#this is probably the one i took the most seriously

[implydone]

Stolitz, Helluva Boss, and Genre

Moving this over from the other apps... i may come back and add more to this, but here's some thoughts i jotted down about the genre conventions and whiplash in this show.

--

a common critique or observation about Helluva Boss is its tonal dissonance, the way that the episodes shift from drama to comedy, tragedy to slapstick, etc. many fans of the show understand that this is a feature of the narrative, a purposeful thing.

i also think it ties back to the way the show, and primarily Stolitz, are tied to different genres and genre conventions. Blitz lives in an action comedy, with all the slapstick physical comedy, raunchy humor, and nonsensical gags befitting that genre.

Stolas, on the other hand, lives in tragic melodrama. High emotions, high contrast, loneliness, isolation, crying, love and yearning. Physical comedy doesn't really exist here, and any physicality is weighted seriously as befits the genre.

which also explains why most of the physical comedy and gags, whether they land for the watcher or not, are in the I.M.P. world - most often depicted on blitz and moxxie, sometimes millie (murder family with the bottle smash/chicken noise lol)

and those genres also affect how character information is given to us - for blitz, background comes in the form of flashbacks that interrupt the action. Oops and Ghostfuckers. for Stolas, they come in the form of solitary songs, often sung in a tragic, minor key.

the cool thing about the two main characters, who are also the main couple, living in different genres is that it also fits for the different worlds they've lived in. it makes a lot of sense for a prince to be in a melodrama and a ragtag business team to be in action comedy

and then the show gets to do really cool things about MIXING the genres when the two of them are together in the same space - when they get pulled into each other's worlds. ozzie's being a melodramatic episode, seeing stars being comedic

and we get to see how the characters fare being pulled in those directions, their comfort and discomfort. blitz in emotionally intense moments, stolas actually enjoying comedy and finding a home there.

full moon - blitz starts in the action comedy area of I.M.P. but then is pulled in the melodrama as he tries to find toys for him and stolas, IGNORING the action behind him. the duet being an exact example of their different genres colliding and making communication hard

Apology Tour being INTENSE emotionally, not very comedic aside from one cutaway joke (which belongs to stolas!). Ghostfuckers being a mix of heart and comedy, but largely lighthearted. the sneak attacks of horror and gore are there, too, though.

in a way, as the story of stolitz took center stage, the genres mixed more and more and colored each other's lives.

by the time we get to the end of season 2, mastermind and sinsmas, we see a blended version of the genres happening because stolitz are FINALLY in the same fucking room. mastermind is HIGH drama, BIG stakes. grand sweeping songs and gestures

and how do they both fare? well, andre is determined that things go to shit, but stolitz are on the same page even if they don't hear each other.

sinsmas is probably the BEST blend, with a mix of comedy and heart. stolas is pulled fully into blitz's world and I.M.P., and notably he gets to BE comedic more, he's even animated more goofily

AND he gets to crash out and fight! he gets unleashed and feels/expresses his feelings! the fight with andre is largely comedic and cathartic, becoming high fantasy when blitz arrives to the battle

blitz gets his grand hero moment and he brings romance into the equation, but he keeps the humor as well. the mix feels a lot more blended rather than clashing. one thing i look forward to in s3 is how their genres continue to blend as they become more and more tangled.

more could be said also about the way the show uses the "body genres" (cred. theorist Linda Williams) - comedy, horror, horniness, melodrama, all focusing on bodily responses in the viewer

in helluva, these different genres match the characters and their situations and reflected their errors in communication and why they might struggle to understand each other

and lastly, my very FAVORITE thing about this genre mixing is the way that stolitz affect each other's genres - a mirror to how they affect each other's lives. storytelling/narrative form matching the beats and characterization!

from a storytelling perspective, the genre mixing works on so many levels and i really enjoy it as another vehicle of characterization. blitz's sweet, romantic doting side being let out because stolas is with him all the time and pulling him into melodrama/romance

stolas getting to be snappy, sassy, silly, getting to crash out and have a lil violence as a treat lol, getting silly faces and smear frames and being his cute, awkward, dorky self, even getting to be outwardly, obviously sad in front of others without masking

and i'm thinking too about the ways that each of them hid parts of themselves or kept them away because they either felt they couldn't express it or it wasn't in line with their world/genre. the parts of them that couldn't find a place before finding a home now in the other.

blitz brings the lightness and freedom of comedy to stolas' world, stolas brings the heart and earnestness of melodrama to blitz's.

almost like blitz is stolas' light and stolas is blitz's heart idk

[samluvsharry]

Rainy Beginning~pt,2

Summary- let’s not wait for fate, or when they meet again.

AN- i haven’t proof read! also part 3 ??

——————

The clouds had just begun to break when you stepped out of your flat with Maisie bundled in her coat, her curly hair stuffed haphazardly into a little beanie with bunny ears. The air still smelled faintly like rain, and puddles painted the sidewalk in glimmering sheets of silver. You hadn’t planned on going out. You’d barely slept — Maisie had woken you up at 3:12 a.m. crying about a dream involving a shark in the bathtub. But something tugged at you this morning, like a whisper: Go. Just go out. Maybe it was cabin fever. Maybe it was hope.

You pushed the stroller toward The Velvet Brew with the foggy detachment of a mother running on autopilot, Maisie humming some mashup of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Let It Go as her tiny pink boots kicked at the footrest. When you turned the corner onto the familiar street, something in your chest tightened. You paused, just for a moment, your heart thudding. You told yourself it was ridiculous. He wouldn’t be there. He was probably somewhere far more glamorous — rehearsing, recording, flying to Paris. But still.

The bell above the café door jingled as you entered. The warmth hit you first — cinnamon, cardamom, espresso — and then, the sound of low conversation, the clink of cups, the soft hum of a vinyl record playing something jazzy in the background.

And then… him.

Harry Styles.

He was sitting at the corner table, just like before, one leg crossed lazily over the other, his green wool coat draped behind him. He was reading a book, one hand wrapped around a matcha latte, the other idly twirling a pen. His hair was tucked beneath a grey beanie, but a few rogue curls had escaped at his temples. He looked up, almost like he’d sensed you enter, and when his eyes met yours, his face lit up. Not in a polite, oh-it’s-someone-I-know way — but in a warm, unmistakably hopeful way.

He stood up halfway, just enough to acknowledge you.

“Y/N,” he said, his voice low and smooth and just a little surprised. “Hey.”

You blinked. “Hi.”

Maisie spotted him at that exact moment. “HARRY!” she squealed, and it echoed through the café like a cannon blast.

Every head turned.

You flushed immediately, internally cringing. But Harry just grinned, unfazed. He crouched down and opened his arms like she was a niece he hadn’t seen in ages.

“Come here, you little firecracker.”

She launched out of the stroller and into his arms like a bullet, and you had about three seconds to process the sheer surreality of it — Harry Styles, megastar, crouched in an indie café, hugging your daughter like it was the most natural thing in the world

She pulled back and held up her fist, opening it slowly. “I brought your ring back.”

Inside was the pinky ring he’d let her borrow last time — tucked safely in her sticky palm.

Harry blinked in mock seriousness. “You didn’t sell it on eBay? I’m impressed.”

She giggled, and he took it from her gently, slipping it back on his finger. Then he looked at you again, his expression shifting — softening.

“I was really hoping I’d see you again,” he said quietly.

You exhaled. “I wasn’t sure I’d run into you. Thought maybe I made you up.”

He smiled again — slower this time. “No. I’m real. At least most days. You got time for a coffee?”

You glanced down at Maisie, who had already begun trying to climb into the chair across from his. She wasn’t waiting for permission.

You laughed. “Looks like it.”

⸻

The three of you ended up at his table, the sun peeking weakly through the window beside you, casting a soft glow across the worn wooden tabletop. You ordered a flat white and a warm croissant with raspberry jam — “the good jam,” Maisie insisted — while Harry added a cinnamon bun to the order and told the barista to “put it all on mine.”

“You really don’t have to do that,” you murmured.

“I know,” he said simply. “But I want to.”

The cinnamon bun arrived, dusted with sugar and still steaming slightly, and Harry broke off a corner and placed it on a napkin in front of Maisie. She grinned, already licking her fingers before she touched it.

You sipped your coffee. Harry watched you for a moment, his elbow resting on the table, chin in his hand.

“I’ve been coming back here every few days,” he admitted. “Just in case.”

“In case of what?” you asked, trying to sound casual, but your heart stuttered in your chest.

“In case you came back.”

You looked at him. He wasn’t joking.

“I guess… I’m not used to people like you,” he continued. “People who feel… real. Who don’t want anything from me.”

You gave him a quiet smile. “I didn’t even recognize you the first time.

“Exactly,” he said. “That was kind of the best part.”

Maisie interrupted the moment by pressing a glob of jam onto her nose. “Look, Mummy, I got a shiny nose like Rudolph!”

You burst out laughing. Harry grabbed a napkin and leaned over to wipe her face, completely unfazed.

“She’s got timing,” he said, chuckling. “You weren’t kidding about the storm part.”

“She’s a hurricane in bunny boots.”

“Perfect title for her autobiography.”

He looked back at you, and this time the silence between you wasn’t awkward. It was electric. Heavy with something unspoken.

⸻

The three of you wandered out of the café a while later. The rain had started again — soft, almost misty. You hadn’t planned for it, but Harry took off his coat and draped it over your shoulders without hesitation.

“You’ll get soaked,” you protested.

“I’ve been wetter,” he quipped with a grin. You raised an eyebrow. “That sounded better in my head.”

You snorted.

You walked slowly, Maisie splashing through puddles beside you while holding Harry’s hand, your stroller long forgotten. A few people passed and did double-takes, but Harry kept his head low, sunglasses on now. No one approached.

It was peaceful.

When you reached the corner of your street, you hesitated.

“This is us,” you said softly.

Harry nodded. “Can I walk you in?”

You should’ve said no. You barely knew him. It was probably ridiculous. But something inside you — something deep and intuitive — whispered yes.

———

It was your first night out in months.

Your mum had all but shoved you out the door. “Go,” she said, waving her hand like it was nothing. “Maisie’s asleep, I’ve got wine, and Call the Midwife. Go wear something that makes you feel twenty again.”

So you did.

You wore your favorite silk skirt— the one that hugged you in all the right places — and a cute oversized shirt that made your eyes pop. You’d even done a proper winged eyeliner for the first time since Maisie was born.

The bar was low-lit, buzzing with weekend energy, filled with pulsing music and that low-level chaos that made you feel alive. You were surrounded by your three closest friends: Amber, who drank espresso martinis like water, Jade, who wore leather boots like armor, and Lucia, who insisted on getting a round of tequila shots the moment you walked in.

It had been a long time since you felt this version of yourself — loud, laughing, a little reckless.

And it felt good.

Somewhere around your second (okay, third) cocktail — a sweet pink thing with a sugared rim and far too much vodka — the conversation turned to him.

Harry.

You hadn’t planned to bring him up. But he’d snuck into your mind like he always did lately — in quiet moments, in Maisie’s stories about “the sparkly ring man,” in the song you heard on the radio that made your chest ache.

“Okay,” Amber said, narrowing her eyes. “Tell me again exactly what happened.”

You gave them the highlights — the café, the cinnamon bun, the walk in the rain, the almost-kiss that was interrupted by Maisie’s urgent bathroom needs and him leaving his number on your fridge.

Lucia leaned forward. “You’re telling me you almost kissed Harry Styles… and then what? Nothing since?”

You shook your head, cheeks flushing. “He left a note. It was… sweet. But I haven’t texted. Or called.

Jade raised her brows. “Why?”

You blinked. “Because it’s Harry Styles. He probably came to his senses. Or got swept away on tour. Or met a model. Or—”

“Oh my God,” Amber interrupted. “Give me your phone.”

“No.”

“Y/N.”

“No!”

But you were laughing now, and everything felt fuzzy, warm, reckless.

“You’re gonna message him,” Jade said, already grabbing a napkin to write out ideas. “It’s 2025. You shoot your shot.

“okay i’m gonna do it”

Cue the shrieking.

“What are you doing?!” Amber said, gripping your arm. “This is the main character moment! This is the ‘I got drunk and messaged a pop star and now we’re married with a cottage in the Cotswolds’ origin story!”

You buried your face in your hands. “You’re insane.”

“And you’re in love,” Lucia sang.

“I am not in love.”

But even you didn’t believe it.

Amber pushed your phone into your hand. The screen was open — your messages on show.

Let’s not wait for fate next time. Let’s plan it. - H x

You stared at it.

“Okay,” Jade said, placing a martini in front of you. “Say something flirty but casual. Like… ‘You, me, pancakes?’”

“I hate you all,” you said.

But your fingers were already moving.

[astrakim]

Just Because I Love You

Pairing: Jay (enhypen) x Reader

Genre: Fluff, Domestic, Romance

Length: ~2.4k

Warnings: None — just comfort, affection, and love

summary: Jay doesn’t need a special occasion to spoil you—breakfast in bed, soft kisses, warm hoodies, and all the little things that say I love you without ever saying a word. But when you remind him that love goes both ways, he realizes being cared for feels just as good as giving it.

Reblogs and Likes are really appreciated!

You woke up to the smell of cinnamon.

Still half-asleep, you blinked at the ceiling and reached across the bed—your hand met empty sheets. Jay’s side was cold.

That was weird. He never left before you did. Especially on a Sunday.

Dragging the blanket off you, you padded into the hallway in one of his hoodies, your hair probably a mess, socks mismatched. The music playing from the kitchen was soft—something jazzy—and the smell of whatever he was making was enough to make your stomach growl.

And there he was. Jay. Standing in front of the stove with a pan in one hand and a spatula in the other, looking unfairly attractive for someone who’d clearly been up for a while. Hair a bit messy, sleeves rolled up, and focused like he was on some cooking show. Flour dusted the counter. Maybe his cheek too.

You just leaned against the wall and watched him for a second. This was the kind of moment people wrote about. The kind of moment you didn’t want to mess up by talking too soon.

“I can feel you staring,” he said, not even turning around.

You smiled. “You weren’t in bed.”

Jay turned to you, that familiar soft grin already on his face. “I didn’t wanna wake you. You looked peaceful.”

“You made breakfast?”

“I made your favorite French toast,” he said, walking over and kissing your forehead like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Extra cinnamon. Whipped cream on top. The good kind.”

You tried not to melt on the spot. “Jay…”

“Sit. I’ll get your coffee too. With that cinnamon sprinkle you like.”

You sat. What else could you do? There was something about the way Jay moved, how he took care of things without making a big deal of it. He didn’t treat you like a princess—but he did treat you like someone who mattered. Like someone he was proud to love.

He placed the mug in front of you and gave you that look again—the one where his eyes softened just slightly, as if even seeing you like this, sleepy and barefoot, was enough for him.

“You’re spoiling me,” you said, biting into the toast and almost groaning at how good it was. “Seriously.”

“I like taking care of you,” he said, shrugging like it wasn’t a big deal. “It makes me happy.”

You couldn’t help but look at him for a second too long. “You make it really hard for me not to fall in love with you over and over.”

He smiled without saying anything, just sat beside you and reached for your hand under the table, lacing his fingers with yours.

---

The rest of the day was just... soft.

You didn’t have plans to go out, and Jay made it clear that today was “a stay-in-and-do-nothing” kind of day. Except he had clearly planned things anyway.

Like when you went back to the room and realized he’d set it up for a mini movie night—blankets layered on the floor, pillows everywhere, fairy lights glowing along the curtains. And your favorite snacks in a basket beside the couch.

“You did all this for me?” you asked, trying to hide the way your heart squeezed in your chest.

Jay just rubbed the back of his neck. “I just thought... you’ve had a rough week. I wanted to make today easy.”

He even let you pick the movie—The Proposal, your guilty-pleasure rom-com. And he didn’t tease you when you cried near the end. Just pulled you closer and kissed the top of your head.

“I love how big your heart is,” he whispered against your hair.

You turned to him. “Jay, you’re literally the dream boyfriend people wish for.”

He chuckled. “I don’t know about that.”

“No, I’m serious. You remember the things I like without me asking. You check in on me even when you’re busy. You show up. You’re soft with me. You make me feel safe without even trying.”

Jay blinked at you for a second, like he was taking that in.

“I don’t want you to think you have to do any of that to keep me, you know,” you added quickly. “I’d still love you if you didn’t do all these things.”

“I know,” he said, pulling you into him until your head rested against his chest again. “That’s the best part. You never ask me to do any of this. You just let me love you the way I want to.”

You stayed like that for a long time, the movie still playing in the background, his heartbeat steady under your cheek. You liked this part of the relationship the most—not the gifts or the surprises, but the quiet things. The way he let you exist beside him and still made it feel like you were the center of his world.

After the movie ended, he turned to you. “Hey. I have one more thing.”

You groaned. “Jay.”

“No, no—this one’s small. Promise.”

He handed you a gift bag from under the couch. Inside was a cream hoodie you’d tried on ages ago and decided against because it was “too pricey for something so simple.”

You looked up at him, stunned. “How do you remember everything?”

He shrugged again, sheepish. “You looked really happy in it. That stuck with me.”

You set the bag aside and pulled him into a hug, your arms wrapping tight around his waist. “Thank you.”

“For the hoodie?” he asked.

“No. For everything.”

---

That night, you curled up in bed beside him, wearing the hoodie and one of his T-shirts underneath. He pulled you close, one arm tucked under your head, the other around your waist.

You could feel him playing with the hem of your hoodie absentmindedly.

“I know I’m a little extra sometimes,” he said quietly. “I just… I never want you to forget how much I love you. How grateful I am.”

You tilted your head up and kissed him, slow and warm.

“You don’t have to try so hard, Jay. But you still do. And that means more than anything.”

His smile was a little shy. “So... does this mean you’re gonna let me cook you breakfast again tomorrow?”

“No,” you said, pulling the blanket over the two of you. “Tomorrow I’m cooking. You’re the one getting spoiled.”

“Oh god,” he teased. “I should be scared, shouldn’t I?”

“Terrified.”

Jay laughed, arms tightening around you. “As long as I get to spend the day with you, I’ll risk it.”

_________________♡♡♡♡♡♡♡_________________

©astrakim

[usahanna]

While i was playing CH3 i took multiple breaks between saves and wrote down my first impressions and immediate reactions to some bits of the chapter. I thought that would make me remember the experience more while i took in the story. I just wanted to share them for posterity xp

intro with the tv static got me giggling like a schoolgirl

Dude i love the way the couch is drawn

So Susie's not gonna question how we got here alright

I DIDN'T EXPECT THE LOREDROP TOWARDS SUSIE THIS SOON WHAT

Her talksprites... oh susie

DARKER THAN DARK CHAIR!!!!!!

FUCKING. ENDOGENY???????

IMAGE_FRIEND JUMPSCARE MOTHERFUCKER WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE

Ohh the escapism themes are coming in heavy. Ralsei please we're not even 15 minutes in :')

I might've screamed when Tenna appeared btw

DUDE WHAT TH FUCK HIS SPRITES. HIS ANIMATIONS. HE'S 3D!!!!!!

I KNOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO MIMIC EARLY 3D ANIMATONS BUT HIS MOVEMENTS REMINDS ME SO MUCH OF THE HYLICS ART STYLE IM GOING TO DIE???????

THAT GODDAMN COWBOY AD. I SEE YOU.

Mike.

Fuck what a bombastic intro

IS THIS JUST TLOZ????? IM CRYING EVERYONE LOOKS ADORABLE

I might have witnessed a divorce live

Tenna mentioned something about a mailman. I know who you are. I don't trust you.

The fact that ralsei follows you around because he doesn't know what else to do 😭

And just when i was getting good at the cooking game the game ends 💔 okay

Green room :3

Oh i guess i can play the cooking game again

Mannn the different variants of rude buster go so hard!!!

Tenna mentions he doesn't know if kris likes him or not.. i wonder if it's because what spamton told them? Or because they stopped using the TV and tenna's unsure why that happened

Susie connecting with tenna... I don't know how i feel about this

I don't like him 🖕

When you take a picture of rouxls in the second round it takes away points 😭😭

SUSIE WITH A RIBBOOONNNN 💜💜💜💜💜🎉💜💥🩷💜🎉💥💜💥💜

Dude im seriously loving the interactions between the fun gang in these games

The Shuttah encounter was sooo cool omg it's probably one of my favorite enemies after the werewires!

IS ROUXLS A HOMEWRECKEoh nvm they're a polycule now

Yayy rhythm minigameDID YOU JUST NAMEDROP DECEMBER????????????

Got an S rank 💜 i knew being obsessed with FNF was going to pay off at some point

* Okay!

BREAKING NEWS FROM UNDERTALE OST?????

"Not everyone liked the change, some people left. Of course that was in the days of black and white" 👁️👁️

Ok so: i replayed the second round because i didn't finish the first minigame from the S Rank Room (WHOSE MUSIC HAS "A REAL BOY" IN IT????) i reloaded a save file i made just in case (thank god) and? what?? do you mean???? ice key????????

It's an Ice Palace. Of course it's an Ice Palace.

"It all started with an ice spell" or whatever the fuck it said but DUDE???????

That's supposed to be Noelle isn't it..

COWBOY PROGRAM YOU SAY??????

Asgore watching those shows with Kris when they were a child sitting on his leg as he bounced them.. stop the hype im crying now

Susie with a dinosaur onesie :3

TORIEL. AND SHE HAS QUEEN ATTIRE 😭

Ohhh so tenna IS sad about not being used anymore i see. Damn .

Okay i said i didn't trust him before but seeing him desperate makes me feel bad

oh god he's coming OH GOD HES C

There's a specific sprite of Tenna I can't wait to see in a million billion pfps

COWBOY MINIGAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

STARWALKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TV Slop canon in deltarune btw

I love the art in the TV Rooms so much GOSHH

.............. PIPIS ??????

* The Dealmaker moves

Had to take a minute here because. Oh my god. Oh my fucking god

THEY WERE GAY LOVERS???????????????

Weather duo divorced Rouxls and started dating starwalker now 💜💜💜 okay

So. Are we witnessesing this guy go crazy like spamton and jevil .

WHAAATTT HAPPENED TO THE LOBBY..

Everyone in this dark world are so Aware of the light world, it's possibly the most aware Darkners have been about their surroundings

Ramb :(

BRO DEAR GOD I ACCIDENTALLY KILLED SUSIE AND RALSEI IN THE FINAL S ROOM MINIGAME AND KRIS FLINCHED AND TRIED TO LOOK AWAY 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 WORST OF ALL THAT'S THE ONLY WAY TO PROGRESS

Oh! That's. That's the bunker. In the minigame .

WE'RE IN??

friend jumpscare. multiple ones......

Yeah FRIEND is def a cat

Hmmm. Tiny kris coming out of the screen and scaring kris. I donf like that.

I'm so sorry bro i didn't want scare you IM SO SORRY

Susie comes in to save the day again 🥺

ShadowMantle acquired ☑️ and it was all for fucking nothing because i couldn't find the secret boss

FIRST EVER DESS AND ASRIEL SPRITES

Hmmmmm who else cried at susie's story ✋ fuck

Tenna is.. a good guy?

JESUS CHRIST NEVERMIND HE'S DEAD

ROARING KNIGHT????????? IN THE FLESH JUST LIKE THAT?????????

UNDYNE????????

The fountain is still open.

No fucking way we're going in the bunker next chapter, holy fuck

TGATS THE END???

[justageekk]

Heyyy, could you do Hector fort x reader, where she does the ‘current boyfriend’ trend. I would love to see what type of reaction he has hahaha

IN WHERE : playing the 'current boyfriend' joke on hector

THIS ONE SHOT IS : fem!reader x hector fort

note: i don't speak english, only spanish n a little portuguese. any errors are the translator's fault.

w: dialogues in spanish (translation at the end of each one).

request open!

A few days ago, you’d seen tons of videos of girls doing a viral trend where they said things like “having lunch with my current boyfriend” or “going for a walk with my current boyfriend”, while secretly recording their boyfriends—just to see how they’d react. Some laughed, others were confused, and a few straight-up got offended, as if they’d just been told they were the appetizer.

And you, who couldn’t resist playing a prank on Héctor, stored the idea in the back of your head.

Today, while you two were on the way to his match in his car, you knew it was the perfect moment. Héctor was driving with his left hand on the wheel and his right one resting casually on his thigh, like he always did. The 6 p.m. sun hit his face just right, and the light breeze from the half-open window ruffled his hair. He looked insanely good.

So good you almost forgot you were about to trigger his monthly emotional meltdown.

You waited for the right moment—just as he was parking in front of the stadium, fully focused on fitting the car into the tight spot. You pulled out your phone subtly, opened TikTok in front cam mode, hit record, and with the sweetest, most neutral voice you could manage, you said:

“Yendo a un partido de mi novio actual.” (“On the way to my current boyfriend’s game.”)

The car came to an abrupt stop.

“¿Perdón?”, he said, turning his head toward you with one eyebrow raised. (“Excuse me?”)

His eyes darted from your phone to you, then back to the phone. It took him two seconds to put the pieces together. “¿Cómo que ‘novio actual’?” (“What do you mean, ‘current boyfriend’?”)

“Sí, mi novio actual. No sé si se los había enseñado, chicas,” you told the camera sweetly. (“Yeah, my current boyfriend. I’m not sure if I’ve shown him to you, girls.”)

Héctor turned to face forward, silent.

“Ah, vale,” he muttered, very seriously, staring at the windshield like he was doing emotional math. (“Oh, right.”)

You weren’t sure what was going on in his head—until he turned back toward you, stared into the camera, and said sarcastically:

“He traído a mi novia del día a mi partido, chavales. Hoy me ha tocao esta, pero mañana me toca otra. Voy rotando, porque todas se merecen un día.” (“Brought today’s girlfriend to my match, guys. Got this one today, tomorrow it’s someone else. I rotate because they all deserve a turn.”)

You burst out laughing, and seeing you like that only encouraged him further.

“Yo es que soy muy justo, ¿sabes? No me gusta que ninguna se sienta excluida. Esta semana voy por la letra ‘C’, creo. Claudia, Carmen, Carlota…” (“I’m just really fair, you know? Don’t like any of them to feel left out. This week I’m on the letter ‘C’, I think. Claudia, Carmen, Carlota…”)

He glanced sideways at you and clicked his tongue. “Y tú, que no sé ni cómo te llamas hoy. ¿Cristina? ¿Claudia dos?” (“And you, I don’t even know what your name is today. Cristina? Claudia Two?”)

“Qué gilipollas eres,” you told him, barely holding back laughter as you smacked his arm. (“You’re such an idiot.”)

“¡Oye! No me pegues, que soy un novio en prácticas. No vaya a ser que me eches y entre el siguiente.” (“Hey! Don’t hit me, I’m just the trial boyfriend. Might get subbed out if you get bored.”)

“¿El siguiente?”, you raised an eyebrow. (“The next one?”)

“Claro. Tú tienes pinta de tener suplentes en el banquillo listos pa’ calentar. Como digas ‘me aburro’, entra otro. Uno con más tatuajes, probablemente.” (“Of course. You totally look like you’ve got backups on the bench ready to warm up. Say ‘I’m bored’ and in comes another one. Probably with more tattoos.”)

He pointed at you like he’d discovered something.“Siempre os molan los de los tatuajes, no sé qué os pasa con eso.” (“You girls are always into guys with tattoos, I don’t get it.”)

“Héctor, es un trend de TikTok. No es real.” (“Héctor, it’s a TikTok trend. It’s not real.”)

“Ah, perdona, perdona. Que claro, como es TikTok, no duele,” he said dramatically. (“Oh, sorry, sorry. Right, since it’s TikTok, it doesn’t hurt.”)

“Es como si me pones los cuernos pero como lo grabas y lo subes: ‘¡No pasa nada, cariño, es solo contenido!’” (“It’s like if you cheat on me but record it: ‘It’s fine, babe, it’s just for content!’”)

You doubled over laughing.

“¿Quieres que corte el vídeo ya o quieres seguir haciendo el ridículo?” (“Should I stop the video or do you want to keep embarrassing yourself?”)

“No, no, súbelo entero. Quiero que la gente vea cómo me rompen el corazón en tiempo real.” (“No, no, post the whole thing. I want people to see how my heart gets broken in real time.”)

“Eres idiota.” (“You’re an idiot.”)

And just as you were about to end the video, he leaned toward you, took your chin gently between his fingers, and gave you a quick kiss on the lips.

❝ justageek, 2025 ❞

[toddtakefive]

yippeeee tag game! Thanks for the tag

One (or more) song(s) you stop everything to listen to?

Honestly? Most songs! I relate pretty much everything back to music when possible. However, if I absolutely had to choose, probably Anoko secret by Eve or Finale: Children Will Listen from Into The Woods. Or Christine by Lucy Dacus. Or Staying by Lizzy McAlpine.

Are you starting to see why the question is so hard for me, lol?

What’s your FAVORITE number?

I am incapable of choosing favorite ANYTHINGS, if my answer to the previous question wasn’t evidence enough for that. And I mean that seriously: I once took twelve hours to answer a question about what my favorite animals evolutionary process might have been to adapt to where it’s from (don’t have one; couldn’t make myself lie and pick one at random).

How do you feel about Coke/Pepsi?

Mostly meutral on both. I won’t NOT drink them when offered/the only thing available, but I won’t go out of my way to ask for them.

Do you collect anything? If so, what?

Not currently, but I used to collect rocks and sticks before my parents had to cut me off. For good reason, too. I’d started lugging entire, several feet long branches with me on my walk home from school by the time I was ten.

What’s a piece of art that you’ve seen/heard in person that you still think about/are glad to have seen?

I’ve never been to a museum, a play, OR a concert… It’s a fact of my life that genuinely hurts my heart. I think going to any of them, even once, would fix me in a way… Oh well. C’est la vie. It’ll happen when the time is right.

Hardcover, paperback, e-reader, or audio books?

Aesthetically? Hardcovers. Practically? Paperbacks.

You can go to one place in the world, totally free. Where do you go?

My family’s generational home in Hawai’i. She doesn’t have an air conditioner, and every time you take a step the entire house shifts, but she’s wonderful, and there’s no better place to talk stories than her porch.

What’s your favorite pasta shape?

See answers one and two.

What are you working on right now?

So much that it’s looped right back around to nothing at all! A roadtrip au, a soulmates au, three different outsider POVs, an au based on/inspired by Ethel Cain’s American Teenager, and a bazillion more. Love writing so, so much… Wish I could actually do it on a consistent schedule!

no pressure tags: @princeteddy @boopingthesnoot @winteristired @ravensandteacups

m making their own tag game??? it's more likely than you think....

answer some super specific questions and get to know your moots better!! (i just thought this would be fun, summer is starting for me and it feels appropriate to do something to commemorate my newfound free time)

what's one (or more, if you want) song(s) you stop everything you're doing to listen to?

after the bombs by the decemberists, and also first day of my life by the bright eyes

what's your FAVORITE number?

three!!!!! 3 <<< look at it it's such a good number

how do you feel about coke/pepsi and adjacent sodas?

used to be vehemently opposed to drinking soda, i fear i'm starting to like it? pepsi over coke, but i will never drink either over a glass of sweet tea

do you collect anything? if so, what?

my biggest collection is quarters! my newest is dvds which is very very fun to go to secondhand stores to shop for

what's a piece of art that you've seen/heard in person (or for a movie, seen in theaters) that you still think about/are glad to have seen?

lucian freud's painting "girl in bed" (look here!) which i'm just. obsessed with. getting to see it was totally by chance but maybe also a little bit fate or something like that? i don't know, but it was a beautiful experience

hardcover, paperback, e-reader, or audio books?

harcoverrrrrr

you can go one place in the world, totally free. where are you going?

right now, i'd really like to go back to the shenandoah valley in virginia. it's such a beautiful area and i've only been once but i. miss it tbh

what's your favorite pasta shape?

linguine! and not just because of the rattatouille character

what are you working on right now? (skill, art piece, goal, task, etc.)

getting back into reading more! been really busy and tired lately but trying to remind myself that if i have an hour for tumblr, i have an hour for a book

literally zero pressure tags: @glitteredbubbles @good--merits-accumulated @damnitneilthenamesnuwanda @scriptscraps @littleprincefan @autumnbookworm81 @chameleon3 @abs-blabs @charlie-why-do-they-swoon @sadiesinkobsessedsstuff @theduckwithafroghat @prophecyhaunted and open!!!!!!!

side note that i stopped doing tag games for like a month because i don't even know but. i'm so back i just needed to stop guilting myself/making myself stressed over being busy. lol.

[deuynndoodles]

hear me out, are you open to pokemon charaters? if so maybe an ingo/emmet or a Kieran? or eleasa. if not maybe wolf link or minda? feel free to pick which ever seems the most fun to draw. I just have a lot of characters(sorry)

[id: an uncolored, digital drawing of link and midna from twilight princess. link is in his wolf form and midna is upon his back. link is running, midleap, and midna leans in to brace herself. end id]

i've been wanting to draw wolf link for a hot sec anyway, thanks for the excuse

[jewishcissiekj]

x-men comics are slowly but surely killing my mind. wtf is Daap.

[crystalkitty1220]

Man I wonder where the leader of the fear realm could've gone, it's alMOST LIKE NEVIN HAS AN

[torchickentacos]

you ever scroll past some sort of discourse that you didn't even know existed, and you have to take a second and realize that, while none of us are superior to others, some of us ARE much better at choosing which dumbass hills to die on? because I think sometimes you deserve to go 'huh. at least I'm not getting involved in all that'.

[always-a-slut-4-ghouls]

Meeting someone else with a shared special interest is wild because you’re either going to spend hours talking or you’re going to get into a fight

[britneyshakespeare]

i have been working with kids for four years and i had to write my first ever note just now about a seventh grade boy being inappropriate towards me. i don't know what the hell this could possibly lead to or what. he was trying to feel my legs repeatedly to the point where i had to stop sitting next to him (and i was subbing for his one-to-one para!!!). he's got high support needs. in that kind of job, you're supposed to sit next to them all day and look over their work.

the teacher whose classroom this was happening in could also tell something was wrong. the whole class was acting kinda crazy because it was the day before school vacation week and there was another class coming in to share projects. so like, he was swamped with keeping order already. but we were sitting two feet away from his podium at the front of the room. the kid was giving him and me a hard time when he wouldn't take out his chromebook as he was instructed. and then when he did take out his chromebook, he immediately, for some reason, places it on my lap. he had been ogling my legs the whole time. he puts his computer ON MY LAP. and i'm just like, stunned, because what the hell? can you not keep it on your own lap, for some reason? i don't even know what to say, i just hold it a little above my lap while i'm thinking why on earth would this be happening? he would NOT do this to his regular para if she were here, would he? this can't be normal.

and the teacher sees this and within a minute places a stool in front of the kid for him to put his laptop on. and i'm like. oh ok. yeah. he notices exactly what's happening and that that's not appropriate. and then when the other class comes in to share projects he tells me "miss b——, you don't actually have to sit next to c—— this whole period if you don't want to." and he grabs me a chair for me to go sit with the other paras in the back opposite corner of the room. like he KNEW. and thank you mr. d—— for recognizing that because i was just kind of shocked and didn't know if i was overreacting in my head to all of this.

when there's a point in the class where the kids are discussing stuff, i privately mention what's happened to the para who's sitting closest to me. and she says that the thing about him calling me pretty is something he's been known to do, but the fact that he kept trying to touch my legs is new behavior. and that's a completely different class of behavior. i was telling him NO, don't do that, and he kept doing it. and the fact that he was calling me pretty repeatedly, even when i was giving him instructions that he wasn't taking. and this is the second to last class before the end of the day, so she says she'll take a walk with him before learning center and talk to him about it, and i'm grateful for that. she does. the kid apologizes to me as soon as i come into learning center. but like. WHAT the hell.

i'm STILL like what the hell. this is unfathomable to me. the other adults who i told about this or who witnessed it were supportive of me. but. what to do??? i wrote a long note to his regular para about this, because i knew she was going to hear about it at least from the first para i told. the second para i told about it after school had a kind of... i'm not gonna say enabling reaction, but i suppose since it had already been "taken care of" (or at least, he had been spoken to and apologized) she didn't really have much to add in the way of discipline. i told her what happened after school and she was just like... a little bit, laughing? like oh, yup, that dog. she at the very least confirmed he KNEW what he was doing, that that was not an accident. she said to me "i had a feeling he was going to develop a crush on you" (me and these other paras were together for most of the beginning of the day too). but it's like. it's not about that.

i have worked with children for FOUR years. children have had crushes on me before; i'm quite unfazed by it. boys from the ages of 5-to-15 have told me i'm so pretty before and asked me to marry them. i've never had them feeling up my legs before. i've never had them making me physically uncomfortable. it's NOT about this seventh grader having a crush on the pretty substitute. he is NOT unusual for that, at all. but i've never had a boy of any age or education level repeatedly touching my knees and thighs. THAT is problem behavior!!!

because what if i wasn't assertive enough with him to tell him to stop? what if i was a girl his age? worse, what if i was an adult who encouraged this behavior? i don't come to the middle school to be a seductress. i had no intention in putting on a pair of tights and a skirt this morning of being viewed as an attractive object, especially not by a pubescent boy. what if i did though? what if his interpretation of me wasn't so incorrect and offensive? what if i let him keep touching me inappropriately and saying flirtatious things to me? me, an adult in my mid-twenties, towards a middle school boy?

in no world would that be ok. if i had been feeling up and overly-complimenting a CHILD at my place of work, holy shit would there be reports about me. so a child acting that way could never be ok either. if it'd be firable for me to be reciprocating that action, then that action should not be happening to me. ever. and that child should never repeat that action again to any other adult again.

like i am simply not there to be treated as an attractive young woman. i put on a skirt that shows too much knee and get paired with a boy, though, and that's apparently just a natural consequence. hooo-ly shit. like i don't know what to do. first of all, the more time passes since this has happened, the more i am just unable to stop thinking about it. i wasn't "hurt" or too emotional in the moment but i'm just still processing it and it gets worse. i'm just more and more disgusted.

i don't know what i expect to come out of this, or the email i sent to his regular para. like, am i gonna have to attend a fucking meeting? what is the precedent that this sets for him? WHY do i feel BAD for him about this? well, because he's a child, of course. a child who has done wrong he may not be able to understand. but he knows WHAT he did. he just doesn't know WHY it was wrong.

and i couldn't even say something to him that was like, "well, how would you like it if i was touching you like this?" because young boys do not understand how inappropriate it'd be. i'm sure this kid thought he was gonna get away with what he was doing at the very least. but probably not unlikely he (being a child with no concept of how wrong it'd be) thought he could get some sort of "positive" attention for treating me like this. either way he was simply doing what he wanted to do, with no perspective of how it would make me feel or that it could be classified as harassment. teenage boys think it'd be awesome if the older attractive woman would reciprocate their affections. they're wrong. i, as the older attractive woman of his affection, cannot be the one to convince him of that, though.

i don't know. i don't know. like it's just so not ok. but if i didn't tell another adult about this, he would've gotten away with it. he would probably do it again. and him being in trouble for it is not the same as him understanding that it was wrong. unless someone has a REAL talk with him about inappropriate attention and consent, it's not unlikely that he'll just repeat the behavior in a setting where he thinks he won't be caught or told on. THAT'S the problem. me, i could just never have to be this boy's para again. in my email, i didn't say that i would never be ok working with or around him ever again. he already knows i didn't like it and i'm not afraid to tell on him; as far as that lesson applies to me, individually, i think he's become too ashamed to repeat that.

i don't know. i don't know. i very much expressed that i, i guess, "forgave" him in the email that i wrote. i clarified that i was writing it for the sake of having it on the record. i think that could potentially be very important for the purposes of preventing further similar or escalating behavior from him in the future. i don't want him to be in trouble. i don't think i will be blamed for this, especially not with how promptly i acted, although i don't know to what extent this will be framed as me thinking i'm a "victim." i'm not... i don't feel victimized. i feel disgusted. i feel afraid for the sake of what could happen to or with him in the future, if he thinks behavior like his towards me today is ok.

i feel like if i end up having to further respond to this, this will be made about me. in a way it kind of was. is? in the moment it was happening, it was certainly about me. because i was the one this boy was giving all this unwanted attention to. but to make the consequences of this about me and to involve me any further, i also don't want. because i said what i said already, i don't care if a student has a crush on me. this isn't about me being the pretty substitute. i'm the pretty substitute all the time, to tons of people. that's not really something i've been concerned about up until now.

but do i have to reexplain my personal embarrassment? that i was wearing a skirt? that he was ogling my legs? really? what more do i have to gain from sharing that, other than having the adults at my place of work confirm or deny me in their heads as the pretty substitute? i don't know. perhaps that's REALLY overthinking it. but i don't want to be the substitute that caused a problem for this special ed kid. i don't wanna be the reason that he can't be around me anymore, the person people think of when they're monitoring how he's acting around girls and young women. i DON'T want to be the one people think of when they think of his past misbehavior. i'm NOT here for that.

that's just fucking humiliating. and in this being a thing that could follow him, i have to be ogled and touched over and over again in people's minds for this to be taken seriously. but for this to be swept under the rug would be even worse, no? i don't know. i hate this. the principal is a nice guy; i wouldn't be surprised if he and/or people from the special ed department reached out to me sympathetically about this. but i don't wanna be reached out to. i don't wanna have ppl i work with tell me "sorry that kid was just so attracted to you he couldn't help himself" like come on. if the kid himself doesn't change then i don't really care to remember this incident. and no one reaching out to me and saying they've talked to this kid will actually prove to me he understands. this is the kind of inappropriate behavior it takes years for people to understand why it was wrong, especially a child who has no idea. i mean come on.

[noriaki-kak]

Can I hear more about Ava possibly?

HELLO! Sorry for taking truly an eon to reply, around the time you sent the message I was in the middle of moving. Between that and the holidays responding got away from me but I still really wanted to answer! Better late than never I suppose, so without further ado...

So explaining Ava's story requires explaining a good amount of world building. I think Thea has mentioned Demiphics before but the tldr is that they're the children of angels and demons. Heaven and hell have a long history not just with each other but also with Demiphics. Officially, while in the current era relationships between angels and demons are allowed, they're heavily stigmatized and they ARE banned from having children.

As an aside about heaven and hell for context. When I was building this world I knew I wanted it to be an angels and demons/heaven and hell, everything and the kitchen sink sort of setting. But to also kinda look at "Hey a world where people are judged by an arbitrary set of rules and sent to a nice place when they die or a place that sucks would be kinda bad no matter how you slice it."

I wanted to explore a world where heaven and hell are made, not by divine order as a machine that works naturally as intended, but as a concept that multiple institutions are seeking to fulfill. Hell functions as a collection of scattered monarchies, hell wears it's antiquated ideas on it's sleeve. There's the pits of burning hellfire and the society down there is unjust and nightmarish to live in, but demons and the humans cast down there ultimately just have to go about a daily life. It's not fun, it's hard to make a living, but you can still make friends and go to karaoke on the weekend.

Heaven is a very different brand of evil. They hide their ills behind fake pleasantries. They take the lions share of the work when it comes to "judging" humanity (hell is less interested in partaking in heaven's bureaucracy, as long as heaven sends them souls the higher ups are happy to leave the work to them). Heaven and hell are both vast but the first levels you'll see of heaven are seas of clustered office buildings. People's souls are judged by committees of angels, and there's a lot of people thus a lot of committees. A soul hangs in the balance and it's fate can be decided because George the Angel didn't drink enough coffee this morning and just really wants to wrap this up so he can go home.

There is no authority on who's good and bad, there's just rooms full of people arguing with bias and sticking people where they think they should go to meet a quota for the day. Over centuries the guidelines on good and bad actions are constantly being updated and changed, the fates of hundreds of humans are left to the whims of management. There have even been scandals in regards to higher ups pushing for harsher judgement when the budget for processing new souls into heaven gets a little tight.

Thanks to their intent to fulfill a role, humans who make it into heaven are treated fairly well! It's still a living moving society with quite a few problems and not some utopia but your average human is treated to a decent standard of living. This comes with the neglect of their own angels however. They pat themselves on the back for being better than hell, for being a more democratic society, but the angels at the top are largely from well off established families. Working class angels are sort of viewed as disposable.

That's actually a huge problem shared between heaven and hell, demons and angels both are treated as VERY disposable. An attitude largely influenced by the fact that both come into being in wide variety of ways. They can still be born the good old fashioned way but they're just as likely to be born from heaven/hell itself. "I don't have parents, I just popped out of the ground one day as a baby." is not an uncommon story sdfgh.

That brings us to demiphics, I think @dapper-comedy mentioned some of this when talking about Bishop (who will come into the picture again later with Ava hehe) I began writing down all the lore I could off the top of my head about them but then I remembered that I have an entire google doc concerning them! So thankfully I can just share this. (theres a tiny bit of info abt halos at the end which i havent covered BUT yknow more extra fun facts)

ASSUMING the document has been read, I can dive right in with Ava now! Ava ended up under heaven's care as a baby, she lived in the training facility for as long as she could remember and knew absolutely nothing about her birth parents or the circumstances in which she ended up there.

As a young child, the rotating cast of caretakers mean she didn't truly have a constant presence in her life, there were familiar faces but she wasn't allowed to grow truly attached to any of them.

They fed her the propaganda from a young age, telling her how if she's successful and that if she can learn to control her feelings, she can be free and travel not just heaven as an honored solider but see other realms as well.

Very early on she becomes fascinated and obsessed with having wings, demiphics wings manifest as non-physical extensions of their magic. So without her magic, she cannot have wings. It becomes the one thing she truly consciously wants for. The researchers and caretakers notice this and use this to "motivate" her.

Another formative memory for her when she's little, is meeting one of heaven's few success stories. A fully fledged Demiphic solider by the name of Zenith. She's not exactly the warmest and to put it bluntly she speaks like a bloodborne npc (She's got her own whole thing going on sdfghj) but the meeting inspires Ava and cements in her mind that she wants to be a soldier so she can be free and earn her wings.

Her childhood can be described as 1. Monotonous Martial Training and 2. Daily Evil Dark Therapy. She is raised with the intention of having her be able to fully control her feelings constantly. She's not allowed to form emotional connections, she's never allowed to have her own organic feelings.

As you can imagine this creates an intense disconnect between Ava and her own emotions. It's interesting because she's not trained to be emotionless, she's trained to be able to feel any emotion she needs at any moment. She's taught emotions in regards to what kind of magic it corresponds to.

She comes off as very congenial and cheerful because she's also taught about what emotions are expected from her in visible social settings as well.

She lives this deeply lonely, isolated, controlled life until she's 18 years old (or whatever the equivalent in angel/demon years, time moves weird in the different realms)

Around this time a new face enters the picture, an angel by the name of Katrina. Katrina is an angel that works for the government, she used to be a diplomat who traveled to hell but after a year long sabbatical on earth she returned to heaven and transferred to a different position within the government.

Her new position had her visiting the demiphic training facility very frequently and around this time is when she met Ava. When Ava turned eighteen she was given a lot more freedom around the facility. Thanks to her very consistent and good behavior, she was given permissions to move more freely and speak to more people as a sort of test of her training.

Most people passing through that spoke with her were cordial but kept their distance, either out of fear of her or fear of getting in trouble with heaven. Katrina is the first exception, she immediately has a fondness for Ava the first time they speak for a very specific reason. She sees her own child in Ava.

See, when Katrina was a diplomat she spent a lot of time in hell around a lot of important demons. During a party she may have had a one night stand with the ruler of the first layer of hell (He may be the ruler of the first layer aka The City of Dis but he's honestly more of a figurehead that just kinda swings his power around and parties. His many many children and employees do most of the actual work).

And that year long sabbatical she spent on earth afterwards may have had something to do with that. But yeah Katrina had a demiphic child of her own, and being a government worker she was deeply familiar with how her child would be treated in heaven if they knew. So she had her kid in secret and left him at the doorstep of the castle in hell with the hopes he'd have a better life as a prince in hell. (This is a whole entire other character I have named Odd who has a whole ton of other stuff going on but sorry my sweet lad, this aint about you right now asdfgh)

Anywho, Katrina was honestly sort of haunted by this and parts of her regret not trying to find a way to stay with her kid. She had always wanted to raise a kid but life never worked out that way for her. But she was also terrified of being found out and thus having him be taken in by heaven, and so she swallowed that pain and told herself that it was for the best. (She had a small hope that one day she may be able to meet him, and though she never expected he would forgive her or consider her his mother, she bought him a little birthday gift on his birthday every year and stored it away for him just in case.)

When she meets Ava, it's impossible for her heart not to ache, she's around the same age her kid would be. It only takes a few conversations to see how badly heaven messed this kid up. As for Ava, it is instant. Katrina is the first person in her entire life to honestly show even a bit of openness to her. It's like a wildfire, heaven kept the flame burning low but the moment it had any fuel it flared.

It terrified Ava in a way because losing the slightest bit of control of her feelings threatened her future freedom. That plus... it was almost hard for to recognize what she was feeling at all, it was hard for her to even understand what was different or that this was the first person she'd met who considered how she felt when they talked.

It was a kindness she almost couldn't understand, so for a year they consistently crossed paths and spoke. It was rare they had a moment alone to speak, almost always being monitored, but when they did immediately Ava would ask questions she knew she wasn't allowed to and Katrina answered despite the risk.

Katrina is an impulsive person, and she's very aware of this, so she tried her best to not get too invested. She told herself she'd visit and try and be a positive influence on her life but she absolutely couldn't do anything that'd run afoul of heaven......... well she tried sdfgh.

One conversation about six months into knowing each other strikes a real cord. Katrina has realized how hard Ava has bought into heaven's propaganda and Ava's talking about how hard she's working to earn her wings one day.

Katrina is absolutely taken aback by this, because Ava already has wings, they're just sealed away. When Katrina say this, Ava retorts with well yeah, but the only way my magic gets unsealed is by becoming a soldier. And Katrina tells her that other magic user can break that seal, that it's not that heaven will give her wings, it's that they're keeping something that's already hers away from her.

This is a turning point for both of them, this forms a crack in Ava's perception of heaven, and this makes Katrina know she needs to get Ava out of here.

In the following six months, Ava opens up more and starts to question things, starts to struggle with her own feelings and realize she doesn't know who she is. That she doesn't know anything about herself. She feels suddenly lost as her interactions with Katrina makes her realize she hasn't been living as a person. She struggles to find her own preferences, and comes up short, the only things she's ever desired is her ability to fly.

And Katrina makes a plan with her for her escape, promising her that she'll help her fly.

I won't get into the nitty gritty details of the escape plan (mainly because i change my mind of the specifics frequently sdfghj) but around her nineteenth birthday, with the help of Katrina, Ava escapes the facility.

Katrina manages to get away with it despite being questioned because she has a close friend who can secretly harbor Ava.

Avery (another character who has a whole entire in-depth story because I have Too Many Characters and they are all interconnected.) Has a workshop for his art and tinkering on the floating islands of third layer of heaven.

So basically what happens is Katrina shows up to Avery's workshop in the middle of the night with a blanket draped over Ava and goes like "Okay listen, I can explain, you have to promise not to get mad at me." Before revealing Ava and her very obvious horns that stick out like a sore thumb in heaven.

Despite his complaints about the recklessness of the entire situation, he allows her to stay. They eventually get her a pendant to glamour her in her day to day, so she can go around without being immediately spotted.

And with that she joins a little crew of people who hang out with a common goal in heaven! I call them the heist crew bc everyone who hangs out there has a bone to pick with the government in heaven, as well as their own goals. Sometimes that culminates in them stealing objects or information from various government facilities and using it to further their own means. But also it's kinda like that thing where it's like "Oh we're a club that does this!" but ninety percent of the time they just hang out and slack off instead of doing what they're supposed to sdfghj.

I won't go over everyone since this is supposed to be about Ava and this is meant to focus on her but she becomes quite close with a number of people who frequent Avery's workshop!

Avery himself is the first person she latches onto. He has an aloof detached sort of air at first but it very quickly becomes clear how caring an attentive he is. He was once a classically trained artist turn tinkerer and many years ago he suffered an "accident" (it's a long story) that injured the left side of his body greatly, causing him to lose an arm, leg, wing, and eye. With the help of his father long after the event, he crafted himself prosthetics out of marble and gold and enchanted them to move lightly and fluidly.

He can't always wear them, and most of the time he gets around his shop in a wheelchair, but he is particularly attached to the arm he designed and created. So even when he isn't using it, it's never far from him. His current project is even more ambitious, he's attempting to design wings from scratch through a fusion of machining and magic.

Aside from a desire to create a new wing for himself, he believes that any and all denizens of heaven deserve access to flight. Humans, angels who've lost their wings, and even more controversially, demons.

Ava is intimidated by Avery at first because he's difficult to read, but one night she comes across him experiencing rather bad phantom pains and helps bring him his medication. This breaks the ice between them and once he's feeling more himself, he shows her some of the little trinkets he's working on. Clocks and music boxes and stuff like that. Ava finds herself absolutely enraptured and Avery is amused and excited by how truly interested she is.

They talk long into the night and when dawn is barely peeking over the horizon, he gifts her a little music box that he made some time ago before they part ways for the night (day?) . From here they slowly develop a sibling-like relationship and when Avery tells her about his big project attempting to make wings, she's besides herself with excitement.

See, she's free now, she could unseal her magic, but as she discovers who she is as a person, a creeping fear takes hold. She fears she won't be able to control her magic, and that she could accidentally lash out at the first people she's come to care about. So Avery, as well as Katrina, let her know it's perfectly okay for her to take as long as she needs to. Avery assures her that even if it takes her a lifetime to feel comfortable unsealing her magic, he'll be happy to make mechanical wings for her the moment he gets them working.

Speaking of Ava discovering who she is, the second person she becomes close with is Bishop. Bishop is @dapper-comedy's character and I believe they've spoken about them before! Demiphic, escaped from a cult, fought in fighting rings at the heart of the third layers main floating islands. Currently frequenting Avery's shop and struggling to figure out their relationship with their estranged mother, amateur carpenter. (Thea could probably tell you more details about Bishop overall especially since it's been a moment since we discussed these characters and some details are a little foggy on my end sdfghj)

Ava immediately gravitates towards Bishop. They are MUCH more standoffish than anyone else they've met at the workshop, but I don't think anything could stop Ava from wanting to get to know them. Bishop is the first other Demiphic she's met outside of her confinement, and on top of that their magic is unsealed.

Ava has a deep admiration for them, for the way they wield their power. Their friendship is much more of a slow burn, neither really knowing how to approach each other. But Bishop is one of the first people that helps Ava discover more about herself.

She was trained all her life to act a certain way and so her default is a very pleasant bubbly sort of attitude. As she starts to figure out how to be herself however she discovers that at heart she's really much more of a subdued person. She tends towards a quiet, more monotone set of mannerisms. Her friendship with Bishop helps her discover this.

Around people she doesn't know or when she's uncomfortable and out of her element, she adopts her pleasant exterior. Only around people she's really comfortable around does she let it drop, and Bishop is one of the first people that sees that side of her.

The final person she forms a very strong bond with is a familiar face. None other than Giselle! This takes place a VERY long time after everything that happened with the Braithen Kids (+wonky time dilation stuff with the planes), after Giselle died she was sadly the only one who went to heaven dfghj.

I don't recall exactly how Giselle fell in with the heist crew. (I think it had something to do with Bishop's mother, Rose. But I may be misremembering, Thea correct me if I'm wrong dfghj) but! Once she's there she and Ava really hit it off.

Due to often being bedridden in life Giselle is practically cartwheeling through heaven, unrestrained summer fun. Ava immediately befriends her (she meets her after she's gained a bit more confidence interacting with people) and their friendship acts as a vehicle for Ava to catch up to all the mischief she never got to get up to before.

Giselle shares an intense interest in flying as well, and they both are very invested in Avery's mechanical wings project. Frequently asking him about it and planning their own ill advised test flight experiments to help him gather data (which he Did Not ask them to do).

And that's most of the info about Ava! There's small things I could mention. Like how she develops a love of birds spurred on by a little bird necklace Katrina gets for her on a day they decide is her birthday (since she doesn't know the actual date) And how it's the first gift she receives in her entire life, but certainly not the last.

Or how Avery and Katrina take her out to buy clothes for the first time since she really doesn't have much to wear. She struggles making choices for herself, since her clothes were always given to her. Her entire life was light flowing white dresses, embroidered with constellations, and supplied to her directly. She initially picks out similar things, uncertain what else to do. But then she sees a sturdy bomber jacket, and feels a fragile yearning for it.

With Avery and Katrina's encouragement, she gets it for herself. It's the first time she makes a choice for herself based on what she herself really wants. Plus it starts her on a path to discovering she prefers more sturdy androgynous fashion.

There is one more thing, a thread me and Thea haven't quite finished... As time passes and she grows more comfortable with her current life and the people around her, she starts to have strange dreams. Dreams of a garden... and in these dreams she sees someone, and feels as though this someone is calling out to her.

The person she sees looks an awful lot like her, a little bit older... She looks almost like... a sister perhaps? *dramatic musical sting*

BUT YES, she has a demiphic sister named Odette (another character from the Epic Mind of Thea) who begins to reach out to her through her dreams. And through this connection perhaps she'll discover more about the circumstances of her birth and just Who this familiar stranger is. Tune in next time to find out more (when me and Thea actually write more of this story sdfghj)

Aside from that as a little bonus for this taking so long, I scrounged up some Ava art! I haven't drawn her in quite a while so these are kinda ancient but they serve their purpose. Writing this is making we wanna draw her again...

and then these three are a series I did drawing some of the Demiphics! In order from left to right we have Ava -> Bishop -> Odd

[automatonknight]

me when i play the class that medics uber and i get. ubered

[snekdood]

i hate when ppl see that you're conventionally attractive in some respects and think that means you've never suffered anything in your life. Quite the opposite for me, personally

[anothermonikan]

Man high school was fucked up. You ever think about that. Thank fucking god I'm not in high school anymore