#this time I'm willing to pay more for something I'll actually use

[brown-little-robin]

dad took my desk (I gave it to him because it didn't work for me but it's funnier to say he just yoinked it out of my room) and I am now looking for a new desk and a chair. wish me luck!

[gor3-hound]

WRITTEN ALL OVER YOUR FACE - NAOYA ZENIN

ft. naoya zenin x puppy!reader

a/n: commission for the very lovely @nexysworld !! naoya is so very pretty and i was scared to write him BUT !! he was actually very fun to write. i love my asshole nepo baby :3 hope you guys enjoy, fb and reblogs are always appreciated <3

cw: 18+ content, dead dove-ish, pussy inspection, mistreatment of hybrids, forced cosmetic procedures, dub-con bcs power dynamics, praise, degradation, use of shock collars, caging, mentions of filing teeth, ear cropping, touching unhealed wounds, tail play, misogyny, spit, mean naoya, dehumanisation, orgasm denial, forced spaying, p in v, creampie, dacryphilia, neglect

word count: 3.2k words

Naoya’s bored.

It might’ve made you feel better if he had a secret soft spot - that the pressures of his clan have left him lonely and desperate for companionship, but that’s simply not the case. There’s no profound self-realization that comes with his actions, no sense of guilt when he pays one of the maids to suck him off before he kicks her to the curb.

He’s just bored. He’s always found the best cure for his boredom was to find a pretty little plaything that was willing to put up with him. But there’s only so much you can do to a human girl before she’s skittering off. Women value their life more than their job these days, a thought that has him scowling and breaking the shit in his room as soon as his latest slut cuts him off.

He needed something more permanent. A pretty thing that he can use to get his dick wet. One that isn’t crying for a relationship or money when he’s finished. He’s always found those hybrids pretty cute, and it seemed like the perfect thing to keep him entertained. A girl that knew she was lesser than him. A pet he could play with that would forgive him after a couple of head scratches and a new toy.

It’s that thought that has him dragging his ass to the nearest adoption center, his eyes scanning the kennels until he spots you.

You seem like a shy little thing, but he doesn’t see an issue with that. He’s always had more fun breaking girls in, and you’d be no exception. He hums thoughtfully for a moment, his head cocking to the side as he looks you over. He doesn’t address you or ask you any questions, but he doesn’t need to. You were cute, and that’s all he really cared about, anyway. He calls a worker over, asking to get some time alone with you.

“Well, we don't really have any private rooms for you to-”

“How much?” Naoya cuts him off without even gazing his way, his eyes locked onto your form. No point buying the goods if he doesn’t get a trial run, first.

“I'm sorry?” The worker stutters out. Naoya hates that shit. Pisses him off more than anything, acting like he doesn’t want the Zen’in’s money. Naoya knows better.

“You heard me. How much? Doesn't need to be a fancy room. Shit, I'll take a storage room. I gotta check she's worth the money, y'know?” He says with a sigh, his brows twitching slightly as he fights back a scowl.

Seems to work well enough, because the worker leads him to a staff room, telling him to wait right there. He crosses his arms over his chest, making him sigh in annoyance. He waits impatiently, but he lights up when you come padding into the room, looking all nervous.

”No need to be scared, girl.” He tells you, but his words come out in a grunt. He doesn’t really care if you’re scared of him or not, as long as you let him get a good look at you. He moves towards you when you don’t budge, gripping your chin between his fingers.

His gaze is sharp, his dark brown eyes narrowed as he looks over your features. He reaches a free hand up to your floppy ears, giving them a flick. A frown crosses over his features as he gives you an appraising gaze , clicking his tongue. “They’ll have to get done. Don’t like ‘em.”

His fingers and thumb dig into your cheeks, forcing a gap between your teeth so you open your mouth. He shoves his fingers down your throat, sighing when you gag and splutter. “Gonna have to train that outta ya. Those canines are gonna have to get fixed, too. Bet they’d fuckin’ hurt if they caught my dick.”

He pulls his fingers out of your mouth and wipes your spit off on your cheek, smirking when your nose wrinkles. He reaches down, tugging on your fluffy tail with a thoughtful expression. “That can stay, though. Cute.”

”Bend over the table, pup. Spread your legs, lemme see your cunt.” He orders, releasing your tail and taking a step back. Your hesitance irritates him, and his hand comes out to smack you across your face so hard that your head snaps to the side, your ears ringing. “Don’t make me say it again. I fuckin’ hate repeating myself.”

Your tail is tucked between your legs as you shift to lean over the table, those fluffy ears pressed down firmly against your head. Doesn’t bother Naoya. He kicks your feet apart, pulling your pants and underwear down in one tug. The tail is a little bit of an obstacle still, so he sighs and scratches behind your ears.

”C’mon now, baby. I didn’t mean it.” He coos, making sure he finds the spot behind your ear that has you pushing back against his hand. His tone is condescending, but that dumb puppy brain of yours can’t register that. He grins as your tail perks up and wags, showing you off to him. “That’s better. Lemme get a look at that pretty pussy.”

He kneels behind you, spreading your folds with two fingers, humming in satisfaction as strings of slick spread and break at his actions. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t pick out a puppy for that exact reason - a few words of praise, and you were soaked. He slips a finger deep into your cunt, adding another one and scissoring them open before groaning at the tightness. You felt like a virgin, too. Perfect.

He pulls his fingers out and licks them clean, wiping his spit off on your clothes before he pulls them back on. He gives your ass a few pats as he stands up, turning around to bang a few times on the door.

”Hey! I’ll take her.”

˗ˏˋ ☆ ˎˊ˗

Naoya’s unpredictable.

It’s hard to settle into a routine with him. He can be easy to handle one moment, only to switch up at the next second. He’s never kind - that’s not the right word for him - but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his moments. If you’re good, he’ll let you curl up at the foot of his bed. Sometimes he’ll even let you sit at his feet when he’s relaxing, petting your head absentmindedly.

Those moments are few and far between. For the most part, he’s cold. He doesn’t pay much attention to you unless he’s feeding you or if it’s play time.

He shows you the most attention when he wants to play. He’ll praise you, scratch behind those freshly cropped ears standing tall on your head and run his fingertips through the fur of your tail until it’s wagging fast enough that he knows you’ll be pliant and eager for anything he wants to do to you. You’d tried whining, begging, pleading… Anything just to get him to look at you and show you some affection, but you quickly learned that the only way you could guarantee something from him was to paw at the front of his pants until he’s twitching against your hand.

His choice of affection has a bit of a side effect, and you’re unlucky enough that Naoya notices it. All it takes is one little ‘good girl’ or a scratch on your head for you to be soaked, whining and rutting against any part of him you could reach. He loves feeling you wrapped around him, but he loves teasing you even more. So, naturally, as soon as realizes how desperate his touch makes you, he decides it would be a fun little game for him to see just how needy you could get.

He’s leaning back against the couch when he spots you padding over, that fluffy tail slowly picking up speed the closer he gets to you. He can’t help but chuckle when he spots you settling on the floor by his feet, a smirk spreading across his face when you rest your chin on his thigh. Your gaze flicks up to his face, a longing expression on your features. His hand comes down to pet your head, fingers scratching your scalp gently.

”You need something, girl?” He coos, tugging on one of your bandaged ears until you whimper, biting back a laugh when you lean into the touch regardless of the pain that comes with it. You’re always so eager to please, it drives him crazy.

“Need you, please.” You whine, your ears tilting back slightly, unable to press flat against your head due to the wrapping keeping them up so they heal pointed. He grins wolfishly at your words, yanking you by the collar until you’re straddling his thigh, a mischievous going in his eyes.

”Go on then, pup. I’m too tired to deal with you myself. You can handle it, can’t you?” He hums, giving your head a pat before crossing his arms behind his head as he leans back on the couch. You give him a curious little head tilt, confusion twisting your cute little face. He loves it when you give him that look - you’re just a dumb puppy, nothing more than entertainment for him. He can’t help but feel amused, shifting his leg so he can press his thigh more firmly against your core.

”You’re a big girl, aren’t you? I’m sure you can figure it out, puppy.” You seem to get the picture, a soft, needy sound rising in your throat as the hard muscle of his thigh presses against your cunt through the fabric of your shorts. Your hips start shifting on their own, rutting against him desperately. Your mouth falls open, artificially rounded canines digging into the flesh of your bottom lip.

Your hands come down to rest on your own thighs - you know better than to touch Naoya without asking, and you don’t want this to end so soon. Your nails press into your flesh, leaving indents on the surface of the skin. Naoya’s face is a mask of indifference. There’s no sign of enjoyment from him, the only hint that he isn’t completely unaffected by your actions is the tent forming beneath the fabric of his pants. You whine when you realize he isn’t even looking at you, staring over your shoulder to look over one of the paintings on the wall.

You want him inside of you, want his strong hands to grasp your thighs as he fucks into you. The thought alone has you panting, your head hanging as your tail starts to wag again, steady behind you as you grind against his thigh more harshly. Your breaths come out heavier, your cunt soaking through the fabric of your shorts to coat his own pants.

You’re so overwhelmed with your rapidly approaching orgasm, how good it feels to finally be this close to your owner that you don’t see his hand reaching for his phone until it’s too late. You yelp as your collar zaps you, the fur on your tail standing on end as the shock makes you spasm, your hips quickly pulling away from his thigh.

”I didn’t say you could cum, did I? Bad girl.” He hisses, grabbing you by the hair and dragging you across the floor, forcing you into your crate with a swift kick. He slams the door behind you, locking it before stepping back. “You can stay there for the rest of the night. If I hear you so much as fuckin’ squeak, you’re not getting let out for the rest of the week. Got it?”

You nod quickly, but that’s clearly not good enough for him. He taps at the screen of his phone a few times before pressing his thumb down for a longer period. The voltage is higher, and he doesn’t let up on shocking you until you drop against the blanket in your crate, your fingers twitching. He scoffs at the sight, letting go of the button.

”Pathetic. If I’m talking to you, I expect an answer. Surely you’re not so stupid you’ve forgotten how to use your words?”

”N-no. I’m sorry. I’ll… I’ll be quiet.” You whisper, your voice shaking slightly with the effort it takes you to hold back tears.

”Stupid mutt.” He grunts, fiddling with his trousers until he can free his cock. His jaw tenses in slight annoyance at how quickly that has you perking up, your eyes wide with interest like he’s holding a damn treat up for you. He steps closer to your crate, pressing his length down against the bars above your head. Naoya can’t help but laugh as you try to crane your head to get a taste of him, his eyes shining with amusement as your tongue laps between the gaps to catch his skin.

”Look at you. You were crying a second ago, and now you’re drooling like a bitch in heat? You are the single most pitiful creature I have ever laid my eyes on.” He muses, letting out another chuckle at the whine that spills from your lips when he pulls away from the crate.

”Go to sleep.” He grunts as he tucks himself back into his trousers, his eyes trained on your as he takes a step back. “If you’re good enough, I might let you out for breakfast.”

˗ˏˋ ☆ ˎˊ˗

The next morning, Naoya is wordless as he approaches your cage.You can tell from his narrowed, fox-like gaze that he hasn’t forgiven you from last night, his jaw set tight as if you hadn’t just made a small mistake. Naoya expected nothing but perfection from his pet, and it was something he made abundantly clear. He opens the door, his eyes narrowed in on your slumped over figure.

”Out.” The words are short and clipped, but firm, leaving no room to argue. It wasn’t a request, but a command. You weren’t stupid enough to ignore it.

He watches you crawl out of the cage, kneeling at his feet on the cold floor. You keep your gaze trained downwards, unable to meet his eyes. You look so pathetic it almost angers him, a crease forming between his brows as looks down at you. He slowly strips his clothes, his eyes locked onto you the entire time.

“Strip.” You listen, pulling your clothes off and adding them to his own pile on the floor. There’s no praise now, no attempts to get you wet enough to take him. He just pushes you down onto all fours before spitting directly onto your cunt as he forces his cock into your tight heat. It’s meant to be a punishment, but all it takes for you to get wet is the feeling of him stretching you out, your tail swaying side to side as his tip presses up against your cervix.

”Such a slut… Dripping as soon as you see cock. Bet it doesn’t even have to be mine, hmm? Could pass you around the whole clan and you’d gladly let each and every one of ‘em mount you until you were sore and dripping cum.” He spat, his hips rocking forward harshly. He builds up a steady pace, pounding into you brutally.

”Wouldn’t…” You manage to force out, brows furrowing as you try to rock back against his hips, your walls pulsing around his length. “Just you… want your pups.”

”Aww, that’s cute. You want me to breed you, girl? Is that it?” He lets out a cruel laugh, tugging on your tail to pull you back against him with each thrust, his cock brutally pounding into your tight cunt. “You think I’d let you carry my seed? That your bastard children could be sufficient heirs for the Zen’in clan? I’d never let you have puppies. Stupid fuckin’ bitch. Didn’t even realize I got you spayed? You just believe every little thing I tell you, huh?”

Fuck, he really likes the look of your tears. Nearly has him cumming from the way you look sobbing on his dick, the way you clench around him like you're trying to milk him dry despite how upset you are. It doesn't matter what he does to you, not when you're so forgiving. He knows he can say whatever he pleases and you'd still come running back to him, tail tucked between your legs like you were the one in the wrong.

He presses down between your shoulder blades, forcing your chest flat against the hard-wood floor as he keeps your ass in the air with his grip on your tail. With your back arched, the new angle allows him to fuck into you deeper, bullying himself into you without any regard for your pleasure. You were nothing more than something to use to him - a glorified fleshlight, at best. He only let you cum because of how tight you squeezed him when you did, how hot it was to see your dripping down his length.

This wasn’t about you right now - it was meant to be a punishment. You'd be lucky if he decided to let you cum in the following weeks, let alone today when he's still pissed off at you for almost breaking one of his rules.

His hips smack the fat of your ass with every thrust, low grunts spilling past his lips as he wraps your tail around his hand, smacking your thigh in frustration when you yelp at the discomfort that comes with it. He's increasingly glad with every pained whimper as his grip tightens that he decided not to dock your tail. It's so much better than a leash could ever be, forcing you back onto his imposing length everytime it gets too much for you and you try to crawl away.

“M'gonna cum.” He groans, harshly forcing your upper body further against the floor as he leans his weight on the hand pushing you down, slick sounds filling the room as he thrusts himself brutally in and out of your twitching pussy. He yanks on your tail, pulling you back against him as he cums with a grunt, his cock twitching inside of your abused cunt. He ruts his hips into you shallowly as he rides out his high before pulling out, smacking your ass once before standing up, ignoring your pleas to let you cum.

“Stupid mutt.” He spits out, rolling you onto your back with his foot, pressing it down against your stomach to hold you down. He spits on your face, a huff of laughter leaving him as your nose wrinkles. “I've been too good to you. Made you think you have a say.”

“You are a toy.” He continues, pulling his foot away with you before moving to gather his clothes. He pulls them on, leaving you panting and leaking his cum on the floor. “Something for me to use when I get bored.”

He makes his way to the door, shooting one last glance at you over his shoulder. “The quicker you learn that, the better.”

[swappedandtrapped]

Rent Help - Part 1

Hey, first thing I'm posting here. Character consistency with AI is difficult for me, so just go with it.

It wasn't a good time in my life. The pandemic hit, making me unemployed. I stayed at home to avoid getting sick and with nothing to do I was starting to find any excuse to go out of my room. I was renting this flat with another guy I found on Craigslist, Roy.

Roy was my age, he moved in from some place outside the county a few years ago and we managed to stay out of each others' way. Maybe except a few times I heard his booming voice shout at the TV, cursing other players in some online game. He was also too comfortable in the house, taking off his shirt and staying like that even when guests came over.

Slowly, the world came back to order. The quarantines stopped, but I was still out of a job. I ended up searching for a long while. I was struggling and really tried to be frugal. Eating cheap, saving up, the usual. But my savings were about to run out.

I was desperate, and even though I felt bad doing so, I asked Roy if he could lend me the money for rent. Roy, to my disappointment, refused. He said he had really bad experiences with friends he lent money to, but never payed him back. I begged, said it was a sure thing, I was willing to do anything, sign contracts, whatever he wanted.

"Sorry man," He said. "You know how it is, I can't let my friends owe me money," He insisted. "But if you're willing to do something for me in return, I think we can still work something out." I was hesitant. "What do you mean? Like doing your laundry?" "Well. Sort of." He smiled. "Just make sure to be free this weekend so you could help me with that thing." It was either that or become homeless, so I jumped to hug him "Yes, of course! Anything! Thanks man!" "No worries. I'll give you the details Friday morning."

The week went by quick. I wasn't sure what he wanted, but I guessed it was just some house work or doing errands for him. He was straight, so anything sex related was out of the question. I relaxed and knew that I won't be kicked out of my place. At least this month.

…

Friday morning came, but my alarm didn't go off. I woke from the direct sunlight peaking through the window curtains when I knew that my window was facing west. But the first thing that I knew was wrong was the smell. Something smelled... Wrong... Like someone else's laundry. In my half-asleep state, I turned on my side to get my phone to check the time. Eyes still closed, I couldn't feel the phone on my nightstand. I opened my eyes to see where the hell was it, but my heart stopped when I first saw my hand.

It definitely wasn't my hand. Darker skin, hairier, and a bit bigger than mine. I saw it was attached to a foreign arm with the same features of the hand. Darker skin, more hair, and bigger than mine. I gasped in fright and used the hand and arm to take off the blanket and reveal what was underneath.

Not my body. This is definitely not my body. I was wearing only pajama shorts, which I never do. My chest was thick, heavy, and hairy. My gut spilling over its own weight. My legs wiggled with fat from my movement. Wait, is this… Roy's body? I touched my chin and felt the beard Roy had. I took a look up from my body and saw I was actually in his bed, which is also in his room. What the fuck happened to me? What is going on? I run to a mirror to see if my fear is true. All I saw was Roy, having the same expression of horror I had.

I screamed, only to quickly stop and cover my mouth. What the hell was this sound coming out of me? "Ahh, test, test." I tried to listen and realized I also heard Roy's voice coming my throat. MY throat! I couldn't escape it. I tried looking for a way out of this body, clawing my skin to find an opening, but all I did was hurt myself.

I was out of breath. I started to sweat. The world was spinning and I had to sit down. After crashing on the shared living room sofa, my heartbeat lowered to a normal pace, but I was still shocked. "What the fu-" I said, surprised again to hear Roy's accent through my teeth. Was this a dream? What the fuck is going on?

"Can you keep it down? It's barely 8 o'clock." a voice behind me said. My voice. My real voice. I looked up to see who I assumed was "Roy?". I stood up to face him. "I didn't think you'd wake up this early, but whatever, I guess we can do this now." "You… You knew about this?" I stammered. "Wait. Did YOU do this?!" "Don't make a big deal out of it man, I told you I'll needed you on Friday." "FOR WHAT!?" I shouted, with his booming voice. "For replacing you?!"

"Don't give yourself too much credit. It's just for this weekend.". He started getting ready to go out. "And I don't need you to replace me, I just needed to not be me for a bit." "WHAT THE FUCK ROY?!" I started getting out of breath again. Maybe even a low-key panic attack. "Why didn't you say anything about that? I thought I was just gonna clean your room or something!"

"I don't understand why you're so upset. You're getting free rent money for basically just sitting on your ass all day." "Because you TOOK MY BODY." "Don't be dramatic, it's just for the weekend. I'm borrowing it." He put on my coat on his way out. "Couldn't you tell me before? How did you even do this?"

"That's not important, I've had this thing since I was little." He started putting on my shoes and tying his shoelaces. Listen, if you don't want this, we can switch back now, but forget about the rent. I'm not giving out free money. It's your choice."

I started to form an insult, but quickly realized this might be my only option. And is being in Roy's body for a weekend really that bad?

"And this is just for the weekend?" "Yes." "And all I have to do is stay here?" "Or go out, I don't care. I just need your body." "But why?" "That's where the money comes in. Most of the pay is for you being discreet about this." The gears in my head turned. "What, like something illegal? Sex? Don't do weird shit in my body." "Nothing sketchy, I promise, but I really need to go. I'll be back tomorrow."

He closed the door after him, leaving me still shocked at the situation he got me into.

Thanks for reading. Part 2 out soon.

[samsno1]

Honesty

Sam Winchester x Reader

lmao, i'm sorry. this is kind of an au where instead of sam getting the trials...you do! haha......might make a second part to this but i'll see how it'll do. also, in this there isn't the stupid "sam doesn't look for dean in purgatory" because the writers were fucked up when they wrote that, respectfully (or not)

Summary: You finally have a chance to close the Gates of Hell, forever, but everything comes with a cost, the question is, are you willing to pay for it?

Warnings: ANGST, love confessions, sad sammy, kisses, reader sees bobby as a father figure, reader is shorter than Sam, NOT PROOF-READ, english is not my first language

WC: 3.7k

You can learn how to change Y/N for your actual name here

enjoy!

As you lie there, soaked in hellhound's blood, panting after a fight against the creature, the glasses you wore to be able to see it dirty and obstructing your view, Sam and Dean stare at you, frozen and horrified.

You knew they would try and talk you out of doing the trials, especially after Dean's words to both you and Sam before he went on to almost get killed by the hellhound. Of course you two had followed him, even if Dean explicitly said not to, and you ended up under the dog, his disgusting breath fanning on your face as he barked above you, trying to rip your neck off. You knifed it and it quite literally exploded over you, bathing you in his gooey substance.

Now, all of you were in a room, Dean pacing back and forth while Sam just stood with his head down. You had your arms crossed, your eyes accompanied Dean's movements. He was restless, probably angry and desperately trying to find a way to counter this.

“We can find another hellhound,” He argues “I kill it then it's all solved”

“Dean, Crowley will be even more on our asses over this, he will not let his dogs out of the leash” You say, calmly, trying to counter Dean's protectiveness in the lightest way possible. “I can do them”

After you said that Dean stopped pacing around and both him and Sam looked up at you, eyebrows furrowed, almost as if you had just admitted to an unforgivable crime. The crime in the case was wanting to protect the brothers from these crazy trials. You knew how death followed them around like a plague and you couldn't handle losing them.

“No, Y/N, you're not doing these trials” Sam speaks up, a tinge of anger in his tone. Anger, worry. He looked at you, his hair casting a shadow over his face because of the poor lightning in the environment. “You could die”

“Well, too bad Sam” You said and the boys shared that look, a silent conversation between both of them, something that pissed you off in these moments because you had the right to know what they were plotting. “Look, I know you two feel like you have some responsibility over me, this…instinct to protect me ever since Bobby…” You trailed off, the memory of the man you considered to be your father still too heavy on you. Sam frowned and Dean changed his position, on edge. You cleared your throat, the sudden lump bothering you. “But I can protect myself, I can fight my own battles and, honestly? If we do close the gates of hell for good, which battles will be there to fight?” You say with a faint smile.

You look between both of them. They seemed deep in thought. Too deep and that worried you. You slowly walked towards Sam and when he took notice he stiffened up, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed harshly, his eyes taking in your rather dirty appearance. But still beautiful, he mentally stated.

Sam always thought you were the most incredible woman he ever met, invincible even, nothing could ever put you down and you could make everything work your way with your amazing mind and skills. And, obviously, your killer looks always managed to stun him every time, everywhere.

He was used to seeing you in any type of clothing, from suits and dresses to sweats and shirts with corny sayings written in the front, which you argued were comfortable. And you always looked absolutely gorgeous wearing anything. Sam used to think he just admired you, the looks from afar were just friendly appreciation, his yearn to be around you was just a protective instinct, the goosebumps on his skin when you’d touch him were just a natural reaction…

Until it wasn’t just. It was. And that was horrifying.

And it got worse when both you and him spent the last year alone looking for Dean and Cas. Spending so much time beside you made Sam realize what he truly felt towards you and he was scared. Scared to say anything and scared to lose you. So, when you killed that hellhound, his heart fell to his stomach because he knew you would want to do the trials. 

And when you stretched your hand to him, looking directly in his eyes, that determined gaze of yours slicing through his soul, he knew you would do anything to go along with this.

“Sam, give me the spell” You said firmly, not a request, a demand. He swallowed again, still speechless, still frozen, his fist tightening around the small paper which contained the words in enochian you were supposed to recite for the trials to start. You emphasize your demand by widening your eyes angrily and doing ‘come here’ motions with your stretched hand. “Sam”

“Y/N-”

“Dean.” You interrupt, anger seeping into your tone, making Dean shut his mouth into a thin line and a huff of air come out of his nose, just like a child would do when it was refused candy before dinner. He thought he’d seen you like this before, determined, practically unstoppable but boy was he wrong. You were more than insistent and that rang an alarm in Dean’s head. You knew that the one responsible for the trials could die and you were willingly going with it.

“Dean, can you give us a moment” Sam speaks up again and you quirk an eyebrow at him, looking between him and his brother. Sam looks at Dean, his pleading eyes and subtle nod giving enough information for Dean to get the message across. If there is one thing that can make you understand is honesty.

Dean slowly walks out of the room, giving you one last look that said clearly that you needed to listen with an open heart and mind to anything Sam would say. When he closed the door behind him, Sam’s eyes were already on you, trained on your features and you shifted your weight on your feet, his stare intimidating.

“So?” You said, trying to keep your ground. Sam sighed and lowered his head, considering all his options in the situation, he could tell you everything and be either rejected or accepted, he could lie to you, give you the wrong spell and work his way out like he always did and still keep you safe. Honesty. The word echoed in his mind like a chant.

He pushed himself off the table he was leaning on, crossing with you and going towards the bed to sit down. Your whole body accompanied his movements, his long strides making the distance between the table and the bed shorter than it actually was.

Once sat he looked at you and then at the spot beside him on the bed, silently asking you to sit with him and you caved, obliging to him. Your feet were light on the floor, quiet, accustomed to being silent while being a hunter, as you walked to the bed. The hardness of the cushion was not too much of a bother but still kept you grounded. Don’t let your guard down.

After making yourself as comfortable as possible, sitting criss-crossed, you turned towards Sam who was with both his feet on the floor, staring at his hands drying his sweat on his jeans. You waited for him to travel inside his own mind, finding the words, the phrases, the honesty. 

Honesty. Honesty. Honesty.

You swam in your own thoughts, especially those in which Sam was included. And those were the few thousands of reasons you wanted to be the one doing the trials, not him, not Dean. In your time alone, Sam had opened up to you about his want to live a normal life, away from apocalypses, monsters, gods…White picket fence, the whole nine. Dean had wanted that too, hell maybe he wouldn’t let go completely of the hunting but at least he wouldn’t have to deal with demons on his ass, never ever again. You didn’t see yourself getting out.

You grew up in this, much like the boys, but to you was different. You liked it. The adrenaline was like a drug pumping through your veins everytime you killed an abomination and, honestly, family wasn’t your strongest trait. All those whom you considered family were cremated – just because…we don’t usually bury hunters, so you can’t say they are six-feet under. Your love life was most definitely inexistent, you didn’t have time for falling in love with anyone.

Until. You did.

Until you fell. And hard. Face first in a bag of nails because you knew it would be trouble falling in love with Sam Winchester. You were both unlucky when it came to that feeling, always losing, always sacrificing, always in a battle. But how could you not? He was a gentleman in full, kind, sweet, caring and at the same time deadly – no pun intended. He would protect those he cared for with his life, his sense of protection his greatest quality. He was so selfless sometimes it made you mad. You had told him once ‘Be selfish, just this one time!’ and even so he couldn’t. It wasn’t his nature.

Sam wanted out of this and you wouldn’t let him abandon that dream because of you. You weren’t worth his life, you told him once after following a lead on how to open the doors to Purgatory and pull Cas and Dean out that almost got both of you killed. You were crying as you drove him to the hospital, the blood on your hands staining the steering wheel.

He was pale, his hand weekly pressing over the wound on his stomach, his breathing shallow. When you told him that, he trained his tired eyes on your face and in a rough and tired voice told you to shut up. Shut it, jerk. And fainted.

At the hospital you stayed hours by his bed every day. The doctors had told you he would be okay, that thankfully no vital organs were damaged and when he woke up you hugged him tightly, your arms wrapping around his neck desperately trying to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere. His hands soothed you, rubbing your back up and down. You won’t get rid of me that easily, he had said and you laughed.

Ever since then you swore to yourself that you would guarantee that Sam wouldn’t put himself in danger for you anymore and you were not breaking that promise.

“Do you remember the night we met?” Sam spoke and you turned your eyes to his face, his hair shining against the yellow light and worry lines between his eyebrows.

“John had left you at Bobby’s and when I came back from school you scared the shit out of me. I had my gun in hand and everything until Bobby popped up, desperately trying to explain” You said, smiling at the memory. You were all so young back then, Sam was still shorter than you – which didn’t last long – and you had lost your parents a few months back.

“Ever since that night I knew you would be…something in the long run” You gave him a puzzled look and he laughed lightly at your face, his dimples appearing on his cheeks. “I knew you would turn out to be strong, brave and I knew you would end up being one of the most important people to me”

You smiled stupidly at that, your face heating up. You didn’t know what to say to him, your eyes drifting to your fingers over your lap because you couldn't keep his strong gaze. Sam sighed and considered his options, he could either hide his feelings for longer or be honest. Honesty, honesty. The word echoed through his mind like a mantra.

Sam reached his hand to wrap over one of yours, making your eyes shift from your hands to his face again. Physical touch wasn't uncommon between the both of you. Sleeping in the same bed when motels were full, sleeping on each other's shoulders, – more you than Sam given the height difference – hugs, cheek kisses, cuddling while watching movies. But something about this hand hold felt more intimate, like a wave of emotions were being poured over you like cold water. Sam squeezed your hand.

“I can't lose you” Sam said, his voice low because he knew that if he spoke any louder he could break.

“Sam–”

“Y/N. Please.” He begs, even if he doesn't know what he's begging for. Please, let me talk. Please, don't do the trials. Please, love me like I love you. “I can't lose you”

He repeats and you feel like you just got punched in the guts or like a knife went through your chest. He sounded so raw. Those four words meaning more than any poetry you've ever laid eyes upon. You squeeze his hand to ground yourself.

“Can't or won't?” You ask, voice weak.

“Both” He answers. “Both because I won't let you do this and can't because if I lose you I won't know how to keep going.”

You shake your head no, closing your eyes for a brief moment, your memories together flooding in again. His smile tattooed in your brain, his laugh playing over and over like a broken vinyl. You needed to do this.

“If I do this then that means you can finally have a life, a wife, kids…I can't let you lose this.” You say, tears welling up in your eyes. “And I need to do this for you, for Dean, for Charlie…Losing me is just a consequence for the greater good”

Now it's Sam who shakes his head, low breathy no's coming out of his mouth. He looks up at you, eyes watery and those stupid puppy dog eyes staring right into your soul, crushing your heart to pieces.

“You don't get it” He says “When I look into the future I can't imagine–” He takes a breath, considering whether to tell you or not. Fuck it. “I can't imagine it without you. The house, the kids running around, the dog…they're ours.” He stops for a moment, waiting to see if you caught what he meant but you just looked at him, wide beautiful eyes full of confusion.

“Sam what are you–”

“And you're the wife. My wife.” He says and he can see the realization come into your face, slowly. The way your jaw drops slightly, your shoulders tense and your hand squeezes his even harder. Sam swallows but now he can't back away. “So I can't let you do this because if you do it and die I won't be able to keep going because I love you, Y/N. I love you and even if you don't reciprocate I won't stop loving you. You're the first thing I think when I wake up and the last thing I think about once I fall asleep.” He keeps going, almost out of breath once he finishes, avoiding your eyes, avoiding rejection. “So, please, don't”

Don't do this, don't reject me, don't run.

“Sam, look at me” You say, one hand slowly grasping his cheek, your thumb drying a tear that he didn't know had fallen. Once he looked at you he saw you smiling. Smiling with teary eyes. “I love you, too”

You practically whispered and a feeling rushed into Sam's body. Like someone had shot him up with adrenaline and suddenly he was aware of everything around him, your warm hand on his cheek, your hand under his, the white noise of the animals outside. And his own heartbeat.

He closed the distance between the both of you, his lips finally touching yours in desperation. Pure and raw desperation. His hand went up your arm to your neck, gently pulling you more into him and yours slipped to tangle into his hair, running the soft locks through your fingers.

The kiss felt electric and it burned. Burned you from the inside out with the wave of a thousand emotions. Your head went back to those moments with Sam. Your mind was just completely him.

And it was the same for the Winchester.

He already had thoughts consisting mostly of you but now he felt in heaven, like in finally connected with whom he mostly desired, both physically and emotionally. His other hand slipped around your waist to pull yourself over him as he laid down on the bed.

You followed and slightly smiled into the kiss. Until you grounded yourself. Sam wouldn't let you do the trials, not now that you had confessed, not now that he knew you loved him too. So you had to take matters into your own hands.

As Sam laid you over him, you straddled his hips, the kiss continuing into an unexplained hunger and lust for each other. You sensually dragged your hand down his chest, earning a soft gasp out of him, both his hands tangling in your hair, messing up your curls.

Your hand that slid down his body discreetly went into his pocket, feeling for the paper with the spell written on it. You mentally apologized over and over to Sam, your mouth opening to let his tongue in to explore it, butterflies flying around in your stomach. He was gentle, caring but yet hungry and you could feel it.

I'm sorry. 

You pulled away breathless, the paper clutched in your hand and Sam looked at you through hooded eyes, his chest heaving with his heavy breaths and a confused frown on his face.

“I'm sorry Sammy” You said as you got off the bed and started to quickly pronounce the words in enochian, your hands trembling around the paper. Sam widened his eyes once he realized what you'd done, patting his pocket in reflex, knowing you had taken it out of there, and stubbled off the bed.

“Y/N, no, please!” He yelled but it was too late. Once you said the last word an almost unbearable pain cursed through your whole body, knocking you to your knees, a loud groan of pain leaving your throat.

Sam kneeled beside you with a hand on your back, mumbling curses and apologies to you but you couldn't hear him, the pain so strong it made your ears ring. You felt a burn, like you had injected lava into your veins, opening your eyes to see your arms shining. Everything was spinning and the only thing guaranteeing you that you were still alive was Sam's warm touch over your back.

After seconds of excruciating pain you felt it going down and saw your arms returning to their normal tone. You collapsed into Sam's arms and he made sure to hold you tightly, still mumbling apologies with his eyes glossy with tears.

“Why did you do this?” He repeated, over and over. He didn't know if he wanted to kill you or hug you so he decided for the latter. He hugged your frame, pressing your head against his chest with a trembling hand and giving light kisses over it.

His other hand pressed your back against him, making your whole body stay in contact with his. His knees hurt on the hard ground but nothing compared to the pain he felt in his heart. He felt helpless.

You opened your eyes to look up at him, a faint smile on your face. You lifted a hand up to his cheek and took a very good look at the handsome man you loved. He was crying but he always looked beautiful, no matter how.

At your touch he closed his eyes, guilt spreading through his body. He touched his forehead to yours, making you close your eyes until you spoke up.

“I did this because I love you” You said and he opened his mouth to protest. You gave him a look, saying you weren’t done. “I love you too much to see you die and I know you can keep going if I die, you are one of the strongest men I know. You’re smart, you’re brave and you went through so much that I can’t let you give it up because of me. And you know I would never, ever, let you take responsibility over this and I don’t want you to blame yourself, this was my choice”

“I can’t– I’m sorry, Y/N, I’m so sorry I got you into this, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you–” You stopped him with a kiss and he sighed sadly, his hands wrapping around you tighter as if you would disappear at any second. You felt horrible but at the same time relieved. Relieved that if anything happened, Sam would live.

“Don’t say that” You whisper against his lips. “Don’t apologize for something that isn’t your fault. This is on me.” You say as you pull slowly away to look into his eyes, the mix of colors hypnotizing you. You felt like you could see every ounce of his soul through those eyes and it was filled with sadness.

Sam was angry, not at you, at himself. The moment he saw the hellhound die above you, bathing you in its blood he knew it was over, that you wouldn’t back away but still he blamed himself. If I were quicker. If I were smarter. The words ran around in his brain. When he looked at you he saw yet another one of those he loved dead. Another corpse that hung over his shoulder.

“We can do this, I can do this. I’m strong enough” You said. Sam knew you were strong but this was beyond you. This was God and Demons and Heaven and Hell. This was biblical and nothing like the things you faced before. He was scared.

“I know you are but what if I’m not?” He asks and you wait for him to continue. “What if I’m not strong enough to let you go if it comes to it?”

“You’ll have to be. If not for yourself, for me. Keep going for me” You reply with a soft look and a slight smile that made Sam choke on a sob and smash his lips against yours.

This kiss was filled with different emotions. Sadness, grief and guilt were poured into it but yet so much love. So, so much.

You didn’t get a verbal answer from Sam but you got plenty of information from the kiss. I’ll try, for you.

And that was enough.

A/N: Notes and reblogs encourage me to keep writing, feedback makes those writings better. Thank you for reading, Xoxo.

[eyedoeluhn]

I'm well past what the show has covered and the only improvement I'll cite is that the new art doesn't hurt to look at and they have a budget now. Literally everything every comics reader has complained about is stupid garbage and I'm certain this is some kind of CIA psyop.

The invincible comics are, when they're being good, a mediocre hero comic predicated on tropes with a vaguely interesting alien plot and then it kind of starts discussing the basic moral questions about superheroes. It's frankly a struggle to find something that wasn't interpreted by the show better and no I don't care that they cut the crossover with "The Astounding Wolf-Man." You could not pay me to care about the wolf man. I will not read his comics.

Really the most important part of reading the comics makes you realize a lot of people are actually arguing about how events went down there instead of the show. And I guess to some people trying to spoil it?

Anyway I read in the first issue that they were very proud of comic debbie and it was just misogynistic shit that was really bad. Basically every female character suffers though. Most characters are just...i really dont like them. Even Mark, and i fucking hate show Mark. But it's a fond hatred. I think he's a funny idiot who needs to be killed painfully. But man comark just irritates me. Part of it is because the show spends more time with building character moments and there's limited pages but the other part is that they genuinely just fumble character building moments the show revises.

Like, what comes to mind immediately is this monster girl and robot date scene where they attempt to watch an R rated movie while both of them look around 12 years old and are stopped by a ticket seller who doesn't want to let them in.

In the show Monster Girl is the one to get them in, while rudy tries to poorly negotiate she bribed a nearby woman with $10 to act as their mother. She then talks with rudy about how this happens fairly often and shes used to having to work around it. This is a great scene because we learn more about how monster girl has learned to navigate the world and how it makes things more difficult for her and her age reversal curse is a important part of her arc I could expand on. It's also good for rudy too because hes freshly human and still experiencing friction, he's extremely inexperienced in even basic human tasks and now this is a problem he didnt anticipate. His approach is smart but inexperienced and he's been spending the last few days following monster girls lead.

In the comic the scene plays out very differently. Rudy is the primary negotiator, and he initially tries to brute force the interaction before coming to the same conclusion and bribing a nearby woman while monster girl swoons and thanks him after. In this scene we learn....Rudy is smart. Hes willing to change his approach and..this is just another step in his plan to woo monster girl and hes cool i guess...its just not that interesting for the characters. And also the ship is really bad in the comic its so bad Jesus christ. The revised version is just better here.

The show being better doesn't make the comic ass. The comic is just ass on its own, independently. Which is fine, most superhero comics are. Its a capeshit story from 2003 just stop pretending it's Shakespeare and that it has well written female characters. Or you will find me in your house.

[apomaro-mellow]

Every Baby Needs a Daddy 17

Part 16

Eddie's chin was perched on Steve's shoulder, reading through the contents of the letter. There was a bunch of legal jargon that went over his head, but it was purely the fact that his parents sent it that document that spoke volumes about the kinds of people they were. Eddie also took to heart that fact Steve hardly ever mentioned them.

"And what exactly are they asking you to 'cease and desist'?" It was too early in the morning for such small print and lawyer-language. Eddie rubbed his eyes.

"Nothing they haven't said before. "I'm an embarrassment to them and they want me to stop."

Eddie hugged Steve from behind and kissed his shoulder. Then he kissed the back of his neck. As he did, he pulled the letter from his hand and then kissed his cheek.

"I'll let my people look over this, but there's no way they can order you to do anything. And if they keep bothering you, we can counter-sue for harassment."

Steve turned around in his arms and smiled. "You'd sue my parents for me?"

"Anything for my baby. I'd keep them wrapped up in court dates for years."

No one bothered his baby. Especially when he wasn't doing anything wrong. Just the idea of Eddie doing so made Steve swoon a little. This was exactly what he had dreamed of. Being scooped up from his humdrum life, filled with stress and anxiety and disappointment and being embraced by someone not just willing to love on him, but take care of him. Steve hadn't worried about a single bill since he and Eddie got together. The amount of times he'd pulled out his own money to pay could be counted on one hand.

"Hmm, I think we'll let them squirm a bit", Steve finally decided. "They don't get to stamp their feet after ignoring me for years."

And so, the letter was pretty much ignored in favor of other things going on. Steve didn't make any effort to be seen less in public. If anything, he was seen more, on the arm of someone from Corroded Coffin. Steve thought he'd be bothered by being photographed all the time. And while it was odd (he didn't know what the fuss was about him and Gareth looking at stationary) so far no one had caught him in any sort of compromising position.

He and Eddie had fucked in the backseat during a car wash and the most provocative picture the tabloids had was one of Eddie's nose buried in his neck, one squeezing his behind as they tried to do a quick makeout in an alley.

And any negative comments were not only drowned out by the positive ones, but they were also easy to ignore when he had a pack of men showering him with adoration.

One night, his parents called and while Steve would rather not been bothered with them, he felt like a shield was cast over him while he was cuddled up to Eddie on one side and the rest of his pack sitting around the living room. So this time, he answered.

"Hello mother."

"You think you're funny, don't you? You think this is all a joke? Have you even thought about us once? Honestly, every morning I wake up thinking there's going to be a picture of you with your pants down or you on your knees or some other-I just don't know where we went wrong with you Steven but this is truly unacceptable."

"What exactly is unacceptable about all of this? What do you actually know about it?"

Eddie muted the tv and gestured for Steve to put her on speaker so that they could all hear. Steve did and his mother's voice sounded around the room.

"We know you're running around with a bunch of musicians, doing god knows what, probably drugs and ruining our family name. Do you know how many times Irene Netting has had something to say about you? I swear the woman has no life but I can't refute the facts she's telling about you."

"You never bothered to get the facts from me", Steve said.

"Did you read the terms in our letter?"

"You mean the cease and desist order?"

"You are going to stop besmirching the Harrington name. By any means necessary. And if that means we have to drag you back home, well, thankfully there's an associate of your father's that's still interested. He's a beta, but beggars can't be choosers."

Steve could scent the way his pack felt about that and if that wasn't enough, the way they were glaring at his phone told the whole story. Eddie held his hand out for it and Steve gave it over, wondering what he'd say.

"Sorry to disappoint, but Steve is already home. And he's not leaving just so you can sell him off to someone twice his age."

"Who is this!? Steven Phillip Harrington, are you living with those animals?"

Steve refrained from making a comment about how beastly Eddie could be in bed. But decided now was as good a time as any to introduce them all. "Mother, this is Eddie, my alpha. Eddie, my dear mother."

Her sucking in a breath could be heard, clearly about to admonish her son again, when Jeff spoke up.

"You know, if it's just about messing up the 'Harrington name' all Steve needs to do is change it."

"Yeah, but to what?", Gareth asked, like the answer wasn't obvious.

It was clear to Steve and Eddie. It was clear the moment they locked eyes. Steve felt the need to bare his neck, to let Eddie claim that last part of himself and be joined forever. Abruptly, Eddie got up from the couch and got down on his knees in front of his love. Steve hung up the phone without ever taking his eyes off of his alpha.

"Stevie, baby, angel, muse of my soul", Eddie kissed his knee. "Would you do me the honor of taking my last name?"

Steve thought back to the night they first met, when he was certain he'd never have Eddie's attention for more than a night, if only for an hour. And now he was prostrated before him, offering his bite. Unable to help himself, Steve fell to his feet, wrapping his arms around his intended.

"Yes! Now. Give it to me now", Steve pleaded, leaning his head to the side to expose his neck.

Eddie hummed into his skin, kissing Steve's neck and even pressing his lips to that special spot in a tease before pulling back. Steve's pout was almost enough to make him do it right now. But he couldn't. He wouldn't.

"You deserve a proper courtship, baby. And a proper mating." They may have skipped a few steps, but Eddie was determined to show his beloved how much he meant to him. "If you thought you were spoiled before..."

Steve kissed him and then kissed him again. He couldn't wait and wanted it now. But also the thought of being courted, like an old fashioned courting from back in the day. He also couldn't wait for that. And Eddie wasted no time.

The very next day, Eddie went in full force. Steve was met with courting gifts, Eddie got the approval of Robin, and even the rest of his home pack when they barged in on the video call with Robin.

"I'll withhold my full approval until we can meet in person, Mr. Munson. But for now, you have my permission to court him", Robin said.

When Robin was finally able to come down and meet him, Steve was excited to introduce her. What ended up happening was that he had two menaces on his hands. But that just meant that Robin saw him as an equal and thus perfect for her Steve. And so, two months after announcing his intention, Eddie took Steve on a nice night out. After shopping for an eye catching outfit, they went to a show, dinner, and then when they returned home, Eddie took them right to their bedroom.

By now, their den and nest had become one and Steve knew that he'd never have to take it apart unless an item needed to be washed or re-scented. Tonight, as Eddie lay him down Steve reveled in the scents there. More than one item was fresh. The boys must've scented their clothes while they were on their date.

"I can't believe we waited so long for this", Eddie said while kissing at his belly. "Wanted this since I first laid eyes on you."

"That long?", Steve breathed out, squirming a little as he felt that sinful tongue on his hips.

"Mmm", Eddie hummed against Steve's mound, taking his time, loving that they had time. "That long. I've wanted you to be my mate, bonded and pupped up that whole time."

Steve released a small moan as Eddie spread him and then blew on his cunt, watching it twitch with anticipation. Eddie didn't tease for long, wanting to build up before he sunk his teeth into Steve's neck. Only when Steve was putty in his hands, filled to the brim with his knot, crying out his name, did he finally take the plunge.

When they were catching their breaths, still tied up, and Eddie licking at the new bite, Steve tried to speak between his panting.

"Me...me too..."

"Hm?"

"I've wanted this, since the first night too", Steve finished. "Wanted you forever." He rocked against Eddie. "Wanted you and your pups. The others too now."

Eddie reached down to rub at Steve's clit, making his eyes roll at the sensation. If that's what his baby wanted, his baby would get it. There was enough seed to go around to keep Steve pupped up year round if he desired.

"All you gotta do is ask, sweetness. Fuck", Eddie bucked up into him, making Steve yelp. The thought of him, round with any of their pups was almost too much. For both of them.

It only took a few talks with the whole pack for Steve to stop taking his birth control. Steve was so excited to announce it that he hopped on the first dick that he saw, which was Gareth's. Eddie found them like that in the kitchen, Steve bent over a counter and he took his own turn when he found out what the celebration was for.

Three months later, Steve felt a series of symptoms that had him going to the doctor. And by the next visit it was confirmed: twins. While the doctor was giving him more information, Steve's thoughts were wrapped up in the hope that it was not just Eddie's, but Jeff's too. His body warmed at the memory of having taken both alpha's cocks.

Pictures began to surface of him and his new belly, tracking his progress and of course, speculating on which member of the band was the sire of his new pups. But as the gossip and rumors spread, they made sure it was clear they were reporting on Steve Munson.

End

And that's a wrap! I miiiight do an epilogue on what happens after but for now, that is the end :) thank all yall for reading and leaving such wonderful comments!

Here's that epilogue

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[pruneunfair]

My feelings on villains are destined to die and how it writes a toxic family, what lead them to where they were and if they chose to end the cycle or repeat it.

For one I can see why it's so popular, the plot is unique for its time since it was one of the first villainess centered manhwas and there characters are 3 dimensional. VADTD has its fair share of flaws as all media do but my problem is with the fanbase who seem to get the idea that liking something or someone means you must support it at all times otherwise it means you support the opposing party.

This will be mostly centered around our FL that you've probably seen somewhere before even if you haven't read VADTD, Penelope Eckart

If you think I'm here to dog on Penelope don't worry, I think she's a beautifully made protagonist that is actually morally gray and not a bitch with morally gray excuse. So despite how much the fandom says she's a perfect girlboss, Penelope isn't a good person. She sees everyone as just a video game character in the beginning so she doesn't care if characters like Emily would get hurt or how Eckles felt, that isn't too unreasonable since she did get transmigrated into a video game but there are lines that she crosses, she knows the horrors of abuse very well from her past life which is why she's so attached to the og Penelope, but it's clear she is willing to repeat the cycle for her own needs.

Introducing one of the most controversial characters: Eckles (or Eclis/eclipse)

Eckles as a character was designed to make you feel uncomfortable. He's a slave bought by Penelope at an auction and trust me, she isn't very nice about it. He's always wearing a collar with a spell that causes him to be paralyzed and unable to speak if Penelope touches the Ruby ring given to her by the auctioneers, (Because there's no way that could be abused) and everything about him just seems to miserable, his life depends on Penelopes love and care for him and he's willing to keep the collar just so he can be useful..everything about him seems to be the embodiment of Stockholm syndrome and a lack of identity. The saddest part? He knows why Penelope wants him around and he despises her for it (reasonable) yet he still "loves" her

Word for Word, this is what Penelope said to him when she bought him + a few more she says that are concerning to say the least

"Look at me Eckles. This is the face of your master who paid 100 million gold for you. I didn't pay such an extravagant price for you because I'm rotting in money, not even an insane noble would the equivalent of castle for a slave from a fallen kingdom, what is left for you even if you were able to resist and escape from here? You don't even have a country to run to. I despise those who don't know their place. I saw potential in you and that is why I invested in you, that is all our relationship is. Prove your worth so that I have no regrets about the price I paid for you, otherwise I'll send you back here with no hesitation. Do you understand?"

"A dog should act like a dog Eckles! What use is a son of a bitch who bites his master!?"

"You dare bite your master?"

That is NOT good person behavior, Penelope is desperate to live yes but that was one of her lowest moments. Buying a man, contributes to the buisness of slavery with 100 million gold, straight up threatening him to sell him back to slavery if he doesn't obey, and manipulates him for means of an end. But that's the point. Penelope is a gray character so naturally on top of all the good she can do, she still is capable of repeating the cycle of abuse on another person.

They have a sort of co-dependent relationship later on, Penelope views him as a beast and her way of keeping him on her side is buying him a bunch of gifts and then leaving him for long periods of time, forgetting that all he asked of her was to visit him. Of course Penelope is in no way obligated to do so just because Eckles loves her, and by love, I mean obsession to the point where Eckles starts to commit extreme acts all in the name of his obsession for her. He's no longer a person, he's just Penelopes worshipper who also "betrays" her.

Thats another thing people hate him for, for betraying the woman who bought him and treated him more like an animal than a person. And yeah, bringing Leila back to the mansion was a dick move not to mention betraying his own people but when it came to betraying Penelope.. you can't really owe your slave master loyalty, I saw this more as a consequence of Penelopes actions rather than a "poor pene" moment because im just gonna say it: Penelope had no right to be that upset when the slave she treated as an animal wound up betraying her. There was no right in that situation just two wrongs and yet there's a ton of people who solely blame Eckles for not being grateful that Penelope didn't do anything extremely egregious when she owned him (wtf!?)

Yes Eckles isnt a great person either, as i said he put all of his country to death when he snitched on them so he could stay by Penelopes side but just because Penelope is the protagonist with a tragic backstory, that doesnt mean shes an innocent lamb and while fans will glorify the toxic relationship, the way the narrative portrays it is too uncomfortable to be a romantic path, it's meant an abusive past where Penelope can choose to stay at her worst and that would honestly be depressing if she did get with him, itd be a twisted master-slave relationship where Penelope can do whatever she wants to Eckles and he can't say nor will he want to, and I think she knew to some degree that she wouldnt want to be that monster and what she was doing was inhumane which is probably she stays far away from him since she's beginning to see these people as humans and not code. It's both a mix of desperation for her own life and a desire to not repeat an abusive cycle just with extra steps.

A slave and their master isn't a forbidden romance, it's just Stockholm syndrome covered in glitter.

Now on to the other characters, the love interests/ brothers.

Theres a lot of love for Callisto and I can see why, he's not a cardboard cutout and has a personality that didn't revolve around Penelopes goals. I'll admit I didn't like him at first but he's grown on me

But I have a feeling there's another reason fans adore him outside of his character and goals. He's the only love interest that isn't an abusive one. Unlike Eckles, Callisto is closer in equality to Penelope and he's you know, not her fricking step brother. After all when the other options are lava and toxic chemicals, you would much rather stick your hand in a mysterious substance that could benefit you even if it could also kill you. That's what Callisto was when we met him, he's the one who killed OG Penelope the most in hard mode and when he first speaks to Penelope, he's putting a sword at her throat, even though he's killed Penelope in so many timelines, the timelines where he doesn't are the happiest... which I honestly don't know how to feel about that.

then there's Derrick, and uh yeah, I don't blame the fandom this time, he does suck and he has a sister complex.. Fantastic

Still though for such a hateable character it's done so well. He's not always so in your face about it, Derrick is still a 3d character with a "reason" that explains his stepbrother-stepsister love he has for Penelope, he's afraid of losing her like he lost Ivonne (that just opens so many weird doors though with how they imply it) and even if you take that away he's still a perfect example of abuser. No matter what Penelope did he's consistently blaming her for the negatives of their family, he loves her but he also controls her and makes her feel like shit. It's like another form of Eckles and Penelope which is kind of depressing since it's more portrayal of repeating cycles of abuse. *SPOILERS* He also gets to live normally after that and apparently becomes a loving uncle to Penelope and Callistos daughter which I interpret as the harsh reality that abusers who are family aren't likely to go away especially if they are older and hold more power over you, they can stop it all they want but that wound never got treated.

Reynold is another one I have a weird relationship with, he's not as terrible as Derrick but the shit he put Penelope through is yet another example of generational abuse that he started

Reynold represents the regret an abuser can feel after the harm is already done. The entire family has issues in general and communication is one that's seriously lacking but Reynold indirectly started it and justified it when he found the og Penelope praying that Ivonne would never return and from both sides, you can understand why. Penelope doesn't want to go back on the streets and Reynold is still grieving over his sister and the replacement was just wishing for that little sister to dissappear or die, but no matter the reason, abuse is still abuse. But he was willing to change after hearing her true story, but he continues to reprimand her for the past, not letting go so easily which made him a easy target for Leila to brainwash, as I've said, the damage is already done and while the two can remain civil, I wouldn't be surprised if Penelope never feels comfortable around him again.

EDIT: I thought about it and maybe "never feeling comfortable around him again" might be a little too far, OG Penelope probably wouldn't but I think the current Penelope would be more likely to move on.

And now for the figurative and literal embodiment of the lost/ghost child: Ivonne who represents how we handle grief and lost child syndrome.

Almost nothing is known about Ivonne for a long time, the family has fond memories of her but we never get to see what it was like beyond a single memory of the siblings sneaking out to the festival the night Ivonne went missing. In grief we tend to over fantasize the person we lost, usually as a perfect being who did no wrong. Thats what Leilas control represents, Ivonne is dead, her skin is cold to the touch like a corpse as described by Penelope , the goddess Leila who took over her body represents flaws the deceased may have had or a toxic coping mechanism in general and causes everyone under her control to only think about the best of her.

For Ivonne as a character, she is lost child personified, she's literally lost so it's already right there, a lost/ghost child is the type of child that stands by the toxicity of the family, they blend in and no one really bothers about them, though this is more of a reach then the other two, there arent a whole lot of chapters that mention Ivonne beyond comparing her to Penelope and the chapters where she actually does appear, shes separated from everyone else. Even her own father who spent years searching for her, he still gave up and what pushed Ivonne to become a literal ghost child is when she sees the Duke take Penelope off the streets to be his replacement daughter when his real child was staring right at him. Ivonne ends up in a mirror forever, where all she can do is watch the family from afar.

final main character is Winter, and he was the trickiest to place.

I forgot about Winter half the time since he kind just shows up at random, his introduction is literally happening to be there at the right moment when Penelope is running away from Callisto. So I wasn't very interested in him until the battle against the Leila cult, but even though I wasn't interested in him, I still preferred at the time if he was the love interest instead since he was the least violent of all the guys, he actually wanted Penelope to be happy, and very protective of nor just her but the sorcerer children so it was just green flags all around with the exception of the age gap. (I don't know how to feel about since Winter is 26 and Penelope is physically 18 but mentally she's in her 20s)

My interpretation of him is that he could be the friend/therapist that's outside the family, the one to give a little break from the disaster of a homelife. But a therapist or friend can really only do so much and in rare cases they could start suspecting you as a liar since they are also people who are dealing with their own set of problems. Kind of like how Winter starts to lose Penelopes trust when suspects her to be from the Leila cult.

Conclusion: VADTD is popular for a good reason and it has tons of great commentary on toxic households and that no character is truly innocent, but it doesn't get enough credit in that department since tons of people misinterpreted it as yet another basic reincarnation girl boss story where everything is black and white.

This is part 2 to a series I want to call "my feelings on", I'll read through a manhwa/anything one webtoon and I'll either critique it or come up with my own interpretations of it.

[ghostgirlvii]

So, I got commission scammed! Yaaay......

TLDR; I asked on a post if anyone knew about an artist who could some something specific, got contacted by @/ patriciahaskenswrite, aka Muhammad Shariq on Paypal, didn't listen to my gut feelings, ended up being scammed €150 and I'm waiting to getting it back! Yes calling out with their real name because fuck this scammer and they could use other username on social!

Alright buckle up anyone who want to read the whole story.

Yesterday, I made a post looking for an artist who was comfortable drawing a polyamarous ship (not everyone might be so I wasn't sure) got some reaction here and there, but someone slided in my DMs. here come my callout to the scammer, @ patriciahaskenswrite / patricia._.draws on IG

I'm gonna say it now, if they contact you THEY ARE A SCAMMER! DO NOT ACCEPT!

So the begining of the conversation started well and you know I really thought they were legit. Till the first red flag should have raised more alarm than it did. They didn't really gave what were their prices, instead asked me how much I was willing to pay. Which I said somewhere around 150-180. I was asking for three full bodies after all. They said that for this kind of work they usually ask around 270, but would give me a discount to 240 because it was our first time working together. Ok... I guess I mean, considering their art and all, it sounded fair enough. So we agree on the usual half-half. One before sketch and one when they start working. Here come me paying the 150. Second red flag also, but in a society of ever so migrating social media, it went a little under, their portfolio on IG was all dated from March 8 of this year (2025).

Third red flag. They don't send me an invoice, at least not like I would do. But the payment was still made under products and services (so I can escalate to Paypal) but the BIGGEST red flag that was flashing like the freaking Star Trek Red Alert and that my gut feelings told me ABORT!, which I didn't listen, is when the Paypal account's name did not match the username. Patricia sounds like any legal name someone would have and should have been expected on Paypal as well. No instead I got a Muhammad Shariq which deserve a call out as well. If you ever see this name after decided to go throught an 'artist' payment, RUN!

Like an idiot, I did the payment and only this morning I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. What can I do? Reverse Google Search. Took a screenshot of their art on IG, put it the search and low and behold! I find this Facebook page of an French artist, who has been active since 2013! Well well well, it seems my guts were right! There was something scammy about Patricia/Muhammad. I contacted the French artist right away and she confirmed that she was indeed the real artist. She was both glad I brought this to her, but also angry that someone would do this. We talked a little back and forth about the situation. One good thing in all of this is that she still proposed herself to make the commission I asked the scammer. But of course this time I know it's the actual artist and I can trust her. (I'll put a pin on this because she really had a good style!) She is also on IG under the name @ astrella.illu <3

I decided to play nice at first with the scammer. (IDIOT!) Trying to get my money back a more civilized way. What was I thinking? I had to call them out to get something and even then... As I am writing this, I'm still waiting for the refund but I did escalated with Paypal. We will see where this go, but I'll go further if needed. Not only for the money, but also to just not let the scammer win a thing!

So be careful guys! If you gut tells you do back down, LISTEN! Don't be like me and get scammed just because I really wanted some art but I wasn't sure who to ask to because I know not every one can be comfortable with poly ship. I guess the morale of the story for me is; don't be shy to ask people I would trust, actually artist I know and worked with! Two; If the name doesn't match the paypal, refuse! And never trust someone who come forwards when you look for commissions, or maybe. It depends I think here. But be wary.

[redux-iterum]

Sorry for all the questions from me recently,, but I've been planning to write a fanfic that takes place before pinestar exists in riverclan, blast to the past if you will! I just wanted to ask if you have any tips or advice because I really look up to your writing!

No worries about questions! I'm happy to answer if I can. I'll try to give some advice on writing in general, and hopefully it'll help you.

Figure out what pace will help you keep going on the project, fanfic or original, and work with that. If writing 200 words a day every day or 1k words every three days is your comfortable speed and keeps you from getting exhausted, then don't force yourself to Stephen King it and write an excess of 2k every single day. Your goal is to enjoy yourself here and keep going until it's completed. It won't be worth it if you suffer the whole time.

That being said, at times you may need to strap yourself down and just get through the part you don't want to write. This requires some discipline and self-training, but it is doable. The reward of getting to the part you're excited about is completely worth the work of writing when bored. I can very much promise you that. Every single thing I've ever worked on, I've had to force myself to keep writing/drawing at some point, and every time I've been happy that I worked until I got my reward of the part I was psyched to get to. Hell, I'm doing that right now with the next book in this series! And, fun fact, the more you do it, the easier it gets. Sort of like exercise!

If you need to plan ahead of time to finish a project like I do, then you might could borrow my method of planning: write down one or a couple sentences describing the overall, most basic idea of the plot (literally just something like "[Character] in RiverClan finds a secret plot by [other character] to overthrow the leader, stops them, and then discovers that they were right to be suspicious about the leader's secrets and helps oust the leader"); write down all the story beats and character moments you have in mind in no specific order; break down the plot into more chewable chunks using the aforementioned beats and moments to help you figure out the connecting veins to each chunk; and from there, go smaller and smaller as needed until you have enough to work with that you're comfortable writing. I personally like to write a summary of each chapter as well - all of them - before starting to actually write those chapters. It helps me keep track of everything and prevents me from fucking up the story I had in mind by being impulsive and forgetting the plan.

Even if you love a moment, character or line of dialog, if it isn't working with everything else and is disrupting the flow of the story, don't be afraid to throw it out. It's hard and I hate doing it myself, but sometimes it's just time to get rid of something you're attached to. "Kill your darlings" doesn't just mean killing a character you like, it means taking out things that you love no matter how much it feels like ripping out a tooth. You can always find a way to use whatever it is later in something else.

If you have a willing beta/editor, by GOD, ask for their help. A second set of eyes is crucial to ensuring the quality of your story. The thing is that you're too close to your creation to know for sure if it's good to everyone else - even if it genuinely is amazing, you have no idea because you made it. Having someone outside the circle of sentiment to read and say, "Hey, this dialog doesn't sound very realistic" or "Huh, I thought this piece was foreshadowing something else, maybe clear that up a little" is, while painful to your ego, more precious than a pot of gold. Appreciate the critique you get. It's awesome for your growth. Do know that not all critique is going to be helpful to your specific writing style, but a lot of it is very much worth paying attention to and taking a minute to mull over and decide whether to humor it or not. This, too, you will get better at differentiating over time.

All this said, remember that if you're not getting a paycheck, you're doing this for fun. You are under no obligation to finish a story that's making you miserable. You'll have to learn the difference between "fic I'm in a boring moment of" and "fic that's actively harming my mental wellbeing because I feel obligated to complete it", and sometimes you'll need a second person to voice your thoughts to in order to judge that. If it sucks, hit da bricks! Don't punish yourself for having to stop, or even just taking a break. A fanfic is not worth your sanity. Trust me on this.

That shit got long and I apologize. Hopefully this helped!

[daenysthedreamersblog]

SECRET OF US - IV

i miss you, im sorry

i don't wanna go, think i'll make it worse

everything i know brings me back to us

i don't wanna go, we've been here before

everywhere i go leads me back to you

masterlist // previous chapter // next chapter

summary: being around coriolanus snow was like a forest fire, intense and heated, but can quickly turn out of control with a change of wind.

pairings: modern!coriolanus snow x reader

warnings: swearing, drinking

The temperature starts to decline, and so does whatever conversational habits had bloomed between you and Coriolanus. It isn't back to normal animosity, you had decided you wouldn't go back to typical hating him after all, but you aren't nearly as chatty as you usually have been. You blamed midterms, you blamed whatever happened that night, you blamed weak feeling slipping through the cracks confusing your thoughts and dreams. You hate that you wonder, you hate that there is an odd ache of longing for him, you hate that there is no hate no matter how hard you try to grasp at it.

Flickerman doesn't push the intimate scenes stating he's still busy figuring them out, but everything else is still business as usual, you look internally for gratitude but instead silence greets you and you are thankful for that at least as you try not to examine your feelings too closely.

You're heading to campus, stopping by the little coffee shop for a warmer drink when you see him standing in line on his phone. You pause, watching him through the window as your heart picks up its rhythm, willing, wanting him to see you.

He does. He picks his head up blue eyes meeting yours as your hand slowly rises in a small wave. The corner of his mouth ticks up as his hand mirrors yours and then you're tugging the door open to walk towards him. You think of a before, of a time you would have stuck your nose up and kept moving to avoid him, but that seemed long ago, in a different life.

"Hey," You say standing off to the side so people don't think you're cutting.

He looks down at you, "Hey."

"What are you doing?"

"Getting coffee," He motions to the barista at the register the condescending smirk on his lips.

You roll your eyes the heat in your cheeks from the wind, nothing more. "You know what I mean."

"I was heading to the library to study for my stats midterm." He responds.

"Yeah that one was a little rough." You nodded.

"Are you two done flirting with each other so we can order?" The man standing behind him bites out.

Coriolanus shoots him a look but his eyes soften when they turn back to you, "What do you want?"

"What?"

"Were you dropped on your head as a child?" He muses your hair, his hand lingering too long as it glides off of your head. "My treat." He motions to the menu, "If you tell me whats on the midterm."

You cross your arms, "No then you'll get a better grade than me."

"Exactly." He beams.

You tell him your order anyways, "I'm going to tell you everything thats not on there."

He pays for both drinks and moves to the side while they're being made. "I can work with that."

"Cheater."

He pokes your nose, "Work smarter not harder kitten." He glanced at the door, "Where were you headed?"

"Poli-sci midterm." They call his name sliding both drinks across the counter for you to take.

Coriolanus Snow smiled, more to himself, "You'll do fine." It actually sounded genuine, a tone that surprised was directed at you. Then you're walking down the sidewalk together towards campus, "Any big plans for the holidays?"

"When have you ever cared?" You scoff sipping your warm drink.

"Since your spit was almost in my mouth."

You cringe, "Gross, don't say it like that." It almost distracts you from the original question...almost. You sigh, "Probably staying here."

"Did you do something to piss your father off?" He chuckled to himself.

You glare at him, "I hate that you know so much about my family."

He only smirks deeper, "No you don't." He takes a step sideways, closer to you, his knuckle brushes against yours accidentally causing yours to twitch towards his in response. "Also, I know you go on the offensive when you're avoiding questions."

You shove him with your shoulder to break the connection, "So, what's your grand plans for the holiday Snow?" His face falls, eyes overshadowed by overwhelming grief.

"I have to go." He's off before you can stop him, before you can pull back the words that had set him off. You don't know why, it's not like you had ever cared for hurting each other's feelings, but you can't shake the look on his face, you can't shake the sympathy.

You sit outside your classroom after the test staring at old pictures on his page once again; pictures of him and Sejanus. He had been an orphan for most of his life, fostered with his cousin Tigris with various family members. Then suddenly The Plinth's had adopted him, taken him in like a second son, then Sejanus had died. You only knew part of the story, only parts you heard through other people, and now you knew he had gone to military camp for some reason after Sejanus had died.

You trace his name on the empty coffee cup you were still holding.

You're moving before you realize, before you can let reason stop you from making your way to the library. He's still there thankfully, hunched over a notebook writing things out a stray curl loose against his forehead. He brushes it back as he glances up at you.

"We have this dinner." You say coming around to stand in front of him. "My friends and I...we have this dinner and spend the holiday together." You toy with the wood on the chair avoiding looking at him. After everything, after every hurtful word and angry stare, after the party and the alley and his apartment, you should not let the words leave your mouth. "You should come." You meet his hard gaze watching his jaw tighten, "Or don't, it's up to you. You know where to find me." Then you're leaving before anything else can come from the conversation, from the invitation you left open

"You've grown soft in your old age." Clemensia shakes her head at you as you help her place plates down.

He had texted you later that night asking for the time and place of the dinner ending the conversation at that not hearing much since. "He doesn't have anyone else."

"You don't know that." She looks up at you eyes narrowing remembering your long rant regarding Livia Cardew, "Something's changed between you two."

You chuckle to hide the flush forming in your cheeks, "Did Arch tell you about my dream?"

Clemensia gasp, "No, but now I know something is definitely going on." You chew on your cheek staring down at the place setting unable to think too much on the statement. "Be careful, you two have always shared a similar...fire." She comes around the table running a soothing hand down your arm, "I don't want you to get burned by his." She drops her hand, "Is you mother devastated you're not going home?"

You're thankful for the change in subject. "Yes."

"Why don't you tell her? Tell both of them?" She goes to the kitchen grabbing the dish she had made to move it to the center of the table.

"It wouldn't do any good." There's a knock on the door cutting off any further deep dive into you familial ties. You knew your mother was upset, you knew it the minute you had turned off your phone to avoid her texts. You're not even sure how to phrase it to her, to them, how you didn't want what they wanted for you anymore. And it wouldn't do good at all, that much was true, your father would have none of your feelings, your self doubts. He wouldn't care for what you wanted at all. You greet your friends watching as they add their dishes to the table grabbing their various drinks and taking up unoccupied seats.

You can't help but glance at the door, waiting and waiting for someone you had once wished would never come. Maybe he had decided not to come after all, he never really had given you a definitive answer. You try not to let it effect you even as your head whips around at the sound of an additional knock. You glance around the room, at ever accounted body, and stand up to open the door yourself.

He stares down at you in the doorframe, "You didn't answer my message."

"I uh..." You close your eyes and open them again trying to shake the warm feeling blooming in your chest. "I turned my phone off." You allow him to step into the apartment closing the door behind him, "What did it say?"

"I asked if you needed anything while I was at the store." He sets the brown paper bag down. "I got you wine anyways." He hands you the bottle.

You trace the label, it was a favorite of yours, "Thank you." You motion to the cabinet, "I'll get us some glasses, you can sit next to me." You turn to head into the kitchen hearing various mutual friends saying hello to him, even Arachne's sly voice being cordial with him. You smiled to yourself as you opened the bottle realizing you could get used to the mingling voices. You pour it out into two glasses and walk them back towards the table.

You avoid his hand ghosting your back, avoid it guiding you into your chair. He rest it on the back of your chair strands of hair caught between fingers as his thumb twitches forward. His knee brushes against yours as you settle in; it was a small space, nothing more, yet it isn't jerked away, its heat sneaking into your thigh. Everyone eats, everyone laughs, the room filled with warmth and joy and everything a family was supposed to consist of. You steal a glance at him over the rim of your glass seeing a genuine soft smile on his lips.

"What?" He asked, catching you in the act of staring at him.

"Nothing," You shake your head chuckling to yourself.

He smirks leaning towards you, "Tell me what's so funny about my face kitten."

You take a breath, eyes fluttering around his pretty blue ones, "I'm just...thankful." He snorts pulling back, "I'm thankful for our mutual truce." Something flashes across his face, you can't read it, and then its gone as he looks away from you, only to turn back with a familiar cold expression.

"I'll add your white flag to my collection."

You laugh humorlessly, "You mean your shrine." It has always been difficult with him, always trying to one up the other, but now things seemed simple, quiet acts of joy instead of cruelty for the sake of cruelness.

The rest of the dinner is filled with casual conversation and a gentle flow of soft laughter. He seemed to be enjoying himself enough that you two are amongst the last to leave. "Thank you for dinner Clemmie." He tugs on his coat.

"Thanks for the snake," Her painted nails hold the door for the two of you. "I sleep with it every night."

He smirks, "As long as you're thinking of me."

"You're a shameless flirt Coriolanus Snow." She rolls her eyes, "Get her home safe please."

He glances at you, "Always do."

You waved goodbye to her and walk out together heading out into the chilly night. "Why didn't Arachne go home, she's always had a nice family."

"They weren't too happy when she came out a few years ago." You frowned hands stuck in your coat pockets. "They're better now, but things are still a little tense."

He shook his head, "And you? Are things tense?" Your jaw sets as you refuse to answer, he didn't need to know everything. He pushes anyways, "Oh come on I know your parents, I met them on all those little events at Academy. They adore you."

"Adore what they've made of me." You mutter.

"What do you mean?"

You shake your hair out. "Nothing. It doesn't matter."

"Is this why you're having an existential crisis on docks?" He scoffs. "You're so spoiled."

You stop on the sidewalk the door to your apartment a few meters away. "Excuse me."

He stops too heaving a breath towards the sky like he too didn't want to have this conversation, like you were always destined to fight on concrete slabs. "I just mean they've given you everything you've every wanted and you're upset about it."

"Maybe I didn't want it." You cross your arms.

"Didn't want what exactly?" He turns towards you, "A family? Money? Success no matter what?"

You grid your teeth, he made you sound so shallow. "You don't know anything about me."

"Oh yeah?" He takes a step closer, "I know your father is an important man and he wanted you to follow in his footsteps like a little puppet." Another step closer to you, "And you fucking hate that you're so good at it, that your perfect life will always be his." He looms over you, "I know you better than you know yourself."

It flies out of your mouth before you can catch it, "What's your story then? The Plinths stop feeling sorry for you and finally kicked you out?" His foot falters backwards shock crossing over his face at your harsh words, "I-I'm-I shouldn't have-!"

He takes a step back the air so much colder now, "No." He laughs, it's a cruel sound that cuts deep. "That's who you are isn't it, I knew that, always have." He stares forward, gaze empty. "Your father raised you as vicious as him, power hungry and armed to the teeth like a little viper."

"Aren't you the same?" You stare at his face while he stares at nothing. "Just as loathsome and lonely as I?"

His eyes quiver as he finally meets your gaze, "I don't need your pity."

Your eyes flicker around his angry face, "I don't pity you."

He glares down at you. "Then stop trying to be my friend, stop trying to care when we both know the only thing you care about is yourself and your shallow little life."

"That isn't true." It's a whisper, you hate the sinking feeling in your chest, and yet you had only cared about your life until...until...

"Just because I bought you some coffees, and took you to a party doesn't mean anything." He seethes, the white flag up in glorious flames around the pair of you. "You are nothing to me."

You swallow, throat dry. You will not cry in front of him of all people, so you dig your heels something familiar. "Like I care what I am to you." You spit out taking a step closer so he can soak up every hateful word. "You want to know what I truly hate? You, Snow, you." You go to turn, purse tucked tight against you. "Once this play is over I'll be happy to never see you again." Evil words sat on your tongue, evil vicious words that would poison a soul; you can't bring yourself to say them, and maybe that was pity. You walk away before you could sink you teeth in to rip apart his frosted heart.

You don't really see him the rest of the semester, it was for the best anyways as you focused on finals. It wouldn't be strange, to fall back into the pattern of glaring and undermining him, but for some reason you don't think you would have been able to.

You don't think on the why.

He claimed to be sick, avoiding rehearsals and stating he would be back when the semester started up again.

You don't hear anything from him, not through any of your friends, he had blocked you on social media finally cutting of any form of communication. It was fine. You didn't need him in your life, but you couldn't deny the want of his presence there, and that doesn't seem right at all.

"I wish you could have come home honey." Your mom says on the other line. "They decorations were so nice, I'll send you some pictures." She sighed, "Your father is upset, he was throwing this party to help you network and-!"

You pinched the bridge of your nose. "I know mom, but I have this big project I need to work on."

She doesn't even think on the lie you tell her, "Oh we understand, we just miss you, and you father wants you to do well." Her tongue clicks, "Oh and did you get his email about those internships?"

"Yes." You mute yourself before you sigh letting her ramble on with the speech your father gave her, he always used her to get through to you. There's a knock on the door though and you clicked the unmute button, "Hey I have to go, can I call you tomorrow?"

"Of course," You hear her smile, "And happy new years honey, we love you."

"Love you." You hang up going over towards your door to peer out of the peep hole. No one is there. You shrug, well it was a good excuse to get off the phone.

There's another knock, slower, lazier. You stomp back over and fling it open. "This isn't fu-!" He's slouched against your doorframe sitting on the hallway ground. "What are you doing here?"

He hiccuped, "You're so lame spending the holiday alone kitten." He hadn't spoken to you in weeks, he cut you off and avoided you and now he had the audacity to show up drunk on your doorstep to add insult to injury. You go to slam the door on him, but he shoves his foot through to stop it, "Ouch." He peers up at you, eyes red rimmed and lost. "So cruel to me."

"What do you want Snow?"

"Some water." He's wasted and you decide to be nice despite it all. You help him up and into your apartment. He stumbles onto your couch while you grab him some water. "I unblocked you." He rest his head on the back of the couch staring at the ceiling. "You never messaged me."

You hand him the water, "What would I have said?"

He smirks at you taking the glass. "That you miss me."

You take a seat on your coffee table across from him, "I didn't miss you."

"Liar."

You glared at him, "You were rude to me, why would I miss you."

He gives you a lazy smile, "You're so pretty when you glare at me."

"You're obliterated." You scoff standing up and going to your pantry to find food to sober him up. "Where were you tonight anyways?" You ask pulling out bread to make a sandwich, but he never responds and when you turn around he isn't on your couch. You glance at the still locked door, then down the hallway towards your bedroom. You hurry down the hall spotting him standing at your bedside flipping through the book on your nightstand.

He glances up at you, "I recommended this book in class." He shook the title at you, "And you said I was stupid to even think it was a good book." You watch him approach you, "Yet here it is on your nightstand. I know you've read it before, can tell by all the annotations, the crinkles in the pages, the cracks in the spine. I know you're reading it now from the bookmark tucked away on page 127."

He's in front of you, too close and you gape up at him. "I-uh..." You had no explanation besides the truth; that you had picked it up to see for yourself after that class, and then again when his absence had filled your life. "Friends close, enemies closer thing," You throw his words back in his face.

"Back to enemies then?" He drunkenly chuckles swaying on his feet causing your hands to dart out to steady him. "Hm," He mumbles as your fingers twist into fabric gripping his sides to hold him up. "Cruel, wicked curse of mine."

"Why are you here?" You blinked up at him.

He stares down at you, "Would you even believe the truth?" You shake your head, so he sighed coming even closer, "You were right, I am just as loathsome and lonely as you."

His hand comes up to your face and all you can do is look at him, "I thought I was nothing." Your eyes flicker around his face, "I can't keep up with you."

"Then don't." His thumb strokes your cheek and its tender, too tender.

"Coriolanus." You breath up at him.

He tilts your face up the same time he leans his down towards yours. "You've never called me that before." He whispers, his breath fanning onto your face, you can taste the vodka he had drank, the faintest hint of cigarette smoke, the unknown shape of his name still tingling along your tongue. His lips are so close now, a featherlight touch against your own, and one inch closer would connect your mouth to his.

The book clatters out of his hand as he goes to hold the other side of your face, and you're stepping out of his hold clearing your throat. "I'll go get your water." You leave him there not even caring what else he could find in there as you go to get him water. He almost kissed you, you almost kissed him, even after every spewed venomous word that came out of the other's mouth. This was messy and chaotic and shouldn't be happening, but he tugs on something drawing you back to his wildfire. "Here." You pushed the door open to find him lying on your bed fast asleep.

You set the water on the bedside table anyways and go to leave when his hand wraps around your fingers. "I missed you." His voice is heavy with sleep, but you caught it. "You keep me warm."

"You could get burned." Your voice cracks remembering Clemensia's warning.

"Burn me." He tugs on your hand, "Burn me until I'm nothing but ashes."

You squeeze it once before letting go, "Goodnight Snow." He doesn't answer as you leave him alone in your dark room.

You don't sleep much, tossing and turning on your couch while he sleeps off the alcohol in your bed. You spend most of the night staring at your ceiling wondering how you had ended up here with him. You had hated him, you wanted nothing to do with him, and he had proven time and time again how much of that was true, and you knew you had done the same for him. But here the two of you were, almost kissing in your bedroom, and not for the play.

Blame the alcohol, always a good excuse.

He sleeps until the late afternoon coming out into the kitchen with sleep mused hair and his clothes on from yesterday. "You should have made me sleep on the couch." He tells you sleep still dragging his voice down a couple octaves.

"I tried." You smile sarcastically going to your cabinet to pull down a clean coffee mug.

"I shouldn't have come here." It isn't anger; it's guilt lacing his tone.

You pour coffee into the cup. "No you shouldn't have." You turned around sliding it across the island towards him. "Why did you?"

He doesn't look at you, just at the black swirling liquid in the cup. "I don't know." He does know, he had muttered it to you in the dark, and you wanted-needed to hear it in sober words. "I didn't mean what I said that night." He blinked up at you. "I was trying to hurt you."

The corners of you mouth turn up in surrender, "Isn't that what we do best?"

"You aren't shallow." His hand wraps around the mug pulling it closer. "You are not your father." His blue eyes quiver, "And you are not nothing to...you are not nothing."

You turn your back on him pretending to search through your cabinets for food, you didn't like the way he was looking at you, the way it made your insides twist, so you attempt to break up the mood. "I tend to say unkind things I don't mean as well. I'm a pain in the ass, your pain."

He chuckles, but it's weak and you avoid the urge to turn around to take in his facial expression. "Guess you are." You pull down bagels. "So...are we..." You slide four into the toaster. "Okay?"

"When have we ever been okay Snow?" You twist the sleeve back up. "We've been at each others throats since we met." You finally turn back around blue eyes meeting yours and your fickle heart thumps two extra beats at the lost expression there. "We're fine." You cup your own coffee in your hands, "Isn't that the glory of being enemies, we have seen that absolute worst side of each other."

He brings the mug to his lips, "Are we still enemies?"

The toaster dings, bagels popping up. "That's for me to know and you to find out." You turn back around gathering the food and setting it on plates. "Do you remember anything from last night?" You're stiff as you ask it, wondering if he remembered his lips so close to yours, the words he had spilled across bedsheets.

"No." He forces out a laugh, "Why did I say anything embarrassing?"

You wave your hand around lying through your teeth as you joke back. "Obviously just that I am the most amazing person ever and how I am so much more smarter than you." You turn back towards him sliding the plate across from him as you both wear mask; no one will surrender tonight leaving you two forever in this roundabout game. "Any big plans for tonight? Should I leave my door unlocked just in case?"

"No." He chuckles. "I was stupid last night, went to the bar and got even more stupid."

You chew through food. "On that we can agree." He stares down at his plate pushing it around before eating himself. You knew he was just going to go home to be alone again, you swallow. "Stay tonight." He blinks up at you, "I can make hot chocolate and we can watch cheesy holiday movies." You set your bagel down, "No one should be alone this time of year."

"Take your own advice kitten."

You glare, "I am Snow, that's why I am asking you." His eyes flicker around your face, you're so pretty when you glare at me. You relax your face remembering his words and wonder if he was too.

He mockingly sighed, "Fine only because you begged me to."

You shake your head fighting the smile as you continue to eat breakfast with him.

Soon enough under the cover of snowy darkness the two of you sit beneath separate blankets watching some of your favorite holiday movies with large cups of hot chocolate smothered in whipped cream. You're laughing, you're crying, you're having too much of a good time with someone you're supposed to dislike.

But it's beginning to become hard to dislike him, it's beginning to frustrate you how much you didn't dislike him as much as you should. He was cruel and cunning and everything you had always hated about power hungry men. You weren't that much different though as you suddenly were starting to see that.

It's why you began to distance yourself from your parents, noticing how you father was turning you just as cold as him, only allowing you to focus on one thing; remaining on top, destroying anyone close enough to you that could jeopardize that. You know you needed to continue the path he set for you in order to succeed, but the appeal was lackluster and you were resentful.

You glanced out of the window watching the snow fall silently outside.

"Do you like snow?"

You blink looking at him. "Hmm?"

"Snow?" He motioned outside. "Do you like it?"

You chuckled to yourself, "I guess so." You were standing up padding over to the large glass doors to open up onto the balcony. "I like when it makes the world so quiet." You lean against the railing closing your eyes listening to nothing as the snow trickles down to the cement below. Your fingers were chilling as they held onto the frozen railing, but you didn't mind, just a little while longer. He slides next to you, "We never did normal things." You stare out into the world, "Never went ice skating, or made gingerbread houses." You met his blue eyes, "Watched holiday movies together. He never had time." You scoffed shaking your head, "Always dragged us around to parties and events."

"A company ski trip." He nudged you.

"Don't remind me." You rolled your eyes enjoying his warm shoulder remaining pressed into yours. "Some parts were fun." You nodded, "But I think I just craved normalcy, emotionally present parents, I don't know, a father who didn't view me as a pawn." You cringed at yourself looking down, "I do sound spoiled."

"No." His voice was so soft you don't dare look up. "It's okay to be upset they weren't there for you in ways you needed." He nudged you again, gentle this time. "Even if you got everything else you wanted."

You sighed, "Maybe I need to move on from it all, stop holding a grudge over something so silly."

He doesn't answer for a while forcing you to finally look up at him. "It's not silly."

"How is Tigris?" You force the change in subject.

"She's good...really good." He smiled to himself, "Thinking about opening up her own store, launching a new line in a few weeks, all the cool stuff."

You smile with him pinkie twitching towards his against the railing. "That's awesome for her."

His eyes lower taking in your face, your lips. "You have..." He brings his hand up thumb brushing off whatever was there. "Whip cream." He whispered out fingers still under your jaw holding your face.

"Thanks." You breath.

Your heart is pounding in your chest, skin too hot for the frigid temperatures as he gazes down at you, as he caresses your flushed face. It felt too intimate for this without the buffer of alcohol, the buffer of a play. You were here alone with him in the snow while the sound of holiday music floated outside from the movie playing on your television. He turns his body completely towards you tilting your face up so much that you have to turn as well. He cups your face, you lean into it,

"Coriolanus." You sigh hand gently wrapping around his wrist to touch him, stop him, stop yourself.

His grip tightened, "Don't." He isn't angry, he's conflicted. "Don't say my name like that." His other hand is on your waist, "You test my patience enough as it is."

"What do you want?"

He leans down, nose brushing yours. "To stop feeling this way, to know it doesn't always lead to ruin."

Your brows furrow, "Am I truly so horrible?"

"No." He breaths you in, the only thing separating your lips. "Gods no."

"We..." You swallow down the overwhelming urge to connect your mouth to his. "We should go back inside."

He nods, but doesn't move. "We should." He licked his lips, "You were always the stronger one."

You hated that it was true as you slowly peel yourself away from him. Your brain feels muddled and consumed by him as you walk back into your too warm apartment. He closes the balcony door with a soft click the room tense with unsaid words. You have too much to say, to ask; why, why now, when, is this real or a game? You don't ask it, you can't, you can't formulate words as your heart throbs for the man you had always loathed.

But why? Why did you hate him? You suddenly couldn't remember the reason behind such intense emotions. You can't remember much besides the feel of his breath on your lips, his hand on your waist, how much you wanted to kiss him.

You were lonely, simply lonely from the holidays and not thinking straight, blurring the lines between reality and fiction of theater. You didn't like him, you couldn't. He and Clemensia were right, it would all be ruin and flames.

You take your spot back on the couch the energy shifting between the two of you, suddenly too aware of how close he sat down on the same couch. "I never thanked you for letting me come to your dinner party."

"What are friends for?"

He smirked, "So, friends now?"

You rolled your eyes, "Don't make it such a big deal Snow."

"Coryo," He sighs, "Call me Coryo, you always use Snow when you're scolding me."

You softly smile, "Okay...Coryo."

You didn't mind the taste of it on your tongue.

endnotes: omgggg what yall feeling so farrr hehehe

chapter 5 coming soon!

[polycyclic-aromatic-homocarbon]

I really need people to understand that the things scientists do in their spooky, scary, mysterious labs full of strange and unnatural chemicals are the exact same things you do every day at home.

When I'm working with organic solvents, I use a ventilated fumehood so I don't breathe in toxic vapours, just like when you cook on a gas stove, you turn on the fan on your range hood so you don't breathe in toxic carbon monoxide (you'd better be doing this if you have a gas stove). When I need to add a specific amount of reagent, I'll use measuring instruments like a micropipette, just like when you need to add a specific amount of baking soda, you use measuring instruments like a teaspoon. When I want to analyze the chemicals in an environmental samples, I soak it in solvent so the chemicals leach out, just like when you want a coffee, you soak coffee grounds in hot water so the chemicals leach out (because yes, caffeine and all the other chemicals that make coffee, coffee, are chemicals). We are doing the exact same things, the difference is just what tools and ingredients we're working with.

But that's the same difference between you and a Michelin star chef. There are restaurants out there equipped with cutting-edge cooking equipment, things I don't know enough about to even give examples of just like you might not know enough about lab work to give examples of things I use. There are probably ingredients in dishes I've never even heard of because they're so far beyond what I can afford and just not necessary for the kind of food I make. But at most, people just scoff at how much money someone is willing to pay for a tiny plate of deconstructed fruit. Nobody pictures Gordon Ramsay the same way they picture scary chemical labs making scary chemical things.

You can also do science at home, and lots of people do! Not even just as cooking, kids especially like to do fun experiments like baking soda and vinegar explosions or separating the colours in a Sharpie or even extracting DNA from strawberries, which you can do with dish soap and rubbing alcohol. People even do the "fancier" experiments in garage labs, synthesizing organic molecules and such. Actual labs are just higher-tech for the same reason high end restaurants are higher-tech; you can't cure cancer in a garage, and you can't make chocolate sculptures in my tiny, student house kitchen without the proper molds and thermometers and supplies.

Obviously yes, scientists usually work with chemicals that are significantly more dangerous than what you find around your house, although your home is more dangerous than you think. People get food poisoning all the time, and I'd bet that more people die from eating spoiled food than from exposure to chemicals in a lab. And just because something starts out dangerous doesn't mean it stays that way. Raw chicken can make you sick or kill you, but cooked chicken is a delicious and healthy meal (as long as you season it, not seasoning your chicken automatically sends you to mega hell). Similarly, a lot of organic molecules are dangerous if you were to just chug them, but taken in correct dosages at appropriate times, the drugs that get made from those chemicals are completely safe.

I think there's this tendency to hold science as this separate, scary, complicated thing that only a few people are capable of doing and that anything coming out of a lab is unnatural and dangerous, and I think that scientists are responsible for that in a lot of ways. But with how significant anti-intellectualism is right now and how crucial that has been to the rise of fascism lately, I think it's just so important to understand that the only thing that makes science special is that my tools are just really expensive and when scientists make something that goes in your body, it's usually not food, because you don't need $2 000 measuring cups to make yourself some cookies.

Science is not special, labs are not unnatural, and this is so important to understand.

[luigiblood]

Complaints about Switch 2 & People

Oh boy. I have a lot to say regarding the Switch 2, how Nintendo is handling it, and how people are handling it.

When it comes to the Switch 2 system as I see it, I am actually fairly content of what it is. You can criticize certain aspects like the HOME Menu, the games actually speak deeply to me in general, it would definitely be a system that I would very happy with as far as I'm concerned.

I will speak mostly as someone from France, so expect a lot of prices in euros here, rather than dollars.

This post has the potential to be dated over time. This might have been written too much in haste, and it's entirely possible that I would just change my mind on some of what I said.

Switch 2 Pricing

Now the elephant in the room: Yes, the pricing fucking sucks, especially in Europe. I absolutely will never pay the games at the suggested retail price. I can see some people being like "yeah you're just a Nintendo fanboy you'll pay full price anyway," even though on Switch throughout its entire life I never really paid actually much of anything at full price. A first party Switch game is usually 60 euros here, but I pay them at 45, day one, brand new, just from the store. It's not so bad for the experience that I get out of them.

The system itself is also very very expensive but I'll be honest, considering what the system is capable of, my initial prediction of 400 euros definitely felt too low. However I did not really expect the price of 470 euros. Too close to 500 for comfort for a single system like that. It sucks. But at least I pay for a system mostly once, I ain't those collectors who buys systems and collector's edition by the bulk. I can reasonably afford it, I just need one, and even then, to be fair, stores would lower it, I saw the price of 440 euros, which I think is at least more reasonable. It's still 500 for the Mario Kart World bundle, but it's not so bad, it's still paying a lot less than the game on its own regardless of physical or digital.

When it comes to Switch 2 games, Mario Kart World's price is 90 euros physical, and 80 euros digital. Donkey Kong Bananza is 10 euros less for physical and digital. My personal limit is 70 euros for a single physical game, because I'm still willing to pay at least the current full price for a game, but anything above that, I will absolutely aggressively pursue ways to get those cheaper. When it comes to France, where I live, physical Mario Kart World is 70 euros in stores, and Donkey Kong Bananza is 60 euros. It's still a bunch, to be honest, but I'll still try to get some of them further down if I can, but it's more reasonable than these insane "intended" prices from Nintendo. I sure still ain't paying full games digital yet.

But let's be clear here: You shouldn't support these high prices. It sends a message to the already pretty greedy game industry, who will absolutely take notes.

Also, to anyone who dares using the argument that games used to be way more expensive back then as an excuse: Fuck you. Straight up. This isn't an argument, this is an information. Yeah sure it was like that back then, but that isn't a reason to be this submissive and just accept this bullshit. Not at a time when the game industry is feeling a huge crisis when everyone gets fired, now we have to deal with that industry filling their pockets even further with even more of our money to make up for it? Fuck no. This isn't just about Nintendo here.

Game Key Cards

Just to be informative: Game Key Cards are Physical Game Cards that requires you to download the full game to play them.

This part was blown out of proportion. Personally I don't blame Nintendo on this, because third parties would have figured out how to do it even if it wasn't a properly defined thing. At least this is straight up clear on the front of the box, with a clear definition of "required download". This is just something that happened for a while on Switch 1, even other systems, and it's just basically a type of game cards to know about.

However people seriously misinterpreted this to affect every Switch 2 game, and I'll be honest with you, people are just straight up stupid. Imagine saying in the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct that there are new Switch 2 Cards, in red, that benefits faster read speeds. They straight up say that, so then to say now that they don't have game data, yeah nah that's just a straight up misinterpretation and I don't think it was hard to interpret it right. If I had that page in front of me I know I would just think that it is not affecting every game.

Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza DO NOT have this Game Key Card banner on the box art, while some others like Street Fighter 6 and Bravely Default do; this is clearly just for third parties who decided to cheapen out like crazy and fuck us all.

Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Game Cards

This is a recent development, where apparently a Nintendo UK Customer Support person said that NS2 Edition physical releases includes the upgrade pack as a code instead of being in the cartridge.

I'll be honest, this is strange and confusing to me. Game Key Cards bothered to mention what makes them different straight on the front of the box, but NS2 Edition box arts absolutely don't, they just say they include the game and the upgrade pack, but there's zero evidence that the upgrade pack would be a code, regardless of english or french.

I would straight up say IF this is true, then Nintendo is lying by omission, and I would be really mad about it. But the only source is a person who took a screenshot of an email, from a customer support person, from which I don't necessarily 100% trust on its own, even if it's an official source, but I still haven't found out what is the real source of this information, as in, who took the screenshot.

I would say to tread wisely before taking conclusions, because, well…

Misinformation is everywhere

People are just bad at reading. Frankly you should maybe do yourself a favor and stop trying to understand every aspect for the time being.

Nintendo is far from saying everything yet, I'm definitely frustrated at the lack of certain information especially for those who preorders. Though honestly, you should not preorder. Seriously you shouldn't do that so early. The preorders I do are like, at most a week before release? And I can just buy games from the store myself the day of release if I feel like it.

But people are so speeding up over any information that they just forget how to read. I honestly want to call names to anyone who does spread bullshit like that. I know it's easy to hate Nintendo, but you don't need to come up with bullshit to do it. If you wanna hate Nintendo, at least know what you're hating at before I make fun of you. It's not hard.

Tariffs

The fact that tariffs in the US finally got some "gamers" actually aware that politics can affect them is simply ridiculous. Cool that it happened for some, but it pains me to say this but it's so late. I ain't forgetting the bullshit. You should have been more involved before that. Politics isn't just stupid people you don't like talking bullshit, they decide shit for you and you should speak up and THINK.

Fuck Trump, and Fuck Nazis.

Switch 2 isn't innovative?

Personally I remember when people complained about the motion controls of the Wii. When they complained about gimmicks in general. Now we're getting a console that doesn't seem straight up outdated hardware wise, and accumulates the most amounts of gimmick I've ever seen from Nintendo.

But now I see some people sad that Nintendo isn't innovating. But what else do you want them to innovate on?

Instead I get the answer of "surprise." That answer is too easy to me. I'll bet you that whatever hardware surprise Nintendo comes up with you wouldn't be happy with it right now. I personally see gaming as basically a solved thing in terms of how we play. I still seriously think we peaked a while ago.

People respond with touch screen, motion controls, but frankly, those were stuff that we dreamed about from a technological standpoint. Gaming has always been tied to technology, and Nintendo was simply the one who said "let's bring some of them" instead of competing for power. The only thing I can see is like, more accessibility features and tech for more people to play.

I also saw mentions of how the Switch 2 is essentially a Switch Pro. It's the same thing again, even with games. I can tell you the exact same shit with Sony and Microsoft, just saying. I sure wasn't excited by the PS5, I personally feel like a lot of games could have worked with a bit less fidelity on PS4 and I wouldn't have batted an eye. I don't believe the graphical upgrades on PS5 are this impressive. I got impressed by the Switch 2 personally because it's almost like going from PS3 to PS4, since Nintendo was essentially a gen behind for a while. I think the games are actually way more worth the gen upgrade in terms of framerate.

In fact I dare say I could probably play on PS5 and Switch 2 for 20 years. That's right, I think we don't need hardware upgrades anymore. I think we're already good. PC is just shit, and everything is super expensive for barely any upgrade from hardware from 5 years ago. 4K is straight up overrated if you don't have a big enough screen, like I can't tell the difference unless it's real big. I personally prioritize framerate, and now I get told about 120 FPS which is something I don't have any idea of what that seriously feels like as someone who never had the opportunity of this kind of screen in the past.

I don't believe any hardware upgrades will feel impressive graphically anymore. Everything is about graphics, and at Nintendo I see a game with insane terrain destruction freedom that isn't voxel that I totally believe would not even run that well on Switch 1. That's the real shit I get excited about.

Nintendo Switch App

Why the hate on the Nintendo Switch App actually? It's just extra stuff.

Voice Chat was the only thing that seriously sucked in it and was a stupid feature of Nintendo Switch Online on Switch 1. It's like you guys forgot why you hated that app to begin with. I actually like what Zelda Notes is doing on it.

I think Splatoon 2 & 3, and Animal Crossing were handled pretty well on it too. Smash Bros. Ultimate however, I think it's very badly done, and it should have existed on web. The fact that it's not even a NSO requirement anymore at least for the app itself is cool, and at least adding friends with QR codes in the future is pretty cool and handy to avoid using friend codes.

[crimsonrubinus]

How to tell if a commissioner scamming you (with photos from one of my scammer commissioners as an example)

Looking at the conversation I had with a scammer below, you can clearly extract . hints how you know this person is a scammer.

Number 1: They are willing to pay more than the actual price.

This is red flag number 1# in every situation. Normal people would go for the lowest price ALWAYS. And who the heck in their right mind would turn down a 10$ COMMISSION? Do they realize how EXPENSIVE commissions are?? The artwork being a gift doesn't make it any less realistic that they'd want to pay extra. And the fact that I took many days to respond yet they still want to give me 50$ makes it even more unrealistic. And the fact that they said it was a BIRTHDAY present AND I'm taking my sweet time to reply (out of anxiety)... Like, are you not worried I'll be late to make the artwork?

Number 2: They ask for unnecessary information.

As you can see in the pictures of the conversation below, you can clearly see that the commissioner asked for my e-mail. This is unrequired. What this person actually intended to do with my e-mail was to send a phishing e-mail to me (which the commissioner kindly explains to us in one of the photos).

Number 3 (if you do get a phishing e-mail): The address ends with a personal mail service (gmail, hotmail, outlook, yahoo, proton, ect.)

Not only did the phishing address I got have a mysterious "91.co" at the end of the e-mail, but the end of the phishing e-mail was a personal and public mail service... GMAIL. A tip to NEVER click these e-mails as some may contain viruses or at least a link that contains a virus.

Number 4: If the person insists that the e-mail is in fact not a phishing e-mail despite how obvious it is.

I reassured this commissioner that this was a phishing e-mail and that I did not have to make a refund or whatever gibberish that e-mail has told me to do, and I even explained to them WHY it was a scam. But for whatever reason, they still said I needed to make a refund. But then they proceeded to say that their money was still pending, which means they did not send it and could still cancel it. So why did I have to make a refund with the money I didn't receive?

Number 5: They only have one strict payment method.

What I mean is that they ONLY pay with PayPal, or they ONLY use Cashapp, or they ONLY use Venmo... Or the most suspicious of all... BITCOIN. This doesn't fully apply to this conversation, as they were somewhat open to use Cashapp when I suggested it (I think?), but it applies to most scammers who pretend to be commissioners, so I just thought I'd put it here.

That was when I blocked them and proceeded to make this post.

Unfortunately, so others don't get scammed by this same person, I'll put their profile here. This is the scammer. If they ask for a commission, don't accept it from them. Of course you shouldn't harass them, you don't know their situation (they could be trying to raise as much money as possible to save their dying mother from cancer or something... hypothetically), but please don't accept commissions from them either. Just block them for your own sake.

Also wouldn't it be fun if I just had a whole trail of comments giving more tips on how to find a scammer commissioner?

[cielcreations]

Front Seat (Danny Phantom

Characters are aged up to be 18+! Also, no ghosts AU!

I remember past me when I first used Tumblr liked this post and was like "Hey, this is a good idea for a short story."

And now, like 5yrs later, I actually made a short story. Enjoy!

Dash Baxter did not like Danny Fenton. That much was obvious.

He tolerated the annoying bug for the most part because of his sister. Jazz Fenton helped him with work and made it easier for him to somewhat maintain his minimum GPA to stay on the football team. Granted, Dash's definition of "tolerance" was shoving Fenton into lockers or pushing him out of the way. It could be worse. He gives some other nerds swirlies or slam their faces into food, so Fenton should feel somewhat grateful!

One day, when it was snowing and cold, Dash's practice ended early and he needed to get something from his locker. So, after he changed and got dressed, he grabbed his textbooks from his locker and headed out the front doors of the school. As he stepped outside, he saw a none other than Fenton, reading a random book, slouching over as he did.

"What're you doing here, nerd?" Dash asked, not really caring but still curious.

Fenton looked over his shoulder, scoffed and went back to his book.

"Hey! Don't just ignore me!"

"Do you actually care?"

"Just answer, idiot."

The raven groaned, rolled his eyes, and sighed, "Jazz is tutoring some freshmen and I don't have a ride cause parents are busy with ghost work."

"What about that weird goth freak and tech geek?"

"That 'goth freak' and 'tech geek' have names." Fenton hissed, "Sam can't take me home, her parents are weird and don't like my parents and, therein, me, and Tucker is too far away from me. It'd be too out of his way and I don't wanna inconvenience him."

Dash hesitated before walking past him. He noticed Fenton was only wearing a jacket and pants, nothing to help him with the biting cold. Dash wore a scarf, a large winter coat over his long sleeved shirt, his letterman jacket, two pairs of pants, and two pairs of socks. How could Fenton stand this cold? He went to walk away, turned to face the raven, and took another step away. Am I really going to do this?

Dash looked over his shoulder one more time before he groaned dramatically, "Alright, come on."

"What?" Fenton asked.

"Come on, I'll take you home."

"Are you high? No, you don't smoke." The raven shook his head, correcting himself, "Are you drunk?"

"NO!" Dash hissed, groaning, "Listen, if you freeze to death, I am not going to be the last one to have seen you! If Jazz found out I saw you and left you to die in the cold, she'd kill me! And I am not spending my afterlife with you, Fenton!"

"I'm not going to freeze to death, idiot, I'm fine!"

"You barely have anything on!"

"So what?! I'm fine!"

"Nope, nuh uh, come with me, now!"

"Fuck you, I'm not-"

"If you let me drive you home and not make a peep, I'll stop messing with you for a day!"

Fenton's eyes widened before he narrowed, "Seriously? You're willing to do that just to get me to let you drive me home? You got something in your car I should be concerned about?"

"NO! JUST- UUUGH!" Dash pinched his temples, "Listen, recently, during tutoring session, your sister has mentioned how worried she is with you. She said she's afraid you're going to get hypo.... hyper...? The shit when you're too cold!"

"Hypothermia?"

"YES! She's worried 'bout that!" The blonde sighed, "She really cares about you and if she finds out I left you out here when it's freezing, she'd make me pay for it. I get not trusting me, but can you at least do it for her?"

Fenton seemed to hesitate before he sighed. He shut his book and stood up, "Fine. But I get bragging rights and get to say I won a bet if anyone sees and asks."

"Ugh, whatever. Just come on."

The two began walking to the blonde's car. Dash unlocked the doors and got in the driver's seat, Fenton getting in the passenger's seat. He sat, looking out the window, hugging his bag to his check, uncomfortable and awkward. Dash turned the car on, turning the heat up and pressing his seat warmer.

"You want yours on?" Dash asked, pointing to the seat warmer button.

Fenton looked at the button and shook his head, looking out the window again, "No."

Dash shrugged and looked over his shoulder. He reversed out of the parking lot, beginning to drive away. The ride was silent for the most part, awkward, on both sides. They stopped at a red light, silent, the only noise being from outside. The blonde was trying to think of something to say, trying to figure out if he should even say something. Suddenly, Fenton leaned over and turned on the radio.

"Hey, don't-"

"Hey, it's Ember's new song!" Fenton exclaimed, excitedly turning the music up a bit, "Don't ruin it!"

Dash looked at the raven out of the corner of his eye, confused, "You... like Ember?"

"Uh, who doesn't?" Fenton rolled his eyes, "You may think I'm a nerd or whatever, but nerds have taste too!"

Dash snorted a laugh, focusing on the road and beginning to move once the light was green, "Well, how was I suppose to know? We don't exactly talk."

"And who's fault is that?"

The blonde was silent, knowing he was right. The raven nodded his head along to the music, mouthing the lyrics, Dash watching out of the corner of his eye. He was... kind of impressed. The other wasn't as lame as he originally thought. Then again, liking Ember McLain is not necessarily anything to write home about. Like Fenton said, who doesn't like her songs? I guess it's weird coming from him. Dash thought, pulling up to the building with the large neon glowing signs and metal space ship looking thing.

Suddenly, green smoke started coming out from the top of the building.

"Ughhhh..." Fenton pinched his temples.

"Uhhhh, is your place... safe?"

"It is. My parents are too stupid for any of their shit to work." Fenton groaned, grabbing his stuff, "Thanks for the ride."

"Uh, yeah, no problem." Dash stared at the green smoke, "Uh, you sure your place is not on fire or something?"

"Dash, did you forget my parents are the crazy ghost fanatics?" The raven opened the passenger door, waving his hand at the smoke, "This is what they do. It's stupid, crazy, and annoying, but to the few who believe in fairy tales, it makes money."

The blonde snickered, "I guess that's what matters?"

Fenton shrugged, stepping out, "Thanks again." He shut the passenger door and walked to front door of his home.

He opened the door and immediately stepped out of the way, just in time for Mr. and Mrs. Fenton to run out of the building and going to the alley next to their home, holding what looked to be junk. The raven groaned and walked inside, slamming the door behind him. 

Dash felt... weird. Bad, maybe? He can't imagine living with those types of parents.

Dash shook his head, beginning to drive away. He wasn't going to worry about Danny.

Fenton. He wasn't going to worry about Fenton.

***

For the next couple of weeks, the same thing had happened. Dash's practice was cut off early due to weather, he would "forget" his textbooks, and he would find Dan- Fenton sitting at the front, either reading a book, copying some notes, studying for a test, or just on his phone. Dash would offer him a ride and the other would agree. At first, it was reluctant, but over the next few days turned to weeks, he would put up less of a fight, to the point when Dash came out of the building, he would stand up and look at him.

The rides turned from Dash taking Fenton home, to Dash driving to the nearby fast food joint, offering to buy Danny some food. They would hang out, eating in his car, sometimes going inside to do some studying together. Over time, Dash noticed how Danny didn't prepare much for the cold, which made him a bit worried. Danny always said he was fine, but the blonde didn't always believe him.

One day, when he walked out, he shoved a small letterman jacket in Danny's direction, "For you."

"Huh?"

"Listen, you don't have a winter's coat and you're probably freezing your ass off. Just take it. It was from my freshman year, so it's too small. It'll just collect dust in my closet anyways."

Danny blinked and took it. He put the letterman on and hummed, hugging himself a bit, "It's... pretty warm."

"I know, why do you think I wear it all the time." Dash snickered, "Come on, we're going to the movies."

"Movies?" Danny was quick to follow him to the car, "Why?"

"Cause I wanna see that new horror movie that just came out and Paulina, Star, and Kwan are too chicken and I know you will enjoy it!"

"Hell yeah!" The raven exclaimed, "I'll pay for-"

"Nope, on me. I'm inviting you out."

They got in their seats, the raven looking at the blonde, smiling, "You don't have to."

"If I'm taking you, it's only right I pay." Dash began to reverse.

Danny chuckled, "You know, Dash, you're not a bad guy!"

The blonde chuckled, "You're not so bad yourself, Danny."

The raven widened his eyes.

"What?"

"I think that's the first time you've called me by my first name."

Dash blushed a bit and shrugged, "Well, uh, I figured I should."

The ride was silent to the movies, mainly because both we feeling a bit embarrassed and awkward again. Once they got to the movie theater, they hopped out, going to the ticket stand. Dash bought their tickets, a bag of popcorn, and their drinks before they went into the theater room. They sat down and whispered to one another as the ads played, laughing quietly and joking with one another. Once the movie began playing, they shut up and began watching. As it began, Dash thought Danny would get scared, but the other was fine. If anything, he got more excited and loved it. Danny leaned into the blonde, who wrapped his arm around the raven without even thinking.

Once the movie ended, the two stood up, hand in hand, walking out of the theaters, talking excitedly about the movie and how impressed they were with it. They got back to Dash's car and continued laughing, joking, and overall having a nice time as the blonde drove to Danny's home. By the time they got there, the sun had set. Dash walked Danny to the front door, the raven taking out his keys and unlocking the door. He peaked inside, seeing all the lights were off.

"Will you get in trouble?" Dash asked, "Like, do you have a curfew or something?"

"Probably, but where's the fun in that?" Danny snickered, looking at him, "What about you?"

"Meh, my mom's chill."

"Well, good." The raven faced him, smiling, "Thank you, Dash, for the nice time. I-I had a lot of fun."

"Me too. I-I like sending time with you." The blonde responded.

The two stood there for a second, silent. Danny took a step forward and stood on his toes to lean up and kiss Dash's cheek. The blonde grabbed his chin before he could pull away, leaning down and kissing his lips. It was a short kiss, nothing dramatic or otherworldly, but it didn't have to be. They stepped back and smiled at each other.

"Good, I wasn't reading that wrong, then." The raven chuckled.

Dash chuckled awkwardly, "No, you, weren't." He hesitated and stepped back, "So, um, see you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow, Dash."

From then on, everything seemed to change.

***

"Party time! Party time!" Paulina and Star cheered, both dressed in cute short party dresses.

Kwan laughed, wearing a nice button up and pants, holding the door opened for everyone, "Dash! Leo! Come on or we're leaving you!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, who's driving?" Dash teased, tossing a football towards him, also in a nice shirt, blazer, and jeans.

Kwan easily caught it with a laugh.

Leo, a new student at Casper High, easily integrated into the popular clique. He was a great football player, a bit of a class clown, smart, funny, and attractive. They easily accepted him both on the team and part of the friend group.

"I can drive you Kwan, if need be!" Leo chuckled, wearing a shirt with joggers, going for more casual than nice.

"Yeah, with what car?"

"Yours still, I'll just steal your keys!" 

The group laughed and got to Dash's car, the blonde unlocking just the driver's side and getting in. He jokingly made them wait before unlocking the car, allowing everyone to pile in the back.

However, Leo opened the passenger door.

"Nah, nah, nah." Dash immediately stopped him, pointing to the back, "Backseat."

Leo laughed but Dash just pointed to the back again. The man stared, "Wait, seriously?"

"We're picking up someone else. You get in the back."

"Wait, why can't they sit in the back?

"Oh, riiiight!" Kwan exclaimed, "Leo, get in the back, you'll see."

"But-"

"Just trust us!" Paulina giggled, "Come on!"

Leo begrudgingly got in the back, thankful Dash's car could at least fit all four of them in the back. The group continued talking and laughing as Dash pulled out of the school parking lot, making his way to wherever they were going. No one told Leo what was going on, so he just waited to see what was going on.

They pulled in front of a large building with a glowing neon sign reading Fenton Works. Leo remembered hearing about the Fentons, how Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were crazy about ghosts and their kids did everything in their power to not be embarrassed by them. He heard their daughter was going to college and their son also went to their school. Danny Fenton, the kid who sat with a weird goth chick and tech geek.

"What're we doing here?" Leo asked.

No one responded, rolling down the windows. Dash blasted the music and honked the horn, Paulina, Kwan, and Star cheering. After a few seconds, Danny Fenton emerged from the home, wearing a shirt with the NASA logo, a letterman jacket, and some skinny jeans. He was clearly holding back laughter as he approached the car, the four cheering.

"DANNY! DANNY! DANNY! DANNY!" Kwan, Paulina, Star, and Dash chanted, the raven blushing, covering his face in embarrassment.

"Shut up!" Danny hissed playfully as he hopped in the front seat, "God, you all are embarrassing."

Dash rolled the windows up and turned the music down as Kwan spoke first, "How you doing man, you ready for the party?!"

"Hell yeah I am!"

The group cheered, but Leo stared at Danny in confusion.

"Oh, is Sam gonna be there? I have to return her mirror!" Star explained.

"She and Tuck are carpooling with Valerie."

"Perfect, I need to give Val her headband back!" Paulina explained.

"Oh, Danny, this is Leo." Dash pointed to the seat behind him, Danny turning to face him, "Newbie. Probably heard it around."

The raven smiled, "Oh, nice to meet you. Sorry about them, you were probably confused."

"It's cool, I'm more confused why you get front seat."

Dash glared out his review mirror, Danny chuckled, and the other three jokingly 'ooooh'ed.

"Oh, you are new." He looked at Kwan, Paulina, and Star, who smiled innocently, "And you three didn't tell. Nice play." Finally, the raven looked at Dash, "Dashy~ Can I have a kiss~?"

Dash blushed and nodded softly, leaning over and kissing his lips.

Leo widened his eyes as the other three cheered. Once they pulled away, the blonde quickly focused on driving, embarrassed.

Danny then looked at Leo, winking, "See, I always get front seat. Perks of being the quarterback's boyfriend!"

Leo blushed in embarrassment, looking away as the car erupted into laughter, the group beginning to joke and talk once again.

[timothyclare]

transfem kuai liang headcanon

hi. as a precursor to this whole post, i'm going to give the forwarning that i am absolutely batshit insane about this. if one could call an avid fan of something 'down the rabbit hole', then i am in the core of the fucking planet of this. i am thinking about her at all hours of the day. i have a several thousand WC braindump doc that i still need to elaborate on. with that said, if you're willing to give a look-see, jump down the rabbit hole with me as i give you the rundown.

i have many, many, many words about her. many of them. but i'll try to summarize my reasoning for this particular headcanon because it's actually much much deeper than the initial vibes.

THE DEEPER REASONING

kuai as a character seems really closed-off and disconnected. especially when we first meet him. he's duty first, no-nonsense. he's quiet. and then we get to know him more, and to know bi-han more, and there's this... sense of unease, somewhat? like bi-han, we can see that he is standing on firm foundations of his ideals. we know what he wants. we know who he is. he stays true to these ideals, even by betraying his brothers to join the side of shang tsung and quan chi. he is a character who knows what he wants and we can predict his actions based on it. on the other hand, in contrast, kuai liang seems almost... unstable, in a sense, and adrift. we only really get to know the fact that he valued his father's teachings. and bi-hans betrayal seems to throw him even more adrift.

and being adrift and unstable on his foundations is a trait i see VERY often in my own experience and in the experience of my transfem friends (and here we hit my biggest point on why i headcanon kuai liang as transfem-- the sheer number of parallels between his story and trans experiences).

when bi-han betrays the lin kuei, and in turn, kuai and smoke, kuai has no issues taking down SEVERAL fighters along with general shao-- and you can sense the rage that fuels it (yet another parallel with trans experience). that feeling of 'i put faith in you, i trusted you,', and in this case, 'i followed you, i am who i am because of you, i changed myself for you, and you repay me with this?'

it's unbelievable pain and anger and betrayal, and though he eventually calms enough that he goes back to his quiet, calculative self, it's earth-shaking. this parallels a lot of the feeling, in the trans experience, of the betrayal you feel when your loved ones, the ones you trusted, you changed yourself for, turn to transphobia and terf rhetoric. turn to the beliefs you know hurt people (earthrealm, or your trans friends) and hurt you, and make you their new target.

i'm sad we don't get much focus on kuai liang after that chapter of the story-- i'd pay good money to get an expansion of his story. we know at the very least that he goes on with smoke to form the shirai ryu, and train the young hanzo hasashi, but that tells us nothing, so i don't have a lot to work with. but that gives a lot of wiggle room when making guesses at his character.

reviewing what we know, i reiterate that parallels make kuai liang's character incredibly readable as trans-coded. and i will say now that i know nothing about him screams 'fem!', but i see his character as transfem because of other things-- once again, parallels. kuai liang, as a character, is very clearly honor-driven. he values, above all, his family. his lost father, his bonds with his brothers. his clan. and on top of that, none of his character reads... as 'man' to me. kuai just doesn't read as someone who identifies with a man to me. by that, i mean that he does not seem... comfortable or confident in his masculinity. and that disconnect, once again, is a DIRECT parallel to trans experiences.

THE FUN STUFF

ok now that i've gotten that out of my system i can tell you about the more fun headcanons i have around her heheh

uses she/he pronouns

smoke gave her a golden scorpion-shaped hair claw and she uses it ALL THE TIME.

she likes to wear eyeliner in everyday life and do fancy eyeliner for battle

he and smoke have bonding time while smoke braids her hair. she very frequently falls asleep during braiding time.

smoke is also her biggest supporter, but hanzo is very frequently fighting for the title.

i will be adding more as i think about it. this is all for today. i hope you enjoyed this post. ok byeeeee

[goldeaglefire1]

So uh. Since I figure "man I need to post about my OCs more often" - the OCs in question!

These seven are part of a hypothetical series I refer to as Cafe Palette, a comedic slice-of-life which can best be summarized as "local cafe owner makes a deal with the devil to make her cafe interdimensional." Not the only hypothetical series I have bouncing around in my head but it's a good place to start!

don't know if I'll end up posting more about it here but I wanted some updated art so while I'm here I might as well also do some quick character summaries!

Clementine Slate - The main character! For years, Clem's been running a struggling cafe, feeling less and less hope as the days go by...and then, one morning, as Clem does her usual morning routine preparing the cafe for opening, she finds herself face to face with a devil demanding that she give him her coffee or suffer the consequences. And faced with this supernatural threat combined with an attitude Clem's all too familiar with, something in her...snaps, and instead of complying, she tells him off for his rude behavior, and manages to shame him to pay for the coffee legitimately. And when he does, he quickly finds the coffee to be GREAT, and is utterly shocked to find out that Clem's doing poorly in terms of business. So, the devil, who Clem nicknames Devi since his real name is unpronouncable in human tongue, offers her a deal: to allow her cafe travel to other dimensions that might actually appreciate her coffee so she can finally live her dream, in exchange for a lifetime supply of her coffee (which she can rescind if she finds that he's being a dick, a term that Devi himself actually insisted on including because deals with a devil are even more rigged in the devil's favor than you'd think). Clem agrees, the deal is made, and so the series begins! Generally very cheery and optimistic, and for the most part this is genuine, but Clem also has a lot of repressed rage and various anxieties that she has bottled up to address never. She is white knuckle gripping her sense of optimism and whimsy because she refuses to let the people who deride her for living out her dream win

Devi - The devil who found himself attracted to the smell of Clem's coffee one fateful morning, and the one who transports the cafe around from world to world in the first place. Older than most can even comprehend, Devi doesn't have a home universe, as he - and all other demons - are born in the fabric between universes, meant to keep the multiverse running and make sure nothing goes wrong. But, the thing is, the amount of devils it takes to do this is...WAY less than you'd think, with a small council of a couple dozen or so electing to take the task on by themselves (with this council being referred to as angels by humanity) and leaving the rest without much purpose. As such, a good amount took to playing with mortals as if they were toys, with Devi being one of the exceptions, being disgusted by that kind of behavior and preferring to see the sights. The only reason Devi even offered Clem a deal is because the Council of Angels tends to intervene when devils use their powers willy-nilly, like he'd be doing without a deal, but aren't really willing to investigate the deals devils make as they're (ostensibly) meant to help people, and they don't have the time to investigate what should be something helpful unless it's wreck-a-universe level bad. Devi likes to think he's the straight man, but he's not nearly as above it all as he might claim, especially when his pride is on the line. Can be a bit disconnected from the others on account of being an immortal being with a lot of power at his fingertips, and has to learn to acknowledge his own bias and work past it

Cordylynd the Corrupt - An inhabitant of the first world Clem visits, Cordylynd the Corrupt is introduced as an egotistical lich working for the dark lord Tyrannak, who tries to antagonize Clem into giving her some of her coffee for free...only for Clem to have none of that, managing to intimidate Cordylynd into actually paying for it. And after she has some, she elects to stay for more, rationalizing that it'll be fine since she can just pass off her duties to her minions...up until her boss shows up. After a string of events lead to Clem accidentally killing Tyrannak with a cup of coffee (she intended to knock him out, but it turns out disagreeing with the devil giving you your power tends to be hazardous to your health), Cordylynd ends up working at Cafe Palette, partially because she doesn't really see any other options, and partially out of gratitude for Clem.

Over her time working at the Cafe Palette, her backstory for why she's like that is gradually revealed: she used to be part of a party of heroes…up until they were all wiped out by the dark lord they were trying to defeat, save for her, thanks to a last-second spell she cast from a dark magic book she'd been secretly studying out of curiosity. Out of sheer desperation, Cordylynd offered to be one of his generals, and Tyrannak agreed, interested in her display of the dark arts - though, of course, not without a ""test"" to see exactly how far her skills with it truly went, burning off a good amount of her flesh and giving her her current appearance. By the time Clem showed up, Cordlynd had long ago elected to embrace her role, fully believing that there truly wasn't any other option for her besides being a monster...at least, up until that fateful day when Cafe Palette showed up. She puts up a vain and abrasive front, but in reality is massively insecure, and tends to butt heads with Devi more often than not out of a desperate need to prove that she's worthy of the second chance Clem has given her

Willow - Short for "The Willow Woman," Willow was a monster haunting a small town. According to the legends, if you wandered into the woods, you might come across a strange woman in a trenchcoat, crying in front of a tree. But as you drew near, you would realize too late that the woman's skin was far too pale to be human...and that her hair wasn't hair at all, but the tongues of a gaping maw, ready to devour you whole. The legends weren't entirely false, but they missed some crucial context: mainly, that the woman didn't actually mean any harm, but was far more just incredibly lonely. Willow doesn't remember HOW she came to be, but she distinctly remembers watching humans come to settle her sleepy little town from the shadows, and becoming interested in meeting and interacting with the only real "people" she'd seen outside of herself. Unfortunately, thanks in part to her inhuman appearance and in part due to her not quite THINKING like a human, the only response she was ever able to get was panicked screaming, and Willow, dejected by how she was unable to connect with the town, elected to hide in the woods and watch from afar. It also didn't help that she DID eat a few people, but in her defense that was more of a reflex than anything. When Clem showed up to her town, she felt sympathy for the monstrous figure, and for the first time in Willow's life, extended a hand in friendship, which Willow accepted. Now she works at Cafe Palette, bringing a rather...unique presence with her eleven foot tall frame, to say the least. A very morose figure, Willow can be a bit shy about interacting with people...but not so much about anything else. While her more inhuman perspective can make it a bit more difficult to understand people, it can also allow her to provide a unique outlook on whatever issues Cafe Palette may be facing, and be surprisingly dependable at times.

Acapella - Acapella (real "name" being serial number 4C4, Primary Loadbearer 4-Tread model) is a robot from a universe flung into the far future, living in a post-human society ruled entirely by machines, with the machines seeking to continue what they saw as humanity's primary goal before they died out - to explore and learn. But, while it's fairly nice to live there, Acapella is deeply unsatisfied with her lot in life. Although her model is meant for heavy labor, carrying large cargo over potentially unsteady terrain, it's not very...fulfilling for her. Not the way it is for other robots of her model. No, what she really wants is to be an idol, her voice out on the airwaves and enjoyed by robots across the stars! This is a rare, but not unknown issue, and there IS a process for transferring the AI of a robot from one model to an entirely different one should the need arise, but the issue is that it's incredibly difficult to actually apply for the process, and in Acapella's society, saying anything that even IMPLIES you're not happy with your current job tends to get you weird looks. Unlike our society, there isn't really any "superior" jobs among the machines, as each role is treated with equal importance - they're all cogs in a greater machine, after all. So as far as they're concerned, as long as you're doing the job you were made to do, you should be happy, and if you're not, that implies there's some sort of issue with you.

Enter Cafe Palette! Although most of the staff don't see a reason to stay there, since the main inhabitants can't even drink, Clem insists that they stay so they can see the sights, and after she gets everyone to agree, heads out of the cafe and meets Acapella, who mistakes her for an entertainer robot, specifically a museum curator, since they're known to take on a human animatronic look for full immersion. They get to talking, with Clem reflecting on how her life has changed so radically recently and Acapella telling Clem about her struggles, and after hearing her plight, Clem makes the decision to tell Acapella about Cafe Palette, offering her a job there so she can see if there's any world out there that will let her achieve her dreams. And with an offer like that...how could Acapella possibly refuse? Cheerful yet headstrong, Acapella has an unwavering confidence in who she is and who she's meant to be, and is determined to get there, no matter what obstacle is in her way. Though she can be somewhat inconsiderate, she generally gets along with the others fairly well, and is particularly interested in Willow, which...you would not expect, given that their first "meeting" was Acapella witnessing Willow tear another robot in half with her tongues, but she's actually incredibly into that.

Inspector Scrap-It - Technically an antagonist but more accurately a secondary protagonist, Inspector Scrap-It (real name being serial number N5PC, Safety Compliance Reassurance For Professional Integrity Tests model, or N5PC-SCR4PIT) does not actually work at Cafe Palette, but rather is dragged into the multiverse after Acapella is hired, generally being the focus of some more comedic B-plots. An inhabitant of the same world Acapella came from, while Clem was busy exploring and then later talking with Acapella, Inspector Scrap-It happened to take notice of Cafe Palette and decided to investigate. As his acronym would imply, Inspector Scrap-It is more along the lines of an OSHA inspector than anything else, but Cordylynd, Devi, and Willow misinterpreted his title as being that of a police inspector, promptly worried that they'd broken a law of some kind, and collectively decided to stall for time and keep Inspector Scrap-It from entering the building until Clem got back and they could properly book it. However, when she did arrive with Acapella in tow, and Cafe Palette left that universe shortly thereafter, what none of them realized was that Inspector Scrap-It was taken with them...

And, after making a deal with his own devil, Inspector Scrap-It is able to follow Cafe Palette, determined to have that safety inspection, come hell or high water. And he might just be able to achieve it, too, if he isn't distracted by a glaring safety violation in whatever new world he's in after a grand total of five minutes. Inspector Scrap-It combines an earnest desire to help with comedic levels of obliviousness and being near-indestructable - it's not that he can't be hurt, it's that he has repair nanobots that can patch up any damage he takes alarmingly fast. He considered getting ripped in half by Willow to be very rude at worst. He's effectively what you would get if you made the Terminator an OSHA inspector.

Fishbone - Fishbone is the devil who Inspector Scrap-It made a deal with, a fellow who seems fishy in both the literal and metaphorical sense but is actually rather chill. They're Devi's ex, with the two breaking it off after Devi figured out he's ace, and while they're on...relatively good terms with each other, Fishbone still thinks Devi can have a bit too much of a stick up his ass at times. They figured out he was involved while they were talking it up with Inspector Scrap-It, "smelling" the trace of their ex's magic on him, and once they knew Devi was involved, Fishbone figured it would be hilarious to actually give the robot man the means to pursue the Cafe Palette, if only to see the look on their ex's face when he did manage to catch up. Far more mellow than the overly serious Inspector, Fishbone is at first mostly just sticking around him because he's funny, what with his obliviousness and the chaos he makes just earnestly trying to do his job, but after some time, they find themselves actually growing attached to the strange robot man and his incredibly earnest nature, becoming far more protective of the bot than they really HAVE to be considering Scrap-It's nigh-invulnerability. And as they open up to the robot man, they reveal that underneath the laidback persona is a surprisingly deep layer of cynicism that permeates their entire being, stemming from one simple thing...Inspector Scrap-It isn't the first Fishbone's made a deal with. And unlike their deal with Scrap-It, that deal went horribly, horribly wrong, through no fault of Fishbone's own...but I'll save the details of that for later :)

Aaaaaaaaand that's the main cast! Again, hope you enjoy!