inventory management are mystical too.

- Some people eat meat, but society caters well to vegetarian and vegan dishes; no one would bat an eye for requesting such (unless you're somewhere very unique indeed). Mobs and even hybrids may be killed for their meat in some places while others have greater protections.

- Mobs bring down other mobs for meat (Ex: wolves preying on sheep, fox on chickens). Some do attack humans, but these are usually zombies, endermen, phantoms, creepers, and other monsters (not real-world creatures).

-> I don't plan to depict hybrid meat, though some folks may make threatening remarks (Ex: "I bet you taste like chicken"). Also, culture generally leans towards "good, civilized humans" eating plants they've farmed rather than "hunting and foraging like the animals."

- It's common to build fantastic things, with one person capable of building a whole town if they put their mind to it. Resources are widely available, but not always renewable or easy to obtain. The existence of many settlements across the world has led to the largest resource yields being protected.

- Humanoid mobs like villagers, pillagers, and wandering traders are essentially equal with humans. They have their own cultures and language, but can speak with humans.

- Pigs and piglins are perceived as the same thing. I think in this AU, piglins are perceived as boars (male) and pigs as sows (female), and all under the name "piglin."

- Mob/human relationships are often frowned on, though some parts of the world are more accepting. Human/hybrid relationships may be looked at skeptically by those who believe they're too different to work. Hybrid/mob relationships may be seen as beastly.

- All hybrids are infertile.

📋 AU Notes & Warnings

Found Family - Taking in unrelated or semi-related people. Family relationships can be a bit fluid or undefined, though some do have more defined sibling or parent-child vibes.

Grian's raising several people who are his half-siblings, but he sees himself a bit more as a flock leader (or father) than a brother.

Mob hybrid racism (Whole AU is themed around pushback from mobs and humans alike)

-> Views differ even between individuals within the same society, so it's not easy to "simply move to an accepting place."

-> Chromia (Scott's S2 empire from Empires SMP) is often cited as very accepting, even providing medical treatment to hybrids that some places don't offer

-> AU depicts cruelty. Mostly towards hybrids, but towards humans and mobs sometimes as well. 3-week-old SnifferMyFeet got thrown in a river by his dad; that's the direction we're going.

Non-human humanoids - Mobs are human-sized anthros. Hybrids are also human-sized. Mobs are very animalistic, with behaviors and community structures mimicking real-world animals (such as hunting other animals, which means anthros in this AU).

-> Grian was taken from his mom because she only fed him worms and grubs when he was born; his hybrid body needed milk.

-> Hybrids also have many mob instincts, but to a lesser degree.

Interspecies relationships: Human/mob, human/hybrid, and hybrid/mob are all fair game.

Human/mob relationships can result in hybrid offspring

Hybrids are infertile

At the time of posting this AU guide, I'm not planning to write sexual content for this AU, but if I'm inspired, anticipate interspecies relationships in that regard too.

I do anticipate romantic gestures like kissing, and preening, grooming, and cuddling.

- More MCYT AUs

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You can create works based on this AU. Please cite me and/or the AU as appropriate (i.e. for things very specific to this AU). You are free to expand on ideas you've thought of thanks to my AU as a jumping off point. I'd love to reblog or link things to my AO3 works if I see them!

I write content with morally gray characters. Please don't portray my story events or worldbuilding out of context with intentional malice. As in, I request you do not post things created for the specific intention of bashing me or the AU