#this could be literally any side character! your mains can still hope and worry about whether they’re reading into their crush’s actions

[jamiesfootball]

As I turn over the ideas raised in the previous reblog, specifically in regards to aro representation and how a lot of aros don’t want to read about a character being aro, they want to read a story where they don’t have to think about how they’re aro-

And what I think I’ve come up with is that we’re not looking for someone to represent our struggle and therefore normalize our experiences, because to us our experiences are already normalized. The struggle doesn’t come from feeling weird- it’s largely from feeling normal but then being told by others ‘hey, that’s weird.’

Which turns into this phenomenon of aro representation where the wish fulfillment is simply being allowed to keep your own perspective without the narrative hitting you with a steel chair micro aggression about ‘how the world actually works.’

[quilna]

I'll be honest, I'm really curious about the god au. anything interesting to share about it? 👀 the idea of Frankenstein just calling Hyde/Jekyll out on being a god is incredibly appealing to me xD

Sorry about responding to this late, I was busy this weekend!

Ah the god au! Honestly my oldest au and one that could probably do with some tweaking and fixing up, especially since it was more than anything an excuse to draw characters in funky god outfits so a lot of aspects were very out of left-field. Not to mention, things in the comic have changed since the au was made but I can tell you what I’ve got!

I wrote a lot of this off of my memory since I've lost a lot of the old posts I made for it (They were banished to the shadow realm for containing my old, awful art) so things might be different now.

So the god system is vaguely based off of a book series called Fly by Night where there are hundreds of gods for every little thing - for example, the patron god of the main character is the god of keeping flies out of jam jars. So the gods in my au have complicated titles for rather small things and often have trouble finding worshippers.

Jekyll, specifically is the god of keeping rabbits out of the garden and he's both a trickster god and a guardian. For those he dislikes, he’ll often open garden gates, invite in pests, etc, but he’ll protect those he likes (for as long as he feels like it).

Eventually he and Lanyon meet while Jekyll is letting pests into his dad’s garden and they end up becoming good friends. However, Lanyon has to go to university and leave Jekyll behind but Jekyll takes a human form and a human name to follow him.

In the process, however, he ends up splitting himself in two. Hyde manifests into a pure trickster god as the god of letting pests into your enemy's garden and Jekyll manifests into an almost full guardian god (besides a bit of lowkey trickery on the side).

While people are very much aware that Hyde is a split-off from the original rabbit god, people aren't aware that Jekyll is that original god. As such, the news eventually gets to Lanyon that the god he once befriended all that time ago has split and he gets worried. While splitting is normal, it's often not exactly something that happens when a god is happy and, worse, he can't find the rabbit god anymore and Hyde's very obviously actively avoiding him.

Jekyll, meanwhile, is aware of none of Lanyon's internal conflict and he wants to make a society for small and little-known gods who aren’t getting enough worship to survive in the hopes of helping them.

Frankenstein is one of the few gods to be considered big. She's the goddess of freezing the dead (rigor mortis) so they don’t return which makes her well-worshipped. With some more recent reveals in the comic, I think I’d say that her title also isolates her a lot. Sure, it’s important to make sure the dead stay dead but it’s still death. Her name is still one that people curse when someone is taken prematurely.

When she arrives at the society, injured by her fight with another god, Moreau, she’s treated like an idol by the other gods. However, she recognises that Jekyll isn’t as human as he appears and assumes that whatever reason a god would have to pretend to be human to lead a society of gods wouldn’t be any good one. On the other hand, she's too injured to directly call him out for this so she spends her time quietly and subtly drawing gods away from his side and back to hers.

Of course, she’s more than a little peeved off when Jekyll is finally revealed and instead of being some terrible god of darkness or evil, she’s literally just caught a rabbit god. She hasn’t even caught one of the more dangerous trickster gods, she’s caught the guy who pretends to be human, asks for people’s hospitality and, whenever people are rude to him back, releases a hoard of rabbits into their garden while cackling and thinks this is the absolute height of mischief.

Being a known trickster god and all, I imagine the reactions from most of the lodgers is just groaning and complaints. It’s pretty standard for them but probably a lot more of a shock for the poor humans like Robert who are outside of the usual god politics and now have to deal with the knowledge that their friend was a god the entire time (Lanyon has a crisis over telling a literal god “Why would anyone give up their future prospects for someone like you?”)

Anyway, it’s vague and I’m not sure I remember every aspect of it but a bunch of small notes:

Griffin is actually a god of evil who once reigned terror over a small town. Joining the society is a form of community service for him to learn his lesson.

Hyde insists that he’s a hare god, not a rabbit god (because hares look creepier and more otherworldly. He’s still a rabbit though and everyone knows it)

Doddle was another trickster god and fully aware of Jekyll’s identity but, by trickster code, kept quiet about the whole deal. It’s very rude to ruin another trickster’s tricks after all.

I can’t remember what titles I gave a lot of the lodgers but I think Flowers was the goddess of keeping moths from eating holes in your clothes?

Hyde very much keeps up Jekyll’s old charade of pretending to be a human and then punishing those who are rude to him with pests in their gardens. Not even pests in their houses or anything, that’s out of his jurisdiction, so if they don’t keep a garden or plants he just has to grumble about it. I imagine at least once, someone who wronged him in the past finally got themselves a house plant and Hyde absolutely leapt on the opportunity immediately, basically flooding them with caterpillars, slugs, and at least one live rabbit just in their actual house because it's close enough to a garden, dammit!

[palfriendpatine66]

Hello again! Hope you're having a good day)

Writing/characterization anon reporting for duty again.

Maybe you could elaborate on how you see Anakin, as well. It would be a great honor and a big help to hear your take.

I mean, I've read metas that spoke about the more human aspects of his character, the trauma and vulnerability, the search for justice and the fear of loss that drives his turn to the dark side.

Also, some interesting points can be made about his connection to the Force and role as the Chosen One from the perspective of how touching divinity and yet being mortal messes with human beings on a fundamental level.

But then there's also the whole business of him being a capable commander and General?

Basically, I'm scared of writing Ani as too cringefail, or veering too much into "no flaws all hero" territory.

Also, the Obi-Wan and Anakin comic confuses me greatly. I mean, the kid chooses to stay. He clearly sees something in being part of the Order at that point. I wonder what moment made him change his mind...

Thank you so so much for taking time to read this and for answering my other ask!

Good luck and have a good one, pal.

I have been thinking about this all day, and I’m not sure I’m going to come up with a great answer. I’m definitely not the expert on all things Anakin and writing him is still something I’m figuring out. But I’m willing to let you know my thoughts, for what they’re worth! (Keep in mind I also have spent a long series writing Anakin as a good dad, and granted I did my best with how that *could* have come to be in entirely different circumstances, we all know Anakin Skywalker was not good parenting material.)

I think I can get away with a lot writing Anakin in modern aus, when it’s able/necessary to disregard his sheer overwhelming power, and Palpatine’s literal evil influence. When we take those away, it’s a less complex, overwhelming character to work with. Then I can focus on conveying his main personality trait: intense.

I recently wrote this from the perspective of (slightly manipulative) serial killer Obi-Wan in a letter to not yet murder Anakin that I feel like sums it up:

You love as you do all things: fully, completely, and without reservation. Your pain cuts deep because your passion burned intensely. You deserve a lover that will delight in every part of you, Ani. You need someone who will love you just as intensely and as fully as you give yourself to them.

Whatever Anakin does is intense. His anger is rage, his love is passionate and possessive. He cares too much, his worries are all consuming.

In modern aus I generally pick one side of that to play out or else it’s *too* intense for most settings. Usually anxiety. But also impulsiveness/moved by passion. Possessive. Eager to please.

In universe though? The sky is the limit, especially as it plays out with his connection in the Force. I also think it’s really interesting to play around with what parts of Anakin are revealed to whom (who sees uncomfortable hints of darkness, who sees the need for control, who sees that a lot of his arrogant or reckless actions are because he has the sense of responsibility that he *has* to be the one to solve the problem or win the battles or else people die)

I don’t know if this helps at all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[klvm0nn]

can you tell us more about the monastery au :O

UPD: no longer relevant. New Attica lore post…anytime soon!

“You’re asking me about my AUs??? I’VE WAITED YEARS FOR SOMEONE TO ASK ME ABOUT MY AUS!!!!!!!”

Honestly…I’m so honored and grateful for your interest!!!! Like thank you so much

TW! Mention of SA, violence and other Billy’s stuff. AND ALSO PLEASE CHECK ALT FOR TRANSLATION

I also want to apologize if my English negotiation skills are unsatisfying, I’m not a native speaker-

So, as I said earlier, my au is about Billy not being broken into a sorority house, but into a monastery. Although I changed his backstory and gave him certain motivation for killing girls, I tried to keep Billy’s personality and character cuz these funny things are the reason why we love him!:)

Backstory!

You know…Simping over a bastard who sexually assaulted his own little sister is kinda dubious if we talk about the 1974 black Christmas and the sister-daughter story is too nasty, speaking of the remake, so…

In my AU Billy is raised in a strict, religious and kinda poor family, as all the money go to the church. He is raised by his mother and a stepfather, who is actually guilty for the religious fanaticism in his family. Poor Billy was also molested as a child and teenager by saint fathers (i hope i called them right cuz I literally have no idea what name do they have…)

These conditions formed three things in Billy: love for rock and rebellion, hatred for religion and sociopathy.

Here’s a little chibi art I made a month ago for article, where I explained my setting’s lore! The article is in Russian tho, so unfortunately I can’t show it to you. CHECK ALT!!!

So, remember that part from remake where Billy was in asylum? The same thing happens here too, but why he got in there?

When Billy’s mother got pregnant by his stepfather, Billy was terrified. He really loved with all his heart the little tiny girl who was ready to see the world. The problem is, the world was too cruel. He didn’t want her to be molested, he didn’t want her to be pressured by strict rules of religion. So, one day, he made an attempt on the life of his stepfather. In any case, unsuccessful. He survived and Billy was sent to the asylum, from where he later escaped. After the runaway, Billy found his new home in the attic in one of the most big Canadian monastery.

With wounds on his heart from the duplicity of religions, since then he has taken revenge on the hypocritical nuns. He sent threats, made obscene calls, did nasty things, and even killed with impunity, until one day he was caught by a nun.

Who’s that girl?

The second main character! Her name is Martyr Efsevís! But everyone prefers call her Martha, as she’s not a martyr at all.

A long time ago, a nun lived in this monastery. One day an incubus came to her and defiled her. She bore him a child, who was Martha. This nun was expelled, but Marta herself was left in the monastery for education, as they wanted to raise a pious nun from her. Fun fact! Her color palette only contains black and white, these are her natural colors: white skin, black hair.

When she found out about Billy…She was charmed. Billy’s actions, manners, presence…Everything about him seemed like another world to her. She really wanted him to show her the world of darkness. The world that best suits her true nature. That's why she won’t tell anyone about him.

He was still worried and annoyed by her tho- their relationship will develop, but now he just hates her.

OOF. FINALLY.

It was really fun, but complicated. Hope I could handle the challenge to tell about them properly. I still a little bit worried cuz I think my description of Martha shows her like a Gacha demonic Mary Sue, BUT SHES NOT LIKE THAT I SWEAR😭😭😭 I’m also planning adding more side characters, so I’ll keep you in touch!

I ALSO REALLY WANT TO APOLOGIZE IF THIS POST IS TOO BIG!!! Still hope you enjoyed reading about these dummies! Love y’all❤️

[hymn-of-muse]

deepest, DEEPEST apologies, i should've consulted to your pinned first and foremost, i will blame my excitement on this one. once again, apologies love.

i came from your star rail matchup post! and let me tell you, you're amazing at your choice of words and skilled at invoking giddy, blushy feelings 🤭 i would love to request a honkai star rail matchup! now, i don't exactly know what information you seek, but i hope mine is acceptable and not too long for you

ABOUT

either call me grace, or chiyo, & i'm nineteen

— unfortunately, short (5'2 - 5'3) pear shaped physique, basically small tits, and plump lower body (gotta have something else for my lack of chest, so i worked out very hard 🥹)

— i have a neutral colored skintone, more on the lighter side, himecut hairstyle currently, i dress professionally, vintage like, wardrobe consists of black, red and white, silver/golden accessories of rings, a variety of earrings etc. this is when i'm outside anyways to formal events or just my plain aesthetic. i dont try to wear makeup, but when i do, its usually the dark feminine kind

— i'm an ambivert, but i'm not afraid to talk when its necessary or important, but i'm overall eerily quiet, observant, terrifyingly analytical that it threatens my feminity at times (quoted by my mom) i listen, and listen well. too well.

— my... demeanor and aesthetic is very contrasting to how i act around heavily attractive men. i flinch, i hide, i avoid their gazes, i stutter, my resolve fails. i falter — blush visibly in their compelling, appealing gaze. i'm a duality and i don't know if i should be proud or shameful about it.

— however, when i get past my shyness, i'm a tease, an open, affectionate flirt, but i don't flirt to hurt, i flirt to invoke, positive feelings, to make them feel wanted. but when i'm serious about them, it's the opposite, i'm silent, but overly, overly so observant of them, i spectate from afar, i blush from afar, and i seethe from afar when i get jealous, and its visible on my face as well, i'm posessive (and not in a jealous way, i just know what's mine, and mine only)

— and when they're mine. i'm an overly physically touch starved person, so i will shower them with endless touches of love and words any chance i get. i reaffirm their worries automatically, i will take care of them, love them with all my heart, that is of course... if its the same with them. and i dont mind showing love, my vulnerability and patience at all.

LIKES/DISLIKE

— i have a deep affinity for reading, playing games, fictional men (cough) art of all kinds, all kinds of music, anime, italian food, all kinds of desserts, and i love silence, dim lighting, elegant surroundings, and martial arts

— oh and i love when men call me mean nicknames such as "dumbass." "idiot." anything like that toned with affection, you can probably guess one of my main type already just by this info. right continuing, my type of man is so... flexible? it ranges from literal ruthless morally bad characters like blade, scaramouche, to people like welt, nanami, LYNEY. i'm so confusing.

but traumatized, immortal, older men, mature + mean, vulgar little shits? scrumptious, delectable.

— i heavily dislike misunderstandings, so i do my best to inform, and i try even harder to inform when i'm upset, i try my best to avoid conflict, to be silent. as for my case... conflicts usually arise because i'm too analytical, too obsevant, and that isn't a great pair with my severe anxiety and overthinking at all.

once again, sincerest apologies. i assumed you would be able to read with small font, and i fear i made this too long, hell, the one with small fonts had more details- so i toned it down here a bit! but i'm still kind of overthinking that this was too long for you, so if you decide to take on my request — thank you, for taking your precious time for me.

love, hiraeth

ah no worries!

darling youre a sweetheart thank you <3

i skimmed over what i could and at first himeko and kafka came to mind but youre specifying men so i think they'd just be your good friends, like someone you hang out with that matches your vibe to a t.

if youre on the trailblazer side, i say welt. he'd try and hide it through small mannerisms like adjusting his glasses or how he's holding his cane, clearing his throat and changing the conversation topic, but you know exactly how to really make him flustered. he's the type to try and be smooth and formal with his flirting but never expects the comebacks you retaliate with so hes always caught off guard and flustered by you.

he'd be down for some playful banter here and there too.

welt would certainly enjoy spending time in the lounge of the train with you, reading, having tea, maybe occasionally having a cup of himeko's coffee, and generally discussing topics of interest. he's more than happy to listen to you talk and answer any questions you might have.

he's also very quick to act if youre in danger and will affectionately scold you afterwards whether you were being cautious or not in the first place. he'll call you an idiot for running into danger then gently kiss your hand or forehead and tell you he's glad youre alright.

however, if youre on the side of the stelleron hunters, i'd say blade is your fit. i'm quite behind and dont know blade as well as most players now adays but he's absolutely your type.

constant banter, affectionate bullying, pet names that sound like harsh name calling but really are just him not being able to express himself better. that and he's too stubborn to admit how soft he can be for a person.

unlike how welt would be outwardly soft with you, blade is blunt and monotonous, straight forward and acts more like your shadow to make sure you dont end up in trouble or hurt.

he's the kind of person to tease back when youre flirting but also the kind to get jealous quick. he's not normally a pda person but he is one when hes jealous and never really minds you being close or clingy so long as there isnt a fight or something going on.

he's a bit indiferent on how he spends his time, but he does prefer quiet and calm activities.

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 59

Jus in Bello/The Runaway Bride

“Jus in Bello”

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: No one died, so…sure

I’m so worried Bela’s gonna die in this episode

Every time this FBI agent shows up I feel bad for him. It’s giving “this’ll be known as the day that you almost caught Sam and Dean Winchester” like, yeah, he detains them for a while but try always get away

Look. I hate John Winchester as much as the next guy, but listening to anyone who didn’t know him talk about him like that?? Ooooooo, no. He was not a good dad, but he didn’t do THAT, agent

What the ACTUAL FUCK?? Ooohhhhhhh the deputy director is possessed by a demon??

So…what IS the game plan here?? Literally on both sides. I get the demons wanted to come in and kill the boys, fine. But why take out literally everyone? I guess the answer I’d get is “why the hell not?” But also why is Agent Henriksen so fucking calm??

Hey. Hey, Sam?? What the hell, man?? All for a rosary?

Dean…why are you this excited about having a hit out on the two of you? Is it the blood loss from getting shot??

OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT. He grabbed the rosary to make the toilet water holy water because now HENRIKSEN is possessed!! THE TWISTSSSS!! And now everyone else has seen the demon leave

Best part of the episode so far? Dean and I sharing one braincell. Henriksen wakes up from the possession and the first thing he says is “I shot the sheriff.” I recall that the FBI deputy director is also dead and think “but you didn’t shoot the deputy” just in time for Dean to say that

That is the correct response, anyway

This poor girl. She’s just a receptionist.

Aw dude…fucked it up for everyone in here. Ok maybe not. It only allowed Ruby in

I wish I could like Ruby. But she is EVERY “writers trying too hard to write a ‘strong female character’ that they’ve written the same character as all the guys they write but cast a woman to play her” I’ve ever seen

I’m mad at Dean right now. This girl’s choice (though based in patriarchal bull shit from her religion) should be respected and not this soft ridicule. It’s still ridicule from him but he’s not trying to be malicious. So yeah…I’m not…not too happy with him. OMG CAN WE STOP TREATING SEX LIKE IT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD?? Like, yeah, I don’t want this girl to die either, but the fact that she’s never had sex is not the main reason she shouldn’t die

I will say the battle coming down to a glorified water fight is pretty great. Followed by a mass exorcism

At least they didn’t have….I was just about to say that at least they didn’t have to kill Henriksen to end the animosity between them, but then the show killed him anyway, along with everyone else

“Been On My Mind…”: some hate flirting between Dean and Bela but otherwise no

“The Runaway Bride”

God....I hate her scummy fiance. I'm so glad the TARDIS abducted Donna.

I love how much they antagonize each other. <3<3<3<3<3 They're so perfect "the what." "the TARDIS" "the what." "the TARDIS" "the what." "it's called the TARDIS" "that's not even a proper word!"

She's taking this all very well after all her shouting. Like, she just found out aliens exist and she's standing next to one in his spaceship that kidnapped her and she says "it's freezing in here with these doors open"

Oh...I wanna hug both of them. The Doctor's wounds are so fresh from Rose's departure, and Donna's so scared and covering it up by yelling at him.

There it is...the moment it's too much (for now)

Okay, but I hope Donna's wedding dress after Journey's End had pockets. I wouldn't get married in a dress that didn't have pockets. You should want better for yourself, Donna

I DESPERATELY want to know what she said when she chewed out the taxi driver to end with "and that goes double for your mother!!"

AGAIN with the masked Santas!!

We need longer seasons again, in general. A 6/8/10 episode season of any TV wouldn't have time for the two kids cheering on Donna and the Doctor from the backseat of their parents' car.

Why are you bad at lying about having a time machine? Can't go back on someone's personal time line.......apparently?? My dude...

Oh...no...the reception. And then everyone's yelling at her like she did something wrong. Sure, her crying is not 100% genuine (or even mostly genuine). But they're also not completely disingenuous. She didn't ASK to be abducted. She spent that whole time TRYING to get back so she could get married. My poor Donna.

I always enjoy the way they turn Christmas staples upside down. The Star of Bethlehem now being the ship the spider queen is on...it's brilliant.

The more Torchwood gets involved in things, the less I like them...anyway, I love how Donna's avoided seeing every alien invasion in the past two years/ever

"I'm a pencil inside a mug?" I love her so much...

There's really nothing left to do other than laugh at the absurdity of it all when your wedding gets ruined because you got abducted and now, you, your fiance, and the alien whose space ship abducted you are riding segways in the secret lower basement of your workplace where you met your fiance.

God. He's so used to Rose absolutely LOVING his manic "I just figured out what's going on and I'm going to tell you as quickly and excitedly as I can and you might not understand but I'll slow it down for you eventually" rants, and Donna does NOT have time for those. She's like "you are literally talking about ME, a LIVING HUMAN RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. You better STOP being giddy about this and just tell me WHAT IS GOING ON," but the way she says it is with a literal slap in the face.

Why does the empress of the Racnoss know/care about Christmas? Do the Racnoss have Jesus???

...I hate him. I hate him SO. MUCH.

I just reread the post about Donna not letting Lance and the empress hurt the Doctor. So, I'm crying. She deserves so much better than everyone in her life.

There's something to be said about the Lance/empress vs. Donna/Doctor dynamics. Lance was promised the chance to see what was going on out in the universe if he would work by the empress's side and betray humanity, and in the end she betrays him for her own purposes. Donna and the Doctor were just thrown together, she is promised nothing, and she actually GETS to see the formation of the earth while BARELY getting along, and while they do part ways, they WILL come back to each other, and toward the end of this year, they'll do it again. I'm fine and not crying.

What I'd give to see Jackie Tyler freaking out about this...

Time Lord pockets are bigger on the inside, too?? Unfair

So yeah...again with the Doctor wiping out entire alien races. Gonna be keeping an eye on this. Should it be "Number of Episodes Since the Doctor Potentially Committed Genocide"? Think it might be...

The fact that after ALL THAT Donna still doesn't think Lance deserved to die. Precious. Cinnamon. Roll. Too. Pure. For. This. World.

Number of Episodes Since the Doctor Potentially Committed Genocide: 0

[lovecolibri]

SaL anon here my friend, saying hi after a long absence!! I don't know why this summer is kicking my ass so much, I've been in a rut of absolute apathy about everything, including putting in the effort to rewatch my comfort shows. But things are getting better and sometimes its the small things that get you back up (for me specifically its the return of Puppet History, an absolute gem I highly recommend).

Anywho hope the summer is going well for you despite the summer and global warming of it all. Don't know about you but I'm still pretty bitter about 911 and really the way so many of the shows we've enjoyed were mishandled so badly. And with the writers and actors (very rightfully) on strike it could be awhile before we get any sort of idea what's going to happen in s7 so I figure we've got time to get some of that bitterness out through some salty competitions. So to start which series finale had the worse ending, RNM or 911 (I know 911 isn't over but its over on fox so it kinda counts)? A lengthy justification of your choice is encouraged!!

Hello friend! I got this while I was out of town at a concert with my mom so I'm just getting around to this today. I also thought this summer was going to be Super Chill and Time To Catch Up On Things but we have been weirdly SO BUSY every weekend and had numerous unexpected Things happen (the fridge went out, thought it was fixed, it went out again, one of the cats had to go to the emergency vet an hour away and is now on new special food forever etc) and it's not slowing down any time soon! Sorry you're in your apathy rut era, I was absolutely there too recently so I know what that's like! I hope you can find some joy again soon! (I know everyone else Hates Summer, but I love not being cold all the time and heat and sunshine are what give me life so I'm currently on a slightly more energized kick which I'm going to try and use to Get Some Shit Done in regards to home improvement and self-care.)

I haven't ever watched Puppet History but it sounds delightful and with the strikes going on (take 'em down WAG/SAG AFTRA!) I'm sure I will be finding time to watch all the things I never got around to. I'm currently nearly finished with Resident Alien which has been a delight, and me and my mom are watching White Collar which has been a lot of fun for us.

Okay, now time for The Salt Mine.

It's funny that you bring up the RNM finale because I JUST saw a post the other day of Malex comparison kisses but the one they used from the finale is a wide shot and LITERALLY the main color focus drawing the eye in the shot is that goddamn fucking red dress under the bright lights of the bar, and only then, second, is the pink light Malex is under while in the darker, shadowed part of the bar. Sooooo I've been feeling salty about that for daaaaays.

It's a tough call to pit these two against each other because 911 literally shoved Buck and Eddie into "endgame" relationships with random characters they have zero chemistry with and that we know next to nothing about (Marisol) or everything we know is Not Great (Natalia). They really thought this was the end of the show and would rather waste time on these side characters and forcing these relationships rather than focus on the firefam and found family of it all and showing the core cast of characters TOGETHER as a FAMILY in the end. They rushed through the emergency and the feels we SHOULD have spent time on with everyone being hurt and seeing the firefam worry about and fight to rescue each other, all so KR could have time to (poorly) wrap up the 7000 plotlines she made for Buck because she apparently doesn't like or care about any of the other characters and only cares about Buck insofar as she can make jokes about his junk and sex life and how she can use his character to insert new ones she wants to have instead of using the characters she already has. However, despite all that mess, there WERE some good moments in the finale for the firefam and the bridge collapse was good, if too short to do what it was intended to do. 911's practical effects have ALWAYS been a highlight of the show and one of the things that makes it great so it was good to see some effort put into that side of the show again.

But, even with all the missteps of the 911 finale, RNM fumbled the ball on literally EVERYTHING in their finale. There was a Malex wedding, but it focused entirely on Michael and we didn't get to see Alex's POV on anything (not even anything about being on death's doorstep and magically being healed which happened entirely off screen and we didn't get to hear from Alex about it at all) except how he was perfectly happy having NONE of his family there for the wedding because god forbid m*ria be uncomfortable for 5 seconds because everything is about HER and how SHE feels 🙄🙄🙄 We got more focus on m*ria than we did Alex at his own goddamn wedding! And aside from that whole mess, the finale also separated Max and Liz, the supposed main couple of the show! The show ended forever with the lead in tears as Max goes to an alien planet for who knows how long! WTF kind of ending is that?! The show really made it hard to root for Max and Liz because the writing for them was just...not what it needed to be, but Jeanine and NDP had great chemistry and when they let them be in love they had some GREAT moments. I just wanted to root for them more but they constantly put them on opposite sides of every little thing they came across so they were never really able to work TOGETHER on anything and it was frustrating. Even so, I wanted a better ending for them after seasons of fighting and being so on again/off again the whole time. Jeanine especially got screwed over in what SHOULD have been Liz's show and I hate that being left behind was her ending. And that's not even going into all the plotholes and storylines the show just half-assed or flat out didn't address, and things that got dropped along the way and never explained. I know I say it A Lot about 911, but good god, the RNM cast, characters, and the base storylines they started the show with deserved SO much better than what they got consistently from the s1 finale through the end of the show.

Despite all of 911s flaws and faults, I still think they can come back from it all if they go back to the formula used in the early seasons for pacing and storyline distribution and focus on the firefam as a unit together, and given that the issues brought up by fans were pretty similar across all platforms and mirrored oftentimes by professional reviews, there's some hope for change moving forward on a new network. If RNM had been given another season I'm sure they still would not have resolved any of the plotholes and would probably have just made them worse while creating new ones 🤷🏻‍♀️

So I have to go with RNM for having the worst finale but damn if 911 didn't give it a run for it's money!

I was good hearing from you my friend! I had high hopes to work on my Countdowns fic this summer but I just have not had a weekend to myself! My niece will be visiting this whole week and my nephew is due to arrive in August but may come earlier, plus I'm working on getting out of town for some shows (and out of state if I can swing it to see Ed Sheeran), and working on some remodel work in my bedroom so we'll see when things start to slow down if I have any brain power left to write, much less do any of the other craft projects I have pending! I am confident I will get the baby blanket I'm working on done in time but everything else is up in the air. Remember when summer was time to relax? Anyway, I am ALWAYS here for your salty thoughts or anything else you wanna talk about. In the meantime, lets all manifest a good outcome for the striking workers!

[cosmiq-cloud]

Also um- if I could make requests- Adaman and Volo x female reader? XD like separately and all- I will read them all owo

Pokémon Legends Arceus Volo x fem reader and Adaman x fem reader relationship headcanons

Hello y’all!

BRUH I GOT SO EXCITED WHEN I SAW THIS REQUEST

I absolutely went HEAD OVER HEELS when I first met these two in the game

So I got PUMPED when I saw someone had requested them!!!

Also I decided to do Headcanons because I’m not sure if I can really write two x readers

I’ll make these as long as possible

Also you are not Akari or Rei! You kind of take the place of the main character basically, so you fell out of the sky still because of Arceus

Anywho, please enjoy!!

—————

Volo

This man

He is 🤌🏻

He adores you

He’s so fascinated with the fact that you managed to tame so many legendary Pokémon

Constantly asking you questions and wanting to know more about you

The moment he realized he was in love with you was when he witnessed you holding Manaphy lovingly and humming a lullaby

He fell for you HARD

Volo would love someone that could travel with him, he doesn’t want to be tied down to one place

So he asks if you’d like to join him on his travels

You end up saying yes and the two of you are now inseparable

HAND 👏 HOLDING 👏

He loves to hold your hand and just rub his thumb along the back of it

When you two set up camp for the night, he insists you sleep right next to him

Cuddling ensues

He tells you stories from his travels before he met you, and he loves the faces you make when you become intrigued by a certain part

Can I just say that his smiles are the cutest?

Like literally

He was watching you feed a Pecha berry to a poisoned Starly, and when you turned to ask him a question, you just saw him smiling at you

He loved how kind you were to the Starly

Volo is a wonderful partner to you

Adaman

When Adaman first met you his face was as red as a tomato and he was a stuttering mess, definitely not his usual self

Yeah, he was in love the first moment he met you

Arezu and Mai constantly tease him about it

He helps you out in your journey any way he can

Need to heal your Pokémon?

Adamans right there

Just need a shoulder to cry on when the going gets tough?

He’d be happy to let you lean on him

OH YES

There was this really cute moment when Adaman saw a beautiful flower growing in a field. He smiled and walked up to you, just tucking it behind your ear

You were blushing and smiling sweetly up at him, which caused him to blush as well

He’s head over heels for you

One day Arezu came barging into his tent, panting

“It’s Y/N! She’s been hurt!”

HE BOLTED

You happened to be near the Diamond Clan Settlement, so you were taken to a healer there

Adaman was pacing in front of the tent, worried sick about you

When he was told a couple of days later that you were accepting visitors, he was your first one

You smiled up at him tiredly and he just sat next to you

He cupped the side of your face with his hand and you leaned into his touch

He knew in that moment, he had to tell you how he felt

When you said you would love to be with him, you could hear Arezu outside shouting, “Yes!”…then Mai shushed her

Adaman is also a lovely and loving partner

—————

I hope you enjoyed these! I had so much fun writing them! I kind of went a little overboard with Adaman haha…

I hope you enjoyed these! And remember, requests are always open!

[anime-grimmy-art]

What do you do when there’s not much to an AU? You make up your own stuff, ofc. And as is per usual when I make Character Designs, I make up a shit ton of lore too.

The ramblings under the cut, but what I’m really interested in, is what you guys think. Do you guys have any headcanons/ideas for this AU? Let me hear them! Also, if you don’t wanna read on tumblr, here’s the Google Docs link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/151yshHxnb_--P6eMKkwkI2dee9xC_Llb/view?usp=sharing

Before I get into the characters’ roles, here’s some general facts and backstory of their town:

- Basically, it’s Undertale meets Harvest Moon / Stardew Valley. Well, kinda. I at least used that approach for coming up for the jobs for the characters. You know, how there’s always a general store, a doctor, a smithy, etc.

- The usual story of a HM game is that you come to a town that’s way past its glory days and you, as the player/farmer, help them get back to that. The “backstory” of the town is that that already kinda happened. I’ll get into it more in the character description, but basically when Asgore was still mayor, the town got really popular. Then yadda yadda, a certain tragedy happened, two kids died, and the town suddenly got very bad publicity. There was a lot of stuff going on back then, bad reputation being spread and also a lot of law stuff, cos, you know, supposed child murder ‘n all, so Asgore made the decision to shut off the town to ppl from outside. This was in the interest of most monsters living there, because as fun as it is to have a lot of people coming there, most just wanted to live a quiet life. Not everyone was happy with that though, so many moved away from town and some others are trying to get the town back on its feet. But more on that later.

On to the characters:

I’m just gonna start with the skelebros, cos it’s their fault in the first place I got so invested.

Basically, they are what the player is in hm/sdv. They just showed up one day, took over the abandoned farmhouse and began their life there. The two came to town way after it was “closed” and since then a new mayor has opened the possibility for new residents to move in. Their farm helps the economy of the town a lot and the mayor, like usually in hm games, is trying to use that to make the town more known again. The skelebros aren’t really working towards that goal however.

So, now a bit more detail on them individually.

Papyrus:

- The design is mostly based on what’s “canon” in this au.

- He works mostly on the fields and is in charge of the crops. Their fields aren’t spectacularly big, but still big enough to plant a few dozen rows of veggies. 

- Paps also helps out a lot in town when he has the time. He helps Asgore with his plants, he goes fishing with Undyne, helps Toriel carry crates around and so on. This is inspired by the part-time job mechanic in HM ToT.

- Unbelievably, in this AU Pap is not an absolutely awful cook. Since he helps out at Muffet’s and Grillby’s a lot, they tend to show him some tricks to cooking. Even though Pap’s not a big fan of the greasy or overly sweet cooking those two do, he picks up a lot.

Sans:

- Again, design mostly based on the “canon” look. Maybe a bit more baggy.

- This is finally an AU this dude gets to rest. Since there are no resets and he doesn’t have to see his bro die again and again, for once in his life, he’s not a sad ball of depression. He’s just a chill and lazy dude that loves to make puns. Though, since he’s not too experienced with the feelings of loss, helplessness or grieving, he still tends to hide behind puns and fakes smiles if he does feel bad.

- Sans is in charge of the animals on the farm. Papyrus begrudgingly gave him that role since Pap’s loud demeanour and hectic movements usually scare the animals. Sans’ relaxed attitude draws the animals to him naturally and even if Pap mostly finds him sleep against a tree, in a stack of hay or on one of the sheep, the animals are always fed, healthy and relaxed, so Sans seems to be doing his job.

- Sans always has a small chic sit inside his hoodie or hat. Is it always the same one? Who knows, maybe.

- Sans also, somehow, can produce eggs out of thin air. Grab into his hoodie pocket, in his pants pocket, in his hat, in his slipper, there’s suddenly always an egg there. On good days he can even make butter or cheese appear. 

Gaster:

- He’s literally just a scarecrow in this. Though, if you ask any of the bros why they designed their scarecrow that way, they won’t have an answer.

Frisk&Toriel:

- Frisk is mostly based on what I wore myself as a kid in summer. Just a loose shirt with a cappy. Toriel basically has her ut gown, just with an apron on top.

- Frisk just appeared outside the “magical” forest one day. Napstablook and his cousin found them and brought them to Toriel, who has been taking care of them since.

- Toriel runs the general store in town, but also often takes care of the few kids that still live there.

- Frisk usually helps out in Toriels store, plays with the other kids or sits around at Asgore’s. They’re notorious for nabbing small snacks, mostly from Asgore’s plants. You’ll always find them munching on something. 

- Frisk was in town before the skelebros. Since they’d moved in, Frisk often went to spy on their farm. After a small incident with angry chicken, Frisk got to know the two better and now they see them as something between brothers and uncles.

- But Frisk honestly gets along with everyone. Just like in UT, they’ve not only been adopted by Toriel but literally everyone.

- Toriel and Asgore’s relationship is not as bad as in the main game, since, you know, Asgore didn’t kill literal children, but there’s still tension between them. Back when Asriel and Chara died and the whole thing with the bad rep for the town began, Toriel felt betrayed by Asgore focusing more on the town than giving their deceased kids the grieving they deserved. They’re not divorced, but Toriel still moved out and said needed space to think. Now that Frisk is in the picture though, the both of them are slowly coming to even ground and may even be able to talk things out and clear up the uncertainty of their decisions.

Asgore:

-Asgore has his UT Ending / Deltarune clothes, just with a gardener’s belt.

- He’s the previous mayor of the town, but after all the crap that happened, he stepped down from the position. Now he has his own little shop and sells seeds, saplings, homegrown veggies and fertilizer. So, basically what e.g. the Marimba Farm is in HM AP

- His main customer is Papyrus and they’re on friendly terms. Asgore is worried about how much and how hard Pap works, so he often gives him a discount. 

- Since his family’s past tragedy, Asgore is kind of nervous around kids. So, when he first met Frisk, he hoped they’d not visit him too often. But to his chagrin, Frisk took an instant liking to him and spends a lot of time at his shop (and steals eats the fresh grown veggies). Now, he’s really grateful for that, because for one, he loves Frisk as dearly as he had his own children, and also because now the tension and mistrust between him and Toriel seem to grow smaller day by day.

Undyne&Alphys:

- I gave Undyne a pretty basic fisher’s outfit. Alphys basically has Elli from HM’s outfit, just a bit more doctory stuff added. She still has her canon lab coat too.

- In essence, Undyne and Alphys have 2 completely different jobs. Alphys is the resident doctor and Undyne runs the fish market.

Two things. Yes, I know Alphys is more a mechanic than a doctor, she fits the aesthetic though, so she’s the doc now. And no, Undyne being a fisherwoman is not cannibalism, think of it more as a shark hunting smaller fish.

- The reason I lump them together is because they act as the local “smithy”. Alphys is still really tech savvy in this (I mean, Mettaton is still part of this AU), so she takes on most problems with electronics and stuff. For Undyne, I didn’t want to lose her Royal Guard’s Captain image, so she’s really good at handling tools (and weapons, but Al doesn’t let her make them anymore). So basically, if there’s a broken tool, you can be sure that either Undyne or Alphys can fix it.

- As for relationships, those two are still an item. Alphys is still really shy and a shut-off, but since Undyne and Pap become best friends, she gets to know the skelebros better. She and Sans especially get along well, since most of the time Undyne and Papyrus are let loose, they sit back and talk about science-y stuff. (no, Sans doesn’t have a background in science but he’s still into sci-fi)

- Alphys has a bit of a strained relationship with both Asgore and Mettaton.

Back when Chara and Asriel died, it was because of “illness” (maybe poisoning?). Alphys feels awful because with her back then limited knowledge on medicine she couldn’t help the two. Asgore doesn’t hold anything against her but Alphys can’t help but feel guilty.

Alphys still built Mettaton’s body in this one. The two had a really big disagreement, because Mettaton hated the fact the town was going to close, and he couldn’t understand how Alphys could feel otherwise, even more so endorse the idea.

Mettaton, Napstablook, Mad Dummy/Mew Mew:

- Napsta and Dummy are pretty self-explanatory, they got straw hats. Mettaton’s outfit is a bit of a joke cos it’s a play on “work at the top and party at the bottom”. The tie has two different sides, one with the yellow red pattern, the other completely red. His “top part” is the business part, because when he’s on tv or in the mayors’ office, you don’t usually see his feet. The bottom is his party/dance part, cos his dancing/entertainment channels mostly feature his legs. 

- Mettaton, still a robot, Napstablook and Mad Dummy are all still cousins in this AU.

- Originally, they all lived and worked at the Blook Farm, the Animal Farm of this AU. Mettaton, however, despised that simple live and after befriending Alphys and her building him a body, he left the Farm to pursue bigger things. 

- Mettaton runs the local tv network. From weather to game shows, he does it all. He also runs the tailor shop in town that sells his designer clothes and merchandise. After Asgore stepped down, Mettaton also took over the role of town’s mayor and now works towards making the place more known again. Not everybody is happy with him doing that though.

- One of those people is the Mad Dummy. He can’t stand people anyways and he always claims that history would just repeat itself.

- Since the whole family is made of ghosts, they have different dummies and scarecrows they can use to take care of the animals. To mock Mettaton and kinda get back at Alphys for giving MTT such an opportunity, Mad Dummy found the blueprints for the Mew Mew robot and now modelled one of their scarecrows after it. 

- Napstablook isn’t fond of taking over obejcts like his cousins do, so he mostly takes care of the snails. Somehow, he can interact with them even when incorporeal. 

Muffet&Grillby:

- The two of them run the Inn together. Muffet cooks in the daytime and makes desserts, Grillby manages the bar in the evening. 

- The two still can’t really stand each other but working together like this benefits them both because their rivalry just spurs them on more.

- Even though Grillby is a patient person, somehow Muffet is the only person who riles him up enough to retaliate. (Well, maybe except for Sans, he’s a strong second).

So, basically everything between those two is a challenge in some way. Even if Papyrus doesn’t notice, even his cooking lessons are a challenge for them. 

- Even though they’re constantly bickering, after working together for so many years, there’s a strange level of respect and trust between them. Even if back when they first started this business, they’d pour salt into an already open wound, nowadays they’d know better and just take a step back from the other or even comfort the other (on very rare occasions only). 

Asriel&Chara:

- They be dead. Kinda.

Some Characters that’d live in that town too but that I haven’t made designs for:

- Gerson is the original smithy of the town. He’d grown up in a family of smiths, but he’d always had an appreciation for the sea. That’s why, when the town became more deserted and Undyne had a good enough skill level as smith, he took up the Captains hat and now mostly spends his days out on sea. He also ferries people to places if they need him to. Oh, and just like in canon, Undyne learned most of her skills from him.

- Burgerpants is a poor dude Mettaton basically kidnapped when he was trying to get fame in the city. Now Burgerpants works wherever MTT needs him to, be that as cameraman for the tv shows, cashier in his tailor shop or his slave secretary in the mayor’s office.

- MK is Frisk’s best kid friend. MK’s parents are in charge of shipping the goods out of town and paying the individual people. MK’s the one that usually collects the goods at the end of the day.

- Other than that, there are only a few people in town. I’d imagine the older folks or the really young families stayed in town after it was closed. I think the librarby dude would still run the library. Some Snowdin residents like the stone family or the dogs also might still live there. 

[themagenamedsage]

Nothing Else Matters (Part 2/2)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Witch!Reader

Warnings: Season 4 Spoilers, Heavy Angsty, Explicit Language, References to Major Character Death, Reader’s Morals are Gray at Best. Reader uses she/her/hers pronouns. Few uses of Y/N, though reader is primarily referred to through the use of a nickname.

Summary: Dabbling in this type of magic would no doubt create an imbalance, messing with the natural order of things. But then again, there was nothing natural about the way he died.

Word Count: 8,262

A/N: At long last, Part 2 is finally here! We apologize for the wait but we thank you for your patience and for all of the support on the previous part. Before we move forward, we want to update you all on a couple of things.

First- As we’ve previously stated, we are working on continuing this story as a full fic. But based on the story we want to tell and the angle we’re going for, the fic will most likely go back in time and start at the beginning of ST4. This two part one shot can be considered a prologue and an epilogue of sorts, since we most likely will not be taking the story any further than the final scene of ST4, at least for the time being. 

Second- In terms of how frequently we will be able to release chapters, that is unfortunately TBD for the time being as well. With both of our schedules and separate projects that are still in progress, it’s definitely going to be a challenge to get them out as frequently as we’d like. But we’re still going to try our best and promise to not leave you hanging! 

With all of that said, we’re very much looking forward to continuing this story that has grown so near and dear to both of our hearts over the past couple of months and we hope you all continue to follow along!

If you’d like to be added to the taglist, please feel free to let us know! 🖤

Listen to the playlist here. 🎶

PART 1 can be found here!

There were a few good things about the fact that Hawkins was in a mild state of chaos.

Compared to everything else going on in town, a girl walking along the side of the road was the least of many people’s worries and hadn’t garnered much attention. 

It also helped that she had literally chosen the road less traveled. Hardly anyone used the roads located on the outskirts of town. The main highway - although almost always jammed - pointed right in the direction of the city, which made it far more appealing to those coming to and going from Hawkins. The surrounding back roads were a far safer bet. 

At first, there had been one car that passed her as she walked along the nearly abandoned roads, and it had slowed down as they passed by. The older woman in the driver’s seat had been traveling alone. Fortunately, due to the array of borrowed clothing she had chosen to disguise herself with, the woman hadn’t recognized her from the local news.

The woman smiled warmly at her whilst offering her a ride. She turned it down quickly, forcing herself to act as natural as she could muster so as not to raise suspicion. Thankfully, her polite refusal hadn’t been given a second thought and she had been left alone.

Since her encounter with that first car, she made it a point to dash into the woods alongside the road whenever the grumbling of a car was heard coming towards or up behind her. 

Unfortunately, though the roads initially seemed nearly empty, the longer she walked, the more cars she encountered. And before long, she took many, many quick side steps into the brush to take cover. And what had been more unfortunate, was that what would have been a near hour walk already quickly turned into a multi-hour affair. 

Other than that, the journey had been surprisingly easy. 

Almost too easy.

It was ridiculous, to say the least. Why would you risk being spotted loitering around the scene of the crime you allegedly helped commit? But after much consideration and deliberation, she concluded that it might not be as risky as previously thought. If she was correct - which, knowing her parents and the people who were now in charge of Hawkins law enforcement, she most likely was - where she was headed was the absolute last place anyone would imagine her turning up. 

When her destination finally came into view, she almost cried. For more reasons than one.

The trailer park was an eerie sight.

There was not a soul to be seen. The nosy neighbors who had once spent most of their free time outside just in an effort to watch everyone else come and go had long since abandoned their humble abodes in favor of the safety some motel rooms a few towns over could provide. 

Even the stray cats that seemed to occupy the gravel roads like citizens in their own right were nowhere to be seen. She spared a brief passing thought for them, hoping that, like their human counterparts, they had been able to find shelter elsewhere.

It was quiet, too. 

Music, the sound of barking dogs, and the sizzling of fires had not been uncommon pieces of the trailer park’s usual ambience. But none of those noises filled the air that night.

It had been completely deserted.

When the trailer - their trailer - came into view, she froze.

It looked like a shell of its former self. The gate's opening had caused it to split right down the middle, a grotesque scene of the place she had once dwelled in.

But it was home.

It was the only place she’d ever been able to call home, really. She lived with her parents, in the family house. But living with the Munsons, in their trailer, had been home.

The heavy metal and old country music battling for audibility whenever Wayne was around. The clutter that prevented the trailer from ever being clean, but always indicated that it was a space well-lived in.

All of it was gone.

There was no door, not anymore. The only way in was to climb up and over the opposite side of the trailer, which had folded over upon themselves.

The task was a bit of a struggle, but not any more than the countless other challenges she’d faced over the past two days.

Once she was inside the remains of the trailer, she stopped for a moment to observe her surroundings. It had been the first time she’d stepped foot in their bedroom since… 

Her breath hitched in her throat.

The bedroom that she had shared with her other half for over a year. The mattress stained with a plethora of things - some of which neither of them would ever specifically divulge - had most likely disintegrated. And though it made no sense, his most prized possession was long gone- the place where he had so lovingly hung it upon the bedroom wall was bare. However, some version of it had to still be out there, she reckoned.

… Better that way. At least it was with its owner.

For now.

Once she’d gotten her bearings, she slowly started down what used to be the hallway. She allowed her memory to guide her more than anything else, considering the visible remnants of it were almost completely unrecognizable.

She rummaged around in her bag briefly before finding the emergency candles Dustin had given to her the first night she’d spent in her aunt’s house, when he’d also dropped off the food.

Oh, sweet Dustin.

She smirked to herself bitterly. What would the boy have thought about her chosen use of the candles now?

As she stood there, they felt heavy in her hand. But the forbidden journal she’d found, which was still in the bag slung off her shoulder, felt even heavier. 

She lit one with the lighter - Eddie’s lighter - she had also managed to grab before she left. Watching the flame for just a second, she blew it out. As the smoke slowly disintegrated into the surrounding airspace, a moment of doubt snuck upon her, and for the first time in several hours, she questioned what she had set out to do. 

What would Steve think?

What she was thinking of doing was wrong, terribly wrong. 

Not only would each of her new friends completely detest and possibly fear her actions, it was also considered taboo among most other practitioners. Death was a natural occurrence of life, and matters related to it were highly advised not to be messed with. Dabbling in this type of magic would no doubt create an imbalance, messing with the natural order of things.

But then again, there was nothing natural about the way he died.

That realization quickly prevented her from feeling too guilty, taking a moment to replay the day’s previous events in her mind. She used the rapidly increasing fury for motivation and pushed all other thoughts to the side, before looking up at the open space above the trailer wistfully. 

The gate, still glowing ever so slightly, was directly in front of her. Unlike before, she didn’t have to climb any ropes or go through any more obstacles.

All she had to do this time was just walk straight in. 

She placed the candle on the ground, and pulled out one final item.

Her walkman and headphones. 

Putting them on, she took a deep breath. As she began to brace herself for what was to come, she exhaled before pressing play.

All Dustin could think about was her.

Steve hadn’t been lying when he’d said he didn’t take the news of their decision well. 

He was furious. And extremely concerned.

Dustin considered her a friend now. A valuable member of their party. And now he was just supposed to stay away from her. After she had lost everything?! 

The others had assured him that she would be okay, that they were still looking after her, and that she wouldn’t be alone. Steve swore up and down that she had understood the situation and didn’t misinterpret it as an act of abandonment on his part. Deep down, Dustin questioned his friend’s honesty at that moment, but he ultimately chose to trust him. The truth was, there had been some validity in Steve’s argument behind the decision.

And Dustin couldn’t contain his excitement upon seeing his beloved friends return from months of living halfway across the country. He’d limped as fast as he could just to greet them. 

Once the salutations had been exchanged, he filled them in briefly before they went their separate ways yet again. The others were eager to visit Max after hearing of her condition. So, while they headed on over to the hospital, Dustin had decided to stick with Steve and Robin, accompanying them to the school instead. 

He sat in the backseat of Steve’s car, listening to him drone on after witnessing Jonathan and Nancy’s reunion. 

“I know they never broke up or anything, but you saw how Nancy was whenever any of us brought him up. She seemed conflicted!”

“They’ve been going long distance for almost a year now. It can be really hard on any relationship- make you question your feelings,” Robin retorted.

“Yeah, but this is Nancy we’re talking about. She knows exactly who she is and what she feels.”

Robin rolled her eyes at her best friend’s ridiculous argument. “But at the end of the day, he’s still her boyfriend.”

Steve stammered, trying - and failing - to find any evidence to the contrary. He sighed, admitting defeat. “I know…”

“I don’t know what you expected, Steve.” She shook her head, trying to hold back a laugh, knowing that it wasn’t his fault that he was still head over heels in love with his high school sweetheart.

“I just thought that we had connected. After everything that we’d experienced together down there, you know?”

Dustin would have been lying if he said he’d been paying much attention to any of what his two older friends had been saying. But Steve’s last statement got his full attention immediately. 

Steve was one to talk, he thought. 

They continued their banter while Dustin’s mind wandered back to his new friend, the one that had endured the same tragic loss he had just two days prior. The same one that was now sitting alone in her aunt’s old house, most likely replaying what had happened over and over again in her mind. Except now, she didn’t have him to lean on. 

Dustin then opted to focus on the music that was playing in the background. The low hum of Bring On the Dancing Horses echoed through the small speakers in Steve’s beloved BMW.

“Sage loves this song.”

The sound of Dustin’s voice quickly silenced the two sitting in the front seat. Steve looked back at him through the rearview mirror, a flash of concern on his face at the mention of his estranged friend.

“It’s by one of her favorite bands. It was on the tape Eddie told me to play, in case Vecna got her.” 

Robin looked at Steve sympathetically, knowing exactly what was going through his mind upon hearing Dustin’s words. 

Steve tried his best to keep his eyes on the road, but also watched Dustin intently as he continued to talk.

“She really loved listening to music. Eddie said it always made her feel better. Does she have all her tapes with her? Maybe we should call and check-”

Steve merely shook his head. “She’s got ‘em all.” 

Dustin opened his mouth to continue, but Steve quickly cut him off. “And she’s got plenty of food and water and everything else she needs. She’s okay, Buddy. I promise.” 

He nodded, knowing that Steve had gotten wise to his motives and most likely wouldn’t allow him to pry any further. 

Steve pulled into the parking lot. Though school was not in session, the amount of cars already parked outside of the building and the people who could already be seen coming and going from the gym’s entrance would have suggested otherwise.

“You just gotta leave her be for now.”

The music blared through her headphones. It was a very welcome distraction from the various noises she knew would be waiting for her on the other side. 

But she had failed to remember one small detail before venturing into Mordor once again.

The gate was slimy. And it was fucking gross. 

Upon entrance, she was covered head to toe in what looked like it had come from straight out of some supernatural horror movie. One which she was now living in, apparently.

She wiped her face off with the inside of her jacket sleeve, not even taking the time to be gentle around her eyes, and spit out into the open. 

Once she’d gotten as clean as she imagined she was going to get, she headed to the upside down version of the bedroom, and somewhat carelessly dumped her belongings in the bag out onto the floor. She spotted the remaining safety candle, and grabbed it as gently as possible, before blowing on the unlit wick. 

It was one of the most exciting things she could have possibly seen in her current situation. The candle caught aflame right in front of her eyes, without her even having to light it. 

“Ha!” she laughed triumphantly before setting the candle down, just for a minute, as she gathered her things. 

As soon as she was set, the mood quickly shifted once more as the implications of what she had to do came over her, much like a sudden storm.

The candle in her hand did little to provide any actual light as she made her way out of the remnants of the trailer and into the Upside Down. But, like the music that continued to blare through the headphones situated over her ears, it grounded her, giving her something else to focus on then the dark setting surrounding her. Not to mention the fact that the creatures that were potentially still roaming around were averse to fire.

She wandered for a few minutes. The memories of that night - with a few notable exceptions - were hazy at best, causing the exact location she sought to be unknown. All she knew for sure was that everything had gone down in the general vicinity of the trailer.

Sure enough, after a few minutes of searching, her eyes landed on the bottoms of the white sneakers she knew so well that she swore she’d have been able to pick them out of a line up. She froze, her eyes forcing themselves shut before they dared to venture further up than that of the shoes.

Her eyes had only been on him for a mere second before she turned on her heels, rushing to the closest form of shrubbery in sight. Her body convulsed as she emptied the contents of her stomach, bile coating the dried up flowers littered about the neighboring trailer’s front lawn area.

She’d been so focused on the task at hand, she hadn’t given much consideration to how she’d react upon seeing him again. 

Once it seemed as though there was nothing left to throw up, she quickly wiped her mouth and tried to focus on her breathing, and the lyrics of the song playing. 

“Under blue moon I saw you. So soon you’ll take me.”

It was one of their songs. The memories tied to it were ones of happiness and safety. She turned back around and this time, forced her eyes open, trudging her feet forward. Her heart shattered more than she thought was still possible with each heavy step she took.

“Up in your arms too late to beg you. Or cancel it, though I know it must be the killing time.”

There he was. Still laying there in the dirt, unceremoniously splayed out upon the ground. It was a gruesome scene to leave him in. And yet, she’d been given no choice in the matter.

“Unwillingly mine.”

Her knees gave out beneath her as she fell to the ground beside him, not at all unlike she had 48 hours ago.

Tears clouded her vision as her eyes traveled upwards, starting with the white sneakers he made no serious effort to keep clean, all the way up towards his face.

… Fuck.

His soft brown eyes, once so full of life, were now clouded and focused somewhere beyond. She felt herself let out a sob.

“‘And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed on into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water.’”

The gentleness of Eddie’s voice as he read Return of the King always did wonders to lull her to sleep. He knew it too. The light hand that ran idle fingers through her hair was further evidence of his harmless intentions. 

The two of them were laying on his bed, limbs intertwined this way and that. The rainy Sunday afternoon was the perfect excuse for a midday nap.

“‘And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the gray rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise,’” Eddie finished.

A few moments of silence passed.

“You paused,” she said, her voice muffled as her face was pressed to the front of his shirt.

“... Do you think that’s really what it’s like?” he wondered, his voice even quieter. “You know… after?’

She hummed, the clutches of sleep rendering her almost devoid of clear thoughts. Still, the sudden shift in his tone urged her to reply softly, “I’d like to think so.”

Eddie’s hand came to a stop on the back of her head. “Yeah… I think so too.” Then, he cleared his throat. “Right… Where were we? -”

She hoped to whatever higher powers that be, that his sweet soul had managed to wind up there.

White shores. A far green country. A swift sunrise.

After everything he’d done, it was the least he deserved.

“Fate. Up against your will. Through the thick and thin. He will wait until you give yourself to him.”

And if there was any chance, any chance at all, that what he was experiencing was anything less than that, didn’t she owe it to him to move forward with her plan?

She cleared her throat, eyes flashing down to him once more. 

What she needed to do would require focus, and she also knew that would be extremely difficult if she proceeded like this.

After placing the candle down carefully, she dug into her bag, quickly finding the blanket she’d thrown in earlier before leaving. She whispered indescribable apologies as she flourished the blanket quickly, before letting it fall to the ground, peacefully draping over him. She was incredibly grateful that the ritual involved a “veil” of some sort, because she wasn’t sure how much longer she could look at him in that state.

She rose and took a few steps back, taking the candle with her. A little bit of distance would be safer. When she was comfortable with the amount of space between them, she lowered herself back to the ground. She set down the candle once more, and withdrew the vest and the journal from her bag.

With the vest serving as the grounding object in one hand, and the journal, opened to the exact page she’d discovered earlier in the day, serving as the tool with which she meant to accomplish her means in the other, she willed herself to calmness. Once she was a bit more relaxed, she lowered the headphones off her ears, letting them dangle freely around her neck.

The quietness of the Upside Down was eerie, but it did wonders to focus her attention even more to the task at hand.

When she was ready, she began reading the words on the page. Mental images of the one she longed to see once more filled her mind as she did so, hopefully giving the spell all the intentions it would need.

Once she had read through it once, her eyes lifted off the page, and darted over towards the blanketed figure a few yards away.

It remained still.

She tried again. Perhaps it was meant to be a mantra.

And again, nothing.

A third time.

Nothing.

The all too familiar feeling of anger flooded her once more. She rose from the ground, letting the journal and vest fall as she did so.

She rushed over to the blanketed figure, before grabbing a fistful of fabric and yanking it up unceremoniously.

He was gone.

Her face contorted in the perfect storm of confusion and fear.

“Sage?”

It was so soft, she’d barely heard it.

“Sweetheart, is that you?”

Chills crawled up her spine upon hearing that voice.

The voice that she never thought she’d get to hear again. 

She braced herself yet again, as she slowly turned around.

Upon their arrival, Steve, Robin and Dustin headed into the packed gymnasium. Each of them winced as they walked by the hundreds of people who were receiving much needed medical attention, and the rest of them, who were very obviously in distress after the alleged “earthquake”.

Maybe it was guilt, or just straight up compassion. But Robin had volunteered the three of them to help attend to the stations and patrons… Or were they inhabitants? Dustin wasn’t sure what to call them, but he wasn’t even sure he cared enough to figure it out.

He limped around, passing out cups of water to anyone who needed one. He looked at each person with a small smile, and even cracked a few jokes to the more approachable-looking ones. But his mind was still elsewhere.

He was struggling. The conversation in the car had only caused him to miss his new friend even more than he already had been. Everyone had said they were there for him, and that they were more than willing to lend an ear if he needed or wanted to talk about everything that had happened. But when it came down to it, when Dustin was actually looking to discuss it all, he was very quickly brushed off. 

Oh, how he wished he could talk to her. They could talk about Eddie - the real Eddie. Even if it was just to acknowledge his former existence. After all, they were probably the two people in the world who loved him the most.

Just as that thought crossed Dustin’s mind, he spotted the forgotten third person who never once left Eddie’s corner, and who never failed to take up his defense throughout everything.

Wayne Munson stood by the bulletin board, replacing defaced missing posters for both his nephew and his nephew’s girlfriend. Dustin could tell that this wasn’t a new experience for him. The way he quickly tore down the posters - each covered in cruel remarks and doodles - was an action marked by clear exhaustion and defeat.

“Mr. Munson?” Dustin didn’t hesitate to call out to him, even though he didn’t seem to want anything to do with him. “I’m Dustin Henderson. Can we talk?” 

He looked at the older man with hopeful eyes, but was immediately shot down.

“I can’t imagine we’ve got anything to talk about.”

He must not have recognized him. Although they’d never officially met before, Dustin had heard plenty about Mr. Munson. Especially over the past week. 

“My nephew is innocent. And so is the girl.” His loyalty was ever present in his tone and demeanor. Dustin merely nodded in response as the older man continued. “They’re still missing. I’ll put up as many posters as I need until they’re found. So, unless you’ve got anything to say that can help me with that, good day to you.” He quickly grabbed his things and began to walk away, but Dustin’s words stopped him dead in his tracks.

“I was with him,” he blurted out, voice already shaking. “I was with him when the earthquake hit.”

Wayne nodded gently, fearing the answer to the question he was about to ask. 

“And… where is Eddie now?”

Dustin shook slightly in place, and it was not due to his injured ankle. His lips started to quiver as he silently reached into his back pocket to reveal the guitar pick necklace that had always adorned his older friend’s neck. 

The look on Wayne’s face upon seeing it was one of immediate recognition.  

“I’m so sorry.” Dustin hobbled over to him, hand extended outward. 

Wayne took the pick into his own hand immediately. A devastated smile spread across his face as he ran his fingers over the smooth plastic, before going over to sit on a nearby cot. Dustin quickly joined him. 

“… And the girl?” Wayne’s voice perked up ever so slightly, and the smallest bit of hope was still audible in his words.

Dustin merely shook his head.

He didn’t know what was worse, the fact that he was informing the man beside him that he had lost everything, or that to some degree, he was lying. 

Steve and the others had come to yet another mutual agreement without Dustin’s input, that if anyone had asked, they were all to say that she had died alongside Eddie that night.

“This way, the heat will die down and we’ll be able to get her out of town without anyone looking for her. It’s the best thing for everyone.”

“I wish everyone had gotten to know him. Really know him. Because they would’ve loved him, Mr. Munson. Just like you, me, and Sage did.”

Wayne cried, silent tears running slowly down his tired face. The tears fell for both his honorary son and the girl who had come to be his honorary daughter. 

“They would’ve loved him. Even in the end… he never stopped being Eddie. Despite everything, I never even saw him get mad. That was always more her thing, though…” 

That caused Wayne to laugh, and Dustin laughed with him as he recalled all of the times she’d gotten so upset with Eddie for being his ridiculous, unserious, and wonderful self when they desperately needed to focus. 

“He could’ve run. He could’ve saved himself. But he fought. He fought and died to protect this town. This town that… hated them.”

Wayne sobbed, clutching the necklace tight. 

“He isn’t just innocent. Mr. Munson, he’s… he’s a hero. He was her hero.” 

After that, the two sat in silence for a while, remembering the person that they loved and cared so deeply for.

As he sat there with the last remaining Munson, Dustin was hit with an epiphany. He knew then that no matter what Steve, Robin, and Nancy said, he needed to be there for his friend. And as soon as he got a chance, he would contact her. 

She whimpered upon meeting his gaze. 

He stood there, covered in his own blood, eyes still clouded. 

But he was alive.

Without any hesitation, she rushed over and threw her arms around him. In that moment, she swore she’d never let him go again. 

He held her as she sobbed. “Baby, what’s going on?”

Her voice shook immensely as she attempted to speak. “You… you were… gone.” She gasped for air but ultimately just kept crying out. 

He shushed her, rubbing her back gently as he always did when she was upset. “I’m still here,” he whispered. He cupped her face in his hands and began to wipe her tears away with the pads of his thumbs. “But I shouldn’t be.”

She looked at him, eyes once again full of confusion. 

“I was dead, Sage. And somehow, you brought me back. How did you do it? What did you do?”

His eyes glanced over to the journal on the ground next to them. He put the pieces together in his head. 

“You used dark magic, didn’t you?” 

His hold on her tightened, causing the flesh of her cheeks to sting even worse than they already had. 

“Eddie… you’re hurting me…”

In the five years they’d been romantically involved, he’d never been rough with her. But she’d never seen him like this before. He wasn’t even angry. He was scared.

“You swore to me that you’d never get into this kind of shit. Why would you do this?!”

He began to shake her on each word, seemingly in some kind of effort further emphasizing his point. She just let out a string of broken cries. “I couldn’t live without you.”

He scoffed slightly, narrowing his eyes at her. “Couldn’t? Or didn’t want to?”

She looked at him with pleading eyes, but he refused to meet her gaze. Despite his blunt disapproval of her actions, she just couldn’t understand why he was behaving this way. “Of course I don’t want to live without you. You’re everything to me, Eddie.” 

“Then why would you bring me back into a world that doesn’t want me?! I’m just gonna end up dead one way or another. Why couldn’t you just let me be at peace? Why did you have to be so selfish?!” 

His eyes snapped back up to meet hers, the look of disgust plastered upon his face. “It’s because you needed someone to take the blame for your crimes.”

“What-”

“You killed Chrissy, didn’t you?” 

His accusation stunned her to silence.

His once clouded irises were now completely white, while the rest of his eyes were bloodshot.

“It wasn’t Vecna. It was you. You were jealous of her. You thought I’d leave you, so you killed her. Just like you killed Fred for telling Nancy about your past, and Patrick for calling you a witch.”

His accusations shot out, one right after the other. Each of them stung as they pierced into her like bullets. 

He took the final shot, straight for the heart.

“You killed them all- just like you killed your brother.”

She stood there, paralyzed. Mouth hung open, she wracked her brain for any response that might get through to him. To prove him wrong. But she couldn’t find her voice. 

“They all said you were just as crazy as your aunt… Maybe I should’ve believed them.” 

Tears were streaming down her face as she shook violently, backing away from him as he got closer.

“You’re a monster, just like they said.”

His voice began to fade out, a much deeper and darker one taking its place.

“It should’ve been you that died!”

She stumbled back, losing her footing after backing into something that had been on the ground behind her. She yelped, looking down at the cushion-like item that had caused her fall.

It was Eddie’s corpse. 

It was still there, lying lifeless under the blanket. Her fall caused his left arm to peak out, showing off his pale hand adorned with all of his rings. She continued sobbing upon the sight.

None of it is real.

“Y/n…”

At first she had thought it was part of the hallucination, or maybe just the miscellaneous noises blurring together to create something that faintly resembled it. After all, she’d barely been called that name anymore. 

But then she heard it again, this time slightly louder than before. It continued to increase in volume as the source of the call approached her.

She shivered upon hearing her given name called out to her by the same evil voice that had mere moments before used Eddie -  her Eddie - as vessel to break her. 

“Y/n… It’s about time we’ve met…”

A dark, lanky, and disfigured creature could be spotted about a yard away from where she’d sat, curled into a fetal position in anguish, and now terror. 

“I’ve been looking forward to this moment for a very long time.”

She could only assume that the figure was Vecna himself. Even though she had no prior knowledge of his appearance, whatever was standing before her was more terrifying than anything she could’ve ever imagined. It had to be him.

“You’ve made it extremely difficult for us to communicate- always shutting me out the second I manage to get in. How is your mind so strong for someone so weak?” 

“Fuck you.”

Her words surprised her more than they did him. She was shocked that, given the current situation, she was able to talk back to someone who was easily considered the most dangerous monster of them all.

Damn it, Eddie. She’d spent so much time discussing everything with him in D&D terms, that she still found herself looking at everything through the lens of the game. 

But this wasn’t a game. And the odds of her making it out of this encounter alive - especially with her smart mouth - were slim to none. 

Since when do you care about the odds?

“What do you even want with me?! If I’m so weak, what use could I possibly be to you? You’ve already taken everything. Why don’t you just cut the shit and finish me off.” 

He narrowed his ice cold, animalistic eyes at her more out of intrigue than anger. 

“That’s what you want, isn’t it?” He spoke as he slowly closed in on her. “You want your suffering to finally end.” 

She wanted so badly to look away from him, to deny his accusation. But she couldn’t. Everything he was saying was completely true. 

“You want to take the coward's way out, to join your little boyfriend in the afterlife. What makes you think you deserve to be at peace after everything you’ve done?”

You demented fuck.

He chuckled. 

… Did he hear that?

Shit.

“I’m not letting you go that easily. You’re different from the others. I have bigger plans for you.”

As confused as she was, she had a feeling he wouldn’t leave her in the lurch for long. Max and Nancy had both mentioned his tendency to throw himself into an evil monologue. And she couldn’t deny that she had been at least a bit curious.

“You are my perfect vessel. Your guilt is stronger than all of them combined. If I had been able to kill you before, I probably wouldn’t have needed the others. But you just wouldn’t let me in.” 

Suddenly, everything all made sense.

It all came back to her past. Everything always did. It was always her fault. There was always something she could’ve done. To save Eddie. To save her brother. But she’d always been the selfish one. The one who made it out alive while countless others didn’t. And she’d always been living with the constant reminders of those failures. 

The months since the previous summer had been different though. She had always assumed it was something to do with witchcraft, possibly something new blowing through. At one point, she simply brushed it off due to the fact that she had started using new birth control. But those theories seemed downright laughable now. How could she have been so blind? When Max and Nancy were recounting their experiences of being in Vecna’s trance, she never made the connection between what they’d felt and seen to what she had experienced herself.

The days spent reliving slightly distorted versions of each of her memories as if they were happening all over again. The nights waking in a cold sweat from the horrific nightmares she had endured on the regular. The nosebleeds and piercing headaches that she would get following each of them. 

It was him the entire time. 

It had always been him.

“You wouldn’t let me in… until now.”

It had to have been the spell. It was the only logical explanation she could think of. I always knew it was too dangerous. I should’ve fucking listened. 

“Your plan may not have succeeded in the way you had hoped, but I’m so glad you were naive enough to try.”

Her eyes clenched shut tightly, and her body seized up as an overwhelming sense of pain washed over her. It was suffocating. It was impossible to tell if it was mental, emotional, or physical- it was all just pain. And nothing but pain. It flooded her senses, rendering her unable to make sense of or focus on anything but his voice.

“So ashamed. You hide from everyone, but you can’t hide from me. I see you for everything you are.”

The wind was abruptly knocked out of her as she fell into the deep, dark oblivion of her mind. She reached, grasping at anything. But there was nothing. Nothing but cold, empty darkness. She kept falling, until suddenly everything stopped, and her body was completely still.

“Usually, I like to take my time. But we don’t have that. So, I’ll make an exception, just this once.”

His voice echoed throughout the deepest depths of her mind. 

… Is that where I am?

“I’m going to show you everything now. You’ll know more than anyone ever has. You’ll finally be able to see what we’ve been working towards.”

Before she had a chance to process what was being said to her, she was jolted awake. Every single memory of her past, mixed with memories that weren’t even her own, flashed before her eyes. She had no idea how she was able to see each and every one of them - to feel them. It was almost as if she was actually living them, right in the present. 

All she could feel was pain. The pain of losing her brother, her aunt. Her family turning against her. Steve turning against her. The blood, the screaming. Eddie’s screams. Electric shocks? The all consuming, paralyzing fear of his victims. Max’s fear and the feeling of the life leaving her body. The exhilarating power and satisfaction he’d felt after slaughtering each and every one of them. The taste of flesh and blood filling her mouth. Eddie’s blood. 

She couldn’t help it- a last-ditch desperate idea of getting help crossed her mind. If she’d been able to find her voice, she may have actually called out the words, though she knew her efforts would have been entirely futile.

Help. 

Anyone? 

Please.

“Your friends are not able to help you now,” Vecna said. It was more of a fact, a cold, hard-truth of a statement than any kind of argument .”Though, why you even refer to them as such is rather interesting.”

Her eyes were still shut tightly. She was unsure of whether she was even still standing. There was nothing indicative of her surroundings, except for his voice, which only grew louder with each passing second.

“What kind of friends could be so ignorant, so callous about the devastating loss you’ve experienced?”

In a cruel sense of irony, at the tiniest mention of the person in question, she could’ve sworn her mind cleared enough for the faintest trace of his smiling face to flash across it. The vision was fleeting though, and just as quickly as it had dissipated, the pain returned, and with a vengeance.

“What kind of friends won’t let you properly say goodbye to your dead?” he questioned. In a softer tone, he added, “They’ve claimed to have tucked you away under the guise of your safety. But you should ask yourself- was that the real purpose? … After all, if you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind.”

Pain. Nothing but awful, unbearable pain.

“Your friends don’t want you to grieve, and yet they don’t want to console you, either. They would have you live out the rest of your days on the run… Is that really the kind of life you want? To waste away in constant regret in shame, to live in the shadows of a world that considers you to be a monster? They’re scared of you, Y/N. You’ve always been too powerful for them. They tried to suppress your abilities, to guilt you into submission. And you’ve always let them. That’s why you’re the way you are now- that is what makes you weak.”

With every sentence, his voice grew louder. Each statement was punctuated with a sense of resolve, and a sense of righteousness.

“You are weak.”

She was physically unable to respond to his declaration. But even if she had been able to do so, she wasn’t sure she would have.

“But it doesn’t have to be that way anymore… What you’ve done has bound us. I could force you to bend to my will. You’d crumble so very easily... But, aside from the weakness, I sense something else in you… you’re tired. Stop fighting. Choose to no longer be weak. Stop fighting, Y/N. Join me.”

At once, her eyes shot open. She physically felt as though she’d finally awoken from the nightmare that was his trance, like Max had. But when she looked around, she noticed that she was no longer in the trailer park. 

Everything was red and covered in what she could only assume was blood. Each of her surroundings had looked like they had been chewed up and spit out. Destroyed remnants of what appeared as the Creel house were directly in front of her. Her legs began moving, as if she were a puppet on a string. She turned the handle of the door and entered, paying no mind to the corpses of his victims that lined the walls. 

There he stood, in the center of the house. In front of him was a closed casket. It looked like it was made of some of the rubble, with vines wrapped around it, keeping it in place. But her focus was deterred upon the sight of the bat wings that adorned the top.

“I’ve always had plans for you… For both of you. Now, all you need to do is choose.”

Dustin slipped out of the cafeteria easily.

He made his way down the various hallways with just as much ease, despite his ankle protesting with every single step. Thankfully, there was enough activity going on throughout Hawkins’ High that those who pass him in the bright-white lit hallways barely spare him a second glance.

He reached his destination sooner than he expected, and when he tried the handle, he was overcome with a sense of relief that it had been unlocked. Dustin slipped inside the room quickly, and closed the door behind him.

His eyes scanned the room, assessing the damage.

It was more of a closet, really. The Hawkins’ High School AV Club was given just about as much respect as the middle school’s club.

The room looked like it had been ransacked; apparently, someone had thought to secure all potential modes of communication in advance, should something more traumatic happen to Hawkins in the meantime and render phone lines useless.

The Heathkit Ham Shack radio, which was identical to the one Mr. Clarke had dedicatedly worked to obtain for Hawkins’ Middle School AV Club just a few years prior, was nowhere to be found. Other miscellaneous devices were missing as well - the tall shelves bordering the walls of the small room looked particularly empty.

Dustin could only hope no one had thought to snag the particular device he was searching for.

He hobbled over to the shelf along the back wall, searching his mind for reference on where he had last seen the devices in question. There were only a few boxes to search.

On the final box he opened, a victorious smile broke out across his face.

He lifted up the device, and inspected it briefly before switching it on. The static that resounded was music to his ears. He quickly changed the frequency to the number he knew by heart.

“Sage, this is Dustin. Do you copy? Over.”

The seconds felt like minutes as they ticked away. Maybe she hadn’t heard?

“Sage, I repeat, this is Dustin. Do you copy? Over.”

Dustin waited for a response with bated breath, but was given no reprieve.

“Y/N?” he tried then, the name sounding a bit foreign on his tongue, due to his preference of using the girl’s nickname. “Do you copy?”

All Dustin was met with was more silence.

If she had been anywhere near the walkie talkie, which he had instructed her very specifically to keep by her side at all times, for safety of course, she should have heard him by then. Which made him wonder- where was she?

If she wasn’t in her great aunt’s house anymore, what happened? Had she’d been discovered?

Had she left voluntarily?

She wouldn’t… would she?

Regardless of what the answer was, something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Steve watched Robin and Vicki with a smile as he continued to fold and sort the ever-growing piles of donated clothes.

He continued to glance over at them curiously until Dustin emerged in his line of sight, taking him aback. “Oh, hey.” Upon seeing his young friend’s stressed out look all over his face, Steve felt his smile fall. “What’s going on?”

“I think something’s wrong with Sage,” Dustin answered urgently.

Steve sighed tiredly. “Listen, Dustin, we’ve already been over this. She’s fine-”

“No,” Dustin interrupted, with a bit more force than Steve was used to seeing from him. “You don’t understand-”

“Hey, something’s going on outside!”

A loud shout ringing throughout the gymnasium broke through theirs and countless other ongoing conversations. Steve and Dustin turned their head towards the source of the sound, but by that point, a decent number of people had already made their way over towards the exit, evidently wanting to see whatever was going on for themselves.

Dustin didn’t spare him another glance as he moved to follow them.

“Dustin, wait!” Steve called, reaching towards him, but he was immediately cut off from further pursuing him by the long table he was standing behind. By the time he made his way around said table, Dustin was gone, lost in the growing crowd of people corralling themselves out of the building.

Steve was about to abandon his volunteer post to follow the crowd anyways, knowing Dustin couldn’t have been too hard to catch up with, given the rate of speed he was limited to at the moment. But something outside the window caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. With a sense of shock and dread, he approached the large panes of glass slowly.

Dustin stopped just outside of the gymnasium doors. Like the others surrounding him, his attention was immediately pulled upwards.

Snow-like particles fell from above, coating everything below in a light layer. However, once a few of the particles landed softly upon Dustin’s face, he realized with slight disdain that the small specs were not cold to the touch.

It wasn’t snow, he realized with horror. It was ash.

Worried chatter of those around him filled his ears, though their words were undetectable to him.

His head swiveled around, taking in the entire periphery of the visible skyline.

5, 6, 7- perhaps more- large black plumes of smoke billowed from the ground up to the sky. There wasn’t a direction around them that was clear. It was as though the entire town was surrounded- or rather, right in the thick of it.

Flashes of red flickered across the sky in the form of lightning. The lightning looked eerily similar, but it couldn’t be.

Could it?

Thunder never came. Instead, what followed the red streaks of harsh light was a low, rumbling sound.

It was the soundtrack of something ominous. And it wasn’t something coming. Whatever it was, it was already here.

Will hissed as a sharp pain pricked at the back of his neck.

Look up.

Much to his dismay, he did as he was compelled to, turning around and tilting his chin upwards. It looked like a storm rolling in. The happy chatter behind him ceased as the others evidently noticed the sudden weather change as well.

But the clouds were moving quickly, and after what felt like a mere minute, the sky had gone dark. And what fell from the clouds was not rain- but ash.

Hopper and El led the trek through the woods to the clearing that overlooked Hawkins. What was already a short walk felt even shorter with each step. But the closer they got, the heavier, more suffocated Will began to feel.

When the trees gave way to the open skies, and wildflowers and weeds replaced the dead leaves that littered the ground beneath their feet, an awful sight was revealed to them.

Before Will could even begin to process the terrible sight before him, the sharp pain at the back of his neck returned, as did a dull ringing throughout his ears.

We’ve only just begun.

He swallowed hard due to the paralyzing feeling of dread overcoming his senses. 

“No... No!” He whispered to himself more than anyone else. 

Mike, observant as ever, seemed to hear him though. “What’s happening? Is he talking to you?”

Will shook his head gently. “No, not to me. To someone else.”

Mike looked at him with more concern than he had in the entire week they’d just spent together. “What did he say?” 

After checking to make sure the others weren’t paying any attention to them, he met his gaze. Eyes wide and tears beginning to flow, he worked up the courage to speak.

“You’ve chosen wisely.” 

The other boy stared at him in confusion.

“Mike… He’s not alone anymore.”

A/N: Thank you so much for reading!🖤

TAGLIST: @insertsupercoolusernamehere​

[stargazer-balladeer]

it’s my birthday soon and i’ve always felt lonely during my birthdays— so if it’s alright, can i request headcanons for scaramouche, xiao, and albedo with an s/o who only locks themselves in their bedroom because they don’t feel special enough to even celebrate their birthday? thank you 🥺

S/o’s birthday but locks themselves in their rooms because they don’t feel special [Genshin Impact]

Characters Included: Albedo, Scaramouche & Xiao

Notes: 👁👄👁 the title is so long- i don’t know how to shorten it- hshshs. Btw, HAPPY ADVANCE BDAY ANON-!! I KNOW THAT FEELING ANON- SO UR NOT ALONE 🤧🤧 if you want to talk, you can msg me anytime-! You deserve to be showered with love-! Hope ya’ll like this!

Reader’s Gender: Neutral

Warning: none

[aether, childe, diluc, kaeya, venti]

Albedo

As much as Albedo wants to remember your birthday, he just forgets because of many things running through his mind. Especially when it comes to new discovery. He’ll be so sorry when he remembered that your birthday was today-

At first, Albedo had a hard time looking for you. He asked everyone- yes even Diluc, Kaeya, Jean, Klee, everyone- but no one has seen you. Which made him worried since no one has seen you the entire day—

He would literally tear down Mondstadt trying to find you until he remembered that he hasn’t check your house yet. When he finds that you’ve been locked up in your room the entire day, it literally broke his heart- ;w;

He would feel like it’s his fault that you don’t feel special, like bro- he would have a sad puppy face on. He will put his hands on either side of your face and make you face him-

“You are special. You are like the sun. You are like a (God/Goddess). Even if you don’t feel special yourself, you’re special to me. And since you’re my beloved, my (prince/princess), you deserve all the happiness and love in the world. You deserve to feel special on your special day. So smile, I don’t want to see any tears.”

Albedo would do anything you want, probably to make up his forgetfulness- :p if you want cuddles, then cuddles you’ll get. If you want a cake or something, he’ll try to bake something, no promises though. (Its the thought that counts, right? 👀).

Albedo would use his ability of drawing and bringing them to life. He would draw all sorts of things, bunnies, squirrels, flowers, and others. He knew that you love watching him draw and bringing them to life. It honestly warms his heart knowing you love what he’s passionate about.

If you want, Albedo could talk to you about all the things he found out recently. All of the research and things he discovered. If you ever question some things regarding about what he discovered, he would happily try to explain it. (It’s honestly adorable seeing him explaining the things he discovered in his research- 🤧)

At the end of the day (around 11-), he would cuddle with you while laying beside you. Every so often, he would press a kiss on your head.

“Happy Birthday, my love. May many more to come... the next time your birthday come, I promise we’ll celebrate it together properly.”

Scaramouche

If you think that Scaramouche doesn’t care about your birthday, then you’re right-! 😃 I’m joking- (unless-). He honestly wants to spend your birthday together with you, but his duty as a Harbinger comes first.

Believe me when I say he feels guilty. Leaving you alone on your special day is honestly low, even for him. He would definitely try to finish all of his missions immediately to get back to you. He would do whatever means necessary to finish them all immediately (he might or might not have sacrificed some people in the process- 👀).

You can imagine his confusion when he couldn’t find you anywhere. He already has something set up for you, all he needs is the birthday person themselves. But he couldn’t you anywhere.

Someone better tell him to check your room or else he would literally tear down the Fatui headquarters just to look for you-! He seriously need to manage his anger- 😓

Scaramouche would find it weird to he finds out that you’ve been in your room for the entire day. At first, he didn’t understand why you’re doing this. But soon, he’ll understand. Afterall, he might’ve done that before..

This guy has no manner whatsoever as he just entered your room like he owns the place- one look at you and the next thing you know is that he’s pampering you- like he’ll be preparing a bath for you and choosing an outfit for you (he’s a fashionista, change my mind 😃). Like bro, who are you and what happened to Scaramouche?

“Tsk. You’re quite a handful, you do know that, correct? Making me go through all this effort to comfort you. Now tell me, who put that idea on your head? Was it your family? Was it someone else? I honestly want to murder whoever put that idea in your pathetic head. ‘Not special to celebrate your birthday’? Ha! Don’t make me laugh. Everyone deserves to feel special, even if its for one day. Now, stop being stubborn and enjoy it-!”

Scaramouche would pamper you so much, like his personality did a 180- he would be pressing kisses all over your body and praising you like theres no tomorrow. He would help you dry yourself and put on the outfit he chose for you. If your hair is long, he would help styling it.

He would take you on a fancy dinner date (this guy is also rich, fite me—). He would honestly spoil you lmao- so enjoy it while it lasts- 😃

“Don’t expect this everyday, okay? I’m not gonna put much effort the next time... still.. happy birthday, my beloved. Don’t ever feel like you’re not special when you’re special to me.. if you ever feel sad, come to me. Thank you for putting up with me.”

Xiao

(Yes I’ve remade the Xiao banner again- 🤧🤧 im very indecisive ik-)

Celebrating birthday? What’s that? Xiao honestly didn’t think much of it since centuries pass by with his day of birth passing each time, he never really thought much of it. Never bothered celebrating it.

But when he found out (from Verr or Rex Lapis/Zhongli) that the mortals celebrate their birthdays, he honestly doesn’t have a clue on how to celebrate it. So he might seek the help of Verr or the Traveller.

He does his best. Please give him credit for trying- ;;w;; He’ll try his best to make something for you. It won’t be anything grand. A simple picnic near Wangshu Inn with some Almond Tofu and other food-

So when the day of your birthday came, Xiao is nervous. He doesn’t know if you’ll like the surprise or not. But when he started to look for you, he was confused when he couldn’t find you before growing worried.

Unlike the other bois, he would immediately check your room before tearing the place down- when he finds you there, he’s honestly confused again- (poor bby, always getting confused- ;;w;;). When you explain to him that you just don’t feel special during your birthday, Xiao would get worried and upset-

The first thing he does is hug you. Like this is the only thing he knows about comforting someone- its not like he encountered humans that needs comforting- ;w;

“I.. don’t really know what it feels like to not feel special on your day of birth but.. you’re special to me. Isn’t that enough?”

Like broooo, he looks like a sad puppy- he’s honestly lost on what to do. You might as well need to comfort him too 😅. He would try to shower you with affections before dragging you to the picnic he set up.

He would be so relieved if you like or love the picnic he set up. As much as its embarrassing for him, he would allow you to feed him and, if you let him, feed you in return. He will continue to press some kisses on your face, head and hands. Because, like, u really deserve it- 🥺🥺

He would bring you to the highest mountain just near Wangshu Inn and enjoy the view, and possibly go stargazing with you. I can see him knowing how to make a flower crown for some reason :pp so he’ll make a flower crown out of Qingxin flowers and place it on your head-

“Happy day of birth, my love. Even as more days of birth come, I promise to make you special. Even though it’s not the grandest, I hope that my efforts and love will be enough.”

[x] Main Page || [x] Mondstadt Page || [x] Liyue Page || [x] Fatui Harbingers Page

[strawberrymilkgeorge]

Part Nine. Minecraft Dating 101

warnings: swearing, mostly super freaking fluffy but some oopsies at the end (which is the barely-there angst that i mentioned before!!), pet names?? if that bothers you??? (like...... one or both of them might use baby.........) word count: 5.3k (not including pictures)

behind the screen (irl dream x f!reader) series masterlist ultimate masterlist

A/N: HEHEH SORRY ITS SO LONG SORRY hope you guys like it!!!! hope it lives up to your standards of minecraft dates lol also thank you guys all for all your suggestions!!! i loved all of them so much!!!! i would have added every idea except this was already 5k words so its much less “flirting” and more so “oh gosh im so nervous what am i supposed to do” from both of them so hehe i think thats more endearing anyway

**********

The familiar sound of a FaceTime call connecting rang in Y/n's ears and she held her phone up to her face. "Hi, Karl," she sighed.

"Y/N!!" he said with a cackle. "ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR DATE?!"

"Shut up, I'm doing this for you."

"I already gave you the tour though so really you could back out. You're choosing to stay." His voice was teasing and giddy. "Why's that, hmm?"

Heat rose instantly to Y/n's face. "Because I'm a woman of my word?"

"OkaAaAyy," he sang. "Or because you liiiiikeee himmm."

"Shhhut up, Karl. No, I don't."

"Suuuure."

"Is this why you called me?"

He giggled. "Yeah, but—"

Y/n disconnected the call and set her phone down with a small laugh and a shake of her head.

With her stream started and her chat greeted, the donation limit raised to $100 (both because she didn't want to be flooded with questions on the date and because she didn't want people to donate their hard-earned money), Y/n logged onto Dream's SMP and found the voice call Dream was in, George's name right under his.

After she clicked it to join, a small gasp emitted from her headphones before she heard Dream mutter something. "Get out, get out, leave."

George's voice was normal. "But I wanna—"

"GEORGE!" Dream yelled, making Y/n giggle.

"Fine!" George yelled back. "Have fun you two," he sang like Karl did before a sound from Discord told them that he left.

It was silent for a second before, "Hi."

"Hi." She giggled. "What was that about?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Just some last minute, uh, setting up."

She hummed, amused at the sound of his frantic voice.

"So, um... are you ready for our date?"

"I don't even know where you are. I'm still in my house."

"Knock, knock," he said with a laugh. Y/n turned to see green peeking through the cutouts on her oak door and she laughed.

She ran to the door and opened it for him, revealing Dream in a slightly altered version of his Minecraft skin. He looked the same, except the white blob appeared to be wearing a necktie of some sort. "You look ridiculous," she admitted with a smile. "Wait, is this a fancy date? Should I change my skin?"

"It's not fancy, I just wanted to look my best for the prettiest girl in the world."

"Ohmygosh," she muttered to herself, hoping that writing off his charming words and actions as annoying would make her face not heat up as much. So far, it hadn't worked. Two minutes in and she was already blushing like a schoolgirl whose crush asked her to play tag at recess. "So, I'm not underdressed?"

"No, you're always perfect."

She didn't comment, opting for an eye-roll instead. Truthfully, she wanted to flirt back with him, try to make his heart beat fast like hers already was, but she was worried her words wouldn't come off joking and that the true intention would be obvious, that he'd be able to breeze right past the jovial tone and hear the sincerity in her words. Wait, true intention? What was her true intention? Her true intention should obviously be to just joke around and have some fun, but deep down she knew the motivation for teasing him came from somewhere different, somewhere more meaningful.

She wanted to tease him because she wanted to be the one to make him blush, to make him trip over his words and not know what to do with his hands.

Why? Well, she was still figuring that out.

"If you're ready, follow me, ma'am."

"Where are you taking me?" she asked as she followed his character down prime path.

"Hmmm..." he mused. "A secret, obviously."

"Obviously," she scoffed. She noticed that he was several blocks ahead of her and she smiled to herself. "Hey, Dream?"

"Hm?" he asked, spinning to face her as he ran backward.

"I don't know how many dates you've been on, but usually people walk together. You know, gives them an excuse to maybe hold hands or at least enjoy each other's company?" She made sure her voice had just the right balance of teasing and seriousness, curious as to how he would respond.

"I, uh... oh."

"Unless you want me to just meet you there. I mean, you're practically running away from me."

"I'm just excited!" he excused, stopping briefly so she could catch up with him.

"But look at how many beautiful things there around us to look at while we get to where we're going!" she told him. "Well, maybe not that," she said with a laugh as she punched her fist towards Tommy's dirt house. "But other things."

Dream laughed and continued to walk next to her like she requested, pausing if he ever got too far ahead. "How can I look at all those when the most beautiful thing is walking right next to me?"

She's never rolled her eyes so hard in her life. "Shut up," she mumbled as she punched him.

"OW! BUG!"

"That was supposed to be a pat on the arm but Minecraft only has one level of hitting and it's a punch. Sorry."

Dream wheezed briefly before containing his laughter. "This way," he instructed, getting off the path and starting into the woods.

"Oh, really you're trying to kill me. That's why you didn't want me to wear anything nice. Didn't want me to ruin any of my fancy stuff."

"Foiled my plans," he joked lightly. "Okay but really, um, I was thinking—well, so you already have a house but I was thinking we could build one together. Or build something, I don't know. But you're really good at building and I know you really enjoy it so I thought maybe you could show—like, teach me and then later I'll teach you something and then we can have a little picnic dinner."

Y/n smiled at her nervousness. "Hey, that actually sounds really fun!"

"What? What do you mean actually?" He laughed. "What, did you expect me to plan something boring?"

She laughed over his dramatic pouting. "No, but I mean, I didn't know what to expect," she said shyly. "I do have to say, though, I'm not sure what you plan on teaching me. I'm pretty much a master at all possible Minecraft skills, so..."

"Oh, really?" he taunted. "Everything?"

"Mhm," she hummed, her confidence wavering at his smooth voice.

"We'll see about that..."

"Unless you mean you're gonna teach me how to code Minecraft. That's a Minecraft skill I will admit I know nothing about."

"No, no, nothing like that," he said with a laugh.

"Good, save the programming talk for later."

"For laaater, hmmm?" he sang flirtatiously.

"Oh my gosh," she said through a laugh. "You would think that's what I meant."

"Hey, you're the one that said you think it's cute when I talk about coding. Maybe you're into that."

"I was saying it's sweet hearing you talk about stuff you like, you nerd. Why did you immediately think—what, is your idea of dirty talk talking about... like... computer viruses?"

"WhAT?"

"Hey girl, lemme clean out your motherboard," she mocked in a deep voice. "You overclock my processor. Lemme program your, uh—uh...hAHA, nevermind, ew, no."

"BUG?! WHAAAT? What is wrong with you?" His gasps for breath between wheezes made her laugh with him. "Don't ever talk like that again, pleASE."

"I won't, I won't, I'm sorry. Oh my gosh."

"Is that your idea of flirting? You are bad!"

"No, no, no!" She laughed. "I was making fun of you. No, I'm actually really good."

She couldn't stop giggling to herself for a few minutes, embarrassed but also proud of the reaction she got from Dream. She loved hearing him laugh as if he would never stop, it made her heart so happy to hear, especially when she was the one who caused it.

Though she feared her horrible pickup lines, if you could even call them that, were already clipped, ready to be used against her for the rest of her life. Worth it. Probably.

They approached a cleared-out area in the woods and Dream stopped and turned to Y/n. "So, we're here. What should we build?"

"Oh, so now I have to plan? Wow, you are so underprepared," she joked.

"What, no! I originally... I wanted to build a, like, a house together because I didn't— I forgot you made your—your house already and—but since you already have one—"

"We can still build a house," she interrupted with a soft voice. Him fumbling over his words was very endearing but also very confusing. How serious was he taking this bit? Or was he... actually nervous? She was actually nervous but she had reasons to be: a huge live audience to entertain and not ignore, and the weird staticky, itchy feeling in her tummy every time Dream spoke to her. Both valid reasons to be nervous. What was his excuse?

"Really? You wanna build a home together?"

Heat rose to her cheeks at his wording and she hummed. "Mhm. You can be my secret lover I hide in my vacation home. Like a second life kinda deal."

He scoffed. "Oh, now I'm just your side piece, Bug?"

"Nah, you're my main bitch, baby. I just wanna hide you away to keep you for myself because I'm selfish."

There was silence on his end for a few moments, making Y/n's face practically catch fire as she thought about her words. Why did she say that?? How can he flirt all the time but as soon as she says something: dead silence.

"Well.... shhhhhit," he finally mumbled definitively.

"You wanted me to flirt with you, Dream. You literally asked me too!" She laughed, trying to cover up her embarrassment. It had been less than 20 minutes and she already made a fool of herself.

"I did, I did, I just—wow. Come on, that was... I didn't expect you to go from never flirting to calling me baby!"

"Too much?" she bit her lip as she waited for him to explain if it was a good or bad thing.

He paused again. "....no."

She laughed loudly, pulling her hoodie collar up to her face in an attempt to rid herself of the giddiness and heat on her face. Like anyone could see anyway.

"So, a house?"

"A house."

"What kind of house do you think we should build together, Dream?"

"Maybe...." he thought as he ran around the area. "Maybe, like, a log cabin? Since we're in a forest. It's fitting..."

"Very true, very true..." she thought. "I was thinking a castle was more suited for you, king, but a cabin works too."

"Bug!" he yelled, laughter bubbling up in his voice. "What is wrong with you?"

"What?" she said defensively, giggling.

"You're a handful today," he groaned under his breath and she smiled. Though his words said one thing, Y/n could tell he was enjoying her energy.

"So, a dinky, old cabin, or what?"

"Whatever you want to build," he sighed.

"You always this agreeable?"

"Only to you."

"Well, I honestly don't have much practice with building cabins and since I want to show off my skills, I mean, that's the whole point of this, right? For me to impress you with my skills?"

Dream laughed so she continued.

"I think we should build a treehouse."

"A treehouse?"

"Mhm. What do you think? I make a pretty bomb treehouse."

"That sounds awesome!" he agreed. "Oh, and it could go from, like, one tree to another and, like, connect with a bridge! Like, the living room on one and the bedroom on another."

"Yeah, exactly! Okay, it's settled."

"What do we need? What do you want me to do?"

"I'm thinking.... we use cobblestone?"

Dead silent. Literally no noise until a few moments later, ".......Bug. This might be a deal-breaker."

"I'm joooking! You think I'd build something out of cobblestone? Who am I, Tommy? No, what's your favorite wood?"

"Dark oak."

"GOOD. Me too. So.... we need dark oak. Or, wait! Okay, hear me out."

"I'm hearing..." Dream prompted as he pressed A and D on his keyboard back and forth, earning a giggle from Y/n. He character was bouncing left and right is excitement.

"Dark oak planks..." she started.

"Mhm."

"Stone bricks..."

"Go on."

"And green wool for accents."

"Well, now you're just pandering."

"No!" she laughed. "Not, like, lime wool. Green wool. It's close to you but not as... obnoxiously blinding."

"I trust your vision. I'll go get materials."

"Perfect, you're the best, Dweam."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled before laughing. "You pick out a tree you think would be best for the main part."

40 minutes later, they were nowhere near being done. Y/n had shown him how to make a good house layout after he placed the floor in the shape of a square. She had yelled at him for it first, of course. They also had the frame of the walls and one bridge but nothing on the other side of said bridge. Not wanting the stream to last six hours since this was only the first part of the date, Y/n made a suggestion.

"What if...."

"What if what?" Dream asked, pausing to look at her character, who had stopped fixing his mistakes. "Did I mess something up?"

"No, I was just thinking. What if we make this the whole house and do a little garden on the other side of the bridge? Or like a little cute thing."

"A little cute thing?" Dream laughed.

"You know, like a thing," she said, knowing she hadn't clarified anything. "I forgot this is only date one, you can't read my mind yet."

"Oh, so there are gonna be future dates? I thought this was just to pay off your debt?"

She paused, playing with her hoodie strings between her left hand. "Well, I guess we'll see."

Dream laughed. "So, what little cute thing did you want to make?"

"We could put a bench facing the sunset and have some potted flowers and hang lanterns and stuff."

"Oh, like a romantic spot?"

"I guess if you wanna think of it like that."

"Sounds cute," he said. "So, we have to change the layout in here then?"

"Nah, I mean, we can just not add a kitchen, we obviously don't need one anyway."

"True. Then all we need is to put our bed down, right?"

"Beds," Y/n corrected.

"Well, when they're together it looks like one big bed."

"Who said we're putting out beds together?"

"Buuuuggg..." he whined. "Come on... lemme put my bed next to yours."

She giggled again. What was with all the giggling, sheesh. "No. There's plenty of space, put it somewhere else." She placed her white bed down in the corner and went across the bridge to bring her idea to life, or, to Minecraft.

It only took about ten minutes and she finished when Dream spoke again. "I think I'm done."

"I am too! Let's take one final look around." She went back inside and immediately noticed his bed right next to hers. She stared at his character and he laughed.

"Whaaat?" he asked shyly and she just sighed, letting it happen. They took a look around and agreed that it was basically the best treehouse in the entire universe, both in Minecraft and real life.

"Bug, you're so good at building," Dream complimented as he ran around the house. "What's your favorite part?"

"Ummm...." She looked around before deciding on the bridge. "I like how you made the bridge. And I like the little touches you added to it. It's nice."

"Thanks! I think the 'little cute thing' you did is the best part."

"Shut up, I can't stand you," she scoffed. "But thanks."

"Hey, Bug?" Dream asked, leading her back into the house. He faced the two beds placed together and she prepared herself for the worst joke of all time. "Is this where all the programming talk happens?"

"I knew it! I knew you were gonna say that! Shut up!" She punched Dream as he laughed loudly and she couldn't stop smiling. "You're such a nerd. You're so annoying."

"OH! I have an idea, wait here."

***

It had been a solid eight and a half minutes of Y/n waiting for Dream and he showed no signs of returning. He was silent too, so she resorted to saying random things to get him to crack.

"When will my husband return from war?" she joked, her voice laced with sadness and longing.

There was a small suppressed laugh from his mic, but still no words.

"Sometimes I think I can still hear him laughing at me."

He must have gotten reeeaaalll close to his mic, because his next words, the first ones he had spoken in almost ten minutes, were whispered but she felt like he was in her ear. "I'll be home soon, baby."

Once again, she was so glad her chat couldn't see her because she literally shivered and her face was so warm she felt like she was glowing.

For the first time all stream, her eyes betrayed her and she looked at her chat as she pulled her hoodie collar up to her face.

user18: BUGSY BEIN REEEAL QUIET

user4: i think i just passed out

user11: wHAT ON EARTH DREAM ADKXKH

user7: BUGSY ON GOD BE REAL WITH US WTF IS GOING ON RN

user2: hey bestie i cant do this rn

user9: they can't talk to each other like that and say they're just friends pleASE

Also for the first time all stream, someone dared to donate at her limit (which, again, was ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS).

karakatara donated $100 I had to donate bc I just HAD to tell you how cute you and dream are! honestly my favorite couple ever and I was just wondering how long you've been dating??? love you and your videos!!!!!

It was $100. She had to answer it. Meaning, she had to use words after Dream said that like that and she wasn't sure that was physically possible right now.

"Aren't you going to answer?" Dream taunted.

"Wha—what, are you—you stream watching, you weirdo?" she forced out. "Why?"

"I wanted to read your chat, they're really funny."

"I haven't been reading it."

"What, why? They've been so funny this whole time."

"I've been too scared to."

"Too scared? Of what?"

Of the jokes that she wanted to be real? Of seeing something so cute only to break her heart when she remembers it's all a joke? Of seeing someone hate her for being so close to Dream? Many things.

"Of seeing something... that boosts your ego."

"What? Oh, come on. Hey, answer the dono. Someone gave you their hard earned money for that."

"Yeah, wait, chat, I had the limit that high so you DON'T donate! Why on earth would you—"

"You're avoiding the question."

"We aren't actually dating! Not actually a couple!" she said with a laugh, though something in her heart was very much against laughing at that fact. "Obviously not."

"Well, it's only the first date, so, we'll see I guess, but..."

"I cannot stand you. Thank you so much for the dono, though, Karakatara. You're insane for... yeah. Thank you so much." She turned her attention back to Dream. "Actually though are you ever coming back?"

"Yeah, what, I'm almost there. I see the you staring out the window. ."

When he got inside, he dropped a blue cornflower for Y/n and stepped back. "Okay, now, give that to me."

She followed, not understanding. "For you, Dream." She dropped the flower.

"Aw, Bug! That's so kind! Aw! Thank you! Here's a flower for you, too!" He dropped her a red poppy and then put two item frames on the wall above their beds. He put the blue cornflower above his bed and she followed by putting the red one above hers. "Now that's my favorite part of the house."

"You didn't want to use the real ones? What, did you lose my flower or something?"

"Hell no!" he defended loudly. "No, I just don't want someone to steal that one. It's in my enderchest for safe-keeping."

He said it so casually like it was no big deal, but her heart soared. She too had his flower in her enderchest.

"This," she said dramatically with a sigh, "is now a treehome."

***

"I already told you I'm the best PVP player out there."

"Bug, honey, I've seen you play Bedwars. You're trash."

"Hey!" Hehe, honey. Shut up brain.

"But that's okay! I'm here to teach you."

Y/n's character stood across a makeshift battlefield from Dream's, an axe in hand and armor that was definitely donated by DreamXD on her body. "This is kinda sexist of you. Assuming I know how to name a cute house but not fight."

"Oh no, that's not—crap. Bug, I'm only basing this off of your streams, which I watch all the time—"

Once again, he said something so casual and yet it still made her heart skip three beats and once again, she grabbed the collar of her hoodie and pulled it up to hide her face. This thing had to be stretched by now from how often it was yanked on in this stream alone.

"—and don't get me wrong, you're great! But you're also good at a lot of stuff and—"

"Dream!" she giggled out. "I'm teasing. I admit you're much better than me."

"I wouldn't say much better but... it's the only thing I could possibly teach you anything about because you're just so good at Minecraft." His tone was sarcastic at this point but she knew he was meaning what he said.

"Whatever. Come on, Dream, show me how it's done."

He actually had a lot of very useful tips that Y/n otherwise would have never thought about. I guess when you tryhard Minecraft, she thought, you learn a thing or two about pvp. It was a complete joke, but she still kept it to herself.

"I could basically beat anyone now," she said confidently.

"Yeah, basically. Except maybe Technoblade."

"Nah, even him."

"Let's see how good you really are. To the death."

"What?" She laughed. "You're gonna try to kill me on our date?"

"Yeah, scared?" Seconds later, a creeper exploded near Dream and he screeched, jumping back. Y/n lost it. She laughed loudly, clutching her stomach.

"Dr-Dream!" She laughed. "What the hell was that?"

"It scared me!" he argued. "Here, I'll protect you," he offered, running past her and killing a skeleton that was shooting towards her.

"I don't need protecting, especially from you! Besides, if you're trying to kill me, you'd let the mobs get me."

"No," he decided. "No one's allowed to kill my Bug."

She was literally going to explode. "Wh—"

"Only I get to."

"Dream!" she scoffed, running to kill the skeleton first. She succeeded and he pouted.

"Hey—I did more damage than you, you just had the final hit."

"Really? Cause to me it looks like I'm your knight in shining armor."

"Nuh-uh," he spat.

"Dream. F5 right now, you're covered in arrows."

There was a pause. "Oh whatever." He hit her once and that's all it took for them to start fighting, throwing jokes and taunts at each other the whole time, eventually resulting in a satisfying win for her.

Dream was slain by Bugsy

"WHAT?! HOW?"

<Tubbo> i thogt you were on a date <Ranboo> well definitley not anymore <Ranboo> is that canon <JackManifoldTV> WOMEN

"What was that about you being better than me?" Y/n teased.

"Oh, come ON! I still had damage from the skeleton, and besides, I taught you everything you know!"

"That just makes you a very good teacher, Dream," she said sincerely and he paused, probably expecting her to insult him instead of compliment him.

"Yeah, suck up now that you've murdered me."

***

They were finally at their final stop, three hours into the stream. Not too bad on time, though this was probably the longest Minecraft date in the history of Minecraft dates. Also the best, but maybe Y/n was biased.

There was a huge tree, obviously built instead of naturally generated, with lanterns hanging down and lighting areas of the dark world around them. Under that was a checkered pattern of carpet, a single chest in the center with a potted plant sitting next to it.

"The carpet is supposed to look like a, uh, what's it called... picnic blanket?" Dream explained as they approached the scene, clearly not happy with how it turned out. "It looks weird. Nothing compared to the treehouse you built."

"We built," she corrected. "And this looks awesome, Dream," Y/n complimented. "It's is also my favorite colors."

"Yeah, I had some help from Karl on that one."

She leaned back in her chair in real life and pressed her hands to her face. Oh, it was so unfair how cute he was when he was shy like this. She glanced at chat, which only made her face go from the temperature of molten lava to basically the sun. She was going to explode.

She hummed, a little giggle coming out as well. "That's cute."

She sat (crouched) on the picnic blanket (piece of carpet) while Dream put a disc in the jukebox off to the side.

"Is that a Tommy disc?" she giggled and Dream laughed.

"No, no, no, don't worry. There shouldn't be any continuations of wars interrupting our date."

"Shouldn't be," she emphasized, noticing someone approaching them from the distance.

Dream was about to speak when Quackity reached them and quickly joined the voice channel.

"Oh no," Dream sighed. "We've come so far."

"AYYEEE WHAT'S GOING ON, MAN?!" Quackity yelled in his Mexican Dream voice, his voice bubbling with laughter. "IS THIS A DATE OR SOMETHING, MAN?"

"Quackity, go AWAY!" Dream ordered, punching the character who had stripped to his underwear. "YOU'RE INDECENT! THERE IS A LADY HERE!"

Y/n laughed, enjoying the scene of fancy Dream hitting naked Quackity away from their picnic dinner.

"I'm your waiter, I'm your waiter!" Quackity said in his normal voice, still laughing. "DREAM! WILL YOU STO— QUIT HITTING ME!"

This had turned chaotic very quickly.

"We don't need a waiter," Dream informed him.

"Then I'm the singing gram you ordered." He started singing a song and Dream groaned. "HEY THERE DELILAH WHAT'S IT LIKE IN NEW YORK CITY—"

"No! You're being a clout chaser, go away!"

"I'm honestly impressed we made it this far without anyone coming into the voice channel," Y/n admitted.

"I paid them," Dream joked.

"You did not!" Karl's voice suddenly came through and Y/n laughed. "We were all just being polite and staying away but we're getting bored! We've been so patient!"

"Yeah, hurry up! We wanna play!!!" Sapnap whined. "Dream, it's not fair for you to steal Bugsy from us for so long."

"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed with a laugh as Dream laughed along.

"Just ten minutes! Ten more minutes!" Dream bargained but none of them would have it. "Just so I can say goodbye!"

"No!" George insisted. "Right now!"

"Look, wait, wait, hold on—"

<Sapnap joined the game> <GeorgeNotFound joined the game> <KarlJacobs joined the game>

"—hold ON!" Dream begged, watching as the three boys ran and joined Quackity by the picnic blanket.

Y/n could not stop laughing at all the avatars around them. The date had been so peaceful and cute but all good things must come to a chaotic end.

"Wait, come on, Karl, Karl, Karl," Dream said quickly. "Come here. Bug, just a sec, please. Stay right there."

"Okay," she agreed, curious to see his plan.

Karl followed him and of course Sapnap couldn't help but also join them.

"Okay," Dream whispered loudly, clearly wanting everyone to hear his offer. He crouched and the other two copied. "Just give me ten minutes—"

"Ten?" Sapnap asked loudly.

"Shhh!!! Yes, ten minutes, to say goodbye and, you know, end the date."

There was a long, thick pause. "What exactly are your intentions with Bugsy Games," Karl asked seriously, matching Dream's whisper.

"Well, I wanna make sure she gets home safe, you know, so I'm gonna drop her off and, I don't know, see if maybe.... maybe she'll give me a hug?"

Karl and Sapnap both gasped dramatically and Y/n giggled, sparing a glance at her chat who were all freaking out.

"What the hell?" Quackity said while laughing. He and George were still standing near Y/n so they were just watching the goons with her.

"Bugsy is not that kind of girl!" Sapnap protested. "You think she's just gonna give you a hug?"

"Sapnap! Do you not know how to whisper???"

George let a loud laugh slip before slapping his hand over his mouth, which his mic picked up.

"Okay, Dream, wait, so you're gonna try to... hug her?" Karl clarified. "She won't even let me hug her. Good luck."

"Well, I'm not going to force her into anything but, I don't know, she said something about holding my hand earlier so I just thought maybe there's a possibility—"

"WHAT?" Karl yelled before going back to the whisper. "Okay, okay, don't panic, but that's huge. Dadnap, a word?"

He and Sapnap broke off from Dream and formed their own huddle, except their whispers were incoherent mumblings that weren't even English.

"Oh my gosh," Y/n groaned loudly, an unmistakable laugh behind her words.

"Okay," Sapnap said, rejoining Dream. "We'll give you five minutes but if you take any longer, we're barging in and killing you."

"Yes, sir!" Dream said. "Thank you, sirs."

"Mhm. Okay, break!"

They all uncrouched in sync before Dream ran back to Y/n.

"How did it go?" she asked as if she didn't hear the entire conversation.

"Bad news," he started. "Your dad's want you home."

"Shame, I was quite enjoying my time."

Dream slowly turned towards the boys as if to glare at them for ending the date before turning back to her. "Then, maybe, I don't know, we could do this again sometime?"

"I.... think I'd like that," she said slowly, trying to tease him.

He giggled and told her he was going to drop her off at her house, even though when the date was over, they were all probably gonna mess around together anyway so there was no point in them leaving the group. But it was the thought that counted.

He ended up taking her back to the treehouse, which warmed her heart. She also noticed when they faced each other at front of the door, she could see the four other boys watching them.

"Goodnight, my sweet Bug," he said poshly.

"Goodnight, Dream." He turned away but she stopped him. "Wait!" She moved to his side and made a loud, MUAH, sound before stepping back in front of him. "A kiss on the cheek," she clarified, not wanting him to think she gave him a real kiss.

"Cute," he said under his breath, almost like he didn't mean to say it out loud. "Night night." He turned away and ran down to the others, screaming the whole way. "GUYS, DID YOU SEE THAT? BUG GAVE ME A KISS ON THE CHEEK!! OMG DID YOU SEE, DID YOU SEE?"

Chat was gonna have a field day with that. Actually, with a lot of things that had happened. Oh, she could see the clips and edits now.... oh boy.

**********

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[matan4il]

I don't even want to type the name Lucy all summer lol. I'm just not worried about her and the main reason I'm not is they blew up both Buck and Eddie's relationships. There was absolutely no reason to do that IMHO. Realistically the general audience didn't hate Taylor. She was at least given more layers then Anna and having a side character reporter actually could have come in handy. If you only left Eddie single then I would be more worried about that since Lucy is a lot like Buck, meaning the opposite of Anna.

Also the kiss reinforced the unhealthy ways Buck used sex in the past. I just don't see how it's a healthy start to any relationship between her or Buck and Eddie.

But again just to bring home the fact--- they set up Taylor for four seasons and Anna for 3 seasons and left them both still single in the end. As a writer why do that to yourself. Your in S6, no promise for 7 or more. They either plan to leave them perpetually single best guy pals, or their storyline is together. I think either way it's always gonna be their storyline together.

You can't bring another partner male or female that can compete with the others place in their life and they won't gain audience approval. It was cringy enough watching Anna take up space with the Diaz boys. Please don't do that to me again.

Hi Nonnie! Oh, I’m with you. Honestly, I think they figuratively blew up any future relationship either Buck or Eddie could have on the show, no matter with what kind of a character (man, woman, recurring character or a more permanent fixture on the show) the second they made them so integral to each other’s life. I swear, after the end of 303 and the way Eddie and Buck basically gay married each other before God and Chris, bathing in that golden light, no one else could stand a chance. That they’ve made this r/s even deeper and more intense since, and that the show actually chose to also literally blow up both men’s romantic relationships (and in the same manner, more or less, and during the same season) is just proof 911 must know that Buddie is the only thing that makes sense as either man’s endgame at this point. Not to mention Christopher’s endgame! That boy deserves to have both his dads living with him, married and struggling to figure out how to keep their sex noises down.

Oh, def the kiss was unhealthy and there was no way that Buck and Lucy would have gotten together as an official, romantic couple immediately after it. In the long run, after enough time has passed? That I can’t rule out. I’m not saying the show will take it there! Just that it’s a possibility I’m not discounting. Also, we’re at the end of s5 and there’s no telling how long 911 will run for. Yes, there’s no real guarantee for a s7, but I can’t see it running for less than 9 seasons given how it’s still Fox’s strongest scripted drama. But even if the show goes ahead and tries Buck with Lucy, which I’m still not sure it will, even then, there’s no way they’re endgame.

I’m totally in agreement with you, personally I am READY for Buck and Eddie to get together, to have their ‘oh’ moment and see with new eyes what has always been staring them in the face. I think Tim’s plans are a bit more long term, so they won’t just yet, but I’m here and I know nothing else will satisfy the viewers.

I hope you have a wonderful day, lovely! xoxox

(I got an influx of asks, I WILL answer all of them, but it might take a sec. If anyone wants to check whether I've already answered theirs or to read my replies, here's my ask tag. Thank you! xoxox)

[thesunicarusfellfor]

My beloved! I do not know if you watched the recent lore stream ( if you haven't please! Watch it before answering my ask! ) I was wondering if you could do something with eret and foolish where instead of foolish dying it's the reader? And the reader is on her last life after she died from badboyhalo? Just some angst ( please I wanna cry out my feelings after this stream omg- and plus your my favorite writer so yea :p)

Have an amazing day! <3

-Moosh

BELOVED! EEEEEEE I'VE BEEN WANTING TO WRITE ERET FOR SOOOOO LOOOOONG YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I'm just going to make it an Eret x Reader because I don't know Foolish's character too well if that's okay?

(ALso, you will make me cry from all these compliments, please ;^;)

I actually am adding onto this because I want to make a hybrid reader for once, hope you don't mind! ^^

SPOILERS FOR THE RED BANQUET AND MULTIPLE PRONOUNS USED FOR ERET

My Monarch (C!Eret x GN!Butterfly Hyrbid!Reader)

You giggled softly, your beautiful paper-thin wings flitting behind you as you hopped around Eret's room while he got his newly tailored red cloak chained together, "My goodness, monarch, you're going to waste up all your energy before the party even begins!" He laughed at your reddened cheeks while he put his crown on top of his neatly styled hair, putting his sunglasses on shortly after, "How do I look?"

"Like a true queen!" You chirped, adjusting your outfit in the mirror beside your lover before frowning and taking the glasses away from her, "Ah, ah, nope. If I'm having my wings out of my cloak, you aren't wearing your sunglasses, darling, we've been over this."

The royal huffed and gave a small pout but didn't argue much on the matter, as they did, in fact, practically beg you to keep your wings out for display for the banquet. With a small chuckle, they reached over and picked up your crown that was decorated with rainbows of jewels, placing it on your styled (h/l) (h/c) hair, being mindful of your antennae, "There... There's my monarch."

You blushed slightly at the nickname and gave a small giggle as you took his hand, "Come on, let's get going, Bad will get impatient if we're late." Eret gave a nod with a smile, leading you towards the door and out of his castle.

The two of you were happily chatting with each other as you travelled to the stairway that led underground, happily saying hellos to your 'mama' Puffy, who gave you typical motherly affection, ie: smooshing your cheeks as she gave you a light headbutt while calling you every motherly compliment in the book, and anyone else that was also invited to the Banquet. When you arrived, you took a sharp breath as you saw the room filled with red vines crawling and writhing everywhere, it sickened you... But, this was about Bad apologizing, and you supposed that you could put your discomfort off to the side for just a little bit.

Eret, being the gentleman she was, pulled out your chair for you and gestured for you to sit down, smiling softly as you gave her a kiss on the cheek and sat down in the chair. She pushed you in and sat in the chair to your left, Puffy on your right, gently taking your hand once she was tucked into the table.

You were so anxious that you could barely focus on the speech Bad was giving, until your ears and antennae picked up the sound and scent of running lava which successfully shook you out of your thoughts, but before you could mention anything to Eret, you heard a chuckle.

"Now, prepare to die."

There was a chorus of gasps that tore from everyone's mouths as the sound of lava got louder. You lifted your head from staring at the red soup in the bowl in front of you and looked around in horror as you saw lava blocking the exits. You felt Eret tighten their grip on your hand, but by then your heart was already racing in fear and your wings were shifting around nervously.

"Oh my god!"

"We've been walled in!"

"After all that?!"

Bad tossed his empty glass bottle to the side, causing it to shatter on the ground below and get greedily grabbed at by the red vines, "Well uh, that's right."

"Bad, what about turning over this leaf?!" Captain Puffy snapped, slamming her mostly empty bottle of water down on the table as she stood up.

The nine-foot-tall demon seemed to nonchalantly brush off her outburst and shook his head lamely, "No, the leaf is staying the way it is." He sat up properly in his chair and rested his elbows on the warped wooden table to hold his chin in his hands.

"Is... There any way out?" You asked aloud, quickly spinning around, looking for any gap that you could possibly fly through. Eret quickly wrapped his arm around you, his white eyes wide with slight hints of fear that he was used to hiding with his glasses.

"No! There's literally no way out!" Fundy cried out, restlessly shuffling and running around, trying to find anything everyone could use to escape.

HBomb gave a small shriek of pain as he burned his hand on the lava, "It is real lava! It is real lava!" He gasped out as Puffy quickly made him shove his hand into the bowl of beat soup. Bad calmly walked over and gave him a glimmering gold apple with a sickly sweet smile.

"You should try not to die yet, HBomb." He chuckled softly as he returned to his seat once the man eagerly bit into the potion soaked fruit, desperate to get rid of the burning sensation.

Puffy took a few deep breaths and held out her arms, trying to get everyone to stop freaking out completely, "We're fine, we're fine, we're fine! I- I didn't trust you, Bad, I didn't trust you at all. I didn't trust Antfrost. I knew! I knew something was up, it's unfortunate to say I can't trust either one of you... Because... I planned this..."

She eagerly ripped off the red silken table cloth to reveal a chest buried in the table, spilling drinks and soup everywhere for the vines to eagerly writhe towards, "Oh?! What?!" Bad gasped, his mouth parting in shock... Before it fell bad into a devious smile as Puffy gave a cry of confusion, finding the chest completely empty, "Oh? Were you... Looking for this, perchance?"

Bad equipped diamond enchanted armour and held up an enchanted diamond sword that glimmered in the light of the lava, Ant, Ponk... And Hannah... Doing the same, "Sorry Puffy. I had to do it..." Hannah Rose walked over and sat in the empty seat on Bad's left.

"Do... What, Hannah? Why?!" The Ram hybrid whispered in horror.

"I had to tell them." She responded simply, blinking a few times as her eyes went from a forest coloured green to redder than the colour of the egg's vines slithering around your ankles, "The egg..."

Biting back a sob, you looked at Hannah, "You were with them the whole time...?"

Sam stood completely still, looking at the girl sadly, "You... Told them, Hannah?" The warden murmured.

"I had to." She glanced at Bad with a small grin before looking back at her former friends, including you, "It was the only way."

"I'm sorry," Bad started, sounding almost completely genuine, if it wasn't for the crooked smile he was wearing, "I'm sorry Sam, I'm sorry Puffy. But, time to get on to the main event!"

The creeper hybrid held up his hand, pointing one finger to the ceiling to silently tell the Eggpire to hold on for just a moment, "Well... That is, tragic, that you told them about our plans for the armour, but..." You could tell Sam grinned behind his mask as his green eyes gave a few sparks of smugness, "Something, you should know. I had another plan. Because I didn't trust you."

"...What do you mean 'another plan'?" Bad pointed his loaded crossbow at the warden, eyes narrowing into a glare.

"Well," He pulled a remote out of his pocket and scanned it in mock curiosity, "I think, that we all can agree, that this has gone on long enough now. I'm tired of all this fighting. So I say we just blow the egg up. For good, this time, with an amount of TNT that it can't survive... So I hid a trap..."

'Of course... The creeper hybrid is using TNT...' You thought with a small smile, trying to distract yourself from the heartstopping fear overwhelming your body at the moment as Bad stuttered in surprise.

"A trap?! Wait, what do you mean!?" the demon growled as Sam got up and walked slightly closer to the egg, digging his thumb into the button on the remote he held.

"We did something even you couldn't prepare for!" Puffy shouted as TNT began to rain out of a small gap in the ceiling.

Eret, worrying for your safety and how the sounds or smell of gunpowder would affect your hypersensitive senses, pulled you close and she wrapped you in her cloak. You desperately grasped at the fabric of her red dress as she covered your ears in an attempt to make the loud booms easier for your insect senses to handle.

By the time it stopped and Eret let you go, there were shocked gasps and the egg... Had... Turned to crying obsidian? "You guys-" Bad had to take a breath through his maniacal laughter to wipe a tear, "You really thought you could defeat the egg? With TNT? After Quackity tried that, we took proper... Preparations. And we made it so that we wouldn't have to worry about TNT anymore, thank you very much!"

"I think you mean precautions..." You murmured quietly, curling in on yourself and hiding behind Eret slightly when you saw soulless white eyes glare in your directions.

"Shut up, (Y/n)." He huffed, and Eret had to physically stop Puffy from storming over and fighting the man in diamond armour with her bare hands, "Now, would you all please kindly make your way over here... We can begin the summary executions."

Shock flooded through your veins at how eagerly Bad hopped out of his chair them walked over to where the Egg, the crying obsidian fading away, and standing on a platform. There was a chorus of shocked cries and just cries in general as Bad waved his crossbow around, "What about the speeches man?!" Fundy growled, glaring at Bad as he tried to get you all to leave the table.

"Oh, that was all just to lull you into a false sense of security!" He responded with another crooked smile and a 'duh' tone, "You see, the egg needs something, and it's gonna get it from each of you. See, in order for the egg to hatch, it needs energy, and it gets that energy from people dying near it! And that's the role that you guys are gonna fill! We are gonna kill you one by one..."

"You're a monster..." Eret mumbled under their breath, holding your hand tightly, able to feel your racing heart from the pulse in your wrist. This had gone on long enough, sure, destroying everything on the server was one thing, but threatening not only their life, not only their friends' lives, but their lover's life as well! You only had two more before you were gone from this world forever... And by whatever gods were listening, they swore that they were going to protect those final two, even at the risk of their own life.

Bad turned his head, his twisted smile faltering slightly, "What was that, Eret? What did you say?" He leaned closer mockingly, to see if Eret really had the guts to repeat what was just said.

"You're an absolute monster," Eret repeated with a slight growl to his voice this time, taking a step closer to the corrupted man as a threat and also effectively blocking you from Bad's gaze, "How could you? We all trusted you, Bad."

"Trust?!" Ant spoke up for the first time that night, grinning almost like a Cheshire cat, "Okay, Eret... Keep talking. Keep talking about trust."

Sucking a breath through your gritted teeth, you cringed as Ant retorted with a verbal dagger, one he knew would hurt Eret deeply, and hurt her it did, "That was a long time ago!" You snapped immediately, stepping forwards to defend her which definitely caught everyone off guard. You were NOT about to let some egg puppets trash talk your lover, "She's changed!"

"You know what..." Bad hummed, almost comically tapping his finger to his lip before pointing at Eret, "I think, Eret, you would be a perfect person... To sacrifice first!"

Giving a cry of horror, you felt the red vines react to Bad's words and grab you and Eret, successfully yanking you away from each other despite your cries and struggles of protests. The large vines picked Eret up and brought them to the execution platform that Bad was standing on. The entire time, you were trying to run over to grab them, but the vines kept creating a wall and pushing you back, "No! No, no, no!" You screamed desperately, trying to reach out to the crown-wearing lover that was now being held on the platform by the very vines that were holding you back.

"Does anyone have anything?!" Foolish cried, quickly patting his pockets and looking around for anything, anything at all, to use as a weapon.

"I- We have no weapons!"

"No one has anything?! We literally can't do anything about this!"

Bad only chuckled, seeming to find amusement in everyone's distress, "Excellent, excellent, I really appreciate you guys following the directive and not bringing any weapons. That's very courteous of you." He turned towards Eret with his readied crossbow, gleefully ignoring your cries.

"We trusted you!" You yelled, throwing a useless punch at the wall of vines that blocked your way again, everyone roaring at the Eggpire in agreement with your statement.

"Well that was your first mistake," He chided in almost a playful manner, "Did you really think we were just going to stop trying to spread the egg's influence over the server, just because a couple people got mad at the vines? Like, come on. That's been the objective all along. It's been to hatch the egg. The egg wants power, and it's gonna get it."

His finger lightly began tapping at the trigger of his crossbow that had the bolt pointing to your lover's head, which caused a sob to escape past your lips as you finally had enough and finally flew into the air, expertly weaving past the red vines that tried to grab you out of the air. Quickly, you swooped down and reached out for Eret, but you felt something fly past your ear... Then suddenly, the king gave a cry of his own and you felt your flying balance get thrown off, causing you to begin to plummet towards the ground.

The horrified shrieks of your lover, mother figure and your friends rang through your ears as you quickly plummeted towards the earth as a result of gravity, only to be suddenly halted in mid-air which caused your crown to fall to the ground, completely wrapped in vines that clearly didn't care how badly they were bending your wings. You whined in pain at the tight grip, and looked over at your beloved butterfly features, only to give a sob of pain as you saw a large tear had sliced through your right (f/c) wing... "You... You bastard..." You hissed at the demon who came over and reloaded another bolt into his crossbow.

"You know, I think I like your energy more than your lover's." He cupped your chin in an almost loving fashion, causing Eret to immediately lash out and begin barking insults as well as threats. Unfortunately, her violence was ignored as the vines picked her up again, "Your unwavering loyalty, your love, your fierceness despite how fragile you are..."

"Get your hands away from them!" Puffy yelled, she and Foolish going to run to help you, but they were blocked off by the vines in the same way you once were, "For fucks sake Bad! Leave my child alone! They were just defending Eret, you know, their lover?!"

Bad only hummed as the vines lamely tossed Eret to the crowd of people, but thankfully he was caught by Foolish and Sam instead of hitting the ground but his crown hit the ground close to yours, breaking most of the rainbow coloured gems off, "I'm quite aware of their relationship, thank you, Puffy." He stepped back and the vines threw you to the ground on the execution platform, causing you to bounce off the nether bricks harshly before finally rolling into the centre.

Your head was spinning and your sight was blurry, but you still managed to hear the screams of terror from your friends, the begging from Puffy for Bad to leave you alone, and the sobs leaving Eret's throat as they cried out for you, "Monarch... (Y/N)!" They screamed, trying to run to you as well, but unsurprisingly they were held back as well.

It... was funny... You wanted to go to this party so badly... You begged Eret to come to this party, you spent weeks picking out your outfit... You were so excited...

And now here you were... Flightless and beyond concussed...

About to die...

"I love you..." You managed to whisper to Eret before Ant rose his enchanted sword... Then quickly lowering it, piercing through your chest...

"(Y/N)! NO!"

(Y/n) (L/n) was slain by Antfrost. Lives 1/3

[user21340]

maybe somthing where reader gets hurt and nat helps?

falling for you

(not my gif)

summary: you are a pretty injury prone person on many different occasions. you also don’t have the best relationship with the one and only natasha romanoff. what will nat do when you are tired of the team’s comments about your clumsiness and your life is in her hands?

pairing: natasha romanoff x fem!reader

genre: minor angst and fluff

warnings: self neglect, violence, cursing, alcohol consumption (let me know if i’m missing anything)

word count: 2.5k

a/n: hey! thank you all for 408 followers! sorry i haven’t been release too much content lately i really have just been super dry on ideas. teen beach movie is so cute and is literally just bi panic for me the whole time between maia mitchell and ross lynch. sorry if this fic is kinda sucky the last quarter of it was written at 7 am with no sleep prior but i hope you enjoy and have a nice rest of your day! love youuu! 💕

being the newest addition to the so-called ‘Avengers Initiative’ is the best thing that could’ve ever happened to you. with that being said, it isn’t all smooth sailing, contrary, it’s quite a bumpy road. this has nothing to do with your personality or even capabilities, but your one main character flaw, your clumsiness.

ten months ago…

you had been on the team for around two weeks now and were finally getting settled in with them. to be completely honest, you are pretty easy to coexist with. you clean up after yourself, are independent but have no issue working with others if necessary, have an overall bubbly and positive personality which makes it very difficult for any of the team members to hate you, which lets you fill the role of an avenger perfectly.

all was well until you were training pretty hard one night alone and made the mistake of not wrapping your hands before slipping on your gloves when bombarding the 120lb heavy bag with all different types of punches while controlling your breathing.

SH

SHHH

SHH

CRACK

since you lacked the wrist support of the wraps, one wrong placement of your jab caused you one broken left wrist. yes it did hurt, but you’ve also dealt with much worse. so you walk yourself down to Dr. Cho’s office to see if her or one of her assistants are in at the moment only worrying about the length of the recovery time.

lucky for you, Helen was in her office finishing some last-minute paperwork so you were able to catch her before she left.

“Excuse me, Dr. Cho? Could you take a quick look at my wrist, I’m pretty sure I broke it while training.” you say.

“Sure y/n take a seat.” she responds.

ten minutes later...

“SIX WEEKS? Is there really no way to speed up the healing process?” you groan.

“Sorry y/n/n it’s the best I can do for you. Just take it easy so six weeks is the maximum time you need to fully heal.”

“Okay, thank you anyways.” you mutter.

in the morning, almost all of the team is concerned by the state of your wrist. they were also pretty confused about how in the world you managed to break your wrist without being on a mission. fortunately, there were no major missions taking place during the six weeks you were healing.

eight months ago…

it hadn’t been long since your last accident but that didn’t stop you from injuring yourself once again. january rolled around and you were picking up some pastries and coffee for yourself and wanda at your favorite cafe in nyc. it had rain the night prior and the temperature also dropped below freezing point causing a lot of the roads and sidewalks to be iced over. as one would predict, about five minutes into your walk, you took a step and landed on the side of your foot causing you to sprain or break your ankle. you still continued your walk to the cafe because it was only another two minutes away. you limped back to the compound with all the goods. you approached your floor which you also shared with natasha and wanda.

it may also be a good time to mention that you were the least close and even had a tiny crush on natasha but neither of those factors stopped you from trying to grow your friendship and/or relationship with her. you make your way to the kitchen and both women are attempting to recreate one of their favorite european dishes which isn’t too uncommon for them as they took comfort talking about their home countries with one another.

“Hey Wands, I got more pastries than usual so just take whatever you want.” as you place the bags on the counter and hand her her coffee you notice nat giving you a side eye, probably annoyed at you for interrupting their cooking session. “Thank you y/n/n, you’re the best.” wanda says, “Oh Nat, I also got you a slice of red velvet cake because it reminded me of you.” you blush. “I don’t like red velvet.” natasha deadpans. “I-it’s okay, you don’t need to have it.” you say embarrassed as ever, looking down at your feet. you start limping over to your room. “Hey, hey, what’s up with the limp hun?” wanda asks as she runs over to you completely disregarding your uncomfortable conversation with nat you had fifteen seconds prior. “Nothing, just slipped while walking to the cafe.” “Well what are you doing walking to your room then? Come on, let's go see Cho.” you are about to protest but she just picks you up and carries you to the compound’s infirmary.

after wanda drops you off at the infirmary, Dr. Cho tells you you have to heal for eight weeks which really puts a damper on your mood.

present...

now don’t let the time skip fool you, the injuries never stopped occurring and the team's comments regarding said injuries only increased. broken nose from soccer with the team for team bonding, concussion from bumping into a shield agent, broken fingers from bar fights with creeps who try hitting on you, wanda, carol, or even nat, and many more minor and major injuries.

at the beginning when these accidents happened, whenever tony, nat, or sam would make comments such as, “Jesus, we might as well start wrapping you in bubble wrap, kid.” or “Y/n, you have got to start drinking more milk.” everyone would have a good laugh including you. however, after months of enduring the same lame jokes made over and over again ended up annoying you more than anything. when you get injured now, barely anyone checks in on you and it kinda reminds you of the boy who cried wolf in the sense that since your injuries weren’t entirely life threatening no one gives a shit or even if they are life threatening, no one believes you.

your bubbly personality is becoming more of a simmer and no one seems to notice or care. since wanda has been spending most of her time with a certain red synthezoid you are pretty lonely. you now train efficiently and hard so you have less room to make mistakes in the field and real world. by training this way, it is pretty common for you to forget to eat or even sleep.

since you aren’t feeling the best due to the lack of sleep and nutrition you start walking to the main kitchen for the team and coincidentally a majority of the team is hanging out in the living room watching some shitty soap opera. you take a step forward only to trip on an arc reactor just laying on the floor and brace yourself for impact per usual, but to your surprise it never comes. instead you feel two arms gripping your waist to keep you from hitting the cold tile floors. you turn around to see who has saved you the embarrassment of getting a minor concussion only to see nat.

you both are looking at one another with wide eyes and look at the living room full of ‘earth’s mightiest heroes’ only to see everyone staring at your and nat’s first non-forced interaction in months. you heard tony’s chuckle followed by, “Y/n, how do you manage to fuck up walking? maybe we should just start carrying you everywhere.`` everyone else starts laughing as well. you take one last glance at natasha only to see she isn’t laughing but you still decide to head back to your room before you end up punching tony in his little smug face.

as you are in your room you figure that heading to a bar and drinking your sorrows away would be better than being cooped up in your room all night. when you arrive at the bar it doesn’t take long at all for you to get wasted. however, even when you are hammered, you can still feel when you are being watched.

to your dismay, you turn around only to find a group of around 3 men not even trying to hide their predatory gazes. you quickly get the bartender's attention so you can pay because surely due to the state you are in, there is no way in hell you’ll be able to take out 3 men who are all at least two times bigger than you.

you take about nine steps out the door only to be stunned with some type of taser and dragged to the nearest ally. one of the men flip you on your back so you are able to look them in the eyes and says, “Aww, if it isn’t the precious little avenger y/n l/n. It really is too bad that by the time we are finished with you, you’ll have the title of avenger stripped from you.” just as you are about to ask them what they want from you, a strong kick to the ribs interrupts your train of thought followed by more harsh kicks to head, thighs, arms, and pretty much everywhere else imaginable. two of the men walk away and through your dazed vision you are able to make out the hydra symbol on the back of one man’s hat. the last man just towers over you, takes out a handgun and fires it at the outer side of your left shoulder. the man just chuckles before walking away from the alley knowing you’ll bleed out in no time.

you reach your shaky right hand into your pocket and take out your phone. you call wanda no answer, tony no answer, sam, cap, bruce, and bucky wouldn’t be at the compound because they had a mission tonight (which you weren’t able to wish them good luck on). it was starting to get more difficult to keep your eyes open and your breathing steady but you’d be able to make a call to one last person before you blacked out for good. you clicked natasha’s contact and you were baffled to see she actually picked up. “What do you want?” she asks clearly, a bit annoyed, “N-nat I need help. I don’t have much time. Please don’t let me die.” you plead. “Woah woah, what are you talking about? I swear to god y/n, if this is another dislocated shoulder-” she rambles, “NAT, PLEASE!” you cry. nat quickly traces your phone’s location and sprints to her car. “Alright, y/n/n I’m on my way, please just keep your eyes open for me, okay?” “You always had the prettiest eyes nat. I’m sorry I was more of a burden to you and the team than anything else. I hope you can forgive me someday.” you mumble. “No, no, no I’m almost there, hang on.” and with that the line goes silent.

about thirty seconds later nat pulls up to the alley where she sees your disheveled figure lying in a pool of blood. she gasps but rushes over to check your pulse and lift you into the passenger side of her car. nat wasn’t sure of the last time she was this worried about someone. as she handed you over to Dr. Cho, she felt all of the guilt of her past interactions with you flood her mind.

*flashback*

y/n became pretty familiar with each avenger’s way of destressing after a tough mission she also paid a lot of attention to natasha’s routine in particular. nat’s routine consisted of a long warm bath with amazing smelling soaps, binging of cheesy reality tv shows, and the consumption of her favorite russian comfort foods which were hard to get a hold of during the early morning hours when she’d usually return to the compound. with all of this being said, y/n had taken the time to gather and put all of these comfort tools together and set up natasha’s room so she didn’t have to worry about anything upon her arrival and could just relax for once. she had also written a note and placed a bright sticky note on nat’s door that read:

i hope you enjoy your night.

remember, if you need anything

or anyone to talk to, my door

is always open for you :)

love, y/n

a couple hours after nat’s arrival y/n receives a text from her that reads, “Stay out of my room.” this hurt. something y/n wasn’t aware of was the tears in nat’s eyes when she took notice of all the little details you managed to perfect to a t with her routine.

*end of flashback*

nat needed you to be okay even though she’d never admit it until that day. something about seeing you look so small, vulnerable, beaten, and battered broke natasha’s cold heart. nat stays in the infirmary room with you for a couple hours after she’s notified the team about your condition and she began to grow drowsy and with that she falls into a light sleep.

she is awoken in what feels like a blink of an eye only to see you slowly rustling around under the covers above you. she lunges to the side of the bed as you slowly open your eyes.

“Hi.” you rasp.

“Hey.” she responds while surveying your figure.

“Jeez, you step on one little pebble and this happens to you.” you send a small smirk her way as you carefully lift your hands up to wave them over your upper body.

“Not funny.” she says.

“Come on Nat, don’t act like you care.” you chuckle but her brow furrows.

“I do. As you may know I’m just not the best at showing it.”

“Oh reallyyy? You wouldn’t mind showing me how much you care then would you- Wait. What is that on your cheek?” she quickly brushes her slender fingers over her cheek and you think you also see a light warmth growing on the skin she just brushed over. possibly from the embarrassment of something so miniscule disrupting her appearance even though yours is clearly in much worse shape.

“Nope. Missed it. Here, let me get it for you.” you lean into her as she is visibly confused and place a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Got it.” you laugh and you can see a wide smile grow on the redhead's face. “No you didn’t.” now it was your turn to be confused before a pair of the softest lips you’d ever felt collide with yours. you got into the rhythm of each other's lips and it felt like you’d both done this thousands of times before with one another. the kiss is broken when nat pulls away for air and you let out a little whine. “Now you did.” she giggles, “We’ve got to do that again.” you say still stunned from the kiss. “Well, I plan on it, detka.” she presses a quick peck on your forehead and skips out of your room. this was when you realised, you’d fall for her anyday, anytime, anywhere.

[yoditorian]

hm how about cocoa and snuggles with whichever character you want? 👀

oh my dearest tegan this unleashed a soft side of me that only our boy santiago could handle i hope u enjoy it 💛

main masterlist

word count: 1.2k // warnings: a swear, literally just vibes

You’re soaked down to your bones as you walk up the drive and, if you’re being totally honest, the idea of getting home just to go back out with Santiago and the boys isn’t as tempting as it was this morning.

But you know he’s looking forward to it, even though the heavens decided today was the day to burst.

The sound of your key sliding home in the lock, cementing the promise of central heating and a shower hot enough to boil a lobster, is almost enough to bring a tear to your eyes. Or it might just be the wind.

The warm air from your cosy little house envelopes you the moment you pull on the handle, you can almost see the cartoonish curling tendrils wrapping around your shoulders to welcome you home. It’s like you can’t get in the door fast enough. You take a minute, a deep breath, as you shut out the wind and the rain behind you to ready a smile because you can already hear the stairs creaking under his footsteps.

Your keys find a home in the plate on the side table in the hall as Santiago appears at the bottom of the stairs ahead of you. It’s comical, the way he was so clearly poised to tell you something only to find himself rendered speechless by your appearance – for the second time since you met him.

The first time is one you both hold dear, that first shaky confession that whatever it was between you was growing into something that neither of you had any hope in hell of controlling. It was scary and you’d never been the type to take the leap before, but there was no way you could hold it in anymore and you loved him. He’d looked like you’d reached out and slapped him for a long moment, long enough that your eyebrows furrowed and you worried you’d lost him forever – until he leaned over and kissed you breathless between the words of his own confession.

Now, as he approaches, it’s plain to see there’s just amusement in his face. The love’s there too, though, as it always is.

“Babe, you look like a drowned rat.”

 “A pretty one?” You look back at him over your shoulder as you turn to hang your soaked coat over the radiator, eyes all big and innocent the way that always pulls a smile out of him.

“Nope,” He shrugs noncommittally as he tucks his phone into his back pocket, “Just dead.”

 “Rude.”

He just laughs, the one you can feel from the tip of your nose all the way to your toes, and you feel just that little bit warmer. Even if he is making fun of you.

“I could give it back, you know.”

Santiago’s smile grows even wider when he finally reaches you, when he catches your left hand in his and lifts it to his mouth to press a kiss against the gorgeously understated rock that sits on your fourth finger.

“You like it too much.”

This time you have to roll your eyes, because he’s right. And he’s fucking smug about it.

You’re still dripping rainwater all over the front hall, but Santiago leans in to kiss you anyway. His intention may have only been a soft peck to welcome you home, but he has a way of stealing the breath from your lungs and you both get carried away. The grey sweatshirt he’d put on for this evening, the one you bought him a few months ago, is a visible victim of the state you’re in. Left with wet handprints on the centre of his chest where your palms land as he pulls you into him.

“I’ll shower quick, and then we can go.” You manage between kisses, although you’re not sure if you can claim anything will be ‘quick’ by the way he’s wrapped himself around you.

“Okay, you win.” He relents with a sigh, stealing one last kiss that leaves you weak kneed before he peels himself from your body and you frown at the darkened patches left behind on his sweatshirt. Santiago watches you turn to climb the stairs, and pulls his phone out of his pocket once he notes the barely perceptible slump in your shoulders. You’ve disappeared up into the bathroom already as he scrolls down his contact list to find the little fish emoji tagged next to his best friend’s name, and clicks call without a second thought.

Boiling lobster hot. Yeah, you needed this. 

The heat of the water seeps through your skin and into your bones, defrosts the blood in your veins and brings the feeling back into your fingers. You start to feel a little human again, wallowing in the steam for only a few minutes longer than you intended. Santiago won’t mind being a smidge late, you think as you shut off the water and grab a towel from the rack on the wall. Technically it’s his fault anyway. You wouldn’t have needed to limit your shower time if he hadn’t jumped you in the front hall the way he did. Although, you’re not about to complain. 

He’s waiting for you in your bedroom when you emerge into the hall across from the open door, a cloud of steam wafting around your ankles, with that sly little grin on his face. 

“What are you up to?” You narrow your eyes as he sits there on the bed looking like the Cheshire Cat.

“I don’t know why you always think I’m up to something,” He says, rising to his feet and grabbing an old t-shirt of his from a drawer as he passes you, “Come downstairs when you’re dressed.”

He leaves you, more than a little confused, in the doorway of your bedroom. Because you distinctly remember laying out a pair of dark jeans alongside your green knitted sweater, the one you favour for cosy nights in or winter adventures. Now, beside your beloved sweater, lies a pair of soft sweatpants and thick socks, while the jeans are neatly hung back up in the closet. You thought you’d be going out somewhere with everyone but maybe, given the turn in the weather, it’s been rearranged to a much more casual affair. 

“Okay, what’s actually going on?” You ask when you reach the bottom of the stairs, turning to watch Santiago leaning over two steaming mugs on the kitchen island. It smells like heaven, sugary chocolatey heaven. He drops a few marshmallows in the top of each, adding a couple of extra into the mug you already know he’s going to hand to you.

“Change of plans, we’re staying in.”

“Santi, you didn’t have to-”

“Everyone decided to, before you say anything. I got off the phone with Fish right before you came out of the bathroom.” 

With the promise of a cosy night of cuddles, shitty tv, and cocoa, how could you possibly say no?

And if he was the one to bring it up to the others, that maybe it was a bit too torrential outside to brave it for a few drinks in a bar they’ve been to a hundred times, if he told them they should give it a go next week instead. Well, he’s not sure you need to know that. The bit about just getting off the phone with Frankie was true, at least. Besides, he’d much rather spend the evening with you snuggled up in his arms on the couch than - honestly, anything else.

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